Meet Your Squad Members
As Xander lay in bed that night, he stared at his credit balance as reflected in his card, then after a few seconds, he started giggling like a child.
'Heh... Hehe... Money is very good.' He thought and rolled onto his back, still grinning. But slowly, his expression turned into something more contemplative.
'Tomorrow morning, us new students are gonna be divided into squads that will be parts of a larger platoon. Now that funds aren't an issue for the foreseeable future, I can throw myself into training as much as possible,' He turned to his side. 'Who will I he paired with? Will they be competent? What will their personality be like?' He sighed and closed his eyes.
"Guess we'll see." He mumbled and forced himself to sleep, tomorrow was going to be a busy day.
***
The next day, 5am sharp, Xander had already changed into the uniform assigned to him. His undershirt was green, indicating his status as a first year.
He fitted his sword by his side and looked at himself in the mirror before nodding.
"Hey Mary, what do you think?" Xander asked and turned to his taciturn maid.
Mary gave him a cursory glance.
"As splendid as usual, milord." She said respectfully, and Xander couldn't help but find the scene a bit funny.
'Considering what she is, it's a bit weird that she's so respectful. Oh well.' He shrugged and smiled.
"Thanks. By the way, I don't know how long I'll be gone so you don't need to stay here the whole time. You can go out if you want." With that said, he stepped out.
Mary stood in the same spot for a bit before slowly walking to one of the windows. Looking down, she saw Xander along with several other students heading is a certain direction, her expression unreadable, but there was a brief flash of something in her eyes.
***
All the new students arrived at one of the larger training fields, all of them clad in their uniform, some holding their staffs, swords, wands, spellbooks, and so on. Though, some of the richer ones possessed spatial items where they stored their equipment.
Xander looked around and saw that, surprisingly, those with actual weapons like him were in the majority, the ratio being about 60:40.
'Well, it makes sense. Only those who use weapons are likely to come to military schools like this.' He hummed. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a familiar face.
The short figure of Samuel could be seen talking with another boy who didn't seem very keen on conversing, but seemed to listen regardless.
'Huh, that guy is really doing his best to build connections. I wouldn't be surprised if he was trying to build a faction or something. I wonder where he's from.' Xander mused before looking forward.
In front of all of them was a podium where a few seniors stood at attention, and Xander felt his hair stand on end.
'Those guys are dangerous.' He thought. However, when the person who took the podium appeared, that sentiment immediately shifted to him, just with far more intensity.
Xander zeroed in on him instantly. His posture was calm yet straight and firm. His arms were clasped behind his back, and his hair was combed back neatly. A small stubble sat on his chin, and his skin was dark.
Over his left eye was an eyepatch that Xander clocked to be a magical artifact of some sorts, and his one remaining eye was a dull Grey, yet it was as sharp as a blade.
On his uniform near his chest, two stars sat boldly, glinting in the morning light.
'Major General.' Xander resisted the urge to gulp as the man's gaze swept over them, and the crowd of students subconsciously went quiet under his stare.
"My name is Major General Collins, the Headmaster of this school." He immediately went straight to the point, and many of the students stood straighter in recognition.
Xander was the same.
'Major General Collins, a peak level High-Mage with abilities stated to rival those at the Archmage level. It is said that before he attained the rank of a Major General, he successfully repelled a Beast Tide led by an Elemental Spirit with his team for an entire night before reinforcements arrived, and that is just one of his major feats. Now that he has risen to the rank of Major General, his power now would be incomparable to then.' Xander recalled the information he'd acquired about the man.
'So he is our headmaster, huh?'
"Avoma Military school is the leading military institution of the Kharathis Kingdom, and as our new students, you are expected to hold up a certain standard." Collins' gaze lingered on them.
"We do not care about talent. We care about discipline and progress. It doesn't matter how large your mana capacity is, how fast you chant spells, how hard you swing your weapon, or how high your upper limit is. All of that is useless if you lack discipline. If you cannot work with your eventual teammates or follow orders, your potential is meaningless.
Individual glory hold no value here. Complacency will get you killed. And disobedience is no different from treason." Every word was calm, yet the amount of power within them was stifling, with some finding it difficult to breaths.
'He... He's letting his mana leak out.' Xander forced himself to breathe properly, yet the shock and—to his dismay—terror he felt couldn't be suppressed
And how could it?
'It's like I'm in the presence of some unbelievably powerful creature. One that could squash me like a bug...' In his eyes, what he saw wasn't a person, but a humanoid silhouette that was holding back a being of unimaginable power.
It was horrifying.
After letting his words sink in, Collins fitted the lid on his mana back, and more than a few students fell to their knees, panting.
"After this address, all of you will be split into squads, and 5 squads make up a unit/class. Every unit is headed by a sergeant whose job is to ensure you become good soldiers. And I will only say this once." His eye sharpened.
"Obey your sergeants. They have that position for a reason. If for any reason you decide to disobey them, that will be seen as insubordination and you will be punished severely. In the extremely unlikely scenario that a sergeant is indeed being unfair or problematic, go through the appropriate channels, do not do things yourself.
Lastly, when you are assigned to a squad, I do not care if your squad mates are of different backgrounds. I don't care if you are of noble background and they are commoners. Bullying or harassing your squad mates is almost as dire an offense as insubordination and will be punished accordingly. Is that clear?"
Silence.
"I said is that clear?!" His voice thundered through the field with actual physical force, and the new recruits scrambled to give their agreement.
"Good. Now line up at the different tables. The sergeants sitting at them will decide what squad and unite you will join." As he said this, some seniors came carrying long tables and chairs, and once they were placed down, a sergeant sat behind each table which held two sets of badges. And each table held a number through 1-10 on it, and they had a substantial distance between them.
"If there is anything you don't understand, refer to your student handbook. That is all." And with that, Collins stepped off the podium. The only thing is that, well...
No one actually saw him go away. As soon as he stepped off, he vanished.
"Line up!" A senior yelled, snapping the new students out of their reverie, and they quickly formed lines at each of the tables.
'Phew, that was scary.' Xander thought as he rubbed a hand over his chest where his heart was.
It couldn't be helped, the sheer pressure unleashed by Collins was simply that oppressive. The only person Xander believed could output an even higher level of pressure would be Xavier.
Eventually, Xander reached the front of the line at the table he was, which was 7.
"Name." The muscular male sergeant spoke flatly.
"Xander Lowell." Xander quickly gave his name.
"Card type."
"Gold."
"!"
The sergeant looked up at Xander for a few seconds, his eyes narrowing slightly, then he chuckled.
"Ah, so you're the one that pissed off Omar." Hearing this, Xander blinked, then his brows furrowed.
'He... He's not talking about that sergeant from before, right?' Before he could dwell on it, the man took out two badges from both piles in front of him.
The first one was blue and had the number 4 while the second one was red and had the number 5
"Squad 4, unit 5. Go and stand behind the table with that number. Your sergeant will attend to you after everything is finished." Xander took the badges, thanked the man, and went to where table 5 was.
Behind it, a few new recruits were already standing, chatting with one another.
When Xander came over, they asked him which squad he was assigned to, but when he showed them his blue badge, they all shook their heads. Clearly, none of them were in the same squad.
Sighing, Xander decided to wait.
It took roughly 30 minutes before each student was split between their squads and units, and when it finished, the sergeabts stood.
The sergeant of unit 5 was a woman who, surprisingly, held an easygoing smile, which seemed a bit out of place in this school. So it made Xander slightly wary of her.
The fact the sergeants from other units gave them sympathetic looks did not help at all.
She was undoubtedly pretty, though.
She had an athletic build and a youthful aura about her. Her figure was very much above average, and her face was well shaped and even, with blue eyes that sparkled like gems and shoulder length midnight blue hair that was tied into a ponytail.
With her uniform, she looked beautiful and valiant, and many of the boys within their unit seemed enraptured, but Xander just felt more wary.
'In a place like this where everyone is hardened. The outlier is the one to look out for.
"Hello newbies, seems like I'm gonna be your sergeant for the foreseeable future, so let's get to know each other well." As she said that, she spun and started walking.
Everyone from unit 5 glanced at each other before following.
Eventually, they arrived at one of the empty training fields.
"Alright. First thing's first. If you know you are in squad 1, raise your hand." Everyone in squad one raised their hand, and she directed them to a certain spot.
She did this for the remaining 4 squads, quickly dividing them among each other.
Xander faced his squad members and tilted his head a little.
Other than him, there were 4 others (obviously). First was a female who had long ginger hair that reached her waist and a pair of—quite frankly—ridiculously large round glasses that made her look like the epitome of a nerd, and the thick book she held did not help matters.
The next person was, surprisingly, a half elf. They had black hair and pointed ears that were only half the length of normal ears, as well as an androgynous face.
Elves were interesting as, before they matured, they were actually genderless. It was only after they reached adulthood that they would have a gender randomly assigned to them. The only way to circumvent this was if they met someone who they fell in love with, and they would automatically take the second gender for that person.
The third person was a surprisingly tall boy with tanned skin and lean yet firm muscles. He had an angular and handsome face, yet despite his imposing stature, he kept averting his gaze nervously.
Lastly was another girl. And, well...
'Isn't that just a child?' Xander blinked.
He wasn't super tall by any means, but she was even shorter than Samuel. She had white hair and pale skin like that of a baby. On top her head was a large pointed witch hat, and currently, she seemed to be snoozing against a black wooden staff that was even taller than her.
As he was scrutinizing them, they were also scrutinizing him and each other.
"Alright. You have ten minutes to familiarize yourselves with each other, then we will get started properly." Their sergeant said, and the 5 stared at each other for a few seconds, no one saying anything.
"... I think we are meant to introduce ourselves." The girl with the glasses said as she adjusted them.
"Well, since you spoke first, why not go ahead." Xander prompted, causing her to glance at him before she cleared her throat.
"My name is Aubrey." She said simply.
'... I don't know why I expected more.' Xander shook his head.
"My name is Xander. I am a versatile swordsman. Pleased to meet you all." He said politely and got some nods, but he noticed the elf's lip curl disdainfully as they glanced at Xander's sword, but said nothing.
'Oh, you're one of those.' Xander resisted the urge to roll his eyes.
"M-My name is Curtis... I'm an ice mage specialized in defense..." The tall guy said timidly.
'You personality does not match your height sir!' Xander yelled inwardly.
"... Falael." The elf said curtly.
Finally, all of them turned to the dozing girl, and Xander cleared his throat loudly.
"Mm... Mia..." She mumbled, barely coherent.
'Lord have mercy, what is this squad?' Xander sighed resisted the urge to rub his temples to soothe the incoming headache.
"So, we're squadmates." He said awkwardly, trying to break the silence, but he was met with more silence.
"..."
'This is going to be a lot harder than I thought.'