The Stockpile and New Friend

Xing, Lei, and Wei exited the tent of the chief and into the blaring afternoon sun, carrying their new leather armor.

"Well, Wei you want to come with us to the stockpile to retrieve our winnings?" Lei asked.

Wei regarded Lei silently for a few seconds before replying, "Okay."

With that the three of them descended from the overlooking-plateau and started wandering through the winding paths of the tribe, earning the stares of awe, congratulations, and envy from most tribespeople they passed.

Unnerved, Xing asked, "How long will people be looking at us like this?"

"Well, we just came within the top 3 and received master-crafted leather armor, me and you broke the record on how many monster-cores we turned over, and all three of us are walking together ...so obviously people will stare." Lei waved at a few giggling girls who were pointing at them, before turning to Xing and stated, "But people do forget things quickly, probably after a week they will have moved on with their own lives."

After a dozen minutes of navigating the maze-like dirt pathways, and struggling through crowds of onlookers, the trio arrived at their destination; The Stockpile.

The place was an open area, walled off by a wooden-palisade, guarded by both warriors and shaman, with many large tents and wooden structures erected within.

They were not stopped by the guards, as they knew why the trio was there, and they also knew who Xing was the son of- they would never stop him from entering, even if he had no reason to enter.

The three walked through the area, noting the stockpiles of weapons, armor, wood, stone, and other various materials. And that was only the things that were being kept outside, many more goods and resources were being stored within one of the many structures.

Seeing all of these different stockpiles made one think that the place truly lived up to its name.

Both Xing and Lei moved through the place like they had an idea of where to go, this was because they had been here a few times before while growing up. Wei trailed behind them, curiously looking around.

It didn't take long before they came upon a wooden building marked with a wooden slab carved with the words: 'Mana-Crystal Storage'.

Upon entering the structure what greeted them was a pile of blue-glowing stones of different sizes and shapes, the pile towering high up to the roof like a mountain. Contrasting to the messy hoard, in front of the mountain, there were neat rows of mana-crystals laid out on top of wooden shelving.

An old man with a bushy grey beard and a receding hairline could be seen moving about the shelves muttering numbers, as he counted crystals, occasionally bending over to carve into a block of wood he kept close.

Noticing the three youngsters walk into the building the old man stopped what he was doing and gave them a scrutinizing look, "You three the winners? Because if you aren't," he narrowed his ancient eyes, "interrupting my counting is a serious offense!" he spoke with conviction plastered on his wrinkly grandpa face.

The trio was slightly taken aback by the old man who seemed to take counting very seriously.

'Is this one of those infamous people who prefer numbers over people?' Xing thought to himself before he regained himself coughing to help Lei and Wei regain themselves, "Ahem. Yes, that would be us. We're here to claim out rewards, and then we'll leave you to your... ah… your counting." He finished awkwardly.

The old man grunted before wandering over to a shelf opposite him, picking up a wooden box, bringing it over to the group, and slamming it down on a table in front of them.

"There are exactly 30 mana-crystals in there, 15 for 1st, 10 for 2nd, and 5 for 3rd. You know the drill, hurry up, I don't have all day," the old man was already getting impatient.

Realizing that the old man could blow up at any moment, the trio hurriedly grabbed their spoils out of the box before thanking him, bowing, and leaving the building as fast as possible. Allowing the grey-bearded, stone-age mathematician to get back to his counting as soon as possible.

"Well, that was something…" Lei said dryly.

"Yeah, certainly something..." Xing said.

"It was," even the quiet Wei spoke up.

***

As the group of three humans, plus slumbering snake, left the palisade-walled area Wei looked like she was about to part ways when Lei spoke up, "Hey Wei, you wanna come spar with us? More specifically I want to spar with you!" Lei pointed at her, "So what do you say?"

Wei looked a bit perturbed at the sudden declaration, but she quickly gained a strong light in her eye, "Alright."

"Awesome! Let's go to the exclusive Great-Warrior training fields since we are currently so popular." Lei walked off hurriedly with a spring in her step, looking excited at the upcoming fight.

Xing sighed to himself and followed behind her with Wei, ignoring all of the looks from tribespeople they passed along the way.

"Sorry about her forwardness, she gets over excited easily, especially when it comes to sparring." Xing apologized to Wei.

Wei hurriedly waved her hands, "It's no trouble, though is it fine to use the Great-Warriors training area?"

"Have you forgotten who I am? There is no problem at all, we use the field all the time." Xing said.

It took a few minutes to walk from the Stockpile to the proposed location, and as soon as they reached the training and sparring ground the two women immediately took up positions opposing one another.

Xing took up position on the sidelines where he would act as a referee, "When I give the signal the two of you may begin."

No discussing was required as both females turned serious, waiting for Xing to give the starting signal.

The atmosphere tensed as silence descended across the grassy field.

Wei was staring at Lei across from her with a calm expression, she looked prepared to begin drawing in mana, and casting spells at any moment. Lei was staring at Wei with a look of determination, she was holding onto her spear tightly, and ready to pounce as soon as the signal sounded. Both women had changed into the leather armor they had won previously in the day.

Suddenly the silence was broken by Xing shouting, "Begin!"

Lei charged toward Wei the moment the signal was given, while Wei began channeling in mana from the surroundings. The moment she had enough, a wall of water materialized in front of her, impeding Lei's advance.

The warrior girl didn't allow a wall of water to stop her, however, as she drove her spear straight into it. Sadly her explosive strength did not activate and the water-wall stood proudly.

Lei was about to try again, hoping that her strength would explode, but she was interrupted by a deluge of balls of water, which rained down upon her heavily, causing her to block them with her spear since getting hit by such a condensed amount of water would definitely hurt.

Further and further Lei was being pushed back, she realized that this would go on until one party ran out of stamina, and Wei would be the one who fell first. But she didn't like being on the defensive or winning this way, so Lei switched from stopping the heavy water-balls to agilely dodging them.

She once again made it to the great water wall of Wei, thrusting her spear into it once again. This time, however, her super-strength was activated and she managed to tear straight through the wall.

Now meters away from Wei, Lei was about to declare victory, until she noticed the water from the destroyed wall rushing toward her in an attempt to push her back to where she started. Wei also added more to the rush of water turning it into a raging tide.

There was no way to dodge the oncoming tide of water, so Lei dug her spear into the dirt, hoping to be able to hold her ground.

When Wei ran out of mana to keep it active, the tide receded, revealing a drenched Lei who had firmly held her ground, as-well-as unveiling the new Great-Warriors Training Ground; the Great-Warriors Bog, as the entire ground was soaked, turning dirt into mud. It would likely take days for the grounds to dry out.

"I surrender. I've run out of mana." Wei called out in a dejected tone.

Lei stood back up, not looking too pleased about being soaked, but she persisted and asked, "No offense Wei, but how exactly did you come 3rd? The only offensive spell you used then was those balls of water, and those wouldn't be able to take down F-Rank monsters."

Wei became embarrassed, "Oh, I um- I have another spell. It's just I don't want to use it on humans ...as you know... it would kill..."

"Really? What does it do?" Lei looked interested.

"It encases a target in a bubble of water, depriving them of air, and suffocating them if they cannot break out."

Both Xing and Lei went wide-eyed at the spell, which sounded more like torture. To think this innocent looking girl had such a terrifying method of killing.

Lei coughed before she spoke, "Well that sounds like a cool spell... but moving on, how about you start joining me and Xing when we train every morning. You should put some muscle on and learn how to swing a weapon like a warrior, what else would you do when you run out of mana like just then. If you could fight you wouldn't have needed to surrender."

"That sounds alright. But I don't have any talent for weapons. I'd much prefer to stay at range."

"Well, there is always the bow and arrow! What about trying to learn how to use that! You can also learn how do move on your feet better, so you can dodge!"

While the two ladies discuss away Xing starts thinking, 'Just why is Wei so familiar? I'm tempted to just ask about her past, but that would be rude.'

He sighed, 'Haah, I guess I'll just have to wait until she is better friends with us, and decides to share on her own.'