บท 12: The Teacher who came from Hell? (IV)
After listening to Xingyu's question, Long Haochen couldn't help but become somewhat shocked, and, after thinking deeply for a short while, he shook his head with a face of ignorance.
Xingyu's face revealed a rare smile. "You are quite honest. You don't try to give a casual answer just to satisfy me. Not to mention you, even the Knight Temple cannot easily answer this question. Precisely because of this question, regarding Genuine Knights, there are two branches of knights differentiated by the Knight Temple: the Retribution Knights, and the Guardian Knights.
"Retribution Knights focus on attack. They wield dual weapons and fight with the combination of their mounts and their offensive arts. Their fighting capabilities are very high and their strength in the battlefield surpasses the strength of soldiers and assassins of the same rank.
"Guardian Knights give priority to defense. They wield a weapon in one hand, a shield in the other, and are the core of teams. They are proficient with assisting and recovery arts. Their fighting capabilities are perhaps weaker than a Retribution Knight's, but in collaborations, the Guardian Knight's utility is way higher than a Retribution Knight's."
At that point, Xingyu stopped for a moment. Still looking at Long Haochen, he asked, "Do you believe that there are more Retribution Knights, or that there are more Guardian Knights?"
Long Haochen thought, then said: "There should be more Retribution Knights. You just said that the Retribution Knight's offensive power was better."
Xingyu shook his head. "It is the opposite, the Knight Temple has a Guardian Knight ratio of 10:1, compared to Retribution Knights."
"Oh? Such a difference? But why?" Long Haochen asked, puzzled.
Xingyu answered, "Because we belong to the Temple Alliance. As the head of the six great Temples of the Temple Alliance, the Knight Temple mustn't consider only our own individual combat capabilities. We have to consider our partners' as well. The reason why it is called the Temple Alliance is that it is only once people belonging to these six vocations fight together that they can have the greatest fighting efficiency. But, as the team's core, the knight does not only have to consider his own attack and defense, but the protection of his allies, as well. Thus, there are way more Guardian Knights than Retribution Knights."
Long Haochen understood some of his words, "Then, Teacher, in the future should I become a Guardian Knight or a Retribution Knight?"
Xingyu lightly answered, "You are the only one who can make the suitable choice. In this aspect, I cannot help you. Seeing your disposition, it would probably be more suitable for you to choose to become a Guardian Knight, but I am, personally, a Retribution Knight. The vast majority of what I can pass on to you are abilities and skills used by Retribution Knights."
"Teacher, I…"
"Don't be impatient to answer." Xingyu instantly interrupted Long Haochen, "You have a year to think deeply over this. A year later, you will tell me your answer."
"Yes."
One year later, in Haoyue City.
Walking on a wide street of Haoyue City, Long Haochen's eyes looked curious and surprised.
What a big city! The street was at least sixteen meters wide, with shops that stood on both sides of the street. There was an incessant stream of horses and it was extremely noisy. That city's burst of people couldn't possibly be compared with Odin Town's. It was as the difference between heaven and earth.
In the southern part of the Temple Alliance, Haoyue was a medium-sized city. But that was the first time Long Haochen, who lived his childhood in Odin, got to see a city of that scale.
Long Haochen was full of curiosity towards Haoyue City, and the people on the road seemed just as curious about him. He was dressed in simple clothing, but his face was similar to a porcelain doll's. Today, after one year, Long Haochen's face did not look unhealthy anymore and he had also grown up a lot. Although he still looked like a kid, his appearance merely looked slender.
The most surprising thing was that such a beautiful youth carried on his back two intersecting long swords. They were clearly two swords with refined-iron handles with a length of one meter, a width of a decimeter, and a thickness of more than 3 centimeters. Although they didn't look like edged swords, they didn't look light at all! They looked like a miniature version of a knight's heavy sword.1 Could such a small kid possibly use that kind of heavy sword?
These people didn't know at all that, if not for the sake of keeping a low profile, Long Haochen would not have any problem carrying two Genuine Knight heavy swords and would easily use them.
A year of bitter practice caused incredible changes within him, as if he had been reborn. On the eighty-third day in the owl-ants' nest, he could finally rely on the bamboo swords to completely block the owl-ants' attacks that came from all directions. However, he still had to practice in the owl-ants' nest, but he swapped the weapons he brought with him. From the lightest bamboo sword, to a wooden sword, then an iron sword, a refined-iron sword, and finally a heavy sword. He had to adapt to pairs of swords of all kinds of weights. After he adapted to the knight's heavy sword, he had to return from the heavy sword to the refined-iron sword for one more month, then to the iron sword, the wooden sword, and finally the bamboo sword, accomplishing a full lap.
After he accomplished all of that, a full-year had already passed. This time, he went to Haoyue City because Xingyu gave him two assignments as an evaluation of the year's bitter training.
Upon entering the city, Long Haochen asked a few people where the Knight Temple of Haoyue City could be found. After passing through a few wide streets, arriving close to the center of Haoyue City, he identified his destination because of the symbol consisting of a shield and sword.
The Knight Hall of Haoyue couldn't be compared to Odin Hall at all. From outside, it looked at least five stories tall and big buildings were erected there, occupying a very wide area. At the entrance stood two young knights in armor.
When Long Haochen arrived at the entrance of the Knight Temple, a young knight, who was smiling as he stood there, asked him, "Little friend, who are you looking for?"
Having no choice but to answer, Long Haochen, who had an appearance of a pretty boy, advanced.
"Hello, brothers. I am looking for the Hall Master, Nalan Shu," Long Haochen politely spoke to the two knights.
"You're looking for the Hall Master?" The two youths looked at him, and asked, "Why do you need to meet him?"
Long Haochen said, "My teacher told me to look for the Hall Master Nalan Shu, and then to deliver a letter to him."
"Then, hand the letter to me," said the young knight on the left.
Long Haochen shook his head. "Teacher said that I had to hand it to Hall Master Nalan Shu personally."
The young knight awkwardly retorted, "I am afraid that I can't let you do that. This is Haoyue City's Knight Temple Hall, only people from the Temple, like us, can enter."
Long Haochen, showing some anxiety, said, "But I am also from the Knight Temple! I come from Odin Hall."
The young knight said, "That still won't do, little brother, it is like this. As a kid from one of those halls, you can only enter for the examination that happens every three years. Give the letter to me; I will help you to pass it. Then, if the Hall Master is willing to meet you, you will be able to enter."
Long Haochen wrinkled his brows, Xingyu warned him several times that that letter had to be personally delivered to Nalan Shu.
At that moment, a pleasant voice echoed, "What are you doing? Why are you embarrassing a little child?"
That voice came from someone in the Hall.
That person was a lightly-dressed teenage girl, her neatly combed pink-dyed hair formed a ponytail and her beautiful large blue eyes looked attentively at Long Haochen. She looked to be eighteen or nineteen years old. Her body moved gracefully, and behind her shoulders were exposed, on each side, a handle of a sword.
"Senior knight!" In fact, both youths had just become knights recently, so they respectfully saluted her.
The young girl arrived in front of Long Haochen, curiously looking at his face, then said to the two young knights, "I heard everything you said, but you should know that there is no general rule without an exception. Plus, this little brother is also from one of the sub-temples of our Knight Temple. I will take him to meet Uncle Nalan. Or do you believe that this child came to cause trouble?"
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