Leonard did as he promised, and Sui Xiong did not have to wait long.

  In fact, he only used half a year’s time.

  In such a short period of time, the Republic of Northwest’s national defense force’s new troops, which had been selected for the new training, completed their training.

  Such efficiency was possible only due to their strong foundation. The Republic of Northwest’s troops were not just physically strong and well trained, but they also had a strong, innate fighting spirit. They were steadfast in their reasons for fighting and were confident to fight till the end despite the threat of death. Furthermore, they had all undergone “infinite terror” systemic training in the Church of Void Mask. That training was specifically created for soldiers and focused on danger. The training pitted soldiers against several other communities such as demons, devils and…… of course, humans. In these wars, most of the time, the trainee was able to win in the end but with several losses.

  A Chinese saying mentioned that if one experienced near-death situations and hardships for life, they would eventually stop fearing actual death as they would be desensitized. Within the “infinite terrors” system, trainees faced simulation of themselves post-death several times. They witnessed the pain of their family, the administrative handling of their deaths by the army, glory and farewells…… The trainee would temporarily evolve into an invisible bystander in the God Kingdom, who was unable to do anything but observe the situation.

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  The effects of this training were extremely strong. Many wept uncontrollably after, and several even applied to leave the army. However, those who were able to endure such harsh training remained and they were all mentally well prepared to fight.

  Previously, Sui Xiong had also evolved to become a normal patron saint to secretly gather opinions of such training from these brave men. More often than not, the reply that he got was that people definitely had to sacrifice for the greater good of the country and to protect their loved ones. These men were all willing to step up when such sacrifice was needed.

  Towards this, Sui Xiong felt extremely touched, and he specifically opened a big temple at the side of the main temple in the Church of Void Mask and named it the “Temple of Martyrs.” In this Temple of Martyrs, there was a record of every soldier who had sacrificed his life for the country, as well as his story. Their families and generations after as well as the leaders of the Republic of Northwest could use prayers and rituals to speak to the deceased in nearby God Kingdoms. Although this connection was not guaranteed and one had to use game terms of “Divine Position,” to the devoted, this was still a giant source of comfort.

  Many family members of the martyrs chose to work near the Temple of Martyrs so that they could visit the temple often and converse with their deceased loved ones. Hearing them and seeing the images of them was like having them virtually by their side as if they had never left.

  This was something that other countries could not achieve. Many other churches’ Regiment of Knights were also unable to reach the Republic of Northwest’s army’s standard. The fact that they were stronger were only due to the fact that they had powers bestowed upon them by gods. Strictly speaking, the national defense force of the Republic of Northwest was definitely more elite than normal holy knights in terms of mindset and vision. All they lacked were strong bodies and the ability to demonstrate magic, which could all be solved with specific training.

  Now, Leonard wanted to enact such training upon them, and this was done with three stages.

  The first stage to improve their physical fitness. Leonard did not hide himself anymore but instead demonstrated his abilities freely as an evil god. He used his powers to transform the bodies of the elite troops and further improve their already fit bodies. One could tell the difference through their diet. Previously, they consumed normal food and simply adjusted the amount of meat and oil that they consumed to suit their training. Now, normal food was not enough. They often required fresh demon meat to absorb the demons’ strength to maintain their new bodies. According to the calculations by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, if all the troops underwent this training, the expenses of their diet alone would use up about 70 to 80 percent of the imports of fresh demon meat from Dragon Roar City. They may even need to import more from the Mifata Federation in the south. Towards this, Sui Xiong was of course approving, and even the slightly stingy Madame Teague supported this decision. Money spent on defense was definitely worth it!

  Other than this issue, this training also cost a lot of Divine Power. Sui Xiong of course did not force only Leonard to fully use his Divine Power. Although Leonard had the Wandering Paladin priesthood, he had not really been initiated as a god and did not have much Divine Power, certainly not enough to take on this role alone. Sui Xiong contributed most of the Divine Power. Leonard was of course consenting towards this as he was not one who cared too much about ego.

  The second part was improvements in terms of fighting tactics, in particular their response rate and cooperation abilities. This had been done before but in limited ways. Leonard felt that it was time to improve this area.

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  This area of training required a bit of time as the troops needed to be familiar with each other to be able to work together under any situation.

  After all, the learning rate of humans was limited, no matter how capable the men were.

  In comparison, the last part of the three stages was the easiest to complete.

  The last part was to increase the competence of the men in using several different weapons. Leonard felt that if the troops were to work together well, they needed to be skilled in handling weapons, especially while wearing heavy armor. There wasn’t much to cover as Leonard simply needed to prepare the resources and allow the troops to try them. These well-trained troops did so quickly. They were not required to become masters of these weapons, just being sufficiently familiar with them was enough.

  In the end, the troops became extremely fearsome and strong. Sui Xiong was confident that they could pick up any weapon and fight in any war if necessary without hesitation.