"This…" looking at the phone he's currently holding, Azrael was surprised as he looked at the date displayed by it, as it is already Sunday, as stated in the device, contrary to his belief that today is just the start of the weekend.
"That can't be possible, right? It's still night when I arrived last time, and this thing is not only telling me that it's already the next day, but also that it's already some hours past noon already." Typing something on the phone, a file was sent to him a few minutes after sending his message.
Opening the file, he was surprised as he saw the video feed of his villa's entrance, showing him walking like a zombie towards the door, the timestamp of said video giving him quite the surprise.
"No way…" he said to himself as he looked at the time displayed at the bottom of the video, stating the time he entered his residence.
4:01:14'59 AM
"Hahaha, something crazy just happened." Clenching his fist while feeling the newfound strength welling from his body, Azrael smiled while muttering the words, his thoughts completely chaotic as he tried to digest the fact that had just been presented to him.
'Even the me back then couldn't even handle an hour of practicing that thing,' he thought to himself as he recalls the scroll he found while exploring something during his time roaming around the world in the apocalypse. This scroll, albeit looking extremely ordinary, seems to be completely indestructible, as even his lightning avatar fails to leave a mark on it.
He was only fascinated by this scroll at first, but as time goes by, he starts to get attracted towards the things within it as well, trying his best to mimic the movement of the illustration inside the scroll, failing time and time again due to the difficulty of performing the same movements.
Eventually, he managed to perform what is contained within the scroll completely, bringing him quite the joy as he felt his strength rising significantly back then, before he was surprised as the scroll started flashing brilliant light, a warm current washing him before the light, along with the scroll, disappeared into thin air right in front of him.
While this experience is surprising, it's not really uncommon within the apocalyptic world, though. What baffles him the most only comes a few months after this event happens, the times after the scroll's disappearance made him feel so unlucky as he felt that his strength doesn't even increase a single bit during those times, the reason being he's not even able to last longer while performing the exercises in the scroll, only for him to be caught off guard when he easily dispatched people who tried to ambush him, people with strength enough to make him tremble before he come in contact with the old scroll.
It is only then that he found out that his strength is not remaining stagnant, but rather, the difficulty of the exercises increases proportionally with his strength, the crazy discovery making him more and more intrigued by the old scroll.
'Then sometime later, I found out that the time someone can perform an exercise is directly related to their talent and potential,' he thought to himself as he remembers his naïve self back then, his intrigue towards his newfound strength during that time even causing him to carelessly go to a settlement just to gather some information about it.
Recalling the times he started exercising it previously, he clearly remembered that it is only a bit past six in the evening when he started practicing that nameless technique, and the fact that he managed to perform the illustrations shown on it non-stop for almost ten hours shows that the talent he got is so much better than his body in the apocalypse one way or another, a thing he thought is worth celebrating.
Standing up, he looks at the mirror once again. Despite his appearance and figure still staying the same as previously, his expressions already started to change; the unmistakable confidence, as well as the blooming maturity, started showing on his face, bringing a unique charm out of him.
"More, I need to progress even more," he said to himself while staring at his reflection with a serious expression on his face, setting a target for himself before the apocalypse starts.
Booting up his computer, he scrolled through the dedicated page of the academy to look for multiple things, most of which were things that would help him get a better chance once everything descends into chaos.
Given the unique learning environment of the Stars Academy, there are quite peculiar teaching styles there, some teachers even allowing students to take their lessons mid-school year, said lessons are ones without any grading system, subjects that are free for the students to decide whether they want to take or not.
Looking at the same subjects being discussed, Azrael scours the site for the best instructors regarding all types of combat arts, taking notes of the choices that fits his schedules perfectly, filling up every little space in his schedule with those classes before starting to practice the exercise from the old scroll again, this time keeping it in moderation out of his concern of missing classes the next day.
"I will be screwed when I return if mom hears of me skipping class," he said to himself as he continued moving his entire body.
After a refreshing bath, once he finished a few cycles of the exercise, he decided to cook a simple meal for himself, mostly composed of vegetables and meat, obliterating the dishes completely, washing the plates before he started exercising for a bit again, this time adding weights to his body, increasing the exercise's intensity.
Working up quite the sweat, he decided to take a bath once again, quickly getting out to return to his bed, the fatigue from everything he did lulling him to sleep.
----------
At the start of a new, busy week, students are moving all around, some of them in a rush to go to their respective destinations, while some are already coming out of the classroom, and a fraction of these people are already preparing to go home.
In a considerably large building, a tall, middle-aged man looks at the figure in front of him, a young man with a relatively chubby figure standing almost a head taller than him, his face couldn't help but show seriousness as he scans the young man, quite surprised at the questions he's asking him.
"You want to what?" the middle-aged man said in annoyance as a vein popped out of his temple.
"Like I said, instructor, I would like to borrow a copy of the materials you're teaching, as I want to study them myself." Azrael stares back at the instructor, refusing to back down.
Looking at the determined face of the young man, the middle-aged instructor just sighs as he throws a notebook towards the young man, surprising him when the young man caught it effortlessly, as he did a trick when he threw it out.
"Thank you, instructor," the young man said before leaving the building, moving towards the same clearing he had practiced in previously, perusing the notes before starting to practice everything stated in them.
'Is it just me, or my mind is exceptionally clear today?' while thinking to himself, Azrael continues executing the moves shown in the notebook, the motion of his performance completely fluid, as if he's practiced doing this for more than tens of thousands of times already.
Should someone see what he is doing here, they will most likely get scared of what he just achieved, as mastering an art with just one look at its instruction is not something possible, as it needs inhuman comprehension to achieve that, something that Azrael is not aware he already possesses right now, but will be, soon in the future.