Chapter 21 | Hide and Seek

Leon lay sprawled inside the shimmering veil, one hand clutching his injured butt cheek. The Furiboar crashed against the barrier with a sound like thunder, only to be repelled by rippling energy. It charged again and again, each impact sending vibrations through the ground beneath him but failing to breach the protection.

"Wave One completed in 58 minutes," announced the voice that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere. "Wave Two will begin in 10 minutes."

Great...How am I going to complete Wave 2? Leon thought through gritted teeth.

Blood seeped between his fingers, and his entire body felt like one massive bruise. The spear shaft had snapped during his final desperate maneuver, leaving him with half a weapon.

"Resetting recruit's physical status," the voice announced as though it read his mind.

A soothing blue light bathed Leon from head to toe. 

The sensation was bizarre; warm yet cool, penetrating muscle and bone. The ragged tear in his flesh knitted itself closed. Bruises faded from angry purple to yellow to nothing. His shredded uniform repaired itself, fibers rewinding like time running backward. Even the splinters embedded in his palms from the broken spear dissolved away.

The pain disappearing so suddenly surprised Leon. He flexed his fingers experimentally, then pushed himself to his feet. Not even a lingering ache remained.

"Demolishing environment to prepare for Wave Two. Please wait."

Beyond the protective veil, the ruined city began to crumble. Buildings collapsed into themselves, not with the chaos of actual destruction but with the orderly dissolution of digital constructs. 

Streets, debris, and even the fallen Furiboars broke apart into glowing particles that faded into nothingness. Even his broken spear disintegrated in his hand, leaving nothing but empty white space stretching in all directions.

The contrast was jarring. One moment surrounded by a devastated urban landscape, the next he was standing in absolute void.

As Leon caught his breath, Nyra's advice echoed in his mind: Don't react. Anticipate.

He realized he spent the entire first wave merely reacting to threats, running when chased, fighting when cornered. He survived, but barely. The simulation's coordinated attackers would require more strategic thinking.

He also remembered the small glitches he had noticed during entry into the simulation, like tiny stutters in the program. Something about this simulation felt different from the standard Imperial training modules he had seen in recruitment ads.

"Creating an environment for Wave Two: Hide and Seek," announced the voice.

The white void rippled. A large, three-story building materialized before him, resembling the recruitment processing center but more dilapidated. Windows were cracked or missing entirely. Parts of the exterior walls appeared damaged, with exposed infrastructure visible through the gaps.

"Five minutes remaining."

The weapons rack reappeared, offering the same three options as before: sword, shield, and spear. 

"You may take all items," the voice stated this time. 

Leon equipped himself, strapping the sword to his left hip, securing the shield on his back, and taking the spear in his right hand. The balanced weight of all three weapons felt reassuring after the desperate scramble of Wave One.

"Wave Two: Hide and Seek. Objective: survive for 30 minutes within the building. You will be given 20 minutes to prepare."

The protective veil dissolved around him.

Leon didn't hesitate. 

He sprinted toward the building's entrance, mind already analyzing possibilities. 

Survive for 30 minutes implied pursuers. Likely numerous and coordinated, given the simulation parameters.

Inside, the building revealed itself as standard mid-level Imperial architecture. Leon had spent countless hours in similar structures during his municipal data job and courier runs. He recognized the layout immediately; central corridors with offices branching off, maintenance access panels at regular intervals, and standard wiring configurations.

Only a small number of lights were working, their flickering created shifting shadows that danced across cracked walls. Holes in some floors allowed shafts of light to penetrate from what must be openings in the roof. The air smelled stale, with undertones of mildew and dust.

Throughout the hallways stood frozen humanoid figures—mannequins—each holding either a sword, spear, or shield. Their features were blank, their postures unnaturally still. Leon suspected these would become his coordinated group opponents once Wave Two began.

Don't react, anticipate, he reminded himself.

If the mannequins would hunt him, he needed a defensive position that gave him control of the engagement. Fighting in open corridors would allow them to surround him. Fighting in a small room would trap him. He needed something in between, a bottleneck where he could face opponents one at a time.

Leon headed directly to where he knew the second floor's network room would be located. In standard Imperial design, these rooms were positioned in the building's center for optimal connectivity to all areas. The door was where he expected, labeled "Network Infrastructure."

Inside, the room contained racks of dusty equipment and a raised floor typical of data centers. 

Perfect for what he had in mind.

Leon used his spear to pry up the floor panels near the door, then continued removing them until about two-thirds of the room was exposed. Beneath the panels lay a subfloor with a single support beam running through the center, cable channels on either side, and the ceiling of the floor below visible through the gaps.

His plan was clear. He would turn the beam into a narrow bridge, forcing anyone who chased him to cross in single file. That would leave them open to his spear. If they slipped, they would fall to the floor below. It was not a deadly drop, but it would slow them down and separate them from the rest. 

He cut away the wiring and knocked down the ceiling panels of the floor below, creating a significant drop on either side of the beam. The remaining intact section at the room's far end gave him fifteen feet of solid flooring as a defensive position. Enough space to maneuver but with one approach path.

"Five minutes remaining," the voice announced, echoing through the empty building.

Leon looked over his work with a critical eye. The bottleneck was good, but if the mannequins outnumbered him, which seemed likely, one spear would not be enough. He needed more weapons.

He left the room, carefully balancing on the beam, and started gathering weapons from the frozen figures. He had to use a lot of force to pry a sword from one mannequin at the end of the hallway. Getting a spear from another near the stairwell was just as difficult.

Just down the stairs, he saw a mannequin holding a shield. 

I might need that, he thought. 

He moved closer and began freeing the shield from its tight grip.

"One minute remaining."

Arms full of stolen weapons, Leon turned to rush back upstairs to his prepared position. As he got half way up, the staircase trembled beneath him. The material crumbled, breaking apart around his foot.

He lunged upward, trying to reach the intact portion of the stairway, but too late. The entire structure gave way, sending him crashing down to the floor below amidst a shower of debris and dust.

The impact knocked the breath out of him. Weapons clattered across the floor all around. Above, through the jagged hole where the staircase had been, he could see the door to his carefully prepared defense spot. It was now out of reach.

"Wave Two commencing now."

In the distance, Leon heard a mechanical grinding sound, like dozens of joints beginning to move in unison. The mannequins were activating.

Leon gathered the scattered weapons, mind racing to formulate a new plan. His careful preparation was ruined, forcing him to adapt.