Ceres Chaos [Exosuit Progression]

“I see the pride has been toned down a lot more after seeing your test results.” Senia sat down at their breakfast table where Leonard and Gwen were sitting, gloomily staring at their nutri-pastes which were exactly the same as the day before.

Even Ceres who was busy shovelling the nutri-paste down his throat as fast as possible still had the test result from the day before weighing on his mind.

The result of him only being in the 68th percentile was a huge slap to his previously prideful assumption of being in the top 30% empire-wide.

“The test result compares empire-wide because any Hawthorn members training here needs to achieve at least the top 10% in order to retain their status as a functioning member of the Dynasty. Anyone lower than that gets thrown to the side to do menial chores.” A certain ‘elegant’ lady appeared in Senia’s head as she said that.

The words failed to comfort Leonard, who was in continuous denial that he was only in the 51st percentile. How could half of the empire be better than him?

The concept of living on a backwater planet, a lowlife who knew no better was finally hitting him hard. As a space habitat inhabitant, he had naturally come into contact mostly with traders and ship crew members on shore leave, but he didn’t know the gap was this wide.

Gwen was hit even harder, as she could not believe that she was in the 78th percentile, a whole 10% lower than Ceres! In terms of human body count, Gwen was a good 100 million humans behind him.

And that was just within the same age group, she couldn’t believe how many people she would have to catch up with in order to be considered excellent for her year.

“Alright stop moping about and finish up your breakfast! Your instructor has finally arrived, so I hope that you take the rest of this camp over the next six months seriously and improve. You won’t get any better if you keep staring at your food!” Leonard and Gwen grudgingly put spoonfuls of nutri-paste into their mouth, while Ceres was finally fully into training and information absorption mode.

“For this training camp, I’m going to shut up and train, and learn as much as I can!” Ceres thought to himself.

In the briefing room, the instructor was already waiting for them. The instructor was an old veteran, who looked about 80 years old but was still extremely fit.

His outfit was a pure commercial outfit designed to match military wear, featuring multiple pockets and highly durable cloth, which screamed either mercenary or retired military.

Senia was already off to clean up yet another of Cardenia’s mistakes, as this was hardly the only wager going on right now for her.

“Good morning trainees, my codename for this camp is X, and you will refer to me as X for the remainder of this training camp. I will be instructing you in all aspects, be it unarmed, melee weapons, ranged weapons and exosuit piloting as well as repair. I will raise you all up to the pinnacle of what a real Loeric Empire adult citizen should be able to do!”

Ceres was about to break his declaration about shutting up to ask if that was his real name, but he decided against it. Leonard looked frightened when he heard anything combat-related, shivering as Instructor X turned to stare at him.

“Well except for Leonard here, who decided to be a special baby and not take any combat training.” Ceres and Gwen were shocked upon hearing that.

The main competition involved an exosuit duel, and it was customary for the exosuit repairer to also pilot it! Designing the suit for someone else’s body and tendencies was extremely hard as any mismatch could lead to a severe drop in NEIR level when connected.

Mass-produced commercial designs were built to match the general population, meaning that the peak NEIR level that a user could potentially have wouldn’t be displayed fully on them either.

With Leonard forgoing the piloting aspect, he had to either work a lot harder in tandem with his assigned exosuit pilot, which would be random or design an exosuit that had variable parameters to fit the pilot.

Either way, this added a whole new level of complexity that Ceres had yet to reach or understand yet. Most of the exosuits that he had been repairing for rioters were low-grade mass-produced exosuits that were not designed for combat, meaning that their nerval fit with the pilot wasn’t of the utmost importance!

He wondered whether the rank one Glucose Rush player was running out of challenges and trying to make things harder for himself.

“That’s impressive Leonard, a real challenge for a real god!” Gwen gave Leonard a thumbs-up, also having reached the same conclusion as Ceres.

Leonard became even more ashamed, choosing not to reply in any form other than turning his head away. Instructor X continued by pulling up three simple timeline charts that were different to cater for each of them.

“You all have your specialities or perspectives on exosuit repairing and I will use these three individualistic timelines to further polish and define your traits.

There is no perfect all-rounded way to exosuit repairs, adaptability is key in all scenarios and circumstances that the competition will throw at you, similar to how real life can bring about unpredictable situations.”

Ceres glanced at his timeline and got a quick simple summary of it. Training 18 hours a day with three twenty minutes meal breaks in-between, and the rest is free time. The first section of the training was a general theory, which Ceres and Gwen shared.

They had to cramp the designs of a good hundred exosuits of varying weights and roles, to not be thrown off-guard again when they were given an exosuit that fell outside their comfort zone. They also had to learn and understand the functionality of various common parts that were used at least throughout the entire planet of Athen.

The second section of the training camp was individualized. For Ceres, it was much more focused on ranged and aerial combat, with minor attention paid to a melee weapon.

Instructor X believed that in order to truly succeed in the graduation competition, a good foundation for all types of combat was needed due to the unpredictable nature of the competition format.

While Ceres will never reach the heights of Braton or Trissa who specialized in combat roles their whole lives, he had to reach a decent level regardless especially if he was going to face off against Chad, who had an absurd amount of strength in his unarmed combat style.

The third and final section consisted of repetitive duels between the three of them, non-stop till the end of the training camp.

Ceres looked forward to giving it his all and seeing how close he can catch up to Leonard, but he also felt a bit wary that Leonard had decided to choose a random exosuit pilot rather than himself for the competition.

Generally, the exosuit pilot will be much more experienced in combat than Ceres himself, who honestly has only been winning major confrontations with people stronger than him by using bigger bombs instead of his actual strength.

“Maybe Leonard is onto some amazing strategy. Seeing as his combat is horrendous but his exosuit repair skills are top-notch, it is better to specialize in design and repair rather than try to pilot the suit yourself. There will be the added level of complexity of having to tailor the repaired suit to the exosuit pilot to guarantee the best chance of winning, but the pilot will be much more experienced than the opposing exosuit repairer!”

Gwen’s training timeline was more focused on bodybuilding, unarmed combat and hand speed, seeing as she was severely lacking in the physical aspect compared to Ceres. She wasn’t about to choose a random exosuit pilot for the competition too, as her perfectionist streak will tremendously reduce her chances of winning in the time limit imposed.

Leonard’s training timeline was fully focused on trying to be more adaptable and allowing modifications to the base suit design, especially those that were not official or popular. Leonard tried to protest that it went against his usual repair method, but the sharp glare and threat of physical punishments from Instructor X stopped him immediately.

“The assigned timelines will be fixed. I will instruct all three of you personally through the intercom and monitors in your respective training rooms. If I am required to come down in person to solve any issues you have, you’re in deep shit, so don’t do that.”

Ceres was slightly confused. Even when he was doing body training and unarmed combat, he always had a sparring partner. If the instructor was away from the training rooms, who was he supposed to fight? Being a serious question, Ceres raised his hand.

“There will be automated training dummies that have the combat styles of all military recruits, so you will use them as the practice point. You don’t deserve to fight me in person, and I wasn’t paid to exert that much strength anyway. Don’t make this job hard for me.”

The hand went down.

“Alright kids, let's begin. Head to the training chambers!”

***

“I miss Brother Ceres, when is he coming back? Don’t you guys miss him too?” Braton twiddled his spoon between his giant fingers, waiting for the nutri-paste to arrive as he sat at the dining table. It’s been two months since Ceres went to the training camp, with only less than four months to go till the start of the main competition!

Braton, Ardan and Erik had been training in the VIP practice room of Gladius as per usual, but Braton felt a bit empty not having his main sparring partner around.

“Nope,” Ardan and Lisa both replied in unison. They were seated opposite him, also waiting at the dining table for the virtual butler to dispense the nutri-paste.

It was shocking that Ardan had become so numb to Ceres leaving, especially considering the way he had to hold back his tears when he heard his first friend and ‘mentor’ was leaving.

Now, his emotions were ice-cold and no longer the bubbly sixteen-year-old teenager whenever they talked about Ceres. Braton naturally felt that he was overselling it, assured that when Ceres returned, Ardan would jump for joy.

What was more perplexing was how Lisa even got into the room. Somehow during the party, someone amongst them leaked that they had been training with Ardan, which Lisa unceremonious took the opportunity to join in.

Naturally, despite Ardan being ‘mature’ now, he couldn’t stand a chance against the dominating will of Lisa at first, relenting easily and letting her join in.

His aunt, Vice-Manager Fye tried to get her out too, but after a private talk, Lisa eventually won her over through discussions about ‘strength’, causing Ardan to have to live with it now. He was getting used to it though.

Braton didn’t mind it, since Lisa was more than fit to be his training partner. Boasting strong leg techniques that were handed down through her family, she sparred with Braton frequently, taking over Ceres’s prior position.

He had an inkling these leg techniques were not taught by Mrs Qiu.

Braton realized one person didn’t respond, and that was Erik, who was sitting on the sofa away from the dining area, staring at the ceiling in a daze. “Hey, brother Erik, what’s wrong with...”

He was about to ask when Lisa immediately grabbed his hand from across the table, putting her other hand’s index finger on her mouth. “Shut up idiot!”

“What the fuck? Why can’t I ask...” Before Braton could stand up against such unwarranted domestic bullying, the door opened with Trissa walking in.

The three of them at the dining table watched as Trissa’s eyes clashed with Erik’s upon entry, with the both of them turning their heads away at the same time, completely ignoring each other.

“Oh shit, what's going on? He was going to go for it yesterday! Brother Erik, how was your dat...” Ardan and Lisa immediately scrambled over and around the table, trying their best to cover Braton’s mouth with anything they had on hand.

Braton was of the mind to finally take a stand against the suppression, but the sharp piercing glare of Trissa directly into his eyes stiffened any movement he was about to take.

Trissa too had been coming to the training room, as they had worked well with each other over the course of the qualifiers. The main competition probably still had group formats, so they might as well practice their teamwork even more.

Through regular rounds of Shattered Empire, the five of them have been growing closer as a team, though not that close that Braton would be able to ask anything he wants yet.

A virtual butler appeared in the room. “Nutri-paste is now being dispensed.” On another table at the corner of the room, nutri-paste was flowing out into a pot, from which the five of them would then scoop it out.

Erik heaved a large sigh as he got up from the sofa, heading over to serve the rest. As he filled the five trays with nutri-paste and brought them over to the dining table, his eyes clashed again with Trissa for a split second, before sitting down near his tray and eating quietly.

The tension at the dining table could almost be touched by human hands. Ardan was truly worried that Erik might never recover from this, and that his precious group of friends would all be done for!

Meanwhile, Lisa and Braton were both smiling, enjoying the drama and potential gossip that was about to occur. They looked at each other, knowing that both of them were going to ask Trissa and Erik respectively as to what happened later.

Ardan racked his brains, not knowing how to solve this. He whispered to the virtual butler, “Hey, help me out here! I don’t know if you have some sort of a relationship counselling routine built in, but at least trawl the net for some advice.”

The virtual butler’s image flickered slightly before it projected a screen in front of Ardan while everyone else was still eating. Ardan’s eyes swiftly read it.

“Top ten ways to get a girlfriend; These five foods will increase your girth; bathing in the radiation of a pulsar to increase masculinity?!” Ardan whispered angrily. “Butler, I asked how do I fix friendships!”

Another screen popped out. “How to break out of your introvert zone; meet single friendly ladies online; hot single 50-year-old moms with high managerial positions wanting to be ‘friends’ within 1 kilometre of me!? In the Gladius? Who could that be?! Wait this isn't what I wanted!” Ardan shook his head before his raging puberty got the better of him.

He however clicked on the link regarding the “introvert” zone. Soon his face lit up with excitement, though he realized it may be quite big of a jump! Ardan decided to ask hesitatingly.

“Hey guys, how about instead of training together this week, let’s take a break! We can go visit another zone! How about that? My family owns a place in Zone 20 so we can relax and recharge. It seems like everyone is tired from training nonstop over the last two months. We can have something like a summer camp, except it is always summer anyway... Haha...” Ardan smiled weakly, trying to break the awkward atmosphere.

He nudged at Lisa and Braton with his arm and foot, signalling them to back him up!

Lisa and Braton were similar in terms of training, in that they were absolute maniacs! Why would they sacrifice a week of training - unless they could use it to squeeze some juicy gossip out? A knowing grin appeared on Lisa’s face, while Braton was still unaware of what was happening.

Braton was about to refuse before Lisa stared him down, causing him to change his mind.

“Oh, wow that sounds super amazing! I want to know more about the other zones and Ardan’s house there, we should all go together on this vacation trip, it will be amazing! Really amazing! Amazing!” Lisa laughed awkwardly, while all Braton could do was nod vigorously, giving a thumbs up.

Erik and Trissa didn’t give any reply to the obviously bad acting, but they didn’t reject it outright either.

“Well then, looks like the majority has settled on going! I’ll call up my Aunt and we can head over soon!” Ardan took the opportunity to quickly leave the dinner table and subsequently the room, hoping that his aunt had more answers or solutions for him.

He conveniently used the fact that three out of five was a majority, leaving no room for discussion with Erik and Trissa.