Many people guessed that the young knight must be the heir of someone very important.
And Kessel had treated him badly. That important person got angry and had the Iron Wall removed from his post.
Whatever the truth was, it was good news for the other knights. They no longer had to see "Stone Face" every day. And they didn’t have to go through that hell-like training anymore.
Days passed.
Even Mira, the person Leo knew best, couldn’t see him often anymore. All she knew was that he was training under the Iron Wall.
On the rare days they met, Leo never said a word about how the Iron Wall trained him.
The food at Moonhaven Hall was quite good. And Leo got special treatment anyway. Training made his body strong, and the rich, comfortable meals fed it well. As a result, he grew very fast.
And the thing that would shock anyone was that his face had become even softer and more striking.
Two years later.
The test ground of Moonhaven Branch Hall.
*Clang! Clang! Clang!*
Weapons crashed together. The whole test ground was filled with a sacred aura. A magical barrier covered it, so nothing leaked outside.
*Boom!*
A figure flew backward. He kept flying more than twenty meters toward the wall, then slowly dropped to the ground.
He was about 1.7 meters tall. He looked strong, but also very slim. Blue clothes, black hair, golden eyes, bright red lips. His brows were soft and gentle. His skin was so fair and fine that you couldn’t find a single pore.
If he had worn a girl’s clothes, it would have looked completely natural.
"Leo Ashford, get up! Garbage! What did I teach you?!"
"When the enemy is much stronger than you, a head-on clash is the stupidest decision! And don’t tell me I called you a coward just now, so you can’t move forward! The most important quality of a Guardian Knight is patience! Again!"
"Yes, sir!"
The young man who had been thrown so far was the product of the Iron Wall’s own training.
The shocking progress he had made in two years came from that training.
The Iron Wall couldn’t be compared to Leo’s father. But training with him, Leo had a faint feeling that this Asura master was different from his father in many ways. Especially in what he specialized in.
In understanding and mastering skills, he was nowhere near Corvin. But he put practice above everything else.
And following the Iron Wall was not fun at all.
In training, his temper matched his nickname perfectly. He always looked furious. And he never stopped beating Leo down.
Still, the Iron Wall was completely satisfied with Leo’s fighting experience.
His combat training was different from Corvin’s.
Corvin never used Spiritual Energy. To attack Leo, he practiced his skills with technique alone.
The Iron Wall wasn’t like that. He seemed like a master of hell. In every fight, he threw in everything he had. He only held back a little.
Even so, he never truly hurt Leo’s bones or muscles. It was a perfect example of the strong bullying the weak, but with great care.
Under that kind of pressure, Leo’s speed of progress was astonishing.
Every day, before his meditation training, he was completely worn out. But the strength inside his body was slowly coming out.
Still, the gap between master and student was truly huge.
Even two years of daily practice couldn’t close it. Leo’s pace was getting faster and faster. Even so, the heavy difference between him and the Iron Wall was still there.
In fact, a Genuine Knight who wants to reach the tenth rank must raise his Spiritual Energy from level 201 to level 500.
But for Earth Knights, that requirement stretches from 2,000 to 4,000.
The difference between two stages is almost ten times. And this applies to every path. As the stages go up, the difficulty of raising a rank grows enormously.
For example, Leo’s father, Divine Knight Corvin, had a ninth-stage Spiritual Energy of at least 10,000.
*Clang——!*
"Hm? Time’s up."
Two clashing sounds rang out almost together. At last the fight on the test ground stopped.
The reason for the two sounds was simple. Leo had used the Daybright Aegis to block the Iron Wall’s heavy sword.
Thick golden light burst from both master and student.
The Iron Wall had said time was up, but Leo hadn’t let his guard down at all. This master often attacked suddenly just to catch him off guard.
"You blocked this straight attack, even if you used the Daybright Aegis. That means your Spiritual Energy has already broken through. Rest for an hour. Then we’ll test your Spiritual Energy."
As he said it, a smile couldn’t help but show on the Iron Wall’s icy face.
Every time Leo flew far and fell, he deliberately put on a smiling face.
But Leo never thought of that expression as a smile. He just thought his master’s stiff face muscles were twitching. It only made his face look scarier. And it had one more effect...
"Yes, sir."
One hour later.
*Boom!*
A blinding light lit up the whole test ground for a moment, as if it had been painted with gold.
The Iron Wall nodded quietly.
"1,014. Excellent. At last you’ve broken through the 1,000 mark like me. Six years ago, I stopped at the fifth rank of the fifth stage. My current Spiritual Energy level is around 3,000."
If anyone had seen this with their own eyes and known Leo’s real age, their jaw would have hit the floor.
At every round number of Spiritual Energy, a wall stands in the way. So crossing the last rank of any stage was truly very hard.
The Iron Wall himself had been stuck at the 3,000 wall for six years. He had tried and thought hard, but couldn’t move forward.
But he remembered clearly. About a week ago, he had tested Leo’s Spiritual Energy, and it had been around 980.
That meant it had grown in just one week. Even after crossing one wall, Leo had gained thirty levels.
"Leo, in these past few days of practice, did you feel any obstacle?" the Iron Wall asked.
Leo shook his head.
"No. Everything felt just like always."
"Ahh——!"
The Iron Wall hadn’t expected that answer. A panicked cry escaped his mouth.
Leo stood quietly to one side, watching him. It was clear this wasn’t the first time he’d seen such an expression on his master’s face.
After a long while, the Iron Wall got hold of himself. He said in a cold tone,
"Go back and pack your things. Tomorrow you’ll come out with me."
"Yes, sir."
Leo put away the Daybright Aegis and the heavy sword. Before he turned, he gave his master a respectful knight’s salute.
Leo disappeared through the door. The Iron Wall looked up. And, full of sorrow and anger, he roared out loud.
"The sky has no limit! Cursed sky, you’re all low, you’re just beyond humanity! This boy didn’t even feel an obstacle! Where will this natural talent take him?!"
"In two years, he broke from 268 to 1,014 Spiritual Energy levels! Come on! Those low people at the Temple said Spiritual Energy can’t grow very fast before twenty! They said it only really speeds up after twenty! A pack of fools, did you see that?!"
"Thirteen years old and past the 1,000th Spiritual Energy level! Forget everything! A fourth-stage Vanguard Knight! I’m not even a fifth of that talent! I, who am older than his father, never even became a Radiant Knight!"
Meanwhile, Leo returned to his room. He washed his whole body and changed into clean clothes. He ate a simple meal.
He was about to head back out for practice when he heard a knock at the door.
Three slow knocks.
Whoever it was had waited until the Iron Wall was gone.