Daniel blinked, looking from the serene, A-grade healer, Lia, to the boisterous, S-grade berserker Roxa Rourke.
One offered calm, strategic support; the other promised glorious, axe-swinging mayhem.
"So, you're the one who almost blew up the simulator deck, huh?" Roxa repeated, her grin wide and predatory. That, pretty boy, was one hell of a firework show."
Lia, maintained her calm composure despite Roxa's explosive entrance. Her grey eyes, however, held a flicker of calculation as she assessed the new arrival.
"A formidable offer, I'm sure," Lia said, her voice still soft as a bird's chirp. "Though perhaps a slightly different approach to alliance than mine."
Daniel rubbed the back of his neck with his hand.
"Look, ladies," he began, "I appreciate the… enthusiasm. But I usually work solo. My… methods are a bit unconventional."
Understatement of the millennia, considering his talent involved absorbing souls and turning them into stat boosts and skills, like a cosmic recycling program for the deceased.
Roxa snorted. "Solo? Kid, after what I just saw, 'solo' means everyone else is just trying to get out of your blast radius.
That's not solo, that's a one-man demolition crew. And I," she patted her axe, "am very good at demolition."
Elara added, "Phase Three will likely present challenges that even overwhelming individual power might struggle against.
Strategic support, such as timely healing or negating debilitating effects, can be crucial."
Before Daniel could offer a polite refusal or ask if they provided dental plans, a piercing chime resonated from everyone's Nexus Interface across Platform Alpha.
It was followed by the amplified voice of Instructor Elara Rostova, booming from hidden speakers.
"All Aspirants! Attention! Important Announcement!"
The nervous chatter across the platform died down instantly.
Daniel, Roxa, and Elara all turned their attention towards the nearest large display screen, which had previously shown cohort-specific rankings.
"As you are aware," Instructor Rostova continued, her voice crisp, "multiple Vanguard assessment groups from various Stargate entry points have now been consolidated onto Platform Alpha.
To ensure a comprehensive evaluation and fair seeding for Phase Three, a unified ranking list, incorporating data from all surviving aspirants across all initial assessment zones, will now be compiled and displayed."
A murmur rippled through the assembled recruits. So, they weren't just competing against the people they'd seen so far. There were other groups, other survivors, other top talents.
"This final, unified ranking will determine overall standings and distribute significant rewards to top performers prior to the commencement of Phase Three," Rostova declared.
"Prepare yourselves. The full extent of your cohort's capabilities and deficiencies is about to be revealed."
The display screen flickered, then showed a new title: "UNIFIED ASSESSMENT RANKING – ALL COHORTS – PHASES ONE & TWO COMBINED."
"Oh, this should be fun," Roxa muttered, leaning on her axe like it was a casual walking stick. Elara watched with quiet intensity.
The screen first displayed some historical data, scrolling through text.
"For context," Rostova's voice explained, "the highest recorded cumulative score for a Vanguard aspirant at this stage in the last five assessment cycles was 137,500 points. The all-time Academy record, set during the 'Titanfall Era' a decade ago, stands at 204,342 points. These benchmarks represent the pinnacle of past recruit performance."
A hushed awe fell over the platform. Those numbers were staggering.
"The universe is about to find out just how much I operate beyond my supposed limits," Daniel thought, a tiny smirk playing on his lips.
Nyx yipped softly, as if in agreement.
Then, the live calculation began. Names started appearing on the screen, flickering as their scores were tallied.
Data streams flowed like digital waterfalls.
"Calculation commencing for Cohort Designation: Stargate Gamma-7..."
A name, Joe Raine, flashed at the top with 115,200 points.
A gasp went through the crowd. "Gamma-7's top dog is already close to the five-year record!" someone exclaimed.
"Cohort Designation: Stargate Epsilon-4..."
Another name, Zara Vayne, appeared, her score quickly climbing, surpassing Joe Raine, settling at 141,850 points!
"She broke it! Broke the five-year record!" More excited chatter. Zara Vayne, whoever she was, was clearly a monster.
The camera feed even briefly showed a formidable-looking young woman with piercing blue eyes on another section of the platform, looking suitably proud.
The rankings shifted and reshuffled as data from more cohorts poured in.
Names Daniel recognized from his own initial group appeared, Seraphina Bellweather and Darius Holt among them, their scores respectable but dwarfed by the top contenders from other Stargates.
Daniel's own name was still nowhere to be seen, likely because his "official" monitored score from Phase One was laughably low.
Then, Rostova's voice cut in again, a slight, almost imperceptible edge to it.
"Now integrating data from Stargate Alpha-Prime cohort… and cross-referencing unmonitored high-threat elimination data, anomaly resolutions, and advanced potential metrics from all available Nexus logs..."
Suddenly, a new name blinked onto the screen, far down the list initially, with a meager score from Phase One.
Daniel Vance – Score: 895.
A few snickers were heard. Roxa raised an eyebrow. "That you, pretty boy? Not much of a firework show on paper, eh?"
Daniel just watched. Then, his score began to climb.
And climb.
And climb.
It wasn't a gradual ascent. It was a rocket launch!
Daniel Vance – Score: 50,000… 100,000…
The numbers blurred. It shot past Joe Raine's score. It blew past Zara Vayne's new record of 141,850.
Daniel Vance – Score: 150,000… 200,000…
It smashed the all-time Academy record of 204,342.
The platform was dead silent now, every single recruit, every instructor, staring at the screen, their jaws collectively hitting the floor.
Daniel Vance – Score: 250,000… 300,000…
The numbers were moving so fast it was hard to keep track. What in the blazes had he done out there? Vaporize a small moon? Adopt a family of displaced gods?
Finally, with an almost anticlimactic soft chime, the numbers stopped.
DANIEL VANCE – UNIFIED ASSESSMENT SCORE: 538,910 POINTS.
Followed by a brief, almost apologetic system note: Detailed Kill Log includes: 1x Level 6 Peak Elite (Omega Hub Guardian), 2x Level 5 Elites (Blue-flame Skeleton Wolf, Sector Gatekeeper), Multiple Level 3-4 Elites/Constructs.
Objective Completion: Full System Purge Initiated (Primary Control Spire).
Advanced Resource Acquisition: SSS-Grade Talent Confirmed, Class Certificate Acquired, B-Grade Potential Familiar Bonded. Current Level: 5.
Five. Hundred. And. Thirty-Eight. Thousand. Nine. Hundred. And. Ten. Points.
It wasn't just breaking the record; it was launching the record into a different galaxy, then nuking that galaxy from orbit just to be sure.
The silence on Platform Alpha became so profound it felt like a physical weight.
Even Roxa's jaw was slightly slack, her usual bravado momentarily stunned.
Elara's calm grey eyes were wide, a flicker of utter disbelief in their depths.
Instructor Rostova, visible on a side screen monitoring the proceedings, looked like she'd seen a ghost, a very, very statistically impressive ghost.
Instructor Rostova was the first to recover, her voice, when it came, a little strained but still carrying authority.
"The… the system has verified the data. The scores… are accurate.
Aspirant Daniel Vance has not only surpassed all previous records but has set a new benchmark that is… frankly, astronomical."
She looked directly at the camera, then, it seemed, directly at Daniel. "Congratulations, Aspirant Vance. Your performance is… unprecedented."
The dam of silence broke. A wave of bewildered chatter swept across the platform.
"Five hundred THOUSAND?!"
"Level SIX PEAK ELITE?! What even IS that?!"
"SSS-Talent confirmed… He really IS one!"
"And he's Level 5 already?
He was Level 2 after Phase One… did he eat a god?"
"That quiet guy… he's a monster!"
Roxa finally let out a low whistle, shaking her head.
"Okay, pretty boy. 'Unconventional' doesn't even begin to cover it. You're not a recruit; you're a walking, talking apocalypse with surprisingly good hair."
Elara simply looked at Daniel, a complex mix of emotions on her face.
"The Academy will undoubtedly take a… very keen interest in your development."
Rostova's voice cut through the renewed babble.
"As the unequivocally Rank 1 Aspirant across all unified cohorts, Daniel Vance is awarded the following:"
Another list appeared on Daniel's personal Nexus Interface, invisible to the others, though they could probably guess it was something good by the way the air around him seemed to get even more charged.
[Congratulations, Supreme Aspirant Daniel Vance!]
[For achieving Unified Rank 1 and an unprecedented performance across all assessment phases, you have been awarded the following:]
[- Apex Vanguard Cache (Unique): Contains unique, legendary-tier items, skill impartations, or reality-bending trinkets. (Warning: May contain existential angst.)]
[- Sovereign Resource Allocation Token (Rank SSS): Upgraded. Grants absolute, unquestioned priority access to all non-sentient Academy resources and override privileges for most standard protocols.]
[- Vanguard Commendation Points: +5000]
[- Free Attribute Points: +20]
[- Class Skill Points: +3]
[- Prime Mentorship Slot: Guaranteed selection of any available High-Rank Vanguard, including Academy Directorate members, as a personal mentor.]
Daniel's eyes widened. This was beyond generous.
He immediately dumped all 20 attribute points into Strength.
With his base and level-up gains, his Strength attribute shot past 150.
The world around him seemed to ripple slightly with the influx of raw power.
Just then, shinning black chest, carved with unknowable symbols that hurt to look at directly, materialized before him.
The Apex Vanguard Cache. It pulsed with an ancient, almost terrifying power.
The crowd, if possible, became even more quiet.
All eyes were on Daniel and the ominous, beautiful box.
Daniel knelt, a small, almost tired smile on his face. He reached out and placed his hand on the lid. This was getting to be a habit.
Phase Three was still on the horizon, but for now, Daniel Vance had just rewritten the definition of "top recruit."
The reverberations of his combat power off the charts were only just beginning.