Lords of the Heavens

Chapter 441 Spring is Coming
Time flies, and another month has passed. Winter is already halfway over, and it is now the coldest time of the year. The lowest temperature at night has exceeded minus thirty degrees Celsius. It is truly freezing cold and icy.

Li Wei had to take out two fire crystals for each wooden house to use as stoves, along with the heated kang (a traditional heated platform bed), to barely raise the average temperature of the wooden houses to above ten degrees Celsius.

This thing is really useful when it's freezing cold. One piece is equivalent to two sets of heating, and it can save a little bit of ordinary firewood.

However, even Fire Crystal Stone paled in comparison to the refugees' enthusiasm for training.

It has been a month and a half since training began. Most of them are indeed quite slow-witted, but they are incredibly resilient and hardworking, regardless of gender.

For example, the riflemen were mostly women, but even a fifteen-year-old girl could run twenty kilometers every day, pierce ten thousand times with a gun, and not back down even when her hands and feet were frostbitten.

The three heavy infantry squads were required to run ten kilometers with shields and swing their swords ten thousand times a day.

The archers, on the other hand, were temporarily practicing wielding two heavy swords or horse-slaying sabers because they did not have enough bows and arrows.

All of the above weapons were crafted by Li Wei using three-star logs. The training conditions were rudimentary, the training environment harsh, yet the training requirements were extremely high.

Because Li Wei was truly teaching him one-on-one, he also showed unprecedented enthusiasm. There was no way around it; things had come to this point, and if he were still nonchalant and didn't take it seriously, he wouldn't be human.

Starting with individual training, Li Weiyi meticulously adjusted every movement and key point until everyone could accurately mobilize their body, achieving stability and coordination, thus laying a solid foundation.

Then there are two-person formations, three-person formations, five-person formations, formations of swordsmen and spearmen, and formations of dual-wielding archers in combination with the other two troop types.

Five men form a squad, ten men form a platoon, and fifty men form a team. This kind of training is awful and exhausting, but you have to persevere.

The good news is that some people did stand out and were first appointed as squad leaders. Once they were able to manage their squad well, they were then promoted to platoon leaders.

Then, one of them will be selected as the team leader.

Everyone trained very hard, but they never neglected nutrition.

Originally, we ate two meals a day, one in the morning and one in the evening, but now we eat three meals a day.

Li Wei has already opened four purple cards in a row for this reason, but it was all worth it.

During this training, not only did no one drop out, but many more people actually joined in. If they weren't allowed to join, they would secretly practice on their own. So Li Wei had no choice but to include them, making a total of 305 people.

Chris and the other four could only serve as scouts.

The remaining three hundred men were the Imperial Guard, and sometimes Li Wei would wake up laughing in his dreams.

Two months later, these refugees who participated in the training were qualified to be called soldiers.

They have fully mastered everything in the Will Academy training manual. In terms of individual soldier quality, if 100 points is the maximum score, they can get an average of 80 points, which is passing.

If given some basic equipment to compensate for some of the attributes, he could graduate in all aspects except for academic subjects, where he would be inferior to college graduates.

Especially in formation coordination.

That's amazing.

The more someone initially can't even distinguish between left and right turns, the more exceptionally good they become at forming formations and coordinating once they figure it out.

Li Wei would give them a score of 90 for their five-man, ten-man, and twenty-man dual-soldier formations.

Yes, it gives the impression of turning something rotten into something magical, just like a certain Sanduo.

It's important to understand that on a real battlefield, unless an individual soldier's individual skills are exceptionally outstanding, coordinated battle formations offer the greatest advantage.

In any case, Li Wei couldn't offer any more suggestions on this matter. Now, his daily duties consisted of riding his five-star warhorse and charging into the enemy formation at one percent of his strength to practice battle formation coordination with them, or acting as a referee to watch the two teams fight each other, and occasionally playing the role of an emergency doctor.

Ultimately, he was forced to work through the night to carve out fifty sets of wooden helmets and half-body armor, otherwise these guys really didn't know their own strength, and his life potion was almost gone.

As winter finally came to an end, and the training lasted for three and a half months, all the soldiers finally ushered in the much-anticipated moment: their freedom was granted.

For more than three months, we ate three meals a day, each meal consisting of one-star, two-star, or even three-star ingredients. After making up for the previous deficit, the food finally overflowed and bore fruit.

On average, each soldier can get four free attribute points, and a particularly skilled glutton can even get five.

This is partly because Li Wei supplies unlimited food of such high quality that he even dares to take food from Samsung.

On the other hand, their foundation was too weak, so the effect was excellent.

Take Li Wei for example. If you make him drink one-star mushroom and meat soup every day for three years, it won't have any effect.

He now only accepts food that meets three stars or higher; the color, aroma, and taste must all be up to standard.

This time, Li Wei made the same decision regarding attribute point allocation: he allocated all points to defense. He had made this mistake before, without any guidance.

In fact, strengthening defenses first has significant advantages and provides a considerable edge.

Especially the greenhorns.

It's like adding four points to defense at once, which instantly grants an extra point of strength, 10 points of stamina, and 10 points of health.
If you add five points to defense at once, you can also gain one more point to agility on top of that.

That's equivalent to gaining nine attribute points all at once.

So delicious.

Of course, this effect has diminishing marginal returns.

But in the early stages, who dares to say it wasn't appealing?

In short, after this round of skill point allocation, the condition of the three hundred soldiers improved significantly.

Those middle-aged soldiers over thirty-five years old felt younger, as if they had grown a centimeter taller, their backs were no longer hunched, their waists were no longer bent, and they were more energetic.

Then, young soldiers over twenty years old who could still be rescued could generally grow another three or four centimeters in height, reaching an average of at least 1.65 meters.

As for the young soldiers over the age of fifteen, their height has actually been growing. In the past three months, the average height of the male group has increased by 10 to 15 centimeters, from the original 1.5 or 1.6 meters to 1.7 meters, or even close to 1.8 meters.

The women's group can increase by 8-10 centimeters, and their average height can reach 1.6 meters.

This is a sign of good health.

It's like a complete transformation.

Even though they were still dressed in rags and their hair was still unkempt, their spirit and energy were completely different.

Compared to other refugees who did not participate in the training, it's hard to believe that just over three months ago everyone was in the same boat.

However, at this stage, it's time to do something, or more accurately, it's time to reap the rewards.

So, in this early spring when the snow was melting, under the bright sunshine, Li Wei gathered all 305 people together. After activating a Five-Star Heaven-Covering Card, he loudly proclaimed:
"Gentlemen, my intensive training for you has come to an end, but this is not the end, but rather the beginning of a new journey for the rest of your lives and your destiny."

"Now, I want to formally introduce myself. I am not only Ranger George, but also Viscount Li Wei of the Flames. The moment you chose to follow me, you became my subjects. The moment you were willing to accept my training, you became my soldiers."

"Now, listen carefully. You are no longer refugees or free people, but my guards! You must follow me through mountains and deserts, and you must follow me across mountains of corpses and seas of blood. Some of you will die, inevitably. The swords in your hands will inevitably kill more enemies. This is a path of blood and glory."

“You need to follow me with blood and loyalty, and I will reward you and your families with glory and a more prosperous life.”

"Just as farmers are born to cultivate the land, blacksmiths are born to forge iron, and tailors are born to make clothes, becoming a soldier means facing killing and death."

“But I am merciful. If any of you wish to lay down your swords and return to being your farmers, your blacksmiths, your tailors, I will grant your request. From this day forward, you will still be my subjects, and I will never abandon you!”

"So, does anyone want to leave?"

Li Wei smiled as he glanced at the 305 people. He knew they wouldn't leave, even though their initial purpose for joining the training was simple: they didn't want to be abandoned, didn't want to starve, and wanted to eat something good. The meat porridge that they ate two meals a day, and later three, was simply the most wonderful food in the world.

For such food, even dying immediately doesn't seem so unacceptable.

The crowd was silent because they were taciturn and not good with words, but their eyes were bright and ardent. This is what true loyalty is. Once you've decided on a direction, there are no excuses!

Li Wei waited for a full three minutes, but no one left.

"Very well, from this moment on, you are my guards! You are my shields, my spears, my swords, and my brothers and sisters. In the future, fight alongside me!"

After saying that, Li Wei raised the Prestige Stone, which gradually emitted light, and the 305 soldiers were finally able to see the Prestige Stone clearly.

At the same time, several pieces of information also surfaced in each of their minds.

This is a ceremony, and also a vow.

From this moment on, their fates will be intertwined with Li Wei's.

You have successfully trained and established a royal guard whose loyalty to you will forever be anchored at 100. This will be your foundation, and perhaps the sharpest weapon you will use to conquer the heavens in the future.

[Friendly Reminder: A 100% loyal guard requires constant tempering in blood and fire. Activate Legion Mission now? Note: You can first activate a six-star settlement card, then register with the relevant department in the province where your territory is located, and obtain a Legion Card to activate Legion Missions. This will allow you to enter the queue of the Royal Capital's Tactics and Strategy Department. When the Kingdom of Locke faces external wars, you and your legion will be assigned Legion Missions based on the difficulty.]

[Friendly reminder: Legion missions cannot replace cross-border missions and conquest missions. Every lord in the kingdom should complete cross-border missions on time.]

(End of this chapter)