His tablet woke him up in the morning, just as it was supposed to. Rather than a beeping noise though it was more of a soft vibration that seemed to have calmly woken him from sleep, a much more pleasant experience than his phone alarm.

The first thing he did was go to the bathroom, shower and change. He had no plans to exercise this morning not with a whole two hours dedicated to putting him through whatever Sonar had planned. What he did instead was check the calendar, confirming he had just over an hour and a half before breakfast started, which went for 30 minutes, and then 30 minutes after that the class started.

That gave him just enough time to review his notes from the first two sections on the book and then start in on the third, Skill Categorisation.

The variety of skills that have been seen since The System has arrived has showed that skills broadly fit into one of three categories. However, there are skills that spread across more than one category during the later stages of evolution, for the majority of documented skills though, they predominantly focus on one key category.

Skills have been a main focus of study for many over the course of the years, predominantly research is conducted around why skills evolve the way they do and how two people with the same skill can evolve them into two separate directions. Currently there is not an answer to this question, there are however assumptions that the way a skill is used can have an effect on its evolutionary journey, leading it to cross into a different skill categorisation.

When skill no longer shows that it has an evolution available it is accepted that the skill has reached the peak of its evolutionary path. This has been a cause of debate however as there have been a small number of documented cases where child that has come of age has been given a skill with no evolutionary capability, as is the case for Champion Titan and Champion Shift.

All base skills do fit into one of the three categories, these being Body Manipulation, Mind Manipulation and External Manipulation.

Body Manipulation is the ability to change and alter one’s body. This can be done in a multitude of different way including skills to change one’s shape to either grow larger or smaller, reinforce one’s body either visibly or through internal means, change into a completely different person, change into animals or other beasts, etc.

Mind Manipulation can sometimes be confused with External Manipulation. Mind Manipulation however is a skill that uses one’s mind rather than body. Examples of this can be to influence another through their willpower, see into the future, Identify objects, illusions etc.

External Manipulation is when one’s skill is not using either their body or mind but is able to change the world around them through their skill alone. Examples of this include being able to conjure barriers, manipulate the elements, empower external objects, etc.

Where Mind and External Manipulation can get confused is when a skill, like Telekinesis, which uses the mind to move objects, which also impacts the external world. However the distinction with these skills, and placing them into one of the two categories, is that the description of the skill relates back to either using ones mind to accomplish a task or the skill directly interacting with the world around them.

The section continued on after that, going to much more detail on why the three categories were used and the importance of each within society, not just in combat. By the time he finished with the section his mind was numb. Of all the three sections he had read he found the one on skills to be by far the most convoluted.

What he did find interesting however was the part around evolutions, not only because skills evolved, he knew that, but because his own skill, like the two Champions listed, had no evolution. That meant he was either given a skill by The System at the peak of its evolutionary line, or he had a dud skill that would serve no purpose and thus couldn’t evolve.

If his earlier theory that his skill would only be good for getting through the Spirit gates and repeating that cycle over again, then he didn’t think it was a great skill. If there was something more to it though, then he was more inclined to be excited about using his skill. All he had to do was figure out the meditation thing and he would be good to go.

He made his way to the common area, already dressed and ready for a workout. He didn’t feel any pain like he had expected given what he felt the night before, he couldn’t say the same for a majority of the others as they all started shuffling in for breakfast.

It was painfully clear who had decided to go and join Sonar yesterday, not one of them looked in good shape. A good number of them looked to be decently fit, yet even they seemed to have not fared any better than those who looked like they didn’t get in their 10,000 steps a day. He was not liking his odds about what was to come, especially as the aim was to push them beyond their limits.

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He finished breakfast quickly, knowing that he didn’t want to be working out just after he ate a meal, but that left him with a good amount of time before he had to be outside and ready for class to start.

He left the common area as soon as he could though, everyone was in a worse mood than they were yesterday and if the groans he heard from people as they moved was any indication, it wasn’t going to be getting any better. Rather than go back up to his room he made his way out to the training area which was empty of people but still had the obstacle course in the middle. Rather than do any training he found somewhere to sit in the shade of the building and tried his hand at meditating again.

He gave himself 30 minutes before he would get up and stretch, and as with every other time he tried to meditate, he just got more and more frustrated. This time, what played on his mind wasn’t thoughts of his family, or skills or Spirit. It was that damn question Jack had asked him the night before. Why do you want to join The Academy and become a Champion?

If he told himself it was just to get back to his family he got hit with a wave of guilt at the idea of taking the things he wanted and then leaving a world where they needed as many Champions as they could get. If he conceded and said he wanted to help, at the expense of never seeing his family, he felt lost and broken at the idea of never getting to hug and laugh and cry with them again.

When he couldn’t stand even trying to meditate any more he got up off the ground and went straight into stretching out his muscles for what was to come.

“I was wondering how long it would take you to give up.” Sonar appeared right in front of him, just as quickly he had disappeared before.

“I haven’t given up, I am just getting ready for whatever hell you are about to put me through.” As soon as he said it, he knew, he had screwed up. He had let the frustrations on his failed meditation attempts out on Sonar and now he was going to pay for it. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to..”

Mike stopped talking the moment Sonar burst into laughter, it was not laughing at the situation either, he was laughing at him.

“Oh boy, I am going to make you regret that later.” Sonar walked away, leaving him alone to stew on what he had just done. He had no doubts that he was going to regret it, he was sure by the end of this lesson he was going to be in a world of pain.

By the time he had finished stretching the others had all joined him outside. Sonar gathered them all in a group and looked over everyone in attendance.

“Only 41 of you this morning. And the four that are missing are ones that took my session yesterday. Jack where are they?” Jack had joined them outside, either because he knew he was going to need to answer why some of them were missing or because he just wanted to watch.

“In bed, I told each of them that they attend the class or they are out. It seems they couldn’t find the willpower to get up and keep going after yesterday. They will all be gone form the grounds before your lesson is up.”

“Today is only day one and already four gone. I expected more. Guess I will need to push harder today. Everyone go, one lap as a warm up jog, one lap at top speed, one lap warm down. You go too slow and don’t give it your all, same punishment as yesterday. For those of you that don’t know what that is, hope you don’t find out. Now go!”

He didn’t wait even a second to get started, immediately setting out slightly quicker than his normal jogging pace. He made it halfway around the field before he entered back into his usually rhythm. He didn’t bother looking back at every body else, he knew he had a lead on them all.

Out of nowhere he felt a stabbing pain in his chest that made him nearly fall over, as it was he stumbled and had to slow his pace to correct himself before continuing. Before he could even get up to speed again he felt something slash across his calf that sent him falling to the ground.

“You can move quicker than that!” He heard Sonar yell out from across the field. When he looked over at him he had the biggest grin on his face and a look that promised more. This was the punishment for him lashing out.

Clenching his jaw, he got back on his feet and took off at the quick pace he had set before. He put all of his training to good use and finished the first lap and then, as he was told he started running at his top speed for the second lap. He stumbled twice more, each time the pain in his chest getting worse and worse, each time Sonar would strike him on the calf from where he stood and make him fall to the ground. He refused to give in though and kept going.

By the time he finished the last lap his chest was in absolute agony, as was his calves, his arms and even his face from when he fell. He looked at the track and the closest person behind him had barely finished the second lap. Thankfully he hadn’t been the only one to get Sonar’s punishment. He had been hit a total of 7 times across the three laps though.

“Why are you standing around? Burpees until you either vomit or pass out.”

This guy was a sadist, there was no doubt in his mind. He didn’t argue though and went straight into the exercise. He wondered, for a brief moment, how they had the same terminology or how they even spoke the same language since they were from two different planets, he didn’t know why he didn’t ask someone this before. He wasn’t going to ask now though, he would be punished for that for sure.

By the time others had finished running laps he was sore and his arms could barely hold his weight, he pushed himself to continue though, never taking a break between sets. Most of the pain in his chest had gone away about halfway through the exercise but he still felt a lingering discomfort in the area.

Whenever someone finished their laps, they joined him in burpees. Even though he finished running first, he wasn’t the first to pass out or vomit. Three people complained that they couldn’t do any more, they were told to keep going or leave. He had lost count of how many burpees he had done, but when he got halfway through one he knew it was his last. He collapsed to the ground and brought up his breakfast, the whole time he heard Sonar laughing, this time though it didn’t seem like he was laughing at him, rather laughing at some joke no one else had heard.

“Get some water and get ready for the next exercise. We are far from done today.”