Chapter 30

Sam opened his eyes and looked around him. He was currently in Origin, more specifically the room in the library with the large stone. To his side stood Xander with his arms crossed.

They ended up reaching the next village with a few hours of the day left. Instead of sitting and doing nothing for that entire time, Sam suggested going to Origin. Xander agreed with Sam, so they walked into the woods, heading in slightly different directions. They gave Stratus over to Laina and told her that they would be back later.

Sam was prepared to wait for a few minutes for Xander to come, but it looked like he didn't have to. Sam got up from the floor and walked towards the door. He was slightly surprised that Xander came here before him since this was his first time. Xander followed Sam out the door.

Xander paused for a few moments, taking everything in. It had been two weeks since he had last been here, but Xander could still remember everything.

"So, are we going to just sit here and read the entire time?" asked Xander as he walked quickly to catch up to Sam.

"For the first part, yes, but I have something different in mind for the second part," said Sam. The number of people inside the library was a lot fewer than before. Sam didn't really know the reason but if he could get a chair without going through what he went through last time, he didn't care.

Sam went around the library and picked out a few books for him and Xander. He had a general idea of where things were and so he had to only look for a few moments to find the things that he was looking for. When he picked out a book, Sam took it out of the shelf and handed it to Xander to carry.

"Alright, I think that enough for today," said Sam.

"Are you sure you don't want anymore?" said Xander in a sarcastic tone. In his arms were 12 textbook size books. The books were stacked high enough for Xander's face to be hidden.

Sam rolled his eyes and took half the book from Xander to help. They made their way to the tables, and there were thankfully plenty of empty tables and chairs for them to use. They picked one that was close and sat down on it.

"Just a reminder, don't fall asleep. You'll be taken back to our world, and then you will have to sit there mediate for another five minutes to come back," said Sam.

"Won't make any promises, but I am experienced in the ways of pulling off an all-nighter. I think that I can handle this," replied Xander to ensure Sam.

"If you say so," mumbled Sam he picked out a book and started to read. Xander followed suit, and soon they were fully concentrated on reading.

Sam picked out books that he thought would be the most helpful to them. Scientific books in chemistry, biology, and psychology. Books on invention and innovations from the start of humanity on Earth. He picked out books that talked about how weapons were made and more importantly how to use them in fights.

Sam didn't expect either of them to remember most of the contents of the books, but as long they got the important parts, it would be good. If they knew what knowledge there was and where it was, they could easily come back in the future. This library wasn't going anywhere.

Xander was currently reading a book on swords. He already skipped most of the book and went straight to the part where it taught him how to use it. Xander wanted to get stronger since, in the last two instances of fights, he didn't do much. He was scared, and he didn't like that feeling of uncertainty. He also didn't like that he put himself and Sam at risk when he was weak.

Sam, on the other hand, was reading about farming. He was mostly skimming through the pages, trying to find something useful. Whenever he found something interesting, he paused and read through it before moving on.

Roughly two hours passed and Sam finished going through all of the books except for the one that Xander was reading. Xander looked really into the book, so Sam decided to let it go.

"Xander," said Sam. It looked like Xander was in an entirely different world as he didn't hear Sam. "Xander." said his name again, but there was still no response. Sam reached over and shook Xander's shoulder.

"Huh?" Xander looked around and blinked his eyes, to refocus them.

"You okay, dude? Did all of that reading hurt your brain or something? It has been a while since either of us read English," joked Sam.

"I'm fine. I think I just zoned out for a while there," said Xander. Sam thought differently since he saw Xander flipping pages only a few moments ago, but he decided to just let it go.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"Alright, let's put the books back quickly, and then I have somewhere interesting to take you to," said Sam as he got up. They quickly put the books back where they were supposed to go and then, with Sam in front, they left the library.

A few minutes of walking later, Sam went into a building, and Xander followed him. There was no marking on the building, and it looked no different than the rest of the building on either side of it. Xander was curious about what could possibly here, but he didn't say anything and just followed Sam.

They went into an elevator, and Sam pushed on a floor level. There were 90 floors in this building, and all of them were listed on the elevator. Several of the floors were dark gray, while the rest of them were red. Sam pressed on the 8 floor which was also red.

The elevator dinged open, and both Sam and Xander were stunned by what they saw. On the far right wall was a massive stone slab that took up the entire wall. On the other end was a rack. It held all kinds of weapons, from daggers to whips to crossbows. In the wall in front of them, held the bigger weapons. Large shields, long and heavy swords, axes, and spears. In different parts of the floor were rams, armor sets, and there was even a catapult.

Sam and Xander took a few moments to take it all in.

"Are the rest of the floors of this building the same as this," asked Xander. They walked out of the elevator and on the floor.

"Yep, every single one and there are several other buildings just this all around the city," said Sam. He had read in the Warlord book about this place, but it didn't do justice to the real thing. The only thing the book said was that it had a few weapons, and it was a place that Warlords could go to train.

After several moments passed, Sam was able to think clearly, and he said, "Let's start." He started to walk towards the left wall.

"Start what?" asked Xander. He couldn't figure out what they could do in here without falling on something sharp and getting hurt.

"Training," Sam inspected the weapons and the wall and picked out a spear. It was around his height. It felt heavy in his hand but he figured that he could get used to it.

Xander was speechless. He forgot that they could get injured in here and thought that Sam may have a suicidal mission planned. He just stared at Sam unable to understand.

"What? Did you forget that we can't get hurt in here?" Asked Sam. To demonstrate, he used the spear in his hand to cut his palm. Because the weight of the spear was so great, he ended up cutting a lot deeper than he expected. His face grimaced instantly, and he regretted it, but a few seconds later, the wound was gone.

"Ah... I may have forgotten that," said Xander. Sam found an empty spot in the room and gestured Xander over. Xander walked over and tried hard to avoid any sharp objects in his way. Sure, he wouldn't get permanently hurt but he would still feel the pain and so Xander was being careful. When he reached where Sam was, he stood opposite to him and asked, "Now what?"

"Take out your sword and attack me. Use what you just learned," said Sam. He got into a stance and pointed the spear tip towards Xander.

With a bit of uncertainty, Xander took his sword out of its sheath. He held it up with one hand and moved his two feet away from each other.

Without any warning, Sam started to run towards Xander. With the distance between them, he reached Xander in three seconds. As soon as he was close enough, Sam thrust his spear towards Xander. Xander, who had been caught off guard, had to dive to the side to avoid the thrust.

Before Xander could get back up, Sam pointed his spear towards Xander's neck, only an inch away. Sam moved it away after a few seconds and reached out a hand to help Xander up.

"Wanna do it again?" asked Sam. Xander nodded his head, and Sam moved back to his original position again.

This time, Sam didn't rush in. He held his spear in front of him and slowly approached Xander. Xander was prepared this time and held up his sword. When Xander was within range of him, Sam thrust his spear again. Xander was able to react this time, and he slashed his sword against the incoming spear. The spear ended up completely missing Xander.

Seeing an opening, Xander took a step towards Sam and slashed towards Sam. Xander thought that because the spearhead was behind him, Sam wouldn't be able to get it back in time to defend himself. Sam, instead of pulling his weapon back, changed his grip on the spear shaft and used the shaft to block the incoming sword.

As the sword hit the spear, both of them resisted and pulled against each other's weapon. Suddenly, without any warning, the force that Sam was feeling coming from the sword doubled. Unable to keep his feet on the ground, Sam went flying and landed on a few iron balls covered with spikes that were the size of his head.

Sam felt the pain coming all over his body from the several holes that were created.

"OH MY GOD! Are you okay?" asked Xander as he rushed over. When he was pushing against Sam's spear, he ended up accidentally using his new strength.

"I'm alright," Sam managed to mumble out. He tried to get up, but he found that he couldn't. His feet did not reach the ground from the iron spikes. His arms were too deeply impales onto the spikes for them to move. "Can you help me get up," asked Sam.

Xander bent down and carefully lifted Sam back up. He watched as the holes in his body slowly patched themselves back up including the clothes. The blood on the spikes disappeared, and a few seconds later, it looked like it never even happened.

"Ah, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to," said Xander. "Should we stop now?"

"It fine, and you don't have to be sorry. I knew something like this would happen anyway. It's much better to do it here and get hurt than in our world. Let's go again." Said Sam. Although he said this, on the inside, Sam was starting to get serious.

Sam was a very competitive person. It didn't matter what it was in. As long as he found someone that he could beat and he cared about them enough, he would try to outdo them. For example, when Sam used to run track, his best times were when he wasn't paying any attention to his times and just running to beat his friend who was running alongside him.

As soon as he saw that Xander got into position, he charged forward. Sam didn't have any intention of holding back this time.