The gym was silent, with no other students except the teacher, a muscular man with brown hair and hazel eyes.
He sat on a recliner at the far end, far enough to let his eyes reach every corner of the gym. He felt their presence, but he was not surprised, as if he was used to such sights.
"We got here 10 minutes early," Morgan whispered into Xavier's ear.
"I also checked the time, I know that," Xavier replied, his voice unrestrained.
"Shush!" Aiden quickly blocked his mouth, but the words were already out.
"What?" Xavier whispered.
Aiden did not reply; his eyes were focused on something else. Xavier followed his gaze and saw it, the petrifying gaze of the instructor. It seemed like he was a predator looking at his prey.
"Why are you shouting?" His voice reached their ears, cold and aloof.
"I am sorry, sir," Xavier quickly bowed. He did not know that talking was akin to shouting to the man.
"30 push-ups," the man said, not even regarding Xavier's plea.
Xavier's face shrank. Just talking made him get punished.
But he adhered. He was not bold enough to disobey an instructor of the academy. He lay flat on the floor, his body parallel to the ground.
Slowly, he pushed himself up, then down. At the sides, his roommates looked at him, their hands covering their mouths as they tried to hold their laughter.
"You did it intentionally, didn't you?" Jordan whispered into Morgan's ear.
"Aren't you enjoying it?" Morgan whispered back.
"It is quite interesting, it reminds me of when you were also caught," Jordan said.
Aiden just shook his head, uninterested in the discussion.
After the most grueling 5 minutes of his life, Xavier finally stood up, his body heavy with tiredness, and his body soaked in sweat.
"You knew, didn't you?" Xavier whispered.
"Hey, what are you thinking?" Aiden's voice snapped Morgan out of his thoughts.
The instructor, rose, his eyes widened as he looked at Xavier.
Contrary to what Morgan and the rest thought would happen, the instructor did not punish Xavier.
"What the hell is this?' The instructor muttered as he walked closer to Xavier. "This is impossible, it is almost the same as Serath," he continued, his steps carrying him closer to Xavier with each passing moment.
His frame cast a shadow over Xavier and the rest. Xavier looked up, meeting the gaze of the man who looked down on them, like they were mortals under the watchful eyes of a god.
"What is your skill?" The man asked, his tone hoarse.
"Vector Manipulation," Xavier replied, not even letting the question land completely.
"Can you use it well?" He asked.
Xavier nodded. "I can't use it that much, except lifting a few things," he said.
"What the hell are you saying?" Aiden interrupted. "We all saw what you can do with your ability," he continued.
The instructor turned to him, his expression cold. "Did I ask you?" He asked.
"I am sorry, sir," Aiden said.
The other students had already begun to enter the class. They watched the drama unfold from afar, wondering what had made their instructor, a person who only gave commands from his chair, acknowledge a person.
The only person he had ever stood up for was Damien, one of the X-tier cadets in the academy.
"I can help you develop your ability," he said, drawing the astonished gaze of everyone in the room.
Xavier was shocked by the instructor's words. He did not expect such a proposal in his first class. "Yes, sir," Xavier agreed.
He could not reject help from the instructor, a person who wanted to help him get better at using his skill.
"Good, the instructor smiled. I will make use of 2 hours from your daily break; the remaining 30 minutes is yours to use."
Xavier's mood switched immediately, from happy to confusion. "I can only rest for 30 minutes a day," he said.
"The academy closes for studies at 9 pm, you will have time after that to do whatever you want. I will only teach you during school break," he explained.
"There is no difference, I will have to sleep at 10 pm, get to school at 7 am, my life will only revolve around studying and skill training, I won't even be able to have fun," he complained.
"Nothing good comes easy, boy," the instructor replied. "Perhaps you can continue the way you are; you don't need to come."
With those words, the instructor turned back, ready to go.
"I never said I wasn't going to come, I was only thinking of how stressful my life would become," Xavier said with a smile.
The instructor turned back and gave a thumbs-up with a casual smile.
The entire scene was witnessed by the students. They had all come in at one point in the conversation.
"Get in line, we have wasted 2 precious minutes," the instructor's voice thundered across the room.
Hurriedly, the cadets assembled in a line, their heads facing the track.
A whistle-blow from the instructor, and they moved.
Everyone was in sync, boots marching across the tracks uniformly. But there was an oddity: a single person was not aligned with the others.
"Although he was being nice, you will get punished for not matching our pace," Morgan whispered beside him.
"I am trying, it is just too difficult to follow you guys, you are very fast," Xavier whispered back.
"Left, Xavier, left," Jordan said.
"But I am going left," Xavier said.
"That's the wrong left."
The drill was completed after 20 laps. The students collapsed on the floor, breaths ragged, tired, and exhausted. But a few people were still standing. They were also tired, but they had more control over their breath.
After 5 minutes, the students were gathered again. "Move to the next phase," the instructor said. Surprisingly, he did not address Xavier's sprint.
"You are fortunate," Aiden muttered as they all got into formation.
Xavier just smiled.
The class continued, drill after drill, then skill training, before the class was finally dismissed.
"Don't forget to come during break," the instructor reminded Xavier as they left the classroom.