Keros watched them cross the gym. they seemed to have an arrogant air around them as they walked with their chin elevated as if to show their superiority. They seemed to be enjoying the attention and used the opportunity to show off their expensive accessories. Accessories seemed to mean a lot to the upper class, they felt that it showed their status. Some shot cocky glances at the various students from other schools, while others went as far as to make wild gestures. Even the Aides, who were supposed to be more mature, took part in these antics.

 

Keros and Booker couldn't help but snicker. It was an inside joke amongst them concerning when the upper class acted like that. Some others didn't take it well though. It was a sore spot for many of the common people to be looked down on, and it caused them to become bitter when they saw the Franz academy students act that way. Even Sasha and George seemed upset about it.

 

"What's so funny? how can you guys be laughing while they are mocking us like that!" George spouted, his face reddening slightly.

 

"What about that isn't funny? Look at them peacockin like idiots." Booker said after he composed himself.

 

Unfortunately, his voice was louder than the low gossip from the other classes and some of the Franz students heard him, as well as one of the aides. They quickly jerked their heads over, casting disgruntled frowns towards him and the group. Most of the Upper class were prideful people, and also hypocritical. They could dish it out, but they would get irrational when they received it. When they made it to their designated area, it was apparent from the change in their demeanor that what they had heard was spreading through their class.

 

Eventually, the last class made it, and they were only 5 minutes late which was better than normal. Once everyone was inside the doors were shut and everyone assembled in their areas in a neat formation. The Teachers, Aides, and the head of the gym grouped to address all of the students.

 

"Everyone should already have some experience with these procedures, but regardless, we are going to explain them. This is the first quarter of Physical examinations. We have devised some events to test your fitness levels. Each class will be tested one at a time, consecutively for all tests. This will give everyone some time between tests to catch their breath. We will not move on to the next test until all classes have completed the previous test."

 

"First, you will be weighed and your senses will be tested by our staff. Next, we will move to the gym track, and we will test your speed and stamina. After we will test your reaction time, and finally, your strength. If you have any questions, speak with your aide. We will begin in shortly." the gym head stated

 

"I'd like to propose some incentive for the commoner students!" the woman Keros saw earlier spoke up

 

"What did you have in mind Mrs. Gellard?" The gym head turned to the woman and said in a polite tone.

 

"Any commoner students that can get within the top three on the leaderboard will receive 5,000 credits from me." Mrs. Gellard said with a proud expression

 

"That's very generous of you Mrs. Gellard! I'm sure the students will try their best thanks to your incentive." The gym head replied with a kind smile

 

All of the coaches smiled as well. The students performing well would reflect kindly on them and might result in a raise. In their eyes, Mrs. Gellard had helped them greatly.

 

"Yes, I only hope that the commoner students have something extra to motivate them. Though, I doubt any commoner will manage to even make it onto the main leaderboard since my students are here." Mrs. Gellard stated in a cocky tone and with a smug grin

 

The coaches and staff had a change in expression, morphing from warm smiles to awkward frowns.

 

She was clearly taunting the students. It wasn't uncommon for nobles to try and assert their dominance by taunting and being condescending towards others, but that didn't ease the tension brought by her words. Even the students could tell that the 'Incentive' was nothing more than another way to insult commoners. However, even the coaches would find it difficult to speak up about it, especially when his status was taken into account.

 

No one believed that they were any worse than the Franz academy students. However, the fact was that being a noble granted a person certain advantages even in bodily cultivation. If resources were used correctly, the nobles would be able to increase their strength a little faster than a commoner would.

 

"If we were able to get tonics we wouldn't lose to those snotty nobles." someone couldn't help but complain with an indignant tone. unexpectedly his voice carried in the quiet gym and caused the attention to be focused on him.

 

his face paled, Mrs. Gellard was staring daggers at him. She didn't appreciate a student, commoner no less, retorting with insults at her. Nobles were known to be spiteful regarding some things and insults were on that list. She could make things difficult for him during this examination which might prove detrimental to his overall grade this year. The other commoner students sent looks of pity at him, while the noble students had satisfied grins.

 

*Pfft haha* a snort was heard followed by a stifled laugh

 

all the eyes that were focused on the misfortunate boy, swapped to focus on Keros who was covering his mouth to try and silence his laughter. their expressions were ones of confusion. What could be so funny in such a tense situation? Laughing would do nothing but worsen the situation and drag the person into the middle of it.

 

"You think it's funny to insult nobles?" Mrs. Gellard asked, her unfriendly gaze now trained on Keros. She remembered that just a moment ago one of the aides told her about a couple of commoner students making insulting comments about her students, and this boy was one of the two pointed out.

 

"That's not what's funny." Keros said after calming himself

 

"Oh? Then tell me, what was so funny about what that boy said." Mrs. Gellard said, her tone commanding.

 

"Making excuses to comfort himself so he is prepared to lose." Keros said with a slightly mocking tone.

 

He had been taught by his father not to make excuses for himself. They would cloud your perception of yourself and would slow your progress. He always says 'If you fail or you make a mistake, learn from it and work harder!'. Only the mediocre make excuses. Keros had been working hard on his physical fitness and combat ability for a few years now and had started to agree with his fathers' beliefs on the matter. He had realized this morning, partially thanks to his improvement in meditation, that as long as he kept working hard he would continue to improve. He might lose today, but he will work harder and when faced against the same obstacle he will crush it. Today he would strengthen that resolve by seeing just how far he had come so far.

 

"I see. I suppose you're not going to make the same excuses when you lose then?" Mrs. Gellard responded while raising an eyebrow. She didn't expect his words to criticize another commoner.

 

"I try my best not to, and I haven't made an excuse for myself yet. Besides, I don't plan on losing today." Keros said in a confident tone, his chest inflating slightly. 

 

he chose his words carefully because he understood that he isn't perfect. He might not like making excuses, but one day he might do exactly that. If he does, he will just have to work past it and do better to not make any more.

 

Booker was surprised. Normally Keros is more reserved than this, and he wouldn't do things that would draw so much attention. He has always had a certain level of confidence but today his confidence seemed to be a notch higher than before. Something was up, Keros groomed well, he was acting more outgoing, he was more animated than usual, and his confidence higher than normal.

 

"Quite the confidence you have, I wonder how long it will last." Mrs. Gellard said, before letting the matter drop for the time being.

 

----------------

 

Keros class just finished their pre-examinations and were waiting at the track for the rest of the classes to finish. Their class went third, after both noble classes. Maybe Mrs. Gellard had something to do with that, or maybe it was just coincidence.

 

"What's up with you today bro?" Booker asked with a confused but curious expression

 

"What do you mean?" Keros asked in reply

 

"You're acting differently than normal. That's the first time I've seen ya step into the spotlight like that, and I mean come on, you never style your hair!" Booker said making wild gestures to illustrate his point

 

Keros thought for a minute and agreed with Booker's observation. He came to the conclusion that it had was likely related to the bit of fog that dispersed when meditating this morning. He remembers being told by his parents that as the fog was dispersed you'd gain a better understanding of yourself, and that might cause changes to your attitude and personality as if you were unlocking parts of yourself that had been imprisoned in your mind.

 

"I think it might be because of a breakthrough in meditation." Keros said with a furrowed brow. He still wasn't sure and would have to ask his parents about it later.

 

"Meditation? how could that cause your changes?" Booker asked, he didn't know much about meditation

 

Keros briefly explained the main benefits of meditation, the bottlenecks, and what he experienced so far. Bookers excitement grew as he listened.

 

"My folks never told me any of that! You gotta teach me K-Ros!" Booker said enthusiastically.

 

It wasn't surprising that he hadn't been taught about meditation yet. Not all parents started their kids early like Keros', and the school didn't start teaching Meditation until the 8th year same as with training. The act of training in meditation and bodily fitness at the same time has been named 'Cultivation'. Cultivation was a word from before Genesis that roughly meant 'the process of improvement' or 'growth', and in this sense, it means to grow and improve your internal power. Cultivation is the path to power and it requires constant work to grow your power, if you stop you won't regress but you will stagnate. Very few are ever satisfied with the level of power they get and will continue their cultivation every day so they can continue to grow more powerful.

 

Oddly, kids aren't taught cultivation from an earlier age, but the reason has been explained before. On average, children are not mature enough mentally nor physically to get significant progress with cultivation. Depending on their build physical fitness training could produce decent results earlier, and martial arts could be learned early as well, but meditation required mental maturity and experience that someone under 12 was extremely unlikely to have and even starting at 12 years old, some might not see any improvements for years to come. While there isn't a risk of starting training earlier, people believed they could use that time more wisely to teach more necessary information that would be neglected later.

 

Another reason Cultivation normally starts at age 12 is because a person would experience the fastest rate of growth during puberty. The speed of growth one would see during this time would be faster than any other time and was considered important because the advantage in speed lasts a short time when compared to their lifespan. It was rare for someone to be unable to cultivate, but not unheard of. So everyone who could cultivate wouldn't miss the chance to cultivate during puberty, the benefits of cultivation were just too enticing. Cultivation would result in a longer lifespan, increasing more the more powerful you became, and you would retain your youth for longer. Your physical abilities would all grow becoming even faster, stronger, more durable, and your senses would become more acute. Your mind would able to process information faster, retain information better, and you would learn things quicker. Some of the benefits paired extremely well with the natural evolutions humanity experienced during Genesis.

 

"ill teach you sometime after school, but you might have to skip going to the game center." Keros said with a grin, and Booker nodded like a chicken pecking at grain

 

"Now, what do you think about Mrs. Gellards challenge?" Keros asked

 

"I've never seen a noble kids strength, but I don't think I'd lose to them easily. It's annoying that they think so highly of themselves." Booker said with a sneer

 

"Agreed. You know 5,000 credits is a lot. I'm already thinking about what we will buy with it." Keros was sporting a cheeky grin

 

"Ohhh you're gonna put some effort into the examinations this year huh? ya know I'd really like to knock them down a peg or two, so you better start thinking of what we would buy with 10,000 credits" Booker said with confidence while holding his fist out.

 

Keros made a fist and bumped it against Bookers. Today they were going to use this challenge as a way to take a jab at the Nobles that look down on the commoners. If they won, it wouldn't be an insignificant victory. 10,000 credits would be a lot to them, especially when 150 credits could get you a good meal and a few thousand could get you a cheap comm link.

 

Keros didn't have a good understanding of the value of money. Even though he worked some odd jobs, and his parents occasionally gave him money, he never had many credits. 5,000 would be the most he had ever had at once by a large margin, and he had seen a few older model commlinks that he wanted, so the challenge tempted him.

 

However, his primary goal was still to experience the results of the hard work he had put in, and understand the efforts of his father.

 

--------------

 

*Ding Ding*

 

A notification alarm was sounded as the results were shown on the digital leaderboard above the track. The screen that displayed the leaderboard was huge and had designated sections for each school as well as one section to display the top 25 total scores from all students participating that day.

 

Multiple values would be recorded and used in each individual's statistic score, before being calculated and added to the students' total fitness score. Students' electronic armbands would act as an electronic I.D. which would be immediately scanned every time they passed the lap strip. Every lap taken around the track would have the time recorded. Students were advised to run as fast as they possibly could until they couldn't continue, and the results would be calculated in real-time. The results weren't displayed on the leaderboard until every student finishes to prevent slackers from stopping when they felt they had a sufficient score.

 

The students knew what results mattered the most. Their lap times, the number of laps ran before their times failed to meet a threshold and their total amount of laps. Their lap times would be referenced to establish their speed, and while their electronic armbands would record and display their top speed, for the highest accuracy their times would be cross-referenced and included in the calculations for their results.

 

The number of laps run before failing to meet the threshold would establish how long a student could maintain a high rate of speed.

 

Lastly, the number of laps run would establish how much stamina they had.

 

The speed and stamina test was by far the most complicated because two statistics were being evaluated and many values had to be used in their calculations for accurate results. There were faster methods to test these statistics, but the equipment needed would be too expensive to buy a sufficient quantity.

 

-

 

Keros focused on the top of the leaderboard and focused on the top three names.

 

~Rank 1: Judas Nevir

 Fastest lap: 45s

 Laps completed: 22

 Score: 120

 Fitness Score: 120

 

~Rank 2: Lisa Ekkle

 Fastest lap: 48s

 Laps completed:21

 Score: 99

 Fitness Score: 99

 

~Rank 3: Tony Surmack

 Fastest lap: 55s

 Laps completed: 14

 Score: 77

 Fitness Score: 77

 

Keros' goal was to test his limits, but without something to compare his results to he might not understand them fully. He knew none of his class could match up to him, even Booker wasn't quite strong enough to match up. He was happy that Franz academy had gone first because his class was up next. Franz academy is considered the best school with the highest achieving students, so they must be the best students to compare himself to. He was excited to see how he compared.

 

-

 

"Goldrose academy, class one, take your positions on the track and wait for the signal." the head yelled.

 

Following the class, Keros and Booker took positions in the middle of the pack. Keros took a few deep breaths and lightly bounced on his feet, before assuming his stance.

 

*GWAAAAAANG*

 

The sound of a gong being hit sounded throughout the building, signaling the start of the test.

 

Keros applied strength and kicked off, his body straightening as he took long strides. He had good acceleration and reached his top speed faster than his classmates. He shifted to the left a bit before weaving in between the classmates that started in the row ahead of him, blowing passed them as he quickly closed the gap with the next row. Within moments he passed the people at the front and began putting distance between himself and the rest of the class.

 

By the time he started to feel himself slowing down noticeably he had already completed five laps, and lapped everyone in his class more than once, except for booker. By the 15th lap, he began to feel the fatigue, and he was becoming slower with every lap. By lap twenty his breaths were labored, sweat-drenched his face and stung his eyes, his calves were burning, and it felt like he was running barefoot on rocks. Even though it was difficult and painful, he knew he hadn't hit his limit yet.

 

On the 26th lap, he finally felt as though he had finally hit his limit. He was struggling to pull air into his lungs, his legs felt like they weighed hundreds of pounds, the pain had turned from burning to a sharp searing. The feeling caused by his sweat-soaked gym clothes seemed amplified by the pain, adding to his discomfort. Soon the coaches would stop him due to his speed slowing below a threshold, but Keros decided he would continue until he was stopped. Maybe he could manage to squeeze out another lap and increase his score.

 

Sure enough, he managed to make it to lap 27 and halfway to 28 before the coaches stopped him. Losing his momentum caused his steps to become legs to become shaky, and he had to hobble over to the resting area for his class due to the pain. He found Booker and sat down beside him before leaning against the wall and taking a moment to catch his breath. By the time he looked up the leaderboard had just updated with Goldrose academy section now halfway filled, and the main section displayed an update showing some change.

 

~Rank 1: Keros Vaolair

 Fastest lap: 47s

 Laps completed: 27

 Score: 126

 Fitness score: 126

 

~Rank 2: Judas Nevir

 Fastest lap: 45s

 Laps completed: 22

 Score: 120

 Fitness Score: 120

 

~Rank 3: Lisa Ekkle

 Fastest lap: 48s

 Laps completed:21

 Score: 99

 Fitness Score: 99

 

~ Rank 4: Booker Red

 Fastest lap: 47s

 Laps completed: 17

 Score: 94

 Fitness score: 94

 

The students broke out in loud conversation. Everyone seemed surprised at the change, and no one expected a couple of commoner students to take spots so high on the main leaderboard so quickly. Some of the commoner students that had been irritated at the noble students' arrogant behavior even jeered towards them as if the accomplishment was their own.