“A five-star hotel wouldn’t be a five-star hotel without one of the best restaurants you’ll ever have. So, since you were one of the st to arrive, let me take this opportunity to show you to the dining hall while I give you a tour of this pigsty.” An tinued his sarcastic presentation about how the Academy worked.

  Oliver had already uood how the boy liked flushing his disdain for the h Army, but he could also use the moment to learn more about the pce.

  “... Weren’t we supposed to be in a five-star hotel?” Oliver jabbed, "And for someone who seems to hate this puch, you sure seem to know a lot about it."

  "If I’m not strong, I gotta know things, right?" An smiled while flexing his arms, showing off zero muscles.

  The two began walking toward the dormitory exit.

  “Also, I’m the oelling this story. I ret however I want. … cough cough”. An expined. “Where were we? ht. Five-star hotels are only for those in the First Battalion. Pigsty is for us in the Sed,” An expined.

  “Yeah, I got that impression when I saas being called for each battalion,” Oliver ented.

  “Right. You’ll find three types of losers in the Sed Battalion: the nameless... like you.” An smirked while looking at Oliver.

  “Those who are too weak to bee Rangers. And finally, those publicly disgraced, being punished for something in their Houses.”

  Oliver could easily uand the first two "losers" types, but Houses were somethiirely o him. He had never entered them oreets of New San Francisco.

  “And what kind of loser are you?” he asked, giving An a questioning look.

  “None of those. I’m a rare breed. A new species of loser. The rebel, the one who doesn’t believe in all this crap.” An took a deep breath after his expnation. Though he spoke of rebellion, his face resembled defeat more than anything.

  “I see …” Oliver spoke, although not wholly believing the bullshit An was trying to sell.

  “Weren’t you supposed to hate what I said? Get pissed off and talk about honlory and vengeance? You know, like someone who lost their family to the Waves? I don’t know.” An asked while studying Oliver's rea.

  “Maybe. But to be ho, I don’t know much about the world, and when you spend a lot of time oreets, you fet about much of the anger and vengeand just focus on surviving.” Oliver expined.

  “Hmm… pretty mature for a 15-year-old,” An ented.

  “What are you talking about?! You’re 15 too…” Oliver answered.

  The two had walked quite a distance, leaving the dormitories behind and following a trail to a two-story building. On the first floor was the Sed Battalion’s mess hall, which looked like it came straight out of a prison. As soon as they ehe dining hall, the humidity hit their faces like an invisible wall. The heat and the smell of food overwhelmed anyone passing through.

  Once again, they lined up, this time to get dinner.

  “So, Mr. Survival, I’ll help you out. There’s a lot you clearly don’t know. For instahe mashed potatoes are really good.” An ented while pointing to a nearly transparent goo. Although Oliver trusted his new friend, he couldn't believe the ‘mashed potatoes’ could be any good.

  An threoonful of mashed potatoes on his pte without waiting for Oliver to serve. The force of the impact sent the potatoes spttering in all dires. Oliver shot a look of judgment that could have pierced An, but the bad mood didn’t st long as he caught sight of An’s gleaming bald head.

  They both served themselves, though it wasn’t much. The food had a slimy appearahat made it far from appetizing. The boys searched for a table with familiar faces, and it didn’t take long before they spotted some they had seen in their barracks.

  A versation was already taking pce at the table about what the few days would be like, and their curiosity was fueling the exge.

  “I heard that each barrack gets assigned a lead instructor, and they least five years of frontline experience.” One of the girls ented.

  “Five years?! Impossible. It’s too hard for someone like that to return and still want to teach.” Another boy responded with a look of disbelief at what they were discussing.

  “With five years of experience, anyone could nd a better job, not to mention already having a fortune saved up.” The same boy expio the others at the table to finish the discussion.

  The group sisted of boys and girls of different sizes, but they all looked starved and worn out. Still, they struggled to choke down the army’s slop. The only exception seemed to be Oliver, who was shoveling the food down his throat. The slop still disgusted him, but he had eaten far worse—his cooking. He had never learned how to cook properly, so whenever he had to put his ary skills to the test, he knew his taste buds were in for torture.

  An watched Oliver with a mix of curiosity and awe. To him, it was impossible to imagine someoing that food without chewing and pushing it down whole just to avoid tasting it.

  Then, one of the boys caught the group’s attention.

  “I think it would be good for us to introduce ourselves.” One of the boys sitting furthest from the group spoke. “We’re not here to make friends, but we o know each other si some point, we’ll o work as a team.”

  Several cadets agreed with the boy, some because of the logic he presented, while others simply wao get to know their fellow battalion members.

  "o meet you! My name is Emma." A girl from the other side of the table waved to everyone. She was one of the few who looked healthier, with rosy cheeks and slightly curly hair.

  "Great! Well, my name is Damian. But my iion with these introdus was to go a bit beyond our names. How about sharing our Boons and Glitches? Seems like basiformation." Damian smiled again at the table, looking for support from the other recruits. "For example, my Boon is telekinesis at Pawn level, and my Glitch is that I only use it on things I see and when I’m focused."

  Oliver stretched across the table to see who eaking. For the first time, he got a clear look at Damian. Simir to Emma, he was one of the few who seemed well-fed. His face flushed, and a faded scar ran across his retg from oo the other.

  "Telekinesis? Like moving things with your mind?" Oliver ented, just loud enough for An to hear.

  "Yeah. It's not one of the more on Boons, but his level is pretty low," An replied.

  The rest of the cadets uood Damian's proposal and agreed it was a good exercise. Each shared their names, where they came from, and Boons. Meanwhile, Oliver watched all this with a curious gaze.

  ‘Boon? Glitch?’ Oliver thought, feeling fused about what the others were talking about. Still, he kept a ral expression, notig that the others at the table seemed to uand.

  He already k was something about the Ranger Armor, possibly the powers he had seen during the battle, but he still didn’t uand how it all worked.

  The introdus tinued, and Oliver listeo powers of all different kinds. One girl could trol pnts, while another boy could set his entire body on fire. But what impressed him the most was that many of them had some kind of limitation. The girl who trolled pnts could only mawo at a time, and the boy with fire had a high-calorie ption, making it quite dangerous for his health.

  Finally, only An and Oliver were left to introduce themselves.

  “Hello! My name is Oliver; I’m a Nameless from New San Francisco, and my Boon …” Before Oliver could tinue speaking, he felt An jab him in the ribs with an elbow. “I don’t know my Bolitch.”

  Oliver looked at An in fusion, not uanding the reason for the elbowed. An, oher hand, smirked at Oliver’s response.

  “Well... I guess I’m the st one. My name is An. I’m from the outskirts of New San Francisco, and I also don’t know my Bolitch.”

  The atmosphere at the table became awkward as the two boys refrained from sharing more, but the versation soon moved on, with the others still intoxicated by the y of being in the h Army.

  After finishing their meals, the two boys walked back to the dormitory.

  “You thought quickly. Even though the excuse is weak, it was smart to say you didn’t know your Bolitch.” An gratuted him with a broad smile on his face.

  Oliver g An, notig the boy seemed impressed with his "wits."

  “Hum, but I really don’t know my boon,” Oliver spoke.

  “What do you mean you don’t know?” An stopped walking and looked thoughtfully at the boy.

  “To begin with, what is a Bolitch?”

  GCLopes