Five months before military school would officially start, a teenage boy with his black gelled hair back was sitting in a dark room, repeatedly refreshing a market place page online.
"Come on," the boy muttered as he looked for the deathbat crystal online.
For some reason, the crystal he had ordered a traveler to get had some sort of incident, preventing him from acquiring it. The traveler was still alive, but the order was postponed. Still, he needed this crystal soon.
Suddenly, he saw that the crystal he needed was randomly on sale, coming from a place called "Local Shipping Department," and for a pretty good price too.
Within seconds, the boy clicked "purchase" and swiped his money card on a machine attached to the computer, confirming the purchase. He was going to need to sneak around later to the pickup location, and get his crystal, but the fact that he was able to get it meant he could finally leave this place.
Glancing around, no one had noticed he made such a purchase either, and he smiled.
"Thank you whoever was selling the crystal I needed. If I ever meet you in real life, then I promise I will repay this debt."
—
The sun was setting on Kilo, a planet similar to Earth, with its rich forests and natural biomes littered throughout the planet. Its grand oceans hug most of the outer layer, the scent being carried through the beaches.
Standing out by the edge of the waters stood Erin. Her long hair flickered in the wind. In one hand she had a suitcase with all of her most important belongings, while her other hand held her sword, which radiated coldly in the sun's light. Her icy blue eyes were fierce as she watched a strange object emerge from the ocean.
It was a military carrier. One that is designed for picking up students eligible for military school.
Erin was ready, more than ready, to go to military school. Ever since the first dalki war, she was dead set on training her skills and growing stronger. Erin never wanted a repeat of what happened back then to occur again. Her time at the school was going to give her the skills for when war would inevitably break out again, it was only a matter of time.
The bus arrived, and she stepped on it. Not a lot of students there carried a beast weapon like she did. It was of intermediate tier, so there were quite a few eyes pointed in her direction. Erin didn't really care, all she cared about was getting stronger.
After a while of sitting on the bus, a mysterious green gas filled the room, and slowly began to knock them all out one by one. Erin thought of it as a simple measure to not worry herself with. Of course they wanted to make sure no one would find them at the military school.
Her eyes closed as sleep came to her.
She was ready for this.
—
When she woke up, she found herself in a plain open field with 500 other students in the vicinity, all dressed in a dark blue uniform. Nearly everyone there was bewildered by suddenly waking up in an unknown location, one with three large buildings in front of them.
The buildings were sculpted nearly entirely out of glass, giving it a glossy blue color to it, and stood at least 60ft tall. Surrounding the giant buildings was a city that was hidden to the rest of the world.
Then, around the students, they saw mechs lifting crates and moving them to certain platforms, automated cranes that picked up glass panels from the crates, and placed them onto buildings in construction, a few flying ships that acted more like trains as they followed a set path in the air, and more.
To all of the students, this technology was new. Ever since the first dalki war ended, the military salvaged a lot of technology from the dalki's invading ships, and kept it to themselves.
"This is where the lot of you will spend the next two years of your life," a man standing on a small floating platform yelled.
This man was a Sergeant, one with graying hair, tan skin, and a name tag that said "Sergeant Griff."
His booming voice caught the attention of all of the students, and they stopped gawking at the technological marvels.
"Placed on your wrist is your lifeline. It will identify you as a student at this military base. It will allow you to access certain areas, pay for food, and all sorts of other things. When not in use, the wristwatch will display a number — your corresponding ability number," Griff explained.
Looking down at her wrist, there was indeed a digital watch right there. It displayed the time in a corner, and the amount of money Erin had in another, but nothing about her ability number.
"We will immediately begin testing your respective levels. Don't move until you are called forward, understand?!" Griff shouted, putting on a frightening smile that didn't match his hard face, "Good luck!"
Erin stood there, with her arms crossed, waiting for her name to be called. Her luggage and Sword wasn't with her at the moment, most likely taken to wherever she was going to stay at for the next 2 years.
That was when a boy with slicked back hair had walked up to her, and nudged her shoulder.
"I didn't expect to see a beautiful girl like you here," the boy asked Erin.
Erin's eyes glanced at the slightly shorter boy, but she kept still.
"Silent type, huh?" the boy said, "Well, that's fine, I can chat and you listen. The name's Fex by the way."
Fex held his hand up, expecting a handshake from Erin, to which she looked away.
"Damn, I didn't expect you to be so cold," Fex smiled, then went in to nudge her shoulder again, "Come on, lighten up a bit—"
The moment Fex touched Erin, she grabbed his hand, and began freezing it, encasing it in a block of ice.
Shocked, Fex took several steps back, releasing his hand from Erin's grip, and he stared at his frozen hand.
"What's with you? How can you just attack me like that?" Fex cried.
"Wow, she has ice abilities?" a boy said.
"I thought it was really rare?" a girl replied.
"Man, I'd let her freeze me any day."
"Stop it you two!" Griff yelled at Erin and Fex, "If you have that much energy to pick a fight, then save it for the test!"
Fex groaned, and walked off to deal with his hand, meanwhile Erin twisted her head away, continuing to wait.
It didn't take long for Sergeant Griff to make an announcement. Speaking on his floating stand, he called out the next few names.
"Will the students, Quinn Talen, Fex Sanguinis, Peter Chuck, Layla Munrow, and Erin Heley please come to the front to take your test?"