Sam hears a strange noise which causes him to jolt awake. He opens his eyes to a white ceiling with lots of lighting. The noise of machines hums around him with an occasional beeping heard in the distance.
He moves his arms and finds that they’re restrained, they’re also hurting quite badly.
“Anyone around?”
A curtain from outside his vision is opened after he finishes yelling, “You’re awake. Good, it’s a bad look to check in here on your first day.”
“Where am I?”
“Secondary recovery ward, sigma base camp. You have been moved out of the recovery pod for only a short time, it’s amazing you had the credits to use that. Not too many recruits that come by here have that sort of backing.”
“Credits?”
“Just think of it as currency, you’ll find more about it once you leave boot camp. You should be fine to leave in about an hour, just in time for dinner.”
“What happened to the unit? What happened after I passed out?”
“I’m not sure, you’ll have to ask the people that dropped you off. Your stuff will be returned to you at the entrance, including your weapons.”
“Ok, anything else I need to know?”
“You should take it easy. You had a rather large and deep injury on your spinal column and neck, it was near the PAC in your neck so you’re fortunate to have that picked up. If you overdrew your energy again, you’d have likely ended up crippled at the least.”
“Ah well that has a few reasons, I certainly don’t want to repeat them. How long do I need to be here for?”
“Another 44 minutes, your restraints will release when it’s up. Just follow the signs.”
*BZZZ*
A buzzing sound comes from the direction of the voice, “I need to go now, if you have any more questions just ask medical” the person quickly walks away closing the curtain behind them.
Sam closes his eyes and inspects his body. He can still feel that mass of energy inside him, a faint mist like appearance that seems sparser than usual. The exterior of the still shimmer and broken, showing no signs of settling down.
A faint connection to the egg is still there, but it’s slowing down the rate it gathers energy meaning that it will be ready soon according to the guidebooks. Sam briefly wonders what the egg will be before he spends the rest of the time replaying the battle in his mind.
He needs to analyse his moves; he needs to find the faults in everything he did if he’s getting better.
This place isn’t very far from where he grew up, it seems that sort of encounter is considered minor, yet he could have died multiple times during that brief skirmish. There were times he was ganged up on and some sort of substance was appearing over his skin.
There was the hit from the larger boss creature, the fact that it seemed to be changing its shape.
Sam thinks over it all, it seems things about his life aren’t how they were presented…
The time passes and Sam is released from his restraints; he gets out of bed feeling surprisingly fine. His body doesn’t hurt at all and most of his fatigue is gone, even his neck feels much better as he walks to the entrance and grabs his things in a sealed package.
There has been no interaction with anyone, he has not seen a single person other than some cleaning robots wandering about the floor. He exits the building, leaving him standing beside an open field.
Sam takes one look around and mutters, “Shit. Where am I?.”
Sam looks out at the field, “Are those ships landing? They look much more advanced than the transports that brought me here…”
He watches it for a moment, they’re massive planes armed with countless long range weapons but they’re moving very slowly.
Sam shrugs after nothing happens and walks in the direction of a building, he just needs to find a landmark or another person.
He walks along the raised pathway, there’s two large grass fields filled with nothing on them beside him. His walk leads him towards a large hangar looking building with open doors, Sam approaches it when he hears a yell.
“Hey!”
Sam looks towards the voice, he spots someone running towards him. It takes a moment for Sam to recognise him.
“Hey… Harold, how’s it going?”
Harold runs over catching his breath. He was over near the hangar.
“How’s it going? Where have you been? After lunch they made us all jog the perimeter of the entire camp… 16 times. I’m hiding over here for a break. You?”
“What? Isn’t that excessive? Isn’t the base huge and dangerous?”
Harold nods, “About 20 people have been taken to the medical wing. I heard someone even lost their leg. What about you? I didn’t see you at lunch. I was looking around for you and didn’t spot you til now.”
“I was just…”
Sam recounts his experiences up til now, Harold can hardly believe it and Sam has to omit a few details otherwise he might get in trouble, overall it’s an entertaining story as Sam describes striking the large creature.
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“The explosive power was amazing, I could feel the power flow through it and explode out the other side. The small rumble as it travels underground before exploding… You truly feel it here” Sam pats his chest.
Harold looks at Sam with a raised eyebrow, “Well, sounds like I might need to suck up to you in the future if you keep doing that sort of stuff. I haven’t even picked out my weapon yet. I don’t think anyone has, really.”
“Have a few people ?”
“Maybe, it’s dinner time soon so I guess we’ll find out? You might want to hide your weapons, having 2 swords, a spear, a bow and a hammer are a bit much don’t you think?”
Sam adjusts his weapon load, “I think it’s fine? I have a few daggers and knives too.”
“Really? That it? Don’t tell me your monster hatched and it’s able to summon more weapons.”
“No, but is that an ability they can get?”
“You don’t even know that?”
“No? How do you know it?”
“They teach it in school…”
“Oh, can you tell me about it?”
“Sure, you tell me about weapons then. I have only trained in short swords before but I see you don’t have any.”
Sam and Harold walk together, Harold is leading the two along a pathway much like the others, they come across people now and then wearing the same uniform yet they all look at Sam in jealousy. His appearance truly is attention getting, at this rate it’s just asking for trouble.
“Can we stop by somewhere to store my weapons, I’ll just take around my light sword.”
“Weapon storage…that’s just your footlocker. If it wont fit you can get a larger one. Wait, I think I remember something…”
“What?”
“Come with me.”
Harold quickly walks in a particular direction, Sam follows behind him unsure of where they’re going. They walk along several paths until Sam is able to recognise some landmarks, including the dining hall which they’re not going to.
Harold leads Sam further away, further than just going back to his dorm towards a building.
A large sign on the front reads, ‘Section S - Small’
Sam is filled with questions yet holds them back as they walk through the door, it’s a room with a caged off counter behind it is another secure cage where a large warehouse can almost be seen. Large military vehicles, weapons and all sorts of things are going through some sort of machine behind the cage.
A person appears at the counter just as they arrive, “ID” he immediately states.
Harold speaks first, “ ID #0001042150”
The man nods, he turns to Sam who fumbles about retrieving his ID, “uhh 0001055242 I think.”
The nod closes his eyes for a moment, “Confirmed. What is your request?”
Harold speaks up, “According to article E, under section 44 subparagraph 8. If any person of the boot camp acquires more than 3 weapons not including small arms, they are entitled to a storage device.”
The man looks at Harold, his expression emotionless, Sam is left there as a bystander.
“Correct. You are here to request a storage device for 0001055242?”
“Yes but I am also here as according to article F, section 4, subparagraph 8. The person that brings to an issue something that exceeds two units above standard severity, they are entitled to a credit or equipment reward.”
The man closes his eyes, his eyes twitch a lot over several moments before they suddenly open, “0001042150, your request has been tabled, in future note that interpretation of severity is restricted to officers. 0001055242 step forward.”
Sam looks at the man and then at Harold, he nods at him before motioning him to walk toward.
Sam steps forward where a circle appears in the cage, it glows brightly before dimming down revealing a small platform. A circular item is on it.
“0001055242, retrieve storage device.”
Sam takes it in wonder at what it is. He picks up the circular item that feels like nothing causing the platform to disappear and the fence to return. The man disappears as Sam takes the item; he returns beside Harold.
“They’re being stingy, that’s a weapon’s pouch. It can only store 3 weapons. I had one back at home.”
“How do I use it?”
“It will replace the weapon in your other hand with whatever is next in the queue, just press it.”
Sam tries it out, he places the bow in his right hand while using his left hand to press the circular item with a button on it. It’s almost like a buzzer yet a single solid item, the bow disappears in a shimmer of light.
Sam holds out the spear, it disappears in the same shimmer of light, he stores goes to store the heavy sword when… it doesn’t work. He presses it several times yet nothing happens, he tries with the hammer and it works fine yet the harbinger it will not store.
“Won't store?” Harold asks beside him.
“Yeah… this sword is heavy so I need it to be stored the most.”
“Do you need to carry it around all the time?”
Sam ponders this question before Harold starts laughing, “You’re a man, of course you need to carry it around.”
Sam smiles and nods, but in the back of his mind he’s considering the power crystal usage. He feels much less restricted with fewer weapons, he opts to switch the hammer with the light sword leaving only his back awkwardly strapped.
Sam walks towards the door but notices that Harold isn’t joining him, he’s about to ask but Harold beats him to the punch.
“I’m waiting for my reward, I’ll see you in the cafeteria?”
Sam nods and walks out the door, he makes his way towards the dorm at a leisurely pace unsure what he’s meant to actually be doing. He gathers in the sights of the complex systems around him, the people that are hidden from obvious sight yet there if you look closely and all the machines.
Those large crafts from earlier have landed no longer casting a haze in the distance allowing the sun to poke through, the bright sunset showing that another day has nearly gone and he still hasn’t heard from his parents.
The shadows create a chilling effect over the field as Sam arrives at the dorm, no one is inside allowing him an easy time to fix his bed. The very first thing to change, the mattress that is still stained with all sorts of colours, now dried.
Sam looks around for a familiar bed before switching the mattresses and fixing his bed before changing his clothing and getting the map again and confirming where he needs to go. He goes to place his weapon away and sees a problem, harbinger doesn’t fit in his locker and the vertical one cannot handle the weight as the creaks as soon as he takes his hand away.
“Ok… I guess I’m taking it with me. Is it really using my mana constantly?” Sam looks inside him but cannot spot anything like that. He shrugs at his lack of answer and walks out of the dorm feeling refreshed.
A few minutes into his walk a bell sounds in the entire area, it sounds like several engines slow down and become quieter. This must signify that it’s break time at least.
Sam walks all the way to the cafeteria where there’s an open-plan kitchen with trays of food just being placed down, there're seats for a few thousand people here giving the place a massive scale. He walks forward and is directed to a queue area where there’s actually people wanting.
No one is talking, they’re all looking sweaty and panting. As if they have run straight here after that whole jogging exercise, Sam nods at them while they frown at him and turn away after looking at his back.
A few minutes pass, they’re allowed to get there food overseen by several armed guards. It appears they take this place very serious; the people walk very slowly as they grab the appropriate things for their trays.
They keep a very close eye on Sam, he grabs what looks edible, a few pastry and potato dishes and a drink. The first bit of food he has eaten in some time before making his way to a table to sit by himself and quickly dig into the food.
His stomach hurts as soon as the food hits it, it’s the first bit of food in many hours and he’s truly hungry after everything. The good thing is that the food is very filling here, packed filled with the right fibres and nutrients.
Sam keeps an eye on the surroundings and spots some people that he’d rather avoid for now, the high school bully types from before. He has finished his food so Sam works his way towards the clean up station and does what is needed, always keeping an eye on them.
There’s an exit on the other side of the building, Sam works his way towards there and exits it trying to be as quiet as possible. Quite a few people notice him as he exits but he does not pay attention to them as he keeps an eye on that group.
‘Is their group larger?’ Sam mutters to himself, walking along the pathway.
“ Wait, Did that group have Marty too? That can’t be possible because that uniform wasn’t for this camp…”
Sam talks to himself as he makes his way back to the dorm causing several people to look at him strangely. He walks straight inside where there are several people are here going about their business. They mostly leave Sam alone to sit before one person is brave enough to speak to him.
“What happened to you today?” he asks.
“I ended up on a mission. It seems the instructor had some sort of bet going on.”
“Oh, what did you hunt?” someone else asks.
A couple more people crowd around, they seem eager to listen to his words.
Sam takes the sword from his back, “I hunted some worms…”
“You mean Spirit Worms?”
“Spirit Worms?” Sam asks.
“Yea, something that’ll usually appear where an alien beast has fallen.”
“Oh that’s interesting, I had to use goggles to see them.”
“That’s because you don’t have the ability to see energy yet, it comes once you reach stage 1.”
“I’ve been meaning to ask, how do you reach stage 1?”
“You need to solidify your mana cloud…”
Sam and the group of students in the dorm slowly get to know each other over time, they even ask him about the weapon where he tells them some details about the battle. He doesn’t want to brag as this is the only weapon and his feats are thanks to it.
Yet he cannot help it as their constant questions always lead in that direction.
The rest of the night is uneventful, even the people that were causing issues previously weren’t able to do anything. It’s possibly because of the weapon beside Sam or it could be that they’re biding their time but it’s a quiet night.
Sam slowly drifts off to sleep, he wonders if his egg will hatch soon and dreams about the life that he left behind just the other day.