"Ozlo, wake up son."
"Huh?" Bleary eyed, Ozlo rolls out of bed and starts to get dressed.
Standing over Ozlo, Burgin gestures to the door. "Boyd wants you to meet him in the training yard, you know the one."
"Yes Burgin." Ozlo replied.
Once again gesturing, Burgin points to the dining area. "That's a good lad, and I left you a baked apple and some juice on the table, it isn't much. But I suspect you won't be wanting something more substantial."
"Yes Burgin."
Ozlo wipes the crust from his eyes, scrubs his face clean and descends the stairs so he can grab his meager breakfast. Before he can complete the short journey though, Burgin says. "Oh, and lad."
"Yes?"
In a soft, uneasy tone, Burgin says. "Try not to say too much, better to let people think you're a fool than to open your mouth and prove them right."
"Yes Burgin." Ozlo replied.
After finishing breakfast Ozlo slides out of his chair and begins the journey to the training yard. Upon arriving he hears a fair amount of chattering coming from the other side, promptly silenced by Captain Boyd. "QUIET. Let's see here, one, two, three... Ozlo?"
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"Uh, yes sir. I'm here." Ozlo stated.
"Great, everyone is all here. Today will be a simple primer for what the CDF expects of you conscripts. We're going to hit things. And we're going to do it a lot." Boyd lets that small speech hang in the air until questions start bubbling up in the conscripts. A smaller, thinner boy in the back stands up and asks.
"Uh... Is that it?" The boy asks.
"Yep. That's it. The first few weeks you'll be given a basic weapon, blunted of course, for you to practice hitting the dummy. Then you'll practice hitting each other. And then, and only when I think you're skilled enough to AVOID hitting each other by accident, we'll go on the occasional expedition."
As the crowd starts to grow excited, Boyd quickly continued. "That's many weeks, probably months from now before ANY of you are ready. And you'll have to split a portion of any shards earned with the Civilian Defence Force. AND, and this is the most important thing, AND, you will not be going out unattended. A senior guard or myself will accompany each and every one of you. This isn't a game, it's life or death, the only thing you can help decide is whether it's your life, or the monsters."
Sensing the falling mood, Boyd cleared his throat. "That being said... You will get to hunt monsters, earn shards, possibly even earn cards. If you're lucky. We all know the drop rate for cards is pretty abyssmal for most common monsters. But hopefully we'll kill enough of them each trip that we'll get a card, maybe two."
"Now if anyone has any questions, now would be the time. No, nobody?" Glancing around Boyd notices that no-one seems ready to say anything. "Alright, I've told you all what weapon suits you best, grab it, and hit a dummy. Take breaks when you're too tired and remember to drink plenty of water."