The bright morning. Again, tired. And again, Adam didn`t care about that. Why this time?
Because there`s a thing he can wait for. Not a surprise attack, not a boring train session.
No no. Today the quest tab says:
[3rd tutorial gate 6h 20minutes left [expand]]
So, Adam woke up early. Ate double the norm, got fresh clothes , ironed them even, done every other minor task around his house.
And then - preparation.
TV - check.
PlayTub videos - check.
Room empty and cleared - check.
Training clothes - check.
A 5l bottle of water - check.
And so, for the next 3 hours Adam stretched, practiced, swung his sword, went for a run, ate, got pre-workout in.
And then left the house, with nothing more than some clean jogging clothes, headphones on and nothing else.
2 hours to tutorial gate left.
And finally when Adam went out he asked himself the big question.
"Where`s the gate"
.....
He checked the quests screen. and finally pressed the [expand] button.
[3rd Tutorial gate - 1 hour 58 minutes left]
[Location : < ]
[The 3rd Tutorial gate will be the final introduction gate for humans]
[Today you will learn how to act as a unit, instead of a group of individuals]
[For that, you will be commanded by an officer of your squad]
[During the gate subjugation failure to secure safety of civilians will be penalized by demotion]
[Refusing orders from the commanding officer MAY result in a penalty]
[Disturbing or harming other soldiers will cause a penalty]
[Not clearing the gate in time will cause a penalty for the whole squad]
Instead of an actual location, there was an arrow pointing somewhere left.
Adam turned left, and the arrow straightened.
Adam bent backwards.... and the arrow almost disappeared by squishing.
'Huh'
And he started to follow the arrow.
15 minutes in, he checked the quest description, which , well.. didn`t change.
And then the STATUS window
well... also nothing.
Except on tiny button [expand] next the unit name.
So of course- he pressed it.
and 2 new information appeared.
1st platoon 37th squad - "Hammer fall"
Commander -Sergeant Marcus Vance
And that`s all.
So he kept on going with the system closed.
20 minutes or so later.
The arrow disappeared with a quiet voice - "You have arrived"
'Well....cool" Adam put his hands on the hips , and stood for a while in the middle of the street 'Now what'
1 hour 21 minutes left
No one else in sight, that looks like he`s here to kill monsters.
But there was a cafe opened.
So he went in, ordered and scrolled his phone for a long time.
Sometime later, someone else came and looked stunned , same as Adam.
Adam waved to him, and he came inside.
"You the commander? " the man asked.
"Nope" Adam answered "but I am here for the gate"
The man nodded. After a while Adam realized, that this was one of the people that was in the gym session.
Then another person came on the street. And they both now waved to him.
And then another person. And now 3 waving hands.
And at some point Ben came too. He joined them, with a large latte order.
And so on , and on until there were 12 of them in the cafe. Last one arrived, 10 minutes before the gate timer.
"Ah. Great. I see the squad is here. Perfect. Outside, Let`s go" The guy came in a large coat holding his own coffee.
Adam, Ben and others got up, tossed the cups in the trash and went outside.
Coated man drank his coffee and started his speech
"If you read the system, you know who I am probably. As of now, I , Marcus Vance , am your commanding officer for today and probably near future. You will do what I tell you to, ans we all go home happy and alive."
The heckler from the gym session, who also appeared there, didn`t dare to do anything dumb this time. And he just stood quietly behind his buddy.
"Good. No questions it seems. The plan for today is simple. There" he pointed towards the roundabout " a gate with goblins will appear. All of you saw them, all of you survived them."
"But today - you will learn how to fight them properly"
Still no answer from the squad
"We will make a formation - 6 in front 6 in the back. The front will block the attack, the back will stab and kill. After the wave, we swap. Injured go back, but you still fight."
"Who`s first at the front?" Adam asked
"Good f***ing question. Volunteers? " people looked at each other, some were shaking their heads, some where shrugging their shoulders like 'why not'
6 people, Adam of course too, raised their hands.
"Perfect" Sergeant checked his system window "5 minutes. Get your equipment out"
All said ARMOR almost in sync, and then completely chaotically WEAPON ( or SWORD )
"WARM UP" Marcus shouted to the squad. Interestingly, he also had armor, but it was smaller. Less plates, he had chain mall and leather in more places, and the metal parts were more ... extravagant. More gold with hints of orange, the white parts were polished and shiny. And the most important part, a large cape-like brown coat was behind him.
His sword, also different, shorter but still a decent sword.
The squad starred at him for a while, but then started to warm up before the fight,
"Get in here. FORMATION." He showed where each of the men were supposed to stand, and made them quiet down.
[The gate will open in one minute]
"If anyone has any good motivation quotes for before you head to die - Now`s the time"
"I imagined the army differently , I will not lie" someone said
"Hey, at least you don`t have to worry about getting shot here"
"ALRIGHT . Good mood is important but LOOK FORWARD"
The gate appeared. And started to grow.