Hearing the 10th bell toll, Will stepped out of his Battle Tactics course. As he daydreamed he realized he only heard parts of the retired general's lecture. He'd ask Chloe and Sarah later what he missed.

As Will stood outside the classroom door, he realized no one else had left but him. The rest of his classmates remained in their seats, speaking to one another about the class.

"What is it, Sir. vont Ballard, I don't have all day," said the retired general staring patiently at Will.

"I'm sorry general, I don't have any questions. I got up to run to the water closet," Will said trying to think of an excuse.

"Well then scamper off, next time don't linger. I have a third-year class to teach after this," the retired general said, walking towards the stairs.

Will found the fourth-floor water closet. On top of the vanity was a pitcher of water and a bowl, with a fresh linen towel hanging off. Will pour water into the bowl and rubbed water on his face. He chided himself.

His daydreams made him lose focus. At least he knew now, professors change classrooms not students. Back on Earth, in his schoolings, it was the reverse. Each professor had an allocated classroom, and students changed classrooms.

After using the bathroom, Will returned to his classroom seat. As soon as he set down, Mark immediately turned to ask him a question.

"Oi, Will what did you think? She said a lot of interesting things, yeah?" Mark asked.

"How can he be interested? He's Quartermaster, not interested in infantry like you!" Chloe exclaimed sarcastically.

Since Will accepted her in the Quartermaster's Command Post, Chloe becomes more and more controlling. The Guild War was a prime example of Chloe's domineering persona. On one hand, Will was happy, she was so confident. On the other hand, Will could certainly speak for himself.

"Yes, I think topics are interesting. I'm certainly looking forward to the rest of the semester. I think her teachings, could have helped us last year," Will replied.

"But Will—," Chloe started.

Will raised his hand to stop her from finishing, "Yes, even as the Guardians Quartermaster, I'd be a fool to not listen. Her instruction is necessary for every military position. It's better to listen to this information and never need it; then need this information and not listen to it," Will said philosophically.

The rest of the class nodded their heads in agreement. Later this afternoon at the guild, Will would speak with Chloe. Will did not want anyone speaking for him, except himself.

The class continued to speak, until a short slender, mouse-looking man, with a mustache that looked like whiskers, entered the room.

"Congratulations on your promotion to second-year cadets. You have the honor of being my problem for his year. My name is Marshall Cheng. In addition to this class, I am also responsible for your conditioning and co-instruct noble etiquette. Except for Mark, none of you did any conditioning.

Honestly, Marshall Rolf told me, you were a hard-working bunch. You all look fat and stupid to me, he must've taken it easy on you lads," he finished.

Marshall Cheng managed to upset everyone with his statement. Including Will, the students' sat dumbstruck. They all questioned if their ears heard the same thing. Did this man label them as fat and stupid?

Vincent was the first to speak, "How dare you insult me—"

"I'm a marquis, you are the son of a baron. What did you want to say, Vincent, speak up."

Vincent froze like a statue, refusing to speak and move. Marshall Cheng outranked Vincent, but three peerages: viscount, count, and marquis.

Coming out from his coma, Vincent bowed his head respectfully. "I apologize, Lord Marshall vont Cheng, I didn't realize it was you. Please forgive my disgrace," Vincent said angelically.

The entire class was speechless, no one had ever heard Vincent speak this respectfully. If Vincent acted this way to Marshall Cheng, how would they have to act?

"You can make up for your lack of etiquette by running 50 laps around the stadium," the Marshall commanded.

"With pleasure your lordship," Vincent said sitting down gracefully.

The classroom was eerily quiet. The commoner cadets refrained from looking directly at the Marshall.

Marshall Cheng smiled, "I hate to flaunt my status, please treat as you did Marshall Rolf. That said, I am not afraid to use my status to my favor either. Understand?" he finished.

The nobles nodded, the commoners, even Mark, did not move. Upsetting a baron could spell death for an individual. An upset marquis could kill a family without repercussion. Even the Golden Knights feared marquis and the duke. Upsetting the marquis could trigger a guild's removal.

"Now that you've met me, let me tell you about his class. In this class, you'll study military leadership and army regulations. You'll learn the chain of command, effective unit training, qualities of good leadership, how to inspire troops, and gauge troop morale.

In Battle Tactics, you learn strategy. In my class, you'll learn how to command troops. Leading troops into battle, possibly to their death, requires years of experience. To be an effective commander, you need to learn how to communicate clearly and demonstrate an iron will. Moreover, a competent commander is adaptive and has his troops in peak fitness with a strong winning spirit.

After this year, you'll be promoted to third-year and second lieutenants. As junior officers, you may command an experience military unit or farmers with pitchforks. No matter your unit, you will command exceptionally well based on what you learn here.

Listen to good pups, I don't care your surname, whether you're a noble or a commoner, whether your rich or poor, whether you're a part of the infantry, signal, engineer, intelligence, or quartermaster. Being a commander means you have to make split-second decisions to save your life, and the lives you command.

What you learn in this class, will help you as a fourth-year student during your mock battles. I've witnessed strong knights, lose mock battles because they could not effectively command troops. The strongest commanders are those with strongest troops, remember that!" Marshall Cheng finished.

Everyone sat in awe. This young man, spoke like he had years of experience. Her voice resonated with everyone.

"Okay, let's get started with today's lesson. Take on a sheet of paper and pass it to the person next to you," Marshall Cheng commanded.

On the paper was a diagram of the chain of command. The King was at the top, as head of state, he controlled the military. Outside the chain of command, but tangent to his majesty was the king's military advisors. Next in the chain of command was the General Commander.

In Fermion there was one General Commander, and five lieutenant generals each overseeing a command posting. After the lieutenant general, came marshals, followed by colonels, lieutenant colonels, major, captains, first lieutenants, and second lieutenants. Those were the officer positions that only knights could hold. Below the officer positions were private, lance corporal, corporal, sergeant, and staff sergeant.

"Memorize that paper by tomorrow, you'll have a quiz," Marshall Chen said, to a chorus of groans.

"Next, each of you come up here and grab a book. These are the army regulations. You're expected to memorize this whole book. I'll test you on this book at the end of next month," Marshall Cheng said to another chorus of groans.

"Now let's get onto today's lesson, how to give orders. Orders are necessary to direct military operations. When giving orders to your subordinates, you must provide clear, defined, decisive, and attainable goals. During the last war, I learned the importance of giving soldiers short, attainable directives.

For example, ordering your men to seize territory, or defeat the enemy is too vague. Rather order your men to seize a specific terrain, or defeat the enemy with a practiced battle tactic. When orders are unclear, chaos ensues on the battlefield. I will train you to remain calm under distress.

To accomplish this fact, you have to know your troop's strengths and weaknesses. Also, you need to rely on your signal, intelligence, and quartermaster allies. Their assistance can help you give clear update orders. An army is a dissembled body of teams, squads, platoons, battalions, brigades, divisions moving in unison.

In sum, wars are won or lost based on clear, concise, attainable orders. Now, partner up! One partner Will blindfold themselves, and the other will lead their blindfolded partner out of the classroom, around the fourth floor, and back into the classroom. After the blindfolded partner returns to the classroom, you'll switch roles. Got it? Now partner up!" he shouted.

"Hey Will, want to partner?" asked Mark.

"Sure, do you want to be blindfolded first or me?" Will asked. He had done this exercise at many a corporate retreat as a trust-building exercise.

"I'll be blindfolded first," Mark said enthused.

Everyone quickly partnered up: Grace and Sarah; Chloe and Anne; and Mark and Vincent. Everyone was excited, except for Mark who visibly frowned. Neither he nor Vincent trusted the other to lead them blindfolded around the 4th-floor pagoda.

While everyone was giving orders such as, "walk forward, stop." Will ordered Mark, "to walk five paces forward, turn left, walked twenty paces…" Will expertly maneuvered Mark out the classroom, around the hall, and back to the classroom first.

"Well done William vont Ballard, I am impressed," Marshall Cheng said stoically.

Flipping roles, Mark followed Will's ordering technically. The two finished before long.

"Since you two finished early, Mark you partner with Evan, and Will you partner with Vincent," Marshall Cheng instructed.

Since Vincent was still hesitant to be blindfolded, Will agreed to be blindfolded first. Vincent did a poor job, leading Will out of the room. Will's outstretched hand bumped against chairs, walls, doors, before returning to the classroom. By the time it was Vincent's turn to be blindfolded, the bell rang signaling the end of class.