Arthur was disappointed that the knight wasn't as attentive to her own body as to the outside world. The path of true strength stems from within, or that was what a novel Arthur loved said.

"What have you done to me?" the Mad Prince looked warily at Arthur, trying to see through his tricks. In response, he shrugged.

"You should know better since it's your own body."

"I've grown weaker, but how?" she seemed confused, but she shook the feelings away. Arthur smiled as her conviction returned to her. "Forget it. I'm still going to win this."

"That's the spirit!"

"Don't treat me like a child," the knight scowled as she prepared to fight again. Arthur mused that she forgot about her earlier proclamation of gauging his strength and simply wanted to prove herself now.

Their sparring caught the attention of many who had eyes on the Mad Prince, awaiting a chance to belittle him. Now, seeing her lose a point against a new knight, most were simply sparring leisurely to watch the show.

"You bastards!" the Senior Knight roared. "Fight properly, or I'll go down there and beat you myself!"

However, the supervising knight wasn't any better and kept his eyes on Arthur's new potential. When he sensed his gaze, Arthur wondered who knew of his existence in the academy as a knight.

"Everyone is watching you," Arthur looked around. "Are you sure it isn't time to step down? After all, the image you've built for yourself will be ruined if you lose."

This was a test, as Arthur wanted to see her priorities. If she were someone he could use, she wouldn't care about image and people's opinions. When she heard his words, the knight hesitated and glanced to the side.

Countless eyes were watching them.

Arthur knew that retreating now was also hard for her, but he wanted to see what she would do. The Mad Prince gritted her teeth before disappearing and dashing toward Arthur.

"A good choice," Arthur smiled as he raised his hand. "Breakthrough the limits and conquer challenges. That is the path of true strength."

However, Arthur still had a lesson to teach her. His hand rested on the sword's handle, preventing the knight from slashing. It was then that she realized that her strength had returned and that she had miscalculated again.

"This is your loss," Arthur tapped with his forged arm and pushed the knight slightly, and a number appeared. After he lost two exchanges and won two, both of them had two points.

The knight stood there in a daze as Arthur walked off the arena, leaving this matter as a tie. After all, he couldn't waste his time on a single recruit, nor did he intend to win or lose against her.

"Wait!" she snapped out of her daze and called out, but both of them knew that she couldn't force him to spar with her.

As Arthur looked around for another one of his interests, a man he didn't know walked up to him. The newcomer had an air of elegance and beauty that Arthur didn't notice in the rest.

"Greetings, friend," the young man with brown hair and blue eyes smiled warmly at him. Arthur glanced at his armor and noticed that it made the rest look like crude metal. "How about we exchange pointers?"

The respectful attitude of this young man bugged Arthur greatly because he sensed that something was amiss. As he tried to think of a possibility, he could only think of one: someone from the upper echelons told this young man about Arthur's identity and purpose.

When he reached that conclusion, Arthur rejected this man's offer and walked away to watch the oddball's fight. The man didn't show his anger, despite the air around him shift a little.

'He knows of my identity,' Arthur inwardly sighed as he reached the arena. The oddball was sparing against Kaza, and it seems they were taking it seriously.

Like last time, Arthur noticed that the knight was growing stronger as he fought against the noble. The unsettling feeling came to him again, prominent enough for Arthur to make sense of what it was.

This knight was feeding on something to grow stronger, but Arthur didn't know what it was. All he knew was that as quickly as this power came, it slipped away from him. His observations told him that the common factor among all of these was either of two: despair or hardship.

As they finished their sparring, their points were nine to five, Kaza being the victor. Arthur smiled as the oddball came down, walking toward him in large strides.

He needed to test his recruits, after all.

***

The next training was fighting monsters in an underground dungeon, and their cores equated to points. After the training ended, Arthur learned about the punishment: to clean the sewage, the dungeon, and the academy.

As he thought that the oddball would be punished because of the smell, he surprised Arthur by faring well. As he followed after the knight, he realized the source of the scent on his body.

The nobles who were punished ganged up on the young man and forced him to do their workload. When they noticed Arthur standing a distance away to witness it, they oddly averted their gazes and didn't try to force him as well.

'I guess what happened against their strongest knight is still making them afraid,' Arthur smiled. He started walking toward the young man before that nepotist from earlier blocked his path.

"How about we have a meal together, My Lord?" he asked with a politeness that almost made Arthur nauseous. After staring for a bit at him, Arthur ignored the man and walked away.

Arthur got to meet with the oddball in a public toilet, finding him clean the stalls. The man was stronger and eccentric, so Arthur wondered why he allowed them to push him around.

"I thought you would be too prideful to let them do this to you," Arthur leaned on the door. "Yet, here you are. Tell me your reason, if you are okay with that?"

"You are rather annoying, newcomer," the oddball glanced at him and resumed working. "Kaza is the son of a baron, and he can't do anything against these nobles. I won't make him take the fall for this one, not again."

"Then, how about you accept my offer?" Arthur smiled as he walked toward the oddball who was crouching beside the stall. The knight turned to him, confused. "Be my knight, and I'll make sure you are never disrespected again."

"What horseshit are you spewing?" the oddball frowned his brows. "Are you crazy? Why would I be your knight?"

"I'll tell you when you follow me," Arthur smiled before he walked out of the toilet. As he glanced back, he saw the knight hesitating before following after him.

They walked toward the field, where Big Bear was waiting for them. When he saw Arthur return, the knight signaled for the Junior Knights to be summoned. The knights assembled almost immediately, tired and confused.

"I believe everyone is aware that one of our Lords wants a few knights to join his ranks. So this is a great honor for all of you and a chance for you to grow."

An aged man began introducing after the knights gathered. The oddball was confused before he joined the ranks, and only Arthur remained standing beside the group.

"Allow me to introduce myself again," Arthur walked forward as the armor held by his spiritual energy fell apart to reveal his missing arm. "I am the Lord of Hidden City, also known as the Seika of Living Beings. A few called me Lorius in the past, but that's not a favorite nickname of mine."

His words made the knights shocked, and they double-checked to see if they were being pranked. However, their feelings were understandable because the Seika was a powerful entity, and Arthur was barely nineteen.

Even in Alka, and just like Earth, people as old as Arthur were mainly of the neo-rank, with talented ones being of the rei-rank. However, Arthur fought against powerful opponents and emerged victoriously.

His age was one of the rumors around him, and some even thought that he used his power to decelerate his aging. Arthur was amused by these rumors and was sure it would make a fine tale.

"I trained with you today to seek notable and promising people for my lordship. I don't dare command any of you, as a knight's free will to choose should never be taken. However, the rumors are true. I can make you stronger and beyond that."

As the young knights' breathing became hurried at such an offer, Arthur raised his arms to share a sliver of his mana. The power of creation made the knight's eyes full of zeal.

"I will choose only five of you to accompany me, as long as they swear loyalty. If they agree, then I promise you not only strength but the power to change the world."