Chapter 5 …
‘This guy looks perfect for testing.’
Ikael scanned the large figure in front of him from head to toe.
The guy looked at least twice Ikael’s size and age, but he didn’t seem threatening in Ikael’s eyes.
In his previous life, he had achieved the rank of 7-star knight. A difference like this was nothing to him.
“Desert brat, has your tongue turned into a mummy?”
Meanwhile, the large guy, oblivious to who he was provoking, tapped Ikael on the head. He had mistaken Ikael for an ordinary desert boy.
“If you’ve got complaints, speak up, okay? I’d love to beat you to death.”
“Same to you.”
“What?”
The big guy tried to say something more, but Ikael was faster.
Wham!
Without hesitation, Ikael threw a punch.
Ikael is a Recruit too. Even if he’s frail, he should be able to handle someone like this.
But in the next moment, Ikael’s expectations were spectacularly off.
“-?”
The force wasn’t enough.
Boom, bang!
“Ugh… aaargh…”
“Ar-are you okay?!”
“What the hell is this?!”
The force wasn’t just enough—it was overwhelming.
The big guy flew like a cannonball, crashing to the ground. Dust rose thickly around the spot he landed.
“W-what the hell are you, you bastard!!”
His companions stared at Ikael in shock. Ikael himself was equally stunned.
But soon he understood.
He’s a Recruit.
Faster and stronger than expected. Clearly a Recruit’s body.
I want to test him a little more.
Something surged within Ikael.
“Grrrgh!!”
The big guy got up from the broken fragments, disbelief written on his face.
“You… desert brat!!”
Swish!
He grabbed a wooden sword lying nearby and charged. Looks like he finally wanted a real fight. Ikael calmly faced him.
“Have you ever been to the desert?”
“What kind of nonsense is that?!”
Whoosh!
The big guy swung his wooden sword. Ikael simply bent down and dodged.
“You keep talking about the desert, desert, desert.”
“Never been. Guess I’ll have to make a mummy out of your corpse today!”
Slash!
The sword grazed Ikael’s foot. He twisted his body and dodged again, keeping his eyes on the big guy.
Thwack.
Ikael placed his hand on a training hall’s flagpole.
“If you knew the desert, you wouldn’t charge like that.”
Wham!
Using the pole’s rebound, Ikael kicked with all his strength. The big guy…
Boom!
“Grrrgh!!”
He screamed as he flew across the training hall. The same scene repeated: the big guy arched through the air and the fences shattered.
What the hell is this guy…?
His companions couldn’t hide their confusion. Twice his size, yet pushed around like this?
“Th-this bastard!”
Wiping blood from his mouth, the big guy got up.
Swish.
Ikael held the flagpole, ready to fight. The thin pole looked far more threatening than one would imagine.
Good opportunity. I’ll use him to fully test Ikael’s body.
“Come at me.”
“Can’t he put that flag down?!”
The junior knights watching shouted in excitement. The Recruit’s flag held by a mere desert boy—it was an insult to them.
“Uwaaah!”
Fuming, the big guy drew his wooden sword again and charged.
Thunk!
Ikael smoothly tripped him with the flagpole.
Thud!
The big guy crashed to the ground.
Not bad accuracy.
His movements with the pole were precise.
The big guy rose again.
“Grr, today you die by my hand!”
Thunk. Crack!
“Ugh!”
His head snapped back to the sky, then slammed into the floor. His vision spun, hit in the jaw and crown by the pole.
His attack agility isn’t bad either.
Spitting blood and a tooth, the big guy let out a roar and charged like a bull. He aimed to strike with his remaining strength.
Thwack!
Ikael adjusted his grip on the flagpole, facing him head-on.
This is the final test.
Accuracy, agility, and now strength.
Flutter!
Ikael’s red flag whipped through the air, momentarily obscuring the big guy’s vision. His sword sliced not through Ikael, but through the flag.
Through the clean red slit, Ikael’s eyes glimmered.
Now to test strength.
Wham!
“Grrrgh!”
Ikael slammed the flagpole onto him with all his might.
Let’s see. Which will break first, the pole or him.
“Hey!!”
The big guy’s companions ran over, shocked.
Through the dust, the big guy was revealed—barely conscious, the leather armor carved with the marks of the pole. Thin but powerful strikes; a few bones must have broken.
Ikael smiled.
“Strong.”
If he had struck with normal strength, the pole would have broken, not the armor.
It was confirmed: Ikael was not a frail young lord, but clearly a Recruit’s child.
Satisfied, Ikael turned away.
This should suffice.
No need to make a fuss. He came only to test Ikael’s body.
But the fallen big guy motioned with his hand, as if to speak.
“What is it?”
In that moment, the big guy struck with his wooden sword.
Thunk!
Ikael dodged swiftly, but the strike grazed his helmet.
Crack.
The helmet split instantly. Ikael’s eyes widened.
He knows how to use aura.
Just grazing with such force—it was clearly aura. Among these junior knights, it wasn’t an aura blade but a raw aura strike. Still, enough to easily kill someone.
The junior knights shouted.
“Crazy! Stop him!”
“Are you trying to kill someone?!”
But the big guy no longer heard their warnings. It was the first time he had been hit this badly; his eyes were wild.
“Die, desert brat!”
Thrust!
The aura-laced sword pierced toward Ikael, who calmly watched.
In that instant, Ikael thought:
If this hits, I’m dead.
Wood cannot oppose aura. The strike would shatter anything it touched.
The only thing that could counter it was…
Aura.
At that thought…
Whoosh!
Ikael felt something surge from his heart. Like fire. A whirl of heat and flame swirled in his chest, heating it to the brink of bursting.
Boom!
The flagpole collided with the aura sword. An enormous roar erupted.
“Wha…?”
Spectators gawked. Not Ikael, but the big guy was sent flying like a skipping stone.
“Grrrgh!”
The sword shattered into pieces. Ikael remained unharmed.
“Hey! Are you okay?!”
The big guy had fainted, foam at his mouth.
“This is impossible…”
The junior knights couldn’t believe their eyes. The strongest of the junior hall, defeated by a single boy—who even used aura.
Who was this boy? Could this really be the desert brat they bullied?
At that moment, the senior officer of the training hall arrived.
“What is going on here?!”
The sight left him speechless. The big guy was unconscious, his sword in pieces. The boy simply held the flag calmly.
Could he really do this with just a flag?
Sparring between knights was common, so the officer hadn’t intended to intervene. But being so utterly overwhelmed was rare.
“You, who…!”
The senior officer glared at the boy, half in anger, half in disbelief.
Swish.
The boy removed his helmet, revealing an unexpected face.
The senior officer’s eyes widened.
“Gasp. I-Is this Lord Ikael?”
Silver hair, fair skin, eyes sharp as blades. The youngest son of the Recruits: Ikael.
Immediately, the senior officer knelt. He didn’t know how frail Lord Ikael could accomplish this, but one thing was certain: the entire junior hall would be in serious trouble if he erred.
“You fools! Kneel before Lord Ikael!”
“Lord?!”
The junior knights hesitated, looking around.
Once they realized, they all knelt.
“W-we pay respects to Lord Ikael!!”
From nearest to farthest, they bowed, the instigators pressing their heads to the ground.
Ikael, uninterested, only nodded slightly and left the hall.
Step, step…
Ahead, the desert boy tried to speak.
Thud.
Ikael pressed the half-broken helmet onto his head.
“Sorry, it’s ruined. Send a claim to Ikael Palace.”
The junior knights whispered among themselves.
“Did that desert brat know Lord Ikael?”
The hall was still abuzz with speculation and chatter after Ikael left.
But Ikael’s mind focused on only one thing:
Aura.
The aura he briefly unleashed in the hall wasn’t the cold aura of a Recruit. In both his past and current life, he had never used it.
But I felt it, just once.
The aura he had felt once, when he faced the desert dragon Pkellon.
