“What are you grinning about, Ren?”

  Ron suddenly patted him on the back, startling him, and asked.

  “Ah! You must be happy to see that arrogant guy get scolded. I’m also happy to see his arrogance curbed.”

  Ron exclaimed, then whispered with a gloating smile on his face.

  ‘This fool…’

  Ren looked at the sneaky Ron with an annoyed expression.

  —-----------

  “Clap!”

  “Gather around!”

  Travis clapped his hands and shouted.

  The crowd of teenagers gathered around and looked at Travis, waiting for his next instructions.

  “You have rested enough; we’ll proceed to the next stage.”

  Travis looked at the crowd of teenagers with a calm expression, then pointed at a variety of stone and iron weights not far behind.

  “You’ll train next with these weights. Over the next two hours, I want you to look for the most appropriate weight for you and imitate my movements.”

  “Remember! Look for the heaviest weight that you can move comfortably.”

  Travis walked to a huge iron barbell, then held it above his head with two hands, then slowly lowered it to his chest, before raising it back above his head.

  Watching the instructor casually move around that giant weight, the trainees were dumbstruck.

  “What are you dawdling for?! Follow my example!”

  Travis roared as he looked at the dumbstruck teenagers.

  The teens quickly scrambled to find the right weights before following his example.

  ‘This guy’s physical strength is truly akin to that of a monster. That barbell should weigh more than 500 kg, but he’s holding it like a feather.’

  Ren thought while holding a barbell of approximately 30 kg, closely following Travis’s demonstration.

  Over the next period, they closely followed Travis’s training regimen, doing various types of physical exercises, with barely 3 minutes of rest between each set.

  Many couldn’t hold on, and some even fainted, but Travis didn’t care. He continued his demonstration, with only a few closely following behind.

  “Hmph! Untouchables will always be untouchables.”

  Wade disdainfully snorted as he effortlessly followed Travis’s pace. He looked around casually before his gaze rested on Levi, who also seemed to barely sweat, his gaze changing into that of hostility.

  This is the only guy he considers a threat.

  Ren sweated profusely as he struggled to follow Travis’s pace. Ron was even on the verge of fainting, but he gritted his teeth and continued to complete various physical movements.

  ‘This guy looks like a frizzy moron usually, but he’s surprisingly strong-willed.’

  Ren thought as he looked at Ron.

  Turning his head slightly, he looked at Jerry, who was also struggling but looking much better than most.

  ‘As expected of the son of a blacksmith, his physical strength should rank in the top ten among these guys.’

  Turning his head back, Ren focused on following Travis’s movements.

  Ten minutes later, when less than 30% of the teenagers could remain standing, Travis stopped.

  “That’s enough for now; go back to rest and have lunch. This is the first day, so you’ll only have to train in the morning, but starting tomorrow, you’ll have to train in the morning and late afternoon. Now go!”

  Travis said, then turned back and walked away.

  “Ha… Ha… I… Thought… That I would die…”

  Ron panted and said,

  “Let’s go.”

  After resting a bit and regaining his energy, Ren patted Ron’s shoulders, then slowly walked back to his dormitory and simply cleaned himself before walking to the cafeteria.

  The first sight that came into his eyes upon entering the cafeteria was that of Wade and three henchmen behind him confronting Levi in the corner.

  The rest of the teenagers sat at their tables and ate while gleefully watching their conflict.

  “You’re just the son of a farmer, Levi, a mudleg; don’t think that just because you have been praised by the instructor that you can act proud in front of us.”

  One of the henchmen behind Wade sternly said.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  “You’re just trash compared to Lord Wade, don’t think that you’re some hotshot because you came first while running!”

  A blond-haired young man behind Wade scolded,

  “If you didn’t resort to tricks, there’s no way you could have come first! A mudleg like you shouldn’t be participating in the guards’ test in the first place! Go back to where you came from!”

  The last young man behind Wade roared.

  “I reached first place relying on my ability! I didn’t cheat!”

  Levi’s face was red due to anger. He fiercely responded as he glared at Wade and his henchmen.

  “Your name is Levi, right? I’ll give you a final warning. Don’t try to compete with me in the future, or I’ll make you regret being born in this world.”

  Wade coldly said before walking away, his henchmen following closely behind.

  Levi looked at their backs with a stubborn expression, closely clenching his fists.

  “Waa… they’re such bullies.”

  Ron exclaimed while looking at Wade and his followers.

  ‘It seems that Wade has quickly gathered some followers.’

  Ren looked at the three henchmen flattering Wade and thought.

  ‘But it isn’t surprising, though Wade might be an illegitimate child, he’s still a noble. The opportunity to talk to and follow a noble is very rare.’

  Ren watched as Wade and his henchmen went up to the second floor, a place unavailable to them, before looking away.

  He led Ron and Jerry to the kitchen lady to get their lunch, before walking to an empty table and eating.

  —--------

  Over the next week, their daily routine didn’t change. They wake up at dawn, clean themselves, and have a light breakfast. After that, they start by running before doing some stretches and body training, then moving on to weight training.

  After having lunch, they have a two-hour rest before proceeding with the next training objective. In the evening, they have dinner, followed by some leisure time. Finally, they go to sleep and repeat.

  Their meals consist of normal animal meat and some vegetables, along with a piece of bread and some light soup in the evening. They also get a very nutritious monster meat meal once a week.

  The weekly monster meal is the key point. Without it, such gruelling training without a single rest day would have easily worn out their bodies.

  With such nutritious meals each day, most of the trainees have made great progress.

  The physical talent of each trainee has gradually become apparent. Some showed outstanding progress, gradually surpassing the others and shining like bright stars. On the other hand, some showed little to no progress, gradually being left behind by the rest.

  However, the two brightest stars were undoubtedly Wade and Levi, far surpassing the others.

  Levi particularly excelled, demonstrating exceptional talent, surpassing even Wade, and receiving high praise from the instructor.

  Wade and his henchmen repeatedly clashed with Levi, warning him multiple times and occasionally tripping him. If physical conflict wasn’t strictly forbidden, they would have undoubtedly fought.

  However, despite all of that, Levi didn’t budge. He still tried his best, showing his outstanding talent and even outshining Wade.

  If General Instructor Travis hadn’t warned Wade, he might have ignored the rules and attacked or even killed Levi.

  On the other hand, Ren firmly maintained an upper-middle level, ranked between 60 and 70, inconspicuous among the hundreds of trainees but still good enough to not be brushed down.

  However, he didn’t specifically restrict Jerry and Ron’s performance; hence, Ron was able to barely reach the top 50, and Jerry has even made it into the top 10.

  While he doesn’t care about the position of a guard or even about becoming a knight, he won’t stop his two friends from pursuing a better future.

  —-----------------

  “Ren! Jerry and I are going out to play with some friends. Are you sure you don’t want to come with us? This is a rare rest day.”

  Ron said as he held the door open, looking back at Ren with an excited expression.

  “It’s okay, go and play with your friends, I’m going to take a rest on this rare rest day.”

  Ren nonchalantly waved his hands and said,

  He lay on his bed with his hands behind his head, looking up in a daze.

  “I see, it’s a shame. Well, I’m going; take care!”

  Ron looked a bit disappointed but quickly cheered up. He waved his hands and closed the door, quickly trotting away.

  A minute later, Ren stood up, looking at the wooden door with a calm expression.

  “This annoying brat has finally left.”

  He grabbed a piece of parchment from his lined bag and sat at the desk. A thin, dark glove covered his right hand, followed by a dark pen with golden edges appearing in his palm.

  He looked at the thin glove and pondered for a moment before putting it away and only using the pen.

  [Wade Bloodhound]

  Ren wrote on the parchment paper before letting go of the pen, but magically, the pen didn’t fall. Instead, it started automatically writing.

  [Wade Bloodhound stood in the castle’s corridor, looking at his half-brother’s back with a gloomy expression. He has been ruthlessly mocked again for not being able to get first place against just a commoner.

  His heart was seething with rage and hatred. He swore that he'd make them all pay.

  He turned around and walked to the servants’ quarters. He decided to first get rid of Levi. As the last sun’s rays shone on the earth, he walked in front of the servants’ quarters and ordered a servant to call one of the cooking apprentices. He stealthily led the apprentice to a corner of the yard, near a small grove, and handed him a small bottle.

  The bottle contains a mixture of nightshade snake venom and a few medicinal herbs. This liquid is a powerful muscle relaxant. With use over time, the muscles will gradually degenerate, eventually leading to severe muscle atrophy and, ultimately, lifelong disability or even death.

  Wade ordered the cooking apprentice to pour one drop of it into Levi’s meals starting tomorrow. Levi and Wade are often the first to finish the morning’s exercises. Thus, he must ensure to pour one drop on one of the meals each day and ensure that it’s Levi’s meal.

  After giving the apprentice a few more instructions, Wade strode away with a sinister smile on his face.

  The apprentice walked back to his quarters with a nervous expression, he… ]

  Ren suddenly grabbed the pen and started writing.

  [He sneakily walked back to his dormitory, fearful that someone would find out about his actions, but fortunately, most servants hadn’t returned to the quarters yet, hence, he was lucky that his actions hadn’t been discovered by anyone.

  However, due to his nervousness, while looking for a place to hide the muscle relaxant, he accidentally dropped the bottle, and it broke, spilling the liquid all over the ground.

  The apprentice was terrified; after all, Wade would kill him if he knew that he had broken the bottle. Fearful for his life, he decided to lie and say that he did put the muscle relaxant in Levi’s meal. At the same time, he decided to look for an opportunity to flee the castle.]

  “Hoo, that should do it for now.”

  Ren heaved a sigh and put away the pen, gently kneading his temples. A slight smile crept onto his face.

  This is the ability of the Pen of Destiny, to rewrite destiny and change reality. And this is the source of his confidence to become a wizard and reach the peak of this path.