"Hi, I'm Daren, from today on, we will live together".

He raised his hand to greet him with a smile on his lips.

Kane looked at him frigidly, not reacting to Daren at all for a few moments, then shook his hand, answering only.

"I am Kane."

After looking at each other in awkward silence for a while, the new roommate finally mouthed off in an attempt to keep the conversation going.

"Eeem... I heard that you all came from orphanages, is that true? I just happened to be sent to the military academy by my parents, because my uncle is a defense general in Faywyn province in the north."

"Yes, I'm from an orphanage in MillWood."

He replied without enthusiasm in his voice, then headed to the free bed in the left corner of the room that was by the window. Throwing his bag and taking a moment to look around the dusty, cramped room, then without a word, walked out to the training ground, ignoring his roommate.

Daren, seeing his roommate and his behavior, realized that this was going to be a difficult relationship, and followed the boy out to the training ground.

As Kane walked through the hallways, he passed tens of children running around in panic, watching them behave and run into their rooms, and make new friendships. Although they had just been sitting quietly frightened in the dining hall, they were now running and shouting around the dormitory, bringing their attention to the older former recruits preparing to leave from dormitory, annoying each of them with their yelling.

Walking out into the yard, he looked at the overcast sky, foreshadowing rain, and looked around the yard for a man with a scar on his cheek. In the crowd of senior recruits, he spotted a man matching the description. A tutor in light armor, with a sword and dagger at his belt, a scar on his right cheek and short black hair with an unkempt beard, around whom children were beginning to gather.

Upon seeing him, Kane walked closer and lined up with the rest of the gathering peers. In the background, the children could be heard running out of the dormitory, out of breath, looking for their tutors. After a moment when the tutor counted the number of children in front of him to match the number in his group, he spoke.

"In line, gather!"

The children rushed to line up in a crooked row.

"Welcome everyone to the Byrock military academy, I am Nilon Sager, from today I will be your tutor. In the past, I served the kingdom as an attack general, just like Lorenz Shaster, whom you have already met. Over the next few years, I will be training you as knights to decently teach you the basics of swordsmanship and discipline. If you have any questions, this is the moment to ask them."

Momentarily, the entire group except Kane raised their hands to ask a question. The tutor, seeing the flurry of questions, only spoke with a slight smile.

"In that case, we'll start from the right and one at a time."

Children full of curiosity began to ask questions

"Are we going to use real swords!"

"Yes, but only after we reach the rank of Lower Knight, next."

"How long will we be here?"

"Until you reach the rank of Knight, that is, it is up to you how much time you will spend here, some with more talent take, for example, a year or two, others spent 3 or even 5 years each, next."

"What's the whole thing about ranks like attack general or local defense commander?" 

"In our kingdom, I have a system of ranks that categorize the military according to skill, starting from the very bottom, we have recruit, which is your current rank, then lower knight, knight, after which you can serve in the military. 

After reaching the rank of knight, before going to serve, you will all be tested for your talent in the use of Ren, if you have the right aptitude, you can continue your training and become, in order, lower swordsman, Swordsman, Master. 

If you have no aptitude for the Ren, you will simply serve as a knight, in the future, if you are lucky, you can advance as follows: Local Defense Chief, Defense General, Local Attack Chief, Attack General, Royal General"

Most people got messed up in their heads after such a lot of information, but Kane, took an exceptional interest in the mentioned power and raised his hand to ask a question. Instantly, both Nilon and the other children, noticed Kane's icy gaze, and moved on to his question.

"What is Ren?"

The group's tutor sighed, scratched his head and answered with some reluctance.

"Ren is a power that people with the right aptitude for it, you could say talent, are capable of mastering. It involves using the energy stored in your body, to increase your body in all kinds of ways, giving you superhuman abilities. 

As I said, I was an attack general, which means I didn't get a chance to learn how to use Ren, so I won't give you any more details. Any more questions?"

He looked around the group, and seeing no questions, concluded the meeting.

"Now I will introduce you to your new daily schedule. Starting today, you will wake up at 8:00 in the morning, and start your day with a morning running session, which you will finish with breakfast, followed by strength training, break, another run, lunch, learning swordsmanship then sparring, which you will finish with last, short run and dinner, then you have time to rest. 

Due to your age, you start your day's schedule relatively late compared to those with the rank of lower knight. You can disperse to your rooms, 8 a.m. I see you there."

Everyone was stunned by the exertions ahead of them. Even Kane was shocked upon hearing about the 8 a.m. wake-up call, having slept half his day for the past four years at the orphanage. The tutor, seeing the shocked children, merely laughed and said in passing.

"Good luck."

The group began to slowly disperse, but Kane stayed to look at the other groups, whose reactions upon hearing the day's schedule were similar to theirs. It began to rain from the cloudy sky, so the boy returned to his room.

When Kane arrived at the door of his room, he heard conversations from inside.

"Have you met the fourth one who lives with us yet?"

"Yes."

Kane recognized Daren's voice in response to the question, as he spoke to a person he didn't know.

"And what is he like?"

"I don't know, he's kind of strange. Although I tried, it was difficult to talk to him properly. He constantly walks around depressed and cold, by the way, you'll see for yourself."

He heard the boy's quiet voice coming from behind the door, but without a moment's hesitation, he opened the door, interrupting the conversation, and measured the two new roommates with his eyes, who sat in silence looking at Kane. Finally, one of them mouthed, after a subtle signal from Daren to speak.

"Hi, will you be living with us?"

Said one of the new boys, pretending he hadn't just talked it over with Daren

"Yes."

Kane replied briefly, walking over to his bed and unpacking his stuff.

"I'm Collin, and this is my brother, Auren."

He introduced his latest roommate, pointing a finger at him.

"H-Hello."

Auren shyly greeted after seeing Kane's cool demeanor.

Out of the corner of his eye, Kane glanced at Auren once more, then, without a word of response, opened the room's window and lay down on the bed, trying to go to sleep, so he wouldn't have to talk to anyone. However, Daren, Collin and Auren, did not plan to go to bed yet, so they tried to talk to Kane and keep the conversation going with him. Daren, as the oldest in the room, was the first to start the conversation, asking everyone.

"Then why don't we get to know each other better? I come from the town of Raychill in Faywyn province. And you?"

"We're both from Benlof, a village below the border with the United Kingdoms to the south."

Collin replied for himself and his brother. After which, all three looked at Kane. The boy, knowing that he would not be missed anyway, reluctantly joined the conversation

"I'm from an orphanage in Millwood, a town near the border with the Empire."

Daren looked curiously at the brothers and began to inquire about their whereabouts.

"You said your town is on the border in the south, by the united kingdoms, right? Then what are you doing here, Did your parents send you like me?"

"No... they took us from the orphanage just like Kane, when I saw the other boys in the dormitory, they took everyone from the kingdom, not just those from under the border with the Empire"

Continued Auren, as Kane wondered if he would be up to the fencing exercises, and analyzed what he had seen so far. As they talked in the room, the boy took advantage of the inattention of the rest and slowly began to fall asleep, ending his first day at the Byrock military academy.