Chapter 26 Part 3 of 3 (Patreon)

You have ten minutes, Go!" Bai Ping pointed to nearby tents that had been set up.

The formation broke apart as they grabbed their gear into their storage rings and ran.

"Going to be a long three days," Yi said.

"Yeah, good thing we don't need to sleep, we'll train them as much as possible." Bai Ping sighed.

"Been too long since some of them had training, just need to knock the cobwebs out, get them switched on," Baines said.

"Well lets get started."

People started to stream out of the tent around the seven minute mark, forming back up where they had been before.

"Get your asses moving! You never been dressed in your lives!"

"Get the hell out there!" The Gunnery Sergeants and Staff Sergeants hurled their own abuse getting the out. They harried the last out of the tents and towards the lines. Bai Ping waved the Sergeants over and looked at Baines.

He nodded and met the sergeants.

"Seems some of you have forgotten how to get dressed!" Bai Ping yelled as Baines was discussing with the other sergeants.

"You have all been issued with mana suppressing medallions, put them on!" They pulled out the medallions around their necks.

"Check the person to your right and left to make sure it is on and set to fifty percent!" They adjusted the medallions.

The formations activated as they let out grunts.

It sucks having half of your mana pool and regeneration cut off, like losing a limb.

"Good, now tuck it in your shirt and I want you to do something simple, hold out your right hand and create a flame that is ten centimeters tall."

They conjured the flame in their hands.

"If your flame goes out then your entire squad will have to do moving and covering in the high Earth element training rooms until Staff Sergeant Yi is happy and Sergeant Yi loves long walks in the high Earth mana rooms!"

A few flames quivered but didn't fall apart.

"Right turn!" The group moved somewhat sloppily, still flames in hand.

"Alright we're heading to the second Alva Training base, keep pace!" Baines released the sergeants who moved around their squads.

"By the left! Left, march!"

The group started marching out of the training area.

"Left wheel!" Bai Ping said.

"Holy shit there Sergeant did you forget what a left wheel is?" Staff Sergeant Yi jumped on a leading squad member that was all fucked up.

He gritted his teeth shut.

"You better fucking let that flame go out! I feel a need for a nice stroll!"

"Right wheel!" Bai Ping barked. All of the mages were sergeants, reflecting the training that it had taken for them to reach their current rank and ability.

Holding out their flames they marched out of the parade square.

"Alright! By Squads form up!" Four other squads were pulled out from the sidelines and into formation to repeat the process.

"Don't you let that flame go out Hendricks!"

Bai Ping marched them through the streets. The Staff Sergeants ran ahead, blocking them so that the squads could move forward unmolested. Other squads, platoons and companies were on the move. The totem flashed every few minutes, Alvans from across the realms returned home.

"Open the gates!" Bai Ping called out.

The gates of the base opened, revealing different stations around the first training square.

"Left wheel!" Bai Ping called out as they snaked along the inside wall.

"Right wheel!" Bai Ping yelled as they turned right, ahead were several chairs and barbers wielding hair clippers.

"Halt!" The group came to a stop.

"First eight get in those chairs, go!"

The first eight rushed the chairs, the barbers used enchanted metal wands that removed all beards, mustaches and fuzz.

Sergeant Yi walked around to the other side.

Buzzers worked rapidly, leaving hair on the ground leaving the seated recipients all with the same haircut. The men all had short hair with fades while the women all had their hair cut to their mid back.

"Use cleaning spells and I want flames in your hands once you're formed up!" Yi yelled.

"When there is a seat free, move to take it! Others are waiting!" Baines yelled.

Quickly people flowed through the barbers at the other side they all had the same clothes and appearance.

Bai Ping saw Staff Sergeant Akachi leading in four reserve artillery squads.

"Halt! Once Gunnery Sergeant Bai Ping's people have cleared the barbers you will be next!" He yelled. Bai Ping moved to the side and Akachi met him to talk away from their charges.

"How you doing Akachi?"

"Not bad, so what's the game plan?"

"Get them cleaned up, looking like they belong in the same army. Get their carriers together run through specific training then throw your group and mine together to make sure they can work together?"

"Sounds like a plan to me."

Bai Ping checked his watch.

"Say we start cross training in, eight hours?"

"Want to call it ten?" Akachi asked.

"Ten works for me, let me know if you need more."

"Will do," Akachi and Bai Ping turned to face their two groups.

"What you think of them?" Bai Ping asked.

"Haven't seen them in action yet. Gonna have to shock them back into it. They haven't trained in a long time. Most of them got their position because they did well with maths. Few of them have completed their basic training. Fewer completed their sharpshooter course."

"Same with mine, gonna have to squeeze in as much refresher as possible."

"What about if they get hit head on?" Akachi looked over.

"The mages should have some spells to protect themselves. Want to do a range day to get them checked on their repeaters?"

"Yeah, all of them took defense courses, but it was years ago for some of them. Few have used the repeaters before."

"I'll put in the request for range time but we only have seventy-two hours with them. We'll have to make every minute count."

"I heard that they want to get all of the reserves prepped."

Bai Ping let out a breath through his teeth.

"All of Dragon Regiment is back in Vuzgal, we should have all the people from tiger back in a few days max. There is what, nearly a division worth of reservists I hear the plan is to get them all qualified and checked out. Then if we have more time we teach them and the recruits that are getting processed out of their training, we fill in the training that they don't have."

"With them all on defensive operations its a lot easier than training them to fight offensively in the forest," Akachi shrugged.

"Agreed." Bai Ping couldn't help look at their fresh uniforms, the colors vibrant while their shoes were brand new.

"At least we have healing spells for their feet as the break in their boots."

"Would suck if they didn't. We have Thirty five thousand reservists to dress, shave, clothe and check to make sure they haven’t forgotten anything.”

“Take us to what close to fifty thousand under arms? Good thing we didn’t throw away the old armor and repeaters.” Akachi grinned.

“Yeah, all of the old gears is coming out of storage. City Council is pushing to double the amount of factories we have.”

Akachi blinked shaking his head.

“Till then we’re handing out all the old armor we’ve got and formation medallions so that the reservists can link into the conqueror’s armor network. Most will just get the regular helmets with formations to see out of. Our people don’t really need them, the rifle companies are getting them though.”

“Needs must, how long till they guess the Sects will reach Vuzgal?”

“Week and a half if they rush with nothing in their way.”

“So what, three batches of reservists before then?”

“Yeah, Two Regiments are going to Vuzgal, two will remain here. Way I hear it, they’re going to split us up, one reg force to every three reservist. Going to intermix us all together they fill the bodies we bring the knowledge.”

“Shit I thought I was done training other people,” Akachi rubbed the back of his head.

Bai Ping just grinned.