Given that this was only a customized and smaller version of it to accommodate Pandora's Box food on the training grounds, the cafeteria might not be as large as the one William had previously in Site-199.

William moved ahead to the cafeteria area to meet them. He took a plate and was given a conventional military breakfast ration. The one he had back then wasn't all that different from this one.

He then sat down at the same table as Grace, Iris, and Stevenson. They had been speaking briefly before beginning their day while they had been eating their breakfast for some time and were ready to finish.

"You should wake up early and be disciplined towards your sleep schedule. It may cause Commander Blake to be on to you." said Grace as she sipped water from her mug.

William sighed, "I know, I know. I'm not really used to the situation yet, knowing that back then, I was only allowed to go out of my room in the evening. Not an early bird like you guys."

He scooped up part of the food, and Grace could only shake her head. Since they hadn't yet been given a mission, the others continued their conversation for a while, discussing about themselves and their plans for the day.

Iris then asked William as he was about to take a drink, "What about you? Any plans for the day to make yourself productive? Since we weren't allowed to go out of this training area."

"I don't know. I haven't thought about it since I'm not pretty familiar with the place yet, but most likely, I would train myself to be able to survive out there." Answered William as he took a sip.

Iris' eyes widened, "Oh? Then how about we go to the shooting range together and see whose aim is the best?"

Stevenson laughed, "That would be an interesting one. Both of you are still young. A fair competition between the two of you."

"Oh no no no. I'll skip that. I'm not really good at firearms." William reluctantly declined. He then stared at Grace, "I may need to improve myself on some parts, especially my physique later."

William remembered the moment when he had nothing to use but his hands, fighting against Keith, who was a Chaos Insurgency member, and there was a huge gap in terms of experience between the two of them.

He certainly needs to train himself. An average person like him won't have any chance to fight against someone who was military trained like Keith. He probably had years of experience in combat compared to him.

Grace might be able to train him, a perfect sparring partner to help William to train his physique to the point he could take out a Chaos Insurgency member in hand-to-hand combat.

He then called up to Grace, "Captain, do you mind having a one-on-one spar against me after this?"

Hearing this, she was a bit surprised by the sudden change of William, "I would be happy to assist you if that is what you intended to accomplish today. But kindly remember that we are now coworkers, and we share the same rank. You no longer need to address me as Captain."

"Alright then, Grace. Thank you for your assistance." replied William.

Grace felt a bit uneasy getting that response, "That feels weird, but that's fine, I guess."

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

The rest of the group continued their conversation and chit-chat for a moment, while waiting for William to finish his breakfast. Some of Pandora's Box personnel had finished their breakfast and continued their training.

After a few minutes, William finished eating. Seeing this, both Iris and Stevenson left the table early as they were about to go practice in the shooting range, leaving only William and Grace.

Both of them nodded and started to go to the gym area for Pandora's Box personnel to use in their training. As mentioned before, William asked her to be his opponent for this session.

There were several personnel training in the gym, using some of the equipment that was prepared by the Foundation. But they'll be having the spar in the fighting ring that was in the middle of the gym.

Grace took off her uniform so that she'll have more flexibility when fighting against him. While William only curled up his sleeve as he was already in his jumpsuit.

Grace then started to wrap both of her hands, "Before we can start, make sure you stretch your body first."

William walked up to the ring first and started to do some warm-up, "I know. It would be annoying if I had cramps in the middle of the training."

After everything was ready, Grace then walked up to the ring and started to do some stretches for a few minutes. This will be the first time where Grace and William will fight against each other.

William had no idea of her entire strength because they had never fought each other. She undoubtedly has some combat experience, given that she served as a guard captain in Site-199.

"Before we start, I just wanted to point out something." said William as he stood up from stretching his body.

Grace stopped for a moment, "What is it?"

"I want you to go all in and don't hold back against me."

Hearing this, Grace's eyebrows raised, and she doubted that she heard it right, "You want me to fight against you with all of my might? Are you sure about that?"

William replied confidently, "Correct. I was curious as to how I would fare against opponents such as you. Which is more likely to occur given that I'll be up against a stronger opponent later in the mission."

Grace shook her head. She could only grant what he asked for. "Alright then, If that's what you want."

Both of them prepared their fighting stances as they were about to start, Grace was waiting for any sudden movement that William made and was ready to counterattack.

Without any further ado, William started to pounce toward Grace and launched an attack directly on her face.

—

About two hours later.

Grace defeated William with ease; she barely even took the damage William dealt to her. However, William was already exhausted from all the beating she gave to him and was completely defeated from the start.

William continued to stand up to his knees despite taking a lot of blows from her, clearly showing no sign of letting up. Despite the fact that Grace was still quite energetic, she ended their session after observing William's state.

"That's enough for today's session." said Grace as she looked at him and unwrapped her hands.

William, that was standing in front of her with a half-assed posture, confused about it, "Why? We're not done yet, and you haven't given all your effort to fight against me."

Grace then sighed for a moment and said, "To put it bluntly, at this point, you're simply going to be a punching bag for me. The most likely outcome of continuing is that you will become physically exhausted."

She then pointed two fingers at him, "You are weak physically, to start. Because of this, the majority of your punches and hits seemed like they would be delivered by a regular person. Sure, if you're up against a regular person, that'll deal them a good blow, but not so much for an MTF agent."

She then continued, "Second, you're only paying attention to your attacks and not your entire body. Most of the time, all of your attention was on how you would strike your target with your punch. Which is great, but you overlooked something."

Grace then made a punching movement to demonstrate to him, "When you punch someone, and they block it, your entire body is exposed and unprotected, making it possible for them to launch a counterattack. Either a kick from the side or a jab to the gut."

"And that's your two main weaknesses. You should focus on one thing first before moving to another, and I would recommend building up your physique first before anything. Since durability and dexterity will play an important role in the future."

Stevenson came into the side of the ring and called their names, breaking up their conversation. William and Grace both turned to look at him; it appeared that he had something to say.

"I apologize for interfering with your training, but Commander Blake asked you both to come to the briefing room. He had something to tell us regarding our first mission."