The next day, Doc cleared them both to leave. They walked slowly because both had concussions, and most likely would for a few days afterwards. They walked towards the barracks, and noticed most people gave them a wide berth.
"I guess they don't want to be around deranged psychopaths who could snap at any moment." Vanessa commented.
"I think it's just me, no one would be scared of your short ass."
"Oh shut up Travis, don't make me kick the shit out of you again."
"Excuse me? I was definitely winning that one."
○○○
They continued to poke fun at each other until they reached the split between the male and female rooms.
Vanessa turned to Travis and stopped him before they split up. "Hey, I know our fight ended before we could finish it, but I'm going to win decisively in this next trial."
"Alright." He said. "You're on, how about every trial whoever loses has to buy the winner a drink. We can go after every trial."
"Sure, sounds good. I'll be bringing my friends though."
"So will I, drinks are more fun in a group."
They headed their separate ways, but after a couple steps, Vanessa turned and called out: "Hey Travis, you can call me Nessa from now on." Then she turned and kept walking without even waiting for a reply.
○○○
Once he reached his room, the first thing Travis did was shower and put fresh clothes on. The water stung on the back of his head, but the pain was worth it once he was nice and clean. As he put on fresh clothes, there was a knock at his door.
"Yo man!" Justin's voice called. "They just put up the announcement for the second trial, let's go check it out."
"Yeah alright, give me a moment to finish getting dressed."
When he was done, they walked down to the announcement board, where a fresh announcement was waiting. It said:
"Due to the unfortunate incident during the first trial, it has been decided that only those who scored above a 75 in their first match will be considered as viable candidates for a leadership role. All who scored below a 75 will still have to participate in all subsequent trials, but your performance will only affect your ranking.
As you all know, each squad primarily operates on its own. Because of this, all leaders must have a firm understanding of strategy and tactics, and be able to apply it on the fly. In order to test this, soldiers will be competing in craftstar 24.
You will be randomly placed in a lobby with 9 other soldiers, and your score will determine your ranking. Points will be distributed based on this ranking, so 1st place will get 100 points and last will get 1. Each rank gets 1 point more than the one below it.
The Trial will begin tomorrow after morning chow. Please ensure that you get any drinks and/or snacks before chow, as afterwards we will be headed straight back here, and you won't be allowed to leave until after your match has concluded.
Good luck."
"They're seriously having us play a video game for the second trial?" Travis asked.
"Well after that little stunt you pulled with Vanessa, it makes sense that they wouldn't want us to play any actual war games." Justin responded, playfully elbowing Travis' ribs.
"Yeah yeah, just be grateful it wasn't you in that ring, she'd have kicked your ass."
○○○
The next morning they were lead back to the drill hall. When they entered, they found tables with 10 computers on it, there were 3 in total, meaning 30 people could go at once.
Travis looked at his group. He was part of the second group. And his group had Rebecca in it. Of course Vanessa was put in the very last group, number 10, to ensure they didnt interact at all during the test.
Travis sat down at his computer and opened the LAN server that had been set up for them, and waited for the others in his group to be ready as well. When they started, he found it was extremely easy.
With his ability to see the future, he looked at the most likely options each of them would take. Then using his enhanced senses he could tell what buttons each player was hitting and how they were moving the mouse.
Using these two abilities together he was able to almost perfectly deduce the actions of each player. Even if he couldn't see it on the screen. In the end after half an hour, he was given a 5 star rating, with 9,247 points out of a total 10,000.
With his match complete, he left the drill hall, and headed to the gym, where he worked out for 2 hours. Afterwards he went to shower. On his way past the drill hall, he say that group 1 was still going, even though it had been almost 3 hours since they started. Groups 4 and 6 were also playing at the moment.
Knowing he still had a while, he went to shower after his workout.
○○○
After 3 more hours at 1430, it was announced that the results were up on the announcement board, and that the next trial would be announced the following morning.
Travis went and checked the announcement board.
1. Travis Miller - 9,247
2. Vanessa Ashvale - 9,062
3. Victor Gonzales - 9,050
...
13. Kiara Campbell - 8,860
...
27. Justin Turner - 8,550
...
45. Victoria Ashvale - 7,930
...
92. Rebecca Campbell - 3,290
Travis turned to Vanessa with a smile. "So youre buying me a drink tonight?"
"Yeah... a promise is a promise. I'll get you next time though."
Justin joined them. "And the first round is on Rebecca!"
"It's not my fault I was in Travis' group!" She protested.
"No it's not. But you still came in last." Justin said, patting her back.
"So how about we all meet up out front at 2000?" Travis asked.
"Sure!" they all agreed. And headed towards their rooms to relax for a while.