Plenty to do in the city?

  Dreu had doubts about that claim given that the city was deserted before they arrived. Unless other demons moved in after their survival, he remained skeptical there would be anything that could prove useful to them. Yet, Ragellon was happily leading the way, eager to show him other secrets of the artificial city. They soon arrived outside a big building with demonic words written above the doorway.

  “This is the Shadow Hall,” said the demonic girl. “Care to guess what it’s for?”

  The young man first poked his head inside to find a large, dark room. With the limited illumination from the outside, he could identify a few pillars. Beyond that, he found no clues suggesting the purpose of such a place. He then thought about the name of the place.

  “Does this have anything to do with Jonoxod’s shadow abilities?”

  “That’s a very good guess,” exclaimed Ragellon as her puzzlement turned into a big smile. “This place offers you a chance to develop your instincts by putting you up against shadow creatures.”

  The demonic girl went on to explain that, as soon as a torch at the top was lit up by chaos flame, small shadow creatures would come out and play. The training involves hitting them with a physical weapon. While the weapons couldn’t harm the creatures, the creatures would disqualify themselves when they supposedly were hit by the weapon. Given how dark the room was even when illuminated, there would be plenty of shadows for the creatures to hide, thus an excellent place to hone one’s ability in detecting ethereal foes using one’s instincts. The goal would be knocking out all the shadow creatures. To increase the difficulty, the torch illumination could be lessened, giving the creatures more places to hide and evade attacks.

  “Next to the Shadow Hall, we have the Living Demonic Maze.”

  The group walked over to a brightly lit hall with nothing to show for. Dreu looked to Ragellon who took a step inside. As soon as she entered the hall, some of the ground tiles were elevated to different heights. The demonic girl stepped on one tile and turned around.

  “The goal here is simple! You must not step onto the floor for as long as you can. For every set duration you stay above the floor, the puzzle gets tougher. The maze is alive so you should expect it to actively try to make you touch the floor. Remember that it does follow certain rules so you can figure out how to win the puzzle. The first couple of puzzles rely solely on your brain but the later puzzles require you to be fit as solving the puzzle with your head won’t suffice. You must have the physical ability to keep up with the puzzle,”

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Ragellon touched the floor which reset the entire maze. She walked over to Dreu with a big smile and asked him if he was impressed. The young man nodded his head before the two of them agreed that it was time to eat. As they returned to the street, Dreu glanced at the two buildings, thinking about the training he could achieve from the two places.

  I want to train as well!

  Dreu looked at Zog on his shoulder. He shared that the magic dummies are a good starting point for the demon butterfly. He could check with Ragellon later if there were any suitable places for Zog to train. Ideally, he wanted all of his summons to get some training done while they had the luxury. Over their meal, the demonic girl shared the other facilities the city had to offer. Upon hearing the diverse facilities, the young man understood that the demons put a lot of thought into the artificial city. Even without stepping out of the city, there were plenty of training exercises that focused on the foundation as Dreu saw similarities between what Bayard taught him and what the facilities aimed to achieve.

  “I better get training then,” said Dreu as soon as he finished eating.

  His companions all wanted to join him but the young man knew they would benefit from different facilities. With the demonic children’s help, they broke into smaller groups that would tackle different facilities. The hope was for them to all gain valuable experience and training before they rotated to a different facility. Dreu’s group got the Living Demonic Maze which he was fine with. Ilveroz, Aggich and Ror were part of his group because, mobility-wise, they were the most similar.

  Let’s get training, everyone!

  By the time he was in bed, Dreu was sore all over. He hadn’t taken Ragellon’s warning seriously when she stated that later stages required strong physical ability. He lacked the speed and endurance to reach the safe tiles and that happened for several attempts. Eventually, his body was screaming at him to stop and, heeding the pain, he obliged. The repeated attempts were great for training his fitness but he knew he was the weakest link in the group. His three companions had no issues moving around, making him vow that he would work even harder.

  I now get what you were saying, Bayard. While we were fleeing, I had to conserve my energy to escape the pursuing demons. The experience didn’t help me develop any of my endurance or speed. I still have a long way to go.

  Dreu was then startled by a soft paw that touched his face. He activated the light orb to see Ilveroz by his side and both Aggich and Ror a few meters away.

  Dreu, can we go train now? We want to get stronger!

  Sure! Go train and show me your results tomorrow!

  The three summons happily left the room, leaving Dreu all alone. The young man felt envy regarding how quickly those three recovered.

  If I had that level of recovery, I’d be training more as well. Still, Bayard said rest is equally important so I’ll do just that. If they become too strong and I stay weak, then I won't be able to summon them. I better make sure I don't fall behind.

  The young man could still hear the impact of whatever the greater demon primate tossed and the walls. They happened at a regular interval, helping Dreu fall asleep faster.