*** Patrick ***

  The rain bird sang its accursed song at 3:50 to give everyone time to assemble for morning roll call. It wasn’t a bird, just a whistle signal, but it was easier to despise a mythical bird. It was the first full day in the field camp. Yesterday the hexad traveled (in the ever present rain) 15 miles from the training camp to their current location. Luckily a dozen staff members had accompanied them and directed the construction of the field camp. The local threat level was low, but it still took a couple of hours to dig a ditch around the camp and other basic fortifications. The excavated mud was shoveled towards the camp to form a very long speed bump. Recruits then used a new tool, a hollow rod with a faucet on the top. By channeling water mana into it the tool pulled water out of the mud to give the embankment a hard clay consistency.

  Before coming to the field camp, life at the main camp had fallen into a simple rhythm that Patrick found peaceful. The irony amused him, that spending all of his time learning the art of violence was more relaxing than his old office life. Every day had simple goals and clear feedback about his progress. He didn’t have half-a-million things to worry about and keep track of. He was living in the moment and was only responsible for himself. A lot was expected, but never so much that it was impossible to achieve. Patrick didn’t always hit every goal, but they were always within reach.

  His quadmates, Maria and Kayla, were already in formation when Patrick arrived. Kayla greeted, “Hey Spoons, another fine day here on mudball.” Maria greeted him with a small smile and then returned to looking into the distance. Two days ago the trainers bestowed codenames that could be used to refer to individuals while on duty. Role names were expected during operations, but codenames could be used for personal conversation on duty.

  “Good morning to both of you also. I heard it is going to rain later today.”

  Kayla countered with, “Come on, you can do better than that. If that is the best you can do I need to join a different quad before anyone associates me with you.”

  “It’s four in the morning, before the crack of dawn.”

  Kayla: “Lame. I will not accept that excuse again.”

  “ok, that’s fair, I’ll spend the day thinking of a better one for tomorrow. - Hey Lucky, what’cha thinking about?”

  Maria looked over and said, “meh, I am still disappointed that we aren’t throwing fireballs around. Charging spears with elemental power is not what the wizard job description promised.”

  “It’s only been a week, I’m sure you’ll be throwing them in no time. You are already the best fire user here.”

  Kayla added with a grin, “I agree, you are destined to set the world on fire. Well, maybe not this world.”

  Rohan slipped into place to the right of Patrick right before the commander arrived. Since there were four principal trainers and they hadn’t given their names yet, the recruits had informally nicknamed them all based on the elements. Today’s commander was Trainer Wind, the same woman who had escorted the group to the planet.

  Trainer Wind spoke, “Over the past week you have gained a basic level of competence with the spear, mana channeling, and moving in formation. You will continue to improve these basic skills and at the same time begin applying them. You will work in your quads during first shift to improve the field camp. Your quad trainer has your specific assignment. Second shift will be a practical application of your spear skills to killing vermin. Reassemble here at 6:30 in your fighting kit. Lunch will be rations while we march to our destination. Begin.”

  The quad turned and jogged over to Trainer Water and formed a two by two square with Patrick and Kayla in the front. It was Patrick’s turn as quad lead today and he said “Quad Sea reporting sir.”

  The trainer replied, “The supply shipment arrived overnight and needs to be unloaded and accounted for. Report to the quartermaster and work there until 6:15, then prepare for second shift. Any questions?”

  Patrick asked, “Just the location of the quartermaster.”

  First shift was uneventful. Patrick practiced channeling mana into Strength as he moved the boxes and crates. His mana pool was at half from absorbing the ambient water mana overnight. Water mana was an order of magnitude higher than any other mana type on this world, hence the never ending precipitation. Strength magic wasn’t a specific type of mana, it was able to use whatever was in the mana pool. The trainers’ metaphor was that absorbed mana forms a sphere inside your soul, and a buffer of personal mana surrounds that elemental mana. Drawing on this personal mana allows a person to act with super strength, until the personal mana is used up. Over time a portion of the elemental mana gets converted into personal mana, until the buffer is back to normal.

  After unloading, the quad helped with taking inventory and making sure everything was organized. Food and everyday necessities were the bulk of the shipment. More exciting were the weapons and shields. The hexad had only been working with the spear so far, so the addition of shields, swords, and maces implied that they would be branching out soon. There were also a number of utility magic items, like the ones used to improve the walls.

  The quad was finished by 6:00 and the quartermaster dismissed them so they could get ready for the next shift. The fighting kit was a light weight padded gambeson. The helmet resembled a bicycle helmet with a clear visor that came down to cover the nose. Supposedly the visor could be charged to provide enhanced vision, but it was beyond Patrick’s current skill level. The thick cargo pants had a dozen pockets. Patrick didn’t have anything to put in the pockets yet, but more pockets were always welcome. Jackboots with built in shin guards and top of foot protection completed the outfit. This kit was the standard issue for water worlds with high quality water-proofing. Patrick thought it was reasonably stylish, with all of the gear in matching shades of medium blue. Patrick double checked everything once more and grabbed his mana spear. Soon the rest of the quad was ready and they stopped by the dining hall to grab their rations and fill their canteens.

  The hexad was in square formation by the 6:30 deadline. First squad was Tesheme (Ace) and three soldiers that were filling in for recruits that had dropped out. The trainers alternated who worked with the soldiers. Tesh was the local training super-star and was grouped with them most of the time. Patrick didn’t mind quadding with the soldiers, but he had a better rapport with his usual quad.

  The commander called to the hexad, “Move out, double time.”

  After two miles through the grasslands the hexad was called to a stop 100 yards from a shallow river. The commander turned and said, “The field on the other side of the brook has a swarm of leaf slimes. You will get in line formation and sweep the field to kill them all. The slimes are not dangerous, but if one hits you then you will be considered ‘dead’ until the next round. You have three objectives: 1) Do not ‘die’, 2) Stay in formation, 3) Kill the slimes in front of you. Your quad trainers will be tracking your progress and providing specific directives during the exercise. Line Formation … Advance.”

  Patrick marched with the hexad at a normal pace until they reached the brook. Ace was the hexad leader and called “Half-time”. One of the soldiers, Dot, was whispering advice to him. Patrick kept watch on the field trying to see the leaf slimes. The rain had lessened to a light drizzle, so visibility wasn’t terrible. He still hadn’t seen the slimes yet. There was indistinct and intermittent movement in the field of bushes and grasses, no visible creatures though. After reaching the other side of the brook Dot whispered again and Ace called “Energize, Ready Spears, Maintain Double-Spaced Rank”. Patrick channeled mana into his spear, the infusion would disrupt the natural defenses that magical creatures had.

  If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  After another 20 yards the line had slowed and Patrick saw some of the recruits stabbing into the grasses. Then he saw the leaf slimes, they were about the size of a tennis ball and had a translucent green color. Now that he knew what to look for he reexamined the area in front of him. There weren’t any directly in front of him, but he saw one in front of Rohan. “Shifty, you got a hostile, right one.”

  Rohan found it and lined up his spear for a strike. Like a house fly, as soon as Rohan started his strike the slime dodged into Patrick’s lane. Patrick was ready and made a quick strike while it was still moving. It missed by a hand’s width and the slime landed on a small bush about five feet in front of Patrick. It took two more strikes until Patrick was able to get the timing down and land a glancing blow. With its shell cut the slime’s guts dribbled out.

  ‘That’s disgusting. They are fast too, I better make sure I spot them early enough that I can keep them from getting close. They would be impossible to hit if they get inside the spear’s point.’

  The line advanced, slimes fell, and recruits ‘died’. As the recruits fell out of the line, the line tightened up to keep the double spacing, about four feet between recruits. It took Patrick an average of four attacks to kill a slime. The slimes started dodging as soon as something moved within two feet of them. It was impossible to tell which way the slime was facing, or if that concept even applied to them. Their hops were about three to six feet at a time in a random direction. Their reaction time did slow after they had jumped, so Patrick got most of his kills after a slime jumped into his lane after it dodged someone else’s attack. The most difficult part was when a slime jumped towards Patrick. He had to quickly change his grip and try to hit it up close. Stepping out of formation wasn’t an option; the trainers would declare you dead if you broke formation. It was possible to fudge it a little with a half-step back; and there was a little bit of lateral movement allowed, but in general staying in formation was non-negotiable.

  The round ended when seven of the recruits, including Patrick, had died and the other six ran out of mana. Attacking a slime without charging the spear just pushed it without causing any damage. After the first round the hexad withdrew two hundred yards, to the edge of the brook, and the commander said, “After this break we will continue until the field is cleared or 11:00. You have 16 minutes to discuss lessons learned and come up with a plan of action for your quad. Begin.”

  Trainer Water addressed Patrick’s quad with, “The review and planning is up to the quad to execute. I can answer some questions, but you are expected to take the initiative and responsibility. Three additional pieces of information 1) you have four water mana crystals for this operation, 2) the hexad will be using a double rank formation, and 3) there will be a 16 minute break between rounds.”

  Patrick looked at him and said, “Thank you.” He turned to his quad and began, “First let’s discuss how the round went, then decide how we’ll proceed. Let’s go around and hear from everyone, what are your thoughts Soup?”

  Kayla: “My mana is spent, and I will only have enough for one or two strikes just absorbing from the air.”

  Patrick: “Is everyone in the same mana situation?”

  Rohan: “Yeah, I’m useless without a recharge.”

  Patrick: “ok, let’s come back to the mana situation after we talk about the slimes. Lucky, thoughts about the slimes?”

  Maria: “They are fast, but weak as long as we hit them with mana. If we are moving to a double rank formation that means the brass expects us to rotate who is on the front to deal with the fatigue.”

  Rohan: “I thought the second row was for stabbing when there is an opportunity.”

  Maria: “Usually, but the slimes are too small and fast for that to work.”

  Patrick: “Agreed. How about we have the second rank primarily act as spotters? Also, is there anything that we can do without using mana?”

  Kayla: “WIthout a charge the spear just pushes them back without much damage. It can push them around…. “

  Patrick: “ok, last question and then we’ll talk about our strategy. How many rounds do you think it will take to cover the rest of the field?”

  “Five”, “Four”, “Eight”

  Patrick: “Yeah, I agree at least four, maybe more. I suggest we space our crystals out, one heavy hitter per round and the other three act as support. The supports can still gather ambient mana, maybe getting enough for one or two strikes, but the main damage dealer will be whoever gets the crystal.”

  Rohan: “So who will get the crystals? Soup got the most kills last time, just give them all to her?”

  Kayla: “I can’t absorb four so close together. Maybe two if we space them out.”

  Patrick: “How about we let Soup take the first round, and then we’ll decide next round. I want to mull it over a bit. What do you think Lucky?”

  Maria: “I would like a turn too, but I am ok with Soup starting us off.”

  Patrick: “Cool. So the plan is Soup takes the first crystal and is our damage dealer. I’ll take the other first rank spot and try to herd them to Soup and/or play defense. Lucky and Shifty will act as spotters in the second rank, and will rotate in for a strike or two. As soon as Soup is ready we’ll rejoin the rest of the hexad.”

  Quad Sea killed 19 slimes in the second round, compared to a total of 13 slimes in the first round. Kayla had 17 kills; Patrick and Maria each made good of their one shot.

  Patrick: “That went well, any comments about the structure before we talk about who will be the next heavy hitter?”

  Kayla: “The spotting help was great. It did get a little confusing though when both spoke at the same time. The second rank should focus on spotting for just their own person in the first rank.”

  …

  Patrick: “That sounds good. Regarding the rest of the crystals, we should each take a turn being the heavy hitter. Our mission here is to take out the slimes, but the larger mission is our training, and having everyone take a turn will improve the training mission. Kind of like this is a battle, and our training is the war. We need to keep the larger mission in mind.”

  Maria: “I get you, but that is just over-complicating it. Taking turns is just the right thing to do.”

  Patrick: “heh, guilty as charged. Do you want to go next?”

  Maria: “Yeah, I’m ready!”

  The next three rounds went well for Quad Sea. They were all getting better at spotting and killing the slimes, but fatigue was dragging down their overall performance. By the end of the fifth round the hexad had only completed three quarters of the field. After that, the rounds were only lasting 10 to 15 minutes because everyone was running on fumes. Those last three rounds until 11:00 only covered another five percent of the field. At 11 the hexad fell into a square formation and double timed it back to the field camp.

  Everyone was exhausted and hungry upon their return. The group went to the dining hall to grab a quick bite, and then to the barracks to sleep. Patrick only quickly looked at his feedback sheet for the day before going to sleep.

  Name: Patrick Pear

  Date: 73bc25-2026-27

  (previous values from Day 33)

  Reaction: n/a -> 0-2

  Body: n/a -> 0-2

  Strength: n/a -> 0-5

  Absorption: 0-2 -> 0-6

  Mana Pool: 1-0 -> 1-1

  Power: 0-3 -> 0-5

  Skills:

  Spear: 0-2 -> 0-5

  Shield: n/a

  Fire: n/a -> 0-3

  Wind: 0-3 -> 0-5

  Sea: 0-2 -> 0-3

  Terra: n/a -> 0-2

  Mission Stats:

  Leaf Slime Kills: 29

  Accuracy: 38%

  Deaths: 1