Universal Power System

Mako stared at the small device on his bed for several minutes, processing all the information that the commander had just revealed to him.

However, he was soon brought back to reality by a familiar noise.

*DING!*

[New Quest Received]

[Fullfil the commander's mission]

[Rewards: ???]

[Penalty: ???]

*DING!*

[New Bonus Quest Recieved]

[Unmask and identify all four people who teleported to the military school (0/4)]

[Rewards: ???]

[Penalty: ???]

********************

It had been a while since Mako received a quest from the system as the two months that he was stuck inside the military base were quite uneventful.

Mako reviewed the commander's message several times, especially focusing hard when he showed him the blurry security footage of the teleportation room.

Mako tried using Analyze to try and figure out if he could at least identify the gender of the 4 people based on their body shape, but it proved to be a lot more difficult.

The video was just too cut up and broken for the Analyze skill to process any useful information at this level.

Nonetheless, Mako was still able to identify that at least one of the four people was a woman based on the body shape that he was able to make out of one of the figures.

However, before Mako could become crazy staring at the tiniest of pixel changes, his ID card began to beep with a message that was sent by Erin.

The ID cards also had a feature where you could scan other ID cards and register them as friends so that you could exchange messages with each other anywhere on the campus.

Since outside phones and other communication devices were not allowed, this was the only way for cadets to remain in contact with their friends.

During lunch, Mako and the rest of the group scanned each other's cards so that they could reach them whenever they wanted.

*********************

Mako opened Erin's message which read the following:

[Don't strain your eyes staring at that broken footage, you'll find nothing trust me I tried. Come on, we are waiting for you in the cafeteria, it's almost time for dinner. We have a lot to discuss.]

Mako felt a bit embarrassed by the fact that Erin knew exactly what he was up to and that he would eventually lose track of time.

He quickly changed into more comfortable clothes and stored the commander's device inside his inventory again before quickly heading out to the cafeteria to meet with his friends.

*********************

The cafeteria was jam-packed with a lot of hungry cadets after an exhausting and exciting first day in military school.

Erin and the others had reserved a quiet table in the far corner of the cafeteria so that they could discuss plans without causing much disturbance.

"Sorry I'm late, guys," Mako apologized, catching his breath.

Erin glanced at him with a knowing smirk. "Figured you'd become obsessed with the commander's message. But don't worry, we've got plenty to discuss."

"Umm... Where's Andrew?" Mako asked as he approached the table to find that everyone was already there besides Andrew.

"He... uh... said he wasn't hungry and wanted to check out some of the training rooms on the campus instead," Erin replied with a hint of confusion and sadness in her voice.

Considering Andrew's mood when he last saw him during lunch, Mako couldn't think of anything serious that could have happened in the short period of time between then and now, but he could sense that something was definitely up with him.

For the time being, Mako decided to let it go as Andrew was Erin's boyfriend after all and if something had happened between them then it was best to leave it there; plus, with him not being present Mako could discuss plans openly with his team so he just quietly took a seat and began discussing plans with his old team.

*******************

Bill leaned forward, his eyes serious. "So, what do you think about the commander's suspicion? Who do you think could have done it?"

Mako could feel the anger and hatred that was masked within Bill's voice. If the commander had given the same mission brief to Bill that he had given him, Mako couldn't imagine how angry his team would be feeling, especially Erin and Bill when they learned that the killer of Iris was nothing but a mere pawn in a much bigger scheme.

Mako nodded, recounting the commander's message about the Pyronite reserves, the potential theft, and the suspicion of an inside job. "Honestly, I have no idea as to who it could be or what motive they could have. The uses of Pyronite are just so many it could be anyone. It's a pretty big mess. And we're right in the middle of it."

Leon frowned, rubbing his chin to add a bit of sarcasm to the obvious question. "So... how are we supposed to find out who's behind this and stop them before they get their hands on the Pyronite?"

"I mean don't get me wrong but aren't we just a bunch of unreliable kids who couldn't follow orders and messed everything up?" Leon added more sarcasm to his point with his hands in the air, directly recalling the verdict the board of commanders gave them after their mission.

All of them remember those hurtful words that the commanders said to them right during the time when they were grieving the loss of their friend.

Mako had lived his entire life being shut down and getting unfair treatment from those in power, so it didn't affect him that much but people like Leon and Bill were still salty about the way the commanders treated them.

Nathan nodded to Leon's remark, his expression determined. "How would we even start? We don't even know who we can trust. The people who teleported here could be students, teachers, staff, or even a person with authority."

Erin tapped her fingers on the table repeatedly, her mind working overtime. "Well, we could always start by gathering more information. The commander doesn't have access to investigate the teleporter here but we do have access."

Mako nodded in agreement. "Erin's right, we have to start with somewhere. The teleporter is a good place to start but we have to create a solid plan first as to how we are going to get any information on the people that teleported here last night."

Nathan sighed, running a hand through his hair. "It's not going to be that easy. If the system is the same replica of the system back in base, the logs would saved on the main server which is triple encrypted and heavily guarded."

"We could get into the teleporter room, no problem. But infiltrating the server room to extract any data will be a whole different story, especially considering the possibility that they've already wiped their logs, just as they did at the base," Nathan explained.

"And even if we were able to gather some information and figure out who is behind all of this, do you think they will just let us slide along and alert the commander without a fight?" Nathan added. "I speak from experience so believe me, people will go to any number of lengths to keep their secrets hidden."

Nathan's voice was tinged with pain as he spoke those last words as memories of his past started flashing in front of his eyes, a past that was still clouded in mystery but had a great impact on his life.

"If these people were able to employ gangs such as Victor's and sabotage the military base without getting caught, then I can assure you that we won't even be a challenge to them even in a fair fight," Nathan stated.

Nathan's points were completely valid and it set the morale of the group pretty low as no one had a clear idea of how to proceed.

"So, I'll ask you again, leader. How would we even start?" Nathan asked Mako directly.

All the heads turned towards Mako as he instantly became the center of attention.

Even though the commander hadn't assigned any specific person to be the leader of their new mission, everybody still turned toward Mako to fill the leadership role.

Mako had really beaten himself over for Iris' death and the poor choices he had made during the mission.

He had felt that he had left his team down greatly and that most of them would never follow his lead again, but he was proven wrong as he could still feel the determination and trust in his teammates' eyes.

There was a slight pause as Mako thought things through in his head. Taking all of Nathan's points into account, Mako had to come up with a clever solution to give them the advantage.

"Okay listen. You guys are absolutely correct and right now we don't have many great options to start progress on our mission right away... But what if... we don't have to," Mako stated.

The group looked confusingly at one another as they didn't expect Mako to say such a thing.