Xavier

Ares looked at that boy with suspicion at first. After being fooled by one of his roommates right off the bat, he was wary of all the other trainees that were in the same room as him. He didn't want to get fooled again at all. In truth, he didn't want to talk with anyone, if possible, but now that the boy was in front of him nothing was helping it.

"Yes," he said, without stopping to eat, "I am Ares." His voice was serious and he avoided the eyes of that boy.

That boy stretched his arm forward, offering a handshake to him and giving him a corner smile.

"My name is Xavier Goldenbear, son of Isaac Goldenbear. That guy who you probably heard some people making fun of, though I am not exactly happy about admitting it, hehe..."

An awkward silence befell both of them as Ares didn't seem to care about his presentation. He, naturally, didn't even consider touching his hand and just gazed at it with a grim expression.

Trying to recover that bad outcome and first impression, Xavier pulled back his hand and held the fork that was on top of his tray. He kept looking to the side for a while, giggling nervously.

"Man... Now that you triggered this bad side of the trainees, expect to have a very troublesome life... I can't believe that you made something so outrageous like that," the freckled boy commented, raising one brow. He didn't seem entirely worried about Ares, but rather was pitying him.

"I don't need your pity. And, to be honest, I don't care about the other trainees at all, they can think about me whatever they want or whisper all day," Ares frivolously answered.

It was a hassle to live with mocking and sarcasm all day, but he would need to bear it just for some days. It wasn't a hellish situation at all.

Upon hearing those words, the freckled boy seemed a bit confused, then realized something.

"Ah... sorry, I always forget that you are still a new trainee here. It's just a habit, I never thought that someone could arrive at Stokil aiming to become a Novice at this point of the game. Let me explain to you exactly how it is to be a trainee in Stokil Fortress and you will understand why I am saying this."

Ares finally let go of his fork and stared at Xavier. He was interested in that part since he didn't have the opportunity to know more about the trainee's dormitory.

"Well, it's safe to assume that the Guardian that took you here said to you about the basic rules of the dormitory, right? Well, there is more to it than you think. There are more rules that the trainees of several years ago created and that are passed down to the trainees of the subsequent years.

"One of these rules, and that may interest you more, is the reason why the coordinator of our dormitory tried to greet you in such a way."

Ares kept attentive. Now that he explained this first part to him, he was utterly interested in that matter.

"There is a rule that says that the coordinator of the dormitory shall greet the newcomers and test their power, to see if they have the guts and strength needed to stay in the dormitory. If they are strong, they will live a relatively peaceful life. If they are weak, they will always be got by the 'Early game'."

Ares got curious about the last part.

"What's the early game?"

"Pertinent question. Well, as you may know, at the end of the year, the trainees need to go through an exam filled with challenges that will determine if they are good enough to serve the forces of Stokil Fortress. However, the exam doesn't exactly start by the end of the year for the trainees. In the rules made in the past generations, there is something called the Early game. A competition to see how many weaklings or average people they can get out of the final exam," Xavier didn't seem comfortable while talking about that, but he forced himself. He had an objective in mind, and it would get completed only if he could make things right at that moment.

Ares's face was grimmer than before. He was grimacing upon imagining what happened on that Early game. His mind was doing rounds and rounds on that subject.

"What exactly happened on this Early game? How do they make people quit the trainees? As far as I know, violence is prohibited in the dormitories, after all."

The freckled boy agreed with him. Ares didn't say any lie nor equivocation there. However, there was something that he wasn't taking into consideration in his logic.

"I think that you are forgetting something, Ares. There is an exception to this rule. Unless the Guardian forgot to tell, you should know what it is..."

Ares thought about it for a second and remembered right away what it was. Once he realized it, his shock was even greater.

"The exception is for battles that come from competitions allowed by the coordinator of the room..."

"Yes. And who was the person that applied the first rule of the trainees on you?" Xavier promoted Ares to reason by himself about it.

"Arwin Whitehorse. That is, if someone wants to mess with me, he will allow it and judge it as a competition since, in reality, we are in the early game..."

Xavier nodded, satisfied with his response.

"Exactly, that's what makes life here in the dormitories very hard for people like me and other guys. The weaklings are always stomped, while the strongest fight between themselves sometimes, but mainly focus on us. Before, there were double of the current numbers of trainees, but all of them quit after some months inside here. There were even some above the average but couldn't hold against the huge pressure of the other trainees."