Chapter 5 – The Brutal Education Program – Part 1
In the 23rd-century, mankind was still recovering from the invasion of an unknown alien race a hundred years ago. Though humanity managed to drive away the intruders, they suffered a disastrous casualty.
Half of the world turned into barren lands. Cities and countries collapsed, and a portion of the survivors mutated into beasts and zombies. Only 200 million humans survived.
New countries had been found on top of the old countries. Mafdet Federation was one of them, which they occupied the Southeast Asia countries as their territories.
…
The players in the bus could see a steel city wall in front of them. They were over 30 meters in height, and the length could not even be measured with their own eyes as it went from a horizon to another horizon.
The bus led them passed through the barricaded sentries in front of the gate and entered the city.
Inside the city, the greenery of trees and grasses could be seen. They were welcomed with the public parks on both sides of the road as they were moving into the city.
Children were playing in a sand garden. Young mothers were watching them while they were chatting with other parents on the side. An ice cream cart was swarmed by children, who were cueing to buy some ice-creams.
The scenery looked peaceful, the city was full of liveliness. It was a different world apart from the desolate land outside the wall.
All players in the bus were admiring the scenery while the bus suddenly took a left turn and headed into a military camp behind the parks.
As the bus stopped at the checkpoint at the gate of the military camp, a screen popped up in front of each player.
[Welcome to Lilim Heritage Online.]
[You will now undergo a tutorial as a combat class.]
[Please choose the division you will join.]
[You have 30 seconds to complete your decision.]
[If you fail to choose a division and the time limit exceeded, you will be assigned randomly.]
Four pictures appeared on the screen. There was a picture of a rifle, a picture of a battleship, a picture of a jet, and a picture of a brain. They were the Marine, Navy, Air Force, and the Esper Division respectively.
Mia did not hesitate. He picked the Air Force as he wanted to pilot a giant robot.
[Thank you for choosing the Air Force Division.]
[Please follow the drill sergeant at the boot camp to complete your first tutorial.]
…
[Quest Received]
Quest Objective:
- Attend the boot camp training for one month.
- Increase your level to 10 or higher.
- Increase at least two physical attributes to 100 or higher.
Reward: Class Change, Title: Airman Recruit
…
Mia chuckled at the quest information. He had been through a classic boot camp training for a year when he was twelve as he tagged along with his parents to a military space colony. It was tough, yet he liked it, and it was a good memory to him as well.
He wondered if the training would be the same, or would there be a deviation.
While Mia was pondering and excited about the game, a few players did not think that way.
"What the hell? Boot camp?"
"Oh, wow. Really?"
"Am I playing a game or am I joining an army?"
Voices of dissatisfaction came from within the bus. They cringed as they looked at their own quest screen.
"Excuse me, sister Misha. Have you picked a division? Which division did you choose?"
A girl, who was sitting by the side of Mia, asked him. He turned to the girl in surprise because he had not noticed this girl when he appeared inside the bus as he sat by the window and did not pay attention to the surrounding.
Mia looked at her and her name above her head. It said "Santa Murderer". He could not help but admiring that this girl had a fierce side in her to name her character like this.
"Err, oh yes, I picked Air Force!"
"Isn't that division kind of hard?"
"Hard?"
"Yes, you see. From what I've learned, the jets and the units still use electronic devices as a core. You will have to heavily rely on the mechanics and engineers. You will also have to supply yourself with aircraft and robots in the future. Pilot class is an expensive class to play."
Mia cringed. He had also learned about the 23rd-century technologies. They still relied on the electronic devices, computers, and other devices that they inherited from the 21st-century before the war with the aliens.
They were old and outdated in the eyes of all players here, including Mia. However, Mia's enthusiasm toward mecha robots was higher than the intimidation of the backward technologies. Thus, he still favored Air Force.
"I think robots and jets are cool! Didn't they focus their advertisement on the mecha units? They will probably play a big part in this game."
"… You sure sound like a boy."
"Eh, I'm a …"
Mia stopped his word in a mid-sentence. He was reminded by himself that he was using a female character in this game, and it was a common knowledge that players could only pick their own gender. He could not say that he was a boy, or it would arouse suspicion from the others and made the atmosphere awkward.
"Haha. It's alright. Actually, I wanted to try flying the old jets anyway."
The girl shook her head as she gave up trying to convince Mia. She turned her head to her quest screen and picked the navy division. Then, she turned around and started another conversation again.
"By the way, are you from Chula High?"
"Yes. You?"
"Same! Which class are you in? I'm in 401!"
Mia cringed again. The student class assignment was arranged by their overall score. The top scorers were assigned in class one, which was the current 401 class. Then the lower rankers were assigned to the 402 to 410 class respectively.
In conclusion, the 401 students were monsters among monsters who had perfect scores in the entrance exams.
"… I'm from 406."
Mia was embarrassed when he told her about his class.
"406? Eh?"
The girl nocked her head to the side as she was confused. She remembered that there were only 20 girls that made it passed the exams, but none of them was assigned to the class 406.
'The last time I checked, isn't 406 the class with all boys?'
'I probably didn't pay attention to it.'
The bus door opened and a military officer hopped into the bus. He glared at the players then spoke in a clear voice.
"I am Petty Officer Crimson Krastel! All of you are entering the Mafdet Military Boot Camp! The moment you entered this territory, we will no longer consider you as civilians, but soldiers! Secondly, after you entered the boot camp, the sensitivity synchronization will be adjusted to 110% even if you locked it at 0%! If you want to turn back and change your class into a lifestyle class, you have 30 seconds to do so by pushing the emergency exit button in the menu. Once you pressed the button, you will be ejected from the game and your current character will be deleted! You will also be penalized by not being able to enter the game for 7 days because you deleted your character!"
The faces of the players turned pale. Every player were students from various prestigious high-schools with strict exams and standards, which was the same as Mia's high-school. In their life, they had never been yelled at by a stranger as they were raised by either a closed environment or they were crammed by tutors to the point that they lacked skills in socializing with people.
As a result, they could not get used to the pressuring environment in a short period of time.
Moreover, hearing that the pain sensitivity would be readjusted to 110% shocked them. It meant that if they were hit, they would feel the realistic impact or even more painful as it was 110%!
"WTF!? I didn't sign up for this. I'm out."
"Crappy game. I'm out."
"My dad never yelled at me like this before. I'm out, too."
"Ok. No. Goodbye."
"This game sucks."
Despite knowing that this game was part of the education curriculum of their high-school, twenty weak-willed players pressed the emergency exit button to be ejected from the game, while the others stayed.
Mia scratched his head in bemusement. He was used to being yelled at by other seniors and elders when he was young, and he knew about the basic training of the ancient eras. He did not feel any pressure from the officer.
He glanced at his side and found that Santa Murderer was shaking in fear.
Mia tapped her shoulder and consoled her.
"It's ok. We just have to hang on for a month in game. It's just a simple 30 hours in real life. Think about it as a bad dream. Once we went through this, everything will be easier. Besides, everything they teach you is so simple that even middle-school students can do it. We can also set the pain sensitivity back to our setting once it's over."
The girl nodded. However …
"I forgot to tell you something. The pain sensitivity will be permanently set at 100% after you graduated from this boot camp."
Santa Murderer jolted. Her eyes were teary while her finger pressed the emergency exit button.
"I'm sorry. I won't choose the combat class."
She whimpered as her character disintegrated into nothingness.