The pace she needed to sustain to avoid falling into last place was tough, but doable. To an average person, it would appear as though she was moving at an all-out sprint, but to her it felt as if she was moving at about half of her top speed. If she were to guess, she would reach the hill in about 20 minutes if she kept going like this, and though it made her muscles and lungs burn with effort, the occasional injection of healing energies from Flawless Regeneration kept her afloat. She was confident that she would be able to complete the run without much trouble, so long as nothing surprised her.

As if her thoughts had summoned him from the ether, Samantha heard confident footsteps rapidly approaching from behind. A split second later, she saw the trainer emerge from a curve in the pathway through Prey’s Perception, and she wondered where the two other cultivators had gone.

“Hey there! You ladies didn’t think I’d forgotten about you, did you?” the teacher hollered, a wide, innocent grin dominating his expression.

Samantha’s heart dropped down to her stomach, and it seemed she wasn’t the only one.

The woman ahead of her was much faster than Samantha had initially thought. Each time Samantha started to close the gap between them, her speed would increase accordingly and maintain the space cushion between them. At the trainer’s words, the woman looked back with a determined grimace, then redoubled her efforts to stay in the front.

In no time at all, the trainer pulled up beside Samantha. He didn’t even appear to be sweating or out of breath from the exertion as he spoke to her, “Not bad, newbie! Not bad at all. You really left those Strength-focused cultivators in the dust. Don’t get too comfortable though, because they’ll be sure to outshine you in other areas later today, just like you’re doing to them now.”

Unsure of how exactly he wanted her to respond, Samantha erred on the side of being respectful, “Of course, teacher. I won’t become too prideful.”

He gave her a sage nod, “So, I can see that you’re naturally inclined towards Agility, correct? Your Endurance isn’t bad either, though it could use some work. Is that what you’d like to continue to improve, or were you interested in having more balanced attributes?”

Samantha looked at him with suspicion. Was this the same man that was mercilessly beating them not a few minutes ago? She supposed that this must be the interview portion where he was going to assess what she needed from the training. It was a bit odd that he wanted to do it during a run, but Thomas had warned her that the trainer was a little unconventional, so she went with it, “I want to continue my focus on Agility, at the least. However, I also need to work on the durability of my feet and legs so I can kick without fear of injuring myself. As for the rest, I would be interested in hearing your opinion.”

“Sure, I can give you my professional opinion after seeing a bit more of what you can do. Stop over here for a moment, I’d like to take a look at how tough your feet are currently.” he instructed, gesturing over to a small patch of grass off to the side of the road up ahead.

He motioned for her to take off her shoes, and Samantha did as requested. He held out his hands for the shoes and she handed them over with no small amount of confusion.

“Show me the bottom of your right foot. Mhmm… Now the left? Ah…. I see now. That’s easily fixable. Get back to running!” he ordered, waving towards the road.

Samantha held out her hands for her shoes to be returned to her, but he shook his head wryly and waggled his pointer finger at her, “No, girl. Run without the shoes. You think you’ll get tough feet by babying them? No! Suffer and grow, that’s my motto. Now move!”

He whipped his caning stick through the air and struck the ground near her toes, making her jump. Begrudgingly she started running again, cursing every horrible rock, pinecone, and stray stick that now stood between her and her goals.

Her pace slowed significantly as she tried to navigate around the roughest areas of the path, and she felt dread overcome her as she saw the two male cultivators in the distance beginning to catch up.

“Seems like things will be getting interesting again, right?” he asked her, a playful grin on his face.

A mild scowl was her only response.

“So, Agility training, a bit of Resilience training, and maybe a sprinkle of Endurance and Strength if we feel they’re lagging behind too much. That’s very manageable. If you put in your best effort here with me each day, I promise that you’ll hardly recognize yourself in a month’s time. That is, if you don’t drop out of the class.” he said, mischief leaking into his tone towards the end.

“I won’t drop out,” Samantha said through gritted teeth as she stepped on a particularly sharp rock, “this could be a matter of life or death for me.”

Speaking the words out loud caused her to reflect on the way she was training and why she was here. She was genuinely afraid that if she squandered her remaining time on the first floor, then her journey might end as soon as she ascended to the second. She felt grim determination in her heart at the thought, and she changed her running path. Instead of avoiding the toughest looking areas as she had been doing, she ran directly into them on purpose, activating Flawless Regeneration whenever the injuries that were too small for As One to activate on began adding up on the soles of her feet.

“Oh? A healing art?” the trainer asked thoughtfully, bending over slightly as he ran to get a better look as the tiny cuts closed and bruises faded, “A good one too. No scarring left behind from what I can see. What can it fix? Just bruises and cuts?”

Knowing that she was probably about to make the next month of her life more miserable than she could ever imagine, she answered honestly, “Everything. Once I grew my entire lower arm back after it had been blown off by a qi-overloaded weapon, though admittedly that took over a week of constant attention. Broken bones still need to be set correctly before I heal them though, I think.”

She could see his eyes widen and his mouth open slightly with Prey’s Perception, but he quickly schooled his expression, “Can you use it to heal others, or just yourself?”

“Just me.” she huffed, starting to feel a bit out of breath from all the talking they were doing.

“I’ve been a direct man my entire life, so I’ll cut to the chase. I’m interested in learning your technique--not for free, of course. Would you be interested in making a trade? My training in exchange for a transcribed Qi Art Manual of your healing technique, perhaps? You don’t need to answer now, but do think it over.” he offered.

Every merchant alarm bell in her mind was ringing at full volume, screaming that there was a tasty deal to be made here, but she resisted the urge to answer immediately. As her parents had taught her, she played it cool and downplayed her excitement, “I’ll consider it.”

“Wonderful! Now, where were we?” he said a bit absentmindedly, and looked back towards the two other trainees who were starting to fall behind again. “It seems you’re not in danger of being in last, but don’t think that means you should take it easy.” He looked forward and cupped his hands around his mouth, amplifying his shout so that the woman ahead of Samantha could easily hear him as well, “I expect you to catch up to and surpass your competition! There will be a reward for whoever makes it to the top of the hill first!”

He gave her a wink and slowed down, falling behind so that he would be able to continue ‘motivating’ the slowest runner.

The hill was only about 15 minutes away by her estimate, so she needed to get started sooner rather than later on passing the woman who she could no longer even see . She signaled her intentions to Silas and kicked on Swift, shooting off into the distance using every advantage she could leverage.

Samantha was neck and neck with the woman as they neared the base of the hill. Both were gasping for air and dripping with sweat trying to outrun the other, but they had reached an impasse and neither could keep the lead for long. The woman was actually faster than Samantha was, but her Endurance must have been a point or two worse. Samantha was hindered by the lack of shoes, but the occasional qi point into Swift during strategic stretches had seen her slowly gaining on the woman. Now they were at the end of the race, and both women were nearly out of steam.

Just as the women were beginning to move up the incline of the hill with shaking limbs, a blur of motion effortlessly passed by them. Samantha nearly tripped over her own bloodied feet as she saw the Low Bronze cultivator from earlier sprinting up the rise without even a glance behind himself. In seconds he ascended to the top, claiming first place in the race before the two had even made it halfway up the slope.

She cursed inwardly but didn’t allow herself to slow. It couldn’t be helped, after all. Bronzes were simply on a different level than Coppers.

When she reached the top, just a half-step behind the other woman, she nearly collapsed with exhaustion. Even using her entire qi pool to boost her chances of winning, she had still come in third place. She laid down on the soft, cool grass, and looked up to the sky. The sun was still very low in the sky, and it was likely that less than an hour had passed since it had risen. She still had a full day of training to get through, somehow.

She didn’t even have the breath to let out a groan, simply laying there and trying to recoup as much energy as she could before the last of the group made their way up to them. While she thought of who wasn’t here yet, she realized that Silas was distinctly absent from the hilltop. Rather than asking after the Jackalope, she decided to take advantage of her new ability and used Share Senses.

Samantha looked up at a particularly bushy fern that gave off a sickly sweet smell. The leaves dripped with morning dew, and she took in an entire mouthful of the delicious plant without hesitation. The earthy flavors danced across her tongue in a nearly magical mixture of tastes, and the dew gave everything a freshness that was difficult to describe. She felt tired and sore, though not nearly to the degree that she did in her own body.

“Silas, where are you?” she asked, not recognizing the area he grazed in.

“Oh! I got tired and bored running after you, so I just stopped for a snack. Do you need me, or can I keep eating?” he asked, seeming a bit disappointed at the idea of leaving his food unfinished.

Samantha released the skill and snapped back into her own body, “It’s fine, just don’t go too far away and don’t get eaten by anything. I won’t be able to help you if you get attacked.”

She felt an agreement come through their bond, and Samantha returned her attention to the task at hand. At the very edge of her hearing she could catch the sound of wood against flesh as the final members of their group arrived.

The last two men were in poor shape, looking as worn out as she felt. The man in the back limped slightly, appearing to have injured himself somehow during the final stretch of the run. Within moments both men reached the top, and Samantha stood up just in case the trainer would give her a hard time for laying down.

“Good! We’re all here. I’m glad to see you’ve defended your title as my fastest trainee even with the handicap of a late start, Alex. I assume you dropped off Torak at a clinic since he’s not here at the moment. As a reward for coming in first, here’s an elixir that will help you recuperate your energy reserves faster. Julia, second place isn’t bad at all, nice job! You’ll also get a recuperative elixir for being first among the Coppers. Samantha, I can’t fault you for lack of effort, even coming in third. You really gave it everything you had, which is respectable. As for you two lads, way to not give up! I know Agility is not your strong suit, so good on you for toughing it out.“ he encouraged, making sure to give everyone a bit of praise.

“Everyone, take five minutes to stretch and get some of your energy back. Now that we’ve finished our morning warmup and our blood is pumping, we can get started on the real training!” he beamed, then moved off to the side to begin his own series of stretches.

Samantha took his advice and did some stretching, taking the time to look around and inspect the training grounds she’d be spending a lot of the next month in.

Contrary to what the trainer had first called it, this ‘hill’ was closer to a large plateau. The top portion they all stood on was relatively flat, approximately a mile long and a half mile wide. A teardrop-shaped lake dominated the center of the area with the tip of the teardrop leading to the southern edge of the plateau, where it was only stopped from tumbling over the side by a crudely constructed wooden dam. On the far north side overlooking the man-made lake was a simple wooden cabin. It was shaded by the only tree in the area, a large, wide oak that must’ve been hundreds of years old. From her vantage point near the western side, it seemed the rest of the plateau was overgrown with high grass and small shrubs.

A short series of three claps returned her attention to the trainer, and signaled that their five minutes of rest were over, “Everyone gather around! I’ll be explaining the training regimen for today.”

They all followed him obediently as he made his way towards the dam, walking backwards as he spoke to them. “This is relevant for anyone with Resilience below 8 who wishes to train it. Show of hands?”

Samantha and the man with the limp raised their hands.

“You’ll be doing this exercise until high noon--in which case you’ll return here for lunch-- or until you cannot continue, understand?”

Samantha and the man both nodded their agreement, and the group made their way to the extreme edge of the plateau, just beyond the dam. The dam itself was about 10 feet tall and 20 feet across, set between two earthen walls that had been carefully dug out and reinforced with rock to direct the lake water towards the edge of the plateau. The dam was placed where the teardrop shape of the lake narrowed to its thinnest point, and there was a release hatch locked in place with a lever that could open or close the floodgates. Water continuously flowed through small, square openings cut into top of the dam, making a shallow river as it passed through the man-made channel and tumbled over the edge of the plateau into freefall.

As they got closer to the edge, Samantha got a good look at just how far that freefall was.

The ‘hill’ they had climbed to get here was deceptively high. Because of the relative gentleness of the incline, she hadn’t realized how high up they actually were. On this side of the plateau, rather than a smooth slope down to the forest floor there was only an abrupt edge, a cliff face, and at least a 200 foot drop--maybe more--into what looked like a miniscule puddle of water below.

“So, the proper way to land a jump from this height is either head first with your arms straight and hands pressed flat together above your head, or feet first with pointed toes and arms pressed flat to your sides. For beginners, I recommend the feet first option, as that is usually a bit less intimidating.”

Samantha did a double take, he couldn’t possibly expect them to jump from this high up. She opened her mouth to protest, but her fellow trainee beat her to the punch.

“Are you insane?! We’ll die if we jump from here!” the man accused, pointing towards the cliff.

“Well of course you’ll die if you jump from this exact spot! You’d miss the water by about 10 feet. You need to jump from over there.” the sadist teased, pointing out a long wooden plank about 30 feet away.

One end of the plank was firmly weighted down by a large boulder, while the other end dangled precariously above oblivion. It didn’t look remotely safe.

“I’m not jumping.” the man declared firmly, crossing his arms defiantly over his chest. “You’d need to be suicidal!”

The trainer shrugged at this, “It’s your money, do or don’t do whatever you want. But, if you’re not going to abide by my training plan, you can waste somebody else’s time. No refunds either way, so it’s up to you. What about you, girl? Will you take the leap?”

Samantha gulped hard and nodded weakly. If this would improve her stats and potentially save her and Silas's lives, then she’d do anything no matter how crazy it seemed.

“Good! As a bit of added Strength and Endurance training, you’ll be required to climb back up for your next jump using this rope.” The trainer reached down into the shallow creek and pulled up a two-inch thick braided rope. Now that Samantha knew the rope was there, she could see that it hung down in the center of the small waterfall, and ended somewhere in the water below.

Was this even humanly possible?

“I can see you asking yourself if such training is even possible to complete. The answer is yes, and I’ll tell you now that this is the beginner level difficulty. Once you become used to it, you’ll be required to climb up with only the power in your body, no rope allowed. As a sign of good faith, I’ll go first.”

Without warning, the trainer turned and jogged over to the diving board. He calmly walked out along the board and gave everyone a short salute. Then he stepped off into nothing.

Samantha gasped as she watched the teacher’s form gracefully flip and twirl end over end until he was a speck in the distance. A small splash erupted from the center of the pool, and she saw a dark speck swim over to the base of the waterfall and begin the climb. From there, Samantha lost sight of the man, except for those rare occasions where the waterfall would break around his body and she noticed that he was making impressive time climbing the rope with nothing but his arms. Not even two minutes later, the trainer lifted himself up and out of the waterfall, getting back to dry land and wringing out his robes.

He gave her an easy smile and then gestured to the plank, “Your turn.”

As she walked to the plank, she tried to breathe deeply and calm down. She decided now was as good a time as any to try and talk with Silas and warn him about what was about to happen. “Hey, Silas. I’m about to start the training program, and I wanted to warn you that it’s probably going to hurt both of us. I’m sorry, but I don’t know how to make this easier for you. All I can say is that this pain isn’t for nothing, and that this is something that I need to do so that we can survive in the future.”

Samantha fought every survival instinct she had as she gingerly walked to the edge of the plank and looked down. The world seemed to swirl around her and she felt her balance become precarious, so she dropped down to all fours and hugged the plank for dear life. Her heart pounded in her ears and she felt like she was going to be sick, is this what Silas’s fear of heights felt like for him?

She forced herself back on her feet and looked down into that small speck of liquid far below her.

“I love you!” she sent, then jumped feet first into the abyss.

The wind whipped past her as she plummeted towards the earth, and she felt the tears of terror streaming from her eyes being pulled away from her face by the powerful gusts.

“I understand. I love you too, Samantha!”

And Samantha fell… and fell… and fell…