Start

"Well, where do you think Nero will place us in the war? " Kent asked as he looked forward. 

"Considering your weapon, he will most likely place you on the front lines," Lucas replied nonchalantly as if this didn't concern him.

"Aw man, it would have been better if I was able to use a bow. Lucky you, you get to be at the back even though you are so strong." Kent cried out in lament.

Lucas only replied in silence to Kent's words. Unlike what Kent was imagining, Lucas had different plans for today's war.

Just like Kent mentioned, Nero had taken the role of Lord Commander during this mock war so he was going to manage all of their positions.

Surprisingly, Quinn had no problem with that. He let him take the role despite it meaning he would have to follow Nero's orders.

Why did he let Nero take the role?

Lucas thought to himself. The Quinn he saw the past few days wasn't the type to simply hand over the position of Commander to others.

Having military experience under his belt was enough justification for him to fight with Nero over the Commander position. However, he didn't even show an ounce of resistance.

Was this something Kai Wiseman planned? Or am I just overthinking?

****

Lucas walked to building 4 with Kent who continuously kept talking.

Lucas was just listening to him going about how these are our younger years and he should go to clubs with him and all that crap.

Building 1, Building 2, and Building 3 are assigned to First-years, Second-years, and Third-years for their classes respectively.

Building 4 and Building 5, on the other hand, have all the training equipment that the cadets would require to hone their strength.

That includes but is not limited to: Training Gyms, Weapon Vaults, Dojos or Training Halls, VR Capsules, and stuff like that.

This world has managed to create fully immersive VR worlds. They could even feel all the sensations they normally felt in the real world. And today's mock war was going to be held in the VR.

After Lucas and Kent made their way to the VR room, which was big enough to be called a floor, they stood in line where the rest of their classmates were standing.

Aside from their class, cadets of 1-C-8 were also present in the room. This only heightened the tension in the room as everyone present glared at each other.

Over the days, most of the cadets from both classes have gotten into a conflict with at least one cadet of the opposite class.

It was clear both the classes present here didn't like each other.

A few minutes after Kent and Lucas arrived and joined the line, all the other cadets were done showing up as well.

But of course, for the queen's appearance, they had to wait for another half an hour.

"Is everyone here?"

Finally, Yelena arrived in the VR room and gracefully stood in front of the cadets neatly standing in two separate lines.

With her was a third-year cadet. From his blue and white uniform, it was easy to assess that he was a member of the Cadet Council.

He had spiky bright orange hair, peach skin, and brown eyes. He was a fairly tall, lean-built young man who had a Japanese-styled katana tied on his waist.

He stood exactly two steps behind Yelena as she swept her gaze across the spacious room.

"I think everyone's here," from the back, someone replied.

"Good. Then shall we review all the rules again: The class that loses will be the one punished for the recent conflict between you two.

"The conflict ends when one side is completely defeated or their commander is killed.

"Nero Dekrauf is the Lord Commander for 1-A-1 and Alberto Okoro for 1-C-8. Bear in mind that Commanders can't be changed during the war unless there's a good reason.

"The mock war will occur in the Virtual World with a destroyed city setting. Dying there means elimination from the event.

"You can bring any artifacts you want in the virtual reality, either by storing them in your smart bracelet's dimensional storage or wearing them as an accessory artifact.

"And yes, I know that's not fair but in the real war, you will be faced with countless such advantages or disadvantages, so put up with that.

"Also, you can't bring any kind of food or drinks with you to the game. Things like that wouldn't spawn with you even if you packed them in your smart bracelets.

"We will be closely monitoring everyone's vitals. You might feel real pain since nerve stimulation is at 80% but you won't die, I assure you. If we think your life is in danger, we will eject you.

"As for what's the punishment and reward, you'll know it after the war ends. Any questions?"

After explaining, Yelena asked if any of them had any doubts or queries but since none of them raised their hands, she nodded and continued.

"Alright, let's commence the simulated war. When your name is called, come and take a nanotech suit and proceed to a VR pod. Class 1-A-1, occupy the VR pods on the right, and Class 1-C-8, take the ones on the left."

The moment she said that, as if waiting for a cue, the orange-haired boy standing right behind Yelena stepped forward and proceeded to call out the cadets' names one by one.

"Cadet rank 116969, Lucas Morningstar, take a VR pod on the right."

It didn't take long before Lucas's name was called. Lucas approached the orange-haired third-year as he was handed a small metal ball. 

"Place it on your chest before entering the pod," he said before calling out another name.

The room was spacious, resembling a large floor, with two rows of VR pods on either side, allowing ample room for movement between them.

A VR pod is exactly as it sounds - a capsule-like device with a shiny, white metallic exterior and a soft, red cushioned interior that can be molded to fit the user's body form.

When Lucas got over to one of them, Lucas saw that it had a sophisticated helmet inside of it that the user had to wear to be able to slip into virtual reality.

They can bring any relic with them inside the virtual reality. To make that work, the academy's AI, Athena, will scan the stuff in their smart bracelet and convert it into data.

After that, Athena will upload that data into the virtual world and stimulate a perfect reality.

Since it was his first time in VR, without any delay, Lucas quickly pressed the small metal ball he was handed against my chest.

Tak—!

The metal ball made a low tak sound as it collided against the ruby in his chest.

In the next instant, multiple nanobots flooded from the metallic orb and flowed over his academy jersey, wrapping his entire body in a tight layer of nanometal. The result was a sleek black combat nanotech suit, conforming perfectly to his form.

"Listen carefully; these suits will not only defend you but also provide you with a weapon in a pinch. You can control the nanobots to shape themselves into a weapon as they are connected to your neural network.

"However, it's only recommended as a final resort, as it compromises your own safety by lessening the number of nanobots in your suit.

"Also, before you get into the VR pods now, keep in mind that there's a time dilation effect. A day in virtual reality will be equivalent to an hour in the real world. Understood? Good. Now go ahead."

As soon as Yelena gave them the green flag, Lucas jumped into the VR pod and wore the helmet while making myself comfortable.

Soon enough, darkness veiled his vision as he fell into a deep slumber.