Chapter 204: GroundWork

Riven remained leaning against Sky-Cleaver for several seconds, scratching the side of his head as his gaze wandered across the ruined training grounds.

’What the hell happened here?’

The question seemed considerably more troubling the longer he stared at everything around him.

The trench cutting through the field was deep enough that rainwater had already begun collecting inside it, several reinforced training dummies had been reduced to splinters, while farther away, a fist-sized cavity had somehow been punched directly through the stone wall.

’This destruction.... It looks like the work of an Inferno rank warrior at the least.’

He thought, as even Gary’s [Flame Burst] probably could not have caused this much destruction without repeated attacks.

’Has someone slipped into these grounds without me noticing?’

He wondered next, as for a few moments, he seriously looked around trying to see if someone was around.

However, once he found no-one, he could not help but question the supernatural.

’Is this place fucking haunted?’

It sounded ridiculous, although considering he lived in a world where people could manipulate seven different forms of Aether and beasts capable of slaughtering entire villages existed beyond civilized lands, he wasn’t entirely prepared to dismiss the possibility either.

Perhaps there was something underneath the training grounds.

Or maybe some powerful spirit had decided it hated wooden training dummies.

Riven stared at the shattered remains of one for several seconds before shaking his head.

’No. That’s stupid.’

There had to be another explanation.

He closed his eyes and began reconstructing everything that had happened the last time he felt like he had a lapse in his memory, before then trying to understand what was common between that day and today.

He remembered practicing [Lightning Step].

That was the first common factor, however, he even practiced lightning step in spell training class, so that could not be it.

Then came the rain.

Riven opened his eyes.

’The rain?’

That possibility made considerably more sense.

Something about the rain had felt strange from the beginning.

His body had been exhausted enough that Sky-Cleaver was becoming difficult to hold, yet the moment the downpour began, much of that exhaustion seemed to disappear beneath an almost unnatural feeling of comfort.

His mood improved.

Storm Aether became easier to circulate.

Even [Lightning Step] seemed smoother afterward.

Riven’s expression gradually hardened.

’Does rain do something to me?’

Riven extended one hand and watched several droplets splash against his palm.

He felt good beneath it.

Better than good, actually.

There was an inexplicable familiarity to standing beneath a storm, almost as though his body relaxed whenever rain touched his skin.

Yet that still didn’t explain the missing pieces within his memory.

Riven frowned.

His eyes closed again.

This time, rather than reconstructing the entire afternoon, he focused exclusively upon the final portion of his training.

He remembered accelerating through the rain.

Sky-Cleaver had been held within both hands.

Then lightning flashed.

White.

His next memory began after the flash.

Riven’s brow furrowed.

Another sequence followed.

He remembered adjusting his grip, circulating Storm Aether and continuing his training.

Another flash.

White.

Then his memory resumed from somewhere else.

Riven’s eyes suddenly opened.

For several seconds, he remained completely still.

’My mind goes blank every time lightning flashes across the sky.’

He thought, as he looked upwards, only for the heavens to respond by showing him another lightning flash.

KABOOM!

The sky illuminated for the briefest of seconds, however, no lapse in Riven’s memory occurred, as he could only sigh in resignation.

’I feel it in my bones, my memory gap has something to do with those flashes of white.’

He felt, however, unfortunately, he had nothing to prove his theory for now.

—-------

Meanwhile, while Riven remained occupied with personal training, Jeff and Matt began performing the groundwork for Circuit’s plan.

THUD!

Jeff drove his shovel into the damp earth before stepping down against its edge, forcing the metal deeper until another heavy section of soil finally broke loose.

"Huff..."

He threw the dirt aside before glancing towards Matt, who hadn’t touched a shovel for nearly twenty minutes.

Instead, Matt was crouched several meters away beside one of the larger trees, carefully threading a thin cord between several small metal pieces before disappearing behind the trunk again.

A few moments later, he returned, walked towards another tree and crouched beside its roots.

Jeff watched him quietly.

"What the fuck are you even doing?"

"Finishing my part."

"Your part looks considerably easier than my part."

Matt looked towards the hole.

"Your part requires just brawn, my part requires precision."

"The fuck.... I can be precise if I want, you prick.

Switch with me!"

Jeff demanded as Matt failed to suppress his laughter, causing Jeff to stare at him for several seconds before eventually beginning to chuckle as well.

The more they worked, the more difficult it became to contain their excitement.

Jeff drove the shovel down again.

THUD!

"Imagine getting chased through here and having absolutely no fucking idea."

"Hehehehe..."

"Stop laughing like that. You’re making me laugh."

"I can’t help it."

Matt covered his mouth for several seconds before another quiet giggle escaped anyway.

Jeff shook his head, although the enormous grin spreading across his own face made the gesture meaningless.

They had spent more than an hour preparing this particular section of the northern woods, and the hole Jeff was digging represented only one small part of what Circuit had instructed them to prepare.

Matt had already visited several trees surrounding the area, measured distances between them, marked particular sections of ground and connected several things Jeff had deliberately avoided asking too many questions about.

The less they discussed aloud, the better.

Matt eventually stepped backward and examined his work from several different angles before carefully brushing away one of the marks he had made upon the bark.

"Perfect."

Jeff immediately stopped digging.

"Perfect perfect?"

Matt looked towards him.

"Perfect perfect."

"Hehehehe..."

This time Jeff was the one who started laughing.

Matt joined him almost immediately, and for several seconds, the two simply stood within the northern woods giggling like children who had discovered exactly where their parents had hidden the sweets.

"If we do everything exactly the way Circuit explained..." Jeff muttered.

Matt’s grin widened.

"It’s going to be a fucking nightmare."

"For them."

"Obviously."

Jeff looked around at everything they had spent the evening preparing before eagerly grabbing his shovel again.

THUD!

"Come on, then."

Matt returned to his own work.

"We’ve still got a lot to do."