Attendant Knight Assessment (I)

Odin Town lay on the southern border of the Holy Temple Alliance. With more than three thousand households, it was considered a fairly large town under Bright Moon City.

The morning sun had just risen, gently caressing the earth with light and warmth, as though awakening life itself. At that moment, an assessment was underway in a relatively large two-story building covering roughly a thousand square meters in the center of Odin Town.

"Tell me, why do you wish to become knights?" A deep, powerful voice rang out, carrying the clang of metal.

"To protect humanity, protect kindness, protect the Temple, and protect our loved ones." The reply was neat yet childish. Clearly, this was not the first time they had answered this question.

This two-story building was the Knight Temple's branch in Odin Town, known simply as the Odin Sub-Temple. It was specifically responsible for selecting and training children in Odin Town who might become knights. The thirty-odd children standing here today would all undergo the most basic assessment for the title of Attendant Knight. Only by becoming First-Rank Knight Squires could they continue studying and cultivating here.

The owner of that deep voice was a tall, brawny middle-aged man. His name was Balza, the Chief Knight Squire Instructor of the Odin Sub-Temple. It was said that back in the day, he had come within a hair's breadth of becoming a true knight.

"Tell me, what is the Knight's Code?" Balza's stern gaze swept over the children before him, most of whom were between eight and ten years old and lived in Odin Town.

The response remained perfectly uniform. "Humility, honesty, compassion, bravery, fairness, sacrifice, honor, perseverance, benevolence, justice."

Balza nodded with some satisfaction. "Very good. You have cultivated here for a year already. Today is the day you will be assessed. Knight Squires have ranks from one to ten, corresponding to spiritual energy from ten to one hundred. Your task today is to reach at least ten spiritual energy and become First-Rank Knight Squires. All those who pass will remain here to cultivate for another three years, then go to Bright Moon City for the Quasi-Knight assessment. Only when you become Quasi-Knights like me will you truly count as members of the Knight Temple. We begin now. Jiang Hu."

"Yes." A rather tall youth stepped forward and took the Wooden Sword from his back.

All the youths had the same equipment: each carried a Wooden Sword three chi long, three cun wide, and two cun thick. The Knight Squire assessment was also very simple. In front of Balza stood something resembling a wooden stump. Behind the stump was a stone trough containing stone beads. Strike the wooden stump, and the beads would vibrate. Their spiritual energy was evaluated according to how high the beads bounced. It could be considered the most primitive tool for measuring spiritual energy. Still, it was fairly accurate for spiritual energy below one hundred.

Spiritual energy was the universal measure used across the Holy Demon Continent to judge the strength of every profession. Whether knights, magicians, or any other profession, their strength was measured through spiritual energy. Generally speaking, ten points of spiritual energy equaled the strength of an ordinary adult man.

"Ah—" Jiang Hu gave a loud shout, gripped the Wooden Sword with both hands, swung it in a full arc, and smashed it viciously into the wooden stump.

Bang. The stone beads bounced up.

Balza nodded in satisfaction, recording the result in the register in his hand as he said, "Jiang Hu, spiritual energy thirteen. Passed. Next..."

The assessment proceeded quickly. Before long, half the children had finished, and about half of them had passed.

"Long Haochen." When he called that name, Balza unconsciously raised his head, his gaze locking onto a somewhat frail youth.

Compared to the others, this youth was clearly somewhat undernourished and thin. Yet he possessed a face beautiful enough to take one's breath away.

His naturally shaped brows were soft and smooth, his eyes large, his lashes long, his nose straight, his skin fair, and his lips neither too thin nor too full. Though he appeared to be only eight or nine years old, he was beautiful enough to make even women mad with jealousy. Especially striking was that although his hair was black, he possessed a pair of clear, azure-blue eyes. If he changed into women's clothes, he would undoubtedly possess beauty capable of toppling kingdoms and cities.

Long Haochen walked before Balza. Rather than removing his Wooden Sword first like the others, he placed his clenched right fist over his heart, bent at the waist, and saluted. "Instructor."

Balza's originally stern gaze visibly softened a little. He nodded. "Begin."

"Yes."

Removing his Wooden Sword, Long Haochen took a deep breath, suddenly swung the huge sword up, and smashed it toward the wooden stump with All-Out Effort.

With a soft puff, the stone beads sprang up. However, they clearly did not rise past the mark for ten.

Balza immediately frowned. "Spiritual energy nine. Failed." From the degree to which the Wooden Sword rebounded, he could tell that Long Haochen had indeed given it his all. Yet he still had not passed the assessment and become an Attendant Knight.

Long Haochen's handsome face instantly flushed red. Looking at Balza, he said somewhat agitatedly, "Instructor, I, I..."

Balza sighed faintly. "Go back."

Long Haochen said urgently, "Instructor, please give me one more chance. I will definitely pass."

Balza's brows knit slightly. "But that would be unfair to the others who failed."

Long Haochen immediately fell silent, but something seemed to appear in his eyes. Balza noticed his gaze, and in that instant, the Knight Squire Instructor could not help but freeze. What was that? Perseverance? The perseverance among the Ten Codes of the Knight? The Ten Codes of the Knight were also the ten spirits of knighthood. Even on some true knights, one might not necessarily see a single one of them shine, yet this child before him...

At that very moment, Long Haochen had already turned around. Facing all the youths present, he dropped to his knees with a thud and pleaded in an exceedingly earnest voice to the companions who had trained with him for a year, "I beg you, give me one more chance." As he spoke, he actually bowed down.

Balza was stunned, and so were the youths. For children who were generally only eight or nine, with the oldest no more than eleven, they simply could not understand why Long Haochen was so persistent. To the vast majority of them, whether they became Attendant Knights or not did not matter at all.

Something gradually appeared in Balza's eyes. If it had been another child, he might have thought the child was greedy for quick success or cowardly, but he would never think that of Long Haochen. Though this handsome youth looked frail, during the past year of training, he had been the most diligent of them all. Not only had he completed the mandatory daily training well, but every morning he arrived an hour early and left an hour late.

As a Tenth-Rank Quasi-Knight, Balza had served as an instructor in Odin Town for ten years, yet Long Haochen was the most hardworking student he had ever seen. This youth had never needed supervision. Not only did he train diligently every day, but he was also gentle with others and kind to everyone. Whenever the companions training alongside him asked for help, he never refused.

That was why Balza's gaze had softened when it came time for Long Haochen's assessment. Long Haochen's failure to pass had also taken him by surprise. If such a hardworking child still could not pass, then the only explanation was that his natural talent was simply too poor.