Trash in the Apocalypse

Dyna continued her lessons about energy usage and skill generation. 

Every skill is generated using the same format. Imagine the intent and gather energy wherever it is needed. The sprint skill was the very basic skill available to the public and it only needs you to think of running faster while gathering energy on your feet. This series of actions would result in skill generation into activation. 

Most of her students haven't grasped the basic energy sensing and even further away from energy forming. It was understandable since they were still in their childhood with no work experience. They have no professions, making them skillless. And without skills, it was hard to feel the energy coursing through one's body,

There was nothing she could do, but repeat the lessons every day and demonstrate how she manually gathers and forms energy.

To absorb a low-tier essence shard, she placed the item on her palm and started with the intent. After thinking of absorbing the essence inside the shard, she gathered a small amount of energy in her palm, creating a white sphere the size of a ping-pong ball. The prompt appeared in front of her and the shard was consumed, giving her the hideous 1XP.

Of course, the students didn't see the notification but only saw the shard vanish after it touched the white ball.

"So, does anyone want to try creating their energy ball?" Dyna asked optimistically. She just became a teacher in profession! Of course, she would be hyped to see how her skills work.

Several of the young teens stepped forward and tried their best to generate the small energy sphere, but luck wasn't on their side.

The class ended with no one being successful in their attempts.

One of the young teens commented dejectedly as they left the classroom. "We appreciate the lessons, Miss Dyna. However, I don't think we can learn skills without feeling how energy works first. We understand how the process works in our heads, but our bodies don't know how to do it. Maybe, we just need to work hard in getting a profession before studying the basics."

"Don't be so quick to give up. There are no shortcuts to studying. It's just an hour a day, I'm sure you guys can fit that into your schedule." Dyna encouraged the bunch before waving goodbye.

After everyone was gone, Dyna fell into deep thought. 

Was there really no way for non-profession survivors to learn energy control without feeling it? If that's the case, how would children of the future survive? It's impossible to give them a workload as a child... That would be a bit...

Even as she tried to deny the thought, it was the only plausible thing that entered her mind. For the survival of the young ones, should they use child labor? There are good choices available like gardening or personal assistant, it would still require manual labor which should be difficult for them.

She opened her character screen and reviewed the changes that happened. Until a little detail entered her mind, causing a smile to appear on her face.

She reached for her smartwatch and video called Bernard.

"Hey, you have a copy of the citizen master list for Black Haven, right? No, no. I'm not doing anything bad. I just want to meet some people. Alright, thank you!"

After ending the call, a new message arrived with an attached file. Bernard had a follow message saying, "You didn't get it from me."

Dyna sent a heart emoji before tapping on the file. It downloaded and transferred to her hologram. She operated the screen and opened the file.

After pressing some keys, the document started searching for the word [teacher], allowing three results to appear. She investigated their profiles and found out that one has been expelled from the territory, while the other two still remains in Black Haven. 

Both of them were female, one was a high school teacher enlisted in the First Army, while the other works for the Frontier as caretaker of the young ones. 

What Dyna realized earlier was that she was only a Teacher-in-training. It was understandable that her skills were a bit weakened and inefficient. If she wanted to become a teacher, she must first learn how to become one. The profession only opened to her due to the daily lessons she was conducting. Another part was the number of students trying their best to control energy. 

Although there are other instructors teaching other skill subjects in the Academy, they had other jobs unlike her. Most of them go out and hunt and it is impossible for them to switch to becoming a teacher.

The confirmation from the system told that fifty students had already grasped basic knowledge but still can't produce energy. The natural state of the body usually doesn't allow active control of energy which is a casual thing now. Even if the mind knows, the body can't.

If she becomes a full-fledged teacher, there are chances that her skills would improve and she could found a way to have children learn energy control without getting a job.

That afternoon, she ran around the town trying to make contact with the teacher from the Frontier. Since the First Army regularly goes out to train, she might as well use the afternoon to get close with the other teacher.

She would try to learn as much as possible to become a responsible teacher and a future principal for the Black Haven territory.

The care center teacher agreed to meet with her. 

While waiting for the allotted time, a random thought flashed in her mind. Most of the time, the two generated skills were something deeply related to the profession. However, survivors with the same profession can have differing skills. 

Then, why did she get these two skills especially the active one?

While thinking of possible answers, she blushed and pushed the matter to the back of her head. She felt her cheeks heating up and fanned herself with her hand to cool down.