BAM! Racine was thrown to the ground. Again.

"Shit! I lost again!" Racine grumbled.

"You've gotten better, miss Racine. It seems the training paid off after all."

Almost everybody shook their heads. It has been a week since Jet joined their training. He went running by the frozen beach with them, went through the gruelling training routine with them, even gone to hunt wild animals in the forest. He was, through and through, a Husky Fortress troops.

And yet everytime somebody challenged him to a spar, they lost.

Everybody was embarrassed. They are already ashamed with the reputation of being the army rejects. But to have lost to a twelve year old now, they felt worse than shit.

"Damn it! Let's go again!" Racine got up, and immediately faced Jet.

"Hey, what the fuck are you saying? It's my turn now!" Logan shouted from below the stage.

"Yeah, get off! Let someone else try." Somebody else shouted.

As they were arguing, Captain Amber approached the training square. Seeing her enthusiastic subordinates actively wanting to participate in spars, she had mixed feelings about it.

On the one hand, she was thankful for Jet's presence. He injected life inside these dejected soldiers. Every day they just followed the routines set by her and the Major. They no longer care. How could they care? They knew they are at best a glorified meat shield.

Jet, is the source of motivation to keep them going. And she was glad for that.

On the other hand, she didn't know how long they could face the defeat. Here was a twelve year old, just starting to have fights with a person, and already bested the troops. They're already at rock bottom as it is. The second the hopes in their hearts are gone, they'll be worse than zombies.

Amber shook her head. "We'll figure it out later. Handle it if and when it came to that. It's the army way."

She leaped and soar to the air, landing on the stage. "Oy you goat heads. What the fuck are you waiting for? It's lunch time. Go eat!"

"But captain..."a soldier tried to reason with the Captain.

Her sharp glare pierced everyone's guts. Even Jet felt the shudder in his heart.

"Are you defying order? Maybe you need a dip in the sea to remind you about the army way?" She sounded playful. Yet, if you were there, it felt very dangerous.

Everybody immediately stood at attention. "No sir!"

"Good! Now march your ass into the mess hall. Right now!"

"Yes sir!" And everybody, including Jet, dispersed. Leaving the Captain alone on stage. Still coneidering how she felt about this.

###

A soldier noticed Jet walking slowly among the long tables, looking for a spot to sit.

"You can have my seat, my Lor...err, I mean Jet." The soldier said as he began to clean his half eaten meals.

"Eyy, come on. Don't do that. Just eat your lunch. I'll find a spot somewhere. It IS a big building, you know?"

The soldier laughed awkwardly, and hesitantly continued eating. Leaving Jet on the hunt for a vacant spot.

That's the usual living condition on Husky Fortress. Equipments are subpar, and never enough. In fact, when they went to the Quarmarter office to ask for an upgrade, the staffs ridicule them so much they left without meeting the officer.

From the waves of bobbing heads, a hand emerged. Waving frantically towards Jet. Or at least, Jet hoped the hand was waving at him.

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It was. And it was Logan. Jet smiled as he walked towards Logan's table.

"Yo, come on dudes. Give some more space." Logan berated Jake and Racine.

"He's a small kid. This much space us enough. We're squished together here." Jake looked to his right. Where his squadmate vehemently nodded.

Jet managed to squeeze in. "It's fine."

For a while, nobody spoke. Everyone was enjoying the meal. A deliciously warm meal of Buffalo Elephant sausage gumbo.

Pretty soon, it became more and more comfortable to sit on the long bench. More and more people left the dining table as they finished eating. By the time Jet was enjoying his deep fried Nutmeg Apple pie, there's only a handful of guys left on the table. Minus Logan, Jake and Racine surrounding him.

"You know kid, I still can't believe it?" Jake spoke while taking a swig of his hard Ginger Lemon cider.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Major was telling us about your first kill. The Zap Boar." Jake took another swig.

"Yeah. What of it?"

"Well, you know, I say bullshit! There's no way a twelve year old, fighting for the first time, without activating his mana or arma core, could kill two Zap Boars." Jake finished his pie, and took it down with a large swig of cider.

Jet smiled. "Why can't I do it? I mean, I did defeat you."

"Grrr! I'm gonna refill my glass." Jake got up, and then turned back. "Don't take my spot!" He yelled at his mates before leaving.

The rest of them ponder in silence. There's no reason for Major Pairo to lie, and he's not the type of commander to tell fake stories about heroism either. But the story is too farfetched to be swallowed.

Jake returned with a full mug of cider a while later. "Then...how did you do it?"

The rest of them instinctively leaned closer. They also wanted to know. The crowd are growing. Somehow, even those that have left are coming back. They all wanted to know whether the story are true or not.

"I just...changed my fighting style." Jet answered with a shrug.

All of them were disappointed. It can't be that easy, can't it?

"Really? Is that it?" Racine could not contain her disappointment. Even the cheerful Logan is shaking his head.

Jake was also visibly disappointed. "Is that why you don't physically train yourself before? You're just some genius who...invented his own fighting style? And it worked? Man...the rich got all the luck in the world eyy?!"

Jet smiled bitterly. Talking about his naive point of view reminded him of his past life. How stupid he is back then? How could he have thought to learn fighting from books? How could he even think of training only after he activated his core, only to be let down by not having any core at all?

Jet looked around. Everyone were still waiting for answers. He hated lying to these good people, yet he had to come up with something. Plus, this will be a good time to spark their beginning. The initial stage of their evolution into a super soldier. His super soldiers.

"Hehe, not exactly. I admit it. At first, I was a bit naive. I thought, it would be a waste to train if I don't know whether I am a mage or an auror. I should know what my power is first, so I xan focus better on training."

Jet wet his lips with the cider. "But then. It suddenly hit me. What if..." Jet paused. He suddenly realized that this is a sensitive topic. Particularly to these folks.

All of them instantly realized what he was going to say. "What if you can't use your powers. Like us. Right?"

Jet slowly nodded. "Sorry."

Racine patted Jet on the back. A little too hard for a twelve year old, but the gesture is warming. "Don't worry, Jet. It's alright. It IS the truth. I mean, we don't mind it. It's just suck when people mocked us for it."

Upon seeing the beam of smiles around him, Jet relaxed and continued his story. "Yes, it's true. What if I had no power at all. Then I would be...fucked."

"So I started to find ways to fight. And that's when I realized something."

"What is it?" Jake asked.

"All of these fighting skills we practiced, all centred on using our powers."

Jet could see the confused faces on them. It was almost comical. He stifled his urge to chuckle.

"What do you mean? A punch is a punch, isn't it?" Jake wondered out loud.

Jet shook his head. "That's what I thought at first. But no. A Fire punch used fire to boost the energy for continuous punches, or project fire punch. An Earth punch boost the power with a simple punch, or create tremors."

"A Water punch manipulate the fluids to attack the insides, or improve your punching ability. And an Air punch was just a punch made invisible. It's still a normal punch. Not counting the Toxic punch when coupled with healing powers of Caelum."

Everybody was enlightened. They have never thought of that before. Here they are, fighting like they have magic or aura enhancing their physical abilities. No wonder they lost in the Fortress tournaments. Every. Single. Time.

Logan shook his head bitterly. "Then what are we supposed to do. We can't just come up with a new martial arts." Then he thought of something. "Unless...you have created a new fighting technique?"

Hope. Hope was like a tiny sprout that broke out from the hard shell of the seed. And it was planted on everyone around Jet. But they're hopes are crushed with one word.

"No. I'm not that smart." The collective groan almost broke his heart as well. Hopefully the next bit of information might sooth their hearts a bit.

"But, I did learn the way of the beasts."

"Huh? The hell are you talking about?" That nonsense made Jake angry.

"Hehehe, what I mean is, an animal fight better when they are afraid. The closer they are to death, the stronger they become. And, watching that, I too use that method to be stronger."

Jake waved his hands. "That's bullshit! Animals have cores too, you know. And CAN use them. We don't. Simple as that."

"True. But, unlike humans, the core of a beast cannot create mana or arma. Their own physical energy created pure energy for...fire breathing or something. Which means that, it's their own power that is strong. Not aided by magic or aura. As long as we are constantly reminded of that fear of death, we can improve our strength as well."

Logan still cannot believe that. "Yeah, yeah. That's good and all. But that's not the issue here. How do WE become strong?"

That question made Jet stopped to think. Indeed, what he had just said was grandiose bullshit at best. He had the Deathwish core. Which act like the beast cores. Fear of death can actually made him stronger. How can fear actually make them stronger?

Thinking of the beast cores, Jet had a vague idea. An unproven theory. But it is something. And it is perfect for the guys to try.

"You know, what if you can apple the beasts core method to you? Albeit with slight alteration?" Jet asked everybody.

"Huh? You are just saying rubbish now aren't cha?" Jake said, causing Logan to nod in agreement.

Racine, motivated by Jet's speech, asked further. "What do you mean, Jet?"

"Look. First, how do your cores, after you emptied in into a used up elemental crystal, gets refilled with power?"

"Because our physical energy instinctively supply energy to our cores. Like the beast." Racine asked.

"Okay. Good. Then, what if you used that power to energise yourself."

Jake had had enough of the bullshit. "What the fuck? You know we can't. That's the fucking problem. There's no, what do the call it, network connecting our cores to our body."

Logan also shook his head. "Man, I thought you're a genius or something. Got my hopes up for nothing."

"But there's a connection between your cores to your heart, right?" Jet said casually with his boyish smile.

That casual remark was hugely impactful. Everybody's eyes opened wide.

"Y-you mean..."

"Yes. As the Striborg healers told us, the heart was the source of a human's energy. The energy was connected to the cores to then be converted into mana or arma. Now, what if, you could channel the energy back into your heart. Then your energy would have exponentially increase. Right?"

Everybody was silent. They are doubtful. But again, they are hopeful.

"Can that really work?" One of them asked.

Jet shrugged. "Wouldn't hurt to try, right?"

And Jet's smiled became a plague, infecting all the faces around him.