The strange symbol first appeared at the end of the simulation. It faded in and out of view, never disappearing. It helped him spot a hidden soldier, but that was it. As he walked around the compound, more and more started to appear. Wait, they were becoming more prominent.

They didn’t appear after he came out from the door. They didn’t appear when he applied himself as a Warrior, Magician, or Rogue. They didn’t appear when he woke from his dream. They didn’t appear at the beginning of the simulation either. The only significant part was that he killed a lot of soldiers. They weren’t real, but they were still soldiers. They had strong instincts. They would’ve found him if it wasn’t for him being extra cautious.

As they became more numerous, he found it difficult to ignore them. Driven out of curiosity, he studied them but didn’t recognize the language. Stuck at a dead end, he pulled out an almanac. No matches. As he looked around, information flooded his mind. Deductions and inferences. He had to figure it out and unlock the mystery behind them.

In the corner of his eye, something finally caught his attention. A flock of birds flew peacefully over the compound when one split from the rest and dove down. The flock didn’t pay attention, except for a few that began to caw. One of them stared at the situation intently.

What caught his attention was not the bird’s decision to dive down but the word that suddenly appeared on a symbol.

Straight Dive

Left or Right

He didn’t understand what it meant, but he continued to watch. The bird eventually smashed into a panel on the side of a building, getting mildly electrocuted in the process. It was in a daze but still smiled, a metal piece of fruit swinging from its mouth. The flock immediately broke form to rescue their friend, with only a few staying behind. They held back the ones they could while cawing angrily, only to be met with silence.

Wait! Straight Dive? The bird dove straight down without changing direction. Did left or right mean to dodge left or right? Were there two possible solutions?

Retreat

The bird that was paying attention, carefully assessing the situation, suddenly made a move. It nosedived like a rocket. A burst of speed. It retrieved its friend without getting injured. Everything happened in the blink of an eye.

The bird flew into the sky as the flock followed it, cawing with intense emotions coming from the throat. The flock went back into form while the injured bird flew with support.

(CAW!)

The bird that took command was a cut above the rest. Was the retreat an acknowledgment of its strength? He replayed the scene using his battle-suit, but the symbols were missing. He looked at the distant flock again, still saw the symbols. The battle-suit again, no symbols.

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Something that can be seen with the eye, but not a machine. Dodging left or right. Which one provided the better result? Retreat. Was it a suggestion or a command? Weren’t these nuances? Wasn’t something like nuance dependent on your gut feelings? Wasn’t that called instinct?

Instincts. Couldn’t it be used to pursue the offensive?

He looked around and found something. Five veterans. Friendly duels. The one on the left. Bulky build with medium height. Crew cut. Soft eyes. Needed to slim it down a little to get into the battle-suit. His opponents were the opposite. Quite skinny but tall. One with fierce eyes, and the other was more reserved. One southpaw, one orthodox. The fiercest one usually takes the initiative. Strikes fast and has decent power. The bulk slows him down a little, but not too much. His overwhelming power closes the gap.

The bulk uses momentum to create distance. The symbols.

Close in

Weakness

Space

Disadvantage

The size isn’t really adding any advantage. Slower than he’d want. The wind-up isn’t in the best form, but he swings anyway. Two attacks collide as the knees bend. Another punch from the side. The southpaw has a different style. Rapid punches of different speeds. A ton of weight behind the counter punch but not much else. Grimaces, Doesn’t connect, stops short. He takes several hits to the gut and falls, out of breath.

If he had closed in, would he have won? Would he have lost? Not so miserably right? Were these predictions?

Didn’t getting a prediction right lead to confidence in more predictions? Wasn’t constantly getting the predictions right a form of instinct? It was a good way to avoid complacency. He was always on edge, even if he wasn’t actually trying. Was this a different type of instinct? It wasn’t bad in any case.

His attention was sidetracked as he randomly punched out. He looked around, searching for something, but couldn’t find it.

‘Was I wrong?’ Sikhail thought.

He punched some more, trying to decipher the mystery when he *felt* himself dodging to the left and *saw* himself dodging a bullet. He immediately ducked under and left as a bullet whizzed past him. He turned around, only to see someone apologizing in the distance. The distance made it impossible to hear, but he saw them form a cross sign with their fingers. A sign of repentance. Clearly, it was a stray bullet. He signaled that he was perfectly alright.

‘So it’s not instinct. It’s deeper than instinct. Why isn’t it instinct? Could it actually be instinct? Instinct generally meant a feeling. The intent had to be directed at you. You interpreted that intent and made a decision on it,’ Sikhail pondered.

To know to dodge something that isn’t near you, isn’t that predicting something in advance? A prior understanding of the variables in that event was required to predict something. He had no idea a stray bullet would fly at him. To constantly wonder whether or not he would be shot at someone would be an exhausting mental effort. It was better to trust the desire to safeguard your life, to assume that an enemy was more likely to hurt you than an ally and that it was less probable to get attacked in your own base. From there, one would pivot to learning a pattern, laying the groundwork for a prediction.

What would happen if it was a combination of both? Is there even a name for that? Was it possible to live in both worlds at the same time? Could an instinctual feeling lead to a prediction? He ultimately shoved it to the back of his mind.

(Beeeeep)

A loud, overly long, deep beep attracted his attention. He looked down. It was an arrangement for an additional assessment. More practical and tougher. A wide spectrum of abilities. His first opponent would be the typical Private after 3 months of intense training. His toughest opponent would be equivalent to a near-death experience if he made it that far. Win or loss didn’t matter.