Anna's body froze for an instant. She then slowly started to relax and snuggled closer and closed her eyes with a happy expression.
In just a few minutes, she had fallen asleep.
Max looked at her sleeping face and gently moved some stray hair behind her ears.
Looking at her sleeping face, Max felt peaceful and soon fell asleep. After all, he was drained after 'working out' with Jasmine all night.
…
When he woke up in the morning, Anna had already gone out.
He found a note beside him, 'You seemed very exhausted and were in a deep sleep, so I didn't wake you. I've made the breakfast; eat it when you wake up.'
Max smiled and walked towards the bathroom to freshen up.
After that, he ate his breakfast and went out. He was going to find Rima and teach her the chant of [Sonic Annihilation] first and then go to training grounds and start training.
Academies here didn't work like the institutions on the earth where they would teach you everything daily. Here, academies only provided resources to the disciple and would occasionally teach them.
Of course, nothing was free here, and disciples had to work if they wanted more resources or special guidance.
Therefore, most of the time, disciples trained by themselves or went on missions to earn more resources.
Although one would think, why would disciples want to join such academies where they would have work and pay for everything they needed?
The reasoning was very simple. It was because most of the resources were controlled by academies and the royal family.
If they didn't join any academy, they wouldn't have enough resources to improve, and if they ventured out in the world to earn them by themselves, first, they wouldn't be able to earn even one-tenth of the resources the academy disciples could earn, even with ten times the hard work.
The second was because the people without a strong background would be robbed, humiliated, enslaved, or killed.
Therefore, everyone preferred to join academies as they could easily earn resources and improve themselves, and at the same time, they would have the backing of the academies.
…
Max quickly reached Rima's residence. However, he didn't find her there as she was also out. Therefore, he proceeded toward the training grounds.
The training grounds weren't simple places because there were mana-gathering formations which improved the quantity and quality of the mana in the training grounds.
If someone were to train or cultivate there for one day, their improvements would be a few more times than usual, and unlike other resources which you needed to complete missions or use mana stones to get, these training grounds were open for every inner and core disciple.
Outer sector disciples weren't given this privilege because they were considered below average and didn't have any potential to become strong.
Therefore, the academy didn't want to expend resources on them.
Moreover, the number of outer disciples was hundreds of times more than inner and thousands of times more than the core disciples.
So, if the academy were to open the training grounds for outer disciples to use for free, there would be no room left for other disciples to train.
Thinking this, Max could only sigh. Given the situation, the academy wasn't wrong. If he were the head of the academy, he also would do the same because why would a sane person waste the limited resources on some 'trash' that had no future?
…
He reached one of the main training grounds in the main peak where disciples could train their spells.
It was a large four-floored, conical-shaped building, and from what he had heard from others, the first two floors were for inner disciples while the third floor was for core disciples. As for the fourth floor, only Elders were allowed to train there.
He approached the building and saw two guards standing in front of the entrance. One was male, and another was female.
Seeing him approach the building, the male guard shouted, "Halt and show your badge."
Max obediently showed his batch. After the guard checked it, he was granted entry inside.
As he entered the first floor, he was stunned by its size. It was at least the size of three football grounds put together, but right now it was completely empty, and the training rooms were closed.
He went to the reception, where a female Elder was sitting with an annoyed expression.
"Hello, Elder, may I know if any training room is available?" Max respectfully asked.
"Mm?" The Elder looked at him and asked, "Are you also a new inner disciple?"
"Yes. I am. Is something wrong?" Max asked, curious.
"No, nothing's wrong. It's just that from the morning until now, a lot of new disciples have come to train here even though you guys should be resting after coming from the outing." Elder said, shaking her head.
"Mm? Isn't that a good thing that disciples are eager to become strong quickly?" Max said.
"Yes, it's indeed a good thing." The Elder nodded.
She then started massaging her temples and said "However, because the formation inside the rooms of the first floor needs maintenance, the rooms are unusable currently.
As for the rooms on the second floor, each of them is filled, and many disciples are still waiting for their turn while more keep coming. It's giving me a headache."
"Whatever, give me your disciple badge." The Elder ordered.
Max took out his badge and gave it to her. She then used some technique that Elders and guards knew, noted down his details, and then gave it back.
"Go to the second floor. When any of the rooms are available, you can enter. But don't come complaining if you can't, and remember you can only train there for a maximum of two hours," Elder sternly said.
"Okay." Max nodded and went to the third floor, where another two guards were standing at the entrance.
They asked for his disciple badge and checked it. After that, they gave it back to him and let him pass.
"Woah!" He couldn't help but exclaim when he stepped onto the second floor.
