Lyria Windwalker was a phenomenon. Even in a world dominated by centuries-old knights, her combat skills and strategic mind were unmatched. Though barely over 70 years old—young for a Silver Knight—her abilities rivaled or surpassed knights twice her age.
Edric often wondered about her talent. Was it even more remarkable than his legendary knight talent? He suspected it might be.
Her achievements were extraordinary within the entire kingdom. Unlike Edric, who began knight training at the age of 5, Lyria started her path late, at 8, yet her progress was astounding. By the time she turned 15, she had already become a knight.
In contrast, Edric had only managed to become a knight at 15 because of his cheat system. Without it, he doubted he would have achieved knighthood before 16 or 17.
Lyria’s talent was so extraordinary that it broke centuries of Windwalker tradition. Women were rarely allowed to inherit titles in the family. Yet when it came time to decide on the successor of the Count of Windwalker, Marquis Alaric Windwalker, the family patriarch, intervened directly. Despite local opposition, he exercised his authority to name Lyria the Countess of Windwalker.
Her rise was controversial, but her relentless focus on improving her knightly skills silenced most critics. Her ambition went beyond family politics—her eyes were set on the ultimate goal: Golden Knight.
Legendary knights are rare in generations; there is only a single Legendary Knight in the entire Bloodstone Kingdom, and that person is the king himself; therefore, the de facto highest realm one can wish for is the Golden rank; those who dream of Legendary rank are often mocked as delusional.
Lyria spent most of her time training to become a Golden Knight. The affairs of her territory have long been delegated to others, such as the treasurer, Aelria, who runs the territory's day-to-day operations; Lyria herself only intervenes in very important matters.
Despite her dedication to knight training, Lyria managed to find time to have two legitimate children, Edric being one of them. Edric has the strongest knight talent, which is one reason why Lyria has been forcing and beating him into training from a very young age.
She has other legitimate and illegitimate children, but she rarely cares about them; only Edric, the talented one, takes her beatings and has to suffer her strict training regimen.
...
“I’d be a fool not to learn as much as I can from her,” Edric thought.
Every moment spent training with Lyria would be highly beneficial to his knight combat skills; there is no better teacher than Lyria. The system could elevate his rank, but wielding his powers effectively required experience and technique. His mother’s insights and teachings would allow him to bridge that gap.
“Lyria's talent might be terrifying, but I’ll catch up very soon,” he grinned.
He looked at Lyria, who was on the other side of the arena. The two had been training using wooden swords for an hour. He was beaten with the wooden sword many times, but with his knight body, he tolerated it. He could feel his swordsmanship improving every minute he spent with her.
"Now, it's time for some real excitement! Bring in the prisoners!" Lyria pointed to the two trusted knights in the corner.
The guards obeyed and brought 7 people: 5 men and 2 women, all dressed in clean clothes; the two women, in particular, wore beautiful clothes and had makeup; they didn't look like prisoners.
"What is going on? Are they prisoners?" Edric asked.
Lyria said, "Of course, they are all brutal murderers, bandits who committed countless crimes and are now on death row." Then she turned her eye to the prisoners and shouted, "If you kill the young man here, your crimes will be forgiven, and you will be set free!"
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The seven bandits looked at each other and then at Edric; they didn't know who Edric was but knew that killing him was their only chance. Countess Lyria Windwalker had a reputation for keeping her word, so they took her promise at face value.
As experienced bandits, they quickly ran around and picked up real steel swords on the sides. Then, they looked at Edric diligently, trying to estimate his strength.
Lyria said, "Eddie, I wouldn't help you in this; if they kill you, I would set them free; kill them all to survive; either you or they are going to survive." After saying this, she jumped up and landed far away, looking as the seven prisoners surrounded her son.
By this point, Edric knew what was happening; Lyria wanted him to experience a real battle.
"She is forcing me to kill people!" Edric had never killed anyone, whether on Earth or in this world.
Looking at the seven, Edric felt his heart was calm, too calm; even though he was moments away from killing people or being killed, he felt unprecedented calmness.
"This is strange! How can I be so calm?" Edric's heartbeat was steady, with no trace of worry.
One of the bandits, the tallest one, noticed his opponent was distracted, came forward, and swung his sword with all his might.
"Too slow!" Edric smirked, easily dodged, and punched the tall man on the cheek.
The bandit, who was a head taller than Edric, was as if hit by a cannonball; he hit the ground after flying 5 meters away; his left cheek was gushing out blood, his left eye exploded, his skull shattered and deformed.
The other bandits were dumbfounded for a moment, then began shaking as if looking at a monster.
"He is a knight! How can it be? How old is he?" One of the women screamed, then turned around to run away; she knew her chances of beating a knight were no higher than zero.
The other five fell to their knees; resisting when the opponent was a knight is foolish.
"Please forgive me, master, I will be your slave for the rest of my life!" said the other woman, whose makeup was messed up due to her crying.
Looking at the bandits begging, Edric became increasingly astonished. He felt no pity at all; looking at his bloodstained fist, he felt nothing.
"I just punched someone to death; why am I not feeling anything?" Edric began to worry that something may have gone wrong during the merger of the two souls.
"System, Why am I not feeling anything?" He asked.
"Ding! Pay 1,000,000 XP for the answer!"
"Damn, 1 million? Why is it so expensive?"
"Ding! Pay 1,000,000 XP for the answer!"
Edric closed the system interface; he wouldn't waste so much XP on this, even if he had the 1 million.
He bent down and picked up the steel sword the tall bandit wielded toward him; then, looking at the five, he said, "Sorry!"
Without waiting for their reaction, he took a step and landed before the female bandit; with one strike, her head flew high; five heads in succession flew; all in all, it took less than 3 seconds to behead five people!
"Amazing! I am so powerful!" Edric started to feel excited as he understood his strength.
Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap! The five heads finally landed on the ground. The bodies fell, and blood started to flow and redden the training ground.
The last female bandit, who tried to run, was far away and witnessed everything; she stared without begging or anything; a warm liquid flowed from her pants; she lost her control and wet herself.
Edric picked up a bow and arrow, aimed at the last remaining bandit, and shot; it pierced the air and directly hit her in the eye!
"Wow, my aim is so amazing!" Edric was impressed by his bowmanship skills.
Looking around, he smiled as he saw all the blood. It felt really exciting, a novel experience.
"There is definitely something seriously wrong with me!" Edric thought as he became increasingly excited at the sight.
"Clap, clap, clap!" Lyria, who was beaming with a wide smile, appeared in front of Edric while clapping.
"I didn't expect you to be so much like me! Looking at you, I see myself in my youth!" she said.
"Not only are you talented, but you are ruthless, determined, brutal! I am truly proud of you!" She looked at Edric with doting eyes.
Noticing how Lyria looked at him with so much admiration and love, Edric smiled and said, "Thank you, mother, for this amazing experience!"
Lyria said, "Now, let's begin real training! Here, take this steel sword,” Lyria said as she tossed a massive steel blade toward Edric. The sword spun once in the air before landing precisely at his feet, its tip embedding slightly into the ground.
“Isn’t this dangerous?” Edric asked hesitantly, his voice laced with uncertainty; killing a few ordinary weak bandits is different than training with his Silver Knight mother.
The thought of sparring with a sharp steel blade with a Silver Knight, who seemed to enjoy killing people, seemed reckless, bordering on insanity.
“It is dangerous,” Lyria said matter-of-factly, still looking at Edric with doting eyes. “Trust me, you would like being on the border of life and death.”
She said, “Take the sword. Be careful. I won't hold back! If you're not careful, you will die!”