The training ground was enormous, more than five hundred meters long and wide.
Below the tall perimeter walls, there was everything from stone locks, weapon racks, and archery targets to wooden posts and training dummies.
Jia Ruo followed behind Percy, taking it all in.
"What are they doing?" Neeko asked, blinking her big eyes.
She was referring to the pairs sparring in the training ground.
"They're under my command, and they're sparring with each other."
Percy turned to look at Jia Ruo.
"Your master told you about Ionia's various schools, right? You should know that sparring between schools has become rare in Ionia. There's very little interaction between them."
Percy raised his head and said proudly, "But here, they can spar freely. There's no conflict between schools here. We all serve Ionia."
Percy picked an open patch of ground and rolled his shoulders and elbows a few times. "We'll do it here. Who wants to go first?"
"Then allow this junior to go first. Do you have a wooden sword?"
Jia Ruo walked over to the weapon rack and searched through it.
"Hahaha! Kid, are you making fun of me? Just use your real weapon. I saw Yi's swordsmanship during the war, and I knew I was no match for him."
Percy changed tack. "But I'm confident I can handle a young whippersnapper like you. Come on, let me see how much you take after your master."
Percy beckoned, and a wooden spear flew off the weapon rack. He caught it one-handed and smoothly settled into a stance.
"Then I won't hold back."
Jia Ruo drew You Meng. "Please, teach me."
Just from his build, it was clear Percy was no one Jia Ruo could match in strength. And as the leader of the sheriff's office, his true abilities were surely unfathomable.
Jia Ruo considered his options. All he wanted was to last a couple of rounds against Percy—not embarrass himself and let Yi down.
Percy was waiting for him to make the first move. How should he attack? Jia Ruo searched for an opening.
Unfortunately, he couldn't find one. Percy stood before him like an iron tower, without a single chink in his defenses.
Then he'd have to rely on speed. That was one of the Wuju's strengths, and the shard had also granted Jia Ruo the perception to gain an edge in high-speed combat.
Jia Ruo moved, darting around Percy in a swift circle, trying to reach his blind spot.
But Percy didn't react. He let Jia Ruo circle around behind him.
Jia Ruo struck without hesitation. Amid a flurry of cherry blossoms, he swept his sword at Percy's legs.
At last, Percy made his move.
He turned and planted the wooden spear beside his feet, blocking You Meng just in time.
"Clang!"
You Meng, which had always cut through metal like butter, rang against the wooden spear as if it had struck steel.
The spear was absurdly hard. Was Percy reinforcing it with mana? Jia Ruo's wrist had gone numb from the impact.
Percy kicked out, sending the spearhead jutting up from the ground. His wrist tightened around the shaft, and he thrust the spear at Jia Ruo.
There was no way he could block that head-on. Jia Ruo made the call in an instant and quickly slid backward.
The thrust missed, but the wind it carried still stung Jia Ruo's face and blew his black hair back.
Percy's first move had missed, but he immediately followed with another. The wooden spear spun in his hands, then whistled through the air in a sweeping strike.
Jia Ruo narrowed his eyes. For a moment, it seemed as though time had slowed.
He was going to take a risky move.
To Percy's surprise, Jia Ruo didn't dodge again. Instead, he leaped into the air and precisely planted his toe on the spearhead as it swept past at high speed.
Even though Percy was wielding a wooden spear, a solid hit would leave Jia Ruo unable to walk for three to five months.
The young had plenty of promise. This kid had a good eye and solid technique, Percy thought.
But he'd dared to take such a risk in a sparring match. Percy couldn't tell whether that all-or-nothing temperament would serve him well in the future.
While Percy was still silently assessing Jia Ruo, You Meng kept moving.
After that sweeping strike, Percy was holding the spear with just one hand. So this time, Jia Ruo targeted the hand gripping it.
Jia Ruo's tricky attack forced Percy to abandon the wooden spear.
Jia Ruo didn't push his luck. He promptly withdrew beyond Percy's reach.
He'd planned from the start to wear Percy down, looking for chances to strike in the gaps between dodges.
Facing a powerful opponent head-on was foolish.
He couldn't let his guard down. Jia Ruo kept his eyes on Percy. He'd gained a small advantage by making Percy drop his weapon, but Percy's expression hadn't changed at all.
That meant losing his weapon hadn't affected Percy's fighting ability. Percy was still confident of victory.
The people who'd been scattered around the training ground began gathering when they saw Master Percy sparring with a young man.
They huddled in small groups, whispering among themselves.
"Who's that? I've never seen him before."
"He even managed to give Master Percy a little trouble. He's got some skill."
"I wonder which school he's from. That sword is beautiful, and it can even make flowers appear."
"Could he be here to join the sheriffs?"
"Not bad, kid. You've forced me to use a bit of True Skill. You'll be someone to reckon with around here."
Percy glanced around. Jia Ruo's trial could end now, he thought.
He raised a hand, and the wooden spear lying on the ground floated into the air. It shot toward Jia Ruo like a streak of light and stopped precisely in front of his forehead.
Percy had attacked in earnest. Jia Ruo hadn't had any chance to react.
Jia Ruo lowered You Meng. At first, he'd naively thought he might be able to hold his own against Percy for a while.
"I lost, Master Percy."
The spear spun in midair and returned to Percy's hand.
"Didn't expect that, did you? My real specialty is Ranged Methods. Heh heh."
The hearty laugh and Percy's bulky frame left Jia Ruo speechless. How could a brawny man like him not be a warrior who fought like a one-man army? Jia Ruo had even gone out of his way to keep his distance.
How was anyone supposed to survive against an ADC like him?
"As expected of Yi's Disciple. I'm very pleased with you. Welcome aboard!"
Percy walked over and patted Jia Ruo warmly on the shoulder.
"You passed!"
"Does that mean it's Neeko's turn?"
Neeko was a little nervous. She wasn't much of a fighter to begin with, and standing before Elder Percy made her uneasy.
"You're Vastaya, right? You don't look like a warrior. You said you can use Plant Magic, so show us what you can do out there."
Neeko breathed a sigh of relief, then obediently walked to the open patch of ground and gathered the magical elements.
"Bloom!" she cried.
Magic Power urged the plants on the ground to surge upward. Thick, twisted branches burst through the soft lawn.
Within a circle six or seven meters in radius around Neeko, a roiling sea of plants appeared.
It wasn't hard to imagine that any enemy caught inside would be instantly engulfed by the plants and tightly bound.
"This is the most Neeko can do with Plant Magic."
Neeko withdrew her Magic Power, and the plants that had grown wildly slowly shrank back to normal.
"Very good. You passed too. Come with me."
Percy motioned for the onlookers to make way, then led Jia Ruo and Neeko back to his room.
"Master Percy, is our trial already over?"
"Yeah. Why wouldn't it be?"
"Then what are the standards for passing?"
"There aren't any. If I say you pass, you pass. Honestly, I only asked you to spar with me on a whim."
"..."
You really were a free spirit.
This was where Ionia's cultural atmosphere came into play.
Unlike Noxus and Demacia, Ionia wasn't an authoritarian nation with rigid systems, clear ranks, and militarized management.
Though Ionians valued etiquette, they didn't like being bound by convention. They respected seniority while living together in harmony.
This tradition, passed down over thousands of years, had left their organizations loosely structured, without overly strict systems of management.
Even the Hall of Tranquility, a recently established institution born from the aftereffects of war, was no different.
Percy had the final say in the Hall of Tranquility, though the Ionia Council had ways of keeping him in check.
"All right, you're officially Precidian Sheriffs now. I'll tell you what you need to do later."
Percy added Jia Ruo and Neeko's names to the register.
"Next, I'll arrange somewhere for you to live. This place we're in now is the Precidian Sheriffs' headquarters, called the Hall of Tranquility. The block behind the main hall belongs to the Hall of Tranquility. You can pick a place to live there."
As he spoke, he took out a map showing an aerial view of the area around the Hall of Tranquility.
Percy pointed to the block marked on the map. "Right here. Any house that isn't marked is available."
"Neeko and I can share a house," Jia Ruo said.
"Mm."
Neeko didn't mind either.
"This one, then."
Jia Ruo pointed at an empty house at random.
Percy marked the house on the map. "Building 79. All right, I'll take you there now."
Jia Ruo was practically bursting with excitement. He couldn't believe it was so easy to become a civil servant in Runeterra—and they even gave you a house when you joined, which he could share with a beautiful girl. Was reaching the top of life really that simple?
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