Later in the afternoon, Drake went to the Dark Legion Barracks. He could see men and women. They were the Dark Legion Trainees, since all the elites had marched alongside the Viscount.
Although none of them were older than 30, their gaze reflected experience. They had gone through many battles, and their individual strength was several times higher than that of normal soldiers. On average, each Dark Legion Trainee could take on two to three normal soldiers at the same time. Some were even more talented, capable of taking on up to five normal soldiers at the same time.
Drake was looking at those who were training.
They all practiced an incomplete Knight-level sword art, the Kadac Sword art which the Viscount managed to steal from the Kadac noble Household that had waged war against him. Of course, they had greatly underestimated the Viscount's strength and belligerent nature, and ended up crossed from the map, with only a few survivors alive to spread the tales.
It was a sword art which used a one-handed cross sword and a heavy shield.
After a few seconds, several trainees started to recognize Drake. Since he wore a heavy armour, the only thing that made the trainees realize his identity was his sword, which was an elven sword made of high-grade and pure alloy of Beryllium, a rare metal that didn't oxide over time and remained sharp.
Although it was unnoticeable, his heavy armour was also incomparably more valuable than that of the Dark Legion elites. His heavy armour had been crafted by a dwarf called Jason, an advanced blacksmith recognized throughout the whole Porfield Kingdom. This heavy armour was not flashy, but its durability was unmatched. It could absorb up to 6 degrees of damage, twice more than the average heavy armours.
'Initiate a scan on everyone here, please!'
Of course, whenever Drake remembers the Viscount glowing chop that dealt 18 degrees of damage, Drake shivered.
"Stand up, trainees. I didn't come here to chat or act as a lord. I want to spar, and I will punish those who do not fight me seriously or let me win. Is there any voluntary?"
"Please give me the opportunity to spar with you, my lord…", a timid voice emerged from the crowd.
"Shut up, Andy. You are one of the strongest trainee-"
"Alright, come here Andy. Let's fight!"
[Beep! Scan has been completed on the 18 targets!]
[Human Male. Name – (?)
Age – 25 years. Rank: ø
Attributes
Strength – 1.3 | Dexterity – 1.3 | Constitution – 2.0 | Internal Energy – 2.2
Skills: Kadac Sword Art …]
[Human Female. Name – (?)
Age – 20 years. Rank: ø
Attributes
Strength – 1.4 | Dexterity – 1.6 | Constitution – 1.2 | Internal Energy – 1.6
Skills: Kadac Sword Art …]
[Human Male. Name – (?).
Age – 28 years. Rank: ø
Attributes
Strength – 1.9 | Dexterity – 1.1 | Constitution – 1.8 | Internal Energy – 1.0
Skills: Kadac Sword Art …]
All the others had similar attributes. Women seemed more agile, with higher dexterity, and men seemed stronger with higher strength and constitution. As for internal energy, it was quite random.
However, two men stood out: Andy and Joy.
[Human Male. Name – Andy
Age – 30 years. Rank: Preparatory Knight
Attributes
Strength – 2.2 | Dexterity – 1.3 | Constitution – 2.8 | Internal Energy – 3.0
Skills: Kadac Sword Art …]
[Human Male. Name – Joy.
Age – 30 years. Rank: Preparatory Knight
Attributes
Strength – 2.3 (+1)| Dexterity – 1.0 | Constitution – 2.6 | Internal Energy – 2.2
Skills: Kadac Sword Art, Barbarian Strength (+1 Strength)]
'Holy…Joy has 3.3 points of strength! This exceeds the realm of what a preparatory knight should possess! It seems like barbarians have some secrets as well. Only Knights can be a match for this Joy guy!'
Drake was never allowed in the Dark Legion barracks before. For sure, he had sparred more than once with soldiers, but Dark Legion was off limit for him. The reason was pretty simple. The Dark Legion trainees and official warriors were not citizens of the Moonlight territory. Most of them are barbarian children that the Viscount took in, and brainwashed into members of his Dark Legion. As barbarians, they had high strength from birth, and the Viscount made sure to engrave the Kadac Sword Art into their brains.
However, the Viscount could not allow Drake. After all, the Viscount knew their belligerent nature. Fighting was in their blood. They didn't crave for power or authority. They craved for blood.
Drake could feel it. The tension. The tension of fighting a life and death battles.
'That's it! That's the feeling!'
Drake could not breakthrough and become an official knight. After all, his father would never allow him to participate in a battlefield at 15 of age. But Drake was yearning for it. He had lived his entire past life as a soldier. Living a peaceful life was certainly satisfying, but it lacked…excitement.
The adrenaline felt in a battle of life and death…Drake loved it more than anything. He was an adrenaline junky.
"Bring it on!", Drake shouted.
He didn't care much about hiding his strength. The Moonlight territory was his hunting grounds. If he were in a war, he would have considered hiding a trump card, but he didn't care about that. He just wished to have a good fight with this guy called Andy!
Of course, the two of them wouldn't spar with real swords, but rather, with swords made of heavy plumb. These training swords were heavy and weren't sharpened at all. However, it was enough to see who would have killed the other in a spar, and receiving a sword slash was painful enough to get bedridden for days.
Andy let the initiative of the fight to Drake.
When Drake began charging, Andy was flabbergasted. He had heard, like all Dark Legion trainees, of the famous prodigy of the Moonlight family. But the rumours were huge understatements of Drake's true level.
Drake's speed was incredible, considering that he was wearing a heavy armour. Even the most agile Dark Legion Elite might not move as fast as the nimble Drake! Hence, Andy was forced into a defensive position.
After a few dozen exchange of parrying and counter attacks, Andy found out that Drake's strength was about the same as his, one of the strongest trainees in the whole Barracks!
*BANG*
Eventually, Andy's stance was flawed, and Drake made sure to exploit it. His sword moved like a serpent and landed on Andy's back. It was a nasty strike that sent the poor thirty-year-old man flying. Everyone was deadly silent.
Had it been a real sword, Andy would have been cut in two.
"Next!", Drake shouted.
And so, Drake began sparring with the other trainees. At first, he sparred one at a time, but after confirming his advantage in both technical and physical aspects, Drake decided to spar against them pair by pair.
At this point, the spars were no longer easy, but rather challenging. Drake only managed to win once out of two fights, though his win rate was steadily improving.
He began to experience the benefits of the spar in the evening. The excitement he had felt in the sparring prevented him from falling asleep. He would only manage to do so by simulating combinations of attacks in his mind with the biochip's help.
Days passed in a flash, and Drake eventually returned to the barracks to train once more.
This time, he had fully learnt his lesson. Fully committing to offence in a fight against two enemies was the worse idea you could possibly have. After all, you could not attack and defend at the same time, and Drake would rather not rely on his heavy armour's durability for that.
"You came back?", Andy said, obviously striving for a rematch.
"Of course! Let's do this every Monday, alright?"