Cthulhu Gonfalon

Chapter 831: Vol V Chapter 191

There was an ancient saying that if an army was strong enough, even a small troop would have the power and the might of a thousand troops.

Sui Xiong was not a believer in these kind of sayings. The earth was unlike this world. There were no mid-ranks or higher levels. The ones who had already comprehended their combat power and were so strong that they far exceeded the human body’s limit by a few dozen times, a few hundred times, a few thousand times… were freaks. With only the strength of their body made out of flesh and blood, how did they find a way to cheat to possibly get such power?

Perhaps such a saying would only be a beautified fantasy on Earth. But in this world, it was a real possibility.

“How… how did it turn out like that?” Sui Xiong asked. He was a little astounded to see the group of soldiers on the ground who were marching in a neat formation as they passed the front of the platform to be inspected by the core leaders of the Republic of Northwest.

There were not many of them, about a hundred at the very most. As an experimental force, there was no need for too many soldiers in the first place. But this mere hundred people walking in the public square truly carried an imposing air, as though there were really thousands upon thousands of troops charging over.

Well actually, it was not necessarily wrong to say that they were equivalent to thousands upon thousands of troops. This ordinary “thousands and thousands of troops” might not be able to defeat this mere hundred people—who had ever seen an army composed entirely of figures officially up in the ranks? There was simply no need to mention how surprisingly high the ratio of mid-ranks was; there was probably one out of every five to six who was mid-ranked within the team.

In general, among the so-called “elite soldiers,” there would be one out of every ten who was a past master at the junior level. They were responsible for grassroots commanding during battles, and when necessary, they would have to fight the tough battles as well. If possible, arrangements would be made in a way where among every hundred people, there would be at least one mid-ranked soldier. This could greatly improve the army’s emergency response ability. Even if this mid-ranked person was just assigned the post for the time being, something was always better than nothing.

But even in this world dominated by masters, perhaps it might not be difficult to find masters at the junior level who were experts in particular fields. But the search for masters at the mid-ranked level was not as easy. Someone at the mid-ranked level had no need to go to the army to earn a living at the risk of losing their lives. If he were to enter society, he could make it to a high-level position in a sizable organization. If he were to enter politics, most of the truly sealed knights would be more than glad to welcome him as a colleague or assistant. Generally speaking, so long as one did not set their sights too high, many barons or viscounts would be willing to employ an adventurer like himself with offers like a knight-to-be without any fief or a well-paid official position.

It was like on Earth, a brawny man who was good in fighting was not a big deal. But a person who could score well in an official combat match could find himself a decent job anyhow—every gymnasium, every martial arts studio in this world would never turn down an official fighter as a coach.

As for the high-ranked adventurers, these people were the real deal. Unless there was really going to be a major battle, then even those with positions as military officers were unlikely to catch a glimpse of them. No matter how many soldiers and horses there were, it would be impossible to catch sight of these high-level masters in the army, not to mention thousands upon thousands of people.

Still using the situation on Earth as an example, these high-level masters were probably the equivalent of world-class fighters. And fighters who had reputations like those of action movie stars at that. Even if such a person was willing to put his life on the line to defend his country, there would be no country retarded enough to take him as an ordinary soldier. Either he would be arranged as a combat instructor in specialized training bases for elite soldiers or be arranged as an image ambassador in the army to highlight the national image… it would be roughly like that.

Just like bright pearls would not be cast into darkness, a man of talents would not find his abilities unrecognized. If there was anyone who felt that his position did not reflect his true value, then there were only two possible reasons: one, his sense of ego was overwhelmingly high, or two, he was in the wrong industry.

For example, the God of War of the mortal world who could clearly throw punches at leopards and serve kicks to crocodiles had become a painter instead of a coach. Therefore, this was an inevitable loss on his end.

All in all, masters of mid-ranked level or even higher levels were generally rarely seen in the army. Among these hundred people, there were close to 20 who were mid-ranked, while the remaining ones were merely at the lower level. If nothing else, just based on their own martial ability, they could probably defeat an army of ten thousand men that were not under the command of any master. And they would be as suave as like how historical stories had depicted them to be, charging from place to place and weaving through military arrays without losing a single man.

“Where did you find such a group of people to train?” Sui Xiong asked out of curiosity after recovering from a moment of astonishment.

Leonard shook his head and said, “I don’t have the ability to find so many masters to train. In fact, before I started the training, out of this hundred people, there were barely 30 who were in the ranks. The remaining ones were not even in the ranks.”

“What?!” Sui Xiong exclaimed out of great surprise. “You mean to say, in as short as half a year’s time of special training, among all these people, those who were not in the ranks are now in the ranks, and many of those who were in the ranks are even promoted to mid-ranked?! Your training efficiency is seriously no joke!”

“I was very surprised too,” Leonard said, “For half a year, I practically watched them grow and get stronger bit by bit. I have every intention of continuing to train them, but then I realized that their pace of improvement is slowing down, and eventually it will approach the point of a standstill.”

Sui Xiong nodded. If this group of people could still continue to grow stronger, then it was certainly worth continuing to train them. If there was a stable channel for training mid-ranked masters or even high-ranked masters, then even without a strong army, the Republic of Northwest could still become the most powerful country in the world. There would be no other country better than it.

Unfortunately, this training method seemed to raise their level up by a notch. It was still a blemish in an apparently perfect thing.

“So, why not consider recruiting some at mid-rank level to train?” Sui Xiong asked. “If you could manage to train some to reach the high-ranked level, it will be much more valuable than training the national defense force.”

Leonard smiled and said, “I thought so too. But my ability to create clones is limited. As you know, though I’m a little more powerfully than the evil gods. I have not, after all, truly combined my priesthoods, so abilities like creating clones and such are all very limited.”

“Then, let me try the training too,” Sui Xiong said. “Though my noumenon is still busy with a major event, creating two to three clones of weaker Divine Power shouldn’t be too difficult.”

Therefore, the matter was settled as such.

Keeping his identity hidden, Sui Xiong borrowed the official channel of the Republic of Northwest to issue a recruitment order.

According to the recruitment order, a Legendary Master of high seniority wished to find a group of mid-ranked young adults for special training that could enhance their capabilities. The stint in this training would take about half a year to a year.

If the candidate managed to pass the special training and move up the ranks, he would need to serve the Republic of Northwest for 30 years. If he merely improved in capability but did not move up the ranks, he only needed to serve 10 years. If he did not even improve in capability, then by the time the special training came to an end, the elder (Sui Xiong) was willing to give away a large sum of money—the equivalent of earnings of a relatively dangerous adventure and a practical magic kit that was tailor-made, as compensation for the hard work put in during this period of time.