The next morning, Jake woke up at 0600 sharp, and he immediately noticed something was wrong as soon as he stepped out of bed. He’d always been a heavy sleeper, and it was common for him to sleep through multiple alarms until his poor grandma finally decided she’d had enough and simply hit him repeatedly until he got up. All of this to say, there was no way in hell he’d just woken up at 0600 all by himself, without an alarm waking him up.
[You snore like an ogre, dude. It’s going to take me weeks to fix that.]
He ignored the text — along with the fact that Ed had somehow insinuated he could make his snoring stop — and instead held his arms up in the air and stretched as he let out a yawn. He wasn’t sure he’d ever slept that well before, and he was extremely surprised to see that he didn’t feel the usual grogginess from waking up.
Ed, why do I feel so great? I feel like I’ve slept 15 hours and then drank a litre of caffeine. Also, what the hell is an “Ogre”?
[That kid, is the power of hormones. I raised your melatonin level last night, which made you fall asleep instantly. Afterwards, I improved your body’s recovery speed by triggering the right hormones, proteins and body functions. Then this morning, I messed around with your hormones again and boom, there you are. As for the ogre, don’t worry about it.]
That's… insane.
[No, kiddo. It’s science.]
Afterwards, Jake spent around ten minutes putting his uniform on and brushing his teeth, and when he stepped out of his room, he fell face to face with King, who didn’t even spare him a glance before she snorted and walked out of the common room into the hallway.
Good morning to you too, he mused after the two boys following closely behind the girl everywhere she went — Jake hadn’t caught their names yet — passed him to catch up with King who was on her way outside the dorm. The two guys were both tall, with brown hair and brown eyes, although one of them looked a little chunkier than the other. Overall, their features looked a lot similar, and they might have been brothers, Jake realized.
An instant later, however, a door opened up and Owens stepped out of her room, dressed in the same black and red uniform as Jake. It was a type of combat suit made of a hyper-resistant carbon mesh that was way too tight for his taste, although he had to admit the suit looked a hell of a lot better on Owens than it did on him. Overall, the suit was both incredibly sturdy and slick, as well as being so light and flexible you could barely feel the whole thing. In a fight, the suit would be able to absorb a small amount of damage, although most weapons these days were able to go through small protections like these like they were butter.
An instant later, Owens and Jake were making their way toward the cafeteria, and he couldn’t help but feel a sense of dread as he approached the dining hall.
Yesterday, he’d learned that Ed was essentially responsible for the food that ended up on his tray. The implant tailor-made each meal so that they would be the best suited for his dietary needs, and Ed had decided that he needed to gain 30 pounds of lean muscle mass, which resulted in the implants trying to force feed him these gigantic meals through taunting.
By the time he’d finally arrived in front of the service robot, his heart was full on hammering the insides of his ribs, before he finally grabbed his tray with a dead look in his eyes. He was so scared to look down at the content of his tray, that he didn’t even spare the food a glance before he finally sat down next to Owens.
As he did, he looked down at his plate and almost yelped. The entire plate was filled from corner to corner with a mountain of steak, and two more bowls of rice were sitting next to it, along with a bowl of soup and a whole platter of fruits.
An entire steak, in the fucking morning.
He still felt full from the chicken he’d eaten the night before, and now he had to do it all over again, and for a moment there he felt sick. But that's when he noticed something he’d been looking forward to: coffee.
[Bulking season baby. Fuck with me today and the coffee is gone tomorrow]
With a sigh, Jake ignored Ed, picked up his utensils and started eating. While yesterday, he’d had more than two hours to finish his meal, this morning he had to gulp the entire thing in less than forty minutes if he wanted to make it on time to class.
In the seat next to him, he was almost relieved to see that Owens seemed to have a plate that was almost as big as his own this time, and he could tell from her expression she wouldn’t be laughing at him this time around.
In the end, Jake had ended up almost throwing up when he’d gulped down the last of his rice in one go, and the both of them had managed to make it in time to the training hall. Upon arriving inside the building, they made their way next to the other cadets who all stood in two orderly lines in front of the teachers.
The training hall was a building of huge proportions, consisting of a gigantic dome-like space separated into three distinct sections. The left-most part of the facility was a classroom, although there wasn’t anything in the whole room in terms of holographic display, tablets or any technology whatsoever you could usually find inside a typical classroom, which was probably because their implants would be able to do all of these things moving forward, Jake assumed. In the center part of the facility, which was the part they were currently standing in, the space was inherently empty and the floors were covered with mats. Finally, Jake shot a glance to his right where the remaining area was filled with various weights, strength training equipment and other devices he didn’t recognize.
By the time 0700 arrived, First Lieutenant Gwyra was standing in the center of the hall, arms crossed, looking furious.
Next to her stood one other training officer, standing a step beside her and looking equally pissed. The students, on the other hand, all shot mortified looks at each other for a minute or two, as nobody dared to ask the officer why she was still silent even though it was a few minutes past 0700.
Finally, three students entered the room at the same time, panting, before they started running toward the class. Jake looked at First Lieutenant Gwyra, trying to see what her reaction would be when he blinked, and she was gone. He hadn’t been the only one to see the officer disappear out of thin air because most students started looking around for the teacher, and then all pairs of eyes turned toward the three students.
In front of the students stood the First Lieutenant, and she stayed still for what felt like an eternity, and Jake could see the student’s expression turning white.
“Second-lieutenant. It seems we have found some volunteers for a visit to the isolation room. If you would please take these three for the remainder of the week, I’d be most grateful.”
Her words were like ice on the students’ faces and the three of them grimaced before they followed the officer to wherever the isolation rooms were.
Jake couldn’t help but take one last glance at the Second Lieutenant, a Zerkan. The Zerkan species closely resembled humans, except for the fact that they were around a foot shorter on average and that their skin was completely blue and their eyes as big as an average human’s closed fists. Furthermore, their facial features were a little bit narrower around the chin and larger around the forehead, which gave them an odd look.
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“Cadet Hawkins.” The First Lieutenant’s voice was low and subdued, but he still grimaced.
She was back in front of the class as fast as she had disappeared, and everybody was looking at her except Jake, who had been preoccupied with staring at the Zerkan for a few seconds now.
“We do have a fourth room available if you are interested.”
“N-No ma’am!” He replied anxiously, wondering once more how she’d moved across the room in an instant like that.
She stared at him for a second, during which a chill went down Jake’s spine, and he let out a silent sigh of relief when she finally went on with her class.
“Now, I hope all of you are aware that this will be the only warning you ever receive about being late to class during the next three years.” She said
Among the class, nobody even dared to look at anybody but the First Lieutenant. She had a commanding presence and her features were hard, almost mean, which was enough to discourage anyone from even breathing too loudly when she spoke.
“Usually, I would start by introducing myself as well as the Second Lieutenant Valadis” She started, pausing for a second to scrutinize the room.
“But it seems like today is going to be a little bit different.” She said, giving the cadets a wide smirk.
“For those of you who haven’t figured that out already, I am First Lieutenant Gwyra, and I will be your training officer for the next sixteen weeks”
The officer kept still for a few seconds, and then she continued.
“This training hall will be where we’ll all be spending most of our time for the foreseeable future. While we are in the hall, you will keep quiet unless I have authorized you to talk, and most importantly you will under no circumstance argue or talk back to me.”
“YES MA’AM!” The cadets shouted back.
“Good. Now please follow me to the classroom.”
For the third time today, First Lieutenant Gwyra disappeared out of thin air, only to reappear far away to their left in front of the rows of seats.
The cadets started walking toward the hall when a shout echoed through the whole training hall.
“I DO NOT HAVE THE ENTIRE FUCKING DAY, CADETS.”
Instantly, the 47 cadets all dashed to their seats, and only a few seconds later, Officer Gwyra spoke up again.
“Every day from 0700 to 1200 and from 1300 to 1800, you’ll be in this class with me.”
Suddenly, a giant holographic display flared to life behind her, and lines of text started appearing as she kept talking.
“During the first semester, most of our time will be spent focusing on the basics of the basics. As you already have access to all the information you could ever need thanks to your implants, we will cover very few theorics during training and the basics will consist of mostly building up your attributes and improving your skills. You’ll be taught everything about combat from hand to hand fighting to firing with a biotic gun.
Then she took a second to look at everyone, gazing at the cadets with her piercing eyes, before she finally spoke up again.
“Finally, we’ll proceed with your awakening no later than at the end of the day.”
Jake looked at Owens next to him with a puzzled expression, and she only gave him a small knowing smirk. Even he knew what the awakening was, but he’d expected it was something that would happen toward the end of basic training, not at the start.
Jake had barely managed to keep the steak he’d eaten earlier in his stomach during the three hours they’d spent running, jumping, sprinting and doing various other basic strength exercises like pull-ups and push-ups.
They’d spent the last two hours getting a crash course over their implant’s capabilities as well as anything else they might need to know for their awakening this afternoon. Whille awakening was a simple process, it was a very risky undertaking and one needed to be very well prepared for it.
They were now all standing in front of the First Lieutenant, panting, and the officer looked even more pissed than she’d been when they’d stepped through the training hall this morning.
“This generation sucks.” First Lieutenant Gwyra said before she continued, and Second Lieutenant Voladis simply nodded, before letting out a sigh of his own.
“You’re all dismissed. Be back here before 1300, although I wouldn’t mind sending some more of you idiots to the hole if you’re up for it.”
Jake turned to his left, and he could see that Owens looked almost as bad as he felt. Her dark black hair was a mess and her skin was covered in sweat, and she looked back at him with a grimace, and he replied with a groan.
[Dining Hall, here we come ]
His entire body was so sore he could barely walk, but he painfully made his way back to the cafeteria with Owens trailing next to him, although she showed no signs of fatigue or soreness as they made their way to the dining hall.
As Jake sat down, he was almost relieved to see that his plate was filled with salmon, roasted veggies and a bowl of rice. The whole thing almost seemed to be of reasonable proportions this time, but he instantly regretted thinking that much after taking a few bites, as he still felt full and bloated from the last meal he’d eaten that morning. Like always, it was a veritable supplice to eat the entire thing, but some taunting from his neuroimplant had done the trick once again in making him keep going, out of ego.
He and Owens had barely spoken a word during the entire break, and Jake was glad she seemed to understand he wasn’t in the mood for chatter at the moment. After they’d both finished their plates, they went back to their dorm and immediately headed for their beds without a word, and at that time, he hadn’t needed Ed’s help for him to instantly fall asleep.
When he woke up around fifteen minutes later, his body was so sore he had a hard time getting out of bed. Still, he arduously made his way out of the covers, which now weighed a ton for some reason, and he stepped out of his room. From a glance, he could see that every single one of his four roommates were heading for the door, and Jake was glad that King and her followers seemed too tired to mock him for now. Owens waited for him to catch up beside the door while the three others slowly made their way toward the training hall.
When they’d arrived in the large hall a few minutes later, it was obvious their dorm hadn’t been the only one to be feeling like shit after this morning’s training. The large majority of students looked to be struggling to stand up straight, and they looked so tired Jake guessed he wasn’t the only one who would have skipped the afternoon classes if it weren’t for their barbarian instructing officer. Out of the whole class, only a few, including Owens, still looked somewhat fresh even after the gruesome morning training. To his great displeasure, Laura King was among them.
As soon as 1300 hit, First Lieutenant Gwyra spoke up.
“I’m glad everyone got the message. Now, who can tell me what biotic energy is?” She asked, and King instantly raised her hand.
“King.”
Instantly, the girl seemed to perk up like a puppy who’d been offered a treat, and Jake couldn’t help but give her a disgusted look as she spoke up.
“It’s a form of energy that exists almost everywhere across the universe, and every living being can absorb it naturally, although the awakening acts as a sort of attunement to that very energy, allowing the awakened to wield that energy as naturally as they would move an arm. It can also be used by our bodies as a nourishment to improve beyond what can be considered physically possible, or to accomplish all sorts of incredible feats, like that time this morning you seemed to teleport.” King said, with a smug face that made Jake want to barf.
“Very well. However, all o you need to be aware that biotic energy is incredibly hard to cultivate and use, and it will take years for most of you to grow strong enough to use even the most basic of skills during combat. For our first class, the main goal will be to have each of you awaken, and then have each of you learn a basic technique that will help you grow these powers.” The Akira added.
“I want everyone sitting down on the ground, now.”
Jake executed, his heart pounding inside his chest. He stared at the First Lieutenant as she stayed still for a moment, and he almost looked at Owens to see whether or not he was the only one not feeling anything different, but then it hit him.
In an instant,hke felt a pressure on his body like the gravity had grown tenfold, and he barely managed to stay upright.
[ Awakening initiated. 1% ]
After a few seconds, a small progress bar appeared at the bottom of his vision, and his expression turned horrified when he realized the progress bar had only filled to two percent after a few seconds. If the progress was as slow during the rest of the process, he’d be sat there for a few minutes at least.
With a wince, he looked to his right, and he could see that everyone seemed to be struggling with the mysterious pressure as well. Half a minute later, the pressure turned into pain and he closed his eyes shut for what felt like an eternity.
By the time the awakening had reached its end, the pain was so intense he almost blacked out for a second, and he wished with all his heart he could end his supplice one way or another. Just when panic had started to take hold of him, he heard Ed’s voice shouting a blurry of incomprehensible words, and he decided to take a look at the progress bar for the first time since the start of the torture.
[100%]
As soon as he saw the progress bar filled up to the max, relief overcame his mind and body, and he felt the pain whisk away into the darkness before he lost consciousness.