Part 14.3

Heracles VS Lernaean Hydra

Author Note: I was thinking about it and I really wish that GT9 used more draconic symbolism throughout the story when (or if) I revisit Team Crowley VS Rosencreutz I'll have symbolism of Aleister (TheBeast666), Aiwass (Codename: DRAGON) and Coronzon (The Dragon of the Abyss) all have symbology of them being Dragons preying on a God/Hero like CRC and the reversed conflict of Chaos VS Order you see in mythology, I also wanted to achieve something similar with Kakine Teitoku as he can represent the Fallen Angel and the Seraphim but for now I'll try adding draconian symbolism into Gunha VS CRC.
True Expert Christian Rosencreutz, with his golden rosy cross sword, clashed relentlessly against the indomitable force of the Strongest Gemstone, Sogiita Gunha. With each clash of their powers, the air crackled and compressed, and the pavement trembled beneath.
CRC, observed Sogiita with a mixture of intrigue and disdain. "You fight like the legendary Heracles," he remarked, his voice carrying over the din of battle. "But know this, I am the Lernaean Hydra, and no matter how many heads you sever, I shall always rise again!" Rosencreutz roared to slice the #7’s midsection.
Sogiita, his entire body wreathed in unknowable energy, met CRC's blade unyielding. "Bring it on, old man!" he retorted, his voice brimming with confidence. "I'll knock you down as many times as it takes! I won't stop till you come to your senses and remember your roots, like the roses you love so much, Rosencreutz!!"
Their clash intensified, that old man’s higher dimensional sword colliding with the raw power of that boy’s fists and kicks as they pushed each other to their limits with each sword swing, punch, kick and flash.
Sogiita unleashed a barrage of punches, each strike carrying the force of a meteor, while that silver young man countered: he wielded his sword in his right hand and released impacts followed by white light that was enough to previously take down all of The Bridge Builders Cabal.
As the battle raged on, the very fabric of reality seemed to warp and shift around them, bearing witness to the titanic struggle between two unparalleled forces.
The founder of Rosicrucianism who intimidated reality itself to obey his will and that Gemstone with an unstable personal reality that could change on a whim.
The atmosphere crackled with electrifying distortion.
Sogiita's fists tore through the air with the ferocity of meteors, their velocity enhanced by his ability to adapt and accelerate, surpassing even CRC's speed. As each blow was released, the friction with the surrounding air molecules ignited a scorching heat, intensifying the impact.
The rapid movement of molecules generated an escalating thermal energy, causing the air to seethe with increasing temperature. It was akin to a tempest of incandescent projectiles hurtling towards CRC, their speed surpassing the limits of human perception.
It was like a storm of brilliant fiery arrows was fired at Rosencreutz.
These blazing arrows of force were reminiscent of the elusive strikes employed by the Rose & Cross Leader, ignoring distance with deceptive agility.
With each thunderous punch, that bandana boy sought to overpower his adversary through sheer kinetic force, his unwavering resolve palpable in every motion.
But that wasn't enough for this superhuman.
CRC, wielding his cross sword with precision and skill, deflected each and every one Sogiita's flaming arrows with calculated strikes of his own. Each impact unleashed a burst of blinding white light, sending shockwaves rippling through the chaotic city.
"You think brute strength alone will defeat me?" the silver man taunted, his voice cutting through the chaos of battle. "You may be strong, but strength without strategy is nothing but raw power wasted."
Sogiita grinned, his confidence unshaken. "Strategies for cowards who can't handle a real fight," he retorted, his voice ringing with defiance. "I'll K.O. you with my fists and guts alone!!!!"
Rosencreutz's eyes narrowed as he parried another of Sogiita's punches. "Your arrogance will be your downfall," he warned, his tone tinged with certainty. "I may not match your overall speed, but I have something you lack: intellect and precision.”
Christian Rosencreutz then plunged his cross sword into the ground.
"This is what harmed Kamijou Touma," he declared, grinning and unleashing a torrent of lethal invisible attacks from his outstretched palms.
However, the #7 countered with a relentless barrage of flaming arrows from the thermal aftershock of his punches.
Each strike akin to a particle accelerator in its intensity and speed. That Gemstone was the particles being fired on the right and that True Expert was the particles fired on the left.
As the attacks clashed, the battlefield became a spectacle of raw power and precision.
“Roar!” CRC held his open palm to his mouth and blew gently on the tip of the middle finger.
That was all it took for a blaze easily outdoing a flamethrower to rush out. And this was not just any fire. It fed on the power of a ley line and stole vitality from space itself. This overwhelming mass of light and heat was wielded for no other purpose than to take lives. Anyone who tried to survive it using simple composite armor or special fibers would dry up and burn away in less than a second.
But that wouldn't kill another superhuman would it?
Of course not.
“Aaaaarghhhh!!!!” screamed the #7.
Some assaults bypassed the fray entirely, slipping through the chaos like elusive particles in a collider.
A smokescreen.
Those brilliant fireworks from hell weren't meant to take Sogiita’s life. They were meant to disrupt the Gemstone's senses and sight so he couldn't counter all of that old man’s deadly attacks.
Invisible strikes found their mark on that Gemstone, and the searing arrows of the arrows scorched Rosencreutz.
CRC was wounded but he rejected to make any whimpers. Instead with a sudden burst of velocity, the young silver man picked up his cross sword from the ground and launched a flurry of strikes, cutting at the #7’s body with pinpoint accuracy.
His arms, his head, his face, his stomach, his legs, his midsection, his back.
Each blow landed with devastating force, causing Sogiita to stagger back under the onslaught.
If that bandana boy hadn't had his defenses and general stats raised by the #5 he’d be cut to pieces.
The #7 fell on his back.
"There's a fire," Sogiita declared, his voice ringing out amidst the chaos of battle.
With each attempt to break his spirit, Sogiita's resolve only grew stronger, fueling the flames of his determination. "Every time someone tries to make me give up, it's like wind feeding my flames, making them burn even brighter just like my punches," he explained, his words carrying the weight of his unwavering determination.
He refused to stay down.
With a roar of defiance, Sogiita surged forward once more, his movements blurring with speed as he disappeared from view. In the blink of an eye, he reappeared behind Christian Rosencreutz, catching the magician off guard.
"Hey, old man," Sogiita taunted, his voice filled with confidence as he seized Rosencreutz from behind.
Christian Rosencreutz's eyes widened in surprise as he realized he had been outmaneuvered.
As Sogiita Gunha faced off against Christian Rosencreutz in their airborne duel, he felt the flames of determination burning within him, driving him forward with unstoppable force.
Before he could react, the boy lifted him effortlessly and slammed him onto the pavement below with a resounding thud.
"I'm not just a kick-boxer!!" Sogiita sang.
As the impact reverberated through the air, the young silver man let out a pained cry. The force of the collision compressed the surrounding air, heating it up until it crackled with energy. Christian Rosencreutz's head struck the ground with a velocity equivalent to mach 20, igniting his body in flames upon impact.
This move is called a suplex.
Struggling to regain his bearings, Rosencreutz muttered in a daze, "The House of the Holy Spirit...the seven walls..."
"You said it yourself, didn't you?" the gutsy boy retorted, cocky. "My power and my guts can break through your impenetrable walls. And I can spread those same guts to the world around me."
With a grimace, Christian Rosencreutz acknowledged the truth of the boy's words. "Your uncontrolled AIM field grants you the ability to imbue non-organic objects with the properties of your virus," he observed, his voice tinged with begrudging admiration. "Allowing them to bypass even the defenses of the seven-walled tomb.”
"A virus? Don't be so gutless, CRC," the #7 retorted, his voice filled with defiance. "This battleground ruled by wills is a two-way road between you and me."
Christian Rosencreutz raised an eyebrow at the boy's words. "Hey Gemstone, you could've killed me if I weren't a superhuman with an idealized body that accomplished The Great Work and crossed the Ungrund, what then short-stack?" he questioned while fitting an insult against his height.
Even without the seven-walled tomb or sheets of diamonds Rosencreutz was cartoonishly durable.
"Sorry, old man," Sogiita retorted, a hint of irritation lacing his words at the jab about his height. "I may have let my enthusiasm get the better of me, but rest assured, I understand the magnitude of this battle. Just like the Hydra, no matter how many heads you regrow, I'll persevere until I've completed my labors.”
"Mhm, so you do know your mythology," CRC remarked, a hint of amusement in his voice. "The Lernaean Hydra, or simply Hydra, is a serpentine lake monster in Greek and Roman mythology. Its lair was the lake of Lerna in the Argolid, known as an entrance to the Underworld. In the canonical myth, the monster is slain by Heracles as part of his Twelve Labors."
"Yeah, I know," Sogiita replied confidently. "I studied the tales of great gutsy heroes in school.”
"So, short-stack," Christian Rosencreutz began, his voice carrying a hint of scholarly interest. “Have you ever considered the parallels between our battle and ancient Near Eastern religions?”
Sogiita listened intently. "Are you saying you see yourself as a god of war or a hunter?" he inquired.
CRC chuckled softly. "In a sense, indeed. We are both assuming roles in this grand theater, are we not? I, the Hydra, and you, Heracles."
He continued, "Consider the Second Labor of Heracles. Eurystheus, the king of Tiryns, sent Heracles to slay the Hydra, which Hera had raised specifically to defeat him. Heracles approached the swamp near Lake Lerna, where the Hydra dwelled. To protect himself from the poisonous fumes, he covered his mouth and nose with a cloth and shot flaming arrows into the Hydra's lair, causing it to emerge and terrorize the surrounding villages."
CRC paused, drawing a comparison. “In our own clash, the flaming arrows that Heracles hurled at the Hydra find their echo in your lightning-fast fists, generating shockwaves that ignite the air with their speed and force. It's as though each strike of yours is akin to shooting a flaming arrow, much like Heracles did.”
“Huh? Are you suggesting we're caught in a time loop? That some enigmatic group, like the Bridge Builders Cabal, manipulated events to resurrect you, pitting us against each other in a timeless struggle? I've never met them, and I'm certainly no child of Zeus. Are you implying that our battle will be distorted into a Greek legend by a meddling time traveler?!” frantically asked the boy.
“No, no, you simpleton. This world contains synchronicities. In Sumerian, Babylonian, and Assyrian mythology, the war and hunting god Ninurta was celebrated for his deeds. The Angim credited him with slaying eleven monsters during an expedition to the mountains, including a seven-headed serpent, possibly identical to the Mushmahhu, and Bashmu, whose constellation was later associated with the Hydra by the Greeks. In Babylonian contexts, the Hydra's constellation is also linked to Marduk's dragon, the Mushhushshu.”
“Uhhh….” That shounen boy was dumbfounded.
"Hhm, I suppose calling it a time loop isn't technically wrong," Christian Rosencreutz began, his tone measured. "I'll break it down from history class and reconstruct it through the lens of the occult. Historic recurrence, young Gemstone, is the phenomenon of events echoing throughout time. Whether it's the rise and fall of empires or the repetitive cycles within a single society, it's all part of this grand plan that was decided when Adam ate the forbidden fruit."
The #7 with his guard up but curious listened: "So, history just keeps repeating itself? Just a series of coincidences?"
Christian Rosencreutz shook his head sagely. "There is no such thing as coincidences. Take, for instance, the Doctrine of Eternal Recurrence, pondered upon by thinkers like Heinrich Heine and Friedrich Nietzsche. While it's said that 'history repeats itself,' it's not quite that simple. Rather, these recurrences stem from identifiable circumstances and chains of causality."
He continued, his voice carrying the weight of centuries of philosophical debate. "Consider the phenomenon of multiple independent discoveries in science or the reproducible findings in natural and social sciences. These recurrences, whether in the form of rigorous experimentation or comparative research, are vital to our understanding of the world."
Christian Rosencreutz paused, allowing the weight of his words to sink in. "G.W. Trompf, in his seminal work, The Idea of Historical Recurrence in Western Thought, illustrates the recurring patterns of political thought and behavior since ancient times. Through these patterns, history offers us invaluable lessons, often leading to a sense of resonance or déjà vu."
Their words reverberated like a challenge to destiny itself, a testament to their unyielding determination in the face of adversity.
That Gemstone didn't surrender his characteristic fervor. "History echoing through time, huh? It's like the universe itself is stuck on repeat, and we're just caught in the cycle. But you know what? If history's gonna keep looping, then let's break the pattern! Let's smash through those chains of causality and forge our own path. Who cares about déjà vu? We'll create something entirely new, something that'll shake the very foundations of this world and we’ll do it with guts!!!" He defied that silver monster.
But Rosencreutz wasn't finished. He pulled out his Crystal World Map.
The supposedly old man listened intently to that boy's impassioned response, his expression inscrutable behind his clairvoyant card. After a moment of contemplation, he spoke.
“Gemstone, you speak of breaking free from the chains of repetition, of forging a new destiny against the backdrop of eternal return. It is a noble aspiration, indeed. However, consider this: eternal return is not merely a philosophical concept or a whimsical notion of fate. It is the very fabric of existence, woven into the nature of time itself.” He pressed his finger on the Miniature Garden and a 3D holographic projection flew out—
“In ancient times, the Stoics grappled with the idea, seeing in it both a sense of cosmic order and a challenge to individual agency. Augustine and others recoiled from its implications, fearing it as a negation of free will and salvation. And yet, Nietzsche, in his brilliance, dared to confront the concept anew, exploring its depths in the crucible of human consciousness.”
Didn't Aleister Crowley say that he had to shatter every single phase in order to eliminate the concept of fate?
“I will shatter every last phase and put an end to all mysticism. It can be helped and we need not restrain our tears and bite our lip when faced with tragedy. I will bring back the pure world in which everyone can feel anger like normal and question it all like normal!!”
And didn't Coronzon appear to break down all the phases including the Pure World?
Partial destruction would be meaningless. If anything remains and an eternal distortion is born from that, then it will all happen again. I will eliminate the ten spheres, the twenty-two pathways, and the hidden eleventh symbol. Collisions between phases? Sparks and spray? You cannot save anyone if you only treat those symptoms. All of the fundamental clogs must be removed. All so we can pass the baton to whoever comes next.”
“Sparks and Sprays…” Rosencreutz muttered.
“Eh?” The #7 didn't quite hear him.
"Beside time stands fate, cruelty's steadfast herald. In the silent chambers of the soul, whispers the most profound wisdom. Humanity, in its folly, neglected to exalt life's splendor, its radiance, its grandeur. Truly, it is a rare gift to comprehend the forces that shape our existence.” That magician spoke in despair.
“From the moment man ate the fruit of knowledge, he guaranteed your species’ failure... Entrusting his future to the whims of fate, man clutches to a flickering hope. Yet, within the Miniature Garden lies the key to all revelation. Beyond the well-trodden path lies the ultimate terminus. It matters not who you are; Death is the sole certainty awaiting all.” he finished with scorn.
Shokuhou Misaki was currently linked to Sogiita Gunha so she was overhearing the entire conversation.
“Are you okay, Leader?” asked Kamijou back at the hospital.
“Yeah…” she responded.
*“Really?” Mikoto breathed a white sigh. “It wasn’t the shock of seeing their school destroyed. Nor was it the fear of having those rioters attack. …They’re afraid of their own power. And after learning how exactly to use that power to survive, they’re not sure they can just switch it off and return to their normal lives. So their gears have ground to a halt.”
Tokiwadai Middle School was a prestigious esper development school.*
The young ladies registered there were Level 3 at the lowest and Level 5 at the highest.
Almost all of the students had a power that surpassed that of a blade or handgun if used properly, but something had become twisted.
Yes.
“A lot of them weren’t really sure why they were training their powers.”
Shokuhou breathed a white breath, wrapped her own arms around herself, and rubbed her thighs together.
Why are you studying?
How many people could give a proper answer to that question? Because my parents told me to, because my teachers taught me to, because that’s how the world works. Those would be most people’s answers. Even the students with a clear vision of their future would only have something vague like “for the entrance exams” or “for my future”.
Only a small handful would have specific puzzle pieces in mind, such as “I need to learn how to use this equation so I can build a rocket”.
The young ladies of Tokiwadai Middle School were the same.
What if the very gears that humans have…their actions, reactions, inactions were all the result of some transcendental entity hovering above.
Like God or The Devil watching over humanity’s reality sphere and ordering around his system like everyone was a pre-programmed NPC that had specific events occur to them to get them to develop in the way that they did and determined their genetic bloodline that composed their psyche?
Is there truly a free will?
It was said that in order for you to break out of the system of society that the working class was stuck in you had to climb to the top where the corrupt elites resided.
Imagine Breaker negated sparks, Aleister Crowley could see through the veil thanks to Holy Guardian Angel Aiwass, Great Demon Coronzon could always see the cogs.
Christian Rosencreutz could view the entire world through his Miniature Garden.
The rest of humanity was at the mercy of their own destinies.
A Guardian Angel wouldn't arrive to save a parent’s child from fate every single time.
"Okay, nice poetry, can we get back to fighting already?" asked the #7 impatiently.
"Seems I got carried away," the old man conceded with a nod. "The synchronicities of this world, akin to the astral configurations in astrology, serve as an example of synchronicity, according to Jung. It describes circumstances that appear meaningfully related yet lack a causal connection, much like the parallel relationship between celestial and terrestrial phenomena. Synchronicity experiences entail subjective encounters where coincidences between events in one's mind and the external world may lack a clear causal link but still harbor an unknown connection.”
"Ah," Sogiita chimed in, recalling his philosophy class discussions. "We talked about synchronicity back then. Jung thought it was a good thing for the mind, but said it could get dicey in psychosis. He cooked up this theory as a kind of mental link between those meaningful coincidences, calling it a noncausal principle. This term came about in the late 1920s, and then he teamed up with physicist Wolfgang Pauli to dive deeper. Their work, The Interpretation of Nature and the Psyche, dropped in 1952. They were big on this idea that these connections, even the ones that don't seem to have a cause, could still teach us a lot about how our minds and the world work."
“Mhm, you know more than you lead on, Gemstone.” pondered CRC.
“Oh this? My teachers say I'm not good at remembering speeches hahaha…” The #7 looked slightly nervous. “You know, analytical psychologists really push for folks to get what these experiences mean to boost their awareness instead of just feeding into superstitions. But funny thing is, when clients spill about their synchronicity experiences, they often feel like no one's really hearing them out, or getting where they're coming from. And hey, having a bunch of these meaningful coincidences flying around can sometimes ring the schizo bell. Delusions aren't healthy.”
Where was this conversation going?
"Delusion! Hah! That's a good one coming from you," CRC fired back.
"The real delusion is thinking humanity isn't worth a darn," Sogiita shot back, pulling out some info from Johansen and Osman. "Some scientists think coincidences are just random flukes, but counselors and psychoanalysts reckon there's more to it, like some deep-down stuff needing to come out. Unconscious material to be expressed."
Rosencreutz interjected, his expression reflecting a mix of confusion and concern. "Aleister Crowley's actions have left a lasting scar on this world and this city," he began, his voice weighted with solemnity. “The vacuum-like dichotomy between magic and science created by the use of that colossal psychotronic weapon, has damaged this world's memory almost irreparably.”
Psychotronic weapon?
The Archetype Controller?
He paused, his gaze piercing as he continued, "Jung's exploration of synchronicity as evidence of the paranormal paved the way for further inquiry, notably by Koestler and the subsequent embrace of these ideas by the New Age movement.”
Sogiita shrugged, "Some folks say synchronicity is impossible to test or prove, so it gets labeled as pseudoscience. Jung even acknowledged that these synchronicity events are basically just coincidences, statistically speaking. But hey, who's to say what's really going on without some solid scientific studies, right?"
"Dubious as his experiments may have been," CRC interrupted, "Jung believed in a connection between synchronicity and the paranormal, drawing parallels to the uncertainty principle and works by parapsychologist Joseph B. Rhine.” CRC posed a thought-provoking question, "How are we to recognize acausal combinations of events, since it is obviously impossible to examine all chance happenings for their causality? The answer lies in the fact that acausal events are most readily expected where a causal connection appears inconceivable upon closer reflection. It's impossible, with our current resources, to explain ESP or meaningful coincidences as mere phenomena of energy. This challenges the very notion of cause and effect, as these events occur simultaneously rather than in a linear cause-and-effect manner. Hence, I have coined the term 'synchronicity' to describe this phenomenon, placing it on equal footing with causality as a principle of explanation."
Getting closer to that Gemstone, CRC emphasized, "Esper abilities cannot be fully understood with science alone. They defy traditional cause-and-effect explanations, instead representing a convergence of factors that create a quantum phenomenon affecting both the micro and macro. Why were there the naturally gifted and the naturally ungifted?”
Why did some students get praised for their abilities while others needed to work harder?
Others among them would have worked every hour of their free time and not progressed anywhere in this city’s leveling curriculum.
Why did this city present such an unfair and unpredictable status quo of potential?
Why did hard work barely matter in a city of empirical evidence to record any possible progress?
Sogiita Gunha wasn't a normal Level 5 but he wasn't always this powerful. He went through the curriculum same as everyone but if the outside conditions for his Gemstone ability to manifest didn't form in the exact way that it did, in such an acausal form then would he even be here to challenge Christian Rosencreutz right now?
Everything just happened to fall right into place.
All those puzzle pieces that would lead to this moment here and now.
Was it all just talent? God picking a fool as his champion?
The #7 leaned back, absorbing CRC's words with a thoughtful expression. "So, what you're saying is, there's this whole other layer to reality that we can't quite wrap our heads around," he summarized, nodding slowly. "I mean, it's like trying to catch smoke with your bare hands—slippery and elusive."
He chuckled, shaking his head slightly. "Historic recurrence, synchronicities, all these things—they're like pieces of a puzzle scattered across this substantial reality. And sometimes, they just... click into place, right? It's like the universe has its own plan, and we're just along for the ride."
That bandana wearing boy's gaze drifted, lost in thought. "You know, CRC, it's funny," he remarked, a wry smile playing on his lips. "Here we are, with all our powers and potential, but at the end of the day, we're still grappling with the same questions as everyone else. Talent, destiny, divine intervention—maybe they're all just different sides of the same coin."
He shrugged, the weight of the philosophical musings settling over the broken city. "Who knows? Maybe God does have a sense of humor, after all.” that boy chuckled.
There was a deep silence between them.
Rosencreutz’ response was swift and resolute, his tone filled with certainty. "All this ‘universe has a plan’ banter is just a distraction from the inevitable," he declared, his eyes narrowing. "We can debate the nature of us being all-powerful yet struggling with mortal issues until the sun burns out, but it won't change the fact that our fate was sealed upon the knowledge Adam learned."
“To think so many trivialities have developed while this old man wasn’t watching. Heh heh. Then I should assume the thread of fate has again begun to weave its strange connections between myself and some unknown human.”
He rose forward, his movements purposeful. "It's time to put an end to this dance of platitudes," CRC continued, his voice cold and unwavering. "We'll settle this the only way that somewhat matters—through objective action in this grand play."
“Silence, preserved doll. Illusionists are meant to remain silent. That is all we magicians are: wielders of substanceless illusions. Opening your mouth serves only to break the illusion.”
With a flicker of resolve in his eyes, he locked gazes with the #7. "I am Hydra, Gemstone," he said, his voice carrying a hint of challenge. "Our battle ends now.” CRC opened both his palms and began shooting at their surroundings, the buildings, the pavement, the apartments, the rubble.
It probably wasn't random as it seemed to create a pattern.
“Huh are you getting senile old man?” asked the young Gemstone.
“What fun. I never imagined someone would bother diligently polishing their skills this far while knowing it is all essentially an illusion. Didn’t you ever feel silly going to the effort?”
Rosencreutz dropped to all fours, his rosy cross sword gripped tightly in his right hand.
He moved—
“Arrgh!” Sogiita yelled amidst the relentless and precise and precise strikes from that golden cross. “Old man?” he asked.
That magician didn't say anything.
That silver man’s movements became more beastly.
Faster.
Stronger.
Fiercer.
Something new was beginning to manifest.
With each strike of his higher dimensional blade that old man’s blows seemed infused with an otherworldly energy.
The wounds inflicted by his weapon burned with a venomous intensity, sending searing pain coursing through Sogiita's body.
That boy grimaced as the poison from that silver man’s strikes surged through his being, each wound feeling like it was ablaze with venomous fire.
"Damn... That burns…like a killer hornet’s sting," he muttered through clenched teeth, his voice strained with effort. Gritting, he fought to maintain his focus, despite the agony threatening to overwhelm him.
Was this another application of The Four Stages? Citrinitas? No, there was nothing yellow here, it was more like a dirty purple.
But it wasn't just the physical damage that posed a threat.
As the Rosy Cross leader leaped on all fours his movements took on an almost erratic quality, he was bouncing from one building to another with an animalistic agility.
With each jump, a shockwave rippled through the air, carrying with it a palpable sense of dread.
Something was spreading.
The air around them seemed to thicken with a toxic miasma. The #7 struggled to breathe, the noxious fumes clouding his senses.
Like a chaotic monster’s venomous poison breath.
The once-clear air now felt thick and suffocating.
Gasping for breath, the bandana boy struggled to maintain his focus amidst the swirling chaos.
His vision blurred, his movements sluggish as he fought against the oppressive atmosphere.
Blinded that heroic boy could only fire a flame arrow without his sight.
His fists striking out with all the strength he could muster. Igniting in that poisonous compressed air.
It seemed to be flammable like a dragon’s breath.
???
At the hospital, Shokuhou's voice carried a mix of surprise and relief. “He caused real damage.” she exclaimed.
Kamijou turned his attention to her, intrigued. “What happened?”
“It's hard to see clearly, but it looks like the #7 managed to blast off CRC's left arm,” she explained. “Though, I'd say it was more of a lucky shot. I can read he acted on pure instinct.”
Kamijou nodded, a hint of melancholy in his tone. “Yeah... the psychic link and all.”
Had the #7 Level 5 given up on the old man?
Back on the battlefield, Sogiita cursed under his breath. “Dammit... Sorry, old man,” he muttered. “I was aiming to hit your whole body to maximize the surface area, maybe break a few bones as a casualty. We can probably get your arm reattached at the hospital. Heaven Canceller has enough guts to even fix me.”
It was clear—he hadn't given up.
It was an accidental strike of his arm.
“As each ghastly head was severed from its serpentine form, dreadfully, two more writhed forth from the abyss.” a cryptic voice amidst the chaos spoke.
Wasn't it said that the Hydra’s lair was the lake of Lerna in the Argolid.
Lerna was reputed to be an entrance to the Underworld.
The abyss.
The Ungrund.
There is no limit to the depth of the Alcyonian Lake, and I know of nobody who by any contrivance has been able to reach the bottom of it since not even Nero, who had ropes made several stades long and fastened them together, tying lead to them, and omitting nothing that might help his experiment, was able to discover any limit to its depth. This, too, I heard. The water of the lake is, to all appearance, calm and quiet but, although it is such to look at, every swimmer who ventures to cross it is dragged down, sucked into the depths, and swept away.
The keeper of the gate to the Underworld that lay in the waters of Lerna was the Hydra.
The serpentine Lake Monster.
“Rosencreutz……?” The #7 muttered.
That magician chuckled ominously. "No, young Heracles, Hydra." he intoned, his voice echoing with a bizarre resonance. “The Lernaean Hydra's curse is upon you now.” as he said that he cut off a bit of his arm that was cuterarised with his golden blade and it began bleeding.
Anna Sprengel’s blood was said to create unknown miracles when spilled.
Christian Rosencreutz’ blood was so virulent that even its scent was deadly.
As Sogiita Gunha glanced at his severed arm lying on the ground, a creeping sense of horror enveloped him. "All of fate is a curse and that curse," he murmured, his words barely audible over the din of battle, "extends even to my severed limb.”
Christian Rosencreutz’ left arm grew back.
No.
Two new arms grew in its place.
The fate of chaoskampf? The hero battling the dragon?
The arm was fully functioning with no defects.
Although one of the arms appeared somewhat scaly and lanky like a serpent.
It had human anatomy but something was abnormal here.
He almost looked like a spider as he emerged from the poisonous fog as he remained on all fours.
“So short-stack. Are you ready to complete your final labor: Crossing the abyss!!!” He challenged that boy with his cross sword facing him.
"Boss, what's up? You look kinda stuck," Kamijou asked, his tone concerned.
Two students were sitting together in the waiting room at a hospital.
"—abyss, Hydra, curse, synchronicities, Historic recurrence." she replied, her words carrying a weight of unease.
"Huh? What? Can you give me the lowdown?" Kamijou prodded, his urgency evident.
"Can't quite wrap my head around it. But what I can tell you is that after CRC started talking about these esoteric concepts, he leveled up his power ability, managed to seriously hurt the #7 despite me cranking up all his stats for the win condition," the honey-blonde girl explained, frustration creeping into her voice.
"Can you beam all that stuff into my head, like a memory download? You're a psychological esper, right? My right hand won't mess with it, and we've done the telepathy thing before," Kamijou suggested.
"Memory download's not quite it, but I can send you a recording," she clarified.
"Got it," Kamijou muttered as he absorbed the info.
"You got any ideas to help the #7’s situation ability, Kamijou-san? We're kinda desperate here," she asked.
"I wish Index was still here, dammit.” he lamented, “But you know about magic, right?" he queried.
"Yeah, people converting their delusions into reality right?," she admitted.
"Well, magic's not just about delusions; it can be tied up to the whole world. Not sure if it's relevant, but based on Idol Theory, Rosencreutz might be pulling in 'energy’ from the Greek 'phase’ of Heracles for an edge," Kamijou theorized.
"Like a chessboard flip?" Shokuhou Misaki inquired, her brow furrowed with concern.
"No, more like... imagine you're playing checkers with a buddy, and you're totally crushing it because you're a checkers pro. Then suddenly, your buddy switches it up and challenges you to an arm wrestling match, and you lose because, well, arm wrestling isn't your forte," Kamijou Touma explained, trying to paint a vivid picture.
"So, by taking on the role of the Hydra from Greek myth, he's essentially forcing the #7 into the role of Heracles? But didn't Heracles defeat the Hydra?" Shokuhou sought clarification.
"Yeah, but..." Kamijou recalled the tale from the movies he'd seen. "Lichas gave Heracles a shirt soaked in the Hydra's poisonous blood from his arrows, which ends up killing him by tearing his flesh down to the bone," he elaborated.
"It was actually Nessus seeking vengeance and tricking Deianira into giving it to Heracles as a gift, delivered by Lichas without disclosing the tunic's lethal bloodstained secret from the Lernaean Hydra, but you're right," Shokuhou corrected gently. "So, Rosencreutz is harnessing the power of that legend to slowly poison the #7?"
"Not literal. I mean the poison is real but his slashes do significant harm now so it's more like shifting the paradigm in his favor…shifting his position.” The spiky-haired boy wasn't in the mood to explain Phases, “Earlier, he mentioned Sogiita spreading his 'virus' throughout the world. A virus isn't a poison in the traditional sense, but the Rosicrucians originally sought to create a universal cure for all illnesses. Now, CRC is spreading a literal poison, positioning himself as the ultimate predator and his opponents as prey rather than his savior role, the paradigm has been shifted." Kamijou concluded, his voice tinged with gravity.
“So he’s changed the environment to get the win condition? The #7’s durability doesn't matter in the face of the world being forced to go about a certain way because of Rosencreutz stage play?” The girl asked.
“Yeah…if things keep going this way…Sogiita will….goddamnit….” The spiky haired boy swore. “I can't let someone else die after all that's happened but I feel like if I go out there I really will kill him…” he muttered that last bit while clenching his right fist that began shaking uncontrollably.
The girl’s eyes seemed confused.
“What did you say?” The honey blonde middle schooler asked.
“Nothing, just mumbling to myself.” he spat out.
That boy and girl could never come to the right conclusion on their own without the aid of former Magic God Othinus by their side.
“Did you think I had challenged you with no hope of succeeding, you cesspool? The magic born on earth is bound by the directions based on the earth’s magnetic field and by the density and composition of the air which is determined by air pressure which is in turn influenced by gravity. That is inevitable when you are focused on the cardinal directions of north, south, east, and west or on the basic elements of fire, water, wind, and earth. But what you will find upon leaving the atmosphere is an unknown. Coronzon, are you sure there will be no malfunction in the magic giving you control of Avatar Lola? And before, my power was bound by the puny speck named earth which failed to become a black hole or even a sun, but once we enter outer space, just how far do you think that power will be released? I do not mind at all that I will lose the support of Academy City.”
Well the boy was half right.
“Let us test it out, you cuspidor. On one side, we have you using the planet and bound to an avatar. On the other, we have me exposed and freed from the planet. Now, who will be the star of this show?”
Christian Rosencreutz did not shoot at his surroundings for no reason.
The battlefield transformed into Rosencreutz's canvas, resembling the legendary battleground of Lerna where Heracles once clashed with the Hydra.
Yes.
He didn't unleash his powers randomly; every action was deliberate.
In the magical side of Idol Theory, mimicking an object, event, or person allowed one to tap into a fraction of its power.
And that even applied to locations that essentially worked as stage plays.
Idol Theory was so absolute that even the basic cross held a portion of the son of God’s power.
As Above, So Below.
As Below, So Above.
Macro to micro.
Micro to macro.
And the macrocosm and the microcosm are always linked.

As most of you probably know, the most drastic change that was made to House of 1000 Corpses during production was the shelving of the original ending. There are many rumors that float around about this lost ending, but I would like to share some details that I have gathered. Principal photography took place at Universal Studios in 2000, and there were two test screenings of the film before it was dropped (not public screenings). The first test screening featured the original ending, but after receiving additional funds from the studio, Rob Zombie filmed a new ending: the Dr. Satan sequence that appears in the final version of the movie. The original ending—if it's still sitting somewhere—likely has no music or sound effects. From my understanding, it's essentially a jumble of footage with unfinished editing. This lost finale never appeared in any subsequent screenings, not even the famous Argentina screening in 2003. By the time the film left Universal, there were no intentions of using the scrapped ending, and it's possible that the footage itself never even left Universal's shelves. The "Svenne torrent" that was leaked on the web in early 2003 is said to have contained several minutes of cut footage, but it almost certainly did not include the original ending.

Physics Book Recommendations
I have a deep interest in mathematics and have been studying it using James Stewart’s Calculus, Early Transcendentals. Once I finish the book, I am interested in branching out into the Physics world. My only background in the subject is my grade school and junior highschool courses in which I did not take too seriously and so I would like a book that would strengthen those lessons, as well as give a large amount of additional, advanced topics. Does such a book even exist? I am unaware of the natural progression of physics courses and therefore do not know where to branch out to. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!

Physics Book Recommendations
I have a deep interest in mathematics and have been studying it using James Stewart’s Calculus, Early Transcendentals. Once I finish the book, I am interested in branching out into the Physics world. My only background in the subject is my grade school and junior highschool courses in which I did not take too seriously and so I would like a book that would strengthen those lessons, as well as give a large amount of additional, advanced topics. Does such a book even exist? I am unaware of the natural progression of physics courses and therefore do not know where to branch out to. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!

I feel like that title comes off kinda egotistical...I hope that's not the case.
I just enrolled in a Calculus 1 course through a university extension. I also applied for a grad course that is heavy in math. My intent was, given the long time since application submission, I assumed I would not get accepted and wanted wanted to make future grad school applications stronger so I enrolled in a Calculus course. I had intended to complete the Calculus course, a second Calc 2 course and Linear Algebra.
Well, it turned out I was accepted into the grad program, which is awesome. I'm super excited, but kind of throws a wrench in my plan.
The program starts in September, and there are prep courses (that are not calculus) that I would have access to prior to start of term, and I'd like to spend some time in those, which gives me pause in keeping enrollment into my calc 1 course (I have a few more days to get a refund).
I'd like to switch to a self learning format for Calc 1. Something where I can learn the basics and use for one of the foundational courses of the program (Linear Algebra).
I saw that there are a lot of resources posted on this sub, instead of checking them all in depth, I'm curious if anyone has any recommendations for a way to learn Calculus quickly. I am not necessarily looking for a shortcut here, I am def looking to put in the work. There just looks like a lot of Calculus resources out there in the wild, and I could use some direction.
Also I purchased James Stewart's Calculus: Early Transcendentals 8th edition for the Calc course. Could I just read this on my own? I'm open to any book(s), website, or content creator series.
Thanks!

I tried to copy paste and reformat it but references didn't work so sorry about that, just go to the link.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2818193

Dental diseases and procedures are common, troublesome, and expensive, exceeding spending on other major health conditions, such as diabetes, ischemic heart disease, hypertension, dementias, and breast cancer, in the US. Dental issues are relevant for internists because unmet dental care needs can be painful for patients. Excluding teeth from medical health care is arbitrary.
Evidence-based medicine, a movement that gained prominence in the 1990s, has profoundly affected the practice of medicine. Unfortunately, little progress has been made on using data from clinical trials to determine best practices for dental care. Instead, most dental care relies on practice patterns influenced by the economic pressures of running a dental practice, dentists’ professional training and opinions, and patients’ expectations, all of which tend to favor excessive diagnoses and interventions. The result is that while many people who have low income go without any dental care, those who can pay are subjected to overdiagnosis and overtreatment.
Overdiagnosis
Overdiagnosis occurs when conditions that will never cause harm are identified. Unnecessary treatments resulting from overdiagnosis subject patients to potential harm and waste valuable resources that could be used for necessary and effective treatments.
For example, dentists may treat early noncavitated caries lesions, aiming to prevent more advanced lesions, such as dentine cavities. A noncavitated caries lesion is a demineralized enamel spot (white spot lesion) without evidence of cavitation. The majority of white spot lesions will not progress,1 and there is no evidence that early treatment, except with fissure sealants, is generally more effective than no treatment in preventing dentine cavities.2 Paradoxically, these sealants are frequently overlooked or underused by dentists. Dental cavities are routinely filled in children, despite evidence that dental pain and infection rates due to dental cavities in primary teeth are similar (about 40%) in children who are randomized to teeth being filled or not being filled.3
Decline in Caries and the Impact on Dentists’ Workload
In the 1970s, there was an unexpected, extraordinary decline in the number of cavitated caries lesions seen in dental patients.4 This decline in the number of patients’ cavitated caries lesions affected dentists’ workload and has played a role in overdiagnosis and treatment in dentistry so that dentists can support their practices. This financial need led to more recommendations for regular 6-month visits.5 Two randomized clinical trials failed to demonstrate that 6-month intervals between dental checkups result in better oral health compared with longer intervals (up to 24 months), which led the authors of a Cochrane review to conclude: “Whether adults see their dentist for a check-up every 6 months or at personalized intervals based on their dentist’s assessment of their risk of dental disease does not affect tooth decay, gum disease, or quality of life. Longer intervals (up to 24 months) between checkups may not negatively affect these outcomes.”6 Nonetheless, the standard for dental visits remains every 6 months.
Scaling and Polishing
Another commonly performed procedure is scaling and polishing to prevent periodontitis, a common condition in middle-aged persons. Scaling removes plaque and calculus from the crown and root surfaces of the teeth and is performed using hand or ultrasonic scalers. Polishing, which entails the mechanical removal of extrinsic stains and deposits, is typically done using a rubber cup or bristle brush loaded with a prophylaxis paste.
The assumption has been that scaling and polishing can prevent gingivitis and periodontitis, thus potentially preventing tooth loss, pain, and mobility. However, to our knowledge there are no published clinical trials assessing these outcomes.7 The existing evidence only evaluates short-term surrogate outcomes. It suggests that treating periodontitis, specifically through root planing, leads to a slight enhancement in the gum-to-tooth attachment level among individuals with moderate to severe periodontitis.8 However, there does not appear to be any advantage to scaling and polishing for adults without periodontitis.9
Changing Financial Incentives
The prevailing dental economic model based on fee-for-service creates an environment of dental overdiagnosis and overtreatment. At the same time, many persons who do not have dental insurance cannot afford to pay out of pocket for dental care, creating a situation where people with low income or who are part of a racial and ethnic minority group are often underdiagnosed and undertreated. A value-based model, in which dentists are paid to maintain oral health rather than to deliver treatments like fillings, cleanings, and fluoride applications, could be more positive for oral health. A study conducted in Rio de Janeiro (and coauthored by one of us [P.N.]) found that, among patients without treatment indications, an average of 2 teeth were treated during a 6-month follow-up period. This number increased to 3.6 teeth if the patient had changed dentists.10 A clear need exists for trials to compare different methods of paying dentists to assess the impact on oral health and on overtreatment and undertreatment.
What Is the Way Forward?
We do not want to give the impression that dental care is not important. On the contrary, dental pain, oral abscesses, broken teeth, and inflamed tissues surrounding the teeth are common presentations to medical professionals, especially those working in urgent care settings. Similarly, good dentition is nutritionally important for eating a full diet and psychologically essential to a person’s sense of appearance. However, dental procedures should be based on effectiveness and safety.
It is true that many important dental outcomes (eg, tooth loss) may take a long time to assess. On the other hand, the human mouth offers an easy trial design in which some procedures, such as filling a tooth, could be determined by randomization when there is more than 1 tooth in the mouth with a cavity. Other common abnormalities can impact adjacent teeth (eg, periodontitis) and require a refined design (eg, randomization to quadrants or sextants).
Identifying which dental procedures are beneficial and ensuring that relevant dental associations update their guidelines accordingly provide an opportunity to allocate resources to those who need them the most. The aim is to reduce overdiagnosis and overtreatment while increasing necessary treatment.
Corresponding Author: Paulo Nadanovsky, DDS, PhD, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, FIOCRUZ, Brazil, Rua Leopoldo Bulhões 1480, Manguinhos, Rio de Janeiro 21041-210, Brazil ([paulo.nadanovsky@gmail.com](mailto:paulo.nadanovsky@gmail.com)).
Published Online: May 6, 2024. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2024.0222
Conflict of Interest Disclosures: None reported.
Additional Contributions: We thank Steven Woloshin, MD, MS, The Center for Medicine and the Media, The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, and The Lisa Schwartz Foundation for Truth in Medicine, for his invaluable intellectual contributions to the development, writing, and critical revision of this paper. Dr Woloshin was not compensated for his contributions.

REFERENCES
1.Ferreira Zandoná A, Santiago E, Eckert GJ, et al. The natural history of dental caries lesions: a 4-year observational study.  J Dent Res. 2012;91(9):841-846. doi:10.1177/0022034512455030PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref2.Bomfim AR. O Tratamento da Lesão de Cárie Dentária Não Cavitada é Efetivo? Uma Revisão Sistemática. Dissertation. Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro; 2022. Accessed April 1, 2024. https://www.bdtd.uerj.br:8443/handle/1/186113.Innes NP, Clarkson JE, Douglas GVA, et al. Child caries management: a randomized controlled trial in dental practice.  J Dent Res. 2020;99(1):36-43. doi:10.1177/0022034519888882PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref4.Nadanovsky P, Sheiham A. Relative contribution of dental services to the changes in caries levels of 12-year-old children in 18 industrialized countries in the 1970s and early 1980s.  Community Dent Oral Epidemiol. 1995;23(6):331-339. doi:10.1111/j.1600-0528.1995.tb00258.xPubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref5.Sheiham A. Is there a scientific basis for six-monthly dental examinations?  Lancet. 1977;2(8035):442-444. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(77)90620-190620-1)PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref90620-1)6.Fee PA, Riley P, Worthington HV, Clarkson JE, Boyers D, Beirne PV. Recall intervals for oral health in primary care patients.  Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2020;10(10):CD004346.PubMedGoogle Scholar7.Hujoel PP. Endpoints in periodontal trials: the need for an evidence-based research approach.  Periodontol 2000. 2004;36:196-204. doi:10.1111/j.1600-0757.2004.03681.xPubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref8.Jervøe-Storm PM, Eberhard J, Needleman I, Worthington HV, Jepsen S. Full-mouth treatment modalities (within 24 hours) for periodontitis in adults.  Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2022;6(6):CD004622.PubMedGoogle Scholar9.Lamont T, Worthington HV, Clarkson JE, Beirne PV. Routine scale and polish for periodontal health in adults.  Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2018;12(12):CD004625. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD004625.pub5PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref10.Naegele ER, Cunha-Cruz J, Nadanovsky P. Disparity between dental needs and dental treatment provided.  J Dent Res. 2010;89(9):975-979. doi:10.1177/0022034510369994PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref

Hi, xGondowan here again. I would like to give an update on how the MegaPatch version 2.0 is going and how it will be distributed this time.
First, I would like to talk on where are all right now with FL24.
As you know, Dido is well and working somehow. But we don't know when he will release FL24 2.0, the commentaries or the facepack on CPK. So we have to keep working with the base he gave us.
That said, I'll give you a little bit of a FAQ there:

• Will you include 24/25 kits?
  • Nope. We decided only to update the National Teams kits to the latest to have the EURO 2024 and Copa América ones, and also AFC and AFCON 2023/2024. Some sponsors updated as Real Madrid with HP, but nothing else on 24/25. Everything keeps to 23/24 season, as the 24/25 kits aren't polished yet and the small details have yet to be unveiled.
• Can I start a ML with year 2023 or 2024?
  • It will get you crashes and issues. It's recommended to keep it at 2020, even if it isn't sound realistic. Dido said its an internal issue with contracts and such.
• Can you please update "that lesser know league"?
  • We are trying to keep every league updated. But we aren't experts on every league from the game. We will try to at least do the transfers left and update the lineups to the most recent ones. I'm working on Scottish league at the moment for that.
• Can you put the new promoted teams from third divisions to second?
  • Nope, that's something that only Dido can do and it would be done on FL25 if it exists.
• Can you put more legends teams?
  • No, there are the already included ones (Rainmakers, Fireblast, Powerball...) and we can't create more.
• Can you put new cutscenes?
  • No and Immersion Mod was already disabled on last version as it caused crashes on ML.
• Can you create a new custom league?
  • No, as we said, database is locked. FL24 includes what already is included.
• Can you please put PES 6 gameplay on it?
  • No, it will be a new iteration of Football4Life that he's working on after releasing 4.1 (some people reported teleporting bugs).
• Can you please put "my country" league?
  • No, database is locked and Dido only included the most important or relevant leagues. Wait for FL25 but if you're from a lesser known country don't expect your league to be.
• Can you fix all the crashes on ML?
  • That's impossible. Just try all the workarounds here: play around using other EXEs, check if you're using other mods that can cause conflict, check if you installed official 1.10 update from October 2023, update your graphic cards driver, etc.
• Can you put everything on direct download instead of Torrent?
  • No, we used Torrent for a reason. We don't have unlimited storage on Google Drive and similar and it gets blocked easily when a lot of people download at the same time from there.
• Can you put "insert random player that only has 30 minutes played" face?
  • With the next version of Faces Collection (V2) we will try to include even more faces, making it close to 5000. We are aware that there are new wonderkids that are appearing, specially on South America Leagues, but it's too soon for them to have a face. Just be patient.

^{-- THE AIO MEGAPATCH 2.0 AND ITS STRUCTURE --}
We are aware that for a lot of people, downloading almost 140GB and then the update it was a lot and it got confusing, so we have divided it to make it lighter and easier to understand.

• The AIO base (2.0) will be around 70GB. It will include the essential: kits, scoreboards, balls, adboards, menu, music, minifaces, extra things such as FX sounds and random whistles, choreo fans, entrances... You can decide if you want to download the video animated adboards, as they're like 30GB. So you can make 40GB if you want.
• The Faces Collection will be separated. It already reached a size of 30GB and we understand that for some people faces aren't that important. So it will be an addon and it will be as easy as to drop the folder into "livecpk" and put two lines on Sider.ini
• The stadiums will be totally separated and linked to VirtuaRED 8.4 LITE. As the same as faces, we know that some people didn't care about stadiums and also including only some of them it induced to the famous "black stadium" issue. If you want stadiums you will need to download the whole package from them. We know it's huge (190GB), but you can decide what to extract or not. They have more than 900 stadiums to choose, so you can decide if you want 10, 100 or the whole package.

tl;dr You will need to delete SiderAddons folder again, download 70GB (or 40GB without adboards) + 30GB of faces if you want. Release date: early-mid June 2024.
And please, on every installation or question. READ. It's clearly explained how to install everything, as most of it is just drag and drop. Just read properly. No video-installation is needed and no computer knowledge also. You don't have to code or compile anything.
Have fun!

To make a long story short, I am in 4th year (technically speaking) and I just started to take the introductory math courses for the statistics major and I will be doing a fifth year next year but here’s my problem: I don’t want to do a sixth year and I fear that I might have to (and I also feel old too even though I’m in my early twenties). This summer I am taking STA236, STA238 and MAT224 (full term non sped up) but I know that I need multivariable calculus as well so I want to take MAT235 but here is my worry. Already two of my courses in each of the terms of the summer will be sped up. And I know that MAT235 will be sped up as well. I am worried that I will not catch up to speed as the first week has just ended and I will be 2 weeks behind as the course is 2x the speed. My worry is that I will be limited in the upper level statistics courses I can take next year and that this will set me back one semester or at worst , 2 semesters (an academic year). I don’t want to do thus because honestly I feel like I will be older than many other people , I feel like I won’t be able to make friends , I feel like university will be so much lonelier for me as my friends will already be gone by then, and I would be by myself basically , and I feel like I will never graduate (even though rationally speaking I will graduate but it will just be delayed). Essentially it’s the social aspect of university that is making it attractive for me to try to take the sped up course MAT235.
Really , I don’t believe that I will be able to do it (although I can delude myself into thinking that I can do it). I fear that not only will be so behind but that I will also not grasp the material well either.
At the same time I have legitimate fears about being older in university during my undergraduate , and I fear greatly that I will be left behind, others will surpass me , and that I will not have a social life.
I need advice please. Thank you in advance.

I graduated High School in 2014, and I very distinctly remember how stressful everything suddenly became. I no longer lived with my parents, I was on my own in a college dorm. I had never been on my own before, and I definitely didn't feel ready. I also wasn't ready for the sudden drop in social interaction that High School had.
This isn't going to be a story where I hunkered down and became super successful because I worked hard and never partied. Because I didn't do all that. My life has been one giant roller coaster, but that's okay.

2014, post graduation:

Age 18
I got accepted to a very fancy art school. I was always a super artsy person, so I was very excited for this opportunity. They also had dorms, so this will be the first time I actually live in a place away from my parents.

2015, 1st year in art school:

Age 19
I got all F's and did horribly. Big shocker, but I really wasn't ready for college. Everything was so different compared to high school. The teaching methods were different, the layout of class was different, and the wifi sucked. This was when artists block started to hit me and I started to burn out my art passion.

2016, expulsion:

Age 20
Due to my bad grades, I got academically expelled from this art school. This was super rough because this place wasn't cheap. My mother, who footed the bill, was now out $36,000, and I was down $12,000. During my time at this college, I didn't really learn anything.
After, I went to a community college and tried to continue my art career, but the damage was done. I was so completely burnt out that I maybe drew 2 times a year. I then instead went for a major in computer science, which was way easier for me since I'm good with numbers. Before all this though, I had to move back home for a few months so I can reset myself for my new plan.

2017, new major:

Age 21
After moving home, a failure, I had to get a job and find a place to live while I went to Community college. The place I lived in for a whole year was very small. Maybe 10 feet by 5 feet, about the size of a car. But it was only $400 a month to live there, so theres a plus. I worked at minimum wage jobs that I bounced around from because random stuff kept happening. A karen got me fired, the dollar tree shut down, and the boss at the boba tea shop was super abusive.
During this time, I played a ton of Yugioh casually. It was early this year that I also met my closest friend who helped me through pretty much everything.
Late 2017, a friend from High School invited me to work for her family at their restaurant. I had to move again, this time to a much more expensive place. But the pay was good and I felt comfortable... until I got laid off due to business slowing down.

2018, TSA

Age 22
Early 2018, I applied to the TSA. The onboarding process took FOREVER, and during that time a lot happened. I continued college really well with a GPA of 3.3, my wisdom teeth had to be removed, I had a pilonidal cyst which caused a ton of problems and weight gain since I couldn't ride my bike anymore. Also I got rehired at my friends restaurant after a few months when business went back up. I also quit Yugioh because of the ridiculous new rule they had, and started playing Magic the Gathering. I also moved to a new place that was cheaper, but way shittier. The house stunk to high hell, and the internet was weak.
The day I started Calculus, 8 months in, was the day that TSA called me and said I was hired. My mother was so happy that she demanded I move home with her, since she also worked for the government. I told my new landlord off, and got out of the lease by threatening to go to collections for all the laws broken in the lease agreement. (This place was so bad that I actually refused to use the bathroom here. That's how bad it was)
The first week at TSA was just us sitting in a room listening to some power point stuff that I can't talk about. We got uniforms, told to not do stupid stuff, and how to perform tasks like lifting heavy objects, among the NDA stuff. It was super boring and started at 4 FCKING AM. But when I saw my first paycheck, gotdamn. Fun fact: TSA is an entry level job, they're always hiring, and they pay more than any other entry level job AND YOU GET ANNUAL RAISES.

2019, nothing really happens

Age 23
I go through training at TSA, and settle in to my life as a security guard, though I also stopped going to college. The pay is good, I'm saving* money, and rent is cheap, thanks mom. (I was spending my money on Magic cards)
Oh yeah, I also learned to drive this year. Mom gave me her truck that I loved.
One day, we get a letter from the student loan place. Oops, I forgot to pay and now I'm about to default on one of my loans. My mom loses her shit, but I just list some Magic cards online and I am able to pay off the whole default amount the literal next day. (It was like $2000) Ez.

2020, oh boy

Age 24
Late 2019, I decide to go back to College and continue my computer science major. However, this other community college I went to had stricter requirements on classes, so I had to either test out, or retake my previous math class. I chose to go to tutoring so I could test out. Sadly, I almost immediately get super sick and have to go to the ER with pneumonia. This is right at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, so there is a HUGE scare. Why? Because the day before I was sick, I was actually working at an international checkpoint in the airport.
I first went to urgent care, and they said I had pneumonia. This was before anyone really cared about COVID. I told them that I might have COVID and explained why. Urgent care calls the CDC, to which they are told to just send me home with a doctors note. Urgent care tells me to do this, and they also say what the CDC said was idiotic.
6am the next morning Urgent care calls me and tells me to go straight to the ER and wear as much protective gear as possible. They are waiting for me. They also say to not interact with anyone. I get to the ER and I am placed in a room where a bunch of doctors come in wearing the weirdest protective gear I've ever seen. They legit look like aliens. I am then given one of the first COVID tests ever administered. It was two nasal swabs, a mouth swab, and a blood test. Thankfully, I come back negative and its just adenovirus. I'm given IV fluids and told to go home. TSA was very amused to hear this.
Once my pneumonia went away, I was finally ready to go to my tutoring lesson and test out of-- oh hi COVID.
Everything shut down the day I got there. FUCK.
We still had online classes, but tutoring was gone. So I had to retake my previous math class, and over the course of 2020, I was bottlenecked into 1 class per semester.

2021, uh...

Age 25
You know how creepy it is when you're at school and there's nobody there? Yeah that's what the airport was like. It was completely empty aside from us. There were no flights, no passengers, no nothing. One particular day, we all just chilled in the break room and played on our Nintendo Switches. We actually had our hours cut in half because there just wasn't enough work to go around. Had I been living on my own, I would have been destroyed due to the sudden loss of income. My mother understood and lowered my rent.
This year was a massive blur, but I did get one thing: A hiatial hernia in my stomach. It took a few months of being on light duty and going to the doctor to finally realize what was going on. Suddenly feeling like you're 2 seconds from vomiting, and then that feeling lasting for 6 hours was NOT fun. Once they found the hernia, I am given some medication to curb the nausea and it becomes slightly manageable. Today it is 99.999% gone.

2022, uhhhhh...

Age 26
My mother sold the house, so now I have to live on my own again. Thankfully, one of my coworkers is also into real-estate, and actually has some other TSOs living with her. We kind of have a sort of TSA frat house. I move in with her and I'm pretty happy. The pandemic lockdown is lessening, so I now have money to spend on rent, and Magic is finally opening up. Things are going pretty--
--my car gets stolen. Out of my drive-way no less.
I instantly go into crisis mode and sell 80% of my Magic collection. My mother watchs in pure shocking awe as I make $19,000 over 2 weeks and buy a brand new hybrid. Ez. Two months after I buy this car, gas prices skyrocket, so I kind of dodged a bullet since my previous car was a massive gas guzzler.
Sadly, 6 months in, my TSA friend sells the house and we all have to move. I move to a place that is ridiculously small, but cheap. I miss that place to this day.
Late 2022, my artists block randomly goes away and I started drawing... A LOT.

2023, art time baby!

Age 27
Things go crazy this year. Firstly, in 2023, I go to Barcelona. My friend invited me over there to hang out on a really awesome vacation that lasted 23 days. It was life changing. I also drop out of college, as I no longer felt that I needed it.
In May, I got my first art commission! This rapidly progresses to me doing a new commission every month or so. I now have a new income source, albeit it is pretty small.
Several months pass with no big changes, until August. Things get bad very fast. I develope a herniated disk in my lower back, and can barely walk. I miss several weeks of work at TSA, and I go to the doctor a few times. Life was rough.
Then my apartment flooded.
My landlord acts so half-assedly on fixing the issue that mold starts growing in the carpet. This is a big problem, with my herniated disk I've been sleeping on the floor. (I couldn't climb my loft bed anymore) I terminate my lease with them and get my security deposit back because of this whole ordeal. I then sign a new lease for a room a bit far away. The very next day, my friend calls me and offers me a job in graphic design in Barcelona. This blew me away. All I had to do was survive August and September. This time was literal hell, as I could still barely walk, and I still had to drive everywhere and lift all my stuff. Driving was monstrously painful. Upside, my new landlord understood the sudden change and let me out of the lease.
October rolls around, I pack all my essentials, leave everything else with my mother, sell my car, sell a bunch of other stuff, and use that money to pay off almost all my debt and buy a ticket to Barcelona. During this time, I also get a bunch of art commissions which really saved me from a few close calls.
I touch down in Barcelona and I begin to live in the place I stayed for vacation. Life was great. Rent was covered, and I got an allowance every month.
Work was hard though. My friend is a very good friend and I really appreciate him... but he is a very bad boss. He was super hard on my for things that weren't my fault, but he said they were. This took a toll on my mental health. But I was happy to be away from the US.
I also make a bunch of friends here in Magic, and we still talk to this day. My spanish sucks, but hey, I'm not doing so bad anymore. We go out for beers after every tournament.
Anyway, in December, I am going to go back to the US to spend Christmas with my family--
--and I get laid off.
sigh

2024, this... isn't actually that bad

Age 28
I get back to the US, and I have to start from zero again. Despite everything, I'm actually not too upset. My art commissions are really helping me. Despite still being a small artist, I get a few hundred dollars a month now. Also, my herniated disk finally heals on its own and I now can move around as if nothing happened.
I live with my parents again, I bought a dingy car that I will upgrade in a few years, and now I work as a security guard again. (Not with TSA though) I have a stable income, a calm life, and a strong future doing what I want: Art.
I plan on saving my money to the point where I can get a nicer car, and then building my own house on my parents property since its so big and honestly its really beautiful out here. Or... if I get big enough, I would like to buy an apartment in Barcelona and live overseas again. I really miss my friends over there, and the atmosphere.
Honestly, despite being set back so far that I might as well be a teenager again, I'm doing pretty good. I'm finally comfortable again.

Conclusion

I do hope this helps you guys who are just graduating. Life will be rough, even hellish at times. But things will always get better, and before you know it, you will be in a spot where you are truly comfortable.
Key take-away here is to live with your parents as long as you can, save up money when you can, TSA is awesome, and be open to failure.
Also don't do drugs.
...Now I just need to get a date lmao.

I just want to say before I start rating the classes that everyone is different in a way, some people find some classes easier than others and I just want to give a rating that reflects on what I think was hardest classes I’ve taken to ones where I think were the easiest. This can give you a general understanding of what you can expect from the class. I’ll also be sharing what professors I’ve had and rate the class on a scale from 1-10 in terms of difficulty and list the from the hardest to the easiest. I’ll also list when I took the class (fall 23 or spring 24), credits hours, core class or not, and say whether it a full semester class or half a semester class.
Alright here are my rankings:

1. Civil engineering 274 (Statics), core class, 3 credits, full semester, fall 23, professor: Harntaro Wibowo. Difficulty: 9.5/10 All I can say is listen to the rumors about this class. When I was in CE 160 everyone was saying that statics is going to be the hardest class you’ll ever take at ISU, even the TA’s were telling us that. I have always been optimistic and never really thought of it until I took the class. I mean what can I say, first 80% of your grade are the exams and the other 20 is homework, Top-hat etc. Second the material of this class especially in the beginning is kind of hard to keep up with as everything builds up with each other but you do get used to it. When I tell you that you can’t fuck up one exam you really can’t, it’s almost impossible to get a good grade if you fuck up one of them. You’ll have 3 midterms and 1 final, 4 questions on each exam and 90 minutes. The exams are not impossible to solve obviously but they do try to trick you by for example finding the mass instead of weight, unit conversions, and complex wording. Pros about this class is platoons are really helpful for this class (TA’s giving out examples and showing you how to solve them, once per week for 50 min) and if you do go to all of the platoons you do get 2% extra on your final grade. Also SI was helpful as she did give out a lot of examples from previous exams and would recommend going to them. Wibowo wasn’t a bad professor he does recommend printing out the practice example sets before each class because that’s what he goes over the whole class period but I wouldn’t say he is the best at all in terms of 1 on 1 conversations. Also the graders of this class in my opinion are kind of harsh when grading your exams, they can deduct you up to like 5 points for wrong units or wrong answers which I found ridiculous. Overall be prepared for this class, get up to date with 3D related material,Fy,Fx, and moment equations, and a lot of trigonometry.
   
2. Civil Engineering 206 (Engineering economic analysis and professional issues in civil engineering), core class, 3 credits, full semester, spring 24, professor: Jon Matthews Rouse, difficulty: 8.7/10 If you told me back when I was applying for this class at the end of fall that CE 206 was going to be hard as fuck I would’ve laughed at you, but holy fuck it is. Firstly I want to get this out of the way, I wanna say that some classes are hard not because the material is hard but because the professor makes it hard. CE 206 falls into that category where the material is basically high school maths with plugging and chugging numbers into formulas but holy fuck does Matt make it ridiculously hard in his exams. Matt is a great guy and an excellent professor (top 5 coolest professors I’ve ever met), gives dad vibes when you meet him, but he is no joke in his exams. Some of his questions are ridiculous where he really tries to trip you up with the wording and his work out problems are really long and tedious. He also admitted that he does plug numbers into a calculator to see where students might trip up (like squaring your answer when you’re supposed to multiply) and puts the number as one of the multiple choices. He also doesn’t post anything on canvas at all which I found ridiculous since the first page of each exam is solving true and false questions, full in the blank, definitions, etc..Oh yeah you only got 55 minutes for the midterm exams, which I found hard to even see how you could ever finish both the midterm exams (especially the second one) on time. His second exam was so bad, 60-70% failed the exam, and had to curve it by 10%. The homework’s weren’t bad but his graders are really tough graders, I mean I never got a full mark on any of the homework’s and I had 13 homework sets. No wonder why this class is the 5th dropped class at ISU, it’s literally impossible to finish both midterm exams on time, graders for the homework are tough, and no room for extra credit (beside doing only extra credit homework but still).
   
3. Engineering mechanics 324 (mechanics of material), core class, 3 credits, full semester, spring 24, professer: Oleg Zarechnyy, difficultly: 7.7/10 The content in this class is arguably way harder than what you take in statics but when it comes to grading and overall the class structure, this class is not bad. If you take it with Oleg (great professor) his method of teaching is TBL (team base learning) and the class structure is to watch the lecture videos before attending the class, as what you do in class is 2 top-hat questions on the material you watched at home. He also recommends to do the homework before each lecture but I never did and it was fine. The team you are with the whole semester are picked at random and you sit in the same place during the semester. The top hat questions aren’t tricky but if you did not watch the videos you won’t get the answers right. Each question is about 25 min, the first 12 min you do it alone, then the remaining 13 min you discuss your answers with your teammates and submit them together. You do also submit your answers when you do it alone. Exams are easier than statics exams by a mile, I mean some of the questions they give you the moment of inertia, sometime they give you the forces, etc… basically all the calculations that you might trip up they will give you. The formula sheet is essential to this class, so understand where everything is. There are 3 midterm exams, 3 questions, and 90 min (30 min avg each question), very doable. They never try and trick in any of the questions like in statics and it’s pretty straight forward. The final will have 4 questions but you got 120 min so again doable. You have also 3 homework’s each week due Monday, Tuesday, and Friday on Willyplus. Overall a very doable class (class avg on each exam was about 75-80%) and shouldn’t be hard to pass.
   
4. Deferential equations 266 (differential equations), not a core class, 3 credits, half a semester, spring 24, Professor: Domenico D’Alessandro, difficulty: 7/10 Out of the math classes I’ve taken so far at ISU, Calc1, calc2, and Def eq 266, I would say that def eq is definitely the easiest out of the 3 I have taken. This class is supervised by the one and only Steve butler so I already knew it wasn’t going to be batshit hard like the calc department but don’t think it’s a walk in the park type of class. For me this class is all about proving that a certain problem is right by proving it with a set of equations. What I like about this class is 3 things, first and most importantly is that the exams are fair not ridiculously hard like the calc exams but not easy to the point where you didn’t have to study, second you could theoretically not attend a single lecture like I did 99% of the time and just go to the quiz review (more on that in a moment) and try and understand what they are talking about (which wasn’t hard to comprehend) and do well enough on the quizzes to be ready for the exams, and thirdly there’s a fucking formula sheet thank god. If it wasn’t for the formula sheet I promise you this class would be 10x harder cause you do need a lot of equations for this class. Exam wise there will be 2 for 266, 6 questions each, and 75 minutes, which I think is fair considering some questions are really easy and fast to solve and some do take time but I wouldn’t say it’s like a 20 minute question more like 7-8 minute question. For me quizzes were the best as like in calculus you have a weekly quiz 25 min, 2 random questions from the practice quiz you have to solve, and as I said if you go the quiz review and understand what is happening it’s Literally a free 10/10. Exams are 60%, quizzes are 25%, Homework are 12% (you only need to do 3 questions form the sample set to get full credit), and the remaining 3% is basically free points if you do the weekly review where it asks how are doing in class, recommendations, etc. overall very doable class with a lot of chances to get a good grade as he does drop your lowest 2 exam questions, 1 quiz, and 4 homework sets. I can’t tell you if the professor is solid or not as I rarely went to class besides doing the quizzes but from what I gathered he is ok.
   
5. Statistics 305 (Engineering statistics), not a core class, 3 credits, full semester, spring 24, instructor: Troy Meyers, difficultly: 6.7/10 This is the exact reverse of CE 206, the content here is hard, in my personal opinion, but Troy makes his exams really easy. First off I wanna say that Troy is one the funniest professors I’ve ever met, he tells us cool and funny stories, he really wants you to succeed in this class by helping and asking questions, and he really is passionate about statistics. The material is hard but his exams are literally the example material he posts on canvas along with of the homework questions. I mean if you can memorize the practice material on canvas you’ll be just fine as most of the time he doesn’t even change the numbers in the exam (keeps it the same). The first 2 exams were really easy, the third exam I failed it just because I stoped going to lecture and didn’t even go to the exam, but the avg was really high just don’t be a dumbass like me, the final is recycled material from the 3 midterms along with questions from post 3rd exam. The homework is really easy if you understand what you are doing. Honestly this class could be hard if you don’t take it with Troy. Oh yeah DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS ONLINE! I heard they make the online sections of this class ridiculously hard, just take it with Troy he teaches like 7 sections of this class, so you should find more than enough seats to be in his sections.
   
6. Chemistry 167 L (chemistry 167 lab), not a core class, 1 credit, full semester, fall 23, Instructor: Krishna Suresh, difficulty:6.2/10 This class for 1 credit is absolutely bullshit. Firstly the “professor” for this class is named Sarah Pistolesi but you never actually meet her or even talk to her ever, even if you tried to send an email she will never respond. So what you have is a post graduate instructor and about 15 other students in a laboratory doing chemistry. What I was hoping for this class is to do dope ass chemistry experiments and overall have a chill and easy time but nope this class is the literal definition of aids. You do about 13 experiments throughout the semester and I would classify 1 experiment as cool and rest absolutely ass, you have to do a fat ass report on your experiment, and you also have 3 in class experiment exams throughout the semester, you have a pre lab quiz, post lab quiz, and post lab EXAM each fucking week (all online though). I mean all that for 1 credits is insane and they weren’t easy quizzes or exams nah they were the ones where you actually had to read the lab manual thoroughly and do the labs precisely to do well on them. The pain in ass really was the lab reports, some of my lab reports were like 8-13 pages long as they ask you a shit ton of questions about the experiment you did that week along with a review on what you did, you had to make graphs from excel, and solve stoichiometric questions which as I said before is insane for a 1 credit class. I mean I put more effort into this class than fucking Calc 1 and that’s not even a joke. Now the instructor (Krishna Suresh) is really cool though and does understand our pain for this class I mean this was her first time teaching this class and was astonished by the amount of work you had to put for 1 credit. She did her best and did sometimes allow us to go early because for some reason there is no fucking chairs to sit on and the lab was 3 hours long so you had to stand up to 3 hours straight with no breaks at all. Smh that class was a joke on god and unless you are a chem major you aren’t going to get an A on this class, also some of the questions were ridiculously hard to solve unless you know chemistry for real for real.
   
7. Speech com (Speech communication), not a core class, 3 credits, full semester, fall 23, Professor: Michael Wettengel, difficulty: 5/10 Out of all the classes on this list this class is the dullest class I’ve taken so far. In fact it’s so dull I can’t even tell you how the grades were distributed because he goes off by points, and not by percentage but what I can tell about this class is that you have to put effort into your speeches. In this class you will have 3 major speeches, 3 or 4 mini speeches, lots of homework, and in class activities. For your mini speeches all you have to do is write a speech 2-4 min long on a index card-s and read it to your fellow classmates, obviously it’s not that straightforward as you need to come up with the plot and stuff but that wasn’t bad. For the major speeches you had to make a PowerPoint for your first two speeches along with references and research to prove on what you are taking about and obviously a rehearsed speech you have to prepare and present to the class. You got a lot of homework you have to do but honestly they were just stepping blocks for the presentation and speech you were going to give for your major speeches so it wasn’t bad. Finally the in class activities weren’t bad but they were silly especially at the beginning. Oh yeah for this class you have attend as there is attendance points and also for the in class activities you had basically each class. The main speeches were an informative, persuasive, and special occasion. The first one (informative) was in my opinion the most annoying one as you had to do a lot of research for your topic along with pictures, slides, references, etc. The second (persuasive) was actually not bad as you would want to keep the same topic from the informative one and just persuaded on why your topic is important. For the third one (special occasion) it was the easiest as no research was needed and you can really talk about anything you want. For the first two speeches you had to get your topic approved by the professor but the third one you don’t have to as long as you and another class mate aren’t talking about the same topic. Michael wasn’t a bad professor at all, he actually made the class quit fun it was just the material and over overall speech com is boring. He is a tough grader though and does take the speeches seriously and will deduct points accordingly to the speeches rubric. Honestly the only reason I give this class a 5/10 in difficulty is the amount of effort you have to for this class and not because the material is hard.
   
8. Civil engineering 170 (Graphics for civil engineers), core class, 2 credits, full semester, fall 23, professor: Stuart Nielsen, difficulty 4.25/10 What made this class instantly easier than the rest of the civil engineering classes is that the class is online and even if it wasn’t I think it would easier than the other civil engineering classes. Firstly no exams in this class which is already great, secondly it’s easy to follow up in this class meaning you don’t have to watch the lecture videos multiple time to understand what’s happening you can watch it once and easily see what he is talking about. There are 12 homework sets, and 2 projects that’s it. The homework sets are: first 2 weeks you do sketches, 2D, and 3D drawings with building objects. You also learn how to draw thing on a side view, top view, etc in 2D and 3D. The next 5 weeks you will use AutoCAD learning how to use it and using its tools, a bit surveying, etc.., then 1 week to do the final project on AutoCAD which is literally what you did on the app for the last 5 weeks compressed into a final project. The the next 5 weeks you do Revit which was actually really fun in my opinion, you learn how to design and build a building on Revit, floor plans, put objects, sceneries, etc…, and then 1 week to the final project which was basically to build a house with a few requirements. Honestly this class is really easy and I would say the hardest thing about this class was the AutoCAD final project was a bit tricky but once you get used to AutoCAD it’s only honestly cake. Revit is in my opinion easy and simple to understand, its tools are not complex and the rendering on the app is great. Stuart is a great guy and although you don’t really meet him he does put a lot of effort into his videos and does respond to emails.
   
9. History 202 (Introduction to western civilization), not a core class, 3 credits, half a semester, spring 24, professor: John Monroe, difficulty: 3.6/10 I never thought I would enjoy learning about history and this class did not disappoint. It’s a fun class to learn about European history (Napoleon, French Revolution, WW2) and John’s videos are fun to watch. It does get boring sometimes but that’s when some of the history was boring but I wouldn’t say I slept or anything like that. You do quizzes weekly but honestly if you do watch the lecture videos then you shouldn’t have any problems. You might not take an A on this class as some of the questions are detailed (you need to read the questions carefully) but you will definitely enjoy the class.
   
10. Anthropology 230 (globalization, and the human condition), not a core class, 3 credits, half a semester, fall 23, professor: Sedi Azirani, difficulty: 2.8/10 Im going to make this short and simple, watch the lecture videos, do the weekly quizzes, do a essay every 2 weeks, review the course for the final exam, take the final exam and you’ll get an easy A. The only tricky part about this class is the essays as you have to watch a video (usually there will be 2 to choose from) get a reference source and write an essay about the video topic. Quizzes are easy if you watch the videos and look at the slides, and the final exam is easy if you review the material. Honestly an easy A.
    
11. English 250 (written, oral, visual, and electronic composition), not a core class, 3 credits, full semester, fall 23, professor: Paul Kimumwe, difficulty: 1/10 If you have taken any english class from ISU you should know that they are an easy A. I put literally 0 effort into this class and still got a 98% on it. You literally do 4 or 5 major essays of your liking as long as you follow their simple requirements and you do 1 power point slide towards the end of the semester explaining your future plans with your degree and I would say thats about it. I mean the only way to fail this class is literally not to submit anything but you really do need a free A from time to time to boost your gpa and luckily this class is a requirement for any degree you take here.
    

Final thoughts:
This year, I tried to get out of the way the bullishit classes like my SSH electives, and the easy classes so I can get to the good stuff in the future without a annoying and unnecessary class that I’m forced to take that literally isn’t a engineering class, so I would say that this year was a smooth sailing but probably won’t be next year as I’m going to take some tough ass classes. I hope I have given y’all some insight to these classes if y’all ever gonna take them especially for future Civil engineers.

Does anybody have or know where I can find a pdf of this textbook?

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Gravediggers. Corpse Grinders. Skull Takers. Every unit that shared his profession had a name that was like that. As Corporal Brandy floated silently, his body suspended in a dense salt water based solution alongside eleven of his peers, he once again thought how he liked the name of his unit the best. Ghouls. His arms were stretched out, as were his legs, secured to four corners of the hull leaving him splayed open. His wrists were tethered, his ankles were tethered, all to keep him from drifting. The water was cold, felt even through the suit even though it didn’t touch him. It was only appropriate they called vessels like the one he was in Coffins. It was long, with seven feet between floor and ceiling when one could stand in it.
The patch of his unit was a zombified corpse, walking towards the one viewing it, with their arm outstretched, a large 17 behind the shambling figure. It was laser etched on the left shoulder guard of his SVS51 body suit, the symbol of the Terran Front of laser etched on the right. Right now, Brandy knew he was flying through the void, heading towards the wreck of a Vral Light Cruiser, his unit’s speciality. A countdown on the upper left corner of his vision was reaching the single digits. No one talked, not even the squad leader. Not even command. Brandy liked it like that. He had been selected for special operations early on in his life, as most operators were. Sure, you could volunteer to join if you joined the Fleet and decided to test yourself, but most humans were already training for something like this by the age of thirteen. Jesup, one of his squadmates, he was a joiner, one that had volunteered when he was signing up. Brandy though? Brandy was a lifer.
Lifers like him were singled out in school and made aware of their tentative selection. Lifers were trained harder, tested harder. No one really minded Jesup not going through what they had been through, but it did mark him out. Hence the term, but lifers and joiners all got the same specialized training. Five seconds left. Brandy knew his job well, knew the layout of the ship well. Four seconds. Brandy clenched his fists. He felt the liquid shift, knowing their craft had hit the hull. Suddenly he was free of his constraints, floating free in the dense salt water. There was a bright light from the front of the craft, the plasma torches already burning into the Vral light cruiser hull. Three seconds. The dense salt water solution suddenly was sucked into the floor, drawing him down. He tapped his heels together, hearing an automated voice call out ‘Maglocks Engaged’, just before his feet touched the deck. He was already yanking the protective cover off of his rifle, slinging it back over his back. Two seconds. Those in the front of the line had their rifles up and ready. Brandy on the other hand, reached to his sides and drew out two long blades from sheathes locked to his thighs.
One.
He felt the compression in his chest as the breaching charge detonated, and the segmented doors of the Coffin opened. The first four Ghouls entered, no shots fired as they cleared the room. He heard a soft whisper saying, “Depressurized.” The entire deck was without atmosphere. Brandy looked to his left, and nodded once. Jesup nodded back. The pair in front of them sprinted out. Jessup and Brandy sprinted out immediately after them, Brandy drawing his blades. The interior of the Vral ship was a dismal place, and within just seconds Brandy knew what kept their grav plates powered was already down. The difference in design priorities from the Vral to the Terran Front could be seen even from the hallway they were running down. The Terran Front fleet was designed to maximize the space they had, to deliver the most punch possible for the weight class the ship in question could hit with. The chua had lent their practicality to that level of ship design. It was why the standard Terran corvette could fight completely out of it’s weight class. Brandy knew that the standard Terran corvette was more than a match for any variety of Vral destroyer, it was even said that a light cruiser would have to go blow for blow with one.
Most who heard that wouldn’t understand until they saw what Brandy was seeing now. Terran hallways were built narrow, the space an artery for personnel to move through in a very direct way. The ceilings would be laced with piping and joists, covered by protective layers of material just in case an impact threw the crew against the ceiling. Standing shoulder to shoulder, even battleship halls on Terran ships only allowed two large humans to stand shoulder to shoulder and extend their elbows halfway to touch the walls. This hallway was broad, four, no, five times the width. You would never see such a waste of space onboard a Terran fighting ship. The only exceptions to this were the larger logistics ships, the carriers, and the Antares herself. Terran ship tonnage was dedicated purely to what the ship in question was made to do. Vral ships, on the other hand, seemed to be built to not just fight space conflicts, but carry the troops for ground assault. The Vral sacrificed tonnage meant for fighting for transport. They did not have dedicated troop ships, or even dedicated logistics ships.
Brandy guessed it made sense when you never had to worry about someone being able to really hit back.
The map of the light cruiser was laid out in wireframe in the upper right of his HUD, a pulsing arrow pointing his way. As they reached the first door it was clear that whatever powered the lights also powered the doors in this section. He sheathed the blades and raised his rifle as Jessup pulled his breach bar. A moment later Jessup applied the handheld pneumatic and nodded once to Brandy, who gave an almost imperceptible nod back. Jesseup pressed an activation stud, and Brandy breathed out as the door began to open. A brief glimpse of chitin was all it took for Brandy to immediately put two shells through the door, the only audible evidence of the shots being two ticks from the recoil traveling along his armor plate. .
“Contact.” Brandy whispered even as the shells tore through the Vral floating behind the door. The Vral flew away from the impact as the door opened further, revealing more Vral, all floating, all already dead. “KIA Vral.” He whispered into the mic within his helmet. A small tone let him know his information was received. Brandy and Jessup moved into the hallway and saw why the Vral were all already dead. There was a gash in the hull almost three meters long and a meter wide. The deck had been exposed to the vacuum, and judging by the hole further down the hall which Brandy glanced through as they passed, a railgun round from a cruiser had lanced straight through the entire hull. Brandy slung his rifle and began the halting half run, half jog of moving quickly on magnetized boots. Brandy cleared an adjoining hallway before looking back to the door. The Vral dead were everywhere, floating in the vacuum, and Brandy kept having to shove the floating corpses aside as he moved. The dead didn’t stop him. They didn’t stop Jessup either.
Jessup was already setting the breacher, and Brandy’s rifle was unslung and readied. As this door opened a forcefield came to life in front of it, and a sliver of light began to show through. Brandy’s thumb flipped his rifle from semi-automatic to full. He didn’t need to speak, Jessup was already pulling his own rifle. As the door was suddenly shoved open by the pneumatic Brandy’s entire body snapped forward. The Vral that was standing by the door, who had even watched it open, made it clear that the Vral didn’t even know they had been boarded. Brandy’s rifle butt slammed into the head of the Vral, and sound returned as he moved fully through the forcefield meant to keep atmospheric integrity but not keep him out. Beyond it, Brandy saw at least twenty milling around. A damage control team. The Vral turned to the sound of one of their own skulls caving in, chitin cracking, just to see Brandy’s barrel come down. He was already moving left to give Jessup room to enter, as he squeezed the trigger. Chitin and ichor erupted, the Vral leapt at the sound, some freezing in place, some charging. Jessup came around the corner, raising his rifle, taking single shots at individual Vral who reached for weapons even as Brandy’s fully automatic spray swept the hall. Brandy was the scythe, Jessup was the surgeon.
Brandy’s ammo counter quickly was cycling down, but he hadn’t been simply praying and spraying. As his counter read zero the last of the Vral was spasming violently on the floor. He thumbed the magazine release, the hand on his grip already having reached for his right hip to draw up a fresh magazine even as the empty one slid out and began falling to the floor. “I’m close.” He said. He slammed the new magazine into the rifle, racked the slide, then slid it behind his back. He drew his blades, then began to sprint.
“I’m far.” Jessup began sprinting behind him.
The next set of doors opened automatically this time, but to a familiar scene, but the Vral were already aware of them due to Brandy having firmly announced their presence in the previous hall. Brandy never stopped his full sprint, carving through the Vral with the edges of his monomolecular blades. Every so often a shot rang out, taking one of the Vral down just out of Brandy’s reach or one that was pulling up a weapon. Brandy used the suit’s speed and strength enhancements to their fullest, barely slowing as he tore through the group, both blades cutting. Suddenly he heard the retort of full auto and spun to decapitate one of the remaining Vral to look as Jessup was emptying his magazine into an open door. Brandy let both blades drop, popping his hip to the side and curling his waist, letting the weight of his rifle carry it around his body into his hands. As the Vral tried to come into the hall they were cut down, caught in a fatal funnel of fire by their own hatchway.
“Reload.” Jessup said, tucking himself back against the wall. “Control, need sweepers. My location.” A tone was the only reply to Jessup’s words. Twelve men, organized into six teams. That was the boarding party. Each had a part to play, and as Jessup made the call for sweepers Brandy was already preparing to move. As Jessup slapped a fresh magazine into his rifle Brandy was still covering the door. The other doors in the hall remained closed. Jessup reached to a small bandolier of grenades and pulled one of the X-04 flashbangs, throwing it hard through the door against the opposing wall. A second later a dull pop sounded. Brandy and Jessup continued their run, but now both had slung their rifles. Both had blades out.
Following the skeleton map on his HUD, Brandy led the way through the next door to find the hallway empty. He didn’t mind that state of affairs at all. A dull klaxon began to sound throughout the crippled ship, and neither Brandy nor Jessup needed to be told twice that the Vral were now more than aware they had been boarded. Brandy turned down a corridor, instinctively lashing out and taking the head off a Vral had been moving towards him. “Breaching bridge.” He said into his microphone, hearing the tone of acknowledgement from Control as he saw the large bay doors that marked the command and control center of the Vral vessel they intended to take. He sheathed a blade as he came to a stop beside the bay door, out of range of the motion sensor that would open it automatically. Jessup was right behind him, freeing a hand of his own. They both reached up, yanking X-04 grenades off their pins banded to their armor. Brandy and Jessup looked at each other and nodded. As Brandy kicked out his foot to trigger the motion sensor, the door slid open. A torrent of laser fire erupted from the doorway, painting the floor and wall beyond. Brandy snapped his arm around, exposing only his hand as he threw the flashbang around the corner. Jessup’s own flashbang flew past Brandy towards the other side of the room. They both immediately pulled a second, even as the first detonated in the room beyond. Almost instantly the weapon’s fire stopped, and wails of chittering echoed into the hallway. They threw the second set of flashbangs into the door.
As the second pair of dull crunches sounded, Brandy and Jessup breached the bridge. The bridge was arrayed like a bowl, stations arranged orbiting a center divot in the deck where the captain would stand. None of the Vral in the room were standing. While flashbangs disoriented humans, essentially stunning them into stupfication, the same flashbangs had even more pronounced effects on the Vral. Most of them were simply laid out on the ground, completely insensate, and screaming incoherently in their chittering tones. Brandy and Jessup had entered having expected at least one of them to have donned protection, perhaps even a warsuit, but their boarding had caught the Vral completely by surprise. Jessup turned to the door, tapping the control panel and closing, then locking it. Brandy had already begun moving from station to station. Jessup joined him as they quickly and methodically dispatched the crew. Brandy turned and moved down into the captain’s pit, coming to the Vral that had commanded the ship.
“Attempting to access.” Jessup said, stepping to one of the panels even as Brandy reached the side of the Vral commander. Brandy watched dispassionately as the Vral’s body curled and spasmed on the ground. Without replying to Jessup, Brandy was already securing the commander. He flipped the commander over on it’s back, yanking it’s limbs together and zip tying them together.
“Control. Commander secured alive. Bridge secured.” Brandy said, and he glanced over to Jessup. Jessup looked over to him and grinned, his teeth showing through the dark tint of the armored glass of his helmet. A tone of acknowledgement came into his helmet. Brandy moved to the panels, just as Jessup was moving. “Anything yet?” He asked, letting his suit’s speakers carry his voice.
Jessup moved to another panel. “Nope. Wiped.” He said.
Brandy brought the panel to live and was already moving on, and cursed silently under his breath. Several times teams like his had breached the bridge of a Vral ship only to find what they were finding now, wiped computer cores, dead panels. Brandy continued to move panel to panel, as did Jessup, moving up the bowl. Brandy heard Jessup muttering as he went, his voice carrying because of the speakers in his suit. Brandy glanced up at the other man, then continued with his work.
“Doesn’t make any sense. We still know nothing about these bastards. Nothing.” Jessup said as he was working on the last panel on the row he was on. “Aside from the fact they melt their cores down really well.” Brandy smirked behind the tinted glass of his helmet as Jessup balled up a fist. Jessup moved up a row, then started work on another panel. “I’m beginning to think the only thing they exist for is to piss off the universe.”
Brandy couldn’t argue with that, and Jessup stopped his grumbling, continuing to check the panels.
“Control, Sweep Two is down. I repeat. Sweep Two is down.” Brandy stopped in his checks and looked up, the voice of Talb in his ear from possibly the same location he had called for sweepers to come in. He hadn’t heard a call for sweepers from anywhere else.
“That’s Vlad.” Jessup said, his voice flat, having paused himself to listen in.
“Confirm.” A woman’s voice hit Brandy’s ear, and Jessup began walking across the bowl towards him. Brandy settled his hands on the panel that he had paused midway through working. The woman’s voice keyed back into his ear, their Control, and Brandy listened intently. “Prep Sweep Two for extraction. Sweep Three and Four enroute.”
Jessup reached his side and put his hand on Brandy’s shoulder. The silence in his ears now was deafening, and he knew he should be continuing on, checking the rest of the stations, but he couldn’t move his feet right now. Brandy and Vlad were close, they had gone through basic together, they had gone through Advanced Infantry, as well as Weapons and Tactics, hell, all of their advanced training schools. When orders had come through, they had both been delighted to have twin assignments to the 17th Breacher Corps “Ghouls.” Vlad had met Brandy’s family, his mother, his father, even his ice queen of a sister who was serving as a Drone Cutter pilot. Vlad was his friend, the brother that he had never had, and now Vlad was down, somewhere on this hellhole of a ship, unable to even communicate that he was injured.
Jessup stood by him, saying nothing, and Brandy’s eyes were focused on something far in the distance, something he couldn’t even see right now. Suddenly, like his mind was pulling itself from mud, he forced himself to continue working. Jessup stayed by his side. There was nothing he could do for Vlad right now, nothing at all, and he had work in front of him that needed to be finished. Jessup went back to the stations he was working through. Brandy finished the sweep of the panels on his side. Nothing, as was usual.
He walked down the bowl shape of the Vral bridge, standing next to the Vral commander, who was now very much aware and awake, not struggling as it lay on the floor of the carnal house that was the bridge of it’s ship. He ignored it, placing his hands on the hilts of the twin swords at his sides. Jessup continued his work, a little slower than Brandy was, but then again Jessup was newer than Brandy himself was to this sort of thing. Brandy had already served for nearly eight years, and had done the tear down from the sixth Vral war, alongside Vlad. Brandy grunted and pulled up his arm, opening one of the armor plates to reveal the communications controls for his suit. He set up a private channel to Control.
“Control, BT One. Status of Sweep Two?” He asked, and he heard two clicks in response. He was being transferred to another operator. Brandy felt his entire body tensing up. He didn’t know if being transferred was a good or a bad sign.
“Bridge Team One, this is Secondary. Sweep Two is stable. Sweep One is prepping him for extraction. He took an indirect hit by a plasma round to his left shoulder. His suit took the majority but he’s going to be in the burn unit.”
Brandy breathed out, and then nodded once to himself. “Thank you Secondary.” He heard a tone in response, then he set himself back to team communications. Vlad was alive. That was good enough.
“The void will take you.” He heard the chittering sound translated, and he slowly looked towards the prone form of the commander. Brandy turned and walked over, and purposefully stepped over, the Vral. He then knelt down next to the figure. “You will not survive. We will bathe in your ashes.”
“When.” Brandy said, a dark bit of amusement in his tone. “Come on. When. Daylight’s wasting.”
“The void will take you.” The vral repeated, then went silent again as Brandy stood up and stepped over the commander once more. Jessup was coming down to meet with him in the center of the bowl.
“Good news, Vlad’s going to make it.” Brandy told him, “He’ll be in the burn unit for a bit, don’t know where he got hit, but the suit saved him.”
“Good. What’s the word from the local moral officer?” Jessup said, motioning to the vral, who was laying again in silence.
“Same as normal. We’re gonna die. Void’s gonna take us. Ashes. Dancing on my grave.” Brandy shrugged. “You know, what they normally say, that friendly little conversation.” Brandy could actually feel Jessup’s eyes rolling.
“Control, Bridge Team. Secured and detailed.” Jessup said, and they both heard the click of acknowledgement. “Another two hours maybe?” Jessup asked, and Brandy nodded. “Welp, two today, that makes six boardings for me, how many for you?”
“Fourty.” Brandy replied, and Jessup whistled low. “And that’s just these types. I was actually put on a team as a standby sweep for a battleship or two, but mostly light cruisers. No corvettes or destroyers though. They normally just send the heavies to take those. The cruisers though? Heavy cruisers? Carriers? I’ve done a few of those too, but mostly this.”
Jessup leaned against the back of one of the panels that he had checked. “What kind of team do they send to a carrier?” He asked, and Brandy laughed.
“Put it to you like this. They send units of chua war machines, and what’s called a kill team. They don’t even bother sweeping like we do with these ships, they just punch holes in every room and open them to vacuum, and the kill teams go in to make sure none of them got into a warsuit.” Brandy tapped his chest, “We barely do anything. They just turn the entire ship into swiss cheese then call us in to check panels. Kill teams are just different, but it’s an experience. You don’t get to really do much though. Go in, stay behind the kill team, and check elect…”
Brandy stopped talking and both of them listened as a tone sounded from Control, then they heard her speak. “All objectives secured. Stand by in location. Prepare for tow and extraction.”
The two of them reached out and grabbed hold of a panel, and Brandy looked over at Jessup. “Well, quicker than I thought.” Just as he was finishing that sentence the entire hull seemed to shake, and he felt a small surge of negative g force before his body adjusted. “A lot quicker.”
“What do you think they’ll get out of this?” Jessup asked as he let go of the panel.
“Oh hell.” Brandy said, motioning to the ship they were in. “Three destroyers easy. Maybe a corvette added in. Couple of fighters. Ever seen the reprocessors?” Jessup shrugged at the question and Brandy pointed at him. “When we get back, if you have some downtime, just ask to watch. It’s some impressive shit. I watched one of those crews break down a corvette in two hours.” Jessup raised his eyebrow and Brandy held up two fingers. “Two. No shit. Something like this is going to take them maybe a day, probably less than that. It’s absolute magic.”
“I was raised on the Los Angeles flats.” Jessup said, and it was Brandy’s turn to raise an eyebrow. “You know, where they had one of the landfills. They said they used a reprocessor for that too.”
“Yeah, the chua know how to make the most out of everything. Did you know there used to be a floating island of plastic in the Pacific Ocean?” Brandy placed his hands on the hilts of his blades as Jessup shook his head no. “Yeah, when the chua got set up, first thing they did was clean up all of that. Tons of plastic, centuries of fuck ups, and they fixed it in barely a month. Earth was trashy, real trashy. Now we just reprocess everything.”
“I never looked into how that works.” Jessup said, then laughed when Brandy raised his fingers and wiggled them in the air. “PFM?”
“Yeap. Pure fuckin’ magic. At least that’s how it looks to me.” Brandy sighed, then he motioned to the panels. “We had the technology centuries ago but we just never refined it like the chua did. I asked how it worked and I felt like I was an ape. They felt the same way about our computers the way we feel about their reprocessors though, so I guess it evens out.”
“What do you mean?”
Brandy glanced over at him and smirked, then he motioned to his suit’s right chest pauldron, where his suit’s electronic suite for his HUD was kept. “This here has more processing power than the chua had on one of their battleships. They just didn’t focus on it like we did. The concept of a microprocessor blew their minds. We know how to store a hundred terabytes on a fingernail, they know how to break down a landfill into bars of material.” Jessup leaned back against the panel again and grunted. “Seriously, ask to watch what they do to this thing. They are going to slice it up, put the pieces into the reprocessors, and by tomorrow it’s going to be raw materials. No waste, it’s crazy.”
Brandy turned his head back to the vral laying on the floor, hearing it muttering to itself. He narrowed his eyes for a few moments, listening to the sound of the clicking, then he looked back to Jessup. “Wish that thing would just shut the hell up.” A moment later he said a bit louder, “We get it asshole. The void is coming, it’s going to take us. Ashes, death, suffering. We get it. Shut the hell up.” He pushed himself off the panel and walked to the edge of the bridge nearer to the door. “Non-stop with them.”
Jessup gestured to the commander with his head. “What are we doing with him.”
“Well, he’ll get to tell an interrogation team about the void, bet he’s got a hard on for that.” Brandy replied, then paused and glanced at the upper right of his HUD, seeing a few green dots moving in their direction. “Then they’ll just toss his ass out of an airlock. Ready to go?”
“Yeap.” Jessup pushed up from the panel he was leaning on and joined Brandy near the door and waited as they both watched the dots approaching the door. Brandy reached over and toggled the lock, and the door slid open. Four humans in construction harnesses with atmospheric suits rated for vacuum were just coming to a stop. Behind them Brandy could already see the two other members of the team coming to relieve them.
“Is that Vodka?” One of them said, a hard feminine voice coming from one of the suits. Brandy’s eyebrow perked up, and so did Jessup’s entire body. Both of them knew Janet Shippen’s voice. Janet was what Brandy’s mother would call a feral tomboy. Short, muscled, her brown hair cut in a pixie cut, who felt more at home covered in engine fluid than anything else. She was also what his father would call an absolute knockout. Jessup had met her three times and was in love. Brandy’s relationship with Janet was a private affair, but Jessup wouldn’t find out about it, no sense in breaking his heart after all. Not to mention that Brandy looked at Jessup as a friend.
“How the hell are ya Shipwreck.” Brandy said with a smirk, “I got you a nice one here. I even got you a local to keep you company, ask him about the void. He’ll tell you all you want to hear.” The two figures in the back, clad in all black with no identifying markers, looked to Brandy, who simply pointed towards the vral commander laying on the floor.
“By the way. Ran into Vlad before I came over here.” She said, coming closer to the two Ghouls. “They got him out of his suit before they sent us over. He’s got an ass of a burn on his shoulder, but he said he’s going to be a bitch about it so they’ll give you fuckers some down time.” Brandy smiled, knowing if Vlad was joking around he was more than ok. Janet motioned to the bridge, “Lot of nothing?” She asked, and both of the Ghouls nodded. “Figures. Fuckers.” All three of them watched for a moment as the two black clad humans knelt over the vral commander. “Alright, I’ve got to prep this bitch for breakdown, then I’m done for the day. Salvagers are just putting most of the wrecks in orbit.”
Jessup glanced to Brandy before speaking, “Think they want to move again soon?”
“Bet your ass.” Janet reached for her side and pulled out a data pad. “Way I see it we’re just topping off right now, waiting for some of the boats out there to get their shit together, then they are going to move us out. Speaking of moving out, bounce your asses, I’ve got shit to do so I can get off once we pull back into Antares.”
“Call us a cab?” Brandy asked, using the slang term for the shuttle that had delivered Janet’s team that would take his own back to Antares.
“Yeap. We made entrance right next to where you did.” Janet started moving into the bridge, towards a grouping of panels hard mounted to the wall. She stopped and glanced back at Brandy. “It’s been a hell of a day, almost eighteen hours. I’m going to get a stiff drink in my quarters.”
“You do that. I’m going to check on Vlad and get him settled in before I do anything else.” Brandy said, and she turned and went to the panel. Brandy was glad for the tint of his helmet’s visor or else his smirk would need explaining from Jessup who was none the wiser. Once he went through debrief and turned over his gear already knew what he was going to be doing. Straight to engineering deck C, where Janet would be waiting.
Kukat was miserable, or at least was acting like she was. Vicky was rigidly standing at attention, as was Jess, standing stock still beside Kukat’s bed. The loud exclamation that had brought them to their feet of, “What the chicken fried fuck?!” had come from the man standing in front of them. Vicky wanted to crawl into a hole and die. Jess was trying to keep herself from laughing. Kukat reached out a three fingered hand towards the man wearing a captain’s eagle on his flight jumper, a hand that had two small bow tie stickers on it.
“Torture. Help.” Kukat said, as weak as a newborn kitten, and Jess’s breath escaped her in a buzzing of her lips from someone desperately attempting to keep in her laughter. The small sheet containing bow ties, smiley face, stars, and other cartoonish stickers fell from her hand that was clenched firmly at her side. Kukat was wearing half of them. Captain Yang stared in an expression of one who is seeing something for the first time when they had believed they had seen it all. “Help.” Kukat said again, holding out her other arm which had a line of stars stuck to it all the way down to the back of her hand. Yang slowly brought his fingers up to squeeze the bridge of his nose, and then he turned on his heel and faced away from the trio. Vicky just wanted to die. The captain of the cruiser had visited them a few times in the past three days since they had been brought onboard by the Barrowmore. Kukat had been immediately rushed to start receiving medical care, Victoria Brandy and Jessica Anders had been by her side from the second they were allowed back, barring short periods where either woman needed to file their reports. The problem was, every time Captain Yang had come back to visit them, it was always at the most inopportune time. The first time he had walked in to Jess cuddling the small chua in a bed that was almost a meter too small for her. The second time Vicky had taped Jess’ hands and feet to her chair. The third time Jess had been singing a nursery rhyme to Kukat. Each time Yang had walked in, Vicky had felt like crawling in a hole, Jess had desperately tried not to laugh, and Kukat had acted like a prisoner of war. Vicky was getting the feeling the captain was enjoying these trips down to see her and her crew.
“Can someone explain to me why the three pilots that I’m supposed to award the Terran Star to are acting like toddlers in my medbay?” He said, then he turned back to face them. Vicky didn’t want to die anymore. Jess stopped laughing. Kukat’s hands fell to the heated blanket that covered her. All three of them were to awarded the highest honor in the Terran Fleet. Now it was the captain’s turn to laugh as he stepped forward and grabbed Vicky’s hand, which almost knocked her off balance as he began vigorously shaking it. “Congratulations.”
Vicky stared at him for a few long moments, trying to parse through the entire scenario in her head. None of them had paid much attention to news outside of the medbay, Vicky had barely even been back onboard the Thumper aside from downloading nav data to be included in her flight logs. “Captain…” She said, sounding to even her own ears a bit disjointed, “What did we find out there.”
“First off at ease.” Yang said, then he smirked as Jess began to self consciously pluck the stickers off of Kukat, her eyes on him, he turned his attention to her. “Your flight records and the reserve drone data is being sent back to Earth to be implemented into training.” His attention turned to all of them in turn. “You really don’t know do you?” All three shook their heads, and Vicky took a step back to stand side by side with her crew.
“We haven’t been paying much attention to what’s been coming in.” Vicky said, and she placed her hand on Kukat’s medical bed. Yang nodded, understanding. This crew was a very tight group, and he could see that even from the small amount of time he had been around them.
“You scouted out the entire Vral fleet, they were evacuating. I don’t think they expected us to move as fast as we did on them, so when we jumped into the system they were barely organized into battlelines.” Yang interlocked his fingers in front of his belt. “Because of what you got on those scans, we knew exactly what we were jumping into. We knew exactly what we would do the moment we landed and…” He paused for a moment, letting his words stand out. “... we eradicated their entire fleet.” Vicky looked to Jess. Jess’s mouth hung slightly open.
“I knew it was a fleet!” Jess said after a moment. When she had been asked by Vicky a few hours after they had gotten Kukat settled, Jess had insisted she had been trying to evade fire from point defense and laser batteries from at least twelve ships. What she didn’t know, and what would be reflected on the citation for the award she was yet to receive, was that she had been evading around thirty individual vessels weapons fire.
“Not a fleet.” Yang said, and Jess looked back to him. “It was ‘The’ fleet.” Jess looked at him in confusion for a few seconds, as did Vicky.
“Shit!” Kukat chirped, and all three humans looked down at the small, sticker covered chua. Kukat’s mouth hung open slightly. Jess looked up to Vicky, and both seemed to realize what was said at the same time. Jess’ hand shot to her mouth, covering it, her eyes wide as Vicky stepped back to lean against the wall.
Yang waited a few moments then stepped forward. “Well, I hope you three are ready.” He said as he crossed his arms over his chest. “Drone Cutters are supposed to cut and run the second they get in trouble. You three…” He motioned to them with a wave of his hand. “... you stuck around, and because you did, you handed us everything we needed to go after them.” Jess’ hand came down on Kukat’s small shoulder, and one of the smiley face stickers peeled off as Kukat wrapped her hand around Jess’ pointer finger. Vicky slowly pressed her back against the wall and started sliding down it. “Basically, to be blunt, now that this has broken, every news feed in the Terran Front wants pictures of you, details on your status…” He motioned to Kukut. “... and to be honest I’ve had to keep them from taking over the ship to get to you.”
Jess and Vicky exchanged a glance, and then looked back to Yang. Kukat had not looked away from him even for a moment. Yang shrugged his shoulders and turned to the display panel on the wall, and activated it. He tapped the panel for a few moments, then the sounds of cheering came through. On the display was a live news feed, and they could hear the reporter’s voice barely above the cacophony of the crowd around her.
“... action. The news of the destruction of the fleet has sparked widespread celebrations of joy. The foot of the enemy that we have all felt over us has been cut off. Thermopylae Station, for the first time in nearly a century, is standing down from Condition One to Condition Three.” The reporter was almost shouting, and Vicky breathed out, even as she heard a low tone from Kukat, and a sob coming from Jess. Yang had his back turned to them watching, and without saying another word he turned and walked out. “Once Condition Three was set at Thermopylae, the information began to pour in from the Zzisma system as well as the planet Zvitia located there. Fleet Marshal Simmons of the Antares battle fleet will be continuing to press into former Shesvie Accordance territory once consolidation is completed.” The reporter paused, the moment she had said Antares a chant had begun, and it was overwhelming. The thunder of uncountable human voices yelling, ‘We’re Still Here’ drowned her out entirely. The reporter eventually just held up her hands helplessly as the chant overwhelmed the microphone’s input threshold, turning the people’s chanting into a dull roar. The feed cut over to an image of man behind a news desk, the ticker at the bottom of the screen citing off ship names.
“Again if you’re just joining us the Vral have been soundly beaten in the Zzisma system. The enemy’s losses have been stated as total. Fleet Marshal Simmons, commander of the Antares battlegroup, will be holding a press conference at a later date to discuss the events of today, but has released a few names to us as well as their roles within the conflict.” Jess, Vicky’s, and Kukat’s individual service portraits slowly appeared on the screen while the reporter spoke.
“Holy shit.” Jess whispered. “That’s us.” Vicky stared at the screen, even as Kukat squeezed Jess’ finge
“Lieutenant Victoria Brandy, Drone Operator Second Class Jessica Anders, and Drone Operator Third Class Kukat were conducting a routine drone sweep of the Zzisma system when they sighted the Vral. The three managed to gain enough intelligence to warrant the immediate redeployment of the Antares battlegroup which had been in rescue and recovery efforts above the chua homeworld.” Vicky just stared at the man as he continued talking on the display. “From the feeds that we have managed to confirm, the crew of the scout ship stayed while exposed and under threat and under fire until such time as the information was confirmed transmitted. All three of the scout’s crew made it back safely, although Drone Operator Third Class Kukat was reported as needing medical attention, the reasons of which are unknown, but it is reported that she is in stable condition.” Their portraits fell away from the screen as another image came up, of a chua in a captain’s uniform came up, grayed out.
Vicky just stared at the screen, Jess breathed out a breath that she didn’t even know she had been holding. Kukat leaned back into her pillow.
“We famous.” Kukat chirped.
The news reporter was still speaking, something about a battleship that had engaged the Vral, some new story of heroism. The three of them sat in silence. Vicky wanted to look to Kukat and Jess, but both of them were quiet. Suddenly Vicky and Kukat flinched as Jess erupted out of her seat. “Yeah! That’s right! What do you think now Rick?” Jess said her ex-boyfriends name with vitriol. “Who’s not photogenic now huh? Galaxy wide baby!” She whooped and Kukat stared up at her in amazement as Vicky buried her head in her hands and laughed.
“You problem.” Kukat chirped low.
“I told you you suck at picking men Kukat!” Jess proclaimed. “You still suck Rick!”

Platform(s):
PC
Genre:
Flying, shooter, adventure
Estimated year of release:
I think early 2000's
Graphics/art style:
I remember about 2 frames, essentially you play as some kind of insect (fairly certain it was an mosquito) I remember flying around in a kitchen collecting food from the counter and bringing it back to some location
i also remember a living room with bright colors but in the form of things like a lavalamp, i also remember vivid "uranium" green but in general the rooms were fairly darkly lit aside from the standing lights.
I remember different insects being enemies flying around and shooting at you. I remember needing to collect something from a human who's asleep in a couch (and i think you had to collect mucus from his nose) and than the human swiping at you when getting close to him.
Notable characters:
The main character you play as is some kind of insect, if I'm not mistaking it was mosquito
I also remember that it's set in the same home and that the family living there was anoyed by you especially the mom, who was some kind of typical stereotype mom, with gloves and an apron but she was presented more as some evil "I'm going to destroy all the insects" type of person
I think the entire family is made up from a mom, dad, son and daughter but not certain there
Notable gameplay mechanics:
I remember flying around and shooting at other insects, evading humans and gathering items from across the maps, each room inside the house was a level you played in. And you could only get to a new room when you finished the previous one, it's not as if you could freely move about in the house from room to room
Other details:
I also think (fairly certain) that i got this game from one of the old Twilight cd's (predecessor to torrents)