The Legend of Randidly Ghosthound

Ripples of trepidation ran through Raymund Ballast’s chest as he watched the three collapsed individuals twitch on the ground. He also couldn’t help but notice that the collapse was strangely silent. Perhaps these three were weak, but… to see them fold quietly over like a card castle buffeted by a gust of wind was a rather powerful demonstration of the difficulty of the test.

As one, most of the recruits outside of the archway focused their gazes on the white-haired humanoid. As the one who remained standing despite the mysterious impediment, he became the best litmus test for how passable this hurdle was.

After only a few more seconds of strained silence, he raised his head and laughed loudly. An image of darkness and violence spread to fill the air around him. “Hahahaah! Child’s play! Did you really think that taking away my Stamina would stop- Urgh!”

The ram-demon shut up as Muareth walked over to him and smashed him in the gut with one of its long arms. As the ram-horned man collapsed and groaned weakly on the ground, his arms spasmed ineffectually. It was clear that he was struggling to recover from the unexpected strike.

Muareth grinned down at its victim and then turned to the watching group. “Please remain respectful to all instructors, and in the presence of your instructors, or you will be punished. Disrespect will not be tolerated here. But as this fool pointed out, the suppression over this area is really just a trick. As you can see, we have completely adapted to moving around in this environment without any trouble. While within the training area, your Stamina and Mana will be continually drained. Therefore, you will need to rely upon your image for the entirety of your actions. Anyway, the clock is ticking. Please proceed to the Parade Grounds within the time limit.”

“You-” The ‘fool’ in question finally got his arms under control and began to push himself up off the ground. But Muareth raised one of its hooves and smashed the humanoid’s face into the ground. Raymund heard his nose break with an audible crack.

“Do not,” Muareth hissed as it lowered its head down its victim as blood seeped from the ram-demon’s nose. “Address me as you again. You will not get a third warning.”

Meanwhile, with the trick revealed, several others began to tentatively step across the threshold. They all reacted similarly: with a grimace and a stagger. But as their individual image spread out to cover their body, they could continue to function normally. They steadily tested movements and then began to walk forward with more confidence. Muareth snorted at the silent form of the ram demon on the ground and followed the leaders as more and more recruits proceeded forward. Everyone remained quiet and serious; they were beginning to believe the rumors about their Drill Sergeant from seeming the casual brutality of his subordinates.

Yet somehow, Raymund found this reassuring. Muareth’s casual treatment of the white-haired humanoid just confirmed it: these people cared not at all who you were. They were simply here to train you. if the training was truly merit-based, he could hold his head high as long as he could produce results. But still…

With gritted teeth, Raymund walked forward and crossed the threshold. Almost immediately, he grunted and fell to one knee. It felt like his own body betrayed him, transmogrifying into inert scrap metal that refused to function as a usable tool. But right before he collapsed, the face of his younger brother appeared in his mind.

In that flash of a memory, Techetadore was wincing. Ray, you will never get better at dueling if you never strike to kill me in our spars.

Raymund had shaken his head. I dare not, Techetadore. If an accident were to befall you, I…

If something happened to me, Techetadore had suddenly insisted, leaning forward and jabbing his elder brother in the chest, I trust you would ‘dare’ much more than you now believe is possible. If you put your mind to it, there is no reason that you couldn’t be just as strong as me.

Raymund had sighed at the time, just thinking it was one of those strange things that his younger brother said sometimes. Yet at the moment… Raymund heard those words clearly. A tremor ran through his body. His brain was suddenly on fire. Raymund Ballast refused to collapse and exploded with all the Willpower he could muster. His image spread outward through his body, setting the hairs across his skin to stand straight up.

The image was warm and reassuring; it reminded him of Techetadore, who possessed an almost identical image of their world’s god. Raymund wasn’t very proficient in using his image to manually move his body, but he was able to stand up through his wobbles. Next to him, Benjamin looked at him with obvious concern. “Are you alright?”

Raymund would have laughed bitterly, had that not required an extremely acute control over his image. Instead, he steadily worked to speak in an understandable manner. “Heh. I’m…. fine. You seem… fine too.”

Benjamin shrugged. “I’ve engaged in similar training in the past. Truly, as you grow used to it, it gets much easier to handle. But it is rather surprising… that this Drill Sergeant Ghosthound employed this method. Especially as the first test of his recruits. I think that all those who elected to have their elites sent here… are in for a surprise.”

Raymund frowned at Benjamin and wished to question him more on the subject, but the slender man shook his head and began walking calmly forward. Feeling slightly overwhelmed by his companion’s speed, Raymund tried his best to follow.

Behind them, the rest of the recruits passed over the threshold. In addition, Raymund took note of the individuals who weren’t thrown at all by the shift, moving like Benjamin had without a hitch. The brown-furred young woman frowned but continued to walk at a steady pace as she crossed into their training area. The fire elemental’s inscrutable facial features didn’t twitch in the least. Yawning loudly, the massive grey dog walked forward without pause. It was only as he passed him that the dog slowed and sneered at Raymund.

Raymund’s face twitched. God, I abhor dogs...imbecilic, ass licking creatures…

Although some of the recruits were clearly trudging forward with grim expressions of exertion on their face, everyone proceeded through the archway and began walking forward. With a tall bamboo forest on their left and gardens on their right, the walk was even somewhat scenic. Certainly, it was much more enjoyable than the dusty stones they crossed to get here.

And as Benjamin had indicated, using his image gradually grew more natural to Raymund. Rather than it being something he wasn’t capable of, it was simply an action Raymund had never been required to do in the past. His movements soon became much smoother. His tails began to wag once more. Very quickly, his proficiency increased.

But a short time after that, Raymund began noticing something else about the process: he was steadily developing a headache. After only a short amount of time of using his image like this, he was already growing weary from the unusual exertion.

It did, however, make Raymund feel somewhat better to glance at Benjamin and see that his acquaintance was also grimacing. Benjamin seemed to notice Raymund’s gaze and shrugged lightly. Then he spoke in a soft voice. “I retract my earlier statement. Everyone… everyone is in for a surprise. This formation… the man who designed it is clearly a sadist. If anything, the intensity increases as we head toward the center.”

“...the guides…” Raymund managed to get out.

But Benjamin understood what he was saying and nodded slowly. “...Yes. The fact that they display no signs of strain is either proof that this formation is more elaborate than should be possible or that we will be expected to grow entirely accustomed to this strain. Both options...are somewhat troubling.”

The recruits eventually reached the central area, denoted only by eleven small buildings arranged in a circle around a massive silver bell. From there, their weary journey turned South toward the Parade Grounds. Again, physically the journey was extremely short. Perhaps only two hundred meters. But after being strained for ten minutes in an entirely new manner, the group arrived rather listlessly before the beautiful humanoid woman waiting for them on the parade grounds.

At first, Raymund only barely took note of the woman, as he was largely concentrating on managing the throbbing headache that seemed intent on reducing him to a drooling husk of a person. But as he approached her, suddenly he couldn’t help but frown toward the woman. She was the center of a storm of pressure that covered the surrounding area. The woman adjusted her long braid and smiled sweetly at the group.

“Strong,” The massive grey dog growled. At some point, he had ended up keeping pace with Benjamin and Raymund. Even though he naturally disliked the dog, Raymund didn’t disagree. Benjamin narrowed his eyes and studied the woman.

The woman shifted her weight from one hip to the other. The tightness of her leather armor broadcasted the shifting curvature of her muscles as she did so. Her smile widened as she studied the exhausted group. “Welcome. Randidly Ghosthound will be your Drill Sergeant… but I’m your Overseer. Call me Overseer Helen. I’ll be making up all of your individual training regimens… so stay on my good side. Now… does anyone have any questions about your training?”

Suddenly being faced with such a question when they hadn’t even learned the details about their training, Raymund was bewildered. But almost immediately, Benjamin stepped forward. “While forcing individuals to engage solely with their image is effective training in the short term… any such training cannot be done for longer periods of time. Without special resources, the strain on images takes a long time to heal. So… what is your method for expediting the healing process?”

Overseer Helen nodded and tossed something at Benjamin. He reached up and snatched the objects out of the air deftly, despite the fact he was moving solely relying on his image. When he opened his hand, Raymund peered over Benjamin’s shoulder and saw that he had been given two coins that were stamped with a golden tree. Meanwhile, the stony man and Muareth began to pass out single coins to everyone else.

“For asking the right question at the right time, you receive one extra Tree Coin. Tree Coins can be traded in at any time, by anyone, to ring the bell at the center of our camp.” Overseer Helen said. She shifted her weight back. “You can earn Tree Coins, and other varieties of coins, for accomplishing something impressive during training. Question time is officially over. Now, you currently have a half-hour of free time… after that, we will be having a 1 v 1 tournament to give us an idea of what we are working with. Prepare yourselves as you see fit.”

Then she produced an apple and began slicing off pieces to eat, as though she was completely done with interacting with the group. Meanwhile, the attitude amongst the recruits turned somewhat strange. People kept sending glances toward Benjamin, who calmly pocketed his two Tree Coins with a mild expression.

“Oy,” Finally, the white-haired man with ram horns broke the silence. He unfolded his arms from across his chest and glared at Benjamin. “You are the only one here with two Tree Coins. It’s only fair that you use your extra one so we all understand what they do.”

“I disagree,” Benjamin said calmly. “Although I am exhausted, my image can persist for a while longer without a problem. Exactly because it is dangerous, there is a great benefit to training within this suppression field. Therefore, I plan to wait a while before using a Tree Coin.”

“Think about your fellow recruits,” The horned man said with a dangerous smile that suggested what Benjamin should really consider is the implied threat of violence. Benjamin turned away without responding, a clear sign that he believed the conversation was over. The horned man’s gaze sharpened. Meanwhile, the three ‘officials’ all seemed rather unconcerned with the bubbling undercurrent of violence.

Before anything happened, the flame elemental stepped forward to Muareth and offered a Tree Coin. “I wish to use my Tree Coin. Do I need to do anything…?”

Although Muareth was the one who took the coin, Overseer Helen answered. “Nope, I’ll send up the signal.”

Then she raised her arms and an absolutely massive image filled the surrounding sky. The currents of air turned crimson and flowed like boiling blood. Within that blood, a massive shadow filled the sky, as though some deepsea horror had been projected upward from its normal lair. With a swish of its massive tail, the shadow shifted and turned to regard the recruits waiting below with obvious interest.

DOOOOOOONNNNNGGGGG!

But before the shadow could move again, it was blasted away by that overwhelmingly pure image of life energy flowing from an enormous golden tree. But instead of being intimidating, this time the energy bloomed outward in a warm wave that lapped up against Raymund and made him release a gasp of pleasure.

That energy flood through his mind, seemingly knitting together all the strained edges of his image. In addition, that energy seemed to flush all the clutter out of Raymund’s mind and leave him with an incredibly sharp impression of his own image. For the first time in recent memory, he had some concrete ideas on how to shift his image to become vastly more powerful.

Within him, his sinuous nine-tailed fox stirred.

The flood of energy lasted for almost fifteen minutes before it gradually began to recede. And suddenly, Raymund felt extremely prepared to utilize his image for every movement; the rejuvenation had been more effective than he would have believed.

Meanwhile, the fire elemental glanced over toward Benjamin. Although his expression flickered with the flames that made up his body, Raymund sensed disappointment on his face. “If you could easily do something to benefit another… why would you hesitate?”

Benjamin just shook his head.

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