Osric's party trained and sparred together for a while before stopping.
By now they were all exhausted.
"That was intense." William managed to say with shortness of breath.
"I couldn't win against either of you a single time. But I'll keep improving."
Garrick chuckled. "Heh, you're not bad. You just lack experience, but I like your energy."
Osric stayed quiet to the side. His body was slowly cooling down.
'I couldn't win against Garrick despite having superior stamina.'
This made Osric think about what he already knew. He couldn't just rely on the system challenges.
Jayson and Franklin also paused their training.
"What did you think?" Franklin asked him.
Jayson's eyes lit up.
"They were amazing! Especially Osric and Garrick. I could follow their movements, but I couldn't predict them like I usually do when I fight."
"Yes. They are very impressive despite not having mana seeds. But both of them can stand up to any inexperienced apprentice knight."
'Although Osric is more strange than impressive. His growth speed doesn't make sense. If he had such talent, it would've blossomed or been discovered much sooner.' Franklin thought curiously.
'But what's even weirder is that I think his talent and learning ability keeps growing. That shouldn't be possible.'
Franklin scratched his stubbled face with a faint frown.
He had never encountered something this unexplainable.
Of course neither him or anyone knew of the existence of Osric's system.
"Do you think I can catch up to them?" Jayson brought Franklin out of his thoughts.
"Hm? Of course. Thanks to your mana seed, your potential naturally surpasses any normal human. But it also comes down to how hard you work."
A smile came to Jayson's face. "That's good to hear. Thanks sir!"
"Sure. I'll help you in training your body and fighting ability. And if I think you're worth it, after that, I'll teach you how to gather mana and grow your mana seed—
But creating your mana space to become a knight is not something I can help with directly. Everyone needs to do that by themselves and most apprentice knights never succeed in creating their mana space and first star."
Jayson gulped down hard and clenched his fists.
He felt both intimidated and excited by what Franklin said.
"Thank you sir! I will do my best."
Franklin nodded without looking at him.
'This kid definitely has potential as an apprentice knight. But why do I feel like Osric is the one that will show me more?'
'No. That's not possible without a mana seed.' He thought while shaking his head inwardly.
The man with a full beard that was slowly greying, walked towards Franklin.
He ran his thumb through one of his face scars, as he always did when excited.
Garrick had a big grin on his face.
"Hey Franklin. How about a spar with me? I've only sparred one knight before, but he was only a 1-Star knight, not a 2-Star knight like you. Although he still beat me one sidedly though, hahaha!"
Franklin's left eyebrow lifted.
"I'm curious whether I can last even one exchange. Plus I'm jealous of your handsome face despite being the same age. Life just isn't fair, I guess, kahahaha!"
A few meters away, Osric just sighed. 'I can already tell that working with him will be exhausting.'
Franklin however found it amusing.
"Sure. How do you want to do this?"
Garrick grinned.
"Great! I want you to give me your best strike to put me to the ground. I want to see whether I can take it."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, but without mana of course."
Franklin was a little disappointed.
'Why is he acting so reckless despite his age?'
His eyes stared deep into Garrick's while getting into position.
'I've seen many men like him before. He has lost his purpose long ago. People like him try to cover it up by looking for excitement, but what they really want is to find a new purpose in life.'
He shortly glanced over at Osric. 'Can you give him that, Osric? That's a pretty tall order.'
Garrick was already in his most guarded stance.
But the moment Franklin's eyes turned back to him—
It took only a second for his wooden blade to be right in front of Garrick's face.
'Wha-'
"THWACK!"
Garrick couldn't react at all. His vision went dark and his body crashed to the ground.
"Damn!" William shouted.
Paul had no idea what just happened. "Is he okay?"
"That must've hurt." Jayson said.
'He asked for it.' Osric thought.
"I hope this teaches him not to look down on his own life so much anymore." Franklin said while exhaling.
William got goosebumps. 'Can't believe I was jealous of Osric for being able to spar against a knight regularly.'
"Alright everyone. I need to keep training Jayson. Take your new friend inside." Franklin told the others.
Osric nodded and looked at William. "Help me carry him."
William looked annoyed.
"Fine."
'Fuck. He's so heavy!'