Lord of Training - Chapter 132



Only Krnovel

132. High altitude flight.

The day before leaving for the southern continent from Rondos, I had a small drink with Archduke Harry.

“What’s important in an all-out war? Of course, information.”

Archduke Harry answered immediately.

“No, you don’t know that?”

“I’m not some kind of omnipotent being. I’ve just been lucky so far. And this is my first time in an all-out war.”

“All wars are total wars. Anyway, whether it’s a big war or a small war, information is the most important thing.”

I nodded.

To be honest, it was a story that everyone already knew, but I wanted to confirm it with Archduke Harry, who had a lot of war experience.

If you talk to him, a better plan might come to mind.

And when Archduke Harry was talking to me, he would sometimes get excited and tell me important information.

Maybe it’s being leaked on purpose?

“Usually, in a full-scale war, there are more than one or two areas where battles take place. But imagine not knowing the enemy’s troop movements. You’re just fighting with your eyes closed. Also, if you want to bomb the enemy’s supply base, but you don’t know where it is? Can you win in this situation? You absolutely can’t win.”

“That is correct.”

“And it’s not a good idea to just block an all-out war. You can block the enemy’s attacks well, but later on, you’ll lose the war. Do you know why?”

“Isn’t that an all-out war turning into a war of attrition?”

Archduke Harry smiled and nodded.

“As expected, you know very well. If an all-out war is prolonged, it can turn into a war of attrition. And in a war of attrition, the side with more supplies wins. Then the Allied Forces will never be able to defeat the Empire. So before a war of attrition begins, we must find an opportunity to drive out the enemy.”

“It’s not an easy war.”

Harry took a sip of his drink, then suddenly sighed.

“ha!”

“Why are you doing that?”

“It’s a shame that someone as smart as you should be in the commander-in-chief’s seat.”

“Commander Bugsley has a lot of command experience, so he will do well.”

“Hey! That guy is quick-witted, but lacks decisiveness. He’ll block well, but won’t advance at the crucial moment. Then it’ll really turn into a war of attrition······.”

Archduke Harry shook his head.

The military has a chain of command, so it was impossible to suddenly put a brigadier general in the position of commander.

Still, Commander Bugsley listens to me.

“If I get the information first, won’t you listen to me?”

“Getting the information first? Would the Kingdom of Helione and the Kingdom of Portlien just sit there? And would Major General Wandike give you an important mission like reconnaissance? He’s a greedy man.”

“You never know. Our special forces might be able to do some reconnaissance.”

“If that happens, the Allied Forces’ movements will likely proceed as you wish. There will be some difficulties, though.”

Archduke Harry spoke positively.

“If your squadron is assigned to reconnaissance, find Colonel Bradrick of the 13th Squadron.”

“Colonel Breadrick?”

“Yes, there was a time when he was called the genius who would succeed me. However, after being frustrated by the wall of the named level, he has been on a downward slope.”

“Why do you ask me to find such a person?”

“You have a unique skill that no one else has.”

“is it so?”

If Archduke Harry were to say something like that, then something seemed to be up.

“Right now, I have no motivation, and although I have many good skills, I can only display ace-level skills, so I’m not very useful in battle. My commanding ability is also average. However, it’s different when it comes to reconnaissance.”

“So what is that skill?”

***

Colonel Bradrick answered.

“This is a mana release skill.”

“Please explain in detail.”

“At high altitudes, it is fatal for an aerial magic knight because you cannot breathe properly, and there are also cold and abnormal weather conditions. However, when you use the Mana Release skill, you release a large amount of mana from within your body to form a mana barrier. This allows you to monitor and scout from higher places than others.”

“Oh! In a word, it’s a skill that allows high-altitude flight!”

“Yes, but the high-altitude flight time limit is 15 minutes at most.”

I nodded.

As Supreme Commander Harry Russell said.

This was the secret to his ability to return while scouting dangerous enemy territory.

And even if they were discovered by the enemy, there would be no aerial magic knights who could follow them once they reached high altitudes.

‘This is the highest level skill among the Mani Field skill series.’

It was surprising that Colonel Bradrick, with such outstanding skills, was not promoted to the named rank.

It seemed that no one could escape if they were to fire a sniper rifle at high altitudes.

“And if you use the mana release skill, you can use detection skills or flight skills, but you cannot use skills that fire guns. If the mana is lost through bullets, the mana barrier will be broken.”

“Ah! Then can’t I just use the skill again?”

“This skill consumes little mana when maintained, but when the skill is executed, it releases a large amount of mana, consuming too much mana to form a barrier. So after using the skill about 3 times, my mana is completely depleted.”

“How much mana is consumed at once?”

Colonel Bradrick sighed deeply.

“It’s 3,000.”

“Huh! 3,000? This is the first time I’ve seen a skill that consumes this much mana.”

Honestly, I was a little surprised too.

My Fire Explosion (lv.3) skill also consumes a lot of mana, but this one consumes 3 times more mana.

Perhaps the reason Colonel Bradrick never became a named person was because he only developed these reconnaissance skills.

If I use this skill, won’t I not have enough mana to use other skills?

Of course, it’s okay since I have Manahwan.

“How do you detect enemy movements at high altitudes? They’re so high up that you can’t even see them.”

“I have full bio-detection skills. Up close, I can see the numbers one by one, and at high altitudes, I can tell where and how many people are gathered by color.”

“Only in color?”

“Yes, I can’t detect small units, but since the error in height is in the tens to hundreds, the movements of large units cannot escape my eyes. And I also have metal detection skills, so I can distinguish between soldiers and civilians.”

At that moment, I opened my mouth slightly without realizing it.

I thought there were a lot of unique skills, but the bio-detection skill was a first for me.

This was a much higher level skill than Lieutenant Colonel Phelps’ Magic Detection (lv.3) or Major Kalin’s Eagle Eye (lv.3) skill.

“Can I see you use your skill?”

“Are you talking about bio-detection skills?”

“No, I mean the mana release skill.”

“But if you use mana, it takes time to recover······.”

“Don’t worry about that. We’re not going to scout the enemy lines today.”

“All right.”

Of course, if you give him a mana ring, he can immediately recover his mana, but he cannot tell other unit members the secret of the mana ring.

We didn’t even have enough food to feed our flyers.

How much are you going to make a fuss about?

However, this time, I stopped by the magic stone mine while passing through the Duchy of Nubia and bought a large quantity of magic stones with gold coins, so I had some spare cash.

We went straight to the rooftop and flew up into the sky.

Paaaaang! Paaaaang!

***

It stopped at an appropriate height.

I concentrated my mind and poured mana into my eyes.

At that moment, I saw manas splitting and flowing in all directions and scattering on the wind.

“Try your skills here.”

“yes.”

Shhhhh!

As if Colonel Bradrick had used a skill, a huge amount of mana suddenly began to emanate from his body.

After 30 seconds, a thick mana barrier was seen forming around him.

“You can’t see it, but the mana release skill is currently being used.”

It looks good to my eyes.

And it was also seen that fine mana flowed out from his body, replenishing the mana barrier that was blown away or lost by strong winds.

“How much mana does it cost to maintain the skill?”

“5 per second.”

“It would be impossible to maintain it for a long time with normal mana.”

“That’s why high-altitude reconnaissance usually involves two people per team. If I run out of mana and am in danger, the other team member comes and helps me.”

“Unlock the skill and try again.”

“yes!”

Colonel Bradrick demonstrated the Mana Release (lv.3) skill twice more.

So, what I’m saying is that it creates a mana barrier by emitting a lot of mana at once.

Whenever Colonel Bradrick used his skill, it felt like mana was being blown out of his body like a mad whirlwind and then trapped in a powerful barrier.

I looked at my hands.

Then, I concentrated my mind and pushed hard towards the hand with the feeling of rotating the mana inside my body.

Shhh!

I could see mana gushing out from my hands too.

If you can do this well, I can do it too.

Because I have a lot of mana in my body.

The problem was that once the mana was pushed out, the mana was scattered into thin air.

‘Huh? Should I try using the Halo skill and trapping mana?’

He just shook his head.

The Halo (lv. 3) skill could block physical attacks such as hard bullets or shrapnel, as well as fire and lightning attacks, but it could not block the flow of air or mana.

That meant that even if the mana was released, it would not be contained and would escape.

“Ah! I had a magic blocking skill!”

“yes?”

“It’s nothing.”

I was so happy that the words came out of my mouth without me knowing.

The Magic Seal (lv. 3) skill was a skill that created a circular barrier around the Magic Knight to prevent the mana from escaping, making it undetectable by enemies.

The round shield was more than twice as large as the mana release skill used by Colonel Bradrick, but I had a lot of mana, so it seemed like I could easily fill it up inside the mana containment shield.

If you run out, you can eat mana pills.

Come to think of it, I was a monster too!

The average aviation magician came up with a method that would be unimaginable.

I guess I’ll have to test it out later.

“I······, can I release my skill now? I don’t have much mana left.”

“Okay, go down.”

If I can fly at high altitudes, I won’t need Colonel Bradrick, right?

No! He had the skill of biodetection (lv.3) and metal detection (lv.3).

He was a very special person who could grasp the size and movement of enemy forces even during high-altitude flights.

I don’t have any detection skills, so it’s impossible.

***

The 13th Squadron members who were forced to live with the Special Air Service Magic Fleet had a hard time adjusting to the unit atmosphere.

After finishing dinner, the soldiers gathered in groups of three or four and chatted.

“The magic knights here go to training like crazy people just by eating.”

“I saw it too. And how much mana is there? It doesn’t even rest.”

“I saw you training a little while ago, and you train like you’re in a real fight! You use your skills and shoot your rifle wildly. It’s really brutal.”

Because the window was wide open, I could hear everything going on in the next room.

Colonel Bradrick stood at the window, looking out at the sunset sky.

As the subordinates said, the atmosphere of this special unit was completely different from their own unit.

The 7th Mobile Corps’ Airborne Magic Knights mostly train individually, except for the occasional formation training together.

The amount of mana, skill, and flight speed were all different, and most of them required time to replenish mana after using it.

Honestly, most of it was just resting.

Since he also had low mana regeneration, he had to rest for at least 3 to 4 days to replenish his mana when doing reconnaissance training.

And their 13th Squadron was like abandoned children.

The commander and vice-captain were elite, but they were already at an age where their skills had begun to decline, and most of the unit members were commoners, some from other kingdoms.

So, I thought it was inevitable that discrimination would arise.

But here······.

“I heard that more than half of the special forces are commoners, and that there are actually fewer of them from noble families. And most of the skilled veterans are commoners.”

“Does that make sense? We’re just leftovers in the military?”

“That Lieutenant General Alain personally awakened all the veterans at the Labyrinth Gate. And he said there was no training he hadn’t done to awaken the flight technique and high-speed flight skills.”

“Wow! This is total forced-indoctrination training.”

“Still, I’m a little jealous. If I could just learn high-speed flight skills, I could become an ace······.”

When the agents saw the special forces they had only heard of through rumors up close, they realized that it was worse than rumors, but definitely not excessive.

“They say that even if they encounter a flying monster, they fight without hesitation.”

“Really? How can that be?”

“And earlier, I was joking with a friend from the Aviation Magic Training Corps, saying that the leader here was too young and that he didn’t know how to properly command, but he glared at me as if he was going to kill me. It was like I was dealing with a cult leader.”

“Huh? Now that I think about it, I saw something strange too.”

“yes?”

The attention of the agents was focused on him.

“Before training, they handed out a box of some kind of medicine.”

“Is it medicine?”

“What could it be? It’s a drug that makes you forget your fears.”

“Ma, drugs!”

All the members were astonished.

“So that’s why you train so crazy!”

They shook their heads as they watched the special forces soldiers eat dinner and head out for training.

But Colonel Bradrick just smirked.

‘How can you keep training like that without even having time to recover your mana?’

Even if you want to train, your mana will be emptied after using the long-term Mana Release (lv. 3) skill a few times.

And in the unit, you always had to be on standby with your mana fully charged.

Because of that, personal training could only be done when entering the spirit world gate.

In past wars, reconnaissance was mainly the responsibility of the soldiers.

But recently, they have been excluded from reconnaissance missions.

This was because mana recovery was slower.

Even during his prime, the skills he used were very special, but he couldn’t use them often because he didn’t have enough mana.

Perhaps the Mana Release (lv. 3) skill and Detection skill that quickly raised you to elite level were poisons that hindered your growth.

What do you do when you regret it?

It’s not like I can go back.

“Haa! I guess it’s time to stop······.”

Today, the setting sun feels like my situation and my mouth feels bitter.

End