It was a pleasant feeling. Lee felt as if he woke up in a bed, a hard one, but a real bed. It took him few moments to register he was in the same grotto they arrived to last night, if one could define the time that way around here.
After the sleepless nights in the pine tree, then the blob farm, and then running to this place, Lee was dead tired. He still hung on until their waterskin bags were filled with the local delicacy in the form of the disgusting stew, and together with Butalax sat in a more remote spot to eat.
Only then he noticed that not only the ground, but even the buildings were covered in darkish moss – the only vegetation he had seen in this world so far. It was probably responsible for the fresh air in the cave and the barely noticeable humidity.
Right, passing out on that moss gave him the illusion of sleeping in a bed. Butalax didn't like it, though. He continuously warned Lee to not eat it – apparently countless newcomers had died to this mistake, not that Lee was about to attempt it anyway.
He was fully reinvigorated though. As expected, the spark had healed him during the sleep and all he missed was a cold shower. And a breakfast.
Unfortunately only the last part was provided, and unfortunately it consisted of the same stew as the last night's dinner.
***
After the meal they left the grotto and the warehouse district outside the tunnel. Before resuming their trip they had a prayer towards the rising blood moon again, although Lee couldn't believe he had slept for so long. He didn't have much time to think, though – soon he had to concentrate on keeping up with Butalax.
This time the run didn't last too long – it was only around a fifth of the distance compared to that from the blob farm to the grotto.
The destination turned out to be a peculiar one though.
The fifty yard tall walls made one think it resembled a fortress, but it didn't look like there was a castle inside. In addition, it was hard to imagine one would need to defend against something in this place – neither the city Lee arrived to was protected, nor was the farm or the warehouse district at the entrance to the grotto.
And there was no moat around these walls nor a drawbridge. The only thing that caught Lee's eye was a large opening in the tall wall, functioning as an entrance without an actual gate that could be closed, and a dozen people who were guarding it …
'Fuck! It's a prison!' Lee cursed to himself.
But the big-eyed guy that brought him here looked all harmless and even happy. There was no reason to play any charades with Lee if he was brought here as a prisoner – Butalax could've knocked him out at any time.
In addition, it would've been much more effective punishment to leave him as a slave in the grotto – that is if he had done anything wrong.
After a short discussion at the gate, one of the guards beckoned for Butalax and Lee to follow, and guided them in. Lee's guess was correct – there was no castle inside, but he could heave a sigh of relief.
It wasn't a prison either.
There were two and three story buildings further in the back, but it was hard to tell their purpose – they could've been anything from barracks, to schools and official residences. The architecture was a bit peculiar around here.
Groups of children, both at Lee's age and younger, and even youths few years older than him, strolled around the place. Some were training at the multiple arenas and training facilities, while others hung out and watched their peers spar. The only peculiarity was that most were in small groups, usually consisting of six kids.
Further in the back there were several larger buildings, but Lee didn't have the opportunity to gawk around.
They arrived at one of the arenas, and the gate guard called over a seven and a half feet tall, one eyed man who currently oversaw a group skirmish between a bunch of kids.
Butalax immediately began a passionate explanation while the surrounding children listened with interest, at the same time staring the crap out of Lee.
'Are these some kind of boy scouts?' Lee thought to himself.
Butalax's story seemed to resemble the one he told his colleagues at the blob farm, but the tall cyclops wasn't as passionate hearing it.
At some point he called towards the crowd of kids that had meanwhile gathered, and four groups of six orderly stepped out. All of them were around Lee's height, and haughtily eyed him as if he was a pray. And actually he felt like one.
'Don't tell me I'll have to fight twenty of them!' Lee felt cold sweat running down his back.
He did fight over two dozens of kids at the blob farm, but most of them were girls who could never take one on one any of the boy scouts here!
Even Lee wasn't certain he could despite training all this life – these guys were clearly practicing some kind of fighting skills while he only ran, jumped and did stretching exercises!
Of course, technically he had the experience from the previous lives, but his current body had not – the fractured bones in his left hand were the result of that during the last fight. He was completely healed, but judging from the current situation, it wasn't going to stay that way for long.
Fortunately the cyclops guy wasn't a complete sadist. From the four groups he picked out three weakest looking kids who were more or less of a similar build to Lee, and barked out an order.
"Raixoo!" The three shouted at the same time, and rushed towards one of the arenas while the rest resonated the shout and followed.
Lee had no clue what the shout meant, but judging from the Butalax's encouraging pat on his shoulder, it was his time to shine. Obviously he wasn't going to chicken out – clearly this was some kind of initiation process to get in the local boy scouts, and he wasn't against it.
On the contrary – out of all places he had been in the lands of scourge, this was the one he could train while sooner or later finding an opportunity to leave and look for Victoria.
Despite the people in Sunwell called her a peerless beauty, according to Lee's judgment with her looks she could easily mix in with the locals who for a regular person resembled a crowd of monsters. That way she could definitely survive around here and patiently wait for him to find her.
"Raixoo!" Lee resolutely said, and followed the boy scouts to the arena.
"Raixoo! Raixoo!" Butalax happily repeated while continuously patting his shoulder.
From what it looked like that was the only way the big-eyed guy could express his affection and approval, but he did it so heartily Lee was worried his collarbone might get broken. Somehow it seemed that Lee was some kind of a son Butalax never had, and bringing him to this place was the highlight of the man's life.
Upon arrival to the arena, Lee's resolution took a heavy dive, though. The three kids were currently putting on armor – similar to what the attackers in Sunwell wore, except of a smaller size.
The tall cyclops brought him armor as well, but in no way it increased his chances. While it was fine to have a friendly spar, he had never fought in any kind of armor. And even if technically it could soften up his opponent's blows – he had to fight three of them in succession!
Butalax wasn't worried at all. He completely ignored the sarcastic remarks of the kids about Lee's cluelessness and helped his young protege to get in the armor. For some reason he had a blind fate Lee could easily pass the test.
The latter wasn't confident at all, but to increase his chances, Lee carefully observed his opponents. One of them, a kid with reddish face, was a bit shorter and slimmer, but seemed to be more eager and energetic than the others. The second one – with a round head and slightly bulging eyes looked slower, less coordinated, although his fists were twice as big as Lee's. The third one seemed to be impossible to read, but the fact that he was of the race that had most of their body covered in scales made Lee pessimistic about his own chances. The guy already had a natural armor and then one more on top of it.
'Alright then!' Lee said to himself when Butalax finished checking his armor, 'Let's hope I can go against the potato-head first – he seems to be the easiest to deal with.'