_ _ _ _ _ _ _

After over 4 months of strict and continuous training, the cadets were finally ready. They had learnt basic drills, became proficient in well coordinated marching, and also learnt to work effectively as a team. Aside from these, their physical and mental conditions had also changed a lot. Once the typical young boys, these cadets were now disciplined and well built men. Add had thoroughly ingrained the many traits of a good soldier into them, and his teachings were almost borderline brainwashing. The morning sun, found the cadets at the training camp lined up and ready. Today was the day when the cadets officially completed their basic combat training. After this, they had to learn to operate guns, but that would be on hold for now and they would be using their traditional weapons for some time. Add inspected the cadets who were standing in well ordered files, their heads held high, their postures straight and still. He approved of them in his mind; the days of training had not been wasted after all. After he was done inspecting them, he stood before them and began speaking.

“Cadets, as of this moment, you all have completed your basic training. I congratulate you for your dedication and hard work over the past months, and I feel proud to have trained you all!”

“However, before you officially become enlisted soldiers, there is only one more thing that is left.”

The cadets who were happy in their minds, thinking that their days of suffering and hardships were finally over, felt a bad premonition at this sentence, and as expected the Instructor lived up to his name as the “Instructor from Hell”.

“From today onwards, for one month you all will be following me into the hills to train in actual life and death battles! As much as I have taught you all, some things just cannot be learnt by sparring and fake battles alone, unless one faces real dangers, they will not be able to bring out their full potentials! So pack your weapons and thing! We leave at midday!”

All the cadets who were very happy till a while ago had sad faces, as if they had given up all hope. They knew well that countless dangerous beasts roamed in those hills, but this was something they had to face one day or another. And although they were scared, but no one wanted to run away. This was partially due to the fact that they had learnt the hard way that it was impossible to escape the Instructor’s grasp, and also due to the sense of pride and confidence which had developed after months of training. So although they were grumbling and complaining they did as told and packed some supplies, picked weapons and followed their Instructor like good kids. Add was taking them to experience the real battles in the hills. Only through real battles would they grow. Of course he was not going to let anyone of these cadets die, their lives were precious and besides, he had spent a lot of resources and time to train them, so they could not die! It was only for the importance of human life though, and not because of the money he had spent behind these soldiers, definitely. At least Add himself felt that.

For the next month, the cadets fought with monsters in small teams of 5 people. Add had only allowed them to fight the E ranked and a few F ranked monsters; anything higher would be too much on them. The cadets lived in small tents and obtained most of the food from what they could hunt and gather, which included fruits, roots, meat, fish etc. While they were fighting against weaker monsters, Add was keeping watch and dealing with any stronger monsters which approached the cadets. Initially the cadets were doing pretty bad, and Add had to step in many times to save them from serious injuries, but as days passed they gradually became more and more adept at dealing with the monsters, and coupled with the pointers which Add gave them, they soon began improving at killing monsters with ease. Any serious injuries they suffered were treated with the diluted [Healing Serum], A.K.A. recovery potions, while the lighter ones were left to heal by themselves, after all they would not find potions easily on the battlefield and becoming too dependent on them was not good.

After the cadets had spent over a month in the hills, Add was finally satisfied with their progress and moved on to the next part. This time, he took them to hunt for bandits. There were numerous small and large bandit groups in the lands between the Weismann territory and the rest of Reinglief. They chose this place because of its remoteness and lack of any strong forces in the area. The bandits would regularly raid merchant caravans and attack villages, plundering, pillaging and committing all types of crimes, after which they would retreat into the wilderness. Many large and powerful bandit groups had formed in the area over the years. Somewhat ironically, due to the poor conditions of the territory, it was only attacked by small groups of bandits, as it was not a profitable place to rob for the big groups. When Add first took them out, the cadets were very hesitant and nervous. Although all of them had killed wild beasts, but killing another human was still a psychological barrier for the majority of people. Add knew this well, as he had also felt the same when he first took the life of another human. His eyes mystified when he was reminiscing that day.

He was just 8 years old back then and the war had just begun. He was a scrawny kid living in the orphanage, with nothing to his name. Out to beg for some coins to feed his fellow younger orphans. It was a duty he took upon himself as he was the oldest kid among them. After he had begged the whole day, he obtained a little money, but when he was returning, a thug tried to rob him. He was beaten and thrashed, but he did not give up the money. While he was being beaten, his hands found a brick and he hit the man right on the head with it and kept hitting the man until his head was a bloody mess and he no longer moved.

When he realised what he had done, he could not help but tremble and cry. When returned to the orphanage, he didn’t speak of this to anyone, and was unable to sleep and eat properly for many days. But eventually, he got over it, and when he was conscripted into the army 2 years later, this experience helped him deal with enemies without much effect on his mind. The cadets before his eyes were just like him back then. When they encountered the first few bandit groups, Add incapacitated them but left the killing to the cadets. As he had expected, most of the cadets hesitated a lot and when they did kill, many cried, some puked and some were so disturbed that they had to be sent to rest for some days. The first time was always the most difficult one.

However this was a must, and there was no way around it. In the battlefield there were no humans, just enemies and friends. If one didn’t kill their enemies, they would be the ones to die. The cadets gradually got used to it as well. Aside from this they had major improvements as well. Over the course of hunting and killing, many cadets were able to perfect their mana utilization and became Rank 1 warriors, while others were also not far behind. Their movements became more refined and they gained valuable experience through the battles. After some battles they were able to go toe to toe with most bandits and Add only stepped in a few times.

What did surprise him though, was that the majority of the bandits were warriors; he encountered many rank 2 and even some rank 3 warriors as well. This was a bit worrying, since he knew that the larger bandit groups would have even more powerful people, but that was something he would be dealing with later, so there was no use thinking too much right now. When he felt that the cadets had done enough, he finally brought them back to the camp, and allowed to rest. Their instructor however, was busy preparing something else for them.

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Item : Virtual Reality Training Chamber

Description : A device used for training people using a virtual reality interface. It allows people to train while they are asleep. Using high efficiency neural scanners and directly linking and sending signals to the nerves, results in a deep submergence into the training chamber. This allows the person’s memory to operate at peak performance and also enables the bodies to perfectly synchronize with the learned motions, all the while, when the person is sleeping.

Price : 500,000 CP

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The training chamber was white in colour designed like a long tube, sitting on a rectangular base, with a cover that flipped over like that of a chest. It was 2.5 metres in length and had a height of 1.5 metres. Over all, it didn’t look very eye catching. But contrary to its rather dull appearance, the real thing was hidden within. Inside was a bed made of a synthetic gel like substance which resembled rubber, was non sticky and easily compressible. There was a depression in this bed in the shape of a person where the person would lay. This gel was filled with thousands of nano-sensors which tracked the various nerve impulses in the body. There was also a helmet which covered the head of the person, recording the brainwaves. The cover of the chamber had a framework made of metal on which various strange sensors and wires were visible. On one end of the chamber, there was a touch screen display along with many buttons which were used to operate the chamber. There were also ports for attaching various cables and connections.

According to the detailed description provided by the system, this piece of technology belonged to an advanced human civilization in a parallel Earth. In that world, it was initially introduced as a means for training soldiers, but later found its way into the fields of gaming and education. These things changed the world completely. Now, people could train while they slept, as if in a dream and when they woke up, their bodies would have been refreshed. Also, as death and injury in virtual reality was a simple ‘game over’, many dangerous and highly risky training activities could be completed, allowing people to learn better from their mistakes.

However, they physical body had to be built up by exercising and proper training as well. The chamber was powered by a pair of hydrogen fuel cells which also provided power to the life support system. The life support system provided oxygen to the person inside through a mask and was also used for extensive periods of use, where it fed nutrients directly into the body using a liquid ‘Nutrient Solution’ which was directly injected into the person’s body. The chamber had a built-in storage capacity for 5 kilograms of dry ‘Nutrient Solution’, and 20 litres of water. The limit of training was 10 days at a stretch, and then the person would be awoken from training regardless, as a safety measure.

Scientists in that world had found that a person’s memory operates at its peak when the body is in deep sleep. In fact, even Add had heard back in his world that the mind practiced many newly learned things by itself during sleep. This made the training chamber even more effective as it could be programmed to teach anything, from, regular studies to quantum sciences and from how to cook to how to become an assassin. It came equipped with a standard ‘Study Mode’ function which ensured optimum learning. Still, it could not replace the need of teachers as there were a lot of things which just could not be just memorised and had to be earned through actual interactions and discussions between people. Not to mention that every person had a different capacity for understanding and the chamber could only teach in a general way, unable to adjust to every individual separately. The various teaching materials were stored in standard memory drives, which had to be purchased separately. Browsing through the store, Add found that there were drives for thousands of subjects. Many subjects were divided into parts contained within multiple drives. English, for example was divided into 3 parts; [English Beginners’], [English Standard], [English Masters’].

Add had been saving his CP for this particular piece of equipment, it was very costly but he knew that it was worth the price. He knew that he had to develop the territory slowly and steadily, but he also could not wait for decades. If he just depended on manual ways of teaching and learning, it would take centuries to reach the level of civilization which was back on Earth. This is where these chambers came in; they reduced the learning time greatly; it could teach in one day what a person learnt in a few months! With enough of these, he could effectively jumpstart the progress of development and industrialization. Currently he had a little over 2 million CP and he decisively purchased 4 of these. These were then installed in a new building specially constructed solely for the chambers.

When they saw the chambers first, the cadets were very awed, looking at the strange thing and when Ad explained what it did, many had their mouths wide open in shock. ‘Training while sleeping? Isn’t this pure cheating?’ They thought. As the wise man once said, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from Magic”, and magic did indeed exist in Iseria, so the chambers were not beyond reason, for the most part. The most surprised was Kent, who was being shocked again and again by the strange and magical things Add had been doing. But when he asked Add about the origins of the chambers, Add refused to tell him, and with a serious look said to everyone,

“These chambers are a secret which no one aside from you should know! Remember, no matter how much you are tempted, no matter how much you are threatened, and even if you die, you cannot reveal anything about them to anyone, even your own families! If I find anyone breaking this rule, I will kill them! Is that clear?”

“““““““YES SIR!!!”””””””

All of them readily agreed. They had no doubts that he would do what he said. The instructor was very ruthless and strict, and he could kill others easily like killing a fly, as they had seen while they were hunting bandits. He also stressed that only the people from the army could know of these things, and no one else. Once he had threatened *cough* explained *cough* enough, he then had the cadets being using the chambers, each cadet spending 4 hours in the chamber a day. The chambers could be operated continuously for 10 days straight, and because of the advanced materials used and an efficient cooling system, there was no risk of overheating or a burnout. Still, in a day, he only operated the machines for 16 hours, which allowed a total of 16 soldiers to use the chambers per day. Their training included learning Russian and English, learning survival techniques, learning basic science and maths, training in mixed martial arts, and battle practice. When one group was using training chamber, Add would have the others practice what they had learnt. It was vital to make the body accustomed to what the mind had learnt, especially in case of physical training and exercises.

Within a month, the cadets had learned the Russian and English languages to an appreciable level. These two languages would be use extensively in the future, as they were completely new languages to the people of this world and could serve as difficult to crack code languages. They also learnt rudimentary level science like what was gravity, the world is round etc. Once they had learnt these, Add had them learn the holy of the holies “The Communist Manifesto” and also the ideals of Vladimir Lenin. He personally cleared any doubts the cadets had, and explained the ideals of communism and socialism. They were also made to memorise the “Art Of War” the best book about military stratagem and tactics back on earth. Future Officers were especially made to memorise this book by heart.

As the cadets learned all these new things, they grew more and more respectful of Add. Things like ‘power to the workers and farmers’, ‘equality and freedom to all’, ‘a unified law for everyone’, were beyond their wildest dreams before this. Iseria was a word where the weak were always dominated and exploited by the strong, and noble ideas like “the strong should protect the weak” were rarely enforced. Add also revealed his desire, to make a place where all of these ideas would become reality, where the people would not be suppressed by people who became rulers by their birth, rather they would be ‘governed’ by ones with the ability. It was quite hard for the cadets to understand at first, but with time they were able to understand clearly.

Regarding the oppression done to the other races, like Elves, Dwarves and Werebeasts, Add was very strict. He repeatedly emphasised that no matter what race, as long as they did not try to harm the state, they would be treated as they deserve, as fellow people. Humans were by no means the most supreme race; they were only one of the many that shared this one world. In the future, the Weismann territory would provide refuge to all races, and they would have the same rights and duties as the humans. The cadets also leant the concept of fundamental rights and the rule of law, which was same for all people. No matter how strong or how weak they were; this in fact was one of the fundamentals of equality!

“Look at this carefully! This is our flag! The flag that represents all the ideals you have learnt!”

Add’s voice was solemn as he showed the red flag to the cadets for the first time.

“The hammer represents the workers! The Sickle represents the farmer! Together, their union forms the base for every nation’s prosperity!”

“The star represents the leadership, the ones who have to uphold the rights of the people!”

“And the red colour is the symbol of blood! The blood of all the people who have died in oppression and poverty while the rulers live in their golden palaces! There will be deaths, I won’t lie to you! Perhaps many of you will die; perhaps all of you will die. Maybe we will fail, who knows? But still, I will ask you all, will you follow me?”

He asked calmly. For a moment there was silence. The cadets understood that what the instructor was saying was equal to going against the world. To challenge the authority and nobles, and dare to overthrow them! If they were still the people they were a few months ago, perhaps they would have called Add a madman, and a loon who was looking to die. However, after learning the many things in the training chamber, their views had changed radically. They no longer wanted to be ruled by rulers who considered them as ants and had no care for their lives. The ideas of freedom and liberty, and power to the working classes were just too tempting, for the people who had been suppressed forever. So they did what they felt was right.

“““““““WE WILL FOLLOW YOU SIR!”””””””

Add gave them a reason, a goal. To overthrow the oppressing nobles and royals, and establish a rule of the people. Of course all of this was also to be secret from the world, for now. For them, the current goal was to develop the territory and become self sufficient. Only then would they have the strength to change the world. Add then established the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) and had all the soldiers become members, although just in name. He stated that all the members of the Communist Party would be called ‘Bolsheviks’. Although for now the CPSU would be confined to a bunch of papers, but soon it would bare its fangs at the world. The army would collectively be called the ‘Red Army’ and it would be the main force which will deal with any and all threats. With this, the cadets had now officially completed their training.

_ _ _ _ _

A small passing out ceremony was held at the training field, where Add for the first time, raised the red flag for the first time in this world. As if welcoming it, the wind immediately stretched the flag and it began fluttering all its glory. The symbol of the superpower, which had been forcefully lowered on Earth, once again reached the skies in another world. The soldiers looked at it with exited eyes and even the eyes of General Weismann, which were usually dull and lifeless, had a rare glimpse of emotion in them. Finally, after the flag was raised, they heard what they had been hoping for all this while…

“Gentlemen, I am honoured to announce, that you have completed your training and from this very moment onwards, you all are no longer cadets, but real soldiers! I hope that you will follow all rules and diligently do your duties. And you will be doing that until you are dead, or you are relieved of duty… Do you all understand?”

“““““““Yes Sir!!!”””””””

After that the soldiers were given their ranks, Add had made a ranking system based on the original system of the USSR, simplifying it and adding some minor changes. The majority of the cadets were given the rank of private, a few who performed exceptionally were given the ranks of corporal and sergeant and only Edward who had performed the best out of all the cadets, was made a lieutenant. Add himself took the position of a General. There would be higher ranks as more soldiers joined, for now this was enough. They were given crude shoulder epaulettes to distinguish their ranks, which would be replaced with proper ones at a later date. They were also given new uniforms to wear on duty. Pairs of shirts and trousers which were brown in colour. They also had a coat, on the right shoulder of which, the epaulettes were attached. Lastly, there was a red band of cloth circling the left upper arms of the jackets. They had to war the jackets only during meetings and ceremonies though, while on regular duty they would wear the chainmail armour which the militia wore.

He then divided the 100 soldiers into groups and explained what they would be doing. Firstly, of the 100 cadets, 8 would be staying back at the training camp. These men were among the original 10 guards of the Estate and were nearing their 30s, an age he did not feel adequate for these people to work in the field. He assigned them the role of instructors, who would be in charge of training future batches of cadets. The men were originally disappointed that they were not going to become actual soldiers, but Add explained to them that this was a very important job and he would be depending on them. This reignited their motivation, plus they would not be doing any dangerous battles and stuff like that, so that was another good thing.

Kent would be the in charge of the training camp as a whole from now on, as Add would be very busy in the coming days, and it was not possible for him to train every batch of cadets. Then, of the remaining 92 soldiers, 22 would be stationed at the camp, acting as the security in case wild beasts or any other threat emerged while also strictly guarding the training chambers. The remaining 70 soldiers would follow Add back to Rigel and do the jobs the militia did till now. They would be responsible for guarding the town along with some people from the militia, while the rest of the militia would be responsible for dealing with outside matters, like monster attacks and bandits. The ceremony was concluded by the singing of the State anthem of the USSR for the very first time, the familiar tune echoed across the camp, filling anyone who heard it with a sense of respect.

''Soyuz nerushimyy respublik svobodnykh

Splotila naveki Velikaya Rus'. Da zdravstvuyet sozdannyy voley narodov Yedinyy, moguchiy Sovetskiy Soyuz! Slav'sya, Otechestvo nashe svobodnoye, Druzhby narodov nadozhnyy oplot! Partiya Lenina - sila narodnaya Nas k torzhestvu kommunizma vedot! Skvoz' grozy siyalo nam solntse svobody, I Lenin velikiy nam put' ozaril, Na pravoye delo on podnyal narody, Na trud i na podvigi nas vdokhnovil. Slav'sya, Otechestvo nashe svobodnoye, Druzhby narodov nadozhnyy oplot! Partiya Lenina - sila narodnaya Nas k torzhestvu kommunizma vedot! V pobede bessmertnykh idey kommunizma My vidim gryadushcheye nashey strany I Krasnomu znameni slavnoy Otchizny My budem vsegda bezzavetno verny! Slav'sya, Otechestvo nashe svobodnoye, Druzhby narodov nadozhnyy oplot! Partiya Lenina - sila narodnaya Nas k torzhestvu kommunizma vedot!'' (An unbreakable union of free republics,

The Great Russia has welded forever to stand.

Long live the creation of the will of the people,

The united, mighty Soviet Union!

Be glorious, our free motherland,

A reliable stronghold of the peoples' friendship!

Party of Lenin, strength of the people,

Leads us to the triumph of Communism!

Through tempests the sun of freedom shone to us,

And the great Lenin illuminated our path,

To a just cause he raised up the people

To labour and heroic deeds he inspired us!

Be glorious, our free motherland,

A reliable stronghold of the peoples' friendship!

Party of Lenin, strength of the people,

Leads us to the triumph of Communism!

In the victory of the immortal ideas of Communism

We see the future of our country,

And to the Red Banner of our glorious motherland

We shall always be selflessly true!

Be glorious, our free motherland,

A reliable stronghold of the peoples' friendship!

Party of Lenin, strength of the people,

Leads us to the triumph of Communism! )

After the anthem ended, everyone present there gave a salute to the red flag which fluttered above them. The General then walked up and stood right in front of his troops. He asked in a light voice,

“Soldiers of the red army! Whom do you serve?”

And without batting an eyelid, the soldiers shouted back,

“““““““We serve the Soviet Union!”””””””

Yes, these soldiers, they did not serve him. they served their motherland, and that was what Add wanted. This moment would forever be recorded in the history of Iseria, as the day the Red army was born. A force which would instil fear into the hearts of anyone that heard of its name. It started with only a 100 people, but these 100 people were the pioneers of a force which would leave its name etched in the pages of history, not in gold, but in a burning blood red. After all, from the Northern Mountains to the western seas, the Red army is the strongest of all.

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