Chapter 17 – First Lessons

+1 endurance

+1 constitution

Max learned what pullups were that evening.

Him, Caleb, and Arnie sat together on the packed dirt faking their groaning and suffering. The rest of the boys were not faking it. At least the ones that had not gotten the second portions of food. The ones that did each gave Max a nod and continued to limp and grumble under their breath in faking soreness they had been saved from.

Max nodded back to them.

“…schedule is set in stone,” the Optio stopped in front of Arnie and stared for a second. Considered saying a word or two and then thought better of it., returning to his back and forth march. “Don’t try to beg for a break or change. It will not help you. Nothing will. You either make it out of this training in one piece or you don’t. Those that do not last will be replaced with more recruits. Those that do will be tested again and again, forged beneath the fires of agony and discipline. Our good Centurion demands excellence, nothing less.”

Max rubbed his arms and shoulders. They felt raw even with the boosts in recovery and healing from the food and his Skill Shard. He couldn’t imagine what Arnie and Caleb were experiencing without that extra three percent of help. The rest of the recruits were another matter entirely. He never wanted to feel like that again.

Now, he had the resources to prevent it if he was careful.

Any of him getting caught using the Skill Shard or the Optio stopping their second portions could spell its doom.

“…Max,” Arnie jabbed him with an elbow like Max usually did to him. “Listen, it’s important.”

Max perked up and turned back toward the Optio.

“…Captain Hector is one of most capable mana manipulators. While no Cursed Legionary can use external magic except for the Mage Division, which you won’t see unless you unlock a mage class down the line, Captain Hector is well versed in internal mana manipulation. Well… he knows how to teach it. That is a skill unto itself. So…” the Optio paused and looked them down one by one. “Which one of you bastards unlocked your magic attribute?”

Max waited a second to see who did or didn’t.

Arnie and Caleb both raised their hands. Out of the fifty something recruits in their batch only nineteen had the magic attribute. Max raised his hand as well.

The Optio paused on him and gave him a wide smile. “Magical Brass Balls? I’m sure the Centurion will love to hear this… or Captain Samson. He will need to amend his story!”

This joke is really getting old…

Arnie struggled to hold back his laugh. Caleb stared at him with those hawk eyes.

Max sighed and zoned back in to listen.

“…first lesson five days from now. Until then, we will make sure you are physically beat down, broken and shattered. All so I can rebuild and mold every single one of you into proper legionaries. Men, true and born. Hopefully, those attribute boosts will start coming in bit by bit. The better they are, the more gathered, the better your chances to unlock a decent class.”

That was it. The single lesson he needed the most to finally learn how to use his Patron Inheritance. Everything was laid out for him and now he will figure out how to manipulate mana to make his Skill Shard more efficient and subsequently provide better healing and recovery.

He wondered how far he could push it. The complex magical circle that appeared had been quite large and had dozens of nodes and paths he needed to work on.

It’ll be good practice for my magic attribute too–

“Thats enough of a break! We jog toward the Pike Forest!”

Everyone groaned.

The Pike Forest was where they all learned the agony of what a pull up was. Hundreds of bars held up by poles driven into the earth. Designed for multiple regiments to show up, work out, and leave out the other side without a clean way to track back as a group.

Arnie covered his face and rubbed hard.

Max got to his knee. He did not stand fully, waiting for the rest of the boys. Standing out was not part of his plan.

“Is that complaints I hear–”

The recruits jumped to their feet before he could finish the sentence. None of them wanted more sets of workouts.

Max, Arnie, and Caleb followed in the middle of the group.

The next five days passed quicker than Max thought possible. Each one was filled with nothing but being worked down to the bones in all ways possible. Not a single muscle in their body had not been made to scream in mercy and beg for a break. Even areas Max hadn’t even known could get sore. Under his arms and below his armpits, his groin, upper back, skull, parts of his neck he didn’t know existed, toes, fingers, ankles, and more.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

None of it was as bad as it could have been. The combination of his Skill Shard and eating seconds during lunch had helped keep him in a better state than the rest of the recruits. Arnie and the rest who followed his lead had an easier time of the situation as well.

More importantly, the benefits were obvious as well, if diminishing after a certain point. The first three days had been glorious. The last two days only accounted for two of the attribute points he had gained in that duration.

+3 strength

+1 vitality

+2 endurance

+2 constitution

Six points in total added to his growing number.

Max’s theory on the amount he got was that it had been tied to his recovery. Strength could be attributed to the workout and secondarily to being not sore, but vitality, endurance, and constitution seemed connected to his Skill Shard’s limited effectiveness and the food.

Again proving that something as simple recuperation at its most base form was just as important as the training itself.

“Max?” Arnie jabbed him with an elbow.

Maximilian blinked as his eyes refocused and caught the sight of a marching batch of teenagers returning from where his group of recruits were moving toward. They wore the legionary maroon and silver and moved in perfect synchronicity.

None of them gawked as they crossed by them the way Max, Arnie, Caleb, and the rest of them did.