Victor left class three ability shards richer, but he didn't feel too pleased. The fact that someone who had never held a gun in their life had outshined him left a bitter taste in his mouth. However, now that his afternoon class was over, he easily put that behind him. He had better things to focus on after all.
Plus watching that performance gave Victor the impression Rufus was under the influence of some supernatural ability.
It made sense that Rufus would outperform Victor if he could use his ability and Victor couldn't. Whether or not that was just Victor coping with his loss, it was difficult to say.
Regardless, it was entirely true that it was unreasonable to challenge an ability user to their direct strength, especially as someone who had an ability without combat applications. Ever since they gained abilities, Victor knew they had to adjust their mentalities properly. Otherwise, they just might put themselves in a dangerous situation.
Currently, Victor had around an hour of free time before the next time block began, so Victor decided to spend that time training his ability. Soon he had only four shards left in his ability core. So far his source component had absorbed 9 shards.
Victor then texted his friends that he wouldn't be meeting and would instead be seeking an evening class. He then made a quick stop at the cafeteria to pick up a meal as he looked at the evening class options he had been considering since the morning.
Finally he had made his choice and decided on the command class. Since Victor's ability didn't lend itself well to many roles within his team, Victor decided to position himself in more of a support role.
Victor entered teaching building D and walked beyond the regular classes to the special classrooms located at the back of the building. One of the big reasons Victor was able to navigate his way through the building so quickly was because all the teaching buildings had an almost identical layout. It was only when it came to the specialized sections at the back of the building that there was really any difference.
Victor passed by some large rooms with strange, strange instruments he didn't recognize and holograms floating in front of each door, almost all sharing the same words: Insufficient Qualifications.
Despite his curiosity, he knew he was on a time crunch. Where there were many trial classes going on right now, there were only so many he could try out at a time before the night ended. He hurried his pace, and within a few minutes he had soon reached his destination. Victor glanced at the hologram display, confirming he reached a room labeled "strategy and command" before entering.
There were seven other people in the room who managed to make it before him, standing around the scattered tables in the dark room. There was a row of empty sim-pods lined along one of the walls and a middle-aged man standing in the corner who Victor assumed was the teacher running this class.
Upon entering, Victor saw a pop-up screen that explained the current activity in the room. Victor's dark eyes darted back and forth as he quickly understood the situation in the room, dismissed the pop-up window, and evaluated the people present. None of the people who were here caught his interest, so he decided to ignore them and focus on the tables in front of him.
As an introduction to the class, there were five different game types available and offered where the students played as a commander directing their troops in battle. As a participation prize, everyone was offered a single white shard and had the opportunity to earn another as long as you were the top performer in that game mode.
Victor walks over to the first table, featuring a headset, before reading the game rules.
[Name: One-Man Tactical Game]
[Game Description: You will be leading a singular unit and the information at your disposal to complete various objectives on a map. Clearing all objectives on the map grants access to another level of increased difficulty. The leaderboards are ranked based on how fast the objectives are completed. Character selection includes the choice of one of the preset troops or a real-life ally who agrees to participate.]
Victor considered himself to be quite skilled at these kinds of games, considering his standings and reputation in the Star Legends community, so he wasn't too shocked with the rules. What piqued Victor's curiosity was the last sentence. Sensing his intentions, the system caused an additional window to appear, providing an explanation for how to send one of your allies into the game.
Victor then nodded, understanding the purpose of all those simulation pods. If Victor summoned his friends to fight on his behalf, they would enter the simulation, while he would remain outside, enjoying a panoramic view of the arena.
Victor quickly put the helmet on his head and encountered a briefing, a troop selection menu, and a map. The map displayed a similar school building to the one he was in with a few minor changes. This level only featured one unit type: a robot painted with blue stripes holding a laser pistol and different types of support equipment. There was only one objective: neutralize the opponent.
Victor noticed something immediately upon entering the game. The map was divided into two sections: one area was visible to his robot unit, while the other area was outside of its vision. Within the vision of the robot, the classroom was incredibly clear. In fact, Victor had a better view of the room than his unit because the small cameras hidden all over the robot's body provided a 360-degree view of the placement of all the items in the room. The projected map on the desk received a high-definition transmission of the desks, windows, lectern, and all other items in the room.
Outside of Victor's vision was a much more basic map showing merely the layout of the rest of the school but lacking many details beyond that. Victor quickly commanded his robot to crack open the door quietly before placing two tiny scout robots on the floor and letting them look in both directions, giving Victor vision of the hallway. There were 10 classes in this building, plus various offices, washrooms, and other rooms he had never thought to include in a school.
These included a material research room, a weapons manufacturing room, and another room for testing weapons. Oddly, he found the layout familiar before he realized it reminded him of Teaching Building A. A strange look crossed Victor's face as he opened up the school map and confirmed both maps were identical.
'The simulation is set on campus? That's so weird. Is this implying we will be fighting within the school soon?'
Wait, there was already fighting going on across the school. Victor looked back at the table. Somehow he felt it was different knowing that the school staff condoned and even encouraged the fighting, even through subtle means like this simulation. But then again, when had their school not encouraged battle? Since they were young, their school had trained them to fight and handle weapons.
Victor was then broken out of his musings, as one of his hallway cameras caught sight of a robot rounding the corner with red stripes running across its metallic exterior. He had spent so long in his thoughts that the enemy had come looking for him. Victor revealed a wry smile. AltEven though things were working in his favor, he knew that being distracted could have put him in a dangerous position.
He swiftly commanded his scout bots to roll out of sight. The walls around each door were thick enough for a person to hide outside of the class without being seen, so Victor took advantage of that fact to hide the tiny bots there effortlessly.
The enemy robot approached as Victor's unit held the hand of the doorway, ready to jump out for an ambush. Soon the scout bots detected that the red bot had approached close enough, and both of them dashed out from behind the wall, drawing the enemies' attention as he simultaneously commanded his unit to attack.
The red robot turned its aim toward the scout bots, firing its laser pistol as the scout bots were making evasive maneuvers. While the red bot was distracted, the blue robot turned the corner, using the wall as cover, while firing toward the red robot's position. A few well-placed shots melted through the red bot's exterior, frying various internal components, causing the robot to shut down, winning Victor the round.
Victor watched as the rankings updated, placing him first among five others. With a curious look, Victor then fiddled with the console. After achieving a rank on the leaderboard, extra options became available, allowing participants to adjust settings such as the number of opponents, equipment management, terrain selection, and objective changes. The modifiers appeared to be designed for players who wanted to increase the difficulty beyond just the base difficulty, thereby improving their performance in this game mode and helping them earn the top rank.
However, in the few short moments that Victor was checking out the extra options and controls, he noticed the leaderboard updated.
'Rufus? Again? Why does this guy keep appearing everywhere I go?'