The training was hard. Robert had gone through intense military education since childhood, but because of his specialization, it mainly focused on skills and not body muscles. Still, he knew how heavy infantry trained. While they needed enough strength and endurance to move freely with all the weighty equipment, most load was carried by the inbuilt exoskeleton. Therefore, they spent more time studying tactics, and psychological preparations, working on shooting skills, remembering all military tech and abilities of possible enemies, leaving at most four hours per day for their physique. However, militia with cold weapons went far beyond that.
Endurance was always a very important quality for soldiers, but their squad sergeant Daniel, who was a member of Baron’s guards, made it the main point of the whole training. In their first meeting, when he appeared inside the tent, he looked like a nice guy. Not tall by local standards, only slightly higher than Robert, with dark brown skin and eyes of the same color, he had a wide smile on his face. He wasn’t the biggest either, having even a small belly, easily visible through a linen shirt. There were no attempts from the first encounter to make a strong impression. Nothing at all.
Without any swearing or shouts, the sergeant quickly organized them into one group and even made small excursions around the camp to show where all the needed facilities were, including the kitchen, toilets, and bath. Soon after, they went to storage to get new belongings. To Roberts's surprise, several items were quite big. Two sets of linen shirts and pants, three pairs of footcloth, and leather boots. A metal flask, a soup plate, and a spoon. Sewing accessories with some threads. Toothbrush, made from some kind of animal hair, powder, and a small piece of soap. Blanket and additional cloak, that seemed to be waterproof. Flint and a short knife. Moreover, that was not all list, everything was fitted in the ordinary sack with straps, making it something like an improvised, but familiar backpack. Everything seemed too good for medieval technology, but then Robert remembered the mage’s existence in this world, whose focus was on production and new technologies. Also, he never really studied what warriors carried on themselves in those times – most popular articles or videos focused solely on weapons or armor and not on other necessities of that time.
On top of this noticeable baggage, everyone got leather chest armor, cuisses, and vambraces, reinforced with metal strips, with the addition of an open helmet with wide brims. The latter covered ears, but left cheeks and nose unprotected. All this gear was worn over a thin multilayer jacket. Rob even managed to find correct names from his memory – brigandine and aketon respectively. Together, while being fully equipped, Robert felt uncomfortable with weight and heat. Taking into account the goal of training, which was set by Daniel, it very quickly turned into some kind of torture. It didn’t look like that at first when the sergeant woke the whole squad earlier in the morning. He even gave everyone enough time to dress up, before telling them to run with the same gentle smile. After that, slowly but unstoppably, it turned into pure torture.
Their first squad was still the only group currently in the camp, so they had all the space for themselves. Running a full circle around the fences took some time. Most, feeling possible trick, kept an average pace, but few went on maximum speed either in a dumb attempt to impress the sergeant or just trying to compete with each other. The third lesser group was quite slow with Robert being the last one. Still, Daniel wasn’t bothered by their too-stretched chain of soldiers, waiting patiently for the first one to arrive. When Rob finally reached a starting point, he was surprised by the whole squad squatting without any rest. They didn’t have any weight on them, but Robert didn’t notice happiness on their faces, especially when the sergeant ordered them to run again.
“What? Do you think your enemy will wait until you can recover your fatigue? Or do you think that enemy reinforcement will not target you just because you are already tired after battling for some time? Nope, quite the opposite – it is easier to break through the enemy’s lines exactly in the weakest spot, and you don’t want to be in that spot as it is a straight road to a graveyard. So, fucking move, soldiers!” the sergeant loudly roared in the end, demonstratively taking out a small wooden club from its belt. Soon it was used for its intended purpose – the hit in the arm to one of Robert’s comrades wasn’t strong, but neither it was weak.
“Do you think I am blind if I don’t run along with you? Any attempts to stop will meet a punishment!” proclaimed Daniel after the whole squad was again gathered near the starting point. This time no one tried to set any record, trying to maintain the speed of the slowest runner – Rob. However, for the latter that didn’t help at all. His squad mates didn’t blame him for his weakness and used him as a reference, but on the other hand, Robert had to move all the way without any stops. It was even noticed by the sergeant, who immediately commented:
“So, now you are moving as a squad, which is good, but not working out on full effort will backlash onto you because, in a few days, I will start to add a time limit on each circle. It’s all up to you right now.”
New info made several soldiers increase their pace, but most still kept it around Robert’s, despite the warning. Rob, on the other hand, was occupied with his legs, making them move by sheer willpower. He lost the count of time, slowed almost to walking, but kept moving. His knees and the front side of his shin hurt as hell, the muscles in his legs burned with fire, the heavy weight of body armor pushed him to the ground and each breath took all his concentration. His adaptation ability couldn’t trigger in such conditions, at least until he would stop, but Robert wanted to continue as long as possible. The more he pushed himself above his possibilities, the more he would get in return, while below-average strain might be a lost opportunity. Taking into account the time needed to restore his mana after that and the limited effect on growth, he couldn’t enjoy constant restoration and increase of strength with each usage of ability. It had to be more like hundreds, if not thousands, of training cycles, where each next one had to be harder than the previous one to overcome his current limits.
Therefore, he pushed himself forward. The world narrowed to a few things – his breath, ground, and leg movement. His body screamed in sincere wish to stop, but he just threw such thoughts away. Yes, Robert was physically weak. The main reason for it was that his war just didn’t need a strong body, but a mind. And he couldn’t say it was easy to train full control of hundreds of separate machines. No, quite the opposite. He started from just one, slowly working on that number, constantly increasing his limit. Brain modification gave him only the possibility to do it, but not the default skill. In a sense, it was his version of working out. Still, it required the same similar mentality of regular increasing efforts. Therefore, he continued to push himself until his body collapsed and everything went dark for a moment.
When he managed to open his eyes, Robert found himself lying on the ground in front of the smiling sergeant. Half of his mates were looking at him with a mixture of pity, anxiety, and mocking, while the other half was surprisingly busy trying to recover from exercises. Few even had blank faces from exhaustion.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“I must admit you went far ahead of what I anticipated, but that’s great. It would show everyone that their bigger mass doesn’t give them an overwhelming advantage in future battles if they can’t use it to their maximum potential. However, you will get no indulgence from me because you are weak. It is your problem when you decided to volunteer into the militia, especially in the first squad,” Daniel said with a serious face, looking at Robert.
“No need, sergeant, I can, and I will handle everything,” was the only answer Rob could give him.
“Good. Now, listen up, everyone. You have fifteen minutes for rest, and we will continue our training.”
The announcement led to a few loud moans from tired soldiers, but no one tried to refuse. They didn’t have any options. Additionally, the sergeant’s club hadn’t disappeared and was still quite heavy and fast in its action. Fortunately for Robert, this time was enough to trigger his adaptation ability. A fresh wave washed away all exhaustion from his body. His mind was still tired from constant overstrain but nothing could be done with it. He just mentally braced himself.
At least my spirit body can guarantee I can survive such training…
This thought helped him a lot in the next hours as strength training started. He had imagined something similar to bodybuilding gyms after seeing all the free usage of metal but was met with a completely different reality. They indeed had some training weight, but usage of it was not what he could think of it, despite its simplicity. The whole goal of their future strength training was carrying a thing from one point to another. Nothing more. No push-ups, bench presses, squats, or biceps curls. Only carrying. However, there were two problems with it.
The first was that things to carry didn’t have any comfortable shape as dumbbells or kettlebells. The easiest was a sack with sand, but most of them looked like strange metal scrap without any handles, often too big to even keep it in hands without noticeable efforts. Second, the route. It started with just flat ground and went up to almost an obstacle course in the end with balancing on logs, a narrow pass between two walls on a rising hill with a huge incline, and even a 1.5-meter (around 5 feet) fence in the end. Moreover, the sergeant forbade them to take off their armor.
“As soldiers, you need to have the ability to carry yourself, your weapon, and your backpack in any circumstances. Sometimes it can be your wounded squad mate or parts of engineering constructs. You will not know for sure. For that, you need to have strong bodies with enough endurance. If you can lift heavy weight from the ground, but can’t even carry it, what's the point in it? Moreover, there is a required minimum level in this exercise for the possible position of personal guard in Baron’s forces. I will not tell you what it is, so you will not relax after achieving it… If you even manage to do it… So, start working! What are staring at like dumb donkeys? Move!”
This exercise was easier than running. Each weight had a marking of difficulty, and everyone started from the lightest one. That led to a short queue, giving time for rest. Also, they could make stops to take a breath during the route, but not for long as the sergeant started to pay attention while playing with his club. Still, easier didn’t mean that it was easy, as even going through the whole course without additional weights in the hands was a hard task. Failing in the last third part could even lead to fall from a few meter heights (6+ ft.) and there was no softening material, just sand. One of such failures almost led Robert to drop a metal piece on his own head.
The training continued after a short break for food when they managed to get a full plate of porridge with meat. Of course, they used their own plates, as no one even bothered to make tables for them. They ate on the ground, quickly washed everything in dedicated barrels, and followed the sergeant. Rob hoped it was the last thing for today, as he felt mentally spent. He recovered his strength after another triggering adaptation ability, but fatigue after constantly pushing to his limits hadn’t disappeared. Robert was sure he would get used to it. He just needed to live through the first hard days. Therefore, he sighed and started to listen to new explanations.
“Good. Right now, after you have all properly heated up, we can finally start working on your weapon handling. As a front-line squad, you will meet the enemy head-on with shields and axes. Not only you will need to defend your mates, but also you will need to push forward. Soldiers behind will be armed with halberds and will hit the enemies over your head, but that will demand cooperative training later. Let me tell you that the ratio between front-liners and others will be around 1 to 3, and your quantity is not enough whole Baron’s militia. Therefore, more soldiers will get the same position. Yes, it will be more dangerous, but only from such a role you can get an opportunity to serve as personal guards. And yes, if you are not able to match the criteria, you will be demoted and moved to another squad. So better learn harder. Moreover, if any one of you had any experience in melee combat, keep your mouth shut and follow my orders, as I don’t give a fuck about your skills!”
Once again, the sergeant was harsh with his words, but everyone kept silent. Soon they lined up before the armory where a gloomy quartermaster with a serious face gave out their training equipment. As Daniel said, it was an ordinary round shield with metal edges and an axe. The latter had a short and slightly curved dull blade from one side and a pick from the other. There was nothing special about it, just an ordinary axe. Only lighter and smaller than Robert imagined, not more than a few kilos (3-4 pounds), maybe even less. However, just an hour later it felt enormously heavy.
The new exercise again looked quite plain. They stood before a dense line of wooden dummies with their weapon ready, almost touching each other with their shoulders. Equipped with a shield, which was easy to carry as it had a handle and strap on the inner side and an axe, they had a single task – to hit the target. As always, simplicity didn’t mean easiness, as the number of hits was hard to count. The sergeant loudly pointed to where they had to hit every few seconds without any stops. Robert even wondered at first how it was even possible to shout for so long, but soon all thought process was focused on a dummy. Muscles, burning with pain and unwillingness, didn’t wish to move. The collision of an axe with a wood hit his forearm with a noticeable impact and it was hard just to keep his grip on a weapon handle by this time. Accumulated fatigue made him almost dance on his spot, regularly crashing into his neighbors. Alas, they didn’t have any time, no energy to curse on his clumsiness because they were no better.
“Right shoulder… The more you tired… left leg… the better your body tries to save your strength… right arm… you don’t want to strain your muscles until the moment before hit… head… even if you are stronger than any of your enemies… left shoulders… you will become tired and meeting with rested enemy… head… soon or later will definitely kill you… neck….”
Daniel continued this training for a few hours with one break for resting. Unfortunately, their day didn’t end on it as after this exercise they took their weapons and started to walk around the camp. They didn’t need to run, but even walking for two more hours after an intensive workout turned into another torture. By the evening simply carrying an axe felt a pure burden for Robert. He didn’t know how everyone managed to endure everything without his Adaptation ability. Moreover, that supernatural power of energy restoration and physical growth granted him only one single point in Endurance.
What did I want? In a way, it just accelerates my gains by decreasing resting time with a possible small increase rate, but not giving everything on a plate after a few push-ups. Must work for everything. On the other hand, a 10% increase in my overall endurance is huge. No need to belittle my result. Moreover, it is just the first day. As it was said by Albert the “Mighty Fulcrum” Einstein – no pain, no gain. Or was it Archimedes?