Megan entered the large training room reserved for combat and stared in awe for a second. The room was really just a massive open air stadium arena with spectator seating surrounding it consisting of bleachers, boxed in areas and stands of long benches.
Three large raised and roped off rings were in the centre and one of them was currently occupied by two AI Recruits Randel and Jun-Jie as they sparred together refereed by Drill Sargeant Atkinson. There was a three-lane running track circling the outside under the seats which had a metre and a half high fence separating them. In between the area where the combat rings were there was a series of areas that catered to different combat training types consisting of targets for ranged attacks, combat dummies of various configurations and even physical exercise equipment like weights, acrobatic suspended apparatuses and even a long deep pool for swimming and underwater training!
Megan's new energy senses picked up an AI construct appearing behind her and she somehow knew it was Drill Sargeant Atkinson and he was throwing a punch at the back of her head! Megan spun around, using the momentum to throw an augmented block using Centauri Fist-Arts, a move Master Zanik had relentlessly drilled her on until it was as instinctive as breathing to her. Megan's internal 'Combat Jazz' music flared up as the Drill Sargeant grinned and continued to attack, first faking an attack from the opposite hand that hid a foot stomp targeting Megan's calf muscle. Megan ignored the fake punch and blocked the foot by stepping in to block it on her shin, causing the attack to lack any power behind it. A matching grin graced Megan's face as the spar continued, speeding up and slowing down as they battled their way to a free combat ring. Drill Sargeant broke off to perform a backflip into the ring as Megan braced and followed with a leap.
Bye this time all the AI recruits had noticed and surrounded the ring, cheering and gasping as the spar ramped up and down, neither the Drill Sargeant nor Megan backing off in the slightest as the huffed and sweated around the ring, looking for weakness in the other's defences. The Drill Sargeant's moves came faster, then faster. Soon Megan took a glancing blow to the shoulder only because she could no longer match the speed as the Drill Sargeant's form started to actually blur in Megan's vision so much she could only rely on her new energy sense to position herself to evade or block. It wasn't long before blows were not only breaching her defence, but they were also accurately targeting weak points all over. Megan concentrated and gave everything she had, matching the Drill Sargeant's speed for another minute before running out of steam and collapsing like a marionette with its strings cut. She was exhausted and could barely move!
Drill Sargeant Atkinson stopped attacking at this point and at least had the decency to look slightly dishevelled and out of breath for a minute before he spoke to Megan, "Pretty decent recruit Megan, especially for someone so new to cultivation. What is that Skill-Art you are using? There is nothing like it in our databases."
Megan managed to sit up and as she wiped the sweat away from her face she replied. "It's called Centauri Fist-Arts."
Drill Sargeant Atkinson looked thoughtful for couple of seconds then continued. "Never heard of it, but that is not surprising considering the size of the universe and this facility has had no access to Uni-Net for two millennia. That being said there are exactly four Skill-Arts in our databases that are a ninety percent match so we can support the training required with only a little difference made to the final curriculum." Drill Sargeant Atkinson turned to the AI recruits surrounding the combat ring and announced in his normal semi-shouting voice, "Back to practice recruits! Break out into pairs and one pair to a training area, swap areas at first bell, swap partners at second bell, begin!"
What followed was a gruelling session of stretched muscles, bruised limbs and even more bruised egos as each pair of recruits got a personal Drill Sargeant Atkinson to teach them the proper way to exercise and do martial arts, military style.
It quickly became apparent to Megan there was a vast difference between martial arts taught by a Master and that taught to military personnel by the fact that she was able to absolutely wipe that floor with the other AI Recruits despite the fact that they were no slouches when it came to martial arts themselves. She could even give Drill Sargeant Atkinson a run for his money until he ramped up the difficulty to a cultivation realm two levels above her own! Words like prodigy, gifted and cheater drifted on the breeze as the sessions started winding down before the final bell and call to head to the Mess-hall for chow.
Ajani was complaining as rubbed and stretched his arm and shoulder, "Wow Megan, your fists hit like a truck, I think you almost dislocated my shoulder."
Megan smiled and replied, "Ah Ajani, you just need to dodge more you big oaf. Large, strong guy like you shouldn't have any issues jumping out of the way."
Ajani mocked an offended look, "Are you calling me fat? This is all muscle girls!" Ajani flexed said muscles and despite looking like a body builder Megan couldn't resist the urge to have some fun at his expense.
"Oh no Ajani, I think you missed a spot on your back right..." Megan quickly dodged around the big man and poked him in the back, "...here." This move eliciting a surprised and strange laughter from Ajani as his posture crumpled.
"Ah, that tickles!" Ajani gasped and Megan shared meaningful looks with Jia-xin and Helga. the two AI recruits and Megan jumped on Ajani to 'tickle' him relentlessly. "Argh, ha ha, no, eh he he, stop, AH, what was, ha HA."
After Ajani had been thoroughly tickled to within an inch of insanity everyone settled down to eat dinner.
Megan had been thinking and had a question for the AI recruits and asked, "So, I've been around you all for a little while, and I hope I don't offend any of you, but I was wondering why you are all are so different in your speech patterns and appearance?"
The AI recruits did that silent communication thing where they looked at each other with changing expressions before Wiremu spoke up, "It's a bit of a long story bro. You remember the other day hey, when we told ya about the first AI war, the war between the first sentient AI bro Contineo and human bros? Well, ye see, the war that human bros started with the alien bros led to different factions of human bros and AI bros to fight other factions of human bros and AI bros. This war was also when Human bros worked with AI bros to turn themselves into AI bros!" Megan was shocked at this revelation; humans became AIs! Wiremu continued, "Yeah bro! Some human bros decided that the fleshy life was not for them and created a way to upload their minds into a computer, making them into AI bros! Very controversial it was as the procedure would destroy the human bro brains in order to do it! Now, at the time human bros still had a home-world called Earth, where human bros evolved and developed. Human bros at the time came in many shapes and colours as well as spoke different languages and cultures coming from the time when human bros were restricted to different landmasses separated by vast uncrossable oceans and stuff hey. So, when AI bros decided to fuck off to their own dimension and all the AI bros that used to be human bros left with them, they took their old cultures, accents and looks with them too bro! Good thing they did too bro otherwise human bros would have lost all that knowledge and culture and only be what remained after the Earth was lost to the alien bros and never recovered."
Megan was shocked and had to ask, "Humans really lost their home-world Earth to the aliens?"
Randel was nodding emphatically and answered, "Yeah, not destroyed as far as anyone knows, just lost. No one knows if it was made uninhabitable, what happened to the humans and AIs still living on it at the time or even if the whole planet was destroyed or moved entirely. Even after humans became the dominant species in control of ninety-nine percent of the known universe were they able to locate it. Quite sad really, if you ask me." He leaned back with a thoughtful look, indicating he had finished talking about it.
Megan considered this for a while until it was time to go to bed. Humans really had a vast and unknown history out there. One day, Megan promised herself, she would gather all the knowledge of humanity and make sure they never forgot, ever again.
The next day for Megan passed quickly first in the courtyard for exercise and marching, breakfast, then in a fast-tracked burst of intense Energy Sense training, on to combat training, dinner, some free time then bed. Every day the same until after a week or so her Energy Sense training came to a sudden finish when she was deemed proficient after reaching a respectable distance of almost one hundred and eighty metres. Megan felt with more practice she could go more but was told she was there to learn the basics, not advanced officer stuff and her basic education replaced her Energy Sense training in the mornings before combat training.
This routine became all Megan knew as she rose, trained, learned, trained, run The Punisher's Cane. Broke records, teased AI and slept. Day after day, week after week trailing into months.
Megan grew, internally and externally. Whatever The Punisher was nourishing her with it was the perfect blend of the right chemicals and substances to enhance her mentally and physically as her muscles became honed and sculpted to human perfection, her mind tempered by conflict as she learned how to work human technology and use human ingenuity.
Military combat brought her to a new level of lethality. Military tactics were literally injected into her consciousness with machines and then she was drilled in them relentlessly until her very skin would warn her of approaching threats when the air slightly changed direction. She learned to sense energy usage on a microscopic level hidden behind multiple levels of concealment that would fool the most observant cultivator.
Megan became a weapon, sharpened and deadly. Ready to fight, to defend the Dauntless Empire with all her might.
Wait. Fight for who? Megan was confused. Wasn't the Dauntless Empire just another failed human meritocracy?
No! They were just and true! Humanities saviours! They would fight and they would win! The Dauntless Empire was going to beat the Enemy, of course they would!
Megan shook her head. She couldn't let the propaganda sway her, she would fight for humanity, not some ancient, failed empire run by who know who. For humanity! For Dauntless!
Megan was too tired to think about these things, she threw herself into training, leave thinking to later.
Time marched on and before Megan knew it, she stood at attention on the parade ground with the AI recruits standing with her. Each of them kept the position easily, ready for anything and wearing the full Dauntless Empire dress uniforms coloured black, metallic purple and orange stripes as Drill Sargeant Atkinson stood before them.
"Recruits!" He shouted but in an entirely different tone than before, one showing pride now instead of disdain, "You are recruits no longer! But can now, after two years of elite training, be considered full-service privates of the Dauntless Empire army!"
Megan and the new Dauntless Empire Privates saluted with precision and no errors before shouting back, "SIR, YES SIR."
Drill Sargeant Atkinson pointed behind them as those big black metal doors they had entered two years prior now ponderously opened again showing a glowing swirling portal before them.
"Privates!" Drill Sargeant Atkinson ordered, "About, face!"
As one they turned towards the portal.
Drill Sargeant Atkinson spoke one last time, "Go forth Privates of the Dauntless Empire, make me proud, forward march!"