3 The Fruit of Labor

A few years later, Drodosis had successfully made the transition to this world.

Everyone in the castle knew the new heir of the Thornfield Household.

"In the past, I always felt like there were too much attention on me. My father was overly spoiling me with anything I asked for, and my mother never stopped worrying about me. Even though I am 8, she is still sending butlers and guards to ensure that I won't have any accident or anything!"

However, Drodosis knew the reason behind these meticulous care, and over-exaggerated love.

[Beep! Roland and Helena have incompatible genomes Because Roland is a knight, his DNA has drifted from the mankind branch slightly, towards a higher species. While cross breeding sometimes happens, the probability of such a phenomenon happening is lower by 95%, which explains the number of concubines in traditional noble household. However, Roland is a honest and faithful man of honor, hence their cheers when Helena fell pregnant.]

Drodosis suddenly remembered his past birthday gifts. At the age of four, he received a mountain of fruits he had asked for. Each one of these fruits were delicacies that really motivated Drodosis on a daily basis. There were also beneficial nutritive properties which enhanced his body slightly.

Other than that, he also received a few silver coins.

At the age of five, he was given a cross sword, but since he wasn't strong enough, his mother had forbidden him from using it.

At the age of six, he received a map of the Kerrosby Valley, along with the map of the Phuinem Kingdom. There were detailed information, such as mineral resources, fauna and flora details, along with the powers in place.

At the age of seven, he received a light crossbow. It became his main source of distraction in the past year. Learning how to properly aim and shoot was easier said than done. Fortunately, Alpha pointed out whatever mistakes he was making, so after correcting them, Drodosis became more and more accurate, to the point of reaching a 100% hit rate on unmoving targets, and 85% hit rate on a creature that had less than 1 point of agility. If the being had more than one point of agility, then his hit rate would decrease by another 15%.

This was enough to earn the perk: beginner crossbow mastery.

At the age of eight, his father finally answered the question Drodosis had been pestering him with: What is a knight?

Drodosis remembered this conversation that took place in the afternoon:

"Knights are beings who evolved from normal humans to a superior version of humanoid species. I am myself a knight, so I can harvest the power of 'life force', some sort of energy that is dormant in every single human. Thanks to life force, I am no longer shackled by genetic limits, and I can always become stronger by training and meditating.", Roland admitted. "But with great power, comes great responsibilities…"

'Really?', Drodosis shouted in his mind.

Roland continued, "As a knight, my body requires much more energy than an average human body. If I am really hungry, I can eat an entire boar by myself. Of course, I am nothing compared to the Grand Knights of legends. These beings have reached the peak of the knight realm and transcended it to become supernatural beings, with body rivalling that of demons. Well, don't make such a face. There are barely 1000 Grand Knight in the entire Swania continent. The Phuinem Kingdom's King is also a Grand knight."

Since this fateful conversation, Drodosis has been thinking about anything he could do to improve his odds of becoming a knight. He had long since completely devoured the books in the library, even tales and legends.

[Beep! Name: Drodosis Thornfield (8-years-old, 5 months). Strength – 0.59 | Agility – 0.72 | Physique – 0.88 | Status: Healthy. Perks: Noble Charisma, Beginner Crossbow Mastery, Beginner Swordsmanship, Thornfield Swordsmanship Chop (Chops and slashes benefit from a 0.3 bonus in strength).]

Drodosis knew that his attributes were extremely high for his age. He already had half the strength of a normal adult being, and his physique was as high as 0.88; which meant that his stamina, resistance, endurance and antibodies were out of the norm. But, he couldn't help but feel like it wasn't enough.

"The first time you enter the world of knights is the last time you feel prideful of your body…"

At this moment, someone interrupted his meditation practice. It was his loyal and trustworthy butler George. The latter didn't have a family name, and he was a commoner specifically trained to be Drodosis' butler, similarly to the old Gale who was more of an advisor to Roland than a butler.

George whispered in a low yet clear voice, "Young master, your father convinced Knight Lara to let you attend swordsmanship lessons with the other trainees."

Drodosis – "Really! That's a very good piece of news!"

George smiled bitterly, "You must be aware that it is not too late to abort. Knight Lara is known for her strictness and severity."

Drodosis answered without any fear, "Don't worry, George. I am confident in not losing against anyone of my age!"

"No one of your age practices swordsmanship!", George replied instantly, before continuing with a helpless expression, "Do you know how much trouble I went through to get your cross sword from Mistress Helena?"

"Haha!"

There were only three knights in the Thornfield Household's castle: Roland Thornfield, Eric Hawfea, and Lara Huntingwood. The three of them had unparalleled prestige throughout the region. Roland was known for being a ruthless lord, and behind his fatherly love, everyone knew of the terrible cruelty he displayed when it came to thieves, criminals and indebted serfs.

Roland wasn't a loved lord, and in the Phuinem Kingdom, there were very few lords with a kind heart. Drodosis learnt that at a young age, when he saw a servant getting beaten up, almost pummeled to death, because the latter had broken a sculpture in the castle's garden. However, Roland was still upright and a good lord. He never failed to participate in a battle, and through the past few years, he always emerged victorious. Not long ago, he was promoted from a baron to a viscount.

Eric Hawfea was the soldiers' commander. He was a brute, who loved to use his war hammer to break the heads and ribs of his enemies, hence his nickname: Eric the Bonecrusher. As for Lara, she was a peerless beauty who was probably the youngest knight in the territory. She was only 26 when she became a knight, and she was now 30. Her skills were elegant, and she was probably the best swordsman in the Kerrosby Region, besides Roland himself.

Drodosis and George arrived at the training ground, and they were surprised to see that the whole group was waiting for them.

Knight Lara – "Good! Everyone arrived right on time. Let's begin with warm ups. Display the Thornfield Style Swordsmanship basic skills. First a vertical chop."

[Beep! Name: Lara Huntingwood. Strength – 2.5 | Agility – 2.6 | Physique – 2.0. Status: Healthy. Perks: Intermediate swordsmanship…]

Drodosis – 'Seems like women are weaker when it comes to pure force, but more agile…'

In a world where strength, bloodline and status were all that mattered, women weren't discriminated against. In fact, there were many cases of women being more powerful than men. And because of this, discrimination was not as present as the European middle ages back on Earth.

Drodosis first thought of displaying only part of his skills, but he had no reason to hide his talent. After all, the more talent he showed, the more resources would be invested in himself. If the territory's enemies dared sending an assassin, Drodosis still possessed a few trump cards like the castle guards who were constantly observing the surroundings, or his crossbow mastery.

Drodosis – 'In the future, I will try to fetch up a few poisonous solutions, just in case.'

Knight Lara was bewildered at this sight. She didn't want to accept an 8-years-old child in her training practice, since she wanted to form elite soldiers. Yet…she could see the amount of efforts Drodosis put in his training to reach such a skilful and flawless chop.

Drodosis was akin to a textbook, and to be honest, it was quite a right observation.

[Beep! Deviation from the skill: 8%. Host needs to put more weights on the lower body to be more stable.]

Every time he deviated from the original skill manual, his biochip, relying on logical deduction and the original manual's scan, was analysing his moves. It was a pity that his biochip couldn't move in his stead, since he would have been truly flawless. Despite training for the past few years, Drodosis could not get past the 7% skill deviation threshold for some reasons.

The 20 youths whose age ranged between 14 to 20 were similarly astounded.

"Amazing…", someone exclaimed.

Knight Lara quickly supressed these cheers, before issuing duels.

Drodosis and the other trainees started to spar against each other, in a battle royal setting.

Once again, Drodosis displayed amazing prowess. He didn't immediately rush on the offensive, like most of the trainees. Instead, he only parried and counter attacked to take his enemies out of the fight. As for the strongest apprentices, Drodosis was not confident at all about facing them.

Ultimately, Drodosis was ranked 4th, which deeply wounded everyone's pride.

After this…unconventional event, everyone, Lara included, started to treat Drodosis as a warrior instead of a child. Everything went for the better, and they resumed a more traditional training.

Drodosis and the others were practicing the serpent guard, which was a very particular stance.

Lara – "Drodosis, you must ignore what it is. Look at my stance. You pick the handle with your right hand, and grip your blade with your left gauntlet. In the meantime, flex your right knee and put all of your weight on it. This stance allows you to quickly parry an incoming strike, disarm your opponent like this, and go for the kill or for the crippling."

Drodosis started to imitate Lara, but quickly found out that it was quite difficult.

Lara – "Put more weight on your leg, this will allow you to be more explosive on the disarming process!"

[Beep! Skill Deviation: 60%...]

With two 'teachers, Drodosis was bound to make progress. By the end of the day, everyone acknowledged him, and Drodosis couldn't help but feel proud at this moment.

Everything he had worked for in the past 4 years and a half, the knowledge he had gathered, the act he had been playing…It was the fruit of his labour. By earning Knight Lara's acknowledgement, he could finally drop the act of a little boy, and replace it by his true nature: that of a warrior.