- Oliver -

  As the soft lights of the dawn filtered through the dormitory windows, Oliver was still lying in bed when he felt his gau vibrate gently. From the rhythmic sound eg in the room, he realized it wasn't just his but that of all the recruits around him.

  He yawned, blinking his eyes to adjust to the light while trying to focus oification on his gau's s:

  | gratutions on advang to the stage.| Your est will occur in three days. | After the end of the first exam.

  Upon finishing reading, Oliver fully awakened, his heart beating faster with excitement. He already knew he had passed but was curious about his friends' results. The boy looked around and saw other recruits reag to their messages.

  "Damn it. I didn't pass! This is absurd. I made it to the end of the sed round!" excimed one of them, throwing his backpack over his shoulder.

  "And me? I faced the Mini-Mechas! It's fug unfair!" pined another while gathering his belongings.

  Oliver watched the two grumbling as they left the dormitory, frustration evident on their faces.

  Turning around, he found Katherine and Isabe smiling. Although Isabe had cried out of frustration the night before, she now seemed better despite her puffy eyes. It would be difficult for them to be disqualified from the petition after reag the st round on the first exam.

  "It seems that those who were officially disqualified have to leave the base," ented Katherine, the movement in the corridor.

  "That's going to make the recruits still going to the arena even more nervous," added Isabe.

  "No doubt," agreed Oliver.

  "I don't know about you, but I'm starving," said Isabe with a smile that lit up her face.

  The trio quickly headed to the food court. Uhe st two days, the first floor was less crowded. The shops still maintaiheir promotions, but there were no longer as many lines.

  ‘Of the 150,000 initial recruits, only 15,000 remain,’ Oliver thought, notig the differen the enviro.

  "Do you have pns for this afternoon?" Katherine asked while serving herself.

  "No," Oliver and Isabe replied in unison.

  "Why?" Oliver inquired, curious.

  "I want to test something with you iraining room," Katherine said with a determined gleam in her eyes.

  --

  Located ohird floor of the base, besides agility and strength training rooms, there were some simple training rooms.

  Upon passing through the metallic door, they could see the small hall. Being one of the simplest rooms, it wasn't as sought after by recruits who preferred to focus on a specific type of training. Its metallic walls were covered with pieces of equipment, weights adjustable by magic systems, and embedded trol pahat monitored real-time performance.

  In the ter, there was an area marked by luminous lines, serving as a space for bat training where recruits could face other humans or even drones and robots provided by the room.

  Some seats were arranged in the er of the room for trainers and analysts to observe and evaluate the recruits' performahe main trol panel allowed fine enviroal adjustments, including maniputing gravitational resistao simute different ditions.

  Impressed by the pce's sophistication, Oliver couldn't help paring it to the more straightforward facilities he had used in Arcadia. The Yorks' training room seemed rudimentary in parison, g many advanced funalities. Driven by curiosity, he approached the trol panel and pressed one of the buttons to test its fun.

  A syic voice echoed through the room. "Gravity increased by 30%."

  Immediately, Oliver felt his body bee heavier. His muscles protested as he tried to raise his arm to deactivate the equipment. Every movement required enormous effort as if he were submerged in a viscous liquid.

  "Sorry," he mumbled, looking sheepishly at Isabe and Katherihe two observed him with expressions that mixed surprise and mild reproach.

  "Maybe it's better if we don't mess with these panels," Isabe suggested with a tained smile.

  As soon as gravity returo normal, the trio spent a few minutes expl the enviro, familiarizing themselves with the equipment.

  Katherihered the two in the ter of the bat area. "There's something I've found strange about you two, and I've noticed that many other recruits do it too," she began, crossing her arms.

  Oliver and Isabe exged curious gnces. "What do you mean?" asked Oliver, tilting his head.

  "Since I only joihe team during the exam on GL581, I thought it was your natural way of fighting, and when we were at my house, most of the time, we trained without the Ranger Armors. But after watg your exams, I have to ask. Why do you only use the Standard mode?" Katherine asked.

  "Standard mode?" Oliver frowned, clearly fused.

  "I figured you wouldn't know," replied Katheriurning to Isabe. "But Isabe, don't they expin how to ge the armor's usage mode in other Houses?"

  "Well..." Isabe scratched her head, a bit embarrassed. "We're taught, but si demands a lot of training and Energy trol, we often don't learn unless we bee Rangers."

  "Besides, it's not something that will multiply our power," she added. "It just improves our performance a bit."

  "Wait, I'm still lost. someone expin?" Oliver asked, raising one of his hands as if he were in a .

  "I think it's easier to show," Katherine said.

  She walked to the ter of the arena and activated her armor. A metallic liquid began to spread over her body, f a and light weight armor.

  ‘Her armor has always been different from the others,’ thought Oliver, recalling the first time he saw her in a.

  Uhe others, Katherine's armor seemed focused on mobility, sacrifig some prote. The torso was covered by segmees instead of tinuous metal, providing greater flexibility although leaving some unprotected spaces. he waist, the ptes diminished, revealing areas covered only by light fabric.

  The arms and legs were covered by adjustable segments, with only the necessary metal for prote without promising agility. The gloves resembled those of Oliver's armor, reinforced and adaptable for bat.

  "This armor is not the same as the ones you use," Katherine expined. "I call it the agile model. I pnned and modeled each part to ensure speed and lower Energy ption."

  Oliver finally uood the bes of such a design. ‘Why have you old me about this, Athena?’ he questioned mentally.

  ‘It's not my role to interfere in yrowth process. Every time I interfere in your decisions, my power is ed,’ Athena's serene voice resonated in his mind.

  "But how do I switch between my model and yours?" Oliver asked while activating his armor.

  "Training, lots of training," Isabe replied with a sigh.

  "Basically, your armor forms on you based on your body, analyzing how to keep you safer," Katherine expined. "But in bat, you o be able to prioritize your advahat's why you o train to turn on and off parts of your armor, keeping in mind the desired shape and cirg your Energy to e takes that form."

  "It's quite difficult to achieve something like that," Isabe expined.

  "Yes, the learning process es a lot of Energy. However, once you learn to use it, it's easy to switch between forms," said Katherine, while her armor seemed to melt and adjust to a nee.

  Where before there were small ptes, her body was now covered by thicker metal, especially oorso and arms, with rger cs—a robust pie the shoulder reinforced prote close to the head.

  The design, though still funal, was heavier. Oliver could imagine how muergy that format ed. The overpping yers of metal focused on maximiziance.

  "This is a format I created to ensure maximum defehe biggest problem is the amount of Energy it es; I 't maintain it for long," Katherine expined. "But I've been training to increase the speed of switg between forms, being able to react to surprises and use this oemporarily."

  Oliver nodded, uanding the logic.

  "This format would have been handy for you yesterday, Isabe. You still would have been hit by the missile, but you might have withstood the attack," Oliver ented, visualizing the application.

  Isabe agreed with a nod. "Yes, makes sense."

  "And you could think of a format that prioritizes your shots and es less Energy," suggested Katherine, looking at Oliver. "If you're far from close bat, do you need so much prote on your arms?"

  ‘I still keep the standard armor and have three other formats: one focused on shooting with the Energy Pistol, another for hand-to-hand bat, and another for when I'm using [Prometheus],’ Oliver analyzed the possibilities.

  However, as he nning, he remembered that only three days remained until the sed stage. "How many days are o learn a format?" Oliver asked.

  "Depends on your skill with Energy and your patie take a few days or even months," Katherine expined.

  "Shit," Oliver thought. The boy spent some time weighing his options.

  ‘The challenge will be to enter a a byrinth; being able to react to the unknown will be more important than learning new fighting styles,’ he rationalized.

  Oliver finally asked, "Alright. How do I learn?"

  GCLopes