Lyner, Azarinth and Leyara were standing in the square of the Lutherian family together. They were merrily talking together while those around them were giving them a bad case of the stink eye. In particular there was one individual who was seething in silent fury. Landon, Lyners oldest brother just lost the daggers he kept in the dark last night. Luckily for himself, he doesn't do things half assed and thus no traces were traced back to himself.

But it was an unspoken truth that he had hired the hit on his younger brother. The various eyes kept sweeping back and forth between Lyner and Landon. Lyner was carefree and lazing about, Landon wore an impassive face but his eyes gave him away. His gaze couldn't help but keep looking at Lyners group in disbelief.

"All right all you little runts, open those ears of yours and shut your mouths!" A grey haired hunchbacked elder took the center of the raised podium. "Today is the beginning of the three day trial in the Primeveal forest. All of you will be given a watch that will confirm your kill points (kp for short.) Your task is to go into the Primeval Forest and kill as many of those beasties as you can. You will be given 1 point for beasts within the level ranges of 10-25, 2 points for 30-45, 4 for 50-65, 10 for 70-85, anything killed above level 85 will require a judge to determine the value of the points."

"We are not the only royal family competing for kills in the Primeval forest. Not only are your own peers in the family your competition, so are the Lanark, Aurin and the Denxerious families. They have all sent their strongest youths of this generation to gain experience and merit. Emperor and Empress Nethandriel will be personally rewarding those standouts who perform the best and push the hardest for personal growth. This trial will last for three days and two nights. Do not forget to take into consideration the beasties get stronger at night, and thus points are doubled per kill."

"It will be expected that you maintain the honour of the Lutherian name, and perform the majority of your combat against the other families. Personal grudges can wait for after the Primeval Forest trial. That means both Lyner and Landon, if you cannot act like respectable heirs to the Lutherian family, you will be publicly lashed while all the royal families are invited to watch. If anything gets brought back to my ears about the two of you little shits getting into conflict, I will personally punish you both."

"As for the rest of you little shits, disperse! You have 10 minutes to get the weapons and watches provided by the family, after that the magic circle behind me will open up, all of you will enter the Primeval Forest and the trial begins. Here's one last little incentive to perform especially well, and keep combat for the other royal families. Every individual you defeat of the other royal families, you claim the kill points they have gathered."

The crowd then acted like the birds as winter aproaches, flocking off in a rush of excitement to gather their desired equipment and watch. Ten minutes quickly passed, the youths all returned to the center of the square in neat and orderly fashioned lines.

The magic circle blazed to life, the Lutherian family youths began walking through the magic circle in an orderly fashion. Before long it was finally Lyners turn to go through with his group. But he was stopped by the elder before passing through.

"Lyner, the family has been voluntold to make you the King piece of the Lutherian family in this trial. If you get defeated by a beast, or another youth from the opposing royal families, it will result in the whole of the Lutherian family being disqualified. Not only that, the watches of every youth will be able to locate you, and all the other King pieces of the respective families. Emperor and Empress Nethandriel vouched for you to take the role of King in this trial. It is one thing to be a disappointment to the family, but another to disappoint the Emperor and Empress."

Lyner nodded his head in understanding before he, Leyara and Azarinth walked through the magic circle. Coming out of the magic circle, they appeared in the center of the Primeval Forest, which was an advantage and disadvantage at the same time. They had access to the closest clusters of beasties, but it also sandwiched them with the three other royal families surrounding them from different directions.

This arrangement may have put the pressure on for the other Lutherian youths, but this was just a walk in the park for Lyner. What situation had he not faced and survived through till the end?

"Azarinth, Leyara I believe that this is a chance for the two of you to prove yourselves. Azarinth in particular, use this opportunity to further sharpen your edge again. Leyara, you have not fully experienced what it's like to be isolated and have to rely on yourself to get out, making the best of any situation. This is your chance, you are strong and more than capable. But you're too reliant on myself or Azarinth to set up the opportunity. Polish your instincts and force out all your accumulating potential. Power houses do not emerge behind closed doors in the safety of their homes."

Leyara and Azarinth both confirmed their agreement, both were eager and thrilled to have been given free rein on how they handle the trial. They both respected Lyner, but they both have come to understand something. They were living in the shadow of Lyner, the Lutherian and other families never mentioned them as individuals. But instead as a part of Lyner, they were both respectable fighters and strong individuals. But individually Leyara had no outstanding accomplishments that spoke of her ability. Azarinth was a Lieutenant in the Flower Of Seven Sins, and Lyner was recognized as being undefeatable in the younger generation.

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Leyara knew all of her other aptitudes far outstripped Lyner, minus his overwhelming comprehension. Overall outside of that, Leyara knew she lacked the ability to be as ruthless and dominating as Lyner and Azarinth are. They were both monsters who could take control of the flow in combat, and change it into their favor without failure.

It was like Lyner had said even if it hurt to hear her brother say it. She had been grown in a green house, and had been trained by numerous teachers on how to make use of her stats. But she had never refined, or learned how to fight with all of her power. When she received too many little non life threatening injuries, she began losing her determination to fight to the death and overcome her opponent. Even when she had more overall stats, and combat training. Leyara could not truly put down an opponent, and she would end up being killed by someone weaker than herself.

Leyara did not want to feel like a burden, and she certainly did not want to be protected anymore. She had to bite down her pride and accept all of Lyners words. Last night the 14 people she had killed were already weakened and had half a foot into the grave. It was not truly her own accolade in the end. If it wasn't for Lyner being there, the frustration and anger that rushed to her head would have long burned out. She would have become easy pickings, and that could not continue on anymore. To shed weakness was to bleed, and to bleed was to feel pain. Feeling pain meant you were alive, being alive meant you could improve on your weaknesses.

Leyara was too far lost in her inner turmoil, she didn't hear Lyner or Azarinth talking to her, or the plans they made to meet up every evening to eat together. Lyner ruffled Leyaras hair and used as calm and a confident voice as possible. "Ley ley you are second guessing yourself too much, your stats let you face head on against level 70+ beasts, you have been taught by the best elders in the family that focus on Swordsmanship, Sabers, and Greatswords. You have nothing to worry about, trust in yourself and don't compare yourself to us who have both fought too many life and death battles to count. You will surpass both Azarinth and myself one day, you just need to put in more hard work before that happens."

Azarinth patted Leyara on the shoulder. "What Lyner said, your talent is like none that I have ever seen before. Push yourself into danger, but not into situations you cannot overcome in these next 3 days. At the end of the test when we return, I'll take you out to get real combat experience. You will need to steel your heart and be committed to killing. You cannot be on the line and hesitate, or you will die."

Leyara nodded her head, taking in a slow deep breath in through her nose, then let it go through her mouth as she calmed down her tense nerves. "I know what I must do, I will not disappoint either of you."

Lyner and Azarinth smiled warmly both saying at the same time in encouragement. "Atta girl give those beasts and competitors hell."

Lyner and his group split apart, Lyner taking the north to where the beast clusters were all level 65 and up, Azarinth went west, where the Aurin family had their camp setup. The Aurins specialized in assassination, and had extremely profound combat techniques. They were not the frail assassins, but instead a hybrid family with a heritage combining the Swordsman and Assassin classes' strong points together. Leyara went south where the Denxerious family was held, she had some beef to settle with the young mistress of the family.

"Primeval Forest eh' it can't just be a coincidence to have been sent within 50 kilometers of the Beast Flame Cassius recommended me to grab. My Sword Dao Seed has not yet evolved to the peak, but the training with Luther has resolved my biggest issue." Lyner thought to himself before he went off in the direction to claim his bounty, hoping to hopefully find a blood stirring battle to go with it.

But before that, it was time to deal with the person hiding in the dark. "Your time is far more valuable to guard over the chickadees. I do not need a babysitter watching over my every action. If you wish to pursue me in secret, I will make sure you suffer every inconvenience in the world." Lyner called out to the top of the tree crown above himself.

No reaction or response was heard, Lyner sighed before raising his hands in mock frustration. "You've been warned, do not blame me for getting rid of you the hard way." Lyner took out the basic Longsword he had gotten from the equipment tent. His Mana Blade elongated to 40 meters in length, and the thickness of the blade was 4 ½ meters thick.

Lyner sent a half hearted swing upwards, using his Mana to transform the Mana Blade into a crescent moon shape. And that had finally gotten the answer he was waiting for.

He heard the snort of the Soul Flame expert hidden in the dark, they waved their hand and dispersed his Mana Blade. The women appeared with a trembling and bloodied hand, she looked down at Lyner from high above with shock. Lyners Mana Body although unawakened was a full tier above hers, that was not the kind of power that could be easily neutralized even with higher stats. Mana was an independent System different from status points, Qi and Cultivation.

"You should watch that your future actions does not offend a more ruthless senior, brat." The women spat with poison dripping in her voice.

"It was also my action that just proved I don't need a babysitter. Go be a good guardian elsewhere, I don't need your protection if your Mana Body is this lacking." Lyner said nonchalantly, drawing more ire from the women above him. She harrumphed and forcefully flashed forward, her open palm touching Lyners chest and blasting him backwards through a couple thicker trees.

Lyner got up shaking it off, stretching his body while issuing a few pops and snaps throughout. He wiped the blood that trickled down from the side of his mouth. His Physique attribute sitting at 110 was not just for show, it would take someone with a strength stat of over 8,500 to break through his physical body's natural defenses. The women in front of him came close to that, around 8,300 or so by Lyners estimates. It stung like a bitch nonetheless, but it was still well within the tolerable range.

"That felt like nothing more than a tickle." Lyner said in defiance, then his body dropped to the ground as the world spun around him. Up became down, left became right, even the words the women spoke became intelligible to his ears. It was as if he had become schizophrenic, an all consuming pain consumed his soul as he felt all the muscles in his body tense like a boa constrictor squeezing the life out of him.

"I'm a pugilist who majors in soul and spiritual attacks, this is a warning to you Lyner Lutherian. I may not be able to do anything to threaten your life, but I very well can give you every inconvenience in the world." The woman scoffed as she spat his words back to him. "It will take 4 hours for your soul to return back to normal. Count your lucky stars so you don't run into a King piece or other elites during this period of time."

The women then smiled as she looked thoughtful, it was the kind of look that sent a pang of danger down Lyners spine.

"Why don't we put you to the mettle, the capital city has long talked about how a trashy zero talent Cultivator is undefeated in the younger generation. Let us see whether that really is the truth or not." The women controlled her Qi and a sentence of words appeared in the sky, with a great big arrow acting as a marker. The words and arrow was so big you'd have to be blind to miss them.

"Lyner Lazarus is here and is handicapped. For those that take the chance, a Soul Flame expert will personally train you for 2 weeks upon succession."

The women smiled deviously as she kissed the palm of her hand, blowing it towards Lyners direction. "Toodaloo you little bastard. Have fun, and don't forget to thank me for helping you out later on."