NOVEL NEXT Chapter 41: Training
The next day I took Aaliyah and we set out to map the rest of Amara's borders. I wasn't quite sure how big I wanted the city to be but it would be a capital. Which meant it would need to be pretty impressive. I sat on the roof of a building while Aaliyah faced off against a pair of silver wolves. She wasn't doing poorly but the wolves gave as good as they got. Something pretty funny.
"Tell me again why I have to fight while you get to sit there?" Aaliyah asked for the tenth time in the last two hours.
"Well because you need the levels. If I just kill everything you won't get much energy and I would just get further away from you. Since the whole point of getting more people was to avoid that I would prefer not doing that. Duck." I winced as the second wolf launched it from her blind spot and gouged her right shoulder. The wound was deep but it wasn't too dangerous. "You know if you keep taking injuries like that you are going to owe me all of your credits in healing pills."
She let out a scream of frustration and irritation as she slammed one of her daggers into the wolf's neck. The second one dug into the wolf's eye. A quick twist of her wrist and the wolf stopped moving. I was just about to step in when the first wolf went for her back. It wasn't necessary as she withdrew the dagger in the dead wolf's eye spun around and ran it down the wolf's stomach as it jumped over her. The resulting rain of blood wasn't pretty but the kill was effective. I leaped off of the building, tossed her healing pill, and put the wolf corpses in my bag. "I don't think the butchers are going to be happy with the way you cut the pelt on this one."
I chuckled a dodged a right hook as she finished swallowing the pill. "They are welcome to come out here and kill these things themselves. If it's so important to them. Now have you mapped out this area?"
"Yeah, I don't think there is anything else in the area. I am thinking that whatever wolf leads the pack is going to be a bit more to the north."
"Does that mean you want to head out there?" The slight tremble in her voice nearly made her laugh.
I shook my head and turned toward the west. "No, that would bring me a bit too close to the commonwealth and I am not in the mood to kill people if it came down to it. Also, they should be able to deal with it. Assuming their leader is strong enough."
Aaliyah smiled and placed her daggers into their sheathes. "So this is as far North you want it to go? How far are we from Amara."
"About 17 miles. It's a bit hard to calculate the actual size of the city since the main building is big enough to house a city but this should be pretty far. We don't have enough people to make a New York or Chicago so this will do."
"So now you just want to exterminate the monsters between here and there in every direction? Are you sure that won't cause some kind of Eco disaster?"
I shrugged. "Not really. We can't get rid of all the monsters because we will need zones where you all can train. We need to thin and corral them to the point the System views it all as mine."
"Seems like a tall order for two people. Even if you can kill them at an insane rate. It might get tricky if we have to go building to building."
I nodded. "For now we do what we can. I don't plan on dealing with it all in one day. Besides you should be getting close to another level right?"
She tentatively nodded. "Yeah, the kill energy has been pretty decent, and cultivating through the night helped."
"Good, if we get lucky we might be able to find you some natural treasures." I held out my hand as the portal for Apportation formed in front of us. "For now you got so many more things to fight." I flashed her grin as we stepped through the portal. We had to make two more jumps before we arrived at a natural park. I wasn't sure which of the great parks it was supposed to be but it reminded me a bit of central park. Or at least the parts you see in movies. "I will keep an eye out for you but assume I won't step in to save you."
She rolled her eyes and drew her daggers. "Yeah, yeah"
I waited for her to disappear from view and then leaped into the trees. I followed behind her for about twenty minutes before she was attacked by two of the monkeys. These were maybe a fourth the size of the giant ape so I decided to leave it to her. The trio began their battle and Aaliyah was forced onto the back foot. The monkeys had much better reach than she did. Thankfully these monkeys didn't have the metal manipulation abilities. They didn't appear to have any skills or spells. I grimaced when a particularly hard hit sent her flying into a tree. I was about to reduce the pressure on her when she got back up. Spiritual energy flowed into her dagger and she launched into the chest of the biggest ape. The blade dug into the monster's chest. She immediately followed it up with the second dagger.
The ape let out a howl of pain but she was forced to back off before she could twist the blade. She retrieved both blades and separated herself from the duo. She charged her skill again and began to throw her blade. Only this time she stopped mid-throw. The ape reacted on instinct and stepped back. Aaliyah then threw the other blade at the second ape. The entire exchange took less than a second but was quite impressive. I still didn't fully get her skill. It let her imbue her blade with spiritual energy to improve its penetrative abilities. Only the energy didn't fade once she let go of it. The skill was pretty cool. Despite that, she was at a disadvantage.
The apes attempted to circle her next but she was able to keep at least one tree between her and one of them. It was the smaller ape that ran out of patience first. It rushed her just as she stepped behind a tree. The ape barrelled into the tree with the force of a freight train only to find its target gone. A second later Aaliyah had leaped on its back and buried her dagger into its throat. She flicked her wrist and the ape was dead. Her victory threw her timing off as the second ape picked up where its brethren left off. She narrowly avoided a punch that might have crushed her spine. Watching her fight revealed how important the luck stat was. Hers was around 20 which meant that she might get a vague sense of something before it happened. A far cry from the spider sense-like screams of danger I usually got.
Aaliyah let out a cry of pain after taking a nasty punch to her right arm. That arm hung limply at her side but she managed to slam the second dagger into the ape's throat. A fatal wound for a broken arm was a solid trade though it would not be pleasant. I leaped over to the closest tree to her and passed her a healing pill.
"You could have helped out at any time." She let out a whimper of pain and swallowed.
"You could have asked for help. Besides you wouldn't have gotten the energy if I stepped in to save you." I grimaced at the sound of her should popping back into place.
"Sure. I think I am going to need a break for a bit. That last one was tough and I am at the threshold of a level. Do you mind watching my back while I cultivate?"
I shook my head and she sat down in the lotus position. I looked around and considered blasting my aura to keep the monsters away but decided against it. I didn't want to bother her and I didn't want anything too strong to show up while we were sitting here. Unfortunately, I would only partially get my wish. Less than ten minutes later a trio of people in mismatched armor stepped toward us. They were covered in dirt and looked like they had gone through a lot. There were two men and a woman. Each one held a metal bat and they all had shaved their heads. However, the woman had a nasty scar on the right side of her head. I raised an eyebrow as they stared at us.
"Listen, listen my friend here is cultivating so how about you all just get out of here and you don't have to die." I started circulating my energy just in case I needed to activate Psychic Aegis.
"That isn't our problem. Place your weapons and your bag on the ground. We don't need to hurt you but we will if we have to." The woman pointed her bat at me as she spoke.
I shook my head. "Can't even do it." Before I could say anything else the dark-skinned man next to her drew a knife from his belt and launched it at me. The blade almost seemed to move in slow motion when compared to most of the attacks I had to deal with nowadays. I reached out, caught the blade, and sent it flying back all in one motion. The blade slammed into the man's thigh before he had time to process what happened. He crumbled like a sack of bricks.
"Ah, you fucking asshole." He reached for the blade and tried to pull it out of his thigh only to scream out.
"Yeah, that's going to be a bit too deep for you to pull out on your own. If you agree to leave I will take it out for you and give you some healing medicine."
"Fuck you asshole." The woman who I assumed was the leader of their group growled. She looked down at her companion before nodding. She looked like she had chewed a lemon but I decided to keep my word. I conjured Psychic Aegis in its wall form in front of Aaliyah just in case. I walked up and pressed on the man's upper thigh earning me a hiss of pain.
"Alright, on the count of three. One, two," I ripped it out and pushed a pill into his mouth to silence his cry of pain.
"Oh, you fucker!" He cried out and tried to punch me. The attack if it could even be called that was more of wild flailing than anything remotely dangerous so I decided to let it go. The whistle of air behind me told me that the next attack wasn't so simple. I dropped to one knee to avoid the sneak attack. I followed it up with a straight jab to the last man's sternum. I held back just enough to not crack any bones. He still fell back a step.
"So are you sure this what you want to do? I am guessing that you all are around what? level 4 or 5? You can't beat me. I am at level 26."
"Bullshit. Even the highest leveled members of the UWG don't have classes yet." The woman called out though the tremble in her bat arm told me she wasn't as convinced as she wanted me to believe.
I stepped back as the man got to his feet and swung wildly at me. It was almost like his attacks were in slow motion. Or to be more accurate it was like he was telegraphing everything he wanted to do. I stepped in on his next swing and then spun around him so my back was against his. "Last chance big guy. Your friend here just gave me so useful information so I am willing to let this whole thing slide."
The man let out a roar of anger and annoyance before activating a skill. The bat doubled in size in an instant. I chuckled as he swung it for the fences. The bat somehow kept the original speed at its increased size. Instead of dodging it I reached out and grabbed it my hand. Over one hundred points of strength clashed with whatever that guy had and he lost. I snapped the bat into two pieces. Before he could react I stepped forward and punched in the stomach. This time I added just enough strength to knock the air out of him. I let him slump forward and then I guided him to the ground. "Shh just go to sleep. Just go sleep." Once I was sure he would be fine I got up and turned toward the other two.
"Got to admit I am a bit tired of the holding back thing. If either of you decide to continue this I am probably going to kill you."
They held up their hands though the formally injured one still hadn't gotten off the ground. "We are done. Just don't kill us alright." The woman slowly approached me as if I was a wild animal. Which I guess I kind of was. "I don't get it what is someone like you doing out here? Why aren't you with the other elites?"
"I am not sure what you are talking about. I am not with the government and before you ask I am not with the Commonwealth either. I got my own thing going on."
They had to work together to get their friend on his feet. I considered giving him a healing pill as well but I had already wasted one on this situation and they were the ones who attacked me so they would be alright. I was about to leave when Aaliyah strode up to us. She looked at each of the trio with her hand on her dagger.
"I left you alone for a few minutes how did you make new friends? Who are these people?" She asked.
"They tried to rob us. I beat two of them up for a bit before they decided it wasn't worth it to keep trying me. Did you level up?"
She nodded. "Yep, I am ready to head back now unless you want to go around and kill more monsters. As much fun as hunting things is with you we should head back. You should recover and I am going to need to get some actual cultivation done. Tomorrow I am planning on going further so you should prepare yourself. I need to get a lot more spiritual energy."
"We can go now right?" The scarred woman asked.
I nodded and waved a hand at them. "Yeah, I am not going to kill you all. Get stronger though and let your leaders know that the monsters will only get stronger. We have to kill them all before things get really bad." I turned to Aaliyah and activated Apportation. The portal opened up between us and the other group. Their shocked gasps made me laugh as we stepped inside. "See ya around." The portal opened on a rooftop overlooking the park. I took a second to watch the group leave before I turned to Aaliyah.
"Gonna tell me why you didn't kill them?" She asked.
"I don't know. They did give me some useful information. The strongest people in the UWG still don't have classes, so you should be pretty strong. By their standards at least."
She laughed. "I wonder if they provide better benefits than you do. I haven't had a job that could give me dental before."
I rolled my eyes. "You are more than welcome to try it though I have a feeling your insurance premiums are going to see a pretty hefty increase. You are going to need to get better blades at some point."
She shrugged. "If you find a blades emporium let me know. Are you going to open another portal or are we running back?"
"The exercise could benefit you since you don't have as many titles but no. We have already been gone for quite a while. I promised Trey that I would go over things with him."
"Do you plan on sponsoring his levels? According to the teacher level cultivation is expensive enough for one person."
I nodded. "I am not leaving a kid on his own. I doubt I will be able to have everyone who has lost parents but try is right here. My level isn't that much higher than his. With any luck I am going to be able to build up a nice cultivation nest egg for him long before he is ready. After that, he will be free to do as he pleases."
She folded her arms and stared at me for a long moment as if searching for something. She stopped after a few minutes. "Alright but if I ever feel like you are just using him to raise a soldier—" I held up a hand to stop her.
"I have no intention of ever letting either of you be stronger than me. Nor do I have any desire to make anyone follow behind me. I want you all strong enough to take care of things here. At least some of you to keep the peace once I decide to go exploring. If you both decide that's as far as you go then I will wish you the best. Lastly, do I look like the type to let someone else fight for me?" I opened up another portal and waited for her to join me.