“Now that everyone has signed the contract, let's begin the process. I must warn you however, it is very painful. You won't die, but you’ll have the worst headache youve ever felt. That is expected, it's your brain getting used to all this new information. We’ll begin in the same order as signing.”
Just as before, they walked up one by one. The captain would place his hand on their forehead, a dim light would glow from the point of contact, and the recruit would fall to their knees screaming in pain. It only lasted a minute or two before they fell unconscious. While they were screaming, two guards would remove them from the spot, allowing the next recruit to come up.
George went up when his name was called and stood before the man. The hand met with his forehead and pain enveloped him. However, unlike the others, George showed no reaction to the pain and instead walked away himself.
The rest of the recruits received the tool and were gently laid out on the stone floor. They all woke up within the hour, during which time, George simply meditated. Once everyone had woken up, the Captain addressed them once again.
“Good to see that everyone is awake. As I said earlier, everyone earned the soul fragment of anything they killed or even aided in the death of. This was automatically distributed beforehand. Starting from now, it will be stored for future use. To activate the tool, say ‘Status Open’. You can also think it, but it's easier when said. Go ahead.”
George quickly thought it, but it didn't pull up, so with a sigh he said it.
“Status Open.”
Status Sheet
Name: George Helvain
Gender: Male
Level: 4
EXP: 0
Strength: 11
Constitution: 12
Dexterity: 9
Wisdom: 11
Intelligence: 8
Charisma: 4
Abilities: N/A
Spells: N/A
“As you are all seeing right now, this information is very basic, yet revealing. Look at your numbers. Ten is the average of a twenty one year old human. These numbers are not set in stone. A male with a strength of ten will be physically stronger than a female of the same number. Not only that, but each stat is different for each person. When you increase a stat, you become better at that stat, but by how much is dependent on the person. Everyone please think or say, ‘Stat Info’.”
George did.
Stat Info
Strength: 0.9
Constitution: 1.3
Dexterity: 0.7
Wisdom: 1.0
Intelligence: 0.6
Charisma: 0.3
“This is your affinity towards a stat. Play to your strengths, but don't ignore your weaknesses. These are near unchangeable, almost impossible. To explain these numbers, I'll give you an example. Your strength affinity is one. You put one stat point in strength, tada, your strength was increased by one. Another person has a strength affinity of zero point five, half of one. He puts a stat point into strength, tada, it still increases by one, but the effect is only half.”
The Captain went through many more screens and explanations. George kept a mental track of everything. There were only a few settings possibilities and a single sheet. Resistances, which lower the damage received and is only increased from receiving damage.
Resistance Sheet
Fire: 1%
Water: 0%
Earth: 0%
Air: 0%
Space: 0%
Light: 0%
Dark: 0%
Poison: 0%
Mental: 3%
“There are a few more things about this tool, which by the way, has been named ‘GPC’. Don't know what it means, but that's what it's called. Anyway, there are a few things about it that I haven't explained. Primarily because it's unimportant at the moment, and also because you’ll have to be very lucky or unlucky for it to apply to you.”
The steel door to the room unlocked and opened.
“Alright recruits. Now begins your actual training! Out to the drilling grounds! Move it! Move it!”
The Captain started shouting and insulting the recruits, but it was effective. Within moments, they were all outside. The Guards had stayed behind. Only the Captain remained. With a little bit of additional shouting, all the recruits stood in rows of ten.
Captain Meldin decided to start out with an inspection. The first recruit got screamed at for a good ten minutes. Captain Meldin pointed out every single thing wrong with the man. His stance, his eye position, his responses, his shoes, his posture, and his hair. Nothing was forgotten. The other recruits would hear what the Captain was particular about and they would try to correct it for themselves without standing out. Not that it helped. The Captain still found errors with each and every one of them.
After he had evaluated all of them, the Captain marched them around. The rounds of screaming started again. Foot placement, arm swing, stride length, head direction. Everything. Worse yet, a few other officers joined Captain Meldin.
The sun was still rising when George had entered the building. The sun was now sinking into the horizon. The Officers would march them around, have them stand at attention, then march them around some more. Over and over again they would find flaws and scream at the recruit until it was fixed. George was not exempt from this. The Officers even yelled at him for bleeding on their field.
The sky had been dark for hours by the time Captain Meldin marched the recruits into one of the buildings and led them into their barracks. They all fell asleep the moment their heads hit the pillows.
*****
Morning arrived sooner than they would’ve liked. Most of the recruits were used to this as they were farmers’ children and used to rising before the sun. George, while groggy, was quick to get up, but apparently not fast enough. The yelling continued. They were soon marched towards the armory, where they were outfitted with all their training gear.
Now weighed down by all their equipment, they resumed what they were doing the night before.
Their equipment was basic, but still better than someone drafted into the military. A leather and iron helmet that covered the cheeks, but left the ears uncovered. A boiled leather chestplate with heavy iron weights sewn in. The greaves and shin guards were similarly constructed. Their thighs and biceps were left barren. The armor was purely for training and would be switched out for combat armor when they finished their training. The sword and shield were both twice as heavy as their combat counterparts. The short sword was primarily used for stabbing, but could be used with slashes. The tower shield would cover the user's entire body.
A drafted soldier would be completely barren of anything. They would be supplied with a spear, anything else was the person to get. They also wouldn't be granted GPC.
The Officers informed the recruits that the current armor they wore was about the same weight as a heavy infantry man’s. When they finished their training their equipment would weigh about half as much, unless they were assigned as a heavy infantry man.
If they were in fact assigned as a heavy infantry man, their specialized training armor would be twice again as heavy. If they were assigned as an archer or scout, they would have only light, unboiled, leather. If they had the privilege of being assigned as cavalry, their armor would stay the same until they learned to ride, then they would be divided into either Light or Heavy Cavalry and given the appropriate armor.
George sweated up a river while under the hot sun and in such heavy armor, but he wasn't special in any way. Puffs of exhaustion and gasps of heat filled the air as they marched. Taking a risk, George looked up at the sun. He saw it was about three hours till midday. They still hadn't eaten breakfast. He wasn't paying attention and tripped over his own feet. He fell to the ground and before he had even noticed he was down, three different Officers surrounded him and started shouting for him to do fifty push ups ‘while he was down there’.
He struggled to get past push up twenty two, and collapsed during push up twenty four. The Officers dragged him to his feet and shoved him back into formation. They continued marching. George remembered his father once saying that Base Training was for breaking down what made the recruit an individual. The Officers were certainly doing a good job.
They finally marched towards the mess hall, yet not even there were they able to relax. They yelled about someone eating too slow. They yelled at someone for eating too fast. No slouching. Both feet flat on the ground. When they finished eating, they were marched over towards the training dummies.
They were shoved into position and shown the basic forms. Captain Meldin called out the forms while the other Officers watched very closely for any errors, which they were quick to spot. The Recruits beat at the dummies with their dulled blades, occasionally shield bashing, for hours. The Officers would make anyone who didn't keep their shield up do twenty push ups. By the time they finished with the dummies, very few weren't keeping their shield up.
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They were marched off to the obstacle course next. There, they were told to complete it in full gear. Up steep hills, down even steeper. Swinging across ropes. Climbing up a net. Balancing across poles, and even crawling under a bridge. Nearly all of which was nearly ten feet in the air. Once one of them managed to finish it, they were told to do it again. Anytime one of them fell off, they would all be made to do push ups.
By the end of it, they were each battered, bruised, and maybe even fractured. They were released to go eat dinner. This time, they were free to eat without the Officers breathing down their necks. Naturally, they got to talking. Quiet and exhausted talking.
“My name’s Darrell, what's yours?” A young man asked.
“George.”
“Why’d you join the army?”
“My village was butchered and I was to return the favor.”
The already quiet table silenced.
“I joined because I want to become a famous general.”
“I joined because I had nowhere else to go.”
“They provide food and shelter.”
“I wanted to brag about it.”
“I joined because we usually get moved around. I thought I would bed a girl here and there and then be in a different district before their husbands or boyfriends tried to kill me.”
As exhausted as they were, they laughed at that last one, especially when he claimed to be serious, all except for George. He studied the group of recruits. There were exactly fifty, the Captain had expected to kill one of them during the Contract Signing. Thirty seven men, thirteen women. All of them under thirty winters old. None of them were as young as the sixteen year old George, the next youngest being eighteen.
Nearing the end of his meal, George opened his Status
Status Sheet
Name: George Helvain
Gender: Male
Level: 4
EXP: 0
Strength: 12
Constitution: 13
Dexterity: 10
Wisdom: 11
Intelligence: 8
Charisma: 4
Abilities: N/A
Spells: N/A
Each of his physical stats had all increased by one.
“Open your statuses!” He informed the others.
They all did and were similarly surprised. One of the nearby Officers walked over at the disturbance.
“Well duh. Naturally, exercising improves your physical stats while reading and researching and naturally increases your mental stats. The more unfit of you are probably seeing more of a stat increase. There are more ways to increase your stats than killing or naturally improving them. There are certain, impossibly strong monsters that grant stats once slayed on top of the EXP you normally get. There are rare treasures, legendary plants, and more. Always be on the lookout, but don't get your hopes up.” He walked away and the recruits looked at one another with bright smiles.
George simply planned. If he could increase his stats through natural methods, he could watch the numbers and see what exercises were the best suited for him. He would study and read everything he could get his hands on. He would kill any monster he could find. Anything to become stronger.
That night, when everyone had already fallen asleep, George snuck out and ran the obstacle course again and again, everytime he fell he would do twenty push ups. For two hours he ran through the obstacle course. He spent a further two hours practising his forms against a training dummy. George got only two hours of sleep that night.
Despite his lack of sleep, he was still the first one equipped and waiting in morning formation. Throughout the day, he pushed him further than the Officers did. He failed to do so most of the time. They would tell him to do twenty push ups and he would strive to do thirty. During their time with the Training Dummies, he would try to add in a few moves between forms. When they ran the Obstacle Course, instead of simply trying to get through without falling, he would try to beat his time.
The Officers took notice and were silently proud. The other Recruits saw him, and thought he was sucking up to the Officers. Captain Meldin noticed, and grew interested. During dinner the Recruits would talk and get to know each other. At night, George would train.
Two weeks passed. George would open his status everyday, and one day, he saw something unexpected.
Status Sheet
Name: George Helvain
Gender: Male
Level: 4
EXP: 0
Strength: 15
Constitution: 16
Dexterity: 13
Wisdom: 14
Intelligence: 10
Charisma: 5
Abilities: Tireless
Spells: N/A
George had gained an ability. During these two weeks, he had learned that the GPC would respond to most mental commands. He brought up the ability’s description.
Ability: Tireless (Passive)
You have decided that some things are more important than sleep.
You’ve become used to working on minimal sleep.
Your body is used to it, your mind not as much.
50% less sleep required
25% less stamina used
10% increased Mental Stress
He could now train even longer and harder now. George decreased his sleep by another hour and resolved to push himself even harder. Another week passed. Now, instead of proud, the Officers were worried. The other Recruits were concerned. And Captain Meldin was fearful that he would lose his source of entertainment before it even started. The Officers repeatedly approached the Captain asking him to force the boy to a healer.
The Recruits tried talking to him about what was wrong, but they were either ignored or lied to. They could only watch as he dragged himself out of bed every morning, slip into his armor, and stand in formation. Day after day it got worse. George was in such a horrible state that he struggled to do a single pushup, yet he forced himself to do so repeatedly.
Eventually, the first month ended. The Recruits were now scheduled to start hunting nearby low level monsters. As agreed to, Captain Meldin marched the Recruits over to the hospital to be examined.
Doctor Gloria personally examined George. Yet again, George had no issue stripping for the Doctor, completely ignorant of any social norms regarding the matter.
Gloria used her magic to examine the boy. She quickly looked over her data, not needing a through check to come to her conclusion.
“Unfit for duty.” She declared.
Captain Meldin had been just outside the curtain and walked in when he heard that.
George was filled with rage, but didn't let it show. If he was declared unfit for duty, he wasn't allowed to hunt monsters and gain EXP. She was getting in the way of his goal.
“Care to explain further Gloria?” Asked Captain Meldin.
“He is overworked and sleep deprived. He has been training during the night hasn't he?”
“I, may have, seen him a couple times.”
“Until he gets rest, he isn't going anywhere except a bed. And before either of you complain, I can get cast a sleep spell on him. Last time it was mental. This time, it's all physical. I can, and will force him into sleep. I won't even hesitate on you Meldin.”
He held up his hands in mock surrender, “How long do you think he’ll have to rest?”
“Normally, a week at least. However, I saw that he has gained a passive that would reduce that time to maybe three days.”
“Great! We weren't going to have them start hunting for another four days!”
“He’ll spend his time resting, here, where I can watch him closely and ensure he isn't doing anything.”
“Agreed. That good with you boy?”
George quickly suppressed his emotions before speaking, “May I at least read?”
“Yes that is fine.”
Captain Meldin approved of his desire to constantly improve.
“Good, I’ll sign you off for medical leave. You won't even fall behind. By now, I suspect that you’re ahead of any of the others anyway. I speak to you as your Commanding Officer, you are hereby ordered to rest to the best of your ability. You will be punished should you still be unfit for duty in three days time. Understood Recruit?”
George saluted, despite still being nude, “Yes sir!”
“Good. I leave you under the good Doctor’s care. Rest well!”
The other Recruits were soon finished and left. By request of George, Gloria loaned him a medical book. She doubted he would understand a quarter of the stuff in it, but if it would keep him in bed she didn't care.
George hated being unable to do anything so he kept his attention off what he couldn't do and delved into the book. Just like Gloria thought, George didn't understand even a tenth of the book’s content, but he kept at it, despite only having learned how to read last month. Even as he finished the large book just before the nurses blew the lamps out, he still didn't understand anything.
The next morning, Gloria examined the boy again. Once she had finished he asked her for another book. Again, it shut him up and kept him in bed so she didn't mind. He continued to read, but unlike the day before, he started to make connections. Before, he didn't know what the achilles tendon was. The book had mentioned it and said how important it was, but he didn't know what or where it was. In this book, he learned exactly where it was and how important it was to movement. He finished the book before lunch and asked for another.
This time, Gloria paid a bit of attention. She watched as he would read this new book, occasionally widen his eyes and then quickly open one of the previous books. He was studying, and better or worse, he was understanding.
George was amazed about how much about the body he didn't know. He dived into the books with a passion he hadn't felt since his village burned. An innocent desire to learn. Not to kill, but to learn, partially. Unbeknownst to George, Gloria cast a mental scan spell on him while he was reading. She saw that he was truly understanding the content and even making connections about knowledge that wasn't in the books. She was amazed at how fast he was learning, but saw that his brain had connected the medical knowledge to killing and becoming stronger. His mind was seeking this knowledge meant to heal and protect, and reverse engineering it into something dangerous.
Gloria loved the medical field. Her first thought was one of anger, but after she thought about it, this might help him recover mentally. Besides, most of the knowledge they had about the body was discovered by and for violence.
It wasn't the knowledge that would help him recover, though it is possible, but his desire to learn the knowledge. Gloria was certain that George was naturally curious. The desire to learn is natural for him, may allow his mind to calm itself by doing something it finds natural. So, instead of intervening, Gloria watched him and would periodically scan him without his knowledge.
The three days passed quickly for George. He spent every waking moment reading. When the nurses came to put him to sleep, he would sleep. The nurses would allow him to wake up naturally and he would continue to read throughout the day. He read what he could about the medical field, but the hospital was meant for the practise, not the study. They had some books, but not many. Once he finished reading the medical books, he switched to the history books. He ran out of time before he could finish the second book.
Captain Meldin came to pick George up on the third day. George rushed to salute.
“Greetings Captain Meldin!” As resolute and emotionless as ever.
“At ease. Gloria, is he fit for duty?”
“Yes, but I wish to examine him again two days from now.”
“Alright. Follow me Recruit.”
George quickly followed Captain Meldin and they soon left the building. Gloria looked over at the bed and saw the pile of books. She opened one of them and numerous papers fell out. She caught one of them and looked it over. It was a near perfect replica of the human body, with detailed writing on where and how a strike should be delivered, as well as the best ways to administer and remove poisons. With this immense, yet narrow, knowledge of the human body, he could easily be a nurse. If he learned and practised the procedures, he could be a doctor.
Gloria opened one of the history books. More papers fell out. The history books he had read were about the politics of and between countries. George had written out his predictions about how this country would react to this situation. The books were about twenty years out of date, and George’s predictions were mostly accurate.
The Doctor looked at the door George had walked through, just moments ago, and thought to herself.
“No wonder Meldin is so interested in him. That boy will either build a better world, or burn this one to ash. I certainly wouldn't mind either, but what will the boy do? Will he even survive till he can? Will his mind heal itself? Or will he catch the attention of ‘him’? Very curious. Hell, I might even make some money off betting about what he’ll do with Meldin.”