Rome Must Perish

The sun was setting in the west, and the sunset cast a golden hue over the now quiet training ground, while the evening breeze rustled the green trees, bringing a refreshing coolness.

Most of the new recruits, who had been training for most of the day, were lying on the grass, enjoying the rare tranquility.

Tierks felt that every part of his body was sore and aching. He thought that having been a soldier before, he would be familiar with military training, but he realized it was a different story once the training began.

In the Pontus army, Tierks was a phalanx spearman, where formation was the most crucial aspect. Therefore, during his initial training, he spent long hours standing in formation and holding a spear, only later advancing with the team with the spear... He didn’t even need to practice thrusting because the spear wall formed by the phalanx was the most powerful weapon to block enemy attacks. As long as he knew how to maintain the formation and hold the spear for a long time, he was considered a qualified phalanx spearman.

But the military training here was different, as the rebel army completely imitated the Roman military system. The soldiers were trained following the model of the Roman Legion Soldier. Although formation was emphasized, it wasn’t as strict. Due to the requirement for close combat, there was a higher demand for individual combat ability. The first day’s training involved chopping wooden stakes and shield collision exercises, interspersed with small team formations and shield holding stances (which actually helped soldiers recover their strength).

The chopping wooden stakes exercise seemed simple, as it just involved striking the stakes with a stick. However, under Tierks’ supervision, the recruits had to make a loud noise with each strike, which required them to use all their strength. These stakes were quite solid, and the greater the force used, the greater the counter-shock, causing the recruits’ hands to go numb and their arms to ache. At the start of the training, they couldn’t hit many times before their palms couldn’t grip the stick anymore, and they had to rest before starting again.

If chopping wooden stakes only made hands ache and waist sore, then shield collision training made the whole body hurt. This was because they had to tense all their muscles and root their feet to withstand the opponent’s violent collision or exert all their strength to knock the opponent down...

Having been a soldier, Tierks understood without Tierks explaining that soldiers who hadn’t undergone such training would struggle to hold their swords during battle and drop them when weapons clashed, and shields would fail to hold up against collisions, losing their lives in a flash... However, understanding it didn’t make it any less excruciating... Tierks lay on the ground, not wanting to move.

"Don’t just lie there, get up, I’ll take you somewhere." Tierks’ voice sounded in their ears.