Chapter 40: Transcription and Cooperative Training

As soon as Xia Duo joined the squad, he heard an order, "Change formation, everyone! Xia Duo, keep an eye on the person in front of you, maintain a two-step distance from him, move!"

Having had military training experience before transmigrating, Xia Duo easily adapted to this formation. Afterward, whether it was advancing, retreating, accelerating, or changing formations, Xia Duo quickly accepted this set of training.

This was, of course, not because Xia Duo was particularly impressive, but because the training itself was very simple. The higher-ups would never let Mage Apprentices go and engage in hand-to-hand combat with Orcs; all the apprentices needed to do was timely cast spells to buff other squad members, and most importantly, not fall behind.

After an afternoon of training, Xia Duo felt his limbs were numb, and the others were no better off. If they didn't want to die, they had to train desperately, but this training instructor actually said today's training was merely an appetizer.

Xia Duo discovered that skills and Knowledge could be trained quickly, but how could physical fitness suddenly increase in just under half a month?

There was simply no time to train physical fitness in daily life, and when it was needed at a critical moment, one was truly at a loss!

"It seems I must add physical training to my daily routine in the future!"

While vigorously rubbing his thighs and arms, Xia Duo silently made the arrangement; in the Apprentice stage, one had to learn a bit of everything, lest their weaknesses be too obvious and they perish prematurely.

……

In the evening, Sami and Dewan arrived as scheduled, dragging their exhausted bodies. As soon as the three met, they all revealed an expression of "you are so weak too," which was somewhat amusing.

"Sami, Dewan, I have already redeemed the Learning Scroll for 【Sending】. Are your things ready?"

Sami placed three stacks of Gold Coins directly on Xia Duo's desk, totaling 15 coins, while Dewan somewhat reluctantly took two sheets of Parchment from the inner pocket of his Mage Robe and handed them to Xia Duo.

"Notes on 【Daze】, here you go."

Xia Duo didn't care whether he felt pained; he snatched them up and took a look. They were not recorded using secret scripts, and he could roughly distinguish the content; it appeared to be an unfamiliar Spell, so he put it away.

"Alright, my turn!"

Xia Duo took out the 【Sending】 Learning Scroll, entered a focused state, and slowly unfolded it. Once again, he saw the wisps connecting to the Magic Net on the scroll gradually spreading out, and the Magic Net structure above the scroll changed.

The usage time of a Learning Scroll was limited. Xia Duo did not want to delay even a bit, so he immediately took out his magic notebook and began to record.

Sami and Dewan did not just stand there either. Although this was their first time seeing a Learning Scroll in use, they quickly knew what to do and also took out their notebooks, entering a focused state to begin recording.

Compared to a Learning Scroll, which could display all the details of a Spell, no oral explanation or ordinary notes could achieve this; the difference in learning efficiency stemmed from this.

Time passed bit by bit, and soon Xia Duo's dormitory fell into darkness. In the focused state, the three could still "see" the entangled, joined, and bent Magic Net structure above the scroll, but—

The three of them, lacking Darkvision, could not record anymore!

Sami subconsciously reached for matches. With a *rip* sound, Dewan had already lit a match a step ahead of him, and Xia Duo took a candle that had only burned halfway from the desk to catch the flame.

However, he did not want to continue recording. "After training all afternoon, everyone is very tired. I will bring the Learning Scroll to the Arcane Garden tomorrow morning, and we can record it together then. What do you think?"

Sami and the other had the heart to continue, but their bodies were indeed very tired. Plus, since it was Xia Duo who proposed it, they agreed, arranging to record when they went to work at the Arcane Garden the next morning.

After seeing Sami and Dewan off, Xia Duo read the *Biography of Archmage Dasiruier* for a while, then rested.

……

The next day, news that the Orcs would attack at the end of the month had completely spread, and the lockdown of the Mage Tower made all the apprentices very worried about the safety of their families, only they dared not ask the higher-ups due to the majesty of the Mage Tower.

But the atmosphere inevitably became low.

In the morning, Xia Duo, Sami, and Dewan finished recording 【Sending】, then separated to study.

At lunch, an External Affairs Mage of the Mage Tower brought the voice of the Lord. The Lord guaranteed in the name of his Great Arcanist ancestor that he would do his utmost to protect everyone in the Territory, living up to the name of Lord.

This news calmed the apprentices' emotions a lot, but as long as the Orcs did not retreat for a day, the worry could never be eliminated.

In the afternoon, Xia Duo went to the same Spell Laboratory as yesterday. It was still that tall and burly instructor. Today, they were no longer training in rigid formations; the instructor brought a squad of soldiers, and the apprentices would conduct cooperative training with them.

"According to yesterday's formation, apprentices take the Mage position. Who is first?"

The instructor shouted, but no one made a sound. The instructor looked around and saw Xia Duo. He remembered that only this apprentice hadn't been bare-chested yesterday, so he pointed at Xia Duo, "You, come out."

Xia Duo was caught in the crossfire, but he was not afraid. Training itself was for discovering and eliminating problems; being first might allow him to receive more guidance.

Standing in the Mage position at the rear of the squad, with two crossbowmen wearing Leather Armor standing to his left and right, Xia Duo felt quite at ease. In front of him, standing in an arc, were five soldiers holding Long Spears, and in the front row were three soldiers carrying large shields.

This formation had been trained many times yesterday, and every position had been practiced.

"Listen to my command, advance!" The instructor gave the first order.

The 11-man squad, including Xia Duo, moved quickly. While maintaining the basic formation, they began to advance. The Spell Laboratory had limited space, and they reached the other end of the room in ten or twenty steps.

"Change formation, retreat!"

The 11-man squad reacted immediately. Xia Duo turned and ran, while the squad leader moved from the head of the original formation to the tail, running in front of Xia Duo, followed by the crossbowmen and spearmen, with the remaining two shield-bearers walking at the very back.

Soon, they reached the other end of the Spell Laboratory, and the instructor gave another order, "Flying stone hits the crossbowman, casualty."

As soon as the words fell, the crossbowman to Xia Duo's left dropped his crossbow and lay on the ground.

But the orders would not stop, "Rear, enemy approaching!"

The squad leader who had previously run to the tail of the squad returned to the front carrying his shield. At this moment, the front was the rear mentioned in the instructor's order, where the enemy had arrived, or more accurately—the Orcs had arrived.

Xia Duo knew it was time for him to buff the squad with spells, but the problem was that the only spells he could cast now were 【Acid Splash】 and 【Light】. In real combat, the higher-ups would issue scrolls.

Otherwise, even if an apprentice could cast spells, they couldn't keep up with the consumption of combat.

"What are you dazed for? The enemy is approaching, cast your spells!" the "surviving" crossbowman beside Xia Duo whispered a reminder.

"I haven't learned any."

The crossbowman reminded him again, "Just cast something, this is training, do you understand training?"

Xia Duo didn't want to see the instructor's expression at this moment. He immediately entered a focused state, cast a 【Light】 on the one-handed sword at the crossbowman's waist, and then buffed the spearmen and shield-bearers in front one by one.

But he could no longer enter a focused state after only buffing the spearmen. In other words, Xia Duo could only release 6 Ring Spells at a time; if he wanted more, he would have to rest fully.

Xia Duo just stopped beside the shield-bearing squad leader, his hand outstretched in a gesture of casting, but no spell appeared, and the scene was somewhat awkward.