The Knight's Journey to the Empire

The next day, Soran got up early in the morning to do morning exercises as usual. This was his unchanging routine every day.

If the weather is good, go to the open-air training ground; if the weather is bad, go to the indoor training ground.

But in today's morning exercise, he did not practice sword skills hard, but just exercised his basic strength and body coordination.

Because he still had a martial arts competition to participate in in the morning.

Donbass Knight Academy ensures that the contestants have enough time to rest and recover their strength.

Therefore, according to the competition system, contestants will only play two games every day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

The top fifteen were decided yesterday afternoon, and the top eight will be decided this morning.

There are fifteen contestants, and the battle order is still allocated by taking turns to draw lots, and the contestant who draws the number eight wooden ball lot will be given a bye and directly enter the top eight.

The remaining fourteen contestants will be narrowed down to seven to advance to the quarterfinals.

Soran was not so lucky this round. He neither got a bye nor a weaker opponent.

Billy, a recent graduate of the Donbass Knight Academy, is the second son of a hereditary viscount. His strength is at the pinnacle of the professional level of trainee knights. In the physical fitness assessment of the first stage of the graduation examination, he ranked sixth. He has strong strength and good physical fitness.

“Boss, be careful. Billy is a strong opponent. Judging from his data and ranking in the physical fitness assessment, his strength should be at the peak of the professional level of an apprentice knight, and he may break through to the professional level of a formal knight at any time.” Looking at Billy who was eager to try on the other side of the arena, Adam gave Soran a worried reminder.

“It’s okay. So what if he’s at the peak of his professional level as an apprentice knight? I can still beat him down.” Soran smiled. He had absolute confidence in his own strength.

The Apprentice Knight is at the top of the professional level, who isn’t?

"Boss, it's okay. Don't force yourself. If you can't win, just admit defeat. There's nothing to be ashamed of." Christian smiled and comforted Soran.

Carlos MacLennan nodded in agreement.

It was obvious that the three "good brothers" did not seem to have any confidence that Sauron could defeat his opponent.

Soran rolled his eyes at the three of them and said angrily, "You three are just idiots who only know how to eat, drink, have fun and visit brothels. Can you please have some confidence in me, your boss? Do you think I'm the same as you?"

After saying that, he lightly punched each of his three "good brothers" and went straight to the ring.

Adam and the other two stayed where they were and could only smile awkwardly, but they were not angry because what Soran said was the truth.

They have a roommate who is a top student and ranks in the top ten in the school, but the three of them are not top students.

They couldn't even make it into the top fifty in the first phase of the graduation assessment.

The best performer among the three was Adam, who ranked ninety-second, but he was still not even qualified to participate in the ring competition.

You know your own business and you know your own worth. You can only blame yourself for achieving such results, and no one else.

Outside the fighting arena, there was a bustling crowd, with people jostling each other, shouting and applauding loudly.

On the fighting arena, Soran had already completely entered into a fighting state. He ignored all the sounds around him and was carefully sizing up the opponent in front of him.

This Billy is indeed a very strong opponent. He is 1.8 meters tall, with bulging muscles all over his body. His short clothes show his strong body. He looks both powerful and honest, and tough and kind.

The overall feeling he gave to Soran was like that of a steamroller, majestic and heavy, as if he could flatten all the obstacles in his way.

25/25.

This is the data that Soran observed on Billy when he quietly activated the ability of the Arcane Eye.

This data is indeed the peak of the apprentice knight's professional level, but it is still a little bit worse than Soran's own data (26/26).

However, in Soran's opinion, considering the opponent's strong body, such a small gap does not seem to be an insurmountable gap.

……

The only weapons used in this arena duel are shield and sword.

The swords have iron hilts and are divided into three categories: the lighter rapier, the standard knight's longsword, and the heavier one-handed greatsword.

The shield is covered with iron on the outside and is divided into two types: round shield and upright shield. Each type is divided into three types: full-body heavy shield, half-body shield, and one-handed small shield.

Billy chose a heavy one-handed sword and a half-round shield. It was obvious that he was going to take the route of a domineering and tough attack.

Soran chose a standard knight's sword and a small one-handed shield.

This small one-handed shield is about 30 centimeters long and wide. It can protect against ordinary sword strikes, but it cannot protect against certain heavy blows that are delivered after charging. Moreover, due to its small area, it cannot protect against arrow attacks.

But its advantage is that it is lightweight, which is just right for duels, and its front end is V-shaped, which can also be used to hit the enemy to cause concentrated damage.

Of course, whether it is a sword or a shield, its main part is made of solid wood. The wood is hard and not easy to break. It is not sharpened and not easy to hurt people, but its toughness and striking effect are still acceptable.

Obviously, this is all for the sake of protecting the lives of the contestants.

What if the two sides get so angry in the competition that they just start slashing with swords? What should we do then?

With the weapon in hand, murderous intent arises naturally, and this is not just talk!

Because this is often the time when people are most impulsive and irrational!

The two contestants stepped onto the fighting arena and performed a standard knight's salute to each other from a distance of ten meters. Then, at the referee's command of "the duel begins", the fighting arena competition officially began.