Reflections on the Warpath - [An Isekai Progression Fantasy]

Jay followed Lyra out of the Celestial Swords, eager to learn more about their scrimmages as they walked through Reveller's.

"So what've you planned for the scrimmages?" he asked.

"Situations that may come up during advancement. You heard Karis name a few in the tavern. Me, Fox, and his teammate Tia met a few days ago and made a list to practice through. We're headed to their alliance now. Tia raved about their C grade training facility; she said this was the first time they've been allowed to use it. We're only allowed in because we're unaffiliated. They want to keep it from other alliances."

Good thing I wasn't too quick with Samira.

Lyra maintained her quick pace through Reveller's, while Akira highlighted a few spots to Jay. He'd walked this same path to Gladiator's several times before but hadn't noticed most of the hidden fountains scattered throughout the district until Akira pointed them out to him.

"Primordial Resurgence is one of the Big Eight." said Akira "Their current leader's a guy called Ronan the Grey, he's like some sort of werewolf-creature, and people reckon he's the strongest gladiator on the island."

"The Big Eight… those are the only A grade gladiators, right?" said Jay.

Akira nodded; he began another ramble before Jay cut him short.

"Don't they fight as alliances though? I thought A and B grade fights were different to the lower classes. How do they think he's the strongest if he never fights alone?"

"He was an internal promotion." said Lyra, not turning around as they crossed into Gladiator's. "To become one of the Big Eight, your B grade alliance needs to defeat one of the existing eight and claim its place. Ronan was one of the strongest fighters in C grade, but instead of leaving Primordial Resurgence and starting his own alliance, he took the position of alliance leader when the old one stepped down."

Didn't even know people could simply step down here.

"Ronan became the leader of his alliance around the same time me and Vega arrived at the coliseum. Another alliance challenged Primordial Resurgence for their spot in the Big Eight soon after, they were trying to capitalise on the supposed weakness that comes after a change of leadership. Ronan didn't take that very nicely."

This time, Lyra stopped in the street, turning around to face Jay and Akira.

"Their fight was supposed to last weeks. It took one afternoon. I watched him murder fifty D graders with his bare hands."

Lyra's severity put a slight damper on Jay's excitement, but it didn't stop Akira from pointing out other oddities as they walked. There were fewer attractions here than in Reveller's, but the guy still found things to talk about.

After passing by the Pits, the trio walked deeper into Gladiator's before Lyra stopped and turned around again.

"Before we go in there, let's remember what we're doing here."

Lyra was always calm and measured, but Jay saw another layer of intensity entrenched in her face as she spoke to them.

"We're not going in there to fight. We're not going in there to spar, or train. We're going in there to improve our chances during advancement.

"That means we go in there and we take everything seriously and we attack everything with full intensity. We'll be running through scenarios that might come up during advancement, but don't forget our real goal.

"We're practicing for that."

Jay locked eyes with Lyra and nodded.

He didn't need the pep talk, but it had certainly worked.

They rounded a corner and saw Fox resting against an ivy-clad wall made from red bricks. It took up nearly the whole block.

"Hey guys! Ready to fight?" he said, almost shouting as he waved at them from across the street.

Like the Flaming Tomb, Primordial Resurgence's front entrance also stood out from the neighbouring buildings. But it felt more like nature reclaiming a foothold in a city, rather than a complex designed to stand out from the crowd. Fox kicked off the red-green wall behind him and placed his hand against the ivy. A verdant glow pulsed out from underneath his palm and the plants around him shivered awake.

Leaves across the entire wall trembled as the vine-like roots beneath them shifted in place. Glimpses of the reddish, soil-stained bricks beneath them poked out as the colossal plant structure rearranged itself.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Beside Fox, the plants brushed themselves aside, not revealing a wall behind them, but an archway to a lush green expanse. The gladiator waved them through, following behind before the ivy curtain shut itself. From within the compound, the barrier wall was far less ivy-ridden, Jay saw the arch he'd just passed through shut as the blanket of ivy roots draped over it.

"Welcome to my home!" said Fox, waving at the sea of green inside the alliance's base.

Similar to the Flaming Tomb, this compound was much larger than its footprint on the street. But unlike the first alliance Jay had seen, the courtyard here bloomed with vibrant life. Trees, bushes, flowers, every plant imaginable wrestled for space in the crowded oasis. Jay couldn't even see the border walls through the chaotic tangle of forestry surrounding him.

A low brush to his right rustled as Jay walked past it, shaking the smell of cherries into the air. Jay didn't notice any animals as he looked around though, only insects. A swarm of bugs emerged from the treeline and buzzed around Jay and Akira, ignoring the other two in their party.

Ping spun around Jay, trying her best to protect him from the pests. Her electrical trail caught several mid-air, and a few insects dropped to the ground. Smokey and unmoving.

Fox laughed as he wafted his meaty hand near Akira, who didn't have a shield to act as bug spray. "They don't like newcomers, let's get inside to save you from the bites!" He began jogging down a narrow brick path that snaked through the courtyard. Jay followed while batting away the odd insect that got past Ping. He spotted Lyra hiding a smirk as he ran past her.

Not so cursed now, are you.

After a quick run, Jay and his friends reached the end of the garden. He passed what felt like a waft of cool air, which thankfully stopped the flies, and caught his breath.

Primordial Resurgence was the only Big Eight Alliance Jay had ever visited. Based on what he'd gathered, it was in another league entirely to both the Flaming Tomb Alliance and Limitless Ascent.

Seeing the megastructure that was their home base for the first time, he believed it.

A gigantic, tiered pyramid dominated Jay's vision, the largest building Jay had seen on the island save the impossibly tall coliseum. It was constructed from the same earthy, red bricks that built the entrance. Plants smothered the titanic structure, although it boasted far more than mere ivy. Miniature forests and gardens stood tall on the horizontal segments of the pyramid, while hanging gardens, draped with vines and multicoloured flowers, covered its vertical walls.

The pyramid's corner jutted out towards them, and two people stood in front of it, smiling as they watched Jay's gawking face.

"That's what I did too!" said Fox. He clapped his hand on Jay's shoulder, bringing him back to reality as the two figures walked over.

His teammates?

A short, tanned woman with cropped black hair and runic green tattoos covering both of her arms led the pair. She wore a tight white vest that showed off her muscular physique and dragged Lyra into a powerful bear hug as soon as she walked over.

Her partner brushed past her and walked over to Jay, Fox, and Akira. At first, Jay thought he had dark brown skin and spiky hair. As he walked closer Jay could see that it was thick, plate-like bark that covered entire body and erratically jutted out at the top of his head. He wore wooden armour, that was a much lighter grain than his skin, but the bark underneath crept out at every joint.

He held out his hand. Jay expected it to feel rough and gritty when he shook it, but it was surprisingly soft.

"I'm Alf." he said, in a deep voice that reverberated through Jay's diaphragm.

As Alf moved on to greet Akira, the short woman walked over to Jay.

"Tia." she said, holding her fist out to Jay with a wide grin. Jay tapped her knuckles and smiled back.

Either fist bumps and handshakes are universal, or Fox taught them through Earth greetings.

How sweet.

"You guys ready to head down?" asked Tia as she fist bumped Akira and the six of them formed a loose circle. "We've only got three hours in the C grade hall today, and I don't wanna waste a second.

After a round of nods, the group were on their way.

They didn't enter through the front corner that Jay presumed was the Alliance's main entrance. Instead, Tia walked them about thirty metres to the right. She placed her hand onto the pyramid, like Fox had with the entrance, and a green glow shone from behind the vines. Instead of parting to reveal an archway, the ground beside her split, uncovering a stairway that ran alongside the pyramid. Fox led them down while Tia brought up the rear.

Jay didn't know much about Primordial Resurgence but based on the pyramid, he assumed they liked to do things big.

The C grade training room validated his thoughts.

He followed Fox into a cavernous hall beneath the ground. It felt like walking into an airplane hangar, dwarfing both the training rooms Jay had seen inside Limitless Ascent.

The walls here were simple carved stone, not the strange borderless grey that Jay had seen before. Jay wondered if the environment here could change as well as Cyrus' training room could.

Even if it didn't, on a cramped island space was a quality in and of itself. With all this room to manoeuvre, it would be far easier for Jay's opponents to evade him. Fighting here instead of a ring would force him to grow stronger.

"Is this it?" said Akira. He tried his best to sound unimpressed, but Jay saw the glimpses of a smile he was trying to hold back.

"This… is wherever we want it to be." said Tia.

The gigantic underground training hall instantly became a sweltering desert. A blast of hot air crashed into Jay, and he felt the coarse airborne sand brush against his cheeks for a split second before the room reverted to the empty cavern.

Damn.

"I see why you couldn't wait to train here." said Lyra.

"Which scenario do you want first? I think Vault or Codebreaker." said Fox, a green gloss ran over his eyes.

Lyra thought for a moment.

"Vault. But let's stagger it. One team attacks while the other defends. What side do you want?"

Fox grinned. Jay heard the man's knuckles crack as they curled up into a fist.

"Is that even a question?"

A set of frighteningly realistic stone walls closed their group off from the rest of the training hall. Packing them in a room barely big enough for the six of them. Jay almost felt claustrophobic, confined in a tiny room so suddenly.

Fox pointed to their tiny room's single exit. "Find the vault, when you're ready for us to come in just trigger the timer."

Lyra nodded and exited the room. Jay waved Fox and his teammates goodbye; they smiled and pleasantly waved back.

But Jay, like everyone else, knew their next meeting would be anything but pleasant.