In the afternoon, in the White Stone Training Grounds.
Gray stood in the middle of the training field. Around him, there were seven elite soldiers of the castle dressed in leather armor.
The seven of them were around 30 years old. They were tall and burly with muscles all over their bodies. Their yellow leather armor was bulging. Their eyes were full of vigor and their hands were full of calluses. It was obvious that they were people who had been trained for a long time.
Although they did not cultivate blood techniques, the harsh training for a long time gave them a body as tough as a wild beast. Ordinary burly men would not be their match even if there were three to five of them.
"Ha …"
Suddenly, the seven of them roared and pounced at Gray. Two of them were the closest to Gray and were the first to approach Gray.
One of them pounced forward and punched at Gray's chest with a fist the size of a sandbag.
The other person raised his leg as he ran and swept it towards Gray's head, producing a whistling sound.
Pa!
Facing these two people's punches and kicks, Gray didn't retreat, but instead took a step forward. Both his hands clenched into fists and punched out from his chest to meet the incoming punches and kicks.
Bang!
Bang!
With two muffled sounds, the two burly men who were obviously more burly than Gray were sent flying. The two burly men who were charging at Gray were sent flying and turned into rolling gourds.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
At this time, there were several sounds of wind coming from behind Gray. It was the three people who were pouncing towards Gray from behind. They attacked Gray in unison.
Swish!
Gray lowered his body and let the three men's attacks sweep over his head. Then, he took half a step back and his two elbows were like a bow.
Bang, bang!
With another two muffled sounds, two of the three burly men who were attacking him from behind were hit in the chest and were sent flying.
Gray suddenly leaned to the side and dodged an arm that swept from the left. He took a step to the left and punched out. The last burly man was also sent flying.
"Ouch, ouch …"
In an instant, the seven strong men who had besieged him all fell to the ground, rolling and screaming.
The power of Gray's attack naturally surpassed that of the seven burly men. The seven of them suffered such a heavy blow that they almost vomited their guts out. For a short period of time, they simply couldn't get up.
In fact, this was already Gray holding back. Otherwise, with Gray's current fist strength, it would be strange if he didn't break a few bones.
"Not bad, not bad …"
Beside the training field, Viscount Fergus, Bernal, Elise, and Caroline were all present. They watched the entire battle between Gray and the seven muscular men.
Viscount Fergus said with great satisfaction when he saw that Gray had defeated seven strong men in a very short period of time without the slightest bit of sloppiness throughout the entire process.
In these two months, Viscount Fergus would gather Gray and the other three from time to time and use the castle's soldiers to test their combat ability. Occasionally, he would personally test Gray and the other three.
During this process, Gray's combat talent became more and more prominent. One could see the obvious improvement in his combat ability in almost every actual battle.
"Gray is getting more and more powerful. I'm afraid that after a while, I won't be his opponent anymore."
Bernal said with a sigh.
He had seen Gray's growth with his own eyes. Sometimes, he couldn't help but think that with Gray's talent, if he inherited the title, he might really be able to take the Fergus family one step further and become a count family.
"Impossible, it's still too early for him to catch up to you, big brother!"
Elise curled her lips in disbelief.
"That's hard to say. His combat skills should have already surpassed mine. Although I'm a middle blood warrior, don't forget about his training speed."
Bernal said with a wry smile.
Hearing Bernal's words, Elise fell silent. With Gray's training speed, it was certain that he would surpass Bernal. He had already been surpassed.
Of course, the two of them didn't know that Gray was now a middle blood warrior. Otherwise, it wouldn't be "after a while," but that he would already be no match for Gray.
They were both middle blood warriors, and now that Gray's combat skills were stronger than Bernal's, it would be very difficult for Bernal to win.
Caroline didn't say anything, but the slight surprise in her eyes revealed her surprise at Gray's growth speed.
At this time, Gray walked over, and the group sat down in the pavilion to rest.
Gray was the last to participate in the actual battle. Before this, Bernal, Elise, and Caroline had already fought with the castle's soldiers.
The maid brought freshly squeezed fruit juice and soft pastries baked by the castle's chef. Gray stuffed a piece of pastry into his mouth and then drank a big mouthful of the delicious fruit juice. He immediately felt incomparably refreshed.
During the meal, Gray didn't dare to act too abnormally and didn't dare to eat as much as he wanted. He basically didn't get to eat his fill every time.
However, he thought of another way to fill his stomach. Over there were desserts.
He consumed large amounts of desserts every day. Thanks to this method of filling his stomach, the castle's monthly consumption of desserts was almost comparable to the consumption of the previous two months.
Madame De Milan asked once, and after learning that most of the desserts had been eaten by Gray, she didn't say anything else. With how highly Viscount Fergus valued Gray in the castle, complaining to Viscount Fergus over such a small amount of desserts was really asking for a snub.
"Gray, you should be able to finish practicing the first posture of the third cycle of the blood technique, right?"
Viscount Fergus asked with a faint smile as he watched Gray continuously stuffing desserts into his mouth.
"Uh, yes."
Gray hesitated slightly as to whether or not to tell Viscount Fergus that he was already a middle blood warrior.
"I've already started practicing the second posture!"
However, he quickly decided not to say anything for the time being. His strength had risen from a lower blood warrior to a middle blood warrior in just a few months. Such a thing would be too shocking to say.
Before he could figure out what kind of transformation his body had undergone, and whether or not he could control it, he decided not to say anything for the time being.
Moreover, he was now highly valued by Viscount Fergus. It wasn't worthwhile to expose the fact that he was a middle blood warrior just to increase his weight in Viscount Fergus's heart.
"Good, very good. You didn't disappoint me!"
However, even with this kind of "cultivation speed" that had a lot of concealment, Viscount Fergus was still extremely satisfied. The smile on his face grew even wider.
Bernal, Elise, and Caroline had different expressions on their faces, but they were definitely shocked in their hearts.
"How is this possible? I've only been able to persist for four minutes, and he's already finished practicing the first posture?"
Among them, Elise's shock could be said to be the greatest.
Right now, he had only improved from three minutes to four minutes for the first cultivation posture of the third blood technique. However, Gray was already able to complete the first cultivation posture of the third blood technique. It was easy to imagine the difference between him and Gray in terms of cultivation speed.
While he was shocked, he couldn't help but feel a deep sense of jealousy. Why wasn't this kind of cultivation talent his? If only he had this kind of cultivation talent, how great would that be?
"With Gray's current cultivation speed, it shouldn't be a problem for him to become a middle blood warrior before his coming of age ceremony at the age of 18."
Bernal said with mixed feelings of envy and admiration.
"Haha, looks like I'll have to prepare the Crimson Blood Horse in advance!"
Viscount Fergus laughed heartily.
A Crimson Blood Horse was almost equivalent to half a year of the territory's taxes. However, compared to Gray's current potential, it wasn't even worth mentioning.
Moreover, he had received quite a bit of compensation from the Oliver family. It was more than enough to take out the money to buy a Crimson Blood Horse.
"Then father, you'll have to prepare early."
Gray couldn't help but reveal a smile as he chuckled.
A horse whose speed was comparable to a murderous level blood fiend was naturally very tempting to him. He even almost couldn't help but reveal his strength as a middle blood warrior and ask Viscount Fergus to buy the horse as soon as possible. However, he held himself back.
In any case, he was an adult. He couldn't be driven by immediate interests. He had to consider the long-term. It was not appropriate for him to reveal his strength as a middle blood warrior.
Patter, patter!
In the distance, on the stone path leading to the training ground, two people were walking towards them.
One of them was wearing a coffee-colored battle suit and had a goatee. It was Lord Linde.
The other person was an old man wearing grey clothes. Looking at his attire, he should be a commoner. However, it was unclear why he was here.
"Commander Linde, who is this?"
Viscount Fergus asked when he saw the two people walking towards them.
"This is the chief of Goat Horn Village. He said that he has something to report to you, so I brought him here."
After Lord Linde answered, he said to the old man.
"This is Lord Viscount!"
"Greetings, Lord Viscount!"
Hearing Lord Linde's words, the old man knelt on the ground with a thump and said with a nervous expression.
In this world, aristocratic etiquette was something only nobles and people with status could perform. Generally speaking, when a commoner met a noble, they had to perform the etiquette of kneeling on the ground.
"Get up. What do you have to report?"
The smile on Viscount Fergus's face had already disappeared. He returned to his usual cold and aloof self as he looked at the old man indifferently.
The old man stood up in fear and trepidation and said nervously.
"Lord Viscount, please … please save … our Goat Horn Village …"
Perhaps because he was nervous, the old man kept repeating the same few sentences without getting to the main point. Viscount Fergus interrupted him impatiently.
"Speak clearly. What happened in Goat Horn Village?"
"Yes, yes."
The old man nodded vigorously and said hurriedly.
"Lord Viscount, since a month ago, there have been wild beasts coming out of the forest to attack the villagers. More than 30 villagers have died."