Chapter: Heavy Infantry armor

Erik slowly opened his eyes, it was dark outside his window.

He felt tired and ravenous, he pulled out food from his storage ring, he looked at his hands with a look of alarm.

“Looks like I’ll have to adapt to this,” Erik said with a smile, his skin was harder to pierce but it didn’t appear any different.

He felt power moving through his muscles, his entire body contained an energy that just wanted to escape.

It felt as if he was even stronger than when he was in his prime.

He felt a pulling sensation, finding an IV needle he pulled it out.

He wanted to show off his strength to see what he was capable of, instead he took his time to review his notifications.

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Quest: Body Cultivation

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The path cultivating one's body is not easy, to stand at the top, one must forge their own path forward.

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Requirements:

Reach Body Like stone level

Sub requirements

Tempering of the Blood

Tempering of the Bones

Tempering of the Organs

Tempering of the Muscle

Tempering of the Skin

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Rewards:

+3 to strength

+3 to agility

+3 to stamina

+5 to stamina regeneration

+100,000 EXP

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You have successfully tempered your Muscles!

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+4 to agility

+5 to strength

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You have successfully tempered your Organs

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+4 to Stamina

+5 to Stamina Regeneration

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Erik’s body shook as he saw the massive increases to his attributes, this wasn’t just increasing one stat, this was as if he had leveled up four times!

He hadn’t got a notification when he had tempered his blood and he didn’t get one now when he tempered his skin.

Ones’ recovery ability wasn’t calculated in their stats, nor was the strength of their body, as one’s body wouldn’t recall how many health potions they had or the armor, it was increases that increased their combat strength but not overall level or attributes.

Erik looked into his character sheet.

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Character Sheet

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Name: Erik West

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Level: 13

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Race: Human

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Titles: From the Grave

Land Holder (Temporary)

Mana Lord

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Strength: (Base 12) +9

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210

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Agility: (Base 10) +11

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110

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Stamina: (Base 14) +4

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270

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Mana: (Base 4) +11

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150

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Mana Regeneration (Base 10) +21

10.05/s

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Stamina Regeneration: (Base 12) +18

6.75/s

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The increases were added to his base stat instead of his modifier. Erik took his time, he felt refreshed as he examined his body.

Seeing that there was nothing wrong he adjusted to his newfound strength and agility, as much as he wanted to show off his strength, he knew that it was a mistake and a quick way to look like an idiot.

Sometime later, the sun still had to come up as he heard Rugrat moving to his door.

Rugrat opened the door, rubbing his tired face, he stopped his hand, looking at Erik.

“You’re awake?” Rugrat asked, waking up in a second. “It’s about time!”

Erik laughed, seeing Rugrat’s face lit up with a smile.

“Wait, about time? How long have I been out?” Erik asked.

“It’s the tenth day since we’ve been in Alva village,” Rugrat said.

“I was out for three days?” Erik asked in alarm.

“About,” Rugrat said.

Erik munched on food, looking to the IV, it was green in color, it must’ve been some kind of stamina regeneration powder or potion.

Back on Earth someone that had slept for three days would be starving and dehydrated, but Erik only felt like he’d missed a meal.

“What’s gone on since I’ve been out?” Erik asked, turning serious, they had four days left according to the voice from the beast Mountain Trials.

It felt like it was a lifetime ago that they had appeared outside of Alva Village.

“The three sharpshooter sections have been stepped up, went through, trained them up, picked out five for your quick reaction force, then the rest are helping out work on the defenses, or on the walls acting as patrols.

We’ve pulled everyone from the logging camp and broke it down. All of the heavy infantry are trained with their spears, swords and shields, they’ve all broken through level ten and are helping with the defenses now. I’ve trained some twenty medics since you’ve been out, got five of them to deal with greater problems and got them some healing manuals. I checked on the local population, healed any issues that were left. Blaze has four people from the Heavy Infantry that he gave to me and I’ve been cross training with the archers I picked for the quick reaction force,” Rugrat looked up, searching for anything he might have forgotten.

“Oh! I don’t have any idea what kind of mage Roska is, she’s not related to an element, or enchanting or crafting really,” Rugrat said.

“Did you get a testing stone?” Erik asked.

“Nope! They’re fifty silver each,” Rugrat said.

“How much did we make from auctions?” Erik asked.

“Umm,” Rugrat opened up his interface. “The hell?”

“Around twenty to thirty gold?” Erik asked aloud.

“Thirty three,” Rugrat said.

Erik shook his head, he’d put the items up for sale and it looked like Rugrat hadn’t been paying attention to them at all.

“Get the testing stone, we can use it on Roska and a few others, we can try and get some some spells, also this is for you,” Erik took out the silence spell scroll and he gave it over to Rugrat.

“What is this?” Rugrat asked.

“It's a new spell, it’ll silence anything that you cast it on,” Erik said.

“Anything?” Rugrat asked.

“I think so I didn’t check it out fully,” Erik shrugged.

“Where did you get this from?”

“I got it when I gained my apprentice level in stealth.

“Why are you giving this to me, couldn’t you use?” Rugrat asked, pushing it away.

“I'm aiming to go more melee and healer style, I could do with ranged healing spells, but I don’t think that me sneaking around is going to be all that useful, whereas you working on making rifles, getting that sneak modifier is going to hurt our enemies a lot more,” Erik said.

Rugrat was hesitant but he put it way after some time.

“So, plan moving forward?” Rugrat asked.

“What are you thinking?” Erik asked, Rugrat had been awake these last few days so he knew the situation better,

“We keep doing what we’re doing, build up our defenses, improve on our weapons, level up as we can, promote people to grow in their own skills and ways,” Rugrat said.

It wasn’t a crazy plan, but they didn’t know what was going to happen in the coming days, they couldn’t mess around.

If they went crazy with training then everyone might be tired when they needed to fight.

If they let them all off then they might not be focused when the time came.

“Increase the amount of food that they get, we’ll raise up their morale and give them some more free time to enjoy their higher levels,” Erik said. They’d been working so hard for so long, everyone needs to blow off some steam.

***

It took Erik a half day to recover, he joined in on the evening meeting Rugrat was talking with Glosil on techniques one could use with their crossbow.

Today was the last day of training for the heavy infantry so they got the night off with extra food and a few beers.

Most of them devoured their food and beer, talking in groups at the tables.

Erik and Rugrat shared a look as they saw how they acted, it was like they were back in any military cafeteria in the united states.

The groups went off to play games, or get some sleep and see their families.

They were different from before, not only in appearance but how they acted, Erik wondered what they’d be like with a few more weeks of training, higher leveled enemies to fight and better gear.

It sent a sort of thrill through him, the kind he had when a new unit passed through training and headed out to gain specialization, they had the groundwork, but with time and the right tools, they would become powerful veterans.

Everything was as Rugrat had explained.

Erik didn’t miss the relieved look in everyone’s eyes, or the fact that Rugrat had snuck off to the smithy instead of coming to the meeting.

He had made dozens of weapons while he had been asleep.

“I think that his skill level must be in the Apprentice level, but with the different ideas and practices he has, some of his works can rival Journeyman leveled items. I think with the right materials, some more information and maybe discussions with Journeyman smiths, he’d be able to advance greatly. He’s only just started on his path,” Taran said, Erik could see the glow in his eyes and the excitement there, his path ahead was no longer blocked and he was pushing his own boundaries as well.

At different tables in their off hours, people were talking to one another, not only discussing what had happened in the day, but also improving their own knowledge through discussion, Jasper was incharge of a new department, the library that held a number of manuals that they had purchased from the auction, people were allowed to read them there and make notes but they couldn’t take them away.

Erik sipped on his weak wine sitting beside Taran, the others were off dealing with one issue or another.

“Don’t the towns and villages have libraries?” Erik asked.

“No, manuals cost too much and they wouldn’t be willing to give them out to the general population unless they have an uprising,” Taran said seriously.

Taran saw Erik’s confused expression and could only frown to himself.

“I’ve meant to ask something for some time,” Taran said in a low voice so that no one else could hear him.

Erik indicated for him to continue.

“You and Rugrat. Are you really sent here by the king?” Taran asked.

Erik tapped his cup in thought, thinking of Taran as a man and what was to come.

He swore to follow Rugrat and I even when he had doubts about our identity, if I don’t trust him with the truth can I trust anyone else?

“No, we’re not,” Erik said.

Taran seemed to sink into thought with a dark expression.

“Do you think that the king, might order someone to help us?” Taran asked bluntly.

“I don’t know, but I don’t think so, Blaze sent words weeks ago, if they used their horses, they should have been here a week a go,” Erik said.

Taran looked away at the ground, lost to his own thoughts.

Erik let him be.

Taran took some time to recover, clearing his throat and drinking some water.

“The reason that people don’t have libraries is for a few reasons, one the books are all treasures and they cost a lot to buy, they also need to have people managing them so this is a large cost to any leader. The second is that the ten realms is based on the fact that the strong make the rules and the weak abide.

To become strong, one needs backing, resources and information. If the people don't have that information then it makes it much harder for them to increase in level and turn into a threat to the rulers. Who would make a system that puts them out of power?” Taran said.

Erik nodded slowly, an idea started to form in his mind, but he dismissed it. Right now he didn’t need to plan anything beyond defending Alva Village, everything else would come later.

Erik and Taran sat there, looking over the village square, people who were on later shifts started up their work while others gathered with their families.

There were a few people signing off to the side.

Kids were playing and greeting their parents who had been working all day.

Erik stood up, it was time he started training.