“Why are you going so far from the training ground?” The Sergeant asked as Karl began to herd the freshly fed Cerro herd away from the others.
“Do you think that four baby Cerro frolicking in the grass will be productive for the other trainees? If everyone is watching them, who will be training?” Karl laughed.
One of the Cerro rammed into Karl’s leg and bounced off, bringing laughter from the soldiers on the sand behind them, as if to prove his point.
“Ah, I overlooked the human factor. I will have one of my Corporals wait nearby in case you need anything.”
Karl shook his head. “No need to pull someone from their training. I’m just going to go out off sight behind the bleachers. That’s far enough that we can train, and I can still hear the others in case of trouble. You never know what might happen with new Elites trying skills that they haven’t fully mastered. Things can go wrong, and I’m pretty good at sorting out wayward troublemakers.”
[Or you just want to be close enough to watch it all go down.] Cara added.
[I can jump onto the bleachers from here. It will be a great view.] Thor laughed quietly at the pair as he prepared his warriors for their training. Sitting on the bleachers would give a much better view, but he had trainees of his own to work on, and Ophelia was going to be working with the Rangers today. Instead, he had a pair of Remi’s bodyguards to help with the one-on-one training. They had four arms, and four swords, so they could keep constant pressure on the warriors as if they were fighting multiple targets.
When Karl had the smashing poles erected and the orders given to the Cerro Hatchlings, all of the excess spectators moved away from the training grounds, leaving the rest of the group to train in peace, while Karl barked orders like a herding dog and kept the procession moving.
Then, he got a great idea. He could give them a competition, to get to a specific pole as fast as possible when he called the number.
Not only would it help them burn energy from the feed that Thor had given them, but it would help develop their tactical thinking as they worked to be the fastest.
Karl jumped on top of one of the pillars.
“Everyone, attack the pillar that I am on.” He called to the four eager Cerro.
A tiny stampede started as they all rushed at the same time, tripping over each other to be the first to hit the pole.
“No, you have to actually reach the pole. Again.” Karl called as he hopped to another.
The second attempt was a bit better, but still not well organized.
“You’re a pack, you need to work like it. Organize your charge to hit multiple spots on the pole, then peel off for the second rank to strike. Again.”
Over and over, the Cerro pack worked to better their coordination.
By the time that lunch rolled around, they were actually getting good at it, and Karl was having fun making them run around for the crowd as they learned to coordinate an attack that looked much more like scaly puppies running into posts.
The Cerro pack weren’t the only ones that were improving at a notable rate, though. The bonded partners as well as the five acolytes that Skittles had brought them were also making remarkable progress. Fast enough that the soldiers had noticed the difference between yesterday morning and lunch today. They were all eager to find out what the trick was, and how the cadets could pick up new combat lessons after only seeing them one or two times.
That was a side effect of Skill Master that Karl hadn’t considered. They were all working their way towards learning the combat skills that they were practising, but there were many other lessons to be learned along the way, before the actual activation of a new skill.
Not that they were likely to pick up another new skill so quickly, but there was a decent chance that they would have one by the end of the week.
Karl was having lunch on the bleachers with Cara and Remi when the training ground suddenly went silent, and most of the crowd dropped to one knee in the formal bow.
Karl turned to see who it was, as he could only sense an Overlord Rank presence, then realized that he had no idea who the Knight approaching the grounds was.
Fortunately, the System was there to save him.
{Overlord Drath, Commandant of the Church Armies, First General of the Golden Dragon Nation}
Karl stood and made his way down the bleachers to greet the Overlord, who was currently making his way through the officers’ ranks, greeting various leaders and their drill Sergeants.
Once he was done greeting his subordinates, the Overlord made his way to Karl.
“Monarch Karl, it’s good to finally meet you. I have heard a lot about you the last few days. You’re the talk of the Capital.” “Commandant Drath, it’s a pleasure to meet you as well. I appreciate the loan of the Special Forces Cadets. They’re turning out to be quite talented.” Karl agreed.
“Oh, I wasn’t sure you would know who I was.” The middle-aged soldier chuckled.
“Your System interface is activated enough that I can see your name and Class assignment.” Karl chuckled.
Drath smiled. “Who would have thought it would be so effective on an old man like me?”
Karl took a second to look more deeply at the man’s details and found the important bit of detail that he had missed.
[Species] Bronze Dragon
Which brought up another vital question. How many of the older powerhouses in the Golden Dragon Nation weren’t actually humans, though it was nominally a human run nation?
“Orthos said that all he needed was an item that was fully system activated to bring his dormant system functions back online. Are you still missing any?” Karl replied.
Drath laughed. “And just how old do you think that I am? I understand you met the old man in his youth, but I’m not yet seen my hundredth year. Even the Archbishop is older than I am.”
Karl shrugged. “Well, you are an Overlord, so I assumed that you had some years on you. I don’t actually know much about the maturation rate of Bronze Dragons.”