Volume 1: Arc 3: Chapter 5

AUTHOR'S NOTE

I was hesitant to write great portions of this chapters as there are many moving parts. Some of which, I wanted to leave till volume 2 but they fit here. There is a small aside at the bottom.

Also, a new chapter, most likely, will be out tonight.

December 31, 29 R.E – July31, 30 R.E.

The days past quickly in the new city of Kankur. Rajac settled into his new role as Captain of the army. While he had only begun with fifteen men, that number soon swelled to three-hundred.

Many wished to join the army for a variety of reasons, but foremost, the pay was excellent. Rajac had been given a large sum of money to fund his soldiers for the coming years by the Council. It had been decided, soon after Rajac accepted the captaincy, that the army needed to be well-funded and properly trained if the Ventros would ever flourish as a people in the Western Territories.

His men, while not experts like Temos’ students, already had some martial ability; however, it was taught mostly as a means of self-protection. Rajac had to change that thinking in them. They would need to learn to attack¬-and-defend together.

The Ventros clans had many books on the subject of modifying the Ventros Sword Style for warfare. In fact, Temos’ students already knew many of the modified forms. One of them, Rajac had already seen as they fought Lord Gaya’s men.

The Jintac Formation. Basically, it was a massive shield wall of Earth Elemental Magic that used the same techniques as the Cadence of Jin but in unison with many other soldiers.

Rajac allowed Yaka, his second, to take lead on training the soldiers in the formations as he knew them much better than Rajac. There were three in total; well, at least three that Temos’ students were comfortable teaching. Jintac Formation, Martyr’s Formation, and the Collective Formation, which Rajac just called the Unbroken Formation.

With Yaka at their head, it was not long before all three-hundred of his men could replicate the basics of all three formations.

They were no masters of the formations; not by far. But, it was a start.

One day, in mid-June, Rajac was walking the training grounds, just past the newly constructed army barracks, inspecting his mens’ technique.

As he walked past, his arms crossed over his chest, a customary scowl on his face, one of the newer recruits stumbled in the Jintac Formation. Falthor, one of Temos’ former students, whose dark complexion was a rarity among the Ventros, stalked over to the recruit and said, snarling, “Tanak! What in bloody heavens do you think you are doing? If you are distracted by a single person now, what do you think will happen on the battlefield!?”

The recruit’s face turned red with either anger or embarrassment and he lowered his head, moved back into the Cadence of Jin, and synchronized his steps with the rest of his squad.

After shouting a few more insults at the unfocused soldier, Falthor tilted his head to Rajac and began to walk a little ways away from the squad, whose drills were now being led by a strong-chinned sergeant Rajac did not know the name of.

Rajac followed him, curious. He did not know Falthor well; truthfully, the only one he knew really well was Yaka. This was mostly due to the structure he created when he began to formulate the army.

While he was the ‘head’ of the army, Yaka was the one who trained and recruited all the men. Thus, Rajac had little to no interaction with any of his commanders except during his daily inspections and the weekly reports they had to submit to him. It would only be when there was a real fight that he would be needed anyway. He thought this was the primary reason, anyway, that the Council put him in charge of the army-his prowess in the field. After all, he was the only one in the last five-hundred years to master the Ventros Sword Style.

“Falthor?” Rajac said quietly, careful to not let his voice carry over to the men, who seemed to be too interested in the sky. It was clear all were attempting to listen.

Falthor turned his back to the obvious soldiers and said quietly, “Sir…” He paused, seeming uncomfortable as he bent his head slightly and brushed some dust from his leathers, “Sir,” he repeated, “I have a request to ask of you.”

“Speak.” Rajac said impatiently. “You saw how Tanak, the recruit, fell out of formation when he noticed you?”

“Yes, the unfocused one? It doesn’t look like he will make a good soldier.”

Falthor cleared his throat. “That’s just it. He’s one of the best recruits.”

“Oh.” Rajac said, lifting his eyebrows. “I thought Yaka had done a better job; I will have to speak to him about this.”

“No. That’s not it at all.” Falthor said, waving his hands hurriedly.

“It’s, well, it’s that they all fear you.”

Rajac sighed. He knew there had been the possibility of something like this. He thought hate would have been the more likely emotion but fear? That was a new one. What did his soldiers have to fear from him?

“Many saw you fight the Demi-God with Temos and the saw your prowess then. How you fought…well, it was amazing sir. But, unlike Temos who was blessed by the true and noble Gods, they say you were cursed to wade through blood... They say that you stalk the land looking for the blood of your enemies and maybe…even your friends. There has been much talk about this subject in the barracks as of late. I’m sure, in time, there will be as many stories about you as there is of Temos.” Falthor said, a solemn note in his voice.

Rajac shivered inside. He had no idea what to make of these stories. It appeared that whatever he did, for or against his people, they would make their own opinions about him and he could do little to stop them.

Reluctantly, he asked Falthor, “What should I do?”

Falthor pursed his lips, considering. But Rajac could tell by the knowing look in his eyes that he had already thought about what he would say long in advance. As Rajac looked deeper into his eyes, he saw a glimmer of fear there as well. Gods above, Rajac thought surprised, does he believe the rumors as well?

“You should stay away. Leave Yaka in charge. Already, you are symbol for our army. When an officer threatens a recruit, he uses your name; when a soldier enters town, the citizens are respectful to him because of you. Even though many distrust you and some, outright, curse your name, they also fear you. You cannot do anymore right now. Yaka knows more about the battlefield formations than you do. Let him train the men. When the time comes, I am sure you will be needed again.”

Almost indifferently, Rajac did as asked. In truth, he was somewhat glad to leave most of the managerial work of the army to Yaka. He was never suited for that kind of role anyway. Furthermore, he could catch up on his training. For months, he had been bogged down in the bureaucratic mess that was dealing with the Council and managing the army.

He went to Yaka later in the day and explained what Falthor had requested of him; Yaka, the loyal soldier, was reluctant to take proverbial command from Rajac. So, Rajac made a new title for him, Base Commander. Now, in truth, Yaka would be in charge of training the recruits, drilling the soldiers, and the overall ‘army base’. He would report to Rajac periodically who would be the ‘Overall Commander’ but, unlike Yaka, would retain his title as Captain.

With Yaka holding his new title, Rajac could turn back to his training.

And so, in his house he built with his earnings from his captaincy, Rajac began to train. He doubted he would be disturbed unless it was for something important as he was miles from Kankur and none ventured here as there was little game and the land was less-arable than the land closer to the valley’s mouth.

There were a few things that he needed to accomplish while he was here. First and foremost, he needed to train his Auxiliary Magic. Unlike the four Elemental Magics, it was not directly apart of the Ventros Sword Style.

But, for many months prior, he had delved out the effects of his Auxiliary Magic which he blandly called Metal Auxiliary Magic. What else would he call it? Aluminum Alloy of Unknown Percentage Magic? That was just bad form.

Metal Auxiliary Magic revolved around stretching and hardening the Auxiliary Magic to his will. Rajac could stretch the metallic ball into a spear that rose from the ground, impaling an enemy, or he could throw that same spear from his hand. If he wanted to harden the metal, he could make the Auxiliary Magic form thick layers on top of each other creating a defense ten times as strong as his Earth Elemental Magic.

It was through these principles that Rajac merged his Metal Auxiliary Magic with the Ventros Sword Style. Instead of using Earth Elemental Magic during the Cadence of Jin, Rajac used Metal Auxiliary Magic. And when he thrust with Martyr’s Fallacy, Rajac began to interchange Metal and Fire Elemental Magic as he attempted to alternate the form’s pattern.

As he wasn’t really learning anything new, just incorporating a variety of techniques, this segment of training only took him a single month to complete.

The second and far more strenuous part of his training involved training his soul. The pathway to level 200 was a long and winding road that diverged thousands of times. But, Rajac’s Skill Tome made one thing clear. If an expert was to reach the threshold, he would need to grow his soul exponentially from its level 100 status.

The Skill Tome actually listed what was considered an adequate soul status to reach the level 200 threshold.

Soul StatusPlease note that your Soul Status can be found on your information page. Also note that the Soul Status is only measured after the expert exceeds level 100.There are infinite ways to train the soul. As the soul is the life-force within the body, once the body’s capacity to hold the soul is filled, the soul is manifested. If you need to know how to bind your soul to an object, turn to the previous page.

Once a soul reaches a certain level, the expert will cross the threshold to the next one-hundred levels. This is not to say that levels cannot be gained through other means; however, a soul must be at a certain level for an expert to cross the threshold. In the past, many experts have found it easier to increase their skills in other areas as their soul automatically grows with the increase of skills.

Just like some races have benefits after crossing the level 100 threshold, so too do souls. The benefits and requirements for crossing each threshold are listed below.Level 100There are no qualifications for this threshold. Only when this threshold is reached does the soul take form. No rewards.Level 200Soul Status: 25% of body mass. Reward: Aging Process is halted for a span of 100 yearsLevel 300Soul Status: 50% of body mass. Reward: Aging Process is halted for a span of 500 yearsLevel 400Soul Status: 75% of body mass. Reward: Aging Process is halted for a span of 1000 yearsLevel 500Soul Status: 100% of body mass. Reward: [Information Hidden]Please note that while training the soul is beneficial towards your longevity of life, it is not the only way. If you bind your soul to your heart, you can immediately achieve immortality; however, your soul can no longer be trained; thus, you will never becoming stronger than your current level.

This option is welcoming to many experts as training the soul is exceedingly difficult. Every threshold reached makes training the soul for the next threshold exponentially harder.

For comparison’s sake, only 5% of mortals ever in existence have crossed the level 100 threshold. Only 1% have crossed the level 200 threshold. Only .25% have crossed the level 300 threshold. Those who have crossed the level 400 and beyond thresholds is a number so incalculably small that it is not worth mentioning in this Skill Tome.

Well, that explained why so many chose to bind their soul to their heart. Rajac expected many experts on crossing the level 100 threshold felt no need to continue further and chose an easy path to immortality.

Rajac knew that path would never have been open to him. His people, infantile in their rebirth, needed him. Not at his current strength, but much, much stronger. There would be enemies aplenty for a race trying to prove itself in this bastardization of a world. A few already came to mind as he flipped to the information page to look at his specific soul status.

Rajac Rashak Ventros MaleLevel105Experience05%Health[Information Hidden]Magic[Information Hidden}Sensitivity[Information Hidden]Heart Rate[Information Hidden]Eye Sight[Information Hidden]Potential[Information Hidden]Soul Status3% of Body MassCurrent Effects:+50% Eye Sight

Rajac laughed out loud as he closed the Skill Tome. There was a lot of work to do. But, as contentment washed over him, he knew that he had plenty of time. There was no need to hurry. After all, Yaka was taking care of his most pressing obligations. Settling back down on the floor, Rajac began to train in earnest, a grin forming on his face.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

I added the soul status guide as I thought it would be appropriate for this chapter. Though, I was hesitant to add it as it added the 'vaguery' of immortality. I want to add, as an aside, that so many people choose the heart to be soul-bound, even though they know the soul can be trained to make the person immortal, is two-fold.

To all those hoping Rajac becomes immortal, that is only one possibility far into the future. Reaching level 500, does not necessarily mean the expert will become immortal nor that the reward is immortality. Let me just say there are many paths to choose from when reaching that level and as this was the Skill Tome up to level 200 only, the information regarding the higher levels is incomplete.

Also, who said level 500 was the limit?

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