Chapter 39

“Deon, stay for a moment. I want to talk to you.”

“Yes, Sir,” Deon replied and approached Instructor Edder.

Instructor Edder waited for everyone to leave the training ground before talking to Deon. “I am just going straight to it. What do you think we should do to Harris?”

‘Hm? I thought you were expelling him already. Did he change his mind because of what Harris did earlier?’ Deon thought before speaking. “What do you mean?”

“Do you think we should expel him or give him a chance to rectify his mistake?” Instructor Edder asked

After hearing Instructor Edder, Deon sighed internally. ‘There’s a large chance that Instructor Edder already forgave Harris for what he did since he is asking what I thought. But what am I supposed to say? If I say to expel him, would he really? And even if he did, that would only hurt my image to Instructor Edder since knights are supposed to be merciful and benevolent.’

“Please, Forgive Harris,” Deon said, trying to sound as genuine as he could.

“Hm? Why do you think so?” Instructor Edder asked

Deon internally rolled his eyes. ‘Please, don’t pretend to be surprised, and how should I know? Just forgive him or not. Just leave me out of it. It’s not like I have a real say about what you decide. Even if I do, I don’t really care that much about him. If he bothers me again, I can just beat him again. So, stop finding an excuse and do whatever you want.’

Even though he had strong opinions, he refrained from expressing them to avoid being viewed as insubordinate.

“Harris and I have the same hometown, so our rivalry can sometimes be intense. I’m sure he didn’t really intend to hurt me. I’m also at fault for provoking him. That may have clouded his judgment.” Deon said, saying whatever came into his head but still acting as genuine as he could.

Instructor Edder smiled as he nodded his head in approval. “You are going to be an excellent knight. Even though you forgive him, I will make sure. Harris never attempts this again. You have my word.”

“Thank you, Instructor Edder,” Deon replied, giving Instructor Edder a gentle smile.

‘Please, there is no way I will turn my back to that backstabber again. I learned my lesson today. I will not make the same mistake.’ Deon thought.

“All right, you are dismissed,” Instructor Edder said

“Yes, Sir,” Deon replied as he watched Instructor Edder leave the training ground before changing his gentle smile to an annoyed face.

‘Tsk. Sometimes I wonder if the path of knighthood is really suited for me.’ Deon thought before shaking his head. ‘Well… It’s not like I have any other choices. Still, if I’m going to be a knight, I will be the best knight there is.’

Deon wanted to become a knight because knights had enough strength to protect themselves and lead a good and respectable life. He didn’t really care about the honor or fame that knights receive, or he isn’t noble enough to really have a righteous calling to protect the weak and the citizens of the everwinter kingdom, nor does he care about having an adventurous life of fighting chimeras and pushing himself to the limits of what he can do.

Deon just wants an easy and simple life for himself and his loved ones, but he also knows that having an easy and simple life is a luxury, especially to an orphan like him, and the only way for him to get that life is to have enough status that no one would care even if he is an orphan and being a high knight is perfect for that.

*Sigh*

‘Maybe, the life of a knight isn’t as easy as I thought it would be… But it’s definitely worth it,’ Deon thought as he looked at his arm and felt the residual enhancement in his hand. ‘Once I master this power, I will be one step closer to my goal.’

.

Deon and William went to the cafeteria to get some food since the whole class skipped lunch because of Harris, making Deon and William quite hungry.

After eating food and bathing, Deon returned to his room.

‘Should I read some books?’ Deon thought as he looked at the black ring on his bed table. ‘No… I should focus on my enhancement training first. I want to see how far I can enhance my mana and if I can break the mud ball today.’

‘It’s still quite early to be sleeping.’ Deon thought as he closed his window, preparing himself to sleep. ‘Whatever. I might as well start now than later. I still need to meditate. Should I make some schedule? My training regime is quite full.’ Deon entered his Dreamscape for another bout of training.

…

Outside Adamantium Fortress: Near Moat

Five Months Later: Ninth of June, 1799

Deon is running beside the moat with calm and collected breath as though he is only jugging. However, behind Deon was a group of people running with everything they got to catch up to Deon as they glared at deon with competitive eyes

For the past five months, Deon has long surpassed the 14 years old high knights in physical strength. Instructor Edder told the class that it was because of deon’s large amount of mana that helped him to improve his physical body rapidly.

Soon, Deon saw Instructor Edder waiting for the group beside the fortress gate, making Deon increase his pace even more, widening the gap between Deon and the group behind him.

The group behind Deon could only grumble as they saw Deon going further away with ease, making them demoralized.

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‘How the fuck is it so fast?’

‘Is this what a genius looks like?’

‘Is this kid even human?’

‘How is he improving so fast? This is so unfair.’

Countless dissatisfaction appeared in the group’s thoughts as they still couldn’t accept the fact that Deon was improving so fast compared to them.

After seeing that he was all alone at the finish line, Deon calmed his breathing and began stretching, provoking the high knights that were still running, making them increase their pace.

However, Deon didn’t care about any of that as his mind wandered. ‘Recently, I feel I haven’t improved as much. Am I close to F+ rank, or am I already in F+ Rank?’

*Sigh*

‘Maybe, I can ask Instructor Edder if it’s possible to see my physical rank in advance. After all, if my physical rank is already F+, then I won’t need to train my body anymore, or at least not as much anymore. I guess it’s worth asking.’

Soon, the group behind Deon arrived at the finish line, where they immediately dropped to the ground catching their breath, with some high knights still looking at Deon competitively, which included Harris, Edmund, and Aaron.

Behind the 14 years old high knights was William, barely catching up. For the past five months, William also got a large amount of improvement, to the point he is almost catching up with the 14 years olds and the only reason he couldn’t catch up to the 14 years old high knights is that the 14 years olds also improved massively with a motivation of not wanting another junior surpassing them like deon did.

For the past five months, William has followed Deon in his rigorous training as both push themselves to their limit.

Every day after waking up, Deon and William will meditate for two hours, followed by 30 minutes of breakfast and getting ready for the day, and after that would be the four hours of morning lecture by Instructor Edder.

Then another 30 minutes of lunch, followed by another four hours of afternoon training, then one hour of physical training, then one hour of dinner, showering, and getting ready for the night, followed by three hours of meditation, and then finally 8 hours of sleep.

For five months, Deon and William sacrificed their free time to train as much as possible, and their results speak for themselves.

Of course, unlike William, Deon also trained in his sleep or, to be precise, in his Dreamscape, which he divided into four rounds of training: five hours of meditation, one hour of sparring with his clone, one hour of enhancement training and one hour of reading about the Oneiros clan and the Dreamscape in general.

And because of the eight hours of extra practice time, Deon is confident that He is above everyone in terms of enhancement, magic mastery, and control over the Life flame.

.

Adamantium Fortress: Training Ground

After their run, the high knights returned to the training ground as they waited for instructor Edder for further instructions, as today was the last day of the lectures before the high knights would spend the last six months self-studying.

“I know this is our last lecture, but since there are a few more hours before we end our last afternoon training, how about we spend it sparring? Does anyone objects?” Instructor Edder asked, with no high knights replying. “I’ll take that as a Yes. So, you all know the drill. Pick your sparring partner.”

After the first sparring the high knights did five months ago, the sparring became more frequent, and unlike the first sparring, the sparring sessions were more casual as the high knights could choose their sparring partners, and the sparring wasn’t done individually anymore, saving a lot of time.

The high knights talked amongst one another as they picked their sparring partners and found a corner where they could spar.

Instructor Edder approached Deon and asked, “Do you want to spar?”

“Yes, Sir,” Deon replied as he grabbed a wooden sword, a shield, and a spear at the side of the training ground.

After the sparring became more frequent, Deon asked almost all the 14-year-old high knights to spar, and like what happened to Harris, he completely dominated all his sparring, to the point that the 14 years old high knights started avoiding Deon every time a sparring session happened, making William the only person who begrudgingly became his sparring partner, but with how weak William is, Deon barely improved of their sparring session.

Because of that, Instructor Edder volunteered to be deon’s Sparring partner, relieving everyone. Since then, Instructor Edder has become deon’s sparring partner, and so far, Deon has not won a single bout, but he definitely made Deon improve his fighting capabilities.

“Going all out, are we? You can begin once your ready.” Instructor Edder said after seeing Deon taking all three weapons with him.

“Yes, Sir,” Deon replied before going to his fighting stance with a shield on front and spear beside it, with the spearhead pointing at Instructor Edder. “Here I come, Instructor,”

Instructor Edder nodded as he readied himself. ‘Let’s see what you will do this time,’

Seeing Instructor Edder nodding, Deon immediately lunged toward Instructor Edder and delivered a piercing attack with his spear, which Instructor Edder easily dodged by sidestepping.

Deon already expected Instructor Edder to dodge it, so he immediately followed an attack on Instructor Edder by sweeping the spear onto Instructor’s side, to which Instructor Edder easily blocked it with his sword.

Deon immediately retrieved his spear the moment the Instructor blocked his spear and continued his attack by delivering a consecutive piercing attack, with Instructor Edder easily dodging all of it.

‘Enough!’ Instructor Edder thought as he sword slashed deon’s spear, sending it into the air with his sheer strength, but Deon didn’t let go of the spear and used the momentum to spin himself and the spear, bringing the spear back to Instructor with more force than ever.

However, Instructor Edder easily blocked it with his wooden sword as though the extra force was nothing to him.

Deon immediately let go of the spear the moment it connected to Instructor Edder’s sword, not expecting the spear and its extra force to work as he rushed to Instructor while unsheathing his sword on his waist and delivered a sword slash to Instructor’s neck.

With how fast Instructor Edder is, he immediately blocked the sword slash of Deon but was startled when he realized that the sword slash was light.

The moment deon’s sword touched Instructor Edder’s sword, he shifted his whole body as he brought his shield to the front of his body and rammed the shield into the Instructor, hoping to disrupt Instructor Edder’s balance.

The force was strong enough to make Instructor Edder step back, but he only took one step back as he immediately stopped deon’s shield rush with just one hand, startling Deon.

‘How is he so strong?’ Deon thought, but before he could think further, he saw Instructor raise his sword, to which Deon immediately ducked as he raised his shield above his head.

*Boom*

Deon felt his shield shake as he endured the overwhelming strength of Instructor Edder. However, Deon didn’t give up and delivered a sword slash to the Instructor’s leg, using his position to his advantage, but somehow Instructor Edder dodged it by raising his leg, and when Deon targeted Instructor Edder’s other leg, the Instructor took a one step back, easily dodging deon’s attack, making deon quite annoyed.

However, Deon still didn’t give up as he lunged himself up with his shield on his head and targeted Instructor Edder’s face, but Instructor Edder easily stopped deon’s other shield rush with just one hand.

‘It won’t work the second time. You—’ Instructor Edder thought, but before he could continue his thoughts, he felt the shield become light, making him worried as the shield obstructed his view of Deon.

Instructor Edder flung the shield away from him, saw Deon holding his sword with his two hands, and felt mana flowing.

-Imperial Battle Arts First Form: Winter Slash-

Deon’s sword immediately arrived near Instructor Edder’s face.

*Slash*

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Thought For thoughts

* One of World Mysteries: The World Aurora.

* The first magical technique of the Imperial Battle Art is revealed.

* Imperial Battle Arts First Form: Winter Slash

* Wow. Chapter 39 already. I feel like the story hasn’t even started yet, and it’s already 39. Heh. To be fair, though, every chapter is only 2k words, so if I convert it with a Standard R.R. chapters, which is usually 4k+ per chapter, technically speaking, it’s only chapter 20. XD