Knight Fals' face paled at the exact moment that Daron asked his question. Although such a question was normal for most knights in training due to their unrestrained curious nature, Fals had a strong feeling that this young kid in front of him, no, this monster in front of him did not ask this question out of pure curiosity.
This strange thought quickly spread throughout Fals' mind and was the reason his face changed colour from an indescribable fear.
"Y- You! You do not want to know, but need to know right?"
"Yes."
Instantly, Fals took a step back, raising his vigilance against this kid. For a moment, he thought Daron was the reincarnation of some demon or god. However, after some time, he calmed down. The mysterious Anna Croft had stood up for this kid. He definitely could not be someone who would want harm towards the church and Bard city.
Zack Bard had informed his 3 disciples about the fact that Anna had told them to take special care of Daron and the other kids form the orphanage, which was why Knight Fals knew about this.
"Did you reach rank 5 already? In just a few months?"
"Yes"
"Wait here."
Fals just sighed and decided to report this to his master before thinking about anything else.
A few moments later…
"RANK 5!!!!"
A resounding voice boomed throughout the entire castle. This was an unrestrained act of shock from an Intermediate knight. This aura was released due to this master of Internal energy losing control of his emotions for a brief moment.
In this brief moment, countless servants fainted, some even directly dying. All the glass within the castle shattered, and even the 4-foot-thick walls cracked in countless places, just from this shout.
In the death toll calculated a few hours later, it came up that even 2 elderly knights in training died in that single shout. Since knights in training were basically normal humans, and the fact that these elderly knights in training had lived a life of luxury within the castle all their lives, their bodied were far weaker than normal humans, if not for their daily training, they would have become disabled old men by now.
Naturally, until they became disabled, they would be kept with the other knights in training, and even when they did, they would still be cared for by the Bard family. The reason was simple. In the odd chance one of them did become an Official Knight, Zack Bard wanted them to become his official disciple and join the ranks of Bard city's defence.
Soon, Daron was called to Bard's study, which was the most secure room in the entire city.
"Let me check." Zack said calmly, with a mysterious tone in his voice.
Daron simply stood still and allowed Zack's Intermediate Internal Energy Scan his body until it found his own Completely still Internal Energy. Unlike Knight Fals' Internal Energy that was soft and warm, Knight Zack's Internal Energy was like a barbed wire that had electivity running through it. It felt incredibly uncomfortable to Daron.
"Good. You have reached Rank 5. I will get to the point. Are you willing to become my disciple?"
Suddenly, Daron felt like following all those wuxia novels, and kneel and kowtow to Zack three times before calling him master. However, he controlled that indescribable emotion and simply nodded.
"Good. Then call me master from now on. Also, here. Take these. One is the method by which to break through to official Knight that my master gave me, along with some notes that Fals, Grey, Bob, and I have added at the end with our experiences of breaking through. In case you do, make sure to add your notes at the end. The next is the circulation method used in order to recover used Internal energy, heal wounds using Internal energy, as well as increase the density and potency of you Internal Energy once you advance to an Official Rank 6 Knight. It is a 2-star Circulation method called Sun Effect. Naturally, to increase the amount of total Internal Energy, you must still consume 'herbs' made specially for official knights. The last book contains a 2-star martial skill that was given to me by my master called the Vine Fist. Learn it well, since it is the only way for you to utilise Internal energy in actual combat other than protecting yourself by making a shield out of Internal Energy, or making a sword out of the same, both of which waste a ludicrous amount of Internal Energy to do so even for a second."
With that, Zack sent Daron off.
Once he left, Fals appeared from behind Zack and whispered.
"Master, was it truly alright to give him everything Grand Master gave you when you were his disciple?"
"Hmph."
Zack did not reply. He knew that Fals was worried since he had never given anything like this to those old men who were nearing the end of their lives. With this, from the 23 peak Rank 5 knights in training, at least 1 would advance to official knight.
However, Zack knew that the rest of them would die from the tribulations that the world's laws created for someone advancing to a new realm. This would greatly affect the morale of the other knights in training, slowing down their growth and disturbing their mindset.
However, he had a feeling that this little monster in human skin named Daron would be able to advance to being an official knight. With someone advancing, the morale of the knights in training should be boosted instead, making more of them focus on training, and maybe even making a few of them reach the tipping point of peak Rank 5. That would be when he stepped in and gave them the method to break through, thus bringing in one or more Official Rank 6 knights as his disciples.
This feeling was what his instinct as an Intermediate Knight had told him, which was not only never wrong, but had also saved his life countless times on the battlefield.
Back in the room, Daron finished reading all the three books. Just as he finished, Sirious' voice entered his mind.
[Master Daron. You can either optimize these to your body, or you can improve these techniques. I can do both, but that will take a lot longer.]
'Huh?'