The Qualification Realm! (2)

While their souls were burning in the intense heat of the Thunderfire. Keiren looked at them and said. "I, Keiren Kendrall, recruit you both as Eternal Einherjar.

Both Knights shone in a pure golden light while they burned and magically formed a new and better body. Each one had a pair of purple Thunderfire wings.

# Attempt at cheating detected! #

# Divine Skill detected, recalculating… #

# Limiting Divine Skill Eternal Einherjar to 10 units while inside the Qualification Realm. #

Keiren ignored the System altogether and just focused on the remaining eight enemies, who were frozen in fear. The two Mages even stopped their incantations halfway. One Archer was so frightened at this point that he dropped his weapon, the other Archers soon followed suit, which left only the Leader in a somewhat battle-ready position.

Seeing the will of his subordinates' shatter, the Leader gathered every little bit of courage he had left in his body and charged at Keiren. The man's axe met Tribulation, yet the normal weapon stood no chance against the latter. The cultivator's body got blown away by a wave of Thunderfire.

Having no control over his own power wasn't something unexpected, and with the equivalation barrier that suppressed everyone to the Adamant Stage his power got somehow clear. He was quite OP in comparison to normal soldiers.

Meanwhile, the two newly arisen Eternal Einherjar walked over to the partly surrendered enemies and begun to talk them into submitting to Keiren, which felt alien to all of them, even the former Knights.

The Leader crashed on the ground between the two Knights becoming a subject to their mercy. The Ice Mage started to cry stone-cold tears. The Wind Mage was not as lost as her friend and her Leader but she also saw no future by resisting.

"We surrender." The Wind Mage screamed.

"No!" The Leader groaned and tried to get up, with little success. One of the Knights stepped on him and pushed him down into the dirt again, a feat that would have been unimaginable an hour ago. He was the son of a nobleman, with both Knights in service of his father. Their task was normally to serve and protect the young men.

Seeing one Knight abandoning his duties and pushing their leader back into the dirt was as shocking to see as both resurrecting moments after their death.

"If you submit to me, I will spare your life." Keiren stated nonchalantly. The Leader tried to force himself up, but the Knight was unyielding, not letting his former master stand up at all.

"I submit to you! You can do with me whatever you see fit." The Wind Mage hastily screamed before the Leader could say something stupid.

# Congratulations, you've recruited a mob enemy: Mage (Wind) (+50 Qualification Points) #

"I submit too!" The Ice Mage whispered in despair after she heard the Wind mage.

# Congratulations, you've recruited a mob enemy: Mage (Ice) (+50 Qualification Points) #

# Congratulations, you've recruited 5 mob enemies: Archer (+100 Qualification Points) #

Hearing his subordinates submit to the enemy one after another, the Leader spat out a mouthful of blood all over the Knight's foot who pressed him on the ground.

"I'm Tadorion Castell, son of Duke Castell of High Weed! I'm willing to ransom my life. Name your price." The Leader said dejectedly, it was clear that he despised the thought of having to pay for his life, yet as long as he could get out of the situation he would have the chance to repay Keiren for this humiliation. He could just say that all his subordinates fell to the angelic women that he had been sent to capture. A failed mission was way less humiliating than a lost battle where he had to ransom himself.

"Master, Duke Castell is filthy rich but he was always a man of honor. He raised his son well and he will not come after you if you decide to let him pay for his life." The Knight that pressed down Tadorion advised, which earned him a look that screamed that it wanted to erase his existence entirely, his and that of his 20 next generations.

"What If I am not interested in your money?" Keiren asked the noble scion on the ground. Then he passed all the people, walking over to the prison cart as he laid his hand on it.

"Suran!" He addressed the crucified woman, who appeared to be unconscious in a commanding tone. Everyone on the clearing paled considerably after they realized that the cage had lit up like a sun, and began to tremble. Piece by piece, it broke down and disintegrated.

As the light dimmed, it revealed Suran who sat cross-legged in the air, her wings spread out radiating divine light. Lightning sparks traveled over her body before they shot out and formed a world of lightning around her. The world of lightning slowly resided back into Surans body before she opened her eyes and looked at Keiren.

She hastily stood up, just to kneel down before Keiren.

"Your Majesty! How can I be of service to you?"

Suran's horse, the ancient armored Dragon horse appeared beside her, fully geared and armed with all the weapons she had.

# You've rescued Suran. Ability Inventory unlocked. #

'Inventory'

A standardized inventory space appeared before Keiren's eyes. It had a layer structure.

Normal Inventory

A separate, undetectable, and nearly boundless space to store all your possessions inside. Has a shared space with your wife.

Reward Inventory (Locked)

Realm Inventory (Locked)

Soul Inventory (Locked)

# Reward Inventory, Realm Inventory, and Soul Inventory are locked until the Qualification realm is completed. #

"What a surprise." Keiren spat out bitterly. In the current situation it was noticeable unfitting.

Suran looked up and saw the bitter face of Keiren and was shocked.

"How did I displease you?" Suran asked in a low voice.

Keiren shook his head. "It's not you who displeased me, Suran. I was teleported here against my will and just had a fight with these guys," Keiren pointed at the dead people, "They had you captive. It would be better to say a person that looked like you, she was crucified and covered in blood. Just as I touched the cage and called your name, 'you' lit up, only for the 'you' before me to show up unharmed and well."

Suran's jaw dropped and a low "oh" sound escaped her throat.

"Stand up Suran, and stop with the act, ok? Just be yourself around me, no need for this whole 'Your Majesty' treatment." Keiren waved his hands before Suran to indicate that he meant this kneeling and other stuff. "You're the Commander of my Knights, not some nobody that has to take my status or more precisely my potential future status into account. You're a part of my family." Keiren added.

"YES, Your Maj-" Suran began, but due to the raised eyebrow of Keiren, she stopped and corrected herself, "Yes, Keiren!"

"Better." Keiren smiled and turned around to look into the faces of the people around him. Horror was written all over their faces. From the Archers to the Mages down to the Noble on the ground, everyone was shocked and felt mocked to the very bone of their existence.

"Your Maj-… Keiren. If they displeased you, why are they still alive?" Suran asked.

"They've submitted to me. Well, the ones standing, the one on the ground is the son of some duke and wants ransom himself. What do you think, how much is a duke's son worth?"

"If I go with our standards and apply them here, depending on his status and relation to his father, he might be worth between 30-60% of the duke's total wealth and assets." Suran replied seriously.

*cough* *cough* *cough*

Tadorion was coughing blood. A fountain of blood covered him and the Knight that held him down, which earned him a curious look from Keiren and Suran.

"Your reaction indicates nothing good. Would your father be willing to pay up for you?"

"I doubt my father would be happy with such a bill. I'm unable to tell you if he pays up or abandons me. I would still like to try if it's ok with you. If he doesn't pay up, I will submit to you without complaint." Tadorion Castell said after regaining his voice.

# Congratulations, you've captured mob enemy: Young Master (Tadorion Castell) (+0 Qualification Points). #

'Not sure if this notification was necessary, but okay.'

Before Keiren could give the order, the two Knights bound the young noble and started to gather what was still salvageable from the dead. Weapons, space rings and armor parts were gathered and presented to Keiren.

Unsurprisingly, it didn't amount to much, and the overall worth of these things was rather low, but having spare weapons at hand was better than not having any spare weapons at hand. From the armor parts, Keiren chose to wear some parts. A pair of metallic bracers, gloves, pauldrons and shin guards with a studded armor vest and pants made of leather. It was Keiren's first time wearing armor since he came to Chaosia. It felt strange but he was sure he would get accustomed to it in due time.

He also took the time to mentally replay the fight a few times, searching for different ways of improvements and mistakes that would have to be avoided at all cost in the future. The most obvious mistake he had made was neglecting his surroundings in the fight as if they had never existed in the first place. He had to fix this lack of observance.

But the biggest realization was the difference between theoretical knowledge and practice experience. And the realization that seemingly simple attacks had devastating outcomes in a real fight. His slash blew away two heavy armored Knights. Even the Leader wasn't able to withstand his attacks in a head on collision, even spitting out blood.

Shockingly, he felt no pity or regret for the dead despite his rage cooling down considerably

Nevertheless, overall Keiren was satisfied with his first real battle.

# You shouldn't feel complimented, Summoner. You barely managed to beat them just now, this is not an accomplishment you should be proud of. You should be ashamed of all the wasted energy. #