Chapter 146: Recruitment

“Believe it or not, we’ll fight soon, right? Holy Light Academy is doomed to be defeated by our Wind God Academy!” Seeing Rod staring blankly, the young man smiled faintly and said calmly.
“Let’s see who’s better on the battlefield!” Hearing his words, Rod smiled lightly and replied, then turned to walk away from the forest. He was already lucky that the other party hadn’t attacked him, and since he had been discovered by the enemy, staying there anymore made no sense. Leaving might be the best choice now.
Once outside the forest, he finally let out a deep sigh of relief. “Wind God Academy!” He narrowed his eyes slightly and murmured to himself. Wind God Academy was indeed strong. Although it was just a brief encounter earlier, he had been utterly defeated by them. If they really wanted to, he would surely have lost his life then. At this thought, cold sweat covered his back. Strong—this was his conclusion after reflection. Even when fighting Viski before, he hadn’t encountered such a situation. Perhaps his individual combat skills weren’t as good as Viski’s, but their coordination was flawless. That terrifying level of teamwork made him feel ashamed.
With these thoughts, his heart sank, and the pressure surged instantly. He realized how ridiculous his initial assumptions had been. He had thought his tactical coordination would be enough to handle such a competition, but now he understood it was nothing compared to Wind God Academy. Defeating them was still extremely difficult. This pressure made Rod feel short of breath.
With a somewhat heavy mood, he headed back to the dormitory, his mind filled with concern and confusion. He was worried about the difficulty of the upcoming battles, which exceeded his imagination. As for his confusion, it stemmed from the Wind God Academy’s team—their coordination was terrifying, and perhaps even more so were their strange and mysterious actions.
It was already pitch black. What purpose did those few people have by entering the forest? What did they plan to do? At this thought, his brows furrowed tightly.
……
“Captain, just like this…” While Rod found the actions of the Wind God Academy’s team members strange, the members who remained in the forest also felt puzzled.

The teammate who had subdued Rod glanced at their captain, his face showing indifference and doubt. This was definitely a great opportunity. They had all watched the match at Holy Light Academy today, and Knight Rod had left a deep impression on them. That terrifying move was truly shameful—to this day, just thinking about it made several of them shudder. They had no way to counter that horrible technique at all.

“Knight Rod… Hehe, soon, very soon, I’ll make you fall at my feet!” On the contrary, the captain paid no attention to his teammate’s concerns. With a strange smile, he stared in the direction he had disappeared and muttered to himself.

“Don’t worry. There’s no need to fret about him. Someone higher up will handle it. If you touch him today, I guarantee none of us will survive until tomorrow! Enough, stop overthinking it. Let’s go!” After muttering these words, the man took a deep breath under everyone’s puzzled gazes, spoke in a deep voice, then turned and walked away without looking back.

Leaving several people filled with confusion, their expressions changed drastically upon hearing what the captain said. “Someone higher up will handle it”—what did that even mean? They couldn’t imagine. They all knew exactly who those “higher-ups” were. At the thought of them, their faces twisted in fear. If those people really targeted Knight Rod, then indeed, if they touched him today, their group would truly be in trouble tomorrow.

Watching the captain walk away, the few of them exchanged glances, then cast a fearful look at the spot where Knight Rod had left before hurriedly turning to follow him. Knight Rod—this name had left a deep impression in their hearts.

……

Back in the dormitory, after washing up, they went to their beds. The scene from earlier flashed before their eyes once again, causing them to shudder once more. That heavy feeling returned.

Under mounting pressure, they sighed and sat cross-legged to begin practicing. Thinking too much now was useless. Their top priority was to restore their strength to its best state. After that, they would need to discuss the next match with the other teammates tomorrow—most importantly, how to deal with the Wind God Academy’s team.

As the cultivation began, Fen Tian reappeared on Rod’s shoulder, coiling around him and enjoying the nourishment from the elements. A faint red glow surrounded his body. Just a few days ago, Rod was surprised to discover that Fen Tian had changed the way it absorbed elements—it no longer drew combat energy from Rod’s body but instead coiled around him during his cultivation, absorbing the fire elements gathered from the outside. Although this method slowed down Rod’s cultivation speed, it was much better than absorbing elements internally. After all, by absorbing them externally, Fen Tian wasn’t just enjoying them but also gathering elements, so Rod’s cultivation speed actually increased, returning to its original level.

As time passed during cultivation, after countless cycles, Rod finally felt satisfied. Only then did he slowly stop cultivating and gather the combat energy back into his dantian. Once everything was done, he slowly opened his eyes, exhaled a puff of breath, and looked at Fen Tian coiling around his shoulder, a faint smile appearing on his lips. It was clear that Fen Tian now possessed the abilities of an intermediate bronze warrior, growing at a speed far beyond Rod’s expectations! Even compared to the dragon race, its growth rate was astonishing—reaching the level of a bronze warrior in such a short time. Such speed would probably make even the dragon race feel ashamed.

Rod was also puzzled by this, but since Fen Tian showed no signs of abnormalities and Xuan Yuan was constantly monitoring its growth inside him, informing him immediately if anything happened, Rod decided not to worry about it anymore. Looking outside, the sky was already gray, indicating dawn had arrived. Having cultivated all night, he felt full of energy. After persuading Fen Tian to return to his body, he got up, stretched lazily, washed up briefly, and headed outside.

Following the paths in the campus, he unconsciously arrived at the training ground, which was empty. Seeing this, he smiled slightly, remembering that this was indeed Training Ground No. 5. Competitions had been taking place at Training Ground No. 1 these past few days, drawing everyone’s attention there. The students had taken the opportunity to take a short break, so it wasn’t surprising that the training ground was empty.

After realizing this, he stepped forward on his own. The Dark Dragon already appeared in his hand. Following his instincts, he began to swing the Dark Dragon, moving swiftly with his feet. Soon, sword moves flowed from his hand like a spring.

The movements became faster and smoother—Shadow Sword, Autumn Wind Sword—each technique emerging in endless variation, leaving people dazzled and astonished.

Fully immersed, Rod wasn’t aware at all that there were eyes watching his practice closely from behind. Only after completing a round of flawless movements in a state of trance did he come back to his senses, with sweat beading on his forehead. The cool breeze brought a sense of chill.

“Good. Truly worthy of being called the most promising genius at the Holy Light Academy. Hahaha… Indeed, heroes emerge from youth!” Just then, a voice suddenly appeared, causing Rod to shudder and frown tightly.

Had someone been watching him? With a bitter smile, he realized he had been too complacent earlier. He hadn’t even noticed someone had gotten so close. If that person intended to attack, he knew he could be killed in an instant.

“Who are you?” Turning to face the two people who appeared behind him, Rod asked in a deep voice.

“Hehe, Rod, don’t be nervous. I’m a friend of Marshal Okaz. He sent me to find you. You should recognize this!” Seeing Rod’s expression, one of the men smiled and took out a token from his pocket, showing it to Rod—it was indeed Marshal Okaz’s token!

“Hehe, Doro, it seems you got there first. Fine, you go first. Hehe, I’ll be leaving first. Brother Rod, I’ll find you another time!” Hearing the man’s words, the other young man gave a bitter smile and bowed slightly before turning to leave.

“Sofie, I guess you have no chance now, haha…” Seeing the young man leave, the man who spoke first laughed loudly. The exchange between the two men filled Rod with endless confusion.

“Hehe, Brother Rod, do you have time? I hope I won’t take up too much of your time, but there are some matters I’d like to discuss with you.” Seeing Rod’s puzzled look, the man who stayed smiled and explained.

“Sure!” Considering Marshal Okaz’s reputation, Rod thought for a moment before quickly agreeing. Then he led the man named Doro to an open area by the training ground and sat down.

“I am Doro, the commander of the Imperial Guard. Hehe, Marshal Okaz has spoken of you to me before, and you’ve been quite famous lately. Your performance in yesterday’s battle further boosted your reputation. I doubt there’s anyone who doesn’t know you now. By today, and especially after today, everyone in the imperial capital will know of your existence. You can imagine what will happen in a few days! Truly, you’re young and talented. We know you’ve only joined the Holy Light Academy temporarily; after this competition, it’s likely you’ll leave. We’re not sure where you’ll go in the future. Right now, the empire is in need of capable people, and I believe you already understand many things! On behalf of the Guard, I hope you’ll join us and serve the empire together! Let’s work towards achieving great things together. What do you say?” Doro asked, wearing a typical sly smile as he looked at Rod.