District 42-Chapter 187: Hellish training

Casper nearly jumped from the bed once the sound of his alarm filled the dormitory. Not just his alarm, but the ones of the other Sgails there began to ring, which made everyone wake up startled and alert.

When he raised bruskly the upper part of his body, Casper felt all his muscles in pain, and he nearly fell off the bed.

He put his hand on his abdomen, which was the muscular group in highest pain that day. It seemed like each day belonged to a different muscular group, however, sometimes he felt like all of them was sore altogether.

Casper gritted his teeth and stood up. He was one of the first people in that dormitory who could force themselves to get out of bed so quickly.

The majority probably would just lay there for more time to take advantage of the regenerative benefits of those high-tech beds. Anyway, the Sgails of a higher level would appear soon and kick them out of the beds, so it was useless. The beds wouldn’t recover their muscles in just thirty minutes of rest.

"I don’t want to think how much pain I would need to deal with, if these were those hard beds of the army. It gives me chills."

The first thing that Casper did, to prevent himself to mess up with the rest of his day being exhaust and sleepy, was to head to a cold shower. And, for some reason, the water of the showers in the Sgail’s Headquarters was out of this world. They were colder than it should be, really cold, and the soldier felt like he was washing himself outdoors in Antarctica.

It was difficult to pull through that shower right at the start of the morning, but there was no better time than that to sacrifice a bit.

"If I skip the cold showers, I would be gone right in the third day of training..."

That was the seventh day that Casper was attending to the intense training of the Sgails. It was supposed to be his last day there, but First decided to test him, and he would start to operate in his mission just if he showed to be able to accomplish their goals with that training.

The soldier finished washing as quickly as possible, dressing properly, and finally doing some stretch and light exercises to warm up his body. Then he left the dormitory, while the majority of the Sgails were still trying to stand on their feet.

The soldier had his breakfast hastily and quietly like he always did during that week of preparation.

The cafeteria of the Headquarters was very decent, and he had no problems eating there. Actually, he was expecting that the food would be terrible and that he would need to just cover the nose and put everything inside his mouth to swallow at once.

However, instead of bad food, their meals were well served, and, although it hadn’t a good variety, it was just clean food. He suspected that the plates served were designated by a nutritionist, though he wasn’t sure.

"During these days, I could, at least, enjoy the meals. Eat was definitely the most pleasant thing I did until now during this time..."

He wasn’t exaggerating when he thought it. The Sgails didn’t allow any time of major distraction inside the Headquarters and during the training.

He was willing to bring, at least, his ukulele and his cellphone, but everything was confiscated, and he didn’t even know if they would really return those items for him again.

The soldier finished his meal, and then he went for the very first part of his preparation in the day, which was the theoretical classes.

Casper thought before that those classes would just be boring, and they wouldn’t present for him too many things he didn’t know. They were military classes, after all. It was something that the soldier passed his entire life studying.

However, he needed to admit that, after the first day of classes, he started to look forward to attend to it.

The interesting point on what was lectured wasn’t laying on what Casper know or didn’t know about the art of war, but what he didn’t know about District 42, and it was an entirely different thing.

The overall concept was something he was aware of, but there were the different variables that the district’s technological progress and culture added to it.

Casper’s class of the day was about the Helheim weapons, the ones that the Ridires used.

They were made literally to purge every criminal and threat that appeared in District 42. Their name was given because of the purgatory in the district’s culture, which carried the same name.

In short, that was the class, but the teacher had to delve into various aspects of those weapons, like their structure, how they were made, why they were one of the few brands of weapons in the district, etc.

Every class that Casper had there was like that, and after one week, he was already well acquainted with various aspects of the military in that world.

When the classes ended, it was time for the soldier to go do his physical and practical train. Their lunch was given in a short pause between the classes, to save time.

Now, the physical and practical train was made differently for Casper.

The other Sgails would attend to it with other coaches, while the White warrior would train exclusively with First, Second, and Third, each one lecturing him about something in specific.

First would help him with infiltration and spy techniques. But not the usual ones that Casper was used with, but the ones he needed technology to execute.

It was difficult to learn all those new techniques at once, but he was going through it very well, and it was very practical to use that equipment in that sort of activity. Second would be the one doing the combat classes with him and helping in his physical rehabilitation as well. She was the one that picked on Casper in the hardest way, and he was tasting a constant muscular pain pretty much because of her.

Third helped him regarding his train in the simulation room. She would analyze carefully his actions there, gathering his flaws, and pointing them out to him.

All that train, including the theoretical classes, lasted for sixteen hours. It was a whole day in full-time preparation. Besides, the soldier needed to keep up with his projects in the laboratory, even from far away, so he always stayed working for more four hours after everything ended.

Thankfully, those beds helped so much in his recovery and sleep quality, that four hours of sleep every day could maintain the soldier on his feet throughout the day.

Those were definitely harsh times for Casper, and he wondered if he wouldn’t be leaving that place more destroyed than he was when he entered.

That day, though, Casper wouldn’t be attending the classes and training normally. He was being rated by the teachers, and their feedback would decide if he was prepared or not.

Throughout his usual routine, he felt a different pressure, and the lessons they were passing were being especially difficult that day. He felt more like in an endurance test than in an exam.

However, Casper was fearing just one of the tests they would give to him that day, and after fifteen hours of struggle, he was finally going there.

Most of the Sgails had already finished their trains and were heading to bed already. Their schedule on some days was shorter than Casper’s because they didn’t use the simulation room every day, as it was too tiring for the brain.

The White warrior crossed hastily the corridors he was already well familiar with and entered into that pure white room he had been visiting so often, and that was being the reason for most of his nightmares during that week.

Once he entered there, First, Second and Third were already waiting there for him.

"Hey, Casper. Welcome back." Third spoke, and it lessened his apprehension a little bit.

"Hi, you three." The other two greeted him back without words.

Third seemed to be the only one who would be talking there, so she stepped forward, making Casper pay attention to her.

"Ok, White warrior, that’s your last test. You are well acquainted with how things will go for you and how we will be making it, right?"

The soldier nodded to her, crossing his arms. His neutral expression was just a way to hide his true anxiety.

"We will be taking into consideration all the flaws that were analyzed on you since the first time you entered here. If you die inside the simulation, you will be disapproved. If you make huge mistakes, but even so fulfill your mission, we will be counting your score and see what we will do. Understood?"

He nodded again.

This way, those three left the room.

After some time, the soldier began to walk forward aiming to arrive at the end of that place, who stretched more and more.

Then, the floor broke like glass under his feet and Casper fell into the darkness.