Chapter 277: Girls Being Girls
Rowenna sat upright on the edge of her wooden cot inside the barracks, both of her hands buried deep in her hair as she stared blankly at the floorboards.
The morning sun had barely crested the eastern ridges of the Umbral Basin, casting pale golden shafts of light through the high barracks windows.
Around her, the quiet breathing of sleeping recruits echoed softly through the long dormitory wing.
Yet, Rowenna’s mind was spinning in a chaotic storm of frustration.
She was still desperately trying to figure out how in the world she had fallen asleep yesterday evening.
One moment she had been standing near the Keep’s courtyard after returning from scouting, and the next moment she was waking up at dawn flat on her back with a dull persistent ache throbbing behind her temples.
A high-tier spell cast...
’It had to be.’
Rowenna raised her right palm with her fingers flexing as she channeled her internal pool of arcane mana.
CRACKLE!
A delicate glowing violet runic circle materialized three inches above her palm.
The intricate geometric circles rotated smoothly, pulsing with a low-frequency hum as Rowenna attempted to reconstruct the residual atmospheric signature that had washed over the territory last night.
She cycled her mana through the rune, trying to force the array to isolate the specific frequency of the sleep aura... but the violet light merely flickered, wobbled, and dissolved into fine harmless sparks.
"Tch... it’s not strong enough," Rowenna cursed softly under her breath, her jaw tightening in bitter disappointment.
Her current runic capabilities as a B-Rank caster were certainly nothing to scoff at.
She could inscribe elemental traps, reinforce physical armor, and dismantle standard magic circles with relative ease.
...But last night had proven the limits of her current standing.
If a high-tier sleeping spell or an advanced spatial anomaly targeted the Blessed Land without leaving a visible physical casting circle on the ground, Rowenna was completely powerless to counter it.
She couldn’t dispel what her eyes couldn’t break down. If an enemy Lord deployed a similar wide-area neutralization field during the war, her entire backline would be neutralized before they could even draw their staffs.
A warm calloused hand rested firmly against Rowenna’s left shoulder.
Rowenna flinched slightly, snapping her head up from her cot, standing directly beside her bed was Tasmin.
Rowenna swallowed hard, her throat going dry as her blue eyes locked onto the Shadow Commander.
Under the crisp morning light, Tasmin looked dangerously beautiful.
The bright silver-white streaks woven through her dark hair glistened like spun moon-silk, her luminous silver eyes carried a sharp glint, and her tall athletic frame radiated a cold aura that made the surrounding air feel noticeably denser.
Yet, despite her intimidating physical presence, Tasmin looked down at the runic caster with a look of genuine quiet concern.
"Is something troubling you, Rowenna?" Tasmin asked softly. "You’ve been glaring at your palm like it owes you money for the last ten minutes."
Rowenna quickly closed her fist, extinguishing the lingering violet sparks, and looked away toward the far wall.
"Nothing is wrong, Tasmin. Just waking up."
Tasmin didn’t remove her hand from Rowenna’s shoulder.
She raised a single dark eyebrow, giving the runic caster a sharp deadpan stare that clearly communicated she wasn’t buying the lie for a single microsecond.
Rowenna held out for three seconds under that intense silver glare before letting out a long, defeated breath, running her fingers through her dark hair once more.
"I’m just... annoyed," Rowenna admitted quietly, her voice laced with deep, lingering insecurity. "I’m annoyed that I wasn’t strong enough to detect or dispel whatever hit us last night. I’m a mage after all. When high-tier threats show up, or when strange magical anomalies target our Territory... I feel like a liability. I feel like I’m holding everyone back."
Hearing her honest confession, Tasmin’s sharp features softened completely.
A rare, genuine, and extraordinarily warm smile spread across the assassin’s lips... a smile so striking and unexpectedly gentle that Rowenna felt her heart melt slightly inside her chest.
"You’re plenty strong, Rowenna," Tasmin assured her smoothly, her silver eyes holding unwavering conviction. "You’re strong in your own right... None of us could operate at full capacity without your work."
Tasmin leaned down slightly, her voice dropping into a reassuring whisper.
"And if you really feel like you’ve hit your natural physical limit as a B-Rank... our Lord will know. When the time is right, he will upgrade you."
Tasmin knew firsthand the reality-bending miracle of Silas’s power after all.
She had been a simple C-Rank Wilderness Huntress before Silas had placed his hand on her shoulder, ignited his Gold Core, and transformed her into an S-Rank Shadow Commander.
Rowenna looked up into Tasmin’s confident face, feeling a massive wave of emotional relief wash over her chest.
The heavy weight that had been pressing down on her shoulders since dawn seemed to lighten instantly.
"Thank you, Tasmin," Rowenna said genuinely, offering a small, appreciative smile. "I needed to hear that."
"Don’t mention it," Tasmin smiled back.
Then, her tone instantly shifted as she patted Rowenna’s shoulder with a sudden eager glint flickering in her silver eyes.
"Now then... since you’re wide awake and feeling better, I need your help with my morning training routine."
Rowenna tilted her head, slightly intrigued. "Your training? What kind of training are you doing inside the barracks?"
Before Tasmin could answer—
"Haauuuu~"
From two cots over, a massive muscular figure sat up on her mattress, stretching her broad arms wide while letting out a loud and thoroughly unrefined yawn that echoed off the ceiling rafters.
Brida wiped a thin line of drool from the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand, rubbing her brown eyes as her heavy iron shield rested against her bedframe.
She looked over at Tasmin and Rowenna, blinking groggily.
"What are you two whispering about so early in the morning?" Brida grunted, her deep voice full with sleep.
Tasmin and Rowenna slowly turned their heads, staring at the disheveled Titan Bastion in total deadpan silence.
"You really are quite a character, Brida," Rowenna muttered drily, shaking her head.
Brida snapped her head up, pointing a thick finger at them in offended outrage.
"Hey! What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"
Tasmin completely ignored the giant warrior, standing up from Rowenna’s cot.
Rowenna offered a shy quiet chuckle, standing up as well as they began walking out of the main dormitory wing toward an empty, reinforced stone training room located at the rear of the barracks.
Brida scrambled off her cot, pulling on her leather boots as she stomped after them down the hallway.
"Hey! Don’t just ignore me!" Brida grumbled, trailing behind them like a giant, curious bear. "Where are you two going anyway?"
Rowenna shrugged her shoulders as she pushed open the heavy oak door to the empty training chamber. "Don’t ask me. Tasmin just dragged me along."
They stepped into the square, thirty-foot stone chamber.
The room was completely empty... built specifically for high-intensity physical sparring, featuring reinforced granite walls and shock-absorbing floor mats designed to handle impact.
Tasmin walked straight into the center of the room, stopping in front of Rowenna.
"I need to train my physical movement under extreme environmental pressure," Tasmin explained, her voice taking on a serious tone. "So I want you to drop a 10x Gravity Well directly on top of me."
Rowenna paused, her blue eyes widening in genuine surprise.
"10x gravity? Are you sure, Tasmin? Ten times normal gravitational downforce will crush a person’s internal organs if their physical core isn’t prepared."
Tasmin offered her a sharp confident smirk with her silver eyes flashing.
"I’m positive."
Without another word, Tasmin reached up with both hands, unbuttoning her dark leather tunic and slipping it off her shoulders.
FLOP!
She tossed the heavy tunic onto a bench near the door, leaving her upper body clad only in a tight dark-red leather sports bra that hugged her toned chest and defined abdominal muscles.
Then, she reached down, unbuckling her dark trousers and stepping out of them, tossing them onto her coat.
She stood in the center of the room wearing only her dark sports bra and a pair of tight dark athletic briefs, revealing her long muscular legs and sculpted waist.
Rowenna stood near the doorway, staring at the half-naked Shadow Commander with a massive mental sweatdrop forming on the back of her head.
’Is this a training room or a strip club...?’ Rowenna thought in deadpan disbelief.
Brida pushed her way through the doorway, seeing Tasmin stripped down to her undergarments, and her brown eyes lit up with sudden excitement.
"Oh! High-intensity physical conditioning?" Brida grinned cheekily. "Count me in!"
Tasmin turned her silver eyes toward the Titan Bastion, giving her a skeptical and thoroughly unimpressed look.
"Brida," Tasmin pointed out drily, "you’re an S-Rank with a class that deals with your physical body. Why the fuck would you need to do gravity conditioning with me?"
Brida opened her mouth to argue, but completely failed to come up with a logical comeback.
"Shut up! I do what I want!" Brida grumbled defensively.
Without a shred of hesitation, Brida reached up, yanking her thick leather chest-piece over her head in one swift motion.
THUD!
The heavy leather hit the floorboards, revealing a massive heavy sports bra that strained to contain her voluminous heavy breasts.
Brida then unbuckled her armored trousers, pulling them down to reveal a pair of dark, tight athletic shorts.
Rowenna noticed that unlike Tasmin, Brida wasn’t wearing standard underwear beneath her shorts.
"Haah... I like shorts." Brida said, noticing her look.
Brida had completely quit wearing traditional cotton panties days ago.
Because she engaged in a subconscious physical conditioning routine while sleeping to hone her combat instincts, her body generated massive amounts of heat and sweat throughout the night.
Whenever she woke up, standard cotton panties would be completely soaked through with sweat... making it look like she had embarrassingly wet her bed.
’Tasmin pointed it out... never again...’
Tight, moisture-wicking athletic shorts at least managed to contain the sweat without looking ridiculous, even if they smelled slightly funky and salty before her morning shower.
Brida stepped into the center of the room alongside Tasmin, resting her broad hands against her hips.
She proudly flexed her back muscles, admiring her own reflection in the polished granite wall.
"Man..." Brida mused out loud, her brown eyes twinkling with a sudden shameless thought, "...I wonder what it would feel like to get rammed in by our Lord and bred until morning?"
Rowenna’s face instantly flushed a bright, burning crimson at the crude, out-of-nowhere question.
Tasmin, however, didn’t flinch. She adjusted her leather briefs, offering a calm, pragmatic answer.
"We have to prove our potential and make ourselves valuable in order to bear his children first," Tasmin stated flatly. "We aren’t a Goddess like Lady Eluned, nor are we like Morwenna. We are ourselves. As long as we become indispensable assets to his empire... getting bred by him is just a matter of time."
Tasmin turned her silver eyes toward Brida’s rear, rolling her eyes with a scoff.
"Though honestly, sweatshop... your ass isn’t even that good."
Brida’s jaw dropped in theatrical outrage.
"Oho!" Brida gasped, placing her broad palm against her right butt cheek.
PAH!
Brida spanked her own rear cheek hard, sending a visible ripple running across her firm, curvaceous cheek even through her dark athletic shorts.
"My ass is far better than yours, shadow-girl!" Brida declared proudly. "You got upgraded to S-Rank and all it gave you was some extra hip fat... Look at these curves!"
Brida wasn’t necessarily wrong.
When Silas had upgraded Brida to S-Rank, her Titan Bastion class had enhanced her tall, muscular, and hourglass proportions to perfection... giving her a plump, sculpted rear that put most warriors to shame.
Tasmin’s S-Rank evolution had certainly enhanced her hips and waist as well, but compared to Brida’s heavy, muscular curves, Tasmin was far more streamlined for high-speed assassination.
Tasmin simply flicked Brida off with her middle finger, refusing to waste another second arguing about butt sizes.
She turned back to Rowenna, taking a deep breath.
"Alright, Rowenna. Fire up the gravity."
Rowenna nodded, pushing her insecurities aside as she raised her right hand.
"Runic Gravity Well: 10x!" Rowenna commanded!
CRACKLE... FWOOSH!
A massive eight-foot-wide glowing violet rune instantly flared to life on the stone floorboards beneath Tasmin and Brida’s boots!
KA-THOOM!
The second the violet array activated, a terrifying invisible wave of ten-fold gravitational downforce slammed down onto the room like a falling mountain.