THIRTY-EIGHT: GROWTH

  “Lift, pretty boy!” Valeria roared with a laugh as Cassius struggled to push the heavy rock over his head. Sweat stung his eyes as he grunted with effort, body trembling as exhausted limbs struggled to obey. His elbows locked as he held the rock over his head until Vira grunted in approval.

  The rock hit the ground with a loud thump, rolling away from his bare feet as Cassius reeled back, breathing in gasping heaps as his leg folded and his knees hit the stony ground. Valeria clapped her hands as she sprung forward, bending low and wrapping her own fingers around the rock.

  Cassius watched as the older legionnaire surged upward, lifting the rock over her head in a smooth motion before dropping it to touch the ground again. Then she repeated it, over and over again as sweat started to trickle down her body. Vira watched for a moment before throwing Cassius’ sword at him.

  “Come, now while you are tired.” Cassius didn’t groan as he rose, attacking even as his legs felt like waterskins and his arms trembled as if he was old and sick.

  For days they had trained like this, eating and drinking the rich mana infused food and water as Vira taught them how the strata trained their children. It involved eating copious amounts of food and lifting heavy things.

  Steel clashed as Cassius pressed his advantages over the smaller woman. His arms were longer and he was taller, giving his leverage over her. It was worth nothing after the second exchange of blows, her superior technique negated his earlier advantages and they were stuck in a stalemate for a single exchange.

  Then she was pushing her advantage, driving Cassius back with her superior strength as Cassius grunted under every blow. His arms were nearly numb from the thundering blows as she continued to drive him further and further back. With a twist of her wrist the sword went flying and steel slid through his leg, blood poured down his leg as Cassius cursed.

  [Regenerate] then we shall go again,” Vira ordered as she walked back toward their gear to find the remnants of Titus’ cloak they used to clean the blades. With [Unyielding Spirit] running at nearly all times Cassius had found it possible to push through the pain or exhaustion that constantly plagued him.

  Their time here had been marked by constant training, but with the aid of the two skills in tandem, [Regenerate] and [Unyielding Spirit], Cassius found himself working harder than either of the women. It wasn’t by much on the normal day, but day by day it grew.

  The black ichor of the dead was resistant to scrubbing, sand and running water unable to clear the sticky residue. They had been forced to strip down to get clear of the stinking fabric, Cassius wearing nothing but his underclothes while the two women bound their chests tighter with strips of a cloak and wore similar underwear. What little fat they’d carried into the dungeon was gone, all three of them nothing more than lean, scarred muscle as they consumed the dungeon reward room. Cassius could feel his strength and endurance increasing every day, but Vira refused to allow them to touch the dungeon heart. It was as if every muscle had grown denser, become like steel rather than something human.

  Her reasoning had been sound, that if he took the blessings of the stone it’d be harder to increase his body as he became ever so slightly more infused by mana. So, they kept working, eating the trees bare of pomegranates, the shrubs of berries, and while the stream continued to have fresh water constantly, they could taste the mana in it thinning.

  “Do you have to cut me every time?” Cassius asked as he picked up his own sword and followed behind Vira. The woman didn’t turn to look at him, leaving him to stare at her well sculpted back as she shook her head.

  “It is a blessing to have your skills now, but it would be a curse if my mother had them to give to her children. We trained hard in the ludus, eight to ten hours a day with breaks for our tutors to come teach us. From the age of eight until seventeen, every day I fought and got stronger in those hot sands. But, there was only so far I could be pushed, where the human body would fail. It limited how far we could grow and how fast before we took our class.”

  “It sounds like a hard life,” Cassius said, though there was little sympathy in his voice as he said it.

  “It is a life. Some have had worse, some better, it is what it is. We can not change the past, only control our reaction to it,” Vira finished saying as she leaned over to snag the rags to wipe her blade clean.

  “Do not quote stoics to us,” Valeria grunted as she dropped the rocks with a grunt, skin slick with sweat as she reached over to pluck her shield and spear up.

  “Come on, hit me!” Valeria challenged as Cassius charged her, [Regenerate] having healed him and stopped the trembling in his limbs. He danced under a spear thrust, smacking the blade aside like he had seen Zhang Wei do. Pain lanced through his wrist but the spear turned away from him.

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  Power burst from the spear and dug a trench in the ground as Cassius reared back and kicked the shield as hard as he could. [Reinforce] flared around his foot as the tower shield refused to budge. Without the skill running the shield would have likely fallen apart, being so damaged as it was.

  “That won’t exhaust me,” Valeria taunted, attacking again as Cassius was forced back again, taking a shield push that was powerful enough he felt something crack in his chest.

  “How is it that I am the target of all these attacks?” Cassius complained as he swiped away the spear again before lunging forward only to have the point of the sword rebound off of the mana protected wood.

  “Becuase you lack experience,” Valeria said as Cassius batted away another of the attacks. His entire arm was numb now, tingling as the hairs on it rose high. Valeria pressed him, slamming him again with the shield as he fell backward, cursing as blood filled his mouth and pain lanced through his head as his nose was crushed.

  “How do you get around this damned shield?” Cassius growled in anger as his nose snapped back into place.

  “That is the point of the shield and spear,” Valeria said. She stabbed at him again, forcing him back a few steps.

  “Overwhelming power, a flanking force, or hope she makes a dreadful mistake,” Vira answered his question as she reached the abandoned rock and began to lift it.

  “We fight like this for a reason,” Valeria confirmed as she stabbed him through the same thigh that Vira had.

  “We conquered the peninsula for a reason,” Cassius agreed as [Regenerate] knitted the skin back together, muscle repairing moments later. It was a wonder to watch the skill in action, every time he activated it, it grew easier to focus on what he wanted rebuilt. Having watched as Valeria regrew her fingers had been motivating.

  “That we did. Civilization and all that. It is truly strange to watch you be stabbed and not flinch,” Valeria said as she set her weapons down, grabbed another rock, and began to do deep squats.

  “The new skill is calming,” Cassius said, knowing it was an understatement.

  “Disturbing. You should not run it unless you need to,” Valeria said in between grunts as she lowered herself.

  “This is a time to run it, I believe,” Cassius said as he felt the distant pain retreat completely.

  “No, it is time to let it go. We must rest even now,” Vira said as she finished her exercise. She had to climb one of the trees to search for the wide, dark, pomegranates that they’d been living on.

  He dropped his skills and felt the powerful wave of exhaustion and pain hit him like a runaway wagon. Cassius sagged, nearly falling to the ground as he cursed. The pomegranate bounced off of his head as Vira threw it at him without looking, rolling along the ground.

  “Sit and rest,” Vira ordered. Cassius obeyed, plucking the fruit up and splitting it open to scoop up the seeds. Even days into their training the seeds still were delightful, powerful, and energizing. His depleted mana filled instantly, pushing against the boundary in his body. Normally such little food would leave him starving, but the magic of it kept his body satiated.

  “How much do you think we will grow?” Cassius asked for the tenth time.

  “We are over halfway done and we can see the results already. It will likely slow soon as all the early changes are fixed.” Cassius thought over those words, Vira finally changing her answer.

  “What needs to be fixed?” Cassius asked.

  “Anything that could have hampered your strength or growth as a child. Poor nutrition or injury. Mana will fix it, erase old wounds as you train. It is why we are so serious about being as perfect as we can before we take our class and conquer our first dungeon. Build upon a perfect foundation,” Vira said.

  “The strata know much about this,” Valeria said, a hint of rancor in her voice. Vira took it with grace, not looking at the older woman as she nodded.

  “For generations we have studied the classes, the dungeons, the best way to grow as strong as possible to defend our republic. And our wealth,” Vira said with brutal honesty.

  “I was close to being gifted a class. Before the legion,” Valeria said.

  “How did that go?” Cassius asked, leaning back against a rock as he ate his pomegranate slowly.

  “My mother was a skilled assistant to a [Carpenter] from a line of

  [Carpenters]. Her master only had sons though. It was an easy choice for her to marry one of her sons to my mother and adopt her. I was the product of an earlier dalliance with a river merchant, but the [Carpenter] adopted my mother and I was set to inherit. But, then my sister was born. I was told quite succinctly it was join the legion or have a silk tie,” Valeria said with a shrug, the words spoken matter of fact as if the pain of abandonment had happened to someone else.

  “Ruthless, but not something that is out of place amongst the strata,” Vira said with a shrug. All eyes turned to Cassius and he could feel the pressure to share as Vira and Valeria had.

  “State-ran orphanage. Lived on the streets afterwards, joined the legion for food. And silver,” Cassius said. He had no desire to speak of the narrow alleys or the slow neglect of the orphanage to either of them.

  “Another few days and we shall finish this. Cassius, we shall focus on your sword play, it is quite atrocious,” Vira cut in, sensing his desire to not speak of his past. Cassius nodded to her in appreciation as he continued to eat the last of the pomegranate, but it wasn’t enough to push the memories down, not until he activated [Unyielding Spirit] and banished the unpleasantness away.