Tales of Soldier

Chapter 4 Part 2

Basic Training Arc

Oh shit! Oh shit! Not again.
 

For the past months, every time Tang Long saw the whip, he knew it is lecture hour, the dreaded “Tactical and Command” lecture.

Fuck, I don’t get it, really, I am an infantry. I mean, it is normal, and ok, for me to learn about combat and spycraft. But tactics, stratagem, and command? Ain’t those things only taught in the Strategic Studies of the Joint Staff in the Federation Officer Academy?

Sometime, for the sake of his brain cell and sanity, Tang Long speaks out loud the question he had on his mind. But the reply from the drill instructor was,

*whip,
*whip,
*whip.

“Cadet Tang Long, if your aim is not to be a General, then you are deemed as a mediocre soldier. Do you wish to become an Admiral, or you are just wanted to be a lame ass soldier forever?” Reply the instructor coldly.

“Sir, Yes Sir. Sir I wish to be the Supreme Commander, Sir” Tang Long reply with a military salute, the whip does have a long-lasting effect on him.

Hearing what Tang Long has to say, the green light in the instructor’s eye dimmed slightly, then brightens up rapidly. It was hitting the whip’s heel knot against the palm of its hand. “If your goal is to be Supreme Commander, then you will to work extra hard and learn the knowledge of command and tactical. You can’t even command a single soldier with your current pathetic level!”

Tang Long respond with gusto, but the expression quickly shifted to a painful one. (͡͡͡͡T̼̼̼̼̼̼̼̼̼̼̼̼̼̼̼̼̤̤̤̤̤AT̼̼̼̼̼̼̼̼̼̼̼̼̼̼̼̤̤̤̤̤̤͡͡͡͡͡)

“Sir! Sir, is not that I don’t want to study hard. But, those words, words, they just bounce off my eye, make it sore, made my head spins. I can barely look at it, let alone learn it.”

“From now until graduation, with the exception of routine physical training, Cadet Tang Long are required to study about commands and tactics, full time!” Ignoring whatever excuse or moaning Tang Long came up with and left the room.

Oh my god! Help me the almighty god of the universe!

Tang Long was crying for help while maintaining a peaceful expression. He stood still, dumbfounded and stunned by what the instructor just said to him.

*kick

Tang Long was knocked in front by the drill instructor that was standing next to him. It shouted, “Don’t stand there like a doll. Move your ass. Now!”

*Sigh….

What a shit luck I am in.

Realizing what he was going to get, Tang Long walk like all the energy was completely drained from him by the vampiric words of the command and tactics textbook.

He was prepared, to face the worse enemy of his life. Then he was lead to one of the door.

Huh?

Tang Long was wondering if his eyes has betrayed him.

Huh??

Tang Long wondered, if he was still dreaming

Huh?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

This was because…

Why are we in the gaming room?

Oh no!!!!! They are going to destroy the gaming pods in front of me. Let me witness with my own eye.

Tang Long assumed the worst.

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo…

The lead instructor walked towards one of the walls and randomly touched one spot.

*split

A door opened up, revealing a smaller room, inside there are 6 identical and brand spanking new spherical pod. Tang Long knew immediately by the looks that those are gaming pod, and from the looks of it, they are top-shelf pod.

Wuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu……
(✿☉｡☉)

Jaw dropped, for as long as he knew, Tang Long did not knew there was such a secret place existed in the entertainment chamber. Looks like Tang Long had return all the knowledge he learnt from the spycraft back to the drill instructor.


“Cadet Tang Long.”

“Sir, Sir Yes Sir!” this had become a reflex for Tang Long.

The lead instructor was happy with Tang Long’s response and posture, it pointed at the game pod, “This is the latest MMORPG pod, the game is called ‘Warfare’, for the next few months, you will be spending your time inside, learning about command and tactics. This is your classroom now.”

Tang Long’s spirit seems to be fully rejuvenated, and some more to spare, knowing that he can play game full time. 

୧| ” •̀ ل͜ •́ ” |୨

He rushed to the nearest pod, stroke gently on the surface as if it was his most precious possession.

“Aniki, what is this. This is the latest you say? How does it work? And, and the game ‘Warfare’, what is the game about? Is it a new release?? Ouch! Arrrrrrrrrr........................What the hell?!” Tang Long suddenly screamed.

Because he was electro-whipped. Elated until forgotten his form, Tang Long turned around and…

Opss….
Almost…
All the curse word was halted at the border customs of his mouth.

“What did you call us just now? Aniki? You think you are in heibang?^ You think we are mafia?” The head instructor spoke, menacingly while, its green light eye intensified.

^heibang - 黑帮, or Traid, or Yakuza.

*whip *whip
 

Ouuuuuuch!

This was how Tang Long converse on the web. Old habit died hard.

“Sir, Sorry Sir. Sir I would like to know how this thing operates. Sir that was a stupid mistake sir. Sir I am ready to receive punishment. Sir.” Tang Long clearly understand their little ticks. If he apologized immediately and owned up to the mistake, the severity of the coming punishment will be minimized.

And, that was what Tang Long had speculated. The whipping ceased.

*fzzzzzz
The entrance to the pod opened. “Go inside, the computer will instruct you what to do.”

Tang Long was very eager to play the game that he is not even mad or wanted to cuss his instructor, after the salute, he stepped into the pad in a hurry. The equipment and the aesthetics are simple, yet it felt sophisticated. A very comfortable chair, pair of e-glove and a full VR helmet. That was all there were, there are nothing else, no button, pulleys, joysticks, whatsoever.

“Ok, so there a VR helmet, and a pair of e-glove. So now what?” Tang Long was wondering around looking for clues.
 

*fzzzzzzz

The door behind gently shuts off, before the door completely close, Tang Long saw a glimpse that few of his instructors was the sitting on the gaming chair – there are no need for them to use any human-computer interface like VR helmet. “No kidding, my sirs are going to play the game with me?”



When the door completely shuts off, the inside of the pod became pitch dark as there are no light source. The Tang Long before, would have panicked and maybe started to shout or even fainted, but after a month long in the Shinigami game “Teror”, Tang Long just go and sit on the chair and donned the helmet and the e-glove.

Once the helmet was on, Tang Long immediately notice the helmet. The construction felt solid, the way it hugged the face felt nice, it is way more comfortable. The material that touches the face felt soft, sort of a jelly-like and it is slightly colder than the environment. Even though the construction felt solid, it does not felt heavy, actually it felt light, very light. 

. 

.  

.
*Dark 

. 

.  

.
*Still in darkness.
. 

. 

. 

( -_・)?

Tang Long was tracing his finger around the helmet, trying to find some kind of on/off switch. But what he found was a web of wires, no button. 

God dammit, how do I on this damn thing.

A dot of white light appeared, multiple dots of white light starting to appeared around Tang Long.

Right. I am among the stars. 

It is beautiful. The graphic card must be expensive. 

Wow, this must’ve been a new technology, the graphic is every nice, it looked so real.

New type of graphical engine? 

How long was I here? Few months max?

Wow I am really disconnected with the outside world, I did not knew that the gaming industry are progressing in leaps and bounds. Someone had a breakthrough, perhaps?


Tang Long was really immersed in the graphics, and admiring the creator.

A sweet calming female voice went into his ear. 

“Welcome, to ‘Warfare’. To control, navigate, and play the game, all you need to do is think about it. There are only a few circumstances when your e-glove is needed. Most of the command can be executed by through only. This is your 1st login, please enter your player’s name.”

A keyboard and an input box appeared in front of Tang Long. “23TL” was the name Tang Long had chosen when he played any game in the 23rd.

*23TL 

*Confirm?  

*Confirmed.

*Loading…

A spaceship appeared infront, Tang Long was looking at her from her port side.

*stare

*stare

Wow, the graphic is dope as fuck, that was normal, but the details. Very detailed, the lighting and the sensory…wow.

DLSS? Ray Tracing? FidelityFX?

The female voice continues, “This is your ship and you are the captain. Ship length is 500 meters, width is 150 meters, 20 main cannons, 100 auxiliary cannons, no missile tube, and aircraft incapable, complements are 2000, Class C.”

Tang Long was besotted by the view of his spaceship, quietly listening to the explanation.

“What the hell, is there some sort of mistakes? This is a Class C? Federation Class C spaceship is several kilometers in length, with complements of tens of thousands, several thousands of main cannons, and carries several tens of thousands of various types of missiles on board. What he hell is the developer thinking?” Tang Long was booing with anger after listening to the explanation.

*puuu

The female voice let out a burst of laugh.

“Hehe, this is how the setting in game. Class A spaceship ranked the lowest, while Class Z ranked the highest. Class Z is 10 kilometers plus plus, with main and aux cannon racked up at tens of thousands. Oh, right, before I forget, this game supports 1 billion users, simultaneously and across the universe. Each player comes with 1 spaceship, Player can join guild, play as lone wolf or build a hierarchy of chain of commands. The game supports all types of warfare simulation, including guerilla warfare.”



+
Tang Long was impressed, yet again, by the quality of the game. As a hardcore gamer, he knew that even the most sophisticated gaming hardware that he knew of, can only support 1 million users simultaneously, not across universe, but only across several galaxies or star systems. And when the servers are in full capacity, the response was so lagged that they had to zone it. But now, according to the game, it looks like this game can support up to 1 billion users simultaneously, and without the need for zoning. This company had some serious technology going on in terms of graphic, connection speed and just raw processing power.
+

But Tang Long, being him, was blinded by one of the most significant events that happened before his eye, the game itself.

By the way,
The AI laughed.
The AI laugh, then gave a human response to Tang Long’s enquiry, with changes in tonality and all sorts human twitches. There was never a game where the AI will say things such as “oh before I forget”, because this was troublesome to program every little small tick or expression change. And even if he notices, he will just chunk it to the effort and marvel of the game developers.

+
The game loading and landing was actually programmed correctly, but with the exception of everyone in the 23rd, where their loading into the game guided by a “dear friend” of theirs’.

Tang Long had a special AI with him, and the rest of the 5 androids were connected directly into the system without the needs of hardware or graphical user interface. Because the main goal of the 5 was not to play the game, but to teach Tang Long about tactics and commands through the game.
+

Hi reader, really sorry for the slow work. My entire gf family get infected with COVID-19 while she was with me. So, we become the DHL, the Grab Food for them while, at the same time, making sure that we dont get infected by COVID-19.

For all of you reader, stay healthy. 

I will drop Part 4 as soon as possible.