บท 106: The Power Within

Boss better get us a damn healer as fast as he can, because I am NOT waking up like this EVER again just because Opal's being pissy with him!

Training? Training I can handle, but this ain't no training...

It's just meditation.

I know, I know. I've been doing a lot better but give a girl a break. When I said I'd do whatever it takes to learn the great blade I wasn't fooling around! Today's just an off day, I promise.

I've been sitting here for hours now trying to find 'inner peace' and clarity and other stupid crap like that... So basically I was told to wake up, go outside and close my eyes and breath deeply for a few hours. Oh but Sam, can't go asleep or you'll get punished. This is... just...

...

Mnnn...

Fuck, I'm... ti... red...

"FOCUS, SAM!"

My face caves in right after I hear the whirring air from one of those damn disc thingies Niki's been throwing around. It hits me and leaves falling backwards onto the dirty ground of the training yard with a minor bloody nose.

UGH.

"COME THE FUCK ON, NIKI!" I shout after getting up on my feet and stomping over to the Grekkan.

I'm trying REAL hard not to act spoiled and annoying here, but... can't I get just a LITTLE break?

Zuritia is over there napping on the bench after training her body to the point of collapse, and Meri is standing infront of Niki like usual wearing her gambeson, panting while covered in sweat and holding her shield.

"C'mon, Champ! You're getting better at chilling out more and more every day! I can see it now, just keep it up and you'll go the discus! Get it? Discus? Distance?" Niki laughs at her own joke like always and slaps her knee.

"S-Sam..." Meri looks at me a bit sadly. "I know it's hard b-but Nikita knows what's best for us..."

"Uh, YEAH. I know she does! That's what pisses me off!" I groan and stomp over to one of the benches near Zutiria's, and sit down. The fucking thing falls to pieces thanks to my BIG FAT ASS BECAUSE WHY THE FUCK WOULDN'T IT?! "RRRGGHHH!!"

Niki frowns and her wild eyes suddenly wash over with compassion. "Do you need a break today, Champ?"

I frown back at her from my spot on the ground, instantly regretting my choice of attire. This stupid thong armor did nothing to protect my poor butt from splinters. "NO, WHAT I WANT SOME IS SOME FUCKING ACTUAL ARMOR!"

As if on cue, Gwin shows up. She must've come back here instead of the front door because she could hear Niki and Meri training.

"Mornin' lasses. Workin' up one a them there 'sweat's' ah been hearin' so much about?"

"Hi, Gwin!" Meri blushes and greets the red headed Dwarf.

"Sup! I banged up the door to the bedroom upstairs if you need something to do, Little Hephaestus." Nikita waves at Gwin with her typical white smile.

"Ach, cours' ya fuckin' did ya walkin' talkin' wreckin' crew." She rolls her eyes and crosses her arms, pressing her biceps into her chest and making them squeeze her big tits in the process. Even if I'm in a bad mood, least I get some eye candy...

"Ah hear ya say summin' bout needin' some armor, Miss Teeny Bikini?" Gwin smirks and I chuckle in response. I wasn't in the mood to properly introduce myself when we first met but Gwin and I get along REAL good. She's fuckin' great, and we got a lot in common so it's always easy to just chill whenever the cheeky Dwarf bitch happens to be around.

Gwin gets on well with everyone, though I think Opal intimidates her... Maybe I would be put off by her, too if I were only four feet tall and had to stare up at those gigantic melons.

You'd think she'd hate Niki for undoing her work all the damn time but I think she likes that it gives her an excuse to leave home and hang out over here.

Meri seems to really respect her, but I don't for the life of me know why. It's not exactly like they have much in common and you'd think timid little Meri would be put off by the brash, aggressive Dwarf. But nah.

Boss just keeps attracting people who fit in perfectly, like pieces of a puzzle that didn't even know they were missing. Personally I can't wait till we can snap the pieces like Opal and Gwin where they belong. I want this Guild to get stronger so we can defeat the Demon Lord, so we're definitely gonna need a doctor and a blacksmith.

But her family doesn't WANT her to be a blacksmith... so... just another one of those dumbass bridges we need to cross when we come to it.

"Yeah. I need armor. What're you gonna do about it, shortstack?" I grin back at her, standing up off the dirty ground and patting off as many of the splinters from my butt as I can.

"See me after class, ya bimbo. Ah'll work somethin' out if ya bring 5,000G. It ain't gonna be AMAZIN' but it'll be better'n what ya got fer sure."

"You for real, Red?" I start beaming and smiling as I rush over to see Gwin.

"Ye, long as ya don' mind if ah go about it'n a... less than legal way." Her eyes narrow and she looks away like a shifty bitch.

Meri's eyes light up and she steps forward. "C-Can I come too?"

"Fuck do ah care?" Gwin shrugs.

"Ladies, while I'm all for discussing plans to properly suit Sam up, I gotta play bad coach for a sec here and remind you I'm not done with you yet." Niki clears her throat to grab everyone's attention.

"Ye whatev'. Where's Mr. Bossman this morning?"

"He's having a meeting with his patron deity using the ambrosia that I gave him! But don't tell anyone, it's a secret." The Grekkan gives a thumbs up and... look when I'M giving you looks for how stupid what you just said is, Niki, then that says a lot. "He might be back already, don't know. We've been at it for a few hours. Check his office and the bedroom upstairs I guess."

"Righ' well that jus explains everythin' now dunnit?" With a deep snort the Dwarf shakes her head and walks inside the Guild. "Later, bitches. Give mah regards to Sleepin' Beauty over there an' come get me if she needs true love's first kiss'n all that."

"...Nnn?" Zuzu briefly stirs before falling right back asleep.

Me and Meri both promise to meet her when we finish up and turn back to face our teacher.

"Feeling good enough to keep going, Sam?" She asks.

"Isn't there like... ANYTHING hands on we could do? I still stand by my decision. I want to learn how to use the great blade... but. I'm not the brightest. Everyone knows that. I get why chilling out and taking it slow and steady is good, but... WHY do I have to learn it this way? I'm strong enough to lift this thing around like a butter knife, so..."

"S-Sam... maybe you should take a break today after all?" Meri asks me worriedly. I think she's upset that I might start a fight with Niki just because I don't feel like meditating.

"Nah for real. I'm not talking back. I just genuinely want to know."

The Grekkan stares at me with a silent and thoughtful look on her face, then crosses her arms. "Not a bad question. I hope you don't mind if I ask one in return?"

"Sure, I've been reading an action novel. I know how the whole mentor shit works by now." I puff my chest out proudly, leaving out the fact that I've only gotten fifty pages into it so far.

"How do Mages cast spells?"

Meri and I exchange a confused look. "They, uh. Use the mana in their bodies to change the world around em?"

"Pretty much. When they're able to do such awesome shit, don't you'd think us physical attackers would be put to shame by Mages if swinging around weapons was ALL we were good for?" A white smile lifts the corner of her mouth and she cheekily raises an eyebrow.

"I'm listening." With my hands on my hips, I tilt my head and lean in closer.

"D-Do you mean using magic weapons, armors and artifacts from dungeons?" Meri asks curiously.

"Nah, but I like the way you think, Meri! Right. Let's not beat around the bush, there's a physical version of mana and martial artists like us can channel it into our bodies or our weapons to 'cast' powerful techniques called Arts."

"The fuck? Why didn't Boss ever teach me that kinda shit when he was helping me learn the basics?" I ask.

"Answered your own question there, Champ. He's smart and all but it's not something a bookworm could really explain. You need someone to show you..."

Niki extends her hand and her Auto Loader glows brightly like it always does when she's about to pull out one of the badass members of her seemingly infinite arsenal. Seriously, while training Meri I've watched wield all kinds of weapons from dozens of different realms.

She smiles and says, "Grekkan Greatsword."

Oh shit, don't think I've seen her use a great blade before, actually! Now I'm hyped.

Sure enough her hand clasps down on a thick metal handle and a big, hulking piece of iron materializes. Shit looks pretty tight, like DAMN.

It's all scuffed up, chipped and rusty from all the enemies that Niki's put down with its might and it's got that classy Grekkan look about it. Looks cooler than mine by a whole heck of a lot, and despite the rust it looks plenty sharp.

"Grab your sword and c'mere, Sam." Niki points to the ground in front of her and casually beckons me.

"Wait, you want me to-"

"C'mon, c'mon!" Niki's enthusiasm isn't enough to get my heart pumpin' but I grab my own great blade and head to where she wants me.

"It's ok, Sam... Niki attacks me all the time, it's not so bad!" Meri her darned hardest to comfort me. "Y-You get used to it..." Her eyes grow distant as they remember the fierce shit she's faced in her training so far. Not exactly what I needed to see right about now, Meri's flashbacks of 'the war' are... uh... not reassuring at all.

"Right, let's do this! I'm gonna strike you as hard as I can without help. Block it."

"Can do, show me what ya got!" This isn't gonna be THAT bad, I got this in the bag!

I get into battle position with my weapon and watch as Niki swings her own into the sky with both hands and slams it down in a massive arc almost too fast for me to stop it. But I do... NGH- it takes everything I've got not to give in and buckle under pressure...

But I can hold her off... just barely...!!

As our huge, beefy blades collide sparks explode from the metal and a powerful CLANG rings out like a massive church bell. "W-What the FUCK!?" I grunt and push back as hard as I can but the initial attack made me feel like my fuckin' arms were gonna break!

I can't do it, my knees give in from the force of Niki's attack and I fall back on my splintery ass. It hurts, but not as much as my pride does. Hope I grow outta that sometime but I... am not really expecting that to ever happen, knowing my family history.

"Sam!" Meri nervously shouts and peeks out from behind her shield, too scared to watch just.

"Not bad! Not bad at all. I wasn't actually expecting you to hold your ground like that." Niki lets out smarmy 'heh' and grins. "Now let's do it again, and this time I'll show you what it's like when you use 'help'."

"WAIT, I CAN'T JUST-"

"Nikita?!" Meri clasps her hands over her mouth in terror, her shield falling to the ground as she does.

"C'mon. Just trust me." Niki orders and I grit my teeth, standing up to get out in front of her again.

An overwhelming red energy explodes out of her as she readies her sword once again...! The hell is this?! She seems so much bigger than she actually is... but like... it's her presence that swells up like crazy and not actually her? I don't know how to explain this- it's not like anything I've ever seen before.

And then she slams the sword down at me.

I've never been more terrified...

I'm going to die, aren't I?

Stop... DON'T, I DON'T WANT TO DIE!

BOSS-

"SAM!" Meri shouts.

Air fills my lungs thanks to a deep gasp.

My eyes become more aware.

I snap back to reality and stumble backwards, my body covered in a thick, steamy coat of panic swear.

Staring straight at Niki, I... I can't believe my eyes. She didn't even move her sword.

She's still standing there with a smile on her face, watching my every move.

That Grekkan weapon of hers disappears in the same golden light that it came from and she walks over to me to clasp me on the shoulder. "Scary, ain't it?"

"What... what WAS that...?"

"Just like mana, every realm seems to have a different name for it. Grekkans? We call it Aeon. In Ikkuni it's Ki, in Gothicca it's Vigor... so on and so forth. Pretty sure you Karnallians just call it Stamina, though. Fucking boring if you ask me. Whatever you call it, it's basically just your body's own life force. Not that using it shortens your life or anything, far from it!"

"Stamina? Hold on, you don't mean-" The Shield Maiden seems to have figured something out.

Ah, wait. That's right, whenever she uses Reflect she always says she uses a bit of her stamina. I thought she just meant she got tired, not like... she was using a magic muscle energy from deep within.

"Yep! Meri's actually a little more advanced than you, Sam. That Reflect of hers is a Shield Maiden exclusive Art! Pretty damn cool that you could figure out how to do it just from copying your mom, but I'm sure that little crystal of yours makes it easier."

"What? N-No I'm nothing special, I just... wanted to be like her... that's all. I'm just a poor copy." Meri blushes and picks up her shield again so she can hide behind it.

"So... the better I can control myself the better I can use my stamina to do these crazy Art things? Am I getting this right or what?"

"Yup! Putting it simply, the meditation WILL help you out with the great blade in though because most of its arts make use of how big, bulky and slow it is. It'll also start laying the foundation to use your stamina. Gotta have proper focus and conditioning to do that and neither of those come naturally to you. When you're big and strong like ME," Niki playfully flexes her muscle, "Then you can make some of your own Arts and use the great blade however you want to. But you gotta learn the basics before you can freestyle!"

Holy shit.

This is like... a whole new world of badass.

Fuckin'... explosive auras and feint attacks and magic spells you can cast just from your own body being fucking jacked?!

This...

THIS is what I'm talking about...!

"Niki, you're a shitty teacher. You shoulda told me this DAY ONE! I'll fucking meditate for a week straight if I have to if it lets me start doing this shit!"

I haven't ever been this pumped for meditating before, but let's DO THIS!