Challenge System CH16-20 (Patreon)

A splash of water woke me up from an exciting dream involving Elorael to an early morning in the forest. The sound of croaking frogs in the early morning echoed throughout the tribe like an alarm clock. Elves moved about their business; some young ones were escorted by older elves, while some left their homes alone. Falcons flew between buildings snatching up food scraps as they were tossed out. A few elves sang songs about getting up or working in their own musical choruses while doing their early morning chores. Young children ran out of their homes like bats out of hell, with older siblings following behind them at a careful pace.

“Here,” Zosimael said and tossed me a loaf of smoked fish, nuts, dried fruit, and some honeycomb. “It will give you some energy, but what you really need is sleep. Try not to push yourself too hard today; you have all week.”

If I only wanted to complete one objective, then she might be right. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case, and I didn’t have time. I needed to get constant under control.

“You said you would teach me how can I hasten this process along?” I asked.

I wanted to be a mage build, but I didn’t have the skills or power to make that a reality. Right now, the best thing I could do was take care of my power discrepancy between myself and Samael. Then I needed to master Island Obliterating Fist. Last on my list was developing a mage-like attack similar to the beam the forest god used to bisect the sea god.

So far I drank a tall glass of forest god stillbirth to raise my potential.

“Back in my day, we used to attach boulders to our apprentice’s limbs and force them to go through spear practice. If that didn’t work, we had them fight an experienced warrior for as long as it took. But, unfortunately, you look like a tall breeze could kill you. So, we need someone gentle. I think I know just the girl. Follow me she should be practicing right now.” Zosimael said.

I ate my breakfast and followed her down the tree to a large clearing near a lake. There a teenage elf worked hard through a series of complicated spear formations. Her movements were so fast there were almost after images. Yet, there was also something disconcerting about her. When I looked at her face, I saw Samael’s nose and chin.

“Who is she? I asked.

“Mekael is a uniquely talented warrior. She might look young but believe me, she is just as deadly as any warrior twice her age. And best of all, she’s an orphan with no family and Samael’s most bitter rival. So if anyone could train you to beat Samael in a duel, it's her.” Zosimael said.

“Now I just have to convince her to help me even though I’m a deformed round ear,” I said.

“Not quite,” Zosimael said.

When Mekael spotted the older elf, she shot forward and hugged the bandage-wrapped elf. Her braid of black hair whipped out as she ran. When she hugged the Zosimael for a moment, I could confuse them for mother and daughter.

“Mekael, this is Red; he’s living with me and training to become a warrior. I want you to train him in the ways of the spear, like how you were trained.” Zosimael said.

The young elf looked between us. “Who doesn’t know how to use a spear at his age? Did his people have no competition?” Mekael said. “He does look a little fat.”

To be fair, she wasn’t entirely wrong. There really wasn’t any real competition in my country, and most of the time, people didn’t feel the need to carry guns. As for her last comment, I looked better than I had in years. My all-raw meat diet had trimmed my waist enough to go down a few pants sizes. As for muscle, I wasn’t as toned as I could be.

“Exactly my point; he has no experience with a spear, you can tell in the way he walks. He doesn’t even consider spears dangerous.” Zosimael shook her head. “It would really help me out and piss Samael off if you trained him.”

“You should have led with that. I will make a warrior out of him; how long do I have?” Mekael asked.

“A week,” Zosimael said.

“You’re joking,” Mekael said.

“I’m afraid not, and he hasn’t mastered constant yet either and stubbornly refuses to drop his breathing. So, our only option is to push forward.” Zosimael said and found a branch to sit on, exposing her cock and balls to anyone passing under.

I rubbed my face and absentmindedly caught the extra spear she tossed me. The end, fortunately, was just the end of a stick; it was a 9ft haft of a spear without its head. Mekael carefully untied the head of her spear and took a stance.

“Have you learned the five stances yet?” Mekael asked.

“No,” I said.

“So, we are doing the very beginning; alright, do what I do,” Mekael said.

She showed me a series of stances, and I did my best to copy them. It wasn’t easy; our centers of balance were different, and the stances she showed me weren’t made for someone of my build. Really fighting with spears wasn’t what I had in mind when I decided to specialize as a mage. I had no intentions to use these stances outside the upcoming duel.

“Take this seriously, or I’ll punish you when we spar. At its most basic principle the idea of foundation of spear combat is to line up a single perfect strike that has little chance of being countered. Once you thrust your spear, you’re open to an attack. Some tribes, like the skulls, use a short spear with a wooden shield. Their idea of spear combat is to take a hit and counter while we hit once.” Mekael said. “We’ll take a break then spar,” Mekael said and smiled, and I could see an edge of excitement in her eyes.

I climbed up to the same branch Zosimael sat on. “You know I haven’t had a lapse once today. It's days like these that scare me the most. They give me hope that I can get better and continue living.” Zosimael said.

“That’s some heavy shit, and it doesn’t make any sense. What did you do different this morning than any other morning?” I asked.

“I gave you my breakfast,” Zosimael said.

I thought about it for a moment and couldn’t shake a nagging suspicion that the food was the vecter of poisoning. As for why I wasn’t affected, it could be my healing factor, a difference of species, or the poisoner doesn’t always include the poison. Maybe they give less of it on some days to make it seem like it's more an illness that comes and goes than a poison. If she suddenly acts suspicious, they are bound to use a different method, so stopping this method wasn’t enough. I needed to find the poisoner

“Do you make those bars yourself, or does someone supply them?” I asked.

“The young scouts bring me my breakfast every morning. They’re a group of our most prominent young warriors.” Zosimael said.

“Who gives them the ingredients to make those bars?” I asked.

“The minister of supply normally, she’s in charge of distributing the tribe’s resources to individuals,” Zosimael said.

“How long have they served you breakfast?” I asked patiently.

Zosimael paused. “Since before I started regressing. I couldn’t be trusted to hunt on my own after that and became a burden on the tribe. My contributions in my early years are the only reason I’m able to feed myself.” Zosimael said with an odd tone in her voice.

“Isn’t that an interesting assumption? This is a little off-topic, but you said wearing weights will help me reach breathing constant quicker.” I said.

“We once tied rocks to the limbs of our young scouts, and those who survived the training all gained constant,” Zosimael said.

I nodded and searched my store app for some weighted clothes. It didn’t take long to find some, along with a cup, a blue bodysuit, and a Kevlar vest. I purchased them all and got dressed.

“How are you doing that?” Zosimael asked.

“We all have our secrets mine are a little harder to understand than others. You could say I’m trading goods in an unseeable marketplace.” I said.

The weights included two 10kg armbands, two 20kg white boots, and a 50kg vest of Kevlar. While I didn’t like the white gloves and knew my boots would be brown before long, I was satisfied with my purchase.

As a whole, it only cost me 250SP; unfortunately, I felt slow, just moving while maintaining my breathing technique felt impossible. My body might not be up to the challenge; I was already abusing the hell out of my healing factor. I picked up my practice spear and slowly made my way through the forms. While my body felt slow, like I could move just enough to get through each stance.

Mekael returned from her break and stared at my getup with a raised eyebrow. “What kind of animal did you kill to get a blue pelt, or did you use a berry dye?”

She patted one of my armbands and frowned. “You chose to weigh yourself down. I had planned to float the idea of strapping rocks to your arms and legs. What’s inside these bands?” Mekael asked.

“I imagine sand.” She nodded.

“That would be easier than smooth stones. Alright, let’s get to training. We’ll move slowly until we find a pace you can handle.” Mekael said.

…

I rested on my back, exhausted but still forced to use the breathing technique. Welts covered my face, arms, and legs where she struck me with the haft of her spear. She twirled the weapon in her hands while looking me over.

“You can do better than that; the suns have barely moved. So I tell you, what if you go another round with me? Then I will take you hunting with a real spear.” Mekael said.

I stared at her, who rewarded work with more work. But if I wanted to stop Zosimael from being poisoned, I needed to get a steady supply of food. That would be easier with a hunter who knew what they were doing.

“Of course, I doubt you will catch anything wearing those weights,” Mekael said.

I rolled over on my side and pushed myself up. My bones screamed in agony, and my muscles protested my every move. While I didn’t have magic or long-range techniques at my disposal now, I had something even better. I could buy anything I didn’t have that included a compound bow and plenty of arrows. Why chase something down with a spear when I could just shoot it from a distance?

We stood across from each other, moving through stances looking for the right moment to make a move. But, instead, she shot forward, and I jabbed through an after image. The haft of her spear smashed against the side of my head, then when I moved to block another strike, the point of her spear tapped my ribs.

I sucked in a breath and let it out. We repeated our spar over and over again. I lurched forward, and her spear pierced my gut before I knew what had happened. When I went on the defensive, she engaged and hit me just when I committed to a block. Before I thought of what to do next, she led me into a pitfall.

“You can’t fight without a plan. Even if the plan you make falls apart the second you move, there has to be a goal. Mine is simple when you attack, I want you to hit where I’m not. When I hit you with a non-lethal blow, you automatically moved to defend from that position and leave yourself open at your flank. All you ever do is use a telegraphed attack or block statically. My advice is to move and keep moving. Those who remain still in a fight die.” Mekael said.

A plan that wasn’t something I had in mind. I put all my effort into standing and putting up what fight I could that winning never crossed my mind. I thought about it, I was slow, but I was wearing armor. If this was a fight, my goal would be to slow her down or stop her movements to make it easier for me to take advantage of my armor.

My plan was simple; all I needed to do was force her to strike at my armor and leave herself open. We spared again, and she moved too quickly to counter with tricks of the light. After images appeared open for an attack. The haft of her spear swung toward my face as it had many times. I had taken that same blow from her numerous times since we began. My next move would be to block and counter if I had a shield. The second I blocked the blow, she would have already set up her killing strike.

It made me wonder if using techniques was out of the question. This was a spar, but she clearly used techniques as if they were natural. After images were a staple of the forest tribe warrior tool kit. Instead of blocking, I deflected the blow. I moved with it while aiming the end of my spear. She struck my chest while the end of my spear connected. Unlike myself, she wasn’t wearing armor.

“So, you plan to kill me as well rather than die alone,” Mekael said.

I patted my Kevlar vest. “It might not look it, but this thing can take a lot of punishment. You might break one of my ribs, but I would have skewered you. Armor can make all the difference in a fight.” I said.

That simple fact had been true since the dawn of war. Armor that could block the enemy’s weapons was an overwhelming advantage. I didn’t have to worry about blocking as much and could stab away. Really it didn’t matter how many times she hit my chest if the blow was never fatal or even debilitating. Of course, that didn’t mean much if she targeted my legs, head, or arms. If I could force her to only target my chest, then I would be fine.

I thought about buying more armor as well. There were pants with replicable armor plates. A bulletproof face mask would defiantly help out alone with a helmet with neck protection. When dealing with primitives pointing sticks at me, some armor was a great idea. Unfortunately, my SP had only recently reached the point where I could afford more expensive equipment.

We spared again, and she didn’t make any pretenses and targeted my neck, legs, and head. None of her blows were aimed at my torso, but I still had the advantage. Her biggest target was covered in armor, and I could attack freely.

“You should fight as if it was a viable target. Glorael won’t let you wear armor in a duel.” Mekael said.

We took another break after Mekael thoroughly beat my ass. “You know you’re pretty good for someone untrained. If you had a few years to master the basics and grow stronger, I could see you eventually reaching Samael’s level. Unfortunately, you don’t have a shot at doing that in a week, no matter how talented you are. Why don’t you give up on Elorael and find someone else?” Mekael asked.

“She is my friend and stood up for me when I was weak. Loyalty like that must be respected, and what kind of man would I be if I left her to suffer.” I said.

“A living one,” Mekael said.

I thought about what I was willing to die for. While it sounded cliché, my friend was someone worth it. Normally the only thing worth dying for was my freedom to live my life the way I wanted to, but Elorael was different. She risked everything, including her own freedom, for me. Elorael could have become a warrior of the forest tribe and lived well. But, there was no reason for her to cover for my mistake. So, for the first time in my life, there was a second thing worth dying for.

“Maybe my body would live, but I would not. I would be nothing more than a traitor. She sacrificed her freedom for me and resigned herself to a horrible fate. Even if it's impossible to match Samael with a spear with only a week of training, I have to try.” I said.

“So, this is about pride. You can’t stand being seen as less than worth her sacrifice. But she wouldn’t want that if she sacrificed her freedom for you. Elorael most likely wants you to live and be free instead of throwing your life away in a duel.” Mekael said.

I stared down below at the fleet-footed white-maned unicorns roaming through the forest shod on golden hooves. The forest seemed to sing as they paused to drink from a nearby stream. Some jabbed and bit at each other while foals played. Each was majestic and shining with the same glowing aura that covered Mekael and the other forest elves that mastered breathing constant. I wondered if I would glow as well once I mastered the technique.

We had trained for a few hours, and already I felt some improvements. My body adjusted at a blinding rate due entirely to my healing factor. Without it, training like I did would be impossible. So I decided to abuse my biology to its fullest with weighted training to reach greater heights.

“It's my life to use how I see fit. Even if Elorael gave up her freedom to help me, that doesn’t change me.” I said.

“Then you leave me no choice. I’m going to run you into the ground every day and impart into you every trick I can. When we’re done, you won’t be the best spear fighter in the tribe, but you will be a dangerous opponent.” Mekael said.

“Alright, what are we going to do next?” I asked.

“Training is over for today, so as promised, I’m going to show you how to hunt. I’ve tracked something large over the past few weeks, and together I think we can bring it down.” Mekael said.

…

When Mekael had said large, I expected maybe a deer the size of a horse or a moose. Instead, far from the forest tribe, she led me to footprints wider than I was tall.

“When tracks are this deep, even when it's dry, you can tell the beast is heavy. Those claw marks prove that it’s a predator as well. Three claws mean instead of five mean it's unrelated to the forest god. So, it's well within the established limit for hunting. Now come on, let me show you something even more interesting.” Mekael said.

She took me to a massive pile of shit filling up a ditch. Mekael sniffed the pile and smiled like it was the most pleasant thing in the world. “You can tell it’s a predator by the smell. It has a very meaty diet. That means its meat will taste even better. The beasts that only eat plants absorb a tiny fraction of the forest god’s power and concentrate it. A predator that has eaten many other beasts has even more concentrated power. So it will be very beneficial to eat it.” Mekael said.

“Sure, but if it’s collecting a lot of qi, then won’t it be too much for only the two of us to kill it. I’m sure you’re confident in your abilities, but I haven’t mastered constant breathing yet.” I said.

“You aren’t scared to die against a sadist like Samael, so this shouldn’t be a challenge. So relax; this is your first time, and I will help you through it.” Mekael said.

We barely met this morning, and she’s already teasing me. Either this girl gets close to others too quickly, or she trusts me because of Zosimael. Either way, this special treatment felt undeserved and made me feel uncomfortable. I hardly did anything to deserve it. It was also possible that her dislike of Samael carried over to liking anyone who opposed the sadistic chief’s daughter.

Motives aside, I couldn't shake the feeling that we were about to fight a T-rex or this world’s equivalent. Worse, it felt like we were about to take on a shiny freak of a T-rex with spears. So I did the only rational thing and armed myself with another weapon.

Buying a gun felt like it would push against believability. Against a T-rex, I would rather have a cannon than a hunting rifle. So instead, I purchased a compound bow and a quiver of four-prong steel razor-tipped arrows. The compound bow had a good 400lbs draw, and I recalled carbon shaft arrows hurt to fire more than aluminum. On the upside, the carbon shot further and faster. The bow and arrows would be handy if the animal in question didn’t have indestructible hide. On the other hand, I didn’t want to get too close to a mother fucking T-rex.

“I’ll try to relax while we’re running for our lives from a giant lizard,” I said.

As I recalled, most paleontologists estimate that a T-rex could run around 17mph. That wasn’t much, but this wasn’t the normal T-rex. We were hunting a shiny cultivation version of the standard T-rex. The odds were great; the dinosaur was at least 10 times its estimated speed.

We neared a few more dung piles, but unlike the one before, these glowed faintly. I really didn’t want to know why they were taller than me. Killing such a large animal with my bow felt more impossible the more I tracked it.

“I can already taste smell the meat crackling over an open fire. Then, after we kill it, we get our pick of the cuts. Can you imagine how much meat something like this has on it?” Mekael asked.

The ground shook, and Mekael disappeared behind a tree while I struggled to follow her. She stressed the need for me to always wear the weights while training. Even if they nearly crippled my speed, I eventually needed to adjust to wearing them. Taking them off to do mundane things like hunting would only hurt me in the long run. But, of course, if I was too slow to defend myself, what was the point. Ultimately, it was my decision, but if I didn’t get used to them, how could I hope to win?

Of course, I recognized a distinct possibility she wanted me to be slow enough to be a sitting duck for the T-rex. While weighted down, there was no way I could move with my average speed. I wasn’t functioning where I should be, and despite not deteriorating much anymore, I wasn’t on the upswing yet. My physical capabilities were just a little below my pre-breathing technique levels.

So, when a glowing, almost gold T-rex pushed itself through a tight group of trees turned its head to the side to look at me, I felt nervous. It hadn’t roared or made any aggressive moves. The creature didn’t see me as a threat or even prey. Such a large beast probably thought I was too small to be a worthwhile meal. Why would such a large predator hunt something too small to be worth it? Chasing me down to eat was like running down the road for a single french-fry.

Of course, that was ignoring a single factor. Elves were crazy, and Mekael seemed more than willing to throw her spear from cover if the T-rex had its eyes on me.

Light from the lizard's body peeked through between a densely packed group of trees. It reached out not with tiny, clawed limbs made for dicing meat but long, heavily anchored limbs clearly used for offense. The creature’s opposable thumbs were off-putting, especially when tipped with claws. It moved carefully through the dense foliage and eyed me for a moment before turning its attention away. The giant might not be a kaiju, but it was a massive predator. The ground shook from its every step, and if my eyes weren’t deceiving me could easily be 90ft from snout to tail. From where it stood, it was easily 4 times might height.

Its long delicate claws moved foliage aside as it moved swiftly, and I pulled back my bow. Despite my better judgment, I needed to eat. It shouldn't be possible to kill it with what I had, but that wasn’t entirely true. I moved closer to the foliage the giant lizard moved through so carefully.

I pulled the 400lbs draw bow back with little difficulty and prepared to fire. Before letting my arrow fly, a moose shot out of the woods, and the T-rex moved. Almost imperceptibly fast, it snatched up the poor creature and shook its head. I heard the massive deer’s bones snap while massive steak knife-sized teeth ripped into the creature. The lizard tossed the creature up in the air before catching the front half of its body. I watched the T-rex chew up and swallow the moose down from their hide and all.

I saw the monster move, and it wasn’t faster than Mekael. I climbed one of the nearby trees and found a tall limb capable of supporting my weight. From there, I spotted one of the creature’s eyes and aimed my bow. The second I fired, I knew the monster would go berserk. Unfortunately, this was an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up. If I thought the T-rex or whatever kind of creature the lizard really was had any sapience, maybe I would think twice.

When I drew the bow, I held another arrow between my fingers. After my first shot, I needed to draw again and take out the other eye. While it probably had a nose stronger than a bloodhound, it wouldn’t spot me too quickly before I got the other eye.

A hand gripped my back, and I turned to see Mekael shaking her head. “It’s forbidden to hunt and eat sapient creatures. By the forest, god’s law, animals may eat us, and we may eat animals. We’ll find our prey elsewhere.

“How do you know its sapient?” I asked.

“Its qi is fluctuating to in a controlled manner. You can’t sense it yet, but it's pushing against us. That isn’t something just any animal can do. When a god manages it, they use it to speak with us. I’ve used the same method and conversed with it.” Mekael said.

“So, what are we going to eat,” I said and held up a shaking hand.

“I found some more moose follow me,” Mekael said.

Before I turned to follow her, I caught the T-rex’s gaze. There weren’t any facial expressions to go by, but there was some emotion in the giant lizard’s eyes. It was utterly unreadable but something. Whatever Mekael felt, I couldn’t determine. The monster licked its bloody snout while staring at me.

“She’s saying happy hunting, or I hope your hunt is amusing. It could also be I will be amused by your hunt. Don’t let it get to you; she’s just marking her territory. She also says you smell exotic. That either means she wants to eat you or keep you as a pet. Giant lizards are weird sometimes.” Mekael said.

I took her word for it and followed her to a small moose herd. While the moose, the T-rex snatched could have weighed around 3tons. This herd varied. Some were heavier than the moose the giant lizard snatched up, while others were much smaller. Size really wasn’t my concern for the most part. As it turned out, these moose shared the same evolutionary pathway as the elves. They were one gender.

When I fired my arrow, I didn’t think much of it. One of the larger moose sounded the alarm while the moose ran. The shot moose charged deeper into the forest, and I used the tree limbs above to not only follow but keep a bird’s eye view. The animal didn’t get far before succumbing to its wound and collapsed.

Unfortunately, the second the thing fell, a pack of scavengers swarmed it. I pulled back my bow and prepared to cut the wild dogs down, only Mekael to stop me again.

“If you start killing them, they will remember you, and the next time you hunt, they will wait in ambush. There are other options. We passed a bush that bears delicious fruit this time of year, and we can fish in the nearby pond. Or, if you’re feeling particularly adventurous, we can go down to the beach and dive for fish near the reef. I haven’t had soft-shelled crab in lately.” Mekael said.

Instead of going to the beach, we chose a nearby river, and I managed to put my bow to good use and shot a fish out of the air mid-jump. Of course, I also had to dive into the river and find the skewered fish and arrow. Fortunately, the climate was warm, and my spandex dried quickly. Swimming to shore would have been impossible if I hadn’t taken off my weights beforehand.

We started a fire on the lakeshore and cooked the fish there. I ate nearly 10 fish before I felt full enough to think about anything but food. With my mind clear, I thought about the day and couldn’t help but wonder why the elves didn’t farm. The elves hunted and gathered everything they needed, from what I could tell. Growing particular edible plants for raising meat animals hadn’t been implemented yet. The elves, in essence, hadn’t taken the first step of their evolution. It also limited their population.

I decided then that my first step when things calmed down was to find a plot of land and farm.