Murk was a common orc, so he immediately volunteered as a soldier for the big city after his tribe was annexed by the great warriors making rounds, their equipment, posture and ability completely suppressing their chief. Better food, weapons and XP, it was all he ever wanted.
He was soon thrown to the dirt however, both figuratively and literally, because the number of professional soldiers was limited, so he had to pass a test to be allowed the honor.
The concept confused him, but then the instructor said they had too many idiots and too little workers, so they'd only take those that would be better warriors. Which made more sense than he'd expected.
It was only when he started the weapon training that he realised something was wrong. He could use his strength in a better way. The smaller creatures were clearly doing even better than him somehow, so he stopped to think.
It was strange not being immediately reprimanded for stopping, but when he started trying new things, the instructor praised him before giving him an axe, then suddenly things made a lot more sense.
Passing this test, he was then asked to join a week long camp, not far from the big city. He didn't see what the pointing of it was and the instructor didn't say much more than that they'd find out there.
When they did get there, Murk was indeed unable to not realize what was happening, even finding himself understanding why some humans said 'fuck me' when they didn't mean it.
"Welcome to camp gluton maggots! This is where you will be spending the week, and if successful, the rest of your productive life!" Bellowed the even bigger orc, his tusks menacing and sharp, his face and arms full of scars. "Now, I imagine you are all are tired of the four hour track through unfamiliar forested territory and only want to go find a place to sit and a drink to nurse. Thing is, you all have two choices. One, you run five laps around the camp with me, getting potions every time you fall, or two, you give up any chance you have to joing the army till next year, get marked down as a coward, spend the night in the rejects barracks and get till dawn to get your ass out of here." He calmly explained, the overbearing pressure he erradiated made it feel like it'd physically hurt to disappoint him, his words somehow sounding fair.
When no one stepped up to complain, he nodded. "So none of you are a waste of air, good to know. Now let's see if none of you are a waste of my time." *SHREEEEEEE* "RUN MAGGOTS! RUN NOW LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT!" He screamed, scarring the thoughest candidates into moving.
The sprint quickly became a marathon, which became a tour as their liutenent, whatever that ment, guided them through the whole camp and had them learn several rules as they followed, some things somehow sticking.
The two dwarfs were the first to collapse, potions stuffed down their throats as the liutenent screamed for them to run again, questioning if they were worth their beards apparently doing the trick as that got them answering back and running with more vigor, though they'd clearly need more potions through the track.
*****
Murk completed the whole week of training, several skills leveling up through the process. He'd actually gained some levels from the gruelling training, even starting to get used to always feeling a bit tired.
It had surprised him that only three people of the original twenty had given up. Listening in to his companions informed him they were all slaves, criminals suddenly without a way to earn coin, given the chance to fight for their freedom. Eight other men and women were also slaves, but stayed, praising the place instead.
He didn't ask about them. If they were to become warriors then their past would not matter. Downing his mug, Murk couldn't help but think of how much meat he'd just ate.
It was all delicious. No matter what he'd ate he'd not stop till he was completely full, though it was only by the end of the week that he'd been awake enough to savour such food without passing out when in contact with his bedding.
Which was actually better than what he was used to as well.
All soldiers were trained to gain the rapid healing, strenghtened endurance and mana recovery skills, whoever could also gaining several military jobs, but he was pretty sure he'd not been lossing much on that front considering he'd been forced to train to the point some of his attributes had naturally gone up.
He questioned if this was really the way of the warrior however. While he was certainly improving, he'd not killed anything since coming to the city.
His doubts were immediately quenched when their first mission was given. Following more experienced soldiers through their future patrol route. They'd been split into two groups and sent on opposite routes.
Such patrol could last from anything between a day to a week depending on the area, but the camp was considered so-so in that scale, the full march some three days.
It was a simple thing, but from the moment they'd stepped out, monster tracks had come into view already. Though their group was clearly too big for normal beasts to attack, it was their job to dispatch and dismantle such creatures in their territory.
Apparently each formal unit was given one spacial artifact, though all those that'd been to cities before gasped at the thought and called it ridiculous.
The unit captain just scoffed, saying their lord was like that. The story apparently went that he'd made a hundred practice artifacts, and the rest were dungeon treasures that were useless to him because he could do better already.
One for each twenty man unit was apparently easy, even giving the bigger ones to higher ranking personal and putting the best ones to be redeemed with merits.
Considering how they lived besides sush monster infested territory with so many dungeons, the investment was actually quite the boon to the economy and material gathering fronts, which made better equipment easier to obtain despite the saturation of the market, better arming people on hunts or even allowing for the use of magic items for the day to day life of some.
*****
A month passed, Murk was promoted to unit captain, his rank increased, his skills leveled up. Yet he found himself unsatisfied. Unable to sleep as a gnawing feeling bothered him, the uneasy orc got up.
When he walked out of his bunker and wandered through the night for no reason, he tried reading the decorating flags over the city, the little he could understand spurning something inside of him.
Something he could only describe as nonsense questions. What was honor? What was glory? Did he really want it? Why did he seek strength?
He'd have gotten more questions, but regardless of the good illumination he'd somehow walked head first into a flag pole. He felt that was strange, but chalked it to his tired mind.
It might have been the head injure or his sudden doubts, but by the time he'd gotten back to bed, he'd decided to get better studies.
He'd never felt such an 'itch' to grow before, to better himself.
Never would he have put himself up for commander training had he been the same as before, giving up quickly because it'd make his head hurt or such. Nor would he have learned so much, met his girlfriend, found out that praying could actually give skills and many other things.
It was like someone had taken off the blinders he didn't know he had.He had more friends, was supposedly becoming more handsome, his thoughts flowed much more smoothly and he could feel that something had changed inside of him.
In one specific class, when their instructor explained to them that the flags, statues and strange 'art' around also doubled as subliminal messages for the citizens, almost no one even questioned the notion, though some humans needed to be assured of the safety and harmlessness of the idea, they even blushed when hearing that this wasn't something confidential, any doctor, herbalist and city clerk were instructed on how to reassure citizens that did not know about such detail, but anyone going to the governmental halls and libraries could read about it (or have someone read for them).
"The lord foresaw that many would neglect the chances of bettering them selves as is, so he made us question our notions and certainties. As centurions it would be your duty to do the same for your troops. With the change in company size, new strategies become available. Be it from the back or from the front, you will have to command your troops through those, controling the field to maximise morale and combat prowess. It is not how hard you can hit that will define how good you are, but how many hits can you take for others, how many can you get back to fighting shape, how many strategic resources can you provide..."
The lecture went on, all trying their best to soak the notions into their brains. It was around the later end of class when it happened however.
*UWOM*
A strange sound that lasted barrely a second caught everyone's attention. They couldn't put a finger in it, but there was clearly something wrong and unnerving about it. Such thoughts didn't last long though, a sun like light catching their attention and having all in several miles stare at the mountain that'd not been there moments ago, pressure reaching as far as the light.
Murk was pretty sure only the inhabitants of the wildersness would fear this though. He only felt addimiration for the reasuring presence, it's warmth spurring him on with the choices he made.
[Self enhancement: Guidance is now level 6
Mental resistance is now level 4
Self enhancement: loyalty is now level 8
Pain resistance is now level 5
Rapid healing is now level 6
Magic resistance is now level 2
Phisical resistance is now level 1
Congratulations! Beserk rage Lv 10 has awakened into the unique skill Wrath.
....]
He only gave the mental prompt a moment of his attention, three new skill just from what he saw, together with several level ups and even a skill evolution! Still, he could only stare with his jaw hanging as a giant gryphon carried the burning armored figure away from the mountain and suddenly accelarated enough to cause a couple of sonic booms. He didn't need to look around to know he wasn't the only one either.
*****
Murk trained a lot since that day, with the sword, with the pen and even with magic, and though his efforts were rewarded, he wanted more, he wanted to be better. Not just for his girlfriend, not just for his men, not just for general mittens, but for himself.
He'd become addicted to seeing those numbers go up, admitely some more than others as Gwen could attest to, but he'd never felt happier, more fullfiled.
So when his first assignment as one of the first centurions was to participate in a hell week training and follow up with a secret operation, he jumped at the chance, a small celebration at the same night all he could do before he had to leave the perfect girl for it. He made sure to declare his love before going though, even getting her parent's blessing though her father seemed quite sad.
Despite all that he thought before reaching their destination, it'd not crossed his mind that the one training them would be the newly nominated Praetorian Laverna, the she-orc literraly radiating a presence that marked her as one that stood near the peak of their species.
Maybe somewhere else that would have merely intimidated the soldiers, after passing through the training of Duran, none could help but be inspired, envious, and respectfull of the woman.
"Now, who is ready to find out how much you can be healed before you fully collapse?" She smirked, now causing fear to etch itself in their hearts as her grave voice reached their ears and shook their knees.