Sam went to the sparring field and took a karate stance with one arm next to his hip and the other one sideways in front of his chest.

' Crazy feeling, it feels so familiar, even though I never practiced martial arts in the past.'

Sam turned his attention to Pete who had begun to approach Sam. He could see the evil smile on Pete's face when he started to charge.

The sword approached from the left side but Sam used his right hand, which was positioned in front of his chest and tried to hit the sword from below. Sam's hand missed the sword, resulting in it crashing into his chest.

Sam took two steps backwards but wasn't injured at all. His breast plate was more than enough to block a blunt weapon.

' It seems like my speed and accuracy aren't enough to pull moves like the one I just tried. I have to use my strength skill and defense while doing martial arts!'

Pete's smile grew wider, after witnessing his first attack hitting its mark.

" Seems like you were too confident, Hahaha! It is too late for regrets, this is where the real test begins! "

Pete charged again. He started with a kick to Sam's mid section, which got blocked by Sam. The sword approached again but this time from overhead.

Sam reflexively raised his arm and used it to defend against the steel sword. He only felt a small impact because of his armor and defense stat and used his left arm to punch at Pete.

His fist hit the simple breastplate of his opponent and send him staggering backwards a few meters.

Sam had used 60% of his strength, resulting in the breastplate getting dented in. He smiled after seeing the damaged armor.

Pete on the other hand was furious and also a bit scared. He looked around at the other guards, some laughed and others smiled mockingly but all of them wanted the fight to continue. Pete also looked at Sam, only to see him smiling as well! Pete snapped.

" You got lucky! I will show you what real power and experience is! Watch out, so you don't get hurt! "

Orkan, who knew that Sam was the king wanted to stop the fight to avoid unnecessary accidents but Sam looked at him and softly shook his head.

Pete went into a rage and charged at Sam again. This time he was wildly swinging his sword while occasionally kicking and punching.

Sam evaded and blocked the wild attacks as much as possible. He got hit several times but his armor protected him from serious injuries.

Finally, when an overhead strike approached Sam swung out his arm sideways and knocked the sword out of Pete's hand. Sam's hand gripped the wrist of his opponent and locked it like a vise.

The other hand opened and flew out to execute a palm strike. Sam used 70% of his strength and successfully hit Pete's left shoulder. A big dent appeared on the shoulder part of the armor.

Pete had lots of cushion between his chest and breastplate, therefore the earlier hit hadn't been too serious. Now that his shoulder had been attacked the damage was far worse because of the poorly cushioned shoulder parts of the simple armor .

Only Sam and Pete were able to hear the cracking sound signaling a broken bone.

"Aaaaaahhh! My shoulder! You broke my shoulder!!"

Pete screamed in pain and Sam loosened the grip on his wrist. After a minute one of Orkans employees arrived and helped Pete to leave the backyard and see a doctor.

All of the guards, Orkan and the twins looked at Sam in surprise. No one had thought that he would be this powerful.

Anna and Nina ran over to Sam and hugged him from both sides.

" That was awesome! It looked like you didn't even use your full power! " Anna smiled and said. Nina looked into Sam's eyes and spoke " All of these guards are Level 11 to Level 13. You didn't even use a weapon and easily defeated this Pete who actually is Level 13. Say, how strong are you? "

Sam was surprised to hear Nina talking so much. She was the calm and quiet type of girl, answering in simple sentences most of the time.

" Let's talk about this later!

Hey Orkan, did I pass the test? " Sam asked with a smile, completely ignoring the people staring at him.

Orkan came back to his senses. He grinned and said " Naturally you passed this test! Come, let's go inside and talk a bit! Anna and Nina, you should join us.

The rest of you, continue exercising! The strongest five of you will be my personal guard during the journey, you will be able to see new places and experience adventures! The payment will also be a bit better, so I want to see you work your asses off"

The guards were still looking at Sam but after hearing Orkans speech they resolved themselves and started exercising even harder than before.

Orkan, Sam and the twins went into Orkans office. Orkan started to talk after a maid brought them tea.

" First of all, I have to admit I never thought you are such a fierce and powerful fighter! I am glad to have you in the group but are you sure you as the king can leave Blackstone city again? We will be away at least five days, most likely even longer! "

" I will just have to prepare a few things beforehand. It is important for us to know our neighbors. After what you said about the cities I have to see them with my own eyes. Maybe I will be able to build some diplomatic relationships, which would be very helpful, also regarding our trade connections.

What can you tell me about the first adventurer you hired?"

" He is a young warrior who arrived with his family a few days ago. He fights with a strange looking bent sword. His name is Shao and he is a very skillful and quick fighter.

About you coming with us, I'm not in the position to argue with you, furthermore I'm happy to have you and the twins with us!"

Sam and Orkan talked for another 30 minutes before Sam and the twins left. They would wait for ten more days before leaving for their journey regardless of a fifth adventurer.

Sam and the twins slowly walked through Blackstone city while chatting and laughing. They passed " Meat Dreams" and spontaneously decided to enter, order a few plates of meat and relax the rest of the day.