...
"You can take down Leufons with enough brute force, but the Telktrops have something called a premeditated enhanced energy field," Atop a seven hundred feet tall rock, General Gustav stood before ten youngsters.
"Sir, we..."
"Pipe down. I know you're aware of this," He interrupted Hulukr before he could complete his statement.
Almost everyone briefly glanced at Hulukr, who instantly kept mute. He seemed to have balls of steel despite knowing how strict General Gustav was.
From Dennis's memory, he recalled instructor Anne teaching about the premeditated enhanced energy field. According to her, it activates automatically and prevents attacks from hitting the Telktrops. Depending on how powerful the Telktrop was, they may or may not be able to break through it.
"You lots might be aware of this and must have been told that with enough damage, you can chip through the premeditated enhanced energy field, but how can you cause enough damage before it gets to you? What happens if you're facing a more powerful Telktrop that requires and even higher damage than expected? You lots will be dead before you even manage to shit your pants," General Gustav voiced with a tone that increased the tension in the air.
'Instructor Anne did say that it was better to run from some than to engage them... but shouldn't the UVS change things, though?' Dennis somewhat felt that they were not aware of the true strength of the UVS.
Thinking about it now, he and the scientists might be the only ones who have witnessed the original UVS in action and not prototypes. Except for the time he used it during the challenge. Still, it seemed like even though they were aware of the suit's strength, they weren't fully knowlegeable about its capabilities or they felt, it was limited to dealing with only a particular level of the extraterrestrials.
'Maybe they're not wrong...' Dennis decided to pay full attention.
"There is a way to bypass the premeditated enhanced energy field without having to invoke any damage," General Gustav revealed.
The ten MCs instantly bore expressions of interest upon hearing this.
"This way, when you attack, it directly hits the Telktrops," General Gustav added.
General Gustav went on to explain that the premeditated enhanced energy field isn't always active. It only powers up during battles or when a projectile headed at them.
'The Telktrops have the most advanced tech out of all three extraterrestrials... it isn't so surprising that their ability to defend themselves is top notch,' Dennis thought as he listened attentively.
"They have a tech signature imbued in them that reads the vibrational wave in the air and activates the premeditated enhanced energy field before anything could hit them. Even a well trained sniper would fail. Besides that, the energy field also activates when it senses even the smallest bit of nefarious intent..." General Gustav took his time explaining how it worked.
"Now, how do you bypass it... One thing you need to know is that it can't be done from a distance. You have to get close first," He began properly lecturing them on this.
'Oh? So technically, they must not be aware of your presence, and you need to get super close before attacking while making sure no nefarious intent is exuded... this is going to be difficult for a bunch of reasons. The terrain where contact is made matters a lot,' Dennis could already envision multiple failed scenarios in his head. While he knew he was capable to an extent, he also knew where his limits laid.
After explaining for a while, General Gustav called out to the young military boy behind, "Luke."
The young lad with red hair stepped forward while clad in combat wear and a black vest on top.
He turned around and stood in place like he wasn't there. Letting their eyes rest on his slightly broad back.
"Hmm?" Everyone stared in confusion for a bit till General Gustav explained.
"This vest is powered to give off a red discharge, similar to how a premeditated enhanced energy field would activate the moment it senses danger. You lots are to approach the private without setting off this discharge," General Gustav voiced while a blue glowing dagger appeared in his grasp.
Dennis's eyes widened as General Gustav moved with swift precision and thrust the dagger towards Luke's back, above his right hip.
"Wow," the MCs couldn't control their awed gazes as the dagger tip stopped less than a centimetre from breaking Luke's skin.
General Gustav had moved with such extreme quietness, like a wisp of smoke that couldn't be detected, and as expected, the vest didn't go off.
This meant General Gustav would be able to bypass a premeditated enhanced energy field.
'This man is on another level entirely...' To others, this was amazing, but to Dennis, it was out of this world. He was completely mind blown.
General Gustav was on a level he never achieved in his past life. This made Dennis much interested in how this man trained to reach such a point.
"If you lots surpass this stage, you will have successfully passed your special training," General Gustav stated while backing away.
"Huh?"
"But sir, we haven't done any training related to the Xintropians," Cory Parsons spoke up.
Everyone recalled that so far, they had done training regarding mutated beasts and two out of the three extraterrestrials lifeforms, the Leufons and Telktrops.
They were currently on another round of training related to the Telktrops, but so far, the Xintropians have been left out. In two days' time, they would have spent a total of two weeks in the extraterrestrial training center, so everyone thought at least the last two days would be related to the Xintropians... how wrong they were.
General Gustav paused and slightly turned around, "There is no training for the Xintropians..."
The MCs were left dumbfounded once more.
"When you come into contact with those fuckers, you run as fast as you possibly can in the opposite direction," He stated before walking away.
A tensed air permeated the environment as the group were left with their thoughts. It wasn't the first time they were hearing something similar. Back at the training facility, the instructors have always mentioned that if they came into contact with Xintropians, they should absolutely do whatever they could to avoid physical engagement.
It would seem that the military didn't have any way of going against the Xintropians. Although the Modified Combatants might have a chance, it was still unconfirmed since there had never been physical engagement which was why the instructors kept telling them to avoid that particular extraterrestrial species by all means.
'The General can't teach what he doesn't know... every other training is based on actual experience but it seems their experiences with the Xintropians were ones where they never came out victorious. The Xintropians must be really formidable...' Dennis thought with a wary expression.
"What are you guys waiting for? Come at me," Luke voice rang out from up ahead, reminding the MCs that they still had to scale this stage.
After the loud reminder, one of them stepped forward with a blade in his grasp.
Ddhiinnn~
The vest lit up with a red glow, bursting with a charge that sent him flying.
Fwwhiii~
Dennis squatted and the Hulukr's body swept across his head before slamming into Malik.
Bam!
Dennis wasn't surprised. In fact, he felt that not every MC might successfully pass this stage.
They had learnt a lot from the time they spent here. From effective combat to using a bunch of high grade weapons privy to the military.
From what Dennis understood, a lot of high tech weapons were already created before the UVS to help the military combat against these extraterrestrials forces and the wild mutated beasts.
A lot of these weapons were twenty times more powerful and effective than any one from the earth he came from. However, despite this, a some of these mutated beasts and extraterrestrials species could not be defeated with these weapons.
The scientists had claimed that the UVS was going to be the game changer. Evolving humanity's strength to match some of these unbeatable species.
...
The next two days were spent trying to complete this challenge and the MCs were failing woefully... except for Dennis.
Dennis wasn't on General Gustav's level of stealth but getting past the premeditated enhanced energy field was an easy task for him. The moment the General explained what was required, he knew that passing wouldn't be a problem.
The issue with the others was that it was extremely difficult to hide intent when you blame the aliens for the current state of earth.
Malik held his breathe while heading towards Luke. His movements were super soft and fluid as he stabbed the dagger in his grasp towards Luke's neck.
"I did it!" Malik eyes suddenly widened as he jumped for joy.
"I did it! I did it!" He cackled heartily while approaching Dennis who was on the other side of the mountain region, doing push ups.
"How did you do it?" Lara questioned as he whizzed past her.
"I don't know... I just stopped hating, I guess," Malik response stunned the others.
"What does that even mean?" Lara inquired with an expression that said, 'What the fuck are you talking about?'