Chapter 47: Chapter 47

“Right, Brandon, the steward of the Mailin Merchant Guild invited you to join their guild earlier. Why didn’t you accept?” Not wanting to talk about Ron anymore, Morris abruptly changed the subject.

“My family is all here. How could I leave with peace of mind? At the very least, I won’t feel at ease leaving until the source of the Aberrant Beasts in the south is thoroughly eradicated!” Brandon gazed into the distance and sighed.

As a Transcendent, he naturally wasn’t willing to spend his entire life cooped up in a small place like the Sis Territory. He also wanted to go out and see the wider world. Thinking of this, he suddenly nudged Morris:

“And you’re one to talk! Didn’t the Mailin Merchant Guild invite you too? And they even agreed to let you bring your family along. Why aren’t you leaving?”

If not for the threat of Evil Spirits, ordinary people would probably be the best adapted to the environment outside the territory. But with Evil Spirits around, ordinary people going outside was virtually no different from courting death.

A single Formal Knight was far from sufficient to protect an entire family on a long journey; it typically required paying a far greater price than just a Knight.

This also revealed just how highly the Mailin Merchant Guild valued Morris, yet Morris silently shook his head. Seemingly feeling that this response was too dismissive, he offered another explanation:

“The territory raised me and nurtured me. How could I possibly abandon it during its most perilous time!”

“Sigh!”

Brandon let out a long sigh and couldn’t help but curse, “These damn Aberrant Beasts!”

After cursing, he suddenly thought of something and lowered his voice to ask Morris, “What exactly did your squad discover during your last scouting mission to the south? I noticed that ever since then, the higher-ups have increased patrol intensity, and Vice Commander Paige practically lives in the south now. What did you guys actually find?”

“Commander Corbett personally ordered that the discovery is not to be made public for the time being. If you truly want to know, go find the Commander yourself. Stop pestering me,” Morris said with some impatience.

Clearly, this wasn’t the first time Brandon had asked about this matter. However, one of a Knight’s most important duties was to uphold Order, and keeping a promise was undoubtedly such an act. So even if he genuinely wanted to spill it, he couldn’t say a word.

Brandon was long accustomed to Morris’s refusals, so he approached from another angle and asked again, “Did you discover the source of the Aberrant Beasts?”

Upon hearing this, Morris’s previously composed expression instantly turned somewhat tense. He subconsciously asked, “Where did you hear that?”

“I can’t say.” Brandon also had a need to honor his promises.

“Was it Marlin?” Morris pressed further.

Brandon fell silent, and so Morris also obtained the answer he wanted from Brandon’s silence. He cursed indignantly, “That guy is truly unreliable! No wonder I’ve been saying his condition has been so poor lately!”

Breaking a contract or violating an oath didn’t affect a Knight’s personal strength, but it would reduce the power of Order upon the Knight. The power of Order was intimately connected to the squad, affecting the team’s overall resistance against Evil Spirits, Aberrant Beasts, and other such Sources of Chaos.

A squad with insufficient power of Order would be more susceptible to Evil Spirit Invasions or Aberrant Beast contamination than one with ample power of Order.

Such a trend would first manifest in the individual who represented the weakest link in the power of Order, before subsequently affecting the entire team.

Upon learning that it was Marlin who had broken his promise and leaked the information, Morris felt extremely angry and disappointed. This kind of behavior that disregarded the team was something he found deeply repugnant.

At this moment, looking at Ron, who was still fighting the Wastelander child on the field, a notion that had been only a preliminary plan in Morris’s mind instantly crystallized into a firm decision:

He was not only going to recruit Ron into his own squad, but he was also going to kick Marlin out, or at the very least relegate him to a substitute first.

…

“What is the source of the Aberrant Beasts? Is it a new Wastelander tribe? Or ancient Wizard Ruins?” Brandon continued pestering Morris, wanting to pry out the details of the southern scouting mission.

But this time, Morris didn’t give Brandon any opportunity. No matter what the other party asked, he didn’t utter a single word, acting as if he hadn’t heard a thing, simply watching Ron and the others battling not far away.

By this time, Ron on the field was fast approaching his limit. The excessive weight and unwieldiness of the sword in his hand was a secondary issue; the key point was that he had discovered the instructor’s sword wasn’t actually any sharper than the one he had been using before.

At most, its greater weight could generate more momentum, provided the wielder could swing it effortlessly.

“Is the instructor’s sword really just a bit heavier?”

Although Ron had never heard of a Transcendent Weapon, based on simple reasoning alone, one could deduce that a Formal Knight’s weaponry had to be superior to an apprentice’s.

If it were merely heavier, that would truly be rather unfitting for a Transcendent’s status.

For a moment, Ron actually felt a twinge of regret for asking the instructor for his weapon. If he had used his own weapon, he might have been able to hold out longer. But now…

“Do I really have to ask the instructor for help?”

They were currently still in the middle of a trial. Whether he asked the instructor for help or the instructor took the initiative to intervene, it would result in a lower evaluation from the higher-ups.

…

Mustering every last ounce of strength in his body, Ron thrust the longsword in his hand forward. Suddenly, he felt that the spot where the blade tip struck seemed somewhat different from before. This split-second discovery invigorated his spirit.

“Has the enemy reached its limit?”

So he forcefully gathered his strength and delivered another thrust. This strike felt slightly different from the last one. It seemed…

It seemed as though the enemy’s physical toughness was declining!

This discovery stoked Ron’s fighting spirit. He immediately relayed this information to his companions, and the five of them coordinated another fierce assault.

“Ron, your perception is too sharp. If you hadn’t reminded me, I wouldn’t have even noticed the enemy seems to be weakening! Come on, we can definitely beat him!”

The continuous combat had made Justin’s voice somewhat hoarse, but he still shouted excitedly.

Ron, on the other hand, had become even calmer. Justin said his perception was sharp, but that wasn’t entirely true. The reason he could perceive the opponent’s changes was mainly because he had never abandoned his pursuit of whole-body combined force.

Even though the sword in his hand was unwieldy, he still did his utmost to bring his body and the exertion of his force closer to the Sword Stance state.

Although what he ultimately achieved wasn’t a complete Sword Stance state, it still retained a fraction of the Sword Stance state’s characteristics:

an extraordinary perception of changes in force.

It was merely a minute change in the tactile sensation at the sword tip, a degree of subtlety that would be undetectable outside of the Sword Stance state. Yet he had perceived this tiny shift.

And it had even allowed him to deduce the decline in the opponent’s physical toughness.

“Sure enough, even titanium alloy would suffer from metal fatigue when abused like this!” Ron marveled inwardly.

Clearly, the higher-ups hadn’t selected these enemies as their opponents on a whim. They must have had a fairly clear understanding of the strength comparison between both sides.

Now both sides were approaching their limits, but the Sis Territory’s side clearly held the advantage.