' I think I'm going to die ' Ash thought giving out a tired sigh trying to feel his body which had almost gone numb from the stress he had put it through and the pain he was going through was no joke, their 'training' as it was being called which was no other than torture was ramped up to another whole level which from what he learnt was because there were close to the second phase of their training period and worst still they were only three weeks into it.
Another thing he learnt was that their training period was also going to be reduced due to a very devastating accident that occurred in the rift frontline leading to shortage of troops and helping hands needed as of this time there were three batches in training, fortunately their batch was the very last one and also the one with the least number even combining all the hall.
There are six halls in total and in a set time there are usually three to four batches usually depending on the time frame, each with a captain ranked military member to oversee the operation, their batch however were somehow the worst with the worst turn out filling between five to six hundred in numbers while an average number in a batch is around a thousand not putting into consideration the first batch which was sent totaling two thousand troops.
Many may see this as a bad thing, but Ash saw something different, and it was its advantages, the advantage of being low in number.
It was the fact that the lower they are in number the more concentrated the instructors would be but only if the bastion is prioritizing quality over quantity which they don't have the luxury of choosing if they had to be sincere with themselves but not everyone spoke the language of battle and not everyone was ready to listen since it was always violent not everyone was built for it.
' I don't want to die, ' Ash thought, trying hard to stand on his feet, he had other things to do, and he needed to start moving his body at this time, he had a lot of work he needed to cover before the next day but the only thing he needed to do was to move.
Took a lot of effort to do it, but he still managed to move, going straight to the free room he got, which at this time had been transformed by Sir Nicholas as per their agreement into a workstation for him, having most of the equipment he needed to craft the necessary things he needed.
Crafting in this world is the use of mana and the necessary materials to create artifacts and potions, which depends on whose perspective he had to look at it from. From an alchemist's perspective, it is the use of mana herbs and the right conditions to create portions that are consumables with special effects on the user.
From the perspective of a Blacksmith, it is the use of runes, materials, and the right methods to create artifacts, which are special items ranging from weapons to utility items having different uses depending on how it is crafted.
Ash field was supposed to be limited to within the scope of a craftsman for artifacts, since he found runes and their use very interesting, only to discover a way to do something that wasn't found until he did.
Ash stretched his hand to the back, forcing his body to release a cracking sound, making him loosen up, but setting down to begin working, he turned on the marking box on the table before raising his right, calling deep within his soul, which didn't have much of an effect for a few seconds.
It took sometime but eventually something happened: tiny grey ethereal like particles began to materialize in front of his hand at first the size of a tennis ball, then it became the size of a human fist, then it got bigger almost the size of a football after which it stopped growing before breaking off leaving a bird, not too big but was large: an infant eagle or rather a soul creature he created.
One of the main materials used for crafting artifacts is the soul orb of a certain creature, which usually depends on the kind and effect it was going to give off. Each core has a certain signature engraved into it, which every craftsman has to know how to use.
Some cores are engraved for sword-type artifacts bearing an attribute, e.g., flame, so they can't be used for any other type of artifact while desiring another effect, for example, using a flame-type blade soul orb to create a water attribute spear or a water attribute spear, as they are unique in their way.
While studying about runes of this world and its uses Ash found a way to extract the through power and essence of the soul orb, instead of using it as a weapon this time as the creature itself using it as a rider class does but this time tied to his existence, this didn't go unnoticed by his family who got curious at first then greedy looking for ways to get it off his hand.
At first, they started with subtle ways. The members of his family that he didn't talk to tried acting friendly, but he wasn't buying it. From the lives that he lived, he had learned to know greed when he saw it, so he quickly got rid of the blueprint, leaving only one piece, which was hidden inside his head.
They soon got wind of this and started trying other methods other than persuasion, not too violent at first: using insults-minced words in secrets, to open embarrassment to later stripping him of any authority he held, when they noticed he wasn't affected by it that much they decided that it was violence that was going to be the best course of action but little did they know who they picked