Rewritten View

"After the midterms, all of you will be granted thirty days of freedom. No classes will be conducted during those thirty days so use it to rest and prepare for the second semester. Four months after you return, you will all be competing in an inter-academy tournament. This will be directly viewed by High General James. There is talk that he will be offering some reward for the champion of the tournament. Prepare yourselves."

Instructor Summers word sent a variety of mixed emotions throughout the year one class. First, they are told that they will have to do what many others would consider impossible at their stage. Then, they're offered the relief of a break period before immediately being thrown against each other.

The students who had originally been placed towards the end of the formations had opposing views. The ones viewed with the least potential at the beginning of the semester were terrified to their very core. The squad leaders began planning to outdo one another in their minds. Only Joe thought differently.

'I won't let any of them die. They've worked too hard for it all to be thrown away like that.'

"One final thing before we turn to. This class's ranks are going to be restructured today to reflect the recent competition. From today on, Mr. Merril will serve as your platoon head. He will be in charge of every squad, and you are to treat his will as my own. Mr. Ryan will be taking over the position as First Squad Leader. Turn to you training."

Three months. In three months, the power structure of the class was rewritten. The former weakest member of First Squad now stands at its head. His training with Joe amply showed itself throughout the trial and was cement in place once Joe had him take the opposing flag.

Joe, however, was unsure of his new position. Until now he had focused all his efforts on his squad. He was determined to turn them into a formidable fighting force. He even taught those that trained with him privately his consolidation method. Individually, they could stand strong. As a team, they were likely unstoppable across all their peers in every nation.

All of the classmates who had formerly thoughts Joe had simply gotten lucky until then were forced to see him in a new light. On the first day, only he met the challenge from their instructor and passed. He worked his squad so efficiently during the trial that his enemy was swiftly overtaken. The footage from all sides of either match was played and reviewed the following day once it had ended. Although their actual movements weren't visible, the dots moving across the map clearly showed the teamwork of First Squad.

Those in Third and Fourth Squad even scoffed at how Joe took on the final members of Second Squad. They initially equated that at to his ego. The same ego they had witnessed when he sent Jordan flying back on the first day. Now, they were all seeing him in a new light. Aside from a select few, the entire class now looked at him with reverence.

Clara saw him as a mountain she needed to surpass. There was no hostility in her thoughts. She was simply unaccustomed to someone being better than her. Even then, if today was by any means a prelude to how their private training would continue, she was looking forward to the time with him.

Jordan Farrel, leader of Third Squad, resented every fiber of Joe's existence. From the first day he had been stuck within the shadow cast off him. Despite repeated examples, he continued to view nearly every other man as inferior. His family was influential, and he believed that the commoner amongst his classmates belonged below him. For that, he refused to follow the lead of the newly appointed Platoon Leader once everyone began their training for the day.

The squad leaders of the remaining three squads all gathered around Joe once they were released from their formation. John was the first to speak up.

"Would you like First Squad to continue training as usual?"

A simple question that sent a realization throughout the others. First Squad wasn't simply following orders during the trial. They had trained to move with that level of precision. With a simple nod, John turned and began to run his squad through their usual training regime.

"The rest of you will train as a joint unit under me today and into the foreseeable future. By the time of the midterms, I expect every one of you to be able to function on the same level as First Squad. Let's begin."

With that, fifty-two of his classmates all began to be ran through the same gauntlet style of training Joe had pushed First Squad through in the first weeks of his leadership. From observing the other squads daily, he had a concept of their levels up to this point. Now, he was solely focused on finding their shortcomings and destroying them until the final product was indistinguishable from the original.

Two weeks of this new regime had passed in a slow, painful reality for the two squads. They were broken down repeatedly and seemed to never fully recover before the next day. Finally, Joe introduced their new, individually focused routines. The members were initially taken back by the new concept. Rather than training as a group, every individual had their own separate routines.

Even the weapon training was changed. Those that had originally taken up swordsmanship because it was what was readily taught were now assigned a wide range of arms. The reason? These new designations would play off the existing strengths of each member and worked to eliminate their shortcomings. After all, a team is only as efficient as the least contributing member. With that thinking, Joe wasn't going to allow any individual to take up the weakest role.