A Glimpse At The Past

The two fighters stood far from each other, their eyes roamed as they tried to find a weak point in the enemy.

But this didn't last long as Noah dashed forward again, he moved even faster than before, aiming to catch the other side unprepared. Yet he couldn't.

The moment he burst into action, the lean man had jumped backwards once more. To him, it wasn't shameful to run from a battle as long as he still won in the end. He got into a stance once more and attacked with the same Needle Stream, but this time he put in more effort by using his own Soul skill. "Storm's Blessing!" His Soul skill caused the projectiles to be coated with a layer of wind that spiraled around them, making the attacks look like miniature whirlwinds that attacked horizontally.

"Hehe." Noah only snorted as he executed the Slithering Dragon once more, but this time, he moved forward as he dodged, slowly inching towards the lean mercenary. Of course this caused him to suffer more wounds than before but he willingly accepted these and continued to dash forward.

"Tch." The lean man clicked his tongue as his hold on his sword tightened. He couldn't dodge backwards anymore because he was already at the edge of their designated battle ground. With no other choice, he could only rush towards the incoming Noah. "Since long distance attacks don't work, I'll just resort to close combat." He was an Assault type Battlesoul master after all, he was also well versed in close combat. He figured his fast attacking speed would be able to defeat the 'dwarf'.

Noah couldn't have been any happier as he watched his enemy choose close combat. Vertical Cleave! His sword, coated with his Soul skill, Gravity Force, swung down with a heavy 250 kilogram force.

But it seemed that his enemy was quite prepared. The man dodged to the side, his legs coated with an emerald colored Essence that boosted his speed. His sword, blessed with the wind's speed and sharpness by his Soul skill then pierced at the open Noah but the latter had already coated his body with his Martial Arts move, Dragon Guard.

The transmigrator would have loved to use Dragon's Roar to stun his opponent but unfortunately, his throat hadn't fully healed from the last time he used it. So he could only clench his fist and attack with another move, Berserk Dragon Punch! Gravity Force: 200 Kilograms!

The lean man coughed out a bit of blood as he felt that attack break a few bones in his body. But he only grit his teeth and pierced once more with his sword, aiming at his opponent's left. Seeing this, Noah twisted to his right and sent a palm out to the attack, using Redirection to slap the attack away.

His Essence circulated as he held onto his sword and used Gravity Force to lighten his weight. Violent Storm Sword: Gale Sword! Executing this Battle art, Noah became a blur as he attacked multiple times with his sword.

The lean mercenary panicked facing the attack and defended while dodging backwards. Unfortunately, he was overwhelmed by the attacks and was wounded quite badly.

The two separated after that exchange. They were both panting heavily. Even if he were executing the bare minimum of the Azure Dragon Art, it remained a fact that his current body hadn't fully assimilated with the Martial Art so although his muscles and bones were still fine, Noah was really tired.

As for the Bronze rank mercenary, his Essence core was quite drained, he only had about an eighth left to battle with. Plus his wounds were more dangerous than Noah's and would affect his movements. Thinking of all this, the man sighed and sheathed his sword. "You win, newbie."

Noah smiled hearing this and nodded. "Thank you for the match."

The man chuckled and stretched out his hands. "It's nice to meet a talented newbie such as you. My name is Jason Croft."

Noah collected his now Bronze badge from the receptionist and shook Jason's hand. "Ron."

"Ok Ron, hope you enjoy your stay in our Association." Jason smiled then massaged his shoulders to relax his tense muscles. "Well I'm heading to the infirmary. See you around Ron."

"Hmm." Noah's sight left the leaving man and glanced at one of the original 6 he would have had to choose to fight against. Though he couldn't activate his other Soul skill, Silver Dragon Eyes, his eyes were still sensitive towards Essence. Because of this he could see that of the 6, one of the girls possessed an extremely pure and large amount of Essence not befitting someone at the Novice Stage. But he wasn't surprised, after all he couldn't be the only person hiding his strength in the Mercenary Association. 'That's not my business anyways.'

The transmigrator chose not to fight further and left the association. At that moment the only thing he could care about was to get some sleep.

***

The ambient sound of yells resounded as multiple students crowded the training field, swinging their swords in unison. The students, looking around 15 to 16, assumed multiple stances as they trained at the dawn of the day.

Finally after about two hours of training they were allowed to leave. A young handsome man with black colored eyes and hair walked down one of the pathways while massaging his sore muscles.

Suddenly he paused as his ears picked up on some sounds. He glanced at the building at the side with a label of Weapon's Hall. His eyes narrowed as he contemplated for a while before finally sighing and walking into the building.

Once inside, his lips twitched as he felt multiple eyes focus on him. The owners of the eyes belonged to a group of 11, 7 guys and 4 girls. The group could be seen surrounding a girl. Her clothes were torn in multiple places allowing her beautiful skin to meet the air but there were numerous wounds afflicting her body.

Seeing this, the handsome teen only sighed again making all of them furrow their brows.

"You have no business here." One of the guys stepped forward, his muscles tensing as if readying for a fight.

The teen ignored his words as he walked towards them with an apathetic gaze. "Infighting in the camp is allowed but actions including crippling, rape or killing isn't."

The girls glared at the boy with hate as one of them spoke with venom. "Only if it stays within here"

Hearing this, another one of the guys nodded with solemnity as he looked at the teen. "Even if you are one of the most talented ones on camp, you can't take on all of us."

"Actually he isn't alone." A new voice spoke up at that moment causing their brows to furrow even more. They looked towards the source of the voice to see a teen with blond hair and sky blue colored eyes and features even more handsome than the first teen. "Shall we, Noah?"

"I don't need your help, Ian." Noah scoffed but still adjusted his body and assumed a stance.

The battle was over within the next minute with all 11 on the floor, moaning in pain.

Noah looked at the weakened girl who stared at him and Ian with wide eyes. His apathetic gaze left her as he walked out of the building leaving a single word behind. "Trash."