Odin Town, a large settlement with over three thousand households, lies on the southern border of the Temple Alliance, within the jurisdiction of Hao Yue City. The morning sun bathed the land in its gentle, warm light, as if awakening life itself. In the center of Odin Town stood a relatively large, two-story building, covering approximately one thousand square meters, which served as the examination site.

“Tell me, why do you want to become knights?” a deep, powerful voice with a metallic resonance echoed through the space.

“To protect humanity, to protect goodness, to protect the Temple, to protect our loved ones,” the voices replied in unison, sounding young and earnest. Clearly, this was not the first time they had answered this question.

The two-story building was the Odin Town Knight Temple Sub-Temple, or Odin Sub-Temple for short. Its specific purpose was to select children in Odin Town who showed the potential to become knights and provide them with training. The thirty-plus children standing there today would undergo the initial assessment to become squire knights. Only by achieving the rank of first-level squire knight could they continue their studies and training at this location.

The owner of the deep voice was Balza, a tall, robust, middle-aged man and the chief instructor of the Odin Sub-Temple’s squire knights. It was said that he had nearly become a true knight himself.

“Tell me, what are the principles of a knight?” Balza’s stern gaze focused on the children, who were generally between eight and ten years old and resided in Odin Town.

The answer was once again unified: “Humility, honesty, compassion, courage, fairness, sacrifice, honor, perseverance, benevolence, justice.”

Balza nodded, slightly satisfied. “Very good. You have trained here for a year, and today is the day of your assessment. Squire knights range from first to tenth level, corresponding to spiritual power levels of ten to one hundred. Your task today is to achieve a spiritual power level of ten or higher to become a first-level squire knight. All those who successfully pass the assessment will continue to train here for three years before going to Hao Yue City to participate in the quasi-knight assessment. Only when you become a quasi-knight, like me, will you truly be considered part of the Knight Temple. Now, let’s begin. Jiang Hu.”

“Yes,” a slightly taller boy stepped forward, removing the wooden sword from his back. All the boys had the same equipment: a wooden sword three feet long, three inches wide, and two inches thick.

The squire knight assessment was simple. Balza stood before a wooden stump, behind which was a stone trough filled with stone beads. Hitting the stump would cause the beads to vibrate, and the height they bounced would determine the spiritual power level. It was a rudimentary tool for measuring spiritual power, but it was accurate enough for levels below one hundred. Spiritual power was the universal measure used throughout the Holy Magic Continent to assess the strength of all professions. Whether a knight, a mage, or any other profession, their strength was rated using spiritual power. Generally, ten points of spiritual power were equivalent to the strength of a normal adult male.

“Ah—!” Jiang Hu shouted, gripping the wooden sword with both hands and swinging it down on the stump with all his might.

“Bang!” The stone beads jumped.

Balza nodded approvingly, recording the results in a roster and saying, “Jiang Hu, spiritual power thirteen, passed. Next,…”

The assessment proceeded quickly, and in a short time, half the children had completed it, with approximately half of those passing.

“Long Hao Chen.” As he called out this name, Balza subconsciously looked up, his gaze locking onto a somewhat frail boy. Compared to the others, this boy was noticeably undernourished and thin, but he possessed a strikingly beautiful face: naturally shaped, soft eyebrows, large eyes with long eyelashes, a straight nose, fair skin, and perfectly proportioned lips. Even though he appeared to be only eight or nine years old, he was beautiful enough to make women jealous. Especially striking were his clear, azure-blue eyes contrasting with his black hair. Dressed in women’s clothing, he would undoubtedly be a beauty capable of captivating a nation.

Long Hao Chen walked up to Balza, and instead of immediately removing his wooden sword like the others, he made a fist with his right hand and placed it over his heart, bowing respectfully. “Instructor.”

Balza’s stern expression softened noticeably. He nodded. “Begin.”

“Yes.” Long Hao Chen removed his wooden sword, took a deep breath, and suddenly swung the sword up, striking the wooden stump with all his strength. With a soft thud, the stone beads bounced. However, they clearly did not exceed the ten mark.

Balza frowned immediately. “Spiritual power nine, failed.” From the force with which the wooden sword rebounded, he could tell that Long Hao Chen had given it his all, but he still failed to pass the assessment and become a squire knight.

Long Hao Chen’s handsome face flushed red. He looked at Balza, agitated. “Instructor, I… I…”

Balza sighed slightly. “Go back.”

Long Hao Chen said urgently, “Instructor, please give me another chance! I know I can pass.”

Balza frowned slightly. “But that wouldn’t be fair to the others who didn’t pass.”

Long Hao Chen fell silent, but a certain quality seemed to appear in his eyes. Balza noticed his gaze, and for a moment, the squire knight instructor was stunned. What was that? Perseverance? Was it the perseverance of the knight’s ten principles? Even among true knights, one might not see even one of these shine, yet this child…

Just then, Long Hao Chen turned to face all the boys present and knelt down with a *thump*, addressing his training partners of the past year with an extremely earnest voice: “I beg you, give me another chance.” As he spoke, he even prostrated himself.

Balza was stunned, and so
These were the boys. For these children, mostly eight or nine years old with the oldest being no more than eleven, Long Hao Chen’s persistence was incomprehensible. Becoming a squire knight or not was irrelevant to them. Balza, however, saw something different. In another child, he might have suspected ambition or cowardice, but not in Long Hao Chen. Though the handsome boy appeared frail, he had been the most diligent trainee over the past year. He not only completed the daily required training well, but he also arrived an hour early and left an hour late every morning. Balza, a tenth-level quasi-knight and an instructor in Odin Town for ten years, considered Long Hao Chen the most diligent student he had ever seen. The boy never needed supervision, and in addition to his dedication to training, he was also very gentle and kind to everyone. He never refused to help his fellow trainees when they asked. This was why Balza’s expression had softened when it was Long Hao Chen’s turn for the assessment. He was also surprised that Long Hao Chen had failed. If such a diligent child could not pass, the only explanation was a lack of talent.