23 Sacred Awakening, Scion of Light (III)

Because there were less than ten people who truly knew the profound mysteries of the Scion of Light in the Knight Temple, Long Xingyu wasn't worried about his son's inborn gifts getting exposed.

"Haochen, your Sacred Awakening has just been completed. Did you realize that, after taking your internal spiritual energy into account, you are already a Genuine Knight?"

"Oh? So easily?" Long Haochen was surprised, but he could feel a warm air current in his body that reacted to his thoughts and movements.

"Easily?" Long Xingyu's face revealed a forced smile, thinking that that little fellow didn't know hunger nor famine. After a knight's awakening, it was already praiseworthy if one gained 20 spiritual energy levels from it.

"Your innate gifts are not bad, but this is merely what the Sacred Awakening brought you. Regarding your practice in the future, you will not only have to make efforts as great as before, but possibly even greater. Understood? Let's head back and talk this matter over."

"Father, I will make great efforts, for sure."

Upon seeing Long Xingyu holding Long Haochen's hands as they came back to the log cabin; Bai Yue's face revealed a smile as she silently looked at that scene. She didn't know much about swordplay, but she understood her husband well. She could also clearly see from Long Xingyu's face that he was somewhat shocked. Because her formidable husband was unexpectedly shocked by her son's innate gifts, it looked like Haochen's choice to walk on the road of chivalry was the correct one. However, if one day they, father and son, really had to face that person…

After heading back to the log cabin, Long Haochen donned the clothes he had brought with him, before listening to Long Xingyu's instructions.

Long Xingyu said with a heavy voice, "Now, you ought to tell me what your choice is: Do you want to become a Retribution Knight or a Guardian Knight?"

Long Haochen answered without delay, in a firm voice, "Father, I want to become a Guardian Knight."

"A Guardian Knight?" Long Xingyu was stupefied, "So you are unexpectedly willing to give up on the formidable attack power and combat effectiveness of the Retribution Knights?"

Long Haochen rigidly answered: "Father, you told me that to be a match against the demon race, we need the power of humanity as a whole; that the power of a single person is, in the end, insignificant. I want to turn into a Guardian Knight to protect the people I want to protect even better, and, at the same time, to assist the people fighting beside me in the battlefield even more."

Long Xingyu was clearly somewhat disappointed and he sighed, "But to finally battle the 72 Demon Gods, what we will need will be the greatest force humanity can bring."

Long Haochen immediately asked, "Then, is it impossible for Guardian Knights to battle the Demon Gods?"

As he listened to that question, Long Xingyu's eyes revealed a glow, "That's it! With your innate internal spiritual energy of 97, your Sacred Awakening as the Scion of Light, and your incredible mental capacity as a support, why can't you learn some more things? Retribution and Guardian are just classifications, maybe you will be able to create a miracle. Perhaps the correct choice for you is to train in both specializations at the same time, in order to bring out the most of your innate potential as the Scion of Light."

Long Haochen seemed to have understood something and asked with a shocked voice, "Father, are you saying that I should study the skills and abilities of a Retribution Knight as well?"

"That's right. From now on, I will train you as a Retribution Knight, and in two years, you will leave for Haoyue Hall, where you will train as a Guardian Knight. This may reduce the cultivation speed of your spiritual energy, but as long as you are able to advance as both a Retribution and a Guardian Knight, in the future, you will become a formidable knight without precedence in history.

Time passed day by day, as the training as a knight at Odin Mountain's peak continued, and in a blink of an eye, a year and a half passed.

Dang!

A clear chime resounded and the youth's body suddenly shined with a golden color before condensing, just like the brilliance of the rising sun, as a shining blade broke through space.

A bamboo sword was lightly waved, its edge shining with a golden color as the space before that bamboo sword with a little handle was shattered.

"Not bad, your Shining Solar Cut is already at its peak mastery level; it only lacks in duration, degree of heating, and spiritual energy level for the moment."

Long Xingyu was impressively using a bamboo sword to parry that dazzling cut, and the youth that was putting that shining blade to good use was Long Haochen.

After a year and a half, Long Haochen was now twelve years old, and compared to his original life in Odin Town, he underwent changes that could tear heaven and earth upside down.

The 12-year-old Long Haochen had already grown close to 1.6 meters tall. He didn't look muscular at all, and his slender figure's proportions looked flawless. His black hair fluttered on the back of his head and his sparkling golden eyes were dazzling. His originally beautiful little face had become quite heroic, but his appearance looked as flawless as before. Looking at his physical dispositions, if he were to say that he was fourteen or fifteen years old, there would definitely be people who would believe that.

At that moment, Long Haochen's hands both surged up, each of them holding a heavy sword, the standard weapon for a knight; they were 2 meters long, 20 centimeters wide and had an impressive thickness of 12 centimeters. The weight of these heavy swords was 25 kilograms, but they looked very light, as if they were nothing in his hands.

During a year and a half, Long Haochen had learned a lot from his father. His internal spiritual energy didn't improve much from its innate 97th level, as it had only grown to the 120th level; but his external spiritual energy grew to the level of a peak 3rd step knight's, a total level of 200.

Altogether, it amounted to a total level of 320, the level of a 5th ranked knight. He wasn't far from the 330th spiritual energy level of the 6th rank.

If it wasn't for the fact that Long Xingyu tried to build solid foundations in him, his growing speed would have perhaps been even more fearful.

Even if Long Xingyu was strict, when looking at an 11-and-a-half-year-old youth who reached the 4th rank as a knight, he could only reveal a satisfied smile. In the history of the Knight Temple, that was absolutely unprecedented. He, himself, had only reached that level of practice at the age of fifteen.

However, with his external spiritual energy reaching the peak level, the speed of growth of Long Haochen's spiritual energy was significantly reduced. He could, after all, only rely on the strengthening abilities of his internal spiritual energy to practice it. Only after reaching the next step of the knight's vocation would he be able to keep practicing his external spiritual energy.

Listening to his father's praise, Long Haochen couldn't help revealing a big smile,"Papa, this Shining Solar Strike's power is so high, but it consumes 50 units of internal spiritual energy and even consumes some external spiritual energy. My spiritual energy is still lacking."

Long Xingyu revealed a smile. "You are only eleven years old. You should know that Shining Solar Strike is a skill that any great knight ought to master. You cannot be impatient, you should try to progress step by step. Okay, get ready, let's see how long you will be able to last today."

After having heard his father, Long Haochen's expression immediately became serious as his hands tightly gripped the swords.

Long Xingyu moved, his body seemingly weightless, and in a flash, the bamboo sword in his hand arrived in front of Long Haochen.

After the heavy sword in his left hand was pushed back, Long Haochen quickly took a step back, dodging the bamboo sword's attack at the same time. Clearly, Long Xingyu didn't use any spiritual energy in his bamboo sword.

However, in the next instant countless bamboo shadows appeared in front of Long Haochen's body like drops of water.

Long Xingyu was already gone and there were only endless bamboo shadows coming at Haochen from all directions, aiming to stab him, but Long Haochen already looked used to these kinds of situations. The two heavy swords in his hands danced in the air at a fast speed. Puffs that sounded like banana leaves in the rain rang ceaselessly.