The Fifth Batch of recruits kept training aboard the enemy ships that attacked them-or rather, the enemy ships that fell into their traps. They were arguably the most thoroughly trained batch of recruits of all.
Ten years passed in a flash. The sixth batch had completed their augmentation, and forty-four recruits joined the Chapter, while the forty men of the Fifth Batch faced their graduation assessment.
To keep the schedule consistent, recruits generally trained for twelve years: one batch being recruited, one batch training after augmentation, and one batch approaching graduation. That was the Crimson Tide Chapter's normal routine.
The Crimson Tide Chapter rarely sent recruits into battle against Chaos Astartes, even if their opponents were not ten-thousand-year veterans.
Gene-seed had the property of storing its previous Astartes bearer's combat experience for the current bearer to absorb. Once he had fully absorbed those experiences, the new combat experience he gained through continued fighting would be stored in the gene-seed.
In other words, if every generation lived a long time, the gene-seed accumulated an enormous wealth of combat experience, allowing recruits to quickly develop formidable fighting ability. That was why the ancient First Founding Chapters were so much stronger than newer Chapters.
Now, the different gene-seed lineages within Evan's Chapter had developed distinct tiers of combat ability. This was most obvious among the first batch of recruits. The strongest were the Iron Hands descendants from the Shadow Venom Blade Chapter, whose Chapter had the longest history and had fought the most wars.
Next came the White Scars lads from the Green Templars. Their history was about as long as that of the Storm Will Chapter, an Imperial Fists successor. Unlike the latter, who "holed up in their own territory," however, the Green Templars upheld the fine traditions of White Scars successors,