A few weeks later...

[Initializing simulation, please wait a moment...]

A cold and robotic voice spoke, the surroundings were shrouded in complete darkness. And situated in inside it, a person currently stands completely still in this dark room.

[Simulation type: mixed combat]

[Chosen difficulty: hellish/ enemy type: varied]

[Environment settings: alternating terrain /environment hazards: enabled]

[Please, prepare yourself for the start of the simulation at the end of the countdown]

Alabaster, who is currently standing in this pitch black environment while wearing a skin tight suit with many light dots adorning it and a visor strapped to his face which is called an enhanced reality visor, tenses himself at the warning and adopts a combat stance. Then a few seconds later various light dots are turned on across the whole room revealing the still very dark place to be very large.

[The simulation will comence in... 5]

[4...]

[3...]

[2...]

[1...]

[Good luck, and may the blessing of the stars shine upon you!] 

[Start!!!]

At the sound of a siren, all the lights are simultaneously turned on revealing him to be standing in the middle of a empty street and the ambient he currently finds himself to be in, is a ruined and abandoned city which most buildings are completely ruined, but there is still a few that still stand tall and with many windows and holes, providing abundant cover and places you could shoot or be shot from.

But things don't stop there, as seemingly out of nowhere, rain starts poring and it goes from a light rain to a heavy storm with strong winds in seconds, this makes it obvious that it isn't a natural rain but rather an artificial one that the room he is currently in is capable of reproducing.

Alabaster realizing that he is currently completely exposed, immediately runs to the cover of an abandoned building and awaits cautiously for the conditions of the scenario to be explained. 

And very quickly a holographic appears in front of him, hovering right in front of his eyes and after a quick check to see if the surroundings are clear, he starts reading what it says.

[The first stage has commenced]

[Search and destroy: find and eliminate all the hostiles, your performance will be evaluated according to the time spent and overall combat rating]

[Enemy type: guerrilla warriors]

[Attention: since the simulation is in the hellish difficulty, if you are hit even once the scenario will be a failure and the simulation will come to an end]

After reading the entire message and swiping it to the side to restore his field of vision, Alabaster couldn't help but feel some bitterness deep in his heart.

Guerrilla warriors are easily the worst match up for him when combined with his current environment, the abundance of places they could hide in making their ambushes more unpredictable and deadly. And in order to not fall for a trap, you must move cautiously which will impact your final rating.

But he doesn't waste any time agonizing over it as he is currently on a timer and every second counts. Furthermore, guerrillas become harder to deal with the longer they are left to their own devices, so a more aggressive approach will allow him to score the first few eliminations much easier.

His first order of business is to head towards a vantage point so he can have a better understanding of the city's layout and have an better idea of where his enemies could be hiding. And to that purpose he had already spotted a tall building which will serve him quite nicely.

But before leaving the building he was currently in to head out into the storm outside, he made a point to check all his current equipment in order to not have any surprises when it was time to actually fight.

Looking to himself, his previous suit was gone and in it's place he was wearing a simple military garb consisting of a thick jacket, pants, boots, a belt, a backpack and a steel helmet with face mask. From the holster in his right leg he pulls out a pistol, the lazer kind, whilst from his left leg he pulls a combat knife which visibly lacks any augments and functions as you would expect it to, outside of that he was given a few essentials such as an an lighter, extra batteries for his gun and a binocular.

Holding his lazer pistol and combat knife in his hands, he ventures out into the storm, in the direction of the already mentioned building.

He travels towards it at a very fast speed, while at the same time avoiding taking any route in that he would find himself exposed in too many directions, though it was nearly impossible considering the terrain type. But he was able to take a few risks and keep a fast pace due to him being confident that he wouldn't be ambushed unless he put himself in a very disadvantageous position, that was thanks to the natural cover of the rain and the very defensive and opportunistic nature of this type of enemy, they wouldn't take risks unless necessary.

So he was able to reach the bottom of the building without any problems, but he knew that entering the building wouldn't be so easy as he was sure that the enemies despite not being real, would be aware of the strategic importance of the building and would protect it fiercely in order to make things harder for him.

Entering the building through a hole in the wall, he skillfully scans the surroundings and checks every single nook and cranny where the enemies could be waiting to ambush him.

This time, as opposed to earlier, he advances very slowly and meticulously, since from now on he would be at risk of falling for a devious trap if he isn't paying attention.

In truth, it would be very easy for him to pass the scenarios if he was to give his all. Utilizing his powers as a conductor such as: void shield and void vision would trivialize the entire simulation, but in order to push himself to the limit he has opted to not use his powers on the simulations.

With the confirmation that the ground floor of the building is clear he quickly makes his way towards the stairs in order to ascend to the higher floors of the building.

But he finds his first obstacle in the form of a barricade that was built on the stairs by piling furniture and ruble. That would leave the only remaining route to ascend the building he could use being the elevator. Even if the building was in complete ruins, the elevator seemed to be intact and with power to boot, that was probably the route that the simulation had conveniently left intact and intended him to take.

But he knew that it was a trap, taking the elevator would alert the enemies to his presence and when the elevator doors opened, he would find himself cornered and forced to take a path that was ridden with traps.

So he decided to take an alternative and much safer path.

Entering the elevator he looks up and finds a hatch which he uses to climb on top of the elevator, then he puts away his weapons and grabs on to the cables that are connected to it and starts climbing with it.

Reaching the second floor he doesn't stop and continues climbing, this building has 5 floors still standing, with the first floor being empty, the militiamen probably left it that way in order to not expose themselves, according to Alabaster's knowledge, the militia will probably have left the 2nd and 3rd floors filled with traps while they would be located themselves in the 4th and 5th floors, so he decided to ignore the lower floors and climb directly to the 4th floor in order to dispatch of them.

Reaching the elevator exit to the 4th floor, he surveys his surroundings and quickly locates a ventilation shaft that is just big enough for him to fit through, if he was to forcefully open the door that lead to the 4th floor and enter through there it wouldn't be much different from taking the elevator since it would lead him to a direct confrontation.

Crawling cautiously through the air ducts the first thing he noticed about the place is how filthy it was, which is normal considering the lack of cleaning for as long this place was abandoned. But also, he noticed the lack of any obstruction on his path, all the turbines were turned-off as the ventilation system seemed to be without power, which made the fact that the elevator was functioning all the stranger, but after a quick contemplation the doubts that were on his mind vanished and he was left with a single conclusion:

They must have kept the elevator running on purpose, and it made some sense, this would serve as both an early alarm system, as they could hear if the elevator was in use and a way to funnel their enemies into a position which they would have an advantage. But thanks to Alabaster's unorthodox path, he was able to circumvent their defences and remain undetected on the approach. This was only possible due to him being very familiar with the simulated scenario as most current buildings don't use this type of ventilation system, it being a particularity of buildings that had an older design such as the buildings that were used for the simulation. In addition to his knowledge and experience dealing with the militia archetype of enemy that he obtained after going through the simulation countless times.

But, while he was slowly crawling through the vents he suddenly came to a stop. Putting his ear in the pipe, he was capable of hearing very feint sounds of talking. That confirmed that there were indeed enemies in the building just as he had thought, before he had a guess but now he had confirmation, though unfortunately he couldn't pinpoint their number and location from where he was, so he continued onward while paying attention to the sounds in order to try and pinpoint the location of the enemies.                      

But he shortly reached as far as the ventilation system could take him, so opening a hatch very carefully as to not make more sound then necessary, he crawled out of the ventilation system. The place that he ended up in was a restroom that was luckily unoccupied, before exiting the vents he tried to listen for any signs of enemies but he was glad that he didn't come face to face with a enemy that was hidden outside of his perception.

So, once again holding his weapons on his hands he made his way towards the door in order to try and spot any hostiles on this floor, but before he could get close enough to peep to the other side through the keyhole he heard footsteps alarmingly close to the door, so without time to retrace his steps he in an act of quick thinking he decided to stand behind the door in order to avoid detection.

And in the end it paid off, when the door was opened he was able to remain hidden and the enemy passed by him and straight to the bathroom. With slow and methodical steps he followed the enemy until it came to an abrupt stop and he was standing right behind him.

Although he is confident in taking down this opponent without any issues he still spent a few seconds analysing his opponent in order to not have any unpleasant surprise.

The militia warrior that is in front of him is currently completely still in front of an urinator as the simulation program probably saw no need to simulate an enemy relieving himself and only programed the enemies to periodically enter the bathroom for a minute before exiting. The gear he is wearing is very underwhelming as it consisted of layers of rags that offered almost no protection and the weapon that he was wielding was a very basic kinetic weapon that seemed to be very old and had gone through numerous repairs and modifications.

Just looking at that, it became obvious what is the weakness of this specific type of enemy. The militiamen were given an artificial intelligence that was highly proficient in setting traps and ambushes, and had a higher than average intelligence but in exchange, they were given by far the worst equipment in order to make up for it.

But currently, all of this is was meaningless as the militia in front of him wouldn't have the opportunity to resist, putting away his lazer pistol, Alabaster holds his knife in a reverse grip and approaches the motionless enemy very calmly. The enemy at the last moment seemed to notice something wrong but it was already to late for him to do anything about it as Alabaster's free arm wrapped around his neck putting him in a choke hold and blocking any sound other than a few grunts leaving his mouth while his knife was plunged into the militias neck severing an important artery and making his enemy bleed profusely, after it he twisted and took out the knife making so the bleeding quickly worsened and within a few seconds the enemy was rendered immobile. After it's death the militia dissolved into particles and disappeared along with the blood that stained Alabaster and the ground.

The scene wasn't able to get much of an reaction out of him as he has already experienced an real battlefield when he was 15 and compared to the real thing this simulation is just a joke, but he wouldn't stop going through the simulation just because of this since even though the real experience would still be much better than any simulation in tempering one's will, it could still hone one's skill while offering no risk.

Now that he had defeated his first enemy, he was one step closer to finishing the scenario but before it, he still had many more lives to take.

Still with his knife and gun in hand, he made his way out of the bathroom and into the building. The simulation had just started and he was done with his warm-up.

It was time for the massacre to begin!