They patched me up in under a day. I was thrown out of the capsule early in the morning, before the general wake-up. Zola wasn’t there, though I’d grown used to seeing her nearby every time I came round in the infirmary. But the familiar hunger was. So I decided to check if the cafeteria was already open.It was completely empty, but the machines didn’t care who ordered food or when. I was once again served a plate of metallic ‘rice’.I stared at it for a bit, chewed on some salad vegetables, then went for the ‘rice’. This was just how things were in this world. At least here, on Verdis. And since I had no plans of returning to Earth any time soon, I had to get used to it.It was a strange feeling.My brain knew it was termite eggs and resisted, locking my jaw. But my mouth still flooded with saliva at the taste of tender stewed meat.To distract myself from the disgust and the image of insects, I started going over recent events in my head.Naturally, I started with the tournament. I’d racked up a total of 128 points — an amount regular cadets had to work weeks for! And still, there were grinders like Bao and Denis who left me in the dust. And in that duo, Bao was clearly the workhorse. He pushed forward like a bulldozer — a soulless grinding machine. My total score was 742 points. More than half of that came from tournaments.Bao had 1,312.Denis had 1,157.How?Mainly from working on the farm, though duels also played a part. Bao had already won three, earning 95 points in total. Denis had only won twice and earned 40 points between the two fights.They both threw their most recent matches on purpose, but for different reasons. Bao wanted to lower his rating so other fighters wouldn’t be afraid to challenge him, while Denis’s plan was trickier and more elaborate.And it worked! He’d worn a grin all day after coming out of the capsule.Three months ago, during his armour fitting, (...)