BXBX NOVEL Chapter 77 - 77. Lessons
"Hey Laura, are you alright up there?!" Asher yelled to see if she was just taking a break or stuck. It was clear that Onyx thought she was stuck for sure.
"I don\'t get stuck. I am just trying to figure out where I want to go. It\'s called planning." Asher swore her speedy voice was just slightly higher pitched when she said she was planning.
"Well it looks like there are hand holds on your left!" He abandoned any mocking he could do, especially since he had only been able to climb one third of the way down after some help.
Onyx seemed to be taking his sweet time climbing. There was an overly bored expression on his face. After doing this for a few years he had learned that everyone would rush up their first attempt, and everyone would get stuck their first attempt. "Stupid kids don\'t study. Could go to the survival classes after making points soaring but nooo they need to rush in to things." His grumbling was audible from the ground.
"So where do you think you will go next?" Laura was surprised when he blinked up next to her holding on to the cliff with only one hand like it was natural.
"I am thinking about it, I\'m planning." Laura had been so plateful and confident since Asher had met her. Yet now, she was frazzled and about to panic.
"Well while you plan let\'s think about some things. Your arms are going to start to get tired the longer you are stationary. You will still be buffeted by the wind. And in the real world, you might be alone on this cliff. So let me ask again, what do you want to do?"
Laura was looking at the rocks, her expression scrunched up as she felt her own annoyance grow. She hates that she had not made it to the top instantly. It had been so easy just to try every single trail to find the cliff, yet now she was stuck.
Her small voice was almost impossible to what, "help me get down…"
"Good choice. Now I\'m going to get beneath you and guide your foot in to a good hold. Just stay slow and follow my lead." Onyx lowered himself and side climbed under Laura\'s feet like it was nothing.
\'So that\'s how he helped me. I wonder if a climber is stuck if this is how a rescue would go down? Or would they need someone with a flying super power?\'
Asher had started to brainstorm many potential scenarios. This camp was the ideal place to test and start to train in them. There was a shallow river to try water rescue, a mountain, and lining trails to try wooded rescues. Furthermore, there was a sparring ground where he was sure to learn first aid.
This was the ideal camp for a future hero. This realization Was a welcoming one for Asher, he had worried just moments ago that he had chosen wrong and that it would be better just to wait for his friends.
With his enlightenment, he was starting to see all the benefits this could bring. Specifically, he was here early, this could teach him to rely on himself much more than with his friends. Lately, he had been totally focused on his group efforts to strengthen himself, if anything happened that separated him from them could he manage alone?
His mind started to run in circles as he asked himself these questions. Before he knew what was going on there were two pairs of feet landing on the ground. "Next time you need to move slower and process the grooves and crevices in the stone. When you climb you need to know every single spot you tough like it is part of your body." Onyx had gone off on an in depth lesson on how to climb.
"I learn fast, I can climb fast. Just let me try it again." Laura looked as if she would start to climb up the cliff again without learning a thing.
"No you aren\'t. Instead, you are going to go and work on your cognitive skills. You were able to move fast yes. But you were only able to move fast up the easiest places to grip and got stuck at a more challenging point. Your body is fast, your mind is slower. Or am I wrong to think that you had to check every path to get here instead of seeing the markers I leave?" Asher and Laura were both silent. Neither of them had expected this in depth review on why Laura had so much trouble on the cliff.
"Oh, you both look surprised, I expected him not to see the scuff marks or the bent branches I leave in the trail for campers to learn to track missing persons. The only reason he didn\'t was that he went off trail. You on the other hand just went to check every single trail until you got here. It was a waste." Laura just stood there, her jaw had dropped hearing that there were things that could have literally pointed her in the right direction that she had missed.
"Wait, on the way back can you show us? Tracking sounds important." Asher saw a great opportunity in front of him. This counselor could show him exactly how to get back to the cliff every single day. He could point farm and work on his skills.
"Well we are going down the trail I made today. Tomorrow I am going to move some logs around in my work out so don\'t expect it to all be the same." Onyx looked like he had just been handed an extra chore.
"You really change it every morning? How do you get rid of the path from before?" Laura couldn\'t grasp the fact that Onyx was so adept at tracking and creating paths that he could also remove them.
"If you learn enough you can even walk through the forest leaving no traces at all." His words seemed too plain as he started to head toward the trail to the main camp.