2 Chapter 1: Encounter and Induction

Maria had just returned after doing some runs on Naverius. She was responsible in keeping a certain location there safe and secret. While she was at the Gate Area, walking back to her place, she saw an interesting sight.

A young man, or perhaps a teenage boy? Regardless, the lad was doing some weird stuff, and he didn't seem to notice that he was attracting some attention from the people around him. While it was in part because of his weird clothes, the other reason was of his weird words and actions. He seemed to be mumbling about and had myriads of expressions on his face after certain periods of time.

But that wasn't even the kicker. What was interesting was that his clothes suddenly changed to that of ARKS.

"Interesting kid..." She chuckled as she walked towards him.

It seemed like he noticed her approaching from behind, as he seemed to mutter something before turning around and saw her coming. This piqued her interest further.

.....

Josua was flabbergasted. He never expected that he would encounter Maria this soon. In the original reality's game, he (or rather his character) would encounter Maria some time during Episode 1. But even then, it's still 9 years from the time he's in right now.

However, before he could think of what to do, she was already in front of him.

"Hey, little guy. Seems like you're pretty interesting." She said as she put her right hand on her hips, seemingly relaxed.

"Uh... What do you mean?" He awkwardly replied as trying not to sweat.

"In case you haven't noticed, you're being stared at." She said, chuckling at his confused and obviously nervous face.

"Err..." He didn't know how to reply to that.

He knew that he was getting at least some heads turning after first arriving, but he didn't think it would be that eye-catching that even Maria would take notice.

"Anyways... You seem like you got some interesting things to say. Come with me." She said as she pulled him along.

She then went to a unmonitored section of the ship, with him in tow. These kind of places are actually common, but they're not easy to find. It took about several minutes of walk until they arrived at the spot.

The place had some chairs and tables. He was then sat down on one chair and she sat on the opposite of his seat, with a table between them.

"So... Mind telling me who are you?" She crossed her arms while looking at his eyes.

'... Shit. Should I just play dumb? No, it won't work. Putting aside that she may be able to sense my thoughts from the photons around me, she's no pushover as well.' He weighed in his options on how to explain himself to her.

'I guess I should try that then.' He decided as he sighed and calmed himself down for a bit, before facing her eyes again.

"Before you think of me as a hostile, please don't. I'm not." He said, putting a determined look on his face.

"Hmm? Why do you say that?" Her brows furrowed, piqued on his particular choice of words.

"Because... I'm... Not of ARKS." He said, dropping the bombshell.

"Oh? Interesting. Do tell." She said, leaning slightly forward, with interest slightly visible on her face.

"I'm... I'm a Human, yes. But... Not of ARKS. I'm from a planet called Earth." He said, stuttering on some words. It was evident that he's still nervous.

Hearing his words, Maria couldn't help but contemplate it in her mind. But before long, her eyes that were closed when she was contemplating opened once more.

"I've never heard of a planet called Earth before. You don't seem to be lying though. So tell me, boy." She said as she laid back on her seat again.

'Here it goes...' He thought in his mind as he began explaining on Earth and its inhabitants.

"Earth is the third planet in the Sol System. It's..."

"The Human civilization on the planet can be stretched back..."

"There around 190 or so nations on Earth. Each are..."

"Currently, a revolutionary substance has been discovered on Earth: it's known as Aether. It allows for..."

"..."

He explained while Maria was listening with great interest. It took about an hour before he finished explaining everything, at least everything that's true to this reality. And this was not even including another half an hour for Maria to digest what he had explained earlier.

"While I'm not too keen on the mumbo-jumbo, I get that you're not from around here, is that what you're basically saying?" She summarized in a few words.

Maria was never really known to be keen on a lot of the theories, but she does get the gist of a lot of things, even if she doesn't actually understand the theory behind them, due to her age and sheer amount of experience that she had.

"... Yes. It's a rough summary, but yeah, I'm not from this dimension, or as you say, around here." He smiled bitterly at her overly rough summary of his entire explanation.

That was on him for expecting her to be able to understand every single thing. At least, she got the gist of it, which is already better than what a certain other character could ever do in normal circumstances.

"So... What's your goal then?" She asked him.

It was a simple question, yet it shows that while she didn't treat him as a hostile, she was still wary of him and his motives.

"I..." He muttered, before taking a deep breath to gather his guts, and proceeded to say:

"I want to join ARKS."

This answer baffled Maria for a moment, before she broke into laughter. It was a given that anyone who were under the protection of ARKS would dream of joining the organization for various reasons. But for someone like Josua, someone that's not even remotely connected to ARKS, wanting to join ARKS is like someone from China saying that they want to join the US Army, minus the pre-existing hostility part.

"Hahahahaha... Sorry... I've rarely met people like you. For such a simple motive, you risked a lot coming here." She calmed down after having her laugh, before continuing on.

"Great. I'm liking you now. Though I assume you know that it won't be easy to become an ARKS operative, no?" She asked him.

'While he has the motivation, I don't know if he has what it takes. We'll have to see where the future takes him.' She pondered when she asked him.

"I know. I also came here with preparations. At least, to a degree. Here's to prove that I'm serious." He answered as he materialized a handgun on one of his hands.

Maria raised her eyebrow when she saw him doing that.

"Is that your ability?" She then probed in and asked.

"Yes. Well... There's a lot that I can't say for now, but this is indeed an ability of mine." He nodded and proceeded to dematerialize the handgun from his hand.

"Good. Seems like you got some spunk, and some skills to back it up." She nodded in approval, before continuing:

"You'd still have to attend the academy. But considering that you're not exactly a newbie from what I can see, you should at least get some basics of how we do things here, and a lot of other stuff that you need to know." She explained after giving some thought on his capabilities and potential.

He was certainly impressive than most of the trainees at the academy that she had seen so far, but that was it. He still lacked in the common sense on ARKS and other operational things that he's not aware of.

'Perhaps... He may be worth it.' She pondered in thought on whether he should be let into her small group of confidants.

This small group would later be responsible for deposing a certain person from power. But this is still in the future, so let's leave it at that.

"Great! Thanks! But..." Josua said, brimming with enthusiasm before going into a slight pause.

"Can you keep my origins and the such a secret? It would really be problematic, as far as I can tell." He requested to Maria.

It was true. Given him not being a native to ARKS or even the dimension, it would certainly be problematic if people managed to sniff it out. Especially, if certain people managed to found out about his origins, he may very well be subjected to various experiments or interrogations and the such.

"Don't worry, kiddo. I'll keep this hush-hush." She said, gesturing her index finger to her lips and winking one of her eyes.

"Anyways, you need to get registered. I'll help you with that. I know someone who knows someone..." She continued as she stood up and brought him along to the academy administration building, located within the academy complex in the city area of the ship.

It took them around several minutes of walking before transitioning to a shuttle that carried them to their destination.

.....

Zeno was in the classroom of the academy. He was bored to death, with his face betraying his current mood. Ever since his master left one year ago, he continued his classes in the academy, while on some occasion trained under Regius.

"Man, I should've just followed Master..." He lamented ever so often, though he didn't know the origin of his Master.

He could vaguely remember what his supposed Master looked and sounded like, but he remembered his Master's teachings. On how to be strong, the reason to fight, etc. This gave him the motivation to stay in the academy.

His photon aptitude was that of a Ranger, but he then decided to try and learn to become a Hunter, which was not great, considering the incompatibility between his aptitude and his aim. But, he kept pushing on, even if it meant he had to endure the boring classes from the academy for several hours a day.

When lunchtime finally came, he went to the academy's cafeteria. As he sat down with his meal, a person came from behind him and closed his eyes with their hands.

"Who is it...?"

The voice sounded from behind him.

"Echo, just sit down. I know it's you." He then forcefully pulled the hands away from his eyes.

Meanwhile the person, Echo, simply chuckled while getting her meal from an empty table behind her, and moved to the same table as Zeno.

"Sorry, sorry. You seemed down for a year now, so I suppose you could use some cheering up!" She innocently said, while making a 'Tee-hee~!' expression.

Zeno could only sigh at her.

"I appreciate the effort, but it was unnecessary! I'm fine, really!" He said defeatedly. Him and Echo go way back, so he knew that Echo was simply worrying for his sake.

"I gotta be stronger! Never forgetting the feeling of being weak, and be a great senior to my juniors!" He muttered quietly while gripping one of his hands, with a determined look on his face.

"...?" Echo looked at Zeno with a confused look on her face.

While she seemed to heard what he said, she didn't hear much and only saw his facial expression. She smiled before she started to eat her meal. As they had their meal, they heard conversations from some of the cadets that were passing by their table.

"Hey, I heard there's going to be a new addition to the third years!"

"What? In this time of the year? You're kidding me, right?"

"No, I'm serious! I was passing by the admin building earlier, and saw Ms. Maria going into the building while dragging a person along with her!"

"Ms. Maria? Mr. Regius' sister, right? That means that person should be amazing enough, no?"

"Dunno. We'll just have to see later on."

Zeno and Echo heard those conversations, and couldn't help but getting curious.

"Zeno, what do you think?" Echo asked him.

"Dunno. But if it's big sis Maria, that guy mustn't be just any random Joe!" Zeno thought for a little before answered Echo's question.

"But will Mr. Regius agree though? It's already the middle of the third years' class!" Echo expressed her doubt.

"Knowing that old man, he'll definitely agree. Especially if it involves big sis Maria." Zeno rebuked with certainty in his words.

While Zeno wasn't exactly fond of Regius due to the training regiment that he got from the old man, he never doubted the old man's eyes for talent, and this applied to his sister, Maria, as well.

.....

'This is... Errm... Nerve-wracking...' Josua thought as he sat in front of Regius' desk in the academy director's office (which was Regius).

Maria was busy explaining some things about him to Regius, while keeping his origin secret by making up some ridiculous things that were half-truths. It took half an hour until she finished her explanation.

"So you're saying he's good enough to be put in the third years?" Regius asked Maria with a hint of doubt and questioning.

"Yeah. Compared to those whelps, he has more spunk than any of them. Not to mention, he actually has some skills." Maria confidently answered him.

Regius would spend ten minutes on pondering her words. While they may be siblings, he's not exactly keen on arbitrarily using his power as the academy's director to directly accept someone with dubious origins like Josua.

"I need to see it for myself. If not, people will question my decision to accept him." Regius said after thinking for a while and arrived at the decision.

His position came with the requirement of being fair and impartial.

"Good! You'll definitely like him!" Maria grinned, slightly mocking him for his lack of faith in her.

The three then went into an empty training field and locked the door.

"Okay, since Maria says you're good, I believe in her judgement. However, I need to see it for myself, just in case." Regius said as he opened a console and interacted with it, summoning some training dummies.

"Sure." Josua shortly replied, before focusing himself to the targets in front of him.

He materialized an AK-47 in his hands. Regius was slightly alarmed by this sight, while Maria was simply enjoying Regius' reactions. Having seen his ability beforehand, Maria wasn't surprised at this point.

He then pulled the charging lever (and released it again), and proceeded to fire upon one of the training dummies.

Bang bang bang bang!

The gunfire sound reverberated throughout the training room. The supposed head of the training dummy that he fired upon was riddled with bullets, along with the rest of its body. After spending an entire magazine, he then dematerialized the AK and proceeded to materialize sub-machine guns on both his hands. They're a pair of Kriss Super-Vs.

He then used Aether to help lighten his steps and aid him in utilizing three Photon Arts that he used to do back in the original reality's game: Chronolapse, Aerial Fire and Desperado. Granted, every single Photon Arts he had at hand were all locked at level 1, accordingly to his current level and stats. But he could still remember how the motions were done.

He dove to the front, as time seemed to slow down, while firing the two SMGs at a different target dummy. He rolled before standing up and moving forward in a circular motion while simultaneously firing his guns. After that he jumped on top of the target dummy and fired while swirling in the air. He then ended with seemingly firing everywhere while it seemed like the bullets were halted by something before he stroke a pose and the bullets were unleashed everywhere. The dummy was riddled with bullet holes. Compared to when he used the AK, however, this one is much more vicious if the target was a living being.

Shing shing shing shing!

The bullets were stopped by the energy shield and were disintegrated. Regius was surprised at Josua's performance. He didn't expect to stumble upon such an interesting talent, while Maria was already gloating at Regius' reaction, albeit in her mind.

It's worth noting that both Regius and Maria were outside the field, and with energy shields to keep the damage from hurting possible bystanders, the trainees could unleash their Photon Arts without having to worry about others.

He then jumped back, gasping for air, before slowly reorganizing his breath. He dematerialized the two guns from his hands and then materialized a Katana. He didn't plan on using a Katana, but seeing that apart from Gunblades, Bows and Swords that he had at hand that he couldn't equip for the moment, he could only go for a Katana. He materialized the Kiku-Ichimonji, a Katana from FFXIV he had used in the original reality.

Regius was taken aback, seeing someone other than him using a Katana for the first time. Maria frowned with interest in her eyes, seeing someone using the same weapon as her brother.

Like before, using three PAs that he was familiar with (Morning Mistreaver, Cherry Blossom Finale and Volcanic Carnation), he then targeted another target dummy that was still intact. He dashed forward and proceeded to perform consecutive slashes around him. After that, he slashed two times in an X shape, before ending it with 'creating a moon' before slashing down vertically with an elongated slash. The dummy suffered quite the damage at this point, nearly being split in half.

Maria clapped with a dumb grin on her face, while Regius was contemplating on what he just saw. Josua exited the field and was met with Maria smacking his back.

"I knew it! You're no newbie! See that, Regius? I was right, wasn't I? He's a good one!" She said gloatingly to Regius, who was still pondering his thoughts.

Regius could only sigh in resignation, defeated by the proof of the young man that his sister favored upon.

"Fine, you're right. You win. He's a really good seed." He said, shaking his head and shrugged, turning towards Josua.

"It seems that Maria wasn't exaggerating. Well then, welcome to the ARKS Cadet Academy." He said while shaking Josua's hand.

"I'll be in your care from now on, sir." Josua said as he shook his hand with Regius'.

'Here's to the start of my journey, I guess...?'

He thought as the three then exited the training room and went back to the director's office. Regius had to register him into the system, while Maria helped in filling some blanks for Josua's file. After some time, he was registered to the academy.

"Since the third years are focusing on practicals, it shouldn't affect you too much, given your skills. But you may be sent to Naverius later on for the exams." Regius explained, before clearing his "throat" and continuing:

"Given that you arrived at this time of the year, it'll be hard for you to enter the class tomorrow. I'll give you a basic course for the next two weeks, so you'll be able to adapt to the current pace of the class."

Josua only nodded in understanding. He knew that while he had practical skills, his operational knowledge and theories weren't exactly up to par with the class he's supposed to be in. Hence, he knew that he'd need something like a crash course to get up to speed. Compared to what he had experienced in his original reality, Regius is way better at being a teacher than some he had encountered back then. And thus, his journey in the academy, and later on as an ARKS operative, started.