One week ever since Xiao acquires his new skill, also known as the Gamer Eyes.

Nothing much has changed since then. Xiao still needed to continue the dreadful training as usual, and Private Tom and Jerry was still his training partner.

The only difference was Tom and Jerry were no longer able to beat him during the combat simulation. Xiao also learnt a lot on how to better move his body in both attacking and evading. All thanks to his Gamer Eyes.

Xiao found out that his Gamer Eyes not only allow him to predict his attacker movement but also see their current level.

There was no level system in this world. Xiao deducted that the level must be the ranking of the target's power, strength and experience.

Currently, Xiao was at Level 15, while the other privates in his platoon were around 8 to 13. Xiao thinks that the reason why he was the highest is because of his Gamer Eyes, which might contribute at least ten levels to his overall strength.

Although Xiao has already acquired powerful skills like the Gamer Eyes, he didn't stop his magic training. Though he was still unable to produce Fireball or Ice Spear, he can activate Fire Seed and Ice Seed in an instant already.

Every day was going on as usual, until the day lieutenant Carl ordered the platoon to gather around him.

Xiao, Owen, Tom, Jerry, Jake and other private rank soldiers in the platoon were waiting for lieutenant Carl to speak while he was checking out the paper on his hand.

"Quiet down, ladies," Lieutenant Carl said as the crowd got restless while he was still reading the paper.

"Alright, rejoice, you bunch of assholes, we finally received an order," Lieutenant Carl casually announced as soon as he finished reading the paper.

Immediately upon hearing the news, the crowd became more restless. Most people were shocked by the announcement as this platoon has never received an order before. To receive it without prior notice is just too sudden for them to come in terms with it.

"Alright, alright, settle down. It's a recon mission, and the location will be the Yellow Leaf Forest. I don't know how many of you know the place, and I don't care. The only thing I care about is all of you assholes must participate in this mission, no exception. If you are sick? Man up, fools!"

Lieutenant Carl said it with his usual harsh attitude and treated his platoon like trash.

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"I'm popped. I'll leave the rest to you, private Jake."

Lieutenant Carl then passes the paper to private Jake and leaves the training ground, yawning on his way back.

Private Jake, as usual, obeys Lieutenant Carl's request and proceeds to explain the details of the mission.

It was a recon mission, and the whole members of the platoon are required to participate. Their task is simple: Go to the Yellow Leaf Forest, make a record of the living habitat at that place, and that's pretty much it.

Since they never had any proper training for recon missions before, and their recon mission will begin in another week, starting from tomorrow onwards, the whole platoon will undergo basic recon training.

Besides recon training, they will also undergo basic camping training, for they need at least three days to reach the Yellow Leaf Forest, meaning they will need to camp outdoors for at least four nights.

After the briefing, they are allowed to go back to the barrack and rest for the day.

While most of the privates spend the rest of the day chilling at the barracks, Xiao wastes no time to continue his training.

Because Xiao never told anyone that he knew magic, and he doesn't plan to let anyone know, not when he was already the infamous Hero of Darkness.

So instead of magic training, Xiao joined Owen with his sword training.

Xiao's daily drill didn't teach him any combat skills. All they did was running and intense body workout. Although Xiao was never in any military service in his old world, he knows this wasn't military training at all. Up until now, Xiao still has no idea what was the purpose of this platoon if all they did was running and body training every day.

Xiao thinks that they might encounter monsters in this recon mission, even with his Gamer Eyes and undying skill, he felt that it's best to be extra prepared.

Although Owen was not the best swordsman in the platoon, he was the only one who treated Xiao with kindness and caring. He was Xiao's only friend in the platoon. The same goes for Owen as Xiao was the only one who treats him as a friend.

Owen willingly teaches Xiao some basic forms of swordplay, which include basic footwork, slashing and thrusting, and also parrying. They were using a wooden sword to train since they were prohibited to carry a real weapon. Xiao thought that their platoon was strange because they not only didn't undergo any combat training or formation training, up until now, they never trained with or carried a real weapon at all.

Xiao has already given up on asking the reason for all his doubts. First of all, asking Lieutenant Carl will only bring him nothing but more punishment, while asking other privates will only result in getting harsh treatment from them. Owen was too focused on his sword training that he didn't care about other stuff.

As far as how strange this platoon is, Xiao has no choice but to strengthen himself as to prepare himself for any worst-case scenario.

Xiao and Owen continue their sword training tirelessly after their camping training.

And so, one week has almost passed. The night before the mission started, Xiao decided to skip his magic training and sleep early to prepare for the big day.

But before Xiao goes to bed, he wants to take a night stroll first.

Xiao was walking while feeling the cold breeze at the silence training ground until he spotted someone else was there as well.

That person was Owen.