While Jake had originally been in a very precarious state at the end of their fight with the Spawns, he was already back on his feet the very next morning. Officer Neilr had ordered a 24-hour halt for everyone to get patched up, and the cadets had barely done anything but eat, sleep and talk about their previous fight during that time.

  Like everyone else, Jake’s injuries had been bandaged in clean cloth by the First Lieutenant, although the amount of bandages covering his body far surpassed anyone else’s. Thankfully, however, none of the injuries he’d received the day before had been very deep or particularly large thanks to his armour absorbing most of the damage, although the sheer amount of wounds he’d received and the loss of blood had made Jake pass out before the end of the fight.

  However, the superficial nature of the wounds had allowed Jake to get back in decent condition under record time, as he’d regained the ability to walk and swing his sword around by the time he woke up the next morning. Out of habit, Jake spent around a quarter hour going through the usual basic sword training outside the cave as soon as he’d woken up. He would have kept going longer when Owens suddenly appeared through the cave’s exit.

  “What the hell, Hawkins? Your wounds!” She almost shouted as soon as she caught sight of him.

  It took Jake a moment for him to finally take a glance down at his own body, only to see most of the previously white bandages that covered his body gorged in the unmistakable reddish tint of blood.

  “That’s not good,” Jake said, horrified.

  “Come with me!” She said, letting out a weary sigh. “I’ll change them for you after Officer Neilr’s debrief.”

  They both made their way back inside the cave, where the other cadets?—? along with their commanding officer?—? were already waiting for them.

  “About time, cadets.” Officer Neilr declared, angrily. “Now, I want us out of here and back on the road in a quarter hour, no less. Also, take the time to fill the water reservoir in your backpacks to the brim, I don’t know when the next time we’re going to stop will be, but it won’t be today. Understood?”

  “Yes, sir!” The cadets answered before springing into action, and like promised, it wasn’t long before they finally departed, leaving just enough time for Jake to get his bandages changed by Owens, but not without drawing a few teasing glances from Kirk and Ryan.

  [ I’m glad you’re finally starting to learn, kiddo. Injuring yourself to get patched up by the pretty girl? Classic. ]

  Jake silently rolled his eyes at his implant’s nagging. While it was true that the implant had been a huge help ever since his arrival at the academy, he couldn’t help but wish there’d be a muting functionality somewhere in there.

  Once they were done, he put back on his armour before sheathing his sword and sniper in his back, and he put on his backpack before making his way back to the group. Since yesterday’s fight, Jake’s armour had been utterly ripped to pieces by the spawns, and the strengthening ability feeding off his biotic energy had completely stopped working as a result.

  The good news was that Jake’s biotic energy recovery was now a lot higher than before since it wasn’t constantly absorbed by the armour. However, it also meant that the bonus attributes he usually received when wearing it were now gone. Moreover, a considerable part of the suit’s carbon plating had been melted through by the Vertaerax’s acid, creating a non-negligible amount of gaps in the armour’s protection, which couldn’t be good considering the dangers ahead.

  Jake let out a small sigh while looking down at his armour as he followed the others outside the cave before Kirk spoke up.

  “You okay there, bud?” He asked. “You look a little down since this morning.”

  “I’m alright, Kirk,” Jake answered. “These little bastards don’t bite that deep, but the wounds simply won’t heal.”

  “Hey, at least you got a pretty girl to patch you up, there are worse things in life.” Kirk mused, which prompted a few chuckles from Ryan and the nearby cadets.

  Jake was currently eating a piece of one of the Crawlers that had attacked their group during the morning, along with Ryan and Owens. Kirk, on the other hand, was sitting with Jenkins, smith and Laurent this time, with whom he got along almost as well as he did with Jake’s group.

  “You’re starting to get the hang of it, with your sword I mean.” Ryan suddenly said.

  “It was about damn time.” Jake let out. “I was so focused on swinging faster that I hadn’t realized I could make up for my lack of speed with skill. I’m still far from your level though, I’m going to need a lot more experience for that.”

  Jake wasn’t saying this to be modest, it was simply true. Both Ryan and Owen were carving their way through the enemies unlike any other cadet in their group. Sure, all of them had made noticeable progress during the last few days, but there was simply no comparing these two with the rest of the group.

  “You’re not far behind, believe me,” Owens said in between two bites. “Also, if some experience is the only thing you’re lacking, you’re going to be served, we’re encountering more and more Vertaerax every day. We’re getting closer to the nest, that’s for sure.”

  The cadets were still making small talk while they swallowed chunks of Crawler meat when Officer Neilr appeared in the distance. He was covered in gruesome Vertaerax blood from head to toe, and he looked tired, although in a far better state than any of the cadets still, his breathing slightly ragged.

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  Instantly, the cadets all shot up and silently awaited their commanding officer’s orders.

  “We’re going to have to make a detour, there’s too many spawns ahead.” The officer said. “Even I wouldn’t be able to get through before I run out of biotic energy.”

  The cadets almost gasped at the news. The officer had just pulverized over a hundred spawns in a single swing the day before, which meant the number of spawns ahead must have truly been terrifying for him to be forced to make a detour.

  “Gather up! We’re leaving.” He added before the cadets all saluted the officer and started packing up. Luckily, they had yet to have taken out the shelters since it was still noon, so it only took them a moment to gather up everything and be on their way.

  Minutes later, Team B was already back on the road, running at a good pace. The road was clear ahead of them, so they needed to maximize the opportunity to cover as much distance as they could before they got swarmed again, especially now that they had to make a huge detour to circle the huge legions of spawns ahead.

  They’d barely been running for a few minutes when they were assaulted again, but this time, things took a terrifying turn. Earlier this morning, Jake and Ryan had both been pretty eager to get back on the road, eager to keep refining their abilities through battle.

  In front of them, however, now stood a total of four Vertaerax Crawlers, hissing and screeching at the cadets. Both Jake and Ryan stepped up to the front of the squad, along with Kirk and the Evans brothers, with the rest of the squad moving back, ready to offer some support with their telekinesis. Although that tactic usually worked great when the five other cadets could all use their telekinesis at once to hinder the creature, it proved inefficient when faced with four of them. After all, the Crawlers were almost two-meter-tall insectoids made up of dense exoskeletons and shell-like armour, which meant they were as heavy as could be and not easily pushed around by the cadet’s powers.

  Two of the insectoids dashed straight at the cadets at once, with Ryan intercepting one with his axe. The impact was so powerful, however, that even he was sent flying backwards for a few feet on impact. Still, it created an opportunity for Jake to step in and take a huge swing at the creature, who managed to dodge the blade in time for it to miss its head by a hair and cut off one of its legs instead.

  At the same time, the second creature pounced on the brothers, who used their dexterity to their advantage and were able to scurry out of the way, with Kirk managing to do the same thing. Usually, their strategy consisted of encircling the creature while slowly chipping away at it with their weapons while it was being slowed down by telekinesis, but this time they weren’t able to use that method. Seeing that things were starting to turn for the worse and that they would surely end up losing cadets if the fight dragged on for too long, Jake suddenly shouted at the cadets further in the back.

  “Take out the guns and aim for the legs!”

  Every cadet executed as they took out their biotic guns and started blasting away at the Crawler’s legs while Jake, Ryan and Kirk held off the creatures some distance away. Moments later, the shots ceased as the cadets ran out of biotic energy, but it seemed that their gamble had paid off as three of the creatures were now stuck in place, unable to move anywhere due to missing limbs.

  Jake, Ryan and Kirk all dragged the remaining Crawler some distance away, and Kirk drew its attention while both Jake and Ryan assaulted the creature with their massive weapons. While the trio had finally killed off the first crawler, the rest of the squad simply proceeded to eliminate the other creatures who were now as good as dead meat since they couldn’t move.

  The cadets caught their breath for a second before the First Lieutenant reappeared, wearing an expression Jake almost didn’t recognize, although it was gone before Jake could even be sure he hadn’t imagined it.

  “Come on, cadets, don’t just stand around like idiots. Let’s keep moving.” Officer Neilr almost shouted at the cadets.

  “Yes, sir!” They answered.

  As they ran along the rocky desert, the cadets all wore proud expressions while whispering among themselves.

  “It’s weird to think that a few days ago, we all froze up before one of these things, and now we’ve killed four in under a few minutes,” Kirk said to Jake and the others.

  All the cadets nodded as Kirk’s comment lent a smile to the whole crew. They’d all come a long way since the first day, and the increasing threat level and difficulty of the assignment made it hard to forget at times.

  It wasn’t long before it became more and more difficult to move forward, however, as legions of spawns kept appearing as they progressed. The cadets fought off the creatures a lot more easily this time, since their numbers were only around half of what they’d fought the day before, and the First Lieutenant offered a lot more help this time. Moreover, Jake still found it hard to hit things with his sword because of their high dexterity, although he noticed clear improvement coming with every encounter. He was finally starting to get the hang out of fighting with his giant sword, and the increasing number of Vertaerax he was able to kill with every subsequent encounter was a testimony of his growing expertise.

  However, while every passing fight saw him become slightly stronger, it also added to the long list of injuries that raked his body. Simple bandages were not of much help any longer as the injuries kept piling up and showed no sign of healing whatsoever, even with his increased regeneration attribute. Worse, the wounds almost seemed to be festering as the acid kept melting through his skin any time a spawn managed to bite him.

  Sometime during the fight, their commanding officer had actually disappeared off to who knows where, as per usual. The officer had revealed before that one of his skills allowed him to perceive the life force of people and creatures all around him. Among other things, it allowed the First Lieutenant to be alerted whenever they were about to encounter unusually strong?—? or numerous?—? enemies, who would then break off from the group to take care of the threat before reappearing.

  When the officer finally reappeared after over 20 minutes of absence, he wore a very unusual expression. Owens, who was standing right next to Jake at the time, immediately spoke up.

  “Am I dreaming, or is the First Lieutenant smiling?” She said, in shock.

  Officer Neilr was indeed smiling, Jake realized before the officer finally appeared in front of the cadets and spoke up in a weirdly excited tone.

  “Everyone follow me, I found something interesting. Turns out this assignment will end up being worth the trip after all.”

  Curious, the cadets followed the officer into a small underground network of caves and tunnels that stretched just below the planet’s surface. Thankfully, each of the cadets’ backpacks was equipped with lights fueled by the user’s biotic energy, which allowed them to navigate inside the dark tunnels in exchange for a very small drain on their core, which even Jake found to be manageable.

  The wait was soon becoming more and more unbearable, although the cadets were more than happy to enjoy the tempered climate and cool air from the underground. It was only after they’d travelled for nearly half an hour that they finally entered a huge dome-like cave that was hidden at the end of a small natural tunnel.

  As soon as they stepped inside the large cave, every single one of them stopped dead in their tracks, only to stare all around them like idiots.

  “You guys don’t even know how lucky you are, we’ve actually found a biotic vein.” Officer Neilr let out, wearing a smile that was almost out of place on the stern officer’s face.