Zoe thought as she dashed out of the shower room she caught the clock in her sight as she did so. 7:53 she only had seven minutes to get to her first class.

  "Excuse me, Sorry, My bad!" She said as she pushed her way out the door of the dorm and onto the concrete walkway of the plaza. As she stepped outside into the bright sun of the day, she felt a wave of nausea hit her. She wiped her forehead, sweat already dripping. She could not tell if it was from the sun or the humidity, but either way, she had to move fast.

  She moved as fast as she could, which was somewhere between speed walking and running, as she did her best to stay standing upright in this hellish weather.

  As she stepped into the main hall, she felt a wave of relief as the weakness that had been permeating her body was gone. But she did not have time to wait. Quickly, she moved through the hall, her eyes scanning the door signs as she rushed past other students.

  Then she saw the small sign that read "Intro to Awakening and Hunters - Ms.Divisk". Zoe pushed the door open and stepped inside. The large lecture hall was packed, and with what must have been seconds before class was to start, Zoe shot toward the first seat she saw open.

  She let out a sigh of relief as she saw the clock she had made it just in time.

  The woman who stood before a large white board looked up from the stack of papers in her hand and spoke, "I'm Ms.Divisk. I will be your teacher for everything aspiring hunters need to know." Despite her casual tone, her voice boomed as if there were speakers all around them, yet Zoe could not find the source of it.

  "Now, to begin with, who can tell me the difference between an Awakened and a Hunter?" Ms.Divisk asked as her eyes scanned the room, stopping on a young man who looked as if he ate protein powder for breakfast. "You, what do you think the answer is?" She asked, holding her hand out.

  "An Awakened is a person who has Awakened the power of the system, while a Hunter is a job for Awakened." The man's voice carried that same strange echo that made it seem to come from every direction.

  "Good to add on, A hunter is an Awakened that clears dungeons and hunts monsters that have broken out of dungeons." She began to write on the whiteboard behind her. "Now, in order to awaken, one must enter one of the seven towers and clear the tutorial. The goal of this class is to prepare you for clearing the tutorial and beyond."

  An hour later.

  Zoe stepped out of class, looking at the small notebook she had used throughout class. The notes were what most would ask if there notes or scribbles? But she had gotten the gist at the end of the week, the class will enter the first tutorial floor. Which is a solo endeavor. And they will be graded on how many stages they managed to clear, and for a passing grade, she needed to clear up to stage five out of ten.

  Zoe stretched as she began her walk over to the next class. She read off her phone as she tossed her note book in to her bag. Looking at one of the many maps posted around campuses, she was glad to find that the gyms were indoor, meaning no dying of heatstroke for her.

  The walk there did not take long once she knew where it was.

  The gym was massive, clearly made to support all kinds of sports and training. On one side, where a number of training weapons lined up, it had all kinds of weapons from swords and spears to axes and gauntlets. As she looked around for where to wait for class to start, she saw a sign, "Please wait on the opposite side of the room from the weapons."

  Looking over it seemed that most of the class had not arrived yet, so this time Zoe got to pick where to stand. Not wanting to have to deal with anyone else right now, she headed to the back of the small pack of students and leaned on the wall. Over the next few, students shuffled into the gym.

  "I can't believe we got the sword, the saint's daughter is in our class!" She heard one of the boys in a group over say.

  "What? The sword saint's daughter were!?" another asked, looking around frantically.

  At this moment something went off in Zoe's mind her reader senses Zoe's eyes scanned back and forth until she heard the first guy speak once more.

  "Right over there," he said in almost a whisper as he pointed with his hand held low. Zoe's eyes followed it and saw her. She had long blue hair that was tied back in a ponytail. She seemed to glance at the boys only to look away and walk farther to the other side.

  "Did you see that she looked at me!" The first boy exclaimed pointing at him self with a dumb grin.

  "No, why, dude. It was clearly me." The other joked.

  Zoe thought as the excitement calmed down.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  A moment later, as if on cue, a man walked in. He was wearing a simple suit and tie. In his hand was a clipboard that he seemed to be taking notes on. His eyes glanced up at the clock, then back at the students.

  He took a deep breath and spoke. "So you're this year's trainees," His eyes swept over the class, "Looks like we have all kinds of starting points this year." He lazily raised his hand and rubbed the back of his head. "I'm Leon Jackal, I will be your teacher. Don't call me Mr.Jackal or sir or anything else, just Leon."

  He clapped his hands. "Everyone sorts yourselves into where you stand in terms of combat skill and experience," He pointed to the side of the room with the exit door, "That is I'm very bad or I don't know." His arm stretched across the room and stopped at the middle, "If you stand around here, you think you're ok and have done a bit of training," He moved once more, stopping at the far side of the room, "You think you don't need this class, and it's a waste of time. Now sort yourself, don't worry about being perfect, just stand where you think is right."

  Everyone began to move as most of the students moved toward the door, while some stayed near the middle, but only a handful moved over to the other side of the room.

  Zoe was standing in the middle of the low ends. she thought as she waited for everyone to come to a stop.

  "Ok, looks like you're all sorted out," Leon said as he looked at the far side of the room, looking at the few students standing near the wall. He pointed at a large man that Zoe had seen before, he was the one that had answered Ms.Divisk's question. "You come here."

  The man walked up his stride confident. "What is your name?" Leon asked.

  "Ben Davis, Mr.Leon" The man said, towering over the instructor.

  Leon seemed to let out a sigh, but was refocused in the blink of an eye. "I see Ben, it's clear you have trained a lot and you also don't slack on your body. But let's see if you really meet the standard I expect of skill by the end of this class. If you do, I will let you pass the class with a top score without ever having to show up."

  Zoe's mind raced to one word as she heard Leon's offer,

  "Deal!" Ben yelled, seemingly not wanting to give Leon time to take it back.

  "All you need to do is hit me once in three minutes," Leon held up three fingers ."To make it far, I won't use any mana or skills." Leon gestured at the weapons, "You may pick any you like."

  Ben walked over to a large axe-shaped training weapon and picked it up, holding it over his shoulders. "I'm ready." Ben has a wide smile as he spoke. His eyes looked down at Leon.

  "Then you may begin." Leon let out a yawn as he clicked the timer on his stopwatch.

  Ben sprang into action, rushing at Leon, then raised the axe over his head and dropped it. Leon shifted his feet to the side and let the axe fall right past him.

  Murmurs went through the crowd as they watched Ben launch another bunch of attacks, yet not one ever reached Leon, who had barely moved from where he had started.

  Zoe thought as she watched every move that Leon made treated the swings as if they were child's play. Zoe did her best to follow the fight.

  Then the sound of a buzzer rang out. Leon stopped moving and raised his hand, grabbing the training axe mid-swing. "Times up, not as bad as I expected, but you should be there about," Leon pointed about halfway up from the middle.

  "Now, everyone come and grab a weapon. After that you will all pair up with another student for sparing." Leon said as he dusted his hands off. "Oh, wait, if you all come at the same time, it will be too slow. You will come up in groups, let's start with everyone from there to there," Leon said, drawing a line with his finger.

  After a bit, Zoe was in the group called up, she did not hesitate or think about the weapon she would pick. She headed right to a box that was filled with spears with a sandbag on the end in place of a sharp point. She grabbed one and headed back to her spot in line.

  It was even lighter than she had expected. As she held it, she made a mental note to hold back her power until she knew just how much stronger she was.

  "Hay, would you be my sparing partner?" The voice came from right behind Zoe. She spun around and looked at the speaker.

  The voice had come from a young man who had a dumb smile on his face. His blond hair was short and fluffy. "We both picked the spear, so it seems like a good idea to train together, right?" He said with a dumb smile on his face.

  "Why not?" Zoe held out her hand, "I'm Zoe, you?"

  "Ivan," He said, shaking her hand.

  Zoe took her hand back and looked around. Seeing they had a bit of time left, she asked the first question that came to mind, "So, have you ever trained with the spear before?"

  "Nope, but I have heard it's the simplest weapon to learn," Ivan said, shoving one hand in his pocket. "You?"

  "Same here," Zoe replied, then she just stood there, not sure what to say. She had never been very good at talking with others, a side effect of spending every moment she could away from others.

  Leon's voice boomed out, "Everyone find a sparing partner and begin. Be careful not to stand too close to another group." Zoe started to move towered the open space near the center of the gym. She came to a stop once she felt they had enough room and turned around, facing Ivan. "You ready?" She asked as she held the spear out in her hands, copying the form she had seen from HEMA videos.

  "Yep," Ivan said as he did the same.

  Zoe felt the world around her sharpen as she focused on Ivan. The minty smell of gym cleaner, the sound of her own heart beating, and the clash of wooden weapons all around her filled her senses.

  Then she moved, thrusting her spear forth, aiming at Ivan's chest. Ivan swung his spear, and the clatter of the wooden spears striking each other filled the air. Zoe pulled back to try and ready another attack, only for Ivan to push forward, forcing her onto her back foot.

  Zoe's eyes flicked down, then she shifted her spear as she turned her body, thrusting it forth once more. Aiming it for Ivan's leg, at the same time Ivan moved his spear aimed for her stomach. It came down to the speed of their attack.

  Zoe felt the wind leave her body as she fell back, words falling to the ground at the same time Ivan fell back, his hand dropping the spear and shooting to his leg.

  Zoe thought as she sat up feeling air fill her lungs once more.

  Zoe pushed herself up, then lowered the spear and pulled back her leg, "Again?" She asked.

  "Again," a smile spread across Ivan's face.

  Everything seemed to fade away as they launched into another round.

  Zoe could not help but to start smiling She thought as she swung her spear forcing Ivan to step back. she realized as she pushed forward thrusting the spear at his chest. Zoe could not believe it in her last life any form of exercise was torture but right now she was having fun doing it.

  At the last moment, Ivan managed to side-step her thrust and launched an attack of his own. The thrust came fast, but Zoe had been ready. She slammed her spear against Ivan's. She felt her arms vibrate from the force of the blow.

  She pushed forward in spite of it, stopping just short of Ivan's thought. "And round two is my win." She panted out, she whipped her forehead.

  "Don't worry, I will take the next one!" Ivan pulled his spear back and leaned it against himself.

  Zoe opened her mouth to speak, then stopped as she smelt something sweet and savory. She could not help but turn her head to see where it was coming from. She saw another student. His hand was clasped around the wooden training sword held by the sword saint's daughter.

  He eyes froze as she saw a small drop of blood fall form his hand, her hand shoot over her mouth as she realized what she had just thought. She turned to Ivan, whose eyes were locked on the sight of the man holding back the wooden sword.

  "I- I have to use the bathroom." Zoe stuttered out as she dropped her spear and ran out of the room.