Jacob kept watching as the man, pulled out another three students, and made them do the same thing. Like earlier he made them stop as soon as one dropped out. The old man made his rounds picking three students, and making them hold a horse stance every time.

Eventually he reached Jacob and James. For some reason instead of picking three people to do it, the old man deliberately picked him and James.

Jacob hesitantly stood up and as for James, he nervously followed behind his brother. Jacob was planning on dropping out whenever James looked like he was about to give up. He didn't want James to suffer the same fate as the other students, but he respected his brother's drive to learn.

They both made their way into the very front, in one swift motion they got into their stances, and the clock started ticking. 

The first minute went by smoothly, so did minute two, but minute three was when James started to struggle. Jacob watched as his brother's legs trembled, desperately trying to hold the stance. He decided that if he was gonna drop out, now would be the perfect time to do so.

"N-No! Don't!" James exclaimed as he looked his brother dead in the eye. His eyes were full of passion, he knew what his older brother was gonna do, and he didn't want that to happen.

"I can't still keep g-going!" James tried his best to stabilize his stance. Jacob who was thinking of dropping out immediately dropped the idea. He knew how much his brother wanted to change, and he didn't want to interfere.

They kept going for another minute. James looked like he could barely hold on. Seeing his brother in this state, Jacob immediately thought of dropping out, but before he could James collapsed on the floor.

Rightfully worried, Jacob immediately tended to his brother. His breathing was getting heavy, and his legs were shaking. He immediately took out his phone to try and call for help, but before he could--

"Don't. Leave him to me." The old man said as he snatched Jacob's phone away from him. The old man picked James up, and put him down besides the other students. He then placed his hand on James'chest.

Jacob watched as some kind of blueish energy flowed into his brother. 

Ether, the root of everything. It's said that Ether is the cause of everything in the world. The creation of gifts, the birth of beasts, all traced back to Ether. To this day no one knows where it came from, or what it exactly is. All we know is that in a specific period in time, the world was suddenly bombarded with Ether. It adapted naturally to our environment, coursing through the air. The humans born after Ether, magically gained supernatural abilities, it started slowly with some developing superhuman strength, it grew as time passed by, people being able to light flames from their hands, or even manipulate the weather to some point. This period would be soon known as--

'The First Step of Mankind' at least that's what Jacob's school taught him. He looked at the old man spreading ether through James' body. He didn't know what he was doing, but he was surprised at how meticulous and precise the man was with handling his ether. Jacob knew how hard it was to manipulate Ether, it's something that can only be harnessed by those with experience.

The man continued for a few more minutes before carrying James and laying him down on of the mats. "He's all good. He just needs rest." The man said before standing up and walking to the very front of the students. He looked at them before saying--

"All good. You can go home now." He said before sitting down on his desk. The dejected students all took their turns and packed their bags. Some helped the seriously fatigued ones outside.

Jacob on the other hand was still in the gym. He was sitting besides the unconscious James. 'I should've dropped out sooner' he thought. He blamed himself for not realizing soon enough, he cursed himself inside, it's because of his own stupidity that his brother collapsed like that.

Jacob watched as the old man swiveled around in his chair, not paying attention to the both of them. The old man was harsh, but deep down Jacob knew that it wasn't his fault. 

He made his way to the man, to at least thank him for what he did earlier-- 

"Umm, Thank you for earlier." He said as he bowed down in front of the old man. The man looked confused as he looked at Jacob. "Earlier? For what?" The man asked. Jacob stood up and explained how he saw him, spreading Ether throughout James' body.

"You saw it?" The old man asked Jacob as he stood up from his chair, to which Jacob nodded in reply. The man suddenly bursted into laughter as he started to violently pat Jacob's back.

'That hurts' Jacob thought as the man kept on going. Fortunately he did stop, and once he did he looked at Jacob and asked--

"So, why'd you thank me? I could've been using Ether to cripple your brother for life." The old man said as his tone suddenly shifted. The man who was violently laughing earlier was long gone, and what faced Jacob was the stern old man that made them do the horse stance.

"I-It's because of the amount you let out, it was precise, and if you wanted to kill him you wouldn't have been worrying about how much you put in" Jacob replied. The old man then went up to the unconscious James.

"It's not precise, more like it's all I have." The old man muttered as he slowly knelt down. "He's alright now, you can carry him out." He added as he placed his hand over James' forehead. Jacob followed suit, as he picked James up and carried him towards a nearby bench.

He couldn't help but look back at the gym, and think about what the old man said. 'All he has..' If that was all he had, then it was extremely low. Everyone in the world awakened or not is born with Ether coursing through their veins. Though rare, some people are born with a lot more Ether than normal, but throughout his life, Jacob had never seen anyone with Ether that's way below average. 

'He must've been lying' He thought as he laid James down on the bench. He quickly called Mark to ask him to pick them up from the usual spot. He looked at James, the boy had a big smile on his face.

It wasn't long before Mark arrived. Jacob carried his brother and placed him in the back seat. As they drove off, Jacob couldn't help but feel proud of James, he was slowly becoming much more confident in himself.