Jack used his God-eye monocle to scan the young group. All of them were indeed level 20, and all of them were classified as Squire. Jack speculated that to be the rank of the military branch, just like Knight Captain and Knight Commander which he saw on Salem and Quintus' description respectively.
Bailey looked at the row of young cadets and bellowed, "where is Walter?"
The five young cadets showed expressions of uneasiness.
Bailey raised her eyebrow, displaying her disapproval. One of the female cadets immediately spoke, "he said it was a waste of time to wait for a weak outworlder. He had gone ahead to scout the cave."
"That idiot!" Bailey cursed out.
She looked at Jack before turning his attention back to the cadets. "All right, you all already know the extent of the mission. Storm Wind here will take command, you will all listen to his orders and work together to clear out the cave and complete the mission. Is that understood?"
Jack's eyes went wide hearing her words. What did she mean by putting him in charge? Weren't those rookie soldiers all higher level than him? To add to the matter, he was an outsider, how could he expect them to obediently follow his every command?
He looked at the expressions of the cadets. From their grim looks and occasional chilly glances at him, he was sure that his intuition was right. Jack rubbed his temple. The heck was this woman warrior scheming at?
Despite their clear dissatisfactions, they didn't utter any objection. They just kept their silence.
"Is everything clear?!" Bailey bellowed with a stern voice.
"Mam, yes, mam!" The five of them said synchronously.
Bailey turned to Jack and nodded at him. "All right, use them to the best of their abilities," she said.
Use my ass! I would be lucky if they listen to a single command I give, Jack said in his mind.
"All right, now introduce yourselves to your new leader!" Bailey commanded.
The young cadets were reluctant, nevertheless, they did not dare to disobey.
"My name is Alonzo," one of them spoke.
"I am Lindsey," one of the female squires followed.
"Marriet."
"Teddy."
"Pablo."
"Storm Wind," Jack nodded to them and introduced himself.
"Do all of you use only sword and shield?" Jack asked.
"Yes, sir. That's our standard weapons of training," Alonzo answered. "Except for Lindsey, she can also use a crossbow."
Lindsey showed the small crossbow slung around his back after Alonzo's mention.
"Any special battle skill?"
"Mostly melee skills. Marriet can use heal," it was Alonzo who had spoken again.
Jack nodded. He had met several NPCs and saw them in action already. He knew their classification of classes was not as clear-cut as the players' ones.
"All right, go on now," Bailey said after seeing their introductions were over.
Jack looked at her. "You are not coming with us?" He asked.
Bailey gave him another amused look again. "What do you think my level is?"
Jack made a scan using his God-eye monocle.
Bailey (Elite Human, Knight Lieutenant), level 50
HP: 90,000
Sensing that Jack had inspected her level, Bailey said, "do you think there is any point for your trial and their training if I follow you people in?"
Jack didn't answer her question. He took out a sweet dumpling and a whetstone from his bag, consumed the first, and applied the latter to his sword. It had been customary for him to administer this extra boost before a planned battle. He didn't offer the NPCs, first because he was not sure if they would have an effect on them or not, and second because he only had two sets left after this last usage.
After finishing his preparation, he turned to the five squires, who were waiting patiently by the side, and uttered with a loud voice, "all right, you lot. Now move your asses and follow me!"
Bailey's smile was wide, she found it entertaining seeing Jack putting an act to be a leader. The cadets, though, didn't find it entertaining. Their dark faces expressed their dissatisfaction, but none of them dared to disobey Jack's order while Bailey was watching. They reluctantly followed after Jack as he entered the cave.
The inside of the cave was dark but there were strange lighting apparatuses placed in an interval by the side of the cave walls, they provided just enough light for Jack and the others to see their surroundings.
Jack felt a shiver. "Does any of you feel cold?" He asked.
None of the cadets gave an answer. 'Right, as I have thought,' Jack said to himself. He had expected this cold treatment.
As they proceeded further into the cave, Jack could see thin ice crust covering the floor and wall of the cave. As they traveled even deeper, the layer of ice became much thicker. Some noises could be heard from inside the cave. Jack knew from his radar that the noises were coming from four monsters.
From the depth of the cave, four figures came out from the darkness. Their statures were short, with sharp ears and long noses. They have blue fur covering their entire body, in line with the icy background. Each of them was carrying an icy club in one of their hands. Jack used his God-eye monocle to inspect the monsters.
Ice Troll (Basic monster, humanoid), level 20
HP: 3700
"Okay, let's gauge these monsters' strength. Four of you each…" While Jack was still speaking, three of the cadets went past him and headed directly to the monsters.
'Of course,' Jack said again in his mind.
As he saw the three squires engaged the Ice Trolls, Jack looked back and was puzzled seeing Alonzo and Lindsey were still standing behind him.
"You are not joining them?" Jack asked.
"We are awaiting your order, sir!" Alonzo replied.
Jack lifted his brows as a surprised reaction. 'Well, would you look at this, two obedient and composed NPCs,' he said in his mind. Although he knew that the two had the same dissatisfied feeling like the others, but these two were disciplined enough to follow the order given to them.
Jack looked back at the three engaging the Ice Trolls. Although they were outnumbered by monsters of the same level as them by one number, they were still at an advantage. Seeing that they could manage it, Jack didn't ask the other two squires to join. He used the chance to analyze the monsters and his allies' capabilities.
The Ice Trolls only used melee attacks without any special skill. The three squires' coordination was very good. It was clear that they were used to group combat with each other. Each of them took a position that covered the others' blind spots. The battle skills they performed looked like a simple variation of skills using longsword that increased attack power or increased attack speed, like Fighter's power strike and Ranger's swift strike. They sometimes also used their shields to bash at the monsters which caused them to tumbled back, Jack thought those shield bashes should be a skill since they caused higher damage than the squires' normal slashes and each of them gave the effect of pushing back their opponents.
It took them quite some time but finally, the four Ice Trolls fell to the ground.
'Eh? I receive experience points?'
Jack was astonished when he received the notifications. Now only did he notice that the previous white dots in his radar representing the five cadets had turned to green. He opened his party system and checked. He had no party. He had tried before to form a party with these five squires when Bailey made him the leader, but he couldn't find their name for an invite. The system only worked on players. So he thought that each of them would be considered as an independent combatant during battle. He had expected to not receive any experience point since he didn't land a single damage on the monsters. So imagine his surprise when he actually received them. His best guess was a hidden party system had been formed between the squires and him when Bailey ordered them to follow his command.
The three disobedient squires started walking forward again after the monsters were vanquished. Jack could only sigh and walked forward as well, but his steps stopped when his God-eye monocle informed him of several things on the ground where the monsters had fallen. A few coins and troll's tooth trophy loots were on the ground. Jack looked at the three squires walking in front, then back to Alonzo and Lindsey who were behind him. None of them showed any interest in the dropped items. Jack picked up the items and looked at them again, still no response. He then stored the items in his storage bag.
They met several waves of monsters again as they traveled deeper. All of them Ice Trolls. On the second and subsequent battles, Jack ordered Alonzo and Lindsey to join their three compatriots. Alonzo joined the others in melee while Lindsey used her crossbow and sent range attacks at the monsters.
With the five of them, they could utilize better formation and handled the monsters with more ease. The training of the army was evident on them. They became much stronger as their numbers increased.
Jack let them handled all the battles as he stood behind. They were eager to do the fighting, he was happy to receive free experience points by just watching them. He didn't forget to collect all the dropped loots from the fallen monsters too.
