The sun was starting to rise in the morning sky over the Argland Council State to signal every early bird that it was time to wake up. The cold of the previous night was slowly being dissipated by the warm rays of sunlight covering the land, a pleasant feeling for anyone who was currently outdoors traveling through the pockets of wilderness that existed far away from civilized settlements.
- I will just walk a little bit more, then I will sit and eat breakfast.
Walking alone there was a pale-skinned human who had decided to wake up a few hours before sunrise in order to arrive at the closest army garrison that was built near the human city of Breizen as soon as he possibly could.
As it turns out, Rhemurus had decided to remain in the inn he was staying in until his paid days in said inn had all runout, and during that time he did his best to put the few affairs he had in that city in order. He first thanked Lord Erodel for all the support he had given him and asked how he would be able to transfer some of the money he would earn as a soldier to the chieftain as a way to pay back the gold pieces he had received from Erodel, something that the human leader insisted wasn't necessary, but Rhemurus nonetheless swore that he will return and give back the money to Erodel in person if he had to. Then he went to the city watch and apologized for all the trouble he had caused them, and after that, he went to the berserkers to thank them for being so hospitable with him. And finally, he thanked Lord Aerodus for being so patient with him despite the stubbornness he displayed while under his wing.
Since he was leaving the rejection of Calistria's offer for the very last thing he would do in the city, he made sure that he would have everything he needed for a long journey before doing so; he went to the merchant district and got himself a good amount of long-lasting foods like jerky, dried fruit, hardtack, and nuts. On top of that, he also took the opportunity to buy fully cooked meals that he discreetly placed inside his inventory since all the objects placed in the item box are "frozen" and thus would always be preserved as long as they remain there. He did the same with large jugs of water which would remain clean and fresh as long as they remained inside his inventory.
Once he ensured that food and water wouldn't be an issue, he got himself a bedroll so he could have something to sleep in and some pieces of leftover wood from the farming district so he could have fuel to make bonfires, as well as other miscellaneous stuff. The only thing that remained was getting a new armor, a final purchase that took him the longest to decide, but after a good long while of deliberation and some input from the armorsmith, Rhemurus settled for a leaf mail which was basically a scale mail made out of alchemically-hardened leaves overlapping one another. The leaf mail also came with a coat, leggings, a shirt, and a pair of gauntlets, all made of leather.
Once he finally made himself sure that he had nothing else to take care of in the human city, he went to the place Calistria had invented him to reject her offer to work with her, and to his surprise, Calistria not only was perfectly fine with his refusal, but it appeared as if she was expecting his answer. When he asked if there would be no hard feelings of any sort, Calistria simply told Rhemurus something about some instructions her "superior" gave her regarding the issue and that he didn't need to worry about it in the future. So with that confusing but still relieving final affair taken care of, he walked outside the city, gave one final glance back as he kept walking with the enchanted scroll in hand, and reaffirmed his resolve to grow as strong as he could in this world.
It was three days ago when his lone journey began and, according to the enchanted map he was given, he still had at least a day or two of walking left to go.
- This gear I'm carrying isn't as heavy as I expected it to be. Either that or my physical strength stat is higher than I imagined it would be at my current level.
Had he wanted to, Rhemurus could've stored every single thing inside his inventory, but since he didn't want to raise suspicion towards himself should he cross paths with someone like he did back when he appeared out of nowhere in this world with nothing on his person, he instead decided to carry everything himself except for the prepared meals and the jugs of water. This meant that he carried his leaf scale by wearing it, all 30 lbs - 13.61 kgs - of it alongside a backpack filled with long-lasting foods and some eating utensils. The bedroll didn't weigh that much, neither did his coin pouch which still had a few bronze and silver pieces in it, nor his scimitar he carried on his belt, but the combined weight could still be felt once exhaustion and fatigue began to kick in after an entire day of walking.
- Let's see...not counting my single level in [Arcane Hierophant], I have 15 levels in arcane classes and 15 in divine classes. In the physical stat area, my current arcane levels should count as roughly 5 warrior levels, while my divine levels should be 9 or 10 warrior levels, give or take. Which means that I should have the raw muscle strength of a level 14 or 15 warrior.
To give a specific number, Rhemurus as he is now has the physical stats of a level 15.18 warrior. An Yggdrasil or new world human with 10 warrior levels is already much stronger than even the strongest human on Earth, while a human with 20 or more warrior levels would be considered a superhuman being. The fact that his body wasn't really encumbered by the weight he was carrying was kind of disappointing to him since he hoped that this long journey on foot would also double as training to condition his physique.
- Ah well, I guess the real training will begin in the garrison. I should enjoy these few days of peace and tranquility.
So far it had been quite the uneventful journey, neither fellow travelers nor monsters had crossed paths with the human player in three full days. The journey has been peaceful, but that doesn't mean that it has been boring. Quite the opposite in fact; Rhemurus has been basking his eyes in quite beautiful and picturesque natural scenery that was all but nonexistent back on Earth, a beauty that even made him entertain the idea of taking the role of "protector of the world" like those parallel world heroes of the animes he used to watch, a silly idea that he had immediately tossed aside since it made little sense once he put real thought into it.
- Just what would I be protecting this world from? Any problem that I could fix, someone else would be more efficient than I would ever be because of my limited knowledge and power. This world has lots of capable individuals, and that is without counting the presence of Momonga and his tomb of Nazarick.
His conclusion was the most logical one since if someone or something were to threaten this world, then Ainz Ooal Gown would be a way better guardian than Rhemurus could ever hope to be, and in the scenario that Ainz Ooal Gown himself is what threatens the world, then there would likewise be nothing Rhemurus would be able to realistically do to oppose them.
- I just need to look for myself first. I have to make sure that I'm powerful enough to survive in this world, and then I will see if I can afford to worry about others after that.
Said pragmatic mindset was true regardless of how powerful you were because, after all, those who couldn't protect themselves could never hope to be able to protect others.
And so he went on with his journey. He occasionally stopped to sit and take out a meal from his item box to eat and recover his energy, and he only took long breaks when it got late at night and he felt the need to sleep. For a normal medium-sized person who was leisurely taking his sweet time, the journey from Breizen to the closest army garrison on foot would've taken more than a week, but because Rhemurus could hardly wait and walked at full throttle, he now saw his destination in the distance during the midday of the fifth day of his journey; a towering stone structure that was heavily fortified and had immensely huge stone walls surrounding it for extra protection. It even appeared that there were some house-like buildings outside but still near the walls as well, most likely the places where permanent residents who worked near the fortification lived.
- There's no mistaking it, that must be a military garrison.
He took a look at the enchanted map to verify it and, yes, his current location showed that he was standing right beside the garrison he was walking towards.
- Alright, no use prolonging this. Better go and introduce myself!
Filled with anticipation, Rhemurus got impatient and cast [Longstrider] on himself to speed towards the garrison as fast as he could.
However, two seconds after doing that he stopped dead in his tracks and began to properly think this through.
- Wait...Galor'arn told me that I was the very first human to have ever been admitted into the army of this country. The ones living there, what are the odds that they had never seen someone like me before? What would they think if they saw a strange primate creature running at them at full speed?
It appeared like the time he had spent sweating and bleeding in this world was finally hammering to him the fact that this is no "game world" of any sort, it was a real world with real consequences and - most important of all - it was a world that didn't revolved around him.
- Surely, if I saw a weird thing that I had never seen before running at full speed towards me, I would get startled and either run away or fight back. Now what would trained soldiers do in that scenario? Nothing good to me, that's for sure.
Calm and composed, that's how he should present himself to make a good first impression.
- Okay then, there are still some hours before dusk, just walk there, Tanaka. Just walk. You will get there.
And walk he did.
Because [Longstrider] wasn't dispelled, his walking speed was still twice as fast as normal. Yet despite such a thing, the closer he walked towards the garrison the further away it seemed to be. Or perhaps...the structure wasn't as far away as it seemed to his human eyes, rather, it was simply much bigger than he originally imagined it would be.
- Right, I was told more than once that the most prominent members of this country's army are giants and dragons after all. So it only makes sense that the standard size of the structures is made to accommodate such massive creatures.
Not only giants and dragons, but plenty of other soldiers in the army were also large-sized and even huge-sized, and if anything, medium-sized creatures like humans were considered midgets. This world wasn't like the fantasy game settings made up on Earth where "balance" required that the small races were proficient with magic or some other gimmick to compensate for physical weakness and that big races be dumb and unintelligent to compensate for physical superiority; ALL sapient species of the new world have roughly similar intelligence to each other, regardless of how big or strong they are. If anything, bigger sapient races have bigger developed brains, which in turn means that they could potentially have a higher count of neurons in their brains than smaller races like humans do, which in turn also means that their proficiency in learning and mastering magic could be just as good if not better than that of smaller races with smaller brains.
- Now that I think about it, would they even notice me approaching their garrison? To the giants and the dragons, I must look like an ant.
Eventually, he got close enough to admire the houses that were built just outside the garrison, houses which were also surrounded by massive farmland with lots of produce of varying sizes that were most likely being grown as food for the soldiers and other people living here. These structures were obviously built to house large-sized races seeing how they were four to five times larger than human houses and were even reminiscent of the Yggdrasil realm of Jötunheim a bit, except that in said giant world the structures were much, MUCH bigger than even these houses. It also appeared that none of the residents were outside of the houses, most likely because it was midday which may mean that people were having lunch. Rhemurus felt it was for the best, he didn't like having unwanted attention thrown his way after all.
- Alright, here I am.
He was now standing at the gate of the army garrison, close enough to notice that the garrison walls had crenellations and machicolations as any self-respecting defensive structure would. No windows of any sort, not even in the massive gates, but that was obviously to be expected.
"Hello! I'm a new recruit! I have a scroll that verifies it!"
Ever since he came to this world, screaming at gates that were closed to him has been his first immediate course of action, mainly because there wasn't much else he could do at his current level of power.
"Hello!? Is this garrison empty!?"
"Hey, you! Stop screaming so loud!" A voice began to call him out from above, there was a soldier who was patrolling the walls and heard the ruckus that Rhemurus was causing. "If it's true that you have a verification scroll, then why aren't you showing it to the gates? You should have been instructed of this step!"
When the human player turned his head upwards to see where exactly the voice was coming from, he could spot the face of someone who was looking at him through one of the large-sized machicolations; it was a greenish humanoid face, with pointy lower tusks protruding outwards giving it a menacing appearance. If he were to guess, Rhemurus would say that this soldier was a goblinoid, but he would need to take a closer look to be certain.
"Ah, show the verification scroll to the gates? I think...yes, I think I may have indeed been informed about this step."
Show the scroll at the gates was exactly what Galor'arn told Rhemurus to do when giving him the enchanted scroll, but the player had assumed that he had to show it to someone who was guarding the gates. It never crossed his mind that he had to show the scroll to a pair of large inanimate gates, but it appears that this world just never runs out of surprises for him.
- Alright then, here goes nothing.
He took out the scroll and unfurled it in front of the gates, then immediately afterward a strange shiny rune made itself manifest in both the scroll and the gates before said gates began to slowly open up, allowing entrance to the first human to ever step in an army garrison of the council state.
Rhemurus began to walk past the gates and was immediately greeted by the goblinoid soldier who jumped from the wall and landed in front of him to meet the player in person.
"So you do have a verification scroll from an army recruiter, huh?" Said the goblinoid who, now that he had a clear look at him, Rhemurus was certain that was a male hobgoblin; a superior variant of the baseline goblin who was as tall as a human and more intelligent than their smaller cousins. The goblinoid had dark slick hair that was combed backward and was wearing what seemed to be some sort of linen armor, and strapped on his back there was a composite bow and a quiver full of arrows.
"Yes, I was given this scroll by the recruiter Galor'arn, maybe you heard of him?" He said while showing the scroll to the hobgoblin to fully remove any doubt of his words.
"I'm not aware of every single recruiter our army has, but this scroll..." The hobgoblin took the scroll from Rhemurus' hands to take a closer look at it. "...yes, this is definitely a legitimate document that confirms your status as a raw recruit." He said before returning the scroll to the player.
"My name is Rhemurus, by the way. I'm a human!"
"A...hoomah? For a second I thought you were some sort of mutant elf variant with round ears."
Right, humanoids are the minority in the Argland Council State after all, and humans themselves are just one type of humanoid creature among several.
- Wait, this guy knows about elves. So does that mean that medium-sized soldiers are not that rare in this country after all?
"In any case, my name is Rivyek. Veteran lieutenant of the Archer Squad."
"Nice to meet you."
"You walked all the way here? You don't have a mount?"
"A mount?" What a weird thing to ask, Rhemurus feels. "Uh, no, I don't have one."
"Hmmm, alright then. If this is really your very first time here, I recommend you walk towards the colonel's quarters at the very center of the garrison. Just follow the road. It's the biggest building here, you can't miss it."
"Thanks a lot!"
"Good luck." Said Rivyek before jumping back up towards the top of the walls to resume his patrol.
And so Rhemurus followed the instruction given and began to walk, also taking the opportunity to appreciate the brilliant architecture of this military garrison.
The road system on which he was currently walking was curved at the edges and surrounded at both sides by drains about half a meter deep and covered by big flagstones, this was so that any rainwater would slide off the roads and into the drainage system below which would keep the roads from overflowing on rainy days. Said underground drainage system was also very complex and operated by gravity rather than magic, ensuring that all collected rainwater flowed into a storage tank that was used to flush out waste from the fort, therefore the waste was always taken to the lowest part of the fort which was also the place where the toilets were built in.
Besides this mundane water collection system, the fort also had two massive pools of water built in a rectangular shape that also had smaller rectangular pools built at their own sides, but instead of relying on rainwater, these pools were instead made and maintained with magic; at the bottom of these pools there were several magic rods installed, half of the rods had [Create Water] spells stored while the other half had [Purify Water] spells stored. These rods were created in such a way that the stored spells would automatically activate and recharge after 24 hours of being used, ensuring that the pools always had clean water at the ready for the soldiers to use for drinking, cooking, or cleaning weapons and armor, and also that any animal that also resided in the fort would have clean water to drink from the smaller side pools.
- These other buildings are most likely the soldier barracks, they are so massive!
However, just like outside, it appeared as if the soldiers were most likely having lunch in the comfort of the barrack rooms, so there was almost nobody outside to greet him. The only other individual that the player saw walking around in the distance was what appeared to be an ettin; a hulking large-sized giant with two heads, each one featuring a porcine face with a shovel jaw and protruding lower canines similar to a boar's tusks. Because of their two heads, ettins had excellent sensory abilities and thus made the best guardians and scouts, so their usefulness in an army was a no-brainer.
- I can only imagine what other races with useful inborn abilities are part of this country's army. I will have to do my best.
And as he kept encouraging himself to ensure that he should make the best impression possible, he finally arrived near the largest structure in the fort, what Rivyek said were the colonel's quarters.
- So do I show the scroll to the gates again?
Better than making another noisy ruckus, at least. So Rhemurus once again unfurled the verification scroll towards the huge door expecting to see that shiny rune again, but instead, the door was simply opened from the inside by someone who was somehow looking through it: a muscular large-sized heavily armored humanoid with a single eye on its face was staring down at the smaller human player.
- A cyclops! Okay, don't freeze! Just remain cool, and say something! Quick!
"H-hi, I mean, hello! I'm a new recruit!"
"Yes, I see that you indeed have the scroll that certifies it."
Cyclops have incredible eyesight which not only allows them to clearly look at distances as long as one kilometer - 0.62 miles - away without any magical buffs or sight enhancement skills, but they also have a high perception ability towards anything they look at from close distances as well.
"Are these the colonel's quarters?"
"Yes, but the colonel is not here as of now. You will have to register with one of the two majors who are currently occupying these quarters."
"Oh, alright then. Will you lead the way?"
"Just walk in a straight path, follow the noise."
"Okay...thanks a lot."
Rhemurus could indeed somewhat hear the sound of voices ever since the doors were opened, and when he began to walk forward inside the massive quarters the voices grew louder and louder. It was a heated argument between two individuals, most likely the two majors that the cyclops soldier was referring to, and when he reached a door that was covered by a curtain - a door leading to the room where the arguing individuals were - he hesitated for a bit since he believed his actions may be considered an intrusion of sorts. But since he was quite impatient to begin grinding EXP and gaining money as soon as possible, he hardened his resolve and walked through the curtain with his verification scroll in hand to the sight of two large-sized humanoids screaming at each other.
"And just how are we supposed to retake Snowthrone without scorching it down!? You think your fancy prayers are going to bring down a miracle!?"
"We are high-ranking soldiers of the Argland Council State! We are supposed to protect the people from the invaders! Not burn them down alongside our enemies!"
"Snowthrone is already enemy territory! Anyone who could be evacuated was already taken to safety! The more we wait, the harder it will be to take the city back!"
"Once you burn it down there will be nothing left to take back! You think the citizens who live there will appreciate us destroying their belongings!?"
"Better than to see their property being used by the invaders to hurt us! Why can't you see this through!?"
While trying to make sense of this shouting contest, Rhemurus also took the opportunity to have a good look at these two majors; one of them was a troll who was covered in a crimson tunic decorated with arcane runes of sorts, on his shoulders hung a green cape that radiated a soft glow, and on his right hand there was a large wizard staff which had an equally enormous ruby - or some other red-colored gemstone - embedded on its tip. The other one was an ogre covered in what appeared to be a breastplate made out of diamond, there was also a helmet on his head, gauntlets on his arms, and greaves on his legs, all of them made out of diamond as well, and hanging on his shoulders there was also a cape that emanated a soft glow, but this one was blue rather than green.
The troll was an arcane spellcaster, there was no mistaking it. But the ogre, he wasn't sure.
"Excuse me...excuse me? Hello!?"
His voice was drowned by the screams of these two large-sized creatures and Rhemurus could tell just by looking at them that they were much stronger than he currently was. The sheer magic power stored in the equipment they were wearing was impossible to ignore, and he can only imagine how powerful these majors themselves are as well.
"You insufferable idiot! If you want to play nice with the enemy go ahead! I will act like a real leader when push comes to shove while you keep praying to have the perfect victory fall into your lap!"
After this final outburst, the troll mage stormed out of the room through another door while the armored ogre just crossed his arms in visible disappointment and shook his head. It appears the argument was now over.
"Sorry you had to see that." The ogre finally addressed the player. "This invasion from the Crown of the World is really pushing us to the edge, and we're all more stressed out than we are willing to admit."
"I see, I'm also sorry to know how difficult things must be right now."
"Hey now, don't apologize for things outside of your control. If you are here, then that must mean that you want to become a soldier, right?"
"Yes! Here's my certificate!"
The ogre major took the scroll from the human's hands to give it a closer look.
"Everything seems to be in order. However, this was just the first step-" He said while returning the scroll to Rhemurus. "-there is still the formal oath that you have to make in front of the colonel of this garrison, and after that, your name has to be officially added into our military record by the army's archivists."
"So I guess I have to wait for the colonel to return."
"You were already told then. But yes, our colonel was called earlier today by the local general of the province, he should be back either by the end of this day or early tomorrow."
"It's okay, there's no hurry."
That was a lie, Rhemurus didn't want to wait, but he had no choice but to feign patience.
"In the meantime, we should make good use of the time and get you accustomed to our garrison. Let's start by getting acquainted, I am major Guruk, high priest of the magnificent and most resplendent Diamond Dragon Lord, Omnaadsence=Iculvuls. What is your name?"
- Oh, so he's a cleric of a dragon councilor. Just like the orc friend of Lord Erodel back in Breizen.
"My name is Rhemurus, I'm a human!"
"Human...alright, I'm glad to meet someone of your kind, and more glad still that you wanted to join us! So, Rhemurus the human, what can you do?"
"I'm an arcane hierophant, a druid-mage dual-caster."
When Guruk heard that, his eyes widened in genuine surprise. Ever since he recognized this "small" recruit's presence in the garrison, the high priest was curious about what is it that he could do that allowed him to join the army. He and other high-ranking officers like him were vehemently against the proposal to reduce the standards of recruitment to gain a greater number of new soldiers at the cost of inferior-quality recruits. This means that this human - as he calls himself - must have some extraordinary ability of sorts, but he would have never guessed that said ability was so incredibly rare.
"So you can use both divine and arcane spells simultaneously, eh?"
"Yes, you're correct major."
"Now that is impressive." Said Guruk while crossing his arms in a pensive manner.
"If you want, I can demonstrate it in some way. Perhaps if there are straw dummies or targets I can throw spells at in this garrison".
"We will get to that, but first, let's go find you a room where you can leave your belongings. You must be tired after walking all the way here without a mount."
"Sure thing, I could use a small break."
Things were going smoothly - if a bit slow - so far.
It turns out that this garrison was built with a large-sized population of soldiers in mind, which means that the rooms for the rank-and-file soldiers have enough space for either one large-sized creature or two medium-sized creatures. Which in turn meant that Rhemurus was going to have to share a room with another medium-sized soldier to make the most of the garrison's space.
And so four hours went by. Rhemurus did take the opportunity to have a good long rest as per the major's instruction, and by the time he exited the barrack room, he could now see the garrison bursting with activity. Large-sized humanoid creatures were the obvious majority in this garrison, with medium-sized individuals like him, Rivyek, and his roommate being so few that they seemed and even felt insignificant in comparison.
But none of that mattered, he came here to become a soldier who would be sent to the frontline where all the action and deadly combat would take place, so he better show the high-ranking officers that he means business!
He began to look for major Guruk so he could display his abilities as a dual-caster, but instead, he was called over by the other major, the troll mage.
"Hey, you! Rhemurus the human! Over here!"
The troll mage whose name he still didn't know was signaling him to come over, from the looks of it the major and some other soldiers nearby were standing on what appeared to be the training grounds of the garrison, at least that's what Rhemurus taught when he saw the training mannequins and targets for long-range weaponry in the area as well as the soldiers wrestling and clashing their weapons.
"Guruk told me about you. He told me you're a dual-caster, is that true?"
"Yes sir, it's true. I'm an arcane hierophant, a druid-mage."
"Then surely you don't mind casting some spells for us to see, then?"
"Gladly!"
The moment he was waiting for; first, he cast [Barkskin] on himself to show his mastery over the divine magic of the druids and then pointed his finger towards the farthest long-range target his eyes could see to cast [Magic Arrow], unerringly hitting said target and showing his mastery over arcane magic.
"So it's true...we have a dual-caster among our brethren now!" Exclaimed a nearby soldier, another cyclops by the looks of it, a different one from the one who greeted Rhemurus at the door of the colonel's quarters.
"Not bad." Stated the troll major. "Now, hit the same target but with a different spell."
"Huh?"
"[Magic Arrow] is a spell that always hits the target, but you can't always rely on the same spell all the time to strike enemies who are far away. You need to have a good general aim, so now use a spell that doesn't have a homing ability to strike the same target."
"Ah I see, I would be glad to do so, sir..."
"Kargadd, major Kargadd for you." The troll mage said with a huge emphasis on the "major".
"Major Kargadd, I will do my best."
With having learned the other major's name out of the way, Rhemurus strained his eyes as much as he could before remembering that he knew the [Hawkeye] spell and decided to just cast it instead to make this easier. However, immediately after casting that sight-enhancing spell, major Kargadd smacked Rhemurus' head with the wizard staff he was holding without any warning.
"Ouch! What was that for!?"
"No cheating! How are you going to develop your aiming skills if you rely on buffing spells to do your heavy lifting!? You want to become a real soldier!?"
"Y-yes! Yes I want to!"
"Then dispel the [Hawkeye] you just cast and aim with your real eyes!"
- Damn, this guy doesn't beat around the bush! I wonder where's Guruk, he sounded way more polite and gentle than this Kargadd guy.
Guruk was currently busy in the garrison's chapel of the Sovereign Host carrying out a religious service, hence why he asked Kargadd to oversee the spell demonstration of the human dual-caster.
- Alright, here goes.
The spell he chose to fire was [Scorching Ray], but because he had fired the previous [Magic Arrow] spell at the farthest target he could see which was roughly 150 feet - 45.72 meters - away, the ray spell he cast now predictably missed the target by a considerable margin.
"Mmm, so all this time you had been relying on [Magic Arrow] and [Hawkeye] to strike at opponents who were at a long distance away from you, huh?" Stated Kargadd with a disappointed tone of voice.
"Well, the spells we know are meant to be used at our convenience, right?" Replied the human trying to excuse his method of relying on magic when possible.
"If you were one of those snob wizards who wanted to spend the rest of his life on comfortable luxury, then I wouldn't care less if you rely on spells for everything. But a soldier thrives in bloody and gruesome battlefields, there will be times when you will face enemies that are resistant or outright immune to one or more energy types, enemies that can block you from casting certain spells, or enemies that can silence you completely or even absorb your mana, preventing you from casting anything-"
Yggdrasil also had a myriad of monsters and other enemies that could do all that, and while Rhemurus did know of techniques and methods to counter those counters, those methods relied on the build and equipment he had back in the game.
"-which will force you to adapt on the spot, thus you need to grow accustomed to not relying on your spells for everything. So keep trying to hit the target until you strike true, and then keep practicing your aim until you run out of mana. This is your first official exercise, understood?"
"Yes, major Kargadd."
"Good." The troll turned towards the cyclops that was standing nearby. "I leave the rest to you, captain."
Without waiting for a response, Kargadd walked away towards his personal quarters, leaving Rhemurus to be supervised by this cyclops captain.
"Alright, you heard the major, keep firing spells to practice your aim until you run out of mana."
"Sure thing, sir..."
"Dakaivor."
"Captain Dakaivor, alright."
- Why do I have to keep digging their names out of them? Nobody ever taught these people to introduce themselves?
In any case, the human kept firing spells at the faraway target without using [Hawkeye] nor [Magic Arrow], switching from [Fire Bolt], [Acid Arrow], [Scorching Ray], and [Ice Dart] at random intervals.
- To think that, of the 96 spells in my arsenal, only five are attack spells that can be used at really long distances. But now that I think about it, judging from what the Kargadd guy told me, deciding to become a generalist spellcaster who is prepared for all possible scenarios was the right decision after all.
He should stop thinking about his life choices and pay attention to this aim practice because he just kept missing the target over and over again. It was even embarrassing for the soldiers looking at it, so embarrassing in fact that someone who was passing by decided to step in to give some advice to the struggling human.
"Move your finger a bit upwards."
"Huh?"
The one who just said that was Rivyek, the hobgoblin archer whom Rhemurus met earlier that day.
"Any long-range projectile you fire is affected by gravity. The farther the target, the more the projectile will be derailed downwards, so you must adjust the angle in which you fire the projectile to compensate."
Of course, of course! It was so obvious! Back in Yggdrasil there was no such thing as a force of gravity outside of spells that had "gravity" in their description, but the new world is not an artificial game world, it's a real planet with real laws of physics.
"Shoot your spell as if the target was higher than it actually is."
"Right, move my finger upwards. Seeing how far the target is, I should aim quite a bit above it."
He adjusted his aim right so, fired another spell, and...! Aw, almost a bullseye. The spell hit a border of the target quite away from the center of it, but still, he finally hit the target itself.
"Very good, now you're progressing. Keep at it!" Said captain Dakaivor as positive encouragement.
"Thanks, Rivyek."
"Don't mention it. Also, one more thing, even though today we enjoy nice calm weather, there may be days when you need to fire projectiles while enduring strong wind currents. In those days, make sure to also adjust your aim to compensate for the strength and direction in which the winds are blowing through."
"Compensate for strong winds, gotcha."
"Keep practicing, you will get better."
And just like that, Rivyek went on his way.
With the minutes becoming over an hour, Rhemurus kept firing his low-tier spells at the faraway target, eventually getting the hang of long-range spell blasting. Because the spells he was firing were just of the 1st and 2nd-tier, they didn't cost that much MP so it took a very good while for his relatively huge MP bar to dry up, but he eventually ran out of juice.
"Okay, I ran out of mana. What now, captain?"
"Wait, you ran out of mana? Really?"
"Um...yeah? I did."
Dakaivor was looking at Rhemurus with a strange expression in his singular eye. Unbeknownst to the human player, when a spellcaster who was born and raised in the new world ran out of mana after casting spells nonstop, said spellcaster will begin to suffer a physical condition known to the natives as Chronic Mana Exhaustion, or CME for short; during this state, the spellcaster will experience great fatigue, breathing difficulties which mirror suffocation, blurred vision, a pounding headache, decreased blood pressure, numbness in the limbs, and eventual lost of consciousness. Training to overcome this condition was the first thing in a spellcaster recruit's curriculum, which is why Kargadd ordered the human to fire spells until his mana dried out, so this training would double as body conditioning.
Yet, for some reason, this human who showed up out of nowhere was just fine and dandy after depleting his mana reserves.
"So not only are you a dual-caster, but you are also immune to the effects of Chronic Mana Exhaustion."
"Chronic...what?"
"What was your race again?"
"I'm a human."
- As far as I know, that is. I haven't discarded the possibility that the humans of this world may as well be a different species altogether from Yggdrasil humans like me.
"Would I be right in assuming that all humans have these strange traits of yours, or are you a deviation from the rest of your kind?"
"I think it would be safer to label me as an outlier, yes."
Humans lacking any sort of special racial trait was precisely why they were the most unpopular and least-played race in Yggdrasil's heyday by a wide margin.
"That would explain why I have no recollection of any other human among the records of our army."
"If I'm honest with you, captain Dakaivor, I'm not particularly fond of the idea of sticking out as a special case. If possible, would you and everyone else treat me as you would another soldier?"
You can take the Japanese out of Japan...
"Why of course! Such a thought never crossed my mind. You may be a spellcaster prodigy of sorts but that doesn't change the fact that you still lack basic crucial skills that are required in the battlefield, as this last hour of aim practice showed us."
"So what do I do now?"
"Normally, we would give you some time to recover from Chronic Mana Exhaustion, but seeing how that will not be necessary in your case, we will skip to the next step in your aim training. Assuming you don't need a break, of course."
"I'm ready." Rhemurus just wants to speedrun this training and body conditioning so he can hurry up and start grinding.
"What do you prefer, bow or crossbow?"
"Oh, this will now be practice with mundane ranged weapons?"
"Yes! Spellcaster soldiers knowing how to fight in the scenario where their mana runs out is essential, after all."
"But I...I have a blade that I know how to use." He said while pointing to the scimitar on his hip.
"That's precisely why you must now learn how to use long-range weapons, as well."
- Shit, not even in Yggdrasil I relied on ranged weapons!
From the looks of it, he won't be able to speedrun his training after all. This will be a very, very long day.
[Several hours later, in Ravenloft]
Ravenloft wasn't only a castle housing the crown prince of the Sorcerer Empire and his immediate family, it also doubled as the current "living" quarters of the formerly secret organization known as Corpus of the Abyss; an association of undead spellcasters whose original purpose was to amass as much power for themselves as they could, but as of now, their goal was to increase and expand the power and influence of the majestic God of Stars and Supreme Being Ainz Ooal Gown.
Shura would tell any visitor that his castle was as big as it was to accommodate both the members of the large undead organization - which consisted of both the high-ranking spellcasters themselves and their numerous followers and thralls - and his myriads of servants who were both selected among the homunculus maids from Nazarick and some natives of this world as well. However, the actual reason for the city-size of his castle was simply that when Shura was a little boy he asked his father to build him the biggest castle the new world had ever seen, and Ainz desiring to be a doting father went ahead and ordered the construction of a castle that was so large that even the builders themselves were doubtful that the young prince would find a use for every single room and open space in said castle. But as the decades went by and Shura used both his position as crown prince of an enormous empire and his metaphysical power as the son of a player, he slowly built for himself a sizeable entourage that included - but wasn't limited to - the entirety of Corpus of the Abyss and other undead beings of myth like the Three Night Liches whose group included a dragon called Guphandera=Argoros among them. And before anyone knew, Ravenloft needed additional extensions and extra spaces built in it to accommodate the growing number of the crown prince's followers.
And on top of all that, Ravenloft also became the home of the family that Shura began to build for himself with a humanoid-looking creature called Khalli who became the prince's wife and mother of his children.
"Shura, beloved, are you still staring at that mirror?"
Khalli was wearing sleeping clothes while lying on the large bed inside the personal room of the crown prince, the only other room in Ravenloft that was even more protected than the throne room. And beside her laid a small babe, the third child that Shura and Khalli had together and was thus the youngest grandchild of Ainz Ooal Gown.
"Yeah, just checking on some things. I will go to bed in a bit."
"Still so obsessed with the human player, are you?"
"I'm actually looking at the western border of the empire right now. You know, the place where these doom priests or whatever are popping up the most?"
"Ah...that also stresses you up a lot, doesn't it?"
"Well, what can I do? Not get stressed out by things that can potentially become big issues down the line if left unchecked? I'm the crown prince, the firstborn of the Supreme God, I can't leave all the heavy lifting to the old man, or my mom, or the other guardians."
"And what is your army of undead servants for? Just to add the dust that their bodies lay off to our home?"
"It's no fun to let others do all the job, either."
"But your father still insists that you should relax from time to time, and spend quality time with us, your family."
- The old man and the floor guardians are also my family, you know? Is what Shura almost said out loud, but his wife always berates him when he says that.
"Alright, alright. You win."
Shura deactivated the mirror of remote viewing and turned around to look at his dear wife; a female being that anyone would assume is an undead creature at first glance, but just like Shura, Khalli wasn't an undead creature at all, but taking into consideration her corpse-like blue skin, disheveled white hair, and stitches reminiscent of post-surgery scars dotting her body, nobody would be blamed for making that honest mistake.
"I will continue this tomorrow, or the day after."
He placed the mirror in a corner of the room and finally joined his wife and child. Neither Shura nor Khalli needed as much sleep as regular living beings do, but since they weren't really undead, they still got tired eventually and required rest from time to time.
"I also need to check the northern frontier, those xixecals or whatever are also becoming a thorn. Ah right, the underground tremors that our deep citizens keep reporting can't be ignored either, or those reports from the coastal cities-"
"Shura..."
"What?"
"Little Kyras misses his father."
Kyras Tural Gown was the name of their youngest child who was with them right now on their bed. Shura has been so preoccupied with other matters as of late, that he has somewhat neglected the time he should spend with his kin.
"Come on now, he knows that I love him, don't you little guy?" Said Shura as he coddled Kyras, who responded to his father's affection with an adorable baby laugh.
"We will build a good and safe world for our children, right, beloved?"
"Of course we will. Just you see, dear Khalli, these wars will end, I'm certain of it."
"Is it just the active wars with the awakening ancient powers of this world that concern you, beloved?"
"The cold war with the Sarrukh Theocracy also worries me a lot, but there is something else..."