Chapter 771: Chapter 760: I Want to Become a Knight Chapter 771: Chapter 760: I Want to Become a Knight “Asuo the Great Sage, you’re once again recklessly showing kindness.” The leader of this knight regiment looked at his subordinate with a helpless gaze, “You’ve just earned a few coins, all of which you’ve given away. What are you aiming for, following me into slave trading?”

“Just to do what little I can.” Asuo, with a silent smile, answered. He knew these people would be sent to a Pure Land far from war. He was powerless to stop the war, but he could at least help them stay far from it now.

“Pretending to be a saint now, are we? If you really like doing good deeds, then go to the church and become a Temple Knight. What are you doing here in this nefarious business? No matter how many good deeds you do, no one will know, and no one can spread the word for you. No one knows your name, so what’s the point?” Upon seeing Asuo’s demeanor, someone sneered.

“Enough. No more talking. Start working, gather everyone in this village,” the leader of the Nameless Knight Order ordered loudly, “Before we arrived, all the people in this village had already been killed by the beastmen. Did everyone understand?”

“Understood.” The knights loudly responded.

“So, officially, all the people in this village are considered dead.” Asuo looked at the scene in front of him and quietly sighed. He had seen and experienced this very scene so many times before.

Under the vast influence of whoever was reaching into the affairs of the Guishuang Kingdom, every move of the beastmen in this area was being meticulously scouted. Even their attacks on the various villages were detected clearly.

Usually just after the beastmen attacked these villages and left evidence of their destruction, knight regiments like Asuo’s would rush in, annihilate the beastmen, and then the humans would be taken away to an unknown area. At the official level, they were none the wiser; in their records, all these people had already been slaughtered by the beastmen.

…

“Sir Knight, where are we going?”

Caught up in a group of hundreds of people, the young boy Ann bravely approached a knight in bronze armor and boldly asked his question.

“You little rascal, how many times do I have to tell you? I am a ruthless slave trader. Do not come near me, nor try to ingratiate yourself with me. Beware, lest I skewer you with my lance.”

“I don’t believe you.”

Asuo did not answer but let his actions speak for him. His pointed cavalry lance grazed the boy’s neck, then pierced the back of his collar, lifting him high and hanging him on his shoulder.

“Sir, could you please…” Seeing this, Ann’s mother started approaching and was about to beg him.

“Rest assured, I won’t harm him. I’m only trying to make him behave.”

The knight’s words reassured the young mother a little, but the worried and reproachful looks she directed towards Ann were still eviden.

“Sir Knight, where are we going?” Despite being hung on the end of a lance, Ann remained curious. In his eyes, Asuo, who claimed to be a slave trader, was a hero out of a story.

“I’m taking you to a place without war, hunger, or cold.”

“Is it Heaven?” When the knight described their destination, Ann’s eyes were full of longing.

“Close enough,” Knight Asuo sighed lightly…

“Wow, what is that?” Under the escort of the knight regiment, the refugees, whose homes had been destroyed by the beastmen, soon saw a huge floating ship hovering above the ground.

“That is the ship to the Heavenly Pure Land.” Knight Asuo looked at the gigantic floating ship, his eyes filled with complex emotions as he put the boy Ann down.

“Sir Knight, aren’t you getting on the ship?” As a young Ann, who was helping his severely injured father board the ship with his mother, looked back, the knights who had escorted them stood in neat lines, quietly watching them and seeing them off as they boarded the ship.

“Boy, that’s the ship to Heaven. We knights, tainted with the smell of money, do not deserve to get on.”

A knight loudly responded, and then those knights spurred their horses to leave. Amid the resounding sounds of galloping hooves, all the knights left, while the floating ship filled with refugees from all directions took off.

…

The foolish knight did not lie to him. That was what Ann thought after he– along with his parents– had lived in the Red Dragon Duchy for some time. There was truly no war, no hunger, and no cold here. It wasn’t Heaven, but it was very much like the Heaven he had imagined.

The tranquility of Ann’s life was abruptly shattered following a population census in the Red Dragon Duchy.

“Madam, your child has shown exceptional talent in cultivation. Please prepare him. In three days, he will be sent to the capital for a test of his willpower. If he passes, your child will receive unimaginable rewards.”

The official who had tested Ann’s talent was smiling broadly at the mud-stained young woman, who also wore a smile on her face.

“Sir, are you saying I can become a knight?” asked Ann, filled with excitement.

“Of course, with your talent, as long as you enter the Duchy’s Academy and work on it diligently, becoming a knight is absolutely within the realm of possibility.” The chubby official responded with a smile.

“However, before enrollment, you will undergo a test of perseverance. If you can endure a certain level, you can enter a more special place. Even becoming a noble will be within simple reach.”

“Mother, I’m going to be a knight!” Young Ann exclaimed excitedly.

“Can my child not go?” Against young Ann’s expectation, his mother’s eyes were filled with worry as she asked the census official.

“Mother?” The young boy looked confused.

“Madam, this is an opportunity to become a noble.” The census official was serious.

“But this chance requires my child to risk his life, doesn’t it?” The young woman touched her child’s head. “Our current life is good. I don’t think my child needs to be some sort of noble.”

“You are indeed a wonderful mother, but shouldn’t you consider your child’s future? Moreover, how can you feel that you have the right to refuse? What do you think sustains your current life? If everyone is as entertained as you are but unwilling to carry the burden, the Duchy will collapse.”

“I understand!” The young woman lowered her head, her white-knuckled fingers clenched around her farming tool.

…

Three days later, young Ann was sent into a bustling city. Before he had the chance to marvel at the extraordinary sights around him, he was ushered into a grandiose building’s square. The square was filled with a great number of children, their faces full of wonder and aspiration, just like him. The area was so vast that he couldn’t see the other end.

Ann watched as these children were guided by a group of attractive young men and women onto a road filled with strange reliefs. As they trudged along, some stumbled and fell, but were quickly dragged away.

Some seemed to be under immense strain, too overwhelmed to continue, meeting only indifferent gazes. Only those who had travelled far were met with approving looks when they finally fell from exhaustion.

“Kid, if you want to get stronger, if you want a higher starting point, then keep going. Even if you have to die, keep going until you lose consciousness.”

The handsome, stoic-faced young man with the blue hair spoke emotionlessly. He looked at Ann as if he were nothing more than an ant on the ground.

“Yeah.” With that superior gaze upon him, young Ann felt uncomfortable, but he didn’t show any dissatisfaction because he could sense that this teenager had the strength to kill him with a wave of his hand.

With anticipation and eagerness, Ann stepped onto the road filled with dragon-patterned reliefs. But as he stepped onto it, he felt an inexplicable pressure descend on him, and an unknown terror took root in his heart. He felt an impulse to turn and run, but he resisted it.

Just as that extraordinarily attractive teen had instructed, young Ann dutifully moved along the path covered in dragon-shaped reliefs. With every step, he felt the pressure on him increase.

Progressing further, the young boys around him became fewer and fewer. Frequently, children fell because they could not withstand the tremendous pressure or chose to step down voluntarily and were then escorted away.

Some children insisted tenaciously on the road, but due to some factors, they collapsed and were then similarly dragged away.

Slowly, as fewer and fewer children remained around him, and the pressure he bore increased steadily, he breathed heavily and felt sharp pain in his lungs with each breath. His limbs felt unbelievably heavy, and every part of his body screamed at him to stop, to move no further.

But the young boy did not care about his body’s changes, nor the blood seeping out from his pores. The only thing on his mind was moving forward, continuing, and moving forward still! In the end, young Ann’s consciousness slowly blurred, and he remembered only one thought—to move forward, to gain strength, to become a knight.

“Splash!”

At the end of this path designed to filter out the agitators, a boy, soaked in blood, collapsed heavily onto the floor. Lying underneath him was a majestic Hexagon Golden Giant Dragon, glittering with a faint glow, nourishing the boy’s body and silently effecting some transformation.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read