B2 Chapter 56: Moving on Up

Quintus stared at the endless swirls of letters and numbers that filled his vision. The unending waterfall of characters had long since lost any meaning. Yet he felt that if he closed his eyes, he would still see them there, dancing as if to taunt him.

He rubbed at his face tiredly. Nightmares of paperwork and endless inventory reports had comprised the bulk of his days lately. Sleep wasn’t even a reprieve with how often they’d been invading his dreams. Four whole days behind a desk, with nothing to fight and only a few things to shout at… It had him on edge to say the least.

But before Quintus began to seriously consider flipping over his desk and setting the entire headquarters on fire, a sharp knock sounded at the door. He looked up, a glimmer of hope daring to sparkle in his eyes.

“Come in,” he called.

The door swung open. A centurion stepped inside, his plumed helmet tucked beneath one arm. His brow was furrowed slightly in an expression of mild concern or perhaps confusion. The man snapped a salute, which Quintus returned.

“Centurion Secundus.” Quintus addressed him. If he recalled, the man was one of those assigned to lead the newly formed auxiliary units.

“Sir.” Secundus nodded. “Something has come up that might require your attention. It pertains to the auxiliaries’ classes. There has been a development.”

Quintus stood up and was around the desk in a moment. “Understood. Let’s go.*

Secundus blinked. “Er… go where, sir?”

“To the auxiliaries.”

“Sir? Would you like to hear the report first?”

“Give it to me as we walk.” Quintus ordered, already headed for the door. Secundus fell into step beside him.

As they began a quick march through the halls and toward the training fields, Quintus found himself having to slow his pace multiple times. It took him a moment to determine why. Evidently, he had enough pent-up aggression and desire to spar or outright fight the trainees that [Warpath] had activated for him. It was an interesting discovery, one that he made note of for later.

It also meant that Secundus didn’t have time to give a full report before they arrived. He did manage to convey that some of the auxiliaries had undergone a class change—something that was borderline unheard of in this world. As for the consequences of that change… well, that was something that they were still looking into. Which suited Quintus just fine.

The training fields quickly came into view. A full cohort of auxiliaries spread across their expanse, all moving through some manner of practice or exercise. All except for a small handful.

Six men stood at attention as they waited at the edge of the fields. While Quintus couldn’t have named any of them, they certainly did look familiar. He identified them as some of their earliest trainees, ones that he had personally supervised on one or two occasions.

Quintus stopped before the nervous-looking men and turned to address the first. “What was your class and level before?”

“[Apprentice Blacksmith] level six, sir!” Replied a young man built like a bull.

“I see. And what is it now?”

“Erm… [Auxiliary Legionnaire (Blacksmith)], sir. Level one.” This time, the reply was a little less confident. “It’s a rare class.”

Quintus’s eyebrows rose. He turned to Secundus, who nodded in confirmation. The Primus Pilus himself didn’t have [Appraisal], meaning he had no way to personally verify the young man’s words. Luckily, others did.

“And your stats?” Secundus prodded.

“They… they’re lower now. Almost back to what they were when I was level one. The physical ones are a bit higher, though.”

Quintus fell silent for a moment. “Tell me what happened.”

The broad-shouldered young man almost shifted in place, but stopped himself. Much to the centurion’s approval. “It was during our weekly class stone visit, sir. When I touched it, it was different than usual—”

One of the other men snorted. Quintus whipped toward him, a balloon-nosed youth with a plethora of freckles. “Is something funny, recruit?”

“No, sir!” The youth stood stiffly. “I just thought Paul was making a bit of an understatement.”

“Explain.”

“When he touched the stone, he lit up like a gods-damned bonfire. We all did.”

Quintus nodded and turned back to the blacksmith. ‘I see. Continue, recruit.”

“Well…” the youth gulped. “I saw my level, stats and class. Once I could see again, I also saw that I had new skills available. A lot of them. All of my slots were empty, though, so I lost my levels in the ones I already had slotted.”

“I see. What kinds of skills were made available to you?”

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“All sorts of things. Fighting skills, movement skills, logistics skills… There were even crafting skills for other professions. Heck, there were even skills that I know I turned down in the past. Like [Breathing].”

The auxiliary fell silent as Quintus mulled over the information. He was no Gaius who enjoyed plumbing the depths of the System’s secrets and inner workings. But even he could see how significant the development was.

The question of how to replenish the Legion’s ranks had weighed on the minds of leadership for quite some time now. Training the auxiliaries had been the obvious solution, as that was what they had always done. Yet would they truly be able to join the Legion? Would they be able to integrate and make use of the same System-based benefits that the rest of the men enjoyed? Or would they simply be bodies filling in the gaps, forever separate from the whole? ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ novel~fire~net

Now they had an answer. Part of one, at least. It seemed that the System was beginning to recognize these auxiliaries as part of their forces, though not yet the Legion itself.

That alone raised a whole host of questions. Would Quintus be able to feel their deaths like he did those of his brothers-in-arms? What exactly had allowed them to undergo this change, and what more needed to happen before they could join the Legion itself? Traditionally, the process of becoming a true Legionnaire took years and was only open to citizens of Rome. Yet they could scarcely afford to be as strict in a world where they were the only true Romans.

Quintus remained silent, tapping his fingers along the pommel of his sword as he thought. As many questions as this raised, there remained plenty of things they could not test. Not immediately. But he was certain that the matter would be of great interest to Tiberius and Gaius both.

He turned to Secundus. “Confirm whether or not their own skills have been added to the Legion’s list of skills.”

Secundus nodded. The loss of the men’s skill levels wasn’t of particular concern. Not if it meant they gained access to so many more. Quintus actually doubted that any of them had much worth writing home about in the first place. Plus, any skills they’d leveled as part of the auxiliaries shouldn’t be difficult to raise back up again—provided they weren’t shirking their training.

Quintus thought of something else. “Your level… how much experience do you need to advance it?”

The blacksmith gave him a quizzical look. “Just the normal amount, sir. Why?”

The centurion turned to the others. “Is that the same for all of you?” At their nods, he grunted. That certainly was a difference from the Legion’s own case. Plus, the fact that these men were level one instead of four like the Legionnaires also suggested the auxiliaries weren’t pooling their experience the same way. Perhaps that made sense though. Auxiliaries were never part of the Legion. They were a separate support group attached to it.

That raised even more questions though. Would a unit of auxiliaries level up together, then? Would they share stamina the way Legionnaires seemed to? And what if an auxiliary gained citizenship, then advanced to become a Legionnaire? Quintus couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen that happen, though he’d seen many auxiliaries gain citizenship after decades of fighting.

And if their stats did reset like this… He knew that having a high constitution could help a person live longer. Many times longer than they should. If an old man with high constitution joined the Legion, could the reset kill him?

Quintus mentally filed those questions and more away. As curious as he was, he didn’t have the time or ability to answer them now. That would be Gaius’s job. Still, he’d make note of them in the report he’d have to make about this.

“There’s more.” Secundus added as Quintus thought. “It seems that their skill slots have also undergone changes. Two of them are now group slots like the Legion has. They lack granularity though and can only be assigned across the entire auxiliary unit—which the System currently recognizes as only these six.”

“How do you know?” Quintus asked.

Secundus shrugged. “I can’t be certain. But these are the only ones we’ve found so far.”

“I see… All right. Inform me immediately if that changes. And ensure that they assign [Warpath] and [Coordinated Bulwark] to mirror the Legion.” Quintus felt as though it were a reasonable decision. If Tiberius wanted to change it, then he certainly could when he returned. But until then, they could work to catch up to the Legion in those skills.

“Yes, sir.”

Quintus turned toward the six men. “Is there anything else I should know?”

The group shook their heads. Despite the setback of being returned to level one, they all showed obvious excitement at the development. It wasn’t hard to understand why. These men had all joined the auxiliaries with nothing more than common or uncommon classes. The idea of gaining a rare class such as this, along with all of the stat points it promised was like a dream come true. Not to mention the immediate access to rare skills.

The centurion nodded. “Very well. Secundus, I will be pulling these six aside for today. Until the Legatus says otherwise, any men that receive an Auxiliary class will be put through more rigorous training to bring them up to Legionnaire standards. I will provide details as to what that should entail later.”

Secundus saluted as he looked past the six men and toward the remaining auxiliaries. Busy as they were, most couldn’t help but sneak glances in this direction. More than a few of them even looked jealous.

Quintus frowned. That wouldn’t do. While jealousy could spur men to achieve greater things, it could just as easily poison the cohesion of the unit. It was a possibility he had to address.

“Auxiliaries!” His shout carried across the training fields, immediately drawing the eye of every man across it. Quintus cleared his throat and gestured to the six behind him.

“These men before you have proven their loyalty and dedication to the Legion. Because of their efforts, they have been raised far above the common man—a reality proved by their newfound classes and the gifts associated with them. Should they continue to apply themselves, they may even one day become brothers to us in the Legion—and thus become powerful enough to send their enemies quaking where they stand.”

Quintus clasped his hands behind his back. “Look to them as an example of what can be accomplished when you put forth the proper effort. Strive to not only meet, but exceed their example, and perhaps you too shall be rewarded in kind.”

There was a shout of affirmation and a flurry of salutes as the Primus Pilus finished. Looking out across the sea of faces revealed a whole variety of responses—awe, envy, and still some jealousy. But in the eyes of each man, he also saw something else. A spark of determination and excitement.

The chance to improve their lot in life with a rare class was a priceless opportunity. Now that attaining something like that was shown to actually be possible, Quintus wouldn’t expect them to put forth anything less than double their efforts.

He truly hoped that they would deliver. If they did one day prove themselves worthy of becoming his brothers, he would welcome them with open arms.

Quintus turned to the six. “Follow me. We have some more work to do.”

The men nodded, but it was clear that they were curious. One dared to speak up. “What would you have us do, sir?”

He turned to look at the men. He would need to make a full report on this matter, and the more detail he could give, the better.

“We need to determine what happens when you level up. For example, what kind of stat points your class earns.” Quintus gave them a wolfish grin. “And what better way to do that than to go hunting?”

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