In the middle of the forest, Nathan was aiming at a target mounted on a tree trunk. He held a wooden bow that Dilliard had lent him and used ordinary wooden arrows.
'You must remain calm and understand the behavior of your target'
Nathan remembered the words Dilliard had said to him a few days ago when he had asked him to teach him how to use the bow.
He had spent the last few days practicing his aim, which was not the best, but at least he could always hit the target when he was standing still. Moving targets were still too much for Nathan.
While he was still drawing the bowstring, Dilliard came through the trees and approached him.
"The information is ready, everything is prepared for your mission"
Nathan lowered the bow and released the string before looking at Dilliard.
"Understood"
They both walked out of the jungle and reached a building that led underground to the cave Nathan had visited the first day he arrived.
This time he didn't have to go as deep to the lower levels, but it was an intermediate level. Entering the meeting room, he found that the other cadets and soldiers had already arrived.
In total there were eight cadets and two two-star soldiers who would accompany them to supervise them.
Of the cadets, six were second category and two were third category. Nathan looked at Syril who was sitting at the back of the room with a bored look on her face as she stared at the ceiling.
Nathan could only sigh. In the last week and a half since he had arrived, Syril was the one he had met the most, and she was the only one who knew his face.
Ignoring her, Nathan noticed that the other third- category cadet was also looking at him, but in comparison to Syril, this one was looking at him with a dark expression.
'Maya...' Nathan sighed. 'This is going to be a difficult mission...'
Dilliard gave him a light nudge to sit down, and Nathan walked to the back and sat down in the chair next to Syril. She was the only person he knew, and the information she had given him so far had been useful.
As soon as Nathan sat down, Syril spoke to him.
"What a great coincidence" she said with a smile on his face.
Nathan crossed his arms.
"I suppose"
Syril started to say something but stopped when she saw that someone else had entered the room.
A man with four stars on his uniform walked in with several sheets of paper, then laid them all on the table and, with a light wave of his hand, slid them to each of the cadets and the two soldiers.
Nathan picked up the paper that had been handed to him and began to read it as the man began to speak.
"As you can see from the sheet, your mission is to retrieve a relic found in an intermediate realm. Which is protected by a first-rank calamity, special category"
Nathan read the sheet, which contained the same information as the man had said.
Just like people, calamities were divided into ranks and sub-categories, the only difference being that there was an extra category just for calamities.
The special category, above the third category, where the calamity had abilities different from those of its species. Abilities that gave it increased strength or intelligence.
It was not the first time Nathan had encountered a special category calamity. The boy who had caused him so much trouble years ago had been one of them.
Boreas had revealed to him, a few years after Nathan had gone to the realm, that although it was a lower realm where there should be no monsters, thanks to being a special category calamity, something had happened internally that had altered the laws of nature. The result was a traumatic experience for Nathan.
In any case, Nathan was much more prepared to face a special category than he had been six years ago. The only difference was that the realm he was going to be an intermediate realm and not an inferior one.
Even though every realm was on the same level, some could be more dangerous than others. Two intermediate realms could be very different in terms of danger, and this was determined by special devices that examined the rifts without having to enter them.
A technology Nathan did not understand, nor did he know how it worked. But it was there, and it helped to determine whether it was suitable for certain types of people.
If anything, the only thing Nathan didn't know about was the relic. So, he nudged Syril gently, drawing her attention to him.
"What's an relic?"
The young woman gave him a somewhat puzzled look.
"You really don't know?"
Nathan could only shrug, Boreas had never taught him anything.
Syril sighed as she realized that Nathan really didn't know.
"They are objects that have different... magical... properties"
Nathan listened to the explanation and began to think about the relics. He had never heard them mentioned before, but their existence was interesting, considering that they were only found within the realms.
The explanation of the mission continued and at the same time Nathan finished reading the sheet. In reality, the mission was not that complex, at least their task was not.
They just had to enter, find, and extract the relic successfully. Although it was mentioned that there could be various problems, such as the government sending their own agents, so it was possible that they would find themselves inside the realm.
There were different entrances to a single realm, so it was not uncommon to find more than 5 cracks leading to the same realm. The larger the realm, the more entrances and exits.
The briefing ended with the man telling them the date of the mission.
Nathan had only three days left to complete his bow training. So, he had no time to waste, and as soon as the meeting was over, he got up from the table and started to walk away.
Syril got up as well and followed him.
"Hey, do you want to get something to eat?"
Nathan looked at them and shook his head.
"I have to train"
Syril sighed and groaned.
"All you think about is training? You've been at it all week. At least tell me what are you training"
Nathan was silent for a few seconds, thinking it wouldn't be a problem to tell her, after all they were going on the mission together.
"I'm learning to use the bow, Boreas never taught me"
Syril nodded slightly.
"The bow... Do you want to have a competition?"
Nathan looked at her, somewhat taken aback.
"What part of learning did you not understand?"
Syril just chuckled softly as she walked on.
"All right then, I'll see you on Friday"
The young woman walked away, taking a different path to Nathan, who walked back into the jungle, taking advantage of the fact that there were still a few hours of daylight left.
He fired at the target again as he went over the information on the mission.
At last, he was going to be able to put himself to the test, and even though he wasn't sure how it was going to go, he couldn't deny that he was a little excited and scared at the same time.
He had had bad experiences in the realms, so now that he had grown and improved compared to 6 years ago. I wanted to see how different it was from then.
***
Three days passed as Nathan continued to practice his archery skills, and by now he could more or less hit anything within 20 meters of him.
It wasn't much, but for a week it was pretty good.
He was now sitting in a military truck that was taking them to the site of the rift. It was about 4 hours away, a time in which Nathan had little to do other than talk to Syril, who kept insisting that he take off his mask.
As well as enduring the dirty looks of Maya, who hadn't stopped staring at him the whole way.
'Doesn't she get tired?'
They'd never even spoken, but it seemed Nathan was his own worst enemy.
He couldn't sleep either, knowing that Syril was interested in seeing his face at every turn. But he had no problem staying awake for long periods without sleep.
No matter how much time passed, Nathan still had nightmares, so there were days when he could go for hours without sleep. And this went on for seven years, so in effect Nathan had got used to getting little sleep.
Hours passed in the truck and at some point, it stopped abruptly. Nathan looked around and saw the two soldiers who were with them open the back doors and get out.
Syril stood up and stretched before looking at Nathan.
"Ready?"
Nathan slowly stood up as well and looked out of the truck.
"I think so"