Rank 1 Novice Knight

[Also, you are already 10 minutes late for morning training. It would be best to return to your body and complete the routine for the day before returning to this place in the night.]

'No. I will go a little late. It is fine. What I need now is understanding of all the changes to my soul and body. Give me a full report on everything.'

[I would suggest the creation of two new categories since the changes to your body are related to them, along the lines of mental fortitude as well as one related to the soul itself.]

'Hmm. Make it Intelligence, and Soul. No need to complicate things.'

[Yes Master Daron.]

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Name: Daron Cage

Age: 6 Years (59 years)

Vitality: 10/10 (+0)

Strength: 10/10 (+0)

Intelligence: 17/17 (+0)

Stamina: 10/10 (+0)

Agility: 10/10 (+0)

Sense: 10/10 (+0)

Toughness: 10/10 (+0)

Blood Force: 10/10 (+0)

Soul: 2.1/2.1 (+0)

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Profession:

Novice Knight Rank 1

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Talents

Bloodline Inheritance (Sealed)

- A power which is transferred from one generation to another, whose origins are unable to be uncovered through simple analysis of currently available information.

- This power has a passive effect of increasing all stats by 2

- This power has a active effect of increasing damage dealt by 10% unconditionally, reducing damage received by 10% unconditionally, and providing the ability to reflect 1% of total damage received.

- This power's strength depends on the bloodline of the individual, as well as their age. The older the individual, the stronger the power becomes.

- The active ability uses the power hidden within the ones blood, which recovered over time. It has been temporarily named 'Blood Force', and it recovers at a speed of 2 Blood force per day. The active ability uses 10 blood force to activate, and lasts for 2 hours, before the effects wear off and the individual is left in a state where all stats are reduced by 9 for 1 day.

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Mutations

Soul Fusion

- This is caused due to the fusion of a fragmented or dead soul with your own soul, growing it exponentially

- Int + 3, Soul +1

Soul Subordination

- This is caused when an existence submits completely to you and offers a part of its soul, or core being to you, which not only allows you to control that existence to the fullest extent, but also grows your soul by 0.1

- Soul + 0.1

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'Woah' Daron thought to himself. 'I'm finally rank 1!'

He did not pay too much attention to all the other information and began jumping from joy. After a month of non-stop effort, he finally begun his journey on becoming strong enough to leave this isolated town.

After quickly getting dressed with his knight in training equipment, Daron rushed out of the door and ran towards the training grounds.

"You know the punishment for being late."

"Yes sir!" Daron just resigned himself and then joined the others.

…

After finishing the morning session, just before the combat training, Daron approached Knight Fals during the break and soke softly.

"Sir Fals. I was just wondering. What is the method used to identify the rank of a person?"

"Huh? Why are you asking?"

"Nothing sir. I was just curious."

"Hmm. Those of a higher rank than you should be able to gauge your rank if they are able to make contact with you. For others, you will have to use the test machine, which Sir Zack keeps with him. It is really expensive since it is a magical instrument, and so not everyone gets to use it. We only use it for certain people in certain conditions."

"Then, can I use it?"

"Why?"

"Uhm…"

Suspicion covered Fals' face as he looked Daron once over. He suddenly had a thought after staring at Daron for a long time. At first, he scoffed at himself for thinking such a ridiculous thought. But within a few seconds, he thought about the fighting capabilities of Daron and had a strange feeling.

"Let my Internal Energy in. Do not resist or you will be harmed."

Daron could not do anything and just allowed the energy to enter through his hand and scan his entire body.

It moved swiftly and quickly found Daron's internal, which was merely a single strand of energy, moving along with the breath and heartbeat of Daron's body.

This is not normally supposed to happen. For a normal human, their Internal energy, although would be the same amount, would not follow patter, just roaming freely throughout the body like a snake in water. And for all Novice Knights, their Internal Energy would simply just stop moving altogether, and stay stationary in a single spot, unmoving, just increasing in size with every rank. And with those above rank 5, the official knights like Knight Fals himself, the Internal Energy would form a Core.

Therefore, the Internal energy moving according to the involuntary actions of the body were not common.

However, Knight Fals had heard of it. During his exploits with Sir Zack, he had come across many a genius. Although he had not come across such a person, he had heard about it. The Second prince of the kingdom of Pierre was such a genius. At the age of 10 he had fully grasped his own Internal Energy to the point where it would follow his own heartbeat and breathing. This level of control and understanding of Internal Energy was something only his highness Second prince could do. Or at least, that is what he had heard.

However, His Highness the second prince had been training for 2 whole years before he was able to grasp his Internal energy, and another year for him to reach this level of understanding before he moved on to focusing on increasing his rank, and by the age of 19, he had already become an official knight. Currently, he was 21 years old and was a Rank 6 Official Knight.

But this Daron in front of him, he had done all of this in only a month since beginning his training. However, Sir Fals was able to maintain his cool and he nodded to Daron while speaking softly.

"Yes. You have fully grasped your Internal Energy and have become a Rank 1 Novice Knight. But do not tell this to anyone. I will speak with Lord Zack immediately. Take the day off, but do not leave your room. Just go and rest until I send word."

Daron sighed in relief that he was not going to become victim to the 'You are too talented. I cannot let you live any longer' plot, and returned back to his room.

His objective had been completed of getting his rank tested, without being put into any perilous situation.

…

On the highest floor of the central building of the castle was Lord Zack's study. A tall bookshelf completely covered the wall to the left, and an array of countless weapons covering the left wall, while Lord Zack sat on the table of his study, going through some documents as was the job of a landed noble.

*knock knock*

"Come in."

"Master Zack. It is I, Fals."

Fals said as he entered the study and closed the door behind him.

"What is it? You are not supposed to bother me during the mornings. And what happened to your new job of training the new recruits? Although I had only assigned you to the job a month ago when Daron arrived, you should have gotten used to the schedule by now."

"I gave them the day off today."

"They already had one yesterday. Why would you give it today as well?" Zack was getting slightly irritated by this random behaviour of his disciple.

"Master Zack. There is some important information I must speak to you about privately."

Hearing this, Zack's irritated expression turned to a serious one as he unleashed his Internal Energy to envelope half the 5-meter room, before allowing Fals to continue.

"Master, today, Daron came late for training. And so, I gave him the normal punishment. However, instead of doing that, he approached me during the break. I assumed it was to negotiate the punishment, however, he asked about how Knight Ranks were checked…"

Fals recounted the entire incident from start to finish, and just as he reached the part of finding Daron's Internal energy not only in one spot, but also ebbing ever so slightly to his heartbeat and breathing, Zack completely lost it.