Training Before Battle

Deon only needed one month to fully use the metal tendons spirit, by which time his soldiers had been properly trained.

Learning that their sadistic training regime, where they were deliberately exposed to danger, then saved at the last second, had come to an end, caused the recruits to weep tears of joy.

"I survived training…" One man dropped to his knees and sobbed.

"All that remains is war, but at least I don't need to endure vice commander's tortu- I mean, training, any more!" A woman laughed happily and wiped a tear from her eye.

"Freedom at last…the war is a blessing, or else I fear this training would have lasted even longer." A glasses wearing man shook his head with a complicated sigh.

"Vice commander, what exactly did you do to them?" Commander Reana's eye twitched slightly. Even her own troops weren't so desperate to escape from her hellish training!

"Enough to make them into proper soldiers." Deon shrugged.

Well, nobody could disagree with him there. The soldiers under Deon were some of the most disciplined in the unit.

'A healthy mixture of fear and respect kicked them into shape.' Deon nodded in satisfaction.

Although the 37th unit wasn't involved in any other large scale conflicts during the three months following their last shocking battle, they weren't exactly at peace either.

As more rare spirits were discovered and even more blood was shed, both sides became increasingly daring. Whereas before, they would flee from any sighted enemies and quickly alert their basecamp, they now simply engaged the enemy without much thought.

Such battles occurred multiple times each day for the 37th unit's exploration groups. There were also occasional ambushes sprung on the groups as they expanded the camp's outer perimeter…it felt like aside from the inside of the camp, nowhere was truly safe.

Deon wasn't sure what he had expected, but this sort of brutal guerrilla warfare was certainly a surprise. He realised that although there were no large scale battles on the upper half of the mountain, the death count wasn't to be scoffed at either.

In the 37th unit alone, this unit with 400 men, there were 5-10 deaths each week. At first, people grieved for each of their fallen comrades, but the death eventually made them turn numb.

Now, all that remained was a deep rooted hatred towards the Fan Kingdom.

"That deplorable Fan Kingdom!"

"Bunch of evil bastards…"

"So scheming, they have no honour at all!"

…

The soldiers clearly bought into this hatred on behalf of their country and their fallen comrades. Deon thought it was simply ridiculous to call the Fan 'evil' though…this was war, and that was all. There was no good, there was no evil, there was only death and violence.

Well, it would be no good if he made his true feelings public though. Instead, he decided to play the role of the cold vice commander who rarely showed his true feelings directly, but made his care obvious through his actions.

He trained his soldiers, that now numbered at 80, very thoroughly. He taught them strictly, drilling into them the idea that survival was the most important matter.

"Don't throw yourself into a battle you can't win. If you are outnumbered or outmatched, retreat, find backup, then return with a proper plan to decimate your enemy whilst sustaining minimal losses. You should always be certain in your victory prior to the fight; this is the proper way to battle, and to win."

'Vice commander really cares about us soldiers…' A woman nearly teared up as she thought this.

'He acts cold, but he just wants us to become strong so that we survive!' A man smiled and nodded knowingly.

Indeed, Deon wanted his troops to survive, why would he not? Having fewer deaths in his group would reflect well on his leadership abilities after all.

The troops set out in groups of 10 to explore the North East side of the camp, the least explored region so far. Deon didn't go with them, trusting that these soldiers had taken his lessons to heart.

Right now, Deon was more focussed on something else…

Training until he became a peak stage 1-Star shaman!

Deon was spending much time within the camp, not because he was avoiding conflict, but because he wanted to reach the peak stage before seeking out conflict deliberately!

He still participated in brief exploration missions once each week and continued to refine spirits for the kingdom, which was now compensating him with a steady flow of merit points on account of his shocking production speed. He sold off the metal tendons spirit so that he had a free space to bind another spirit. He then returned the steel bones spirit to his soul space.

His training with the steel bones spirit took a back seat for now though. Instead, Deon spent 90% of his time refining more origin energy and rapidly approaching the boundary for the peak stage.

It felt like a waste to go out now and kill for nothing, when he could directly refine his core spirit by killing after reaching the peak stage!

Commander Reana was doubtful, but after Deon explained that he was close to the peak stage, she shut her mouth and allowed him to continue. She tried to hide her shock at his insane rank improvement rate, but Deon naturally saw through it.

Anyway, it was normal that the commander would be shocked by his speed. It had only been four months since he reached the late stage, yet he was now already closing in on the peak stage?

Most shamans would spend years of devoted training to ascend through each stage…just what the hell was he doing to ascend every few months whilst also attending to his military duties?!

When Remi overheard that Deon was actually close to becoming a peak stage 1-Star shaman, she froze, then grit her teeth and clenched her fists. She was now also at the late stage, an achievement that would usually be considered grand, but was instead overshadowed by Deon's brilliance. She couldn't hate him for it though, not after he saved her life back then…

Deon didn't care about any of this, he was fully focussed on his own training. He ended up taking two weeks away from his military duties, during which time he holed up in his tent and rapidly shot towards the peak stage.

Each stage should take longer to reach than the last, and breaking through the boundary shouldn't be anything simple, but Deon ignored all common sense. He was now training for 18 hours each day, it was natural that he would improve quickly when this effort was combined with his core spirit…

As for surpassing the boundary, that was nothing to him.

CRACK!

A jarring sound that echoed out from his tent caused the soldiers in the camp to pause. They stared at Deon's tent uncertainty, then stood to attention as Commander Reana also arrived.

Deon smiled happily as he walked out from the tent. He saw that he had attracted some attention and blinked, then laughed and decided it would be easier to show than to tell. He waved his hand, then a dark yet shiny grey gas appeared surrounding his palm.

"Peak stage 1-Star!" The Commander exclaimed with praise.

Peak stage 1-Star shaman was the level that thousands of aspiring soldiers only dreamed of reaching one day. 2-Star was a far off concept, only achievable by those old guys with talent, background, experience and obsession. But the peak stage of 1-Star, anyone with sufficient talent and work ethic could reach this level!

Most people possessed neither the talent nor the motivation to actually succeed in their lifetime though. But to see an 11 year old reach this stage, the stage that the majority of commanders and some captains and lieutenants also stood at, was simply shocking!

"Congratulations, Vice Commander Deon." Commander Reana finally managed to say.

"Mm, thank you commander…I just need a couple of things, then it will be time for me to return to the battlefield." Deon smiled brightly as he thought of the killing that was soon to come.

**********

After reaching the peak stage, Deon was now able to bind up to ten 1-Star spirits and store them in his soul space. Of course, most shamans would bind at most one below their maximum capacity in order to improve their origin energy recover rate, but that still gave Deon the option to use two more spirits.

He still had over 50,000 merit points, and it was finally time to make use of them.

He directly bought two spirits. Firstly, he bought the eagle eye spirit, a 1-Star silver class spirit that had the appearance of a sharp eyeball. After binding this spirit and watching as it appeared in his soul space, Deon's own eyes changed slightly, they became more sharp and watchful.

This spirit cost him 5,000 merit points and allowed his eyesight to reach an inhuman level. It was an excellent spirit for travelling through the mountainous region, especially when combined with the second spirit he bought…

Vampire bat ear spirit, a 1-Star gold class spirit that improved a shaman's hearing to unthinkable levels. It was more difficult to adjust to this intense hearing than to the powerful vision, so Deon took a full two days just getting used to it. It cost him 27,000 merit points, but it was well worth it in his opinion.

What he lacked the most were surveillance type spirits. With this, his senses would be improved to the extent that he could conduct any surveillance personally to keep himself safe and ahead of his enemy.

As spirits that enhanced the senses, they both also slightly improved his reflexes and reaction speed. Most spirits that affected the senses were like this, the lone effects weren't much, but it was certainly noticeable when they were combined together.

Truthfully, most spirits could actually exhibit multiple effects, but many of these effects were either too mild to notice, or shamans simply didn't know how to make use of them properly.

There weren't many gold class 1-Star spirits for sale in the kingdom, and only the most average gold class spirits would ever make it into this catalogue. Still, this vampire bat ear spirit was extremely useful to Deon right now, meaning its objective worth and cost was irrelevant.

He actually considered both spirits to be of approximately equal value to assisting his power, but he was willing to spend five times more on the vampire bat ear spirit, simply because he needed it. Merit points were there to be spent, there was no use in hanging onto them for no reason.

Normal class spirits usually cost tens of points, bronze class were usually available in the range of hundreds, silver class cost thousands and the few gold class spirits were all above 10,000 merit points. There were no platinum class or above spirits listed in the catalogue, and nor was Deon privy to the 2-Star spirits of the kingdom. Each of these spirits was a secret of the kingdom and wouldn't be carelessly published in a catalogue.

Deon guessed that such trades involving these spirits couldn't be measured in merit points, and that every single exchange was quite a big deal. To these mortal kingdoms, the rank of 2-Star was usually the pinnacle of their shamans, so matters involving 2-Star shamans and spirits were a mystery to the general public.

Anyway, now that he had become a peak stage 1-Star shaman and became accustomed to his full set of versatile spirits, Deon was ready...to step foot on the battlefield once again!