Chapter 20

The next day Jack made his way back over to the hunters HQ, he’d been meaning to try out the various facilities they provided but never had the time, plus his muscles usually felt like torn up tissue paper after a days hunt and cultivation.

Today though, Jack actually had the time and didn’t feel like shit. He walked to the HQ sans armour and weapons this time around, instead wearing tracksuit trousers, trainers and a comfortable tee shirt and entered. He walked through the atrium and into the job and requests room, being Friday it was fairly busy. He continued on and walked through the doors at the back of the room, he turned left to go to the gym.

This time around, unlike the last time he visited with Cheryl the gym wasn’t empty. Around a dozen people were busy exercising at various stations; weights, treadmills and various exercise machines were all in use. This sort of workout never really appealed to Jack because it looked a little repetitive but it didn’t stop him from stumbling into a rack of dumbbells whilst walking past a pretty young woman using a stair-master.

After recovering he continued through the main gym to a door that had a sign over it saying ‘training halls and arena’. He went through it and saw a dimly lit corridor stretching out in front of him. He walked along it before coming to a set of stairs going down. It was a short drop in the dim light before coming to a double set of doors that had light streaming through their windows, he could hear faint echoey noises coming through the doors. Jack pushed through them and emerged into what looked like a reception for a leisure centre, it had chairs, tables, vending machines and racks of magazines and pamphlets spread around. For the walls, there were transparent glass screens replacing three walls showing various training rooms spread out below them, many of the rooms had transparent glass ceilings allowing him to see into them from above. Jack walked over to a glass wall and looked down, watching a man throw balls of fire at a target at the other side of a room. Jack glanced over to his left and saw another room had two people fighting each other with wooden swords. He looked into the distance and saw many different rooms just like the other two, they were all in a large complex of rooms and halls separated by narrow corridors for navigation, all underground.

“Hello there, can I help you?” a female voice sounded behind him, Jack turned around and saw a dark haired woman looking at him with a faint but friendly smile. She was sitting behind a desk that looked similar to the help desk in the jobs and requests room or the main reception desk in the atrium.

“Uh, maybe, I’m sort of a new hunter,” Jack replied. “I just came to take a look at the facilities, see what's what ya know.”

She nodded her head in understanding. “Of course, you're G rank then?” she asked kindly and Jack nodded in answer. “Well, if you want we can have one of our trainers come and assess you, then they can help with your combat technique and elemental abilities,” she offered. Jack thought about it but quickly decided to go for it, what was the harm? She then asked, “What's your elemental affinity?”

Oh bugger not again, Jack was really beginning to hate that question. With a quiet sigh of resignation he girded himself and choked out the usual words. “I’m lightning element.”

Predictably her response fell within the usual categories of surprise tinged with a hint of pity before it faded. She looked at him blankly for a few seconds before her eyebrows arched up. “Oh,” she said eloquently. “Erm, ok, well if I could just get your licence for a sec’ I’ll see who we’ve got available then.” She gave him a hesitant smile as she received his licence from his hand.

She typed away for a few seconds at her computer before turning back to him. “Ok, you're in luck, we’ve someone available now if you’d like?” She smiled at him again.

“Uh sure yeah, I’m ready now, an assessment you say?” he asked.

“Yep, they just test your ability with your chosen weapons, and any er, elemental…..abilities you have and give you various tips and tricks in order to progress. After that you can schedule future sessions with trainers so they can give you formal combat instruction and use in your…. element. You can also book rooms to practice or spar with fellow hunters,” she explained, still hesitant about mentioning anything to do with Jack’s element.

“Hmm, well okay, let's do it.” He nodded.

“Okay, your trainer will be Daniel, I’ve alerted him so he’ll be here any minute.” She smiled.

Jack nodded again and turned to the side to stare through the windows again. A couple of minutes later he heard the set of doors next to the reception desk open, Jack turned around and saw a tall muscular man walk through. He was pale skinned with short blond hair and clean shaven. He was wearing combat trousers and boots with what appeared to be a kevlar vest over a sleeveless white vest. He looked over to Jack.

“Are you Jack?” he asked with a deep voice.

Jack nodded somewhat timidly, feeling a little overwhelmed and unimpressive in comparison to this Greek statue in front of him.

“Good, I’m Daniel, you can call me Danny, let's go down to room eight and we’ll see where you're at.” He turned back to the doors he came through and held them open for Jack. Jack followed Danny through and went down some stairs and along a narrow corridor, some of the rooms they passed had transparent walls and Jack could see some more people sparring or practising elemental abilities. Several people practising various elemental abilities appeared to have instructors like Danny coaching them, others had people wearing white lab coats carrying clipboards standing with them.

Eventually they arrived towards a turn in the corridor and Danny stepped up to a room with the number eight above it. Danny got out what looked to be a hunters licence and used it to scan over a contactless pad unlocking the door. That made Jack wonder if these guys who were supposedly instructing them actually had any experience in the field.

“Hey um, is that a hunter's licence? Are you a hunter too?” Jack spoke up, his voice coming out as a squeak at first.

“Yeah, as soon as you reach B rank you can apply to be a trainer here in training hall, so these days I part time it as a hunter and a trainer both.” He replied. “Ha! So don’t worry, I actually more or less know what I’m talking about, if that's what you’re worried about, heh.” He grinned at Jack who grinned back.

They entered the room, it was a largish octagonal room with a grey padded gym mat in the centre, racks of wooden weapons lined one side of the room. The walls were not transparent but there was no ceiling, with a clear view to the skylights above and the reception room in the distance.

“Ok! Let's get started then, so your element is lightning, hmm, let's circle back to that. For now why don’t you tell me what your preferred weapon is and what hunts if any you’ve done so far.” He turned to Jack and looked at him expectantly.

“Um, I prefer to use the short spear, I’ve also got a two handed axe though I haven’t used it yet. As for hunts, let's see, ummm……giant rats, Slimes, Goblins and Bloodletter wolves.” Jack listed off his hunts so far, ticking them off with his finger so that he remembered them all.

Danny was nodding along looking attentive but he let out a startled expression when Jack said Bloodletter wolves to finish off.

“Oh, Bloodletter wolves? Those are a little ways above a G ranker,” Danny said in surprise.

“Er yeah, I volunteered for the priority hunts a few days ago, I was with red team and we went to Boroughbridge.” Jack said. “Bloodletter wolf pack.” He shrugged.

“Huh. And you survived?” he asked, looking impressed. “Did you kill any?”

“Yeah, four actually,” Jack answered, feeling slightly defensive now.

“Whoa, I didn’t mean to sound so surprised, but just a single Bloodletter wolf kill for a G ranker is good for bragging rights.” Danny held up his hands in surrender with a friendly smile. “So anyway, you prefer the spear then? That's a solid choice, it's got good reach, it's versatile and has piercing power, especially useful for erm…flame elemental augmentation, but nevermind that. What made you choose the spear?” he asked.

“Just like you said, it's got reach and piercing power. Anyway you know what they say, walk softly and carry a big stick.” Jack smirked with a shrug.

“Ha! I like that! Yeah, well then, why don’t you pick a weapon from the racks and we’ll spar a little, oh and take your shoes and socks off before you get on the mat.” He pointed to the racks of weapons.

Jack headed over to the racks and hopped from one foot to another to take off his shoes and socks. He walked along the racks until he came to the section holding the spears. He chose one blunt wooden spear that was a similar length and weight to what he normally wielded. He took it to the centre of the mat where Danny joined him carrying a large rectangular shield with several padded target circles painted on it.

“Okay Jack, attack me, just do what feels right and I’ll defend,” Danny said encouraginly as he held up the large target shield.

Jack looked at him for a moment before shrugging, he then proceeded to attack the shield with a short series of jabs, focussing on the various target circles. Every so often Danny would let out a shout of encouragement and after a few minutes of that Jack was starting to breath heavily, his shoulders and arms began to ache. After a short while Danny called for a halt, Jack let out a deep breath and let his practice spear drop to his side, hanging limply from his right hand.

“Right Jack, not bad but there's room for improvement, you were able to hit the targets consistently throughout so that's good. But most of your strikes lacked power, you kept thrusting the spear from the arms and shoulders only, when you strike you need to make certain you put your entire body into it, that's what helps you get the most power,” Danny explained, he then walked over to the weapon racks and came back with a spear similar to Jack’s. “You need to start with good footwork for balance and stability, bend your legs slightly and power upwards as you start your strike, then carry that power from your base into your arms and shoulders.” He demonstrated a stance for Jack and then had Jack copy him, once he thought Jack had it he picked up the shield again and tapped it to signal Jack to attack again.

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This time Jack put more power into his strikes and managed to push Danny back a couple of times, Danny let out the odd grunt of exertion and kept encouraging Jack. After a couple of minutes they stopped. Danny smiled at Jack.

“Good work Jack, much better. You're stronger than you look. The spear is usually a good choice of weapon for most fights and for any G or F rank hunts it’ll see you through no problem, so that's good. But erm, I’m sure you’ve been told this, your element is going to make progressing difficult,” he explained rubbing the back of his head awkwardly.

Jack shrugged and gave the spear a light twirl while perusing the other weapons on the racks. “Ah, I’m not worried about that, it's only been two years since cultivation became a thing. There's not many other lightning cultivators in comparison to other elements so it's difficult to share info about what works and what doesn’t in terms of cultivation. I’m certain someone will come along or something will happen eventually that will finally allow lightning cultivation,” Jack said with a little smile.

“Mm, it's always good to be optimistic. And you're right I suppose, it has only been two years hasn’t it? Huh, it feels like much longer since all this stuff started going down,” Danny said wonderingly. “Any-who, you wanna spar with a few others? G and F rankers, we can go down to one of the arenas and you can see where you're at in terms of skill compared to others in your rank.” Danny offered.

Jack thought for a second and then shrugged. “Yeah, why not?” Jack agreed, it might be interesting to fight against another person. Although he did wonder how much good it did to practise fighting against another sword wielder when your profession was to hunt down and slaughter an assortment of quadrupedal beasts, amorphous slime creatures, winged menaces or whatever. He pointed this out to Danny as they walked down the corridor.

“Ha, yeah it does seem counterintuitive doesn’t it?” Danny replied with a laugh. “But trust me, just sparring or practising with your main weapon does increase your skill and weapon familiarity. Besides, there are plenty of humanoid monsters out there that use tools and weapons, didn’t you take on a bunch of goblins in a hunt, they used weapons right?” he asked.

“Oh yeah, though weapon is a bit of a stretch, a fair number of them were wielding spoons and screwdrivers,” Jack said.

“Heh heh, those little shits, but seriously though, goblins are the least of what you’ll find amongst humanoid monsters. They can come much bigger and meaner than goblins. To be honest I think all humanoid monster hunts should gain a higher level of priority than they do now,” Danny said thoughtfully.

“Really? Why?” Jack asked.

“Humanoid monsters like Orcs and Minotaurs are hostile to humans, but they won’t just go on a rampage like most monsters do, instead they build bases, spawn in greater numbers and get organised. By the time a hunter team gets around to dealing with them a massive amount of damage has already been done and multiple people have been killed. Did those goblins of yours kill anyone?” asked Danny.

“Uh yeah, there were a few human skulls in a pile of bones in their den,” Jack replied uncomfortably, not really wanting to remember.

“Mmm, that's what I mean, humanoid monsters, or the ones classified as humanoid are smarter and can use tools, they can get organised and therefore pose a much greater threat. We should make it so that those types of hunts can’t be ignored in favour of an easy job like picking flowers or something,” Danny was starting to get quite animated now, Jack wondered if this was a sore subject.

Before long they came to the end of the corridor they were travelling down and arrived at a door with a sign saying ‘arena three’. Jack could hear echoing shouts through the door, Danny pushed it open and they both stepped though. He looked around, it seemed less of an arena and more of a school gymnasium, there were even painted lines on the floor for playing football and basketball. Bleachers lined one side of the hall with numerous people, around two dozen or so sitting scattered around it. Down the centre of the hall were three large mats where pairs of people fought each other with practise weapons. Danny and Jack stopped for a minute letting Jack take it all in, he watched people on the closest mat fight each other, they both used large wooden greatswords and were swinging them around as if they weighed nothing at all. They almost moved faster than Jack could follow and swung their weapons at each other seemingly with wild abandon, but they both always managed to block each other in the nick of time with a terrific clack of clashing wood which reverberated around the hall. Eventually one man got a lucky hit into his opponent's torso which sent him stumbling, the man then followed up the hit with a kick that sent his opponent sailing several metres through the air and off the mat, he landed in a heap. For a moment Jack wondered if he was injured but he climbed to his feet quickly enough and burst into laughter before congratulating the victor.

Danny led Jack over to the bleachers and was greeted by several people along the way, Danny turned to Jack.

“Lets go over to the mat at the north end, that's where all the lower ranks spar, we’ll find you a good matchup,” he said. Jack nodded in response. They walked along the bleachers a short distance and stopped at the mat furthest from the entrance, Danny went to the side where a rack of weapons and what appeared to be padded armour hung. He came back with an armful of apparel and deposited them in Jack's arms.

“Here ya go, these should be about your size, they’re adjustable anyway. Padded helmet, vest, vambraces and greaves.”

Jack promptly dropped it all on the ground and bent down to sift through it all, eventually he figured out what was what and put it all on. It was a little uncomfortable but he could move around in it, plus it was either this or risk getting brained with a wooden stick.

“Hey Jack! I found you a sparring partner!” He heard Danny call enthusiastically, he looked up and saw Danny approaching, practically dragging a reluctant looking blonde young man by the arm.

“This is Eric, he’s F rank but about to about to get promoted so better get in a spar while you still can,” Danny cheerfully explained.

Jack looked at the young man before realising they’d met before, the young man from earlier in the week who’d been part of the neighbourhood watch team to respond to the Kladican.

“Er hi, I’m Jack, we met before I think? You know, the erm, Kladican moose thingy,” Jack said.

Eric seemed confused for a moment before he replied. “Ah, right, yeah I remember,” he said unconvincingly. “Well are we gonna spar then? Oh and no elemental abilities.” He walked over to the training mat carrying a wooden stick the size and shape of a broadsword. Jack hurried over to the weapon racks and quickly grabbed a wooden spear before joining Eric.

They faced off against each other, Eric assumed some sort of stance with his sword that made it look like he knew what he was doing, Jack simply assumed a wide side on stance that Danny had shown him with his spear pointing at Eric. From the side of the mat Danny shouted “begin” and Eric immediately attacked.

He sent a rapid series of thrusts in quick succession straight into Jack's chest before Jack could even say wha? Jack was immediately winded and forced back stumbling to land on his backside, he heard several people from the bleachers laugh as he struggled to breathe. After a few gasps for air he recovered and climbed back to his feet, looked at Eric who was frowning at Jack and seemed a little impatient or bored.

“Er, good hit, again?” Jack wheezed out. Eric shrugged but nodded.

They faced off against each other again, Jack assumed the same stance but Eric looked more relaxed. Once again Danny shouted for them to begin and Eric immediately tried to end the spar by thrusting his sword at Jack’s chest. Jack moved to the side and back but still barely managed to dodge in time. He backed off further and Eric lazily turned to face him, a look of mild annoyance on his face. Eric suddenly swung his sword and Jack just about managed to get his spear in place to block it, but the strength behind the blow almost knocked the spear from Jack’s hands. He backed off further until he was at the edge of the mat, he sent a few desperate jabs at Eric who managed to easily bat them away before gracefully flowing around Jack’s spear and contemptuously sending an open palm into Jack's chest knocking him off the mat and onto his back.

He lay there for a second just trying to process what was going on. He saw a worried looking Danny appear in his field of vision looking down at him.

“You okay Jack, wanna call it a day?” he asked. Jack sat up and looked around, he saw several people sitting on the bleachers or standing around watching him, smirking and talking. He caught snatches of their conversations that were just about audible.

“A lighting cultivator.”

“What's he even doing here?”

“May as well not even have an element.”

“Just gonna get himself killed.”

“So slow and weak.”

“Shouldn’t even be here.”

Jack heard it all, but he didn’t care, it wouldn’t be this way forever, he knew something these people didn’t. Knowing something others don’t is a good way to feel powerful, even if you’re not. For now he just needed to bear with it. He crawled back to his feet again and stepped back onto the mat.

“Good hit, again,” he said to Eric who just rolled his eyes but nodded in agreement.

They faced off once again, as soon as the fight started Eric immediately went on the attack, seeking to end the fight as soon as possible once more. Jack ducked under Eric’s thrust and body checked Eric, sending them both stumbling. Jack recovered first and backed off, once Eric had also regained his feet Jack attacked for all he was worth, sending as many thrusts, jabs and swipes at Eric's feet and legs. Eric desperately parried and tried to get his feet out of the way but kept stumbling and tripping, eventually he tripped and fell to his knees, Jack immediately took advantage and swung the rear end of his spear into the side of Eric's helmet.

Jack was stunned for a moment, he looked down at his fallen opponent who also seemed a little stunned, although that may have been because Jack had just swung a heavy wooden stick into the side of his head, perhaps also a little harder than he’d needed to. Jack looked up when he realised everything had gone quiet, everyone on the bleachers were staring at him, even the other fighters had paused to give him incredulous stares.

Eric slowly and groggily made his way to his feet again, he swayed a little before shaking head and standing up straight. He looked at Jack furiously. He opened his mouth to speak but Jack beat him to the punch.

“Ah, unlucky, you almost had me, don’t worry though, you’ll get there one day. You just need more practice.” He gave Eric a wide grin while Eric gave Jack his own incredulous stare but tinged with no small amount of fury.

Jack quickly turned around and looked at Danny who was smirking in amusement at the whole scene.

“Well this has been fun, I’m gonna go before this guy tries to kill me.” Jack looked suspiciously at Eric who hadn’t moved but was getting very red faced and sending a death glare hammering into Jack. “I’ll probably schedule some more training time here, so I’ll probably see you around?” Jack said as he stripped off the padded armour and quickly put it back on the racks.

Danny nodded in response, still smiling happily. “Sure thing Jack, I’ll see you again.” He let out a little chuckle as Jack passed him on the way out of the hall.

As soon as Jack stepped out of the hall he sighed in relief, away from prying eyes. He walked down the corridor hopping from one foot to the other as he slipped on his trainers, stuffing his socks into his pockets, not wanting to be caught by any other hunters if any decided to leave as well.

He made his way out of the training hall and past the receptionist who gave him a cheery smile which he returned before exiting. As soon as he turned away his smile dropped again, he left the HQ and began slowly walking home, thinking.

He’d barely been able to keep up with Eric, sometimes he couldn’t even see the guy move. He gingerly touched his chest and winced in pain, that was gonna leave a bruise or two. Eric was so much faster and stronger than him, and he was only an F ranker, still low on the totem pole, the only reason Jack had won the last bout was because he’d surprised Eric. Tackling him had felt like running into a vending machine, which was strange because Eric was a slim guy, barely any bigger than Jack himself, and the way he’d wielded that sword of his. It had to weigh several kilograms like the practice spear Jack had used, but he’d swung it around like it was nothing.

Jack sighed as he walked, he knew it would be like this for a while, being weaker than everyone else, he could cultivate but not freely. He had to rely on hunting contracts for monsters and mutated animals, it was going to be slow going but he was still determined to keep going.