New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

After dressing up in the pale grey uniform Talbot had brought him, Alex walked out of the barracks, his hair still damp from the shower. But, at least, he wasn't dripping with blood anymore.

The woman looked at him and nodded.

"This doesn't look half bad on you, kid. You interested in joining in? I'm sure you could learn a thing or two from some professionals. Like, how not to get covered in the blood of your kills, maybe?" she teased.

Alex scoffed at her joke.

"No offence, ma'am. But I think I could kill everyone in this compound and escape with my life if I wanted to," he replied, slicking his hair back with a devilish grin.

The woman felt the same shiver from earlier when he had glared at her and her colleagues. He was not joking, she could sense it.

Was it confidence, or empty bravado, she couldn't tell. But she could feel it in her gut: he believed his words.

She was in no mood to find out, though.

"Alright, follow me, Mr. Leduc. Mr. Bellemare is ready for you on the top floor."

Alex sucked back in the bit of mana aura he had let out. He had realized over time that using this little aura trick, along with the right words, often had a stronger effect on the human psyche than just the words.

As if the human body, even in a world where mana had been previously inexistent, reacted on instinct to the presence of something stronger than itself.

The more mana he let out, the stronger the effect on the target's mind.

But he had only done this to make the woman give up on trying to recruit him.

In any case, he was almost certain if he had the potential to be a soldier, Alfred would have already asked him to join. Which hadn't happened.

They reached another elevator, which was located closer to the center of the compound, which meant they had to go down a flight of stairs into the compound to reach it. This made them pass by the gym and sparring room.

He watched closely as they passed next to these, keeping his mana vision active, trying to see if someone had gotten in touch with mana. And, to his surprise, he indeed saw one.

Although faint, he found a single soldier, who by his looks alone, couldn't be older than twenty years old, who bore a spark of mana. It was so minuscule that he probably couldn't do anything with it.

But it was the seed that could blossom into power.

He tapped Talbot's shoulder before pointing at him.

"Who is that kid?"

Talbot looked at where he was pointing and raised an eyebrow.

"Why do you ask?" she asked, wary.

"Simple curiosity. The sounds of his punches on that sandbag sound crisp. They sound louder than the others, too."

Talbot chuckled.

"Hey, Alvares!" she shouted.

The young man, clearly Latino now that Alex saw him from the front, and by his name as well.

Talbot motioned him to come over, and he jogged over, before giving her a stuck-up salute.

"Yes, Ma'am! What can I do for you, Ma'am?!"

Talbot shook her head at him.

"Relax kid, I don't got orders for you. Just this man wanted to say your form is good, and your punches sound more powerful than the others. You can get back to it now."

Alvares looked at Alex with a cocked eyebrow, wondering who he was or how he could hear that from so far away. The amount of people punching sandbags or padded gloves was not small.

"Uh… Thank you?" he tentatively responded.

Alexander smiled at him, releasing a burst of mana again. There was no malice in it, and it was only to jolt the kid's mana a bit, to see his reaction.

Alvares felt a shiver run down his spine as he twitched a bit, his fists clenching. But the sensation of threat he felt quickly disappeared, making him wonder where it had come from.

He didn't stick around, and returned to training on his sandbag, glancing occasionally at Alexander and Talbot who left right after.

He smacked one of the older soldiers on the arm and asked, "Hey. Do you know who that was, with Sergeant Talbot?"

The man, closer to his forties, turned his head toward the direction the kid pointed, and his jaw went slack for a moment.

"What the fuck… Why is he here?"

Alvares, judging by the reaction, assumed he knew him and waited for an answer.

The older man worked his mind and remembered today was the day for the op on the Bianchi mansion, which he had asked not to be present on. Seeing Alexander Leduc here, on the day of the op, the soldier had many questions passing through his mind.

This was one of the three guys that Alfred had brought to Alexander's penthouse when they tried ruffing him up. He was also the one Alexander had thrown across the room like he was some vulgar doll.

Although the man had worse wounds in his life, getting flung like that put many of his perspectives under strain. The feat of strength went beyond what a normal human, especially the size of that young man, should be able to do.

It had made him wonder if the world was hiding other wild things. Then the event with the giant rats in the city's service tunnels made him ask those same questions to himself.

Shaking his head out of his stupor, the older merc looked at Alvares and shook his head at him.

"I have a feeling we'll know soon enough. For now, get back on that bag, rookie. Your form is terrible, and those punches couldn't hurt an old lady. You should stop playing that stupid video game so much, and hit the gym more!"

Alvares' face scrunched up a bit, taking the insult personally.

"Funny. I had the impression I had gotten stronger," he murmured.

"What was that, punk?!" the older merc asked, taking a menacing step toward the young Latino.

"Nothing, sir!" he barked, getting back to his sandbag.

But questions still took most of his attention, making his training sloppy, at best.

'Who is he? And why did I feel like I could die from just his glare, for a second, there?'