Cut From The Same Fur

~ Cutter ~

The past week has been pretty boring, unfortunately. I licked my wounds and relaxed, but not much else.

Cerulean herself was having fun with the two funerals that she went to, although the second one didn't go so well. Apparently Trotter's family weren't exactly thrilled to have her there and she ended up getting slapped and told to leave.

That sounds way more exciting to me, though. It's a shame they didn't let me come.

As for PMF stuff, everyone in Cerulean's squad was supposed to redo their evaluations, but mine was canceled since I had just done them a few days ago.

Once Cerulean's leg recovered, she was going to do hers, though, much to my excitement.

I hounded her once she was discharged from the medical wing while she tried her best to ignore me on the way to the training grounds.

Once there, we met up with Instructor Malachite.

Malachite: "Should've expected you'd show up for Cerulean's evaluation, little rascal."

Cutter: "You know it!"

Malachite: "Alright, Cerulean. Your last evaluation was nine months ago. Let's see how you've improved in that time."

Cerulean calmly entered the combat simulation room while I joined Instructor Malachite to observe.

Malachite: "We'll start with the easy stuff, then slowly ramp up in difficulty."

Malachite: "Let me know if your leg starts hurting."

Cerulean: "Got it."

Once the simulation started, Instructor Malachite took notes as Cerulean quickly ripped through the hordes of weaker simulated enemies.

As the simulation got harder, I noticed that it was very different from the simulation that I did.

Clearly, they weren't using a pre-programmed simulation. Either it was random or adjusted to the Operator that was taking it.

Cutter: "Why's the simulation different from the one I took?"

Malachite: "The simulation is specifically programmed to highlight both an Operator's weaknesses and strengths."

Malachite: "It updates on the fly, taking current data and feeding it through the neural network, then outputs an ideal combat scenario to showcase what the Operator inside is capable of."

Malachite: "As you saw, the simulation started with a large number of weak enemies, but Cerulean's lightning powers allow her to easily take down enemies like that."

Malachite: "So, the simulation switched to fewer enemies that are more powerful in an attempt to ascertain her weakness."

Malachite: "However, as you can see, Cerulean has the strength and skill to easily overpower these enemies in single combat. So, the simulation will likely increase the speed and skill of the next batch of enemies to compensate."

Malachite: "This continues until it detects that the Operator is struggling, and then backs off to test other scenarios."

Malachite: "Then, once it's run through everything it can think of, it tries its best to crush the Operator as hard and as ruthlessly as it can. That's the final test."

Malachite: "How well Operators do in the final stretch of the simulation has a significant impact on their overall score, while the earlier sections give us an idea of what situations the Operator excels at, which helps us figure out how we should deploy them in the real world."

Huh. This thing sure is sophisticated, that's for sure.

After some time, I could tell that the test had entered the 'final test' that Instructor Malachite was talking about.