91 Dummy Brigade

Doevm and Jameson walked down a path away from Petal Town and the Virility mansion. The sun had yet to rise over the mountains in the distant horizon. Doevm shivered from the cold for the first time in over a year. "So," he said to Jameson. "You talked about the academy, but have you ever heard of someone catching a fireball like the general I told you about?"

"Most knights can," Jameson responded with a nod. "I never learned how."

"You never learned?" Doevm wanted to smack the man but knew he would injure his hand more than Jameson's face. "But you're all the way at the silver level. How could you not know how?"

Jameson shrugged. "I just never learned. My master was someone who only focused on skill, not all those fancy tricks." He drew his dagger. "At the academy, people used to only learn how to use weapons like these, not anymore." He flipped it around his fingers, switching from hand to hand, even as they walked. "This used to be a basic skill, to be able to idly handle your weapons in order to increase your skill with them. Even in class, I always had my dagger out." He sheathed it. "I heard all of that from my master, Alexander Finlish. I think you would either like him or hate his guts, one of the two extremes."

Doevm frowned as the sun rose into view. "If not swordplay, why else go to the academy? What else does one learn there?" Before he got an answer, he spotted gravel that had been kicked off the road. Following the trail led him to sets of fresh footprints leading through the forest. The occasional thorn in the muddy ground confirmed these were the thieves they had set out to find.

"How many?" Jameson asked, looking over his shoulder. "This training is not worth anything too risky."

"Five people," Doevm said. "I should be able to take them by myself, assuming they're not at the blue life essence stage. They're just bandits after all." He stood up and drank some water, preparing for the battle ahead.

"Don't underestimate the enemy," Jameson said. "They could be working for other noble houses. It's only because every guard is shorthanded right now that I won't send men with you. I need to go help my other men. You'll be on your own. Good luck." He disappeared in a silver streak.

The charred trees had yet to grow back, and the Lava Boar's bare skeleton lay half-embedded into the ground. Five people sat around the beast's corpse with roses stuffed into their bags. "Are you sure about this?" One of them asked. "I know that they're shorthanded, but that doesn't mean they won't track us down."

The bulkiest of the group, who sat in the center of everyone, waved his hands around. "Don't worry about it. My buddies have done this dozens of times and they've never been caught. The Virility household has expanded too much for their own good." He put on gloves and counted up the flowers with the rest of the group. "Besides, no one can match us now that most of the warriors are off in the war. People like us, who dodged the draft and refuse to fight for those nobles, dominate these lands now."

Doevm tiptoed over leaves and twigs, getting as close as he could without being seen. He covered his spear with dirt. If it reflected even one beam of light, he would have to fight five against one, not that he couldn't win those odds. No, he swore to himself that he would fight like a soldier, without much tricks or manipulation. Like Jameson said, offensive moves could only be practiced without relying on his usual tricks. He knew he wouldn't get much of a surprise on them, especially because they were sat in a clearing, but he still had to try.

"We got seven roses, that's a good haul," the leader laughed. "Draken capital is paying good money for these lately." He wrapped each flower and have them to his companions, giving himself an extra two.

"Hey, how come he gets two?" one complained. "We worked just as hard as leader." Doevm brought out his life essence and wrapped it in a thin layer around his legs. He imagined who, how, and when he would strike. "I say," the man said as he reached for his dagger. "We should-" The thief's vision spun as he floated in the air. He got so dizzy that he thought he would vomit. After it stopped, he saw a headless corpse hit the floor. Over his body stood a boy with a black, dirty spear. He tried to yell out for his companions, but his world went dark.

…

"Who's next?" Doevm taunted out of habit. He cursed at himself and charged in, slicing the closest person across the chest. His spear bounced of their ribcage. He cursed again as the four surrounded him. "Come on," He took a step back, taking a second to examine the damage he caused.

"He's just a kid," the leader shouted. "There should be more." As the thieves looked around, Doevm backed away. The leader smiled. "Or you came out here alone…" The thieves laughed even with their companion's corpse lying close by.

'Don't be tricky,' Doevm thought. 'Don't use manipulation. Attack head on and I will learn. Don't use magic unless you have to.' He darted forward, severing the weakest's sword arm. As the victim crumpled to the ground, the remaining three rushed in. Doevm didn't dodge, letting the weapons bounce off his skin, hardened with blue life essence.

"He's not a simple kid," the leader stepped back. "Run!" Doevm sighed as the three attempted to run away. A water barrier erupted at the edges of the clearing that turned to ice, surrounding everyone in a dome. The thieves fell down, dumbstruck. The leader looked at Doevm as a cornered animal. "G-Get him." The leader swung his weapon. Doevm jumped back, swiveled, and jerked his spearhead through the leader's eye. Two left. They threw themselves at his feet.

"Please sir, spare us." They set the flowers and their weapons down.

Doevm sighed and stabbed them both through the heart. Looking at his mess, he scowled. 'I barely got any practice in.' He dispersed the barrier and his eyes turned black. The dead thieves rose to their feet, walked over to their barely conscious conspirators, and stabbed them through the heart. After, when all the dead rose to their feet, they bowed to their new master.

Doevm walked around them, examining his cuts. The one he had decapitated was holding its head on its shoulders. When Doevm picked the head up, he found that his spear had caught on one of his vertebras. Placing the head back, he looked at the chest wound on another, finding that he barely cracked the Undead's rib. He sighed. 'This is the best I can do after just five days?' Examining the rest of the damages, he found each had caught on either bone or missed the vitals. While he had hit the leader precisely, that was the only acceptable attack. The two he had stabbed through the heart had been still, so he didn't count those.

'I name you Dummy One, Dummy Two, Dummy Three, Dummy Four, and Big Dummy.' The five stood up in a perfect line. He ordered them down the cave and followed them, his spear still dripping blood. On the inside, he found the dirt walls covered with scratch marks and burned soil. After he had the Undead clean out a few Lava Boar corpses, he found the space just barely usable. With a few spells he had picked up from the Giants, terraforming, he stabilized the den.

He ordered all but Big Dummy to stand against the wall. 'Jameson won't expect me back for a while, so I can take my time here.' He ordered Big Dummy to defend. 'And now for some training.' He cleaned the dirt off his spear with water magic and held it in an overhand stance. While the Dummy brigade weren't real soldiers, they were better than straw dummies back at the Pit.

After an hour, the Dummy brigade were out of flesh to cut and Doevm was running out of mana to regenerate them. Out of energy, he let them all pass on to the afterlife to suffer with the God of Evil. As he exited the cave, he found that the sun was already at the middle of the sky. Picking up the roses, he stuffed them into his spatial ring. 'Maybe I can use these later.'

He hurried back, using his blue life essence to speed himself up. 'Offense, is that all I need to learn? What about techniques like the general used? Jameson made it seem like that was common knowledge. What else can people do now?' The more he thought, the sooner he wanted to leave for the academy.