《The First World Emperor》


 Who are you?!

    "Young healthy 10-year-old kid, I can do 50 Bronze no more no less. I have a lot of mouths to feed already, and I''m running out of time so hurry up and decide!"The merchant shouts angrily


    "Y-yes sir we agree! As long as we get the money you can do whatever you want with him!" As the father kneels and quickly agrees


    "Hmph!" The merchant throws the coins onto the ground and drags the knocked out kid with him as the father quickly picks up the coins in glee. It''s the same thing every day; a low-income family is not able to afford taking care of their child anymore, so they sell off their children cheaply to quickly get some money. With fewer mouths to feed they have more to keep on living their miserable lives.


    The merchant throws the boy into the back of the caravan together with all the other slaves as his assistant looks on happily.


    "Last one of the day?" The assistant happily asks "Yeah, the kid was 50 bronze" The merchant replies as he checks the other kids. "Man the price for these kids are getting lower and lower!" The assistant looks at the remaining silver they still had. "The world has gone to hell for these types of people, of course, it''s gonna go down, anyways enough talk let''s get a move on before that old arena master cuts our pay." The merchant locks the doors to the caravan, and they start moving.


    The young boy opens his eyes and looks around, his vision is a bit blurry, and there''s a constant ringing in his head. ''Just what happened?! Didn''t father say he wanted to have a chat with me? Where in the world am I?


    All he could hear is the vibrations of the wooden floor his on, sounds of horses and light breathing of people around him, as he sniffed the air, he could smell the foul odor from other people. The boy focuses as hard as he can and sees about ten kids around the same age as him lying on the floor sleeping. But as soon as he could make sense of this, a sudden impact hits his head as though a hammer slammed into him and knocked him out.


    "Ahh!" The boy screams as he opens his eyes again, but instead of a dark room, it was a bright white room, but for some odd reason he couldn''t smell anything. "Argh don''t scream anymore! Is this how you greet someone?!" The boy quickly turns around to find the source of the voice. An old man stands there rubbing his ear; the old man looked wise and heavenly wearing white robes as he holds a fan yet the actions his doing is not something a heavenly old man would do. "Who are you?! Where am I? Where are my parents?!" The boy rapidly shouts questions. "One at a time you stinking brat! Don''t you respect your elders huh?!" The old man shouts back in anger. "Alright, I''ll answer some of your questions! I am the esteemed Janko the wise! You must know me right!?" Janko says as he proudly lifts up his chest in pride.


    "N-no I don''t think I have..." The boy says timidly. "HUH?! What?! Have you been living under a rock?! How have you not known of me, Janko?! I should be in books herald as a man with immense knowledge and a hero how can you not know me!?" Janko shouts in anger at the ignorant boy. "But I don''t know of any person called Janko in legends, The only legends I know are about King Orland slaying a Dragon, Archer Heron Shooting down a phoenix and Master Gerald cutting the earth in half creating the split in the world!" The boy said honestly.


    "What?! Who?! This is impossible! Did that mean my plan failed?!" Janko started thinking as sweat started running down his face. "U-um Janko sir are you ok?" the boy asks looking worried for Janko. "I am fine most definitely fine! Hmph if I am not remembered by history then it can''t be helped... Well, what about you boy? What is your name?" Janko asks while stroking beard "Eh? W-well my name is Charles Puckers, son of Greg Puckers and May Puckers. I work on a farm!" Charles answered, his quite proud of working on a farm. "Charles? Good name! Though you might want to remove your family name with your situation now." Janko looks at Charles with pityReading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    "Remove my family name? But that would mean cutting ties with my family I can''t do that!" Charles exclaims. "You''re still filial to parents that have sold your for money?!" Janko says in shock "Sold me? they wouldn''t do that!" Charles shouts in denial. "You seem to not know what has happened to you." Janko deduces. "Yeah, like where am I?! And why am I here with you?! I''m supposed to be working on the farm right now!" Charles starts looking around in a hurry as he starts realizing the situation. "Sigh alright, right now we are in your mind. Right now I''m a spirit sharing your body with you." Janko explains patiently.


    "This is my mind? Spirit? Sharing?! How does that work?!" Charles starts getting confused "Calm down! Me being in your mind is my fault due to my plans failing but do not worry my presence will not harm you!" Janko reassures Charles. "...Alright, I''ll trust you, I don''t know whats going on anyways.." Charles gives up and accepts his predicament. "Mhm good, it''s time you return to your body then!" As Janko says, this Charles suddenly feels sleepy and closes his eyes.


    Charles opens his eyes and sees a dark damp room, the room had only one torch making at least somewhat lit. The smell in the room was awful with the scent of piss and shit from the corner of the room behind a wall. "Where am I?" Charles asks himself "Oh so your finally awake kid welcome to hell the name''s Robert pleasure to meet ya." A skinny middle-aged man greets Charles. "M-my name is Charles, what do you mean by hell? D-did I die?!" Charles replies scared by Robert''s words. "Ah, it would best for the both of us if you don''t shout. We don''t want the guards to come over and give us some "love" now would we?" Roberts warns Charles. "Y-yes sorry, sir," Charles says timidly. "Alright I''ll explain some stuff to you, I don''t wanna see such a young kid perish an idiotic death. Right now yer in Roaring Silk City''s arena home to a few hundred arena fighters who fight to the death every damn day." Robert says nonchalantly


    "Arena? Fight to the death? I''m just a farm boy how can I fight?" Charles is shocked by the revelation. "You were probably sold off to the arena boy, pretty much all the kids are the same here." Robert explains "Sold? That means sir Janko was right.." Charles sadly realizes. "Who?'' Robert asks. "O-oh it''s nothing! I was thinking about my farm''s dog!" Charles quickly came up with an explanation "Hmph well that dog ain''t gonna last too long if they would even sell their son. I''m taking a nap, enjoy your time in hell kid." Robert lays down facing the wall and sleeps.


    "Kid your really got guts to call me a dog!" a familiar voice exclaims. "E-eh?! Sir Janko?! Please quiet down you will wake sir Robert up!" Charles quickly said "Hmph you do not need to worry about that kid. Only you can hear me, I''m in your head after all." Janko explained. "Ah, that makes sense I guess. Sir Janko what do I do now? I am stuck here now..." Charles asks with a disheartened voice. "Well it seems you are in a bad situation, but it isn''t the worst! All you have to do is just survive!" Janko reassures Charles. "Survive? How could it be that easy? I will have to fight life and death battles with people!" Charles asks


    "At least you have a fighting chance! From my experience there are people sold to the mines, those people don''t even have a chance to change their fate! In any case, surviving will be an easy task with Janko the Wise here! I shall teach you how to fight!" Janko proudly says. "Teach me? You can do that sir Janko?!" Charles asks "Relax Charles, with me here I won''t let you die so easily! I need you alive anyways, alright let us get started!"


    "Yes sir Janko, but how will you teach me?" Charles gets pumped for the training. "I shall implant a skill I know into you, I haven''t tested it myself but it should work on you! Be proud of yourself kid you''ll be the first one to test this out!" Janko explains casually "Eh? Never tested?! Sir Janko I don''t think this is a good id-" but before Charles could finish his sentence, he felt an intense burst of pain in his head causing him to faint.


    "It can only be used on a clean slate so do your best to hang on Charles!"

 Weapon?

    With slight dizziness, Charles opens his eyes to see Robert looking concerned "Hey kid you alright? You didn''t look good while you were sleeping there. Got a bad dream or something?" Robert asks as he checks Charles''s forehead with his hand. "Y-yeah I''m fine I think, I just had this nightmare of an old man trying to kill me with some untested experiment..." Charles sighs with relief that he didn''t see his ancestors yet.


    "Well that''s good, don''t get too stress it''ll make you weaker! Now I''m going to the mess hall to get food; you should go there to get something after you get a hold of your self." Robert stands up and walks out of the room. The door was locked yesterday when he got here, but now it''s wide open. "Hmph, I practically saved your life but you treat it as me almost killing you?" Janko says with a bit of disappointment "I could have easily died because of that!" Charles retorted


    "If you had learned some martial arts beforehand then yes you would have died but I''ve looked at how you''re so naive, timid and weak it''s clear that you have never even seen any martial art before!" Janko replied, "That''s true, I''ve only heard about martial artists through other people but what difference does it make it felt horrible!" Charles looked at his body and didn''t see any changes other than being a bit slimmer. "Well let''s see if your mind has fully absorbed the skill instead of giving you a massive headache, though we will have to wait till you get into a fight," Janko explained.


    "U-until I get into a fight? W-wouldn''t that mean if it didn''t work I''d m-most likely die?" Charles asks cautiously "Mhm your correct kid! You''re finally understanding the situation you are in!" Janko happily replies "Now then you should go to that mess hall to get some food, nourishment is the key to improvement!" Charles sighs as he hears Janko''s guidance and moves to the mess hall.


    At the mess hall was somewhat crowded with people chatting about the food and fighting. Charles slowly walks over to the guards that are giving out the daily meals. The menu mostly consisted of rice and beans. The food looked bland and didn''t have any scent. But at least it''s better than starving. As Charles was looking for a place to sit, he saw Robert waving at him. As Charles walks over, he sees three other men of varying ages sitting with Robert. "Fellas, this is the kid I was talking about the new one. Charle, say hi to them. Don''t worry they aren''t strong, so they ain''t gonna bite ya." Robert laughs as he introduces them "Hmph at least we are all still alive! The name''s Rock, the two next to me are Ogg and Pike" Rock properly introduces them.


    Rock is quite a tall, muscular man with a lot of scars on his body and was very disciplined. Ogg, on the other hand, was short and had a massive beard but had a bit of a temper while Pike was a kind bald man with nothing standing out about him. "Nice to meet you everyone my name is Charles, thank you for treating me so kindly!" Charles bows in gratitude to the warmth he has gotten


    "Don''t sweat it, kid, it''s gonna be a tough road from here on out so your gonna need all the emotional support you can get!" Ogg pats Charles as he reassures him. "Be prepared for the battles ahead, but do remember not to lose yourself in this place." Pike advises Charles "As what pike said this place is a dangerous place so don''t blame yourself for anything that happens in here." Rock explains.


    "I understand, thank you for your guidance!" Charles exclaims "Charles friends in this hell hole is one of the most important things to remember" Robert seriously explains "What''s the other important thing?" Charles asks curiously "The other most important thing is power! Without strength in here, your doomed to not live another day!"A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    After talking with Robert and his three buddies, Charles headed back to the room and begun to think about what they said. "Relax kid you''re going to be fine with the new powers I just gave you!" "But Sir Janko I don''t even know what powers I got from you... and most importantly I have no idea what martial art is in the first place!" Charles starts getting frustrated with the notion that he might die soon. " Alright, I''ll teach you, if the skill I gave you didn''t work then maybe your hard work might keep you alive for a while. Are you willing to listen to a lecture from Janko the Wise!?" Janko Proudly asks.


    "You know sir Janko; I''m slowly starting to lose respect for you even if your an elder... Fine I will listen to your lecture, it''s the only thing that can save me now anyway." Charles reluctantly agrees "Hmph to think you''d develop such a rebellious spirit so soon! Now then Let us get down to what martial art is!"


    "To best describe what martial art is, you have to think of it as the way we humans learn how to fight! It''s the key to our survival and how our species has survived over the countless of years!" Janko explains "Oh so it''s a form of fighting?" Charles asks "Precisely! Martial art isn''t just one single form of fighting, but it is a word that describes fighting in general. Now everyone has different interpretations of how the best fighting style should be like."


    " For example, two people agree that spears are the greatest weapon to use to fight. But one says that the spear should be used in a sneaky way and to stab the opponent when the time is right as a snake while the other thinks that the spear should be strong and tough crushing any opponent that stands in front of them!" Janko explains.


    "So martial art is the way we think is the best way to fight someone and win?" Charles asks "You got the rough idea down so that should be good enough!" Janko is happy with Charles understanding the lesson. "But where do I start then? I have never even touched a weapon, heck I''ve never even punched someone before!" Charles gets a bit overwhelmed "With the skill I gave you, the experience problem should be solved so let us find a weapon for you!" Janko says with confidence


    "Skill? You still haven''t told me anything about that! And where in the world can I find weapons to train with I''m still a slave!" Charles gets annoyed, but Robert comes into the room "Hey Charles! Let''s go to the Practice Ground to train! It''ll be great for you!" Robert tells him with glee "Practice? Can we get that? Aren''t we slaves?" Charles asks in confusion


    "The audience doesn''t want to see two idiots who don''t know how to swing a sword to smack each other they want to see a full-on brawl between skill fighters in a life and death match! These fights are why they allow us to practice!" Robert explains "Watch us kill each other?! Some people are rather sick in the head..." Charles couldn''t even imagine what they would be thinking "Don''t overthink about that Charles, the most important thing is to live and get out of this hell!"


    "Alright Roberts I understand, so where is this practice place?" Charles asks with a bit of excitement


    "Yeah follow me, it''s a huge courtyard with a bunch of wooden weapons to try out on dummies. Oh, and be careful about fighting other people in the practice place it''s not allowed unless someone requests a duel with you and if that happens. Do not ever accept it! A duel will lead to you and that other person to fight in the arena! And you want to limit the number of times you get in there for your survival got it?!"


    "Got it! Don''t get into fights!" Charles replied "Mhm good remember that Charles! Let''s get going, by the way, have you ever fought before?" Robert asks as they walk to the practice grounds "I''ve never fought once in my life." Charles says truthfully. "You''ve never fought before?! Then you got to treasure the time on the practice grounds! I use a longsword; Rock uses a greatsword, Ogg uses two axes while Pike uses a spear.


    I look forward to seeing what you''ll pick though." Robert says trying to help Charles with the information he has about his friends. "I''ll do my best to find a weapon suited to me!" Charles says with confidence "That''s some good spirit you have Charles! We''ve reached the Practice Grounds. I''m going to meet up with Rock and the rest to train with them; the weapon racks are there so you should find something suited for you! Alright, good luck out there!" Roberts says as he leaves.


    Ok, time to pick my weapon out!

 How did I offend you?!

    Charles went over to the wooden weapon racks, there were rows for almost every kind of weapon, but they didn''t seem well maintained as there are some scratch marks on there and the wood was slowly losing its original color. The swords, axes, spears, and daggers were all made out of wood, and most of them seemed to have been used regularly with chips and scratches on the surface of them. Charles looked around and saw kids around his age also picking a weapon for themselves.


    They had the same black hair and eyes as Charles and wore the same clothing as him, they were wearing dirty tunics and pants made out of hemp that looked like they haven''t been washed in weeks. "Looks like every kid is having the same problem as you right now," Janko commented as Charles was looking at the other kids. Charles nodded as he looked at the different weapons. "Should I follow Robert and pick a longsword? Or should I try something like Ogg and use two swords? That way I can deal twice the damage! A greatsword is too big for me anyway, and a spear sounds interesting though."


    "Remember that every weapon has a flaw in them, for example, swords are diverse, but if the user is not good enough with the weapon, then he will die a quick death. Spears are great weapons for distancing oneself from the opponent while giving immense pressure but if one fails to intimidate the opponent and fails to figure out the opponent''s movement, then one will surely fall quickly. Dual wielding seems great in basic theory but when it comes down to a true fight if the opponent is smart finding an opening to kill you is simple!" Janko told Charles.


    "If every weapon has a flaw then how in the world am I going to choose one?! I''ll have a chance of dying for every single one of them!" Charles angry replied, how is he going to survive when this old man said that every single weapon sucks. "This is when martial art comes in! To counter these weapons deficiencies, we use a martial art to counter these flaws! For example, dual wielding seems like a certain death weapon, but if used correctly it could turn someone from a bumbling idiot to an expert!" Janko explained.


    So martial art seals the gaps in the cracks of weapons?" Charles asks "Precisely! So to find one suited to you one must also have a martial art in mind! What I want you is to imagine yourself fighting someone. Pick any weapon you like as your weapon. Now the first problem is what do you do now that you''re in a battle with your opponent? Do you move forward to face your opponent head on and not allow him any room to breathe? Or do you stand your ground and see what the opponent does first and react?"


    Charles thinks about this for a minute or 2 as his eyes start glowing slightly orange. "Depending on the weapon and moves I use I would be at a loss in one of them! So my best bet is to use something that I can use to defend yet attack at the same time..." Charles looks around and spots a small round piece of wood that''s labeled under the shield section though it seems no one has touched it. He picks one up and straps it to his arm; it feels rather nice to wear it. "Now to find something to attack. If I use a spear that would limit my movement. This thing is already weighing me down since the sword is considered diverse I shall take one!" Charles walks over to take a short sword and nods in satisfaction


    "Alright I''m ready to answer but what would the opponent be using?" Charles asks "Let''s say his using a longsword; most people use a sword anyway." Janko replied. Charles nodded and begun to think. "If the opponent is using a longsword I won''t know if the other person is an aggressive person or a passive one. I can''t just sit and wait for the opponent to get the upper hand on me so I must go on the offense!" Charles replied


    "It seems the skill is doing wonders for you, so you rushed up to the enemy, so he swings his sword down at you, what do you do now?" Janko asks "Since his swinging his sword down and can bring my wooden circle up to protect my head as I move to his right and slash his side with my sword, with him bleeding out I can drag out the fight till his low on blood, and I can easily finish him off! How did I do?" Charles replies as he rubbed his head, for some odd reason he felt exhausted after thinking of that scenario.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    "Mhm good you pass, looks like the skill is working perfectly!" Janko replied with glee "You still haven''t told me what that skill you gave me was!" But before Janko could reply a boy with a larger size than Charles pushed Charles to the ground and started talking proudly "Hey guys look at this new guy! His so scared his already talking to himself!" The boy started laughing as the boys behind him started praising the large boy "The new guy is so weak! He wouldn''t even stand a single blow with Leon!" "Ha! I don''t think he can even look at the great Leon for a minute before fainting at Leon''s greatness!" "Don''t even compare Leon to such a weak guy! it''s like comparing a mountain to an ant hill!


    The constant barrages of insults coming at Charles made him extremely angry; He grabbed his sword and shield as he stood up and eyed Leon. Leon was 5 inches taller than him and was much more muscular than Charles. What in the world did he eat?! "Hey new kid, you dare stare at me? Looks like at least have some guts. Do you want to live here? Join my gang!" Leon''s face filled with pride and arrogance with a smirk so big it could probably use as a weapon. I want to punch this guy''s face in! "Gang? I think I''ll pass so leave me alone!"


    "Hey did that new kid refuse Leon?! Is he dumb?!" "On the bright side we get to watch another one-sided beating, it''ll release the stress we''ve been having!" What were those guys behind Leon talking about, the seven people were standing behind Leon looked normal with the same physique as Charles, they were a bit on the skinny side but had no muscles, unlike Charles who had some due to all the farm work.


    Though they were taller than Charles by an inch or two. Plus they had pale skin while Charles and Leon had Tanned skin. Charles then realized that his height is quite short in comparison to everybody around him. Their clothes were odd compared to other fighters around them though. Unlike Charles and the others who wore dirty hemp clothing, Leon and his gang wore clean hemp clothing, and they didn''t smell like piss and shit like everyone else!


    "So you refusing to join my gang?" Leon said as his eyebrows immediately shot down into a frown.


    "Yes now leave me alone! I just want to keep to myself!" Charles was starting to get annoyed with Leon. Why in the world would I want to join your gang?! I don''t even know you! But as soon as Charles refused the invitation, Leon shouted at the top of his lungs:"HUH?! YAH WANNA FIGHT THEN COME ON THEN! LET''S SETTLE THIS IN THE ARENA; GUARDS HELP THIS GUY WANTS TO DUEL ME!"


    Everyone in the stopped turned around. The people in the sand pits fighting had stopped their fighting and turned to look at Charles and Leon with a serious expression as the sand around them that were kicked around started to settle. The people on the side discussing battle tactics turned to look with the same serious look. While Robert, Rock, Ogg, and Pike looked at Charles from a distance with total shock. "I told you not to duel anyone so what happened?!" Robert screamed in his head.


    Charles frowned as he looked at the situation he was in "What in the world did you do?!" he stared at Leon fiercely. "Making you an example for new guys that come along, that refusing an invitation to my gang means death. See you tomorrow in the arena dumbass" Leon laughs as he leaves with his gang members smiling at Charles as though they were looking at a chicken they were gonna cook later.


    "Attention all! Due to a duel being announced in the lower rank, all lower rank fighters are to view the duel between fighter Leon and fighter Charles! The fight will be held tomorrow at noon!" A guard that was wearing clean leather armor announced: "it''s a full leather armor guard, weren''t the top elite guards only able to wear that?" "Well wasn''t one of them Leon? His the top prospect of the younger division here after all." "That other kid probably didn''t know what he got himself in."


    Top prospect of the younger division? When did arrogant, smug guys like that become strong? Isn''t life a little bit unfair?! I didn''t want to join your small boy band how could refusing you resort to a life or death duel?! Leon what did I do to piss you off?! Please tell me!!

 Gear Up!

    Charles walks down the dimly lit cobblestone corridor that was big enough to fit a carriage through it. The only way back to his room from the practice grounds was through this corridor, and it was the same for many people that saw what happened on the practice grounds. Word spreads quickly in the arena as pretty much everyone in the lower ranks knew about the duel. The lower rank arena guards walked pass Charles with a look of pity in their eyes as though they had sentenced Charles to death.


    The young fighters around Charles''s age who haven''t joined Leon''s faction looked at Charles for a second before hastening their pace to try and avoid any contact with Charles as though he contracted some sort of plague. Even the adult fighters looked on with pity as to see another one of the young fighters die again. While the members of Leon''s little boy band look on with smug looks and contempt seeing how Charles was soon going to be shipped to the slaughterhouse publicly named Leon''s duel.


    Charles finally finished with the walk of shame managed to return to the dark damped room filled with the smell of piss and shit without going insane and smacking someone across the face. Robert was right this is hell, I can barely keep up my sanity anymore! "Your first duel is coming up very soon; you''ll need to train your body for it!" Janko commented "I know! The problem is how?! So I know how to imagine a weapon scenario but how in the world will I improve my body?!" Charles retorted as he slowly loses it bit by bit.


    "Relax kid; I will teach you a method! The only proper way to improve one''s body is to eat good food to gain nutrients to help one''s body grow as they are training, but we do not have that option at the moment so I will impart one of my secrets to you!" Janko says with reluctance."Secret? Why didn''t you bring it out sooner? If this battle didn''t suddenly happen would you have kept that secret with you for all eternity?!" Charles shouts as he rubs his head.


    "Your mental state is already in chaos due to the recent situation coming up your not thinking properly. What I will be doing is infusing a magical beast''s blood into your body. This blood will give you a boost in your body." Janko explained "Infusing magical beast blood? Why does this sound too good to be through, didn''t you say only by eating good food will someone become stronger?" Charles calms down a bit after hearing Janko''s explanation.


    "Of course there are side effects! If you were the same strength as the magical beast that I''m infusing the blood into you, it would be fine, but due to you being weaker than it there will be consequences. It will indeed give you more strength, but it will start to act like a poison afterward. The only way to counteract the poison will be to become stronger than the magical beast regarding strength before the poison kills you!" Janko explains, he was very hesitant about using such a method, but with the circumstances now it might be the best option. "I am not sure if the skill I handed down to you has fully been absorbed yet so this is the safest option for keeping you and me alive!"


    "Poison?! You have got to be kidding me! Even if I beat Leon with this method, there is a high chance I''ll die to some random poison! Dying to Leon would have been a better option than to suffer like that! I refuse to take such risks!" Charles Exclaimed "This is both our lives at risk here Charles! This blood transfer may be the only opportunity for you and me to live! I do not want my life to end because of your inadequacy!" Janko shouted in response


    "No means no Janko! I shall prove it to you! Let''s treat this as a trial by fire! If I die, then it means we a fated to perish here together in this hell hole! But if I win this match, then there truly is a future ahead! I will not drink poison just to beat an opponent today but die tomorrow!" As Charles said this an immense pressure caused Janko to feel as though was being crushed by a mountain! "Alright fine I agree! I agree damn it! Let''s see if we will truly survive then!" After agreeing the pressure finally disappears but Charles didn''t notice that Janko was in pain. "Alright, then I''ll prepare myself for the upcoming fight! Watch me, Janko; I won''t let you down!"Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    After a few minutes of resting on the moldy floor, the rust metal door of the room opens up as Robert enters. "Charles your screwed up big time! How could you have angered the top prospect of the young fighters like this? Your last day might be tomorrow at this rate!" Robert hurriedly asks Charles. "Look all I did was refuse to join his gang I didn''t think he would react so hugely to that. It was like refusing to join his gang was like kicking his family jewels!" Charles frustratedly replies


    "That''s the point! It''s known that Leon''s gang is one of Leon''s greatest source of power among the young fighters! It''s practically his ticket to being seen by the arena master! That''s why the guards were so willing to set up the duel with you and him; they think that his rank will increase very soon, so they''re trying to curry favor with him!" Robert explained "And why didn''t you tell me this kind of information sooner?! I am one of the young fighters that the so-called rules over, you''d think that it would have been good to tell me this sooner?!" Charles starts questioning Robert


    "I didn''t expect you would attract his attention so soon! The reason why not every one of the young fighters is under his gang yet is due to Leon not care much about the rest of the young fighters. You told me that you had never fought before so I assumed that you would probably never meet Leon! I don''t know what you did to spark something in Leon, but by god, you must be the unluckiest kid I''ve seen! Now even Roc, Ogg or Pike don''t want to speak to you now, they think you''re carrying around some bad luck around you!" Robert explained


    "Right now every person in the lower rank knows of this duel due to the announcement by a high-rank guard telling everyone in the lower rank to gather for the duel. It''s a way for them to raise Leon''s fame within the lower rank quickly. Even though it''s your first fight, there''s going to be a lot of people so do your best out there alright?" Robert tries to reassure Charles.


    "Look I don''t have anything other than this fight left so I might as well put my heart and soul into it, thanks for the information Robert thought it was rather late." Charles sighs as he prepares himself mentally. "Good luck out there Charles, I hope I can see you again after tomorrow''s duel!" He cheered Charles on as he went back to his end of the room and laid down to sleep.


    Charles looked out at the small window with grills at the corner of the room that lets some air into the room. From the window, he can see the dark sky filled with stars and the moon. "I was just a Farmboy from a little village with barely 100 people life was relaxed with not much happening. Heck, I was even thinking of taking that girl down the road out for a walk... Now I''ve been sold off by my parents to some arena where I will have to fight a life or death duel with some asshole. Life truly isn''t fair."


    As Charles thinks about his village, he slowly falls asleep. The next day he wakes up to a guard standing at the door. "Kid, get up it''s time for your duel." Charles drags himself up using the wall and proceeds to follow the guard. The hall was empty compared to yesterday''s packed hall with people walking from the training hall and back.


    The guard and Charles stop at a wooden door that was much cleaner than the wooden doors at the mess hall. "Get inside and gear up. After that head down the corridor and wait at the gate until it raises up before going into the arena ring got it?" The guard sternly tells Charles. "Understood sir" Charles replied as the guard opens the door for him to enter.


    Charles enters the room to see weapon racks that were in much better condition than the ones at the practice ground holding copper weapons. Swords, staffs, axes, spears, bows and more. "Time for me to gear up and face death head on!"

 Kneel!

    In the dimly lit and dusty room, Charles walks towards the corner, and he sees shields of varying sizes stacked on top of each other. "I don''t want something that will hinder my movement." Charles thought as he looked towards small round plain copper shield that was about10mm thick. "This should do, alright now a sword. Robert didn''t tell me what Leon usually uses as a weapon, so I should use a short sword to be safe."


    As Charles picks up a short copper sword a loud voice is heard all throughout the arena area. "Greetings to all fighters of the lower realm! The fight today is a duel between 2 young fighters! On the Northside, we have the top prospect of the young fighters in the lower rank, Leon! And on the Southside, we have a new young fighter in the lower rank, Charles!"


    The guard outside the door knocks hard and shouts "Kid prep time is up! go through the corridor into the arena!" Charles takes in a deep breath and lets it out slowly "Alright let''s do this."Charles grips his sword tightly and walks out through the dark corridor. His footsteps echoed through the corridor as his heart beats heavily.


    A bright light shines at Charles''s face as he exits the dark corridor and finally enters the arena. The arena''s size was about half the size of a massive football stadium, and the floor was filled with dirt and sand as the hot winds blew the sand around. It was mostly fighters that filled the stands surrounding the arena with some guards watching the fight as well.


    Charles looked directly ahead of where he stood and saw Leon carrying a copper Broadsword with a broad smile on his face with eyes looking at Charles as though he was fresh meat. "Time to die new Kid!" Leon shouted as the announcer begun the match "The fight begins now!"


    Charles quickly brought his shield up to face Leon''s head on strike! I need to think of a way to deal with his aggressive fighting style! I need to find an opening somehow! As Charles tries the think of a way to deal with the situation Leon holds his Broadsword in a high position and slams it down onto Charles''s shield causing Charles to fly back a couple of steps! He''s strong; I need to avoid his hits as much as possible!


    Leon takes a moment to get his sword back into position and laughs"Ha! If you''re this weak, then this won''t take long at all!" as Leon says that he rushes at Charles again with another overhead strike! Leon is doing that overhead strike again! I have to dodge it; I''ll move to the right when he strikes! As Leon swings down his sword, Charles lifts his shield up again to block any hits coming at him and quickly runs to the right.


    But Leon expected this, as Leon''s sword slams onto the ground where Charles once stood he pushes himself and uses his shoulder to slam into Charles''s shield. Charles gets pushed back again, and he quickly backs away from Leon. His left arm holding the shield is starting to numb a quite a bit. Shit if this keeps up my left arm is going to break. Charles tries to shake off the numbness as he looks at Leon picking up the broadsword back up.


    "Kid listen! You have to start using your whole body don''t only use your weapons!" Janko quickly advised Charles "My whole body? Alright, I''ll give it a shot!" Charles decided to go on the offensive this time and rushes at Leon. "Hmph just because I haven''t cut you yet doesn''t mean you can get cocky!" Leon mocks Charles and brings his sword back up again to do another overhead strike


    Charles rushes in and side steps to the right to avoid the overhead strike, Leon noticed this and lifted his left leg to kick Charles away but Charles grabs Leon''s leg under his armpit and slashes Leon''s thigh. Immediately feeling intense pain in his thigh, he lets go of his broadsword and swings his fist at Charles knocking him away.


    "That kid managed to land a cut on Leon!" "But Leon is really pissed now I wonder if he can survive Leon''s anger!" Charles slowly gets up from the ground and picks up his sword as he gets ready for another round. During that time Leon quickly rips off his shirt to bandage his thigh as he stares at Charles with killing intent. "I swear no more playing around; I''m gonna chop you up into mincemeat!"Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    Leon grabs his broadsword back up and walks towards Charles with anger. Alright, his pissed now, that move I did probably won''t work again so how will I get close to him? As Charles thinks about this, he lifts his shield up and waits to see what Leon will do. Instead of doing an overhead strike Leon goes for a barrage strikes swinging his sword left to right to left over and over again onto Charles''s Sheild "What''s wrong?! You cut me before so why not try again?! You gonna keep hiding under that shield?!" Leon mocks Charles''s defensiveness as he keeps striking the bronze shield.


    Crap if this keeps up the shield and my arm won''t make it! And finally, on the 20th strike, the shield breaks leaving Charles wide open! "Got you!" Leon grabs this opportunity and swings down his blade onto Charles. Shit, I can''t die not like this! Charles quickly brings his sword up to defend himself, but the bronze shortsword couldn''t handle the strength of the strike and causes Charles to move back by a few steps.


    Charles couldn''t feel his left arm anymore after the shield broke and his sword is about to break soon. There is no way I can die here! Leon looks at the giant chip on his broadsword and laughs "Ha! It looks like I win! Now then why don''t you sit tight there as I cut you limb by limb!" Leon starts limping towards Charles as his wound starts bleeding again.


    Charles starts moving back in a fright; I don''t want to die, I don''t want to die, I DON''T WANT TO DIE!...


    Charles stops moving as he stares at Leon whose slowly limping towards him. No, I won''t die, I''ve been over complicating things. All I have to do is stab him, right? Yeah, stab him. Charles grips his sword tightly and starts moving forward.


    "Oh? You finally realize that you''re going to die?! HAHAHAHA! Come then! Come so I can cut you down!" Leon smiles as he sees Charles walking towards him like a pig entering the slaughterhouse. "Looks like Charles accepted his fate, Robert." Rock looks at Robert with pity "Yeah, It was inevitable." Robert closes his eyes; he couldn''t see a kid he had befriended be cut down like livestock.


    Leon lifts his sword up and shouts "Die!" And he swings his sword down" The cheers of Leons gang members roared throughout the arena cheering their leader, but suddenly the arena goes silent. As the blade comes crashing down towards Charles, he lifts the cracked bronze shortsword up and hits the side of the broadsword away as though it was a toy. "What?!" Leon looks at Charles with a shocked face and sees Charles eyes glowing amber. In panic Leon quickly releases the grip on his sword to punch Charles in the face but Charles dodges it by an inch. Charles then grips his shortsword even harder and rams it straight into Leon''s stomach!


    "W-what t-the...f-fuck...." Leon shivers in pain and holds Charles'' arm but doesn''t have the strength to do anything with the excruciating pain. Charles breaks almost broken Shortsword leaving half of the blade inside Leon and shouts"KNEEL!" and suddenly an overwhelming pressure forces the bleeding Leon to fall to his knees and bows "Y-you... bastard, I..a-am going to ki-" but before he could finish his words Charles shoves the broken sword into Leon''s throat and the latter falls to the ground dead.


    The whole arena goes silent trying to figure out what just happened. Didn''t Leon have the upper hand?! He was going to win! How did some random kid manage to kill him?! But the announcer who has seen many upset battles before quickly recovers from the shock and announces: "The winner of today''s duel is Charles!"


    "Robert he won! The kid won!" Ogg shook Robert in excitement. "What?!" Robert opened his eyes to look at the arena and sees Charles standing over a dead Leon "H-how?!" Robert stands up in shock. "Kid, you finally fused with the skill at last! Great timing!" Janko laughs happily. "What was that? Everything was in slow motion! Most importantly why didn''t you help me when I was fighting!?" Charles shouted back in confusion "If you''re looking for fighting techniques and other stuff I can help you, but when it comes to actual fighting I''m as good as a fish on land!"


    Charles sighs as he heard how unreliable Janko was but seeing the dead body of Leon made him much happier. I did it! I survived! Charles raises his arm into the air and shouts "I survived!" and the fighters in the arena clap to congratulate Charles on surviving. Meanwhile, Leon''s gang sat in shock as they wonder what they will do next. "Hey, no hard feelings right Charles?!"

 A chat after a fight!

    Charles stood beside Leon''s dead body in silence, he couldn''t feel his body and the smell of blood filled his nose as he stares at the body. Charles quickly asks Janko: "I can''t move my body! Janko why can''t I move my body?!" "That''s because you used up all your stamina by using your power just now! You used it for too long! Your weak body can''t handle that amount of stress for so long!." Janko commented. "My power? You mean when everything went slow motion? Does that mean I''ll become like super fast that''s great!" Charles said in delight. "Wrong! Your body didn''t become fast but instead, your spirit became stronger!" Janko explained "My spirit? My spirit can make everything slower?!" Charles asks in confusion


    "Young fighter Charles are you ok?" A guard walked to the arena and asked Charles. For some odd reason, Charles had been standing at the same spot the entire time. Everybody in the spectator stands already left yet the guy who won is still here! "Y-yeah I''m fine, but I can''t move my body." Charles replied "You can''t move your body? I''ll get the arena doctor to help you out." The guard quickly asks one of the other guards to bring out a stretcher made out of hemp and wood. The guards carried Charles with ease and placed him on the stretcher and headed off to the herbalist.


    After walking down a dimly lit cobblestone corridor, they reached a door that reads "Doctor Varus." The guard opens the door, and instantly the smell of herbs and blood flowed into Charles''s nose.


    "Doctor, one of the young fighters seems to be unable to move. Where do you want him at?" The guard asks. "Put him down on the 4th bed to the left of the room." The doctor replies as he continues writing something in a leather book. "Understood Sir!" The guards start moving Charles over to the empty bed and lay him down. "Doctor Varus is a good doctor so that you will be fine. I look forward to your future fights young fighter Charles!" The guard comments as him and the other guard walked out of the room.


    "Now then" The doctor shuts his book and inserts it into a leather bag. He walks over to Charles and asks "Oh it''s a young fighter this time. Most of them usually come in almost dead. Now tell me your name and what seems to be the problem." "My name''s Charles; I seem not to be able to move my body after the duel I just had a couple of minutes ago." Charles replied "Ah, so your the winner of that duel then? The guards in the lower rank were talking about it yesterday to me. Looks like your quite the fighter then." He says as he checks Charles''s pulse and eyes. "Mhm seems to me that you''re just out of stamina, first fight?" Varus asks "Yes it was my first fight." Charles replied.


    "Congratulations on winning your first fight then. Alright, all you need is to sleep well, and you''ll be fine by tomorrow. I''ll let you rest in here for a night before I''ll let you go back to your room. Understood?" Varus asks "Yes of course sir! Thank you!" Charles nodded "Mhm good now then take a good rest; It''s usually quiet in here, so I think you''ll like it here." Varus nods and back to his desk.


    Now free to be by himself Charles looks at the bed his on and the surroundings. The bed was very comfortable, unlike the one he had back at home that was just a bunch of straw in a sack and miles better than the wooden board he sleeps on in his arena room. Might it be filled with sheep wool? Charles can''t be sure since he never slept on such a nice bed though the material feels like hemp. He looks around him and sees that the beds that are beside his were being blocked by curtains not allowing him to see the other patients though such curtains didn''t block the beds in front of him.


    In front of his bed was a large middle-aged man who looked extraordinarily muscular but had bandages covering his right eye. "Hey, kid, Who are you staring at huh?" The muscular man asks "Oh sorry I didn''t mean to stare sir. Please forgive me." Charles bows his head a bit. I don''t want to confront such a scary looking man! "Don''t need to be that scared of me, the name''s Sieg. What''s yours?" The muscular man introduces himselfThe author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "My name is Charles sir." Charles greets the man though still a bit wary of the man "Mhm, Charles is a good name! I don''t have anybody to talk to here, and that doctor isn''t the greatest guy to talk to about pretty much anything. He keeps talking about really boring stuff. Plus everyone else is either always sleeping or a day away from death! Now then How long have ya been here?" Sieg asks "If I''m right today would be my 3rd day here." Charles tried remembering.


    "3rd day?! The first fight for everyone is always on their 5th day! Did yah piss off someone you shouldn''t have?" Sieg asks with curiosity written all over his face. "Well, I pissed off what everyone seemed to call the top prospect of the young fighters, a guy called Leon. Though I think his 6 foot under by now." Charles replied with pride. "Ha! I like you already! Good! I remember that kid always walking around with a smug look on his face with a bunch of weaklings following him." Sieg laughs as he hears what Charles said.


    "How long have you been here Sieg?" Charles asked. "Mhm, I''ve been here for a while. I can''t remember I came into this hell hole. Ah since I''m your senior and all, I should be giving you some tips right? Ask me anything you want about this place, and I''ll try my best to give you an answer!" Sieg suggests "That would be helpful! Well, the first question I should probably ask is where in the world are we?" Charles asks "You got sent here yet you don''t know? Are you one of those kids that get sold by their parents?" Sieg asks.


    "Unfortunately yes, I still don''t know why either." Charles sighs at the thought of it. "Well, I think I got some knowledge about that. You live on a farm kid?" Sieg asks "Yeah, I used to be a farmboy back in my village! Why do you ask?" Charles tilts his head in confusion. "It''s just like I thought. Let me give you a rundown of everything. See we are in an arena called "The Roaring Arena" in a city called "Roaring Silk City" under the "Dragston Empire" which is ruled by a bunch of nobles. Now in recent days, half of the Dragston empire has been hit with a drought, and the crops here are now slowly deteriorating. Right now only some nobles are lucky enough not to be affected by the drought like the noble who owns Roaring Silk City. The village your living in probably was a part of the unlucky ones."


    "I see, so that''s what happened. Then I can''t blame my parents can I? They had it rough..." Charles thought as he still thinks fondly of the time he and his family sat down on the floor as the didn''t have any money to buy furniture from a carpenter. They sat down and ate rice, cucumbers and sometimes if they were lucky some meat if the harvest that season was excellent! "You''re giving your parents way too much credit! They sold their child away, their blood! That''s one of the worst things to ever do! Your Family is the most important thing in life, and that can never change!" Sieg said as he frowns, he can''t understand how carefree Charles is about his situation.


    "Yeah, I know family is the most important thing. But if me being sold away helps them get a better life then so be it!" Charles looks at Sieg with determination. "Your too damn selfless is it because you won your first match that you''re thinking you''re not gonna die here?!" Sieg sighs as he gives up "Screw it I don''t want to continue this depressing story." Sieg grumbles as he looks out of the window to see the night sky.


    "You better get some rest, Your leaving the Varus''s place after tonight right? I''m the same so let''s eat together after this ye hear? I still want to talk to you for a bit more longer. I haven''t had a chat this long with another person in a long ass time!"


    "I seem to keep meeting peculiar people; I should probably go find Robert once I get away from Sieg. At least that way I can see what true sanity is like." Charles sighs as he falls asleep as well.

 Lets practice!

    The morning shine''s through the window with a bright ray of sunlight. Charles rises from the comfortable bed feeling well rested. "Ah your awake Charles, how are you feeling this morning?" Doctor Varus asks as he walks over to Charles''s bed. "Yes I''m feeling great, I can go now right?" Charles replied though a bit reluctant to leave the comfortable bed. "Indeed your free to go, oh and the fighter named Sieg is waiting for you outside the room. He was adamant about waiting for you." Varus sighs as he walks back to his desk.


    Walking out of the door Charles sees Sieg leaning on the wall, but the bandage on his right eye has been removed and showed a long scar line down his closed eye."Took you long enough to wake up, now then let''s grab some food!"Sieg said as he starts walking down the dimly lit cobblestone corridor to the mess hall. Charles silently follows Sieg; he looks around at the people walking by them. They seemed rather scared, as though their trying to avoid some dangerous beast. "So Charles, how much do ya know about this arena?" Sieg asks trying to break the silence. "I don''t know much to be honest. All I know is that I have to fight to survive here." Charles replied.


    "Well at least have that figured out. Most young fighters think this place is just some sick prison, so they give up on the first day. If you haven''t already noticed the fighters here are more or less free people inside this arena. All they have to do is fight, win and put on a good show." Sieg comments. "Put on a good show? Oh right someone told me something about an audience watching us fight. But during the duel, I had with Leon the audience were all fighters and guards." Charles said as he recalled what Robert said to him.


    "During personal duels between fighters aren''t shown to the public unless it''s between very high profile fighters. Most Low-rank fighters and especially low-rank young fighters are no high profile fighters, so most duels usually are only watched by other fighters to see the competition and guards that want to watch two people fight." Sieg explains. "The real audiences that watch the arena matches are nobles, city folk and the people that come to Roaring Silk city to sightsee. It''s considered high-class entertainment, so it''s quite popular. The city earns a lot from it too." Sieg continues.


    Charles and Sieg reach the mess hall, as usual, it''s relatively crowded with people eating rice and beans while chatting about recent events and fighting. But as soon as people spot Sieg standing in the doorway, everybody quickly moves to the back. Charles became confused at their behavior, but Sieg doesn''t seem to care. "Alright we got some seats, go ahead and seat first. I''ll grab you some food." Sieg said as he walks towards the guards giving out food.


    Charles sits at one of the wooden tables as he looks around. He looks at the other fighters moved to the back of the mess hall in confusion. Charles could see that most of them were looking at Sieg with wary eyes and some of them were looking at him with pity. The same shame they showed him when he was about to fight Leon. Can I ever catch a break with these people? I already received enough pity the first time so what''s with you guys pitying me again?! Charles starts wondering if he should tell doctor Varus to check on these sick fighters when Sieg returns with two plates of rice and beans. "Thank you, Sieg!" Charles thanks Sieg in gratitude. Not even Robert treats him this kindly!


    "Don''t mention it, Oh and tomorrow is your fifth day here right?" Sieg asks "Yes that''s right. Oh, you mentioned that everyone has to fight on their fifth day when coming to this place right?" Charles replied "Mhm you have a decent memory, what they do here is that they bring in slaves in five-day intervals. So every five days there will be a battle royale held for those who had been here for five days as the new ones come in." Sieg says as he eats his food. "Oh, so you''re saying that when I came in together with a bunch of other slaves on the 5th day of some other group and they had this battle royale?" Charles asks.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Sieg nods and replies: "It''s one of the big events in the arena, Every five days there will be a battle royal with new slaves that come in. They will fight until only five survives! This way they get to remove the weak ones from the pile and audiences will be more interested in them. Oh, and the battle royales are split into adult fighters that age from 16+ and young fighters below 16." Sieg explains. "Eh?! Wait then how many people are in the battle royale?" Charles asks. "Well it changes every time, but usually it''s about 20 to 30 people." Sieg recalls "So I''ll have to survive while fighting that many people, then I can''t just sit around and relax! I need to start practicing!" Charles quickly said.


    "Mhm good, you have your priorities in check now. But food is also important! I didn''t get this body without eating you know!" Sieg says as he finishes his meal. "Alright, then I am done eating. Since you want to practice, fighting to meet me at the practice grounds once you''ve finished, I will practice with you!" as Sieg says that he stands up and walks out of the mess hall. Once Sieg was out of sight everyone in the mess hall lets out a sigh Robert quickly runs over towards Charles and blurted "Honestly Charles! You have the worst luck possible!"


    "Oh, Robert! See look at that I survived!" Charles says proudly. "Yeah, I thought you''d lose... But that aside what were you doing with one of the top five fighters in the lower rank? Are you actively seeking your death?! You are so young and have so much to live for!" Robert exclaims. "Woah there I don''t want to die! And what''s all this about one of the top five fighters?! Were you taking about Sieg?" Charles asks.


    "Yes! I am talking about Sieg Ironheart the mercenary! He is one of the top 5 in the lower ranks! His one of the few fighters that are capable of ascending to the higher rank!" Robert hurridly explains. "His one of the best then? Great! Then he can help me in practice!" Charles quickly finishes his food and runs off "I''ll see you later Robert!" Charles shouts. "Did...he even hear what I just said?!" Robert holds his forehead as he sits down on the wooden chair.


    Charles arrives at the practice ground after running straight from the mess hall. The entire practice ground is empty, and only Sieg and another man stood at the center of the sand pit standing away from each other by a couple of feet. "Oi Sieg, Why don''t we team up in the upcoming battles huh? We''ll get better scores ya know?" The weird man said as he tilts his whole body to the side while holding a short spear, kind of like a javelin with a Knife on his waist. Sieg stands straight, and his face looked fierce as he holds a battle-ax.


    "I am not in a mood to talk to you, Theo. Leave me alone." Sieg replies with a fierce tone. "My, my such rage! Don''t let that anger hamper you in battle or you might get bitten!" Theo laughs as he walks out of the sand pit and spots Charles. "So this is the kid that grabbed your attention. He doesn''t look that impressive. But before Charles could say anything in return a dagger was instantly pointed at his throat. "Do not touch him, Theo!" Sieg shouted.


    "Hmph, I was only playing right kid?" Theo asks Charles as he retracts the dagger back to his waist and pats his back. Charles starts sweating as he doesn''t dare even to move his head. "It was nice chatting with you Sieg, do consider my offer!" Theo shouted as he places the javelin and dagger back onto a rack and leaves. Charles holds his throat and notices he''s breathing faster.


    "Sorry about that Charles, I didn''t expect that guy to pop up here today." Sieg walks over to Charles "It''s fine, who was that?" Charles asks "The guy was Theo; he was a noble until he got sent to this dump. Though I can guess why anyways enough about him let us train! Get a weapon and join me in the sandpit!" Sieg replied. "Alright!" Charles then quickly runs over to grab a shortsword and a shield.


    "So that''s what you use, alright kid come! Let us practice!" Sieg replied as he holds his battle-ax in position. "Here I come!" Charles fixes his shield onto this left arm, grips his shortsword and rushes at Sieg!

 New fighting style!

    Charles charges at Sieg with shield and sword in hand as Sieg gets ready to attack. Sieg swings his battle-ax down onto Charles, Charles quickly raises his shield up and keeps moving to let his shield''s round surface deflect the blade. As the battle-ax swung down onto Charles''s shield, the battle-ax slides off but left a crack in the shield. Charles felt the impact of the battle-ax as he moved in but ignored it, as he dashed away he didn''t expect the end of the battle-ax to smack into his face!


    "You don''t have enough battle awareness. Focus!" Sieg says as he kicks Charles away. Charles gets pushed back by a few feet before starting to cough. "Hey, kid you alright" Janko finally spoke. "Yeah, I think I''m fine. Why did you suddenly come out to talk Janko?" Charles asks "Oh I just wanted to let you know that since you''ve fused with that skill, I gave you weapons are pretty much dead weight!" Janko replied "Dead weight but isn''t a weapon one of the most important things in a fight?!" Charles asked "Yes it''s true that weapons are essential but that is if you were a normal person! But you''re now fused with the skill I gave you, so weapons restrict your movement!" Janko explained.


    "Concentrate!" Sieg shouted as he rushes at Charles battle-ax at hand. "Alright, I''ll take your advice, Janko!" Charles quickly throws his shield at Sieg and charges! "Trying to distract me? Naive!" Sieg commented as he knocks the wooden shield away. Charles then swings his sword at Sieg trying to make Sieg focus on the sword. "Hmph!" Sieg quickly uses his battle-ax to deflect the sword. Charles then used this opportunity to let go of the sword and punch Sieg in the stomach. But instead of feeling flesh all he felt was hard muscle! "Just what are you doing?" Sieg asks as he uses the end of his battle-ax to try and hit Charles.


    But before the end could hit Charles, everything went in slow motion for him. Charles quickly uses this opportunity to use both his hands to knock away the battle-ax in another direction. "The hell?!" Sieg shouts in shock as he didn''t expect this type of reaction speed from Charles. Charles immediately uses both his hands to slam down onto Sieg''s chest knocking Sieg back three steps. Sieg starts coughing as he comments "Using your fists as weapons? You got some balls kid!"


    Charles felt a burning sensation on both his arms "Janko what do I do?! His body is tough! I don''t want to break my arms trying to beat him up!" Charles exclaimed. "You need to train your fist! Alright, when punching someone you don''t just straight punch a stronger person like what you just did! You''ll break your bones! What you got to do is aim for his joints, also known as weak spots!" Janko explained "Joints? Alright, anything else I should keep notes on?" Charles asks "Aim for his liver! His sides! Most people are weak to liver punches! Oh and try kicking him in his family jewels if there''s a need and if your feeling brave try to counter his attacks!" Janko replied.


    "Again with you spacing out! I don''t understand why you keep doing that but in a life or death battle nobody is gonna wait for you!" Sieg shouts as he swings down his battle-ax. "Shit!" Charles shouted as the slow motion kicks in again. Charles quickly runs forward close to Sieg almost hugging him and punches the right side of Sieg causing Sieg to lose strength for a second and limps forward. "Gah, what?!" Sieg shouts in pain. Alright, I got him! "Great kid! Now pummel him!" Janko exclaimed!


    Now that Sieg limped forward as though he was bowing and holding his stomach Charles uses this chance to slam his knee into Sieg''s face! The impact was so forceful that it caused a loud thud sound! Sieg gets somehow manages to stay on his feet but wobbles backward. "Damn that hurt!" Sieg manages to hold on for now. Charles uses this chance while Sieg is dazed to kick the back of his knee and Sieg falls into a kneeling position!This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    Charles goes in for a kick to the face, but Sieg grabs hold of Charles''s leg with ease and shouts: "Alright let us stop this practice session for now." Sieg says as he slowly stands up and let''s go of Charles''s leg. Charles is shocked as Sieg recovers quickly! "That was quite the fighting style you got going on there I''ve never seen someone fight with no weapons against a weapon wielder before, though I''ll say this before you start going into fights barehanded. Think about how your gonna get close to someone wielding a longsword?" Sieg commented.


    Charles slowly thinks about it and realizes that it would be practically impossible to get close to a longsword user to deal a sufficient blow without getting cut! Charles starts losing respect for Janko again. "Hey I can only give tips, I never said that I''m some actual battle master! I only point out fighting techniques! Besides, it worked when you fought Sieg just now! All you need to do is get close to your opponent!" Janko said in his defense.


    "Seeing how you''re much stronger in an extremely close range I have a recommendation for you," Sieg says as he walks towards the weapons racks and gives Charles a rapier and a long dagger. "Duel wielding? But why am I using two different types of weapons?" Charles asks. "Yes, I think this would suit you best." Sieg replied Janko then starts talking: "I''ll explain why he chose that for you! The reason for two different weapons is down to two things. First one is that if you have two rapiers, for example, their both the same length right? But when you fight with two weapons of the same length they will hit each other when you use it in certain ways, this is bad as it hampers your movement in combat and that''s the worst thing you want." Janko explains.


    "The second thing is due to the weapon type. Now if you are using two daggers that would be fine since their small but they don''t have enough reach from the opponent, so that''s bad. So you use a weapon with a long reach like for example a rapier. Now with back to the first problem, you can''t have two long reach weapon, so you grab a dagger as a choice but use a long one so that you at least have some reach. Now a long dagger is much better to block and hold that block than a sword due to it''s shorter center of gravity." Janko explains and keeps going on and on about the advantages and disadvantages, but Charles lost interest halfway through Janko''s explanation.


    "Well, I could give it a shot, thanks for the recommendation Sieg!" Charles says as he looks at the rapier in his right hand and the dagger in his left. "Alright try fighting me for a bit!" Sieg says as he brings his battle-ax crashing down at Charles! Charles quickly sidesteps the attack, seeing this Sieg quickly switches his stands and swings his battle-ax to his left. Charles brings up both the dagger and rapier to block the swing!


    Sieg pulls back his battle-ax and swings again! This time Charles jumps back to avoid the swing and charges forward with the rapier aiming for Sieg''s stomach, but Sieg manages to twist his body to dodge the incoming rapier! Sieg steps back by two steps to regain some footing and swings his battle-ax like an uppercut towards Charles with a lot of force! With the battle-ax coming up to Charles who had just gone back to his standing stance everything went into slow motion. Jeez, it''s like Sieg wants to kill me with this attack! If it weren''t for the skill, Janko gave me I''d probably have been flying by now! Charles decides to move to the left to dodge the battle-ax and strikes with the rapier.


    But unlike what Charles predicted the swing Sieg did halt halfway as he dodges Charles''s rapier and hits Charles with the end of his battle-ax knocking Charles to the ground. "Alright that should be enough for today, Keep training with those two weapons, and you will do quite well! Anyways I''m tired, so I''ll head back to my room. You should do the same, Charles. See you tomorrow!" Sieg says as he places the battle-ax back to the weapon rack and walks off.


    "Hey, Janko can I ask you something?" Charles asks as he stands back up and dusts off the sand from his hemp clothes."Yeah? What is it?" Janko replies "Why is it that I don''t feel when I see stuff in slow-motion just now compared to when I was finished fighting Leon?" Charles asks in confusion "You still haven''t figured it out!? It was because of your "Emperor''s Voice" that did it!"

 Emperors Spirit!?

    Charles''s returned to his room and looked to see if Robert was in the place. Looking around he sees that no one is in so he quickly sits down on the ground in the middle of the room and talks to Janko. "Ok, Janko you can continue." "Mhm alright, I''ll explain the skill I gave you! What you have now is called "Emperor''s spirit!" now this changes your spirit into a more stronger form allowing your physical body to improve tremendously! This power allows one the have the chance of becoming an Emperor!"


    "Wait I can become an emperor!?" Charles asked in surprise "Yes you do now! It was originally only people who are born with this Emperor''s Spirit. But that was the past! Now after many generations, a few people and I have found a way to give the emperor''s spirit to people who have never trained martial arts before though we have to be spirited to do it!" Janko says proudly "So what happens if I had trained in martial arts before?" Charles asks "Didn''t I tell you before? Only those who have never trained before would be able to fuse with the Emperor''s Spirit that''s the reason why only newborn babies have it! Anybody else who has at least dabbled a bit into martial arts will die in an instant after receiving it!" Janko replied, "So is that why you are now inside my head?" Charles asks "Indeed! You weren''t far away from the last person I helped was dumped at, and you didn''t emit any aura which someone who has trained before would have."


    "I''m not the first one you went into?" Charles asks "Yes you aren''t the first! I go into people who nearby and make them strong! Anyways let''s talk about what it can do instead," Janko continues. Charles nods as he listens attentively. "So the first and obvious one would be how everything goes into slow-motion when you''re in immediate danger. What is happening is that you don''t have full control of your Emperor''s Spirit yet! That''s why you aren''t able to activate it at will. The slow motion is due to your reaction speed, and your spiritual strength has increased allowing you to see things more clearly and faster allowing you to think more about your situation at that moment." Janko explains


    "There is also the Emperor''s Voice, because of the strong spirit you gain from having the emperor''s spirit someone with a weaker spirit will most likely fall to their knees due to the pressure of such a strong spirit! Oh and your physical strength increases quickly and it makes you inhumanly strong." Janko explains. "Wait to hold on, did you say it will make me inhumanly strong? That''s fantastic!" Charles said in excitement. "Now hold on there, it may make you extremely strong, but there''s a catch. In the Emperor''s Spirit, there are locks for different levels of power! The more locks to get through the more stronger you become!" Janko replied


    "So all I need to do is to open these locks? How do you do that?" Charles asks "Don''t worry. I shall guide you! I am Janko the Wise after all! I will guide you on how to unlock the locks! But first, you need to understand the mechanics of the awakening!" Janko says proudly "Alright!" Charles replied as he listens attentively. "These locks are located in different parts of your spirit! These locks are called Heavenly Locks!" Janko explained, "These locks are tests from heaven to measure if one is capable of becoming an emperor! And each lock needs to be opened in sequence so that your body can handle the power that comes with each opening!"


    "The first one is the White Lock located at the belly! The White lock acts as a foundation for your spirit to increase! As it''s the most solid lock, it''s the most suitable one to act as a foundation for your spirit!. The next 4 are the legs and arms, red, yellow, orange and green. Now, these four locks can unlock in any order, but it cannot be after the next 4 and before the White lock! The next lock 2 locks are located at the back, the lower back and upper back! Now, these are labeled blue and green. The lower back lock needs to be opened first before the upper back! This lock is to ensure that your upper back has a stable place to stand on!"The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "The last two are in your chest and your head! The one in your chest is the brown lock; you need to unlock this before the head which is the black lock. You have to open each lock in that order so that you will have an easier time unlocking the other ones!" Janko finally finished explaining. "So there needs to be a sequence, and after each one, you need to rest for a long time?" Charles asks "Correct, though during that period of rest their strength won''t be affected, they just can''t handle the pain of the next lock."


    "Ok, I think I understand. So am I ready to open the first lock?" Charles asks preparing himself mentally. "Mhm, you should be ready by now so let us start! First, cross your legs, close your eyes and clear your mind!" Charles nods. "Now your breathing must not be fast but slow! Take deep breaths and let it out slowly." Charles follows Janko''s instructions and slowly sees nine locks appearing in his mind.


    "Do you see the locks yet?"Janko asks. "Yes, I do see them." Charles replied "Good now you should see the white lock in the middle. Focus on that one and imagine that you''re using a key to open it" Janko replied. A key appears in the white lock and slowly turns, but as this is happening the air around the room starts to become much colder. "Hmm? Something is wrong! This effect should not be happening! What''s going on?" Janko wonders as he looks around the room.


    But as Charles opens the white lock, all the locks start shattering like glass. Suddenly a loud low pitch gong sound is heard and heavenly golden light slams into Charles''s stomach instantly making him fly back from the center of the room and smashes into the wall and coughs out blood. Silence fills the room, Janko stares at Charles in shock as he starts sweating spirit sweat. Charles rubs the blood away as he looked at Janko "What''s wrong? Did I do it right? I don''t feel that pain all over my body like you just said though. It felt more like a giant hammer just slammed into my chest."


    Janko stares at Charles with a dead look and says: "I''m stuck with a reject...Oh fuck, I''m stuck with a reject..." "Reject? Wait, hold on what happened?!" Charles asks hurriedly in a panic "You just got rejected by heaven! Heaven just deemed you unworthy of being an emperor! What did you do in your past life to deserve such hate?!" Janko replied "Unworthy? Maybe it''s because I was never born with it in the first place!" Charles commented "That''s impossible! I''ve done this multiple times in the past and have never had that happen before!"


    Janko sighs as he gives up "It''s fine, at least you have some information on what emperor''s spirit is. You will most likely meet people who have it in the future." "So in the future, I''ll have to deal with those types of people?!" a shiver runs down Charles''s spine as he thinks about how terrifying it would be. "On the bright side at least you have a tad bit of Emperor Spirit left in you, you will just have to train ten times harder!"


    Before Charles could ask more about it, Robert returns and looks at Charles. "Oh, Charles this is where you were!" Robert then notices a few blood stains on Charles''s mouth "Hey are you alright? Did Sieg do this to you?!" Robert asks with worry. "No Sieg didn''t do this to me, I just accidentally bit my mouth is all!" Charles replied "Well be careful! Anyways you need to prepare for tomorrow! You''ll be participating in the battle royale event!" Robert says "Mhm, Sieg told me about it before. Only five people can survive it right?" Charles asks.


    "Right! You need to make sure you''re ready! I know you had beaten Leon, but you aren''t the only amazing young fighter this batch! This guy had beaten other contenders to receive the title strongest contender for best prospect of the young fighters title. Their duels were less high profile, so not many people know about it, but Rock was one of the fighters that managed to see that fighter! He said that they had easily beaten both opponents so make sure you don''t try to fight them!


    "Alright, I''ll be on the lookout for a good young fighter, right? " Charles asks "As long as you understand. Anyways let''s get to sleep it''s gonna be a long day tomorrow." "Got it." Charles sighs as he walks back to his corner. Hopefully, I won''t meet someone with Emperor''s Spirit tomorrow!

 Battle Royal!

    Charles quickly grabs a shield off the ground and holds it with both his arms as he guards face and body. A robust young fighter keeps punching the shield leaving a dent with each punch. I seriously have the worst luck!


    Back in the present, Charles slowly opens his eyes as he felt his entire body aching. Having slept on the ground for so long made Charles''s body feel horrible! Charles blinks his blurry eyes awake as he looks around the room. "Young fighter Charles! Your fight is coming up soon get up!" A guard shouted outside his room. "Urgh" Charles groaned as he slowly gets up, using the wall beside him as support. Charles massages his shoulder as he walks out of the room to the corridor "Alright I''m up, so that battle royale is coming up?" Charles asks "Mhm, follow me and be ready." The guard replies as he starts walking down the corridor.


    Charles follows the guard as he can hear the faint sounds of the announcer shouting as the crowd cheers on."There''s a fight going on right now?" Charles asks "Today is the usual event we have every five days. you should try an focus on your fight today; the crowd is rather big today." The guard replies. As they walk down the dimly lit corridor, Charles could see other young fighters getting out of their cells with guards escorting them. "How many people will be in the fight?" Charles asks "There will be 28 young fighters this time around. You''ll be one of the 28. And we have arrived." The guard replies as they stopped at the same wooden door that Charles went through during the duel he had with Leon.


    Charles enters the room but doesn''t see the room with weapon racks but instead sees a room with six other young fighters sitting around waiting for the fight to start. Every single one of the fighters glances at Charles for a second before looking back at the ground. Every one of them was wearing the same hemp clothes as Charles with faces displaying different emotions. Some of them seem terrified of what was going to happen, others looked focus and determined while the few who didn''t show those two emotions just had a dead look to them as though they were ready for their demise.


    Four guards were standing at each corner making sure that none of the young fighters do anything. Then one of the guards shouted "All fighters in this room stand and proceeded down the corridor!" Everyone stood up and walked towards the corridor leading to the arena. Charles follows them, but one of the guards stops him and asks "Are you, Charles?" "Yes, I am sir," Charles replied as soon as he said yes the guard takes out a red cloth and wraps it around Charles''s neck. "Do not let this cloth leave your neck if it does then that means you die. Even if you are one of the five who survived. Now get going!" The guard says as he pushes Charles to the corridor.


    Charles started sweating, why does he have this cloth?! But before Charles could even think about it more, the announcer shouts "Everyone! Be prepared to witness another excellent battle royale, as you can see this time is much more different than past battle royales! The brilliant arena master has changed the rules to make it even more interesting! We have an array of copper weapons scattered around the arena floor! The young fighters will start out with nothing on hand but can grab a weapon from the ground to fight with, unlike in the past where each opponent could choose their weapons!


    And to spice things up we the top prospect of the young fighters in the battle royale today! He has managed to defeat the former top prospect in just his third day! We have given him a red cloth to symbolize his achievement and would like to provide him with a prize! If he is to be one of the top 5 survivors, he will have a chance of obtaining a fighting technique and a weapon from the arena master''s private collection! But other fighters also have an opportunity to receive this fantastic prize! All they have to do is kill him, wear his red cloth and become one of the top 5!"Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    The six fighters around Charles''s red cloth with greedy eyes. Every young fighter has set their sights on Charles. Charles started sweating bullets as he realizes his situation "Kid, I do believe we are going to die." Janko comments as he loses all motivation. Screw this useless spirit! Screw this arena! But before Charles could curse more, the announcer shouts "And now let the battle royale begin!!!" The gates open to the arena and every fighter starts rushing out to grab a weapon. Charles blood boils as the remaining Emperor''s Spirit kicks in. With his heightened senses, he felt terrific!


    But before he could even get a weapon, someone immediately attacks him with a punch. With the little bit of Emperor''s Spirit Charles has he manages to dodge the incoming blow and quickly counters with a kick that pushes the fighter away from him. But before Charles could even get a breather, another opponent runs at Charles with a small copper knife. Charles stops the fighter''s attack by grabbing the man''s arm holding the knife and elbow''s the fighter''s face. The fighter loses his grip on his dagger and Charles uses this opportunity to snatch the dagger and stab the opponent in the neck instantly killing him.


    Charles removes the dagger from the fighter''s neck and the opponent from before charges at him with a longsword! Charles quickly steps forward and blocks the overhead attack with his left forearm, Charles then uses the knife to his right hand and stabs the fighter multiple times in the stomach before kicking the opponent away. The opponent drops his weapon when Charles stabbed him and got kicked away, dying from the multiple stab wounds. Charles grabs the sword from the ground as he tosses away the dagger that broke while stabbing the fighter.


    Charles looks around and sees fighters spread around the arena fighting each other to the death. But just as Charles managed to catch his breath, he sees another fighter charging at him with a longsword. But this fighter has a bit of a weird aura around him. "Quickly run! That guy has the Emperor''s Spirit!" Janko shouted. The opponent grips his longsword and slashes at Charles in a diagonally. Charles quickly dodges the sword, but it manages to cut off a bit of his hair. The fighter then goes in for a thrust aiming at Charles''s stomach.


    Charles moves sideways and guards his side with the longsword and as he predicted the fighter changes from a thrust to a sideways cut hitting Charles''s sword! But the impact was so intense that both swords break! "Hmph! Such weak weapons! I shall smash your head into the dirt then!" The fighter shouted as he tosses the handle aside and throws a right straight punch at Charles. Charles quickly moves his head to his right and manages to avoid the punch which had so much force that Charles could hear the wind quickly blowing past his left ear. Charles notices the fighter''s left arm moving so he immediately brings up both his arms to block his chest and stomach as the opponent throws an uppercut punch at Charles''s body!


    Immediately as the punch lands on both Charles''s arms, he is sent flying back a couple of steps! Charles falls onto the ground as he tries to shake his arm to try and get rid of the pain from the punch. People who have Emperor''s Spirit have powerful punches! As Charles was getting up he could see the fighter running at him he quickly looked around to find any weapon to use against the freak! He turned his head and saw a shield next to him! Charles promptly stood up and holds it with both arms as he guards his face and body. The fighter quickly sends a punch onto the shield leaving a dent!


    The fighter grins at this and quickly starts punching more and more leaving more and more dents onto the shield slowly deforming it! Meanwhile, Charles was holding on for dear life as he could feel his arms slowly giving out! As the fighter kept on punching the shield Charles sees that someone is running up with a sword behind the opponent. Charles then thought of an idea as he lifts up his leg and kicks the fighter in the stomach with all his strength!


    The fighter was not expecting the kick groans in pain as he falls back a few steps, just as Charles hoped the fighter gets cut by another fighter with a sword! Furious that he got cut in the back of the opponent with Emperor''s Spirit ignores the pain and starts smashing the other fighter with his fist as he starts bleeding from his back! Using this chance to escape Charles tosses the deformed shield away and runs in the opposite direction as he shakes his arms in pain! That guy had Emperor''s Spirit?! Why is my luck so bad!?

 I will not die here!

    Charles manages to get some distance away from the fighter with the Emperor''s Spirit. He quickly grabs a longsword from the ground as he looks around at his surroundings. Charles then sees three fighters coming at him with spears while shouting "We found the guy with the red cloth!" as they charge with their spears aimed at Charles. ''Shit!'' Sovora thought as he quickly brings up the long sword up to defend himself! The three spears come piercing right at him! Charles using his Emperor''s Spirit to knock two spears away with his longsword and grabs the third spear tight and pulls the fighter towards himself. The opponent not expecting this loses his footing as he falls towards Charles.


    Charles uses his right hand to smash the fighter''s face in as he falls towards Charles creating a cracking sound as the opponent falls flat onto the floor. Charles then moves his focus back to the two other fighters. One of the fighters was stunned for a second from seeing Charles knocking out his friend while the other fighter was running at Charles with an angry yell. With only one person coming at him it was much easier to counter! As the spear was coming at Charles in a piercing motion, Charles quickly sidesteps left avoiding the spear from hitting him. Charles quickly stabs the fighter in the stomach and kicks the almost dead opponent away.


    The fighter gets pushed back and falls to the floor dead. The last fighter finally realizes that both of the fighter''s friends are now gone and hurriedly runs away. Charles then hears a loud shout behind him. "I''m gonna kill you!!!" Charles quickly turns around leaving the longsword in the fighter''s dead body as Charles sees the fighter with Emperor''s Spirit running at him with his back and hands full of blood! ''Damn it!'' Charles starts running in the opposite direction to avoid the hulking bloodied man! "I will break you!!!" The bloodied man shouted. As Charles was running away, a fighter runs up with a sword trying to kill Charles! Charles immediately grabs the fighter''s arm as the opponent was swinging his sword down with his left arm and uses his right elbow to smash into the fighter''s face, looking back he sees the bloodied man almost reaching him! He quickly runs behind the dazed opponent and grabbing the fighter''s arms to use him as a meat shield.


    At that moment the bloodied man finally catches up and swings an uppercut to the stomach of the dazed fighter sending the stunned opponent and Charles flying back a couple of steps. Charles lands hard on the dirt floor leaving a ringing sensation in his head as he tries to get up, but the dazed fighter''s body falls on him. "Argh!" Charles uses a lot of strength to remove the body from him and sees that the dazed fighter''s ribs crushed by the bloodied man. ''The guy is probably dead!'' Charles shivers at the thought that it could have been him that got hit. Charles then looks forward and sees the bloodied man just right in front of him as the bloodied man raises his leg ready to crush Charles!


    In a panic, Charles quickly pushes his right leg forward kicking the bloodied man in his family jewels! "AARRRGHH" The bloodied man shouts in pain as he shivers and falls to his knees while he holds his nether region. Using this chance, Charles gets up to grab a shortsword off the ground and swings down the sword at the bloodied man''s lowered neck! But just as Charles thought he succeeded in killing the bloodied man he raises up his left arm to stop the shortsword! The shortsword cuts through the bloodied man''s flesh but ends at the bone! While Charles is stunned by this, the bloodied man grips his right fist tightly and punches Charles in the stomach!


    Charles steps back due to the impact of the punch and pukes blood from the pain. The bloodied man grabs the shortsword stuck to his left arm and pulled it off leaving the would open and bleeding but doesn''t seem to bother about it through the bloodied man looks extremely tired! ''What the hell is that man made out of?!'' Charles thought as he tries to steady himself. The pain coming from his stomach was excruciating, luckily the bloodied man''s punch was much weaker than when he punched the dazed fighter a moment ago.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    As Charles was trying to recover the bloodied man slowly rises from the ground. But just as he got up the scared fighter from before comes running back and tries to stab the bloodied man with his spear! But the bloodied man manages to grab the spear stopping the attack! The bloodied man easily pulls the spear from the spear from the scared fighter and stabs him back with it in the stomach. Then the bloodied man uses his Emperor''s Spirit to have enough strength to carry the spear with the body at the tip up and stabs the end of the spear into the dirt making it look like the spear impaled the fighter.


    The bloodied man then slowly walks towards Charles fatigued. "Quickly that man is weak now! He shouldn''t be able to tap into his Emperor''s Spirit much anymore. You should have a fighting chance now!" Janko commented. After hearing that Charles started walking towards the bloodied man. "what is your name?" Charles asks "Andreas! Remember this name, as I rip...your head off!" Andreas said in an exhausted voice. Both of them finally got in range of each other and started their duel!


    Andreas starts off with a right straight punch towards Charles''s face, but Charles blocks it with his left fist and punches Andreas''s stomach with a right punch! Andreas endured the hit and threw a left punch at Charles causing the latter to stumble side was from the pain. Andreas then throws a right uppercut towards Charles''s chin, but he manages to dodge it! Charles uses this chance to counter with a straight kick to Andreas''s liver causing him to move four steps back.


    Charles quickly runs forward to attack with a punch to the face, but Andreas moves to the side and tackles down Charles! With Charles on the ground, Andreas goes for a right punch towards Charles''s face but as he does that Charles grabs Andreas''s right punch with both arms and pulls it as he pushes Andreas''s body with his right leg causing Andreas to land flat on the dirt floor beside Charles. The both of them quickly get up and start going at it again with a series of punches and kicks each landing some blows on the other.


    After a few punches and kicks, later the both of them stand to look at each other exhausted. Charles shakes his arms to get blood back in them as they were getting numb from all the hits he blocked with them while Andreas holds his stomach was trying to endure the pain. As they were resting, they both hear a bunch of loud shouts beside them. They look over to see six fighters charging at them with swords, spears, and axes in hand.


    "Hey, Red Scarf!" Andreas shouted at Charles as he moves his body to look at the six incoming fighters running at them. "My name is not Red Scarf, Andreas! It''s Charles!" Charles replied as he does the same. "Charles then! Why don''t we deal with these punks before continuing our duel? I still want to live so I can rip your head off personally!" Andreas shouted as he picks up a longsword from the ground. "Fine! But let me tell you now I ain''t gonna die!" Charles says as he picks up two short swords. "That''s for me to decide!" Andreas replied as he rushes towards the six fighters with his longsword! Charles sighs as he grips his Shortswords hard and attacks them as well!


    Charles immediately blocks the first fighter''s swords strike with his left sword and cuts open the fighter''s stomach with the right sword killing him! Andreas grabs the handle of the battle-ax of the opponent and shoves his long sword into the fighter''s stomach! Andreas let''s go of the longsword to block the next fighter''s spear by grabbing the shaft of the spear stopping the attack. He kicks the back of the fighter''s knee and punches the fighter''s face knocking the fighter out. Charles quickly blocks the next fighter''s longsword with his right sword and stabs the fighter''s neck with the left sword!


    Charles leaves the left sword in the dead fighter''s and parries the incoming spear and stabs his shortsword straight into the fighter''s heart instantly killing him. Meanwhile, Andreas grabs the spear from the knocked out fighter and does an overhead swing that smashes into the next fighter''s guard breaking the fighter''s sword and smashes into his skull killing him! Andreas then stabs the spear into the knocked out fighter''s throat killing him.


    They thought they were finished more fighters notice Charles''s red cloth and immediately focuses on them. Charles exhaustedly grabs a longsword from a dead fighter as he looks at the small crowd of people rushing at him and Andreas and shouts: "I will not die here!"

 The Arena Masters Collection!

    Charles cuts his way through the first two people''s necks as they run at him with his longsword and parries the next two opponent''s swords! With their front wide open now, Charles quickly uses his longsword to stab the opponent on his left in their stomach and kicks the fighter on his right away. The fighter gets knocked back pushing three other fighters behind him! Andreas, on the other hand, grabs a shield off the ground and smashes the fighter''s face crushing his face! Andreas then throws the shield at two other people knocking them to the ground. He then picks up a spear from the ground and stabs the two fighters in their necks killing them.


    Charles dodges a sword coming at him and punches the fighter in the gut and disarms the opponent by chopping down hand onto the fighter''s wrist. Charles then cuts the fighter''s neck ending the fighter''s life. Just as Charles kills the opponent,t an ax comes flying past him and smashes into the brick wall behind him and is now stuck there. One of the fighters who was knocked down before quickly comes running with another one-handed ax in hand as he tries to slice down onto Charles. Charles moves his body sideways just barely dodging the ax as he knocks the fighter''s face with an elbow stunning him. Charles then uses the sword and rams it up the fighter''s stomach killing him.


    Charles kills the last fighter, and a loud yet calming voice rang throughout the arena. "The fight has ended!" and the audience starts clapping for the remaining five left in the arena. Charles looks around to see who had stayed alive. First, he saw Andreas''s bloodied body standing tall above two dead fighters as he holds a bloody spear in his right hand. Next were the two fighters who were knocked down just now and didn''t run up to attack Charles, unlike the last opponent. And lastly, the last person to live in was the fighter Charles''s punched knocking the fighter out. But since he was only knocked out, it was considered that he was alive.


    "And here you have it, ladies and gentlemen! The top 5 that have survived today''s battle royal!" The announcer shouted. The audience started talking about who did the best in the battle royal. "I think it would be that large kid who''s all bloody, his endurance is quite astonishing!" "I think that boy with the red scarf is much better! Didn''t you see how he managed to survive all those young fighters trying to kill him? Even that kid you were talking about couldn''t even kill him, even in a full one on one!" "I agree that kid has some potential! No wonder he managed to be the number one prospect!"


    "The other three were just lucky that they didn''t die! Especially that one unconscious guy, if the red scarf kid had killed him when red scarf guy knocked him out he wouldn''t even be here right now!"


    "Congratulations to the 5 of you for surviving the battle royal though only 4 of you are well enough to hear me it doesn''t matter. The 5 of you are now the remaining members of your batch of young fighters! Depending on the Arena Master''s decision you may either stay here or be sold off to someone! Now then audience did you hear that? That''s right you can buy these fine young fighters in our auction tonight!! Their starting prices will depend on how the Arena Master judges their worth so if you are interested come on down to the auction tonight!" The announcer announces the news to all the audience members.


    "Seems like today''s auction will be quite the fierce one! Surely the red scarf and bloody kid''s prices will be quite high!" "Mhm, that red scarf kid is also a number one prospect too! Maybe I should try and get him to be my guard!" "Hmph! What makes you think you have enough money to buy either of them huh? I remember you saying that you won''t spend any money in today''s auction after that great time you had over at Orleans!" "That was because it was great! But having a bodyguard that I could show off will be worth it!" The audience members start chatting amongst themselves about the auction.


    "And with that, the young fighter''s battle royal has concluded, the next up will be the fighter''s battle royal!" The announcer says as two guards for each young fighter came out to escort them to their rooms. While Andreas and the other three fighters had basic low-rank guards helping them, Charles gets escorted by two high-rank guards kitted out with full leather Armor. "Young fighter Charles. You are to follow us to the Arena Master''s room." One of the guards said as he looks at Charles emotionlessly. Charles nods in understanding as he walks with them towards the Arena Master''s room.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    As they walked down the dimly lit corridor, they reached a highly guarded double door. The door made out of dark, thick wood that looked strong with a silver frame around it, it also had two lion heads on each door and had two guards standing by wearing lamellar chest Armor over a full set of leather Armor and both carrying two silver longswords that seem to be expensive. "We are here under orders from the Arena Master!" One of the guards beside Charles says. "Mhm, we have been expecting your arrival, please proceed." The right door guard replied as both door guards open the heavy wooden door with a silver frame.


    As the door opens as Charles suddenly receives a gust of fresh air that penetrates his nose cleaning it entirely! His nose had never felt so fresh since he came to the arena! And after the fresh smell, a sweet aroma fills the air, and Charles''s felt intoxicated by the scent. It was like strawberries, cherries and everything sweet filled the room. As Charles regained his senses, he notices that the flooring that the room was some smooth stone, it felt like stone, but it didn''t seem to have any roughness to it and was pure white! Charles could almost see his reflection on it! Around the room was countless of bookshelves filled with different kinds of books and had many different weapons and Armor displayed on the walls.


    From longswords to whips and helmets to greaves Charles felt like this room had every weapon in the world! Charles looks forward and sees that even though the room was supposed to have four walls like a square, the back wall was instead replaced with a giant window with a balcony instead! It didn''t look like the typical Architecture Charles had seen in the arena but instead had three stone pillars with serpent dragon sculptures wrapping around it supporting the roof of the balcony with red color fences wrapping around to prevent anyone from falling off. In the middle of the room just in front of the gallery was a large dark wood desk, the same kind of wood that was from the door and the desk had a bunch of engravings covering it.


    Dragons, lions and warriors engravings filled the sides of the desk making it look beautiful! In front of the desk was a rug made from beautiful white fur while the desk had scrolls, ink, and brushes on it. But sitting on the beautiful chair with the same kind of engravings as the desk was a middle-aged man who had short black and black eyes filled with vigor.


    But as Charles was scanning around the room the man sitting on the chair said with the kind of calming voice Charles heard in the arena "Alright the two guards may go, Charles, was it? Please come in front of my desk. And do not worry you''re allowed to step on the rug." As though he read Charles mind he had gotten rid of Charles''s first worry. Charles immediately walks towards the table and stands right in front of it as he tries his best to stand upright to show his respect. "Mhm, looks like you at least know your status. That will bring you far in life."


    "Most young fighters your age are quite straight-forward and have no respect for their seniors and superiors. Someone like Andreas, you came to blows with him many times during the battle royale." The man continued as he continues to use his brush to write something down. Charles continues to maintain his straight back doing his best not to lose it even though his whole body still aches from the fight he had just a moment ago. "You might have already guessed it, but I am the arena master of this place. You are here right now for two things, let''s focus on the first one first." The Arena Master said as he puts down his brush back onto the desk.


    "First, you shall pick a martial art technique from this very room. The books in the bookshelves here are all different techniques I have accumulated over the past few years. One of them is now yours to keep, though the choice of which is all up to you. You will also choose a personal weapon for yourself! A weapon is vital for any martial artist, even for those who focus on the way of the fist for a weapon is a tool to defeat your foe! An artisan cannot create without tools; civilization could not have become what it is today without tools and wars could not be waged without tools! So, pick whichever fits your fancy though I recommend choosing a technique first!" The arena master looks at Charles with curious eyes as he spoke.


    Charles shocked by what the arena master said looks around to see all the choices he had. "Of course, all of this is not for free; I have something to tell you after you have chosen your technique and weapons. Please do not disappoint me with your choices." The Arena Master smiled as he laid his body back onto the chair as he looks at Charles. "Time to choose Charles!"

 Technique and Weapon!

    Charles starts looking around the bookshelves, the books that filled the bookshelves seemed to have cloth covers with the names on the book''s spine. The first book Charles saw was a book called "Searing Thrust Palm," he opens the book to see images of a person doing several different poses with text talking about each one. "The technique you have in your hand right now is quite a famous one. That technique aims to use one''s palm to thrust into the opponent leaving a searing pain in their chest and has many different moves to make sure that you land that final thrust palm to your opponent''s chest." The Arena Master explained. Charles decides to put the book back as he thought to himself: ''So each technique has a bunch of different moves that make sure you''re able to land that main move!''


    Charles then starts to walk down the bookshelf as he scans the different names of the books. "Wolf Fang Strike" "Shadow Weaving Fist" "Leaping Uppercut" and a bunch of different other techniques. "Sir, what do you think is a good choice for me?" Charles asks The Arena Master, seeing so many different techniques has left Charles overwhelmed. "I cannot help you in this Charles; you must learn to choose for yourself." The Arena Master replied smiling. "Hmph since he will not help you I will!" Janko commented as he finally comes out from his short slumber. "That would be great! What do you think I should get?" Charles asks.


    "You should try to find a technique that will work with your current fighting style! For example, if you were to usually fight standing firm and strong while attacking your opponent with pure strength but you suddenly picked a technique that focuses on using your opponent''s strength against them as you move around like you were dancing on air. The two techniques will clash with each other and may result in your death in future fights! So, you should try to find a technique similar to how you fight!" Janko explains. After listening to Janko, Charles thought of the fights he had gone through and realizes that he had been relying a lot on the little Emperor''s Spirit he had. "Janko, my Emperor''s Spirit was rejected by heaven, right? So how does it work now? I know I can still use that slow-motion effect, but will that last forever?" Charles asks.


    "Hmm well the slow-motion effect you keep seeing is a part of your body now so it will stay with you, only special abilities you obtain with an Emperor''s Spirit like the power to make someone of weaker will kneel before you might not exist inside of you anymore," Janko replied. ''At least that slow-motion effect is still there. But I can''t keep relying on it; if I face a powerful opponent again I might not be able to dodge their attacks!'' Charles thought and decided to start looking for a technique that focuses on dodging.


    After looking through several books with Janko''s help, he found five books that he could use. "Fleeing Sparrow Strikes," "Floating Swan Steps," "Constant River movement" "Dashing Rabbit Strikes" and "Silent Shadow Movement." "So, which one should I choose Janko? These look like ones I could use." Charles asks as he flips through the books. "Hmm, the "Fleeing Sparrow Strikes" seems to be a straightforward technique that emphasizes on a hit and run tactic. "Floating Swan Steps" resembles a movement technique that makes your movement in battle as graceful as a Swan, helping you move much better. "Constant River Movement" tries to replicate how a river constantly moves to make you constantly move as your fighting. "Dashing Rabbit Strikes" has about the same idea as "Fleeing Sparrow Strikes" regarding attack but mainly focuses on moving towards your opponent and evading their attacks to dish out your own. Lastly, it''s "Silent Shadow Movement" it resembles stealth movement arts that makes your steps much quieter allowing you to blend into the shadows as you move." Janko says as he examines each technique.


    "I would say that the "Dashing Rabbit Strikes" is most likely the best technique for you since your fighting style is much more up close and personal. This technique would be greatly beneficial for you!" Janko said confidently. Charles nods as he felt like Janko''s advice this time was quite good. "Sir, I''ve chosen my technique!" Charles said as he puts the book for "Dashing Rabbit Strikes" on the table of The Arena Master." "So, you have chosen "Dashing Rabbit Strikes." You have picked quite a good technique for yourself. Now go on and choose your weapon." The Arena Master replied calmly. "Alright, you just got the "Dashing Rabbit Strikes" so we need to find a fast weapon that complements the skill!" Janko commented.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    Charles looks at the wall of weapons to see what would suit him. "Janko, would a dagger be good?" Charles asks. "Yes and no. In a one on one, it would be great with your new technique but against multiple people you might have difficulties." Janko replied. Charles moves over to the sword section to see if he could find anything. But just as Charles thought that no sword would suit him, he notices a curved dark wooden stick. "Sir, why is there a wooden stick under the sword section?" Charles asks The Arena Master as he looks at the stick curiously.


    "Ah that one, I had the same reaction as you when I was talking the merchant that sold it to me." The Arena Master takes the wooden stick from the wall and uncovers it. The two sticks of wood separate and reveals a beautiful silver blade that looks extremely sharp. Charles stares at the sword with extreme interest, it was plain on the outside, but inside it was a beautifully curved and sharp blade. "When the merchant showed me the blade I immediately bought it due to how unique it was. Usually, swords would have a small engraving on their blade or hilt to symbolize that they had made it, but it doesn''t have one on this sword. So, the merchant and I assumed that it was made by a low-level blacksmith trying out his first sword. Though the craftsmanship looks quite good, I fear that the blade would be weak. That is usually the problem with low-level craftsmen." The Arena Master commented.


    Charles thought about it for a while and decided: "I choose this sword as my weapon!" The Arena Master looks at Charles for a second before asking "Are you sure? This sword is quite mediocre compared to the others." " Yes, I''m sure!" Charles replied, "Alright, then take the sword and come over to my desk." The Arena Master gives the sword to Charles and walks to his desk. "You picked well! The sword looked as though it was made from steel, unlike the other weapons made from iron!" Janko commented "Steel? Iron? Not copper? What''s the difference?" Charles asks "Copper is weak metal and very cheap, Iron is more commonly used due to its hardness, and it''s much easier to make than steel. Steel is much harder and durable than Iron but is hard to make."


    Charles walks over to the desk and stands with his back straight while holding the "Dashing Rabbit Strike" book and the sword he had just received. "The merchant did not give me a name for that sword you have there, but it should be called a katana. Anyways let us talk about the second thing you are here for, now I think you have heard about the auction that the audience will be joining right tonight?" The Arena Master asks, and Charles nods. "Now you were supposed to be sold just like the other four who won. But that has changed, a good friend of mine has asked me personally to give you to him.


    "A friend?" Charles asks, "Yes, do you see this entire room? Almost everything in this room was bought with my money using his connections. So, I am indebted to him, so now is here to collect that debt to obtain ten young fighters including you. You and the nine other young fighters will be sent to his fort to train and become his guard." The arena explains as he brings out a map. "This is where we are in Roaring Silk City in the Dragston Empire which controls the west. Where you will be going is east of here to a place that used to be called the Yang Dynasty but now due to some conflicts the Yang Dynasty has been split up into different states fighting for their capital."


    "So, who is this friend? Is he involved in the different states fighting and why would he need young fighters like me?" Charles asks. "Yes, he is involved in the warring states. He is, in fact, a general from one of the states, as for the reasons as to why he needs ten bodyguards I assume his scared of assassinations in such a dangerous time. Anyways now that you have obtained your technique and weapon, you may leave now. You''ll be able to sleep in your room for tonight; you will leave for the state of Zhong Zhou."

 Zhong Zhou awaits!

    Charles enters his room as the guards shut the door, he was escorted to his new personal room after finding out that he will be leaving for Zhong Zhou tomorrow. Charles looked around his new room as he happily thought about how nice would it be to not share a room with Robert anymore. The room''s walls were still made out of stone but they were smoothed out. The floor was made out of smooth stone bricks laid down in a straight pattern. The only furniture in the room is a wooden bed, the same kind Charles saw in the doctor''s room. ''I finally can stop sleeping on the floor!'' Charles thought as he placed his katana and book for "Dashing Rabbit Strike" on the floor and happily laid down on the comfy bed. " Now before you get too comfortable you should at least learn some of the techniques you just got!" Janko reminded Charles.


    "Ah, you''re right! Let''s see what this technique is all about!" Charles said as he picked up the book from the ground and started reading. "Dashing Rabbit Strike" is all about running into the middle of the fight, whether it may be a one on one duel or a group fight you should be the one who strikes first! The first person who strikes first is usually the winner and the faster killing your opponent, the less time you are in immediate danger! The best way to live longer is to kill faster! That is the way of the "Rushing Rabbit Strike"! We must rush to the opponent not allowing him to think and strike him down as quickly as possible! Your movement must be like a rabbit! Kick the ground and dash through the air as though you were flying and as you land kicks the ground again. This movement is to increase the speed of your dash! A dash isn''t a constant speed, but instead a burst of speed!


    So to get to your opponent as quickly as possible one must make one''s dashing speed extremely fast! The best way to train this is to practice kicking off the ground multiple times! Legs are your most important assets in any form of fighting style so one must train it well! Next is striking! If one is unarmed, you will not have the reach to kill your opponent quickly, but one will have a much faster attack! Your fists are as quick if not even faster than most weapons; the only problem is that your punches are too weak to finish an opponent with one attack without a proper technique, this technique sadly doesn''t state anyway to improve the fist. If one is unarmed the first is to go to where the opponent is most open! It is usually either the head, side or legs! This principle is also the same with weapons, but the most suitable weapon would be a sword or a sword for a quick cut or thrust.


    If one''s attack is blocked, then one should try to run back and try not to engage in a long battle as there are many ways the battle could end up with one''s head on the floor. And if one is being attacked by multiple people run back and try to make it so that you are fighting with a one to one fight every time. Do not allow more than 1 opponent attack you at 1 time. There are too many ways that a 2 on 1 fight could go wrong. So one should use the same kicking motion to avoid 2 on 1 situations by positioning oneself into one on one scenarios. The technique talks more about the different ways to dodge opponents, which gave Charles many new ways to dodge.


    "Alright, I think I understand the technique now!" Charles says happily after 2 hours of reading. "Mhm, as long as you have the book with you to reference now and then you should be able to learn it fairly soon! It has gotten late so you should rest for tomorrow." Janko commented Charles, nodded at Janko''s suggestion as he paces the book back down onto the floor and fell asleep. The next morning Charles woke up well rested and his body felt much better. Charles then realized that he still had the red cloth on his cloth that was put on him at the start of the battle royal. ''I should keep this on, to remember the times I have spent in this arena.'' Charles decided to keep the red scarf and picked up the technique book and placed it inside his hemp shirt and held his katana in his left hand as he walked out of the room.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Charles walked out of the room to a guard was waiting at the front of the door. "I was just about to call you out young fighter Charles; the Arena Master has asked you and nine other fighters to meet him. I shall be escorting you to where you will meet the Arena Master." the guard said. Charles nodded and followed the guard as they walked through the hallways. After a while of walking the guard and Charles finally stopped a courtyard filled with green grass, trees, and flowers with a large metal gate leading to the outside at the end of the courtyard. In the middle of it was a large stone platform where the Arena Master and nine other young fighters were standing on. "Ah, Charles you are finally here come and join us." The Arena Master says as he spots Charles arrive.


    Charles walked up to the platform and looked at the nine other young fighters. He doesn''t recognize 8 of them but does see Andreas there, the Arena Master then started talking. "The 10 of you here have been chosen to serve the 100-man general Er Hong in the state of Zhong Zhou. You will protect his estate, and if you impress him enough, you might join his army and become a free man. Though that will depend on your performance while you serve general Er Hong." the Arena Master says as the gate opens. "You will ride the carriage out to Zhong Zhou and meet with general Er Hong there, but even though the arena''s high-rank guards will be escorting you there will be some danger on the road."


    "With the war in that area becoming quite heated bandits are now abundant. So when the carriage comes under attack, you must help the guards! Do not be complacent and think you will arrive at Zhong Zhou unharmed. Treat this as a test for the 10 of you to reach Zhong Zhou alive and well if the guards feel like they are about to die they will prioritize their own life than yours, this is an order that has been told to them by general Er Hong and me. Now prepare yourselves mentally and get to know each other as the guards prepare the wagon." The Arena Master concluded his speech and walked out of the courtyard.


    Now left alone with the guards starting to set up the wagon with supplies the eight other fighters began talking amongst each other and Andreas walks up to Charles. "I finally get to see you again, Charles." Andreas smiled as he looked at Charles, after fighting together with him during the end of the battle royal Andreas has begun to respect Charles. "At least this time you aren''t trying to kill me." Charles replied "Hmph one day we will have a duel to see who is stronger! By the way, what''s with that stick your holding there? Didn''t you get some weapon from the Arena Master?" Andreas asks as he stares at the katana. "This is my weapon! It''s rather good quality too!" Charles smiled happily but doesn''t unsheath the katana. "Hmph, I don''t know what you see in this stick, but you also got a new technique right? Mind telling me about it?" Andreas decides to ignore the katana and focus on the technique Charles obtained.


    "Now that is going to be my secret, maybe if we get ambushed by bandits like how the Arena Master said then you''d see it in action!" Charles replied. "Hmph, well, then I''ll look forward to it! Well then let us work together again. Since you met the Arena Master before this, you know anything about this general Er Hong guy?" Andreas asks " Not much, the only thing I know is that the Arena Master owes a debt to general Er Hong so now this is the Arena Master''s way of repaying it. " Charles recounted as he remembered what the Arena Master told him before.


    "Well, looks like we have to go into this blindly, while on the road let''s train with each other! It''ll get us ready for the road ahead!" Andreas exclaimed, and Charles nodded in agreement. Charles and Andreas talked for a while more before a guard started shouting:" Alright you 10! The wagon is filled with supplies so we aren''t able to sit on the wagon so we will have to walk the entire way! Now then quickly move, and we can get going." Everyone sighed as they heard the news "I guess this is another test?" Charles wondered "If it is I swear to god that the Arena master and this general Er Hong guy must have some weird hobbies." Andreas grumbled as all 10 of them walked through the gates and started the journey off to Zhong Zhou!

 The road to Zhong Zhou

    To get from the arena to the border of Zhong Zhou, it would take nine days to get there on foot, eight days on a regular horse and six days on a trained horse. After reaching the border of Zhong Zhou, to get to the estate of the 100-man general Er Hong, it would take two days of walking to get there. Everybody, including the guards, sighed, the scenery while walking the road to Zhong Zhou has been filled with nothing but trees and some occasional merchants that pass. Plus with bandits roaming the lands it might take even longer to get to Zhong Zhou. "Maybe staying in the arena wasn''t so bad, at least we get to have a roof over us," Andreas grumbled as they walked. It has been two days since they had left the arena and just last night they had to sleep in the rain. One of the fighters was slowly starting to get sick.


    "We have to persevere on; it''s not like these guards are going to let us go anyways. Plus, if we tried to escape the Arena Master and that general Er Hong would probably hunt us down." Charles sighed sadly. This journey to the border Zhong Zhou was the first time since he entered the arena that he had been able to walk around outside. But instead of happily walking where ever he wanted to he had to follow a long road with a bunch of guards looking at their every move. "Have you spoken to any of the guards before?" Andreas asks "No, never bothered to. I don''t want to say something wrong and get gutted for it accidentally." Charles replied "Alright, we are stopping at this point for today! Everybody set up camp!" The head guard shouted as the two horses pulling the wagon stopped.


    After an hour of setting up everyone could finally rest. The guards sat with each other and talked amongst each other while the young fighters fell asleep on the floor exhausted. Andreas who still had energy due to his Emperor''s Spirit went up to a resting Charles and said: "Hey Charles since we got some time right now, why not a little practice!" Charles looked at him in shock "You still have the energy to practice?!" "A walk like that won''t make me tired! Though being uncomfortable is horrible. Now come on! Let''s duel for a bit!" Andreas said as he takes out a long wooden staff from the wagon. "I''ll use this while you use that stick of yours!" Andreas said as he positioned himself in a fighting stance.


    Charles sighs as he picks up his katana, no one other than him and the Arena master knew that under the stick is a sword. Charles decided not to reveal the katana and leave it as a stick. "Alright, let''s do this, but I won''t hold back!" Charles said as he goes into a running stance while holding the katana in his left hand. Andreas smiled as he grips the wooden staff harder. "Alright, Charles, let''s see what you can do!" as soon as Andreas shouted that Charles immediately kicks the ground with his right leg and flies rushing towards Andreas.


    Andreas shocked by Charles''s speed quickly lifts his staff to try and stab at Charles while his rushing towards him. Charles sees what Andreas was trying to do and quickly kicks to the left dodging the staff and swings the sheathed katana towards Andreas''s neck, but he grabs the katana with his left hand before it could hit him. "Alright, I''ll count that one as me losing, what was that speed you came at me with?! It was crazy!" Andreas exclaimed as he lets go of the katana. Charles started breathing heavily after using most of his stamina trying to use "Dashing Rabbit Strikes." "You ok Charles? You look like you''re about to collapse!" Andreas asks as he sees the condition Charles is in.


    "Y-yeah, I''m fine, using that technique takes quite a toll on me. I think I''ll rest for now." Charles says as sits down and relaxes on the grass. Andreas then looks back at where Charles started and when he dodged the stab and sees two small craters at both points. Andreas shakes his head and nervously laughs after seeing the two craters "Thank god he didn''t kick me." Andreas then walks back next to the wagon to rest beside it. While the both of them rested, the eight other young fighters started talking about the duel. "Hey, did you even see how that Charles guy moves?" "Don''t know, all I saw was just that Andreas guy catching the stick!" "Those guys are way too scary!". The rest of the day goes past without much happening and the group continue to Zhong Zhou.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Another four days past and there was nothing that happened on the road to Zhong Zhou. The guards have started to relax more, and the young fighters have started to think that bandits would never attack. Night fell while everyone is asleep Andreas and Charles were sitting in the middle of the camp round a campfire. "Today is the 8th day, right?" Andreas asks as he pokes the fire with a stick. "Yes, we should reach the border of Zhong Zhou tomorrow, according to what the guards said. Though the fact that no bandits have attacked is rather odd." Charles commented as he stared at the fire with his katana right beside him. "Hmph, we should not be like those other 8! We must be alert at all times, losing our lives in some unknown place would be laughable!"


    But just as Andreas said that the both of them suddenly heard the sound of blades unsheathing and a sudden shout "Men! Attack!" Suddenly, 30 to 40 men wearing dirty hemp clothing ran out of the forest and charged into the camp with some wielding small farming scythes and some wielding pitchforks. Most of the attackers ran into the supply cart where the five guards and eight young fighters were sleeping at while 10 of them ran at Andreas and Charles. Immediately Charles unsheathes his sword extremely fast and cuts the first attacker in front of him. Andreas kicks away another attacker and grabs a pitchfork from another one and punch him. Charles uses the attackers attacking them inexperience in fighting and kills 4 of them quickly with his katana by aiming for their weak points.


    Andreas using his brute strength uses the pitchfork he has to smash the four weak attackers with the pole of the pitchfork knocking them out. "Andreas go grab a weapon from the supply wagon, I''ll try to stop the attackers from killing the rest!" After telling Andreas what to do Charles started running towards where everyone was resting at. "Hmph, I was going to do that anyways!" Andreas shouted as he ran towards the wagon. When Charles arrived, he saw the head guard and three young fighters trying to fight off the attackers. Charles immediately uses "Dashing Rabbit Strike" to kick off the ground and kill the five attackers that were fighting with the head guard slashing necks open. He kicked the ground again to change direction and helped the two young fighters in killing four more of the attackers in the same way.


    The rest of the attackers seeing their allies die so quickly immediately tried to run, but couldn''t escape Charles''s "Dashing Rabbit Strike" and one by one they died while trying to run. Charles looked at the head guard and two young fighters and saw that none had any injuries on them, but the four dead guards and six dead young fighters on the ground had each been stabbed multiple times and bled out to lead to their deaths. "The attackers weren''t bandits, but seemed to be villagers!" Charles shouted in anger. Once a farmer himself Charles knew the weapons the attackers were wielding weren''t weapons but farming tools. "Why in the world would ordinary farmers attack us like this?!" Charles couldn''t understand what was going on.


    "So they were villagers, to think that they would do something like this. The situation in Zhong Zhou must be terrible." the head guard commented as he looked at the dead bodies around them. "We should move from this place as quickly as possible! The dead bodies around here will attract the beasts around this area!" The head guard advised. "Yeah, we should get out of here!" Andreas shouted as he walked over to them empty-handed. "The bastards stole the damn wagon as we were getting attacked! By the time I got to where the wagon was supposed to be, I found nothing! The two horses also seemed to have run away too!"


    "It is fine; when we reach the border, we will be able to contact general Er Hong from there. And since my life isn''t in danger yet, I will escort you. Now quickly take the armors of the guards, they won''t be using it anymore now that they''re dead. They were quite stupid not to heed my words to wear their armors even while they''re sleeping, but it is great for the 4 of you left!" The head guard said as he pointed to the four full sets of armor. Charles, Andreas, and the two young fighters quickly wore the complete sets of leather armor and the small group of 5 set out to continue the walk to the border of Zhong Zhou!

 100-man Commander Er Hong!

    After a day of walking under the scorching hot sun, Charles, Andreas, the two young fighters and the head guard finally saw the town that was situated at the border of Zhong Zhou. "We finally reached the border! The 4 of you need to remember that you all serve general Er Hong now so when you refer to him you say, Sir, got it!?" The head guard reminded. The 4 of them nodded as they all looked at the town in the distance. The buildings were shaped much more differently than the houses they saw when they exited the arena at Roaring Silk City! The roofs of the houses were upturned, with the tips of the roofs pointing to the sky While the walls of the houses were made from wood and stone. The positions of the houses were also rather odd as they were all symmetrical to each other.


    The 5 of them arrived at the front of the town they spotted two soldiers who were wearing lamellar leather Armor with cloth clothing under it, and both each held a spear with a wooden shaft, and an iron tip in their hands held their hands up to signal the Charles and the other 4 to stop. "Halt foreigners! State your reason for entering Zhong border town!" One of the soldiers asked. "We are here under orders of general Er Hong! We come from the Roaring Silk city!" The head guard replied. "General? You must not have heard the news, but the government has changed the ranking system for the military, it is Commander Er Hong now! Anyways, we have been expecting your arrival, though the commander had said that there would have been at least ten people." The soldier said.


    "Our camp was attacked by a large group of villagers! They killed 4 of the guards and 6 of the young men that were supposed to arrive here as well. The villagers had also stolen our supplies." The head guard explained. "I see, you should report this to the commander! I''ll lead the way, please follow me and don''t wander off. The other soldiers have gone on high alert after the battle we had two days ago." The soldier said as he began to walk into the town. The 5 of them followed the soldier closely as Charles asks, "Is that battle related to the villagers having to take our supplies?" "No, I doubt so. The battle we had were just with bandits. I bet that the villagers had just left a village that had a famine. It''s common as of recently. It''s like the gods are starting to punish us." The soldier sighed.


    Charles then remembered how his parents had sold him off when they were in the same situation as the villagers in this region and started to empathize with them. But after thinking of the villagers, Charles tried remembering the people he killed a day back and realized that he couldn''t even remember the number of people he killed. The number of people he cut down was way more than the amount he had killed during his time in the arena. ''The outside world is more different than the arena...''.


    After walking past a few houses, they reached the middle of the town where a mansion that was twice the size of the regular homes and had a wall as tall as a man surrounding the house and its courtyard. The Gates to the mansion was surprisingly not guarded, and they walked in with no troubles. "Wait here in the courtyard as I tell the commander you have arrived." The soldier said as he walked into the mansion. Charles looked around and saw that the courtyard was very clean, there wasn''t a single dead leaf on the ground. The mansion had the same type of structure as the other houses with the same odd roof and was made from wood and stone, and the only difference was that it''s twice the usual house''s size.


    Just as Charles finishes looking around him, Andreas, the head guard, and the two young fighters suddenly felt a slight pressure pushing down on their shoulders, holding them in place and caused them to lower their heads and look to the ground. "Ah, so these are the fighters that man sent. Though the amount is half of what I asked for." An overbearing voice rang throughout the courtyard as all 5 of them started sweating in fear. ''Why am I so afraid of one person talking?!'' Charles thought while gritting his teeth as he used all his strength to raise his head up and sees a tall man muscular man wearing iron lamellar Armor with a halberd on his back made entirely of iron. Charles then saw the man''s face; he had a rectangular face with a strong jaw, sharp eyebrows, deep black eyes and a full short beard. Charles also noticed that Andreas and the head guard had also raised their heads, but were shaking from the pressure.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    "Hmph only 3 of you here could handle this pressure, but only barely! I expected a bit more, but I shall not dwell on this further." The man said as the pressure started to disappear and all five of them started breathing normally again. "I am the 100-Man commander Er Hong and you 5 serve me now! I was expecting 15 people to survive the road here, but to think only five would arrive. What a shame." Er Hong said as he looks at them. "Sir, does that mean that the guards that were sent by the arena master are to serve you as well?" The head guard asked. "Oh? Did he not tell you? Everyone that traveled out of that arena is to come into my command! Though it should have been a way for him to hide this from those nobles in his empire." Er Hong explained.


    "So, what will we be doing, sir?" Charles asks "Actually; I obtained you all initially because I wanted bodyguards to protect my family. But with the recent events happening in the region I have decided to make the 5 of you enter my command." Er Hong replied. "We will have to go to war?!" the two other young fighters shouted in shock. "The arena the 5 of you lived in should have trained you to survive harsh conditions so a battlefield will be fine for you, unlike the peasants who joined for the glory of being in the army but vomit their rations out as soon as they enter the battlefield." Er Hong said. " Now the two who just asked that stupid question go to the barracks, one of your fellow soldiers will bring you there. As for the 3 of you follow me inside the mansion.


    The two young fighters walked out of the mansion with their heads down as they followed a soldier while Charles, Andreas, and the head guard walked into the mansion with Er Hong. They entered a room that was furnished with tables and chairs like a living room with paintings and calligraphy on the walls. Er Hong sat down on a wooden chair and gestured the 3 of them to sit as well. After all, three had seated did Er Hong starts talking. Now I have said that you five would be enlisted in my army where you will be under my command on the battlefield. But I have decided that the 3 of you will control a 5-man squad each. That means each of you will have four people that will follow you during battle.


    The 3 of them opened their eyes widely in shock! Er Hong had given them each a chance to lead a squad of men! "Sir, I don''t know a thing about commanding people, is this a good idea to give me this position?" Charles asks, "Are you defying my orders?" Er Hong looked at Charles and frowned. "No, sir!" Charles quickly replied. "My orders are final; a soldier will guide the 3 of you to the barracks to rest for the day. Tomorrow you will meet the members of your squad! And next time refers to me, as Commander! You may leave!" Er Hong declared, and a soldier enters the room to escort the 3 of them out.


    As they walked towards the barracks, Andreas looked at Charles and said: "So, we are going to be leaders of our groups!" "I am more surprised about how he had given us so much responsibility," Charles said as he thought about how he will have to lead men into battle. "Fighters that are from the arena have a reputation of being great fighters. Commander Er Hong must have trusted the arena master''s choice in letting us come here and gave us such a big responsibility." the head guard said. "Anyways, Charles, since we are the leaders of our little squad how about this. Let''s have a duel regarding our leadership prowess! The first person to leave a good impression on the Commander will win!" Andreas said with excitement.


    Charles looked at the excited Andreas and nodded in agreement: "Alright let''s do it then! I assure you that I will win again!"

 Meeting the Squad!

    Charles, Andreas, and the head guard were split up as their living quarters were in different parts of the barracks. Charles looked around the barracks as he followed the soldier to his living space. Soldiers like the one he was following were roaming around the area as they maintained their weapons and Armor while chatting with each other. Some soldiers were also doing routine exercises around the barracks, and some were practicing with their weapons. The barracks had a big open field where most of the soldiers spend their time at while houses surrounded the square field. Most of these houses seemed to be living quarters as well, and there doesn''t seem to be anything interesting in the barracks.


    "We have arrived, you will be staying in this living quarters with your squad until further notice." The soldier said as he stopped at the door of Charles''s new living space. "Remember to see the vice commander after you have introduced yourself to your squad. You will have to go with your squad to the Vice Commander after that. Please do not take long introducing yourself. The Vice Commander will be in the largest building in the barracks. Please do not forget that." After telling Charles that piece of information, he quickly walked away. Charles then opened the wooden door to enter the living quarter. As he opened the door, he saw a rather small living space for five people. Five beds were placed together at the end of the room with a table that had five chairs with it. It was quite cramped with only one person being able to walk from the bed to the door at one time.


    As Charles finished looking around, he looked at the four men that were resting on the beds, though they were sitting together they didn''t look like they were familiar with each other. The 4 of them then looked back at Charles and sized him up. "So, we have a foreign kid leading us? That isn''t reassuring..." The man to the left who had the look of a man who had never been in a fight and rarely went out, his skin complexion was fair that it was almost pale with no signs of sunburn that was typical of someone who regularly is under the sun. His body didn''t look strong but was thin and somewhat frail, but his face was fierce due to his sharp eyebrows and his hair was long as it went over his shoulder, his height was average though. It made Charles wonder why this man was in the army.


    "Don''t say that we should give him a chance! After all, the army is the one who chooses the squad captain, so we should trust him!" the man beside him said with a kind smile. This man was much different than the scholar, His body was big and much more muscular than Charles and his height seemed much taller. He had dark tanned skin as though the man had been under the sun for most of his life and his hair was short and spiky. His face showed a kind man that would have never hurt a fly, which didn''t fit correctly with the man''s strong body, but Charles judged the man as a kind person.


    "Y-yeah! I think it''s alright too!" the boy next to the strong man said. The boy looked younger than Charles, who was ten years old. The boy had quite an average body size for a kid, the boy didn''t seem to have much fat on him, but you could see some muscles on him. The kid also had an average height and was slightly taller than Charles, who was quite short and had medium length hair. His face was indeed a young boy''s face with a look of innocence to him, but also looked a bit feminine. Overall the boy seemed quite healthy, though he had some muscles and seemed somewhat feminine, which made Charles confused for a bit.


    "We will see in the upcoming battle." The last man said. He seemed to be 2 to 4 years older than Charles; the man had the typical body of a soldier with tanned skin and defined muscles which clearly showed that the man had exercised a lot and had substantial strength. His face had no real emotion and instead made him look like a calm person, as though he was some religious monk. Charles couldn''t make out what type of man he was, so he decided to forget about it.


    While Charles was examining them, they were doing the same to Charles as well! They looked at Charles as he entered the room. The first thing that they noticed was how young the boy was. They had expected an experienced soldier was going leading them, but instead received a kid who seemed as though he had just learned to hold a spear! Though the young boy beside the strong man thought to himself ''I have found someone of my age here! Maybe he could be my friend!''. The next thing they noticed was his clothes, Charles was still wearing the same clothes he had while he was in the arena. The hemp sleeveless shirt with long hemp pants and old cloth wrappings were all covered in dirt, sweat, and blood, making it seem like Charles was some sort of barbarian from the mountains!Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    His hair didn''t help change that barbarian image too, as he had never bothered to groom his hair before, so now the tip of his hair touches his shoulders, his hair seemed to have not been washed in days, and his hair was messy. The only things that Charles had going for him were his face and body. Charles looked rather kind, gentle, and approachable face. When you looked at him, you wouldn''t think that he would hurt you in any way and could easily trust. Though his body looked thin, he was quite muscular, though he wasn''t as strong looking as the calm man. What they couldn''t figure out was the dark wooden stick Charles was holding in his left hand. Charles during the entire time he had been in the border town had not once let his katana leave his left hand. But the most shocking thing to them was that he was a foreigner!


    "My name is Charles; I will be the leader of this 5-man squad from now on. I look forward to working with you all." Charles said after examining them. "My name is Luo Cheng, though a foreign boy is leading us is rather hard to accept I will do my best to follow you." The weak man said. "Do not mind him! He means no ill will; my name is Dong Jian. Good to meet you!" The strong man said, apologizing for Luo Cheng''s earlier words. "Um, my name is Chen Lei, I hope you will treat us well!" The timid boy said. "My name is Zhou Huang." The calm man said and didn''t continue.


    "Captain Charles! I''ve heard that we need to follow you to meet someone!" Dong Jian, the strong man, shouted "Captain?" Charles asked in surprise. "Yes, that is what squad leaders are called I''ve heard plenty of squad members call their squad leaders that!" Dong Jian explained. "Ah, that makes sense. Oh yes, the soldier that brought me here said something about that. Well then everyone, let''s get moving!" Charles said as he and the four guys left the living quarters to meet the vice commander.


    After walking past a few houses, they managed to reach the largest building of the barracks that had a huge sign that said "Training Ground" with a young man that had an aura that made him seem like a man who could command anyone to do something with a single word. The man was wearing Iron Lamellar Armor with cloth clothing underneath and a sword strapped to his waist. "Squad captain, your name." The young man asked. "My name is Charles, I''ve been told to come here by the soldier that escorted me to my living quarters" Charles replied. "Good, you are the first to arrive. Follow me inside." the young man said as he entered the "Training Ground." Charles and his squad enter as well.


    As they entered, they saw a vast empty room with a dirt field in the middle. Charles recognized the field to look like the one he fought on the arena, but this field was much smaller. "I forgot to introduce myself, though you should have already guessed it. I am the vice commander; I am the second in command of 100-man commander Er Hong. I have been tasked with supervising the recognition of your squad leader. Normally this would have been held by a 10-man squad leader, but I am here instead." The Vice Commander sighed.


    "What do you mean by recognition?" Luo Cheng, the weak man, asked. "In a 5-man squad, the leader needs to be recognized properly by their men before they can lead them. If their men do not even respect their leader how will they obey their commands? So, to not let our men die so easily only capable men are allowed to lead a squad. Therefore, Charles, you are to show your worth and make your squad respect you, this can be done in either martial strength where you will fight your 4 squad members by yourself and win, wisdom where you will impart knowledge in any field and impress them or military chess where you will play with each member and win." The Vice Commander explained.


    As soon as Charles heard the three choices, he immediately shouted: "I choose martial strength!"

 Earning respect!

    Luo Cheng clicked his tongue as he knew he wasn''t an excellent combatant, but Dong Jian and Chen Lei were shocked by how Charles chose Martial strength. They had expected Charles to pick something like wisdom or chess as Charles didn''t look like a good enough fighter to be able to beat four opponents at the same time. Zhong Huang was the only one that showed no reaction. "So, you picked martial strength, Very well. You five may pick your weapons from the rack to my left and stand in the battleground. The weapons are all made from iron except the bow. If you bleed you lose, this means that if Charles manages to make all four members bleed he wins. But if Charles bleeds, then he loses."


    Luo Cheng took a bow and a few arrows knowing full well that he could not wield a melee weapon with his weak body. Dong Jian took a War Glaive that was mighty and tall with a sharp blade at the top, capable of clearing waves of enemies if one was strong and skilled enough. Chen Lei chose a Jian sword that was a beautiful, swift and deadly! Zhong Huang Chose a Qiang spear that was a flexible spear capable of smacking someone unconscious and stabbing someone till they bleed out. Lastly, Charles chose something resembling the katana he had received from the Arena Master. The weapon he chose was a Changdao sword which was a long two-handed curved saber.


    The 5 of them stood on the rectangular dirt field with Charles standing on the south side while Luo Cheng, Dong Jian, Chen Lei and Zhong Huang stand on the north side. The vice commander looked at the two sides and said "Attack each other like you were fighting with your life on the line but do not injure the opponent too much. Alright, begin!" Once the vice commander announced the beginning of the duel Zhong Huang immediately ran towards Charles with his spear aimed at him! Luo Cheng sighed at Zhong Huang''s unpreparedness as looks at Dong Jian and Chen Lei: "The last thing we want is to underestimate our opponent! He must have chosen martial strength for a reason; I have a plan to take him down so listen to me as we fight him alright?" Luo Cheng quickly told them his plan and prepared an arrow. Both nodded at Luo Cheng''s plan.


    Charles stands motionless as he sees Zhong Huang charging at him. After learning the "Dashing Rabbit Strike," his basic understanding of martial arts has improved quite a bit.''It It seemed like this Zhong Huang was a calm man who would not charge recklessly, but it turns out that I was wrong. Right now, he seems impatient, as though he is trying to get this fight over with. He must have underestimated me like how Leon did in the arena, and since his forward charge is so slow, I should just cut a wound in his arm and move on.'' Charles thought as he analyzed Zhong Huang.


    As he charged, Zhong Huang scorned Charles''s motionless state. ''Is he blind? Can''t he see I am running at him? Or is it that he is too scared to move?'' he thought as he charged. But just as he was about to poke open a wound on Charles lightly, he immediately felt a stinging sensation from his right arm, and it also felt a bit cold. He then noticed that Charles was not in front of him anymore. He looked at his left shoulder to see a small cut with blood slowly dripping out of it. He then started sweating and softly said in shock "h-how?" Zhong Huang couldn''t understand what was happening.


    Charles slowly walks towards Luo Cheng, Dong Jian, and Chen Lei after easily cutting Zhong Huang by using "Dashing Rabbit Strike." The vice commander raises his eyebrows in shock! He didn''t expect such a young child to have a martial arts technique! He now realized why commander Er Hong had given him the task of supervising his test. If a typical 10- Charles then sighed a bit as he was slowly walking ''It''s much harder to hold back when using "Dashing Rabbit Strike" If hadn''t done my best to hold back the technique I would have accidentally cut him in half!'' Charles thought and reminded himself not to use it against people that he doesn''t want to kill.


    "It was just as I thought! He was truly a good fighter! Remember the plan! One man can''t fight against 3!" Luo Cheng said to the two of them. Dong Jian and Chen Lei started sweating a bit as they held up their weapons in preparation. Unlike Luo Cheng, who has never fought a serious duel before they could see how strong Charles was in comparison to them. Comparing them to Charles was like comparing a sword made of dirt to a sword made from steel! If they couldn''t even see how he had cut Zhong Huang, then how would they even defend against it?! But Luo Cheng thought of it another way. Even though Charles looked strong, it must be because of some secret he had. If Charles gets distracted as he is attacking the Dong Jian and Chen Lei, he could launch an arrow to hit him at his blind spot! No man can''t block what he can''t see!If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Charles looked at Dong Jian and Chen Lei ''The two of them seem scared, they must think they''re weaker than Zhong Huang. I should try not using "Dashing Rabbit Strike" on them. It would be good practice, plus this weapon I chose feels very good.'' Charles thought as he awaits their attack. Dong Jian and Chen Lei looked at each other and nodded. Time to execute the plan "Blind Spot"! Dong Jian ran up first and swung his Glaive at Charles with as much power as he can. According to Luo Cheng''s plan, he said to use all the strength they can to pressure Charles. This is so that Charles''s mind will be fully focused on them!


    Charles seeing how fast he was swinging his Glaive at quickly moved back to dodge it. ''That was quite fast. That must mean that he is not going to hold back." Charles thought, but before he could think of a counter to the Glaive which was a weapon he had never encountered before, he was attacked by Chen Lei who had rushed at Charles while attacking with multiple slashes!


    But before he could think of a counter to the Glaive which was a weapon he had never encountered before, he was attacked by Chen Lei who had rushed at Charles while attacking with multiple slashes! Charles quickly blocks the strikes while surprised; he didn''t think that Chen Lei could use a sword this well! While Charles was blocking a Chen Lei''s series of attacks, Dong Jian swung down his Glaive at Charles. Immediately moved backward to avoid the attack. Just as he was moving back, an arrow came flying to him. It would have hit Charles if he didn''t have some Emperor''s Spirit still left in his body, so Charles manages to knock the arrow away with his sword before the arrow hit him.


    Luo Cheng cursed as he saw this "What is he a monster?! How could he have blocked that?! Dong Jian, Chen Lei continues to suppress him!" Luo Cheng shouted as he changed positions and moved to another location on the field. ''Luo Cheng seems to know how to plan a fight, I almost got caught by him too. I should find some time to learn from him.'' Charles thought as he blocked and pushed Chen Lei away so that he could deal with Dong Jian. ''Dong Jian is surprisingly strong, and that weapon he''s using is surprisingly dangerous! The reach and power it has would have been useful to me during the battle royal!" Charles thought as he sidesteps past Dong Jian''s downward slash and lightly cuts Dong Jian''s left arm. "Ah! I lost!" Dong Jian shouted as he saw the wound on his left arm.


    "Damn it! Chen Lei, it''s all up to you now! Make sure to keep him distracted!" Luo Cheng shouted as he shot another arrow at Charles and was easily deflected "Tch, monster!" Luo Cheng shouted and moved to another location on the field. ''That Luo Yang has been changing locations after each shot. I wonder why." Charles thought as he blocked the next attack from Chen Lei! ''This boy looks rather timid and shy, but right now his rather fierce!'' Charles thought as he finally parries Luo Cheng''s attack and lightly cuts his left shoulder as well. Feeling a bit down that he lost Chen Lei tears up a bit.


    "Shit!" Luo Cheng sees that he''s in trouble quickly fired off arrows as quickly as he could at Charles. ''Luo Cheng seems to be in distress, is it because everyone else has been kicked out and he''s the only one left? Such a clever mind, but a weak heart.'' Charles thought as he dodged the arrows easily with Emperor''s Spirit. Luo Cheng shot his last arrow and upon seeing that Charles had deflected, caught and dodged every arrow he shot he had gone into shock as he stood there staring at Charles as though he had seen a monster.


    Charles then walked towards the stunned Luo Cheng and left a small cut on Luo Cheng''s left arm and looked at the rest to see their shocked faces. ''It seems that beating them singlehandedly has made them respect me more!'' Charles thought as he feels a sense of accomplishment after winning, Dong Jian, Chen Lei, and Zhou Huang looked at Charles not with respect but fear: " Just what kind of monster did we get for a leader?!"

 Getting Some New Clothes!

    Charles and his squad returned to their living quarters with a bowl of millet porridge each and sat down on the table to eat together. "Captain, where did you learn to move so quickly?! I couldn''t even see how you beat Zhou Huang!" Dong Jian asked curiously as he ate "It''s just something I learned, though we all did get a technique from the vice commander correct?" Charles asks as he moves the topic away from "Dashing Rabbit Strikes". Luo Cheng who had given up on trying to figure out how Charles had beaten all 4 of them by himself without even breaking a sweat placed 5 books on the table. "Yes, the vice commander seemed to call it a breathing technique. Apparently, all soldiers in the army will receive this technique. From what I heard it was made by one of the great generals in the past." Luo Cheng said as he flipped through one of them.


    "Captain, do you know what we are supposed to do with this book?" Chen Lei asked as he looked at Charles with respect. "Well from what I can tell this breathing technique should be able to improve our bodies. We should try our best to understand and learn it." Charles said as he picked up the book to look at it. "I cannot see how reading a book would improve one''s strength." Zhong Huang grumbled, still hurt by how easily he lost to Charles. "Don''t be like that Zhong Huang, give it a try! Anyways there is nothing to lose from a little reading!" Dong Jian smiled as he looked at the book. After an hour of reading, Luo Cheng closed the book "I can barely understand anything from this damn book! What in the world is "Make your breathing one with your actions"?! Does that mean I have to breathe heavily when I strike and softly when I don''t? Won''t that just make your breathing erratic and make you lose strength easily?!" Luo Cheng shouted angrily as he looked at the technique.


    How could any of them learn this if the technique seemed so flawed?! While Charles too was thinking the same Janko finally appeared again "Oh looks like your somewhere new! You''re finally out of that damned arena!" Janko rejoiced. ''Janko! I thought you had disappeared!'' Charles said to Janko in his mind so that the other 4 wouldn''t hear their conversation. "So where are you now? Give me an update!" Janko asked ''Right now I''m at a barracks, I''ve joined the army!'' Charles replied. "You what?! Are you insane?! Why in the world would you do that?!" Janko shouted in shock ''Calm down! It was not like I had a choice! The arena master sent me here! Weren''t you still awake at that time?'' Charles replied. "I slept after you chose that weapon you have on your waist. Just when I thought you were out of danger you went right back into it." Janko sighed


    ''Since you are here Janko could you help me with this breathing technique?'' Charles asks as he starts flipping through it. "Alright, let''s give it a shot!" Janko said as he looked at the technique and immediately said "Who in the world made this technique?! It''s pretty much useless! If one trained this they would have some increase in body strength but if one was to continue this their breathing would go out of control and their stamina would deplete easily!" Janko said ''Then what should I do? The army seems to want us to learn this!'' Charles asks "Hmm give me an hour to think about how to fix this useless technique! I will figure something out!" Janko said ''Got it thanks, Janko!'' Charles gratefully said.


    "Captain? Are you ok?" Chen Lei asked as he looked at Charles who seemed a bit out of it. "Oh, I''m fine Chen Lei. Just thinking about how to fix this technique," Charles said. "Let''s stop thinking about the technique, for now. let''s talk about something else" Charles suggested. "I agree, this book isn''t going to improve us overnight." Luo Cheng said as he puts the book down. "So, what should we talk about?" Chen Lei asked. "What have you guys heard recently? Anything about upcoming battles?" Charles asked. "I don''t know of any new battles coming up, but I do know that there was a battle a few days ago. Apparently, bandits tried to raid the town, but the soldiers managed to get rid of them." Dong Jian said.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    Just as they were talking about the current situation Chen Lei realized something. "Captain! You need to grab some new clothes!" he said as he looked at how Charles was still wearing his dirty hemp clothing. Charles heard this and looked at the 4 people in front of him. All 4 of them were wearing clean hemp robes and pants which made him a bit embarrassed. ''I was so busy trying to figure them out that I didn''t even notice my own clothes!'' he thought and quickly asks "Chen Lei, where can I go to get new ones?" "Umm, you''ll have to go outside of the barracks, there''s a tailor that sells clothes." Chen Lei replied.


    "Ah, how about this? Why don''t we accompany the captain to pick out clothes? He''s new to the region so he doesn''t know the types of clothing, here right? Let''s help him!" Dong Jian suggested. "Mhm, sounds like a reasonable plan! It''s a better use of our time than to sit here all day!" Luo Cheng said, "Yes it would be much better than this." Zhong Huang agreed. "Alright, Captain let''s go!" Chen Lei said and all 5 of them headed out of the barracks. As they walked past the soldiers guarding the gates to the barracks Charles thought '', So the soldiers can come in and leave at any time. It''s good to know this now.''


    As they walked the dirt streets they could see normal people carrying out their daily routines and it gave Charles a pleasant feeling, it felt like he was back in his village. Luo Cheng then asked Charles about the fight "Captain, what did you do to be able to fight so well? It looked like you were a veteran!" Luo Cheng said "I gained my experience from fighting 2 life or death fights. I don''t consider myself a good fighter yet though. What about you? The strategy you came up with during the fight was quite good!" Charles said. "That strategy was nothing when faced against you though" Luo Cheng sighed "On the bright side Luo Cheng! The man that has destroyed your strategy is now our captain! So, cheer up!" Dong Jian said.


    "We are here captain!" Chen Lei said as they stopped at a store that has a sign outside that says "Tailor." The 5 of them walked inside and saw an old man sitting at the counter looking at a long piece of paper. "We are looking for some clothes for our captain!" Chen Lei said as he looked at the old man. "Hmph, you don''t need to be so darn loud! I heard you come in so wait!" He shouted in an odd accent as he places the long piece of paper down. "Alright then what are you looking for? If you don''t get any money, you aren''t getting anything!" The old man says as he sizes up Chen Lei. "I was wondering if you had any clothes for silver!" Chen Lei asked


    "A silver? You''re rather generous for a young boy! Well, then you can pretty much take whatever yah like from the racks. All handmade by yours truly! All made with the best materials for their price!" The old man said as he took out a hemp shirt that didn''t show any stitching that was usual on cheap hemp clothes. "You see this? This is real quality here! Normally you''d see some of the sewings on the clothes, but with this one all of it is hidden! The ladies will love this I''ll tell you! It''s only 20 bronzes for it!" The old man said as he showed the shirt to him.


    "Oh! Captain, what do you think? I think it would look good on you!" Chen Lei said as he looked behind him. "It doesn''t really feel right for me to buy stuff for myself with your money, I should try to get some money before buying clothes," Charles said as he felt bad that he had to use someone else''s money. "Do not worry about it! You are our captain, so it is fine! You need to look good out in battle anyways!" Dong Jian said, "It would strengthen morale if you had a more dashing look to you." Luo Cheng commented while Zhong Huang nodded in agreement. But just as they were talking the old man suddenly frowned.


    "You mean to say your buying clothes for this foreigner?" The old man asks as he stares at Charles with his eyes frowned. "Well yes! HIs clothes right now aren''t in best shape, so we thought of getting him some new ones!" Chen Lei said. "Hmph! I will not sell my clothes to foreigners! Get out! I do not want to see him in or anywhere near my shop! I do not care where you 5 are from just get out!" The old man shouted angrily.

 Trouble in the Town

    "Hold on sir! What do you mean by that?!" Chen Lei shouted in shock, why did the old man suddenly get so mad? "Get out! I will not let a foreign pig anywhere near my damn store!" He shouted as he took a stick next to his counter and waved it at them. "Just go away!" The old man shouted. "Let''s leave; it would do us no good to argue with this old man." Luo Cheng said as he leaves the store with Zhong Huang, Chen Lei, and Dong Jian. Just as Charles was about to leave with them, the old man stopped him "Hold on there!" Charles turned around confused and asked, "Didn''t you tell me to leave?" "I''m just giving you advice foreigner! Some bandits own this town and have told us to ignore all army personnel! Since you''re the captain of your squad, you should at least know about this!" The old man explained.


    "What? Commander Er Hong is stationed here, how could there be any bandits?" Charles asked. "You people in the army might not know it, but here every man, woman, and child know it! We can''t say anything!" The old man said "Then why do you trust me with this information? Didn''t you say you hate foreigners?" Charles asked. "The fact that you''re a foreigner that I trust you! The people of the army who are born in this region must swear an oath to protect the emperor and serve their own, distrusting their commander is considered treason and would be instantly killed! Seeing that your foreigner and new means that you haven''t been brainwashed by those bastard''s sweet talk yet!" The old man explained.


    The old man then gives Charles a set of new hemp clothing. "You can come over here to get any information you want, and I''ll do my best to help you with it! Just promise me that if you get the chance. Make that bastard lose his standing as a commander! I beg of you!" The old man begged Charles. Charles stood there and looked at the old man ''Janko, what do you think? Should I trust this man?'' Charles asked Janko. "I do not think he''s lying, though overthrowing your commander will be an extremely tough task!" Janko replied. Charles thought about it more and nodded "Alright I will do what I can." Charles said.


    A look of joy was shown on the old man as he replied "Thank you! On behalf of all the residents of this town, we thank you!" The old man bowed as he gives Charles the set of clothes. "Ah and take this as well!" The old man gives a necklace made with a leather string and a square steel amulet that had the engraving of a rabbit. "This was my son''s necklace, I have no use for it anymore, so you should take it instead. It will give you good luck!" The old man said.


    Charles takes the amulet and wears it around his neck. "Thank you; I will come around when I''m free." Charles thanked the old man. "As long as you do your best to help this poor town I assure you everyone here will treat you with the utmost respect!" The old man said as he smiled. Charles then leaves the store with the set of clothes in his hand and the necklace on his neck. "I just finished fixing that breathing technique! Get back to your place, and I''ll talk to you about it!" Janko said. Luo Cheng, Dong Jian, Zhong Huang and Chen Lei were waiting outside for quite some time and were worried that Charles had done something bad like killed the old man in anger. "Why didn''t someone wait with him there?" Luo Cheng asked, "I didn''t think that the captain would stay inside there!" Dong Jian said. "I should have waited for him..." Chen Lei said while Zhong Huang stared at the door of the store.


    When Charles came out all 4 of them heaved a sigh of relief but once they saw that Charles was holding a set of clothes they started sweating. ''Did he kill the man to get them?!'' "Alright guys I got the clothes, shall we go?" Charles said. "How did you get the stubborn old man to give you the set of clothes?" Luo Cheng asked. "Oh, I just talked to him! It went rather smoothly!" Charles replied nonchalantly. ''Talked? Don''t bandits usually say that when they beat someone up?! Smoothly? Were you talking about your sword going through him?!'' The 4 of them started thinking crazy situations, Charles didn''t seem to be a man who could convince a stubborn old store owner into giving him the clothes for free! Charles didn''t have any money on him after all!


    Charles didn''t know that his members thought of him that way and started walking back to the barracks. "What are you guys doing? Let''s go!" Charles said to the four guys who were standing there looking at the store. "Y-yeah!" Chen Lei said, and all 4 of them followed Charles. They got back to their living quarters, and Charles asked Janko ''So how goes the breathing technique? Did you manage to fix it?'' Charles asked ''Of course! There were a lot of dumb mistakes that the creator made. Like he was making the technique randomly! Honestly, a person like that should never have even written this! And for the army to give this out to their men, it''s like a death sentence!" Janko said. ''I wonder who the creator of the technique is. Anyways Janko, can I learn it now?'' Charles asked.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    "Of course! The only problem is that I have no way of giving the information to you and just telling you is too much work! So, I''m going to imprint the technique into your mind. You''re going to have to faint during the process so see you later!" Janko replied ''Hold on I-!,'' but before Charles could finish, he fainted onto his bed. The next day Charles woke up with a massive headache, a bunch of information suddenly appeared in his mind. He had the entire technique in his mind, but they were mixed up and not in order. ''Why is everything so out of place?'' Charles asked Janko "The technique I used to dump the information into your mind is not perfect, so the information is out of place. It''ll take a while for you to figure it out, but it will be worth it!" Janko replied.


    Charles nodded and got up, Chen Lei who was eating his porridge breakfast seeing that Charles has woken up happily said "Captain your awake! The rest of them have gone to eat their breakfast. I managed to get in line early and got two bowls of porridge and a piece of bread!" Chen Lei said happily. Charles sat down to eat with Chen Lei "Thank you, Chen Lei, I probably wouldn''t have eaten this morning if you didn''t bring this here." Charles said thanking Chen Lei. "Oh, it''s nothing! By the way, you should wear the new set of clothes. A soldier came around saying that the vice commander wants to see you when the sun sets." Chen Lei said as he ate. "I just hope it''s not another trial," Charles said and finished the food. "I''ll be in the town until sunset if you need to find me then wait until after I speak with the vice commander," Charles said as he wears the new set of clothes and leaves.


    Charles looks much better with his new white hemp clothes so decided to visit the old man to thank him, so he took his katana and walked towards the town, as he reached the store and opened it to see the old man talking with a girl. "Thank you for sending me food again Xu Ya, but you have to be careful! The streets these days are dangerous!" The old man said. "I know uncle, but I want to be helpful!" Xu Ya said. The old man sighed as he stops trying to persuade Xu Ya and notices Charles at the door. "Oh, you are here! Welcome! What brings you back?" the old man asked. "I wanted to ask you more about Er Hong. Though it seems like your busy." Charles said as he looked at Xu Ya, she looked about the same age as him with long black hair, cheeks that looked as soft as pillows and beautiful black eyes. "Oh, I''m not busy at all! Xu Ya here was delivering me food for the day. Ah, could you please help Xu Ya back to her mother''s store? I''m worried about the bandits that roam the place." The old man said.


    "Some bandits roam around here? Is that why there aren''t any patrols around here?" Charles asked, "Yes, but they avoid anyone who wears the army''s Armor which all soldiers who have been accepted will have to wear." The old man replied, ''That must be why the vice commander wanted to see me later.'' Charles thought and said, "Alright I''ll escort Xu Ya back." "Don''t I have a say in this?!" Xu Ya shouted annoyed with the fact that the old man has asked an unknown man to bring her back. "It will be fine Xu Ya! Anyways go with her and please keep her safe."


    Charles and Xu Ya walked down the path with some distance away from each other. "Uncle Jian might trust you, but I don''t so don''t get too close to me!" Xu Ya said still wary of Charles. "I understand, even I am surprised at how trusting he is," Charles replied as he walks behind her. They finally stopped at a store that had the sign "Herbalist." But just as they were about to go in a man holding a wound in his stomach walked out angrily and shouted "Fine! Don''t you regret it!" Seeing the man, Xu Ya quickly runs into the store worried, and Charles follows. "Mother are you ok?!" Xu Ya shouted as she saw her mother looking despondent. Her mother looked at her and quickly said: "I''m sorry Xu Ya we have to leave quickly!"


    "What happened, mother?" Xu Ya asked "There''s no time! If they arrive, now we are doomed!" Xu Ya''s mother said as she took her hand and tried to leave but before she could do that a man suddenly shouted from outside the building. "You dare to hurt one of my men?! Come out here! I want to see the bitch who dared to do that!"

 Fighting off Bandits!

    "They''re here..." Xu Ya''s mother muttered as she collapsed onto the ground. "Mother!" Xu Ya quickly helped her mother. She then looked at Charles and shouted "Uncle Jian asked you to help me, right? So, help me!" Charles looked at the mother who had lost hope and Xu Ya who is now begging him to help her. "You should help them; if you don''t it will weigh on your heart for a long time!" Janko shouted ''You don''t have to tell me that, it''s only right that I help them!'' Charles replied as he gripped his katana and walked out.


    The bandits who were still standing outside were smiling with glee! Their head boss was an army commander who owned a 100-man army! How amazing is that! No person in the town could stop them from doing whatever they want! All they had to do was to be of help to their boss by grabbing supplies for his army! But for some reason, a cushy job like raiding a simple herb shop owned by a woman had been stabbed by that same woman that owns the store! "That bitch sure has guts!"


    I''ll be sure to enjoy her tonight!" The leader of the group licked his lips in delight. But instead of a woman coming out to meet the bandits a 10-year old boy who held a stick in his left hand came out. The boy had clean white clothes that made him look superior to them with a face of a foreigner. The boy''s eyes seemed to mock them like they were lesser beings than him. "Oi, kid! Where is that woman! We don''t have all day! Get her out so we can get this shit over with!" the bandit who had got stabbed shouted.


    "Shout if you must, but shout only if you have the balls to back it up!" Charles said as he unsheathes his katana to show a beautiful steel blade! "Did this bastard say I don''t have balls?!" The wounded bandit shouted in shock "How did this boy know you''re a eunuch?!" another bandit shouted "It doesn''t matter if he knows whether he has balls or not! That blade he has could sell for a good price! Let''s kill the kid!" The bandit leader shouted, and all of them drew their swords and ran towards Charles!


    Charles immediately with no hesitation used "Dashing Rabbit Strikes" to dash towards the bandits and cuts one of the bandits'' heads cleanly. "Shit! He''s fast!" A bandit shouted as he sees his friend''s head get cut off in front of him. The memories of his friend flew past him as he remembered how much he owed him. When he had lost his family, he had come to his side and drank wine with him. When he was almost going to die, he had helped defend him. When he had lost everything, he had he had given him shelter, food, and water. Seeing his friend who he had so much respect for and owed dearly die tears ran down his cheeks in grief but before he could even avenge his best friend his head was also chopped off.


    The bandit shouted as he saw the crying bandit beside him get his head chopped off. The memories of the crying bandit flew past him as remembered the great times he had with him when he had slept with the crying bandit''s wife without telling him and had "accidentally" set the crying bandit''s parents'' home on fire when he had left the crying bandit for dead when guards came running after them. When he had stolen all the crying bandit''s money when he was sleeping with his wife and made her stay in his own home. The bandit smiled happily as he remembered the great times and his head gets cut by Charles.


    The two bandits behind him were scared when they saw the bandit''s smiling face as his head was cut off. They could wrap their heads how a once sadistic man could die like that both of their heads get chopped off as well. "What the fuck are you all doing?! Don''t just stand there, kill the bloody kid!" The bandit leader shouted as he saw 5 of his men''s heads get cut off with weird faces on the beheaded heads! How disgusting!


    Charles shook the blade to get rid of the blood on it and looked at the rest of the bandits. The other five were so easy to kill with the "Dashing Rabbit Strikes!" that Charles even thought of renaming the technique to "Dashing Rabbit Beheads Stuff"! ''Yeah, that sounds way cooler!'' Charles thought "Focus on the fight!" Janko shouted as he heard the ridiculous thoughts of Charles. The four bandits seeing their comrades die gripped their weapons tight looking as though they were ready to fight Charles immediately turned 180 degrees and ran the other way! "We will get other men!" The four shouted.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    A cloud of dust blew past Charles and the bandit leader as they stand there alone with five dead bandits behind Charles and four running bandits behind the bandit leader. The bandit leader started sweating as he looked at Charles ''Did those bastards run?! Did they seriously just run?! Don''t just leave me here! At least tell me when you''re going to run! Now I''ll look like an idiot if I run now!'' The bandit leader thought to himself as he tried to act cool in front of Charles.


    "Hmph, you see those four running away? They''re going to go grab more men to come here! What are you going to do when you face 30 men?!" The bandit leader shouted. "Only 30 men? That should be fine!" Charles replied. "HA HA! Of course, you''re scared! Wait what did you say?" The bandit leader asked in shock "I said it would be fine, 30 men would be some challenge, but it should be fine." Charles replied as he remembered how he had survived the arena battle royal without "Dashing Rabbit Strikes" so 30 people now should be alright.


    The bandit leader stood there in shock as he stared at Charles ''Did this kid say it would be fine to fight 30 bandits?! Is this kid mad?! What the fuck did we do to deserve this?! Wait, maybe the kid is just pretending! HA, yeah that makes more sense!'' The bandit leader thought and quickly gain back his composure. "Alright then! Since your so brave wait here until my men come back! Then we can settle this!" the bandit leader said as he sat down cross-legged on the ground, folded his arms and waited.


    ''Wow that looks cool, I should do that too!'' Charles thought and did the same with his sword placed in front of him. In truth, the bandit leader only did that because his legs were shaking so much that he couldn''t bear standing anymore after realizing how Charles could have easily cut him down like the five bandits behind Charles. The smiling bandit head was also looking straight at him with wide eyes! ''Look away damn it! Why look at me! I''m not your wife!'' The bandit leader thought as he tried to pretend like he didn''t see the head.


    Xu Ya was looking through the window from inside the store. "What is that boy doing?! He could easily kill that bandit already!" she angrily shouted as she saw Charles sitting on the ground in front of the bandit leader. After a few minutes, the four bandits who had run off earlier had come back with 25 other bandits. "HA! You guys are finally here! Let''s kill the kid!" the bandit leader shouted as he stood up and joined the rest as they all drew out their swords and charged at Charles. Charles stood up and dusted off the bits of dirt from his pants as he picked up his katana.


    Charles sheathed his sword and lowered his body down a bit. He bent his knees and held the sheath of his sword with his left and the handle with his right. His body faced the left while his head directly faced the enemy. As soon as they were in the range of Charles''s strike the world immediately felt like it had gone silent. Only the sound of Charles blade coming out from his sheath rang out, and for some reason, 15 of the bandits in front of them suddenly stopped.


    "What''s wrong?! Go forward and kill him!" The bandit leader shouted, but the 15 bandits didn''t respond! "Hey, Chen Fang! Why aren''t you responding?!" the bandit beside the bandit leader asked as he touched one of the 15 bandits. But instead of feeling a warm body he felt a cold body that felt like there was no life inside the man. And before he could even react a pool of blood flowed past his feet. "What is this?!" A bandit shouted as they ran back to avoid the pool of blood coming at them! The bandit leader in shock looked in front of him and saw the 15 bandits fall into the pool of blood below them, dead.


    Charles stood at where he drew his blade with a bloody katana and his head down. At this very moment what the bandits saw in front of them wasn''t a 10-year old kid with a sword but the devil coming to take them to hell! They all froze in their tracks, not even able to move as Charles slowly walked through the blood and cuts each of them one by one listlessly. And when it was finally the bandit leader''s turn to be killed he muttered a word before dying "M-monster..." and his head falls to the pool of blood.


    Charles finally sighed as he finishes killing the last bandit. "That...used...too...much...sta-" but before he could even end his sentence, he fell into the pool of blood exhausted.

 Concequences!

    Charles opened his eyes and saw a wooden ceiling "where am I?" Charles said to himself as he tried to get up. HIs body still felt rather tired, and he couldn''t use his strength much. He looked around to see an unfamiliar room, he was resting on a soft bed, and there was a table with bread with his sword laid on the side of the table. Charles stood up slowly and walked to the table with some difficulty. His legs felt like there being pulled to the ground. After struggling to walk towards the table, he finally managed to sit down. "I''m in such a bad state," Charles mumbled to himself.


    As Charles ate the bread left on the table the door opens and he sees Xu Ya coming in. "You''re awake! You were so reckless just now!" Xu Ya shouted as she placed a cup of water on the table. "How long have I been unconscious for?" Charles asked "At most 3 hours, the sun is about to set. I was wondering when you would wake up." Xu Ya replied "It''s almost sundown? I have stayed for too long, I need to go!" Charles said as he quickly rose up but with his tired body pulling him down he fell to the floor. "Hey! You''re clearly in no shape to walk around so just lay back down!" Xu Ya shouted as she helped Charles back up. "I need to go and meet the Vice-Commander," Charles replied as he got back up with Xu Ya''s help.


    Uncle Jian appeared at the door and saw Charles being helped up by Xu Ya. "Are you alright?! There were a ton of dead bodies outside! The dirt path was painted red!" Uncle Jian shouted. "Could you all stop shouting! Old man gets me to the army barracks. I need to speak with that vice-commander." Charles said as he stared at uncle Jian with determined eyes. He already told Chen Lei that he was going to meet the vice-commander and he won''t go back on his words just because he was too tired! Uncle Jian seeing Charles''s determination sighed "Fine! But with the state, you''re in you won''t be able to get back to the barracks before collapsing!" Uncle Jian replied.


    "You underestimate me old man," Charles said as he dragged himself out of the room. "Uncle Jian! Why did you let him leave?!" Xu Ya asked angrily, Charles was clearly in a lot of pain how could he manage to walk to the barracks which was on the other side of town?! "Did you not see the determination in his eyes? Those eyes he showed were the same kind of eyes that my son showed me when he left to become a general. I cannot get in the way of something like that." Uncle Jian replied. "But I don''t understand how that vice-commander had made him so determined to meet."


    "What are you doing?! Are you trying to get yourself killed?!" Janko shouted as Charles slowly stumbled his way down the street towards the barracks. "Stop right now! You''ll die at this rate!" Janko kept shouting trying to stop Charles. "I... need to...get back...I''ve...killed the commander''s bandits...if I don''t protect them...they''ll die!" Charles said with difficulty as he kept dragging his body down the street. "You have just met them for one day! They aren''t as important as your wellbeing damn it! It''s already taken a whole lot of work to keep you alive so don''t die like a beggar!" Janko shouted again after hearing such a ridiculous reason.


    "Their blood will be on my hands, Janko... I cannot accept...then. Just like what you told me...It will weigh on my heart for a long time." Charles replied. "Tch that was because I knew that you could beat your opponents! But for you to be so stupid as to wait for their other men to come! I almost thought you had no intelligence and this has made it fact! Your life is more important right now!" Janko shouted again. Charles ignored Janko shouts and kept on moving. Charles''s massacre of the bandits had been talked about throughout the entire town.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    2 hours ago. "Commander Yue! I am truly grateful that you would visit my estate during such difficult times!" Er Hong greeted Commander Yue as he kneeled to her. 1000-man Commander Yue, the head commander of Er Hong and 9 others 100-man generals. She wore a plate Armor breastplate with lamellar shoulder pads with silk clothes underneath. Her smooth black hair was tied into a ponytail that strength past her shoulders and her face that had no impurities was beautiful yet fierce. "Er Hong, I''ve heard that you have been working with bandits. Is this true?" Commander Yue spoke with a beautiful and calming voice. But Er Hong could feel the killing intent hidden behind her beautiful voice. "Of course, not Commander Yue! I an honorable 100-man Commander would never stoop so low as to work with bandits!" Er Hong replied confidently.


    He had already expected that Commander Yue would come because of this. He was already prepared to deal with the bandits by slaughtering them himself and show Commander Yue his loyalty to the emperor! "I see, well I will trust you, for now, Er Hong. I will be spending some time here to look around the town. Liu Xuan will be here to inspect the place as well." Commander Yue said as she turned towards the door. "L-Liu Xuan? Why does Lieutenant Liu Xuan have to inspect the barracks?" Er Hong asked with worry. "Do you have a problem with Liu Xuan, Er Hong?" Commander Yue asked as she turned her head towards him.


    Er Hong looked into her black eyes and immediately he felt like he was going to die at that very moment. "N-no commander Yue, I have no problems with Lieutenant Liu Xuan!" Er Hong quickly replied. "I do not like commanders who try to use villains for their gain Er Hong, especially when they''re under my command. I hope that you keep this in mind, to keep that head of yours attached to your body." Commander Yue replied coldly and left. The room felt like the temperature went down to freezing! Er Hong was frozen as he kneeled, he couldn''t move from the aura that woman had just let out!


    "That woman is too damn terrifying! But Liu Xuan is more of a problem! That man is way too smart for his good; if he looks around the place he will easily find proof that I''m working with the bandits!" Er Hong mumbled angrily. Just as he was about to relieve his stress one of his bandits who was a part of his army ran into the room. "Boss! Ou Fei and his crew just died!" The bandit shouted. "What?! Ou Fei is the strongest one, how could he have died!?" Er Hong asked in shock. "I don''t know! The villagers kept saying that it was a 10-year-old foreign kid that killed them!" He replied.


    "A foreign 10-year-old kid?! What did he look like?! Tell me now!" Er Hong quickly shouted "The villagers said he was short and didn''t have much meat on his bones. He had a stick with him and wore white clothes!" the bandit replied. "To think that the arena master would give me such a troublesome kid! I swear once I become a stronger commander I will go and kill that man myself." Er Hong swore as he remembered how Charles looked like when he had met him. Charles stood out due to him being the first one to resist his full killing intent and had carried a stick for some odd reason. "But I could use this to my advantage..." Er Hong thought and smiled with an evil grin.


    2 hours later, all the soldiers were lined up at the open square of the barracks with a stage that was meant to be used for Er Hong to command his troops. In front of all of them was Commander Yue who sat on a throne with a neutral face and Lieutenant Liu Xuan who had worn silk robes and had a feathered fan with him. His face looked calm and relaxed, but his eyes were like an eagle''s eyes, always scanning his surroundings and always thinking. "Commander Yue, if I may ask. Why have you accepted Er Hong''s ridiculous display?" Liu Xuan asked as he looked at Commander Yue. "It is fine; I want to see how Er Hong tries to prove himself innocent." Commander Yue replied.


    Soon four soldiers get pushed onto the stage with their hands tied, and they seemed to have been beaten up severely. The four people were Luo Cheng, Dong Jian, Chen Lei and Zhong Huang. "We shall now begin the trial of these four soldiers, to be punished for their squad leader''s actions!"

 Trial

    After hearing the announcement, everybody in the square started talking amongst themselves.


    Liu Xuan frowned and spoke, ¡°This is just another one of his schemes, isn¡¯t it? Just allow me to investigate him, commander!¡±


    ¡°Calm down Liu Xuan. We cannot investigate him until we have evidence of any wrongdoings We should continue observing.¡± Commander Yue replied.


    Er Hong walked up on stage and looked at the crowd of people. ¡°Commander Yue, Lieutenant Liu Xuan thank you for coming to observe this trial!¡± He bowed towards them in thanks.


    ¡°We are here to judge the actions of Charles and his squad members! Just today witnesses spoke of squad leader Charles discussing with bandits that have been roaming around the town lately and has even brought them inside this very town! Many have claimed to have seen him meeting these bandits out in the streets! But today, when seen talking to these very bandits, he slaughters all of them ruthlessly in cold blood! Not even giving them the chance to face court! And why is this? To eliminate any evidence of his wrongdoings!¡±


    ¡°We are to believe a hero makes these actions? Are we to let a snake-like this poison our communities? The law has stated that we must only kill when necessary, innocent or not! Every life is precious, we cannot tolerate actions like these! With these multiple offenses he has done under the law of the emperor; I believe that he is a traitorous snake! Not only that but a traitorous foreign snake! I have made a grave mistake in allowing such a foreigner such as him to sneak into our ranks! Commander Yue, I humbly ask that you take this matter into deep consideration!¡±


    ¡°That bastard, I swearif anything happens to Charles I¡¯ll snap that bastard¡¯s neck!¡± Andreas shouted, but only the guard captain heard him with all the noise.


    ¡°Keep your voice down Andreas! Charles is not up there so we can assume his somewhere else!¡± The guard captain said.


    ¡°Fine, but Charles better show up! We can¡¯t let that bastard get away with this!¡± Andreas grumbled as he stared hatefully at the smiling Er Hong.


    ¡°So, this is his plan, to shift the blame to an easier target. He must be happy that he had such good luck in finding someone to blame on.¡± Liu Xuan spoke as he examined Er Hong¡¯s plan.


    ¡°Er Hong had always been good with his sweet talk. If his heart was honorable, he would have been a great minister.¡± Commander Yue thought to herself as she tried to think about Er Hong''s speech.


    ¡°Commander Yue, both of us know that Er Hong is twisting his words. The man is corrupted beyond measure!¡± Liu Xuan whispered to Commander Yue.


    ¡°Er Hong, son of Er Kong and a 100-man commander under my command.¡± Commander Yue spoke with a chilling voice, making everyone freeze in fear. No one dared to move, afraid that they¡¯ll occur her wrath.


    ¡°Y-yes, commander!¡± Er Hong replied with fear in his heart. But to live, he must finish what he started.


    ¡°This allegation you have made against a soldier, your own soldier no less. If the evidence you have is unsubstantial, then there will be consequences.¡± Commander Yue said.


    ¡°¡­  Yue.¡± Er Hong took a breath to calm himself before replying. ¡°I have evidence that this foreigner has been corroborating with the bandits!¡±


    Er Hong gestured to a guard and received a pile of paper with a foreign seal on them.


    ¡°Commander Yue! When I had hired this foreigner into my ranks, I did it in faith with an arena master known as Ferdinand of the west who has helped us in the past before!¡± Er Hong said as Commander Yue gave a nod to continue.


    ¡°He was to be a great warrior, but just a few days ago I had received word from the head guard of many deaths of peasants towards the west! It was on the same road as this foreigner, and his band took to travel here! And based on our patrols over the area, the only party that has passed through that area was the dead peasants and this foreigner! I had thought this might have been an accident, but from the recent events I am certain that this foreign boy is a true villain!¡±


    The commander frowned as she thought about the evidence. ¡°Liu Xuan, take those reports and look at them.¡±


    Liu Xuan nodded and walked up to the stage to receive the papers from Er Hong. ¡°I will check them thoroughly now, Er Hong.¡± He said with a frown, not believing that these papers are genuine.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    Er Hong smiled, ¡°Lieutenant, I have great respect for you and the commander. It would be unwise for me to lie, wouldn¡¯t it?¡±


    Liu Xuan started flipping through the papers, analyzing them for any issues but he couldn¡¯t find anything out of place. The patrols did not spot anybody in the area for the past few days. The head guard¡¯s report was true and had even an extra copy to  to him when he had visited. If he was to believe the evidence shown to him, from the scene of these villagers'' deaths to the town, it would have taken about a day travel to reach.


    Liu Xuan looked at Commander Yue and said while clenching his free left hand ¡°From the evidence, I agree with Er Hong. The incident was a day away from the gates, and no one from the patrols had shown that there were no other movements in that area during that time other than this soldier¡¯s traveling party. If we were to doubt this evidence, then we would have to investigate the head guard and the whole patrol team. Which to me does not seem right.¡±


    With the innate trust in her own soldiers compared to a foreign boy who was a combat slave, she had no other choice but to agree with Er Hong. If she were to doubt her own soldiers, then would they follow her orders when she needed them the most? Or would they doubt her, like how she would have doubted them for some foreigner?


    ¡°I¡¯ve decided, Er Hong. You may carry out the punishment. By my orders, you are to find this foreigner and his party and execute them all. Report to me by the end of the day.¡±


    ¡°Thank you! The guards had already captured 2 of the 3 who were following him. So I shall instead carry out their executions here and now! This is the punishment of those that defy the emperor¡¯s will! As punishment for killing so many innocent civilians, I will cut each of their fingers one by one!¡± Er Hong shouted while smiling.


    ¡°What is he trying to do? Didn¡¯t you say to just execute them? Why is he trying to torture them as well?¡± Liu Xuan couldn¡¯t understand the disgusting thoughts of a man such as Er Hong.


    ¡°That foreigner must be rash if he had killed so many people in a few days. If the foreigner cares at all about his party, then he would come out and attack him. This is what I¡¯ve been trying to teach you, an angry enemy is much easier than a cold and calculating one.¡± Commander Yue replied.


    ¡°But this is entirely the opposite of the empire¡¯s teachings...¡± Liu Xuan commented with a frown.


    ¡°You will see more of these types of people on the battlefield, Liu Xuan.¡± Commander Yue told Liu Xuan. ¡°The battlefield does not care about whether you are righteous, only the winner gets to decide that.¡±


    ¡°The first finger! Now the Second!¡± Er Hong shouted as chops off each finger. The screams of the boys were horrifying, but to the crowd, these cries were the sound of guilt.


    ¡°No please! We are innocent! Help us!¡± Dong Jian screamed as Luo Cheng¡¯s fingers kept flying off one by one.


    ¡°P.please¡­¡­¡± Luo Cheng cried in pain.


    ¡°Oh god¡­ help up¡­ anyone¡­ please!¡± Dong Jian screamed again, but the crowd just watched them without a look of pity in their eyes. Hearing the words of Er Hong, that  they could only feel hate for the two boys up on the stage.


    ¡°7! No one will save you! 8! Your kind sow the seed of deceit! 9!¡± but before Er Hong could finish a loud voice shouted


    ¡°Don¡¯t you dare touch them anymore you sick fuck!¡± Suddenly a bunch of soldiers flew back creating a path from the middle of the army to the stage. Andreas was overflowing with rage as a dark red aura swirled around his body


    ¡°Since Charles isn¡¯t here to beat the shit out of your sorry ass. I will!¡± Andreas shouted as he walked down the path.


    His shirt had  apart from the aura of his Emperor¡¯s Spirit showing a muscular upper body while holding an iron staff.


    ¡°You are one of the foreign bastards traveling with that snake! I will carry out the commander¡¯s orders and execute you as well¡± Er Hong replied as he jumped off the stage and walked towards Andreas.


    ¡°So he found another one of them, is he the boy who slaughtered those bandits in the town?¡± Liu Xuan asked.


    ¡°He might be, he shows signs of a martial spirit that I do not know of. Though it seems to have  by his anger.¡± Commander Yue replied.


    ¡°A martial spirit?! A young boy with that? It¡¯ll kill him!¡± Liu Xuan said in surprise.


    ¡°Shit Andreas what in the world are you doing! You¡¯ll die if you do this!¡± The guard captain shouted


    ¡°Fuck off Orson! I am here to put an end to this bastard¡¯s lies! I won¡¯t let my rival¡¯s name get slandered by this fuck!¡± Andreas shouted not thinking straight as anger overwhelmed his sanity.


    ¡°Hmph, you¡¯re just an angry foreign dog who can¡¯t keep his mouth shut! Allow me to put you down and end your miserable life! Be grateful for I, Er Hong, has allowed you to die before my sword!¡± Suddenly a strong gust of wind blew around the square.


    Er Hong had released his martial spirit, full of authority and power! All the soldiers and civilians quickly moved back, afraid  in Er Hong¡¯s attacks.


    ¡°, you fuck face! Stand there as I break every bone in your fucking body!¡± Andreas shouted and rushed at Er Hong.


    ¡°You dare to rush at me at such a slow pace?! You are a fool! Fine! It will make it easier for me to kill you!¡± Er Hong shouted as he swung his one-handed sword down onto Andreas.


    Andreas quickly blocks the quick sword! But the sword doesn¡¯t bounce off and Er Hong kept putting more force into the sword and Andreas is slowly getting pushed back as he tries to endure the attack!


    ¡°What¡¯s the  foreign dog?! Where is that confidence?! Do you know what I see now?! A dead dog that I!¡± Er Hong taunted Andreas as he puts more and more pressure into the sword.


    He was already pressuring Andreas massively with just one hand on his sword! ¡°Shit Andreas hang it there! Don¡¯t die!¡± Orson shouted!


    ¡°I already know that you fuck!¡± Andreas shouted as he gets out of the attack by rolling to the side.


    ¡°At least you have some brains foreign dog. Now taste my blade!¡± Er Hong shouted as he swung his blade down again!