Chapter 218: Comparison of Styles, A New Choice.

For George’s Blessing of Order, the Red Iron Elite level was somewhat awkward; all it possessed was a further enhancement of the Force Field Armor.

From the current situation, it could probably form a protective capability equivalent to a relatively common half-plate armor.

This kind of armor covered vulnerable parts with chainmail and iron plates—including: Breastplate, shoulder armor, elbow guards, gauntlets, leg armor, and greaves.

Then leather straps and buckles were used to tie the whole set of armor together, distributing the weight evenly, but half-plate armor was still looser than full plate armor.

Usually, this kind of armor also came with gauntlets.

In addition, the protective capabilities of the Hidden Dagger Armor, Tumor Beast Armor, and Mobius Armor were on par with it.

However, these armors were not very common; they either had extremely special effects, or had limitations in their original materials or crafting techniques, or perhaps even both.

Among them, the Hidden Dagger Armor was not called by that name in front of outsiders; it looked like an impressive set of Masterwork half-plate armor.

Its appearance was magnificent, and the interlocking armor plates were designed with precision and beauty.

Rather than being used on the battlefield, it was more suitable for celebratory parades.

Because those exquisite decorations, carved with great effort, were not only useless for protection on the battlefield but might also form a unique taunting face.

Wearing something so beautiful seemed as if one was afraid others wouldn’t know one’s status was extraordinary.

Even if you considered yourself powerful and unafraid of enemy attacks, the exquisite embellishments on the armor would be damaged immediately after a few scrapes.

This was actually not much different from throwing money into water—both were acts of blind showing off.

George’s evaluation of that armor had always remained at his first impression—perhaps only Knight Val had the courage to wear it onto the battlefield!

But under Knight Val’s explanation to George, George understood the true use of this kind of armor.

Two dagger-like short knives were placed on the shoulder armor parts, looking like part of the decorations at first glance.

This kind of armor was often used to infiltrate areas where carrying weapons was prohibited.

The main feature of this kind of armor was that, due to its ingenious design, the user could detach the short knives from their shoulders from their original positions and use them as Masterwork daggers.

This kind of armor was very, very rare and had never been mass-produced.

This ensured that the sequence of twisting and pulling out the dagger was unique, thus deceiving those who were suspicious during searches and tried to remove the blades.

This kind of armor had saved the lives of many Adventurers, although at the same time, they also brought disaster to those who wore them in the wrong occasions and were exposed by others.

Regarding this kind of armor, Knight Val had a relatively complete collection.

It was said to be his Loot during his travels; as for that unlucky original owner, George could only express his silence for them.

And after this attack, Knight Val specifically analyzed the structure, usage, and characteristics of this Hidden Dagger Armor in detail in front of George and his group of juniors.

This was to prevent George and the others from being plotted against by conspirators without knowing why.

After all, for those Evil God Churches, means like assassination were used without much hesitation.

In daily life, a dagger from behind was sometimes more dangerous than a sharp blade on the battlefield.

Especially for the new generation like George, any threat needed to be minimized as much as possible.

One careless move could lead to a tragedy that one would regret forever.

George had not seen the other two kinds of armor in real life.

As for whether Knight Val had similar collections, although George was quite interested, he was too embarrassed to ask just like that—after all, that was someone else’s privacy.

According to records, the Tumor Beast Armor was a kind of armor with a strange appearance.

Its name was closely related to the materials used; it was made from the bony shell of the greedy Tumor Beast.

This kind of armor had many layers of armor plates fixed on a leather backing.

Of course, some more expensive Tumor Beast Armors were coated with glaze on the surface, and the shape was artificially modified, which made its appearance more aesthetically pleasing.

This kind of design work would add to the price.

However, it seemed that some people felt it was worth spending this money, exceeding 100 Gold Coins, on appearance.

In George’s view, the thoughts of the local tyrants were definitely not understandable by a loser like him.

Although he now somewhat counted as a small local tyrant in terms of identity, money, and status.

But his calculating loser mentality seemed to be deeply engraved on his Soul, and it probably couldn’t be changed in this lifetime.

Of course, he didn’t seem to have the desire to improve in this aspect either.

The Mobius Armor was a rare non-metal heavy armor.

It was made of a very hard gem-like stone material.

Because of this, it was usually black, but there were also other colors of this armor.

Although this kind of armor looked huge and difficult to use, in reality, its design allowed the wearer to move flexibly.

Because this kind of armor could bring additional protective capabilities, it was cherished by Barbarians and warriors.

In short, the world was so big that there was nothing it didn’t have!

This stone armor was not a substitute that appeared out of necessity like the Obsidian blades of the Maya or Aztecs.

It was stone armor that could truly contend with steel.

Unfortunately, even so, although George’s protective ability had improved to a certain extent, it still hadn’t formed a qualitative change.

On the contrary, after nearly a month of adaptive training ended, two new Feats made George feel very happy.

That was a special homework assigned to him by George’s Knight mentors.

This was a special training arranged for any Squire who had just broken through.

This was to ensure that the Squires could familiarize themselves with their surging abilities in the shortest time, thus forming combat power as quickly as possible.

White Crow Defense, this was one of the results George obtained from concentrating on researching White Crow Style martial arts during this time.

Of course, this was definitely largely related to the fact that during the recent three-person confrontations, George and Ben were beaten down by Hiren, who had become a Formal Knight.

As an effect of a Feat tempered through actual combat, it also had a certain causal relationship with the “abuse” George suffered during this time.

According to the description given by the System: “White Crow Style enables you to seize a fleeting hope in chaotic battle. You not only aid your allies but also gain strength and support from them.”

In other words, as long as George was in a White Crow Style stance and was adjacent to at least one ally around him, he could obtain better evasion effects in defense.

Of course, this also included the usage of treating one’s teammates as shields.

And as long as George held a preferred weapon of the White Crow Style—Longsword, Battle Axe, Greatsword, Halberd, or Warhammer—every ally adjacent to him would also receive a boost in defense.

This meant that George could better complete the task of blocking attacks.

In a word, this special ability allowed George to cooperate better with his companions when facing enemies.

It enabled you to calmly discover the threats to your allies and the shining points of their actions amidst the flash of swords.

In this way, one could deal with things more calmly and produce amazing coordination.

To put it bluntly, it was a bit like a restricted version of Mind’s Eye (False) in Fate/Stay Night.

Not only could it only take effect when cooperating with others, but its effect could also only reach level D at most.

Of course, if on the battlefield, the effect of White Crow Defense should still have some use.

Just the effect of preventing confusion and ensuring one calmly seized the opportunity in battle was worth the price of admission.

Moreover, in George’s view, this Feat had a certain degree of compatibility with the path he was going to take in the future.

A fighting style that was calm and emotionless on the battlefield, like a heavenly being descending.

In the future way of fighting that integrated oneself with nature, such a Feat would definitely add a lot of color.

Sure enough, after being beaten enough times, one knew how to defend.

If one person wasn’t enough, bringing a teammate was the best choice.

Of course, George would never admit this.

This was also one of the reasons why George and Ben became more and more relaxed when confronting Hiren later.

However, Knight Val saw the flaw in this ability.

A few days ago, after a training session ended, Knight Val stopped George, who was preparing to go back and rest, and said to him: “Recently, your mastery of your own strength has basically been qualified.

At the same time, under such pressure, you seem to have also mastered a unique fighting style that helps with cooperation.

But I want to remind you that many times on the battlefield, your comrades may not be by your side.

And when you become a Formal Knight, you will know that there are still quite a few one-on-one duels between Knights.

In single combat, this fighting style cannot take effect, right?

So although you have mastered this ability, there is no need to spend time trying to improve it.

Because the cost-performance ratio of doing that is too poor.

However, for small-scale encounters, its effect is still good.

Especially if you plan to travel to the Continent in the future, it might bring you unexpected surprises!”

Knight Val’s reminder sounded an alarm bell for George, who had been feeling a bit smug.

This made him recognize a fact more clearly: on this Continent, George’s own abilities must not be easily exposed in most cases.

The risk of doing so was too great; powerful figures could judge the pros and cons of your ability based on not much information.

This asymmetry of information could very well cost George his life in the future.

After that, even during sparring, George started to be careful when using his abilities.

Because there were no walls that didn’t leak wind in this world; even being known by others could bring risks.

Not to mention that current companions who had no conflicts or were even friends might not turn against each other in the future.

More importantly, in this world, it was too easy to extract information from the other party.

George, who was alert to this, had to guard against it!

If the previous White Crow Defense could only be said to be icing on the cake, then the other Feat obtained, although not sending charcoal in snow, its enhancement to George could still be said to be extremely powerful.

The name “Sword of Harmony” given by the System made George feel a faint pain in his balls.

When George saw it for the first time, he even thought that the might of the “River Crab” god had affected this world or the System.

According to the System’s description: “You can harmonize the martial arts you have learned to obtain internal reinforcement.”

When you obtain this Feat, you can choose a style; when you use all preferred weapons of that style to perform attack techniques, the damage is enhanced, and the key skills of that style can be better utilized.

For the enemy, the martial arts difficulty of all your chosen styles that require saving throws increases.

A very straightforward explanation that this ability is a Feat that directly acts on one of the Nine Swords styles.

But the second thing that made George feel even more pain in his balls was that this Feat automatically selected the proficient style, which was not the White Crow Style that George was constantly practicing now, but the Steel Soul Style that he had hardly touched.

The reason why George had always regarded White Crow Style as his main attacking style was mainly because as a Knight, the place where he could play his role was often on the battlefield.

And what White Crow Style displayed was the upright way of the battle array; while greatly strengthening charges and team cooperation, it could even boost morale.

Focusing on the study of this style could enable George to kill enemies in battle formations in the future.

For the Bolerum Territory, which was likely to experience the baptism of war soon, this choice was the most suitable.

Coupled with the tradition of the Duchy of Nohan that always valued Military Merit, such a choice also created favorable conditions for George to obtain Military Merit in the future.

But this sudden change of Feat was like a blow to the head for George.

After re-examining the Steel Soul Style, George couldn’t help but feel that his previous thoughts might have been too utilitarian.

The Steel Soul Style was a style that could use wit, brains, and feeling for the battlefield to fight against enemies.

For a powerful martial artist of the Steel Soul Style, the flow of time seemed to become slower.

The degree of compatibility between such a style and the path George chose was beyond George’s previous imagination.

Even if it wasn’t 100% compatible, it reached about 80%.

It could be said that after taking this path, it had extraordinary significance for George’s future development.

But White Crow Style appeared to have greater benefits for the entire Territory.

In this choice between long-term personal interests and short-term overall interests, George lost his direction for a while.

Until George held the Greatsword tightly in his hand, his own Spirit Light echoed with the sword body, making the Longsword itself seem a bit sharper.

Then, during the Visualization that night, not only was the speed of entering the state faster, but the effect also had a significant improvement.

It was almost comparable to the original kind of meditation ointment.

With this experience, George began to formally examine the Steel Soul Style ability he had ignored before.

There is a saying that you don’t know until you see it, and you are startled when you see it; this saying was quite in line with George’s mood at that time.

Not to mention the final supreme mystery, Time Stop, which was an ability to contend with the entire Plane with one’s own will.

“In front of your thinking speed, raindrops stop in the air. You move like an afterimage, completing complex movements in an instant, leaving opponents dumbfounded.

With unparalleled speed, skill, and determination, your movements are too fast for the naked eye to catch; the series of actions of drawing and sheathing the sword cannot be seen clearly at all.”

However, it didn’t stop the time of the whole world, but a special acceleration ability that made oneself beneficial outside the normal timeline.

Even so, it was still powerful enough to make people feel unbelievable.

And among the moves that George could learn and master now, there were two counter-techniques that made George drool a little.

First, “Perfect Spirit,” the System described it like this: “Your mental concentration and martial arts practice make your mind as solid as an iron wall.

When an opponent uses magic to erode your mind, you can become extremely firm.”

Using focused learning, iron will, and high concentration, you can resist forces that erode your will.

When you feel such power attempting to blind your mind, you can use the energy within your body to resist.

With this, George could activate this maneuver whenever he needed to make a Will save.

Use a Concentration check to replace a Will save, and use its result to determine whether the save is successful.

In other words, with George’s current Visualization skills, even a Bronze Rank Mage could not use spells that affected his mental will on him.

The subsequent “Action Before Thought” was a good feeling for the battlefield, arduous martial arts practice, and a simple intuition of danger.

It allowed you to act faster than your thoughts.

Before spells or other attacks could hit you, you could dodge in an instant, even before you could detect it yourself.

If the cultivation of this item was completed, George’s spirit would be like a finely carved weapon.

Other warriors often relied on their muscles, but users who cultivated this ability knew that the combination of mental training, martial training, and strong arms was the invincible combination.

This maneuver embodied your way.

It was your spirit that helped you defend, not your reaction ability.

Powerful mental ability enabled the user to make defense and evasion before the attack began.

The power of mind and spirit was undoubtedly revealed at this moment.

The subsequent stance technique “Clear Body” was a very targeted ability: “You focus your mind on a target, reading his movements and preparing to launch an attack.

As your mind locks onto your target, other opponents gradually disappear from your field of vision.”

To put it bluntly, this stance allowed the user to focus on facing one target and ignore other opponents.

It made him better read the target’s combat movements, attack methods, and training methods.

Combining these elements, the user could analyze how to dissolve the opponent’s attack.

If it was in a one-on-one duel between masters, the role played by this stance could be said to be very large.

But on the battlefield, it felt a bit like digging a pit for oneself to jump into.

Of course, if the Knight duels mentioned by Mr. Val were really that frequent, learning this ability was still quite necessary.

Next were two strike techniques, first was “Nightmare Blade: Green Jade”.

Such a description could make people very clearly conclude that this belonged to a series of skills.

“You carefully read the opponent’s defensive movements and seize the timing to attack the gaps in his defense.

Nightmare Blade: Blue Jade is the basic and most important move of the Steel Soul Style.

This move shows that even the strongest defense has gaps to exploit in front of a keen spirit.”

As part of the move, the user needed to observe his enemy so that he could discover the opponent’s flaws.

If successful, a melee attack launched by the user on the target next would often catch the target off guard against the user’s attack.

If this ability was used during the stalemate stage of a duel, it would often produce unexpected effects.

The other strike technique, “Emerald Slash,” had an even stronger supernatural meaning: “You look at the target and read his actions.

You use your spirit to find weaknesses in his defense.

Low-level warriors need to spend a long time to complete such a target, but you can find the gap and seize the opportunity in an instant.”

Your understanding of combat, your finely honed spirit, and your ability to read opponent movements make you a deadly combat force.

When you concentrate, even the hardest-to-find opportunities can be seized by you.

If the previous “Nightmare Blade: Green Jade” was limited in use, the following “Emerald Slash” could be regarded as a real killer move.

Because according to the description in the System, its attack not only acted on the flesh but also on the spirit.

In other words, once touched by this move, even wearing the thickest armor could not stop its sharp edge.

Dealing with those powerful iron cans could be said to get twice the result with half the effort!

As a bottom card for a desperate counterattack, it might be able to save George’s life!

At this point, George finally made up his mind to shift his cultivation focus to Steel Soul Style martial arts in the next two months.

As for the others, it was enough to ensure that they didn’t become unfamiliar.

Then, George, who had entered the state, began to work harder and focus more than before.

Even many affairs in the Territory, like when he went to Karada before, began to be selectively focused on.

To make up for the mistakes in his previous choices, George invested more time in improving his own strength.

The Knights in the Territory expressed considerable appreciation for this.