Warrior Training System - Chapter 453

Chapter 453: The Enslaving Warrior
The next few days slipped by fast. Cassian tore through duel after duel, putting Second-Circle warriors—and even a few mages on his level—to their knees. By the time word spread, people had already started calling him the Enslaving Warrior.

He’d stacked up more than two dozen slaves now, all technically stronger than him on paper. And when he claimed yet another victory—the thirtieth—his gaze slid straight to Brigid, reminding her of their little deal.

She looked furious, eyes blazing like she wanted to chew through steel.Cassian just chuckled.

“You absolute mad bastard…” Lucas groaned, though the grin on his face was way too big for the complaint to stick. He was practically vibrating from how much money he’d just made off Cassian’s fights.

“I swear, man, I thought you were gonna lose one of those,” he added, poking Cassian in the arm. “And then what? I’d have to spend our entire stash buying your dumb ass out of slavery. Do you know how depressing that would’ve been?”

Cassian snorted. “Relax. Worst case, I’d haunt you from the slave pens.”

Lucas jingled a handful of coins like a kid with candy, grinning wide. “So, you’re heading out today?” he asked.

Cassian just nodded, taking a slow sip of water while one of his newest slaves got branded in the corner. Honestly, he hadn’t bothered getting to know most of them. The first few, sure—he dealt with them daily. But the rest? They were mostly numbers he needed to shove in Brigid’s face. And since they all kept repeating the same basic crap, he had to stitch the pieces together himself to make sense of anything.

From the mages—mostly the low-ranked ones—he learned they’d been ordered to summon and scatter monsters across the Karmen Kingdom. Some kind of array spell, dozens of mages at once, teleporting entire packs at a time. Probably the same kind of monsters he’d seen the Karmen army struggling with.

There was more technical nonsense too, but he’d squeezed everything he could out of those half-trained apprentices. Hopefully, the scraps of info he got would make it a little easier to mess with whatever scheme the cult had cooking with their “let’s thin the population with monsters” plan.

“Can’t you stick around a few more days? More slaves, more money—what’s not to love?” Lucas asked, rubbing his hands like a greedy merchant.

Cassian just shook his head. As much as he enjoyed collecting slaves, today was departure day. Analisa was leaving, Brigid was leaving, and he’d heard they were all headed somewhere in the direction of the Magic Empire.

Which worked out for him—Magisteria was on the way, and he could drop in on Katherine to see how she was doing.

“No can do, man,” Cassian said, stretching his shoulders. “Got a few things to handle. And there’s already enough bodies here to keep everything running.”

He tilted his chin toward Brigid’s side. A whole squad of tough-looking warriors was already lined up behind her, eager to take her orders instead of listening to anything Cassian might’ve barked at them.

“Suit yourself. Just saying—if you spot someone your type, you know… for activities,” Lucas said, wiggling his eyebrows like an idiot.

Cassian ignored that immediately. “What’s happening here now that the Cardinal’s leaving?”

Lucas shrugged. “Bishop Kirk’s back in charge. Which means Ceno Kirk is probably gonna vent his frustration about you stealing all his warriors. But that’s about it. Nothing major until we’re ready to launch the real assault on the Karmen army.” He paused, then snapped his fingers. “Oh—almost forgot. These are for you.”

He handed Cassian a bundle wrapped in cloth, heat practically leaking through the fabric.

“Monster hearts,” Lucas said lazily. “Three-star ones. Mostly fire types.”

Cassian’s grin lit up—perfect. With this, he finally had everything he needed for his second Circle: the hearts, the materials, and he’d already completed the rotations over the last few days.

Lucas didn’t bother asking what Cassian planned to do with them. The man had been paid, and that was more than enough to smother any curiosity he might’ve had.

Cassian slipped the hearts into his space ring quickly. They didn’t need to stay “fresh,” but losing them would be a nightmare. Inside the ring, they’d stay exactly as they were now. Even with all the materials ready for his next Circle, he still needed that sharp burst of will at the right moment to actually use them. The most he could do ahead of time was prepare the seal—and he planned to handle that when he saw Katherine.

“Thanks, man. We’ll meet again when the Lord decides to throw us together,” Cassian said, giving his only real friend in the cult a quick farewell before turning to Kirja.

“I need to clean up…” he told her.

She followed, jaw tight, cheeks a little too red for someone pretending to be annoyed.

As they walked, Cassian glanced over and asked, “So, how do you feel about leaving? Excited to trail behind a Morgenster princess on her fancy new assignment? I heard it’s supposed to be quite the adventure.”

“We are,” Kirja said, blinking at him. “But you’re talking like you’re not coming. Aren’t you going too?”

“I am, I am…” Cassian replied as he stepped into the large house he’d been staying in all week.

He stopped for a second—Analisa was there, speaking with the bishops. First time he’d seen her since the confession days. And even now, she chose to pretend he didn’t exist. Both he and Kirja bowed politely, and Cassian swore he caught a flicker of shame cross her face before he headed to his room.

Kirja walked beside him. “So, any idea what our mission actually is? Assassination, kidnapping… terrorism?”

“Nothing like that,” Cassian said, starting to unbuckle his armor and pull off his shirt. “From what I’ve heard, it’s not even connected to the war.”

Kirja mirrored him, slipping out of her own gear as she spoke.

“So then what is it?”

Cassian shrugged. “No clue. Probably find out once we’re already on the road.”