Dante shrugs awkwardly at Cassie's remark. It was embarrassing. It felt like the entire squadron was there just to watch him get an ass-whipping.
"You'll get a hang of your… Energy ball," Cassie says, chuckling softly under her breath.
"Yeah," Dante sighs, "I'm not so sure what to use my stat points on,"
Cassie waves the cigarette in her hand a few times before Dante's stats appear-
_DANTE FORST (FIFTH TEIR)
_SCORE: 0.2
STRENGTH: 2
AGILITY: 6
MANA: 8
PERCEPTION: 2
STRATEGY: 2
**3 STAT POINTS AVAILABLE
"Hmm," Cassie grunts as she puffs her cigarette, "Everything Melinda told you is correct. You'll need to double down on the abilities you choose for a fight,"
"So do I add more mana to my pool? That way I can empower my abilities more,"
"It's more complicated than that," She responds, "Using twenty to thirty mana points should make an ability quite strong. But you'll need to figure out what your limits are,"
"My limits?"
"How much damage can you do if you put one hundred percent of your mana into that hula-hoop-thing?"
"I don't know… I never tested it,"
"Exactly," Cassie says, taking another drag of her cigarette, "My theory is that different abilities will cost you different amounts of mana. Come up with three to five abilities that become your core, and study them,"
"I see," Dante says, nodding his head. "They do cost different amounts,"
"Figures. You should hold onto those points until you've done your research," She says, dropping the cigarette butt to the floor before stomping it out. "Otherwise you'd just be guessing,"
"And me?" Julz pipes up, looking for some coaching as well.
"What was your power again?" Cassie asks as she gestures.
_RANK: FIFTH TIER ZO'AN (RECRUIT)
_ID: JULIA SMITH
_AGE: 22
_ABILITY: SKII'S
_SCORE: 0.26
_EXPAND FOR STATS_
"Oh yeah, you're really quick," Cassie says before expanding her stats. "You have pads of energy under your feet that allow you to glide above the ground, right?
"Yes, Heir," Julz nods.
_JULIA SMITH (FIFTH TEIR)
_SCORE: 0.24
STRENGTH: 2
AGILITY: 6
MANA: 10
PERCEPTION: 4
STRATEGY: 2
**3 STAT POINTS AVAILABLE
"To be honest, you're better off getting advice from the Commander. Your stat progression isn't too far off from his,"
"He's fast too?" Julz asks.
"He teleports," Cassie responds, "But like you, he focuses more on agility and perception. Your mana determines your stamina, yea?"
"Yes, Heir… How'd you know?"
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"There's always a trade-off. It also explains why it's your highest stat" Cassie says as she lets out a big yawn, "Just make sure you have the strength to win fights,"
"Strength doesn't seem to compliment my ability," Julz says, awkwardly tilting her head to the ground.
"Do you have a weapon?"
"No…"
"Consider using one," Cassie says as she turns to head to her dorm, "And make sure you both get enough rest. You have training in the morning,"
"Yes, Heir!" Dante and Julz call out.
They both briefly glance at one another with smiles on their faces. They didn't realize Cassie was actually a pretty nice person- it must be the onesie. Or the cigarette.
Their attention is drawn to the large gate at the front of the camp, grinding open so that a squad of five soldiers can head out on foot. They look like Operators- soldiers trained to work in the dead of night. They must be going on a mission.
“How long do you think it’ll be until we go on our first mission?” Julz asks with an eye of curiosity still fixed on the closing gate.
“Hopefully soon,” Dante answers, staring at the gate too.
“We should get some rest,” Julz says, looking at Dante.
“Yeah, I’ll be right there,”
Julz gives Dante a kiss on the cheek and then heads off to the recruits' dorms. Dante stays behind an extra few moments, trying to digest Cassie's words one last time. The Academy had already taught him to have three core abilities but he had never come up with more than those- nor has he tested them to their limits.
Dante grins at the path of progress before him, and gives himself a reassuring nod before heading off to bed.
----------------------------------------
The next few days were long and hard- Constantly sparring with Melinda and running situational sims and nearly getting beaten by Cassie every morning. Dante’s stacked up nine stat points. He certainly is improving, and committing to his decisions, but it would be a stretch to say he’s gotten any better at fighting Melinda. The situational sims are difficult too- Very specific. Melinda is really focused on getting the recruits to the Fourth Tier. She says she’ll have a lot less to worry about because they’ll be able to hold their own in the field.
Yesterday, the situation they had a simulation that required them to work in pairs, escorting an injured target to a Landing Zone. No team made it without at least one member dying, which Melinda said was “Not good”. Dante was paired up with Nadia most frequently but was shuffled amongst everyone at some point- Melinda says she’s trying to determine compatibility pairings.
They ended the day with one-vs-one’s against Melinda and got their asses handed to them in front of the entire Squadron again. It’s still embarrassing but those of them who’ve managed to land an attack on Melinda got cheered on just as excitedly as when they cheer on Melinda.
The following morning, the loud blare of a siren startles Dante awake, and without a second thought, he slips on his PEGs and lines up at the door to find Nadia already waiting. The others are quick to follow, and manage to line up right before Cassie bursts into the dorm room.
“Good job,” She says sternly, “Follow me,”
The recruits follow Cassie out of the tent to the sight of dozens of soldiers active at the crack of dawn. Everyone is suited up, strapped with weapons or PEGs and multiple vehicles are already headed out of the premises.
The recruits follow Cassie to Commander Preston's tent, where she orders, “Wait here,”
“Yes, Heir,” All the recruits respond.
“Do any of you know what’s going on?” Taydo asks, looking amongst the lined-up recruits.
“No idea,” Shrugs Nadia.
“Same,” Says Dante.
“I hope we get to fight,” Julz says, rapidly tapping her foot in anticipation.
“You're not ready for combat yet,” Cassie says as she steps back out with Commander Preston- Who stretches his arms and claps his hands together.
“Alright, Recruits,” He announces, “You’ll be on overwatch with myself and Cassie. Last night, a squad of Operators uncovered intel detailing the location of multiple Krix camps. The mission is to successfully retrieve the data and extract our Operators,”
“Yes, Sir!” The recruits belt out.
“Excellent, let's get a move on,”
Commander Preston and Cassie lead the recruits to a large truck with various protruding parts and antennae dotting the roof. It has three rows of seats, two of which have three passenger seats. In the front is the driver's seat and another communications seat. Cassie takes the front passenger seat where there are a series of control panels and radios fixed around her. Commander Preston sits in the back with the four recruits and once they're all in, the humvee launches towards the gate followed by multiple other vehicles, rushing as a convoy towards the mission location- which Dante can see highlighted on the minimap of his HUD that syncs with the vehicles, and provides a strategic view of their surroundings with access to vitals of all units in the convoy. Soldiers, vehicles, weapon status, you name it and it's there.
“Patching us in, Commander,” Cassie says before the sound of static slowly rises in Dante’s mind.
“Copy that O2,” Says mission control, “An extraction team is on route to your location,”
“Negative,” One of the Operators of squad O2 responds, “Extraction is not permitted,”
“Please advise O2, what exactly are you requesting?”
“-static- retrieval,”
_Debugging concludes: “Data retrieval”
“Copy that, O2,”
“O2, you better not be going soft on me,” Commander Preston says with a stern voice.
“You know I don't last long, Commander,” The Operator chuckles, “We’re pinned down quite badly, Sir. And not in the fun way,”
“And the data?” Preston asks.
“We have a plan to get it to you, Commander. I'm setting a waypoint to the North West,”
A blue marker pops up in the distance, a few kilometres from the target location.
“This- this is way off from your location,” The Commander stammers.
“Forget about us, Captain. We aren't going anywhere,”
“I don't understand, we can-”
“We poked the bear and took its honey, Sir. Someone needs to make sure it doesn't follow us home,”
The vehicle goes awkwardly silent as the recruits listen to Commander Preston take a slow, deep breath. He opens his eyes with a newfound seriousness, “Then let's get that honey,”