Soul of the Warrior

Chapter 126: Baby Steps

Reivyn sat at his field desk, eyes closed. Even with his eyes closed, he was able to see everything inside of his tent in a complete circle around himself. Even the walls of the tent didn't obstruct him from being able to see what was on the other side.

If there was something buried in the dirt below me, I'd probably be able to "see" that, too, he mused.

Reivyn didn't have any sentries standing post outside of his tent. The soldiers had tried to insist on him having a few, but he had assured them that their time would be better spent resting or practicing with their squads.

It had been another week after Reivyn had fully regained consciousness, and he was exhausted. Not being able to switch off his vision and hearing due to his new Skills made falling asleep a supreme chore.

Not only sleeping but even just getting around had been difficult. The nature of his new perception was almost like he was trying to control someone else's body that he was looking at from up above. Except it was even worse than that. Not only was it like he was looking at himself from up above, but also like he was looking at himself from in front of himself. He was used to perceiving things like he was behind himself, in a way. Now, he was simultaneously behind, in front, to each side, above, and below himself, all at the same time.

Last, but not least, every single thing within the range of his Skill was as sharp and in focus as if he was holding it an inch in front of his face, all the way to the very edge of the Skill.

Even though his mind was able to translate all of the information coming in after having adapted to it, that only meant he could see and hear what it was trying to tell him. It didn't actually help with the new problem he faced, which was learning to control it or to just shut his brain off so he could sleep.

His mind no longer worked that way. It was like his eyes were open 24 hours a day, now, even though he actually kept them closed almost the entire time.

Reivyn reached up and touched the blindfold over his eyes. The conflicting views from seeing with his eyes and his Divine Sense still sent him into an extreme dizzy spell, accompanied by an intense roiling in his stomach. It was like he had spun himself around at full speed for several seconds before coming to an abrupt halt, something he had enjoyed doing as a child.

This experience was not fun, though.

Reivyn had decided to treat it like any other training session. He took a deep breath, grabbed the corner of the blindfold, and lifted it above his right eye. He peeked it open for just a moment, and he tried to fight off the side effects as he stared at the interior wall of his tent. He held it for as long as he could before he felt like he was going to gag.

He re-covered his eye when it got too much for him, and after a short break for the world to stop tilting, he did it again with his other eye.

The final portion of his training session was to open both eyes, but he was only able to hold them both open for about ten seconds before it overwhelmed him.

Ten seconds, Reivyn panted. Much better than the 0.2 seconds I could do when I woke up from my stupor.

Reivyn laid his head down on the desk as he regained control of his breathing. His Divine Sense didn't work like his normal vision. It wasn't affected by the tilt of his head, and his perception remained constant as if he was standing straight up and down.

I'll have to incorporate that into my next tier of training. Once I can keep my eyes open for a significant amount of time, I'll need to either figure out a way to control the perception to match how I'm facing, or I'll need to adapt my body to be able to function with the askew view.

He had tried doing a handstand and controlling his body once, but it was like trying to control his movements by only looking in a mirror. Except it had been hundreds of times more difficult.

Reivyn sighed as he sat back up, and without moving his body to peer down at his desk, he studied the map that was lain across it. They had laid off attacking any of the supply lines after escaping the base camp, their number one priority for the war having been accomplished.

There was no way to contact the other three platoons that Reivyn had under his command, though, and he assumed they were still diligently carrying out their orders. The overall plan was to rendezvous with them in the northwest and try to bleed some of the army-sized stations as much as they could. That would entail getting back into the action of stopping their supply chain so that the enemy would be weakened by the time they struck.

The thinking behind the strategy wasn't just that they would be able to lure a significant portion of soldiers away from the teleporter. They had, to an extent, and Reivyn still didn't know why they had returned to set up an ambush instead of staying put to defend the teleporter, but it would also roll into their next step, as well: Luring enemy soldiers away from the southeast, which is where the reinforcements from Wispan would most likely initially engage the war.

If they could open a front on the northwest that required consistent reinforcing, then without the teleporter, the reinforcements would have to come from somewhere. Reivyn could employ guerilla tactics, a word that had just popped into his head to describe the strategy, and then the main force would have an easier time picking off the other bases one at a time.

The biggest factor was whether or not they could do enough damage to slow the enemy down from achieving their goal long enough for the Wispan soldiers to arrive. With the arrival of the presumable commanding general, though, Reivyn wasn't optimistic.

We'll have to take more risks, he thought, tapping lines drawn on the map indicating enemy convoy routes. Instead of hitting smaller squads and stealing a relatively small amount of supplies from them, we'll have to focus on actually causing significant casualties. We don't have the manpower to stage assaults on their main bases. We'll have to continue to bait them out into the open and take them on piecemeal.

He already had some ideas on how to accomplish that, but he didn't want to move to do such a dangerous thing until he had adapted enough to his new circumstances.

He sighed once more as he lifted his hand to his blindfold, ready to continue his training.

"My lady, Major Dobrik is here to see you," a sentry standing post outside of Kefira's tent peeked his head inside, not looking up in case she was in a precarious state of dress. There had never been any accidents or any close calls for that matter, but the men still respected her privacy.

"Alright, send him in," Kefira said, not looking up from the map.

She had gotten a lot better at visualizing what the map represented from a ground view over the past couple of weeks, and things were finally coming much more naturally to her as she strategized the conflict.

The battles had taken a strange turn over the past week or so. There were hardly any convoys or search parties encountered by the patrols that Major Dobrik sent out, which was a far cry from the first week of moving the battalion about.

Most of the directions were cut off by too powerful forces guarding the way, and traveling further southwest had been the only option. Kefira didn't know if they had fallen into some sort of trap, or if she had been lured into removing their soldiers from being a significant enough nuisance. It made trying to counter the enemy's next move quite complicated.

Major Dobrik ducked inside the tent and made his way over, nodding his head to Serilla, ever standing behind her charge's back. Kefira waved for him to take a seat without looking up.

"Have a seat, Major. I'll be with you in just a moment."

Kefira finished her train of thought before looking up. She had sensed that the Major had not taken a seat as she had indicated. She was about to ask him why, but she froze in astonishment for a solid two seconds before leaping up from her seat in joy.

"Jek!" Kefira exclaimed, a huge smile on her face. She rushed over to the other side of the desk and grabbed the man's hands, looking up at him earnestly. "Is Reivyn here? Why didn't he come in with you? Is he alright? Did something terrible happen? Oh no! Something terrible happened! Why aren't you answering me?! Tell me what happened!"

Jek stood in wide-eyed shock, and Major Dobrik's jaw seemed like it was going to hit the ground. The two sentries once more peeked their heads inside, this time actually scanning the room to make sure everything was alright.

"Relax. Relax," Jek said, shushing Kefira after he recovered from his stunned state. "Reivyn's fine. I would have told you that if you had given me a chance to speak." He chuckled wryly.

Kefira retracted her hands and took a deep sigh, placing one hand on her chest. She took a deep breath to steady her nerves before once more indicating for both men to take a seat. This time Major Dobrik did take a seat, soon followed by Jek. Kefira returned to the other side of the desk and joined them.

"Ok, so is Reivyn here?" Kefira inquired.

"No..." Jek began.

"Why not?!" Kefira interrupted him with another outburst. She closed her eyes and took another breath to calm herself again. "I'm sorry. Please continue."

"Err, yes, my lady," Jek coughed into his hand. "Our company was separated from the rest of the battalion as you know, but we didn't have a communication device. Reivyn was in charge of the company, and we picked up an additional platoon that had been right next to us, and we retreated all the way back to the base camp.

"There had been a trap, though, and we didn't have nearly enough men to assault the entrenched camp, so Reivyn led us east until we could escape the noose of patrols." Jek looked down at the desk and saw Kefira tapping the table impatiently. He once more coughed into his hand. "Right. Well. After we got situated and secured some intelligence, Reivyn said he thought he had figured out an important clue.

"There's some sort of main base where the enemy launched their invasion from, and Reivyn speculated that there was some sort of long-distance teleporter constructed there. He took two of the platoons with him to verify. Our mission was to cause enough damage to their supply lines that they sent their forces from their main base to investigate so Reivyn could slip in and verify."

"Ok, and where is this main base camp that you discovered?" Kefira asked.

Jek coughed into his hand, his face blushing briefly before he reached over and pointed to a spot on the map. Kefira stared at the location for several seconds before slamming her fists on the tabletop.

"That's practically on the exact, opposite side of the map!" She yelled. "Major, we have to turn the battalion around..."

"Ahem," Major Dobrik interrupted before Kefira could get going. "I think we should finish listening to what the Lieutenant has to report, first, my lady."

"Yes, of course," Kefira sat back in her seat, indicating for Jek to continue. She bounced her leg, impatient to get on with it and get orders passed down.

"He's not going to stay there, obviously," Jek continued, glancing at the Major out of the corner of his eye. "We weren't just supposed to draw them away from the main base. We're also going to hit all of the convoys traveling all the way west and then north. The plan was to meet back up with Reivyn's platoons in the northwest corner."

Kefira stared at the map once more, taking in the words and extrapolating them to the map. She snapped her fingers at Jek.

"Do you have a copy of the map that contains the enemy routes?"

"Of course," Jek said, reaching into his breast pocket for a folded map. He handed it over to Kefira who promptly opened it and laid it on top of her own. It wasn't as large as hers, and it lacked some of the finer details because of it, but it had everything necessary.

She immediately spotted the location of the main base that Jek had mentioned.

Yes, I see, she thought, tapping her lower lip in contemplation. It does look awfully suspicious. All of the other camps have two points of contact, forming a large circle. This is the only one that is in one direction, and it has multiple lines reaching to several of the Spell Nodes...

Kefira froze as her conscious mind caught up with her thoughts. She peered closer at the lines drawn on the map, and her Runic Skill kicked in and verified what she was looking at.

"It's a giant Runic Spell!" Kefira said. She traced her finger over several lines. "With these lines laid out on top of it, it's clear as day to me."

"Ugh, yes," Jek nodded his head. "Reivyn mentioned something similar. He sent a scouting party of four to rush that information back to Oreck when he first thought of it."

Kefira looked up at Jek, quirking an eyebrow.

"Reivyn has the Rune Skill?" It was a rhetorical question. Kefira didn't expect an answer.

"He said he was 'finally able to figure it out,'" Jek shrugged. "Maybe he got the Skill when he noticed the possibility."

Serilla snorted. Kefira turned her head sharply to her companion. Serilla held her hands out, palms up, in a half-shrug.

"You're saying he got the Tier 4 Mana Skill from looking at lines on a map? Sounds like he was making baseless speculations, to me. A guy from a Tier 1 Kingdom, with less than a full year of formal Magic Academy education? He's lucky he was right, or he could have caused a serious misjudgment."

"Tier 1?" Major Dobrik mumbled under his breath.

"Oh, lay off it, Sera," Kefira huffed, throwing a crumpled piece of paper at Serilla. "We both know he's unusually talented. Plus he's not really from a... ahem," Kefira coughed to stop herself from revealing any more private information about her Reivyn. He didn't seem to deliberately keep secrets, but it was his information to tell.

"Anyway, I heard you mention something about convoys and luring enemy forces?" Kefira turned her focus back to Jek.

"Yes, my lady," Jek bobbed his head. "We've been striking at the supply lines on the map as we've traveled further west."

"So does that mean..." Kefira trailed off, looking to Major Dobrik.

"Exactly right, my lady," Major Dobrik said. "Jek and his three platoons are the reason we haven't been encountering any enemy opposition lately."

"Hmm..." Kefira crossed her arms, sticking her right hand up to tap her lips.

Kefira stared at the map again as she thought about the report that Jek had provided. Relief had flooded her at the mention of Reivyn being fine, and a weight that she hadn't realized she had been carrying was lifted from her shoulders. Her mind was crisper than it had been since the first disastrous battle, and it was like a portion of her mind that had been dedicated to worrying about Reivyn had finally joined the rest of her consciousness.

"I think we can work with this," Kefira said, looking back up at the two men. "I don't see any reason to alter the plans you and Reivyn came up with. Especially since we don't have a way to get into contact with him across the vast distance. We've been trying to think of a way to employ the battalion effectively, and I think we can just incorporate ourselves into this plan.

"We can even accelerate the timetable, and we can do more damage than just picking off smaller convoys while we're at it. Lieutenant Jek, you will remain in charge of the two platoons you brought with you, and the third one can rejoin their own company. You'll act as the commander for the two platoons, and I'll employ you as a reserve or special unit, as the situation dictates.

"Go inform the Major's staff, as well as the captains, to join us here in my tent. We have some planning to do."

Reivyn stood in the center of the two platoons as they visited wrath upon their enemies. He stood silently, trying to focus his Divine Sense further to encapsulate the entire skirmish. Even though his senses only extended out 25 feet, his Battlefield Awareness Skill still allowed him to gauge the progress of the battle.

It was dangerous to stand where he was, but he had been perfectly able to counter any enemy troops that thought he was an easy target and charged over to attack him. He was sure they simply saw a blindfolded man standing in the middle of the battle, and their bloodlust caused them to attack without thinking about why such a man would be where he was, doing what he was doing.

His Divine Sense Skill had started at extending only 20 feet when it had first unlocked, and after over a week of literally continuous usage, it had finally gained a single Level. That one Level had extended his range to 25 feet. It was still not nearly enough to effectively function as a commander, though.

Lieutenant Laris had been pulled from commanding his own platoon, and he stood where Reivyn normally would have to take charge. If it had just been First Platoon, Reivyn would have used Jekle, but Laris was the only choice to stand in for multiple platoons. Reivyn had confidence that the other Lieutenant had seen how he did things enough that he could be trusted to not screw things up, and so far, he had done a good job.

On the first couple of skirmishes they had engaged in, Reivyn had remained by Laris' side, in case the man had any doubts or questions, but everything had worked out well. Now, Reivyn focused on pushing his Divine Sense Skill as hard as possible by giving it as much stimulation as he possibly could.

His training regime had slowly but surely bore fruit, and he was able to keep both of his eyes open for 15 seconds before he had to shut them and cover them with the blindfold again. It didn't seem like much progress, but it had taken him a third of the time to add five seconds as it had to get to one whole second, initially.

My adaptation to the Skill is growing exponentially, Reivyn idly thought as the battle raged around him. He casually swiped his sword to parry the attack of yet another raving enemy before cleanly beheading him. Another week or two, and I should be good. Then I'll be able to focus on the next step. I'll have to incorporate sparring with some of the soldiers as I get used to the strange perception, too.

The sooner I'm able to function properly again, the sooner we can really get the ball rolling.

Reivyn stood perfectly centered between the two platoons until the small battle was over. He had focused on taking in as much of the information as he could in order to strain the Skill. It hadn't actually been that overwhelming despite how detailed and intricate that information had been.

He was able to perceive the blisters on the feet of some of the soldiers. He could see, and hear, the sweat rolling down the back of their necks. He could sense every single scar crisscrossing the bodies of the enemy soldiers, including the ones on the bottoms of their feet.

He was able to take all of that information in, parse it, and focus on those tiny details while simultaneously keeping his concentration on the battle overall. It was, quite frankly, a ridiculous experience.

In the first couple of battles, he had been able to get the information, but it was like he had to sift through it, one at a time, to get all the little details. This battle had felt like a turning point in his progression, and he was ready to try and focus on pushing the boundaries further out.

Luckily, I've been spared the sensation of taste, Reivyn ruefully chuckled as he perceived the bowels expel from a dying man. If I really zero in my focus, though, I can tell what it should be like for my other sense. I can look at the grain of wood on something, and I'll instinctively know what it would feel like to rub my hand across it if I think about it.

Reivyn waited for the men to finish mopping up the battlefield and bury the dead. Once they were formed up in their neat formation again, he walked back over to join Laris, nodding his head.

"We're done here," Reivyn said. "Lead the men ahead. I think... probably three or four more battles like this, and I'll be good to take command again."

The soldiers departed to the west, along the northern border of the conflict zone. Morale was high. They were whittling their enemy down, one skirmish at a time.