Michael took one deep breath in and one deep breath out as he opened the door. As the door gave way, a hint of lavender hit his nose. The room was pretty decent; it had two beds, two desks, and a window that overlooked the training course.
Michael looked around, slowly admiring what was before him. Then, he came across the back of a boy with blonde hair working on something at a desk. He looked young—familiar for some reason.
The boy rose from the chair and turned to face Michael. He was on the shorter side, at a height of 175 centimeters. He carried himself with a certain calmness; he looked carefree.
He approached Michael and extended his hand
"Yo, you must be my new roomie. My name is Luke. Luke Bram. What's yours?"
Michael felt the world slow down as he heard that name. His eyes gave a widened glare to the boy while his knuckles turned white.
Luke waved his hand over Michael's eyes.
"Hey, can your hear me? I said: what is your name?" He said slowly and loudly to Michael.
"Oh, uhm, Michael. Sorry for zoning out. It's just that your name... it's a common name. Reminded me of someone else." His heart skipped a beat for some reason he couldn't quite put his thumb on.
"What!" Luke's eyes lit up momentarily. "You met another Luke? What a small world, huh?"
"Yeah, if you say so, little buddy."
Luke froze and glared at Michael with an intense expression. "Did you just call me buddy?"
Michael hesitated, unsure if it was a problem or not. "...Yeah."
Luke's face turned from totally scary to sunshine and rainbows. "You mean it! Man, you're such a fun guy!" Luke said as he gently punched Michael on the shoulder.
◇◇◇◇
Michael settled in after talking a little bit with his new roommate. He'sagoodkid, he thought.
He didn't know anyone here, so having a roommate like him actually worked in his favor.
"What's happening over by the arena? I see a bunch of people there," Michael added as he looked out the window.
Luke's attention shifted immediately, and he stood up, dropping everything that he was doing. "Oh, man! I forgot! We've got combat training. Get changed now—the counselors here are really mean."
"Wait, what!" Michael searched the closet for his training gear. As soon as he found it, he rushed to put it on.
Most of the recruits had already found their way to the arena. Michael and Luke ran in with half of their gear missing.
. A counselor stood at the entrance of the arena, a short man with a face that told you he was full of anger issues. As they approached, he gave them an intense glare.
The recruits had grouped themselves in pairs of two or more. With no one left to pair with, the two decided to stick together.
The counselor made his way to the center of the arena; the crowd went quiet. He stood motionless for a while. He stretched his arm towards the sky, and then a red wave of mana began circulating above his palm.
"Crimson howls that belong to night... Blood wolves, come to me."
His hand dropped to the ground, all the mana he had gathered crashing down, exploding throughout the arena with intense pressure.
Michael had never experienced anything like this before. He was terrified, but for some reason, he found it thrilling.
What's going on? This mana... it's too much, he thought with a grin on his face.
When the mana settled throughout the arena, wolves with crimson fur coats had appeared. These wolves were as big as a horse; they had long, sharp teeth.
They waited as they stared at the recruits with an overwhelming, primal glare. The counselor raised his hand, preparing to give an order to his summons.
Michael instinctively raised his arms and positioned himself near Luke. He didn't have the skill set everyone here was born with, but he knew a thing or two about fighting.
The counselor's hand stood in the air, motionless, waiting to give the order.
"Hunt them down!"
In one fell swoop, his hand dropped so fast it cut through the air. As the wind caught up to his hand, the wolves had already begun their assault on the recruits.
Five wolves circled Michael and Luke; it seemed the counselor was punishing them for being late.
The first wolf lunged into the air. Without giving it the courtesy to attack, Michael caught its ribcage with a body-weight spear, throwing himself down with it.
He didn't let go even for one second. He focused all his strength and gave the wolf a bone-crushing hug. All you could hear was crack... crack... crack. The summon howled in pain, but he didn't stop until it evaporated back into mana.
The other wolves directed their attention to Luke. Out of hunger, they viciously charged at him, opening their jaws wide for a killing bite. Luke dodged each attack as if he wasn't trying at all.
Luke dodged each attack as if he wasn't trying at all.
"Hey, Michael, can you kill them for me? It's getting quite annoying."
Luke positioned himself slightly closer to Michael, setting up the perfect trap. One wolf charged at him, and as he dodged, it came face-to-face with Michael, who had pulled his fist back, waiting to strike.
Swoosh.
His fist drove forward, clearing the air before it, and as it landed, the summon instantly evaporated into mana.
Two wolves down, three left. The killing intent in the remaining wolves rose as they filled with rage over the summons they had just lost.
Michael drove his own charge toward the wolves while mana circulated throughout his hands. As he clenched his fists, they became engulfed in flames.
The wolves moved incredibly fast; their coordination was spot on. But even with such incredible speed, they couldn't land a single hit on Luke. On the other hand, Michael tanked their vicious bites and attacks head-on to give himself an opening to land a flaming punch at point-blank range.
He took down two wolves, and finally, with a devastating punch to the head, the third wolf.