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  “In about three weeks or so, I will be sending all of you into the Yinglong caves. It is a competition, first one to kill the monster queen gets free weapons from the armory. Until then, I want you to come up with your own training regimen to get ready for the competition. If you decide to go hunting for other prey in the meantime, schedule time with an Ensign to go with you. Consider the Yinglong caves a test, we will be grading your performance. A solid enough performance will grant you permission to hunt on your own without an Ensign tailing you and taking up your orbs. You don’t have to win the competition to pass this part. I won’t be giving you any more information than this. Do your best to be prepared. Dismissed.” Sergeant Yarrow said and waved them out of his office.

  Flynn left right away. The remaining three squad leaders just milled about outside the admin building.

  “How exactly are we supposed to get prepared? He didn’t even tell us what we were hunting,” the female squad leader said.

  “I have no idea. Do they even have trainers or teachers on this base? I haven't heard,” Peter said.

  They both turned to the third leader, but he shrugged and said, “Don’t look at me, I have no idea. Besides, I think that is part of the competition, to see how good your information gathering skills are. So even if I had an idea, I probably wouldn’t share it with you.”

  Peter walked back to the apartment, dejected. Things were still weird with Lola and now he has to help the squad prepare, and he had no idea where to start.

  He slumped into a couch in the common room and called everyone in for a meeting. Explaining the situation didn’t take long. But he had no idea where to go for answers. He mentioned they might just have to give up and take their licks.

  “Free weapons would be very valuable for us. I looked at prices. Good weapons cost very much. One maybe two months of orbs. We should try very hard to win.” Yoon said.

  “Well I certainly want to win, but how? How do we figure out what we are hunting, let alone how to prepare for it,” said Peter.

  “Do not give up before we have started, my friend,” Dima said, “There are many good ways to gather information. I am used to gathering information in bars, so I will start there.”

  “I will come too. Men like to brag to me,” said Yoon.

  Lola stood up, “I can talk to the rangers I met yesterday, they are only level 11, but they are bound to know something.

  “And I guess I can see if I can track down Rex and ask him about it,” Peter said.

  “No, send Emma instead, he has a soft spot for her,” Dima said.

  Most of the squad nodded, but Emma looked surprised and said, “No he doesn’t. He probably hates me. I used to mouth off all the time when he trained us.”

  “Yeah, and he never once cut you for it, did he?” Peter said.

  “Rex gives you more wiggle room than the rest of us. And you need to take advantage of that,” Lola said.

  “Well ok. I guess I can try,” Emma said.

  Jonas nodded and said, “You can do it, Emma. Peter, have they taken you to the map room yet? We might be able to get some info from there.”

  “No, not yet. I know where it is, but they haven’t granted me access yet,” Peter said.

  “Let’s not let that stop us, eh? You got that stealth skill, and I can distract the guards,” Jonas said with a smile.

  Peter sighed, “Ok, that can be the plan until I think of a better one. Like Yoon said, winning will save us months of training here on base.”

  It took them a few days, but they eventually got an idea of what they were up against. In the hills far north of the base was a huge network of caves called Yinglong. It would take a flatbed ride to get there, so they couldn't scout it out ahead of time.

  Riddled with tunnels, the cave system was part natural and part monster made. The cave system went very deep into the ground, and their target would be at the bottom. Normally sparsely populated, the caves would soon be bursting at the seams. There was always a population explosion a few weeks after heavy rains.

  The queen they were to kill was the brood-queen of the Zorn. These monsters were slightly smaller than humans on average. Short and stocky, they were covered in a gray exoskeleton. Their six limbs acted as arms or legs depending on the situation. Each limb ended with a scoop of a claw that could dig through the sandstone, creating much of the cave system. They didn’t have working eyes but they could hear very well, even through the cave walls, making it difficult to sneak up on them. Zorn were smarter than the other monsters they had hunted before, about the intelligence of a toddler. This meant they acted differently than the other beasts they had hunted. Zorn worked together when they could, ran away when they were outmatched, and had been known to set traps.

  This last fact made Emma uneasy.

  “They set traps? Are we going to be killing sentient beings? I don’t know if I am comfortable with that,” she said.

  “Do not worry about your morals, Emma, these monsters are evil. Base Beta took a huge hit right after they established the base. The Zorn attacked without provocation or mercy. They say the monsters would stop in the middle of battle to torture their victims. And when food grows scarce, they eat their own young. Their intelligence should be respected, but we do not pity evil, we exterminate it,” Dima said with conviction.

  Peter hadn’t heard this before, and asked Dima about it later. He wanted to know where he had heard about them being evil. Dima just shrugged and didn’t answer.

  Proud about how much they had learned in just a few days, they relaxed for the evening. One thing still bugged Peter though, they had not learned the Zorn orb powers. Most stronger beasts used orb skills to help them hunt. Lurkers used stealth, rino-apes used regeneration, but he didn’t know what skill the Zorn would use. He tried not to dwell on it.

  Now that they knew what they were fighting, they could start preparing. Peter booked some time on the exercise field. An Ensign there would give them classes on urban combat using the building set up there. He figured underground combat was similar to urban warfare.

  They got up early each morning, and hit the course until lunch time. They learned about enclosed space fire, how to pie the door, clearing rooms as a team, and other combat tactics.

  Each afternoon they went out hunting. They decimated the kessel population, terrorized the furry spiders, punted adult zerglings, and made the jumping elephants cry. After a while, the Ensigns that had to come with them started to complain. Most of the other cadets just did the minimum, hunting once every four days. And even then most other cadets didn’t have to have an escort every time they went out.

  But Peter’s squad was determined, they wanted to win the competition and get home as soon as possible.

  All the extra orbs they gained were put to good use. They upgraded their main professions, and added skills Peter suggested. Yoon and Emma bought the Shield Dome skill, Dima and Jonas bought Parry, Lola bought Inspect, and all of them bought Darkvision. Flashlights were available, but they figured that darkvision would be more useful than a light deep in the caves.

  Peter Grey

  Level 11 Mage

  Cuff age 4 1/2 months

  0 Squad Orbs

  8 Self Orbs

  Previous page

  Next page

  Magic skills

  Summon Shield level 3

  Fireball level 3

  Fire Wave level 4

  Void Bolt Level 1

  Heal Level 4

  Lightning Bolt level 1

  Frost level 1

  Upgrade list here

  Time

  Map

  Phone

  Squad Locator

  Previous page

  Next page

  Passive Skills

  Strength level 4

  Speed level 5

  Constitution level 5

  Dexterity level 2

  Premonition level 3

  Upgrade list here

  Active Skills

  Sharpshoo
ter level 1

  Stone Skin level 3

  Stealth level 2

  Vision level 1

  Sense level 4

  Weaken level 3

  Upgrade list here

  Utility Skills

  Telekinesis level 11

  Cleanliness level 1

  Time level 2

  Explosives level 2

  Dimensional Pocket level 2

  Upgrade list here

  Peter splurged on the Dimensional Pocket, mostly because it was so dang cool, but also because it was an integral part of the plan they had come up with. Peter spent most nights crafting away in the machine shop to take advantage of the extra carrying capacity the pocket afforded him.

  Lola had helped him in the machine shop for the last week of preparation. She handed him the parts and assisted him as he worked. It gave them the chance to talk.

  She tucked a strand of hair behind her head and said, “Do you think this will work?”

  “It better, I have spent so much time on this,” Peter said.

  “I know, I had to come here just to get time to talk to you,” Lola said.

  Peter put down his tools and turned to her, “I am sorry about that. I know I have been distant. I want to fix this between us, but I just don’t know how.”

  Lola put a hand on his chest, “We are not broken, Peter. Affection isn’t something you can earn. It doesn’t take just the right words or just the right grand gesture. I am a person, just talk to me.”

  Peter pulled her into a hug, “Really? I had this super grand gesture planned, jewelry, fireworks and everything.”

  Lola laughed and hugged him tighter, “Well, I didn’t say you can’t do grand gestures.”

  He looked into her eyes and said, “I am sorry I let you down earlier, and I promise to earn your trust back.”

  She snuggled into his arms and said, “I trust you, Peter. I hope you can trust me too.”

  They ended up sharing a bedroom again after that.

  When the day came, Peter was more excited than nervous. Win or lose, this would be epic.

  Chapter 23

  Jonas hopped back and forth, staying in one spot while shaking his arms. Emma tried to get him to stop, but this was his pre-hunt ritual, and he refused to skip it. He said it was to get himself limber, but some suspected it was just to annoy Emma.

  Emma tried to ignore him and adjusted her vest. Similar to a breastplate, she was now wearing armor. A mix between old style armor and modern technology, the vest could block knives and soften blows. The squad had spent a lot of their precious orbs on armor for the two tanks. Yoon and Emma had gotten armored vests and helmets.

  Sergeant Yarrow gave them a look and tapped his cuff. He cleared his voice and gave a speech to the four squad leaders, “What you see before you is the entrance to the cave system of Yinglong. Each squad was given a different entrance, roughly the same distance from the final target. First team to kill the brood-queen wins. Your escort will judge your performance. Do your best, regardless of winning. Interfering with another squad, directly or indirectly is forbidden. Be courageous, but safe. You have two days, time starts now.”

  Peter started. Two days? Just how deep was this cave system? He had planned on one day. They brought food and water for two days, but that was supposed to be surplus. Instead of having a cushion, now they had a food deadline.

  Well, nothing for it but to do his best. “Form up, let's go,” he said in his best commanding voice. It still needed work.

  They headed into the sandstone cave. Yoon and Emma went first, the squad following close behind, and the sergeant bringing up the rear about a hundred feet behind. As they went deeper, the cave looked less and less natural. Soon it looked like an enormous worm had gone this way. The tunnel in the rock was littered with small rocks that made walking uncomfortable. At least they didn’t have to stoop.

  Yoon stumbled and Peter turned to the group and said, “Make sure you have darkvision activated, it isn’t automatic.”

  He had activated it moments before and the cave was lit up in his mind. Grays and whites made up the world now, like an old style black and white TV. Nightvision still preserved color, but it relied on amplifying existing light. Darkvision had the advantage of working in total darkness. It also had the advantage of illuminating the world entirely without shadows.

  Looking back, he saw that Sergent Yarrow was prepared for the darkness too, but in a different way. He wore what looked like expensive swimming goggles, advanced night vision goggles. Peter idly wondered how many orbs those had cost and if it would have been cheaper to buy them from the commissary. No matter, skills couldn’t get knocked off your face.

  The cave went deep into the earth, quickly growing colder as they walked. There was a slight breeze, air traveling up towards them and out the cave. The tunnel didn’t head in a straight line, it weaved back and forth, sometimes switching back as it led deeper into the ground. As they got deeper, they saw mushrooms pop up here and there in the corners and near pools of water. The zorn had to eat something, but what a boring diet.

  After a while, Jonas turned to the sergeant and asked, “Hey sarge, how come we are competing against each other in the first place? Aren't we supposed to learn how to work together as a platoon by now? Armies do that right? They work together, I am sure of it.”

  The sergeant made a face like he had just bitten into a lemon. “I am teaching you according to the instructions from Command. We have to trust they know what they are doing. Earth depends on the Protectorate, and I expect you to trust they know what they are doing,” he said in a stern voice.

  They didn’t talk after that.

  It was perhaps a stan before they met any resistance. The sandstone had changed to a dark basalt and the floor was worn smooth. Peter estimated they were about a half mile down the winding tunnels when he sensed something living up ahead.

  He whispered, “Contact,” and they all stopped. He was glad that he had upgraded Sense to level four, it had extended his range that he could sense things through the rock. Now he could send a pulse every four seconds and “see” ten meters in every direction, bypassing all barriers. That thirty two feet gave him just enough warning to stop before the squad walked into an ambush.

  Up ahead just past a turn in the tunnel hid some sort of creature. It was clinging to a recess in the wall waiting for them to walk by. Peter guessed that it was a Zorn. His sense skill didn’t give him enough detail to know for sure, but it was about the right size and had an exoskeleton.

  “Fifty feet around the bend, on the right side. Just one monster,” Peter told the squad, “I want to see how well fireballs work. Dima, convince it to come out and play, then everyone hit its torso with just one volley of fireballs. If he is still alive, then pound it into paste.”

  Dima used one of the skills he had learned just before they came to base Beta, Enraging Shout. It sent vibrations through the air, making enemies angry enough to leave camouflage and attack.

  Sure enough, the creature shrieked and came tearing around the corner. Once it was in sight, six fireballs streaked out to meet it, thudding into the body with a staccato sound. It fell to the ground and slid to a stop ten feet away. Twitching once, it fell still. Six orbs floated up and were absorbed by Peter.

  Peter waited a moment then said, “Advance around the corner, I want to make sure no more are coming after that shout.”

  The tanks walked forward with their shields up, and they saw an empty corridor.

  “That was too easy,” Jonas said.

  “It does not bode well for us,” Dima replied.

  “If one of them is so easy to kill, it means there are lots more of them down there. They wouldn’t send four squads for a test if this was easy,” Peter lamented.

  He sighed and said, “Lola, keep watch forward, Emma back. I want to examine this body for a bit.”

  Peter knelt down and flipped the body over. It was definitely a Zorn. Six segmented limbs ended in scoop claws just
like their intel had said. The body was much like a beetle, hard carapace covering everything. It didn’t have a separate head and neck, instead having a series of ear holes above the mouth. The mouth was disconcertedly placed in the chest's middle. Two pairs of scissors-like jaws with a flap-like structure covered the wide gash of a mouth.

  He formed a telekinetic knife and set it against the toughest part of the shell. Nothing happened. He strengthened the mental push. After a moment, it went in. That shell was harder than even the rino-ape horns. Luckily it was still vulnerable to fireballs. Perhaps the concussive force the fireballs imparted were what did it in.

  Turning his attention to the joints, he could easily take off the limbs. It was also easy to pierce around the mouth and ear holes. There were no eyes, which weirded him out more than anything else.

  “Jonas, come over here and try to stab this thing, right here,” Peter pointed to the unbroken part of the shell.

  A casual stab skittered off the shell. Frowning, Jonas tried again and was able to pierce it about five inches in.

  Peter stood up and dusted off his hands. With a wave, he called in his squad to talk and said, “Joints and mouths are pretty weak, but that is it. Looks like the shell is stronger than we thought. Blades are just not going to be very effective. Yoon, Emma and Jonas, let’s swap out.”

  Reaching into his dimensional pocket, Peter pulled out two maces and a warhammer. He put their normal weapons away the same way. He also swapped out Lola's ammo for her.

  Stepping away from the body, Lola tested her new ammo. The ball that flew out of her slingshot popped on the shell and sizzled. Within seconds, the powerful acid had eaten through the thick shell. Lola shrugged and said, “Well at least that works as advertised.”

  Through all this, Sergeant Yarrow stood watching. He grunted, impressed with their careful and methodical investigation.