After what must have 10 minutes of non-stop running, the group arrived at the first destination and stopped over a hill. One of the soldiers, Blake Caldwell breathed heavily. He was the slowest of everyone, Aelric noted. Aelric, and Isaac looked ahead at the field below, with about 8 soldiers with wooden swords. The soldiers appeared inattentive from what Aelric could see. Perhaps from boredom. "So, what's the plan?" Aelric asked. "Don't ask me. Ask Elijah or Julian." Isaac said. Isaac turned back and signaled to the two, who were quietly discussing amongst each other. "What's up, Isaac?" Elijah asked. "How do you suggest we go about to dealing with this?" Isaac asked. "Well, they seem rather inattentive, so I guess, get a sneak attack on them. They are supposed to go down after one hit from us. So, that'd be a good thing to do, but once we get one, they'll all be trying to attack us, so I suggest that we get multiple of them at the same time if possible..." Elijah said. "Yeah, but there's no cover, so we'd only be able to get one, if we're extremely lucky, and they are really spaced out." Julian pointed out.

  "Right, right. Isaac, you come from a hunting village, if I recall." Elijah said, as if he was coming to something. "And your point?" Isaac asked. "Y-you know, use your hunting skills! Go evade their line of sight and go get one of those soldiers down!" Elijah said, with an awkward grin on his face. Isaac stared at him with a blank expression. "Usually, I used trees to stay hidden, and whatnot." Isaac said, looking back at the inattentive soldiers.

  "You know, if you guys can't decide, then I'll just go and do it myself." Aelric said, but they didn't seem to notice them as Elijah tried to convince Isaac to do it. "Huh? Aelric, where are you going?" Maddie asked quietly but Aelric had essentially disappeared from her line of sight as Aelric walked onto the field.

  Aelric approached the closest inattentive soldier, who yawned. "Ah, jeez, when are those trainees getting here...?" The soldier murmured to himself. Aelric unstrapped his wooden sword and tapped it against the soldier's pauldron with light force. "We're already here." Aelric said, with a light grin on his face. The soldier looked back, and looked at the other soldiers, and decided to groan loudly as he fell. The other soldiers turned to face him, watching as he fell onto the ground, and proceeded to look at Aelric. They unhitched their wooden swords, walking towards Aelric.

  "About damn time you soldiers got here." One of them said.

  Isaac looked back on the hill. "Oh, sh-, Aelric went down there by himself! Might as well help!" Isaac said, as he unstrapped his wooden sword, taking a deep breath. "Hunting Style: Slashing Dash!" Isaac said. In a flash, Isaac seemingly disappeared and slammed his wooden sword into one of the soldiers. That soldier seemed disappointed and sat down on the grass. "Whoa, Isaac, where'd you learn that?" Aelric asked as he blocked an attack from a soldier and pushed into the soldier.

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  "I'll tell you after we do this fight!" Isaac said as he tried to attack another soldier but was swiftly blocked. Aelric nodded and continued blocking a chain of swings from his opponent. The other trainees ran down the hill, giving each other distance. The other soldiers not engaged in combat paid attention to them and sprinted towards them.

  Aelric then went on the offensive, and chained attacks towards the soldier, making an even better copy of what the soldier just performed, being near impossible to defend against. The soldier tried to counterattack, seemingly infuriated that some lowlife recruit copied his chained attacks. In doing so, he left himself wide open. The soldier prepared to swing.

  To Aelric's eye, it was in slow motion. Aelric slid and crouched and swung his wooden sword at the soldier's waist. The soldier sat down as Aelric stood up straight. "Copying my move isn't cool, man." The soldier said to him. "Huh?" Aelric asked. "You know what you did. You performed a top-notch version of my move and then got me." The soldier scoffed. "Oh, sorry, then. I didn't notice." Aelric said.

  Makes sense as Aelric thought about it. In Oakenhaven, since nobody helped him, he would just copy what others did, and they often turned out better than what he copied.

  Isaac parried his opponent's attack and left the soldier distraught. "Hunting Style: Extraordinary Butchering..." Isaac muttered. Suddenly, Isaac unleashed a flurry of swings, knocking the soldier back and causing them to fall. "Ow!" The soldier silently groaned. Isaac seemed unapologetic and looked back at the soldiers fighting the trainees behind them.

  Most soldiers were knocked down by the trainees, but Blake Caldwell struggled. Augustus looked at Blake and ran towards him and quickly tapped the soldier from behind. The soldier groaned and sat down. "You all pass the first trial. Now, get out of our sights." He said.

  The trainees cheered. Maddie ran to Aelric and raised her hand. "Huh?" Aelric asked. "High five. We made it." Maddie said. Aelric seemed confused. Maddie groaned and grabbed Aelric's arm and swung his hand towards her, their skin slapping together. "See? High five." Maddie said. "Oh, I see." Aelric said.

  "Man, I gotta teach you some things!" Maddie said and walked away, seeming like she winked, but Aelric wasn't sure. He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, whatever, let's continue. Next trial involves summiting some mountain just ahead of here." Aelric said. "Nerd." Maddie said. Augustus and Isaac, with Elijah and Julian behind them.

  "So, the last trial is supposedly much more difficult. So, we'll need a strategy." Isaac said. "You can rely on us for that!" Julian exclaimed, seemingly cocky in his abilities. Elijah looked at him like he was silly. Michael Pritchett, Lenny Johnson, and a few others walked past them. "Stop trying to show off, you nerds. It's not going to help you in actual battles." Michael said, glaring at them.

  They walked for a few minutes, and looked at the stone wall, with various ledges they could grab onto, or stand on. "No safety gear? The hell?" Augustus asked. "Guess not." Isaac said, "Looks tall enough to injure you if you fall, so everyone should focus." Aelric looked up. "Well, follow my lead, boys!" Maddie exclaimed as she jumped quickly, and grabbed onto a ledge with her left arm, and easily pulled herself up. Oh, yeah, she was definitely a masochist. It was a bit funny. Isaac followed shortly after. "Maddie, be careful, you dimwit!" Elijah yelled.

  Aelric seemed confident in everyone, and noticed Isaac's proficiency in climbing the stone wall, and subconsciously took note of his form. "Wait for me, guys!" Aelric proclaimed and copied Isaac's climbing form and did it significantly better, easily getting ahead of Isaac, shocking everyone as they began to climb.