This was quick, Arne decided as he lay on his new bunk in the barracks, which was assigned to him after the Initiation. Last morning, he had woken up as a simple farmworker. This morning, he was a soldier. No, not a soldier, a venator. This turn of events was paced terribly fast.
He jumped down from his bunk and found that Sigurd had already woken up and left. At first, Arne thought that he had overslept but on looking around, he saw that most bunks were still filled. He checked the clock above the chamber's door and found that there were still a few minutes left before the wake up call. He grabbed the towel and the uniform provided to him and rushed to the bathroom before a line was formed. Quickly finishing getting cleaned up, Arne got dressed into his newly commissioned uniform and even tied his hair into a short ponytail.
After that, he headed for the mess hall, where breakfast was going to be served. There he found several of his fellow initiates who sat on the table, waiting for the serving to begin. They all wore uniforms similar to his. A knee-length white shirt with green cuffs and collars, over full-length white trousers, there was also a thick green belt that was to be worn at the waist. The uniform catered to both variants. Its field counterpart had the reversed color-scheme.
Before Arne could find Sigurd, Thurid called to the table she sat at and introduced him to the tall girl he had seen yesterday, the one who used repulsion to leap. On looking closely she wasn't that tall, probably two hundred centimeters which was only a couple of centimeters taller than Arne. The girl's name was Igna Talsdottir and she was the granddaughter of the legendary Venator, Eadric the Dragonsbane. Her grandfather was something of a historical figure in Thuraiz, known for single handedly slaying high-tier dragons. No wonder the Garrison wanted to recruit her.
After chatting along with some more people, he found out that three conscripts had died yesterday. Only nineteen initiates had made through the Trial and even out of that, four of them had used help from other initiates. This included Evor. These initiates were sent to train with Auxiliary hunters for a few weeks before they were ready to be Venators.
The remaining nineteen, which meant those who had passed the Trial fairly, were put on a week's drilling and studying before they could be deployed to the wilds. The word was that they would be joining the Great Expedition that was decreed in response to the distress call of the Omega team, in which most of the current initiates had some relatives.
Sigurd found Arne as soon as the breakfast was served and they ate it sitting alongside a few other initiates namely Jerome, Havi, and Gertha. After the breakfast they were assembled in a classroom where they had an official introductory briefing conducted by Major Randyl. They were informed about their training routine, duties as Venators, future prospects and the updates about the Category-3 Excursion.
About the excursion, the initiates were told that preparations were being made and the Garrison had deployed a scouting party this morning. Additional forces would be deployed in accordance with the new intel collected. The hypothesis of the Security Board was that Omega Team had discovered a new species of Tier-5 dragon and was stranded in its nesting ground with all possible routes of escape cutoff. A tier-5 dragon was one which required a larger military force to exterminate and also yielded extremely high amounts of Surge. The probable objective of this Expedition would be to catalogue and hunt the dragon, then destroy it's nest.
After that point, Randyl withdrew and a researcher at the Garrison's research centre took over the briefing. She introduced herself as a recaster who had retired from the power generation facility due to her interest in the study of the Surge. Having done with the introduction, she put on a presentation with a projector turning the briefing into an informative lecture.
They were told about the discovery of Surge which happened about two hundred years ago when humanity still lived on the surface and tried to fight back. Back then, they didn't have surgeshapers and as a result nearly ninety percent of the human race was exterminated. The creation of surgeshapers actually happened due to an accident at a research station in the sanctuary of Belenus, in Europe. After that discovery, scientists in sanctuaries all around the world tried to replicate the accident and finally in the year 027, the sanctuary of Marduk in Asia had managed to produce a variant of surgeshapers that didn't suffer from terminal illness or early cerebral deterioration. Then, every sanctuary in the world began improving upon this method of creation of surgeshapers and it continued till this very day.
Arne's batch were the progenitors of the 24th generation of surgeshapers which would be created in the next decade. Arne's father had been a part of the 22nd generation, while Arne was not officially a part of any generation but stood between the 23rd and the 24th. His batch was subjected to an experimental version of the Dragon's Blood which acted on the host's body immediately. Soon they would mass produce this variant and use it to recruit and train larger forces of Venators.
The presentation ended at midday, when the lunch was served. In the evening, they were allowed to return to their homes to meet their family and were allowed to bring back any three personal possessions they wanted.
Arne had taken a picture of his family, a sweater his mother had knit him and a crystal pendant that was carved by his grandfather when he was still alive. Arne's mother was in tears when he had returned home, although the Garrison's personnel had notified every family about their child's conscription and initiation in advance.
"It is happening too quickly, Arne." His mother said, trying to hold back sobbing.
"I know, mum." Arne agreed, "This is overwhelming for me as well. But I promise to visit as frequently as they will allow."
"When are you departing?" She asked him.
"They haven't decided yet," Arne said, "But soon."
"They are actively recruiting militia to man the garrison. A large number of experienced soldiers will go along with you." His mother said, her eyes watering, "This will be a dangerous expedition. Please come back safely."
"Mum, I am a Venator now." He told comfortingly, "I promise to return home safely. And tell Cedric that I will be bringing Dad back."
Embracing his mother, Arne bid her farewell. He would have waited for his brother Cedric to return home from work but Cedric wouldn't let him go without bursting into tears and then being depressed for a month at least.
The evening was pretty uneventful. They were served dinner after returning to the barracks and were sent to bed early. The training began the next day. It wasn't as gut wrenching as told in stories but that must be because their stamina was inhumanly enhanced by the Surge. The drills involved a fifty lap run around the training grounds, some exercise with muscle-building equipment, and weapon handling instructions. The standard weapons they trained with were a bolt action rifle, a self loading pistol and a combat axe which was more of a pickaxe rather than an ordinary cutting axe. Its function was to pierce the hard crystalline scales of dragons and could only be used by Venators whose strength was enhanced by the Surge.
Other than the physical training, they did drills in regulated leaping using Dragon Surge. Some of the more proficient ones from the batch were skilled enough to use the surge to imitate flying. They were also taught about camping and navigating in the Outside world which was still alien to them. The chasm where their initiation had completed was the place for these activities. It helped them familiarize with the environment outside.
The training was quite monotonous and continued for five days. On the morning of the sixth day, Major Randyl personally arrived to give the wake up call.
"Pull up your socks, Initiates." He said entering their chamber, "For we march out today!"