[X] Special: Diamond Body
[X] Leadership
In retrospect, it was never really any one thing that got Yon noticed. He was good with not breaking the various machines and weapons they had them practice with, but he never really excelled at them. What he was exceedingly good at though was making sure the disciples around him didn't break things, which was not made easy by the fact that he was surrounded by a lot of incredibly proud and arrogant hotheads. Fortunately, he had many years of practice at talking people around to the idea that it was in their own best interest not to anger the very powerful superiors who had set policy in the first place.
From the way that Gosrick praised him, apparently leadership was about mostly about making sure the idiots under you in the hierarchy didn't break anything too important while doing their jobs, with the rest being some variation on either delegation or the techniques used to fulfil the primary task. Yon felt it was a bit more involved than that, but also didn't argue when they had him taking leadership roles more often - although that was entirely because he simply didn't argue. The most he would ever do was 'ask for clarification' in such a way that he could reveal any problems he saw with an order. That did however mean that he was one of the few disciples who was regularly called upon to fill out duty rosters.
It was a tricky task to assign duties, because while the instructors enforced whatever was decided no matter how it was done, showing too much favour or disfavour was a great way to get a knife in the back. Also, since the task got rotated, even if Yon did it much of the time there was always the chance for revenge by someone else later. Yon had a habit of making sure he got a somewhat disproportionate share of the more physically demanding chores, mostly because it let him train his Diamond Body technique while also making sure the more prideful disciples had to do the minimal amount of work that they considered beneath them - except for punishment duties. Those got handed out by the instructors and it was Yon's job to figure out the scheduling.
It was while Yon was hauling dirt into the main training hall in preparation for an exercise later in the week that Ta Lin approached him. A younger disciple from the Hunting Division, the young master might have been the third son of a second son of a second rate clan, but that had still been more than enough social capital to have walked all over Yon before. Instead, the disciple placed his left fist upon his right palm while bowing and politely asked, "Senior Brother, this disciple would ask for your time."
Dumping out the sacks of gritty, sticky soil he had hauled out of the storage room, Yon stated, "I have my duties to attend to at the moment, but if you have no tasks yourself then if you help me then I should be able to finish up early. Otherwise, I ask that you allow me to complete this duty first."
"Of course, Senior Brother," the young master Ta stated, grabbing one of the sacks to assist Yon and the others with the dull chore.
After a few trips back and forth to build up some wiggle room in case the instructors thought he might be slacking, and to also confirm that Lin was still interested, Yon asked somewhat awkwardly, "Brother Ta, what brings you to seek me out?"
"Senior Brother, I wish for your help with something. The Celestials trust in your competence enough that they frequently task you with assigning roles not just for chores, but also in training scenarios as well. I wished to ask for your consideration in assignments for tomorrow's task," Lin stated.
Now that was something that had come up before, although the petitions had never been so polite. While the instructors made sure everyone went through the basics, they also had come to the conclusion that the majority of the disciples were not very good with the weapons they provided. Recent training was best described as letting the disciples sort out how they best fought as a group, which so far mostly involved getting in close to a targeted position and charging for an assault. As such, more than once a young master had approached Yon demanding to be put in the most prestigious positions.
Still, Yon asked politely, "And what role assignment would you like, Brother Ta?"
And then Lin explained, and Yon had to pause as he took it all in, before he went, "Huh."
The next day, they had an elaborate training program to go through, wherein the disciples were broken into two teams: defenders and attackers. They were equipped with the training versions of Celestial weapons, which either launched blobs of bright paint or caused special training armour to light up to indicate a hit. The instructors were referees, and they were armed with fully lethal versions of the weapons to enforce rulings. Early on several young masters had been maimed or killed when they had complained that the weapons were beneath them.
Yon was one of three 'commanders' for the attacker side, who had to relay the orders from First Sergeant Kaisen to his group of thirty-five disciples. Sub-group commanders, group composition, and equipment loadout were all up to him. He'd had a basic roster already drawn up, but he'd completely redone it overnight with Lin. The Ta scion actually had a good core idea, but Yon had had to significantly refine it to work with the assets they had.
See, the thing was that Lin actually had amazing instincts with using the heavy projectile weapons the Celestials used. He was only about average with the specific operation and maintenance of the devices, but he only needed to see it fire once and he had an almost instinctive feel for the ballistics of the weapon. He also had a remarkable ability to communicate the motions someone needed to do in order to get the weapon to do what he wanted it to do, and was enthusiastic about learning how to use the sorcerous voice casters the Celestials supplied to them.
The trouble of course was that heavy weapons were largely despised by the other disciples since they usually needed two or three operators to function correctly and they tended to be far from the point of contact so there was very little personal glory to be won. Lin was one of the few disciples who was both good with the weapons and saw their potential, hence why he had come to Yon to figure out a way to simply order the other disciples to use the devices and listen to his instructions. The actual task of figuring out assignments that wouldn't result in excessive friction or spiteful sabotage was much trickier. Yon actually had to swap out a few of the better gunners simply because he realized that if he put them on the assault teams and their friends behind the heavy weapons they would get better compliance.
When the exercise began, Yon was somewhat comforted by the fact that he had been spending time working on his Diamond Body technique since the first stage for the attackers was to complete ten miles worth of laps while the defenders got to fortify their position. The faster the attackers completed their run, the less time the defenders had to get ready. Other than their armour, the other two platoons were running light, with minimal heavy gear, while Yon's troupe was lugging around three heavy autos and an auto-rocket, plus all the support equipment and ammunition for them. He had to keep pace with his troops while also running back and forth along the line to make sure no one was getting too tired, and to rotate who was carrying the heaviest loads.
Yon had been suspecting it for a while, but this really drove home why the Celestials prized endurance over raw strength. It was far better to be able to carry a hundred pounds ten miles than it was to carry a thousand pounds a hundred yards.
It took Yon's team nearly three times as long to run their course, and Yon figured he had run nearly twenty miles going back and forth up his line, but finally they "arrived". Sergeant Kaisen had the other two platoons applying pressure to the enemy position - a skeletal simulacra of a building made of strange stone and metal bones - and digging fox holes and berms to have some cover. Things were not going great for the attackers, as it was pretty easy for the defenders to pepper them with shots while staying safe within the structure.
Yon immediately got to work digging while Lin organized the heavy weapons. Their platoon was far further back than the rest, but that also meant that enemy harassment was far less effective. After about twenty minutes Lin came forward with one of the voice casters and a pair of binoculars, and nodded to Yon. Yon blew a whistle, with one half of his platoon firing wildly with their rifles while the other half rushed forward to join with the rest of the company. Once that half reached the lines already established, they started laying down their own fire so that the rest could also bound forward.
Now crouched in what might charitably be called a demi-trench, Yon helped Lin set up his caster. Taking stock of the situation, he ordered over the arcane device, "Team A, set range to 600 and fire a five round burst at the central structure, aiming at the second floor window third from the left.
Four splats of paint appeared in the space between the second and third floor windows, with the fifth presumably going into one of the windows. Lin immediately sent adjustment orders to everyone. With a final nod, Yon then called up Sergeant Kaisen on the caster.
"Sir, Bravo Platoon is in position and awaiting orders, sir," Yon stated.
There was a moment before Kaisen stated, "All platoons, advance to the objective!"
The shrill cry of whistles went up as the other platoon leaders signalled their assault, with Yon joining in. His heavy weapons teams also opened up with a barrage of fully automatic fire that began to sweep back and forth across the windows between the second and third floor. The fire from those windows immediately slacked off even though now the attackers were swarming the first floor of the structure.
Within half an hour the exercise was over, the attackers having run out of troops and momentum before the defenders, although with the heavy weapons pushing up they were in an increasingly untenable position by the time the instructors called the whole thing over. While everyone began the task of cleaning everything up, Gosrick called both Yon and Lin over to the side. He had an almost mischievous sparkle in his eye as he said, "For actually figuring out how to use automatic weapons properly without us requiring to beat it into you, you both are relieved from cleaning duties as the start of your rewards."
"Sir, thank you, sir," both disciples stated in unison, glad that they weren't being reprimanded in any way. Both had been a bit worried that they might get chewed out for lagging so far behind the rest of the company during the lap running portion.
"Now, there will be an official announcement, but as a perk for being both clever and smart about it, you get to hear it a little early: basic training is over. Everyone's getting three days liberty to finally get out and stretch your legs, maybe get whatever you've got in your pants wet. Everyone who has survived this far also will actually get to be sergeants for the next phase of training - hammering the next wave of recruits from your mudball into shape, while also learning more about your specialties," Gosrick explained, his grin growing wider. It was a lot to take in, both from the tantalizing mystery of what actually existed outside the warren of tunnels and rooms they had spent weeks training in, to the fact that more people from the sect would be arriving soon.
"Recruit Lin, you'll be getting more time with heavy weaponry and signals equipment. Good thinking and instincts there. Recruit Yon, you're frankly mediocre as a soldier but you put in work, don't quit, don't complain, actually know how to delegate, and know how to filter good ideas from bullshit. We're bumping your starting rank to staff sergeant and we're going to have you sit in with the junior officers in training. Play your cards right and we might just mustang you up, although don't think that you can start issuing me orders if you do," Gosrick explained, the last bit said in a humorous tone that maybe had just a drop of threat in it.
"Sir, thank you, sir," both intoned mechanically even if they were both containing their thoughts and feelings about these latest developments.
"Finally, as a personal reward, you two and a few others have a personal invite to come with me and the boys during your liberty. After the showing you've put on these past few weeks I'm more than happy to show you around. Now, I know that partying with the boss can be a harrowing thing, so I understand if you don't want to take up the invite. Still, think about it. Now, you're both dismissed. Return your gear to the armory, you have no further duties until chow call," Gosrick explained before waving the two of them away.
Yon has free time! How does he use it?
[ ] Take up Gosrick's invitation
[ ] Explore the permitted areas
[ ] Join other disciples on liberty
[ ] Spend the time studying
