Chapter 2 Preparations

After Blaze finished his shower he went Virtual and began to browse the net. His search was focused on looking up physical training facilities and a dojo for him to join. His search for a gym took only a few minutes to find a well rated gym that he could join. His search for a dojo however took a lot longer because he never knew that he could gain culture points for studying in a dojo.

Blaze thought ‘Martial arts are considered a cultural medium? Being considered a cultural medium must have saved the job from being effected by the global work draw backs. Wow! Most dojos even have a human teacher. I have never had a real human teach me anything. I can even gain usable culture points for every rank I gain in a form. Now I won’t have to continue painting to get my needed culture points. Lucky!’

Culture points are an expendable commodity that can be used for upgrades to living quarters and for things considered non-necessary for living. This system is how Blaze has acquired most of the decorations in his apartment. This system was implemented to drive non-essential personal into bettering themselves, human culture, and to ensure that humanity did not forget about their past.

Blaze decided to join a dojo called “The Lone Marine” after an in-depth search of local dojos. The deciding factor for Blaze to choose this dojo was the fact that the dojo is taught by a retired space marine. Blaze thought ‘He has been in outer space so should have the needed experience to give me a better shot at survival in the game.’

The dojo did raise some alarms in Blaze’s mind though. Because the amount of gained culture points per each rank were astronomically higher than the normal dojo. The gain of culture points is ranked by the amount of work and hardship the normal person would have to overcome in order to progress. This dojo’s points per rank were ten times the amount of other dojos. That means the training at this dojo was ten times harder compared to other dojos. Even the reviews for the dojo said as much. Most people quit the first day and nick named the dojo “Hell’s Kitchen”. Most reviewers are quoted as saying “Do not join this dojo unless you wish to be eaten alive by a demon.”

Blaze thought ‘I have never really trained before so this might be a bit more than I can handle. No! I will succeed at this dojo no matter what I have to catch up with the guys who are already fit and trained. This program should help me close the gap just a little. So I have to succeed! I only have three months till I need to go and get my Mana injection. I have to train as hard as I can till then.’

With his path decided Blaze logged off from the net, set his alarm, and crawled into bed. Early tomorrow he planned to join his chosen dojo and take his first steps along his new path to the stars and space ship ownership.

The next day at 6 AM sharp Blaze arrived at The Lone Marine dojo to begin his training. The dojo was designed on one side to look like a modern gym building with plenty of windows and a practice shooting range and on the other side it was designed to look like an ancient Japanese dojo that had many weird machines for training setup out in front of the building under an overhang. The contrasting architecture of the building and the weird machines in the court yard caused Blaze to have to look twice at everything. While he was looking at everything his jaw had dropped unconsciously causing him to look like one of those comical anime characters that just had their soul leave their body after a shocking experience.

Standing at the side door to the modern section of the dojo is a short red headed common looking girl. Her age looks to be the same as the young man standing at the front gate of the dojo doing a comedy skit of losing his soul. The boy’s expression then cleared but he then started to have robotic jerky head motions. Mixed with his facial expression of going from horror to acceptance and back again was very comical. She was laughing on the inside and was wondering ‘How much longer can he last before he runs off with his tail tucked between his legs? He looks good and seems to be funny. I hope he recovers. It might be fun to have him join the dojo.’

The girl did not notice the side door she was standing at open allowing a tall built older gentleman with white hair who was wearing a workout uniform exit beside her. The old quietly said to his granddaughter “What do you think Mandy. Will he run or try and join us here at the dojo?”

Mandy said “I hope he makes it. He looks nice and he is funny. I think it could be fun to have him around.”

Mandy’s grandpa looked at her sternly for a second. Then softened his gaze for his only surviving

family member and said “You know I can’t go easy on him.” Then motions to Blaze and says “If he is having that kind of reaction to just seeing the beginning training grounds I doubt he will even step foot into the court yard.”

Mandy replied “I know grandpa but I still hope he does succeed. It is boring around here without anyone to train with or talk to that is my own age.”

Mandy’s Grandpa was just about to respond that she should go out with some friends for

socializing when he noticed the slightest change in the atmosphere around the young man at the gate. A feeling of determination was beginning to radiate from the young man. The young man abruptly stopped looking around and focused his eyes on the veteran marine. When their eyes meet the old marine saw determination and a burning passion. That passion almost eclipsed the old marines own aura and he thought ‘This kid is interesting let’s see if his determination is as strong as it seems to be.’

Mandy’s Grandpa quietly said “Mandy please get the basic course ready. It looks like that young man will be coming in after all.”

Mandy hesitated a second because she had not seen or felt the change coming from the young man at the gate. She missed the change because she was looking at her Grandpa while talking and not the young man. Once she regained her sense she looked over and the young man was defiantly walking their way. She smiled and skipped a little to get the basic course ready extra quick before the young handsome man lost his nerve to train here.

Blaze saw the red headed girl skip off towards the training area and misunderstood the situation and began to think ‘If she is a pupil and can survive using the crazy training machines that resemble torcher machines from the middle ages then I should be just fine.’ Blaze continued on his path to the older man wearing a work out uniform and when he was within arm’s reach he stuck out his hand and introduced himself

Blaze “Hello sir my name is Blaze Archlight. Are you the owner and teacher of this dojo?”

Grandpa shook Blaze’s hand and said “Yes I am the owner and master here. My name is Grant Smith. How can I help you?”

Blaze “I have come to train at your dojo if you would have me? I plan on playing the new game Space Explorers to help me realize my dreams and thought that it would be a good idea to train in self-defense and fighting skills while I wait. I only have three months I can dedicate to combat training right now because I have to get other things prepared for the game.”

Grant thought ‘In all my 85 years I have never heard such a crazy reason for wanting to train. Most people want to learn because they are being bullied or want to bully someone else. Heck if the kid was being bullied I might have even gone easy on him. But this kid actually wants to train because of a game. Well as long as he is not going to hurt others I have to train him no matter the reason. I would lose my cultural license if I didn’t. I am defiantly not going to make this easy on him though.’

Grant smiled like a devil that just made a contract for a new soul and said “Certainly I can help you train. We practice Krav Maga, Judo, marine one handed style laser sword fighting, and for small firearms training. We also have a shooting range and obstacle course. Training is open from 6 AM till 4 PM. What styles would you like to try?”

Blaze seeing the diabolical smile of a devil almost ran away but then he hardened his resolve and answered “I will do them all. I will need to be as prepared as I can be for the game.”

Grant hearing the response from Blaze thought ‘Well it seems you might be looking down on my dojo. Alright, you want the full course instead of the basic I can defiantly accommodate you with that. I will be free to relax by lunch then.’

Grant yelled over to Mandy and said “Change of plans this young man needs to get strong quick so instead of the basic course we will be going with the full course. Please see to setting it up for us Mandy please.”

Mandy hearing the new directions knew what the full course meant and looked down and simply responded with a “Hai”

A young man’s screams could be heard coming from the dojo a short time later. Simple phrases like “I am going to die!” and “Urgh!” accompanied with soft thuds were common place. However, when lunch time came and went new sounds were heard and new phrases of “Stop shooting at me!” and even oddly enough “A freaking missile launcher are you serious!”. These new shouts were accompanied with even louder booms and bangs.

The sounds coming from the dojo continued for weeks on end. Till three months later a young man was seen leaving the dojo compound. He looked beat up and his cloths were torn. But his eyes said it all. He had the eyes of a predator now and his movements are far more graceful and refined than the time when he walked into the dojo compound.

Blaze was limping and hurt. However, Blaze’s thoughts are far removed from his pain ‘That old devil man decided to lock me up inside that crazy dojo for THREE months. He said it was for training purposes. However, I know that crazy fool was just trying to make me be more motivated for my rank up tests because I would need the points for my move to The Space Exploration Institute branch in Columbus. Luckily I passed his crazy rank up tests though and I can now move on to my second major preparation objective. If I had failed and been held back because of that old geezers medaling I would have taken that missile launcher he loved to torment me with and would have blasted more than powder rounds at him. I only have a day left now to move all my stuff and sign up at the Institute to be in the first round trials.’

Blaze moved thru the streets of Cleveland like a man chased by the hounds of hell and made it home in a record time for him even with his limping. At the door to his apartment he scanned in and went onto the net and ordered housing and a droid moving service to come pick up his things. He also planned his trip to Columbus while he was logged in. He planned to take the Tram from Cleveland to Columbus. The trip would only take fifteen minutes and the Institute was only another five minute walk from the Tram so with delays and early morning congestion taken into account he should be able to be at the Institute with more than an hour before the first clinical trials began hopefully giving him a spot at the beginning of the line for the trial.

Blaze thought ‘To bad I don’t have more culture points because if I did then I wouldn’t have to move. But transportation costs too many points and I have to undergo a physical checkup once a week after my injection so the easiest solution is to just move closer to the Institute for my checkups.’ Blaze logged out of the net, set his alarm, and passed out in a bed he had not slept on in over three months.

The next morning Blaze arrived at the institute according to his schedule to find a large sea of humanity in the courtyard of the branch office. Though there was a line indicator for Mana Injection trials only a few people seemed to be standing in the line. Blaze moved through the masses and walked straight into line. Blaze knew why everyone was sitting back and not in line. So he was not confused when a few people gasped at him joining the line.

Blaze thought ‘Yes I know! Historically speaking it is better to wait and not be in the first test line of an experiment. But I have already survived that hell training and I will not back down from this either. I will move on and continue to get stronger and better all for my goals.’

The wait was short the line started moving thirty minutes early because we needed to be scanned and receive a checkup so that the researchers could have a baseline understanding of our health. Another requirement for being a Mana Injection candidate was to send your whole medical history data to the Institute. After all the candidates were scanned and checked only thirty people remained out of fifty.

Blaze and the rest of the candidates after their checkups are then sent into a large observation room with beds. A male doctor then tells the candidates that the survivors will be staying here in confinement for one week after we receive our injections for public safety concerns. If nothing abnormal shows up in scans a week from now then we will be free to go on and continue to live our lives with our droid maid/observer companion. He then had thirty Halo screens float up in front of each candidate with a list on it. The list seemed to have over a hundred different possible powers that were associated with a formula number.

The male doctor then said “Choose which formula you would like to be injected with. The description field shows what type of powers manifested in our animal test subjects and it might be the same for you.”

Blaze read through the whole list of possible powers and refined down his choices to three separate formulas that might give him an advantage in the game. He automatically removed any super powers from his list because Mr. Ming in his address said magic powers would be beneficial for the game not super powers.

Formula # 1133 High chance of magic spell use. Subjects disintegrated 15% of the time.

Formula # 1252 Mana energy manipulation powers in most cases. Subject disintegration rate of 15%

Formula # 1686 High chance of spell usage and mana manipulation in all surviving subjects. Disintegration rate is 50%

Blaze decided to try out Formula # 1686 it had the largest documented gains. Of course it also came with the largest risk but he was felling lucky today. Once he sent his formula request via Halo selection to the male doctor Blaze was lead to an empty room with only a chair in it. A female lab tech was holding onto a power injector visibly shaking. On the floor in the room was a medium pile of ashes. Blaze knew what her shaking and the pile of ashes meant but still strolled up to the lab tech and stuck out his arm.

Blaze then looked at the nice looking female lab tech and said “Don’t worry everything will be ok. We chose to be here and to take this chance.”

The lab tech in a daze said “They have all just turned into ashes. Every single one I have injected.”

Blaze “Then I will be the first to survive. Go on.”

The lab tech blinked a few times and took a few deep breaths then went to a shuttered window in the wall and grabbed a blue vial out with the numbers 1686 and the name of Blaze Archlight on the tube. She asked Blaze “Is this your formula number and name?”

Blaze simply answered “Yes.”

The lab tech took another calming breath then whispered “Don’t you dare die on me.” As she spoke she pulled back on the trigger to the injector and the blue vial quickly emptied into Blaze’s arm.

Blaze felt extremely hot as soon as the vial became empty. His vision began to dim as well. Blaze instinctively knew that if he passed out and gave into the heat then he would die. This was just like the first days with that crazy old devil man. If Blaze passed out during his training he would find himself in situations where he could only wish for death. Blaze learned to maintain conciseness even if he was being hit with high quality Taser rounds.

While Blaze was fighting to stay alive with his conciseness just hanging on by a thread his body began to collapse. Blaze fought against collapsing but he lost that fight and the lab tech had to catch Blaze before he hit the ground. She then began to yell for help. Blaze felt like he has been fighting against this heat for an eternity when he felt something new through the pain and heat. What he felt were strong hands grabbing onto him and carrying him somewhere else. Blaze used this physical contact to help ground himself to life. Blaze then felt himself being lowered into what felt like a bed. Mercifully the heat and pain left his body soon after he was placed in bed. Exhausted from this new near death experience Blaze fell asleep quickly once he felt he was safe.

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AN: I am trying to figure out the tables and links for moving between chapters. Also this will be the last chapter for a few more days because I have real life things to attend with. I think I should be able to post another chapter by Thursday night. I hope you enjoy the chapter and would appreciate any feed back on my current project.

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