Squad seventeen; the name of the squad Ayuki and Ryuzo recently joined. Besides Aisha and Eran, the other three members were still unknown. Two of them were injured, but where was the other person so far?

For the time being though, any meetup with the new squad wasn't going to happen anytime soon due to the busy schedule of all the Order recruits. On the first day as recruits so far, it was only physical training in the forest, an obstacle course more intense than the simple one during the GA. Right now, however, the Barrier Tag training was in process.

All the recruits wore a badge with their name displayed on the front and backside of their clothes. Everyone could call out to their names, and it also made clear who the recruits were.

Hyu Taile, the appointed instructor for this training, raised up his right hand. "This glove is specifically designed for you to combine it with any Tag," Taile said as he pointed towards the glove he was wearing. "This is part of the official gear an Elite has to wear. Throughout the whole SA program, it will be advised to wear it."

Ten persons handed out the special glove and the Barrier Tag separately to almost all the recruits—those who didn't get one were, for some reason, already wearing it from the beginning.

Ayuki inspected the glove she just received. It was made out of leather with some extra protection placed on the outside. Odd enough, it was a four-fingered glove, the part of the ring and middle finger was stitched together with a small pocket attached to it.

Taile waited until all the items were distributed before he continued. "The Barrier Tag is the most important Tag you'll need for survival in the outside world. If you use it well, you won't die. We will first train your body to instinctively react to every danger, and train your eyes to see any potential danger coming. Now, if you all, please attach the Barrier Tag in the glove's pocket."

Everyone did as instructed, and shortly after, a couple of barriers activated among the recruits. People shouted in anger or surprise because some of them got pushed away by the barrier—some people even fell. What's happening?

"I see some of you already discovered it, Taile said. "The glove makes it easier to activate the Barrier Tag. You won't need to hold it anymore; the glove will do that for you. Now, if everyone, please spread out and make enough space to practice your barrier for a bit. All you need to do is clench your hand into a fist, and the Tag will activate."

All the recruits started practicing. Ayuki looked at Ryuzo's barrier; it was still a surprise to see how large it was in comparison to others. Those who saw it also kept staring at it in awe. It's a shame he couldn't discover his ability, but the existence of Tags is a fortunate invention for him.

To be honest, I didn't think Ryuzo would accept the offer of joining squad seventeen. I could tell through my ability that he didn't necessarily dislike people, but he still had a lot of trust issues going on. Does he perhaps trust me enough now? He better be, we're teammates now. Aisha did tell me that Ryuzo only seems to talk "normally" around me, hence the reason why she requested me to ask him in the first place.

"Okay. We will proceed to the next step." Taile walked towards a ball rack while he stretched right arm forward. His Fes activated as one of the balls started to float in the air at shoulder level.

"Ohh," or "Wow," some people said in reaction to the floating ball. From the looks of it, Taile's ability was something like telekinesis.

"Using a barrier will keep draining your Fes output, so holding it up for a long duration can cost a lot of Fes. The move I will teach you is called 'quick shield'—a move that is essential to master with a minimal Fes usage. Now, first a demonstration."

The ball moved in a circular motion before it rapidly flew towards Taile himself. At a close distance from impact, he activated his barrier. The ball bounced back. His barrier vanished before the ball could even drop to the ground.

"The quick shield is simply a short duration of the barrier used at the right moment. You will save a lot of Fes, which allows you to use the barrier more often. Inside here, our Fes output can run out, but it will regenerate—outside, you can't regenerate your Fes. Never spend too much Fes than necessary, it may cost you your life."

Taile quickly gazed everyone in the eyes. "Alright, now all of you will have to put my demonstration into practice." Before anyone could respond, Taile sent the ball flying to the closest person near him. The man got hit in the face. "What did I just say? Clench your fist, it's not rocket science! Again!"

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The man used the Tag now that protected himself from all of Taile's attacks, but he didn't deactivate the barrier between each attack. His eyes were even closed.

"Don't stay behind your shield like a coward! Next one!"

The ball moved to a different target. Most people already activated the barrier in fear of Taile's next attack before the ball even got near them.

"Don't use it so early! It's a waste of energy!" Taile went to each person and picked out a target to attack within a flash. "Vanessa! Look! Look with your eyes; your hands won't do it for you."

"Y—yes Hyu!" Vanessa shouted. She kept covering her face with her hands; she probably wasn't familiar with the Barrier Tag yet. The ball hit her stomach a couple of times. That must have hurt. You could hear the sound of every impact.

Thanks to Dedroy, I was at least used to the Barrier Tag now—activating it wasn't a problem for me.

"Ayuki! You're overusing your barrier, make the duration shorter. Again!" The ball kept slamming into Ayuki's barrier until she managed to do it right, for a couple of times at least. Okay. It's harder than it looks.

Next up was Ryuzo. He did a pretty good job not to waste much Fes in the beginning, but still got hit from time to time near the end. "Don't close your eyes during the attack! Keep your focus together!"

Eventually, more balls started to join the picture. Taile couldn't control more than two balls, but he could choose which one to use and switch to a different one whenever he liked. Focusing on one attack was one thing but concentrating on multiple attacks was insane. Sometimes a ball struck you in the back when you dropped your guard after a front attack.

When the ball hits you, it feels like a massive punch—the pain distracts you for a second or three. Taile was kind enough not to attack immediately at those moments, giving everyone the time to regain their poise. It wasn't easy, but it felt important to have such kind of training. The barrier is, after all, the main reason everyone's still safe here. Taile even showed us some mercy. In the outside world, there will be no place for mercy, so they say at least.

"This is quite tough," Ryuzo said, gasping for air.

"It is." Ayuki kneeled on the floor to rest. According to the schedule, we'll be doing this every day—"

No reply from Ryuzo, he just lowered his head even further. He's obviously not looking forward to it.

At the end of the training, you literally saw people lying on the ground from exhaustion. Most recruits had many difficulties with the Barrier exercise, but there were still a few of them who flawlessly executed the quick shield.

"Haha, it's great to see Taile so active again!" a slightly muscled woman said. She had long blond hair in a ponytail, and her badge had the name Elizabeth written. She was also one of the experienced ones. "You can tell he likes to train new people," she said with a smirk.

"It's a waste of energy! Again! Again!" Another guy said laughingly, imitating Taile's attacking movements. He had a scar on his chin and was called Yuu according to his badge. "Oh, I did miss those days."

"Do you also notice the difference in recruits here?" Ayuki asked Ryuzo. "Like those people for example. They had already the Barrier Tag in possession, and they mastered the quick shield too."

"Yeah, of course, I noticed it," Ryuzo said. "They are obviously the recruits from the previous SA. So—they didn't pass the last exams and joined up with our program."

Ah, now it makes sense. The SA does have a minimum duration of two months, upon failure it will be extended. Those talented recruits didn't pass the exams? I wonder how difficult the exams are then...

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"Hyo, what are your feelings about this month's recruits?"

Jullian was watching the recruits from a distance. Seeing people train, people that do their best, always seem to calm him down. He almost forgot that a person asked him a question. "Good. Again, we have some interesting recruits. Besides our potential royal miss, we have the son of Zefrick finally participating; his GA report was excellent, much better than his father. We have a rare intruder with an ability that needs more investigation. We can't jump to any conclusion yet, but her ability might be very promising. There's a Nofes with an unexpected high Fes output." Jullian pointed at the ones he just spoke about. "Both their past lives are not in our records; it's a complete mystery. Ah, and before I forget, I'm also looking forward to that young girl, the daughter of Elmin. Their family has always been a great support to the Order."

"Is that so? I wasn't aware of the other ones besides Elizabeth and the intruder. I shall need to read their reports then, how promising. So, uhm, are they the reason why this SA looks rather... more difficult?"

Jullian never paid much attention to the annoying person standing next to him, but it was better not to ignore a question from an Observer. "No. The program is based on what I see as necessary. If our circumstances become more troublesome, then our countermeasures need to compensate it. That is all."

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The following training days remained difficult, but Ayuki didn't expect things to go this fast. On already the third day, all the recruits assembled in front of the gate of the city walls—the same gate Ayuki passed through on her first day coming here.

"Ryuzo, tell me what's happening," Ayuki said in disbelief. Nothing was mentioned about the reason for being there, not one word.

Ryuzo kept staring at the gates. "I'm not sure, but it looks like we're going outside."

"Wasn't going outside the goal of being an Elite? This isn't what I expected from the SA." Ayuki's heart started to beat faster.

"I thought so too. Perhaps they just wanted to show us the gates."

"Open the gates!" The guards yelled, and the gates started to move.

Other recruits also started to panic now. Nobody saw it coming, but in the next training —they're about to witness their first up-close encounter with the Dark nature.