CHAPTER 51: SAME DAMNING PHASE

The free days were finally over, and it was time for basic training. The academy’s schedule for freshmen was a four-day training, a free day, a day for hunting trips, and another free day.

The last free day was supposed to be free, but Eric and the others were on detention, so it wasn’t a free day for them.

Gary complained the most. He suffered the most from the detention as he kept reliving the subtle taunts he received from Borus, about his father’s sword.

Silver claimed the heat had damaged one or two of his internal organs. He even went to the hospital before which the old man chased him away with guards.

Only Bart felt refreshed about the detention. He even joked about looking for trouble so he could be served another round of detention.

Eric on the other hand had found the Blacksmith man, Borus, entertaining. His brusque character could have been because he was always alone in the heat, forging weapons all day long.

Eric had learnt a lot with Borus. He was now more curious about soul weapons, and he was eager to learn even more when he visits Borus again. He must discover the reason behind soup weapons, and how he was able to control other people’s weapons, because even the system restricted that information from him.

The only people who enjoyed detention were Opal and Mantra, for just like Silver predicted, Lancel practiced no sternness toward them.

They only read a history book to him after which he dozed off immediately. So, it was like they used detention to gain more knowledge rather than be punished

Mantra had surprisingly found a friend in Opal, and Eric was more astonished when he found Mantra on the top bunk of Opal’s when he woke up. That space belonged to Bastion, but since no one could get him to sleep on his bed, Mantra eagerly occupied the space.

Eric now felt even more uncomfortable that two females are in the room with them, and they wouldn’t even stop chatting like long-lost friends.

If there was anyone happy to have Mantra in the room, it was Silver. He wouldn’t stop smiling and cracking silly jokes. Eric noticed he’d added more gel to his hair this morning and he stayed longer in the bathroom than usual. If Mantra noticed his silent advances, then she must have pretended she didn’t, because she wouldn’t even look at his side. Yet Silver kept playing smooth.

"Hell of a simp," he muttered.

Everyone was set to leave for training when the door swung open and Bart jumped in.

’Aww, c’mon. Who will be joining next? Kieran? Must the hunting team be complete now?’ Eric cringed.

"Bart!" Silver shouted as he ran toward him. It was hard to tell who Silver liked the most between Bart and Mantra. Bart simply patted him on the shoulder with a smile.

"Oh, everyone is ready," his voice boomed. "Hi, Mantra. Hi, Opal. Hi, Gary. Where’s Bastion?"

Eric realized he didn’t say hi to him, but at the same time, he only moved toward Eric. "Let’s go, Eric."

Opal, being unnecessarily defensive, asked why Bart was in their dorm instead of heading straight to the training ground. Bart simply said he was using Eric as a human repellant to everyone’s confusion.

He explained further.

"You must know I’m the number one ranker. But that spot only got me annoying leeches, always eager to be friends with me. But all they wanted was to be on a strong side and try to make the academy easier for them, as if it’s any easier for me. So, I’m using Eric as a human repellant because as you may have realized, everyone hates Eric. If they see me with Eric, they won’t come close. So, yeah. Human repellant."

Opal gasped. "That’s cruel of you, Bart, to blurt out something like that!"

But Eric was slightly amused. Never has he heard someone speak something so damning, yet so truthfully.

If Bart was going to use him as a human repellant and even speak of it like it’s nothing, then he must have nothing to hide unlike the others. He looked like a promising companion should they get to be closer than this.

The group probably expected a horrific reaction from Eric because they looked shocked when he took Bart’s hand in a firm handshake.

"Let’s go repel some humans, shall we?" Eric looked happy. It was the first time they saw Eric brighten up like that.

Silver and Gary jumped after them, and Silver was already thinking of a name for their group. "Let’s call it ’The Antihuman squad."

"No," countered Gary. "I prefer ’Die, humans.’"

"That’s lame."

Opal and Mantra shook their heads in disbelief.

"Boys."

"You tell me," replied Mantra.

The training session for that day was taken by Eleanor, the archery master. But to their amazement, she wasn’t there for archery lessons.

Lancel had taught them all they needed to know about brute attacks and the basic attacking stances they could know. Most of them were now versatile in what Lancel taught.

But Eleanor was there to elaborate more about stances and how best to use their footwork as an advantage in combat.

She grabbed a training sword and went to the training dummies. She set the attack speed to the highest level and stood ready at such a short distance from the dummies, waiting for the prop arrows to start shooting.

Eric remembered how he’d lost woefully during his test after he lost focus against the dummies. He’d have made better use of his agility and speed to get a better score even though the dummy was not set to the highest level.

But what Eleanor was showing them had nothing to do with speed. A little agility was needed, but she made it seem like it doesn’t even matter.

She swung her sword and knocked a few arrows down while she danced around the rest. They all watched thinking she was going to get hit at least once, but her gentle but swift movements were unparalleled.

Eric remembered how Silk was moving the day he spied on him. Although the steps weren’t similar with Eleanor’s, he knew these masters must have trained hard enough to not get hit in battle with their sleek moves.

They all lined up after the show and were made to follow Eleanor’s slow movements while standing on their toes all through.

It wasn’t something easy, as a few students actually broke their toes in the process while the rest carried on until even more toes were broken.

Eleanor eventually ended the class and motioned for Mantra to follow her. Mantra was going to be training specially as an archer, so they must have some sort of rapport already.

One would have thought a few dancing steps wouldn’t wear them out that much, but by the time they finished, they were just as tired as they would be if it was Master Lancel’s class.

Eric searched around for the others so they could leave the training ground together. He’s found moving in group like that had saved him from constant bullying and offensive words as of late, so he was willing to accept the company of his roommates.

But he received a notification from the system. A damning one.

[YOUR HUNGER GROWS]

[MANA BANK: 0/0]

[HUNGER LEVEL: 25%]

A bead of sweat broke out of Eric’s forehead. He’s now back to being hungry. Back to being faced with the curse he had to nurse from getting the system.

He knew he was going to need human mana soon, but it wasn’t supposed to be this soon. The last time he checked, he still had 101 mana units in the mana bank.

But after remembering that he’d consumed three beast mana when he was going to save Kieran from the Shade Stalkers, it all.made sense. Beast mana uses up stored human mana which would otherwise have been used to satisfy his hunger for a while.

101 units have now been reduced to 0 zero, and he could barely stay normal when his hunger level reaches 70%.

At 25%, he can only last a few hours with nothing in his mana bank.

There was only one way out if he was not going to enter his beast mode and start attacking every student in the academy, and that was to find a way to get out of the academy.

Down the forked road, up the hills, Opal had mentioned a bandits hideout. He was going to hunt there. But first he must get out of the gates without being seen by the guards.

He clutched his stomach as he staggered out of the training ground, his companions forgotten.

For him to sneak out, he must find help. ’who would help?’

’Silver? Opal? Gary? Bart? Mantra? Heck, Kieran? Silk?’

’Heck, where’s Bastion? That boy moves like a ghost.’

’I guess only Bastion can help me now.’