Chapter 59: The Ironheart Test

Aslan put his hand over Arion's shoulder and said in a voice loud enough to reach everyone standing in the backyard, "To all the good men, women, and children gathered here, let me first convey to you all how saddened I am for the tragedy that you all had to undergo because of those filthy Dreadlings. My condolences to the ones who lost their loved ones and the ones who died bravely on the battlefield trying to protect us."

"We have been fighting a never-ending war against the Dreadlings for longer than millennia...a war which our forefathers had entrusted their descendants till our time to end this war once and for all.

"But the elusive, mysterious evil forces that breed these Dreadlings have shown no signs of losing this war. Instead, as the years pass, we sometimes come upon Dreadlings we might have never even come upon before, forcing us to adapt to new ways to deal with them. But along with that, the countless good men and women sacrificed their lives to give us another chance...a chance to learn from our mistakes and do better...just like what happened a few days ago."

Everyone lowered their heads with somber expressions while some teared up, including Ina's father, who couldn't help lament about how he was not even able to pay his respects to her corpse or properly cremate her.

The others who were lucky to survive the ordeal along with their families could only help console the grieved ones, providing them strength through silence.

Aslan continued, "But only among these dark times are true heroes born," Aslan raised Arion's arm, "Just like this young boy who, despite having no legs or power to call his own, used his own body to shield his fellow people from the devilish fangs of the Dreadlings. Because of him, he was not only able to save our future heroes but also prevent a wave of Dreadlings from attacking this ward. He had no power, no training, nor had he ever faced a Dreadling before."

"But all he had was his wheelchair and a weapon he did not even know how to use. In the face of a terrifying horde of Jawfiends, he never looked back, nor did he try to run away, and this courage and bravery is not something we see in everybody. To be honest, I don't care if anyone gets offended, but even some of the Dreadslayers we praise and respect may not possess his noble quality. So, before I say any further, everyone, please give a round of applause for our young hero, Arion!" Aslan happily said as he clapped his hands.

The others immediately smiled and nodded their heads in admiration as they gave a loud round of applause, making Arion let out a flustered sigh.

Mei had a lovely smile as she continued to gaze at Arion, feeling immensely proud and admired seeing how within just a day, he had undergone a rebirth not only physically but socially as well.

She could see the expressions of gratitude and admiration of the people around her as they looked at Arion.

In fact, she hoped that his reputation far exceeds hers until his name was mentioned by people worldover as an ideal example of a Dreadslayer.

That was her dream as well and not only Arion's. But inwardly, she would rather him not become one if it were not for the social stigma one would have to carry if they refused to become a Dreadslayer.

And this was because she knew that generally, Dreadslayers lived very short lives, and no one could even predict when a healthy and powerful Dreadslayer was going to die.

She didn't want society to shun Arion, but at the same time, she didn't want him risking his life which made her feel quite conflicted.

So she had decided to follow Arion wherever he goes as much as she can. She had known by now that Arion wouldn't be simply constrained within the Fok Grove Ward, but he would be visiting various places...bigger places...or a bigger world to grow into a stronger man.

As a Healifier, she was sure that she could always be beside Arion whenever he needed her, even if it meant that she had to risk her life as well.

The applause soon slowly died down as everyone clapped till their arms got tired since they couldn't express their admiration for Arion enough, and this especially included Nena, Cayden, Silvi, Alv, and Bari, who still looked a bit depressed.

With a wide smile, Aslan said, "Now coming to the part where I as the Village Chief and Old Zi as your protector and leader had prepared a gift for our young hero…"

Everyone held their breath, wondering what these two respected figures were going to reward Arion's noble deed with.

"....we have recommended Arion for 'The Ironheart Test', because of which he doesn't have to go through the first trial and is qualified enough to join the second trial. And not only that, but Old Zi here has promised that he will personally train Arion and provide him with everything he needs at his expense, including mine, till he is ready to take on the second trial of The Ironheart Test if he wants to."

Silence descended for a few moments as everyone's mouth went wide open, especially Cayden and the other youngsters.

Cayden and the others literally had their hands shaking in excitement and envy hearing that Arion had been already qualified to enter the second trial of The Ironheart Test.

The Ironheart Test was the all-encompassing test that tested a potential Dreadslayer's courage, willpower, determination, and many other values and qualities that a Dreadslayer was supposed to have. But only those aged between fifteen to twenty were allowed to take it.

And this test had more than one trial where the passing of a certain trial will dictate which type of school the candidates can join to go on to learn, train and become a genuine Dreadslayer in the future.

This might not sound like a big deal to those who didn't know anything about how the schools in this world worked. But Arion, fortunately, had at least some general information in his memories regarding the various training schools situated around the world to nurture Dreadslayers.

He felt like this was like the highly competitive entrance exam race people had amongst themselves in the world in his previous life, but even worse.

There everyone would write entrance exams in hopes of making it to the best schools or colleges they could, and of course, elite schools were any youngster's dream.

However, just like how one's potential earning salary highly depended on the prestige or brand of the college they were passing out from, here in this world, the stakes were far too crueler and costlier since passing this test could judge how long that person was going to live and fare as a Dreadslayer.

In this world, the schools were divided based on tiers from Common, Uncommon, Rare, Mythical, Legendary, and Ancient, with Common being the lowest with little to no facilities and Ancient being the highly acclaimed and distinguished training schools that were revered and considered much vaunted by people throughout the world.

Arion wondered if the fame of Ancient tier schools were comparable to Harvard and MIT in the world of his previous life.

But the truth was that the respect and admiration people had for those who studied in Ancient tier schools were far higher, especially since those who passed out from these schools would become world-shaking Dreadslayers capable of killing powerful Dreadlings and saving the people.

So how could people not show reverence and worship to such Dreadslayers?

There were many reasons why every youngster wanted to join the best school since one common trend everyone noticed was that when it came to Dreadslayers who graduated, the better school one studied in, the more chances they would live longer, especially after battling against Dreadlings.

The main reason for this trend was that the better the school was, the better teachers, better facilities, better resources, and, most of all, better training they could impart to fight Dreadlings.

For instance, the chance of a youngster becoming a Champion after passing out from a Common tier school was close to nil.

These types of schools even found it hard to produce a Sentinel, so much so that even being able to nurture one was a grand achievement for them while not even everyone was qualified to become even Rangers.

But entering into an Ancient tier school was just a fleeting dream since it was as hard as trying to walk in thin air. Most people just considered such lionized schools as something reserved for those kids born to at least renowned Champions or a descendant of some great family.

Forget about the Ancient tier. Even entering into Common tier schools was no simple job. One would have to go through The Ironheart Test, a test where one can even lose their life since it was a very grueling and cruel test to filter out the best.

Because those who didn't survive would anyway never survive what they might face in the future.

Passing each trial would mean that the candidate was qualified to pick a school coming under that trial.

For example, since Arion was recommended, he does not have to go through the first trial, which means that he can enter a Common, Uncommon, or a Rare tier school!

This was an achievement many youngsters would kill for since Arion now doesn't have to risk his life to enter a training school. And for many entering a Rare tier school was still a great achievement since it was way better than a Common tier school and the number of people that get eliminated in the first trial was too big to send shivers through the hearts of youngsters.

In fact, other than Zixin Siu, no one else from the Rimefall Village had been able to pass the first trial in the past.

Because of all these reasons, the people gathered around could not help but stare at Arion as if he had won the most amazing lottery in the world.