"Quiet!"

The Instructor loudly stopped the noisy chatter of the crowd.

Silence returned to the scene, with only the Instructor's voice continuing.

"You all understand the rules. First, you will be paired up for duels. Then, winners will continue to duel winners, and losers will duel losers."

"This will repeat until the Training Camp time ends."

"Considering potential injuries, we will provide you with healing medicine and extend the halftime break."

"If there are no questions, let's begin. Step forward and take your longswords."

"Only warriors bathed in blood are qualified to become the sharp blades of the Glenbagen Family."

The Instructor had finished speaking, but his words still echoed in everyone's hearts.

No one could defy the Instructor, nor could they defy the entire Training Camp. They could only silently step forward to receive the distributed longswords.

Liens also stepped forward and received his longsword.

A familiar sensation... Although he had only used it in instances, it didn't hinder his familiarity with the longsword.

The longswords issued by the Training Camp were all standard, just like the longswords in the guards' hands, with no difference.

And they were all sharpened. Liens could feel its sharpness from the edge of the blade.

"It seems the Training Camp truly wants us to fight to the death," Liens mused in his heart, his fingers gently brushing the sword's edge.

Time waits for no one; at least the Instructor wouldn't wait for them to sort out their mental state.

After everyone had received their weapons, the Instructor began to arrange the two-on-two matchups.

The Instructor simply pointed with his finger, seemingly arranging the opponents randomly as before. However, after careful observation, Liens realized that the Instructor wasn't arranging them randomly at all.

He didn't immediately pit those who usually performed well against each other. Instead, he arranged matchups between a strong and a weak participant.

"It seems even the Instructor can't treat all Trainees equally. Those who perform well usually must have higher value to him," Liens thought, understanding.

Of course, this could also be a random arrangement by the Instructor. After all, according to the duel rules, as long as one keeps winning, the strong will eventually face the strong.

After a brief thought, Liens stopped paying attention, feeling that such an arrangement wouldn't have any negative impact on him.

He needed to be serious now, otherwise, he might truly suffer an unexpected setback.

The duel began.

Liens arrived at the designated arena. His opponent had an ordinary appearance and an average build, seemingly unremarkable.

Of course, the necessary strong muscles were not lacking.

None of the Trainees who had persevered to this point had poor physiques. Cоntеnt prеsеntеd by

Those who were originally physically weak either died in training or had already developed robust physical qualities.

Even Liens's current height had surged to nearly 1.7 meters, and the muscles on his arms were almost as thick as his calves used to be.

It was as if he had taken hormones, growing rapidly.

If he didn't know the principle of the Stamina Potion, Liens would truly have considered that stuff a miracle drug.

He was well aware that his rapid physical growth was merely the result of excessive exploitation.

Moreover, for someone like him, who was originally extremely frail, the progress he had made now came from pushing his body much harder than anyone else in the Training Camp.

He wasn't even sure how much lifespan he had left; he might not even live past his previous life.

He remembered that in his previous life, he was only 24 years old.

Liens knew his opponent. Although he didn't know his name, he was very clear about his swordsmanship level.

The opponent was at a mid-to-lower level among the surviving Trainees, even a step below Liens's performance after hiding his strength.

To be honest, Liens wouldn't even bother killing such an opponent in an instance, because he was too weak.

An opponent who could be killed in one sword strike was only worth a casual swing when Liens simply wanted to kill.

"Sigh," Liens sighed in his heart.

Facing such an opponent, he actually needed to take it seriously. He was truly regressing.

"So, should I kill him to reduce the number of opponents later?" Liens thought, his gaze fixed on the other party.

"Forget it, let's keep him... The more weaklings there are, the safer I'll be," Liens thought. After a moment of consideration, he abandoned the idea of killing.

At this moment, Liens and his opponent had already begun their battle.

Although he needed to divert his attention to think, he still handled the situation with great ease. However, he still displayed a serious and cautious demeanor.

He was quite skilled at this kind of acting.

Liens exchanged blows with his opponent, sometimes dodging the opponent's attacks, and sometimes intentionally allowing the opponent to graze his clothes, thereby showing his narrow escapes.

Of course, Liens would also give the opponent similar counterattacks.

Sometimes, he would even intentionally graze the opponent's skin, making him bleed a little, to demonstrate his advantage.

Real combat was quick. Although they had undergone brutal physical training, they were still within the realm of ordinary people. It was difficult for ordinary people's stamina to sustain prolonged intense activity.

Therefore, it didn't take Liens long to secure victory by pressing his longsword against his opponent's throat.

This was the best outcome. Liens won, and the opponent wasn't seriously injured.

The amount of blood shed was less than what the opponent usually bled from whip punishments.

"Liens, wins."

Liens really wanted to hear such a voice; at least it would give him some sense of accomplishment.

However, those guards probably didn't even know their names, so how could they say such a thing?

The guard supervising Liens's duel merely stated indifferently—left side wins, right side loses.

Upon hearing the guard announce his side's victory, Liens lowered the longsword that was pressed against his opponent's throat.

His opponent, whose life had been spared, also relaxed his anxious heart. He let out a sigh of relief and slightly bowed to Liens, expressing his gratitude.

...

The duel ended, and Liens also gained a temporary rest period.

Since he didn't feel particularly tired, he wasn't planning to enter the instance to rest. Moreover, given today's special circumstances, he felt it was better to stay in reality.

Falling asleep in such a solemn atmosphere, he was truly worried that someone might get annoyed and stab him.

He decided to go check on Ben's situation, as he was the only acquaintance he could talk to.

Liens recalled Ben's location and looked over.

He found that Ben's battle hadn't ended yet?

Liens quickly walked over, wanting to check the specific situation.

Ben was also one of those people the Instructor considered to have performed well. He remembered that Ben's opponent was just a very weak opponent, definitely not Ben's opponent.

Why was it taking so long?

With Ben's skill, shouldn't such an opponent be easily handled?

Normally, relying on the difference in physique, Ben could quickly overwhelm his opponent, preventing any counterattacks, and then secure victory.

Liens arrived outside Ben's duel arena and saw the current state of the battle.

"Has he gone soft?" Liens wondered in his heart.