After getting my armor back from the armory, I went to the training room and waited for everyone else to come. Reizo arrived after ten minutes with Saliza and Serith who had recently completed their mission.
"Earlier I discussed with Meitre and some other ventgards about the things I found in a bandit base. We might need to travel to another country to stop bandits from getting their hands on more yutri bracelets, so I need to prepare you for what may come."
Reizo takes a small red flag out of his pocket and shows it to us. "For this training, I have placed this flag on the back of a monster and I want you to retrieve it. I don't care how you do it, just get the flag back."
After a short break, Reizo brought us to Feilo Forest to begin our training. He has already created three paths in the forest and stood in the middle of them. "I forgot to mention, you'll be doing training alone. The three of you will each fight the same type of monster by yourselves so take a path get my flag back."
Well, this sucks. I was planning on using Saliza and Serith as a distraction. I could summon monsters as a distraction but monsters can't use spells and the ones I can summon aren't as fast or strong.
We each took a different path and started our training. The monster we had to fight was an arborex. The arborex in front of me was asleep so I quietly approached it and made sure that I didn't step on any inconveniently placed twigs.
As I got near, Reizo came running out of one of the trees that surrounded the area and kicked the arborex awake before running off to do the same with Saliza and Serith. I should've known he wouldn't let this be so easy.
The arborex looked around to see who attacked it and saw me. It charged at me with its jaws wide open. I used twin steps to blink to the side and used the second step to get on its neck.
I slowly made my way up to the flag while the arborex tried shaking me off. It turned its head and shot out vines from its mouth to grab me. I tried to stop the vines with my swords but there were too many. The vines wrapped around my body and my swords and dragged me off the arborex's neck. I twisted my wrist to aim my sword at the vines and used energy slash to free myself.
The explosion blew me away from the arborex and gave me some distance from the monster. The arborex now knows about twin steps so it's not going to fall for the same trick again. Reizo told us that all we need to do is get the flag so I don't need to bother killing this thing. I just need a way to get on its back and grab the flag. This would be so much easier with Saliza and Serith.
The arborex charged at me again, this time with vines shooting out of its mouth that spread out to prevent me from using twin steps to escape. I created an orb of smoke and threw it on the ground before the vines could reach me. Once I was out of the arborex's sight, I created even more smoke to surround the area and prevent the arborex from finding me. I could still hear its loud footsteps and figure out where it is but it doesn't have a clue where I went.
I summoned a radive to fly near the arborex while it can't see me and pick up the flag. When I got near, I smelled something familiar. The arborex released pollen into the air and it was planning to cover the entire area with pollen. I already inhaled some of it and I was starting to feel drowsy. Vines shot out of the smoke and grabbed my radive by its neck, forcing me to jump off the radive. I was struggling to stay awake and my vision was getting blurry.
I covered my nose as pollen continued to fill the area. The sound of me hitting the ground gave away my position and the arborex now knows where I was and I could hear it running towards me. I need to get rid of the pollen if I'm going to get that flag, so I decided to try something risky.
I ignited the smoke and covered the area in flames. The flames burned away the pollen but it was still hard to breathe. I then covered myself with a small layer of air to give me some protection from the flames.
The arborex didn't take any serious damage from the flames, but its home was on fire and it had to quickly put out the fire before it spreads even more. While the arborex was trying to stomp out the flames, I quickly jumped out of the fire and used twin steps to grab the flag and get out.
I came out of the area with a burnt flag in my hand and saw Serith washing a slimy green substance off his body. Reizo walked in while carrying a sleeping Saliza on his shoulder and turned his head to see me holding the flag.
"You've finished today's training, feel free to spend the rest of the day reading your books." Reizo took the flag out of my hand and tossed it aside. He rested Saliza against a tree and gave her a good slap across the face.
She woke up screaming in pain while holding her cheek. "Since you two have failed to get my flag back, you'll be doing this again and again for the rest of the day until you get the flag back. We'll start again in five minutes." The two groaned and healed their wounds.
Fire from the area that I came out of started spreading throughout the forest and soon, the trees and bushes near us were on fire. "Oh for, we'll start again in fifteen minutes." Reizo rubs his eyes in annoyance and starts extinguishing the fire in the forest while I run off to my room to rest and not deal with any of this.
Several hours passed and it was already night. I was in my room reading a recipe book to learn about the types of food in this world. Saliza and Serith came into the room after recently finishing their training. They were covered in sweat and dirt. Serith seems kinda down, maybe he got scolded by Reizo.
The two of them took off their armor and placed their weapons aside. "I'm gonna go take a shower. Zeigel, could you come here for a second so I can show you how to use the toilet, just as you requested." Saliza beckoned me to come over while Serith wasn't looking.
She wants to talk to me about something so I followed her into the bathroom. "Would it kill you to not make me look like a mentally challenged idiot."
"Maybe, but I'm not taking the chance." She said with a smirk on her face. "Listen, I've already completed today's training but Serith still hasn't. Reizo is making him do the same training tomorrow so Serith might ask you how you managed to complete it on your first try. Do not tell him how you completed it."
I assumed that Saliza didn't want Serith to complete the training today so that she could tease him about it, so I nodded my head and went back to my bed. Serith was sitting on his bed thinking about what happened today. "So how did you manage to complete today's training?" he asked.
I told him exactly what I did and explained to him what he should do. I'm not gonna let Saliza tease him as well.
The next morning, Reizo made Saliza and I wait for Serith to finish his training so that the three of us can start the next one together. A couple of hours went by while the two of us rested in our room.
"I don't know why, but something feels wrong." said Saliza. "What do you mean?" I asked. "It just feels like somethings not right. Did you do anything Zeigel?"
"Me? Of course not." I covered my face with the book I was reading.
Someone knocked on our door and Saliza went to see who it was. "Just a moment. Zeigel is still in the toilet since he doesn't know how to use it." I put down the book I was reading to see who she was talking to, but she closed the door before I could see who it was.
She rushed over to me with a frantic look on her face. She grabbed my shoulders and started shaking me. "You idiot! I told you not to tell Serith how you completed training!"
"As if I'll let you tease him for not being able to finish his training. That's just mean."
"Tease him for not finishing his training? I'm not so cruel that I would do something like that! On my second attempt, I tried using a lot of fire but failed to get the flag back. Reizo then got mad at me for trying to copy you."
My eyes widened as I realized that I had just gotten Serith into a lot of trouble.
The door opened and Reizo stepped in to see us arguing with each other. We went silent and turned to face him.
"You two come with me." Reizo brought us down to the training where Serith was waiting. There was ash scattered across his armor. "Can someone tell me why I'm making you guys go through this training."
"You said that you wanted to prepare us for something in the future." said Serith. Reizo nodded his head. "So now, can you tell me why I separated you three for this training." We stood silently while waiting for an answer either from one of us or Reizo.
"I separated you three because there may be a chance that we have to split up during the mission. When we're split up, we can't give each other a step-by-step guide on how to handle a situation now can we?"
Damn it, I'm such an idiot. We're in trouble because I'm a bloody moron.
"As punishment, you three will fight each other here. The losers will be kicked out of the team."