The uneventful road to the military base in Avden Town was spent sleeping. Not having enough rest during the night, Robert tried to use the moment to get a proper rest while he could. Moreover, the dreamless darkness helped him to calm his mind after a sudden breakup. He had no doubts that it would take more time to stop feeling a painful ache in his heart. It was just a matter of the amount of it before the bright memories would fade enough not to bring anything more than a sad smile. Still, that was the thing for the future. Right now the image of Beth was too clear in his mind.

I hope the mission will help me to forget… Damn, what a stupid thought. I had a wish to have a normal life, but on the first mishap, I ran back to what I was accustomed to. Rob, that is precisely what you wanted, including an experience of fucking up your relationships. Be happy that it was handed in such a calm way… not that you would have had any other end in your situation with a leash on your neck. Appreciate it.

This thought didn’t make him completely turn a new page, but still eased the uncomfortable feeling of emptiness inside him. Robert was sure that everything could have gone differently if they were in other circumstances. Unfortunately, they were not. The war gave a limited ability to decide their own fate. Dictating everyone’s action, it didn’t stop on it, constantly rolling a dice whether someone would live or not, thus adding even more chaos and making any attempt to plan anything futile. Once again, life had shown it wasn’t fair, the world wasn’t revolting around him and only his desire, no matter how strong it was, wasn’t enough to change the whole reality.

Maybe if I was stronger… Like God-like stronger to singlehandedly win the war… Maybe only in such a way, I could reverse the situation… But it sounds like “what if” – a pointless attempt to imagine something that you will never experience because even if you have managed to achieve it, it doesn’t mean that the whole world will follow your imaginary plan. Wishful thinking… Still, the power may be indeed an answer to some obstacles.

Robert had quite a progress through this time in steel manipulation. Despite the loss of his Hive-Mind brain, his mind was still much more capable of information processing than the average human. His ability to conjure the element only weakened the toll, feeling more like an additional limb. Yes, Rob had to train muscles to make them stronger or to work on the precision of movements, but overall it wasn’t that hard. Nope, the hardest obstacle that he made a focus of his regular training was to overcome his limited ability to imagine objects.

Therefore, Robert’s concentration on that task had given a result after a year of constant efforts. His biggest achievement was the ability to recreate a part of the scene before his eyes on the moving coin. It wasn’t a hundred percent copy but was close enough to it. The randomness didn’t give him the possibility to cheat on himself, while not limiting him to a set of trained objects. Even the volume of the steel he could summon had increased a lot, currently equaling to the size of two arms. Rob’s arms that got some meat on them after being fueled by an endless flow of mana.

Luckily, his growth ability didn’t increase his height, focusing on his body proportions first. Robert’s lean athletic figure was almost gone by this point, slowly turning him into a massive hulk. Taking into account a bald head, short beard, and rough facial features, Rob’s appearance was far from handsome, leaning into a dangerous type. Of course, that was reflected in his Status Screen, showing an overall improvement.

Human - Dragon Hybrid

Strength - 30 Agility - 16 Constitution - 30

Perception - 16 Mind - 31 Mana flow - 35

Elemental Affinity: Metal (Steel)

Active ability: Conjuring an element

Passive traits: Former God’s Envoy, Rejuvenation, Endless growth

However, that didn’t make Robert happy at all. His huge physical strength in comparison to locals wasn’t useful in the slightest during the battles but was always exploited by officers at other times. Moving ammunition boxes or corpses, pulling the stuck truck from the mud, unloading supplies, carrying a machine gun to a new position – every single time it was he who did it, ignoring the usual order that was used by others. At least such treatment eased the demand to get proper-sized boots for his huge feet. Still, he was fed up with such a permanent assignment.

“Can you help us with loading? You can think of it as a payment for transportation,” the driver didn’t even blink while asking Rob the very same thing after they got to Avden Town. Robert used all his willpower to stop himself from insulting the soldier right on the spot or even breaking his jaw. Slowly exhaling to prevent any actions that he would regret, he answered.

“No. You can send a check to the major who has sent me here,” dropping down from the empty tuck, he only made a few steps when he caught a barely audible “bastard”. Turning around, Rob quickly approached the driver, before putting his palm on the man’s shoulder.

“Friend, you know I can hear you. I am big but not deaf. So, you better keep your thoughts to yourself or else I will be glad to use my fist to forcefully shove back all the words your flighty mouth managed to produce… and it can be quite bloody. Do you get it?”

“You will not dare, private. I have a higher rank,” the driver tried to oppose, but was interrupted with a sharp pain from a squeezed shoulder. Feeling as if it was put under the press, it was on the brink of crushing it by sheer force. The fact that the soldier had to raise his head high in the sky just to see Rob’s face, didn’t help a situation.

“Oh, sir corporal, I am… not sorry. And I will dare because the major who ordered me to come here and wait for him will protect me from any punishment… Not that you will be physically capable of seeing it yourself. You know, corpses struggle with that. So, either you shut up or you can continue your opinion about me in loud while testing the limits of my patience and rationality… Nothing to say? Good. Have fun with loading.”

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

Releasing the driver, Robert went away without turning around. Despite his steady walking, he was shouting about his own stupidity inside his mind. The impulse of anger was clearly a result of a bad mood from the breakup and might lead to much dire consequences. There was some stretching in army rules, but discipline and hierarchy were too important to neglect them openly and not during the battle. The rule of shooting the deserters was kept without exceptions not without a reason. Fortunately, the accident was resolved without problems and Robert was picked up by the major later in the evening only to be put into another truck for the night trip.

The morning had met him in an enormous military camp, full of soldiers and equipment. Rob had never seen so many troops, gathered in one place. Hundreds of armored carriers, several dozens of tanks, and even ten dirigibles. Looking from the truck at the moving masses, it was the first time when he really realized the scale of war. Robert knew some numbers. He knew that the defense lines, where he personally had fought for a year, were stretching up to the horizon and further, reaching hundreds of kilometers. However, in most cases, the battlefield for him was limited to up to five or six companions, which already sounded a lot. This time he saw tens of thousands.

I bet the major will try to use the future offensive operation as a cover for our mission. Not a chance that such force is gathered just for fun…

The lines of boxes with ammunition seemed endless. Located on an open field right under the sky, they were definitely meant to be used, not stored. And Rob knew how many shells were spent by artillery each day. The mountains of cases were gathered near firing positions only to be sent back to factories for recast. The same was true with the storage of crystallized fuel - toborium, which the whole realm used as a source of energy instead of diesel or petrol. Those crystals existed here from the beginning and had weirdly pushed the technology, not giving the ability to create a plane, but producing huge metal monsters with ease.

Rob had never tried to find out more about it as it didn’t change anything for him. It was like an upgraded version of an ordinary coal with much bigger potential. Nothing more. The bullets still could kill. The shelling was scarier and much deadlier. Even a simple bayonet might lead to death with one unlucky hit. And all of them were never dependent on this toborium, thus making it just an interesting fact and not something crucial for survival to dive into it. Robert had enough things that he marked as more useful than knowledge of the ore that he might never meet again in other realms. Like resting.

The long road through a military base had ended near a big tent almost on the edge of a camp. It didn’t have any special marking to indicate its belongings to any company or army. Just a plain dark grey cloth from all sides. It wasn’t even much better than medieval versions from the first world. The simplicity of construction together with the need for resource savings during prolonged war couldn’t bring much on the table for an upgrade. Still, it won over a sleeping inside trenches with ease. Especially in raining season.

“Follow me,” ordered the major, leaving the passenger seat of the truck and entering the tent. The loud laugh, which was coming from inside, died out instantly the moment the officer appeared in a doorframe. Robert had to tilt his head not to his forehead, which almost led to the crashing into the motionless figure of his new commander. Side-stepping in the last moment to avoid the contact, he clumsily caught his balance, before finally looking around.

Quite a common view of the tent with beds, random boxes, few racks, and personal belongings scattered everywhere differed from an accustomed one only by a single thing - a round table in the center of the tent. There were five people around it, currently standing still and eyeing the major. However, the set of cards and smoking cigarettes were a straightforward sign of what they were doing just a while ago.

“No drinking,” the officer had warned them, while moving his heavy gaze from one soldier to another, “This is Roberto, a new addition to our squad. I see that getting to know each other didn’t cause any problems. Hope it will be the same with him. Be ready for tomorrow. The last two members will join us in the morning.”

The chaotic answers of his comrades-in-arms were completely ignored by the major. He just gave everyone a stern look before finally leaving the tent.

“Where are you from, big guy?”

“What the hell were you eating in the childhood?”

Both questions were asked almost simultaneously. The first one was from a red-headed man with a broken nose and wide smile that showed quite a few gaps in teeth. The older version of him stood nearby, having a horrible scar on the cheek instead. His deep-set eyes had a piercing effect as if he tried to look inside everyone’s mind. That differed a lot from the clearly more cheerful attitude of the younger brother. At least that was what Robert thought about both as the age difference wasn’t big to label them as father and son.

The second question, on the other hand, was asked by a middle-aged woman. Dark-haired, with multiple wrinkles and dark eyes, she wasn’t beautiful at all. However, she had a noticeable aristocratic aura in her posture. No arrogant, but more like noble. Such appearance created an even bigger contrast with her next words.

“How the fuck have you grown to such size?”

“I am half-ogre. Infantry, private in 189-93, sir,” answered Robert, seeing that he had the lowest rank among all according to markings.

“Nice! Down to earth with other common folks, and not like sappers – Alice, or pilots - Mason, that we have here,” pointing at the woman first, he followed with the insanely thin man, who just nodded in return. The latter’s facial features almost blended between themselves because of the pale sickly skin, making his short and well-groomed mustaches a single spot of attention.

“We are Marines with my brother. I am Raphael, and he is Leonardo,” shaking the hands of both, Robert smiled in return, while Raphael continued to speak.

“And yeah, we agreed between ourselves with confirmation from our dear senior lieutenant Brown to drop any formalities for now. At least before we start the mission. Okay, the last but not the least…”

“Hey, I can introduce myself, you flaming prick! I am Corporal Garold Highhill, the best shooter in a hundred miles… With my help…”

“Yeah, yeah, blah, blah, blah. We all already know about your perfect sight, incredible skills, and your kill distance record,” the dwarf was interrupted by a pilot, Mason. Surprisingly, his voice sounded very soft, almost as if he was telling a fairy tale to his children, “But I must remind you that everyone here seems to be unique in his or her own way. Just a single glance at our new colleague can confirm it. Or do you think anyone can beat him in a melee fight?”

“I don’t need melee if I can kill my target before he even notices me,” muttered the blue-eyed dwarf, crossing his arms over his chest. His blonde beard was long enough to almost hide them underneath.

“That’s why we have you. But in other cases, Roberto… right? Yes, Roberto will break their skulls with his own hands. I believe you can do it, can you?”

“Yep,” Rob just nodded to a pilot, “but I prefer rifles – much cleaner.”

“Yes, indeed, my dear tree-like friend,” the answer seemed to push a new dose of energy into the dwarf’s mood, and he literally grabbed Robert’s hand to shake it.

Tree-like? Like Aspen… I hope, my friend, you managed to achieve your goal… Got back your girl and saved the world.

“Do I need to call a stump then, Garold?... Just call me Rob or Ogre, I don’t mind. Okay, may I join you? Haven’t played for a while.”