News of the assessment 

They all looked at Jack, stunned that asshole had just disappeared.

Well, to be honest, they all had our own things going.

Frank was tortured for a while by cadet Luke. He was almost crippled.

but

Frank later ended up being treated by a mysterious old man who was kind of a freak and wouldn't let Frank leave.

Joey and Jake had gone on a mission with a certain senior from the Black River City Boys, and they were captured by some bandits.

which led to Frank and the others heading out to rescue them.

"Fatty, what happened to you?"

"boo hoo" The fatty had the face of someone who had been wronged.

"It's all cadet knuckles' fault," the fatty said begrudgingly

"He kept chasing me. He didn't want to let me go. A good senior saw my plight and rescued me from his clutches," Jack k continued

"The old man then took me to his residence. He gave me all kinds of gifts." A smile filled with satisfaction gradually filled his face.

"He wanted me to teach some of his students what it means to be awesome and strong, so he had me spar with them one after the other."

The rest looked at Jack dumbfoundedly. Is he still gloating? The fatty really had no shame at all.

When Jack saw their expression, he felt very good. He was thinking

"I'm so awesome that I have left them speechless."

"Sigh, it's so hard to be so outstanding."

"But, why did Knuckles say you joined the enemy?" Joey inquired.

"Don't listen to Knuckles, he is out to end my life," Jack pleaded.

The truth was that the old man that saved him was from the noble faction, so when he felt traces of a noble aura on the fatty jack's body, he was intrigued.

To be fair, he just did it out of curiosity.

Who would have known that the fatty was an incredible genius?

"Tell us what happened after that." It was Jake this time around.

"Oh yes, I taught them some good lessons but..."

Jack's voice suddenly changed: "I received news that you were tortured and went missing."

"I got angry and went to the Yun mansion to find that dog Luke."

"He kept denying it, so I challenged him."

Poor Luke, they all seemed to be out to get him.

"Then what happened?" Frank looked touched that his friends were willing to fight for him.

"We fought, of course," said the fatty.

He was purposefully dodging. He didn't seem like he wanted to finish the story, but we all saw straight through him.

He wanted us to beg.

"You better finish the story or we will kick your ass right here and now."

All three of them glared at Jack fiercely.

"Ah, okay, okay," he said hurriedly.

"I won "

They all looked dumbstruck. Luke was a cultivator. How could the fatty beat him?

"Jack, tell us the truth, are you a cultivator?" Joey was agitated.

They didn't want jack to surpass them; if he did, they would never hear the end of his constant boasting.

"No, I haven't started cultivating yet." The usually loud fatty Jack was now picking his words. He was definitely hiding something.

"Out with it"

The fatty then went ahead to tell us how the fight was a very close one. Although Luke was a bit stronger than him, he managed to use one of his family techniques to beat him.

They were all dumbfounded. That must have been a very powerful technique.

What they didn't know was that Luke had already suffered prior beatings from several people before their fight.

That included

Knuckle and wang ben, and knuckles once more.

"Did elder Yun show up?" asked Frank.

He really disliked Elder Yun. The man was shameless and liked to bully people weaker than him but ran like a dog with his tails between his legs when he faced someone stronger.

"Oh that old man, he came but couldn't do anything about it," said Jack.

He gave us a knowing smile. Of course, the fatty had his own background, especially with the guy that saved him from knuckles.

"What about you, Frank? You just disappeared. You had us all worried." Jake asked.

It was true he hadn't told them about his encounter with the old man yet.

"Remember this waterfall outside the valley?"

The three of them nodded. It was their secret spot.

"I fainted there and a strong old man saved me. His residence is around there," Frank said.

Who would have thought that a random spot they found in the base was the residence of an elderly person, and a powerful one at that?

"Oh, it seems like I wasn't the only one with luck," Jack commented.

Frank said that, but he was truly grateful to the elderly gentleman who had saved his life.

"What about you guys?" asked Jack.

Joey and Jake then started narrating a long story, from how they met the senior and how they were captured, to how Frank and the others rescued them.

"Wow Frank, where are the fangs of the dire wolf ?" Jack asked.

Frank shrugged his shoulders, indicating that he had no idea.

He wasn't lying. Wang Ben had told him to leave the fangs to him.

Frank didn't bother asking why, so he gave it to him.

Frank Wang Ben has scammed you. Do you know how much those fangs cost?" Jack said he looked like he was disappointed in Frank's naivety.

"Whatever, they aren't on me either way," Frank said.

He trusted Wang Ben and the others, so he didn't put much thought into it.

"Whatever"

...….

They rested for a day until they got bored and decided to head for the battle stage to have some fun.

"Hey, wait up," said Jake.

Frank, Joey, and Jack were moving at incredible speeds.

Jake couldn't keep up because he had a leg injury before.

Soon they stood before the characters.

"battle stage"

"Ha-ha welcome brother Frank and friends," said a cadet immediately after they got in.

He had a bottle in his hand. He was already drunk.

Heavy footsteps approaching.

"who?"

Before they knew it, a punch was already coming their way.

The fatty raised his hands to block

"bang!!!"

He was blown a few steps back.

Frank, Joey, and Jake had jumped backward.

As soon as they landed, they sprinted toward their assailant at the same time.

"Awesome," the assailant was excited.

"Take this."

Frank was the first to punch out.

While Jake and Joey waited for the assailant to block so they could hit from the side,

"Interesting strategy"

"Shame it's not going to work"

The assailant sprinted and dodged Frank's punch.

He was heading for the fatty jack.

It soon dawned on them that only one person had such an annoying fighting style.

"knuckles"

Jack was prepared, though he braced himself for impact.

This stance was strange, though.

"You really have defected to the side of the nobles, huh?" knuckles were pumped

The stance was called the "four mountain stance," and the nobles were the ones that practiced it the most in the military.

Knuckles hated the stance. He always saw it as a stance for cowards.

He used a skill.

"My hands can crush your four mountains."

"mountain crusher"

"boom!!"

The collision was massive.

Frank and the others had a look of worry on their faces. Was Jack alright?

"You still can't control yourself knuckles?" A voice echoed

It was Marcus.

"Come on, I was just testing him out," said Knuckles.

"You better stop, we don't want the nobles breathing down our necks."

Marcus shook his head and turned to them.

"Wang is looking for you in the boiler room."

We all looked at each other in shock.

"We aren't going to address the fact that cadet knuckles just went crazy for 5 minutes ?"

"go"

We all nodded, turned around and headed down to the boiler room.

"Good morning, senior Wang," we all said.

Although Wang had told Frank to call him Brother, they still had to pay attention to military rules.

"at ease"

"You've all had so much fun in the base that you've forgotten why you came here?" asked cadet Wang.

They all looked at him questioningly. What did he mean?

"Your assessment date has been set to be held in 3 weeks."

We all looked dumbfounded.

It was finally time. They would finally get the chance to join the firebird base officially.

"It is to be separated into sections."

"The first one is the infantrymen assessment that will take place in two weeks you must get into the top 10. We'll remove the weak there," he continued.

"And then the winners will face the other sections of the military base at the end of the year. They will represent us. I want all four of you on that team," said cadet Wang.

He had big hopes for us and wanted us to excel.

Don't be complacent. Even in this infantry unit, there are still some things you need to be careful of. Don't let the little success go to your head.

We all nodded. He was right. Complacence and carelessness have brought about the destruction of many men.