Inside the pilot training school in Neverwinter.

"Hurry up! Hurry up! Keep your balance!"

"Your legs are even shakier than a baby's!"

"Keep straight. Watch where you're heading!"

"Hey, where are you going? Do I really have put some braziers on either side of the walkway to make you all be more careful!"

"Not here, not on the plank, otherwise I'll have to make you lick your vomit off it!"

"Next, Good!"

"Here!" Good shuddered when he heard his name being called. He took a deep breath and seated himself in a swivel chair.

The stern face of Eagle Face, the instructor, came into his sight.

Good could not even stand having mere eye contact with him. It was rumored Eagle Face had once been the commander of the garrison in the Northern Region before he had returned to Neverwinter. He had immediately taken the internal military a.s.sessment and became a member of the reserve Aerial Knights. This meant that Eagle Face had not only partic.i.p.ated in the war against the church but had also sacrificed his vacations for the new trainees.

In other words, he was strict to both others and himself.

Good felt very uncomfortable under his penetrating stare.

As soon as he sat down, his two friends, Finkin and Hinds grouped up.

Good saw them cast him a sorrowful look.

The next moment, the chair started to spin rapidly.

This was the most painful training session for the reserve pilots. There was a plank five meters long, as wide as a palm, in front of the chair, which Eagle Face called a "footbridge". All the trainees had to walk the "footbridge" as steadily as possible after spinning in the chair for half a minute.

Due to the loss of balance, the whole world became a swirl of color after he slid off the chair. He could barely stand still, let alone crossing the "footbridge". Eagle Face would usually train ten people at a time, and the person who got the lowest grade would be subject to punishment such as "cleaning the washroom" and "weeding the yard". Sometimes, he would pick a weekend and have the poor guy sit in the spinning chair for a whole day as a way of disciplining.

Unfortunately, Good had once been that unlucky person.

As a result, he had ended up throwing up in his dormitory at dinner time.

He did not want to experience this for a second time.

"Stop!"

The chair immediately stopped as Eagle Face announced the magic word. Good struggled to get off the chair.

"Hurry up! Don't dawdle. Walk!"

Good raised his head with his teeth clenched. He stepped on the plank shakily and started to walk toward the other end of the "footbridge". After more than ten days of practice, he had found a little trick to succeed in the task. He noticed that he would be more likely to lose his balance if he constantly watched his steps. The best way to cross the "footbridge" was to look ahead and use his body's memory to control his strides.

In fact, his feet touched the solid ground before he realized it.

"That's, that's amazing..."

"He didn't miss a single step!"

"He's the first person who did it, isn't he?"

The crowd behind him broke into a loud buzz.

He turned around and looked at Eagle Face. There was a rare smile on his gaunt grim face. "Well done. It seems that you aren't completely hopeless."

"But一" he paused for a second and his tone instantly dropped, "there has been only one person who pa.s.sed the test up to this date, which means this group is the worst of them all. Princess Tilly said the Aerial Knights should be one in a million. If you don't want to be an errand boy for the rest of your life, put yourself together and train harder. Take a five-minute break and we'll start again!"

Everybody wailed at the announcement.

"Hey, how did you do that?" Finkin asked Good while winking.

"Just walk the way you normally do like when you aren't dizzy."

"Really? How?" Hinds rejoined. "Are you saying to live the lie in your head?"

Both Finkin and Hinds had pa.s.sed the initial a.s.sessment and joined the reserve together with Good. As the three were in the same training group, they had soon become very close friends.

"Just do what I said. We just need a pa.s.s." Good tapped Hind's head. "This method probably doesn't work for the smart ones, but I think it should work for you guys."

"Get over yourself," Finkin retorted with a little irritation. "You just succeeded once. Stop bragging."

"Do you want to make a bet? I bet I'll walk over the bridge for another three... no, five times!"

"If you do, I'll do all your laundry this week!"

"Including my underpants?"

"Um..."

"Hey, you guys stop arguing," Hinds cut in. "What I really care about is— can we really become an Aerial Knight after this training program?"

Good and Finkin instantly fell silent. In fact, this was the very problem that bothered all the trainees. All the training they had received so far, including walking the footbridge, pa.s.sing the rotating wheel, and learning wind directions, were more like an acrobatic show than proper military training. Furthermore, Princess Tilly was supposed to teach them in person, but in the end, she had simply taught some senior officers from the First Army and asked those officers to teach them.

The training was pretty intense. They had to go through physical training during the daytime and learn to read and write at night. Although Princess Tilly had made her promise to all of them, they still doubted the credibility of her words.

However, n.o.body dared raise the question to the sulky, unapproachable instructor.

"Who knows?" Finkin said with a shrug, after a short silence. "At least, the food here is good. We have meat every day, with an extra meal on weekends as well."

"I think... Her Highness is not likely to lie to us," Good said thoughtfully. "Didn't we get a bag of books? My sister told me one of them is called something like "Aircraft Operation Manual", which was drafted by Her Highness herself. Once we learn how to read and write, we would probably know the reason for these trainings."

"You are pretty optimistic, aren't you?" Finkin beamed at him.

"If I thought negatively, I probably wouldn't have survived the trip here."

"Alright, time's up!" Just then, Eagle Face's voice rose abruptly above the murmurs of the crowd. "Line up here. We're going to do it again in the same order in which we did last time!"

"OK..." responded everybody weakly.

But something unexpected happened.

The door of the training room was flung open and a uniformed man strode in. He whispered something in Eagle Face's ear.

Eagle Face nodded. After administering a salute, he wheeled around and swept over the trainees with a cold glance.

"Good news for all of you. The subsequent training is cancelled. You can continue to take your break now."

Finkin and Hinds heaved a sigh of relief, but Good did not. He clearly saw a calculating smile break across Eagle Face's shrewd face. It was a smile which contained a little bit of sarcasm, jesting, and even... gloating.

"Not here though." As Good had expected, Eagle Face went on at once, "I know what you're complaining about in private. I didn't bother explaining to you because I know your thick skulls wouldn't understand a thing. You're indeed lucky. Now, there's a chance for you to see what an Aerial Knight truly means with your own eyes."

The true meaning of... an Aerial Knight?

Good's heart was pumping insubordinately.

"Follow me." Eagle Face surveyed them slowly and said, "I hope you don't wet your pants when you see it."