The civilian students returned to the classroom after being shouted like wild animals. Well, it was basic training, what would they expect from that kind of thing? Based on gathered information, every single civilian student would be trained from four in the afternoon until nine in the evening.
The class continued as usual, more or less. Albeit, some students feared that they would face Gavril again. Meanwhile, Dean and the other former military school students were wondering what kind of patrol schedule they would face in that park. Dean was especially interested, partially because of Corporal Adams. After the class ended, they had a briefing.
"Damn, that Adams is surely a nice guy, isn't he?" Andre commented.
"I think he is. He was the one that took me from my previous dorm," Dean said.
"Ah, I see," Andre commented.
"Nice to meet you, Dean, my name is Aveline," A female student shook her hand. She has white hair that was bunned to fulfill the military standard and quite a short stature. Well, not too short, but probably she would look funny if she held a machine gun.
"Nice to meet you, Aveline." Dean shook her hand back.
"Anyway, who are you, beautiful?" Orion combed his hair with his hand while greeting the other girl. The other girl had red hair that was cut short to fulfill the military standard. She seemed to be much more hardcore.
"Scarlet, call me Scarlet, your name is Orion, right?" Scarlet wasn't too impressed with the introduction.
"Correct, my queen," Orion even became bolder, to the point where Andre smacked his back with his hand.
"Sorry, Scarlet, this dingus is sometimes a little bit something," Andre said.
"Eh, by the way, you all from a military academy?" Aveline asked.
"More or less," Dean said, "And you call me soldier boy, eh?" Dean referred to Andre.
"I know what will piss my kind, haha," Andre smiled.
"Haha, very funny," Dean laughed in the same way with how Adams faked his laugh.
"Anyway, dude, I assume since you're an F-rank, you won't be going to the combat infantry, will you?" Orion said.
"Oh, so you're the F-rank? Damn, you're weak as fuck, then," Scarlet began throwing his insult.
"Damn, that's cold, Scarlet," Dean replied.
"Still, Dean, if not combat infantry, what will you do, then?" Aveline asked.
"Me? I think I'll take a more support role, I think I'll become a medic or something. Still, my goal is the OSP for medical school. That's my goal, or else, I'll have to take the OTP," Dean explained.
Scarlet hummed, "You know, scholarship invitation began since the first year. You might be selected, even though you haven't applied yet. The academy is always looking for talents if they find it."
"What talent?" Dean asked, knowing that by the academy's standard, he didn't have any talent whatsoever.
"For example, perhaps, your marksmanship score, bro," Andre said.
"It's not like they put it in the combat fucking power," Dean protested.
"I'm curious, what did you get?" Aveline asked.
"B in the marksmanship," Dean said.
Aveline, Scarlet, and Orion were all looking at Dean in shock. Even the staff sergeant in their testing room didn't reach that score, and yet, the boy with the F-rank managed to score that much.
"With a jammed gun," Andre added.
"A fucking jammed gun?" Scarlet couldn't believe what she had heard.
Firing at targets was a hard feat for a new soldier, but Dean managed to get an exceptional score at that, and with a jammed gun. Scarlet became impressed, even though her power level was way above Dean's.
"Damn, I think you can enter OSP with your marksmanship score, Dean," Scarlet said.
"I think so," Aveline added.
"Really? Well, that's only a wish, though," Dean added.
"Why don't we show our ID card so we can compare our combat power?" Orion offered.
All of them put their military ID card on top of the table. They ranked it from the weakest to the strongest. Dean didn't know why would Orion do that, but it was perhaps for the sake of transparency between them all. He was dead wrong.
■ Dean: 2,000 | F
■ Andre: 6,500 | E
■ Aveline: 7,501 | D
■ Scarlet: 9,998 | D
■ Orion: 15,200 | C
"You dingus, you want to flex, aren't you?" Andre uttered as he looked at Orion's ID.
Orion just smiled at his victory. He was the strongest student of them all. He felt pride, but that pride was immediately shattered by Scarlet who was more or less as strong as him. She threw something to Orion.
"All muscle and no brain, it seemed," Scarlet said.
"Hey, uncool," Orion said.
Aveline just giggled. She was the middle between the students that used to be enrolling in a military academy. She took away her ID card and put it back in her wallet. They all did the same thing as Aveline.
So, Dean was the weakest in both magical power and strength. He needed to accept the fact. Still, he was hopeful for the scholarship invitation that would get him out of the hell hole as fast as he could. Why? With that invitation, he didn't have to worry about his future anymore.
"Scarlet, about the scholarship invitation, could I get it even though I am a first-year student?" Dean asked.
"Of course, you can. As long as you have the talent to do it, you'll be able to do it," Scarlet answered.
"Alright, thanks. It's good news for me," Dean added.
"You're welcome, Dean."
The group continued talking until 2:00 P.M. After that, they went back to their dormitory to prepare for the patrol duty that they had to go through while the other students finished basic training.
==========
"Brother, how are you?"
"I'm good," Dennis answered.
In the middle of a coffee shop, Mick and two of his goons were having a meeting. They wanted to talk about the intel-gathering operation that they had gone through. Dean didn't know about this nor he was aware of it.
These people wanted to kill Dean without Dean's awareness of the plan. The girl's brother had his phone on speaker so Mick's goons on that coffee shop would be able to hear it all clearly.
Right now, they were wondering whether they could find a hole in Dean or not. With the hole, they could convince Dean to fall into their traps easily. It was not like there was anything that could be used right now.
"What can you say about him?" Dennis asked.
"Guy's a little bit whack, but he's a great marksman."
"Whack? Weak, you meant?" Mick asked the sister.
"More or so."
"Anything interesting about him?" Mick asked.
"Dean wanted to enter the OSP. To be precise, he wanted a scholarship to the medical school that is only reserved for talented students. And yeah, the person got a pretty good marksmanship score," she said.
Mick just nodded once he heard that response. He now knew Dean's weak point. If he was dying for this OSP, then he could manipulate it to his needs. A lot of orphans were known to be very desperate, Dean might be one of those orphans.
"Anything else interesting about him?" Dennis asked.
"Yes, his power is 2,000," the sister said.
Mick laughed, "he's that weak? Good lord, getting back at him won't be hard at all," Mick replied as he closed the phone.
Mick had formulated a plan, right now, he only needed his goons to do the exact plan. Dean was a soldier boy, he wouldn't dare to ignore any direct orders from the higher-ups due to his militaristic culture. All that they needed was something official to back up that claim.
Of course, what would be more official than a statement inside of a piece of paper? It was not like forging a piece of paper would be hard at all. They only needed to get the official paper and the official stamp from the office. Mick smiled as he formulated his plan.
"Dennis, I need you to do what you do best," Mick told him.
"What? You want me to steal an official paper from the office?" Dennis asked.
"Yeah, and Farrel, can you forge a letter for me? Mick asked.
"What letter?" Farrel asked.
"Scholarship letter for the officer whatever program, can you make it?" Mick asked.
"I think?"
"You think? What's the matter? Is your IT skill not enough to create a simple letter like that even though Dennis has provided the material for you?" Mick asked.
"It's not easy as that, Mick. I need the exact copy or else, this will be seen as bogus," Farrel said.
"Whatever, just do your thing, and remember, mess this up, and you'll regret it!" Mick said as he pointed his finger at Farrel.
Dean Barnett wouldn't know what would be coming for him. He would be very dead and nobody would be able to tell the tale.