Chapter 316: Once in a year time..

Chapter 316: Once in a year time..

Back at the vanguard station, the team had safely landed and made their way to report.

The debriefing room felt sterile and cold as Team Seven sat around the metal table, their Category 4 beast gear suits replaced with standard station uniforms. Noah placed the three one horn cores on the table’s surface—each one pulsing with dark energy.

“Three one-horns,” the debriefing officer said, his voice carefully neutral as he examined the cores. “In vacuum. On a reconnaissance mission that was supposed to involve mineral sampling.”

Lucas maintained his military posture. “The asteroid cluster wasn’t natural, sir. It was an engineered platform—a staging ground.”

“And you decided to engage rather than retreat because?”

“Because retreating would have meant the creature destroying our shuttle,” Noah replied evenly. “It launched itself at us with clear hostile intent.”

The officer made notes on his tablet. “Describe the engagement parameters.”

For the next hour, they recounted every detail of the fight—the coordination between the Harbingers, their adaptation to vacuum combat, the signal jamming that prevented communication with base. The officer’s expression grew increasingly grim with each revelation.

“You’re telling me these creatures demonstrated tactical intelligence, coordinated pack behavior, and technology advanced enough to establish forward operating bases in our outer system?”

“Yes, sir,” Lucas confirmed.

Outside the debriefing room, voices carried through the partially open door. Noah recognized Lieutenant Beaumont’s sharp tone immediately.

“—told you this would happen! You can’t take recruits straight from academy simulations and throw them into deep space operations!”

“Lieutenant, your concerns are noted, but—”

“My concerns?” Beaumont’s voice rose dangerously. “These kids nearly died because someone decided reconnaissance missions were good training exercises! Space combat isn’t like fighting on solid ground—there’s no room for error, no margin for learning curves!”

A deeper voice responded, clearly her superior. “Which is precisely why you’re in charge of training them. Your job is to make them less green.”

“My job is to keep them alive long enough to actually learn something! You can’t accelerate combat experience through classroom instruction!”

There was a pause, then the superior’s voice turned cold. “You’re dismissed, Lieutenant.”

Footsteps echoed in the corridor, and moments later, Lieutenant Beaumont entered the debriefing room. Her expression had shifted back to its usual mask of professional indifference, but Noah caught the slight tension around her eyes.

“Well?” she asked curtly. “I assume you’ve given your complete report?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Lucas replied.

Beaumont’s gaze swept over them, lingering for a moment on the Harbinger cores. “Three cores, theoretically worth more than Category 5s due to the potential knowledge we could extract from them. Not bad for your first real deployment.” Her tone suggested she was discussing the weather rather than a life-or-death encounter. “Try not to let it go to your heads.”

The debriefing officer cleared his throat. “That concludes our initial assessment. You’re dismissed, with the exception of Eclipse.”

Noah’s teammates filed out, leaving him alone with the officer and another woman who had entered during the proceedings. She was tall, elegant, with auburn hair pulled into a sophisticated bun and wearing a form-fitting business suit that suggested high rank without being overtly military.

What was most obvious about her were the large mounds on her chest threatening to spill out. While humanity struggled against the Harbingers, she had other struggles to deal with herself.

“Noah Eclipse,” she said, extending a perfectly manicured hand. “I’m Director Sarah Lisbon, Head of Advanced Awakened Integration. I’ve heard quite a bit about you.”

Noah shook her hand, noting her firm grip. “Ma’am.”

“Please, just Sarah.” She smiled warmly. “I understand you’re the second SSS-ranked Reawakened we’ve encountered. That puts you in some very exclusive company.”

As she moved to sit down, her heel caught on the chair leg, and she stumbled forward. Noah instinctively reached out to steady her, his hand catching her arm as she regained her balance.

“Thank you,” she said, her smile brightening. “I have a feeling you’re going to be one of my favorites to work with, Noah.”

Something in her tone made Noah slightly uncomfortable, but he maintained his polite demeanor. “I look forward to working with the Integration program, ma’am.”

After he left, Director Lisbon watched the door close behind him, her professional smile shifting to something more predatory. “Mommy likes,” she murmured to herself.

—

Without a break in the day, Noah made his way to an area where he could be more productive. The vanguard station’s gym.

The station’s gym was massive, filled with training equipment designed to accommodate awakened humans with superhuman capabilities. Noah found Lucas at the combat training area, warming up against a heavy bag that was already showing significant damage.

“Feel like sparring?” Lucas asked as Noah approached. “I could use a partner who won’t break if I hit them too hard.”

Noah nodded, stepping into the designated combat circle. Around them, other recruits stopped their own training to watch—word had already spread about Team Seven’s encounter with the Harbingers.

They began circling each other, both falling into fighting stances that spoke of extensive training. Lucas moved first, launching a lightning-fast combination that would have been invisible to normal human eyes.

Noah slipped the first punch, parried the second, and countered with an elbow strike that Lucas barely managed to deflect. The impact sent a sharp vibration through both their arms.

‘He’s faster than he was a month ago,’ Lucas thought as he reset his stance. ‘A lot faster.’

Noah pressed forward with a complex sequence—a feint high that transitioned into a leg sweep, followed immediately by a spinning backfist as Lucas jumped to avoid the sweep. Lucas caught the backfist on his forearm, but the force behind it made him grimace.

‘And stronger. Much stronger.’

Lucas retaliated with his own combination, using his enhanced reflexes to create openings that shouldn’t have existed. A palm strike toward Noah’s solar plexus flowed seamlessly into a hook kick aimed at his ribs when Noah twisted away from the initial attack.

But Noah read the combination perfectly, catching Lucas’s ankle and using his momentum to attempt a takedown. Lucas managed to break free, but not before Noah’s grip left clear finger impressions on his ankle guard.

‘When did he get this good at reading combinations?’ Lucas wondered as they separated again. The doubt was creeping in now, a quiet voice questioning assumptions he’d held for months.

The watching recruits were completely silent, recognizing they were witnessing something far beyond their own capabilities. This wasn’t just sparring—it was a display of combat mastery that belonged in professional tournaments, not training sessions.

Noah executed a complex sequence that started with what appeared to be a straightforward jab. Lucas moved to counter, only to realize the jab was a setup for a spinning heel kick that came from an impossible angle. He managed to duck under it, but Noah’s foot passed close enough to ruffle his hair.

‘I couldn’t have pulled that combination off,’ Lucas admitted to himself, genuine concern now mixing with his competitive instincts. ‘The timing, the body mechanics—when did he learn to fight like this?’

They continued for another ten minutes, neither able to land a decisive blow, but Lucas could feel the shift in their dynamic. A month ago, he would have dominated this sparring session or at least control the storm that Noah embodied. Now, he was being pushed to his absolute limits just to keep pace.

When they finally stopped, both were breathing hard but showing no real damage. The watching recruits burst into applause, clearly awed by what they’d witnessed.

“Good session,” Lucas said, meaning it. But privately, he was wondering if he could actually beat Noah in a real fight anymore. The doubt was loud and insistent in his mind.

After that session, Noah returned to their shared quarters to find only Kelvin present, surrounded by disassembled scanner components and technical manuals. His roommate was in full rant mode, gesticulating wildly as he spoke to no one in particular.

“—completely ridiculous that we can map quantum fluctuations across star systems, but we can’t get a reliable energy signature on Harbinger entities!” Kelvin was saying as Noah entered. “I mean, my own custom scanner—which, by the way, can detect energy fluctuations down to the femtowatt level—completely failed to give us advance warning.”

Noah sat on his bunk, listening to Kelvin’s technical tirade with familiar amusement.

“You know what’s really frustrating?” Kelvin continued, not pausing for an answer. “I can track your beast companions perfectly fine. Their energy signatures are almost identical to standard beast cores, just more refined. But Harbingers? It’s like they exist in some kind of detection dead zone.”

“Maybe that’s intentional,” Noah suggested.

“Of course it’s intentional! But how are they doing it? Are they using some kind of quantum masking technology? Dimensional phase shifting? Energy dampening fields?” Kelvin’s hands moved constantly as he spoke, sketching invisible diagrams in the air. “I’m going to figure it out, though. I have to. Next time we’re out there, I want at least a five-minute warning before something tries to kill us.”

Noah was about to respond when the door opened and Diana entered, which was unusual—she would typically avoided their room.

“Eclipse,” she said in her typically cold manner. “The others want to see you. Something about evening recreational activities.”

“I’m fine staying here,” Noah replied, not particularly interested in group socializing.

“It wasn’t really a request,” Diana said, her tone suggesting this was important to her for some reason. “They’re being unusually insistent.”

Kelvin looked up from his scanner components. “Come on, Noah. When’s the last time you did anything that wasn’t training or missions?”

Noah couldn’t actually remember. Between combat practice, system development, and now real deployments, his schedule had become completely focused on improving his capabilities.

“Fine,” he said finally. “But not for long.”

Diana’s expression shifted slightly—was that relief? “Good. They’re waiting in Section C-7.”

As they walked through the station corridors, Noah noticed Diana seemed uncharacteristically nervous. She kept checking her watch and glancing at him as if expecting something.

“Where exactly are we going?” Noah asked.

“Recreation area,” Diana replied, but her tone was evasive.

They stopped in front of a door Noah had never seen before. Diana placed her hand on the access panel, and it slid open to reveal complete darkness inside.

“After you,” she said.

Noah stepped through the doorway, and immediately the lights came on. Sophie stood in the center of the room, smiling brightly, with Lucas and Lyra flanking her. But it was what hung behind them that made Noah stop dead in his tracks.

Suspended in the air, created from what appeared to be controlled lightning patterns, beast core energy, and some kind of technological projection system, were glowing letters that read: “HAPPY BIRTHDAY NOAH.”

The display pulsed with soft, warm light—Lucas’s electrical control creating the framework, while Kelvin’s technology shaped the energy patterns, all powered by carefully modulated beast core emissions.

Noah stood completely motionless, staring at the floating message. For a moment, his more than average cognitive abilities seemed to shut down entirely, leaving him processing the simple fact that today was, indeed, his nineteenth birthday—and he had completely forgotten.

“I…” he started, then stopped, genuinely at a loss for words.

Sophie stepped forward, her smile soft and understanding. “Did you really think we’d let your birthday pass without doing something special?”

Noah continued to stare at the glowing letters, something warm and unfamiliar spreading through his chest as the reality of the gesture fully settled in.