He left the training room and met the golem, Wendy, at the door. The golem was still with him.
"Congratulations, Soverick on another successful completion of a regimen. You broke another impressive record. You have three more regimens to overcome. Would you like to start immediately?"
Soverick shook his head. "Not yet."
He didn't rest at all between the challenges because he wasn't tired but he felt he needed to relax a little. Change things up a little. Overcoming the challenges was fulfilling but they were stifling. He had to adapt to a new way of doing things with every one of them, he would like to have some fun before he starts the next one.
"What is done for fun around here?" He asked Wendy.
"All forms of entertainment have been banned. Apart from sparing and sleeping there is no other activity to be done outside of training. Even food and drinks have been removed." It replied.
He nodded. "I know about that. I'm asking for unauthorized fun activities."
They had been informed during the orientation about the no-fun policy. The director had said, "Go back home if you want to have fun and enjoy yourself. This place is for training and training only."
It is a way to discourage laziness here. They might not be able to force you to train, but when they eliminate all forms of distraction, you either train or you go home. Either way, no one is forcing you to do anything. People with Vitality cores don't need food or drink, odds are most of the people that came here didn't need food or drink even before they created their vitality cores.
High nutrition food will be served in the primary stage of training to expedite the creation of the vitality core. Such foods are used as motivations to make the students train. The secondary stage doesn't need food and the academy has made sure that they will not be able to indulge in the act. That's why they were not allowed to bring anything into the academy and the search before they entered the academy proved how serious they were about enforcing it.
Even if someone succeeds against all odds to bring in contraband, as long as that person is wearing the wrist logger, he would be found out immediately. The third stage of the battle academy also needs high-energy foods but that's in the future.
"There must be something I can do to relax?" He asked.
He was hoping that students before him had created something that could help to ease his boredom. He was bound to be disappointed.
"All forms of fun will always be detected and removed," Wendy replied.
"I guess I'll try to nap." He began to walk towards the residential area.
"I'll be here waiting for you, to resume your training. I'll like to inform you in advance that I'll leave when the system determines that you are likely to spend more time on other things other than your training. You will have to request my assistance when you are ready."
"Alright then." He waved at Wendy.
It was just a bot used by the training assistant sub-system of the academy. Long periods of negligence will cause it to be kept away to conserve energy and processing power. It is part of the rules and regulations of the academy which he was informed of through the memory crystal.
"Let me see how Ghaster is doing."
He decided to check up on his siblings. Their childish behavior and Ghaster's goofy face were sure to cheer him up. So he made his way to Ghaster's apartment and pressed the doorbell. No one answered for a while.
"Is he not at home?" He thought. He pressed it again before turning back.
"Let me try Litori before giving up." He decided.
Their timetable was flexible. He could still find her at home. If not, he will go and look for them in their training rooms. Their possible locations were limited without anything else to do. He soon found her apartment. It resembled his and Ghaster's, just a single door on a wall. The inside was another thing entirely. He rang the doorbell and waited. A few moments later he heard a voice from within.
"Who's there? Oh, it is you, Eldest. I'm coming."
The door was unlocked, and Litori's face appeared. She seemed flustered. "Eldest, you came. Did you hear about what happened?"
Soverick was puzzled. "What happened?"
Litori sighed. "Come in first."
He did and the door was closed behind him. Her apartment was just like his, it could change to fit whatever style the residents wanted. The apartment is just one big room and the walls within it are moveable. So the size and dimensions of the rooms are adjustable. The four walls that serve as the boundary of the room are the only immovable walls and they could be made transparent like right now. It is a kind of simulation that showed everything going on outside through the walls. Litori had been able to know it was him because the door was transparent from the inside too.
"I have something to show you." She said as she led him to one of her rooms. Inside this particular room is a bed, and Ghaster was sleeping on it. Soverick knew something was wrong with Ghaster immediately. For one he was sleeping. They don't need sleep. In fact, they didn't sleep as babies. So something must have pushed him enough to require sleep, or he is just as bored as Soverick.
The major clue that indicated he might not be bored is his bruised and swollen face. Still, he could have been bored earlier and decided to walk into a wall, to pass the time. He had to have hit that wall several times, considering the amount of damage to his face. But it is possible, and it will make for a good story that will cure Soverick's boredom.
"What happened to him?" He asked and made sure to move quietly so as not to wake the sleeping boy.
Litori noticed something about the way he walked. His movement was strangely fluid and weird. She immediately recognized the changes as the effect of his training.
'It seems the eldest is always making progress.' She thought.
"The short story is that someone beat him up," Litori replied.
Soverick examined the boy closely. He discovered signs of exhaustion and muscle injury. Other than that, he was okay. Whoever beat him up did a number on him, but didn't go too far.
"Let's go. I have some time so I want to hear the long story." He said to Litori.
Litori nodded and followed him back to the central room. Soverick sat in a chair and listened to her.
"It all started after you left. Ghaster became, how do I put this? He became frenzied. Desperate is more like it. He ramped up his training speed and began to challenge people. He worked his way up from the recent trainees to the older ones. The spars were easy at first, he was winning them and his confidence soared. He began challenging stronger ones until he beat everyone within the preparatory stage but he still wasn't satisfied." Litori shook her head.
Soverick was impressed. He had been away from them for about 5 months now and in that time Ghaster had defeated his peers. He hadn't heard about his younger brother's exploits because he was busy with training.
"I warned him to stop but he said, 'How can this trash compare to the eldest, if I want to catch up then I must beat people of his Caliber. Only then will I be able to overcome him.' He began to challenge people at your stage. It didn't turn out well. He lost his first battle. He lost badly."
That didn't surprise soverick. Those at his stage had met the fitness requirement, so they were stronger than Ghaster with their physical parameters. Then there was the training regimen and challenges that will reshape the mind and the body of the trainees. It will make them aware of what their bodies are actually capable of, which will set them worlds apart from those that hadn't even met the physical requirements. They would be able to fully utilize their better physique to steamroll those at the preparatory stage. They are much stronger and smarter in a fight, so Ghaster's defeat was not surprising.
It might be a stupid idea for Ghaster to fight those at the basic skills and techniques stage, but it made for a good story. The story is even better than Ghaster smashing his face into a wall to relieve boredom. Soverick came for a good story, so he relaxed and relished it. Then he will leave and return to his training. He came for a story, and he will leave after he has gotten what he wanted. He isn't here for anything else and will not be made in doing them.
