Chương 26: Thanks Guys

It had been nearly 48 hours since the escort arrived at Verdin Outpost. Ray and his friends spent little time at the Outpost, having already arrived back at the GLMB and awaiting confirmation. In another 24 hours or so, the mission would be confirmed, giving the team a much-needed rest. Ray and Frangle were currently in the common area, partaking in their share of synthetic food paste and coffee.

"You know," Frangle began.

"That Adrian guy is pretty cool. He totally knows how to be a wall. I wish I could do that." Ray gave the large teen a concerned look and placed his hand on Frangle's shoulder before speaking.

"Your job isn't to be a wall, man," Ray said.

"Your job is to be the center of attention. A wall just stops things from going through it; the center of attention makes you stop and watch." Ray wasn't sure where the advice came from. It just felt like the right thing to say. Frangle was visibly affected, nostrils flaring as he gave a determined grunt.

"Yeah," he said.

"If all eyes are on me, you can come in and do Ray things." Ray couldn't help but chuckle at that response. The pair talked more until the subject of their ages came up.

"I just turned 19," Frangle said.

"My birthday was a month before the program started, so I barely made the cut." Ray now knew that the limit for the program was 19 years old. The Empire gave a window of a few months on either side to keep the pool fairly large. Even still, out of billions of people in the Empire, only just over 100 teens were selected for the program. Another thing Frangle said elicited a realization out of Ray. He didn't even notice, but his own birthday had passed.

Growing up poor and not knowing exactly, Ray had always celebrated his birthday in the middle of the month of August. Ray looked at the calendar on a screen on the wall of the common area. August 29th, 31, 999. The date clashed in his mind with the memories of his other life. It felt both alien and familiar. The identity crisis had taken a backseat once again, but the idea of his birthday and the calendar year encroached on rough territory. So much so that he had even begun to drown out Frangle's voice.

Luckily, Ray caught himself just in time to hear Frangle's last few words.

"So, when is your birthday?" Ray's mind tensed up, but he answered almost immediately.

"I don't know exactly," he said.

"Sometime mid-August, though." Frangle's face broke out in shock as he stood up and nearly shouted.

"It's the end of August!" Ray went to answer, but Frangle had already contacted the team via the System and was talking to the air. Ray sank into his chair as a premonition of what the following day would consist of flashed in his mind.

'Shit.' - The team was currently in their favorite private room. A spread of snacks and drinks was spread out on the table, and each member was the most casual they had been since the program started. Frangle and Kiara were currently playing a game of cards, while Jerome and Phora had convinced Ray to explain more about Coalescence.

"Well," he began.

"It's still awkward to use, mostly because I can really only mix Dark and Lightning Mana so far. Every other combination has been way too hard to do."

"Granted, I only have 4 to work with. Maybe this next Essence can offer me some new combos."

"The real secret to why I think it works is Mana Circuit. That's the first Tech I created and it essentially removes the lag when I draw on each Essence, allowing me to switch elements almost instantly." By this point, Frangle and Kiara had quit their game to listen to their Captain's explanation. Every member of the team was completely focused. Ray continued.

"Honestly, I think it's starting to have diminishing returns. Aqua Armor is already way harder to fit into my fighting style and I'm worried with 3 more completely different Abilities, I may start to get overwhelmed." He paused for a moment, his green eyes pulsing.

"I have to figure it out," he continued.

"You guys are all counting on me, not to mention the rest of the world." The room fell quiet and no one spoke for a few seconds. Frangle was the first to break the silence.

"Well, I think you can do it," he said.

"If anyone can, it's you." The large teen smiled brightly and this caused the tension in the room to melt away. Jerome was the next to speak.

"Even I have to admit, you are at least on the right track." He paused, smiling at himself before continuing.

"Maybe I should have tossed aside my lineage and gone the route of the generalist." The group all shared a laugh. Ray felt warm after the other two young men's praise. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

"Thanks, guys," he said. Phora sighed loudly and looked away from Ray before speaking.

"You certainly make for a good finisher. The rest of us and the Iron Five managed to give you plenty of space to power up; I would have been disappointed if you failed. After all, you are the Captain of the best Recruit team." Ray smiled at her warmly, giving the thunder family royalty a small nod. This was when he felt Kiara grab his arm and pull him to his feet. It was apparently her turn.

"Oh, Captain, my Captain," she cooed.

"Thou art such a handsome and powerful warrior." Her green eyes had a playfulness to them and she seemed to relax before spinning and returning to her seat. Once she leaned comfortably next to Phora, she continued.

"You are pretty cool, though."

"I'm happy to be a part of the team." A feeling welled up in Ray's chest that had been absent for a long time.

'These guys are really my friends,' he thought. Not because he had killed a Beast, unlocked another Ability, or done something that impressed the people running the program. They were here because Frangle found out he had missed his birthday, and the others decided that mattered. Ray couldn't remember the last time something so small had felt like it meant this much. He looked down and rubbed his eyes, trying to hide his emotions and looked back at his team with a slight wetness in his eyes and spoke.

"Thanks, guys." - The reward for placing top ten in the Recruit leaderboards was provided to Ray the next time he entered the virtual space. This was the day after the birthday celebration, and the team had all planned on meeting inside to train. A System message appeared in Ray's vision. [User: Recruit 01 (Stage: 1) has placed 9th on the Recruit leaderboards] [Reward: Access to the Soldier sector]'Soldier sector?' he thought.

Just as the message appeared, Ray disappeared from the Recruit corridor and found himself in a wide-open street. Unlike the Recruit room and arena, Ray was now in a simulated world. There was a sky, clouds, sun, and even grass along the sides of the road. Ray looked around and saw numerous buildings and large structures. Another System message appeared. [User: Raymond Foley has entered the Soldier sector. Anonymity is no longer available; setting has been turned off] Ray pulled up the map, and the System alerted him to multiple different resources available to him in the Soldier sector. The one that caught his eye was most likely the single most useful thing there. The Exchange. The Exchange operated similarly to the GLMB itself. At the GLMB, one would simply need to go to the west side of the base, enter one of the many designated complexes and ultimately spend contribution points.

The process was the same for the Exchange, minus the physical aspect and adding in an ever-shifting market fed by the Empire's elite. Ray made his way directly to the building marked as the Exchange on his map. It was a simple square building and resembled a local government office building. The building was made of dark gray stone and was only 2 stories high. Ray entered and was met with a plain waiting room. It had a window in the opposite wall with a shelf underneath a small rectangular transfer hole.

A door was a few feet from the window and was marked with a "personnel only" sign. A second door was to his left and simply marked "stairs." He made his way to the window and let out a slight chuckle when he saw a bell sitting on the shelf. Memories flashed as he rang it but were gone as quickly as the sound of the bell faded. A young woman arrived and smiled warmly before handing him a tablet through the opening in the window. Ray nodded and thanked the woman before he took the tablet and sat down.

Using it was similar to the System. He willed the tablet to input his credentials and was met with a homepage listing different items that were marked as "hot." Things like Essence, weapons, battlegear, and even security details. Ray went to the Essence category. It was time to pick the next one, seeing as how he had enough Beast Cores for advancement and then some. After filtering to only show Rare quality Essence, Ray decided on the element and confirmed the purchase.

A System message appeared showing him his new balance. [Contribution points: 2200] The reward from the escort mission had been 1000 points. This made Ray feel quite wealthy. The next several minutes ruined that feeling as he looked over different weapons and battlegear. Ultimately, he decided to purchase his first Accessory. Accessories were items one would wear that had much more complex Runes than battlegear. This meant the effects were also much broader and more potentially powerful.

Ray noticed it was getting increasingly difficult to keep enough Mana in his Soul Core, so he purchased a pendant that had a Mana Rune inscribed. Unlike the one in his battlegear, this didn't give a quick burst; it would increase his regeneration substantially. The price showed how powerful the Rune was. [Contribution points: 1000] Ray was further validated by the System after he examined the pendant.

[Mana Rune has increased User's Mana regeneration by 33%] That may not seem like much at first, but this meant every second he was pulling a third more Mana into his core. Ray left the Exchange. The personnel informed him that he would be sent the pendant and should find it in his room within 48 hours. He decided that one more place was worthy of his attention. When in Rome. - Ray found himself seated in a gigantic coliseum.

The roar of the crowd was deafening and he was barely registering it as his eyes darted back and forth, his entire focus on what took place in the middle of the arena. Two men no less than 2 and a half meters tall were moving at speeds he could barely keep up with. The only true indication of their identities was the flashes of two types of Elemental Mana every time the two hulking figures clashed. The battle was between two Stage 5 Soldiers. These men were two of the contenders for the next Commanders.

The list was long but filled with men and women that had reached a point where they were essentially the apex Warriors. Warriors was a term used by the other kingdoms to define System users and most of the time, it was Soldiers they were referring to. Ray was watching a battle at the highest power level most System users would reach. The ultimate Warrior. One of the Soldiers wielded a long sword as he slashed and sent arcs of Fire Mana at the other. The other Soldier raised his tower shield and blocked the arcs.

He lifted it up at the last moment and used the force of his opponent's attack to send the shield slamming into the ground in front of him. Boom! The impact alone was far louder than Ray would have expected and he could almost see the Mana pouring into the ground from the shield. The ground split and a chasm was left, causing the longsword Soldier to jump in the air to avoid falling in. The shield Soldier jumped and pillars of metal rose from the ground, sending him flying at the sword Soldier.

The sword Soldier had no chance to redirect his movement and had to meet the shield Soldier head-on. Boom! The sword Soldier burst into a shower of particles as the shield Soldier barreled through him. The crowd cheered.