Taking a step back, Hera noticed a slight pain in her ankles. It was the same pain she would have after a long day of carrying boxes and boxes of books from the storage in her old job. But her strength is higher now, even if she carries that much weight, it shouldn’t hurt her.

She drank some more water and looked around while trying to understand how she got hurt. The training room was busier than usual. Many explorers were either using the small arenas to fight against each other, or the training equipment to work out. If it wasn’t for the half-dozen people training with weapons, this would look like a gym. There was even a group doing yoga in the room’s corner.

Emptying the cup, Hera realized that she was very thirsty. She poured more water into it and kept drinking. Wondering why she was the only one coming here, she turned her attention to the recruits. No one seemed to have gone outside their small arenas. Could they have a higher resistance to thirst? Or maybe she wasn’t able to get a skill she was supposed to. Only when she saw Bonnie moving away from the dummy and picking up something in the ground she understood.

“Water bottles, not everything is a skill Hera,” she told herself. Forgetting even something so basic, Hera felt even worse than before. Finishing her water, she walked back towards the teacher who still held her sword.

“Feeling better lassie?” Mr. Greyson said while looking at the group fighting the dummies.

“Yes, thank you I didn’t realize I was a bit dehydrated.” The teacher stared at her.

“Ah didn’t call ye because of that,” Hera responded with a puzzled look.

“Am I doing that badly?” Mr. Greyson nodded.

“Aye, yer horrible.”

She felt her eyes beginning to water. Was that it? Taking a deep breath, she raised her head and tried to ask as calmly as she could.

“Am I getting kicked out?” Her voice was cracking, but her face had a serious expression. If she was going to lose a chance at her dream again, she wouldn’t go out crying like last time.

“Lassie, why do you keep thinking yer getting kicked out? Ah read yer file and know ye tried to be an explorer once before but couldn’t. Is that why?”

He was looking at Hera with a serious expression. He even stopped watching the rest of the class. Having someone focus so much on her was more than enough to make her nervous.

“Yes, I know the guild only needs the best, and if you can’t reach the standard, the door is the only place for you.”

The ways she spoke, without missing a beat, surprised Greyson. There wasn’t a shred of doubt in her words.

“Lassie, look yer getting us all wrong. Yes, we ask a minimum to join but that's just because the fat cats are too scared to let people get stronger inside the MAZE. Yer already doing the training yer one of us for life. Unless you kill a civilian for no goddamm reason, no one is kicking ye out.”

That shocked Hera, yes the guild was nice, but to her, that’s just for civilians. For explorers, she always expected that the guild was a ruthless place

‘But.. you said I was bad.”. The teacher gestured to the rest of the class.

“Aside from Leo and Blue yer all fucking terrible. That‘s the whole bloody point of this month. By the end of it Ah hope Ah can make ye less awful.”

Hera smiled and nodded. For the teacher, it could seem just a clarification, but to Hera, knowing that she was an explorer for life lifted a huge weight she had on her chest. “Thank you, Mr. Greyson. I hope to be less awful by the end of the month too.” She then pointed at her sword. “Can I get it back?”

“Not until ye tell me why are ye so angry.” He pulled back the sword, still staring at the girl.

“I… I got hit..” she lowered her head.

Mr. Greyson let out a long sigh.

“Just for that? Ye got angry because the dummy hit ye? That’s why ye looked like ye wanted to rip the thing out with yer bare hands? Honestly, lassie, It’s a dummy ye don't need to be angry at it.”

“But I wasn’t” Hera almost shouted. The teacher raised one eyebrow, and that was enough to make her speak in a lower voice. “I was angry at me, I messed up. I should have been more careful. If I’m in the MAZE, I can’t make mistakes like that”

“Aye, yer right. But here is the thing. This ain’t the MAZE. This is the only place ye can make mistakes, so Ah hope ye make them. Do a wrong move, try a new weapon, give the bloody dummy a hug but use all that to figure out what ye can do when yer inside. And even then, don’t let yer mistakes eat ye up like that. Being angry in a fight only makes it harder for ye. Trust me Ah know.” He gave the sword back to Hera “And for the System's sake, don’t be so high strung. Even if it’s dangerous yer allowed to have fun.”

Hera picked the sword and went back to her dummy. Still digesting what the teacher said, he seemed right in almost everything. Aside from thinking she wasn't having fun. This was the most fun she ever had.

She was once again in last place. There was around half an hour to go, and she still needed 1200 points. This time however she waited for the hook. She planned to do a few of her combos to get in the zone again. A few seconds passed before the dummy did the move she expected. Dashing forward, she once again did her combo. The attacks connected just like she wanted and it seemed even though she stopped for a bit, the movements were still fresh in her memory.

Pamella looked back and noticed Hera attacking again. Her movements were the same, but they had a few differences. They seemed to connect a little better. Instead of just being three separated strikes jumbled up in one. But the biggest difference was on Hera’s face. Her serious expression had been replaced by a large grin.

Mr. Greyson kept watching his students. It was a depressing sight. Almost all of them had terrible stances and absolutely no footwork whatsoever. The only good thing he could say about this group is that no one was complaining.

Still, he was sure that would change, it was just the first day of training. By the end of the week, he expected all of them to be crying for their mothers.

The class kept attacking the dummies, Leonidas was the first to reach the 2500 points mark, followed by Pamella. Reaching the goal, they stopped attacking and sat down to rest and talk.

It didn’t take long for more people to join them. Soon Alex, Mark and the rest of the recruits were all sitting by the small arenas chatting about the training and the moves. The only ones who still needed more points to reach the goal were Hera and Bonnie.

The deadline was still ten minutes away and Hera was only two hundred points short. She had tried a few times to strike while the dummy did a different attack, but realized that she should focus on her combo. This was a training ground. The best way to improve is to focus on one thing before moving on to the next.

In a short time, she had the chance to perform two of her combos. She needed one or two more hits to reach 2500 points. Instead of walking back and waiting for the attack, Hera moved around the dummy, hitting it by the sides. It was something close to what Leonidas was doing. Instead of a big combo, it was several smaller attacks. After the third strike, she jumped back, almost falling on the floor again to avoid getting hit by one dummy's overhead chops.

She looked at the screen that showed her current score.

2506

Unlike her combo to get her final 30 points, it took her 3 attacks, but they were quicker and less impactful, which allowed her to retreat faster. That type of attack was in her mind for a while, but the time constraint was holding her back. Since now she was confident she could reach the 2500 points even if she got hit once Hera tried it.

It was an interesting way of doing it, although she felt it required more than her combo. Speed was the most important part of it, and it was more tiresome than waiting for the right moment. Still, Hera was happy she pulled it off.

Moving towards the rest of the class, she noticed Bonnie panting heavily, and holding herself up with both hands on her knees. Her hair stuck to her face and you could see the sweat dripping on the ground. Hera looked up to the screen, checking Bonnie’s score. She was 100 points short of the goal, but the girls just stood with her sword on the side.

Hera knew how it would feel to be the only one left out. Bonnie also seemed to be someone who would be very hard on herself if she failed a test like this. Wanting to help the girl Hera was thinking about what could she do, there wasn’t enough time to talk about strategy or to ask her to rest. She was still deep in thought when Pamella’s voice rang.

“C’ mom Bonnie! You can do it!”

The blue haired girl started to clap her hands and cheer, making a motion for the rest of the recruits to join her.

In just a few seconds Hera saw most of the class get up and join in the cheer, even a few explorers who were training chimed in.

“You are almost there!”

“Keep it going!”

“Let’s go, Bonnie!”

Hera joined in with the cheering after seeing Bonnie’s lips curling up in a soft smile.

Bonnie then dashed towards the dummy, avoiding an uppercut and striking it twice in the chest. She stepped to the right and attacked two more times before the dummy started to wind up a hook. Taking a step back she managed to avoid getting hit and then attacked as quickly as she could on the fourth strike she heard the crowd celebrating. She walked backward almost getting hit by a chop and looked at her score.

2503

Seeing that she raised a hand in the air to celebrate and looked at the recruits only to see a blue streak coming her way. Pamella tackled her and both fell to the ground. The whole training room started to laugh and celebrate even Mr. Greyson couldn’t help but smile.

Outside the training room, two women were watching the new recruits.

“I guess all recruits are the same in the end. It doesn’t matter what age they are, during the training, they turn into a bunch of kids”

With a laugh, the dark skinned woman said, “Don’t tell me you weren’t like that Frostbite.”

The muscular woman smiled “Of course I was, in my training, I’m the one who started most of the tackles, what about you Helena?”

“I was the one being cheered on. To me, the physical training was the worst part. But I guess most of the mages would say the same.”

Frostbite nodded and looked inside the training room, analyzing the recruits.

“I gotta say, I’m excited for next week.”

Helena gave a big smile.

“I’m sure you are not the only one.”