With morning training with Kilu, a six-hour work shift, 2 hours in the virtual world learning how to walk in a Mecha, and at least another hour of meditation, Dayton’s remaining time was often spent either in meals, or doing research on various topics he either heard conversations about in passing some of the soldiers in the halls, or just found curiosity in. After he’d gotten his UPD connection to his Link Key – discovering that Danin had paid for a decade long subscription for his access, which cost more money than he wanted to think about – to many he’d seemed glued to the thing like a child playing a new game. The 40th day on the Military Flagship came about faster than he realised, and rather than walking to the gym, Kilu escorted him up to Yasra. Yasra was very clearly in his element in the Medical wing of the ship. He’d set up an isolated room for blocked out observation windows that only he had access to, and the monitoring equipment was clearly far better in an actual medical facility than it had been in the hotel room back on earth. “Dayton, how have you been?” asked Yasra with a smile. “Well,” Dayton replied, “Frequently exhausted”. Yasra raised an eyebrow, “I heard you’ve been doing some hard work in training, though Kilu is impressed with your progress, especially since you started meditating. He’s even fairly certain you might not get beaten to a pulp if you continue as you have been”. Dayton gave a wry smile. “So, any surprises?” asked Yasra as he indicated that they were completely sealed off from the outside and the cameras and audio monitoring were off. “There is one thing,” Dayton admitted. “Not more marks is it?” “Oh, not, those have remained pretty much the same,” Dayton admitted, “And I’m pretty used to covering them now, though I still get the occasional look of pity or curiosity”. “I’m sure,” Yasra replied, “So what is it if not the marks?” “Well, I noticed it around the time I started meditating,” Dayton explained, “The best way I can explain it is like an energy in my body that I can manipulate with enough concentration to supercharge certain parts of my body”. Yasra paused in thought, then spoke, “If I hook you up to a monitor, could you demonstrate?” “I’ve gotten pretty good at circulating it subconsciously, so yeah,” said Dayton, “It actually helps accelerate healing too if I really concentrate it, and stretching it to its limits throughout the day seems to expand my capacity”. Yasra seemed intrigued by this, and Dayton quickly changed to the tight underwear again, taking off all of his bandages before Yasra placed the monitor patches on him. “Okay, you say you can direct the energy to places?” asked Yasra. Dayton nodded, “Direct it to your left leg”. Dayton breathed evenly as he did so, the energy moving to respond to his will before Yasra spoke again, “To your ears”. Dayton responded to several more instructions before Yasra told him that it was enough, “It’s fascinating”. Dayton raised an eyebrow for an explanation. “It’s Ki, Dayton,” said Yasra, “Your body is producing Ki. I’ve heard stories about Atlanteans that could manifest Ki like weapons, or imbue it into water to control the element, but the way you’re using it seems like a very early version of it. I wouldn’t be surprised if you could practice using it to reinforce your skin, even do the opposite and expand molecular bonds so that weapons or fists would pass right through you. The applications…I would think they would only be limited by your imagination and capacity”. Dayton’s eyes widened, “Seriously?” Yasra nodded, “It wouldn’t surprise me. I’d be very careful about draining your supply of the energy entirely though, it could have adverse health effects, especially as your body grows more reliant on it, and it’s not like we have any spare to inject you with a transfusion if that were to occur”. Dayton hesitated before he spoke about that, “Would it be worth prepping some?” “The injections?” asked Yasra. Dayton nodded, “If you can extract it in small amounts, could you store it safely and secretly for a backup supply?” Yasra thought a long moment before he sighed, “I’ll talk to the General about it. The idea certainly has merit. But Ki is so incredibly rare that a single drop is worth several billion star dollars on the normal market, let alone the black market where you’re more likely to find it. Most of the tiny amounts that are left are a part of private collections. If there is even the slightest risk of the supply I take from you being found…” “I understand,” said Dayton. Yasra nodded, then sighed, “I’ll see what I can do, in the mean time, are you prepared for your second injection?” “Are you prepared if I get more…freckles?” asked Dayton. Yasra chuckled, “I doubt you will, but I’m prepared in the eventuality it does happen, lie back, we’ll get started”. “If the F-grade enhancer gave me marks last time, I can’t imagine what an S-grade would have done, would I glow blue?” Dayton chuckled. Yasra paused, looking down at the injections in his hand, “These are S-grade enhancers”. Dayton froze, “What?” “General’s orders,” said Yasra, “Keep quiet about it though. Technically we’re not supposed to give them to you”. And it was on that note that Dayton spent another two days in the medical bay fighting through the effects of the Genetic Enhancers. Day 43 of the voyage, and Dayton was spending his first time in the gym after his second round of genetic enhancer injections. Kilu made him use the equipment first to test any improvements to stamina and strength before they sparred. There were improvements alright. Not only had the Ki reserves that Dayton had doubled, but both his reactions and his mental processing had sped up significantly. He was far better able to channel Ki to the required limbs, and better able to control the amount used. He was also beginning to better predict Kilu’s attacks. Kilu fully admitted that the second dose had made some serious improvements to his abilities. That afternoon, Dayton also noticed that his ability to control the Mecha had improved as well. Thanks to his mental processes and reactions speeding up, he was better able to make the right decisions about what to move and when. He still hadn’t stepped foot in the Mecha Competitions, instead spending time running through self-made drills in the arena to improve his minute usage of the machine. However, as he meditated on his new abilities that night, Dayton decided that his abilities had improved enough that he could take the risk to get some actual combat experience in the arena. After all, drills were only going to help him so much. He also asked Kilu if there were any others that he could spar with. Kilu welcomed the request, and told him that he’d talk with a few of his Platoon to see if some of them would join them the next day. That afternoon, Dayton pleasantly found that he could have the Tutorial Skin for just 10 Star Dollars, rather than back 100 Star Dollars for the next basic combat Mecha available. The rules of a Mecha Battle were fairly simple. One had to either incapacitate their opponent, or pin them for 10 seconds. You were not allowed to aim for the cockpit with weapons, but you could with the Mecha alone. There was no killing, virtual reality or not. Either of the Competitors were allowed to surrender at any time and Combat would have to halt immediately. Any hits connecting after a competitor had declared their surrender were considered a forfeit on the part of the attack, and the opposing competitor would win by default. There were several Mecha Grades, and the system allocated you into a Competition Grade based on your previous battle capabilities. Usually, it upgraded you once you won 50 consecutive battles. The Mecha Competition was highly popular, and highly rewarding if you were good. Not so much if you weren’t. With this in mind, Dayton signed up for his first battle, automatically being assigned in the lowest Grade of Competition, which was the most populous considering those who didn’t use mecha in combat for a living also participated in these competitions. Within two minutes, he was transported to his first battle. He could tell immediately upon looking at his opponent that not only were they better equipped, but also quite skilled. The Mecha moved so fluidly and naturally that it appeared like an actual person opposite him rather than a Machine. As a ten second count down began, Dayton subconsciously began his energy circulation, preparing for the battle to begin. Teilani sighed as she looked across the combat field to her opponent. So stiff, clearly a newbie. This’d be easy money for her. She could have advanced to a much higher grade by now with ease, but what would be the point? Even if she was a Kross, her father and grandfather would never let her near a Mecha if they could help it. Her last application for Military Academy had been denied that morning, and she knew without a doubt who it had been. Why? After how hard she’d worked? They knew how much she’d wanted this. How determined she was to succeed. Her mother and aunts were silent on the matter. Her brother and uncles of the same opinion as the Patriarch and his eldest son. Teilani may have been a Kross, one of the most esteemed military families in the empire, but she’d never have a chance to prove her position, nor earn any Military Merits. As Teilani got ready, watching her opponent as the countdown hit four. Almost between one breath and the next, the stiffness in her opponent seemed to relax. A feint? Teilani’s eyes narrowed as the timer hit zero and she dashed forward, drawing her blade. It seemed as if her opponent froze, fear or surprise she didn’t know, but she grinned as her blade slashed across the waist to saw off his legs. Then, just as suddenly as the machine froze, it moved. It danced back and around, drawing its own blade as it moved to slash her. She reacted, eyes wide, bring her sword up to block. The clang of metal resounded, and she barely had time to breath as a punch flew in her direction with such clear intent that it took her a few seconds to remember that this shitty model couldn’t put a scratch on her machine. Throwing her opponent back, she raised her sword and stepped back in, trading blows with the opponent. It was a strange fight. There were moments when she was sure she was going to win because the machine paused or faltered, but then she’d be a hairsbreath away from losing herself. After five minutes of this in high intensity battle, she made a mistake, and the shitty model tutorial Mecha sliced her sword arm off, then, before she could draw her back up blade, it stabbed the sword into the other shoulder and pushed, stepping forward and kicking her legs up to drive her into the ground. As soon as the alert was risen that she’d lost, she looked at her opponent’s details. This was his first battle. He’d logged 36 tutorial hours prior to this. Was he using a backup account? Or did he have real world experience? He was far too good for a newbie. “Night,” she said the ID name aloud, then she immediately decided to see if it was a fluke or not as her opponent was taken to another fight. Through the next hour and a half, he battled 18 other opponents of varying skill level, and with each fight there was noticeable improvement. He really had been a newbie. It was like the height of combat made him find his stride. At the end of the 18thfight, she sent a friend request to him. He refused it at first. But Teilani was a real bitch when she was determined to get something. By the time he logged off at the end of his 22nd fight, he accepted her request. She messaged him to meet her when he logged back on, then logged off herself. She’d never seen anybody make such noticeable rapid improvements. They’d been minute at first, but watching every single battle had made it clear that he was an exceptionally fast learner. More than anything, Teilani wished to fight him again to see if she’d be caught off guard as easily. She’d watched every single one of his fights. Nobody else had been so consistent with the streaming fee. He’d earned a few followers by the end of the two hours, at least earning his 10 star dollars back, but Dayton didn’t care at all about that. He could use his Ki in the Virtual World. The realisation that he could not only enhance parts of his physical body, but also his ability to adapt had been a great boon, and he’d felt the change as he’d started blending with the Mecha. As they’d begun fighting as one entity and not man and machine. It was an addictive feeling, and Dayton couldn’t help but wonder if time in a real Mecha would create a similar outcome. That evening, he had a visit from Yasra and the General. The General had decided to approve of the idea to extract bits of his Ki every day. Exhausted from the virtual battles, Dayton explained that he couldn’t do it that day. When they asked why, he was forced to explain. Yasra and the General were both thrilled for him, but left a warning not to draw too much attention to himself too soon, and to cut back his time in the Mecha Competitions to an hour a day to instead focus on his meditation. “If you draw too much attention to yourself before you reach the Academy, you’ll be challenged, and you’ll lose,” said the General, “The Military Academy had its own military system that is instituted and enforced by the students. They form their own armies and compete against each other. As a loner without backing from a low-ranking planet you’re not at all desirable, but if they know of your virtual mecha record, they’ll seek to test you, and drawing attention too soon could mean having eyes where we don’t want them”. Dayton nodded in understanding, “How about I report to the med lab first thing tomorrow? If I spend the day at a lower capacity if could help me to better my fine control of it anyway”. “So long as you don’t make our efforts to secure a back-up supply of Ki for you worthless,” said the General. Dayton nodded in agreement. The following morning began with Dayton reporting to the medical area where Yasra took him aside and quietly tried three times to extract Ki before Dayton managed to help him with it. The glowing blue liquid was barely five millilitres in the syringe, yet Dayton knew he’d pushed about a third of what he’d woken up with. “It’s incredibly potent,” said Yasra as he stored it, “Probably in its purest form. The dropping it into water on Atlantia must have been either a way to dilute it or a myth”. The knowledge only made Dayton and Yasra both more wary about keeping it hidden away. Dayton then met Kilu and a few others of his Platoon in the gym, Dayton sparred with about four others, and though he lost, was grateful for the experience of another sparring partner. They also admitted that he had a brilliant foundation, and was clearly learning how to adapt more quickly to his situation. That afternoon, Dayton logged into the virtual world and found a message waiting for him from the girl he’d fought the previous day who had insisted on becoming online friends with him. It was fairly straight forward. A time and location. Dayton decided to undergo a few Mecha battles first, bringing his winning streak to 30. He then went to the place the girl had indicated, a square in the virtual city. She was waiting for him there. Her character skin was tall and lithe with stormy grey eyes and long blonde hair pulled back into a braid. She grinned at him as he approached, “Night?” He nodded. “I’m Lady Cross. What you showed in the Mecha Competition was really something, you’ve got an incredible ability to adapt and learn in combat,” she said. Dayton shrugged, “I’m just getting used to it, I guess”. She raised an eyebrow, “Are you Military?” Dayton crossed his arms, “Are you?” She smiled, “You’re right, stupid to discuss this out in the open, come on, I’ve got us a private chat room”. She sent him a link which he hesitatingly clicked and the next thing he knew he was in an open room with a view, a tea table in the centre, “So, Military?” She was pouring tea. It seemed useless here seeing as it was a virtual world, but Dayton ignored it and focused on her question. He debated how much he should say, and concluded on just nodding. It wasn’t like there was a shortage of those in the military that played the competitions. “Thought so,” she said, “You’ve got to be a Cadet though. Part of the training is virtual combat, and you only registered a month or so ago. The system forbids secondary accounts”. “So, are you military?” he asked. She paused, “I wanted to be. But circumstances have arisen that make it highly unlikely”. Dayton raised an eyebrow, “A pity, you’re very good too, I almost lost to you at least six times”. She smiled at that, “Beginner’s luck then?” “Something like that”. “You know, if you had a better Mecha skin, you’d be able to move a lot more easily,” she said. “I don’t have that kind of money to spare”. “It’s just a few hundred star dollars”. She paused upon seeing his expression, “Sorry, that was rude, wasn’t it?” “Rich little missy, huh?” She frowned at him, clearly insulted but unable to deny it. “Look, I don’t know why you contacted me, but my time is almost up, so do you have something to say, or…?” “Spar with me,” she said, “On a Mecha field”. “Oh?” Dayton nodded, “I can spare a little time tomorrow I guess”. “Great, meet me here,” she said, sending him another link, “Same time as today”. He nodded, “And I’m sorry about your circumstances. I can tell you’re truthful about wanting to join the military. Where I come from we have a saying, ‘where there’s a will, there’s a way’. I hope this can apply to you”. Then Dayton logged out.