The Guardians' Throne - The First Magic Swordsman

              Zaos thought that he would have to run for at least for hours, but he had his four hundred front melee fighters one hour sooner than he had predicted. In the end, he stopped and gave them the sign to rest.

"Congratulations, you guys are in," Zaos said. "You just have to fill these papers, and then you will serve the kingdom as a member of my squad for at least a year. If you think that is too long, we can negotiate later."

              Zaos passed the forms to those four hundred individuals. They were so exhausted that they didn't have the energy to celebrate. Cohnal was also pretty exhausted. He only succeeded because he decided to do some secret training when he heard what Zaos had in mind. In any case, Zaos decided to check things with Melisse.

"How are things here?" Zaos asked. 

"We still have two hundred guys here, but it should end soon since their hands are starting to get hurt," Melisse replied. "Each one of them fired more than one hundred arrows, after all."

            Without gloves, it was only obvious that something like that would happen. In any case, the second group surprised Zaos since they are mostly mercenaries and their accuracy was more than satisfactory. Zaos could also fire and hit the target four or five times, but he used crossbows.

"Inform me once you have the ninety guys," Zaos said and then left.

            After that, Zaos headed toward where he left the third group. Since they were mostly kids of noble or rich families, they were quite pissed for having to wait that long, but neither of them complained. Nyana and her friends were also among the group. She even wanted to do the test and join the unit on her own merits.

"Sorry for making you wait so long," Zaos said. "Your test will be simple. You have to hit me with your magic or at least make my sword vibrate when I block it. That is all."

          The kids frowned when they heard that. The test was indeed simple, but it was too weird. They had confidence in their power, that was why they wanted to join the army like that, but the test was too dangerous since they could end up killing their Captain.

"What is wrong," Zaos asked. "Just use your best spell unless you cast a big one. I won't even feel it."

            In the end, Nyana had to take a step forward and try it. Although her friends knew that she knew Zaos, they couldn't help but worry since she looked a bit tense.

"You gave an explanation to the other groups as to why you selected those tests," Nyana said. "Why did you choose those for us?"

"The reason is simple: neither of you has any real combat experience, so you need to get used to hitting other people," Zaos replied. "I know that you train against each other in the magic school, but things are different on the battlefield. You will have to use spells that will be lethal in a single strike. So, show me your determination by losing your hesitation and firing your strongest attack."

            Nyana knew that even her intermediary attacks might be deadly if they hit a bad spot. So asking to suddenly use her strongest spell against a human being seemed a bit too much. Still, in the end, she pointed her right hand toward him and closed her eyes to concentrate. After a couple of seconds, an Earth Spear that was two times bigger than Zaos's sword appeared above Nyana and flew toward him. Zaos was surprised, but his sword was already in hand, and he managed to block the attack. The projectile broke into pieces, but not before making Zaos being pushed backward for several meters and making his sword vibrate for several seconds.

"It was a pretty obvious attack, and you took too long to cast… but you passed," Zaos said. "Next."

            The kids were still surprised since they never saw a spell of that size being blocked. That was another downside of having any real combat experience. Those with some talents think that their skills are unrivaled and their attacks can't be stopped.

            In any case, thanks to Nyana, the other kids noticed that Earth magic had the best chance to let them pass the test since the attacks were heavier, even though they were also slower. He imagined that everyone there would use the same spell, and while some did it, they weren't as powerful as Nyana's. Those who didn't have confidence tried to make Zaos pass them by firing Earth Hammers, but those were even slower, and Zaos had enough time to cut them down. In the end, only twelve of the fifty kids who had tried managed to succeed. All of them had decent power, but not everyone had the courage to take some risks.

"Congratulations, you guys passed," Zaos said. "Fill in this form to work for my unit for a year. If you think that is too long, come and negotiate with me later."

            After that, Zaos returned to where Melisse was, and he could see 15o archers hanging in there. If Zaos had the chance, he would hire all of them. Those guys had spirit and focus, but Zaos's unit could only have so many members right now. He had to wait for another hour for the test to end, and despite all that, no one tried to make a scene or questioned the tests. They knew that the tests were supposed to make those who were truly the strongest to shine when it comes to it.

"I congratulate all of you again for passing," Zaos said. "Since you guys endured all that, I am sure that neither of you will disappoint me. In fact, it is an honor to have you people in my unit. Let's try harder from tomorrow onwards to make a name for ourselves… to make a name for the Bloody Knights' unit."

            Zaos thought that the name was a bit lame, but in the end, it seemed that everyone liked it. After hearing that, they raised their closed fist upward and then shouted.