"Today is the final trial you recruits must face before becoming glorious Winged Lancers!
"It's an extremely difficult trial, but I believe that after all these days of training, you've gained a basic understanding of Winged Lancer tactics. I also believe that the sweat and blood you've shed will be enough to hammer you from a bunch of helpless softies who can't ride into real iron cavalry!
"Today, under the witness of this ancient forest, new Winged Lancers will join the ranks, and the time-honored traditions of glory will be upheld!"
Knight Varland's unmistakable deep growl echoed across the Xike Grasslands in the evening light near the Ancestral Forest. Whenever he spoke, his voice always seemed to lash out like a whip. Today, he was clad in full armor and fully armed, seated atop his warhorse, Coldwind.
Besides him, Knight Sunny and several other Winged Lancer captains were present. Before them stood thirty-one Winged Lancer recruits, waiting to be tested.
There wasn't a single NPC among them. They were all players from the Scarlet Hammer and Sickle Corps.
The NPC knights who had joined the ranks alongside Happy Stick and his brothers hadn't even completed the second trial in the recruits' manual yet, while these quick-learning, fearless players had already advanced to the fifth.
Their progress wasn't even on the same level!
Knight Varland had once marveled at this disparity, but as he took part in more and more affairs under Murphy and learned more about the warriors—especially after being told their true identities—he'd begun to believe that such a difference was only natural.
After all, they were "heroic spirits" from another world!
They'd already seen countless battles in their own plane. They'd only grown weak because crossing between worlds had cost them most of their strength, but their superb