The next morning when Sly woke up he found himself resting on a cot in the school's infirmary.
A nurse that had been taking notes immediately came over to check his temperature and other vitals.
She handed him some medicine and Sly obediently swallowed the pills and drank the noxious smelling liquid without complaint.
Surprisingly Sly felt better and his body no longer ached as sleeping allowed him to naturally recover.
Turning to thank the nurse profusely, who smiled at him finding his shy politeness cute and reminded him, "I'm just doing my duty."
Suddenly there was a knock on the door.
"Come in," replied the nurse.
"Good morning, Nurse Foster, I'm here to get the new recruit ready for his placement test."
"Wonderful, Cadet Fong Kong. I placed his change of clothes at the foot of the bed, ensured that he bathes and uses the medicated lotion for his wounds. Then show young Foxx the proper way to wear the garments. I'll be at the back in the dispensary if you need anything, just give me a shout."
"Will do, Nurse Foster. I can take it from here," replied Cadet Fong Kong smartly.
He waited until the door closed before the cadet turned to address Sly, "head's up rookie, look alive ... You've got quite the reputation for one so small and young. I'm surprised they are letting you into the academy at such a young age. The army must really be getting desperate."
"What are you talking about? I'm ten years old."
With envy the older boy wagged a finger at him.
"Exactly. I wasn't allowed to attend military school until I was fifteen years old and with excellent recommendations. They've only lowered the age to ten now because they are finding it harder to get students that have high levels of spirit essence nowadays."
"So what's the problem and how does that have anything to do with me?"
Was the cadet implying he used special privileges, mainly piggybacking off his father's name to get early admission into the academy.
Where was his father when he nearly died out in the forest or when he almost collapsed from exhaustion climbing the steep mountain to get to the school's campus.
Sly got to this academy on his own merit.
If he allowed rumors to persist like this it would only damage his reputation at school but he didn't know how to go about clearing his name.
Still what Sly could do was settle the matter with his fists like boys his age in the countryside did to settle disputes.
How dare this bully insinuate otherwise so Sly punched the cadet and in retaliation the older boy kicked his feet out from under him and Sly grabbed onto the cadet's legs causing him to trip.
For a few minutes they tussled but since the other boy was older and had more experience in fighting he easily gained the upper hand.
Cadet Fong Kong hauled the kicking and grumpy kid out of the bed, stripped him naked and then tossed him in the shower.
The water was freezing cold and Sly screamed when the ice water pummeled his tender skin.
"That's the problem! You've not gone through puberty and you're not mature enough to be around the rest of the people who worked hard to get here."
Thanks to the ice cold water the fire in Sly's eyes was extinguished quickly and he no longer had any fight left in him.
Sly did as he was told so that he could get away from cadet Fong Kong the sooner the better.
Finally dressed and wearing the khaki uniform of new recruits, Sly followed quite behind cadet Fong Kong.
They stopped by a bulletin board where the cadet read the latest news while Sly gazed at the campus map.
Paradise Academy campus was so huge it was divided into several large sections individually labelled from A to J campus.
"Let's go, the new recruits placement test is being held at the far end of A campus today and at this rate we are going to be late," the cadet started walking quickly towards the destination.
Surprisingly Sly could keep pace with how fast the cadet moved; he found it exhilarating.
His lips curled up, he could feel the rejuvenation from getting rest in his body as his steps felt brisk and light
Entering the training grounds, the two of them froze when a wizened burly old trainer approached them and started screaming at the top of his lungs.
"Cadet Fong Kong, you are late again. What a waste of space you are. You got one simple measly task and you fumbled again. How many times have you messed up since the start of the month?! Go clean out the stables!"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry…," the embarrassed cadet Fong Kong apologized sincerely and left.
Before doing so he glared at Sly essentially blaming him for making them both late but as long as the cadet could stay at Paradise Academy he would lick any boots to survive.
Coming from a prestigious military family and having little to no power the last thing Fong Kong wanted was to go back home in disgrace.
While the trainer indicated Sly should go to the front and stand in line with the other new recruits.
Old Man Biggs had been warned that this last kid to enter the training grounds was a potential healer that some poor unlucky soul would have to train for combat.
In a military academy like this, healers were as rare as a national treasure!
Thank God he was almost at the age of retirement and could turn down such cases.
Most prominent families kept healers at home and pampered them because they were rare.
This poor boy must be defective!
Healers could easily get good jobs in the city or work privately for a royal or military family.
None of them would voluntarily come and join the military and put their lives in constant danger and jeopardy.
Unfortunately for this child today's placement tests, new students would challenge their seniors.
The more points they accumulated, the more advantages and military resources they could secure for the rest of their school year.
There was a reason why this year's placement tests were being labelled as the 'death to all rookies challenge'.