Christopher was finally going to meet with his Platoon in the Lumen Forces, and he was unsure what to expect. The Lumen Constructors were already aware of his obligations. These sessions were placed under the highest priority by the Earl and the Lumen ruling class, so everyone was allowed to shirk any prior responsibilities with no consequences in order to attend. The workshop would be quite empty by now, a good portion of the workers was also drafted into the different squads and platoons across the city.

He did not have too much trouble finding the right location. They were meeting next to their battlement in the Sternel Tree wall that circled the outer city. The Lumen Forces had put some thought into where people were posted, making sure that people were put somewhere close to where they lived and worked. This would allow him to get there as quickly as possible during an enemy attack. His platoon was some distance from the critical areas, meaning that they would be some distance from the gates. The more powerful and better trained would be put in those critical spots. His own posting was between the northern and eastern gate. He was early, figuring that most military types would not appreciate tardiness. It looked like upper command was already here. At least they looked like the leaders of this unit. They were sharply uniformed and had the bearings of command.

Looking closely, he could see that the Sternel tree had a number of somewhat hidden openings, indicating the location of the battlement placed unseen to the eye within the Trees. He could spot some openings higher up, which would appear as natural formations until one was able to look at them closely. He had learned that these trees had been carefully grown from saplings and had been infused with some kind of second-tier Soul Effect to spur their growth. He wondered how they had even managed to hollow out the massive spaces within the trunks, considering how difficult it was to cut the wood. At the Lumen Constructors, they needed special tools infused with Soul Heat or Pressure for the task but it was difficult even with those tools. Behind him was a residential area, modest grown houses were packed tightly together in the streets.

As he waited for everyone to gather, he could see the officers casting occasional glances in their direction. His fellow trainees also joined the small group not much later, they clumped together, seeking safety in familiarity. Bara looked nervously at the stoic and controlled faces of the leaders in front of them, standing rigid and straight. He also recognized a few of his fellow workers at the Lumen Constructors, and they looked to be holding up better than most. Christopher observed the other recruits streaming in around them and they looked surprisingly inadequate.

There were people streaming in with plenty of fat, and many people looked out of breath just from walking here. They were also nervously shifting their gazes around. These people were clearly out of shape, and when he looked to the officers in front, he could see that their complexions turned dark. He was confident that his own training group had some of the greenest recruits in the entire platoon and the Lumen Forces, but they looked outright athletic compared to this collection of fighters.

Before coming here, he had been surprised that they had even deemed his own training class capable of joining the defense, a few of them had only just recently managed to hit a still target with the bow after all. But how long had it been since some of these other people been enrolled in a training class? It looked like years ago. These were the warriors that were supposed to defend Lumen? He hoped that Lumen had not grown lax in their long period of relative safety.

Soon people stopped streaming in, and he judged that there were around fifty people in their Platoon. An impressively uniformed grey-haired woman finally started moving closer to the group of gathered people. Christopher studied her and felt like he had seen her before, it took quite a few seconds for him to finally place her. He remembered that before the matches in the Arena, some children had demonstrated their skills in fighting with wooden quarterstaffs. This was the instructor that he had seen barking orders to the kids during that demonstration. Her uniform was covered with metal adornments and items. Looking at the body language of the other leaders, it seemed clear that she was the highest-ranked person here.

“Silence, and line up.” She gave them a minute to order themselves in front of her, it did not go smoothly. “I am lieutenant Cerra in charge of all the forces in defensive zone fourteen. You will be divided into four squads under the leadership of your own sergeant. I will now call the name of you Sergeant, followed by the names of the squad members. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Lieutenant” they answered back, some later than others, which received a disapproving glare from the lieutenant.

She then barked out the first name. “Sergeant Coley” The first sergeant was a tall and slender man with sunken eyes and half-long brown hair hanging slightly over his eyes. He looked coolly over all of them standing before him. Lieutenant Cerra opened the parchment that she had been holding and started calling out the first ten names. Christopher did not have to wait long; his name was the fourth that was called out. None of his fellow trainees was to join him in this squad, which saddened him, but it was what he had expected. Lieutenant Cerra continued once all the people were assigned to their own squads.

“You are expected to follow the orders of your superiors to the letter, any insubordinate behavior will be met with disciplinary actions. People are now counting on you for the defense of the city, and the shirking of that responsibility will result in much harsher punishment. Any desertions during an attack will result in you being thrown out of the Lumen walls with only the clothing on your back. Something you would be unlikely to survive.”

Well, that should have people thinking twice about shirking their duties. It was harsh, but he understood the need. He of course had zero intention of shirking his responsibilities so he was not worried about being thrown out anytime soon. Although it was unclear what would be considered insubordinate behavior. Probably any refusal to obey a direct order.

Lieutenant Cerra continued after everyone had been assigned to their squads. “There are a number of qualities that expect from you if this is to become an effective unit. We need you in strong physical and mental shape, and you also need to coordinate and work well with your fellow platoon members. You should also be able to focus in high-pressure situations and think quickly on your feet. Maybe most important is that you are expected to follow any order from someone higher in command to the letter. Do you understand what is expected from you?” The question was clearly asked with only one acceptable answer available, and they all complied, this time only a few answered late.

“Yes, lieutenant”

They were then dismissed, sent to gather with the rest of their Squads. He was soon standing with his apparent squadmates in rigid formation before Sergeant Coley, who looked at them with a fierce look of displeasure. His fellow squad members might stand rigid, but when Christopher looked at their faces many of them seemed scared and uncomfortable. It was sometimes easy to forget that Lumen had been relatively safe in the last few centuries, so they had probably never experienced the threat of a looming attack.

Sergeant Coley finally spoke after an uncomfortable silence that lasted a minute, during which he had painfully studied each one of them. Finally, after a sigh, he spoke. “Listen up, I expect that my orders are followed if we are to make anything of this squad in the time that we have. It looks like there is much work to be done to get this squad functional, so we need to make the most of it.”

So far so good, he was not yelling at them and insulting them just yet, which Christopher considered a win.

Sergeant Coley proceeded to grill him and the other eight to get a feel for their capabilities. Most of the resumes of the others sounded a hell of a lot more impressive than that of Christopher. Sergeant Coley did not seem pleased when he went over Christopher’s personal fighting experience. He reacted when he mentioned his Soul Heat license of Master five though.

“Why were you not stationed as one of the Soul Mages in the platoon?”

“I only received my License a few days ago, maybe the forces are still unaware of my capabilities.”

“No matter, I will mention your capabilities to lieutenant Cerra, she can decide what to do with you.”

With the grilling finished, Sergeant Coley continued. “Who the blight knows how many sessions we have to prepare before we get any real action. Let’s start with the essentials.”

Their squad proceeded to go through the motions of preparing the unit for an assault by the Blight.

Sergeant Coley wanted to test their current level of fitness and had them run for almost an hour in his wake. Here Christopher was surprised to learn that he was in the third-best shape of all of the nine squad members not counting Sergeant Coley. It now seemed obvious that although some of them might have received more training than him, for many it had been years ago. Some of them had not really bothered to keep up with their physical training at all.

This was rather interesting. It seemed to suggest that a person could have a lapse in their attributes if they withheld from training for extended periods of time. But even that might not be the case, maybe he and the other summoned just worked with a different rule set in this regard as well. He knew that other people did not have an interface, that much was clear from his not-so-subtle questioning. But even if they could not see their attributes, he had already learned that their Soul Force growth worked similar enough to his own. He still knew very little, that much was clear to him.

After this, the Sergeant went over their responsibilities and the tactics that they would deploy in the case of an attack. They were also supposed to memorize all the patterns since the situation could change quickly during a confrontation.

All forces would start in the battlements placed within the Lumen wall. Sergeant Coley called this the first phase and explained the attacking patterns that were used to defeat the creatures below. The positions of them and the other squads had also already been determined. There was a lot to learn, and Christopher did his best to remember as much as he could. They would have these sessions three times a week so he needed to learn as much as he could quickly.

If things progressed to the second phase, then something had already gone wrong. This phase meant that either their battlements were lost, or that enough of Blight had entered the city that they were going to need to divert troops.

There was a whole range of tactics and rules in the case that they were forced to fight the Blight on the ground in the city. The walkways that connected this upper part of Lumen would be used, but they might also have to engage in closer combat. He felt that he would earn the most Soul points by shooting weak creatures like Goblins and Empty Vessels from the safety of the walls or the upper walkways.

He had a chance to talk with some of his fellow squad members, and although they seemed like good people, most did not seem to have the conviction for being part of the Lumen Forces. When he asked some of them why they joined, he got the impression that it was more out of obligation than any personal motivation to help. They seemed nervous at being a part of the defense. ‘What about me, why am I not more nervous?’ Christopher wondered.

He contemplated for a moment why he suddenly felt so determined when it came to fighting the Blight. Maybe it was the availability of [Bookmark] that staved off his terror of what might be coming. Having a cheap escape system was certainly a luxury.

No, it was more than that, he had started to believe that he might actually be able to fight back against the Blight. He had put in plenty of effort in raising his combat abilities and Soul Force and he felt like his efforts were already paying off. Also, this life was already a second chance. Maybe he could use this second chance to make a difference, he had already decided that he would not allow any creatures of the Blight to reach the twins and the others again if he could help it.

He made sure to listen carefully to Sergeant Coley, there was a lot he still needed to learn.