The sun had started touching the horizon when Kairo finally awoke.
Bolting to his feet in a panic, he quickly regretted it. Kairo's head felt like someone had taken an axe to it. The throbbing made him want to finish the job they had started.
"Finally, the princess wakes up." Adon's sneering face swam into his vision.
He held his spear in his left hand, posing like some grand warrior. However, the goose egg on his forehead ruined any image he had been trying to create.
"What happened?"
The ridiculous grin crossing Adon's face grew deeper at Kairo's words.
"The one Burch called 'mysterious' was the only one to get K.O.ed. We all took heavy hits, guess you just couldn't take yours. If anything's mysterious about you, it'd be the fact that you're even here.'
The sun's position in the sky was all the proof Kairo needed that Adon wasn't only talking shit. Claire and Zoe looked like they were sparring, if you could call it that. Brion had his hands on his knees, red in the face and gasping for air.
With his headache lessening, Kairo noticed that Adon seemed to be a little out of breath himself. He grabbed his sword from where it lay next to him and turned to face Adon.
"Guess I need more practice then. Mind being my training dummy?"
"Me, your training dummy?" Adon chuckled and readied his spear, "Guess Burch didn't hurt you enough. You'll be sleeping till morning this time."
Moments before they charged each other, Burch appeared between them. With his sudden appearance and hood brought back down, most people would have mistaken him for a ghost.
"That's enough sparring for today. You can wait for our next session to settle this. For now, let's go eat."
Collectively everyone's stomachs rumbled at the mention of food. They quickly returned their weapons and followed Burch inside the white marble building. As soon as they entered the mansion a delicious aroma flooded their nostrils.
They didn't need to be lead to the dining hall, the smell laid the trail. As soon as the trainees entered the room their eyes latched onto the grand spread of food.
Roasted chicken and pork, a variety of grilled vegetables, three different kinds of potatoes dishes, more than a couple loaves of bread, and plenty of drinks to go around.
This was an amount of food most of them had only dreamed of ever seeing. After receiving a nod of affirmation from Burch, the five of them dug in.
Having scavenged for most meals in his life, Kairo had never eaten food this good. The different flavors burst in his mouth, temporarily making him forget the remaining ache on the top of his skull.
He was quickly filled, and the other four seemed to be as well. Sliding his chair away from the table, Burch stood and gathered whatever mess he had made onto his plate.
"Thanks for the food." After bowing slightly and muttering this, Burch turned to the trainees.
"Everyone head to your rooms. We have training in the morning, and I'm not going to wake you up like your mother. I showed you the way earlier, so get."
With sighs of satisfaction and full stomachs; Brion, Adon, Claire, and Zoe exited the dining hall. The girls went in one direction and the boys in the other, the two pairs chatting idly as they sleepily made their way to their respective rooms.
This left Kairo standing with Burch, unsure of when exactly they had been shown their rooms. A sigh of exhaustion from Burch left Kairo further confused. Should he ask for help, or not?
"I showed them after healing you and giving you a nap break. Guess I'll have to take you right now, follow me."
The two had little to no conversation as they walked the halls, leaving Kairo to absorb his surroundings as they went. He had never stayed in a house this nice.
The dark red carpet caused the walls to appear brighter, which were made out of the same white marble as the exterior. There were a few paintings lining the walls and tables with plants here and there, but other than that the halls were bare.
"This is your room. Questions?"
"Is there anything else important I missed?"
Burch had been expecting this at the very least, and luckily he had a short prepared answer.
"Nope. Anything else?"
"Yes, not related to my room though."
Giving an exasperated sigh, Burch prepared himself to answer a slew of questions.
"After you beat everyone, you gave them tips on where to improve. But I wasn't...er...exactly able to hear my critique."
Kairo's question came as a bit of a surprise to Burch. The others hadn't asked him more about the critiques. To be fair, they were probably more focused on their pain rather than his words.
"I told them where they fucked up, if they turn that into knowledge it's on them. For you, I think it was something like 'If you don't know your opponents skill level, never show your best. It only pushes them to try harder.' Is that all?"
Kairo let the words settle in his mind for a moment before responding.
"Yes, that was it. Thank you, have a goodnight."
Burch's head tilted down slightly. It wasn't a bow, more like he was in thought.
"No problem, and you can drop the respectful shit. I'll see you tomorrow."
His footsteps were silent as Burch turned and headed towards his own room. Kairo's counter from earlier was still fresh in his mind. It wasn't anything special, but was definitely a practiced move.
The impressive thing was how he reacted to Burches movements. Burch had been holding back, but Kairo moved faster than any non-trained human he had seen. Deciding to stop thinking about it and just ask tomorrow, he disappeared from the hallway.
Kairo had already entered the room, a mostly bare space with three pieces of furniture. He decided to ignore the small dresser and large wardrobe, electing to throw his clothes off and jump straight into the bed.
Despite the fact he had been passed out for a while, his eyelids couldn't stay open. The combination of a full stomach and comfortable bed sank him into a slumber that concluded the first day.
***
{Congratulations! Quest: Kill 5 Ogres Complete!}
{Rewards: 1000 exp, +2 Agility, +3 Fortitude}
Elizabeth gazed down at the screen that had popped up yet again. An Ogre sat dead in front of her, arrows dotting its body. However, the massive hole through it's forehead was clearly the killing shot.
Every since she had killed her first monster, this screen appeared. A normal person could only increase their physical attributes through training or fighting. However, the quest rewards from the system allowed her stats to grow outside of that.
Hero's of the past had this 'system', and now she did. The details of it were held under lock and key, so only she and a few other people knew of it.
Elizabeth had been told about another perk to the system. Whenever she thought about wanting to see her strengths and weaknesses, a different screen would pop up with an experience bar and her physical/magical statistics.
Along with getting improved stats with every battle, she would also get 10 'open' stat points whenever she leveled up. Able to distribute these however she liked, her strengths had grown and her weaknesses were quickly catching up.
Like Lila had said, this was part of the blessing given to her by Ozalda.
Clenching her fist, Elizabeth gazed across the open field where the battle had taken place.
'I will get stronger, I will defeat the demons, and I will get home!'