Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary

Over the next two months, Avery fought through the intense training regimen that Urs had devised for him.

Around two thirds of every one of his waking hours was spent either in space battle training simulations, at the gun range, or in sparing matches with Urs.

The other third of his time was for cramming in all the information that he needed to know. Common sense among mercenaries, the types of places that space pirates liked to hide, and important laws pertaining to mercenaries were all subjects that Avery needed to familiarize himself with.

Honestly, the last couple of months had been the most grueling time of Avery's life. Other than eating and sleeping, all of his time was devoted to Urs' training.

Nevertheless, his efforts had brought with them results.

Avery was now capable of beating the four star rank advancement program to Urs' specifications around seven out of ten times. He had also gotten proficient enough with a laser pistol and other personal combat to keep the far more experienced mercenary at bay for anywhere between three to five minutes. Often more than enough time to get away to safety in the typical situation.

Of course, there was still a great deal that Avery needed to learn, and his skills could use some more polishing, but the reserves of Krenin he had saved up were beginning to dwindle. He needed to get to work, or he was going to go broke.

"Well, there's still I lot I wanted to teach you, but I think that you'll do fine now." Urs said as he finished up his final training session with Avery.

For Avery's part, he was splayed out on the floor breathing heavily. His physique had improved considerably thanks to the intensity of the training he had undergone, but it was still impossible for him to keep up with his teacher.

"Those biological and cybernetic enchantments of yours are really unfair. No normal person could ever keep up with you." Avery complained in between deep breaths of air.

"That's exactly right. Which is why I recommend you get some once you've saved up enough money. Augmenting your reaction speed is the most important. You never know when something unexpected is going to happen, and being able to respond quickly is paramount."

Avery nodded his head in agreement. He had already experienced hundreds of times how much quicker Urs could react than him.

Still, the old mercenary had approved of Avery's efforts. There was a lot for him left to learn, but he met the requirements to become a competent mercenary himself.

Once the two of them bid their farewells for the day, Avery headed directly towards the reception counter in the association building.

This was his first time doing so, as usually he simply followed Urs into one of the training rooms without interacting with anyone else.

Naturally, everyone that worked in the building and several of the other mercenaries that frequented the location already recognized Avery. And seeing him alone and approaching the reception windows caught their attention.

"I'd like to register as a mercenary."

The man behind the counter Avery had approached turned his attention towards the young man and his cybernetic left eye narrowed as if scrutinizing the person in front of him.

"Fill out this form." The man said curtly.

He had passed over a terminal to Avery that was already pulled up to the information he needed to fill out.

"I'm done."

Already having learned what he would need to register from Urs, Avery merely synced up his own terminal to the one provided to him and transmitted the necessary information.

Within just a couple of minutes the process had been completed and Avery was registered as a new zero star mercenary.

"I believe that new mercs are allowed to go directly to two stars if they can prove their skills. I'd like to take that assessment." Avery said confidently.

The man working the counter raised his eyebrows at this. Very few people used this rule since most freshly registered mercenaries were not privy to this information. It was something of an inside secret.

"Okay, I've set things up for you in training cockpit three. First you'll need to complete the one star program to an acceptable level, and then the two star program will start three minutes after beating the first. Should you complete them both, your rank will provisionally be increased. However, should you fail in practice to meet the expectations of your rank, the association reserves the right to lower it."

Avery nodded his head at the man's explanation and headed towards where the training cockpits were with familiarity.

He had spent hundreds of hours back there with Urs, so the place was almost like a second home to him.

After getting inside and activating the computer, the program started up and the large screen in front of him became almost indistinguishable from the expanse of space.

"Yep, all the controls are aligned with my ship. Everything looks good to go." Avery said as he checked to make sure the data of his vessel was being recreated properly.

A few moments later, his sensors detected a pair of hostiles incoming.

"I see, so if you want to be a one star, you need to be able to handle at least two average space pirates."

Having finished reading the details of his opponent's crafts, Avery was far from impressed. Everything about the two small ships other than their maneuverability was far below what he was used to.

With a couple of quick inputs onto the control panel in front of him, Avery shot forward and gunned the two simulated pirates down before they even had time to react. His vessel was far and away better than theirs, and now that he had far more experience controlling it under his belt, taking out a couple of inferior fighters was beyond easy.

Then once three minutes had gone by, the two star rank advancement program booted up.

This time Avery was up against four pirates that were slightly better equipped.

"They're about a tier below the four I took out a couple of months ago in terms of both weapons and tactics. I guess those guys were a bit stronger than most of their ilk." Avery commented after assessing the program's hostile forces.

From what he had learned from Urs, the average space pirate possessed old civilian ships that they had modified to be faster and have a bit of firepower. They were not flying around with vessels built for combat like mercenaries and Alliance Police were.

That was only on average though. Occasionally stronger bands of pirates would show up that had decent ships at their disposal.

"But these guys aren't part of the exception."

After having trained on the four star rank advancement program and some other even tougher ones that Urs had made, Avery was able to easily outmaneuver and shot down the four simulated pirates with ease.

It was honestly so underwhelming that he almost found it disappointing.

Still, it was over now and all he needed to do was return to the front and get his rank updated.

However, as he was leaving the training cockpit, he found four mercenaries waiting for him. All of them were sizing him up and not a single one looked particularly friendly.