CHAPTER 5 : Untitled
It was nighttime and all recruits were gathered in the dining hall. What Kai now noticed was that recruits wore different uniforms but he and the recruits that were sparring were only wearing their original clothes. For Kai he was still wearing his torn long shouldered black shirt and white baggy trousers that did not look white at all at this point . In the dining hall they also sat in different rows according to their clothes or rank? Kai did not know. They each got food served on their plates and began to dig in . The food was also different as what seemed like those in white robes got much better food followed by those in red robes and then the black robes to the green robes and finally the recruits with normal clothes were Kai belonged . Kai's pale gray eyes gleamed as he drooled over the food.
For him this was heaven as he had never before had so much food . He immediately began to devour the food at a rapid pace without any restraint at all. The other recruits on his table looked at him like he was mad. Some seemed amused, some seemed disgusted while one particular recruit looked uninterested at all. Kai slowed only when his stomach began to ache. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, breathing hard. For the first time since entering the fortress, he felt a flicker of comfort. But the scarred woman's voice shattered it. She appeared at the front of the hall, her presence commanding. Food is fuel. Comfort is weakness. Tomorrow, you new recruits will truly begin training." Kai clenched his fist and stared at it. I can't get comfortable over one meal, he thought to himself.
As they left the dining hall, the uninterested recruit approached him. "Hey," he said calmly, extending a hand. "What's up?" Kai asked, staring at him skeptically. The recruit had white hair and flawless, smooth skin. His alluring bright green eyes shined as he spoke. Simply put, the stranger was young and extremely handsome. "I'm Lucien," he said with a smile, his hand still extended. "Oh, my bad," Kai chuckled nervously, finally shaking his hand. "It's okay," Lucien said. His smile faded slightly as he looked down. "I actually thought I sensed wrongly at first, but it turns out it's true. You have such a minimal amount of Chi, it's almost zero." His eyes seemed to shift from light green to a pale, glassy shade. "Yeah, man," Kai chuckled, tightening his fist. "How have you survived this long?" Lucien asked with a genuine expression of concern.
Kai stared off into the distance, looking at the stone walls. "Why did you approach me? I mean, what do you want?" Lucien put on a smile. "I couldn't sense your Chi capacity earlier and thought you were some sort of monster with so much power I couldn't read it properly. But it turns out I was wrong." He rearranged his hair so as to cover his eyes and walked away. By then, most recruits had already left. Kai watched Lucien's departing back. Well, that was weird, he thought before heading to the sleeping quarters.
Inside, he realized just how many of them there were. Rows of beds stretched out about 200 in this room alone which made the fortress feel even more massive. Some recruits hadn't returned from dinner yet, but he spotted Lucien already in a bed near the entrance. Kai's own bed was at the very end of the room. As he walked past, many recruits looked at him with scorn. Others lost interest the moment they saw who he was. As he approached his bunk, Darius jerked up and snickered. "I think when Mr. Dominic chose you for this, he was just trying to fulfill his numbers quota. There's no way he'd pick you if he had options, you E-rank trash." "Oh, so you think Mr. Dominic doesn't have standards, huh?" Kai asked with a grin. "You talking back, trash? Do you want a fight right now?" Darius stood up, looking visibly angry.
"If you're ready to go, then so am I," Kai said, maintaining the grin. Unlike most E-ranks, Kai never backed down from a fight, even when heavily outnumbered. Darius squared up, his fists ready, and Kai did the same. They stood eye-to-eye while the other recruits watched in shock that Kai was standing his ground. "Everyone will think I'm weak now!" Darius thought. "You asked for this, trash!" He lunged at Kai, his fist coated in a shimmering layer of Chi. Kai reacted with a punch of his own, though his hand did not have any Chi coating. Suddenly, a bald man appeared between them, casually catching both of their fists.
"No fighting in the quarters unless it is an official duel agreed upon by both parties," he said calmly, his gaze fixed on nothingness. "He stopped them with his bare hands and no Chi at all... he must be at least B-rank," the recruits whispered excitedly. The man let go and said coldly, "Am I understood?" "Yes, sir," Kai and Darius said simultaneously. "Good." The man walked away as quickly as he had appeared. "I didn't even see him come through the door," a recruit whispered, awestruck. Darius shot Kai one last look of pure hatred before retreating to his bed. Kai climbed into his own bunk and fell asleep immediately. It had been a long day.