While the others cleared an obstacle course’s time after several attempts, he only needed one.
If running around the camp with a full backpack left them exhausted and drenched in sweat, Lith came out as fresh as a daisy. The group meant nothing to him, he knew that after six months they would be split according to their results.
They had to wake up before sunrise every day, with only half an hour to clean the barracks, prepare the uniforms for the day, and personal hygiene. Lith used chore magic to perform his share in less than five minutes, leaving him plenty of time for a hot shower and a good shave without cutting himself multiple times.
Time was a luxury, yet he could afford it.
Before breakfast, they performed individual physical training led by the Sergeant, but no matter what exercise he chose, Lith would breeze through it like a walk in the park.
The most relaxing moment of the day was the two hours of lessons that followed breakfast. During that time, they would be taught about the drills they would perform in the following days, military strategy, or about the army’s values, traditions, and ethics.
After that, the real nightmare began.
“Who here has hand to hand combat experience?” Tepper asked.
Lith raised his hand in response, like usual. His achievements left the Sergeant equally amazed and annoyed.
‘How the heck does someone so young already have so much experience ? Did I waste my life or what?’ Was one of his most recurring thoughts.
“No matter if you are tall or short, male or female. Combat techniques are devised to allow the weak to beat the strong, to overcome the difference in weight, height, or both. A skilled soldier can easily take down any untrained man.” Tepper explained.
“What if the opponent has our same level of skill?” Asked Miden, the shortest girl in the unit.
“Then either you beat them with tactics and fighting spirit, or you pray the gods strike them down with a lightning bolt.” No one liked that answer. Lith was one of the three who raised their hand, meaning he would probably go undefeated again.
The exercise was a simple knife disarming technique that the Sergeant demonstrated using Liwell as a sparring partner. The attacker would attempt to stab while the defender had to dodge or block the knife-holding hand before grabbing the wrist and twist it together with the arm into a submission hold.
In the first part of the training, everyone was required to win or lose according to their role in the scenario. It served the purpose of getting everyone acquainted with the technique and its footwork.
In the second part, the attacker was allowed to resist and try to counter. That was when Lith shined the most. He wouldn’t use speed or strength to win, but pure technique.
As the attacker, the slightest mistake in controlling his arm would result in an elbow strike to the face, while focusing too much on Lith’s arm gave him the opportunity to use his legs to trip the opponent.
“Don’t forget to move your legs, you idiots! The moment you stop moving you are nothing but punching bags!”
As the defender, Lith used the smallest movements possible to disarm the opponent and get ahold of the knife.
The next part of the training was about marksmanship and learning how to use magic wands as long ranged weapons.
“Sir, why do we use wands instead of arrows or other kinds of projectiles?” Vipli was a skilled hunter. He was eager to show his talent, but he had never used a wand before.
“Projectiles have been decommissioned ever since Forgemastering was born.” Sergeant Tepper was tempted to ask if someone knew why, but even he was sick of seeing Lith’s hand.
“Even the most common enchanted armor is equipped with a gravity sheath that reacts to fast incoming objects by reducing their weight to the point of making them harmless as peas. Once, long range weapons were devised to shoot high speed projectiles, like this one.”
Tepper took out what looked like a revolver from his dimensional amulet. He emptied the barrel against one of the training dummies wearing an old set of armor, producing a loud series of bangs. Most of the bullets hit the target, but not a single one left a scratch.
“As you can see, this piece of junk is loud and clumsy. You need to train your aim and take into account a lot of factors. Such as the accuracy of the weapon itself, the distance from the target, the wind, the friction caused by the air and so much more.”
“Magic is energy and it’s unaffected by such things and even the gravity sheath is powerless against it. Only a physical barrier can block magic projectiles. Hence why you are equipped with earth magic wands.
They can provide you instant protection from all threats, not to mention that earth magic barriers are the only ones that can stop every other element.”
‘So many words just to say that force equals mass times acceleration. Enchanted armors reduce the already small mass of bullets, bringing it almost to zero. At that point the speed becomes irrelevant. Anything times zero becomes zero too.’ Lith inwardly sighed.
‘I dreamed for so long of making myself a gun as a secret weapon, but after getting my uniform, I discovered the existence of the gravity sheath. It’s amazing how Forgemastering and Alchemy allow imbuing rare things like fusion and gravity magic into the most common objects.’
“I will teach you which wand is best to use according to the circumstances. As a rule of thumb, fire magic is better suited for open spaces and enemies grouped together. Lightning is particularly effective against heavy infantry, since it bypasses the metal’s protection.”
Contrary to Tepper’s expectations, Lith wasn’t an expert with wands. His first attempts were almost as clumsy as everybody else’s. His experience with magic, however, was top notch so it only took him a few tries before securing himself the best score.
At the end of the first four weeks, each member of the unit received their report cards. Some, like Vipli, achieved a lot of As and Bs boosting his confidence and earning him the respect of the unit.
Others, like Miden, received too many Cs to let them dream of becoming members of an elite squad. Last, but not least, Lith had no idea what his own report card meant.
“I’m sorry, sir. I think there has been a mistake with my grades.” He asked handing the piece of paper to his commanding officer.
“It seems normal to me.” The Sergeant replied.
“I’m sorry again, sir. I’ve attended another school in the past, but I never scored an M as a grade. What does it stand for?”
“Monster.”
