CHAPTER 6: ONE YEAR

After all the fights had taken place, the moment finally came when Rurik would announce the test results.

"Of the forty who gathered here today, twenty-six will become rookie soldiers."

"As I said, it wasn’t necessary to complete all the tests. Just show potential, and then I will mold you into soldiers." Rurik’s voice echoed through the courtyard as he pointed toward the approved recruits.

Soon, only twenty-five young people remained in the courtyard, while the others left the barracks.

Some had big, proud smiles. There were also those who didn’t want to be there, but Rurik’s threat not to hide had ended up making them give their all.

"You now have to choose. You can live in your homes or in the barracks. But be here when the sun is rising."

"No delays. UNDERSTOOD?"

"UNDERSTOOD, CAPTAIN RURIK." They all shouted even louder.

"Good, training begins in two days. You’re dismissed!" Rurik said, turning his back to everyone and walking toward the mess hall.

After Rurik disappeared from the young men’s sight, everyone left the barracks.

****************************************

The smell of meat and fresh bread filled the air of the mess hall. It was practically empty for now, with only four soldiers sitting and chatting in a corner.

On the other side, there was a child who had already eaten more than ten loaves of bread and still had a few more on the table.

Kyrian was happy, he was very hungry and was finally able to eat properly. In fact, ever since his body had suddenly grown stronger, he always felt hungrier than usual.

But during the trip, he had always had to eat little, just enough. Now he was going to enjoy it.

Meanwhile, the conversation of the other guards reached his ears.

"How many do you think will pass this time?" one of them said.

"I doubt fifteen will pass, at most ten, like every year," another grumbled.

"No, this time it’s different. We need more people. The bandits are cutting off our only supply route. If it keeps up, the city will start to go hungry."

Kyrian chewed as he listened to every word.

’Again this thing about bandits... Rurik is very strong, can’t he get rid of them?’ he thought curiously.

At that moment, Rurik entered the mess hall. The four soldiers greeted him respectfully. He nodded back before approaching and sitting at the table where Kyrian was.

"You’ll live here in the barracks, I imagine. You’ll get a room later. You won’t train with the others, but I will train you personally every day."

"We’ll start early tomorrow," Rurik said, looking at the little one eating his third loaf of bread since he entered the mess hall.

"Great, I’ll be in the courtyard as soon as the sun rises," Kyrian said with an expressionless face but happy inside.

Then the rest of the day passed. Kyrian didn’t stay idle during that time. He walked all over the barracks, getting to know every place in the two main buildings. The older soldiers looked at him with suspicion.

But they soon realized that, despite his childish appearance, he didn’t act or speak at all like a child. Though he was a bit naive at times, when interested in something in the barracks, he asked direct questions, without beating around the bush, and only stopped asking when his curiosity was satisfied.

Many soldiers became the target of his questions about the city and about what the soldiers did. But the one who heard his voice the most was certainly Captain Rurik.

Then night came, and Kyrian was in a small room on the third floor of one of the barracks buildings. It had a bed, a wardrobe, a wooden chair, and a table. There was also a book with all the rules and things a soldier should do there.

After reading, Kyrian quickly lay down to sleep.

When he opened his eyes, it was still night but starting to lighten. For some reason, he had always woken up at this time since he was little.

He left the room quickly and sat on the courtyard floor, waiting for Rurik to arrive.

After about thirty minutes, heavy footsteps were finally heard.

Kyrian opened his eyes, and Rurik was already in front of him, holding two wooden sticks. He handed one to Kyrian and kept the other.

"Hmm, you arrived early, it’s good to be excited." Rurik began to explain.

"I’ll explain how it’s going to work. Usually, I start by training the bodies of the new soldiers. You’ll also do that, but not as much as the others."

"You already have ridiculous strength. I don’t know exactly how you can have that strength. Were you born like this?" Rurik asked curiously.

"Actually, no, but ever since I was born, I’ve been able to see things everywhere. Like here, for example, here, here, and here. These particles I see, I don’t know what they are, but I’ve always put them into my eyes, and then one day I suddenly got stronger, much stronger." Kyrian spoke sincerely about what had happened, pointing to various particles present, hoping Rurik would know something about them.

"Particles?" Rurik asked, confused, seeing nothing.

"Yes, I’ve always seen them, but I don’t know what they could be. Do you know?"

"No... I have no idea what those things are. But if they made you strong, it’s really something incredible," Rurik said with envy.

"I only know two ways to get stronger, one is to train your muscles to the limit. The other is to use a martial arts technique, along with countless medicines, to temper the body and become a martial artist."

"The second, very few people have the talent for. But I know you definitely do. And that’s why I’ll try to get you to become a disciple of one of them." Rurik said excitedly.

Kyrian didn’t fully understand what Rurik meant, but he understood it was to get stronger, and if that was the case, he’d be happy.

"Alright. Now let’s start, stand up and attack me." Rurik said, extending the stick.

Kyrian did the same, but when Rurik looked at it, he was extremely surprised.

Then, without waiting long, Kyrian stepped hard on the ground, propelling himself forward at speed and swinging the stick toward Rurik.

Rurik raised his stick, fully blocking the attack and sending Kyrian flying backward, his hand trembling slightly.

Although surprised, Rurik now frowned. He approached Kyrian until he was beside him. Kyrian thought Rurik was going to say something and praise his stance and the strike. But he was wrong.

Instead of praising him, Rurik gave him a light tap on the head. It didn’t hurt, but he didn’t understand why.

"Hey, why are you hitting me? I’m sure I attacked correctly." Kyrian said, slightly irritated.

"You’re copying my movements from the fight yesterday, aren’t you?" Rurik asked, crossing his arms, not caring about the boy’s complaint.

Kyrian nodded, confused.

"Kyrian, don’t do that again. Your body is completely different from mine. Lighter, your muscles aren’t trained like mine, and most importantly, your size."

"My fighting style isn’t at all compatible with your body. If you were older and copied the movements, fine, but it would still be bad."

"Each body is different. Instead of copying exactly what I did, learn the why of each movement, of each muscle used. And then adapt, adapt it for your use, for your body that hasn’t fully developed yet." Rurik said calmly so Kyrian would understand.

Kyrian tilted his head slightly but understood. Indeed, when he had moved like Rurik, he had done the same movement his eyes had seen, without any flaw. But he hadn’t felt entirely comfortable when attacking, still, he thought it was right.

He then closed his eyes, feeling his muscles. He moved with his eyes closed, his hands gripping the stick as he swung from side to side.

Then he remembered Rurik’s movement and did it again.

But this time, something had changed. If someone were watching, they wouldn’t notice, but Kyrian had used strength at different moments, different muscles. Even though the attack looked the same, Kyrian had perfectly adapted it to make the movement comfortable for him to use.

Rurik, watching from the side, held himself back from letting his jaw drop to the floor.

’Damn. This boy is really... a freak,’ Rurik thought. He had expected it would take a while for Kyrian to understand and then even longer to actually do it, but the boy managed on his first try.

"Like this? I think I got it, now it really feels right. Come on, I’ll attack again to test it," Kyrian said with a smile at discovering something new.

Rurik looked at the boy and laughed.

And so, the real training began.

***********************************

Days slowly turned into weeks. Kyrian ran more than everyone. Trained more than everyone. His muscles now outlined themselves under his skin, small but compact and defined. His strength increased continuously, but not as much as he’d like.

What really increased at an absurd speed was his technique.

Kyrian had superhuman endurance, he trained morning, afternoon, and night if Rurik didn’t stop him. In addition, he began to learn more about the city and the world. Rurik taught him everything he could.

But Kyrian’s favorite part was actually when he had to fight Rurik.

In the beginning, the captain held back. His movements were fast but simple, his strength restrained.

But Kyrian learned quickly, extremely quickly. His eyes saw everything, and his increasingly trained body now reacted with total precision to it.

He quickly became aware of how to control his body, no longer wasting the extraordinary advantage his eyes gave him in battle.

Soon, the fights between the two became a spectacle at the barracks. They started with sticks, but after a while, iron spears began to be used.

They clashed in sequences so fast that the other soldiers could barely keep up.

The nickname ’monster’ and the respect had already spread among all soldiers, whether new or old.

Kyrian didn’t care, he just wanted to improve more and more.

And so, a year passed.