During their training, Seohwa and Jiho were learning and mastering different weapons with Rhino. They experimented with various weapons to see which weapon suited their battle style. And in the afternoon, they would be sparring for 3 hours with Hawk until 15:30 to do stamina exercises.

  Jiho was able to choose his weapon easily, a pole or spear for longer range. He also learnt to increase his efficiency as he mostly focused on speed and attacking.

  The problem was Seohwa. Rhino glanced at Seohwa who was pondering while holding a sword. Hawk noticed Rhino focusing on Seohwa as he assured, “She’ll be fine.”

  “…Is she?”

  “Yep, in terms of her power training, she is doing exceptional. And recently, began to focus on mastering only one attribute in battle… and for the matter with her weapon, well, she knows what she wants more than we do.” Hawk smirked.

  “…” Rhino remained unconvinced.

  “She is a determined lady. I saw her doing stamina exercises in the middle of the night… Yuck.” Hawk shuddered at her hard working nature, “She’ll be fine. She isn’t one to give up.”

  Rhino sighed, finally relenting, “Alright.”

  Day 261, 11:18 - October 24, 2030

  The doors to the cadet training hall opened. The tanned, neatly gelled black hair with grey roots General Ox walked alongside a fair skinned girl with short, white hair and pale blue eyes.

  Hawk and Rhino saluted at the sight of Ox as he greeted them back. Ox gestured towards the girl, “This is 7-11 who has awakened as of yesterday. I place her in your care. That’s all.” Ox nodded at the girl before turning around and left.

  Hawk felt his blood pressuring lowering as he examined the thin girl, “I’m Hawk, this buffalo is Rhino. We’ll be your mentors. I’m assuming you’ve been briefed by Ox?”

  “…” 7-11 nodded. She glanced around the cadet training hall before her gaze landed on the two cadets.

  Seohwa and Jiho both instinctively felt it, the chill coming off her. Seohwa didn’t say anything, staying cautious since she was someone she had never met before and she couldn’t get a good read on her.

  Jiho, however, walked up and reached his hand out, “Nice to meet you, I’m 8-10. The girl over there is 8-33. Let’s be friends.”

  7-11 squinted at his cheerful behaviour and muttered under her breath, “Who’s this buffoon?”

  !!!!

  Everyone froze. After all, everyone had heightened senses to hear her clearly enough.

  Rhino was about to step forward when Hawk, who was holding his laughter, stopped him.

  “Say that again?” Jiho lowered his voice as his mouth twitched. Seohwa sighed seeing him fall for the provocation. If there was one thing she would call a flaw of his, it would be that he was easily provoked.

  “See? You proved my point.” 7-11 crossed her arms, “Should I place you in your place as your senior?”

  “Senior? You? The one who just came?” Jiho crossed his arms, frowning.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “I’m a year older, of course I’m the senior.”

  The two of them began to glare at each other as Hawk clapped to gain their attention, “Now, now, it is true that 7-11 is a year older, but in terms of arrival, it would be 8-10. So how about this? You spar for the title of senior?”

  Rhino eyed Hawk before rolling his eyes, “You’re having fun.”

  “Shush shush.” Hawk placed a finger on Rhino’s mouth before facing them again, “So how about it? I think it’s only fair.”

  7-11 and Jiho looked at each other before shaking their hands, “We accept!”

  “Wonderful! I’ll referee!” Hawk gleefully skipped as he led them to the arena.

  Seohwa followed them as she asked Rhino worriedly, “Is this ok?”

  Rhino replied, crossing his arms, “Hawk may have planned this for his own entertainment, but sometimes, there is some motive behind it. Either way, we’re using this spar to see 7-11’s capabilities.”

  “…I see.” Seohwa glanced back at Hawk who was giggling sillily like a child and asked incredulously, “…Really?”

  “I did say ‘sometimes’.”

  In the arena, Jiho held a metal pole and went into battle stance. 7-11 stood still with her hands relaxed on her hips as she observed him.

  Jiho frowned, “Why don’t you get a weapon?”

  “Don’t need it to handle a buffoon like you.” 7-11 provoked as she gestured her hand at him to come at her.

  When the whistle was blown, Jiho used his lightning speed to dash forward, but then, 7-11 simultaneously made an ice floor, making him lose his balance and slip forward before she punched him in the face without much effort.

  “OOOH! That’s going to hurt for 8-10!” Hawk flew in the air commentating excitedly. “BUT! It wasn’t enough to knock him down!”

  Jiho steadied himself on the ice floor that spanned throughout the arena.

  “She’s smart.” Seohwa commented, “After provoking Jiho, she knew he would dash forward to prove her wrong and immediately made an ice floor. She lowered his speed in an instant.”

  Rhino chuckled at her observation and patted her head, “That’s right.”

  “But, if she thinks she could stop Jiho with just that, then she’s mistaken…” Seohwa glanced at Jiho, “…He can do so much more than just speed up.”

  Soon after she said that, Jiho stabbed the metal floor on the ground and discharged lightning on it, shattering a large section of the ice floor.

  7-11 frowned, not expecting that. She hated to admit that he was intuitive enough to shatter her ice floor. As she thought this, Jiho flashed on her side, her reaction was late as she got hit by his metal pole.

  “AAH!”

  Her side was sparking with lightning as she used her ice to freeze the pain.

  “Now, you’ve done it.” 7-11’s eyes began to shine its pale blue as multiple ice spikes were made in the air before she shot them at Jiho.

  Jiho either dodged or shattered them but was stuck in place defending.

  7-11 then smirked, “What’s wrong? Can’t keep up?” She continued her barrage, “What’s the point of impulsively attacking without a plan?!”

  Right… like Dr 7…

  “When you have precision and control, meaningless attacks can’t make it through!”

  If he hadn’t impulsively raised the amplification, everyone would’ve still…

  “It’s more efficient that way! Is it not?!” 7-11 continued to yell as she continuously formed spike after spike without rest, feeling her energy going down fast. Even if the spike’s attack power wasn’t much, as long as it hits, she’s dealing damage.

  But for some reason, when she saw him stubbornly not giving up, she couldn’t understand why he was doing reckless one-shot attacks that could be dodged or blocked.

  However, as she thought that, Jiho swung his metal pole and used every bit of his lightning to shatter all her spikes.

  …Silence.

  They were both panting, exhausted from having used all of their energy.

  Clap. Clap. Clap.

  “That’s a draw! You’re done!” Hawk chuckled.

  “Not yet!” Jiho yelled, “I’m still standing!”

  “Same here!” 7-11 panted as she used her remaining power to make a dagger.

  “…”

  Rhino flinched, “… he’s mad.”

  Seohwa glanced at Hawk, feeling the temperature drop.

  Hawk laughed as he flipped his bronze hair back before he glared at them with a frown, “I said, you’re done. You’re both exhausted. Must I repeat myself?”

  Jiho and 7-11 shuddered, feeling his killing intent.

  “That’s enough, Hawk.” Rhino sighed.

  “…”

  Hawk retracted his death glare and went back to his silly smirk, “Now then, regardless of the outcome, I hope you’ve learnt something from this spar. It’s…” He looked at his watch, “…11:50. Almost lunch. Get patched up and head to the cafeteria.”

  Hawk flew down and walked past Rhino, “Thanks.”

  “Anytime.”

  Seohwa watched Hawk leave. For the first time since becoming a cadet, that familiar back of a silly mentor seemed the most lonely.

  “Don’t mind him. He’ll be fine.” Rhino held her shoulder, “Let’s help those two.”

  Seohwa nodded as they went up to the arena to support Jiho and 7-11. Jiho’s legs were shaking as she supported him. But, 7-11 shrugged off Rhino’s help, “I can walk myself.”