Hazard Lands Revenge

Chapter 10 – Aptitude Test

Author’s Notes – Sorry I’ve been inactive again, but Finals and having no electricity is taking a toll on me. In a few more days my classes will be done, and hopefully the electricity would get fixed so I could write more often. Thanks for persevering anyways.

Any similarities between this novel with the real world, other fiction and events are purely coincidental.

Enjoy!

--* Mildr City, World Nations’ Central Army Base *--

As the four soldiers walked together, they fervently discussed Garret in shock. Nik and Jasmine have heard of Garret before in their classes and through other means of information. Garret T. Loper, one of the few Mil Americans who have been able to survive the Genetic Mutations they had undergone when human experimentation was allowed with the subject’s consent. Scientists had first viewed it as unethical and even taboo, but as manpower became much more needed during the Third World War, science lost its perimeter and expanded.

The results were the Mil generation races. The subjects who successfully survived had become true monsters amongst ordinary men. Their enhancements gifted them increased muscle mass and power, regeneration at an almost impossible speed, and even imprinted knowledge concerning combat and strategy. At the cost of thousands of lives, ten men and women were left. Their futures gave birth to many advancements, and in these ten individuals, Garret was included.

He was responsible for many of the inventions available to the military and civilian alike, such as Displacement Platforms, or better known as Teleportation Pads, vanishing matter and other astonishing creations. Right now, the one responsible for these groundbreaking inventions stood in front of the two gaping recruits while Hudsonn had an excited look in his face.

After recovering from the teleportation, Garret explained his status as a Head Scientist and his feeling of being a Mil generation subject. Nik was thoroughly surprised about finding out that one of his superiors is one of the rumored ten superhuman who have shaped the world. Jasmine looked at the man’s title as Head Scientist more, as she discussed concepts of quantum physics and other difficult scientific subjects.

“Hey, Sir Garret, is there a way to… make me into a Mil generation?” Hudsonn’s voice suddenly interrupted their discussion; his face had an expectant look.

“Garret’s just fine. Turn you into a Mil generation huh… Well, with all of the research my department and all the data we obtained from the prior experiments, turning a person into a Mil generation is indeed possible. However… the chance of succeeding is only 60%. If the turning fails… You’ll be crippled forever,” Garret spoke, his eyes looked solemn.

“Oh. Forget it then. I’ll just continue to work hard by myself, maybe even surpass your enhancements,” though Hudsonn wanted to get stronger, he wasn’t willing to risk his entire future on a mere 60%. He was disappointed, but there were still other means of getting stronger in his head.

“Well, anyways, we’re at your dorms. Choose one from here and set your things down. After that, we’ll tour the city then get your aptitudes checked later,” Garret declared.

The group had just entered a lobby of sorts from the teleportation hub. Multitudes of soldiers, men and women alike, were walking around doing their own businesses, be it choosing a room or gathering their scavenged supplies. Nik, Jasmine and Hudsonn promptly choose separate rooms from one of the fifty rooms inside of the giant lobby.

Every room was bare with only a bed, a closet, a table and a chair. It wasn’t a five star hotel, but it was enough for battle hardened soldiers. Setting their baggage down into their rooms, the three new recruits went back to Garret who was waiting outside.

“You guys ready?” Garret glanced at them, pausing at the rifle on Nik’s back, “are you really going to keep that on you?”

Nik gave a simple nod.

“Hah… alright, just don’t shoot anyone with it,” he conceded.

Not before long, the group had made its way towards the building exit. They had already walked through multiple rooms spanning large areas, yet they were all contained inside a single building. Through their own room lobby, through the cafeteria, through the armory and through even more room lobbies, the group had finally found the exit after almost an hour of adventure.

“Why is this place so big!?” Hudsonn was exasperated. He was excited prior about seeing the city stronghold, but it had taken them almost an hour to even go through one of the thousands of buildings inside of it.

“Hudsonn, did you ever pay attention in class?” Jasmine suddenly questioned, looking at the boy incredulously

“Uhhh…” he couldn’t respond.

“Of course… Since you didn’t listen, of course you wouldn’t know about this place. This is Mildr City, the World Nations’ famous stronghold the rests right on the west coast of Central America, which used to be called United States prior the war. It’s effectively the World Nations’ biggest city to have been created. It spans over thousands upon thousands of kilometers, capable of housing and sustaining a population of over a billion people. Each building was designed after Air Force hangars, but instead of storage for planes, they contain large amounts of living spaces and utilities. There are over ten thousand of these gigantic buildings, containing thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people.” Jasmine explained, her eyes twinkled with excitement as she expanded upon the amazing city.

“A city with a billion people…” Hudsonn’s mouth was agape. The three of them had come from Fenlei City, which only contained over a million or so people, and compared to the monster-like size of Mildr City, was like an ant.

“I did say I was going to tour you guys around the city, but I also didn’t think it would take over an hour just to explore a single building. Take these maps and study them in your free time, because if I did guide you guys, the Aptitude Testing Center would probably be closed by then,” Garret interrupted.

“Alright…” Nik was the only one who noticed him, as the other two were still lost in their own daydreams.

….

In front of the group was a fairly large building, similar to the one they had emerged from prior. Various soldiers of all ages constantly walked in and out of the doors leading inside with many types of emotions on their faces. Disappointment, anger, nervousness, elation. It was obvious that this building would determine a soldier’s future in the military.

Standing to the side of the massive doorway were two robed men, clad in a deep purple. As the group of four approached, one of the two questioned, “Which ones?”

“These three, Nik Morris, Jasmine Griswall and Hudsonn Moulic from the Fenlei City Brigade,” Garret listed.

“Alright, lead them in, they’ll take the test in the left wing, third room from the right,” the other robed man instructed, his aged voice seemed frail, yet contained a sort of mystical feeling.

As the group of soldiers entered, the mystical feeling they felt from the man seemed to linger in the air as well, at a much more powerful extent. Their pores opened, greedily absorbing the invisible matter in the air gradually strengthening their bodies a tiny bit. The longer they gaped at the feeling, the stronger it grew. It was as if whatever was in the air was infecting their bodies and letting it adapt to whatever the matter is.

“So this is what the Origin Mystics have felt before in the Descent…” Jasmine blurted out.

Before anyone else could talk, the robed man from before interrupted, “Please do not block the doorway, we still have new recruits to test.”

Flashes of red came from the group of four as they hurriedly broke from their daze and walking towards the left wing of the building. As they did so, they did not forget to admire the antiques located inside of the lobby of the building. In the middle of the gigantic room was a statue depicting a man, donning the same robe everyone else did inside of the building, surrounded by the four elements: fire, water, earth and air. Above the man’s head was a black saucer, and at his feet was a carving of a massive clock.

Resisting their almost unending curiosity, the four individuals grudgingly walked towards the left wing, ignoring everything else, as to not get distracted.

Walking towards the left side of the massive lobby, they were met with a hallway, which seemed to extend infinitely. Every few seconds, a recruit or two would step out of one of the numerous doors with many different emotions, similar to the ones outside. It seemed as if only a fifth of the recruits who would exit the hallway had content expressions, which the rest left with slumped shoulders and disappointment in their faces.

Seeing the massive disparity between those who were content and those who were disappointed, the three new recruits gulped nervously. Resolving themselves, they walked towards the hallway entrance and quickly found the room they were assigned.

With another gulp, Nik, Jasmine and Hudsonn stared at the door in front of them, ignoring the stares of other recruits.

“Gah! Hurry already, we don’t have all day,” Garret suddenly yelled as he opened the ornate door and hurriedly pushed the three surprised recruits inside then followed shortly.

Entering the room, the four of them gasped as they suddenly felt the mystical feeling in the air thicken into an almost suffocating extent. Their pores which had been hungrily absorbing it outside were suddenly flooded, and threatened to explode, fortunately, they continued to endure and slowly absorbed the astonishing amount of whatever was in the air.

“Hahaha, it seems as if we have some interesting ones today, capable of enduring this dense amount of mana in the air. Those who are weak-willed, no matter if they are talented or not, won’t be able to easily endure it,” an ancient voice suddenly laughed.

Ignoring the oppressive feeling on their body, the group looked towards the center of the room where a robed man sat in front of a table, which held a foggy crystal on top of it.

“Isn’t that…” Garret felt apprehensive as he stared at the crystal.

“Indeed. This crystal, alongside of telling how much aptitude you have in Mysticism, but also the branch a person has the highest aptitude for in the military,” the elder explained, “Shall we begin our test youngsters? This will define your future as both a soldier and as a mystic. Which one will be more shocking I wonder?”

Garret’s vice had neglected to mention that the Mystic Aptitude Test would include the Generalization Testing, also reserved for Private First Class Soldiers. As for his reason, even Garret could not guess.

Sweat began to drip down the three teenagers inside of the room. They had come from being simple students, into soldiers designed to combat monsters. Now, they must take a test to determine their futures and their statuses. It was surprising that they could still remain reasonable or even sane after trauma they had experienced. But only those who can easily adapt can survive in this kind of world. They could not back out now.

A mysterious boy with an unclear past. A girl who had just lost her perfect life. A boy trying his best to protect those he cherishes.

Their futures will now be set here.

Military Branch Part One

The military is not only split into the main branches, such as the Army, Air Force, Marine, Navy and other such categories, but are also split off into even deeper and more diverse branches depending on the main category the recruit is in. As for the Army, there are nine different branches that recruits are able to join:

Tiger Branch – Dedicated to those who lead the army as the vanguard, slashing aside foes like tofu with their broadswords. They face the most danger compared to all the other branches, but are the most essential battlers in head on fights.

Night Branch – Snipers are the most lethal troops available, capable of killing targets from hundreds of feet to even a mile away. The Night Branch is entirely composed of these elite soldiers, assigned to assassinate important targets or simply to kill/spot dangerous mutated.

Shadow Branch – If the Night Branch is dedicated to those who kill from miles away, the Shadow Branch are those designed to kill from a few feet away. Equipped with a sword, dagger or other types of small to medium sized melee weapons, Shadow Branch soldiers are to kill important targets through subterfuge.

Guardian Branch – Similar to those in the Tiger Branch, the Guardian Branch are those who lead the army as vanguards, but instead of focusing on massacring foes, they focus on absolute defend. Using tower shields made from the hardest materials on Earth and impenetrable armor, Guardians are like walking walls, capable of handling any type of damage.