"Welcome, Incursion City. Reporter Lenore Albright here and I'm live with the cities most exciting new resident. Elder Todd is joining our ranks from the depths of the Deepwater [Dungeon]. With his inclusion into our ranks, Incursion city now has an impressive six elders on hand. Elder Todd, is there any words of wisdom you'd like to share with the younger generation?"
"TODD."
"Well said, Elder Todd. Again, if you or anyone you know originate from the [Deepwater] dungeon and wish to meet him, please come to city hall. The elder is looking for you!"
--Interview with Elder Todd, Incursion City News. AC 1750.
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My two days of convalescence pass quickly. I'm able to get up and move around on the first day, and on the second, the only thing of note is the Drill Sergeant stopping by. He speaks with Nurse Joy about my status and comes to sit by my stretcher. He looks to me and gruffly says,
"I'll see you tomorrow crab. Training has been delayed while you're recovering. Your friend Luna was taken through some dungeons the past two days and is now level twenty five as well. Same as yourself."
His casual mention of the training being paused sent a sigh of relief through my shell. I was worried that I had missed something. Message sent, the drill sergeant was about to leave. He then seemed to have a thought before turning back to me. He says,
"You know, I was pretty badly injured when I was a young lobster. An old sergeant of mine told me a story that helped. Do you want to hear it?"
This uncharacteristic display of him not yelling at me has put me off guard so far. But, not wanting to be impolite, I cautiously nod.
He continues,
"This is the story of the little fish that could. Once upon a time, deep, deep in the trench, there was a little fish that could. One day he was chuggin’ his way across the enemy line. His mission was to take some RK-47's and a mana-explosive through the trench to another platoon. Needless to say, there was plenty of opposition. That didn't stop him though. No sir, he just keep chuggin' along."
I nod, trying to be supportive. This is a weird story so far, but I'll play along. Don't want to make him angrier than he normally is.
He says, "Nope, he just kept chuggin' along, even when the corruption sprang out of nowhere, popping his eyes out. Blood and mucus dripping down onto the seafloor. Think that stopped the little fish that could?"
He stares at me, a slightly crazed look in his eyes. Okay, this story is getting a little scary. I pull my blanket closer to me and shake my head no.
He continued, "It wasn't 'till the corruption sent it's suicide corpses that the fish noticed somethin' was up. Just as the fish was making his way across a deserted area... BOOM!"
He yelled the last word, and I jumped, shocked at the increase in volume. He says,
"An explosion happened, blood n' guts was everywhere. And his friend, bubba came crawlin' out of nowhere, both legs missin'. He looks to the fish and says... I can't feel muh legs!"
The lobster continues, "And I said, 'bubba, they ain't there. And I look down and the crabs bloody nubs was kickin' real fast like this here. And I says, 'bubba, it's 30 miles to the next platoon. Unless you can flip yourself over and crawl you ain't gonna make it!"
At this point, the lobsters arms are flying in his retelling of the story. I'm not sure anymore if this story is fictional or not. The lobster seems to have switched track mid telling and grew more frenzied as he did. He jumps up from the seat and yells,
"All of a sudden, the corruption was all over the place! Just me and my [skills] and I had no alternative but to blast my way out."
He begins to roar,
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!! Die corruption die! You'll never take Sergeant Lee Alive! I saw what you did to my friend!"
Nurse Joy rushes into the room and pulls the Drill Sergeant away. She briefly apologizes to me before ushering him from the room. I can't hear exactly what they're saying but I do manage to make out a mumbled,
"Just tellin' him an ol' war story."
I spend the rest of my time in the infirmiary trying to relax, newly resolved not to ask the drill sergeant about his time in the war.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
The next day I rejoin the others. Luna saunters up to me, proudly saying, "I made it to level twenty five! My class is now a Shinobi!"
I wave my claws in excitement. I ask her what kind of changes there had been, and she tells me it was basically an overall upgrade from what she previously worked with. Faster limb regeneration, more uses of her skills, more damage from her explosions. I nod, supportive and excited over her advancement.
The others join our conversation and everyone wants to know if I'm okay. I feel touched by their concern and let them know it was an old injury that just would need time to heal. I spend the rest of the day in peace, and fall asleep without issue.
The next morning.
"RISE AND SHINE!"
The day after.
"GOOD MORNING LADIES!"
The day after.
"BANGARANG!"
That last one doesn't even make any sense. By this point I've long grown used to things not making sense and decide to just roll with it. Everyday we wake up and go through a series of physical and mental exercises. This goes on for almost two weeks, and while initially it was terrible... the results were impressive. At the end of it, the [system] informs me,
*****************************
Congratulations!
Due to repeated physical and mental training to exceed your limits you have improved your stats! The following has been improved:
STR: +6
VIT: +2
DEX: +6
*****************************
For the first time, training has improved my vitality stat. During the break between running and the mana-up's I ask the drill sergeant about it. He says,
"Vitality is the hardest stat to increase by training. It's a base measure of your overall health after all."
I nod, that makes sense actually. I've done training before and I've never even see it budge. At the end of the day, the drill sergeant has us gather around. He says,
"Sleep well tonight. You've completed the physical training portion. We will continue daily workouts, but the majority of our time from here on you will learn squad and fighting tactics. You are all Cavalry scouts, so you will learn together and most likely be placed together with your first unit. Fall out."
With that we return to the sleeping area. I whisper to Luna, "I didn't know we all had the same job. Did you know?"
Luna replies, "I knew Mina was one, but just because she mentioned it off hand one day."
These past few weeks have been a blur for me. As I look to the others, I can see a definite change in their demeanor. I pay attention to myself, even as I walk along there's a sharpness to my step. I don't need the [system] to tell me I've improved. I can feel it. I go to sleep that night excited, waiting for the combat to come.
The next morning, for the first time, I naturally wake up early. The last few weeks have set my internal schedule and as I lay there, waiting for the lights to come on, I have a thought. What if we were all ready before he even came in? He might not be so angry then.
I climb out of my kelp bedding and shake Luna. She mutters, "huh? What..."
I say, "comeon, let's get everyone up. I have an idea."
She mutters grumpily but complies and soon we're all standing at the foot of our beds, waiting for the lobster to arrive. Wilhelm rubs his eye with his tail fin yawning, before muttering,
"This is a dumb idea. I could have gotten five more minutes of sleep."
Luna defends me saying, "Well it might help. Who knows? If it doesn't work, then we can forget about it."
He returns to silence after her pronouncement and soon after, the door slams open, the lobster walks in yelling...
"GOOD..."
And then see's us all lined up, ready to go. He stops mid sentence and walks down the line. He does his usual morning inspection then steps in front of us. He says, in almost a normal tone of voice.
"Good work privates. You're finally starting to get it. Half the job of being in the military is being in the right place at the right time. Come on now, we'll go for a single lap around the track and we'll start our training."
With that, he turns and exits the bay, heading outside. We stand there, shocked at being treated almost like normal people, when the sergeant's yell resounds from the corridor,
"HURRY!!! UP!!!"
As we line up and start jogging outside, I hide my grin. It looks like we're making progress. Slow progress to be sure, but progress nonetheless.
We do a quick jog around the track and as we complete it I notice that no one seems winded. A vast improvement over early days. The lobster starts talking and I focus my attention. He says,
"Alright, we'll conduct our combat training here. This area has been enchanted with a mercy effect. No one can go below one health point while under it. That being said, amputation is still a distinct possibility so if you can't regrow limbs, refrain from attacking in that manner. Your initial opponent will be me."
My heart drops at his pronouncement. All he has to do is extend his domain and we'd be almost completely helpless. I get a little excited as he follows that up with,
"I will be wearing a limiter band so that my stats and skills will not exceed your average level. You may start whenever you're ready."
The six of us just stare at him for a moment, trying to wrap our heads around what he just said before I snap myself out of it. I turn to the other's and say, "Alright, what I think we should do is..."
I don't even manage to finish my sentence before I see Wilhelm's eyes glowing red. His muscular form grows even further and he bulks up almost a third in size. A red haze emits from the water around him as he charges the lobster yelling,
"FISH SMASH!!!!"
Okay... I guess... I guess we're starting now then. With no time to coordinate a plan, I grab luna and [coast] to the side. I throw her towards the motionless lobster as Wilhelm has almost reached his target. I begin laying additional sand armor over my equipment as Mina begins humming a little tune. I feel the mana around her shift and tiny bolts of light emit from her position towards the drill sergeant.
Clicking and clacking sounds resound from the two [artificer] brothers and the ports on their shell open as spears and bolts poke out of their shell. The crossbowman fires an initial volley of the tiny bolts as the spear brother moves to engage. I see it all in almost slow motion as several things seem to happen at once.
Wilhelm reaches the lobster, and he seems to almost pivot as he turns to give a tail smack downward. The lobster nonchalantly steps aside, and Wilhelm continues his strike, hitting the earth and kicking up sand to block everyone's vision. Luna flies into the sand and I feel her releasing mana pings, desperately trying to find her target as she's flying blind through the water. The streaking bolts and whatever ability Mina is using follow behind them and I can hear brief exclamations of pain from both Wilhelm and Luna. They must have been hit by friendly fire.
As I'm searching for the lobster myself, he bursts from the ground underneath Mina. A gentle whack with his claw knocks her unconscious, and he turns on the crossbowman. His spearbrother is out of position to block and I'm already running towards them, trying to engage so that Bill isn't taken out.
I'm too far away, and a dome of earth rises from the floor to encompass the crossbow brother. Luna has caught on by now, and I can hear her cry of [LEG SUBSTITUTION]!.
She pops up right next to the drill sergeant and my heart soars. She's about to get a hit on him! But I didn't notice the spear brother was also charging. The lobster steps back, and the delay was enough for the hermit crab's lunge to place him between Luna's leg and the drill sergeant. Just in time for it to explode.
[LEG BOMB].
And the hermit crab was knocked out.
The lobster's back was to me and I had almost reached him, only a few seconds have passed in the frenzied battle and three of us have already been neutralized.
Luna substitutes once more, as I lift a claw preparing [slice] for attack. We've pincered him, one attacker to each side and he stops. He raises his two claws and a wall springs from the ground, one for each of us. My claw hits ineffectually in the dirt and as I skirt around the edge I see that he's already disappeared. As I'm pinging mana to ascertain where he went to, a flicker of motion arrests my attention. Over there, where he initially was, the sand was slowly subsiding. The drill sergeant returned to his starting point and Wilhelm had been knocked out; the lobster standing over him. He looked at us impassively, and we charged once more.
We didn't last long by ourselves.
As we all lay there nursing growing headaches, the drill sergeant walked in the front of us. He began, "Well, not the worst I've seen. But definitely not the best either... let's do an after action review..."