Nathan took his seat with Leah taking the space beside him. Ms. Granger took a casual look at those in the classroom and was just about to speak when the door to the building was opened.
"Sorry, I'm late." Riley walked in, heavily breathing. "I was just about to comment on those that had not arrived. Have your seat." Ms. Granger said smilingly.
Riley obliged as he found Nathan's spot and moved over to join him. Once he had taken his seat, Ms. Granger addressed them.
"Hello everyone, my name is Helen Granger and I'll be your instructor for this class. Now, I'm well aware that most of you aren't exactly happy with this class.
"Repairman is a dangerous class after all. But I am here to assure you that if you are willing to learn, I will spare no expense in teaching you guys all I know.
"You have the opportunity to work with the beauty that is technology." Ms. Granger said. She seemed to brighten as she spoke about tech.
"How about teaching us how to defend ourselves so we don't die too quickly." A random remark flew out. "… Unfortunately, I cannot do that. At least, not yet. I am hoping that someone here would help me out."
"Tch." Most cadets in the class were not at all happy. Of course, their feelings were understandable seeing as Repairman was not only dangerous, it gave almost no benefits.
There was nothing good about the class. Only crazies that were into tech would want to join such a class. They regretted scoring low in the exams. Unfortunately, because of that, their fates had been sealed.
"Haha, no need to worry. I'll ensure you guys learn all you have to about what you would be up against. So for this theory class, I believe we shall be talking about Exo suits, their types, and working principle."
Nathan felt a bit removed since he was already familiar with the concept. "Seems I have to wait for the next class before I can learn anything reasonable."
Since he was aware that he would be unable to touch any Exo-suits anytime soon, it was already clear that he wouldn't be getting any sleep tonight. "I'll just take a short nap."
He woke up three hours later to find that the class was over with most cadets having already left.
"Shit, did I sleep through the whole thing?" "Yes, you did." Nathan turned to the left to find Ms. Granger standing alongside Leah.
She looked rather amiable despite her odd get-up. "…Ehehe, sorry bout that." Helen seemed to not think much about it as she shrugged. "I have no problems seeing as you are practically family to Hassan."
Feigning ignorance, Nathan widened his eyes. "You know Uncle Hassan?" Helen nodded. "Of course, we are colleagues after all."
"Oh, yeah." "Haha, in any case, I look forward to seeing you more active in the next class. Talk to you later, Leah. I have work to do." She excused herself as she practically skipped out of the class.
"Well, that was awkward." Leah chuckled next to him. "Don't feel bad. Aunty seems to be fond of you."
"Oh really, how do you know that?... Also, why do you call her Aunty?... Doesn't seem like you are related." Nathan was curious. "Well, she doesn't exactly engage in conversations with those that she finds.
"And for why I call her Aunty, well it's because I was adopted by the Granger house from a young age."
"… Oh, I understand." He could already infer that Leah had lost her parents to the war, it wasn't smart to keep on talking about that thus he changed the topic. "Where's that fatty?"
"He said he was hungry and couldn't wait so he left once the class was over." Nathan sighed. "That guy is only good at stuffing his face."
"Are you leaving now?" Leah asked. "Yeah, but I'm not heading to the dorm just yet. I have an appointment with Instructor Hassan at his workshop."
"Oh alright then." Leah shuffled her feet as she stared down at them. "Would you like me to walk you to your dorm?"
"You don't have to go all the way." Leah quickly replied. "Of course. Come on, let's go." Nathan stood up after which they left the building.
After he had seen Leah off, he quickly rushed over to Hassan's workshop for today's punishment.
If not for the practical knowledge he gained, he would have not bothered coming since he could not take advantage of the situation to finish his mission.
He managed to get a little short eye before Hassan asked him to head back.
As he walked briskly back to the dorm, Nathan sighed. "Another night of terror and fear. Why is life so hard?"
That night, he did not bother to sleep. His eyes were wide open as he thought of ways to try and finish the daily mission. "The system won't intentionally give me a mission I can't handle… right?"
He couldn't be too sure about anything regarding the system. For the most part, it was a mystery to him and he had to be careful about unknown things. They could be the most dangerous.
Midnight reached and he heard some shuffling outside the room door. He ignored it initially but the sound of the passcode being punched in caused him to panic as he quickly closed his eyes.
A moment later and the door was opened. He heard a couple of footsteps entering the room. "What in the world?... These guys perform inspections to find out if people are asleep?"
Nathan was surprised that they would do something like this. Wasn't it a bit too excessive?... Just as he was thinking about that, he heard them speak. "Hehe, the captain is quite harsh. To use such a method to test them… Quite unfortunate."
His brows knitted. "What are they talking about?" He listened closely out of curiosity. "Let's just do what they asked of us. No need to waste time." "Yeah, yeah. Let's start."
There were three people. Judging from their voices, Nathan deduced that it was two men and a lady.
"Alright then. Begin…" The voice of the lady trailed off. "What is it?" "I think one of them is awake." Nathan was alarmed.
"How did she figure out that I'm awake?" He quickly tried to calm himself to look as natural as possible. "Are you sure?"
"Mn. That one." Nathan immediately began to sweat as he felt he had been found out. Just as he was about to turn over, he felt the presence of someone close to him.
He slept on the lower bed while Reyes used the top, thus the person had most likely bent down. "Hoh, it seems you are right." The voice said.
Nathan prayed in his heart even though he knew it was futile at this point. "How about you open your eyes now, kid. You aren't fooling anyone."
Nathan knew he had been found out thus he could only steel his nerves as he swallowed some saliva before slowly turning with his eyes open to meet the gaze of a brawny man with a scar across his left eye and messed up hair
"Hehe, this is bad, right?" Nathan awkwardly chuckled. He quickly caught sight of two others. A lady with pink hair combed over to one side and another guy with glasses and blue hair that was styled fashionably.
They were all dressed in military attire. The brawny man next to him shook his head as he sighed. "Go back to sleep kid." Before Nathan could say something else, he felt a force slam into his face, knocking him out cold.
Several long hours later and Nathan heard voices again. Some were familiar and others… Well, not so much.
"Where am I?" He mumbled as he tried to open his eyes. He felt dizzy.
He felt about him only to realize that he was laying on the floor. "Ugh." At that moment, he felt a slight pain, most likely the aftermath of getting hit too hard last night.
"Who were those guys?" He didn't have the time to ponder on that when he heard someone call his name. As his eyes began to focus, he saw a blonde-haired male standing in view. "You are finally awake," Reyes said with a smile.
"Ugh, Reyes…" He rubbed his eyes and slowly sat up. "How are you feeling?" Reyes asked as he placed his arm on his shoulder. "I feel like someone really strong punched me."
"Would you look at that, someone is quite late to the party." Nathan frowned as the voice he heard was familiar. He turned over to find Jeremiah standing a few meters away from him.
He was about to say something when he realized that his surrounding was quite… different. He was visibly confused. "I remember being in the room when I was knocked out. How come I'm waking up here?"