Akira stood in front of the new barracks and looked over the 250 gathered werewolf warriors who would become the backbone of Kodria’s army and city guard.
Varbu, Gobalina, and Gobbers were meeting with their own warriors in a different part of the city but would meet up later to do some warm-up training together.
Akira looked over the warriors and inspected their levels. He found that they all ranged from level 39-50. Each of them had a blue title under their name [Militia].
It seemed that the system did not consider any of them a soldier yet. He was not yet sure what the requirements were for them to be considered a soldier but he guessed he would just have to wait until the system sent him a message letting him know.
“You are no longer warriors of any one of the clans! Today… marks the first day of your training to become soldiers of Kodria!
But before you can be called a soldier you must be molded into an even stronger force than you are right now. When you complete this training and I deem that you have passed you will be given a permanent assignment and begin the duties of a true soldier of Kodria.
Do not forget why you have joined and why you are training.
It is to be the front line defenders of the city. The first to lead the attack to the enemy. I commend you for giving up so much so that the other villagers may all live more peacefully,” said Akira as he looked at each of the warriors one after another.
“Yap,” Fluffball let out a loud yap in agreement.
The warriors standing in front of Akira all saluted him as their eyes met with his, their fists thumping their chests.
“I know each of you can fight so we will not focus on that right now. Instead, we’ll focus on strengthening your bodies as well as getting you used to the cold and the snow. After this training, you will be able to fight just as well in the snow as if it were not there. Today’s first task will be running around the outer village walls ten times! Follow me,” ordered Akira.
When Akira reached the edge of the makeshift snow-covered fence that surrounded the village, he found that the Orcs and Goblins were already waiting for them.
“Took you long enough, what were you doing? Eating a large breakfast?” asked Varbu.
“Just had to give a speech,” said Akira.
He turned around to look at his bodyguards who were standing a few steps behind him.
“I believe you all have received orders from the grand elders as well?” asked Akira.
“Yes! We will participate in the training as well. The grand elders have stated that only the best will be allowed to stay as part of your personal guard. We will not let you down,” said Vilkas.
“I, as well, will do my best,” said Dolph and several others.
Akira’s current bodyguards were just a bunch of experienced warriors from several wars that the grand elders had chosen to protect him before he set out in search of a new place for the clans to live.
The grand elders wanted the best of the best to protect Akira to prevent any catastrophe from happening.
“Let us start the training!” shouted Akira.
“Wait for me!” someone shouted from behind the crowd of warriors.
Akira looked to see Klyn hurriedly running towards him along with a few other shaman several years older than him. The only one around the same age as Bo the young genius shaman that specialized in scouting with several animals mainly birds.
“What are you doing here?” asked Akira when Klyn arrived next to him.
“My grandfather… I mean, the Grand Elder ordered me to join the training,” said Klyn, a little lost on what to say.
“It will do you some good to put some meat on your skinny body!” laughed Varbu as he slapped Klyn’s back roughly.
Akira turned to his guards and gave a silent signal to which the guard let out a howl ordering the start of the day’s training.
Akira, Varbu, and Klyn all ran at the front of the pack, followed by their guards, and then the soldiers, and Chack had also joined. Fluffball followed right behind Akira jumping from one footprint to another.
This was not a normal easy run around the village.
Behind the large gathering of warriors were several sleds with plows to even out the trampled snow so that they would not have an easy path to run through when they started the other laps around the city.
This would build up their stamina as well as let them grow accustomed to running through the snowy battlefields of their new homeland.
Ding!
-
Commander skill activated!
Anyone under your command will receive a boost to their training speed and will be able to learn things faster!
The warriors from each demon race received a large boost to their morale as they saw their own leaders running in front of them. They were not sitting on the side ordering the recruits to do the harsh training by themselves.
Since the leaders were doing the same training and pushing themselves to be stronger, how could they slack off or complain?
When the last of the warriors finished running the tenth lap everyone was breathing hard. It was no joke trying to run through large amounts of snow that sucked your feet in causing you to sometimes lose one of your boots if it was not properly tied.
The ones that were the most worn-out were the Goblins. They looked like they were ready to call it a day.
“Back to the training grounds!” shouted Akira after they had caught their breath.
The warriors marched in a disorderly fashion from the village wall back to the large open training ground outside of the barracks.
Once everyone had arrived on the field they looked to Akira waiting for his orders.
“We will now begin strength training to mold you into a fierce soldier! Follow my example!” Shouted Akira as he got down into a perfect push-up form.
Varbu, Klyn, and the goblin royalties also followed his example and got down and started doing push-ups as well.
Fluffball who watched Akira a few times also began to lay down on the snow and stand back up following Akira’s movements.
Every time Akira’s face neared the ground the freezing cold of the snowy ground could be felt all too well.
They continued to do push-ups until they could do no more. Akira made a mental note on those who lasted the longest as well as those that were the first to fall to the ground exhausted.
“Everyone take a ten-minute break and re-hydrate,” ordered Akira.
It would not do him any good if the warriors training fell sick or hurt themselves due to not taking care of their health during the training.
“Sit-ups!” shouted Akira after the ten-minute break was up.
The cold now seeped into his butt and back as he laid down onto the ground. He forced himself to ignore it and only focused on completing the next sit up.
After sit-ups, the werewolf warriors were ordered to transform and carry the large rocks that had been removed from the hot springs from one end of the training ground to the other.
The orcs joined the werewolves carrying the large rocks, while the goblins had to carry smaller rocks since they would be crushed if they tried to mess with the larger rocks.
Akira continued to lead the warriors of the different demon races through several other strength training until noon arrived.
“You have a half-hour to eat! If you wish to cook something, there are cook fires already set up over there,” said Akira pointing to several fires set up a good hundred feet away from the training ground.
Everyone walked over to the fires mainly because they wanted to warm up their feet and hands that were cold. The rest of their body was still nice and toasty from working out so much.
“What’s next after lunch?” asked Varbu as he pulled out some food he had prepared beforehand and made a sandwich out of it.
“Weapon training, everyone is familiar with their weapons but that will not be enough when we are faced with the might of the demigods, ” said Akira.
“Gii gii giii gi,” said Princess Gobalina agreeing with Akira.
Prince Gobbers was quietly complaining to himself next to his sister.
He had received several thumps on the head this morning because he had slacked off in training. Princess Gobalina did not join in the training and had only been keeping an eye on her brother.
“She says we cannot be average if we want to survive,” said Varbu.
“I’m going to really not like waking up tomorrow,” said Klyn as he ate a mixture of nuts, berries, and smoked fish.
Before Akira could eat any of his cold food he had prepared for lunch Mileena showed up along with Azura and Maya carrying a large cloth-covered box.
“We made you some food to help you have enough energy to keep fighting on!” said Mileena handing over the large box.
“You looked really macho when leading the warriors in training,” said Azura.
“Yeah,” said Mileena bashfully.
Maya as usual was quiet and just watched the other two girls interact with Akira.
Akira could feel a warm heat coming out of the box as he held it. He quickly untied the knot of the covering cloth and took off the lid.
A large puff of Steam escaped the box along with several whiffs of tasty aroma that tickled his nose.
There were several types of cooked eggs, fish, and other dairy products inside.
Varbu, Chack, Klyn, and Prince Gobbers looked at Akira with envy.
“Glola helped us learn new recipes,” said Azura.
“Quick, eat it before it gets cold!” said Mileena.
***
“1000 swings of your weapon!” shouted Akira as he swung his sword down.
…
“1000 stabs forward!”
Akira continued to lead the warriors in training with their weapons for several more hours.
“That concludes today’s training. Until you will have grown accustomed to the snowy land we now call home. We will do the same training tomorrow and every day after until such things become second nature to you. Only then will we move on to other things,” said Akira.
There were several tired grunts of acknowledgment, as the tired warriors from each of the demon races saluted Akira.
“Currently we are in the process of creating new armor, shields, and weapons to replace what you have. You will not have to pay for it but when they are delivered they will act as the next few months’ payments,” said Akira.
Akira heard no complaints as he paused and looked over the crowd. They all wore mismatched armor and had weapons that were of all different variety and qualities with none of the weapons being new.
The soldiers in the Kodria army would need to have a standard set of armor and weapons that were above average if they wanted to be effective.
“Dismissed!” shouted Akira.
It only took a few minutes for the cold training ground to clear out with only Akira and the other leaders staying.
“I’ll go get the gold to pay for the armor for my warriors. Sigh… this is going to be expensive,” said Varbu.
“Gi gi gii. giii giiiii gii,” said Prince Gobbers giving Akira a thumbs up.
“He says not to worry he can also pay for the armor,” said Varbu. “Lucky buggers are so damn small their armor won’t cost much.”
“I’ll see you guys later. I have to go and see how well the Dwarves are doing with creating the needed weapons and armor. When you gather the money, send it to Samuel and he will make sure everything is sorted out for you,” said Akira as he waved them goodbye.
Akira walked towards the forge followed by his guards who were still highly alert even after the day’s harsh training.
Bang! Bang! Klang! Tsssss!
The sound of hammering could be heard even before he entered the building.
“How goes it?” shouted Akira so he could be heard over the ruckus inside the forge.
“We’ll be able to make at least thirty swords a day at this pace after we finish with the swords we can work on the shields and then armor,” said Delgar as he continued to hammer a piece of glowing metal shaping it into a sword.
“If you want things to move along faster you’re going to have to help out yourself,” said Delgar.
“Should I ask the other experienced blacksmiths to help?” asked Akira.
“Bah! They are nothing more than Apprentices!” said Three toes as he inspected a sword that he had just finished.
“At least you know the basics since I taught you them myself,” said Delgar.
“Alright, then what do you want me to do?” said Akira.
“There’s an open anvil, pick up a hammer and some ore and start working on it. If you create something that does not meet my standards I won’t ignore it and you’ll have to redo it. When it comes to working with metal I will not budge or allow you to try and pass off something shoddily made as a finished product,” said Delgar quickly pointing to one of the open anvils before returning to hammering the glowing metal.
Akira rolled up his sleeves and got to work helping the Dwarves create the swords that would be used by the soldiers of each race. There were three variants being made each a different size to fit the needs of each of the three demon races.
Delgar made sure to inspect each of his finished swords and made him redo them a few times before he was satisfied that Akira understood the quality of the sword he wanted.
He and the other Dwarves took the creation of weapons and armor with dead seriousness and would not allow a poorly made weapon to be handed out to any soldier as it would cause them to feel utter shame and their honor as blacksmiths would be ruined.
Ding!
-
Blacksmith skill has leveled up!
***
The days continued on like this for over two weeks. First, running around the village and then strength training in the morning. In the afternoon they would train with weapons.
After the days training had finished Akira would go and help the Dwarves create weapons shields and armor.
