General Benton was in his late thirties now and was annoyed at seeing a small bit of grey hair in front of his eyes. Having spent the past few months going from village to village for recruiting hadn’t left him much time for personal care. And there was little chance that he would let the common rabble touch his hair. They were lucky he needed their bodies, otherwise, he would’ve burned more villages than he visited. Settling for pushing his hair back, he looked towards the last village of the recruitment campaign and picked up the pace of his march. All that remained of the large force he had set out with was a handful of soldiers, most having left to escort the villagers back to the main camp.

The general looked over the village, getting a surprisingly pleasant first impression of the place. The proud symbol of their great kingdom was emblazoned on the wall. A perfect depiction of a golden crown adorned with beautiful gems. Even if the colors of the gems were a bit crude, at least they had managed to find an appropriate shade for each of the eleven gems. Beside the symbol was the holy symbol of the Church of Radiance. It was an outline of a pristine white bird flying towards the sun. Simply gazing upon the majesty filled him with righteous fire and he descended from his mount before approaching the front gates.

The wall was made of long wooden logs with rocks propped at the base for a little added protection. A completely unnecessary precaution this close to the capital, but he appreciated the stature. Furthermore, the gates were easily big enough to fit two wagons across. The perfect size to move soldiers while maintaining a choke point in a fight. It was clearly designed by an expert, and Benton appreciated the defensibility of the structure. However, looking at the gate, led his gaze to meet with a guard.

There was a single boy sitting upon a stool, a broken pitchfork laying on the ground beside him. He looked to be about sixteen summers. Dirty hair that could only barely be described as blond was left unkempt as it covered the boy’s forehead. Sunken-in mismatched eyes reflected no light as his gaze seemed to stare towards nothing. Both eyes were of an amber shade, though one was slightly discolored. It was a shade paler than the other, but noticeable even from a distance. He wore no armor, instead wearing a simple shirt and pants that were made worse by marks of dirt and grime. A farmer perhaps, but then why was he watching the gate?

Perhaps he was sent to greet them instead of a stationary guard? The thought passed through the general’s mind, but he dismissed it as the boy made no motion to rise with his approach. Only once Benton had stopped before the boy, did the child finally rise to his feet. Familiar with this situation now, Benton raised his arm to shake the boy’s hand, but regretted the decision, realizing that the boy was a filthy decrip.

The boy was an abomination, with one leg and arm being longer than the other. Even getting up seemed like a challenge for the kid. The general managed to hide his disgust but took his hand away before the boy could shake it. Honestly, he was tempted to kill the child where he stood but restrained himself knowing that the boy would serve just as well as anyone else. Forcing himself to speak normally, he managed to don a smile.

“Boy! The holy army needs your support now more than ever. Go, tell all the villagers, and your parents that we need as many boys and girls as possible. Anyone can take this opportunity to join the holy crusade to reclaim our lands! “

The words were easy to say, even if he felt bile rising in the back of his throat. Having said the words hundreds of times had acclimated him to maintaining a mask as he spoke to them. The glint in his eye revealed what the boy thought. The boy fell for the words spectacularly, and he was certain the kid was going to follow. At the very least he would die for his king.

Still, the boy looked revolting as he raised one of his hands in front of him. He then bent at the waist and raised his palm upwards to the sky. It was a formal greeting that Benton should have received on his arrival. Without saying anything, the boy turned and ran into the village. Watching him run awkwardly and almost trip due to his misshaped body, caused the general to place his hand on the hilt of his sword.

The boy’s existence was blasphemous. His parents should’ve disposed of him when they realized his defects. It was clearly a sign of God's anger, and the general was close to fulfilling the task. However, he was still one of their people and would work for the experiment. The knowledge that the boy would likely die in agony had been enough to restrain his hand. Plus, killing the boy would certainly affect his reputation in the village and make it harder to recruit soldiers. It looked like he was right, as a group of young boys and girls lined up.

The village was larger on the inside than expected, and he realized that rather than a proper wall on the back they relied on a natural river for protection. This meant that the front of the wall wasn’t a good method to estimate the town's size. Each building was made of cut wood as he expected from such a rural place. Although, a larger stone building was in the back. It was most likely the home of the local lord, and Benton gestured for a messenger to go and explain the situation to the town lord. In reality, Benton was of higher standing and proper etiquette would mean that the lord should’ve been out to meet him. However, that didn’t matter to him, and the gesture would make the lord feel more secure.

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2 Days Later

Benton stood over the current group of prospective “fighters”. Well, that is what he had told them a moment ago. However, that was not the truth, and he knew it. Under half of these people would get the opportunity to join the army in truth. The rest were needed for the experiment though. The batch before him contained almost a thousand people and was the eleventh variant of the current batch.

The “divine elixir” as it was being called was little better than a poison currently, but those that managed to live proved capable soldiers. Even the defects could be useful. Only the deaths were problematic. Looking over the group of attendants, he spotted doctor Venrik. The lady was small and had skin that was far too pale to be considered healthy. She looked sickly with sunken-in eyes, and a lack of color on her lips. She made no attempt to dress appropriately, wearing a long blue coat that covered her entire body. Her hair was clearly cut for practicality rather than beauty. It was a pale grey despite the fact that she was still in her twenties, and she tied it behind her head in a short ponytail that ended messily. It was clearly meant to keep the hair out of her eyes and nothing else.

All propriety and appearance were ignored though, and everyone held at least some respect for the doctor. She was one of the leaders of this project and had been the primary agent in altering the elixir thus far. So, Benton remained respectful as he walked behind her. She never took her eyes off the people taking the elixir, and he was familiar with her usual decorum.

“What are the results thus far?”

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Benton didn’t bother with any pleasantries since he had been thoroughly ignored whenever he tried. She didn’t seem to care about anything but the research.

“This is the most promising batch, and I expect only thirty percent to die. In fact, it has the largest number of anomalies, with almost twenty-three people showing no extra changes.”

The doctor spoke efficiently, and Benton had to focus to understand her words. They were simply spoken too quickly, but he had gotten somewhat used to her antics. He was going to ask her about the abnormalities as that drew his attention, but she was not finished.

“Two of the prospects were extraordinary. One was a boy who had grown noticeably quicker, and even claimed that his intelligence had improved. That alone is enough to qualify him as an ideal outcome. Furthermore, his physical abilities were also improved beyond the expected levels. And he only experienced a minor bit of pain during the absorption, indicating a high level of affinity. I would say he was the biggest standout subject thus far, but another child was even more impressive.”

The general’s mind raced as he processed the words. He had been building a group of usable and intelligent subjects, and it finally seemed that it was getting large enough to be put to use. Not to mention this boy she spoke of sounded like he would be an excellent fighter, not to mention extremely dangerous. He would make sure to keep some extra eyes on the boy. Then he processed the last of what Venrik said and stared at her with wide eyes as she prattled on.

“Yes, this other subject had the highest affinity of any thus far. Not a single bit of pain or discomfort happened to the child, and his body even had some corrections to make during the process. He claimed he felt nothing unnatural, even as his leg grew to match the other. One arm is still a bit longer than his other, but I believe it will adjust itself eventually.”

It wasn’t hard for the general to remember the boy that she spoke of, and he was glad that he didn’t kill him earlier. Even if he was a filthy decrip before, it seemed like God was giving him a second chance now. If his affinity was so high, he expected the boy to receive large improvements, and from his interaction earlier he believed the child to be gullible. Truly, a perfect soldier.

“His regeneration was one of his biggest improvements, and his physical improvements met expectations as well. Disappointingly, however, his reflexes and intelligence remained unchanged, and he will struggle to match his movements to his new speed. Well, he should still work for your group.”

The general nodded as it seemed like the doctor was finished. She quickly moved on, heading towards another group to see what the results of the next experiment were. These results were better than Benton expected, though the elixir was still too risky to use on the real knights. No, he would wait until they could diminish the death rate. He already had a usable army, even if most of them were no better than mindless abominations. Most survivors gained physical benefits at the cost of their mental capacity, and that made them the perfect fighters for a war.

Furthermore, he had twenty-three more people for his special force. Those who maintained their intelligence could eventually be raised to become proper knights and become an elite force of the kingdom. Not to mention their blood was key to understanding how to refine the elixir so that the knights could use it.

The general was eager to get his hands on it. His people were marked by their incredible physicality, and it had been what led their people to power in the past. However, those damn chanters had sprung up and formed an alliance with the crafters of the north. Quickly, his people’s strength had not been enough to compete with the grand displays of power that chanters could produce. There had been a series of violent wars which left their kingdom in shambles along the east edge of the land. It was only because of the royal family that they managed to maintain what they had. They were blessed with holy power and had frightened the chanters, stopping their conquest. Now, with this elixir, he would finally start to reclaim their rightful place. If he could get his hands on a perfected elixir, he would finally be able to kill some high chanters. He was determined to see their council burn.

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The Council Chambers

“Councilor! Councilor! I need you to check the student files. Please!”

Councilor Janette turned up from her work to meet the eyes of Amanda, her assistant. She was standing behind the ward that was painted onto the ground. It was a simple one, Janette always set one up around recruitment time. She placed it just past her wooden desk and had it circle around the room crawling across the wooden walls to give her a small circle of peace and quiet. In a previous year, she had made it block out all noise, but that had caused her to be trapped in silence when she lit herself on fire. After that incident, she decided to make some sound pass through. Just enough such that loud noises could be heard.

Janette didn’t feel like yelling and stood, holding her finger up to indicate that she needed a minute. She turned to the ward in the closest wall and painted over a specific symbol. Wards were a series of intricate lines, connected to a singular symbol. Beginners would use a specific symbol for each ward, but a true ward crafter would have a personalized symbol that worked for any design. That was the final step towards becoming a master. Her symbol was a complex drawing of seven interlocking rings. They were all connected to one another at the same time, and it was quite difficult for others to replicate. The reason she chose it was due to her unnatural ability to make circles. This ward was simple, consisting of a repeating pattern that would continue for the entire length of the ward. All she needed to do was use her symbol as the start and endpoint.

To disable it, all she did was paint over the central symbol. Still, her assistant waited until Janette lowered her hand. She really was a good assistant.

“There were five standout recruits this year, one of which has higher Ein values than Councilor Pali! You really need to check out his files, I think he will work well with your recent developments.”

Amanda had grown surprisingly close to Janette, in her time as an assistant, and knew of many of her projects. It was Janette’s prerogative to be as productive as possible, and to that end told her assistant to keep an eye out for chanters that would be willing to work with her. Sadly, most talents ended up being scions of high houses and would refuse any offers of extra work. Janette snatched up the pieces of paper, eagerly reading through the prospects.

The aforementioned talent was the first of the names. A low-born man named Alrick Wilton, who had worked within a library for the past few years. There was an image of the man with the papers, and she was impressed with the clarity. A new device maybe? She had been paying little attention to developments in that field. That was something to look for later, and she scrutinized the image.

He was dressed nicely, a tailored work uniform as well as neatly combed hair, signified him as well off. His hair was a dark shade of red and brown, and he looked young for his age. It’s not that he was particularly old, after all, he was only twenty whereas she was getting close to fifty now. However, even the puny amount of Ein she possessed would almost double her life span, so the boy’s youthful appearance made sense. He would likely live far longer than Janette herself, and that caused another pang of jealousy to echo within her heart.

He was older than their typical students, though only by two years. Janette could work with that, and from his profile, it was obvious that he would become a monster. Honestly, she was jealous of the man. She herself only had tiny amounts of Ein, while this person had more than anyone else in the kingdom. She imagined that the royal family of Larkin were the only ones who could compare.

That had always been a problem for her and the other councilors. The whole kingdom struggled with them. The family of Larkin only had five members, but each was a chanter with otherworldly power. It was ironic that a kingdom of people who hated chanters was ruled by a family of them. Finally, years of raising chanters were paying off, and the students this year were the strongest chanters ever found in the kingdom of Elpis. Hopefully, it would be enough to finally put those eastern barbarians to rest. Smiling, she moved on to the next paper confident that she would finally be getting the results that she wanted.