Agonized gasping of air could be heard within the branch head quarter's training grounds as the newest additions to their roster contemplate if being an adventurer is worth it. The kobolds pant as their matted fur acts like a sponge, drenched in sweat and other kinds of grime. Of the 8 arachnoids, 5 could already feel their multiple legs cramping from the torturous run. Contrary to popular belief, not all nonhumans are hunted down on sight. In fact, if they show a certain level of both intelligence and compliance, they are even welcome to rise as captains.
"This is nothing! c'mon! Pull through, Pull through! BEST THE BURRRNNN!" Gabe watched as a large red figure was shouting motivational slogans while jogging up front. Large, branching antlers wrap the area around his head, not to different from a helmet. He wears a roughly stitched kilt. Behind him, nine others similar to him respond in a combined roar of excitement. The instructors in charge write something down on the parchments in their hands, likely taking note of their performance.
"Hey there! you were that guy who saw through the previous test right?" Gabe eases out of his observations to find that an arachnoid was looking towards his direction, all eight beady eyes shining with a strange curiosity. "What exactly are you? I have seen plenty of species within the books-goblins, trolls, the occasional earth wyrm, but never anything like you. Do you sleep? have any muscles? what about eyelids? is there-" the spindly creature continued to prattle on, much to Gabe's growing exasperated mirth. 'Sam and this guy would have been best friends if he was here.'
A loud horn suddenly blares, its brass howl causing a few, including Gobsung, to stumble. "Alright recruits! now that we have assessed your endurance, we're gonna see whether you lot have the potential to be deadly bug snares or snared bugs!" The drill instructor pulls out a sack full of crumpled papers. "This here will help set what we call the takeaway tournament. Grab a paper, and the ones with matching numbers brawl till the last man standing."
The papers soon land in the hands of the adventuree prospects, with two guys stepping into the makeshift dirt ring. "Begin!" with the signal made, the two combatants rush at each other, the soles of their footwear kicking dust. The fight soon became a back and forth of punches- A jab to the forearm. cross combo to the body. An uppercut to the chin. The dust soon settles as quickly as it came, revealing that the taller of the two won the slugfest, bloodied and sporting a black eye. The duo is dragged to the med bay as the monitoring adventurers reset the arena area.
'Ok so besides humans being a bit stronger than on earth, combat hasn't really changed much between people. Actually, where am I now that I think about it?' Gabe's leaves sway as while Gabe was contemplating where in the universe he was, the next fighter (a kobold) jumps into the circle area. A snarl appears on the hound like face of the creature as an arachnoid scuttles in. By the signal, neither combatants move, both eyeing each other, watching every twitch and facial expression they make. The arachnoid was soon the first to act, shooting a spider's web from behind them. The kobold rolls as the web sails past, landing on where it was previously standing.
Using the momentum of the roll, the kobold pushes off the ground with both hands to perform a dropkick. Such a move would normally cause panic to those inexperience, but the half spider remains calm sure of its plan. It calmy steps to the side, revealing a pile of webs that was crafted during the stare down! Caught off guard, the kobold flails as it desperately tries to maneuver itself mid air, to no avail. It crashes right into the webs, stuck and now fully immobilized.
"Hey, that spider cheated!" Heads turned as a young man with blond hair points an accusatory finger. "Those webs were being made even before the instructor started the match! It should therefore be disqualified for such unsportsmanlike like acts!" The drill instructor says nothing, eying the boy before him with a stare that would put even a hawk to shame. "That is an interesting point." The blonde's smugness could be felt from miles away, causing the arachnoid's chelicerae to shake in annoyance. The drill instructor's next words soon wiped that smugness away. " However, do you think the world will care? Do you think the monsters will just appear in front of you and demand to duel? Will they even WAIT as you call for backup?"
"I-I, well, uh, erm." The young man stutters as the drill instructor approached. "The answer is no. They will tear you up, rip from limb to limb, and quite possible even use your severed head as a nice cushion or another collectable that went with the others that had such foolish ideals in the past." The iron grip on the blonde's shoulder made him wince in both parts fear and pain as the instructor continued. "The arachnoid didn't 'cheat' as you call it, it was using survival tactics fairly COMMON within the guild. We call it using our brains. So my two friends here-" Two adventures grab the man by his armpits as the instructor released his grip. "-are gonna escort you home so you can go play pretend somewhere safe. Consider yourself failed. Don't come back." The man spluttered and shouted curses as he was dragged away by the adventurers. The remaining recruits flinched as the piercing eyes then focused on them. "Anyone else have anything stupid to say?" Frantic head shaking was the response that the instructor received. "Good. I don't want anymore fools recorded dying under my training."
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Hello again my faithful readers, I live! sorry for not posting last week as I had just recently started a job! so my plans for 6ch/week for do book might just be halved. Ill still be working on these though, so don't fret. Enjoy and lemme know what you like about my works so far