Nero joined the vanguards as the newest member after that day. He was to train alongside them until he was ready to be made a soldier.
Asher knew Nero would become a soldier faster than any other person because of his talent. It already gave him the best battle sense there is, and with training, his body will be able to follow, and together, Nero would become a feared force.
Asher wasn’t planning to make Nero a casual soldier. His plans for the young lad were a lot bigger than just joining the vanguard; Nero was on his way to become Asher’s special knight.
A knight who would be sent on missions when the main troops are in a tight spot. To Asher, Nero was a blade that he would make sharper than Alex.
At this moment, he looked out one of the windows in his castle, down at Nero, who was undergoing training. With the Moonlit Starhorn milk and Hexakad eggs at his disposal, Nero had nothing to fear as he was trained mercilessly.
Should any other kid who was sent to apply to the main army see this, they would shrink away.
But Nero had the willpower.
Asher heard a sound behind and turned toward the door.
“You may come in.”
A maid walked in with her hands entwined and her head slightly lowered. She had blonde hair, a good bearing, and acceptable looks. To become the lord’s personal maid, the said maid had to be a cut above the others in many things—look above all.
This was mostly because most lords had an affair with their personal maids, and they would later become their concubines, but ever since Cynthia took Mary’s position, Asher had never made one move at her, nor did he even look at her more than needed.
“Is there a problem, Cynthia?”
Asher cocked his head.
“You’ve been in your study since last night; I was worried and came to check on you. Your supper, breakfast, and lunch have grown cold. You have missed three square meals, Your Lordship, and this will not be of positive effect for your health.”
“Prepare another lunch then.”
“It’s already prepared. Miss Eritrea hunted a wild deer that was used to preparing a steaming pot of pepper soup.”
“Eritrea?”
Asher looked out the window toward the barracks but couldn’t see the commanders. Only soldiers are moving about and training.
“Also, Sir Kelvin said I should remind you that the pain endurance test is coming up tonight and you should prepare.”
Asher’s brows furrowed.
The pain endurance test was a prerequisite to harness the blood battle force of the shura art and enter the next stage of mastery, but that test required an Ashbourne, running through a 10-meter-long thornvine blockade.
Those vines would cut his flesh open because he would have to do it with only pants and no shoes.
Not even his pants would save him from bleeding all over.
What made Asher frown was the fact that Kelvin knew what would happen when he bled, or was he depending on the diamond-ranked commanders in the stronghold?
His commanders were indeed stronger than other diamond-ranked knights. And if Sirius was included, they might be able to stop his rampage.
However, Asher couldn’t make up his mind.
He needed to go through the test to advance, but his talent was a huge wall he would have to deal with.
Unfortunately, there was no way to deal with his talent.
Once there was a cut, he was a threat to all.
These were the disadvantages of powerful talents. For example, Nero lost his normal sight to possess such powerful talent while he lost his freedom to bleed.
After much thought, he sighed heavily.
“I’ll be there soon.”
……..
Time passed by until the sun came down and the moon took it’s place in the sky.
Asher looked around him. He was several feet below the ground surface. This was the castle’s dungeon, and right now, he stood here with his commanders on the other side of the passage, fully armed.
Sirius was also with them, but it had concern in its eyes. For the first time, the coldest one was the most emotional.
“It’s okay, buddy. I’ll be alright.”
After encouraging Sirius, he looked at the purple thornvine found on the southern part of the ash mountains. The thorns were hard, long, and naturally sharpened.
They were in between him and his commanders.
Before the commanders was Kelvin.
“Your Lordship, thanks to the physician, we have applied the potion that would increase the pain felt from each cut by multiple folds. However, that same potion will make sure your injuries don’t leave eternal scars.”
Asher looked at Kelvin with a raised eyebrow.
Should he be happy that there is some potion applied to the thorns that will increase the pain?
“Get ready to run.”
“One.”
“Two.”
All the commanders shivered.
The Ashbournes were cruel to themselves.
“Three!”
Asher burst forth with an intense speed and entered the thornvine. He clenched his teeth as it ripped open his flesh!
His pants were reduced to rags by the time he was 4 meters in.
His eyes were focused on the other side, as he didn’t want to see his blood. He kept moving with sheer willpower, but each step opened several cuts. Blood dripped from his palms, arms, chest, back, legs and even some cuts on his head, yet his eyes were still focused on the other side.
Asher had never faced this much pain in his life.
It felt as if his soul was leaving his body!
“Ahh!”
Screaming with bloodshot eyes, he pushed the vines apart, but since the passage was narrow, it was hard to force them out of the way because they would surely come back. Thornvines had an elastic trait that made it hard for them to break, and since Asher couldn’t use his gold-ranked power in the test, breaking them was impossible.
By the time Asher was 6 meters in, Alex had to take a step, but Kelvin stopped him.
“You do not interfere with the Ashbourne ritual. This is one of the things that built the great Ashbournes of the past.”
“But he’s covered in blood!”
Eritrea’s voice was several pitches higher than normal.
“That is not the problem right now.”
Alec said as he brandished his spear and pointed toward Asher. Sirius began to growl softly, and the others turned to face their Lord.
Eritrea’s eyes widened.