AN: Hey, so, I made a mistake with the Inventory List, as a reader was quick to point out in the reviews. I gave Z7 a piece of enchanted diamond armor that had Unbreaking IV and Protection III when it should have been the other way around. Unbreaking IV doesn't exist. Anyway, I fixed it now, but I can't believe I left a mistake like that in without noticing it this long.

Thought this Chapter would be longer, but I had to cut some content to be used next Chapter. It still has plenty of humor, however, so rest assured. There's even an Omake at the end. Haven't seen one of those in a while.

Enjoy.


Disclaimer: I don't own Minecraft. If I did, I'D ADD UNBREAKING IV.


Chapter 196

Training

[Lenz]

Feeling blossomed around my nose as a light tickling sensation awoke me from my slumber. My eyes were still shut - my tinted glasses doing wonders to keep the sun out of my eyes - yet I was disturbed by that faint tickling across my nose. Something light and airy was rustling against it.

I waved one arm distractedly, ending the tickling sensation for a moment, before it returned like an incessant mosquito. Not only my nose, but my chin, forehead, and cheek were all assaulted by that tickling sensation. It felt like silk curtains being dragged over my face. Either that or a few paintbrushes.

I waved my hand again to stave them off before turning onto my side and burying myself into my mattress and covers. I just wanted to sleep a bit longer, and I was not going to let some gossamer sensations ruin that.

There was a pause. The sensations seemingly ended. I smiled, letting out a pleased sigh...

...Before the covers were torn off and, like a whip, a curtain of hair crashed down onto my face, feeling like I had just been smacked by a pillow. The hair slid off, dragging against my face and neck like dozens of feathers before it whipped up and crashed into me again. And again. And again.

I cracked an eye open and saw, through tinted lenses, a curtain of purple hair crashing over me like a tidal wave before sliding off of me to crash again. I saw the face of which it belonged to.

"Z7...?" I asked drowsily before receiving another hair whack.

"(Mastah Z7.)" She clarified in Jibberish I was quick to translate.

I spat out a few strands of hair that had gotten into my mouth as she dragged it back towards her. "Pft... bleagh..." She prepared to whack me with her hair again before I hastily got out the words. "(Mastah Z7!)"

She paused mid-hair whack and blinked twice, her scarred face showing neither irritation nor satisfaction.

Then her hair fell over me again in a muffled 'thwump'.

"(Rise and shine, nerdling. Time for Mastah Z7's Quickdraw crash course.)"

I threw her hair off and rose from my bed, lifting my glasses to rub at my eyes. The sun was only just peeking out from behind the mountains. Earlier than I had to get up for morning classes at the college. Despite that, there were a few missing people from our group. Dwight and Wing were on last watch duty - snickering at my rude awakening at Z7's hands - but Cobbert, Baltic, Perry, and Witige were gone along with their beds.

"Where are Cobbert and the rest?" I asked the watchmen in a hushed whisper. No reason the rest of the Paragons had to have their sleep disturbed.

"Eh. Cobb, Baltic, and Witige went off into the mountains for some early morning special training." Dwight shrugged. "He didn't elaborate, but Perry followed them out soon after they left."

Special training involving our two alchemists? I reasoned with a grimace. Must be Cobbert's draconian endurance training again.

He was going to have them brew toxic potions for him to weaken himself with before training. It was insane for anyone to willingly put themselves through something like that, but I could not deny there were visible results. Cobbert was only able to endure Erma's blender of blades without losing steam due to his endurance training.

If he was pushing himself, I had to as well.

I splashed my face with some water to wake up and stood straighter before the assassin. "(I'm ready, Mastah.)"

Z7 nodded before beckoning me away from the camp and towards a rocky shelf a little down the mountain. We had passed it during our climb yesterday. It made for an ideal training spot.

"Hey, get... lost. We... were here... first."

It therefore made sense that Cobbert had claimed the shelf for his own special training. He stood panting with sweat dripping down his back. By the particles swirling around him, I could guess he was poisoned and weakened to his lowest state. One wrong hit would kill him. Yet he willingly remained on that razor's edge as he swung his blade against the rocks, practicing his swordsmanship and strengthening his endurance.

Baltic and Witige were there with brewing stands, the former unable to watch as Cobbert tortured himself. He supplied the potions at Cobbert's behest all the same, and even had Lingering Potions of Healing II ready whenever Cobbert wanted to call it quits. Perry watched the training with a complicated expression somewhere between disbelief and... respect.

"This is the kind of training you're undergoing?" Perry asked, to which Cobbert gave a weak nod. "How long have you been doing this?"

"Not... long..." He spoke between swings. He had already willed off his hoodie, training in his undershirt. Drops of sweat flew off his arms as he battered the Crafter-sized rocks with slashes and strikes. "After... we set off... I started doing... this... every other night..."

"Now I know why you didn't want splash potions of Harming." Baltic grimaced. "For the record, I'm against this."

"We've poisoned and weakened people with potions before." Witige pointed out.

"Not our own allies."

"It's... alright..." Cobbert assured the alchemist. "You can... ease your... conscience... that this training... will save lives..."

Baltic didn't look convinced, but he said no more. Z7 turned us away from their training and guided me to the side of the rock shelf nearest a wall.

"(Enough dawdling. Time to test how fast on the draw you are.)"

"(How do we do that?)" I asked back in Jibberish.

"(To start with, we'll be practicing drawing daggers from our belts and throwing them at the rocks in one fluid, fast motion.)" She explained, her curtain of hair obscuring her face. "(Did my young pupil bring a dagger?)"

I took out the Tinker's weapon Z7 had loaned me and tested the weight. The dagger wasn't as heavy as a crossbow, and I had practiced drawing it since Z7 first brought up Quickdraw.

"(Good. Now, watch how I throw my dagger before trying it out yourself.)"

"(Alright.)" I nodded before watching her closely.

Half a minute passed.

"(...Whenever you're ready.)" I prompted.

Z7 flashed a smug smile. "(I already did it.)"

"Huh?" I uttered in blank surprise, forgetting to speak Jibberish. I turned to look at the rock wall and saw four of Z7's daggers embedded into it. She had thrown them faster than my eye could track.

When did she...?

My head darted back and forth between Z7 and her daggers before the assassin let out a chuckle.

"(Alright, alright. I'm done showing off. I'll instruct you properly this time. Watch closely.)" Her fingers pointed to a dagger at her belt, showing the weapon she intended to throw. Her movements were slow as she demonstrated how to grab and handle the weapon.

"(When throwing a dagger from the hip, you don't grip the handle. You pinch the blade between your index and middle finger.)" She held up the dagger with those two fingers like she described. "(I know you'd rather apply this with a crossbow, but knowing the basics as I've learned them will help you adjust them to suit your needs.)"

I nodded, understanding her reasoning. Crossbows were new so she had no idea how to Quickdraw them, but what she did know was how to Quickdraw daggers. It was up to me to take those lessons of hers and make them my own. As such, I listened to her with rapt attention.

"(You want your movements to be smooth and fluid.)" She went on, drawing attention to how her arm moved from her belt to throwing in front of her. "(Make the least amount of movements to maximize your speed. Drawing the dagger from your belt should be the same action as throwing it. And when lifting your arm, you need to visualize where you want your dagger to go and aim carefully in the one millisecond allotted to you between pulling it out and throwing it.)"

In other words, you needed trigger-fast reflexes and a faster mind to be able to calculate where you wanted the dagger to go. Blindly chucking it would be useless without proper aim. I recalled the times Z7's thrown daggers were directed at the eyes or throats of her enemies, much like with my arrows.

I tried emulating Z7's actions as she spoke. My mind was actually doing quite a bit between translating Z7's words, absorbing Z7's lessons, and learning a new skill. From my belt, I pinched the tip of the dagger between two fingers. I struggled to get a tight enough grip. Usually when I pinched an arrow between my fingers, I had three to work with. Now I was told to do the same with two, and with something heavier than an arrow. More than once, I fumbled and dropped the weapon.

Mastah Z7 was patient, thankfully. "(You're not going to get it perfect on the first try. Just keep practicing until you can do it without thinking.)"

I nodded, pinching the blade as tight as I dared and pulling it up and out of my belt. My fingers trembled from the strain.

"(And then, you need to flick your wrist at the peak of the draw to really give your dagger its oomph.)" She flicked her wrist twice like a whip without releasing the dagger. I could tell that sharp flick was the most important, as it would give the projectile most of its velocity, aiding to its near instantaneous travel speed. There was a reason I did not notice her throwing four daggers; Missing it was a wound to my pride as an archer.

I gave a few experimental flicks of my wrist before having to catch my dagger with my free hand. I could not imbue much force with a shaky grip without the dagger getting flung to parts unknown. This was a lot harder than it looked, a testament to Z7's proficiency with the small weapons.

I weighed the dagger in one hand while trying to analyze what I was doing wrong. Cobbert boasted exceptional wrist flicking ability when using his fishing rod, but he had the arm strength to hold onto the handle while whipping it around without fear of losing his grip upon it.

I needed finger strength, which I had in spades from my archery experience. But daggers were heavier than arrows, so I was in a bind. Then again, crossbows did not need any finger strength to draw. Just arm strength.

I kept that in mind while attempting to draw my dagger a second time. My wrist flicked, my fingers fumbled off the blade, and the dagger spun into the air in a high arc that carried it no further than two meters before me, where it bounced feebly against the ground.

Z7 and I stared at it for a while before I went over to pick it up.

"(...Keep practicing.)" She said, trying to sound encouraging. "(It'll take some time before you see any results. Maybe by the time we exit these mountains...)"

"(How long did it take you to master this?)" I asked.

"(To get to this level?)" She hummed in thought, idly twirling the dagger in her hand. "(Maybe... two months?)"

"Two months!?" I gasped in awe before remembering my Jibberish. "(That is amazing, Z7!)" Her hair swatted my face. "(Er, Mastah Z7.)" I corrected, earning an approving nod. "(It took me years to hone my skills with the bow and you got to your present level in two short months?)"

The Jibberwoman stood taller, basking in my praise with a proud smile.

"(I've polished my skills plenty since then, and even had my arsenal improved thanks to your fisherman friend.)" I tilted my head, not quite understanding. "(Cobb killing Alec.)" She elaborated. "(The most I could draw and throw was two daggers a second, tat tat. But after the Bounty Day introducing dual-wielding, I could use two hands and manage up to four per second, tat tat tat tat.)" She made quick sounds to emphasize the number of daggers she could throw. "(Doing that much damage that fast made for an unbeatable opening salvo.)"

I could see why. Based on her draw speed, she could go from relaxed to killing you in seconds flat. It was no wonder Carys tasked her with shadowing us.

"(You're pretty skilled too.)" She offered. "(Intercepting arrows in midair. I've seen only one other archer who could do that, and he was the Endward Cult's Eastern Executive.)"

The praise was welcome, but I focused on the other tidbit she provided. "(The Eastern Executive is an archer? And he can intercept arrows like me?)"

Z7 nodded. "(Whoever he was, he's good. He killed a lot of Jillian's archers during our attack on the weapons' outpost and he wounded Carys. If Ciro hadn't intervened, the Paragons would have lost a bulk of its talented Crafters.)"

"(Have you fought any of the cult's higher ups?)"

"(Twice.)" She said. "(It was Teal_Larkspur both times. The first was a draw. The second... was a loss. She had potion support though.)" She was quick to clarify. It sounded like she did not take losing very well.

"(So Teal could keep up with your Quickdraw?)" I asked, fearful of the Lieutenant's true strength.

"(It's more than that, nerdling.)" Z7 parted her curtain of hair to look me in the eye. "(Whether it's daggers or crossbows, Quickdraw boasts tremendous attack speed. You're surprising your opponent and catching them on the back foot. The obvious drawback being...)"

"(Range.)" I guessed. "(You can't Quickdraw on a foe that is too far away.)"

"(The more distance they have, the more time they have to react. Plus, I can only throw a dagger so far. Quickdraw was only conceived for duels between two people stood a short distance away from each other.)" She gave the remaining dagger in her hand a contemptuous flick, sticking it into the rock face with the others. "(Teal was a close combat brawler so I had no trouble with range, but...)" she paused for a moment, thinking. "(She was too close. A Quickdrawn dagger is useless if your target is at your elbow. Her reflexes were fast, she got up close and personal, and her footwork allowed her to strafe to the side of my daggers. And I haven't even mentioned that artifact she's carrying that can slow down Crafters and projectiles.)"

It was sounding more and more that Teal_Larkspur was my natural opposite. Her combat skills could take advantage of all my weaknesses, and even Quickdraw looked not to be a match for her.

My worry must have shown, for Z7 spoke suddenly.

"(You won't have to worry about fighting her, nerdling.)" I looked up to see the assassin grinning through her curtain of hair. "(I've already got some tricks in store for that battle junkie. Leave it to Mastah Z7. They don't call me the Slumbering Death for nothing.)"

"(...people call you that?)"

"(Shut up, Gray Eagle.)" She countered, making me flush with embarrassment over my self-proclaimed moniker. "(Show me that throw again. I could use a good laugh.)"

I practiced drawing and throwing the dagger like she taught me. Between my shaky grip and my violent wrist flicks, the dagger went flying in all directions and only hit the intended target once or twice by chance. The sun rose while I trained, Mastah Z7 giving helpful tips and pointers whenever she could. I alternated my hands whenever one got too tired. After an hour or so, my wrists throbbed like someone had jammed metal balls into the joints. My fingers ached.

"(That's enough for a first lesson.)" Mastah Z7 accepted, concluding our training. I slid the dagger back into my belt before rubbing feeling into my fingers and wrists. "(Next time we do this, the pain will be less and your fingers will be steadier. Little by little, we'll see results. Then we'll move onto crossbows.)"

I nodded wearily, shaking my hand out to further soothe the pain. Some ice would have been good. Maybe ask Cobbert for a snowball.

I spared a glance to see how the fisherman's 'training' was going and paled when I saw he had yet to stop. He was still swinging that sword at death's door. Particles of poison and weakness continued to swirl around him.

"Don't you think that's enough? You're exhausted." Baltic practically begged.

"A bit longer..." Cobbert rasped, his arms repeating the same swinging motions upon the rocks. That sword had to weigh a ton while he was weakened, yet he kept swinging without stopping. His eyes lost and regained focus like he was on the brink of passing out. He must have been riddled with pain, yet he stood firm.

"So this is the kind of training you need to be at Hacker level." Perry noted in contemplation. All of a sudden, he drew his sword. "Hey." He called to Baltic and Witige before turning his back to them and hiking his thumb. "Do me the same too. I wanna see what it's like."

"Perry, no. This is an extreme level of training." Baltic shook his head. "You'd be putting your body under severe duress if you followed suit."

"But it would improve my endurance, right?" Perry asked. "Come on, I've been poisoned and weakened before. This is nothing new."

"I can't in good conscience comply with you." Baltic kept trying to talk him out of it. "When I found out, I didn't want to make any more potions for Cobb. He only just convinced me to go along with this madness and I'm still thinking I shouldn't have caved. Neither of you should subject yourselves to this torture."

"If I... can keep fighting... even with one foot in the grave," Cobbert spoke with labored breaths, "then I can... buy more... time... to... win!"

In a final surge of energy, Cobbert shot forward towards the rocks and slashed them, breaking a chunk off of one before finally succumbing to insensate exhaustion. That he was even able to manage that final spurt while drained of strength and health was no mean feat.

Baltic threw down the Lingering Potion before Cobbert's body could hit the ground. In five seconds, his Health was fully restored, even if his Hunger Meter was half empty. Perry helped turn Cobbert over while Baltic tenderly tried to wake him up.

"I knew this was a bad idea." He kept saying before turning to Perry. "Still feel like subjecting yourself to this?"

"Only when you're not around." Perry said before Baltic shot him a look. "I mean, no. Never."

After lightly slapping his face a few times and Z7 swinging her long, whip-like hair into his face a few more, his eyes opened and focused on us.

"...What happened?"

"You did one more slash before passing out." Witige said.

"Well, it's a good thing I have excellent potion support as a safety net." He smiled wearily. "Can always count on you, Baltic."

"Eat something first. Starving to death is a... a horrible way to go." Baltic faltered slightly.

"...Yeah, it really is." Cobbert said before taking out a piece of... oh, dear...

The Paragons recoiled as Cobbert took a bite of rotten flesh. The fisherman munched on the rancid drop, vomiting between bites with a rather bored expression, before finally taking note of everyone's faces. "What?"

"You... eat rotten flesh?" Witige's cheeks bulged as his breakfast threatened to come up. "Why!? You have... urp... a full stack of steak!"

"But filling up on rotten flesh before finishing with steak means I waste less steak." He chewed on the dried Zombie skin like jerky. "Besides, it makes you appreciate the steak more. Nom nom on zom zom."

"(Nerdling, I'm convinced your friend is a masochist.)"

"(I... cannot disagree with that portrayal.)"

"Speak English you two."

"That is the sickest thing I have ever seen." Perry grimaced. "I get why you'd eat it in a pinch, but now? Starting to think you have a taste for it. Can you believe him Baltic?"

Baltic did not answer right away. Instead, he watched, transfixed, as Cobbert peacefully chewed on the rotten flesh. The reaction was strange, especially when Baltic blinked a few times and rubbed at his eyes with his sleeve.

"You okay, old man?" Cobbert asked. "My sick diet not traumatizing you?"

"N-No, forgive me. For a moment you looked like... well..." he hesitated, "...Carys had... she had to eat rotten flesh too. What you said just brought back some memories from way back when."

Cobbert frowned at being compared to the architect of several of our woes. Despite his disapproval at hearing such things, Baltic continued to draw comparisons between him and Carys. Though, in regards to the rotten flesh, it seemed to come as a surprise to the listening Paragons. Even Z7, for as outstanding she was in Carys' inner circle, did not know this.

"When did Carys ever eat Zombie jerky?" Perry questioned. "Does it have some miraculous strengthening effect we don't know of? And what sort of situation was she in to possess her to-?"

"Various situations." Baltic threw out hastily. "Times when food was scarce. You know." He clapped his hands together. "Now then. If we've concluded this mad training, shall we return to camp? We still have a lot of hiking ahead of us."

"Uuuuuhn..." Cobbert whined, still tired and reclined on the ground. He held up both arms and made grabbing motions with his hands. "Carry me?"

Perry grabbed his foot and proceeded to drag him like a sack of potatoes.

"Ow! Hey! Scraping! Rocks are scraping!"

The six of us returned to camp just in time for the others to finish packing up. Perry dragging Cobbert received a few raised eyebrows, but nobody made mention of it, and the specifics of the fisherman's draconian training regimen remained private to those who had witnessed it.

Thus, we started October 30th with sore muscles and high spirits.


[Nether]

"Now, if you jump while swinging, you can unleash a Critical Hit."

Carmen and her clones nodded, some even testing it out with their insane, Magma Cube level jumping ability and the wooden swords provided by Spring. Wood was the only ample resource he could make the swords with while in the spruce woods.

Now, the two (or five), were traversing the cult's Nether highways, occasionally having to hide themselves from cultist patrols. Carmen had come up with the enterprising idea of fusing into her giant form and submerging up to her hand in the sea of lava, holding Spring up and using him as a periscope to avoid detection. The cultists hardly thought to look in a sea of magma, so this plan worked wonderfully, despite giving Spring a miniature heart attack with how close he got to the lava's surface.

They followed sign posts towards the Eastern Division HQ. Spring had never been there, but he knew that Abyssmal rigged up the portals in such a way to make traversing Minecraftia convenient. No portal was more than a few days travel away.

Carmen and her clones kept practicing in their free time with the wooden swords, swinging while they walked, Spring providing tips when necessary. Under his tutelage, her swordsmanship improved drastically. He taught her everything he knew. After a day or two, he'd say she was nearly at his level.

Another advantage of being a Magma Cube Hybrid.

"Me estoy poniendo buena en esto. I think I'm getting the hang of it." One of Carmen's clones said in a vibrato tone. She made a great leap and swung her sword, the white stars of Crit Aura skimming off it as she fell. "Is it lasting longer because of my jumping ability?"

"Yeah. Crit Aura is strength transferred from falling momentum. Like a flying axe kick." Spring surmised. "In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if your destructive hammerblow back at the Northern HQ was because you were falling as you unleashed it."

"And I was grande."

"And you were grande." Spring conceded. "Mega grande."

"Well you're a great teacher, cultista." Carmen's clone commended. One clone thrust her wooden blade in a series of jabs just like Spring taught her. Another jumped and performed Critical Strikes just as Spring taught her. A third blocked with the sword just as Spring taught her. A fourth spun in place, unleashing horizontal slashes just as Spring taught her. "Two days ago I didn't dare touch a sword. Mirame ahora! Now look at me! I've improved so much!"

"My teaching has nothing to do with it."

"Now, now. No seas modesta. Don't be modest." Carmen teased. Two of the clones got on either side of Spring and poked his cheeks good-naturedly. "A student is only as good as their-"

"No, really." Spring cut her off. She didn't get it. "My teaching is nothing special. It's you. You're picking it up fast because you're learning it four times over."

The admittance left the clones speechless while Spring elaborated.

"You and your clones are connected via a hive mind. Whatever one learns, they all learn. And since learning is just repetition and experience, the reason you're absorbing my lessons so thoroughly is because you have four minds dedicated to them."

In the same sense, if Carmen was studying for a test, and she split up into her sixteen smallest clones, she would have sixteen minds to glean information with. No all night cramming for her. Her hive mind meant she had constant access to minds to converse or bounce ideas off with.

Crafters were limited with only one mind to work with. Carmen didn't have that problem. She could pick up information faster than anybody with her full arsenal of minds at work. And since the information condensed whenever she fused into her giant form, she could retain it always.

Her mind was boundless.

"Dios mio, I… never thought of it like that. I just thought we shared tastes." Carmen commented. Her and her clones were contemplative as they pondered over the reveal.

"Regardless, the important thing is you can better defend yourself now." Spring reminded her. "You can protect yourself as well as I can."

Spring wondered if she was starting to rethink turning back human. She cared more about looks than intellect, and it was clearly an issue for her the way she looked. Spring didn't think she looked ugly at all, but she either didn't believe him or didn't care. Even so, the Hybridization gave her a tremendous talent and strength, and he could imagine many cultists choosing to Hybridize into Magma Cubes or Slimes for that same reason. It just wasn't for Carmen.

And she never asked for it. She never had a choice in the matter. Herobrine kidnapped her and experimented on her, then locked her up for over three-hundred years.

So Spring would help her turn back. It would be the one good thing he ever did in his life. After that, he could go back to being a psychotic killer... assuming the cult would take him back. He still didn't know how to make it up to them.

Moving along the highway, Spring was shaken from his thoughts when he spotted a Nether Fortress in the distance. His attention was drawn to it when he saw a flaming Blaze rising from the structure.

He stopped and looked to it, the Carmen clones stopping with him. "Qué estás pensando? What are you thinking?"

He grinned back at her. "I'm thinking ahead."


Carmen, in her giant form, swam across the sea of magma towards the Nether Fortress, Spring riding on her head. The Fortress in question was close enough to the cult's Nether highway that it was impossible for it not to be a source for their potion ingredients. The Blaze Spring saw only confirmed this.

When they got close enough to the Nether brick pillars, Carmen latched on and began to climb. Spring tangled himself in her hair to keep from falling.

Reaching the top, Carmen peeked her head up and allowed Spring to get off first. Then she pulled herself up.

Then there was a sloshing sound that wasn't Carmen.

An actual Magma Cube squashed into view, jumping towards them impotently with burning particles.

A shadow crossed Carmen's face before she reared back a gigantic leg and kicked the Magma Cube like a soccer ball. It sailed in a smooth arc, over the Nether highway they had come from, and splashed into the sea of magma.

"Goal!" Spring threw both hands in the air, earning a snort from the Hybrid before she split into her regular sized clones.

"So what are we doing here, cultista?"

"We're looking for blaze rods and nether warts." He dug into his belt and withdrew sugar and a spider eye from his fruitless Mob trains. Killing that Witch and Spider proved more helpful than he thought at the time. He molded them together with a brown mushroom he picked up in the Nether and created a fermented spider eye. "For our inevitable infiltration of the Eastern HQ, I'm expecting a fair few cultists on guard. Do Potions of Invisibility work on you?"

"No lo se. I don't know." Carmen admitted. "I haven't tested since becoming a Hybrid."

Even if it didn't work on her, Spring could still use it to slip into the Eastern HQ. He fully expected there to be grunts posted on either side of the portal. A Potion of Invisibility was necessary.

"I packed us bottled waters and you should still have carrots from our dinner last night." Spring continued. "We should have everything we need for a Splash Potion of Invisibility. We just need to hunt a few things here in the Nether."

"Entendido. What'll we need first?"

And so Spring and Carmen went around the Nether Fortress much like they were ticking off items on a grocery list. There were signs that the fortress had seen use by the Endward Cult, so their pair kept their eyes peeled for any cultists.

Spring found the wart farms and took only a single wart. He also killed a Ghast by batting its fireball back at it, and then retrieved the gunpowder it dropped to make the splash potion.

Carmen and her clones went to the Blaze spawners and used their freshly taught sword skills and immunity to fire to slay enough of the fiery Mobs and gather enough Blaze rods for their brewing needs. She also smothered some Zombie Pigmen to death in her giant form and stole their golden swords and golden nuggets. The nuggets were for Spring's needs. The swords were for herself. Gold looked better than wood, even if the durability was worse.

Carmen crafted one of her carrots with eight gold nuggets to make a golden carrot. They would need it to make a Potion of Night Vision. Then, with Spring's fermented spider eye, they could reverse the Potion of Night Vision, turning it into a Potion of Invisibility.

They had the blaze powder from the blaze rods to fuel it, and they had a bottle of water and a nether wart. All they needed now was a brewing stand.

When they reconvened, Spring had cobblestone under one arm. Carmen handed over the blaze rods and Spring quickly combined one with three cobblestone to make a brewing stand.

He then put the bottle of water in with the nether wart, then fueled it with some crushed blaze powder. The potion bubbled from the glowing heat.

"Alright, looking good. Now we just need the golden carrot you made." Spring held out his hand expectantly only to receive nothing. He looked up at Carmen. "Golden carrot?"

She and her clones shrugged helplessly.

"I don't know what happened to it."

"One second it was there, the next, poof!"

"Que misterio."

"Mhm. Mmhm, Hmmhmmhm."

Spring noticed the last clone to answer had her cheeks bulging. He shot that one a look, their linked senses subjecting all of them to the same judging glare.

"You ate it didn't you." He said, phrasing it more as a statement of fact than a question. "You made it, and then ate it."

""""...Sí.""""

Spring sighed before asking for a new carrot. Carmen wordlessly held one out where Spring sharply snatched it. He grumbled to himself about her bottomless pit of a stomach before going off to hunt Zombie Pigmen for nuggets. This time he wouldn't carelessly leave delicious food in her clutches.


[Noman]

"Can I be honest? Even with Carys' aid, I didn't expect you to locate a Fortress and scrounge enough ingredients for a potion." Harbord admitted as he looked over the blaze rods I brought back. I stood proud at my achievement as we rode through the desert.

"You've still got a long way to go." Reuben reminded me. "If Carys would rather have you farm Nether wart while on the move, you'll soon find out how troublesome that can be."

"What do you mean?"

"Only that you can't farm and travel at the same time. You'd have to wait for us to camp up and then hope you have enough time to reap the rewards."

"Way ahead of you." I smiled, producing bones from my backpack. They had been dropped by the Wither Skeletons Carys and I slayed in the Nether Fortress. "Bone meal can speed up the farming process."

"Except for Nether warts."

"Right. Except for..." I froze, my smile turning brittle.

"Bone meal doesn't work on warts." Harbord said sympathetically.

"Amateur." Reuben shook his head.

"L-Let's just get him started." Albert soldiered on before I could curl up in defeat. "With the blaze rods he brought, he can craft and fuel his own brewing stand."

"Y-Yeah." I focused on the positives. "What's the crafting recipe?"

"Bottom row, three cobblestone. Then one blaze rod in the middle." Harbord recited by heart.

I couldn't craft while riding, but I vowed to create it the second we stopped to make camp. I also had to free up Inventory space. My backpack was stuffed. Some transference into my ender chest was in order.

"A single blaze rod can be mashed into two blaze powder." Albert explained. "The powder is necessary fuel to initiate the brewing process."

"Didn't use to be the case, though." Reuben grumbled.

"What does he mean?" I asked.

"Before the Bounty Day, blaze powder wasn't required to heat up the stands." Harbord said. "It was the very first Bounty Day Cobb triggered in the summer. That was the day everything changed for us alchemists."

"The price of blaze rods skyrocketed despite being just as available as before." Reuben complained further, this being an obvious sore topic for him.

"It can't be helped. It's the law of supply and demand." Albert noted. "Increased demand doesn't mean increased supply. Also, Kingdoms had to send their own men on Nether expeditions to keep the potions flowing. They weren't going to do that for free."

The Beta-males continued to bicker on the economics of alchemy, the discussions going way over my head. I felt out of place trying to understand the market, but I could at least recognize that this was something they knew like the back of their hands.

Once they realized they were leaving me out of the conversation, they quickly got back to teaching alchemy.

"Okay, so, you've got your blaze powder fueling your brewing stand." Harbord began. "You fill it up with up to three water bottles of water. What next?"

"That would be the Nether warts, right?"

"Correct." Harbord nodded. "Knew you were a bright guy. That's right. You use a Nether wart to make an Awkward Potion. They're the base for most potions, so it's important you remember them."

"That's Awkward. A-W-K-W-A-R-D Potion." Reuben spelled out. "Not to be confused with Thick Potions or Mundane Potions."

"Rule of thumb for remembering that is how you feel on a first date." Harbord joked. "You don't want to be thick or mundane, but you're definitely gonna be awkward."

"I never use that moronic, mnemonic." Reuben wrinkled his nose.

"You did when you first started." Harbord threw out casually, making Reuben scowl.

We rode past a herd of rabbits where Albert and Reuben slashed them on horseback. I thought they were being unnecessarily cruel as we had more than enough food to have to go hunting, but then I saw them leaving the meat and going instead for the rare Rabbit's Foot drop.

Also, I noticed how Soul's pet, Cat-Face, ran down and slaughtered a rabbit.

"You're doing amazing, sweetie!" Soul cheered.

"Raaawk, Soul's a pussy lover." Christopher Squawken parroted... in Anibal's voice.

Soul turned to glare at the dark-skinned thief.

"I don't know where he hears such things." Anibal shrugged with a sickeningly sweet smile.

"Rabbit's feet." Albert said, holding up the drop he just grabbed. "They can be used to make Potions of Leaping. Then you can add redstone dust, gunpowder, or glowstone dust to improve the potion's duration, range, or potency."

"Or Dragon's Breath." I added, remembering what Cobb's group had brought back. They couldn't speak of it, but the others who were with them saw the items and how they could be used to turn potions into Lingering Potions.

"Dragon's Breath... is admittedly outside our comfort zone." Albert rubbed his head. "We've never used it, so we can't exactly talk about it with certainty. Phantom Membrane is just as recent but at least with that we've brewed a potion or two."

"I bet Baltic and Witige are enjoying testing Dragon's Breath." Harbord spoke enviously.

"Maybe I should message them in private. Hear the perks and faults of Lingering Potions. Witige shouldn't have that strange censor, so I can get it from him."

"It won't make a difference. We don't have any Dragon's Breath to use." Reuben said. "We do enough support for the fighters as is without having to learn more."

"You've brought this up before." I said concernedly. "Is there some type of conflict between you and Team Alpha?"

Behind Reuben, Albert and Harbord frantically shook their heads, but the damage was already done as Reuben began to vent.

"You better believe there's a conflict! When the Paragons first began and Carys started gathering her allies, she realized the she needed to compartmentalize her forces. At Baltic's behest, she split her forces into those that could fight, and those that would support. Alpha and Beta. She led Alpha and Baltic led Beta."

"The problem was that I didn't want to be relegated to a support role!" Reuben snarled. "I wanted to avenge my fallen friends with my own two hands, but I was branded a beta male simply because my combat skills weren't as outstanding as my peers. Carys' criteria wasn't just for those suited to support, but those who were lacking in combat ability."

In other words, he couldn't meet the cut to stay as a fighter, and instead was swept into Team Beta to support the actual fighters. He had the heart of a soldier, but the rank of a medic.

"Give it a rest, Reuben." Albert chided. "You're a great alchemist. A real asset to Team Beta-"

"I made the best out of what I was forced into!" Reuben snapped. "I certainly didn't want this role as the Paragons' personal servant, but it was either this or going after the Endward Cult solo. I knew where that road would take me. So I settled. And I've hated it ever since."

From where I stood, Reuben was in the right. He should have been allowed into whatever team he wanted. Instead, he was told where to go simply because he wasn't good enough. Surely Carys split her forces into more appropriate roles as she found the need for Teams Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon, but for people like Reuben, they were stuck in Team Beta. It was like if Cobb told me to kill hundreds of cultists just because I had the Severe Shield, regardless of my feelings on the matter. Cobb never did that with the Beginners. He had no divisions and let everybody do what they did best.

Perhaps that was the downside to recruiting too many people. You couldn't devote time to them all. We were a small guild and would know if anything was wrong with each other. Carys probably didn't even know the names of all her Paragons.

"You're right, Reuben." I finally said. "It's unfair what happened. You should've been given a choice."

His face turned stoic as he accepted my words.

"Carys put me in the support team because my beliefs were at odds with the crusade she's trying to lead." I explained, noting the similarities between Reuben and myself. "I don't want to take a life, but I also don't want to stand back and watch while my friends fight my battles. This shield is meant to protect." I patted my signature weapon with the Beginners' banner emblazoned upon it."

"I'm hoping to learn how to better help them, though." I continued. "That's why I'm trying so hard to pick up a new skill. I want to be able to protect people better. To make Potions to paralyze so that we won't have to kill anymore. I'm trying to improve because I want to preserve life." I shook my head. "I'm sorry, but I'm not after personal vengeance like you. I'll bring cultists to justice, and I'll take them alive if I can. That won't change."

"...You're with the wrong group, then." Reuben responded. "So long as Carys is here, no captured cultist will live to see tomorrow."

"I know." I nodded solemnly.

"The other Paragons won't lift a finger to stop her. Your own guys won't lift a finger to stop her."

"I know that too."

"You still believe you can take a cultist alive when you're surrounded by avengers?"

"Nothing will happen if I don't try."

"Hm." Reuben hummed in thought. "You're an idealist, Noman. And idealists have no place on the battlefield."

"Carys said something similar." I admitted.

"However... even if only a little..." Reuben continued with a sad smile, "I'll respect your naive resolve. The kind I abandoned when I took this role."

I raised an eyebrow as Reuben handed out a Nether wart.

"Here. Take it. I'll farm together with you once we make camp. We'll get you up to snuff on potions in no time."

I smiled and extended my hand before pausing.

"Go ahead." He urged. "Take it."

"...I can't."

"What? Why? Is something holding you back?"

"No, my Inventory is full. I can't hold any more items. J-Just wait until I get a chance to access my ender chest!" I pleaded in embarassment.

"...All the seriousness you just built up has gone to ruin." Harbord joked.

"I can't imagine a better poster boy for a Beta male." Reuben added, a tick mark showing on his head.


[Nether]

"There it is." Spring pointed to a portal guarded by twelve cultists. They kept a watchful eye on the Nether highway, scanning it for signs of wayward Crafters.

Behind them was the portal to the Eastern HQ. Spring and Carmen would have to sneak past them in their search for the Mob Grinder, KillGore.

Fortunately, Spring came prepared.

"We got the one splash potion." Spring noted, holding up the brew before himself and the four Carmen clones. "Moment of truth. Let's see if you can't be seen!"

He splashed it before the five of them and let out a breath of relief when they all vanished from sight. Nothing for the cultists to spot.

"Ajá! Looks like it worked!" Carmen's vibrato rumbled in joy.

"Now let's move before it wears off. Rápida." Another clone added before the five invisible figures moved as a pack.

They used the Nether highway and got up dangerously close to the cultists on watch. None of them noticed their passing, and Spring and Carmen were able to enter the portal.

Once the swirling purple vortex passed and the two transcended space to return to the realm of Minecraftia, they took a moment to regain their bearings and check where they were.

"Santa mierda!" Carmen exclaimed in fear before Spring could stop her. The sound seemed to echo along the glass corridors of the Eastern HQ, alerting every cultist standing guard that someone was there.

But Carmen could not stop herself from exclaiming, for she was surrounded by a Magma Cube's greatest fear.

The Eastern HQ was an underwater base, and Spring and Carmen had warped into Abyssmal's hub of Nether Portals, a sunken room of glass with water on all sides.

"Agua!" Carmen exclaimed again.


[Redbone Desert]

Three more of his fireworks traps had been triggered.

He encountered no less than eleven Crafters.

Not one of them had any pertinent information regarding his quarry.

He killed them all, testing the crossbow fireworks with varying degrees of success.

Eventually, he chanced upon the ultimate destructive ratio for the weapon.

The crossbow was a definite upgrade for Gunnah, and would aid him in killing King_Cobb and Nowhere_Man. He just needed to find them.

He rode on his horse through the desert, the hunt continuing.


Inventory (Cobb): 1 Carved Pumpkin, 1 Leather Tunic [Dyed Green], 1 Diamond Leggings [Projectile Protection IV], 1 Diamond Boots [Protection IV, Feather Falling IV, Depth Strider III], 1 Fishing Rod {Backlash} [Knockback II, Luck of the Sea III, Unbreaking III] {Weak}, 1 Diamond Sword [Sweeping Edge III], 12 Cobblestone, 2 Glass, 16 Ender Pearls, 9 Ender Pearls, 52 Glass Bottles, 1 Stone Pickaxe, 1 Furnace, 17 Flint, 1 Flint and Steel, 17 Oak Wood Planks, 1 Crafting Table, 1 Clock, 1 Water Bucket, 1 Lava Bucket, 1 Milk Bucket, 10 Coal, 64 Snowballs, 25 Snowballs, 4 Ender Chests, 30 Obsidian, 64 Steak, 11 Steak, 2 End Crystals, 12 Rotten Flesh, 1 Book {How to Kill Stuff for Numb Nuts}, 1 Book {Advanced Mob-Slaying}, 1 Book {Mobs of the Nether}, 1 Book {Mobs of the Bounty Days}, 1 Map {Minecraftia}, 1 Book {Citizenship Information}, 1 Paper {Ringwood Entry Pass}, 1 Paper {Zeppil Entry Pass}, 1 Green Shulker Box {Pocket Box}

Green Shulker Box {Pocket Box}: 64 Eyes of Ender, 64 Chorus Fruit

[EXP: 38]

Inventory (Lenz): 1 Chainmail Helmet, 1 Dragon Head, 1 Chainmail Chestplate, 1 Chainmail Leggings, 1 Chainmail Boots, 32 Pumpkin Seeds, 1 Iron Dagger, 16 Ender Pearls, 13 Cobblestone, 1 Compass, 25 Gunpowder, 1 Bow, 1 Bow [Infinity], 1 Crossbow, 42 Arrows, 11 Jungle Wood Planks, 1 Crafting Table, 34 Steak, 63 Chorus Fruit, 1 Map {Minecraftia}, 1 Book {Notebook}, 1 Book {Citizenship Information}, 1 Paper {Daymonte Entry Pass}, 1 Paper {Ringwood Entry Pass}, 1 Paper {Zeppil Entry Pass}, 1 Paper {Akasha Entry Pass}, 1 Red Shulker Box {Pocket Box}, 1 Gray Shulker Box {Pocket Box}

Red Shulker Box {Pocket Box}: 1 Shears, 1 Lever, 13 Tripwire Hooks, 9 Redstone Torches, 8 Redstone Repeaters, 3 Redstone Comparators, 18 Blocks of Redstone, 2 Hoppers, 3 Pistons, 2 Sticky Pistons, 1 Book {Airship Piloting 101}

Gray Shulker Box {Pocket Box}: 63 Arrows of Poison {0:11}, 64 Arrows of Harming II, 64 Arrows of Harming II, 63 Arrows of Weakness {0:30}, 60 Arrows of Slowness {0:30}, 64 Arrows of Fire Resistance {1:00}, 64 Arrows of Healing II, 64 Arrows of Invisibility {1:00}, 64 Arrows of Leaping {1:00}, 64 Arrows of Slow Falling {0:30}, 64 Arrows of Night Vision {1:00}, 64 Arrows of Strength II {0:12}, 64 Arrows of Swiftness {1:00}, 63 Arrows of Swiftness II {0:11}, 64 Arrows of Water Breathing {1:00}

[EXP: 21]

Inventory (Baltic): 1 Iron Helmet [Protection III, Unbreaking III], 1 Iron Chestplate [Protection IV, Unbreaking III], 1 Iron Leggings [Protection IV, Unbreaking III], 1 Iron Boots [Protection III, Unbreaking III], 1 Iron Sword [Sharpness II, Unbreaking III], 1 Shield, 1 Bow, 1 Diamond Pickaxe [Silk Touch I, Mending I, Unbreaking II], 10 Arrows, 3 Brewing Stands, 1 Water Bucket, 28 Bones, 5 Steak, 1 Ender Chest, 1 Map {Paragon Minecraftia}, 1 Book {Citizenship Information}, 1 Paper {Gold Citizenship Pass}, 26 Emeralds, 1 Lingering Potion of Slowness {1:00}, 1 Lingering Potion of Slowness {1:00}, 1 Lingering Potion of Healing II {0:05}, 1 Lingering Potion of Harming II {0:05}, 1 Lingering Potion of Harming II {0:05}, 1 Lingering Potion of Harming II {0:05}, 1 Splash Potion of Swiftness II {1:30}, 1 Splash Potion of Swiftness II {1:30}, 1 Blue Shulker Box {Pocket Box}

Blue Shulker Box {Pocket Box}: 64 Glass Bottles, 6 Glass Bottles, 64 Dragon's Breath, 64 Dragon's Breath, 1 Dragon's Breath, 46 Blaze Powder, 43 Nether Warts, 30 Soul Sand, 63 Phantom Membranes , 64 Blaze Rods, 22 Fermented Spider Eyes, 58 Carrots, 55 Melon Slices, 55 Rabbit's Feet, 50 Golden Ingots, 1 Golden Nugget, 56 Gunpowder, 55 Redstone Dust, 56 Glowstone Dust

[EXP: 30]

Inventory (Z7): 1 Diamond Helmet [Protection III, Unbreaking III], 1 Diamond Chestplate [Protection IV, Unbreaking III], 1 Diamond Leggings [Protection IV, Unbreaking III], 1 Diamond Boots [Protection III, Unbreaking III], 1 Iron Dagger, 1 Iron Dagger, 1 Iron Dagger, 1 Iron Dagger, 1 Iron Dagger, 1 Iron Dagger, 1 Iron Dagger, 1 Iron Dagger, 1 Iron Dagger, 1 Iron Pickaxe, 32 Cobblestone, 1 Crafting Table, 1 Furnace, 21 Charcoal, 14 Torches, 18 Oak Wood Planks, 1 Cake, 1 Cake, 1 Cake, 1 Cake, 1 Cake, 11 Pumpkin Pies, 42 Baked Potatoes, 1 Bucket, 1 Potion of Swiftness II {1:30}, 1 Potion of Slow Falling {4:00}, 1 Map {Paragon Minecraftia}, 1 Book {Citizenship Information}, 1 Paper {Gold Citizenship Pass}, 1 Purple Shulker Box {Pocket Box}

[EXP: 42]

Inventory (Floyd): 1 Mob Head {Creeper}, 1 Iron Sword, 1 Diamond Helmet [Projectile Protection IV], 1 Diamond Chestplate [Projectile Protection IV], 1 Diamond Leggings [Projectile Protection IV], 1 Iron Pickaxe, 2 Iron Ingots, 64 Steak, 30 Steak, 2 Sticks, 31 Coal, 20 Torches, 1 Fishing Rod, 1 Furnace, 1 Crafting Table, 1 Minecart, 1 Bed, 1 Boat, 1 Diamond Boots [Projectile Protection IV], 16 Gunpowder, 16 Ender Pearls, 2 Ender Pearls, 1 Splash Potion of Invisibility {8:00}, 1 Bucket, 1 Map {Minecraftia}, 1 Book {Citizenship Information}, 1 Paper {Ringwood Entry Pass}, 1 Paper {Zeppil Entry Pass}

[EXP: 44]

Stratus the Horse

Inventory (Soul): 1 Diamond Axe [Sharpness V], 1 Iron Pickaxe, 64 Iron Ingots, 28 Iron Ingots, 20 Flint, 12 Gold Ingots, 1 Milk Bucket, 1 Diamond Helmet [Protection IV, Unbreaking III], 1 Iron Chestplate, 1 Diamond Leggings [Protection IV, Unbreaking III], 1 Diamond Boots [Protection IV, Feather Falling IV, Unbreaking III], 1 Crafting Table, 1 Jukebox, 1 Music Disc {chirp}, 1 Bed, 1 Furnace, 24 Torches, 34 White Wool, 23 Dirt, 13 Pumpkin Seeds, 64 Cobblestone, 62 Cobblestone, 32 Jungle Wood Planks, 1 Armor Stand, 47 Steak, 1 Map {Minecraftia}, 1 Book {Citizenship Information}, 1 Paper {Ringwood Entry Pass}, 1 Paper {Zeppil Entry Pass}

[EXP: 41]

Long-Face the Horse

Cat-Face the Cat

Christopher Squawken the Parrot

Inventory (Noman): 1 Diamond Sword [Sharpness I], 1 Diamond Chestplate {Severe Shield}, 1 Leather Boots {Bottes Zephyr} [Dyed White], 1 Green Shield [Beginners], 1 Iron Pickaxe, 64 Cobblestone, 46 Cobblestone, 4 Soul Sand, 17 Sand, 18 Sandstone, 1 Flint and Steel, 1 Milk Bucket, 1 Water Bucket, 5 Buckets, 1 Bed, 1 Crafting Table, 2 Glass Bottles, 4 Bones, 1 Water Bottle, 1 Water Bottle, 3 Ender Chests, 16 Ender Pearls, 4 Ender Pearls, 1 Nether Star, 29 Steak, 3 Phantom Membranes, 7 Glowstone Dust, 37 Blaze Rods, 6 Golden Nuggets, 3 Brown Mushrooms, 5 Red Mushrooms, 1 Book {Citizenship Information}, 1 Paper {Zeppil Entry Pass}, 1 Paper {Akasha Entry Pass}, 1 Map {Minecraftia}, 1 Enchanted Golden Apple, 1 Diamond Helmet, 1 Iron Chestplate, 1 Diamond Leggings

[EXP: 35]

Snow the Horse


AN: Cue the Rocky Montage music while Cobb is endurance training, Lenz is Quickdraw training, and Noman is potion training.

Here's an Omake.


Omake: Telephone

Carys' group slept soundly on their beds while two Paragons took up watch. It was Anibal and Dyson, and the former had no intention of doing anything malicious towards that smug son of a bitch, Soul.

...

Anibal threw herself out of her seat and sprinted towards Soul the second his breathing evened out and he was well asleep. Dyson spared a glance before shaking his head and staring back into the campfire.

The dark-skinned thief slowed her pace when she grew nearer, not wanting to wake up Soul while she got her revenge. Beside him were his faithful pets. Cat-Face was curled up and sleeping on Soul's chest, right over the covers. His parrot, meanwhile, was perched on his shoulder, sleeping standing up.

Anibal got as close as she dared to the sleeping Christopher Squawken (and God what a stupid name that was) and she cupped a hand to her mouth before whispering to it in its sleep.

"Soul's a pussy lover."

Christopher snored and whistled in its sleep before mumbling in Anibal's voice, "Raaawk... Soul's a pussy lover."

"Yes!" Anibal pumped a fist silently before feeding the bird another phrase to be parroted to the axe-wielder later. "Don't be ashamed of who you are, Soul. That's your friends' job."

"Raaawk... Soul... Don't be ashamed of who you are... That's your friends' job."

"Ooh, okay, okay. How bout this." Anibal giggled excitedly. "Your face is just fine, but we'll have to put a bag over that personality."

"You just might be why the middle finger was invented."

"Axes are for cutting trees only-erk!"

A red, bloodshot eye cracked open as a fist grabbed Anibal's throat and squeezed. Seems Soul had woken up.

"Christopher. Say the line." Soul growled, awakening his loyal pet to speak in Soul's voice.

"Raaawk, I hope you have jelly in your pocket, because you're toast!"

Anibal blinked before leveling her hand in a so-so gesture. "Meh. Kinda fell flat."

Soul squeezed her neck tighter and a pair of cat claws fastened into her eyes before Anibal was dragged down, the two throwing punches and barbs throughout the night.


Soul: ATTACK, MY PETS!

AN: FAV. FOLLOW. REVIEW. FORUM. DISCORD. SANDWICHES.