System's POV

Chapter 655: Your Hard Work Finally Paid Off

The sound of two weapons clashing reverberated in the surroundings as Thirteen and Roland sparred with each other.

The teenage boy had just finished beating the crap out of Derek when Roland approached him for a spar.

Seeing the determination in the young man's face, Thirteen accepted his challenge, and the two had been fighting for nearly thirty minutes since then.

Thirteen blocked, parried, and deflected Roland's attacks with his two short swords, occasionally using his feet to counterattack with kicks from time to time.

The teenage boy would always target the Hero's stomach, which sent the latter skidding on the ground for a few meters whenever it landed.

Roland endured the pain and did his best not to throw up every time he received Thirteen's blow.

But no matter what he did, even if he had prepared to block the counterattack, the teenage boy's kicks would still land on his body, making him feel annoyed and pressured.

"Can you please stop hitting my stomach?" Roland asked. "I don't want to vomit the food I ate earlier."

"Okay," Thirteen replied casually.

After that brief pause, the two clashed once more, and true to his word, Thirteen's kick didn't land on Roland's stomach.

But it landed in a place that made the young man almost cough out blood then and there.

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Derek, who was watching the battle, couldn't help but laugh out loud after seeing Roland hold his backside with a painful expression on his face.

Whenever the Swordsman trained with his Master, Thirteen would always target his butt with a kick, which made him feel pain and humiliation each time.

Seeing Roland going through the same treatment he endured made Derek feel a bit better.

Now, he had a buddy that could understand his pain and suffering!

The only saving grace was that the girls were currently training in a different location.

Of course, if the girls were around, Thirteen would show some consideration and not hit the places which would make the boys feel shameful.

After several more exchanges, Roland was already on the ground panting for breath.

"Just how are you able to do this?" Roland asked. "Why are you so strong?"

Derek, who was also curious about this topic, looked at his Master with bated breath.

He also wanted to know how someone who was younger than him managed to reach a level that even the Hero of their Party couldn't defeat.

Thirteen pondered this question for two minutes before answering the young man's question.

"Experience is the best teacher," Thirteen replied. "When you experience the same things that I did, I'm very sure that being strong is the only option."

"What did you experience, Master?" Derek inquired. "Can you tell me about it? Maybe I can get stronger that way as well."

This time, it was Roland's turn to pay attention to Thirteen's next words.

"I experienced heartbreaks," Thirteen said softly. "Many heartbreaks. Fortunately, I didn't have a heart back then, or it might have already been broken."

"Heartbreaks?" Derek frowned. "Are you talking about love, Master? Did you get heartbroken because of relationships?"

"Something like that," Thirteen replied with a bitter smile on his face.

Derek and Roland exchanged a glance with each other before shifting their gaze back at the teenage boy in front of them.

"Master, I understand now!" Derek patted his Master's shoulder, and looked at the teenage boy with pity. "You're still young, but I'm sure that after a few years, you will grow up to be as handsome as me. By then, you won't have problems with relationships. You won't suffer anymore heartbreaks!"

Tiona, who was coiled on Thirteen's neck, was very tempted to lunge at the annoying guy and bite him to oblivion.

Although Zion wasn't very handsome, his looks were still above average!

In a few years, he would definitely be a looker. Because of this, Tiona was confident that her Master would easily be able to attract good ladies who would care for him.

Roland, who heard Zion's reply, couldn't help but frown.

For some reason, he could tell that the heartbreak that the teenage boy talked about wasn't as simple as it sounded on the surface.

Unfortunately, Derek didn't know about this and only thought that, because his Master had been dumped by girls, he gained the motivation to improve himself, which led to the point that he became incredibly strong.

It was similar to guys going to the gym to get those muscular bodies in order to boost their self confidence and make the girls look at them favorably.

"Okay, break time is over," Thirteen said. "Now, the two of you will spar."

Roland wanted to say that Derek is no match for him, but he knew that Thirteen wouldn't take no for an answer.

Although he was reluctant to do it, he decided to just finish the battle as fast as he could so that he could continue training with Zion.

But to his surprise, Derek proved to be a very formidable adversary, forcing Roland to become more serious.

Although he was not fighting with his full strength, he was still surprised that he was unable to overpower the Swordsman, whose strength seemed to be equal to his own.

Derek, who also knew that he wasn't a match for Roland, couldn't help but be surprised because he was able to fend off his opponent's attack and even managed to push him back during those exchanges.

The moment the two combatants distanced themselves to each other at the same time, both of them looked at each other with shock written on their faces.

"You've improved a lot, Derek," Thirteen said with praise. "Your hard work finally paid off."

"Master! Did you see that?!" Derek replied in an excited tone.

"I saw." Thirteen nodded. "Good job."

"Hahaha!" Derek couldn't help but laugh because it was very rare for his Master to praise him.

Roland couldn't help but feel bitter because he always believed that he was the strongest among the members of the Hero Party.

However, as much as he tried to deny it, Erica and Derek had reached a stage where they could fight him and even win.

The only reason he could think of as to how this happened was the fact that they had been trained by Zion a month longer than he had been.

'Did they really improve that much in just a month?' Roland thought.

When Derek, and the others invited him and Joshua to train in the Leventis Residence, Roland said that he still had matters to take care of.

Of course, this was the truth.

But if he really wished for it, he could have passed his tasks to other people in the army, allowing him to train earlier.

However, he thought that not training under Thirteen for a month wouldn't be that much of a problem since he would be training with him after a month had passed.

It was then when Roland remembered that before they went to Solterra during their previous mission, his strength and fighting abilities had increased drastically after being trained by Zion for a month.

Only a month of training, and he gained a massive boost in his overall fighting prowess.

However, he and Joshua both decided to rest for a month before undergoing their training with Zion.

'Maybe I should have trained with them a month ago,' Roland suddenly regretted his decision of not accepting Derek's, Erica's, and Shana's invitation to train with them.

Although he was feeling depressed, he decided to not show it on his face and once again clashed with Derek, whose morale had increased because of his achievement.

After fighting for nearly an hour, the battle came to a draw, with neither of them getting the upper hand.

Joshua, who was observing this from a distance, couldn't help but clench his fists in frustration because he had a feeling that Derek had already surpassed him as well.