Perceived Fate

Morning came from a loud noise in Malum's ear.

“Rise and shine man and woman, your first hell is done and dusted.”

The ragged face of the old man showed worrying levels of joy at the mention of hell. To everyone else who recognised that it implied that there would be more hell’s, their faces looked much the opposite.

“As you can see we are the 145th Troop and we are currently inside training camp 9. Everyone here has passed the exact same hell’s as you have, even the cleaners. That means everyone here is above you in rank and in authority. Do note that usually we would hold an execution for those who ran away during the test. I’ll give that a moment to sink in.”

Those that had tried to run away, those that had been pushed back by instructors looked at the Troop Leader with mixed emotions.

“You can believe me or not; you will hear about it when you meet other groups. Our Commander is nicknamed the Merciful Demon, and you will soon learn the reasons behind that nickname. Do learn though, cowards will die!

You run away one more time and that will be it. Mercy is not naivety and the line of nooses outside have been used more than once.” The Troop Leader gave everyone in the room a glare. One of warning, not of anger.

He meant his words, Malum didn’t even need to verify them. Those eyes weren’t lying. He just knew.

The ragged face of the man shifted from glare to grin,

“Now enough with the gloomy messages, let’s give you all a rundown of the camp.

First, I am you Troop Leader. That is my effective term, the formal one being Seargent Smith as that is rank and name. There are three of such rank on-site and they can be seen via the two stars seen sowed onto our shirts.

General rule, the more stars they have the more respectful you should be. Although you won’t see much of the higher starred, the highest here is the three starred Lieutenant. Although you won’t ever see him.

Your effective terms will start at, Squad Members, then Squad Leaders, then Troop Leaders. There are 5 people in a squad with one being the leader. For a troop there are 12 squads.

Second, training starts at sunrise and at ends at sundown. Everything else is free time, you can sleep, eat at the canteen, or have an orgy for all I care. You must be here at sunrise, and you will be dismissed at sundown, those are it.

Oh, and don’t actually have an orgy. The cleaner complained when some group actually did it, be sensible, not stupid.

Third, you will be joined by another group every month so the encampment will slowly become more crowded. There was some personal changes due to the war so you are alone for now but that is only temporary.

Fourth, all general rules are inside the credit hall where you hunters will find you already have some you could cash in. Note they can be used for going home, so use them well.”

That created quite a ruckus in the group,

“ENOUGH,

Fifth, do not speak when I am speaking. We observe strict hierarchies that are not to be broken under any circumstances, if you’re commanding officer tells you to jump, you do it. You don’t ask questions, you simply... jump. If the case is bad enough, or the insubordination is repeating, it can lead to execution. You have been warned!

Right, I’m sure there’s more I’m supposed to tell you more, but I forgot and this gloomy shit is not my speciality so instead let’s move to a more interesting part.

Troop turn right and follow me. March if you can, I’m sure we’re supposed to teach it.”

They did try, Malum gave them that. Sadly when one of the people in the front tripped it caused a domino effect that ended with most of the troop laying on the floor in pain.

They had a lot to learn, but it had to start somewhere and inside this hall was where Malum guessed it would all begin.

It was a simple wooden building, with it opening up to a large open area with a simple wooden flooring. On the walls held every weapon Malum had ever seen, and best yet, they were metallic.

The shine of iron made Malum’s eyes fill with greed as he thought about the strength he could wield with such weapons. Short swords, Polearms, Axes, there was even several types of bows.

Malum wanted them all. But, that wasn’t even close to reasonable.

“Take a good look recruits, this our armoury filled with our armies standard issue weapons. Made of iron these bad boys will slice through flesh like butter, but...

You will have to earn your weapon. However, you do get to pick what weapon you shall master during your training. Do know that you can only change in the first ten days but after that the orders for the real ones will be sent of to HQ so no changes from after that date.

Stand beside the weapon you want to train in and shortly a scribe will come and note down your choice. They will also take down other pieces of information, so get comfortable, this will take a while.”

Malum was almost giddy with excitement. Well it was a shame he wouldn’t get to have an iron weapon now, but the fact he would get one at the end raised his odds of survival massively. Add that on to the extra training he could do he reckoned his hopes were looking good.

Unlike everyone else in the room, Malum had practiced with every weapon on display so he also knew which ones he would be any good at. For instance, whilst his physique suggested spears to be a good option he was simply not good at using them.

He didn’t use the distance effectively, and the movement of the spear was unnaturally hard for Malum to pick up. It just didn’t suit his brain, even though his body did.

That ruled some of them out, and Malum also ruled out those he was just okay at as well. That left 3 of them to choose from.

A simple sword, nothing special just the most basic weapon mankind had created. That didn’t mean it was bad though, and Malum was not against this choice in the slightest.

The next option was a simple bow. Malum was already good at archery, so this was the weapon his most proficient at and it also came with the benefit of not being the frontlines. A good choice that Malum was leaning towards.

The final option was small shield and short sword. It was the bets combo for a rookie fighter, his Uncle had said so many times. It had defence, and it had offence, but Malum didn’t like the idea of being that the close to demon, so Malum scratched it off his list.

The choice was obvious, so Malum walked towards the bow and sat down as he began to study its details. Wooden bows were all slightly different, and Malum had nothing else better to do so he decided to study the one in front of him.

It looked good, but Malum could tell it was pretty worn down. Not from use but from the lack of it. The wood looked pristine but a slight odder of rot gave away the fact that it was just a show weapon and not a real one.

Done with that, Malum looked around to see what everyone else had chosen. Unsurprisingly, the most popular option was the shield and sword option, then it was the just the sword, then the spear. Nobody else had chosen the bow, which did surprise Malum. He thought more would choose it for the survivability, but it was hard to learn so perhaps they had that in mind.

The scholar soon arrived, and he looked faintly like Malums old Mayor: tall and thin. Malum could still feel the dagger in his belt, its cold blade providing both a sense of security but also a memory of pain.

He moved first to the small groups, the Polearms, Daggers and then to Malum's Bow section.

“Name.”

“Malum.”

“Do you know how to shoot?”

“Yes.

“You were a hunter, yes?”

He nodded.

“Right then Malum, you are eligible to pick the bow, but I must warn you many demons find arrows to be just annoying and such some target archers. They do have intelligence, especially in combat. With this in mind do you still pick the bow?”

That was not good news, and Malum's reaction fully expressed that. Not only were demons more intelligent than what he knew, they also would attack more and such he could actually be the first to die.

He spoke before he thought it through,

“Can I have more time?”

The scribe looked around,

“Yes, I can fill you out last if you would like.”

“Thankyou.” Malum nodded to the polite man as he walked towards the large sword section.

With new knowledge Malum could make better made decisions and right now he was leaning towards just picking up the sword and shield.

His mind went towards his Uncle advise for weapons during cultivation. On that day, the heavens were angry and such the weather reflected it. Heavy rain and strong winds nearly fell their shabby housing at the time. Inside this house, both men and boy sat down as they chatted.

“The first tier is simply mortal. Here is where most living being are, although there are still strength differences. Not everyone in the same tier has the same strength, take a grandma for example, and compare her to a fully grown adult male.

I have taught you most weapons and this is to cover your basis. The greater the foundation, the larger the building can be, and cultivation is exactly that. Building on your strengths and removing your weakness’.

There are infinite paths to the Dao, but only one can be travelled by you. Your goal is revenge, keep that in mind in which path you choose to take.”

Revenge, what weapon would best allow him to tread that path. The Bow was ambitious, but Malum doubted he could survive war with it. The sword was an interesting choice, and Malum found it right that he take out his enemies with them knowing he was responsible.

The sword and shield was the clearly then the best choice, it held both survivability and it fit his revenge ideas. With nothing else but lingering doubts, Malum stood and walked over to the sword and shield area which was noticed by much of the group.

It didn’t really matter to them, although was still sure he would be asked why he moved by many in the following days.

Here there was actually people to talk to and the scribe seemed to care less about them chatting as long as he could converse with the person he talked to so many were chattering about their choice and others as well.

In his group, Malum asked for the names of all 3: Alicia, Jake, and Gerald. They were smart enough to recognise this weapons potential so Malum would keep an eye of them for his faction formation and perhaps some friendships to keep him company.

He recognised Gerald from his dormitory, his built was rather distinctive. He was massive, and since he was in his physical peak, Malum estimated that if they were to fight he would probably lose from just sheer strength.

They talked, and Malum found out that he came from the third village they came across and he was picked because his parents had committed a minor crime a few years ago. He claimed they were innocent, and that the Mayor had framed them for the crime.

At the end of the day, it didn’t actually matter. He was here, and such he focus on surviving first. Malum's advise was harsh, but it was true, and it removed some of the anxiety on the large man’s brutish face.

By the time that conversation had run dry, the scribe had managed to finish up on the Sword and Spear groups and was coming towards them.

“I see you picked this ey?” He looked towards Malum with a smile, to which Malum returned his own one explaining,

“Yeah, I figured defence plus offence and its not to hard to pick up the basics so its kinda the obvious choice out of all these.”

“You speak like a practical man. Mots martial artists focus on flashy moves, my advice, keep it simple and refine the basics to mastery. I read it in a book somewhere and that stuck so take an experienced man’s advice.”

“I’ll keep it in mind.”

The scholarly man seemed to enjoy his advice being appreciated and after some mundane questions about his age and origin they moved towards his parents or his guardian location. Malum asked why they needed to know that to which he learned it was for death compensation.

All could think of was the last house he lived in, so he named of the village and his Uncle’s name and appearance.

“Do you know how to ride a horse?”

“Yep, I learned it from my Uncle.”

With that the questions were over, he moved onto to Alicia and Malum returned to chatting. It was only when the Scribe had done the entire room that the Troop Leader returned. In his hands were what Malum assumed was the list of weapons his troop had chosen.

“Decent, shame there’s no ranged personal but they don’t tend to last anyway. Now Recruits we shall be measuring how good each of your fitness levels are. Get ready for your second hell, actually you just chatted for an hour. No break, get up and follow me.”

Everyone just starred at him.

“Was he joking?” Malum whispered.

“I SAID FOLLOW ME NOW!”

`No, he wasn’t joking.` Malum thought as he quickly got up and shuffled back into some messy formation. This time he and Gerald placed themselves next to each other, at least they now had someone whome they could suffer with.