Hadai led the children with utmost haste. By now, he and the new students had visited a few classes in-process and were about to slide open the metal door leading to the next one.

  Once they had entered the room, Keyaxel and Jareck saw the same type of layout they'd seen in the prior classrooms.

  The stone walls of the rectangular enclosure were lit up with the same star-lights as on the airship. However, none of the lights were on, as on the ceiling was a series of small windows reminiscent of stars in a night sky, which let in shimmers of sunlight.

  All of the children already in the room were spread out, some of them sitting on puff-bags, others on chairs, and even more simply sitting on the carpeted floor. In total, there had to be at least eighty children in this class, all of them ranging anywhere from eight to twelve years in age. At the front of the classroom was an adult woman in a white robe, having been in the middle of giving a lecture when they entered.

  "Sorry to barge in. I'm just-," Hadai began until Keyaxel blurted out a question.

  "Wha do they teach here?"

  Hadai paused for a moment, taking in a sharp breath, before exhaling and explaining, "I told you already. The teacher will tell you. You don't need to ask."

  A couple of kids in the class laughed when Keyaxel was corrected.

  While Keyaxel had no visible reaction to being laughed at, Jareck frowned and scowled somewhat at those chortling.

  Noticing the angry gaze that Jareck was giving them, a larger, blond-haired boy with glasses stuck his tongue out while giving a taunting wave. Jareck only grew more upset by this, but Key only took it as a sign to smile and wave back in earnest.

  Keyaxel's response to his friend's mocking caused the boy next to Glasses, who had silver hair and darker skin, to smirk softly.

  Giving a non-verbal response, Silver-Hair returned the younger boy's waving with a polite gesture of his own.

  This friendly exchange surprised Jareck and Glasses. Yet it also convinced both that the wordless argument was over and to stop making faces at one another.

  Smiling at Keyaxel, the teacher commented, "Well, looks like we have some friendly and eager learners this time. I assume these are the new students."

  Nodding, Hadai answered, "Yeah, these are them. You could certainly call the redhead eager. This is the fourth time he's asked that question, and this is the fourth time I've told him the same thing."

  Chuckling awkwardly, the teacher responded, "Oh, but that's so cu-..." Just then, the teacher took notice of Keyaxel's eyes, and her voice came to a stuttering hault.

  When the teacher first addressed him, Keyaxel's face brightened up ever so slightly. However, this joy went away as soon as he realized she had looked him in the eyes. While the happiness on his face was gone, it wasn't overtaken by any sorrow, instead being replaced with an almost annoyed acceptance.

  After recomposing herself from the boy’s monstrous appearance, the teacher cleared her throat and continued, "Yes, uh... I suppose I'll explain this class to them all now. So, until you all turn thirteen, you'll be studying history and religion here, as they are so closely intertwined."

  "Does that mean we won't have ta learn ‘bout this stuff after we turn thirteen?" Tros blurted out.

  Smiling and shaking her head, the teacher replied, "No, no. It's just that once you reach that age, you'll be transferred to the higher classes for everyone here who's thirteen to seventeen. Then, you'll be taking your finishing classes with everyone else who's eighteen to twenty."

  We're gonna live here till we're twenty? As Key had this thought, visible concern manifested across his body.

  "Thanks for telling 'em about that. I forgot to explain those things when we got here," Hadai voiced his appreciation while scratching his head.

  "Not a problem. So, unlike your math, science, and government classes, the amount of studying you do here is up to you. I'll be giving lectures, and it's up to all of you if you pay attention and take notes of your own volition. Be warned, our work here is written, so it's in your best interest to apply yourselves."

  Having walked away from the group to approach the teacher, Nalgo tugged on her white robe and asked, "Hey, are you a church lady?"

  Looking down at the golden-haired boy with a puzzled but patient smile, the teacher asked, "I'm sorry, a church lady? What do you mean by that, sweetheart?"

  "You said you're gonna teach us religy. That's what the ladies at my church do."

  Raising her finger in acknowledgment, the teacher responded, "Ah. You mean priests. Yes, I'm a trained priest, but you don't have to be a woman to be one. You can be a man too."

  As if a fire had been lit inside of him, Jareck yelled, "Hey, hey! My mommy and daddy are... uh, pre... priests too!"

  "They are?" Key asked before the teacher could.

  "Yeah, yeah! That's why my parents had me come here. They said this place can teach me a lot about religion and help me use my Gift better!"

  Giving the excited boy an intrigued glance, the teacher suggested, "Well, now. A son of priests. That's rare here. Let's use this as an experiment, everybody. First, what's your name, my child?"

  As if only now realizing the teacher would acknowledge him, Jareck replied, "Um... My name's Jareck."

  "Thank you, Jareck. Now, can you tell us who each of the gods are?"

  While Jareck tugged on the strap of his goggles to think, Key gave him an expecting smile. After a minute of gathering his thoughts, Jareck was able to share his answer.

  "First, there's Gez- Gezre... Gezriel. She was the daughter of the creator god that gave us our Gifts. Because of that, her Gift made her invincible. She came down from the Heavens and united Uni by making the first Warlords."

  Nodding, the teacher told him, "Very good. Can you tell us the names of the demigods who became the first Continental Warlords?

  Tugging on his goggle strap again, Jareck responded, "Uh... There's Cercive. She was the first Warlord of our content. That's why our content is called Cercive. She's, um... Cercive's the god of, uh, strength and... no... nowl... Knowledge?"

  "That's right, Jareck. And do you know who the other three are?"

  Jareck froze at that question as he thought desperately for an answer. Eventually, the young boy started growing flustered as his mind came up blank.

  Ultimately, the lack of a response and the apparent embarrassment on Jareck's face earned him jeering laughter from some of the other students. The jeers came not just from the kids in the tour group but also from some of the younger children in the history class.

  "Shut up!" Key yelled almost as instantly as the laughter started, with the Monster’s anger forcing the T at the end of shut to be correctly pronounced.

  While before, Keyaxel had failed to recognize Glasses’ taunting for what it was, the Monster immediately picked up on the sound of a crowd of mockers.

  As the kids in the tour group clammed up at the Monster's shouting, the children in the class just gave this boy looks of annoyance, confusion, and disbelief.

  Just as one of the older kids was about to approach Keyaxel, the teacher clapped her hands, stopping the boy as she exclaimed, "Alright, that's enough. It's perfectly alright that Jareck doesn't know everything about the subject. There'd be no point to the class if he did. And don't worry, we'll start covering those subjects tomorrow, once you all start taking your classes. Now, as for you, redhead! While I allow goofing off to some extent here, I don't let my students make threats like that. You'll have to be punished if you do that again. Am I clear?"

  Raising his eyebrows, Key pointed at the older kid who'd stood up and exclaimed, "Buh he was-."

  "No excuses, young man! Am I clear?!"

  Sulking, Key turned his attention to the floor and responded, "Yes'em."

  "Good. Now then, I believe that should give all of you an idea of what we'll be covering in this class. So, unless anyone has any more questions, I believe it's time for Hadai to show you all to the last of your classes at the Life Academy."

  Smirking when the teacher bought up the topic of his class, Hadai chimed, "Well, if that's all, then sure. Come one, you lot. Time for you all to see my class. I know I'll have fun when we get there."

  With a slight spring in his step, Hadai made for the classroom's entrance without another word. In turn, a few of his kids instinctively followed him, including Keyaxel and Jareck.

  Before they left, Key turned around to wave and yell, "Bye-bye!" To the two boys who'd chuckled at him when he first entered.

  While Glasses cocked an eyebrow at this odd kid’s friendly gesture, he also waved back, albeit hesitantly. Simultaneously, Silver-Hair showed no confusion or tentativeness as he smiled and nodded to Keyaxel.

  Once the tour group was back out in the hall, Tros quickly separated from his possey, approached Key, and taunted him, "Ha! All the other teachers hated yer eyes too, freak."

  Jareck shrunk back slightly at Tros' taunting, while Key, without expression, responded, "Yeah, I know. Almos’ everyone does."

  Both Tros and Jareck froze at that cold reaction, neither of them knowing how they should respond to such a self-deprecating statement.

  "Wha... Whatever, freak," Tros weakly exclaimed before going back to his gang.

  Once more, Keyaxel had no reaction.

  With some sorrow mixed with comfort, Jareck told Key, "I... I don't think you're a freak. We're friends."

  Genuine shock plastering his expression, Key looked at Jareck before asking, "Really? You're the firs’ guy to tell me thath. Thanks." As Keyaxel's appreciation became verbalized, he grinned ecstatically.

  "No Problem," Jareck answered with an excited smile of his own.

  "So... Wha do you think Hadai's class'll be abouth?"

  After thinking it over for a minute, Jareck answered, "Maybe a free time class... or a, uh, maybe a training class. You seem strong, so you'd do good there, even without a strength Gift."

  "I don’ know if anybody here has one of those. Buh my big bro and big sis helped me ge' really tough, so I think I could do ith."

  Jareck was excited to hear this and, after waiting a moment, asked Key, "What about me? Do ya think I'm tough 'nough to do good in a training class?"

  Keyaxel pondered that for a moment before answering honestly, "I don' know. You noth as strong as me, rai? So I guess noth."

  "What? I thought you'd... Whatever," Jareck lamented and huffed as he looked away from his new friend.

  With a befuddled mind, Key tried to understand what was wrong. Eventually, his monstrously blue eyes grew guilty as the realization hit him.

  Desperately, Keyaxel stammered out, "Uh, um. Wa’ I mean is... If you work hard with me, I'm sure we can both ge’ really strong and be the bes’ at the training class."

  Jareck couldn't help but smile again at Key's words, responding, "You sure?"

  Happy to have kept his new friend pleased, Keyaxel continued, "Heck yeah! We'll be the stronges’ guys in this whole place."

  As Keyaxel and Jareck continued to build each others' egos up, Hadai listened to them talk and couldn't help but smirk ever so slightly.

  You boys have no idea what you're in for. You kids guessed right about this being a training class, but I doubt boys like you have ever seen anything like it on your playgrounds... Well, maybe Ugly Eyes has. That kid's a weird one. Feh, whatever. I hope you can both do as well as you think you will.

  Once the children made their way to the end of one of the academy's many hallways, they stopped at a set of metal double doors.

  Pushing the doors open and inviting the kids into the room, Hadai announced, "Welcome to my domain, the gymnasium!"

  Having been right behind their Watcher, Keyaxel and Jareck were the first to get a look at Hadai’s apparent domain.

  The room was massive and easily could have fit twenty groups of their size. The majority of the floor was made from what looked like sturdy clay, with a few padded sections spread out tactically. And as if the circumference weren’t enough, this room was apparently built without a roof. This allowed the sun to illuminate the large classroom. Despite the natural lighting, various star-lights still lined the walls, although none were turned on.

  A runner’s track with various obstacles encircled a good portion of the room, stopping a few meters short of the walls. Within the space surrounded by the track were various exercise equipment and four ropes tied to the ceiling. Additionally, a somewhat large, rectangular stone arena rested in the center of all the equipment.

  The east wall of the room had various protrusions sticking out of it, each being just small enough to grip in even a child's hand. A ledge was at the top of the eastern wall, implying how they were supposed to rest after climbing all the way up. Running along the base of the wall was the same padding present elsewhere in the room. In all likelihood, it was there to cushion the falls of anyone who lost their grip.

  Resting on the western end of the room were two more stone arenas. Neither were as large as the one in the gymnasium’s center but still shared the same shape and were made from the same material.

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  Gesturing at the room to the group, Hadai explained, "So, this class is for training ya all physically. You're here to pursue an education of your own choice, and this is one of those choices. If you choose to focus on your physical aspects, you'll be recruited into the Underguard once you graduate. With that said, if any of ya fail at the education you choose, you'll get thrown into the Underguard by graduation time, regardless of how fit you are for the job. Keep that in mind going into the future. Now, to vet you all in for your first day here, I'll be giving yall a taste of the workouts you can expect. Some of you, like Tros and Ugly Eyes over there, are already a bit tougher than the rest, but you're all too young for actual muscle building. Instead, until you lot reach twelve years, I'll have you all focus on building stamina and improving technique. First things first; ten laps around the gymnasium's track! Since it's all your first time, I'll be turning off the obstacles, but don't expect things to stay this easy."

  As he finished his explanation, Hadai walked over to a control panel in the wall and flipped a few switches. Suddenly, the obstacles on the track sunk into the ground. Once the obtrusions were submerged, they were replaced by a flat floor for the kids to run across.

  Amongst those watching the mechanical capabilities of the gymnasium, Keyaxel was the only one who seemed not impressed but disappointed at the reduced challenge.

  At first, once the track was prepared, the kids looked at Hadai with bewilderment, unable to process the instructions. Only when Hadai produced one of his wrist whips and cracked it at the sky did they follow his orders.

  When the children started running as they'd been told to, most of them sprinted as fast as they possibly could. Something that none of them could maintain indefinitely.

  At the head of the pack was Tros, with Jareck and Keyaxel in the center. For the first couple of laps, everyone's positions stayed this way until the children gradually slowed down as fatigue caught up to them.

  The only one whose pace didn't go down or grow short of breath was Keyaxel. His speed stayed consistent throughout the entire run, and as more and more of his peers started falling behind him, Key neared the lead by the third lap.

  During the fourth lap, Jareck put everything he had into keeping up with Keyaxel, but his lesser stamina caught up with him by lap five. And as sweat rolled down his face, Jareck’s untrained muscles forced him to fall behind with the other kids.

  Key and Tros were neck and neck by the sixth lap, with no one else even coming close to their pace.

  However, the main difference between the two strongest in class at that moment was the noticeable sheen of sweat on the taller boy. And once they got to the seventh lap, Key's consistent pace wore out even Tros' long legs, allowing the redhead to start pulling ahead of the would-be Underlord.

  As Keyaxel started passing Tros, not willing to be outshined, the bull-horned boy grabbed at his arm and pulled him back while throwing himself forward.

  The moment after Tros grabbed him, Key's face grew not frustrated but competitive, just as Hadai had hoped as he watched the race.

  Suddenly, Keyaxel rocketed forward, his speed doubling as he sprinted for the first time in an attempt to pass Tross without a chance for resistance.

  Despite Keyaxel’s superior speed, fury set into Tros’ face as he managed to react quickly enough to latch onto Keyaxel and pull him back yet again. This pattern repeated itself several more times, with Tros giving everything he had to keep Keyaxel from sprinting ahead of him.

  This back and forth of Key and Tros’ race/wrestling continued into the ninth lap, with the two having passed all the other children once over.

  By then, even Keyaxel appeared winded, breathing heavily and glistening with sweat. However, during the final lap, Tros' muscles and reflexes had been fully worn out. Thanks to his foe’s exhausted body, Keyaxel rushed around him once more, this time slipping through his grip.

  Having finally passed Tros, Keyaxel ran as fast as he could and reached the finish line for the last lap in seconds, leaving Tros in his dust.

  Once Key's unhindered full speed had been revealed, most of the other children were awe-struck. Even Hadai raised his brow when he realized just how quick this kid actually was, with him mentally comparing it to a grown adult's sprinting speed.

  The only ones not impressed were Tros and Yella. Both gave Keyaxel a stink eye even as they finished in second and third, respectively, and were catching their breath. And after them was Jareck in a distant fourth.

  Once all the kids had finished their laps, Hadai watched and smirked as they all gasped for air. Pressing another switch on the control panel, four cavities in the walls nearest the kids opened, revealing a water fountain with disposable cups in each of them.

  "I assume you lot are thirsty. Drink up, all. We got more work to do," Hadai ordered.

  Just as soon as Hadai said this, half the kids rushed over to the water while the other half trudged exhaustedly.

  Having been part of the initial stampede, Key was the first to get water. Meanwhile, Jareck was amongst the kids who took their time, so he was still waiting in line when Keyaxel finished his cup.

  Once Jareck got his water, he made his way over to Key. As he walked, Jareck noticed a few other children glancing at Key at the same time. Some of them were expressions of admiration, while others were of annoyance and frustration.

  "You... You're real fast, Key," Jareck told his friend once he'd reached him.

  "Thanks."

  Smiling somberly, Jareck commented, "I thought I was as fast as you for a bit... But I wasn't."

  "Huh...? Oh! Hey, you did a good job going fas’ too! If you work with me, I beth you'll be jus’ as fas’ real soon too!"

  With his smile becoming genuine, Jareck replied, "I hope so... You know, I've never seen a guy run so long and not get tired like you did. How'd you do that, Key?"

  Putting his knuckles proudly on his waist, Keyaxel replied, "My big bro and sis told me eh’s called, pacing yourself. You jus’ only run half as fas’ as you do when you go as fas’ as you can, and keep doing tha’ so you can run for a long time withouth ge'ing tired."

  "So... You can run without getting tired? Then what happened at the end with Tros?"

  "Because he kep’ pulling on me, I had to run full speed to go around him."

  Pouting, Jareck asked, "So... You'd have been fine if he hadn't been a jerk?"

  Nodding with a more neutral expression, Key explained, "Yeah. Maybe I should thank him."

  "Huh…? Uh, why?"

  "Well, I was real sad when the Watcher puth all the stuff on the track away. I figured I'd ge' good exercise from all the things. But Tros helped me work ou' anyway, so now I'm glad. My big bro would have told me to keep running till my legs stopped working."

  Recoiling when he heard that, Jareck responded, "Uh... Oh, wow. I guess... No wonder you can run so good."

  "Thanks, man. Do you wanna-?"

  "Alright, you lot, time for the next part of your first training day! Get over here to the center arena!" Hadai yelled, cutting off Key's question.

  With an, "Oh! Les' go!" from Key, the two boys and everyone else made their way to where Hadai ordered them.

  Once his students all found spots to sit, Hadai walked to the center of the arena and folded his arms.

  Clearing his throat, the Watcher exclaimed, "Alright! Ugly Eyes, Bull Horns, Goggles, Reckless Brat, get over here!" As he shouted these nicknames, Hadai pointed to Keyaxel, Tros, Jareck, and Yella.

  Doing as they were told out of fear, the four rushed to Hadai's side and stood at attention as best as undisciplined eight-year-olds could.

  "Alright, the four of you are going to help me demonstrate what the combat part of training is gonna be like! Goggles and Reckless are up first. Bull Horn and Ugly Eyes are gonna sit aside for now. You two just start stepping back, and I'll tell you when you're good."

  Following instructions, Key and Tros walked backward until they were told to stop, making sure to keep a distance from each other in the process.

  Looking Jareck and Yella in their eyes, Hadai told them loud enough for the whole group to hear, "Here's the breakdown of how this will work. You two are going to fight. It's alright if you break a bone or two, the Patchers can fix that, but killing, even on accident, will get you kicked out. Now, during combat training, we let the older kids use their Gifts, but since you twigs are all so young and easy to break, we'll wait until you're all a bit tougher before we start letting you go full force on each other. I know some of you can't help using your Gifts, like how Ugly Eyes can heal faster. So just try not to use it to your advantage; else I'll have to judge you harder for it. For now, we focus on drilling techniques into your heads so you can at least defend yourselves if you can't use your Gifts for any reason or you don't have a Gift that can help you in a fight. Though, if that's the case, you should do whatever you can to avoid being an Underguard. So, you two, take a couple steps back from each other, and I'll tell you when to start."

  "You're not gonna teach us how to fight first?" Jareck yelp.

  "Nope. I wanna see what your instincts are before that. Some brats have a talent for this kind of stuff, and I can usually tell by watching. I'm gonna run everyone through this tomorrow, but I'm focusing on the four of you who finished the race first for today. Now get in position, Goggles!" Hadai bluntly explained.

  Once more, Hadai's harsh words were followed to the letter as Jareck and Yella took their steps back and awkwardly put their fists up.

  After waiting a few moments for them to grow anxious, Hadai snapped, "Alright, go!"

  With the order given, Yella rushed Jareck as he froze up. This immediately led to her pushing him over. Yella then tackled and started clumsily pummeling Jareck, with him only just managing to shove her off after blocking a few pounding fists with his forearms.

  As Jareck got up, Yella immediately tried to push him back down. However, his slightly larger size allowed him to force her away once again.

  Frustrated, Yella started repeatedly trying to punch Jareck. But instead of throwing proper strikes, Yella had her fingers unfolded and seemed more like she was trying to stab him with her digits.

  However, Jareck managed to react quickly enough to dodge each of these finger stabs, jumping to the side of each blow.

  After this routine continued for just under a minute, Hadai had enough and barked, "Alright, That's enough! Knock it off, brats!"

  Jareck stopped moving when he heard Hadai's voice, having just jumped away from Yella’s last attack. Unfortunately, this left hi open for the violent girl to land one last jab in his face.

  While the jab hurt significantly less than Jareck had expected it to, that didn't matter much to a little boy with very little real experience handling pain.

  As Jareck began to tear up, Hadai shouted, "Hey! I told you to stop!"

  Before Yella could respond, one of Hadai's wrist whips suddenly wrapped around her arms and torso.

  With a light tug, Yella was pulled to the ground as Hadai strutted over to her and Jareck.

  "Alright, first off! You two obviously haven't ever been in a real fight before,” the towering Watcher roared. “Puke-Hair can't throw a proper punch to save her life. It's more like you're trying to stab him with your fingers.”

  Pouting as she was tied up, Yella wined, "But my Gift-!"

  Putting his hand up to silence her, Hadai went on, "I get what your Gift does, but you at least need to learn how to keep your arm straight if you want to have effective attacks. Now, as for Goggles."

  Flinching as he struggled to stop his crying, Jareck replied, "Ye- Yes?"

  "What was up with you?! You hardly even tried to fight back! If that'd been a real fight, you'd be dead!"

  "Yeah, wa’ were you doing? Are you okay?" Key chimed in.

  As he whipped his eyes, Jareck explained, "I... My- my mommy and daddy always told me not to hit girls. A- A man shouldn't-."

  Before Jareck could finish, Hadai suddenly snapped at him, "You think that matters in real life?! Do you think girls are gonna be sweethearts just cause they're girls?! Or are you just gonna let a girl kill you if one gets violent with you?!"

  "But- But I..."

  Folding his arms, Hadai snapped, "But you what?! But you want to die?! If not, learn to defend yourself! If you can't manage that, then work as hard as you can to stay out of the Underguard...! With all that said, your moves were clumsy, but you still seem to have some pretty good agility."

  "Agil... Some what?" Jareck asked.

  Shoving his finger into the boy's forehead, Hadai explained, "Agility means you're light on your feet, and ya move fast and fancy. Learn your words, kid. Now, if you do decide ya want to be an Underguard, then what you should do is focus on fighting with your agility. Your Gift ain't gonna help ya much in a fight on its own after all."

  Dejected, Jareck looked at the floor and responded, "Yes... Yes, sir."

  "Alright, you two are done then. Bull Horns, Ugly Eyes, get over here!" At Hadai's beckoning, Yella and Jareck sulked back to the group while Keyaxel and Tros took their places in the arena.

  Without needing instructions, both boys assumed fighting stances, with only Keyaxel showing competence in how he guarded himself.

  "Alright, remember, brats. No using your Gifts."

  As Hadai and the other kids watched the two biggest standouts in their group square off, a few noticed Tros' fists begin to shake. Additionally, sweat began to roll down his bald scalp while he bit his lip. All of this made it rather apparent to Hadai just how nervous the prospect of this bout made the bull boy.

  Guess the walking ego's not used to having to fight without his Gift. Eh, well, he is a kid, so that’s not too surprising... That said, it's clear Ugly-Eyes knows his way around a fistfight already. Heh, this should teach Bullhorn some harsh but necessary life lessons. I'll make sure to stop things before Ugly-Eyes hurts him too badly.

  Smirking, Hadai raised and lowered his hand as he exclaimed, "Now start!"

  Rushing in on Tros' right side, Key immediately closed the distance between himself and his bully and socked his opponent across the face. Keyaxel's sunken eyes were suddenly deadly focused as he followed that up with an uppercut to Tros' liver.

  Falling to the ground in a fetal position, Tros wrapped his arms around his torso as blood leaked from his split lip. Glaring upwards, Tros could hardly focus as he looked at Keyaxel's satisfied face.

  All the kids were shocked by how quickly that ended, everyone having expected to see a more intense fight. Even Hadai was surprised by just how fast Keyaxel had brought down the larger boy.

  Huh... Kids don't usually know to go for vitals like that. I was expecting more of an extended pummeling... Oh well. I’ll have to figure out more about Ugly-Eyes’ past when I get some free time.

  Noticing as the quivering Tros' horns started sparking, Hadai remarked, "Now, I know you're not trying to use your Gift, Bullhorn. That'd get you in a whole heap of trouble."

  Without another action needing to be taken, the energy on Tros' horns calmed down as he directed his glare at the floor.

  Shifting his attention to Keyaxel, Hadai asked him, "So, Ugly Eyes, I take it you haven't just had training, but actual experience in fights. It's wise to go for the liver like that."

  "The wa’? I jus’ know people have a hard time ge'ing back up af'er ge'ing hith in tha’ place." The boy replied.

  "Oh... Well, yeah. You're hitting an organ called the liver. It basically balloons out when it gets whacked and kinda crushes the other organs in the process. Think of it like getting kicked in the crotch, except in the torso, and it works on girls too."

  Smiling, Key responded, "Oh! My big bro always jus’ showed me the bes’ places to hith someone, so they go down fas'th. Like the neck!"

  Blinking in surprise, Hadai replied, "I... I see. Well, try not to hit your fellow students' necks too hard, Ugly-Eyes. That could kill someone too, like your uppercut on the ship, and then we'd have to throw you out."

  "Uh... Oh. Okay."

  Going over to Tros, Hadai crouched down and asked him, "I'm sure that hurts. Are you gonna be okay? Do you need to see the Patchers? It's okay if you don't want to, but you'll get bruises if you don't. There's also a chance that Ugly Eyes did some damage on the inside to you. And you can't be an Underlord without functioning organs."

  Initially, it seemed like Tros tried to get up to say something, only to collapse back down as Hadai told him, "Yeah, forget about that, brat. You're not getting up for another few minutes at least."

  "O... Okay... Ah'll see the Patchers," Tros wheezed out.

  Gently picking up Tros, Hadai remarked to his students, "Alright, twirps, take note of this. While it's always better to have a Gift that can help you in a fight, if you don't know at least the basics of self-defense, someone without a fighting Gift, like Ugly-Eyes here, can take you down in close quarters in no time. With that said, if Bullhorn had been allowed to use his Gift, like in the real world, then Bullhorn still would've got dropped, but he would've been able to use his laser to kill Ugly-Eyes at the same time. So, even if you do learn how to throw a punch, don't start thinking that'll make you tough enough to come out on top against somebody with a really strong Gift."

  When Hadai crushed the notion of truly winning against someone with a more potent Gift, Jareck and some other students were shocked, while others seemed relieved. The only one who appeared relatively unflinched by this news was Keyaxel, the blank expression on his face suggesting that he'd heard such platitudes ad nauseam already.

  "Okay, now, everyone, follow me. I gotta get Bullhorn a checkup. Even if he isn't seriously hurt, this'll take long enough that he'll only be able to walk again by the time we'd be done here."

  As Hadai moved towards the gymnasium's exit while ensuring he went slowly enough for all the kids to follow him, Jareck jogged up next to Keyaxel.

  "Hey, that was pretty cool, Key," Jareck remarked as they walked.

  Smiling hopefully, Key asked, "You really think so?"

  Throwing out an imitation of the punch Key had planted in Tros' torso, Jareck insisted, "Yeah! I wish I knew how to fight like that. Seriously, your brother sounds so cool, showing you all this stuff."

  "Oh, yeah. My big bro's the bes’! So's my big sis."

  "No kiddin'. I wish my family taught me how to fight like that so I could beat up those jerks too."

  Raising his fists excitedly, Key asked, "You wanna train with me, huh? Eh'll be harder withou' my big bro and sis, buh I wan'ed to keep working on the training they showed me."

  "Really? You think I can learn to fight like you too?"

  Pushing through the door to the training room and back out into the halls, Key insisted, "Well, sure. I mean, I did ith, and I'm super weak. I don’ think eh’s hard."

  Hearing Key critique his abilities like that floored Jareck initially. However, he was able to laugh it off, commenting, "If you say so... Is it fun to learn this stuff?"

  "Yeah! Really fun! Eh's wa' me and my big bro and sis did the moss together."

  As Key and Jareck conversed more, neither of them noticed that Nalgo was watching them. The golden-haired boy desperately trying to think of how to approach the friends and get the information that Tros wanted from them.