Chapter 19
They exchanged moves again. The battle wasn’t about who landed how many hits. Unless one fainted or surrendered, the fight wasn’t gonna end. This time what the onlookers witnessed could only be described as a one-sided beating.
Yiran landed not one but two hits on Roy, bruising another two areas of his body.
Now, there were bruises on his upper and lower body.
The only place left intact was his face.
Still, Roy endured this pain for the sake of a wonderful future.
[Yiran hit you.]
[You’ve already eaten an attack of such might once.]
[Your body’s tempered by three points.]
[Yiran hit you.]
[You’ve already eaten an attack of such might twice.]
[Your body’s tempered by two points.]
Roy smiled. He was only one EXP from leveling them. Then there would be nothing stopping him from stomping Yiran like an ant.
“How can you smile after getting beaten so badly?! Just drop dead already!” Yiran shouted. He had fought many in the slums. But none of them could endure more than two disastrous blows to their vitals. Yet, even though he hit the places that hurt the most, he didn’t fall. No! He refused to fall down, facing a lowly person like him!
Yiran jumped towards him like a cheetah.
“I’m having the time of my life. Why wouldn’t I feel happy? Hahahaha! Come on! Hit me one more time!” Roy welcomed him with open arms as if he was his stepbrother.
Yiran was far beyond cruel this time. His attack landed on Roy’s jaw. Two teeth flew out of his mouth, but he didn’t fall.
[Yiran hit you.]
[You’ve already eaten an attack of such might thrice.]
[Your body’s tempered by a point.]
[Power Level: Body Tempering Stage 0 Level (10/10 EXP)]
Click!
Roy felt something inside this body of his unlocking. In this world, there were people who had the Aura Gate in them. A normal person succeeds in tempering their body for the first time when they train so hard that their Aura Gate opens up a little. And when it does, a lot of Aura rushes out of it and enters the body, nurturing it. When that process takes place, their body releases a bright shine. The color varied. And right at this moment, Roy’s body released a black shine. The black rays stabbed Yiran in the eyes, blinding him. Roy took advantage of this God-sent opportunity to smash his sword in Yiran’s gut. He was thrown back by several steps, but before he could go over the line, he stabilized himself.
[You’ve advanced to the first stage of body tempering!]
[Your strength has increased to 13 points.]
[Your stamina has increased to 12 points.]
[Your agility has increased to 5 points.]
The black shine on him receded.
“This… this can’t be! How could you possibly advance in the middle of our battle?! You must have faked it.”
Yiran gaped at him, shock vivid on him. It wasn’t just him who was taken aback by what Roy did. The eyes of the knights and the trainees had opened wide enough for their eyeballs to pop out of their sockets with just a push.
The bald instructor, Arlo, wasn’t faring any better.
His jaw had almost dropped to touch the ground when he saw Roy entering the body tempering Realm.
As for Amelia, her joy knew no end. She felt so much happiness seeing him temper his body for the first time that she smiled from ear to ear.
“Why don’t you find out?” Roy said this without any change in his tone. But Yiran felt as if he was mocking him.
“Don’t get too cocky. Do you seriously think you can win against me just because you’ve advanced to the first stage of body tempering? I will be winning this fight. And I will be the one taking her to my quarters as my trophy!”
Ask the heaven, ask the hell, who was the fool courting death at this instant?
They would all point to Yiran.
Roy dodged all of Yiran’s attacks without much effort this time. It was clear to everyone that while Yiran was two levels above Roy, they were evenly matched. They exchanged fifteen moves. But Yiran failed to land even one hit on Roy. As for Roy, he had stuck Yiran 6 times.
Some moments later, they pulled back.
“Y-you… how come you successively dodged all my attacks when you weren’t able to moments ago?”
“Did I forget to make things clear to you? Nah! You didn’t give me the time to. The only reason you managed to hit me was that I allowed it. And now you’re of no use to me. Forget about hitting me. It would be a surprise if your sword brushed past my clothes.” Roy said calmly. But the changes taking place in him was no less than violent than a tsunami.
“Bullshit!”
Yiran tried to shoot him down, but what Roy said next made so much sense that he couldn’t do anything else but shut up.
“I felt my Aura Gate loosening each time you hit me. That’s why I allowed you to hit me. That’s the truth. You can deny it countless times. But it wouldn’t change a thing. And lastly, I am done playing with you.”
[You’ve used 20 EXP to level up!]
[You’ve reached the second level of body tempering!]
[Your strength has increased to 17 points.]
[Your stamina has increased to 13 points.]
[Your agility has increased to 7 points.]
[You gained one stat point and one skill point.]
“Am I seeing things? Or did my master really advance to the second level of body tempering just seconds after entering the first level?”
The silly maid was confused. And she looked so pitiful that the Bald man couldn’t offer but offer himself as a tool to blow away her, his, and everyone’s confusion.
“Just pinch me. I’m really scared of needles and pinches. If I yell, it means that what we are seeing isn’t a result of mass hallucination.”
Without a doubt, Amelia pinched Arlo.
“Awoof!”
And without a doubt, he barked out loud like a drowning dog.
They were like people struck by a bolt out of the blue when Roy reached the second stage of body tempering. But their expression took an even greater change when the shine on him intensified to the next level.
[You’ve used 30 EXP to level up!]
[You’ve reached the third level of body tempering!]
[Your strength has increased to 19 points.]
[Your stamina has increased to 16 points.]
[Your agility has increased to 9.9 points.]
[You gained 1 stat points and one skill point.]
‘Level up again and again!’ Roy shouted in his mind.
“He reached the third stage just like that. But his power level is still increasing. Holy fuck! Had a God blessed him with a miracle?!”
[You’ve used 100 EXP to level up!]
[You’ve reached the fourth level of body tempering!]
[Your strength has increased to 23 points.]
[Your stamina has increased to 22 points.]
[Your agility has increased to 14 points.]
[You gained 1 stat points and one skill point.]
“This has never happened in history. This is the first time shit like this has happened!”
“Holy fuck! He’s released an even more intense shine. That’s the shine only those who are advancing to the fifth stage can produce. His power level is rising!”
[You’ve used 150 EXP to level up!]
[You’ve reached the fifth level of body tempering!]
[Your strength has increased to 27 points.]
[Your stamina has increased to 25 points.]
[Your agility has increased to 17 points.]
[You 1 stat points and 1 skill point.]
“He opened his Aura Gate halfway in a single hour! Unprecedented. What he has done today can’t be rivaled by anyone in the past, present, and future!!!”
Roy only had 10 EXP left. He couldn’t level up anymore.
Roy looked at Yiran cheekily. “You said I wouldn’t win against you because you were two levels above me. Then… How.about.now?”
Yiran didn’t say a thing. He didn’t know what to say for a while. But thereafter, he broke down.
“Hahahaha!”
And started laughing like a maniac.
“I trained day and night for 6 years to reach the peak of the third stage of body tempering. For the last year, I’ve been stuck at that place, unable to advance. Yet, even then, I thought I wasn’t that bad. But you didn’t do shit. Yet you surpassed me and reached the fifth stage. Is this the difference between a noble and a commoner? It must be! You are lucky to have the count’s blood in your veins!! That’s the only reason you’ll win this fight!!!”
“The count was once a commoner too.”
Roy attacked Yiran, who was able to read the trajectory of his attack. He internally became happy. Roy was two levels above him. But his skills weren’t as good as theirs. Yiran could tell that Roy’s slash would move from his upper right to his lower left. Since the trajectory of his sword was obvious to him, he could dodge it.
The moment he moved out of the trajectory of Roy’s sword was also the moment he fell into a trap carefully prepared by Roy.
Roy’s sword took a U-turn in the middle of the road and smashed Yiran’s face. He rolled in the air like a fucking cyclone, and six of his teeth flew out of his mouth. With a dull thud, he landed close to the line he had drawn.
With just a single attack, Roy had made him bleed from his nose, ears, and mouth!
There was a huge difference between the strength of a level 5 noble and a level 3 trainee. Otherwise, he wouldn’t need 250 points to reach level 5 from level 3 when he only used 60 points to go from level 1 to 3!
“The winner is Roy!” Arlo announced.
The knights and the trainees cheered for Roy. He had put up a good show for them. He deserved these voices of praise.
“No… The battle still hasn’t ended. It won’t end until he crawls over the line or announces his surrender.” Roy said as he smashed his sword on Yiran’s butt.
“I-I Surr-”
Roy didn’t let him complete his sentence. Two more teeth flew out of Yiran’s mouth. What was hell on Earth? Yiran was experiencing it at this moment.
Roy didn’t let him end the match because he was good training material for him. What did that mean?
[Landed a Slash on Yiran]
[The slash skill has seen slight improvement.]
…
…
…
[Landed an overhead strike on Yiran]
[The overhead strike skill has seen slight improvement.]
It would be too weird to just beat him.
“You fucking tramp, my brother took pity on you and brought you into this house. We fed you and clothed you. But after growing up, you dared to bite the hands that feed you. How shameless of you!”
So, Roy cursed him while beating him.
He didn’t let Yiran crawl over the line he had drawn, nor did he let him announce his defeat.
He intentionally dislocated his jaw too.
He couldn’t let this piggy bank escape him!
“Forget about me. I know there are many in this house who look down on me. But what did my maid ever do wrong to you? You want to fuck her to death? Hahahaha! YOU CAN EAT AS MUCH SHIT AS YOU WANT. BUT YOU CAN’T SPEAK CARELESSLY. THERE ARE CONSEQUENCES FOR WHAT YOU SAY. THINK TWICE WHEN SPEAKING TO YOUR ACQUAINTANCE. AND THINK A HUNDRED TIMES WHEN SPEAKING TO A PERSON IN POWER. OTHERWISE. THIS TIME I will LEAVE YOU ALIVE, BUT THE NEXT TIME YOU SAY SHIT TO ME OR MY MAID, I WILL PUSH YOU INTO THE EMBRACE OF DEATH.”
Roy really did what he said.
Under the eyes of the knights and trainees, he beat Yiran near death’s door.
“My master, please stop. You don’t need to dirty your hand with his blood.”
“Since you say so, I will.”
And he only stopped because Amelia hugged him from behind and begged him to not kill him.
Arlo gulped. This kid didn’t only have a fiery tongue but also a cruel soul. He wasn’t wrong. Roy was an orphan who was abandoned by his father and then God. He had a lot of anger bottled up inside him. “You’ve won. What do you want to demand from him?”
“I won’t ask for much. Just don’t send him to the infirmary or let anyone heal him for three days.” Roy replied.
This was worse than taking Yiran to the gallows. He needed immediate medical care. If he didn’t get any, his wounds would fester. At best, he would become a cripple for life. No matter what magic, nothing would be able to heal him. At worst, he would die within the next three days.
The people in the training ground talked to each other. Lord Roy was no longer a waste of space. He was a cruel tyrant, the likes of which send chills down their spines. They dared not look at him disrespectfully anymore.
Arlo replied, “Consider it done.”
A woman shouldn’t be in a place with half-naked men.
Roy grabbed Amelia’s hand and took her away.