《Awakened [A Sci-Fi, LitRPG adventure]》 Prologue: Jake Hawkins
Ender, World-Capital of Nenov, Sector 8. August 30th, 3091 ¡°JAKE! GET YOUR DIRTY TEENAGER ASS OUT OF BED, RIGHT NOW!¡± A familiar voice echoed. Jake¡¯s eyes shot up, his heart racing furiously until he realized what was happening. He sat up, tossed his covers to the side and promptly got out of his bed. He¡¯d barely taken a single step toward the door when he heard shouting again. ¡°JAKE HAWKINS! IF YOU DO NOT WAKE THE HELL UP RIGHT NOW, I WILL BEAT YOU UP.¡± Grandma Al¡¯s voice resonated in his ears, immediately sparking a fear in his gut only his dear grandma could instill in him. ¡°I¡¯m coming!¡± Jake shouted back, horrified, and he heard Grandma Al¡¯s snort echo all the way to his room in response. He made his way toward his closet, taking out the uniform he¡¯d prepared the night before, before putting it on. He stood in front of the mirror for a moment, making sure his new outfit fit him perfectly, and his eyes went back and forth between his clothes and his face. Jake was a six-foot-tall, slim-as-a-toothpick 18-year-old with cool brown hair that cascaded all the way down to his shoulders. His facial features were sharp and defined, which would have been a good thing if it hadn¡¯t made him look even scrawnier than he already was. The rest of his face looked pretty average, except for his eyes, which were a shocking silver-gray that looked almost identical to the shimmering gray of the distant nebulas that littered the vast universe. The uniform was a sleek, nearly pitch-black military uniform with only a small insignia placed over his heart to complete the look. For years now, he¡¯d almost drooled at the sight of the uniform, and now there he was, in said uniform, finally getting ready for the grand departure. A few seconds later, Jake finally made his way down the stairs almost going two at a time, getting down to the kitchen in record time. If there was one thing Grandma hated, after all, it was waiting. ¡°Took you long enough! I swear you¡¯re just the same as your father sometimes, a damn hooligan! Now, do you have everything prepared for the academy, or are you also as forgetful as your father was? Jake looked at Grandma Al momentarily, raising an eyebrow at her. She must have been pretty anxious about his departure to bring up his late father, as she only ever did so when she was either absolutely pissed or very stressed out. He didn¡¯t stare at her for too long, however, as he was very aware of what would happen if he did. Instead, he answered. ¡°Yup, everything is packed, and it has been for two days now, just like I told you yesterday.¡± She looked at him for a moment with a frown, before her features softened, and she looked at him the way only a mother ¡ª or grandmother ¡ª could. ¡°Let¡¯s go, then.¡± She said, giving him a warm smile. He made his way across the small kitchen, before ending up in the middle of the living room, where something caught his attention. In front of their apartment¡¯s only couch, was a small, worn-out holographic display that was so faint you could barely make out the image. The thing must have been older than Grandma Al herself, and it was the only thing in the house that seemed to be worth a credit, even in its current state of disrepair. On the small display, a very professional-looking middle-aged woman was currently giving a rundown of the week¡¯s event. ¡°We have just received confirmation as of ten minutes ago that the Intersystem Alliance has lost yet another military outpost at the frontier, as our border remains under the constant attack of the invaders. The Alliance has refused to provide any additional information at the moment, even though this one marks the 13th outpost falling under the corrupted this week.¡± Jake couldn¡¯t stop himself from listening to the news report for a few seconds, before closing the display with a wave of his hand. Both of his parents had died when Luke was still an infant before he¡¯d even turned a year old. They¡¯d both been soldiers, and they¡¯d both died fighting on the front lines during the war, which was still raging all across the universe even today. It had progressively gone from bad to worse during the last few months, as the Intersystem Alliance?¡ª?the current government which had been born from the union of the galaxy¡¯s strongest and most influential races a few hundred years ago?¡ª?kept losing more and more territory to the invaders. Since the day his parents died, Grandma Al had raised him singlehandedly while working full-time as a school janitor. As a result, he¡¯d spent every school year at a boarding school somewhere on Nenov?¡ª?his home planet?¡ª?most of the time in one of the less reputable schools of the capital, as they couldn¡¯t afford for him to go anywhere else. Still, they¡¯d spent every summer break together and Grandma Al was the closest thing to a mom he could have ever hoped to have, even though he had to admit she tended to have a short fuse or two. It was fair to say that Grandma Al had sacrificed a lot for him, too much even. Yet, she had this unrelenting determination on her face, which he¡¯d always found odd, like some sort of weird pride and confidence that shouldn¡¯t belong on the face of a school janitor, yet it did. She was a tall and slim woman with gray hair and creamy white skin, and looked to be anywhere between her 40s and 50s, although Jake believed her to be closer to her 60s. She¡¯d never actually dared to reveal her actual age to him, and she¡¯d hit him in the back of the head the first and last time Jake had asked her about her age. She may have been his Grandma, but the woman could throw a punch, so he hadn¡¯t asked her ever again after that. He wasn¡¯t afraid to admit it in the slightest; he was terrified of Grandma Al, but the good kind of terrified. She was an extremely odd woman and an even weirder grandma, but she was also family. They both made their way to the small apartment¡¯s entrance, where Jake threw over his shoulder the three bags that had been waiting next to the door since the night before. Two of those were Grandma Al¡¯s, but what kind of grandson would let his old grandma carry her luggage on the way to the spaceport? ¡°Don¡¯t forget your coat, dear.¡± Jake glanced to his left, and grabbed his coat, barely managing to stop himself from rolling his eyes. He hated when his Nana babied him more than anything else, but as he¡¯d said earlier, life was too short to tempt fate that way. He was about to leave when he turned around to get one last look at the apartment he¡¯d grown up in. The small two-bedroom wasn¡¯t luxurious by any standard, even for this neighbourhood, but it was still where he¡¯d spent most of his life until now. In a weird, incomprehensible way, Jake felt sad. He¡¯d dreamed of the day he¡¯d move out of here for as long as he could remember, yet now that the day had come, he couldn¡¯t help but feel like he¡¯d miss the place, if only for the memories that came with it. He looked thoughtfully for a few seconds, then took a deep breath, and with his heart pumping and a smile on his face, they set out for what would be the beginning of a completely new life for him. They stepped outside the apartment, before making their way across the narrow streets of Ender, the capital of the planet. It might have been more appropriate to describe the narrow, poorly-lit hallway winding between the massive skyscrapers that arose from each side as an alley, or maybe a path, as there was simply no way even the smallest shuttles would fit in here, so calling it a street would be kind of an exaggeration. The fact that the streets were narrow didn¡¯t mean that they were empty, however, as a crowd of people unfurled everywhere around them, cramped and dirtied, and as always everyone on these streets looked nothing short of miserable. Only Jake and Grandma Al, in their sleek black uniforms, looked out of place for once.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. They¡¯d spent the last 17 years living here, in the slums of Ender, which was widely considered among the poorest areas of the sector, although they were far from the worst off around the neighbourhood. A smile made its way onto Jake¡¯s face, as he looked all around him. It was a nice feeling to know that starting today, his life would change. The last years had been hard, but today marked the day he became a cadet at the Royal Military Academy?¡ª?or RMA for short?¡ª?one of the best academies across the entire Intersystem Alliance, where he¡¯d go through basic training before finally becoming a full-fledged member of the military. They both entered the station and headed toward one of the shuttles that were headed to the spaceport, which was almost half of them by all accounts. The shuttles were rectangular vehicles made out of hyper-resistant carbon alloys that could carry around a few hundred passengers per trip and were able to reach speeds of around 500 miles/hour by gliding across electromagnetic ramps. A few years ago, he had learned at school that the ancestor of the shuttles were called trains, although no one had seen one in almost a millennia by now. They climbed into the vehicle, and thankfully there were still many seats available in the car. He wasn¡¯t sure he would have been able to endure Grandma Al¡¯s complaining for a full hour, although he knew his ears were far from safe just because they¡¯d be able to sit for the ride.
Royal Military Academy, Earth, Sector 1. September 2nd, 3091 ¡°Good morning, cadet, and welcome to the Royal Military Academy.¡± A tall, muscular but otherwise non-descript officer declared to Jake as soon as he¡¯d stepped foot through the gigantic door that led inside the compound. Grandma Al had already gone her separate way a few minutes earlier, as her first shift would start soon and Logan needed to head to the infirmary before he started class tomorrow morning. ¡°My name is Private Woods, and I will be in charge of guiding you across campus to the infirmary, where you¡¯ll be provided with an Alliance-issued neuroimplant, far better than anything you could have ever seen or heard of on civilian markets. You¡¯ll also need to undergo a small medical exam with the officer in charge of inserting the implant inside your brain, as part of the usual procedure.¡± The officer said, and he must have noticed Jake¡¯s puzzled expression because he immediately spoke up a moment later. ¡°I know you might have a lot of questions, but they will all be answered after you¡¯ve received your implant. For now, I ask that you remain patient. Is that clear, cadet?¡± ¡°Yes, sir!¡± He answered The officer made a small gesture to follow him, and they both were on their way to the Academy¡¯s hospital a few moments later. It had only been a quarter hour or so since Jake had arrived at the Academy, and he was pretty certain his mouth had stayed wide open the entire time he¡¯d walked from the entrance gates to the hospital. The entire trip from Ender to Earth had taken almost two entire days, for a total of forty hours, during which he¡¯d spent most of his time either sleeping inside his cabin or exploring the spaceship. It wasn¡¯t every day you got to set foot in a ten-kilometer-wide spacecraft after all, especially considering the fact he¡¯d never set foot inside any spaceship before. Even that, however, was nothing close to the impressive appearance of the RMA. While he had expected the Academy to be huge, he was extremely shocked to realize how much he¡¯d underestimated the sheer size of the compound. All of the Academy was surrounded by a gigantic force field that made the whole thing look like it was housed under a giant bubble. According to Private Woods, the school grounds covered an area of 100 kilometers wide in diameter, most of which was covered by forest, and students were under no circumstances allowed to step foot inside unless they had an officer¡¯s authorization. While his home planet had looked like a gigantic steel warehouse crammed with metallic skyscrapers, the academy was like a haven of nature, and every building was littered with trees, plants and vines, contrasting greatly with the sleek, polished black and white carbon alloy the Academy¡¯s structures were made out of. Jake looked up at the gigantic building in front of him and took a deep breath before entering through the large gates. As soon as he stepped inside, his heart sunk in his chest as a giant pair of yellow eyes bore into him. It was the first time he¡¯d ever seen a Kreigen, and it caught him off guard for a second. The alien must have noticed his reaction because he let out a small chuckle, before speaking up. ¡°First time seeing a Kreigen before, cadet?¡± Jake¡¯s eyes widened, and he suddenly realized he¡¯d been staring at the officer for a few seconds now. ¡°Y-Yes. I mean¡­ I¡¯m sorry sir.¡± Jake spat out, and the words twisted on his tongue momentarily before he could finally speak. The Kreigen was around two meters and a half tall while being twice as wide as the average human. His skin was murky brown, its texture reminiscent of a snake¡¯s scales, an impression further accentuated by his slitted, predatory yellowish eyes. Despite this reptilian aspect, his build was predominantly humanoid, except for his reptilian face, though his complete lack of hair¡ªacross his entire body¡ªadded to his otherworldly appearance. ¡°I am First Lieutenant Neilr, and I will be in charge of your medical examination.¡± The Kreigen said, amused, before he gestured for him to follow him. They both entered a small room that looked like a classic hospital room, with a dozen weird-looking medical devices attached to the walls, along with a single examination chair located in the center of the room. ¡°Sit, cadet.¡± The officer said, and Jake executed right away. During the next half hour or so, the officer ran more than two dozen types of tests, using every single medical device in the room to do so, before he¡¯d disappeared for the last few minutes. During this whole time, not a single word had been exchanged between them, except for a few questions that the Kreigan had asked him directly at the beginning. When the officer finally came back, he was holding a small tablet in his hands and immediately made his way toward Jake and spoke up. ¡°You¡¯re really fucking weak, even for a human, but that should change pretty quickly once you¡¯ve gone through basic training, so I¡¯m not too concerned by that.¡± Jake was taken aback by the abrupt honesty for a moment, wondering why the hell the Kreigan was telling him that, but he still managed to respond without too much anger in his tone. ¡°Yes, first lieutenant.¡± The officer snorted before he finally continued with the medical evaluation. ¡°Except for your weak ass body, you¡¯re pretty much well above average in all neurological and mental acuity tests, and you¡¯re perfectly healthy, so that¡¯s good. Now, it''s time for the fun part kid.¡± As soon as the last words had left his mouth, the officer took a step back, and a mechanical device that had been fixed to the ceiling slowly went down until it reached a few inches above Logan¡¯s head, where it stopped. ¡°After we¡¯ve inserted the neuroimplant inside your brain, you¡¯ll be taken back to your dorm by one of our staff.¡± Of course, Jake had known about this part all along, as it was common knowledge that every cadet would receive upon their acceptance at the Academy one of the Alliance¡¯s top-tier neuro implants. The benefits of the implants were rumoured to be not only extremely potent, but also numerous, and he couldn¡¯t help to feel somewhat excited, even though his brain was about to be opened by someone who looked like they would belong on the front lines rather than the insides of a hospital. ¡°Yes, sir.¡± He answered anyway. And before Jake knew it, the anesthesia kicked in and he fell asleep.
Owens Family Estate, Mars, Sector 1. September 1st, 3091 Noelle had been walking toward her family¡¯s private spaceport when she¡¯d been summoned to an audience with the family¡¯s patriarch through the message functionality of her neuroimplant. She had been minutes away from departure for Earth before she¡¯d been forced to turn on her heels and make her way back to the main family¡¯s compound by shuttle. Now, she was currently standing impatiently in front of the large gates that led to the audience hall, where she¡¯d meet with the family patriarch in a few minutes. She let out a sigh of relief when a small message notification appeared in the corner of her eye, with the large gates opening up simultaneously. She stepped through the doors and walked all the way toward the man standing on a huge metallic throne on the opposite side of the room. She bowed slightly in front of him, as a show of respect, after which the patriarch spoke up. ¡°Your uncle tells me you will start attending the RMA tomorrow, is that true?¡± His voice was powerful and steady, yet still domineering. It only made her hesitate for a second, however, before she answered. ¡°Yes, patriarch.¡± ¡°I see. I¡¯m assuming I do not need to remind you of what is at stake here.¡± Her heart clenched and she had to fight with all her might for her next words to not get stuck inside her throat. ¡°No, patriarch.¡± He paused for a few seconds, visibly looking for the right words. ¡°Tomorrow, you¡¯ll finally become an awakened, and I have no doubt you¡¯ll be just as talented as your father was in that regard.¡± He stared at her for a second which felt like an eternity, and a chill went down her spine at his next words. ¡°However, I also hope you understand what will happen if your performance at the Academy is subpar?¡± ¡°Yes, patriarch.¡± A small smile appeared on his lips, and the words that followed were let out in a softer tone than before. ¡°Do not disappoint me, my dear granddaughter.¡± Chapter 1: Howdy, Partner! When he woke up a moment later, Jake was shocked to see that lines of text were unfurling in front of his very eyes. They were so numerous in fact, that he didn¡¯t have time to read the text before it disappeared out of sight, replaced by new lines over and over again. After a few dizzying seconds, the text finally stopped appearing in front of him, and he could see the room again. He was about to get up when a strong and scaly hand pressed down on his chest, and he fell back in his chair. ¡°Easy, kid. Stay down for a bit.¡± Officer Neilr muttered. He looked up at the Kreigen, who still looked just as pissed as he¡¯d looked when they¡¯d met moments before. Jake¡¯s head was pounding like crazy, and almost on instinct, he brought up a hand to his right temple, where he felt the familiar texture of a bandage. ¡°Your operation was a success, and you¡¯ve now been granted access to the full functionalities of your neuroimplant,¡± He said with a particularly loud sigh. ¡°Now listen to me kid, and listen well because I ain¡¯t repeating a word of this a second time.¡± ¡°To the corner of your field of view, you can see a small semi-transparent circle, I want you to focus on that and think about expanding it. Doing so will activate your implant for the first time and initiate the tutorial. I have a few other implants to take care of tonight, so if you need anything just ask one of the receptionists. Once you¡¯re done with the tutorial, you better go get settled in your dorm right away.¡± The Kreigen turned on his heels, and he had barely taken a step toward the door when he suddenly stopped in his tracks. He seemed to hesitate, but a moment later, he spoke up. ¡°One more thing, cadet. This implant is by far the most valuable thing you¡¯ll receive during your time at this academy, except maybe the awakening. If you listen to your implant, you¡¯re going to be just fine. Remember that.¡± And just like that, he rushed back toward the door and stepped out of the room. Jake looked at the door before he focused back on the small semi-transparent circle in the corner of his eye, and it expanded into some sort of holographic interface. Before he could analyze the screen, however, a voice echoed in his ears. [Howdy, partner!] The small voice was robotic by nature, although he couldn¡¯t pinpoint exactly where it had come from as he looked all around the room. ¡°What the fuck? Who¡¯s here?¡± Logan said as he looked around the room furiously. [Ah shit, why did I get stuck with the dumbass. I¡¯m the implant idiot, nobody¡¯s ¡°here¡±.] The implant responded, and the way it said the word ¡°here¡± almost seemed condescending. Jake¡¯s eyes widened for a moment, and he sat on the examination table for a moment, mouth agape, without knowing how to respond to the asshole that was now stuck in his brain. [Well, are you ready for that tutorial or not?] Jake sighed before he finally spoke up. ¡°Hum¡­ sure?¡± [Wonderful! My name is ED1427B089, but you can call me Ed!] He was taken aback by the sudden change in expression. Moments ago, the implant had been condescending and irritated, while it was now cheerful and enthusiastic. [Now the first thing you must know is that you do not need to speak aloud to communicate with me, as I am in your head and can hear your thoughts. I mean it, the other cadets will literally bully you if they hear you speaking to me out loud, and I¡¯ll be damned if I let myself get stitched up inside a loser¡¯s head.] Almost feeling embarrassed at the AI¡¯s remark, he simply shrugged and waited for the implant to continue. [Now, the second most important thing you need to know is that I am by definition an extension of your mind, which means I can stock information and memories for you, kinda like extra storage space on a tablet, but I can also perform calculations or analysis, among a ton of other things. I also have access to the Alliance¡¯s Central Database to look up any information your clearance level allows you to access, as well as the internet, for more general information.] Awesome, Jake thought. [Now, let¡¯s take a look at some other functionalities, starting with the status screen.] At that moment, a holographic screen appeared right in front of him. It looked a lot like the type of holograms they used in classrooms to display the lectures to students, although something felt a little different this time. Status Name: Jake Hawkins Rank: Cadet Biotic Energy Capacity: xx Biotic Energy Recovery: xx Base attributes Strength: 3 Dexterity: 6 Constitution: 3 Recovery: 3 Perception: 7 Cognition: 12 Specs [ None ] Skills [ None ] He looked at the screen for a while. He¡¯d heard some rumours on the forums, but to think that it was even better than he¡¯d imagined, he almost wondered if this was all a dream. [For now, the only thing worth mentioning about your status screen is that each attribute listed acts as a measure of your capabilities. The rest should be pretty self-explanatory, even for you.] Jake ignored the implant¡¯s snarky comment and then looked at the screen for a second before he silently asked Ed to elaborate on the role of attributes. [Strenght | Measure of your physical strength and power] [Dexterity | Measure of your agility and reflexes] [Constitution | Measure of your damage resistance and stamina] [Recovery | Measure of your body¡¯s regeneration and recovery] [Perception | Measure of your perception and insight] [Cognition | Measure of your overall mental faculties] [Biotic Energy Capacity | Measure of your core¡¯s maximum capacity] [Biotic Energy Recovery | Measure of the recovery speed of your core] After he¡¯d read through everything in under half a minute, he still took a moment to absorb the information, and as soon as he¡¯d wrapped his head around the whole attributes thing, the implant spoke up again inside his mind. [Secondly, I have been linked to a newly created banking account under your name with IABanking Solutions, and you will be able to manage, invest and use your credits just like with any other client account.] [There is also a messaging and communication functionality within the implant, as well as a GPS device that will work anywhere inside IA colonized territory.] Jake looked through the holographic screens that kept popping up in front of him, mouth still agape at the situation, until the door suddenly swung wide open, revealing a tall woman, dressed in very stylish business attire. ¡°I¡¯m Miss Abrahams, cadet. I¡¯m part of the school¡¯s administrative staff, but today I¡¯ll simply be guiding you back to your dorm.¡± She said, smiling. She gestured at him to follow her, and they made their way toward the dorms. According to Miss Abrahams, there were ten first-year dorms, each housed by five cadets who would be sharing living space for the entire year. He couldn¡¯t help but be slightly nervous at the thought of living with four other cadets, as he wasn¡¯t exactly great at socializing, he instead preferred to keep to himself. Still, when they finally arrived in front of his dorm¡¯s metal door, his heart was pounding with excitement, and he sheepishly opened the door after mumbling his thanks to the lady. While he had expected the room to look somewhat like a high-class luxury suite with multiple bedrooms, he¡¯d instead entered some kind of empty open area, with a few couches spread sparsely here and there. The room was made from sleek-looking grayish metal that covered every inch of the ground and walls, which gave the common area a warehouse vibe like most buildings'' interiors he¡¯d seen back on Nenov. Five doors were spread evenly across the walls, and Logan could tell these were the individual rooms they¡¯d be staying in. He didn¡¯t get much more time to have more than a glance, however, before a high-pitched voice echoed inside the room. ¡°WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?¡± The voice shouted. ¡°Do they really expect us to live like we¡¯re from the fucking slums for sixteen weeks? Wait until my mom hears about this!¡± Next to her, two other cadets shook their heads in agreement, echoing the girl¡¯s thoughts. A small distance away stood another cadet, who looked at the trio with an indifferent expression. Now, if there was one thing Logan was good at ¡ª at least according to Grandma Al ¡ª it was getting in trouble. So when he heard the girl, a tall 5¡¯10 blonde girl with ocean-blue eyes complaining like a bitchy princess over the dorms, he let out a small chuckle he¡¯d in vain tried to keep in, and four pair of eyes turned on him.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°Hum¡­ Hi?¡± He said to the room, hesitantly. ¡°What the fuck does that mean?¡± The blonde girl said after having turned around, revealing pristine features hidden under a very angry frown. Jake was taken by surprise for a moment, and he struggled to find the words as all hopes of the girl having mistaken his laugh for anything else than an insult was blown away by her annoyingly high-pitched voice. ¡°I mean it¡¯s not that bad, there¡¯s couches we can sit on and there''s even a giant holographic display facing them ¡ª ¡± But he didn¡¯t even get to finish before the girl interrupted him with a rageful cry. ¡°And who are you exactly?¡± She asked, although it sounded more like an insult than an actual question, Jake still answered. ¡°My name is Jake Hawkins, it¡¯s nice to meet you. I guess we¡¯ll be roommates for the next four months.¡± He said hesitantly, but instead of replying to him by introducing herself like any normal human being ¡ª or normal living being ¡ª the girl simply gave him a condescending smirk and ignored him. What the actual fuck is wrong with that girl? [If that was you trying to charm the lady I can deduce with 99,8% certainty that you failed. You know what, screw the numbers you definitely did not impress her.] With a sigh, Jake simply made his way toward one of the couches and fell into it. Not only was he as socially inept as a worm, but at least three of his roommates were condescending garbage, and he realized his first interaction at the Academy had gone way worse than in the nightmares he¡¯d had thinking about it the previous night. Suddenly, a small chuckle made him realize he wasn¡¯t alone in the common room, and he shot a glance to his left, where a girl was looking at him, laughing. Even sat down on the couch, it was clear she was almost as tall as he was, and she had long curly brown hair awkwardly stuck in a messy bun, along with piercing brown eyes and a dashing smile. She must have been the most beautiful woman he¡¯d ever seen, and by far, although she still carried herself with the distinct grace and strength of a soldier. ¡°You¡¯re funny, Hawkins.¡± She said with a smile. ¡°Basic training hasn¡¯t even started yet and you¡¯re already mortal enemies with the Laura King.¡± ¡°Laura King? As in the King Conglomerate?¡± Logan asked. ¡°Precisely.¡± The girl answered with a smile, and he grimaced. I am so fucked. He couldn¡¯t help but despair at his own rotten luck when the girl who was sitting near him spoke up again. Even though he came from the slums of some pisspoor planet 3 whole sectors over, even he knew how powerful the King Conglomerate was. ¡°My name¡¯s Noelle Owens. It¡¯s nice to meet you.¡± He looked at her for a few seconds. After a moment, he simply shrugged his shoulders and answered. ¡°It¡¯s nice to meet you too,¡± Jake said, visibly uncomfortable, before he tried changing the subject as he grew progressively more awkward. ¡°So, any idea which room¡¯s mine?¡± He added, motioning at the large bag he was carrying on his back. The thing was extremely heavy as it was filled with everything he owned, and he couldn¡¯t wait to drop it off somewhere. [Wow, you got a chance to talk to a pretty lady here and you go back to your room for a wank? Pathetic.] Shut up, Ed. With a finger, she pointed to the door that was on the immediate right from the entrance, and he got up and walked over to the door, which he opened. As he¡¯d expected, his room consisted of a very small bedroom, with one bed, a nightstand and a closet full of Academy uniforms. To the farthest wall next to his bed, a small entranceway led to a toilet, shower and sink. He dropped his bag on the edge of his bed before he walked back inside the common area, which was now empty. He looked around the room, realizing he was now alone, and sat back on one of the couches. He sat there for a few minutes, going over the functionalities of his new neuroimplant while arguing with Ed when the door swung wide open, which gave Jake a start, and a huge Akari stepped inside the area, and she stayed immobile for a few seconds before she suddenly shouted. ¡°CADETS, GET THE HELL OUT OF YOUR ROOMS.¡± She shouted at the top of her lungs, and Jake shot up to his feet with record speed. An instant later, the other four were standing in line right next to him, unmoving. The Akari were a tall alien species that looked almost identical to humans, except for the fact that they had talons instead of feet and a gigantic pair of black wings fixed to their back, along with a set of pitch-black ram horns glued to their heads. They kind of looked like a weird mix of an eagle, a human and a ram, although comparing them to a ram to their face was akin to declaring war on their entire species, according to the rumours. The officer looked them all up and down for a moment before she let out a dissatisfied sigh and spoke up. ¡°I am First Lieutenant Gwyra, and I will be in charge of your cohort for the next three years.¡± She said, looking at every one of them furiously. ¡°We will begin basic training tomorrow at 0700 sharp. Be sure to be at the first-year training hall by then. Now, you are free to go to the cafeteria if you are hungry but know that there is a curfew in place at 2200. You DON¡¯T want to find out what happens when you get caught outside of your room after curfew.¡± She finished, menacingly, and then she left. Owens gave him a glance for a second, and he was glad to see she was as confused as she was, but they both started making their way toward the cafeteria moments later. As for their three roommates, none of them even spared them a glance, so they knew it¡¯d be futile to ask them to join. They¡¯d barely taken a few steps outside their dorms before a small notification appeared in his line of sight. [Destination set to Dining Hall] He gave the text a puzzled expression for a second, and he was about to ask Ed for clarifications when he looked in front of him, where a giant blue arrow at the very top of his line of sight looked to be pointing to his right, and that''s when he understood what was happening. That GPS function was pretty cool. They made their way across the giant hallway of the dormitory before they stepped outside the building through the main gate. Once more, Jake was taken aback by the beauty of the giant outdoor compound, and he couldn¡¯t help but look all around as they walked and he made small talk with Noelle. A minute or so later, they stepped inside the dining hall. While he¡¯d already caught a glimpse of the dining hall from afar a few minutes earlier when Mrs. Abrahams had brought him from the infirmary to his room, he was still as shocked as he¡¯d been the first time when he¡¯d entered the dome-like greenhouse that was littered with so many trees and plants that one could have believed this was a park instead of a cafeteria. A glance at Owens told him she too was extremely amazed to see such a sight. The whole building was akin to a giant greenhouse and was almost entirely made out of glass to allow for a maximum of natural light, and the insides were filled with various fruit trees, vegetables, and other comestible plants. Almost everything except the biggest trees seemed to be grown out of the same, giant hydroponic system and the whole thing was one of the most impressive things he¡¯d ever witnessed, as the area offered the perfect blend of nature and technology. To his right, a small area was filled with students who formed a straight line and both of them made their way to the end of the queue. It only took about two minutes for them to be left standing in front of a small counter, behind which a robot with more arms than he could count stood, soundlessly. Suddenly, Jake¡¯s neuroimplant flared up and he heard Ed¡¯s voice inside his mind. [Don¡¯t just stand there you idiot, take your plate and eat!] He was taken aback for a moment, but he glanced back at the small counter in front of him and realized trays were now standing in front of him and Cadet Owens respectively. They grabbed their trays and made their way to the nearest table before finally sitting down right next to a beautiful flowering tree, growing right next to a patch of lettuce. The whole time they¡¯d walked from the counter to their seats, their eyes had been glued to the trees, flowers and plants that surrounded them, but once they finally glanced at their plate, Jake hadn¡¯t managed to keep his voice down. ¡°An entire fucking chicken, veggies, two entire bowls of rice AND a whole litre of water? What the hell?¡± He almost shouted, and he looked at Owens¡¯ plate next. Although she also had roasted chicken as the main dish, her plate only contained two fist-sized amounts of it with a bowl of rice with veggies and potatoes. It was still a lot ¡ª too much even ¡ª but his plate was simply ridiculous by comparison. He didn¡¯t have to wonder for long, however, before a notification appeared in the corner of his eye. [I¡¯ve taken the liberty of starting you on a new dietary protocol, I call it: Bulking season baby!] Jake stared at the text, his mind going a thousand miles a minute before he finally spoke up. ¡°But why?¡± He said aloud, and he saw from the corner of his eye that Owens was cracking herself up at the sight. [Because you look like a skinny little bitch, and I can¡¯t have that. Now eat up or it¡¯ll get cold.] Jake stared at the text for a second once more, and he thought back to the words of First Lieutenant Neilr, who¡¯d told him word-for-word to just do whatever his implant told him to do from now on. He let out another exasperated sigh, and he grabbed his fork and knife before he finally dug in. Even if he had been extremely hungry at the start, he had only been halfway through his plate when he¡¯d started feeling full. In fact, he¡¯d only kept going due to another notification flaring up in the corner of his eye. [Skinny bitch. Don¡¯t forget I have full control over your brain functions. In simpler words: don¡¯t finish your plate and I¡¯ll make your life hell, bro.] ¡°That damn AI is starting to get on my fucking nerves¡± Luke muttered between two spoonfuls of rice. He looked back to Owens in front of him, who was almost done with her meal and had started attacking the jug of water next to her plate. ¡°First time with a neuroimplant?¡± She asked, but she didn¡¯t even wait for an answer before she continued. ¡°I¡¯ve had one my whole life, or at least as long as I remember¡­ didn¡¯t like it at first, but there¡¯s a reason they say the implant alone is worth going through basic training. What¡¯s more, the Alliance-issued models are miles above even the best ones that are available through civilian markets.¡± [She¡¯s not wrong.] Jake ignored the text, instead trying his hardest to make small talk with Owens. He would probably be spending at least an hour and a half in the cafeteria to finish this mountain of a meal, so might as well kill the time and talk with the beautiful girl. Furthermore, after his interaction with King earlier, he was pretty sure she¡¯d be the only roommate to ever speak to him during the 16 weeks they¡¯d be stuck here together. Unsurprisingly, Clara Owens¡¯ parents were part of a family which had a long history of birthing high-ranked military officers and pretty much all of her family members were either on active duty or retired from active duty. Her family¡¯s reputation in the Alliance was above that of King¡¯s although she was by far much more humble than the blonde. Most of her family lived on Mars ¡ª one of the most populated planets of sector 1, along with Earth ¡ª and had arranged to send her to the academy before she¡¯d even been born. Still, even though she knew she¡¯d never had much of a choice, she still insisted she was here out of her own accord. Jake had listened to her talk about her upbringing for almost an hour, even asking her multiple questions at times. He was amazed at how different their lives had been until now. She¡¯d grown up being tutored by the best teachers in the sector, surrounded by family members who invested large amounts of time and resources in her education so she could one day join the army and make them proud. Jake, on the other hand, had only ever known Grandma Al and had never really been spared a thought by the rest of the world. She was the rising star of an all-powerful family, while he was invisible. When she¡¯d asked about where he grew up, he¡¯d been intentionally vague, simply saying he was from Ender, as he didn¡¯t want the girl to know he was from the slums. After a while, however, Ed finally spoke up through his mind. [She¡¯s weird as hell, although you¡¯re by far weirder. I¡¯ll keep an eye on her though.] He wasn¡¯t exactly sure what the implant meant by ¡°keeping an eye on her¡±, but he still thanked Ed for his service while making a mental note to stop by the infirmary and have his implant double-checked by the Kreigen. Still, Jake ended up having a great time and after two entire hours spent talking at the cafeteria since he hadn¡¯t been able to eat his meal any faster for fear of throwing up, they¡¯d both made their way back to their dorm. As soon as they got back, Jake said his goodbyes to Owens before he went back inside his room and prepared himself to sleep. [Kid, you really suck at girls. It¡¯s painful to watch, if I had eyes and ears I¡¯d close them every time a girl is in your vicinity. Unfortunately, I don''t, and I am forced to endure this torture.] He ignored the implant and entered the small shower before brushing his teeth and putting on clean underwear. He¡¯d barely reached his bed when a notification came into view again. [Time to go to sleep] ¡°What? I can¡¯t sleep now; it''s not even 2000!¡± Jake almost shouted in disgust. A small countdown appeared in the upper right corner of his field of view. He¡¯d initially wanted to ask the implant about any other functionalities he had, but when the countdown had gone from ten to five, another notification appeared. [ Might want to get into bed now, kiddo. Unless you¡¯re fine with sleeping on the floor, it¡¯s your call.] Jake¡¯s heart sank. He had no way to know for sure but he suddenly had a very bad feeling about this whole countdown thing, and he jumped onto his bed as fast as he could, slid into his covers before one final message came into view. [Goodnight.] And then the fatigue hit, and Jake finally understood what Ed had meant by the fact that he had access to his brain functions in their totality. Gone were the days of having trouble falling asleep, he thought, as he realized the neuroimplant had put him to sleep. Chapter 2: Awakening
The next morning, Jake woke up at 0600 sharp, and he immediately noticed something was wrong as soon as he stepped out of bed. He¡¯d always been a heavy sleeper, and it was common for him to sleep through multiple alarms until his poor grandma finally decided she¡¯d had enough and simply hit him repeatedly until he got up. All of this to say, there was no way in hell he¡¯d just woken up at 0600 all by himself, without an alarm waking him up. [You snore like an ogre, dude. It¡¯s going to take me weeks to fix that.] He ignored the text ¡ª along with the fact that Ed had somehow insinuated he could make his snoring stop ¡ª and instead held his arms up in the air and stretched as he let out a yawn. He wasn¡¯t sure he¡¯d ever slept that well before, and he was extremely surprised to see that he didn¡¯t feel the usual grogginess from waking up. Ed, why do I feel so great? I feel like I¡¯ve slept 15 hours and then drank a litre of caffeine. Also, what the hell is an ¡°Ogre¡±? [That kid, is the power of hormones. I raised your melatonin level last night, which made you fall asleep instantly. Afterwards, I improved your body¡¯s recovery speed by triggering the right hormones, proteins and body functions. Then this morning, I messed around with your hormones again and boom, there you are. As for the ogre, don¡¯t worry about it.] That''s¡­ insane. [No, kiddo. It¡¯s science.] Afterwards, Jake spent around ten minutes putting his uniform on and brushing his teeth, and when he stepped out of his room, he fell face to face with King, who didn¡¯t even spare him a glance before she snorted and walked out of the common room into the hallway. Good morning to you too, he mused after the two boys following closely behind the girl everywhere she went ¡ª Jake hadn¡¯t caught their names yet ¡ª passed him to catch up with King who was on her way outside the dorm. The two guys were both tall, with brown hair and brown eyes, although one of them looked a little chunkier than the other. Overall, their features looked a lot similar, and they might have been brothers, Jake realized. An instant later, however, a door opened up and Owens stepped out of her room, dressed in the same black and red uniform as Jake. It was a type of combat suit made of a hyper-resistant carbon mesh that was way too tight for his taste, although he had to admit the suit looked a hell of a lot better on Owens than it did on him. Overall, the suit was both incredibly sturdy and slick, as well as being so light and flexible you could barely feel the whole thing. In a fight, the suit would be able to absorb a small amount of damage, although most weapons these days were able to go through small protections like these like they were butter. An instant later, Owens and Jake were making their way toward the cafeteria, and he couldn¡¯t help but feel a sense of dread as he approached the dining hall. Yesterday, he¡¯d learned that Ed was essentially responsible for the food that ended up on his tray. The implant tailor-made each meal so that they would be the best suited for his dietary needs, and Ed had decided that he needed to gain 30 pounds of lean muscle mass, which resulted in the implants trying to force feed him these gigantic meals through taunting. By the time he¡¯d finally arrived in front of the service robot, his heart was full on hammering the insides of his ribs, before he finally grabbed his tray with a dead look in his eyes. He was so scared to look down at the content of his tray, that he didn¡¯t even spare the food a glance before he finally sat down next to Owens. As he did, he looked down at his plate and almost yelped. The entire plate was filled from corner to corner with a mountain of steak, and two more bowls of rice were sitting next to it, along with a bowl of soup and a whole platter of fruits. An entire steak, in the fucking morning. He still felt full from the chicken he¡¯d eaten the night before, and now he had to do it all over again, and for a moment there he felt sick. But that''s when he noticed something he¡¯d been looking forward to: coffee. [Bulking season baby. Fuck with me today and the coffee is gone tomorrow] With a sigh, Jake ignored Ed, picked up his utensils and started eating. While yesterday, he¡¯d had more than two hours to finish his meal, this morning he had to gulp the entire thing in less than forty minutes if he wanted to make it on time to class. In the seat next to him, he was almost relieved to see that Owens seemed to have a plate that was almost as big as his own this time, and he could tell from her expression she wouldn¡¯t be laughing at him this time around. In the end, Jake had ended up almost throwing up when he¡¯d gulped down the last of his rice in one go, and the both of them had managed to make it in time to the training hall. Upon arriving inside the building, they made their way next to the other cadets who all stood in two orderly lines in front of the teachers. The training hall was a building of huge proportions, consisting of a gigantic dome-like space separated into three distinct sections. The left-most part of the facility was a classroom, although there wasn¡¯t anything in the whole room in terms of holographic display, tablets or any technology whatsoever you could usually find inside a typical classroom, which was probably because their implants would be able to do all of these things moving forward, Jake assumed. In the center part of the facility, which was the part they were currently standing in, the space was inherently empty and the floors were covered with mats. Finally, Jake shot a glance to his right where the remaining area was filled with various weights, strength training equipment and other devices he didn¡¯t recognize. By the time 0700 arrived, First Lieutenant Gwyra was standing in the center of the hall, arms crossed, looking furious. Next to her stood one other training officer, standing a step beside her and looking equally pissed. The students, on the other hand, all shot mortified looks at each other for a minute or two, as nobody dared to ask the officer why she was still silent even though it was a few minutes past 0700. Finally, three students entered the room at the same time, panting, before they started running toward the class. Jake looked at First Lieutenant Gwyra, trying to see what her reaction would be when he blinked, and she was gone. He hadn¡¯t been the only one to see the officer disappear out of thin air because most students started looking around for the teacher, and then all pairs of eyes turned toward the three students. In front of the students stood the First Lieutenant, and she stayed still for what felt like an eternity, and Jake could see the student¡¯s expression turning white. ¡°Second-lieutenant. It seems we have found some volunteers for a visit to the isolation room. If you would please take these three for the remainder of the week, I¡¯d be most grateful.¡± Her words were like ice on the students¡¯ faces and the three of them grimaced before they followed the officer to wherever the isolation rooms were. Jake couldn¡¯t help but take one last glance at the Second Lieutenant, a Zerkan. The Zerkan species closely resembled humans, except for the fact that they were around a foot shorter on average and that their skin was completely blue and their eyes as big as an average human¡¯s closed fists. Furthermore, their facial features were a little bit narrower around the chin and larger around the forehead, which gave them an odd look.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ¡°Cadet Hawkins.¡± The First Lieutenant¡¯s voice was low and subdued, but he still grimaced. She was back in front of the class as fast as she had disappeared, and everybody was looking at her except Jake, who had been preoccupied with staring at the Zerkan for a few seconds now. ¡°We do have a fourth room available if you are interested.¡± ¡°N-No ma¡¯am!¡± He replied anxiously, wondering once more how she¡¯d moved across the room in an instant like that. She stared at him for a second, during which a chill went down Jake¡¯s spine, and he let out a silent sigh of relief when she finally went on with her class. ¡°Now, I hope all of you are aware that this will be the only warning you ever receive about being late to class during the next three years.¡± She said Among the class, nobody even dared to look at anybody but the First Lieutenant. She had a commanding presence and her features were hard, almost mean, which was enough to discourage anyone from even breathing too loudly when she spoke. ¡°Usually, I would start by introducing myself as well as the Second Lieutenant Valadis¡± She started, pausing for a second to scrutinize the room. ¡°But it seems like today is going to be a little bit different.¡± She said, giving the cadets a wide smirk. ¡°For those of you who haven¡¯t figured that out already, I am First Lieutenant Gwyra, and I will be your training officer for the next sixteen weeks¡± The officer kept still for a few seconds, and then she continued. ¡°This training hall will be where we¡¯ll all be spending most of our time for the foreseeable future. While we are in the hall, you will keep quiet unless I have authorized you to talk, and most importantly you will under no circumstance argue or talk back to me.¡± ¡°YES MA¡¯AM!¡± The cadets shouted back. ¡°Good. Now please follow me to the classroom.¡± For the third time today, First Lieutenant Gwyra disappeared out of thin air, only to reappear far away to their left in front of the rows of seats. The cadets started walking toward the hall when a shout echoed through the whole training hall. ¡°I DO NOT HAVE THE ENTIRE FUCKING DAY, CADETS.¡± Instantly, the 47 cadets all dashed to their seats, and only a few seconds later, Officer Gwyra spoke up again. ¡°Every day from 0700 to 1200 and from 1300 to 1800, you¡¯ll be in this class with me.¡± Suddenly, a giant holographic display flared to life behind her, and lines of text started appearing as she kept talking. ¡°During the first semester, most of our time will be spent focusing on the basics of the basics. As you already have access to all the information you could ever need thanks to your implants, we will cover very few theorics during training and the basics will consist of mostly building up your attributes and improving your skills. You¡¯ll be taught everything about combat from hand to hand fighting to firing with a biotic gun. Then she took a second to look at everyone, gazing at the cadets with her piercing eyes, before she finally spoke up again. ¡°Finally, we¡¯ll proceed with your awakening no later than at the end of the day.¡± Jake looked at Owens next to him with a puzzled expression, and she only gave him a small knowing smirk. Even he knew what the awakening was, but he¡¯d expected it was something that would happen toward the end of basic training, not at the start.
Jake had barely managed to keep the steak he¡¯d eaten earlier in his stomach during the three hours they¡¯d spent running, jumping, sprinting and doing various other basic strength exercises like pull-ups and push-ups. They¡¯d spent the last two hours getting a crash course over their implant¡¯s capabilities as well as anything else they might need to know for their awakening this afternoon. Whille awakening was a simple process, it was a very risky undertaking and one needed to be very well prepared for it. They were now all standing in front of the First Lieutenant, panting, and the officer looked even more pissed than she¡¯d been when they¡¯d stepped through the training hall this morning. ¡°This generation sucks.¡± First Lieutenant Gwyra said before she continued, and Second Lieutenant Voladis simply nodded, before letting out a sigh of his own. ¡°You¡¯re all dismissed. Be back here before 1300, although I wouldn¡¯t mind sending some more of you idiots to the hole if you¡¯re up for it.¡± Jake turned to his left, and he could see that Owens looked almost as bad as he felt. Her dark black hair was a mess and her skin was covered in sweat, and she looked back at him with a grimace, and he replied with a groan. [Dining Hall, here we come ] His entire body was so sore he could barely walk, but he painfully made his way back to the cafeteria with Owens trailing next to him, although she showed no signs of fatigue or soreness as they made their way to the dining hall. As Jake sat down, he was almost relieved to see that his plate was filled with salmon, roasted veggies and a bowl of rice. The whole thing almost seemed to be of reasonable proportions this time, but he instantly regretted thinking that much after taking a few bites, as he still felt full and bloated from the last meal he¡¯d eaten that morning. Like always, it was a veritable supplice to eat the entire thing, but some taunting from his neuroimplant had done the trick once again in making him keep going, out of ego. He and Owens had barely spoken a word during the entire break, and Jake was glad she seemed to understand he wasn¡¯t in the mood for chatter at the moment. After they¡¯d both finished their plates, they went back to their dorm and immediately headed for their beds without a word, and at that time, he hadn¡¯t needed Ed¡¯s help for him to instantly fall asleep. When he woke up around fifteen minutes later, his body was so sore he had a hard time getting out of bed. Still, he arduously made his way out of the covers, which now weighed a ton for some reason, and he stepped out of his room. From a glance, he could see that every single one of his four roommates were heading for the door, and Jake was glad that King and her followers seemed too tired to mock him for now. Owens waited for him to catch up beside the door while the three others slowly made their way toward the training hall. When they¡¯d arrived in the large hall a few minutes later, it was obvious their dorm hadn¡¯t been the only one to be feeling like shit after this morning¡¯s training. The large majority of students looked to be struggling to stand up straight, and they looked so tired Jake guessed he wasn¡¯t the only one who would have skipped the afternoon classes if it weren¡¯t for their barbarian instructing officer. Out of the whole class, only a few, including Owens, still looked somewhat fresh even after the gruesome morning training. To his great displeasure, Laura King was among them. As soon as 1300 hit, First Lieutenant Gwyra spoke up. ¡°I¡¯m glad everyone got the message. Now, who can tell me what biotic energy is?¡± She asked, and King instantly raised her hand. ¡°King.¡± Instantly, the girl seemed to perk up like a puppy who¡¯d been offered a treat, and Jake couldn¡¯t help but give her a disgusted look as she spoke up. ¡°It¡¯s a form of energy that exists almost everywhere across the universe, and every living being can absorb it naturally, although the awakening acts as a sort of attunement to that very energy, allowing the awakened to wield that energy as naturally as they would move an arm. It can also be used by our bodies as a nourishment to improve beyond what can be considered physically possible, or to accomplish all sorts of incredible feats, like that time this morning you seemed to teleport.¡± King said, with a smug face that made Jake want to barf. ¡°Very well. However, all o you need to be aware that biotic energy is incredibly hard to cultivate and use, and it will take years for most of you to grow strong enough to use even the most basic of skills during combat. For our first class, the main goal will be to have each of you awaken, and then have each of you learn a basic technique that will help you grow these powers.¡± The Akira added. ¡°I want everyone sitting down on the ground, now.¡± Jake executed, his heart pounding inside his chest. He stared at the First Lieutenant as she stayed still for a moment, and he almost looked at Owens to see whether or not he was the only one not feeling anything different, but then it hit him. In an instant,hke felt a pressure on his body like the gravity had grown tenfold, and he barely managed to stay upright. [ Awakening initiated. 1% ] After a few seconds, a small progress bar appeared at the bottom of his vision, and his expression turned horrified when he realized the progress bar had only filled to two percent after a few seconds. If the progress was as slow during the rest of the process, he¡¯d be sat there for a few minutes at least. With a wince, he looked to his right, and he could see that everyone seemed to be struggling with the mysterious pressure as well. Half a minute later, the pressure turned into pain and he closed his eyes shut for what felt like an eternity. By the time the awakening had reached its end, the pain was so intense he almost blacked out for a second, and he wished with all his heart he could end his supplice one way or another. Just when panic had started to take hold of him, he heard Ed¡¯s voice shouting a blurry of incomprehensible words, and he decided to take a look at the progress bar for the first time since the start of the torture. [100%] As soon as he saw the progress bar filled up to the max, relief overcame his mind and body, and he felt the pain whisk away into the darkness before he lost consciousness. Chapter 3: The First Step When he finally woke up again, the first thing Jake saw was the worried face of the First Lieutenant looming over him. He slowly sat up, wincing painfully as he looked around trying to figure out where he was. ¡°Relax, cadet. You¡¯ve only passed out for a few seconds, you should be fine.¡± Jake looked at the officer, his thoughts starting to slow down for the first time since he¡¯d woken up. He was about to ask the Lieutenant what had happened when he was interrupted by his status screen appearing in front of him, along with lines of text. Status Name: Jake Hawkins Rank: Cadet Energy Core: 20/20 Recovery Rate: 0.1 He read through the text, his brows furrowing more and more as he went through each subsequent notification. ¡°It seems like you¡¯ve passed out from the shock of awakening, I''ve never seen it happen before but I hear it¡¯s something that happens from time to time. You should be fine in a few minutes.¡± Officer Gwyra looked to the side and met eyes with Officer Valadis, with the both of them looking concerned. Jake had never heard about anyone passing out from awakening before, not that anything about the awakened was common knowledge anyways, but he felt anxious at the thought that something might have gone wrong. Jake looked all around him, and he could see the sneers on all of the other cadet¡¯s faces. He¡¯d never heard of such a thing happening before, yet he could tell from the other expressions it was most likely bad. [Don¡¯t worry kid, you¡¯re going to be fine] How do you know? [You¡¯re core¡¯s capacity is a lot smaller than average, which means the amount of energy the Akira released to trigger your awakening was too much for you to handle. But don¡¯t worry, you pulled through in the end and there are no subsiding issues, as far as I am aware of. Wait, that¡¯s fucking bad then, what should we do? Jake shouted internally. [Don¡¯t worry, a core¡¯s capacity is very easy to increase, it only gives the others a head start on you, although in your case the head start is tremendous.] Jake stood still for a moment. What the fuck are you on? [I assure you, as long as you trust me and do as I say I¡¯ll make a powerhouse out of you kiddo.] He was about to sit up when a powerful hand grabbed him under the arm and lifted him like he barely weighed anything more than a feather. ¡°Here you go, cadet.¡± Second Lieutenant Mayers said. Jake looked around for the second time, and he could see most of the other cadets speaking in ushed tones between themselves. On the other hand, the commotion wore off instantly when the First Lieutenant spoke up. ¡°Everybody listen up!¡± She waited a few seconds for every cadet to quickly turn back toward her, then continued. ¡°Although we¡¯ve been sidetracked for a few minutes, I expect all of you to refocus on the task at hand. I¡¯m sure you have a lot of questions right now, but let¡¯s go through this one step at a time. The first thing you need to know is that you¡¯ve been awakened, which by itself comes with a lot of benefits.¡± She held up a hand, and an instant later a glowing ball of swirling energies materialized in her hand. ¡°This is biotic energy, and it can be used by the awakened to accomplish various things, like this ball of pure energy here. If I threw this thing at one of you guys, you¡¯d die.¡± Was that a threat? [Sure was.] ¡°Biotic energy is the foundation of the awakened and their powers, and with time and dedication, this power can grow strong enough to level entire planets and decimate armies with the wave of a hand. To do that, however, you will first need to start with the very first step.¡± With a shake of her hand, the glowing ball of energy simply dissipated in a woosh, before she went on with her explanations. ¡°Now if you could please open up your status screens, I will provide you with further information.¡± The Akira said, and every cadet obeyed. Status Name: Jake Hawkins Rank: Cadet Energy Core: 20/20 Recovery Rate: 0.1 Base attributes Strength: 3 Dexterity: 6 Constitution: 3 Recovery: 3 Perception: 7 Cognition: 12 Specs [ None ] Skills [ None ] ¡°The first thing you¡¯ll notice is that your implant has added a measure of your overall biotic energy capacity and recovery, which doesn¡¯t really need any explanation. If your biotic energy reaches zero, you will faint, and probably injure yourself and die, so don¡¯t go there unless it is absolutely necessary.¡± Immediately, Ed¡¯s voice echoed inside his brain to clarify a few things about the training officer¡¯s explanation. [Usually, newly awakened have a natural biotic energy capacity of nearly 100 to 150 units, with the most talented of them reaching as high as 200. As for their recovery, most of them have a recovery speed of around one unit per minute, with some of them even reaching two units. I guess what I¨¨m trying to say here is: you suck.] The implant''s words felt like burning water on an open wound to Jake, who had hoped his situation wasn¡¯t nearly as bad as the implant had first made it out to be. Unfortunately, he now realized it was way worse than he could have ever imagined. ¡°Now, as for the last two sections of your status screen, I guess you will see for yourself soon enough.¡± With a wave of her hand, a small cubic box appeared on the ground next to her, and the Akira only waited a brief moment before finally explaining what was going on. ¡°Every one of you will come and get a small marble from the box over here, and then you¡¯ll all go back to your seat and await for further instruction.¡± One by one, every cadet went to the front of the classroom to pick a small bead inside the mysterious box. Every marble was made out of some unknown metal, and Jake immediately noticed the small metallic marble was a lot heavier than an object of this size would have originally suggested. ¡°Now, you should all receive a small prompt through your implant in a few seconds.¡± Jake only had to wait a few seconds before a small line of text appeared in his line of sight. [You¡¯ve received a digital grimoire. Learn Basic Telekinesis? (Yes/No)] [Digital grimoires can contain either skills or specs, and can be obtained through various ways by the awakened. They are essentially imprits, and with the help implants, they can be used to instantly learn skills or specs within a matter of seconds. Since their invention, no one really bothers learning skills and specs any other way, since it¡¯s so convenient.] As always, Ed provided aditional explanations during the training officer¡¯s class, and it was the Akira expected the implants to handle most of the teaching, since she didn¡¯t bother teaching them anything beyond the basics. ¡°Once you¡¯re done learning the skill, you can start using it to make the small marble in your hand levitate. Don¡¯t worry too much about how to do it and just follow your instincts. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll find that skills learned through digital grimoires are very convenient to learn and use under very little time. Once you¡¯ve used the skill for a minute or so, you¡¯ll run out of biotic energy, so please head to the conditioning area where Second Lieutenant Valadis will take care of the second part of today¡¯s training.¡± Without a moment of hesitation, Jake sat back down at his desk and held the hand holding the small marble in front of him. Then, an instant later, the marble was moving around in the palm of his hand from one side to another, although it was still far from floating. It was a weird sensation for him to be able to use telekinesis as easily right away, and it felt like he¡¯d known how to do it for all of his life.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. It only took around five or six seconds before an intense pain started to radiate inside his stomach, and that¡¯s when the extent of his limitations were once more brought to light as he used his energy core for the first time. The pain increased progressively until Jake lost his concentration on the skill and the pebble in his hand finally settled down, with Jake looking at his palm with a look of disbelief. He still opened his status screen with a thought, wanting to confirm whether or not his hunch was right or not. Status Name: Jake Hawkins Rank: Cadet Energy Core: 2/20 Recovery Rate: 0.1 You¡¯ve go to be fucking kidding me. After only five seconds of casting Lesser Telekinesis, his core was already empty. He looked around to see every other cadet still levitating their marble with great ease, and Owens to his left making the marble spin in wide circles over her head like she¡¯d been doing this her entire life. Ashamed, he stepped up from his chair and made his way toward the conditioning area, with everyone around him shooting him surprised or mocking glances. The two officers in particular exchanged a confused look for a few seconds, although only for a brief moment. When he arrived in front of Officer Valadiss, the small Zerkan instantly spoke up. ¡°How much time until you¡¯re core¡¯s full again?¡± [200 minutes] Ed answered in his mind and Jake told the officer as much a second later. The officer almost grimaced but seemed to think better of it at the last moment, and simply asked him to wait for the others to finish so they could take care of the second part of today¡¯s training. [Stop worrying so much, kid. Since you can¡¯t use your biotic energy a lot for now, we¡¯re simply going to have to go at this a different way, starting with building up your body and increasing your core¡¯s capacity. Might be a little gruesome but you¡¯re going to catch up in no time, just trust me.] For once, Jake was glad for his new implant and he was thankful that his usual pettiness had been replaced with compassion somehow. Moments later, the last of the other cadets were finally joining the rest of them in the middle of the open area. Unsurprisingly, Owens was the last of the cadets to arrive, and as soon as she did, Second Lieutenant Valadis spoke up. ¡°Thanks to the first Lieutenant, you¡¯ve all had hands on experience with skills a moment ago, which uses biotic energy to accomplish various feats. However, my job today will be to introduce you to the concept of specs.¡± [You¡¯ve received a digital grimoire. Learn Basic Reinforcement? (Yes/No)] ¡°In contrast to skills, specs provide a passive boost to your abilities, requiring no active expenditure of biotic energy to activate. However, training your specs will require a continuous and substantial drain of biotic energy. The best way to manage this is with the help of your implant. It can use a portion of your energy recovery to feed into the spec, strengthening your body. This will, in turn, grant permanent bonuses to attributes or energy capacity, for example.¡± [How much of your biotic energy recovery do you want to allocate toward improving your spec? I suggest to use all of it at night, and only half during the day so that you can at least practice telekinesis a few times a day, although I really suggest focusing on your spec for now. ¡°We¡¯ll do as you say for now, let¡¯s focus on reaching 100 units in core capacity before we do anything else. When class finally ended at 1800, Jake had spent the last four hours going through some gruesome conditioning, and he¡¯d barely managed to use telekinesis twice, and only for a few seconds. The good news was that officer Valadis had revealed to him that conditioning would greatly benefit the speed at which the Basic Reinforcement spec progressed. Although not all specs could be improved that way, the basic reinforcement one could, and it was the main reason why they were using this particular spec for basic training. As a result, he¡¯d spent the whole class training his body as much as he could, while Ed had allocated Jake¡¯s entire energy recovery into improving the spec. Jake picked himself up and slowly headed for the exit. His first day at the Academy had been utterly underwhelming, as he¡¯d found himself lightyears behind every other cadet. While Ed had promised him he would be able to catch up provided he worked harder than everyone else, he still had to consciously force himself to stand upright and keep his chin high as he exited the class. He was headed to the dining hall when Owens suddenly appeared right next to him, and she looked concerned as she looked at him with a raised eyebrow. ¡°Are you okay?¡± Jake looked at the girl for a few seconds. He had expected the girl to simply ignore him ever since he¡¯d awakened as a failure, but for some reason it hadn¡¯t been the case. After a few seconds, he gave her a small thankful smile, before finally answering. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m fine. Disappointed, but fine.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be too worried about starting at a disadvantage. To be honest, my father was also considered a failure when he first awakened, n-not that you are a failure or anything. But he ended up growing into one of the strongest awakened of his promotuion, so what I¡¯m trying to say is to not be too discouraged with today. So long as you work hard, you¡¯ll catch up in not time.¡± Jake knew she was trying to make him feel better, yet she was so bad at it he couldn¡¯t help but let out a small chuckle in response, which evolved in a full blown laugh. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll work extra hard to catch up with you, you don¡¯t need to worry about me giving up or anything.¡± Owens was about to respond in turn when they finally reached the dorms. They stepped inside the large door that led to the common area, where an unexpected guest was waiting for them. An old woman was sat on one of the couches, near which a kettle of tea was still lightly steaming on the adjoining table. ¡°Grandma Al!¡± Jake called out to her, and she instantly turned her head toward him before giving him her usual smile. She gestured at Jake to come sit with her, and he almost ran over to the couch next to hers. Owens awkwardly took the seat next to his after Grandma Al signalled her to do so, before pouring a cup to each of the cadets. ¡°Good evening, dear. My name¡¯s Alice, but you¡¯re free to call me Grandma Al like this idiot does.¡± She said to Owens, who still looked somewhat nervous. With a shaky voice, Owens introduced herself awkwardly to the woman in turn, and Grandma Al seemed to like her because she offered the girl a very wide and pleasant smile. Then, after a few seconds, she turned back toward Jake and the smile on her face had completely disappeared. ¡°I hear your first day hasn¡¯t gone quite like you¡¯d expected?¡± She finally said after taking a few sips of tea. Jake looked at her and he could see she had meant no harm with that statement, although it still stung to know that even his grandmother had learned how miserable his first day at the academy had gone. ¡°Could have gone better, but at least I can say I¡¯m an awakened now.¡± For almost a full minute, she simply nodded and continued to drink her tea in complete silence. Jake had long become used to those long stretches of silence where Grandma Al seemed to enter through more and more lately, so he simply sat there and waited for her to continue. Next to her, Owens had noticeably calmed down after a while, and she was drinking tea in silence with the other two. ¡°I¡¯ve come to tell you that I¡¯m going away on a special assignment for the school. We won¡¯t be seeing much of each other for the remainder of the trimester.¡± Jake was taken aback by the statement for a moment, and he almost choked on his tea as a result. ¡°Where are you going? Also, what does the Academy need out of a janitor?¡± ¡°Cleaning, of course. Now I can¡¯t tell you where I¡¯m going, and please keep the fact that I am going way to yourself. You too, miss Owens.¡± He looked at her with a puzzled expression. The fcat that his grandma was going away on a special assignment for the school was suspicious in and of itself, but the fact she needed to keep it a secret for whatever reason was the cherry on top. It was only after she looked straight at him intently for a few seconds that Jake realized she was dead serious, and that''s when he finally nodded, still a little confused. He didn¡¯t really understand what was going on, but he would make a point of keeping the secret the best he could. ¡°I¡¯m afraid I¡¯ll need to be going now, but before I go, I want you to have this.¡± Grandma Al suddenly said as she turned toward Jake, before she took out a small metallic object from her uniform¡¯s pocket. In Jake¡¯s hand, a small pendant made out of a metal alloy he¡¯d never seen before stood in the palm of his hand. ¡°It was your father¡¯s. It¡¯s one of the few things we recovered from his body the day they died. I hear it can be quite helpful for the awakened, so it¡¯s yours now.¡± Jake was taken aback by the present, and he was about to voice his thanks to Grandma Al when Ed went crazy inside his brain and started screaming. [AN ARTIFACT!! IT¡¯S AN ARTIFACT.] Now, Jake didn¡¯t know much about the world of the awakened, but even he knew what an artifact was, and Ed confirmed his earlier guess when a definiton popped up in jis field of view. [Artifacts are objects that can grant powerful boons to their awakened wearers, similar to the bonuses granted by specs.] What does this one do? [It grants a biotic energy recovery bonus of +1, which means the amount of time needed for you to completely refill your core has gone down from 200 to 20 minutes. That is massive, kiddo, you just multiplied your biotic recovery over 10 times!] Jake couldn¡¯t believe his eyes, and he looked back to Grandma Al before he finally thanked her profusely for the pendant. His eyes shot back to the small medallion, on which a majestic hawk was carved beautifully. He turened the pendant around, only to find his name was carved out of the back of the medallion, surprising him even more so than the gift. Jake Hawkins ¡°Your dad gifted this necklace to your mom on the day you were born, and she wore it as a good luck charm on the front lines. They had originally intended it to be a gift for you, once you awakened.¡± Jake looked back to Grandma Al, who was staring off into the empty space looking almost depressed, but he didn¡¯t interrupt her. Finally, they made conversation for a couple more minutes before Grandma Al finally had to go and said her goodbyes to the two cadets. Jake was weirdly reminded of all the times he¡¯d had to say goodbye to Grandma Al whenever he¡¯d depart for boarding school at the beginning of the school year. It was only a few moments later that Owens said her goodbyes to him as well and Jake was left alone in the middle of the dorm. For the first time in a while, he felt sad. Yet, as he held on to his necklace tightly in the palm of his hand, he somehow felt like the motivation he¡¯d lost earlier today had found its way back to him, stronger than ever. He went back inside his room, and like the day before, showered and cleaned himself up from the arduous day of training. Before going to bed, he spent a couple of seconds making the marble levitate and even tried to do the same with his toothbrush, which was way easier since it was much lighter than the mysterious metallic marble, but even then he only managed to lift the thing for around a dozen seconds before the headache. Finally, he was about to go to bed when a small notification popped up to the corner of his eye, along with Ed¡¯s voice echoing inside his mind. [Your recovery has now reached a new total of 1.1 units per minute, which means it¡¯s around just as high as every other cadet in your promotion, if we exclude a few outliers, so we have a lot more options than we initially did concerning your training.] ¡°I want you to allocate a whole unit into improving my basic reinforcement spec. Our main goal for now is going to be to improve my attributes as well as my core. Until I¡¯ve caught up on that front, Basic Telekinesis can suck it.¡± [Very well.] Finally, Jake painfully made his way into bed as his body protested against the fatigue and soreness accumulated during the day. Still, for the first time since this morning, a wide grin was plastered on Jake¡¯s face as he slowly fell into a deep slumber for the night. Chapter 4: Combat Training A week had passed 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 almost every cadet actively avoided him like the plague as much as they could. Only Owens, for reasons that Jake still couldn¡¯t 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. Thankfully, her presence alone had discouraged many cadets from 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 certain thing, 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 could, 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 there was 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. 0] 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 with skills that cost a small amount of energy every time you tried to use one, specs needed to be reinforced by continuously pouring some biotic energy into them, so that the energy could be used to reinforce and enhance his body, offering a permanent 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, strength, or any other attribute, he already felt a slight difference compared to the week before, which meant he was one step closer 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 going through hand-to-hand fighting techniques for the first four hours of training, and you will also be using the last hour of training to apply what you¡¯ve just learned during one-on-one fights. Now, make your way to the mat that¡¯s been assigned to you through your implant, we will start going through techniques.¡± 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 to 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 chiselled muscles gave Jake the impression the boy was made out of rock. For the next four hours, Jake and the boy ¡ª who he had learned was named Luke Ryan ¡ª incessantly practiced technique after technique on each other. They learned how to hit with almost their entire body, to dodge, block and even some basic grappling techniques, although still felt far from an expert in any of these. However, the most impressive thing about the whole training had been how much help he¡¯d received from his implant. Ed had acted as a virtual martial arts teacher who could correct his form and technique any time something was amiss, which had allowed Jake to make impressive progress in the short time they¡¯d spent training. After they had just gone through four hours of non-stop training, Jake felt downright exhausted, and a look over to Ryan confirmed the giant wasn¡¯t much better off. Still, he knew the training was far from over, as now would be the time to apply what they¡¯d just learned in a real fight. He was still mentally preparing himself for the fight when he was jolted out of his stupor by the First Lieutenant, who spoke up loudly enough for everyone to hear. ¡°Now, let¡¯s see what you can do in a real fight. You will fight three bouts of ten minutes each with your partner, and you¡¯ll be granted a ten-minute break between each fight.¡± Jake looked around him in a panic for a few moments, as he couldn¡¯t believe he was going to be fighting with another cadet. He hadn¡¯t even learned how to fight properly yet, nor had he ever actually been in a fight before, so he was fairly certain by that point that his gigantic opponent would simply crush him in mere seconds if they were to fight. One more thing that was on his mind at the moment was that even though the academy uniform was made of a hyper-resistant carbon mesh that would protect both his fists and his body from any of the impacts, 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. Jake 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 at him without pause, visibly trying out many of the various techniques they had just learned, while it felt progressively easier and easier for Jake to dodge with every subsequent assault as he tried to apply what he¡¯d learnt during the lesson. On the other hand, his opponent kept swinging at Jake, who had almost started to feel like he could predict his opponent¡¯s move as he evaded and weaved around every single one of the giant¡¯s strikes. Finally, after a minute or two of this unrelenting assault and when Jake felt his opponent was starting to grow tired and lethargic enough, he countered with a strike of his own. For a moment, he felt like someone else as he outright 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 slightly slower than Jake, who had taken advantage of that fact by staying out of his opponent¡¯s reach as best he could. The fight had barely been going for more than four minutes and 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 felt like he¡¯d held out his own more than well enough. The other cadet had only managed to land a few hits on him, like that one time 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 Jake¡¯s face. Thankfully, it seemed like the hit had been pretty shallow, as Jake had taken it to the side of the jaw, where the bones were strong enough to withstand an almost exhausted completely cadet, even one as strong as Ryan. Jake had also been extremely lucky to land on this particular opponent, who seemed to prefer hand-to-hand combat rather than using telekinesis, which meant their fight would be based on an exchange of blows for the most part. If Jake had been unlucky enough to be facing one of the cadets who¡¯d already gained a very good mastery of their telekinesis spell, he would have been ejected out of the arena without much of a fight.Stolen story; please report. 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 thought of having managed to come out on top of his very first fight. While he had been nervous at first, he had to admit he had enjoyed the experience, and he couldn¡¯t help but look forward to fighting again tomorrow morning. He was still trembling under the excitement of his recent fight 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 Ryan had fought each other a total of three 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 or something similar 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 make 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. Furthermore, 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, which 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 attributes were noticeably higher than his, especially his strength, Jake had somehow managed to make use of his own strengths to gain an advantage during the fight. According to Ed, however, it was actually because Jake¡¯s perception and cognition were much higher than his opponent¡¯s that Jake had been able to hold off his own with such ease. 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 that one of his eyes had closed 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, and Jake hadn¡¯t even noticed a single spec of dust, blood or sweat on either herself or her uniform. ¡°There¡¯s a rumour we might go on our first assignment in the next few weeks,¡± she suddenly said enthusiastically as they made their way to the dining hall. ¡°What¡¯s an assignment?¡± Jake answered with a small wince, as even talking caused the pain in his jaw and lips to flare up. ¡°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 or other entities to us, soldiers, to complete these contracts. For example, a planet¡¯s government can hire some soldiers to eradicate dangerous beasts that endanger the population, or task them with protecting some of their most isolated settlements.¡± 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 earn some credits, although we probably won¡¯t since we¡¯re only cadets. Most of those jobs are also very dangerous, which often leads to improvements in multiple skills.¡± ¡°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 even 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 assignments, and there are tons of things to do for the awakened in the vast universe. You can go to war, or go on cleaning assignments, siege assignments, exploration missions, mining operations and even treasure hunts all over the universe. The possibilities are endless. Awakened are literally like entrepreneurs and some of the strongest can even be hired directly by local governments for some special assignments, with some of them even earning more than millions of credits every day.¡± Owens was visibly 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 same 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 staring straight at him, before he decided to make an attempt at conversation. ¡°Hey man, can I help you?¡± Jake asked, hesitantly. 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 situations, but he still refocused on the cadet¡®s intense glare. ¡°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 physical training and large amounts of biotic energy 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 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 improving their telekinesis skill in between bouts of 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. Increasing skill levels provided enormous boosts in ability to the skill, and Jake was the only cadet still stuck to level 0 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 in turn would be improving his spec a lot faster. Furthermore, he¡¯d also learned that Ryan was also focusing most of his biotic energy into his spec, which explained his very low mastery with telekinesis, even though he was one of the most talented awakened of the entire promotion if only based on raw attributes and biotic energy capacity and recovery. It was only much later, toward the end of the class, that 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. ¡°As I¡¯m sure you¡¯re all aware already, a cadet¡¯s first assignment usually 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 expectantly, King immediately raised her hand, and Officer Gwyra reluctantly 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 blatantly questioned her commanding officer¡¯s authority, she¡¯d done it in such a way it would be hard for Officer Gwyra to tell her off for it. However, it seemed that Jake had greatly overestimated the Officer¡¯s patience, or maybe her ability to care because she immediately became furious. ¡°Cadet, if you ever talk to me like that again, you won¡¯t even need to make it on your first 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 threat. Still, Officer Gwyra had apparently taken note that every other cadet had wondered the same thing, and she sighed before finally speaking up again. ¡°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 lowest 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 melee 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 some gear, but they still answered the officer without missing a beat. ¡°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. ¡° ¡ª 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.¡± Ryan answered. ¡°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 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 very little they knew, it was unlikely they¡¯d be the ones coming out on top. Chapter 5: Stimulants The next morning, every cadet was standing in front of the Armory at 0700 sharp, along with the two officers in charge of their group, as well as a third officer Jake had never seen before. ¡°I¡¯d like you all to meet First Lieutenant Breyr. He is the commanding officer in charge of the armory, and quite the craftsman.¡± First Lieutenant Gwyra declared. The officer looked very much like Officer Gwyra herself, if not for the fact that he was exceptionally wide for an Akira. He had large bulging muscles and even larger hands, as well as a huge pair of horns that were at least twice as large as Officer Gwyra¡¯s. While their training officer was extremely terrifying to begin with, she looked like a harmless child next to the mountain of muscles that stood in front of the cadets. ¡°Greetings, cadets.¡± He said, his raspy, gravelly voice echoing deeply into the hallway. ¡°Once we¡¯re inside, I¡¯m going to give you a basic rundown of everything available to you. Note that you will not be able to exchange this equipment once we¡¯ve departed for our assignment in a couple of weeks, so choose well. As for the equipment itself, your neuroimplant will be in charge of helping you out with choosing what¡¯s best for you depending on your specific abilities and preferences. ¡± He continued. Seeing as nobody had any questions for him, the giant simply shrugged and opened the gigantic gates leading to the Armory with a wave of his hand, after that, the three officers stepped inside the hall, followed by the cadets. At first glance, the room looked almost as wide as the training hall, although it felt a lot smaller since it was littered with various pieces of equipment all across the floors and walls. Among the chaos was strewn a great variety of weapons and armours, guns and a plethora of things Jake didn¡¯t recognize, and there was barely enough space for the cadets to navigate inside the room without bumping into one thing or another. ¡°You are free to choose one set of armour, one melee weapon and one biotic gun amongst everything that is in this room. You¡¯ll have to come to see me once you¡¯ve made your choice so that I can take note of what you want delivered and look over your choice of gear. Be aware that if you break anything, I¡¯ll break you. Now go.¡± ¡°Yes sir!¡± The cadets shouted back, and they all went their separate ways in a flash. Jake looked around for a second, a little bit overwhelmed, and that was when Ed spoke up. [Don¡¯t wanna be rude or anything, kiddo. But there aren¡¯t a ton of options available for you, given your lousy energy reserves.] I know, let¡¯s just take a look at what I can use for now. Most weapons are dependent on biotic energy to be wielded properly, and some of them ¡ª like biotic guns, especially the bigger calibres ¡ª require a lot of it. Taking into consideration his particular limitations, choosing too many weapons that are reliant on biotic energy would be akin to a death sentence to Jake, as he would run out of energy long before he¡¯d be able to kill even the weakest of enemies. As a result, he needed to choose weapons and armour that would allow him to kill without spending too much energy, or even none at all if possible. Jake made his way to the right under Ed¡¯s instructions, who was guiding him around thanks to the GPS functionality of his implant. Finally, he stopped in front of a dozen suits of armour that looked very different from one another, and he was shocked to see three of the suits light up moments later, where he instantly recognized one of the features of his implant. The first one glowing on the far left was made out of slick plating so thin it looked almost identical to his simple military uniform made out of ultra-thin metallic mesh. It was a black, needle-thin armour plating intertwined by deep blue lines that were most likely acting as biotic energy channels, which were needed to power the armour. One that was in the very middle was a chunkier version of the previous armour and had a similar design, although this one suit at least looked like armour, as the plating was a lot thicker in most vital areas, although not by much, and the same thin blue lines were etched into the armour¡¯s plating in a similar way to the previous armour. Which only left the rightmost armour, which was made out of metal plating many times thicker than the armour in the middle, although it sported the same blue lines as the two previous armours. [All biotic armour feeds on the wearer''s biotic energy reserves to supplement some of their functionalities, which is why it is highly recommended to wear an armour whose energy cost is smaller than your base biotic recovery. For you, however, your recovery is so low that the only armour you can wear is the one on the left, and that¡¯s taking into account your amulet. It has no protective shielding whatsoever, no other defence other than the one that comes from its thin plating and has no helmet. It''s essentially a model that is close to your training uniform, although there is one slight difference, and that is the fact that the armour will absorb 1 point per minute of your biotic energy and give back a very minor boost of +1 in strength, dexterity, recovery and constitution. Thanks to your amulet, you will be able to use this armour indefinitely but your recovery rate will be back to where it was before.] So basically, you¡¯re telling me this one sucks but it''s the only one I can get? [Pretty much, yeah.] Wouldn¡¯t it be best if I wore no armour at all, that way I can focus all my biotic energy on improving my specs? [It depends on whether or not you want to survive your first assignment, but it is up to you.] Jake sighed as his implant¡¯s GPS flared up again, and he followed the implant''s indications until he arrived in front of a wall littered with various weapons. [Now that your armour is using up almost your entire regeneration, I¡¯m afraid you¡¯ll have to find a weapon that uses no biotic energy to wield. Those things are pretty rare, especially among cadets.] On his right, a pair of metallic bracers suddenly lit up in his field of view. The plating on the bracers was barely thicker than the one that covered the suit he¡¯d chosen moments before, and they were made in a similar design, although they lacked any blue lines etched onto their surface. [These are pugilists gloves. They are essentially just gloves made out of the same alloy as your suit, although they don''t grant any bonus in attributes nor do they use up any biotic energy. With this, you¡¯ll be able to kill most creatures you¡¯ll probably encounter on your assignment if you punch them a few dozen times, unless their dexterity is higher than yours, or if their resistance to damage is too high. If that happens, you¡¯ll be fucked.] Anything else that¡¯s not completely useless? Another weapon flared to life, farther to his left this time, and Jake¡¯s eyes landed on a giant sword that must have measured almost two and a half meters in length, and at least a foot in width. The blade was so thick that he doubted the thing could actually cut into anything, and the whole thing was entirely made out of a pitch-black, glossy metal. [Again, this sword requires no biotic energy to run, although it is far from an ordinary weapon. It¡¯s made out of oblivium, an alloy known for its strength and resilience, although it has the downside of being extremely heavy. It is also a weapon of choice for the awakened as it is a natural biotic energy conductor, which allows its wielders to infuse the weapon with its biotic energy, provided they know an appropriate skill of course.] As Ed kept going on and on about the advantages and disadvantages of the alloy and compared it to the bracers they¡¯d seen earlier, Jake couldn¡¯t help but stare at the sword. Its carbon black colour gave off a domineering aura, and thin reflections of a dark, deep red gave the impression that the blade was covered in dried blood.] [With a weapon this size, you¡¯re looking at around 173.4 pounds of solid metal alloy, and just swinging the thing around with enough speed to kill anything will likely require you to reach around 20 units in your strength attribute if you want to be able to wield it decently enough. With that weapon, I doubt you¡¯ll be meeting any enemies able to resist your attacks any time soon, although enemies with high dexterity will kill you easily, and you¡¯ll have a lot of trouble against swarms of enemies. Also, don¡¯t be deceived by its bulky appearance, that thing can cut even metal in half as you¡¯d cut through butter with a surgical laser.] Which one should I choose? [You¡¯re choosing the sword of course, although I want you to be very aware that you probably won¡¯t even be able to use it properly, even when using a strengthening skill until a very long time, which defeats the purpose of choosing a weapon that doesn¡¯t require any biotic energy to use.] Even if I keep improving my attributes? [You¡¯ll be lucky to even be able to swing that thing by the time of your first assignment, kid. While gaining proficiency levels in skills and specs is very easy in the beginning, you¡¯ll soon notice it slowing down tremendously, to a point where it will take weeks even to raise a single level.] Jake looked at the sword and the bracers for a few seconds, but in the end, he chose the sword. It¡¯s not like the bracers were a bad choice or anything, but Jake knew that he needed a weapon that would one day make up for his limitations, and the bracers weren¡¯t up to that task. Finally, for the last piece of equipment Jake needed, he made his way toward the opposite side of the room where hundreds of biotic guns were etched on the wall. Guns were a lot more popular than the melee range weapons, as they were easier to wield and could do some nice damage provided you had enough energy to power it, and it was the weapon of choice for a good portion of the military. It also meant most craftsmen spent most of their time designing biotic guns or weapons above anything else, as they usually sold for the highest price. When he finally reached the wall on which were displayed the guns, only two rifles started to glow under his implant¡¯s visual features. On the left, a large shotgun looked to be able to dish out some serious firepower, and Jake was wondering how he was supposed to fire this thing taking into account his energy limitations. On the right, an even larger sniper rifle looked almost as disproportionate as his new sword, and he was once more left wondering whether or not he¡¯d be able to fire the thing. [While all of these weapons were made to be used by cadets, and are thus not very energy-hungry by design, your horrendous biotic abilities once more leave us with almost no viable options. Incidentally, the only two options open to you are also the two weapons that require the highest amount of energy per shot among the whole lot. The reason why I chose them is that they are the two most energy efficient, as they are both designed to kill with one blast.] Like always, Jake was amazed at the implant¡¯s ability to guide him through his new life as an awakened, and he was immediately reminded once more of the word the First Lieutenant Nielr had imparted him with on his first day at the academy. Which one is best? [In this case, I will let you choose which one is best for you as they both offer a lot of upsides and downsides. They both require 50 units to fire each blast, which means you can¡¯t even shoot with any of them once as you are right now. The shotgun is perfectly designed for close-quarter combat and will provide you with an excellent way of dealing with enemies that are too fast for you to cut down with your sword. The sniper, on the other hand, will add some versatility to your arsenal as you will be able to offer ranged support when you are not actively fighting in the melee.] Both of these were very strong choices in Jake¡¯s opinion. However, he still decided to take the sniper in the end, with his reasoning being that he wanted to be able to be ready for every situation, and the shotgun wouldn¡¯t allow him to fight enemies from a distance which meant he would probably be worthless in a siege situation where he had to defend from behind fortifications. Moreover, his sword was already designed for close-quarter combats, and he couldn¡¯t count on his biotic abilities to grow to a point where he¡¯d be able to blast things off from a distance in a couple of weeks, meaning he would most likely benefit from the sniper more than the shotgun in the end. [Interesting choice, but a good one. Now let¡¯s go tell the First Lieutenant about it.] Moments later, Jake was standing in front of the giant Akira, and he was telling him about the gear he¡¯d selected when the officer''s face lightened up at the mention of the sword. ¡°You really want the sword? It¡¯s my newest creation, and I dare say it is also one of the best ones I¡¯ve ever made on top of that. I¡¯m guessing your implant has already told you everything you know about this weapon, but you still chose it regardless. Interesting, although I do have to warn you that the chances of you being able to swing that sword in a matter of weeks are almost none.¡± Although the officer''s revelation did come as a shock to Jake, he still nodded and after a quick salute, made his way back to where Owens was currently sitting a few meters from him. ¡°What did you choose?¡± She asked as soon as he sat down next to her. ¡°The ultralight set of armour, some regular iron fists and a sniper rifle. You?¡± ¡°Really? I would have thought you¡¯d have chosen something that''s a little more¡­ unique.¡± She looked at him with somewhat of a raised eyebrow for an instant, like she was asking what exactly he meant by that, but she still answered in the end. ¡°Using biotic weapons will not only keep you from improving your skills, but they also need you to sacrifice a lot of the biotic energy that could be used toward improving your specs or skills, which makes them completely counterproductive in my opinion. Moreover, they will also stop being useful once you¡¯ve reached a certain level of mastery with offensive skills. Believe me, the strongest awakened are very rarely the ones with the best tech, on the contrary.¡± ¡°If you say so. By the way, I got the same armour you did, as well as the sniper. As for my weapon, I chose some weird sword that¡¯s heavier and bigger than I am.¡± In response, Owens only gave him a puzzled look that said she wasn¡¯t sure whether he was exaggerating or not, but she didn¡¯t get to question him further before Ryan made his appearance, looking quite pleased with himself. Naturally, both of them asked him about his choice of gear, and Jake had a feeling as to what the giant had ended up getting. ¡°I took the ultralight armour, the shotgun and this very cool axe I can infuse with my energy to increase its damage output.¡± ¡°Good choice. Everyone who takes anything other than the ultralight armour is an idiot. We¡¯ll need to focus all the energy we can spare to use our skills especially once we start learning some of the more potent ones they teach here.¡± ¡°You think we¡¯re going to learn some better skills before we go on our first assignment?¡± Ryan asked, intrigued, and even Jake¡¯s attention was caught at the mention of powerful skills, even though he probably wouldn¡¯t even be able to use them.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. ¡°Yes, although it probably won¡¯t be anything too taxing on our energy reserves. My guess is biotic strengthening and biotic bolt, both are pretty standard amongst the awakened and pretty cheap to cast.¡± Owens answered in turn, looking strangely sure of herself. He was about to ask her what the skill of biotic armour was when a few lines of text appeared in front of him. [Biotic strengthening: Reinforce your strength, dexterity and resistance in exchange for 10 units of biotic energy per minute.] Jake simply nodded at her. It would truly be helpful to be able to boost his attributes, especially now that he needed to swing around an almost 400-pound gigantic sword. [You wouldn¡¯t even be able to cast biotic bolt once before your core ran dry, so don¡¯t go hoping for too much, kid.] It was true. During the entire week, his core had only gained 10 additional points, and although it meant he¡¯d improved by 50% his energy reserves in under a week, 30 points were still way too low to cast anything even remotely powerful. Jake silently took out the marble from one of his uniform¡¯s pockets and cast telekinesis on it, making the small piece of metal wiggle around the palm of his hand for a few seconds. He¡¯d taken the habit of casting the spell every time his core was full, but even with that he¡¯d realistically only used the skill a few times a day since he¡¯d learned it, so it wasn¡¯t surprising that the effects of his training were making themselves scarce. After a few more minutes, they all exited the building and went back inside the training hall, which was only a few minutes walk away. Like they¡¯d been doing for most of the last week, they spent the rest of the day fighting in pairs and practicing their telekinesis spell, and going through conditioning drills during their downtimes, which ended up being a good portion of the class for Jake. After dinner, however, Jake went back to the training hall accompanied by Ryan and Owens for the second night in a row. He and Ryan had spent the whole two hours duelling yesterday while Owens had spent that time practicing her telekinesis, and they planned on doing the same thing tonight. When they arrived at the training hall, however, a small surprise was waiting for them on the mats. In the middle of the open area, a tall, blue-eyed blonde was staring right at them. Behind her, two boys were talking to each other but quickly shut up to stare at the trio once they entered the training hall. Jake¡¯s group had barely reached the training mats when the girl spoke up. ¡°I heard you guys were going to be in here tonight. So I thought, why not be a good roommate and help each other out? How about we entertain you rejects with some duels?¡± To his left, Jake could see that Owens looked ready to blast the three of them away with her telekinesis, and he knew she could. Thankfully, Ryan kept his cool and answered back to King. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I think it¡¯d be best if you guys stay out of our way for the night. We wouldn¡¯t want you to spend the rest of the week with Officer Neilr, after all.¡± At first, Jake had thought Ryan would try and defuse the situation. However, it was apparent his goal had never been to step down from the fight. On King¡¯s face, Jake could read her annoyance transform into outright fury at Ryan¡¯s words, and she looked about ready to kill them all. ¡°We¡¯ll see about that. Here¡¯s how this is going to go, our implants will assign three duels at random, and we¡¯ll each fight one after the other?¡ª?¡± She hadn¡¯t even finished her sentence that Jake abruptly cut her off. ¡°Nah, we¡¯re good here. Thanks though.¡± As his words echoed out inside the hall, Jake could see King¡¯s face distort even more under the anger, and she looked ready to kill. ¡°What the fu ¡ª ¡± King started, but Jake cut her off again. ¡°We don¡¯t need to fight, do we? I mean, not to be rude or anything, but you guys aren¡¯t much of a challenge.¡± Since his interruption, Owens had practically looked ready to rip Jake¡¯s head off his shoulders. But then, a look of understanding appeared on her face, and she couldn¡¯t repress a small smile from making its way onto her face. ¡°We aren¡¯t much of a challenge to you? Comon now you can¡¯t be ¡ª ¡± For the third time, King began talking but didn¡¯t get to finish, and if she¡¯d already looked angry before, this time she looked nothing short of furious. ¡°Pretty much yeah, I mean I consider myself quite humble and all but I wouldn¡¯t even look your way if I wanted a 3v1, so no, I¡¯m not going to fight. Don¡¯t see why I should.¡± To his left, Owens spoke up for the first time. ¡°Yeah I agree, you guys aren¡¯t worth the time. We¡¯ll just stay out of your way and fight some real duels over there.¡± Immediately, Ryan nodded and spoke up in turn. ¡°Yeah good call, although you guys make sure you don¡¯t come too close, or it could be dangerous if you¡¯re not careful.¡± In the end, King¡¯s furious expression had settled into a much more neutral one. At first, Jake had even thought that his taunt had failed, but she immediately proved him wrong as soon as she produced three strange little vial-like objects out of thin air and raised them in the air for all of them to see. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll give you one of these for each duel won.¡± At first, Jake hadn¡¯t even recognized the things, since he¡¯d never seen anything quite like it before. But then, Ed¡¯s voice flared up inside his mind. [BIOTIC STIMS!! We need those things, kiddo. I¡¯ll explain later, just trust me.] Jake still wasn¡¯t sure what the strange vial was supposed to be, but he still chose to accept her offer before she had any time to think it over. ¡°Sure, let¡¯s roll.¡± King¡¯s face brightened for a moment, but it quickly darkened again an instant later, as a notification appeared in Jake¡¯s field of view. [MATCH 1 ¡ª Cadet Luke Ryan vs Cadet Shaun Evans.] A small smirk appeared on Ryan¡¯s face as he made his way onto the designated mat. Jake thought it was pretty funny he was only learning the name of his new roommates after a whole week of living together, and under such ridiculous circumstances what¡¯s more. It was the chunkier of the two brothers that was now facing a few feet away from Ryan on the mats, and both of them were already in readied stances when Jake¡¯s implant flared up again, with a notification appearing in the corner of his eye. [MATCH 1. Start!] With a grunt, Evans dashed toward Ryan and threw a side kick toward his left knee, hoping to get an advantage in mobility for the rest of the fight. However, Ryan stepped back with surprising agility, his opponent¡¯s kick slicing through the empty air in a swoosh sound, before he jumped on the occasion to counter now that Evans was within reach. Evans didn¡¯t get enough time to move away before a boot came flying toward his chest, projecting him a few feet backward due to the impact, and he fell flat on his back with a thud. Instantly, Ryan dashed forward the cadet, who barely had any time to get up before being assaulted by a series of strikes. The cadet had only lasted for a second before one of Ryan¡¯s fists connected with his left ribs, and he was left on the floor curled in two and gasping for air. The giant simply took a few steps backwards and waited for his opponent to get up. ¡°Enough already? Funny, I thought the fight would last longer after all that big talk earlier.¡± Evans¡¯ face crisped in anger and pain as he painfully got up on his feet and resumed his assault. However, the fist to the chin from the giant had apparently caused a lot of damage because the boy¡¯s dexterity had simply plummeted since he took that hit. It only took Ryan a few seconds to finish him off with a kick to the head, and Jake winced at the scene. That¡¯s gotta hurt. The cadet almost seemed to fly over to the side from the force of the impact, and it wasn¡¯t long before Ed declared the winner of the match in his head. [Winner, Cadet Luke Ryan] ¡°Well fought!¡± Both Jake and Owens shouted to Ryan as soon as he stepped off the mat. ¡°Thanks, it was nothing much though.¡± Some distance away, the other three cadets were visibly fuming in anger at the giant¡¯s snide remarks. Still, they had to give it to her, King wasn¡¯t the kind of cadet to get discouraged easily. ¡°Next fight!¡± She shouted in answer. [MATCH 2. Cadet Isaac Evans vs Cadet Noelle Owens] ¡°Time to take out the trash¡± Noelle mumbled to the two boys before making her way to the mat. On the opposite side, her opponent was already placed in a readied stance and was glaring at her with murder in his eyes. [Match 2. Start !] What happened after the match started had almost felt unreal to Jake at the time. Never before had he seen biotic skills powerful to that extent, except maybe the time their training officer had disappeared out of thin air, but Noelle Owens¡¯ title as the strongest trainee wasn¡¯t a joke by any means. As soon as the start of the fight was signalled, Cadet Evans simply rushed over toward Owens with impressive speed. However, the girl was unimpressed as she simply struck a hand out in front of her, and her opponent froze. The two of them stayed there, unmoving for a moment before the girl made a thrusting motion with her hand, and Evans was sent flying almost a dozen meters backwards, outside of the mat. [Winner. Cadet Owens!] After the announcement, she simply made her way back toward the two boys, whose mouths were still wide open from the shock. ¡°What?¡± Owens asked. ¡°Nothing at all, we¡¯re okay here.¡± Both cadets answered in unison, almost like they¡¯d practiced. Then, a few seconds later, Ryan gave Jake a poke in the ribs with his elbow, before he whispered only loud enough for Jake to hear. ¡°You have to promise to never piss off that woman, under no circumstances will we make it out alive if you do.¡± ¡°Why me, what did I do?¡± Jake replied on the defensive. ¡°You piss everyone off, it¡¯s a thing.¡± Jake raised an eyebrow at the remark. Although Grandma Al had repeatedly told him just as much, he¡¯d only met the cadet a couple of days ago, and he hadn¡¯t done anything to get himself into trouble that recently, except maybe piss off King and her friends so badly they were currently facing them in a duel after class. Jake was about to argue that he wasn¡¯t responsible for the mess they were in when Ed¡¯s voice echoed inside his brain again. [MATCH 3. Cadet Jake Hawkins vs Cadet Laura King.] He hadn¡¯t put much thought into that fact earlier when his friends had been fighting, but he couldn¡¯t believe he ¡ª the weakest member of their little trio ¡ª was facing off against their opponent¡¯s very best. This is probably not going to end well for me. [Nope. Ahah.] For a moment, Jake almost felt pissed off at the implant for his utter lack of encouragement, but he quickly refocused on the matter at hand as he made his way to the mat. In front of him, King looked furious, and Jake knew that she wouldn¡¯t be content with a victory this time, she¡¯d try to eviscerate him, as an act of revenge for her two teammates and the bet she¡¯d just lost. [Match 3. Start !] Right at the sound of the alarm, Jake dashed forward to quickly reduce the distance between the two of them. Among the other trainees, only Owens had proven a better biotic energy wielder than Laura King, and he desperately needed to strike first before she had a chance to push him outside the mat with her telekinesis, just like Owens had done with her opponent minutes before. He¡¯d only reached halfway through to her when King suddenly stuck both hands in front of her, and Jake stopped dead in his tracks, bracing for impact. But while he¡¯d expected to be pushed off the mat with telekinesis, he was instead surprised when he was suddenly slammed down on the ground, landing flat on his stomach with the wind knocked out of his lungs. He didn¡¯t even get the chance to get up before he was lifted and slammed back down again, multiple times over until he coughed a mouthful of blood. But Jake got up, and he looked at King, who was still holding both of her hands in front of herself, panting. She¡¯s growing tired. Out of options, Jake did the only thing he could think of at the moment, and he made a mad dash toward the girl out of desperation. Sweat was pouring down her face, and she looked almost as tired as he felt, he could see it on her face. Even then, she still kept her hands up and used her telekinesis again. This time, however, he wasn¡¯t slammed to the ground like he¡¯d been before, but a blazing pain suddenly erupted in his left elbow, and the pain alone was enough to bring Jake to his knees in horror. He looked down at his arm, which was dangerously being pulled inward, threatening to break in two at a moment¡¯s notice. ¡°Give up, or I¡¯ll take your arm,¡± King stated in a cold, icy voice, and Jake knew instantly she wouldn¡¯t hesitate a second to break his arm in two. However, he also knew from the desperation in her gaze she would likely be unable to follow through even if she did break his arm, as she looked so pale Jake suspected she was almost out of energy. ¡°Go fuck yourself, break that arm and I¡¯ll break both of yours as soon as I reach you.¡± And then his arm snapped. The pain was insane, although not nearly as much as Jake had imagined. [I¡¯ve nullified some of the pain although I couldn¡¯t do much on such short notice. You¡¯ll thank me later, you weirdo.] Jake gritted his teeth, and a smirk appeared on his face as he felt the pressure from King¡¯s telekinesis disappear completely from his arm. She was empty, and although he just had his arm snapped in half, he was still very much full of energy. For the second time, Jake dashed toward the girl with all the speed his battered body could muster and it only took him an instant to reach the poor girl as she tried to create some distance between the two of them. In the end, she had barely even taken her first step back when she suddenly fell to the ground, exhausted, and a small notification appeared in Jake¡¯s field of view, with Ed¡¯s voice echoing inside his mind. [Winner. Jake Hawkins] For a moment, Jake stood over King in silence, and the girl looked at him with a mix of fear and anger carved on her face. He only looked at her for a few seconds, however, before he gave her the most arrogant smirk he could manage under the tremendous amount of pain he was in. She¡¯d gotten off easy after taking his arm, but he wasn¡¯t about to beat the hell out of her while she was near unconscious. Revenge was best served cold, it seemed. [Your left arm was completely snapped in two, and you¡¯re currently suffering from internal bleeding. We need to get you to the academy¡¯s hospital as soon as we can.] The adrenaline from the fight was slowly wearing down, and the blazing pain that radiated from his left arm and torso only kept getting worse with each passing second. From the corner of his eye, Jake could see both of his friends making their way over to him, looking slightly concerned. But Jake didn¡¯t even get the time to utter a word to them when a cold, icy voice echoed inside the training hall. ¡°I grant the six of you access to the facilities after hours and this is how you make use of this opportunity, by crippling yourselves like a bunch of mindless beasts. Pathetic.¡± Near the entrance stood the tall and impressive form of their training officer, who looked nothing short of furious. ¡°Since you all seem to be having a lot of trouble managing this excess energy of yours, I¡¯ll be more than happy to help you out with that. Starting tomorrow, every one of you will meet me right here at 0500 sharp for extracurriculars. Is that clear?¡± Every cadet gulped at her words, none of them having a shred of a doubt they would be in for intense suffering the next morning. ¡°Yes, ma¡¯am.¡± The cadets answered. ¡°Now, everyone but Hawkins can fuck off and get back to your dorms, immediately.¡± ¡°Yes ma¡¯am.¡± The cadets echoed once more, and everyone except Jake exited the training hall in a hurry, although both Ryan and Owens shot back nervous glances at him. ¡°What¡¯s your status, cadet?¡± The Akira suddenly asked as soon as the others had gotten out of earshot. ¡°Broken arm and internal bleeding, ma¡¯am,¡± Jake answered with a few repressed grunts. While he was in a lot of pain at the moment, he didn¡¯t believe for a second now was the right time to complain about it, or let it show. ¡°Take this for now, and go see Officer Neilr tomorrow if your implant judges it¡¯s necessary.¡± The officer said as she threw a small vial at him that radiated a deep, green light. ¡°It¡¯s a healing stim. That on top of your implant should patch you up rather quickly, although you probably still won¡¯t be able to use your arm until next week at the earliest, but at least, the internal bleeding will be gone by tomorrow morning.¡° ¡°Yes, ma¡¯am.¡± ¡°Now, go back to your dorm, cadet.¡± ¡°Yes, ma¡¯am.¡± Instantly, Jake made his way toward the training hall¡¯s only exit in a hurry, as he felt like he¡¯d already pushed his luck enough for the night. Although the feeling of having triumphed over one of their promotion¡¯s finest awakened was exhilarating, getting punished by their training officer had instantly tempered his spirits. As he stepped out of the door, Ed finally spoke up inside his mind again, with his usual fervour. [Take the healing stim now, and make it quick! How many times do I have to tell you that you¡¯re DYING?] Slightly embarrassed at having forgotten something so important, Jake simply chuckled lightly as he stared at the small green vial that had been in the palm of his hand for quite some time now. [What are you doing? You have to drink it! Do I have to tell you everything? HUH?] Slowly and painfully, Jake opened up the small vial the best he could with his broken arm, which sparked another bout of horrifying pain. In the end, he managed to open up the vial after a few tries and swallowed its contents in one gulp. For some reason, he¡¯d expected the thing to actually alleviate his symptoms or even start healing him right away, but no such thing happened as he made his way back to the dorms. When he finally reached the dorm, he painfully stepped inside the room, only to be met with both Ryan and Owens sitting on the couch. They both looked nervous and instantly rushed over to him as soon as the door opened. ¡°Are you okay? You took a few big hits back there, we were pretty sure you¡¯d get rushed back to Officer Neilr.¡± Owens instantly asked Jake. ¡°Honestly, everything hurts, but First Lieutenant Gwyra gave me a healing stim, although it doesn¡¯t seem to be working yet.¡± ¡°Of course not, healing stims can only accelerate your body¡¯s natural healing ability, it is far from an instant cure. It¡¯s going to be patching you up for around 24 to 48 hours before the effect of the stim wears out.¡± For a moment, Jake looked mortified at the thought of being in such pain for so long, but he finally let out an exasperated sigh after realizing there wasn¡¯t anything he could do other than wait. Still, he looked to the two cadets for a moment, before a wide smile drew itself on his face. He¡¯d been so focused on the pain that he¡¯d forgotten all about their bet with King earlier. ¡°Where is King?¡± Jake asked the other two. ¡°Looking for this?¡± Ryan answered as he took out three identical blue vials from one of his pockets. Jake looked at the biotic stims with clear enthusiasm, and he almost forgot all about his battered and painful body as Ryan handed him one of the stims, already opened this time by Jake¡¯s request. It didn¡¯t take much longer for the three of them to gulp down their vials in a hurry. One thing that once again surprised him was that the contents of both vials he¡¯d just consumed had been entirely tasteless, with not a single aroma or flavour coming from the liquid. ¡°Great fight, by the way. You gave quite a show when she snapped your arm like a twig and you brushed it off with a smile. It was kinda creepy though.¡± Ryan suddenly said to Jake. ¡°Yes it was, but the fight was also awesome. Well done¡± Owens added. It was almost an hour later that Ryan made his way back to his dorm before the curfew, and both Jake and Owens went back into their separate rooms. They had spent the whole time talking about their respective fights enthusiastically, and Jake was now headed for the shower. Taking off his uniform had been a true nightmare thanks to his broken arm, but he had finally managed it after great effort. He didn¡¯t waste much more time after that and brushed his teeth, then went straight to bed. Once more, just getting under the covers had been a painful ordeal, and he struggled to find a comfortable position to sleep in. But after a few seconds lying in bed, Ed¡¯s superpowers once more came into play as he fell asleep instantly, thinking back to the way he''d just won his first real fight. Chapter 6: Special Delivery Almost a week had passed since Jake¡¯s fight with Laura King, and a lot of things had happened since then. All six cadets who¡¯d been caught fighting inside the training hall had spent every subsequent morning going through hellish conditioning with Officer Gwyra from 0500 until the start of their morning class. By the time the first class arrived, they were all already exhausted from their two hours of intense conditioning and the rest of the day was just as brutal as usual, as they had spent the last week focusing on combat training and hand-to-hand combat techniques. The good news, however, was that the brutal conditioning had played a major part in rapidly improving Jake¡¯s Basic Reinforcement spec, which had granted him a pretty big boost in attributes. Status Name: Jake Hawkins Rank: Cadet Energy Core: 23/45 Recovery Rate: 0.225 Base Attributes Strength: 7 Dexterity: 10 Constitution: 7 Recovery: 7 Perception: 11 Cognition: 16 Specs [Basic Reinforcement | Lvl. 4 | All attributes +4, Core +20] Skills [Basic Telekinesis | Lvl. ] The most notable improvement had visibly been to his core, which had once more grown at a rapid pace, thanks to his Basic Reinforcement spec gaining two levels, for a total of 10 additional units. Moreover, his core had also grown by another five units thanks to the vial he¡¯d won in his bet with King, and all of his attributes had grown by an additional two units thanks to his spec. Usually, every subsequent level became harder and harder to reach, for both skills and specs, but thanks to the hellish week of training he¡¯d had, Jake had been able to improve his spec unimpeded so far. Still, the most shocking thing was definitely that the arm that King had broken in two barely 6 days before was now 100% healed and fully functional, thanks to the healing stim he¡¯d received from the First Lieutenant Gwyra, with even his crippling internal injuries disappearing the very next day after his duel. As of right now, every cadet was inside the training hall even though it was still a good fifteen minutes away from 0700. Jake, Ryan and Owens, along with King¡¯s little clique had already been in the training hall since 0500 and were now waiting impatiently with the rest of the cadets as they were expecting to finally receive the gear they¡¯d selected a week ago this morning. Finally, both of their training officers showed up a few minutes before 0700, and they immediately started class. ¡°As I¡¯m sure you¡¯re all aware of already, today is the day you will receive the equipment you¡¯ve selected at the Academy¡¯s armoury. While we wait for First Lieutenant Breyr to bring the equipment to us, I want to take a moment to remind all of you of the rules concerning your new equipment.¡± Then, her gaze shifted toward the left, where her eyes met Jake¡¯s and King¡¯s respective groups before she continued. ¡°I will not tolerate any use of your gear unless I explicitly say so, and you will be required to bring every single piece of equipment to every single training, and it will be left at your desk at all times unless I or Officer Valadis say otherwise. Moreover, using your new weapons on another student will be met with your immediate expulsion from this Academy. Is that clear?¡± ¡°Yes, ma¡¯am.¡± The cadets answered promptly. Almost on cue, the gates that led inside the training hall swooshed open, and every cadet turned around to look at the new arrival. Near the entrance stood the First Lieutenant Breyr, still as tall and wide as a mountain range. Behind him, a huge wagon ¡ª the kind that was used in mines and manufactures to store heavy materials and the like ¡ª was hovering a few feet off the ground, and was filled to the brim with the cadet¡¯s equipment. ¡°Morning, cadets! If you would please come and pick up your stuff once I call your name, I''d appreciate that.¡± The giant declared, his voice so low it sounded like two rocks scraping against each other. For the next half an hour, every single cadet was called up to the wagon, where they exchanged a few words with the smith about the particularities of their equipment, before they were sent off to try it out with Officer Valadis. In the meantime, every other cadet whose name hadn¡¯t been called out yet we¡¯re going through a conditioning session directed by Officer Gwyra. Unsurprisingly, Jake, Owens and Ryan as well as King¡¯s clique had been called out last, giving them all an extra half hour of conditioning with their training officer. Ever since the incident a week ago, they had been treated unfairly so many times they¡¯d all stopped counting. Still, when it was finally Jake¡¯s turn to receive his gear, he almost ran toward the smith in excitement but managed to keep a calm appearance as he walked over to him. ¡°Ah, I was pretty excited for your turn cadet, I must admit.¡± The officer said to Jake, who looked surprised upon hearing that. But he didn¡¯t even manage to ask what the officer meant by that before he spoke up again in his powerful voice. ¡°But first things first, let¡¯s start with your suit, cadet. Here, take this and put it on.¡± For a moment, Jake gave the smith a confused look as he grabbed the small ring the officer was handing to him, but he did as the officer said and put the ring on one of the fingers in his right hand, above the glove of his training uniform. ¡°Now, run some biotic energy inside the ring.¡± The officer added. ¡°How do I do that exactly, sir?¡± Jake asked, and the officer patiently explained to him how to do that step by step. Turns out, one only needed to feel and guide the energy from his core to the inside of the ring to do that, which revealed itself to be a lot easier than expected. As soon as he filled the ring with a slimmer of his biotic energy, it activated and transformed into a full-blown armour that covered his entire body except for his head. ¡°Good. You¡¯ll need to spend some biotic energy to keep the armour activated, and it will go back into its ring form once you stop supplying it with your energy. Now, let¡¯s take a look at the next piece of gear.¡± Suddenly, the officer reached back inside the wagon and took out the pitch-black sniper Jake had previously ordered. Seeing it from up close acted as a good reminder of how big that gun actually was, and he was pretty certain that thing was almost as heavy as the sword. [Actually, the gun only weighs around 55.86 pounds, since it¡¯s mostly made up of a carbon alloy, which is nowhere near as dense as the oblivium from your sword.] With a grunt, Jake arduously lifted the sniper off the hands of the Officer, and he was nervously starting to wonder how he would carry all of his stuff on his assignment. [Don¡¯t worry about that, we only have to keep improving your attributes and you should be able to wield the sword and the sniper in a month or two at most, although separately.] WHAT, how the hell am I going to fight then? You told me I¡¯d be able to swing the thing by the time we depart for our first assignment! [Are you crazy? That sword is almost 200 pounds, you dumb kid. Being able to take a swing with it doesn¡¯t mean you¡¯ll be able to fight with it, but it¡¯s fine, you¡¯ll be able to shoot with the sniper as soon as you reach 50 units of your maximum biotic energy capacity, which should be in a few days at the latest.] I¡¯ll only be able to shoot once! [We¡¯ll figure it out once we get there, for now, you should seriously consider improving your Basic Reinforcement spec, and fast.] At that point, Jake was almost fuming at the thought that his implant had screwed him over during the selection process. Now, he needed to do everything in his power to increase his strength before they departed for their assignment. Thankfully, there were still two weeks left before their departure, and they were bound to learn a few more skills during that time, although the thing he needed most right now was probably a strength spec. In the end, Jake didn¡¯t get the time to ruminate for too long before the Officer¡¯s voice thundered again. ¡°And finally, the sword. It is a good weapon, but its size and weight are certainly a huge downside, especially for someone like you whose strength stat is only average. I¡¯ve taken the liberty of crafting a sheath for you, and I¡¯ve already installed it in the back of your armour by the way, as well as another one for your sniper right next to it.¡± ¡°Thank you, sir.¡± After a moment, Jake finally activated his suit again and grabbed the sword with both hands. However, as he was unable to even put the sword inside his sheath thanks to the odd position he needed to lift the sword it in order to put it inside the sheath, and he had to resort to asking for Ryan¡¯s help. He¡¯d gained a lot of attributes since his awakening, but he was still far from strong enough to use this weapon in a fight, or even in training for that matter. [I¡¯ve greatly reduced the amount of biotic energy allocated into improving your spec from 1,15 to 0,15 units per minute because of the suit¡¯s energy cost, but I will shift everything back to normal once you take off the suit.] It was obvious that Jake needed to find a way to reduce the burden from the sword, but for now, he didn¡¯t even get to think it over before Officer Gwyra¡¯s commanding voice ordered everyone to shut up. Behind her, Second Lieutenant Valadis looked weirdly excited for today¡¯s class, although Jake couldn¡¯t begin to figure out why. Finally, after everyone calmed down, the First Lieutenant spoke up again.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. ¡°While I¡¯m aware that you are all eager to try out your new gear, I will ask that you please leave all gear except your armour at your desk at all times, unless I require you to take them out. You will also keep the armour deactivated at all times unless told otherwise.¡± When he heard the officer ask them to drop their weapons, Jake let out a sigh of relief and rushed over to his desk as soon as the officer dismissed them. Once more, he¡¯d needed Ryan¡¯s help to take the thing out of his sheath, which got more than a few laughs from the nearby cadets, but Jake simply shrugged them off as he and Ryan made their way back to the mats, where the two officers were waiting, while Officer Breyr was currently heading outside the training hall, followed by his huge floating wagon. Finally, when every cadet had made their way back to the mats, Officer Valadis spoke up. ¡°Today, you¡¯re going to learn a new skill, and I greatly recommend that you guys spend a lot of time improving its level in the coming weeks, especially those of you who have spent most of your biotic energy improving their spec rather than their telekinesis skill so far.¡± The officer announced. Barely a moment later, a small prompt appeared through Jake¡¯s implant. [You¡¯ve received a digital grimoire. Learn Basic Biotic Reinforcement? (Yes/No)] Without hesitating, Jake quickly selected the [Yes] option in his mind, and the prompt instantly faded away. It wasn¡¯t long before the cadets were asked to try out their new skill, and Jake impatiently made his way toward one of the empty mats. Just like before with telekinesis, he had this weird impression of knowing exactly how to use the spell, as if he¡¯d somehow been using it his entire life, and he quickly activated the skill. Instantly, a thin layer of swirling blue energy appeared over his entire body from head to toe, and Jake instantly felt his entire body loading up with energy. [At level 1, this skill will cost 10 units of biotic energy per minute to maintain, and will provide a nice flat bonus of +1 to three of your main physical attributes, meaning strength, dexterity, and constitution.] It sounded almost insane to Jake to be spending that much biotic energy only for a flat boost to three attributes, but he knew that the skill would grow stronger as he improved its proficiency over time. Still, he couldn¡¯t help but feel somewhat disappointed as he glanced over to his new sword. He¡¯d hoped he¡¯d be able to wield it a lot faster than he¡¯d thought when their training officer had announced they¡¯d be learning a reinforcement skill, but it seemed he was still far from reaching that point. In the end, Jake spent the next 4 minutes going through conditioning while keeping the skill active, and he was pleased to notice that even though the bonus to his attributes was extremely small, he could feel the difference in his abilities instantly. While it was clear he wouldn¡¯t be able to rely on the skill to fight any time soon since its energy cost was very high, especially for Jake, it would come in handy as a last-ditch power boost when placed in tough situations. [From now on, you¡¯ll spend every available unit of biotic energy that is not put toward your spec into improving this skill, and we¡¯ll overlook telekinesis at the moment, as it will not be useful to you as you are now.] For the remainder of the class, the cadets were tasked by the training officers to go through their usual conditioning while keeping their new skill active as often as they could, which proved a lot harder than Jake had initially thought. Just like telekinesis, the reinforcement skill would deactivate any time Jake lost focus, which was hard to do when moving around. Moreover, he could only maintain the skill for around 4 minutes before his core ran dry, and his energy took over three hours to recover whenever he did. Ryan on the other hand, displayed biotic abilities many times more powerful than he¡¯d given the boy credit for, as he could maintain the skill for over 20 minutes, proving he was somehow one of the strongest biotic users in the whole promotion. When Jake had asked him about his sudden improvements, he¡¯d revealed to Jake that he¡¯d actually been allocating almost all of his biotic energy into growing his spec, leaving him in a situation similar to Jake¡¯s. Along with King and Owens, Ryan was surprisingly among the awakened with the largest core capacity among their promotion, as he¡¯d been one of the cadets to keep the reinforcement skill activated the longest. As per usual, Jake, Owens and Ryan spent the whole lunch break together, as the trio had almost become inseparable in the last week. They spent every meal and every spare minute together, either chatting, going through extra training or simply relaxing after their long day of training. By the time Jake and the others finished their lunch, it was already time for them to get back to the training halls, where they¡¯d be going through their afternoon training. Thankfully, he now didn¡¯t need Ryan¡¯s help to carry his new blade everywhere as he could simply activate his new skill and boost his strength enough for him to sheath the weapon by himself. The worst was that Jake had to activate his armour any time he wanted to move the sword, since carrying the thing in his arms for an extended time was extremely annoying, especially since he had to carry the sniper as well on top of that. Every time he did activate the ring, he couldn¡¯t help but mumble a plethora of crude insults at the intention of his implant, although Ed didn¡¯t seem to care one bit. When they finally arrived at the training hall, Jake was relieved to finally drop both of his weapons at his desk and deactivate his armour, before making his way to the mats along with Ryan where Owens was already waiting for the both of them. In front of the cadets stood both Officer Gwyra and Officer Valadis, who looked as cold and unbothered as usual. ¡°I have good news for you, cadets. Since you lot are going to be sent on your first assignment a lot faster than usual, the Alliance has gifted each of you with one attribute stim of your choosing. This will act as a way to prepare you better for this assignment, as well as payment for the job.¡± The cadets could barely suppress their excitement at the First Lieutenant¡¯s words, and every one of them exchanged whispers with their neighbours about which stims they¡¯d take. Only one stim for a twelve-week assignment? What the hell! [Oh, common kid. One attribute stim is worth more than 100,000 credits, you lot are probably the highest-paid cadets in the entire history of the Alliance.] ¡°Now, please let me know which stim you¡¯ll be choosing through the poll I¡¯ve sent through your implants.¡± Officer Valadis declared. In front of him, a large screen displayed all the available choices of stimulants for him to choose from, and Jake thoughtfully looked over all of his options. Ed, what do you think? [Go with the strength stim, it¡¯s going to be much needed if you want to wield that sword of yours someday.] Instantly, Jake selected the strength stimulant option on the screen display through a mental command, and the display faded away. A minute later, Officer Valadis suddenly produced 50 little vials out of thin air, before the vials each floated over to their respective cadets, without the Officer even guiding the things with his hands like the cadets did to use telekinesis. The amount of power and skill needed to accomplish such a thing seemed almost incomprehensible to Jake, although he had no doubt this simple display of telekinesis was nowhere near the officer¡¯s full abilities. Still, Jake finally refocused on the small vial that had appeared on the corner of his desk, this one radiating a pure white light. It didn¡¯t take long for him to swallow down the vial¡¯s contents, and he couldn¡¯t help but wonder how many vials the two training officers had consumed to grow this strong. While they were normally extremely expensive to acquire via normal trading channels, Jake had learned that the alliance possessed a huge amount of labs that could produce large amounts of them in bulk, and it commonly used these stims as a remuneration for the soldier¡¯s assignments, along with credits. Hopefully, he would be able to earn more of these as he completed assignments in the future, although Owens had already told him entry-level assignments usually didn¡¯t award even a single vial as a reward since they were so expensive, meaning he would probably have to wait a long time before consuming some stims again. In the end, they spent the whole class going through the same conditioning exercises as they had that very morning, again while trying to keep their reinforcement skill active. Once more, Jake only managed to use the skill for a total of around 9 or 10 minutes during the whole duration of the class, which was a little disheartening since it meant his skill would most likely take forever to reach the next level at this rate. Still, as soon as training ended, Jake, Owens and Ryan made their way to the cafeteria and ate lunch as fast as possible before they made their way back to Jake and Owens¡¯ dorm to practice their new skill. This time, Jake completely stopped feeding biotic energy into his spec so that he could improve his recovery rate and use his new skill more frequently. At 0900, the three of them were completely exhausted and called it a day, as they had been training almost non-stop since 0500 this morning. The last week had been particularly brutal on each of them as they had spent every morning going through extra conditioning as a punishment, and the fatigue from training kept piling up even with their implants and improved attributes greatly speeding up their recovery. After saying their goodbyes to Ryan, both Jake and Owens sat down on one of the couches. It had been a long time since they¡¯d spent any time together alone, ever since Ryan had joined their little group, and Jake realized he didn¡¯t know what to say to her. Thankfully, Owens didn¡¯t seem to be overthinking it and pulled him out of his nervous internal rambling as she spoke up. ¡°I¡¯ve wanted to ask you this for some time now, but why did you enlist?¡± Jake looked over at Owens, somewhat surprised by her question, but after a few seconds, he answered. ¡°Both of my parents died during the war when I was still an infant. It¡¯s not like I want to walk in their footsteps or anything, but I¡¯ve always believed I was born for this life, or at least I believed it until the awakening. What about you?¡± She looked at him with a grimace for a moment, before answering. ¡°My dad was a Lieutenant Colonel and a powerful biotic wielder, he married my mom because of her powers as an awakened. His goal in doing that was to give birth to children with incredible talent as awakened. And he did succeed, both myself and my older brother are very talented in biotics, although not as talented as our father.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry. That must have been hard on you.¡± Jake answered, sadly. ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry too much about me. I may have been brought into this universe to be a soldier, but it doesn¡¯t mean I loathe this life. Yes, my childhood sucked, but I do look forward to becoming a full-fledged soldier, and I am glad I became an awakened. This life is filled with dangers and adventures, and the opportunity to grow beyond our comprehension, so of course I wouldn¡¯t want to have it any other way.¡± As a response, Jake simply smiled at her, as he thought back to everything they¡¯d gone through since their arrival at the academy. Then it was his turn to ask Owens a question. ¡°What are you going to do once we graduate basic training?¡± She looked at him with wide eyes for a second and seemed to think her answer over in her head before she spoke up. ¡°I¡¯ve thought about it, although I am not entirely sure yet. But I¡¯m either going to embark on assignments near the frontier, or join the frontlines and fight in the war. What about you?¡± The frontier was located at the border of the Intersystem Alliance¡¯s territory, and it was widely known as its most dangerous area. It was in major part unexplored territory that held many unknown dangers, and assignments at the frontier were among those with the highest fatality rates, even among veteran soldiers and high-ranking officers. However, it was also full of opportunities for the awakened looking to temper themselves and grow stronger, on top of being extremely well paid. ¡°I haven¡¯t thought too much about it yet. But for now, I¡¯m planning on going through assignments at the frontier until I get strong enough to join the war effort.¡± He finally answered. ¡°That¡¯s a pretty good plan. Why don¡¯t we try to go together then?¡± Owens asked, and a few seconds passed before she seemed to realize what she¡¯d said, and she turned red from the embarrassment. Jake quickly noticed and immediately turned red himself as Owens quickly started to blabber nervously, growing a shade more red as she did. ¡°I meant with Ryan, as a team you know? The three of us make a good team, and it is possible to enlist as a group for assignments to the frontier. Anyways, think about it, I¡¯m going to bed.¡± And she was gone. Jake hadn¡¯t even had the time to accept her offer on the spot like he¡¯d wanted, before she¡¯d simply got up and left, with both of them looking as red as a strawberry. [Oh boy, this was hard to watch.] ¡°Shut up, Ed!¡± Jake mumbled under his breath, and he was gone off to bed too. Chapter 7: Team B Like every morning, Officer Gwyra stood before the cadets to give them their morning briefing. Today, however, the officer looked even more pissed off than usual, which was anything but good news for the cadets, considering the First Lieutenant always looked angry. ¡°Starting today and until the end of this assignment, you will be split into 5 teams of ten cadets, each led by a single commanding officer. Each specific team has been created to accomplish five different tasks during the coming assignment, and you have been assigned to a specific team with that objective in mind. Now, you will receive a notification about your affectation through your implant in a few seconds.¡± ¡°Yes, ma¡¯am!¡± The cadets answered as a unit. Suddenly, Jake¡¯s implant flared up again, and a notification appeared in front of him. TEAM BETA Noelle Owens Jake Hawkins Laura King Isaac Evans Shaun Evans Luke Ryan Zac Jenkins Ismael Laurent Isabelle Smith Micheal Kirk Oh, for fuck¡¯s sake. For some reason, it looked like the officers had chosen Team B to be this promotion¡¯s elite team. After all, every single one of the cadets on this team had demonstrated combat strength and a talent for biotics that was amongst the top of this promotion, except for Jake whose lack of ability in terms of biotics was well known amongst the cadets. Still, it was only a few seconds later that Jake and the other nine cadets selected as part of Team B were all standing in a small corner of the training hall, along with an unexpected guest, who¡¯d just recently made his appearance inside the training hall. ¡°For those of you who don¡¯t know me already, I am First Lieutenant Neilr and up until now, I was the officer in charge of the Academy¡¯s hospital. Starting today, however, I will be this team¡¯s commanding officer.¡± The Kreigen said, seemingly unbothered, before continuing. Then, the officer took a few steps forward, stopping a few inches away from Jake. He looked at the cadet straight into his eyes, then continued. ¡°I¡¯m sure that even a human would be able to tell that Team B has been elected as the elite strike team for this assignment, although you¡¯d do best not to rejoice yourself too soon. After all, this means that among all the other cadets, you lot will be tasked with the most dangerous and most difficult jobs. I can already tell you that some of you won¡¯t make it past the first week.¡± The Kreigen said with a chuckle, shooting a glance over at Jake that only he noticed, although he had no doubt it had been intentional. ¡°Yes, sir!¡± The cadets answered. ¡°Good. Now for the remaining week of basic training, I will be in charge of teaching all of you to fight as a unit. During the last two weeks, you¡¯ve been taught how to swing, kick, hit and throw your opponents, and you¡¯ve had the opportunity to test all of it in one-on-one duels. Now, let¡¯s see how well you can do in a team battle.¡± The officer echoed with a small smile. ¡°Yes, sir!¡± It was only a few minutes later that Jake and the rest of Team Beta were standing on one side of the mats, with Team Charlie standing on the opposing side. As they were waiting for the exercise to start, in front of them stood Officer Neilr, who looked just as menacing as usual. The Kreigen weren¡¯t a species known for their exhilarating humour and cute looks, after all. ¡°I¡¯ll be relaying orders from back here during the whole duration of the fight, and you are to follow them without any hesitation no matter what. Is that clear, cadets? ¡°Yes, sir!¡± Suddenly, Jake¡¯s implant flared up again and one of the mats started glowing to his right. [Cadets, don¡¯t just stand there and get in position!] The officer¡¯s voice echoed inside Jake¡¯s mind. He immediately made his way toward the glowing area and could see his teammates each heading toward a specific zone. In the end, Jake ended up somewhere around the middle of the formation, along with Isabelle Jenkins to his right. He didn¡¯t know her very well yet, but he knew she was one of the few other cadets who naturally excelled in dexterity and cognition, just like he did. In front of him stood 4 more cadets, namely Ryan, the two Evans as well as another cadet named Micheal Kirk, which represented the brawn of their team. In the back stood Owens, King as well as Ismael Laurent and Zac Jenkins, who were all considered among the top biotic users in their promotion, and they would act as support for the brawlers in front. [Match 1?¡ª Team Beta vs Team Charlie. Start!] Ed¡¯s voice echoed inside his mind, signalling the start of the game. As soon as he heard the signal, Jake sent a trickle of energy running into his ring, which instantly transformed into a full-blown carbon-mesh armour, onto which ran thin glowing blue lines. As soon as the fight started, the commanding officer¡¯s voice started echoing inside Jake¡¯s mind through his implant. It felt weird to be hearing someone else¡¯s voice that wasn¡¯t Ed¡¯s inside his mind, but he tried his best to stay focused. On top of hearing the officers, multiple enemies, objects and locations seemed to be flaring up under his implant¡¯s familiar GPS light, adding precision and clarity to the Officer¡¯s orders. Still stuck in a daze, Jake dashed toward the nearest fighter on his left, and by the time he reached the cadet, his opponent was already exchanging blows with Isaac Evans who looked to be having the upper hand. Jake sprinted past his teammate and circled behind the cadet from the opposing team, he was about to land a devastating sidekick into his opponent when his leg was caught by another cadet who¡¯d come out of nowhere. In front of him stood Jack Ward, one of the opposing team¡¯s members, who immediately pulled on Jake¡¯s leg and managed to wrestle him to the ground. After a few seconds of the both of them trying to gain an advantage on the ground, his opponent finally managed to grab hold of Jake¡¯s neck, dangerously choking him. A few seconds passed, and the air inside his lungs was starting to get scarcer and scarcer as he struggled to escape his opponent¡¯s grasp, when he finally managed to jolt his head free. He used the opportunity to bite into his opponent¡¯s arm, who finally let go of his neck due to the intense pain, allowing Jake to get back up on his feet, panting.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. His opponent was holding his forearm with one hand, as a trickle of blood went down his arm, but Jake didn¡¯t let his opponent recover as he charged the cadet and swung at him with a few compact hits. His opponent seemed to have a dexterity that was at least Jake¡¯s equal as he weaved past the hits like a snake and then answered with a clean hook to Jake¡¯s chin, and the latter was pushed backward under the impact. But Jake didn¡¯t get any time to compose himself before it was his turn to be charged with a barrage of strikes, which he dodged for the most part with very few hits making their way past his defence. The fight went on for almost a full minute before his opponent suddenly froze up out of the blue, and Jake hesitated for a moment. [NOW, CADET!] The officer¡¯s voice shot him out of his torpor as he delivered a swirling kick to the cadet¡¯s temple, whose entire body was slammed to the ground due to the kick¡¯s impact. In front of him, Jake looked at the unmoving cadet, before the officer¡¯s voice echoed through his implant again. [DON¡¯T STOP, CADET. KEEP MOVING!] Jake looked up, and then instantly saw a glowing blue light to his left, showing him where to go, he followed the light as fast as he could until he arrived right next to Owens, who was currently fighting against three opposing cadets all on her own. This time, Jake didn¡¯t hesitate as he ran at full speed and body-slammed the cadet that was the closest to him, sending them both tumbling to the ground. This time, however, Jake had the advantage and managed to land a series of blows to his opponent''s stomach, and he didn¡¯t even allow the cadet to get up before he lifted him off the ground and slammed him back down. For a moment, he almost marvelled at the realization of just how much his strength had improved in the last weeks. He was now a lot stronger, faster and more resilient than he¡¯d been during his first duel with Ryan. Moreover, his fighting techniques had been refined every day under the guidance of their training officers, and he could barely recognize himself as he once more charged at the other cadet, using the same technique his previous opponent had used on him earlier and choking the air out of him. While Jake had been extremely lucky to jolt himself free at some point, his opponent only lasted for a few seconds before he gave three light taps on Jake¡¯s arm, signalling he gave up the fight. This time, Jake didn¡¯t waste any time and immediately got up, then looked all around him to try and spot the glowing light of his implant. To his right, Owens was still fighting off one of the enemy cadets, but she looked completely exhausted and a line of blood was flowing out of the right side of her head. He dashed forward, moving as fast as his exhausted body allowed him, but he hadn¡¯t even made it halfway that Ryan¡¯s towering figure appeared next to Owens, along with King a little further, and both of the opposing cadets froze under her telekinesis skill as Ryan mowed through both unmoving cadets with a few swings. [Winner: Team Beta.] The fight had only lasted for two or three minutes, but as soon as the adrenaline came crashing down, Jake realized just how exhausted he was, and multiple areas of his body started to flare up in intense pain. ¡°Don¡¯t just stand around like idiots, cadets!¡± Officer Neilr¡¯s voice echoed inside Jake¡¯s ear, as this time the voice hadn¡¯t come from his implant, but from the very angry Kreigen currently shouting ragingly from outside of the mats. The cadets all made their way back to the First Lieutenant, who looked nothing short of furious, even when compared to his usual appearance. ¡°WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT, CADETS?¡± Every member of Team Beta was currently looking at each other, exchanging confused glances. After all, they¡¯d won, what could they possibly have done to infuriate their training officer to that extent? ¡°Let¡¯s go over that shitshow for a moment. Every single one of you waited until the start of the fight to activate your armour, which made you lose some precious time. What is wrong with all of you?¡± For a full two minutes, their new commanding officer accurately and mercilessly pointed out every single thing each cadet had done wrong during the fight, either individually or as a group. And then finally, it came to Jake¡¯s turn for the review. ¡°Hawkins, why the actual fuck didn¡¯t you use any of your skills during the fight? It might have been the edge you needed to get out of that chokehold earlier, but you instead bit his fucking arm off, you dipshit! Cognition is supposed to be your highest stat by far and the highest one in this promotion, yet you are the worst idiot among all of them.¡± Then the First Lieutenant addressed the group as a whole. ¡°You all better be the fastest learners this Academy has seen in generations, otherwise you won¡¯t make it through the first week of assignment. Now, go back to Officer Gwyra, we will redo this same exercise tomorrow morning.¡± Disappointed, the cadets all made their way toward Officer Gwyra, their disappointment palpable, as their training officer exited the training all, mumbling grumpily as he went. Jake, especially, was almost fuming at the thought of the officer¡¯s reproach. He had worked harder than everyone else during the last three weeks, and he had reached the fifth level of his spec. He had yet to level a single one of his skills since he was actively pouring every spare biotic energy he had into improving his spec, but Ed had already assured him it was the optimal solution to overcome his limitations as soon as possible. In other words, there was nothing else he could do to progress any faster than he was now. Jake took a deep breath and quickly calmed himself down. Beating himself up over today wouldn¡¯t do him any good. Right now, he needed to train as hard as he could to grow stronger, just like he¡¯d been doing for the past weeks. His growth would speak for itself more than any words he could say to the officer in the long run. He was still mumbling under his breath when both Ryan and Owens appeared right next to him. ¡°That wasn¡¯t terrifying at all. Anyone else wishes we¡¯d ended up on First Lieutenant Breyr¡¯s team?¡± Ryan asked the other two. ¡°I¡¯m more worried about being with the crazy Kreigen. He wasn¡¯t lying though, we¡¯ll most likely be sent on a mission that is way more than we could possibly handle.¡± Owens responded, thoughtfully. ¡°How come?¡± Jake asked. ¡°Kreigen are generally both extremely talented as awakened and very prideful, they will usually only accept assignments that are extremely dangerous, which means there¡¯s no doubt we¡¯ve been placed on the riskiest squad, just like he said.¡± She answered. ¡°Well, at least it means we won¡¯t get bored over there, that¡¯s pretty good,¡± Ryan added. The cadets all made their way back to the dining hall, after which they spent the whole afternoon going through conditioning and hand-to-hand combat techniques. This time, each of the four commanding officers was in charge of teaching their respective squad, with Team Echo and Team Alpha both being under Officer Gwyra¡¯s command. After the class had finally ended, Jake was about to head to the dining all along with his friends when Officer Neilr called out to him. ¡°Hawkins, get over here!¡± He shouted. Jake quickly made his way toward the officer, after which he saluted him and spoke up. ¡°Yes, sir! Cadet Hawkins reporting for duty.¡± ¡°I hear you chose a weapon you can¡¯t even use, how the hell do you expect to make it past your first day on duty, cadet?¡± Jake looked somewhat embarrassed at the officer¡¯s remark, but he still straightened up and answered the First Lieutenant. After all, he had only very recently started combat training with his sword during the last week, and he was still very far from being able to swing the 200-pound sword around fast enough for a fight. ¡°Yes, sir! For now, I am unable to fight with this weapon but I hope to change that soon. My implant has confirmed to me I will be able to wield it appropriately once my strength reaches around twenty units.¡± ¡°Let me put it clearly, cadet. If you are unable to fight with the sword once we reach our assignment¡¯s location, which should be in two weeks if we take into account the time it takes to get there, I will have you removed from this assignment and discharged.¡± Jake¡¯s blood froze as the officer¡¯s threat sunk in, and his mind was racing furiously in the search for an appropriate answer. ¡°I understand, sir. I will not disappoint you.¡± He simply let out, trying his best not to let his frustration show. ¡°No, you will not.¡± The officer mumbled back, and he was gone just like that. Still shocked, Jake made his way back toward the exit, where Owens and Ryan were both waiting for him. ¡°Guys, I am so fucked.¡± He said to the both of them, as an answer to the puzzled looks they were giving him. Chapter 8: Departure This morning, Jake woke up and immediately activated his suit before he picked up the sniper lying next to his bed. Last week, he¡¯d finally reached the sixth level of his Basic Reinforcement Spec, which had granted him an additional 5 units in maximum core capacity, for a new total of 55 units. As a result, he¡¯d finally been able to try out the sniper for the first time, and he¡¯d been extremely pleased with the weapon¡¯s performance. While he hadn¡¯t expected much from a weapon meant to be wielded by cadets, he¡¯d been proven wrong the instant he¡¯d used it, as the sniper seemed able to fire off a small blast of energy so condensed it would easily pierce through his biotic armour if it were to be fired at him. The weapon was a testament to why cadets usually chose to use biotic guns instead of their skills, as they offered unprecedented performance for a very small amount of biotic energy, without having to train their skills for years on end. As of yesterday, Jake had also finally managed to reach the seventh level of his Basic Reinforcement spec and now had a base strength attribute of 11. Along with the bonus in attributes that came from activating his armour, as well as the one that came from using his Biotic reinforcement skill?¡ª?which had very recently reached level two?¡ª?Jake was finally able to swing around his sword during combat training without looking like a complete madman, although fighting with the thing was still off the table. Status Name: Jake Hawkins Rank: Cadet Energy Core: 60/60 Recovery Rate: 0.3 Base Attributes Strength: 11 Dexterity: 13 Constitution: 10 Recovery: 10 Perception: 14 Cognition: 19 Specs [Basic Reinforcement | Lvl. 7| All attributes +7, Core +35] Skills [Basic Telekinesis | Lvl. 1] [Basic Biotic Reinforcement | Lvl. 2] Ever since he¡¯d received his new reinforcement skill a few weeks ago, Jake had spent every spare biotic energy he had using the skill, although what was left after he¡¯d used most of his energy into improving his spec was far from enough to see any rapid improvement. As a result, he had spent the last two weeks using the skill any chance he could, and in the end, he¡¯d finally managed to reach level two in proficiency with it. Once active, the skill now provided an extra two units in each of his strength, dexterity and constitution attributes, at the price of 10 units of biotic energy per minute. Along with the bonus that came from activating his armour, that meant his strength could now reach a total of 14 units for around five or six minutes, during which he was able to swing his sword somewhat decently, even though he was still far too slow to even believe he wouldn¡¯t instantly get killed on the battlefield. Still, he¡¯d made a lot of progress recently, but he was still far from being Ryan or Owens¡¯ equal in either biotics or even fighting with their respective weapons. Jake had seen the both of them practice with their new weapons, and he didn¡¯t doubt for a second they would both mow through swarms of enemies with their abilities. Ryan especially, who had chosen a gigantic axe almost as big as Jake¡¯s sword as his main weapon looked terrifying as he swung the thing around with remarkable speed and technique. Furthermore, both of them had enough biotic energy to use their abilities without having to worry too much about their expenditure in the short run. Speaking of Ryan, the cadet had just appeared through the doorway that led inside Jake¡¯s room. ¡°Ready to go?¡± He asked. Ryan, just like Jake, was dressed in the black and red military uniform of the academy as usual. However, unlike his normally calm and composed appearance, he looked nervous this time, and Jake could understand the feeling better than anyone else. He had proven more than a match for any other cadet in this academy during both the team battle and the duels, but he couldn¡¯t help but feel like he was far from ready to be sent on his first assignment. In a week, Jake would be standing on an unknown planet and facing many unknown dangers, which would most likely lead to his untimely death, and getting that out of his head proved to be more difficult than he¡¯d thought. The thing was, he¡¯d spent a lot of time training with the sword during the past week, and he realized that even if he could swing the sword around, the weapon was so slow he would most likely not be able to hit anything, on top of the fact that he would tire out in a matter of less than a minute. Still, Jake finally put his sword back in its sheath, next to the sniper, and he thanked the universe for his improved physical attributes as he made his way to the Academy¡¯s spaceport with almost 250 pounds of weaponry placed on his back, along with Ryan and Owens. The last time he¡¯d ever been inside the spaceport had been on the day of his arrival, four weeks ago. Since then, he¡¯d spent every day training like a madman along with the other cadets, and he¡¯d grown a lot stronger since. In the last four weeks, not only had his attributes grown tremendously but he¡¯d also gained over fifteen kilograms of lean muscle mass, changing his look completely in these four short weeks. While he¡¯d been pretty skinny before, he now looked as athletic and muscular as any other cadet did, and his previously scrawny features were now sharp and defined, with his face being almost unrecognizable from the day he¡¯d stepped foot inside the academy. Inside the building, one single spacecraft was resting in the leftmost docking area, in front of which their four training officers were already waiting for them. The building was still as impressive as ever, with large amounts of robots and other machinery wandering its open spaces, doing maintenance on the ship amongst other things. Once every cadet had arrived, First Lieutenant Gwyra spoke up. ¡°As I mentioned yesterday, there will only be very limited space inside the vessel to fight or do any kind of conditioning, so you will only be given a few hours of basic conditioning and skill training to complete every day. Of course, each commanding officer will be in charge of overseeing their own team¡¯s training during the entirety of the trip. Understood?¡± ¡°Yes, ma¡¯am!¡± The cadets answered, with Jake shooting a glance over to Ryan and Owens. If Officer Neilr was in charge of the training schedule, it was fair to assume they wouldn¡¯t be making it in one piece to their destination. Soon after, the cadets were all regrouped with their respective teams and finally entered the spacecraft. Surprisingly, the entire ship was a lot bigger than Jake had thought, and it possessed multiple different areas, including five different dorms.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Each dorm was composed of a simple open space with 10 beds and a closed-off room for their training officer, as well as a common area filled with a dining table, lounge chairs and couches, on top of a few bathrooms and showers placed in another closed-off room. The rest of the vessel was mostly comprised of the engine room, the boarding deck, the cockpit, as well as a decently large training area that looked to be around half as big as the one covered in mats inside the training hall. It had been made known to them earlier that once they left Earth, their commanding officer would give them a briefing on the assignment, including the role of their respective teams, but for now, their only task was to get settled inside their respective dorms and await orders. Along with Owens and Ryan, Jake made his way toward the dormitory, where he and the other cadets from his squad were all currently settling into the beds. As was common in most military vessels, each wall of their dormitory was embedded with two or three beds placed on top of each other, giving the cadets very little space to sleep. Jake chose the bed right between Ryan and Owens, and after he finally dropped both his sword and sniper next to his bed and deactivated his armour, they all made their way toward their quarters¡¯ common area, where their commanding officer was already waiting for them, sitting in the common area¡¯s only table, placed in the middle of the room. The cadets all took a seat at the large, rectangular table and when everybody was finally sat down, the First Lieutenant spoke up. ¡°First and foremost, I will share with you the details of the assignment through your implant as we wait for this ship to take off.¡± In Jake¡¯s mind, a screen opened up through his neuro implant, and lines of text were displayed along with various information. In resume, they would all be travelling to a planet called Genova, which was part of the Genesis solar system in the frontier of the territory. On this planet could be found a small mining settlement owned by a very large mining corporation called GenoExtractionCorp. This particular settlement had constantly been under the unrelenting attack of a particular indigenous species called the Vertaerax, which seemed to be a kind of mix between an arachnid and an insect. The assignment consisted of protecting the settlement and keeping the inhabitants safe. However, their particular team had been selected to undergo a special mission. ¡°As you are now aware, most of you here are among the top trainees of this promotion, which is why you have been selected as the Vanguard of this operation.¡± Some of the cadets¡¯ faces brightened at the compliment, however, Jake noticed that Owen¡¯s and Ryan¡¯s expressions had darkened like they were expecting bad news. ¡°As you are all aware already, our squad will be in charge of finding the Vertaerax nest and neutralizing it. To do that, however, we¡¯ll have to venture outside the settlements for weeks, possibly months, until we can finally localize the nest and eliminate the threat.¡± Each of the cadets¡¯ expressions darkened at the thought of undertaking such a seemingly dangerous assignment, and Officer Neilr seemed to notice. ¡°You are right to be scared. Our team¡¯s going to be put at much greater risk than any other for this assignment, and I honestly don¡¯t give a crap whether or not any of you make it out alive. The only thing that matters is that we complete the job.¡± He added. If they¡¯d had any doubts the Alliance were sending them to their deaths before, this pretty much confirmed it. ¡°We will land in Genova in exactly six days if all goes well, until then, you will spend all of your time here either training, eating or sleeping. I do not give a damn about what Officer Gwyra said to the others, if you want to survive your first week, you will use the remaining amount of time available to you to train past your limits.¡± The Kreigen added. ¡°Yes, sir!¡± The cadets shouted back, standing up and saluting the officer at the same time. ¡°Oh, and before I forget, meet me back here in half an hour, until then, you are free to tour the vessel, we should be taking off any minute now.¡± The officer added, grumpily. As per usual, Jake, Ryan and Owens all stuck together as they visited every single room and compartment of the vessel, and they met over thirty cadets who had wanted to do the same thing during their little outing. Talking to a few of them had pretty much confirmed what their commanding officer had revealed to them. Team A and E, which were Officer Gwyra¡¯s teams would be in charge of clearing out the mining tunnels located under the settlement, while Team C and D, Officer Valadis and Officer Breyr¡¯s teams would be in charge of protecting the settlement. All of this while their team would be sent on a months-long chase to find the creepy crawlers¡¯ nest. After around twenty minutes of the three of them wandering about, they made their way back to the meeting point in advance to wait for the others. They didn¡¯t know the ship very well and wanted to avoid being late for their meeting with Officer Neilr. It seemed that the other cadets had thought as much too because the seven other cadets from Team B were all already sitting at the same rectangular table, although the First Lieutenant was nowhere to be found. As they stepped inside the room, King was already arguing with some of the other cadets, which didn¡¯t surprise Jake in the slightest. ¡°I can¡¯t believe we¡¯re getting sent to our deaths on some lousy assignment when we haven¡¯t even graduated yet! They keep treating us like expendables, and I¡¯m sick of it.¡± Her high-pitched, annoying voice echoed inside the room. On the other end of the table, Michael Kirk was arguing back in a tone that suggested this little show had gone on for far too long already. ¡°Shut up, King, you spoiled brat. Nobody asked you to be there, just call for your daddy to come pick you up if you don¡¯t have what it takes, you¡¯ll do everyone here a favour.¡± He spat back, angrily. Indignated, the girl was about to answer back when the air in the cabin grew cold and silent. Almost like the air had been ripped out of his lungs, Jake and the other cadets struggled to breathe as the domineering figure of their officer slowly made their way toward the cadets. He looked at King, silently and the pressure emanating from the Kreigen was so suffocating that Jake thought he¡¯d lose consciousness for a second. The officer still stood in front of King, who¡¯d already started tearing up, when the Kreigen spoke up. ¡°Do you know why the Alliance treats you humans as expendable? It¡¯s because you are. Among the thousands and thousands of new human awakened that go through basic training every year, only half a percent of them ever get to the level of the average Kreigan, Zerkan or Akari Cadet during their entire lifetime. Among the hundreds of species in this galaxy, humans are among the weakest, which is why the Alliance hired us to teach you, and not humans. It is also why they do not give two shits if an entire squad of human cadets dies in combat, as it will take years, maybe even decades for any of you to grow strong enough to measure yourself against some of the higher races¡¯ youngest and weakest awakened.¡± The officer said, coldly. Then, he looked over to Jake for a second, and he seemed to think something over for a second because he spoke up again. ¡°Of course, there are exceptions. Any living being that is awakened has the potential to reach the summit of strength, even you humans, although it usually takes centuries for one of your kind to reach a decent level. However, reaching such a level takes more than simply time, it takes courage, and dedication, as well as a huge amount of luck. As for you, cadet King, you certainly don¡¯t have the first two, so you better pray you¡¯ve been blessed by the heavens because otherwise, your road will end the minute we step foot on Genova.¡± Although at the moment, Jake was as scared of the First Lieutenant as any other cadet inside the room, he knew he would have cut off one of his arms without hesitating to see King get shut down like that again, and he had to fight with all his might to repress the smile that crept dangerously to his face. After a few seconds, however, Officer Neilr finally spoke up again. ¡°As I¡¯ve said earlier, we¡¯re in for a dangerous ride during this assignment, which is why you all will undergo some special training directly under me for the next 6 days. I hope you brought extra underwear because you¡¯re going to need it.¡± Chapter 9: Genova As Jake had expected, the week of leisure and team bonding First Lieutenant Gwyra had promised them had turned out to be anything but. In fact, Jake was certain that this had been the harshest week of training yet, and it kept getting worse. ¡°You¡¯re all way too slow, cadets! FASTER, I SAID! HAWKINS, QUIT FUCKING AROUND!¡± First Lieutenant Neilr shouted at Jake and the other cadets. On the first day of their departure, it had been revealed that the cadets would be going through special training under their commanding officer¡¯s direct guidance until they reached their destination. As a result, each squad had been thrown separately inside a gravity room and subjected to the harshest training regimen of their lives for 4 hours every day, only to keep training inside their dorms once their turn was over. Inside the gravity room, the First Lieutenant had increased the gravity by over three times, pushing the squad into a hellish training program that made the recent weeks look like a leisure trip by comparison. While the training area was a lot smaller than the Academy¡¯s training hall, there was still more than enough room left for each squad to fight some duels amongst each other, do some callisthenics and various other conditioning exercises, and go through the usual combat training, which had proven itself impossible for Jake as his weapon of choice was already close to 200 pounds under normal gravity. As expected, their training officer hadn¡¯t taken the fact that Jake couldn¡¯t complete combat training inside the gravity room with great enthusiasm, as it sufficed to say the Kreigen wasn¡¯t a particularly soft?¡ª or well-spoken for that matter?¡ª?training officer if there even was such a thing. ¡°HAWKINS, GIVE ME 100 MORE, NOW! You¡¯re plain GARBAGE! How the hell are you going to pretend you¡¯re a soldier and be unable to carry your little stick by yourself, HUH?¡± The officer shouted. In the end, the four hours of training had been more than enough to leave the cadets many times more exhausted than after their usually much longer days of training, and while Jake had been loathing the day they¡¯d reached Genova on the day of their departure, he now couldn¡¯t wait for their vessel to reach the planet. Surely being thrown into a frontier planet¡¯s wilderness for weeks on end to fight off some blood-crazed creatures couldn¡¯t be worse than what they¡¯ve been put through by Officer Neilr, could it? On top of all that training, they¡¯d also been ordered to practice their biotic skills at any given time their energy had recovered enough to do so, from the moment they woke up to the moment they fell asleep, which had ended up causing a lot of improvements amongst the cadets, even for Jake. Status Name: Jake Hawkins Rank: Cadet Energy Core: 54/65 Recovery Rate: 0.325 Base Attributes Strength: 12 Dexterity: 14 Constitution: 11 Recovery: 11 Perception: 15 Cognition: 20 Specs [Basic Reinforcement | Lvl. 8 | All attributes +8, Core +40] Skills [Basic Telekinesis | Lvl. 1] [Basic Biotic Reinforcement | Lvl. 3] In the last week, Jake had finally managed to bring his Basic Reinforcement Spec to the 8th level. Along with Ryan, Owens, and Micheal Kirk, he knew he was the only other cadet to have reached that level yet, with the rest being stuck at the 6th or 7th level. Most cadets in their promotion didn¡¯t spend nearly as much biotic energy into improving their spec, after all, as they instead chose to focus on improving their skills instead. Although it should usually have taken quite a lot longer for Jake to reach that level, the particular spec they¡¯d been given by the Alliance had the particularity of progressing faster when physically training one¡¯s body on top of supplying the spec with biotic energy. It was one of the main reasons the Alliance chose to teach this spec first before anything else, as it would benefit twice as much to inexperienced cadets. Furthermore, his Basic Biotic Reinforcement skill had finally reached the third level, which put Jake¡¯s maximum strength stat when activating his armour and strengthening skill at an impressive total of 16 units. The reason behind the skill¡¯s rapid growth compared to telekinesis was most likely that Jake¡¯s speed of biotic energy recovery ¡ª excluding the bonus from his amulet ¡ª had gone from 0,1 to 0,325 since his awakening, meaning the amount of energy he could spend toward improving his skills had increased by a lot since his early days trying to practice telekinesis with the marble. For now, he¡¯d almost given up on trying to improve his telekinesis spell, as he couldn¡¯t see himself reaching a level where Telekinesis would become useful anytime soon. Telekinesis was a very simple spell, but it was also pretty costly compared to his reinforcement skill, which made it hard for someone like Jake to use it to its full potential. Now, the cadets were all folded in half, panting, with around half of them ¡ª including Jake ¡ª throwing up their lunch on the floor. They were used to it by now, as that was how every single session inside the gravity room had ended this week. ¡°Ahh, humans. I can¡¯t say I¡¯m not disappointed once again, but at least most of you showed some guts again today, literally.¡± The officer said, thoughtfully looking at the cadets still hunched over, coughing. Jake, like most of the cadets, let out a small frustrated sigh at the officer¡¯s comment but still ended up saluting the officer like everyone else after wiping the corner of his mouth. ¡°Yes! Thank you, sir!¡± They all echoed out. ¡°Go get changed, we should be landing anytime now, and I want everyone to be ready in fifteen minutes for the final briefing before landing.¡± ¡°Yes, sir!¡± The cadets answered, before making their way back to their room. Like all the other cadets, Jake made his way back to their dorms and stepped inside the shower for a quick clean-up before putting on a clean set of his academy uniform. Afterward, Jake made his way back to his bed, next to which laid his sword and sniper, which he both grabbed and sheathed seconds after having activated his armour. Truth be told, he would have preferred to keep the armour off for as long as possible so he could continue to put more biotic energy into improving his spec, but Officer Neilr had been clear they would be expected to wear their armour at all times for the duration of this assignment. Moreover, it was way easier to carry his weapons when his armour was activated and he could put them back in their sheath. [Look at you, all ready for your first assignment. Jeez, they grow up so fast.] Jake ignored the implant as he made his way back to the common area, where the officer was already waiting for them. A few minutes later, every cadet had finally arrived at the area, all of them fully decked out with gear, and the officer spoke up in his usual grumpy tone. ¡°Our only objective today is to make our way to the settlement¡¯s executive headquarters and get briefed on the situation. Depending on what they say, we might depart immediately or stay at the settlement for a couple of days. Do not expect me to babysit you during this assignment, I will tell you where you¡¯re going, what you¡¯re doing and when you¡¯re doing it, and you will shut up and do exactly that. Is that clear, cadets?¡± ¡°Yes, sir!¡± The cadets answered. ¡°Oh, and one more thing. As soon as we take the first step through these doors, every one of you cadets will be responsible for their comrades¡¯ lives, as well as their own. Do not fail me, and more importantly, do not fail your squad. Understood?¡± The officer added.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°Yes, sir!¡± The cadets answered. Then the officer got up, and the cadets all followed in the First Lieutenant¡¯s footsteps as they made their way to the ship¡¯s entrance. All around them, the four other squads of cadets, along with the other commanding officers we¡¯re all standing up next to them, waiting for the exit door to open. As soon as it did, barely a few seconds later, Jake was blown away by a wave of heat and humidity that immediately seemed to choke the air out of him. From the corner of his eye, his implant was currently displaying some information about the outside temperature and weather, and he almost shouted when he saw the numbers. [ 41 oC | 79% Humidity | 110 km/h wind | 1.3x Earth¡¯s gravity ] ¡°What the hell? It¡¯s only 0900, how ¡ª ¡± King started, but she didn¡¯t get to finish as their commanding officer¡¯s deadly stare was enough to cut her right off. Then, they finally stepped foot on Genova, and Jake couldn¡¯t believe what he was seeing with his very own eyes. To put it simply, the planet looked nothing short of a giant piece of deserted rock, with its surface being devoid of any plant, tree or bush in all directions. In the distance, a gigantic mountain elevated far beyond the rest of the landscape, over which rested a moon that looked at least a few times larger than the one Jake had seen on Earth during his stay at the academy. Next to the moon, a gigantic sun that emanated a bright red light seemed to taint the entire landscape with a hint of blood, giving the planet a strange atmosphere. On the horizon, swirling bouts of intense winds were swaying around giant clouds of sand and rock, muddying the planet¡¯s atmosphere. After a moment, Jake¡¯s eyes finally came back down from the sky and landed straight into the bustling little settlement that made up his whole vicinity. Everywhere around him, small greenish creatures were going about in all directions, with most of them transporting various metals or ores in one direction or another. [Goblins: Small creatures originating from the 23rd sector of the Alliance, and known for their cunning, as well as their large amount of businesses and megacorporations. Most of them choose to make a career in trading or other business ventures rather than as a soldier, but every single goblin awakens naturally as soon as they reach 5 years old.] Buildings of various sizes made out of something akin to stone or clay completed the look, with tons of heavy metal machinery sprouting everywhere in between. One weird thing was that the structures seemed worn down and battered to the point of wondering how they were still standing, with most of them being layered with multiple impact marks and cracks. Moments later, he also noticed that a few of the goblins were sporting various injuries, most of them looking rather serious. Then, a quick look all around him revealed that almost all of them had some sort of gruesome injury like a missing arm or leg, and he couldn¡¯t help but wonder what had happened here. Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t get much time to ask any questions as a few important-looking goblins appeared in front of the four training officers. Like all the others, they were all in pretty bad shape, and one of the oldest-looking ones stepped up in front of the officers. ¡°Greetings, officers. I am Elder Ark¡¯reak, leader of this small operation, and I am more than thrilled to finally see you after waiting for so long. Hopefully, your trip went as expected?¡± The goblin was so old that he was practically hunched over, making him look even smaller than he originally was, and he had one of his arms in a weird-looking cast. ¡°Thank you, Elder Ark¡¯reak, our trip went well indeed. Would you mind giving us a rundown of the situation as soon as possible, we are eager to help.¡± Officer Gwyra responded, in a tone that was so polite Jake wondered if it was the same officer he¡¯d known for the past weeks. ¡°You are months too late to be eager, First Lieutenant. However, we will give you a rundown of the situation. Please, follow me.¡± The goblin answered, this time with a less-than-polite tone. Still, the officers followed the few goblins that seemed to consist of the elders of the settlement, and they finally arrived in front of a large structure, into which small doors ¡ª barely large enough for a human to pass through ¡ª looked to be the only entrance. ¡°Stay here, cadets. All of you.¡± Officer Gwyra ordered the fifty cadets that currently stood right behind her, and they all answered back at once. ¡°Yes, ma¡¯am!¡± The four commanding officers all made their way inside the building, and it was only half an hour later that they stepped out, this time without the goblin elders they¡¯d entered with. Officer Neilr, like the other commanding officers, quickly made his way toward his respective squad, and all of Team B was soon stationed a few meters left of the building. ¡°Things are a lot worse than we¡¯ve expected, but our mission remains the same. We¡¯re heading out in five minutes, be ready.¡± The officer declared. Half an hour later, the cadets were all facing the enormous wall that encircled the whole settlement. It was large enough for the goblins ¡ª or humans for that matter ¡ª to be able to stand on top of it and shoot down any invaders trying to make their way inside the camp, which was one of the main reasons why the settlement was still standing after so long. Now that they stood right in front of it, however, Jake realized the wall was damaged in a lot of areas, and multiple holes littered the rock, creating breaches where enemies could infiltrate the camp. Overall, the fortifications looked ready to fall down at any moment, and Jake wondered how they still stood in their current state. With Officer Neilr at the front, the entire squad passed through one of the fortifications breaches and ended up outside of the walls, in front of the huge mountain range that stood on the horizon. Then, their commanding officer finally turned around and produced ten small backpacks out of thin air. ¡°Inside this bag, you¡¯ll find everything we might need during this trip, including a portable shelter, a sleeping bag, as well as various other equipment, and it¡¯ll be your responsibility for the duration of this assignment.¡± It was hard for the cadets not to smile at the thought of a sleeping bag and a shelter. Most of them had been getting used to the idea of sleeping on the ground during the last few days, so the backpack was indeed a welcome surprise. ¡°As for the assignment itself, our radars have picked up unusual underground activity around 250 km north from here. Usually, such a distance wouldn¡¯t be a problem, but I doubt we¡¯ll be able to make our way there without a fight or two, so always be at the ready. Understood?¡± The officer added. ¡°Yes, sir!¡± The cadets replied, and they started their march. Walking for 250km over a few days hadn¡¯t sounded like much at first, but Jake quickly found out that their commanding officer had no intention of walking there, nor did he have the intention for their trip to last a few days. Only an hour after they departed from the settlement, every single cadet was completely exhausted, and Officer Neilr was forced to call for a halt. ¡°You guys better toughen up, otherwise we¡¯ll never reach the nest at this rate.¡± The cadets, still trying to catch their breaths, managed with great difficulty to cough up a reply before they fell to the ground, panting. They¡¯d spent the last four weeks getting in shape for this assignment, and thanks to their spec, their attributes were now much stronger than the average human unawakened. The problem was that the harsh climate, as well as the small increase in gravity compared to the Earth¡¯s, were all contributing to the cadets'' fatigue in their own way. Jake especially had a hard time carrying over 200 pounds of weaponry on his back under Genova¡¯s increased gravity. Jake was about to get up when something caught his attention to his right. Thanks to him diligently working on his specs all the time, his perception attribute had greatly improved since the day of his awakening. While this improvement had been far less noticeable than his strength or dexterity for example, he could tell there was a slight difference in his ability to perceive his environment, especially with his five senses. His eyes could see slightly farther, and his ears were sharper, even his nose and mouth could smell and taste with more accuracy it seemed. Jake closed his eyes for a second and focused on his hearing. He could hear the rustling of the violent gusts of wind against the sand and rock, as well as his comrades'' ragged breaths, but something else was there as well. Something that didn¡¯t belong, that made him feel on edge. Suddenly, a roar echoed somewhere to his right, and a huge creature appeared in front of the squad. The beast let out a horrifying cry and pounced on the cadet it was the closest to in under an instant, as Jake¡¯s implant flared up again with a prompt. [ Vertaerax Crawler ¡ª Gigantic insectoid creature from the Vertaerax species with razor-sharp teeth and claws. Its entire body is covered in a thick exoskeleton that is not only hard to pierce but resistant to biotic energy. The crawler usually acts as the Vertaerax nest¡¯s primary line of defence and is in charge of collecting food for the nest. If you¡¯re reading this, you¡¯re the food.] But Jake was already on the move, he¡¯d already activated his suit of armour and reinforcement skill, as well as unsheathed his sword. It was like his body had pushed his mind away and took over for a second as he appeared right in front of Micheal Kirk. A moment later, Jake was sent flying for over two meters as the beast¡¯s massive claws made contact with the left side of his entire body, slicing through his armour with incredible ease. His mind went dark for an instant until he felt his body landing brutally on the ground after what had no doubt been a majestic flight. He quickly got up, ignoring the pain that afflicted his entire left side, only in time to see Officer Neilr teleport right in front of the beast and deliver a swing so powerful the beast¡¯s head was pulverized in one blow, leaving a giant morbid hole where it¡¯s head had stood moments ago. Every single cadet froze at the amazing display of power, and none of them even dared to make a sound as the training officer grabbed the beast¡¯s body by the plating on its back before he made his way back to the cadets. ¡°Found some lunch.¡± He said, nonchalantly, and the cadets simply stood there, mouth agape. Chapter 10: Vertaerax None of the cadets had been prepared for that fight except for Jake, and even he had failed miserably at neutralizing the creature, who¡¯d revealed much stronger than he could have ever imagined. The insectoid was stronger, faster, and a hell of a lot more vicious than he had anticipated, on top of being very hard to cut down thanks to its thick exoskeleton. ¡°Hawkins.¡± Officer Neilr called out, and Jake immediately got up and saluted the officer. ¡°Do you know why you¡¯re on this team?¡± ¡°No, sir!¡± Jake answered, not knowing where the commanding officer was going with his line of questioning. ¡°Your cognition and perception are by far the highest of this promotion. Which means that if anyone should have been able to alert the others of an upcoming attack, it was you, and if anyone around here shouldn¡¯t be acting stupid, also you.¡± Jake looked at the officer, barely holding on to the anger fuming inside him. He¡¯d put his own life on the line to save Kirk from an assault, and he hadn¡¯t made it out without a scratch. His entire left side was profusely bleeding where the creature had dug its claws into Jake¡¯s flesh, and he had a hard time moving his left arm and shoulder due to the agonizing pain. Yet, he didn¡¯t say none of that to his commanding officer. He nodded and then answered. ¡°Yes, sir.¡± He let out, unable to mask all of his anger. ¡°This was the last time I ever intervened for something so trivial. The next time, I¡¯ll watch the Vertaerax feed on your insides without raising an eyebrow. Understood?¡± ¡°Yes, sir!¡± The cadets answered. The most frustrating thing to Jake was that he knew that the officer could have prevented the attack if he¡¯d truly wanted to. After all, he¡¯d utterly pulverized the creature in less time than it took to say it, yet he¡¯d still let the thing take a swipe at him before Officer Neilr had decided to act. It was clear that the First Lieutenant was intentionally putting their lives on the line as part of their training regimen, and Jake had a hard time swallowing that fact lying down. An instant later, Officer Neilr announced they would be making a halt for an hour, and he immediately started assigning tasks to every cadet for the set up of their temporary camp. Both Jake and Ryan had been put in charge of cutting up the meat from the Vertaerax Crawler. Thanks to their respective weapons, they were the best suited for such a task, and it only took them half an hour to dissect the entire creature into nice slabs of meat under the direction of their implants. The Vertaerax Crawlers were mostly safe to consume, but certain areas like the stomach, the brain and a small area close to the throat that held a strong corrosive acid would be hazardous to eat, so they made sure to put these parts away and hand the rest over to the cadets in charge of cooking for the night. During that time, both Owens and Zac Jenkins had been assigned to cook the meat on a small expandable stove that ran on biotic energy. It was something that the First Lieutenant had once more produced out of thin air, and this time Jake couldn¡¯t hold back his curiosity as he asked Ryan about it. ¡°How does he do that?¡± Jake asked the giant. ¡°You¡¯ve never seen a spatial artifact before?¡± He answered back. Jake shook his head at the giant, who was currently looking at him with a confused expression, almost wondering if the cadet was joking. ¡°Spatial artifacts are generally jewelry, or objects at least, that allow the awakened to store material things inside a different spatial plane and take them out as they wish, in exchange for a moderate drain on their biotic energy.¡± Jake simply nodded his understanding as they made their way back toward the campfire, both of them completely covered in insectoid blood from head to toe. They both sat on the ground, a few feet away from the stove as it was radiating intense heat, which was far from pleasant for the cadets as the hot weather was already insufferable. They only waited a few minutes before the two cadets that Officer Neilr had put in charge of cooking the Vertaerax tossed a giant slice of meat to everyone else. Of course, they could always rely on King to complain about the food, or about anything else for that matter. ¡°Ew, I¡¯m not eating that, there¡¯s no way.¡± She said, giving the food a disgusted look worthy of a 5-year-old throwing a tantrum. ¡°Okay, then I¡¯ll eat it.¡± Ryan let out as he stole the piece of insectoid meat straight out of her hands and started gulping the whole thing down like it was the best thing he¡¯d ever eaten before. Jake followed suit as he took a bite out of the piece he¡¯d received?¡ª?most probably a piece from one of the legs from the look of it?¡ª?and saw all the other cadets do the same. Strangely, the meat tasted far from bad, and although it lacked proper seasoning, Jake still ate the whole thing without complaining. Once everyone?¡ª?except King of course¡ª had finished their piece they¡¯d quickly got back on the road, at an even faster pace this time. There were only a few hours left before sundown, and the First Lieutenant had been extremely clear that they wouldn¡¯t be travelling at night since none of the cadets could see in the dark, which would make the whole venture many times more dangerous, so they had to cover a lot of distance as long as the sun was still up. They¡¯d only travelled for a couple of minutes before Jake got the same mysterious feeling of danger as he had before the attack, and this time, he didn¡¯t even take time to think before he shouted.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Something¡¯s coming!¡± Everyone stopped in their tracks and got into position. They didn¡¯t have to wait long before another Vertaerax jumped out of behind a large rock, immediately charging at Ryan. The creature hadn¡¯t picked the right target, however, as Ryan¡¯s axe came crashing in the middle of its torso with impressive speed, and the beast was stopped in its track right away with a resounding crunch. Barely a moment later, Micheal Kirk appeared next to the Vertaerax and sliced through one of the creature¡¯s legs with its shortsword and etched the blade right where Ryan¡¯s axe had fallen earlier. This time the blade went in unimpeded thanks to Ryan destroying the creature¡¯s exoskeleton earlier, causing the creature to fall flat on its side, unmoving. ¡°That¡¯s better, but still not good enough.¡± Officer Neilr coldly declared before they started running again. The remainder of the day pretty much went on similarly as they kept running toward the Vertaerax nest. They¡¯d met around 15 or so more of the Vertaerax Crawlers, which were all disposed of without much of a problem, although every cadet had accumulated their fair share of injuries by now, with Jake suffering from the most out of all the other cadets. No matter what he did, he had a hard time evading the attacks of the crawlers thanks to his sword slowing him down severely. Furthermore, they¡¯d had to take frequent halts after every fight so that the cadets could recover some of their stamina. Once again Jake in particular had found the travelling to be somewhat of a nightmare, as the weight from his sword, his crippling injuries and the horrid temperature made for a deeply exhausting combo. He¡¯d even used his Basic Biotic Reinforcement skill multiple times to lower the strain on his body, which had only helped for a few minutes before he¡¯d run out of energy, unfortunately. On the brighter side, he¡¯d finally managed to get the hang of his perceptive abilities by constantly focusing on his five senses as he ran, keeping a part of his brain focused on his environment. He couldn¡¯t believe how he¡¯d spent the last few weeks not giving a second thought about any of his new abilities except for his newly improved strength and speed while overlooking the rest of his attributes. Jake looked at the wounds that littered the left side of his body. The bleeding had already stopped, and he knew his body¡¯s enhanced regeneration attribute would patch him up at record speed, even for an injury that serious. How much farther would his attributes continue to climb during the next few weeks? He was already aware that improving as an awakened was something that became exponentially harder as time went on, and that he would probably need decades to reach any sort of decent level, centuries maybe, according to Officer Neilr at least. Still, he wondered how long it would take before his attributes reached a high level enough for him to feel like some sort of superhuman since his physical prowess was barely better than normal humans for now. He was still lost in thought when the First Lieutenant finally ordered a halt, and every cadet immediately started preparing the camp, which barely took them around a minute or two. Each cadet took off their backpack and started taking out some equipment from inside the bag. The first thing Jake took out was a large metallic cube that transformed into a portable shelter once placed on the ground and activated. One peek inside the shelter revealed a room the size of a closet, and the insides were fully lighted. He reached inside his backpack again and took out yet another similar box, although this time a sleeping bag appeared when he activated it, and he quickly stashed the thing inside his shelter, followed by his backpack. As it turned out, Genova¡¯s temperature varied highly during all hours of the day. While the temperature had reached 51 degrees around 1400, it had now dropped all the way down to 12 degrees, and it would keep going down during the night, which meant that even though he¡¯d almost suffered from heatstroke at one point during the day, he would still need to tuck himself in a sleeping bag with amazing insulation during the night. Once they were done setting up camp for the night, every member of the squad made their way toward the middle of their camp, where Officer Neilr was already waiting for them. A Vertaerax Crawler was currently grilling on the very same stove they¡¯d used earlier for lunch, this time powered by the energy of none other than the First Lieutenant himself. ¡°We will camp here for ten hours, and then get back on the road afterward. You¡¯ll use this time to take off your armour and fully focus on improving your specs, as well as getting a few hours of shut-eye. You¡¯ll be assigned sleep shifts through your implants so that we always have two cadets looking out for the others, these two will be wearing their armours at all times and handling all Vertaerax attacks while the others recover.¡± Officer Neilr declared to the cadets. ¡°Yes, sir!¡± They answered. Incidentally, Jake had been assigned the first shift of guard duty of the night, along with Micheal Kirk, the cadet he¡¯d saved from a surprise Vertaerax attack earlier today. Just like Ryan and Owens, he was also considered amongst the top cadets of the promotion, not only in terms of attributes but also in terms of biotics. They both sat a few feet away from each other near the campfire and stayed silent for a few minutes until Kirk finally spoke up. ¡°I¡¯ve never actually had the chance to thank you, for earlier.¡± Jake turned around to look at the cadet, quite shocked to hear someone other than Ryan or Owens speaking to him. Things had gotten a lot better for him in the last weeks, except for King, nobody wasted any time on mocking him anymore, but they pretty much all ignored him even then. ¡°Don¡¯t mention it, I only wish for all of us to make it back to the settlement in one piece,¡± Jake answered. It was Kirk¡¯s turn to raise an eyebrow at Jake this time, and he stayed silent for a few seconds before he finally answered. ¡°That¡¯s pretty optimistic, if not impossible. It¡¯s only our first day and a few of us have already come close to dying a few times already, and every single one of us has sustained some serious injuries. It¡¯s not looking good, man.¡± Jake stayed silent for a few seconds, knowing the cadet was right. There was very little chance Jake would make it out of this first assignment alive, and even less of a chance that their entire squad would make it out in one piece. ¡°There¡¯s something I¡¯ve been meaning to ask for quite some time,¡± Kirk said, his voice marked with hesitation. Jake raised an eyebrow at the revelation, but still nodded to indicate he was listening. ¡°Why did you choose that sword? You can barely lift it, and I can¡¯t imagine how tiring it must be to run with the thing for an entire day, on top of fighting the crawlers every half an hour.¡± Kirk added ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯re aware already, but my biotic energy reserves are so small I can barely use telekinesis to lift a marble for half a minute before I run out, and that¡¯s already a lot better than what I could do at the time of my awakening. This meant I had to find a weapon that would allow me to survive all of this without relying on biotic energy to do so.¡± Jake said, flatly. Kirk simply nodded before he seemed to be lost in thought for a moment. ¡°Is that why King and her little clique hate you so much?¡± He asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know if she really needs a reason to hate me, to be honest. She¡¯s been on my ass pretty much since day one.¡± Jake answered. ¡°I wonder how long she¡¯s going to starve herself.¡± Kirk let out with a chuckle. ¡°Forever wouldn¡¯t be so bad, it leaves more food for us. Although she does get even more cranky when she¡¯s hungry.¡± Jake said, and the both of them exploded into laughter a second later. Chapter 11: Spawn Legions
The next day, the cadets were already back on the road at 0600 sharp, even though they were all completely exhausted. On top of the 40 kilometres they¡¯d just run the day before while carrying their equipment, they¡¯d been attacked by Vertaerax Crawlers a total of 10 times during the last night, and none of them had been able to catch more than a few hours of shut-eye. Jake especially, was beginning to feel like his body would give out before they even reached the nest at this rate, and he even thought about throwing away his sniper for a second. After all, he had yet to use it even after all this time on Genova, and he had a feeling it would be a long time before he¡®d ever get to. ¡°You good?¡± Micheal Kirk asked from next to him, with both Owens and Ryan giving Kirk a weird look. ¡°Yeah, don¡¯t worry about me.¡± Jake answered back. The thing was, people usually only talked to Jake when they were either trying to mock him or insult him, yet Jake and Kirk undeniably bonded during their assigned guard duty last night. Since then, Jake and Kirk had grown noticeably closer, and Kirk had even started travelling right alongside their little trio, drawing suspicious glares from Owens and Ryan. The both of them looked like they were about to ask Jake what was going on when a horrifying cry echoed from somewhere to their left. On King¡¯s shoulder, a noticeably smaller version of the Vertaerax Crawler was currently biting through her articulation¡¯s flesh, with the girl letting out agonizing cries of pain. After a few seconds passed, one of the Evans?¡ª?who were the closest cadets standing near the girl?¡ª?finally thought of helping her out and decapitated the beast with his sword. ¡°What the hell was that?¡± Owens shouted. Then, a prompt appeared in Jake¡¯s field of view. [ Vertaerax Spawn?¡ª?A smaller version of the Vertaerax crawler that is known for travelling in very large groups of hundreds of individuals. They make up for in speed what they lack in size and strength, and their bite realeases a powerful corroding agent.] ¡°Fuck, that¡¯s not good.¡± Jake mumbled. ¡°REGROUP!¡± Officer Neilr shouted before they were assaulted by hundreds of Vertaerax Spawns. Jake didn¡¯t hesitate for a second before he took out his sword and activated his strengthening skill as he made his way toward his squadmates, swinging at the nearby Vertaerax Spawn with his huge sword along the way. However, his lacking speed once more put him at a huge disadvantage against the creatures as for every beast he cut down with his sword, at least two of the things clawed or bit at his armoured body. The spawns¡¯ attacks carried a lot less weight than the crawlers¡¯, allowing the cadets¡¯ armors to soak up most of the damage as they were assailled by an astounding number of bites and swipes. [ Dude, what the hell. The goal is to hit the things you know? ] Ed, now is not the time. One more word and I swear I¡¯m ripping you out of my brain with my bare hands. [ I¡¯m serious, stop trying to swing where they are, instead swing where they¡¯re going to be. Also use the flat of your sword will you, it will be a lot easier to aim with a bigger surface area.] Jake was seriously about to get mad when he thought the implant¡¯s words over for a second, and realization dawned on him. The implant was incredibly annoying, that was certain, but he was annoyingly right. His sword fell, aiming around a feet in front of where one of the spawns was, and Jake couldn¡¯t repress a grin as his sword crushed the beast in two in a sickening crunch of bones and exoskeleton being reduced to paste under the flat of his blade. He kept fending off the things this way for a until he finally reached the others, and he could see that everyone else was struggling just as much as he did to fight off the creatures, with their entire squad looking like it¡¯d soon be overtaken by the sheer number of opponents. ¡°Maintain your position!¡± Ryan shouted from the left, as his giant axe fell on one of the creatures. ¡°There are too many of them¡± Jenkins shouted back from farther away, his voice barely more than a grunt at this point. All hope seemed lost when Jake saw their training officer stepping forward from the corner of his eye. The Kreigen let out an exasperated sigh, and then a weird pressure started to emanate from his entire being, and Jake was suddenly brought to his knees. Then, the officer swung a fist in front of himself at a speed barely discernable to the naked eye, and a terrifying explosion erupted outward along with a deafening sound. The entire area in front of him was pulverized, from the spawns to some of the landscape, the whole area had been scraped clean by the power of the explosion. A second later, the First Lieutenant turned on his heels to face the cadets, who had all fallen to the ground due to the pressure emanating from the kreigen. ¡°Take care of the rest yourself, or die.¡± The Kreigen said, coldly. With that one attack, the First Lieutenant must have had taken out at least half of the beasts, yet there were still over a hundred of them in their immediate vicinity, and the small reprieve only lasted for a moment before they were overwhelmed again by the creatures. To his left, Jake could see that Ryan was currently mowing through the beasts with his axe, and he turned his focus to the right where Micheal Kirk was currently fighting off half a dozen spawns with his short sword. Further to the right, Owens was currently holding off half a dozen creatures with her telekinesis as she swung through some more with her iron bracers. He tried to locate the others every moment he could, but the thick layer of dust and dirt that covered the entire area made it impossible for him to know about the others¡¯ wherabouts. Jake, on the other hand, looked ready to keel over as the beasts in his immediate vicinity kept increasing in numbers, and the sword in his hands felt heavier and heavier as time went on. His whole body was littered with small superficial wounds, and his armour looked almost completely scorched off by now. His energy core was almost dry by now, and he knew he wouldn¡¯t be able to keep up the pace for more than a minute or two as his arms grew numb. But he still kept swinging until he felt like his arms would fall off, and even then, he still kept swinging. Even when he¡®d had to stop using his skill as only a few units of biotic energy were left in his core and he was left barely able to swing the sword, his will to survive was simply too strong for him to give up. Somewhere along the way, even his mind blacked out as his body fell into the numb darkness of his unconcsious. Ten minutes later, not a single beast remained as over a hundred bloodied insectoid corpses littered the floor around them. The cadets themselves were all lying on the floor, panting, covered in blood that was as much their own as the creatures¡¯.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Jake had regained consciousness only a few seconds ago, waking up some distance away from the others. The altercation had only lasted for an instant, yet he was covered in wounds from head to toe, and his armour had been reduced to shreds by the spawn¡¯s claws and teeth. While the armour was made up of a very resistant carbon-mesh alloy, the creatures¡¯ bite secreted a corrosive acid that could melt right through the cadets¡¯ armours over time. One of the creatures had even bit off an entire part of the plating on the left side of Jake¡¯s torso, where a nasty wound was currently festering and bleeding profusely. Unlike normal bite wounds, the corrosive acid from the Vertaerax almost seemed to melt through the skin and flesh right off the bones of the cadets, making each wound extremely painful. Further away from the group, Officer Neilr¡¯s silhouette appeared walking between the corpses covering the entire vicinity. ¡°Cadets, report for duty.¡± The officer shouted. Jake tried to get up, but he didn¡¯t even move a muscle as he saw the other cadets around him slowly make their way to the commanding officer¡¯s position. Then, a familiar hand scooped him up from the ground, and Jake was suddenly carried off over Ryan¡¯s shoulder, sparking an intense bout of pain from his left side. Seconds later, Ryan put him back down as they reached the officer, and Jake could tell from a glance that everyone had made it out alive this time. However, every cadet looked worn out beyond what he thought possible. It was only their second day, but everyone was at the end of the rope already. ¡°Well done, cadets. I¡¯m glad all of you pulled through.¡± Officer Neilr finally said, and no one made a sound for a few seconds until the First Lieutenant spoke up again. ¡°I know you guys think I should have helped you out more,¡± Officer Neilr declared, ¡°but the reality here is that what doesn¡¯t kill you makes you stronger. I might be strong, but if you cadets don¡¯t become much stronger than you currently are, we will fail this mission. You might not like it, but this entire assignment relies on you cadets, and if five of you have to die for the rest of you to become strong enough to carry out this mission, I¡¯ll make that sacrifice in a heartbeat.¡± Not a single cadet spoke a word at the officer¡¯s speech. Of course, everyone couldn¡¯t help feeling frustrated about how little their lives meant to the commanding officer, but it¡¯s not like they had much of a choice to follow the First Lieutenant¡¯s orders. It was only after a short silence that Jake spoke up. ¡°Yes, sir. We will not disappoint.¡± Ryan let out, his voice firm but weary. The cadets all looked at each other, before finally answering the commanding officer. Like the others, Jake didn¡¯t like one bit how they were being used as expendable pawns by the officers. However, unlike some of the others?¡ª?like King?¡ª?who believed they deserved to be protected, Jake had no illusions his survival had to be taken into his own hands. He¡¯d made some friends along the way, and Officer Neilr was powerful, but when push came to shove he could only count on himself. ¡°Yes, sir!¡± This time, the cadets only travelled for a few kilometres before they stopped at the entrance of a small cave located at the foot of a small mountain, which was where they¡¯d be resting until they¡¯d recovered enough to continue with the assignment. Thankfully for Jake who still had trouble even walking with his injuries, the Officer had massively slowed down the pace to allow the more injured cadets, like Jake and Jenkins, to keep up with the rest. While Genova¡¯s entire landscape had looked entirely devoid of life at first, it hadn¡¯t taken long for the cadets to realize that this was only true on the planet¡¯s surface, where temperatures could regularly reach dangerous extremes. As soon as they reached the cave, the cadets were left in awe at the sight of the leagues of vegetation and mushrooms littering the moist ground and rock walls. The temperature inside the cave was also a lot cooler than on the surface, while also being a lot more humid, and the cadets all let out a sigh of relief as soon as the change was felt. Deeper inside the cave, a small runoff of water shot from one of the walls before disappearing in between some small crevices, and a few of the cadets ran toward it at full speed as soon as they saw it. Among them, King was the first to get to it and immediately started drinking from the source, with the two brothers and Laurent doing the same. ¡°What a bunch of idiots,¡± the officer mumbled as he ran a hand over his face. ¡°At least test it with the water testing kit that¡¯s in each of your bags.¡± The four cadets all stopped dead in their tracks, and looking slightly embarrassed, took out a small water testing kit from their bag. It was a simple vial with a small holographic interface that was extremely easy to use, as one only needed to fill the vial with water for the interface to confirm whether or not the water was safe to drink. Luckily, the testing kit soon confirmed the water was clean, and the cadets all drank their fill. Moments later, Ryan helped Jake and the others get their shelters installed. The amount of flat space inside the cave where they would be able to set up camp was pretty small, so the cadets all ended up sharing the shelters in groups of two. Jake partnered with Ryan, which might have been a bad decision as his giant friend was so big that the two of them would end up being pretty cramped inside, although he still felt a lot more comfortable sleeping next to the giant than the others. As for the others, the two Evans brothers had been partnered together, with Kirk and Jenkins forming the third duo, with Smith and Owens being the fourth, with the fifth being comprised of King and Laurent. Jake was getting so used to hearing King complaining he had been expecting it. ¡°What? Why should I be with you? You¡¯re not worthy of me!¡± King lashed out, giving Laurent a disgusted look as she did. ¡°If the Vertarax doesn¡¯t kill you, I will,¡± Laurent answered with a sigh. ¡°Sorry, bud. I called dibs yesterday already.¡± Kirk shouted from the opening of his shelter, and a few laughs echoed from across the cave, including Jake¡¯s. ¡°WHAT THE FUCK DOES THIS MEAN?¡± King shouted, visibly angry. ¡°Smith, you¡¯re switching with me.¡± ¡°If you do that, I¡¯m swallowing Jake¡¯s sword,¡± Owens answered, flatly. ¡°Jake, dude. Owens wants you so bad.¡± Kirk answered, laughing hysterically, with everyone else exploding into laughter, except Jake and Owens whose faces had grown red in a matter of seconds. ¡°NOT WHAT I MEANT¡± Owens shouted back, horrified, sparking more laughter from everyone else, except for King who¡¯d already furiously made her way inside her shelter.
Once everything was set up, everyone gathered around for one final meal before they went to bed. Compared to the Vertaerax Crawler, the Spawns tasted a lot more like insects, and even in his mutilated state, Jake still almost ended up not eating anything at all. ¡°I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m saying this,¡± Jake said, ¡°But I almost miss eating the big crawlers.¡± ¡°I was thinking the same thing,¡± Owens added. ¡°Come on, guys, at least we have something to eat. Some of us haven¡¯t eaten anything since we got off the spaceship.¡± Kirk added, shooting a glance toward King, who had overheard the discussion. ¡°Fuck you, Kirk! Like I¡¯d want to eat some of these creepy disgusting things.¡± She shouted back from across the cave, drawing a much-needed laugh from everyone else. Still, Jake managed to gulp down almost two entire Spawns, which were as big as a dog before he felt satisfied. His entire body was covered in wounds, and the pain was bad enough to keep him wide awake even though he felt so tired he could have probably slept for three days straight. ¡°You cadets are going to stay here for 24 hours.¡± Officer Neilr declared. ¡°During that time, focus on improving your specs while your bodies recover, I¡¯m going to go and scout the way ahead during that time. As always, sleep shifts will be assigned through your implants, but I¡¯ll keep most of the Vertaerax away.¡± Luckily, Jake seemed to be part of the first group that got to go straight to sleep, and he immediately made his way to his unit with Ryan¡¯s help, and then immediately laid down inside his sleeping bag. [Look at you, you look like a cadaver, it¡¯s uncanny.] Not now, Ed. [Someone¡¯s in a mood. That sucks, I had great news for you.] Stop fucking around, Ed. Spit it out! [While you were at a hair¡¯s length away from dying earlier, some of your armour¡¯s key biotic energy processors were damaged by the spawn¡¯s acid, which means your armour¡¯s attribute-strengthening functionality no longer works.] And that¡¯s supposed to be good news, Ed? [Yup, it means we can put some more focus into improving your specs again.] That¡¯s good and all, but have you seen the state I¡¯m in after WEARING the armour? Now you want me to take it off? [It shouldn¡¯t be a problem, you just have to try not to get bitten to death by a bunch of vermins. We¡¯ve already talked about this matter before, but I think it¡¯s time for you to stop acting like a fool and focus?¡ª?] Ed started before he was cut off by a very impatient and tired Jake. I¡¯ll do my best, Ed. Goodnight. Chapter 12: Unexpected Reward
While Jake had originally been in a very precarious state at the end of their fight with the Spawns, he was already back on his feet the very next morning. Officer Neilr had ordered a 24-hour halt for everyone to get patched up, and the cadets had barely done anything but eat, sleep and talk about their previous fight during that time. Like everyone else, Jake¡¯s injuries had been bandaged in clean cloth by the First Lieutenant, although the amount of bandages covering his body far surpassed anyone else¡¯s. Thankfully, however, none of the injuries he¡¯d received the day before had been very deep or particularly large thanks to his armour absorbing most of the damage, although the sheer amount of wounds he¡¯d received and the loss of blood had made Jake pass out before the end of the fight. However, the superficial nature of the wounds had allowed Jake to get back in decent condition under record time, as he¡¯d regained the ability to walk and swing his sword around by the time he woke up the next morning. Out of habit, Jake spent around a quarter hour going through the usual basic sword training outside the cave as soon as he¡¯d woken up. He would have kept going longer when Owens suddenly appeared through the cave¡¯s exit. ¡°What the hell, Hawkins? Your wounds!¡± She almost shouted as soon as she caught sight of him. It took Jake a moment for him to finally take a glance down at his own body, only to see most of the previously white bandages that covered his body gorged in the unmistakable reddish tint of blood. ¡°That¡¯s not good,¡± Jake said, horrified. ¡°Come with me!¡± She said, letting out a weary sigh. ¡°I¡¯ll change them for you after Officer Neilr¡¯s debrief.¡± They both made their way back inside the cave, where the other cadets?¡ª? along with their commanding officer?¡ª? were already waiting for them. ¡°About time, cadets.¡± Officer Neilr declared, angrily. ¡°Now, I want us out of here and back on the road in a quarter hour, no less. Also, take the time to fill the water reservoir in your backpacks to the brim, I don¡¯t know when the next time we¡¯re going to stop will be, but it won¡¯t be today. Understood?¡± ¡°Yes, sir!¡± The cadets answered before springing into action, and like promised, it wasn¡¯t long before they finally departed, leaving just enough time for Jake to get his bandages changed by Owens, but not without drawing a few teasing glances from Kirk and Ryan. [ I¡¯m glad you¡¯re finally starting to learn, kiddo. Injuring yourself to get patched up by the pretty girl? Classic. ] Jake silently rolled his eyes at his implant¡¯s nagging. While it was true that the implant had been a huge help ever since his arrival at the academy, he couldn¡¯t help but wish there¡¯d be a muting functionality somewhere in there. Once they were done, he put back on his armour before sheathing his sword and sniper in his back, and he put on his backpack before making his way back to the group. Since yesterday¡¯s fight, Jake¡¯s armour had been utterly ripped to pieces by the spawns, and the strengthening ability feeding off his biotic energy had completely stopped working as a result. The good news was that Jake¡¯s biotic energy recovery was now a lot higher than before since it wasn¡¯t constantly absorbed by the armour. However, it also meant that the bonus attributes he usually received when wearing it were now gone. Moreover, a considerable part of the suit¡¯s carbon plating had been melted through by the Vertaerax¡¯s acid, creating a non-negligible amount of gaps in the armour¡¯s protection, which couldn¡¯t be good considering the dangers ahead. Jake let out a small sigh while looking down at his armour as he followed the others outside the cave before Kirk spoke up. ¡°You okay there, bud?¡± He asked. ¡°You look a little down since this morning.¡± ¡°I¡¯m alright, Kirk,¡± Jake answered. ¡°These little bastards don¡¯t bite that deep, but the wounds simply won¡¯t heal.¡± ¡°Hey, at least you got a pretty girl to patch you up, there are worse things in life.¡± Kirk mused, which prompted a few chuckles from Ryan and the nearby cadets.
Jake was currently eating a piece of one of the Crawlers that had attacked their group during the morning, along with Ryan and Owens. Kirk, on the other hand, was sitting with Jenkins, smith and Laurent this time, with whom he got along almost as well as he did with Jake¡¯s group. ¡°You¡¯re starting to get the hang of it, with your sword I mean.¡± Ryan suddenly said. ¡°It was about damn time.¡± Jake let out. ¡°I was so focused on swinging faster that I hadn¡¯t realized I could make up for my lack of speed with skill. I¡¯m still far from your level though, I¡¯m going to need a lot more experience for that.¡± Jake wasn¡¯t saying this to be modest, it was simply true. Both Ryan and Owen were carving their way through the enemies unlike any other cadet in their group. Sure, all of them had made noticeable progress during the last few days, but there was simply no comparing these two with the rest of the group. ¡°You¡¯re not far behind, believe me,¡± Owens said in between two bites. ¡°Also, if some experience is the only thing you¡¯re lacking, you¡¯re going to be served, we¡¯re encountering more and more Vertaerax every day. We¡¯re getting closer to the nest, that¡¯s for sure.¡± The cadets were still making small talk while they swallowed chunks of Crawler meat when Officer Neilr appeared in the distance. He was covered in gruesome Vertaerax blood from head to toe, and he looked tired, although in a far better state than any of the cadets still, his breathing slightly ragged.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Instantly, the cadets all shot up and silently awaited their commanding officer¡¯s orders. ¡°We¡¯re going to have to make a detour, there¡¯s too many spawns ahead.¡± The officer said. ¡°Even I wouldn¡¯t be able to get through before I run out of biotic energy.¡± The cadets almost gasped at the news. The officer had just pulverized over a hundred spawns in a single swing the day before, which meant the number of spawns ahead must have truly been terrifying for him to be forced to make a detour. ¡°Gather up! We¡¯re leaving.¡± He added before the cadets all saluted the officer and started packing up. Luckily, they had yet to have taken out the shelters since it was still noon, so it only took them a moment to gather up everything and be on their way. Minutes later, Team B was already back on the road, running at a good pace. The road was clear ahead of them, so they needed to maximize the opportunity to cover as much distance as they could before they got swarmed again, especially now that they had to make a huge detour to circle the huge legions of spawns ahead. They¡¯d barely been running for a few minutes when they were assaulted again, but this time, things took a terrifying turn. Earlier this morning, Jake and Ryan had both been pretty eager to get back on the road, eager to keep refining their abilities through battle. In front of them, however, now stood a total of four Vertaerax Crawlers, hissing and screeching at the cadets. Both Jake and Ryan stepped up to the front of the squad, along with Kirk and the Evans brothers, with the rest of the squad moving back, ready to offer some support with their telekinesis. Although that tactic usually worked great when the five other cadets could all use their telekinesis at once to hinder the creature, it proved inefficient when faced with four of them. After all, the Crawlers were almost two-meter-tall insectoids made up of dense exoskeletons and shell-like armour, which meant they were as heavy as could be and not easily pushed around by the cadet¡¯s powers. Two of the insectoids dashed straight at the cadets at once, with Ryan intercepting one with his axe. The impact was so powerful, however, that even he was sent flying backwards for a few feet on impact. Still, it created an opportunity for Jake to step in and take a huge swing at the creature, who managed to dodge the blade in time for it to miss its head by a hair and cut off one of its legs instead. At the same time, the second creature pounced on the brothers, who used their dexterity to their advantage and were able to scurry out of the way, with Kirk managing to do the same thing. Usually, their strategy consisted of encircling the creature while slowly chipping away at it with their weapons while it was being slowed down by telekinesis, but this time they weren¡¯t able to use that method. Seeing that things were starting to turn for the worse and that they would surely end up losing cadets if the fight dragged on for too long, Jake suddenly shouted at the cadets further in the back. ¡°Take out the guns and aim for the legs!¡± Every cadet executed as they took out their biotic guns and started blasting away at the Crawler¡¯s legs while Jake, Ryan and Kirk held off the creatures some distance away. Moments later, the shots ceased as the cadets ran out of biotic energy, but it seemed that their gamble had paid off as three of the creatures were now stuck in place, unable to move anywhere due to missing limbs. Jake, Ryan and Kirk all dragged the remaining Crawler some distance away, and Kirk drew its attention while both Jake and Ryan assaulted the creature with their massive weapons. While the trio had finally killed off the first crawler, the rest of the squad simply proceeded to eliminate the other creatures who were now as good as dead meat since they couldn¡¯t move. The cadets caught their breath for a second before the First Lieutenant reappeared, wearing an expression Jake almost didn¡¯t recognize, although it was gone before Jake could even be sure he hadn¡¯t imagined it. ¡°Come on, cadets, don¡¯t just stand around like idiots. Let¡¯s keep moving.¡± Officer Neilr almost shouted at the cadets. ¡°Yes, sir!¡± They answered.
As they ran along the rocky desert, the cadets all wore proud expressions while whispering among themselves. ¡°It¡¯s weird to think that a few days ago, we all froze up before one of these things, and now we¡¯ve killed four in under a few minutes,¡± Kirk said to Jake and the others. All the cadets nodded as Kirk¡¯s comment lent a smile to the whole crew. They¡¯d all come a long way since the first day, and the increasing threat level and difficulty of the assignment made it hard to forget at times. It wasn¡¯t long before it became more and more difficult to move forward, however, as legions of spawns kept appearing as they progressed. The cadets fought off the creatures a lot more easily this time, since their numbers were only around half of what they¡¯d fought the day before, and the First Lieutenant offered a lot more help this time. Moreover, Jake still found it hard to hit things with his sword because of their high dexterity, although he noticed clear improvement coming with every encounter. He was finally starting to get the hang out of fighting with his giant sword, and the increasing number of Vertaerax he was able to kill with every subsequent encounter was a testimony of his growing expertise. However, while every passing fight saw him become slightly stronger, it also added to the long list of injuries that raked his body. Simple bandages were not of much help any longer as the injuries kept piling up and showed no sign of healing whatsoever, even with his increased regeneration attribute. Worse, the wounds almost seemed to be festering as the acid kept melting through his skin any time a spawn managed to bite him. Sometime during the fight, their commanding officer had actually disappeared off to who knows where, as per usual. The officer had revealed before that one of his skills allowed him to perceive the life force of people and creatures all around him. Among other things, it allowed the First Lieutenant to be alerted whenever they were about to encounter unusually strong?¡ª? or numerous?¡ª? enemies, who would then break off from the group to take care of the threat before reappearing. When the officer finally reappeared after over 20 minutes of absence, he wore a very unusual expression. Owens, who was standing right next to Jake at the time, immediately spoke up. ¡°Am I dreaming, or is the First Lieutenant smiling?¡± She said, in shock. Officer Neilr was indeed smiling, Jake realized before the officer finally appeared in front of the cadets and spoke up in a weirdly excited tone. ¡°Everyone follow me, I found something interesting. Turns out this assignment will end up being worth the trip after all.¡± Curious, the cadets followed the officer into a small underground network of caves and tunnels that stretched just below the planet¡¯s surface. Thankfully, each of the cadets¡¯ backpacks was equipped with lights fueled by the user¡¯s biotic energy, which allowed them to navigate inside the dark tunnels in exchange for a very small drain on their core, which even Jake found to be manageable. The wait was soon becoming more and more unbearable, although the cadets were more than happy to enjoy the tempered climate and cool air from the underground. It was only after they¡¯d travelled for nearly half an hour that they finally entered a huge dome-like cave that was hidden at the end of a small natural tunnel. As soon as they stepped inside the large cave, every single one of them stopped dead in their tracks, only to stare all around them like idiots. ¡°You guys don¡¯t even know how lucky you are, we¡¯ve actually found a biotic vein.¡± Officer Neilr let out, wearing a smile that was almost out of place on the stern officer¡¯s face. Chapter 13: Biotic Vein
After the cadets had all followed the First Lieutenant down into the dark underground tunnels of Genova, they¡¯d all ended up inside a giant dome-like cave at the end of a narrow tunnel. As soon as they stepped inside the cave, the cadets were left in awe at the amazing sight that stood before them. The entirety of the cave, from the walls to the very floor was covered in magnificent crystals radiating a beautiful crystalline blue. Somewhere along the middle of the cave, a crystalline stream of pure water ran from one wall to the other, separating the entire dome into two almost equal sides. Compared to the previous caves they¡¯d encountered on Genova, vegetation was extremely sparse?¡ª?almost as much as on the surface?¡ª?although the cool underground air remained. The cadets all closed their torchlight as they made their way deeper inside the cave, slowly walking around the dome which was around 10 meters in diameter. Some of the cadets immediately made a beeline for the stream, and after testing the water, started filling the empty reservoirs in their backpacks, with Jake doing the same. Ed, what is this? [This is a biotic vein, where biotic crystals grow naturally. Biotic crystals are the primary compound used in the manufacture of stims, among other things, although they are far from being the most valuable thing here.] The cadets looked at each other for a moment, and Jake guessed they¡¯d also just received clarifications coming from their implants, although he still felt just as confused as when he¡¯d first stepped inside the cave. Yes, the crystals were valuable, but what did it mean for them? Surely they¡¯d need to give the crystals to the Intersystem Alliance, so getting excited over something they couldn¡¯t use felt pretty stupid. [ Hold on, kid. As I was saying, the most valuable thing here isn¡¯t the crystals, but the vein itself. In this cave, your biotic energy will recover around 4,92 faster than normal, allowing you to make tremendous gains in your spec in a short amount of time.] Jake almost gasped at the sudden realization that came with the implant¡¯s information. If they could stay here for some time, Jake would be able to upgrade his specs multiple times in a single week. ¡°I¡¯ve already received confirmation from Officer Gwyra and the Headquarters, they¡¯re allowing us to stay here for an entire week so that we can work on your specs. First of all, I want everyone to set up camp as fast as possible, we¡¯re beginning training in 5 minutes.¡± Officer Neilr announced. ¡°Yes, sir!¡± The cadets answered, with unusual enthusiasm. In the end, it barely took the cadets a few seconds to set everything up before they all made their way back to the First Lieutenant, going as fast as their battered and exhausted body could manage. It was probably the first and only time they¡¯d be getting excited over Officer Neilr¡¯s training, although the feeling was quickly replaced by the usual loathing that came with the officer¡¯s gruesome training regimen.
After the entire week of training inside the cave had passed in the blink of an eye, and it was clear as day that every single cadet had improved by leaps and bounds. As per usual, they had spent most of their time either fighting duels, undergoing combat training or doing regular basic training aimed at strengthening their bodies, all of this while absorbing the ambient biotic energy to improve their spec. None of the cadets had worn their armour even once during the entire week, instead choosing to spend every unit of biotic energy available to improve their attributes, and it had paid off huge dividends. Status Name: Jake Hawkins Rank: Cadet Energy Core: 80/80 Recovery Rate: 0.4 Base Attributes Strength: 15 Dexterity: 17 Constitution: 14 Recovery: 14 Perception: 18 Cognition: 23 Specs [Basic Reinforcement | Lvl. 11 | All attributes +11, Core +55] Skills [Basic Telekinesis | Lvl. 1] [Basic Biotic Reinforcement | Lvl. 3] During the last week, Jake had managed to improve his spec a total of three times thanks to the increased recovery that came with the biotic vein¡¯s proximity. Overall, this meant he¡¯d finally reached a total of 80 units in core capacity, which was four times as high as when he¡¯d first awakened. However, his improvements were leagues below those of his squadmates, who¡¯d all managed to improve their spec by at least five entire levels. The reason why their growth had been that much more noticeable was because the boost in energy density from the inside of the biotic vein could only improve his natural biotic energy recovery, which excluded the bonus that came from his father¡¯s amulet. Such artifacts had been made to provide a constant influx of biotic energy to their wearers, hence would not be affected by the cave¡¯s extreme density of energy. It meant that during his stay inside the vein, his biotic energy recovery had reached a record high of 1,845 units per minute, on top of the 1 bonus unit from his amulet, for a total of 2,845 units. On the other hand, the other cadets all possessed a natural biotic recovery located anywhere between 1,5 to 2,7, which meant their total biotic energy recovery had reached anywhere between 6 to 13 units per minute inside the cave, which represented an amount many times superior to Jake''s. Ryan, Kirk and Owens, for example, had each gained a total of 6 levels during the last week, placing their specs at the 14th level, giving them all a huge bonus to their cores and attributes. Even though he¡¯d made tremendous gains on his own, Jake couldn¡¯t help but feel slightly disappointed at the huge gap that had once again been dug between him and the other cadets. He¡¯d worked extremely hard to catch up, yet he¡®d been thrown back at the bottom of his promotion again, making it that much harder to reach them again moving forward. Jake was still lost in thought when the First Lieutenant¡¯s voice echoed inside the cavern. ¡°We¡¯re leaving in 5, make sure everything is packed by then.¡± He said, in his usual impatience.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°Yes, sir!¡± It barely took the cadets a minute to put back their shelters and sleeping bags inside their backpacks, and they didn¡¯t waste a single second before they all made their way back up to the surface along with the commanding officer. It wasn¡¯t like they were eager to get back to the surface, but spending a week inside a small cave cramped up with other people will turn claustrophobic even the most courageous of cadets. More importantly, every single one of them was more than willing to test their new strength against the Vertaerax. They were still making their way up across the tunnels when Jake spoke up. ¡°I wish we could have stayed there forever.¡± He said while letting out a small sigh. ¡°Actually, we couldn¡¯t.¡± Owens objected. ¡°Our bodies can only absorb so much biotic energy above its usual, natural rate before it starts suffering from energy toxicity. We would have probably started to feel the aftereffects of the toxicity within the next few days, at the latest.¡± ¡°That¡¯s too bad, having your spec go up multiple times in a week is borderline addictive,¡± Jake answered, lost in thoughts. It barely took half an hour for them to reach the surface, and they had barely stepped outside of the exit tunnels before they fell face to face with over a hundred Vertaerax Spawns, who¡¯d visibly been waiting for them to come out of the tunnels. ¡°Wow, and here I thought the cave sucked,¡± Kirk said aloud, ¡°Anyone wants to go back in?¡± Jake smirked as he activated his strengthening skill before he took position around the other cadets according to his implant¡¯s instructions. His body had recovered a lot since their last fight with the Vertaerax a week ago, but he was still covered in wounds that¡¯d barely begun closing up, with their commanding officer¡¯s gruesome training regimen playing no small part in that fact. Moments later, leagues of Spawns fell on the cadets, and Jake¡¯s sword almost felt light in his hands as he swung it around with unprecedented speed. Even his body fell lighter as he weaved around the Spawns with a speed that could almost finally rival theirs, cleaving one or two enemies with every swing of his gigantic sword. But it seemed that even with his newly improved spec, his dexterity still wasn¡¯t on par with the Spawns, who kept slicing and biting at him mostly unimpeded, adding on to the already imposing collection of wounds littering his body. Jake looked all around to see that his squadmates seemed even better off than he was, with Owens, Ryan and Kirk each mowing through leagues of enemies. Especially Kirk, whose dexterity seemed to be on a whole new tier now that he¡¯d improved his spec to level 14th, seemed even faster than the spawn as he weaved around the enemies like a leaf in the wind. The creatures could barely lay a claw on him as he danced around them, slicing them in two with his lightning-fast shortsword. Overall, it only took the cadets a little under 5 minutes to decimate the entire legion of Spawns that had been waiting for them outside of the cave. Even with Jake¡¯s meagre energy reserves, he hadn¡¯t even been able to spend all of his biotic energy before his sword fell on the last spawn. While their progress in all of their attributes had played a role in killing the creatures, it was clear that the improved dexterity brought by levelling up their spec had been the deciding factor in this battle, with only Jake ending up covered in wounds by the end of the squirmish. ¡°Not bad. Glad to see you lot haven¡¯t wasted that week inside the vein. Let¡¯s keep moving, I¡¯ve just received news from First Lieutenant Gwyra, things are getting pretty rough over at the settlement, so let¡¯s not waste any time and take care of that nest before things get out of hand.¡± Officer Neilr suddenly let out as the cadets caught their breath. ¡°Yes, sir!¡± They all answered as they started running again toward the nest. That day, Team B managed to travel for almost 60 kilometers, only stopping to fight off the Vertaerax or to catch their breath. It was only once they finally took their first real pause of the day that Jake realized how drained he was. Now that the others¡¯ attributes had improved by leaps during the last week, the officer had noticeably increased the pace. On top of all that, even with his newly improved attributes, Jake¡¯s sword was still a pain to carry and fight with, on top of the sniper he had yet to use even once during his assignment which felt more and more like dead weight as time went on. Jake was having trouble keeping up with the group more than ever before, and by the time they finally stopped running, he was simply exhausted, and he fell to the ground as soon as the officer ordered a halt. ¡°You okay?¡± Kirk asked from the side. ¡°Y-yeah, just a little tired. I¡¯ll be okay in a few minutes.¡± Jake answered, his voice shaking and barely louder than a whisper. ¡°Want me to carry your sword for you?¡± Ryan suddenly asked, ¡°That¡¯s why you¡¯re so tired, right?¡± Jake looked at the giant for a second, and for a moment he was tempted to accept his offer, but in the end, he finally declined. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about me, I should reach the next level of my spec in no time. It¡¯ll be a lot easier then.¡± Jake answered, forcing himself to sound a lot more enthusiastic than he felt. Of course, Jake knew only improving his spec by a level wouldn¡¯t change much of anything, and even then he was still pretty far away from the next level, so he couldn¡¯t rely on an upgrade to pull through the next few days. Still, Jake kept a confident expression as his two friends?¡ª?along with Owens?¡ª?all looked at him visibly concerned. He would die before he¡¯d let someone else carry his stuff for him, and certainly not one of his friends. If anything, carrying the sword around acted as a good form of training for his spec?¡ª?which improved faster when one was under great physical strain. As always, the cadets set up camp immediately as soon as the officer ordered a halt before they began cooking a few slabs of Crawler meat on the stove. After an intense day without food or water, it felt amazing to finally eat something, even though the insectoid meat wasn¡¯t exactly his favourite meal. By the time they were done eating, most of the cadets went to sleep right away as Jake and Owens had both been assigned to the first round of guard. ¡°Are you going to be okay tomorrow?¡± She suddenly asked as soon as they sat down near the stove, which offered a pleasant warmth in the cold night of Genova. ¡°Of course, I already feel much better. Also, carrying that sword all day makes my spec progress a lot faster, which is kind of necessary for me as I have the shittest core in the history of mankind.¡± He answered, making Owens chuckle for a bit. ¡°All right then, if you say so.¡± She answered, giving him a small smile. Suddenly, Jake lay flat on his back after a moment. He¡¯d never really noticed before, but the night sky on Genova was something else entirely. On his home planet, the pollution in the air was so bad a thick layer of smoke seemed to taint the atmosphere permanently, hiding the stars during the night. Here, however, each star shone brighter than Jake ever thought possible. He stared at the sky for a second before a thud echoing next to him indicated that Owens had decided to do the same, and they both looked at the stars silently for a few minutes. It was only later that a question from Jake broke the silence. ¡°You think they¡¯re going to end up okay?¡± She asked, ¡°Over at the settlement, I mean.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s worry about ourselves first before we start worrying about the other squads.¡± He answered with a chuckle. ¡°Anything can happen on an assignment, you know. Even our commanding officer could get killed if he¡¯s not careful.¡± She added after a second of hesitation. ¡°I know, but I have a feeling we¡¯ll be just fine,¡± Jake answered. She let out an exasperated sigh that drew a small laugh out of Jake. In the end, they both stared at the sky and talked for the remainder of their shift, which hadn¡¯t been interrupted by any attack of any kind for the first time since they¡¯d reached Genova, at least excluding the time they¡¯d spent inside the vein. It wouldn¡¯t be until much later that they would finally realize this wasn¡¯t a miracle of any sort, but only the calm before the storm. Chapter 14: Officer Ozkud Neilr --- The sun wasn''t even up when Jake was awakened by a strident shout that could only have come from one of his fellow cadets. Adrenaline started coursing through his entire body as a foreboding sense of danger dawned on him, along with a chilling sensation going down his spine. He quickly shot up before he grabbed his sword on the way out of the shelter and activated his armour as he did, which transformed from its ring form into a full-blown armour set minus the helmet. Although the gear was nearing a state of disrepair, with its biotic strengthening effect completely gone, it would still protect his already tattered body from suffering too much damage against whatever enemy was out there. He''d barely stepped out of the shelter when a Vertaerax spawn suddenly appeared out of nowhere and immediately jumped at his throat. Jake fell on his back as he struggled to get the creature off his neck, which was unfortunately very intent on biting off the flesh on Jake''s throat before it went down, strengthening its grip any time Jake tried to pull it off of him. Out of options, Jake grabbed the spawn''s neck with both hands and squeezed as hard as he could, choking the life out of the critter. After a few seconds that had felt like hours, the pressure on his throat finally lessened, with the Spawn falling limply to Jake''s side, dead. Jake stood on the ground for half a second trying to calm himself through ragged breaths, before Ed''s voice echoed inside his mind. [ Hey, kiddo. I know this isn''t really a good moment with your throat being half ripped out and all, but I just wanted to remind you that the little fucker had friends, and so do you. ] "SHIT!" He shouted before he jumped right back on his feet, in a panic, before jolting out of the shelter with his sword clutched in one of his hands. One look further down the campsite instantly revealed the rest of his squad, overwhelmed by a sea of Vertaerax Spawns. By some kind of miracle, they''d been able to regroup in a defensive formation with their back to a gigantic boulder, which had acted as a natural fortification against the legion of creatures. The squad was holding on for now, but they wouldn''t stand forever against the swarm of creatures pouring down onto them, and Jake brandished his sword as he activated his Basic Biotic Reinforcement skill before dashing toward the meelee. [Kiddo, there''s something?-?] NOT NOW, ED! In only a few seconds, Jake was now only a few dozen meters away from the cadets, with a swarm of creatures standing between them. Since most of the creatures were facing toward the other cadets with their backs facing Jake, he cut through the enemy unimpeded as he slowly made his way toward the others, hoping he''d reach them in time to help before it was too late. Almost half a minute passed as Jake kept swinging his sword through the Vertaerax blindly, killing the creatures by the handful. By now, a few of the spawns had started to turn their back on the other cadets and instead focused their attacks on Jake, who kept fighting off the beasts to clear a path for himself next to his friends. Even then, Jake kept mowing through the enemies until he finally reached the cadets, and that was when he shot a glance at the rest of his squad. In the short time he''d lost sight of them, the Vertaerax''s numbers had barely diminished, while a simple glance at his squadmates instantly told Jake the cadets were at the precipice of being completely wiped out. On the floor lay unmoving over half the cadets, completely covered in blood?-?both the Vertaerax''s and their own. Among their numbers stood Kirk and the brothers, Jenkins and Smith as well. A small prompt from his implant told Jake that all of them were still alive, albeit unconscious?-?information Ed had managed to obtain from the injured cadets'' implants. In front of them stood the rest of the cadets, only looking slightly better than the ones who''d fallen behind them. Among them, Owens was currently kneeling on the ground, holding her mangled left arm with her other hand and coughing up mouthfuls of blood. In front of her, Ryan was fighting off over a dozen Spawns by himself along with Ismael Laurent, and they both looked ready to keel over at any time now. Behind them, King was holding her leg, her face twisted under the pain. For a moment there, Jake fought off the creatures with no real goal in mind. He swung his sword, punched, kicked, and even ripped some of them apart with no real objective or thought if only to get payback at the ones responsible for hurting his squad. He might have arrived too late to save them, but he''d gotten here in time to avenge them. A minute or two passed before Jake finally started to slow down his assault, with his worn down, exhausted body finally starting to show signs of fatigue. Only then, once the spawn''s numbers had somewhat thinned did he realize that Ryan was still standing next to him, swinging his axe through the enemies as they stood in front of the rest of their squad. Not a single Spawn had gotten past the two cadets, and not a single one of the creatures had been able to resist their unrelenting strikes. A single glance at Ryan and Jake instantly knew he was in just as bad a state as he was. His entire body was covered in gruesome wounds, and one of his arms was hanging limply to his side. But just like Jake, he kept going. Moments later, Jake finally realized that only over 50 of the Spawns still stood in front of them. Next to him, Ryan had finally fallen flat on his face, unconscious and covered in blood, leaving Jake alone against the creatures. Jake shot a glance at the cadets that lay unconscious behind him, his mind naturally accepting the fact that this was the end for him. There was no way he''d make it out of this alive, even by some kind of miracle. But his resolve only hardened in the face of certain death, and he raised his sword one more time as he dashed toward the Spawns, letting out a roar of anger as he did. Or at least, he''d tried to roar, but only pain erupted from his throat as his mind went blank. When he came back to his senses, the only thing he could make out was the immense pain radiating across his entire body, his mind a confusing mix of fear and pain as he struggled to even think. He was still standing guard in front of his injured teammates, somehow still on his feet. For what felt like an eternity, he fought the need to lie down until something caught his attention in front of him. He could barely make out anything thanks to the blood that dripped in his eyes and the way the ground seemed to twist and dance around him as he struggled to stay upright. Still, Jake painfully raised his sword, and he groaned as his entire body seemed to rebel against his every move, but he pushed the pain aside and took a step toward his opponent, his sword falling on his enemy as his mind went completely dark for the second time. --- At every moment, First Lieutenant Ozkud Neilr used his detection skill to locate any potential enemies that would be too much for the cadets to handle. He wanted them to grow stronger, of course, but having them fight a Vertaerax Overlord or some of the other stronger individuals of the species would only lead to their untimely deaths, which would accomplish nothing, if not waste the weeks he''d spent training them.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. It was late into the night that the Officer felt a powerful presence located to the north of their camp, and he immediately left the camp to investigate. Granted, there shouldn''t be anything that could pose a threat to him on this planet, but it was always better to be careful, so he approached the creature''s location with extreme prudence and made sure to hide his energy signature. He made his way through the empty desert at amazing speed, his legs carrying him multiple meters with every step. He wasn''t particularly gifted in dexterity as an awakened, but the Kreigen''s physical attributes were not to be compared with any other race. Still, when Ozkud finally arrived at the presence''s location, something felt wrong. The powerful presence had completely disappeared, and the officer couldn''t help but grow worried at the sudden realization that the creature was hiding from him. He was still lost in thought when a gigantic insectoid fell from the sky, and he barely managed to get himself out of the way in time for him to not be crushed under the creature. Ozkud dashed to the side and turned back to face the creature, and he almost yelped in shock at the sight of the insectoid. [ Vertaerax Overlord?-?Towering at a staggering 20 meters in length and nearly 10 meters wide, this hulking monstrosity is covered in a nearly impenetrable exoskeleton similar to the Vertaerax Crawler''s, although many times more resistant. Oh, and don''t let their size fool you?-?they''re deceptively fast for something so massive. ] In front of the officer stood a total of three Vertaerax overlords, and behind them, an entire legion of thousands of Vertaerax spawns were making their way toward him, with the overloads standing there, unmoving. "That''s just great." He let out, with a weary groan. Ozkud didn''t waste a single second before he activated one of his more powerful skills: [ Biotic blast ]. By nature, the skill was far from extraordinary as it was something that was taught to Kreigen recruits during their last week of basic training, but Ozkud had trained the skill to peak mastery, resulting in a huge boost in attack power, on top of it being pretty cheap to use at only around 250 biotic energy units per blast. As soon as the legion of spawns arrived into striking range, Ozkud''s fists started glowing in blue, translucent energy as he unleashed the skill almost 5 times in a row, without pause, creating massive shockwaves that destroyed everything in their wake. When the dust finally settled down after a moment, only a few hundred of the Spawn remained, and he was about to claim the lives of the rest when one of the overlords finally decided to make a move. The creature displayed shocking speed as it reached the officer in record time and one of its claws fell on Ozkud, who blocked the blow with one hand. Then, Ozkud countered with a strike of his own into the arm of the creature, and a sickening crunch was heard as the arm was crushed under the blow''s impact. It took a few minutes, but in the end, the officer utterly destroyed the three creatures without spending an ounce of biotic energy, killing the three Overlords with the strength of his physical attributes alone. The Kreigen might not be the strongest biotic users, but their natural physical attributes were unparalleled. Suddenly, a thought surged in his mind as he remembered hundreds of spawns fleeing for their lives in the opposite direction. [ Yes, as you suspected, they are indeed headed toward the cadets. ] "SHIT!" Ozkud shouted as he dashed in the spawn''s direction. There were more than three hundred spawns headed toward the camp, and the commanding officer knew there was no way the cadets would come out unscathed from such a fight. Thankfully, he was much faster than the creatures and would catch up in no time, or at least he would have, if not for yet another Vertaerax overlord''s claws taking a swipe at him, sending him flying for over a few dozen meters. He didn''t even manage to get up before the overlord was on him again, this time trying to bite through Ozkud''s body. Thankfully, the Kreigen managed to get back up on his feet and stop the creature with a blow to the head. Although he did manage to stop the beast''s momentum, he''d barely made a dent in the overlord''s exoskeleton which immediately alerted him. He didn''t get the time to stay confused for too long, however, as the creature opened up its mouth, from which a powerful ray of condensed biotic energy erupted right into the officer, who was blown away by the power of the attack. "What the hell? An awakened overlord, how is that possible?" He mumbled between two groans. The fight lasted for over half an hour, and not once did Ozkud gain the upper hand. It was only once the creature had run out of biotic energy that he finally managed to gain an advantage, and the fight was over soon after that. When the Vertaerax Overlord pounced on the officer with its mouth wide open, Officer Neilr let himself be swallowed whole by the creature. He could almost feel the brief relief and triumph from the creature before he activated his trademark skill, [ Biotic Blast ], inside the beast''s mouth, detonating the creature from the inside. Usually, the officer would have been able to use one of his more powerful skills in order to pierce through the creature''s exoskeleton. However, his biotic energy reserves were all but dried up from the previous fights, so he had needed to be a little more creative this time. Afterwards, the officer didn''t waste a single second before activating his movement skill and making his way back toward the camp with all the speed he could muster. He''d ended up being stuck with the awakened Vertaerax for far longer than he''d expected, and he was scared that most of the cadets had already perished to the swarm of spawns. A few minutes later, he finally arrived at the scene, and what he saw made his heart skip a beat. The cadets had positioned themselves at the back of a cave, which had allowed them to fight the spawns in only one direction and not immediately get overrun by the sheer number of the Vertaerax. It was a good strategy. However, it had been far from enough. Next to the wall stood 8 unmoving cadets, and Ozkud was relieved to hear from his implant that they were all still alive and had simply fallen unconscious after exhausting their biotic energy reserves. Thankfully, it seemed that none of them had suffered too much of a backlash from having their cores depleted. The most worrying of the lot was definitely the two remaining cadets who were a bit farther from the group. On the ground lay cadet Ryan, unconscious and covered in blood amongst the corpses of spawns. His body was in a pitiful state, even more so than the others, but he had also only fallen unconscious after depleting his core. [ This one is going to need a healing stim right away, as well as some bandages. ] Ozkud nodded at his implant''s assessment as he gave the cadet a healing stim before walking toward the remaining cadet. Jake Hawkins was currently standing on both of his feet, his eyes blank. He was covered from head to toe in gruesome wounds and an insane amount of blood that was without a doubt his own. His sword was held between his hands like he was still ready to chop down anything that came too close. His throat, most notably, was completely ripped open in the most disgusting way Ozkud had ever witnessed, which was something worth mentioning since he''d witnessed a lot of them. He stood between the other cadets and the sea of corpses, with not a single spawn left alive, and Ozkud could hear the cadet''s ragged, wheezing breath. "By the creator¡­" Ozkud mumbled, as he finally reached Hawkins. He was about to grab hold of the cadet when a sword came crashing down at Ozkud''s head. Fortunately, the cadet was no threat to Ozkud, especially in his state, and he caught the sword with one hand [ According to Cadet Hawkins'' implant, it seems the cadet has already lost consciousness and is acting entirely on instinct. ] "I''ve never seen anything like this before." The Kreigen mumbled as he easily grabbed the still struggling Hawkins by the head and took out a small syringe from his spatial ring, which he immediately injected into the back of the cadet''s neck. "This should do the trick." He added, and before long the cadet was hanging limply in Ozkud''s arms. The officer put the cadet back on the ground before taking out a healing stim from his spatial ring and administering it to the cadet, before patching up the cadet''s injuries with bandages he took out of his spatial ring. He walked over to Ryan and did the same, and before long, all of the ten cadets were bandaged and treated to the best of his ability. Afterwards, he finally started tending to his own wounds. The overlord awakened had proven to be quite the challenge, and Officer Neilr had sustained massive injuries during the fight. The good news, however, was that his regeneration attribute was so high he''d soon be back in peak form, even without a healing stim. Finally, he opened up the stove and started to cook the spawns for the cadets. He looked back to Hawkins, who was covered in bandages from head to toe, before a smile appeared on his lips. Chapter 15: Spirit
When Jake finally woke up, panic shook his mind as he realized he couldn¡¯t even move a finger. Struggle as he might, his entire body was left paralyzed and even his mind felt sluggish and confused. He was in such pain he had a hard time thinking straight until a familiar voice echoed inside his mind after a few seconds. [ WILL YOU STOP TRYING TO MOVE?] Ed? What¡¯s happening to me? [ I simply restricted your movements because I didn¡¯t want you storming outside the shelter on a whim. You¡¯re badly injured, which means you cannot move or your wounds will reopen. Understood?] Jake tried to look down as his entire body flared up in intense pain, and he slowly started to remember what had happened to him before blacking out. [ They¡¯re all doing much better right now most of them have almost fully recovered, although your friend Ryan is in a similar state as you. He also just woke up.] What? How? They were almost dead before I blacked out. [Well, yeah, how should I say this? Kiddo, you¡¯ve been asleep for over 30 hours. Officer Neilr gave every single one of you a healing stim, although you¡¯re still far from being out of the woods.] Jake¡¯s heart sank at Ed¡¯s sudden revelation, but he still felt relieved at the news that everybody had made it through. He stayed silent for a few minutes before Ed finally spoke up again. [Your body should have recovered enough for you to endure some light movement by now. You were extremely lucky once again to not suffer any major injuries except for your throat?¡ª?which should be able to handle speaking if you keep your voice low. Understood?] Yes. Thank you, Ed. And then, Jake suddenly regained the use of his entire body as he slightly tilted his neck to look all around him. He was currently inside his shelter, lying inside a sleeping bag. He was quite shocked to find himself wearing nothing more than underwear, although not a single inch of skin could be seen on his body as it was bandaged from head to toe. Jake painfully extracted himself from his sleeping bag, making sure to avoid any sudden movement that could reopen his wounds. Next to him, his sword and sniper were sitting on the ground, still covered in a thick crust of Vertaerax blood. He was about to head outside when he spotted a small familiar ring next to his sword, and he quickly put it on before activating it with a wisp of his energy. Like both of his weapons, the armour was so dirty Jake was almost tempted to put it back in its ring form for a few seconds, although something else caught Jake¡¯s attention first. The protective gear was so damaged it could barely be called armour anymore, and the entire torso had lost its carbon-mesh plating. While these were the most basic equipment the alliance had to offer, Jake still couldn¡¯t believe he¡¯d gone through the whole thing in less than two weeks. ¡°I guess I¡¯m going to have to find some clothes soon?¡± [ Clothes can wait, kiddo. Look at this first.] Status Name: Jake Hawkins Rank: Cadet Energy Core: 85/85 Recovery Rate: 0.425 Base Attributes Strength: 16 Dexterity: 18 Constitution: 15 Recovery: 15 Perception: 19 Cognition: 14 Specs [Basic Reinforcement | Lvl. 12 | All attributes +12, Core +60] Skills [Basic Telekinesis | Lvl. 1] [Basic Biotic Reinforcement | Lvl. 4] Jake was ecstatic to see that he had managed to gain yet another level in his spec, and he¡¯d also raised his [ Basic Biotic Reinforcement ] skill during the fight with the spawns. He closed off the prompt after quickly looking over it for a few seconds. While the new improvements in attributes he¡¯d made during the time he¡¯d been asleep were good news, there was only one thing on his mind right now, and that was food. Jake stepped outside the shelter, careful not to make any sudden movements. It wasn¡¯t hard, since his body was so painful that even moving in slow motion felt excruciating. As soon as he made it out, every cadet in the camp stopped what they were doing before converging to his location. He¡¯d barely taken a few steps toward the others when Ryan and Owens both suddenly appeared in front of him, ecstatic. ¡°YOU¡¯RE ALIVE! I CAN¡¯T BELIEVE IT¡± Owens shouted at him as she tried to pull Jake into a violent hug, with Ryan grabbing hold of her just in time for Jake¡¯s battered body to avoid being utterly crushed under the girl¡¯s embrace. ¡°Hold on, there. He almost died, remember?¡± Ryan said as he gestured at Jake. Like Jake, Ryan¡¯s body was completely littered with wounds and bandages, although he looked in far better shape than Jake felt, but that might have also been the fact the giant always looked in better shape than Jake. He¡¯d taken on a lot of weight ever since he¡¯d arrived at the academy, but he was still on the slender side compared to the other cadets, especially one as big as Ryan. ¡°I¡¯m glad to see you¡¯re feeling better, you had us scared there for a moment.¡± Owens rectified, looking slightly embarrassed. ¡°I knew you¡¯d make it out in one piece,¡± Ryan added, waving a hand at Owens like to refute her statement. ¡°Thank you guys for worrying, but I¡¯ll be fine. ¡± Jake answered in a low, ragged voice before Owens and Ryan¡¯s face suddenly darkened. The rest of the cadets soon arrived next to Jake, and they spent a few minutes talking and exchanging as a group. For Jake, it was one of the very first times he held a conversation with most of the cadets, although he was more than happy to finally break the ice with them. Even King, who had notoriously been avoiding Jake for weeks now seemed glad to see him, and her entire attitude toward Jake had made a noticeable shift. The group was still talking amongst themselves when something occurred to Jake. ¡°Do we know when we¡¯re getting back on the road exactly?¡± Jake asked. ¡°About that¡­¡± Ryan started, but he was interrupted by Ed¡¯s voice flaring up to life inside his mind.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. [ A lot has happened in the week you were in a coma, but I¡¯ll give you a quick rundown of the situation. ] In the end, Ed spent the next five minutes giving Jake a small rundown of everything that had happened during the last week. Not much had happened while Jake had been asleep since everyone was still recovering from the earlier fight. The cadets had all stayed at the camp while Officer Neilr had gone ahead to scout, disappearing for an entire day. Once the First Lieutenant came back, however, the cadets had learned that the Vertaerax had decided to all leave their nest, amassing into a giant horde that was currently headed toward the settlement. With their numbers appearing to be several times larger than even their wildest estimates, Officer Neilr had instantly alerted the other officers, who had already started undergoing the necessary steps to withstand the swarm. As for Team B, they needed to get back to the settlement as soon as possible if they didn¡¯t want to face the entire nest all by themselves. The cadets were still discussing last week''s events when the officer appeared. As promised, the officer was in a pitiful state, with his body covered in various wounds from head to toe. The most worrying looked to be the bone currently sticking out of his thigh, although if it hurt, the commanding officer certainly wasn¡¯t making any big deal out of it as he walked with his usual grace and strength. ¡°Cadets, gather around! Hawkins, glad to see you back on your on your feet!¡± Officer Neilr barked at the cadets. The officer waited for a few seconds as everyone turned around to face him before he hesitantly spoke up. ¡°Things are not looking good, cadets. As it turns out, the Vertaerax are far too numerous for us to deal with alone, and they are currently headed toward the mining settlement. The current plan is for us to make our way back to the others and wait for the Vertaerax to come to us.¡± ¡°Yes, sir!¡± The cadets answered, except for Jake who still couldn¡¯t speak much higher than a whisper. It only took a little under a minute for the cadets to pack up, before they all got back on the road again, this time in the opposite direction. Even then, their march was kept at a crawl as Jake could barely tolerate anything more than a rapid walk, the pain from his entire body flaring up every time he went too fast. Moreover, he had insisted on still carrying his sword and sniper by himself, much to Ed¡¯s dismay. For most of the road, they only met a few Crawlers as they made their way back to the settlement, crossing back the mountains of corpses they¡¯d slaughtered in their path. Of course, Jake and Ryan both stood back any time a Vertaerax showed up, which turned out to be far harder than actually fighting the things for the both of them. It had only been a week since they last fought, but Jake¡¯s body was shaking at the thought of seeing for himself how much of an effect his recent spec increase would have against the Spawns. The last time he¡¯d fought them, he was almost as fast as they were, sword aside, and he knew he¡¯d only need a few units in dexterity to close the gap. As always, Officer Neilr spent the major part of the day disappearing every once in a while, this time in order to thin the Vertaerax¡¯s numbers before they reached the settlement. The creatures had apparently condensed into a horde-like swarm a few hundred kilometers behind them, so they would need to be ready for a fight as soon as they reached the others. According to Ed, they were only over a hundred kilometres away from the settlement if they made for a straight line. However, thanks to Jake and Ryan slowing the group¡¯s pace to a crawl, there was simply no way they¡¯d reach the settlement before tomorrow. ¡°They¡¯re going to catch up if we don¡¯t pick up the pace.¡± Officer Neilr said as he suddenly appeared next to the cadets. ¡°Ryan, Hawkins, focus on going as fast as you can. Everyone else is in charge of mowing through anything in the way. Understood?¡± ¡°Yes, sir!¡± The cadets echoed, with Jake and Ryan¡¯s pace picking up to a slow jog. Jake¡¯s entire body was riddled with pain as every stride felt like torture, and he could tell from Ryan¡¯s expression he wasn¡¯t the only one, but they still kept going. Thankfully, the squad didn¡¯t run into any Vertaerax except for the unusual Crawler on their way back, with the bulk of their forces far behind them. For now.
Far behind the cadets, First Lieutenant Ozkud Neilr was levitating a few meters above the ground. The horizon was filled with legions upon legions of Vertaerax, the bulk of their forces mostly consisting of Crawlers and Spawns. These insectoids were far from threatening by themselves, as even the weak cadets could handle a whole lot of them without much of a problem. The issue, however, was the sheer number of the horde. ¡°How the hell does a Vertaerax nest grow to this extent?¡± Officer Neilr almost shouted. ¡°I¡¯ve never even heard of something like that.¡± [ There is a very high probability that the nest¡¯s growth may be due to outside interference, as could be suggested by the awakened overlord we encountered before ] ¡°You¡¯re right, something doesn¡¯t feel right¡± Ozkud mumbled to himself. The Kreigen closed his eyes for a second, focusing on his perception power and making sure the cadets wouldn¡¯t run into any unexpected trouble. For all his cold exterior was worth, he had grown to like this group of cadets. Sure, some were a little harder to like than others, but most of Team B had been handpicked by the Kreigen himself, and contrarily to what the cadets had assumed, he hadn¡¯t chosen them because they were the strongest of the promotion. No, talent meant nothing on the road to power. The only thing that mattered was the unquenchable thirst to push through and survive, or as some would call it?¡ª?the spirit. Ozkud opened his eyes back again after a while, sensing that the Vertaerax horde was closing in on him. He slowly made himself levitate back down to the ground, where he started accumulating biotic energy in his hands. The power kept growing in the palm of his hands as he directed every ounce of energy he had into one of his strongest skills, one he¡¯d only learnt a decade or so ago. He lifted both of his arms in front of him, where swirling lines of pure biotic energy started accumulating into a ball that kept growing in size. For more than a minute, the officer kept feeding his biotic energy into the technique until the swirling blue ball of biotic energy reached the size of his torso. Ozkud could barely contain the amount of power that was currently held at his fingertip, but he still finally managed to throw the ball forward with a strenuous roar. The ball started moving forward slowly, but rapidly started to pick up pace as the speed of the ball grew exponentially. It flew across the landscape for what felt like a few seconds until it reached the horde, where the ball detonated. He rarely used this technique, since it took way too much time to even throw the thing, on top of it being extremely hard to control. However, the large explosion it engendered remained the best and easiest way for him to take care of a lot of enemies at once.
The cadets were still making their way toward the settlement when a small earthquake shook the ground under their feet. ¡°That¡¯s odd,¡± Jake said, thoughtfully. ¡°It¡¯s nothing, let¡¯s keep going,¡± Kirk answered from the left. The cadets had been running uninterrupted for almost 20 hours now, and everyone was growing tired. Jake and Ryan, especially, were very close to exhaustion since their body had yet to recover and their wounds had all but reopened by now. The brisk jog they¡¯d started with had rapidly been reduced to a slow crawl as the pain and blood loss from their injuries seemed to sap away their strength. ¡°Only 15 kilometers left,¡± Jenkins shouted from the front of their group. They hadn¡¯t encountered any Vertaerax in over five hours by now, but none of the cadets were stupid enough to let down their guard even then. In times like these, not being careful was an easy way to get killed. As a result, when a fast-moving, unrecognizable figure approached their location, the cadets all immediately stopped in their tracks. Jake drew his sword out of its sheath and saw the others do the same with their o wn weapons, preparing themselves for a fight. It only took a glance, however, for them to finally realize what stood in front of them was not a Vertaerax, but First Lieutenant Gwyra. ¡°I¡¯m quite shocked that all of you have made it back in one piece. I don¡¯t feel the First Lieutenant Neilr anywhere?¡± She said, calmly. ¡°He¡¯s been thinning out the horde as we ran, Officer,¡± Owens answered, promptly. ¡°Kreigens.¡± She mumbled, shaking her head. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s get you lot back to the settlement. I¡¯ve arranged a space for you to set up your shelters, and I¡¯ll have someone make some preparations for some showers and a warm meal. Well done, soldiers.¡± She said, the hint of a smile standing on her lips. ¡°Yes, ma''am!¡± They echoed back. Chapter 16: Unknown Danger
It had only been 12 hours since Jake¡¯s team had finally made it back to the settlement, but Jake and the other cadets all felt as if they¡¯d slept for days. A warm meal, a warm shower and a new set of clothes had gone a long way in recharging the group¡¯s batteries. The settlement facilities were hardly equal to what most of the wealthy scions of some of the most powerful families of the sector were used to but after spending weeks inside the hostile wilderness of Genova, it was a welcome improvement, with even King not uttering a single complaint. For Jake and Ryan, it also meant that they¡¯d finally been able to receive some much-needed medical attention, thanks to one of the goblins. The small humanoid lifted a hand in Jake¡¯s direction before he felt a surge in biotic energy rising inside his body. The feeling felt a lot like when activating his strengthening skill, although a nice, comforting warmth had replaced the sense of empowerment that came with his biotic reinforcement ability. The feeling only lasted for a second, during which Jake¡¯s flesh had visibly mended back together at a speed visible to the naked eye. Only after the goblin had proceeded to use the same skill on Ryan did Jake finally speak up again. ¡°What was that?¡± He asked. The goblin looked at him like he¡¯d asked him why the planet was round. ¡°That¡¯s the problem with you humanlings from the Alliance,¡± he said. ¡°The only thing they teach you is how to kill when there is so much more to learn.¡± The goblin let out a weary sigh before he finished patching them both up with a clean set of bandages. ¡°Your wounds have mostly been healed, but I¡¯d still like to see the two of you again tomorrow.¡± The goblin added. ¡°By the way, I¡¯m Arzusk.¡± ¡°Thank you, Arzusk,¡± Jake answered, with Ryan echoing him moments later. With his injuries looked at, Jake made his way back with Ryan to where his group had established their shelters, somewhere in the heart of the settlement. While all the other teams had been assigned rooms, space was still extremely limited and the cadets had decided to all sleep in their individual shelters instead of sharing rooms with one another. On his way there, Jake couldn¡¯t help but catch sight of the newly built fortifications that surrounded the settlement, which looked nothing like the ones they¡¯d seen when they¡¯d first arrived on Genova. The worn-down, decrepit fortifications had all been replaced with thick, domineering rock walls. All around the walls, gigantic turrets were placed every half-hundred meters, along with barrels of what looked like munitions and maybe even explosives. To top it all off, a gigantic biotic shield now surrounded the entire settlement?¡ª?minus the external walls?¡ª? much like the one he¡¯d seen back at the academy. According to Ryan, it seemed like First Lieutenant Breyr and his team had been put in charge of building the fortifications, as well as repairing the settlement¡¯s biotic shield. Safe to say, accomplishing that much in the two short weeks they¡¯d been here was something to be proud of. As he finally arrived at the location of their squad¡¯s shelters, Jake was surprised to see Officer Neilr waiting for them along with the rest of the team. ¡°About time, cadets.¡± He said, sternly. ¡°Meet me and the others in front of the town hall in five for a briefing.¡± Jake threw a sidelong glance at Owens, who was standing next to him. Still, the cadets all made their way back to the shelters, picked up their gear and started walking toward the town hall, which was located nearby. Once they finally reached their destination, they joined the other teams of cadets into cleanly formed ranks facing the four commanding officers, along with the goblin that had only recently healed both Jake and Ryan. ¡°We¡¯ve finally been able to get a hold of headquarters, and new information concerning the threat to Genova has come to our attention.¡± First Lieutenant Gwyra started. ¡°As a result, all remaining cadets have been reassigned into 10 new teams, and more information will be passed along through your respective implants.¡± Jake took a glance around at the other cadets for a second. There was something odd about what the officer had said that he thought was quite strange. As discreetly as he could, Jake did a quick headcount of the cadets, suddenly realizing what the commanding officer had meant by ¡°remaining cadets.¡± Out of the 50 cadets that had landed on Geneva no more than two weeks ago, only 37 remained out of the original number. That was quite the important loss for a mission that had only begun a few weeks ago, especially considering they were probably weeks away from accomplishing their objective. Somehow, Jake felt anxiety take hold of his mind for a second, If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°As you are almost all aware already, the Vertaerax horde is bound to get here in less than five hours according to our estimates, which means you most teams will be assigned to defending the mining settlement. Three teams will receive different objectives through their implants. Understood?¡± ¡°Yes ma¡¯am!¡± The cadets echoed before a small prompt appeared in Jake¡¯s field of view. He barely had enough time to read through the thing before Officer Neilr seemed to appear out of thin air right in front of him, wearing a dangerous-looking smirk. ¡°Looks like you four are stuck with me.¡± He said with a grin, looking at Ryan, Jake, Kirk and Owens.
After the briefing, they all had been sent to gather their shelters and other belongings, after which they had all made their way to the meetup point their Kreigen officer had set up. They were currently waiting in front of the south gate, where they were still waiting for their commanding officer. ¡°So, anyone else finds it extremely weird they all put us in the same team?¡± Kirk said, wearily. ¡°It isn¡¯t that weird,¡± Owens answered. ¡°It¡¯s in their best interest to keep the cadets that work well together in teams.¡± ¡°Precisely,¡± The Kreigen said as he suddenly appeared, prompting a surprised reaction from the cadets. ¡°Also, I¡¯ve requested to have you four assigned to me, want to know why?¡± ¡°I¡¯m flattered Officer but I don¡¯t really swing that way,¡± Kirk said, drawing a laugh from the other four. ¡°I hope you all didn¡¯t miss the desert for too long.¡± He said. ¡°We¡¯re going back out there, and it¡¯s not going to be pretty. The others don¡¯t know this yet, but our implants are pretty sure something or someone is controlling or at least influencing the Vertaerax¡¯s actions. Our job will be to find out who or what.¡± A small hint of deception could be felt at the thought of losing again the relative comfort they had all enjoyed during the last hours, although the excitement of setting off onto another adventure was plain to see on the cadet''s face. ¡°How?¡± Ryan finally asked after a moment. ¡°There are a lot of things that don¡¯t add up concerning this particular Vertaerax nest.¡± The Kreigen declared. ¡°Our best bet is to go take a look at the nest since the Vertaerax have mostly vacated it. If we don¡¯t find out who¡¯s behind this, at least we might find some clues.¡± The cadets all exchanged puzzled looks before the giant gate that stood in front of them opened up in a rumble of metal against rock. ¡°When you say the Vertaerax have mostly vacated the nest, what does it mean exactly?¡± Owens asked. ¡°It means we shouldn¡¯t have to carve our path through mountains of corpses, probably. Although I wouldn¡¯t bet on it, things rarely end up going as smoothly as expected in this line of work. ¡°That is NOT reassuring, at all.¡± Kirk almost shouted.
The first part of the operation for the cadets had been to create some distance between themselves and the settlement before the Vertaerax reached their location, which had revealed a lot harder than expected. Their goal was to be out of sight before the creatures reached the settlement, that way they wouldn¡¯t end up being caught into a fight since they had more important things to do. Five hours later, they were finally far enough from the horde to stop their mad dash. Still panting, the cadets all drank a few mouthfuls of water to revigorate themselves. ¡°I¡¯ve been meaning to ask for a while, officer,¡± Ryan said, suddenly. ¡°Don¡¯t you need to eat or drink anything at all? I¡¯ve only really seen you do either a handful of times in the last few weeks.¡± The Kreigen looked back at the giant, smirking. ¡°The more one¡¯s biotic energy reserves increase, the more they become dependent on biotic energy as sustenance. In exchange, sleep, food, and water all become less and less important. I¡¯m still far from the point of having to forgo these things, but it is said that some of the strongest beings in this universe can go years without either of those.¡± ¡°How strong are these beings?¡± Jake asked. ¡°Strong enough to lay ruin to an entire planet, or crush an entire faction by themselves.¡± Officer Neilr answered. ¡°Only a handful of these beings exist in this universe, although I couldn¡¯t speak for the universes beyond our own.¡± The cadets all stayed silent for a few seconds. Every citizen of the Alliance was more than aware that they weren¡¯t alone out there, and the current war with the next universe over was proof of that. However, it was one thing to know there was something else out there and know how to get there. ¡°How would one even go about travelling to the next universe,¡± Jake asked. ¡°Try not to die here first, kiddo.¡± The Officer told him with a grin. ¡°Once you graduate, you¡¯ll need to figure out what it is exactly you want to do. Whether that is to become a mercenary at the frontier, join the war effort as a soldier or travel outside of the Alliance.¡± Jake looked at the officer for a moment, then at Owens, whose eyes were literally sparkling with excitement. ¡°Now, let¡¯s focus back on the task at hand.¡± The Kreigen said. ¡°Our job is to go inside the nest and find out why the Vertaerax are so numerous, and why they have left their nest. If possible, we have to do this before the settlement gets wiped out.¡± The cadets all exchanged nervous glances at the thought of going back toward the nest, although Jake had to admit he was somewhat excited at the thought of another adventure, especially considering their new team. They set out with a rapid pace in the direction of the nest, with Jake¡¯s implant flaring up as a prompt appeared in his field of view. [ Distance to Vertaerax nest: 247 km ] ¡°I want to get there in two days at most, so you all better buckle up and run fast, because I will leave you out here in the desert if you slow me down.¡± Officer Neilr said, resolute. Jake¡¯s face twisted in a pained grimace at the thought of running 250 kilometres in two days while carrying his giant sword, but he still set out with the rest without so much as a word. No matter how hard things got, he could find comfort and encouragement in his squadmates, and his resolve had only grown stronger in the last few weeks. No matter what, he would make it out of Genova alive. Chapter 17: The Corrupted
¡°So, anyone wants to talk about the fact that we¡¯re only 7 kilometres away from the nest but that we haven¡¯t encountered any Vertaerax since we set out two days ago?¡± Kirk said, half serious, looking at the map displayed through his implant. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it kiddo, it means it¡¯s going to be that much more fun once we get inside that nest.¡± Officer Neilr answered. ¡°Oh, I¡¯m worried alright,¡± Kirk added. ¡°We haven¡¯t known each other for long but I know your version of fun is a little skewed." The cadets had been making their way toward the nest almost non-stop for the last two days, only stopping for a few hours a couple of times to sleep and eat. For Jake especially, the last days had been somewhat of a nightmare, and he was so exhausted he looked ready to keel over at any moment. His improved physical and mental attributes he¡¯d gained from improving his spec were probably the only reason that his body hadn¡¯t given out due to the fatigue already. While he was still a long way from boasting the earth-shattering strength and attributes that stronger awakened Officer Neilr could display, his body was now stronger, more resilient and more agile than was humanly possible without being awakened, although only slightly. Status Name: Jake Hawkins Rank: Cadet Energy Core: 85/85 Recovery Rate: 0.425 Base Attributes Strength: 16 Dexterity: 18 Constitution: 15 Recovery: 15 Perception: 19 Cognition: 24 Specs [Basic Reinforcement | Lvl. 12 | All attributes +12, Core +60] Skills [Basic Telekinesis | Lvl. 1] [Basic Biotic Reinforcement | Lvl. 5] Jake had hardly done anything but run in the last two days, pouring his entire energy recovery into keeping his reinforcement skill activated as often as he could, which had allowed him to finally level up the skill to level 5. ¡°What¡¯s the plan once we get in there?¡± Owens asked. ¡°Your sole focus once we¡¯re inside will be not to die, cadets.¡± The Kreigen answered with a chuckle. ¡°You let me handle the rest.¡± ¡°That¡¯s just great. I swear once I graduate I¡¯m going to spend a month in one of these all-inclusive hotels in sector 1,¡± Kirk mumbled, nervously. ¡°Oh, I¡¯m afraid you all will be going from one assignment to the next once you graduate.¡± Officer Neilr answered. ¡°The Alliance is greatly understaffed, but if there is one thing it has, it is resources. It will undoubtedly go to great lengths to make sure you stay in the field as much as possible.¡± During the last few days, the cadets had once more grown a lot closer to each other. This time, however, they had also grown a lot closer to their commanding officer, who was unsurprisingly very lax with decorum and authority. As a species, the Kreigen were very few in numbers, but it was widely known that they hardly cared about any of those things and were an eccentric bunch that judged people¡¯s value in terms of strength and power, completely disregarding proper decorum. Kirk, especially, had long started addressing their officer like he was one of theirs, although without foregoing to address the officer as such, for the most part. ¡°We¡¯re here.¡± Officer Neilr said as they all made a halt in front of a giant hole leading underground. The hole must have been at least 20 meters in diameter, and obviously went deep below the surface since the cadets couldn¡¯t see the bottom of the tunnel from where they stood. ¡°Any chance we can go back to the settlement?¡± Kirk asked, ¡°Mind you guys, it¡¯s not that I don¡¯t want to enter the horrible death pit with you all, it¡¯s just that I really need to do this thing back at the camp, you know?¡± ¡°Shut up.¡± Officer Neilr cut him off, ¡°I don¡¯t sense anything inside. Let¡¯s go take a look for ourselves.¡± The cadets all entered the giant tunnel one after another, on their guard. They hadn¡¯t fought any Vertaerax since they¡¯d departed from the settlement, and now that they were finally at the nest, it was rather worrying to see it empty. The underground was a labyrinthian maze of numerous tunnels intertwining all over the place, meaning they had to rely on Officer Neilr¡¯s perception ability to navigate the underground without getting lost. On top of that, the cadets all took out the flashlights in their backpacks in order to see inside the pitch-black darkness of the tunnels. They kept walking for over three hours, which almost made Jake cry in relief after running around for all this time. Now that his attributes were higher than a regular human''s, the slow walk inside the underground tunnels allowed him to recover enough to feel alive again. It was evident the others felt the same as the ragged breathing echoing inside the cave at the beginning of their descent had slowly been replaced by a more controlled, more relaxed version. Still, after all this time, Officer Neilr had yet to sense a single living being inside the cave, which was worrying in and of itself. Shortly after, however, the tunnel they were in suddenly opened up in some sort of giant dome. The dome was clearly over a hundred meters wide, and almost as high, with thick stone pillars littered around the cave acting as structural support for the ceiling. ¡°I¡¯m guessing that¡¯s what we¡¯re looking for?¡± Jake asked ¡°There¡¯s a decent chance, yes.¡± Officer Neilr answered. They entered the cave, with the four cadets glancing nervously all around as they didn¡¯t possess the officer¡¯s supernatural ability to feel their environment. They all stayed silent for a few minutes as they explored the cave, until finally, they reached the end of it. At the edge of the cave, a gigantic, monstrous creature lay unmoving on the ground, pools of Vertaerax blood all over the ground around it. The creature was obviously one of the Vertaerax, although it must have measured over 50 meters in length, and almost as much in width. On the lower end of its body lay a gigantic gaster, which by itself must have measured at least over half the creature¡¯s total size, making Jake wonder how the thing could even walk around with the thing. The rest of his body was almost identical to the crawler, meaning it looked like a big, scary and horrifying version of an ant. ¡°It¡¯s dead,¡± Neil said, surprised. ¡°What is this thing?¡± Jake asked. ¡°The Vertaerax queen¡± Officer Neilr answered. ¡°Well that¡¯s just amazing then, I wouldn¡¯t want to fight that thing if it could make me as rich as Owens¡¯ family,¡± Kirk answered with a relieved sigh. ¡°Hey, not cool man.¡± Owens spat back. ¡°Shut up, all of you.¡± The officer snapped. ¡°You morons, if the queen is dead, what the hell is controlling the other Vertaerax?¡± Realization finally appeared on the cadets¡¯ faces as they understood the implications of what the officer had just said. ¡°Are you saying that someone is using the Vertaerax to take us out?¡± Ryan asked ¡°That¡¯s not good, we have to warn the others.¡± Officer Neilr declared before he stood still for a moment, clearly using his implant to contact the settlement. ¡°We have to go back to the settlement and help them.¡± Jake almost shouted. ¡°I¡¯m afraid that won¡¯t be possible.¡± A mysterious voice echoed from behind them. The cadets and the officer instantly turned around in surprise, only to fall face-to-face with a group of around two dozen individuals. They all looked like nondescript humanoids, with various features that Jake could attribute to one species of humanoid he knew or the other all on the same person, On the left, one of the corrupted looked like a normal human, although Jake recognized the pair of Akari wings that latched onto its back, without any of the species other discerning features. Another looked almost exactly like one of the goblins, although it was almost as big as a Kreigen and sported a gigantic pair of horns on its forehead. More importantly, however, all of their bodies looked to be in an advanced decaying state, with necrosis and various stitched wounds littering their bodies. All of them showed not a hint of emotion before the perfectly still mask that was their unmoving, expressionless faces. ¡°The corrupted.¡± Officer Neilr mumbled, under his breath. ¡°That is what your pathetic little region calls us, isn¡¯t it?¡± The mysterious individual that seemed to be the leader of the group reflected, thoughtfully. ¡°So, you¡¯re the ones who messed with the Vertaerax.¡± Officer Neilr accused. The mysterious man would have almost looked human, if not for the numerous parts of his body where the flesh had begun turning black and rotten. It was almost like some parts of the man had begun turning into a corpse, making it clear how the corrupted had earned their nickname.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°Indeed.¡± The leader answered, a dangerous smirk etching its way onto its face. The mysterious man seemed about to speak up again when he was interrupted by Officer Neilr¡¯s fist digging into his torso. The leader was sent flying all the way back for a dozen meters, landing brutally on the cave floor. ¡°Why is it always the weakest garbage that talks the most crap.¡± Officer Neilr mumbled, unhappily. While the cadets had spent quite a lot of time travelling with their commanding officer, none of them had yet to see him fight once, except for the time he¡¯d killed off a hundred spawns with one swing of his fist. As a result, they were stuck looking at their commanding officer in amazement when they should probably have been getting ready to attack the enemy, who stood strangely still as their leader had just gotten obliterated. The weirdest thing, however, was when the leader suddenly got back up on its feet, visibly unbothered by the gaping hole in his chest which was closing up at an alarming rate. ¡°What the hell?¡± Ryan said, startled. ¡°You guys take care of the lackeys while I deal with this guy.¡± Officer Neilr said to the cadets. ¡°They regenerate really fast, but otherwise they shouldn¡¯t pose much of a threat to you all, probably.¡± Officer Neilr suddenly disappeared, along with the enemy leader who went after him, and the cadets were left alone facing the 11 remaining corrupted. The cadets were left in a daze for a few seconds, and their inexperience was made evident by their inability to make any decisive move until the enemy made their move for them. The 11 corrupted all dashed toward the cadets simultaneously, encircling them all in one coordinated operation. As their officer had implied, the corrupted displayed speed that was mostly similar to that of the cadets, whereas their other attributes or abilities had yet to be tested. Jake was about to unsheathe his sword when one of the corrupted appeared right in front of him. Now that the thing stood closer to him, Jake realized the creature was much more of a corpse than his earlier assessment had suggested. From up close, it was clear that the corrupted¡¯s entire body was slowly being rotted away by necrosis, with a disgusting smell of petrified flesh emanating from it. Small claws and long, numerous teeth completed the corrupted¡¯s look, giving them an evil look that could have rivalled Jake¡¯s worst nightmares. The creature yanked both of his arms back over his head, and Jake instinctively stepped back. Unfortunately, his reaction came too late as both of the enemy¡¯s fists came crashing into his chest, sending him flying backwards. He¡¯d barely had any time to get back up that the creature was upon him again, along with two more that had finally reached his position. He could see from the corner of his eye that the other cadets were all tied up fighting the other corrupted, although they looked to be holding their own better than he was. Jake stepped aside as one of the other enemies tried to body slam him, and he slammed the same corrupted¡¯s head onto the ground in one swift motion, using the enemy¡¯s previous momentum to his advantage. This time, Jake took the initiative and charged at a second enemy, the one that was closest to him. He opened up with a straight kick that only met air before he twisted back on himself and sent a second kick toward the enemy, this time hitting his target in the side of the ribs. He was about to follow through with his assault when a third corrupted grabbed him from the back, biting into Jake¡¯s shoulder like some sort of animal. Jake let out a pained yelp as he grabbed the corrupted by the arm and threw him over his shoulder. He took a step back, only to see the corrupted get back up, unaffected, along with the two others. The three corrupted warily made their way toward him, with Jake keeping his distance as he tried to come up with some sort of plan. After all this time, he finally managed to unsheath the sword in his back, and he activated his newly improved basic strengthening skill. The first corrupted charged at Jake for another assault, littering him with wide swings that he easily dodged, although his sword only sliced through the air anytime he retaliated. The exchange lasted for a few seconds before Jake made a mistake and overstepped, allowing for the corrupted to land a hit on his side, slicing the skin from his left scapula to his stomach open with its sharp claws. Jake keeled over in pain as he let out a scream, but he still kept his eyes on the enemy as the second corrupted tried to renew his assault. Jake got back up on his feet and made a wide swing with his sword, forcing the corrupted to step back, before stepping back into the fray, face-to-face with the third corrupted, plunging his sword into the enemy''s chest in a swift, controlled motion. Not a single sound came out from the enemy¡¯s mouth as his entire torso was pierced through by Jake¡¯s giant sword. It only stopped for an awkward moment before trying to rip Jake¡¯s throat open while still being skewed by his sword, which frightened Jake so much he let go of his sword and took a giant leap backward, taking out his gun. The two other corrupted were making their way toward him, while the one with a sword poking through his chest was trying to take it out. He had yet to use the sniper even once since the start of the assignment, but Jake shouldered the sniper like he¡¯d done many times before in training, and he aimed at the struggling corrupted before taking the shot with precise accuracy. A blinding blue light exploded into view as a small, powerful bullet of energy pierced the corrupted¡¯s head, causing it to explode entirely. ¡°What the actual fuck?¡± Jake mumbled. With one of the corrupted eliminated, Jake let out a sigh of relief. The two others didn¡¯t sit around, however, as they in turn charged at him from all sides, hitting Jake in a fury of relentless swings. He did the best he could to hold on but his tattered armour could hardly protect him as the enemy bit, clawed and hit him with everything they had. Jake took many hits, and he could feel his body slowly giving out under the assault. On top of the hole in his shoulder, the wound to his left side and the numerous injuries from previous fights that had reopened during the altercation, Jake was literally seconds away from keeling over. In a rage-fueled retaliation, Jake caught one of the enemies¡¯ arms and swiftly moved around it to catch it in a key lock before popping out the entire bone with his newly acquired superhuman strength. They had taught little about breaking bones during their training, but with his superhuman strength attribute, breaking a bone or two required little skill, even against the reinforced bodies of the corrupted. Once again, the enemy didn¡¯t show a single sign of weakness as it kept assaulting Jake, unrelenting. At this point, Jake only had a couple of minutes worth of remaining biotic energy to spend on his strengthening skill, so he quickly chained his previous attack by grabbing the thing¡¯s head and twisting as hard as he could. A loud snap was heard as Jake was now standing behind the creature, yet looking right into its globulous eyes, and he had to dodge backward as the remaining enemy almost caught on to him. To his surprise, the enemy he had just snapped in multiple places got back up, his movements somewhat weird due to its broken bones but still looking unimpeded under such damage. Jake made his way back to where the first corrupted was now laying unmoving on the ground, and he grabbed hold of his sword and yanked it out of the enemy corpse in one swoop by placing a foot on the enemy¡¯s chest. He¡¯d turned back around and swung his giant sword right into one of the corrupted¡¯s head, slicing through half of it like butter before dodging the last enemy¡¯s charge to the side and retaliating with his sword. They exchanged blows for more than half a minute, during which Jake managed to cut one of the corrupted¡¯s arms, at the cost of the thing biting right into his own. However, it finally allowed him to cut down the now unmoving enemy that was biting through the flesh of his forearm in one clean straight from his available hand. Jake took a step back before kneeling down on the cave floor. He looked around to see Kirk and Ryan helping Owens finish off the last two enemies. He let himself fall flat on his back, panting loudly before he heard Kirk call out to him in a panic, ¡°Hey, Jake!?¡± He shouted from across the cave. ¡°Are you okay?¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine, thanks.¡± He answered as Kirk appeared next to him. ¡°Just a little tired.¡± The young cadet was panting and pearling with sweat, but Jake could not see a single wound anywhere on his body. ¡°You know that girls don¡¯t really like scars, right?¡± He added with a chuckle. ¡°Also, since our regeneration is many times higher than before, they are all going to end up healing away at some point.¡± Jake let out a small, weary laugh. ¡°Believe me, man.¡± He said. ¡°If I could get out of these little squabbles without a new set of wounds, I would.¡± ¡°Hey, Hawkins,¡± Owens asked as she appeared next to Kirk along with Ryan. ¡°We don¡¯t really have the time to take a nap, so if you don¡¯t mind how about we get back up and make our way back to Officer Neilr?¡± ¡°No.¡± Ryan objected. ¡°We stay here until the First Lieutenant comes back to get us. He knows where we are thanks to that ability of his, we don¡¯t know where he is.¡± Jake took a moment to look at his teammates as they were carrying on with their conversation. The three of them all looked in peak physical form, with only small wounds covering both Ryan and Owens and Kirk looking as fresh as the day they¡¯d arrived in Genova. He was once more reminded of how far behind his friends he was, and how he would need to find ways to survive without relying on his attributes or biotic skills, like the other cadets. What he needed was the skill to kill enemies that were stronger through wits, technique and ability, or by any other means necessary. Owens seemed to notice Jake¡¯s worried expression because she suddenly frowned. Moments later, as Jake was getting back on his feet with Ryan¡¯s help, Officer Neilr suddenly materialized behind the cadets, holding the corpse of the corrupted¡¯s leader by the neck. ¡°So, torture didn¡¯t work on this guy so we have very little information, but I¡¯m assuming they have a base in the underground somewhere around here.¡± The First Lieutenant said. ¡°Before that, however, it¡¯s time you guys learn about the corrupted, so that you are better equipped to fight them.¡±
The cadets and First Lieutenant were all sitting in a small circle, finally allowing Jake to catch a much-needed rest after running almost non-stop for the past few days, on top of their most recent fight. ¡°As their name suggests, the corrupted were once members of the multiple species that dot our universe.¡± The Kreigen started. ¡°Humans, Kreigen, Akari, and many more, are then awakened much like you were, but instead of using pure biotic energy to awaken them, as we did for you, the process is done using some form of corrupted energy, on which we know very little. From the moment they awaken, the corrupted lose all previous memories belonging to their earlier lives, becoming something much closer to a biological machine that is neither alive nor dead. As you¡¯ve no doubt witnessed for yourself, they do not fear or feel pain, and their bodies are much more resilient than most, especially their regeneration.¡± ¡°Why are they here?¡± Jake asked, knowingly. The corrupted were a well-known force of the invaders, meaning that the fact they had made it all the way to Genova was far from good news. ¡°The other officers wouldn¡¯t want me to be telling you this, but despite what we have been telling you until now, we haven¡¯t been able to get a hold of headquarters since we landed.¡± The officer answered Jake. ¡°This could mean a great variety of things, but our guess is that the fight against the invaders has reached the outer sectors of the Alliance.¡± ¡°Meaning?¡± Kirk asked, unsure of what the officer meant by that. ¡°Meaning the frontlines have been breached, and the enemy is roaming freely inside our borders.¡± He answered. ¡°There¡¯s a decent chance the Alliance has fallen.¡±