Wednesday.

I've only been attending SIT. for about two months, and I understand the need to learn about the legal stuff.

"Guh, uff"

A punch makes contact.

But it has come to my attention That I don't know how to fight.

Another blow lands.

"Buurgh!"

I'm just glad I'm not that guy getting beaten up.

I'm standing in front of two people fighting eachother. Both of them are entirely focused on each other, trading blow for blow. One making considerably more noise than the other.

Soon, the guy making the funny noises falls unconscious on the floor. The victor looks around, maddened by violence.

Once he sees me, however, his face turns pale. He lets out a short laugh, then runs away.

I'm also glad I'm tall.

For wednesday, the heroics and policing trainees were brought outside in a field for an all-vs-all style fight. In other words, a last-man-standing. It very quickly descended into chaos, but I also noticed most trainees avoided me, probably due to my size.

I'm quite confident in my physical ability, so provided I stay away from certain others, like Mido, Alice, or Jabez, I should last a long time.

I peer over the heads of others, keeping an eye out for anyone who might be dangerous and stay away from them, keeping a horde of students between me and them as a shield.

A trainee jumps on me from my blind spot, and squeezes my neck.

Well, My size doesn't deter everyone.

But this is what I mean. Before I got floored two days ago, I didn't pay much attention to fighting style. You just beat people up, I sort of thought that was it.

But looking at all these people now, I realise how terribly inefficient untrained fighting is.

I grab the person behind me by the arm, lift him up, then slam him onto the ground as hard as I could.

He hasn't fallen unconscious yet, so I repeat my actions, hammering him into the ground again.

I look at his face. Now he's unconscious. Fortunately, the head can take a lot of trauma. The system seems to specifically protect the head, under a phenomenom that I think is called "Tolp armour".

But this is a perfect example of what I mean. He had a perfect opportunity to knock me out from behind, and yet he chooses to jump on me. Furthermore, there was probably a more efficient way for me to knock him unconscious, but instead I chose to pretend he was a fly squatter. This can't really be considered fighting, surely.

I look around at some of the other people I know.

Alice, similar to me, is seeming to be avoided. I guess everyone knows she's strong.

Hmm? wait.

I focus more on Alice. She seems frozen in place, rather than scanning the battlefield like I thought she would be. She seems rather pale, and she only appears to be observing her immediate surroundings.

"And the Storm Circle is going to shrink in 5-4-..."

Oh, no time to think about that.

I start walking forwards.

Behind me is a large purple boundary constructed by some form of light projection technique. It's similar to a holographic image, and is being projected by tiny flying drones in the sky.

I don't know why the instructor calls it a "storm circle", though. Just calling it a boundary seems fine, but the instructor insists it should be called a storm circle.

I also heard that the instructor wanted to use guns for the training program, have every trainee participate, and use the entire island, but his suggestion was swiftly shot down.

Those rumors are probably false though, since theres also a rumor that he wanted to start the training by having the trainees skydive down from a large vehicle strapped to a hot air balloon.

Hahaha. Imagine that.

Anyway, It prevents the trainees from being too spread out, and it allows the unconscious students to be moved with less interference.

As I walk, a vigorous trainee blocks my way, fists raised in a boxing stance.

It's one of my friends. Kyte and I often study with him and some others in a moderately large group.

"Arg, we meet in combat!"

"Brutus!"

In terms of combat, Brutus is relatively average here, meaning he shouldn't be much trouble for me to deal with. Although we haven't had many sparring lessons, a small group of us did try some friendly sparring several weeks ago. Hence how I sort of know how strong he is.

I smile at him, and raise my arms to chest height.

"Hi Brutus. I didn't think I'd see you here."

He steps backwards.

"I'm sorry about this, but this is our only chance."

"Hmm? 'our'?"

A group of people scattered around on the grass nearby started to stand up. I know all of them.

They were only pretending to be unconscious?

"to increase our individual chances of winning, we decided to take you down together."

"Wait! Lets talk this out." I start speaking whilst trying to keep some distance between me and my friends.

"You might think this is a good idea right now but when you stop and think about this further," I stop and think about it. "Actually upon further reflection, this does appear to be a pretty good idea."

My friends approach, while grinning.

"I can't join you guys?"

Brutus speaks.

"Right, get him!"

And so six people dive at me.

---

The training ends.

Nothing else is planned for the day at SIT, due to lack of staff here. As such, I decide to walk around the artifical island for a bit before returning home.

I walk around along a path outside SIT

If I had to explain what SIT looked like to someone, I would say it looks like some hybrid between a fortress and a factory. It even had something similar to the crenellations seen in historic castles. However, the merlons were glossy and curved, like upside down kite shields, to deflect energy or projectiles. SIT even had two spires- A western spire, that faced the train station and East Trigon, and an eastern Spire, that faced the ocean. The eastern spire served as both a lookout post and a beacon for ships.

However, except for the two spires, the turrets typically seen in an ancient castle were replaced with incredibly large box-like rooms, and didn't particularly give off a castlelike look. These boxes were the third floor lecture halls, and felt wider than they felt tall, giving an appearence similar to what one might see in a manufacturing plant. These rooms also had many large windows.

The second and third floors of SIT were mostly composed of lecture halls. This left the ground floor, outside, and some underground for practical training rooms.

The underground section of SIT Is also incredibly large, although you obviously cannot see it from outside. The underground is mostly filled with laboratory rooms for various experiments.

It's not like the government would build an island just for hero trainees. That would be an incredible waste of resources. SIT isn't just an institute for heroes in training, but also one for fully fledged heroes as well. SIT is also home to various large scale experiments, but I don't know too much about those.

While I admire SIT, The Super villainy System pops up into view.

Vrrr... whoosh!

What is it doing?

[The Super Villainy System greets Argus.]

"Do you happen to have a shorter name? By chance?"

I think I just have to accept that I'm sticking with this system for a while. It would be nice if there was some nickname I could call it.

[The Super Villainy System has no short name. Every syllable of this system's great name has been picked with the utmost care.]

"Your naming sense is terrible."

[The Super Villainy System understands that host Argus Stewart is merely jealous of not possessing such a great name himself.]

"How narcissistic of you."

[The Super Villainy System wants to comfort Argus Stewart, and reassure him that he can be great, even with such a mediocre name.]

I feel appalled. Who taught this system manners? No, who's neglected their job of teaching this system manners?

"I think I'm just going to call you Beachball from now on." I mutter.

Vrrmmm... hack, pleth.

Huh? Is that meant to be some sort of laugh?

The system bobs up and down while emitting strange noises.

"Anyway, what are you here for?"

[The Super Villainy System reminds the host of his missions, and urges him to hurry in his tasks.]

...

[The Super Villainy System iterates the idiom "time waits for no man".]

"I get it, I'll start thinking about them. Go away."

[The Super Villainy System is saddened by the harsh attitude it recieves from the host.]

Regardless of what it says, It scrunches up and disappears with a popping sound.

I continue my walk. I'll start thinking about the tasks later.

Shortly after I finish my conversation with Beachball, I see someone else.

Hmmm?  Is that Jabez?

I haven't met him often, but we aren't strangers. I decide to go say hello.

"Oi. Jabez. Sup."

Jabez scrunches up his face for a moment upon seeing me. Then his expression relaxes. My first impression of him was that he had a very polite demeanour. I now second guess that.

"Oh. Kyte. How are you?" He pauses for a moment. "Sorry, I thought you were someone else."

"Who did you think I was?"

"One of her fans." Jabez responds.

I'm puzzled by what he means.

"One of who?"

Jabez looks around, before speaking in a hushed voice.

"Follow me. It's dangerous to stay out here. I'll explain on the way."

He continues speaking.

"They might find us. We have to avoid them. Stay quiet for a bit and follow me."

I start following Jabez. He turns left near a tree, and becons me into a nearby man-made forest. As we move through a few shrubs, he starts explaining.

"I guess you're in a different class than ours, so you wouldn't know."

SIT has multiple classes per program, due to the number of people attending. So I guess this must be related to his class, specifically.

The separate class system isn't needed too much for the lectures, but since there's also a lot of practical work, its hard to oversee everything if the class size is too large.

"So, who are the fans? Or fans of whose?"

"Alice's" Jabez continues speaking. "They just don't listen to reason. Or anyone. Ugh. Would you believe what they did today? During training? They walked up to her and started flexing. whenever they'd take someone down, they'd stand up, and start flexing in ridiculous poses. Nobody wants to see that"

Jabez shudders.

I do recall seeing her intimidated earlier. I guess that explains it.

"The moment people realised she was part of a hero squad already, I tell you, they started acting bizzare. All of them want to be invited, so they're trying to show off in the most disgusting ways possible."

Jabez continues speaking. "Anyway, they know I happen to be a part of that hero group, so they have a slight grudge against me."

"Is Alice ok?"

"Alice escaped the moment she heard there was no remaining lessons. I was not so fortunate."

Jabez chuckles a bit.

"Anyway, can you do me a small favor?"

"Sure."

We reach the end of the forest, on the sandless shore of the island. I can see the train station from here. We seem to be quite near it- maybe around 200 metres away.

Jabez hands me his bag.

"Can you take my bag, and wait for me at the lighthouse? I'm going to swim across."

I take his bag, and he points towards the lighthouse over on East Trigon beach.

"Ok."

"Thank you. Good luck."

Jabez dives off into the water. After seeing him off, I turn around and start heading for the train station.

As I approach the train station, I see a bunch of trainees in blue tracksuits loitering. One of them glares daggers at me with his bloodshot eyes, before turning his eyes into the distance, scanning the horizon.

I board the train, looking out at the angry mob outside. If tomorrow is also like this...

... Good luck Jabez, you may need it.