The Ghost Shepherd

City of Hope. Planet Alpha, year 3546 A. D. District A, Student Housing.

6:00 AM

Beep… Beep… Wake your ass up…Wake your ass up.

YAWN…

"Keep your panties on K.C, I heard you the first time".

"Good! your free enhancement is scheduled for 7:00 AM at the Military Facility 001, make sure to pick an Argonian with Psychic abilities"

"Pshhh… you better be as special as you said you were or I am applying for a recall. How come you said you were made by Master Zero himself and we end up last in the training facility, you are full of shit!"

….

"You dare!! I am the most advanced chip ever made… It is just that your Nanotrons can't keep up with my processing speed and you lose coordination of your limbs, if you are going to change something... toss them... only the NZ 1900 are worthy of my genius"

Sly felt a burning sensation on his skin as a tiny line of blood started coming out of his pores and quickly arranged a few letters that read. "CHANGE HER!!"

Snort...

During his time at the training facility, Sly had experienced the same exchange between his two helpers a million times and it never changed. According to the other cadets, their chips always answered their questions in a very monotonous way and their Nanotrons didn't exhibit any weird behaviors whatsoever. He had been with K.C and his Nanotrons for 13 years but it always baffled him every time his chip talked like a regular individual, cuss words and all.

The age of 13 was considered by the Umdali to be the threshold towards adulthood and the time for individuals to earn their keep by fighting the Argonians and getting stronger. There was no help from the government passed this age and if people didn't want to be on the streets before getting disposed off, then they needed to buckle up and get to work. The people that were considered Geniuses in the new era, achieved synchronization between their chip and nanotrons early and carried out their first enhancement even before the age of 10, these geniuses were given special advantages that were sure to ensure their survival.

Sly always felt that his synchronization was far from completion but there was nothing else he could do, the moment he turned thirteenth, he received a notification from the government that told him his financial aid was to be terminated 60 days after the successful delivery of the notice.

Unlike subpoenas that could be avoided through careful planning, notices from the government were sent straight to the chip, K.C laughed her ass off while asking for new Nanotrons or riot.

Sly walked the streets with hope in his eyes, the main feature of the Evolutionary Fighting System was that it needed the core of an Argonian to reproduce the abilities of the very race they wanted to defeat and their DNA for a genetic makeover.

It was Sly's day to get his enhancement in order to become a Novice Hunter and all he could think of was how great it would be if the parts came from a creature with high strength so he could become a Close Combat Hunter with a high degree of survivility. The main problem was the pettiness of his chip, he had a feeling that sabotage was on the horizon and that he would end up as a Pyromancer or maybe a Cryomancer, two careers that were heavily reliant on the chip in his head.

The City of Hope was built in the Umdali Style, there were no embellishments in their architecture except for neon blue energy lines that ran through the structures showing the technological prowess they were known for. The whole City was encased in a spherical energy shield produced by five giant metal towers that kept them safe from any attack. The city was a state of the art, giant screens everywhere with colorful lights, androids walking about helping with everyday tasks and people of all races mixed in the crowd.

The streets were plagued with war campaign advertising that depicted the heroes of the era, especially, the leader of the most powerful organization in all of the Alliance, The Mystical Order. The success of the Mystical Order was attributed to the man in the posters that despite using the first model of the E.F.S had been able to achieve many World First including defeating an Overlord Class Argonian.

Sly looked at the screens in the air showing a 200 ft giant with tentacles coming from his arms being slammed to the ground by a tiny 7 ft humanoid creature holding a shield encased in gold light and sighted.

He was extremely worried…

He was worried about his future prospects and he was conscious that his achievements in the academy were average at best. An Organization like the Mystical Order was out of his reach but he could still make a living as a small time hunter if he was able to score a good DNA enhancement so he still had a chance.

The closer to the military facility he got, the higher the population of students that were seen on the streets. Planet Alpha was home to many races that due to one thing or another were affected by the war and now as members of the alliance brought their expertise and military prowess.

The atmosphere in the different parts of the Universe where the real confrontation was happening left people with a pessimistic outlook on things, however, that was not the case for the students that lived on an entry level planet. To the students using the E.F.S, their first enhancement was like Christmas morning and nobody could stop them from smiling. Even people that never communicate with Sly were saying hi to him and wishing him good luck.

TU... RU... RU … Welcome to military facility 001… Are you ready to become a hero?

Sigh…

"I just hope... I can get good genes"

ID Number: 3965742 please proceed to Room 3 for your Synchronization test.

The military facility was fully automated and didn't need the human element to function which in turn made things run extremely smoothly and organized. The moment Sly reached room 3, the door opened automatically and a chair similar to those at a dentist office with many wires and monitors stood right in the middle.

The procedure was pretty easy and painless, the machine would give information to the chip in order to perform an ability taken from an Argonian and check the degree of response of the nanotrons while going through the motions of operating a long range weapon.

If the communication time between the two pieces of the E.F.S was within the indicated range then there was 100% synchronisation and the second part of the test could be carried out.

Sly sat on the chair and immediately a body scan started and was followed by the activation of many machines that latch onto his body in an orderly manner. In no time at all, he was in a dream state in which he had a machine in his hands that looked like an atom with a bright core in the middle while K.C was sending information to his Nanotron about the steps needed to generate a fireball.

The information was easily produced and the step by step traveled via the nervous system and then when it got to the Nanotrons they refused to act and lazily executed the ability causing the spell to fizzle.

The test was performed three times with different weapons and each test finished with the same outcome, a fizzle. The great part about the synchronization test was that it was not about the ability of the individual to perform a Fireball or an Energy Slash but the time it took for the nanotrons to receive the information and start performing the commands. In a fight to the death, the communication time between the system was a key component for survival.

Despite the laziness of the nanotrons, Sly still managed to pass the test with a degree of synchronization of 100% but the failure of the skills showed there was no inclination towards Long Range or Close Combat fighting. The simulation dictated that with either type of weapons the human sitting on the chair would die to a 1 star Soldier.

Throughout the years of fighting, the Umdali had been able to create a method to classify the Argonians that were living in the different planets and it was pretty easy to understand. The method consisted of two identifiers, the first piece of information was the Class of the creature usually divided into five categories: Soldier, Commander, Lord, Overlord, and finally Mythical.

The class of an Argonian took into consideration many factors but most importantly, it was a way to tell their destructive power and their status within their race while the second piece of information was the difficulty many hunter's experienced when fighting them and was usually expressed in the number of stars with one being the weakest and five the strongest.

Sly's case was unique and the machine at the military didn't have the authority to decide what to do with the person sitting on the chair. The information was quickly sent over to the Mother AI that quickly passed it along to the creator of the System, Zero, who smiled from ear to ear.

"Finally!! The last of the prototypes for the new system is of age… Send the files of the Reaper weapon and a list of DNA for him to choose from."

"Up to what tier" said the AI

" 5 star Commander"

The data for the enhancement was projected into his brain and Sly found himself in a room with 100 different pictures hanging on the walls. The pictures were lifelike and they represented different Argonians which included the creature Sly wanted DNA from the most. It was a reptile humanoid monster with really strong limbs and sharp claws.

Please choose your enhancement…

"How?"

Please Choose your enhancement…

Sly finally heard K.C's voice that said, "All you need to do is touch one of the pictures. I am getting information on them so give me a second".

Sly stopped listening to his chip and made his way towards the picture of the creature he dreamt off and after he was right in front of it, he extended his arm.

"HEY!! WHAT THE FUCK K.C..."