"Raise your swords! Strike at the target in front of you!"

"No! Don't move like that! Your posture must remain upright at all times. Your muscles must be tight, but your movements must flow freely! Freely!"

In a vast training ground enveloped by a high stone wall, a group of soldiers surrounded the new recruits and gazed at them with cold, ruthless expressions.

At the center of the ground, a middle-aged man stood imposingly, giving instructions to the recruits before him.

His voice was harsh and full of authority, spreading throughout the ground and ringing directly in the minds of the fresh recruits.

His words didn't hold back at all, blasting whoever happened to make a blunder.

Though he didn't directly punish them, his overwhelming aura—that of a True Knight—pressed directly onto them, startling and freezing their minds.

This behavior was expected, as this ground seemed to belong to an army. In the army, a soldier had to obey the orders of their superiors, no matter how ridiculous those instructions appeared to be.

However, once one looked at the newly-recruited "troops", they would discover that there was something wrong.

This was because the fresh recruits were not fully-grown adults, but kids ranging from ten to fifteen years old.

At such a young age, other kids would still be playing with their peers or following their parents around.

But these children were here, experiencing cruel Knight training that would make even grown adults frown.

Watching this scene from not far away, Liora's eyes gleamed with a strange light.

She didn't pay much attention to the fully-grown soldiers nor the instructor, but instead observed the training kids and their movements.

One... Two... Four... Eight...

In the end, she counted up to a dozen, with each number representing one kid who had reached the Knight Apprentice rank.

This was incredible.

Not only because the total number of the kids on the training ground was less than one hundred—meaning that more than ten percent of them had become Knight Apprentices at such a young age—but also because of their sheer number.

'Though I've come into contact with many Knights so far, this doesn't mean that Knights are common. In fact, most regular people would be lucky to encounter a single Knight in their whole life.'

Thus, Liora was inevitably surprised to discover that so many future Knights had appeared here, brought together by the Necronomicon Sect and forced to undergo cruel Knight training.

In her opinion, even if one tried to locate all the Knight seedlings of the Black Tulip Earldom and the Bloodshield Baronry, they would be unable to gather so many individuals.

Noting this down, she cast one more glance at this group before leaving.

Until her departure, no one—including the True Knights—had detected her existence as if she had transformed into a humanoid ghost.

--

Although Liora's route seemed to be chosen at random, it was, in fact, not.

The moment she stepped into the barracks, she had sensed a familiar aura originating from deep within them—the aura of evil and negative emotions.

Not surprisingly, this aura emanated from approximately the same place as the one where the Great Knight was stationed.

This let her know that it was there that she would be able to discover the answers to the questions that were plaguing her.

Since none of the guards in the barracks had reached the Great Knight rank, no one could uncover Liora's figure, giving her the freedom to act as she wished.

Before long, she arrived at the central building of the barracks.

Instantly, she noticed that the defense here was many times tighter than the one outside.

Many alert True Knights could be seen wandering around the building, inspecting their surroundings, and trying to find anything wrong.

Seeing this, Liora showed no fright.

While keeping the Silent Domain activated, her figure was swallowed by the shadows around her, and she shuttled through the darkness, entering the central building.

Shortly after, she climbed down a long stone staircase, which seemed to lead to the very depths of the earth.

--

In a quarantined chamber, two old men dressed in white clothes stood above a long table, staring intently at the item placed on top of it.

Their eyes sparkled with curiosity and wonder, while their hands reached out and inspected that "object".

Their movements were nonchalant, as if what they were doing was totally ordinary and there was nothing strange about it.

However, if anyone else were here, they would find that the "object" that the two were touching was not an object at all, but the remains of an unknown woman.

The two people held short scalpels in their right hands and used them to slice the woman's skin open, making the scene look gruesome and horrifying.

"How magnificent! How touching! This is truly the gift bestowed by the Gods!", one of the two elderly men muttered in a low voice as he stared intently at the freely-flowing blood.

In his obsession-filled eyes, many symbols flashed as if analyzing the woman's structure.

His companion didn't show any reaction to this bizarre behavior. Instead, he nodded his head in understanding and continued performing his research.

Soon, only the soft sound of skin being torn apart could be heard in the room, accompanied by two pairs of low, maniacal chuckles.

Just when the two old men were engrossed in their research and had lost track of time, though, the door suddenly swung open.

From the opening, two figures stepped inside. One figure was ordinary and possessed a weak aura, while the other was towering and wielded overwhelming power.

Yet, the person in charge was clearly not the latter, but the former.

It was a young man dressed in sleek, aristocratic clothes, whose golden embroidery cost more than what a commoner family would make throughout their entire lives.

Undoubtedly, the man's status was extraordinary.

However, his position seemed worthless in the eyes of the two old men.

Seeing that their research had been interrupted for no reason, they turned to the young man in unison and howled.

"What do you think that you're doing? Haven't we ordered that no one should enter this place without permission? Do you want everything to fail?", they screamed furiously.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.