The sun was shining through the branches of the trees. Leaves were swaying in the wind; the chirping of the birds was reminding that it was spring. The forestland inside the training ground both created a working environment for the academy students and provided the opportunity to rest in places that people could not see.
Mimi was resting on the grass in a treeless area in the woods. She had come here early in the morning and had been training ever since. It was past noon now, and Mimi was feeling hungry. She thought while watching clouds in the sky. She was working really hard.
Her friends said that there was no need to work that hard for those who had already graduated from the academy; but she was working hard, she had to. Having graduated from SOU Military Academy at the age of 13... She was among the 10 students who graduated at the earliest age throughout the history of SOU. She had to be successful in the numbering exams that will be held four years later. She had to work hard.
Although most of the SOU students were students coming out of SOU's orphanage, the academy was also accepting students through the application method. Academy's door was open to everyone.
The academy was feeding its students for free, sheltering them, and subjecting them to indeterminate training. The students who were thought to have completed their training had to take the though graduation exam once a year and they were graduating as apprentices from the academy.
Apprentice students could choose the numbered soldiers without students as their masters. The numbered soldiers who accepted their apprentices had been taking bonus-payment from the academy and were using that money to meet their students' needs like sheltering and feeding. If they wanted, they could take their apprentices to their homes in military posts.
The apprentices had to stay with their masters for four years and accompany them on certain missions. In other words, the apprentice students were like trainees. At the end of four years, there were numbering exams. Trainees were tested by several methods determined by SOU's training coordinator, and SOU had been comparing the first hundred students who succeeded in those exams with the tournament system and gave them numbers.
The 100 trainees who qualified to be numbered would receive numbers in order, according to their success in the tournament. So, if there were 5000 numbered soldiers in the military at that moment, the tournament finalist would be the soldier 5001. If a soldier in the previous ranks died, retired, or accomplished a very difficult task, the soldier's number was increased by the decision of the military board.
The numbered soldiers would turn into independent soldiers. They could work in which fields they had talent and interest and were paid according to the importance or in other words, class of the mission they did. The missions were given by the coordinator and higher-level management members of the military board, and they were divided into four classes: E, M, D, S.
E-class missions were the easiest ones. The soldiers who had just taken their numbers could only take E-class missions. The payment for that class was about 700-1000 mu. "Mu" was one of the seven currencies used in that new era and it was only valid within land under SOU.
M-class missions had medium difficulty. This task could be given to the soldier except for the first year. The payment was about 1000-1500 mu.
D-class missions were only given to soldiers below number 2000. This class includes missions that are dangerous in terms of death and necessitate experience. The payment could be 1500 mu or more. Trainees were not allowed to accompany their masters when they took D-class missions.
S-class missions are given to special soldiers. If a soldier's secondar ability was suitable for that mission, they could be assigned to an S-class mission, regardless of their number. Only the members of the military board (8 directors of SOU) could assign S-Class roles. Its salary was secret and paid by one of the directors or all of them.
Mimi had been an apprentice of the soldier nicknamed 'Green Blood' for a year. Her master had her respect and adoration, but it was not the major reason she chose her.
Her master only had two apprentices before. Her first apprentice was Setsuna, known as Scarlet Venom. Despite her nickname, she was working under SOU medical institutions as a doctor at that time.
Setsuna was a role model for Mimi. Mimi had grown up with her stories about mutation control and had applied to SOU just to learn more from her. However, Setsuna was not accepting students, and Mimi and her special abilities were very different from each other. Because of that, Mimi chose her master instead of her. Also, Mimi could not see Setsuna not even once since she came to SOU and did not know the reason for it either.
Her master's other student was 32-year-old Roy, an amateur musician. Unlike Setsuna, Roy was very friendly, and the warm-blooded Roy still lived with his master, despite being an adult soldier.
Mimi always thought he was a clumsy soldier, a cry baby, and a spoiled adult. He was usually annoying Amy in the house. Mimi always wondered how her master, who normally had a low tolerance, was putting up with his inappropriate behavior.
After thinking a bit more, Mimi decided that she did not love him. Underneath this thought, it could be that she had never seen Roy on the frontline and did not know his secondar ability. Remembering the floral tights Roy wore while performing at the SOU Spring Festival last month, Mimi was once again convinced that she did not like Roy.
As Mimi lingered with these thoughts, she heard a voice. The voice belonged to her master calling out to her: "Mimi, I called you several times, but you did not hear. I was worried about you when you did not come to eat with us." said her master.
Mimi immediately got up from where she was lying and saluted her master with a bow. Then, she apologized for not hearing her master and for missing the mealtime. She thought about using her training as an excuse, but that excuse was useless as her master caught her lying on the grass. However, Amy did not get mad at her because her dusty and dirty clothes showed that she had been working since early morning.
On their way home for meal, she turned to her apprentice and said, "Let's review your progress this month." Without hiding her excitement Mimi asked, "Are you going to train with me, master?" Amy said, "Remember that I am your master. Don't get excited as if we're not training together at all." Actually, Amy was feeling like Mimi too.
Mimi was taking fewer private lessons from Amy comparing to other apprentices in the organization. The biggest reason for this was that Mimi had a regular personal training schedule. Her friends were working with their masters more than she and Mimi was worried about herself as she thought of it but to Amy, Mimi did not need that kind of training at all.
Mimi was learning everything she needed to know quicker than others and she was improving herself regularly. Amy only was supporting her where she needed help. They agreed to train together at the training ground in the evening.