They tried for several hours to beat the challenge, but it was pretty clear that Mr. Greyson created this with the intention of not letting anyone succeed. Even then, there were a couple of people who were doing much better than the rest.

  While everybody else had their scores in the negatives during most of the challenge, the two reached the hundreds after 30 minutes. This all happened because of how the point system worked. The teacher might have explained, but Bonnie eventually elaborated on what was actually happening.

  Each sphere would give double the amount of points of the previous one. The first sphere would only give a single point, then 2, 4, 8, 16, and so on. If someone managed to reach 13 spheres struck, they would get over 8000 points in one go. However, that wasn't the only thing being calculated. They will also have their points reduced depending on which of the spheres they failed to hit.

  There was no reduction for missing the first one. After all, things would only start once they hit that sphere. Then, if the recruit was unable to hit the second sphere, they would lose 20 points. If they missed the third one, they would lose 10 points. Missing the 4th one meant they would only have a 5 point reduction. Anything after that wouldn't cause them to lose any points.

  In other words, If they were not able to reach the fourth sphere, their point total would always be reduced. Even if they hit it, they would only get 3 points. The real meat of the points was on the 5th spear onwards It was pretty obvious that this was something confusing by design.

  Even bigger proof of that was the fact that Mr. Greyson started to complain to Bonnie once she laid everything out. And it didn't sound like the type of complaint one would make against a student who did something wrong. He spoke more like someone just had their joke spoiled.

  In other words, the whole point of this was to make them fail. To give a task that was so insurmountably difficult to force them all to run laps once the training was over. Even then, to the teacher's dismay, there were two people who seemed to steadily growing in the right direction.

  Namely, Alex and Anaya. The two women were consistently hitting the 6 sphere, which already gave them 64 points. But they were able to reach the 7th and even the 8th sphere on occasion.

  Once there were roughly 20 minutes left for the challenge Alex managed to get a very nice groove going. Ever since she stopped using only a single dagger, things were much better for the woman. She rushed toward the 7th sphere, using her left hand to slash and so the 8thappearing on the corner of her eyes. Without missing a beat, she quickly stabbed the location where the target was moving towards, letting the orb itself do the work.

  The 9th sphere came to life just underneath the 8th, but Alex wasn't in a good position to strike it with her left hand. Instead, she pulled back and went in for another slash using her right one. The orb tried to duck under the blade, but the woman was fast enough in noticing what was going on. That same strange flicker that she had been seeing giving away the path.

  Lowering her shoulder, Alex managed to hit the 9th sphere as the 10th appeared A bit farther away from her. It was enough to the point of worry, but the woman didn't give up. She lunged towards the sphere, using both daggers at different angles, hoping to catch it before he could run away. Her idea worked, and for the first time, someone during this training was able to get this far on the combo chain.

  The 11th orb appeared and was moving quickly away from Alex. There was no way for her to catch that one before it turned red, and as a matter of fact, she didn't need to do that. Her point total had crossed the 5000 mark with just the 10th Sphere.

  Yet, there was something inside her refusing to give up. Even if she failed, she refused to let herself accept that this was the best she could do. Her arms were crossed in front of her, which made it for an awkward angle, even then she flung both daggers towards the orb. It was reckless, dangerous and something you should never do in a fight. But this wasn't a fight.

  The daggers flew toward the quickly approaching glowing sphere. The two more or less aiming in the right direction, but they didn't seem to be on the right path to hit. They were moving too much to the left, which could be a problem to hit the orb. But just as they got closer, the target shifted again, and this new direction was moving straight into one of the daggers.

  You could hear a pin drop in the entire training arena as even the explorers stopped to watch the events that were unfolding. Yet, the orb dropped down to evade the first dagger, causing some of the spectators to gasp. Right after it, it jumped back up as if to return to its original trajectory. But this time the second dagger was on its path.

  The moment sphere connected with the dagger and the scoreboard above the arena jumped another 2000 points, the entire training hall erupted into cheers. Alex herself was the last to notice what happened as after throwing the dagger she lost her balance and fell onto the ground.

  While everybody was cheering for the woman, Anaya continued attempts. And in just a few minutes she also managed breakthrough the 5000 point mark. Yet there was no fanfare for her as her slow but steady way of approaching this challenge wasn't as flashy as Alex's.

  Still, Hera ended up noticing that and gave the girl approving nod with a smile in hopes of supporting one of her fellow recruits. In response, Anaya stared at the woman for a few seconds before looking away with a huff.

  Hera had no idea why Anaya was acting like that, but she didn't really have any chance to pay attention to it. There were only 10 minutes remaining she was still with 83 points. Even if there was no way for her to complete the challenge, Hera still wanted to reach triple digits.

  And at the last minute, she managed to do so after a couple of combos gave her 10 points. She could have gotten even more if it weren't for a couple of issues. On two occasions, she lost a few due to bad luck. The sphere appeared too far away for her to catch.

  Once the time run out, all the spheres disappeared. At that moment, the recruits turned to the teacher, waiting for whatever he was about to say next. Yet it was obvious that Mr. Greyson was upset. Even if no one truly understood why.

  The man simply walked forward, turning to Alex and Anaya and said, "Congratulations, ye two. Yer reward for not failing this challenge is not having to run some laps now. Ye too can go home. The rest start running. Ah reckon 30 km is right, giving yer display today. After that, hit the shower and go home. Ah won't be sticking around to make sure ye're working, but I'll know if ye're skipping. "

  "You want us to run 30 km? Mr. Greyson, that's insane!" Mark gasped hearing how much work they still had for the day.

  "Yer right, laddie, maybe Ah should increase it to 45," The second he said that, almost all other recruits stared daggers at Mark. "If ye don't have any more complaints start running."

  "Ah, man." Mark started to run following the track painted on the floor.

  "What the hell ye think yer doing?" Mr. Greyson asked when he saw the man running.

  Mark didn't stop running while he replied. "I'm running my laps."

  "For fuck's sake, that's a figure of speech. We have treadmills, ye bellend. Other people are training here."

  Mark stopped running and looked back, only to see all the recruits walking towards the treadmills on the side of the room. Lowering his head, he walked towards them, wanting to bury himself in a hole.

  What he came to discover a few minutes later was that all the recruits assumed they should be running around the training field as well. Not a single one of them thought about using the treadmills. Especially considering how Mr. Grayson was speaking. The only reason why he got the short end of the straw was that he was the first one to start moving.

  Leaving his recruits to finish their punishment, Calvin Grayson walked to the breakoom of the Explorer's Guild. He didn't have to worry about everybody following his orders. After all, if they went against it, their bracelets would let him know at which time they left the Guild. And then all he had to do was to have someone look at the records of the treadmills they used.

  And if one of them tries to skip the task, there would be hell to pay. Even if someone were to say they just went home to avoid the evening rush, that wouldn't matter.

  He was sitting at the edge of a long table that was generally free for anyone in the Guild to use. Yet no one dared to sit by his side or even at the table at all. The other members of the staff who notice the instructor's presence swiftly move to the couches, trying to stay far away from him. Even it was a bit more crowded.

  The Instructor wasn't bothered by that. As a matter of fact, he didn't even notice what was going on. He was more focused on all the reports that were being delivered to him on his tablet. As much as he hated to admit, the training system seemed to be effective. And the report that was given by the computer was extensive and very helpful.

  There were statistics about the recruits. How well they fared at every step of the challenge, their growth rates, struggles, and even a recommendation for what each recruit should focus in order to improve. And this wasn't just made by the computer. In reality, it was an extensive agglomeration of knowledge acquired from the instructors across all the guilds in the entire world. Even the ones that were inside the MAZE shared the same database.

  This was one of the ways the Guild had to increase the number of good explorers they had. A number that, despite their best efforts, seemed to grow smaller by the day.

  Eventually, the one person who wouldn't be bothered by Greyson's overall demeanor walked in.

  "Hey Calvin. How was your class?" Helena said with a smile as she opened the fridge and took out a green apple.

  "Was fine. They're still too green."

  "It's their first week. Of course they're green. Did you expect that the recruits would be seasoned explorers from the jump? And did the training work?"

  Calvin rumbled and crossed his arms, "Yeah. It did work. Are ye happy?"

  "If you mean we're going to have better explorers in the maze, then yes, I am happy." Helena glanced down, seeing the report on Calvin's tablet, and smiled, "I was coming here to talk to you about this specifically. I'm glad you have found the reports."

  "Whoever made this knows their shit. Ah don't have anything to complain," Greyson nodded.

  "I have to say, I was not expecting you to be so accepting. Aren't you upset that we are not using the old ways?" Helena smirked.

  Calvin rolled his eyes, "Just because Ah don't like change. Doesn't mean Ah'm going to make others suffer because of it."

  "I guess I lost a bet. You can teach new tricks to an old dog," Helena took a bit out of the apple.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  "Are ye going to keep harping on that? Or can we move on and talk about Bonnie?" Calvin grumbled.

  Helena shrugged, "Fine, fine. I was just having some fun. Tomorrow, while you are teaching Inspect, send her to the reception. I'll take her to a private training room so we can get her Observe skill."

  "Make sure to send the girl back as soon as yer done with her. It's obvious she's not gunning for warrior, but we can't pretend she's not gonna need some stamina."

  "Will do. As a matter of fact, how about if I give them an early lesson on magic? I'm sure they would appreciate knowing how it feels to be around that kind of stuff," Helena suggested.

  Calvin scoffed, "Weren't you the one who didn't want to be a teacher? Why are you offering now? It was already hell to make you agree to talk to them for the role presentation."

  "Can't a girl have a change of heart?" Helena shrugged, "By the way, did you check how they were seeing the spheres?"

  Greyson just stared at the mage, "What?"

  Rolling her eyes, Helena pressed a few buttons his the tablet, and a list showed up.

  "Here, now you can see not only which sense the recruits used to find the spheres but also a grade evaluating how well they used said sense. This information is gathered through a number of sensors that are spread all around the arenas."

  Helena explained in a mechanical tone as if she had done this a thousand times before. Greyson quickly started looking through the list.

  Name - Sense - Grade

  Mark - Sight - C+

  Alex - Perception - B+

  Bonnie - Magic - B-

  Percy - Smell - D+

  Hera - Mana - B-

  Pamella - Reflex - A

  Leonidas - Intuition - B-

  Anaya - Perception - A-

  Tiffany - Sight - B

  Kenjiro - Touch - C+

  Carlos - Smell - B+

  Isabel - Magic - C+

  Wallace - Sight - D-

  "Mind explaining something to me, lassie?" Greyson asked without looking away from the tablet.

  "Sure, what do you need?" Helena leaned forward again to see the information on the display.

  "If this is about sense, why do so many of them have things that are not one of the five senses? Also, what the hell is the difference between sight and perception?"

  Helena opened a smile seeing the list.

  "We call it senses, but it's actually more like what they used to locate the target. The arena produces various types of stimuli, giving them the chance to find the sense they are more likely to use. That's why even smell and perception are there. And for the second question, perception is about not just seeing the thing, but noticing the way the sphere is going to appear. It's basically an amalgamation of all the other senses in a way that functions kind of like prediction."

  "Ah see... but what in the blazes do those things smell like?" Greyson asked while scratching his chin.

  "Well, it is programmed to be an iron-like smell, but if we want, we can make it smell like jasmine and raspberries." She approached the man and said in a hushed voice, "Or rose and sandalwood."

  "That's bloody it!" Greyson yelled while getting up, "Ah want a rematch, now!"

  With a smile, Helena replied "Now? Are you sure? You know I've leveled up since last time, right?"

  Greyson's face was starting to get red.

  "Ye bet yer ass Ah'm sure. This time yer the one who's gonna be in the ground."

  Helena got up and stretched her arms, but she then paused, "Actually, I have a better idea. Let's do it tomorrow. An exhibition match for your class. I'm sure they would love to see how real explorers fight."

  Calvin was too angry to pull back and accepted right away. With that, he left the break room and headed home. While the staff that was left behind were already placing bets on who would win.

  That happened while the recruits were still running on the treadmills. And it took Hera over three hours to finish the 30 km. At first, people were talking and playing around. However, the longer they ran, the less they started speaking. By the two-hour mark, they had all stopped talking completely. Every single recruit, just a zombie doing everything they could to reach the goal.

  Hera didn't even remember getting home, and less than one minute after arriving, she was already in bed under a blanket. Before going to sleep, she picked her cellphone and looked at the messages she got through the day. Since the tablet had basically all the same functions, she had forgotten to take the phone with her to the guild. Apparently, there was a way to make everything work from her tablet, but she had yet to transfer her number.

  Her work friends had sent congratulation messages. They wanted to schedule a day where they could all go out to celebrate. Her grandmother replied, saying that she was happy to hear from her and that she would look forward to hearing the news. There were quite a few typos in the text, but that only meant that Grandma Triss wrote the message herself. The old woman wasn't used to the new phone just yet.

  Her dad gave a longer reply. In it, he said how much he missed her, how he was happy that she had some good news and that he hoped she could join them to watch the opening of the Olympics.

  That was one of the few traditions her family had. During any big event, they would gather and watch it together. The rest of the text was just about catching her up on what happened to him and the family. His job was doing great after all, wooden furniture was a luxury in this day and age. As a carpenter, he was making a decent amount of money. Especially now that he invested in some advertisements, things were looking up.

  He also talked about how her cousins were following their dreams, and one of them started college. The only mention of her mother was that she would be there on Sunday. Her dad knew that they weren't on the best of terms, and Hera appreciated him being so considerate.

  She replied to all the texts, telling her friends she wanted to celebrate after the end of the month, and her dad and grandma that she would be there Sunday. After answering the last text, Hera was too tired to even move. She just locked her phone and drifted to sleep.

  Hera woke up with a jump, her alarm going off. Looking at the time, she picked the first clean set of clothes she saw and put them on, running to the door. The alarm that woke her was the last one she had set. The one that meant she was already late.

  After taking the train and trying not to pull out her hair when it started to delay, Hera arrived at the guild. She rushed through the reception, not even stopping to greet Carol, who was at the front desk. Reaching the elevator, she pressed the button and took a deep breath. 7:18, she was almost twenty minutes late. Before the door closed, she heard a voice coming from the hallway.

  "Hold the elevator!"

  She quickly pressed the open door button.She was already 20 minutes late. A couple more seconds just to help someone get the elevator wasn't going to be a problem. A man with short black hair walked inside, Hera recognized him as one of the recruits who were always sitting with Anaya.

  "Thanks, you really saved me." The man was gasping for air, and he pushed his back against the wall to help him stand up. "Hey, I know you...Hera, right?"

  She nodded. "Yeah, and sorry, I don't think I know your name."

  He gave a soft smile. "I'm Kenjiro. But friends call me Kenji, nice to meet ya."

  As if under an unspoken agreement, both of them just nodded, and focused on breathing. It was obvious the man also ran to get here.

  The elevator doors opened, and the pair walked through the hallway towards the classroom. When they got close to the door, both of them did their best to listen to what was happening inside, but there was only silence.

  With a smile, Kenjiro opened the door while saying. "Maybe we got lucky, and the teacher is late too. He doesn't seem like a morning per..." Before finishing the phrase, Kenjiro looked inside and saw Mr. Greyson, with a serious expression staring at the pair who just opened the door.

  Hera's eyes went wide the second she saw the teacher, frozen in place, just like Kenjiro.

  "Are ye gonna stay there or ye going to get in and sit down?" Mr. Greyson asked in a harsh tone.

  Hera lowered her head while Kenjiro apologized before going inside the classroom.

  To their surprise, most of the seats were empty. The only ones who were here already were Alex, Anaya, Bonnie, and two other recruits. With a confused look, Hera just sat down at her desk.

  "Ah'm asking ye two the same thing Ah asked Bonnie. Why ye are late?"

  Hera wanted to answer, but she felt ashamed. Saying that she missed her alarm felt like the kind of excuse a teenager would use. She was the oldest of the recruits. How could she be so irresponsible?

  Kenjiro, on the other hand, answered without missing a beat, "My alarm didn't go off, sir. Or it did, but I didn't wake up."

  Mr. Greyson mumbled a few words that the recruits weren't able to hear,

  "Me too, Mr. Greyson. I'm sorry," Hera added after a deep breath.

  "Honestly, and ye all want to be explorers? If ye can't even wake up on time after some light workout. What are ye all doing here? Ah even gave ye an enchanted energy bar to help ye rest."

  Bonnie, Hera, and Kenjiro looked at each other with confused expressions.

  "Hera, did you really wake up late even after all that?" Alex whispered to her.

  Hera nodded and replied in a quiet voice, "I did, but he never gave me any energy bar."

  Unfortunately, the class was so empty that everyone heard the exchange.

  "What do ye mean Ah never gave you the energy bar? Of course, Ah bloody did."

  Hera looked down. She never got any energy bars from the teacher. She was sure of it.

  "Teacher, the only thing you distributed yesterday were the water bottles. No one got anything else from you." Bonnie chimed in.

  Hera could see large sweat stains on her blouse, and even the girl's voice seemed to be weak. Another person who ran to class.

  "Even ye Bonnie? Fine! A'm gonna prove ye all that I gave you the bloody bars." Mr. Greyson huffed and stormed off from the classroom.

  The five recruits were speechless at the scene. Since when was the teacher so childlike?

  "Ok, what the hell happened yesterday?" Alex asked Hera.

  There wasn't much to explain. Still, Hera did her best to recount the events. How they were just left to their own devices and ran the 30km, as the teacher requested. She also added that when she was done, a few other recruits were still finishing up. Leo and Blue, for instance, had a couple kilometers to go. Hera did consider staying and waiting for them to finish, but she was just too tired and went home right away.

  As they talked, more recruits started to arrive, all of them sweating and with panic on their faces. The last one was Mark, accompanied by Mr. Greyson, who carried a large cooler. After the recruit sat in the last empty seat, Blue leaned in to ask something.

  "Oh crap!" Blue gasped before placing both hands in front of her mouth, holding her laughter.

  Hera looked at the girl and asked what happened.

  "The teacher held the elevator door for Mark. Can you imagine how that ride was?" Blue explained.

  Picturing the scene, all recruits who heard her couldn't help but giggle.

  "Are ye all done?" Mr. Greyson asked the class, silencing them all in an instant.

  "Now, as Ah was told by the first ones to arrive. Ah didn't give ye the energy bars that would help ye rest. They were right." Mr. Greyson opened the cooler, revealing 13 energy bars inside wrappings with the Guild logo.

  Those were somewhat famous, as many explorers tended to carry them around. It was one of the small pieces of information about the MAZE that leaked to the public. The fact that explorers had some tools to help them recover stamina more quickly.

  "These bars are enchanted with a regeneration boost spell. The spell increases the natural recovery of yer body. It's not just very useful for long fights or missions. If ye eat one before ye sleep, ye will be much more well-rested, even on a day ye ran a marathon."

  He picked the cooler with one hand and proceeded to distribute the bars among the recruits, "Ah apologize for not giving this to ye all yesterday. There is no excuse for it."

  After all the students had one of the bars, Mr. Greyson stood in front of the class, "As an apology Ah'll get ye all some coffee. We will wait for class to start at 8."

  Even when Mr. Greyson was apologizing, Hera couldn't help but feel intimidated by the man. The way he spoke made it all seem more like an order than an honest 'I'm sorry'.

  The teacher started to walk out the door but stopped midway, "Anaya, Alex, come with me, Ah can't carry it all by myself."

  A few moments after Mr. Greyson left the class, the recruits started to talk. Mostly about what had just happened.

  "I bet this is the first time he ever apologized to his students." Blue said with her head still resting on the table.

  "I don't think so. I mean, even someone like him would have messed up in his first class." Leo while also resting on the desk.

  Despite the low energy of the recruits, they still were entertained by conversations. Until the teacher came back together with Alex and Anaya carrying a couple of plates full of cheese, bread, and fruits Mr. Greyson himself was also carrying a large thermos that had a label coffee together with some plastic cups.

  This impromptu breakfast turned the mood in the classroom into that of a party. A very early and unenthusiastic party, but still a party. The teacher also told everybody to eat the energy bars now. Even if they wouldn't have the benefit of a good night of rest, the stamina regeneration boost would help throughout the day. He also promised to give everyone another energy bar once class was over.

  After the hour was over, Mr. Grayson told everybody to return to their seats and started to gather all the trash and the remnants of the breakfast together. Instead of throwing it all away, he started placing each one in front of the recruits.

  "Today, ye're going to be learning the skill inspect. It's very similar to observe, but this gives more detailed information about an item. It can be used on people and on monsters, but it's more commonly used to see the full description of a piece of equipment," the teacher stopped in front of Bonnie and added, "Bonnie, not ye. Go to the front desk of the guild and ask for Helena. She has some special training for ye since the skill ye got yesterday is the one they are getting today."

  As Bonnie left the classroom, Hera couldn't help but wonder what a training session with Helena would look like. A big part of her wanted to mess up so she could have the woman as her teacher. At the same time, Mr. Greyson was helping her a lot. It would be weird to have a new teacher right now.

  Coming back to reality, Hera stared at the chocolate donut Mr. Greyson had just placed on her table, unsure what she was supposed to do.

  "Alright, since we have one hour less, Ah'm giving ye all fifteen minutes with each object. Describe them. Use yer tablet, a notebook or yer own sweat for all, Ah care, but ye need to write it down. It doesn't work if ye don't. And Blue." He stared at the girl about to bite down on a croissant filled with chocolate, "Don't eat the bloody items."

  Blue put down the croissant, pouting a little. Hera couldn't help but chuckle before pulling her tablet and starting to describe this delicious looking chocolate covered donut with sprinkles on top.

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