Chương 189: Armour Undercutting

The week blurred past. Every morning, we tested ourselves on the obstacle course. We jumped over obstacles and pushed ourselves to complete it as quickly as possible. For this week, the course didn't change, but next week, it would be different every day. Once we were done, we headed out into the fields for strength and endurance training against the high winds. We loaded our backpacks with riftrocks and ran.

Since we didn't have any other ropes to make, we continued to improve our endurance and our stats by pushing ourselves directly into the wind. Lunch was infused food, as usual. At least now, I didn't have to force myself to eat it. I was hungry enough to eat the driest dust if someone told me it would fill me up. In the afternoons, sparring continued. Once again, we used riftrocks, continually upping the weights, while also forcing ourselves to move out into the fields.

On the afternoon before our next Labyrinth run, after I finished my last sparring match, I fell down on my back beside Owl.

"We're expected to hit Silver before we're done, right?"

"Correct. You shouldn't have to worry about that, though."

"I'm curious if it's possible to go higher. At the rate I'm going, I should reach Gold…soon." I didn't want to make any promises or unrealistic estimates, but I was going to grow. Seven hundred total attributes, not including gear. Two hundred Presence. It was still almost double what I currently had, but this new training regime would have us pushing faster.

"Alas," Owl said, "you may think you'll be advancing faster, but when you check your stats later, if you haven't already, you'll probably find you're advancing at a similar rate as you were before beginning AWC/S."

"Why's that?" Owl shook his head.

"What a wonderful trainer I am…spilling all the secrets to the recruits…"

"Hey, you're not the Drillmaster. No one's expecting you to scream and yell at me, right?"

"No one is expecting that from Rib, either." I snorted. Of course not. Training here wasn't exactly like what I'd expected on Earth. Besides, on Earth, I'd gotten most of my expectations for military training from movies. But Full Metal Jacket wasn't exactly going to tell me how training on a different world, in a different time, worked. I shrugged, then pushed myself up. I asked, "You can tell me what's holding us back, then, right?"

"I wouldn't say holding you back, specifically. Your resonance nodes are designed to channel the System and improve your attributes, rewarding hard work. It improves your body quickly, yes, when you train. But it can only go so fast. Infused food is the second component, giving your body the right arcane density to keep getting stronger and keep channelling the System. More infused food will let your attributes climb faster, so long as you also partake in physical conditioning."

"But to get the best rate of attribute increase, both have to be proportional, right?"

"Correct. And even before AWC/S began, your conditioning was likely proportionally higher than your infused food intake. Infused food was still holding you back." Owl crossed his arms.

"Perhaps not you, with what you did to acquire more, but you get what I mean."

"I do." I paused.

"So basically, this training is only going to have a marginal benefit unless I can improve my food intake?"

"It has other benefits. Endurance, along with overcoming your mental limits. You are forging yourself into a better soldier in ways the System can't control." I scowled.

"I guess."

"I know that look. You want more?"

"How strong are you?" I'd never really asked. He'd always seemed much stronger than me, but now, I couldn't say for sure.

"Silver?"

"Peak of Silver. Nearly Gold." If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. I narrowed my eyes.

"What's keeping you from pushing higher and going for Gold, then? It's just some more attributes and Presence. A class change, too."

"The System also rewards personal drive and striving," he replied.

"Some people have limits. Some people get as strong as they will. We're already well past the limits of the average Dupe." He hung his head.

"I lost my squad in battle, Levi. That is why I returned here to train the next generation of sappers." He pointed at my chest.

"I wish to make the new batches of recruits strong enough that they don't have to watch their brothers die like I did. My striving is directed at a different target than yours." I looked down at my lap. Owl knelt beside me, holding tight to his clipboard.

"Knowing you, Levi, you'll find a way to push your stats even higher." I glanced at the rest of the Dupes and druids in our training group.

"Perhaps. I'm just slightly more worried about my own squad and their future."

"Often times, squads have one member who pulls ahead," Owl said.

"Sometimes, the squad finishes training and most of them are near the bottom of Silver, but there's one who's drawn closer to the top."

"How do we manage that when we're fighting as a team?"

"I suspect you've already had to…"

"Well, yeah, a little."

"You'll get more practice with it later in the training program. For now, do the best you can. I hear they're getting more infused food for themselves?"

"Yeah."

"They'll start catching up. But you may have to be a guardian. You will have to protect them, too. Manage them. Be a leader. You are a sergeant, still, no matter what your titles say. Pulling ahead and blowing everyone out of the water will never make you as strong as fighting in a squad."

"I understand, Lieutenant." ~ ~ ~ I set a goal for myself: I'd reach Gold by the time the training program was over. It may have been a little excessive, but I needed the challenge. I didn't know when I'd have to fight Lord Hinlaw, and if I didn't give myself some kind of kick, it wouldn't work. But more importantly, I did need to keep working on my squad's advancement. After our evening sparring, under the weight of my gravity wells, we cleaned off in the baths, then met up outside the barracks.

I said, "We should have plenty of scrap to our names from the upper level's dungeon runs. We need to sell it off instead of hoarding it, and then we can use it to buy infused food."

"On its own, scrap isn't terribly valuable," Anchor said.

"I should know. Back with my battalion, before I became a sapper candidate, I tried a similar scheme.

'Course, we were going to buy booze with it, or some other scheme that our sergeant cooked up, but the point is the same."

"It's not valuable, huh?" I pressed my lips together.

"What about as armour?"

"What do you mean?" Sage asked.

"Well, if it was crafted into armour, I bet it'd be much more valuable." I tapped my chainmail.

"Right?"

"Correct," Anchor said.

"But you're no blacksmith, and you don't have time to learn."

"I know who would do anything for a little more practice, though," I said.

"Shatter."

"You would still need a buyer, brother," Brawl commented.

"The big guy's right," Anchor said.

"Funds are tight. Mercenary companies are fighting alongside the Dupe battalions with minimal pay. The battalions themselves aren't exactly the most well-heeled."

"Then we give them the armour at a discount. I know, I know, that defeats the point. But we'll still be making bank at half price, won't we? Say, we sell it to the 294th at a lower price, it helps them, and it helps us. We can use those funds to get you guys more infused food."

"And what about the regular blacksmiths who supply the army?" Sage asked.

"You would put them out of business." I chewed my lip.

"I understand. But Maurifus is one man, and the 294th was suffering. I'm sure we could fill half the demand at a lower price and still let the regular blacksmiths have their business."

"You're going to heap that on Abacus, too, then?"

"Of course," I said.

"I'll get him two healing potions to help balance it out."

"You think you can help him walk again, too?" Sage asked.

"I think I can help soothe the pain a little, at least. But regardless, call it payment, call it a bribe, we need his help with acquisitions and supply chains. We've got the scrap, so let's use it." ~ ~ ~ Before sleeping that night, I called Cuthward and Hardric using Sage's plants. There was nothing much to report, but I asked, "How difficult would it be to start acquiring alchemical brewing equipment?"

"Once we get the payments from the Dun Altir Order, which should arrive in a week or two, we can start hunting for equipment," Hardric said.

"The problem is that you still need alchemists."

"Do you think there's any talent anywhere we could borrow?" I asked.

"We could offer high wages and hope to attract some alchemists from elsewhere," Hardric said.

"But word would take time to spread."

"How about the Dun Altir Order?" I asked.

"Or any of our buyers? Do they have any apprentice brewers who they'd be willing to send to us on a work placement or something?"

"And help undercut their own businesses? They're selling potions, sir. Why would they teach us to make them ourselves?" I sighed.

"Alright, point taken. But what if we framed it as giving their apprentices training, then learned from them and taught our own people how to do it using their knowledge? We let their apprentices come to the source to train, and then nab some tips and tricks?"

"It might work…" Hardric said.

"When the Dun Altir payment arrives, I'll make the offer. They might see through the offer."

"Just give it a try. I'm going to need some finished potions sooner than later."