Saturation training
Following the order of exploring the dormitory area, teaching building, workshop and large library, Ximu led his companions around one by one like a tour guide.
Some are returning to their old haunts, others are new to the area.
While Ximu was pointing out the characteristics of the monsters here, he would suddenly lure the monsters to start a fight without warning, or walk slowly into a room, and then point at a monster that was lowering its head and roaring at them and say, "This thing is quite tough. We didn't beat it when we came here before. Now that we have more people, let's try again."
"...Can you please give us a little time to prepare before each attack, instead of just throwing us in the enemy's face without a word!!!"
After another thrilling bloody battle, Molina was half-sitting on the ground, panting, clutching a scroll in her hand, criticizing Ximu's unethical training method without any regard for her image.
The silver-haired girl glanced at her, confirming that she was not injured besides tired, and that she was simply feeling uncomfortable. After a few words of complaint, she glanced around as if nothing had happened and replied, "Most battles don't start with advance notice. Besides, this kind of sudden situation with advance notice isn't even a crisis, it's just the most basic quick response."
It seems like you are the only one who “knew in advance”…
Although everyone's expressions were different, the expressions of shock or wry smiles eventually converged into a unified criticism.
However, this hasty entry into the battle without any psychological expectations did greatly increase everyone's vigilance to a certain extent. Even Sorens and Morina, who usually reacted the slowest, developed the muscle memory of starting to move as soon as they sensed danger. They could even immediately judge which way to go that was safest without thinking too much.
In Ximu's words, he finally had a little bit of combat awareness.
"If only I could keep this moment of consciousness going forever..."
She even expressed regret and hope for this.
"Yes, by developing your strong physical fitness and combat prowess, the first combat priest in history would be born, right?"
Morena retorted unhappily, but what she said was so funny that the other companions who were resting nearby all started laughing, and even the always serious Vicia had a hint of a smile on her face.
"Still laughing, still laughing!—Now you can relax. From now on, just let the great Lady Morina charge ahead alone. We can attack and defend at the same time. I'll take care of everything, killing enemies and healing them. You just need to applaud me from behind, right?!"
“Hahahahahaha!”
This irresponsible nonsense quickly eased the tension and depression that had accumulated during the previous battle. Not only was Shiori the first to laugh out loud, he also shamelessly stated that he was willing to be Morina's first follower, and asked her to carve him beside the statue if she ever erected one to pass it down through the ages.
Amidst the joyful laughter of "Pah, pah, pah", Ruixia collected the spoils dropped by the monsters and returned to the team with a smile. She looked at Ximu and they exchanged glances such as "Do you want to tell them now?" and "We can tell them after today's training camp is over."
So Ximu ruthlessly broke the happy atmosphere, drove away everyone who was sitting idle, and continued to head to the next arranged "tourist attraction".
"You're not even human—!"
Morina's angry accusation resounded over the academy, and even the gorgeous aurora floating in the night sky seemed to shake.
But what she didn't expect was that there is often no hardest in this world, only harder.
"Flight training?"
Seeing Ruixia looking so happy, Morina always felt a bad premonition crawling on her back.
"Yes, everyone's wings are finished. We have to test the effect. If there are any problems, we have to make improvements in time."
As she spoke, Ruixia had already placed several things that looked like straps on the table, then took one and put it on. After pressing a switch, two floating wing armors suddenly emerged from the straps behind her, and the glowing energy quickly filled them, forming a pair of complete wings.
"This is a simplified version. It's not complicated to operate and you should be able to get started quickly."
He released the suspended state, and the wing armor automatically returned to the harness.
"Because we want everyone to test the controls first, the cruise function hasn't been implemented yet. We'll continue debugging it once we're all proficient in it... If everyone's okay with that, then we can cut one of the three daily combat training sessions so everyone can get used to the feel of the Mechanic Wings first. How about that?"
Although Morina likes to complain, she is still very curious about new inventions.
Seeing that everyone was glancing at her intentionally or unintentionally, she had no choice but to accept her fate and muttered, "Okay, okay, I'm the only priest anyway. Who can you rely on without me?" to save her face, but her eyes were honestly staring at the suspenders. She probably had already silently picked out her own pair in her mind.
Although everyone knows some magic to a certain extent, it is indeed a rare experience to rise into the air with the help of external forces instead of magic power. Therefore, the atmosphere was very harmonious at the beginning. Xi Mu and others who were more agile adapted quickly. After a while, they got used to the existence of external objects and could dodge and move freely in small movements while moving.
But soon, Ruixia's voice came from the speaker near the rooftop -
"Now that everyone's more or less adjusted, let's begin aerial obstacle avoidance training, shall we? I'll deploy the crossbow atop the Great Library. Everyone, please form pairs and start from the roof of the teaching building, flying safely to the top of the Great Library."
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone's expression changed immediately.
Good god, are they asking them to face the challenge of being shot at by giant crossbows?!
Those who were used to hard work, such as Vicia and Sorens, chuckled a few times, but didn't complain much. They gathered together very naturally and started to discuss.
Such grouping is obviously very reasonable. A squishy character must team up with another teammate with thick blood. Otherwise, when encountering danger, other people who are far away may not even have time to rescue.
Seeing the two "locals" naturally forming a team, Molina looked at the man in the conical hat next to her who always had a slapping smile on his face, and looked at Ximu who was at the end in disbelief, her eyes full of shock as if to ask "Why aren't you in the same group with me?"
Ximu was stunned for a moment, and after carefully weighing the pros and cons, he compromised and said, "I can accompany you during training... but on the day of the official operation, I still have to be in the same group with Ruixia."
The priestess girl put on a bitter face as if she had been hit by a ball, and angrily returned to Shiiin, whom she had always been at odds with, and even stood on the same side with him, which was a rare occurrence.
"There's a reason Ruixia and Ximu can get along so well! - Look at them, one's an idiot mechanic, the other a idiot in combat, neither of them takes others seriously. They're so fierce at such a young age, they're truly a match made in heaven!"
"Hahaha, that's really the case..."
The two of them flew away silently while criticizing each other.
Ximu, who was left alone at the end, glanced at a robot bird that had landed not far away and suggested seriously, "...How about you give them two more shots later?"
"Hahaha, stop it."
Ruixia, who was far away in the base, laughed out loud. She would not really trip others up just for these few jokes.
He adjusted the angle of the crossbow cart and made some limiting devices on the tail end of the crossbow arrow so that if his teammates failed to dodge in time, he could stop the arrow immediately to avoid unnecessary injuries.
"Are you okay being alone?" Rachel asked.
"You are the one, why don't you come up and try it yourself?"
During these aerial obstacle avoidance trainings, Ruixia had to stay at the workbench to control the entire process and had almost no chance to come up and train with them.
"I made this myself, so you don't have to worry about the operation. As for the response—don't you still have it?"
His relaxed tone showed his complete trust in her. Ximu glanced at the bird and suddenly wanted to joke with him.
"Are you so lazy? What if I make a mistake?"
"The possibility of you making a mistake is probably smaller than the possibility of Morena becoming a combat priestess."
Ruixia's teasing came through the robot bird's throat with a little electric sound, but Ximu could fully imagine his expression at the moment.
The corners of her mouth were slightly parted, a smile spread across her face, and she raised her eyes to look at me, looking cute and warm.
"If you really make a mistake..."
As if something went wrong at hand, the boy's voice was cut off for a moment.
Just when Ximu thought he would give an answer like "Then I'll accept the loss," the boy's loud voice rang out again, saying in a resounding voice, "Then I will definitely protect you, so don't worry."
He still worries so much.
Could a mechanic's reaction be faster than her, an assassin's?
She should have laughed at him.
But the promise that he would protect her was so deep in her heart that she felt some subtle physical impulses - but Ruixia was not by her side at the moment, so she could not raise her hand to touch his face, or simply hug him and bury her head in his neck.
Let's put it into action when we get back. Ruixia is shy, so it's best to choose a time when no one else is around...
He wouldn't refuse, right?
Logically speaking, that shouldn't happen. Based on previous experience, he would at most just stand there in a daze, then stare at her stupidly with a red face, without any killing power at all...
Well, okay, that’s settled then.
Ximu joined the training team with a normal expression. Ruixia, who was cooperating with them in the back, never imagined that this serious-looking girl would launch such a sudden attack on him in a deserted place.
The days go by very quickly when we work hard towards the same goal.
The powerful monsters that occupied a territory alone were non-renewable training objects. After almost all of them were wiped out, the cooperation between Ximu and the other six people had become very tacit. Sometimes they could even immediately perceive each other's intentions without "telepathy" and support each other as quickly as possible.
The flight training was also carried out in an orderly manner. Although the outer wall of the teaching building was gradually smashed into pieces by the giant crossbow arrows, everyone's progress was also very significant.
The day-to-day training gradually became a daily routine. Even Morina, who loved to complain the most, stopped complaining. Not only did she train actively, she also often pulled Sorens to meditate together. There was almost no time to waste.
Then--
At an ordinary meeting, Ruixia ended this hard but fulfilling daily life with an ordinary sentence.
"Everyone."
He sat up straight and declared with a rare seriousness, "...I think it's time to act."
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