Tests and first day of military training

After looking at his core, Johnathan wondered what he should do. He hadn't had time to himself since the apocalypse started. 'Should I just sleep? I have to wake up early, anyway.'

Once he was about to call it a night, he suddenly got a brilliant idea. 'I should try to experiment with mana. But what should I do? Should I try walking on walls like a certain ninja? Nah, there's a chance I'll break a wall.'

With no idea on what to try, he left it to fate. Drawing mana out of his core, he closed his eyes. Then, not knowing why, he started imagining something akin to a ki blast.

He gets the mana gathering, but before anything could form; the mana dispersed and went back into his core.

Kissing his teeth from frustration, he tried one more time. However, like before, the ball of mana wouldn't condense into what he wanted it to. 'Let's stop this for now. I don't want to get even more pissed.'

Johnathan stopped practicing the mana blast and instead wanted to try other things. Moving a small amount of mana into his eyes, he noticed that his sight increased exponentially. He had 20/20 vision before, but now it was like he had 40/20.

Then an idea came to his mind. What if he used his mana, intending to use his time ability? 'Would it work? Is my ability only time stop or can I do other stuff?'

'Time. I've seen many fictional characters with this ability, but could I replicate them?' He wondered while thinking of all the abilities he'd have if his hypothesis was true.

"Ivan normally uses his power by turning his mana into lightning and manipulating it. At least that what I think he's doing."

Johnathan thought out loud, comparing his ability and Ivan's.

They both turn mana into their respected elements, so would it be any different if Johnathan manipulated his time ability instead of just drawing it out and using the most basic form of time. Stopping time was powerful, incredibly so, but that's not the only application of time.

'What should I try first. Argh.' In frustration, Johnathan ruffled his hair violently before slapping his face.

Once he was finally done throwing a fit, he thought about an ability he would find useful.

'That's a good one. Imma go with creating that one. But let's save that for another day. I'm too tired.'

Johnathan was tired and mentally exhausted. Laying down on the wooden floor, he grabbed a blanket that was beside him and put it over himself. 'At least they gave a blanket. Albeit a cheap one.'

Tucking himself in, Johnathan closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep.

—-

"Argh."

With a groan, Johnathan woke up. The sun was still down and, with his phone dead, he could not check the time.

'Let's just hope it's not too early.'

He got up from the floor and stretched his body before walking to the washroom.

Johnathan turned the handle to the sink clockwise, checking if any water came out. Luckily water flowed out, meaning the apartment had water. 'Thank god. I can finally take a nice shower.'

Taking off his clothes, Johnathan stepped into the bath. He turns the bath handle counterclockwise and pulled the shower diverter.

The bath already had the curtains, so luckily, while he was showering, the floor didn't get wet. After a quick shower, Johnathan felt like a new man. Once he finished putting on his clothes, he grabbed his keys and walked out of the apartment.

Closing the door, Johnathan inserted his key and turned it right, locking it. He couldn't risk getting robbed. He had not only his food and supplies in there, but his gun as well.

He walked to the elevator and pressed the button. Once the elevator arrived, he stepped in and chose the button with 1 on it. The elevator stopped between floors and by the time it reached the first floor, there were at least eight people in it.

They stepped out of the elevator one by one and once Johnathan was finally out; he noticed people were already on the first floor.

He looked around and spotted his friends. Walking over to them he said, "Thanks for not waking me up."

"We tried for a good five minutes. You just didn't wake up."

Johnathan's eyes widened at Danny's words. "Really? Damn, I must've been tired as shit."

"Anyway, what do you guys think we'll do today?" Ivan asked.

Johnathan thought for a moment before giving his idea. "Maybe introductions?"

Danny looked at him with a deadpan expression and replied, "you kidding me, man. This isn't school. I doubt they care about our names."

"True, but whatever it'll be, I hope it's not too hard."

Both Johnathan and Danny nodded. Neither of them wanted to have a hard time during the first day.

They made small talk for a couple more minutes before the same man from the other day arrived. Everyone who was speaking stopped talking and looked at him. He and a couple more soldiers behind him arrived with suitcases, and the people, including the three, were curious about what was in them.

"What's in them?" A man who couldn't take it anymore asked.

He was on the other side of the lobby so Johnathan couldn't see what he looked like. But with his hoarse voice, Johnathan imagined the man looked quite grumpy.

The man with neatly combed hair and dark blue, rectangular glasses spoke. "Thanks for asking. They are..."

Suspends built up and everyone leaned closer.

"Your new uniforms!" The man said, making the people who were excited to learn about the mysterious things in the suitcases groan in dissatisfaction.

'He really built up all that suspense just to say it was uniforms.'

"Now then, before I introduce myself, get in rows please." The people listened and got in rows of 21. Once they were in rows, the man continued. "I'm sergeant Ross. And from now until training's done, I expect the utmost respect."

"Yes, sir!" Everyone exclaimed, standing upright with their hand to their heads.

Johnathan and his friends have seen enough movies to know how to salute. At least to a barely passable point.

"Good. Now, before we start anything, has anyone eaten any of this?"

Taking out a crystal from his pocket, Johnathan could see what he was asking. 'Not a surprise they know about the crystals.'

Twenty people raised their hands, and among them were Johnathan and his crew.

"That's a lot more than I thought. Good. I see some of you have confused looks on your faces, so let me explain in simple terms. This crystal is our next evolution. This crystal will help humanity reach the apex."

'Excellent speech. Honestly got me a little excited as well.' Johnathan thought as he looked around at the cheering crowd.

"How do we get one?" A person on the other side asked. From the voice, Johnathan knew it belonged to a woman.

"As long as you survive the training and get some merits, you can become one of the few superhumans."

"Ok!" the lady screamed in excitement.

"For those who've eaten one, come to the front."

Since there were 105 people, there were multiple rows they stood in. Some people stepped back while some stayed in the front. Johnathan and the other two walked forwards, earning the envious gazes of those around them.

"Now that the twenty awakened people have arrived at the front, let's give them a round of applause. To get a crystal, especially at some of their ages, is something magnificent."

The people behind the twenty clapped. Once they were done, the sergeant continued. "For you, the exercises I normally would give are useless. So from now on, you twenty will train separately."

'Hmm. He's right, but still. I doubt the twenty of us will be treated equally with those, as he said, non- awakened. I just hope they don't get all rowdy.'

Johnathan was right. The military would, of course, pay special attention to those who had got a crystal. After all, getting one meant you killed at least one zombie.

"Before we start the first day of training, let's get changed. The twenty of you, come up and get your uniforms."

Johnathan walked up with the other twenty and grabbed a uniform the other soldiers behind the sergeant were handing out.

'Green shirt, and green camo pants. Now I can finally take these dirty rags off.'

He had been wearing the same clothes for a good minute and by now; it had a couple of rips and tears in a few places. That and it was dirty and smelled horrible.

With the uniform in his hand, Johnathan mentally prepared himself for what's to come.