Chapter 66: Preparation

As for the conversation she just had, there was nothing useful she could do with it now, and continuing to think about it would only make packing take longer. Linda put the jacket inside the bag before checking that it hadn’t covered the first-aid kit.

She picked up the notebook next.

It opened to the notes she had written about her fight with the Swordsman. Linda read the first few lines before closing it again. There would be enough time to go through them before the expedition. For now, she just wanted to finish packing without hearing her mother’s words over and over in her head.

It still took longer than it should have.

She checked the charge on her phone, confirmed the departure details and packed the remaining things. By the time the bed was empty, she had checked everything inside the bag twice.

She zipped it shut and placed it beside the desk. Her hand almost moved back towards the zip.

’It’s fine.’ She said in her mind.

Linda left the bag alone and went to wash her face. ’Perhaps I did too much...’

.

.

.

"I still think we could have done better." Dustin said while lying across his bed with one arm behind his head.

Raul was seated at the desk, going through a recording of their earlier training, while Leon sat on his own bed with his phone.

"We could have." Raul said after looking over at him.

"You’re supposed to disagree."

"Why?"

"I don’t know. Make an argument."

Raul turned back to the recording.

"You kept getting in the Panther’s way."

"The Swordsman kept putting your Panther behind my Golem."

"Yes, and we kept letting it."

Dustin thought about that for a moment before sitting up. That had been one of the more annoying things about fighting the Swordsman. Whenever he and Raul thought they had surrounded it, one of their summons somehow ended up blocking the other.

"We got better at it during the second fight." Dustin said.

"A little."

"Linda did better than both of us." Raul added as he glanced towards him.

"I know."

Dustin leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. He hadn’t enjoyed losing, but watching Linda fight had made it easier to see some of the problems they had during their own spar.

"The stone attacks need more practice." Dustin said.

"They do." Raul replied as he paused the recording.

"They’re not going to start breaking Grade 3 armour just because I practise more. Not any time soon, anyway."

"That’s for sure."

"But I could have used them whenever it tried to move around us. Instead, I kept throwing them straight at it."

"True, that would have helped."

"I was really trying to hit it."

"Well... you did hit it."

"And it stood there..."

Raul smiled, causing Dustin sighed, feeling somewhat exasperated.

"I’d rather it dodged. At least then I could pretend it was worried."

"But it wasn’t, though." Leon said after glancing up from his phone.

"Thank you, Leon."

"You’re welcome, young one."

Raul laughed before looking back towards Dustin.

"I kept trying to use Shadow Cloaking against it."

"Didn’t you already know that wouldn’t work?"

"I knew it could still find the Panther. I thought changing the angle might give it less time to react."

"That doesn’t even make any sense at all. You didn’t grow dumber from consecutive loses, did you?"

"You’re one to talk.. pebble man."

"Tsk tsk, keep talking until its your Panther Vs my Golem."

Raul looked at the paused image on the screen. The Panther was close to the ground and caught in the middle of changing direction, while the Golem’s arm occupied most of the space in front of it.

"I should have stopped relying on it sooner. I was still sending the Panther in as if the Swordsman couldn’t see it."

"Can you move that back a little?" Dustin asked as he looked at the recording.

Raul moved the recording back, and they watched the exchange again.

The Panther moved around one side while the Golem advanced from the other. Before either of them could attack, the Swordsman took two steps and somehow brought both summons into the same narrow part of the room.

"It starts moving before either of them attacks." Dustin said with a frown.

"It’s watching them get ready, its not surprising."

"Move the video back one more time."

Raul replayed the exchange again. Neither of them spoke this time until it ended.

They kept talking, deciding to spar with eachother, especially since Leon wouldn’t be around during the period of the expedition.

Raul picked up his phone and began checking when the smaller practice rooms would be available. They could continue working on their own summons while Leon was away, then try fighting together again when he returned from the expedition.

"Pick somewhere with enough room." Dustin said as he moved closer to the desk.

"For the Panther?"

"For both of them."

Raul looked at him.

"I’m trying to learn from this." Dustin said as he pointed at the screen. "Don’t make it difficult."

...

Leon placed his phone down when the other two finally agreed on a training time. He had listened to enough of their conversation to know they were serious about fighting the Swordsman again, and he didn’t mind giving them another chance.

He got off the bed, picked up his bag and placed it on the desk. After removing the few things already inside, he reached for the snacks he had bought earlier.

"Is that for the expedition?" Dustin asked as he watched Leon put them into the bag.

"Yeah."

Leon added two bottles of water, moved one of the packets so it wouldn’t get crushed and closed the bag. Raul waited a moment, probably expecting him to continue, but Leon placed it beside his bed.

"That’s it?" Dustin asked.

"What else?"

"I don’t know. You were done in about a minute."

"It doesn’t take long to put things in a bag."

"Are those staying?" Raul asked while looking at the snacks still on the desk.

Leon followed his gaze, reopened the bag and put another packet inside.

"Very thorough." Dustin said.

Leon returned to his bed.

He had already attended the briefing. He knew where they were meeting, when they would leave and that he was supposed to follow the supervisors’ instructions once they entered the dungeon. There wasn’t much else he felt the need to prepare.

His summons didn’t need spare clothes, food or water. As long as Leon had something to eat and drink, the bag had everything he needed.

Raul returned to checking the available practice rooms, while Dustin started talking about how the Golem’s ranged attacks could still be useful even if they weren’t strong enough to damage an opponent directly.