Chapter 1508 (2/2)

It did, however, make Raymund feel somewhat better to glance at Benjamin and see that his acquaintance was also grimacing. Benjamin seemed to notice Raymund’s gaze and shrugged lightly. Then he spoke in a soft voice. “I retract my earlier statement. Everyone… everyone is in for a surprise. This formation… the man who designed it is clearly a sadist. If anything, the intensity increases as we head toward the center.”

“...the guides…” Raymund managed to get out.

But Benjamin understood what he was saying and nodded slowly. “...Yes. The fact that they display no signs of strain is either proof that this formation is more elaborate than should be possible or that we will be expected to grow entirely accustomed to this strain. Both options...are somewhat troubling.”

The recruits eventually reached the central area, denoted only by eleven small buildings arranged in a circle around a massive silver bell. From there, their weary journey turned South toward the Parade Grounds. Again, physically the journey was extremely short. Perhaps only two hundred meters. But after being strained for ten minutes in an entirely new manner, the group arrived rather listlessly before the beautiful humanoid woman waiting for them on the parade grounds.

At first, Raymund only barely took note of the woman, as he was largely concentrating on managing the throbbing headache that seemed intent on reducing him to a drooling husk of a person. But as he approached her, suddenly he couldn’t help but frown toward the woman. She was the center of a storm of pressure that covered the surrounding area. The woman adjusted her long braid and smiled sweetly at the group.

“Strong,” The massive grey dog growled. At some point, he had ended up keeping pace with Benjamin and Raymund. Even though he naturally disliked the dog, Raymund didn’t disagree. Benjamin narrowed his eyes and studied the woman.

The woman shifted her weight from one hip to the other. The tightness of her leather armor broadcasted the shifting curvature of her muscles as she did so. Her smile widened as she studied the exhausted group. “Welcome. Randidly Ghosthound will be your Drill Sergeant… but I’m your Overseer. Call me Overseer Helen. I’ll be making up all of your individual training regimens… so stay on my good side. Now… does anyone have any questions about your training?”

Suddenly being faced with such a question when they hadn’t even learned the details about their training, Raymund was bewildered. But almost immediately, Benjamin stepped forward. “While forcing individuals to engage solely with their image is effective training in the short term… any such training cannot be done for longer periods of time. Without special resources, the strain on images takes a long time to heal. So… what is your method for expediting the healing process?”

Overseer Helen nodded and tossed something at Benjamin. He reached up and snatched the objects out of the air deftly, despite the fact he was moving solely relying on his image. When he opened his hand, Raymund peered over Benjamin’s shoulder and saw that he had been given two coins that were stamped with a golden tree. Meanwhile, the stony man and Muareth began to pass out single coins to everyone else.

“For asking the right question at the right time, you receive one extra Tree Coin. Tree Coins can be traded in at any time, by anyone, to ring the bell at the center of our camp.” Overseer Helen said. She shifted her weight back. “You can earn Tree Coins, and other varieties of coins, for accomplishing something impressive during training. Question time is officially over. Now, you currently have a half-hour of free time… after that, we will be having a 1 v 1 tournament to give us an idea of what we are working with. Prepare yourselves as you see fit.”

Then she produced an apple and began slicing off pieces to eat, as though she was completely done with interacting with the group. Meanwhile, the attitude amongst the recruits turned somewhat strange. People kept sending glances toward Benjamin, who calmly pocketed his two Tree Coins with a mild expression.

“Oy,” Finally, the white-haired man with ram horns broke the silence. He unfolded his arms from across his chest and glared at Benjamin. “You are the only one here with two Tree Coins. It’s only fair that you use your extra one so we all understand what they do.”

“I disagree,” Benjamin said calmly. “Although I am exhausted, my image can persist for a while longer without a problem. Exactly because it is dangerous, there is a great benefit to training within this suppression field. Therefore, I plan to wait a while before using a Tree Coin.”

“Think about your fellow recruits,” The horned man said with a dangerous smile that suggested what Benjamin should really consider is the implied threat of violence. Benjamin turned away without responding, a clear sign that he believed the conversation was over. The horned man’s gaze sharpened. Meanwhile, the three ‘officials’ all seemed rather unconcerned with the bubbling undercurrent of violence.

Before anything happened, the flame elemental stepped forward to Muareth and offered a Tree Coin. “I wish to use my Tree Coin. Do I need to do anything…?”

Although Muareth was the one who took the coin, Overseer Helen answered. “Nope, I’ll send up the signal.”

Then she raised her arms and an absolutely massive image filled the surrounding sky. The currents of air turned crimson and flowed like boiling blood. Within that blood, a massive shadow filled the sky, as though some deepsea horror had been projected upward from its normal lair. With a swish of its massive tail, the shadow shifted and turned to regard the recruits waiting below with obvious interest.

DOOOOOOONNNNNGGGGG!

But before the shadow could move again, it was blasted away by that overwhelmingly pure image of life energy flowing from an enormous golden tree. But instead of being intimidating, this time the energy bloomed outward in a warm wave that lapped up against Raymund and made him release a gasp of pleasure.

That energy flood through his mind, seemingly knitting together all the strained edges of his image. In addition, that energy seemed to flush all the clutter out of Raymund’s mind and leave him with an incredibly sharp impression of his own image. For the first time in recent memory, he had some concrete ideas on how to shift his image to become vastly more powerful.

Within him, his sinuous nine-tailed fox stirred.

The flood of energy lasted for almost fifteen minutes before it gradually began to recede. And suddenly, Raymund felt extremely prepared to utilize his image for every movement; the rejuvenation had been more effective than he would have believed.

Meanwhile, the fire elemental glanced over toward Benjamin. Although his expression flickered with the flames that made up his body, Raymund sensed disappointment on his face. “If you could easily do something to benefit another… why would you hesitate?”

Benjamin just shook his head.