Chapter 165: A Soldier’s Sword

Never sleep with your window open in the summer, the nights get cold and make you sick.

Instead of exiting through the same gate that the dragon arrived at, Knife Leader Tanya and Nisha left through the back and stood in front of a leveled yard.

Traces of the previous lawn could still be seen here and there, though the land had been leveled by the army and repurposed into a training yard.

Soldiers stood in line and swung their swords, while several leader figures walked through their ranks and corrected their practice.

The appearance of an elf raised some eyebrows, but none of the eyes that scanned them briefly followed the pretty woman and her guest while they walked to an empty square with a rack of training weapons.

“Generally the rank of Lance Corporal is considered the pinnacle of the career ladder in the army, it’s rare to rise from the sixth aura rank to the seventh. It’s the second great divide in talent, not a lot of humans can breach through that barrier.

Those that do manage to do it though, can apply for the ranks above common officers.

Appointed by the order of the Empress herself, the next title is split in the Great Sword Generals and Great Shield Generals.

Historically, the denomination comes from the mission each legion is tasked with. Those defending the capital and the land around Mount Terus are the shields of the nation, while each Great Sword General receives a mission to fulfill together with the legion banner.

Both positions hold great power though and rarely leave the command post established as the lifeline of a legion.

On this excursion to Thurgau, the direct subordinate of the Great Sword General Tulsi - another Lance Corporal - is considered the head of all armed forces until we return to our barracks.

Above that are the Order Tribuns and council of elders, but I don’t really know much about them either, they are far above my paygrade after all.”

With this, they reached the weapon rack and stopped their idle conversation, even the sweet lady had a stern demeanor and professional attitude now.

At least that was her intention, seeing a soldier that filled the black and silver uniform standardly issued by the empire drew all kinds of gazes at their corner of the training field.

Nisha also admired the tight cutting fit and wondered whether she could sew something similar to conform her own body like that.

Unfortunately, the Knife Leader Tanya had no intention to let her student’s head drift among the clouds and picked two similar wooden swords from the rack.

Just going by the feel and the feedback from her [Spirit Sight], each and every equipment intended for the daily training routine carried out by the soldiers was at least at the second rank material wise.

Tanya handed the elf the shorter version of her own weapon and shifted into a ready stance by holding the sword with both hands in front of her.

“The beginning for all new recruits is the same in the army. You get out and practice your body until you can swing a training blade one hundred times in a row.

Until then, all other exercises are put on hold and a physical training drill will be held every day.

If you are unable to endure the one hundred swings, I suggest that you practice your stamina in your free time, Lance Corporal Hale did not deem it necessary for the both of us to waste our time on mundane actions like that.

We’re going to pretend you already passed the physical assessment and start with the actual weapon drill.”

As she spoke, the Knife Leader lifted the wooden sword halfway above her head and made a hacking motion downwards right away. The tip stopped when it hovered a finger’s width above the ground and whirled a dry gust mixed with dirt up.

The dragon greatly admired that degree of body coordination. Seeing that the swing did not lack power or effort in any way, the counter pressure when trying to stop such a stroke in a precise spot had to be even greater.

“This is one standard swing, try your best to remember my actions. You can stop around hip height when you begin and then work your way down, try your best to get as close to the ground as you can.

[Imperial Swordplay] is not a skill anyone can manage to learn in one go, the goal of the entire exercise is to gain greater control over your body.”

Knife Leader Tanya brought her sword in a ready stance once again and loosened a breath she held throughout the series of motions.

Teaching a new recruit was a double sided affair as a good student had the potential to return the teachings in a new manner while a bad student could ruin the instructor’s entire day - whatever was left of that after they screamed their lungs out to get the greenhorns to execute a proper figure even one time.

“As you might have noticed, the first level contained in the [Imperial Swordplay] is also called [Basic Styles].

To let you get an idea for that, tell me what skills you own and how proficient you are with them.”

Circling around her student, the pretty lady kept her own weapon at her side as she watched Nisha get into the same combat stance, stepping in and correcting the angle of her hands and the distance between her feet while she was at it.

“I obtained two skills from the Guild, one is called [Shadow Clad] and can give my weapon an additional layer of damage, while the other is rather mysterious and goes by the name of [Seal: Create]. I have not yet figured out what that one does besides summoning a corresponding rune into the air.”

Starting the sequence to execute a basic swing in a slow manner, Nisha focused more on her weapon. As a result, a simple sentence dragged on far longer than usual and she finished three sets with subsequently fewer corrections by the Knife Leader.

Naturally, her forms still had tons of flaws and none of the three strikes followed the same path or remained at the same height when the dragon stopped her swings.

Nonetheless, no one was born a master and getting a direction for the direction of her combat ability already satisfied the elf plenty.

“I see. Elemental enhancements are fairly common at the early ranks, they are straightforward and one of the earliest applications that warriors learn when they come into contact with aura.

Still, some of them have great additional effects and can turn the tide in your favor in a close fight, so I guess you should keep practicing that one.

For your second skill, without seeing it I have no idea either, but my intention behind the question was to see if you had any skills that were more active.

To give you an idea, there are plenty of flawed products in the [Adventurer’s Guild] library. They include nonsensical motions and fixed postures to execute. One example would be the skill [Strike of Light], which as the name implies, is a basic difficulty skill intended for phyiscal fighters.

According to the tome and image crystal, you have to stand still and channel aura through your sword while holding it with both hands above your head before striking down a dark creature.”

A rather unladylike snort escaped Tanya as she mimicked the ridiculous act with her own sword before dropping it to her side again.

“You might get away with such behavior in a guild related party diving into the dungeon when a dedicated shield bearer can take the front line and hold a monster down while someone clowns around like that, but the army needs to rely on every single soldier in the front line to do their job.

Imagine a squad of cavalry rushing at our shield wall and suddenly one of the new recruits throws his shield away and squats before death rushing at him on a horse while trying to gather enough aura in the sword to hit once before dooming all of his comrades.”

The group leader shook her head at that scenario and urged her new student to continue keeping up the stance, without striking down this time.

“Hence, the great thinkers of past generations came up with a brilliant idea after who-knows-how-many turns.

Write down all the singular movements and have each soldier learn them through training.

Naturally, these eggheads lost their nation while a horde of barbarians stormed them down in a brutal fashion, yet the idea captivated people and after a long time, the revised version surfaced one fateful day in the form of [Imperial Swordplay].

From the lowest layer, the [Beginner Styles] to the highest, the manual aims to unify the different attack variations and narrow them down on an essential section that is easy enough to learn, but builds a foundation powerful enough to attain higher technical levels without having to study more moves.”

Knife Leader Tanya nodded to herself and if it was not for the slightest curls around the edges of her mouth, Nisha would have assumed that the previous part was a historical correct representation of real events.

“The Terus army adopted this manual as a must have for every new recruit and the first drill when they get into their first squad with a sharp weapon is the [Basic Styles], and the last lesson for the old fogeys when they retire from service.

You can practice it for an infinite amount of time and still have room for improvement. There’s no finished state since they are so simple, and no highest level to attain as the countless permutations do not only connect with each other, they also evolve through personal combat experience and change from the perspective of each individual.”

By now, the elf had to keep her face in check to prevent herself from rolling her eyes or snorting in the same manner as her instructor had done earlier.

First Tanya had announced they were skipping the one hundred strokes, yet all they did in the end was just that while the pretty lady announced the history behind the manual she was supposed to learn.

Looking from an educational point of view, this was the correct approach at an unknown domain for any beginner, to be as inclusive as possible.

On the other hand, the dragon learned nothing new as of now, besides that the Knife Leader had remarkable soft hands for a soldier.

An idle thought, carried away by the wind as Tanya continued the history lesson.

Strangely enough, her candied voice invoked a trace akin to a hypnotic effect in the minds of her listeners, each words left them craving for more so they memorized each following one even more to help them over the draught between her breaks.

“A unified army based on the [Imperial Swordplay] does not only have an advantage in the field, where skills can be smooth lined and optimized in order to replace their inefficient and harmful movements, incorporating them in regular formations and squads, it is also helpful to check the dedication a soldier has to improving himself.

In the Imperial Army, an elite that wishes to climb the ladder and become a Knife Leader has not only to break through the fourth rank, they also need to reach the level of [Noble Execution], or the second level of the manual.

And in order to go from the rank of Lance Corporal to Great Sword General or Great Shield General, the requirements go up to seventh aura rank and [Royal Exchange], the third level in the [Imperial Swordplay] manual.

So to say, if a soldier shuts themself in all day and only cultivates without polishing their abilities, they can be elite soldiers at best, but never leading others into the fight.”

“Then what about Lance Corporal Hale? Does she also have the proficiency of the second level with [Imperial Swordplay]?

I can’t really imagine her practicing from the moment the sun rises until it goes down when she attempted to become an officer. She should be a natural at this kind of stuff, right?”

Nisha repeated more standard slashes from the normal stance.

While it was boring and repetitive work to repeat the same motions over and over again, the dragon actively looked for her flaws and aimed to reduce then whenever she recognized one.

Just because a task dragged on and bored her, it was no reason to get sloppy after all.

And Knife Leader Tanya beamed really wide when it came to the target of her adoration.

“Of course! As a professional soldier, Lance Corporal Hale already stepped into the level of [Noble Exchange] when she was still a common soldier under a Knife Leader and furthermore beat several instructors at pure swordplay at the biggest military academy in the entire Terus empire.

Many factions suspected her to be the next candidate to advance as a Lance Corporal in the Legion within a turn.

To everyone’s surprise, she chose to attend the Medicus courses offered by the army and spent several years mastering a specialized profession that not many manage to finish.

And when Lance Corporal Hale returned to active duty, her cultivation had advanced enough that she obtained her current seat within a month of her return.

While not the typical career, her advancements are a model worthy of admiration among new and aspiring recruits, often told by the instructors in basic training.”