Chapter 37: Chapter 37

Once everyone had changed into their new equipment and finished lining up, a fully armed Knight finally arrived on horseback. After opening his visor, he revealed the face of a young man with a somewhat gloomy expression.

“It’s Young Master Waynes!”

Some apprentices began to whisper. Through this, Ron learned the identity of the newcomer: Waynes, the eldest son of the Lord of Sis. His official positions within the territory were Vice Commander of the Territory Guard and Chief Military Judge.

With the Lord having been out of the public eye for a long time, Waynes was absolutely a powerful figure holding real authority in the territory. Ron caught a distant glimpse of him and immediately felt that this was not a man to be trifled with, far less approachable than Foss.

Perhaps this was the majesty of a Military Judge.

“Silence!”

Pierce shouted. A terrifying aura erupted from him, sweeping across the entire field. Sensing this aura, Ron was stunned for a full few seconds, immediately followed by a wave of chills.

If they were in combat, a few seconds would be enough for a Formal Knight to kill him countless times.

It seemed he still had much to learn!

Following that, under Pierce’s command, the crowd began to orderly leave the training ground. Outside the training ground, Ron saw two squads of similarly mounted Knights, who seemed to have come with Waynes.

If nothing unexpected happened, they would likely accompany them outside the territory.

…

On the road, Morris, the instructor of Ron’s Blood and Fire Squad, detailed the main objective of this outbound training. It was very simple: as long as they could return alive, it would be considered a success.

As soon as these words were spoken, the entire Blood and Fire Squad, including Ron, felt profoundly shocked, even a little terrified. Ron never imagined that they would be subjected to a life-and-death mission after only a month.

He hurriedly asked, “Instructor, what is the specific content of this training? What kind of danger is there that merely returning alive counts as completion?”

“The specific content is to witness the truest side of this world. As for what danger there is, it will be very difficult for you to comprehend just from my words. Once we walk a bit further, you should be able to sense it yourselves.”

“Is it that mysterious? Then does the Instructor have any advice for our mission this time?” Ron asked again.

“My advice is to absolutely obey orders, and absolutely do not try to be too clever. Additionally, you must trust your own intuition.”

Intuition again. This was not the first time Ron had heard this phrase. He had previously heard it from Justin; it was the advice given by Justin’s father to his son.

But this time, aside from intuition, the instructor also mentioned obeying orders. Yet, this piece of advice seemed slightly contradictory to trusting one’s intuition and not being too clever.

If his intuition told him to violate an order, should he insist on obeying, or should he trust his intuition?

Hopefully, an intuition like that wouldn’t appear! Ron thought silently to himself.

…

Exiting the training ground, heading west was a wide road. After continuing west along this road for less than five minutes, Ron spotted a cluster of buildings about two hundred meters to the north of the road.

That was a garrison base for the Territory Guard. South of the main road, three vertical and twelve horizontal black roads divided the southern area into individual, distinct blocks.

The section closest to the residential area, which was on the east side, spanned roughly the width of two vertical roads and was essentially composed of animal farms. The majority of the territory’s meat originated from here.

Beyond the animal farms, the vast western expanse was all farmland. However, the fields were currently covered in snow, looking from a distance like square pieces of cake.

The Blackstone Sentry Post, where Ron and the others were currently headed, was located in the southwest of the territory. In terms of the route, it wasn’t simply drawing a straight line between two points.

Instead, they first followed the main road westward in front of the Bell Tower and training ground, then headed south through the large expanse of farmland, and then continued west.

While on the road, Instructor Morris had informed them of the route in advance, but regarding exactly when to head south, Morris had not specified.

Thinking of what Morris had just mentioned about sensing danger themselves, Ron felt as if a heavy stone was pressing down on his heart. But soon, this “stone” in his heart was no longer just a figure of speech!

“Halt in the rear, someone has fainted!”

“What? Someone fainted?”

In an instant, the commotion spread from the front of the procession to the back. The Blood and Fire Squad was roughly in the middle, but since the instructor didn’t say to stop, they didn’t halt their steps. However, Ron already had some rather bad premonitions in his heart.

Soon, the Blood and Fire Squad passed by the apprentice who was said to have fainted. He had been dragged onto the snow beside the road by others, while his teammates stood next to him with blank expressions.

Their instructor seemed to be the one who had just dragged the fellow to the side of the road. His face was currently gloomy, though a trace of worry would occasionally flash through his eyes when he looked at the apprentice on the ground.

As he passed by, Ron saw clearly that the apprentice was definitely not simply unconscious, but more like he had suffered a seizure. His body was twitching slightly, and there was some white foam at the corner of his mouth that hadn’t been entirely wiped clean.

“Is this the danger of facing the world’s reality? Where exactly does this reality manifest?”

He wanted to ask Morris, but the latter had just explicitly mentioned perceiving it themselves. Inquiring now would be doubting, and doubting would obviously violate the rule Morris had established when he became the Blood and Fire Squad’s instructor a month ago.

Ron buried his doubts in his heart and simultaneously began to carefully observe his surroundings. The road was still the same road, and the people were still the same people, only the atmosphere had become much more oppressive than before.

Soon, another accident occurred.

Ahead of the Blood and Fire Squad, an apprentice suddenly broke formation and rushed into the snow at the side. As he ran, he shouted loudly:

“Father, don’t leave me, don’t leave me!”

This voice was not quiet; Ron estimated that even the squads at the very end of the procession could hear it crystal clear. Furthermore, because that apprentice had broken formation, everyone could see his instructor chase after him, casually knock him unconscious, and then drag him back to toss him by the roadside.

Seeing this scene, Ron could hold back no longer and asked Morris:

“Instructor, is he okay?”

“In what regard?” Morris asked in return.

Ron was instantly stunned. What other regard could there be? He thought for a moment and continued asking, “Will he die?”

“No, but he has already been eliminated.”

“Eliminated?”

Ron’s heart jolted. He knew that with the current apprentice training, as long as one could persevere to the end, they were guaranteed at the very least a position in the Territory Guard.

After all, the Territory Guard wasn’t entirely composed of Formal Knights; Formal Knights made up less than a third.

But if it was elimination, then it was equivalent to those initial eight people, essentially expelled from the Territory Guard.

And the greatest benefit of Territory Guard status was transcendent power, or more specifically, the Ignition Potion used in tandem with the Ice Breathing Technique. To lose Territory Guard status was equivalent to severing one’s path to transcendence.

Even if they had family and friends in the Territory Guard, how many would be willing to share their own potions with someone who couldn’t even pass the apprentice training?