Commander Cromwell led them over to one side of the park, an open area with a strange golden perimeter surrounding a few dozen meters of grass.

Item: Light Screen At the press of a button, a temporary shield will emerge along the path traced by this artifact. Estimated Threat Level needed to break the shield: E

“This will be where you will practice fighting the voidspawn. We have purchased a Light Screen artifact specifically for this purpose, and it will prevent the voidspawn from getting out of the perimeter. However, this also means that you will be unable to run away. Trust that I’ll drop the perimeter and save you if things get too dangerous, and try your best to kill whatever you’re up against.”

They spread out around the lines of the Light Screen, and she continued.

“The first voidspawn we’re going to be fighting is one of the most common around this area: ants. Anyone here have experience fighting these one-on-one here?”

“I have, Commander.”

Liz stepped forwards, and Commander Cromwell nodded in approval, pointing to her. “Good. You! What do you normally do to fight one?”

“Uh… I mostly use my crossbow to hit them from afar, and then bash them if they get close enough to bite me.” She hefted Breaker.

The voidspawn encyclopedia hadn’t offered too many tips against the little buggers, but whenever she had encountered them before brute force had always worked. Now that she didn’t have the blue aura, though…

The woman frowned. “Alright. Care to demonstrate?”

She motioned to someone, and a warrior stepped out from the nest, a furious tangle of limbs levitating behind him.

“Here, Commander!”

Elliot Branch - Threat Level: E(?)

Hunting Ant - Threat Level: F(?)

Another E rank, huh? He must have had the Mark of the Psychic or something.

The man pushed out a hand, and the voidspawn shot over to the middle of the Light Screen.

Commander Cromwell nodded and pressed something in her hand. Just as its name implied, the golden line erupted into a shimmering barrier, trapping the insect as it tried to lunge at her.

“Miss… Sayler, if you don’t mind?”

The woman motioned towards the ant, and Liz nodded. A quick reach into her backpack brought out her weapons, and she neared the barrier, crossbow ready to fire. The ant chittered at her. It didn’t look happy after its midair handling.

A hole appeared in the middle of the light screen, and Commander Cromwell clicked her tongue. “You’re free to attack whenever you wish.”

“Alright, thank you Commander.”

She stepped inside.

“Scree!” As soon as it noticed the opening, the ant sprinted towards her, desperate to try and escape the Light Screen.

She lifted her crossbow and fired.

The bolt flew true, and the voidspawn let out a cry of rage as the projectile pierced its chest. Its clicking mandibles quickened in pace, and it shook itself, unfaltering in its charge.

Well, that certainly wouldn’t take it down, but now she could reload and —

“Scree!”

Something glowed on the insect’s carapace, and it roared, enveloping itself in a cloak of fire. Wisps of flame shot towards her, and she backpedaled with a curse.

“Shit. Marked?”

The ant’s eyes glowed with power, and it shot another burst of flame just as she reached for another crossbow bolt.

She rolled out of the way, giving Commander Cromwell a glance. The woman had her hand on the button that had activated the light screen, but she hadn’t pushed it yet. They still thought she could take the ant, then. She squinted at it, and a System screen popped up in front of her.

Marked Hunting Ant - Threat Level: F+

Still only F-plus. She could work with that.

She tightened her grip on Breaker and circled the creature. Flames licked the ground around it, but the crossbow bolt was still slowing its movements.

She would have shot at it from a distance, but she didn’t want to face another round of fireballs. And if the only remarkable thing about it was its Mark, she could still just bash its skull in with Breaker.

Wasn’t this what Cameron had wanted her to do? To find the limits of her body without the use of her blue aura?

She charged in, focusing her spirit on the hammer’s material. Right now it was in the light, compact state she kept it in for everyday use, but with just a thought…

The head doubled in size, and as she descended upon the ant —

The weight threw her off, and she stumbled away, rolling just as another fireball came brushing past her leg.

“Fuck!”

She wasn’t used to handling Breaker without any enhancements. The voidspawn lunged at her once more, and she got up just in time to hit it with a normal, unmodified blow from the hammer.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“Scree!”

Flames singed the hairs on her arm, but she quickly pulled away and struck it again. The blows weren’t anything special, but combined with the bolt sticking out of its thorax, they were still enough to take down the F ranked beast.

She shot Commander Cromwell a sheepish look. “Uhh, sorry, Commander. I promise it doesn’t usually go that badly.”

The woman dissolved the barrier and turned to the others with a sigh. “Well, despite that… risky performance, there are many things that we can learn from Miss Sayler’s approach. The first and most important of which being that knowledge is power. If she would have known that the ant had flame abilities, she would have been able to adjust her strategy accordingly, rather than having to do it on the fly like she did now. And if she had known her own body better, she wouldn’t have made such an elementary mistake with her weapon.”

That was pretty much the same thing Cameron had said, and the same thing that the Acolyte had said right at the start of the apocalypse. She needed to know herself, and she needed to know her powers.

Perhaps not like how she had done just now, though. Her natural strength certainly wasn’t unique, even when compared to normal Unmarked people. Then what else could be special?

Some of the other recruits were staring at her now, but she ignored them as she jogged back over to Rich and the boxer guy. Commander Cromwell continued her lecture on ants, and she glanced at her beaten-up hands. Golden-green energy was already pooling in order to smooth over the scrapes, but she stopped her spirit with a thought.

“Just what else can you do...” she whispered to herself.

The last remnants of her numerous meals were dissolving into healing energy, but that wasn’t the only strange thing she perceived in her spirit. Even without healing energy to guide it, her body was rebuilding the torn skin in her hands at an accelerated rate. Another benefit of her increased metabolism, she supposed.

So what was the difference between her natural healing and the effects of her green aura?

A wisp of healing energy passed over to the skin, and her cells exploded with activity. They weren’t the only things that exploded with activity, though.

There was no difference. Just like how her blue aura seemed to be directly tied to her metabolism, her green aura was too. But natural healing couldn’t have healed her spinal injury.

“How…”

Rich shook her. “Liz, you okay?”

“Oh!” She looked up. “No, I’m fine. I’m just thinking.”

Jim butted in. “Well, maybe you should think after the tests. We’re going to be grouping up and fighting some voidspawn, didn’t you hear?”

Her eyes widened. “Oh, no. Sorry. What are we fighting?”

The man gave her an exasperated look, and Rich elbowed him.

“We’re fighting a Knight Ant like the one you fought when you got here, but in groups. It shouldn’t be too much of a challenge at all. But…” Her friend shot her a look. “I think we should try our hardest. I have a feeling that they aren’t just doing this for training.”

He gestured over to Commander Cromwell, who now had a clipboard similar to the one Leandra had held in her hands. “I think they’re also sizing us up for the higher positions in the guard.”

“Oh, I see.” She wasn’t concerned with getting a high position so long as she could have a roof over her head, but maybe the higher-ups also had some advantages that a normal recruit wouldn’t have. Then again, this was just a preliminary test. Cameron had told her to experiment during this session, and he probably had the final say over stuff like that anyways.

“Liz…” Rich rolled his eyes. “There was a reason you didn’t use your big powerup aura against the ant, wasn’t there? Whatever. I’m excited to show you what I can do.”

“What are you two talking about?” Jim grabbed both of their arms. “Bro, we’ve gotta get in line.”

She looked around, and sure enough the teams had started lining up to fight in the Light Screen’s room. “Right, right.”

Another artifact had been brought out — this one a perimeter that erected bars of steel, and they joined the shorter line next to that one.

The current teams fighting weren’t faring too well, but whenever any of them got too close to injury, Commander Cromwell would instantly deactivate the artifacts and shoot the Knight Ants with pinpoint accuracy.

As she watched the other groups, Liz thought back to the Voidspawn Encyclopedia.

Knight Ants are creatures of bulk and momentum. They lack the strength per pound necessary to fight in the way that their smaller brethren do, but much like their larger cousins the Colossal Beetle, they make up for it with mass. Their charge may start slow, but as they gain velocity, they can reach the speed of a galloping horse. Their armor is also incredibly tough, granting them a tremendous resistance to all slashing and cutting weapons. Bullets will still kill them, though, and a sufficiently damaging crushing weapon will do the job almost as well.

She tapped her teammates on the shoulder. “Hey guys, do we want to make a strategy before going in?”

Rich smirked at her. “That’s probably a good idea. Commander Cromwell said that these things won’t be able to reach their full charge inside an enclosed area, but that they’re still tough as fuck with their armor. We’ll need to land a solid blow on it with something heavy…”

Jim looked down at the hammer at her waist. “Sayler… just how hard can you swing that thing?”

* * *

“Alright. Begin!” Commander Cromwell’s voice boomed behind them, and the trio burst into the cage.

A newly-deposited F-plus ranked Knight Ant faced off against them, unsure which of its human invaders to charge first. In that moment of indecision, Jim charged it, wrestling its armored limbs down with a stony hug. The thing’s mandibles snapped at his neck, but just as the encyclopedia had said, they weren’t powerful enough to pierce Jim’s own armor.

“Whoah! Look at that team!”

“Isn’t that the weird hammer girl?”

“The rock guy is kind of hot…”

The recruits were now eyeing their fight with interest, and Liz let her lips curve up into a tiny grin. Meanwhile, Rich pulled out an artifact, shooting a sticky substance at the other half of the ant and gluing it to the ground.

“Scree!”

“Off of him, stupid bug!” He swung down with a mighty sword strike, distracting the voidspawn and letting Jim free himself. The blade didn’t actually damage it at all, but that was all according to plan. This was where she came in.

She had already started walking towards it, and Breaker was secured in a vice grip in her hands. There was no need to rush, now that the first step was completed. The voidspawn was stuck completely in Rich’s artifact, and he and Jim were raining blows upon it to prevent it from doing anything else.

She lifted the hammer to her shoulder, channeling the entirety of her spirit into its effect.

Two times the weight…

Three times the weight…

“You’ve got it, Liz!” Rich called out.

At four times Breaker’s original weight, Liz threw her entire body forwards, slamming the hammer out and into —

The air next to where the ant’s head was.

Oh, hell no. She was not letting that happen a second time.

Just the slightest amount of healing energy rushed into her limbs, and she used the extra strength to adjust the hammer’s course, sending it firmly into the ant’s head with a splat.

“Phew! We did it!” Rich lifted a hand, and she halfheartedly high-fived it.

“Ugh… I’m too weak right now, dude. I can’t even use Breaker without nearly making a fool of myself.”

“Don’t worry too much! You’ve only been up and about for like a week. It’s a marvel you’re even —”

Jim jutted his head between them. “Bro, if you’re tired of being weak, just hit the gym. Simple.”

Rich facepalmed. “Jim, we’re gonna have to work on your ‘not-sounding-like-an-ass’ voice —”

“Wait…” she mumbled.

What if that really was the key? Could she somehow incorporate her Mark into physical training? With what she had learned about her healing energy, and what Cameron had said…

A moment passed, and she shot up, eyes wide with inspiration.

“I figured it out!”