Chapter 7 - Hila

One day, a number of armored guards came to the tuning room to move a large portion of Drake's resources away. As Drake watched them quietly, a person walked up to him.

“You have let the organization down. From today onward, your resources will be cut by eighty percent.” the person who spoke to Drake was test subject number 'One'.

“I heard that you're my predecessor. With so many resources, is all you can make garbage like this? You are a failure, and I have been chosen to replace you.”

For some reason, the sight of Drake irked number One. Drake remained silent.

The organization prioritized results. Since Drake was not giving them results, he was stripped of his privileges. They planned to devote their resources to grooming the more promising no One.

As the research lab did not have any maintenance personnel for machinery, Drake still got to keep the tuning room for himself. He was now assigned to perform maintenance and repairs.

“Tsk tsk, sad rats.”

A few guards who saw the pair began to converse among themselves.

“Brainwashed lab rats. Fated to be sacrificed.”

“I would rather die than end up like that.”

“Shh, they can hear us.”

“It doesn't matter, does it? They've already been brainwashed anyway.”

To them, test subjects were less than animals.

Drake walked away silently.

*

A few months passed

In this period of time, Drake managed to figure out the layout of the entire facility and the routines of the staff.

The Valkyrie Laboratory, commanded by Hila, was an underground facility that comprised of three floors. Because it was a secret base, it wasn't built to be very big, and was concealed within an uninhibited forest. Its supplies were delivered by airdrops.

A total of sixty armored guards patrolled the facility. Every now and then, the organization would send a batch of test subjects who had had their memories wiped for experimentation. Although there was a dozen or so other Laboratories, this base was the main one. After Drake and number One, the Germinal Organization had managed to produce another seventy six successful test subjects.

While most of them had already been transferred to other facilities, number One and nine other exceptional test subjects were chosen to form a squad, and they were still awaiting orders here.

Drake had gotten accustomed to his life here. Aside from training, he spent all his time working with machines in the tuning room. The room had become a haven of sorts for him. The guards gradually began to ignore his presence and when he passed by, they would simply gloss over him as though he were invisible. This was extremely advantageous to Drake, who was tirelessly gaining as much experience as he could whilst he plotted his escape. He also tried to memorize as many blueprints as he could.

The experience that assembly and enhancement rewarded him were separate. When Drake could no longer gain experience from assembling a certain machine. He would proceed to work on enhancing it. He was always careful to revert the machinery back to its original state after enhancing so as to keep his abilities a secret.

After many hours of training, Drake also managed to master the two skills of [Basic Combat] and [Basic Shooting] and unexpectedly unlocked a passive ability called [Grinder], which gave him +100 Health. He also unlocked the sub class of [Agent], and was now at a character level of 4.

After his continued efforts, [Basic Assembly] and [Basic Enhancement] reached level 4, while [Basic Combat] and [Basic Shooting] reached level 2.

Mechanic required substantial amounts of resources and currency for growth, and while this would normally be a limitation to his class, Drake had access to free materials from the organization. He had used up almost ninety percent of the machines in the armory, accumulating a total of six hundred thousand experience points. Without monsters or missions, only Mechanics could earn so much experience in such a short amount of time.

*

“Give Doctor Calebite the green light. He has asked repeatedly. He may dissect Zero.” ordered the Boss over the line.

Hila frowned.

“You rejected him repeatedly.” she pointed out.

“The organization has devoted so much resources to him already. We must gain something in return.” said the Boss plainly.

“The only worth that trash has is in being recycled. That, my dear Hila, is Zero's fate.” the Boss added.

“Understood.” Hila bit her lips as she replied.

“What are the results of number One and his team's training?” continued the Boss.

“Very promising. I see potential in them.”

“Very good. Send them to the Night Owl base for training, I have received them. They will arrive in two or three days.”

“That's the day I visit my sister.”

“You don't need to follow them.”

“Alright.”

*

“Ha!” cried out Hila as her bullet-like fist connected onto Drake's chest.

Drake endured the pain of the blow to grab Hila by her collar. With a mighty twist, he threw Hila over his shoulder. However it was ineffective. Hila effortlessly nullified the shoulder throw by performing a flip.

Drake paused to rub his chest.

“Is that all that you are capable of?” Hila was visibly upset. Drake remained silent. He had expected the organization to have given up on him with what little progress he had shown, but for the past six months, Hila had dutifully trained with him every single day. For some reason, though, she was going especially hard on him today. Although Hila was the commander of this base, she did not have much work to do. Training Drake was actually one of the few things that she had to look forward to. When she learnt of the Boss's intention to hand him over to Doctor Calebite, it had upset her. Although they had never actually conversed before, it was six months of accompaniment regardless. A person could even develop feelings for an object if he or she spent that much time with it! Perhaps, due to having grown used to seeing Drake everyday, Hila was a bit reluctant to hand him over.

'How many times has it been?' she wondered

'All those people, all those faces..' she felt the organization's cruel methods had not only caused her to lose many of her friends – she had also lost her sister. The reason she had pushed Drake harder today was to try and stimulate him. She had hoped to be able to draw out any latent talent in him. However, it had clearly been too much to ask for.

“The Boss has approved of Doctor Calebite's request to dissect you..” she sighed. Strictly speaking, this was the first time she had ever spoken of anything outside of training to Drake.

'Finally!' Drake's eyes flashed.

Although Drake had been anticipating this from the moment he decided to lie low, he did not regret doing so – his background made it impossible for him to rise up through the ranks, which meant that he would only be able to continue on as a henchman. Either way, Drake did not have wish to work for the organization.

Suddenly, Drake noticed a photograph on the ground. It seemed to have fallen out of Hila's pocket during their fight. Drake bent down to pick it up. It was a group photo set in front of a vast, blue sea that was basking under the setting sun. Two girls stood side by side in the center. One of them was Hila, who was smiling radiantly. The other girl had snow-white hair and seemed to resemble Hila somewhat. She looked both clever and gentle.

Hila's face changed upon realizing that she had dropped the photo. She immediately bent down to snatch it. When she saw that she was undamaged, she let out a sigh of relief. As she pocketed it, she took a final, probing look at Drake before turning around to leave.

The interface suddenly lit up with a message.

«Ding!

You have initiated a D-Class Quest: [Night Owl Plans]

Accept / Decline»

Drake's eyes lit up.

'My very first mission in six months!'

“Accept!”

«Ding!

Quest Synopsis: The dark and blood-stained advent of the Germinal Organization has always been a great mystery to the Six Nations of Planet Aquamarine. Hila has a secret past that no one knows about. Where do her loyalties truly lie? You now hold one of the clues to this mystery. Will you seek to uncover the truth?

(You may choose to pass this clue on to someone else for a small reward.)»

The quest had been obviously initiated by the photo.