Chapter 624

Jier then used his hand to gesture, roughly at the position of his own chest: "Those with a height lower than this, and an age under ten."

Jier himself was quite tall; since last year, his height had been shooting up day by day, growing at least ten centimeters or more in a year. Therefore, with Jier wearing combat boots at this moment, his chest level was not low at all. If a person below this height were an adult, it would be too short; these were warriors being recruited for battle, and being too short would be very disadvantageous in combat.

As for the age factor, Jier did not want to look after young children. Although he himself was only about seventeen, his Spirit was mature enough, so he did not want children who were easily excitable, overly lively, or ignorant.

Upon hearing these two requirements from Jier, some half-grown boys under sixteen years old hurriedly crowded over, trying to argue why they should not be excluded.

But Jier only slightly released his killing intent while looking at them, and these half-grown boys all backed away in fear, not daring to get close.

"Too young, not enough courage; that won't do. Wait until you are older before talking about it." Jier casually found a high-sounding excuse to put off these half-grown boys.

Besides this, some Villagers who were old enough but not tall enough walked in front of Jier. Comparing themselves to the spot Jier had gestured to earlier, the Villagers who met the height requirement naturally cheered happily, while those whose height did not reach Jier's chest level retreated silently and quite dejectedly.

After this screening, there were actually nearly twenty Villagers who wanted to join Jier's team and had other siblings at home, with both age and height meeting the requirements.

Jier scratched his nose; of course, he could not recruit so many people at once. This would cause his team of Warriors to more than double in size at once, but after this expansion, it would be unlikely for their combat effectiveness to improve; it might even drop significantly.

Because the number of people would increase, the difficulty of management and command would grow, and due to the differences in combat effectiveness among the Warriors, they would not be able to coordinate smoothly. If he recruited so many people at once, his team would become a mess, and those newcomers would ruin everything.

So, at least half of them still had to be screened out!

"Like this, all of you, stand out, and let me look at each of your situations."

Jier had them stand in two rows and began to question and check them starting from the first person.

This person was a male youth in his twenties, a few years older than Jier, but his height and weight were far inferior to Jier's. At this moment, because of the torment during this period, this person's build was quite thin, and he felt as if there wasn't much meat on his entire body.

But his eyes were bright; when Jier leaned in, he also took the initiative to look at Jier, and he did not fearfully retreat or lower his head when meeting Jier's gaze.

"Have you ever had a serious illness before?" Jier asked.

"Serious illness? No, no, my body has always been very healthy." This Villager replied.

Jier reached out his hand toward the other person: "Throw a punch at my palm." Jier was wearing steel Gauntlets on his hands, which were very hard; if one were to punch them, it would likely be very painful.

But after the young man was stunned for a moment, he still punched out with force.

Bang!

"Ouch! Hiss—" Although it hurt like hell, this Villager did not cry out in pain, only looking at Jier with anticipation in his eyes.

Jier said nothing; he didn't even sway, walking directly to the next person.

"Have you ever had a major illness before?" It was the same question as before.

This Villager just wanted to say no, but other people around who knew him jeered and shouted: "Of course he has, Sir Knight, of course he has!"

"Oh?" Jier no longer looked at this Villager, but asked the people around: "What is the situation?"

"His arm was broken when he was a child, and the previous Village Priest helped him treat it. His family donated a large amount of grain to the church for this." A Villager who knew him explained the situation.

Jier signaled for the other person to extend the arm that had been broken. Jier touched the person's thin arm and found that compared to others, the joint of this person's arm had a larger range of motion, looking quite strange.

"It's a pity, you won't do." Jier manipulated the person's arm, signaling that the joint was too flexible and not tough enough.

This Villager scratched his head, feeling quite regretful.

Seeing that they could not pass Jier's selection, the Villagers who had been crowding around to provide information also realized they had done a bad thing, so no one spoke up again. They just discussed in low voices and quietly watched the scene.

For the next person, Jier asked the same question again, and this Villager immediately said loudly that he had no physical problems.

But as soon as Jier looked at the Villager's complexion, he felt something was wrong. This person's face was dull, his lips had little blood color, and he lacked spirit, looking listless.

So Jier said to him: "Please run five laps around the open space where we are resting now and let me see."

"Ah?" This person was a bit surprised. After confirming with Jier again and seeing Jier nod, he had no choice but to run laps around the small forest clearing where everyone was gathered, in front of hundreds of people, quite unwillingly.

Don't think that five laps are easy; the ground was soft with humus and leaves, and one step could sink to the ankle; in some damp places, one could even step out black, dirty water. Moreover, the ground was not flat, because it was in the mountains, so the entire Forest was tilted along a gentle slope. Running it meant half was uphill and half was downhill, which was not easy.

While this person was running laps, Jier looked at the next one. This Villager was much more normal; his height was sufficient, reaching Jier's eyebrows, and his build was sturdy enough, not as thin as the others. Clearly, after joining forces with others in the Mine, he hadn't suffered much.

At least he could eat his fill.

And this person's gaze was also spirited. After Jier asked if there were any physical problems, he walked directly to the next person.

"Have you ever had any major illnesses?" Jier asked.

This Villager also looked strong enough, but at this moment he seemed a bit guilty: "Sir Knight, I want to ask you, does being colorblind count as an illness?"

Jier's expression was hard to keep straight. He picked up a piece of rotten fallen leaf from last year from the ground, as well as a fresh leaf that had just fallen, held up the fresh leaf, and asked the other person: "What color is this?"

The other person paused, then answered affirmatively: "Green!"

Jier held up the rotten leaf again and asked: "What color?"

"A fallen leaf, of course it's still green!"

Jier shrugged; clearly, this person couldn't even distinguish green. He only knew that leaves should be green, so he assumed that all leaves should be green at this time of year.

"I'm sorry." Jier walked to the next person.

This new Villager looked pretty good too. After confirming he hadn't had any major illnesses and his limbs hadn't been broken, Jier nodded and walked to the next person.

At this time, the Villager who had been running laps returned, looking like he was about to die.

"S-Sir, I've finished running." The other person originally wanted to stand and report, but his body really couldn't hold up, so he collapsed directly onto the ground, only managing to prop himself up again with great difficulty.

Jier looked at this person: "Your body looks okay. After suffering so much before, any one of you would be about like this after running five laps. But why did you look so listless before?"

At this time, the surrounding Villagers laughed: "Him! Every day, besides digging for Mineral Ore, he just likes to stick with his wife, so of course he looks listless! Haha."

Many Villagers who loved to join in the fun laughed heartily, triggering a burst of laughter.

Jier also smiled: "If you come with me, you naturally can't stay with your family anymore. Are you willing?"

This person clearly didn't want to be separated from his family, so after hesitating for a moment, he took the initiative to walk into the surrounding Villagers, giving up on the selection to join Jier's Warriors.

Jier was not annoyed. He said loudly to the dozen or so people in front of him: "If you don't want to be separated from your family, quit early, because if you join my team, you won't be able to return for at least a year or two."

At this, three Villagers who hadn't been questioned yet silently backed out.

Jier counted the people present and continued to ask about the physical condition of the Villagers who hadn't been questioned yet.

Jier just looked at their mental state and physical condition, asking if they had any illnesses, old injuries, or physical disabilities. After asking everyone, Jier had those selected take two steps forward, while the Villagers who weren't selected returned to the surrounding crowd.

Now there were twelve people left. Jier took out his Hunting Sword, casually stuck it into the ground, and then stepped back two steps.

He said to the row of twelve people in front of him: "I only plan to select about ten people, so you come forward one by one, pull out my Sword, and swing it twice, so I can see if you can wield a sword. Remember, my Sword is not light; don't hurt your wrists."

When the people around heard that they could actually touch Jier the Knight's Sword, they were all very excited; as the great hero who rescued them all, everyone was, in any case, very grateful to Jier and quite fond of him.

But because Jier was too formidable as a Knight, everyone both loved and feared him, not daring to get close or take the initiative to strike up a conversation with Jier.

This was the same for the Warriors under Jier's command; unless they had business to find the Warriors, Jier rarely chatted with them, and the Warriors hardly dared to take the initiative to talk to Jier either.

At this moment, hearing that they could actually touch, or even wield Jier's Sword, everyone was very excited, not to mention the twelve people currently in front of Jier.

Although Jier only wanted ten people, meaning two would definitely be cut, just being able to wield Jier's Sword this time was worth it! It was no use for the others to be envious or jealous, haha.

The joy on the faces of those twelve people could not be hidden, and after Jier saw it, he curled his lip—what a lack of ambition!

"Who's first?"

Everyone wanted to go first, but in the end, they started in order from the person on Jier's left.

This person was quite agitated; after walking up in a flurry, he first thanked Jier and bowed, then rubbed his hands together and gripped the hilt of Hunting Sword tightly with both hands.

The moment the wooden hilt, which emitted a faint cyan glow, was in his hands, it made the Villager holding the sword widen his eyes in surprise.

He felt that just by holding the hilt, there was a clear sensation of his physical strength rising.

This supernatural experience left him quite at a loss, and it also left the people around him confused.

"Is it fun? Never played with one before, right?" Jier said with a grin, raising his hand to urge him: "The rest time during the march is not unlimited, please hurry up."

This Villager steadied himself and, with a look of excitement, pulled hard with both hands.

He failed to pull the Long Sword out of the ground.

It wasn't that Jier had deliberately let Hunting Sword be stuck in the ground; it was purely because this person had misjudged the weight of Hunting Sword.

The Long Sword Hunting Sword weighed nearly fifteen kilograms, heavier than the two-handed great axes or Two-Handed Hammers used by the average person, and was no longer a weapon for a normal Human to use. Not to mention that Jier mostly used the Long Sword Hunting Sword as a one-handed sword; a one-handed sword of this weight could not be lifted by an average person with one hand.

Pulling it out of the ground with both hands also required using some strength right from the start.

"This sword is so heavy, it's as heavy as a small half-bag of wheat." This person added as a make-up, which also served as a reminder to the others who hadn't tried it yet. Afterward, he used his strength with both hands this time and finally pulled the Long Sword Hunting Sword out.

He slowly turned the inverted Long Sword into a proper grip, then lifted it with slightly trembling arms, and swung it twice with both hands in a way that looked extremely ridiculous.

This Villager was even knocked to the ground because of the shift in the center of gravity while swinging, triggering a burst of laughter.

This person's face turned bright red, and while patting the rotting leaves off the sword, he shouted to the people around him: "Don't laugh, don't laugh! The Knight's sword is just very heavy!"

Jier raised his hand, signaling that was enough.

He took his Long Sword with one hand, then casually stuck it back into the ground, signaling for the next person to step forward.

"My lord, Knight, I didn't perform well just now, can you let me try again?" the previous Villager pleaded hurriedly.

But Jier shrugged: "No need, you've been selected. This isn't difficult, right?"

"Ah? I, I've been selected? Thank you, thank you!" This Villager was first surprised, then his face filled with joy; not to mention anything else, the salary of the Warriors under Jier was not low, and many people had found out last night that for defeating a Defeated Soldier alone, there was a bounty reward of one Gold Coin.

Of course, this was not easy, or rather it was very difficult, because apart from Aoni and the few other formidable guys, the other more ordinary Warriors in the team still could not defeat a Defeated Soldier alone, even if they used the same weapons and equipment.

After all, although the Defeated Soldiers were low in morality and fierce and brutal, they were, after all, tough guys who had crossed the Southern Mountains and had undergone long-term combat training; their strength was not weak, and it could even be said that this batch of soldiers under Knight Hartna was already much stronger than the vast majority of the armies in the Southern Province and most of the armies of the enemy Ophirine Kingdom.

The second Villager stepped forward; he cheered himself on. After seeing the situation of the previous person, he realized that Knight Jier's Long Sword was not ordinary and was very heavy, so he needed to be prepared to use all his strength from the start.

But when he gripped the hilt with both hands, he was also instantly surprised by the clearly felt physical strength recovery effect.

Anyone who felt the effect of supernatural power in their body for the first time would be stunned like this.

Jier found it amusing; he couldn't even remember which time was the first time he felt the effect of supernatural power on himself.

Was he also like the other person, standing there stupidly, stunned?

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