Elemental Dissonance.

"The Wilderness is truly a horrifying place to be in" Bilal said as he wiped the tar-like brownish blood from his Shamshir.

"It is indeed so Leader, isn't that why your Tribe used to have minimal contact with the outside world?" Scarface commented which led to the other Soldier to ogle at Bilal curiously.

Bilal sighed lightly but didn't rebuke "Yes, it was"

"Let's go, it's too dark here" he said and began dragging a chrome-scaled Snake with him.

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Nests forming creatures, Hunts in packs, rarely solitary…..These weren't just empty words, but the life experience of the Soldier named Infet, there wasn't even a bit of exaggeration in those words, might be an understatement somewhere.

In a few minutes, the encampment was cleared up and ready, but within those few minutes, five attacks of the Ground Devils were held and four workers were unfortunately martyred. And the last attack was launched on a Soldier of the Flank, who was able to withhold the Snake until reinforcements came.

But in the case of the four workers, the same couldn't be said so, since they had no way defend themselves against the sneak attacks of the vicious Snake monsters, by the time help arrived it was already too late.

Burying them hurriedly, the caravan left the cursed place without wasting another minute.

Yet, it seemed the monsters have sworn to hunt down the Caravan as they frequently kept pestering the Soldiers every mile or so. Despite within the midst of so many problems, the Soldiers have familiarized themselves with the attack patterns of the Monsters, as they effortlessly repelled the Snakes even in waist-length grass.

The only problem being the chrome-scaled Ground Devils, according to the Soldiers it was an evolved form of a Regular Ground Devil, through living long enough they shed their Ordinary status and step into the Realm of Mortal, with its Attainment being Mortal Apprentice they quickly became a source of Nuisance and Danger to the Caravan.

Only a few selected Soldiers on Mortal Apprentice were able to resist the chrome-scaled variant, leading the Caravan leaders to employ the strategy of kiting the snake away from the group in a team of Three at first sight.

Spotting one at the Rear, naturally, Scarface and two other soldiers were the ones responsible to kite and kill, but Bilal insisted on going for it, that was why he was there, and bringing its body back was another objective for them, as it was extremely nutritional in value as mentioned by a few Soldiers.

Returning back wasn't at all difficult as the torches of the Caravan shone brightly like a beacon in the night sky and could be spotted from miles away. It was just that dragging the body of the Chrome-scaled was troublesome and laborious since it was very heavy.

With a walk of some odd minutes, they rejoined the Caravan which appeared to have been waiting for them.

"Wrap up that Snake into the carts, let's resume the journey only an hour or two before dawn " Dayes directed as soon as he saw them "Torchbearers stay within the proximity of a Soldier, do not wander randomly"

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Nux Plains

It was Dawn time, the sun rose from the East and illuminated the lush, grassy plains with a wave of brightness and, as usual, the workers did their work promptly, clearing out the vicinity, setting up the cooking area and the Captain's tent.

For the rest of the Workers and Soldiers, it was the time to rest, it was the time for them to freshen up from a very tiring night Travel. But for Bilal and the other two that wasn't the case so since they were called to training just 30 minutes after settling down.

Regarding the Battle Energy training, Bilal has been feeling gleeful recently, as he felt the progress in his training since he began applying slight jog as they journeyed. He could now accurately sense the presence of a slim stream of hot Energy flowing through his legs and the lower abdomen.

Donning the sky blue Soldier outfit with a golden coat of arms, Dayes presented himself in front of them.

It represented his Vice-captain position of the Federation army, and it also indicated his good hygienic practises and Noble upbringing since only a noble would bother to bathe and change clothes in the wilderness.

Coming from modern society, of course, Bilal had plans to do the same but was rejected by the workers on the reason that the Water supply is running low and was ordered by the Captain to only be used for cooking and drinking, and couldn't be allotted for personal use in greater quantities.

"Any progress people?" Dayes asked the three of them at the same time.

"Yeah, I can now feel it, I ran like a mule last night when I was assigned a chromed one with the Flank guard people" Berat replied.

"Yup, the same" Bilal replied nonchalantly.

"No, I still can't feel it" Tyler replied gloomily.

"Oh, that's good for both of you" Dayes paused and said "You need to exert more pressure onto yourself Tyler"

"I would" Tyler clenched his fists and replied determinedly.

"Now, for the main talk, listen to me carefully I'm not gonna repeat it" Dayes said, somberly and they nodded furiously.

Bilal said in his mind "System, start recording"

[Recording Mode, start]

"Now that you can FEEL the Battle Energy, the next objective would be to bring it your whole body's potential by grasping it mentally and circulating it within your whole body" Dayes started lecturing them which they listened to, very intuitively.

"What you have felt is indeed your Battle Energy, but it is confined within your Energy vessels of the Legs, What are Energy Vessels? They are a network of vessels spread throughout your body, which carry Battle Energy, they work just like your Blood Vessels, but more on the Ethereal side as they do not appear when bisected, they exist and do not exist at the same time, without them, no Warrior could access their powers, and they are exclusively present in every Sentient race of Yreka it is upto them whether they could access it or not, people from other Dimensions innately do not have it, it is a gift from Mother Yreka"

Clearly confused at the last sentence, Bilal flinches but still nods.

"With repeated and precise exercises an Attainer of Mortal Apprentice unblocks it's flow from the Legs to the Lower abdomen, Upper Abdomen, C.h.e.s.t, Arms, Neck and Finally Head, finally completing one cycle of circulation of Battle Energy"

"And there are grades within the Mortal Apprentice rank, those who have unblocked the flow of Legs, Lower Abdomen and Upper Abdomen are on the Low Mortal Apprentice rank, those who have unblocked the flow of C.h.e.s.t and Arms are on the Mid Mortal Apprentice rank and finally those who are able to do one complete circulation are on the High Mortal Apprentice rank, after that using special methods an Attainer promotes to the Mortal Initiate Realm and gains access to drawing Battle Energy out of the bodies"

"But before that, a Mortal Apprentice learns how to direct Energy into their bodies regardless of their Rank, as for why we direct Energy? Because it lets us do this!!!" Dayes garnered their attention towards his left leg which he stomps heavily on the ground.

Suddenly, a dust cloud rose from where he stomped and after it cleared a deep spider-web like cracks formation came into their view, which shocked them deeply. Bilal, who didn't expect such a vivid display of power was shocked the daylights out, especially from someone whom he fought against.

"This is the advantage of using Battle Energy in fights….it lets us deliver devastating attacks and it protects us both internally and externally, it is an essential skill for every Warrior" Dayes pauses and says "Now you would've realized wouldn't you Bilal? Glad I didn't use Battle Energy against you when we fought right?"

"Y..yes I am" Bilal replied still shaken.

"Now you know what it is, do you know from where does it come into being? Just one word - Vitality, it is your Vitality, your Nutrition, it forms automatically when your body is in a relatively stable condition, neither too much consumption neither too less, in that condition, your body automatically converts the Energy from the Food to Battle Energy and delivers it into your Battle Energy vessels. Using the same principle in reverse we Warriors direct our Energy from the Vessels to the various muscles of our body"

"I've even heard that Attainers with a high level of attainment can utilize it to fly in the sky and to heal themselves, to regrow an arm or a leg. An Assassin, A Tribal Warrior, A Knight, A Rogue is, in essence, the same as the Warriors, they just use various forms of the most primal Battle Energy"

"Throughout the ages, numerous legacies have risen and fallen, but the legacy, the Class of an almighty Warrior had never been Outnumbered or Outgrown"

"As Warriors we do not overspecialize in anything, neither in offence nor in defence, neither in Speed and evasion nor in Stealth and recon, we are not bound by any sort of weapons, we find balance in everything. This is the Oath of a Warrior"