"Listen up, recruits!" All forty of us went to attention, facing straight forward as Colonel Fry yelled. "Starting from right now, each and every one of you fucks will hold a scrimmage! A free-for-all with all units partaking in it!"
Some murmured, "How's that even fair?"
"Now some of you may think that's unfair," Colonel Fry walked back and forth, "And truthfully, I don't give a damn! Nothing is fair on the battlefield!" He turned his body, pointing out to the mountains more than fifteen miles from base. "You lot go until twelve hundred to get there!"
More complaining.
"Now then, there will be a total of three flares shot into the sky! The first will be blue! That means you have one hour until midday! Yellow is next, and that means thirty minutes! Lastly, a red flare will light up the sky! That is your signal to start!"
"S-Sir!" A man next to the colonel stuttered, trying to get his attention. "What is it?"
"You forgot the instructions. You know, like the rules?" He nervously laughed, scratching the back of his head.
The colonel groaned and faced us again. "As for the rules! On your way there, you cannot use your powers, only your regular human ability! And once you get there, then and only then is it permissible to use them! Do not think we will not know if you do! The last team standing will get a prize! As for what it is, I will not be telling you all!" He cleared his throat and checked his watch. "Oh yeah, you maggots only have roughly two hours starting now! Fall out!"
"YES SIR!" We all said in unison, scrambling to find our unit members.
Time took over everybody's mind, a panic erupting and igniting a wild stampede of wild bodies. I rushed past people into the crowd, my shoulder getting bumped every second of the way. Seeing a girl with violet eyes I yelled, "Lea!"
Grabbing her hand, I felt my body thrust forward, rolling out of the crowd. Regaining myself, I saw Lea and the other two already found each other.
"Your nose, Lucio." Kurogane said, holding out a tissue.
"My nose?" I wiped it, blood smeared onto my knuckles. I grabbed the tissue from him and said, "thanks."
"I could heal you; you know?" Lea inquired, yet her face showed no 'real' concern. "Remember, there are no powers in this mission." Ellie explained.
"You're the boss. I obey thy command."
I sighed and plugged my nose with the tissue, "we're losing time, what's next?"
"It makes sense now. The reason all of our clocks and watches were taken. But how?" Kurogane pondered to himself.
Ellie ignored him, shrugging her shoulders. "I imagine everybody is trying to gather their stuff. The fact is that was an embarrassment for those who ran. Chaos has no place on the battlefield."
'I forgot. This woman is a corporal.' I thought, 'To think she came from an academy here in New York City.'
"We don't need to pack a damn thing." Her voice remained monotone, not a hint of enthusiasm.
"What?" The three of us said, shocked. "We may not be able to use the system right now, but that's really not a problem. We can just use potions from our inventory once we get there."
"You want us to walk fifteen miles with no water, no nothing?" Lea questioned, followed by an agreed nod from me.
"Most people here didn't come from an academy like Kurogane and myself. Just like you two, most of the people here have no idea of their physical capabilities. They think of their bodies as if they're ancient humans, unable to survive without powers. But when we level up with the system, we passively upgrade our bodies too. While that may seem like common sense, when you have no experience, it's hard to gauge just how far your body can go."
"Ellie." When we all first met, we decided it was okay to be on a first name basis. Just not in front of officers. "Just what level are you?"
"After graduating from the academy, I found myself at level four hundred on the dot."
'But that means she's more than a hundred levels high-'
"Now I'm level five hundred."
Lea blankly stared at her and said, "so that's what going to an academy will do for you."
Fifteen years here, yet I still don't know how systems came to be. Human historians say it just came to be.
But there's no way it would just suddenly appear.
"Then what about you, Kurogane?" I asked.
"Level four forty. I know, not as good as Ellie." He was the exact opposite of Ellie. Energetic. Well, I guess that means he's the only one in the group like that.
"Enough chatting. It's time for us to head out. We'll lose the advantage of leaving first if we don't go now."
"Understood!" (3x)
We turned around and went through the back entrance, nothing but desert ahead of us.
The desert stretches endlessly, a vast expanse of arid terrain under the relentless gaze of the scorching sun. The landscape is dominated by rolling dunes, their golden hues shifting in the wind like waves frozen in time. Endless ripples and crests create a mesmerizing pattern that seems to unfold infinitely into the distance.
Sparse vegetation, adapted to the harsh conditions, clings tenaciously to life. Here and there, hardy shrubs and resilient cacti dot the landscape, their silhouettes casting long shadows in the stark sunlight. The ground beneath is a mosaic of cracked earth, bearing witness to the unyielding heat that dominates the day and the chilling cold that reigns at night.
"How 'bout a full sprint right out the gate?" Kurogane used a metaphorical saying in a literal sense.
"Sure." Ellie accepted, every single one of us lining up next to each other.
Lea looked at me and showed emotion. A smirk. "Try not to get lost in my shadow, yeah?"
"Shadows are the least of my worries."
"GO!"
We jumped forward, each of us within a step of one another. Kurogane was smiling, Ellie was stoic, Lea was clenching her teeth, and I was doing all I could not to show any emotion.
We'd been sprinting for nearly twelve miles, and my lungs started to feel like they were getting stabbed. Each step felt like a protest from my fatigued muscles.
My breaths were labored, each inhale a strained effort to fuel my body for the next painful stride. Beads of sweat streamed down my furrowed forehead, and my once-determined gaze now carried the weight of miles behind.
My feet, encased in boots that had become instruments of torture, ached with every impact against the unforgiving ground. Blisters had formed, turning each step into a small act of endurance.
As the mountains loomed ahead, my exhaustion became palpable. My posture slouched; shoulders heavy with fatigue. Yet, within the weariness, there remained a determination etched on my face.
A yellow flare shot from the mountain.
"Almost there!" Ellie reminded us.
As the rocks sat before us, another battle of testament began.
"We didn't bring any equipment." I nearly ran out of breath.
Ellie wiped the sweat from her forehead. She jumped in the air, which felt like her airtime was forever. Landing on a rock, she jumped again, then again, and again. "Lucio, what did I tell you?! You'll be fine!"
'If I just had some damn wings I'd have already been at the top.'
Kurogane did a side run up the rocks, occasionally jumped onto an edge, and started running up again.
Looking to my side, Lea vanished. I looked directly above me. She was climbing like a regular, except she wasn't losing any group.
"You know what?" I grinned, placing my hand over my stomach. A golden whirlpool began to appear.
"Aeonis, your form is my will."
Retracting my hand from my stomach I snickered, "never would I have thought I'd need you in this form."
A grapple gun. Much like the one in my inventory. The difference was Aeonis was a pure chilly white.
Taking measured steps backward, I surged towards the wall, executing a powerful jump and securing my grip on a higher rock. The regular climb lasted minutes, elevating me to several hundred feet above ground. The increasing slipperiness of my hands and the loss of sensation in my feet added a nerve-wracking layer to the ascent.
Moving my fingers into my uniform pocket, I painfully wrapped my fingers around the gun, aiming it nearly straight up. Ellie and Kurogane already found a cave near the top. And Lea was about to get to that cliff.
I looked below me. The other trainees were here.
"All for a damn potion." I aimed, clicking the trigger. It locked itself on the edge of the cliff. I glanced down one more time, rocks crumbling by my feet.
'Let's hope I chose the right amount of wire…'
I placed my body closer to the rocky wall, pushing myself off of it.
My body began to fall rapidly, yet I tried to keep my body pencil-like, feet down. The wind pushed hard, but in a few seconds, my feet were just about to hit the ground. I opened my eyes, feeling the loss of momentum.
"Lucio!?" I saw Elara and the rest of the Thunderbolt Fire Squad staring back at me.
"You're just getting here-!"
I suddenly got pulled back upwards. My back nearly broke, and my face felt like it was going to fly off.
Flying up over a thousand feet, the cliff was in my sight. I clicked the trigger once more, relinquishing the harness. As I passed the cliff, I momentarily floated then went down again. I threw my hand out in hopes to grab hold of anything.
"Urgh!" My arm was stretching out, and my body hung off the cliff. Kurogane grabbed my hand and did a count down to one before propelling me onto the cliff with him and the team.
"Huff..Huff." I was out of breath and unable to feel my limbs, laying my back on the rocky ground.
[5,000 EXP gained!]
[Progress to next level: 225,000/243,000 EXP]
"Hey, drink up." Ellie handed me a dark green potion in a circular glass-like bottle, carved with golden lines.
['Potion of fatigue' has been consumed. All physical movements are now possible.]
My sweat precipitated into the air.
I stood up and said, "we're early, we should set up traps, no?"
Ellie crossed her arms lost in thought before snapping her fingers. "As the mage, I'll set up some land mines, trip mines, and alike. As the warrior, Kurogane will stay here with Lea since she's our healer." She then turned to me. She mumbled a chant, scribbling the air with her finger, outlining what looked like a square.
Green and red particles puffed from where she used the magic, a blank piece of paper filling her hands. Four pieces of paper. She put one in her pocket, then gave one to each of us.
"Lucio, that's tracking magic. Wherever you go, it'll map it out for you, as long as you take a mental note of it."
I looked at the blank paper.
My posture stiffened and the lines on my face tightened, a frigid detachment filling my gaze. The question, delivered in a flat, emotionless tone, hung in the air like a cold breeze, "Ellie, no such thing exists for a mage. Just how do you have the ability of a hunter?"
"What if I told you, you could unlock something known as a 'subclass'? To be able to have two classes. Maybe even more?"
"I'd say you're sure as Hell not one of the children of wonder. The SkyFall system doesn't allow for a subclass."
"Are you sure about that?" Kurogane joined, rolling his paper up. "There have been plenty of max levels throughout history, and who knows how many in today's day."
"What's your point?"
He cleared his throat and answered, "The SkyFall system was introduced when the angel known as Uriel fell from Heaven and died on Earth." I bit my lip, continuing to listen, "and from what we know, angels and those alike possess powers that involve all seven classes. What I'm trying to say is, the system was a result of The Epoch of Sovereignty. If he was able to wield power in all classes, then so can we."
I sighed.
"So, then you guys have more than one class?" Lea asked, sitting down with her knees high up. "What are the subclasses? And how'd you get them?"
Kurogane did his nervous laugh, looking at Ellie who nodded her head. "No harm in telling your own team, I guess. In the academy, Ellie and I were a part of a covert operation. We can't tell you what that was about, but we can tell you our subclasses." He paused, "what are they?" I pressed.
"Kurogane's subclass is an alchemist."
"An alchemist? But why, what benefit could that even have when it's not power related?" Lea wondered.
"Not strong? Sure, in the physical sense. But not only did him being an alchemist reel in a lot of money but has also given us a near infinite number of potions."
"His potions are that good even if it's a subclass?" I spoke.
"Potions are a bit different than the regular leveling system. It operates on rarity, not level. Not much talent goes into alchemy, the system does most of the work for you. It's practically luck based. And that's why there's nearly no alchemists that attend an academy. They all get sent straight to the military."
"I see now. You made a lot of money, because there was no competition, right?"
"Correct." Ellie assured. "Can we proceed with what we need to do, or do you wish to continue this interrogation?"
"Interrogation?" I snorkeled. "I do wish to know more but whatever, I just need to map this out, yes?"
"Yes."
"Got it." I cracked my back, "See you guys later, then."
"Don't take too long." Ellie stated.
"Catch ya' later!" Kurogane added.
Lea waved me off, "stay safe."
As I walked into the cave, an echoing scream filled the air from afar.
A red flare.