I let out a sigh as I sat down, glancing at the others; we all nodded as we looked at each other's faces. We were all thinking the same thing.
"Get used to it, this will last for a while."
I turned toward the voice, not surprised to see that it was Jumyeong.
"Hey, you know a lot about this even though you're from the East," Anna said, looking at him with a smile.
"That's because I was in a cult for a while," he replied, looking at the food on the table before starting to eat.
"I should have guessed," we thought at the same time.
He was the best person to know something about this... "Now that I think about it, if he was in one, how did he become a slave?" I thought, opening my eyes wide as I realized. Anyway, I don't think it's a good idea to ask about that. Something bad happened to me after I asked about someone's past. I instantly felt an itch on my face, remembering Anna's slap.
No one else spoke because we all felt uncomfortable with all these guys around us. They took advantage of this and raised their voices, making our low voices almost inaudible.
"If I were a slave, I would have committed suicide. How can you live being even lower than animals?"
"I know, they weren't even good at that fight they started. I knocked several of them down."
"Me too. Maybe they weren't even focused on the fight. What if they were useful in other ways?"
I listened to them talking behind us. As much as I wanted to hit them, we decided not to fall for their provocations, as Ghislaine had told us before. But that didn't seem to be the case with Anna, who held some chopsticks in her hand before pointing them at one of the boys with the intention of throwing them at him.
Luckily, one of the girls stopped her, shaking her head as she made Anna sit down.
After a long time, we finished eating. Most of us, like me, had our blood boiling after the whispered taunts we heard.
This was made much worse after someone threw a stone at my blind eye. When I turned around, I saw everyone talking or doing something else, which made it impossible for me to know who threw it.
"Before we begin, all new members will receive the sect's garments. With these, everyone will know that you belong to the Fallen Sun sect, so I expect you to act accordingly," said an old man with several people behind him. They began to give us clothes like the ones everyone else was wearing.
<<<<>>>>
As we left the rooms after changing and gathering together, I realized that neither Oswin, Thomas, nor Della were around, so I asked about them.
"Hey, where are our magicians?"
"Oh, that's right, since you left last, you didn't hear. Since magicians don't train here, they were taken to a separate area from us," replied a boy with short orange hair named Elias.
"Hmm... well, I didn't see any magicians, so I guess that's normal..." I said, thinking out loud.
I thought the exercises would be light since we would be doing them after eating, but I was surprised when they told us that the first exercise would be to run three laps around the outside of the sect. We had seen the outside of the sect, so we already knew it wouldn't be as hard as it seemed. But after that, there were things like carrying heavy things and doing various annoying exercises.
In the afternoon, after all that, most of us were tired. Unlike the other guys, who still had energy even though they looked tired.
Now they told us we had to cultivate our internal energy. Honestly, it sounded better when we called it Qi, but Jumyeong said it was just another way of saying it, so I didn't bother to say anything.
During the time we stayed in the forest, we always took turns meditating, or we didn't do it at all because we were unprotected. But thanks to the fact that we were in a very safe place, we could do it peacefully.
Something I foolishly thought, because as soon as we started, I felt someone throw another stone at my blind eye. Trying not to focus on it, I turned around and turned my back on whoever threw it, but that didn't stop them, and they continued throwing them at my back.
Tired, I picked up several stones from the ground and threw them with great force at anyone in that direction, which created several problems.
"What the hell!" some shouted, standing up before looking at me.
To which I turned around and pretended nothing had happened. Besides, thanks to their shouting, the instructors realized how annoying they were, so they reprimanded them and made them stay still.
Anna, who was watching nearby, giggled as she looked at them, which made the guys look at us with hatred before we turned around and ignored them.
Knowing that they wouldn't bother me now, I was able to concentrate completely, sinking completely into meditation.
Anna had told us to use meditation to create our meridians since we didn't have any. But now, with all the meridians created, I didn't know what to do.
"If I concentrate, I can feel them, but they seem very small. Can I make them bigger?" I thought, taking a deep breath as I concentrated all the mana in my body and transformed it into Qi, making it flow throughout my body.
Little by little, I felt the meridians become a little bigger, which also made me feel lighter and much better physically.
Although I couldn't see much difference in size, the feeling made me sigh as I opened my eyes, feeling much better after cultivating my internal energy.
"If I had known that this is what it felt like to be so focused, I would have done it sooner," I thought, as a smile formed on my face.
Wanting to know if there was a difference, I picked up a rock from the ground before trying to crush it with my hand. Although it took a lot of effort, I was able to destroy it, doing something that I couldn't even do with both hands before.