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But not everyone was happy about the ‘wonder duo’, and a few jealous glares had come from a handful of cadets.

Everyone was then ushered into a large sparring gymnasium, where the floor was covered in shock-absorbing mats.

But before they could start any exercises, the sergeants instructed all the cadets to partner up and form into duo wings.

“Choose well, because it’s all about trust,” said sergeant Elyn. “You gotta be able to truly rely on each other, ‘coz your lives depend on it.”

It was the single best way for them to learn and cover each others’ backs. It taught them resilience in the face of their peers, and was one of the most powerful lessons any military could teach.

‘Cover my back, and I’ll cover yours.’

Many of the cadets immediately paired up, having made friendships on their way to the academy, or even prior. The rest had to be paired up by the sergeants, sometimes begrudgingly.

Chengli turned to Eva and said, “We should wing up.”

.....

Eva quickly agreed.

She could only truly trust the skills and resilience of another player. If he was as tough as she was, then she could only really rely on him in a fight. Not that the others didn’t have their merits, but the two of them were in a different league.

She needed a sparring partner who could give as much as they could take. More importantly, they both already had plenty of piloting experience. That was a huge advantage on its own.

And besides, Cadet Sun was hot! And funny!

Once everyone was paired up, the two sergeants then demonstrated some basic hand to hand combat skills. They didn’t do anything fancy, just simple strikes, parries, and evasions. Then, they let everyone practice with their partners for an hour or so.

Eva and Chengli did a few practice swings just to loosen up their muscles. Eva struggled a little bit, as she wasn’t very familiar with disciplined fighting. Chengli, however, was quite practiced in his movements.

As their fighting spirit ramped up, so did the strength of their strikes. Although Eva was still a beginner, her strikes were strong and decisive. But she sensed that Chengli wasn’t giving his all, that he was pulling his punches. And that bugged her a little bit.

More than that, she was expending a lot of energy, while Chengli had barely broken a sweat. He was very practiced at hand-to-hand combat, and that revealed the gap in their skills. So she decided to change the beat a little.

Eva blocked one of his strikes and quickly moved in for the counter. He tried to evade, but instead she grabbed onto his collar and threw him over her shoulder.

Instead of falling on his face, though, he simply rolled into the throw shoulder-first and got back up moments later. He was a little surprised at her attack.

“No fair,” he said. “That wasn’t part of their lesson.”

“Don’t hold back,” Eva said in between breaths. “I’m not gonna learn if you keep babying me.”

He nodded in understanding. He had purposefully held back on her, partly because she was relatively inexperienced. He had learned martial arts since he was a kid, and knew that his experience alone could wipe the floor with Eva.

Also because she was a woman. He didn’t feel right striking her.

But they were training for survival. Plus she insisted...

He leapt at her at full speed, and threw a skillful attack at her. Alarmed by his sudden movement, the only thing she could do was sidestep and evade. She attempted to counter by throwing her own strike, but he parried it easily.

With their arms crossed in combat, the both of them grinned at each other. Then, they launched a series of attacks and counter attacks on each other, which they both evaded and parried as best they could.

Some blows landed, which ended up bruising the both of them, but not a single strike was debilitating or critically damaging in the slightest.

Chengli was practiced enough to hold back his punches right as he struck, but it was something that Eva herself had to learn right in the moment. She wanted to throw all her power into her swings, but definitely didn’t want to hurt him. So she learned to better control her strength with every attack she threw.

By this point, their sparring had caught the attention of all the other cadets and even the two sergeants. Their eyes watched with awe and surprise as the two of them traded blows with increasing intensity.

It felt like waves of force exuded from them everytime they landed a hit, or slammed on the mat, or strengthened their stances. They did this for almost an hour straight without a single break, which pretty much mesmerized many cadets.

Others, however, only found their jealousy strengthened.

The sergeants came back to their senses and had to command the wide-eyed cadets to get back to their own sparring. They weren’t going to learn anything if all they did was watch.

In the end though, Eva lost her match. It wasn’t that she had taken more damage than Chengli – they were relatively even. She had pretty much traded Chengli blow for blow. Both their bodies ached with the strikes they had meted out on each other.

The simple fact was that she was inexperienced at martial arts, and didn’t have the stamina that he did. And so, while she was out of breath and sweated profusely, Chengli seemed to still have a ton of energy left.

She grinned as she conceded the win to him.

“Teach me more, okay?” she asked. “I need to seriously toughen up.”

“I agree,” he sighed. “You’re just a hot mess. I mean, look at that sloppy technique.”

He couldn’t help but tease her, and she couldn’t help but reply with a playful, yet vicious attack.

~

After another hour of hand-to-hand combat instruction, the cadets went into the showers to clean up. Their modesty got tested again, but after Sergeant Elyn’s words earlier, their sense of shame had lessened. Some had already shrugged it off and paid it no more mind.

Afterwards, they went to the mess hall and fed themselves before using whatever time was left for personal reasons. Most of the cadets chatted in an attempt to become more familiar with each other. And of course, some of the cadets butted heads.

Fights were pretty standard in any academy, not just the military kind. Not everyone got along with others, especially when their personal values conflicted deeply.

It sometimes ended in blood, but most of the time the sergeants stepped in to resolve matters. After all, disharmony in a unit was unacceptable. Like modesty, personal differences had no place here.

Letting them fester would only get someone hurt or killed later down the line.

So they brought all the cadets into a large room so they could air any grievances about each other freely. But the condition was that they had to let it go before they could leave.

Some of the cadets called the others out, and ultimately worked their problems, even if it took them some time. No-one called out Eva or Chengli. Not just because most of the others looked up to them, but they honestly didn’t hassle anyone.

Those who were jealous of them kept their mouths shut, but left their eyes dark.

Afterwards, everyone was allowed back into the bunk to go to sleep. And, after a long day of physical and emotional exhaustion, everyone fell asleep.

Well, everyone but Eva and Chengli, anyway.

Every single Bellum Aeterna player who had respawned in this universe had not slept a single wink since they first arrived. At first they had thought that it was because their bodies were adapting to not having a day/night cycle.

But then after the second ten-hour cycle passed by and they felt zero fatigue, they started to realize that there was much more to them then they had first realized. They were stronger, tougher, and faster than the rest of humanity, in both mind and body.

It truly felt like they were game characters living in a universe filled with NPCs.

They also never felt hunger or tiredness, and so never ate or slept. But many still did, just out of habit. Others loved to eat and sleep, and so continued to indulge in those activities.

Eva herself loved to eat and sleep. And although she certainly had her fair share of delicious food, she had no desire to lay down and close her eyes. In fact, since she respawned, she hadn’t spent a single second asleep. She instead used that time to learn more about her new universe, and explored wherever she could.

So, when everyone else shut down to rest, she snuck out of the bunk and climbed up on the roof. She then watched the base and everything that was happening in it.

All the other teams and recruits were absorbed in their different cycles and routines. They were in various states of training, and Eva could see the difference. While one group was going through an obstacle course quickly and efficiently, another was doing combat drills rather sloppily.

She also noticed some cadets in the shadows, and they snuck about unseen by the others. She wondered if that was another team doing their training, and so didn’t think too much more about it.

After a while, she got off the roof and explored the base. She went everywhere she was allowed to and checked out what she could. Her curiosity about everything simply drew her from location to location.

She ended up at the hangars, where she spent the most time observing everything. She simply watched as cadets got into some mecha and went through simple maneuvers. Considering they were relative beginners, they weren’t bad at all.

Eva also studied the mecha, and noted their balance and agility. Her DI listed out stats on the different training cores, mecha chassis, and parts that were being used.

The ships were C-ranked military fighters, and quite decent despite their simplicity. Certainly much better than her D-ranked starter gear.

These were designed and manufactured by Federal Shipyards Incorporated, one of the most powerful and profitable human corporations in the galaxy. From great battleships like the Diomedes to these simple training mechas, the shipyards produced the vast majority of spacefaring combat vessels for the Federation.

Eva found herself a good vantage point to watch the cadets’ drills, and stayed to the end of the cycle.

~

On the other side of the training compound, two cadets from Eva’s group ducked behind some machinery and hid themselves among the shadows. They were dressed in their uniforms, but their faces were shrouded behind masks.

One of them put their hand on their sidearm as a pair of MPs walked by while on patrol. But the MPs didn’t notice anything and continued on their way.

The other one pulled out a small hand-held device and pointed it at the building right beside them. He swept the building a few times before he put the device away, then turned towards his female companion.

“It isn’t here either,” he whispered. “It doesn’t make sense, because it should definitely be with the officers.”

“It’s possible someone stole it already,” she replied in the same hushed tones. “Or maybe it’s with the base commander. Father told me he’s paranoid.”

“What?” he said, a little too loudly.

She quickly shushed him as she looked around cautiously. He continued, but with a much softer voice.

“He never tells me anything.”

She laughed lightly as she put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him.

“You’re better off not knowing, so don’t worry about what he says or doesn’t.”

He frowned at her response, unsatisfied with her explanation.

“I don’t think Father likes me.”

She looked at him quizzically, but didn’t say anything. Father cared about everyone, and hated to lose a single one of them. Couldn’t he see that?