Clubs

I awoke to that stupid beeping again, and stretched leisurely. My tail slowly uncoiling from around my leg. I yawned, and that bond at the back of my mind tugged gently at the back of my mind. It was a weird feeling. I'd never felt anything quite like it.

I checked my watch quickly for what classes I had today, and realized the only thing scheduled was club tryouts for the whole day. I started going through the clubs one by one. None of them really stood out until I saw the name of one of the club teacher/ supervisors. Goliath Hernandez. I hadn't seen that particular teacher since that fight with Conrad on day one.

His club was unusual too. Applied combat techniques, and strategy. What kind of club was that? I had to check it out. Mostly because I was interested in the teacher himself.

I jumped off the bed, and pulled out fresh clothes quickly. Transforming quickly, and pulling fresh clothes on. I pulled out my clean clothes out of the chute, and threw them in my drawer. Then threw the dirty clothes in the chute. I rushed out my room into the shared area where Ethan was brushing his teeth.

"I'm going to go check out a club," I went to the door ready to leave out dorm room, "I'll message you later. You should check out a club too."

I went out the door, and rushed down the hallway. The club tryouts were all day so I figured I would go right away while I had some energy. I rushed across the grounds to a big dome like building towards the back of the school grounds. I'd never actually been to this building before so I wasn't sure what was inside, but this was where this particular club was based. I opened the door, and was greeted by a small stadium.

Right now the stadium looked like bleachers surrounding a small, but deep forest. How did they get a forest in here? I wondered as I walked down the main walkway slowly. I stopped at the edge, and tried to look into the trees. I could see things moving in the trees.

Then suddenly there was the sound of someone fighting in the trees. There were big bangs followed by trees going down. I backed up a little as I tried to see what was causing trees to go down. I caught a glimpse of someone big running through the trees. I leaned in closer as the need to see what was going on kicked in.

My vision went odd for a second. Switching to odd reds, and blues. Now I could see clearly that there was a man running around in the tree chasing weird blue blobs.

New skill. Infrared vision. User can now see heat signatures.

Neat. I smiled, but then it hit me. I was only seeing one hot body. The things he was chasing weren't generating heat. What was this room really?

I really wanted to know now. Then the man caught what he was chasing. Crushing it with brute force. Then the room beeped loudly.

"Simulation complete," an automated voice said in monotone.

All the blue shapes slowly melted back into the ground. My vision switched suddenly back to normal. I noticed all the green, and browns of the forest turning to dull grey. Melting flat into the ground. The there was just Goliath standing in the middle of a football field sized grey floored area.

"That's cool," I smiled then yelled, "What is this place?"

Goliath looked at me. Only just then noticing that I was there.

"Just a simulation," Goliath called back, "I prefer these realistic ones over VR stuff."

Then he crouched down, and jumped practically flying right to where I was. Landing just a few feet away from me. I stumbled back startled by the sudden closeness.

"All those VR pods do is show you how to fight," Goliath laughed, "It doesn't train your body. It's useless for physical training. If you train your muscles outside the VR you usually train the wrong ones. Then the VR training becomes useless."

"So," I smiled, "How does this place work?"

"It's a simulation hall," Goliath smiled, "Not entirely sure how it works, but it creates a realistic situation so you can practice combat with real life consequences."

"Could you die in there?" I frowned.

"No," he smiled, "The computer has fail safes in place to prevent death."

"Not injury?" I winced.

"We've got healers for that," Goliath laughed, "You can't be prepared for real battle without the fear of pain."

A wry smile spread across my face, "Could I try it out?"

"Sure," Goliath smiled, "Low level setting, but sure."

I moved past Goliath as he activated the system. A forest popped up in the arena with fake beasts, and everything. Once everything stopped moving I jumped the railing right into the edge of the forest area. I walked towards the middle slowly. Nothing was moving yet though.

"What do I do?" I yelled.

"Catch, and kill ten beasts," the computer's monotone voice started, "Setting beginner. Beginning in three, two, One."

A loud tone went off, and the forest came alive. It didn't smell like real trees, but it moved like one. I could hear beasts moving around in the trees. My instinct to hunt kicked in. I wanted to really hunt, but I had to move like a person.

I couldn't just do whatever I wanted here though. I moved quickly. Ducking behind a tree, and waiting for movement to catch my eye. There was something on my left. I listened for it to move again.

I switched to infrared vision so I could watch for it more closely. My world turned blue, but it didn't help much so I switched back. These things aren't alive so they don't give off heat. I guess I would have to go after them myself if they weren't going to come for me. I starting going after them quickly.

I darted through the trees at my top speed. I wasn't as fast in my human form as I was in my real form, but I could still move pretty decent. I caught a glimpse of something moving, and went after it quickly. The thrill of the chase woke me up. Something came after me from the right.

I dodged it. It was some kind of snake thing. I hit it as hard as I could, and it flung back hitting a tree. Melting into it.

False snake creature defeated 5xp awarded. 15/200 xp until level 4.

This would be a good bonus for leveling up. Time slowed as I rotated quickly kicking a snake that came at me from behind.