Several solo training sessions later, Avryn had steeled his own mettle. He had not figured out Iver yet, but felt he was close to his answer. It was a matter of time now. Scratches and bruises were all around his arms. Sweat ran from his head to down all over his body. He felt his connection with the gunblade Lerosa becoming stronger each day. The star pendant that hung from the end of its handle had a new shine to it.

  His muscles were all sore, but it was the good kind. Progress was good. His optimism even infected his squad mates, making them perform even better than before. They had performed well in their tests, securing some several perfect scores. They were tied with Leifren’s squad.

  Another training session was held. Kelinald gave them the mission briefing. There was two variants: one was rescuing an injured, another is escorting another squad with an injured. The principle was the same. They were to get the injured back into the outpost while being hunted down by Corpses, ravenous for the injured’s wounded flesh. The squads were given one or the other by random, Kelinald reminded.

  “Wouldn’t the second mission be easier?” a student asked.

  “Oh, you’ll find out, young man,” Kelinald replied.

  The squads were all given five minutes to prepare and come up with their plans. Avryn’s team went into a huddle. Valoche was to carry the injured. Avryn, Rinna and Tvira can provide support with their guns and bow. Rinna guessed the simulation would send plenty of flying Corpses to impede them.

  “Right, lets hope Lady Luck is on our side,” Avryn commented.

  “I don’t believe in that,” Tvira completed stringing her bow.

  “Neither do I,” Rinna held that same sentiment.

  The two exchanged a fierce staredown. They wanted to outdo each other for this test. Avryn stood beside Valoche and the two shared worried glances.

  “May the best markswoman win,” Tvira proposed.

  Rinna nodded with a most sinister grin, out of character on her part. Avryn was wondering when did the two of them get so competitive. He swallowed a gulp down his throat trying to remain calm.

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  Leifren’s squad exuded a quiet confidence in contrast. Harver walked over to Avryn, his arms crossed.

  “Looks like your squad’s gonna do well,” he looked over to Rinna and Tvira.

  “Hopefully we’ll make it in one piece,” Avryn leaned on the wall.

  Avryn took a look at the Rosenfaust siblings. Leifren was busy calibrating his rifle while Jenilah was busy cleaning up her shotgun. It was routine for them with how they systematically and efficiently carried out those actions.

  Five minutes were up. The tests had begun. Avryn’s team was transported to the training grounds again. First objective was to find the team. Avryn pulled out his Scribe. The distress signal pointed to north and west of their location.

  They hurried to the injured’s location, and quite smoothly.

  “Oh thank god you’re here,” the leader greeted them.

  Avryn introduced himself and asked for the situation. The injured soldier had a nasty gash across his leg. Moving would be too difficult for him. Valoche, on cue, offered to carry the man. He grabbed him by the arm first draped him across both of his shoulders in a fireman’s carry position.

  “Don’t worry, it’ll be a smooth ride from here,” Valoche reassured the injured man.

  The team was fighting off a pack of wolves. Avryn, Rinna, and Tvira joined the fray. This was easy for them at this point. They dispatched the wolves with haste and made their move back to the outpost.

  A mountainous path down was their only way. Flying Corpse Sparrows dubbed ‘Deathsparrows’ were circling the skies near it. They dove down and fought the squads once they were in sight. One, two, three were shot down by Tvira’s arrows. The same happened with Rinna’s first three shots.

  Avryn spun around and did his thing, releasing a storm of bullets that caught the ones that slipped through.

  “Come on, you nasty buggers! Is this the death part in your name?” he taunted

  One sparrow slipped through and pecked him on the forearm. He swatted it away and shot its brains out afterwards. They were halfway down the mountain path at this point but the Deathsparrows were still engaging with them.

  “Persistent is what they are, but I am more so,” Tvira muttered.

  She switched her firing speed. She held three arrows in her shooting hand. The arrow tips were coated with traces of magic crystals of the volatile kind. She shot these arrows and the explosions concussed a lot of the sparrows.

  Rinna wasn’t one to be outdone and flicked a switch on her weapon in rifle form. It hummed and fired off three shots at a time in short succession.

  “Wait, that thing had burst-fire mode?” Avryn noticed.

  Rinna smirked and continued on shooting.

  “Incoming!” the other squad leader warned.

  More black feathery fiends dotted the skies. This time it was the Corpse eagles. There were at least dozens of them coming. Tvira and Rinna kept at it and shot them all down with supreme confidence.

  More wolves met them once they went and finished the mountain path. Avryn jumped ahead and attacked with the gunblade, dazzling them with flashy combos of blade slashes and explosive shots from Lerosa. He managed to down at least ten of the wolves without breaking a sweat. Valoche kept slicing his way through with his axe.

  The outpost was in sight, it was a minute run to there. The squad was working like a well-oiled machine with their impeccable teamwork. Valoche slid through the opening while the rest covered for him.

  They came out of the training with perfect scores and high praises once again. Avryn congratulated them for a job well done.

  “That was the perfect storm guys, I don’t think we could’ve replicated that even if we wanted to,” he smiled.

  “So, final count?” Tvira turned to Rinna.

  “Fifty seven,” she replied.

  “Cute, I got fifty eight,” Tvira unstrung her bow.

  The two got into a small argument about the semantics, one that Avryn was more than willing to step out of the way.

  “I don’t know about you Avryn, but this little rivalry is gonna turn them into monsters of a sort,” Valoche nudged him.

  “For who? The enemies or us in general?” Avryn shrugged.

  “Perhaps both,” Valoche said.