From Moving Crates to Killing Gods-Chapter 43: Playing Dead

’If I stop breathing and moving, maybe they’ll take me to the hospital and there I’ll rest. Yes, that’s a great plan.’

Somehow I had ended up like this on my first training day. I remember how I woke up and thought.

’Time to get stronger!’

That dumb old me.

Damian woke us all up at 5 am. Somehow he had control over the spire, and a loud beeping noise would play incessantly until you left you room. He stood waiting for us at the general area, the first floor of the spire.

Once we all reached that place, with half asleep expressions and no breakfast, he started talking.

"The spire is immense, there’s multiple secret rooms inside." He said with an energetic, commanding tone. "One of those secret rooms is the training room... though it’s much bigger than a room."

As he was finishing, he walked towards the obsidian entrance, then to the left, and he stood in front of the wall.

We all watched with expectation, how that wall would turn into the training room, or just a massive change.

He extended his hand towards the wall, and he... seemed to press a button?

A quiet, gentle beep sounded from within the wall, and the obsidian wall opened itself, presenting an elevator with only two buttons inside.

"Alright. Time to get inside, people." He said while walking towards the elevator.

I was a little surprised, but somehow the recent events of my life had been so crazy, that I needed something more unique than an elevator hidden on a wall to truly surprise me.

Finn on the other hand... "Holy smokes, that’s insane! So that’s the silver thing I felt behind that door. Awesome!" He said with such energy that made me wonder if he would start clappi...

Clap, clap, clap, clap. Finn clapped.

We all turned with a questioning look on our faces. Even Coco, who I just considered a juice wizard who now could make darker juice, stared at him.

Then Rolen decided to break the awkward moment and walk towards the elevator. We followed him.

When we got inside the elevator, all seven of us, there was still space for more people, which made me wonder what this was built for.

Damien pressed another button from the inside, and the walls closed, followed by the unusual motion of going down, a sensation I hadn’t felt since using a hang glider while being followed by Corruptors.

We were there for what felt like a minute, and then the door opened.

The thing that surprised us the most in that moment, was the fact that there was light in here. A really strong white light.

"Welcome to the training room of the spire, new Ones." Damian said in a way that made the training room feel even more surreal.

"Why is there light down here?" Coco asked.

"Look up." Damian pointed. "There you can see the source. It’s the thing that keeps Argent’s barrier running."

’So the Ward is up there? Or the stronger, original version of one? How would it compare with my Hibrem cube?’ A lot of questions surfaced in my mind, but I felt reluctant to ask them to Damian.

"Wow, this room has a crazy vibe." Phinyx pointed out with a gleam, but tired expression. He was probably still recovering

"So, here’s the plan." Damian said, building expectations. "Just use your abilities as much as you can, up until the point of barely feeling the backlash. Then figure out what your backlash is, and how to deal with it efficiently."

"Wait, what?" Kira said with a hint of worry in her voice. "We’ll just use it as much as we can and then deal with the backlash? Didn’t the backlash just put Phinyx on a bed for three days and one on the cold floor?"

"You’re right to be reluctant Kira." He followed. "But there’s no other way to perfect and level your skills, than using them."

"Isn’t there an easier way?" Coco said, maybe with fear of getting into a small coma like Phinyx.

"Hmmm... there’s another way you can develop your skills faster. But that’s fighting Corruptors with your life on the line, so I would advise against it." Damian answered.

There was silence, probably no one wanted to follow that method.

"Alright, so lets start, anything you need to use your abilities or deal with your backlash will be granted to you, just tell the guard outside the spire, he has a team that can handle your deliveries of anything you want. We don’t want you to keep wasting time, after all the next exile will happen in less than a year."

After that everyone scattered around the long, long room. Actually it felt more like we were in a massive park down here.

They all knew what to do, but my training would be different.

"Allaran, for your stats training we’ll start slow. Today you only have to complete 100 laps around the entire room." Damian said

For some reason the word ’room’ felt like a joke, this place was almost as big as Argent!

"What!?" I replied, not believing my hearing was right.

"You’re a level two, so your base stats have grown, you’re in much better condition than when you were human, and your chore was also physical, so you’ll be fine." He explained. "Also you will have Phinyx, he has to train his skill, which will be able to support you on this tasks."

’Yeah sure.’ I thought, not believing that having a private cheerleader that was barely holding himself, could help me with the crazy task ahead.

"Well, I’ll leave you guys to it." He stopped. "When you feel like you can’t keep going, just remember the faces of the kids around you in Argent, you’ll be saving them." He said with finality in his tone, leaving towards the elevator.

I felt a strong sense of duty for a moment, I really wanted to be someone people could rely on... but it proved to be much, much more difficult.

"I cannnn’t do... do this anym... more Phinyx." I said while my soul was leaving my body and I heard the trumpets. of the other side.

"Vibe of energy, vibe of filled tummy, vibe of duty." Phinyx said, as if using enchantments while he swung his arms towards me.

And then again, I felt a little, little better.

"Oh wow, I still feel the worst I’ve ever been, but at least I don’t feel like I’m dying!" I said.