Finally, we're back to me!……

  sorry, too blatant of a fourth wall break? No worries, back to the present!

  It was the end of the ninth day since infiltration began, and I was currently having dinner. For once, there was meat. In fact, the entire meal was great. This training camp thing wasn't half bad. Oh, you're probably wondering how the second half of today went.

  I mean, it wasn't particularly remarkable. No one had been able to land so much as a finger on Sicario. My bout against him went similarly to how my previous encounter with him did except that this time I couldn't get a hit in, Lightning Boost at x2.5 hardly made a difference from my normal state when up against him, especially since I was making an effort to hide my fighting style. I had no idea of the upper limits of his abilities, because unlike Azeria Folix, provoking him was no easy task.

  Anyway, after it ended, we were brought dinner by some pawns and told to get some sleep before tomorrow.

  The food was way better than the vegetable packs they served us in the Lapdog Tier area, there was actually flavor, plenty of meat and it was more than filling too. Huh, guess that's one way to incentivize and motivate your minions to try and climb up the ranks.

  After I finished eating, I headed into one of the tents and lay down on the sleeping bag with a sigh. From everything I've seen so far……The Empire was in no rush to start attacking the other nations. They seemed almost……laid-back in terms of urgency. Even during my assistant duties to Dr Reel, while he did take his assignments seriously and worked hard, I felt a lack of real urgency.

  I had a strong feeling that all this was the result of Sicario's presence. He had a good understanding of human psychology, and he'd know that too much pressure and stress on workers would only result in compromising the accuracy of their work.

  Of course, there was the whole 'people work best under pressure' argument, but I don't think that really applied here. It's not like the researchers and other members of The Empire were hired employees, after all, they were all self-motivated in trying to climb up the ranks of this tiered hierarchical system, and therefore didn't really need any additional incentive.

  Since they were doing their work of their own accord, not for the sake of a contract or paycheck, creating a low-tension environment would be ideal to maximize the effectiveness of their work.

  I'll have to increase my investigative efforts after this training camp is over, but I've still got to get through two more days of it. Well, not much I can do tonight, sneaking out of this campground was too risky, if I was caught by a Retribution Tier member, I'd be totally screwed.

  Time to pass the fuck out……

  The next morning, day ten, after having a simple yet pretty good breakfast, the next training session began. The person in charge was……Rion Xester.

  His curly black hair had grown longer since the last time I fought him, with a red headband to push it back from his forehead, orange eyes, and thick eyebrows.

  His chest and abdomen looked like a turtle's underside, and when I first met him, he wore a black shirt with ripped off sleeves and the white-coat tied around his waist. Now, he had ditched the shirt completely and wore the white coat above his bare torso, the sleeves ripped off. He was wearing the same metal-plated knuckle gloves he'd been wearing last time.

  "Alright, Rion, I leave it to you. I shall simply observe, although I will intervene if necessary," Said Sicario, walking off to the sidelines with a yawn.

  Huh, that was a blast from the past……back in my old world, during morning training sessions, he'd yawn and go off to the side and tell me to train on my own and that he'd 'simply observe, and intervene if necessary'. I was still having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that he was in this world too, especially since he looked different. He had kept the same hairstyle though.

  "Sure, leave it to me, Art!" Replied Rion with a grin, before walking over to the Elite Squad candidates and addressing us, "I like to keep things nice and simple, so for the next five hours, all of you will come at me at the same time! As for breaks……I'll declare them whenever it feels necessary!"……

  huh?

  And I thought yesterday's training sessions were simplistic. Hm, the objective of this thing doesn't seem to be actual training. More likely, they were trying to see which of us candidates were actually worthy of being added into the ranks of the Lapdog Elite Squad. And what better way to do so than having us spar against the six strongest members of The Empire, though Sicario had clearly told the other Retribution Tier members to avoid killing us.

  Also, Art? Ohh right, short for Arturo. Huh, that's the first time I've heard someone address him in any way other than Sicario in this world.

  All the candidates for the Lapdog Elite Squad were lapdogs that were good enough to impress at the audition for it, so they were valuable manpower to The Empire, even if they turned out to not be good enough to make the final cut to the Elite Squad.

  Anyway, the third training session began without delay, all nineteen of us charging at him simultaneously. We weren't allowed to use guns or crossbows since we could easily end up striking each other, but all other weapons were fair game.

  Rion was definitely slower than Azeria and Sicario, but he was still very fast, and his reaction time was impressive too. Most of all though, his physical strength was incredible, that was obvious despite him being on defense. And he was probably the sturdiest of the Retribution Tier members. One of the lapdogs slammed a hammer onto his torso……the hammer got dented, the handle bending upon impact.

  I hung around the back, deciding to wait for an opening instead of rushing in and tiring myself out.

  As it turned out, that was the right call. Three hours later, he still hadn't called a break, and the others were looking pretty worn out now. And unlike with Sicario, they landed plenty of strikes on Rion, both physical and Elemental, but they were completely ineffective against him.

  These guys had decent Elemental Magic, but at most I'd place their abilities at B-Rank or low A-Rank in comparison to Adventurers, which was no threat to him whatsoever. He canceled out any flames with his own black flames, Water Magic just seemed to refresh him, Ice Magic shattered against his torso, Earth Magic had similar results, and Lightning Magic barely seemed to tickle, though it seemed to slightly stun him when struck repeatedly.

  Alright, I think I've seen enough to be able to cause a tiny bit of damage with the element of surprise. I activated Lightning Boost and dashed towards the back of a lapdog behind him. I sprang up as I neared him, using his shoulder as a stepping stone to spring up off of.

  "Sorry," I muttered, as he let out a cry of surprise as I jumped off his shoulder towards and above Rion.

  I then stretched my leg out and rapidly shifted my weight forward, swiftly spinning down, building up momentum and slamming my heel square onto the top of his head. I then sprang off and landed in front of him, wrapping my fists and arms with lightning and unleashing a flurry of rapid lightning-enhanced punches at his torso.

  The instant each time one of my fists connected, I transferred the lightning into him, and as I drew back the fist, I rewrapped it with lightning while simultaneously striking him with my other fist.

  Fuck, it felt like I was punching a concrete wall, but……it was working, I had briefly dazed him with that kick to the head, and now each of my punches stunned him more and more, bit by bit, slowly but surely paralyzing him……never mind, he caught my fists.

  Guess it wasn't as effective as I had expected. My initial kick had definitely surprised him but I don't think it actually hurt him at all, and my punches definitely weren't effective.

  "Oh, man, that totally felt like I had a bunch of ants biting me all over, dayum that stung! Heh, you're pretty good, kid!"

  "O-oh, uh……you honor me with your praise, sir," I replied with that annoying bow, after he let me go.

  Huh, this guy really is a good sport, just like he'd been last time. Man, back during the Zombie thing, I probably would have died if I'd encountered any of the other Retribution Tier members during that moment instead of him……

  "Whew, I'm kinda pooped! Time for a break!"

  The other lapdogs sighed in relief before dragging their feet over to the sidelines and thirstily gulping down bottles of water.

  "Woah, it's been over three hours!? I thought it was like……half an hour or something!" He suddenly exclaimed, after walking over to Sicario and saying something……

  well, if nothing else, he clearly wasn't the brains of the operation.

  Anyway, the break didn't last long, the 'training' resuming. This time, he kept an eye on me, so a second surprise attack was off the table……wait, what am I thinking, I should be focusing on not attracting any attention! I'll just hang back and fire off the occasional lightning bolt.

  So, the rest of the session went uneventfully. By the end of it, Rion had accidentally injured a couple of the other lapdogs, he seemed to finally get tired towards the end and forgot to stay on defense. The result was one broken arm for one lapdog, and another had a couple of broken ribs.

  "Hehe, my bad, guys!" He apologized sheepishly, as Sicario glared at him with exasperation.

  He then looked around before his eyes settled on me.

  "Imsret, go and retrieve a couple of healing Spell Cards from Lab 19," He sighed, tossing me a key.

  Huh? Well, I certainly won't look a gift horse in the mouth.

  "Of course, sir, I shall make haste," I replied with a bow, jogging away.

  Hey, now, talk about a bonus. Since he gave me a key, the lab was probably locked, and therefore……empty. Can't waste this golden opportunity!

  I rushed over there and entered the lab, after making sure no one else was around. Good, the coast is clear.

  I walked over to the back of the lab and inspected the boxes filled with Spell Cards. They were all labeled, perfect. I found a stack of the healing spell and took two Spell Cards of it, before rapidly scanning the other labels, looking for anything that might be useful. I need to act fast, let's see now, what kind of spells would be worth taking……?

  A couple of minutes later, I'd found and taken an invisibility barrier spell, remote activation paralysis spell and a Spell Card labeled intangiblility barrier……these could come in handy. Do they have a soundproof barrier spell too? No, I don't see one. Damn it, I better leave, I can't afford to spend too much time here or they'll get suspicious.

  I reluctantly got up and left the lab, locking the door behind me. I hid the Spell Cards I stole inside my armor and hurried back to the Retribution Tier.

  I returned to the training camp and handed the healing spells to the injured lapdog, who took them gratefully and began healing themselves. After a brief break, the next five-hour training session began. This one was headed by Presde Drelou, the number three ranked member of the Retribution Tier.

  "Alright, for my training, uh……I'll set up an obstacle course, I suppose," He sighed irritably, scratching his head.

  He motioned for us to back off to the sidelines and clear the area. What was he doing……?

  It didn't take me long to find out.

  In just a matter of seconds, he created an entire maze by raising earth walls all throughout the grounds. Woah, what just……that felt like it happened in the blink of eye.

  "Go in one by one, I guess……whoever clears the maze the fastest wins. After you have all gone, I'll rearrange the maze and you'll go again. Go on, start," He explained with a bored sigh, scratching his short beard and rubbing his sleep-deprived eyes.

  Sicario looked annoyed at his attitude, but since his training method was actually pretty effective and valid, he didn't complain.

  The first candidate went into the maze……five minutes later, we heard a crash and a cry of pain.

  "Huh, looks like he fell into a pitfall spike trap," Remarked Presde Drelou, sipping on a cup of tea as he let out a stifled yawn.

  "You created traps inside there!?" Groaned Sicario in exasperation.

  "Well, I did say it was obstacle course, didn't I?"

  "Yes, but-!……what kind of traps are in there?" He asked with a sigh, starting to yell but deciding against it.

  "Uh, let me see……pitfalls with spikes, of course……oh, those floor panels where if you step on them, spikes come shooting out……then, walking into some of the dead-ends will result in a boulder rolling towards you……a couple of other dead-ends will have the walls close in on you if you walk into them……stuff like that. The guy who just went in is probably dead."

  This guy probably had his old life's memories too, those were some pretty cliché movie traps.

  "……no lethal traps, it's a waste of manpower, you lethargic fool! Simply make it a complex maze, no traps!" Snapped Sicario, rubbing his temples with a groan.

  After the corpse was retrieved, Presde rearranged the maze, once again taking just a couple of seconds to do so. His use of Earth Magic……the ease in which he did so reminded me of Az's proficiency with his Water Magic. And that was saying a lot.

  The problem with this training method, though, was that it gave me no idea of how he used his abilities in a fight.

  Anyway, the rest of this training session was pretty uneventful. We were made to find out ways out of four different mazes, I decided to get fairly average times and on all four tries, the amount of time I took to find my way out was between fifth and tenth place out of nineteen……no, wait, eighteen with the guy who died.

  It was dark now, and the day was over. Today had been far less productive that I'd have hoped. I had already fought Rion in the past, so his training block of five-hours really hadn't been all that informative to me, I already knew he was strong. As for Presde, I found out that he had incredibly powerful Earth Magic……but that's about all I found out. After he made and rearranged the mazes, he just sort of sat back and relaxed.

  Well, at least I had managed to snag an invisibility barrier spell and a couple of other spells too, those should come in handy later on.

  And tomorrow should be more informative. The two remaining members of the Retribution Tier for this training camp were Hacte Routh and Kuua Quels. I had multiple brief run-ins with the former during the Goldway Quest, but had no idea what his abilities were. As for the latter, I knew nothing about her other than that she was the fifth-ranked member of the Retribution Tier.

  Tomorrow, I'll finally know all the names, abilities and appearances of the Retribution Tier members. So, for tonight……I sleep.

  _____________________________________________

  Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism!

  Also, check out my Instagram account @aimdaqs for posts relating to this book.