The next few weeks had been smooth sailing. Well, not really. Because it seems before the end of phase one they would have one final test. A combat test against their fellow recruits. The rules were simple. Whoever got the most wins would have a reward at the end. Then they would also have team battles and then battles with the instructors, from individual fighting to being in a team.
The goals of this exercise were to build camaraderie and coordination, as well as see how strong each recruit was. Because it wasn't all the time that they were with a teammate, or what the instructors called a battle buddy. These are people you will be stuck with until you graduate and probably will be assigned together as well. And you will work with the same team you currently have.
The Company Commander was a man named Evereth Harbringer, an Elevated Junior Grade Captain. He already possessed a rank in the town's guard as a lieutenant. Now he was chosen to become the next captain in line to receive a Company of his own, and those who remained of this current batch of recruits would all be under him when they graduate. He didn't join them because he had already undergone basic training before, just like the recruits right now. But he was training although it was different. He was training on how to become a captain and lead his people. And let me say, he wasn't chosen to become the next captain by Command HQ if he didn't have any skills.
No, this guy was proficient in most things. Though he has a major flaw. He was a lazy bastard. And the only reason he was selected as the next junior officer to be appointed in this position is because he has a good mind for strategy and whatnot.
He had at least ten B Grade beast confirmed kills on his own and almost a hundred assisted kills when they were sent on patrol and encountered beasts. Anyone who was under him had underestimated him at first, but it showed later on as he proved them wrong as to why he became an officer. When he is in a battle, he most definitely could see the overall picture and could command his units well.
And this is also why he was tasked by command to lead this company when they graduate. Although technically he was currently training elsewhere, he would only be assigned here after the first phase was over.
Now that the individual fights are starting, it would usually start from the first name to the last, but this time the instructors made it so that it will be the polar opposite.
The fights all started simultaneously for all the remaining recruits, and every minute they would move on to the next. Only an instructor could say who won and who lost. This was probably the most tiring thing they had done, as currently there are only a hundred and ten recruits left. This would go on until every contestant had fought each other.
Of course there are disparities in strength, especially fights involving men and women. But they still made them do so because when you are out there and you are breaking up fights and whatnot, your enemies couldn't care less if you are a man or a woman or if you are scrawny or what. So it was better to be accustomed to things like this now. They used blunted weapons and hand-to-hand combat, depending on the recruit's preference.
During the first day, it involved people whose names or last names, if they have one, ended with A to E, then F to J.
In all of those fights, Brina must have won at least three of her fights and lost two. One to another woman and another to a man.
Elena, her battle buddy, must have won two of her own fights.
Their days passed like this. Every day a different black eye and bruise would appear. They were healed though by the town guard's healer. She was an Arkanian and Centuurian by blood, a half-blood.
Brina had never really seen magic up close before. The healer, whose name was Saria, would place her hands over the injuries and a soft green glow would emanate from her palms. The bruises would fade, the swelling would go down, and the pain would lessen. It didn't heal everything completely, just enough so they could keep fighting the next day. Brina found it fascinating. This was the power that separated Arkanians from regular people like her. The power she would never have.
But that was okay. She'd find her own strength.
The fights continued day after day. Some matches were quick, decided in moments. Others dragged on the full minute, both fighters exhausted and barely able to stand. Brina learned something from every fight. Against the men, she learned that she couldn't match them in raw strength. She had to be faster, smarter, and use their momentum against them. Against the women, she learned that technique mattered more than she'd thought. Some of them had clearly trained before coming here.
Elena struggled more than Brina did. She was smaller, lighter, and less naturally aggressive. But she was clever. Brina watched her fights and saw how Elena would wait for her opponent to make a mistake, then exploit it. She might not win as often, but when she did win, it was because she'd outsmarted her opponent.
Bernadeth, surprisingly, did better than expected. She'd clearly had combat training as part of her rich girl education. Her form was textbook perfect. But she lacked the grit that came from real hardship. When fights got messy and brutal, she struggled. Brina beat her twice, not through skill but through sheer stubborn refusal to go down.
The total tally by the end was counted, and Brina had won thirty of her fights. Mostly she lost to men, but that was impressive considering she would be the top scorer for the women if there ever was a division. Ultimately the one who won was a Junior Grade Lieutenant from Platoon Alina, Team One, named Himdal Hainz.
He had won eighty matches out of that hundred and ten. He was given a reward to choose his weapon of choice when he graduated to full guardsman status. Although his reward would only be received after graduation.
They didn't know what he chose ultimately because he was led by the head instructor Kim, who had taken him to the town guard's own blacksmith to discuss the specifics.
Anyways, there were still other opportunities to win, like the team battle against other teams where rewards also were mentioned. And there were the much-anticipated battles between their instructors, which in all honesty everyone had some sort of vendetta for all the hard training they had undergone these past few weeks. It wasn't like animosity, but frustration and pent-up anger. The instructors knew this because they too had been in a similar situation before when they were also still recruits.
Thus the following weeks were focused on these activities.
The team battles were different from individual fights. Here, coordination mattered more than personal skill. You had to trust your teammates to cover your back, to follow the plan, to not panic when things went wrong.
Brina's team, Bretta Team Two, had a good mix of people. There was Elena, of course, and Mira the blacksmith's daughter who was strong as an ox. There was a quiet boy named Finn who was surprisingly fast, and a loudmouth named Garrett who talked big but could actually back it up. Their Junior Grade Lieutenant was a serious girl named Sarah who took the leadership role very seriously.
Their first team battle was against Cindy Team One. It was supposed to be a simple capture the flag scenario, but it quickly descended into chaos. Half of Brina's team charged forward without waiting for the signal. The other half stayed back to defend. They were divided and got crushed.
"That was pathetic," Sergeant Vorik told them afterward. "You fought like a hundred individuals, not like a team. Again."
They tried again. And again. Slowly, painfully, they started to learn. Started to move together, think together, trust each other.
By the time they faced their fifth team battle, they were actually functioning as a unit. Brina had learned her role. She wasn't the strongest or the fastest or the smartest, but she was reliable. She held her position. She didn't panic. She kept fighting even when things looked bad. Her teammates started to trust that.
In summary, Brina's Platoon Team Two had won at least four and lost two. They had a similar standing with Platoon Alina Team One, which made it a tie. To decide who was ultimately the winner, they chose to do a tiebreaker.
The fight was at first an almost tactical battle, then it became an all-out brawl with punching and kicking at the end. Brina's team won in the end, but they were indeed significantly injured in those three minutes of fighting. The only rules during this combat were not trying to kill each other or the instructors would disqualify them, and also no attacking vital organs and whatnot. Other than that, they were allowed to fight and use what they had learned.
Brina remembered little of the actual fight. Just flashes. Someone's elbow catching her in the ribs. Her fist connected with someone's jaw. The taste of blood in her mouth. Elena shouting something. The whistle blew to end it.
When it was over, both teams were lying on the ground, gasping for air, bleeding and bruised. But Brina's team had the flag.
After they received treatment, the following day it was announced that they would hear what their rewards would be.
The following day they were surprised to have been introduced to a recruit standard uniforms they could wear in ceremonies. But there was a distinct thing. They somehow have arm bandanas, kind of like armbands, which would signify what team they are. The special thing was the team who won was allowed to design their own team's own bandana, including color. Although they have been informed that their uniforms would only be given to them at the start of phase two.
The other teams who didn't win would have the standard team bandanas that their platoons represent, but they would have one and two to differentiate team one and two. Only Platoon Bretta Team Two would have their own unique design.
They spent an entire evening arguing about what the design should be. Eventually they settled on a silver wolf on a dark blue background. The wolf represented strength and loyalty. The blue represented the sky, freedom, possibility. It was simple but it was theirs.
These weeks have passed and the day arrived that they were able to fight the instructors, it was marked for the seventh week and to also include the eighth week. Individual fighting would start by week seven. Currently they have five instructors in different fields. The head instructor Kim, Vorik, Dan, Herman, and Zander. The five of them would have to face each of the students and would tell them what they should improve individually. And they would do this until they finished the hundred and ten recruits they were teaching.
For Brina, they said she was already strong. They gave her minimal things to work on, like how to think critically, improve her body and eye coordination. Then they also told her to meditate, and overall continue to use her strengths and know her weaknesses.
"You're stubborn," Sergeant Vorik told her after their match. "That's good and bad. Good because you don't give up. Bad because sometimes you should know when to retreat and regroup. Work on that."
And to be honest, none of them really won a single match against the instructors, not even Himdal who won the singles duel against his fellow recruits.
But that was a good experience, and the instructors could gauge the strengths and weaknesses of their students.
Now for the final battle, the instructors made it an interesting scenario. It involved teams chosen randomly for each of the four remaining teams.
As there had been dropouts, it has been decided that there would also be a consolidation of teams. Alina and Bretta are the two remaining platoons. The teams now have Alina One with twenty-eight members, then Alina Two with twenty-seven. It was also the same with Bretta One and Two, evenly distributed.
For Brina's team, they were tasked with the scenario which entailed securing cargo, which was escorting it to another nearby settlement. Their task was to prevent the highway robbers, which in this scenario were the instructors, from ever touching their cart, which would be the one they would be using as their mock up cargo.
The new Lieutenant in their team was called Michael Buurg. Slightly arrogant but somehow he had a good head. He spaced out their team to cover all angles of attack. He assigned three rear guards and three vanguard, which would act also as scouts. The rest of the team remained with the cargo to defend it.
And as expected, they didn't last long enough against the five veteran instructors who already had experience, actual combat
and strength far better than their own. Their team coordination was also horrendous, which led them to have their cargo captured. Their new leader's ego made them lose more. Poor commands and other factors. In the end, they found out their weakness. Lack of teamwork and overall cohesion.
The instructors didn't go easy on them. Within ten minutes, the cargo was captured, half the team was "dead," and the rest were scattered.
Afterward, the instructors gathered them all together.
"You failed," Head Instructor Kim said bluntly. "But that's okay. It is better for you to fail here now while you are still learning. This was designed for you to fail. Five trained guardsmen against twenty-seven recruits who've only been training for two months? You never had a chance."
"Then why make us do it?" someone asked.
"Because out there, in the real world, sometimes you won't have a chance. Sometimes you'll be outnumbered, outmatched, and outmaneuvered. And you'll still have to try. You'll still have to protect whatever you're guarding, whether it's cargo or people or the town walls. Understanding that, accepting that, that's part of being a guardsman. You may have failed here but you have learned why and you could improve on that, but out there, there is no such thing as second chances."
Phase one was now done, and they were congratulated by their instructors, saying that the hardest part was done. They encouraged them to never lose hope, and phase two would start a week later. Yes, they would be given a week of rest.
When they were dismissed, Brina felt a strange mix of emotions. Pride that she'd made it through. Exhaustion from the constant fighting. Anticipation for what came next.
"We did it," Elena said, linking arms with Brina as they walked toward the gate. "Phase one is done."
"Yeah," Brina agreed. "We actually did it."
"A week off. I'm going to sleep for three days straight."
Brina laughed. "Me too. And eat. Real food, not just training rations."
As they passed through the gate into Lowwinds, Brina looked back at the training grounds. Two months ago, she'd been terrified of this place. Now it felt like a second home. She'd bled here, cried here, learned here, grown here.
And in a week, she'd come back and do it all over again.
But for now, she was going home to her brother, to enjoy her bed, to get a week of rest.
She'd earned it.