《The Abandoned Sorcerer》39. Training for life by death
Advertisement
Dropping his bag to the ground, Orion stretched his body. Taking his shirt off, he looked at himself in the dim light. His arms were lean, his muscles more defined than before despite shrinking. There were bruises and scars all across his body, mostly light wounds but some heavy. Kora had treated him several times during the trip, but the wounds still showed.
He spent what little time he had laying on the bed, one with a frame made of wood and a mattress made of giant leaves. Just as he dozed off, he heard a bell ringing from outside. Pushing himself up, he dressed himself. Each of the Seekers had a separate hut, his around 5 metres in diameter with a thatched roof. It was furnished with a bed, a wooden table with a drawer, and a glubber’s wax lamp on top of the table.
He stepped out at the same time as Lilith, who gave him a tired smile. Cyae and Kora already stood by Leo who held the bell. They had both changed into cleaner, lighter clothes, as had Lilith, singling out Orion from the get-go.
“Hurry up!” Leo shouted, his earlier calmness morphed into a stern anger. At least his temper fit his role as an instructor, Orion thought.
“Follow me,” the ginger Seeker said when they grouped together, bringing them to a towering tree.
From a glance, the tree looked like its neighbours, just a little larger. But as Orion gave a closer look, he noticed scars along the tree’s bark and around the branches.
“You’re lucky Jowler gave you twenty minutes of rest. Now, I want to see how fast you can climb this tree,” Leo said. He pointed at Cyae, “You go first,”
The short-haired Seeker didn’t fluster, instead, she immediately circled the tree, searching for the best place to start from. Once she found a branch low enough, she began climbing, swinging and pulling her way up, reaching the top in twenty minutes.
“Well, are you going to come down?” Leo roared, seeing her resting at the top.
Once she was back on ground, Leo looked at the group with disgust. “Pathetically slow, I can’t believe how much the Seekers have deteriorated. Since we don’t have all day, you three go up at once. Remember, fast, not slow,”
Since they had watched Cyae’s attempt, the three of them found better routes, each going faster than she had. Lilith was the slowest, using the same technique as Cyae, while Kora was faster due to her pure strength, allowing her to swing off branches with greater force. Still, Orion was the fastest because he was light and nimble, allowing him to zip up and down in fifteen minutes. Leo nodded at him and waited for the other two, Kora touching ground in twenty minutes and Lilith in thirty.
Advertisement
“Better, but still lacking. Not one of you could last against a 5-star solo, let alone a 6-star in a group.” Leo said. Receiving incredulous and confused expressions in response, he continued, “Yes, I know you’ve all killed 5-star monsters but you must be able to do that by yourselves now, otherwise you’ll drag down any team hunting a higher ranked monster. Based on how fast you went, Cyae, do 4 laps of the tree, Lilith 4, Kora 6, Jax 8. You’ve got 2 hours to finish your laps; I will make sure anyone who fails in that time starves tonight!”
The instant he finished, the four Seekers began climbing up the tree. Orion cursed his luck as he pulled himself to the top – he had considered it a speed exercise and had wanted to impress. If he had known it to be an endurance activity, he would have gone as slow as Cyae.
By the time the first hour passed, Orion was on track for dinner having completed 5 laps. The following hour, however, was a downhill battle. His muscles ached, and he feared they had torn at one point; his chest heaved and he was constantly out of breath. But worse than these was his mind. During the sixth lap, his mind went off track, the 100m drop down suddenly seeming awfully attractive. It was a challenge to keep his body in one piece, one he almost failed on his last lap as he tripped on the way down, diving through 50 metres.
Even when Leo caught him, he didn’t faint from shock, much to his misfortune. He suffered the following minutes as his body felt broken, simply broken. They must have somehow walked back to the main camp without his awareness because the next time he came to, he was gorging on charred meat by a bonfire. The more he ate, the less his pain became. After enough mouthfuls, his body felt refreshed, but looking down, he saw his hands trembled in fear.
Glancing around, he saw around twenty Seekers enjoying meals around the bonfire. He spotted Cyae convulsing on the floor, he spotted people pointing at him and her and laughing, he spotted Leo walking up to him with Kora and Lilith behind.
“You should feel full after eating that much 6-star meat. You’ve got too much energy now, I bet you want to spend that somehow. Come on, after me,” Leo said. He said similar words to Cyae, soon bringing the four back to the giant tree. “You look a lot better now. I want 5 laps from Cyae and Lilith, 7 from Kora, and 9 from you, Jax,”
Advertisement
Seeing them standing dazed at the enemy they believed they had destroyed, his mood changed. “NOW!” he roared, the anger behind his voice driving them up the tree.
Orion managed to do 5 laps before the pain rapidly mounted up. He vividly remembered the sixth one, the searing pain and his pride at finishing it. The rest of his memories were fuzzy: some from his seventh lap, slipping from a branch; some from his eight lap, losing his grip and falling, and one from his ninth lap, him heaving under the lowest branch of the tree, headstrong on pulling himself up while his body denied him.
When he awoke the next day, somehow in his hut, he didn’t see the same nightmares as always, the ones of the fateful day his life had changed, the day his family’s lives had been reaped. Instead, he awoke to a lack of sense from his limbs, feeling alarmed as he desperately tried to move the limbs that had turned to stone overnight.
Eventually, Leo came in and piggybacked him to breakfast, where he met and fell in love with his limbs all over again, swearing to them he would never push his body so hard. It seemed Leo didn’t care for Orion’s promises as he forced the four to lift stones all day. Orion was the weakest, Lilith just above, followed by Cyae, and Kora who was far above. It turned out Leo didn’t give a shit about their strength either as he pushed them all to breaking point anyway.
Even when Orion tried to go against the man by plopping on the ground and swearing not to move, Leo would just take him to the food court where the temptation for food was too much for Orion to resist. The second he was full, he was lifting stones again, breaking his back along the way.
The day after that was dedicated to willpower building. Leo took them to a waterfall where torrents of water cascaded down to a ferocious river. There was a rope fastened just above the river which they were meant to hang from, taking the force of the water with their bodies and not letting go. When they did inevitably let go each time, they were fished out. Death was a close companion throughout the training, and while Orion never held hands with the bony man, there were times he swore he saw him while sinking, his breath depleting by the second.
Even when refreshed by the meat, Orion felt the impulse to run from Kajan to live as a hermit somewhere. But when seeing the others go through the same trials as him, seeing them endure, it pushed him past boundaries he had thought immovable. It was only much later he would learn Leo had an equal part in keeping him in the torturous training, after all, the man had gained peculiar skills from his awakening.
On the fourth day, Leo told them it was sense training, grinning after that. Along with their usual 6-star monster meat, they were fed a mix of leaves, stalks, and mushrooms. They then entered a simple obstacle course, told to complete it in a limited time. While Orion could swear he saw Death the day before, he knew for certain he met the Reaper during senses training, multiple times at that.
Their lives at Kajan carried on like this, their trainings repeating regularly for an immeasurable amount of time. Immeasurable because Orion gave up on counting after a bit, instead, solely using his energy to face his days. Leo spiced up the trainings as time passed as he added new sorts such as speed training, agility training, weapon training, and such.
The day when they would awaken neared, and soon enough, without any of them realising, they were thrust into the Seeker Guild’s greatest secret.
Advertisement
- In Serial11 Chapters
Reborn in MHA
A perculiar teen dies after being hit by Truck-kun. As the beaming lights flash into his eyes and the immense force tore apart his body, he finds himself in a dark room before meeting a God who lets him reincarnate. ( I do not own My Hero Academia, or the cover photo used for the novel )
8 206 - In Serial128 Chapters
Is that a Wisp?
In this universe, wisps are the absolute weakest forms of life. Although intelligent, they are basically not suited for cultivation due to their very limited life spans.Krune just so happens to be one of them. Worst of all, wisps are frequently used as cultivation resources. Since they are beings of energy, they are suitable for cultivation due to their high concentration of it. In a fated night, while wisp hunters were pursuing him, Krune will meet a little lady who will change his life. Here, on the distant planet of Makui, a legend is born. This story is also available on webnovel.
8 159 - In Serial26 Chapters
Tales Of The "Chosen" Heroes
It is a new generation of adventure and exploration. A time in which people can cement their legacy in history. A world of monsters and magic. A world in which three people have been selected to create a new story. Despite what they may want, the gods have chosen them. Will they change the world or be just another passing moment? Only time will tell, these are their tales. A farm boy from the middle of nowhere, a warrior who devoted his life into the art of combat, and a simple gang member find out that they have more in common then they would like. The three are thrown into something that none of them expected.
8 175 - In Serial22 Chapters
World Blueprint: Variety of Life
The bond of two: man and girl, attempts to survive in all seven realities which inflicted with danger from invasion of unknown enemies in every world. Waltren Eragle was born with untreated-illness. He created World Blueprint, defeated a doctor's future vision that he would die in few years. With the power, he had been living simultaneously in seven realities: Blueprint Reality, Science Reality, ALIEN REALITY, Alchemy Reality, Rune Reality, Steam Reality, MAGIC REALITY. Though, the disease was about to coming back after eight years. Despite hopeless, he lived long enough, accepted his fate soon and prepared to pass this ability to someone else. After third selection who failed, he encountered a girl who seemed to be a unsure yet qualify to grand the right. However, as he was teaching her everything to know about World Blueprint, otherworld invasion occurred one by one in every reality. Siqura Selvona was grew up with debt left by his father. She and her mother were working day and night, chased the end month to dismiss the flowery-interest rate. As weight gone from her life, she thought everything would be greater when all of sudden his mother disappeared and treated by people as murderer. Have no idea what was going on, stressed from massive rumors, until when they started seeking a revenge. Peaceful was over, she was about to raise weapon with her bare flesh-hand, believed herself as daughter of criminal but a boy who she never met before rescue her. On next day, people somehow forget about her mother and blamed the tragedy to someone else. The boy who saved her acted like close childhood friend even though she had no recollection of relationship. With her mother still missing, she took connection who a completely stranger to her. Available on sites: Scribble Hub - https://www.scribblehub.com/series/81248/variety-of-life Royal Road - https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/29384/variety-of-life Wattpad - https://www.wattpad.com/story/210843130-variety-of-life Webnovel - https://www.webnovel.com/book/17174007506882105 Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/OcelintSteiner Amazon Page for Other Series: "Perfect Blueprint Volume 01 - Soul Hack" - https://www.royalroad.com/amazon/B07Y8SS7SD
8 158 - In Serial11 Chapters
mario x meggy
Mario and cappy landed in inkopilos and cappy located power moons but Mario saw a familiar inkling. could Mario have feelings for her or not. find out
8 129 - In Serial4 Chapters
GhostMyers OneShots
Just some ghostmyers one shots & headcanons I haveI'll be mainly using Dead by daylight Ghostface which is Danny or his alias Jed Olsen I'm taking requests so feel free to shoot me a message or comment some ideas or what you'd like to see
8 196