Chương 7: 71st Test Platoon

Just as he gets out of the training area, Rohan jumps on his shoulder out of nowhere. Ray stumbles a little. Rohan says, "When did you get a spirit? And you didn't even tell me or Tessa."

Ray sees Tessa standing a little ahead of them. She was clearly angry. Ray frees himself from Rohan's hold and goes to Tessa. Rohan follows. Ray looks at both of them and says, "Sorry guys. It happened late last night. So, I didn't get a chance to tell you. Meet Yuki. She's a cat spirit now in a contract with me."

Yuko raises her right paw. Tessa picks her up and says, "She's the cat you saved yesterday. I couldn't get a good look at her yesterday. But I see, she's really cute."

Tessa pets her. Yuki seemed to like it. Rohan extends his hand to pet her, but to their surprise, Yuki bites Rohan's hand and jumps back at Ray's shoulder. Rohan holds his bit hand and says, "What's with this cat?"

Everyone laughs.

Ray leaves them and goes to the changing room. He was about to take off his gym clothes to take a shower when he noticed Yuki sitting atop a bench. Ray sighs and calmly says, "u7hm. Ms. Yuki? Do you plan to stay here and see me change?"

Yuki replies, "Go on. I don't mind."

Ray yells, "But I do. GET OUT."

Ray throws Yuki out. He takes a shower and changes back into his uniform. Once he enters the class building he feels many eyes on him. He gets a little freaked out but keeps his cool. The gazes keep on coming even after he enters his classroom. A few moments later the teacher enters the room and the classes start. At the end of the class, the teacher calls out to Ray. She says, "Ray, come with me."

Ray is confused. He grabs his back, takes a look at Tessa and Rohan, and follows the teacher. While walking through the hall, the teacher says, "So, finally you've met your spirit."

Ray looks at the teacher and asks, "Ma'am, how do you know about that?"

The teacher chuckles, "The Whole academy knows that the 'Spiritless Sage' has finally got a spirit."

The teacher takes out her phone and shows a video of him and Koda fighting. She says, "Someone recorded you this morning and posted it on social media. The whole academy is talking about you."

Ray awkwardly smiles. The two of them stop before a wooden door. In front of the door, there was a plaque that read, "77th test platoon."

The teacher says, "Go in. Your captain's waiting for you."

Ray slowly opens the door and goes inside. It was a small room with six pairs of office desks and chairs, three on each side. A bigger table and a swivel chair were on the opposite side of the door. Behind the chair, at the wall was a whiteboard. Ray saw Koda, Aditi, and Avni sitting on the chairs on the right side. Koda had his right arm in a sling and a bandage on his nose. A 25-26-year-old man with black short hair, a sharp jawline, and gray eyes was sitting in the swivel chair. The man was wearing a captain's uniform. The man says, "Welcome, Ray. Take your seat. It's the nearest seat to your left." Ray nods and approaches his seat. Once he sits down the captain says, "I'm Captain Lee Seo-Jun, Leader of the 71st Test Platoon. I'm going to be the one to train you guys for the next year so that you can become a full-fledged assault platoon. Our team will consist of seven people including me. As you can see there's already Koda, Aditi, Avni, and you. The last two will be….."

Suddenly the door opens and Tessa and Rohan enter the room. Rohan says, "Sorry, captain. We are late."

The captain replies, "It's okay. I'll let it go as it's our first day. But I won't allow anyone to be late when we start our training. Now come and take your seats."

Rohan and Tessa sit down. Tessa is next to Ray and then Rohan. The captain continues, "So, Where was I?"

Avni says, "You were talking about the members."

"Yes. As you can see the six of you will be the 71st Test platoon. I will train you guys according to your spirit powers and nurture you for the next year. Occasionally we might get called to the border for some extermination or rescue mission as there's still way less Jaegers than needed."

Captain Lee notices the fear in the student's eyes so he hurriedly says, "Don't worry. It shouldn't be anything hard."

Anyway for today I'll just give you a vague idea as to what you'll be training on. Rohan and Aditi, both of you're marksman-type Jaegers, so obviously you'll be training your aim. But I'll also train you on your positioning. Koda, you're a brawn type, but you lack technique. You'll work on that. Avni will work on keeping her mind clean in any situation. As a sensory type, if she fails to detect incoming enemies, it can be the end for the whole platoon. Tessa will work on her spirit energy efficiency. And for Ray, I was going to make you give me a showcase of your abilities after this meeting, but I'm not going to need it anymore. I've watched the video of the fight between you and Koda. You did well for someone who got his spirit powers less than 24 hours ago."

Ray says, "Thank you, sir."

Captain Lee continues, "Looks like you're a runner class. You'll keep working on your athleticism as usual but, I've got some more plans for you. I'll tell you about it later.

You're dismissed for today. From tomorrow, come to this room after your classes."

They stand up at once and salute the captain. Captain Lee nods and leaves the room. Once he leaves Koda approaches Ray. Ray thinks he's going to pick a fight again but surprisingly Koda apologizes. Koda says, "I'm sorry, Ray. I guess I was just annoyed as we're getting held back because you didn't have a spirit."

Ray smiles and says, "It's okay. Let's do our best from now on."

For the next seven months, the 71st test platoon went through harsh training to hone their skills. During this time they get calls to the borders to fend off entomorphs 6 different times and each time they successfully defend the border. During this time Ray too was going through a secret training routine taught by Captain Lee every morning.

They become the highest-rated test platoon in the academy's history. But it would all change in January of the next year when they get called to the border once again.