Chapter 9: Captain Köflik's regiment

Foster woke up with a dull pain radiating from his side. Where Captain Köflik's sword had struck him, a purplish bruise stretched out, marked by dark contours that seemed to sink into his chair. Each breath pulled a little more on the wound, a stark reminder of the gap in power between the two men.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, he ran a hand over his bruised rib, his fingers meeting the painful heat of the haematoma. 

- It's nothing. It'll go away, he told himself again, although he knew that he would bear the scars of this duel for days, perhaps weeks.

He straightened up, gritting his teeth against the pain, and prepared himself for what was going to be a complicated day.

- First and foremost, the reward system! 

Foster opened his panel and accepted the reward.

Immediately, a strange warmth spread through his muscles, a living warmth, as if every fibre of his body had suddenly awakened to an ancient knowledge. He instinctively reached for his sword, feeling the hilt under his fingers in a different way. More real. More intimate. Foster felt the change before he even understood it. A wave, almost imperceptible, swept through his being, and the world seemed to stop for a moment around him. It wasn't a sudden shock, but an insidious sensation, as if something he'd carried inside him all his life had just adjusted, had finally found its rightful place.

He remained motionless, his breath coming in deeper, each inhalation filling his lungs with a strange mixture of calm and sharpness. His normally tumultuous mind seemed to crystallise. The hazy, disordered thoughts he associated with fencing - scattered memories of clumsy movements and constant corrections - were reorganised into something clear.

- My strength has just taken a leap forward, all I need to do now is catch up on my statistics. The army does indeed seem a good solution, even if it does delay my plans for the World Tree seed.

[*Ding* New quest 2.4: Upgrade each stat to 10]

[Reward: Creation of a new stat and +10 in that stat]

At dawn, the village of Völlua was still shrouded in a fine mist. The sun's rays struggled to pierce the dense foliage, casting moving shadows on the ground. Foster walked towards the barracks, but each step awakened a pang of pain in his side.

When he arrived, Köflik was already there, standing in front of the ranks of new recruits. His aura hung in the air, although he didn't deploy it.

The Captain's unit was known as the 'Guard of the Peaks', an elite troop specialising in the reconnaissance and eradication of threats to Völlua. Every day, they ventured into the most dangerous parts of the forest, hunting down any creatures that dared to get too close to the town. Whether they were packs of wolves with sharp fangs, wood trolls capable of crushing a man in a single blow, or rarer, terrifying monsters, their task was clear: to protect at all costs.

Their role was not limited to violence. They mapped territories, monitored magical anomalies and ensured that the fragile balance of the forest did not tip against them.

Captain Köflik only took orders from the Queen herself, and was answerable to her alone and no-one else for the operations of her unit.

The royal advisors and the nobility had nothing to order them or say to them.

Köflik broke the silence in a deep, authoritative voice:

- Welcome to the heart of the High Guard. This month of training will prepare you for a single objective: survival. Surviving the beasts, surviving exhaustion, surviving your own weaknesses. What you are today won't be enough and many of you won't make it through the winter. If anyone doesn't have the courage to carry on, they should leave now - it's their last chance.

Not one elf moved an inch, staring straight ahead, head held high. Even if there were risks, they would protect their people in their own way, they who could not wield mana, they who seemed so weak.

Köflik smiled slightly before returning to his hard expression.

- Good. This week in particular will determine whether you have a place in my unit or whether you go home to weep,' declared Köflik icily. Here you learn to survive and to kill. The forest is ruthless. You will have to be too.

Beside him stood another recruit, a young woman with angular features and a commanding look. Her black hair fell to her shoulders, and her emerald green eyes scanned the group with contempt. Köflik put a hand on her shoulder.

- Just to show you what worms you are who have made no effort since birth, here's Lïanna of noble blood, she's part of the MIrandar family and like all of you, she's only a recruit, but she's already mastered Ki and is close to the rank of knight. Take a good last look at her, because she'll soon be leaving your group of incompetents to join a far superior unit in my regiment.

Lïanna raised her head, her eyes filled with an arrogance that must have been ingrained in her for a very long time. Her gaze swept over them, her intention clear: to belittle them.

A murmur went through the recruits. Foster didn't join in. He kept his eyes fixed on Köflik, ignoring Lïanna's arrogance, she's just a frog at the bottom of a well who hasn't experienced the horror of the Obscurus.

- We'll start with a simple exercise to strengthen your weak bodies,' says Köflik. Fifteen kilometres through the forest, all you have to do is follow the path in front of you and you'd better finish before midday or you can kiss your meal goodbye. Load up those bags.

Assistants distributed bags weighed down with stones. Each recruit had to carry one on his back, weighing almost thirty kilos. Foster grabbed his, immediately feeling the weight sink into his shoulders, but he didn't flinch.

- Oh, and one last thing: watch out for traps along the way!

[Ephemeral Quest: Complete the race before noon]

[Reward: +4 Stamina]

'Good! If every day I train for a quest like this I'll have to catch up on my stats pretty quickly. I'm not even a rank 1 apprentice knight!

A common complaint resounded through the ranks of the recruits but without waiting for Lïanna and took the lead.

Foster followed quickly and tried to keep up with her.

He soon realised the gulf between them. She was running with a disturbing ease, her bag seemingly non-existent. He watched her movements: fluid, precise, effortless. She never slowed down, as if she wanted to crush anyone who dared to follow her.

After five kilometres, Lïanna had long since disappeared from Foster's sight and the weight of the bag was becoming almost unbearable. The stones seemed to get heavier with every step, their angles digging into her back despite the fabric reinforcements. His shoulders burned, his back stiffened, and he felt a dull ache run down his spine. Every breath was laboured, a painful effort against the pressure of the bag.

[Endurance +1]

- A stitch is a stitch, we'll say.

Behind him, hoarse gasps testified to those struggling to keep up. There were fits of frustration, falls, and even a few muffled pleas. But Foster kept his gaze fixed on the path ahead, his mind entirely dedicated to moving forward, again and again.

Time had become an overwhelming constraint. He didn't know how many kilometres he had covered or how much further he still had to go. Each passing second seemed to remind him that he must not fail. The sun rose slowly, the shadows changing around him, pressing down on him more and more.

If the first ten kilometres were an ordeal. The last five were torture. His legs became heavy, every step a titanic effort. His throat was dry, his tongue pasty. The bag now weighed like an anchor, pulling his shoulders back. He almost had to lean forward to keep his balance.

- Fuck, I didn't think I was that weak.

This brief moment of distraction almost cost him dearly, because just then a new trap was triggered. A camouflaged pit appeared beneath his feet. Foster narrowly jumped to the side, rolling to the ground in a cloud of dust. He got to his feet, grunting in pain at having taken the stone bag right in the head, and resumed his run without a backward glance.

When he finally emerged from the forest, arms and legs ablaze, the sun was high in the sky. A recruit who had already arrived greeted him with a smile.

- Here at last,' he murmured. I thought you weren't coming back.

Foster glanced at him and didn't reply. He looked around him. Lïanna was standing motionless by a tree, her bag at her feet. Not a drop of sweat was beading on her face. Her crossed arms and distant expression gave her the air of a silent judge, as if she were wondering what Foster was still doing here.

He withdrew his bag with difficulty, letting it fall heavily to the ground. His shoulders screamed in relief

[*Beep* +4 endurance]

Foster felt a strange wave run through his body, a raw and unexpected energy, as if an invisible dam had just broken inside him. His lungs filled with air with disconcerting ease, and each inhalation seemed deeper and richer. His heart was beating hard but steadily, a powerful, reassuring drum beating in his chest. A soft, vibrant warmth radiated from her centre, spreading to her limbs with the precision of a living current.

But as quickly as it had arrived, the sensation suddenly disappeared. Yet Foster felt his body invigorated, all pain gone.

- I don't know why you're looking at her, brother, but stop now, you don't stand a chance. A voice snapped him out of his reverie.

After another glance at Lïanna, Foster turned his head towards the efle who had just spoken to him.

It was a young boy, about his age, a little shorter but with a much more harmonious face than his own. His fine features and delicate face contrasted with the scar on his cheek that crossed his face from top to bottom.

- You can call me Giovanni or the gentleman of humour. continued the elf, seeing that Foster wasn't answering.

Foster's brain short-circuited for a moment and then worked again.

- Hey? Are you still with me?

Foster came to his senses.

- I'm Foster.

- Nice to meet you Foster HAHAHA you and I are going to get along just fine.

'Ahhh Yänn what have you got me into' sighed Foster silently, waiting for the other recruits.

[Current host status]

[Race]: Lower Elf Sylvain

Knight Apprentice Rank 0] [Magician Apprentice Rank 1 

[Apprentice Magician Rank 1]

[Level 2: 5/20

[Strength] : 4

[Stamina] : 14

[Constitution] : 4

[Magic] : 15

[Available Skill Points] : 0

[Skills : Fireball, Tempestive Fulgurance, Multiple shots

[Skills] : Beginner fencing skill

[Quest 1: Cast 25 Spells: 18/25]

[Reward: Beginning Magic Talent]

[Quest 2.4: Upgrade each stat to 10]

[Reward: Create new stat and +10 in it]

[Quest 3: Go to Fotiya and find the World Tree Seed]

[Reward: ???????]