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Chapter 22 - Level 2
🕑 Added 2024-10-12 23:29:00 +0000 UTC| Click!
A sharp headache hit the boy as soon as his finger lightly touched the button. The pain was horrendous, taking away part of his vision and causing him to cry in pain. It seemed to radiate from his eyes and spread throughout his head. His breathing became heavy, and Oliver didn’t even have the air to scream. All he could manage were a few guttural sounds.
But just as fast as the pain came, it disappeared.
The boy remained lying in bed, his forehead drenched in cold sweat. Still recovering from what had happened, he tried to recall what the captain had mentioned, that the effects could vary for each person. He was grateful for asking that question and waiting to undergo the evolution when no one else was around.
Oliver opened his eyes again; his vision was blurry and sensitive to the light around him. The images seemed brighter and more colorful, with a flood of information and details he had never noticed. For example, he could now see rust spots near the bottom of the beds. With just a glance, he could observe all 48 beds and tell which were made and which weren’t.
The pain was one sign that the evolution had occurred, but Oliver was still unsure of what had been affected.
‘Maybe it just improved my vision?’ the boy thought. ‘Or maybe it changed my eyes?’
Oliver grew nervous; he didn’t want his eyes to take on a new appearance, although few people would likely remember his brown eyes.
He quickly jumped out of bed and rushed to one of the bathrooms in the barracks. Next to one of the sinks, there was an electronic mirror. Upon clicking the switch, his image appeared before him.
‘Phew! No changes,’ Oliver sighed with relief.
He also checked his height and hair.
‘Nothing seemed to have undergone any drastic changes,’ Oliver concluded.
The boy returned to his bed and opened the Status Page to see what had changed.
[+2 Agility Points!]
[You got a new Boon!]
| Status Page
| User: Oliver [Nameless]
| Level: 2 [Pawn]
| Experience: [58/200]
|
| Stats
| Strength: 6 [Pawn]
| Agility: 14 [Knight]
| Constitution: 5 [Pawn]
| Energy: 14 [Knight]
'Hmm, I improved agility, that'll help avoid attacks. A bit of Constitution would be best, but I’ll make it work.' Oliver began thinking about how this might affect future battles.
“SLAP!” Oliver gave himself a quick slap on the forehead, which ended up being louder than he expected.
Fortunately, no one was near his bunk. Only now did it occur to him that he would need to hide his new abilities or devise a reason to start using them.
‘I got a new Boon, just like I never explained my old one. If the new one is more visible in combat, maybe I could say I'm finally trying to train it?’ The boy scratched his head, still uncertain. No other recruits were using noticeable Boons during exercises, so perhaps he would also need to refrain from using his.
Looking back at the Status Page, he explored the changes on his Boons.
|
| Boons
| Insight [Pawn][Growth]
| [Use 200 Experience Points to Upgrade]
|
| Observation [Pawn]
| [Use 200 Experience Points to Upgrade]
‘Shit! Another one that consumes my EXP points’. Oliver cursed his luck.
But was this a blessing or a curse? He didn’t know, especially since gathering enough experience to level up was already difficult enough.
'Another involving my Vision. Is this some type of specialty?' Oliver pondered.
After clicking on the Boon, its description finally appeared.
| Observation
| Your vision allows you to understand your opponents and their behavior.
| You can identify your opponent's flow of attack and defense.
| The Boon level is [Pawn], and you can use it against opponents of the same level or lower.
| This Boon has [Growth], meaning it can consume experience to be upgraded.
'At least this one has a clear use in combat,' the boy celebrated, finally having something that could help in the upcoming classes. Still, he remembered that he needed to start exercising his Insight. So far, he has only used it in the fiasco of analyzing hologram equipment.
"Hey! What are you doing there?" A boot shoved him out of bed before Oliver could turn to see who was talking.
"Ugh! You're all sweaty; you'll make the bottom bunk smell. Sleeping in the bottom bunk is great, but mine has to deal with that stench!"
Oliver didn’t need to guess who was complaining. It was evident that his bunkmate, Alan, stood there frowning, judging Oliver for being dirty and lying in bed.
"Oh… did class end early?" Oliver asked, trying to change the subject. He knew how Alan could be a cleaning freak.
"Yeah, the Energy Combat and Hand-to-Hand classes are having a joint session tomorrow… Don’t change the subject; get out of that bed and take a fucking shower!" Alan almost screamed the last two words.
Oliver was kicked out of the barracks and forced to clean himself up. Afterward, both boys had an ordinary evening, returning to the Second Battalion hall early after eating at the mess hall. Unfortunately, there weren’t many forms of entertainment within the Academy.
“Ah! Isabella sent a message. She asked us to activate the chat feature on the gauntlet. How do I do that?” Oliver asked.
“Chat feature? I know there are several features that we are missing. But I have no clue how to activate them. Maybe some kind of password?” Alan answered. The boy even considered asking his House for advice, but getting involved with his family would only bring him more headaches.
“I should’ve asked her how to activate this damn thing.” Oliver stared at the gauntlet, recalling his conversation with Astrid.
“Have you tried thinking ‘Chat’?” It was such an obvious suggestion that it hadn’t crossed his mind.
'CHAT!'
A translucent screen with a small keyboard appeared in front of him. The screen was divided into two sections. On one side was a list of open chats, and clicking on them displayed the exchanged messages.
'This was so obvious!' For the second time that day, Oliver slapped his forehead.
|
| Channels
| General
| First Battalion [153]
| Second Battalion [0]
|
| Hand-to-Hand Combat [53]
| Energy Combat [51]
| Ranger Weapon Combat [31]
| Crystal Weapon Combat [18]
The zero next to the Second Battalion quickly changed to [1]. Clicking on the general chat revealed thousands of messages.
| Oliver Nameless - Entered the Channel
| [RandomGuy1] Damn, the Second Battalion finally figured out how to use chat.
| [NotARanger] Took them long enough; now they’re finally catching up with the First Battalion.
'Damn! They know way more than they let on.' Oliver cursed the First Battalion.
The introduction of the chat was just one of several discoveries the Second Battalion made after finally gaining access to the channels. They also discovered that accessing the internet and sending messages home was possible. Oliver had no one to message outside the Academy, but talking with Isabella beyond brief corridor conversations and watching videos on TheTube was nice.
|
| Channels
| TransportTruckFromHell [3] [Private]
|
| TransportTruckFromHell
| [BellaRedFanGirl] What the hell is “TransportTruckFromHell”?
| [AquilaAlan] It’s the best name I could think of for the group. If you have a better one, you pick it.
| [AquilaAlan] ( °□°)︵ ┻━┻
| [BellaRedFanGirl] I don’t know what’s worse. The group’s name or your username.
| [AquilaAlan] You really shouldn’t talk about someone’s username.
While eating breakfast, Oliver spent a few minutes catching up on their argument over the channel name. He had never felt so tired, even though he had gone to bed earlier. Now that he had access to the internet, he had stayed up too late on the very day of a Field Mission.
Oliver shoved some oatmeal into his stomach, just enough to keep from getting hungry, and ran to the transportation area. It was a new section he had never visited before. It was located south of the mess hall, near the island's edge. However, the road to get there was easy to find and well-marked, unlike other buildings with only a number painted.
Approaching the building, the difference was noticeable. In addition to its dome shape, it was painted entirely green with dark green spots. The attempt to camouflage the building clearly distinguished its importance.
Outside the building was a long line of recruits, and Oliver could recognize some of them from his classes. Usually, a class would have hundreds of students, but because all the Ranger Weapon Combat classes had been combined, there were thousands of students.
Oliver approached a group of cadets he knew. The group discussed the strategy each had for dealing with the Crabits. Some depended on their Boons, while others hoped to crush them with brute attacks. Before Oliver could speak about his strategy, a commotion broke out in front of the building.
Ten officers emerged from the door, one of them Captain Musk, who clearly appeared to be the most experienced.
“Cadets! Today, you will embark on your first field mission,” the officer said loudly enough for even the thousands of students to hear.
“Be prepared. We leave in 10 minutes. For those who’ve never used teleportation, try not to vomit.”
