CC5 ~ 7!

7

“Everyone, wake up!” In an instant, everyone was standing at attention at the ends of their beds. Their Drill Instructor walked along the rows, inspecting each person in turn. He stopped next to Joe, then turned and shouted at the Dwarf directly across from the human. “I'm early, but that's no excuse for looking so slovenly! Why are you disappointing our glorious Legion by letting your armor remain damaged? If I come back tomorrow and it is still in such a shoddy state, I'm going to make you go into combat wearing only a loincloth!”

“Sounds like a party, Drill Instructor!” The Dwarf was expecting to get punched in the face for his cheeky attitude, but instead the Drill Instructor let everyone catch a slight grin on his face. The collective clenching which the expression induced in everyone could have created a diamond under the right circumstances.

“You aren’t much, but this is not the absolute worst cohort we have ever had in training! Listen up! You have all been here almost a month, killing monsters for the glory of the Dwarven Oligarchy!” Joe’s eyes widened, and his hands started to tremble at the words coming from the bearded Dwarf’s lips.

“A… month?” Joe could not believe what he was hearing. It felt like he had only been here a day! He went to open his character sheet but froze as the Drill Instructor started bellowing again.

“Today, we are going to do something extra-special! Our unit has been selected to lead a raid on a minor fort! Everyone who participates in the successful capturing of a minor fort gains two hundred and fifty reputation with the Dwarven Council!” The Drill Instructor scanned the room with a wide smile. “I know none of you are sick of seeing my ugly mug, but I am sick of seeing yours! Start getting that reputation, and buy your way into the Legion proper!”

“Elf Death!” The Dwarves and Joe shouted in unison. Joe shook himself abruptly; why… why was he just going along with everything? He had so much that he needed to-

Skill increase: Mental Manipulation Resistance (Beginner 0). You have broken through the training compulsion of the Dwarven Legion! Wow, look at that! Even when something is to your benefit, you find a way to mess it up!

Joe went pale as he finally broke through the light compulsion that had been placed on him as soon as he’d joined the Dwarves. He looked back on his choices over this last month, grimacing at what he had done. He… had devolved into a total… Bro. Yet, as far as he could tell, the only negative was the loss of time and how much he cringed when he thought about how he had been acting. Joe tried to help himself feel better by reminding himself that, as far as he was concerned, looking back at your past and shuddering at your actions was the best sign of personal growth.

He had made incredible gains with his statistics, but still, he looked at his characteristics in confusion. Shouldn't he have gotten… more if he were here almost a full month? A month of training should have given him a hundred or more total points, and he had gained less than a third of that.

Name: Joe ‘Tatum’s Chosen Legend’ Class: Reductionist

Profession I: Arcanologist (Max)

Profession II: Ritualistic Alchemist (1/20)

Profession III: None

Character Level: 22 Exp: 274,676 Exp to next level: 1,324

Rituarchitect Level: 10 Exp: 45,000 Exp debt: 14,714

Reductionist Level: 0 Exp: 0 Exp to next level: 1,000

Hit Points: 1,573/1,573

Mana: 1,571.54/2,152 (581 reserved. 10% of maximum from both Exquisite Shell and Retaliation of Shadows. 7% from Neutrality Aura.)

Mana regen: 44.54/sec

Stamina: 1,337/1,337

Stamina regen: 6.36/sec

Characteristic: Raw Score

Strength: 89 -> 129

Dexterity: 104 -> 129

Constitution: 85 -> 125

Intelligence: 138

Wisdom: 118

Dark Charisma: 80

Perception: 113

Luck: 59 -> 60

Karmic Luck: -1

Joe started carefully reading through all of the notifications that he had received—and not bothered to check—over the last few weeks.

Constitution has reached the third threshold! Bonus calculating… this is a characteristic that is not class relevant and has been increased through daily training. Calculation complete! Every point of constitution gained after reaching the third threshold will grant you an additional five points of health!

Strength has reached the third threshold! Bonus calculating… this is a characteristic that is not class relevant and has been increased through daily training. Calculation complete: 5% of your maximum stamina (rounded down) will be applied to your total health pool!

Perception has reached the third threshold! Bonus calculating… calculation complete! Cooldown reduction has been increased by 5%!

Current Cooldown Reduction: 15%!

“What is going on? I got past three thresholds and I didn't even notice? Not a single increase in mental characteristics? What have I been doing?” Joe’s mumbling unfortunately summoned the ire of his Drill Instructor, who grabbed him by the head and chucked him toward the doorway. The Dwarf had realized early on that punching or shooting at the human caused an attack to come back at him. However, throwing did not seem to trigger the retaliatory strike. It had been a good lesson for both of them.

“All of you, get moving! We are going to be marching past a newbie cohort, so show them what proper training looks like!” The Drill Instructor followed them as they hustled outside and pulled out their shiniest weapons or gave their armor an extra buff to make it especially reflective.

There was no light beyond torches in their sconces at various intervals, as it was not even four in the morning. They started marching, following a route they had not taken before. The reasoning was explained soon enough, as they passed a group of extremely confused-looking Dwarves: a newly respawned cohort. Their Drill Instructor was shouting at them and firing bolts through their lines. It brought memories back to everyone in Joe’s platoon, and they would have chuckled fondly if they had not been trying to show how very impressive they were.

“Today, you are all going to keep killing monsters for the glory of the Legion! Just like you have all week! I want you… stand at attention! Your senior brothers and sisters of the Legion are coming through!” They got close enough to hear what was being said, and the sloppy formation went rigid as Joe’s cohort passed by. They passed the newbies, and the formation returned to normal, but then Joe heard a strange scene play out. “Disgusting showing! I’m ashamed to be in charge of turds like you. Now, all of you, I want you to make it up to me by getting twice as many kills as yesterday! I want you all to look at this human and feel bad about yourselves! He got three times as many Flame Lizards as any one of you.”

Joe risked a glance back, and his heart leapt. The unknown Drill Instructor was standing in front of a familiar figure. “You! Jaxon, is it? Killing is good, but you need to learn discipline and how to follow orders! Starting today, no disemboweling! Clean kills only, you got that?”

“Craw… but Drill Instructor-” Jaxon’s petulant words drifted on the wind, but after that, they were too far away for Joe to catch anything else. He started to laugh; Jaxon hadn’t changed a bit… except he was apparently making sad dinosaur noises instead of normal human ones when he was upset.

The formation continued to march. An hour slowly passed, then two, and the Drill Instructor called out softly. “Company… halt!”

After getting everyone to face him, the Dwarf looked around with a troubled expression. “After today, there is a chance that we won't see some of you for a long time. Wherever we go, whatever we do, know that we will always be brothers and sisters in arms. Today is going to be a life-changing experience for some of you, and for those that come out unscathed, know that this is something that you will not have to go through again. Company… charge!”

The Drill Instructor’s words were a potent, heady mix designed just for this group. A small fort came into view in the distance, and the platoon charged at the main gate directly. Something about the situation struck Joe as wrong, but he had no idea why. Attacking the main gate? No, that was something these battle maniacs would definitely do. They were alone? See above: battle maniacs. No, something the Drill Instructor had said…

“Won't have to go through this again? But attacking forts is the way we get the most…?” Joe’s feet pounded the ground even as his mind whirled into action for the first time in weeks. “Something is wrong… it's a trap!”

Joe tried to stop, but he was carried along by the remainder of his platoon even as he shouted at them to turn around. They reached the main gate and blew through it without any resistance. When the last of them, the Drill Instructor, had come through the gate as well, a heavy portcullis slammed closed behind them. Somehow, their trainer had not come into the area fully, instead remaining just outside of the open area the rest found themselves in. Laughter rose from all around them, including from the Drill Instructor. He shouted one last phrase, sending the platoon into an outright panic.

“Welcome to the Officer Selection course!”