Bond

Gerald then approached him and patted him on his back. Congratulating him on the process. It was then, that the other examinees failed to meet the standards of the drill instructor.

They were not even enough to break a sweat and were beaten so badly. It was just the drill instructor was sour about their performance.

The one who also passed the test was Troan's opponent. Whom he has beaten in the past duel. Still, the drill instructor insisted that he was on the last test and he proved his worth. Making the two of them full-fledged Paladins now.

"Hmm, about that. You clearly win, so here's your badge," He said then handed the Paladin badge to his hands.

Troan was speechless. He breathed deep and then touched the badge with both his hands. Further feeling each detail on the badge. By the looks of it, it has the shape of a round shield and a sword and hammer were seen protruding on its side.

"You are now officially a Paladin recruit. But getting skills for the meantime will only be on the Paladin camp. Only the weapon mastery book that I gave you will be the one to be learned for now while you're here.

"Well, you will have access to Paladin skills when you arrived at the Paladin encampment. You need to do missions to have gold and purchase skillbooks. Other missions will give sometimes crystals or a skillbook itself. Good luck with that.

"We will train your weapon mastery to the fullest. The Paladin weapon mastery has to be etched in you. As for your opponent who lost, well the trainer who beat you up requested for him to be added. He has a bright future he said," Gerald said to him.

"Yep, he will be a waste if not being joined. Well, I got to learn my ways here. Care to give me a tour?" Troan chuckled.

They then went outside the quarters and arrived on a training field. They saw the ones who were official recruits. All sparred with each other and then stared at them after they noticed their presence.

They used swords and others have axes while others have hammers. Some used one-handed and others used two-handed. Even some who used shields and one-handed weapons mixed on the fray.

Troan felt excited and immediately went to practice. He used a rotating dummy that has wooden hands to smack back the attacker.

Two rotating arms were seen, one on the bottom and one on the chest level. Troan grabbed a wooden sword and then tested his knowledge. He smacked one hand and it rotated towards his other side.

Making him block it then kicked the bottom hand. In evading it, he hopped and then slashed the other hand. Making him duck to evade it.

He then tested his reflexes by slashing the hands with left and right slash combos while evading in random succession.

Not only did he make it out unscathed, but he was also able to garner several attention from the others. They thought he was just showy but were later impressed with his maneuvers.

Troan managed to flexibly evade the hands while rotating in the onslaught of the hand's attacks. No one was able to do it his way, though others can get out of that unscathed, still, Troan made it a little bit harder than normal.

His instincts were sharpened unknowingly and were growing hastily.

Gerald was impressed. He knew Troan has potential within him and it shows how he survived the forest of trials. He didn't regret recruiting him on joining their ranks.

Gerald then pleaded for him to train Troan by himself. Making him divert his breaks from work towards training him.

They woke up in the morning and tried both one-handed weapons. Troan was on the opposite side and Gerald was on the other side.

Hands clasped on the wooden swords and they clashed. The Sounding of clanking sticks was heard early in the morning.

It was the same with the other weapons, Gerald made him lift the shield and made some examples on how to use them. They were used to defend but it was also as useful on offense.

Gerald slashed with his sword then he rotated and bashed using the shield with all his might. Slashing in combo with his shield. As for other weapons, he used two-handed variants.

They sparred with two-handed swords and further tested all kinds of two-handed weapons. From hammers to swords and axes. The two were settled on the training ground's chairs and drank water.

Clothes were drenched with their sweats and so, they hung them on a chair beside them.

"You know what Troan? I dreamed that we are living in a peaceful world without monsters or demons. Just we humans living our lives with each other. We are indeed united with our extinction and fighting each other stopped for many thousands of years. We can only hope that we will survive this world one day at a time," Gerald said.

Troan just nodded in agreement. Drinking another sip of water from his water canteen. The day was put to training different weapons and then Troan rested early by the night.

A day passed, morning it was and they went up early. Mikael, Sendrick, Mark, and, Troan stood straight as they were being lectured by sir Gerald. All they could do was obey every command or it was utter punishment that awaits. It was all about their weapon mastery, no other skills or whatnot for the moment.

As this said skill was a growth type that was growing as you tend to use it. As for Troan who's an old soul, he knew every nook and cranny of this skill.

It was just that the soul imprint of the skill was destroyed together with the origin stone.

Not gonna lie but Troan was a bit disappointed. He reaches the apex of its mastery and even just that will make him a terrifying enemy.

As he remembered, only that skill was enough to shake the very demon gods themselves. Rending space was what his weapon mastery has acquired and as for the others, they have different ones at their disposal.

As for now, the skill has a +30 percent faster learning rate on any weapon he will use. As such, it was not too bad.

As for the skill books, they tend to reveal pages further as it has an awakening.

Each awakening gives new effects on the skill and it can be felt as the pages glow inside the book. As for now, it has that number. It will rise with more awakening in the future.

They heard several lectures and they were dismissed for now. Gerald and sir William had something to attend to at that moment. The sun has started to rise and it was time to prepare for the day's activities.

Something like breakfast and training, also some minor tasks like helping villagers with their meager problems. Just suited for trainees and not for trained Paladins themselves.

Walking inside their bed chambers, Troan saw Mikael clenching his fist and grabbing Sendrick's collar. Alerted, Troan intervened on the punch. Smacking his palm instead.

"What's this all about? hmmm?" Troan asked.

Mikael slowly turned his head towards Troan with burning eyes.

"Don't meddle with something you are not a direct concern. Mind your own business," Mikael clicked his tongue.

"Mind if I will know the context?" Troan asked.

It was at that moment, that Mark went on his back and grappled Troan's arms.

"Okay, hmmm. This fellow here just irritated me since the beginning of the recruitment. He was a show-off and currying favor by reporting every trifling mistake that I made. He even added some fabricated ones. Mind if I teach him a lesson?" He closed his eyes while smiling.

"Nah, I too would be offended by such but no beatings please. We will all suffer if that happens right in our teacher's noses," Troan asked as a last resort.

"Hehe, your beatings to me will only make it worse! Hahaha!" Shouted Sendrick.

"Well, you can't stop me!" He then landed a punch on Sendrick. Two to three punches were made and Troan's eyes went bulge and his brows went up colliding with each other.

"Oh geez," Troan can only sigh.

All of it turned to the worst and there's no coming back. Troan was also infuriated by that Sendrick guy, as he was also a victim of such schemes of crab mentality.

He wanted to beat him up too but he knew that they would all be punished for this. Well, all went rowdy.

Sendrick retaliated and they all went punching each other. Troan went rotating to be released from Mark's grasp and then stopped the two. As soon as he arrived at both of the brawling parties.

Stopping the two was slightly an endeavor. Stopping one made you vulnerable to the other and he received several punches after subduing the other one.

Mark also joined into the fray against Troan and Sendrick and it all went into beating them all up. Their faces were bruised and purplish. Three verses one and then they were all reported to their higher-ups.

Standing in front of angry William and Gerald was more than what they wished for. It was destruction with just their words at play.

"Is this what we trained you? To act like rascals? We better train your character first yes? No need to train your weapon mastery with your cores rotten inside! Outside now!" William shouted.

"Yes sir!" they chorused.

They went outside as fast as a galloping horse, Gerald has whips, and also William had a flexible stick used also for whipping.

Troan was on the ground and also Mikael, both in push-up positions. While Sendrick and Mark were in a squat position while having two buckets of water on their shoulders held by a pole.

"We will train your mind and reflect on what you did! Troan and Mikael! Your comrade will suffer if you will not reach pushing up to one hundred! Well, as a twist, you will each carry a sandbag on your backs. Well, surrendering means you will go back to one, understood?! And complaining will have more sandbags!" William shouted.

"Yes sir!" They all chorused.

It was a terrifying punishment. But it was a good one for Troan. Troan was smirking all this time. It was then, that the sandbag was put on their backs and then they went letting out air from their mouths immediately.

Faces were beet red and wore pained expressions. When the pushing-ups started, several seconds and the ones who were squatting were already perspiring. Their legs were shaking and their teeth gritting.

"Mikael hurry! I might collapse soon!" Mark shouted.

"Wait! Do you know how heavy the sandbag is?" Mikael shouted.

"Troan! Hurry! My legs won't last long!" Sendrick shouted.

"Oh, I can't hear you!" Troan shouted.

William then saw that Sendrick was lowering his hips. Whipping him up to raise it a.

"Higher! You worm!"

"Please, please hurry! Okay, okay, I repented! I won't do it again! Just please end this!" He pleaded with tears starting to flow.

"Are you sure?" Troan asked mischievously.

"Yes, yes, please! Please!" He shouted.

"Oh okay, I will look forward to that," Troan said then went on pushing up with the best he could.

Still, it was not easy, he tried his best but the toll on his body was starting to kick in. It was just that pure willpower was just used for the time being. More screams followed after that series of events. What could have gone worse was that it rained and the sandbag was soaked wet. Making it more of a death sentence for their bodies that were tired already.

"Hurry!" Sendrick shouted

"I'm gonna die! Mikael!" Mark shouted too.

"One hundred!" Both Troan and Mikael said in unison.

It was then they all leaped and hugged each other. Letting go of all their burdens in unison and forgetting that they once punched each other. Even tears were flowing in their eyes while behaving like children.

It was then from that moment that their bonds were solidified and it was further cemented with their training.