Soul of the Warrior

Sol'Ran leaned over the large map of the Region displayed before him. He was surrounded by the top brass of the local geographical area. The commanders of some of the other divisions as well as the commanders of the other war departments, like Logistics. The tent was large and accommodating, but he still felt a bit stifled with all the people present peering at the map.

The map wasn't some mundane contraption with ink on paper. It was a Mana-forged map created by a master Cartographer. It was rare for someone to Transcend their Map Making Skill, but when one was sponsored by the Divine Lord, miracles tended to happen.

The map was real-time. It showed the actual situation of the Region, and not just the forces of the two armies facing off against each other. Civilian populations were clearly marked, as well as congregations of Adventurers. There were multiple styles available as well: One could input Mana into the input and switch between Ambient Mana Flows, Ley-Lines, Water Sources, Miasma, and any other number of useful options.

For the moment, they were focused on the population, surveying the progress of the campaign.

"With this set back, we're going to have to pull reduce the training exercises of the soldiers," one of the other generals, a bald man with a thick mustache named General Piyk, commented. "We might run out of seeds if we keep up the pace, especially with the recent increase in casualty rates."

"The casualty rates will only make those seeds that survive that much sturdier," another general retorted. The second general wore his full military attire, medals and all. General Stuvin was a stickler for military discipline. Sol'Ran was unsure if the man slept at the position of attention or not. "That aside, I do agree we should slow down. Now that we've completed half our goal, we don't have a reason to completely pause our operations again."

"Half our goal?" Sol'Ran snorted. "We're back to about 5% of our goal."

"The crystal is still intact, though, right?" General Piyk questioned. Sol'Ran simply nodded the affirmative. "Then most of the legwork is still done. The rest of the campaign, other than defending the crystal, is incidental."

"I'm not sure Lord-General Yuiro would agree," General Stuvin replied sarcastically. "When he sets a schedule, he intends for it to be kept."

"This was a 'hand of god' incident," Sol'Ran said. "There was literally nothing anyone could have done to prevent it. I'll concede that our time is only delayed, so let's focus our attention on how to handle the training and advancement of the troops."

The officers broke apart into their command structures to brainstorm ideas among themselves. The tried and true system, when urgency wasn't called for, was for different groups with different experiences and outlooks to come up with their own ideas before pooling them together. Then those ideas would be pared down to the most promising few as conceded by the top generals before being passed up the chain of command further.

Most of the time, one of their ideas was selected for use and the orders came back down to carry it out. Whatever order came down, though, whether it was one of their recommendations or not, was absolute. Lord-General Yuiro's word was law.

Everyone was busy going over their own plans when a wave of Mana passed through the tent. Everybody went still and silent simultaneously. Sol'Ran shared a look with his fellow generals before, like all of their subordinates, their eyes turned to the entrance of the tent.

The tent flap was flung open, and a man stepped through the barrier. Each step was like a small earthquake that created ripples in Sol'Ran's heart. He looked down instinctively, unable to meet the eyes of the man who now graced their presence. It was like his body was not his own, and he had to stand there and wait until the other man deigned to free him from his subconscious prison.

The Lord-General is here in person! Sol'Ran frantically thought. It was never a good thing. He must have an Aura Skill close to Level 20 for that kind of affect! He's never let it out so much when we've met with him in the past.

Lord-General Yuiro casually walked to the map, every step causing another shudder in everyone present, and peered down at the map. He quickly dismissed it from his attention and turned to Sol'Ran. Sol'Ran felt his head involuntarily left and his eyes met the Lord-Generals. Without speaking a word, the other man's intense gaze gave Sol'Ran an infallible order.

Explain.

"It was the System, Lord-General," Sol'Ran stammered. There was no flowery words or small talk. He went straight to the most key issue. "We don't know what initiated it, but the System itself plucked the accumulated Mana and Providence from the crystal."

The Lord-General remained silent, but his eyes flicked to the position on the map where the casualty rates had recently spiked. Sol'Ran knew that the Lord-General had at least the exact same map as they had, if not a better one, but he didn't necessarily have all of the details of they "why" to certain situations.

"An unusually strong mercenary company, much more competent than the others spread across the lines, is stationed there. Should be unrelated to the System incident."

The Lord-General glanced around the room for a moment before once more settling his gaze on Sol'Ran.

"The schedule will be pushed back two weeks," he Commanded.

There was no room for negotiation. What he said would be.

"Yes, Lord-General," a chorus of voices called out.

Lord-General Yuiro turned and walked out of the command tent. Each of his steps still sent a ripple through Sol'Ran's heart, but it was like a mighty beast had just walked past him in the Wilderness. Once the tent flap was secured once more after the Lord-General stepped through, the effect became muted before disappearing. The wave of Mana, the man's subconscious aura, once more swept over everyone, and it became much easier to breathe.

It's easier to think! Sol'Ran thought, panting to catch his breath.

He straightened his back, taking a small bit of pride noticing that he was the first, as he looked at the others again. The meeting had gone considerably better than he had thought in his wildest dreams. They had all hoped that they would get away with an explanation through long-distance communication, but that had been an optimistic dream at best.

"Well, with that instruction in mind, let's continue our deliberations on how to accomplish the task."

---

Reivyn looked through his modified Mana-Lens to see across the open fields to the distant tree line. The attacks had slowed down after he had taken his Class, though they still happened. Nobody knew why the attacks had slowed down, but Reivyn was almost entirely certain it had something to do with the phenomenon he had caused when accepting his Class.

Reivyn ascended the walls everyday. Most days, like today, nothing happened. There had been some speculation among the men about a mighty figure focusing his attention on their conflict and it had scared them, though nobody really took that theory seriously. Vairo was pretty average when it came to Tier 4 Empires. They had their own squads in the Tier 5 zones, but from what Reivyn understood, they were nothing out of the ordinary. If he had to compare them to Wispan, they would be considerably weaker.

Reivyn had experienced something similar when in Drallo, so it was understandable that many people would mistake the System interference with the presence of a high-Tier Classer. In fact, Reivyn encouraged his veterans to spread the story about their encounter with Aeriella's Master who was presumably in the mid to high Tier 6. Even his presence hadn't caused the same stir as what the System did, but it was good misdirection away from himself.

No telling what would happen if others found out it was because of me, Reivyn thought ruefully. One of the high mucky-mucks might think to placate the enemy by offering me to them on a platter. That wouldn't do anyone any good, least of all me.

No, Reivyn kept quiet about the System reaching down like the hand of God to directly interfere. He had never heard of such a thing, and when asked, his father had mentioned there had never been any mention of anything similar in the ancient texts he had managed to peruse over the years.

Reivyn pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind as he continued to watch the tree line while keeping a mental check on the System clock.

"That's time," Reivyn said to Jekle standing by his side. "If they haven't shown up by now, they're likely not going to. Go ahead and stick around with a couple squads for another half an hour, though, just in case today is the day they changed it up."

"Yes, sir," Jekle saluted and turned to take charge of the platoon on the wall.

Reivyn hopped off the wall and headed back to the barracks. He quickly met with his father and a couple of the other officers before heading out to the headquarters building Prince Allik had appropriated.

The daily briefings had been reduced to every three days. The main reason was to keep the company commanders focused on their troops, but there was also a lot less going on than when they were stationed at Piori. They didn't have any established forward observations posts, and they didn't send out too many patrols other than the cavalry.

Reivyn was waved into the government building that housed the previous city administration. They had fled with the civilians, which made sense. The job of the local lord was to protect his citizens. If there were no citizens left in his city, then why would he stay? He wasn't a Combat Class as far as Reivyn knew, so his presence would have been redundant. His rank as the Baron of the city was negligible in the face of Prince Allik, anyway.

The luxury found inside the city center was about equal to what was found in Piori. The city, to which Reivyn still didn't know the name of, that they found themselves in was around the same population. The only difference between it and Piori was that it was marginally closer to the capital; however, relatively, it wasn't that much of a difference. It was only a couple of days closer to those who weren't empowered by a high Tier Class, but the capital city was still over a week away even for someone like Refix.

In the grand scheme of things, both of these cities were only minor blips on the map of Vairo. They weren't even governed by Counts. Cities this size back in Garoq would have been governed by Dukes at least and rivalled the capital city, but in a Tier 4 Empire, it was relatively equal to Reivyn's hometown of Haluville.

Reivyn ignored the chandeliers, statues, and artwork on the walls. He had seen them many times, and they weren't anything outstanding to begin with.

The twins might have a different perspective, Reivyn mused as he made his way to the conference room. While they might not be impressed with the quality compared to what they've seen in the various capital cities they've been to, I'm sure they could tease out some good and bad points to critique. I'll leave such things to them, though.

Reivyn chuckled to himself as he remembered the picture they had drawn of him and his friends that shifted based on how one looked at it. They had perfectly captured the essence of their group with that one picture. He was beginning to miss them again, evidenced by the fact that he was thinking about how they would respond to the local artwork. He still had another year and a half or so left on the contract. If the capital was still standing, that is.

Reivyn walked into the conference room and noted that he was one of the last to arrive. Not all of the company commanders went up to the wall every day, though they did keep their communication open for quick response. Reivyn found his traditional seat and sat down with a sigh.

He had a few minutes before Prince Allik would show up for the briefing, so he went over his recent Skill gains from training with his father.

Skills Leveled Up!

Tier 1:

Aim (46 ->47)

Athleticism (61 ->63)

Balance (51 ->54)

Dancing (29 -> 33)

Heavy Armor (29 ->30)

Light Armor (24 ->30)

Observation (59 ->60)

Rhythm (28 ->30)

Shields (49 ->50)

Tier 2:

Acrobatics (28 ->30)

Ambidexterity (24 ->25)

Evasion (60 ->65)

Mana Absorption (60 ->61)

Mana Circulation 49 ->50)

Pain Resistance (54 ->60)

Sense Mana (74 ->80)

Silent Step (23 ->24)

Tactics (44 ->46)

Tier 3:

Blind Fighting (33 ->38)

Danger Sense (44 ->49)

Inspire (51 ->60)

Mana Conjuration (51 ->55)

Mana Manipulation (58 ->65)

Mana Shield (41 ->44)

Mana Sight (63 ->71)

Night Vision (34 ->40)

Poison Resistance (3 ->5)

Sense Threat (19 ->20)

Sure Step (20 ->21)

Tier 4:

Dual Casting (49 ->50)

Iron Will (24 ->25)

Mana Weapon (41 ->55)

Spatial Awareness (62 ->68)

Tier 5:

Aura (4 ->20)

Heroic Bearing (22 ->38)

Mana Healing (5 ->10)

Mana Reinforcement (17 ->20)

Multi-Casting (25 ->28)

Tier 6:

Weapons Master (101 ->102)

Regeneration (10 ->18)

Tier 6.5:

Divine Sense (14 ->15)

Perfect Domain (9 ->13)

Reivyn was surprised at several of his Skills' growth. It had only been a few days since his last comprehensive analysis, and yet he had already seen explosive growth in many of his Skills. Many of those Skills were also quite high-Tier, which added extra surprise. He noted that there was an obvious trend.

All of my Mana Skills have grown, but especially my Mana Sensory Skills, he thought to himself. That makes sense considering almost all ambient Mana is made up of the four base Elements and I've since reached Transcendence in those Affinities.

I also notice that anything related to Hero has gone up quite a lot, especially my Aura. That's something that I don't personally notice, so I'll have to get some feedback from the others on how it affects them. Inspire can be tied to my Hero Class in that it's a lesser version of Heroic Bearing in some ways.

It all makes sense, but I'm surprised that reaching Transcendence in the base Elements and one Skill, plus advancing to my Tier 3 Class, have had such a drastic affect on my other Skills. A lot of them had slowed down recently, but now they're advancing like I'm a Novice first exploring what they have to offer.

Some of it might be my Class, specifically. It does say I can do literally everything better, Reivyn chuckled to himself.

Refix had also greatly intensified his training regime, though he didn't have time to ruminate on the actual training he and his father had done before Prince Allik waltzed through the door. There were still a couple of captains absent, but based on Prince Allik's presence, Reivyn figured they were staying on the wall just in case.

"It seems that receiving an attack sporadically is the new norm," Prince Allik immediately launched into the main point of the meeting. "Since the conflict has slowed down once more, we're going to start launching patrols. We're not going to establish any permanent forward bases this time, however. With their continued attacks on the wall, I don't want to risk anyone unduly out in the open. Hopefully the patrols will be early warning enough for when they launch another mass assault."

Prince Allik didn't dilly dally on niceties. He had an agenda to cover, and he went down the list methodically. He went over everything from the patrol schedule to the supplies of toilet paper in each company. Without his retainer acting as his aide de camp, he was a little too thorough. None of the officers pointed this out, though, as it was still a touchy subject.

"So that's everything," Prince Allik wrapped the meeting up. "The patrol schedule will be disseminated to the companies by the end of the day. Captain Reivyn, follow me to my office."

Everyone stood at attention as Prince Allik stepped away from the podium in front of the conference room and made his way to the door. Reivyn only paused at attention for a moment before following the man out. He noticed the rest of the officers trickle out in their typical order with his Divine Sense as he walked behind Prince Allik to his office on the second floor.

Is it me, or are the others paying more attention to my presence than they did in the past? Reivyn thought.

He hadn't really been paying attention when he had first arrived, but when he left, he noted that everyone's gaze was more on him than the prince. He had gotten a similar feeling over the past couple of days from the other soldiers throughout the city whenever he passed by, as well.

He mentally shrugged and followed Prince Allik into his office. Prince Allik didn't make him stand at attention in front of his desk, indicating for Reivyn to immediately take a seat.

"I have this strange tugging sensation telling me to give you more responsibilities," Prince Allik started right away. "If I didn't know better, I would say I'm being manipulated by something. Explain."

He didn't mince words and launched right into the topic. Reivyn had to give him credit. From what he was saying, he was resisting whatever pull he was receiving and questioning it instead of just subconsciously giving in.

"I think I might know what it is, but I'm not entirely sure," Reivyn said. Prince Allik waved for him to continue. "I recently advanced my Class, and it has some - let's say, unusual - characteristics and Class Skills. I have one Class Skill that literally just says I am my Class. I have no idea what it does, but I'm beginning to suspect."

"Oh, and what is your new Class, if I may ask?" Prince Allik steepled his hands together.

Reivyn had thought about keeping it secret from everybody but his father, but that was impractical in a war-time situation. He didn't have to go around announcing it to everyone, but he definitely couldn't keep it from his direct superior.

"Hero," Reivyn admitted.

"Hero of what?" Prince Allik frowned. "Wait a minute. Aren't Hero Classes Tier 4?"

"It's not Hero of anything," Reivyn shook his head. "Just 'Hero.' It's definitely Tier 3. I don't want to reveal everything about it, but the System has heavily implied that it's the best Tier 3 Class there is. Except for whatever equivalent Crafter Class exists, of course."

"Of course," Prince Allik absentmindedly echoed. He stared at Reivyn for a few minutes before continuing the conversation. "Sooo... Are you no longer a Caster Class?"

Reivyn, in turn, stared back at Prince Allik for a moment before breaking out into laughter.

"I'm sorry, sir, but out of all the questions I expected, that wasn't one of them," Reivyn said. "My Class is definitely hybrid, but I would say each part is equivalent to a full Combat or Caster Class." He deliberately left off any mention of Qi. He didn't know whether Prince Allik even knew of its existence. As far as he knew, Cultivator Classes and Qi wasn't common knowledge even among the imperial families of the Tier 4 empires.

"Fascinating. And you say there's a Class Skill that says you are a Hero? That's all it says?"

"Yes, sir, and I imagine that's what's drawing you toward giving me more responsibilities. I just noticed the other officers paying unusual attention to me and put it together with the other soldiers doing the same over the past couple of days. I think my Class Skill subtly directs me toward fulfilling what a Hero does."

"Hmm... That actually makes sense when you think about it," Prince Allik said. "Alright, I'll bite. I'm going to have you and your company, however you want to set it up, lead the first new patrol. We need to have some intel on why the invaders are slowing down their assaults. There will be a couple of other patrols sent out at the same time as yours, but you have the main mission: Recon their base if possible and try and see what they're up to. Any information is better than no information."

"Yes, sir, I understand," Reivyn nodded his head.

"I won't share your details with anyone else," Prince Allik said to Reivyn's relief. "I understand that Classes, especially incredibly rare ones, are personal. If you have anything else you want to add...?"

"Honestly, the description basically says that I'm an all-rounder without the drawbacks. You can assign me any kind of mission without having to worry."

"I see." Prince Allik leaned back in his chair and looked up to the ceiling for a moment. "I wish we had more people like you. Not just in this conflict, but among the citizens of my empire. Oh well, no time to dwell on that right now. You have your orders, and you've given me the answers I sought. You're dismissed."

"Yes, sir!" Reivyn stood up and offered a salute. Upon receiving a return salute, Reivyn turned about and left the office.

He didn't have to divulge even the little that he did. He would have been perfectly within his rights as a hired hand to keep more secrets, but he had great respect for Prince Allik. He had witnessed first hand how he governed his soldiers and put his own life on the line when it counted. The man's surprise at his retainer's betrayal had been authentic, and Reivyn had put to rest any suspicion he had of the man.

I'll need to call a meeting of the other officers when I get back, Reivyn thought to himself. Jekle has been doing a great job coming into his own as a commander, so I think I'll have him lead the patrol and just follow along as a back stop. I've already received a lot of amazing opportunities. With a little push, some of the others might be able to unlock some amazing Classes of their own.

Reivyn went over the roster of officers and NCO's in his mind as he made his way back to the barracks. He would take a page out of his father's book and nurture those around him. He couldn't just take and take and take without giving back. That would make him ungrateful. He had a smile on his face and a pep in his step as he walked along the streets.