On his way to Ludnus for his first year in Seniors, Fred was checking over his legion traits, he had gained 26 legion points. But he lost his Military skill points. Or to be more precise, they had been consumed by the legion points system.

he had the scholar class which gave a flat 20% exp gain to all theory-based skills and sub-skills, which included skills like maths and languages,

Whereas his engineering skill gave him 10% efficiency and exp gain to skills related to any skill with the engineering skill rank.

However, he didn’t get the second class for either legion trait. Fred looked through his system windows and found them in the new Legion shops for their respective legion,

The alchemist gave him a 20% bonus to exp gain and efficiency to Alchemy related skills, including, material reaction, Herblore, and enchanting.

And the Scientist gave him 20% efficiency in research and experimentation, as well as a 100% exp gain in a skill for inventions related to that skill.

However, both classes were greyed out, and had an inactive tag on them,

Underneath was an activation button. When he focused on the one for alchemy, a new message popped up.

*Notification* would you like to swap Scholar for Alchemy,

-1000 mana

-1000 total mana for 24hrs

-This skill cannot be swapped out for 7 days.

Fred had to think about this, what does he need at the moment, it was a pity, all four of these skills worked well together.

he decided to look through the shop a bit more to have a look, and found what he was after,

200 legion points – give one of your legion’s traits a second civil class

200 legion points – give one of your legion’s traits a second Military class

‘But how do I get legion points’

Thinking about this problem gave him another window pop-up

*Message* You can gain legion points in the following ways

Military Participate in a battle (bonus points for winning a siege as the attacker – Iron Warriors) Participate in a war Capture a strategic location (Bonus points for stronger fortifications – Iron Warriors) (Bonus points for mana springs, ruins, Centres of academia – Thousand Sons) Increase military rank, (Bonus for rank progression in legion affiliated Military class) Increase subordinates, (Bonus for subordinates in legion affiliated Military class) Increase subordinate units (Bonus for units in legion affiliated Military class) Increase subordinate regiment (Bonus for regiments in legion affiliated Military class) Level up a legion military skill (Bonus for legion specific skills or bonus for affiliated military class skill) +1 skill per level Civil Level up a legion civil skill +1 skill per level Produce a product/perform an action associated with legion skills

Fred had a look at the list of skills, each skill required Legion points, and was quite expensive, at the moment he could get the research skill for 20 points or the metal tinkering skill for 20 points.

The Research had 100 levels in it and was considered normal difficulty, but the metal tinkering was only up to level 10 as well as considered easy difficulty, and would reduce mechanical engineering by half, bringing it down to 15 points. At the moment he needed both, and if he focused on metal tinkering to level 10, he should have enough points for both.

‘I guess it’s Metal tinkering then.

This was an easy skill, once he got to Ludnus he got a small metal stick about the size of his hand, and using his fire Esper to heat the metal, made a spring out of it, this gave him 4 levels in tinkerer, he did it again with another stick but only got one level.

Using his lightning Esper ability on a sheet of metal, he cut out 4 gears a few pins and axels and other pieces to play with, he managed to make a 4:10 ratio gear spring device, it worked just like one of those pull back toy-cars, this got him two more levels, and the next day he decided to actually make 2 toy cars for it. Finishing off the metal tinker skill.

He gave them to the twins who were attending school in the juniors now. And after a week the twins had come back with requests for 30 more. Rudy could get the same skills with his salamander trait, it looked like the same skill route for the start, and so he too maxed out his tinkering skill and moved onto mechanical engineering.

The exp he gained for the toy car also went to mechanical engineering, only he received half the exp as to the metal tinkering skill.

Fred wanted to go straight for the extra slot for Scientist, he was going to make a lot of inventions in the future and didn’t want to miss exp gain from it.

So, he and Rudy created a little toy car factory between them.

Delphine had swapped Scholar for Alchemist, and Herblore for Brewmaster, this made the brewing basic skill gain 50% exp gain and efficiency, she had a lot of skill levels in brewing, and they got consumed by the legion skill giving her a head start by about 15 levels,

Because of this, she was the first to unlock a second legion civil skill, she opened up the scholar class for this, and unlocking research gave a huge boost to her brewing.

Now Fred had another project to start,

___

It had been a month since Fred started school, Fred had finished his prototype of a Snaplock mechanism when he received the news of the king’s disappearance for over a month.

Fred could feel the tension in the school. The king had gone missing, leaving the prime minister in charge, but the prime minister didn’t have the power to keep everyone in check.

But surprisingly to everyone, Fred’s County was the first to make waves, over the next month news had got out that the tax in the region had been reduced to 25%, completely cutting off the 30% to the crown, and this wasn’t just his mother’s county it was the county under Thomas as well.

Many of the duchies didn’t know what to make of this, they were starting to cut taxes off to the crown but, they still had a 65% tax, they were just pocketing the rest. Some had even risen taxes to fund the build-up of arms.

Only time will tell what they were thinking.

Fred had managed to get in contact with a carpenter, and with his help had made his first Snaplock pistol. From this, he received a notification.

*Legion update* The following legions gain new military classes

-Emperor’s Children – Swashbuckler (Sword & Pistol)

-White Scars, - free shooter cavalry (Pistol & Sabre)

-Blood Angels - Swashbuckler (Sword & Pistol)

-World Eaters - Swashbuckler (Axe & Pistol)

-Regimental officers of all military classes can wield a pistol

Fred managed to get 6 pistols made in total, two each for him Rudy and Delphine, he had also got a few ingots of Lead, and with the combined help of his fire and metal Esper ability created over 50 lead balls for them.

“These are for you; I’ll teach you how to load them, but we can’t practice them in Ludnus.”

“Are these those Snap…locks, you had me help you make?”

“Yeah, I got a carpenter to help with the stock and a blacksmith for the tube.” Rudy had helped with the Snaplock mechanism, but this was the first time he saw the finished project.

He showed them the pistol in action without powder or ammo, so they could see the Snaplock mechanism, “See the sparks, they are what is going to light the powder,”

Then Rudy and Delphine each took a turn. Blank firing them a few times.

“Now before we load them, there is some very important information you need to know, first off, these are not the same as your sword or spear, you’ve seen the cannons back at the county, haven’t you?”

“Yeah, they were amazing.” Rudy commented, Delphine, nodded her head in agreement.

“You don’t spar with these weapons, you point it at your target, pull the trigger and if you hit, the target dies, there is no such thing as a scratch with these…” Fred continued to lecture gun safety to them. Fred then put a teaspoon of fire powder on the table and put the Snaplock next to it.

When he pulled the trigger, the sparks jumped to the fire powder and ignited it. Due to the powder being in the open, it just set on fire with a poof, there was no enclosed space to build up pressure, but this had shown Rudy and Delphine, how fast events can happen from pulling the trigger. Fred had taught them about pressure compression,

They then spent the rest of the day loading the weapon and unloading it. There was a pin on the gun they could pull out that rendered the trigger non-operational.

The following term, Rudy helped Fred makeover 200 Snaplock mechanisms, Fred wasn’t going to make a musket yet, it would be too cumbersome to carry home. This had helped in levelling up their Mechanical engineering skill. Fred was now able to add Scholar as a class, in conjunction with Alchemist.

___

Fred was now learning Military courses in school.

All the kids had to spend a point in military drills, this was a foundational skill, and was one of the most effective in gaining military exp in the early years as well as new military points to spend. Luckily his Legion trait had the skill available for 2 points, all people would unlock their first military level when they started the military training. Whether it would be military classes at school for the elites or boot camp for normal people when they turn of age.

In the afternoons he would be learning military theories and study, then the classes he did in the afternoon in infants and juniors would be moved to the late afternoon and evenings, extending the school days.

In his class, he learned of the different regiment keywords.

“Skirmishers act as the vanguard and scout, and will not engage the enemy in a straight-up confrontation,” His teacher lectured “they are ideal for hiding, flanking, and hit and run tactics, they can also be used to restrict movements, they excel when they are being ignored.

If your enemy wants to engage one of your front-line units in the flank, placing a skirmisher unit in the open in that area will force him to try and deal with them or ignore them.”

“Skirmishers wear very light armour or no armour at all and operate in loose formations.”

“Light infantry or cavalry takes advantage of numbers, they are lightly armoured, probably only a gambeson and helmet, with a spear, and round shield, you are not looking for staying power with these troops, you can take one of 3 benefits with them: they are cheaper; they are more numerous; they require less training.

Light Cavalry has the bonus of allowing you to employ lighter horses which reduce the feed consumption.”

“Medium Infantry is your front-line infantry; they are used to anchor your enemy to a spot or to hold ground. They are the workhorse of the army, most of your plans will involve the destruction of your enemy’s medium infantry and visa-versa. They are equipped with chainmail and possibly light plate armour, and polearms that are usually more advanced than spears”

“Medium cavalries are designed to flank enemy lines and charge from the sides and rear or to engage and kite heavy cavalry. They have also equipped with chainmail a lance and a kite shield.”

“Heavy Infantry,” the teacher looked at Fred, the class followed his eyes to Fred as well. It was no secret now that he could produce so much plate armour. “Follows the same role as medium infantry, only in full plate, armour, usually with Tower shields, and hammers, axes or swords; or two-handed halberds is a common one, one of the most versatile and advanced polearms out there.

The downside to this is a heavy reliance on steel production, these are the most expensive infantry units to field par the dismounted Knights, although it is argued that a dismounted Knight is just a variant of the heavy infantry.”

“Heavy cavalry is in full plate armour and rides some of the heaviest breeds of horses, this allows them to give charges to front lines, and are more devastating than Medium cavalry in flanking charges.”

“Dismounted knights are Heavy elite infantry, you won’t be able to field enough to cover your front line, they are made up of you people, Nobles, they wield bastard swords and two-handed swords, but normally take a blunt weapon as back up to get through armour, like a mace or hammer, they usually act as bodyguards or honour guards.

Dismounted knights are just that, Dismounted, most of the time you will be a knight on a horse during battle, but you may need to fight in a dismounted fashion, the most common cause is a breach of a city wall or Castle gate, you might not be able to get your horses through, but you might be the only unit with enough staying power to hold the breach while the other units reorganise.”

“While you are mounted, you will normally carry a lance and kite shield as well.”

“Finally, we have archers, we’ve talked about Skirmish so let’s talk about Volley archers, they are usually the line in front of your mainline when the enemy is not in close combat range, then when you get to combat range with the enemy, they fall behind the infantry line and continue to pepper the enemy with volley fire.”

___

Since Fred was ten, he had been carrying a gladius style short sword, although it would look like a bastard sword on him. He also designed for himself a pick-hammer, it could be used as a blunt instrument on one side and a pick on the other, this was to allow him to deal with armoured targets.

He now had a left thigh pistol holder and a chest strap pistol holder facing his right, he would become quite cumbersome if it wasn’t for his high Den.

He had been training his Drill skill and March skill, since the start of the school year, when he returned in the spring, he would slowly start practising while increasing the amount of armour he wears.

It won’t be until spring of his second year that he starts learning regimental fighting, for now, it would be combat drills and marching.

When he returned home with Rudy and Delphine for the winter, he had brought the 200 Snaplocks home, he needed to train a few gunsmiths, luckily, the blacksmiths had been training a lot of apprentices as requested,

All three of them were now able to practice firing the pistols and the family and retainers were impressed with this new weapon.

So, they got to organising a workshop in the steel complex, they just needed to get some carpenter apprentices trained for the stock, but Fred gave orders to make 500 Snaplocks, they were fragile pieces and Fred would need spares.