After everyone had rested for an hour and had a chance to get so water and what little food was rationed to them down, the soldiers and elite guards all t a short ways off.
Mollis had leveled out a decent little area to allow for the first part of the minotaur’s training. Aster was patiently waiting with Stahl and the others for Captain Rix to begin.
They did not wait for long. The first hour was simple enough, just non-stop, physically demanding exercise drills. It was tiring, but anyone present could mostly handle it. In truth, it was just the bull getting a final feel for his recruits and their limitations.
It was shortly after that when the bull shifted to pairing off certain groups and giving them instruction. Stahl was placed at the head of one of the larger groups of five, training with swords.
Mollis tended to pull people away randomly to gauge any manner of things or have them attempt a spell to see if they had any affinity at all with anima magic. Though, she had little success.
Aster was among the very last to be assigned a duty by the bull, presumably one of those he would personally train. The tiger Oust was also pulled to this group, much to Aster’s disdain. His attention was soon pulled from that distraction by his booming captain’s voice.
"KNEEL DOWN BOY! PUT YOUR SHIELD OVER YOUR HEAD!"
The human was a bit slow to react to the random request, but did as he was told relatively quick, kneeling down to one knee and raising both hands to his shoulder level, creating a shield about twelve inches above himself.
Aster held his position in waiting, but his curiosity was unfortunately soon sated, as the hefty bull walked right over, and sat down on the shield, effectively rendering the legendary wall and the human beneath it as no more than a stool.
While the shield did naturally hold off a good portion of the weight itself, Aster was still left dealing with far more than he felt he was capable of. His back slouched, and his chest pressed into his knee. His other knee was indented into the dirt below as he put all he had into keeping the weight from falling to his ankle.
His arms quivered under the weight, but there was no way he could stop to readjust. Aster just squinted his eyes, gritted his teeth, and grunted in his strain. His energy was being drained rapidly by his efforts, and he could barely get a breath in, all the while not daring to drop the shield and the cargo hovering right above him.
He had no idea what he had been signed up for, but he was figuring it out pretty quickly as the bull began shouting orders to the other three assigned to him from atop the shield.
Aster saw Oust giving him a truly mocking smile at his humiliating treatnt, but the human was far beyond being able to respond right then. Captain Rix just bellowed down to his new, straining chair.
"BOY! YOU COULDN’T HOLD THE DEMON’S SWORD! YOUR BACK IS WEAK! YOU WILL STAY MY SEAT UNTIL YOU CAN PUSH OFF OF YOU. YOU REST WHEN I SAY YOU MAY REST, NOT BEFORE. THIS IS YOUR ONLY WORRY FOR NOW. THIS IS YOUR ONLY TRAINING UNTIL YOU EXPELL YOUR WEAKNESS!"
Aster just grunted in his strained state... There was just no way... He would never be able to push this massive beast off of him, and he didn’t even know how long he could last like that! This wasn’t going to make him stronger. This was going to break him.
His panicking thoughts were squeezed out as the bull shifted purposefully once, making the struggling boy nearly buckle beneath his hulking mass of muscle. The bull smiled to himself, surprised Aster had managed to hold at all so far.
That was more than many a beast soldier could even manage the first ti he made them into his seat. This human may end up as one of his greatest masterpieces by the ti he was finished carving out the weakness within him.
He would run this young man through the forge as many tis as needed to perfect this weapon. The bull snorted, thankful for the fortunate turn of luck that had dropped such a bounty into his care.
"Ouch. That’s Captain Rix for you... Not the first ti he’s used that one, but damn... Right out of the gate. Aster must’ve really pissed him off or made him think he has potential sowhere along the line... Either way, glad I’m over here..." Stahl really felt for the human, but if there was one thing she was certain of, it was that Captain Rix would make him stronger than she thought possible.
It still hurt to watch, but talking about it a bit helped. Mollis happened to just be close enough to be the ear this ti.
"Hmm... I’ll give him a few more minutes, then go pull him for his one ti save from . I can still humor him and test it, even if we know he won’t have magical capability as a human. He’s going to have a long hard road under the captain, but sothing tells he can take it."
The she-wolf only nodded. If nothing else, Aster could rise to a challenge. A short few minutes later, which felt more like thirty to Aster, Mollis walked over to the sitting bull and made her request in a teasing voice.
"His turn. May I have your seat for a mont, Captain? I want to see a few things for myself."
The bull let out a gruff sigh in annoyance but gave the cute rabbit what she wanted anyway, moving off of his "seat."
Aster dropped his shield imdiately, his joints felt creaky when he stood, and he was already sweating profusely from expending a great deal of his strength. He could breathe again, so at least he had that basic life function back.
The human looked to the rabbit with a face of pure gratitude from freeing him from the overbearing weight, if only for a short reprieve. The rabbit just smiled and motioned him along as she turned away and out from the training area a bit.
When Aster made it to where the rabbit had stopped a good distance away, he finally felt he should clarify sothing to the beast.
"I’ve tried magic with Cortist before, but what the stories say are true. Humans can’t use any kind of magic you beasts can. Or at least I can’t. Sorry to disappoint you."
Mollis just chuckled a bit to herself but pulled a smooth looking stone from her pocket anyway. It looked like a piece of space itself, with dazzling sparks and flecks of different colors trapped within its dark walls.
The rabbit explained what the stone was for, stepping up a little too closely for Aster not to notice the invasion of space.
"It’s a guidance stone, ever seen or used one before?"
Aster nodded back at the rabbit, realizing how rarely he didn’t have to look so high to see into a beastwoman’s eyes.
***
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