"hmm..?"

Mars turned but refused to wake up

"Mars... fine, Gus go get the bucket with ice water"

"yes captain"

"I'm up!"

Mars shoot up and opened his eyes which made him half blind form the light in the room

"bright!"

he quickly closed his eyes again before he began rubbing them with his hands, after some time pa.s.sed he opened his eyes again only this time he did it slowly so they had time to adjust to the light

"...are you okay?"

"yeah I'm fine... just getting used to my new eyes"

"new eyes?"

Vanessa leaned in and looked at Mars's eyes before she covered her mouth in shock

"Mars your eyes!"

"what about them?"

"they have changed, now they are like dragon eyes!"

"oh... well I guess that explains the bleeding..."

"what bleeding?"

Mars averted his gaze and shut his mouth, but Vanessa kept probing

"bleeding... did your eyes bleed?"

"yes, well... it's hard to explain"

'more like its a pain to explain...'

"hard to explain..?"

Vanessa pondered for a moment before she asked

"dose it have something to do with your apostle status?"

Mars gave a sigh before he spoke

"...yeah you could say that"

"oh... in that case I won't ask anymore"

"...thanks"

finished being questioned by Vanessa Mars got out of bed and put on some clothes

"I'm gonna go get some food"

"I'll join you"

Mars looked over at Nicole that had also just woken up and gave a nod

"okay then let's go"

Mars walked out of the tent and was once again blinded by the bright morning light

"ah f.u.c.k!"

"what's wrong Mars?"

"it's nothing, just getting used to my new eyes"

"okay?"

Nicole tilted her head to the side before she ran around to Mars's front and looked at his eyes

"wow"

"...I know right? please don't ask"

"okay... well now you look a lot more like a half dragon"

"...did the flaming rose also have eyes like this?"

Nicole tilted her head to the side

"I wonder... I never actually served under her so I don't know"

"okay, well then let's go get some food"

"yeah I'm starving"

Mars and Nicole went over to the eating area and got their food before they sat down and began eating with Mars, or more likely his new eyes attracting attention from the other soldiers meanwhile Nicole asked

"so I heard a rumor, is it true you have a elvish girlfriend?"

"well... she not really my girlfrie---"

"I'm not?"

Mars froze up meanwhile Nicole had a teasing smile on her face as she looked at Mars that was half crying

"hey Mars do you care to repeat what you just said?"

Mars slowly turned around and saw Chloe standing right behind him and in a effort to try and distract her he pointed to his eyes and said with a stiff smile on his face

"hey Chloe, see I got new eyes"

"...don't try to weasel your way out of this, repeat what you were going to say"

'...s.h.i.+t.... well might as well go all in'

"well as I was saying, you're not my girlfriend you're my soulmate"

"...humph, well I suppose I can let it slide"

Chloe still looked a little unsatisfied but still sat down next to Mars with her food and slowly began to eat while Mars wiped his forehead

"so when did you get new eyes?"

"...last night"

"I see"

"...wait you're not going to ask about it?"

"well I probably has to do with 'that' right?"

"...yeah, well it does"

"then I won't ask now"

"...thanks"

"they look cool by the way, your new eyes"

"so I have been told"

Mars returned to his food and so did Nicole that still had a grin on her face

"I'll get you back later"

Nicole put on a innocent face and slightly tilted her head to the side

"get me back for what?"

"yeah Mars i think Nicole is innocent here"

"...fine"

Mars grumbled a little as he ate his food but he kept his mouth shut until he finished eating while the 2 women talked about various things as they quickly got friendly, when Mars was finished eating he excused himself and went back to squad 7's tent alone, as he walked in he saw Vanessa was working on her armor suit

"hey captain, need a hand?"

"oh Mars, yeah come here and hold this"

"sure"

Mars walked over and held the armor plate for Vanessa as she worked on the runes under the armor, looking at the runes Mars got an idea and activated his energy sense and was overwhelmed

'wow...'

'looking' at the runes tough his energy sense made the whole armor light up with flowing light, it looked like a nighttime city seen from the sky with lights following rigged lines and the runes looking like, well runes but much more delicate as the energy inside them slowly rotated giving off multiple different colored lights

"it's fine now... Mars?"

"oh sorry, I s.p.a.ced out for a second there"

Mars put back the armor plate and held it in place while Vanessa tightened the bolts

"and there, thanks for the help Mars"

"you're welcome captain... you mind if I look at your armor some more?"

"I guess I don't mind, as long as you don't take it apart"

"okay"

Mars sat down in front of the armor suit and activated his energy sense again, 'seeing' the complex runes on the armor Mars began memorizing them one by one completely ignoring the area around him shunting out everything other then the runes he was memorizing and thus time pa.s.sed until Mars suddenly felt he was being shaken

"Mars!"

"hmm..?"

Mars snapped out of his daze and looked over

"oh, hey Chloe what are you doing here?"

Chloe gave a sigh and sat down next to Mars and looked at the armor suit before she asked

"how long do you think you have been sitting here?"

"hmm... 2 hours?"

Chloe gave another sigh and looked directly at Mars

"it's been 27 hours since you sat down"

"...huh, guess that's why I'm hungry"

"you... don't you have anything else to say?"

"....sorry for worrying you"

"that was better... though you don't need to say that to me"

Chloe pointed behind her and Mars turned and saw the rest of the number 7 squad, they were, in particular Vanessa looked very worried Mars turned and gave a small bow before he said

"sorry for worrying you"

Vanessa was the first on the speak up, carrying a gentle smile on her face

"it's fine as long as you are okay... never mind that more important thing have happened while you were in a daze"

"important?"

"the order for advance have been given and we have been ordered to be scouts for the main force"

"I see that certainly is important news"

"yes it is, sorry but you won't have time to sleep as we're moving out now"

"okay... thanks for waking me Chloe"

"its fine, besides my squad has been a.s.signed to logistics so I have time to spare"

"okay... well then I guess I see you later"

"yeah see you Mars"

Chloe gave Mars a little wave as she walked out of the tent with a smile on her face

"well then now that our sleepyhead is up, it's time to move"

""""yes captain""""

Mars went over to his bed and packed his backpack, being organized he only needed to pack some small stuff before he was ready so he helped the others pack the special backpacks containing all their food, water, mana stones and other camping stuff, the special backpacks fitted onto the backs of the 4 armor suits before the squad was ready to move out

"well then, let's go"

""""yes captain""""

Vanessa lead the 3 other armor suits, Mars and the for once awake Victoria out of the camp and headed north east a couple kilometers before she signaled for the squad to hold and she took off her helmet and kneeled down in her armor suit, the other 3 did the same and Mars also sat down on the warm sand, meanwhile Victoria was off to the side playing with some tumbleweed

"now our task is to scout for golems, if we meet a group that is beyond our ability to take down we contact base camp and get help, for everything else we're on our own"

Mars and the rest of the squad nodded as Vanessa continued

"so it's important we trust each other and are able to work together so if anyone have something they need to get of their chest then its now"

Vanessa looked at the rest of her squad in turn with a stern look on her face

"I have something"

"then speak Hans"

Hans looked over at Mars

"the thing is..."

Hans looked the most serious Mars had ever seen him

"what?"

"I have a thing for elvers so please introduce me to some of Chloe's girlfriends!"

Mars felt all the tension drain from his body and weakly said while averting his gaze

"...sure thing bud"