I was shocked at that, and raptly listened to their advice. I didn’t often hear them give it out, but when I did it was always worth memorizing. Which is not to say that they didn’t give it out, but since the only words that Xi had shared with me since I’d killed the goblins had been to train harder, that I needed to fix my stance, or when they were teaching us all at the fire at night, it wasn’t like I could really call them much of a… verbal, teacher. I honestly hadn’t expected them to help me or say anything else to me today, so this was really a present. Especially that last part. It was actually so nice to know that I could mention their name if shit hit the fan.
I cleared my throat and gave a bow to them, “Thanks Xi, it-” I didn’t get to say anything else before their massive gauntlet crashed down on my shoulder and they leaned in close.
“Now then… Now that that boring conversation is out of the way, let us get on with the day! This is the last day you’ll be able to use the rejuve river, so we’re going to make the most of it, hmm? I expect you to be coughing up blood and crying between sets! DO YOU HEAR ME SPRITE?”
I yelped and stood at attention again, “OF COURSE MASTER XI! I WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN!” On the inside though, I groaned. Today really wasn’t going to be any different than any other day. In fact, Xi might just try to break me in half themselves, claiming that it would make my muscles and bones stronger. I didn’t even sigh as I accepted my blade from Xi, who definitely noticed and smirked. I just rolled my eyes and began my warm up drills. I relaxed, and allowed my body to smoothly move through each form as they had been ingrained into my very being, forged into my muscles by Xi’s and my constant drills.
It was one of the few things that I kept on doing from my old world. It was… calming. And it allowed me to stretch out my shoulders, legs, chest, muscles and my neck, which honestly would hurt so much that after just a few hours of swinging the sword blade I felt like dying. After that, I would run for about thirty minutes, laughing as I let my legs stride out and my breathing came stronger and harder until I was able to get it under control. It was… peaceful. I never realized how much noise there was in my old world, but here, all the noises that I could hear were so natural. The chirps of crickets, the burble of the river, the sound of wind blowing through the leaves… I felt, for lack of a better word, right.
At least, that was until the others started practicing their skills. Then, I was forcibly brought back to reality. A reality filled with my weakness. As I ran closer to the woods, I could hear the thwaps of bowstrings and the smacking of daggers hitting tree trunks. I could hear Halfi’s snide remarks, and the eerily accurate animal calls that they could produce.
As I turned away, and headed closer to the open grassy plains, I could hear the chanting of Baerns class. There I would hear the deep rumbling of lightning strikes, the thwoom of explosions, the cracking of shattering ice, and the crashing of boulders slamming against each other. Halfi’s class was deadly, and Xi’s class was powerful, but Baern’s class? They were truly the most terrifying, and I always tried to steer clear of the areas they trained, lest they blow me into pieces on accident. Mages were the most powerful members of any successful adventuring group, and were always in high demand.
As I skirted around the edges of the explosions and rumbles, peace came over the forest and I couldn’t help but smile. Close by was where Cylkia taught her students. She taught them powerful healing and close combat techniques, making them unbelievably strong. Most would not think of healers as battle hardened warriors, but according to Cylkia, that was the best way for an assassin or soldier to end up dead. Healer’s were protected by honor, and if anyone would dare to break that honor, they would earn their ire. As such, a healer was expected to be able to defend themselves, which made them twice as valuable. It was an important fact, and one that any honorable warrior would respect.
As I turned and began to head back, getting closer and closer to Xi's practicing classes, I could hear the crashing of trees cut in two, the wild war cries of sparmates charging at each other, and then the subsequent sound of weapons crashing into each other. Xi refused to allow me to join the others or even watch. Claimed that I wasn’t strong enough and that it would just hinder my path seeing such things so early. Instead, it was just back to chopping at that damn tree again. I don’t even know how that was supposed to help me survive out there! I shook my head and turned back into the woods, heading deeper to where I was destined. Oh whatever, I might as well get back to it. At least I could really zone out doing that.
I finally made it back to that damn tree, slowing down and catching my breath. I didn’t know why, but here, in this world, I really could feel strong. Even knowing that my other classmates and the other people were stronger than me, each stride I took was so right. So perfect. It was like I was made for this world, and it was finally welcoming me back. When I swung that blade, my muscles strained and pulled on each other in such an exact way. I felt like I could swing it all day, that I would never stop. But alas, my muscles would not last for that long. I would have to crawl and drag myself all the way back to the rejuve river once more, arriving at that cold threshold more times each day than I cared to admit. My only saving grace was that everyone else was practicing far enough away from where I was. They couldn’t watch me heave myself into the river, throwing up my breakfast and pouring sweat.
Every day I worked as hard as I could, because whenever I failed to work that hard, everytime I slowed down or took too long of a break, I swear that Xi just somehow knew. They would appear out of nowhere, and would just slam their gauntlet into my back, scaring the shit out of me and sending me flying each time. Then, after I had drug myself back onto my feet, they would force me to get back to work and do even more practice. They would roar at me, and make sure to remind me of the goblins, and how close I had been to dying. It was humbling to say the least, but I was enraged by it, and would get back up, move forward, and continue to strike and work, coughing up blood and seeing red.
I sighed as I pulled up to the tree, finally slowing down from my sprint. I walked over to the tree and leaned down, snagging the practice blade from where I had left it. I raised the edge of the blade to my eye and looked it over, giving it another look over. One of the first things Xi had drilled into all of us was proper care of our weapons, even with how cheap they were. Now that I’d had the chance to swing it for several days, I could tell that it was a cheap blade, and fundamentally different from the one that Xi had given me that fateful night.
It was shoddier, made of worse material and obviously not made as well. The blacksmith probably rushed the creation of the blade, worried more about making a cheap coin than a good weapon. It worked fine for swinging and striking at the tree over and over, but I doubted it would last long in an extended battle. Xi had let us know that they had grabbed these off of an apprentice blacksmith, and that we would have to find our own blades on our own time.
Xi never did end up bringing up my stash or that I'd never given them the blade back after our conversation. I didn't mind though, and honestly, it never hurt to have a backup plan. I hesitated and then let out a sigh. Well, I wasn't too sure if I would bring them with me now that I was going with a group. As far as I was aware, no one else had been tested like I had, and so no one else had any extra items or bags of gold and crystal. I wasn't sure how my group would react to me having them, but at the same time, I didn't want to just leave everything behind. I sighed and zoned out, mindlessly honing the edge of the blade as my mind worked on the problem.
At the end of the process, it ended up deciding that after dinner, I would leave the barrier and grab them from where I had stashed them. They were offering me protection and a spot in the group, it was the least I could do to bring them and offer them to them. Besides, Cylkia had mentioned leaving a small bag of money with each group, and Xi had informed everyone that they were letting us keep the practice blades. Even if they were low quality.
I swung the blade experimentally and nodded. Time to begin and quit stalling. I did not want to spend the last day of training being scolded by Xi. I turned to the tree and narrowed my eyes. Now… let’s see how much of a dent I can make today, eh?
As the sound of sword strikes filled the meadow, the sun passed overhead. The light shined down, glinting off of the beads of sweat that were flying through the air, and the chips of wood filled the clearing with a woody scent. But still, I struck, my arms and lungs screaming at me. Still I struck, as my hands were worn bare. Still I struck, as the rumbling of the other groups training shook the air. Still I struck, until Noon came, and I finally stopped, exhausted. I shook my head and made my way back to Xi, groaning as my sore arms cried out at me. Fuck, I hadn't had the chance to dunk myself in the river, so I was going to be sore the whole time I was eating. What a drag…
I walked up to Xi, who had just finished giving Barry his rations. Oh joy of joys! It was jerky, bread, and a posh (a weird combination of an apple and a peach). I accepted mine from Xi, nodding in appreciation before starting to head back to the tree. It was where I always ate, since I never really got that friendly with the others. I didn't make it far though, before I heard someone calling my name. I turned around confused, before realizing it was Sarah. She and Diane were waving at me, and patting a spot on the tree trunk that they were sitting on. I hesitated, but shrugged and waved back. Eh, what was the harm?
I waved back, and started heading their direction. I wonder if they wanted to talk about our strategy? It's not like there was much I could contribute there though. I figured we'd just walk straight there, which had been similar to what my original plan had been. According to Halfi, the rejuve river was actually a blessed artificially made river, and ended as soon as it met with the main Tribune River. Then, we could follow the Tribune all the way to the Zalsh's capital. Halfi had warned us that although there were towns along the way, we shouldn't stop at them if we could help it. As they had said before, otherworlders weren’t exactly a rarity here, but if a local mayor or guard captain caught whiff of their arrival, they would try everything in their power to make us stay.
“Hey guys, what's up?” I called up as I finally walked up to them.
Sarah smiled and waved at me again, “Hey Matt! Wanna eat lunch with us? I know you normally don't eat with the rest of us, but since you were cool joining up with our group I figured you'd finally stop by!” She motioned to the spot again and took a bite of her jerky, “By the way, where do you end up going anyways? I noticed that you always come for the rations, but never end up staying.”
I eyed her with surprise, but gave her a shaky smile. Oh, well this wasn't what I was expecting. Did she really just wanna hang out? That was… really nice of her actually. My smile gained more confidence as I took the seat and thanked her. “Oh, well, I usually just go to the tree that Xi is having me practice on, or I sit by the river.” I cast a glance in Xi’s direction before I leaned in and spoke in a whisper, “Thanks for waving me over, Xi might actually let me eat if I'm with you guys. They have this habit of appearing out of nowhere and giving me more drills if I take too long of a lunch. I still have no clue how someone in armor can just move around like that.”
Diane let out a loud groan and shook her head hard, an exasperated look appearing on her face, “Oh my god, right? The other day while I was sparring with Ashton, they appeared out of nowhere and slapped me on the shoulder! It scared the shit out of me, honestly! It would have been one thing if I hadn’t noticed them walking up, but Ashton, who I was in the middle of sparring with, didn't even notice Xi had walked up either! And then it turns out Xi just wanted me to fix my stance! I guess when I activated my blade dance, my eyes closed, but like, how did they even notice that? I haven’t ever even noticed, and I was the one performing it! It's crazy that they managed to notice it! I bet Xi has to be some war veteran or something, because they can't just be a normal guard, no way.”
Sarah laughed and shook her head, “I bet Xi has to be a really high leveled adventurer! According to them, you can only gain personal levels by fighting and killing monsters, beasts, and humanoids. They said that you can increase your skill proficiencies through sparring, but in order to get the experience gains to level up, you have to fight and kill monsters.” She nervously looked over at Xi before turning back to us, “It's why Halfi wants us to be so careful going into towns I bet! Most adventurers we'd run into at towns are probably way higher level than us, even if we have stronger skills.”
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I leaned back and whistled as I thought about that. Sarah might actually be on to something there. Cylkia had praised how gifted the others were with their high skill proficiencies, but Halfi and Xi had still warned us against getting into any fights with other adventurers. All of them had made it very clear that even though they had higher skill proficiencies, those adventurers would absolutely destroy any of us in a fight. I had originally assumed it was because of our lack of combat experience… but maybe it was because of levels? That would explain how I felt so much stronger after only having leveled up twice.
I hummed and turned to the others, “You know, I think you might be onto something there Sarah. If that's true, I wonder why Xi stopped? There's no way being a guard for a noble pays more than all the loot an adventurer can gain in the dungeons and by traveling the world, right?”
A hand slapped down onto my shoulder, scaring the absolute shit out of me. I yelped in surprise and froze, cursing inwardly. Fuck, I had a feeling I knew who it was that was standing behind me, and that little yelp was gonna net me some extra sword swings later.
I let out a sigh and I looked up at Xi, who was now looming over me. “Hi there Xi. Not that you have to, but would you care to enlighten us? How did you manage to end up as a guard, and temporary teacher, for us?”
Xi folded their arms and cocked their head to the side “... Bold of you to assume I would. Not altogether wrong though, as this will soon apply to you all, I might as well tell you. Now, I'll let you in on this fact, which is not exactly common knowledge, but is required by the laws here.” Xi sighed and looked around at everyone, making sure they had their attention, “There are many benefits to becoming an adventurer for the Kingdom of Zalsh, from prestige, access to dungeons, a guaranteed monetary stipend, and even a place to sleep at any guildhall. However, this does not have its caveats. First and foremost, you are automatically enlisted with the military when you register. As such, when the country is at war, or in a crisis, you are expected to serve and protect. That is why I am here, and why I serve proudly. In order to protect the people of Zalsh, I would gladly pause on my adventure’s.”
Everyone else that had begun crowding around when Xi had started talking, gasped and looked at each other, murmurs breaking out quickly. I whistled and considered that, narrowing my eyes as I looked in the direction of where Cylkia and her group was. Conscripts, huh? No wonder she wanted to get us all trained up.
After a long moment, Ashton spoke up, his arms folded as he loudly protested, “Wait, so when we get registered as adventurers in Zarish, we're going to be forced to go to the military!?”
Xi shook their head and let out a long sigh, “No of course not. You'll be much too green to serve in the army. No, until Zalsh goes into a full war, adventurers are unlikely to end up being drafted. Especially any sprites like you lot, or those who are under level ten. If you were to enter any war, your deaths would be quick and definitely not painless.”
A hush fell over everyone, and Kenney stepped forward, his voice wobbling as he hesitantly asked, “Cylkia had mentioned that you all were going to a war meeting, but who are you going to war against? The Trolls? Or is it the Elves you'd mentioned before?”
Xi didn't respond to that immediately, which was definitely a bit odd. It couldn't have been a small kingdom or something… Cylkia had made it very clear that they would much rather have helped us all get closer to the capital. The only reason they hadn't chosen to stay behind and help us, was because they were urgently needed at this war meeting. She had said that the Queen herself had demanded their presence, which was not a demand she could ignore at all. It was one of the reasons she insisted on training all of us before sending us to her home.
Xi sighed and turned their helmet to each of us before continuing. “If I'm being honest, I have no clue. We haven't been fully informed about anything about the enemy, or the purpose of this meeting, besides the fact that it is a war council. As far as I’m aware, those facts are very much on a need to know basis. And frankly, I don't meet the criteria to be on that need to know basis. All I know is that I have been conscripted to go with Lady Cylkia to the Queen's castle and help her in any way she deems fit.”
We all frowned at that, and looked at each other. Frankly, I'd never heard such a cop out answer before. Xi wasn't on a need to know basis? They were actively guarding Cylkia, who treated them like a lifelong friend. When I thought more about it, I doubted that Xi had been conscripted either. They were probably just helping them out because Cylkia had asked them to. Before we could get the chance to ask any more questions, Xi started yelling at us, telling us our break was over and to get back to it. I sighed and gave Sarah and Diane a wave before activating sprint and dashing in the direction of my practice tree. I really couldn't wait until I never had to see that damn warped bark again.
Slowing down, I dropped out of my sprint as I got closer to the tree. It really was a nice skill if I was being honest. It allowed me to go roughly four times faster, which put me at about 60 miles per an hour, (I'd timed it before my watch battery had finally died). Normally, I bet most people could only use it for a minute or so, but with the benefit of Enduring Heart, I was able to keep it up for about 30 minutes, which was about 20 miles give or take. Definitely something I had planned to abuse before the invitation from Sarah, but I didn't mind the change of plans too much. It was still unbelievably exhausting… The last time I had ran that far I'd had to lean against a tree gasping for air for at least minutes. If it wasn't for the rejuve river I probably wouldn't have been able to make it back, but thankfully it was only a short distance into the forest from where I’d had to stop. The plus side was that I’d managed to gain a few levels in my Sprint skill. I pulled up my status again, instinctively knowing where it was now since Baern had made us do drills for bringing it up. I sighed at the memory. That old codger even managed to know if we stopped trying or didn't pull it up.
Name: ???
Race: Human
Level: Three
Title: Goblin Slayer
Abilities:
Enduring Heart (INCOMPLETE)
Skills:
Sprint (Veteran)
Sword Slash (Initiate)
My eyes locked on my skills and I grinned. Wait, sword slash was Initiate now? Damn right! It was about time! I knew that the ranking of skills got much harder as you got them higher, but I swear I'd been swinging that sword nonstop for the last three days! All without a single rank up! Xi told me that most people got their skills to Beginner proficiency by the time they were in their twenties here, so I still had quite a bit to go before I was even as strong as a poor farmhand. Still, even considering that, I was ecstatic. This was great timing at least, and that would explain why my sword slash had a bit more oomph to it now. I grinned, and I took up my sword again and swung, activating sword slash halfway through the arc of its path like Xi had taught me. That way, the sudden speed up and power boost would surprise my enemy, causing them to miscalculate and protect themselves in time. Xi had told me it was a cheap trick, but that I needed to use all the cheap tricks I could if I wanted to live here.
Xi had told each of us the second day that every skill had different cool downs and energy costs between uses. As warriors and hunters, we would not have to worry about the very long cooldowns or energy restrictions inherent to mages and healers. However, we, along with hunters, only had a limited number of uses for each skill. Those would change as our base stats and levels increased, but as it was, even though my classmates had unbelievably strong skills, they could only use them a few times. That would change based on the skill obviously, but in my case, I was able to use more strikes because of my higher level and the lower level skills I had. For example, I only had about twenty sword slash uses in me before I had to take a break, I could only use Sprint for about thirty minutes as well, which was largely helped by my Enduring Heart ability.
I could use both of my skills without even thinking now, and they had both gotten much stronger through Xi's training. It almost made me thankful… almost. All of my other classmates would get off a little after mid afternoon, once they'd chopped up the wood for dinner. I could hear them as they would all go back to camp laughing and joking with each other. I’d spare them a few glances as Xi would suddenly appear, and begin directing their full attention on me. I couldn’t help but to smile when I had heard Ashton and Sarah both trying to argue with Xi to let me come back early. Unfortunately, Xi hadn’t listened to them at all, and had just brushed them off and told them I had far too much ground to cover to just stop and go now. As the hope had leaked out of me, I could have sworn I felt a single tear trace its way down my cheek.
Xi was merciless today, just like they had been these last few days. Thankfully, lunch had given me enough time to recover, so Xi’s drills were not as painful. Then, after making me go through each use of my skills, and correcting me and forcing me to repeat different repetitions if I messed up, they'd drag me to the river and toss me in. Then they’d have me do more of their… fun exercises. These would consist of me picking up massive boulders and throwing them at each other, making me throw punches at the trunks of trees until my knuckles bled, and then forcing me to do pull ups, push ups, squats, speed training, and various other ‘new fun training programs’ that they would think up. Then, once I had entirely used up all of my energy, they would drag me and throw me into the river each time. Since they only allowed me to stop once I couldn’t move anymore, it was far fewer breaks than I would have preferred. I hated every second, but I noticed that I was getting stronger. The rejuve river really was a godsend in that way. I probably got about a full year of harsh training during those few days.
Unfortunately, according to Cylkia, rejuve rivers were incredibly rare in this world. The only reason that we were near one, was that they were a byproduct of being summoned to this world. That was mostly due to the fact that the goddess possessed just that much power, and in order to tear us from our world and place us in this one, it required unbelievable quantities of divine power. The only other rejuvenation river in Zalsh that Xi knew of was in the capital. Apparently, most of the other humanoid species on Zioln were similarly located around them. The only reason that there wasn't already a bustling town near this one, was because this part of the river was known to be frequented by a Dire Fwill. A deadly beast the size of a house and known for hunting dire bears and wolves. Though, given enough time, a large civilization was bound to set up nearby. As for now though, thankfully, Cylkia had told us that it was hibernating after it had hunted down a Dire Bear this season. When Cylkia had Halfi check on it, he had told her there was probably another few years before it awoke.
Xi suddenly spoke up, dragging me out of my thoughts, “So kid, how do you think your chances are now?”
I grunted as I struggled to get one more pull up in, “Oh… I… don’t… know… better… though…”
Xi nodded and clapped me on the back, almost causing me to drop from the branch. Thankfully, that wasn’t the first time they’d thrown something or hit me while I was doing one of the workouts they had me doing, so I was able to recover before I fell. It was odd that Xi had checked, but it was definitely welcome. I could never quite get a read on them. That first morning, they had said that they liked me, but given these workouts and the fact that they routinely ignored me more than the others, I wouldn’t be surprised if they had forgotten that promise. Instead of the personal training I had imagined, I watched as the brightest of my classmates were just pampered. I sighed and smirked, straining as I twisted and threw a rock at my practice tree.
I couldn’t complain though, because it’s not like they acted pompous about it. Ashton and Barry were absolute powerhouses, and routinely would speak up for us all. They were always front and center at the fire, and they made sure to ask Cylkia and the others questions every night. Almost as if it was an interrogation. Mrs. Fletcher, who had almost entirely given up on being our teacher, or having any form of responsibility for her once students, had become an amazing ice mage. In the mornings, as I could see her massive ice mountains that she would conjure, their glittering peaks piercing the skies. Kai and Sylphie were largely the ones responsible for lighting our fires and preparing safe drinking water, and they were also always sure to give us all a reason to smile. Kirie and Hailey were responsible for most of the trapped animals, and though they were not as outspoken as some, they were pillars that the whole class had begun to lean on. Bryce and Amanda didn’t have to do much healing for the group thanks to us being so close to the rejuve river, but whenever there were arguments, they were always able to calm down all the parties involved.
Everyone else ended up making friends and following behind the people they believed in. Personally though, I didn’t care too much about all that. Though, if I did have to say, I probably would be considered one of the people that wanted to stay here in Zioln. This world was my first chance at being free and strong, and I didn’t want to just give that up. Back home I hadn’t even chosen a college or career yet, and honestly I probably would have ended up going to community college and then retail or something as a job. I wasn’t a good enough runner to warrant any scholarships, and my parents had already told me that they couldn’t pay for my college, so I would have had to figure something out. Even thinking about it made me depressed again. The goddess had really thrown me a curveball with that blessing though. Sort of like a big reminder that I was normal.
Xi suddenly spoke up and clapped their gauntlets together. “Alright kid, that’s enough for today. Go wash off in the river and I’ll see you back at the fire. Cylkia and Baern said they had a surprise for you all, so don’t take too long.”
I thankfully let go of the branch and fell, just barely catching myself before I hit the ground. A surprise? It was the last night we’d see them for the foreseeable future, I wonder if it’s some kind of weapon or something? A grin crept onto my face and I activated sprint, dashing towards the river. It was going to be a wild night tonight, wasn’t it?