The Runic Alchemist

With the commander gone, the three captains explained the basic rules and regulations of the camp, accompanied by some encouraging words about working hard and trying their best to learn all that they had to teach.

Everyone had to be in bed after dinner, which was at 7 PM. No one was allowed to leave the camp except to go to the city, and that was only permitted once a week when they had a half-day of training. Everyone had to wake up at 5 AM and be ready at the training grounds.

Fighting for any reason was prohibited, but since no one would be supervising the bunk bed tent, it was more like fighting in front of the captains was not allowed. They would be provided with food, a place to sleep, and a place to bathe free of cost, along with 5 credits per month as a reward. If they were sent to war, the rewards will increase.

The smallest transaction was 50 credits for 25 gold coins, so even if they completed the six-month training, they wouldn't be able to cash in their rewards without entering battle at least once. The wages were criminally low. How one could be motivated to fight under such conditions was beyond Damian's comprehension.

After that, they were ordered to run around the camp perimeter for 5 laps. Damian had to support Sam halfway through the second lap, while Yovan was being supported by Geldric from the start of the second lap. Both were weak, but they weren't alone—many mages and even Spellswords had slowed down considerably, with some even sitting down on the dirty ground, not moving an inch.

Only those who finished the laps would get a tour of the camp and be allowed to bathe and choose a bed in the sleeping tent.

For pugilists, this was nothing, so they were all running peacefully. Many other kids were also keeping up, mostly the older ones around 16 to 18 years old who were used to hard work. Damian guessed that they would get separate class-wise training, but only after they were fit enough to match normal soldiers. Right now, they were all just greenhorns.

Pugilists had an easier time starting out, being naturally inclined towards fighting, so war was more their cup of tea compared to mages or Spellswords, who excelled in back-row fighting or one-on-one duels.

Damian finished his fifth lap with Sam on his back, barely breaking a sweat. The pugilist cousins were beside him the whole time, along with many other pugilists. With his stats nearly equal to a pugilist in strength, it was no big deal for Damian. In fact, he wasn't even as far along in levels as 80% of these guys; his first job was at just level 2.

Sam had passed out, which was why Damian was carrying him, and so had Yovan. Damian and the rest of the pugilists got a good tour of the place after resting for a while. They were shown where to eat and bathe, though Damian already knew this. Still, he accompanied his batchmates.

The place to bathe was just a canal with running water that was directed into the camp from a river a few miles away from the city. There was another shower-like place and a small pool of warm water in one tent, but it was reserved for high-ranking officers only. Damian had enough warming spells to heat the water by just standing in the running stream.

He had been doing this for Sam and himself for a week now.

Sam finally awoke when Damian threw him into the stream, letting him taste the cold running water. The pugilist cousins laughed at Sam's sudden alertness. Yovan received slightly better treatment, with water being thrown on his face instead of his whole body thrown to the river by the pugilist cousins. After cleaning themselves, they ate lunch together and walked back to their sleeping tent.

Damian and Sam had already claimed a bunk bed, and the ones beside them were still empty since barely 60% of all kids had made it through the run. The three newcomers took these spots, with cousins on right and Yovan in left, He and Sam were sleeping on their beds as if they were the ones who had just run 5 laps around the camp.

Slowly, one by one, kids came and claimed a bed of their choosing. Damian was just resting on his bed for a while before planning to head to his abandoned building. Almost all the kids who came after eating and bathing fell asleep as if under a spell. Some remained doing this and that on their beds, while others went around the camp to explore.

Damian noticed a group of Eldoris kids with green and white hair talking and laughing together—it looked like they knew each other. There was also the red-haired short kid and that plus-sized white-haired kid, both of whom came later than 80% of the kids and had to settle for any beds that were still empty.

The white-haired one found a spot at the very front with some difficulty, while the red-haired one was still looking being more picky. When he walked near their row, Damian whistled softly to grab his attention, which he succeeded in doing. Damian pointed towards the top bed above Yovan, who was sprawled out like an alligator on the lower one.

The red-haired kid looked around for a moment, thought about it, and finally decided to accept the suggestion. That was weird. Well, they all had their quirks. Who knew what this kid's situation was like?

Having rested enough, Damian got up and went to the abandoned building to continue his study and research. This was more like an introductory day, not the proper start of training. The real start would be tomorrow morning at 5, when they were supposed to be ready for a morning training session with the handsome pugilist captain.

Her smile when she said this was nothing short of evil, as if they were her new test subjects.

Damian returned to the sleeping tent around his usual time. By then, everyone was up and either chatting in groups or just doing their own thing in their beds. Damian's bed was occupied by Sam, who was enthusiastically talking with the neighboring kids. The cousins and Yovan were also there.

Damian noticed the red-haired boy on his bed, maintaining his distance, but occasionally looking their way and listening with interest.

"There he is... Maximus, come on, man, I'm hungry..." Sam exclaimed.

"Just a minute... let me get my coat." Damian pulled out a coat from his bag that he kept for appearances' sake since he couldn't reveal his spatial tool.

Throwing it around his shoulders, Damian stood up, as did Sam and the other three with him. Some of the other kids who had been talking with them also got ready to come along. Damian walked two steps before turning back to look at the red-haired boy, who also looked back at him. Damian invited him along with a slight nod of his head. The kid hesitated for a minute before deciding to join.

This one was strange. Why did he have to think so hard about every decision?

They settled around one of the table just like they did this morning. Eating the food and chatting about how hard the running was and how worse it will be from now on. Damian just mostly listened to them chattering nonstop and nodding once in a while. The red haired kid in front of him was doing the same.

"What's your name..?" Damian asked, not really making an eye contact and just focusing on his food.

"Einar.." Said he a bit surprised with the sudden question.

"Where you from..?"

"Here... I mean Eldoris.. From a village far from here..." He said a bit awkwardly.

His high pitched voice reminded Damian of one of those choir boys. Damian did not ask anything further, he had initiated the conversation if he was comfortable enough he would continue on his own. Otherwise the silence was comforting enough, with the others non stop chattering.

"Is he your brother..?" He asked after a minute long prolonged silence.

Damian looked up and glanced at him, he just turned his face towards stupidly laughing Sam.

"No, he is supposed to be my assistant. The world's most useless one at that.."

"Assistant..?"

"I used to sell potions..." Damian explained.

"Ohh.."

"You don't believe me let's ask Maximus..." Sam said loudly and brought everyone's attention to him as he was just about to put the spoonful in his mouth.

They all watched as he chewed in silence for 30 seconds with no hurry to answer at all. At last he spoke,

"What was that again..?"

"Maximus !!" Sam yelled.

"What..?"

"Tell this idiots why the Spellsword captain was much more powerful than the other two.."

"In levels maybe.. But power is not everything when it comes to fighting..." Damian joined the useless argument to at least teach something to this group of brats. It was fun.

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