"Junior Sister Elara, you truly pay no heed to worldly affairs, focusing solely on your sacred studies! How could you not know about such a major event? Even if you've been in secluded cultivation, your honored master should have mentioned something to you." After hearing Elara's previous question about why no senior apprentices were present to watch the contest, "The Calculator" Sammy's tone and gaze towards Elara seemed to once again carry an unconcealable hint of suspicion.
Hearing this, Elara couldn't be bothered to waste more words explaining. Without a word, she deftly fumbled in an inconspicuous cloth pouch at her waist, produced a small identification token engraved with the Stonefist Outpost emblem, extended her hand, and directly handed it to the suspicious Sammy before her.
"Aiya! Junior Sister Elara, what are you doing? Could I, 'The Calculator,' possibly not trust you! To tell you the truth, from the very first moment I saw you, I felt you looked exceptionally kind and approachable, and I was certain we must have met before, it's just that I couldn't recall it at the moment, hehe!" Sammy, with his darting little eyes, quickly glanced at the identification token Elara handed over. After confirming that the token's design and the emblem on it were indeed genuine, his expression immediately changed. He hastily put on an even more fawning and enthusiastic smile, spewing compliments.
"So, can you tell me what exactly is going on now?" Elara ignored his insincere flattery, still expressionlessly and persistently concerned with the question she had previously raised.
"Of course, of course!" Sammy readily agreed.
"Oops! It seems I've probably offended this not-to-be-trifled-with junior sister again!" "The Calculator" Sammy's heart was currently in turmoil, muttering and regretting inwardly. But his lips dared not show any slight or concealment, and he immediately spilled everything he knew to Elara, honestly and in full detail.
It turned out that in recent years, the conflicts and frictions between Stonefist Outpost and their old rivals, the "Shadow Wolves," had become increasingly fierce and frequent. The two sides had fought over a dozen battles, large and small, for several strategically important and resource-rich towns and trading posts whose ownership had always been somewhat ambiguous. In these cruel struggles, both sides had lost many elite personnel, a truly mutually destructive situation.
Because most of the "Shadow Wolves" gang members were trained using the same brutal methods formerly used for training fierce mounted bandits. On the battlefield, every one of them fought fearlessly, like mad dogs, completely disregarding their own lives. Especially after seeing blood, they would become even more frenzied and bloodthirsty, difficult to resist. And although the martial arts or magic practiced by the Stonefist Outpost apprentices might be more exquisite than those of the brigands, when truly facing a bloody life-or-death battle, they often lacked that battle-hardened ruthlessness and the desperate resolve of a cornered beast, appearing somewhat hesitant and overly cautious in the fray. As a result, in the tragic casualties suffered by both sides, Stonefist Outpost, which often had the upper hand in numbers and strength, frequently suffered even heavier personnel losses.
After several consecutive defeats with heavy casualties, the true powerful figures at the top of Stonefist Outpost, such as the Commanders and members of the Council of Elders, could no longer sit idly by. They finally made a difficult decision to dispatch most of the inner apprentices within the Outpost who had completed basic training and possessed certain combat capabilities, sending them to directly participate in and deal with a series of potentially even more cruel and intense life-or-death struggles that might occur.
The Outpost's higher-ups did this, on one hand, because those disputed territories of significant strategic and economic value were lifelines that Stonefist Outpost absolutely could not afford to lose easily. On the other hand, they also wanted to use this opportunity to let these young apprentices, who mostly stayed in the deep mountains for arduous cultivation and lacked practical combat experience, personally experience and witness the cruel and ruthless reality of the outside world, to be tempered in the crucible of blood and fire, so they could truly grow and accumulate precious practical combat experience that could never be learned from books.
As a result, in some of the fierce battles that followed, relying on their advantages in numbers and overall strength, Stonefist Outpost did indeed gradually regain the upper hand and recapture some lost territories. However, the number of casualties among the dispatched inner apprentices was truly too high, even shockingly so. Many senior apprentices whom Elara had previously considered quite formidable and who were older than her never returned alive after being sent out on missions. Speaking of this, "The Calculator" Sammy's face couldn't help but show a hint of unconcealable sorrow and regret, clearly lamenting the loss of his fellow disciples.
Later on, the Outpost's Commanders and elders seemed to realize that the previous practice of having all apprentices directly participate in high-intensity confrontations was too costly. Thus, they timely changed their original strategy. They began to assign newly graduated inner apprentices to some relatively less important and less dangerous auxiliary tasks, or dispatched them to other places outside Stonefist Outpost's control for a period of travel and tempering. Only after these young apprentices had accumulated a certain amount of real-world experience and adaptability would they be considered for participation in direct clashes and confrontations with the "Shadow Wolves."
Facts proved that this new tempering strategy indeed greatly reduced the casualty rate among Stonefist Outpost apprentices. Thus, within two years, this new strategy was formally supplemented and incorporated into Stonefist Outpost's rules and strictly enforced. It clearly stipulated that all apprentices who had completed basic training and were preparing to formally graduate must first go down the mountain for a mandatory tempering period of considerable length. Only after they successfully completed their tempering missions and returned safely could they be formally granted internal positions with actual power and responsibility within the Outpost, thereby truly becoming the core backbone of Stonefist Outpost.
Thus, due to the promulgation and implementation of this new rule, almost all the slightly older and more powerful senior apprentices on Stonefist Outpost mountain were dispatched down the mountain one after another. Now, they were either engaged in arduous struggles and confrontations in those areas fiercely contested with the "Shadow Wolves," or they were scattered throughout the kingdom, participating in various tempering missions to hone themselves. So, currently on Stonefist Outpost mountain, apart from those necessary disciples who had to stay behind for daily guard duties and to maintain basic operations, there were truly only young apprentices like Elara and the others, who were still young and had not yet formally graduated.
Hearing this, Elara finally had a sudden realization, completely understanding why Stonefist Outpost mountain now looked so different from what she had seen when she first entered four years ago, and finally solving the puzzle in her mind about why no senior apprentices were present to watch the contest.
"Clang!" Just as Elara was still digesting the startling information Sammy had just revealed, a deafening, massive metallic crash suddenly came from the field. Immediately after, a supple longsword, glinting with cold light, was flung high into the air as if it had lost its master's control, then fell to the ground with a "clatter."
Alaric Thorne, who had previously wielded the supple sword, was now tightly clutching his right wrist—where the tiger's mouth between thumb and forefinger was—with his left hand. Fresh blood gushed ceaselessly from the area, which had suffered a massive shock. His face was exceptionally pale from the intense pain and blood loss. He staggered back several steps before barely steadying himself, then opened his mouth wide, gasping for breath, clearly seriously injured.
It turned out that in the face of Senior Apprentice Rory's storm-like, incredibly swift barrage of saber strikes, he had been unable to dodge and was forced to parry with his seemingly flexible supple sword. As a result, his supple sword, known for its flexibility, was no match for Senior Apprentice Rory's powerful, heavy, and irresistible saber chops. With just one strike, he was disarmed by an overwhelming force transmitted from the opponent's saber, and his tiger's mouth was injured in the process.
"Senior Apprentice Rory... truly lives up to his reputation, his strength is extraordinary! This little brother... is thoroughly convinced and willingly concedes defeat!" Alaric Thorne endured the intense pain from his hand, forced a smile uglier than tears onto his face, and bowed slightly to Senior Apprentice Rory opposite him, admitting his defeat.
As soon as his voice fell, thunderous and extremely enthusiastic cheers erupted from the surrounding crowd, lasting for a long time.
"Senior Apprentice Rory! What fine skill!""Senior Apprentice Rory! That saber technique is truly too domineering!""Senior Apprentice Rory! When you have time, please give us juniors some pointers!"
One after another, excited and adoring shouts and praises, unsparingly directed towards the idol in their hearts who was like a god of war—Senior Apprentice Rory—resounded madly, the fervent waves of sound echoing throughout the area beneath the cliff, almost making the surrounding trees tremble.
After hearing the crowd's cheers, Senior Apprentice Rory calmly sheathed his long, cold-gleaming saber. His handsome face, slightly flushed from the intense fight, also showed a faint blush, as if he were a little embarrassed. He was just about to say some modest words. But just then, his expression suddenly changed drastically, and his brows furrowed tightly, as if he had suddenly remembered something very important.
He immediately nodded to the crowd around him and then said in a cool, emotionless tone:"I have some other urgent matters to attend to immediately, so I will take my leave now!"
With that, he abruptly turned, his entire figure drifting out of the field as lightly and silently as a breeze in the mountain forest. He merely casually displayed this elegant and incomparably swift light-body skill in front of everyone, then vanished in an instant into the dense pine forest beside the cliff, his trace no longer to be found.
"Tsk tsk! Senior Apprentice Rory is truly too amazing! Not only is his saber technique superb, but even his light-body and leaping skills are so incredibly brilliant!""Exactly! Exactly! Simply too cool!""That's right! When will we ever have Senior Apprentice Rory's level of strength!"
Another wave of envious and admiring discussions arose from the apprentices still immersed in excitement, lingering for a long time.
Elara watched all this from the side, merely frowning slightly with indifference. She admitted that this Senior Apprentice Rory's martial skill was indeed very outstanding and extraordinary. However, his act of deliberately showing off his superb light-body skill in front of everyone after winning seemed, in her opinion, a bit too fond of showing off and flaunting. Perhaps, this was the so-called youthful arrogance and high spirits unique to young people.
She turned her head and thought about it carefully again, but couldn't help but give a self-mocking, bitter smile. Speaking of which, her current age didn't seem to be much older than these people present, so why were her thoughts always so old-fashioned and world-weary? As if she were already a weather-beaten little old woman, rather than a young girl in her prime. It seemed that these past few years, because she had been arduously cultivating that inscrutable nameless incantation alone in the secluded Quietstream Valley, she had probably truly cultivated her originally lively and active heart to become somewhat prematurely old.
"By the way, this... Senior Apprentice Sammy," Elara glanced at "The Calculator," who was still standing beside her with a face full of excitement and agitation, suddenly remembered something, and asked him his real name, "I still don't know what your actual name is."
"Oh, me? My name is Sammy Kindler, but if Junior Sister Elara finds it more convenient, you can just call me 'The Calculator'; everyone calls me that." Upon hearing Elara proactively ask for his name, "The Calculator" Sammy's expression immediately became even more excited and agitated. It seemed he had truly taken his previous speculations about Elara possibly being the secret disciple of some honored patron as fact, and believed he had now successfully latched onto this "great tree" of limitless potential before him.
"Senior Apprentice Sammy, if you happen to get injured in cultivation or daily life, or catch some minor illness in the future, feel free to come find me in Quietstream Valley. As long as it's within my capabilities, I will definitely treat you free of charge." Elara looked at Sammy's agitated appearance, smiled, and gently patted his shoulder, as a form of thanks for his previous enthusiastic explanations. Then, she looked up again at the crowd in the field, who had started arguing and clamoring again over some other trivial matters after the match's outcome had been decided, and without further ado, turned and walked into the quiet pine forest beside them, heading back the way she had come.
Only "The Calculator," Sammy Kindler, was left standing there, still looking utterly baffled and dazedly. For a moment, he didn't seem to have fully understood what Elara had just said.