Chapter 126: Chapter 126: What Military Training Gets You

“I, um, I can tell you about mine,” Thea volunteered, the shy guard said with only a moment of hesitation.

“Sure, go ahead,” Jay nodded to her. “Maybe you can tell me what that ‘class tier’ is all about, too? I’m curious about both that and what kind of class you have.”

Thea nodded, squaring her shoulders and assuming a more upright posture as she sat on the ground. Her knees had been up to her chest, but as she took a breath and steadied herself, she seemed to assume a role, like her military training was taking over as she spoke in a still quiet but far more collected voice.

“I’m not an instructor, but I can tell you some about what I was taught of the tier system by my captain during training. There are a lot of points that are taken into consideration when it comes to ranking combat classes, and it’s a lot more difficult to rank little known or unique classes like yours versus ones that are common like mine. They actually had a chart back at the training camp they would show the new recruits that hadn’t yet unlocked their primary class, just so they knew what they would likely be getting out of a specific class if they chose it upon their unlocking.”

Thea’s explanation was more detailed than she had given herself credit for, and as she listed out various considerations that went into the imperial military’s ranking system, Aila added in her own knowledge to supplement what Thea didn’t know or needed help with. Aila’s knowledge leaned more towards magic studies and mercenary company life, but there was some overlap and she did have some familiarity with the subject, if for no other reason than many mercenaries she’d worked with had been in the military previously and she’d picked up information here and there from being around them.

The basic gist that Jadis got out of their explanation was that the Empire gave tiered rankings for combat classes going from one to nine, though in practical terms the rankings rarely went above five. They mainly used the rankings to better allocate their manpower to help balance out their combat units, often paring a few higher tier soldiers with a larger number of low tier ones so that the more powerful combatants could make up for any deficiencies in the abilities of the weaker soldiers when in battle. They also had several different parallel tiers, such as melee, ranged, magic, and all-rounder so that squads of soldiers with particular skills could be formed when needed for special assignments.

“My primary class is a Tier One,” Thea explained, “because it’s one of the most common you’ll find in the military. It’s called ‘Imperial Soldier’ and it’s solid, just not anything great like Miss Aila’s arcanist class or your two amazing classes.”

“What about classes that aren’t meant for combat?” Jay asked. “Like Aila’s Cart Driver class?”

“They aren’t ranked,” Thea replied with a small shrug. “Or rather, you could call them Tier Zero. Not worth taking if you’re planning on being in the rank and file. That’s also what they call the combat classes that are substandard, or even detrimental to your ability to fight in the army. Those are the ones we’re told we should never take since they would be more of a hindrance than anything else.”

The idea of classes that were actually bad was an interesting thought. From Jadis’ perspective, even Cart Driver had some advantages, if niche ones, that could be useful to have. Even being able to just upgrade a specific attribute by taking the repeatable Attribute Improvement skills would be better than the nothing people got back on Earth, in her opinion. With choosing an attribute improvement always being an option, Jadis had to wonder what class could be seen as a detriment? Upon voicing her thought, Aila clarified in more detail.

“If you do nothing but choose attribute improvements, you’re missing out on a lot of functionality,” she said as she brushed out her long hair. “Just look at your Mirror Knight class versus your Ritualist class. Yes, you’ve gotten huge boosts in your physical stats from your lewd rituals and that is nothing to look down on, but Mirrored Body gives you far more versatility than just boosting any one stat could do. Paired with Mirrored Strikes, and you are capable of devastatingly damaging physical attacks. Also, your rituals are giving you very large increases. If you only choose attribute improvement skills from level one through twenty, which I admit is almost what I did, all you’ll get is a total of twenty-seven attribute points spread out among your stats as you see fit, with a maximum of fifteen put into one stat. That’s not much in the grand scheme of things, not when you compare it to how much more utility you could get out of better skills or spells.”

“Also,” Thea further expounded, “You don’t get to choose your first skill in a class. It’s always the same. And if it’s a skill that you’ll never use, it’s a complete waste. That’s what the military scholars mean by detrimental when they're talking about classes you shouldn’t take.”

“Barroom Brawler,” Kerr abruptly added in. “I’ve known mercenaries who took that class in the past because it was the only fighting class they had access to. The first skill is something about boosting your ability to fight while drunk and using random shit for weapons. Absolute garbage skill if you're out in a real fight against demons or magic beasts or even just fucking bandits. You’ve got to be sunk deep in your cups for it to even do anything.”

“I can think of one too,” Eir also piped up, though she remained glued to Dys’ side. “Temple Acolyte. It is noble to want to serve the gods and the needs of the temple, which Temple Acolyte will let you do with skills that will aid in mundane duties, but it is a weak class. It’s not technically a cleric class and makes no use of the Divine attribute and is thus incapable of casting healing or protective spells. Many who seek to join the temple are offered that class and while not discouraged per se, most high priests will direct new initiates towards more suitable classes if possible.”

“Huh,” Syd hummed, running her hand through her white hair. “There’s a lot of thought that goes into the classes people choose, I guess. But you chose Imperial Soldier, even though it’s only tier one?”

With attention redirected her way, Thea momentarily faltered, her blush spreading as she looked away, but she gathered herself quickly and replied steadily.

“Yes. It was, um, the only military appropriate class I was offered at my unlocking. I joined the army when I was seventeen and was in the training camp for eight months before my primary class unlocked. If I’d been there longer and had more time in some of the training programs, I may have unlocked something better, but that was my best option.”

“Ah,” Syd said lamely. Suddenly she felt like a bit of an ass. Of course not everyone got easy access to amazing classes like she had and pointing it out was probably a dick move. She certainly should have realized as much since her lover Aila had been forced to choose a menial labor class, something the mage-minded woman definitely didn’t want.

“So, how does Imperial Soldier work?” Jay asked, trying to cover up her alter self’s unintentionally rude words. “What skills did you get out of it?”

“Oh, um, well,” Thea fumbled, then began reading her status sheet and skill descriptions out loud.

“I put my boost from the, ah, r—ritual,” Thea blushed bright pink, “into Fortitude, as you can probably tell. That, um, helps more with my secondary class, but yes. Thank you, again.”

The guard looked like smoke was going to start pouring out of her ears if her face got any hotter, so Jadis did what she could to calm her down.

“That honestly looks like a very solid class to me,” Jay complimented. “Certainly not weak by any measure.”

“And I know that Piercing Strike skill,” Dys added. “I was offered that skill previously. I didn’t end up taking it since I don’t really focus on one specific type of weapon or damage like that, but yeah. It seems perfect for someone that uses a spear all the time.”

Jadis’ attempts at relieving Thea’s embarrassment were immediately undone as Kerr butted in with a sly grin.

“Improved Vision I, huh? I think I can guess exactly why a certain soldier that doesn’t even use ranged weapons might pick a skill like that—”

“Okay,” Jay cut the grinning archer off before Thea could faint. “How about you tell us about your secondary class too. You said Fortitude makes a big difference with it, yeah?”

It took Thea some seconds to regain her composure but once she did, she detailed out her second class’s skills as well.

“That’s actually quite good,” Aila remarked, eyeing the guardswoman appraisingly. “Even without Jadis’ attribute boost, you make for quite the vanguard. Tier four?”

“Oh, no,” Thea said bashfully, clearly flattered by Aila’s assessment. “It’s a tier three class. I worked very hard to make sure I unlocked it. I thank the gods I actually managed to meet the requirements.”

“You mean you chose your stats and performed specific actions just to make sure you’d get Shieldsworn Guard?” Syd asked, tilting her head to one side. “Why that class specifically?”

“It’s one of the few approved classes that I thought I had a chance of earning to be able to qualify for special detail work,” Thea said with a small, wan smile. “I’ll never be an officer, not with my lack of leadership skills. So, I decided to focus on getting a special detail assignment, like guarding nobles or high-ranking members of the military. It seemed like the best career move for me, considering. You have to have a tier three class at a minimum for those kinds of posts. So I did everything I could to make sure I would get Shieldsworn Guard and the gods rewarded my diligence.”

“Definitely a good reward for you,” Kerr agreed with a casual wave of one hand. “I bet being a guard for nobles means you get to overhear all kinds of juicy details, maybe even see some less-than-proper behavior that the old-bloods get up to when they forget the guards are around—”

“Kerr!” All three of Jadis’ selves shouted, cutting the wicked woman off.

Thea sat with her face buried in her hands, her knees drawn up to her chest as she made herself as small as possible. Aila gave the wretchedly embarrassed guard a gentle pat on the shoulder, doing what little she could to try and reassure her. Jadis gave Kerr a three-way glare but didn’t bother scolding her. There was little point. It wasn’t as though the therion was going to change her teasing ways any time soon.

Besides, Jadis privately agreed with Kerr’s assessment. Thea probably did have some impure motivations for why she wanted to be on guard detail for nobles and other higher-ups, even if she didn’t want to admit it.

“I suppose I should explain my class now,” Eir chimed, clearing the air a little. “Though I am afraid I have far less to tell, since I am a much lower level than all of you.”

461