I followed the NPC in front, first lifting my left foot, and when placing my left foot down, returning my hand to my side.
At that moment, the circle under my feet turned green.
"Good! Now let's do turning in place. As long as all of you can manage five consecutive turns without anyone getting an 'X' under your feet, we'll pass... Turn in place right, right-face."
Which side is right?
I momentarily forgot which side was right and only moved after seeing the NPC in front turn.
A large 'X' appeared under my feet.
"Wrong! Player ID001 (Wang Wu yi) was one beat slow, Player ID133 (Lai Xin Hui) only turned her left foot 45 degrees, Player ID134 (Chow Zi Qian) turned the wrong direction. Everyone return to your original positions, we'll do it again," the commander said.
In the subsequent turns in place, the three of us kept making mistakes. Either our feet were lifted too low, our movements were too fast or too slow, or we turned the wrong direction.
The three of us were like fools: one failed 'Left-face' six times, one failed 'About-face' eight times, and one failed 'Right-face' five times.
Gradually, I started getting the hang of it, and the 'X' no longer appeared under my feet. Zi Qian was the same; I noticed the circle under his feet was green several times.
But Xin Hui...
"Wrong! Player ID133 turned too quickly. Everyone return to your original positions, let's do it again," the commander said.
"What do you mean I was too fast! It's obviously the others who are too slow, and you call out the commands too slowly as well," Xin Hui argued with the commander, not for the first time.
Seeing Xin Hui, who was usually calm and composed, getting so worked up over a marching drill, I patted her shoulder to comfort her: "Don't be angry, why argue with an NPC? He won't understand. Don't be nervous, take it slow, we'll get it."
"He says 'about-face' twice, and I don't know when to turn."
"That... well..." I didn't know how to explain it to Xin Hui. "I go by feel, I watch the person in front and move when they do."
"You turn after he says 'about-face' the second time. There's a rhythm to it, like this..."
Zi Qian, who had never learned marching, seemed to understand the techniques better than me, who had attended a few practice sessions. He patiently explained a lot to Xin Hui, but she kept making mistakes.
Xin Hui repeated it many times but still couldn't grasp the trick. Even the NPC named Kabilan, carrying a first aid kit and loitering nearby also seemed unable to bear watching anymore. He even took the initiative to teach Xin Hui marching techniques.
"Classmate, don't worry. Actually, marching is quite simple..." The tone of the NPC Kabilan's voice was different from the NPCs I'd met before, carrying a slight dialect accent.
I looked closely at this NPC. He wore a Red Crescent uniform, had slightly dark skin, and was a bit chubby. His bangs were styled very high, sporting an exaggerated, deep red pompadour hairstyle.
When he started instructing Xin Hui on marching, his speech was witty and humorous. When personally demonstrating the marching movements, his actions were also very natural. He didn't feel as rigid as the story-driven NPCs I'd encountered in previous preliminary quests.
Could he be the boss for this quest?
Before I could ponder further, my thoughts were carried away by the commands, and I continued the marching practice very cautiously.
For the rest of the practice, we just heard...
"Wrong! Player ID133..."
I don't know if we repeated it dozens or even hundreds of times, but we finally managed five consecutive correct turns.
"Well done, everyone. Take a break, then assemble in front of Building 5. The competition is about to start. We must win this year!" the commander said.
...