(Luca)

"Alright, everyone," Mr. Zack says when we are all awake and finished with breakfast. "Today, we're doing things just a little bit differently."

"How so?" Gavin asks.

Why do you always have to ask before Mr. Zack explains? Just shut up and let him talk, Gavin.

"Today," Mr. Zack tells us. "I will be splitting the four of you into two teams. You and Luca will be one team, while Braden and Max will be the other. Over the last five days, the five of us and some help have cleared out a decent number of monsters in this area.

"So last night," Mr. Zack continues. "I had borders painted. Those borders represent the boundaries of today's training. Your job is to collect five banners. Team Luca has to collect red banners, and Team Max will collect black ones. These banners have the sigil of the Dark Order on them in the opposite color, and the borders are painted with black lines."

"Back up," Gavin looks annoyed. "You've been leaving us at night?"

I'm more curious about this 'help' Mr. Zack mentioned.

"Yes," Mr. Zack looks amused. "But only last night and the night before, Gavin, and I wasn't too far away the night before. Last night, you weren't unprotected."

Mr. Zack snaps, and Sir Nik and Sir Travis approach.

"Nik and Travis," Mr. Zack gestures to the two powerful, ancient warriors who definitely don't look ancient. "And a few other members of the Dark Order and the Holy Order are here. Nik and Travis directly watched you while I was placing the banners, and the others were creating the borders. They were actually watching a couple of days ago, during the mission of you returning back here without me, in case they were needed."

Mr. Zack's expression turns extremely serious.

"I'm not going to leave you unprotected," he says. "If you seriously thought you were alone, then you don't know me as well as you think."

They were watching us? But I couldn't sense anyone! Actually, I can't sense Sir Nik or Sir Travis right now, either. Strange.

"Now," he continues, his tone lightening up a little. "They are working in pairs, and there are twelve of them. One Dark Knight and one Paladin watches each banner. You will not see them, you will not sense them. One Dark Knight and one Paladin will watch each pair. You will not see them, you will not sense them.

"You will all," Mr. Zack tells us. "Be judged on how you are doing. They are also there to step in if you absolutely need rescuing during this challenge. The twelve observers are all high-ranking members of their respective orders. Once you have finished, they will report to Nik and Travis, and a discussion on your abilities will occur.

"If you're wondering why," Zack trails off for a few moments, then shakes his head. "It's because while I have a decent amount of experience and ability to assess things, they have more. We are here for two more days, and I want a more expert opinion than mine on what should be done in order to ensure the four of you are ready for what will be your greatest challenge. You don't have the ridiculous weapons that I do, which means your stats truly matter a lot more."

"Just how ridiculous are your weapons?" Braden asks, his voice as soft as always.

Not going to lie here, I've been wondering that, too.

"Due to a series of lucky coincidences," Mr. Zack tells us. "I was able to acquire rare ores. As you have all noticed, I have never sharpened my blades. They do not wear as easil, nor damage as easily as yours, and they hold a sharper edge quite easily. Because of the sharper edges, they're able to pierce with less Strength required behind the attack."

Mr. Zack walks over to the tree and picks up a thick branch that fell during the windstorm we had last night. That was scary, and Max and I ended up clinging tightly to Mr. Zack. Max even made sure to put on pants before joining us so that he wouldn't be kicked off before even getting on the bed. That was a relief.

Mr. Zack walks back over with the branch and holds it up.

"Strike this with your sword."

"But-" Gavin begins.

"Just do it," Mr. Zack tells him. "One time won't be too bad, and you'll need to tend to your sword after the challenge today anyway."

Gavin obeys, drawing his sword and swinging down, striking the branch. His sword only travels a quarter of the way into it, then he has to wiggle it out. Mr. Zack releases the branch with one hand and pulls a sword out of his Inventory.

It's a white-blue sword with a frostlike pattern to it, and I get a chill just looking at it.

"This is a Frost Sword," Mr. Zack holds it out to Gavin, who accepts it, drawing the sword. "Forged early in my time here in the Boundary, though no my first weapon of a rare ore. I nearly died against the monster I obtained the Frost Ingots from, and would have had Nathan Normar not shown up and healed me. Nathan then helped me kill it, but since I'd participated, I acquired part of the reward. As I said, lucky coincidences. Try cutting the branch with that sword."

Gavin nods as Mr. Zack holds the branch the way he did for the first strike, then performs the same strike as he did before. This time, the sword cuts clean through it, splitting the branch in two. For a moment, Gavin just stares, then he looks at the sword, then to Mr. Zack.

"That's what I mean," Mr. Zack says as Gavin sheathes the sword and returns it to Mr. Zack, who sends it back into his Inventory. "My weapons are a bit ridiculous because of lucky coincidences. Since you guys are wielding weapons you earn the funds and resources for, your stats matter a lot more for penetration, especially you, Gavin. That's why we're running this challenge.

"It is training," Mr. Zack says. "In addition to being a challenge. You will all no doubt acquire Experience from it, possibly even acquire another Level. Do not expect the observers to step in just because you got hurt. They will only step in at the last moment. Do not attempt to abuse this, or you will fail the training, and none of you will be allowed to participate in the battle, regardless of Levels.

"As an incentive to finish fast," Mr. Zack continues. "I have a special reward prepared for the team which collects all five banners and returns here with them all first. The team that returns second will undergo four hours of nonstop training. If any team returns after sunset, they will undergo four hours of nonstop training, regardless of if they're first back or not. Are there any questions?"

"Let me try to make sure I have this," Gavin says. "Luca and I will be attempting to retrieve five red banners with black flame sigils, and Max and Braden will be attempting to retrieve five black banners with red flame sigils. We have until sunset to do so or we receive a punishment. The first team to return with all five receives a reward, the team that returns second receives a punishment."

"That is correct," Mr. Zack pulls a pair of folded sheets out from his belt. Hm. I noticed those when we woke up, but thought it was Mr. Zack just being himself. "These are maps of Talorn. On them, I have marked three of the banner locations."

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

He hands me one map and Max the other.

"Where the other two are," he tells us. "Is for you to figure out on your own."

Mr. Zack pulls four picnic baskets out of his Inventory, and hands them to each of us.

"These," he tells us. "Contains food. It should be all you need for lunch and dinner, each. I will be leaving Talorn while you four are doing this challenge, you will be in more danger than I've been letting you in, and the temptation to step in and stop it will be too much if I'm around, as will the temptation to personally watch you."

Mr. Zack isn't going to be here? But-but-but-

"The challenge starts now!" Mr. Zack exclaims, then disappears.

No! Don't leave Talorn! I'm scared!

----------------------------------------

(Gavin)

It took me almost twenty minutes to calm Luca down enough for him to give me the map so I could examine it, and even now, he still hasn't calmed down from Zack's departure. Luca really is attached to and reliant on Zack extremely strongly to panic this much.

So right now, I'm carrying him on my back as we walk through the ruins of Talorn. Zack usually carried him when Luca's stamina ran out, though I did carry him two days ago, on the trip back to base without Zack.

Thankfully, he's not wailing anymore, calming him down enough for that stop wasn't easy. Otherwise, he'd be attracting every monster around us.

Zack didn't mention it, but I know he intentionally informed us he wouldn't be around because of Luca. If he's as everyone says and as I've seen, then he'd want Luca to stop being as dependent on him.

And that would mean forcing the bud to deal with him not being anywhere near him.

"Are you comfortable?" I ask as Luca sniffles again.

I know my armor probably isn't the most comfortable thing to be resting against, but I should be wearing it anyway, just in case.

"Slimes," he mutters.

"What?" I ask, then realize what he's talking about when he releases me with his right arm and holds it out to the side, a shimmering white Barrier appearing, stopping two jets of fire and a jet of water coming from that direction. "I'm setting you down."

Luca climbs off my back, his Barrier fading away, and I draw my sword, spotting the trio of slimes. I should have been more observant.

Before I can do something, Luca's bolted forward, his staff swinging. I reach out to catch him, but he has nearly double my Agility. That's a look of annoyance and fear on his face.

His staff strikes one of the Flame Slimes, passing through it and connecting with its core, sending it flying to the side. I charge forward as the other Flame Slime shoots another jet of flames at him, yet they seem to just splash off of that robe.

That's right, Luca has a powerful robe. But I thought its resistance was for air magics?

I reach the slimes and bring my sword down on the Flame Slime that attacked him from behind, cutting into its core, and Luca spins, striking the Water Slime's core with the butt of his staff. He begins smashing his staff down on it, and I realize our little healer killed the first Flame Slime with one strike.

When he finishes beating the dead core, Luca just stands there, breathing heavily.

"Are you alright, Luca?" I ask. "That's not like you?"

"Why did Mr. Zack have to leave?" He wails again.

"Sh!" I drop my sword, putting a hand over his mouth and holding his head with my other. "No wailing, Luca!"

Luca stops, nodding, though tears are still flowing down his cheeks.

"It's okay," I carefully remove my hands from him, then pick up my sword and look around. "Luca, try not to be too noisy, or you'll attract every monster around to us."

"Why did he abandon me?" Luca whisper-wails.

"He didn't," I pat his head a few times, then let my hand rest there, hoping this reassures him a little. "And I'm here for you, Luca. And he has a Dark Knight and a Paladin watching us, too, to make sure we're safe, even while he's gone."

"Mr. Zack abandoned me!" Luca's breathing is uneven as he attempts not to wail hysterically again.

"He didn't abandon you," I tell Luca. "I think Zack just wants you to adjust to him not being around, Luca," a thought strikes me. "Remember the big battle? He'll be participating, but he won't be anywhere near us. Maybe he wants you to get used to not being around him so that it's easier for you during that. He said he's leaving Talorn, he didn't say he was going to Maelnor or anything like that. He's probably standing right on the other side of the wall, waiting impatiently to be told he can come back in. He probably even has a few Dark Knights holding him down just to keep him from rushing in and watching you too closely."

Luca snorts.

"Yeah, right," he gives me a look that calls me stupid. "Mr. Zack's the strongest Adventurer in all the Boundary. They'd never succeed."

He really thinks highly of Zack.

"Come on," I pull my hand off his head. "Let's go find the nearest banner."

Luca nods, then starts walking, so I step up beside him, making sure to keep an eye out even more than I was before, ready to fight at a moment's notice. There's something strange about our journey, and it takes me another ten minutes and eight slime attacks to realize it.

First, we haven't seen any Snow Slimes, even though they're normally everywhere. Did Zack kill them all last night? Why?

Second, we've only faced slimes so far. Where are all the goblins at?

That question is answered when I spot a Goblin Archer atop a building, aiming an arrow at Luca. I step in front of the healer as the arrow is fired, doing my best to catch it. Zack makes it look so easy, but all I end up doing is smacking it to the side while still getting a small cut on my hand.

Hissing, I stare at the goblin, which is nocking another arrow. How can I deal with that? Despite his frustrated attack earlier, Luca's not a fighter and doesn't actually have any offensive Skills. I'm a fighter, but I'm neither ranged nor able to climb.

However, the goblin can't shoot us if we're not in its line of sight, and I doubt it would wait around forever for us to leave.

"Luca," I say as calmly as I can as I sheathe my sword for lack of ability to do anything useful with it at the moment. "I'm going to start backing up. Do so as well, and stay directly behind me, and keep an eye out behind us for another."

"Okay," he whispers.

We begin moving back, and I manage to stop another arrow, though it cuts my hand as well. We aren't fast enough to truly dodge them, not yet. We're too close to the goblin for that. It tries to shoot us a few more times, but I smack the arrows each time. I'm getting better, but they're still cutting me.

Once we're back a little more, I carefully lead Luca to the side, into the ruins of a house. Now that we're out of the goblin's sight, I make sure Luca gets down on the ground, staying low, and we rest with our backs against the outer wall.

I examine my hands, which are healing. As I look at them, Luca takes them into his hands, and he begins to emit a golden glow. At the same time, he runs his fingers over the cut. It stings, but they heal.

"What was that?" I whisper as he pulls his hands away, the glow fading.

"My healing aura," he whispers back. "It takes less Mana than Heal for things like cuts that didn't take away any Health."

"I would have healed soon enough," I remind him.

"Yeah," he whispers. "But then you'd still having stinging hands while recovering. What if something attacks us in the minute or so it'd take?"

Good point.

Every few minutes, I look over the ruins of the wall, and the goblin archer is still there. Assessing our options, there are only really two. The first is exiting the way we entered, which puts us in the archer's path, and the second is to exit over the ruins of the back wall, which is also in the archer's range and view.

Theoretically, I could taunt the goblin into shooting all of its arrows, but that would require risking taking the arrows to me as well. Almost half an hour of waiting passes before I dismiss that idea – another goblin just showed up, giving the first one a fresh quiver of arrows before it's even run out.

They're going to wait us out.

A quick check reveals the second goblin uses a crossbow, and I barely pull my head back in time to avoid being struck with the bolt.

"I can't heal you if you're dead," Luca's whisper is nearly hysterical. "Stop that!"

"There are two of them now," I inform him. "I didn't see the crossbow at first."

Slimes, then archers. This is bad luck for us to run into, I'm much better suited to fighting warrior goblins than ranged ones, and my sword can't handle the slimes all that well. Luca's staff is probably a lot more durable, since Luca mentioned it was crafted for strength and at a much higher level than what we can afford.

Luck?

This isn't luck.

This was planned.

Zack put our banners in areas where we would be faced with impossible challenges, didn't he? I can't handle archers from a roof, and Luca is powerless in combat. In a game, he'd be a squishy support character, defenseless in nearly all ways and unable to fight in any meaningful manner.

What in the Boundary does that mean? It has to be something from my life in reality, no doubt.

Just like there's no doubt Zack is pitting us against casters and archers on purpose. Pitting us against the worst opponents for us.

If that's true, then what are Braden and Max facing? They're able to counter ranged and magic-wielding foes, and even warrior-types won't hinder them too much, since they can stay ranged and be to the monsters what these archers are to us.