Jack took a step in the magnificent hall of the knight guild. The entrance hall was wide and spacious with a red embroidered carpet that went from the entrance to the reception desk at the other side of the hall.
Jack slowly made his way through the various knights and merchants talking about escorts and payed jobs while eyeing out the only unoccupied reception desk.
The people around Jack scoffed and sneered at him, as they saw a poor beggar enter the majestic knight guild, but Jack paid it no mind as he arrived in front of the desk.
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The receptionist was a strict looking woman in her mid thirties. She wore a pair of glasses and had her hair tied up in a bun. Wearing the usual knight guild's attendees clothing, with a white shirt and an elegant white skirt she looked at Jack expressionlessly. She was already used to the kids of the slums taking part in the knight training camp exam, and was also used to their horrid stench and appearances. She scanned Jack who was clumsily trying to make his way there in a confident manner but she could see the worried look in his eyes.
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Jack tried to make a confident looking face and took straight, powerful strides. He believed in the words "fake it till you make it" and he had always relied on this principle to survive in the streets.
As he arrived in front of the receptionist, he realised that he was barely tall enough to see over the desk. Blushing, Jack mustered all of his willpower and tried to ask in the most relaxed manner:
"Miss, do you know where the knight training camp exam is located at?"
He asked while trying his best not to slip up. The woman looked at him expressionlessly for a while, almost as if she didn't see or hear anything. After a while, Jack started to believe that she really didn't see nor hear him. Just as he was going to ask again:
"To the right behind the 7th receptionist is the door that leads to the courtyard, go there and you will see the examiner waiting for all of the participants there. You still have another hour and a half before the exam starts so you still have time to do anything you want in this time period, inside if the courtyard." she responded in the coldest tone possible, she didn't even bother to look at him.
Jack cheered up and quickly gave his thanks and left while hearing a snort from the woman behind him.
As he entered the courtyard he began to really see how rich and powerful the knight guild really was. A courtyard as big as a football in the richest district of Johnson town was not something that anyone could have, even with money. The floor was made of a walkway of marble on the sides near the building and the middle was full of luscious grass. As he stepped towards the center of the field where he noticed a middle aged man standing there with a new looking leather armor and a sword by his waist, Jack took note of the division of the field in two upper halves and a while lower bottom, with the left upper halve having an armory with swords, bows and many other weapons, the right half with 40 or so mannequins, and the lower half being completely empty.
Jack approached the man in the middle of the field, he held his wooden training sword downwards, embedded into the earth. If he wasn't breathing it would be the perfect statue. As Jack got closer and closer he felt a strange force of oppression the closer he got. It wasn't anything physical but as Jack got closer he felt like breathing and walking was getting harder. Five meters away from the man Jack had to stop being out of breath and extremely tired. He sat down cross legged and felt the aura of oppression around him.
Jack wasn't an imbecile, he knew what this was. Any knight or mage that had gotten past a level would gain an aura, or an invisible force that portrayed the strength of the aura user. This was known even by the peasants because the minimum re requirement to become part of the knights was having an aura.
Jack also knew that being under the pressure of the aura one could peer into the secrets of strength and would aid them in their cultivation. Although Jack didn't really know what cultivation really was, he knew that it was necessary to become stronger.
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The knight felt the presence of surrounding area as he started his cultivation session. He was a newly appointed knight even though he was already thirty eight. It was obvious that he lacked talent and he would never be anyone of high rank in the military. Nevertheless he was obstinate and hard working and thus he was still able to become part of the knights. He was proud of his achievement and decided that it was a good idea to cultivate while waiting for the kids from the slums to show up.
In the middle of cultivation he felt a presence coming closer and closer, it was weak but had willpower. He knew that it must be a kid from the slums as he was malnourished and didn't have much strength. Nevertheless he was surprised to find that the boy sat down three meters away from him. It was quite hard to reach that distance from him for a normal person while he cultivated because all of his strength would involuntarily expand in his aura.
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As time went by more kids arrived and the silent courtyard quickly became boisterous with dozens of kids from the age of six to twelve.