When A Mage Revolts

Benjamin returned to the army base.

Like last time, the soldier standing guard by the door quietly took him to the gunfire training grounds. Benjamin stared at the person covered with armor, silently curious whether he was the same cocky brat from yesterday.

Well, he had no chance to verify his guess anyway as the soldier left without a word after he arrived at his destination.

Benjamin could only turn around and enter the training grounds.

A middle-aged man was leading the recruits into formation. When he saw Benjamin, he scoffed,

"Oh, you actually came? Since you’re here, get in line! Come earlier next time."

Benjamin was dragged out of bed by his maid at 6 a.m. He did not get a good night sleep due to the events that happened yesterday night, so he was already exhausted enough. If he was required to arrive earlier for the next training, the man might as well just take his life.

He dare not to whine, though. He obediently joined the formation, and comforted himself with words such as ‘being tired is better than starving’.

Hopefully, it will not be another morning full of running laps around the training ground.

Benjamin was eternally grateful when the middle-aged man stopped them after a few rounds.

This meant that they unlocked a new training subject.

"Although you are using firearms, the enemy will never stay put for you to shoot when you’re on an actual battlefield. Instead, they will rush towards you as fast as they could. Thus, the first thing you should learn before you learn how to shoot is hand-to-hand combat. You will be dismissed for a short rest, and later, I want your full attention on learning how to attack someone when they’re up close to you."

Hand-to-hand combat? Benjamin remembered Grant’s moves when they were playing the war simulation.

It would be beneficial for him to learn how to fight, really. Although magic is powerful, it does not offer the ease and flexibility as combat moves do. There was a saying that mages who know martial arts are unstoppable, no?

He was going for a holistic expansion of his abilities now.

He was surprised that the man would allow them some rest so early into training. Yesterday, this man did not allow them any rest even though they ran the whole morning! Why was he so ‘merciful’ today?

"What happened to good ol’ Dean for him to let us rest this soon?"

Benjamin heard someone asking quietly when everyone was resting at the side of the training ground. It was apparent that Benjamin was not the only one with the question.

Dean. The name itself sounded like one who loved to order people around. A good fit for the middle-aged man, really.

"Who knows, maybe he took the wrong medications today for him to behave this strangely. We should be careful."

"..."

The people around him continued to discuss. They knew how to complain after all, huh? This means that they did not actually learn the core of being a soldier: Obedience.

Just as they were happily gossiping, a voice boomed from behind them, so loud that Benjamin jumped, "Ah, you mot*erf*cking ungrateful brats, are you complaining even though I allowed you to rest? Both of you, come out! Run!"

The two recruits were shocked as they scrambled up their feet and turned their backs with a terrified expression. Behind them stood the subject of their gossip, Coach Dean. He was scowling at them.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, THESE TWO IDIOTS!"

The System cackled in Benjamin’s mind.

"C-Coach, we......" Dumbfounded, the two recruits stammered in an attempt to explain

themselves.

Dean dismissed them with a wave of his hand as he barked at the two, "What, aren’t you unwilling to rest? It’s fine, go and fucking run! Both of you will not need to dream about resting anymore today. Go, run!"

The two could only bow their heads and run without complaints.

Benjamin was very amused, but he knew that the nail that sticks out usually gets hammered down. Thus, to avoid Dean from noticing him, he sat quietly and pretended as if he was oblivious to what happened before him.

However, what did Murphy’s Law say again? Oh, whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. The thing you feared the most will most likely happen to you.

Dean walked towards Benjamin and stopped before him. Benjamin could no longer stick his head in the sand like an ostrich, pretending that everything was fine and dandy. He raised his head and looked at Dean in his eyes, all the while looking innocently confused.

"Is there anything I can help you with, sir?"

Dean scowled at him, the displeasure obvious on his face. Benjamin even expected him to start hitting someone. However, Dean suddenly took a paper bag out from his back pocket and impatiently passed it to Benjamin.

Benjamin was perplexed, "What’s this?" He asked timidly.

Dean’s tone became fierce, "Didn’t you say that you haven’t had your breakfast? Noble my ass. Take this to lace your appetite and stop looking like a person on the verge of death by starvation, it’s affecting the practice."

Benjamin paused, "But, I ate my breakfast."

Dean’s face was dark with fury, "Didn’t you just say you haven’t?"

"That was yesterday," Benjamin answered, so confused that his face might as well be surrounded by question marks, "I didn’t take breakfast yesterday, not today."

"......"

The situation was very awkward.

"Fuck, eat if you want to," Dean threw the paper bag in Benjamin’s face and stomped away.

The System cackled gleefully in Benjamin’s mind.

Stunned, Benjamin opened the paper bag and saw a piece of bread lying in it. Although it does not look as appetizing as the one his cook made from home, it was already good one for a commoner.

Looking at Dean, Benjamin was pleasantly surprised at the turn of events. This coach, who looked like he hated the world, who had a gun tucked in his waist, who was madly reckless about his life, was surprisingly a decent person. Although Benjamin did have his breakfast, he was still in his puberty, so a slice of bread was not difficult for him to consume. He gobbled up the bread as quickly as possible, as if he did not do so, Dean would probably take out his temper on Benjamin and make Benjamin the target for combat practice.

Well, Benjamin soon found out that he thought too much into things. Even though he finished the bread and displayed a face like he just gotten a gift from the king, Dean still chose him to be the target for combat practice.

"There are numerous weak points on a body. When you are facing your enemies, the first thing you need to do is not defeating them, but to let them lose their attack prowess. Thus, you must attack the weak parts of the body. As an example....Here!"

As he was explaining, Dean punched Benjamin in the stomach. Benjamin nearly threw up the bread he swallowed minutes ago.

"Right, the demonstration is over. Anyone wants to have a go?" Dean asked, and the training ground erupted into chaos.

"Me! Me! Me!"

"No, let me do this!"

"Coach, pick me, please!"

"......"

As the gunfire troop that was often ignored by the Kingdom, it was a rare moment for the recruits to be this motivated in their training. Even the knights in the next training ground were shocked by their cheers, and gave them confused looks.

"Oh, no need to rush, we will take turns doing this, everyone will have a go."

Benjamin felt like dying.

The System was like a girl when it spoke sweetly, "Oh, today’s training will be a fruitful one too!"

Benjamin ended his morning training with bruises all over his body. He returned to the Lithur with patches of green, purple, and blue all over his skin.

Jeremy rushed to find ointments for the injuries, and the others looked at Benjamin oddly as they assumed he got into a fight with someone outside the Manor. Only Claude looked pleased at the sight of the bruises.

Benjamin remained stoic. After his injuries were treated and he finished his lunch, he retreated into his room and collapsed on his bed.

Fuck, what was wrong with his brain that he thought the coach was a decent man?

"There was already something wrong with your brain. Really, which normal human would have a super-detailed artificial intelligence?" The System commented.

Benjamin refused to have that conversation.