So, after babbling my way through the conversation like an idiot, I learned a few things. Mainly that the last teams of people who would be my fellow soldiers had returned. Second, that the names and position of these two people were important. The mans name was Ahsmi-omol Vera - it apparently meant "Vigilance against the outside", and Vera was his last name. I thought it was pretty cool. The woman, however, had a very different name: "Sreva-keverembi Vera". After a back and forth trying to figure out what her name meant, I figured out that it meant "Lonely Enlightenment." They were also extremely confused as to why I continued to shudder and shiver with... as they called it "red look". This dopamine rush hits hard...

But, their names weren't the last thing I figured out, though! I was summoned here due to my "disturbances" in both the dorm and the training area. There... wasn't anything I could do. I was told to stand still, arms at my sides, and I did so. I prepared myself for every possible outcome. A punch, a kick, even getting cut - this wasn't Earth, and I sure as hell wasn't anyone of note. I wasn't stupid.

Ahsmi - who I'll call Vigilance for now - stepped in front of me. Every step brought a heavier pressure to my knees and I was sure I was about to buckle. I didn't get the chance.

A fist flew at me and I was knocked to the floor, back hitting the wall as I flew. It hurt... my face really hurt. My jaw felt like it was broken and I grabbed it with one hand.

"Yveuy" "You stand." He said, and, through misty eyes and a mind-numbing pain, I did, as steadily as I could with my brain still trying to catch up. My breathing sped up a bit as I anxiously prepared myself for another punch. Left or right? My eyes darted back and forth between either direction before I got my answer. Even if I wanted to block it, it was too fast. The moment I saw a sliver of movement, Vigilance's fist had already connected with the right side of my face. I stumbled a few feet, but this time I didn't fall. I couldn't help the tears that fell, though.

"Polasi zhefovfi." "Practice regret." I nodded.

"Zau..." "Yes..."

What else could I do? While being told that, I had grit my teeth and left with a bow.

"Avuama Eke xyv." "Not continue" I slowly shut the stone doors behind me and stood still for a moment. The pain in my cheeks wasn't the worst thing I'd felt; that would go to the mark on my back and eyes. Nonetheless, I felt like crying. Before I'd come to this world, the worst pain I'd felt was getting stabbed in my arms, and then everything began to spiral out of control from there.

Dad had never hit me; the worst a patron had ever done was almost hit me, and now I was getting punched. Not the best start to a new life.

I looked ahead of me, though. Not everything was terrible. I had D'rte after all, and we'd eat out later if he was serious about what he said to the maid-girl. Taking a deep breath, I walked back to my room. If the last of the new recruits, like myself, had arrived, then that probably meant I had a roommate now. It kind of reminded me of college if I thought about it.

I had passed by several people on my way back to my room, they were likely going back to their own, and I nodded my head, they nodded theirs and said nothing despite seeing the injuries on my face, and we continued on our differing ways.

I looked at the sign on the door to the room and lo and behold: the marking was there. I hoped it was another woman, or if I was allowed to be greedy: someone from Earth. I doubted it, though.

My doubts were well-founded, it seemed. When I opened the door, there was someone there, in a similar get-up to myself. Leather clothes, many crossing straps, etcetera. This person was, sadly, not another woman. They were a stocky man, but he didn't have muscles upon muscles. He stood easily two heads taller than me, even when hunched over I could tell, and I was left in awe at his height. He turned to me when I opened the door, gave me a nod, finished setting down his own knapsack, and stood up with a hand outstretched.

"Ytrevasa 'Acta Shon'." "I am called 'Scorn Shon'." I grabbed his hand and shook it.

"Kiera Macguire." He tilted his head slightly as he heard my name. "Pitöri... xyv." "Special... not." I'll call him Scorn since that's what his name meant. What did D'rte's name mean? Did his have a meaning? I wanted to know...

"Fisävaä asuv be sembi?" "Rookie me similar to?" I smiled and nodded as I let go of his hand. He looked at my two shields and narrowed his eyes. "Jegiuy-voi dishti?" "No weapon?" Ah, that's where this was going. How would I explain it?

"Daaä dishti. Aji. Asuv di!" "Shield weapon. Good. I like!" I had to admit that using shields was always a pleasant sensation in the back of my head. It wasn't strictly meant for killing but was mainly for defence. He nodded slowly. I don't think he got it.

I walked over and sat on my bed as Scorn continued to tidy up his things.

"Fis... Fis... fisair...va-air? Fisävaä-oia röqeva!" "Re...re..crui.t...s? Recruits have seen?" I asked and he shrugged. Whether he understood me completely or not was something I wasn't sure of.

"Loh-voi." "Few." I nodded with an 'ah' sound. He did understand me! I was thankful he didn't use many words too, conversations were much easier for me like this. I looked around his space - as rude as that might be - and saw that he had two... I think they're called halberd, at the foot of his bed. That didn't seem all that effective if he couldn't carry them, but I guess the same could be said for using two shields.

We spent the next several minutes in near silence, trading questions here and there. How many people we came with, how many other groups there were if we knew - we didn't - and what we thought training would include. I was surprised at how he spoke so softly despite being such a big guy and how easy he was to get along with!

As we continued to talk to one another, I looked him over a bit and noticed a few things I hadn't at first.

His hair wasn't a completely black colour, but it was closer to a deep shade of brown, and his eyes were a glassy green. He was much taller than me and just as intimidating as I thought he was at the start. He looked like he could crush me without any difficulty. I thought that was kind of hot.

"Xevyzua tabyai?" "You know place?" I asked after a while, changing the direction of my thoughts. "Piteiva" "Look around?"

He was lying on the bed, trying to get comfortable, before he shook his head. "Xyv" "No."

I offered to show him around, but Scorn shook his head again and told me there wasn't a need to and that he'd find it out on his own.

Well... he was alright. I doubt anyone would pick a fight with him, considering his build and all that. That and the fact we are all adults, so, hopefully, they would be more mature than... I was very immature earlier, wasn't I? I blame it on the mark. Yup. Definitely wasn't me just being childish.

As I was waiting for D'rte, I turned to Scorn.

"Avötmäa polasi?" "You want to practise?" I asked him with a smile on my face. He flipped over on the bed and stared at me for a moment. As he was about to open his mouth, I held a hand up and told him that I wasn't weak! I had won a fight here after all. Scorn replied with a sigh and told me he wasn't worried, and he was going to join. I nodded, embarrassed at how I was wrong about what they were going to say.

We left the room and Scorn followed beside me as we walked. But they surprised me when he spoke.

"Voi-oaenmäa deokmäa ovyeuyte utte ibeeji" "Do not bring men to bed often." It took me a minute to decipher what he meant.

"Ah-" I didn't mind the smell so I didn't realize, but my room still smelt due to D'rte and I... "Zau" "I'm sorry..." I bowed my head while my cheeks ran red - they felt like they were on fire and I couldn't look at him right now.

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Scorn simply nodded to my reply. At least... he was polite about it? Since it was the least I could do for him since we were roommates, I would keep it to a minimum. Or maybe I scared D'rte off with that and it was the only time... I hope it wasn't - I think I'd go crazy.

But, after the awkward conversation ended, we arrived at the large training room whose acronym I've already forgotten. Through pain and hell and what felt like brimstone on my body it's no surprise I forgot small things like that.

A few people from when I was here earlier today, yesterday? I didn't know what time it was. But I assumed it was the afternoon. Anyway, peopel from the first time I was down here waved with wide smiles, and jeers and hoots, and I waved. to a few back. At least I wasn't being ostracized. Who knows, maybe this will be a good thing! There were some new people down here as well: I saw some boy with glassy, silvery eyes which I thought was kinda cute, who was sitting down with his back to the wall. There was a girl almost one and a half heads taller than Scorn; who was pretty tall and standing well over everyone else, and a man with black sclera and red pupils who squat down like a stereotypical delinquent. And then there was some other average-looking people

Did I mention those first three were all together and talking to each other? It was definitely a strange group.

"Aiewade? Iqiiua?" "Them? You think?" I asked, and he nodded once. "Defebumäpa?" "We talk to?" Scorn nodded again and that was that, we walked towards the group with a pep in my step until we got close.

"Mi-tashba," Scorn began - I didn't know what it meant though, but the others said it as well - except the boy, who began to look more and more girly the more I looked - he said mi-tauba. Was this some sort of greeting between two groups of people? I didn't know so... I kind of just stayed quiet until it got awkward.

"Ah, well... you're all quiet. Okay uhm... Ytrevasa Kiera, Ytrevastara?" "I am called Kiera. You are called?" I asked them casually. The first to speak up was the black-red eyed man, who introduced himself as Greza. Through a mixture of hand signs and body language, I managed to deduct his name meant "Duty". Not just that but... he wasn't human. The eyes tipped me off on that, but it was still bewildering to find that he looked so similar and yet so different at the same time.

Big lady came next, and called herself Voi-Sreva, "Not Alone... that's really cute." I translated it myself and thought that it was really, really cute! At least her name was much simpler that Greza's, otherwise I'd probably have not been able to work out what it was. After all she wasn't very expressive with her hands.

The young... boy? Girl? At this point I couldn't tell. But they refused to tell me their name and the non-human man told me that he was part of a tribe of people who believed their names were power, and that giving someone your name was the ultimate sign of trust. So they simply called him Xömo. That was cool.

Now that the "important people" had been introduced, and we sat around with each other, I was curious what the others did before they were brought here. Greza was apparently a small-time bounty hunter, Voi-Sreva was a farm-girl, and Xömo was no one special, just another kid who caught the eye of the one who brought him here.

Which got me to thinking. How powerful was this group that they could wander the continent(?) and bring back so many people like it was normal. There were a lot of rooms here, but I assumed that there was no way that this was their only base, simply the closest. And if that was the case, how many other bases did they have? How big was the world? How was ANYTHING simple to deliver? Our steeds were decent, they had good stamina and all of that, but its not like they could travel the continent easily. Mountains should be a problem, there were definitely faster creatures that weren't tamed, and not to mention bandits.

"Kiera?" Greza called out, knocking me out of my thoughts.

"Hm? Oh, shit - iqiivuy, Zhefovfi!" "I was thinking, sorry!" My mind was in a flurry at a bunch of questions I had and I accidentally zoned out. Greza waved his hand dismissively in front of his face before pointing to my wrists.

"Daaä? Voi-Dishti?" "Shield? Not weapon?" Oh, it was this again. I explained to them with very basic words that I don't use swords, because my shields function as both defence and offence before Greza raised his hand politely. "Yex.... aji?" "That... good?" I nodded, and told him that I've already used it in a duel and to save a small hamlet. He quirked a brow at that before standing up and offering a hand. And as if we both were one and the same, we spoke at the same time.

"Polasi?" "Practice?"

Oh yeah. I was going to like this guy. Tall-girl Voi-Sreva raised a hand up to her chest and also wanted to join in before offering a hand to Scorn. Xömo, it seemed, wanted to go against me as well - which I obviously was for. His name meant "Cast", which I hope meant magic. I had seen magic be used to heal me, and it was able to clean as well apparently, but I had not seen combat magic yet. Greza reached behind him and grabbed a strange looking weapon.

It looked like a sword... but it didn't have a "blade". The entire upper portion was a plus-shape, that was roughly a metre long, but at the top narrowed to a point. each side was sharp, yes, but I wouldn't think to call it even a sword. It was almost as if the weapon was meant to punch through metal. The hilt of it looked like a normal sword, though, except again there was the plus-shaped guard, with thick, cubic portions rising up at the tips. I had a feeling that this weapon was a monster against creatures with thick hides.

We all settled upon an agreement that the first person to get injured would be considered the loser. There were no bets on the table, as none of us had anything to bet, and we were not going to kill one another. No cheating, which meant no using any abilities if we had any - Xömo was the exception because he used magic, and that this was a match to get to know each other. There would be no hard feelings no matter who won or lost. We were all adults, and could settle upon this very easily.

I led Greza over to one of the training squares, and we managed to strike up a conversation about what he was. Supposedly, his people were cursed by an ancient deity to never wander alone, because their eyes anger animals and they are usually attacked - even when monsters see they have a large group. Even normally passive animals, like the horse-things I rode here, supposedly hate him. That was sad. I had no idea what to call his people though, he never gave me a solid name.

Nonetheless, Voi-Sreva, Xömo, and Scorn were with us, watching at the sidelines just outside of the square as we found stances we were comfortable with starting in. I got into the same pose I was in when I floored the guy who wanted to kill my food-supplier.

Greza, however leaned back on one foot and pushed his other one out, with both hands on his weapon as it pointed along his thigh. Even looking at him, the pose almost seemed animalistic, like I was staring at a wild boar. We were hardly fifteen feet apart, but I could tell that the range would close almost instantly, with his weapon and me running right for him.

Scorn would give us the signal to start, and I took a few deep breaths. Now that I was actually in control of my body, I was extremely anxious, especially since we slowly began to pick up an audience - maybe from people seeing I was fighting again? Oh boy.

I gulped down a build-up of saliva as Scorn lifted his hand. "Mifatorob..." "Be vigil!" His hand began to fall quickly. "Krovi!" "Duel!" And the moment that word finished being uttered Greza lunged forward. He was a big guy, and I hadn't expected him to be as fast as he was. Without even a second passing he'd already crossed half the distance between us. I got caught up in the momentum and pushed myself forward as well, even though I knew that I had no idea how to fight - at least not naturally.

His weapon was thrust forward towards the center of my chest, only to be stopped by me slapping it to the side. That didn't seem to help me much because he used his outstretched foot to push at my left one, which put me off balance. "Oh sh-" I leaned back to the point I almost fell, before Greza's weapon appeared in my vision and was pushed down towards my abdomen. I couldn't stop that if I tried a thousand times, so I tried to avoid it instead. With what felt like an eternity splitting into thousands of different possibilities, I couldn't even begin to fathom how I would do it, but I tried to force my body to such in my stomach while turning my body.

I managed to get out with only a slight scratch on the metal over my stomach. A ringing noise sounded out moments later as his sword impacted the ground and dazed me slightly, my vision going all sorts of shaky due to the ringing before I caught myself and tried to kick at him. He shifted his hand slightly and his handguard blocked my foot, leaving me completely open for the punch that stopped in front of my face.

We were both panting for a moment as he pulled his fist away, and the cheers from the crowd eventually became louder than my heartbeat.

In the words of the wise... I got royally screwed just then. I don't think there was any real thought that I would win between either of us. The only times I'd been in a fight in this world, my body wasn't my own and I was being controlled by instinct. Realizing that, I sighed and let my head hit the floor.

"Ahhhh..... man... now my wrists hurt." After I said that, both me and Greza laughed. He may not have understood my words, but he definitely understood I was trying to make the best out of my loss.

"Ubure divimuy! Daaä aji! Ubu aji, fisävaä tögyeu." "I like you! Shield good! You good, rookie for." I hadn't realized it until I stopped laughing, but I was still smiling, and my cheek muscles were starting to hurt because of it. He offered me another open hand, instead of a fist to the face this time.

"Ubu boro!" "You as well!" And of course I took it as he pulled me up.

Voi-Sreva let out an "Ooooh" sound when she saw me get pulled and I took a good look at her as I walked out of the square. Now that I was taking into account every detail of hers, I started to understand what made her so pretty. Her dirt-brown hair was similar to mine, but she had easily towered over me, and I had to wonder if she had to duck beneath the ceiling to walk in the halls. What about her room? I didn't pay attention to it before but for her it might be a problem. If I had to make an estimate on her height... she'd probably be around two and a half meters? She... also had a bigger chest. I was angry at that. Completely unfair. She had a great figure which reminded me of a pear, yet she STILL had bigger breasts than me? The nerve.

I'd have to bring this up with management and my totally not-expired coupons.

But for now, Scorn and Voi-Sreva were readying to fight!