Lani wasn’t sure what to expect with the barracks, she thought that it would perhaps consist of a single large room with crappy beds, small lockers, and a shared bathroom for minimal privacy. She was pleasantly surprised to find that wasn’t the case. When the group entered the building, Instructor Zam told them that every two rooms were linked together by a shared kitchenette and bathroom. He didn’t give them any more information than that, except that they had fifteen minutes to find a room and get situated before needing to be outside.

It wasn’t even a contest as to who Lani wanted her roommate to be, not that she thought anyone would want to be her roommate after Instructor Zam’s revelation outside. She wasn’t even sure that Imogen wanted to be her roommate after that. However, as soon as Instructor Zam left and everyone went to pick rooms, Imogen came up to her.

“I think that we would be better off just going to the back and picking the last two rooms,” she said.

“Are you sure that you want to be my roommate?” Lani queried.

“Yeah, of course,” she smiled warmly and they both started walking down the hall. “I don’t really care what you did before and I really don’t care about what your parents did. But that was a dick move by the instructor. I wonder why he did it, though.

“Me too. I think I’m going to have to be extra careful.”

The pair made it to the last two rooms in the hallway, Lani took the last door and by the time she got to it, Imogen was already inside her room. She opened the door to a cozy room with a bed, dresser, desk with lamp, and to her surprise, there was a walk-in closet at the back. If it hadn’t been obvious that there was a huge change in how they were being treated before now, the practically lavish rooms they were given was proof. It had been longer than Lani could remember since she lived in something so nice. Most of the people in the slums would kill for this and here the Ascendant Army was just letting trainees stay there. It was probably the lowest living standard they could think imagine. Lani thought that it was an unneeded luxury, but those who signed up to be Ascended were usually those of privilege.

Also at the back was another door. Instead of inspecting the items that had been laid out on the bed, Lani chose to explore first. The back door opened to a small room that was the kitchenette the instructor had mentioned and to one side were two doors. She assumed that one of the doors led to Imogen’s room and she was right because the door opened as she was standing there and Imogen’s head peaked out.

“Pretty nice huh?” she asked.

Lani agreed and together they checked out the bathroom, messed with the small stove, and opened all the cabinets in the kitchenette. Lani inspected the gear on her bed. It had stockaded sheets, blankets, and a pillow, next to a pot, pan, and the key to her room. She grabbed the key and headed back outside, not wanting to take too long in the room; everything there could wait until she got back.

Once they arrived back outside, Instructor Zam took them all to the next building over. There, she received some more clothes and a few other pieces of equipment for her time there. The process was smooth and didn’t take long. It seemed that they were expected and everything had been ready for them to pick up. Lani was glad to get some more uniforms, she didn’t relish having to clean every day. She wasn’t even good at cleaning on a weekly basis.

After that, it was back to the barracks once more to drop off their equipment, but they didn’t get as much time to drop it off, it was just a quick in and out. When they went back outside afterward, instead of meeting them just outside their barracks, Instructor Zam was further down the and yelling at them all the hurry up.

He seems to like that phrase.

Everyone made it over to Instructor Zam’s position and lined up similarly to how they did earlier. Apparently, though they weren’t quick enough in either moving to him or getting in position.

He screamed with spittle flying, “Ten Laps around the training area!”

The space in the middle of the buildings, which was apparently considered the training area, was fairly large, Lani would venture to guess that running around it was more than a quarter of a mile. No one moved after Instructor Zam yelled and they soon paid the price.

“Oh, I see,” he said ominously. “You all think I’m a joke huh? I am Instructor Zim, a Chief Ascendant in the King’s Ascendant Army. For all of you, that means that I am God. If I say jump, you better jump until you die.”

Instructor Zam sprang forward almost faster than Lani could see and he arrived in front of a trainee on the edge of the formation. Lani noticed that either her reactions were faster than the others, or they actually didn’t see him move because it seemed like they all moved their heads in unison to where Instructor Zam stood inches away from the trainee.

“Do you think it’s funny, trainee?” He asked with malice in his voice.

“N-no,” the trainee stuttered.

“NO, WHAT?”

“What?”

“NO, SHITHEAD, NO, SIR? NO, FUCKFACE? NO WHAT!?” Instructor Zam seemed to get angrier as he yelled.

“No, sir,” the trainee managed to squeak.

Instructor Zam made a fist and, at least to Lani’s eyes, he hit the trainee from almost an inch away. The results of the strike were more than she was expecting. The trainee flew back at least five feet colliding with two others behind him. She was sure he would have collapsed to the ground had the others not caught him.

The trainee was limp in their arms and seemed to have trouble breathing.

“Playtime is over for you lot.” Instructor Zam placed his arms behind his back and started pacing. “What I just did was nothing. I barely struck him. This is the power of a senior Green Core. While I am only one grade above you, the difference in power is not easily hurdled. You might imagine yourselves to be strong since you passed the Monolith’s first-floor trial, you clearly are nothing in comparison. To get you Greys anywhere near to where you don’t die immediately upon going outside the gates, you need a lot of work. So when I say run, you RUN!”

All the trainees turned and did what Instructor Zam said, even the two who were carrying the injured trainee didn’t hesitate. They didn’t go far though, Instructor Zam stopped them and sent them to another building with the injured trainee.

Lani struggled to stay in the middle of the pack while running. She also had to make sure to look properly tired. Staying in the middle was easy, except for the beginning of the run. She sprang forward so fast that she almost left them all behind. Luckily Instructor Zam wasn’t watching when that happened.

Nobody seemed to be too tired after the first ten laps. It seemed that the benefits of completing the Monolith were paying off. Lani never considered herself out of shape. When her parents were alive, she exercised regularly. Afterward, she gained what she would call a scrappy type of strength. But she rarely had time for long sessions of sustained cardio. Even though she didn’t run often, Lani was far from tired, if fact, she didn’t even feel like she had warmed up. Some of the other trainees, such as Imogen, were breathing hard.

“All right,” bellowed Instructor Zam. “Now that we’re all warmed up, it’s time for our real run. You will all run until I tell you to stop and there is only one rule, don’t let me catch you. Go.”

With those words, they all took off running. Lani made sure that she didn’t jump too far ahead quickly. While running, she once again tried to stay in the middle of the pack, if not a little behind. The run lasted a lot longer than before.

Lani got into a rhythm with her jog and soon the sounds of thumping feet and steady breaths drowned out all others. It wasn’t until Instructor Zam caught up with the person in the rear of the run. She didn’t know if the trainee had actually been slow or if he was just not paying attention. Regardless, what happened next was at the peripheral of her vision so it was hard to see.

Lani wasn’t exactly sure what happened, but she did learn a little bit more of it later in the barracks while talking to Imogen who was closer to the action, and by Instructor Zam later in the course. Instructor Zam caught up to the trainee in the back and moved to the side of him. From that position, he merely ran next to him for a quarter of a lap and the trainee didn’t even notice. Then the instructor actually ran in front of the trainee and turned around to run backward while matching his pace. Apparently, it was at this time that the trainee actually noticed Instructor Zam. Then what happened was the amazing part. Instructor Zam phased through the trainee. His body flickered and he lost momentum causing the trainee to run right through him.

Instructor Zam explained that his phase ability disrupts electrical signals in everything that he passes through. This phenomenon also works with a body’s internal nervous system. When the trainee ran through him, he lost all ability to control his body.

He tripped over his own legs and couldn’t get his arms out to break his fall. He slammed face-first into the ground and slid three feet with his legs up in the air like a scorpion tail before stopping. When the trainee was able to use his arms and legs again, Lani was running past him and she saw the aftermath of his tumble. He was missing his front teeth and half the skin on his face was scraped and bloody.

“Get up and get to the healer,” yelled the instructor without remorse. “Now I have to run faster to catch up.

The trained limped off the field in the same direction the others had gone before the run. Lani absently wondered if the other two trainees had returned. She quickly scanned the group and while she didn’t know the ones that took the trainee to the healer, her count confirmed that they had returned.

Suddenly, there was a blur that flew past Lani, breaking her out of her thoughts. She noticed that Instructor Zam had sprinted by her. She worried that he was about to do phase through her and she would suffer the same fate as the other trainee, but when he kept going she realized that he was just catching up to the people in the back.

The instructor eyed her as he turned the corner and she could see that he noticed her gaze. It was then that she realized the others didn’t even seem to register his presence.

Shit. How fast was he going? If no one else noticed that he ran by other than me and he noticed, I could be in trouble. I need to be more careful.

Lani had already lost count of how many times she had reminded herself that day to be careful. She tried to put on a more tired face and act, but she really didn’t think her acting was that good. She looked around at the others and all of them were looking tired. Lani wasn’t even sweating.

Slowly Instructor Zam started to pick off each trainee. Like Lani, he didn’t even seem to be sweating. She wished that she could give him a run for his money, but knew it was more prudent to keep her secret. Lani noticed that Imogen went down and wished she could do something to help her but was unable.

It was then that Lani wondered if the instructor was planning on causing all of them to fall. Lani started making plans as to when she would allow herself to fall, Instructor Zam was only two people behind her. She decided to give herself some extra running room and moved up two more to the top ten. She wished that she knew how many laps they had run, then she could try and gauge how many more he might be making them run. Unfortunately, she didn’t bother to count.

It seemed that Instructor Zam was only interested in taking out the back half of them. As soon as he caught up and took down the trainee in the eleventh place he stopped the run and had them all gather back up into a formation. Lani could feel his cool gaze on her as she hustled over trying her best to look tired and winded like all the others.

Instructor Zam was standing in front of them and he wasn’t even breathing hard. “Good job to all those who made it this time,” he said. “Don’t expect to make it next time. It will only get harder from here.” He pointed at one of the trainees. “You, go get the others from the healer. Hurry up.”

The trainee sprinted off in haste to do as told and moments later the entire group was back together.

“Now that part one of the morning exercises is done, it’s time for the next part,” Instructor Zam said maliciously.

Lani groaned internally, she was sure others did as well but no one dared to say anything out loud, lest they be forced to run again.

While they all went through exercises, Instructor Zam explained to them why it was so important.

“Did anyone read the description of the Grey Core when it was initiated in their body?” He asked the group. Several people responded yes in the correct manner to not draw his ire. “Well for those that either didn’t bother or didn’t understand, I'll explain. What the Core does is strengthen what the person already has. If someone had never run before in their life, the initiation of the Core would allow them to sprint at least twice as fast as they could before. If they were slow and their top speed was, we’ll say seven miles an hour, then after receiving their Core, their top speed would be closer to fourteen miles an hour. In reality, it is still significantly slower than someone who is trained and sprints a lot. So, to you, it's fast, but in reality, you could still just be average.”

We changed exercises a couple of times and after a little while, he continued on with his explanation. “Fortunately, we can still increase our speed and strength through training. Going into the Monolith and having our physical parameters stuck where they are would be a huge problem if that were the case. If it did, we would have to do this all differently and we couldn’t get the best results.”

Lani thought about what Instructor Zam was saying and it really didn’t make sense.

Wouldn’t it be better to train people before going into the Monolith? Sure you might lose some money to those who died, but the number of people who survived would probably increase. Also, those that passed would instantly be stronger than the average Monolith survivor now, and then they could do even more training. Did he really believe what he said?

Lani and everyone else, at least those in the slums, knew that the Ascendant King didn’t really care about the people, he just wanted to be powerful. But she couldn’t figure out why he would stunt his own army that way.

Lani’s stomach clenched in danger. She looked up to see the eyes of Instructor Zam focused on her as everyone did the exercise. She glanced around to find everyone else struggling and making various faces of pain. She had started daydreaming again and forgot to act tired, and the instructor noticed.

Once again, she did her best to pretend that she couldn’t feel the danger he was exuding or tell that it bothered her. There wasn’t much she could do at that point except try to do the exercises a little bit slower and pick up her act again.

“Trainee Novack,” said Instructor Zam.

“Yes, sir,” she replied while trying to sound nonplussed.

“You seem to have been in good shape before the trial, I think you might benefit from some extra training.” Lani didn’t know how to respond so she stayed silent. “After this session, stick around and I will give you some additional instruction.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good,” He stated. “Everyone else, break for lunch, the chow hall is in the healer building. Be back in one hour. Dismissed.”