Under a starry night sky, the rugged Bennett Castle stood like a giant guarding the plains. This was Knight Bennett's fief, located at the border between the Duchy of Camai, at the southernmost end of the Holy Continent, and the Rift Mountain Range. Far from the war, it was an important granary for the Duchy of Camai.
Under the moonlight, the wheat fields stood in neat rows, swaying gently in the summer night breeze as if displaying the richness of the land.
"Ha!" A black-haired boy of about twelve was swinging a greatsword. He wore a suit of iron armor that was far too large for him. At around one and a half meters tall, he looked as if a bell had been placed over his body. Yet his small face was utterly solemn, as though he were carrying out a sacred task.
With every swing of the greatsword, the boy let out a loud shout. Partly, it was to control his breathing, but he was also trying to wring out every last bit of strength from his muscles.
The clattering of horse hooves awakened the boy, who had been completely focused on his swordplay. He turned his head, revealing a young and tender face. Sweat had soaked his black hair, plastering it to his cheeks, while a dreamlike gleam shone in his purple eyes.
"Abel, look what I brought you!" An eighteen-year-old youth leaped down from his horse. He had long blond hair, thick eyebrows, a high nose, and sky-blue eyes. Wearing leather armor and riding boots, he spoke as he took a small parcel from the saddle.
"Big brother, you're back."
Abel did not show the intense curiosity toward gifts typical of children. Instead, he politely greeted the young man.
Zack, as Abel's older brother, had long grown accustomed to this attitude. Ever since Abel had fallen from a horse and awakened from his injuries a year ago, he seemed to have grown up overnight and become much more mature.
The two youths were both sons of Knight Bennett of Bennett Castle.
The older one was eighteen-year-old Zack, Knight Bennett's eldest son and a Level 4 Apprentice Knight. He had just returned from Libo Town. The younger one, who continued practicing diligently despite the late hour, was Knight Bennett's second son. He had only begun training as a Rookie Knight two months ago.
As Knight Bennett's eldest son, if Zack became a knight, he would inherit both the knight's fief and Bennett Castle. His second son, Abel, could only rely on his own efforts to make a living.
But that did not affect the bond between them. Whenever Zack went to town, he would take some of his already meager spending money and buy Abel gifts, fulfilling his duty as an older brother.
Abel, meanwhile, was always sensible enough not to ask their father for training resources. Although this knight's fief spanned a hundred li in every direction, it had no special products and could only rely on its grain income to survive. After taxes were paid, the annual grain revenue amounted to only five hundred gold coins.
That money had to cover the castle's expenses as well as Zack's knight training costs, leaving practically no surplus.
Abel took the parcel from Zack. It was a long, narrow box, carefully wrapped in a layer of colorful cloth. The care Zack had put into wrapping it showed how much thought he had given to the gift.
"What a beautiful dagger." Abel cried out in pleasant surprise and fiddled with the dagger in his hand. It had been forged from refined iron, making it somewhat heavier than an ordinary iron dagger and much more expensive.
"If you like it, that's all that matters. I happened to get lucky today. Some fellow who didn't know its value was selling this dagger for only seventy percent of the price of an ordinary iron dagger, so I bought it." Seeing how much Abel liked the dagger, Zack was delighted. Over the past year, Abel had rarely shown such a childlike smile.
"Keep practicing. I'll head home first."
Zack did not continue disturbing Abel's practice. The entire castle had only one suit of iron armor like this. During the day, Knight Bennett assigned it to Zack for most of the time, and only at night was it handed over to Abel for practice.
Rookie Knight training began with practicing the corresponding introductory sword techniques. These techniques effectively compressed and condensed every bit of strength in the muscles, eventually returning a form of qi to the body. This qi would slowly accumulate and form Qi Veins. Each Qi Vein represented an increase of one Rookie Knight level. Once the body was filled with five Qi Veins, they would compress further and form a Qi Core.
A knight with a Qi Core was already a formal knight. Such knights could use battle qi to move and fight, and battle qi could also unleash various combat techniques, increasing their fighting strength.
To compress the strength in their muscles more quickly, knights had discovered through thousands of years of experimentation that practicing while wearing heavy armor could greatly improve the speed at which Qi Veins formed. Therefore, every knight's household had to possess a suit of iron armor. In peacetime, it could be used for training; in wartime, it became a sturdy shield for protecting oneself.
By reducing or adding the armor plates, both newly initiated Rookie Knights and higher-level knights could practice with the same suit of armor. Thus, armor and warhorses were standard equipment for knights. No one would recognize a knight's status if he had neither armor nor a warhorse.
"Ninety-seven... ninety-eight... ninety-nine... one hundred." As Abel delivered his final sword strike, the last trace of strength left his body, and he collapsed onto the ground. Gazing at the stars overhead with his purple eyes, he murmured, "Which star is my home?"
The original Abel had already died in the fall from the horse a year ago. A soul from Earth had taken over his body and become the new Abel. That was the reason for the change in his personality over the past year. When a thirty-year-old soul entered a body belonging to someone around ten years old, no matter how carefully it behaved, others would sense a difference. However, because of the fall from the horse, everyone assumed that the child had simply been frightened.
Abel's name on Earth had been Li Abel. He was a veteran fitness coach who was usually busy with work. He remembered arriving home after ten that night. Feeling somewhat restless, he had taken out his laptop and opened the old game Diablo 2. Diablo 2 was one of the few games on his laptop and one he had kept installed.
After clicking the icon and playing for a while, he noticed that the "Town Portal Tome" showed zero. He often forgot to buy Town Portal Scrolls. Since he was only playing to kill time, he opened a modifier and altered the "Town Portal Tome." A while later, he looked at the tome's properties with satisfaction: its quantity automatically recovered every minute.
Just as he was enjoying himself, a bolt of lightning struck the building where Li Abel lived. The building's lightning rod was completely useless. The lightning traveled through the wires and sent Li Abel, who was playing on his laptop, flying.
When Li Abel awoke, he discovered that he had become Knight Bennett's second son. His name was Abel as well.
Putting those thoughts out of his mind, Abel stood up after recovering some strength. Carrying his greatsword, he walked toward the castle. He felt especially good today. Perhaps he could advance to a Level 1 Squire Knight that very night.
After returning to the castle, Abel did not go eat. Dinner was still half an hour away, and he intended to spend that time maintaining the armor.
He carefully cleaned away every trace of sweat on the armor. Every plate and every tiny gap had to be cleaned thoroughly before he applied maintenance oil for another round of care. Abel performed the process with great attention. Whether it was Abel, Zack, or even Knight Bennett himself, everyone maintained the armor after using it. This was a knightly tradition and also essential to ensuring that the armor could be passed down through the family.
Next came the greatsword. It was a type of two-handed sword. Its enormous blade and unadorned hilt both reflected the viewpoint of the person who had forged it: simple and practical.
After finishing everything, Abel took a bath and went to the dining hall. His father, Knight Bennett, his mother, Nara, and his older brother, Zack, were already seated.
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