Training grounds - Shard Fortress
Yun Qiang, Sun and the others recruits sat in front on Voss. In was still their first day as recruits, after lunch Voss had led them to the training ground and now they were waiting for him to train them.
"Now that everyone is set, we can start training," he took his spear out of the ground and started lightly moving it while talking. "Since, almost everyone is here is at the beggining stages of Qi gathering I will start with the basics, then we will work toward higher levels of training."
He stabbed his spear through the ground, forming a small hole.
"First let's start with some theory, does anyone knows what is Qi mastery?" He looked the group expectantly, however all of them were ex criminals that had reached Qi gathering by chance or were low talent disciples that had turned to crime as a way to progressing and become cultivators since their sects ignored them. So they didn't have any kind of knowledge when it came to cultivation theory.
Seeing that the crowd didn't respond he asked again, while expectantly looking at Sun and Yun Qiang.
"Really? Nobody here has any idea or insight on Qi mastery?"
He was still greated by silence, he slowly shook his head then started explaining.
"Qi mastery is just a way to mesure how good someone is in controling and manipulating Qi," he took his spear out of the ground.
"There are three levels of Qi mastery, the first is Qi controll and it simply means that someone can move and solidify Qi into solid objects like this."
With his free hand he summoned a small wisp of Qi and then solidified it into the shape a simple knife.
"This is the first level of Qi mastery, in this case I used the Qi that is inside my body to form a knife. If you manage to learn this level you will never be unarmed and even if you lose your weapon during a fight, you can summon something to use as an alternative."
He dismissed the Qi knife dispering it into thin air.
"Then there is the second level, material augmentation, it means that you are capable of infusing any object or weapon with your Qi."
He flipped his spear around, holding it by the shaft and showing the blunt, bottom end to the crowd.
"This part of the spear is blunt right? A part of the spear that for all purposes can't cut anything."
He began walking toward an armored mannequin positioned near the center-right of the training ground.
"However if I infuse it with my Qi I can change his properties making it as sharp as a sword."
The tail end of the spear started to have a clear golden glow.
"Like this."
Voss casually swang at the manequin, under everyone attentive eyes the tail of the spear connected with the armor and left shallow cut mark on its surface.
"Obviusly, if you apply it on something that is already sharp then you will get a better effect. But this good enough considering that I'm using a blunt weapon now."
Voss make his spear on his shoulder, then turned toward the wide eyes crowd.
"Then there is the third level, body infusion. Basically you use your Qi to augment the strenght, speed and reflexes of your body. This has various uses both in combat and non combat situation, however it is extremely difficult to do and only experience cultivators can do it."
He looked again at the crowd that was still looking at him expecting some kind of demonstration of the third level.
"Actually while the first level is quite common around the Shard, the second level is already very difficult to reach and in this fortress only ten people me included have reached it. As for the third level nobody here has reached it. The one that is closest to the third level is the fort master but I doubt we can go to him and casually ask him about it."
Yun Qiang's eyes were filled with awe and surprise. Only ten people had managed to reach the second level of Qi mastery, and Voss was one of them. He reassessed Voss on the spot. If the second level was truly that difficult to attain, then Voss was far more experienced than he had imagined.
"If fact the reason I wanted to explain the concept of Qi mastery to everyone isn't because I expect you to reach the pinnacle of the first or the second level during our training," Voss pointed his spear towards the outer wall that were barely visible from their position.
"But our enemies out there might have already reached it. You must be prepared to face opponents who can use Qi mastery in battle. Always gauge your opponent's strength carefully. Never underestimate them."
He let the silence settle, making sure that everyone understood. "Never underestimate your enemy" was a basic lesson that every soldier had to learn in the easy or the hard way. He didn't want them to die or get injured because one of the enemy soldier pulled a knife out of thin air and attacked them while they had their guard down.
"Good. Your daily training will be diveded into two parts, the first part will focus on building your physical strenght so that everyone present will at least complete one of the two body stages required to breakthrough. The second part will focus on Qi control and solidification." "Since today is your first day, we will only do the first part."
Yun Qiang watched Voss with an awe struck expression, the previous demonstration had completly convinced him of Voss ability and now he tried his best to pay attention to his every move.
With a casual motion, Voss waved his hand, and several ropes and circular-shaped weights appeared out of thin air. Yun Qiang had learned just the day before that most officers were given spatial rings, artifacts that allowed their user to store equipment inside a small pocket space. Like many cultivators before him, Voss was using one to summon tools seemingly from nothing.
"Good, we will start with this," Voss pointed at the weight on the ground. "Take them and tie them to your back with the ropes. Sun, Yun Qiang, you get 5 of them. Eveyone else takes three of them."
Yun Qiang did as he was told, to him it made sense that he and Sun had more weight since their realm was more advanced, beside that both of them had completed their first stage in body training so it shouldn't be a big deal to train with 5 weights on his back.
However, this conviction was shattered when he finished tyeing all of them to his back. He could barely stand up. He looked at Sun; he was in better shape, but he was clearly strugling under his calm pretense.
"Now that everyone is ready you can start doing pushups. We will do 5 sets of 20 pushups." Seeing that nobody moved, Voss pointed at the ground. "Start. Now."
Yun Qiang paled a little when he heard this, he even strugled to get up, how was he supposed to do this. He looked at Voss, silently begging him with his eyes, however Voss simply ignored and pointed at the ground again. He sighed, there was no going back now, he had to do it. He started getting into position, almost falling to his knees in the process, and started doing pushups.
After doing one set, he sat on the ground. His back was already drenched in sweat and he was heavly breathing. He looked at his companions; except for Sun, all of them looked just like him and were all panting and resting on the ground after the first set. The one struggling the most was Lee. He was still trying to complete the first set, but from the look of him, Yun Qiang doubted he would finish. Lee's thin arms and abs were trembling, and a look of pain was firmly etched onto his face. Just by looking at him, Yun Qiang could almost feel his struggle. Lee's physique seemed naturally weak and thin, so this kind of exercise was the equivalent of torture for him.
The sound of Voss clearing his mind reached him, forcefully snapping him out of his daze. Everyone around him had already started the second set, and he was the only one resting. With a paniced expression, he started the second set while trying his best to not get crushed by the weight on his back.
5 sets later their entire group was slouching on the ground while panting, even Sun that had kept a calm and composed exterior during the first three sets was firmly resting on the ground like Lee and the others.
The only person who was still standing was their instructor Voss. Yun Qiang looked at him again trying to gauge his mood, he was probably deluded by their performance, however what he found was a kind of 'I expected this' expression. After giving them some time to rest he spoke.
"From now on, Lee you will use only one weight, Sun will use 4, Yun Qiang 3 and the rest will use 2. Now you have ten minutes of rest before we start training your legs."
For a second the training ground was filled with a relieved groan before it went back to breathing and panting. Everyone approved of this, they were just too tired to respond to him.
Later that day Yun Qiang entered the barracks followed by the other recruits, they were extremely tired and dragged their feet as they walked. After the push-ups, Voss had made them run laps around the training ground and perform more exercises, all while keeping the circular weight on them.
It was extremely tiring and Yun Qiang barely had the strength to wash up and slowly walk towards his bed. His companions were in the same state; some of them had to lean on each other just to walk straight.
However, there was a strange sense of pride in him. He had lived through his first day as a recruit, and he had to admit that it wasn't as bad as he made it out to be. Voss didn't beat him like his old instructor Jin, and the morning patrol was just a long walk around the Shard Fortress.
All in all, it's better than my old routine at the sect. ....
Yes, it's definitely better than my life at the sect.
He took off his armor then threw himself in bed, he couldn't stay awake anymore. However, before he could slip into oblivion and get some rest, a strange thought popped up in his head.
It won't last. You are still a recruit, you haven't seen the real battlefield.
That thought lingered on for just a few seconds. Then fatigue overtook him, and he sank into sleep on the rough wooden bed.