[MA] 292. Make It More Challenging (Patreon)

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[A/N: There will be no chapters on next month's last week-ish (09/23 to 09/29)

Chapters this week: 3/3

Next release: Tuesday] 

The military martial arts were mostly attributeless. They were bound to no Axioms or Concepts except for weapon specializations. The bare-fisted variant didn't even have that, so only those who had never learned to fight with their fists before had trouble learning it.

Shen had a significant advantage: he could pinpoint how the military arts had inspired the drow unarmed fighting style. He already knew many of the moves he was learning or even more advanced versions of them, which were supposedly taught only to elite units and should be kept secret. The drow walked a dangerous line about which hidden knowledge they taught their people.

It went to show two things: first, the military wasn't teaching useless things; second, the drow lacked the solid foundations of older forces.

Luthdel, for one, clearly had never learned anything similar. He struggled with the ideas behind some moves. It wasn't that his fighting style was inferior, only that it was based on too different foundations. Also, it didn't mean he had difficulty becoming an expert on those things, but mastering them required one to understand the reasoning and underpinnings behind every movement. He hit a blockade there.

Zyn hadn't said when the temporary leaders would be evaluated for their martial arts mastery, but Shen was confident they would have some free time eventually. He would take the chance to help Luthdel with it then.

Shen hadn't talked to the high elf about their relationship as master and subordinate because they couldn't decide where to draw certain lines before they knew where they stood in the military. The things Shen could ask for Luthdel if they were of the same military rank were very different from what he could request if Luthdel was of a lower rank and even depended on whether the high elf was directly under Shen in the chain of command or part of another hierarchical structure.

Luthdel also seemed to be buried under his own issues. For instance, he had selected none of the C-rank high elves, who were already few, to become temporary Staff Lieutenants under him. One of them was obviously stronger than all other C-ranks under Luthdel, though. It wasn't necessarily a big issue because that was somewhat of a position of trust, but it still showed trouble from outside the military was interfering with his command. Shen wondered how that would be evaluated.

Shen was surprised to find people were taught how to use even long-range weapons like the longbow to fight even in short-range. It was mostly about creative ways of using their weapons to protect themselves in a clutch and how to distance themselves from their opponents. It was still valuable.

Likewise, even dagger wielders were taught how to take full advantage of their blades in long-range. It involved more than throwing one's weapon at the enemy.

That was, in fact, the most surprising and helpful part of the lesson.

Zyn shared a specific qi structure that took a weapon's natural essence and extended it. It could only be used for piercing but allowed even an F-rank cultivator to reach as far as a hundred yards away. It still suffered from issues like being useless against soul defense and vulnerable to willpower battle, but it was an excellent tool.

Shen wondered why Liya hadn't taught him anything similar, especially because she greatly valued variety. He guessed it was in the group of things that she had to sacrifice to teach him other military-based techniques.

Shen swiftly mastered the spear variant of the C-rank martial arts when it came to it and was delighted at being shown the non-spear specializations. He didn't immediately become an expert at them but learned enough to use them if needed, which was likely what being "well-acquainted" with them meant; Zyn hadn't been very clear on that.

Becoming an expert at D-rank and lower martial arts of every kind was also a walk in the park. The unarmed drow martial arts he had learned from Liya drank much more deeply from the military martial arts than the spear fighting styles she had shown him. Furthermore, it was developed in a way that left some gaps easily filled by multiple weapons. Learning to use even a mace felt natural when he came from such a solid foundation.

Shen was just starting to understand how valuable the elite training he received was.

Heavens, it took Shen only five minutes on each D-rank weapon specialization to become well-versed in them! And he felt like he could become an expert at them with only a few hours of extra effort! Mastering other weapons, however, would require them to be part of his Path.

By the way, that was the most impressive part of the lesson. Zyn wasn't a spearman, yet he was an expert on every weapon, even at C-rank. His movements were so perfect that they stopped at the limits of what only someone with the weapon in their Path could do. It was precisely enough for Shen to understand some implications and master the C-rank spear martial arts.

It became more and more evident that the First Lieutenant hadn't been randomly assigned to teach the newbies. He was a peak instructor. It also explained why he was training so many at once.

Zyn's only shortcoming was when it came to mana. Karlov wasn't as good as Zyn in every martial art, but Zyn's non-mana moves were enough to inspire the mana-wielding Guardians into mastering their weapons, too.

Huo Ming didn't disappoint, either. He had cause for his pride. He was often second only to Shen in learning each martial art. He was also professional enough to not lash out at Shen when the latter offered help. Still, Shen only offered it once because his presence clearly hindered the guy's understanding more than it helped.

Shen's quick learning gained him plenty of respect from just about everyone, Huo Ming included. The cultivator didn't look convinced initially, but he eventually showed a look of resignation every time Shen quickly took a new weapon specialization.

Everyone understood at least the basics of the F-rank martial arts within half a day. They were just too each, not even including Concepts.

Some D-ranks took an entire day to learn about every E-rank martial art. Those did include Concepts, and often not the same as the D-ranks used. They were supposed to adapt the martial arts to their own Concept. Fortunately, the ring was helping, and getting help from the C-ranks also assisted.

The D-rank martial arts went faster for the D-ranks, who only had to get passing knowledge on a single weapon specialization. Some C-rank Staff were the ones to get into some trouble then. They wasted two days on it.

The extended time allowed the D-ranks to get more in touch with all martial arts. At that point, Zyn appointed multiple D-rank temporary leaders. Williams got picked and selected Sai and Alicia as his Staff.

Lastly, two C-rank Acting Commanders, the muscular cultivator and the living tree, took three days to get passing knowledge of all C-rank martial arts.

The D-ranks practiced in the meanwhile. Alicia was promoted from Staff to Commander but was forbidden from bringing Sai under her because he had already been selected.

Shen also took the chance to fulfill all conditions to keep a leadership position, even though he wasn't sure he wanted it. As Zyn had said, Commanders were supposed to make the people under them accomplish the mission. They only fought if there was no alternative.

He would rather fight than command but knew better than to hide his potential. He believed he would fit better in some smaller elite unit but would only be appointed to one if he did his best at every opportunity. Leading people was the best chance to showcase responsibility, which was undoubtedly required to be appointed to a unit that dealt with more sensitive matters.

Also, he wanted to take care of Earth's people while he could. He didn't care much about whether they fought for Marzia or themselves as long as they didn't touch Alicia and Sai. Humanity needed strong Guardians.

He focused on them as much as possible, but this teaching lesson was about military martial arts, and he couldn't broach other subjects.

At last, almost seven days later, Zyn finally stopped moving. He stood straight and looked dissatisfied at the two C-ranks who had trouble.

The First Lieutenant said, "You just made Captain Abbov a laughingstock for saying you had potential and arguing for you to get your rings. The basic course will now take anything from ten to fifteen days for us, one extra day for those in regular time. People will die because of the delay caused by your stupidity." He turned to the other Acting Commanders. "Remember it well. Your ability, or lack thereof, carries the weight of the lives of your fellow warriors."

Blaming the two for other people's deaths was stupid. The military could just not wait for them to learn and move on with the training. But Shen supposed it was one way of imbuing the weight of leadership on everyone.

It should even be a test about who would learn the lesson instead of focusing on the stupidity of the premise that led to it.

Zyn turned to everyone else. "We'll now move to the next stage: giving, delivering, and obeying orders as a unit."

* - * - *

The trainees stood in rows and lines, separated into Battalions and Companies. Everyone, including Shen, had trouble hiding their tiredness. His soul was so pressured by the time-dilation ring that he had difficulty focusing. Half the D-ranks had become little more than puppets following orders, even though the ring's demands on one's mind were relative to their rank and willpower.

Shen had thought the extra C-ranks would only be split later. However, in the past twenty-one days—there had been more delays—Zyn had selected new people as Acting Battalion Commanders, even from among those who had trained as regular troops.

There were now 301 C-rank Commanders, each with 5 Acting Staff Lieutenants. Each Battalion had 18 Companies, each with 1 D-rank leader and mostly 2 Acting Staff Sergeants. A minority had 3 Staff instead.

That accounted for all 1,806 C- and 18,000 D-ranks. Everyone was in the proper military structure except for Zyn, whose Brigade should contain 33 Battalions instead of 301.

Most of the temporary leaders didn't fill the conditions to keep their positions after the basic course was over. Still, the First Lieutenant had insisted on separating them as officially stated in the rules. It was part of the basic course to get used to the military structure.

The basic course contained admittedly fundamental elements, as its name suggested. After learning martial arts, they experienced the command structure, which was used as they fought as a group against each other to put the martial arts and chain of command to practice. They were then introduced to some bureaucracy and had a very long time of theoretical lessons on almost everything that could happen while they fought the Void. That was followed by lectures on the inner workings of the military beyond what had been taught during their tour through the fortress.

Now, it was time for the final part.

Zyn, Uya, Xun, and Karlov stood in front of everyone. They were also wearing rings. Zyn and Karlov didn't look worse for the wear, but Uya and Xun looked one step away from passing out.

The latter two had worked the hardest in the combat training part of the basic course. They had been ordered to create chaos while the battalions and companies fought each other, and they had suffered for it. They had suffered multiple defeats. As powerful as they were, fighting six C-ranks was sometimes beyond them.

Most impressively, Zyn hadn't had to interfere even once during the mock combat. He had made it clear that he would brand traitor anyone who attacked with the intention to kill. He would execute them on the spot.

No one doubted he had the power to do that.

Although tired, the troops had indeed been slapped into shape. D- and C-rank minds made them learn quickly and get ready to fight. Everyone had hit the threshold for deployment, no matter how weak or underprepared they had been before.

Even the D-ranks from Earth were prepared. There was something arcane about the martial arts or the training program that Shen couldn't pinpoint, but one of them—or both—sort of gave focus to one's power. There clearly was more to it than met the eye.

"The time has come for the course's final part: a field trip," Zyn said. "We call it Expedition Training. Yours will not demand as much leadership ability as it should. After all, you won't have to babysit E-ranks or even D-rank Platoons. Therefore, I was ordered by our very disappointed Captain Abbov to make it more challenging in another way. We'll visit a C-rank Voided Subnode instead of a D-rank one."

The space behind Zyn tore apart a dozen miles from top to bottom like paper, creating a vertical opening into their dark destination.

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