Step 1, Complete!
The Leader sat on his chair, legs up on his desk. Captain Titan, who was also there, nodded to the guard, who then proceeded to push me down and force me to kneel before the Leader. He looked me over. His eyes looked like they were trying to recognize me, but his face said nothing. Captain Titan whispered something into his ear. The Leader's eyes lit up.
"You killed him? That's great! I suppose if this is what you want as a favor, then it shall be granted."
He turned to me, his voice thin and even. "What's your name?"
"Veris Kalerin," I lied, my eyebrows still stuck in that deep frown.
"I see...You have great spirit! This... this is what I want!" He grinned with a small hint of lunacy leaking out. "Now... would you like to work for me? I can't promise you that you'll succeed, but if you do, I'll make sure you get the best treatment!"
"I suppose... I never had a choice anyway. Fine. I'll do it". Interestingly enough, the Leader hadn't mentioned a thing about my grandfather. So, this meant that Captain Titan didn't tell him about our connection.
I know that my grandfather and the Leader had some sort of relationship. I wasn't sure what that was yet, but what I did know was that this meeting would've turned out very differently had he known about it.
Even though I hated Captain Titan, I knew that I could count on him not to snitch, though, since I was only here because he needed something from me. That still raised the question: How would I take revenge? I suppose the first thing was to get better at pretending, and anyway, this wasn't too bad. I could learn more about the Leader. I just had to act like my choice was based on survival.
"Excellent! You will start right away."
The guard then unlocked my neck brace and the other bindings. He took me to what looked like a dorm, and he gave me a uniform and fighting armor. The armor looked similar to what I saw in my vision.
"Don't do anything to make me regret my decision," the Leader had said.
He didn't have to worry. I wasn't just going to disappoint those empty words; I was going to make him straight up wish he had killed me earlier.
__________________________________________________________________
"That boy... He's a sharp one, isn't he?" said the Leader.
"Yeah. It's rather intriguing. Though it seems like he's the direct opposite of that other Captain."
"I wonder what would happen if they met."
"You think I need to keep an eye on him? In case he causes any trouble?"
"No need to worry. I've seen plenty of people like him before. I have the eyes and ears around the world. There's nothing he could possibly do. You of all people should be aware of this."
"Yeah... I am... but still. Couldn't hurt to be cautious."
"Oh? Sounds important?"
"...No. It was just needless worries. It's none of my business."
The Leader paused and said,"...Very well. Keep an eye on him, then, but don't hinder his progress just because you're suspicious. Wait until he makes his move."
"I understand," said Captain Titan. He bowed and then left the room. The Leader sat back in his chair and thought, "Captain Titan may indeed have a point. Though I do wonder how he'll handle the Sergeant. Let's hope he doesn't get bored to death with his rambling."
__________________________________________________________________
The guard gave me a uniform and asked me to put it on. The formal shirt was a dark red with a black tie., The coat was black with grayish buttons. The shoulders were blood red and looked rather elegant. The uniform was kind of similar to a coat and was quite warm. I quickly put it on, and then he led me to a classroom at nearly the top of the fortress.
I looked out the window, and I could see everything. I saw the stables full of big and healthy horses, I could see little homes of probably the citizens who sought protection, and best of all, I could see the entire city. This was Crimson City, and this was the biggest city of all of them. In the center lay this military base. One of the most important tokens of his power. I wanted it to burn.
On the wall, my preset alarm clock rang. Looks like it was time for my first class: mechanics. After I arrived at the classroom, I took a seat at one of the desks. A woman was standing in the corner, watching us menacingly in the shadows, and her expression looked like she regularly criticized people on the internet. But I had no time to worry about that.
Soon, kids from all over began pouring inside, and they all took a seat. The lady stepped out of the shadow, and her menacing stare turned into a calm smile.
She was tall and somewhat thin with oily black hair, and her eyebrows were fixed in a permanent scowl. Her face looked like she was already disappointed in us.
As soon as the bell rang, her frown turned upside down, and she was suddenly a bright and happy teacher. However, there was just something uncanny about her smile. It definitely wasn't real.
She said, "Hello! You may call me Ms. Damon. In my class this year, you will learn about machines, how to make them, and their applications. Now, don't expect to get this right away because mechanics are challenging. I, on the other hand, am an expert. If you please me, I might give you a little more help since it only comes to those who beg. You know, I was made a teacher here because I'm the best of the best. I even graduated at the top of my college!"
Note to self, don't irritate her. I'd seen teachers like her before, very smug and annoying, but once you break their confidence, they'll try to claw their way out until they can't. They're the ones to embarrass themselves by trying to prove their superiority. I listened to the chatter of the students around me. I could hear some of them talking about some sort of...Alpha Prototype? Who was the Builder?
"Dude! Have you heard about the Builder's new project?"
"Sure have! Rumor has it that he's building a suit of armor! But I heard that it was still just an alpha prototype. But... based on what I've heard from a senior, it looks sick! I can't wait to be able to put on something like that in the future!"
"Hell yeah!"
The army was always getting better. The scientists were bright and always had new ideas, but the other factions were always close behind in advancement. There were countless incidents where nobles attacked the fortress, resulting in numerous casualties.
Without the scientist's constant fixes, their armor wasn't as effective. I suppose a good plan for now was to steal the prototype armor and then kidnap all the scientists. What would I do from there? I didn't know. Everyone knew that this was his main base of operations, so this surely had to work. I mean, they probably thought that they were helping citizens by making them a powerful police force. Another difference was that a lot of the personnel here knew how to use magic, unlike the outskirts. I guess the Leader would need to have an edge to rule for so long.
Today, we learned something you couldn't even consider the basics. You know how in school they do those awful 'get to know you' kind of activities? It was one of those days. Today was the day that we would soon remember as 'the prelude to a horrendous semester'. Today's lesson was learning all about Ms Damon. But hey, I wasn't going to complain. She would definitely get in my way. The more I know about her, the better.
"So... I will be going over some very important facts about me. If you want to get better, you need to have a goal. I mean, you won't reach me, but still. Hopes and dreams are good things for young children to have. Then, once you've failed as an adult, you will quietly work your standard soldier life."
I take that back. Today, we won't be learning anything useful.
"But...unfortunately, it's a standard practice that on the first day here, I will tell you about this place. Alright. So some of you have joined this place by choice, and some haven't. That's okay because you will be working with each other all the same. You need to learn to trust one another because you won't survive my lessons with a feeble mind. The place you are at is one of the few locations of the Leader's military bases. We have a total of 3 fortresses, 10 datahubs, and we have close to 30 outposts. The outposts are usually near the fortresses, and that's how we can communicate quickly to make sure nobody interferes with what we do." She pointed to a red star on the map on the projector in front of us and continued.
"I won't tell you why we exist. All you need to know is that if you do well enough, you'll get promoted. Now, this place is special because the Leader personally visits from time to time. Not only is the climate cool and good for training, but it's right in the center of things. In fact, this place is practically the center hub of the entire continent. This fortress, in particular, is one of the most fortified places in the world. The main reason for this is the 4 outer walls. Each wall is 290 cm thick, 15 km wide, and 9 km tall. Guards are patrolling everywhere nonstop for 24 hours a day. You don't need to worry about safety. You'll never leave this place until you graduate, so I'd get comfortable here if I were you."
She then started talking about other random things, so I dozed off. I looked around the classroom. I saw a few kids who went to my school and some others whom I wasn't familiar with. I guessed that most of my actual classmates were being held in a routine center since they weren't as bold as I was.
They weren't smart, and they weren't willing to do hard work either. They were in groups of 3. My best friend Michael was stuck with the rest of them as well. The routine center was for those who weren't ready to take on the actual challenge of the normal course. It would help them find what classes they should take. Of course, for the rest of us, it was predetermined.
The bell rang again. I shuffled out of the classroom among the other kids. There were countless other classrooms as well, and there was soon just a sea of kids. My next class was military training. Seems rather strange since I would've thought that it'd be in the morning at around 5.
When we got there, there was a military sergeant waiting for us. He had a nearly bald head with just traces of hair growing back. Why were so many of them bald? He was wearing sunglasses and a Sergeant caplet.
In the army, we distinguished rank by armor and cap. Normal soldiers didn't have too much armor, and they wore these small military caps that covered their ears as well as the back of their heads. They were known for being quite stuffy.
Sergeants just wore the brimmed skipper cap, otherwise known as caplets, but had the same armor. Lieutenants wore caplets, but their armor was slightly tougher. Executives wore medals, extra armor, and those caplets as well. The Captain caplet was like the executive caplet, but it had a different pattern and the same color, so our enemies couldn't distinguish them, while it was unique enough for us to tell. He had a small name tag that said Sergeant Matoke.
When we looked at him, he didn't even pretend to smile. He barked, "Look at you, runts. It seems like you guys have been pampered by mommy a bit too much. You're all fat and you should be ashamed of it. Of course, when I'm done with you, your parents won't even recognize you. You'll wish that you had escaped to the solitude den yesterday. On second thought, even that's not far enough away; maybe the Malabar Mountains would be.
"Since today is Generation 702's first day, I suppose I can't make you late for your other classes, but the second the clock hits 5 in the morning, you all better come here first. If you don't have a good excuse, you'll be executed painfully by Captain Titan. He sets a great example, you see. Ahh yes. Generation 12's ace."
He cleared his throat. Then he explained, "Right now, I'll be handing out schedules. Most of you have talked with an examiner, and the lucky few of you will have talked with Captain Titan. They would've handed you your schedule."
As everyone else had one except me, I raised my hand.
"What?"
"The Leader didn't give me a schedule."
"Ha, ha! Is that a joke?! You lost your schedule, and now you're resorting to attention?"
Suddenly, the Captain appeared behind him. He made a thunk on the sergeant's head.
"Sorry for forgetting. Here you go."
"H-he wasn't lying," groaned the sergeant in surprise. "Well, anyway, this is pretty much an intermediary. He looked at his instructor's guidebook for a second and then threw it away.
"I don't even know why we have these. Do 20 pushups or something starting now. If you finish before time ends, you can leave early."
I did them, and as I left, I looked at my schedule. First, I had military training, and next, I had mechanics. After that, it was brunch. After brunch came art and creation class. It was important to be able to describe and draw criminals and forge money when entering the underworld for various reasons. I didn't know why we had a connection to that place, but... it seemed scary. I didn't want to go. All that was left was just art and then Vanilla, whatever that was.
A few hours later, it was evening, and I had finished going to art class. It was a pretty interesting class. We had learned about what the curriculum might look like, and it had a lot of useful skills. Some aspects of husbandry work. Most of which we could use in military training.
'Vanilla' was just stuff we might learn in school. History and English weren't even included, which was good, but instead, we'd have to learn other languages and be fluent in them. Vanilla? Ha! As far as I knew, I could barely get to school on time. I didn't think I could handle all of these classes. It was not a "normal" class. It was just "cram all the other stuff that we couldn't fit in the rest of your busy schedules" class. It was still important, but this was really to see who would just do the bare minimum to pass, and who would go above and beyond to completely learn and understand everything in that class.
The bare minimum would just mean becoming a normal soldier who fought on the frontlines. I planned to fight there and experience some of the happenings on the battlefield, but I wasn't going to be under anyone. After all, I wasn't the best at following instructions. Even so, all that meant was that I needed to be in a position so high that even Captain Titan couldn't get rid of me easily.