Running away to the train station, along the way, multiple teenagers with the same agenda were doing the exact same thing with a soldier in military uniform accompanying them. Some were wearing the exact military uniform just like Dean while the others were just wearing their ordinary uniform.
Eventually, Dean and Adams arrived at the train station. People were waiting on the platform, waiting for the super fast train to arrive at the station. It was a quiet town in the middle of nowhere, so, yeah, not many people could be seen there.
"Finally, phew," Adams wiped his sweat, "For a rush, that's quite an exercise."
Dean wouldn't even lie about it. It was indeed something. The train station was around five kilometers from the dorm, and the train was only fifteen minutes away. So, as a result, they had to run. For Adams, it was a small task, especially with the content of his pocket was only a key chain and a wallet.
Dean? Well, the rucksack alone weighted probably at 13 kilograms, give or take, and add the rifle with its magazine filled with ammunition, you would get the combination of around 17 kilograms. Not as heavy as a full combat load, but pretty much still something to be considered. When they arrived at the train station, Dean was pretty much sweating.
"God damn, you're sweating like a damn river there, Dean," Adams commented again.
"What do you expect?" Dean took a very deep breath.
"Ah, it will evaporate by the time we arrive," Adams commented back.
"Yeah, I think so, the deodorant should do its job," Dean said as he put his backpack down near the chair and sat down.
In Adams mind, it was clear, Dean would become a grunt in the military. Even from the letter alone, he knew what an orphan would be thinking, and he agreed with the common believe. With all of the benefits, any orphan would take that route.
"So, what do you want to become? Infantry? Mechanized? Support?"
"Anything will do, to be honest," Dean said.
"SOF?" Adams suddenly asked the most unlikely outcome.
Special operation force. It was only reserved for those students who had a lot of leadership characteristic and high level of skill sets to survive in the battlefield. It was also very prestigious, considering how you usually had to pass a very rigorous training.
"You're something, Adams," Dean said.
"Well, your record is quite good."
Adams had read the document that his sergeant gave to him when he was sent to get Dean from the dorm. Dean got A+ in marksmanship, A in academic, B in leadership, C in combat, and C- in magic. For him, that was enough to give Dean an offer like that. Especially an A+ in marksmanship, not many people could achieve that nowadays.
"Thanks for the compliment, I appreciate that, but I think I'll take the Officer Scholarship Program if I can. If not, then I'll just try the Officer Training Program." Dean then thought about what Adam just said. "I'm not even in the school yet, and you have asked me that?"
"C'mon, small talk. I've also heard you're single."
'What the hell?' Dean thought before giving his response. "How can you possibly know that in any way? And for the record, I've never ever filled anything in my document that can be connected to that."
"So you are?" And Dean just realized Adams was playing with him.
"For an upperclassman, you don't really give me too much confidence," Dean commented.
"Well, for an underclassman, you're pretty much as expected as it's going to be," Adams commented.
"Hmm?" Dean wondered.
"How to say it? Ah, psycho nerd. Yeah, if I have to decide from your report, you're pretty good at killing people while being smart at the same time. Six assaults on Menkaid deserters, two were fatal. In society, I call it a menace. In the military, I call it determination."
Dean just sighed because he wouldn't respond to this upperclassmen anymore for his small talk while waiting for the train which had arrived at the platform. Dean picked up his bag and they boarded the train heading for Almara Island.
They were on the 4th car on that superfast train that was traveling at ten times the speed of sound. The 4th car was the last car on that train, due to how it was the only allowed place where you could open carry your rifle.
"Why are you still using that 'classic' weapon?" Adams asked.
"Because it simply works," Dean said.
"Memento?" Adams asked.
"Huh? How did you know?"
"Well, it's not like you're the only orphan that keeps his parent's rifle around here."
"Hmm, is that so?" Dean asked.
"Yeah, I also kept my parent's M4, so you are not really alone here. Truth be told, you are one of the most interesting people I met during my time. Not that many orphans are around, to be honest," Adams commented.
"Oh, I see. Where are the orphans?" Dean asked.
"In a military base, somewhere in the south," Adams answered.
"I see. Fort Bragg, eh?" Dean retaliated.
"Fort Bragg? Nah, I don't think it's Fort Bragg, probably another island in the pacific. Bragg is for SF for the most part, I think? I don't know, I haven't gone through the ancient unit nowadays," Adams said.
"For example, POG?" Dean asked.
"POG?"
"Psychological Operations Group. You know, the propagandist, the people that always convince everyone that EDF is good, or turning the Menkaids to our side."
"Damn, man, you're pretty knowledgeable, don't you think? I don't even know that as a private, to be honest, and you are like what? A year younger than me. Not many knows that, man. Most of the time, people are too busy in enhancing their magical capability," Adams replied.
"Hahaha." Dean got what he meant.
Del looked at the window to enjoy the view. Several scenes were showing from the window from a clear grassland to a ruin of an old city from the first Menkaid invasion. The trip would only take ten minutes.
==============
Almara Island, an island located on the North Atlantic Ocean. It was situated as a staging point for spaceship back in the first Menkaid invasion. Now, it had been turned as a training island for the soldiers and a minor refueling point for some spaceships and space fighters.
Of course, there were several 'refurbished' spaceship made from the reinforced airframe of the 21st century fighter aircrafts. Since this was a training base, that kind of view was pretty much expected since nobody in their right mind would give a state of the art spaceship to a trainee.
Walking a bit from the train station, Dean could see that this whole island was really intended to defend against a full-blown military invasion. Multiple C-RAM armed with 50 mm gatling guns capable of firing 20,000 rounds per minutes were plopped in several different places, alongside with 1,000 mm railgun placements in four strategic places to intercept any incoming heavy objects.
Dean was blown off by the advanced weaponry in that place, never once in his life he thought that he would see something as impressive as that, especially the 1,000 mm railgun equipped with more than enough energy to destroy an object as big as an island, if the need arose.
"Woah," Dean couldn't help himself but to be surprised.
"Impressive, eh? The academy is this way," Adams said as he pointed to a building on that island. "You can go first, I have a matter to be taken care of."
Dean walked to the direction while Adam stayed behind to look at his phone and the document pertaining Dean himself. Some things were best not to be mentioned to him, especially knowing his reputation.
Adams knew what had happened back then, back when Dean did an assault on the Menkaid deserters. The deserters were part of Menkaid army that deserted to the EDF's side and served with the EDF ever since.
For the most part, the deserters condemned the massacre. Still, to beat six Menkaids at once, it was impressive, especially on hand-to-hand combat. Humans had magic, but Menkaid also had its enhanced physical strength in comparison to a mere human. The question remained, how a person that couldn't even use anything but healing magic managed to fatally wound two Menkaids at once.
And no, as far as Adams knew, there was no healing spell that was able to fully heal a wound instantaneously considering magical energy capacity for a kid of Dean's age.
"This kid… is scary. I wonder what is hiding behind his smiling face," Adams put his phone back at his pocket and walked towards the academy to return to his duty. Still, the question would get stuck on his head for a very long time. "Is it power? Or is it… rage?"