Chapter 4

“ - Record - Emergency procedure - Transferring authority to the next colony - “

-9th Yuni, 9th month, year 150-

She always thought that the atmosphere would be even more dense than in her house. But once she had arrived at the military center with the other members of her specialization, the air felt like a fresh breath. Yeetlhy was more relaxed. People there looked nothing like her parents, they were more at ease. There was still some structure, a little bit of tension. But it wasn’t palpable, or at least not enough to calm the teens down.

A ping appeared on the screen. “Stand up and get in line” ordered a man in front of the small group of students. Yeetlhy immediately recognized him. He was one of her mother’s subordinates. She would see him talking to her mother in front of her house. The teenagers straightened their posture and stood one behind the other, forming a queue.

“My name is Eldrian. I am an Accomplished, rank soldier, part of the 1rst division of Yellen’s army. I will be your Instructor for today. Since this is your first time here, I will be showing you around the center. This course is mostly meant to strengthen your sense of duty. I hope that today will give you enough inspiration for our work that you would want to keep coming to this course and maybe, one day, join us. Now follow me, and don’t break that line. If you have a question, ping and wait until I allow you to speak.”

The Instructor took the group to the cafeteria. It looked a lot like the cafeteria of the Instruction center. There were sachets machines in the walls with hydration guns. Yeetlhy looked at the multiple flavors available.

“It really is the same as ours.” she thought, a little disappointed, but quickly focused back on what Eldrian was saying.

“Those machines work the same as in the Instruction center. You order a sachet with the flavor you want. Use the hydration gun on the food powder, and then you get the bread with all the nutrients necessary. You sit down and eat with your comrades. Now there is a hierarchy here, Neophytes and Accomplished can’t sit at the same table. Mostly because Accomplished can have information that Neophytes aren’t supposed to have and vice-versa.”

The Instructor showed the dormitories, they weren’t allowed to go inside. Those were private rooms and had nothing to do with their class. The group stayed outside, listening to the explanation of the Instructor. There were 2 main dormitories, one for the Neophytes and one for the Accomplished. Each dormitory was divided into 4 and 3 sections. 4 sections for the 4 different ranks among the Neophytes. 3 sections for the 3 different ranks among the Accomplished.

The teenagers quietly passed near the meeting rooms where the directors and heroes were working. They were not able to take a look at what was happening inside. This made a few students excited, and the Instructor had to whisper a few times in quite an authoritarian tone to be silent.

They finally arrived at a populated place. The Neophytes workplace. It was full of people barely older than them. Eldrian took the kids to a corner.

“Earlier, I told you about ranks without any further explanation. There are three status in the army.

Neophytes, the rookies, need to be trained in the military center for 5 years. They work inside the colony.

Accomplished, we finished the training and work outside the colony.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Heroes, they achieved glorious deeds and manage the army.

Now the ranks correspond to the affiliation where you’re supposed to work. There are 4 ranks for the Neophytes:

The Armory, taking care of the weapons, upgrading them, protecting the inventory, repairing the tools, those are their duties.

The Messaging service, they relay all the information.

The Patrollers, they protect the colony and the population from the inside.

The Towers, they protect our borders.

And the 3 ranks for the Accomplished:

The Soldiers, we go fight on the front line.

The Hunters track all living beings, animals or humans, detect incoming dangers and go on expeditions for the Research center.

And the Patrollers, they protect the colony and the population from the outside.

We are standing in the Messaging service, all the people here are relaying important information to the entirety of the army of all the colonies. You obviously don’t have access to those information and that is why you can’t hear anything. Try and scan the area, you will notice that your connector will not give you any information.”

Yeetlhy did as the Instructor said. She tried to scan the area, but except for her comrades, she wasn’t able to identify any person there, and she wasn’t able to get the scripts of what was being said in the room.

They were led to a training field.

“I’ve been showing you around the center for about 2 hours now. How about we work those tiny muscles of yours? Do me 20 laps. That should be enough.”

The teenagers started running. It took them a while to run those 20 laps, about an hour. They were all tired and sweating. Once it was over, and the kids were laying on the ground, completely worn out. Eldrian decided to cool them down. He splashed water on them using magic.

“You all must be really hungry now, let’s go grab some bread at the cafeteria.”

They went back to the cafeteria. It was full. No seats available for the kids. They had to stand in line to get their sachets and were then told to sit against a wall in the back of the room, to eat quietly and to not interact with anyone. And the teenagers obviously did not listen to those advices. They stood in line for their sachets, but instead of quietly sitting down against the wall, they all sat at a corner chatting loudly. The kids were all excited about their visit and their prospective ranks. Yeetlhy sat down near them but didn’t take part in the conversation. She was scanning the area. Making sure that if something happened, she wouldn’t get scolded. The Instructor was telling the group to be quiet but wasn’t heard by them. They were too loud and enthusiastic. A girl laughed a bit too loud. Someone finally yelled at the group to shut up. The entire cafeteria went dead silent. No one was making a sound, eating nor moving. They were all focused on the person that stood up.

“Where do you think you are ? This is the military center and whether you like it or not, you’re still in class. Those kids nowadays… Do you think this kind of attitude will take you anywhere ? Not here I can tell you that. Who is your Instructor ?”

Eldrian immediately stood up.

“It’s me sir.”

“You will discipline them, and you will be punished afterward.”

“Yes sir.” said Eldrian, “Stand up kids, lunch is over, back to the training fields.”

Once they left the cafeteria, their Instructor started mumbling about how kids never listen to his advices, how he always ends up being punished because of the mistakes of uncivilized people. He then started scolding the kids, about how easy their task was and how much they fucked it up by angering the director of the military center. Upon hearing that, the teenagers felt the anxiety rising. The punishment will definitely be harsh.

“Run 40 laps.” said Eldrian.

When Yeetlhy arrived at her house, she grabbed a slice of bread and went straight to her room. She fell asleep on her bed while eating.

“-Record- Containment necessary - Deployment ordered-”