Shen and the other five Junior Lieutenants who had taught everyone stood a few yards behind the Staff Lieutenants Uya and Xun, who in turn stood a few yards behind and to the side of Lieutenant Specialist Karlov, who was a few feet behind and to the left of First Lieutenant Zyn.
Alicia had mixed feelings about Shen. He had changed too much. He had always been an avid critic of democracy and politics in general, but never to the point of all but admitting he preferred complete tyranny over it. Something was wrong, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.
She couldn't do what he had suggested. She couldn't simply ignore children suffering injustices and look only at the future. Doing right for those children's descendants—if today's children lived long enough to reproduce—wasn't enough.
That was it, she realized: Shen had lost touch with the here and now.
It felt like Shen was glorifying future power too much. He only cared about his goal. His Path seemed to have consumed him in a way she had never seen before. Did every C-rank go through that? Or had something happened to him?
Yet, paradoxically, he had never felt so close to her. So friendly.
Which was also fucking annoying.
Her dependence on him had become mere admiration and a crush after long months of therapy. Those were healthy feelings for someone like her. Platonic, safe. They wouldn't turn into a desire for revenge.
Unfortunately, now it felt like she had a fucking chance—but at the same time, she didn't know if she wanted to like this new uncaring Shen.
Fuck.
Why couldn't anything be simple with that guy?!
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As Sai watched Boss Shen—as the man had said he should be called now that he hadn't a clan or an official organization—he saw much more than a single man. The werewolves had shown him recordings of things C-ranks could do and explained how the Alliance worked.
80% of all races had no B-ranks. 25% had no C-ranks, either. Reaching C-rank was a considerable accomplishment.
Of course, C-ranks had to bow and obey B-ranks, who bowed to A-ranks, and so on. However, they were the actual backbone of the Alliance, almost like NCOs claimed to do all the work in the old Earth military. They were big figures. Earth already having a C-rank mattered much more in interplanetary geopolitics than anyone seemed to realize, including Boss Shen.
The Czarina knew the truth, though.
Czarina Martino was far from perfect, but Sai was sure some of her supposed mistakes were on purpose. Maybe the first D-rank alien group had unexpectedly sneaked in, but he doubted she hadn't had the time to do something about it before the other two came. She had messed up, then used it to her advantage, borrowing alien knives to keep the first group and the New Order in check.
Sai was also confident she had known about Boss Shen reaching C-rank before anyone else. Some of her overly aggressive actions in the past months could only be explained by believing she had a stronger backing than even as powerful a D-rank as Boss Shen had been. That being the case, she had to know what C-ranks represented.
Sai wanted to discuss such things with his employer, but the C-rank had made his instance clear: he didn't care. So, Sai observed quietly and only talked about the subjects he knew Boss Shen wanted to hear.
What else could he do?
Sai's mind had been twisted and incapable of processing that Boss Shen had already reached C-rank, but now he could see and was humbled.
He was grateful for being allowed to follow such an imminent figure and knew he would never find another similar opportunity. He had to keep it. That was the best way to keep his loved ones safe.
He might not be the best D-rank on Earth, but he damn sure would be the best D-rank guard Boss Shen could hope for.
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"Your introduction to Stangue and military rules should've taken five days," Zyn started, "but Junior Lieutenant Shen decided he valued not failing in his first mission more than following the schedule."
Shen recalled Zyn saying he would spend two days training the first seven recruits—now six—who would then have five days to help him teach the newcomers. Shen had assumed plans had changed, or he was supposed to fail, but the First Lieutenant was right: that didn't sit well with Shen.
Zyn continued, "Being too efficient is one of the greatest sins on the front lines. It's the same as saying your orders were too lax and, thus, that your superiors miscalculated how much they could push you. It's punished with harder work and tighter schedules. Originally, you should spend seven to twelve days undergoing the basic course, but Captain Abbov has concluded that you can do better with the potential you showed. He has convinced Acting Colonel Tazuz to invest in you."
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He produced almost twenty thousand silver rings from nowhere, each floating before one of the troops.
| Extreme Time-Dilation Aid (B-)
Weirdly, Shen couldn't see the specific enchantments in the ring upon inspection, only its name and rank. His understanding was that B- items were prohibitively expensive for anyone below B-rank, and even B-ranks might think twice about purchasing one. Such items were investments, like buying a fancy car or house for the average middle-class worker on old Earth.
Of course, some people were more affluent than others, and the military should have accumulated many resources over however long it had been around. Even then, purchasing almost twenty-thousand B- items was a hefty investment. Enchantments could tear down with time, and each use was a smaller but still relevant investment.
Shen found himself feeling some expectation. No one invested that much unless they expected to gain more.
What was he about to learn?
What challenge awaited him?
"Each of these rings is an expensive, powerful, and treasured tool usually provided for elite troops on their way to fighting the Alliance's enemies," Zyn explained. "You'll use it for training instead. You'll think and move much faster, proportionally to your rank and agility, respectively. You'll notice no change to your power while interacting with each other, but if you interact with other people or look at a clock, you'll notice how faster you are. You'll be at least three times as fast as you currently do. Put the ring on now."
Shen obeyed and felt the space he occupied suddenly cut from the outside. He didn't exist in the same spacetime continuum as the external world. It was weird, marvelous, beyond his understanding, and stressful.
His soul tightened under sudden pressure, and almost everyone let out gasps of surprise or grunts of pain.
Zyn continued, "I hope you slept as I suggested, or you'll regret it. You're too weak to deal with such power unscathed. The ring will drive your mind to the very limits it can take. That's why I said at least three times as fast; your agility will be limited to that, but your thought speed can become even faster. Yet, it won't let you perceive the world any faster than any other ring-wearer. Or at least, it won't feel like it. Don't ask me how it works; I only know that some people's minds will be faster, but they won't notice it."
Shen was impressed. It sounded mystical and powerful. He didn't even notice his mind being directly affected!
He still had a long way to go.
"You'll perceive seven to twelve days pass in the basic course, as originally planned. However, it'll stress your mind so much that it'll tire you as if you had been doing it for years. In reality, at most, four days will have passed when we're done. Then, you'll be prepared for deployment. Said deployment is the main reason you were allowed to train like this. We need fresh meat to throw at the Void; the sooner, the better."
Well, at least they were upfront about it.
Zyn paused, then walked in front of the first row of people. "I am a Brigade Commander. As any Brigade Commander, I command my supporting staff..." He gestured to the Staff Lieutenants and the Lieutenant Specialist. "...and 33 Battalions. The Calamity caused some shuffling, and I'm short of 6 Battalions." He gestured to Shen and the five others. "These Junior Lieutenants will be Acting Battalion Commanders for the duration of the basic course."
This time, he made a longer pause. Shen watched as multiple people showed different reactions. Overall, people accepted the established hierarchy or didn't care. A few were clearly unconvinced, but they wisely kept their mouths shut.
Shen suppressed a frown but for another reason. Zyn's math didn't add up. The military structure was very rigid, with little wiggling room.
Each Reality Node had a single Field Army commanded by an S-rank. At least on paper;
The Field Army had 1 Corps commanded by an A-rank, who were usually the actual people who defended Reality unless the Alliance's enemies—the Void or other forces—cooked something that required an S-rank's intervention;
That Corps had 3 Divisions, each commanded by a B-rank with one to two B-rank helpers;
Every Division had 9 Brigades commanded by C-ranks, each with one to two C-rank helpers;
Every Brigade had 33 Battalions also commanded by C-ranks, each with one to five C-rank helpers;
Every Battalion had 18 Companies commanded by D-ranks, each with two to three D-rank helpers;
Every Company had 33 Platoons also commanded D-ranks, each with two to twelve D-rank helpers;
And every Platoon had 9 Squads commanded by E-ranks, each with two to five extra E-rank members.
So, every organizational group had at least one leader and might have supporting staff, but with hard limits. That's where the number of troops could increase or decrease. Still, a single Brigade would never have more than 201 C-ranks total, including the commander.
How come there were 1806 C-rank Junior Lieutenants present?
Obviously, Zyn wasn't training people just for his Brigade. Some would go to him, while others would be deployed elsewhere. Every Reality Node could have anything from 1,836 to 5,427 C-ranks at any given time, and Shen guessed Zyn was training most, if not all, C-ranks coming to this Node.
Shen didn't know why the First Lieutenant wasn't revealing his true plans, but only he should notice the mismatching numbers. The cold data on the military structure had been in the leadership book. Regular troops weren't informed, at least not yet, about the exact numbers game they ran on the front lines.
Zyn nodded at the silence he got. "Good. I don't care if any of you disagree with these six being above you; any attempted sabotage will be considered treason. Believe me, there's no rush to climb the ranks. They will learn with you, learn more than you, and be closely watched. Historically, only one in ten temporary leaders during the basic course keep their position. Death in the front lines is also common enough that you'll have your chance to be promoted, which will only happen if you can show you are a good fit for the chain of command. That means obeying the hierarchy even if you disagree with who is hierarchically above you. Is that clear?"
"Yes, First Lieutenant!" everyone said in unison.
Zyn turned to the six Junior Lieutenants behind him. "Battalion Commanders, each of you must appoint 51 of your 300 C-ranks subordinates as your direct help. You cannot talk or negotiate. Just say their names. Now."
Again, that wasn't how things were supposed to be organized. A Battalion Commander could have at most five C-rank staff. Obviously, Shen wouldn't only appoint the five people he would actually work with in the future but also potentially help build the structure of six other Battalions—a Commander and five helpers.
He still didn't know why newcomers were seemingly supposed to become Commanders, considering there should be more qualified veteran troops for that, but he didn't think Zyn was here just to waste their time.
Shen didn't overthink his picks. The battle royale had revealed people's little cliques, and he got six influential people from each of the most powerful social groups.
That included Huo Ming, who had challenged Shen. Shen didn't believe for one second that Zyn's warnings had been just for the newer newcomers; he, too, shouldn't let personal matters interfere with the greater good of the military. Huo Ming was powerful and influential enough, and not appointing him made no sense.
Then, Shen selected five strong C-ranks that behaved more like loners with a good head on their shoulders.