"Here." He said, and he tossed something towards Kael, which he hurriedly caught.
It was a square badge, black in colour, and grunt was written on it.
"This is your new identity; you must have it on you all the time." The short person, most likely the master craftsman of this smithy-like place.
"Now, go follow that path." The man pointed towards a direction where Kael could see other grunts going, so he followed suit.
"Man! I hate this boring work." The man murmured, clearly dissatisfied with this work.
Kael followed the path he was directed to, where he soon met with the other grunts who were standing in rows, and one of the spheres from before was standing ahead of them, as if waiting for everyone to arrive.
Kael quietly went and joined one of the rows and waited for everyone else to arrive.
And after a few minutes, everyone reached the place. Seeing that everyone was finally here, the sphere started speaking.
"Listen up, grunts. Here in the furnace your training will start, where you will be broken and moulded into a fine weapon for our organisation.
The training will be divided into two parts – physical and mental.
The training will start tomorrow morning sharp at 4 o'clock, and there will be punishments for everything, and a piece of advice: give your all, as you will not want to get those punishments."
"That's it for now. As for the facility here, like the mess, training halls, library, etc. You can learn about them from your senior grunts. And wear the badges you are provided by Master Kaedros."
Saying so, the Sphere left, and the people who were standing, whom Kael assumed were the senior grunts the sphere talked about, came forwards and started distributing the new grunts into groups.
The senior grunts, after dividing the grunts into an equal number of people, went different ways. The group in which Kael followed the senior grunt who took them towards the path where they got their batch's from.
After reaching the place, the senior grunt started speaking. "This is the 'Drake's Anvil'. Here the weapons, tools, or any other objects needed by our organisation are created, and as the Seventh Sphere told earlier, it is overseen by Master Kaedros."
After a few more things about the smithy, like who can get a weapon and how to get a weapon, the grunt started heading to the next place.
This time he didn't go the way the grunt came from but one towards the west. And after walking through one of those tunnels, they reached a new place.
The area was quite big, with tables and chairs arranged in a neat fashion; in one corner of the area was some sort of booth.
"This is the mess where everyone from Furnace eats their food, be it the grunts, the spheres, the blacksmiths, or sometimes even the higher-ups. The food is provided three times a day, but it has a specific timing. If you missed the timings, it's your fault."
Like this, the senior went to other places, like the training hall, which was divided into a few types, like the magic training halls, the physical training hall, and the weapon training hall. Then the library,
"Library's there if you're into books; no one really is, though. Not unless you want to become a nerdy sphere." The grunt laughed to himself, which made many wonder about his lame sense of humour.
Kael decided to visit the library, as it would help him find the answer to many of the questions he had.
Then lastly, they were taken to the place where their mental part of training will be held, the halls where they will be taught.
After the tour was finished, the senior grunt asked everyone to wear their badges on them all the time, as he also showed the one he was wearing on his chest.
He also talked about its features, as it worked as their identity in the organisation, the key to their dorm room, and other minor things.
"Today is the last day of your freedom; from tomorrow you will be in the hell. So, rest well. Now you can go to wherever you want. Your dorm, the mess, the library, which no one uses, or wherever you want." Saying so, the grunt left the new trainee behind.
As soon as the senior grunt went away, all the trainees went their own way, with Kael being the first to wear the badge and going toward the mess. He was quite hungry, as he hadn't eaten anything since he woke up in this strange place.
And soon he reached the mess, which he found half filled with people having the same badge as him, the grunt badge.
Kael, making a mental note of the large number of grunts, went directly to the booths he saw in the corner of the mess. There he picked one of the plates from the station and took the food provided. He didn't know what any of those dishes were. So, he just took a little from everything.
After taking his food, Kael started walking towards one of the empty tables to quietly have his food before heading towards the library.
As he was lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice that one of the older grunts had extended his leg in Kael's way.
Unbeknownst to all this, Kael continued to walk, only to stumble and fall on the ground.
Kael was confused and shocked; he didn't understand how he fell on the ground. One moment he was walking, and the next he was lying on the ground with his food littered all around him.
"Hahahaha."
"Lol!! Hahahah."
He soon heard the loud chuckles and laughs of the seniors sitting around the tables.
Everything clicked in his mind, as he understood it was these grunts who made him fall.
Kael got up from his position. He then slowly turned towards the grunt, who had made him fall.