The next morning, Daron woke up earlier than normal hand wore his uniform. This time, he did not wear the normal heavy leather armour that he was normally supposed to wear for training. Instead, just wearing the white linen uniform and went to the arsenal of the castle, where he found Tom, Rachel, Fey and William also entering.
"Knight in training here to collect battle equipment."
"Register your name here and take it from the back" Said an old man who was sitting on a chair with his feet crossed on another, half asleep.
Daron and the rest followed his instructions and took the equipment, while Daron was feeling slightly odd that there were no guards and systems in place to restrict the flow of people and equipment in and out of the arsenal.
The equipment was similar to what the knights in training had so far, except for an all-leather armour with incredibly thick and heavy leather, it was much thinner, and far lighter leather, with small plates of metal inserted in crucial parts like the wrists, chest, back, thighs and shins, which all put together brought back the total weight to what the thick leather armour was initially.
Daron now understood the reason behind the heavy leather armour used for daily training. This way, over years, the knights in training would get used to wearing their armour as thought it was not there, which would allow them to move completely freely even when wearing the metal imbedded armour.
The reason they were not given the metal imbedded armour normally was the high maintenance costs. Normal leather armour could be repaired by adding an extra patch of leather to it. However, metal had to go through a long and rather expensive repairing process at the blacksmith Union.
The sword they had was now a truly metal sword. However, it's weight was only slightly heavier than the wooden swords Daron and the other knights in training were using normally. This actually had to do with the pieced of heavy metal within the centre of the wooden swords, as well the fact that these metal swords were thinner, and made of a slightly lighter metal than what was placed within the wooden swords, bringing their weights also rather close to each other.
They were also given a metal helmet, which did not do much other than cover the back of their heads and the top. It left the face and neck wide open, but Daron was not one to complain. This was much better than anything he expected from the arsenal of this secluded city.
'Sirious, adjust the combat system to my new equipment. Also back back-up adjustments for when I lose certain equipment or strength in certain limbs just in case I face beasts in those cases'
[Yes Master Daron.]
After this, Daron was fully ready, and so were the rest of the 4 in his team. By now, he had already become the leader of all those within the new recruits after whooping everyone's as*ses for nearly 2 months straight.
Although not all the new recruits were in his group, his close friends were all there, and so he was the de facto leader of their group of five.
When they assembled at the castle gates, Knight Fals, along with two other men who seemed to be official knights, of a slightly higher rank that Fals came up in front of the gates. Daron had seen them a few times before. While Fals was the youngest among the three at around 25 years of age at Rank 6, the one next to him was Knight Grey, who was around 37 years old, was at rank 7. The last one was nearing the age of 45 and was at the 8th rank of being an official knight.
"Alright. I am going to need everyone in teams of 5. Remember, chose those who you trust your life with, since you are going to need them to do the same. All those who are left out move to the side and wait for further instructions. I will settle you guys into groups myself. Go!" Knight Grey said coldly.
Instantly, the entire area in front of the castle gates went into chaos of people running around trying to find a group. Daron's group was already formed, however, an older man approached them from the side and said softly.
"Hey. One of you guys. Leave this group I am going to join it in your place. Leave by the count of two." The man said with an angry expression on his face.
Daron knew what this was. This was the classic villain coming after the Main character for no reason and when the main character defends himself, he lashes out with threats to kill him. Slowly, this villain becomes more and more irritating as he instigates other to attack the main character as revenge since he got beat up, until the point where the main character needed to kill him once and for all. After which that villains secret master or family will come after the main character and the cycle continues forever until the main character kills everyone related to the villain, at which point he will be labelled a 'mass-murdered' etc.
However, Daron suddenly had another thought.
'Sirious, is he strong?'
[No. He should be around 1 stat point below you in strength, while the rest as equal to you.]
'Good'
Deron did not speak and moved without hesitation. The angry looking man did not have enough time to react to the sudden movements of the 6-year-old kid and was taken by surprise.
Daron just moved behind the man and put him into a choke-hold using his hands and held down the man's hands using his legs so he could not injure Daron while struggling.
After the man almost fainted, Daron let him go, but he took out he small dagger he always kept with him and pointed it at the man's right eye, while coldly whispering into his ear.
"Forget this happened. If I see you again, or if you call for others to do anything to me or my friends, it does not matter whether it is a simple scratch. I will come after you and kill you and your family even if it takes months, years or my whole life. So, think about the consequences before doing anything."
Since Daron could not kill the man right then and there, he simply threatened the man to nib the trouble in the bud. No one here was a stupid person and they had their own positive traits to be able to become a knight in training. Daron knew the man would be able to understand the fact that he could not deal with Daron, and if he tried to get revenge for something as insignificant as not being able to get in a group, and Daron escaped, he would have to sleep with a sword constantly hanging over his head. Especially after the kid grew up later on.
He had only two choices, kill the kid or forget whatever happened. Smartly, he chose the latter and said nothing before getting up, stretching his neck a little, and walking away into the crowd of rowdy knights in training who were fighting over groups.
This whole thing took less than a minute, and not too many people noticed what just happened.
However, those three official knights saw everything and were slightly shocked.
"So, it is him?"
"Yes." Fals replied to Grey, who were both slightly taken aback at the decisiveness and swiftness Daron had shown in perfectly executing everything to his advantage to completely escalate the situation to threatening the poor fellow to eradicating his entire family, before diffusing the situation as though nothing ever happened. Fals was shocked at the way in which Daron diffused the situation, while Grey was shocked at the speed, power and flexibility Daron displayed at taking down an adult male knight in training with a single attack.
"He seems… acceptable for his age." Bob spoke only 6 words, but those 6 words were enough for someone like Daron to instantly gain a high standing among all the knights in training. However, the three official knights were speaking with incredibly hushed voices. However, these voices which would normally be drowned out by the brawls going on in front of them were heard by their enhanced ears without any problem since they were using minute amounts of Internal Energy to accomplish the same.