Reincarnated as an Energy with a System

Chapter 2046: End of a Long Day

Lorna paused briefly before continuing.

"Both of them have passed the threshold for recommendation. I’m requesting that they be given time in the True Simulation pod at the earliest opportunity, if that can be arranged. I believe it would be a waste to make either of them wait for the standard rotation."

Greeves leaned back in his chair and looked from Lorna to the two cadets behind her. His eyes settled on Naysha first.

"Flores. I am aware of the incident with your helmet."

Naysha stiffened almost imperceptibly. "Yes, sir."

"I am also aware that you were scoring below three hundred until very recently. A jump of over thirty points in a single attempt is not something I see often. Whatever you changed, keep doing it."

He said it without warmth, but also without any suspicion, and Ning saw some of the tension leave Naysha’s shoulders.

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir."

Then Greeves turned his attention to Ning, and this time he studied him for a good deal longer.

"When General Choo sent me your recommendation, I assumed he was exaggerating. Generals often do when they want a favor."

He tapped one finger against the edge of his desk.

"It appears I owe him an apology. Four hundred and sixty-nine on a first attempt is the kind of result that gets noticed above this academy, cadet, whether you want that attention or not."

"I’ll try to make sure it’s the right kind of attention, sir," Ning said.

Something that might have been the very edge of amusement passed across Greeves’s face before it disappeared. He returned his attention to his display and moved through several screens before speaking again.

"The True Simulation pod is shared with two other academies in this city and is booked weeks in advance, mostly for cadets in their final year and for active pilots undergoing requalification. I cannot promise you a session tomorrow or any time within the week."

He looked up at Lorna.

"But I can get them in. When the next opening appears, both of their names will be on it, and I will inform you as soon as I have a date."

"Thank you, sir," Lorna said.

"Don’t thank me yet. If either of them fails badly in the True Simulation, I will be the one explaining to the other academies why I bumped their cadets for ours."

Greeves’s gaze moved between Ning and Naysha once more.

"So do not fail badly. Dismissed."

The three of them saluted.

Lorna remained behind in the office to discuss something else with the Sergeant General, so Ning and Naysha walked back down the stairs and out of the administrative building on their own.

The afternoon light had begun to turn the gray-orange sky a deeper shade, and the training yards were quieter than they had been earlier, with only a handful of cadets still running drills under the eyes of a bored-looking instructor.

Naysha walked beside him in silence for some distance. She finally slowed down near the edge of the path, where one walkway led toward the dormitories and another toward the academic buildings.

"What was that about earlier?" Ning asked Naysha.

"Which part?" Naysha asked.

"Something about your helmet," Ning added.

"Oh. My helmet was destroyed once a while ago and had to be replaced. It’s... not a good look when that happens," she said.

Ning had at first wondered if the Sergeant General had somehow learned about her replacing her helmet with the System, but it appeared that he had been worried for no reason at all.

Something entirely different was happening.

He nodded along, saying nothing else.

Naysha held an awkward gaze through the silence before deciding to speak up.

"I wouldn’t have reached three hundred today without you," she said. "I’ve been staring at the same mistakes for months, and nobody ever explained them in a way I could actually use until you did. So, thank you."

Ning smiled. "You did the flying, though. All I did was point at a screen and tell you to stop fighting your own momentum."

"Then thank you for pointing at the screen."

She shook her head, though she was smiling slightly as well.

"And don’t think I’ve forgotten my half of the deal. Once we know when the True Simulation is, I’ll start teaching you how to fight properly, because I’m not going to owe you anything for longer than I have to."

"I’m looking forward to it."

Naysha gave him a short nod before turning down the path toward the academic buildings.

"Where are you going?" Ning called out. "It’s lunch hour."

"Hmm? Oh, I’m not hungry," Naysha said. "Besides, I have some things I need to do quickly. I’ll see you later."

Ning watched her go for a moment, smiling.

He suspected she was going somewhere quiet to look through whatever her System had recorded from the simulator, and perhaps to figure out how she could possibly get her hands inside the True Simulation pod as well.

Ning turned toward the garage in the distance that hid the two Rank 3 Mechas, each 15 meters tall. He could only wonder how long it would be before she got to scan a Mecha.

Surely it wouldn’t be much longer now that she would soon have access to the True Simulation pod.

Ning found his way to the cafeteria next.

It was a little later than usual, so he didn’t see Jason there at all. The young man had long since eaten and left.

Even then, the table remained completely empty.

No one chose to sit there at all.

Ning sat there.

It wasn’t really meant to be a statement so much as it was him simply asking for trouble. That was more fun than anything else for him, after all.

After lunch, they took part in an hour-long physical exercise before the day came to an end.

Everyone was tired by the end of it, so they returned to their dorm rooms.

Ning returned as well.

But when he arrived, he found the door slightly ajar.

Someone had come by here.

And likely, they were still here.