In the limited works of pre-System fiction that survived the Wasted War, we can see positive portrayals of dwarves and elves, depicted as human allies fighting against hordes of goblins and orcs in books like , which itself is believed to be a retelling of an even older work. Are the rocky, often hostile, relationships between humans and the various orc Clans a natural consequence of orcs being an intrinsically war-loving race, a fallout of pre-existing human prejudices, or even a result of the System overwriting the orcs’ name for their own race with that of a concept that frequently opposes humanity?
No one knows, but the resulting intermittent conflicts between Lost Angels and settlements of various races from orcs to infernals are very real.
- Rufus Veres, Level 37 Verbose Historian,
“Well well well, look at this. We seem to have acquired more fresh meat!”
The man who spoke was big but not orc-big, standing probably a few inches over six feet with a muscular build apparent even under his armor. He was wearing blackened steel chainmail and his bare head was shaved.
Name: JJ
Class: Berzerker
Tier: 3
“Listen up, maggots! There’s a few rules in my training hall, and the most important one is no spectators. You come in here, you fight. I don’t care if you’re in the ranged group, once you walk in that door, you’ll do as I say. Now miss hotshot Azure, let’s see what you can do with a weapon.”
My heart raced as I realized there was no escape. Thompson had told us the first rule was to obey the instructors. If JJ wanted me out there, then I just had to hope I didn’t embarrass myself too badly.
“Azure! Don’t just sit there like an idiot. Pick a weapon, whatever you’re most comfortable with!”
“Uh, shortsword!” I finally blurted out. I was better with a longsword, actually, but a longsword wouldn’t work with my Short Blades Skill. Not like the General Skill was going to help a whole lot, but I figured maybe I could get training experience out of whatever was about to happen to me.
“You’ve got one with you?”
“Yeah, but not a training one,” I replied, standing up to head for one of the racks.
“Doesn’t matter, get it out and get out here! You, Mage – you’re with Leon over there,” JJ pointed, and then called out four more names, pairing each one up with an instructor. I thanked the Angels that at least I wasn’t going to be the only student out there, but I could feel the eyes on me as I walked into the square JJ was standing in. I pulled the dwarven sword from my Inventory and drew the blade before storing the scabbard again.
“Good, now let’s see just how pitiful you are, Come at me!” JJ bellowed, and with grim resignation I started forward.
I was well aware that I wasn’t going to hit him unless he let me, which seemed unlikely, so I began with basic combinations. Thrust, thrust, slash. Slash left, right, thrust. I tried to concentrate on the smoothness of my movements and did my best to ignore the fact that my target was somehow never where I was aiming by the time my sword got there.
Even as I picked up the pace, JJ was scowling at me. He hadn’t even bothered to put on a helm, the smug asshole. I was starting to sweat, but I had plenty of stamina left, so I kept chasing him.
“Is that all you’ve got, ? This isn’t rote practice, you’re never going to hit me like that!”
“Nothing I’ve got is going to hit you unless you , so I might as well get some practice in!” I responded through gritted teeth.
The big man stopped for just a moment as he threw back his head and laughed. Seeing the opening, I broke off my combination and willed Quick Step to activate as I launched myself forward. The world around me for just a moment, and then there was a ringing sound and my sword was no longer in my hand. I realized in shock that JJ had just the sword right out of the air with a gauntleted palm.
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Suddenly the big man was right in front of me, no longer laughing.
“What was , recruit?! No Active Skills are allowed today!” he bellowed right into my face and I barely fought down the urge to flinch.
“Sorry sir!” I yelled, snapping to a semblance of attention. “I wasn’t informed of the rules, sir!”
His mood flipped again in a heartbeat and he laughed once more.
“Haha, I might just like you after all, recruit! That’s on me! Now, pick up that sword and try again, the Skill this time!”
I did as I was told, going back to my practice combinations, but every so often trying to break the pattern with an unexpected strike. It was useless, but it seemed to amuse JJ, and as long as he was smiling he wasn’t yelling at me. By the time he finally called a halt, I was covered in sweat, and I started to channel mana into my armor before I caught myself, realizing that no one else was doing it. Was that another of JJ’s rules? Either way, I was more than happy to escape the floor back to my seat near the orcs.
Thankfully they’d been almost finished and the last round of the day was now over. We left the training hall as a large mob, everyone streaming back towards the barracks – which were apparently called dorms because this was a school. I turned towards a sweating Raylan.
“Why isn’t anyone using mana to clean themselves off?”
“School rule,” he replied, “if you’re going to do that, you’re supposed to do it only in the shower so you can wash the gunk down the drain. They don’t want it just dropping on the floor or the ground everywhere, it would build up over time.”
“Huh, I guess that makes sense… The showers are going to be busy after training then!”
It was a bit of a mess back at the bathrooms. There were almost thirty melee fighters in our group of recruits, and all of them wanted a shower. At least the trainees were off in their own building, otherwise I was worried they’d be fighting for the privilege of getting in first. An idea occurred to me a moment later.
With a little shouting, I got everyone’s attention. We quickly arranged for one of the showers to be reserved just for people who wanted to do a quick mana ‘rinse’. It only took a few seconds to hop in, run mana through your armor, and get most of the sweat and dust off. That was good enough for many of us, and it helped deal with the limited number of showers we had.
I was fine with being mostly clean for now. I could always take a ‘real’ shower later before going to bed. We gathered up the team and headed out for dinner.
The dining hall was pretty full that evening and I wondered what it was going to be like after the second semester students arrived. I’d overheard someone saying that they were out on some kind of expedition hunting monsters and should be back within the week. After eating, a surprising number of students tromped off to the bar.
H’ruk and G’hala started to follow them, but I called them back.
We gathered around one of the tables in the now much quieter dining hall.
Zaire chimed in.
H’ruk started to object, but closed his mouth when his sister put her hand on the massive Mage’s arm.
I sighed, and decided to just put it bluntly.
I gave him a level stare.
To his credit, the big orc at least hesitated before nodding.
Raylan added.
Eventually we agreed on a limit of two E0s or one E10 per night. With our plan in place, we joined the rest of the students at the bar, finding our own table off to the side. I stuck with water, though Raylan and Zaire each had a single beer. H’ruk offered to ‘buy beer credits’ from me since I wasn’t using mine, but was quickly overruled.
With our drinking concluded early, we left long before most of the others. Thankfully without any incidents. The next morning, the wisdom of the drinking limit became obvious as some of the other students were clearly struggling with hangovers at breakfast. I winced at the idea of having to fight, especially for an evaluation, in that state.
JJ