Outpost: Northwest 2
No patrols beyond this point –
Your life is your own.
“That’s kind of an odd statement.” Sen said. “Your life is your own.”
“What makes it odd?” Zulli asked.
“Just not something you’d say to warn people, at least in my world. It’s probably just a difference in culture. I kind of like it, I guess, it inspires some introspection.”
The carriage veered off to the side of the road as it rolled past the huge tree-trunk fences that encircled the outpost. August hopped off the carriage and landed with a thud. He had switched into his leather combat gear but was missing the chitin plates embedded into it that Sen and Zulli had first witnessed.
“Step out.” August said. “Start jogging around the outpost while I check with the guards.”
The pair stepped out as August walked toward a small, enclosed counter near the far gate which led to the open area beyond.
“Endurance training, then. My favorite.” Sen remarked in a begrudged tone. Shadowy mist enveloped him to replace his shirt and jeans with the Magic Society issued pants and shirt. The outfit wasn’t necessarily athletic in nature, but Sen thought it much more comfortable than running in jeans.
“It’s all part of it, I suppose. Your endurance could mean the difference in life or death.” Zulli responded.
“Oh, so you’re miss big adventurer already, then?”
“I’ve been waiting for this since I got here, Sen. Let’s go.”
Sen wasn’t excited to start running but followed Zulli at the brisk pace she set. After a few laps around the outpost, Sen was already breathing heavy and obviously put in great effort to keep up with Zulli. They both made glances toward August as they ran, who had finished speaking to the guards at the counter and packed up the carriage into the tiny steel wheel that fit into his oversized knapsack. August stopped them as they neared the finish of their fourth lap.
“Catch your breath. Then come over to the training area.” August said curtly and without waiting for a response. He walked over to an area cordoned off by wooden poles laid flat in the dirt. It had makeshift wooden dummies scattered about as well as some wooden platforms of different heights. There were what seemed to be adventurers doing their own training there, either practicing on the training dummies or lifting large poles up and then putting them down again.
Sen held himself up with his hands on his knees trying to catch his breath.
“Wow, Sen. I expected you to be a little more physically fit than this.” Zulli remarked.
“If I was made to run – I’d have four legs – Not two.” Sen exclaimed between heaving breaths. “But I’m fine.” He said, pulling in a heavy breath through his nostrils and standing straight up. “Just have to get back into it.”
“Back into it?” Zulli asked, as they started walking toward August.
“I used to be a soldier. Did I not tell you that? Oh, that’s right, I only told Vance.” Sen replied, his breath catching up to him.
August stood with his arms crossed, waiting for them to approach. “Sen, you’ll be focusing on your endurance, Zulli, you’ll be working on your dexterity.” August raised one arm out in front of him, and a heavy steel mace appeared in his hand. He set it down, head on the ground in front of Sen. “Upward swings. Go until you can’t, then jog it out. Keep breathing.” August told Sen before turning to Zulli. He pointed at a set of raised platforms. “Zulli, up and down on those platforms, pull yourself up when you have to, but try to make the jumps without using your arms.”
Sen grabbed the mace set in front of him as Zulli made her way to the platforms.
- Item: August’s Two-Handed Mace – (Conjured – Weapon)
- A conjured mace generated from the [Conjure Weapon] ability.
- Effect: None
“Zulli, Sen, your training is separate, but you are still part of a team, remember that.” August told them both before sitting down on a circular stool in the corner of the training ground. It was less of a stool and more of a stump cut to sitting height.
Sen pulled up on the handle of the mace. He held in out in front of him with both arms rigid as he struggled to hold its weight. With the weight of it tensing his muscles, he wasn’t sure if he could make one effective swing with it, let alone swing it enough to effectively train his endurance. His gaze shifted to August, who watched him like a hawk. Sen set the head of it on the ground next to his feet, then boisterously lifted on the handle with both hands, attempting to swing the mace high in the air. A wave of embarrassment flooded over him when the head of the mace only raised to hip level.
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“Damnit.” Sen said under his breath. Several adventurers stationed at the outpost were sure to be watching him, as well as August, and most likely Zulli as well. He hated to let them see how weak he actually was. His eyes stayed low, focusing on the mace and the ground beneath him. “Okay. One good swing, then a lap.” He said. Setting the weapon a little bit further behind him, Sen pulled on the handle with both hands again, this time building a little bit more momentum with the mace swinging upward to shoulder level. The mace fell onto the dirt with a hearty thud, and Sen set it upright. He released his grip of the mace and placed his hands on hips as he heaved a heavy breath of defeat. “I can get it all the way up, can’t I? There’s more I have in me, isn’t there?” He contemplated, quickly pacing away from the mace and then back to it. Sen grabbed the handle with both hands again, one hand on the end of its grip with the other near the middle. His stance lowered, bending at the knees and hips. He took a step forward, dragging the mace on the ground. He stopped. “Yeah, okay. Just like that.” He pushed off with his feet again, harder this time, taking several steps to build momentum as the mace drug through the dirt behind him. He pulled with one hand as he pushed with the other, lifting the mace up to hip level before sending the head of the mace high into the air. He felt the weightlessness of the mace while its momentum shifted from upward to downward, and he doubled down with it. He pulled down on the handle with both hands, slamming the heavy mace into the ground. It impacted the earth with a dense thunk, leaving itself sticking up from the ground at an angle when he released his grip on the handle. Sen let out another heavy breath, this one in triumph, as he stepped off to jog a lap.
Zulli was doing well on her own, able to jump up the one-meter platform and almost up to the next highest. She had taken a couple tumbles already in her attempts and had felt some embarrassment of her own. August had directed her to run a couple laps when she got flustered, where she would catch up with Sen and they would share some words of encouragement or push each other to dig deeper. This was mostly Zulli supporting Sen, as her iron rank endurance easily outmatched his normal rank fitness.
After several rounds of their training were completed, the time taking less than an hour, August corralled them to an open area of the outpost. Sen and Zulli both sat wearily on a crude wooden bench. August handed glass bottles of water to both of them, and Zulli sipped at hers, while Sen chugged his down.
“That was not bad. I expected more quit out of you both, but you trudged on. Color me slightly impressed.” August declared. “Take a few minutes, I’m going to get some information on the area ahead of us, then we’ll continue our trek to Silverwind.
When August stepped away from them once more, Sen looked up to the sky to see the sun beginning to set. He wasn’t able to take in the sights of the new area until he sat on that bench with Zulli. They were surrounded by a dark, dense conifer forest, the outpost and its buildings comprised of the wood taken from it. Maybe the endorphins were helping to make the world seem more beautiful, but a euphoric sense of delight consumed him.
“Training always sucks in the moment, but I love the way I feel afterward.” Sen told Zulli, his eyes resting on the horizon that peeked through the trees.
“I do feel good now.” Zulli replied. “I’m surprised with you.”
“With me? Why?”
“I just thought you would have come up with some clever reason to not train so hard. But you just kept going.”
“I know the importance of hard training, Zulli. It’s not something I’ll try to hide from.” He told her. “Well…” He retorted. “There might be times where I do, so there may be times where you have to push me to keep me on track.”
“Will you do that for me?”
Sen smirked. “Of course I will.”
August walked back to them, and they both stood from the bench, having gained back some of their strength. “The ambient magic moving forward is around the high bronze mark. There have been sightings of Herocs getting close to the main trails ahead of us, as well as Springe Wisps.”
“Herocs?”
“Springe Wisps?”
“Herocs will be our main threat, keep a lookout for tracks, and try to keep your footsteps light. Springe Wisps are mostly avoidable, just don’t get curious if you see any lights in the distance after the sun sets.”
“Wait, are we not taking your carriage?” Sen asked.
“No.” August replied without giving any explanation.
“We’re going to walk out there in the dark?” Sen queried.
“We are, for some time, then we’ll set up camp.”
“Why don’t we stay here at the outpost, and set out early?” Zulli asked.
“Because your training isn’t done yet.” August said, taking off his oversized knapsack and putting it on the ground. From it, he pulled out two smaller bags and handed one to either of them.
- Item: August’s Weighted Bag (Conjured) – (Bag)
- A conjured bag generated from the [Tools of the Trade] ability.
- Effect: None
“I have a dimensional storage space, and she has a dimensional bag already.” Sen notified August, looking at the bag and feeling the weight of it, it wasn’t heavy, but it wasn’t necessarily light either.
“You’ll wear those while we walk.” August commanded them.
“Ah.” Sen realized, putting the bag around his shoulders and fixing the straps. “I kind of gave all I had in the training because I thought we could rest in the carriage.”
“Adventuring is unpredictable.” August replied, slipping a bronze coin into his mouth.
Zulli took a queue from August and slipped one of her iron coins into her mouth, feeling revitalized from the power imparted from it.
“Did you guys just eat coins?” Sen asked incredulously.
“Once you get to iron rank, you can too.” Zulli told him.
“And what, they just put you back to one hundred percent?”
“Not exactly.” Zulli responded. “But pretty much, yeah. They don’t really give you any energy, they just top off the magical affluences you get from ranking up. It’s kind of like eating a meal and taking a nap, without eating a meal and taking a nap.”
“You can just eat coins and you’ve been eating regular food with me this whole time?” Sen asked, still quizzical.
“I love food.” Zulli responded without any guilt. “Also naps.”
“I haven’t seen you nap. Or sleep for that matter.”
“I was here a few weeks before you. My schedule changed a little bit when you got here. Things got a little too exciting for naps.”
Sen’s eyebrows furrowed in innocent disgruntlement. “I get most of the shawarma then, since you can eat coins and I can’t.” He said as a shadow appeared in his hand, taking the form of a paper-wrapped shawarma retrieved from his voidspace.
“Well that’s not-”
“That’ll be enough. Sen, you’ll set our pace. Start walking.” August told them and he pointed to the far gate of the outpost, opposite of the wooden gate they entered.
Sen gave Zulli a look as he walked away from her, unwrapping his shawarma and taking a gleeful bite.
Zulli wanted to argue with him but kept silent as to not upset August.
The trio walked to the gates, where the guards gave them a hearty farewell and good luck, and they stepped into the wilderness beyond.