A stream of voices arrived, followed by Ricky and his company. They were catching up. More and more appeared thereafter, there were about a thousand of them left. For them to be at The Boundless Academy would mean that they must be the fighters from the cream of the crop. Many had passed the second trial.

“Good! You’ve passed the second trial, you would all make good apprentices!” the new manager said. “However, if you pass the next test, you’d make it to an initiate!” he continued on. “If you fail, you would remain an apprentice; only having the chance to break through once you reach Agility of level five. Of course, that’s still a chance!” he finished, calmly.

“We’re finally at the last trial!”

Many fighters showed relieved expressions. To be an initiate was a dream come true for many. Though, being an apprentice was not that bad either. “Do you see that peak?” the manager asked as he pointed towards a random mountain peak. It was a great and majestic mountain, with a spear-shaped tip. Scattered around the peak were stone buildings, their placements wrapped around it. Each stone building looked strange and ancient.

“That’s where you’ll be resting. You’ll find many pills and elixirs as well as weapons there. On top of that, food of all sorts to be consumed. Points too, of course. However, whether you can enjoy those luxuries, will depend on your performances here,” the apprentice said.

“What do you mean, ‘points’?” Ricky asked after heaving deep sighs as he calmed himself. “Your points will be tracked here at the Academy. It’s vital to your enrollment here. It’ll be explained later on,” the apprentice said. “I must remind you all that what you do now is very important. The more points you get, the better it’ll be!” he finished. “In that case, won’t the ones getting a room full of food be at a disadvantage?” a participant asked curiously, voicing everyone’s thoughts.

“Indeed they will. That’ll depend on your luck. The contents of the rooms are randomly placed,” the apprentice assured. “Of course, if you don’t like it, nothing’s stopping you from taking another person’s room!” he added.

With that said, a flash of greed and ferocity appeared in everyone’s eyes, exposing their intentions. This was a competition, and only the strongest shall win!

‘The points accumulated act as a form of trade in the Academy, it’ll be useful to have some,’ Zephyr thought. From his previous life’s experience, he was familiar with the importance of these points. The points here were different than that of the Inter-city Tournaments. Moreover, he was not interested in medicines and weapons, so he could focus on the points gathering.

As the rooms were being divided amongst the participants, everyone who already knew their rooms rushed into theirs, eager to know what was in store. Those who were lucky kept quiet, while those who were not so lucky, could not help but voice out their disappointment.

“It’s just a blasted fan!”

“What am I going to do with a bowl of fruit!”

“Is this really just a f*cking hole?”

Zephyr did not pay too much attention to the complaints that went around. He focused on his own room instead. Inside, it looked common. It had a few benches and a table. On top of it were some cups. However, something about the size of a thumb caught his eye. It was a stone, with strange properties. On it, the rock was marked with the number 500.

‘Huh, 500 points, lucky me!’ Zephyr thought happily. This was a valuable find! Once Zephyr kept the point pendant safely, he sat down to rest and train himself.

“Damn you! That pill’s mine, give it!”

“Crazy Lion!”

“Die!”

Suddenly, a burst of noise rattled outside of Zephyr’s room. Before long, the event that unfolded went as expected. Everyone now knew who was strong, and who was weak. Although everyone was an Agile, the differences in power varied. People like Ricky Shaffer no doubt held the top spot, no one had dared go against him. On the other hand, there was Yang. Someone to be wary of due to the incredible difficulty when it came to reading him. Many knew never to cross these two. They would only go against the weaker ones.

Zephyr continued his training, breathing streams of energy. He entered his mind’s eye, feeling the surge within.