The Stonehearted Knight

The following days Hex spent his time divided between training the technique and helping Hestia in the fields.

He had forgotten about the field work the day before, but Hestia didn't mind. But she didn't allow him to skim work from the next day on. 

Hex had protested but Hestia got him to agree with a piece of advice. 

"You said you ran out of blessing energy after using it for some time. This is normal. But instead of drinking a potion immediately, try to squeeze as much out of your muscles."

"The potion restores both the blessing and muscle energy. So why not use your muscles to work in the field. It will be a form of weightlifting and stamina building."

"In the end it will improve your overall strength more. After all, the Blessing energy works as a multiplier. So, the stronger your base strength, the more strength you can use with your mark activated."

Hex was stunned by her advice. He had not even considered work as a form of training. This way he could get out more of his day then by limiting himself to only training. 

After just two days working and training, he noticed his strength improve by leaps and bounds. He could easily maintain his strength and light up the third crystal. 

There was only one thing that worried him, his debt. To maintain his speed of training he took a vial of potion. This was given to him by Wallen on credit. In just three days he owed fifteen hundred coins to the castle. 

'I hope the missions are profitable enough to pay my debt. But I will need to work my ass off.'

Hestia's promise to take him on a mission required the baron's permission. At least, Wallen had advised him to always confer with the master before taking a step. Otherwise it could be conceived as unfilial. 

'Bah. If he wants to be respected as a teacher, he needs to act like one.' 

Hex learned more from Hestia and dealt more with Wallen than he even saw the baron. He had no idea what the man did, but he was nowhere to be seen most of the time. 

He met the baron during dinner and told about his progress so far. He also carefully told him about his deal with Hestia. The baron didn't comment on either.

Hex frowned at the lack of response, but there was nothing he could do. Their relationship was almost non-existent at this point and except the first day, the baron barely talked to him. 

"Working in the field can also help with your control." Hex suddenly heard the baron say. With a start he turned his head. 

"H-how?" The baron was the most powerful man he knew, whether he liked him or not. So, if he thought so, Hex had little reason to doubt it. He only failed to understand how it could help. 

"Are all the boulders the same size and weight?" 

"No," Hex replied immediately. After working with them so long, he didn't even have to think about it. 

"If you can control the exact amount of strength required to pick a certain stone, it will not only help you with efficiency, it will also improve your judgment."

Hex fell in thought when he heard the baron's advice. 'It makes sense. If I only train with the equipment, I will be limited to the crystals. But this way, I will need to judge and adjust constantly. This way, I will be better with portioning my strength.'

"Perfection is not bad, but try to be adaptable. Never expect things to follow a pattern." 

The baron wiped his face and left Hex behind. 'He pointed my path forward in just a few sentences.' 

Hex struggled to understand his master. He could be distant and cold, yet proved to be wise and knowledgeable at the same time.

…

Hex implemented the advice the very next day. It was hard. At first he failed to even grasp whether he was using too much or too little strength. But he didn't change his tactic. 

He kept trying. At the end of the day he noticed the difference. He managed to work a whole hour longer compared to the previous day.

Exhilarated, he chugged the vial and tried it with the equipment again. To his shock he still had blessing energy left after completing three sets of lighting the three crystals. And it was not a little. He could do one whole set more!

Seeing this, Hex fell in thought once more. There was something he could try the next morning.

…

It was the afternoon of the last day of the week.

Today Hex was not alone in the training room. Behind him stood a few people. Some were other Squires who heard about his deal with Hestia. 

They were familiar with missions and even executed them. It was normal for experienced Squires to go along with missions. 

But Hex had been a Squire for barely a week. They wanted to see whether his progress really was enough to be on par with them.

Hestia stood on the side. Greg and Vin mixed with the others. There was even a guy wrapped in bandages. 

"Nice look Vitor," smirked Greg. The others chuckled. Vitor scratched his head in embarrassment. 

His desire to intimidate the newcomer had come at great cost. Not only was he unable to earn now, he even fell into debt to his friend to provide for himself. 

No one noticed the golden haired man in the corner. Not even Hestia, who was not far from the corner. 

"Shh," Hestia clapped her hands. "Let the kid show what he is capable of." She looked at Hex and winked at him. "I promised the kid that I would be his first partner. So, Hex, show us, are you able to handle your tool well?"

Her words filled with double entendre elicited wolf howls from the crowd of men. They laughed wickedly at Hex. 

Hex looked amused at her. He was old enough to understand her teasing. He smiled wryly at the crowd behind him. 

'Is time to give them a show.'

He turned to face the equipment. He held his sword, the last remaining one, and took his stance. Red light wrapped around him. By now the speed with which the paw formed was far greater than the first time he had used it. 

'Now!'

Bang!

The impact of the sword caused the equipment to tremble far more than ever. Hestia raised her brow. She could tell that Hex used far more strength this time. 

Her gaze went to the sword. It was humming…but it didn't break. 

Red light had appeared from the bottom and traveled quickly through the first and second crystal. As soon as the light reached the third crystal, the crowd quieted. 

They had been employed at the caste for some time now. Everyone had used the equipment at least once. There were even quite a few who could light up the third crystal. But no one had done it within a week.

"Look! The fourth one!"

Vitor's cry was unnecessary. Their gazes had never left the staff. So they all noticed that the light didn't stop at the third crystal. It reached the fourth one. Would it fall back?

Shing.

The fourth crystal lit up.

For the first time someone with one Blessing had done it!