Chapter 1: Special Training

Time is a concept of relativity both objectively and subjectivelly.

The space fleet's special forces training days hit Rydel in ways that he can never truly imagine, or understand. And yet at the same time, all the days seem to merge into one, and the concept of time itself seemed irrelevant, until he was suddenly called up to perform a specific drill at a specific time, at which it matters once again.

It's now been a couple of months since Rydel had made it into the special forces department of the space force, under the identity Rold that's been specially prepared by Cellica as well as an appearance morphing procedure that's hopefully only temporary and won't ruin his facial image forever even if the implants are taken out.

To his surprise, the intensity and difficulty of the training he had to undertake within the special forces isn't too far out from what he had done right before he set out to do the entrance exam.

It was certainly a few months of grueling learning, training and mental strengthening, where all of the bearers at Athena 3 brought out whatever knowledge and skills they have in their aresenal and then some to make Rydel as impressive as possible. Cellica took care of the soft skills aspects using GBI's beginners training guide dialed up to eleven, Ol took care of the mental and spiritual side and Torelamri was the one dishing out all the technical information. Zel, on the other hand, left the base a few days after and ventured back towards the wild regions.

Dolon was one that was lost in the rescue mission. But this time, Rydel is not on a rescue mission solely. It is going to be as much an intelligence gathering and recon mission as it is trying to find Dolon once again.

The one thing the space fleet special forces does so much better than what the bearers could have offered is it's recovery mechanisms. The training is grueling, painful and difficult on all levels, but the recovery tools provided will build everyone back up to almost full health in no time. The days of sleeping away your bruises are over, and the knowledge of extensive care means the participants can push themselves a bit harder and closer towards their limit without worrying about whether they will be ready for the next training sesison.

Maybe this is what Absolute Being is relaly about, Rydel pondered the idea while completing a fitness and combat training session, in this sense, he would quite happily push himself to the edge to see what he can truly do. After learning about his acceptance into the special forces, Rydel knew whatever happens next is up to him and him alone now.

Everything that happened before was with the help of Cellica and the rest of the group, but the future is in his hands from now on.

'I have done worse things for free food and accommodation. At least the food here is bearable.' Rydel thought to himself as he sat silently among a table of lousy recruits a few months into the training. He thought about Cellica and her smile as his fork pierces through the crispy shell of a poorly seasoned potato wedge. He didn't bother with ketchup, and send it straight down the shoot.

They did spend a bit of time before they have departed.....they didn't, really. It was all business.

Rydel was back into the mindset of his grinding days, training to see what he can do and forever marching forward without spending a second looking back. With the full focus of his goal of getting into the special forces, his interpersonal relationships were pushed somewhat to the back of his mind. But she did give him a somewhat friednly kiss on the cheek as he boarded the transport towards the space fleet human resources quarters. That's a good thing, right?

'Rold, what do you think is going to happen? You ain't all bad today, so you think you gonna survive tomorrow?'

As Rydel is surrounded by his thoughts, the recruits that's actually surrounding him nudged him in the elbow and the movement shook the loosely attached potato wedge and dropped it right back down onto the plate.

'You say this every day, but what's going on tomorrow?' Rydel asked as he patiently reconnects with the escaped piece of potato and tried to put the tips of the fork back into the original holes they made, but instead the poking motion just starting spinning the wedge around in the plate like the pins of a compass.

'Action.' The recruit named Pun leaned in close and said in a mysterious low voice, inviting Rydel to ask him to explain further, which he does.

'From what I heard from the officers today, tomorrow will be the very first true full contact combat training!' Pun explained further.

'Which is when I will whoop yo asses.' Kay, who's a proud martial artist before enlisting said as he leaned forwards, 'you too, Selena, equality and all that.'

'I will make sure to knock your head off first.' The dark skinned female former athlete rolled her eyes and straight up ignored Kay, who turned back towards Pun.

'So what's the point?' Rydel asked.

'Uncertain yet.' Pun shook his head, 'they didn't actually mention the type of battles, so it could be anything from what we have done.'

'Or something outside of it. It's not the first time they played us like this.' Selena interjected, and a few recruits nodded in agreement.

Ever since the start of the training, despite advertising for a standard set of skills and training plans, there are also plenty of surprise training and scenarios for the recruits to deal with, of which they were scored, analysed and given feed back into.

Rydel typically performed well in this scenario as one to always create spontaneous and creative solutions to difficult problems. But there are an equal amount of times when he messed up royally and was bailed out by fellow recruits.

In a weird way, he is having a lot of fun. Maybe a life in academia isn't for him after all, or perhaps he is just in it for a change of pace.

The evening meal was soon over, then Rydel went around the base for a walk before going back to his room, which is akin to one of those tiny capsule hotel rooms. The rooms of each recruit is customized to create an optimal resting and recovery environment for that certain recruit, which is an added bonus on top of all the other recovery facilities on site.

With the day of mostly skill training and learning behind him, he finally lets out a long sigh and undressed before lying on the bed. Upon contact with the bed, the cushioning then morphs it's shape to create a complimentary shape that gently holds Rydel's body in place. Micro-needles than extend out from various points and reached into his body as the medical system began to take over to check his hormone levels as well as the rest of his bodily functions before stimulating his parasympathetic nervous system and luring him into sleep.

When he started this mission, not many things are clear to him, and Ol was one to 'gather' as much information as he could from the Scroll of truth.

The way Absolute Being's recruiting typically works is through looking for outstanding individuals in many walks of life, but particularly in the army as one's potential and true nature is shown in almost no time.

Ol knew that within the special forces, an assessment officer named Jon is one that's actively working with Absolute Being, or much rather leading people to them. Some of the characteristics they are looking for are the same as those by almost any generic consultancy firms in this great galaxy.

However, there is one thing they particularly want to look out for, and that's an extreme desire and drive to surpass what one is, to achieve what one desired and continually push forward no matter what. The desire to becoming better and better, to charge on without regards for obstacles or limits, is something Absolute Being is built on.

This sounds good on paper, but one need to realize that by taking this mindset of such 'lonely lions', other aspects of life will get pushed to the side as a result. When one become so result and progress driven, they will likely care more about individual progression rather than group success, and that's something the special forces absolutely despise and preach against.

Hence, Officer Jon look for these tendencies, and send out his invitations as a result. Of course, that's only what it looks like Absolute Being is offering on the surface.

'You know, just act more prideful and want more for yourself.' Cellica held Rydel by the shoulders as they watched a movie the night before his preparation started back then, 'think you want to become a god, if that's something you can relate to.'

'Not exactly.' Rydel breathed out and takes in Cellica's lemony smell.

'Well, then...be more like Dolon then.' Cellica rubbed her cold feet together and put them playfully on top of Rydel's warmer feet, 'eh this is weird.'

'Not to me.' Rydel quite enjoy the action down below in all honesty, 'but do you really think I can do this?'

'Do you think you can do it?' Cellica returned the question, and Rydel didn't answer.

Falling asleep is never an issue once the medical system primes its settings to one's nervous system, and Rydel is completely relaxed the moment his head touches the pillow. The time in deep sleep flew by as he dipped in and out and ultimately opened his eyes properly for the first time today. It's combat training day.

'Just be like Dolon, huh?' Rydel twisted around out of habit to try to crack his perfectly aligned neck, and raised his left hand overhead and looked at his glove of summoning under the slithering of sunlight through the small glass on the side of his capsule bedroom. It glows a calm and pure purple just like everyday in the past few months.

One of the most important thing for him to keep in mind is to never reveal the fact that he already had an artifact and draw any sort of unnecessary attention, while at the same time draw enough attention so that Officer Jon would have his eyes on him.

There really isn't a better occasion than the combat training to show one's true nature, and Rydel is ready. The training he has done before as well as when he is here had prepared him well.

The morning assembly was nice and quick, and the chief officer Xon explained the day's plan to each of the recruits. The battle setting is an urban capture type combat training where one will be pushed to their limit at the end of the day. The aim of this practice is simply to expose one's weaknesses in combat and survival. Overnight, a massive city block sized area was built for this very practice and was situated in an isolated area in space, where the normal geometry of surface cities don't apply. All of the recruits were given the mission brief in document form and sent to have breakfasts before departure at 0700 from the space port.

Everyone scattered once the documents were received by their own personal interfaces, and instead of staying around in groups like normal, something feels rather strange today. Rydel brought up the hologram as he walks towards the dining area and the very first line of the mission/training briefing says the following.

This combat training is an INDIVIDUAL based training, where one's ability will be assessed and judged by a score out of one hundred that will contribute to the final outcome of the training.

The setting of the training practice is an space city that was once abandoned, and each of the recruits will be dropped off on the outer edges of the spherical city. A time of 1 hour is given for all to scavenge for weapons, items, rations and etc. Then the city will slowly disintegrate from the outer edge at varying rates before stopping. The reduction in volume will occur every hour until there is only one successful recruit at the end. Surviving longer times will mean your rank compared to the rest is higher, but that does not necessarily mean a higher score is in order.

'This is nothing more than a battle royale.'

Rydel thought and drew his finger up and down the document to make sure he didn't leave out any crucial details. It's simple as that. Rydel shrugged as went to breakfast.

'Yo, Rold!' Pun spotted Rydel the moment he went into the dining hall and raised his hand to gesture him to eat with the rest of the group, Selena and Kay are also sitting there beside him. Rydel nodded in acknowledgement before grabbed plenty of food and joining them at the table.

'So, what do you think?' Pun looked around the four person group and asked, 'it does seem like a free for all format training, but do you want to stick together?'

'That would be the smartest choice.' Selena commented, 'as much as I would like to kick you in the face, Kay, survival isn't a one man game.'

Kay and Rydel didn't say anything, and Pun and Selena both stared at them anticipating a response.

'Well?' Pun pushed his head forward towards Rydel.

'I think I will pass, this time. Thanks for the offer.' Rydel lets out a little bread as he shreds a soya steak in his plate, 'I am a bit of a loner anyway.'

'Suits you.' Pun shrugged and turned to Kay, 'what's your call, big guy?'

'Let's do some quick maths.' Kay was obviously in deep thought as the rest of the group was talking, and he seemed to have reached his conclusions, 'there are about fifty of the recruits, and it is only going to get more and more crowded as time goes on. Also, there is only one winner at the end. Combat will be encouraged, and those knocked out of the fight without any external help will have zero chance of getting anywhere. It is not known what the size of the city block, or sphere, is, as well as how much resources are out there.'

'Your point?'

'Having more people is better, mathematically. And if it's just us at the end, then I can beat you both up.' Kay chuckled, 'easy as that. Cracked.'

Rydel smiled a little, but didn't say anything.

It is true that if the aim is to score the highest possible in this training, then teamwork and having simply more hands on deck would make everything a little easier. But that's not Rydel's only goal. He needs to stand out, and acting alone and being impressive as hell in the process is a surefire way to achieve that.

The rest of the breakfast talks were mostly about team roles and general strategies, but Rydel phased out most of it and simply focused on his goal. If the objective of this training practice is survival, then he need to flip it on its head. Instead of hiding away in the corner and hope that the rest of the recruits take each other out, Rydel is going to go on a hunt.

He will track down the various groupsand take as many of them out as possible!

Surely, this kind of actions will draw the attention of Officer Jon, and all Rydel can do is to put himself in the best position for that.

The space shuttle leaving from the space port took off right on time as all of the recruits finished their meal and basic preparation on time. From the space elevator station to the special training station in space is a mere half an hour flight. The main training facilities in space is based on a gigantic spherical shell shaped space station where the training city 'sphere' is situated in the centre. The whole station is designed in such a way where there is really thin atmosphere within the sphere of the station, just enough to ensure safety and people's lungs not exploding, but not enough for anyone to stay outside for long without basic space gear.

The shuttle passed straight through the levels of the actual station and headed right for the training facility. As all of the recruits boarded the shuttle, they were all assigned a random number. The shuttle made its way around the tiny globe and gradually dropped off all the recruits into tiny waiting rooms that's basically made out of abandoned escape pods so everyone will be let into the city block at once.

'Alright, that's my out.' Pun unbuckled his seat belt as the number gets to twenty three, he nodded to the other three while pointing to his personal interface and slapped Rydel on the shoulder.

Rydel's number is twenty seven, and by the time he has reached the his drop off point and he is waiting at the exiting chamber with magnetic safety belts attached to him, the shuttle is quite literally on the other side of the globe. An officer is there to check off the names and he promptly took down Rydel's details before gesturing for him to go on.

'Good luck, Recruit Rold.' He said.

Rydel turned his head to see a middle aged caucasian man that's looking a little skinny and pale under the grim lighting of the shuttle, but the light blue reflective name tag was not affected by the slightest.

'Thank you very much, Officer Jon.' Rydel smiled and look forward, 'I will make sure to leave a good impression.'

The depressurization was quick and swift, and he went inside the dark escape pod right after. The gate shut behind him and dim LED lights were turned on to brighten the space around him.

In front of him is another sets of gates waiting to be opened. The gravity is weak, if present at all. It seemed to be a day that requires magnetic boots as well as other maneuvering equipment. Rydel has had plenty of training from both Cellica and within the past few months on how to use a large variety of them. He didn't work a whole lot in micro-gravity situations and it took quite a while for Rydel to get used to it back then.

'Air is fine...Gravity and pressure is fine.' Rydel leaned forward to try to look through the tiny window on the gate in front of him to peak into the city sphere, but he can't really see much. Either this will be a training exercise in the dark with lots of jump scares, or the lights were simply not turned on. But it doesn't matter.

When the training exercise begins, the number one thing would be for him to gather all the necessary items for moving about, surviving for long enough and for shooting down enemies. Oh, a nice backpack or military jacket would be great also and a shield generator would come in extremely handy.

The actual ammo used all around is non-lethal, but packs quite a punch nonetheless. All of the recruits are also forced to wear a thin skin-tight body suit that tightens upon contact with the bullets and prevents any further movements until some sort of medical treatment is applied locally before limited mobility can return. This works in a similar way to simulate injuries and pain to what is used by War Game players.

It doesn't really matter where Rydel currently is relative to the rest of the recruits, as everyone is the same distance away from the center of the sphere on the surface at the start.

Without any warning, the gate in front of him abrutly opened, and a cool breeze rushed inwards into the escape pod. Rydel looked up with his boots magnetically engaged and stepped out. He quickly looked around his surroundings and is rather disappointed that he is simply inserted into one of the corridors of a skyscraper like structure. The architecture is indeed quite simple, but it shouldn't matter.

He is the only one within this corridor, and there are about two rooms before he reaches the end. Ryde jogged to the first room and pushed the door open. There are a table in the room with a shield generator with both energy and physical shield settings. The reserves for both shields are quite low, however, and it could probably last about one or two skirmishes if he is careful.

Not the most optimal, Rydel thought, but at least something to work with. He quickly picked it up and attached it to his hip after switching it on. Next to that is a little 'medical treatment' automated bandage that treats wounds it detects automatically once attached, and it's labeled to treat trauma and blood loss, meaning it deals with physical and projectile damages. Not the best again, but could come in handy later on.

Apart from those two support type items, there don't seem to be anything else useful in the room. Rydel wiped his hand along the surface of the table expecting some secret storage chamber, nothing. He squatted down to see if there is any secret guns attached to the bottom side, and there is nothing again.

'Right.' Rydel scratches his head, moving off without a weapon in a setting like this is incredibly risky. His thoughts raced while his heart pounded, and he had an idea.

With both of his hands handling the edge of the table, he flipped the whole thing on its head. Then with a quick kick, he snapped off the four legs of the table and picked the two of them that's long enough to be used as a weapon and kept it while taking the shorter pair and looped it inside of his belt to kept as basic throwing projectiles. He does have a good arm after all the throwing and aiming practice, though it is not as effective as a gun, obviously.

That's about as much value as he can get out of this room. He exited swiftly, and went into the next room. In there was a small gas tank looking item and some ammo for the standard energy blaster pistols. Not the best start in the game, Rydel thought. And his belt can only carry so many wooden table legs before it impedes his movements, so he didn't bother with the vandalism in this room. He jogged out and started heading towards the end of the corridor and he turned his head around, only to see a window looking out into the rest of the sphere.

Within the micro-gravity environment, all of the buildings are arranged to align the 'up' axis with the radial direction of the center, like if the whole of a skyscarper filled city is taken out and folded into a sphere. The distances between the buildings is vast at this far out from the center, but there are also connecting walk-ways in between different levels just to throw people off.

Rydel couldn't really see what's going on a few hundred meters down as a metal sheet like material connects between all the buildings he can see and prevents anyone from entering from the outside.

It seems like he just have to fight his way down, Raid style. Rydel cracked his knuckles to loosen it up completely and held the long table legs in his hands by his side and started to hype himself up from the inside. That's when he felt a sudden dizziness hit him and it completely threw him off his balance even if he is just walking ahead. Something isn't right.

Rydel had his hands on the window as he tried to shake off this strange sensation, but it decided to linger on for a little while. He thought back to his food and wondered if something is wrong with it, but his stomach is feeling just fine, it's just his head is becoming more and more drowsy, and this isn't good.

If it's not the food, is it the air? Rydel thought as he coughed slightly, is there something wrong with the atmosphere in this city sphere? And the change is more than what the respiratory membrane he had on can handle, meaning he will have to get a mask as soon as possible before he completely loses consciousness. So that's what the gas tank is for, and the tank is useless without a mask and tubing complex to breath through.

'You bastards...' Rydel knew deep down that this isn't going to be this simple and straight-forward, and reality proves him right.

Now, the hunt begins.