Chapter 333 - Training Delve

Reivyn led the squad of soldiers into the depths of the Skill Dungeon. They Marched in formation, their military bearing on full display. Only the sounds of their boots striking the ground in unison made any noise. The atmosphere was desolate, like they were walking to the confrontation of their lives. That may very well be true for the simple soldiers. This was an opportunity of a lifetime for them.

It wasn’t just that they would be able to get more time for training against the shadow-Dragonling. It wasn’t so simple as simply gaining some additional training time. Each additional minute they were able to hold on was an exponential gain. Twenty minutes of uninterrupted combat training was worth more than double ten minutes. An entire hour would push their Skills further than a year of dedicated training with only snippets of time in the Skill Dungeon.

The soldiers were straining at the limits of their talent, which is why it was such a valuable opportunity. Reivyn hadn’t reached the edge of his talent, so it was all the same to him. He didn’t reap the additional benefits besides what the skilled Dragonling as a sparring partner brought. He didn’t know how much further his talent would last, but he hadn’t run out of steam yet. The vast majority of people had to push past their limits just to breach the threshold of Skill Level 50, while Reivyn was still chugging along with a Tier 6 Skill at 114.

Eventually even he would reach a point where he had to struggle for years for every additional point increase. His father had thought he had reached that point before Reivyn was born, having stalled at Level 100 for a long time, but it was just his unfamiliarity with the path forward into Transcendence that was the bottleneck. Training Reivyn in his youth had reignited his momentum, though Reivyn was slowly overtaking him with his main combat Skill.

I still have to contend with his massive Stat advantage, though, Reivyn mused. He’s nearing Tier 6. I wonder what kind of a monster he’ll be then?

Speaking of Tier 6, there was something fishy going on with that first “powerhouse” I fought at the teleportation relay station. His Physical Stats didn’t match up to someone who was Tier 6, verified by the System with my Identify Skill. The other guy was definitely Tier 6, but holding back, and neither of them used Skils.

Suspicious…

He could think about that later, though. He didn’t mind the silence and grim attitudes of the squad of soldiers following him. They were getting into an appropriate mood to take full advantage of the sparring session. Sometimes introducing some lightheartedness could be a good thing, but that was best used to reduce stress and anxiety. The soldiers weren’t anxious or stressed out, though. They were getting serious. There was no reason to interfere with their mental preparations.

It didn’t take long before they were in the chamber of the Dragonling once more. Reivyn conjured a spear with his Mana, infusing it with the appropriate Affinities. He didn’t really need to add lethality, so he didn’t add Sharpness to it, but he did use Metal and Durability. It wouldn’t do to have the Dragonling destroy his Mana construct in the middle of the training session.

Unlike with his Party, they were going to engage the Dragonling the same way they would fight as a unit. They formed up their squad in a straight line, shoulder to shoulder. That was the reason Reivyn created a Mana construct spear to fight with. All of the other soldiers were armed with their spears, and at some point during the confrontation, Reivyn would have them discard the spears to pull out their sidearms, their arming swords. Those were the two main weapons used in formation combat, so those were the weapons they were going to focus their training session on.

The Dragonling stood up and calmly watched the squad of soldiers approach him. It scanned each of them in turn before turning its gaze back to Reivyn. It always focused on him, he noticed. The Dragonling had a reptilian face, so its expressions were a bit alien for humans to easily understand. With this being the third confrontation with the Dragonling, though, Reivyn n noticed a twitch in its facial muscles that he subconsciously translated as to the equivalent of someone quirking an eyebrow.

The Dragonling wasn’t just sapient, but it seemed it could recognize when others already knew about him and the situation of the encounter with it. Reivyn didn’t know why the Dragonling acted as a sparring partner - was it something it chose on its own, or was it imposed by the System as the Dungeon trial? - but it didn’t show any discontent at them knowing about it.

To get the ambience just right, Reivyn tapped into his Mana and created some illusions with his Light Affinity around the squad of soldiers. He simulated them being in a larger battle with additional soldiers creating a full platoon and company. Only the eight of them were real, but it looked like there were three platoons, with them in the center, lined up for a full military engagement.

The Dragonling, without a word, embraced its own Mana. Reivyn patiently waited to see what the Dragonling would do, and he was surprised to witness it reciprocate Reivyn’s illusions. Phantom Dragonlings appeared next to creat an opposing company of soldiers, outfitted with their own weapons and armor. The actual Dragonling set aside its greatsword and summoned a spear and shield from who knows where.

The situation turned into quite the scenario. Reivyn grew more curious toward the Dragonling and just how accommodating it was being. Was it something it did for every Party, or was it exclusive to Reivyn? Would it help them train non-combat Skills? Had anyone ever shown up with something like paints and an easel? Reivyn smirked at the mental image.

Something to try, he thought. Well, maybe not painting specifically, but non-combat Skills for sure.

Reivyn returned his focus to the Dragonling in front of him. The creature did something with its Mana and Reivyn could feel that the replicas in line with the Dragonling grew more corporeal. They were more than just images like Reivyn’s illusions, they became actual participants of the coming fight.

Reivyn lifted his spear and pointed it forward.

“Advance!” He ordered.

The Dragonling mimicked the motion, though it didn’t issue any verbal commands. The two lines converged in a methodical, controlled manner. There were no charges or javelin throws. Because they were using spears, the distance between the two lines of combatants was a bit further apart than normal, but they were able to clash against each other with their spears and shields.

There were no crazy individual maneuvers in their strikes. The line of soldiers held their discipline, their shields held tight against themselves, overlapping a bit with their neighbors creating a shield wall. Their spears pierced forward like lightning, searching for chinks in the enemy’s defense. The Dragonlings retaliated with their own strikes.

It wasn’t anything like individual combat. Instead of dancing about the battlefield, dodging and parrying blows, they had to use their shields to absorb the attacks, angle them properly to prevent too much vibration or weight, and trust in their companions to do the same next to them.

The Dragonling and its phantoms were extremely skilled at angling their blows perfectly to catch any imperfections in the shields blocking their spears. The soldiers staggered back from taking too much of the brunt of the attacks over and over, slowly refining their ability to properly catch and angle the strikes.

Reivyn kept a close eye on the progress of the soldiers. After several minutes and noticeable improvements in their blocking and spear trajectories, he switched things up.

“Draw Swords!” Reivyn ordered.

The squad of soldiers smoothly dropped their spears and drew their swords. Their Dragonling counterparts continued to mimic them, drawing their own swords. The two lines advanced closer to each other to engage with their shorter weapons once again.

The Dragonling wasn’t done with its phantoms, though. The back row of Dragonlings received the same boost as the others, turning corporeal, and as the two front lines engaged with their swords, the spears of the second row of Dragonlings flashed forward, adding to the chaos of the combat.

Reivyn didn’t bother trying to make his own illusions corporeal. That wasn’t his goal of training, though he did make note of the Mana weaves the Dragonling used for future reference. Expanding his repertoire of available Magics was always good. He was just focused on the squad combat, currently.

The swords flashed up and down, side to side, and back and forth. The sound of metal on metal rang out, and the soldiers had to contend with almost double the attacks as previously with the added secondary row of spears adding pressure to them. It was good that Reivyn had waited until they had already made some gains in their Shield Skills, or they would have buckled under the relentless strikes of the enemy.

The soldiers grit their teeth and fought like their lives depended on it. They fell into a trance, the ambiance created by Reivyn and the Dragonling adding the illusion of a battlefield drawing them further in. Time held no meaning as they continued fighting unabated. Eventually, Reivyn changed it up once more.

“Switch!” He commanded.

He didn’t know if it was going to work, but based on how the Dragonling coordinated with him so far, he assumed it would continue to. The illusory soldiers behind the squad of soldiers stepped forward with their own swords as the squad took a couple steps back. They sheathed their swords and retrieved their spears.

Just as Reivyn suspected, the Dragonling held its phantoms in place and allowed the simulation to play out. Reivyn and the soldiers took on the role of the secondary spearman, stabbing over their compatriots in the row in front of them. The Dragonling focused on defending against the spear strikes, using its abilities to subtly show the soldiers how to adjust their attacks to find chinks in the defense.

Being in the second row and only using their spears without having to worry about defending against the enemy attacks allowed the squad to catch their breath a bit. Reivyn kept an eye on his own Stamina, watching it slowly tick up. The rate at which Stamina was recovered was different for every person, and larger pools recovered absolute Points quicker than lower pools. He paid attention to the percentage gain, and after several minutes, Reivyn introduced the final style.

“Melee!” He called out.

Each of the soldiers dropped their spears and drew their personal weapons. Not all of them were focused on Spears and Swords, that was just the standard equipment of the military units. Each of them had their own personal experiences and Skills, and this was the time to hone those Skills.

The illusions of the battlefield didn’t go away, but the Dragonling picked up on Reivyn’s attention, and the neat lines of combatants disappeared and was replaced with chaos. It turned into a free-for-all where combat had descended into individual conflicts all across the battlefield, their own fight included.

The soldiers spread out, the doppelgangers of the Dragonling following them with Reivyn engaging the actual Dragonling and the fighting continued in earnest.

Now was the time for the soldiers to dance about, dodging, parrying, and evading the enemy attacks in any way they could. The weeks of shoring up their secondary Skills finally came into play as they continued fighting. Each of the Dragonling phantoms automatically controlled their strength to be roughly equivalent to each of the individual soldiers, giving them a proper challenge without overwhelming them.

It showed a superb level of Skill above and beyond what was already seen from the main Dragonling. Reivyn admitted to himself that it wasn’t something he would be able to pull off himself. It was able to fight Reivyn on equal footing while perfectly challenging all seven of the other soldiers simultaneously. If Reivyn didn’t know any better, he would believe they were fighting eight actual enemies and not just the one.

Reivyn concentrated on the Dragonling in front of him. It was slightly different than the previous fight with the creature using a one-handed sword and shield instead of the greatsword and its natural weapons, but the intensity was the same. The two of them blurred in a tight dance in the center of the room, the others not able to clearly see what was happening. Reivyn could feel the Dragonling pressing him in a way that subtly guided his Skill progression.

Reivyn gathered his Mana and added an auditory clapping sound, like a metronome, for the soldiers. He set the pace based on the speed of the squad members, and slowly ramped it up.

“Feel the pulse!” Reivyn shouted. “Seize the initiative. Bring your opponent into your rhythm.”

Unsurprisingly, Reivyn noticed a subtle shift in the squad members’ phantom opponents, coordinating the new directive. Reivyn knew without a shadow of a doubt that there was no way the Dragonling or any of its phantoms couldn’t outpace any of them. It had far higher Stats and Skill Levels, so much that Reivyn hadn’t even glimpsed the edge of its full capabilities. Still, it allowed the soldiers to follow Reivyn’s instructions to “seize control,” though it didn’t just give it to them.

Each soldier had their own talent level. They weren’t equal, and it was clear to see with how quickly Reivyn noticed each of them accomplish the task. Some of them struggled to wrest control of the pace even with the speed ticking up. The more skilled soldiers managed to figure it out without having to go to the extremes of speed. It wasn’t just outpacing the enemy that allowed one to set the tone. There was far more to it than that, and some of the soldiers could grasp the nuances more quickly than others.

The soldiers slowly pulled the phantoms into their pace and started overwhelming them. One by one, the soldiers “defeated” their phantom opponents. As they struck the shades down, they refocused and joined Reivyn in his fight against the main boss. The main Dragonling continued to easily hold its own even with the added soldiers, simply incorporating more movement and attacks into its patterns.

Sweat poured down Reivyn’s face, stinging his eyes. The other soldiers were no better with sweat soaking through their armor and gear. Reivyn could see that they were flagging hard, and they wouldn’t be able to last much longer, but they grit their teeth and continued to press ahead.

Just as the first soldier began to falter, the Dragonling leaped back and sucked in a deep breath. Reivyn recognized what was happening and he quickly used ropes of Mana to drag the soldiers behind him.

“Activate your group shield Skill!” Reivyn shouted, hunkering down behind his shield, reinforcing it with a huge amount of Mana and his Affinities. The soldiers obeyed orders instantly, and Reivyn wrested control of the Skill from them, incorporating it into his own defensive Skills.

The Dragonling blasted the eight of them, Reivyn in the front, with its powerful breath attack. Reivyn hid behind his shield as the superheated plasma blasted into him. Even with the seven other soldiers digging their feet in and leaning into him, the pressure slowly pushed him back, deep grooves dug into the hard stone of the Dungeon.

The breath attack eventually relented, and Reivyn peered up over the shield. The Dragonling nodded to Reivyn as it disintegrated into dust. Silence reigned in the Dungeon for several seconds before the soldiers burst out into cheers. The jumped up, waving their personal weapons about, but careful not to hit each other. Reivyn stood up straight with a smile on his face.

He didn’t have to wait long for the soldiers to stop cheering as they were arrows at the end of their flight. Each of them was as exhausted as they had ever been, far more worn out than simple training regimens had wrung them out. The cheers gave out, but the smiles remained, as the soldiers collapsed on the ground, panting.

“Good job, everyone,” Reivyn acknowledged their efforts.

One of the soldiers lifted his head, his smile spreading into a wide grin.

“All that Stamina training… worth it.”

Reivyn just chuckled.