22 Greetings, my Lord. (1/2)
Orisa's morning was in no way a pleasant experience. She woke up with the same dull pain below the stomach. Two out of three girls kept ignoring her, while the third, Toatre, told Orisa how 'fun and overwhelmingly simple' every exercise was to her.
The usual workout didn't grant any pleasant feelings and instead added more pain to her lower parts. The shower was no better as she forgot the hygiene items in the dorm. The only thing that kept her going was a memory of yesterday's evening. 'It's as if I won in the lottery. Let's see where this catch will lead me.'
On her way to the canteen, Orisa met Kanai and Iten, and together they took a table in the corner of the dining room.
”How is it going, my brave comrades?” She asked, trying to sound cheerful.
”I'm absolutely fine, and thank you for asking.” While Iten sounded calm, she noticed some concern in his voice.
”Iten? What are you hiding from your best friend?” Orisa poked Iten in the forearm, but he just shook his head and nodded towards Kanai.
'Oh, we are back at square one again?' Orisa thought as she looked at Kanai's depressed face. He probably was even more stressed than before.
”What's going on, sweetheart?” She pulled Kanai on the cheeks, trying to make him smile. For her, it was always easy to focus on other people's problems and forget about her own, at least temporarily.
”I don't know what to do. Wasn't even able to do a simple Mana Burst.” He let out a long sigh before resting his chin on the crossed forearms. ”I don't know if I'll manage, because I'm completely useless and inept in everything... Can't imagine what will happen at today's practice.”
”Oh, you are telling me? Come on, stop joking around maybe? You are an overlord compared to my stat build.” She slapped his head with a pack of canteen's tissues in slight frustration. ”Do you even know how hard it was to do all this training? And all this suffering and humiliation gave me one, and I mean it, one semi-useless spell that I can't even use properly.”
Kanai kept submerging into his depression, but her story perked Iten's attention:
”I was actually interested in your training, and also curious about yesterday's departure.”
And this very moment Orisa finally remembered her yesterday's catch. She smashed Kanai's head with the tissues again, this time in excitement, and declared: ”You won't believe what happened yesterday!”
She then retold them the events of her evening in bright colors and with tons of sarcastic comments. By the end of the story, even Kanai perked up and lost some of his moss.
”I'm not sure I share your enthusiasm.” Iten was slightly disappointed by Orisa's excitement. In his book, it was unfair to take revenge on people.
”Oi, don't spoil the fun, man. It's not like I'm planning to blackmail her into slavery or something.”
”You aren't?”
”Iten, how could you? My heart is broken now, you merciless monster...” And she theatrically slumped on a chair. Iten just rolled his eyes and returned back to food.
”What are you going to blackmail her into, then?” Kanai lazily poked his food, still not quite in the mood.
”We'll just have some fun together if you know what I mean.” She winked at Kanai, making him chuckle. Iten's face actually reddened a bit after her revelation.
”Setting aside adult entertainment,” in the end, Orisa made Kanai laugh, ”regardless of today's practice, we are going to the gym afterward. Objections?”
”I'm not an ace attorney, but I have-” Kanai was about to complain, but was quickly interrupted by a giggling Orisa:
”You are deprived of your right to vote on this matter.” Then she turned to Iten.
”Sorry, not today. Nene asked me to help her with something again.” He sighed with a mix of confusion and tiredness. ”Although I must say, I find her requests rather pointless and dull.She can do everything herself, so why she needs my help?”
Orisa looked at him in awe. 'The only reason I can think of is that he was really old and forgot everything by that time...'
Even Kanai, being unfamiliar with Orisa's and Nene's interactions, looked like he understood the situation.
”You know what? Why don't you ask her that question today?” When Iten firmly nodded, she thought to herself: 'This will be fun.'
-
”Before I entrust you to the Captain, we'll briefly talk about the purpose of the establishment you are going to visit today.” The squad sat in front of Youko, who began her lecture.
”In general, there are two ways to improve your abilities and characteristics. The first won't interest most of you, because it excludes anything related to combat performance. I'm talking about Mana crafting and Mana engineering.” She proceeded to write it down on a chalkboard.
”Both methods implore a variety of materials, such as metal ores, crystalized Mana cores, other types of battle byproducts, and Mana ink. A crafter uses his Mana to mix, consume and create. In the process, he can grow stronger, depending on the difficulty of the task and quality of materials. But this method is both expensive and unhelpful to combatants for obvious reasons.”
Youko added some notes to the chalkboard before continuing.
”As for the second method, that is what you are going to do.” She paused, looking at the squad with an intent gaze. ”When you defeat a real opponent, you grow stronger. Not only your characteristics will grow but the abilities you used, too.”
She wrote a long name across the entire board:
”The Underground Combat Training Facility is a place to receive such growth. A special military unit called the Summoners supports this establishment by providing the so-called real opponents. In a controlled environment, they conjure a variety of enemies for you to fight.”
More notes were added before moving to a final part.
”For convenience purpose, this facility is shortened to the Dungeon, for it is an underground construction divided into floors. The deeper the floor, the more complex and hard is its environment and tasks. It is not possible to grow indefinitely using this method, but it is well tailored for the beginners.”
They discussed various things related to the Dungeon before Youko sent them to the Captain. Orisa waited behind to ask a few questions:
”I'm sorry, Miss Satou, but I have two questions unrelated to the lecture.” Already used to Orisa's curiosity, Youko simply nodded.
”The first is about the library. We wanted to read a specific book, but for some reason, we weren't able to find it.”
”And the book is..?”
”Fantastic Waves and Where to Fight Them.” Orisa noticed that Youko's face flinched for a moment before she collected herself.
”I'm not sure it will be of any interest to you. I haven't seen it for a long time, anyway.”
”I see...” Youko's reaction worried Orisa for some reason. 'I hope it is not an obvious foreshadowing of a deadly hidden quest.'
”Is that all?”
”The last one is related to the camp. I was really curious about our nearest future. How long are we going to stay in the camp and what else is waiting for us here?”
Youko slightly relaxed after hearing Orisa's question.
”Actually, this is your last week as a trainee. You'll have six days of the Dungeon, including a test, and the last day is for career selection.”
Deep in thought, Orisa left the class.
-
They arrived at a small stone building that stood amidst an empty, barren field. It took the squad ten minutes to get there, which meant that it was the furthest part of the training camp.
Captain Pain lined the squad in front of the door and began his part:
”Today you are going to show me your homework. If that self-study time we gave you was wasted, then you are so dead.”
Some of the squad members nervously gulped.
”Behind this door is the Dungeon. Follow my instructions, and most of you will survive.”
He turned around, unlocked the door with his armlet and went inside.
”Let's move, people.” Iten held the door to let the squad members pass.
Inside, Orisa saw a narrow staircase carved from stone. Its steps were uneven, and the path was dimly lit, together they created an atmosphere of an ancient castle.
Taking the first step into the darkness, she hummed quietly:
”And way down we go...”
They walked for a few minutes before arriving at a dead end. Two guards stood there - a full-plated knight and a magician.
”Capitan,” nodded the knight before pressing something on his armlet. The wall behind him turned into a matter displacement gate, and the Captain walked in, saluting to the knight. Behind the gates was a rather spacious room more than fifty meters wide and a hundred meters long.
”Welcome to the Dungeon.” Said Captain Pain, waving an area in front of him. ”Before we start, let's greet a man who will support us every other day, starting from today.”
A man in dark-blue military caster robe slowly walked to them, waving back to the Captain. He had short black hair and a look of a grumpy old detective in his dark eyes.
”Line up! Attention!” Yelled the Captain before turning to the soldier and shaking his hand. ”This is Lieutenant Reezpauzo, special military unit, the Summoners. Greetings!”
”Greetings, Lieutenant, Sir!” The squad said in sync.