Trash: Chapter 168 Tempering Expectations (Patreon)

Chapter 168

Tempering Expectations

(The Next Day)

I awoke to the sound of sizzling and the sweet smell of morning bacon. Honestly, I never thought I would be much of a morning food person, but having the smells and sounds of breakfast be the first senses that my body processed made me realize that I could totally eat. Particularly after the strain of yesterday.

Getting up, I did my morning routine. Stretching quickly, followed by removing the lingering traces of sweat and grime from my body, before brushing my hair and trying to be presentable. I mentally braced myself, wanting to appear as exhausted as I felt internally. Reaching inward, I felt for the old spark of healing energy, and felt relieved that the strain I had felt yesterday was gone, well mostly gone. Instead, I just felt a lingering trace of exhaustion from my bones and muscles, but my internal magical network seemed to be perfectly fine once more.

Then a quick mental scan showed that even the echoes of that deep unnerving buzzing sensation that caused me to vomit were gone. Though if I tried to focus hard enough, I swore I could still feel those same lingering traces of nausea. The ones that made my mind and body feel like I was being assaulted. Taking a moment to gather myself and dismiss the lingering thoughts of yesterday, I took a calming breath and walked through my door, half expecting to see the entire team eagerly waiting for the amazing breakfast that was being prepared.

Just smelling the scents, I was already glad I chose Junior as one of my Auxiliary team members.

Rather than seeing the entire team eagerly awaiting around the small table that was part of our temporary dwellings, all I saw was the back of a frantically working Junior and Marcus standing stoically in the corner, with a stack of clothes draped over his right arm.

Seeing that only Marcus was here, I decided to ask.

“Are the others still sleeping?” I asked, wondering why no one else was up yet.

“No, the others are all out training,” Marcus corrected.

“What?” I asked.

“It would seem that after Lieutenant Sinclair’s words to the team last night, the others have taken it to heart that they need to apply themselves,” Marcus said.

For a moment, I tried to remember what the Sinclair guy said, but drew a blank. Only after a second did the moment he was talking about come to mind.

“Here is your room, please feel free to rest,” Sinclair began. Just seeing the large soft bed after a day of travel, getting into the school, getting into a fight with an upper classman healer, killing a ghost monster, and then vomiting my brains out from entering an abandoned city, I was ready for a rest. Which was why I merely nodded my head as he asked the next line, “if you don’t mind, I will just have a private word with the rest of your team about what is expected of them here.”

The sentence seemed innocuous enough, and I was already half asleep as I stumbled to the bed, that I just nodded easily, before passing out the moment my head hit the pillow.

“What did Sinclair say to them?” I asked, trying to find out if he threatened them in some way.

“I don’t know, I was not allowed to follow, as such I stayed. Though the rest of the team did look a bit different when they came back.”

“Different how?” I asked, trying to understand the mentality of my teammates.

“They seemed like they were given the same talk that everyone gets when first arriving.”

“What talk, I didn’t get any talk?”

“That is because you are already a Healer with a rank above Legendary, at least according to all records I was able to access pertaining to your ranking as a team,” Marcus stated. Hearing that, I paused as I tried to take that all in.

“I’m ranked as a Legendary Class?” I ask, my mouth working on autopilot as I am still too tired to understand exactly what is happening this early in the morning.

“Yes, according to the records, you are a Legendary Class holder as you have a slotted healing class that has five class Skill slots filled,” Marcus confirmed. Hearing his explanation, I pause and realize that this rating was likely taken at the start of the day yesterday, as I now had six Class skills slotted, which would put my class at the Relic ranking. Before I could go any further into my thoughts on how my class might have been mislabeled, Marcus continued; “further, all of your class Skill slots are attuned to Life energy, making you an important target for any future country.”

I paused at this last note as it seemed obvious to me, for my class required all Skills to be attuned to Life energy. It didn’t even occur to me that other healers might have classes that allow for something different to be slotted instead. It made me rethink my battle with healing candidate Maximumus Zabal, and how he used a Fire based movement Skill. Would that mean that he used one of his class slots for the Fire based Skill? If so, wouldn’t that make him a weaker healer? These thoughts ran through my head, before I finally caught onto the one comment that caused my senses to tingle.

“Wait, I’m going to be targeted by a future country?” I asked, wondering if I suddenly had to worry about assassination attempts in the middle of the night.

Hearing my concern, Marcus clarified, “perhaps targeting is too nebulous of a word, but you will be highly recruited. Which I think is what Lieutenant Sinclair was trying to stress to the rest of your team.”

I nodded at that comment, then before I could think of anything else to say, Junior came in with a plate of food.

“Breakfast is ready Captain,” Junior declared, taking dishes of eggs, toast, and bacon that he placed skillfully around the table. It was clear that he had practice setting up tables with multiple orders as everything was delivered smoothly.

“What about the others?” I asked, wondering if we should go out to get them.

“They are fine, as I already made meals for them earlier,” Junior replied.

“Oh, you did? So I’m late?” I asked, trying to understand what was happening.

“No, it’s just that the rest of us made a pact to wake up early and take advantage of the opportunity that we were handed,” Junior said, but then seemed to be a bit flustered, as he took off his cooking apron and realized. “Though if you will excuse me, I too need to go and get ready for classes.”

“Oh, okay,” was all I eloquently managed to reply to that comment. Then looking down at the plates of food, I wondered how I was supposed to eat it all.

“Go ahead and leave the dirty plates there, I’ll come back and clean them after my morning class,” Junior declared before he left. Then in what seemed like a second, I was alone. Well, not quite alone as I still had Marcus with me.

Seeing my look of confusion, Marcus declared, “why don’t you go ahead and start eating. While you still have time before your first class. I do need to go over a few things.”

“Okay,” I replied somewhat confusedly before ultimately shrugging and digging into the assortment of food before me. It was probably more than I could manage, so I decided to offer some to Marcus, “would you like some, this is far more than I can handle?”

Marcus quickly shook his head no, before declaring “I like the others have already eaten. But this is going to be the bare minimum you will need just to survive this morning.”

Hearing him speak, and realizing that my body was changing, I shrugged and began eating as much as I could, though I was not yet used to having a big breakfast. Still, I wanted to follow the advice of my runner and someone who had served to help multiple healers before me. Which meant if he said it was the bare minimum, then I should try to eat as much as possible.

Seeing me eat, Marcus gave a satisfied nod of his head, before he began speaking. “As this is our first day together, I feel I should lay out how I have previously operated with the other Healing Candidates before you.”

I nodded, letting Marcus know it was okay to go ahead.

“Generally, most healers prefer morning times as the time when I will provide a brief. As you have already selected a chef as one of your two auxiliary team members, this provides us even more time to strategize and prepare for your day. Today, I have already taken the liberty of not just getting your uniform but amending it to the school standards. If you look, you have the healer’s badge, and now you also have an adjoining golden ‘L’ just below it. This is to signify to others that you are a Healing Candidate who has achieved a Legendary rank.”

I nodded, but then paused mid-bite to ask, “I just slotted my sixth class Skill yesterday, should we update the patch?”

Hearing my question, something seemed to shift in Marcus’s face. I couldn’t quite tell why, but he seemed to lose some of his enthusiasm for a bit. He quickly recovered and replaced it with a fake form of enthusiasm that sounded slightly hollow to my ears, which was the only real reason I could pick up on the shift in his demeanor.

“You can, and that is something that I would recommend if you didn’t already have a team. That said, it is probably for the best that you wait until your next unit to get re-evaluated,” Marcus recommended. “If it becomes an issue, you can always get it done later, but for now I’d recommend that you keep the Legendary ranking.”

“Okay?” I again respond, a slightly questioning lilt to my word, but Marcus chose to glance over my apparent concern and instead just nodded, as if the situation had been covered, then continued on with his list of agenda topics to cover for the day.

“Very good, In that case, I wanted you to know that I have already taken care of registering everyone for classes and curriculums that will be most beneficial for their perceived roles within the group,” Marcus pushed on, skillfully avoiding the topic of my possible promotion that caused him to look pale and lost for the moment.

“You did?” was all I could reply though, wondering how he found the time to register for us, though he was up late last night. Well up after I passed out, which was admittedly early for how late I had been staying out.

“Yes, as Junior is going to be filling in as a Chef role, Junior will be attending the foraging basics, nutrition basics, and logistic basics classes,” Marcus began, then not slowing down he continued, “Lelia will be attending scouting, movement classes, and the same foraging class as Junior.”

There was a pause, where it seemed Marcus was waiting for me to confirm these choices, so I just nodded my approval. At the gesture, he continued, “Luna and Lucia will be attending tactical groupings, formation movements, and diversified weapons training.”

I again nodded while eating, feeling that those would be for the best.

“Everyone will be forced to attend one of the three possible Intro to History courses that will be taught throughout the day, along with affinity testing, followed by affinity specific trainings and lectures that will be held in the evenings.”

I nodded, then paused my eating to look at Marcus and seem to ask the most obvious question. Marcus had a slight look of confusion, before seeming to pick up on my unspoken question.

“Yes, for you, we had to do an extended curriculum, but you will be taking music, fighting, and healing related courses. Your healing courses will be held in place of your affinity training with others, but that is because we already know your affinity with healing.”

I again nodded as he continued speaking, “you will begin with Advanced Weapons Training, followed by Advanced Musical Theory, Healer Team Lead: Logistics and Strategies, the third offering of the Intro to History, followed by Etiquette Classes, and finally the evening Healer Skill Use and Mastery course.”

At the course load, I had to pause as I realized that this was way too much. Looking at Marcus, I almost wanted to complain, but he held up one finger from the hand not holding my newly modified uniform. “You wanted to be enrolled in Martial and Musical classes, as such the University is going to give you a full course load to make you choose a particular path to specialize in.”

Realizing that this was all an attempt by the University to make me take back my own words, I took a breath and then realized that I have already mentally noted, challenge accepted. When someone tells me I can’t do something, and then tries to stack the deck against me, it only makes me want to prove them wrong twice as much.

“Not a problem,” I reply, and feel fairly confident that I can meet this crazy schedule.

“I should note that with your class structure, you will not have an assigned lunch break,” Marcus said, taking out some of the wind in my sails. Then looking down at the spread of food before me, the large meal suddenly makes more sense.

Realizing this is likely going to be my only meal until dinner tonight, I force myself to eat just a bit more, before grabbing the new uniform from Marcus and preparing for the day. Once I come back, I am prepared to empty the table, only to find that Marcus has already done so for me.

“Thank you,” I state and genuinely mean it, looking at the cleared table and realizing that again Marcus was right in that acquiring his assistance was the best decision I made while being here.

“For?” Marcus asked confusedly.

“For cleaning the table, for fixing my uniform, for keeping me organized— for pretty much everything,” I reply, not knowing where to start or stop.

“You are too kind, but this is what you paid for, and besides I get to receive even more advanced training thanks to you.”

“You do?”

“Yes, for I will be following you as your assistant, which means I will be able to gain from your extensive class load,” Marcus replied. Then Marcus looked off into the distance at the clock on the wall. A weighted clock that clearly showed we had ten till the hour. “Now if you are ready, it is time we get to your first class.”

And like that, my first day of Healer training at Unity University began in earnest.

***

(Last Night)

(Lt. Holion Sinclair)

The Lieutenant had the four squad members standing before him at parade rest; legs shoulder width apart, hands clasped behind their backs at the base of their spines.

“I am going to warn you now, that you four are already on the chopping block to be dismissed from your Commander’s team,” Lt. Holion Sinclair began, his words harsh, but he wanted to stress to these cadets before him just how precious this moment was. “I don’t know if you all are aware of this, but you are in the ranks of a Relic Ranked Healer. Consider yourselves lucky that the school only has her listed as a Legendary Ranked healer.”

Sinclair paused to let those words settle in, thinking that his voice and tone were enough to stop anyone from asking stupid questions, he drew in a breath and prepared for his next words that would force this group of raggedy looking misfits into shape. But before he could say anything the weakest looking member of the team used that brief pause to speak.

“Why?” The one male asked. Hearing the question, with no note of formality or showing any form of military bearing at all, caused Sinclair to lose it.

“What did you just say to me?” Sinclair asked, offering a chance for the scrawny boy to fix himself.

“I asked why,” the dark skinned boy replied, shaking slightly.

“It is why sir,” Sinclair shouted, then added “drop and beat your face!”

“Beat my face?” The boy asked completely confused.

“It means perform pushups, now drop, and put those scrawny arms to good use for once,” Sinclair declared. Then only after the boy dropped and began struggling with just his first pushup, Sinclair shook his head in annoyance before continuing with his warning to the group. “All right, this is a University with dignitaries and military personnel walking around at all times, you need to learn to speak to others with respect, that means saying sir at the minimum to anyone in a uniform. You might get by without having to perform such formalities with your teachers but still treat them with the respect that they deserve.”

With his warning about why the skinny boy was doing pushups over, Sinclair paused and then looked at the rest of the group.

“Look, I don’t want to be mean, but I want you all to realize just how little time you have to prove yourselves here,” Sinclair began and paused looking at the faces of all the young students before him. Seeing their youthful faces, Sinclair could only pause and try to prepare these kids for how hard life here would be for them. “Let me explain something to you all. Right now, you all are liabilities for your captain. Know that your captain has already proven herself by being recognized as a Legendary Healer Class. That means that if you all wish to remain by her side, then you all need to achieve at least Epic ranked classes, just to be eligible for her to choose you as a future team member.”

“What?” One of the girls began, the one with red hair called out, instantly drawing Sinclair’s attention and stare. Only once his eyes landed on her did she recover, “what sir?”

Hearing the honorific being added, even if a bit late Sinclair nodded with satisfaction, before continuing, “look, your Captain is actually a Relic class as she clearly has six healer specific Skills slotted in her Class. How the school missed such a basic thing is beyond me. But that means that you all still have a chance to make her team. But know there are strict rules for joining a talented Healer’s squad, in that you need to have a class that is ranked higher, or equal to your leader ideally. In your commander’s case, with her having such a highly ranked class, know that an exception can be made and she can allow one rank below, which currently puts the onus on you lot to earn Epic ranked classes. If she gets re-evaluated at her real rank, then you all will be required to earn Legendary classes or their equivalent just to hang with her. That is why I wanted to take this moment to tell you all to take this seriously.”

Pausing for a second to let that all sink in, Sinclair looked at the group and saw that everyone was now staring at him with wide-eyed stares. This was good, as this was what he wanted. Then to add fuel to the fire, he made sure to hammer the point home.

“You see cadet Ghulum, your runner?” Sinclair asked. The others nodded in agreement, not wanting to speak, which was perfect for Sinclair as he didn’t want anyone distract him from his intended goal right now. That goal being to scare these kids into using this moment for all it offered. “The reason he is still here, is because he effectively failed out. I shouldn’t tell you this, but he unlocked a Rare Class, something exceptional, but unfortunately it wasn’t good enough for him to remain with his squad leader who earned an Epic Healer Class. With the school having so many Epic class holders just waiting for a competent Healer, Ghulum was left behind. While he has managed to latch onto the chances he has been given, taking on harder Skills, all in the attempts to hopefully evolve his Class one day, he is still an example of what happens when your best just isn’t good enough.”

At that, Sinclair paused and looked over the group, “I’m going to leave you all with this, your commander is set. She can go on from here and be accepted almost anywhere. The only question is, will you be able to go with her, when she leaves?”

Then with his message delivered, Sinclair turned around and left. Only after he took a few steps away did he turn and give a command to the scrawny kid who had given up pushing long ago and just stood on shaky arms, “recover.”

With that the scrawny kid collapsed to the ground, and began panting heavily. Seeing the kid drop from exhaustion, Sinclair smiled to himself and finished walking away, only hoping that his words of warning would be acted upon by the squad of kids that were too young to fully understand the opportunity that had been given to them.

Walking away, Sinclair muttered to himself, “only time will tell.”