Chapter 24: Preparing for Battle (1/2)

Volume 1 – Between Daybreak and Evernight, Chapter 24: Preparing for Battle

At this point, Qianye came to understand Red Scorpion’s methods.

Every soldier had individual points, and each battalion had their own points. Missions could be completed for points, and those points were used to trade for all sorts of equipment and materials. Red Scorpion Corps’ headquarters was mainly responsible for preparing the most basic materials. To gather anything else, each battalion had to think of their own methods.

Despite being in Red Scorpion Corps together, the differences between each battalion could be enormous, just like they were between Tiger Scorpion and Blood Scorpion. This wasn’t just a competition between quality of soldiers, even the abilities of commanders were compared.

Red Scorpion’s methods were very popular in the Empire, and many forces, especially special forces, liked to use this method of management.

Nan Batian brought Qianye into the Tiger Scorpion encampment, led him to his room, and said, “This is where you will be staying. We don’t have a lot of people here, so it’s very spacious. If you need anything, go find Old Bai, the logistics manager. Have a good night’s rest, for tomorrow is the start of your life as an army rookie!”

“Rookie.” Qianye chanted that word inwardly. He now knew what it meant.

Rookies were special existences in Red Scorpion Corps.

Although every corps would have new rookie soldiers, Red Scorpion was different. In Red Scorpion, young, newly recruited soldiers were considered rookies for their first two years. Only after two years would they be promoted to a Young Scorpion. Only then did they truly become a member of Red Scorpion and earn the right to independently take missions.

After Young Scorpion came Black Scorpion, Red Scorpion, then Scorpion King.

Rookies did not have status in Red Scorpion since they were just rookies. Older soldiers treated rookies as people to lecture and scold, but the position of rookie was also unique.

There was an unwritten rule in the Red Scorpion Corps that, if there was life threatening danger on the battleground, rookies would be the first leave, followed by the older soldiers, and the officers would be the last to leave. In any situation, the lives of the rookies were the first priority. Fresh blood had been used to establish this rule. In the history of Red Scorpion Corps, there was an instance in which, out of a hundred man troop that was killed, two rookies managed to escape.

From the second day, just as Nan Batian said, Qianye experienced how different army life was for a rookie.

In the next few months, Qianye only had a small amount of missions. The rest of his time was spent training. His first priority was to continue cultivating the Combatant Formula. Other than that, he needed to pass ten different classes, including learning how to drive almost all of the ground and air vehicles of the Empire.

Aside from that, there was also special equipment training. Qianye learned many secret things about the Empire, ranging from politics and economics, to things that had been cut from history.

Take the Yellow Springs Training Camp as an example.

The Yellow Springs Training Camp’s supporter from the shadows was the Empire’s Ministry of Military Affairs. It and three other training camps—Silent Flower, Swordrain Springs, and Great Way Range—were the secret, secure training grounds of the Empire. However, compared to the three other training camps, the Yellow Springs Training Camp was far superior than the other three in both scale and success. Even in the eyes of the Empire, against those deep, family-based organizations, it steadily remained in the top three.

The Yellow Springs Training Camp was an extremely special existence. Its approach was completely different from the normal military academies in that it put maximum effort into nurturing top tier killers who could survive under extreme conditions.

From the very beginning, many higher ups of the Empire believed that the method of awakening origin power could only show its true potential in life or death situations, successfully allowing one to become stronger.

During the era when the dark races ruled the world, the number of races that were subjugated and enslaved were in the hundreds. The human race was able to break free because they constantly walked the line between life and death, allowing their power to constantly awaken as they led generations on the path of strength and prosperity.

They believed that the lower levels of the Empire, especially the common folk, currently lived too peacefully and would lose their drive to improve as a result, decreasing the population and weakening the strength of their abilities. Even the Great Qin Empire would eventually fall to ruin because of that.

To remain glorious, explore, and expand, humanity had to survive in a crisis and improve in times of life or death!

This was the opinion of upper levels of the Empire, and it was especially popular at higher levels of the army. The Yellow Springs Training Camp was like a gathering of these type of people. The training camp kept every student in the shadow of death, making them struggle to survive, and allowing their potential to shine in the process.

Despite the high death and elimination rates in the Yellow Springs Training Camp and the objections from superiors, the students it nurtured were undeniably top tier talents.

Their true strength was far beyond numbers on paper. A single graduate from the Yellow Springs Training Camp could effortlessly take three to five soldiers from the Empire’s army. Additionally, under complicated and extreme environments, the strength of the graduates of the Yellow Springs Training Camp could become even more terrifying.

It was said that, in a certain combat exam, three Yellow Springs Training Camp graduates banded together to completely wipe out a mountain fortified by an imperial army!!