Alshura Soura was fixing the hairpins holding her long deep blue sea hair. She prefers to neatly tie them at the back of her head.
A proper corporate attire should be complimented by a proper grooming! --- was her policy.
Although the Trogan Militia had indeed implemented a militaristic system, high ranking officers were not required to wear their uniform at all times.
And she had been a lieutenant for three years now. Certainly she was more that qualified to wear her favorite corporate attires.
Their Guild used to focus on mercenary services during the pioneering years. But they leaned more on the business enterprises side nowadays.
So wearing suits is absolutely acceptable!
Soura nodded upon agreeing to her self-justification.
And besides,
"What is the matter, Shura?"
"N-nothing Captain. Just thinking of something."
Soura replied respectfully to the man who walked towards her. He was around 176 centimeters and had spiky orange hair.
He prefers to wear a suit too.
The man raised a brow upon hearing the answer. He flicked the forehead of his subordinate.
"Focus on the matter at hand instead of daydreaming."
"Hawuu, yes Captain."
Soura held her forehead after being reprimanded. The flick did not hurt and was more like a tap.
Her coral yellow eyes glanced at her superior. He had just turned around towards their other platoon members.
Captain Richard Marg.
A young rising talent of the Trogan Militia. He became a Captain at the age of 20. And now two years later, he was about to get promoted yet again.
And how do you get promoted in the transmigrated world exactly?
By having a breakthrough on your cultivation of course! And being a candidate for promotion meant that one had already reached the peak of his current realm.
In order to become a Captain, one must achieve Tier 3 at the very least.
For reference, Tier 1 is the Basic-Tier while Tier 0 is reserved for the Upstart-Tier. Except for Tier 1 and 0, the gap between Tiers was absolutely enormous.
The difference between heaven and earth --- for the lack of a better description of it.
And Captain Marg is two Tiers higher than most people of the same age. That's like being two worlds apart from the rest!
In other words Captain Marg was already succeeding in life while some failures were still stuck in Tier 1. Probably wasting their lives reading nonsensical works at a library or whatnot!
"Shura, I said stop daydreaming."
The exasperated tone of her Captain pulled Soura's thoughts back at the present. She then noticed that the rest of their platoon was staring at her as well.
"I-I'm sorry Captain!."
Soura bowed her head immediately. This was then followed by the teasing from the platoon.
Captain sighed and signaled the rest to stop the teasing.
"Get your act together. You are also a Tier 3 now, you know?"
"But I just recently advanced, Captain."
Soura reasoned. They may belong to the same Tier but the gap between their power levels was still absolutely far.
"Then the more that you have to focus now, Shura."
Captain Marg sternly advised.
That was right.
The mission given to them by the Guild this time was absolutely unique. Once completed, the rewards would be enough to let her Captain have a breakthrough.
And then Soura will be taking over as the commanding officer of the platoon.
In fact, the reason why Soura was appointed as this platoon's lieutenant was because Captain Marg had already applied for a promotion.
However in order to have the application approved, the Captain was required to train his replacement.
And that appointment happened six months ago.
Soura might have succeeded in her breakthrough. But that also meant Captain Marg had been stuck at the peak of Tier 3 for six months.
She was holding her Captain back!
That was why even after completing the requirement, the higher ups had added another condition before they grant the promotion.
Complete this particular mission.
And to add further difficulty, Captain Marg was only allowed to assemble members up to the minimum amount of personnel to be considered a platoon --- which was 15 people.
Six officers were deployed outside the perimeter. They blockaded the three main entry points which could lead to the dungeon entrance.
In other words, there were only nine members in their current platoon. Soura and Captain Marg included.
Alshura Soura realized the gravity of their situation. She could not let her Captain be held back any further.
"Roger. I'm fired up now."
She made her resolve after reflecting. Her Captain nodded in approval. Their platoon resumed its exploration.
The dungeon they were currently at was absolutely generic. A maze-like setting with concrete floors, walls, and ceiling. There were also glowing stones embedded on the walls at a 2-meter interval serving as illumination.
Perhaps Basic-Tiers will consider those as valuables. They might even try to plunder them. But Captain Marg's platoon would only consider them to be lesser than spare change.
The path of cultivation will absolutely require resources which was more valuable than just some glowing stones.
"Five Spirit Wolves approaching at twelve o'clock!"
A sergeant responsible for surveillance reported.
"Very well. Shura, time for training."
Captain Marg said as he moved forward.
Shura…
It was actually a nickname the Captain accidentally made for her. Since he thought that Alshura was her given name during their first meeting.
The Captain was absolutely stubborn. He refused to accept this trivial error. Thus he decided to call her that from then on.
Only the Captain is allowed to call me that.
Soura grinned. She moved forward following her Captain.
She then acknowledged her orders.
"Roger!"
Alshura Soura belonged to the Mage class. For them, skills and spells are mostly synonymous to one another. They were usually interchangeable.
She casted her spells adeptly.
[Swords of Flame].
The skill to conjure red flames in the shape of a sword. Multiple swords can be summoned with proper training.
Five flame words 60 centimeters in length hovered around Soura. She then controlled them to launch at the Spirit Wolves.
With high enough proficiency, they can be manipulated remotely.
"Guren!"
The swords flew towards their targets. 'Guren' is a personalized derivation that Soura developed for her Skill. It was like a strike command focusing on precision.
Each swords punctured through the monsters. They were not even given a chance to react.
"Hmph, how weak."
Soura declared in confidence.
The monsters in this transmigrated world also followed the Tier System. And based on their performance, those Spirit Wolves were only at Tier 1. They never stood a chance.
"No. Not yet."
Captain Marg stepped forward. He also unleashed his skill in a blink of an eye.
[Bunsen Burn].
The punctured Spirit Wolves had already fallen. However with the activation of another skill, their corpses began to be subjected to extreme heat.
Captain Marg snapped his fingers,
"Ashless!"
The corpses was vaporized. Even the flaming swords puncturing them disappeared without a trace.
"Captain, isn't that an overkill?"
Soura pouted. She had already made sure that none of those monsters survived.
"Certainly not. This is training remember?"
"How can this be considered a training, Captain? The overall strength of this dungeon is only at the Basic-Tier."
"Indeed. However what I am training is not the increase in the damage of our skills. I am aiming for increase in control."
"Is that why Captain set the rule of eliminating all the monsters here without a trace?"
"Certainly."
"But why?"
Captain Marg did not answer the question immediately. Instead he was smiling at his platoon. All the members were now eager to hear the answer.
"Because at higher Tiers, what is important is no longer the damage. But…"
The Captain paused. It seems like he wanted his platoon to discover the answer themselves.
Truth to be told, the pause was effective.
"""CONTROL!!!"""
All of the members exclaimed.
So that was the secret in ascending through realms! Damage would automatically increase together with the increase in Tiers. However the increase in Skill Control must come from the person himself.
Every member was now contemplating with the sudden revelation. Even Soura only heard about this mechanic for the first time.
"Roger then. I will follow through this training, Captain."
"Now, now, Lieutenant. We also need to train too, you know."
One of the officers who were supposed to be the vanguard protested. Talking to superiors that way might sound inappropriate. But the officer was determined to have a chance for improvement.
"Very well, very well. No need to panic. Everyone will have a chance to train."
Captain Marg declared. He then glanced at his two officers.
"Scout Driff, Scout Toba, the turn is yours, move ahead."
He dispatched the two platoon members. In terms of Agility, the two were the best among the members.
Their movements were swift as they followed their orders.
A few minutes later the Scout named Toba returned to report.
"Captain, we might have a little complication."
"Elaborate."
Captain Marg raised an eyebrow. He prompted the Scout to explain the situation.
"We encountered a foreign entity on the way ahead."
"A foreign entity?"
Soura could not help her curiosity.
"Affirmative. A young man named Ruben Kang."