In the moment I took his hand, Leonard started squeezing harder and harder, and I responded in kind. Of course, his strength was greater than mine, so there came a point when I couldn’t squeeze any harder. Even so, he didn’t stop and kept squeezing even more forcefully, but I didn’t complain at any point. After all, I didn’t mind, and it wasn’t even hurting me. Naturally, he kept squeezing until he finally overcame my resistance. I felt my bones break with a dry sound, and then he stopped.
"Sorry for breaking your hand, you’re pretty tough," he said in a somewhat regretful tone.
"Don’t worry, I’m fine, see?" I said, shaking my hand.
I really didn’t care about his actions. The fact that he liked to squeeze people's hands until they complained was well-known on the internet. I already knew his personality and knew he was kind and liked to make jokes like that.
At that moment, María intervened and helped calm the atmosphere a bit.
"I'm glad to see you again. Thanks for significantly lightening the load in the east zone, although if I have anything to complain about, it’s that you said you’d be back in five hours, and you’re just arriving now."
"Well, there were too many Lorgs and losing your enhancement wasn’t a big problem."
"Never mind, anyway, come on, join the meeting."
And with that, I ended up sitting at the table in a meeting.
"Let me introduce you to the people here. First, this is Ethan Stone, he’s a police captain in charge of the police helping at the base," Emily said.
Looking at Ethan, he only nodded, and then Emily continued, "She is Lara Mitchell, she’s in charge of managing all the resources like food, blankets, ammunition, and more at the base."
"Nice to meet you, if you need anything, you can tell me. Do you want something to drink now?" she asked helpfully.
After considering her offer, I replied, "Do you have coffee? A strong one."
"Sure, I’ll call someone to bring you one."
"He is Conner Blackwood, a general commanding all the military personnel at the base," Emily continued, pointing to a man in military attire.
"Nice to meet the second strongest person," he said strictly, as if he only wanted me for fighting, which I understand given the situation, but it’s still annoying.
"She is Sienna Harper, a Prime User, whose talent and techniques are focused on creating barriers. She’s the one who prevents the base from being invaded if the Lorgs breach the first line of defense."
"Nice to meet you, I hope we can work together," she said respectfully.
"The same," I replied.
"He is Gabriel Thorn, an engineer in charge of the maintenance and repair group at the base."
"Nice to meet you," he said. I couldn’t help but be interested in his work since I like engineering, although due to the current situation, I couldn’t finish my degree.
"I like engineering. Can I see what you do?" I said with some enthusiasm.
"Really?"
"Yes, in fact, I was studying mechatronic engineering before the system arrived."
"Sure, you can come and see what we do. In fact, if you can, I would even welcome your help."
"I know some things, mainly about movement mechanisms and electrical circuits, although I’m willing to learn more," I said.
"Excellent, with modern technology, both are very useful," he replied.
"Uh-huh, you can continue your engineering talk later," Emily said, interrupting our little conversation.
"Yes, of course, sorry," Gabriel said.
"She is Vivian Cross, a Prime User in charge of the medical area," Emily continued, pointing to a woman in a lab coat.
"Nice to meet you, if you’re hurt, don’t hesitate to tell me," she said, which seemed very strange to me, and I couldn’t help but look at Emily and say:
"I have two questions: first, I thought you were the best at healing, so you would handle the healing of the wounded; and second, they don’t know anything about me, do they?"
"Regarding the first, I am indeed the best at healing, but I use most of my energy to provide enhancements. And actually, they don’t know anything about you, except Leonard, who knows a few things about you."
"I see," I said.
"Lastly, there’s Leonard, whom you surely already know."
"Nice to meet you again, I hope we can fight together soon," Leonard said with a calm but friendly expression.
"Likewise," I replied.
"Now, how about you introduce yourself?"
"Sure, I’m William Saboga, the second strongest person, nice to meet you," I said without much detail.
"Well, now that we’ve finished the introductions, we can continue with the meeting," said Emily, taking a seat at the table with the others.
We all settled around the table in a room that, despite being in an improvised base, had a professional and urgent atmosphere. A projector in one corner showed a map of the city with various zones marked in red and blue, indicating areas controlled by the Lorgs and our defensive positions.
Emily spoke first, her voice firm and decisive. "We’re in a somewhat bad situation. Although we’ve managed to reduce the pressure in the east zone thanks to William’s intervention, reports indicate that the Lorgs are breaching the defenses in the south. We need strategies to redistribute our resources and reinforce our defenses."
Ethan Stone intervened, "We can mobilize a few more police units to the south, but we can’t do much in the long term, we’re running out of ammunition."
"What about supplies?" asked Conner Blackwood. "We need to ensure our troops have enough ammunition and provisions. Lara, what’s the situation?"
Lara Mitchell responded promptly, "We have enough reserves for the next few days, but if the offensive in the south intensifies, we’ll need more supplies. I’ve been coordinating with other refugee groups, and we could organize convoys to bring more resources."
"And the barriers?" Emily asked, turning to Sienna Harper. "Could you reinforce our defenses in the south?"
Sienna nodded, "I could set up additional barriers, but I need time and protection while I erect them. My abilities can keep the Lorgs at bay, but only for a while."
"Good, that will be enough. Now, we need to choose which direction to attack today," Emily said.
"Attack?" I asked.
"Sorry, I forgot you arrived today," she said before continuing.
"As you know, once the gates open, the Lorgs start coming out of them. The thing is, only one can come out at a time, so at the beginning of the invasion, there weren’t many Lorgs, and we took the opportunity to create a fairly large area around the tourist zone free of gates. The problem came later, as more and more Lorgs started coming out of the gates, they began moving further and further away from them.
Especially the detection Lorgs, which can detect people unless they have some concealment instrument, and attract other Lorgs to attack people. As you can see, we’re not exactly discreet, so a large number of detection Lorgs have attracted Lorgs to our position.
When a detection Lorg hears the call of another detection Lorg, it makes another call to inform nearby Lorgs where to go, creating a kind of path that the Lorgs follow to reach the base. Usually, only a few Lorgs stay near the gates when called by a detection Lorg, so we end up facing almost all the Lorgs in the city for hours. Then, there’s a period when not many Lorgs come, and it’s then that after an hour’s rest, we head out to attack and destroy the gates in one direction."
"In summary, we face almost all the Lorgs in the city, and when there are no more, we attack and destroy gates," I said.
"Exactly, that’s easier to understand," Leonard said.
"I thought you wanted the long explanation," Emily said.
"I like the long explanation; it contains information that can be used in various strategies, but making a general summary is also useful," I said.
"In fact, that’s what is done in scientific articles," Gabriel said, backing up my words.
"Exactly," I replied.
"In any case, where are we going to attack today?" Leonard said with clear anticipation, something that again didn’t surprise me since his love for fighting is well-known.
In the moment I took his hand, Leonard started squeezing harder and harder, and I responded in kind. Of course, his strength was greater than mine, so there came a point when I couldn’t squeeze any harder. Even so, he didn’t stop and kept squeezing even more forcefully, but I didn’t complain at any point. After all, I didn’t mind, and it wasn’t even hurting me. Naturally, he kept squeezing until he finally overcame my resistance. I felt my bones break with a dry sound, and then he stopped.
"Sorry for breaking your hand, you’re pretty tough," he said in a somewhat regretful tone.
"Don’t worry, I’m fine, see?" I said, shaking my hand.
I really didn’t care about his actions. The fact that he liked to squeeze people's hands until they complained was well-known on the internet. I already knew his personality and knew he was kind and liked to make jokes like that.
At that moment, María intervened and helped calm the atmosphere a bit.
"I'm glad to see you again. Thanks for significantly lightening the load in the east zone, although if I have anything to complain about, it’s that you said you’d be back in five hours, and you’re just arriving now."
"Well, there were too many Lorgs and losing your enhancement wasn’t a big problem."
"Never mind, anyway, come on, join the meeting."
And with that, I ended up sitting at the table in a meeting.
"Let me introduce you to the people here. First, this is Ethan Stone, he’s a police captain in charge of the police helping at the base," Emily said.
Looking at Ethan, he only nodded, and then Emily continued, "She is Lara Mitchell, she’s in charge of managing all the resources like food, blankets, ammunition, and more at the base."
"Nice to meet you, if you need anything, you can tell me. Do you want something to drink now?" she asked helpfully.
After considering her offer, I replied, "Do you have coffee? A strong one."
"Sure, I’ll call someone to bring you one."
"He is Conner Blackwood, a general commanding all the military personnel at the base," Emily continued, pointing to a man in military attire.
"Nice to meet the second strongest person," he said strictly, as if he only wanted me for fighting, which I understand given the situation, but it’s still annoying.
"She is Sienna Harper, a Prime User, whose talent and techniques are focused on creating barriers. She’s the one who prevents the base from being invaded if the Lorgs breach the first line of defense."
"Nice to meet you, I hope we can work together," she said respectfully.
"The same," I replied.
"He is Gabriel Thorn, an engineer in charge of the maintenance and repair group at the base."
"Nice to meet you," he said. I couldn’t help but be interested in his work since I like engineering, although due to the current situation, I couldn’t finish my degree.
"I like engineering. Can I see what you do?" I said with some enthusiasm.
"Really?"
"Yes, in fact, I was studying mechatronic engineering before the system arrived."
"Sure, you can come and see what we do. In fact, if you can, I would even welcome your help."
"I know some things, mainly about movement mechanisms and electrical circuits, although I’m willing to learn more," I said.
"Excellent, with modern technology, both are very useful," he replied.
"Uh-huh, you can continue your engineering talk later," Emily said, interrupting our little conversation.
"Yes, of course, sorry," Gabriel said.
"She is Vivian Cross, a Prime User in charge of the medical area," Emily continued, pointing to a woman in a lab coat.
"Nice to meet you, if you’re hurt, don’t hesitate to tell me," she said, which seemed very strange to me, and I couldn’t help but look at Emily and say:
"I have two questions: first, I thought you were the best at healing, so you would handle the healing of the wounded; and second, they don’t know anything about me, do they?"
"Regarding the first, I am indeed the best at healing, but I use most of my energy to provide enhancements. And actually, they don’t know anything about you, except Leonard, who knows a few things about you."
"I see," I said.
"Lastly, there’s Leonard, whom you surely already know."
"Nice to meet you again, I hope we can fight together soon," Leonard said with a calm but friendly expression.
"Likewise," I replied.
"Now, how about you introduce yourself?"
"Sure, I’m William Saboga, the second strongest person, nice to meet you," I said without much detail.
"Well, now that we’ve finished the introductions, we can continue with the meeting," said Emily, taking a seat at the table with the others.
We all settled around the table in a room that, despite being in an improvised base, had a professional and urgent atmosphere. A projector in one corner showed a map of the city with various zones marked in red and blue, indicating areas controlled by the Lorgs and our defensive positions.
Emily spoke first, her voice firm and decisive. "We’re in a somewhat bad situation. Although we’ve managed to reduce the pressure in the east zone thanks to William’s intervention, reports indicate that the Lorgs are breaching the defenses in the south. We need strategies to redistribute our resources and reinforce our defenses."
Ethan Stone intervened, "We can mobilize a few more police units to the south, but we can’t do much in the long term, we’re running out of ammunition."
"What about supplies?" asked Conner Blackwood. "We need to ensure our troops have enough ammunition and provisions. Lara, what’s the situation?"
Lara Mitchell responded promptly, "We have enough reserves for the next few days, but if the offensive in the south intensifies, we’ll need more supplies. I’ve been coordinating with other refugee groups, and we could organize convoys to bring more resources."
"And the barriers?" Emily asked, turning to Sienna Harper. "Could you reinforce our defenses in the south?"
Sienna nodded, "I could set up additional barriers, but I need time and protection while I erect them. My abilities can keep the Lorgs at bay, but only for a while."
"Good, that will be enough. Now, we need to choose which direction to attack today," Emily said.
"Attack?" I asked.
"Sorry, I forgot you arrived today," she said before continuing.
"As you know, once the gates open, the Lorgs start coming out of them. The thing is, only one can come out at a time, so at the beginning of the invasion, there weren’t many Lorgs, and we took the opportunity to create a fairly large area around the tourist zone free of gates. The problem came later, as more and more Lorgs started coming out of the gates, they began moving further and further away from them.
Especially the detection Lorgs, which can detect people unless they have some concealment instrument, and attract other Lorgs to attack people. As you can see, we’re not exactly discreet, so a large number of detection Lorgs have attracted Lorgs to our position.
When a detection Lorg hears the call of another detection Lorg, it makes another call to inform nearby Lorgs where to go, creating a kind of path that the Lorgs follow to reach the base. Usually, only a few Lorgs stay near the gates when called by a detection Lorg, so we end up facing almost all the Lorgs in the city for hours. Then, there’s a period when not many Lorgs come, and it’s then that after an hour’s rest, we head out to attack and destroy the gates in one direction."
"In summary, we face almost all the Lorgs in the city, and when there are no more, we attack and destroy gates," I said.
"Exactly, that’s easier to understand," Leonard said.
"I thought you wanted the long explanation," Emily said.
"I like the long explanation; it contains information that can be used in various strategies, but making a general summary is also useful," I said.
"In fact, that’s what is done in scientific articles," Gabriel said, backing up my words.
"Exactly," I replied.
"In any case, where are we going to attack today?" Leonard said with clear anticipation, something that again didn’t surprise me since his love for fighting is well-known.
