As the Falx was starting to come out of right hand, a guard with his helm under his armpit holding a halberd in the same hand came over.

He was outfitted in brighter steel armor. It seemed to be either polished regularly, new, or made out of a significantly better material as it was very polished so a lot of light was reflecting off it. Its design was heavily medieval-based. For his hairstyle he seemed to have a high bald fade which made him seem younger although he obviously was in his 30s-50s, the stubble on his face obviously negated that young effect. Plus his body was a little more buff and tanned than a young person could be. If you even compare his halberd to the other guards it was sharper and looked a little heavier.

"Come on boys. Don’t be too hard on the fella." The guard faced the other guards smiling then started walking towards Tremis. The guard coming over made Tremis put the Falx back into his hand as he smiled back.

"What’s going on boy! Yer new here or sumtin?" He held out his hand towards our protagonist expecting a handshake as he had to slightly lift his head to look up in Tremis' face.

"Oh hello. Yes, I am new, sir." Tremis put his hand out and gripped the other man's hand, he forgot to control his strength so he used all 274 points of strength in his handshake.

The guard seemed a little bewildered that such a young man could have such strength before the guard smiled almost pervertedly before using his strength to counteract Tremis. His arm seemed to get buffer than it was previously as he shooked Tremis' hand. Tremis' hand felt almost like it was being pressured heavily, almost crushed as he was shaking this guard's hand.

"Yer strong young man! Follow me fer a second!" The guard kept his perverted smile as he walked towards the barracks motioning Tremis to follow him.

As Tremis followed the man he was smiling as well.

Finally someone as strong as me..is every guard this strong? If they are I could’ve fucking killed myself just now, this guy could even take me by himself maybe. Let’s see what he is going to do.

While walking past the two guards he could hear them talking to each other, obviously under their breath so that specific guard doesn't hear them.

"Fuck. Mr. Afif is getting all obsessed again. Every time he finds anyone even remotely strong he wants to test their strength, he even tried to test the King's Guards."

"Yeah, for the General he is pretty weird. But he is the friend of the King and one of the strongest persons in the whole kingdom. We can't possibly do anything about him, or we might end up like those others." The guard seemed to shiver after talking about the 'others'.

Oh shit, it seemed I have myself caught up in a little predicament right now.

He walked into the door of the barracks as it was being held open by a different guard completely suited up that let both Afif and him inside.

The barracks was like a little house with a few windows that didn't have any curtains. There were two doors that were opened revealing the sleeping quarters and the other door was the armory that had all the equipment that was essential but they were now in the main room.

There were 5 training dummies at the back of the main room currently being used by these 3 burly, sweaty men and 2 equally burly and sweaty women. They were all training using their bare fists, practicing very intensely obviously. There were groups of men and women who were all pretty muscular talking scattered around the room without their armor on until Afif walked in resulting in the whole room to turn dead quiet as they stared at him and the young man following behind him.

"Get the table ready fellas! We're having a little event right about now!"

Some of the guards sighed as one of them went into the armory and got out a wooden table that looked pretty sturdy and laid it out in the middle of the room.

Afif immediately walked on the opposite side of the table and dropped his halberd and helmet as he took off his chest plate and shirt that was underneath it. He laid his elbow out on the table facing towards Tremis.

"Cmon young man! Let’s see what yer got!"

Tremis smiled a little more as he essentially let some of his strength show in his thoracic cavity making his muscles bulge resulting in his shirt to completely rip apart as he slammed his elbow down on the table as well and locked hands with the other man.

"Yeah, let’s go old man lets see what you got!"

"Haha! I like ya spirit kid!" The man laughed. The same guard that pulled out the table stepped to the side and started to shout.

"Are you both ready?"

"Yer bet yer ass I am!" - Afif

"Do you even need to ask!" - Tremis

They both nodded their heads at the same time as they looked into each other’s eyes as Tremis mind started to spin.

What the hell did I get myself into! This seems so out of place but like every isekai novel, there has to be a reward for doing this right? But this seems more like a halfway event rather than a beginning event..,

But I always loved competition..and now I get to use all of my strength. Haa my heart is pounding so fast, I love this!

"Good! Now get ready..."

"GO!"

Immediately Tremis' whole arm was being pushed to the right as Afif has started. Afif arm muscles were at the maximum as you could see all the veins and could feel the explosive pressure behind every fiber of muscle. It seemed as if even that arm of his could destroy a mountain with a simple punch. But feeling the onslaught on his arm Tremis fought back making his muscles grow as well but obviously not as big as Afif's as Tremis found that a little unsightly for his build but all the strength was still there.

Tremis pushed his arm as far as it could go to try and make Afif’s arm touched the left side of the table. Instead, it seemed as if it was a tie. Both of them grabbed the sides of the table to try and get a better grip to slam the other's hand down. This specific action made the parts they were holding onto to break off from the table basically.

Tremis started to get an upper hand for a little as Afif's arm was starting to slowly go towards the left, slowly but surely. Just when Afif's hand was going to make contact with the table, his muscles bulged even more as Tremis hand started to go fairly quickly towards the right side. Our protagonist held his position with his arm in an acute position before his arm started to lose strength, more sweat came pouring down from his pores.

Tremis' hand was slammed down into the table completely breaking the whole table into pieces as both of them stood upright with their hands still interlocked and bumped their chests into each other. Almost as if they were best buds they started to laugh with each other.

"Haha..I seemed to have lost to you, old geezer!"

"Young man, yer not too bad yer self!"

Afif gave a slight punch to Tremis' chest, although it looked slight it really wasn't. If you were too weak and received that strike, almost all your organs would be ruptured and from the impact, you would fly a couple feet away.

[Notification! New Title Acquired! 'Extreme Competitor']

Hmm?

[Extreme Competitor (Title): Upon receiving this title, you have shown that you do not risk death when going against an opponent that is clearly stronger than you. Instead, your blood starts to race and you fight until the end.

When being utterly defeated in battle and your HP drops to under 10% your stats are upgraded by 50% and all attacks power are increased by 60%]

Jesus that is really overpowered. I guess I am a little overpowered for a week-year-old baby essentially

After quickly glancing at his new title and bonus he continued his conversation with Afif.

"What yer name son?"

"My name is Tremis, Tremis Stuarts. You should be glad old man because no one in the whole world knows that yet! Or at least are alive to know it!"

"Haha, nice one younger! Names Afif Jaegar!"

"I like yer power and spirit young man! I haven’t had to go all out in maybe years.. Yer know what!" Afif began to laugh as he put his arm around Tremis' neck and shouted.

"Every guard get yer ass in here!"

Within a few seconds, every guard in the barracks and even the two outside came in, making rows of guards form in front of Tremis and Afif.

"Let it be known here for' all other places!"

"That my friend here, Tremis Stuarts, is my sworn brother from this day forth!"

"Whoever dares go against him will answer to me first! Even if I am not able to make it my brother will surely be able to put their sorry ass into the abyss!"

"DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?"

All the guards started to shout after Afif. "Sir Yes Sir!"

"WHAT? WHATS ALL THIS PUSSY TALK? I SAID DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!"

"SIR YES SIR!"

"Good! Now get all your asses back into positions!"

The guards started to go where they were supposed to, all starting to train including the ones who had seen the arm-wrestling match between their General and the young man which pumped them up.

Afif turned his head towards Tremis and smiled.

What the hell did I get myself into?