Chapter 223
Thunderous cheers exploded as the knights watched Seonghyun and clicked their tongues in admiration.
Half of them had ignored Seonghyun as a stranger knight, and the other half did not ignore him but doubted his skills.
But Seonghyun’s performance was enough to overturn all those thoughts.
And that was not all.
Several knights asked each other about the single strike they had just witnessed.
“D-Did you see that!?!?”
“I-I missed the movement!!!”
“I saw him shoot forward like an arrow... but only until he held the sword backward…”
They discussed how much of the movement they had captured.
The knights in Sysbalt were those who operated around this area.
Their levels were similar to users’.
But at least users without Unique-rank classes could not dare approach them for their strength.
And yet, all these knights were amazed.
No young knights fully grasped Seonghyun’s movements.
The three captains who watched him from the stage clicked their tongues.
“This winner is impressive.”
“So it is,” said Aizel Richtbert, captain of the Solaris Knights.
Adrian Roswell, captain of the Valkyrion Guard, replied.
They could not help but admire Seonghyun’s skill, far above other young knights.
“At this level, he would be a valuable asset even if he joined immediately.”
“Absolutely.”
Ragna Ekrion, watching Seonghyun with a strange gaze, nodded with similar sentiments.
“I’m curious which order he’ll choose.”
“Hmph.”
“Hmm.”
Though Aizel Richtbert and Adrian Roswell showed displeasure at Ragna’s confident tone,
Both looked toward Seonghyun with unease.
After all, Equinox Knights were currently the strongest.
Except for Ragna, the other two looked at Seonghyun with apprehension.
Ragna, meanwhile, looked at Seonghyun with a sly smile as if savoring a delicious meal.
‘This guy would make an excellent offering.’
His desire that Seonghyun choose his order was the same as the others.
Though his purpose was different.
At the same time, Ragna thought,
‘With that level of swordsmanship, he poses no threat to me.’
He had no suspicion that Seonghyun was hiding his true strength.
He had already shown the strongest form at that level.
Moreover,
He had no idea Seonghyun was a black mage.
4.
After all the knight exams were finished,
The candidates were given a break under the pretense of grading.
However, even without grading, there was a candidate who stood out in every field.
Not only did he excel.
He was the only one who achieved the highest scores.
At first, many dismissed him as an outsider.
But now, no one did.
Among the young knights gathered here, he displayed the best skills.
To dismiss him was a matter of intelligence.
Fortunately, there were few with such lack of intelligence among these knights.
“Sir Seonghyun, may we ask how you train?”
“How can you be so strong despite being an outsider? Is there a secret?”
“P-please, would you spar with me once?”
“Having doubted you before, I now retract that.”
Everyone eagerly surrounded Seonghyun, talking at once, hoping to glean some tips.
But Seonghyun didn’t particularly mind.
He was used to such attention by now.
And it was difficult to explain much.
He just expressed gratitude and said he had trained hard.
As he did,
‘Still, there are quite a few who are jealous.’
Many tried to gain something from him.
But simultaneously, some felt inferior.
Seonghyun now understood it was inevitable.
One cannot control others’ feelings.
After dealing with the attention from various knights,
The announcement came: the grading was complete and everyone was called.
The three captains were gathered again, ready to announce the rankings.
Naturally, Seonghyun was named first.
All praised him as impressive.
But some held ill feelings toward him.
When Seonghyun was called first,
Aizel Richtbert, the captain of the Solaris Knights with the longest experience, spoke.
“The first place, Seonghyun, may choose one of the three knight orders. Which will you choose?”
An obvious question.
Seonghyun’s goal was already set.
He answered promptly.
“Equinox Knights.”
“Our Equinox Knights welcome you.”
Upon hearing this, Ragna Ekrion smiled victoriously.
The other two captains sighed with disappointment.
They had hoped such a talent would join their order.
Seonghyun was also curious about other orders.
But the quest dictated his choice.
Though staying long in the order would be difficult regardless.
As each named their chosen order and received approval from captains, the initiation ceremony ended.
They gathered in lines according to their orders.
Five of the candidates chose the Equinox Knights after passing the exam.
Half of the 10 successful candidates chose the Equinox Knights.
Interestingly,
‘Most of them dislike me.’
Many young knights with rough temperaments and strong inferiority complexes were gathered.
It seems the recent strengthening of the Equinox Knights attracted such rough characters.
Apparently, this was due to the influence of the new captain, Ragna Ekrion.
The rough energy was already palpable.
A member of the Equinox Knights who came out to greet them was similar in demeanor.
More like a warrior or mercenary than a knight, showing a swaggering attitude.
Moreover, the fierce aura he exuded was unfiltered as he spoke,
“New recruits, follow me.”
Despite the rough personality,
Under orders from the captain, he led them out as smoothly as possible.
Arriving at the Equinox Knights' headquarters—the barracks—
The scene was intense.
Everywhere, knights sparred with real steel, with casualties occurring.
It was more like actual combat than mere sparring.
‘Hmm.’
Seonghyun valued practical combat the most as well,
But it wasn’t to this extent.
Blood splattered all around.
At the training ground soaked with sweat and blood,
The new recruits all froze.
They hadn’t expected it to be this severe.
However, the guiding knight showed no mercy,
“Haha! I can’t believe you froze after just watching that sparring. You’ll be chopped up soon enough.”
Hearing this mockery, the surrounding young knights looked pale.
In spite of it all, Seonghyun asked the senior knight,
“Where do we receive knight duties?”
“......?”
The senior knight regarded the brazen questioner with a puzzled expression.
Initially surprised,
The senior knight then chuckled.
Seonghyun didn’t seem to be posturing.
Having examined Seonghyun during the exam,
He nodded appreciatively.
“So, number one, huh?”
The junior recruits shivered at the senior knight’s words.
The difference in attitude was clear.
They had no courage to retort against the senior knight’s overwhelming presence.
Only Seonghyun looked him straight in the eye.
The senior knight nodded with satisfaction.
“Good. You there, Seonghyun, follow me. The rest of you go warm up in the training ground.”
“Understood.”
“...Yes, understood.”
“...Yep.”
“......”
Except for Seonghyun, the other new knights lowered their heads in wounded pride and moved to one side of the training ground, while Seonghyun followed the senior knight.
At the same time, Seonghyun thought to himself,
‘Usually, there’s some kind of initiation ceremony.’
Though he ranked first,
If the knight order was this fierce and rough,
There would surely be an initiation ritual.
But there wasn’t.
Instead,
“Here is where you receive your missions.”
The senior knight introduced a building in the barracks and led him inside.
It looked like a quest board with various wanted posters and requests pinned all over.
At the counter stood a staff member, who seemed to be in charge of accepting the missions players chose from the quest board.
In this way, it functioned somewhat like an adventurer’s guild,
And Seonghyun found it quite exciting and satisfying.
It seemed fairly autonomous.
Hadn’t Leon said there was nothing better than missions to show what you can do in this knight order?
Of course, Leon didn’t mean Seonghyun had to start running around completing missions immediately after joining.
But Seonghyun didn’t think that far.
‘I wonder what mission I should take.’
Since making a good impression required standing out,
Seonghyun happily headed toward the counter.
But a senior knight blocked his way.
Thinking maybe now wasn’t the time, he looked at the senior knight.
The senior knight said,
“You have to let the senior pick your first mission.”
“Oh, I see.”
Seonghyun hadn’t known that.
But it made sense; to accurately gauge a junior’s ability and assign a fitting mission,
It was better for the senior to decide.
Expecting something, Seonghyun looked at the senior with anticipation.
The senior knight smirked as he eyed the quest board, then selected a suitable mission and approached the counter.
“Attach this mission to that guy.”
“This mission? Understood.”
The staff member said so and performed some magical processing before nodding.
Then the mission details appeared in front of Seonghyun’s eyes.
[Hidden Linked Quest, 『Clear the Equinox Knights Entrance Exam』 completed.]
[Hidden Linked Quest, 『First Mission of the Equinox Knights』 generated.]
[Equinox Knights Mission, 『Eliminate the Razor Wolf, Rugalnias』 generated.]
『First Mission of the Equinox Knights』
→ Complete the mission, 『Eliminate the Razor Wolf, Rugalnias』.
‘Oh, so this is how it works.’
Seonghyun smiled and nodded, checking the quest window that appeared at the same time.
Also pleased that the senior had chosen a good mission for him,
He immediately replied,
“Thank you. I’ll be off now.”
“Don’t mention it. This is nothing.”
As Seonghyun accepted the mission and left,
The staff member cautiously spoke to the senior knight,
“Isn’t this mission too difficult for a newcomer?”
The ‘Eliminate the Razor Wolf, Rugalnias’ mission required five senior knights to handle.
Entrusting it to a single newcomer seemed odd to anyone.
But the senior knight sneered and said,
“Killing newbies is the best way to discourage them. He’s an outsider anyway, so he won’t die easily and it’s convenient.”
The staff member shook his head inwardly at the senior’s sly smile.
What a nasty person.
However, not long after,
“I’ve successfully completed the mission.”
“...What?”