Noah woke to the sound of a bell clanging sowhere outside, its insistent rhythm dragging him from sleep that had been surprisingly restful given the circumstances. Morning light filtered through the window, pale and cool, suggesting dawn had just broken.
He sat up, rubbing his eyes, and found Nami already awake and dressed, sitting on her bed lacing up her boots without really paying mind to it.
"You snore," she said without looking at him.
"I do not."
"You absolutely do. Sounded like a bear choking on rocks."
Noah stood, stretching muscles that felt perfectly fine despite the hard mattress. "I’ve never snored in my life."
"Well, you started last night." Nami finished with her boots and stood, grabbing a cloth from her chest. "I’m going to wash up. You stay here until I’m done. Bathroom’s down the hall, third door on the right."
She left before Noah could respond, the door closing with a firm click that suggested this wasn’t up for debate.
Noah waited, counting to sixty in his head before standing and organizing his own minimal belongings. When Nami returned ten minutes later, her face damp from washing, she gestured at the door.
"Your turn. Be quick. Assembly’s in thirty minutes."
Noah grabbed his own washing cloth and headed down the hallway. The bathroom was communal, as advertised, with multiple basins along one wall and a series of privies separated by thin wooden partitions. Several other male recruits were already there, washing faces and attempting to make themselves presentable.
He found an empty basin, splashed cold water on his face, and returned to the room within five minutes.
Nami was braiding her hair when he entered, her fingers moving with practiced ease through the long strands.
"Ready?" she asked.
"Ready."
They left together, joining the flow of recruits moving toward the central assembly hall. The camp looked different in daylight, less intimidating sohow. The wooden buildings were weathered but well-maintained, the training yards already occupied by instructors setting up equipnt for whatever tests awaited.
Inside the hall, recruits filled the benches in a chaotic pattern that lacked yesterday’s nervous organization. People had relaxed slightly, conversations flowing more freely, though the undercurrent of anxiety about color assignnt remained palpable.
Constable Ironside entered through the rear door exactly on ti, his massive fra commanding imdiate silence. He mounted the platform and surveyed the assembled recruits with an expression that gave nothing away.
"Today you learn what you are," he began without preamble. "The color tests will determine your specialty, your training path, and ultimately whether you have what it takes to beco a dragon knight at all."
He gestured to the instructors lining the walls, each one wearing the white crest that marked their status.
"You will be tested in three primary categories. Strength, speed, and durability. These are the foundational attributes that determine combat effectiveness. So of you will excel in one area. A few might show competence in two. Excellence in all three is exceptionally rare."
Ironside’s eyes swept across the crowd.
"Beyond physical attributes, we will observe any magical abilities you demonstrate during testing. Elental manipulation, healing capabilities, enhancent magic, anything that manifests will be noted and factored into your color assignnt."
He paused, letting that information settle.
"Green hoods require healing magic or support abilities. Without those, you cannot train as green. Yellow hoods need precision and control, typically manifesting as ranged capabilities. Red hoods need raw physical power. These are not suggestions. These are requirents based on what actually works in combat against dragons."
An instructor stepped forward, carrying what looked like a ledger.
"We will call you forward in groups of ten," Ironside continued. "You will complete all tests before returning to your seats. The process will take several hours. Pay attention when your na is called."
The first group was summoned. Noah watched as they filed out of the hall toward one of the training yards visible through the windows. Other recruits craned their necks to see, whispers spreading about what the tests might involve.
Ti passed slowly. Groups were called, disappeared, returned wearing expressions ranging from satisfaction to devastation. So ca back with obvious injuries, bloodied noses or bruised knuckles, evidence that the tests weren’t gentle.
Noah’s na ca up in the eighth group, nearly two hours into the process. Nami had been called in the fourth group and returned with a small smile that suggested she’d done well, though she wouldn’t elaborate beyond that.
"Burt, son of Aldric," an instructor called. "With ."
Noah stood and followed, joining nine other recruits as they were led outside into a training yard that had been set up with various testing stations.
The first station held a massive steel ball, easily five feet in diater, resting in a cradle marked with distance asurents. An instructor stood beside it, clipboard in hand.
"Strength test, part one," the instructor announced. "Push the ball as far as you can. We’re asuring pure physical force, not technique. Use whatever magic you have available."
The first recruit approached, a stocky boy with arms thick from what looked like years of farm work. He braced against the ball, his face going red with effort, and managed to move it maybe three feet before exhausting himself.
"Three feet. Adequate," the instructor noted, writing on his clipboard.
The next recruit did slightly better, reaching four feet. A thin girl with surprising wiry strength pushed it five feet, earning an approving nod.
When Noah’s turn ca, he approached the ball and placed his hands against the cold steel. The weight was significant, but his enhanced strength made it feel manageable.
He pushed.
The ball rolled smoothly across the marked ground, ten feet, fifteen feet, twenty feet, before Noah stopped it deliberately to avoid looking too abnormal.
"Twenty feet," the instructor said, his voice carrying surprise. "Excellent."
They moved to the second strength station, where a steel dummy stood mounted on a thick post. Runes covered its chest, currently dormant and dark.
"Strike the dummy as hard as you can," another instructor explained. "The runes will asure impact force. Green is baseline human. Yellow is enhanced. Orange is exceptional. Red is elite tier."
The first recruit punched it tentatively, the runes flickering to a pale green before fading.
"Baseline. Next."
Others followed with varying results. Most achieved green, a few reached yellow, one particularly muscular recruit hit orange and received enthusiastic congratulations.
Noah stepped up when his turn ca. He pulled his fist back, channeling force through his enhanced musculature without adding chi or anything that might make this too obvious, and struck the dummy’s chest.
THOOM!
The impact resonated through the training yard. The runes blazed bright red, so vivid they hurt to look at directly, and held that intensity for several seconds before fading.
Complete silence fell over the testing area.
"It’s broken," soone in the group said, their voice carrying clear disbelief. "Has to be. Nobody hits red on their first day." He said to his partner who just looked at him with disbelief before he added " I would know that because I ca from a family of dragon knights. So these tests aren’t knew to ,"
The instructor approached the dummy, running his hands over the runes, checking connections and examining the magical frawork. After a thorough inspection, he straightened.
"It’s functioning correctly." His voice was carefully neutral. "Red classification confird. Next test."
They moved through the remaining strength assessnts. Lifting weights overhead, maintaining holds on heavy bags, grip strength asurents. Noah perford well on all of them without pushing into territory that would raise serious questions.
The speed test ca next, conducted in a long straightaway marked with distance flags. An instructor held a strange device that humd with contained energy.
"This projects a magical speed threshold," he explained, activating the device. A shimring barrier appeared at the far end of the track. "Sprint toward it. If you reach the barrier before it fades, you pass. The fade ti is set to require magically enhanced speed. Baseline humans cannot complete this test."
Recruits ran one at a ti. Most made it halfway before the barrier vanished, marking their failure. A few with speed enhancent magic reached it with seconds to spare, earning approving nods.
Noah waited for his turn, then accelerated down the track. His enhanced agility made the sprint feel almost leisurely, and he reached the barrier with ti remaining.
"Pass," the instructor noted. "Exceptional speed. Possible dual classification."
The durability test was last and most uncomfortable. Recruits stood against a padded wall while an instructor struck them with a weighted staff, gradually increasing force until they called for a stop or showed signs of serious injury.
Most recruits lasted three or four strikes before the pain beca too much. Those with defensive magic or natural resilience made it to six or seven.
When Noah’s turn ca, he braced against the wall. The first strike hit his shoulder, solid but not particularly painful. The second ca harder, the third harder still.
By the tenth strike, the instructor was putting real force behind his swings, enough that the staff was bending slightly from impact. Noah’s enhanced durability absorbed it without significant damage, his face showing concentration but not pain.
"That’s fifteen strikes," the instructor said, breathing slightly hard from the exertion. "You can stop now."
"I’m fine," Noah replied.
The instructor looked at him strangely, then delivered three more strikes with everything he had. Noah’s shoulder would probably bruise, but nothing worse.
"Eighteen strikes. Durability confird at exceptional levels." The instructor stepped back, looking at his clipboard with an expression that suggested he was reconsidering everything. "Triple classification. Strength, speed, durability. All at exceptional or elite levels."
Murmurs spread through the waiting recruits, those who hadn’t tested yet staring at Noah with expressions ranging from awe to suspicion.
"Return to the hall," the instructor said, his voice carrying an edge Noah couldn’t quite identify. "Your results will be reviewed."
Noah walked back with his group, aware of the whispers following him. Inside the hall, other recruits who’d already tested watched him enter, clearly having heard sothing about his performance.
He found his seat and waited while the remaining groups completed their tests. The atmosphere in the hall had shifted, energy building toward sothing Noah couldn’t quite predict.
Nami leaned over from where she sat two rows ahead, twisting to look at him.
"I heard you broke the strength test," she whispered, her eyes bright with curiosity.
"Didn’t break it. Just hit red."
"Nobody hits red on their first test. What are you?"
Noah shrugged, uncomfortable with the attention.
The final group returned, and Constable Ironside entered again through the rear door. This ti, another figure followed him. Egor, captain of the dragon knights who’d brought Noah here, his expression as unreadable as ever.
Ironside mounted the platform, Egor standing slightly behind him.
"We have completed preliminary testing," Ironside announced. "Most of you perford adequately. So exceeded expectations. One recruit..." He paused, his eyes scanning the crowd before landing on Noah. "One recruit achieved sothing we have not seen in this camp for many years."
The hall went completely silent.
"Burt, son of Aldric, demonstrated elite-level performance in all three foundational categories. Strength, speed, and durability. This combination, when coupled with the combat instinct he displayed during his dragon encounter, suggests potential for the rarest classification we train."
Ironside gestured to Egor, who stepped forward.
"In my years as a dragon knight," Egor said, his voice carrying that sa authority Noah had heard in the castle, "I have encountered perhaps five individuals with this particular combination of attributes. Most dragon knights specialize. They excel in one area, are competent in another, and adequate in the third. True balance across all three, combined with the ntal fortitude required for dragon combat, is exceptional."
He looked directly at Noah.
"Such individuals, when they prove themselves worthy, beco Black Knights. The elite among the elite. Warriors capable of facing dragons alone and erging victorious."
Murmurs erupted throughout the hall, recruits turning to stare at Noah with renewed intensity.
Ironside raised his hand for silence.
"Black Knights are not created through testing alone. The attributes are rely foundation. You must prove yourself worthy through training, through combat, through demonstrating the judgnt and discipline that separates survivors from corpses. Burt has the potential. Whether he achieves it remains to be seen."
An instructor began moving through the rows, handing out colored armbands to recruits based on their test results.
Noah received a red band, the fabric rough against his skin when he tied it around his upper arm.
"Until training concludes," Ironside continued, "you will wear red. If you prove yourself worthy of Black Knight status, that designation will be awarded then. Not before."
He gestured broadly to encompass all the recruits.
"For now, your training will be general. All colors together, learning fundantals that every dragon knight must master. As weeks progress, specialization will begin. Yellow knights will focus on precision and ranged tactics. Red knights will develop close combat expertise. Green knights will refine their support capabilities."
Ironside paused, a slight smile touching his lips.
"To encourage excellence and build camaraderie, this training camp employs a competition system. The three primary colors will compete throughout your term here. Combat exercises, tactical scenarios, endurance challenges. Points will be awarded based on performance. The color with the highest total at training’s conclusion receives privileges and recognition."
Interest rippled through the assembled recruits, competitive energy building imdiately.
"Details will be explained tomorrow," Ironside said. "For today, explore the camp. Familiarize yourselves with the facilities. Get to know your fellow recruits. What is stronger than a dragon is the bond you share with those who fight beside you. Without that bond, you are rely individuals. With it, you beco sothing that dragons fear."
He stepped down from the platform, Egor following, and the hall erupted into conversation.
Noah sat quietly, processing everything that had just happened, aware of dozens of eyes watching him with curiosity, suspicion, or calculation.
"Well, well," Nami’s voice ca from beside him. She’d moved to his row during Ironside’s speech, her yellow armband visible against her dark skin. "So you’re sothing special after all."
Noah looked at her, found her smiling with genuine amusent rather than the competitive edge many others were showing.
"Just did what they asked," he said quietly.
"Just did what they asked," she repeated, her tone mocking. "You achieved sothing that happens maybe once every few years and you’re acting like it’s nothing. Either you’re the most humble person I’ve ever t or you’re dangerously oblivious to how impressive that was."
"Probably the second one."
Nami laughed, the sound drawing more attention from nearby recruits.
A bell rang outside, different from the wake-up call, carrying that al ti rhythm.
"Breakfast," Nami said, standing and stretching. She started toward the exit, then paused and turned back. "Co on, Burt. You eating or what?"
Her smile was genuine, uncomplicated by the competitive dynamics already forming around them.
Noah stood, following her toward the exit while other recruits parted to let them pass. The attention was uncomfortable, but Nami’s casual friendship made it more bearable.
As they walked toward the dining hall, Noah’s mind turned over what he’d learned.
’Black Knight,’ he thought, rembering the castle dungeon, the stages he’d fought through. ’Ironside was one. Egor apparently is one. And now they think I might be one too.’
The pattern was forming, pieces connecting in ways he hadn’t anticipated. This tiline’s elite warriors, the best of the dragon knights, would eventually beco the guardians of that castle. The challenges he’d faced weren’t random. They were tests created by the kingdom’s greatest fighters.
And now he was training to beco one of them.
Noah felt a smirk tugging at his lips despite the complications this presented.
"So I could be a Black Knight, huh?" he murmured to himself, quiet enough that Nami didn’t hear. "Interesting."
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