The soup kitchen was located in the center of the Star Military Academy Training Base. It was rather easy to locate since it was the largest building, besides the stadium, on the base. The ten-story building was made out of glass and besides serving as the base's soup kitchen, it also served as the student center, the library, and the training hall. Most students would grab their meals from the soup kitchen in accordance with the different meal plans they purchased depending on their class. Star Military Academy has five classes: Low, Middle, High, Elite, and Genius and each class has a limited number of classrooms per campus. The Low Class has a hundred classrooms on each campus, the Middle Class has fifty classrooms per campus, the High Class has twenty-five classrooms, the Elite Class has five, while the Genius has one. The lower the class, the lower the quality the food was and the more limited the options for food were for the same price. A Low Class student would pay, on average, 5 kalas for a meal consisting of an egg sandwich, veggie straws, an apple, and a water bottle while a genius could pay 5 kalas for a bowl of caviar, four kinds of cheese, truffle soup, a refreshing strawberry acai, and a slice of frostberry cake. The difference was enviable! It would be assumed that staff treatment was even worse but, in reality, the staff was treated almost like the Middle Class, simply average and existing.

 As soon as Drew arrived at the building he hopped off his hoverboard and placed it into a parking space built into the side of the building.

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The parking spots were exclusive to those who rode their hoverboards or bikes to the campus and one needs their Student or Staff ID to have free access while outsiders need to pay a 2 Kala fee for the whole day. The parking spots also double as a charging station which is rather convenient for people like Drew who need to be as conservative as possible. Additionally, the parking spaces utilize an electromagnetic lock in order to prevent theft making it even safer for people to rider their own hoverboards or hoverbikes to class.   

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Once his hoverboard was parked, Drew pushed open the door of the transparent building. Immediately, he rushed down the wide tile hallway and made a sharp right. Walking about another hundred meters, he passed by some students who were clutching some books from the library. As one of them wasn't paying attention to their surroundings, the student and Drew suddenly collided, the student's books went flying out of her arms. Being the good samaritan he was, Drew kneeled down and picked up the scattered books on the ground, neatly stacking them into a pile. Drew caught a glimpse at them and smiled. "The History of Snowhawks", "Records of the Fifth Interstellar War", even a random cookbook in the mix, all stuff he has read while he was in Compulsory Education. 

The girl shortly recovered from the shock to find a neatly stacked pile of books right in front of her face. Astonished, she heard Drew's voice. 

"I believe these are yours?" He warmly said, the books covering his face.

"Oh, thank you..." she stuttered. 

Both of them, unable to catch a glimpse of each others faces, continued with their daily lives. 

Taking another sharp right, Drew arrived at a rather grand, tiled, dining area, fully furnished with hundreds of cleaned steel chairs and tables glistening in the sunlight. Looking up, one could see all ten stories of the building while the sun shone to the east, allowing most of the natural sunlight to filter through the enormous glass windows of the building thus giving the building a rather 'warm' atmosphere. Right in front of Drew was a line of vending machines up against the kitchen wall while adjacent to it, multiple dividers separated the dining area based on class. To the side of each divider, was a scanner and a transparent digital tape. The scanner was for one's Student ID and by scanning it, the tape would either glow red or blue. Red means a student doesn't have enough cash to pay for the meals or the student is in the wrong line while blue means the opposite, the student has enough credits to pay or they are in the right line. The lines are based on class as mentioned earlier. Of course, the higher classes are granted better treatment. That's just how the world works.      

It was eight o'clock, about thirty minutes before classes officially begun and four and a half hours until students have lunch. Some students, who live in the dorms, are still eating breakfast here but Drew paid no mind to them. Bursting through the double doors of the kitchen, Drew was immediately greeted by the friendly kitchen staff. 

"Looks like the kid has arrived." A corpulent cook with a spiral horn protruding from his head smirked a toothy grin.

"Good morning, Kevin." Drew laughed as the middle-aged cook came over and ruffled his green hair. 

Spinning on his heel, Drew ran to the back of the kitchen and into the locker room. Arriving at the door, a young, dark-skinned, tall female wearing a black bandanna was carrying a box of potatoes. 

"Morning Rika!" Drew greeted with a smile. 

The girl, Rika, stopped in front of him and in the same manner, she welcomed. 

"Morning Drew! Ready for another day of work?" 

"Ha," he let out a sigh, "like always. I'll see you out there in a few minutes...gotta get changed." 

"Sure. Oh, by the way, if you're looking for Uncle Winter, he's here."

He beamed, "Thanks a lot."  

Ending their conversation, he scanned his ID and entered the locker room. Like any locker room, there was a row of blue, full body-length, metal lockers, each with a number on it. Drew's locker number was 704, the locker closest to the door. On each locker, there was a digital lock, and once again, Drew pressed his ID up to the glowing blue panel. Moments later, the panel showed a "thumbs up" icon indicating that his ID was approved. The metal screen of the locker rolled up revealing a white chef's outfit with six black buttons lining one side and the crescent moon, encompassing a four-sided star logo, slapped onto the other. Below the logo, Drew's name was embroidered in a light blue thread. For the bottom, it was a pair of black denim jeans. Hanging on the side of the locker was an optional black bandana and some of Drew's photos with the kitchen staff over the past few months. To Drew, the staff was the family he never had. They all cared for him but sometimes, he wished to have some friends that were his age. Pushing out those negative thoughts (A/N: THOTS!! I'm terrible aren't I) Drew swiftly put on his uniform and rushed out the door. 

As he exited, more of the kitchen staff arrived greeting each other as usual. Drew walked over to his station, which was the same as Rika's, doing prep work for the Middle Class lunches. Because of the number of students and the different classes, the more experienced chefs worked on the higher class meal while the less experienced ones worked on the lower class meals. Today's menu was Shepherd's Pie and bean casserole. 

Grabbing the cleaver with its gleaming sharp blade, Drew went into a sudden trance and began to swiftly cut the potatoes into smaller chunks. Rika, glancing over at him and exclaimed,

"You sure have come a long way. I remember when you first came here you could barely hold a knife properly. Now, look at you! Handling that cleaver like it's a part of your body."

"Thanks for the compliment. I feel accomplished." Drew chuckled as he finished cutting the rest of his pile. 

"Have you saved up to buy another gene regiment?" Rika suddenly asked. 

"Not yet," Drew exhaled with a bit of sadness, "I still need two hundred Kalas to buy the lowest quality gene regiment. It'll take me another half a year and two more gene regiments before I can officially call myself Genetic Warrior." 

Setting down her knife, Rika turned to Drew. 

She remarked, "Hey, that's not bad! You'll be able to enroll in Star as a student when you do! Plus, with your brains, you could easily get a scholarship!" 

"I'm not too sure about that...Star is one of the top military academies in the Orion Alliance. The wouldn't just accept someone like me. Even the Low Class students are High F-Rank. Plus I don't even know if what Subsidiary Ability I'll awaken. " He spoke unconfidently. 

"You just turned seventeen and the next application period is in half a year! I think you could make it by then!" Rika smiled. 

"Stop screaming you're drawing everyone else attention towards us!"  

 "Listen, you have the most potential out of anyone in this kitchen to become a Genetic Warrior. I'm already twenty-three and only have twenty Krasos of Otrio. Everyone else in here has only fifteen or less. You have fifty! Plus, I think Uncle Winter might just give you an early bonus." 

Drew cocked his head. 

"What was the last thing you just said?"  

"Oops!" Rika frantically covered her mouth. 

"You're really terrible at keeping secrets aren't you..." Drew laughed, wiping the sweat from his forehead with a towel. 

"Ssh!"

She placed a long bony pointer finger at him, "Don't tell Uncle Winter I told you!" 

"Too late... he probably already knows."

"Yeah, that is true. Uncle Winter knows everything. Well, there's only an hour left before lunch begins. We should get back to work." 

As such, Rika and Drew resumed back to what they were doing, chopping potatoes with their cleavers. Before they knew it, it was time for lunch.