CHAPTER 62

While Poe and Erebus were trying different attack strategies, I decided to spawn a dummy for myself.

"spawn one dummy, only aggressive towards me; use seventy percent speed."

As soon as I spawned the dummy, it started attacking me, and he had 7 str and 5 spd. I was a little used to spar matches with grown-ups, but as I understand from my deaths here, practice and real fights to the death will never be the same.

I wanted to gain combat experience, but I still didn't want to be hurt like before. The fear of death was still with me. I knew clearly that nothing would happen to me and that I would not die, but that pain was coming from a profound place. I needed to increase my pain tolerance over time, and there was no way I could dive in right away. Until four years ago, I lived in peace in the modern world. At the moment, I had killed 12 people and tasted death three times. Yes, two were not actual deaths, but they were more terrible and painful than my real death.

We all trained here for six hours; in those six hours, I had dozens of cuts at the skin level. It hurts like crazy, but I also killed the dummy dozens of times. Since his speed was almost equal to mine and he was on his own, I gave him my complete focus and worked mainly on my dodge and parry.

The most injured among us was not me but Erebus. Two of his talons were broken, his beak cracked, and he couldn't entirely fold his right wing, but thanks to our bond, I could clearly sense the anger and the will to fight in him. Whereas from his labored breathing, it was apparent he didn't have any energy left in him. It was like he was burning up with a vengeance. If he had the power, he would rip the dummy apart. When I saw him this way, berserker rage came to my mind. He was like a bull, always charging while disregarding defense.

Poe was the least injured among us because, after my warnings, she chose to attack only from the blind spot. Unless Erebus kept the dummy busy, she never attacked and always awaited an opening. When I saw her behavior, I thought of an assassin; her fighting style was being cautious and patient. They only managed to kill the dummy two times, and both were her kills. This was one of the reasons for Erebus' will to fight; he couldn't kill the dummy once.

Our wounds and injuries healed when we got out of the training space.

"Daddy, it doesn't hurt anymore; Erebus' talons and beak arent broken too."

"yes, when we leave that space, we will heal because the wounds we got in that room are not real."

At that moment, Erebus said, "but it hurt like it was real."

" because that is the magic of that place. It makes you feel like you are hurt or dying. "

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This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

After returning to Winterfell, I made a decision. I wanted to explore the north; I didn't want to return to Winterfell. It felt like a waste of time now. Thanks to my magic, travel time was significantly reduced, but I would still be wasting two days every round trip.

It was close to sunset when I reached Winterfell, but Sir Rodrik must still be in his quarter, so I wasted no time heading towards Sir Rodrik's quarter.

I knocked on the door.

"come in"

Sir Rodrik was sitting at his desk examining documents when I entered the room, and seeing it was me, he put the papers down and smiled.

"how was your camping and hunting trip?"

"It was good, and I enjoyed it; I want to tell you something, but you're not going to like it, sir."

"then why are you telling it."

"Because I have to do that."

"you have to do what?"

"explore the north." Hearing what I said, he angrily slammed his fist on the table and jumped to his feet.

"what the hell are you saying, boy!!"

"I have to explore the north, and I feel like I can't grow anymore if I stay at Winterfell."

"no, you are too young; you can't go."

"Sir, do you think you have left anything to teach me, or do you think I can learn anything else from our safe spar in the training ground."

"then we can talk to the lord and arrange for you to go on patrols with the other knights."

"yes, it might bring me little benefit if we encounter bandits, but it would be like walking with chains while I could run." Sir Rodrik might look like someone with a bullheaded personality, but sometimes he can act with logic, and this one is of these moments; he was able to see the merit of my words. Still, he was acting bullheaded now.

"no, can't allow that; you are too young. It would be too dangerous."

"what would be dangerous, sir? Lord stark, you and I perfectly know I will become one of the best swordsmen this world has ever seen."

"As you said, you will become one; you are not that person yet. Until then, it is my responsibility to protect you."

"Sir, I can't become that kind of person in a golden cage, and in my humble opinion, your job is not to keep me safe. On the contrary, it is your job to push me." when I said this, he stopped talking for a moment and thought about what I said, and I think I started to go through to him.

"you and being humble, I have learned a new thing today."

POV RODRİK

the kid had a point, but he was too young. How could I allow someone so young to go on a journey alone? But on the other hand, if we want him to reach his full potential, he needs to experience hardship. What should I do? Should I take him to the lord or just refuse him?

"you are still too young; we will visit this topic after a few more years." I could see he was getting angry.

"Sir, can I talk to you openly?"

look at the balls of this kid. The calf really isn't afraid of the wolf.

"talk."

"This is not right; I repeatedly proved I m not a naive kid. How many times do I need to prove myself for you to take me seriously? I have killed 12 bandits. Can you tell me any other squires or knight that did this when they were ten name-days old?" I was stunned by this outburst but the more we spoke, the more sense he made.

"yes, you are not a naive little kid. that is why I m allowing you to speak to me like that. and like you said, we know you are going to accomplish great things in your life, but all of this is only possible if you live. It is too dangerous for you to travel for now."

"then let's do this, give me a test in the wild, let me do a mock battle against ten no 20 knights. But the knights cannot be from household guards." I was starting to get really angry now. This was not childish but a blatant disrespect against the knights.

"boy, you are going too far with your blind arrogance."

"it would be arrogance if I couldn't back up my claim. Yes, I could only fight one knight if it was a melee, but if it is a fight in the wild and they are trying to ambush me, I could hunt at least half of them before they could even find me."