Minutes earlier..

<Vice Captain POV>

What the fuck had they done! Sacrificing your comrade during this crucial time, they have no morals!

I didn't thought that snakes got into our team this time.

I looked towards my other friend, and he knew right away what I wanted to do.

We both aimed our miniature psionic blasters right into those two.

"Rot in hell, you bastards!"

Bang! Bang!

The bullet went into their stomachs, just as what they've done to the rookie. 

Not so long, horrified shrieks were heard behind us.

"Vice—no, captain, there's a narrow pathway! To the left!"

Sigh.. I didn't think that captain would die. Even though we all expected it one day, we didn't expect it to be this time. Sorry to our rookie too, I hope you've seen what happened to those two.

Me and the remaining squad members, the original members during our squad was first formed, sprinted towards our only hope.

-------

"Fwaa!"

Fuck. Dying. Is. Not. A. Pleasant. Experience.

As I woke up, most of my armor is gone. Only the head part remained. Thankfully, I can still use it to find out how much time had passed by.

[Final Layer had been breached!]

[Warning! Warning! The energy source has been damaged!]

[Carrying out final protocol. Self destruction mode initiated.]

[2:46AM]

I saw through the logs that was left behind. That's why I didn't have my armor left. It must've been the panel who revived me with my skin tight battle suit. I love you panel!

Still, I experienced dying, and it was surely an unpleasant experience. Imagine getting eaten by human sized ants. Even now, I'm still shivering due to it.

The despair, the pain, the loss of consciousness, and the slower time.. I would now be rather injured than experience that again..

[One-time Revival Chance used. To revive, you must spend 100,000 exp.]

Wow. At least the exp requirement got reduced to a ⅒ compared to the 1,000,000. I should check my exp count right now..

[Lugh Austere Bayer]

Rank: D

Latent Potential: C-

Exp: 33,489

Strength: D-

Agility: C

Stamina: D

Vessel: E+

Wisdom: E-

Traits:

[Dagger Mastery (LV3)]

[Dexterous Hands (LV4)]

My exp.. Is it from my last ditch attempt?

I also got my agility to C, which is nice. But then, my previous plan of gaining stats steadily can be scrapped.

I also had Sword Willows at Experienced Mastery, which is very cool too.

Looking at my surroundings, it seemed that this is also the same place where I died. Just that 12 hours had passed.

I should find a safe place first before sorting things out.

In regards to that, I went forward, not backward. Only god knows whether that S+ Rank zerg got startled by the commotion earlier. Going back isn't safe, thus I only moved forward.

10 minutes later, I found out a small and narrow crack. It should also be the same place where the rest escaped. I should go inside this first, instead of staying in this wide cave without cover.

Hup!

The place that I landed in is really narrow. In front of me, there's a crack that leads to somewhere. Only by going sideways can I fit into this.. Now, sorting out stuff should go first.

First of all, the notice that I didn't see earlier when I killed captain.

[Killed a being above B- Rank. Lucky Hit triggered. The talent roulette will be activated.]

[The talent roulette contains all the traits of the being killed.]

[Activate?]

'Activate.'

A roulette popped up in front of me. In it, there are 5 traits. 5 traits.. Most should be those awakened ones.

Traits can also be classified into two: inborn which is what you receive since birth and the awakened traits that can be received after doing something for a long time.

Remembering the students who had 3 inborn traits at the start and the protagonist who had 7, I now feel jealous.

To be fair, these 5 traits are nurtured after YEARS of participating into an existential war. I bet that at most, wars on Aquamarine will be at Intensity 3 while here, it should be at Intensity 12-15.

Hah.. I shouldn't think of it, lest I'll truly be jealous.

[First time spin costs 4,000 exp. Continue?]

Hm.. [Decisiveness], [Sword Mastery], [Gun Mastery], [Commanding], and [Berserk]. The captain is worthy to be called a war veteran.

Sigh.. I'll inherit your traits, along with your conviction to protect this world.

'Spin.'

The wheel started spinning very fast. Oh? I am the one that will choose when to stop? 

'Stop.'

The roulette spinned slower and slower until it ended up at...

[Sword Mastery]

-Allows the user to truly wield swords proficiently.

Back then, I also used a sword. Even though I trained for a year, I still looked like a trainee. Trait is the key. If you don't have that mastery, you won't be able to truly wield that weapon.

Most of the time, X Mastery is an inborn trait. There's only a few cases here in this world where one can gain it by using a sword for countless years.

In my case, the me from before never chose daggers as it'll be more prone to danger against zergs(the distance), thus I only used it as a dismantling tool.

But now, HAH. Sword Mastery. Sword Willows should also improve as well!

[The second spin costs 8,000 exp. Continue?]

'Continue'

The wheel spinned again. This time, I was able to get..

[Decisiveness]

-Allows you to enter the 'Decisive' state. In this state, negative emotions won't affect you. Your mind will be thinking rationally, which will find the best decisions in each situations.

-Increases Thinking speed by 50%.

This is?

An auxiliary trait? Wait, Isn't this very useful?

Few hours ago, I made so many mistakes that I might be the dumber than a dumb protagonist.

With this, I wouldn't make mistakes. It's also useful during wars, as you always encounter a life and death situation out there.

[Third Spin costs 16,000 exp, continue?]

'No.'

This time, its a no-no. I already spent 12k Exp. I'll still need the last 21k to upgrade my fighting power.

This time, I will upgrade my mastery of [Sword Willows] to Master.

[8,000 exp spent. Upgraded the Mastery of [Sword Willows] to <Master>.]

Newer chunk of understanding flooded into my mind. As its my third time, I didn't get a headache as strong as before.

It took me 5 minutes to completely digest it. Sword Willows.. I see why is it named like this. Hope.. Willows. Its the same.

The hope to overcome various adversities using a sword—that is Sword Willows.

Next, the [Silent Steps]. It should be upgraded to <Experienced> Mastery.

[6,000 exp spent. Upgraded the mastery of [Silent Steps] to <Experienced>.]

Another chunk of understanding came to my mind. After digesting it for minutes, I contemplated.

Silent Steps, its not to mimic the wind, but rather, it is to appear and disappear like a ghost! 

Hm.. Am I in xianxia right now?

With the <Experienced> Mastery, I can now use the instantaneous movement. I think, 50m should be the limit.

Finally, the last step. Upgrading my Vessel to D Rank. With my mastery of Sword Willows, I'll only be able to cast it once in my current state.

[6,000 exp spent. Upgraded Vessel stat to D.]

I felt my physical(Aura) and spiritual(Qi) vessels becoming larger and stronger, allowing them to store more Qi and Aura. With my limit, twice should be the maximum. Nice.

I sat cross-legged to recover my lost Martial Force. It seems that my revival wouldn't fill my missing Martial Force. The energy spent before I died wasn't refilled..

One cycle.. Two cycle.. Three cycle.. By the time I finished the fifth cycle, I am fully recharged. This time, I'm now able to shorten the time it takes to do one cycle at 20 minutes. Not only did I recover, but I felt a slight increase on my Vessel Stat too. 

It's been more than an hour, yet a zerg didn't fall here. Hah, I know that recovering like this is quite dangerous, but only by doing so can I escape. Do I even have a choice?

Anyways, I now have to move forward. It's very dark out here, and the night vision of this helmet wouldn't last long.

As I walked through in this crack sideways, I saw footsteps on the soil. Though hardly recognizable, I can assume that there's 8 to 9 pairs. It should be the squad members. 

I thought 10 still survived? One or two?.. The two who killed me? If I'm not mistaken, maybe someone in the squad killed them both.

The only one who comes to my mind is the vice captain. As the vice captain, he's been part of this squad from the start. Maybe a war veteran too.

As a war veteran, they follow a code of ethics; for them, comrades who are willing to trust each other and not abandon anyone is very valuable. Maybe he thought this way.

It didn't take long before I saw through the end of this narrow crack. The first thing that I saw outside is..

That fucker!