"You also want to play wrestling? Are you still a human being?" Winters and Ike came off the field and were helping each other take off their training armor.
The weapon of criticism is obviously not as good as the criticism of the weapon. Winters became more and more angry as he talked, so he punched Ike on the back. Ike is Axel's nickname, and Axel's friends usually call him this.
There was a muffled sound when the fist hit Ike, but Ike didn't feel anything - he was still wearing training armor. Winters was so painful that he shed tears.
"You're right, I'm not a human being. Please help me get rid of this burden. If I wear it for a while, I will really die." Ike helplessly supported Winters.
The training armor they wear is essentially half of the full-body armor of the cavalry. This kind of armor cannot be put on by one person, let alone taken off. Therefore, in the swordsmanship class, the students fight with each other to help each other put on and take off the armor.
This insincere self-criticism made Winters even more angry, and he punched Ike in the back again. But this time he was smarter and helped Ike take off his armor first. Ike groaned in pain.
After the two took off their training armor, they hurriedly took off their upper body armors. Their armors were completely soaked as if they had just been fished out of the water.
The swordsmen will suffer so much when they compete with each other in summer, and this cotton coat must bear at least as much responsibility as the sun. The Senas Gulf area where Winters is now located has a natural heat storage pool like the sea, so the climate is warm.
Therefore, in the Gulf area, this kind of cotton armor can be used as winter clothing, but wearing it in summer becomes a kind of torture.
"How did those knights wear such a thing to fight in the summer? They also wore more chain mail than us, right?" Ike sighed as he took off his clothes.
"If we don't fight in the summer, it will be over. If we have to fight, the enemy will have to wear such a complete outfit anyway, so who can endure it better?" Winters threw the clothes he took off on the ground without thinking. Answer thoughtfully.
They put their swords and armor on the stone bench, and quickly ran to the large water tank in the corner of the training room, shirtless. They picked up the water ladle and started drinking light salt water.
Where does the light salt water come from? It was the swordsmanship instructor who had prepared a large vat in advance, enough for all the students in the training room to drink from.
People in this era do not understand what ion balance is, nor do they understand what water intoxication is. But the instructors at the Army War College already know that you must not drink a lot of water to quench your thirst after sweating violently, otherwise your life will be in danger.
This valuable experience cost them two lives.
The light salt water in the swordsmanship class actually contains such a profound and simple truth: using a certain technique does not mean that you need to understand the deep principles of this technique. Birds can fly without understanding aerodynamics.
It's a pity that Winters, who is standing by the water tank and drinking water, has no wisdom at all. All he can think about is the game just now.
Putting down the water ladle, the two of them walked leisurely back to the stone bench where they put their equipment. In the square playing field, the clanging sound of long swords rang out and stopped. The competition continues, this time with another group of swordsmen.
Ike seemed to still remember the proper appearance and manners of an officer, while Winters swung his feet to the ground without any regard for appearance requirements. The cool touch of the stone floor made him feel particularly comfortable.
But as soon as the body relaxed, the pain returned. The pain coming from Winters' left shoulder was reminding him: You just lost eight points in a row.
He lowered his head and looked at his left shoulder. A large area on his shoulder was turned blue by Ike's heavy slash just now. The bruises spread to the collarbone, and everything that Winters could see was covered in blood. It is conceivable that the shoulder sockets and other places that he cannot see are obviously the same.
"Look." Winters pointed to his shoulder and said, "I thought you broke my bones just now. If I wasn't wearing armor, I guess you could split me in two with this sword."
Ike saw the bruise on Winters' shoulder, and he said guiltily: "It's true that I didn't control my strength well. I should have stopped my strength in the situation just now. I was shocked when this sword hit you. I didn't expect it." This time it will be so strong."
But is Winters really complaining about Ike? of course not. He didn't have any complaints about his friend in his heart. He knew it very well: isn't it normal for swordsmen to bump into each other? If there is no danger, what are they doing wearing this armor?
Although there are safer training swords, the instructor still asked them to compete with real swords without sharp edges. What they wanted was the effect of causing minor injuries from time to time.
Deep down, Winters didn't care at all about the blow Ike struck him with. Winters himself didn't realize that he was talking trash now because he was nervous. He was unconsciously looking for topics to cover up what he was going to ask next.
Let him ask directly, but he won't be able to ask. He will feel ashamed, afraid that the atmosphere will be awkward, and worried that he will not hear the truth.
Let a group of boys get along day and night, and sentimental traits will be despised. Everyone will try their best to pretend to be a tough guy who doesn't care about anything, and Winters is the same.
Winters' throat moved. He deliberately avoided eye contact with Ike, pretending that his attention was all on the competition in the arena, and only showed Ike the back of his head. He asked Ike in the most relaxed tone he could pretend: "You guy, did you deliberately give way to me in the previous rounds?"
Winters couldn't see Ike's expression, but he could hear Ike's natural tone: "No, I never intentionally played poorly or hit the sword intentionally. You were really good in the previous rounds. It's pretty good, very steady. When you got the match point, I really thought I was going to lose this time. I was so anxious that I couldn't control the strength of the sword in my hand. Otherwise, I wouldn't have cut you so hard."
Winters is now in a good mood. He now confirms that his lead over Ike this time was due to his strength, rather than being deliberately let down. Thinking of this, he suddenly felt regretful, because it also meant that he really had a chance to win this game. It was his own final gaffe that caused him to lose the good game.
But no matter what he thought in his heart, he must not show timidity on his lips. Winters said cheerfully: "Fart, I think you just thought about it. Let me get the match point first, and then you can make a comeback."
Ike burst out laughing after hearing this.
The swordsmen on the field played a wonderful round of offense and defense, and Winters and Ike also clapped their hands in admiration.
"I think if you spend more time exercising and practicing swordsmanship, you will definitely win just now." Ike looked at Winters' arms that lacked lines, and then looked at his obviously more muscular body. arms, suddenly said seriously.
Ike began to lay out the facts and reason: "Look, you haven't practiced swordsmanship in your spare time, have you? Just practice it in swordsmanship class, and don't practice it if you don't have class. Look, you haven't been able to practice strength either. Right? You've never lifted a stone bell or pulled a roller, have you?"
"Just like this, you can also score seventeen points. You can do it. I think you are good enough." Finally, Ike came to a conclusion.
"I really don't know now whether you are praising me or mocking me." Winters looked at Ike's strong arms and chest muscles and said with a wry smile.
"Of course I'm complimenting you." Ike picked up the long sword and sat on the stone bench, waved it twice, and said to Winters: "If you think about it, swordsmanship is essentially a martial art that relies on on-the-spot judgment and one's own strength. . If you don’t train your strength deliberately and your muscles are not developed enough, you will naturally suffer a loss during sword competition. If you don’t practice your sword skills diligently, then you..."
"Stop talking, stand up and I'll find something." Winters quickly interrupted Ike.
"What are you looking for?" Ike stood up doubtfully.
"I'm going to find a crack in the ground and crawl into it." Winters.
"I'm really complimenting you." Ike said sincerely.
The truth hurts more than lies. Winters couldn't bear it any longer and quickly begged for mercy: "Please stop talking, Master. I'm so ashamed that I want to hang myself from the rafter now. When I get home, I promise to make sure to do extra work every day." Practice more, keep lifting weights, and develop a body as muscular as yours."
The "master" Winters refers to is the abbreviation of "Fencing Master". In the Alliance, swordsman master is not a title that swordsmen can use casually when bragging to each other, but a formal title that requires certification from the blacksmith guild.
Only those swordsman masters who have great influence and whose swordsmanship theories are widely recognized and studied will be certified as "Swordsman Masters". And so far, no living person has been able to obtain this honor. The title of Swordsman Master has only been awarded posthumously to the dead.
Ekko was extremely accomplished in swordsmanship. When he was still in the preparatory school, no one in his class could beat him. At that time, Ike had to be punished by an adult. By the time Ike reaches puberty and is fully developed, he is invincible to all ages.
All soldiers from the Army Academy had learned long swords in swordsmanship classes, but no one from the instructors to the students could score 20 points from Ike. Winters dared to say responsibly that the Army Academy can no longer test Ike's level. Ike's level is a level higher than everyone here. Ike is the chief swordsman of the military academy who has not been certified.
So I don't know since when, Ike had the nickname "Master of Swordsmanship" in school, which was soon shortened to "Master". When the conversation was pleasant, even the teacher would jokingly call him "Master".
The most famous thing is that when Winters and Ike were in their second year, General Taylor, the Minister of War of the United Provinces and the Republic, went to the military academy to inspect the teaching situation. When he learned that the student in front of him was named Axel, he blurted out: "You are the one Master?" The jaws of the students next to him dropped. From then on, the master's nickname spread even further.
However, although this nickname is on the one hand an affirmation of Ike's swordsmanship within the military academy, on the other hand it is also a secret attempt to embarrass him: because no living person has yet been able to hold this title.
This is a nickname that has both positive and derogatory connotations. Ike himself does not seem to care about this nickname. He has never regarded himself as a master of swordsmanship, but he is not angry when others call him master.
However, as a good friend of Ike, Winters would never refer to Ike as "Master" unless he was trash-talking each other for fun. Winters didn't like the curse on his friend that was implicit in this word. .
Hearing Winters call himself "Master", Ike also laughed and scolded: "It's strange that you can practice. You don't practice at school, but you can practice diligently every day when you go home? Students don't study when they go to school and say they go home. Kuangxue, do you believe it? You also said that you want to develop tendons? When you come back from Hailan next year, I guess your current swordsmanship skills will be lost."
Winters blushed, and he said shamelessly: "In my opinion, for a prospective officer who will assume battlefield command responsibilities in the future, a smart mind is more important than well-developed muscles. So it is important for me to maintain adequate sleep. military obligations."
Then Winters began to settle accounts for Ike: "You do the math again. What if I still can't beat you after practicing for a year? Anyway, I can't beat you without practicing. What if I still can't beat you after practicing? , then wouldn’t I suffer a huge loss? So not practicing means preserving capital, and preserving capital means not losing money.”
"You see, if you don't practice, you will definitely not lose, but if you practice, you will probably lose a lot. Then if you don't practice, you will make a lot of money. I am satisfied with getting seventeen points, and I don't think I can beat you even if I practice. " Winters confidently preached his own set of myths.
"If you practice and still can't beat me, you're going to lose a lot, so if you don't practice, you're going to make a lot of money. You Hailan people are really business geniuses." Ike didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"When I was thirteen years old, I was sent to the Republic of the United Provinces to attend the military academy preparatory course. If you say that I am a Hailan person, the Hailan people may still regard me as a mountaineer." Winters said with a bad smile: "You will criticize me. It's tantamount to criticizing yourselves. If there is anything wrong with me as a person from the Sea Blue Republic, it must be because I was influenced by people from your United Provinces Republic.
The clanging sound of sword fighting stopped, and the group of students who were competing behind Winters and Ike decided the winner. The two of them also repeated the actions of Winters and Ike. : He quickly took off his training armor and upper body armor, then rushed to the water tank and drank a lot of salt water.
A new group of students came up to suffer. Ike watched them fight with long swords and suddenly said sadly: "Sometimes I can't help but think, what's the point of spending so much sweat practicing swordsmanship? Think about this Masters of armor, they wear an extra layer of chainmail than we do, and they spend more time practicing weapons than we do."
Winters was dumbfounded, but Ike continued: "I only started learning swords when I went to the Army Infant School. The owners of these armors can be trained to become warriors from an early age. But in the end? Isn't it just someone being pulled from a horse? Dragged down and stabbed to death? Shot to death with a musket? Does personal bravery really mean anything in war?"
Winters almost choked to death due to Ike's jumping stance: "Aren't you too immoral to steal my line? Are you worthy of saying this? After all, you have to lose before you are qualified to say this. Kind of a statement, right?”
"I have actually had this idea for a long time. I can understand why you don't like to practice swordsmanship. You are a spell caster, so it doesn't matter if you don't practice swordsmanship. I can still compete in swordsmanship, but if it is in a real world On the battlefield, maybe if you use a spell, I will die. To a spell caster, swordsmanship really doesn't mean much." Ike looked directly into Winters' eyes and said seriously.
Winters and Ike had known each other since they entered prep school six years ago, and it was no secret that some of the cadets were spellcasters. In Winters' view, spellcasting is just one more spellcasting course than ordinary military academy cadets.
At other times, everyone attends classes in the same classroom, eats and drinks in the same cafeteria, and sleeps in the same large dormitory, nothing special. But it wasn't until today that Winters discovered that Ike actually lacked the most basic understanding of Confederate spellcasters.
This is actually not surprising, because for most people—including quasi-officers like Ike who have been educated for many years—the image of a spellcaster is associated with pointed hats, towers, old men with white beards, and all kinds of other things. Such folk legends of gods and ghosts are connected together.
If he hadn't gone to a military school, Ike might never have seen a spellcaster who could breathe - and certainly not one who couldn't.
People with magical talents are rare. Compared with giving birth to a child with magic talent, it is more difficult to select talented people from the vast crowd and train them to become magicians. It’s so difficult that people who are not magicians don’t know where to start.
The known magicians in this world are all royal magicians/court magicians of feudal monarchs. They are scholars, advisors, bodyguards, and thugs to emperors, khans, sultans, and great nobles, serving only the top of the feudal group.
Magicians walked in the palaces of feudal monarchs, and ordinary people had no chance to see them - they should also pray that they would not see magicians.
Who are those court mages who use pseudonyms? Are they really human? At what age were they selected? How were they trained to become magicians? These secrets may only be known to the magicians and rulers themselves.
The screening technology for potential candidates, the training program for magicians, and the methods for realizing spells are all secrets strictly guarded by the top echelons of the ruling group. Ordinary people's understanding of magicians is basically somewhere between "if you cry again, the witch will snatch you away and eat you" and "the brave prince wins an empire by receiving a magic sword from a reclusive mage".
Of course, the Great Gulf Alliance, a country established by common people who overthrew the emperor and nobles, could not have magicians. Not only are there no magicians, the Great Gulf Alliance is also the main victim of the feudal rulers' monopoly on magical power.
In the sovereign war in which the militiamen won the country's independence, a large number of officers and soldiers died at the hands of the court wizards maintained by Richard IV. Madman Richard would cause a bloody storm every time he unleashed a court mage on the battlefield. And until the emperor retreated, the alliance militiamen failed to capture or kill any court mage alive.
The Alliance's magic warfare force was born after the war. After the emperor withdrew his troops and the Great Gulf Alliance was established, Antoine Laurent, a "magician without magical talent", an army general and a great scholar, summarized his combat experience of facing court mages many times during the war, and finally discovered how to Identify humans with magical innate abilities.
General Antoine Laurent immediately invented a matching detection tool. From this moment on, the Alliance Army screened children and teenagers with magical talents in the Alliance every year, and then "persuaded" these children with reasoning, bribery, intimidation, etc. The children's parents enrolled all these children in schools at all levels run by the army.
The seeds are there, but new problems arise one after another. How to train a child with magical talent to become a magician like a court mage? Everyone in the army looked dark.
The magician's training system is one of the core competitiveness of the ruling group and has always been a secret. There is no outside experience to draw on. It was General Antoine Laurent who took the lead in establishing the Army Magical Combat Bureau and began to cross the river by feeling the stones. Starting from a blank sheet of paper, he struggled to explore ways to train spellcasters and how to implement spells.
As of today, the Army Magical Warfare Bureau has been established for 25 years and has just made some achievements. The Magic Warfare Bureau initially divided magic into two major disciplines: magic and alchemy, and divided spells into three categories: fire burning, acceleration, and sound. They found out how to implement twelve spells, and initially formed a " "Independent intellectual property rights" caster training system.
Because magicians are traditionally equivalent to court mage, in order to distinguish them, the military does not use the term magician, but instead refers to those with magic abilities as "spell casters".
In fact, even the Magic Warfare Bureau doesn't know whether the path they are taking is right or wrong. Military senior officials generally believe that although the Magic Warfare Bureau claims to be training magicians, the level of spellcasters is too far behind the court mages they saw back then. The intuitive feeling is also a bit different - maybe it's due to the lack of mystery due to standing too close.
But alliance spellcasters can indeed reproduce some of the spell effects seen on the battlefield that year.
As the saying goes: "Have you never eaten pork, and haven't seen a pig running?"
But the current situation is very special. The Alliance Army has only been injured by pigs. Not only did they not eat the pork, they also did not see clearly how the pigs ran away.
Although the military did not know whether the route pioneered by General Antoine Laurent was right or wrong, based on the simple thought of "something is better than nothing", it still firmly supported the Magic Combat Bureau to continue to go forward.
Winters is a spellcaster, but he was identified as having a talent for spells only after entering the Army Infant School. Among the 171 military cadets in his class, 21 cadets are spell casters.
This is a quite astonishing ratio. Nearly half of the spellcasters in the Gulf Alliance who are the same age as Winters are here, while the other half of the spellcasters are mainly women, as well as a small number of men who are not physically suitable to be officers.
All of these casters studied in the infantry and cavalry departments, but none in the artillery department (the Army Officers Academy only has these three subjects). This is because one of the design goals of the Army's spellcaster training system is to produce as many front-line officers as possible with spellcasting abilities.
The late General Antoine Laurent believed that the Alliance would not be able to cultivate top magicians at the level of court wizards for a long time. Since we cannot follow the elite route like feudal countries, we can only win by quantity.
Compared with Richard IV's cautious use of magicians in war, the Alliance military's strategy is to deploy magical warfare forces to the front line of the battlefield and train as many officers with magical abilities as possible. However, there were some deviations in the execution of this strategy, which will not be discussed here for the time being.
Winters originally thought that the students in the military academy would at least have a basic understanding of spell casters, but he did not expect that even Ike thought that he could kill people with a single spell.
He shook his head and waved his hands to deny it quickly: "I'm not, I didn't, don't talk nonsense. I don't like to practice swordsmanship because I'm lazy. Don't rise to the level of a spell caster. What about being a spell caster? Didn't I just get beaten by you? ?”
"But I can't beat you if you use magic." Ike said matter-of-factly.
"How can I explain this!" Winters covered his face and let out a long sigh.
