Once the last person made it to the room, Zim shut the door. The light in the ceiling brightened a little, and Sevs looked around and was greeted with a familiar sight. It was a training room; there were no bags, though. It was just a large room with mats along most of the ground. The far wall was lined with mirrors.

Zim gave the last person a whole thirty seconds to catch his breath. It was the chubby kid who was the first to stop running. After a moment of silence, he chivied them all into a line. They had their backs to the mirrors, and they stared straight ahead. Zim walked back and forth in front of their line. He stopped in front of a seemingly random girl. “Seven laps.”

As he walked down the line. He would stop a random person and tell them a number, “nine, five, six… three.”

When Zim said three, he sneared a little. Zim continued telling each of them how many laps they had done. Each time he seemed to get more disappointed. Eventually, he stopped in front of the girl who had done seven. “Why I got saddled with you, motherless dogs...”

Zim started to turn and was about to continue his monologue. Apparently, this girl was brain dead Sevs thought. Because she opened her stupid mouth. “But I’m an INT build, not a physical….”

Huh, that voice rang a bell, Sevs thought.

“NOT WHAT? Not a physical build? Do you think I give a single shit? Do you think when you are being run through, or you get your squad tortured because you couldn’t keep up, anyone will care? No, your quickening tears will be the only one that ever cares about you since your mother spat you out.” Zim exploded on her, whirling about and getting way too close. The girl cowered back. “We have a baseline standard that everyone is required to meet. I will…”

There was a second person who didn’t have a brain, Sevs thought. He could hear a snicker coming from next to him. Jason quickly covered his mouth, but it was far too late. Where Zim was fast and loud with the girl, with Jason, he was slow, quiet, and intense. He very intentionally pivoted on his heel, his gaze only moving with his body. When his turn was completed, his eye locked on Jason. In a blink, Zim was right before Jason, looming over him. With Zim's nose not more than an inch from Jason's forehead.

“You think you are any better? You probably put all your brains into Agility or something equally dumb. You see, we have standards, and by god, I will get that sorry excuse for a human over it.” Pointing at the girl, Zim continued in a quiet, threatening tone. “But you. You, I won't have to try too hard. Do you know why? Because it will be easy for you. But once she has baseline fitness, she might actually be worth something. She could be an engineer that keeps us running, a pilot, or even the next goddamn Capitan!"

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Zim roared the last word, spittle flying across Jason’s face. “You, you will always be some useless cat that just sits there to lick his own balls. You will never be more than just a grunt that we throw into the meat grinder. Over and over again. Until you give up and relieve us of your stupidity. You don’t have the work ethic to use your stat boosts, so you will get to the baseline quickly and then go no further! But everyone else will catch up, and then. Then you will be good at nothing. Just like you have always been.”

Seeing that Jason was thoroughly cowed, Zim turned to walk down the line. There was a much more palpable air of fear now. Previously it was a bit of apprehension. There was a challenge, but after that outburst, they were terrified. Not just of Zim. Sure he was scary, but he also let things slip. Would the system really let them get tortured? Sevs hoped the min death’s here were low. This sounded like the world might actually be as bad as everyone had made it out to be.

Zim stopped in front of Sevs. “Twelve. Did you also put all stats in the physical? What strength, AGI or DEX?”

“No, sir.” Sevs surprised himself as the words came out steadily.

Zim gave him a more considered look. “How much then?”

“Sir?”

“How many percent in physical stats?”

“None, sir.”

Zim raised his eyebrows. Sevs was wondering if he would get a tongue-lashing as well. However, Zim just nodded and moved on to shame the next person. As he did, Sevs saw that he got a few dirty looks. Was it really his fault that Zim didn’t yell at him? It didn’t seem like it. Zim’s subtle expression and lack of shouting had singled him out. That might not be good for him. Sevs had thought since it was just a game, these people would be better than that.

One person he caught staring at him was the girl who had first spoken. She cocked her head at him. Not in a threatening way as the others did but with a look of confusion. As if she was trying to figure something out. Sevs noted the attention and then returned to staring ahead. It would be a pain to deal with; he would have to think of a solution. Despite the possibility of alienating these people, Sevs wasn’t really worried. He was the largest of all of them by at least a year. One girl seemed to maybe be fourteen, but she wasn’t one glaring.

Zim returned to the front and stood at rest. “Your training does not start now. I’m only teaching you some of the most basic skills and knowledge. I will whip you into something potentially useful. Then someone with more patience than me will turn you into a soldier later. This is the bare minimum. If you don’t like it or can’t cut it. Find an airlock.”