The next morning, I woke up bright and early to an alarm from my Aerial.

And that wasn’t the only thing I got.

After rolling over and spending a few minutes to wake up, I tapped the device and saw that I had a message.

It was from Rayla, and attached was an image. My brows raised as I opened it.

The picture was from the auction that came at the end of every month. However, I suddenly remembered that not only was this auction last night, but it was the major auction accompanied by Vatsy’s Gala.

I suddenly sat up.

“I missed the Gala! Dammit!”

I cursed while palming my forehead. I obviously knew I couldn’t go, but what a shame! I had only been to one Gala before, and it was an amazing experience.

Taking a moment, I started to count the months, and after some basic addition, I realized that I wouldn’t have to miss the next one that would occur at the end of the year.

I sighed in relief and slumped back down into my bed again.

“What’s this Gala?”

Then, Feiden asked with drowsiness. I had woken him up.

I spoke while sighing.

“Just a party. It’s pretty fun, but it doesn’t happen very often.”

“I see.”

He nodded and yawned before climbing out of bed.

“I suggest you use the bathrooms before everyone else does. It gets crowded and smelly.”

“True.”

Following, I grabbed some items before strolling to the bathroom. It was a large tiled space with stalls, shower curtains, and lots of metal bowls. Basic but functional.

And we weren’t the only ones to wake up a bit earlier. The few male instructors, including the Puppet Master, along with some other guys were already there and getting ready for the day.

Everyone was quiet, just minding their own business. Nobody was in the mood to chat so early in the morning.

I went through my morning routine, but as I was brushing my teeth, I suddenly remembered the picture Rayla sent me. I quickly pulled it back up.

And I couldn’t help the grin that surfaced.

There were actually two pictures. The first was of Rayla and the others like Plex, Libitus, and Tovex. They stood stiffly in a group, everyone smiling except Plex who was too busy drinking.

And the second picture was of Rayla by herself, dressed in a rather sexy black outfit and blowing a kiss into the picture. I got a nice shot of all the goodies, by design.

“Well isn’t that something?”

I laughed before closing it, going through the rest of my morning with a smile. She sure knew how to cheer me up.

Then, not long after finishing my routine, I heard some shouts that shook our building.

“Be ready in 15 minutes and assemble outside the barracks!”

It was our Commander, and his shouts woke everyone who wasn’t already out of bed.

After that, the bathrooms and hallways were flooded as everyone rushed to get ready. On the other hand, Feiden and I took our time and headed outside.

I enjoyed the morning breeze cooling my face. My coat never allowed me to get cold or hot, so the wind felt refreshing instead of making me shiver.

Seeing as how Feiden and I were the only ones out, I grabbed the golden cigar case from my inner pocket.

After lighting the quarter-used cigar, I took a few deep breaths of smoke, feeling the rejuvenating effects that washed away some of my drowsiness and woke me up.

Not long after, people began filing out of the barracks, gathering outside. Not far from us outside the building adjacent to the male bunks, we could see all the girls gather, the two sides peeking over at each other.

Then, the Commander came, gathering both groups before announcing.

“Alright, listen in. We’re going to guide you through your routine for the next month. I’m going to give you all a tour of the places you need to know and remember. We are also going to assign everyone their squads. These squads can change at any time, but likely won’t unless there is good reason. So be prepared to get familiar with them. Now, follow me.”

The Commander waved, and everyone followed him into the command center of the base.

Upon arrival, I looked around and saw various facilities and many officers carrying out their duties. To my surprise though, not many of them were powerful. Some officers were completely ordinary.

Well, I suppose it shouldn’t have been surprising. Behind every soldier were a dozen logistical officers. It took no small amount of manpower to operate the war machine, and it couldn’t possibly be entirely composed of Magi. So I wouldn’t be surprised if there was some kind of draft or mandatory service for everyone.

After entering the command center, the Commander briefed us on several of the facilities.

One was an intelligence post, the officers within being responsible for gathering and analyzing the movements and patterns of the Scourge near the base. They were also responsible for collecting intelligence gathered by squads that went on reconnaissance missions and making sense of it, compiling it all into actionable data.

Then, there was the office sector, a large area devoted to the bureaucratic side of the base. Here, many officers were busy filling out tons of paperwork and collecting mission reports from the various squads.

Then there was an area that held several briefing rooms. Inside these rooms were magical projectors and devices that could display information pertaining to a mission. Before being sent out on a mission, we would come here to get a rundown.

After that, we toured the rest of the base. We were introduced to the mess hall where breakfast, lunch, and dinner were served at regular intervals. We were taken to the medical building, a place many never wished to get familiar with. Then there was the armory where we could get supplies, some recreation centers for entertainment, a training facility for physical fitness, a maintenance facility for gear, and a storage area for miscellaneous items. There was even a chapel for the believers.

The Commander spent several hours giving us this tour, and we also met several key officers who would be helping us during our stay.

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We were barely done before lunch came around. At that time, the Commander finally let us go to the mess hall and get some chow.

Everyone flooded into the building, and I noticed that everyone was generally familiar with everything. And I had no issue simply following in their footsteps, getting myself food.

It wasn’t a buffet. There was a long line of pots and trays with various foods in them, and there was a limit to how much you could take of each one. But you could indeed go back for seconds and thirds.

At first glance, I didn’t recognize most of the food. It didn’t look particularly appetizing, but I knew that was coming from my perspective as someone who almost always ate out at restaurants.

Still, I grabbed from the trays that smelled better than the others and soon had a full plate. I went and took a seat at an empty table.

“How sad, sitting by yourself.”

Umara came up behind me, taking a seat on my right. With her was Tana, and Feiden arrived not long after.

I smiled at her and started eating. At the same time, I asked a question on my mind.

“What kind of positions do ordinary people occupy in the military?”

“They are Intelligence. There are two ranking systems in the military, one for Infantry, and one for Intelligence. There are no power requirements for Intelligence, unlike Infantry. But they do have to be educated. The Kingdom has several schools specifically for training and teaching those officers.”

“Mm, that’s what I thought.”

“This is rather common knowledge, but you don’t know it. Did you entirely skip the first few years of classes at the Magisterium? But even then, you learn some of these things during school when growing up.”

Umara looked at me from the side, going on another one of her deductive rabbit holes.

“Where did you grow up?”

“Far from here.”

“What city?”

“It was a village, called Yumir Village.”

“Really? That’s surprising though. You don’t look like you’ve come from a village. And you’re too educated to not have gone to a proper school, which only exists in cities.”

“Look at you, sniffing around for more secrets. Am I that interesting to you?”

“The fact that your origins are a secret does in fact make you very interesting.”

She gave me a grin, causing me to laugh. This girl really did like digging into my business.

But I also couldn’t help but notice the others nodding with thoughtful expressions.

Seriously, Umara was turning me into some kind of hot topic, as if my existence here was some kind of conspiracy.

…Well, it kind of was. But that was beside the point.

After dodging more of Umara’s sneaky questions, lunch finished and we were given some free time to explore. However, we were also given some sheets which informed us of our squads.

Everyone gathered and read the lists, and chatter ensued.

I quickly found my name and read the names of those I was grouped with.

“Feiden, Umara, Vetsmon, and Tana. Hm, not a bad lineup, but I don’t know who Vetsmon is.”

I smiled. Besides this Vetsmon who I didn’t know about, the group was perfect. Feiden and Tana were Knights who were skilled in handling enemies up close. The two of them would be able to keep everything away from Umara and me while we supported them from behind.

And Umara alone was a great partner to have by my side. She knew many utility spells, including some area spells and spells that compensated for the weaknesses of my guns, like their sound.

“Oh, Vetsmon. It seems we have nothing to worry about.”

After reading it, Feiden nodded from beside me, causing me to ask.

“Who is that?”

“Why don’t you greet him yourself?”

He pointed, and I looked over.

Heubert was a stocky man, tall and built like a football linebacker. I had thought he was on the bigger side, but this Vetsmon almost put him to shame.

Well over 6 feet tall, Vetsmon walked over with a towering figure that looked down on even me. I could see his muscles through the white robes he wore, and his Aura was awfully threatening.

He was someone who I’d never met before, likely one of the topmost Elites who we never saw much of.

His skin was a deep brown and he had long black hair that took nothing away from the sharp jawline and raging masculinity. It was like he radiated testosterone.

He walked up to me, seeing as how my focus was on him. And being completely honest with myself, I felt a bit inferior in front of his hulking figure.

But I still straightened my back to greet him, putting out my hand.

“You’re Vetsmon?”

“Yes. John, right? I’ve heard about you. Nice to finally meet you.”

He smiled, exposing his pearly white teeth while shaking my hand with his bear paws. I couldn’t even close my grip, and my strength was naturally far below his.

He was a Knight through and through. But his robes reminded me of something else.

Why did they resemble priest robes? Maybe I was just overthinking it and this guy just really liked fancy white clothing.

After our greeting, Vetsmon went around to the others to exchange pleasantries. As a group, we would need to get familiar with each other. Trust was one of the most important factors of any team.

It seemed Vetsmon was a good guy. Nobody had any trouble talking to him.

And while he was talking to the others, Umara came over to me and whispered in my ear.

“He’s Rank 4, a Knight specializing in defense and protection like Heubert. He’s seriously strong, and with you, our group has basically no weaknesses. In fact, we could very well be one of the most powerful groups on this trip.”

“Rank 4? The Puppet Master seems to think highly of me.”

I couldn’t help but smile a bit. I wasn’t even an Elite yet, and I was being grouped with people in the top 10. Umara was 8th, Vetsmon was 4th, and Feiden was 2nd. While Tana was our weaker link, she was still ranked 15 out of 28 Elites. And she specialized in speed anyway, not sheer strength, so she should be able to fill some gaps in our composition. For example, she would probably end up our scout.

I couldn’t help but think that despite not being an Elite, the Puppet Master was treating me as one in the upper echelons of the group. And at the very least, I knew that I could pull my weight. After all, I had been training with all the Elites for the past several weeks. If I couldn’t keep up, I probably would’ve been kicked out a while ago.

From the side, Umara smiled at me.

“I can confidently say that you’re one of the most powerful people in the Elites. Your guns are amazingly lethal, making you too good at killing things. So if you’re allowed to do as you please, only an overwhelmingly tough enemy would survive. This group is practically built to protect you.”

“Well, even without me, it would be a powerful group.”

“Yes, but with you, it’s even more so.”

“Hmm.”

I hummed, glancing at Umara before nudging her with my elbow.

She nudged me back with a stifled giggle. After that, we were called by the rest of the group, gathering together to discuss some things.

I had worked with Tana and Umara several times, so I knew them and their skill sets well. But I didn’t know much about Feiden despite the fact that we had become good friends recently, and Vetsmon was still a mystery even though he looked about as reliable as someone could ever be.

So for now, we talked about each other’s abilities, strengths, and weaknesses, quickly understanding everything our group was capable of. And in the end, we came to the conclusion that there wasn’t much that we weren’t capable of.

Vetsmon utilized a tower shield befitting his large body and strength, capable of going toe to toe with Authority 5 Beasts. His weapon of choice was a spear, but he could also use a sword for when he wasn’t being weighed down by his shield, making him very versatile.

And Feiden was naturally a swordsman who excelled in both speed and strength. He basically had Tana’s strengths and none of her weaknesses while possessing amazing technique.

And then there was me. I laid out my abilities and weaknesses clearly. After all, I needed to be protected to some extent. I couldn’t let them think that I was perfectly fine on my own and then get killed out of carelessness.

After describing my guns and how they worked in principle, Vetsmon and Feiden were able to come to an understanding. And with all our abilities on the table, everyone was able to come to a conclusion as to how we needed to operate.

Suddenly, I thought of something humorous.

Back on Earth, as a boy in the prime years of his life, I had played no shortage of video games of all kinds. And as I worked with more people, I couldn’t help but recall my experiences in those games to help me with forming a battle plan in my mind.

Some video games required you to engage in quick yet strategic decision making, have good pattern recognition, and know how to use the skills, powers, and environment at your disposal to fight for the best outcome. All my training with the Puppet Master’s scenarios had forced me to utilize all these things, but the fact that some random video games could help me with real-life battles was a funny concept.

Anyway, after a bit more conclusive discussion, we determined that Vetsmon would be the core of our formation. His direct support would be Feiden while Tana would drift between everyone. Umara and I would be paired in the back. She was responsible for ensuring that I could operate at full capacity, and I would be responsible for protecting her while also providing ranged firepower for the rest of the team.

Of course, our strategies would have to change according to the enemy and terrain, but we knew our jobs, which was most important.