"Haha! Boy, you sure are an eager one. How many times do you want to lose?"
Heckle laughed uproariously as Leonel suffered another punch to the jaw. The latter felt his world spin as he was forced to take several steps back. It was only after he shook his head multiple times that he finally recovered.
It had already been a week since Leonel had come to this world. According to the dictionary, this Zone had an even greater time dilation than the Joan Zone at 1:50. This meant that about a year needed to pass here for a week to pass in the outside world. Apparently, Mythological Zones tended to have the largest time dilations compared to other Zones of a similar rank.
At the moment, the moon hung high in the skies and they had set up camp for the night. A large fire sent billowing smoke upward at the center of an arrangement of tent.
Leonel was sparring with Heckle once again. In fact, this wasn't just the second time. Leonel had already lost count.
After losing the first time, he had been fascinated by the man's skill. He felt he was learning quite a lot though he continued to lose.
The journey to their destination was a bit of a trial as well. The wilderness wasn't safe by any means. Setting aside bandits and rogues, just the wild beasts were truly troublesome to deal with. Much like this people of this Zone, the beasts were also more powerful than they should be. So, this wasn't easy by any stretch of the imagination.
So, it wasn't surprising that the other recruits were dead tired. Leonel was the only one who would use such valuable rest time to torture himself some more.
How could they know that this so-called trial was nothing more than a joke to Leonel?
"Again."
Leonel wiped the blood from his lips. Of course, if he didn't want to be hurt, he only had to activate his Metal Synergy Runes. But, what would be the point of that?
He brandished his fists once more. This time, it was clear that his stance was much more refined. His right fist hung by his chin, allowing his left to take the lead. He narrowed the target Heckle had to attack by extending his left foot and rolling his shoulder.
In a flash, he took a step forward, sending two jabs in quick succession.
Heckle smiled, entering a similar stance as though mirroring Leonel perfectly. It was rare to find someone so interested in his boxing style. Usually, these brats only wanted to pick up a sword or spear as quickly as possible.
Of course, he had no idea that Leonel was less interested in the style itself and more so just wanted to win. He found trying to defeat Heckle while keeping a cap on his stats was nearly impossible.
It was likely that he could grasp the technique much faster if he used his Dream World and Dream Clone ability. But, he was spending all his time at night calculating for the formation of his Ninth and Tenth Node, he wouldn't spend it on this.
However… He was still making progress.
Heckle used his footwork to dip just outside the range of Leonel's jabs. He followed up quickly, wanting to take advantage of Leonel overextending himself to wrap around his side.
But, Leonel had learned quite a lot in the past few days. Instead of retreating, he stepped forward as Heckle tried to sweep to his left side. With a single pivot of his hips, he and Heckle faced each other once more.
"Hoho." Heckle grinned. "It seems your footwork got a bit better. That's right, always stay square to your opponent."
Leonel and Heckle's match became a spar of movement. Around the fire, the jeers of the other soldiers could be heard.
"Captain, the kid's gonna beat you this time!"
"HAHA! I'm never gonna let you live this one down!"
Heckle grinned hearing his men, not minding as all. He felt quite gratified seeing Leonel's progress.
Of course, while there those who were happy, there would always be those who were gloomy. The youths of the town Barony had gotten tired of hearing praise for Leonel over these few days. But, they still had to admit they were no match for him. His performance during their daily marches was more than enough to prove this without a shred of doubt.
"Oof…"
Leonel suffered a fist to his chest and fell to the ground, feeling that the air had been knocked out of him once again. He couldn't help but sigh, it seemed he had lost again.
"Alright, alright. That's enough for tonight pretty boy brat. If go any longer, you really might win one. My old bones can't take this."
Leonel was quite helpless toward this nickname. He had managed to use an ink sack from the octopus beast's body to dye his hair a deep black. Plus, with his new leather armor, he looked every bit the part of a promising squire.
The only shame was that his hair seemed to reject the ink. So, he had to reapply it everyday. Luckily, with how massive the octopus had been, he wouldn't run out even after a decade passed.
Leonel smiled lightly. "Thanks for the help Captain Heckle."
'Hmph, just a useless skill…' The Barony youths looked on gloomily.
…
The next week passed by swiftly. On that day, around noon, they finally saw massive castle walls in the distance. In fact, with his sight, Leonel could see five sets of walls, each getting progressively taller until they all pointed toward a majestic castle that seemed carved of jade.
Leonel had never read about such a grand city. From what he could see, it was at least 50 kilometers from end to end, and that was just what was within the walls. As for the cultured lands around it, it was several times that.
Heckle didn't lead them to the gates. It seemed that they still didn't have the right to do such a thing. Instead, they were taken to a place connected by dusty roads. These roads all led to an open space where numerous Captains just like Heckle had their youths standing around them.
Everyone's attention seemed focus on a large tent up ahead.
Leonel's ear twitched as he heard the clanking of metal. At that moment, the flap of the tent was slowly raised, causing the open space to fall into complete silence.
It was a knight. The excitement in the hearts of the youths ratcheted up several levels. It was as though they were all meeting their idol.
The knight swept an indifferent glance over them all.
"Those who've been selected to join the Mage Academy, stand to this side. Those one, two and three star talents, go over there. Four and five star talents, gather before me now."
Numerous haughty and prideful youths puffed their chests out as they moved to stand before the knight, their eyes sparkling.
"Go on." Heckle gave Leonel a slap to the back. "Do us proud."
Leonel smiled lightly and moved forward as well. Numerous gazes swept over him, including those of the four and five star youths. However, when they noticed his standard issue leather armor, a hint of contempt could be seen in their eyes.
Leonel could only ignore such things. However, when the knight spoke once again, the youths no longer had the time to send disdainful glances toward him.
"There are 57 of you? What bullshit. Do you captains think that four and five star talents are really so cheap?!"
The knight roared. He didn't like the idea of going out to find talents like this in the first place. What talents couldn't they find right here in Camelot?
To make it worse, relying on mere captains to make this judgment was even more ridiculous.
A sharp Force flooded out from the body of the knight, causing many of the youths before him to grow weak at the knees. Though Leonel didn't know it, many of them had bribed their captains with wealth in order to gain such evaluations, how could they not be horrified? So, in certain respects, the knight was correct to react in this way.
His force jetted out, drawing a massive circle of 100 meters in diameter. The cold sweat on the youths grew. In that moment, the felt as though if even a hair of that Force hit them, they would die without knowing what happened.
"Since you think this is all a joke, you all can battle to the death. None of you are allowed to leave this circle until only four remain. Should any of you try to flee from this circle or are kicked out of it before this happens, you'll die beneath my blade!"
A bloody, murderous intent soared into the skies.
It was only now these youths who were just feeling proud of themselves realized that becoming a knight wouldn't be so simple.. As for those who bribed their way to this position, they were even more shaken. What clowns were they? Paying to die?