As expected, they were all woken up in the middle of the night.
The same daily routine was repeated in the coming weeks, waking up, introducing yourself, training, cleaning the base.
But the progress is visible, before, most were stuck in the first obstacle, now, after three weeks, almost everyone was able to advance to the next obstacle, which was puddles of water where they had to jump with the help of a rope. It looked easy, but it wasn't, the rope had a lubricant.
Ralph also made friends with two boys named Júlio and Junior who sleep in the bunk next to him, and with a woman named Carmen, who helped him during the cleaning.
Although not visibly obvious, Ralph's physique was getting better and better. Now he's not as tired as he used to be.
But training with Lieutenant Marcos will only begin when everyone is able to complete the circuit.
Everyone's skills were also advancing a lot. Ralph, however, could not get out of level 1 in the beast skill.
He just didn't understand why he couldn't move forward, the sound he made was almost perfect, with just a few imperceptible flaws.
"Maybe it's your lack of understanding of the skill itself? I went through a similar problem at first, I thought my ability to levitate was to cancel gravity, but I found out after it counterbalanced the mass of the objects." Victor spoke while cleaning a toilet.
Ralph was surprised to hear Victor's account, and, while cleaning a toilet, he reflected.
According to his speculation, the ability creates illusions, unreal things like the snake created by the bat.
But stopping to think, these illusions are somehow not completely false, as it can affect the environment.
The "snake" did not have the corresponding weight, so it did not leave traces on the forest floor, but it had a cold breath, which Ralph felt, and also made sounds, that everyone could hear.
Unless the illusion directly affects the minds of others, it must affect the environment.
At that moment, as if a light had been turned on, Ralph understood his mistake.
"Hey, watch out! You're wasting the disinfectant!" Victor shouted at Ralph, who was distracted as he spilled disinfectant over and over in the toilet.
After returning to his senses, Ralph thanked Victor, who did not understand anything.
After cleaning and being in the room, Ralph auditioned for sounds.
"It's different!" Julius said suddenly, looking at Ralph. Julius has an ability that enhances his senses, all of them.
Ralph confirmed his suspicion, illusions can affect the environment, and the proof is the sound itself. It creates waves in the air, and the thermal sensation affects molecular vibration.
---
Beast Skill: Illusion, lv2.
---
His skill has finally leveled up!
Ralph started to smile like a maniac, receiving glances from some companions.
"It looks like you finally moved on, huh." Victor laughed and said.
Ralph nodded and held out his hand, a small flame had appeared in it, but it was different from the previous ones.
Victor quickly noticed the difference and opened his eyes wide, saying shortly after:
"In thinking that even that can be imitated, your skill is really incredible."
Julius also opened his eyes wide, he understood what was happening.
"Even thermal sensations!? That is OP." Julius spoke.
"haha", Ralph laughed and made the flame disappear.
"Wait, I want you to try something!" Julius spoke and took out a piece of paper.
"Here, try to burn that sheet of paper."
Ralph understood his intention and lit a flame again.
Something unexpected happened, although the flame gave off a clear sensation of heat, the paper did not burn.
Frowning, Victor put his hand on the flame and smiled:
"Hah, how could it burn at that temperature?"
Ralph also put his hand on the flame and understood, although there is a thermal sensation, it is far from being like a real flame, it seems to have the temperature of warm water.
"I think this has its limitations, after all!", Julius smiled slightly and put his hand on Ralph's shoulder.
Ralph didn't look disappointed, though.
-I haven't reached the top of this level yet, maybe I can make the flame more reliable by then.
Ralph thought as he lay down.
Something that Ralph noticed during these weeks of training, is that he gets less and less tired to create illusions, maybe it is because of practice?
Ralph slowly fell asleep, only to wake up with a bucket of water in the middle of the night.
"Wake up, worms!", the soldier shouted.
Ralph was not the only one to be advancing, all Walkers were gradually evolving.
Victor, who reluctantly managed to levitate Ralph, now manages to levitate two grown men effortlessly.
But Ralph increasingly missed something important, experience. All this time, the Walkers have stayed inside the military base, under not only rigorous training but also protection.
In all that time, no one received messages from the outside world, which made Ralph feel uncomfortable.
He tried to talk about it with an intending officer but got no concrete answer.
After a few more days, all Walkers were finally able to get past the first obstacle without difficulty and were evolving rapidly.
The circuit had three obstacles in total, the second was the puddles, and the last was a large rope that led to the top of a wooden tower, they had to climb it.
Although this rope has no lubricant, it was made of a material that hurt your hands a little.
Ralph found the second obstacle easier than the first, although it remained difficult, the third seemed impossible for him. No matter how hard he tried to get to the top in time, he always failed.
Only a few veterans were finally able to complete the circuit within the allotted time.
Always after the circuit, Ralph's hands were extremely painful, but he had to endure the pain while cleaning the base with the others.
Something worth noting is that they were finally able to clean the entire base, no longer needing to wash their uniforms.
However, the "bloody military" did not seem satisfied and ordered them to start cooking their own dinner instead.
The first attempts resulted in great waste, resulting in little food for everyone, besides the bad taste. But after a few days, the food started to get decent.
Everyone takes turns in the kitchen as the days go by, except those who had no experience.
Day 39, eight o'clock at night.
Ralph was cooking another four walkers, including Carmen.
Carmen was not exactly a beauty in Ralph's point of view, but she was a good person, and Ralph was quick to make friends with her.
She had blond hair and brown eyes, fair skin, and was the same height as Ralph.
"Can you give me the seasoning? Carmen." Ralph spoke as he cut pieces of meat.
Carmen gave the seasoning to Ralph and said:
"I can't find the big wooden spoon, I need it to cook the beans."
Ralph pointed to a drawer and said:
"She was in that drawer the last time I saw her."
After a few minutes, the smell of food filled the entire kitchen, it was pleasant after a whole day of effort.
After they finished, they distributed the dishes to everyone.
After finishing eating, Victor went to Ralph and said:
"You take it easy, have you ever thought of working as a domestic servant?"
Ralph ignored Victor and continued to eat.
Victor smiled suddenly and put his hand on his chin.
"And to think that you would grow so much in such a short time, your carcass is not bad," Victor said as he hit Ralph on the arm.
Ralph had also noticed that his physical condition had improved considerably, he was never so "fat".
"Now you look like a man, even your face has stopped looking so scrawny," Victor spoke as he winked at Ralph.
"So? How is your relationship with Carmen? I hear that the superiors don't care if night visits are made."
Ralph looked at Victor and frowned.
"If you care so much for Carmen, I can leave it to you."
Victor laughed at that and shook his head.
"No, thanks. I already have a woman waiting for me at home. But what about you? I never asked if you had a girlfriend or a wife."
Ralph then thought of Ana, it had been several weeks since they saw each other, but strangely it seems they said goodbye yesterday.
"Let me ask you something, Victor. Do you miss your wife?" Ralph asked.
Victor was taken by surprise and said:
"But what kind of question is that? But of course, I do."
Ralph smiled slightly and explained:
"I know you feel ... I'm sorry, but I didn't ask the right question. How much do you miss it? I mean, at what level?"
Victor looked at Ralph strangely and said:
"I don't know if I understood your question very well, but for me, it's like we've been apart for years, I can't wait to meet her."
Ralph was silent for a moment.
"But then, will you tell me if you have a woman or ... a man waiting for you?" Victor asked as he narrowed his eyes.
Ralph smiled coldly and said:
"Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not gay. I know you really wanted me to be."
Victor did not mind the veiled attack and said:
"Don't get it wrong, I just want to get to know you better," Victor said and stood up.
"Since you don't want to tell me whether or not someone is waiting for you, forget it. But be sure to be careful with Carmen, she's not as simple as she looks." Victor then went to his quarters, leaving Ralph behind.
Ralph was a little confused by Victor's speech but decided to leave it alone for now.
After finishing eating, Ralph decided to spend a little time practicing outside his quarters.
The level of the beast skill was still 2, but Ralph was not disappointed, the proficiency of the skill increased considerably despite that.
First of all, he manages to cast illusions for twice as long, compared to when he had acquired the skill.
Second, the illusions are giving signs of synchronization between image, sounds, and thermal sensations. Ralph thinks he will only reach level 3 after he is able to fully synchronize these three factors.
After discovering that illusions can affect the surrounding environment, Ralph understood that the skill could be very useful in combat. For example, if he can create a high-pitched and loud enough sound, he could destroy the enemy's eardrums, or if he can create flames reliable enough, he could roast the enemy.
Unfortunately, he still can't reach enough fatal levels with the skill, at least for now.
Extending his hand, Ralph created a flame.
Concentrating, he tried to synchronize the image, the sound of the flame, and the heat being transmitted.
-The sound of sparks, the sound of something being burned ...
Ralph thought as he concentrated.
When sparks came out of the flame, soon after the sound came out. There was a short delay, and the flame temperature dropped.
-Again.
Results will not come easily, Ralph knew that, so he was not disappointed by the failures.
During the time he was at the base, a new kind of feeling started to rise within Ralph.
The warmth that friendship and companionship bring, the cold of challenges, all of which awoke something that Ralph had never experienced before. A great intention to fight, not only to fight in the sense of fighting beasts but to overcome one's own limits.
Throughout his life, Ralph only had to worry about his studies, but he never had a problem with that.
Now, however, at any moment some kind of obstacle appears, at all times he is feeling this pressure, not only from the present but from the future.
All Walkers who are training at the base know what awaits them after training, they know that they need to polish their skills to the maximum.
After training for a while, Ralph heard the curfew, it was time to rest, the next day was waiting for him.
*
"We have no choice!"
"They are not yet ready, they will just die that way."
In a video conference, José was looking at the monitor with a headset.
At the conference were commanders of the armies of all contributing countries in the E.A. project.
The E.A project, short for Evolved Alliance, aimed to develop a unit capable of fighting beasts without the use of technology.
José was currently the temporary leader of the project.
"José! Do you agree with that?" An Argentine general asked José.
"... We have no choice, at this rate, in a month more beasts more resistant to firearms and explosives will begin to appear. They need experience, while they have the opportunity." José spoke with a tired look.
"Fortunately, genetically modified food has really shown great effects, apart from their own evolution."
"It won't be long before they are able to complete the circuit, I think we can wait until then." José finished speaking and closed his eyes.
"... I think we should vote to decide." A Chilean general spoke.
"I agree."
*
Today was the second month since the training started, coincidentally, it is also the first day that all Walkers completed the circuit within the time limit.
When completing the circuit for the first time and looking at the obstacles, Ralph felt great satisfaction, he had finally overcome those obstacles.
His intention to fight did not diminish, he was hungry for new obstacles to be overcome, just like almost all Walkers.
"Very well, you all finally stopped being worms! Now you are cockroaches, congratulations! I am thrilled to be witnessing this evolution." Sergeant Jorge shouted with the usual cold look as he looked at all the Walkers, who were sitting on the floor resting.