Wizard starting from shoeing donkeys

Chapter 283 – 170: Still Need to Filter (Two-in-One Mega Chapter)

Viscount Norman and his wife were also on the second floor of their luxurious mansion, looking out the window at the duel between the two men in the center of the training grounds.

“I’ve always thought Salem would be a good match for Evelyn, but now it seems, Evelyn seems to favor this Reine, whom she has only known for a short time,”

“Dear, do you think Evelyn’s new friend is really that formidable, capable of defeating Earl Zeman’s second son, Salem?” a well-dressed lady asked, tilting her head.

“If what Evelyn says is true, then her friend should have no problem winning,” a middle-aged man with a neatly trimmed goatee nodded and said.

This man was none other than Evelyn’s father—Viscount Norman.

After hearing from his daughter about Reine’s performance in the ennoblement assessment, he had become quite interested in Reine.

For he knew well that in this world, with enough strength, honor, status, and wealth would all follow in spades; these were merely the icing on the cake.

Reine seemed to think of something, lifted the dusky pig-head hammer in his hand, and asked, “Lord Salem, do you need to switch to training weapons?”

“No need, if we use training weapons, they simply won’t withstand our collision. Lord Reine, let’s use our own preferred weapons,” Salem shook his head and said.

“Fine!” Reine nodded without saying much else.

What Salem said was true because the bout between him and Evelyn just now was also fought with their own weapons.

Once a knight reached the level of a Peak Knight, they would be very familiar with their own weapons and combat skills. So, unless it was a duel at the level of secret techniques, they could generally control their actions with ease.

Even if they were injured, the injuries would be relatively minor.

Soon, Reine and Salem were exchanging blows.

“Break limit!”

After both men broke their limits, their movements and changes in position became incredibly fast!

Reine, wielding a Two-Handed Warhammer, executed the Tokkal Hammer Technique, while Salem held a sword and shield, probably because his family’s combat skill was geared toward sword and shield techniques.

“Bang!”

“Clink clank!”

The sounds of weapons clashing rang out constantly!

The piercing noise made the servants nearby cover their ears in pain.

However, after watching for a while, Evelyn’s brow slightly furrowed.

It was apparent that Reine was not too strong but in fact too weak!

It could be said that Reine’s current display of power compared to his performance during the ’ship-breaking’ incident at the ennoblement assessment was like comparing two different people.

What was Reine doing?

Was he deliberately concealing his strength? Or was he first testing Salem’s abilities?

Or was it because Salem was a friend of his friend, so he held back?

At this time, the female Knight beside Evelyn also seemed puzzled and asked, “Evelyn, didn’t you just say that this Lord Reine is incredibly strong? But why do I feel he is basically on the same level as you, Salem?”

Seemly having heard the lady Knight’s remark, the others nearby began to express their own opinions.

“Yes, Anise is right,”

“This Lord Reine’s strength is indeed top-notch among his peers, but you too, Evelyn, and Salem as well, are at this level. It’s not as exaggerated as you described,”

“Evelyn, looking at it this way, what you just said about Lord Reine being the first in the ennoblement assessment, I’m afraid it’s not so credible,”

“Exactly! Although I’m not a match for this Lord Reine, I can say with certainty that his strength still falls short of Bridget Sanchez from En County,” Osby also chimed in, his eyes flashing with a sharp light once again.

Facing the suspicions of several companions, Evelyn didn’t know what to say for the moment and just quietly watched the duel between the two men in the center of the grounds.

At this time, Reine was carefully controlling the extent of his ’break limit’ burst.

Knight who surpassed the ’checkpoint’ of breaking the 60 percent barrier of their physical limit is referred to as a Peak Knight.

But a careful thought reveals that someone with a 70 percent breaking limit is still called a Peak Knight but is clearly more powerful than one with a 60 percent breaking limit, and someone with an 80 percent breaking limit is even more formidable but is still referred to as a Peak Knight.

Thus, although they are all Peak Knights, the differences between them can be immense.

For instance, Reine could sense that his opponent, the Earl’s second son Salem, had a limit break of about 65 percent, which indeed made him a Peak Knight, but it fell short by about 10 percent of his own 73 percent breaking limit.

Moreover, Reine’s powerful Spirit and his resulting sharp perception allowed him to seize some details during high-speed combat movements.

Therefore, Reine was not fully exerting himself at the moment but was roughly keeping his ’break limit’ at around 60 percent so he could trade blows with Salem.

As for why he didn’t quickly end the battle?

Of course, it was to gain experience with the Tokkal Hammer Technique!

His previous fighting experiences told Reine that compared to ’intense battles that end quickly,’ the system rewarded more experience points for ’relatively intense battles that take a longer time’ to conclude.

Of course, even if you drag out a battle with an opponent clearly weaker than yourself, the system’s experience rewards remain very low.

For instance, the bouts between Reine and Lagaray, Senior Knight VS Junior Knight, took place several times, yet he gained only a few experience points.

Therefore, Reine could not just defeat Salem with a few strikes; it went against the principle of maximizing experience gain.