First Day Training

Mateus woke up feeling in unexpectedly good condition. He wiped the sand from his eyes, and looked around in faint confusion. After a long moment spent staring at the stacks of bunks around him and the rough blanket, he remembered the day before. He searched the blanket frantically until spotting the Beginner's Guide on the table.

Forcing himself up, he put the book in a draw where it would be safe, quickly washed up in a basin, and tidied his bed. The routine was familiar from the years in the orphanage. The only thing missing was a young Danica tugging his arm on the way to the dining hall.

Following yesterday's path, Mateus entered the mess hall and received today's meal - not the composite biscuit, which is only available after training. Today it was Fake Eggs and Vegemite. 'Fake Eggs' is a strange loaf of bread which is patterned inside to look like a fried egg. It tastes sort of like an egg too, but more like bread. Vegemite is from a recipe passed down through time. It's made from the processed leftovers of brewing beer. It's quite nutritious, but an extremely acquired taste that Mateus took forever to get used to.

Mateus ate the familiar meal in front of him quickly. He refused to be late on the first day of training.

Leaving the mess hall, he dashed to the training ground he was assigned, and arrived just as the instructor called the roll. He got a glare for being late, but lined up with the rest.

He then got taught physical exercises, then knife exercises, and then his companions were ordered out of the tattoo for training with all the others. Mateus sent out all except the Alpha for training, getting a surprised look from the people around.

Training for beasts included strength, speed, abilities and confrontation. Confrontation means to face off against a natural predator, or a beast of higher strength in a threatening situation. As all Mateus' beasts were still juveniles, the training for this segment was cut into half.

Finally, after a truly exhausting day of training, Mateus got to eat those extra expensive composite biscuits, and barely managed to walk into the barracks before fainting.