This past week he has spent studying survival training techniques and information he would need if he was ever stranded. During that time he also spent time researching names for his new tiger companion. Who seemed to always follow him everywhere. He also spent time learning about the other candidates of the Tartarus Project. But the only other person he came across that he knew from before was Verin Tako, he was a third generation system user whose ancestors were from the Oda Empire region of space. Which used to be a part of the Grand Hexarian Empire.

    He also became familiar with many other faces. The most notable of which were the other five people with S-Rank compatibility. Each of them were a different variety of odd.

    The first was Admiral Dakota''s daughter, Dahlia Dakota. She grew up on Kamot Prime as well, but she went to an academy on the other side of the planet. Apparently during when the Tacole and the Sima faction of the Victorium attacked her squad was on a ship that was shot down and grounded. Seperated from her squad along with a few other squadmates she managed to disorient the enemy using guerilla tactics and traps in order to outwit the enemy. It was during this time when she pushed herself to the extreme and gained an S-Rank compatibility.

    The next one was Anja Muzzco, the daughter of a famous musician. She never encountered the Tacole, Sima, or Victorium. But her squad was placed at the border with the Crystoph Federation. So when they invaded her squad ended up behind enemy lines. During the invasion they lost contact with Vexical Command so they were thought lost but they reappeared a month ago after spending months sabotaging Crystoph Federation supply lines. At some point she became S-Rank and did not even notice.

    Then there was Dominic Entella, the quiet giant. He was in the same squad as Anja. But he grew up on frigates hauling cargo before being taken in by the people that owned the company his family worked for when his entire family were killed by pirates. He was also the only person that was taller than Jace in the entire Tartarus Project. Apparently one of his ancestors was something not human that was taller than normal humans. But he did move slower than normal. He gained his S-Rank around the same time as Anja.

    The fourth was Karlson Gruber, he went to the same academy as Dahlia. But he was on the Kitinol Line and did not participate in fights with any other faction. Instead they encountered a barrage of Kitinol that landed on their planet. The Kitinol were likely coming to repopulate it after their extermination on Waterswan. Like Jace his rank up came during a moment of peace, when he noticed a pattern.

    The last S-Rank was Nina Diaz. She was… unique. Her squad was on another ship that was in a similar situation as Anja''s squad. But her ship suffered a worse fate as they were shot down on a planet where the Victorium and Crystoph Federation were fighting. Her squad was captured by the federation and were tortured for information. During that time she lost many friends and comrades. She even made comrades with some Victorium and normal Crystoph Federation citizens that were taken prisoner for no reason while she was inside. Then she managed to organize a breakout. Soon after she and the survivors from her ship that were captured managed to group up with Anja''s squad. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    It seemed from his view, that Nina was still suffering trauma from her experience. Psychological impact of the torture she went through aside. Her voice box had been surgically removed while her face and body had injuries that ended up scarring because of how long she was there. She could still communicate using the basic hand signals and the native Vexical version of the sign language. Which is how he learned all of this.

    A few days ago Director Fenrir delivered on her promise. She got him a leather bound journal with a burn pen. As far as he could tell, the leather was made of mantis-lizards which were actually called Echo Stalkers.

    Echo Stalkers were nicknamed that way because the planet they were based off of was Echo Planet in the Echo System as this place was called. The Stalker part came from their tendency to follow their prey before attacking. Apparently they attacked from the target''s weakest angle.

    The other thing she gave him was a burn pen. Apparently a normal one would not do so and gave him one with a replaceable cartigride. Along with his name engraved on the side. Burn pen''s work by generating a low level of radiation on the tip of metal at one end. Then it could write on paper without setting it on fire. They were the go-to writing device used in space because having zero-gravity would not affect it.

    He had not bothered to write anything in his new journal yet because he had not received permission to go to the site again. Salem found his new fascination with the Requiem to be an entertaining topic for their conversations. On the other hand she also spent time studying while watching him work on new devices again. Once each of them were partially complete they would be taken to the Research division where he would almost certainly never see them again.

    At the moment, all of the candidates were gathered in the hangar again. It was time for them to move onto their next weeklong training exercise. This time they were assigned standing positions. With the six S-Ranks up at the front.

    This time they were asked to just be dressed in comfortable clothing. Apparently they would be inside VR Drive Pods for up to twenty hours a day. They would only be let out to eat and relieve themselves of body waste. Salem was able to learn ahead of time that the pods would have a time differential making it so every hour in the real world would be a day in the simulation.

    It was disturbing that there would be so much time spent for whatever this training exercise would be. But with the way they were setting it up they clearly wanted them ready for something just as important as surviving if they got stranded. Although the fact that they were using VR Drive Pods could mean that training like this in real life could cause permanent damage.

    "Welcome! To the first day of training. At the end of each day you can see how well you did compared to those with the same compatibility. At the end of the week the overall comparisons will be available to compare rankings between compatibility and overall ranking. Keep in mind this training is serious, the points are only to help you grasp what you did wrong. We will provide breakdowns at the end of the training." Commander Eelson called out before the groups were escorted away from the hangar.

    Jace was led away with the other S-Ranks and arrived at a room with Six VR Drive Pods. Three leaned up against walls opposite each other. While opposite the door was a number of screens and technical specialists waiting.

    The person that was leading them motioned to the pods. "Each of the pods have your name on it. We have technical specialists on standby to observe you and ready to forcefully eject you in case of an emergency. Not that we foresee one happening, it is just in case of the worst case scenario. Who would like to go first?"

    Jace did not even have to look at them to know the other five were looking at him. He rolled his eyes as he raised a hand, "I will go first, sir!"

    "You are…?" The man asked.

    "Sergeant Jace Steel, sir." Jace responded with a nod.

    The man''s expression faltered as he looked at the technical specialists who had looks of amusement on his face. The man then looked back at Jace with a worried expression, "okay, I was warned about you ahead of time." He motioned to a specific pod.

    Jace walked up to the pod as it opened up for him. He slipped inside feeling the gel mold around his body. He had not been in one of these since the academy.

    "Sergeant Steel, please do not break the program by having too much fun." The man''s words caused not just Jace but the others to be confused. While the technical specialists were now suppressing their laughter. "This kind of thing might just be a pastime for you but we expect many to come out of the experience traumatized."

    The glass shell closed. Sealing the pod with Jace inside. He felt the familiar sensation of his subconscious slipping away before he was suddenly in a white room filled with white hexagons. Looking at his own body he realized he was in armor coveralls. They were what was usually worn under Infantry Armor. Not that he ever ended up wearing them but they were the norm for most people.

    A moment later he was sitting in a metal chair. His hands were zip tied to the arms of the chair. As Jace looked around the room as the simulation loaded up he could not hide his grin as he began barking out laughter.

    This was going to be a relaxing week for him.