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024 The Titan of Fate
🕑 Added 2025-12-24 02:06:55 +0000 UTC"Trainees! After two months of training, you have already preliminarily mastered the basic skills required of a soldier. Starting today, you will gradually begin training with the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment! Proficiency with the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment is the most basic skill a soldier must have!"
At noon, all trainees received the order to assemble. More than two hundred trainees of the 104th class stood in the camp, all raising their heads to look at Instructor Keith on the high platform. Everyone was somewhat excited, because today was the long-awaited Vertical Maneuvering Equipment training for the new recruits.
As early as a hundred years ago, humanity had already mastered artillery technology. Unfortunately, artillery had limited lethality against Titans. Even if a shell smashed a Titan's head, the Titan would recover completely within two minutes, unless it was a large-scale artillery barrage. Humanity lacked an effective single-soldier combat device to deal with Titans.
Thus, under these circumstances, the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment came into being.
The Vertical Maneuvering Equipment, as humanity's strongest weapon against Titans, declared from the day of its birth that the era in which humanity was slaughtered at will by Titans had come to an end.
The Survey Corps undoubtedly relied on fearless courage and exquisite mastery of the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment to obtain much valuable experience for humanity.
Everyone's thoughts were different—some were nervous, some afraid, and some delighted.
Eren's eyes were filled with light. His hands clenched unconsciously behind his back.
"I can finally get my hands on the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment! I will definitely drive out all Titans and avenge my father! No longer be bound by the walls! Pursue freedom!"
"Now! Each squad will collect the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment in order. Trainees! Train hard, don't become Titan fodder—dedicate your hearts!" Instructor Keith looked sternly at the trainees below, placing his right hand at the edge of his right chest in a standard military salute.
"Yes! Dedicate your hearts!" More than two hundred trainees simultaneously placed their right hands on their right chests. The uniforms swayed in unison, accompanied by a thunderous oath, full of momentum.
Yago, relying on outstanding performance and formidable strength, naturally became a Squad Leader. However, the distribution of new recruit squads was irregular; more or less, some recruits would drop out from time to time because they couldn't endure the training. Therefore, squad-based combat among recruits had little practical meaning, and choosing Squad Leaders was mainly for ease of management.
Yago led the recruits of his squad to the wagon to collect the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment. Yago's squad was Squad 34. The members were Eren, Armin, Thomas, Mina, and two other recruits from the Trost District, Ilse and Mady.
Yago was the Squad Leader, and Thomas was the deputy Squad Leader.
Soon everyone received their Vertical Maneuvering Equipment. Even though Yago had already seen it in the Survey Corps and had even obtained a broken set from smugglers, now that he truly had his own Vertical Maneuvering Equipment, his heart was inevitably filled with excitement.
The heavy scabbards, the sharp grappling hooks hidden inside the waist-mounted launchers, and the fan-driven device that looked a bit like a small loudspeaker were all there. However, the gas canisters that should have been above the scabbards were nowhere to be seen.
"Instructor, why doesn't our Vertical Maneuvering Equipment have gas canisters?" Eren asked in confusion. Indeed, none of the new recruits' gear had gas canisters, which meant that the recruits' Vertical Maneuvering Equipment could not be used for the time being.
The instructor responsible for distributing the gear glanced at the puzzled recruits and spoke calmly: "To prevent accidental injury, before you understand the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment, do you new recruits really want to use it? Take the grappling hooks, for example. Accelerated by gas, they can easily pierce granite slabs. Do you think your bodies are harder than stone?"
Only then did the recruits understand. Of course—that made sense. Just like being a soldier in Yago's memories: before you had ever handled a gun, it was impossible to just hand you a fully loaded firearm for practice. That was simply unrealistic. Eh? But what exactly was that gun in his memories—was it a musket? Yago thought about it but couldn't remember. That segment of memory was becoming increasingly blurry, so he stopped thinking about it.
...
That afternoon, the recruits did not begin training. Instead, under the instructors' organization, they first attended a course to familiarize themselves with the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment.
"The Vertical Maneuvering Equipment is secured to your body through the belt system you're wearing. Look carefully—this handle is the control mechanism of the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment. It's connected to the scabbard section. Normally, you can use this hook to hang it under your arm." The bespectacled instructor raised the handle so the recruits could see clearly.
"At the handle interface is the blade-release catch. By connecting the handle to the blades inside the scabbard, you can draw the blades. Everyone knows that the Titan's only weak point is the nape of the neck, but a Titan's skin is also extremely tough. Our blades pursue sharpness, so they break easily. Therefore, there are six replacement blades inside the scabbard. If a blade breaks or becomes dull, replace it in time. Press this button to discard the damaged blade." With a swift motion, the instructor drew two sharp blades from the scabbards, flashing with light under the sun.
The instructor put the blades down and began introducing the detailed functions of the handles. The trigger controls the firing and retraction of the cables, while the fan at the back is driven by power supplied by gas, maintaining high-speed movement in the air.
By using this three-dimensional high-speed mobility to fight, soldiers can maneuver to the same height as a Titan's nape, thereby finding opportunities to eliminate the Titan.
The belts of the device distribute the body's weight across various parts of the body, making movement more agile. By controlling the belts around the waist, legs, and feet, soldiers can adjust their posture in midair.
In addition, the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment can be used to move through forests and clusters of buildings via sliding, swinging, and other methods, successfully improving infantry mobility and attack capability in various environments.
However, the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment still has weaknesses. The cables and the gas are its shortcomings. Because of the cable length, they can easily be grabbed by Titans. Once grabbed, a soldier is likely doomed.
The amount of gas is also critical. Since the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment is a single-soldier combat device, the gas a soldier can carry is limited. Unless equipped with horses like the Survey Corps, a soldier can only rely on the gas canisters on the two scabbards to fight. Two canisters can probably sustain one to two hours of activity and combat, even under conservative use; if consumption isn't controlled, it will run out even faster.
Most importantly, the manufacturing of the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment is classified technology, and only specialized personnel can repair damaged units.
But Yago was not worried about this point, because he had a broken set of Vertical Maneuvering Equipment for research.
At the end of the lecture, the instructor said very seriously to everyone: "Training with the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment is extremely dangerous. I hope all of you pay attention—don't die on the training field before you even reach the battlefield. Understood?"
"Understood~" Many recruits still looked unconcerned. The instructor sighed helplessly. These kids truly didn't know fear. Hopefully they would still be able to smile when formal training began tomorrow.
Hanging the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment on his body, a surge of heroic passion immediately welled up in his heart. Yago drew the utility-knife-like blade, which even reflected his face.
