Chapter 13

It took me a while before I was able to stabilize my breathing, but I did it. I finally managed to become an official knight after being stuck in apprentice hood for years.

"It wasn't as easy as I thought," I said to Michael as we finished our sparring.

It took me an immense amount of energy and concentration just to condense all my power into my body, just to manifest my aura into the outside world.

"Master Lucas, you did it. You finally managed to show your aura outside of your body," Michael said happily while I was distracted by the coppery shine of my aura that covers my entire body.

"I know, and it feels great." these are the only words I can say as I can't describe the feeling, as it feels so comfortable to be surrounded by my own aura as I felt like I can do anything without any limits.

"The fight earlier was fantastic, Master Lucas. Where did you learn all those moves? That's the first time I've seen you do all that. You move so fast and agile, you didn't even use your sword skills during our sparring, and instead, you resort to using your own fist and foot." Michael said in amazement as I used a combination of modern acrobatics and self-defense.

"It's the result of my own practice. A new type of movement designed to deal with different attacks" I said simply to divert the topic.

"Master Lucas, now that you already become an official knight do you want to test how powerful you have become right now? You can try using your power against me." Michael said as he took his defensive stance.

"Sure why not, and besides, I want to see how big of an improvement it would make if I used my aura during a fight," I said to him as we went back to our practice area.

I immediately controlled my aura and focus it all on my feet and fist to make sure that every attack would inflict more damage than usual.

"Ready?" I ask in excitement.

"Yes," Michael answered seriously as he also covers his body with his own aura.

"Then here I go," I said as I dashed forward at full speed and used my fist to punch at his chest, but he managed to catch it with his bare hands. At the same time, a small clap like thunder can be heard in the surroundings due to the impact of two opposing forces.

"Not bad, Master Lucas, for a new advanced knight like you. You already have such precise control over your power, " Michael said with a smile while defending himself from all of my punches and kicks.

"But still not enough to defeat me," Michael said as he attacked me with a kick on my stomach which immediately pushes me away from him.

Although I am covering my body with my aura, Michael's kick is still painful.

"Wait, you advance to 4th tier Junior knight? When did it happen? Why didn't I know it?" I said in shock as I wasn't aware of his advancement. I can feel that his aura is much stronger than mine.

"Well, you've been training hard for the past few weeks and I can't just let you surpass me without doing anything." He said with a teasing smile.

"Why can't you afford to announce that I managed to defeat you in becoming the youngest knight in the kingdom?"  I mockingly said as his smile immediately faded from his face.

"Master Lucas, I'm afraid we can't announce this matter to the city. Your life might be put in danger," Michael said seriously as he put his hands in front of his face to block my punch.

"What? Why not? Is there something wrong with this?" I said to him, as I'm still confused about the situation.

"You might think that everything looks peaceful on the surface, but it's not. There are a lot of hidden things in this kingdom and we never know what they might do. Aside from that, your father has strictly demanded to avoid additional attention, being put on your shoulders." Michael gravely said.

"Yes, I understand that. It is just that I'm too excited. I forgot that I must always avoid unnecessary attention." 

"I should inform father about this." I said firmly.

"We also need to look for a hidden place to keep your practice in secret, out from the prying eyes of others," Michael said as he avoided another kick from me.

"Hey, are you copying my attacks?" as I noticed him using my own attack against me.

"Well, I must say, Master Lucas, that this move of yours is indeed effective to use during a fight though quite bizarre," Michael said as he deflected most of my attacks using my own tricks against me.

"Really? Then take this." as I attacked him in his stomach with my knees using half of my power.

But it only made him stumble for a few steps and that's it.

"Your techniques are great, but not powerful enough to defeat a knight like me. It might have something to do with your body being not fully developed yet." Michael said with a little dismayed in his tone as we ended our sparring.

"I think, it also has something to do with me not fully adapting to this new power." I said as I remove the aura covering my body.

Then an intense feeling of hunger and dizziness suddenly hit me that causes me to fall to the ground in a weakened state.

"What happened to me?" I quickly ask Michael as he immediately rushes to help me out.

"I feel so terrible," I added as I felt like my body is drained of all of its energy.

"I forgot to mention this young master, but you can't stay in that state for too long or you will overuse your power, especially for someone like you who has just advanced to become an official knight." He said as he helped me stand up.

"Here, quickly drink this potion. It will help you to relieve some of your fatigue." Michael said as he draws out a small bottle into my mouth.

"Pweh! What the heck is this? It tastes horrible." I said to him in complete disgust.

"Trust me, Master Lucas, you don't really want to know," He said with a wicked smile plastered on his face.

"Wha-What do you mean? Why are you smiling like that?" I said while coughing. The after-taste of that potion is much worse than the taste when I first drink it.

"What smile? I'm not smiling." As he gave me the most clueless look he can have.

"Fine, but I don't want to take that terrible potion again in the future," I said firmly.

"I can't promise that. There are times when you would wish to take this potion, albeit of your own will." Michael said suddenly as he also shows a look of disgust on his face.

"That's terrible. I would rather stuff myself with the bark of a tree than drink this potion again." I said as I threw the bottle far away.

"Then you can have this instead," Michael said as he gave me a piece of jerky made from the meat of a low-rank magic beast. The energy contained in this piece of jerky is equivalent to several plates of normal human food enough to restore most of my strength.

"Why didn't you just give this to me earlier?" I complain.

"That potion is a must-experience for an official knight. If you didn't take that potion before, then don't call yourself a knight." Michael firmly said as he give me the most formal look.

"But this is much better than that pungent potion. God knows where it came from." I said as I quickly ate the jerky.

"But this stuff is a little bit expensive compared to that potion, this jerky is a piece of meat from a low-rank magic beast, and I can't just spend my salary on that," Michael said as he tried to defend himself.

Even if we are the ones who hunt them in the enchanted forest, it is still not enough to provide all of our knights with plenty of supplies.

Although all of our knights have a subsidy for all their training materials and meals, but it is still not enough to sustain them for too long, since most of the materials they actually needed, flow outside of our territory, in exchange for more gold coins.

"I know it's precious, If we can just find a way to farm them instead of hunting them, then we could make a ton of money for sure," I replied to him as we made our way back.

"Michael, how's the situation with our craftsman Manuel?" I asked in concern as I went to the kitchen.

"They're almost done with the waterwheel and were just waiting for the installation and the trial run for it to see if it would work." He said as he followed me inside.

The feeling after using my power is really terrible as intense hunger and dizziness hit me, but thanks to the terrible potion that Michael gave me, It lessen the effect of it to a tolerable level, but still not enough to make me stop seeking more food.

I immediately ate 4 people's worth of food before I left with a full stomach as dozens of empty plates could be seen on my table.

"Eating ordinary food is not a good option for someone like us. They only contain a small amount of energy that is not enough to sustain us in a battle." I said to Michael as we exited the kitchen. He also ate a portion of the meal, although not as big as mine.

"That's why the meat of the magic beast is the best option for us. Every piece of their meat is filled with energy, and a normal amount of meat is already enough to make us full," he said absentmindedly.

"Maybe we could find a way to farm magic beasts instead of hunting them, that would be more economical and practical," I said without thinking since it is the most convenient way I could think of that could give us a regular supply of meat from a magic beast.

"But how can we do that? Even if we breed them, there's no guarantee that they will give birth to another magic beast. Only the Helios empire can do that kind of thing." Michael said with a puzzled face.

The Helios empire is the biggest empire on the continent and belongs to the top powerhouse. Their wizards have spent a huge amount of gold and time on pursuing an experiment of breeding magic beasts. Though their experiments are not successful, they still gave them a stable supply of magic meat, though not a lot. It still manages to meet their quota.

This project was once held with great fanfare, everyone was talking about it. The Helios empire even put a huge portion of their budget into this field with great hope of success. But years had passed by and only a little progress was made.

Their wizards have become desperate and they shared all of their techniques and even asked other people's opinions in the hopes of making a breakthrough in this field, but all of it is for naught, as the chance of success only resulted in 50% success of producing magic beasts.

Although it's not perfect their wizards have claimed that this is the best result anyone can have, and only a powerful and wealthy empire can do it, as they use a lot of mana stones to produce them, which are precious materials for the cultivation of knights and wizards.

Mana stones can quickly replenish the power of a knight or wizard without consuming other things as they contain a lot of mana elements.

They also have wide use in crafting and magic formations as they also serve as their power source. Even the great fortress on the central continent is covered in magic formation and runs by using hundreds of medium-quality magic stones per month.

All of this is possible due to rich deposits of magic stones in the mouth of the northern mountains, which demonic creatures hate the most.

The existence of magic interferes with their action and regeneration.

Without the existence of magic stones in that place, demonic creatures would become more powerful and might result in more deaths among the soldiers stationed in the fortress.

There are also a few deposits that can be found within the different locations of the continent, but none of them can rival the rich reserves of the northern mountains, and lately, due to dwindling activities from the demonic creatures mining Mana stones in the northern mountains has become much bigger.

I fear that this will result in dire consequences. But the high-level wizards have assured everyone that the fortress has undergone a huge renovation by installing more magic artifacts like mana cannons in exchange for consuming more Mana stones.

I hope that their decision is right, if not disaster would befall mankind.