Valion breathes in the afternoon air as his mind recollects recent events. His recent revelation of possibly being the last resistance leader's heir and his subsequent decision to lead the new resistance weighs on his shoulders as he tries to keep his mind calm. The breeze brushes against his fur, as if to caress him and soothe his mind. His head lowers with a renewed determination to see this through, despite his internal conflicts. Whilst self reflecting, the academy chime rings out from the speakers as streams of students leave their classrooms, a mix of different year levels fill the courtyard of the academy as a certain avian catches Valion's attention.

  He briskly excuses himself while pushing his way through the crowd. A stream of chatter passes his ears as he approaches Kazika with an upstretched arm. her eyes widen as she recognizes her approaching colleague. "Valion? To what do i owe the pleasure?" Valion lowers his arm to his side as he rubs the back of his neck nervously. "Hay Kazika, i wanted to ask you a favor. You're the most successful landtile player right? The tactile strategy boardgame?" Her eyes glisten at the mention of the game but quickly lowers her excitement as she averts her eyes while responding. "I'm within the top 5 players globally, yes. Why? Come to tease me since its just a boardgame?"

  A blush begins to show through her feathers as she awaits his response. "No, no, nothing like that! i was hoping you could teach me actually. Either the game itself or just the strategic thinking behind it? if... if you have time that is." Her eyes reignite with passion and her chest begins to puff up, ready to divulge all her thoughts and exciting remarks regarding the game, but holds back after the academy chime rings out throughout the courtyard, signaling the start of their next classes. "damn this poor timing." she pouts as she recomposes herself. "Very well, i agree to teach you the game, but these lessons will have to occur during our days off from academy classes. I hate interruptions after all."

  Before Valion can respond, she politely passes him in a pride filled stride toward her next class as Valion smiles silently to himself, before realizing his next class is already congregating. With a brisk pace, he approaches the auditorium that already has the audible bustle of his fellow peers radiating from the doorway. He quickly enters and finds his seat, with his brother already occupying the one next to it. His brother, noticing Valion's entrance, waves to him with a smile while gesturing to the empty seat next to him.

  "you're almost always late ahaha, we've gotta get you a watch or something." Valion laughs off his brothers remark. "Oh please, I'm just in time!" They both share a laugh as silence blankets the hall while Corvus enters the auditorium. "Good afternoon everyone, glad to see you all here on time!" a quiet laugh circulates the hall as the teacher approaches his podium with his virtual glass pad under his wing and an electronic backpack in his other wing

  "We've recently looked at a small portion of the U.S.N's offensive capabilities with the Proto-sword, but what about defenses?" He places the pad on his podium and with a few feathery taps, images flash in a holographic style of the proto-sword in the space at the center of the room. "For defenses, the U.S.N issues each soldier with their own Shield pack." He closes the hologram as it powers down and places the backpack he was carrying into the center of the hall. He pushes a button on the pack and it slowly whirs to life as a yellow energy spills from the small opening on the back and forms a large bubble in front of the pack itself.

  "as you can see, this energy field encapsulates the pack itself as well as the user. This field itself will protect you from kinetic and energy blasts from weaponry as well as melee weapons. The field itself will resonate with the opposite energy of the weapon that strikes it. This pack seems unbeatable at first glance, which lends to its fear factor. These packs have garnered an infamous reputation for their durability, however, they aren't without their own weaknesses."

  His feather presses in the same button as it powers down. The bubble slowly grows holes as the energy is pulled towards the opening in its pack. Corvus strides back to the podium before swiping on his pad, causing another hologram to formulate, this time taking the form of the backpack. "The energy fields themselves are able to block energy blasts from any low impact blasts, but to withstand sustained fire, it needs to calibrate to that energy's profile. Therefore, this pack is poor defense for a squad using varying energy signatures, as it will struggle to adapt to all the signatures at once. In a short time, those weapons WILL pierce the shield." The hologram reflects the example given in an informative display as the teacher continues.

  "The pack itself also has a vulnerability on the rear, where the field itself emanates." His wing swooshes through the air as he gestures to the large opening on the holographic display, which responds by zooming on the open hole at the back of the pack. "The generation port is your vulnerable spot, thankfully, due to the shape the field takes, its pretty difficult to target this spot unless you are directly behind the user. As long as you are facing the enemy, this spot will not be exposed."

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  He swipes on his glass pad once more as the hologram updates with imagery of soldiers appearing behind another soldier wielding the pack. "This does mean that you are susceptible to flanking maneuvers from the enemy, so it is key to make sure you communicate with your squad to prevent any one of you from exposing your shield pack ports." Valion's mind absorbs the information shown to him as the lesson continues until the academy chime rings out from the speakers marking the end of the day. The room fills with the sound of shuffling books and pads being stowed as the students make their way out of the hall.

  Valion and Osiris stride next to each other as Valion explains his intent to learn from Kazika. "So wait, YOU are going to learn from HER? The heiress to the Cuyn Clan? The same heiress you didn't even know existed about a week ago?" He raises an eyebrow as a smirk forms across his face in amusement. Valion turns to him with an over exaggerated shocked expression in response. "WOW! it's ALMOST like i just told you that! is this like a de ja vu thing? oh! are you an oracle?" He begins to jokingly look at his brother in awe, and start bowing to him. They both start laughing as Osiris playfully shoves his brother with a light push. "Bahaha alright! i get it! no big deal. Just try to be nice and, i dunno, regal? You're kinda representing the Faraday clan you know!"

  Osiris splits off as he waves goodbye over his shoulder to his brother, whom continues toward the 2nd year dorms with a changed expression of determination. The halls are filled with portraits of great leaders and people of great influence as Valion notices how much nicer the 2nd year dorms decorated. He approaches the dorm number that was sent to him and stands at the door frame before silently closing his eyes, and sighing to himself. A few seconds pass before he steps forward and knocks with the back of his hand a few sturdy times before stepping back again and waiting patiently. The sound of cluttering and scrambling escapes from under the doorway as Valion's eye brows raise slightly.

  After a minute of waiting Kazika finally appears in the opened doorway. Valion's jaw drops slightly as Kazika is wearing a loose white tee shirt, one end drooping over her shoulder and loose fitting shorts with a plastic pair of glasses adorned with a cute kitty design. A far cry from her usual regal appearance. Valion closes his mouth on his own before cracking a facetious smile while leaning backwards to take note of the holographic number display in front of the room. "So sorry miss, i must have the wrong person, its clear they've given me the incorrect room number!" he starts to hold a shrugging position as he peeks out of his eye to gauge her reaction.

  Her feathers make a clenched ball shape at her sides as she starts to rear upwards, blush starting to show through her feathers and her beak forming a pout. " Oh please! i seldom get the chance to let my feathers down at home so I'm DEFINETLY doing it here!" Her wings cross over themselves in front of her as she points her beak skyward. "If this is too informal for you, then perhaps you'll need to search for your teacher elsewhere!" Her pout returns as she now peaks out her eye for a reaction. "Ahaha okay okay! You're room, You're rules" They both laugh off the situation as she invites him inside.

  Valion examines the room as he carefully steps inside, noticing the large stacks of books placed in small towers around the room with empty packets of snacks strewn throughout the living space. The center of the room is cleared of any obstructions with a large holographic display acting as an entertainment system in front of a table with neatly placed books and holographic pads placed on top. Kazika closes the door with an audible click as she turns to direct her guest. "Please take your seat at the table and we'll get started."

  Valion obliges her order as he lowers himself to a comfortable seating position and places his own holographic pad on the desk, opening it with a small hum as the display is ready to take notes. Kazika saunters to her own spot across from the table and lowers herself as well before starting her lesson. "Okay, so how much experience do you have with landtiles?" Valion avoids eye contact as he mumbles out a response. "oh... basically none..." Kazika merely stares in response as her glasses tip to one side. "i see. Well then, we'll start with the basics!" She begins as she presses a button on the center hologram device with her feather.

  The hologram whirs to life as it displays a large battlefield segmented into several squares. "Landtile is a turn based game where your objective is to seize either the entire board, or atleast MORE tiles than your opponent at the end of the time limit. You utilize and place units on your side of the board and move them around to seize the tiles and battle your opponents controlled tiles in order to take them by force. To place these units and to move them around however, requires resources. This game boils down to strategic thinking and resource management!"

  Valion stares intently as his mind absorbs the information given to him, and records notes on his pad throughout the discussion. Kazika's ramblings carry on through the hours as she explains the different units, their importance, the optimal way to manage resources, and the strategic benefits of each unit and how to properly manage them. The sun lowers over the horizon once more as Valion finishes his lessons and returns to his dorm equipped with the foundations of his strategic skills.

  He replays the lessons endlessly in his mind to reinforce them, determined to become a better strategist with time and hungry for additional knowledge. Slowly the sun rises at the start of a new dawn with Valion Standing intently in front of Corvus, ready for his additional combat lessons. Within Valion's mind, he begins to understand that slowly, he's changing. Morphing into this new leader he was meant to become. The start of his new journey.