Reincarnated Into Destiny Universe - Volume 1 Chapter 5 Get Gud

Isaac, hoping to get started as soon as possible, said, “I’m ready when you are.”

“Not yet, you’re not. For this training and the fun with the Fallen that will come afterwards, you’ll only be allowed to use the armor you wore when you came here. On top of that, what do you know about fighting? Anything? You’ll first need to receive the standard library of fighting knowledge that every Guardian is gifted with, during their initial training. Go get changed and meet me back here, when you’re done.”

“Roger that, C-6.” Isaac responded, as he turned to head back to his quarters.

Isaac returned, with his light forged armor, scout rifle, shotgun, and Shock Blades equipped. “Alright, I’m ready to do this. Didn’t you say something about receiving a library of fighting knowledge?”

“That I did, fresh meat. Just follow me, you’ll see.” Cayde led the way towards the balcony directly overhead of the command room, where Lord Saladin would post up in Isaac’s old world’s game version.

Near the center edge of the balcony, a gyroscopic machine twice as tall as a man was there with all of its concentric circles currently aligned around a central platform. Cayde and Isaac approached the machine.

“Alright, fresh meat, this is the Tower Library. I know it may not seem like a library but it’s special. Kinda like me. Once you step into this machine and it works its magic on you, you’ll possess knowledge of thousands of different fighting skills and techniques, of how to use various weapons, and of evasion techniques and battle tactics.

“Of course, it’s not quite as wonderful as it sounds, because it doesn’t grant you understanding, proficiency, or experience. Those very critical elements will determine whether or not this knowledge actually does you any good. So my advice is, once you get this knowledge, immerse yourself in its actual use so that you can take full advantage of it.”

“Nice! That’s an incredibly useful machine to have around. You did call it the Library, however, so does it have other knowledge besides what I’m going to receive?”

“Yep. It contains mostly everything that we Guardians have learned over the centuries. Also, I can see why you chose Warlock, as your ‘official’ class. I suspect that tomorrow I’ll come here and find you and Ikora both drooling over that thing.” Cayde replied, as he watched Isaac gaze at the machine in awe.

“Well, it’s basically a treasure chest that you can just snatch things out of, whenever you please. That being said, why aren’t Warlocks and others lined up around the Tower to use this thing? Wait…let me guess, it isn’t a publicly available resource and, after this one time, I’ll have to pay a steep price to access it again?”

“Hey, they told me you were smart, fresh meat. Looks like they weren’t lying. Now are you ready to get this over with, so we can get to the fun part?”

“Absolutely!” Isaac replied, as he stepped onto the platform.

Once he was properly situated, Cayde operated the controls to start the process up. The four walkways that led to the platform retracted and the platform was now floating. The concentric circles began to move independently from one another revolving around and around, while Isaac could see and feel light begin to fill the space around him. The light took on a density resembling an incredibly thick fog, as it formed phantoms that began performing all manner of techniques and skills.

All of these phantoms quickly accelerated the pace of their demonstrations, to speeds Isaac could no longer keep track of. The speed of the phantoms continued to increase, until the last one had concluded his demonstration. The light then dispersed evenly throughout the surrounding space, inside the gyroscope.

Isaac, suddenly felt an immense sense of peace and quietude. His body was lifted slightly off of the platform as his head was slightly tilted back. The light began to coalesce at a point on his forehead between his eyes. The light quickly formed a tornado like funnel, as it passed into Isaac’s body, and, less than three seconds after the funnel had formed, the process was completed. Isaac’s body dropped back onto the platform as the concentric circles slowly began to lose momentum. Once the circles had resumed their original positions, the walkways extended once more and Isaac walked out of the machine, slightly dazed.

“Whoa, not so fast, kiddo. Take a seat and meditate for at least a half hour and then we’ll get going. The first time is always a bit disorienting.” Cayde instructed Isaac.

Isaac sat cross legged right where he was and tried to quiet his mind. He spent the next half hour pouring over the knowledge he had received and trying to pick out the pieces he wanted to integrate into his own combat style.

When Cayde roused him from his meditation, Isaac got up and followed Cayde to the hangar. “Alright, fresh meat, next we’re going to one of Shaxx’s Crucible Arenas. There, you’ll go through a series of training exercises that have been set up for you. So get in your ship and rendezvous with me at the coordinates that I send to your ghost…or Polter, sorry.”

“Already on it!” Isaac replied, as he took off towards his ship and then jumped into the air disappearing into a scattering of transmat light particles. His ship then immediately took off towards the coordinates Cayde had given him.

Cayde just stood there staring at this scene that happened all of a sudden. “Good grief, where do these new Guardians get all of their energy? Well, anyways, he may be fresh meat but he’s alright, in my book. Whaddya think Sunsong?”

“Ehh. He’s alright, I guess.” Sunsong replied, nonchalantly.

“Ohh, come on, quit playing coy. You know you like him.”

“Sure,whatever.”

“Well, I guess I’d better get a move on, so the kid doesn’t sit there waiting for me all day.” Cayde got into his ship and set course for the Crucible Arena.

Once Cayde arrived at the Crucible Arena, he met up with Isaac and took him to an area just outside the Arena.

“Listen up, fresh meat, this Arena is called Exodus Blue. It’s named after that ruined colony ship you see there. As you can see from here, there are several areas of the Arena that have targets, obstacles, and other tests set up, to get a newbie like yourself into the swing of things and then test where your limits are.

“Before we get into that, however, let’s go over here to this shooting range, to familiarize you with the basics of weapon handling.” Isaac followed Cayde, over to the shooting range and pulled out his scout rifle.

“Alright, you’ve already been gifted the knowledge of how all this works now you just need to practice so that it becomes natural. Of course, I don’t expect you to become an expert, before the days end, but as long as you aim for that you should show some base level improvement, within the next couple of hours. With that being said, get to it.”

Isaac faced the downrange targets, with his scout rifle resting against his shoulder, and tried to focus on the knowledge of how to properly and effectively utilize his weapon. He quickly realized that Cayde’s earlier words were spot on and this knowledge truly wasn’t something that could ever be useful in a combat scenario. Trying to use the knowledge that was gifted to him, was like having a “How to” shooting guide setting beside him and having to constantly consult the book and then recheck his positioning.

He continued to refine his technique, while consulting his “How to” library. He watched the images of the phantoms going through all the motions and then replicated those motions repeatedly not even trying to fire. After nearly half an hour of practicing these basics he was much more confident in his ability to handle his scout rifle.

He then moved on to firing at the targets, all the while being mindful of the practice he had just completed. He now focused on his breathing and trigger pull trying to master all of the subtle behaviors that could make or break a clean shot. After another hour of firing at the now hole riddled targets, Isaac returned to Cayde feeling confident in his ability to take on the next challenge.

“That was some pretty nice shoot’n for a fresh meat. Now, let’s get you started on the main event.” Isaac and Cayde walked into the arena and Cayde began to explain the next part.

“Now, you’re going to have to make your way through this entire arena, beginning at that starting gate over there. Once you manage to complete a run through the outside course in a certain amount of time you can begin running the central course. The central course is shorter but has far more challenging obstacles and more numerous and difficult targets. Alright, time’s a wastin, get in there.”

Isaac didn’t waste any time and made a mad dash for the starting gate. He closely observed his surroundings upon entering and noticed several targets pop up. He quickly dispatched two of them while entering into nearby cover.

Isaac methodically made his way through targets, obstacles, some traps, and even a couple of combat frames. Just like with the previous practices, he deferred to his “How to” library and made every effort to implement that knowledge, into completing this course. Not having paid any attention to how much time it might take him since this was his first attempt, he eventually came out the other end of the course but only after an entire hour had passed.

Knowing that despite his success that this wasn’t even close to being good enough, he once again charged back into the starting gate and continued to refine his skills.

Nearly six hours later, he had completed the outside course in a satisfactory time limit and had gone on to run the central course three times. By the time Cayde had called an end to his practice, he was thoroughly exhausted. He had spent the entire time running and rerunning the courses constantly.

“Alright, fresh meat, I’d say that you’ve made some pretty decent progress today and you should be ready to face some minor Fallen forces, to increase your affinity. That being said, there is still one more thing that you need to experience, before we send you out into the field, tail or no tail.” Before Isaac could even register what was happening, Cayde pulled out his Ace of Spades and shot him directly between the eyes.

“Polter, hold off on that resurrection, for a minute. It’s his first time, let it breathe.”

Isaac was alive and in the next instant he was unalive or at least that was the best way he could conceive it. He clearly had a sense of where he was and what was going on around him but he also didn’t. It was an extraordinarily strange sensation that Isaac was experiencing, much like being transmated, he seemed to be experiencing two conflicting realities at the same time. ‘Good grief, what kind of absurd world have I ended up in? Oh yeah, the Destiny Universe. I guess I should’ve expected as much. Hey, aren’t Cayde and Polter just standing around doing nothing? Shouldn’t they be resurrecting me or something?’

Polter, after waiting exactly sixty seconds, initiated Isaac’s first resurrection. Isaac’s body, much like being transmated, reformed from a coalescing of scattered light particles.

“Well, let’s see if I ever take you out training again?” Isaac said, immediately upon being resurrected.

“Hahaha, you’re a riot, kid. But seriously, though, did you get a feel for what the whole death and resurrection experience is like?”

“I certainly did. It was incredibly strange but, having now experienced it, I’m certain I’ll be able to recover my senses much more quickly the next time it happens. Thank you, for your instruction, Cayde.”

“No problem, kiddo. Now that your training is completed, let’s get you to the Cosmodrome so you can do some patrolling. Of course, that resurrection cost you most of the light that has infused your body. Which means that you’ll have to reacquire your initiation, on top of the five affinity increases you need.”

Isaac closed his eyes and attempted to sense the light within his body but, like when he was first arisen, there was nothing there. “Well, I guess there’s no helping it…except to wipe the floor with these Goddamn Ceiling Monkeys!”

“Haha, ‘Ceiling Monkeys.’ I’ve never heard them called that before but I have to admit they certainly fit the bill. Since you’re already in the mood, let’s get a move on. Back to your ship.”

Isaac and Cayde went back to their sh.i.p.s and made their way to another location within the Cosmodrome. After setting down in the Steppes, Cayde explained to Isaac about patrols. Patrols were generated by beacons placed at strategic points throughout the Cosmodrome and would blink very noticeably in different colors depending on what the task was. Red for clearing out a certain number or location of enemies, Orange for assassination targets, Blue for material gathering, Green for enemy troop number and placement information, and Purple for energy readings. Cayde explained, that since they were here specifically for increasing Isaac’s affinity they wouldn’t be doing anything other than killing, killing, and more killing.

Cayde set Isaac loose and told him he would jump in, if anything unusual happened, but other than that he was on his own and would receive no assistance. So Isaac set his sights on a nearby red glowing beacon.

Isaac started moving towards the coordinates, indicated by the beacon. Apparently, there was some type of rebellion of sorts going on within the House of Devils, and a small band of rebels were holed up in Dock 13 that offered direct access from the Steppes to the Divide. Isaac made his way to the right of their drop point and targeted the ruined entrance to a building, with a space shuttle support tower on top of it.

“Polter, didn’t you say that I could decide what percentage of light goes to my affinity and what percentage goes to my abilities?”

“Yes, but because you lost your initiation the default is one hundred percent towards initiation, since you can’t actually do anything else with it until then.”

“I see. Well, once I’ve achieved my initiation again, keep it at one hundred percent, until my first affinity increase. Then set it to seventy five percent affinity and twenty five percent abilities.”

“Right, got it.”

Immediately upon entering the building, he encountered a broken window through which six Dregs, from the House of Devils, could be seen. They were all leaning against the wall looking as bored as a Fallen could look. As soon as Isaac noticed them on his helmet’s scanner and spotted them through the window, he got into a crouched position and took out his scout rifle. He then posted up at the doorway, into the room they were in, and then came around the doorway, with his rifle ready to fire. He just needed a head to put into his sight picture.

As the first head came into view, Isaac centered his sight picture on it and fired. The Dreg’s armor and head were both penetrated allowing the Ether to escape into the surroundings. The Fallen quickly realized what was happening and began returning fire as the second of their Ceiling Monkey comrades fell dead.Three Dregs took cover behind a half wall bordering the next room opposite Isaac’s position, while a fourth walked slowly backwards firing his Shock Pistol. Isaac strafed a bit, before taking aim at the slow walker and managing to land his shot but not before catching a few arc projectiles from its Shock Pistol. ‘Damn those things are still really painful’ Isaac thought to himself as he ducked behind cover to avoid the rest of the slow moving projectiles.

One of the Dregs thinking this was the time to press their advantage, rushed through the doorway to attack Isaac, only to catch a Shock Blade in the neck. ‘Nice! Four down and two to go.’ Isaac took his scout rifle in his left hand and his Shock Blade in his right. He jogged into the room towards the doorway situated in the half wall the Dregs were hiding behind. Isaac came through the other doorway and locked on to the two remaining Dregs. He began hip firing successive rounds into the one on the left as he jogged towards them. He brandished his Shock Blade, as he approached the Dreg on the right, blocking the Dreg’s attack and then shifting fire after the left Dreg went down. Isaac then brought his Shock Blade across the final Dregs neck and smiled at how effective his training had been.

Isaac searched the Fallen corpses and found a couple of Shock Grenades and then continued onwards. After dispatching four more Fallen squads including one with a Shrapnel Launcher wielding Captain, he walked on towards Dock 13, with the Shrapnel Launcher in hand. During his death dispensing, he managed to regain his initiation and was now on his way to his first affinity level.

When Isaac finally reached Dock 13, he stopped for a moment, because he felt like he was forgetting something. ‘Oh, that’s right. This is the place where, in the game, the MC finds the warp drive for his ship.’_”Hey, Polter scan the nearby area for a warp drive.”

“What the…how did you know? I was just about to tell you I had detected one.”

“Oh, uh, well, good to know it’s here. Let’s clear out the rest of these Ceiling Monkeys and snatch it up.” Isaac expertly dodged the question.

‘Dammit, this guy is just too strange and mysterious. Why did I have to get a weird Guardian? Why? Does the Traveler hate me? I guess it must, to have consigned me to this bitter fate. Speaking of which, what the shit kind of a name is Polter? Cayde and Ikora’s ghosts both have really cool names and I get stuck with Polter. I must be the unluckiest ghost ever.’ Polter commiserated, with himself.

Isaac moved forward into the same large open roofed room that he had found his ship in. He made a note of the number and type of Fallen, before heading inside to put them down. Isaac had instructed Polter to keep an eye out for any stray Archons and surprisingly he didn’t complain about it this time. Isaac fought his way across the room and made his stand by the giant tunnel like hole in the wall opposite from where he entered.

Once the number of Fallen had fallen to two, Polter informed him of the Archons imminent arrival. Isaac made short work of the last two, readied the five Shock Grenades he had picked up on the way here, and posted up flat against the wall directly next to the hole.

As soon as Polter gave the word, Isaac placed all five Shock Grenades directly underneath the hole, pulled out his Shrapnel Launcher, and waited the last second, before Riksis entered the room stepping directly onto his trap. Once he confirmed the Fallen had fallen for it, he unloaded his Shrapnel Launcher into the Archon’s face.

Riksis was clearly stunned at such a powerful and unexpected assault. He never had time to even figure out what was going on before he realized that Isaac was the source of the constant facial battering. Isaac jumped into air towards Riksis brandishing his Shock Blade. Isaac brought the blade back, as he planted his feet on the Archon’s chest, slashed him across his neck and Riksis’s weakened armor was sliced through along with a large section of his neck.

Isaac shoved himself off of Riksis’s chest, flipped backwards, and landed squarely on his feet, as Riksis’s body fell to the floor. He smiled at his accomplishment of having defeated the Archon so easily, even if it was mostly due to him knowing where and when Riksis would be most vulnerable. He was reasonably confident that he could’ve taken out Riksis in a fair fight but there was no need to take more risks than necessary.

With the Archon defeated and having already come so close to the Divide, Isaac decided to clear the area of any Fallen that might be lurking around the area, before heading back to the Steppes.