30 minutes later, in his room, Leon still felt goosebumps as Ren Nora's charismatic voice echoed in his head.

That speech… that was the most gangster shit that Leon had ever heard.

That speech ignited the entire city, riling up the tens of thousands of rebel soldiers that were gathered in Iron Reef as they got prepared for war.

The city defense grid was already adjusting, the civilians in the city were already retreating underground as Leon learned that there were also underground shock shelters like those in Leviathan Quay in Iron Reef.

Iron Reef prepared for war.

Personally for Leon, that speech changed a lot of things for him.

Through that single speech, the figures and calculations in his head changed. From the previous 0% chance of his Trial success, Ren Nora's speech made his calculations raise the bar to a 2% chance of success.

It seemed like a minimal increase but to Leon, this meant the whole world.

It meant there was a chance.

And his reasons for the sudden surge in his calculation results was simple: Ren Nora was the real deal.

Leon simply had to listen to the man once to be bought in his ideology.

If this wasn't a Trial for him, he still wouldn't mind joining the battle as a rebel to fight against the tyrants.

His first encounter with the leader of the Freegrid Collective told him that the man was everything that Talia said and more.

That was a man forged in blood and suffering, and he didn't succumb to his suffering or change due to it. He didn't bend to the Omnicore Federation, he simply lived above it all and became a leader among the free folk.

Listening to his speech, Leon realized that Ren Nora was what Lucian aspired to be, a charismatic leader who was loved by the people, a powerful Ascended and leader of the people who pulled crowds simply with his presence.

From the little that Leon saw, he realized that Ren Nora alongside all his Lieutenants who came on stage were D Rank Ascended and there were 5 of his Lieutenants who climbed the stage!

This meant the Freegrid Collective had at least 6 D Rank Ascended!

This was twice what Leviathan Quay had.

This alone was enough to tip the scales of a potential battle against the Omnicore Federation, but Leon still didn't see how a bunch of D Rank Ascended could potentially stop a C Rank Ascended in battle.

The stronger he grew, the more he realized that the difference in power between the Ascended ranks grew with each rank up the ladder.

In most cases, E Rank Ascended were just an upgraded version of their F Rank counterparts for each Class, but the gulf between E Rank Ascended and D Rank Ascended was like a literal chasm.

If this was already the case, he expected the gap between D Rank and C Rank to be even bigger and General Zolkan embodied this idea.

Despite this though, that first encounter with Ren Nora and his Lieutenants was the breakthrough that Leon yearned for.

This was hope!

Leon didn't know how the army of rebels was going to fare against the Omnicore Federation, but he doubted that with so many powerhouses around, the Federation Army would be able to steamroll them in one battle.

At the very least, the resistance posed by this army of rebels was going to be far stronger than what Leviathan Quay posed to the invading Federation Army.

Even if they could not win, Leon hoped for the rebel army to put up a good fight so he would be able to get experimental data for further analysis.

The outcome of the first battle between both armies would decide his next step even if he wasn't sure what a single E Rank Mechanist like him could do in a battle of this scale.

Only through a battle with the Federation army and the outcome of the battle would he be able to analyze further and potentially come up with a plan on how to tackle this Trial.

At this moment, Leon already had a clear goal and priority on what to focus on- getting ready for battle.

Anything else would follow after the battle.

Ren Nora's speech was powerful, but it was also a blatant disrespect to the Omnicore Federation.

With his knowledge on how the Federation moved, Leon was sure that they were not going to let that slide so there was every possibility that a large-scale battle royal would erupt soon in this city.

This also confirmed Talia's speculation that the Omnicore Federation was resisting the number of Ascended who could challenge Trials at the upper ranks.

As a mercenary hired by the Freegrid Collective, Leon had an obligation to fight in this battle when it starts and even if he was not being paid, Leon still intended to fight.

Afterall, the success of his Trial banked on this.

But before he started his preparations for battle, there was one element of Ren's speech that he couldn't quite wrap his head around yet.

Leon frowned. 'Why will he announce the time that he intends to start attempting the Trial to them?'

'Is it not better to keep them in the dark and keep them guessing?'

'Or is he that confident in the rebel army being able to stop the Federation army?' Leon's eyes narrowed. 'Or he's just overconfident?'

The moment he had the last thought though, he quickly ruled it out.

From that speech, Ren Nora didn't strike him as the type of man to be overconfident and underestimate his enemies, especially not an enemy like the Omnicore Federation.

This was an enemy that was far stronger than you and was oppressing you.

This was why Leon suspected that there was a ploy in motion somewhere in the speech.

'Is he trying to mislead the Federation army?'

'Wait,' Leon's eyes widened. 'Did he tell them evening while he intends to actually commence his Trial immediately after his speech?'

'Has Ren Nora's Trial already started?' Leon was shocked; he felt that this was a high possibility.

His brain whirred as countless thoughts flowed through his head.

In the end, Leon relaxed and decided to focus on his own battle preparations. 'I'll find the truth when the battle starts'.

He immediately went to work.

…

The battle didn't erupt in the afternoon though.

For some reason, the Federation army stayed confident and patient as they didn't reveal themselves for almost the whole day.

But then, in the evening, around 7pm, the Federation Army invaded Iron Reef!

The battle of the free folk started!

...

[Special Appreciation to D4rkV1II4n and ctan63 for the Golden Tickets.]

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