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After he had said what he wanted, Add began explaining to the Cadets, how their training would proceed. He had formulated a plan based on the training, the modern armies of earth gave to their new recruits. The first stage was called Basic Combat Training (BCT). This was the first step in the actual military training. It was assumed that the cadets who entered this training were 100% rookies and all the ways of the armed forces had to be drilled into them thoroughly. They would all be taught the same basic procedures and skill set so they are ready to properly work together and defend themselves, as well as their fellow soldiers, whenever and wherever necessary.

It would span for 2 and a half months, and was divided into 3 phases, namely the Phase 1, 2, 3 respectively. Each phase would extend on for a month. During this time, Add would drill into them the modern way of war fare, but the most important thing that the cadets had to in this time frame learn was team work; how to perform tasks as a team, learning each other’s strengths and weaknesses and adjusting the pace to match with the team. Wars, no matter in which era or age, are never won by individual, it’s a group effort, the combined efforts of all the soldiers, working as one large team, that take an army to victory.

In the first cadets would have to follow all orders strictly and all of their actions would be under monitoring of the Instructor. Any errors or mistakes would be severely criticised and have to be corrected. Also if the mistakes are severe, the whole platoon would be subjected to punishment, no matter how many or who committed the mistake. This would foster a sense of solidarity among the unit. The Drill and ceremony training would also begin from the first week, which included the cadets being taught the correct procedures for marching and body movements such as standing at attention, "facing" (right-face/left-face), "at ease," "to the rear" and the many others. During the evenings, after the training was over, the cadets would be attending lectures in which they would be taught the seven ‘Core Values’ every soldier must have, which include loyalty, duty, respect, sacrifice, honour, integrity and personal courage. They would also be taught subjects that involve day-to-day personal life in the Army, and the strict rules and discipline they must always abide by.

By the end of the first week, the cadets were already suffering. The relentless practicing of drills, coupled with rigorous physical exercises, made them exhaust all their energy every day. Then there were the various rules and code of conduct that every soldier had to follow. There was a lot, and since most of the cadets didn’t know how to read and write, they had to depend on the few who could and memorise as many as they could. And if the instructor ever saw them breaking a rule, then life would become a whole lot worse. They also learnt many new things such as the systematic and coordinated marching, which was very hard to do, and even after practicing for a week they had made little progress, which made the instructor make them work even harder. Marching alone was easy, marching in sync with 20 people, was very hard, when everyone had to mach everyone else’s movements. It took them 2 weeks before they managed to finally attain an appreciable degree of cooperation and synchronization. During this time, the carpenters, masons and workers had built the many obstacles and training equipment that Add had ordered. These included a 50 foot wall made of straight tree trunks, a series of rope walks and ladders placed across ditches and between trees, and a running track with ditches, wooden stumps and rocks placed all over. There were also a series of trenches dug around, and filled with some water to form a muddy drain like structure. All of these would be needed for the next part of the training training.

After they had been taught how to march and the rules of the army, Add moved to the second part of Phase 1 training. The cadets were looking very different than they had been when they arrived at the camp. Firstly, all of them had their beards and moustaches shaved clean, and their hair was also trimmed down, almost revealing the scalps. This of course had been done under the orders of young master Weismann who flatly stated that if the cadets did not prepare themselves properly, he would gladly do it for them. As to how or what he would do, no one knew and no one wanted to try to know as well. Four barbers had been specially brought into the camp for this purpose, as no modern do-it-yourself razors existed yet. Secondly, they were all dressed in matching sets of plain clothes. The clothes had not been coloured and had a brownish grey tint of the yarn used to make them. These were made of thick and coarse yarn, and were tough enough to withstand the daily training the cadets would be subjected to. Joey the tailor had made them just as the Young Lord had requested him to.

“They should be tough enough to last for a long time, and cheap. Comfort is a secondary priority.”

Although these clothes did not compare to modern materials, it was better than nothing. Each cadet had been given two pairs of the clothes, which he introduced as the “cadet uniform”. Although not the ideal, training wear, these were the best Add could afford now, and as long as they stayed in the training, they would be wearing these only. He also got them shoes, which were made of cheap leather. However, these were not to be worn during training, as the leather didn’t sit well with rough use, dirt and grime. Although he could buy all these things, but he chose not to waste his CP on such trivial things which could still be managed. The precious CP could only be used to obtain important items and skills which he could not obtain otherwise.

In this part, he taught the cadets the basics of unarmed combat training, also known as hand-to-hand combat. This included training to subdue armed enemies with wooden swords and blunt spears as substitute and also hand to hand brawling. The evening classes were about navigation, using the position of the sun, using land marks to keep track of one’s way etc. Add introduced the compass to them. The cadets who had gradually familiarised themselves with the clock, now obtained another item to rack their brains after. Although magnets and lodestones were being long used in Iseria, a modern compass no matter how simple, was still more accurate than those. He also taught them simple map reading and how to estimate distance on the maps, although without the knowledge of SI units like metre and centimetre much of it was crude estimation.

What followed was running with a heavy log on the shoulder, which simulated carrying a wounded comrade away from a fight. Then there were the laps around the obstacle course, which tested the cadets’ stamina, flexibility and physical limits. They had to climb the 50 foot tall wooden all, with little grip on the smoothened surface, and depending on their arms to carry them up. There was also the tight rope walk over a aitch filled with water. The cadet had to walk over a thick rope tied between two trees while taking support from another thinner rope which ran in parallel above the main rope. If they slipped and fell, it was a ten metre dive into a ditch of cold muddy water. Which was not too risky, except for the few cadet’s who did not know how to swim and had to learn that as well. But perhaps the most horrific part were the narrow and dark trenches. These were long ditches barely four feet deep, filled with mud and water and covered by wooden planks, making a dark and suffocating drain. The cadets had to crawl through these drains, with close to no sense of direction whatsoever. Lastly, they were taught the most basic of first aid techniques. How to clean and dress a wound, how to deal with a broken bone etc.

And the performance of Instructor Weismann also cannot be not mentioned. Over the one month, he ruthlessly put the cadets in their place. He relentlessly trained them, in every way he knew. Even if some cadet made mistakes repeatedly, he berated them harshly and explained to them again and again, until they corrected it. He would often drop by the tents of the cadets, without any warning and scare the living daylights out of them. His punishments were also harsh. Once a few cadets tried to poach the alcohol kept for medicinal purposes; which was edible by the way, just simple fermented ethanol; and he found out. As a reward, the three cadets who did that were tied to wooden poles and left standing the entire day under the hot sun. They were only released when they all fainted. Events like this, coupled with his usual deadpan and icy expression and harsh relentless training, made the cadets give him the nick name : The Instructor from Hell. Add of course heard it but unless anyone made the error of saying that to his face, he paid no mind. During this time, he had also been hunting monsters for meat frequently, ensuring that the cadets have a stable supply of meat, all the while also adding a little to the income by selling the monster materials.

After a month of this ‘hellish’ training, the cadets had suffered so badly, that most of them felt like crying and almost everyone regretted enlisting. It was not all bad however, as they had learned how to follow the basic drill commands, marching, navigating through obstacles and many other skills, and could now proceed to the next portion of the training. But for that, Add needed something, and that something needed a lot of CP. He also needed to buy the Grade C gene Enhancer, which required a lot of CP in itself, so once again, he set out to farm credit points.

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The Hills near Rigel, were an extension of the Great Dividing Ranges. These hills extended for around 30-40 kilometres in width, before giving way to the actual mountain range which was over 800 kilometres, with countless enormous peaks, wide valleys and deep ravines. These immense mountain range had a wide variety of dangerous monsters and beasts and also home to many magical beasts. For now, Add did not have enough confidence in going there, so he stuck around the forested hills. While hunting monsters, he was taking a meandering path, going diagonally through the hills and changing direction every day. In this way he was able to cover a wider area than he would have done if going straight. During this time, he encountered many strange beasts, there were large cat-like monsters, carnivorous plants, hordes of feral rats and many more. But after 5 days of travelling, he crossed paths with the most dangerous monsters he had encountered till now, a pack of 9 Dire wolves, a kind of monster commonly found in this region.

These monsters were similar to the wolves found on Earth, however they were twice as large as the largest wolves back on Earth. They were very intelligent and could gauge the strength of their enemies to some extent. These cunning creatures hunted in packs and applied various tactics in their attacks. Although a single Dire Wolf was only at D rank, a pack of them was C ranked. They also had thick hides, which made them resistant to attacks. The group of 9 dire wolves had encircled Add and when he had fired the AK-47 on them, they had just flinched a little, clearly, the AK-47 was not strong enough to hurt them unless the bullets hit weak spots like the eyes, belly etc. However, using the PKP machinegun, combined with his upgraded agility and enhanced senses, Add managed to kill 6 of them, before the remaining 3 escaped.

After walking quite far away from the spot where he killed the wolves, he rested for a while. Sitting in the shade of a tree, he opened the system to purchase some new weapons, by now he had gathered almost 500,000 CP and he could invest some of it into new weapons. His physical strength was decently high, and he could carry stronger weapons now. He began looking for a better weapon, a rifle to be precise. The AK-47 had proved to be a tad bit insufficient when dealing with the Maned Boar and Goblin champions. The gun itself had no problems, it was just the fact that it had been designed to kill humans and not monsters. So, he needed something stronger for an Assault rifle. As usual there were hundreds of firearms to chose from in the system shop. He looked around for a while and then decided on the following :

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Item : AK 54R (Model 20XX) Experimental Assault Rifle

Description : The AK 54R Rifle is an experimental rifle based on the AK seriers of rifles and chambers the standard Soviet 7.62x54mmR cartridge. It has a cyclic firing rate of 650 – 700 rounds per minute. It can fire both in semi – automatic mode as well as full – automatic mode. The rifle comes with many improved features such as; Hammer forged heavy barrel, including a chrome lined barrel bore, chamber, gas block and gas piston, mounts for various optical sights and 1.5mm thick receiver. The rifle is made using a combination of alloy steel and high density plastic polymers giving it both durability and reducing the weight. The barrel is slightly longer to increase accuracy and the recoil mechanism has been improved to reduce recoil.

Effective Firing Range : 600 metres

Price : 8,000 CP

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This weapon had been developed by the Kalashnikov Concern in the initial years of World War III to provide more effective firepower against the ever improving body protection technologies. The rifle was built on the standard AK pattern with some changes and had been rigorously tested and its issues fixed and fine tuned. Although it had proven very effective in trials, it ultimately did not end up going to production. The high quality materials used to make it were quite costly and so a cheaper and more economical version was accepted instead. Far from being a failure however, also laid the base for even deadlier rifles. There were many features which made it desirable. The stock of the rifle was adjustable to varying lengths from the rear of the receiver.

The gun also implemented ambidextrous controls for both left-handed or right-handed shooters. The integral internal working components were all lined in chrome to protect against corrosion and make for a long-lasting system capable of much abuse. Four accessories rail systems completed the design, located along the top of the receiver, the sides of the forward hand-guard and the lower region of the hand-guard. It accepted 10, 20 and 30 round box magazines which were easy to attach an detach. It could fire Armour Piercing rounds as well. Overall it was a powerful and accurate rifle and quite robust and durable as well and designed to perform optimally in any kind of environment.

He held the sleek looking black weapon in his hands and familiarised himself with its mechanics. The rifle came with two adjustable front and rear sights while additional optics could also be purchased and mounted if needed. The entire rifle was around 3 feet long and weighed less than 5 kilograms with its magazine added. It was quite lightweight as various plastic composites and alloys were used in it reducing its weight. After getting familiar with it, Add slung it by his body and the AK-47 was put into the inventory as a reserve. He then purchased 10 magazines for the AK-54R, each having a 30 round capacity and priced at 100 CP per magazine, and 700 extra rounds of ammunition.

Monsters such as the [Dire Wolves] were by no means an easy prey, and from his short encounter with a few of them, he knew that they were very cunning and worked in coordinated packs. There had also been other monsters which he had never heard of, so he looked for a solution in the system shop. As expected, he soon found a solution. For 25,000 CP he purchased a virtual encyclopaedia which contained all the monsters that lived in and around the Great Northern ranges. The price was high, but it was a vital item for Add who had close to no information regarding the monsters that dwelled here. Just as Tsun Zu had said;

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”

Information was a very critical asset and without sufficient information, even the strongest of people could fail miserably. The encyclopaedia, however was quite simple. It had a picture of the monster and mentioned the basic features of every monster, where it usually lived, its habits and briefly about the strengths and weaknesses. All this was very helpful while formulating plans.

After resting for some time, he resumed his journey. He had a pair of binoculars with him, with which he was spotting for monsters. It should be mentioned that after taking two gene enhancers, his eyesight had also improved and he could see much clearer and much farther. Still it was not as good as an eagle so he had to depend on instruments to help him. The forest however, made it difficult to spot too far, as thick foliage blocked the view. When he reached by the Lucent river, he decided to deploy the drone as the banks of the river had much sparser vegetation, and the drone could fly there. The drone began scouting the area for any sizeable monsters which Add could hunt for decent CP. As it flew over a dense grove of trees beside the river, it suddenly spotted a large creature moving in the thickets, crushing and mowing down the vegetation in its path. Covered in a dull red fur with a large powerful skull, it was the size of a Land Rover.

After witnessing the bear, Add immediately opened the encyclopaedia and going through it, he found that the monster was called the [Iron Clawed Bear]. This was a large bear that usually lived alone, and was extremely violent and ferocious. It was one of the apex predators in the region and its favourite nesting spots were beside water sources were it ambushed its prey. As the drone continued watching, it found that this particular bear lived in a large den, which seemed to have been dug into the face of a cliff a few hundred metres from the river. This bear was a monster well known for its violent nature and was extremely territorial, the territory of one bear could stretch over 500 square kilometres. Although it was a hunter, it ate whatever it could lay its hands, well paws on, not shying from rotting carcasses if it had to. It was classified as a B rank monster. But it was much stronger than a Goblin King which was also B ranked. Its fur and skin were very tough and it was very difficult to injure it. But its most dangerous feature were the sharp claws on its forelimbs each almost a metre long and very hard and sharp. They could easily tear a person in half and even shatter hard stones. A hit from its giant muscular body was strong enough to topple thick trees. Engaging this monster directly, with his current abilities was worse than suicide.

To deal with this thing, he would have to plan carefully, this monster was very strong and would definitely give great rewards. The AK-54R would probably not be of any use, even a heavy machine gun would probably not be enough to bring it down in a short time. In fact any regular guns would probably have no effect on a thing that was built like a tank, a tank made of flesh and bones and perhaps even the .50 calibre sniper rifles would have difficulty killing this thing. The Iron Clawed bear was very aggressive by nature and if he couldn’t kill it quickly, then being attacked, it would go on a rampage which would be problematic.

“Wait….if its built like a tank….then….”

A small grin appeared on his lips as he had already formulated his plan. If his opponent was a tank, he just had to use weapons which could destroy a tank. There were many weapons which could do so like Anti-tank mines, Anti Tank Guided Missiles (ATGMs), Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPGs) etc. but considering his enemy that was a living creature, much more mobile and agile than a tank, the options became somewhat limited. After some consideration Add decided on the RPG.

A RPG (Rocket-Propelled Grenade) is a shoulder-fired anti-tank weapon system that fires rockets equipped with an explosive warhead. It can easily be carried by an individual soldier making them highly mobile and versatile in usage . The warheads are affixed to a rocket motor which propels the RPG towards the target and they are stabilized in flight with fins. Add chose to buy this because it was quite cheap, lethal and he could easily reload it within seconds.

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Item : RPG – 7V2 (Grade : Normal)

Description : The RPG-7V2 is a Shoulder-Fired, Single-Shot weapon with a Reusable Launch Tube. It uses a warhead with a caliber of 40 mm. It uses Standard Iron sights but advanced optics may be fitted as well.The ruggedness, simplicity, low cost, and effectiveness of the RPG-7V2 made it the most widely used anti-armour weapon in the world. The RPG had been used in almost all conflicts across all continents since the mid 20th century and its successors found their massive use in world war III. The RPG-7V2, is capable of firing standard and dual high explosive anti-tank (HEAT) rounds, high explosive/fragmentation, and thermo-baric warheads , with a UP-7V sighting device fitted which is used in tandem with the standard 2.7× PGO-7 optical sight, to allow the use of extended range ammunition. Depending on the users, it has a maximum firing rate of 4 rounds per minute.

Effective Firing Range : 50 - 200 metres

Price : Launcher - 4,000 CP

Warhead – 250 CP

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The weapon looked like a pipe with a rocket stuffed at one end. This was in accordance with age old soviet doctrine of “making things as simple and as effective as possible at the same time. Weighing at around 7 kilograms, it was compact and easy to carry. Add purchased 10 warheads of the HEAT category since the skin of the bear was known to be very sturdy. Although standard high explosive warheads should be able to heavily damage the bear, he chose to use the HEAT rounds which should be able to penetrate through all that fur, skin and fat with ease. Now that he had the weapon, he proceeded with the next step : laying a trap. He spent the remaining time of the day finding a proper spot for the trap.

The next morning, he had found a perfect place to ambush the bear; he had found a vantage point up a small cliff by the river bank. The place was close to the bear’s den and there was enough shrubbery and bushes to hide his figure in, and now all he needed was something to lure his prey within his striking range. While he took position a group of [Maned Boars] slowly plodded onto the river bank to drink water. The group was very alert as they kept looking around for any threats, but they were unable to spot the human hiding quietly in the bushes on a nearby cliff. Add smiled, as the bait had just delivered themselves to him. He took aim with his sniper rifle, the boars blissfully unaware of their impending doom. Although these boars could run very fast, against the AX338, they were less than sitting ducks. Add managed to shoot down three boars before the rest escaped, but it was more than enough for him. They were just bait after all.

The Iron Clawed Bears, like most bears were known to be scavengers as well. Although they usually hunted for their meals, they would never refuse any free food. As bears had a very sharp sense of smell, it would surely discover the carcasses before long. To be safe, Add had covered himself up with a paste of plant and grass leaves making him look like a person who had crawled out of some swamp. But it was a necessity, the strong leafy odour of the paste covered his own scent and made it almost impossible to be discovered, he did not want to take any chances of alerting the bear. There were no major obstructions in the way so he had a clear view of the dead boars and could see anything approaching them. He was also alert of his own surroundings, so that nothing could suddenly attack him from the back.

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