“It looks very... Fun...”
“Yes, it is! I flew one of them once! I was horrible, but if I train a little, I'll get the hang of it. Anyway, if I keep slow like you, I'll never going to get accepted.”
It went off without Aiden being able to answer, not that there was breath for any kind of response.
He had to run another hour and couldn't take it anymore. But every time he saw Rayzer's serious features, he didn't want to stop and hear a scolding.
When the race was over all the soldiers sat on benches and started drinking their tonics. The mood was relaxed, Dom talked to the others casually. However, Aiden was about to faint, lying on the ground watching the clouds. He hadn't stop to realize it, but here the sky resembled that of his home, without the city buildings blocking the view. It made the boy feel more comfortable.
As soon as that thought passed, a shadow covered him, and he noticed the soldiers' conversations stopped. He realized the origin of the shadow and saw the captain looking directly at him. Promptly, Aiden sat down as respectfully as possible and faced the captain like everyone else.
“Listen carefully!” The man started. “This year one of you will be able to join the air battalion. It won't be easy, and for those who want it, I suggest you impress me! Give two hundred percent on each activity!”
In unison all the soldiers replied "Yes, sir!" except Aiden, who was still trying to catch his normal breath.
Rayzer turned around and left the group.
“Is it lunchtime?” Asked Aiden deluded to Dom.
“Are you kidding me? It's nine o'clock yet, in 15 minutes we will run more.”
The boy couldn't believe it, all the other soldiers were in another level. He eventually saw his mother's pendant and remembered Yana's words, resuming his determination.
After a long series of exercises with Rayzer it was finally lunchtime. Aiden was so tired that he could barely feed on the food they served. Dom at his side seemed fine, ate willingly, and told jokes as always, until he stopped to say something else.
“Hey, Eve! Sit with us.”
Upon hearing the name, Aiden soon try to show a better posture.
Evelin was approaching with two friends. She also wore only the white blouse and pants of the uniform, and by the rosy color of her cheeks and sweat on her body, Aiden imagined that she also had a long training, but remained strong.
The boys around Dom got excited and called Eve and her friends to sit down.
The girl accepted smiling and sat in the front of Dom.
“Are you ready to lose more dices tonight, Dom?
“Dice?” Asked Aiden, who was completely ignored, and he did not know whether it was because he spoke low or because no one cared.
“This time I'm going to win. Omara said he opened a spot for the air battalion, so I’m pumped!”
“It's a game of luck.” Continued Evelin. “It has nothing to do with being pumped.”
The girl turned to the direction of another soldier and threw a die in his direction.
“Give me your juice. It was over by the time we got here.”
He quickly handed over the juice and kept the die, which made Dom angry.
“You could have switched with me!”
The girl opened the juice and took a long sip on it.
“You've already opened yours, if you want so much a die just win tonight.”
Aiden was now, besides being tired, confused.
“What is up with this dice?”
“Here we use this dice as an unofficial currency.” Dom replied. “Everyone who plays can accept the dice in exchange for favors, then you can earn more dice in the same game.”
“And I'm the best player here.” Commented Evelin with a smile on his face.
“Hell no!” Dom said in response. “I've already won from you... Once.”
“And how much dice do you have left?”
Dom looked at his food and answered softly.
“Three...”
They kept eating, Aiden tried to talk to Evelin in the best possible way, but he was very tired, and Dom barely stop talking.
When she finished the food, Evelin got up with his tray and spoke to Aiden.
“You have fifteen minutes to finish eating, then you have shooting training. Don't be late.”
The boy was eating very slowly and had to speed up to finish in time, while his colleagues made jokes. "You have a date with Eve," "the boy must be in love!"
He wasn't in the mood for it, so he got up as soon as he finished and went to meet Evelin.
The arsenal was now full of people, some soldiers practicing shooting, others building weapons and some cleaning their pistols.
The girl was in a shooting range, and Aiden soon joined her.
“The three basic weapons for low soldiers are the All Tool, a pistol and a machine gun.”
On the bench beside him were two pistols and two machine guns, but one of each type looked more technological, with a blue paint and slightly different shape.
She pointed to a sheet with the human silhouette in the shooting field.
“That one has a level two barrier, the same as your uniform.”
She pulled out one of the pistols and unloaded it. Aiden saw the bullets stopping in the air and falling, leaving the target in perfect condition.
As soon as she reloaded, she fired three more shots and the third hit a target in the chest.
“As you can see the barrier wears out, you have a limit of shots before it burns. It recharges on its own, but it takes half an hour for that.”
She took the simple machine gun and point it to another target.
“This one has a level three projector.”
She started shooting, there were too many shells per second and without much delay the barrier went apart, and the target was full of holes.
“I have to be careful about the type of weapon the enemy is using as well.” Aiden said.
Evelin agreed with a nod.
“If they throw a missel at you your barrier doesn’t matter” then she turned to the blue machine gun “This baby doesn't throw bullets, it's
