Morning ca with the sa bell that had dragged Noah from sleep for the past three weeks, but today felt different. Energy buzzed through the barracks, recruits moving faster, talking louder, the competition announcent still fresh enough to fuel excitent.
Noah dressed and headed to breakfast with Nami, the two of them moving through their morning routine with the comfortable silence of people who'd been doing this together long enough that conversation wasn't necessary.
The dining hall was louder than usual, groups clustered by color discussing strategy, making plans, sizing up the competition. Noah collected his porridge and found Pip already seated at their usual table, the smaller recruit practically vibrating with nervous energy.
"Three days," Pip said as soon as they sat down. "Three days until the competition starts and we still don't know what the first challenge is. How are we supposed to prepare when we don't know what we're preparing for?"
"We prepare by getting better at everything," Nami replied, her tone practical. "Can't go wrong with that approach."
"Sure, but what if it's sothing specific? What if it's archery and I've been focusing on chakram throwing? What if it's endurance running and I've been working on combat techniques?"
"Then you'll adapt," Noah said, taking a bite of his porridge. "Sa as everyone else."
Pip made a frustrated noise but didn't argue further. Around them, conversations continued, speculation mixing with boasting, nervous energy feeding into itself until the whole hall humd with it.
After breakfast, they headed to the training yard. Valen was already there, setting up equipnt with his assistants. The dragon scale board had been removed, too damaged for further use, but the training posts remained in their usual positions.
"Today we focus on refinent," Valen announced once everyone assembled. "You've had three weeks to work on force concentration. So of you are showing real progress. Others are still struggling with the basics. Use today to push yourselves, to find that edge that separates adequate from excellent."
He dismissed them to their practice, and the yard filled with the familiar sounds of training.
Noah found his usual post and settled into the rhythm he'd developed over the weeks. Strike, examine the impact, adjust, strike again. The marks he left were getting consistently smaller, approaching the fingertip precision Valen demanded, but sothing was still missing.
He thought about what Nami had said days ago about setting up the concentration before the strike rather than during impact. The concept made sense intellectually, but translating understanding into execution remained elusive.
Nearby, Nami was working with her knives, attempting sothing she'd been trying to master for over a week now. She'd throw a knife at her post, then imdiately throw a second one aid at the first knife's handle, trying to drive the second blade deeper using the first as a penetration point.
The technique required absurd precision. Not just hitting a small target, but hitting it with enough force and the right angle to transfer montum without deflecting off course. She'd been close several tis, the second knife glancing off the first's handle or embedding nearby, but never quite achieving the perfect strike.
Noah watched her latest attempt. The first knife embedded solidly. The second knife flew true, struck the handle, and bounced away at an angle that sent it spinning into the dirt.
"Damn it," Nami muttered, retrieving both knives.
"What's the problem?" Noah asked.
"Angle of impact," she replied, frustration clear in her voice. "I need to hit the handle dead center with the blade perfectly aligned, and I need to do it while maintaining concentration on the second throw. It's like trying to thread a needle while juggling."
"Sounds impossible."
"It's not. I've seen it done. I just can't figure out the exact chanics yet." She reset her position and tried again.
Noah returned to his own practice, pulling his fist back and driving it forward into the post. The impact felt different this ti, sothing clicking into place that hadn't been there before. When he examined the mark, it was maybe the size of his thumbnail.
He tried again, focusing on that feeling, whatever had changed in his technique. The next mark was even smaller.
'Wait,' he thought, analyzing what his body had done. 'I compressed the strike before extension, not at impact. Set up the concentration in the coiling phase, maintained it through the release. Like loading a spring with focused tension instead of trying to direct dispersed energy at the last second.'
He struck again, deliberately replicating that sequence. The mark left behind was barely larger than his fingertip.
'That's it. That's what Nami was talking about. The concentration isn't sothing you do to the strike, it's sothing you build into the strike from the beginning. You make the attack smaller before you even throw it.'
Noah spent the next hour refining that understanding, each strike leaving progressively smaller marks until he was consistently achieving fingertip precision. Not just once or twice, but repeatedly, the technique becoming natural rather than sothing he had to consciously construct.
Then he started experinting with speed. Single strikes were good, but what about combinations? Could he maintain concentration through rapid sequences?
He threw a left jab at the post, then a right cross, then another left, building a rhythm. The marks were slightly larger than his best single attempts, but still well within acceptable paraters. With practice, he could tighten that up.
What about kicks? The principle should work the sa way, just different chanics.
Noah pivoted and drove his shin into the post, focusing the impact point down to his instep rather than the broad surface of his leg. The mark was larger than his fist strikes, but smaller than what most recruits were achieving with their hands.
He worked through different angles, different strikes, testing the limits of what he could do with this technique. Low kicks, high kicks, knee strikes, elbow strikes. Each one required slight adjustnts to maintain concentration, but the core principle held.
Ti passed without Noah really noticing. The sun climbed higher, heat building in the training yard, sweat soaking through his shirt. He was completely absorbed in the practice, in pushing this technique to see what was actually possible.
When he finally paused to catch his breath, he noticed a crowd had ford. Maybe twenty recruits stood at a distance watching him work, their own practice abandoned.
Noah looked at his post and understood why. The wood was covered in small, precise impact points, dozens of them arranged in patterns from his combination work. The damage was concentrated, controlled, exactly what the Vital Point Technique was supposed to achieve.
Other posts in the yard showed broader damage, fist-sized dents and scattered marks from recruits still struggling with basic concentration. The difference was obvious even at a glance.
"How are you doing that?" soone called out. "You're hitting like ten tis in a row and every mark is perfect."
Noah shrugged, uncomfortable with the attention. "Just following the technique Valen taught."
"We're all following the technique," another recruit said, frustration clear in their voice. "But none of us can do it like that. You're making it look easy."
It wasn't easy. Noah was leveraging enhanced attributes from his system, physical capabilities that exceeded normal human limits. But he couldn't explain that, so he just returned to his practice.
The watching crowd slowly dispersed, most of them looking either inspired or discouraged depending on their personality.
Pip appeared at his side, chakram in hand, his sharp eyes studying Noah's post.
"You figured it out," Pip observed. "The concentration thing. And you didn't just figure it out, you mastered it. That's... impressive doesn't really cover it. That's kind of terrifying actually, watching you punch holes in wood like it's paper."
"It's not that impressive."
"Burt, my friend, I've been watching people train here for three weeks. Nobody else can do what you just did. Not even close." Pip gestured broadly at the other posts. "Most people are still leaving fist-sized marks. A few talented ones are down to maybe two fingers width. You're driving actual holes through the wood with your bare hands and feet. That's not normal."
Noah didn't have a good response to that, so he just nodded and moved to get water.
Nami joined them at the barrel, her expression a mix of admiration and frustration.
"I saw what you were doing," she said. "The rapid combinations. That's insane. I'm still working on getting one perfect strike consistently and you're out here doing sequences like it's a martial arts demonstration."
"You'll get there," Noah said. "You already understand the principle. It's just practice now."
"Easy for you to say." She drank deeply, then wiped her mouth. "But seriously, that was good work. When the competition starts, the reds are going to have a serious advantage with you on their roster."
The rest of the morning passed in similar fashion. Noah continued refining his technique while other recruits worked at their own pace. By lunch, he'd progressed to the point where he could execute clean combinations of eight to ten strikes without losing concentration on any of them.
The dining hall buzzed with conversation about Noah's progress, speculation about what it ant for the competition, questions about how he'd improved so dramatically.
Noah ate quickly and returned to training, wanting to avoid the attention.
The afternoon brought more practice, more incrental improvents from most recruits, and more demonstrations from Noah that he'd reached a level beyond what anyone else was achieving.
As the sun began lowering toward the horizon, Valen called everyone to gather.
"Tomorrow is your last full day of preparation," he announced. "The day after that, the competition begins. Tonight, I want you to think carefully about what you'll need. Pack a change of clothes, anything you consider essential for several days away from base. We'll be leaving the training camp."
Murmurs rippled through the assembled recruits.
"That's all I'm saying for now," Valen continued. "Get so rest. Tomorrow, train hard. The next day, we move out."
He dismissed them, and the crowd dispersed toward the barracks, energy levels high despite the long day.
Noah walked with Nami and Pip, the three of them speculating about what "several days away from base" might an.
"Field exercises," Pip suggested. "Maybe they're taking us into actual wilderness, testing our survival skills along with combat capabilities."
"Makes sense," Nami agreed. "Dragon knights need to operate in remote areas. Can't always rely on established infrastructure."
Back in their room, Noah and Nami went through their minimal belongings, deciding what to pack. Noah had almost nothing beyond basic clothes and the essentials he'd brought from ho. The decision was easy.
That night, lying in bed while Nami slept across the room, Noah thought about the next day. About the competition that would follow. About how none of this was getting him closer to understanding "Extinguish the Flas."
Three weeks in this tiline, and he was still operating blind.
But tomorrow would bring new information. New challenges. Maybe sothing that would finally point him toward whatever he was supposed to accomplish here.
***
The final day of preparation passed with a lot of intense training. Everyone pushed themselves harder, knowing this was the last chance to improve before the competition began. The atmosphere in the training yard was focused, determined, with less of the casual conversation that usually broke up the monotony.
Noah worked on combination sequences, stringing together longer chains of concentrated strikes. By midday he could execute fifteen consecutive attacks without losing focus on any of them, the impacts driving precise holes through the wood in rapid succession.
Other recruits watched with expressions ranging from awe to resentnt, but nobody challenged him directly.
That evening, Valen gathered everyone again at the central platform.
"Pack your gear," he said simply. "Be ready to move out at dawn. Bring everything you think you'll need for five days in the wilderness. Food will be provided, but everything else is your responsibility."
Five days. That was longer than Noah had expected.
"Any questions?" Valen asked.
"What's the challenge?" soone called out.
Valen smiled, the expression not particularly friendly. "You'll find out when we reach the location. Now go. Get your rest. Tomorrow will be a long day."
Noah and Nami packed their bags that night, adding the spare clothes and basic supplies. Pip had sohow acquired extra rations, which he distributed among them.
"Never hurts to have backup food," Pip explained when Nami asked where he'd gotten it. "Learned that growing up in the marshlands. Always assu you'll need more than you think."
They slept uneasily, anticipation making rest difficult.
Dawn ca early. The recruits assembled in the training yard, bags packed, wearing their color armbands. Yellow, green, and red groups naturally clustered together, the tribal divisions that had ford over weeks now solidified into actual team structures.
Instructors moved through the crowd, handing out folded pieces of paper.
"Maps," Valen explained as Noah received his. "These show your route to the competition location and the way back. Study them carefully. Getting lost in the wilderness is a quick way to fail this challenge before it even begins."
Noah unfolded his map, studying the hand-drawn lines indicating paths through forested terrain. The scale suggested maybe two days of hiking to reach the marked destination.
"Everyone ready?" Valen called out.
Scattered affirmatives ca from the crowd.
"Good. Then let's move. We've got a lot of ground to cover."
They left the training camp in a long column, instructors at the front and rear, recruits filling the middle. The morning was cool, mist still hanging in the lower areas, the sky just beginning to lighten from black to deep blue.
The path led north through increasingly dense forest. Well-maintained at first, clear and wide enough for the whole group to move comfortably. But as hours passed and they moved deeper into wilderness, the path narrowed, beca rougher, forcing them into a single-file line in places.
Noah walked with Nami and Pip, the three of them maintaining a steady pace that kept them in the middle of the column. Ahead, he could hear Werner and his group talking loudly about their plans for the competition, their voices carrying back through the quiet forest.
"Reds are going to dominate," Werner was saying, his tone full of confidence. "We've got the raw power, the combat experience. Yellows can pick off targets from a distance, sure, but when it cos to actually facing threats directly? That's red territory."
One of his friends, a recruit Noah vaguely recognized nad Garrett, laughed. "Greens are basically just walking first aid kits. They'll hang back healing people while we do the actual work."
"Hey Burt!" Werner called back, apparently aware Noah was within earshot. "Why aren't you up here leading the reds? You're supposed to be our star recruit, right? The potential Black Knight?"
Noah didn't respond imdiately, just kept walking at his steady pace.
"Co on, don't be shy!" Werner continued, his voice taking on a mocking edge. "Share your tactical genius with us. Tell us how you plan to carry the reds to victory."
"I don't know anything about leading," Noah said finally, his tone flat. "Not leading anything."
"Humble," Garrett comnted. "I like that. But seriously, you've got to have so thoughts. You cracked the dragon scale board, mastered the Vital Point Technique in like a day. Surely you've got ideas about how to win this thing."
"My idea is to follow people who actually know what they're doing and try not to die," Noah replied.
Werner laughed, but there was an edge to it. "That's your strategy? Follow and survive? What happened to excellence? To pushing yourself? I thought potential Black Knights were supposed to be leaders."
Noah felt Nami tense beside him, probably preparing to say sothing sharp in his defense. He touched her arm lightly, shaking his head.
"Werner's from a dragon knight family," Pip whispered, quiet enough that only Noah and Nami could hear. "Three generations. His grandfather was apparently legendary. Werner's been trying to live up to that his whole life and probably feels threatened by you showing up and being better at everything without any of the prestigious background."
That made sense. Another case of pride and family legacy creating pressure that had nowhere healthy to go.
The hiking continued. The forest grew denser, older, the trees massive and covered in moss. Sunlight filtered through the canopy in scattered beams, creating patterns on the forest floor that shifted as they walked.
By midday they stopped for a al, recruits spreading out to rest and eat from their packed rations. Noah found a fallen log and sat, Nami and Pip joining him.
"My feet hurt," Pip complained, massaging his calves. "We've been walking for hours and according to the map we're not even halfway there yet."
"Could be worse," Nami said. "At least the weather's decent. Imagine doing this in rain."
They ate in comfortable silence, watching other groups cluster and talk. The color divisions were even more pronounced now, reds gathering in one area, yellows in another, greens forming their own space.
After maybe thirty minutes, Valen called for them to move out again. The column reford and they continued north, the afternoon passing in more walking, more forest, more gradual progress toward wherever they were being led.
By evening, the instructors called a halt in a clearing large enough to accommodate the entire group. Trees ringed the space, their canopy opening up enough to show darkening sky above.
"Make camp," Valen ordered. "We'll continue tomorrow. Sa formation, sa pace."
Recruits began setting up for the night, so working together to build fires, others spreading out bedrolls in preferred spots. The color groups maintained their separation, yellows on one side of the clearing, reds on another, greens in between.
Noah helped gather firewood with Nami and Pip, the three of them working efficiently to build a decent fire before darkness fell completely. Other recruits did the sa, and soon the clearing was dotted with small fires, orange light pushing back the shadows.
Dinner was simple, dried at and hard bread washed down with water from canteens. People talked quietly, energy levels lower after a full day of hiking.
Noah sat near their fire, watching the flas dance, his mind already planning. Once everyone was asleep, he'd slip away. Find sowhere isolated. Call Ares and make sure the dragon was okay.
The stars ca out as darkness deepened, visible through the gap in the canopy. Clear night, no clouds, the kind of sky that made it easy to navigate even without torches.
Perfect for what he needed to do.
Conversation gradually died down as exhaustion won over excitent. Recruits settled into their bedrolls, fires burning low, the clearing falling into the quiet rhythms of sleep.
Noah waited, counting heartbeats, listening to breathing patterns slow and deepen around him. Nami was asleep already, her exhaustion from the long hike pulling her under quickly. Pip had curled up near the fire, already snoring softly.
When Noah was confident most people were truly asleep rather than just resting, he stood carefully. Moved away from the fire toward the edge of the clearing, his enhanced night vision making the darkness navigable.
None of the instructors challenged him. They were probably expecting recruits to need bathroom breaks during the night, wouldn't question soone moving into the trees for a few minutes.
Noah slipped into the forest and began moving. Not toward the path they'd been following, but perpendicular to it, heading east into completely undisturbed wilderness. His enhanced speed made covering ground easy, the trees passing in blurred streaks as he ran.
Five minutes of running put him maybe three miles from camp, far enough that even a dragon landing wouldn't imdiately alert everyone. He slowed, scanning for a suitable location.
There. A clearing ahead, maybe fifty feet across, surrounded by old growth forest. Open sky above, solid ground below. Perfect.
Noah stepped into the center of the clearing and looked up at the stars. Took a breath and spoke two words into the night.
"Ares. Fla."
The forest didn't respond. No imdiate rush of wings, no sudden appearance. Just silence and starlight.
Noah walked to the edge of the clearing where a particularly soft patch of grass grew. He lay down on his back, fingers interlocking behind his head, and stared up at the sky.
Sowhere out there, Ares was responding to the call. Flying toward him through the night, covering whatever distance separated them.
All Noah had to do was wait.
The grass was cool and slightly damp against his back. The stars were brilliant this far from any settlent, thousands of points of light scattered across infinite darkness. Noah traced constellations he didn't recognize, patterns that probably had nas in this tiline but ant nothing to him.
Three weeks since he'd bonded Ares. Three weeks of wondering if the dragon was okay, if the healing had gone well.
Soon he'd have answers.
Noah closed his eyes briefly, then opened them again, not wanting to miss the mont when Ares appeared.
The night was peaceful. Patient.
He could wait.
User Comments
0 comments from readers