Ethan sat in the pilot's chair of his ship, a vessel still g a brimming with potential. The soft hum of the ship's systems filled the cockpit as he g the sleek VR headset lying on the sole before him.

  "Iris, let's run a final che the gear before we start the simution," he said, reag for the headset.

  "Affirmative. The dual ser pistols are calibrated for optimal range and accuracy. The psma dagger has beeed for stability, effective in both quick sshes and precision strikes. Your new armor is ied with my systems, night visio vision, UV sing, and a heads-up dispy for tactical support," Iris responded, her voice ft, effit and cold.

  He slid the VR headset over his eyes. Instantly, the world around him dissolved, the familiar cockpit repced by a stark white void as the simution loaded. Soon, it shifted inted yon ndscape, the sun high above, casting long shadows between the cliffs.

  His new armor felt snug but light, the material sleek and firm. His hands gripped the dual ser pistols, which hummed faintly in his grasp. He never got used to how everythi so real in VR.

  "Simution enviro is fully operational. Enemy units are approag from the northeast," Iris said, the same ft, emotioone in her voice.

  Ethan squinted as red markers appeared in his heads-up dispy, showing the positions of the ining hostiles. Human-like targets armed with rifles and melee ons. He flexed his fingers, feeling the weight of the pistols in each hand.

  "Let's see what these do," Ethan muttered to himself.

  He dashed toward the outcropping for cover, his movements smooth and fast, the new armor allowing fility while providing prote. As the targets closed ihan leaned out and fired. The ser pistols discharged with sharp, precise bsts, each shot nding ly on the simuted enemies.

  "Target eliminated," Iris stated ftly as one of the enemies disied. "Reend faster target switg. You are wasting time between shots."

  Ethan ighe ent, fog instead on his movements. He rolled to the side, avoiding ining fire, and repositioned behind another roation. The HUD updated instantly, showing the heat signatures of etempting to fnk him.

  The enemy units weren't relentless, but they were persistent. As more of them advanced, Ethan fired in trolled bursts, pig them off one by one. His HUD adjusted tinuously, trag threats and providiime feedba enemy positions and tactics.

  "Performance is acceptable," Iris said. "Your rea time remains suboptimal in close-quarters situations."

  "Noted," Ethan muttered under his breath, holstering his pistols and pulling out the psma dagger.

  The bde ignited with a faint hiss, glowing a soft blue. The st enemy advanced quickly, ahan sprinted forward to close the gap, dug uhe target's psma rifle and driving his dagger into its side. The enemy dissolved into shimmering pixels, leaving the yon eerily quiet.

  "Close-quarters bat assessment: efficy at 87%. Further improvement reended," Iris remarked, her tone unging.

  Ethan caught his breath as the simutio. The yon disappeared, and the stark white void returned for a few seds before the sario materialized. This time, it was a shadowy cityscape, crumbling buildings t overhead in the dead of night. A faint breeze stirred the dust around his feet as his helmet's night vision activated, bathing the se in shades of green.

  He crouched low, sing the area. The heat signatures of an enemy patrol glowed faintly in the distaheir movements slow but deliberate. He activated the psma dagger again, moving silently across the ruireets.

  "Stealth approaitiated. Reend use of thermal vision to avoid hidden traps," Iris instructed.

  Ethan switched to thermal vision, his HUD highlighting faint tripwires and motion sensors scattered across the area. He navigated past them with ease, his new armor's enhanced silence allowing him to approach the patrol unnoticed. As the first enemy passed by, Ethan struck quickly, his psma dagger cutting through the target before it could react.

  "Target ralized. tinue forward," Iris said.

  Ethan moved forward, taking down the remaining targets one by one. His movements were fluid and precise.

  When the final target fell, the simution faded once more, leaving him standing in the bnk void of the VR space. He removed the headset, blinking as the familiar interior of the cockpit reappeared around him.

  "Simution plete. Overall performance: 82%. Areas of improvement include speed of deaking and optimal use of avaible equipment," Iris stated, her voice devoid of any encement or criticism.

  Ethahe headset down on the sole and leaned ba his chair, exhaling slowly. The training had been intense, and though it had gone well, there was always something missing. An edge he hadn't quite mastered yet.

  "I'm getting there," he said aloud, more to himself than to Iris.

  "Affirmative," Iris replied. "You are progressing toward acceptable efficy. However, further missions will provide a more prehensive uanding of your capabilities."

  Ethan couldn't help but smirk. "Yeah, because everything's just numbers arics to you, huh?"

  "Correct."

  Shaking his head, Ethan stood up. "Let's hope real missions aren't as cold as your simutions."

  "The probability of entering signifitly more plex variables in real-world missions is high," Iris responded. "Prepare accly."

  As he left the cockpit, Ethan gnced back at the sole, knowing that despite Iris' emotionless demeanor, her calcutions were likely correct. There was still a lot to learn, and he wasn't about to let the VR simutions give him a false sense of security.