CHAPTER 16 - Meeting Nigel.

Zewoulf then moved to wake up Azyl. Even though there was still a little early before their routine began like usual, Woulf knew that the students were going to be anxious and many of them might already be there in the grounds.

There were many questions that he needed answers to from his seniors. But at the same time he would have to be careful of what information he got from them. There was no guarantee that they could not give them wrong information, as there would certainly be some seniors who would be participating in this year initiation alongside them. They would look to decrease the competition thus. But he had no idea how they were going to be participating alongside them either.

In fact he thought, all the seniors that they would have the chance to meet were those that were participating. So basically he was going to try find some useful info from his rivals. It wasn't going to be easy.

"Azyl wake up now." He called out to his friends who was sleeping well on the floor.

"Ehh?? Is it morning already? We don't have classes today so let me off na. I'll join you around 9 then..." He mumbled and then dozed off again.

Zewoulf could only sigh as he knew this would happen. So he went out, and then returned with a bowl filled with water.

"You better get up now or I am going to dump this bowl of water on you." He calmly told his dear friend as he sprinkled a few drops on his face.

Today was important and as he had decided to include and help his only friend in his plan, he had to start acting on it immediately.

As the wet drops slid down his face, Azyl scrunched up his brows, clearly annoyed. But nevertheless, he got up from his position.

Then he took a minute to organise himself before he went off to wash himself up. Soon both of them were on there way to the grounds. Azyl wore a slightly dark turquoise half-sleeved hoodie, along with red shorts that were also worn out.

It was spring season currently, so a pleasant breeze would blow during the morning. As the Academy was situated on the edge of the Mist Beast Forest that bordered the city, the cold from that place usually kept the academy cool as well throughout the year. Even during the summers. But that was not why Azyl wore a hoodie, as that was the attire he usually wore always. He only had hoodies or slightly over-sized t-shirts in his closet after all.

"Okay lets do our best to find some information about tomorrows test. But first lets warm-up and exercise a little." Zewoulf spoke aloud. Then he started running around the ground.

Looking at him go, Azyl could not help but be perplexed a little at his eagerness today. He seemed to be a little different and displayed more emotions than Azyl seemed remember. Then he looked at the grounds that were so large that a thousand people could run here and there would still be space for a thousand more to join.

For the first time, he could see students that were not a part of his batch. They were a little older than him but most of them still looked like kids. So those were the second and third year students that would participating along with them.

He stood there still, observing everyone and taking in the energy that was spread all around him at that moment. It was really a wonderful moment. And then he was pulled out of his stupor by a voice calling him out.

"Oye, what do you think you are doing by standing there? Get on with the warm-up." Zewoulf called out to him.

Immediately Azyl moved his body to run after him. He was still sore from the punishment day before yesterday, but maybe it was due to the meditation session yesterday that he seemed to have recovered a bit. Slowly he picked up his pace as he came side by side to Woulf. It was strange but from the moment he opened his eyes in the morning, he felt a strange happiness in himself. In fact it had been like this from yesterday evening. Maybe it was due to the realisation or the acknowledgment that came from his teacher. But knowing that he had a goal now made him feel better.

After around fifteen minutes of jogging and then slight exercising, they were done for the day. After all they weren't doing their routine from the combat class but just a warm-up.

Once he was done, Azyl immediately looked towards Woulf,

"Now what? I am no good with talking, so you pick someone and then you will do the talking." He spoke to him.

"Yeah I was planning to that as well. After all I remember talking to you for the first time." Would replied wryly with a smile.

The thing was that, Azyl was no good at conversing. With people who were around his age.

In his village he was the only one his age as mentioned before. Every other kid there was younger than him by five or six years. The two other kids that were older than him had left for the academy before and were probably now in fourth and fifth year. So he had never really interacted a lot with people around his age. But that alone did not define why he was not good at communicating.

The main reason again had to do with his innate nature of being a lazy ass. He did not want to talk to others unless it was really required by him and thus he degenerated to how he was today. Move less, speak less, do less. That must be what his motto would have looked like.

And so, Zewoulf started scouring through the many people that were also training or just looking around as well on the training grounds. Most people seemed to have already gotten acquainted with the newcomers as they could be seen standing in groups of fours and fives, talking to each other. There were some who did not bother to talk to others at all and minded their business, using the equipment that was placed there for the combat class for their practice. Then there was a third group of people who had not entered the grounds and were just observing from a distance, a look of disdain marking their faces.

It was a strange scene, as those people looked at others like uncouth bumpkins.

"Those must be the so called upper class students belonging to noble and rich families." Zewoulf spoke to Azyl in a light tone while nodding towards that third group.

"Hmm? There are people like that as well coming to study here? I guess Elementalism does hold its allure for everyone eh?" Azyl replied to him.

"While That maybe true, but these people clearly don't just want to study here in peace. Look at their faces, they are the kind who always look for trouble just by their actions. You can't help but want to slap them. But of course no one dares to." Zewoulf quietly said.

It seemed as though he really hated these kind of people. But Azyl was not bothered in the least. It would be too much of a drag to care about others for him so he never paid extra attention. In someway maybe you could say he was self centered? Nah, he was just listless.

"Don't mind others. We are not going to cross path with those people intentionally either. Lets focus on our task to gather information for tomorrow. Did you see any student that seems approachable?" Azyl nudged him, while pulling him a little away from where they were standing and towards the crowd.

"Yes. Lets go and be done with today. Look over there. That person seems nice. We can try talking to him, as no one else seems to be approaching him either."

Azyl looked towards where he was looking at and then looked back at Woulf to see whether he was being serious. And he was.

But he couldn't understand in what way was the person he was referring to seemingly giving any nice guy vibes.

While everyone around them looked part their age, this person seemed different. First he was built different. The muscles bulging were a clear indicator. This person was a hecking bulldozer and the scowl he wore while exercising really didn't give a, 'Come let's be friends' vibe to him.