Chapter 6 - Training and Endurance

All of the trainees were able to obtain a passing evaluation rate, but the top three who earned the highest rates were given recognition by 2nd lt. Franklin for their performance. "The three of you have done very well. Claire Duvent with a rate of 96%, Kai Norths with a rate of 96%, and Danny Waltz with a rate of 92%, I have great expectation towards your future performances."

Claire glanced at the person standing beside her, so his name was Kai Norths. He was the guy that she told off last time. There was something about him that she doesn't like, so it was absolutely better for her to avoid the guy.

After that small recognition, they were all dismissed for the day. Ross tried to catch up with Claire, wanting to congratulate her. "Claire!... R-Claire, wait up!... Claire!!..."

"Ross, what's up?"

Ross cleared his throat before speaking. "Ehem, I just wanted to congratulate you for passing the first stage of our training with a high rate."

Claire smiled. "Thanks—" but Ross wasn't finished with his speech just yet.

"—however! Now that I find you to be the most competitive fellow among other trainees, I now declare us to be rivals! Just you wait Claire, I'm gonna beat you on that number 1 spot of yours!!" After declaring rivalry with Claire, he ran away and got out of sight. The silliness of the situation made Claire chuckle for a bit.

"...it was just a decimal point difference, you're lucky to scored a little higher than me." Then another foe appeared before Claire.

Claire's smile immediately faded as Kai approached her. "Anyways, congratulations on having the highest rating."

She smirks at Kai. "Congratulations as well, Mr. Second place."

It ticked Kai a bit, but he did expect her to mention that. "Heh, might as well enjoy the glory while it lasts Ms. Claire. I hear the next stage will be dedicated in improving endurance. Though I believe you can pass that stage, but that won't be something you can pass with a high rating... as a woman."

Kai walks pass Claire with a huge grin on his face, he really wanted to piss her off since the day she told him off. He also expects her to get outrage by his provoking words and get violent with him, but instead he only received a few words from Claire. "Wow, insecure misogynists really does talks a lot."

She walks away, snickering. Claire may have said less, but her words weighted more on Kai's head. Again, he glared at her from behind with clenching fists. That day, both swore to give out their best to show whose better than the other.

Then as they proceed to the second stage of training the next day, Claire and Kai were throwing nasty glares at each other. Meanwhile, Ross kept glancing at Claire hoping to get her attention so he can intimidate her with his glare. Though it never happened as 2nd lt. Franklin oriented all of them for this endurance training.

The second stage lasts for a month, and the expected outcome for this training was for the trainees to become capable of keeping up physical activity on the battlefield at an extended period of time.

"...we will now proceed to the first phase of our new daily routine. For starters, you all must reach atleast an 10km run within 30 minutes." The announcement made the trainees look at one another in disbelief, but the most competitive ones were glaring at each other as if they were challenged to show who's better.

When they were all on track, they all started running as 2nd lt. Franklin shot his gun. The ones on the lead were of course Claire and Kai. But after reaching the 4km point, Kai began to feel a little exhausted. His pace have gotten slower and caused Claire to be on the lead now.

"Shit, where does she get all that stamina!?" He boiled in frustration at being outmatched by his rival yet again.

The 10km run wasn't a competition, but Claire was the first to finish it and earned a praise from Franklin. "You've done well, Ms. Claire." The strict instructor showed a small smile at Claire which made her a little amazed.

Then throughout all activities for the day were dominated by Claire's excellent performance. She exceeded 2nd lt. Franklin's expectations within just a few days and got him thinking about things. After dismissing the trainees, Franklin headed to the office of the Special Infantry Troop's Captain.

"2nd lt. Franklin, what made you come here?" Captain Wright asked.

"I'm here to report on the trainees."

"Alright, let's hear them."

"The majority of the trainees are displaying excellent performance and progress in their training efforts. And one trainee in particular has demonstrated exceptional levels of performance and progress, far exceeding the expected standards for their training." The Captain gave a wry smile after hearing Franklin's statement.

"Let me guess, this trainee's name is Claire Duvent, ain't it?"

"You know her, Cap?!" A look of surprise crossed Franklin's face.

"Of course, she's under my recommendation for this training. I'm actually surprised that she got mentioned like this, I guess she's really determined to become a part of my troop." He chuckled. "So what is it that you want to do with her?"

"...I was actually considering of cutting her training short by two weeks and let her proceed to the final stage, but of course I first need to have your approval for that."

"Hah! Is she really that good?! Well, she was a former member of the second armored brigade after all. That woman already has experience that beats the other rookies." 2nd lt. Franklin developed interest in learning more of Claire's background and listened intently.

"Claire Duvent is actually a special case. I've searched on her and found out that she had the lowest compatibility rate of 12% with the shifter weapon. There were also a problem with her shifter getting misplaced, the ones incharge of installing shifter weapons accidentally injected it on her right leg because she couldn't make up her mind. It was actually a risk to inject the shifter weapon on people that had low compatibility rate, they might actually die." Wright chuckled at the thought, "Luckily she survived, but because of that error, she was reassigned to a different group. And I find it strange that she suddenly wants to join my troop."

This amazed 2nd lt. Franklin, and got puzzled like Captain Wright. A lot of questions flooded in his head, how can Claire fight with her shifter weapon misplaced? Why does she want to be a part of the Special Infantry Troop? Just what is going on with Ms. Claire Duvent?