Political struggles?

"Left arm!"

"Right leg!"

"Leg sweep!"

"Neck!"

Jack directed Phina as she swung her sword at him while blindfolded. "Okay, you're done."

"How'd I do?" she asked while taking deep breathes.

"Subpar at best." Jack said while he sat to rest too, though nowhere as exhausted as Phina. "6 out of 10."

"No way! I did better than a 6!" Phina protested. Her current high score was an 8, while her average was a 7.

"Your attacks are too rigid and you waste too much energy. You swing too wide. Most importantly, you're getting used to my body type." Jack then began to explain, "I purposefully ducked when I gave you your combos, but you swung towards where my neck was usually, even though I was lower than usual."

"S-Sorry. I just got used to it." Phina said in an awkward tone. She had been training with Jack for 3 days straight. She only rested at Jack's house where she slept on the couch.

"Well, it's a horrible habit. Rectify it." Jack was pretty heartless when it came to training. "You might become a Cadet immediately with the Recommendation Letter, but Cadets are usually the most abused members of the Enforcers. I heard they can't leave until they either pay 200 gold or they finish their training and become official Enforcers. If they try to run away, it will count as treason and they will be publicly executed."

"That's just cruel..." Phina thought that the Enforcers were quite pitiful. They all went through that hell?

"It's a price to pay if you want to join the most powerful organization in the world." Jack said as he got up. "Now get your ass up, you still have a few more sets."

"Seriously? Also, why do you become an asshole when we train?" Phina was exasperated. He did this EVERY TIME!

Jack maintained his stoic face as he looked to the sky. "I like to think of myself as a drill sergeant. Ass! Up! Now!"

"Sir, yes sir." Phina replied with sarcasm as she lazily got back up.

The test was in 3 days, she had barely any time for rest! While she was learning how to swing her sword correctly, other Cadets were perfecting their Skills and Chanting.

Skills were combat techniques used to increase the power of an attack exponentially. Those Skills were usually activated by a specific triggering movement that would naturally move the World Energy around someone so that the World Energy itself boosts their abilities without the need to actually move the Energy themselves!

Chanting was just the speed at which someone can use a Spell Scroll. Spell Scrolls were powerful, yet extremely expensive, portable elemental attack. Though Spell Scrolls are worth the money most of the time, the thing that pushed people away from relying on them too much is that they were one-time use. They would use up the World Energy within and decay immediately after they were activated by reading the words written within the Scroll itself aloud. No one knew where exactly the Alchemical Academicals, the main distributers of Spell Scrolls, even got their supply. Many theorized that they were actually made up by gods back during the ancient era, and that the Alchemical Academicals were merely raiding ancient ruins like absolute madmen.

Everyone was already ahead of Phina while she couldn't even swing her sword correctly most of the time.

Meanwhile, in the Enforcers' base.

Knock. Knock.

"Come in." Samantha said lightly as she heard a knock on her office door. When she saw the bald man wearing pitch black armor and two giant axes on his back, she immediately stood up, not caring for her falling paperwork, and put her non-dominant hand's index and middle fingers on her sword's hilt in a salute. The respect she had for this man could not be expressed in a simple salute.

"At ease." the bald man said lightly. This man might seem timid at first glance, but looks can be extremely deceiving. This man was none other than Stephanus Virgile, the Captain of the 8th Squad of the Tortoise Army. He was also Samantha's adoptive father. "A little birdy told me that you used your Letter of Recommendation. Sooo...who's the lucky guy?"

"Why do you assume it's because I was seduced, Father?" Samantha looked to the ground awkwardly.

Stephanus laughed merrily as he said, "Because you've had a stick up your ass since you were a teenager! There's no way someone actually caught your eye!"

"What if I told there is?" Samantha smiled. She loved to see her father's smile and hear his laughter. This man had saved her from hell and brought her back with him to heaven. She wanted nothing more than to repay him.

"Oh? Really? I thought you were joking." Stephanus said in surprise. His face then beamed, "So, who is it? Is it a commoner or a peasant?"

"I...don't know." Samantha chuckled awkwardly.

"Y-You didn't research their background?" Stephanus was flabbergasted. "Sam, this isn't what you normally do. Who is this person that had got you to break so many of your rules?"

"I was very worried that she would slip from me." Samantha sighed. "Even now, I only pray that she goes through with it and joins. If she does, then our 8th Squad will soar through the rankings in the Youth Division."

"She's below thirty? To think there was someone below thirty that could earn your fancy..." Stephanus thought for a while before he smiled. "I expect great things from her, I doubt someone with her skill would be stupid enough to waste an opportunity like this."

"She doesn't really have any skills." Samantha said with a straight face.

"What the hell did that woman do to make you chase after her like this?!" Stephanus was taken aback.

"She has a Synchronization Rate of at least 8%." Samantha said, a smile plastered on her face.

"..." Stephanus was silent for a bit. "I see...a full 8%. No wonder she caught your fancy. I meant to give you a visit as your father today, but it seems fate has other plans."

Samantha was shocked. Her father had never issued her a direct order. It was either a mission from HQ or a suggestion. She immediately stood once more as she entered a salute.

"Vice Captain Virgile, I want you to secure the potential recruit into our 8th Squad. You have full permission to use Squad funds." Captain Stephanus said with a tone that demanded respect and fear. "I want that girl to be our second Vice Captain. Do I make myself clear, Vice Captain?"

"Sir, yes Sir!" Samantha assented as she sent off her father.

'I need to get my hands on that girl!' she was now full of excitement. Not only did she get full permission to use Squad funds, but she also got an order to make Phina into the second Vice Captain of the 8th Squad. 'Gia, you worthless scum, be prepared for replacement!'