5 (old): First Day On Campus

This is the original version of chapter 5. As of June 24th, 3-6 were restructured and new scenes added to 5. The expanded version can be found here.

---

It felt like no time at all had passed before the student who’d reserved this terminal for the next time block arrived, leaving Auren adrift. With the system information terminals fully occupied, it seemed the morning students had properly arrived.

The warden did mention it’d be busy in the mornings. Sighing, Auren looked around just once more, but sure enough, every terminal was claimed. Mainly by people who looked like they were still asleep or about to fall over if not for the sheer anxiety on their faces.

He could go to the books side and continue browsing, but with the memory of the full video instructions so fresh in his mind simple text didn’t quite hold up. Assuming he could even figure out which of the complicated-sounding titles were relevant.

Besides, if his stomach had anything to say about it, he should go hunt down some breakfast. He was practically starving now that he thought about it. He didn’t even remember the last time he’d eaten.

The warden looked up from the book he was holding when Auren arrived, his face crunching up again. "What's up? Why are you disturbing me now?"

"I’d like to reserve a system terminal for tonight into the morning."

"Tomorrow morning?"

"Yes, in the night. From midnight to 5 a.m. or 6 a.m.—whenever I can book it until."

The man hummed under his breath. "Yeah, you should have a free slot. I'll sign you up for the seventh system information terminal from 12:00 to 5:30 tomorrow. Good?"

Auren nodded. "That works for me."

The man frowned at him for a second before scanning his uniform logo. "All right, that's that. You can leave now. No need to keep disturbing me."

Auren nodded politely with a smile before leaving the library.

According to what Madam Elsie had said, both the reception and the dining hall should be close to the main entrance. He decided to go to the reception first to get his scheduling details, and then he would go to the dining hall and eat. A lot. He wondered if they would let him refill his food or if it was only a single portion. The academy looked rich, but then again, he was a scholarship student, so Titans only knew how the treatment would be.

—

Dawn had broken while he was distracted, and in the early morning light the academy was already alive with activity. The reception was already bustling. He even passed several people on the steps down from the library, despite the early hour.

The receptionist—a woman who was wearing the exact same white robes he'd seen Madam Elsie wear—stood talking to a handful of students. By the time he reached them, the students finished with whatever they were asking and left.

The receptionist turned her attention towards Auren. "What brings you here today, student?"

"Oh, I just joined yesterday, and my dorm keeper told me to choose my classes, grab my schedule, and various other things here."

The receptionist quirked an eyebrow but nodded. "Quite the late admission you are." She pulled out the same type of scanner that the librarian had used and scanned his uniform's logo before checking her terminal. "It seems that Lord Keine has already allotted you your classes. That explains it."

"Does it?”

"Normally, students select their own starting classes. Since each of you has unique abilities that are specialized in one direction, the Academy allows you to choose from the available options based on your capabilities. However, since you're a late admission and also a special case, it seems Lord Keine has already allotted you your classes as if you were an existing student with a direct mentorship.” She tapped something on the visual interface and pages began printing out.

He couldn’t help but notice they were crisp and clear, none of the grey squiggles across the page like the machines the Hospice Center had to put up with. He was given several thick, sturdy pages and a full color map. Even the schedules had color-coded sections, showing which weeks were combat focus and which theory.

"You’ll be in the second year, second semester, primary classes with Lord Vrann and Lord Harding. Those and the map should be enough for your journey in the Academy. Of course, if you feel like you need anything more or you have any questions, you can approach me, your dorm keeper, or most professors, really."

Auren nodded. "Thank you. I appreciate it."

She smiled at him before flashing a look of sympathy. "Professor Vrann, huh? You're going to be in for a hard, hard time."

"Hard time? Why so?" Auren asked, still curious.

"Well, Professor Vrann has..." The receptionist hesitated, grimacing. "...quite the infamous reputation. You'll find out, though. You look like a strong man. I'm sure you'll manage."

“The dining hall is… that way?” Auren guessed, pointing towards one of the doors.

“Not quite.” She gestured towards the corridor behind her. "If you’re hungry, you’re right on time for breakfast. The dining hall can get occupied quickly. Plenty of people just grab food and eat outside. But if you want to refill—which, based on your appearance, I do think you will—then it is better that you occupy a seat inside."

Auren nodded. "Thank you for your advice." Papers in hand, he walked towards the dining hall.

With the map, it wasn't too hard to navigate, even though it was in an entirely different wing: the north wing. He walked out the back of the reception hall and into the interior of the academy. While the front walkway had been quite grand, lined with forest on either side as it had been, the interior courtyard was even more so.

Low flowerbeds lined the walkways, dividing the courtyard around crystal-clear fountains. Benches were liberally scattered throughout, and in the patio just outside the dining hall were dozens of small elegant metal wrought tables with matching chairs, many of which were occupied.

Arches and pillars and broad colonnades surrounded it in the same pentagon shape that he’d observed from inside, dormitories and lecture halls rising to four or five stories on four sides and an open-sided chapel with statues of the Five Guardian Titans: Lucero, the savior of Zalrieth; Azean, the First Titan; Suris, of strategy and benevolent guidance; Maeris, the titan of purity and compassion; and Halthin of persistence and determination.

But while it had been elegant and impressive through a window in the night, the whole courtyard came alive as a bustling commons in the brilliant grey of dawn. Towers, spires, castle balconies…

The overpass network was a fascinating thing. Because the academy was built around a large, castle-like building, there were many bridges and towers.

The dining hall doors were grand, much larger than even the library doors, and made out of what looked like pure, tempered glass. He walked to one and pushed it open by the handle. The dining hall was just beginning to get occupied. There were four doors, one on each side, and a few students popped in through each door every few seconds.

He walked past one of the tables to the food being served. It was a buffet, as far as he could tell, and the dishes on display made his mouth water. There was a small sign above the food with the dishes' names and whether they were refillable or not. A few specific dishes—surprisingly plants, not meat, that were clearly mana-imbued based on the description—were limited, each student allowed only one serving. Some were restricted to higher ranks. But the rest? The entire row of food was his to consume as he liked.

With his mouth drooling, he stood up from the bench he'd occupied in the front. As soon as he had sat, it flashed his name along with a "RESERVED" symbol, clearly to tell others he was sitting there.

As he reached the stack of plates one of the workers—a chef perhaps, by his uniform—looked at him with a frown. "I’ll need to scan for your identity."

Auren nodded and offered the Academy logo clipped near his collar. "Will this suffice?"

"Of course. Are you a first year, a second year, or a third year?"

"Second year.” First day, but year two was what it said on his schedule.

The man nodded before tilting his head lightly. "I've never seen you around," the man said curiously. But then he scanned the logo on Auren's uniform before he ooh'd. "Oh, you're a new student. Anything you need me to explain, or do you understand how things work?"

"I think I understand." Auren picked up a plate and stepped toward the first bay, containing a steaming grain dish that looked like it had been boiled and then fried with vegetables and strips of meat. "All the dishes marked 'refillable' are ones I can come back for more of freely, right?"

The man chuckled. "You’ve figured it out. It is a very intuitive system, though, if I say so myself."

Auren grinned at the rows and rows of food. Titans, he was going to have so much fun.

Initially, he assumed they would eventually stop him from refilling his plate. But they didn’t, so he continued to refill his plate. He realized around his fourth refill that the food he was eating didn't actually seem to settle in his stomach. He could feel himself chewing it, but it never seemed to land. As though it was being converted directly into energy to fill some mass deficit. He felt slightly rejuvenated, but the hunger was still immensely present. And so he continued eating.

By the time he reached his eighth refill, he thought for sure they must be getting ready to throw him out. But none of the cooks seemed to care, so he continued.

A tenth refill. A fifteenth.

Initially, the chefs and the cooks had been unbothered. Then they started flashing him discreet glances. At this point, they were simply staring at him with wide eyes, as if stunned that he was still going.

Which was a reasonable response. He’d been at this for most of an hour and had seen whole tables of people come and go and be replaced by others who also finished and left.

Even Auren wondered if he should just stop. But his deep hunger was only now beginning to be sated.

It was just food, in the end. Even if it was an unimaginable bounty to him, here it was perfectly normal to bring out tray after tray of a dozen different fantastic breakfasts. It wasn't like the academy would punish him for eating.

So he continued. The plates seemed to blur, though he did vary the foods he chose and his refills were hearty. They had to replenish a few of the buffet items just to keep up with him.

By the time he took his plate up for the thirtieth or so time, the chef finally came out from behind the counter and walked towards his bench. Considering he was sitting close by, the chef didn't have to walk too far.

The man leaned down—since Auren was sitting—and whispered, "Student, I understand that you're hungry, but this is too much."

"Too much?" Auren asked innocently, even though he knew what the man meant.

"I have a lot of students to feed. You're taking very large portions. If you continue at this rate, you'll have individually eaten almost a hundred students' worth of food."

Auren smiled bashfully. "Ah..."

"And I know that for the academy, doing this sounds really petty,” the man continued gently, “but we carefully portion the food, you see. We do keep a few extra portions just in case, but since we usually know how much each student eats, if someone eats too much, other students will miss out on their food."

Auren chuckled. "I understand. I'll leave."

The chef smiled apologetically. "It does make me happy to see you enjoying our food so greatly, but it is not in my hands. I’ve already cooked everything we have in stock. All we have left are the animal entrails we use to feed the tamed beasts, and that’s hardly something we could cook for a student.” He laughed slightly, clearly trying to soften the eviction.

But Auren looked at the man, his expression fully serious. "Why not?"

The chef blinked. "What do you mean, 'why not'?" he tilted his head.

"Why not feed me the entrails?" Auren asked, completely serious. "With your cooking ability, I imagine anything would taste delicious." And he did mean it sincerely; every single dish they cooked was amazing.

As someone who had resided in the slums, there were days he had to drink animal's blood and make do with every single piece of their meat. He wasn't someone who would be squeamish about entrails, of all things.

The chef didn't seem to know what to say for a few seconds before he took on a more contemplative expression. "Well, we do have a few younger chefs, and them practicing on those dishes would be good for their experience." He stroked his chin. "But wouldn't that be disrespectful to a student?"

"I don't mind."

"Even if they don’t taste the best?”

“Even if they don’t taste the best,” Auren confirmed.

“Alright then, wait here.”

—

Roderick walked up to the newbie cooks with a grin on his face. He had been thinking of a way of getting them some experience—what better than letting them cook meals that they could mess up, as long as they were safe meals? This was genius!

As soon as the ten of them saw him—some occupied with a task, some already done and hence loitering around—they knew he had some idea brewing in his head, and so they straightened up.

“Listen up, newbies,” he said, looking at them one by one, “One of the students, someone who really loves food, wants you to experiment.”

“Experiment?” One of the more courageous newbies—Debora—asked, “What do you mean, sir?”

“He wants to eat whatever you can cook with the leftovers. Entrails, blood, that sort of stuff.” Roderick explained, “Go wild. Just make sure it is cooked well.”

The newbies blinked blankly at his explanation.

“Pick a recipe and get started.”

The kitchen slid back into motion, people beginning to rush around and shout out what they needed. It would be an interesting meal, for sure.

Roderick also mentally noted that he should increase their pre-planned portion size in the future. The student added an easy extra hundred portions himself, after all.

—

“Enjoy—we made enough for you to eat multiple servings,” the chef said, and he and his colleagues placed all the food on his table.

“Thank you,” Auren replied, to which all of them responded in varying manners. The chef grinned and nodded, whereas the others just looked at him in bafflement.

It was only when they walked away did Auren look around and notice all the gazes that he’d attracted—the students sitting around stared at him in clear confusion, but he ignored their gazes and dug in.

The dishes that the chef brought out were quite delicious—delicious enough that he continued to eat a few more servings. It was only around his fifteenth serving that he finally began to feel satiated and let out a deep, hearty, genuine sigh. Oh, the pleasure of being able to eat all he wanted.

It was then that he heard a voice next to him. "You truly do eat like a berserker."

He looked up, only to meet Raden’s eyes—the teenager was staring at him in wonder.

"When did you get here?" Auren asked.

"Oh, about ten servings ago. I've been eating slowly and watching your show." He pointed towards a bench in the distance. “I was sitting over there. I’m skipping my next class, so I’m done for the day, and you should be free too since it's your first day, right? We have essentially the whole day left, except for a tiny bit for self-study; what do you want to do?"

“Why are you skipping the next class?”

“I skip most theory classes. Off weeks with such classes, I spend most of my time training on my own. We’ll be a bit busier starting from tomorrow, once Professor Vrann’s back on the rotation.”

“Vrann? Oh, I think the receptionist mentioned him when she was handing me my schedule.”

“You got your schedule?!” Raden exclaimed, leaning closer, “Which class did you fall in?”

Auren obediently handed Raden his timetable, and the teenager let his eyes wander over it. He then squealed. “You’re in my class! Nice! I knew Lord Keine won’t let me down!”

Auren chuckled, “So, just who is Professor Vrann? The receptionist seemed to pity me for getting him.”

“Combat instructor for second years and up. He’s absolutely brutal.” Raden’s enthusiasm wasn’t at all dampened as he said this. If anything, he seemed more excited by the prospect of a brutal instructor.

Auren felt similarly at the prospect. The more brutal the instructor, the more progress Auren would likely make, after all. "So, what do you suggest we do today?"

"How about you train with me? I have an entire plan for you. We'll do cardio for two hours and then swim for two hours. Finally, we can do some parkour training for two hours. And for the last two hours of the day, we can train with dummies, or you can do it with me. Maybe we can split that into an hour each. So, you down for that?"

Auren blinked. "I am, but what about breaks?" He had his Healer class, so there wouldn't be much of a problem for him. But for someone like Raden who couldn't just heal instantly, wouldn't his body wear out at that rate?

"Oh, we can just go to the medic and get our injuries healed by a cleric or a warlock. It's completely fine. At the end of every two-hour session, we can just reset back to our healthiest."

Auren blinked. "Wow." 

Raden really was intense. 

Auren grinned. “You know what? That sounds like a perfect plan.”

—

Raden led him out of the training grounds and into the academy once more, chattering his ears away.

To Auren's surprise, none of the rest of Raden’s group seemed to be around. "Won't your friends be tagging along?"

Raden pouted at that and shook his head. "Nah, they’re way less dedicated than you. They don't want to take part in my training session every day. Only once a week! Really, I tell them determination and strength are what’s needed to progress in life. And my training sequences are fun! Not those boring ‘do the same drill all day for weeks’ kind. Rotating styles, working on different capabilities. The more disciplined you are and the more training you take part in, the better off you’ll be and the faster you’ll advance.”

Auren nodded. Yeah, he agreed with Raden to a certain extent. Now that they had the opportunity to train, push themselves to the brink, and advance, why shouldn't they take it?

“They just don't understand. You, however," he turned towards Auren with a grin, "you get it. We’re going to absolutely dominate next year. I can feel it."

As they continued to talk, they climbed beyond the east wing.

On the next floor, Raden took him to the right corridor before leading him to a doorway which was pitch black and completely closed, about the size of the library doors, except not glass.

"This, my friend, is the indoor training ground. There is an outdoor-specific training ground, but this one’s slightly more intense." He winked at Auren and opened the door. "This one is normally used by the third- and fourth-years. But I’m well known enough, even amidst the third-years, they won't disturb us."

Auren nodded. Third years' training facility, he wondered how it would look.

Immediately, the people resting at the entrance turned towards them, seemingly wanting to see who dared disturb them.

Auren paused, meeting their eyes.

As soon as they saw Raden enter behind him, however, they simply went back to their business of massaging their muscles, ignoring them again.

Raden dragged Auren towards the edge of the room while Auren stared around at his surroundings with awe. All around him were machines, all kinds of unique machines, things that he'd only seen on the internet. Running mats, parkour sets at the edge, and an entire swimming pool at the very center of the room. There were even multiple lanes within the pool.

Raden grinned at him. "First, we start with some running. Come, come."

Auren followed him to a pair of the running mats, which seemed quite plain against the floor. If not for them being slightly lowered, no one would even notice they were present.

"So, since we need to push ourselves to the maximum limit," Raden said, "Running mat, go to max speed! Running mat three and four, activate!"

As soon as he said so, the running mat beneath both Raden's feet and Auren's feet immediately began to zip backward.

There was no warm-up, no preparation. Immediately, Auren had to run, run with as much speed as he could muster, large lunges like he was running for his very life.

If he stopped for even a second, he would be flung back so hard that broken bones would be the least of his worries, even though he could heal them. Even with the springy flooring material, he’d end up worse than skinned if he hit it at this speed.

Auren ran. And once he got into the flow of it, once his healing began to kick in and his muscles continued to heal, and he found renewed energy to keep running, it became almost meditative. There was nothing but him and the artificial wind keeping them from overheating, moving and moving and moving.

He didn't interrupt his posture or make any odd movements, so he didn't turn to see how Raden was doing. Only kept running and running, more and more, faster and faster, until he actually had to consciously hold himself back to not run off the mat entirely.

He didn’t know how long it was before Raden's voice broke his concentration, strained and gasping, "Three and four, please stop!" He was barely able to say it out loud. 

The mats slowed gradually down to a stop instead of abruptly halting, letting Auren ease back to a normal standing position.

Auren was panting slightly, but his body itself was only slightly sore. He could even go as far as to say that the running felt good, that he wasn't fatigued much at all, except for momentary soreness.

Raden looked up at him with a glint in his eye while panting and holding onto his knees. Within just a few seconds, he stopped panting and stood up straight with a grin. "It seems I finally found a worthy opponent, haven't I? It is going to be fabulous to compete with you, Auren."

Auren could help it, he grinned back. “I’ve been wanting to improve anyway.” Raden’s excitement was infectious, and the thrill of pushing himself to new heights made him feel alive like he never had before.

"You're in luck. I’ve got a full training room reserved every evening for two hours. Otherwise, those things are quite in demand, you know. You have to book them months in advance. My slot is…” he checked his watch. “A little over four hours from now. So how about this… For our swimming cardio, let's see who can last longer. Instead of the original two hours, let's test our endurance for three, or even all four hours. We can always do the parkour training in our own time."

Auren raised his eyebrows. That did sound quite interesting, yes. It would probably develop a great amount of flexibility and nimbleness for him.

"Naturally, you know that underwater dungeons exist, yes?”

“Dungeons can exist anywhere, in theory.” Auren had heard that several times.

“Yes, but several of the really good advancement ones around here are subaquatic. At least the ones that aren’t fully controlled by royals or the Order. Hence, our swimming ability is a must. It doesn't matter how you survive this—even if you sink, continue to swim, or decide to trudge through the water, that's all up to you.” Raden hadn’t stopped grinning this entire time, all but clapping with excitement. "This is going to be fun! Do you know how to swim?"

"The basics, yes." Auren had, at a certain point when he was younger, been taught by his then-foster-mom how to swim. All he really knew was the basics: being able to tread water, and paddle himself slowly toward shore. 

"Then let's get swimming, shan't we?" Raden led Auren towards two of the swimming lanes. “But through its turbulence, if you can last for an entire two hours… I will be very, very impressed, because even I have to take breaks in the middle for this one, or at least consult our resident med cleric."

He nodded to one end of the room, to a woman Auren hadn't noticed before. She wore similar white professor clothes and sat watching all of them silently. When she saw that Auren was looking at her, she met his gaze. Her blue eyes were completely cold, matching her blue hair and pale skin.

"She’ll be able to heal us if we sustain some intense damage or drown a little. So, let's see who can last the longest without breaks. I'm pretty confident I can last two hours."

Auren chuckled. "Me too." He had the self heal ability, after all. He was pretty sure he literally could not drown because he would heal over and over again. Though it would probably not be pleasant, he couldn’t help but wonder how long he could last.

Auren started to take off his blazer, but before he could further disrobe, Raden simply tackled him into the water.

Auren yelped in surprise, but his old instincts only took a second to surface and he started treading water. It was too deep for him to have touched the bottom, even being abruptly dropped in like that. "With my clothes on?" he shouted at Raden.

"I know, it’s pretty lame not to even bother with armor, but I figure we can start easy today since you’re new. That will naturally give us the most authentic experience, wouldn't you agree? If our clothes are heavy against our skin and obstruct us? We need to be used to it.” Raden swam around him in a lazy circle, proving his point by seeming entirely unbothered by his sodden clothing. “Unless you plan on fighting in a dungeon naked?"

Auren couldn’t argue with that. If Raden wanted to do it, he was down for it. Besides, his clothing was already soaked, no point delaying.

Raden read his assent and pushed away into his own lane. "Swimming simulation one and two, turn to maximum!"

As soon as he said that, the water began to turbulently push him.

The walls turned into a slimy material and seemed to close in, increasing the water pressure and making him unable to even try to stay in place. Auren was flung around violently, and only after a few bashings of his head and body against the walls that he finally regained his understanding of what was even happening. The turbulence was so great he could barely tell which way was up between waves, as the channel surged first one way, then another.

With great effort, he managed to peek through the water just once and take in a deep gasp of air before he was pushed under again.

Spinning in circles, he fought through the water again and again. His swimming skills were below pathetic, but desperation is an effective teacher. Steadily, he was able to surface more and more reliably. Then get more air in the moments when he did, as he tread water in the split second between surges.

Gradually he learned to control his movements through the water despite the chaos. Sometimes he even let his body simply fling around, using his hands or feet to absorb the impact from hitting the barriers just in time.

He continued to try new things, adapting to this unpredictable water that changed directions and intensity whenever it wanted. Sometimes it dragged him down and he failed to break free, lungs burning and instincts screaming at him to surface. The first few times that happened he flailed about in a blind panic, but that didn’t help.

By the time the water finally slowed its rage and stilled, he was still a long way from ignoring drowning, but it no longer would throw him into disorientation so easily. He’d grown much better at recognizing which way was up.

Auren surfaced and paddled his way to the wall.

Raden already had his arms over the edge to hold himself up, gasping in lungfuls of air. He looked very pale, and when he saw Auren, he laughed in disbelief. “Titans, no wonder you managed to defeat that abomination. Your resilience is insane! I think I need to go get a shot from the cleric." Unsteadily, Raden climbed onto the platform. "And I only lasted for three hours, not the full four. Shame. But it does mean we can get in some parkour training too."

Auren followed behind him. They walked towards the cleric, water dripping from them onto the floor, which evaporated immediately due to a self-cleaning mechanism. The cleric took one look at Raden and then simply waved her hand. A soft white light covered Raden, and then he looked a lot healthier, a lot more intact, his skin regaining its color.

Raden held up a hand when she started to turn away, eyes going to Auren. "Doesn’t he also need healing?"

The woman scoffed. “He does not. He clearly is fully and completely fine. Even if I do heal him, it’ll feel like warm sunlight at best for him, right now. Why would I waste my energy, in such a scenario?”

Raden looked towards Auren with an impressed gaze. “Wow, you’re still fully fine even after all that training? Insane. Berserkers really are another class apart, aren’t they? I don’t suppose you have any tips on getting a third-tier class upgrade?” But he clearly didn’t expect an answer, only grabbed Auren’s arm again and dragged him away from the swimming area to the parkour platforms.

"How does this training work?" Auren couldn’t quite tell how the platforms were supposed to help except in practicing one specific height of jump.

"Well, see these panels? They can morph their positions and, just like our running carpets, they can control how much you can move when you jump onto them. Based on that, they can simulate an accurate enough experience of you jumping over walls or running through a dungeon. You will need to jump onto all the panels or do the specific combinations which it will alert you of, or the parkour training will end in failure for you."

All four of the parkour platforms were surprisingly occupied by older students—at least, older than Raden. Auren was probably the oldest one here.

Raden hummed. "They might take a while. Maybe we should go to the outdoor training arena."

Just as he was about to turn and leave, however, two of the third-years, a girl and a guy, noticed him and jumped off their parkour training platform. "No, no, we're done. You juniors can take it."

Raden nodded. "Thanks. Appreciate it, Goodwin, Joseline."

The duo, who were trembling slightly from the intense effort they'd put through, nodded warmly to Raden before looking Auren over. "So, who is this newbie that you found? He's insane enough to keep up with you, I noticed," the man, Goodwin, asked.

Joseline nodded in agreement.

Raden began laughing. "I know, right? I'm amazed. I thought I was the only fun one in this place. Luckily, I found this dude fighting an abomination and got him in, because he's just as fun."

Joseline raised an eyebrow as she examined Auren.

Goodwin whistled. "Well, good for you. I’d like to hang around and chat, but clearly both of you have training to do, and both of us have tasks to do." He looked towards Joseline, and she nodded. Both of them left towards the exit of the training room.

Now that Auren looked towards the entrance, none of the previous students who were massaging their muscles, resting, or preparing were present. He wondered if the third-years had a specific class or a task to do right now.

"Yeah, they have an evening class," Raden said, seemingly sensing his question.

"How did you—" Auren asked.

Raden tilted his head. "The curiosity was written all over your face. And hey, even if I get strong, that's still fascinating information to know. Wouldn't you say?"

Auren chuckled. Then he stood on the parkour platform. It was quite an interesting thing: an almost spherical dome formed by blocks floating in the air, and an expanded running carpet on the ground.

"So," Raden said, "for this one, remember, no matter where the blocks are positioned, even if you can't do a perfect maneuver, try to do what they ask, either to climb them or to run at them. Even if you fall and injure yourself, ignore it. That's the way you increase your flexibility, your moves."

Auren nodded. That made sense.

"Parkour X, Parkour Y," Raden ordered, in what was becoming a familiar pattern, "start maximum intensity training sequence!"

As soon as he said that, the blocks rearranged themselves, and a voice echoed around both of them. "First move: climbing. Climb on top of these blocks and then perform a large dive, perform a backflip onto the mat. Do this ten times. Punishment for failure: none."

Raden raised an eyebrow. "Having no punishment does sound quite bland, don't you think?" Raden asked.

Auren raised an eyebrow. "Well, what do you suggest the punishment be?"

Raden grinned mischievously. "Parkour X, Parkour Y, edit punishment into rapid dodge sequence."

"Editing punishment into rapid dodge sequence."

"Every time that you fail," Raden explained, "these blocks will now rush at you, trying to at least break a bone if not leave a nasty bruise. You, being the berserker, probably wouldn't mind, and me, being used to this, also wouldn't mind, but normally, we're supposed to dodge the attacking blocks. Hence why it's called a rapid dodge sequence.” 

Auren grinned. "Failing parkour means getting even more parkour, huh?"

Raden grinned back at him. “Would you have it any other way?”

“No,” Auren replied, immediately. “More practice is more practice.”