We were back at the guild, after turning in the Quest, and pocketing the reward, even if I knew I’d have to pay it back soon, and much more. We went for a midday nap in our new room, and had a hearty meal delivered to that room for a little extra, it was just change. Not even half a Fed.
I felt like a real King during that meal. Temesia looked healthier than ever, after her nap, and the food she’d had the previous night and this morning. It was a wonderful feeling to know that you made someone healthier, to see it, to watch them smile, and joke, and play. Eventually though I had to stop the day dreaming and get back to the real world. I had an offer at training for me below the third floor window on the open courtyard, and I wasn’t one to let free things get away.
We went down and out the back. The world opened up, to noise and sweat, to humidity and sun, a field of sand wet with testosterone, crammed with the cries of sexy female monsters battling and training, exhausting their power in training.
A plot of land as big as a stadium and more, with many small buildings and to the side all serving their own, unique, purpose. The ground was yellow safe for a few upturned patches which revealed the natural marble below. There were little boxes to the right and left of the exit to place our shoes in. It was a no shoe zone apparently.
We did so and stepped onto the sun charred sand, hot like coals on a barbecue, not without a little yelp from me, I am afraid to admit.
We traveled to the half way point and then took a left. Here there sand was pockmarked by slabs of stone that cut a path through the massive empty space. Under a shaded outcropping from the left wing of the courtyard was waiting the trainer that had been assigned to me.
“Hello Good Sir. I am Andras. A beginner and only newly registered Trainer. I am only Tier 1, do not let the Four Guai that I am bonded with fool you.”
“They wouldn’t, you carry yourself like a beginner. Where is your armor?” Mareth looked me up and down and smacked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, the gods of sass had already descended and where smacking their lips, and chewing gum, while passing down their judgment.
“It’s stuffy, and since this was training and not real combat I thought…. I thought wrong, I guess.”
“At least you realize.” He nodded. It seemed he was one of the stern types. Maybe it was his hate to the world fueled born from his shining bald head, or fueled by the thin strips of hair he called a mustache, as if drawn by a pencil.
“Should I go get it?”
“No, you shouldn’t. You shall hurt for your mistake. Though there is a nugget of information that I’ve gained, which is very important. As a result of your actions I can attest safely that you need an infant’s level of beginner training. I avoided rolling my eyes.
“What is your job as a Trainer?” He asked, his form still hidden in the shadow, which didn’t make him seen mysterious, his high pitched down, and the way he shook his head at his own question, we knew who he was and he didn’t hide it.
I scratched my head and looked to the light blue sky, I wiped some sweat of my forehead, bathed in its light, I was cooking in the sand, both feet and head were in need of some cool blood to be pumped into them.
“It is to care for my Guai, and Train them, but, that feels a little too obvious…”
“It shouldn’t feel a little, but a lot.” He seemed to have liked only half of my answer. I understood, he was born in this culture of battle, of using Guai for battle. But they were thinking, speaking women. They weren’t actually Pocket Monsters to battle and take on different state funded gyms.
“Let me ask you. Do you think Guai hate battle?”
“Not more than I do. Meaning, I don’t think they are natural pacifists. If they have to they’ll fight.”
“Then… Do you think they dislike battle, using their powers for the uses they are destined? A Destruction Type Guai, a Guai of the Fighting Aspect, a Guai of Seduction. Do you think they are against using their powers?”
“No. But I do think that they can be. It’s like having a talent in something that doesn’t interest you.”
“WRONG!” He swiped his hand out like a knife. From under his palm a shining blur appeared, resplendent, green, white, and blue. It morphed into a humanoid shape and the light cracked like an egg to a billion glittering shapes. From inside appeared a Guai. She was short, at most they could reach my shoulder. They had short cropped bleached white hair, dark gray skin, thick blue lips. They looked the least female out of all the Guai I had seen, with a square shaped face, a pushed in nose, and flat ears, she was blocky and made of muscle, and rock.
“Grena. Fight!” They snapped into a combat position, as they scanned me and my Guai ready for the kill. Pebbles spawned and tumbled from their skin, they looked at Frey and then at Mara, They grinned and disappeared, in an explosion of force, the sand behind them disappeared and the stone beneath cracked, they stomped down and the ground trembled at their weight. They could not be stopped, a train with a single target blasting forth on its rails and nothing would stop them.
Then they stopped and turned back to Mareth. They seemed to be conversing through their link. They chuckled, a sound of gravel moving deep within the earth. Now back at Mareth’s side they crossed their arms and spread out their legs a bit, standing proud, and as tall as they could.
“That was Garen, The Only male Guai I have managed to Capture. The first command, spoken vocally was for you to hear, but any trainer with a few fights under their belt, knows how important it is to use the Link for combat orders. Every Trainer with more than one or two Guai, bonded or captured but otherwise not sold, also buys a Pocket Dimension Artifact. More often than not, a team of 10 Guai will not be easy to pay for in long distance travel, nor house and feed with common travel rations, not to mention the added luggage you’d have to carry onto yourselves during travel. What if a fight broke out. Back onto the topic at hand. I called Grena out, from whatever he was doing, gave him no explanation of the situation, didn’t consider his feelings nor his wants, and ordered him to fight. He jumped in with a smile after a single breath, and when I stopped him, giving him the simple excuse that it was all a mock showcase, he chuckled and now stands here by my side without a single complaint. Do you think I disrespected his being?” He asked.
“I think you demonstrated the fact that Guai aren’t like the rest of us. They are geared to do what their aspects, and types, do. To some degree.”
“This is what you don’t get. Just because they speak, doesn’t mean that they are human. Just like how a Cow can’t eat meat, Guai can’t go on without action. Even Life Guai fight, actually, they fight more than the rest, having to deal with seeing others fight and not being able to participate is a problem, and we have a name for it as well. Healer’s Fatigue.
“To go even further, Not only their aspect. The animals they take from, their perks, the trainer’s personality, and of course the Bond and its affection level itself can and will be strong reasons for a Guai’s actions. All in all. I have not seen a Guai who does not take pleasure growing stronger, and learning how to use their powers more, to create cool and powerful spells, and above all, to fight. The last part is our only difference. So I ask you once more, what is your job as a Trainer?”
“To use my Outsiders point of view, the fact that I am not restricted by things like Aspects, and species, into a… different way of thinking, and the well of knowledge and imagination me and all other humans have gathered, to help my Guai grow stronger and better at using their natural powers…. And to care for them emotionally as well. They are as smart as me I’d say, so to a point, communicating with them for the promotion of their own and mine paths to strength, whatever it is that we choose, is also a responsibility of a Trainer. I offer the unique perspective of a Human, and also a meeting place of many different types, which can allow variations to occur.”
“Although not laconic, and I can’t possibly have everyone learn your definition, you were pretty much spot on. Not everyone would agree with you, especially on the communication part, but I think everything you said had value…” He tapped at his temple, his brows scrunched up in thought.
“Very well. I am your Instructor, Mareth. Nice to meet you, F-Rank trainer Andras, nice to meet you all.” Mareth bowed his head and stretched his arm and leg in a theatrical bow. “I’ve had enough fun teasing little Andras here, so before our time for today runs out, let us get into some real training, shall we?” His tone and demeanor shifted from that of a strict examiner on a finals test, to that of a fruity instructor of some yoga class.
‘I didn’t mind one bit, I knew something was up the moment I saw that Geran.’
The next thing I knew I found myself gasping for breath, with sweat dripping into my eyes and onto the sand below, with my clothes sticking to my body and my muscles aching like never before.
“Andras. Is that all you have, oh dear. Did expect too much?” Mareth looked down, tall as he was, like the God of Judgment, one of them at least, and mocked me with that tone of his. My Guai were doing their own program, I could hear their grunts, the slapping of hand to hand combat.
I punched forth, ducked and rolled back. I spread my legs wide and performed the dirtiest jumping squat the world has ever seen. I faltered as my feet hit the ground. My eyes swam like fish in a tank.
“Is that all you can do for your Guai? Do you amount only to this much?” He pinched his fingers real close together, leaving only a small gap, and pointed at my crotch area, he giggled. “Mufu~”
“Damn it!” I shouted, veins popping in my head, and fell down for a burpy.
I shot back up, sprinted forth a mere 25 meters and stopped with a single step, digging deep into the sand. I stabbed my other leg into the fiery pit and ducked, back straight knees with a slight bend, and wrapped them around a completely spherical rock.
I tensed {HNG!} I could fit my arms around it with enough room to grab both wrists and lock it in, yet I still struggled, my weak office worker muscles were indeed my weakest point. That is what Mareth had decided and thus made me break my back working to improve them.
I threw it behind me with a twist of my core, it traveled half a meter at most and without stop I sprinted back 50 meters. I stopped again and dropped into a burpy once more. I jumped up and Garen, waiting, grinned at the red faced mess he saw. He punched forth and I dodged to the left, then to the right. He swiped a kick and I jumped back.
He kept kicking and I checked those kicks with my legs, swollen and bruised, they ached so horribly I wanted to quit right there. ‘Damn it all!’ I screamed in my mind and punched back, tows on the ground, heels never touching, that much I knew. It was of course futile, but it was part of the regime. No matter it futility behind every punch I really wanted to smack that shit eating grin to pieces.
I dropped down he lifted me from my legs, my knees bent around. I pulled with my abs, once, twice, thrice. The next time I couldn’t get back up. Mareth came up. He waited as I spit dribbled up my nose, and he watched as blood vessels popped under my skin. I wanted to get up, but I just couldn’t. I wasn’t ready to give up, I didn’t want to end it.
The truth wasn’t something I could avoid or change. “I can’t get up.” It had only been ten minutes. I felt humiliated. Just knowing where I would be if not for the the System and the strength boosts it has given me, it made me blush. Though at this point lush or not, my face was unrecognizable, beat red and sky blue, mixed all together into a sickly purple. Geran dropped me to the ground and Mareth helped me sit up. “5 Minute break everyone!” He called and all his Guai stopped, so did mine, scratched up, angry, tense, and in an unfriendly mood they huddled together as if strategizing how to get at least one good hit on their instructors.
“Don’t beat yourself up over it. You have a lot more desperation than I thought. Most last only two repetitions the first time. Usually they are Tier 3 as well.
“It’s the Bonds. I have bonded with three more Guai than them. I’ve had my Attributes greatly increased as a result. I captured one of those Guai as well, which felt like a greater boost, so great in fact that I could feel it the moment it happened, compared to the rest. I can tell you for one, that I did not have such persevering tenacity before coming to this Realm, or at least, not so apparent and immediate.”
“That’s just your circumstances, and I don’t know them, just like how I don’t know what advantages the others had that you didn’t. All I know is that you went for 11 repetitions. Did you say one of your Guai has the Blood Aspect?” Mareth asked with a devilish little smile that seemed to wrap around his face, a demonic smile from the pits of hell.
I gulped down hard as Frey came over. I don’t know what she did, but as wounds opened and closed where she dug her fingers into my flesh and took them back out, something was injected, something changed. Over the next few seconds a chill spread through my body, my heart rate dropped and I stopped sweating, my body felt clean, as if just out of an ice bath, and the next everything started burning up.
I stood, raring to go, My heart beating through my skull with power. It was like she pumped me full of drugs. A weird sense of foreboding wormed into my mind as Mareth chuckled and conspired in a hushed whisper with his Guai, they both looked to me with a devilish twinkle in their eyes.
“Well come on then.” I took that worm of fear and bit it in half, then stepped on it. Just the knowledge, that I would be able to see tangible progress written for me in a simple display the moment I finished this hellish task. It was enough to push me over the edge into madness.
Ingrid, Temesia, Mara, and Frey, all had their hands full dodging attacks, as they too kicked it up a notch from mere physical combat to now using basic spells and attacks with their aspects. Blades of wind. Rock walls, and clay puppets, lava explosions, steel feathers, veins pumped with orange energy, eyes alight with a caramel glow, fire javelins and seductive mind games. Anything and everything went, but always with control, at least from the side that was clearly stronger. I couldn’t pay much attention to them, but I could feel that the girls were having fun letting loose, under the thick veil of frustration. They were giving their all after all and nothing seemed to phase their opponents. Even Frey, who was Tier 20, managed to hit her opponent an absolute zero amount of times.
“Get your head in the game, Chump.” Mareth slapped me in the back of my skull and I fell down, crunching on a sweet plate of sand. “Ptew! PTEWY!” I spat as I tried to answer.
“Less gawking, more working.”
{Tststststs~} Mareth smacked his tongue to the roof of his mouth in disapproval. Getting the message I got on with the training from hell. Sand in my mouth and all.
