On the Snowdrifts’ battalion square, a ruff tuff group of warriors lazed around without order.
The bulk of them can be described as improperly dressed and unkempt, regardless male or female.
Around the square, many are watching from afar. Most of them are the elites that followed Tommy from the Frosthral Feudal State. Some are the new recruits that had travelled far from Saint Empire out of loyalty. But because their commander had not spoken, none of them said anything and only eyed these outsiders fiercely.
On the battalion square, a thousand soldiers either sat, or laid down, or squatted in small groups. Some are obviously gambling, quite a few drunk, and not just a few are badmouthing Tommy and complaining about their misfortunate to be selected for this mission.
If Tommy had not known better, he would have thought that these people are outlaws rather than soldiers.
When he walked into their sight, none of them stood to attention. At most they gave him a passing glance and returned to what they were doing.
Many openly displayed their contempt and condescension towards Tommy. As for order and respect, those are concepts that does not seem to exist for these people.
As Tommy came closer, his presence became sharper with every step.
The Frosthral warriors – now renamed as the White Bear Unit for the elites that first followed Tommy and the Black Bear Unit for the defenders of Ku Kang Plateau that joined him second - perceptively sensed the change in their commander and they all stood at attention, leaving only the clueless thousand sprawled across the square unaware.
“You maggots are certainly aware of your impending doom, ye? You guys in such a rush to join your maggots family, huh?”
Several snorted and many cursed loudly, demanding Tommy to wise up.
The two questions hang in the air with no one interested in their answers.
“Looks like none of you have two brain cells in your head to rub together. Fools.”
The cursing grew louder. If not because of the White Bear and Black Bear Units that are staring silently at them, they would have pounced at Tommy.
This young squirt thinks that he is their lord just because a princess they had never met said a thing or two.
Tommy patiently waited for their grumbling to die down. For a moment, the members of Snowdrifts that had come along seemed to see the image of Kairos overlap with Tommy.
No one knows if it was because of the sudden unnatural silence or him radiating an oppressive presence, the rowdy bunch quietened down.
“You lot deny that you ain’t fools? Then, answer me. Do you know what mission you are on?”
Not a single person replied. Indeed, they were not told what they had been chosen for, only to listen to this young boy’s instructions. They are the most unmanageable and disorderly bunch amongst the warriors. There is no way that their captains would have told them about the details of this mission, else their camp would be in a riot now.
As proud warriors, they couldn’t accept being told to obey a boy who is not fully grown.
Finally, a voice asked, “What are we here for?”
Tommy looked at the person straight in the eye and said honestly, “You are to destroy a nest of Winter Drakes. A brood of a hundred.”
None of believe their ears.
A drake could fight off ten men of the rank, but that is if they encountered each other in the wild. If there is a nest on the line, these beasts will be even more ferocious defending their territory and that is not considering if there are any eggs or hatchlings.
To tell these rag-tag group of soldiers to fight a medium brood is telling them to march to their deaths.
Even if they succeed, most of them would be dead.
It is impossible to escape their fate. They are soldiers and their families are still back home in Avalon. Many pale faces turned to Tommy for a solution. No matter if they trust him, their fate is in his hands.
“You look to me for hope, but do you know who I am?”
Silence continued to cover the square.
No, they didn’t. Except for his age, and that he is a young lad from the Snowdrifts, they do not know their commander.
“As expected of fools who would mock a stranger.”
Tommy nodded to one of the soldiers from the Bear Unit. The warrior called Sword Slave came forward and stepped in front of the thousand. He is one of the earliest to follow Tommy, and during the promotion trial, and a proficient warrior.
Facing him, the soldiers fell silent like timid kittens. They hate to admit it but the overflowing bloodlust from the man is suffocating.
The soldiers of Logres did undergo the test of real battle. The most bloodshed they experienced was on hunts to clear out the monsters near Avalon, and during which they never faced any actual threats.
If they had not fallen into the first impression pit of underestimating Tommy because of his age, they would have noticed the boy’s tremendous presence that could overpower elite warriors.
Sword Slave quickly stepped forward to introduce their commander and created a towering image of him in their hearts.
It may not be enough to completely break down their preconceived notion, but there is no longer anyone who dismiss him off as a clueless boy.
After Sword Slave finished, he joined two other warriors who are standing at full attention while awaiting Tommy’s next commands, Swordy and Red Blade. Only now did they notice that their new commander already has these many powerful subordinates.
Tommy looked at the hour and scowled, plenty of time had been wasted already.
“Captains. Step forward.”
Ten soldiers walked to the front.
“Time is scarce, we will begin training immediately. It is nothing tough. Get your men to form four lines and run around the square a hundred laps in synchronised steps. If you do not want to die, do not slack off.”
The training regime he prepared was nothing special indeed, anyone could complete the task. With the Bear Units watching, none of them dared to protest.
However, not even an hour later, all of them started complaining about how harsh the exercise is.
It was something that even non-cultivators could do, but these soldiers are behaving like it will kill them.
Seeing that none of them are putting in effort, Tommy halted them.
The soldiers were all smiles when they were told to stop.
“I told y’all we should’ve complained earlier. Wasted all these energy for nothing man.”
“Could’ve been winning games and drinking beer.”
“I say, we should just get out of the city then turn right back. Task done. Test failed. We can go home.”
That last bit was met with resounding agreement.
Tommy did not let them continue. A single glare was enough to send chills down their spines.
“This is the first time you disobeyed my commands. Perhaps it is because I have not explained this properly to you, on account of that I will give you another chance. From now on you will carry out my every word to the dot. That is your job. Get back into the line and run another hundred laps.”
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The soldiers begrudgingly returned to running around the battalion square but after a few laps, they started falling out of sequence and were grumbling nonstop under their breaths. Tommy had no choice but to call for a stop again.
This time, same as before, he spoke in a strong and steady voice, “This is the second time you have disobeyed me. I had already made myself clear that you are to carry out my instructions to the letter. Perhaps you failed your task because you made a mistake. All of us make mistakes, on account of that I will give you one last chance. Another hundred laps. Now go.”
Tommy stood back with arms crossed as he watched them like an unmoving lighthouse. The soldiers got up again to return to their run, but this time, a few of time decided not to do what he said.
“Why are you guys listening to him? Come on, we need to fight Winter Drakes and he is telling us to jog? What good will that do?”
“That’s right. Instead of doing these useless exercises, why don’t we practice combat or something?”
These soldiers incited others to rebel, but most of them remained hesitant.
“… nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two.”
The sound of Tommy counting made them quiet like water blanketing crackling flames.
“The captains of these twenty-two soldiers step forward.”
Three more soldiers stepped forward.
“What are the punishments for disobeying the direct order of a superior and inciting fellow soldiers to rebel?”
The faces of the three captains fell when asked this. The punishment is death, and the captains of those soldiers will be stripped of all ranks.
If they had only shown dissent over the orders, they would have gotten away with a few hits from the plank and not result in a capital punishment.
Although no one answered Tommy, everyone here understands what the consequences will be.
Without waiting for what’s next, each of them reacted… Running away, begging for mercy, calling others to help plea for them, but all these quickly turn into screaming or silent acceptance when they were dragged away.
Out of the two hundred casualties they can have, the team already incurred twenty-two losses before even setting off. Tommy selected new captains to replace the three and set them off to run another hundred laps.
In total, they will have to run another four hundred laps plus the fifty over times they already done thus far, but no one even squeaked.
That’s because every time they ran back to the lap’s beginning, they will see the bodies of those who had protested.
On the corpses are maggots crawling about. Every time they ran past, someone will shout at them.
“You maggots, hurry and move your behinds, imagine the drakes are after you!
“Hey, you! Don’t fall out of line! If you don’t run properly you will join your maggot family like them!”
Over time, they grew to have a deep-rooted fear of maggots.
Their lips tremble from fear, their legs shook from the laps, and stomachs quaked from hunger, and just like this they ran for twelve hours straight.
Considering that they had to run with every step in sequence, it was impressive to have finished this fast. The potential unlocked with the fear of death is indeed tremendous.
At night, after shoving down their dinner like they hadn’t had any food for years, the miserable lot was brought back to the battalion square.
When they saw giant steaming pots, each of them was stumped. When told to climb in, they almost fainted. Is their commander a demon? This is planning to boil them alive.
“Help! He’s a demon!”
“MOOOMMYY!!”
“Someone, help us! Commander Tommy wants to eat us!”
“Noooo, I’m still young!”
“Please, please please! I have two missuses waiting for me at home.”
“Wha?! Eat him first, he already has two missuses. I’m still single!”
Watching how much they feared Tommy was an amazing sight. These men had transformed from the unruly bunch into this bird shape in less than a day.
Tommy cleared his throat and received instant silence. He could swear that he was only preparing his voice to shout at them, but he hadn’t done anything yet. Why are they behaving so meekly?
“Ahem… These are not boiling pots. They are medical solutions to prevent aching muscles in the morning.”
The men scratched their noses or head when they found out they had been frightened for nothing. The embarrassment made many faces red. Still, they obediently went into a pot and sat down inside. Because there are three to five individuals sharing each pot, the medical effect is less than optimal.
The following day, when they gathered for their training, many still had sore limbs but it is much better than expected. Unfortunately, they soon realised that their commander had not been merciful last night when he gave them the medical solution to soak in. It was all for the second day of training which is even more brutal.
They started out running with perfectly synchronised movements like the day before. The slightest mistake results in the lengthening of their exercise. They ran so long that none of them could tell exactly how many laps had passed until they are all exhausted and even then, they are forced to keep in sequence.
It was then that Tommy made them start the next phase of the regime. They stood in an odd combat formation that none of them had ever seen before.
Once the soldiers memorised their positions, Tommy made them run in clockwise rotation.
Despite being in a new formation, the hours of training they had endured thus far had equipped them with the synchronisation their commander expected.
Unfortunately, that is only the beginning. They made turns together without error but when Tommy commanded them about turn and run in the anti-clockwise direction, the entire formation broke up.
Tommy called for a halt then plucked out those who made the mistake and those that were adjacent in the formation.
“You are dead now,” he addressed the two groups he picked out, “As corpses, tonight you shall sleep on the cold ground next to the maggots. Sword Slave, write their names down.”
Sword Slave stepped forward and yelled, “Rejoice, you maggots get to return to your family of worms.”
The men paled just at the thought. The second group that were picked out just because their neighbours fell out of step started arguing with the first group. Tommy did not stop them, and only after fifteen minutes that he breaks up the group for… breakfast.
Yes, they only finished the morning portion of the exercise.
During the afternoon session, Tommy continued making them run in formation with frequent change of directions. At first the soldiers could handle the changes, but once they became exhausted and lost their focus, there are more and more soldiers falling out of sequence like before.
Again, Tommy plucked out the people who made mistakes and their neighbours and gave them the same punishment, with the ones who were caught again having their duration extended to two nights.
That evening, after that their medical soak, Tommy’s victims were rounded up and brought to a creepy, quiet grave. They were not given any blankets, much less bedrolls, and only a pit to sleep in. In the pit, several buckets of maggots were thrown in. Images of the corpses they saw the day before flooded their minds and along with the squirming sound of worms made certain that none of them will have a restful sleep.
The first week of training passed this way. Although the exercise is repetitive, the soldiers kept making mistakes whenever they became exhausted. By the end, everyone had slept in the graveyard at least once.
Now, if somebody mentions the word ‘maggots’, all of them will quiver, and because of their training, even their shaking is synchronised. They secretly thought that the phobia of worms, Vermiphobia, Scoleciphobia, and Helminthphobia, are all words created because of army commanders like Tommy, otherwise why will there be three words for this phobia?
On the start of the second week of training, the regime changed again. The soldiers had improved greatly, especially their endurance. It is time to train their reaction speed. Instead of just changing the directions, Tommy now frequently makes them change their running speed, alternating between a jog to a full sprint. Unlike the first week of training where everyone can about turn the moment Tommy shouted a command, now they have to listen carefully to the instructions and act accordingly. He is merciless when training his soldiers, quite alike a certain Kairos.
When the second week passed, the princess’ housekeeper came to inform Tommy that his allotted time to train these soldiers had been used up. The wizened man with fluffy white hair came to the army camp without a hint of arrogance in his manners. Unlike the spoilt princess, he knows well who he cannot offend, especially someone this young and with unlimited potential.
The years he passed in a corrupted court helped him make good decisions.
He bowed deeply and conveyed the necessity to start the next phase of the test immediately. Tommy did not refuse and soon they were on their way towards the Winter Drakes’ nest.
The tension is exceptionally high. It is expected because the soldiers never wield a sword during their training and now they are out to rout a medium sized Winter Drakes’ nest.
The first few kilometres were completely safe thanks to Avalon frequently clearing out the nearby nests, however as they ventured further into the wilds, monsters started springing out. Closer to the human civilizations, these creatures are much weaker than those found in the depths. The housekeeper thought that Tommy would not waste time on them and head straight to the drakes’ brood, but the group purposefully detoured and headed to the nearest monster nest they could find.
Outside a nest of Stone Biter Rats, the soldiers prepare for their first battle. Although they looked like elites from their pristine equipment and orderly movement, they are all pale and fearful.
Of all the monsters close to Avalon, these are the most vicious.
Descended from the Ravagers, they are capable of biting through boulders and many kinds of metals like their ancestors. Of course, these rodents are the mortal realm’s variants, whereas Ravagers are actual celestial realm creatures, and the power between the two species cannot be fairly compared.
The Ravagers are war beasts reared for the original celestial war where the first creatures were created to fight for their gods, and they are made specifically to break through fortified strongholds. While the Stone Biter Rats have lost most of their ancestor’s strength over the years, they still retained enough power to kill a fully armoured cultivator with a well-aimed bite.
It is understandable that these soldiers who had never been in a real battle before are nervous, but considering the equipment Logres had assigned them, Tommy only felt they are ridiculous.
The standard issue for Avalon’s army is the Beast Rank Heaven Grade equipment, Lamia Scale mails and Lotus Iron Longswords.
One must know that before Kairos introduced the Star Rune Weapons into the market, the best equipment that Saint Empire blacksmiths could make are only at that rank.
Logres, indeed, has the best craftsmen on Gaia. Even their lowest ranked cultivator would be using a Beast Rank Earth Grade weapon, only a grade lower than Saint Empire’s best.
Tommy secretly shook his head. He used to rush at orcs with abandon while using handcrafted weapons that are lower than even the lowest Man Rank Huang Grade trash weapons.
No, that is not true either. The material of his self-made knuckles at that time is indeed Man Rank Huang Grade, but because it is made by his twelve-year-old self, it is considered unranked. Yet, because Kairos had engraved the Starfire runes on it, the searing burns it inflict can compare to Beast Grade weapons.
Tommy’s thoughts about his soldiers slightly improved, but not by much. During his first life-and-death battle, he was only twelve while these soldiers that are shaking in their boots are all grown-ups!
“Go in your formation, and whatever you do, never drop out of your position.”
Hearing Tommy’s deathly cold tone, the soldiers shook like leaves. They feared him more than they would any rat.