The buff man in an army green jacket without rank insignia stood next to Agent Brown. Luke would have assumed he was active military, but his man bun clearly made that impossible. He clapped his hands loudly, the sound echoing in the spacious warehouse.

  “Alright, time to get this party started. Line up. Eugene Simmons, Driver level 13, stand over there. Mike Jones, Soul Summoner level 4 next to him. Vanessa Staggers, Elemental Pitcher level 0. Lastly, Luke Moore, War Machine level 8,” the man said.

  The four of them lined up left to right as he indicated. Luke couldn’t help but blurt out, “Are you a Seer?”

  The man ignored the question and turned to Agent Brown, who was writing out something in his notebook. “That about what you expected?”

  Agent Brown nodded and said, “Just about. We’ll need a report on Soul Summoner and War Machine when you are done today. Elemental Pitcher’s a gold class though, so make sure she gets the full two days of training. We want our gold classes leveled up as much as possible.” He turned to the rest of them. “This is Specialist White. He’s SPEAR’s top trainer and he will help you level up and get the most out of your class. Do exactly what he says and the next two days will be very profitable for you.”

  Luke felt his oath tighten and then loosen. That was close to an order, but not quite. He didn't have to do exactly what Specialist White said, but it was probably a good idea anyway.

  Agent Brown gave the specialist a nod and started walking away. He paused before he got far and said, “Be completely honest with Specialist White. The more you tell him, the better he can help you grow.”

  Specialist White nodded and waited for the agent to walk away before he started talking. “Over the next day or two you will do exactly what I say and you will get dozens of skill ups. There is a method to the madness and you’ll be learning how the system thinks so you can do this on your own as well. I’ll even show you how to get the most out of your stats.”

  “Why?” Luke asked.

  The specialist paused, confused that he had been interrupted. “What?”

  “Why are we doing this? All of us had to swear oaths to SPEAR but we don’t even know what SPEAR’s goals are. Why are you training us to get stronger? Are we planning on fighting soon?” Luke asked.

  Bumblebee snapped his fingers and said, “That’s right. SHIELD was infiltrated by Hydra. How do we know SPEAR doesn’t have Hydra agents at every level?”

  Specialist White rolled his eyes. “Because that's fiction and this is real life?” He shook his head. “Listen. I know the oaths are a bit heavy handed, but brass believes they are necessary for now. I personally know most of the leadership of SPEAR, they are good guys. They’ve served for years and they genuinely want to do what’s best for the nation and the human race. We’re the good guys.”

  Luke raised an eyebrow. He glanced back to where Agent Brown had just shut the door to the warehouse. “You sure about that?”

  “Ok, sure. Brown’s a jerk. But he is good at what he does and he’s got a valuable class.” White paused. “Listen. I’ve indulged your curiosity but our time together is limited. Let’s get into things.”

  He stepped to the side and pointed at a device at his feet. It was the size and shape of a mini refrigerator with vents on every side. There was a densely packed rune array on the top with a round divot in the center.

  “One of the secrets of the system is that it works much better in high mana environments. Skill ups and level ups come faster when there is more ambient mana. Since we are on Earth, we’ll have to supplement. In a moment here, I’m going to place a mana core worth twenty-two thousand dollars on this device. It will boost the ambient mana to four times what you are used to on the other side of that portal. But it will only last nine hours. You will have nine hours to practice in this warehouse and I want you to be improving every second of it. Don’t waste it.”

  Luke’s eyebrows went up. They were going to suck a tier three mana core dry just so they could level up faster. Apparently there were some benefits to being part of SPEAR.

  “We’ll start with the easy one. Driver Eugene-” Specialist White started.

  “Bumblebee. Everybody calls me Bumblebee,” he interrupted.

  “Ok, fine. Bumblebee. Anyone else want to use a nickname?”

  “They call me Sandwich.”

  “They call me Skywalker.”

  “Just Vanessa.”

  White rolled his eyes. “Ok, fine. Bumblebee, Sandwich, Skywalker, and Justvanessa.”

  “No, it’s Vanessa.”

  “You’ll get your turn, Justvanessa. First, Bumblebee. Driver is a well known class so I have a good idea how to train you up. Congrats on being level 13 already, by the way. That shows initiative. I assume you got Rush as your first skill, what’s your second?”

  “Evade.”

  White tsked. “Boost is better. It has some synergies with Rush that really let your class shine. Consider sacrificing Evade at your next threshold. For today, I’m gonna have you master every vehicle in the warehouse. The more variety you have in vehicles, the faster your skills will level up. Go make sure everything along that wall is gassed up or charged.”

  “Yes sir!” Bumblebee said and gave him a goofy salute before running off.

  The specialist moved on to the next in line. “Sandwich Soul Summoner. Say that five times fast. I’ve met exactly one other person with your class. We’ll have to go over what you did to unlock the class later, find some commonalities. I assume you have just the one skill, summon the dead, right?”

  “Echoes of the Dead.”

  “Ah, right. Show me what you can do. I wanna see it in action.”

  Sandwich looked away. “I can’t. I have to have a recently killed monster.”

  “What gave you that impression? All you have to have is a monster core. You should have a few on you at all times. They take a few days to recharge though, so make sure to swap them out for new once every time you go out. For today, head over to the cages and watch how the Spider Ape moves. I’ll want you to think about possibilities for attack vectors. I’ll grab some cores from the vault in a bit.”

  “Alright,” Sandwich said and slowly walked towards the cages along the back wall.

  “JustVanessa Elemental Pitcher. Congrats on getting a gold class. That means you’ll get two stat points most level ups. Your skills are going to be stronger than theirs too. Since you are level zero, I assume you just got your class. Good timing. That means I don’t have to beat bad habits out of you. What skill did you start with, Quick Toss?”

  “No, Power Juggle. Also, it's Vanessa, not Justvanessa.”

  White shook his head. “That’s not how nicknames work, Justvanessa. Power Juggle is gonna be interesting. It's a goofy skill. It’s powerful, don’t get me wrong, but you’ll have to learn to juggle for real to get the most out of it. The southwest corner has some baseballs and tennis balls. We’ll add the knives later. Go grab them and come back here.”

  Vanessa stood there for a second before turning and jogging off.

  “And finally we have Skywalker War Machine. Never heard of that one, I bet your unlock story is a hoot. Did you kill a monster with an Abrams tank or something?”

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Luke chuckled. “No, I made a mech and killed a giant spider.”

  “A mech? Like Pacific Rim?”

  “No, not nearly that big. It’s really power armor, but bigger than that so I call it a mech.”

  “Do you need it to use your skills?”

  “Yeah, my class skills only work when I am bonded to a machine,” Luke half lied. He did need to bond to a machine, but now he could bond to his leg so he could really use all of his skills now.

  “Then go get it. Even if it takes you an hour, you need it. We can talk about your class skills when you get back. We’ll be working by the time you get back, sorry we can’t wait for you to start training. Just make sure you close the door quickly when you get back. Don’t want to let the mana out.”

  Luke nodded and jogged off. When he was out of the building, he bonded with his leg for the buff. It was just as hard as before, the skill really didn’t like him doing that.

  Once he was done, he raced across the Norfolk Complex, running faster than should be humanly possible. He wanted to get back soon so he could take advantage of the training. But really, he just liked running fast.

  As he ran, he thought about what he wanted to tell Specialist White about his class. He didn’t want SPEAR to know the full extent of his powers, he didn't want the attention a platinum class would bring. But at the same time, he knew if he didn’t tell the trainer about his four skills, he would be wasting the training.

  He was still mulling over possibilities when he arrived back at the training warehouse. He ducked through the doorway and made sure to shut the door quickly behind him. A faint hum started up when the door latched. They must have some sort of magnetic field in the walls to keep the mana inside. Or at least slow the dispersal into the area.

  Bumblebee was driving a four-wheeler around the warehouse, following snaking lines on the floor. Vanessa was giggling while she juggled a ball of light and a baseball. Sandwich had a pair of pink summoned monsters and he was yelling orders at them. Luke jogged up to Specialist White, enjoying how the man’s eyes went wide when he saw the power armor’s twelve foot frame.

  “Hello Specialist White. I had a quick question before we got into things. How confidential are the details of my class? I want to tell you everything, but I’m worried about what certain assholes would do if they found out.”

  “Oh, is War Machine a gold class? I guess I’m lucky to have two of them in the same training class,” White said. “And as far as secrets go, you won’t have a lot of them left after we are done training, whether you want to tell me or not, my class is for information gathering. I’m going to find out. To put your mind at ease though, Agent Brown can’t give you orders. He’s only allowed to relay direct orders from his boss.”

  Luke bit his lip. He was hoping they could work something out, but it seemed like White was going to tell the leadership everything no matter what he said. “That isn't exactly filling me with confidence. They're the ones that decided on the oath in the first place.”

  “We are not the bad guys, son. I’m going to do my best for everyone in SPEAR.”

  Luke frowned. That wasn't as reassuring as he thought it was. Real good guys didn't have to constantly point it out. “I guess I'll have to trust you. War Machine is a gold class. I’ve got two skills. Repair Craft, which is a two part skill that reverses time to repair damage. Then there is Frictionless Slide, which is my movement skill.”

  It was too bad he wouldn't get training for his other two skills, but this was for the best. His two obvious skills would get training, and no one would know how powerful he really was.

  Specialist White tilted his head. “Anything else?”

  “I get a class buff whenever I am in my mech.” That extra detail should help gloss over any signs that he had too many stat points for a gold class.

  “What stats does it buff?”

  “All of them.”

  White swore softly. “What are your stats now?”

  Luke pulled up his stat screen to check.

  Luke was sitting pretty. But, those beautiful numbers weren't quite high enough to let him do whatever he wanted. "If it's alright with you, I'll keep that to myself. You shouldn't need to know in order to help me out."

  “I'll find out anyway. I told you, my class is an information gathering one.”

  Luke shrugged awkwardly. “We'll see about that. So, what now?”

  Specialist White grinned widely. “Now I get to see if I can make you work so hard that you puke.”

  ???

  Bumblebee was heading directly at him, riding an electric scooter. Luke activated Overcharge again and jumped over him. At the apex of his jump he tucked his knees in and rolled, just barely avoiding two of the three fireballs Vanessa had thrown at him. The third one hit his arm and splashed clinging fire across his body. As he landed, a pink spider ape appeared in front of him, hands outstretched to grab him.

  Luke activated Frictionless Slide and dodged to the side. Sandwich yelled in frustration as his monster swung at empty air. Luke bent his slide to head north again, getting twenty feet closer to his goal before it cut out. He leaned forward, running with all he had. The fire was still burning, so Luke activated Repair Craft to put it out. The time skill removed the fire from existence and ate up most of his remaining mana. He was left with just two points.

  Just enough for another use of Frictionless Slide. He mentally slammed the skill, sliding across the concrete and over the various obstacles they had thrown in his way. The trampoline was particularly insidious because his mech was too heavy to take a single step on the mat. Luckily, his skill lasted long enough to pass right over it.

  He was ten feet away from his goal when White appeared from nowhere and swung a baseball bat at his ankles. Luke’s Acuity worked overtime, speeding up his processing power just enough so that he was able to jump over the impossibly strong metal bat. The first strike missed. The second didn’t.

  Luke was sent tumbling through the air and rolled across the finish line with the sound of screeching metal. He didn’t bother getting up, he just lay there and caught his breath. He hadn’t thrown up yet, but the exhaustion combined with an empty mana pool was threatening to make it happen.

  While he recovered, the system showed him some love.

  Specialist White hadn’t been kidding. Intense training in the presence of huge amounts of mana was a great way to level up your skills. Unfortunately, he wasn't kidding about discovering Luke's secrets either. He had already told Luke what he thought his stats were, and was within two points on every stat. He also figured out that he had two more skills that Luke wasn't telling him about. Luke lied and said it was related to his class buff, but he was pretty sure Specialist White didn't believe him.

  “Great job, Justvanessa, you timed that attack perfectly,” White said somewhere nearby.

  Vanessa hopped over excitedly. “I did! And I got a skill up from it too! Level eight, baby!”

  “Just wait until you get your class over level six. You’ll get a skill that will let you create your ammunition and then you’ll be unstoppable.”

  “I can’t wait,” she said happily. “Skywalker, you alright over there?”

  Luke slowly sat up. “I’m alive. I got some level ups too.” he slowly sat up. “White, you saw me use my repair skill, why did you still hit me? Now I gotta manually repair my leg before we can practice again.”

  “Yep, but I’m pretty sure you are out of mana and you have to wait to recharge. Might as well use the time to repair the leg and reflect on the fact you can’t lose track of enemies on the battlefield.”

  Luke groaned and lay back down. They still had two more hours of this and it seemed like Specialist White was going to make every minute torture.

  White continued, “Oh, by the way, did you get a level up in Machine Bond yet?”

  “How do you know that name?” Luke asked, dread creeping through his bones.

  He chuckled "No one ever believes me when I say I can find out their secrets. Don't worry, I really am here to help you out.”

  That feeling of dread intensified.

  Today’s chapter title comes from Fight Club (1999)

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