The Combat Department's Challenge

The silence didn't last for long as the man Mark spoke with before, who seemed to be in charge of this 'Combat Department,' started laughing loudly. Then, some of the other people that had gathered to check Mark's testing also started laughing, and the laughter started spreading like a plague. Even people who hadn't witnessed what had just happened started laughing.

Next, the man in charge raised his hand, and everyone stopped laughing.

"It seems like you deserve to go through our next test, "the man said with a wide grin.

"Second test? "Claire exclaimed.

"All departments are allowed to… "but she didn't get the chance to finish her sentence as a small explosion happened right on the ground, right in front of her.

The man had his palm pointed at that place, and the part of this mechanical exoskeleton had turned into a small cannon and shot a ball of Energy.

"This is my turf, my rules. If you don't like them, go cry to your little master. "

Mark detected some apparent hate between this person and Claire's 'little master,' who should be Alexander. He wasn't surprised, though, as Alexander didn't seem to have the best personality to be friends with from Mark's small encounter with him.

Claire said nothing else, and it looked like she wanted to type something on her tablet, but one of the people around confiscated it.

"You know the rules. No info gets out from one Department to another unless the heads of these departments say so or one of the big Bosses. So you will have it after we finish here, "the person who took her tablet said.

Claire said nothing as she went into a corner near the exit of this place to take a seat.

"Where is Sam? Tell her to get her ass over here, "the man in charge shouted to the surrounding people.

"I am here, so stop shouting, you old man," a female voice was heard from the middle of the crowd.

People made space for this person to make her way toward Mark and the man in charge. She wore an exoskeleton suit like the man, but it was clearly a better model. To start with, it had more protective plates, covering parts of her arms, legs, and chest area, which were wide opened in the one the arm wore.

Mark also noticed something else as he checked that suit using his Skills —- it was speaking.

That was something that hadn't happened till now to Mark, but when he focused his <Beginner Hacking> combined with his <Minor Energy Manipulation> Skill on it, he was getting some whispers in his mind. It felt similar to when he was getting information by searching the web using his Skill, but it did not integrate it into his brain, unlike what pieces of information he was gathering using his Skill.

It sounded like something was trying to whisper something to him, and he couldn't understand them because their voice was too low, so he didn't receive any information from it. He wanted to learn more, but he was sure that both security systems were above what he could handle without being noticed. He was confident that he could 'force' his way in, but he didn't want to make new enemies that fast.

"You boy. What was your name again?" the man asked as he turned his gaze towards Mark.

"Mark. What about your name, sir?" Mark said in a tone to show respect and lack of arrogance.

"The name is Jack, and here is Sam. You need to spar with her for a minute… if you can last that long."

Sam was the first to react as she turned towards Jack and was ready to say something, but Jack spoke first.

"One week off chores, "he said, which made Sam stop speaking and start putting out her exoskeleton.

"Oh, I didn't say you should not use it. I want to see how well he will go against it," Jack said to Sam.

Sam stopped herself as she gave a look of confusion towards Jack, but it didn't last long as she shrugged and took an offensive stance.

"Ok, everyone, give them space. You two start at my mark and keep in mind this is a spar, not a death battle. Although broken bones is an acceptable outcome, "Jack exclaimed, as he also made some distance between himself and the duo that would start sparring soon.

Instead of fear, a surge of excitement filled Mark, as even if he hadn't seen Sam or the exoskeleton in action, both should be powerful. Her Energy Aura was quite tense, and the majority seemed to be Green, but more colors merged in it weren't as Sarah's, which had almost a single color. But still, the size and density of her aura were much better than Sarah's but nowhere close to Ava's.

Mark also checked Jack's Energy Aura, which wasn't that far from Sam's just it seemed like the density of his was just a bit better.

Mark took his stance, which was actually a defensive one, and one of the basic techniques of the Trucko. He hadn't actually trained it yet, but since he had trained in more advanced techniques, he was confident using this one with no problems.

Sam seemed to understand that Mark didn't plan to be the first to attack and had started the battle with a charge. Mark quickly sidestepped out of the way and pressed his open palm to her right shoulder.

The exoskeleton protected that place, and Mark hadn't put too much force behind that hit. It was mostly a way to test the waters, as he had similarly released some of his Trucki as his previous punch, but to a lesser degree.

Sam kept turning and trying to hit Mark, but his reflexes were much faster than hers. He kept hitting her in different places using the same open palm attack as before, but each hit seemed to have no effect other than making Sam angry.

Mark could tell at that point that this exoskeleton was supposed to boost the strength of someone raising the force of their attacks, but not so much on their reflexes or general speed. It might even make them slower than they would typically be, but it granted them extra protection instead.

They were getting close to the end of the one minute, but Mark didn't plan to end it that easily.

He stood still as Sam threw one of her punches, which, until now, Mark had easily avoided. But this time, he didn't plan to avoid it, as he quickly raised his hand and brought it on the way of the punch.

As Mark's hand and Sam's punch came into contact, both stayed in place, like the force behind the latter's vanished. But not only Sam's punch stayed in place, but her whole body had frozen—- or, more specifically, her exoskeleton froze.

"What… what did you do? Did you break it? "Sam shouted towards Mark, as she couldn't do anything else; no matter what she did, she couldn't move.

"Don't worry, it is just temporary. I didn't mess with the exoskeleton. Just asked nicely for it to sleep, "Mark exclaimed in a testing tone.

But what he said wasn't that far from the truth. During the fight, he found out what those whispers he heard from the exoskeleton were. Apparently, this model was controlled by an AI, taking care of every movement by somehow reading its user's thoughts.

Mark had noticed that the back neck area of Sam's exoskeleton had some more heavy protection than the rest, which made him assume that there was some kind of chip or another way to connect Sam and the exoskeleton.

So since he could hear this AI 'mumbling' as it controlled the exoskeleton, he was confident he could communicate with it too, which was what he did. Each hit connected with it didn't just contain Mark's Trucki, but actually some of his Energy, so he can use his <Beginner Hacking> Skill. But instead of using that Energy to control this piece of machinery, he used it to create a message.

It took a few tries to find the right way, but seeing Truck-kun doing something similar each time he talked with a vehicle, he had something to base it on. Of course, the message it told him was to go to sleep, which led to the complete shutdown of the entire exoskeleton, at least until it woke up.

A familiar laughter started to fill the room as Jack made his way towards Mark and put his hand over Mark's shoulder.

"You definitely are an interesting person, Mark. So how about saving some time and just agreeing to join me? We get to use some exciting toys, and I am confident it won't take long since you will get your own exoskeleton to try. Just for your information, what Sam is wearing is still a prototype of the later model, but they should have something new soon."

Before Mark could say anything, Sam's voice was heard.

"CAN SOMEONE JUST TAKE ME OUT OF THIS PIECE OF JUNK?!? "

There was silence for a moment, as laughter filled the room, as people seemed to find the situation Sam was currently in amusing. But after she cursed for some time, she got control back as the AI woke up, and she started hunting some people, teasing her while she couldn't do anything.

At that point, Claire rejoined the group, and after a small debate with Jack, they agreed to let Mark see the rest of the departments. After all, Jack wasn't the Head of the Combat Department, just second in command, but it seemed like the actual Head rarely appeared.

And so Claire led Mark to the following Department—- The Mechanics.