I found myself in a dark void, red lighting flashing sporadically in different directions. Looking around, I found nothing and touched the lighting with nothing else to do. My fingers tingled from the mana-infused electricity. The feeling was nice and somewhat soothing, but letting my mind relax. The lighting shocked me with a burst of burning electricity. I lunched up in the same gym I was testing in. The gym had scorched marks lining the floor and walls. Rachael was behind Ivan, bleeding from his left arm and back. Joshua was also severely injured. Before anyone could make a sound, I was pushed to the floor with enough force to crack it. A sharp blade was pressed against my back near my core; I could feel a cold liquid at the spot where the sword was. At this point, I assumed it was blood. 

“Please don’t move,” a soft and concerned voice said.

“I really can’t move with a blade pressed against my back,” I responded, trying to lighten the mood.

“Is this you, Ren?” the voice asked, pushing the point deeper into my body.

“Yes, it is; what the hell happened?” I asked, my voice raising and struggling to get up

“What do you mean what happened? You just started shooting lightning bolts at us.” Racheal said, her face scowling as she applied first aid to Ivan. 

“YES YES YES,” Dr.Kirk yelled over the intercom, “This is perfect; despite forming a new core, he has the power to rival a captain.” 

Getting up, I turned behind me to see Elizabeth with her katana and suit on. Her shoulders relaxed, and her eyes immediately turned to Racheal before turning to me and giving me a faint smile. With that whole situation, the testing was over. Immediately, I went to the infirmary to visit Diana; despite getting medical help, she was still in pretty bad shape. The infirmary was about a mile or two from the testing area. The building was nothing impressive, but the interior was out of sci-fi movies. It was all white, with doctors wearing white coats, grey bottoms, and blue and black gas masks covering only the mouth and nose. On the back of the coat was the Jager symbol. Finally arriving at her room, the door to the room was a glass door that slid open when I approached. Her room was medium-sized, with a small TV on the nightstand towards the left of the door. Meanwhile, her bed was to the right of the room, with a chair next to her bed in front of a window. 

Diana was sleeping; her breathing was slow and sporadic. Before sitting, I looked at the device connected to her. It read her normal heartbeat and a mana reader that tests to see if people have mana poisoning. When she first arrived, it was dangerously high, but now it’s somewhat manageable. I sat beside her, watching while taking out a knitting kit. A hobby of mine I learned from my grandma. 

Despite my attempts to distance myself from my squad, I was making a scarf for her with different symbols from her favorite games. I still need to watch over them, but most importantly, Diana. About an hour had passed before she woke up, and I quickly put the scarf and knitting kit away. 

“Ren?” She asked groggily, turning her head.

“Yeah, it’s me again, just checking up on you,” I responded, rubbing my head.

She attempted to sit up, but her arms shook due to her mana poisoning. 

“Take it easy. You’re still recovering,” I told Diana. 

“I’m going to be okay. Also, you don’t need to be here.” She responded while taking a sip of water. 

“I want to be here, but do you need anything?” I said, moving towards the window and opening up the curtains 

“No, but I still don’t understand why you are here. Rachael said you don’t care about anything besides money?” She asked 

Silence for a good thirty seconds. I didn’t know how to respond to that. It was true that the only reason I joined Jäger was because of the money, but the fact that I might be killed because I may be a threat keeps me from getting close to them. 

“I just don't want to hurt anyone,” I stated blankly. 

“So cold, but whatever. If you want to be secretive, then be secretive,” Diana said, her facial expression immediately souring, “but sooner or later, you are going to lower your walls.”

“That might take time. I've only known y’all for a month and a half now,” I responded while taking out a gaming console, “So you want to continue asking me questions, or do you want to play?”

She just smiled at me while snatching a controller from the bed. Diana and I played a fighting game for what seemed like thirty minutes. We started when the sun was still in the air until I could see the moonlight shine through the window. Of the forty games we played, I only beat her five times. 

Packing up the console, Diana talked about her favorite game and how her six brothers constantly beat her during family game night. It was cute to see her gush about video games. Mid-rant, she just stops and starts blushing. 

“Sorry for the rambling,” she said, not making eye contact and playing with her hair. 

“You’re fine, but I have a question,” I responded, “What would you do if you had a core?”

Her face tightened, and for a split second, her naturally friendly eyes had hatred in them. I wonder what happened to her that made her hate monsters so much that the thought of her having a core made her react like this. 

“I don’t know, probably use it to hunt monsters, but no human besides you has a core,” she finally answered, “but to be honest, Ren sometimes is hard looking at you.”

Despite my efforts to close myself off, that statement made my heart hurt. Sensing the tension, she immediately backpedaled, saying, “It’s just that I don’t know how to feel about anyone having a core.”

“Understandable, it’s new, but according to General Elizabeth, they have been researching it,” I informed her before walking towards the door and wishing her good night. I quickly made my way to the research lab. It was a small oval-shaped building near the edge of the base. Inside was a single desk with a receptionist. 

“Hey, do you guess you still have any beast cores intact?” I asked the receptionist, her eyes squinted at me before she typed something on the computer before her. 

“Yes, we do, sir, but it’s only for captain rank and above,” she responded, her voice filled with confusion and hesitation. 

“General Wallace gave me access to the cores. My name is Ren Vespean, and my ID number is 146711,” I told the woman while looking around the lab's main entrance. 

“Umm, okay, the cores are down the hall and in the fourth room to the left,” she handed me a small key card from her desk. 

Quickly, I made my way down the hall. Each room had different monster artifacts or, more accurately, corpses and weapons. One artifact that caught my attention was the tiny little creature that looks like a will-o-wisp. It flashed different colors like RGB lights, but finally reaching my destination, I entered the room housing the cores. There were about six cores, each a dull shade of different colors. I picked up one that was a dull shade of yellow. The core itself was smooth and felt like a gemstone. It was also a perfect sphere, but despite the outward appearance, I wanted to dive deeper into the core. I took about seven deep breaths, and mana slowly poured out of my core and into the yellow core in my hand. The core glowed to life as a bright yellow light flooded the room. I started to feel tired as the mana was drained out of my core, but this time, the core began to crack. I quickly tried to stop the mana, but the core exploded, sending a bright flash of white light into my face like the big bang.

I found myself in a temple shrine-looking area, something straight out of an action movie. In the middle of the shrine was the same glowing will-o-wisp. I walked towards it, my curiosity taking hold of me. The will-o-wisp jumped to life, floating around the entire shrine before flying full force into my body near my core. Scriptures flood my brain along with a vast amount of mana. As more mana rushed into my core, I started to understand mana, but it was incomplete as if only the basic understanding was coming to me. After this, another bright flash of light took me out of the temple and back into the room with the cores. Still, I had enough information to understand my core and possibly allow others to form one. I sat in the room with cores now lightening up with mana. Closing my eyes, I focused on the limited information and tried to apply it. Mana is an energy source used for spells, but overused could be deadly. So, the core must be purified from the different elements like oxygen or blood. 

So, while meditating, I focused on my core and tried to separate the mana particles from everything else. After fifteen minutes, I felt sweat dripping from my face, but I could see my core change from black to copper brown. With the change in my core, I could feel my control over mana more absolutely than before. I no longer forced the mana particles into spells but actively wielded them like my sword or pistols. Wanting to test what changed about my core, I cleaned up the room and exited the building. While walking back to the entrance, the will-o-wisp I saw was no longer there, but I decided to ignore it for now. After leaving the research center, I visited one of the training ranges. Five dummies were lined in a circle around me. I took a deep breath and opened the floodgates of mana from my core to the rest of my body. Black lighting surged off my body, connecting to the ground. 

I condensed the mana into my right hand, which took much less effort than before, but my hand still ached from the amount of mana that rushed to it. Still, I continued to force the mana into my hand, which was now clad in lightning sparks. Feeling my bones shaking from the energy, I slammed my hand into the ground. A shock wave of black electricity dispersed, destroying the dummies around me and knocking some electronics out. A smile plastered on my face. I know my journey to hone my core commenced. 

Joshua Cray

I made my way to General Wallace’s office. It was too quiet as usually there would be loud banging and talking coming from her office as she and the researchers did experiments. Knocking on her door, I entered slowly, just in case I interrupted. The office was a mess with papers scattered everywhere while General Wallace sat at her desk, her hair down and shriveled from possible lack of sleep. I announced myself, and her head shot up with a half smile. 

“Joshua, please sit down,” she told me while setting down some papers.

“You asked for me, general?” I replied with confusion leaking from my mouth. 

“Yes, the council has approved a third attempt to retake Alaska,” she said, handing me an envelope with my name. Opening up the envelope, I read what was now my deployment letter for the strike. 

“This must be a joke, General. They don’t think it would work this time?” I asked her, placing my letter on my lap.

“This is not a joke. You are close to colonel rank, so they want you to be in the lead squad,” she answered, her voice soft and her eyes laced with empathy despite the redness in her eyes. 

“Who’s leading this strike?” I asked reluctantly.

“Colonel Vulpes will be in charge. Unfortunately, the Generals are not going to be involved in this strike,” She replied before handing me a necklace, “I’m sure you would want this for the strike. 

It was the necklace of my late fiance, Lilith, on the second strike to reclaim Alaska. I couldn’t help but laugh at the irony and audacity of the council. 

“Thank you, General. This will be the last strike on that godforsaken island,” I told her.

“Hopefully, it is,” she whispered under her breath.