He stumbled from the training area the last one to leave, he was beyond sore, every muscle in his body screamed for him to just lay down and pass out. Sonar’s training had not gotten easier, if anything it had increased in difficulty due to how fatigued he was by the end. When there had been only 30 minutes left in his class he gave anyone who wanted to the chance to run the obstacle course, no one took him up on it, not even after telling everyone that to pass his class you had to make it through it at least once.

He had stayed back after everyone had left, even though there was 30 minutes left of his class. He was no fool, he had put his body through the wringer and if he didn’t spend the time stretching it out then there was no way he would be able to walk later, let alone tomorrow morning.

He was the last one into the shower but he miraculously made it to his second class on time, this one with Instructor Owl. The shower had done very little to reduce the pain his body now felt and when he did manage to get himself into a seat in the lecture theatre he had to hold in the moan of pain he felt.

“Only 36 of you, I imagine the others couldn’t bring themselves to get here after what Sonar has put you through, no matter, you were warned that this wouldn’t be easy.” Owl didn’t give them any materials but she did touch her tablet which lit up a giant screen behind her. On the screen was 6 titles of topics that corresponded to each of the sections he had in the book on his own tablet. Under each of the titles was what he assumed was each of their names.

Under the first title, Structure of Elisbara, most of the names were red, 5 were in orange and only one was in green, his. The second title, Introduction to the Demon Plague, all were red but his which was green again. The third, Skill Categorisation, all red with his being orange. Under the last three titles all were red.

“There are 6 topics we will be covering this week, one I touched on yesterday. For you to pass my class you must have a good understanding of each of the topic areas. Your name will show in red if you are failing that topic, orange if you are close to understanding and green if you pass that topic. Your name must be green in each 6 areas for you to pass. It is that simple. If you missed yesterday’s class, I will give you a very quick rundown of what we covered before we move on. Starting with The Ruling Council…Stop waving your hand up in the air Tomas Prais, ask your question so everyone can hear it.”

“Instructor Owl, how does Mike Winset have his name in green on two and orange in another if you haven’t even started teaching those topics yet?” Mike looked towards the person that had spoken, finding the muscle-bound blonde guy that had given him the vibe of an entitled jerk since yesterday staring intently towards Owl.

“Is that so?” Instructor Owl made a big show of turning around and looking at the screen behind her. When she turned back around she had a look on her face of feigned shock. “You are right Thomas, he does indeed have his name in green for the topic we are covering today, and the one we are covering tomorrow.” She cast her eyes over the entire theatre, barely making any eye contact with him when she did. “Mike, if you choose you are free to go and use this time focusing on other things. You won’t learn anything new today.”

The instructor had just dismissed him from the class so he could focus on other things, that was a boon, as if he had already passed todays subject he now had several more hours to either continue to get ahead in the class or he could try and work away at his meditation problem. The only issue that came with that was he would have to stand up right and leave, telling everyone who he was and opening himself up to the scrutiny of how exactly he knew things that no one else did. He was tempted to stay seated, but then he remembered that he had already told a few people his name and it wouldn’t be hard for them to spread that around if they wanted to.

Standing up he gave the instructor a nod of his head. “Thank you Instructor Owl, I will use this time wisely.”

“Not a problem at all Mike. I do love a student that is smart enough to listen and use the information he has been provided to better oneself.” As he was leaving the room he hesitated for a moment, wondering if he should ask now about how they all spoke the same language and how terms and phrases were all the same. “The answer to your question is The System.” He knew she was talking to him, she was reading his thoughts! He was no more than certain that whatever her skill was definitely in the Mind Manipulation category. If he was to guess it was also a very powerful skill and she was very good at using it. “Correct and thank you for such kind words.” He had just made it to the door when he was stopped again “Oh, you are now expected out in the training area. It seems Sonar is not quite done with you today. Something about regret? Off you go.”

The last thing he wanted to do was go back out into the training area. He was already sore, he didn’t think he could last five minutes of more exercise, let alone what hell Sonar was planning on putting him through. Just because he didn’t want to go, didn’t mean he didn’t force himself to take one daunting step after another until he found himself back outside. The clothes he had on would be fine to exercise in, but nowhere near as familiar as his own workout gear, it didn’t look like he had much of a choice though.

“I want you jogging around the field, no stopping. Push through the pain until your drop. No questions, now go.”

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That was all Sonar said to him and he went straight to it. He knew there was no point asking questions or talking back. This was punishment for snapping at him earlier. He wished he could have kept his damn mouth shut.

He kept his mind on jogging, at least not having to push to a run. It took him a bit to ignore the agony of his body but after all of his training he was able to find his rhythm after only a lap. A soon as he did it got easier to keep going, ignoring the pain and just focusing on his body and breathing.

The pain in his chest got worse the more he moved but he ignored it to the best of his ability. The pain continued to build to the point that he thought he might be having some kind of heart attack.

“DO NOT STOP!”

That was all the motivation he needed to keep going. He refused to give up and let the man see he was breaking on the inside. He felt like he was being torn apart. Pressure started to build in his chest until he felt like he was about to explode.

“YES! DO NOT STOP!”

He made it all of 10 more steps before he felt the pressure crack something inside of him and he fell to the ground, his whole body shook like he was having a seizure, looking up he saw was Sonar standing above him with a grin on his face.

“Get used to it Mike. We are only just getting started.”

He didn’t know how long he was on the ground for, but eventually the shakes stopped and he was able to regain some control over his body. He didn’t know when he had closed his eyes but when he opened them again, he saw Sonar still standing above him, but this time he was not alone. With Sonar was Wraith and the Headmaster. All of them were looking down on him waiting for him to wake up again. He tried to sit up, but a fresh wave of pain came over his body.

“Drink this, it will help.” Wraith handed him a small vial of blue liquid. When he tried to reach out to grab it his hands wouldn’t stop shaking. “I will help, its best to drink it all in one go.”

Wraith crouched down next to him and held the vial to his lips. With a nod she tilted it up and poured the entire vial into his mouth which he swallowed all in one go. After she had told him to drink it in one go, he had assumed that whatever it was would taste terrible, he was wrong though. It tasted liked a slightly sweet fruit juice with a hint of some kind of spice. It wasn’t the bets thing he had ever tasted but far from the worst.

“While the potion does what it needs to do, Mike would you mind placing your hand on the tablet, just like you did yesterday?” The Headmaster wasn’t really asking as the tablet was already placed right in front of him. He put his hand on it and after a few moments removed it. All three of them stood around the tablet looking at what had come up.

“Told you I was right.” Sonar was looking at both Wraith and the Headmaster when he said it. Giving them both an obvious ‘I told you so’ look.

“That may be true, but did you have to push him so hard? It has been one day, you could have at least given him another day or two to adjust to the accumulated Spirit.” The Headmaster gave Sonar an exasperated look. One that spoke of years of dealing with each other and that this wasn’t the first time Sonar had done something like this.

“It is fine. The first is always the worst. At least now the real training can start.”

He couldn’t hold back the groan that escaped from his mouth at hearing about more training. He had just suffered some kind of seizure and now Sonar wanted to push him into more training? This guy was actually insane.

Sonar laughed when he heard him groan, the Headmaster just shook his head at the scene while Wraith gave him a look of pity. “Mike, as much as I agree that training with Sonar, day in and day out would be hell. He will be able to teach you more than I can in this area. But look at the bright side, you just passed my class.”

He looked at Wraith, trying to decipher exactly what she had just said about not only being stuck with Sonar everyday but about passing her class. The only way he could have done that was by unlocking his first Spirit Gate. “But….how? I suck at meditating.”

“Yeah you do.” He looked at Sonar who was chuckling to himself at his own comment.

“I watched you try and meditate yesterday and it was honestly painful to watch you Mike. By far the most common way to open Spirit Gates is through meditation, but there are a few other ways, although they are very rare. The one you have found yourself stuck with is what we call Physical Cultivation.” Wraith gave Sonar a nod, his queue to take over the conversation from here.

“You know that state you get into when you are fully focused. You do it when you run, even last night when you were doing your stances. Which were terrible and we will need to fix. That state is what most find when meditating, you however find it through physical activity. You still breath in the Spirit but instead of using your mind to keep it inside of you, you use your body. Just. Like. Me. And if you don’t believe me, just check your Overview.”

He was tempted to chalk all of this up as part of Sonars punishment, but when he locked eyes with the Headmaster, who, to his surprise was smiling down at him. He decided to Bring up his Overview. He followed the same process he had the first time he did it and it came to him much quicker than before. Looking at it though, he could barely believe what he saw, even after he just had the three people in front of him confirm it.

Name

Michael Winset

Age

18

Spirit

Gates Unlocked: 1

Control: 1%

Attunement: 3%

Density: 5%

Skill

Spirit Mastery

Level: 1

Max Level: XXX

Evolution: No

Earth Inhabitant Tracker

Not only did he see his first gate unlocked, but he also had a few percent in each of the three sub attributes. With his Gate now open, not only had he actually passed one of three of his classes, but he could now use his skill, he was curious as to how he was supposed to make it work but he didn’t try to activate it after being told explicitly not to by Wraith the day before.

“What’s your skill called Mike?” Sonar asked him with a grin.

“No! Do not….”

“Spirit Mast….”