Second Core

Joshua shudders, his body physically reacting to Andric’s strange energy and mannerisms. “We’ll keep that in mind.” Joshua takes a breath as the two head back to their drill hall quickly so they can report back to Layrn. After exiting his office Joshua cracks his neck. “I don’t know what the hell is wrong that man and I really don’t want to know. But what the hell he’s doing with those damn corpses.” Joshua sighs in relief as Susanna approaches the door to their training hall.

Letting themselves in, they notice Layrn is busy practicing handstands in the corner. Pausing her reps she sits up throwing her coat back over her fully taped upper body sweat dripping from her brow. Susanna blushes as Joshua thinks nothing of it. turning to face them, she asks what they need. “We have delivered five of the creatures to Andric.”Pleasantly surprised with their quick work, she responds with praise. Standing up quickly approaching the two. Patting the two on their shoulders, she readies herself to go back to her routine. “Good job wolf squad, enjoy the rest of your day. You're both dismissed.”

Joshua bows his head before making his way back to his quarters. Susanna splits off midway to run an errand. Climbing up the staircase, he nearly reaches his own door only to see a familiar Silhouette standing weakly at this door, blood trailing down his arm. Left eye black and bruised.

A little shocked he stammers out “O- Or- Orthon?” Joshua rushes up the remaining stares and catching Orthon as he nearly keels over. His body temperature dropping. As Orthon falls into Joshua’s arms he lets out a weak sigh. “Yeah, it’s me Josh, I heard you patched up Susanna after getting attacked by a beast and well, I feel like I’ve been mauled by an arctos, mind helping a brother out.” He weakly laughs as Joshua looks down shaking his head.

“Sure, come on in and sit down I’ll be right with you.” The two of them head in as Joshua places his Mithril blade down beside his nightstand.

“So how have you been Orthon, aside from the obvious beat down.” The once rambunctious boy looks down in exhaustion.

“Can’t you tell, the past few days have been nothing but pure hell. She hasn’t let up on any of us since my loss to you. Hell, Churey even withdrew from Blackwood yesterday saying he couldn’t do it anymore. Especially after she used mana on him.” His voice oozes with exasperation.

Joshua looks at his friend with pity, not fully understanding how bad Gytha really was. "I’m sorry Orthon. Have you considered trying to duel someone else to get out.”

“The others aren't worth the time to duel, they're all too weak! and I don't want to separate you three anymore." Orthon's mind thinks about the three siblings.

Joshua pauses with a faint smile as he pulls out some bandages. "He's just sweet ain't he kid." Draxis snickers.

“Must be nice coming from the top” Orthon comments, pulling Joshua's attention as he eyeballs the medical supplies. “This is already a million time better than what that nurse gave me from the medical ward.”

“Yeah, I was concerned about that and asked my handmaiden to get supplies for me before arriving. Also if you challenge Bjorn aim for his wrists and right leg from what I’ve seen he seems to have injured them recently.” Orthon nods appreciatively for the information as Joshua begins wrapping up his front upper torso with bandages and stitching up a cut on his lower right calf. As he finishes up around thirty-five minutes later, he applies some antiseptic lotion to the exposed wounds on his back before wrapping them up as well. “Just make sure to keep these areas clean and dry unless you want to get an infection.”

Orthon nods his head appreciatively.

Reaching to his side, he pulls out a small bag of pain killers to his friend. “Where did you get these Josh?” Orthon eyeballs the pills, them reminding him of something his father told him about a few months ago. “I heard these were an experimental drug undergoing trial currently.”

Joshua thinking back to his dearest handmaiden smiles. “I have my ways. You should be able to head out now, just make sure you treat your wounds like I told you and you’ll be just fine.” Orthon stands up feeling a little bit better.

“Thank you, Joshua, when I get away from my psycho instructor I’d love to have a rematch.

“Sounds like a plan, I’d also like to test myself again.” Orthon waves his arm weakly as he makes his way out of Joshua’s room leaving him alone with Draxis and his thoughts.

Sitting down in the middle of his floor he takes a deep breath before getting into position and starts to spend the rest of his day circulating the aura throughout his body. Slowly but surely after around three hours he finally finishes reconnecting the second aura node to the rest of his aura network. In a brilliant flash of red light the second node activates in his core filling him with renewed vigor, his muscles bulge out as he feels the new power coursing through him. "Wooo." He breathes. Opening his eyes, he flexes the energy coursing through his veins. Lifting his hand to his face he balls it up with greed on his face. “This feeling, It’s just like in that clash with Deimos, of course not to the same extent, but it’s much more noticeable than during my fight with Orthon.”

If only Joshua could see Draxis’s face right now, he would be grinning ear to ear with pride at the fast growth of his pupil. “Kid, I’m so proud of you right now. I had calculated that it would take you at least another month to reach the second core, but here you are.” Joshua stands up quickly wanting to test this power out, so he heads down the stairs quietly to not alert his squad mates. A little while later, as he makes his way out of the campsite with his sword Draxis shoots a warning. “Don’t go too crazy now kid, you’ve only got a few hours of daylight left. You don’t want to alert that thing.” Joshua nods his head as he walks about ten minutes out into a more secluded grove without any prying eyes.

“Let’s get started shall we.” Taking off his tunic he tosses it to the ground with a thud and lets his muscles feel the cool air as the wind blows through his hair. Taking a deep breath, he runs his hands through his hair as he closes and opens his eyes getting into a thrusting stance, and as he does so a beautiful red glow shines across his blade and eyes as he starts practicing rapid thrusting attacks.

Quickly changing stances, he swings it around with a twirling motion eventually leading into to an overhead strike; a small yet destructive blast of aura explodes from the tip severing a nearby tree from its trunk sending a bunch of small insects and bird-life fluttering away.

The next few hours pass by as Joshua finishes practicing. Shaking sweat from his hair, he rests his tired body slumping over next to a pile of rocks as he stares into the sky watches the sun set in the distance. His breathing was both euphoric and ragged in a way that he’s never experienced before. Commenting aloud, “Oh, this feels great. But I should probably start heading back soon, I don’t doubt that I’ve probably made a lot of noise.” "You think kid..." Draxis sighs.

Looking around at his ‘Training Grounds’ he smirks wiping his face off with his shirt. Quickly collecting his things, he heads back to camp. “Good progress kid. Just keep practicing and following my guidance when reconnecting your aura network and restoring the cores and I’m sure at the rate you’re growing you’ll be at least at three nodes by the time of your strange naming ceremony.” Joshua smiles at his mentor’s praise as he makes his way back to blackwood. Slipping through the gate unseen, he rests his blade on his side and throws his shirt over his shoulders. As he makes his way to his quarters, he doesn't notice the young girl stationed in the room below him staring out of her window. As he stretches his arms and upper body out, he gives her an unexpected show as her face turns beet red as her nose starts to bleed.

The coming days continue as per usual; Climbing the mountain, meditation, sparring and even more physical training. By this point Susanna’s arm is mostly healed due to his interference, so she re-started her hand-to-hand training. On top of that, she continues to join Joshua hunting as they slowly continue catching the beasts for Andric. Her aim with the crossbow getting better day by day.

Everything for wolf squad is on the up and up, the other squads not so much. Not only have Weil and Gytha increased the intensity of their squads training, but Gyles has already lost two of his stag squad to that mutant wolf during a training exercise to explore the nearby forest. Because of this the commandant has asked Andric to reinforce the sigils stored within the gates so that they can ‘ensure the safety of all the cadets.’

Back in the wolf squad drill hall everyone is busy chatting as a voice echoes through the door “Good afternoon cadets, how goes everything today?” Layrn beams, checking in on her team. “Everything seems to be in order, the run this morning was delayed because of the vice lieutenant inspecting everyone’s things, but we still made great time. So far it only takes us thirty minutes to climb the mountain. I also plan on working with Wilhelm today on his reaction time and battle senses.” Joshua bows respectfully after answering his captain.

Susanna joins in on the comments. “I agree with Joshua, I’m just glad to have full mobility back in my left arm. So, we should be able to continue my personal training captain.” A smile creeps onto Layrn’s face at the comment.

“Perfect we’ll head out this evening then, meet me in 0700 hours.” Susanna grins before Layrn turns to the twins with a serious look. “What about you two?”

Vilhelm yawns before responding. “Everything’s been fine, just a little bit annoyed we have to have an evening roll call now to make sure we haven’t lost any more cadets. As for my training, I’m feeling a lot more confident in my sword combat thanks to you.” Vilhelm grabs his sabre swinging it around before planting it into the ground in front of himself.

Layrn nods at him before turning to Wilhelm. “I’ve been continuing my solo training captain, but the some of the other cadets continue to mock me for using a Morningstar, they also keep asking me to join Andric’s special training so I can receive 'proper' training.” Wilhelm motions with his fingers.

“You don’t plan on actually trusting that guy, right? Vilhelm pipes up turning to his twin.

“It depends, Layrn and Joshua have been helping me so much that it seems rude to go train with someone else. However, I can’t lie and say I haven’t considered it.” Wilhelm turns his head looking towards his vice-captain. “Is that alright?”

“I permit it Wil, just remember that if you choose to do so, don’t forget to continue your training with us. But I’ll be completely honest with you, something about Andric gives me a bad feeling.”

Joshua reminiscences on the past. “I don’t exactly remember how he used to train his squad. As side from the fact that he used to make wolf squad fight ever monster that they ever ran across. Hell he also made them fight each other handicapped with minimal sleep.”

Joshua shudders looking towards his squad mates, before shouting with renewed vigor. “EVERYONE GET BACK TO TRAINING”

“YES, SIR VICE CAPTAIN “everyone else dips off to continue training while Layrn nods and motions for Joshua to come follow her.

“I’m coming captain.” Joshua runs off to catch her, eventually meeting each other at the old broken-down showers at the left of the wolf squad drill hall.

“Before we continue, any questions?”

“Yes, squad captain, what is next in line for our training regimen?” Joshua curiously asks.

We’ll since you are so proactive, I wanted to give you a chance to get a jump on things, I’ll tell you this now. Starting in the three days, per the commandant himself wolf squad will begin camping in tents outside of the main camp.” Joshua’s eyes widen. "Are they actually idiots, do they want us to get killed?”

“Hell if I know what goes on in that bastards head, but with the progress you all have obtained these past few weeks I’m confident you four can handle it. Of course, I’m not asking you all to just make yourselves sitting ducks. I’d recommend camping out at the top of Shiraia. It’s an easier area to protect and that wolf hasn’t been spotted there yet. Hell I'm pretty sure that the quantity of monsters there is almost sixty percent lower than anywhere else too.” Joshua places his right hand to his face before nodding his head.

“Of course, I’ll be on standby watching just in case that damn mutt tries to play games with you all.” Layrn smiles a devious smile as she unsheathes the great sword on her back. “If it decides to show up, we’ll see if that mutt wants to have a go at a real predator.” Her eyes start 'glowing' as she swings her blade down causing a small shock wave. "By Serox, something is horribly wrong with her."

“Understood squad leader, I’ll inform the others.” Joshua bows his head before departing to inform his team of the news, leading to understandably shocked faces. “Wait what, we have to start sleeping outside of the camp! Doesn’t that leave us as sitting ducks for the monsters?” Vilhelm exasperatedly questions.

“Yeah, who’s idea was this, don’t tell me that it was our captain.” Susanna flips her hair letting out a sigh.

Joshua shakes his head. “No, it was the commandant. Apparently, our squad is multiple levels above the others, so he wants to test our teamwork and see our survival skills in action.”

“How long will this last?” Wilhelm asks.

“I’m not sure, probably until he sees fit. Knowing the Commandant, it's probably until he's no longer entertained.” Wolf squad collectively pout as Joshua grabs Susanna’s hand, dragging her to the side as he wanted to talk to her alone.

“What did you want to talk about?” Susanna questions while hiding the blush creeping across her face.

“I just wanted your personal opinion of the two of them.” Joshua's asks directing his gaze towards his two brothers.

“Why do you ask?” "Way to mess with a girls heart." Susanna pouts.

“I’m just curious how you feel about their teamwork, with the commandants orders I need to know if you’ve seen any weaknesses in their psyches. It’s imperative that we all can communicate and work in unison if we want to get through this.” Susanna thinks to herself, before eventually getting lost in thought. She quickly regaining her senses before responding. “I think that Vilhelm is quite capable and can definitely handle his own, although he has quite a bit of an ego. Wilhelm on the other hand is definitely trying his best, but it’s almost like his heart isn’t quite fully in it.”

Joshua pauses for a moment in thought. “Thank you very much Susanna, I'll take that into account.” Joshua pulls her in for a hug before quickly making his way to his sleeping quarters so he can plan out the campsite that they’ll have to prepare. Susanna is just left standing there flustered, having fantasies in her head as Layrn grabs her attention by snapping her fingers in front of her face. "Susanna..." She looks down at her pupil shaking her head as she picks her up and throws her over her shoulders.

“Captain! That did I do. This hurts.” Susanna whines as she is carried away.

“Girl, if you want his attention, you’re going to have to try harder than that. You look pathetic. I mean, seriously kid. Don’t think I haven’t seen you spying on him. It’s my job to know what my cadets are up to at all times, and from what I’ve seen, you’ve been wasting your precious time ogling over him.”

“I haven’t been ogling Joshua.” Susanna declares proudly.

“Don’t lie to me girl. If you want his attention, focus on getting a lot stronger than you are now. Someone like him has a lot on his plate with his extreme potential.” Layrn refers to his actual potential and is his place in the succession battle. “Do you understand Susanna.”

“Yes, squad leader.” Susanna looks down and sighs.

“Cheer up kid, at least we can continue your training.” Layrn steps toward in a hurry picking her back up before startling her again as they head off to the forest to train. "Fine!" Susanna rolls her eyes.