Early the next morning, all six cadets were present inside the training room, ready to start their first training session.

It looked like Mako wasn’t the only one who was a bit sleepy given that the excitement and nervousness prevented them from having a good night’s sleep.

However, it didn’t really matter as they were all awoken by Commander Sable’s loud greeting as soon as he entered the room.

All six of them replied to his greeting and slightly bowed their heads to show respect. Once they were done with the formalities, Commander Sable didn’t waste any time as he began explaining what their first training session was about.

“Today, you six will be divided into teams of three and will battle against each other to determine which one of you is the strongest.” The Commander said that the training area blueprint was displayed on the holographic screen.

The screen showcased two circles on either side of the training area, which were labeled as the starting points. Several walls and obstacles were in front of each circle and in the middle was a giant crystal that was labeled as the objective.

“This match will serve as a test of your teamwork and adaptability. I’ve divided you into two teams, Team A and Team B.” The Commander stated.

Team A consisted of Mako, Erin, and Iris, while Team B comprised Bill, Leon, and Nathan.

“The goal of the match is to obtain the crystal located in the center of the training room. The team that retrieved the crystal and brought it back to their starting point first would be declared the winner.” The Commander explained.

“There will be different obstacles and traps that you will have to navigate around as well as battle against the other team in order to secure the win. The use of any power weapons or armor up to the High tier is allowed. The use of Mutant Genes is prohibited and fighting amongst teammates will result in automatic disqualification!” The Commander stated the rules of the training match.

“You have 30 minutes to strategize and plan your approach. The Training match will commence at 06:45 sharp.” The commander said as he ordered the two teams to wear a jersey with their team letter on so that they are easily recognizable and then head on over to their starting points to begin preparing and strategizing.

Mako was happy with the team he had gotten as both Erin and Iris were very versatile and although not as strong as them, they shouldn’t be taken lightly.

Bill on the other hand was turning red with anger as Nathan continued to ignore anything he was saying and stated that he didn’t really care for strategy and to just not get in his way as he secured the win for this useless team.

Just something about Nathan rubbed Bill the wrong way as he had seen any pricks like Nathan during the time he was a gangster himself, and he never really liked these overconfident and egotistical pricks.

Leon tried to cool the situation down as he told Bill to just imagine it to be a 2v3 and that they were the only ones fighting in the training match and just let Nathan do whatever he wanted to do as he couldn’t really do anything to them at all as it would result in his elimination.

This calmed down Bill a bit as he proceeded to listen to Leon’s advice and just ignore Nathan fully. Since they both had four abilities now and they had a lot of versatility and could easily defend and counter against Mako and the others.

**************

Before they knew it, the thirty minutes were up and the sound of Captain Sable resounded from the speakers inside the room, telling them that the match was about to begin.

Both teams readied themselves, mentally preparing for the challenge ahead. The tension in the room was palpable as they awaited the signal to begin.

“Three… Two… One… Go!” Commander Sables announced, and the training match began. 𝐞𝐨𝘃𝐞𝐥.

Team A quickly moved forward, Since Leon had the speed ability, Mako and his team prioritized speed as they had to make sure to reach the center as quickly as possible because if they were slow, there might not even be a fight as Team B would have already won.

There were several turrets placed around the area and one of the obstacles began shooting at them with laser bullets that didn’t penetrate, but dealt a decent amount of damage to the skin.

Erin conjured small ice walls to provide cover as Bill and Iris shot them down using fireballs and water blasts respectively.

Many prebuilt walls acted like funnels and barriers which often lead to dead ends. Mako and his team couldn’t risk being stuck in a maze while Leon sped through toward the crystal.

Instead, Mako utilized his brand new Earth ability to raise a pillar from the ground to give him the height advantage. Doing this was risky as this made him a visible target for almost all the turrets in the vicinity which was why Erin and Iris accompanied him and protected him from the incoming turret shots while he memorized the pathway that led to the central area.

Even though it hadn’t been apparent as Mako hadn’t had to use much intelligence up until now, after putting so many points into intelligence, his memorization power and critical thinking had vastly improved.

It wasn’t exactly photographic memory yet, but it was still strong enough for Mako to instantly identify the correct path and learn all the twists and turns.

He quickly lowered the earth pillar and told the girls to follow him as he began rushing through the maze, making all the correct turns to reach the entrance as quickly as possible.

Energy Sensing has been activated

Mako activated his energy-sensing skill as his vision turned black and white with different energies being highlighted in different colors.

Even though Analyze and Energy Sensing were quite similar, Analyze could only identify what was in front of Mako, while Energy Sensing showed him the energy signatures of everything in the general area which included trap doors and fake floors which were highlighted in yellow due to the current flowing through them, allowing Mako to easily spot them and avoid them, making it quite easy to run through to the central area.

The only thing that stopped them from making this a record run was that they had to stop and take cover to defend themselves against the turrets who were relentless in stopping them completely.

Meanwhile, Team B utilized Bill’s Earth and Wind ability to create cover and increase speed respectively. Nathan had rushed off in a different direction from the start and the two of them had no idea where he went, not that they cared in the slightest.

Since Leon had the hardening ability, the turrets really didn’t damage him at all. That combined with his speed made him a monster that was rushing through the maze at record speed.

Bill followed Leon closely behind by using his Wind ability to give him a speed boost and the Earth walls to protect himself against the turret shots. The only thing that was deterring them from making it to the center were all the fake doors, trap floors, and dead ends that made them have to turn back and try again a lot.

Nathan on the other had taken a wild approach as instead of going through the maze like a normal person, he transformed fully into the blood wolf, and instead of dodging all the obstacles and running through the maze, he instead climbed on top of the walls and started jumping from one wall to the next, completely disregarding the turrets as they couldn’t do much against his hardened hide.

As everyone rushed toward the center, Nathan was actually the first one to reach the center where there were several rings of water flowing around the center podium which held the crystal, they were supposed to take.

Nathan rushed through toward the center to grab the crystal and win this thing, when the water pools around the crystal started to shake violently.

As soon as he got close enough to the bright blue crystal, the water erupted as from within, a large golem of water rose to defend the crystal. Nathan was not expecting a giant water-coagulated monster to arise from the pool of water around the crystal, so he couldn’t fall back in time as the water golem’s monstrous hand landed directly on Nathan’s body launching him back at high speeds and crashing into the walls.

Just as the water golem dealt with Nathan, from the other side of the maze, Mako, Erin, and Iris just made it to the central area.

They witnessed what had just happened to Nathan and proceeded with caution. They had to make sure they didn’t get injured while fighting this monster while also making sure to do it quickly so that they could receive the crystal before Bill and Leon show up as well.

Mako quickly used Analyze on the water golem to see if he could find a weakness or a way to defeat it quickly.

Analyze

High-Level Water Sentinel

Ability: Water (Level 5)

Description: A sentinel is the manifestation of an ignited crystal’s energy and feelings as once a regular crystal goes through the unique process of becoming ignited, it gains something similar to consciousness such that it is able to understand and obey commands from the person that freed it from its beast body prison.

The ignited crystals can freely use their abilities without the need for a user and follow the command of their master. It can defend itself by manifesting sentinels from the strongest ability they contain to protect themselves if they feel threatened.

The ignited crystal can switch and obey different people if it was touched after all of its sentinels are defeated before it could recharge and produce more.

The Water Sentinel is immune to water-based attacks

“Oh, Boy!” Mako exclaimed as he just finished reading through the description of the Water Sentinel only to see that a second one was forming right in front of their eyes.