23: Footsoldier

Footsoldier

Miles was playing with the tools in the room when the door opened. He glanced at it and noticed that it was another guy in a uniform, so he kept playing the game.1

The game he was now playing was testing reaction speed. All he had to do was press the button when there was a monster passing on the screen. Frequently, human characters were passing by, if a button was pressed when a human was on the screen, the game would be over. Of course, the speed of passing monsters and humans were getting faster and faster each second, making the game harder as played.

The military guy noticed Miles and approached him. "Oh, Level four in 5 minutes and 39 seconds. Good record." He said as he checked the time scoreboard. "You look just 16 to 18 years old. How can you be that fast?" He then looked at Miles and was surprised by what he saw.

The game machines had been placed in the room to improve and test soldiers' reflexes, reaction speed, strength, and agility. But all of the requirements were beyond human capabilities. Thus, when the military guy saw that Miles could clear away the fourth level, he was surprised.

"What is your superpower?" He asked. He assumed that the power Miles had awakened was related to the reaction speed he was displaying.

"I failed awaken." Miles said, but his eyes didn't leave the screen.

"Woah, an oafish. Not many of you." The military guy said.

When Miles heard the word 'oafish', he flinched and missed a button. Game over was then displayed on the screen.

"What, just because you failed to awaken, I should pity you?" The military guy looked at Miles without emotion on his face.

"No, I was just surprised you used the word bluntly. People tend to act differently when they hear someone failed to awaken." Miles explained.

People usually act all shy and sorry when they hear someone couldn't awaken their superpowers, and Miles hated it. He was living with it, and he didn't need other people's fake pity and condolences. When a military guy called him oafish, he was surprised because of the guy's honesty.

"I wanted to test your reaction to the word, but you exceeded all my expectations. Since you had failed to awaken your superpowers, it only means you were able to take that damned serum and lived through it at this tender age. It is a cause of respect, because even I, as a military person since birth, could only take the first serum." The guy explained himself and offered his hand, "The name is Cale Charlie Chua Cantillo, Cale is fine."

"Nice to meet you, Sir. Miles… Call me Miles." Miles saluted out of respect..

"I am not a sir. Cale is enough." Cale answered. He was an easygoing person.

"You said you were a military person since birth, it means you are an orphan accepted to the Raise and Rule program right?" Miles asked.

The Raise and Rule program or R&R was a secret military service when it was first created. All the children accepted there were orphans and they trained by the cruelest military discipline. All the soldiers who graduated from there would at least be a Captain.

"Yea. I am surprised to see you know R&R though." Cale answered.

"So, are you the Captain of the PTC?" Miles asked. Quinn told him to wait because she had a meeting with the Captain. If the Captain was here, where was Quinn? Miles thought.

"Ah, nah. I am just a regular soldier. I am not even a post commander." Cale answered and shrugged his shoulders.

"How come? Anyone who graduated from R&R starts as Captain right?" Miles was surprised.

"I never graduated though. I punched my Captain in the face and got dismissed." Cale said with a smirk. "They banished me here as a footsoldier."

"Sorry to hear that." Miles said. Cale looked like a cool person, he was sad to see such a person get punished.

"It's fine. I would do it again." Cale said and jumped on the machine Miles was using. "Let's see how rusty I am." He pressed the button as soon as the images appeared. In a short 2 minutes, he was on Level Four.

"You are much better than me, how can you only use the first serum?" Miles questioned. Except for superpowers, helping with the reaction speed like how Cale suspected Miles had one, the only way to improve timing was having Strengthening or Mind Serums.

"My superpower is electro. It increases the speed of thought tremendously. My hands can move faster and my brain acts faster. It doesn't make me faster in real sense, but I perceive the world faster than others. When you see something, it takes a little time for your brain to comprehend it. Then the brain processes the information, then acts accordingly. Even with the speed of light, it takes time. My body can do it faster thanks to my superpower." Cale explained how his superpower worked.

"How fast?" Miles asked, then realized he was getting rude."Sorry, I didn't want to intrude on your privacy."

"I can dodge bullets from a machine gun." Cale said and looked at Miles while still playing. He had a snicker on his face. In five minutes, while Miles was struggling in Level Four, Cale was at level 7, then he left the machine and patted Miles's shoulder.

"Who brought you here?" He then asked Miles.

"I am waiting for Post commander Quinn." Miles answered.

"Oh, C Quinn is a fine lady. Take care little brother, and work hard. I'll see you around." He said, then left the room.

Not much later, Quinn returned.

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