"This will be your lodging during your stay," said a fellow disciple. She motioned for the small courtyard. Although the home did not look big, it was more than spacious enough for one person. Also quite generous too.

"Will there be anyone else here?" I asked.

"This place is yours," she replied. "Disciples don't commonly share rooms. Lodgings are shared among the common monks—those who worship but don't train in the ways of martial arts. This is especially the case for disciples of the Abbot, who are a bit too few in between."

When I was admitted to the temple, I expected to be room sharing, but this did not seem to be the case. I felt more at ease knowing I would have the place to myself. Some of the tension eased from my shoulders and I let out a sigh.

"So, it's like that," I whispered.

"This area belongs to the Abbot," the person continued. "If you walk up to this direction, his residence is over there," she told me, then led my gaze to a much bigger courtyard up ahead. It wasn't the luxurious kind, but there seemed to be a practice area with a variety of training instruments. In fact, it upgraded only in space and necessities. Otherwise, it maintained that air of humility and simplicity.

"These will be your clothes." She handed me a bundle of orange clothes plus a bunch of other things on top. "Your belt is white since you're newly minted. Whenever you reach a milestone, your master will award you a different one. Progress is not the same for everyone, so you or your peers may achieve the next level faster than the others. If not, the opposite."

"Which colors are they?" I asked.

"From lowest to highest it is white, yellow, orange, green, purple, blue, striped blue, brown, striped brown, red, red-half-black, and black."

I tilted my head to the side contemplatively, finding similarities with belt rankings from my previous world.

"I understand. Thank you so much," I said. "Do I need to take note of anything else? What time should I get up tomorrow?"

"Haha!" she scratched her head. "I don't need to tell you. You'll hear it well."

If it was possible, several question marks would have floated above my head.

"My name is Ina, by the way," she told me. "If you have any questions and you see me around, don't hesitate to come forward and ask." She jutted her hip forward proudly, as though calling my attention on that purple belt. This person was quite advanced if she had that color.

She looked reliable enough, so I put a pin on that in my mind just in case.

Bowing briefly to Ina, I made my way into my courtyard with a spring in my step. It had been a while since I had a room to myself. I couldn't lie about the excitement I was feeling. It was not strange for me to be in this type of situation, but I could not resist recalling my previous life when I just stepped onto my college days. It was the first time I felt liberated, more in control of my life. Of course, compared to now, I had three other people to share space with, but the familiarity bade a smile to my lips.

The inside of the room was clean and orderly. Clearly it had been prepared for the arrival of a new owner.

There was a cushioned mat on the floor and a small lamp overhead. On another corner was a low table and a padded seat cushion. It was bare, a bit cold. However, that should change soon once I moved some things around and brought some things in.

The bathroom wasn't big. There was no shower or a bathtub which I wasn't a stranger to, but there was a pail and a water ladle. I looked around and found there was no piping around the place, only drainage. Presumably, I would have to go and retrieve water from a source somewhere else...a well, probably.

Although I was tempted to take a bath, I was feeling a little too lazy for it. Not to mention I felt way too tired after today. I changed into my pajamas and squirmed under the blankets, trying to get comfortable.

Having ran around the other day making arrangements, I was tired enough to fall asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. I was a little more comfortable now, having a proper bed to lie on. Although I couldn't help but feel a little lonely as I had gotten used to the chaos of sleeping beside someone else—particularly Erenol's restless tossing and turning at night.

On the other hand, I was more at ease knowing they wouldn't have to put up with the living conditions in the camp anyhow, especially since we now had the money and identity to properly and safely acquire property. It was just a bit of shame having to leave the community behind. Even if the place wasn't too comfortable, the people there were very warm.

I made it one of my priorities to help the Vertvaldenians as my eyes closed to sleep. Tomorrow, after the first day of training, I ought to seek out Elion for consultation. I also needed to enlist some help in preparation for the perfumery opening.

Planning my day for tomorrow in my head became my counting sheep. I did not realize I had dozed off until I woke up to the startling sound of the morning bell echoing from a distant tower.

The loud banging would have made me fall off the bed if it was any higher. Thankfully, I was only on a sleeping mat, so the worst thing that I did was literally leap off from under the covers.

"All new disciples proceed to the training area within ten minutes!" a loud voice cracked through my walls. "All those other wrinkles asses, get to work!"

"Sh*t," I muttered. "So, this was what that person meant."

I cradled my head, feeling a headache coming in. I sighed and eased the throbbing in my chest, stretching towards the windows of my room and cracking it open to look outside. It was dawn. The sun was barely even winking. I felt the breeze pick up, carrying the morning chill to my face. I yawned and poured myself a cup of water, then made a grab for my uniform and changed into the new robes.

I was not quite aware of what the customs were in the Temple just yet, but it should be safe to assume everyone got up at roughly the same time.

Today was my first day as a disciple. Although irritated at the barbaric morning call, I looked forward to meeting everyone else. Since I hadn't actually seen everyone's face save for Maun...and probably Black Flame, I was very curious to see who the other newbies were. The batch was small—only five of us—so it was nearly a given that we would be the closest. The only senior I had gotten to know so far was that girl Ina from last night. Although she looked amiable, the intimacy of newbies being acquainted with one another, sharing similar plights and struggles of adjustment, was quite different.

Having finally changed into my new robes, I now had to trouble myself with my next task—finding the training area. And I had to do it within five minutes.

It was a good thing I didn't dwell too much on preparing and just threw on my clothes and pulled up my hair. Otherwise, I would be helpless...not to mention late. I wasn't taking any chances because I felt there would be weird consequences. From experience, newbies were made to do a lot of weird things and punished for the weirdest things.

I asked a monk where the training area was. He pointed me to a direction and gave me some landmarks to take note of. After thanking him for his assistance, I rushed towards the area as fast as my legs could manage.

While rushing, a similar blur dashed up to my side.

I looked at the newcomer. The newcomer looked at me.

We glanced down at one another's belt almost instinctively and saw the white sash tied around each other's waist.

I knew this person. I was sure I had seen him before.

"It's you!" he said.

Ah that indignant voice. This lanky youth. Plain-looking guy. Freckled face and curly blond hair.

"Defiant Soul?"

"Lionheart?"

We simultaneously guessed one another's identity.

"Hey, you're actually pre—"

"Watch out."

I avoided a pole which he crashed into, then left him to bite the dust. I laughed. And though tempted, I did not glance back. I only heard his bewildered and aggrieved cries as I rushed to the training area without him.

When I got there, I was just on time. Maun had already arrived. Seeing me come, he flashed the brightest of smiles and leapt over to welcome me with an embrace. A loud cough resonated through the air from the waiting master standing on the side. I flashed an awkward smile, bowing deeply in greeting, then caught Maun by the shoulders to push him to where he was previously standing.

Feeling it was inappropriate to speak, I used my hands to communicate. "Behave," I signed.

"Evy, I missed you," he signed back.

I ruffled his hair with a sigh. "Later. Let's have lunch together."

"Okay!" His smile was bright.

The monk followed our silent exchange with a curious stare.

A boy with blue hair joined our line. I took a quick glance at his face and, sure enough, I was correct in my previous assumptions. Black Flame was the same boy I had taken the last part of the assessments with and was also the same person I encountered in the market last time with the thieving incident. He caught me looking and returned the stare, then gave a grave nod my way as he stood by my side, facing the master before us.

Defiant Soul trudged towards another place in the line beside Black Flame. He was cradling his nose, which had already swollen red along with a bruised forehead. The blue eyes were teary from the pain, shoulders hunched forward with defeat.

I wasn't looking at him directly, but I was observing from my peripheral vision. He took a glance at my direction, eyes full of distrust and indignance, then harrumphed and looked ahead. Black Flame briefly eyed him from head to toe, then nonchalantly poised himself.

The monk scanned our line for a quick count, then looked at the pocket watch in his hand with a grunt. "Looks like we have latecomer," he said gruffly.

A second or two after he said that, a boy came into the training area with fire on his heels. He stopped just beside Defiant Soul with an exaggerated pause. Had this been animated, the ground would have been sizzling from his tracks.

"Sorry, sorry!" he said with a nervous laugh.

The master gave him a long, tired stare. He then sighed.

Dude, this was just the first day and it appeared he'd already given up.

"Come forward, introduce yourselves," he said. "Start from the top. By rank."

Maun was silent.

"Sorry, he can't talk," I spoke for him. "His name is Maun. Silent Dragon."

"That's why he's silent?" The boy who was late, presumably Mushroom Soup, quipped from the side.

"Smart," Defiant Soul muttered sarcastically.

The master coughed.

We all fell silent.

"Continue," he said.

"My name is Evyionne. Lionheart." Second rank, muddafakkas!

"Arondite Gayden," the blue-haired boy beside me said. "Black Flame."

"Erlan Jin. Mushroom Soup."

"Miles Duns. Defiant Soul."

The master nodded. "Since it's the first day, I'll let things go. However, you must remember than you ought to be in the training grounds within ten minutes after the bell rings. And you must be still and silent once you fall in line unless you're spoken to. Is that clear?"

"Yes!" we all replied.

"That's good. At least you have the energy. Why don't we start our first lessons for the day?" he offered.

There'll be an update scheduled for next Monday since I think I f-ed up my updates.

Anyway, Death Frost will be ending on mylovelywriter.com soon. If you want to read ahead and finish this book, please consider pledging for advanced chapters!

Thank you!