The instructor took a good look at the blueprints and told me in a seemingly confused tone: "The idea sounds quite… Interesting. It could be useful on the battlefield, but having a multi-purpose weapon means you'll have to master each configuration, are you sure you can handle that?".
"I got it," I replied confidently.
"Good, I'll let you think about it. Once the rest of the team finishes choosing their weapons, we'll move on to E.M.S. practice."
While I waited, I could see that Kai chose Chakrams, while Aiden went for dual wielded pistols. It makes sense for Kai to choose throwing weapons since he controls wind, but Aiden's choice seems odd. It's not common for rookies to choose firearms as their primary weapons.
Shortly after, everyone had picked their weapons, so the instructor told us to follow him.
He said we had one last stop before heading to the practice room…
"ciik, chik..."
"poom...pooom'
Everything seemed alright as we were heading there, until we made it to a dark, gigantic room filled with a disgusting smell and loud, beast-like sounds surrounding us. The cacophony of growls and clanking chains warned us that whatever was inside that room had no intentions of being nice with us.
Suddenly the lights came on and we could see the horrors that were being kept in there. A dozen cages filled to the brim with parasites were sitting right in front of us, arranged in two long rows that extended across the whole room. The dents and slash marks on the walls, floor and ceiling were proof that restraining these things was no easy task.
The parasites inside the front cages had many varying colors, but they all shared their single horn. As we ventured into the room, I started feeling an oppressive aura coming from the last two cages. After getting to the other side of the room, we found the source of the aura: Two parasites with two horns were looking at us from inside both cages as they tried to break free.
But the most frightening thing was a door with a "No trespassing" sign and an exceptionally powerful dark aura coming out of it. I tried to get closer to inspect it, but the instructor looked at me and said:
"Stop snooping and come here, I've got some stuff to tell ya". He proceeded to explain.
"As you can see, these are already mutated parasites. The reason they're staying here is to use them as training dummies to put your skills into practice when the time is right. And behind that door is a three horn parasite, or as I like to call it, the final test. By the end of the year, once you have mastered your skills, you'll be thrown into this room and kill the beast. If you want to prove you're worthy of calling yourselves 'Errors', each and every single one of you will have to give their best.
Killing these things is no easy job. A single one of these slimy bastards can obliterate an entire company. Strength, speed, precision and most importantly, teamwork will be of the essence. If you manage to kill one, I'm sure you'll be more than capable of taking care of yourselves on the battlefield."
Despite the instructor's grim warning, none of us batted an eye.
"Well, if that didn't scare you, follow me and we'll finally get to the main attraction of the day."
After walking for a few minutes we arrived at the training grounds where he proceeded to explain the following:
"This facility is where you will learn how to use your E.M.S powers and apply them in combat. Here you will find many tools that can be useful to take advantage of your powers, as well as simulators that will allow you to replicate a part of your strength to test it without limits.
Well, any questions up to this point?" He said as he looked at us.
.
..
...
"Okay, seems everyone's getting the hang of it for now, so I'll explain some more things and we'll get to the part that everyone is waiting for." He said while taking a moment to later say.
"As you were told today, these creatures have supernatural regeneration. It will give you a hard time killing them. But they have one weak spot and that is their regeneration organ. All you have to do is inhibit its function and you'll be free to stab them as many times as you want. The only downside is that they will keep on fighting until their core is destroyed. Remember you won't be able to hit the core until the regeneration organ is inhibited."
He paused for a moment as he looked at one side and then said:
"See that test dummy over there?" he said as an aura came out of him. Out of nowhere a metallic substance materialized from the ground where the dummy was located and with a swift move it nailed deep into his head.
"That's a taste of what the E.M.S. is capable of if you know how to handle it"
"Oh, i forgot, my name is Sthepen and I will be the one to oversee his skills management, hopefully we get along." and after a moment he proceeded to explain:
"One can achieve three different elements, and each element has three power stages. Once an element reaches its final stage, you'll be able to incorporate a new element until you get to three. There are three element specialities that alter the way your elements work: Destruction, Control and Enhancement".
"Destruction allows you to send elemental bursts with devastating events on the battlefield. Control allows you to materialize permanent elemental constructions or 'Domains', but only lasts as long as the user concentrates on it and has enough strength left. And the last one, Enhancement, allows you to imbue your own body with elemental energy to augment your physical capabilities".
"Here will come the important issue which of those three specializations will you choose?" he said with a decisive tone.