Chapter 118: Chapter 118

Ron couldn’t figure it out for the moment. And because he had been in a state of slumbering consciousness, his perception of the outside world had been virtually zero.

At the very least, without the assistance of his consciousness, this “Ron” vessel alone couldn’t perceive and record the process by which Pollution Secret Patterns increased.

“I shouldn’t have gone to sleep.”

At its core, this wasn’t a question of sleeping or not. It was because he had conducted too many experiments last night and expended too much mental energy. Digging deeper, the root cause was his insufficient judgment regarding the experiments’ consequences.

So much so that it had resulted in the current “aftereffects.”

To prevent the hazy vision from affecting his training later, Ron had no choice but to expend more mental energy to transfer those Pollution Secret Patterns that had infiltrated his pupils back out.

With that, his vision returned to pristine clarity, but his spirit grew even more fatigued.

Still, Ron cared more about his vision. Being a bit mentally tired was manageable; he could forcibly rally his spirits. At the very least, sustaining himself through a day of training wouldn’t be a problem.

…

Upon arriving at the training ground, just as Ron had anticipated, Captain Monte indeed called him out on his lethargic state. But also true to his expectations, Monte didn’t believe that insufficient mental energy precluded training.

The man even maintained that such a state was better for tempering one’s willpower.

In Ron’s original world, spirit and willpower were often spoken of together, and most of the time, no distinction was drawn between them. This was because that world didn’t possess an actual, substantive spirit or willpower. What they referred to was typically just a concept.

But in the world Ron currently inhabited, spirit, willpower, and even consciousness and soul all had fairly rigorous definitions. They were not the same thing. Though interrelated, they were by no means identical concepts.

The two primary goals of Knight training:

One was the strengthening of the body, and the other was the strengthening of willpower.

Both could be tangibly improved through training. Willpower even had an intangible bearing on the path to becoming a Senior Knight.

And so, Ron trained on.

Although an additional willpower training component had been tacked on, the primary training regimen was still the same Force-Sensing sparring demonstrated yesterday. During the training, Ron continuously absorbed experience from Captain Monte, who taught through physical demonstration.

…

Just like that, time flew by, and three days later arrived: the day the Martial Tournament began.

The day prior, Ron had received word to assemble at Bell Tower Square the following morning. And now, all apprentices, quasi-Knights, and a significant portion of the Formal Knights were gathered in the square, quietly awaiting the Lord’s arrival.

Beyond the participants, even more territorial subjects had gathered around the perimeter to watch. It was winter anyway, and there wasn’t much work to be done. Upon learning that the territory was hosting a Martial Tournament, they had come flocking to Bell Tower Square, dragging their entire families along.

Were it not for the territory’s regulations, they might have squeezed everyone onto Bell Tower Square.

In the end, only those who had previously undergone Knight training were permitted to spectate. Of course, since these individuals had long since departed from the Territory Guard’s ranks, they couldn’t actually participate in this Martial Tournament.

But even without participating, simply watching was an unparalleled visual experience. They could also fondly reminisce about their past “glorious years.” Well, self-imagined glory counted too!

“The Lord arrives!”

With a resounding cry, the Lord arrived on horseback alongside his two sons. He once more reiterated the purpose of this Martial Tournament, which was to strengthen the Territory Guard, as well as the plan for a decisive battle against the cultists after the tournament.

The Lord of Sis, Pleguez, loudly declared: “The Martial Tournament begins now!”

The tournament didn’t require the Lord to personally preside. Instead, it was hosted by the Lord’s second son, Foss. He read through the tournament details once more, and then launched into the day’s very first match:

It was a Knight-tier Individual Combat match. Both combatants were Formal Knights from the Territory Guard.

Both men entered the arena already clad in full armor. The only exception was their weapons, which were training swords temporarily provided by the territory, to prevent their customary weapons from being damaged during the fierce combat.

Such occurrences were common. Even Transcendent Weapons weren’t spared.

While the territory currently couldn’t equip every Formal Knight with a Transcendent Weapon, the total number of Transcendent Weapons was actually quite substantial. It was just that many Transcendent Weapons had been damaged or outright destroyed over the years.

So much so that even some Intermediate Knights went unequipped with Transcendent Weapons.

Naturally, this included Captain Monte, who had been giving Ron special training these past few days. This fellow had once possessed a Transcendent Weapon, but it had been bitten in half by an Aberrant Beast five years ago.

Captain Monte frequently complained about this. Beyond the weapon damage itself, he also lamented the treachery and greed of foreign merchant guilds. The cost of repairing a Transcendent Weapon was nearly equivalent to buying a new one outright.

Since then, Captain Monte hadn’t used a Transcendent Weapon again.

While such weapons were certainly stronger than ordinary ones, in the hands of an Intermediate Knight, the advantage wasn’t overwhelming enough to crush an enemy. On the other hand, the cost of a single breakage was enough to cover a lifetime’s worth of ordinary weapon consumption.

Naturally, a public tournament like this would never permit the use of Transcendent Weapons. If both sides in every match wielded Transcendent Weapons, the territory would probably have very few left by the end of the tournament.

The territory’s leadership naturally wouldn’t allow such a self-destructive squandering of strength. Thus, they had established rules well in advance: participants were forbidden from using Transcendent Weapons in the Martial Tournament. If discovered, regardless of the match’s outcome, the offender would be immediately disqualified.

…

Soon, the two Formal Knights began the first match of the Martial Tournament under the watchful eyes of the massive crowd.

After Foss announced the start of the match, the two men charged at each other almost simultaneously. What followed was a rapid-fire sequence of blade collisions so dense they bordered on ear-piercing.

The two moved swiftly across the arena. As their footwork shifted, they exchanged positions once more. Yet at this moment, a flicker of tedium flashed through Ron’s eyes.

It wasn’t that their match was boring. Rather, their combat was simply too fast. With Ron’s reaction speed, he could barely follow everything. And if spectating was already this difficult, actually fighting them would be even worse.

Therefore, regarding this battle that he originally shouldn’t have been exposed to, Ron genuinely found it somewhat underwhelming.

Then, with a tremendously resonant hum, one of the swords could no longer endure the sustained clash. It snapped at a point one-third of the way down from the tip.

“Halt!”

Foss, serving as both host and referee, immediately called for a stop. He first inspected the broken edge of the sword, then exchanged a glance with his father and older brother behind him, before announcing:

“Broken sword is valid. Does the match continue?”

“I yield,” the Knight holding the broken sword said with evident regret.

Foss ruling the broken sword as valid was sufficient to prove that he was slightly inferior to his opponent in solo combat. Continuing the fight would only deplete each other’s energy. Both of them had other duels later!

There was naturally no willingness to exhaust too much in the very first match.

At this point, his opponent also revealed a relaxed expression. He expressed gratitude for the other’s concession, while simultaneously pointing out the errors made during their fight:

“You devoted too much energy to maintaining your longsword. But the sword is not you. Doing so actually made your force transitions sluggish. By continuously striking the nodes where the blade’s force transitions occur, or even artificially creating such nodes, it’s entirely possible to break a sword.”

“Understood. Next time we clash, I won’t lose so easily!”

“Haha, do you think you’re the only one who improves? I’ll be waiting for your challenge!”

The two made a pact to fight again in the future, then stepped down from the arena.