The Dark King

by Steffen Schmidt

  "First, a self-introduction is in order. My name is Tobu." The brown-hair instructor continued in an indifferent tone, "For the next three years I will be responsible for your training. I have only one rule which is to obey every single order of mine! Of course, I do not want to raise people who are a group of puppets that listen to orders only. Any questions, except the ones related to my orders, are welcomed"

  "Teacher, what is there to learn here? Only exercises?" A boy immediately asked with disturbed look on his face.

  Tobu indifferently smiled, said: "If you can learn to stay alive in here, you can graduate."

  "Stay Alive?"

  All children became surprised at once.

  Dudian's mind turned cold. He knew that graduating from Scavenger camp was going to be difficult as the situation outside the giant wall was very dangerous to a normal human being.

  Chapter 16: Stupid questions

  "In here, I will teach you how to survive in harsh conditions and environments." Tobu indifferent replied. "Today is your first day. I will give you rewards if you can answer few simple questions."

  The children's eyes focused on him.

  "The first question." Tobu calmly asked: "How can we stay alive?"

  All of them could not help be surprised for a moment.

  How to stay alive?

  They never gave thought about it. From young age they were protected by their parents. Afterwards everyone planned to choose their favorite college during the adminissions. Later on they would work to earn and continue on with their lives.

  "By making money!" A girl immediately raised her hands to answer.

  Other children, suddenly sighed in relief, yes ah! Of course you have to learn to make money if you wanted to live. It was such a simple answer and yet they allowed a girl to take the advantage of situation to answer first!

  Tobu still had an indifferent and unimpressed look, he spat out a word: "wrong!"

  "To work?" Another boy tentatively spoke out.

  Tobu glanced at him, "Wrong! By the way, everyone only has one chance to answer."

  All the children looked at each other.

  To make money is not the answer, to work is also not the answer??"Teacher, you just said 'alive'. Is there any situation to be alive?" A white skinned tender girl frowned.

  Tobuu looked at her: "There is no situation to be alive."

  Hearing this, all children cannot help but looked at each other.

  Dudian also frowned slightly. His brain fired up to after the observing. The answer should not be tricky. In fact, the answer should be an easy one.?"To eat!" He raised his hand.

  As soon as the words left Dudian's mouth the children turned towards him with stunned expressions. It did not take long before 'puchi' sounds echoed one after another. All of them laughed out loud.

  To eat?

  Is there more idiotic answer than this?

  "Correct!" replied Tobu indifferently.

  Children were instantly stunned and perplexed: "..."

  Looking at all the children with stunned expressions, Toby smiled coldly: "The simplest answer. I was worried that no one would answer the question correctly and I will not hand out a reward. In your minds, in addition to lack of water what would more fatal to human life?

  All the children had ugly looks. Some were not convinced. But after they experienced Tobu's previous atrocities, no one would dare to question.

  Dudian was relieved. Like other children he thought that the answer couldn't be so simple but nevertheless his bet won him a reward.

  "The second question." Tobu continued: "How can we eat food?"

  All children were again confused. What kind of stupid question is this?

  "By making money!" A voice quickly echoed. It was the little girl who was first to answer the first question. This time again she chose to reply with the same answer.?The other children suddenly wanted to stomp. Damn the first time they missed and this time again the chance was robbed by the very same girl.

  "Wrong!" Tobu replied.

  The little girl was surprised for a moment, so how can anyone eat food with buying it?

  Other children were also startled. But soon they quickly raised their hands to attempt to answer so that they would not lose the chance to be rewarded.

  "I know, I know. It is by working!"

  "I know. My mother!"

  "Use the upper and lower teeth to chew!"

  The last boy thought of the simple answer that Dudian came up with, and immediately, and responded tentatively as such.

  Tobu could not help but look at him, his face showing a trace of ridicule, "Is there anyone who uses their ass to chew on the food?

  The boy was embarrassed, his face blushing red as blood.

  "All answers are wrong, a bunch of rubbish," said Tobu.

  Dudian did not expect to be last one again to attempt to answer as everyone else gave incorrect answers. He was lost in thought, as he thought with the previous mindset. According to such logic the first step to stay alive is to eat. So, the first step before being able to eat would have been ...

  "To find food!" Dudian once again raised his hand.

  Tobu looked at him with a light gaze, and then said "Correct!"

  All the children were again dumbfounded.

  It was that simple?

  Was it really, that simple????

  "Here is the last question." Tobu indifferently pressed on, "How does one find food?

  All the children cannot help but look to Dudian.

  Dudian saw the quaint gazes from the eyes of children focused on him. He felt frustrated. This time, he did not know the answer.

  As they saw Dudian turning silent, the other children began to rack their brain for answers. One after another they raised their hands to answer. The answers were similar to the previous answers. Especially the girl who kept repeating "by making money". The third answer was still to make money, it seemed that she won't stray from her thinking style. Ultimately all the answers were wrong.?Soon, after a round of answers, almost nobody else answered correctly.

  Tobu looked around and said: "So no one knows the answer to the question?"

  Several children who stood near Dudian could not help but look at him, as he was the only one who has not answered.

  Dudian felt their gazes, and even felt Tobu's gaze at him. It seems Tobu purposefully waited for him to answer. But this time he really did not know the answer, nor could he think of an answer as all the other children have said out possible answers that he could already think of.

  "It seems that there is nobody here who has the correct answer." Tobu saw that Dudian did not choose to answer so he no longer waited and then explained: "The first step to find food is to learn to identify food. Today's first lesson is to teach you to recognize which food is edible."

  Dudian now understood the purpose of the three questions. Through his conversation with Mason yesterday, he confirmed his guesses. No one knew anything about "Scavenger" special training, for all of them thought that it was just a guard training camp. However, Dudian knew from his previous conversation with Fernando that "Scavengers" had to go outside the giant wall into the wilderness to look for resources. Their own resources to eat and drink would be limited while going out so they had to learn how to survive in the wilderness outside the giant wall.

  Understanding food was their first class!

  "Teacher, what is my reward?" Dudian saw Tobu had not announced the reward, so he couldn't help but raise his hand to ask.

  Tobu glanced at him and said: "For every correct answer, one would be rewarded with a single breakfast. Congratulations, you get two breakfast rewards. Since today we have passed the breakfast period, so you can only wait until tomorrow to use it".

  A breakfast?

  Dudian was stunned. He did not realize yet but in a short period of half a month after the special training, he realized that how valuable those two breakfasts were!

  "Now, rest time has ended, so run ten laps around the scho
ol field!" Tobu suddenly shouted.

  All children cannot help but became startled, their lessons have ended but now they have to run again?

  "The time allocated is half an hour. For every five minutes late, one lap will be added!" Tobu declared the rules indifferently.

  "Teacher, do not ah ... ..."

  Some of the children could not help but to cry, but soon took the initiative to run at full speed because Tobu did not seem to be joking about the extra laps.

  Dudian's mouth convulsed slightly. This rule was simply too ruthless to him. However, he had a faint guessing that Tobu did this exercise to improve their endurance. According to Tobu's argument and logic, since the children are learning on how to survive then they should not exercise power and strength but speed and durability!

  Chapter 17: Survival training

  Time quickly passed by, and in the blink of an eye three months passed.

  During these three months, every day they held long-distance endurance training. In addition, they had to also go through "survival training program". It was a general term. It referred to methods and tactics that were tried and tested over long periods of time. It was divided into two main categories, namely "foraging" and "collection of resources"!

  These were the basic set of abilities that every Scavengers had to master.

  "Foraging" is subdivided into "water", "shelter", "access to food" and "subsistence".

  In each course, there were wide range of contents. The first is the "Water Source" course, which focused on finding water sources in different environments. These environments are divided into four broad categories: the jungle, the desert, the mountain and the swamp!

  Finding for water sources in the jungle were much easier if compared to the other environments. However, organisms lurked in the jungle. Hence, "Survival" course taught the Scavengers on how to avoid these dangers too.

  In addition to looking for water, there were water filtering techniques and different water quality testing methods that were taught and so on.

  Without a doubt, Scavengers not only have to survive outside the giant wall. They also need to collect different water samples and then bring them back behind the giant wall to be studied. The entire giant wall of Silva was a huge solid shelter.

  In addition to "foraging", the "collection of resources" syllabus also broke down into four major classes. Huge amount of knowledge were to be studied, namely "mining", "collecting herbs", "geological survey" and "exploration".

  Each of these classes would normally had been a separate course by its own right in a college as different specialization on any 'normal' situation!

  In other words, if one studied in college, one needed only to study one specialized course for three years, and then they can graduate. However, in Scavenger training, all three syllabuses must be mastered in just three years!

  Per Tobu's words, only after mastering everything only then can Scavengers survive in the wilderness.

  Dudian found that during the period of those three months, the endurance training and "mining" courses that involved physical training were the most difficult period for him to endure, not the entirety of the eight courses. The first week it took him 30 minutes to run full five laps. In half a month's time he improved to 20 minutes for five laps. After another half a month his timing further improved to 15 minutes for all 5 laps.?After another two months period, he finally achieved the privilege to eat breakfast. Yet he remained as the last child to finish all five lap runs.

  Sleeping in the frozen storage capsule for 300 years negatively impacted his physical condition. However, his willpower was not negatively affected at all.

  During the second month of training, he thoroughly recovered from the physical deterioration caused by sleeping in the frozen storage capsule. In normal circumstances, it should had taken another three to four months for the deterioration to be thoroughly recovered from. However, this second month's super-strength exercises accelerated the recovery process. Dudian's speed and endurance improved astonishingly as a by-product of daily training and he was even able to even secure a rank amongst the top ten!

  By the end of the third month, he was already in the top three performers!

  All the other children took notice of this amazing progress. Especially for Mason and two other boys who lived in the same with Dudian. They gave him a nickname, "mad cow".?"The law, the second

  Chapter, the normative role of law ... ..."

  In a quiet library, Dudian stood in front of books in the law section. In his hands, he held an introductory law book. Since the beginning of the third month, he frequented the library for ten minutes every day, which was the longest time he could squeeze out.?"Dean, why are you standing in front of the law section? I asked the teacher and was informed that there is an examination today. Pay close attention to revise past knowledge or else you won't pass and thus be eliminated." Another child who was reading books next to geology section spoke to Dudian..

  Dudian made a hand gesture: "Shh!" He continued to focus reading the basic law book.?After ten minutes passed he gently put the book back into its place in the shelf. He turned to the herbalism bookshelf and skilfully took out a book called "Plants". He quickly flipped over the pages for a review. After making few confirmations he put the book away and turned to leave.

  "Dean!" Mason quickly caught up, and asked: "Do you know what today's exam is about?"

  "I do not know," said Dudian.

  "I hope they won't test 'geological survey'. I did not have enough time to study." Mason's eyes switched towards Dudian and he smiled: "I could help you out mostly in other things. If you have the chance, how are you going to help me out?"

  Dudian snapped back at him: "No tricks. Do not even think of cheating."

  "Oh, come on. We can try to sneakily pass some few answers." Mason bitterly said: "I do not want to be eliminated. Teacher said that in case we lost the qualifications to be a guard and be eliminated. We would have to pay for the course fee by ourselves. My family cannot afford such a high cost."

  Dudian shrugged his shoulders and said nothing could be done.

  Indeed, on the third day of the special training back then, Tobu had said such words. However, for Dudian he has long realized that the training camp was in fact used to train the Scavengers. However, in name it is known as selection for guards. Even in case of elimination, most will still be guardsmen within Silva's giant wall. As for Tobu's remarks, Dudian was convinced that it was just a speculation.

  Of course, for the other children that was without a shred of a doubt bad news!

  It was also due to these words, most of the children who wanted to quit, gritted their teeth and pressed on with the harsh training.

  Soon, the two of them arrived to the school field. All of the children were gathered, quietly speaking to each another trying to guess the forthcoming examination.

  It was not long before Tobu punctually appeared. As he came over, everyone meticulously stood in neat rows. This was the result of experiencing first-hand the pain of being kicked by Tobu.

  However, Tobu did not arrive alone. Beside him, there was a tall graceful girl in her early twenties. Her face was full of mature, sexy charm. It seemed as if she had lost her childish naivety long time ago.

  In fact, most of the ten-year-old children knew some aspects of knowledge regarding sex. As in this world, it was the legal age of marriage. After all it was not easy for most people to live up to sixty years of age when radiation was so corrosive.

  Tobu coldly smiled and spoke in a consistent low tone: "After three-months of training, you barely gained the basic garbage qualifications to be a guard. Starting today, every six months, we will conduct a final exam. All losers will be eliminated!

  Everyone was tense after Tobu spoke.

  Dudian also realized that the test is not a simple examination of knowledge and soon Tobu's words confirmed his idea: "This assessment is very simple. Instructor Kris will send you away to a place where you only need to
survive for ten days. If you can survive, you are qualified to continue with the training!"

  Chapter 18: The Desert

  ?"To survive for 10 days?" All children were confused. Although Tobu said it was "simple", but after three months' time spent with him they already knew that his concept of "simple" meant; it remotely far from the original meaning of the word. All of them had expected the assessment to be a paper test, but each were worried about which subject would be tested. No one had expected that this time it would be a practical one.

  Obviously, to survive for ten days, you must have grasped all the preliminary details of four courses from "foraging" class.

  Soon, some calculations were made.

  If there is water, the body's hunger strike limit was around seven days to fifteen days. If the willpower is extremely tenacious, it's possible for a person to live up to for a month without food. As such, the children only need to find a water source. There was a hope to pass the practical exam!

  If the person was lucky enough to find some small amount of food, they would be able to survive ten days without any problems!?Such a thought had greatly increased the confidence of many children.?Dudian frowned slightly. He was not too optimistic about the situation. If he knew anything about Tobu's style, then it was that Tobu would never test them with such a simple assessment.

  "Children, come with me." During this time Kris who was standing next to Tobu spoke, "This sister will take you to a fun place. I guarantee that you will like it."

  For some of the big boys, after they heard her words, light shone from their eyes.

  "Line up." Kris smiled and turned to lead the way.

  Kris led the children who walked side by side as a long team. They arrived over to the school field. There were dozens of black carriages parked near the field. A single carriage was big enough to accommodate seven or eight adults, as for children around probably 10 to 11 of them could cramp into it.

  "Get on to the carriages," Kris smiled.

  Dudian saw the youth who had arrived to pick him up from his house as a coachman was sitting in one of the carriages.