I've recently decided that I'll make a few ads for this story and hold a vote on Patreon about which one I should use/buy ad space for. I just thought it would be funny. The poll should happen sometime this month
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"First question, do the soldiers even know what they're doing here?" Jin asked.
After hearing this question, Head Sergeant Lei tilted his head at Jin and seemed to stare right through the younger man. Due to his wide red pants and red shirt, he looked a bit like a confused buff tomato.
"To prepare to defend the border?" Lei asked confusedly.
"No," Jin said. "I mean, do they know that they're waiting for us to finish deciding on a scenario which will then be mass-produced so that they can use it to practice without risk before fighting the zombies in real life."
"Why would they?" Lei said with a shrug of his muscular arms, which were more similar in circumference to Jin's thighs. A body cultivator, for sure.
"They just follow orders; they're soldiers and, more importantly, mortals," he said. "The whole reason why we even use them is because they sometimes break through from the external pressures of conflict, then we have someone actually useful on our hands."
Jin wanted to sigh and look at the sky. He really did. He was sure there was some level of operational security behind the measure of not telling the soldiers anything. But on the other hand, when people knew what they were doing, they could mentally prepare.
This had essentially been the whole thing that divided normal athletes from elite ones in his past world. If you visualised your victory and your efforts before your match, you were more likely to succeed. It wasn't like Jin thought that all the soldiers were capable of such relatively complex mental modelling, but the visualisation method hinted at a much simpler phenomenon that could be of use in this situation.
If you knew what you were going to be doing, you were probably going to perform better just because your subconscious had prepped you for the idea of what you had to do beforehand. This was the same reason why some people, more on the neurotic side of the spectrum, couldn't handle spontaneity.
So, while Jin was sure that there was a long and storied tradition of treating soldiers like mushrooms, namely keeping them in the dark and feeding them shit, he couldn't help but feel that the attitude contradicted the whole intent of creating a scenario for them.
Humans differentiated themselves from animals through abstract thinking. With abstract thinking, you could create simulations in your own head to test out the consequences of different potential actions. It was essentially shadowboxing the situations of reality in your mind. Using an Illusion Room to practice against a specific opponent was just a more focused version of that.
But, for the moment, Jin chose to ignore those thoughts. There were more direct and simple things he could accomplish today than change the command methodology of the imperial army.
"I was just thinking of asking them some questions about how they would like the scenario to be structured, but if they don't even know about the fact that we're making one, that would get a bit difficult," Jin said with a sigh.
"Well, the officers know, and I guess they explained to the men under their command as much as they wanted to, which, in my experience, probably wasn't a lot," Lei muttered. "If you really want to speak to one of these bottom-feeders, I'm sure I could scrounge up someone who isn't too stupid." The head sergeant suddenly perked up. "In fact, here he comes right now," he said in a pleased tone of voice. He raised a hand to point between Jin and Hashimi, straight over their shoulders and behind them.
The two inner disciples turned around to see…
The more composed of the two guards who had been barring the entrance into the camp.
Yang, who was obviously closer to a mid-life crisis than being a teenager, thus disqualifying him from being a protagonist of any anime, froze as the gaze of three cultivators suddenly rested on him.
A complicated look flashed over his face as if he would have really liked to be able to simply turn around and leave.
However, if there had ever been any chance for a misunderstanding as to whom Head Sergeant Lei was looking at to arise, then the bellow that followed dispelled all notions of potential anonymity for the rather sorry-looking soldier.
"Private Yang!!!" Lei called with a voice that belonged, well, to a drill sergeant.
"Get your butt over here, you rascal; glad you finally learned not to try and skip training. I have the eyes of an eagle, and to me, you're just a field mouse, and I'm an eagle!"
Yang long-sufferingly joined the trio, giving a sloppy salute as he did so.
"Anything else you need?" Lei asked, turning to the two disciples.
"Well, we thought that the scenario probably needed to occur in a team setting if we can manage. So we wanted to see how the soldiers fought so that we could model some situations, maybe," Jin said haltingly.
The head sergeant nodded. "Get the information from smartass over here, and I'll go get you the viewing experience you need," he said mysteriously before promptly turning around and marching off.
"Your name is Smartass?" Hashimi asked confusedly as they were left alone with the guard.
The man gave the girl a flat look that could have garnered an entry into the dictionary, right under the word, 'Really?'
"My name is Yang," he said after a while when he saw that Hashimi wasn't actually joking. Then he perked up a bit. "It is unfortunate that this request comes at my scheduled training time, but I was told to be courteous to our guests," he expounded more happily. "I will tell you whatever you wish, wherever you wish, preferably for a time period of two hours, which is when I end my shift for the day," he said helpfully.
Jin and Hashimi exchanged a look before the former started explaining the situation.
"For the background information, in case you don't know, there will be a border conflict soon," Jin started. Yang listened somewhat more attentively this time, although if that was only so that he could run in the other direction when the time came, remained unknown. "The main force facing the imperial army, at least the mortal divisions, will be the zombies as you saw them in your camp. Same thing, just that there will be a few hundred million more of them."
Yang's eyes widened, but he remained silent.
"General Shroud took the army here, to our sect, because we create illusions in which you can practice against any given enemy without actually risking injury and death, thus preparing you for the conflict more efficiently," Jin continued. "We," he pointed to Hashimi and himself, "are two disciples who will be making such a scenario. Considering, however, that the soldiers are the ones supposed to benefit from it, we came to ask a few questions."
Yang slowly nodded at Jin's explanation, seemingly taking his time to process the words.
"Alright, sir," he eventually muttered with some confusion. The words were so quiet that they almost got lost in the relatively loud training field that was full of grunts and shouts, although those seemed to be subsiding somewhat as time passed. Perhaps one training unit was coming to an end, and it would take a bit for another to begin.
"Good, the first question I would like to ask is…" Jin trailed off. "In terms of battlefield simulation, how important is it to you that your fake soldier allies are as close to reality as possible?" he asked.
Yang frowned, opened his mouth and closed it again. He seemed like he wanted to answer, but suspected that it was a trick question. He had the sort of face that looked controlled initially but revealed all secrets if you just looked at the eyes and the brows. "Can't I just get real soldiers?" he eventually asked.
Jin shook his head. "The technology for that hasn't been created yet," he admitted and wondered if he was revealing a sect secret by doing so. He shook his head. Probably not. After all, everyone familiar with the Illusion Room Sect's output knew that they hadn't cracked multiplayer Rooms yet.
"Then I think, sir, that the allies best be as close to reality as possible," Yang eventually replied.
Jin nodded absent-mindedly. Of course, people preferred the real to the fake; he thought back to Lung Junior's scenario and the way the soldier templates that he'd used had barely anything similar to what he'd seen now on the training ground. The issue was, of course, how much time you could invest in different things. Similarly, whereas enemies could change, as they had seen with the zombie evolution, so could one's allies. After all, the Imperial army was working on a different set of equipment that would better protect its soldiers from scratches and bites so as to prevent infections. Currently, Jin didn't have an idea what these things would look like, so whatever he created would end up, at least in the armour sense, not accurate.
"And the zombies, is them being closer to reality more important than the allies?" he probed further.
Yang seemed to consider more quickly this time, his stubbled face seeming more at ease. He shook his head.
"I already know how my compatriots will fight. That's what our training is for. But I know nothing about the zombies and how they'll work together. They're the variable, so they're more important," he eventually explained.
Jin nodded. It would have been too easy, of course, if by fixing their soldiers to be better than Lung Junior's, they could have solved all their problems.
Unfortunately, as confirmed by more people now, the zombies would be key.
"About the conditions of the battle, what do you think about having the experiencer control how many and what kind of zombies they face?" Jin asked curiously.
"The experiencer is me?" Yang asked confusedly, pointing one finger at himself.
"Yes, what my friend is asking is whether you'd prefer being able to control the number of zombies you face in an all-out battle scenario or to have a set amount?" Hashimi expanded and explained.
A self-deprecating smile flashed across the soldier's face. He seemed to want to say something before deciding against it. "I wouldn't want to disparage my fellow soldiers here," he coughed into a fist, "but most of them, if you let them, would simply pick zero and sit there doing nothing. So, unless you have a way of checking on them, then I'd suggest a set amount."
Jin and Hashimi shared a look. "I mean, if they want to do that they can just sit in the control room," the girl pointed out.
"Better to let them control it. Those who will slack will, and those who will use the opportunity will get more out of it," Yang said with a sigh, taking off the black chitin helmet that he had been wearing and resting it under his arm at his side. His hair was already greying in spots, revealing that he either wasn't that young anymore or that he was very stressed.
"This already answers a lot of questions. It will be more work, but…" Jin muttered to himself, just loud enough for Hashimi to hear it.
"Might as well do all we can for the moment," the girl agreed with a nod.
A clap resounded, and Jin and Hashimi both felt their bodies sink a bit into the dirt underneath. One large red-robed bear paw of a hand had appeared on one of their shoulders each.
The two inner disciples startled and turned around.
Standing behind them, they found a grinning Head Sergeant Lei.
"Done with your girly chatter, ladies?" he asked.
"I am a girl, actually," Hashimi said to herself in a confused tone of voice for some reason.
Jin, for his part, simply shrugged. "I think we got most of what we needed to get," he replied.
The sergeant nodded once. "Good, I've prepared the demonstration," he explained, as if that explained anything.
"The what now?" Jin asked confusedly.
Lei, who had previously been blocking their view with his huge body, stepped aside.
"Of the soldiers, of course," he said, revealing a scene straight out of a war movie.
A thousand or so soldiers dressed in full regalia faced each other at the two edges of the training ground with wooden swords in hand.
Jin was too stunned to speak. They'd come here to ask some questions and were now being offered a full-on melee between the soldiers.
Wasn't the army being too… generous?
Head Sergeant Lei apparently took his silence as agreement, so he turned around and shouted in a booming voice.
"Alright, lads, as we discussed!!! Left defend, right charge, our cultivator friends are watching!!!" he bellowed in a voice that resonated straight through Jin's bones.
The left army, without a preamble, apparently used to listening to orders, charged.
It was the first time that Jin saw so many people moving in unison. Feet stamped on the ground, equipment clinked and the shouts of the charging soldiers blocked it all out.
"RAAAAAAHHHH!!!" They screamed, their shouts immediately being countered by the defending side.
A second of silence passed as the two sides got closer and closer together.
Then, "BANNGGG!!!" the sound of clashing bodies, weapons smashing on weapons resounded through the training ground as loud as any avalanche.
Jin and Hashimi simply stared at the carnage with wide eyes.
Lei turned to look back at them with a gaze, seeking some sort of approval.
Jin, not willing to waste a single second of visuals, kept his gaze firmly on the battlefield.
As for recognition, he could only offer a shaky double thumbs-up.
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