The group of nine stood in the old dungeon within a dungeon, which had been expanded out to make it a temporary training room. The room wasn't too spacious, but it was sufficient.

Vale, Toy, and Stacy stood on one side of the room, weapons drawn, facing the six recruits.

The goal here was not only to test the newcomers, but for them to gain experience fighting alongside each other, as well as for Vale and Toy to experience more outnumbered battles.

In lieu of not wasting precious arrows, the archers had retired their bows and donned swords. There was also the issue of a misplaced bowshot's lethality. Bows didn't necessarily work well for close-quarters sparring.

In any case, everyone had been equipped with a sword from the original Goblins of Lust or the Anuran Warriors.

The archers would be at a clear disadvantage because their Traits were tailored to marksmanship, but they both had a Trait that enhanced their dexterity, which should help them adjust a bit.

As for Stacy holding her own against six others of supposed equal strength… the primordial warrior had actually grown stronger than when she was summoned.

Vale did not doubt that summoning the warriors to cultivate them early was the correct move, given Stacy's improvement alone.

Vale looked over the line of soldiers and pointed to them one by one:

"One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six…"

He'd just given them their temporary names…

A tradition he intended to keep as he summoned more and more warriors. He'd properly name the ones that stood out, but naming all of them uniquely when there was probably a high mortality rate seemed like an annoying prospect. So, numbers…

The six warriors looked around and studied each other, who all looked nearly identical except for their inky patterns of pink and black on their skin, which were splotched differently.

One seemed happy with their name, but Six seemed a little upset.

'Do they care what number they are?'

'Whatever…'

Vale aimed his sword at the recruits, and Toy followed suit. Stacy then assumed her stance as well, and Vale gave the fateful order:

"Begin…"

One, the first archer summoned, was the first to move. They ran to the side with the other archer, Two, in tow. They headed straight for Stacy to isolate her.

Then, of the four warriors, Three and Five headed for Toy while Four and Six took Vale.

While they'd been split evenly, that didn't mean each battle was in complete isolation. Whatever happened in one bout affected the others, and who was fighting whom could change at any moment.

Vale dared not let his recruits get the first attack in on him. Vale lunged forward at Six while slicing his sword down. Once their swords collided and they were locked with one another, Vale used his superior footwork to maneuver perfectly to dodge Four's attack and ward them away with a backheel to the ribs.

Then, he pressed his weight forward and overpowered Six, shoving them back and finishing his follow-through on his initial strike.

'Not too bad…'

Vale was talking about himself, of course. He wasn't even near the level where he could properly assess others while fighting them. However, he could spare Toy and Stacy a few glances with the space he created.

Stacy was already on the ropes. Even if she was against two archers wielding swords, the problem was that she was still trying to fight like a fencer against multiple opponents. The most she could manage was fancy footwork to dodge the agile adversaries.

As for Toy…

'Winning…'

She was winning.

Vale hadn't spent too much time with the tiny goblin outside of nighttime activities ever since Ximena was summoned. Toy spent the majority of her time with Salome exploring the area outside. However, it was clear she hadn't been lacking in her training when out with Salome, and that she'd been fed a fair amount of shards.

Toy literally somersaulted around like a gymnast while vaulting over strikes and placing near-perfect counterattacks. Her lithe body moved with grace and finesse that was oh so lacking before. She made no hasty missteps and appeared to actually analyze a situation before reacting, rather than relying on pure instinct.

Vale wasn't able to watch for long as Four had regained themselves and Six was sending another overhead strike.

'Alright… how should I do this…'

Vale's only goal wasn't to win, but also to win while using all the tricks he could.

After all, he'd yet to properly use Rudimentary Shapeshifter during a fight. Well, he'd used it to trap a blade in his back… but there were definitely more efficient and less costly utilizations.

As for his first experiment…

Vale focused intently on his hands and shapeshifted them slightly to improve his grip and lock the blade in place, allowing no room for it to budge. Then, he swung into Six's blow. When their blades collided, Six's arms were instantly sent flinging back, and the sword escaped their grip. Six followed their arms and stumbled backward, falling on their ass.

Vale's entire body shuddered and tensed.

While reinforcing his grip and stabilizing the blade did improve his power, there was virtually no shock absorption. Or it was more accurate to say his body was the shock absorber.

His entire arm was stiff and felt like all of his bones were vibrating, but he didn't have time to dwell on it. Vale was forced to launch an attack at Four, who blocked the half assed attack diligently, but was still forced to back away.

Vale thought he had a moment of respite, but a second later, Two appeared behind him with their foot behind his head with insane force.

'Well, this is a group battle…'

And a group battle it was.

Toy did some weird acrobatic maneuver and countered the blow, before sending up a follow kick into Two's groin. However, not completely balanced, Toy began to fall.

Vale quickly analyzed the situation and its consequences but refused to dwell on it. Vale lunged while summoning his armor and knocked Three away, while absorbing Five's attack, which was aimed at subduing Toy.

At the same moment, Stacy overpowered One who'd been left one-on-one with her, but Six, who'd run to retrieve their sword, held their blade at Stacy's neck, effectively removing her from the fight, leaving it a two versus five. One and Stacy went off to the side and sat down as Vale grabbed Toy by the arm, reinforced his legs with Aether, and jumped away.

Toy and Vale stood side by side, facing the recruits who all seemed in good condition except Six, whose arms were shaking a bit.

Vale cracked his neck and took a step toward his warriors.

'Alright…'

'Should I try that now?'

***

It took a bit of effort, but after the dust had settled, it was Vale alone who was left standing. And, thankfully, his experiment was a success.

'So, it was possible…'

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