The days went by quick knowing that there was a competition with a prize attached to the top ranking platoon. Arthur proved to be a good teacher and was able to successfully teach the cadets the basics and some of the advanced fighting techniques of Imperial Karate. Arthur suspected that when their systems rebooted, their learning rate must have been impacted as well. Things that took him months and months to learn took the cadets a matter of days. He didn't think that everyone present was some sort of genius in karate, it had to be related to those pods that did their evaluations.
[Level Up]
[27,000/1,000,000 EXP]
[You've gained one free stat point]
[One stat point available]
It was the following week that Arthur received his level up to nine. "With my broken experience point modifier, I will reach level ten in sixteen more days unless something crazy happens between now and then" thought Arthur.
Class had been going well and as he settled down and continued to teach, he found that he actually enjoyed it. The cadets were quick learners and they never asked the same question twice which was a big plus in his book since he hated to repeat himself.
Arthur and the group continued to hang out together after the fighting ring debacle but had decided to spend their free time at the outdoor training grounds where the mecha pilots would run drills and put their mecha to the test in obstacles, target practice and melee combat. Arthur was more interested in the melee aspect of things especially since his system had granted him skills supporting that fighting style.
Through several visits to the outdoor training grounds Arthur had learned a lot of things about his new friends. They were behind him a few levels, not expecting to hit level 10 for at least 2 months or more. That made sense to Arthur since they didn't ever mention anything about the quest feature of his system. He was starting to think it was unique to people that had reincarnated, possibly a reward for doing good things in his previous life, but that was only his theory. In truth, Arthur had no idea, nor did he care as his system gave him a huge edge over anyone else in this life.
It was during one of these visits that the group of cadets overheard some 3rd years talking about reported fighting on the outskirts of the empire. Being 1st years, they were barred from any sort of communication until they graduated their training. Hearing talks of skirmishes on the boarders of the Empire with an unknown enemy as their first piece of outside news did not bode well. Arthur hoped it wasn't anything serious but his intuition told him otherwise.
By the next week, the talk of border skirmishes had made its way around the entire academy and Arthurs suspicion was confirmed. It was a bigger deal than first initially thought. Being on a border planet themselves, the cadets had no idea how it would impact them.
An assembly was called and the whole academy gathered to hear what the commander had to say about the news.
"Cadets, it's with a heavy heart that I announce the Empire has been attacked by something beyond the outer rim planets on our known star charts. We've known of the existence of Alien races beyond our systems for centuries but have always respected their boundaries and theirs ours. Last month, an outpost made contact with...something, with the outpost being wiped out shortly after. That was our only warning before deep space scanners showed a sizeable force entering imperial space. They made landfall on the planet Boros and took the capitol. Once they had the capitol they slowly spread out until we made planetfall and tried wrest control from them. It's been a war of attrition ever since." Said the commander with a huge sigh.
"With that being said, this seems to be an isolated incident for now. The imperial military continues to wage war and conduct research on captured enemy technology to make breakthroughs in our own outdated technology. The emperor expects to wrest control and eradicate the invaders within the next two months. We do not currently know what has happened to the citizens in the capitol city of Boros, but when we have more news, we will send it to the people that need to know. For now, everything will continue as normal. I hope this is motivation to all of you to continue to work hard and get to where you want to be. You never know what's going to happen, or when."
The commander dismissed everyone and Arthur and the rest of the group went back to the outdoor training field to discuss the current events.
"Do you think they are actually going to recapture the planet in two months?" asked Strong to no one in particular.
"No" said Arthur and Mackenzie at the same time. Arthur glanced at Mackenzie to motion her to continue.
"This feels bigger" said Mackenzie as she looked towards the sky. "We haven't had a planetary invasion by an unknown species in the history of the empire. Sure, there was a great war centuries ago, but since then its been nothing but peace. Other than the occasional insurrection or rebellion on fringe planets, nothing like this has been seen. Why would this invasion force only have enough bodies to take half a planet and leave it at that? I think what the empire has found is an advanced scouting party for a much much larger force. I bet they took the capitol to gain control of the planetary satellites to use as a beacon for the bulk of their force."
"That's a good theory, but don't you think the military strategists would have thought about that already?" Asked Asura
"Yes and no" said Mackenzie. "We have to take the planet back and find out what happened to the citizens, so to them, we have little choice to fight the invaders. I only worry about the forces we have there now and what will happen to them if that large force appears and they can't make it out. I wonder how much of the imperial military is committed to this one invasion."
"All good questions and no answers" said Arthur as he thought about his mission in this life and wondered if the invaders of his past life had caught up to him.