Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

"This will be a good test…" Rain thought when he saw the reinforcements leaving the headquarters when the sun was rising,

Everyone moved to the front where Rain was, and they waited for orders. Rain just made some weights for them and began to pass them and told them how to equip them.

"As you are aware, this area is under threat of being attacked by the beast people. Thanks to the last war, we don't have many people to trust, so only you guys have been sent," Rain explained. "Unless you think that you can defeat one hundred of the beast warriors along right now, you need to train a lot until you can almost drop dead. I am going to make you do that.

If you want to give up at some moment, I won't blame you, so you can say that whenever you feel like it."

A lot of the soldiers there gulped when they began to equip the weights and tried to move with them. They could move their arms since the weights there were three times lighter if compared to the ones on their ankles, but they barely could raise their feet to walk.

"Today, we are only going to take a simple walk, and by that, I mean you guys will," Rain said. "Take a walk around the farms in the area. No need to rush. Take your time."

Julie trained those guys well because they immediately began to move… another reason for that was the fact that they didn't know that completing a full lap of the farms in the village would be the same as walking thirty kilometers…

It didn't take long for some people to wonder if Rain was messing with them… that kind of training was too basic, after all. If anyone could become strong like that, Rain wouldn't be the only famous person around… although half of the strength comes from the experience he got in the wars.

"Are you going just to watch them?" Roan asked when he left the house and began to stretch his body.

"I was thinking of motivating them a bit more later, but I guess there is no better time than now," Rain said. "Do you want to join me, Dad?"

"Why do I have the feeling that I will regret if I say yes?" Roan frowned.

"Because your instincts are sharp," Rain said while grinning.

In the end, Roan truly regrets his ignorance… despite Rain's words, he decides to follow him… with a fifteen hundred-kilogram boulder on his back as well.

As usual, Roan tried to be competitive, but eventually, he paced himself when he realized that he might not complete the lap if he tried to follow Rain's pace… in the end, Rain managed to complete three laps around the farm, and while he was covered in sweat when he finished, it made everyone understand that there are no shortcuts to obtain strength and that Rain was human as well.

On the next day, everyone got up with their legs feeling really sore, so they couldn't help but be depressed by the idea that they would have to do the same thing as before. Fortunately, they realized that they wouldn't do that the next day.

Instead of that, they would swing down some stone quarterstaves for quite a while… Rain told them to hit the ground with it until the weapons could break… the first one only pulled that off after one thousand strikes, and at that point in time, their arms were trembling.

"I guess I am not the only one who hates leg day," Rain thought.

Jori and Roan also joined the exercises since they felt that they could improve a lot with the training regimen that Rain had developed. He participated as well, so that was another incentive.

In the end, on the third day, Rain made the soldiers keep the stone quarterstaves raised for six hours nonstop over their heads. On the fourth day, he made them do squats once every ten seconds with the weapon on their backs. On the fifth day, he made them do push-ups with their weapons on their backs as well.

On the sixth day, they sparred against each other without weapons, and on the seventh, they rested their bodies by meditating.

When the week started again, their bodies had been rested enough and they repeated the same exercises over and over again. Rain expected that some of them would give up by now, but they didn't, and Terra seemed proud of the kids that she looked after.

"You are pushing them harshly enough, but will it be enough?" Terra asked.

"It is fine; just inform me when you notice any weird movements in the mountains," Rain said.

The clouds were still there, but they weren't affecting the land since Rain was controlling them, but he couldn't do much aside from that. Eventually, after the second week of training ended, Terra and Rain's sisters came with a report… they saw some of the beast people that could fly almost approaching the villages.

"You can attack them freely, but don't attack to kill," Rain said. "Also, keep your appearances hidden, and don't use the same types of spells."

"Why?" Dana asked. "They are enemies, right? They tried to attack you with the intention to kill."

"Yes, they did it, but you don't have to go that far unless they clearly target you," Rain replied. "Save all of your energy and anger to when the battle really starts and then release it if they insist on this stupidity. Once that happens, the problem will be on their side."

Dana seemed a bit stressed lately, and her words confirmed that she didn't like when people threatened the land and the people that she helped in the last few years. Still, Rain believed that they shouldn't let such hatred consume his sisters. Killing to defend themselves in a war was fine… but they would feel bad if they killed some scouts in cold blood later.

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