"Those are for Avery and Aoife. I can make some more for you, just ask."
"I'd like some more meat, please."
The taste of the meat lingered on his tongue, and as he watched Nadia fry the next serving, his stomach growled in earnest. He couldn't believe that people got to eat something like this all the time; it was simply too good.
"Nadia, how often do you get to eat stuff like this? It's delicious!"
Nadia's gaze flicked to him before returning to the meat that was sizzling on the makeshift stove.
"...Not often. Normally, our head chef prepares proper meals, and we have some seasoning our gardener grows to go with it."
"...This isn't a proper meal? It's like ten times better than the rations I normally eat."
Nadia continued to cook as Rowan wondered just how high the ceiling for taste was. She paused as the meat continued to sizzle, then decided it was done. Placing the meat on the rock again, she turned to Rowan.
"You're from the complex, aren't you?"
Rowan nodded.
"I thought you already knew that? I mean, comparing me to the rest of you, it seemed pretty obvious."
Nadia shrugged as she passed the sizzling meat to Rowan.
"I had a hunch. It was because you seemed to know almost nothing about how things worked. Specifically, around the Hells. Your build was less of a giveaway, I just assumed you were an academic type.
"Me, Aoife and Avery have all been trained for this stuff since we were young, so it stood out a bit when you didn't even recognise an Earthwulf."
He began tearing into the meat, trying to ignore how hot it was in favour of his stomach.
The conversation was interrupted by Aoife and Avery, who arrived together, each taking their piece of meat and starting to eat wordlessly. The four of them all ended up seated, while the burning coals illuminated the space.
"So, what should we do today? Start clearing out the tunnels?"
Aoife shook her head before chewing the rest of her meal. Once finished, she turned to him and wiped the oily residue off her lips.
"Now that we have a way of cooking some food, we're in much less of a hurry. It's best for Avery to regain his strength, and for you to get more used to handling a spear. And Nadia, you should try to overcome your fear as well."
Nadia flinched at the comment, but wrung her hands out and nodded her head. Rowan instead had no idea how he was meant to train with a spear and asked Aoife if she could teach him.
"I'll give you some pointers, but I'm more proficient with a sword. You'll have to largely figure it out yourself. Unless you want to try practising with a sword, in which case you'll have to borrow Avery's."
Considering, Rowan wondered what the best choice was. He had found the spear sufficient to use in the recent fights, but seeing the damage Aoife could do with a sword made him pause. He wanted to be able to use a sword in this Hell, but with only two per person, he would have to end up using a spear anyway. Avery interrupted his train of thought, making the decision for him.
"I've trained with a spear before, so you can use my sword here. Besides, my shoulder will likely require actual medical attention before I'm able to swing a sword around properly. I left it leaning against the wall outside here. You're free to start training with it."
Avery's voice was confident, but Rowan could see the pain in his eyes at not being able to fight properly.
"In that case, I'll be able to actually help you learn how to fight. Go get used to it, I'll start teaching you once I'm done eating."
Nodding, Rowan got up and quickly left, eager to start growing stronger, finally. Avery's sword was indeed leaning against the wall outside, and Rowan leant down to pick it up. His muscles strained as he did; it was significantly heavier than the spear. Where the spear had been a wooden shaft with a metal tip, the sword was entirely metal.
Grabbing it by the hilt posed another downside, as well. The sword's centre of mass was much further away from where he held it, and required his wrists' exertion to hold it up. He tried to hold it out like he had seen Nadia hold it earlier, but found it nearly too difficult to do so. Rowan decided to head outside and try practising a few swings.
'It's hard to hold in place, but maybe it'll be easier in motion. Regardless, I have a long way to go.'
Sighing with the final thought, he stepped outside and found a relatively flat area. Slowly hoisting the sword up, he held it pointing up, arms raised. As he swung it down, it sank quickly, and Rowan found his body being pulled forward as it did. He stumbled forward, and barely managed to stop the sword from crashing into the ground.
"Don't worry about trying to swing it yet, just build your muscles up. It'll be a few weeks before you'll be strong enough to do anything useful."
Rowan's ears turned red as he realised Aoife had been watching him. She sighed before continuing.
"I didn't realise you were quite this weak. How did you even manage to kill the other wolves? Well, whatever. Once you've built some muscle, you should be reasonably useful, considering how well you've managed so far."
She groaned, obviously dissatisfied that her team consisted of an injured person, a pacifist, and the weakest person she'd ever met. Rowan was unsure of which was worse.
"Focus on doing physical training, push-ups, running, squats, anything. Even holding the sword will be good enough for you right now. Ask Nadia to make you some more food, you'll need to eat more than you think."
Rowan stood silent and just calmly nodded. It felt hard to hear what she was saying, but he had felt it when he was holding the sword. He had to start from nothing, in the worst place imaginable.
'Though it could be worse. We have food and water here, plus we've blocked the wolves out. For a Hell, it hasn't really lived up to its name. I expected far worse before I came in here.'
Before Aoife turned to go, he decided to share his last line of thinking with her.
"Don't you think this place hasn't been as bad as you've heard? Surviving seems very possible at this rate."
She shot him a glance with a wary expression on her face.
"You were right about the core of this Hell yesterday. I had been avoiding thinking about it to not trigger anything, but it's true that neither the darkness or wolves seems to match. I'll tell you more once we clear this, and I promise there's a reason I can't tell you now.
"All we need to worry about is that there is something else going on here. So don't let your guard down.
"She smiled briefly, though it was tight and looked more like a grimace than a smile. She then turned and left, leaving Rowan to consider what she had said in a daze.
'What didn't she tell me? Does she think it'll make me figure out the core? Does that mean she's figured it out?'
Grunting, he dragged the sword back to the base, deciding to follow her instructions and eat some more food. He could worry about what she meant when he was better equipped to fight.
Avery and Nadia were still sitting there, and he heard their conversation cut short as he stepped in, breathing heavy.
"Uh... Aoife said that I need to eat more. Can I have some more food?"
"What's the magic word?"
Though Nadia asked this, she had already started making the food for Rowan, using the last of the burning coals to cook it.
"Please."
As Rowan went to sit down, Avery came up to him and stopped him, motioning towards his sword. "Let me show you how to take care of this, or it'll break long before we escape from here.
Leading him to mound of rocks they used like a table, Rowan placed the sword atop and watched as Avery began to explain how to clean it, and to keep oils and blood off, lest the blade starts to rust."It's not like it's an artifact, you have to actually maintain it."
"An artifact? What's that?"
Avery looked confused, and Nadia interjected, bringing Rowan's food over to him.
"He's from the complex. Assume he knows nothing other than what we've told him"
"Ahhh, that explains why your written exam score was so low. Right, well, artifacts are made of condensed aether and are much more durable and effective than regular items. They can be found in Hells, though normally the good ones only appear in the stronger Hells. We'd be lucky to find a pet rock, let alone a weapon of any kind."
As Avery explained the artifacts, a new word popped out at him. Swallowing his last bite of food, he asked him what aether was, and how he'd know if a pet rock was a normal one or an artifact.
"Well, a pet rock was just an example, but normally the system will tell you the name of an artifact, and if it has any abilities. Aether is sort of all around us, and condensed Aether is what the Hells are made of."
He gestured around him when explaining Aether, and Rowan wondered how much there must have been around him. Nodding at his explanation, Rowan continued to eat the meat slowly.