Within one of the training grounds residing in the military fortress Anfang, the recruits from the training regiment 69 were lined together and stood idly. They had tense and nervous expressions hidden under their facade of calmness.
Walking between the lines of the recruit was the training officer of the training regiment, captain Phaton. He had a cold and serious expression plastered on his face as he checked every face of the recruit under his wings.
"All of you are maggots! Especially the ones late in the morning call."
"The military has high expectations of you, and this is what you give them the first day? Being late in the morning call?!" Phaton yelled as the recruits continued looking forward.
"As I said before, you have been reminded of the morning call in the recruitment center. Either you didn't listen, or you didn't care. So let me ask all of you, what do you think it is?" Phaton stopped yelling as unkind words escaped his mouth.
He kept staring at the recruits, who kept gazing forward. And while checking their faces, he noticed someone interesting. It was a girl who was barely hiding her nervousness.
Phaton walked towards the girl and stood before her as he calmly questioned.
"Introduce yourself and your reasons for joining the military." His words echoed throughout the regiment of recruits as they quietly turned their gaze toward the girl.
The girl flinched upon hearing him and was having difficulty opening her mouth. A while later, she finally answered his words.
"I am Akaki Achuta, sir!"
"I join the military to give my family better lives!"
She honestly answered his question, and Phaton did nothing more but squint his eyes toward the girl. He kept staring at Akaki with a cold gaze as he gave her a question.
"Let me ask you one thing, Akaki."
"Will you be able to give your family better lives if you couldn't even wake up in time? Answer me."
It was a simple question, and its answer was clear.
"No, sir!" Akaki stated as she saluted Phaton.
"Repeat!" Phaton yelled as Akaki answered once again.
"NO, SIR!" Her words sounded throughout the training grounds as Phaton nodded in satisfaction and left her front. "Good. I don't want anything like being late to happen ever again."
"A late arrival can cause the lives of troops, whether they'd be your comrades from the squad or the other," Phaton said as he walked out of the lines of recruits and stood before them.
There were at least 50 recruits within the training regiment 69. Along with time, the numbers would start thinning. Until then, Phaton only had to do his job as the training officer of the training regiment.
'Though, within the late bastards, some seem interesting. They have some potential, unlike the other late bastards.' Phaton quietly thought to himself as he shook his head and decided to throw it at the back of his mind for now.
He then stood before all of the recruits and remarked.
"You have been accepted by the military recruitment center to join the one-year training of the Imperium military. You could become a soldier or drop out of the facility. And it all depends on what you do in this institution."
"I hate to be disappointed, and I hate to see unnecessary and petty squabbles. So you better not bother me with such things."
"Understood!?"
He loudly questioned as the recruits replied with a shout.
"UNDERSTOOD!!!"
"Excellent. Why don't we start the session." Hearing the loud replies of the recruits, Phaton smirked and calmly said. He was about to start the learning session of the fundamental understandings within the Imperium military.
"The training regiment of the Imperium military was created to take advantage of not only quantity but quality. Ever since the first crusade, it was understood that throwing bodies into the battlefield wouldn't give them victory."
"So the Imperium military began the STS act, also known as the soldier training session act."
"Depending on your results after the first and second month of testing. You might get thrown into another level of the training regiment. Meaning that you would get more resources and learn more about the military."
"Graduating from a regiment above the basic level would also give you an immediate rank of officer and above."
"The training regiment is divided into the basic, elite, zenith."
"Military fortresses can handle the basic and elite training regiments, but the zenith requires the recruits to go into the imperium capital to get trained. Those within the zenith regiment will be able to become the Imperium's future generals."
"There is also the discussion about arcana. Zeniths aren't the only ones that can get arcanas. Even basics and elites could gain arcanas if the Imperium military deemed it fit."
"That is all for now, and you will hear more about it during the next days of your stay here within the Imperium military fortress." Phaton stopped his explanation as the recruits were bewildered by what they had heard.
Dante calmly listened to Phaton's words and was a bit surprised. His father was the general during the first crusade, and that was how the Astarte name became legendary. The zenith regiment was probably a place where geniuses gathered.
He doubted that he could survive a minute within the zenith training regiment.
'Instead of looking at the peak, why don't I look at what is in front of me and carefully tread through the mountain.' Dante thought to himself as if he was some old hermit sage living in the forest beside a hill.
"Now that the explanation has concluded, I'll talk about the most important thing you all need to hear," Phaton said with a serious face as he continued.
"The violations of the rules and regulations would result in sufficient punishment. And regarding the rules, you will be given a handbook and will have a test regarding it every Sunday." Captain Phaton knew this was a way to make the recruits understand how the military works.
And it also helps them avoid serious mistakes that might cause them everything.
"Yapping in front of you is really becoming tiresome." Phaton sighed to himself since he felt his throat a bit sore. He was never used to yelling despite being a training officer.
"Anyhow, all of you will start the first test after becoming a recruit." The training officer said as he yawned and looked at the vast field with a forest behind him. "All of you will be running a 100-kilometer marathon as your first training session."
"The test requires you not to be the first recruit to reach the end, but instead, it requires you to actually pass the 100-kilometer line. Otherwise, the ones who fail to do so until 8 am the next morning will be dropped out." Phaton explained the first test the recruits would have to go through.
A 100-kilometer marathon was a long one and a death sentence to some.
'This is bad.'
Dante thought to himself as he knew his stamina was trash. If he loses, he might get dropped out of the military. Even his father wouldn't bother reinstating him as a recruit if he failed a 100-kilometer marathon.
Will Dante be able to go through the first test alive?