The following 9 days would be repeated, the VR fighting changed each day with increasing difficulty and if failed would have another crack at it the next day.
What made it harder was the fact that they hadn't slept since they started and in Andrei's case it had been longer since it was basically a nap he took that last night. They were all having their own types of hallucinations to where day 10 was the limit any species could go without sleep.
All of them had taken naps at some point over the 10 days but never longer than 15 minutes Master Chief Hood was on top of it as well as the other sergeants who would replace Hood so he could sleep.
Hood would return as soon as he woke to assume command of their training. He did not have a family or anyone to speak of, he had his job and he did it to the best of his ability. Seeing that a squad was coming through that was actually beating all metrics of even the excellence of past squads that are still active and are some of the best in the military, made him start to wonder why he was doing what he did.
In short Andrei was making Hood want to follow. The conversation about Henry and Goombi was not a normal conversation for him. He couldn't agree more but had grown numb to the usual rhetoric which would have been the squad either complaining about the sub par abilities of their teammates or just being assholes to the weaker individuals.
Andrei caring and communicating the tactical disadvantage of taking them into that situation and how they would have been left behind defending the return portal or not even gone to that planet, was making Hood believe he might have found a different purpose and that was to work for Andrei.
Hood had grown accustomed to watching teams fail over and over as their bodies broke down from exhaustion and the stress that they were putting to the limit. What he hadn't grown accustomed to was waking up and being excited to see what Andrei might do today.
Day 11 was a day of rest which most used to sleep. They all needed it and it was custom for day 11 to have nothing on the schedule. 20 hours passed since they finished and all of them felt like they were brand new. Each of them while sleeping was given a focaine drip to heal any and all injuries that might have been sustained as well as help recover their bodies.
Andrei had a slightly different experience as his profile page showed through his body a green liquid moving around. He concentrated on the green liquid and it started to form in a pouch just behind the rib cage.
[New Passive learned: "Internal Focaine"]
["Internal Focaine" gives the user passive regenerative ability that when injured "Internal Focaine" will be the first responders automatically healing injured areas.]
YAHTZI! Andrei thought, there is that word again, but seriously he now has an automatic heal! Andrei was thinking more and more whatever Sam gave him might actually be the key.
Day 12 was their first excursion as a unit offworld. They would be taking a portal to a planet that had only a small shelter around the portal and the rest of the planet was left as a hunting ground. They had used this planet for centuries as the beast cores that were harvested were some of the best available for each tier. Elemental humanoid beasts roamed the planet and getting their beast cores would be a great boost to anyone's collection of armor and weapons.
The planet was known as SPRU's training ground and also for elite travelers to go on an adventure. The planet had nicknames but never received an official name since the shelter is so small everyone just refers to it as P113, which is the original designation given to it on the Galaxy map.
To everyone's surprise they were greeted by Master Chief Hood in the portal room before departing. They were told he only worked the 10 day training of SPRU so they were confused why he was standing in the portal room decked out in his best beast armor.
"Permission to join Death Squad!" He saluted Andrei and the group. Andrei smiled and gave the only response anyone would ever say "Permission granted!". Andrei went to shake his hand and then asked "What made you decide on joining us?".
Charles scratched his chin contemplating how to word the response correctly. "I have done this specific job for a long time and you are the first group to ever get me excited about what the next day might bring. From this day forward I want to be a part of that excitement, plus you need an experienced advisor at minimum in your squad since all of you are under 10 cycles, I am about to be 40."
Andrei wasn't expecting that answer but was fine with it as he couldn't think of any reason to deny the Master Chief from joining. Charles looked at Henry and Goombi and said "You two are going to be staying at the shelter for this run. You're going to be our eyes and ears as we will be taking a scout drone that can be operated remotely. At some point we are going to want to recruit someone with Telepathy but we can use earpieces to communicate."
"Don't worry I have a telepath joining once she is done with University." Andrei replied automatically not realizing no one other than Julia and Mini knew who he was talking about. Sophia was the one to inquire, feeling a ping of jealousy that he had a girl waiting for him. Andrei then realized most of them did not know he had triplet sisters and feeling a little embarrassed for not explaining it correctly he then told them about how Julia had 2 identical sisters that one is a telepath and other can change matter at the atomic level. Both were in university but both were going to be joining Andrei and Julia when they graduated. The guys looked at Julia and realized there were two identical versions of her out there, they each had their own thoughts about that situation.
Andrei saw the faces on the guys all looking at Julia and realized what they were thinking about and to distract them he told them they needed to move to the portal to head out. They lined up and went through and arrived on the planet at night time. There were lights lit around the shelter and the portal had them out in the center of the grounds. They cleared out quickly in case someone else was porting in then orientated themselves with the structures.
There were the standard forger stalls and beast core registration. There were food and clothing stalls that had quite unique looking outfits. Most of what was here was created by the planet's resources so the outfits were common on the residents. They found the local Inn and received the keys assigned to their rooms that were reserved for SPRU training teams.
Henry and Goombi set up the station to run the drone and communication center in the room they shared. Everyone gathered in that room to receive their earpieces and to go over the plan. They wanted to spend the next three days hunting for enough beast cores to upgrade each of them with the advanced tier beasts that were prevalent on the planet. They were going to divide into three groups of five with each of them going out of the shelter in different directions as there was known beasts with fire to the north and lightning to the south, the water and nature elemental beasts were scattered throughout and there were many wind beasts in the air that the drone had to make sure to stay clear of.
Julia, Poco, Loco, Edwin and Surany made up team Charley. Flen, O, Jiks, Lily, and Airwrecka made up team Beta. Which left Andrei, Hood, Sophia, Mini, and Hook as team Alpha. Alpha was going to take the central path and also be the responding unit to back up if an Epic or an overwhelming amount of Advanced beasts are stumbled upon.
Before departing the room Andrei pulled out his longsword and "Overlord" was casted on the group. It also leveled up when he did so and was able to learn "Field Tactician" which then casted that on the group.
[New Skill level learned: "Overlord" LVL 3]
["Overlord" now gives a 25% increase to Spirit, Stamina, and Health Points. Skill buff lasts for 3 hours]
[New Skill unlocked: "Field Tactician" LVL 1]
["Field Tactician" gives all users a 25% increase to Agility. When standing within 30 yards of another user with "Field Tactician" active will give each user a 1% increase to all stats per user. Can chain to exceed 30 yards.]
That last part of the chaining together had Andrei thinking about how that might be utilized so when they had exited the shelter he asked Mini to go 30 away knowing her mech could space it out perfectly. He asked Sophia to stand where Mini was and then asked mini to go another 30 yards forward and to let him know if she could feel the field tactician boost drop when she moved forward. She could not feel any different so she stepped to about 32 yards and her body felt slightly slower. She caught on to what was happening and moved back to 30 yards and she felt the quickness return to her.
Mini was 60 yards from Andrei but was getting the boost from Andrei, so he explained to the group how that worked so they could understand the feeling, they all traveled outside of the 30 yards of Andrei and each other to know what the feeling was in case it happens in a more dire circumstance.
Alpha headed out and Andrei communicated to the other group about how in 3 hours they would slow down and the knowledge they just learned about the group staying within 30 yards but can extend it. Andrei was just about to finish when he felt his leg start purring.
Not far from off from the path they were currently traveling Andrei saw what appeared to be a child. Andrei was not sure if the shelter had let a kid out or someone was being irresponsible but he turned and started heading towards the area he saw the small figure.
The four others were a little confused because they did not see anything and seeing Andrei just head off in a different direction without saying a word made them all a little worried. Andrei hadn't pulled out a weapon or raised his shield, he just suddenly changed direction and was walking cautiously towards a cave.
The purring in his leg intensified and suddenly LaLa was out in her form pointed in the entrance as if to say go this way. Mini was the only one who even knew about LaLa so seeing the kitten got a reaction out of all of them. "Aww look at the kitten! She is so cute!" Sophia exclaimed and LaLa seeing the reaction of Sophia hopped onto Andrei's shoulder and then onto Sophia's, laying onto her shoulder started purring. Sophia not knowing LaLa or what was going on was head over heels with the kitten on her shoulder.
"Can I keep her?!" The excitement couldn't be contained by Sophia, that is when Mini interjected with "LaLa is Andrei's familiar". All of them stopped in their tracks as they had no idea what she just said. Mini seeing that they all looked confused she continued "Familiars are spirits of planets according to some. They protect and maintain a planet from devastation and sometimes if they meet someone with their same goals they align themselves and protect that individual. LaLa protects Andrei at all times so if you have ill intent towards him and she senses it you will probably be dead before you know it."
Hood was now staring at Andrei with his mouth even more open. This guy attracted a supernatural bodyguard? This is going to be the best decision I have ever made, Hood was contemplating. His train of thought was only broken by Andrei.
"LaLa appeared and pointed to go into the cave, she has never done that so I say we go since Mini believes LaLa wants to protect us." Andrei told the group and they headed in. They didn't go too far before they hit the end and there was a small humanoid figure sitting there.
LaLa jumped off of Sophia's shoulder and walked up to the figure and started rubbing against its leg and purred loud enough to echo in the cave. The humanoid figure bent down slowly and petted the kitten. Andrei ran his "Identify" on it and it was similar to LaLa.
"Standard Elemental Prince of Uguno" which Andrei spoke out loud, Hood turned to Andrei with "What did you just say?" Andrei repeated the title and the small figure produced a fiery smile. Its eyes were glowing similar to Andrei's longsword and Andrei decided to try to say something. "Are you a Prince of Uguno?" The elemental figure continued to smile but started walking to Andrei. They all instinctively took a step back not sure what the figure was about to do. LaLa could be felt purring again and Andrei thought maybe this is another familiar so "Tame Beast" was his next command and the purring intensified.
The figure disappeared and suddenly "Thank you for bringing me and LaLa, that's a good name by the way, back together again." The rest of the group gasped as the familiar appeared to envelop and disappear into Andrei.
"Call me Prince" Andrei heard in his head. "By the way your friend is completely wrong, we aren't spirits of a planet, we are the guardians of life and we need to find the others. The five of us together will guarantee your ascendancy to be a god."
"Also there is a world of familiars but we are more than what they are, they are in fact offspring of us would probably be the best way to describe it."
"Any idea where to start?" Andrei asked Prince.
"That is why I am here, I sensed a disturbance but it appears I was late and haven't been able to find anything. I was about to head out and I sensed LaLa and knew she was with you. I figured it would be easiest to lure you in here to the cave so we could meld."
"Also as we find the rest each of us will increase in power. You will see that LaLa is larger and more powerful and I have grown myself despite you having no idea what I can do." Prince informed Andrei.
LaLa jumped back out and was no longer a kitten, she was easily twice the size of her previous form. Her eyes now glowed like Prince's and her claws though small had the same glow. Prince appeared and he was also larger and was now showing hair with the same glow of elemental power.
["Intermediate Priestess Lioness of Hathin named LaLa"]
["Intermediate Prince of Uguno named Prince"]
The four others not privy to the conversation had no idea what was going on and Hook let out a shriek. LaLa then hopped back onto Sophia and the group relaxed realizing that they were both not going to attack.
Prince then spoke to the group. "Hello, I am Prince. That there is LaLa and the two us are spirits of this galaxy. Andrei is very special and it's on all of us to protect him at all costs. There are three others that we need to find and when we do all of us will grow in power."
The group then headed out of the cave and Henry's voice was heard on their earpieces. "Hey you guys are ok? If you're fine head south two miles as quickly as you can. Team Charley is under heavy attack."
They all rushed off at a full sprint. They soon could hear the combat going on and thankfully didn't run into anything on the way.
Then they came across the scene and it was intense. Five Fire elemental humanoid beasts that spewed fire out its arms and mouth. They had four arms that would burn anything they touched. The arms were also resilient and would block the attacks. Their heads were round like an ancient stove that would hold fire with flames spewing out the top. The back had a line of flames going down it that looked like molten lava swirling.
Edwin's extinguisher attack was holding them back but most other attacks were not doing much. Loco and Poco doing their twin power would also keep those that moved forward when Edwin was aiming elsewhere. Julia's scimitar just seemed to be cancelled out and she was still learning her other fire powers but fire seemed to be absorbed by the creature so she resorted to defending.
Prince and LaLa did not hesitate and quickly took on the closest fire beast. LaLa slashed the back of the beast and the mutli-colored claws left behind multi-colored lines and the beast's back and it let out a massive roar wildly swinging backwards at the feline.
Prince created an elemental katana out of thin air and skillfully chopped off all four arms. Then attacked the legs and the katana sliced through the beast like butter. LaLa finished it off and grabbed the beast core and returned to Andrei. Prince noticed this action and remembered that those cores were useful for mortals and made note to show Andrei later.
Sophia quickly ran past the dead fire beast and went to Charley, to start healing them. They all had at minimum some burns and were getting tired. Andrei popped "Overlord" on them as it had been three hours since they left. Charley got a boost so they joined back into the fighting.
Mini was in flight and swooping down trying to slice the head off the beasts. Jiks found out her sleep skill did not work but she was able to use her skills with nature to grasp the legs and make one immobile. Adding poisons to the grasp was causing the beast to roar a fiery growl.
Andrei had taken the last beast on himself but he also had Fluffy and Clone. Andrei decided he was going to try to tame this beast and had opened up with the skill "Tame Beast". Fluffy was growling at the beast as it was moving forward. The clone and Fluffy were circling the beast who kept its fiery gaze locked on Andrei.
[New Pet Tamed: Fire Elemental of Uguno]
[Pet Slot 2/2]
[Give "Fire Elemental of Uguno" a name?]
Burny and Fluffy! Andrei thought and Burny's clone appeared and the four of them did a little dance. Prince and LaLa had continued on and taken out the beast that Poco and Loco had been fighting.
Surany witnessing Andrei tame the fire beasts that they were attacking thought maybe this is the one she should try to get. Edwin was fighting it and Surany calmly stood next to Edwin and explained her plan in a simple sentence. "This beast is mine to tame" and Edwin broke off his attack and turned to everyone else to say don't but no one was currently in range or paying attention to them.
The beast attacked and knocked Surany back and she knew she wasn't strong enough to tame it. "It's not working!" She exclaimed and Edwin stepped in between with his shield and resumed attacking. That is when she saw a large bird circling high in the sky, a large bird that appeared to be made of flames.
She didn't realize but she was still sending her ability out of her eyes and she was slowly taming the bird. A loud screech sounded from above which made everyone who wasn't looking at the last battle now pay attention. The red flame of a bird dove out of the sky and came crashing down at an immense speed.
Edwin felt the strength of the beast pushing against the shield completely disappear and when he looked around his shield he saw a bird of fire standing there looking him in the eye then cocked its head to the side and then took flight landing on Surany's shoulder.
She hadn't realized that taming a beast was also one that would benefit from the eyesight meaning she easily tamed an epic aerial beast while failing to take an advanced tier land beast.
Andrei looked around at the group and had a big smile on his face. They were all getting more powerful and it was good to see.
*********************************************
They parted ways as they were needing to continue to hunt and still also try to be an independent squad. Andrei checked in with Henry and was told that Beta was good and only had encountered 1-2 advanced beasts at a time so they were able to handle them.
Each group then proceeded to explore the planet coming across multiple advanced tier beasts that they were able to handle. Hood made the comment that it might be even more productive for Andrei to go off on his own since he had his own personal army.
They all agreed with the comment and based on the map they decided Andrei would head northeast and for Alpha to go southeast and if they run into Beta or Charley to then bounce back the opposite direction.
Andrei decided to pick up his pace to a light jog hoping to run into something tough. He had summoned his "Ice Axes" in both hands and they were held at the ready. Then he came across a structure that could only be described as a shed. It was made out of the plant life trunks of the planet but were stacked sideways like a log cabin.
There was an oval opening where Andrei ducked his body down and stepped through the opening. He couldn't see much but his next step gave out from under him and he started to fall.
He only fell a few feet which ended up causing him to land on his belly and he was now sliding down a tunnel at a quick pace. He opened his shield just in case as he moved quickly and it helped him flip to his back and spun himself around to feet first.
He then came to the end and there was another drop but it led to landing in water. It was an underground lake, there was a hole letting in moonlight which gave enough light so Andrei could see what was what.
In the middle of the lake was an island that had movement on it and Andrei figured he needed to get to that island as he wasn't the greatest of swimmers. Fluffy then appeared and went under him and lifted him out of the water. He had forgotten that Fluffy was proficient at swimming.
Andrei saw a couple of the creatures in the distance go into the water having heard the splash and seen the waves of water ripple. Fluffy's clone appeared and sped forward to take on the creatures. Moments later one of the creatures shot out of the water flailing its short legs.
Andrei chopped at it with an Ice Axe he had summoned in his right hand and he had his shield open on his left. One clean swing of the axe split the body in two and then Fluffy's clone ate the core to be added to his inventory.
Another creature came out of the water and that is when he realized that the clone was bouncing them up into the air for him to finish them off. He thought good boy and he felt Fluffy make a noise that he assumed was happiness.
Andrei approached the island as Fluffy started walking it became harder for Andrei to hold his balance so he jumped off onto the beach. The creatures resembled alligators if they had 8 short legs, three tails, and a thin metallic looking horn above its brain.
They were all advanced tier beasts and the closest beast to the invading party shot out a tunnel of water. The tails then curled up and let out a ranged attack that Andrei realized at the last moment it was a wind attack. His shield took the attack head on, it started to glow white and blue from gaining the wind and water element.
He was now a beacon for all the creatures to come for, but he didn't mind. Prince and LaLa now appeared and same with Burny and clone. Andrei threw his ice axe at the beast that attacked him and it tried to block the attack with its tail. The ice axe pierced the tail but then was stopped midway through and disappeared.
He pulled back on his slingshot and released a lightning pellet. The horn popped off the top of the head and he shot another and the beast stopped moving and the 1,000 EXP popped up killing the beast.
He shot at the next but they had seen their fellow beat get killed so they were hesitant and dodged the attacks. He then summoned a "Lightning Bolt" aiming for the horn and it struck the horn knocking it off again. The beast recoiled and ran away from Andrei and other beasts went in between the two so Andrei had to change his tactics. He summoned a "Sledgehammer of Lightning" and brought it down with a "Wind Hammer with Wind Slash" and the area of effect was massive. All the creatures with 50 yards of Andrei were knocked up into the air and flipped onto their backs stunned. On top of the horns being stuck into the ground upon the beasts landing and their soft underbelly was exposed.
Andrei took the sledgehammer and threw it at one that was moving apparently just outside of the blast radius. The beast didn't even see the sledgehammer coming and it landed true to its head killing it on impact.
Andrei the moment he let go of the sledgehammer summoned two "Ice Axes" and started chopping the heads off as quickly as he could, all the pets fanned out and were finishing off the flipped over beasts. The ground under them started to rumble and what Andrei thought was an island was actually the back of a beast.
Andrei's "Wind Hammer with Wind Slash" had penetrated the shell of the beast that was at its peak sticking out of the water as if it was an island. The crack in the ceiling started getting closer and closer and Andrei could feel he was being lifted. He aligned himself as best he could to be in the opening and when the beast collided with the ceiling it broke through with it sending Andrei into the night sky.
"Sunfire" the newly nicknamed fire elemental pet that Surany had just captured spotted Andrei lifting into the air and squawked to Surany about it. She took over Sunfire's eyes and caught the tail end of Andrei coming down out of the sky but also a massive beast coming out of the ground.
Andrei calmly calculated where he was going to land and put out a barrier. Hitting it and slowing down he looked back at where he was just launched from and the beast was now in view.
[Legendary Beast "King Cobra Turtle of Magnitude"]
What the hell kind of name is that, other than the magnitude which made sense the beast was several hundred feet tall. It almost felt like someone was like how can i describe this beast with just its name as the head and neck was like a massive king cobra snake with a turtle shell over its body. The legs that came out of the shell looked like if you smashed turtle legs into thin paddles but those paddles were glowing blue with water elemental energy. The ends of the legs came to thin needles that appeared to retract and extend out at will by the beast.
The snake head had three eyes that were glowing red with fire elemental energy that would shoot out a massive flame that could reach up to 50 yards. It had 3 fangs as well with the middle being nature's elemental green and then the outer two being bright yellow with elemental lightning. Out of the back of the shell came a massive tail encased in white wind elemental energy.
[New Quest: Escape]
[Reward: You're life]