Chapter 259
The walk away from the artisan district took a lot longer than the new recruits expected.
Stormbreak was a massive, sprawling city constantly under construction. To get to the military sector, Rudra flagged down a large territory wagon pulled by two sturdy draft horses.
The twelve Genesis recruits piled into the back, taking seats on the wooden benches. Rudra sat near the front, pulling a bag of dried river-kelp out of his coat pocket. He popped a piece into his mouth and watched the city roll by. Kratos trotted alongside the wagon, easily keeping pace with the horses.
Red sat near the back, dangling his legs over the edge. The dual-sword user stretched his arms and gave Rudra a highly annoying, chaotic grin.
"So, boss," Red called out over the rattle of the wagon wheels. "The half-witch back there in the forge. Are we running a military operation, or debuting a K-pop idol group? Because I'm pretty sure half your new guild members just changed their relationship status to 'It's complicated' on the forums in the span of thirty seconds."
Gold, the timid berserker sitting next to him, turned bright red and stomped her heavy metal boot directly onto Red’s foot.
"Ow!" Red yelped, pulling his foot back and rubbing his toe. "Babe, I'm just making an observation! Don't act like you weren't entirely entranced by him too! "
"He is a nice person," Rudra said, not looking back. "Don’t make him feel bad."
Galahad, the heavy tank, puffed out his chest. His armor clanked as he adjusted his posture. "Forsooth! True beauty matters not when the steel strikes true! Though... the smith's visage was indeed a marvel of the heavens."
"You're not helping," Gold mumbled, hiding her face in her hands.
The wagon rolled past the bustling transport hub. A Siren merchant and a human trader were arguing loudly near a pile of crates. The Siren aggressively tapped a wooden barrel of imported sea-salt, complaining that the moisture content was entirely wrong for her preservation recipes.
Fifteen minutes later, the wagon pulled to a stop in front of a massive stone archway.
The architecture here was built strictly for defense, thick and heavy. The players opened their guild interface and pulled up the facility's status window.
[Stormbreak Barracks]
[Intermediate Barrack (Lv. 1)]
[Captain: Dante]
[Vice-Captain: Fen]
[ - Currently houses and trains up to 5,000 soldiers.
- All soldiers receive a 10% increase to physical defense and a 15% increase to coordinated combat effectiveness.
- The Presence of the Wolf Beastmen has increased the effectiveness of formation training by 50%.]
[Barracks Passive Skills: Increased Stamina Regeneration (Medium), Formation Discipline (High).]
[Current Roster: 4500 Humans, 200 Witches, 300 Beastmen]
Cecilia did the calculations in her head instantly. "A fifty percent increase in formation training effects. This should reduce the gold expenditure by nearly 20% compared to before"
Rudra shrugged, “Well, the daily expenditure is still 1200 gold.”
The field beyond the gates was a sea of bodies. Five thousand soldiers were running drills.
It was a chaotic, incredibly noisy mix. Human militiamen held heavy iron shields, while Wolf-clan Beastmen darted between the shield walls, practicing pack-hunting maneuvers. It wasn't entirely smooth. A young Wolf-clan recruit, clearly trying to figure out how to wear human-style leather boots for the first time, stumbled and tripped over his own feet, crashing into a shield-bearer. The Beastman snarled in embarrassment, the human apologized frantically, and they scrambled back into formation before their instructor noticed.
Dante stood on a raised wooden platform, leaning on his walking stick. The elderly knight watched the formations with a critical eye. Fen, the heavily scarred Wolf Chieftain, paced back and forth in front of the platform, barking harsh corrections at the Beastmen who broke the line.
Rudra walked up to the platform, his hands resting casually in his coat pockets. "How's the integration looking, Dante?"
Dante coughed lightly into his fist and offered a warm smile. "It requires patience, My Lord. The humans are unaccustomed to the speed of the wolves, and the wolves are too eager to break the shield wall. But they are learning to cover each other's blind spots. They just need to stop stepping on tails."
“How about increasing their training," Rudra suggested.
Fen sneered from the dirt below. "I already made them do twice their usual training."
"Then just say that those who don't perform well, won't be allowed to eat my food that day," Rudra laughed,completely ignoring the absolute look of shock and horror across Dante and Fen's faces at the sheer, unprecedented brutality of the suggested punishment for something as trivial as being weak .
He waved for the guild members to follow him. They walked a short distance down the wide, fortified avenue to the next set of heavy stone walls. The players pulled up the interface again.
[Sage Knight Division]
[Basic Knight Division (Lv. 8)]
[Captain: Winfred]
[Vice-Captain: Singuled]
[ - The Division can currently train a total of 70 Knights.
- Sage knights receive a 20% increase in physical attack power and magic power. Skill cooldown time is reduced by 18%.
- The effect is permanent as long as the person belongs to the knights division.]
[Knights Division's Passive Skills: Increased Mana Regeneration (High), Decreased Stamina Consumption (Medium), Tactical Insight (Medium).]
[Current Roster: 30 Humans, 5 Sirens, 10 Witches and 15 Beastmen.]
The courtyard here was much quieter. A few dozen trainees were practicing spear thrusts and basic elemental magic. Sitting on a wooden bench reviewing a stack of tactical maps was Winfred. Amelda, Singuled, Kentrick, and Icarus were scattered around the yard, helping correct the trainees' postures.
"Twenty percent to attack and magic power," Spark whispered, reading her system window. "And almost twenty percent cooldown reduction. This division is a hybrid player's dream."
Haster stepped out from the group of recruits. The older player stretched his arms, hearing his shoulders pop.
"I guess this is my stop," Haster sighed. He walked right past the shocked guild members and stopped in front of the bench. "Hey, Master. Try not to make me do too many laps today. My knees aren't what they used to be."
Winfred didn't look up from his map. "Your knees are fine, Haster. Your stamina management is simply terrible. Go grab a spear from the rack."
Haster grumbled but walked over to join the Red Knights.
The Genesis recruits stood frozen. Red stared at Haster, then looked at the elderly NPC on the bench.
"Wait," Red muttered, his eyes darting between them. "Did Haster just call that NPC 'Master'?"
Cecilia pulled out her notebook. Her pen stopped moving. "Haster had been running solo since the game launched and has never looked down as NPC. Due to this unique nature and his own talent and a little bit of luck,he was able build affinity with Winfred. Thus he has been taking lessons from a Named NPC."
Red groaned, rubbing his temples. "So the guy I was picking-on an hour ago is literally the disciple of the Sage Knight Captain. Great. I'm going to get bullied in the training yard."
"How are the scouting reports looking?" Rudra asked Winfred.
"Talon's Roc clan is mapping the eastern peaks," Winfred reported, tapping a charcoal pencil against the parchment. "They spotted a few rogue troll camps who seemed to be unusually aggressive to our territory , but no Imperial movement. The border is quiet for now."
"Let me know if that changes," Rudra said.
He turned around and pointed to a massive, walled-in area further down the avenue, near the open agricultural fields. "Last combat stop. Piaro's division."