Before everyone knew it, time was up. They had been constantly battling, observing and capturing their opponents for 2 whole hours.
Everyone a.s.sembled in straight rows of 3 behind their Captain"s. No one was late.
Landon had put 2 bags in front of each team Captain. One bag was used to collect all headbands from their surviving team members. While the other, was used to collect enemy headbands and flags.
Once collected, Landon counted everything in front of everyone, so that they could know how they did as a team so far.
Josh"s team had collected 2 flags and 19 headbands, Mark"s team had 1 flag and 25 headbands, while Gary"s team also had 1 flag and 27 headbands.
Their results were overall the same in Landon"s eyes. Although Josh had the lowest amount of headbands, he had obtained 2 flags. While Gary and Mark were similar in their scores too. Everyone had successfully pa.s.sed as a team in this exam.
Once the soldiers heard their results, they were so happy that they almost cried. One had to know that this was the hardest exam in their lives.
Most of them lacked battle experience and weren"t all that familiar with battle tactics, but they persevered through and all their hardwork bore fruit.
They themselves had seen the changes in the bodies and their ways of thinking. They regarded each other as family, and for the first time had a deep sense of brotherhood.
Now that they thought about it, most knights in the Capital were very selfish, only thinking about how to get more power and wealth. If you were not strong you would be trampled on and even ridiculed there.
But here in Baymard, they had a new understanding of how life should be. The strong should always protect and provide for the weak...No matter how poor people are, it was not enough reason for anyone to treat them like trash.
Now was just 6:30 Am which was too early for their normal training sessions to end, so they knew that there was more to the exam than this.
"Since we time on our hands, we will move onto the next stage for today"s exam. You can what you just did as "Phase 1 part A" while this one will be "Phase 1 part B"." Landon said.
"I need you all to form groups of 6 which will include 2 knights from each team. The last test showed how well you performed in your Captain"s team, but now I need you to work well with other knights under other Captains. Remember we are all people of Baymard. No one is more superior or inferior to the other. There is always room for improvement, so keep working hard." Landon continued.
The men thought what Landon said was right, they were all for Baymard. It didn"t matter which Captain they were under, provided they did their best for Baymard.
"Now...form groups of 6 as required. Of course the Captain"s will be grouped together separately from you all."
They hurriedly form their groups and waited for further instructions.
"Over the last weeks, I have been training you all on how to use simple tools with your own bare strength, and then using them to climb hills and cliffs. By using your bare hands, you all have improved your physical stamina, flexibility, mental strength, muscle coordination, muscle strength and a sense of judgment for adaptability. Some of you have even conquered your fear of heights and death."
Landon looked at his men who were beaming with pride and confidence, and felt a sense of accomplishment within him.
A few days ago, he had paid some villagers had to a.s.sist him in building the exam set. For this test, Landon had set it up almost like the military drill sessions back on earth.
"You all follow me and I will show you were your next exam will be held." Landon said
Once they arrived, seeing what was in front o them, they were confused about how the test would progress.
For each team, Landon had put 5 stacks of wood separated by a very short distance. Only 6 people could jump over one stack at a time (he had used trees for this test afterall). The soldiers were all expected to jump over these wood stacks without touching them.
The next drill was the tire drill exercise back on earth.... Soldiers would hop in several car tires while trying not to fall. Since there were no tires in this era, he made circular moulds with mud, leaves,gra.s.s and twigs. oldier"s were required to hop through 20 tires without falling before going to the next exercise.
He later build a 5 row wooden jumping bar over some muddy water (Which had dried out now but it made the ground look mushy) for each team. The goal was for the soldiers to cross the muddy water by using the hanging wooden bars he built, without touching the ground.
Followed by a large wall made of net, hanging over the side of a 10 feet, st.u.r.dy and old tree.The men would run up to the wall, climb and slide down the tree like a pole and move on.
They would later crawl under several nets, that were pinned very close to the ground. And finally, they would have to rock climb the cliff at the side of the mountain to get to the top.
Once on the cliff top, they would meet Commander Lucius, get a block of wood from him and rush back to present it back to Landon. Mission complete.
"For your test, Baymard is at war and the only way to save it from extinction is to retrieve something very important from Commander Lucius and bring it back to this king. Your task is to pa.s.s through all the obstacles, get the item and successfully retrieve it without damaging it."
Landon looked at his excited men and continued.
"But there"s something very important to note. When doing rock climbing, each team will only be given 8 ropes to use. You are to secure your rope as well as your teammates, before proceeding to climb. Commander Lucius will not give you the item if you are one teammate short. If one person isn"t there, you all fail."
Everyone finally understood that they seriously needed to work well as a team.
"Also, going to Commander Lucius and coming back should only take 15 minutes. Once the time is up, your exam will end"
They were all worried now whether they could do it or not. As Landon looked at their worried faces, he decided to boost their confidence by letting their Captain"s demonstrate it for them.
Infact, once Landon finished building all the obstacle courses, he had showed Licius and the Captain"s how to perform the drills.
At first they were slow, but now they were pro"s. Afterall, they didn"t want to let the soldiers see them fail as Captain"s, so they trained extra hard for this.
"As you can see there are 5 sets of obstacle courses in front of you. There are 3 net walls available for all to use, remember that.The only other thing you all share is the cliff.....so 5 teams will perform at once. Now I"ll let you see how it"s done by letting your Captain"s work as a team for this test."
As the men watched their Captain"s work together very fast, they were amazed and looked at them with wors.h.i.+pping gazes.
The speed at which their Captains climbed the cliffs together amazed them, as they knew that they themselves couldn"t be that fast as of now. But nonetheless, they were now confident that the test was within their capabilities.
When their Captain"s returned, everyone clapped and said various honest heartfelt praises.
"Now.....the first 5 teams, step up and begin. The Exam starts."