I am so dead tired… I thought I was weak, but the gap with these living machines appeared much bigger than even my worthiest predictions. Why don’t they just stop to rest? There is literally no rush. Five minutes rest every four hours is a real mockery. No stops for meals during the day doesn’t help at all… I already see that the military career in medieval times differs much more than I anticipated. Especially, when there are no horses in this shitty world!
In the past few days, Robert tried his best to communicate with soldiers to find out about surroundings, laws and everything that could help him to make a proper plan for survival. At first, most guards didn’t want to answer his questions or explain things, but later Rob managed to hook them with his foolish or sometimes even idiotic assumptions about ordinary things. Ordinary for locals, of course.
That quickly turned into some kind of game, when Robert fantasized, intentionally making the oddest version, while soldiers laughed at them before finally correcting him. To his surprise, in some cases, he didn’t need to imagine anything - just explaining historical facts from Earth was enough to create a loud hysterical laughter. One of them, for example, was about horses because there was none here.
They had their own version of donkey as a draft animal, but it couldn’t be used in battles properly. Too slow, too unruly, too scared of loud sounds or the smallest wounds, too territorial. There were some attempts to make hybrids with wild species, but it wasn’t cost-efficient and very time-consuming in comparison with the pitiful end result. Therefore, despite of ability to transfer goods using animals, cavalry didn’t exist. Most soldiers and even armies fought on foot. The sole exception were high-rank knights with their drakes. That creature looked like a mixture of a lizard and a horse. Being a predator, it was very difficult to tame and could be born only in the wild. The cost of owning one was bigger than a few villages, but with a knight on top of it, and together with thick scale and natural aggressiveness, it had a devastating effect on the battlefield.
That led Robert to understand who knights were. Elite warriors with superpowers were true rulers of this world. Each noble house only kept its status because of its leader being a knight. Moreover, the strength, or better to say the rank, of the knight, was a limitation of possible status. You had to be the knight to be on top, while you couldn’t be there if you were just an ordinary man. However, not every knight managed to get their status to rise and often served their more successful colleagues, even when the latter had the same strength.
The most interesting part was the existence of mages and their guild. Breaking all of Robert’s expectations, they were more like engineers with the ability to create magic construction, but none were like the classic ones, familiar to all fantasy readers from Earth. No fireball, no magic arrow, no earthquake or icebolt. Their magic circles could create similar effects, but in real life had almost no offensive capabilities in real battle. Too long to make, too big, too static, and always needed a constant source of energy to supply it. So, it wasn’t strange that knights, having more combat power, made mages their servants. Yes, with higher status than any ordinary citizens, but still servants. Their towers were their homes, schools, places of work, and prisons simultaneously. Mages were forbidden to own anything outside because it belonged already to someone – to knights. Precisely speaking to hundreds of them.
All land on the single continent of this world was divided between nobility of different ranks, starting from barons and up to dukes. Each of them obeyed their sovereigns, making a balancing system of power, where only five dukes had the highest status. Not only that, but these five also belonged to the strongest warriors. From colorful explanations and obvious exaggerations Robert still understood that even tens of soldiers wouldn’t pose a threat to them in melee. The main reason was the knight’s superpowers, which were more powerful with each next rank.
Even the squire, a newbie knight, possessed an extreme physique, being stronger, faster, and having more stamina than any trained warrior. However, the real change was when the squire managed to handle his inner energy covering his armor or sword with it. That gave him the rank of knight and the possibility to ignore most attacks or easily penetrate steel with any weapon while he had the energy to spare. Or spirit, as it was named by soldiers. The next step was a grand knight’s rank and ability to release ranged energy attacks. The peak was an Archiknight with unknown power. Circulating rumors often spoke about the domain with zero details on what it was. Why rumors? The reason was simple – that rank was something directly from legends with no one currently alive to wield it.
“So, why don’t you become a knight yourself, Greg? Seems a good way to achieve more in this life,” asked Robert the nearest guard. Even younger than Rob, the man had a round child face with a constant blush on his cheeks, but his constitution of literally giant with huge callous hands destroyed any harmless image. Being the tallest in the group, he towered Robert by more than a head. What was more – despite huge heights, everyone seemed quite proportional and didn’t pose any problems that real-life giants from Earth had to meet.
“Me? Knight?” small silent pause before everyone broke into loud laughter.
“Yes, Gregory, you definitely have to become a knight! I remember it was your biggest dream when you were small,” the older soldier interjected with a wide smile.
“Oh, and that wooden sword that he wouldn’t leave at all, even when he needed to poop,” added another one, before stopping in a strange posture with a raised hand and very serious face.
“I don’t believe my training won't help me to become a knight! I will break my natural limitations and emerge victorious!” A new laugh made the young man's cheeks even redder before he made a first attempt to defend himself.
“Listen, I was a stupid child back there. Now I am not, I am already sixteen!”
“Hey, it was basically a year ago. He was! Ha-ha-ha,” no one wanted to stop mocking the poor giant. Robert even felt small guilt for his innocent question, but, when he heard the real age of Greg, his solo thought was “fuck”. It took another minute for everyone to calm down, but finally, Rob got his answer.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“Everyone has spiritual energy inside. It is basically a life force, granted us by the God of Nature, Life, and Death, Gaokeren. However, not everyone can sense it and even less can feel it. Without the latter, you can’t hope to manipulate it. This is an insurmountable obstacle before most – you can’t train this feeling from null. Either you have it, or not. It is like vision or hearing. Blind or deaf can’t train what they are physically incapable of. On the other hand, the more energy you have, the stronger your body will be. Our Gregory is very gifted, but unfortunately, he doesn’t have a spiritual sense. It is mostly an inherited ability and very rarely appears across ordinary folks.”
So, inner or spiritual energy is mana. Moreover, everyone in this world can boost their physique by unconscious use of it, which is almost the same as my adaptation ability. Crap! Here you go, Rob, no advantage at all, except for my survivability… At least I can fit perfectly as a native… Also, no hope for becoming a knight – the description of adaptability definitely mentioned an uncontrolled usage of mana.
“Feeling energy is just a first step because without additional implantation of spirit heart to greatly increase energy capacity you can’t become a knight – only a mage. Knowing their destiny, not sure if is worth it despite their higher status… The spirit heart is a very rare crystal and their mining is strictly controlled, so without proper linage or merits, you can’t access it at all,” Benedict finished brief explanations and again focused on the road from laid stone.
Yeah, sir Robert or Rob the Grey are dead before birth. It is more likely that Private Robert Flop is my future… What a downgrade from a lieutenant…
Their journey continued for a whole two days without any unpleasant surprises, fortunately. Each evening soldiers set a camp with a bonfire, showing their familiarity with the process. At least nights were warm, so Robert didn’t have to freeze. He was given a blanket but wasn’t allowed in tents. He could eat normal and nonpoisonous food, but not wine that they used to drink before going to sleep. Same with clothes – even if they had a spare set, they didn’t want to share it.
No one treated him as a captive. However, there was unspeakable distance in social status between the personal guards of a baron and a former villager with the potential to join the militia. They were not here to wipe his snots, therefore no unexpected will to teach him fighting, no valuable contacts of hospitable innkeepers or possible employers, who could later appear as a hidden great master. Rob didn’t even manage to find out all their names, no saying about their past. However, it was quite an obvious reaction from them, and Robert was still grateful for their explanations. His guess was that the main reason for verbal help was compassion, but so what. Them, being pitiful about his fictional past, didn’t impact him in the slightest.
The endpoint of this endless walk was the outskirts of a large village. Adaptability helped Robert to endure this and even granted his efforts with confirmation of Endurance's increase, but that didn’t make him happy. Exhaustion took all his dopamine away from the acknowledgment of his achievement because that was the longest foot journey in his entire life by a huge margin. Moreover, he carried only his own body, while all soldiers were basically like small hills, in their metal armor, with weapons and enormous backpacks on the back. Those backpacks looked like ordinary bags with rope straps attached to them and definitely were not comfortable to carry, considering the number of useful items inside. Still, no one complained, keeping Rob's mouth tightly shut.
“Gregory and Jonathan, take Robert to the investigator, and if everything is confirmed, to the recruitment center. Keep an eye on him, just in case,” he heard a loud command and turned around only to see how all the soldiers followed their leader without even bothering to say goodbye.
“As expected,” muttered Rob with a sigh, focusing on a settlement before his eyes.
This one was quite big, much bigger than the previous one that ended up burned by raiders. He almost immediately noticed a few key differences. The main one was in much tighter space for each house with very limited yards, most of which were not meant for growing anything at all. Instead, seeing many pillars of smoke on the far side of the village, Robert concluded that it might be specialized in some kind of production mostly while surrounding settlements could be responsible for food supply. Most of the buildings were one-story tall and rarely with two floors, all with clay-covered walls and wooden roofs. Here and there, small towers were located with soldiers on top. Robert didn’t know if they were for military purposes or just some mind of law enforcement.
In addition, there were people. Dressed not only in plain linen clothes but also in a noticeable variety of leather and even metal, they could show off with different colors and shades. There was even a man in the pink shirt. The sole exception was red. As far as Rob could see, no one wore it at all, so a reasonable assumption was some kind of ban on it. Also, there was not only a main road but almost every big one was made of tightly stone bricks. Tens of people were walking around, clearly absorbed in their work. A few children run across in streets, clearly playing, but that’s it. Seemed like laziness was out of option here.
At least Robert didn’t notice any noticeable difference in the appearance of locals from earthlings. Only height. On the other hand, they had a mixture of everything with sometimes strange results in Robert's opinion. The dark brown skin of a young woman with bright blue eyes and red long hair. Or a blonde guy with Asian facial features and freckles. However, everything looked extremely natural, and not like they wanted to stand out by changing their appearance.
And of course, everyone is prettier than me… What did I want, if my face literally looks like it met with brick many times in childhood, and hasn't recovered after that? Oh, with that many worlds, I can definitely find the one with the proper perception of beauty. Proper for me… Jokes aside, Robert, this world must be a step ahead in technology than Earth medieval. Too many colors are available for ordinary villagers. Plate armor and even swords for personal guards, with their cost of manufacturing and maintenance. I even saw a public bath, I think. Or am I mistaken? Mages must have given this world quite an impact. I wonder if they have guns or maybe cannons? As far as I remember, the latter was used a century before plate armor had appeared.
“Hey, stop looking around, and let’s go! We don’t have time for sightseeing,” barked Jonathan, making Robert turn attention to him. Scratching the back of his head, Rob innocently smiled before nodding. He silently followed the two soldiers that were discussing their future plans between them, while completely ignoring Rob. That gave him more time to observe his surroundings and to repeat his made-up story before the investigator questioned him.
Thirty minutes’ walk confirmed the enormous size of the village that was more like a small town. Maybe it even was, Robert didn’t know that. He hadn’t seen any kind of official residence, but there was a huge tower on the far side of the settlement. However, whether it was a town or not, it certainly had a military purpose. Several huge blacksmiths and many other production facilities were boosting with activity. Tens of carts filled with food before a line of inns. He even saw a few brothels. Before one of them fat worker was restoring the signboard, coloring faded letters with a happy grin.
Oh, I see now. The war is coming, and this might be the place for training the future army. Internecine war during apocalypses – what a nice combination. Just as I always wished for.