novelraw Chapter 92: Training
Chapter 92: Training
After nightfall, Stanley went back to sleep. He hadn’t done much all day, but he still felt quite tired.
’I should do something in my free time though,’ he thought.
The next day, Bradley came around two hours before his duty at the veil and spent the two hours helping Stanley set up multiple stumps in the backyard so he could train.
This was what Stanley had come up with to pass the time for a while. He was going to exercise and train.
By the time the two brothers were done preparing everything, Bradley had to go to his work. So, Stanley was left behind to train on his own.
Stanley started up with some push-ups and pull-ups to warm up and then started whacking at the wooden stumps with wooden sticks that he had found specifically for this reason from the forest ahead of his house.
He couldn’t use his entire strength on it either or else the wooden stick would easily be destroyed. As such, Stanley had to force himself to stop right before he hit the stump, which surprisingly was working as quite the exercise as well.
He trained when he could with the wooden stick and stump, and did physical exercises the other times. Other than that, Stanley had to spend his day working with the chickens and pigs, feeding them and taking out their trash so that they could be used in the fields.
Pig dung was an excellent source of nutrients for the plants after all. It would all be gathered somewhere close for the next few months when the current plants would be all grown up and ready for harvest.
Stanley trained with his brother for a bit when he was on his way back from his duty, but he quickly found that his brother was tired and instead let him go back.
He had to walk all the way back to the mayor’s mansion, so it was going to be a long journey.
His next duty would be in 3 days, so he promised to come early that day before leaving.
Freddy returned the next day to keep him company. It was the weekly day off for him, so he had taken the time out of his day to come to visit Stanley and see how he was faring it all.
Stanley was appreciative of that. No one else aside from his brother came to visit him, not even the Dulls next door, so it was good having Freddy around, even if it was just for an hour or two.
He showed Freddy around the farm and trained with him a bit as a living opponent, no matter how bad was always a better opponent than that stump he trained with.
It was good in the absence of people, but in their presence, Stanley would never choose to train with it.
It rained for the next 2 days.
On the first day raining, he stayed inside the house since morning when it started to rain. However, around mid-day when he realized it wasn’t going to stop, he went back into training.
The weather wasn’t going to be perfect if he ever had to fight the crawlers for real, so there was no point in only training when it was ideal.
It was equally important to get a hand in the scenarios that he would come across during the battle. So, half a day later, Stanley jumped into his backyard and started attacking the stump there.
As he trained in the rain, he found 2 major issues that he needed to fix as soon as he could.
First was the issue with his footing. Because of the mud, his feet easily slipped every time he tried to do anything other than take a careful step.
Second was the issue with the water getting into his eyes. With so much rain, the rain would fall into his eyes, making him constantly close his eyes while training.
Bradley helped him with the first issue. He brought him his old heavy shoe with a thick iron sole at the bottom with sharp ridges to help one not lose balance on a slippery battlefield.
The rains would always cause the area around the Veil to get muddy, so many of the Defenders were used to wearing these stuff in the winter when it rained.
As for the second issue, Bradley could only tell his brother that he needed some sort of hat to block the water. Unfortunately, he didn’t have that.
"Don’t worry," Bradley said. "I’ll ask the mayor for a hat like that. He must have spares for certain. I’ll bring them to you when I come next time."
Stanley nodded. "When are you coming next?" he asked.
"3 days later, 2 days before I become the mayor," Bradley said. "That’s my last day as a Defender, after that..."
Bradley still couldn’t believe it. He was going to be a mayor.
"I’m still somewhat scared of what old man Sam said," Stanley spoke. "About you possibly changing after becoming the mayor due to the powers you’ll inherit."
Bradley rubbed his brother’s head with a smile on his face. "Don’t worry, I promise you I will never change," he said. "I will forever be your brother."
Stanley smiled and nodded. "You must at least be worried about your own powers, aren’t you?" he asked. "Suddenly losing a power you’ve had for so long."
Bradley thought for a moment and shrugged. "Who cares?" he asked. "You just got a new power just a few months ago and are mostly used to it. It won’t take me that long either."
"Alright, take care of yourself. I’ll be back in 3 days," Bradley said and left the house.
Stanley went back to training and he trained continuously for the next two days. However, on the third day, when the storm and thunder had returned once again when Stanley was only just done eating for the day before his brother could come to visit him, he heard the sound that both filled him with fear and filled him with determination.
The sirens rang loud and wide.
The Crawlers were finally attacking.