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1192 Words
His phoenix girlfriend shrugged. “Her nose is better than mine, so I wouldn’t doubt it.”
Matt thought back and couldn’t pin anything non-human on her except her slitted eyes but, after Tier 15, that didn’t mean that she wasn’t human, just that she had different aesthetics.
He wondered if he could get her to lighten up on their training if he got some catnip but expected that joke to fall flat. So, he kept it to himself.
The comedic timing would be better when Aster was strong enough to bully Luna.
The thought made him laugh enough that he was able to push away his melancholy at the mention of his parents.
Sam came out of her room red-faced.
When Tara asked her why, her blush deepened further until even her neck was red, and she wouldn’t say. That lasted the entire half-hour break, but any additional teasing was put on pause when Luna got them training again.
Going back outside into the heat from the cool indoors was brutal, and the next training consisted of fighting without their cultivation bases against more summoned monsters. The combination made for a miserable time.
This time, instead of beetles, they each had to fight individual chimps half their size. In what should have been a one-sided fight, they were getting brutalized by the monsters that were at least Tier 5 to their effective Tier 0.
No matter what they did, they were quickly defeated. Matt looked around only to notice that something was off.
The chimps were too fluid in their movements, too natural in finding their weakest spots.
Wrangle was clearly controlling each monster, and having it pick apart their fighting style. That realization changed the paradigm, and he focused on eliminating his own flaws in his style, instead of actually defeating his enemies.
As soon as he made that realization, he turned to tell the others, but an apparition of Luna’s face shushing him appeared in his view.
Thus prevented, he started to protect himself, with his only goal to endure and not lose any more fights.
It felt like ages but, in reality, it was only half an hour when Luna called for a halt and lunch.
Matt and everyone else tore into the meal with a voracious appetite. The food just seemed to disappear as nine hungry people dug in. Having some experience cooking, he knew that it wasn’t simple low Tier food after the first bite, even though the others didn’t seem to notice. It took him half the meal to pinpoint the ingredient, but he identified a green leaf to be the item that was sending what he could only describe as a lesser form of Melinda’s healing energy through his body.
His sore and tired muscles eased up, and that relief almost sent him into a stupor.
Luna clearly expected that and had them all get up and start stretching as soon as the table was empty.
It was an easier half-hour, where they were able to digest their food under the shade of the two floating houses while solving mind twisting questions.
Matt still had no idea how to answer the question, ‘If a ship is perfectly situated in a drydock, how much water is needed to make it float?’
More but lighter physical training followed where they were sent through a second, obstacle course. This one was a course where they couldn’t use their hands while completing various challenges. Of course, the challenges were all tasks in which the use of hands was critical. Climbing a large tunnel was nearly impossible without being able to use their hands to brace themselves.
Aster breezed through it, but the two-legged humans struggled while she watched on. Her yips of encouragement seemed to transform into laughter as they failed to accomplish the feats she had easily managed.
Finally, they rounded their training out with Wrangle directly teaching them about how he managed to control his monster hordes. It was nice to avoid the usual beating that they earned while wondering how he managed thousands of summoned creatures all at once. They were all thrilled to not be on the receiving end of a beetle bite for a change.
This was more a general and informal tactics training class than an introduction to being a summoner. Still, it was enlightening to hear him, and Melinda talk about various ideas concerning theory on the subject. She, having prior training in tactics, was able to offer suggestions and observations that the others couldn’t. While everyone else had their own bits to add, it was an interesting look into what they could have done to better survive against the initial test.
What Matt took away was more how to disrupt other parties’ formations, both human and rift monster.
Several scenarios were presented through their pads, and their designated roles in each situation changed. Sometimes, they were attacking a fortified position, and others they were asked how they would deal with defending.
Matt, Liz, and Aster seemed to exasperate the Tier 24 man when most of their tactics were, ‘Matt goes in first, and Liz and Aster kill anything he hadn’t managed to.’
After Matt confirmed with his AI that he and his party could actually tank and kill Tier 7 monsters at Tier 5, he started making them do the scenarios with different teams.
That’s where their lack of planning and structured coordination made their defensive efforts fall apart.
They were used to everyone being set in their role and reading the flow of combat, already knowing what they needed to do. Not having their own abilities caused them to hesitate and fumble over each other’s orders. Combined with having to direct simulations with only pads, instead of their much more intuitive AIs, it was a disaster that only marginally improved when they acclimated to the controls.
Matt wasn’t used to the thought process of a role outside of his usual one, let alone the multiple roles that were covered during the training.
Melinda and her team, on the other hand, were seemingly naturals. Even when placed in teams other than just themselves. Or at least, Melinda knew what she was doing well enough that she could cover for her team’s fumbles when they were sitting next to each other. But they still followed her directions, and simple orders from her would successfully direct them through an entire fight.
Once the sun was well below the horizon, and the moon was bright, Luna sent them for a cooldown jog around the edge of the oasis. With no restrictions or rushing, it was an easy jog where they chatted and exchanged tips from what they learned throughout the training.
Matt was afraid that he wouldn’t be allowed to share his findings with their duels against the chimps, but Luna didn’t prevent him from telling everyone else as she had earlier in the day. Either she didn’t care anymore now that the first training session was over, or she wasn’t paying attention.
Considering the stack of notebooks in his spatial bag, he was quite sure it wasn’t the second option.
- Writer
