Book 2: Chapter 4: Training

  ***

  The next day passed like the calm before a storm. Alex and team focused on training, cultivation, and gear repairs. They had quiet conversations by the fire. There were no monsters or bosses, no echoing screams in ancient corridors. Just the rhythmic constant of breath, sweat and pain to guide them forward.

  Alex found himself settling into a strange new role that he had never had before: coach.

  “All right, again,” he said, nodding toward Allie. “Slower this time. Focus on form, not speed.”

  She wiped her forehead with the back of one hand and grumbled under her breath. Despite her growing ire, he watched as she reset her stance and began again. Her form was cleaner now, shoulders back, weight balanced. He could see the subtle glow of her healing spell forming evenly across both hands. The energy, monitored by his aether sight, finally being controlled and smooth instead of wobbling around like it was an unsteady toddler.

  “Better,” Alex said. “Keep practicing the layer-stacking. Healing and buffing at the same time will save our lives down there.”

  She gave him a look. “You’re not coming, remember?”

  “I meant your lives,” he replied smoothly.

  Allie rolled her eyes, but a small smile tugged at her mouth as she turned away to continue her practice.

  Alex turned to Devon next. He could hear that Devon was muttering to himself in a corner, all the while, etching symbols in the dirt with a bit of charcoal. Glyphs, sigils, lines, and spirals of all various forms and kinds. Even with Alex’s [Glyphcraft] knowledge, to him it looked like ancient mathematics had gotten into a bar fight with a circuit board.

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  “Devon.”

  He jumped. “Huh? Oh. Yeah. I was just running simulations for layering inside a spatial distortion field. You said there were gravity glyphs that existed right? Using earth attuned energy as a focus?”

  Alex raised a brow. “You’re what-ing now?”

  “Look, if the dungeon uses folded space to generate separated instances, and it does, how else do you have a System Dungeon right? Then pre-calculating spacial rune anchor drift and using space fold runes to shorten energy paths could increase cast distance by up to 20% and lower casting time by 8%. We will also need to get this basic understanding for temporal translocation spells down well in our future escape attempts. So far I’m still in the basic theory phase. It’s just… I need better ink. The mushroom oil keeps smudging.”

  Alex grinned. “Right. We’ll see what Vrung’s Quarry has.”

  Devon nodded and smiled, then went back to his work.

  Later, Alex sparred with Lance. They had gotten all their gear and weapons back form the Kobolds, but the taller man had taken a liking to a curved blade scavenged from the kobold armory instead of their spears. It was a little too long for him, a little too awkward, but Alex could already see him adapting. His sweeps and deflections flowing smoother with every pass.

  “You’ve got good instincts,” Alex said. “Just watch your back foot. That’s where you’ll get caught off balance.”

  Lance nodded in response to the critique, sweat dripping from his brow. “Yeah. Noted.”

  Even Kate, the most stubborn out of all of them, came by once to see him when no one else was watching. She didn’t ask for help. Just stood near him while he sharpened his dagger that he got back from his backpack outside the tunnels. She watched him and said, “If this dungeon kills any of us, I’ll find a way to haunt you.”

  Alex didn’t look up. “I’ll save you a seat.”

  Kate simply scoffed and crossed her arms. They stayed silent for a bit until Alex finally looked up at the woman. She glared down at him like she was trying to make a statement. Alex simply grinned and waved her off, something she very much disliked as she huffed and stomped away.

  He simply chuckled after her departure and got back to his work.

  It was strange for Alex, mentoring them all. They weren’t kids. They were adults, and each of them back home had been soldiers, fighters. But still, he saw it in their eyes. That small spark of uncertainty, of waiting for someone to believe in them, someone to trust and have their back. Maybe that's what Sylvaris had seen in him. Why he had trained Alex for those few days. Now Alex saw it in them and new he had to help them train too.

  The cycle of power and responsibility. He knew a certain web-slinging hero would be proud.

  They gathered around the fire at the end of the night with their bellies full, weapons cleaned. The tension around them was lower than it had been in weeks.

  “Tomorrow, we head to Vrung’s Quarry. Get what supplies we can, restock, maybe beg Celeste for upgrades.” Eric said.

  “Do we tell her about the kobolds?” Cole asked.

  “She’ll probably guess,” Alex said. “Especially after she sees you,” he nodded at Tom-Tom, who was currently sprawled out on a kobold-sized fur rug like a sultan on vacation.

  Tom-Tom raised a claw lazily. “I okay to be your prisoner, if the food is this good. And the fire. And the boots. And the explosions.”

  “Boots?” Devon asked.

  “I’ve stolen two pairs,” Tom-Tom said cheerfully.

  Eric looked at Alex. “Is he… coming with us?”

  Before Alex could answer, Tom-Tom sat up suddenly, clasping his claws together in a gesture that was either reverent or totally deranged.

  “Tom-Tom humbly ask to join your war-party forever. I’ve worn socks and cannot go back now. I’ve seen what potion grenades do, and have fallen in love. My heart belong to you.”

  There was a long pause. Then Garret said, “I second this motion.”

  Everyone groaned.

  “You’ll behave?” Alex asked.

  “No promises,” Tom-Tom said.

  Alex considered that for a moment, then nodded. “Fine. But you carry your own weight. And no licking strangers.”

  Tom-Tom did a dramatic salute. “Understood, glory to Dragon-leader.”

  “And we will have to talk about these potion grenades,” Alex sent a suspicious glance toward Allie. Whom, to her credit, at least made a show of looking away and appearing innocent.

  The fire crackled softly as the group eventually gathered up once more and settled in for the night. The cavern ceiling sparkled overhead with hundreds of tiny crystals catching the firelight, giving the breath-taking appearance of stars frozen in stone. They talked for a while. Nothing serious of course. Just dumb stories. Garret tried to one-up Tom-Tom in a belching contest. Henry handed out pieces of dried meat from a pouch that he refused to explain.

  Devon talked about aether density in animal bones, somehow steering the conversation into zombie squirrels. Tom-Tom became very interested in the zombie squirrels.

  Eventually, they drifted into silence. Alex looked around at them, his squad, his friends. The tension in his chest hadn’t fully eased since leaving the Dark Den, but now… it was starting to. A little.

  He leaned back, watching the ceiling of glittering stars. He knew tomorrow would be busy, the road ahead uncertain.

  But for now, this moment was enough.