When Kol-Gaar finally returned to the training ground, he was greeted by a furious princess.
“Ah! You're finally here! You left me alone here for days! It must have been a moon!”
The prince greeted this accusation with an amused smile.
“Exactly. At first, I had planned to come back once my Energy was restored... and then I thought that this training would do you good.”
“I... I'm going to slaughter you!”
“I can leave if you want.”
Tightly gripping her training sword, the princess gnashed her mandibles and narrowed her eyes. After such a long period of suffering, punctuated only by a few rests when she was too tired and snacks brought when she was hungry, she had the impression of seeing targets dancing before her eyes to beat up. Currently, these were merging with Kol-Gaar.
Oh, of course she didn't want to hurt him... But at least hit him until he has pain. Still, the risk was too great: he could leave her there for another month if he took offense.
Kol-Gaar had a training sword brought to him and then stood in front of the princess.
“So, let's see how you're doing.”
A fierce smile answered him. Since he asked for it, he would receive it and would not be able to take petty revenge without being seen as a bad sport.
The blunt blades reduced the risk of injury and the existence of the System would prevent any fatal blow, since neither of them had the strength and weapons to reduce the other's Hit Points to 0... Although, with the "bleeding" state, it could happen, but not instantly.
The first pass of arms was not extraordinary, their weapons clashing without showing great mastery of their handling. Then Kol-Gaar left an opening in his guard allowing Xicackna to strike him.
“Touched!” she cried joyfully.
“Grazed, nothing more: in a real fight it wouldn't matter too much.”
“Well, you're only saying that because you're offended!”
It must have been true because the prince reacted sharply. Dodging the adversary blade without any problem, he approached the princess and violently struck the flat of his blade on her head. In pain, she dropped her weapon to bring her hands to her forehead, moaning.
“Wow! What's wrong? It hurts like hell!”
With a mocking smile, the prince had picked up the sword in a quick movement and, armed with both hands, was waving the weapons in a threatening manner. Worried, the princess stepped back, keeping her hands to protect her head and a dark look at the prince.
“Well,” said the latter, “I see that you have made some progress. That's good.”
Against all expectations, he complimented her after having humiliated and struck her. She looked at him furiously: she was convinced that if she had defeated him, he would not have congratulated her but would have pretended she have only been lucky or something.
“It was obvious that I had made progress: starting with zero knowledge in a discipline, one can only progress. Do you realize what you put me through? The training was so hard that I even received a notification from the System informing me that by working ten times harder, I would obtain a point of Strength! But there is no way I am going to suffer for ten more months! I am a princess, not a soldier: I should not even have to face enemies!”
She almost cried. Almost, because she did not want to show weakness in a foreign hive. And even less in front of this unbearable prince.
“You are right,” he said, “but we cannot predict what can happen in these troubled times. You must at least be able to defend yourself properly. The ideal, of course, would be for you to continue training until you obtain this additional point in strength. As long as your stats stay within a realistic range, usually below 9 or 12[1], it is possible to train them without going through the System. It would obviously be convenient to optimize your stats in this way.”
The princess’s heart leapt violently in her chest and her face turned livid. No: if he forced her to continue this horrible training, she would refuse to move! Even if it was indeed the best way to make the System work, she was not going to do it at the expense of her well-being!
“Of course, this is only the theory: in practice it would not be good to make a future queen go through this. In any case, this training was intended to teach you how to handle weapons.”
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“And to free myself a little from your presence while I recharge my Energy...”
He had not tried to hide this thought, knowing perfectly well that such a clear expression of it would be readable by Xicackna without concentrating too much on her skill. The princess gave him a look of contempt as a silent response to this inaudible insult.
“I didn't even gain any Experience points,” she complained, “while I was getting some with the exercises to improve mana!”
“Yes: only those with a martial class can gain experience with this type of training. I didn't gain any either. By the way, it's time to go back to a dungeon. I remind you that you will not leave this place without having reached level 10.”
She decided to collapse on the ground. Looking up at the ceiling at her theatrical gesture, Kol-Gaar granted her a slowdown in the program:
“Okay, not right away. You'll be able to rest a few days before.”
The princess sighed with relief.
Those few days turned out to be two. The prince had booked another “F” rank dungeon, refusing to say more. The day before, the princess had struggled to sleep, more out of excitement than fear. Yet, she had fear too.
Turning to Kol-Gaar’s prone form, she asked:
“Hey, are you asleep? Are you asleep? Are you asleep?”
He finally turned his head toward her, looking more annoyed than sleepy.
“What?”
“Is it… How do you think this is going to end? I mean these dungeons, these monsters, this System…”
He seemed surprised by the question, but looking at the princess's face, he understood that she was truly worried. Why were these worries manifesting themselves now, instead of sleeping? He didn't know. In any case, she seemed anxious enough to confide these fears to him despite their strained relationship. So, he decided to make an effort to answer her seriously.
“I don't know. The more time passes, the more we analyze the System and understand how to control it. I suppose that one day we will be able to find those responsible and make them pay for their crimes... Maybe that day has already arrived but we have failed? Maybe we have failed many times? The information you have given us about this Human ‘Regressor’ is absolutely terrifying.”
“And, do you think that... that we will succeed one day?”
Kol-Gaar really wanted to tell her that he didn't know. That they had to keep trying, again and again, even if they lost all memory of past failures. But he could sense the fear and discouragement, usually repressed, surfacing in the princess's voice, which was vibrant with fear.
“Of course. Maybe it will even be your hive that will be the vanguard of our victory: imprisoned in the Dungeon, you are much more surrounded by the System than we are, which gives you more opportunity to analyze it. A class like yours, although given by the System, could well be the key to our victory.”
Xicackna remained silent, her head turned towards the stars. She knew that Kol-Gaar said this in large part to reassure her and she was grateful to him. But she also told herself that it could well be true, that she had a responsibility towards their people and that she would not fail, this time.
With the appeasement, fatigue returned. Yawning widely, she settled comfortably against Kol-Gaar and instantly fell into a deep sleep.
The next day, they went to the transportation deck again. Ilya-Na appeared like last time and the young princess wondered if she single-handedly managed the instant transportation network of the entire planet or if others had her abilities and sometimes replaced her.
“Xicackna!” she exclaimed. “Nice to see you again. Kol-Gaar, glad to see you thought to book this time!”
Then she transported them to another hive. Of a good size, forming a real artificial hill on the surface, this one had the particularity of seeming almost deserted. With the exception of a strong guard blocking the accesses, the population movements seemed limited. There were the usual flows of workers, bringing the necessary goods to the hive, but they seemed reduced to a minimum. Surprised, she questioned Kol-Gaar:
“Is this a new hive? It seems very little animated for its apparent size. Have they lost many people because of monster attacks?”
“No,” he explained, “the region is relatively safe because several old colonies are well anchored there. I suppose that most of the inhabitants of the city have left to work at the excavation site of the Great Steel Palace: it is not very far from here.”
Guided by a local prince, they then headed northeast. The next day, they arrived at the foothills of a massive mountain range. Many lines of workers were heading there, in small groups escorted by soldiers, to reinforce the teams at the excavation site. However, their group’s destination was closer.
Similar to the previous gate, a solid outpost had been erected to protect the mountain range from any monster overflow. The princess in charge of the place greeted them and led their team towards the undulating portal. A green gate again.
Xicackna tried again to ask Kol-Gaar what kind of monsters they were going to face, arguing that they needed to be prepared to face them, but he countered by saying that she had to train to analyze situations quickly and that he would therefore not give her any clues.
Giving up, Xicackna followed the soldiers who had already entered the Dungeon. Again, the strange sensation of traveling between worlds gripped her, but the novelty of the phenomenon had passed and she quickly lost interest.
Dungeon “Fort Hill Camp”
Rank F
Entry requirement: group of 12 maximum, levels 1 to 19
Available Dungeon Objectives:
“Hunt” (F): Kill 100 enemies.
“Dungeon Clearing” (E): Kill Captain “Texas Bill" and take the Dungeon Heart.
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[1] For Zcarbbs of course: for Humans the limit of off-system training would be around 7.