“I can't take hits like you can!” Joe had finally lost his temper. These Dwarves were way too ridiculous! “I only have-”
He paused as he inspected his current health pool. “Holy guacamole, I have nine hundred and eight health?”
“Oh, wow.” Broski pulled his hand off of Joe, concerned that he might accidentally damage the fragile human, “You're not kidding, man. You could only take like… three or four hits total from these little beasties before your whole body collapses!”
“Joe, bro,” Dudette called as she walked over with her left arm swinging from her right hand, “Can you put my arm back on? I saw you work with Diane; can you do arms too?”
“You called me by my actual name…?” Joe stared at the open wound gushing blood where her arm should be, then jumped into action. While the other two Dwarves focused on smacking the lizards out of the air like irritating flies, Joe coaxed the flesh and bone of Diane’s shoulder and arm together into a unified whole once more.
It turned out that a lizard had managed to land on her, then both heads had bitten in two opposite places at the same time, cleanly blowing the limb off. Joe had to pump a thousand points of healing into her, but soon she was using both of her hammers once more. A few minutes after that, they were surrounded by a dozen dead lizards. Joe looked at the notifications he had gained at the end of combat.
For focusing on your chosen role during combat, you get a perfect 1/4 split of experience! As your party has three members who have contested a role, they split the remaining experience!
Experience gained: 600 (50 * 12 ‘Stone’ Lizards)
Skill increase: Mend (Student 9).
Broski looked at the others with a huge grin. “I know we could go back, but that's already half as many as the whole platoon got yesterday before everyone died! Why did they wait till today to put us in parties? This rocks! Why don't we go fight another nest?”
“Yeah, Broski!” Dudette called with a fist pump.
Diane sidled up to the bearded Dwarf and leaned on him. “Best party leader ever!”
Joe shuddered lightly as the three bald Dwarves that he could only distinguish via their facial hair flirted in deep bass tones. “I'm not sure how to react to all this. Should I-”
“Joe… bro.” Diane smiled at him uncomfortably, letting her arm drop away from Broski. “I don't know how to tell you this, but… you aren't our type. Maybe if you put on, I don't know, eighty pounds of muscle and start using a real weapon, instead of…”
She wiggled her fingers mysteriously to mimic spell casting, and Dudette joined in to finish the thought, “Beyond that, none of us feel very, um, tingly, around you ‘cause of, you know…”
Waving at her face, Dudette shrugged and kept going when Joe gazed at her uncomprehendingly, “I'm sure that you will find someone who is into the total hairless look, but you won't find a deviant like that in this party.”
Joe smiled and nodded, declining to speak any further. Confusion was one thing; accidental insults because he was voicing his thoughts was another. They spent the rest of the day clearing out three more large nests, then went back to their barracks. Joe had gained another eighteen hundred experience, and—strange rebuttals and cultural differences aside—was rather pleased with how the day had gone over all.
They dumped the corpses of the lizards into the collection bin, getting a raised eyebrow from the Drill Instructor. “You killed all of these? That's… well, looks like we have a new group record. Take these tokens to the Requisition Hall; you’ll get a bonus of characteristic training materials.”
“We set a record!” Broski fist bumped Diane, and the group started walking toward a small building that Joe had not yet seen. “Human bro, you ready for the chance to train your characteristics for the day?”
“I already maxed out my strength and constitution training for the day, but I can do any of the others!” Joe was eager to see how they did their training, and what sort of bonus they would be getting.
“I wanted the weapon reward.” Diane grumbled in a deep bass tone, trying to snuggle in close to Broski again.
“How do you max out your… ooh.” Dudette nodded at Joe with a knowing grin. “You mean what you can train in a day without materials. Do we have a surprise for you, bro. I think you are going to like the Legion a lot.”
They entered the building, which contained only one grim-looking Dwarf behind a bar. After showing their tokens, the Dwarf counted them carefully and pushed out four large mugs. The thick liquid inside of the mugs was suspiciously familiar, and Broski’s next words confirmed it.
“With the right stuff, you can double your gains in a day, bro. Let's hit the gym!” Broski clinked mugs with the others. “Joe, welcome to the way… of whey! Protein shakes, then squats! Bottoms up, dudes and dudettes!”
Chapter Seven
“Everyone, wake up!” In an instant, everyone was standing at attention at the ends of their beds. Their Drill Instructor walked along the rows, inspecting each person in turn. He stopped next to Joe, then turned and shouted at the Dwarf directly across from the human. “I'm early, but that's no excuse for looking so slovenly! Why are you disappointing our glorious Legion by letting your armor remain damaged? If I come back tomorrow and it is still in such a shoddy state, I'm going to make you go into combat wearing only a loincloth!”
“Sounds like a party, Drill Instructor!” The Dwarf was expecting to get punched in the face for his cheeky attitude, but instead the Drill Instructor let everyone catch a slight grin on his face. The collective clenching which the expression induced in everyone could have created a diamond
