With the massive wolf staring him down, Rain felt a shiver run down his spine.

  ‘A wolf…The girl in the vision did not have a wolf…Though I don’t know what Reflection she had.’

  Rain thought to himself that, in his vision, while being chased by an enormous tree, perhaps something or someone like Gael might be useful to have. This thought process gave him some peace of mind, his shoulders finally letting go of the tension. With his mind and thoughts now at ease, he could recognise how massive this wolf was. Reaching his chest in height, with a head twice his hands in width, canines sharp as razors, he would surely be able to take down many trainees here.

  “Do you want to try to pet him? Gael is quite wary of others…But he won’t bite! I promise that!”

  Caught a bit off guard, Rain gave Aerin a quick nod and stretched his hand out toward Gael, stopping midway, letting the wolf come to him. Aerin seemed to be somewhat of a kind person, based on Rain’s perceptive nature, not many would strike up a conversation with someone staring at the air as he was, nevermind the fact that she chose to show her Reflection in return for accidentally seeing his. On top of that, he just wanted to pet a real wolf.

  Animals were already rare to see in the outside world. After the Mirror first appeared, most animals were slaughtered by the waves of Shards, with only a few able to be saved. Farm animals were a priority, of course, because of that, many species became extinct in a matter of months, if not weeks.

  Holding his hand in the air under the watchful gaze of Gael, the mighty wolf slowly crept forward, sniffing the air around him. Lying his eyes on Rain once more, only this time, Rain held his gaze. Trying to stay as calm as possible, an unusual conversation was held only by eyesight and instinct. Rain felt Gael’s need to protect Aerin, and his disgruntlement from others who do not respect him or his duty. Taking one step forward, Rain closed the distance even more, with Gael slowly closing his eyes and touching Rain’s hand with his wide snout.

  His fur felt rough, but more than that, simply by moving his hand, Rain felt the strength of Aerin’s companion. Opening his eyes again, Gael stepped away and quietly sat down beside Aerin.

  “Oh! Good job, Gael! He doesn’t usually do that in the first meeting!”

  Aerin happily scratched his neck while still recovering from the surprise.

  Taking a quick look at his bracelet, he noticed that quite some time had passed. It was dinner time soon, and he still wanted to discuss courses with Elys.

  “Uhm, Aerin? I’d better go, I still have some things to do.”

  With Aerin now on her knees, scratching Gael’s belly, she perked her head up:

  “Oh, you’re right! I still need to choose my courses.”

  In a swift hand motion, she summoned Gael back to her core and stood up.

  “It was nice meeting you, Rain. Hopefully, we see you around again!”

  “Yeah…Nice to meet you, too.”

  The duo diverged in different directions, and Rain headed back to his dorm.

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  ‘She is…interesting. Unusual for sure.’

  While Rain had explicitly stayed away from others to reduce the chances of his vision. He still listened to his surroundings wholly. He had expected the trainees to be average teenagers like him, making friends and forming bonds, but he did not expect them to be as quiet and reserved as they were. In hindsight, it made complete sense; they all wanted to survive, and to do that, could not tally and hang out. So the fact that Aerin went out of her way to start a conversation and show her Reflection, meant she probably did the same for others, which was irregular.

  Nevertheless, he had a fun encounter, but now, had some more important decisions to make.

  Arriving at the dorm, he met up with Elys, who had just arrived himself.

  “Rain! There you are. I heard you, and Lance went all out in training today?”

  Seeing Elys’s contagious smile, many could not resist smiling back, including Rain.

  “Yeah…Is he back yet?”

  Nodding his head, Elys answered:

  “Yep! He went to the showers.”

  ‘Good. Last thing I want is him being in the infirmary because of me.’

  “I gotta say, Rain…You beating Lance was not on my bingo card.”

  Shrugging, Elys turned around, with Rain following next to him.

  “Yeah, me neither. You won’t believe what happened after either then.”

  Entering their dorm room, Elys expressed:

  “Oooh, what an eventful day.”

  Going through his meeting with the Berserker on their way to and back from dinner, the group arrived back at the dorm exhausted.

  “But that’s amazing, Rain! A one-on-one with the Berserker himself! I gotta say, I’m jealous.”

  “It really is an incredible opportunity, Rain. It all came from your hard work.”

  Walking past him, Naomi had listened to the entire conversation from the start, providing him with some words of encouragement.

  “Thank you. He really did not seem that scary in person.”

  Jumping in from the side, Lance sat next to the duo on the couch.

  “You say that now, wait until you start training. If you thought Officer Stein was a hardass…Just you wait and see.”

  “How do you know?”

  Seemingly knowing what was on his mind, Elys asked the exact question Rain had loaded up. Giving a nefarious smirk, Lance responded.

  “ A man like Lieutenant Dawson doesn’t rise to his position from mere talent. There is no telling what he has endured to reach his point at such a young age.”

  In Rain’s mind, that rang true. While he had no idea of the difficulties Dawson had met while in the Mirror, he knew of one thing: His vision. Desperately trying to alter someone’s fate, just to simply lose it all. Something Rain had to come to terms with as well.

  “You’re right…Guess it's more torture for me.”

  Giving him a pat on his shoulder, Elys interjected:

  “You got this, man…By the way, what are you choosing for your courses? I want to take alchemy, but I don’t know what else.”

  Opening the massive list of choices, Rain began to ponder. Alchemy was a solid choice; knowing the many different materials the Mirror had to offer and how to use them was surely important. Rain, however, had a feeling. With his finger hovering over a certain subject, he opened the enrollment and saw that only three other students had taken it.

  Opening the menu, he confirmed his enrollment in the Ancient Inscriptions course.

  “Ancient Inscriptions? Are you sure, Rain? I know that the Mirror has some ruins, but isn’t it a waste?”

  Shaking his head, he could only agree with Elys. It didn’t make much sense for a trainee to learn the ancient inscriptions of the Mirror. Survival was the priority; learning to read the ancient languages was for next ventures into the Mirror. However, Rain had a feeling he needed to take it, and with him already being enrolled, now it was too late to back out.

  For their second subject, the duo decided on astronomy. The importance of navigation in a foreign world was second to none. Depending on their landing spot, if they recognised the environment from their geography lessons, one could simply walk toward known civilisation using the stars.

  Lying down in bed, the second leg of Rain’s training was now about to begin.