Rebirth (3)

Neon got out of the house and was greeted with the unhealthy and decrepit streets of the slums. Kids wearing rundown clothes were running and playing with each other. Some adults were leaving their house to make their pittance of the day.

He walked in the direction of the central square situated in the better parts of the city. Soon he reached the sales street. Merchants who had already installed their stalls were already attracting customers giving a lively and crowded feeling to the street.

The stark difference between these parts and the slums always evoked a jarring feeling in Neon, it also reminded him that this world was still in the middle ages contrary to his old one.

After a few minutes of walking, he reached his destination. In the middle of the square, there was a 40 m tall statue of a man. It gave a majestic pressure. The man was middle-aged and wore a luxurious long robe adorned with beautiful jewelry.

He had long hair reaching his feet and a short beard. His facial features were stern and cold, giving a stifling sensation to the onlookers.

He wasn't particularly handsome, but his eyes were deep and gave the feeling of wisdom and age as if he lived for eternity. In his right hand, there was a wand with profound cycling engravings. In his left hand was a grimoire-looking book with numerous symbols.

This man was the Dark King Bertrand one of the seven kings of the Rowel Empire. He was also the founder of this city. The seven kings were all peak grade, three magicians. These experts were the sword of the empire, as such, they boasted an extremely high status.

Consequently, they were each granted the right to have a king city with numerous other cities as their territory by the emperor. Thus he was a supreme existence in this city. He was already 300 years old, but as a magician who reached grade three, he had a life expectancy of 1500 years. Looking at this statue Neon's eyes turned sharp.

He had already learned of the circumstance of his birth from Mary, as such he knew who was his father and his grandfather. He also knew about his great grandfather and apparently he was a big shot. He was also one of the people responsible for the fate of his mother's clan, together with Rolland and Jason.

Thinking about it made him grit his teeth in anger. In his past life as SHADOW, he didn't have parents, in this life he almost had a mother before she was ruthlessly taken from him. Even though he didn't know her, he still felt it was his duty as a son to make sure she got her revenge. It is one of the reasons why he trained so hard.

He knew that the present him wasn't up to the task. Plus, a magician in this world was a one-man army, not to mention the fact that it was the whole Karl line of magicians he was up against, Rolland who was a high grade one magician, Jason who was a peak grade two magician, and the strongest of all Bertrand.

As of now, such matter was too far away from him, but he believed that one day soon he would be strong enough to confront them.

Ashe closed in on the martial grandmaster stage, he felt that the presence of mana would make this realm different from what he experienced before.

In his old world cultivators used spiritual energy which was very scarce in their daily cultivation to nourish their internal force.

But here there was no spiritual energy just mana, abundant and omnipresent mana. So he had the idea to use it for cultivation, after all, it was still a type of energy.

'sigh I shouldn't think about all these yet, I won't break through to martial grandmaster before one or two years if I were to continue my usual training. '

It was the reason two years ago after he learned about the body strengthening potion, Neon decided to get a job. Its price was ridiculous, it cost 1000 gold.

But it was deserved as this potion could help strengthen the human body to at least the level of a martial grandmaster in his old world. It was brewed by potions masters with magical ingredients. Usually, all knights would use this after finishing their apprenticeship to strengthen their prowess.

Kids in the slums used to gang up on him because of his androgynous look, one day he was giving them a thorough lesson about respecting their elders, regardless of their numbers they were no match, for a martial supreme like SHADOW.

Although he didn't have more strength than a normal man back then with his martial arts he beat them into submission. It seemed that an instructor of the imperial knight academy, happened to see all this, impressed by his talent, he asked him if he was looking for a job.

Like this, Neon became the squire of an Imperial knight academy instructor. His name was Nick Regal, he was an ex-grand imperial knight, he was middle-aged, he was sent out of service after a particularly disastrous campaign against the heretics.

His sword-wielding arm was permanently disabled. But he still had all his years of experience. So he decided to impart this knowledge to the future generations, as Magus King Origin City was the birthplace he asked to be transferred in this branch of the imperial knight academy.

It was a good opportunity for Neon. If he managed to save enough, he could buy this potion drastically shortening the time he needed to enter the first realm.

Neon left the square and entered a nearby alley, after a few minutes he reached an imposing building. On the front gates, there was the Rowel Empire insignia engraved. It was a griffon with eight wings.

Rumors have it this represented the spirit guardian, protector of the Empire, the Eight Winged Monarch. He entered inside, the place was enormous, moving for a while, he reached a training facility, Inside one could see apprentice knights already training with wooden swords. At the side, an imposing 1m90 tall man was overlooking the field.

He had muscles like iron cords coiled and fill with power. He had pure long white hair reaching his back. He wore light leather armor. It was Nick Regal.

At the moment he was screaming at the apprentices, his voice like booming thunder.

''Nelson your position is off, get yourself together !! Do you think you'll be able to graduate and become a knight with such sloppy technique?!!!''

Having sensed Neon's entrance, he turned his hawk eyes in his direction. Seeing Neon he let out a rare smile, he was proud of this squire of his. He was already a beast who knew martial arts before he entered his tutelage.

During these two years, the only thing he could teach him was the sword. And learn he did, Nick never seen someone so single-minded about becoming stronger, he also had the talent to match his drive. It only took Neon 2 months to master the basics of sword-wielding.

After one year he was comparable to someone who's been training in the sword for 30 years. After one more year he became a swordmaster. A fact which stunned Nick, he felt that Neon was a genius, and he would be an exceptional knight.

He was even thinking about putting a word for him so he could participate in the knight examination. A big shot still owed him a favor for saving his son during the heretic campaign. It was by saving him that he got hurt. So there was a good chance for Neon to be able to become a knight.

Of course, he didn't tell Neon anything, he wanted to surprise him when all was taken care of.

''Hello, Mr. Nick.'' Neon greeted politely

''Hello Neon, could you show these trash how to wield a sword properly?'' Despite the verbal abuse, Nick was loving of his students, it's why he let them spare with Neon most of the time. As Neon was quite good, he was able to correct their default as they were sparing, guiding their bodies into an ideal stance.

All the apprentices were already used to this. Plus they also liked to spare with this squire of their instructor, it allowed them to progress speedily. Even those who were originally disdainful of him when he started working here, were now convinced.

A 14 years old youth with a handsome face and noble countenance came out of the crowd.

''Neon, let's fight!!'' he had burning eyes filled with fighting intent, completely breaking his original sophisticated appearance. This boy's name was Ten. He was issued from a noble family. He was the tenth son of his family which meant he could basically expect nothing, no title, no heritage, zilch; hence his name.

He was also amongst the group that belittled Neon originally but now he was always itching for a fight with him, he came to feel like Neon was his rival even though he wasn't even an apprentice knight.

Neon looked at Nick inquisitively, seeing him nod he let out a smile and went on the field, facing Ten, he said simply:

'' I hope you became stronger''

''Of course, this is our 36th fight, 36 wins for you against 0 for me, '' he said not the least embarrassed.