The first thing that Wren noticed when he stepped into hall was the significant lack of his fellow recruits. There were only about fifteen of them. That was less than half the number that had been in attendance for his martial arts class. It made sense considering that only eight out of his homeroom class had been able to use their abilities, but he had no idea about the rest of the classes, his could have been a one off and full of the worst in their year for all he knew.
Wren had been the only recruit out of his class to be placed into class 4 for elemental abilities so he did not recognise any of the other recruits. He wondered what Liam’s class looked like, with them being the most talented out of all that years recruits. He knew that Xiao had also been placed in class 5 but would there be that many others who were of the same level as those two. Of course Chadwick would probably have been placed in class 5, his arrogance had to come from somewhere and he was nowhere to be seen in Wren’s class.
The only person he did recognise was the instructor. Anastasia.
She saw him come in and waved him over to join the rest of the class so that she could begin.
“For those of you that don’t know me yet, my name is Instructor Anastasia Penn…”
She gave the same introduction to the class as she had for Wren’s when she was modulating the tests the day before. She told the class how she had graduated the year before and had been offered the position of instructor, so although she wasn’t that much older than them, she was experienced and she did expect a level of respect to be shown to her.
The vast majority of the recruits took this in their stride and moved on, but a few of them, more than likely those that came from high class Legacy families, turned their noses up and had an almost visible chip on their shoulders. They weren’t too happy to hear that they would be taught by someone who had only just graduated.
“Gather round everyone, I will now be taking you through the first part of today’s lesson.” Anastasia said, moving towards the centre of the hall.
She took a seat on the hard wood floor, crossed her legs and placed her palms face down on her knees. She motioned for all the recruits to do the same and they formed a semi-circle around her, some did so more reluctantly than others.
Wren couldn’t understand what their reservations were. Anastasia was clearly more knowledgeable and experienced than all of them put together so they should be grateful for her teaching and guidance, not casting sceptical glances at each other and huffing at her direction.
“The first part of today’s lesson will be meditation, we will be doing this at the start of every lesson so you better get used to it now.” She told the class.
“What’s the point in this? We already know how to use the wind slice, can’t we get straight into the practice?” One of the more haughty recruits said.
“Yeah, he’s right, I’d rather use my abilities than sit on the ground staring into space for an hour.” One of the girls chimed in.
Wren turned to the two that had spoken up, he wanted to interject and tell them all to shut up and do what she said, but a sharp glare from Anastasia stopped him. It was for the best, he knew that him speaking wouldn’t help Anastasia, she needed to gain their obedience and respect on her own, if he said anything, it could have the total opposite effect and she would lose their attention for the entirety of the lesson, if not longer.
“Meditation is one of the most important aspects of being an elemental. It allows for growth in control and expounds your knowledge of your own capabilities.” She paused, looking at each and every one of the recruits. “All of you can only use the wind slice at the moment, correct?”
They all nodded in response.
“Can anyone tell me why that is?” She asked.
“Because we haven’t trained enough.” One of the boys at the back called out.
“No.” Anastasia shut him down. “Anyone else?”
There was nothing but silence. They were stumped.
“I’ll give you a clue, it’s to do with the reason that every single wind elemental can use the wind slice.”
Still there was silence.
“So as all of you are able to use your abilities I’m assuming that you’ve all felt that energy inside of you, it’s what powers your abilities, we call that energy Elemental Particles, or EP for short.”
Wren’s eyes lit up and the reveal of the information. His system had told him how much EP he had, but not what it stood for or what it really was. And now thanks to Anastasia he could now say for definite that the energy inside him was directly connected to his system.
“You guys are all new to the energy.” Anastasia continued. “You don’t exactly understand it yet, and you never will unless you meditate, not even me lecturing you about it will help you in that regard. So when you used that energy for the first time, it’s natural instinct was to form as the wind slice. That is why every wind elemental’s first ability is the wind slice, it’s because its the energy’s most basic form. Once you start meditating and understanding the energy more, that’s when you start to differentiate, you find out what your body and EP is attuned to and you unlock new abilities.”
The recruits all looked up at Anastasia with a newfound respect. Wren had to give it to her, she’d worked the class like a pro, drawing them in with questions, making them feel part of show, and then dangling in front of them the idea of new and exciting abilities. Hell, even Wren was hooked.
“Now, meditation.”
