Remi was in full agreement with Karl’s thoughts on the grand solution for their problem. [Why not have like three different specialties? As far as battle tactics go, there really are just warriors, mages and others.] She offered.
“My partner Remi, the Naga Queen over there, has a suggestion.
Why not increase flexibility? You can have teams led by warriors or mages, and then the others can fill in, since there are far more mages and warriors than anything else.”
“And how do you guarantee that we will have enough of them if we try bringing them up among our ranks?”
Karl smiled. “That’s the easy part. Plead with the Blue Dragons to give them skill books.”
The Overlord gave Karl a look that said two things.
First, he wanted to strangle Karl for suggesting it.
Second, he had already tried it and had been not so politely told that they would not be making thousands of skill books for him.
After all, they had to be handwritten by a suitably powerful user, and the number of Blue Clerics and Inscriptionist Mages was limited.
Karl relented when he realized that the plan was already rejected. “I joke. No, send them all to the trial at the Cathedral and order them to pick Mage or Warrior if they are given the option. If they’re compatible, the trial ground should awaken System users now.”
Drath sighed. “We tried that too. It only worked to awaken Clerics. However, it is a great advancement resource for Elites who have reached Commander Rank.”
“It seems that military efficiency and the System do not mingle well. However, I do think that it would be best to just go with it. Train everyone in the same combat techniques so that they can fight together as needed, and then let the units work it out at their end with the ranged and close combat attackers. From a practical standpoint, it doesn’t matter if that enemy at a hundred metres died to a magic missile, an enchanted arrow or a battle cannon on a mobile artillery piece.”
Drath chuckled, looking younger than he had when he arrived. “That was my suggestion as well, but the President and the other Generals voted it down as too chaotic. That’s why I have been looking for a better proposal.
Count yourself lucky that you didn’t get roped into a political position. It’s a giant pain in the ass, and when you actually use the power you are given, you end up stepping on well-connected toes, and making your next effort harder than it has to be.”
Karl tried not to laugh. Most of the problem was that the politicians were still a generation or three behind. Tactics had been evolving rapidly over the last decade with the introduction of the Elites, but most of the senior politicians and military officers had been serving for thirty or forty years already.
The Archbishop was over a hundred years old, the President was nearing seventy, and most of his senior advisors were close to sixty. “You’re thinking that we’re all fossils and behind the times, aren’t you?” The General asked, with his eyes flashing bronze as his draconic instincts sensed a challenge.
“For a Dragon, you’re quite young. But for humans, most of the others in charge are ancient. As I understand it, a Bronze Dragon is too attached to the letter of the law to bend the rules yourself, and that’s why you’re looking for a solid reason to adjust the regulations, right?” Karl replied.
“Precisely. And technically Elites are outside my purview, as they are no part of the Church Armies. But we need the firepower, and we have a procedural handbook to follow.
I did consider just eating them all so they stopped saying no to all the good ideas, but there are laws against that.”
[If you taught them all Offensive Adaptation, they could likely bond with Bloodbath Spiders.] Rae suggested.
An army of giant spiders and Karl clones would be funny.
“Well, once we have these ones trained, you will have enough data to prove one way or the other whether entire units of System users within the army is a viable tactic. It might take an amendment or two so that they’re actually soldiers and not just attached to army units, but it should be easy enough to get a regulations addendum passed if we get a huge influx of new System users.”
Drath’s eyes shone with amusement as Karl finished his sentence. “You know, if it wouldn’t collapse society, we could just have everyone we meet put on a system linked item until they’re all depleted or everyone has tried. It would be the greatest challenge that a Bronze Dragon could ever face.”
His tone was a bit manic as he envisioned the challenges of maintaining law and order in an entire nation full of workers who had suddenly gained a system class. You couldn’t be an ‘Elite’ if everyone were one, or even if the majority of people were. He would never willingly allow the collapse of society to actually happen, it was completely contrary to his nature. But like a kid dreaming of becoming a superhero, Karl was beginning to understand that Bronze Dragons fantasized of bringing order to chaos and implementing rules and regulations to keep everything orderly.
Then the dragon sighed. “I think it is time for you to use that potion you mentioned. Try to advance your students to the Awakened Rank today, even if just the five with classes that aren’t beast linked. You need to make your method stand out as superior to any other if things are going to change. Giving that level of resources to every student in the next intake will be a massive cost. Unless senior Elites empty their stockpiles to provide all the resources, it might not even be possible. But even then, the cost will exceed the entire year’s revenue.
Convincing everyone that it is worth it will take results so far beyond anything that we’ve seen so far that the senior staff will believe that it would cost us more not to.”
[Yes, potion time. I’ve had them ready all day long. These will be great. Trust me, I can make humans into proper Elites.] Remi cheered.
“Alright. They’re on lunch, and we’ve been feeding them Commander Rank meat to overload them with energy for the afternoon training already. That’s a worthwhile attempt, by the way. The progression just from sufficient nutrition has the clerics in a frenzy.”
Drath chuckled. “If we had that many edible Commander Rank and higher monsters, I would consider it. Edible monsters are rare in the spawns, and it’s not like we’re farming them at that sort of power level.”