My name is Ezekiel Slater, and I used to be someone else from another world. I died in some battle in a country I never wanted to be in, but that was okay, I was a good man and saved the lives of my boys as they retreated so it was okay.
I did everything I could and I tried to tell myself that it was enough. I was no longer who I was before, being Ezekiel Slater was all that was important here and now, because who I used to be was a universe away at least.
Ezekiel Slater was a resident of a small vassal state to the Kingdom of Vale, and I had to become a Huntsman. I was an orphan with no ways of making money or securing a scholarship for something like college, at least not without leveraging everything that I knew.
And what exactly did I know?
Off the top of my head, warfare doctrine for another world's military, a half-assed college education that I had to abandon when the war started, and a repository of knowledge about the human body born from let's see… I was 9 years old in my first life when I first started, died at age 25, I'm 10 again, I started when I was 3 in this life, so what 23 years of experience when it comes to training.
Granted that was- "Slater, head out the clouds."
..! I pivoted and ducked to the side of an unseen attack, my hands coming up in a loose guard as I exhaled and turned towards the voice. There was nothing there, damn I could have sworn I saw something coming.
"What are you "Image training" again, Slater?" the voice of my teacher, a man by the name of Blue Henderson called out mockingly. A man with Azure blue hair and a lean build, he was for all intents and purposes my PE teacher and the person I had to impress the most in order to get a fair shot at getting into Signal.
"Come on boy get in line with everyone else, I don't care who you think you are, run with the rest of the boys."
I couldn't tell sometimes if he didn't like me or if he was just trying to make sure that I was actually attending class, as mentally as I was physically.
But that was the thing, I was still at least mentally 25, and even if I was a military leader in my last life, twice, I chafed at the idea of following someone else's authority. Being a 10-year-old child and adult in my own right led me to a lot of situations that were difficult to explain.
As one could imagine, something on this level wasn't very mentally stimulating.
Still, I fell in all the same. Taking a deep breath I mentally blanked out as I felt for the energy within me, attempting to create a balloon of sorts within me, humming gently as I did so. We ran for about three miles at a relatively gentle pace considering we were hardly old enough to be expected to go faster or longer given our ages.
But I trained like this to warm up before breakfast. A pace like this, which had to be something like eight minutes given the length of strides? It was nothing.
Going all out right now I could do a 6:50 pace, granted I would need to catch my breath but I needed to be able to do more and in time, I would.
"What, is this too easy for you Slater?" Henderson said as he watched me maintain my blank disposition. Besides, the relatively easy pace was good for improving my closed mouth breathing while running. So in order to improve that I also wanted to improve my ability to keep a flat expression. There was no point in letting strain show on my face since even this could be considered Huntsman training.
After all, how reassured would people be if they saw a Huntsman looking tired after a short jog?
Even if the pace was easy I would take this seriously too, if Henderson couldn't see that, then that was his problem.
"Alright, since Slater wants to be smart, everyone, Beowulf sprints, go!" The teacher yelled with enthusiasm, eliciting groans from everyone else.
Beowulf sprints were the equivalent to Indian Runs in this world where the person in the rear takes the lead and so forth. For me, in both lives sprinting was easy, you didn't need to breathe. So I didn't, when it was time to go, it was time to go.
And I was generally hated for this since at most I would just slightly breathe harder through my nose when it was said and done. I had done everything I could to get back to my former Terminator status that I had in my last life and this had been something I did take joy in since I could let myself fall back as much as I wanted before actually getting something worthwhile out of my training.
Still, I had fun, I could almost pretend that I was running alongside my boys again, towards or away from gunfire. Damn, I really should check on Gonzales, ever since he contracted Purple Lung he's been…
Oh wait…
Just keep going, let's go faster now.
...
Behind him everyone else stared at the Unbreakable Boy.
"Ezekiel thinks he's so great."
"Yeah, look at him. Gah! I hate him and his stupid freaking attitude!"
"He really thinks that he's better than us!"
"Guy thinks he'll become a huntsman? Doesn't he know that his team actually needs to like him if he wants to graduate?"
"And the way he just ignores us! One of these days I'm gonna put him in his place!"
"Damien, if you decide to then I will too."
After all, it wasn't like they would be able to beat him one on one. His score in sparring was pretty much undefeated and they had to make up a few rules since he dislocated someone's knee in a spar and concussed another.
And when it came to class work it was like he was born knowing everything already.
It's frustrating how good he was.
Outside of Yang Xiao Long who had a huntsman family there was no one else who had taken to the lessons as well as he did. But it wasn't like they would ever get the satisfaction of seeing that fight since they were in different classes.
"You guys should get real. There is no way that any of you could beat him. I've seen that guy punching boulders before."
"Yeah, you think that's crazy, I've seen this guy walk across the pool in the gym."
"That doesn't even make sense, Duncan."
"Yes it does! He was at the bottom of it, he even did shadow boxing down there for like 5 minutes."
"Yeah, now I know you're lying!"
"Am not!"
"IF YOU BOYS HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO TALK THEN YOU HAVE ENOUGH ENERGY TO CATCH UP!" The voice of their teacher called out, a big grin on his face.
And almost like magic, they heard the footsteps of a brutal pace behind them.
It was Ezekiel. His face was completely red with veins bulging from it visibly and it looked like his eyes were rolled up into the back of his head, and unlike normal the inexpressive boy looked like he was ready to hurt someone.
Then he took a breath and fell into pace with the back of the line. Face going back to the blank off in the clouds looked like it normally had as he panted but didn't otherwise stop.
"Well, you guys better close that lap." Mr. Henderson said as he moved alongside the boys. This was the power of aura, even though they were running the adult didn't even look strained.
"Seriously, get going."
And like that the other boys took off to close the lap that had opened up between them and the Unbreakable Boy who had caught his breath and was off in his own world again.
The azure-haired teacher watched his students with a mix of exasperation and pride. "Sheesh kid. What I would give to have your body when I was your age… Gah, that sounds weird."
Looking at his star student, Blue couldn't help but be glad that he was off in his own world. The kid was seriously tough. Not that he was perfect but he did seem to understand a lot of things instinctively. It was almost as if someone had downloaded a bunch of knowledge into his head, and he was always working hard, in and outside of class. If the return price was him barely being mentally present for most things then that was okay.
Henderson sighed, a wistful look crossing his face. "You know, it's honestly a shame that you and Yang have never been in the same class, you might actually knock her down off of her high horse… Imagine that, the most disappointed student beating the proudest." He chuckled to himself. "But you would probably think, "A huntsman should be better," wouldn't you."
It wasn't like the teachers of Spotlight weren't aware that in terms of sheer ability and talent, Ezekiel was probably better than most first years in Signal, his hand to hand was a bit rough but he had an understanding of what it was that he wanted to do to someone 7 moves out that honestly reminded him of Taiyang. Not that anyone on this island was comparable to the Beacon Graduate save for the rest of his team.
As much as the azure haired man wished he had made through initiation he was happy where he was. And if he got a couple chances to make sure that prospects remembered that Cardio was Huntsman's best friend then all the better for him.
Slater seemed to get that. Even if that humming was a bit annoying.
...
I walked back to the locker room, my muscles aching pleasantly from the exertion. The familiar scent of sweat and rubber mats filled my nostrils as I entered the dimly lit space.
As I stretched my entire body, taking a few sharp breaths as if I were getting ready to work out again, I couldn't help but feel a pang of longing.
It was times like this that I missed being in an adult body, because it was much easier to get pumped. That and I missed my music.
God good music for a lift was so hard to come by, not that I could lift very much at this age but being 65 lbs and being able to bench 80 lbs for two wasn't too bad. Only issue was trying to get enough food in my system to try to kick start an early puberty.
Living in an orphanage was definitely the enemy of gains. Too many people to share with.
"Haaah, fuck man…" I just wanted to go back to being able to lift heavy weights and eat 200 grams of protein a day. Being a gym rat was my life and now it was ripped away from me, instead I have to deal with this shitty deathworld that has some of the most inconsistent power scaling I had ever known.
I nearly jumped out of my skin at the sudden voice behind me. "Ah yes, Mr. Slater, I see you haven't corrected that potty mouth of yours yet, have you? You can serve another detention with me after class." My primary teacher said, her voice filled with exasperation as she looked over at me.
I didn't even realize I was back in class.
Damn it… You think that they would let me off easy considering I was likely one of the smartest kids in this school but no, they hated my potty mouth more than they liked my intelligence. But then again, it wasn't too bad, even having to hold buckets of water was good training.
And it might actually find the muscle that best connects to Aura.
See I had a theory, Aura wasn't supposed to be unlocked by others unlike what I knew was canon. And that like any other muscle it could be trained but in order to do it effectively you had to find the mind muscle connection for it.
I was willing to bet that It was a lot like trying to flex the psoas muscle right as it connects to the pelvis, near impossible to do without prompting and something that requires a specific exercise in order to do it right the first time.
I thought it was like this because in my last life I was an avid meditator and looked into some occult things because when I was younger I was a Chuunibyou. And as I got older, I learned that there was more to it, enough to know that things like The Men Who Stare At Goats had more truth to it than Hollywood was willing to give credit.
But besides a flash of blue lights behind my eyes and a hey listen instinct that had gotten me out of a few situations in my last life, nothing spectacular.
And unfortunately in this life, it applied here as well, those same curiosities persisted but it wasn't like I suddenly gained superhuman strength through my meditation.
So that meant it had to be something else.
I was patient with this too, I could more than handle stumbling through trying to find out what resonated best with aura since at the very least, I would be building a body that could be on par with my older one by the time I was 16 considering that I would be more than half way through puberty by then.
And if nothing else, I would have to accept that my theory was wrong by then.
The shrill ring of the school bell snapped me out of my musings.
BRIINNNNGG…!
Oh, school ended! Sweet time for more training.
I turned to my teacher, a young greenette by the name Aloe Dew who was about 22 years old. "Ms. Dew, where are the buckets?"
Now regarding my general attraction to women, it remained the same, if not stronger since following anime logic, everyone was just more attractive and those who were unattractive were merely dull. Aloe would be pretty in my strike zone and reminded me of a streamer I used to follow in my old life before the war.
A pang of sadness struck my heart. … I hope she survived, it would be a shame if the war got someone like her too.
"Ezekiel? How do you manage to get that distracted that quickly?"
"Ah, sorry, anyways the buckets? I won't skimp my punishment."
The green haired young woman sighed, scratching the back of her head in frustration. Ah, you definitely shouldn't have to deal with so many troublesome kids. Especially since you seem to be just as kind hearted as that Streamer was.
Her eyes softened as she looked me in the eyes searching for something I couldn't identify. Did I do something wrong..? Hmm, other than cursing I don't think I did anything wrong, I haven't failed any papers… Well there was that one thing.
"Is this about my extra credit question?"
On the last test we were asked what the best way to prevent another Great War from happening. This was a world of bloody evolution so I expected that there were some pretty heartless choices that had been made in their history that we didn't see in canon. So I answered how the enlisted leader would have.
A troubled look crossed onto my teacher's face. "Ahh… no, this isn't about that, Ezekiel… This is about you… you…" She looked to be struggling for words, "You… Why do you push yourself so hard to be a Huntsman?"
Because if I don't I'll probably die because this world eats the powerless for breakfast and to make shitty two dimensional characters that need a tragic backstory.
I took a deep breath before answering. "Someone needs to. Someone needs to push further than ever thought possible if any change is ever going to be made."
That was Ruby Rose's destiny, I had never met the girl or her sister, but there was no way I was going to get killed from their negligence so I would have to be stronger than plot armor.
They were never the kind of leaders I would follow especially since they were objectively wrong in their judgment. And while Ironwood was right, he was the kind of leader that was too weak to get anything done before it was too late.
At least to me.
He was too brash and his spec ops was too overt. But what did I know, I was grunt used to direct combat and the extension of how subtle I could be was more to do with maintaining stealth in a drone fortified, gas filled city.
That wasn't really the same as needing to run a nation that doesn't have any real adversaries, besides the grimm.
Ultimately, all I wanted was to outlive the incompetence of this world's plot and if I was going to be stuck here I could only ensure that by my own hand.
Aloe looked at me with a strange mixture of sadness and pride. "Ezekiel, you really are a kind young man. It's such a shame…"
Huh?
"What is Ms. Dew?"
She wiped at her eyes, shaking her head slightly. "I think you can be the strongest, if you can already think things like this, Ezekiel."
The strongest… tch, how funny. "I just need to be competent, I think."
My words seemed to amuse her, drawing a soft laugh. "You're definitely going to be great, Ezekiel… Oh and Ezekiel, from now on, you have an assignment, if you need any help then you need to come to me as soon as possible. Every time you do, you'll get extra credit points."
What is going on right now?
"I guess… I can do that…"
Her smile widened. "Great! Then get me a list of things that you'll need in order to become a huntsman."
No seriously, what is going on right now?
After that strange conversation with Ms. Dew, I found myself back at my usual training spot, a secluded corner of the schoolyard, just a bit past the sparring pit that was seldomly used.
You would think that in a world like this they would be more focused on making sure they could throw a punch and get punched. But even after making it to the equivalent of 5th grade here and starting to spar around the 3rd, an embarrassing amount of students still didn't know how to make a fist.
146… 147… 148.. 149… 150.
"Hah, hah, getting easier…" having just finished my fourth set of Pull ups, ATG squats, MT Pushups and planks I was honestly toasted.
But this much wasn't enough, I had to envision what I wanted if I wanted to get back to where I was. And from where I stood I still had a long way to go. But it was time under tension, nutrition and rest.
I glanced up at the sky, gauging the sun's position. Based on where the sun was sitting I was getting faster too, I should just take a cool down lap around the settlement. I could always do with more cardio.
With a sharp few inhales, I bounce from foot to foot, before running through a quick hook, uppercut, and overhand jab, switching arms as I do so, before breaking into a solid sprint.
As my feet pounded against the dirt path, my surroundings blurred into a familiar scene. The island of patch reminded me of when I was in SOI East, there was this range that was full of pine and had a few sheer drops that overlooked a river that went out into the ocean. I had only been there one week, and in a total life time of 35 years I try to think that it would look a lot like this.
In a way I loved this island because it was perfect for training provided that you knew what you were doing. And even if there was Grimm around I found out rather quickly that so long as I stayed upwind of them and changed my stride to sound like a deer's then I could get away with minimal chances of being noticed.
And considering that I hadn't been caught before I was relatively confident in that much.
Before I knew it, my exhausted body had carried me all the way to the coast. The salty breeze whipped through my sweat-drenched hair as I slowed to a stop, my chest heaving.
In this lifetime I had really embraced all the extreme training methods that had been seen on earth. Things like blood flow restriction training, and iron limb conditioning had been things I had incorporated early on in my training since for as much as I was sure that aura was strong, I figured that by doing these things I could make my natural body as strong as possible and unlock my aura along the way.
I dropped to my knees in the sand, beginning to pound away at it with my fists. So pounded away at the sand at a quarter strength until my hands and elbows each reached 100 each since right now anymore than that made me extremely sore. At least for now.
"Damn, the path to being plot proof isn't easy, is it?"
I sat back on my heels with a sigh, looking out over the endless blue expanse.
If it hadn't been for baking soda I would be fucked with the amount of training that I do, huh. Still, even with all this, no aura… Just what the hell is going to take for this to unlock.
My stomach growled loudly, reminding me that I had skipped lunch in favor of training.
...I should get back to the orphanage… taking a look at the ocean I stop and think…
Well… I could always use more protein and it's not like the fish here will be filled with contamination.
With that thought in mind, I spent the next few hours wading through the shallows, snatching up fish with my bare hands. Thus I spent a few hours catching fish by hand, and it really wasn't too hard once you figured out the distortion from the water…
As the sun began to set, painting the sky in brilliant oranges and pinks, I made my way back to the orphanage, a makeshift sack full of my catch slung over my shoulder.
Eventually I found myself sitting on my raggedy bed inside of Patch's Orphanage. I was going to try to see if I could find my aura again.
I settled into a cross-legged position, my back straight as I closed my eyes and began to regulate my breathing.
Unfortunately unlike most forms of media that I have read where people assumed that humans were innately powerless I knew that wasn't true. We are more than our physical bodies. Because I know we are more than physical masses and I knew that we did have extra sensory perception.
Unfortunately, learning to use these things involves a lot of false starts and interpretation is what often serves as detriment.
It was also the reason why I couldn't find my Aura.
As I sank deeper into my meditation, I became acutely aware of a strange sensation, like a pressure building just beneath my skin.
I could tell there was definitely a heft that I didn't have before, but it wasn't like having a tingly back like Super Saiyan. It was like stepping into a humid room.
There was an unspoken weight and the sensation that I was looking at my hand in the dark. But when I tried to reach for it, it slipped from my grasp.
With a frustrated groan, I opened my eyes, the strange feeling dissipating like smoke on the wind.
And with another meditation attempt comes another failure. Honestly it was kinda like being sore in something I didn't know that I had. But what it was I honestly couldn't be sure.
Exhausted both physically and mentally, I collapsed back onto my thin mattress, sleep claiming me almost instantly.
...
I woke up with a start, my internal clock telling me it was just before dawn. Quickly and quietly, I went about my morning routine, careful not to disturb my still-slumbering roommates.
I woke up bright and early, slinking through my crowded room with practice, running through my hygiene process with practiced ease before sitting down with a glass of water with a teaspoon of baking soda.
I grimaced as I gulped down the slightly bitter mixture, the carbonation burning my throat. As the carbonated water sat in my system I took a few sharp breaths trying to get my pumped up as I played music only I knew the melody and lyrics to in my head.
I slipped out of the orphanage, the predawn chill instantly raising goosebumps on my exposed skin.
Stepping outside I could tell that it was going to be about another two hours to sunrise. How comforting…
With a deep breath, I began my morning run, the music in my head keeping time with my steps as I pushed myself faster and faster, chasing the horizon as the first rays of sunlight began to paint the sky.
Well time to go seize the day.
