On the morning of the next day, Zaos waited for his squad members before heading toward another training session. Since he didn't have anything better to do, he was checking the screen in the corner of his vision… weirdly enough, it took him six months to progress as much as he did during that battle.

Health: 480/480

Mana: 800/800

Stamina: 810/810

Strength: 240

Magic: 400

Endurance: 405

Resistance: 400

Focus: 04 + 01 

Sorcery Lv 37, Meditation Lv 23, Magic Swordsmanship Lv 12, Alchemy Lv 06, Swordsmanship Lv 33, Axemanship Lv 09, Spearmanship Lv 09, Archery Lv 15, Shield Mastery Lv 18, Pain Resistance Lv 15, Blacksmithing Lv 11

Lesser Heal, Heal, Holy Light, Detoxification, Cold Whisper, Mend Bones, Dispel, Protection, Magic Barrier, Stone Skin, Fire Sword, Water Sword, Earth Sword, Wind Sword, Earth Bullet, Ignite, Spark, Agony,

"It is a bit scary, but I can't deny that," Zaos thought. "My skills leveled up faster before… because I killed people."

                      Zaos confirmed that he was the only one who could see that thing. During the whole year, he tried to talk with many soldiers about it. Of course, he did it cautiously since he had no idea if him having that was a good thing or not from someone else's perspective. Thanks to that, Zaos couldn't help but wonder if the being who brought him to that world was actually decent or not… the voice sure sounded sad, though.

                      Regardless, thanks to his hard work and knowledge regarding alchemy, Zaos managed to buy a focus amulet in the last year. Thanks to that, he only had enough money to buy a single magic tome, but the skills he learned were pretty useful. Earth Bullet was the most basic attack spell, and he used that to improve his aim and to make sure his squad members wouldn't get too hurt while they learn how to parry magic projectiles. Ignite mainly was a spell that was to create torches or campfires. Spark could electrocute the enemies that Zaos's touch and Agony were… quite the weird spell. Zaos could sacrifice his health to obtain mana. Thanks to that, he leveled up his Sorcery and Pain Resistance quite a bit. After all, losing health is painful. Every time Zaos uses Agony, he feels like someone kicked his stomach.

                      When they reunited with Elius outside the base, he gave them the order to practice their tortoise formation. It wasn't that impressive since they only had ten members in the squad, but it was a formation they had to practice often. In order for when the moment to use it comes, they do it as fast as possible. Zaos couldn't participate since his presence would break the formation. A group could only deploy it with even members.

"Sir, why did the mercenaries and followers of the demon god do so little in the last year?" Zaos asked since he didn't have anything better to do, and that question had been bothering him.

"The failure of the previous attack is a major fact," Elius replied. "The terrain up north is rather troublesome, so the followers of the demon god can't move in big groups, or they will alert our scouts. That was why they tried to take Krisaldia in order to obtain a base instead of building one from scratch. However, not only did they not have enough money to hire many mercenaries, they only had enough to hire those who worked for the weak band."

"So, we won because the mercenaries belonged to a weak group?" Zaos asked.

"You should know that in the East, there are many mercenary groups that can put a hard fight even against the royal guards," Elius replied. "We basically exterminated a single group, but in the East, there are hundreds of them. The followers of the demon god know that they need to attack us from two fronts, so they probably spent this year making negotiations with another mercenary group. You can bet your ass that the next attack won't be even compared to the previous one."

                            Just by hearing that, Zaos couldn't help but sigh. Regardless, a few good things came out from that battle one year ago. Now Elius was willing to answer the questions of the second years without getting too annoyed. He even told Zaos that he was a squad member of a squad that Laiex was appointed as the leader a long time ago. However, he began to hate him because he never defeated him and because despite his victories, Laiex always looked unsatisfied. From his perspective, Elius learned a lot while training with Laiex, but it looked like Laiex always thought that he was wasting time training against him.

                            Zaos was a bit different in that regard. He isn't self-centered as Laiex was when he was at that age. Besides, after a while, Elius understood that it was a waste of time and got mad at Zaos for his father's mistakes. Not to mention, although Elius trained many recruits since he enlisted, that new group was different from the others. They experienced several life and death situations, so they were growing much faster than the recruits of other generations. While helping those kids grow stronger, Elius, who didn't have a family, couldn't help but feel proud, like a real father.

"All right, you guys can return to the usual spar," Elius said. "As for you… it is time for you to show up what you can with your skills and magic combined."

"Is there any need for that in sparring, sir?" Zaos frowned.

"You built up your strength, skills, and magic in the last year, but you never fought with them at the same time more than a few times," Elius said. "It is time for you to gain real combat experience with that fighting style. While I am stronger, faster, and more experienced, I am fully aware that with magic, you can reach my level. So, don't try to hold back because I won't."

                            Zaos couldn't help but frown after hearing that. Still… that was a good opportunity that he didn't plan to waste. Hopefully… he won't cause a disaster by going all out.