Two months passed in a fsh, and early spring came once again.

  It has been a full year since I joined the 17th legion, and I couldn't help but feel emotional. The difference between before joining and now was like day and night.

  From a poor Commoner, I became the rising talent in the entire 17th legion. Some even started calling me the uncrowned prince. Me, a prince! Hah! I really wanted to ugh at such nonsense.

  However, there was some truth to the matter. Having the backing of the old man and being his protege, I was, in a sense, the uncrowned prince. When I went to deliver messages, even the Senior Centurions of the 1st Cohort and the tribunes showed me some respect.

  Of course, I didn't let that get to my head. Not only that, but I trained and studied with zeal that would put the most dedicated priests to shame. I knew that, at a whim, the old man could take everything away from me, so I didn't dare to be zy. And naturally, I treated everyone with respect. From the tribunes and legate to the most common soldier, I never behaved arrogantly and treated them as I would treat myself.

  After all, I never forgot my origins. I am just a poor bloke who got lucky, and I received the Progress System due to my kindness. If I abused my power, perhaps the godly old man would visit me... before snapping me out of existence...(Shiver*)

  Scary thoughts aside, becoming the Prefect's Protege was the best thing that could have happened to me, truly! First of all, my multipliers have explosively increased!

  Wealth Score: 4 -> 10(You are civily-dressed, bathed, well-fed, and have a private room, even if a modified servant's quarters. The new magic heater keeps you warm and comfy at night.)

  Ally Score: 25 -> 100(You are the protege of the Camp Prefect of the 17th Legion, who is an Epic Warrior and the uncrowned king of the legion. Everyone knows that you are a once-in-a-century prodigy, which, coupled with your unremitting effort and respect for everyone, even made those who were dissatisfied with you secretly impressed. Even the Legate has to curry favor with you. As things stand, your prestige as the uncrowned prince of the 17th legion is cemented, and everyone predicts that you will be a new uncrowned king in the future.)

  In total, it was a 10x increase to the Happiness Multiplier! That meant I improved 10 times faster in the simution, and the upper prestige level increased by around 200 levels from this alone!

  By the way, the Magic Heater was sponsored for me by the Legate and Senior Tribune. How nice of them... not. Honestly? I wanted to return the item to them, since while it costs about 100 silver denari, I didn't feel like owing them, even if it improved the Wealth Score from 8 to 10.

  Luckily, the old man stopped me.

  "Just keep it. Let them think you are grateful, and they will continue showering you with gifts. If they need your help in the future, consider whether it is trivial enough, and help them if you feel like it. Anyways, there is no binding contract for accepting these gifts."

  And so, I accepted it. Additionally, I also received an enchanted armor, sword, and shield suitable for an Elite Warrior. This also helped improve my Military Multiplier. Of course, the thing that increased it the most was the old man.

  Military Multiplier: 30 -> 120(You are the protege of an Epic Warrior and the Camp Prefect of the 17th legion. Every word and action that he does is a treasure trove of military knowledge, and you can ask him many things. Additionally, the enchanted armor, sword, and shield you received increase your military experience.)

  Having the old man increased it to 100, and the following equipment further raised it to 120. These, of course, don't even include the addition from abilities. The true multiplier was much higher. The prestige levels of military csses and abilities significantly increased.

  I also unlocked several new csses in the st two months. These included Surveyor, Construction Engineer, War Engineer, Field Medic, Bodyguard, Squad Commander, and Watch Commander.

  Each of these csses granted me a corresponding ability. For example, Surveyor gave me the Observation ability. The Construction Engineer gave me the Architectural Drawing. The War Engineer css gave me the Siege Design. The Field Medic gave me the Field Treatment. The Bodyguard gave me the Sense Danger. The Squad Commander gave me the Leadership. And the Watch Commander gave me the Threat Assessment.

  While none reached a high level in reality, I invested two simutions in each. Every one of them is in the mid-hundred level, meaning I improve over 50 times faster in reality. My improvement speed shocked everyone I worked with. And the kicker is that I still didn't learn how to train others or enforce discipline. I was supposed to help in training a new batch of recruits soon, which might grant me one or two csses.

  For the next css on the Legionary series, I obtained a new Css a month after advancing to the Elite Warrior Realm. Unoriginally, it was named Elite Legionary. It actually required me to have Strength lvl 200 and lvl 150 to all previous military abilities. However, it was worth it.

  Elite Legionary:

  If the Veteran Legionary is a direwolf, then the Elite Legionary is a ferocious one. Bathed in the fires of war, these men are not only deadly combatants but have also tempered their ferocity, using bloodlust as a weapon against their foes.

  Hint: This css is 10 times harder to level up than Veteran Legionary.

  Tempered Bloodlust:

  You not only control your bloodlust, but can also direct it, using it like a hot knife that cuts through enemy morale, weakening their resolve and thus, their combat prowess.

  Bonus to Military Csses.

  I started noticing a pattern. The Recruit and Legionary Csses mainly focused on unit cohesion, but from the Senior Legionary onward, they focused more on individual combat power. Combat Endurance helped me stay longer in a fight, and Fighting Experience made me a stronger combatant. And now, Tempered Bloodlust reduced the strength of my opponent.

  But on the other hand, it made sense. There was strength in numbers... assuming your fellow soldiers were as strong as you. If you are much stronger, then you must rely on yourself during the heat of battle.

  It did, however, make me wonder, how the hell am I supposed to temper my bloodlust when I didn't kill anyone yet? It is like baking bread without dough. Impossible.

  To my shock, the Progress System's Prestige function is more powerful than I imagined. As I trained and sparred with fellow soldiers, especially Senior Centurions from the 2nd to 5th cohorts(Because they were the only ones who could keep up with me), I heard some strange remarks.

  "Did you kill someone recently?"

  "To develop bloodlust without killing..."

  "As expected of the uncrowned prince."

  "What a monster..."

  Even the old man gave me a strangely satisfied look. It was then that I noticed that Tempered Bloodlust was increasing in Real Life. Although not as quickly as other abilities, the increase was real, around 2 levels per 3-day simution. At my current improvement speed, it was painfully slow, but it was there!

  "If I want to reach the Extraordinary Legionary css, I would either need to wait for several years... or kill." I understood.

  In other news, my Warrior Cultivation also had a significant change.

  When I learned the Direwolf Breathing Technique, and the Game Avatar started practicing it, the Legionary Breathing Technique was directly swallowed, as if serving as nutrients. Then, this entry happened.

  Direwolf Breathing Technique(Blue Grade)(Part 1/3)

  The incomplete breathing technique that can, at its full potential, reach the 7th Warrior Realm. The user becomes part of, or a leader of, the pack, depending on their realm. When the user is the leader, their fighting spirit is strengthened by having more troops under their command. If the user is part of the pack, a small portion of Fighting Spirit is channeled to the pack leader. But in return, it becomes excited, increasing combat power and morale. Those who practice the Legionary Breathing Technique are automatically part of the pack.

  Since you reached lvl 200 in the Legionary Breathing Technique, the level requirements are halved.

  Realm Progression: 1st(lvl 1-4), 2nd(lvl 5-24), 3rd(lvl 25-99), 4th(lvl 100-249), 5th(lvl 250)

  Hint 1: Progressing beyond lvl 250 only helps prestige, but the prestige can remain after obtaining the following parts.Hint 2: If you obtain enough breathing techniques for comparison, you can derive the following parts yourself or create a new technique.

  When I first learned about the special ability to borrow strength from troops and enhance them, I was shocked. This was a truly magical technique suitable for the army!

  Anyway, reaching lvl 200 in the Legionary Breathing Technique gave me a significant boon when practicing this technique. When practicing it, I was converting the energy of the Legionary Breathing Technique to the Direwolf Breathing Technique, but I didn't lose my previous realm. It was just that, a process of conversion. When I reached lvl 100 in the Direwolf Breathing Technique, I finished converting it, and my Fighting Spirit began increasing.

  Sure, I needed to practice a whole new technique, but since the level requirements were directly halved, it was more than twice as fast as before! After all, the increase in leveling difficulty is... as it said, exponential? I still don't get that word. But yeah, big difference! As the old man once told me, for those who complete the Legionary Breathing Technique, practicing it is twice the results with half the effort.

  Nevertheless, practicing it will take some time. It is lvl 156 now, and it will likely take another four months to reach lvl 250 at my current rate. But that was fine. Anyway, it would take a while before I received the 2nd part.

  In other news, the old Emperor died! I hear that his st word was Equanimity.1If you didn't get it, it is Emperor Antonius Pius.

  And even worse, news, two new emperors rose to power in his stead.

  How is that something bad, you might ask? After all, all legionaries receive a bonus upon the ascension of a new emperor, right? Moreover, there are two, so we should get double, right?

  WRONG!

  True, as a Specialist, I indeed received a bonus of 100 denari, while other soldiers received 75 denari. 100 denari isn't a small sum! But we only received the regur amount.

  However, compared to the ridiculous 5,000 denari the Praetorian Guard has received, this is chump change. Last time, they gave those corrupt thugs about 2,000 denari... which is already too much, in my opinion. They already get 1,000 denari as sary and only serve 20 years instead of 25. Talk about corrupt.

  Honestly? I also get why this happens. After all, the praetorian guard is an infamous emperor-sying thorn that no one could, or dared to, remove. And to not get killed, the new emperor needed to bribe them with a fat bonus. However, it shouldn't have been THIS fat. I mean, what the fuck? Are the new emperors nuts?!

  Oh, never mind. Apparently, one emperor was competent and had plenty of support. Meanwhile, the other was a mediocre one who only ascended because the competent one begged that he would ascend with him, likely out of filial piety. Honestly, having two emperors never happened before. And the mediocre one was also the one who came up with the bright idea of wasting more taxes to bribe the already-wealthy praetorian guard with a double bonus... while ignoring the sweating and bleeding border guards, who were away from the center of Roman power.

  Sigh... unfairness at its finest.

  And to make matters worse, I hear the mediocre Emperor, Herius Caesetius Dacian, will now become the ruler and supreme commander of the eastern empire... That means us.

  Okay, scratch the bad news. It is horrible news. REALLY HORRIBLE NEWS!!!

  I couldn't help but ment.

  "Fucking damn it... Hopefully, there wouldn't be a rge-scale invasion, or we are officially screwed..."

  And, of course, I jinxed myself...