Field Training

04:00

An hour before the stipulated time. I packed all the things I would prefer to have in the Desolate Lands into a bag and moved to the location. No one was there yet, like always, no one came early here, most of them were barely on time. 

I, on the other hand, only arrived early because I feared that they would leave me here and go. Aron couldn't be trusted.

For him, I had something planned. I would act. Act like I was genuinely happy with my situation, act like I had gained some benefit from this situation. Just so it annoyed Aron. Make him lose his calm thinking that he overlooked something. Making him think that there was something outside his expectations and calculations.

It wasn't anything great but just that little thought should irritate him enough to satisfy me. That was all I could do right now.

Harmless pranks.

Then I waited, humming to myself, trying to communicate with my Waking. Trying to get it to accept my plans of absorbing some Moran. And it kept denying me each time. Honestly, I wished it actually used words to speak to me. The subconscious signaling was getting kind of annoying and understanding what it meant was worse.

At first I was on edge against the Waking. Thinking it was an enemy, a foreign entity in my body. But I came to realize that, this sentience, it only gained it after combining with the rest of my soul. Though the Waking I was born with was what my soul was supposed to perfectly synchronize with, this Waking somehow suited me better.

A real conundrum.

But I stopped giving it much thought. My new Waking was my ally. And I trusted it, the same way it trusted me to listen to it, albeit after a little struggle.

That was that however.

After a while people started coming. I recognized most of them from the Waking acceptance. But there was one familiar face among the crowd. Jeana. It seemed Aron had decided that it would be a good idea for her to come along.

Not that I minded.

Seeing her smiling and happy, made me happy. I liked seeing my family happy. But I didn't move to talk to her. There were chances of her being affected by the stigma on me.

Then the whispers started. My smiling face and humming had managed to attract some attention. Just what I wanted. 

"What's got you so giddy Gen?"

I knew the person who spoke. The one who had my Waking. Aron's son, Orion. He was smiling as he said it. 

He seemed nice outside but I never liked him. He was the one who had me kicked out of the main quarters. He seemed to find happiness in taking most of my things and he did. Its not like he kept most of the things he took either. He just took them so that I wouldn't have them anymore. He had even managed to get Jeana to stay close to him most of the times.

The only thing he couldn't take away was my pendant. Firstly, because it signified my status as an orphan and he couldn't take it as a member of a prestigious family. Secondly, the logo. Aron probably told him not to take it because of the logo.

I smiled and said, "Stuff is looking up you know? I'm very happy right now and finally exploring outside is just the icing on the cake." I just hope my acting was passable at least. 

And for a single moment, his facade cracked revealing a vey confused face. A moment later, his smile was back.

"Nice to know."

He said as he walked back.

Jeana made eye contact with me afterwards, I gave her a nice smile to which she didn't even change expressions. I maintained the smile however. Keeping up the illusion.

But I felt happy. Jeana had grown well. Her purple hair shone brightly and she had become beautiful, heads turned as she walked. I was proud of her and how she had turned out.

"Everyone, Hope you are prepared for the travel to the Desolate Lands. Proceed to board the transport vehicles in front of you."

Aron had arrived and gave us orders to board the Millican aircraft, Racor. The same one I had been brought here in but a newer model. Technology kept on improving over the years, that was one constant that had not changed.

I took the time to smile at Aron. His expressions didn't change but he furrowed his eyebrows. That little movement gave me incredible satisfaction. My acting had given him something to think about. Something to worry about. That was enough for now.

With a spring in my step, the false happiness now replaced with a genuine one due to the two little interactions, I climbed onto the plane. 

The biggest change in the machine was the propellors. The number of propellors had changed from 2 to 1. Only one propellor. It looked a little weird at first but the two larger side thrusters made it look like some kind of movie spaceship.

After everyone got onto the transport vehicles, the propellor started, lifting us into the air. A few seconds later, the thrusters burst into life and we shot toward our destination.

 For the first time in a long while, I admired the scenery outside. Landscapes of various colors whizzed past as we flew through. Metal cities, hilly landscapes, green pastures, large lakes. Sights that I had never seen. The route here from the Melting Lands had just been barren. This was new. This was beautiful.

After an hour however, the landscapes stopped being interesting, so I pulled out my device and went through the data again. I didn't want to miss any life changing details, I needed to stay sharp and on my game, if I wanted my 'fake death' plan to succeed. The whole time I had a silly smile on me. And that garnered a lot of eyes from the other in the same aircraft.

"Hey... did you get a good Waking?"

One of the members worked up the courage to ask me.

I looked at them, my smile not breaking and said, "Something like that..... Are you excited for the training?"

The person appeared scared for a moment and walked away without answering me. 

"Rude." I said audibly, letting everyone know.

Then I continued reading and memorizing.

 The aircraft started slowing down and eventually came to a stop mid-air. The propellor kept us afloat.

Aron moved in a separate vehicle. A smaller Racor. Orion and Jeana were also on it. The vehicle landed on the ground.

We had stopped our march due to border patrol. Which Aron probably solved after providing all the details because we started moving toward our destination a few moment later.

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It took us 4 hours to arrive at our destination.

And despite everything, I had heard about it, it didn't look as desolate as I expected it to look. The map did show a part of a forest but this...…. this was beyond imagination. The true scale of the Desolate lands put me in awe. That much forest and vegetation in that big of a land and that densely packed?

That was amazing.

The Melting Lands barely had any plants. Other than the dull greyish ones that could stand the heat and the sun, nothing brightly green existed. And the forest in the Hunter compound was my favorite place. Beautiful, green, calm and relaxing. Kept my mind off things.

After landing, I made my way outside onto the open field. And Aron stepped up Infront of us and started speaking. His voice loud due to his device amplifying his sound.

"Now, all of you will be assigned to teams of three and then left here for a day, you will be monitored closely, but it is still dangerous. Stay on your toes. Your teams and team members will be sent to your device. Also because we have an extra member, Gen Hunter you will be moving alone. Are you willing to accept this?"

Willing to move alone?

Is he actually helping me fake my death?

What a nice guy!

Also the extra person seemed to be Jeana... Well, it works in my favor either way.

I fiercely nodded. " Yes sir. I can survive this training on my own."

 He stood still and blinked for a few seconds, presumably in shock due to my excessive enthusiasm. I rejoiced on the inside, my Waking expressed its happiness as well.

Now he had to be thinking about how he might have missed something. He just HAD to.

"Okay then. Everyone find your members and start exploring. Use your Waking to fight against creatures and make sure you steer clear of insects. Those things are hard to kill or notice and their poison is annoying to deal with. So, pay attention to your surroundings and stay alert."

He quickly followed up with his ending statements and moved back into his Racor. All the Racor flew into the air and left, leaving us all alone here.

Of course, there were probably strong fighters and soldiers hidden in and around the area. There were too many rich kids and people from well off families for them to be put into life-threatening situations. 

Without much thought, I spun around in a circle, until I felt that it was enough and then walked straight ahead. Truly randomizing my path through the forest.

A couple things stood out to me immediately. The sun was high up in the sky and it still felt nice and cool. A nice breezing passed through the forest. Aside from the the wind and the rustling of the leaves and branches, it was completely silent. I enjoyed this feeling. It was nice.

As I walked through the forest, I kept my guard up. But I didn't spot any movement. I pulled out my device and checked the location I had walked to. Somehow, I had walked around the edge of the location we were allowed to explore and had ventured further into the forest. 

What seemed off, however was that I had not encountered any creature yet. That didn't make sense, there were 15 commonly seen creatures and I hadn't run into even one of them?

I stopped and turned back. And waited.

I waited until I saw movement.

And movement I did see.

Following me were a group of three. With Orion in the lead.

They stood still after seeing me find them.

"What a surprise! We ended up in the same place!" Orion decided to play the fool.

There was no way, they could have ended up here. I randomly roamed around, the chances of them meeting me was extremely small.

Behind him were Jeana and another one of the rich kids. A girl who picked up a scale-type Waking yesterday.

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Heyo Manager here, I plan on changing the perspectives after the next chapter. Hope it works out.

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