Chapter 8

Getting back to the training ground I spent the next couple of hours practising manoeuvres and getting used to giving orders mentally.

Grim showed up earlier than expected and after I told him about Aura, he decided to head back into town to get a little bit more food supplies.

He left the wagon so that I could take a look at it. It had four wheels and was shaped like a box about six meters long, two meters wide, and two meters tall. The only way in was through the back, which had two smaller doors that could be closed. Inside I could see the casks of mead a couple of sacks that I expected had food in them and our trunk.

There was a small seat at the front where the driver could sit, and four horses hitched to the front. Just next to the driver was a small ladder that could be used to get onto the roof. The roof itself had a railing around it made from solid boards about a meter or so high. Every 30 centimetres or so there was a place you could hook a shield on. This way the cart itself could be made into a shooting platform for archers if needed. Adding in the ride height the whole thing was about four meters tall.

A lot bigger than expected but according to Grim, it is better to get a bigger wagon now, than to keep trading up each time the company grew in size.

For now, I expected that we would use the roof to sleep on as Aura did on her cart.

Grim returned for dinner and had even got some extra food so the privates at the training ground could join us for a meal. I spent the little downtime we had waiting for the commander to show up practising with my guitar. Let's just say that the privates were very motivated to kick my ass after that debacle. Even the skeletons, who didn't have ears, marched to the other side of the field by themselves.

Thankfully for everyone else, the commander showed up with the new recruits. As I had already practised a lot with my unit. I gave command of my troops to Grim. The commander led both groups through some marching and manoeuvring drills and then we had a mock battle.

I had to mentally tell my skeletons to not fight to kill but just disable. The commander had a few healers on standby just in case. The recruits didn't have the same restriction because if one of my troops fell they would be back by morning.

The best tactic for my troops was to close on the enemy in two tight ranks spears out. About 50 meters drop spears. Take the short spear/javelin. Throw it and pick the long spears back up. And get ready to receive the enemy charge.

The downside of this formation was that flanking was pretty easy, and I found out the hard way that long spears in close combat were pretty unwieldy. better to keep the short spears as the backup melee weapon. Or find something like a short sword or club to be used in very close combat.

I figured I could ask Aura to make us some clubs for now when we were underway. There were a few small wooded areas that we had to go through, so no lack of raw materials there. That should be good enough for now.

The commander thanked us for the practice and led his troops back to the city. Grim and I decided as we had everything with us we might as well camp out here. Our campsite made for an imposing sight. I had all the troops put their shields on the outside of the wagon roof. And to leave all the short spears up there as well. Then I placed a skeleton on each roof corner to keep a lookout while we slept. The other six were put on the ground a little bit further out. Skeletons could see just as well at night as in day so made for excellent night guards.

We then put our tent in the middle of the roof. Grim decided to sleep inside the wagon which at the moment was only about half-filled. while I took the tent. We made the deal to switch off each day on who slept where.

As soon as I fell asleep I found myself back in the white room. AI-Me sitting behind the table again.

“What am I doing here?” I asked, “I didn't meditate.”

“We'll you have a milestone to complete and this is the place to come to check if skills have increased. If you don't meditate during the day you get sent here when you fall asleep if anything major has changed. Unless you select it skill-up notifications are off by default to not be a distraction in let's say combat. You will still notice getting slightly better, you just don't get notified about the exact numbers.”

“So let's have a look at what changed then shall we,” I said while rubbing my hands in anticipation.

MILESTONE COMPLETE

Get the first unit to 10 troops.

Reward: 1 unit designation: Pick from Bodyguard, Scout or Vanguard

New Milestone available:

Have troops march 100 KM. (count starts from when the milestone is unlocked)

“So what are these unit designations exactly?”

“Well, each one gives different bonuses to the unit. The designation is permanent unless you get a perk or something later that lets you redefine units. Just take a look at the screen to your left.” And AI-Me pulled up a list of designations and what they do.

Bodyguard: The unit gets buffs when protecting a specific person, this can be the commander or any other individual the commander designates.

Scout: unit gets buffs in travel speed, also gains buffs in tracking and spotting enemies.

Vanguard: Unit gets offensive and defensive buff when placed in the front of the formation. Also gives troops behind them a morale buff.

This would be a difficult decision to make as all three would come in handy soon. I decided to wait until whoever or whatever the sergeant was that was supposed to show up soon.

“Any skills ups to speak about?” I asked, hoping to maybe get the guitar or performance skill.

“Nope, knowing you you want to know about your weapon. Your class doesn't give you any bonuses for learning those skills. My advice is to not bother too much and to save the sanity of everyone around you.” AI-Me winked at me when he said that.

When even the person inside my head said I had better stop. I decided to just use it as an axe for now.

“Anything else I should know about before getting some actual sleep?”

“Nothing else, unless you want to spend a bit more time configuring your hud and notifications.”

“Haven't had much time to figure out what I want to have changed yet. So for now I will just keep everything the same.” And with that, I mentally commanded myself out of the room and went to sleep.