8 Great War

In the morning, Will woke again at the 7th bell. But he lay in bed replaying yesterday's events. Thankfully, he was not sore due to my mana circulation, but the thought of Marshall Rolf's class made him rethink his choice, Will wonder if mages must do physical training?

After breakfast this morning, Will headed to the library. But, Elder Thaddeus was not here. Another elder greeted me as he entered.

"Welcome back cadet, my name is Elder Li. Grandmaster Thaddeus asked us to put your books on the table this morning," she said in a very maternal soft-spoken voice.

There was something different about the way she spoke, almost as if the words purred out of a cat. Will looked at her but could not figure out what was altering me to the distinction.

Will bowed and said, "Thank you Elder Li, and please thank Elder Thaddeus for me as well."

"My you are polite she said, maybe Thaddeus was right about you, being different," she said thinking out loud to herself.

As he walked to the table, Will looked at the five-volume set wondering if this history would answer my questions. The set was entitled [The Great War of Terra: Volume 1]. Most of the history books he read detailed the history of Fermion, the lineage of the kings; famous mages, knights, inventors, and alchemists; famous buildings; and territorial battles between various nobility. The history books also discussed wars between Fermion and the neighboring kingdom of Albania.

While Fermion was mostly a landlocked country, with mountains to the north, grasslands to the west, forest to the east, and arid land in the south. Fermion has a natural border with mountains and forests to the north and east.

Fermion's western border ended at a great river, with strong massive currents. It made crossing the river near impossible. While his parents lived on the western frontier, Will never could learn lay west of our barony across the river. Whenever he asked, my father would say, let us discuss it when you are older.

The kingdoms of Albania and Fermion did not share a natural border. Most of the wars our kingdom fought were border disputes. Every so often either kingdom would move troops to gain more ground.

Unlike Fermion, Albania's southern border was the ocean, letting them profit off sea trade. Fermion being landlocked, decided it wanted to expand its borders to the ocean.

The king's grandfather had issued a royal decree that Albania and Fermion used to be one kingdom long ago, but a fight between princes led to splitting the kingdom in two. The king's grandfather swore to unite the two kingdoms once again.

On Earth, Will had never liked war, but he would always profit from war. He had instigated a few wars when he was young to grab more resources for his growing empire. Later, he regretted those actions, which lead me to be a philanthropist later in life.

However, the wars between Fermion and Albania could be equal to the 100-year war between England and France. These wars eventually led to a money drain for both kingdoms. In fact, in Fermion inflation was on the rise, and income taxes remained high (60% to 80% in some territories). War for war's sake, was an economic killer and that is what upset me the most about our kingdom.

The volumes reviewed the gods and goddesses of Terra. Most kingdoms, cities, towns, and villages worshipped different gods and goddesses, but every kingdom recognized the primordial gods, even if they were not worshipped in that location. The primordial deities were Gaia, goddess of earth and fertility; Aether, god of sky and heavens; Nyx, goddess of night and death; and Pontus, god of sea and rivers.

The volume details how the children of gods and goddesses, started the Great War when they began to gamble and with the lives of people on Terra. This led to a great war for supremacy between humans, beastmen, elves, and dwarves.

Each group held a unique advantage. Humans while physically weaker than the other humanoids, had greater numbers due to their high birth rates. While slightly stronger than humans, Elves were the most intelligent and clever. Beastmen were the physically strongest and relished battle Dwarfs being equally strong to beastmen created the better weapons.

However, the group also held a noticeable weakness: humans were weak, elves had low birth rates, beastmen were tribal and not united, and dwarfs were isolationist. This led to wars often resulting in stalemates or trench warfare with not much movement on either side.

Humans and elves regraded each life and with their population dwindling asked for a ceasefire. The beastmen tribes debated the ceasefire amongst themselves. Some tribes argued for a continuation of the war, but other tribes saw this as an opportunity to regain their independence.

The Dwarves agreed to a ceasefire if neither group sets foot near its mountains. The human kingdoms agreed to their demands and vowed to live in peace. A great pact was signed, and the kingdoms have been separated for almost a thousand years.

That explained why Will never saw the other races except for beastmen slaves. In Fermion slavery was legal, but beastmen slavery was illegal due to the great pact. While beastmen slavery was illegal, the most official looked the other way, allowing the illegal slavery industry to prosper.

Most slaves in Fermion fell into two groups debt and war slaves. Debt slaves were people who could not pay their creditors and war slaves were soldiers captured from the Albanian Army.

After reading all five books, sat back in his chair digesting all the information.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" asked Elder Li.

Shocked, Will sat upright.

"Yes, and no. You would think after a thousand years the races would've found a way to get along at least trade amongst themselves," Will replied.

"Oh, you think the old grudges have passed, and the new generations bear no ill will. What of the gods and goddesses? She asked.

This question threw Will off. He was never a religious person and the first volume discussion of the god and goddess starting the war sounded more like fiction than fact.

"Honestly, I always thought the gods and goddess were like clockmakers, they would wind the clock and then take a hands-off approach," Will replied.

"Hmm, interesting. But deities are jealous beings, who fight for worshippers and hold grudges against their kind. Deities may ask their followers to harm people, to decrease worshipers for other gods and goddesses," Elder Li instructed.

Will sat there stunned.

"Are you saying the Great War was a religious war fought among deities for power and races of Terra were merely puppet soldiers?" Will asked to clarify.

"You are a fast learner, Thaddeus was right. You need to learn to respect the deities. What this book does not mention, is that Great War ended when Aether and Gaia stepped in to stop their children," she finished.

Wills mind was numb. Of course, here in Terra god and goddess were real and intervened in people's lives. If magic were real, why could not gods and goddesses be real? Back on Earth, gods never interacted with people.

'I don't ever remember meeting a god or hearing a god speak to him. But then…did a god reincarnate me here in Terra? Why? Oh no, what does this mean? Will sat there thinking in my head until the 10th bell when I left the library. My brain utterly thinking about previous non-existent threats I may face,' Will thought.

After leaving the library Will headed to the small park and worked on my body enhancement magic. he found an empty bench and removed his shoes, letting his feet feel the grass. He began using a little earth magic to bury his feet under loose dirt.

Yesterday, Will struggled to get the rock armor to cover his feet and ankles. Will began practice by centering himself, focusing on his breathing while circulating his mana. Feeling his feet covered in dirt, Will began to harden his toes one at a time, then the soles of his feet, followed by his heels.

Next, Will hardened his ankles. Compared to yesterday, this was an improvement. Will was not as tired as yesterday but he noticed this process was taking a long time. In battle, this would take too long, and Will wouldn't have time to concentrate like he's doing now.

Herring the 12th bell, Will ran to the dining for lunch before physical training. After using all his mana, the food he ate felt like a flood filling an empty lake. Once again, his classmates discussed their magic theory and history classes, feeling me on details that found interesting.

Ryan, a cadet in our unit, struggled in history and always asked Chloe for help. Will wasn't sure if Ryan had a crush on her, or whether he was interested in getting help. Herring the 14th bell, Will thought lunch never lasted long enough.

Walking to the coliseum, the cadets found out they were meeting in the blue training room. As they arrived in the room, the rest of the cadets were already standing in line, terrified of upsetting Marshall Rolf.

As soon as Marshall Rolf arrived, he yelled, "Fall in."

After which they did their best to stand up and salute. Marshall Rolf demanded the students run five laps around the coliseum with the weapon we choose yesterday.

"Listen, cadet, from now on you will train with your weapons. As soon as you get the coliseum, please get your weapon before you fall in" Master Rolf informed them.

Today, was a repeat of yesterday. Two hours of calisthenics and 2-hours of practice fighting with dummies. Before the dismissal, Marhsall Rolf once again grouped to spar.

"When you all spar, think about this as a real fight. Use your body enhancements, skills, spells, whatever you must to win, use it! This will benefit you, but also your sparring partner, by improving your skills," Marshall Rolf instructed.

After the instructions, Will partnered with Evan. Before the spar, Will used his rock armor on my legs to get a feel for what it would be like to fight. In amazement, Will realized the rock armor did not weigh much, and he was able to continue to use his 19 points of dexterity without being slowed down.

Evan and Will chose to spar because they both use swords, while Evan did not have an elemental affinity, his body enhancement was muscle strengthening. Will felt his rock armor and his muscle enhancement would help better gauge how to use my rock armor for defense, and offensive attacks.

As Evan and Will walked onto the battle stage, Master Rolf gave the command for battle etiquette. After our greetings, the duo readied for the start of the battle. Evan sped toward Will, his muscle enhancement temporarily boosted his strength, this strength could be used to increase speed, swings, and martial attacks.

After watching Evan and Mark spar yesterday, Will knew he would begin his attack this way. Circulating my mana, and enhancing his feet and legs in rock armor, Will met Evan's first thrust, pushing his sword away from my gut.

Will followed with an overhead attack infusing his sword with mana for a quick attack. The moment, Will infused his sword with mana, his mana pool felt like a drain opened. Using an infused weapon and rock armor were big mana drains.

Evan parried the attack, thrusting again for Will's shoulder. Will dodged the attack, trying to put distance between us. Even anticipating this move, did not allow much separation to continue to attack and pursue.

Will and Evan continued attacking, dodging, and defending until they were both sweating and exhausted. Seeing my rock amor spell would soon wear off, I chose to kick Evan in his thigh. "Argh, he screamed after making contact.

Will could tell he was wounded and favoring his left leg. But he stayed on the stage refusing to concede. Choosing to put some ground between us, Will pressed the attack hoping to end this fight soon.

As Will came near him, planning to kick his left leg again, Evan punched me in the left shoulder dislocating my sword arm. Will screamed in pain, dropped my sword, but he refused to give in and surrender. Will wasn't a fighter but he had pride.

'I would hate for Ballard's to raise me and for me to sully their name,' Will thought.

Evan and Will knew both had nothing left in the tank, came to the center of the ring for one last joust. But, before they could attack, they heard Marshall Rolf end the match.

"Ay, runts, just stop, this sorry shit for a fight it's hurting my eyes. It's clear both of you are weak and anymore fighting won't help you to learn more than you already learned fighting each other. As a referee, I call this match a draw."

Hearing Master Rolf called the match a drawl, Evan and Will fell on the stage gasping for air to catch their breath.

"Runts, get off the stage and to the healer to get fixed up and then head to dinner. Tomorrow, I tell you what you did not wrong and ways to improve," Master Rolf sent us away.

Will remembered walking to the healer in the coliseum, and afterward, Evan and Will left for dinner and discussed their bout. After dinner, Will quickly passed out and fell asleep.