“Now that you’ve learned what the system is, we will train and get you your first gains. All students who have Strength as their primary attribute follow Sargeant Zamm. If you have Dexterity as your Primary stat, Follow Sargeant Farhan. Those who have speed as their Primary, stay here with me.” Major Payne instructs.

Max can see that his group has easily three-quarters of the students, with quite a few going to the dexterity course. But surprisingly, only Nico is standing with Major Payne. Speed must not be a common stat to have as your Primary.

The strength training station is exactly what Max expected it to be. Free weights, resistance machines, and heavy things to move. Most of those are too much for the first-year students, so Max decides to start his usual workout with curls and then try out the full-body resistance trainer. He’s never seen such a thing before, and it looks pretty intense.

He finds a good spot and begins his workout, ignoring the horseplay and chaos around him, much to Sargeant Zamm’s delight. Supervising First Year students is seen almost as a punishment detail for many within the instructor corps, and Zamm is no exception.

He trains Cadets in physical and combat skills, while the First Year student typically has zero understanding of either one. Even one student that has an existing workout routine is enough to brighten his day.

The resistance machine is busy with a student trying to understand how it works, so Max moves on to weighted lunges, carefully watching for the first update notification from his new system._.

Across the field from where he’s working, Nico and Major Payne seem to be engaged in some form of fight with sticks. Max is pretty sure it’s a martial art that they’re practicing, but the speed they’re swinging the wooden rods at each other is impressive. The pattern is repetitive, he notices, not testing their talent today, and the fundamental objective is to keep up with your opponent, so you don’t get hit.

His fifty lunges are almost up when Max sees his first gain notification and checks his System interface.

[Compatibility Determined] Rank A

[Primary Attribute] STR 2.5x modifier

[STR] +5%

[DEX] +0%

[SPD]+0%

[Innate Talent] Mind Reading

[Additional Functions Locked]

Being of A Ranked Compatibility, he gets a 2% base increase, but his Primary Stat strength modifier bonus put him up to a full 5 percent in a single gain during his first session.

The fancy resistance machine is now available, the previous student had given up on learning it, so Max heads over to give it a try. There are well worn written instructions on the machine; step into the harness, press the green button to engage the sizing feature, then begin your workout; the trainer will adjust the resistance as it sees fit—a marvel of high tech training.

There’s an assortment of objects and a VR headset to keep the training interesting, so Max engages the feed, picks up a racket and picks a tennis program. There’s lots of movement involved, so it should be a good workout.

[Strength Gain]

[STR] +10%

The buzzer signaling the end of the physical training session pulls him back from his tennis match, and Max notices his entire body is so sore he can hardly move. Fortunately, Nico waited for him and was willing to help him up the stairs.

She isn’t a big person, but his roommate had to practically carry him to the eighth floor where they live after his legs gave out at the first landing.

“You’re stronger than you look.” Max laughs, doing his best to struggle up the last flight.

“No, I’m just smart enough not to spend two straight hours in a resistance trainer. Plus, with my healing rate, the bruises from playing sticks with Major Payne are almost gone.”

Max can see what she means; fading bruises are all over her hands and arms from missing a block and getting hit with the bamboo sticks. He’s certain it must have been painful to have left such wicked-looking bruises, but Nico doesn’t appear to mind.

“I hope you got something to make this all worth it. I’m definitely not carrying you again if you didn’t at least get one gain.” Nico huffs as they finally make the top floor and head for the dining hall the grab an evening meal.

“Get a Gain? I got two today. With my modifier being Strength, I’ll have a much easier time of it tomorrow.” Max tries to smile through the exhaustion.

“But I’m setting the timer. How did you make out?”

“Two gains for me as well. Major Payne is an excellent training partner; I don’t think I’ll do as well if I have to practice alone or with one of the other First Year Cadets.”

Nico drops him in a red plastic cafeteria chair and goes to get them something to eat, coming back with bowls of chili and warm bread loaves. A staff member brings them a large jug of ice water, and Max does his best to smile at her.

“Don’t worry, dear. Someone always overdoes it the first day. Some of them haven’t even made it back to the building; I can still see them lying in the grass after the Sergeants forced the slackers to exercise.”

That makes him feel a little better; at least he wasn’t the only one who couldn’t handle the workout he picked or had picked for him.

By the time they finish eating, Max has begun to recover, the nanobots in his body working to repair the damaged tissue from the workout and implement the changes for his upgrades.

After a system stat upgrades, the effects aren’t quite instant. At the lower levels, where the difference between upgrades was more significant, it would take the system time to make the changes, up to an hour in some cases.

The instructors are still carrying recruits up to their rooms when Max crawls into bed, noticing something strange about how Nico uses the data screen on the wall. He can’t tell what she’s browsing, but she’s not touching the screen to navigate. Is that a feature of the high-tech device? Or possibly an aspect of her Innate Ability?