The Stonehearted Knight
Chapter 316: The competition modes (1)

Chapter 316: The competition modes (1)

A/N: this is the regular Chapter of today.

A/N: Please don’t buy the privilege. They are not written well. I need to revise them all. My apologies to everyone who lost money on this.

These notes aren’t a permanent thing. I will only do so when I have multiple bonus Chapters to release, which I secretly hope is always.

Bonus Chapters owed: 2 out of the 4.

I will remove bonus options after this week and focus on improving the privileged Chapters.

Thank you for reading and supporting me. Please continue to do so.

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A thousand emotions welled up inside Hex as he looked at Hestia. His heart, which was capable of handling the most chaotic of energies, failed to contain the chaos inside him.

All their time together flashed through his otherwise blank mind. He sought words to explain how glad he was to see her again. But nothing he could say seemed to cover what he wanted to express.

In the end, he settled for the easiest option he could find. He pulled Hestia, who looked at him with care and happiness, into his arms.

"H-Hex? What –."

His act seemed to have stumped her but he didn’t care. She felt at home, her smell reminding him of the mountain flowers and the gardens around the castle.

Her touch calmed down his tumultuous heart. He hadn’t realized it till now but the Ice in his inner space wasn’t the coldest thing inside. It was the growing sense of being lost and alone.

He split up from her in Notresol before he went on his mission to the Temple district. He experienced so many things after that. He, the boy who lived his entire life in a small town high in the mountains, was in a strange nation with strangers around him. Seeing her, the one person who perhaps linked him to the town and his master, made him realize how alone he felt in this wide world.

These emotions might have been less prominent if he had gone through everything before being apprenticed to the baron. Before that, the six years in the cold mountains and the dirty slum, made feeling loneliness normal. But now, having been between people who had shown him care and treated him as part of them, the same loneliness weighed heavy on his heart.

Hestia often came across as frivolous and a tease but she had seen and done a lot of things. She had no way of knowing the things Hex had experienced nor could she tell what went on inside him. But she could feel his emotions.

She wrapped him in a tight hug and allowed him time to regain control over his emotions, his mind, and himself. The discussions between people behind them turned distant.

After a minute, Hex let go of her. The outburst of emotions left him a bit embarrassed now.

"You sure know to take advantage of this elder sister as soon as we meet again."

With a start, he lifted his head, with his first reaction being a need to explain. But as soon as he met her twinkling eyes and toothy grin, he knew she was teasing him.

"Advantage? You mean I saved you the embarrassment by doing what you wanted to do," he snorted. "Know this, even this far from home, you are not alone...old lady."

"Fuck your granny," Hestia snarled. "Old lady? This sister here is still the budding flower of the mountains."

"Budding? Bah. The word you are looking for is wilting. W-I-L-T-I–"

Green vines sprouted from the bark beneath them and wrapped tightly around Hex. He felt it constricted his movement.

"You dare, twerp?" Hestia stared menacingly at him. A faint green luster surrounded her arm.

"Hmpf," Hex snorted and grunted as his body morphed a little, becoming bigger and more pronounced. The vines stretched but ended up snapping under the stress he put them in.

"If you think I am still the little guy you could take advantage of to do your work for you, then you are mistaken."

As he reverted to his normal appearance, he saw shock appear on Hestia’s face. This time, she wasn’t putting on an act.

Hex had grown a lot. His strength soared and no one in Grindeston could compare to him. Heck, even in the world, he had only a few opponents. Probably.

He had faced Sins, Saint, Lords, and Overlords, yet seeing the woman who had been a teacher of sorts to him react in such a manner filled him with pride.

"It seems I caught up to you," he boasted, feeling quite smug about it. He had required some effort to break out of the vines Hestia shot at him. She had reached the Refined Knight stage as well.

"Yes. Or perhaps even surpassed me."

Hestia tapped his shoulder and said. He sensed her care and pride in her voice.

"Not to disturb you two, but we are standing right in front of the entrance."

Hex had forgotten everything around him. It was not his style to ignore his surroundings but then again, he rarely lost composure due to overwhelming emotions.

Elize, who had been with him, hadn’t disturbed his moment with Hestia. She only spoke up now because two separate groups had gathered behind each of them.

Hex first noted Ella, the Star Sword, Elron, and a few others in blue and silver behind Hestia. Aside from Ella, everyone else exuded the energy of Refined Stage Knights.

Seeing those people stare behind him and sensing a group of people behind him, Hex looked over his shoulder.

Sterling, accompanied by Quid, Gronke, and the others who he brought with him, stood behind him. The hate and anger with which the two groups stared at each other didn’t surprise him. What did surprise him was the grief and sadness in those same eyes.

"Why are you with them?"

Hex asked Hestia. She was here as were they. It wasn’t a stretch to connect the dots. What he didn’t know was why she would join the Silver Serpents under Ella’s command.

Hestia didn’t owe him or anyone anything. She could choose any side she desired. But knowing her, she would not choose solely based on the rewards she could get from a mission. She played frivolously but had a heart willing to help everyone she could.

"I am the Chief of Grindeston," she said with a soft smile on her lips. The one sentence told him everything he needed to know.

She chose sides to protect the town. Most likely, the Divine Lord already claimed authority over the entire nation, leaving her to choose between siding with him or allowing an army to attack the town.

And she left the deed unclaimed. It was still his to be taken one day. She could become the baroness if she desired to do so. But she didn’t.

Even if she was now part of an opposing team, her action left his heart warm and filled.

"Let me guess," Sterling, who had remained silent all this time, added. "She," he said, pointing at Ella, "offered you a spot in the competition to be taught the ways of Dryads."

"She isn’t one of Wrixia’s daughters," Hex countered.

"She doesn’t have to be. A select few outsiders are given a chance to be trained as a Dryad. The requirements include being at the Refinement Stage, having the nature element, and being nominated by one of the nations around the world."

Hex looked at Hestia, who nodded to confirm.

"So?" Ella asked from behind her. "This is a chance of a lifetime, whether she decides to stick with us or decides to betray us. All I am interested in is her performance to gain points through her."

"The competition has different modes. One of which is the decisions we as heir make and the candidates we put forward. The better they perform, the better our points."

Hex listened as Sterling explained. An idea formed in his mind as he heard about the criteria.

"Can I join too?"

"Do you wish to?" Sterling asked, visibly surprised. "I can arrange it. I don’t have enough with the nature element and certainly not someone like you."

"Yes, I want to."

Hex had seen the Dryads use nature elements as well as they breathed. He desired to learn such skill.

"Ahm, sorry to interject," Elize spoke up, interjecting them anyway. "I would propose you join Druid mode too. After all, you qualify for that too."