Chapter 112: Result · Killing Intent (Part 1)

Dean’s hesitation regarding [Dragon Swordsmanship] did not last long before he made a decision—

“Yes!”

Facing the prompt on the character panel, Dean gave a positive choice.

After all, he was currently facing layers of danger; further away was the Blood Moon War, and closer was that spy leader, Goth, in Vauban City.

Even among his traveling companions, there was a guy with evil intentions like the Lord of Defendi Territory.

All these situations made Dean urgently need strength.

It was clearly what Dean needed to do: transform every possibility into existing strength.

‘Potential? That is something that looks beautiful but is illusory. A so-called genius with potential only becomes a genius after growing up. What is the use of great potential if one doesn’t grow up? Even if you become a Gold-rank power house in a minute, but you die now, what is the use? Be realistic; staying alive is the most important thing!’

The Old Knight’s words were always harsh, yet they made sense.

[Please select the move to upgrade…]

“[Momentum of Might]!”

Dean answered.

The reason for choosing [Momentum of Might] instead of [Indomitable] was that Dean considered the number of enemies he would face—after all, in every battle, it was impossible for him to fight one-on-one, or create a one-on-one situation. On a battlefield with thousands of troops, or even in a squad battle, [Momentum of Might] was undoubtedly more effective.

Previously, facing the cavalry squad of the Lord of Defendi Territory was clearly an excellent illustration.

[Momentum of Might Lv1 → Lv2]

[Momentum of Might Lv2: Condense one’s own momentum to improve oneself and intimidate opponents; Effect: Increase all own attributes by 10%, reduce all opponent attributes by 10% (Requires Will judgment—Own Will + 0.3 > Opponent Will; if judgment succeeds, it will trigger; if judgment fails, both sides will not change)]

The effect doubled, no different from basic and application skills, and the enhancement of his own judgment made Dean feel pleasantly surprised.

After all, only when his own judgment was stronger could Dean unleash the original function of [Momentum of Might].

As [Dragon Swordsmanship] reached Lv3, the skills in Dean’s current plan had all reached their limits; the remaining skills, such as [Ranged Weapons (Bow/Crossbow)] and [Riding], had also gained different amounts of experience during recent battles and travel.

[Ranged Weapons (Bow/Crossbow) Lv1: 5/10]

[Riding Lv1: 6/10]

As for the remaining skills, [Armor Proficiency] and [Swimming], the former, Dean planned to find a good set of Armor in Vauban County and wear it day and night.

As for the latter?

If there was a chance, and it didn’t waste time, he would find a large pool to ‘soak’ in.

You say lakes and rivers?

The Four Northern Counties naturally had lakes and rivers, but in Vauban County, especially near Tier Territory, there were no lakes or rivers in the true sense.

Even if there were, they would be deep in the Snowplains Dense Forest, and during these months, they were completely frozen.

Therefore, the skill [Swimming] was still excluded by Dean.

And the general skill [Bandaging]?

Dean believed he would not lack opportunities to practice.

[XP: 38]

Glancing at the experience bar on the character panel, Dean carried his sword and walked towards the sleeping Snow Bear—compared to a true Knight’s XP, the Snow Bear’s experience was undoubtedly greater. Perhaps it couldn’t truly reach the XP of a Silver Level, but it was definitely close to the XP of a Grand Knight level.

Walking up to the Snow Bear, Dean pulled open the chains on its mouth, and then, thrust his sword in.

Pfft!

Roar…

The Longsword entered smoothly along the Snow Bear’s mouth and throat, piercing straight into its internal organs, causing the Snow Bear’s roar of pain to stop abruptly.

Moments later, a white ball of light slightly smaller than an egg floated up from the Snow Bear’s Corpse and flew into Dean’s body—

[XP+100]

An XP value that reached the basic line of a Grand Knight appeared on the character panel as expected.

Compared to the scarred and deeply poisoned Snow Bear he had killed before, this one was undoubtedly more complete—Dean was already very clear about the System’s judgment of an opponent’s strength; whether injured or poisoned, it would greatly weaken the evaluation.

Especially poison, which would cause the XP gained to be discounted, even if the poison was applied by you.

In fact, this was also the reason why Dean’s XP was always insufficient in his previous life—with other skills at quite low levels, Dean, who was proficient in pharmacology and good at mixing medicine, would naturally use poisons. Once poisons were used, especially those lethal poisons that sealed the throat upon seeing blood, the XP gained would be reduced to an unimaginable extent.

Of course, apart from lowering the evaluation, the System would also increase the evaluation.

For example: one-on-one, where the opponent’s strength far exceeded one’s own, or when facing many opponents, there would always be some increase in XP.

Of course, in his previous life as an Assassin, Dean rarely encountered such situations—in order to kill with one strike, he always created the best timing to attack.

But in this life, it was different. Whether in the previous battles or the one just now, it was almost always one against many, and the overall strength was always higher than his—because of this, after using poison, the XP given did not reach a miserable level, but maintained a balance: a balance between reduction and increase.

[XP: 138]

After obtaining the Snow Bear’s XP, Dean’s XP was again close to the data required to increase his class level, lacking only 6 points.

Regarding this, Dean felt lucky about his previous plan—

At low levels, obtain as much XP as possible, and increase all possible skill levels.

Clearly, the advantage of this plan had already begun to show.

If this plan were extended, it would be to suppress the current level and save enough XP for the next level’s skill requirements…

Of course, Dean had thought about this extension of the plan, but he had not truly made a decision.

After all, to cope with the rapidly changing situation, faced with the choice of increasing his class level—the most direct way to improve strength—Dean clearly leaned towards the latter.

However, the benefits represented by the former were also quite good.

After all, when the [Warrior] class reached level 5, if Dean wanted to gain normal experience, he would have to kill a true Knight. Killing those whose levels were lower than a true Knight would result in a significant reduction in XP; even killing ten trained Militia, which originally granted 1 XP, would only accumulate to 1 XP at that time.

Such a choice made Dean hesitate.

However, the current XP was obviously not the time for him to rethink how to choose.

Therefore, after Dean cleaned up the battlefield, he walked towards the location agreed upon with his subordinates—the weight of the Snow Bear, with Dean’s current strength, even with the [Indomitable] judgment, was still difficult to lift. Even dragging it was very difficult.

So, if someone could help, Dean certainly wouldn’t mind.

…

In the wilderness of the early morning, the bonfire drove away the cold mist all around.

Lily Tier got off her carriage before dawn and paced back and forth there—clearly, the Miss of the Baron Family was uneasy.

In fact, her dark circles were enough to show that she had not slept all night.

Compared to the Miss of the Baron Family, Churde Defendi was relaxed. After a stable night’s sleep, he had just finished the breakfast handed to him by his subordinates.

Then, tidying his clothes, he walked slowly towards the Miss of the Baron Family.

“Good morning, Miss Lily!”

Looking at the Miss of the Baron Family’s appearance, which clearly showed she hadn’t slept all night, Churde Defendi became even happier. He waved with a smile.

“Morning!”

The Miss of the Baron Family really didn’t want to greet the guy in front of her, but out of etiquette, she still bowed slightly.

And when Baron Janel ran over with breakfast, the Miss of the Baron Family couldn’t even be bothered to deal with him.

After all, at this time, the Miss of the Baron Family couldn’t eat anything at all. The annoyance in her heart made her dislike Baron Janel, who was fawning over her in front of her, even more.

In fact, even if it weren’t for this time, the Miss of the Baron Family had no good feelings for Baron Janel.

A man older than her Father, ugly, and out of shape.

Under equal conditions, for love to arise.

Unless that lady was blind.

And the Miss of the Baron Family was clearly not blind; on the contrary, she had her own intelligence—

“I want some fruit…”

“Okay, I will prepare it for you immediately!”

Before the Miss of the Baron Family finished speaking, Baron Janel turned and ran towards his convoy, his voice urging his subordinates to find edible fruit ringing out repeatedly.

“I wish Baron Janel a good harvest in this ice and snow!”

Churde Defendi said in a relaxed tone, gloating.

“Do you think you’ve won for sure?”

The Miss of the Baron Family looked straight at Churde Defendi.

“I don’t deny the strength of Dean Ken, the Knight Order Leader, but hunting isn’t just about being strong!”

Facing such a gaze, Churde Defendi was still full of confidence.

“Hmph!”

Snorting coldly, the Miss of the Baron Family gave no further answer—because, as the daughter of the Lord of Tier Territory, she knew the correctness of the other party’s words deeply.

And at this moment, bursts of shouts came from the distance—

“They’re back!”

“They’re back!”