Fellow Sufferers

Endurance, medical bay.

Now.

.

Vokes sat quietly in the seat, watching Apothecary Leo apply medicine to him.

Appearing very familiar with the process, Vokes consciously raised his hand or turned to make it easier for Leo to apply the medicine.

Compared to the quiet and even somewhat weak Vokes, Hades beside him had a gleam in his eyes.

Sensing Hades' gaze, Vokes smiled apologetically at Hades and said softly in Barbaran, "Greetings, Senior Hades, I am Vokes, from the Death Guard of southern Barbarus. You may not know me."

"No, no, no, the rising star of the south, Vokes, I've heard Mortarion praise you."

Hearing Hades' words, Vokes' eyes lit up, but instantly returned to that dead-hearted expression.

Compared to Hades, who had just started training, Vokes, who had undergone several months of hellish training, had long since worn away the enthusiasm and excitement he had when he first joined the legion.

All that remained was the silence of gritting his teeth and persevering through the hardships.

Vokes smiled wryly, "Senior, did you just arrive at the Seventh Company? I haven't seen you before."

"Oh, don't be so formal. We're the same rank in the legion now, just call me Hades."

"But I just arrived these past two days. I was injured before, so I rested for a while longer."

Apothecary Leo got up, signaling to Vokes that his injuries had been treated.

[Thank you.]

Vokes nodded in response to the apothecary, Hades raised an eyebrow, "Vokes, what did you just say?"

"That's High Gothic, it means thank you."

"I see!"

Hades looked at the apothecary and also said thank you, imitating Vokes.

Apothecary Leo didn't react much. He nodded, packed up his equipment, and walked towards the room next to the medical bay, leaving the two Barbarans space to talk.

"Vokes, are we the only two recruits in the Seventh Company right now? Or is it just because it's my first day and I haven't seen anyone else?"

"As far as I know, the Seventh Company only seems to have applied for two recruit slots."

"Why?"

Vokes couldn't help but want to smile wryly again. Could he say that he didn't know either?

Mortarion had found his own blood relatives, Barbarus had received aid from the Imperium, and the Death Guard rebels could therefore join the legion.

But why was he so unlucky?

Vokes looked at Hades opposite him. No, he wasn't the only unlucky one.

After completing the transformation surgery, Vokes was assigned to the Seventh Company. He was initially puzzled as to why he seemed to be the only one heading towards the Seventh Company.

As a result, when he arrived at the Seventh Company, he discovered that he was indeed the only recruit who had come!

Vokes initially wondered if he had been assigned to the wrong place, but Blanca, who came to greet him, looked at him clearly and told Vokes with his eyes – it's you, kid, don't hesitate.

Then Vokes wondered if he had offended someone and was assigned to the Seventh Company alone.

In fact, Vokes had indeed offended someone on Barbarus.

As a newcomer who had fought his way out of an unknown small village in the south, Vokes survived several famous meat grinder battles in the south thanks to his extreme resilience and achieved great military exploits.

But this also angered Calas Typhon, the leader of the Death Guard in the south, because in some battles, Vokes' fame overshadowed Calas'.

And Calas felt that the victories in these battles were due to his advance planning and strategy, not because of "a very heroic warrior."

Vokes knew he was in the wrong, but at the same time, he knew that Calas was purely venting his anger unreasonably, so he consciously kept a low profile and did not compete with him.

Could it be Calas Typhon's doing?

After all, Calas Typhon is currently in the First Company, and he has a good relationship with Mortarion. Could it be his doing?

But later, Vokes gave up this ridiculous and naive idea.

This legion from the Imperium has its own seamless operating rules, how could a general from a small planet change those rules?

In other words, Vokes was picked by the Seventh Company.

After getting in touch and understanding more, Vokes also learned that the Seventh Company was known for its high combat power throughout the legion.

Compared to other companies, the Seventh Company's recruit training method was more simple and brutal.

While other companies were still teaching the use of firearms, weapon maintenance, or basic movements, Blanca, who was in charge of the Seventh Company's recruit training, directly threw Vokes into the training cage and had Vokes directly start live combat training.

After spending a week painstakingly defeating a combat servitor, he would be met with an even tougher opponent.

Blanca also forbade Vokes from wearing his power armor helmet, which meant that Vokes, who didn't speak High Gothic, couldn't communicate with Blanca. Currently, the translators in the helmets were one-way only, unable to translate words coming from others.

Although the newly joined Barbarus recruits were required to learn High Gothic, no mandatory orders had been issued yet, so most of the new recruits were just scraping by with helmet translators.

Some Barbarans with foresight, hoping to hold a position in the legion, had already started teaching themselves High Gothic.

Vokes, on the other hand, was forced to learn out of necessity; if he didn't, he would suffer in silence during training.

After Vokes mastered some of the most basic conversations, he tried to communicate with Blanca. It was clear that Blanca was quite satisfied with Vokes' self-study of High Gothic.

Now Blanca would also teach Vokes some combat strategies and tell him that once he defeated the combat servitor's α-3 in maximum damage mode, he could start the next stage of training, such as marksmanship.

In short, compared to the initial self-doubt and despair, Vokes became more philosophical through constant daily practice.

Perhaps this was how the previous wars experienced by these warriors were like: no satisfying battles, only bitter perseverance in desperate situations.

Surviving was victory.

Just like Vokes had done before: persevere, stand when the enemy falls, and then achieve victory.

As long as he persevered...

Thinking of this, and of his previous experiences, Vokes couldn't help but feel a little sympathy for the newly arrived Hades.

Perhaps Hades had just started fighting the combat servitor's medium mode.

Looking at the energetic Hades across from him, and that question, "Why?"

Vokes thought for a moment, and finally slowly said, "Maybe it's because we met some of the Seventh Company's new recruit training standards."

"And it's very likely that only the two of us meet this standard."

In fact, if he thought about it that way, being assigned to the same company for training as the one known as the "Wraith of Barbarus" meant that, in a way, Vokes felt like he was also recognized by this company.

Vokes had seen the miserable state of the Alien Lord that Hades had single-handedly killed.

Hades, hearing Vokes' answer, was obviously more curious about the Seventh Company they were currently in, and was eager to continue asking a bunch of questions.

Hades... he's completely different from the taciturn and mature Wraith image I imagined...

Happy reading ()

I'm going to be a little crazy for a moment. I just saw my wallpaper of a gender-bent Mortarion while coding.

Ughhhhhh, give me a gender-bent Mortarion!! I want to stick close!!! Expressionless white hair, tsundere, gaunt, and tough, ughhhhh!!!

I want to transmigrate directly into Grandfather Nurgle, so I can play with Mortarion!!!