The group ate their sushi which they could only describe as the best sushi they had ever eaten as the seaweed balanced perfectly with the rice fish and different vegetable assortments they used.
In addition to that the variety of different sushi flavors they got to try there was a favorite for everyone in the group.
Once they finished they headed back to the base where ace navigated the streets of the base with ease taking them to their next destination.
Eventually the winding path through the base they came to a large rectangular building nestled between a forested area on the base.
“This is going to be our training facility, some days you guys may have to come here on your own so I hope you paid attention to our route, if not I’m sure you’ll be able to find your way back here.” Ace said as he parked along the street in front of the building.
As they piled out of the SUV and walked to the entrance they could see this building was about the same length as the underground facility about 100 yards.
The design was fairly bland as there were no special markings or statues, it simply looked like an everyday brick storage or office facility.
There were no windows making the building look that much more bland which was a welcome change from all of the extravagantly designed world changing things they had seen so far.
The entrance was ground level so they walked directly to the door where ace swiped his bracelet across the keypad that made a beeping sound before directly opening.
The interior was far more impressive than the buildings exterior as the depth of the building was almost double the visible length of the exterior from the outside.
Beyond the door were stairs that led about 5 meters below ground level while lining the front wall were what looked like stadium stands.
The entire ceiling was a glass skylight that offered a pristine view of the sky above, embedded every 15 feet or so was a remote LED light that gave additional lighting on overcast days or during night time.
The arena floor fitted the entire building beyond the stands.
It was a shock absorbent material made to help prevent serious injury like a dojo mat.
“This used to be our official hall for FBSA ranking fights or official duels with other organizations but the big wigs build a new stadium a couple of years back and this has just been one of the training halls ever since.” Ace said as he looked up at the sky through the massive glass ceiling seemingly reminiscent of past events in this place.
“There’s are two locker rooms one on the south end and one on the north end with showers and toilet areas.
There should be training uniforms prepared for you guys there if you want to go check it out the guys are south ladies north.
I am going to get some equipment prepped so I can show you guys what we will be starting with.” Ace continued as he honed his focus and began walking down the stairs towards the entry gate to the arena.
“Uhhh north….
South?” Lucile said not knowing which was what.
“North left, south right.” Ace said with a chuckle as he pointed in each direction not stopping his pace.
Hearing this everyone exchanged glances before they followed ace down the stairs to check out the locker rooms.
“Should we change into the training gear, or are we not starting today?” Anne asked wondering why no one else had asked yet.
“Ahh yea go ahead and get equipped, things are getting more hectic by the moment, you guys may not know but before this event every single one of you guys would have been considered rare to a once in a generation recruits, I’d say we don’t have much time before we need more reliable people, also that ice wall will sit and wait for us to get there but if someone else gets there first then we could have an entirely new problem on our hands.” Ace said as he turned back to get a good look at each of his trainees before continuing to the equipment hall at the far side of the arena.
The group could still feel the soreness in their legs from the extensive exercise they had done earlier and despite this they were satisfied with ace’s response.
They wanted to be as prepared as possible, the fear of losing their own lives had been magnified a great bit knowing the world was changing in a way that was overwhelmingly interesting to most of them.
The ladies to the right while the guys went to the left.
When they got in the locker room they could see lockers about a meter in width and depth each with a name tag above denoting whose belongings were inside.
There were similar electronic pads on each locker as there was to the entrance of the building where they only needed to swipe their bracelets across to gain access.
In eagerness no one wasted a moment directly swiping their wrist across the keypad knowing these were the first steps they were taking to ensure their security in this new world.
When the locker opened they could see what they imagined as a state of the art ninja suit, as there were black sweatpants with a black sweat top, each slightly padded almost across the entirety of the clothing.
Next to the suit hung what looked like a training mask they were to wear on their faces.
They quickly changed into the outfit seeing it was a perfect fit, there was close to no resistance when moving in the suit while it was also lighter than their normal clothing being possibly one of the most comfortable pieces of clothing they had ever worn.
The pants of the suit also had shoes attached that were more like socks but on contact they could immediately tell the material was sturdy enough to protect their feet even if they were walking outside.
To say the least everyone was thoroughly impressed with the training suit, they all had looked at the face mask that looked like it was to be placed over their mouths while Jason was the first to put it on.
Immediately he felt the restriction of airflow as breathing itself had become more strenuous than he had ever experienced making him feel a mix of drowning and suffocation.
He immediately flinched reaching to the mask taking it off as quickly as he had put it on taking a deep breath of air unsure if he had made some sort of mistake.
“Are you okay?” Jack asked as his parental instincts kicked in seeing Jason gasping for air as he took a step closer.
“Yea, I thought….
I was going to die it was like…
it was pulling air..
out of my lungs as I tried to breathe in.” Jason said through bated breathes as he sat down on the bench in front of the lockers feeling the world spinning around him.
Seeing this and hearing his response Ethan and Jack exchanged glances before their eyes went to the mask in their own lockers.
Neither of them opted to put the mask on like Jason had but they did grab them as they waited for Jason to recover before leaving the locker room.
On the girls end a very similar situation was playing out as Lucile ripped the mask off falling to her hands and knees violently gasping for air.
“Oh lord, Lucile are you okay?” Anne said as she rushed over wrapping her arm around Lucile’s back and attempting to stand her up right.
Lucile welcomed her aid, realizing her own mother was a bit more cold even when she was in a tough situation, which made her think maybe her dads military lifestyle and mindset had made a deep impression on her own mother nevertheless she welcomed this compassion and assistance.
“Do not..
put that thing on…
I didn’t even breathe ..
and once it touched ..my face it was trying to steal the air from my lungs.” She said between n gasp and a few violent coughs.
Hearing this the other two ladies instantly became more apprehensive about even touching the mask, despite this feeling they reluctantly grabbed it as images of the decimated Yuba city flashed through their mind.
No matter what it was in this training there was no way it could be worse than being powerlessly trampled by beast and nature.
Once they grabbed their mask and returned to the training floor seeing the boys had already made it to the floor and were watching ace set up what looked like an obstacle course.
He had brought out a set of monkey bars, a balance beam, ladders that spanned at least 50% of the training room floor and there were now three ropes that hung from the high glass ceiling seemingly suspended in mid air.
“Good you are all here, as I was just telling the guys, the mask are to train your lungs efficiency, you will notice once we start going on missions beyond having immaculate footwork and balance, stamina can mean the difference between life or death.
Your lungs will have to fight against the negative pressure of the mask to breathe in air this will strengthen your diaphragm and train your body to be more oxygen efficient.” Ace said as he waved the ladies to come over to where he and the others were.
“And what is all of this?” Lucile said as she pointed the large obstacle course area.
“This is our first phase, until you guys can complete this entire circuit in under 3 minutes with the mask equipped on the highest setting I forbid you guys from training your abilities any further.
You guys will start with 1 minute breathing cycles with the mask on for a minute and off for a minute this is a simple meditation honestly, after 10 minutes of on off you will need to complete the circuit 10 times 5 with the mask on and 5 with it off before going to a 10 minute cycle of the mask on and off breathing meditation.
That will be our normal daily warm up before going into combat practice, since today is day one I need to get an idea of where everyone is at physically so we can make the right adjustments to get everyone up to speed as fast as possible, so today we will only do the breathing cycles, and 3 circuit runs.” Ace said seeing he had everyone’s attention.
“Are you trying to kill us…” Lucile said as she looked at the 100m long circuit that would need 10 total completions as a warm up.
Thinking back to how the mask felt wearing for just an instant the room began to look much longer at the feeling of air being stolen from her lungs left a reasonable impression.
“Haha of course not, the mask were set to the highest setting by default, you guys will start on level one of level 10.
If you already put the mask on that is the level you need to be at before I can reasonably say it is good for you to start training your ability.
On the left side of the mask with the two V’s on it is how you adjust the mask, now these mask do go beyond level 10, but level 10 is the highest level that isn’t harmful to a regular human who hasn’t trained that is why it is considered the maximum level.” Ace answered with a laugh understanding by her reaction she must have already put it on and felt the negative resistance.