MAZE - The Endless Quest

All geared up, the recruits were lead to a door in the back of the training room. Hera had noticed this door before, but she imagined it would only lead to another set of training equipment and small arenas. To her surprise, the area in front of her was very different. She could see large arenas to the left, some sort of batting cages to the right, and a large area the size of an olympic pool in the back.

In the big arenas, groups of explorers trained with a single dummy. Hera tried to watch one of the parties, but Mr. Greyson rushed the recruits towards the cages.

"C'mon, we don't have all day."

In less than a minute, each recruit was inside one cage. Before any of them could take in their surroundings, the teacher explained.

"Like Ah said, today we learn how to defend. Defending can be both blocking or dodging. Blocking is easier, but it takes more control. Yer first instinct will be to jump away. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't."

Mr. Greyson pressed a button on his tablet, making one of the walls in each cage to give off a soft glow. In the middle of the wall, a large white ring, big enough to pass a person, appeared.

"The first step is simple. Block or dodge the incoming attacks. If ye get hit, the attack will stop coming out of the circle until you get back in the middle of the cage. There is an X on the ground to mark the middle. A warning, they pack a punch."

Pressing another button, the teacher started the training. The circles glowed red and fired the first attack. Hera watched as a white energy bolt came out of the circle and towards her. It wasn't a fast attack, but both the circle and the bolt had the same color.

Hera raised her shield to where she believed the bolt would hit. However, just before the attack hit her. Hera felt every part of her body pulling her away. Trying not to give in to those impulses, she shifted her body slightly. It was just enough so that the attack wouldn't hit directly her.

Almost in sync, all the recruits blocked the bolt. Hera wasn't expecting the force behind such a slow attack. After blocking, she fell to the ground and let go of the shield. It stunned her, not only she failed to gauge the strength of the bolt, but she also failed to hold her equipment. If this were a real fight, she would get very hurt.

Looking around, she saw a few other recruits on the ground. Others were pushed back to the edge of the cage. Leo and Kenjiro seemed to be the ones who were less affected by the attack. Blue, on the other hand, didn't even budge. She blocked the first attack and parried the next one.

Hera smiled. It was good to see the girl in her element. The previous training seemed to be hard for her. Hera stood up, grabbing her shield, and watched Blue for a while. Looking at the way the girl moved and how she would position herself, Hera tried to mimic her defense.

It took a while but after some time, Hera was able not only to block a few attacks in a row but also parry one or two. She was still far from being on the same level as Blue, who only had gotten hit twice since the training started. Still, she was happy. It was an improvement, and this felt easier than hitting the spheres the previous day.

One hour after the training began. Mr. Greyson activated the second ring. This time to the side of the first one.

"Be ready, after a ring fires ten shots it will change places. It will only go from side to side, for now, so don't worry about yer back."

Even with the increased difficulty, Hera could still block a few attacks at a time. At one moment, a bolt flew from the ring at her side, but Hera wasn't ready for it. She spun around trying to catch the attack with her shield and redirected it to the side. Making the bolt hit another one that was coming closer. Before she could realize what she had done, the next two attacks hit her square in the chest. The impact not only sent her tumbling to the side of the cage but also made her gasp for air.

Those attacks were getting stronger.

"Hey, we can do that? Cool, that's gonna be way easier," Blue said with a smile. Hera watched as the girl blocked and redirected the attacks. 1 in 3 times she would make the bolts hit each other, giving her some breathing room.

Hera let out a sigh, Blue was the only one capable of doing that. The other recruits didn't even bother to try.

A few more minutes passed before Mr. Greyson activated the rest of the walls. Now four attacks would come at the recruits at once. It took Hera all she had to block and dodge just one set of attacks. She even held a scabbard in her right hand, trying to use it as an extra way to protect herself. The worst part was even if she got hit, the rings would only stop firing. The bolts that had already been shot would still fly at her.

Every time she got hit, it became harder to block the next bolt. Each impact would harm her differently. Some would make it harder to breathe, while others made part of her body numb. The worst one was when she got hit on the head. It would make the entire world flash, as if she was having one terrible migraine for a few seconds. To top it all off, aside from when she got hit in the head, there was no way to know what each bolt would do. Even if she got hit in the same spot, each attack would affect her differently.

The silver lining was that she wasn't the only one having trouble. Even Blue had a serious expression right now. Although, the girl was still miles ahead of the rest. Even after being bombarded with attacks from all sides, Blue only got hit every once in a while. The surprising part was that she could block the next attack even after getting hit.

On one of the moments Blue got hit, Hera took the chance to talk to the girl.

"Blue, do you have any tips? I'm having a hard time keeping up."

The girl turned to Hera with a serious expression. Her eyes were narrow, and her jaw was clenched. Her movements seemed strange and mechanic. For a moment, Hera thought she was talking with someone else.

Blue blinked a few times, and her face went back to her usual self.

"Wow, this is getting hard," Blue laughed. "You want some tips. Honestly, I suck at teaching. Why don't you tell me what you feel is the problem? Then I can see what I can help you with."

"Well, I'm not sure..." Hera did her best to explain her struggle. Her biggest problem was the time it took for her to see the next attack, and move towards it. There was also the fact that each block would make her lose her balance.

"Ok, two things. First, why are you trying to block every single hit? Mr. Greyson said we could dodge. I only block because I know how to do it. Second, isn't that shield a bit too big for you? That one is called an Aspis. Since it covers half your body, you lose some mobility. It is great if you are strong and slow, but your stats are more balanced, right? Try a smaller one. Or follow Alex, she is using only the scabbard."

Hera thanked her friend for the advice. Leaving the cage afterward to look for a smaller shield. Sadly, the only ones available were bigger.

"What are you looking for?" Leo asked.

He had left his cage to refill his water bottle.

"Hey, I'm looking for a smaller shield. Blue suggested one with more mobility since my stats are not focused on strength."

Leo nodded, "She is right. A big shield works better if you are really strong and can hold your ground."

"Yeah, but I won't be able to check it right now. The only shields left are bigger than this one."

Hera gestured with her current shield.

"Well, if you want, we can trade shields," Leo suggested. "The one I got is a bit too small for me. I keep getting hit, thinking the shield is covering me."

Hera looked at Leo and then back at her shield.

"Are you sure? You know how that is going to look, right?" She couldn't help but smile. The great Leonidas would use his signature shield.

"Yeah, yeah, do you want to trade or not?"

Hera was about to tease him a little more when Leo grabbed the shield he was using.

"One word coming out of you and I take this one back." he said while shoving the shield in her hands.

"Thanks, Leo," she replied.

Both of them went back to the cages to continue the training. After a few minutes, Hera heard Mr. Greyson laughing.

"Oy, laddie! Do ye want me to paint a V on the shield to complete the look?"

Hera bit her lip, trying not to laugh. Even with the noise the rest of the recruits were making, she heard Leo say with a sigh.

"I hate my life."

Feeling a bit bad, she offered to trade shield again. But the man simply shook his head and went back to training.

Having a bit over one hour for the end of the class, Mr. Greyson turned off the cages.

"All right, now, for the challenge. Each attack ye block or dodge will give ye a point. If ye get hit, ye lose a point. Pretty simple. Just watch yer heads, the attacks can come from above now."

He activated the last stage of the training. Five white rings appeared, one in each wall and one in the cage's ceiling.

"Last thing, the rings move now. Have fun,"

As soon as he finished talking, the rings started to move around in each wall. They would bounce around the edges, making the pattern even more unpredictable. The only thing that made Hera happy about all this was that the ring on the ceiling fired the bolt way less frequently than the rest.

Hera did her best to block them all. She defended against 8 bolts before she got hit for the first time in this exercise. Sadly, because of the effect of the hit, three more bolts hit her before the attacks stopped. She looked at a small screen in the edge of the cage showing her points.

Target points

1 000

Current points

4

With a frown, she kept going. The teacher was a sly one. He told them they would lose a point when they got hit. But failed to mention that each bolt would remove one point. So they needed to either block many attacks at once or block some even after getting hit. It was that, or losing the points they worked so hard to get.

Hera struggled for more than half an hour, only reaching 400 points. She could have gotten a higher score. But every few tries, she needed to stop and rest. This training was mentally taxing. The effects of each hit would linger. If she kept trying, it would only result in more failures.

Most recruits grasped that same concept after a few tries. The only one who kept going nonstop was Blue. Hera looked at the girl's score and fell backward. Blue was already at 1 100 points. They still had half an hour to go, and she was already done. Yet the girl kept going.

By the end of the challenge, Hera reached 950 points. It was close, and yet. Anaya was the one kicking herself. The girl had reached 993 points when the time was up. Failing by just seven points was just mean.

Blue, Leo, Kenjiro, and Carlos were the only ones who complete the challenge.

"Now, since Ah forgot to give ye all the energy bars yesterday, ye won't have to do anything too tiresome. All ye need is to clean the weapons in storage."

Mr. Greyson led the recruits that failed to a room in the back. Most of the students were feeling comfortable with the task. It was annoying, but at least it wasn't as tiresome. However, the second he opened the door the recruits heart sank. It was a large storage area with at least one hundred of those big boxes the teacher would show at the beginning of the training.

"What are ye all waiting for? Grab a cloth and start cleaning."