Neverwinter City, Flight Training Field.
“Faster, faster! Walk faster, keep your balance!”
“Your legs are weaker than a baby’s!”
“Direction, pay attention to your direction!”
“Hey, where are you going? I should have placed rows of braziers on both sides of the walkway.”
“If you need to vomit, vomit to the side, don't vomit on the planks, or you’ll lick it clean!”
“Next, Gude!”
“Yes!” Gude shuddered immediately. He took a deep breath and walked to a swivel chair to sit down.
The instructor, Yingmian’s, cold face was also reflected in his eyes.
Even just making eye contact, Gude felt a chill run down his spine – he heard that the other party was originally the commander of the Northern Garrison. After rotating back to Neverwinter City, he immediately participated in the army's internal assessment and became a member of the Air Knight reserve team. This meant that he had not only experienced the Battle of the Church, but also gave up his original vacation to devote himself to new training.
In other words, the other party was the kind of person who was ruthless to others and ruthless to himself.
Being stared at by such a person, he only felt immense pressure.
As soon as he sat down, two teammates, Fenjin and Heinz, surrounded him.
On their faces, Gude saw an expression of self-preservation.
Then the chair was spun quickly –
This was the most troublesome training since he joined the reserve team: a five-meter-long, palm-width wooden plank was placed in front of the swivel chair, called the Sky Bridge. They had to be spun for half a minute and then walk across the wooden plank.
Things that anyone could easily do in peacetime became completely different after the rotation. The body seemed to lose its center of gravity, and the world was shaking. Not to mention walking the Sky Bridge, even maintaining a standing posture was not easy. Usually Yingmian divided ten training sessions into a group, and the worst performer would be punished with "cleaning the toilet" or "weeding", or spinning all day during the weekend break.
Gude had tried it once.
As a result, while everyone else was happily eating dinner, he vomited all over the dormitory.
He didn't want to experience such a terrible thing a second time.
“Stop!”
With an order, the rotating chair was suddenly stopped by his teammates. Gude endured the dizziness rushing to his brain and jumped out of the chair.
“Quick! Don’t stand there, walk!”
He gritted his teeth, raised his eyes, and wobbled onto the wooden plank, walking towards the other end – after ten days of practice, he discovered a little trick, which was that staring at his feet made it easier to lose his balance, so it was better to look ahead and use his body memory to control his steps.
When a solid sensation came from the soles of his feet, Gude realized that he had walked through the Sky Bridge.
“So, so amazing…”
“He didn't even miss a step!”
“Is this the first time?”
A burst of discussion suddenly sounded behind him.
He turned around and looked at Yingmian, and the latter also rarely raised the corners of his mouth, "Not bad, it seems you are not hopeless."
"But!" the instructor paused, his tone changed, "Only one person has truly passed today, this result is the worst in all classes! Princess Tilly said that Air Knights are one in ten thousand, if you don't want to be eliminated as a whole and do chores on the ground forever, cheer me up and practice twice as hard – rest for five minutes, then another set!"
Everyone immediately let out a wail.
"Hey, how did you do it?" Fenjin leaned in front of Gude, winking.
"Remember the stride length, pretend you're not dizzy, and walk as usual."
"Can you pretend that?" Heinz also followed, "Isn't that equal to deceiving yourself?"
These two were among the same batch of applicants who passed the assessment as Gude, so they became familiar within a few days. In addition, the Air Cavalry divided them into teams of three, and now they have almost become inseparable "comrades".
"Who cares whether
it's a lie or not, as long as it can pass." Gude tapped his head, "Generally speaking, the smarter people are, the harder it is to deceive themselves, you should be able to do it easily."
"Come on," Fenjin retorted, "Isn't it just one successful time, look at how proud you are."
"Let's make a bet, in the next set, I can succeed three... no, five times!"
"Then I'll take care of all your laundry this week!"
"Does underwear count?"
"Uh..."
"Don't argue yet," Heinz interjected, "What I want to know is, can practicing these things on the ground really make you an Air Knight?"
The two were speechless for a while. This question was also a common confusion for all reserve students. What walking the Sky Bridge, rolling on rollers, identifying wind direction... It was more like acrobatics than training soldiers. The princess's personal teaching was also nowhere to be seen, but instead the method was taught to the backbone of the First Army, who then led the class.
Adding training was quite hard. Not only did they practice from morning to night, but they also had group lectures at night to learn writing. If Princess Tilly hadn't personally promised it, most people would have doubted the authenticity of the announcement.
But the instructor's attitude was very strict, so no one dared to bring it up in person.
"Who knows," Fenjin shrugged after a while, "At least the food here is good, you can eat meat every day, and there are extra meals on weekends."
"I think... the princess can't lie to us." Gude pondered, "Didn't we get a bag of books that day? My sister told me that there is a book called Flight Principles... which was written by the princess. When we fully master writing, maybe we can know the meaning of these exercises."
"You are quite optimistic," Fenjin grinned.
"If I didn't think of everything in a positive way, I would have died on the streets long ago."
"Okay, rest time is over!" At this time, Yingmian's voice instantly drowned out everyone's whispers, "Everyone, come over and line up, and practice again in the previous order!"
"Yes..." Everyone said weakly.
However, an accident happened.
The door of the training room was suddenly pushed open, and a man in military uniform walked in and said a few words in Yingmian's ear.
Yingmian nodded, saluted him, and then turned to look at everyone.
"Congratulations, the follow-up practice is cancelled, you can continue to rest."
Fenjin and Heinz breathed a sigh of relief, but Gude held his breath – he clearly saw a hint of inexplicable smile on the other's face. There was sarcasm, ridicule, and... Schadenfreude?
"But not here." Sure enough, Yingmian continued, "Don't think I don't know what you are complaining about in private, but unfortunately with your pitiful brains, you won't understand even if I explain it. But your good luck has come – now there is an opportunity to let everyone witness the meaning of the term Air Knight with their own eyes."
The Air Knight's... true meaning?
Gude suddenly felt his heart beating a little faster.
"Follow me," Yingmian slowly swept over everyone, "Remember not to pee your pants later."