An entire week had gone by since Jake’s awakening, and every subsequent day had been a brutal testimony of just how bad that day had turned out for him. It had only taken the rest of the cadets a day or two to decide he wasn’t worth a credit as an awakened, and he had been actively discriminated against ever since. Snarky comments, disdained looks and blatantly obvious bullying were now all part of his daily routine as a trainee, and every cadet avoided him like the plague as much as they could.


    Only Owens, for reasons that Jake still couldn’t begin to understand, hadn’t been shaken off the slightest by his new top-tier garbage status amongst the cadets. Although one thing was sure, even though she was by far the strongest awakened among the trainees, she was just as easily rejected by the rest of their promotion. Thanfully, her presence alone had discouraged many cadets of taking advantage of their superior abilities, and he’d never been directly attacked by one of the other cadets since they were most likely scared of the girl’s powers.


    [The nail that sticks out gets hammered first] Echoed Ed’s voice inside his mind.


    What the hell is a nail, Ed?


    [I honestly don’t have a clue.]


    With another exasperated sigh, Jake pushed the earlier conversation aside as he’d rapidly grown used to not giving the implant too much thought during the last week. He wasn’t sure exactly what it was, but he was beginning to feel like his implant was somewhat different from the others. If there was one thing that was certain, however, it was that implants weren’t supposed to spout crazy nonsense all the time or even hold a conversation the way he and Ed sometimes had, nor were they supposed to be able to make any decisions whatsoever without consulting him at first, like the time Ed had decided to start him on a new dietary program, for example. Still, it’s not like he wanted to replace Ed or anything, but he was still wary of whether or not there was actually a problem with his implant.


    The matter of Ed aside, every single day had gone by in a flash during the last week, with classes mostly consisting of training with their telekinesis skill and going through various conditioning exercises that usually involved crawling, jumping, sprinting, running, and other movements meant to increase their overall fitness. Although he still couldn’t use telekinesis more than a few seconds in a row, he’d had plenty of time to focus on conditioning and improving his Basic Reinforcement Spec, which had provided him with a pretty nice boost to his attributes so far.


    Status


    Name: Jake Hawkins


    Rank: Cadet


    Energy Core: 30/30


    Recovery Rate: 0.15


    Base attributes


    Strength: 5


    Dexterity: 8


    Constitution: 5


    Recovery: 5


    Perception: 9


    Cognition: 14


    Specs


    [Basic Reinforcement | Lvl. 2 | All attributes +2, Core +10]


    Skills


    [Basic Telekinesis | Lvl. 1]


    Every one of his attributes had grown by two full units during the last week, thanks to Jake spending a lot of his biotic energy continuously toward improving his specs. In contrast to skills that cost a small amount of energy everytime you tried to use one, specs needed to be reinforced by continuously pouring some of his biotic energy into it, so that the energy could be used to reinforce and enhance his body, offering a permanant boost to one’s abilities. It was also on his spec that he had decided to focus all of his efforts during the last week, barely keeping enough energy to practice telekinesis a few times a day at most.


    Although the increase in attributes was minimal, Jake still knew his body’s abilities had grown a lot during the recent week, whether that was his speed, strenght, or any other attribute, he already felt a slight difference compared to the week before, which meant he was one step further to catching up with the rest of his promotion. Overall, his core had even grown by ten units since the awakening, which meant it had grown by a whopping 50% in a single week. While he was still leagues below the rest of the cadets, he was more than thrilled with the speed of his progress so far.


    On the other hand, he was slowly getting used to the gigantic plates of food he needed to gulp down at every meal, and Jake had unsurprisingly taken a total of 5 kilos of lean muscle mass during the last week only, which was a result of the intense training and gargantuan meals, but also mostly thanks to Eds meddling with his body. The implant could stimulate the hormones responsible for muscle growth and tissue recovery, as well as increase the body’s production of testosterone amongst various other things. In simpler terms, his implant did an even better job than anabolic steroids when it came to shaping him up.


    Like every morning, Jake and Owens had made their way to the cafeteria together and eaten their respective meals before heading to the training hall for their morning class. However, in contrast with every other morning training they’d attended in the past week, today started a little differently with Officer Gwyra making a surprising announcement.


    “Starting today, we’ll spend every morning going through combat training and every afternoon will be for conditioning and skills training.”


    Every cadet in the room let out a small gasp of exclamation, clearly interested in getting some hands-on experience.


    With a wave of her hand, she quickly and efficiently silenced the few cadets who’d let themselves get overtaken by the exciting announcement, before moving on with the class.


    “For now, we’re going to be working in pairs, which will change every day under me and Officer Valadis’ supervision. Partners will all go through fights of 10 minutes at a time, after which you will be granted a few minutes to recover, before starting over again, for the whole duration of the class. Now, make your way to the mat that’s been assigned to you through your implant.”


    After saluting the officer along with the other cadets, Jake looked to his right where one of the mats seemed to be glowing in a bright blue light that was similar to his implant’s GPS feature and pretty close from where he’d initially been standing. When he stepped inside the small square, his opponent was already waiting for him in a readied stance.


    The other cadet was very tall, at least half a foot taller than Jake was, and at least twice as large. His dark, pitch-black hair and tanned skin gave him a menacing look somehow, and Jake could feel himself grow anxious at the thought of the upcoming fight. The cadet looked nothing short of a monster as his square jaw, strong chin and chiseled muscles gave Jake the impression the boy was made out of rock.


    He was still mentally preparing himself for the fight when he was jolted out of his stupor by the First Lieutenant, who spoke up loud enough for everyone to hear.


    “Do not intentionally kill or injure more than necessary your opponent. There are obviously no other rules you should be made aware of.”


    Jake looked around him in a panic for a few moments, he couldn’t believe he was going to be fighting with his bare fists against another cadet. Furthermore, it was clear that the so-called rules mentioned by their training officer were far from restrictive.


    The academy uniform was made of a hyper-resistant carbon mesh that would protect both his fists and his body and greatly lessen impacts, although he would still feel the blows to some degree. Moreover, he had no protection whatsoever to his face, even though it felt like the most important place to protect.


    He was still panicking internally when the First Lieutenant announced the beginning of the fight, and Jake’s opponent immediately dashed toward him and opened with a wide swing from the right that he only barely managed to dodge in time.


    For almost a full minute, his opponent kept swinging his fists at him without pause, while it felt progressively easier and easier for Jake to dodge with every assault. On the other hand, his opponent kept swinging wider and wider and Jake felt like he could almost predict his opponent’s move as he evaded every one of the giant’s strikes. Finally, when Jake felt his opponent was starting to grow tired and lethargic enough, he countered with a strike of his own.


    He’d never really fought anyone before, nor had he ever taken any interest in fighting, yet he felt like someone else for a few seconds as he unleashed a fury of compact hits at the other cadet. He punched, elbowed, kicked and even kneed his opponent as he became an unstoppable barrage of strikes. It had been his plan all along to wait for the cadet to tire himself out as he preserved his stamina, although he had to admit it had worked out a lot better than expected. The boy was strong, without a doubt, but he was also a lot slower than Jake and had a hard time landing any hits on him because of that.


    The fight had barely been going for more than four minutes that his opponent was already lying on the ground, panting, although Jake was hardly in better shape himself. They’d gone through a lot of training during the last week but his body was still miserably out of shape, with his recent increase in attributes just barely improving his overall fitness level, and as a result the small four minutes he’d just gone through had taken everything out of him.


    It only took his opponent a few seconds to catch his breath before he was standing in front of him again, with his nose bleeding profusely from the last hit to the face he’d taken from Jake. They exchanged blows for a second time, and by the time their duel was over they were both lying on the ground completely exhausted, although Jake was the clear victor of the match.


    The other cadet had only managed to land a hit on him once when he’d used his telekinesis to make Jake trip by pulling on his feet, jumping on the occasion to land a hit right in his face. Thankfully, it seemed like the hit had been pretty shallow, and Jake had taken it to the side of the jaw, where the bones were strong enough to withstand an almost exhausted cadet. Jake had also been extremely lucky to land on this particular opponent, who seemed to also be limited by under-average biotic energy reserves, which meant their fight would be based on an exchange of blows for the most part, instead of a telekinesis contest, like some of the matches he saw all around theirs.


    Jake was about to get up on his feet when he finally looked up to the line of text that had appeared through his implant a few seconds before.


    [ Winner: Cadet Hawkins ]Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    As he lay on the floor and looked over to meet the eyes of his opponent, he couldn’t help but feel ecstatic at the sight. He couldn’t tell whether it was the fight itself or the look on the other cadet’s face that had made him feel that way, but one thing was sure. Fighting was awesome.


    He was still trembling under the excitement of his recent victory when Ed’s voice flared up in his mind for a second time.


    [Now, one thing is sure. You’re probably as talented for fighting as you suck for biotics. This is good, at least you have something going for you now.]


    Jake pushed the implant’s snarky comment aside and he promptly got up from the mat as the First Lieutenant’s voice announcing the beginning of the second round echoed inside the hall.


    By the time the morning class came to an end, Jake and the other cadet, who he had learned was named Cadet Ryan, had fought each other around 20 times. Jake had tried at first to use his telekinesis during the fight to affect the cadet’s movement like his opponent had done before, but his proficiency with the skill and his energy reserves were simply too lacking. While he could make the metallic bead levitate for a few seconds, the amount of energy that would be required for him to move his opponent’s leg was simply far higher than what he had available at the moment. In contrast, Cadet Ryan had been able to use his telekinesis once almost every fight or so, using it to his advantage to slow Jake down or amke him slip up at times.


    Jake had still spent some time practicing telekinesis during the class once or twice, however, as he knew he needed to improve his mastery of the skill for it to become useful, and he had no real other way to spend his biotic energy anyway. Although he did make sure not to spend too much of his biotic energy when he did, as doing so would largely weaken his body and he’d be at his opponent’s mercy until he’d recovered, whcih would take a long time in his case.


    Surprisingly, he’d had the upper hand during every single fight they’d gone through during that morning. Even though most of his opponent’s stats were noticeably higher than his, especially his strength, his superior dexterity and raw instincts had been enough to triumph over Ryan. According to Ed, however, it was actually due to the fact that Jake’s perception and cognition was much higher than his opponent’s, which had turned out to be to his advantage thanks to the other cadet’s very forward style. Ryan was probably the recruit with the highest strenght attribute amongst their whole class if only judging by his looks, so he would probably make short work of anyone that tried to fight him head on, but would obviously struggle against someone like Jake, who relied on strategy and speed rather than brute strenght.


    Still, when he finally stepped out of the training hall followed by Owens, Jake’s body was painfully aching all over, and he had trouble walking. His body and face were littered with painful aches and small bleeding wounds as a result of the hits he’d taken during training, and his face was so swollen one of his eyes had closen shut. However, he still felt pretty lucky as almost half a dozen other cadets had been sent to the Academy’s hospital during the training after getting injured. Owens, on the other hand, looked like she’d done nothing but laze about for the whole morning, as she happily followed him while talking as usual.


    “There’s a rumour we might go on our first assignment in the next few weeks,” she said enthusiastically.


    “What’s an assignment?” Jake answered with a grimace that came from the pain.


    “How do you not know what that is?” She asked him with a puzzled expression, and he simply shrugged his shoulders in response.


    “Assignments are contracts issued by the Alliance, in other words, they are jobs issued to us soldiers. Some very powerful private entities can also issue such contracts, like powerful and influencial companies or families, although the Alliance issues the bulk of assignments around here.”


    Jake looked at her like she’d already lost him, and she let out a small sigh of exasperation as a result.


    “All of this to say, assignments are very important for the awakened, since going on assignments is how you get paid, although we probably won’t since we’re only cadets. Most of those jobs are also very dangerous, which often leads to improvements in skills and specs both.”


    “So you’re saying we might get shipped to another corner of the universe soon, but that we’ll get stronger faster over there and probably get paid so it’s fine? Sounds rough.”


    “Pretty much, yeah. It will probably be as some sort of final exam or something. Once we graduate, we’ll be able to choose our own assignments, and there are tons of things to do for the awakened in the universe. You can go to war, cleaning assignments, siege assignments, exploration missions, mining operations and even treasure hunts all over the universe. Possibilities are literally endless.”


    Clearly, Owens was very eager to embark on such adventures as she almost seemed to brighten up entirely as she talked. Still, when they arrived at the cafeteria the both of them grabbed their plates and sat at their usual table, next to the flowering tree. During the previous week, Owens had revealed that the tree was in fact a cherry tree, originating from Earth, and Jake had to admit it was one of the most beautiful things he’d ever seen, especially since his home planet looked like a gigantic pile of garbage floating in empty space.


    It was only a few minutes into their lunch break that a towering figure appeared right next to their table. Jake looked up, surprised to see Cadet Ryan’s massive silhouette casting a shadow over their small table. With a swift motion, the cadet pushed his tray next to theirs and sat down in the empty seat. Jake shot a glance at Owens, who looked as surprised as he was. Not once since their first day did they get anyone to even speak to them, so having someone sit at their table felt like a miracle of some kind. Still, Jake looked back at Ryan, who was intently fixing him in the eyes, before he decided to make an attempt at conversation.


    “Hey man, can I help you?”


    For a long time, the cadet didn’t even seem to notice Jake had spoken up, and he simply kept staring at him like Jake had killed his mother or something, but then, he answered.


    “Not really.”


    Awkwardly, Jake looked at Owens who looked ready to explode in laughter for some reason. It wasn’t the first time Jake had caught the girl laughing in the weirdest situatuions, but he still refocused on the cadet‘s intense galre.


    “O-Okay?”


    “Let’s fight again tonight. I’ve asked the First Lieutenant for additional training time and she has agreed to let us use the training hall for two hours after dinner. Owens, you’re more than welcome to join as well.”


    For the thousandth time since the arrival of the giant, Jake and Owens exchanged a surprised look before Jake finally accepted the offer. Not only had he very much enjoyed fighting during training earlier today, but Ed had also advised that extra training time after basic training would only benefit his growth in the long run since his spec needed both training and biotics to improve at optimal speed, and he was just about to ask Owens the same thing when the giant made his appearance.


    For the remainder of their lunch break, the three of them stayed mostly silent as they ate through their trays of food, with the three of them making idle conversation from time to time, especially inquiring about Ryan, who was unsurprisingly not very talkative. For the first time since they got to the academy, however, Jake didn’t complain about the size of his tray for once, as one look over to Ryan’s plate was enough to make his stomach cramp in anticipation.


    Who the fuck eats three whole chickens in a single meal? That is just sick.


    [See how well I treat you? I could be a whole lot worse, you know?]


    It was only after the three of them had finally managed to gulp down their respective meals that they’d made their way back to the training hall together as a group.


    Thankfully, the afternoon was quite a lot smoother compared to the morning they’d just spent hitting one another, as they spent the majority of their time focusing on telekinesis and conditioning. Once again, Jake mostly focused on conditioning as he couldn’t use telekinesis all that often yet. By now, everybody looked to be able to make the marble levitate for almost a minute straight, and Owens and a few others had even moved on to a bigger piece of metal to improve the challenge. Apparently, increasing skill levels provided enourmous boosts of ability to the skill, and Jake was the only cadet still stuck to level 1 as of today. But the biggest difference between him and the other cadets was felt in their ability to recover biotic energy at a very rapid pace, far eclipsing his own. Since he was pouring almost his entire biotic energy recovery into improving his specs, very little was left for him to use his telekinesis skill. All of this meant that not only the other cadets were miles above him already, but their biotic skills would progress much faster than his thanks to their superior capacity and recovery, although he would probably be improving his specs a little bit faster than the others.


    Toward the end of the class, Officer Gwyra and Officer Valadis had gathered them up in the middle of the open area of the training hall for the second time today, before making yet another announcement.


    “We have just received confirmation that we will be departing for our first assignment in exactly three weeks.”


    Every cadet looked absolutely shocked for a second, and most even started whispering among themselves until the Akira finally spoke up again.


    “Usually, a cadet’s first assignment happens at the end of basic training, but the Alliance thinks it would be a good idea to provide all of you with more hands-on experience, so the last 12 weeks of basic training will exceptionally be spent on the field.”


    Almost expectandly, King immediately raised her hand, and Officer Gwyra relunctantly allowed her to speak up.


    “What exactly does that mean for us? There is a good reason why cadets aren’t usually sent on assignments before the 13th week of training, and it’s mostly because the Alliance believes most cadets wouldn’t make it out alive if they sent them out sooner than that. Is there a reason in particular as to why the Alliance has revised their standing on the matter, First Lieutenant?”


    Jake had to admit, that girl had the makings of a damn politician, and although she blatently questioned her commanding officer’s authority, she’d done it in such a way it would be hard for Officer Gwyra to even reproach her anything. However, it seemed that Jake had greatly overestimated the Officer’s patience, or maybe her ability to care.


    “Cadet, if you ever talk to me like that again, you won’t even need to make it on an assignment before I fucking rip your head off, are we clear?”


    “Yes, ma’am!” King echoed back, visibly growing pale at the commanding officer’s answer.


    Still, Officer Gwyra had apparently taken note that every other cadet had wondered the same thing, and she sighed before finally speaking up again.


    “However, you are right. The Alliance is currently extremely short on manpower, as I’m sure you all know already, which means they’ll be counting on the new recruits to fill in the gaps for the entry-level assignments, which is why we’ll need to contribute to the war effort from now on. However, you all don’t need to worry about your own skin just yet, we will not be headed for the frontlines, but rather for the frontiers where we’ll complete some entry-level, garbage assignments that even some useless civilians with limited gear could handle. If every one of you does their job properly, everyone here will live to see the end of basic training.”


    Almost every student as a whole seemed to relax at the words of the training officer, like she’d lifted a huge rock off the collective shoulders of every trainee. Still, it was evident she wanted to dodge further questioning because she immediately changed the subject.


    “As a result of these unforeseen circumstances, you will all be lent basic combat equipment, which will include a full set of basic armour, as well as a meelee and ranged weapon of your choosing. We will meet tomorrow morning at the Academy’s armoury at 0700 sharp to proceed with this particular matter, although you will only receive said gear at the beginning of next week. Understood?”


    For a moment, every cadet inside looked ready to explode in joy at the thought of finally receiving gear , but they still answered the officer instantly.


    “Yes ma’am!”


    After the officer had dismissed them, Jake quickly made his way toward Owens, who was already talking with Ryan in hushed tones, although the both of them looked so agitated Jake could have thought they were shouting from a distance.


    “ — bullshit. A lot of cadets will die if the Alliance follows through.” Owens said to Ryan in a subdued tone, and it was only mid-way through her sentence that Jake had been able to make out what she was saying.


    “ Yes, it’s almost unavoidable. However, I believe that they do not have a choice right now. I’ve heard some rumours, but it seems that the Alliance is losing more ground on the frontier than they’ve let on.”


    “Yes, I heard something about 100 outposts falling to the hands of the invaders this week.”


    “It’s that bad?” Ryan almost shouted.


    Jake, who knew next to nothing about the state of the war outside almost felt out of place as the two cadets discussed in hushed tones of the recent events.


    “Has to be. Why else would they send literal month-old cadets on a damn assignment, when even entry-level ones have a near 20% fatality rate amongst those having already graduated basic training.


    It was only after Jake had been listening in on the conversation for quite some time that he finally understood what the two of them had been insinuating. It seemed that the war that had lasted for more than twenty years was finally coming to an end, and judging by the information they had, it was unlikely they’d be the ones coming out on top.