59 One Month
A month passed since Rudeus arrived in Fort Necross.
His daily routine was basically wake up, eat, train, eat, train, sleep and repeat. He did not have difficulty growing accustomed to his new situation. For Rudeus, who had sunk deep into a fanaticism and addiction to swordsmanship, this was heaven.
The only thing he couldn't get used to was the food. For years, he ate like a noble. Meats, fresh produce and soft, warm bread was available every meal. In Roa, dishes were luxurious and decadent. In Buena Village, his mother's cooking was warm and full of love.
The Demon continent on the other hand was the complete opposite. It was difficult to grow crops or raise livestock, so most of their foods were monster meat hunted by the imperial guards. Their meat was tough, chewy and had an unpleasant after taste that lingered in his mouth. Vegetables and fruits were rare commodities, sometimes even used as currency between the knights who were essentially slaves that did not receive salaries.
As an ex-pro athlete and someone who studied nutrition in college, Rudeus was aware that a healthy diet was necessary for a growing boy like himself. However, although monster meat was nasty and an affront to his coddled palate, they were actually very nutritious compared to the meat of livestock.
Strong monsters, especially, contained a lot of mana in their body even after they died. Regularly eating their meat in fact gave more nutrition than a balanced diet of fruits and vegetables would. It wasn't like eating mana filled meat could make someone stronger than normal. They were the equivalent of highly nutritious foods packed with essential vitamins and minerals.
And because the Imperial Guards of Fort Necross who were regularly sent out on hunting parties to catch and kill S-rank monsters for their meat, Rudeus dined on Basilisk tail and Drake steak every night. They tasted like shit, but Rudeus forced himself to gorge on the nutritious monster meat. He needed lots of energy to keep up with his overactive lifestyle.
Even though he wanted to, Rudeus couldn't train with Atofe every day. He had to wait his turn, since the other guards also wanted to receive the Demon King's guidance. There were some who gave Rudeus their slot so that he could learn from Atofe and grow strong enough to defeat her as soon as possible, thereby releasing them from their eternal servitude.
But majority of the guards were not willing to give up this opportunity. Even though they deeply desired freedom and wanted Rudeus to defeat Atofe and free them, their passion for the martial path was deeper than their need to be free.
In the first place, the Imperial Guards were muscle-brain martial artists who pursued strength. A bunch of muscular men working out, lifting weights and sparring between themselves was a normal scene in the castle of Fort Necross.
As one of the imperial guards, he was also assigned tasks. Guard duty, monster extermination, patrolling the castle town or other types of labour. This was not a form of newcomer hazing, but par for the course for the Imperial Guards who all had to do these things as part of their responsibilities.
However, as someone who carried the hopes and expectations of his kind seniors, his shifts were taken by them who recognise his potential and talent. They wanted him to grow as fast as possible so that they could achieve freedom without delay.
Rudeus also learned more about the Gaslow Region that he had found himself in. Fort Necross was located near the most North Western tip of the Demon Continent. It was almost as far from the Fittoa region as geographically possible.
When Rudeus asked Grayson, who was from the Central Continent, how long it would take to return to the Asura Kingdom from Fort Necross, the answer was unintentionally soul-crushing.
Even if Rudeus travelled at full speed, without making any stops and not caring whether he entered the territory of dangerous monsters, he would still take at least an entire year to arrive at the Dragon King Kingdom. And that was barring any unforeseen circumstances or accidents that would delay him such as bad weather.
Putting aside the hordes of dangerous monsters standing in his way, trying to navigate the endless wasteland of the Demon Continent was the leading cause of death even for people born in this desolate land. For Rudeus who had spent all of his life on the Central Continent, it was beyond foolish.
Rudeus counted himself lucky. At least he knew now he needed a map and a way to navigate the Demon Continent. If he had avoided Fort Necross and ran off in a random direction the day he arrived here, he might have found himself lost and dying from starvation, dehydration or devoured by packs of monsters after running out of mana.
A stray thought had entered his mind then – Hitogami intended to warn him to avoid Fort Necross when he was first transported to the Demon Continent. Did that being who called himself a god know? Did he know that Rudeus would have very likely died amidst the wastelands of the Demon Continent had he avoided Fort Necross?
Rudeus didn't know the answer to this question. But it only further cemented his wariness of that supposed deity.
Aside from taking over his duties, the Imperial Guards also served as valuable training partners on the days he was not training with Atofe.
When he was still living in Roa, Rudeus struggled to find people on his level to challenge. He did not have this problem here. All the imperial guards were at least at the Saint rank.
Not all of them were good at the North God style, but they were all skilled warriors nonetheless. To be strong enough to reach Fort Necross and be captured by Atofe, they were people who could receive admiration and respect anywhere they went.
It is with this group of diverse warriors that Rudeus found an equivalent of a martial mecca. There were warriors who were at the Sword Saint level, Water Saint level and North Kings, as well as warriors who specialised in weaponry other than the sword. Some of them had only been Advanced ranked when they first arrive, but was able to reach Saint rank after training under Atofe for some time.
There were some who had served Atofe for decades, and also several who have been wearing the black armour for centuries. Quite a few of the imperial guards belonged to the immortal demon race, and thus had an unparalleled longevity.
Amongst the imperial guards, the strongest were those immortal demons, some of whom had centuries of experience fighting. Thus, they were veterans even amongst other veterans.
Rudeus sparred with a different person everyday, who were all at least as strong as him - at least in terms of Battle Aura.
He won a few, but lost many. That was when he only used swordsmanship. If he used his Magic Sword style, then he figured that he would probably be ranked around the middle of the imperial guards.
At first, he was hesitating whether he should use his magic sword style when sparring against his seniors. That was because Magic Sword style was best used as little as possible to preserve its secrets and mystique. Though he was one of them now, Rudeus didn't know if he would ever have to battle his fellow imperial guards seriously when he needed to escape one day. And at that time, the unfamiliarity of Magic Sword style would help him decisively.
However, after he thought about it awhile, he decided against hiding his magic sword style. His current situation was the best time to temper and develop his magic sword style. Against so many warriors who were just as versatile as he was, he could figure out the weaknesses of his original creation and areas of improvement.
Other than the Imperial Guards, Atofe did not have even a single common soldier. That was because she did not care to have subordinates that were weak enough to only be a common foot soldier. She expected strength - not only of herself but also of her subordinates.
This also meant that Atofe ONLY had strong soldiers.
Perhaps, Rudeus realised, Fort Necross was the equivalent of or exceeded the Holy Land of Swords and Water Palace which was the headquarters of the Water God style in terms of the numbers of experts residing.
There was no better place to sharpen his edge against so many different high quality whetstones put together.
If he was in the middle of the pack when he was using his Magic Sword style, Rudeus realised who was at the top, aside from Atofe herself obviously. An immortal demon named Strauss who was shockingly a North Emperor! He was the only Emperor-ranked subordinate under Atofe. Additionally, there were also roughly 5 King-ranks and the rest were Saint-ranks.
Rudeus had felt his eyes spin at first upon meeting all these experts who were hidden from the world. They did not hide themselves voluntarily. It was Atofe who kept them here forcibly.
One had to realise that even in the popular Sword God and Water God schools, there existed only a handful of experts above Advanced rank. Yet, the North God style had dozens of North Saints and even more North Kings than the other two schools combined.
How did such a ridiculous dynamic come about? This was because amongst the strongest North God practitioners, many of them were from long lived demon races or were straight up immortal demons with an inexhaustible lifespan.
Unlike human experts who, no matter how strong they were, could not escape the indominable river of time. They got old, weakened and died from old age. After spending a lifetime pursuing the pinnacle of their swordmanship, they usually passed in battle or from old age without having a chance to accept disciples.
Peak experts who had yet to reach the pinnacle of their swordsmanship usually did not accept disciples. They only started to settle down and think about leaving behind a legacy when they reached a bottleneck and found their strength plateauing.
In contrast, North God demon practitioners blessed with longevity were not only able to live longer, meaning they brought up the average number of high ranking experts, they also had more time to accept disciples and spread their techniques.
Even though there was a big chunk of North God experts stuck here at Fort Necross, there were still a significantly larger number of them than the other two sword styles running around the world with long lives accepting more and more disciples.
Rudeus mused that if the strongest warriors on the Central Continent were gathered at the Holy Land of Swords and the Water Palace located in the Asura Kingdom, then the strongest warriors on the Demon Continent were gathered in Fort Necross.
Of course he still reminded himself he was only a frog in a well after meeting Atofe. Who knows what other freaks of natures were living low-key, secluded lives away from attention. If someone like Atofe was not well known on the Central Continent, then there might be other monsters who were similarly keeping a low profile.
If Rudeus didn't know Atofe just had a habit of collecting strong subordinates for her own amusement, he might have wondered just what dark thoughts the immortal Demon King had accumulating a force as scary as this.
Dozens of Saints, Five Kings and 1 mighty North Emperor. Not to mention the terrifying North God that led them. This was not a force to be reckoned with, easily suppressing the army of other Demon Kings, and capable of matching smaller nations on the Central Continent.
Of course, Atofe's forces could not match a nation like the Asura Kingdom.
There was at least one God-ranked figure within the Asura Kingdom that Rudeus knew of - the Water God. Amongst her disciples were Water Emperors, Water Kings and Water Saints. Though they had an unclear relationship with the Asuran Royal Family, the headquarters of the Water God style must reside in the capital of the Asura Kingdom for a reason.
Furthermore, the Asura Kingdom also had the power of money. They were the wealthiest kingdom in the world. If they really brought out their overflowing treasury and sent out a recruitment notice, not to mention Emperors, even Gods might be tempted!
