Chapter 21: The Power of a Knight

At Lv1, [Basic Swordsmanship] increased damage, hit rate, and block by 2.5%, and [Cold Weapon (Sword/Hammer/Spear)] was similar; at Lv1, it also only had a 0.05 judgment bonus for Strength and Agility. As for [Military Swordsmanship] at Lv1, it was no exception either; every upgrade of a Skill brought multiplicative changes. Although it was not obvious at low levels, when the Skill level and character level increased, the effect was naturally not as simple as 1+1=2.

However, Dean did not have such rationality back then. Blinded by hatred, he only knew that every increase in profession level was several times stronger than Skills—after all, the profession [Warrior] gained +0.2 Strength, +0.1 Constitution, and +0.1 Agility with every level up, and +0.1 Perception and Will every two levels.

Such a comprehensive and rapid increase far exceeded the effects brought by Skills.

Thinking of how he thought he had found a ‘shortcut’ back then, Dean could not help but give a bitter smile; with this bitter smile, Dean’s gaze turned to the basic Skill [Ranged Weapon (Bow/Crossbow)]; suddenly, amidst that bitter smile, Ye Qi gained a bit more confidence.

Compared to skills like Sword Technique, Dean had considerable confidence in the bows and crossbows he was good at—and the role the bow and crossbow played earlier clearly proved that such confidence was not without reason; moreover, after continuous kills using the bow and crossbow, [Ranged Weapon (Bow/Crossbow)] had now reached [Lv1: 2/10].

It was far ahead of his other Skills.

Of course, the main reason for not choosing [Ranged Weapon (Bow/Crossbow)] as the target for leveling up was that the basic Skills [Basic Swordsmanship] and [Cold Weapon (Sword/Hammer/Spear)], along with the application Skill [Military Swordsmanship], clearly complemented each other, which was more advantageous for him in dealing with the current situation!

In fact, if possible, Dean would have very much liked to use practice to replace the precious experience points; because Dean knew very well that even if he was not good at these skills, it was enough to achieve the goal of rapid leveling up at low levels; however, time obviously did not allow him to do so.

After all, during this period of time, there were simply too many things he needed to do!

Of course, given the huge disparity in Strength now, Dean would not mind relying on his arrangements to resolve the current situation—

Behind him, the furious shouting grew fainter and fainter until it finally disappeared. Clearly, that Regiment Commander Potts had lost track of Dean once again.

Dean was not surprised by this, or rather, it was within his expectations.

The other party would definitely catch up, but it would take a not-too-short, not-too-long amount of time, and Dean naturally would not waste this time.

Although only one opponent remained, the danger posed by this one person far exceeded the sum of all the previous ones; therefore, he needed to prepare. At the very least, the captive in front of him had to be dealt with properly.

“Mmm mmm mmm…”

When he met Dean’s cold gaze, Ryder, whose hands and feet were bound and whose mouth was gagged, began to tremble continuously. Even with his mouth gagged, he could not stop those whimpering sounds; however, Dean paid him no attention and loaded a bolt into the Crossbow in his hand once more.

Although the loading speed of the Crossbow was very slow, the huge penetrating force driven by its mechanism was something even a real Knight could not ignore, and such a weapon was naturally necessary for Dean in the upcoming confrontation with Potts—however, the only pity was that the slightly old Crossbow obtained from Basum was not brought along in the rush to leave, as Potts’ return speed had exceeded Dean’s expectations.

Therefore, at this moment, Dean possessed a standard Longsword of the Central Knight Order, a ten-percent-new Crossbow bought from Garendo, two Longbows of the same origin, and several throwing knives and Daggers purchased on the way to Tier Territory.

Of course, there was also what Dean considered his trump card—a Repeating Hand Crossbow, and… homemade poison.

In a knight’s duel, the use of poison, a thing that damaged a knight’s honor, was not allowed.

But now?

For Dean, now was the start of a war, and in war, naturally, all means were acceptable; moreover, Dean did not acknowledge his identity as a Knight, even if he held the Title of Apprentice Knight.

A palm-sized liquid container sewn layer by layer from a cow’s stomach and leather, looking like an exquisite wine flask, was carefully taken out by Dean, and then, he slowly twisted the stopper above it.

When the stopper was twisted open, a faint, strange fragrance, mixed with a slightly pungent smell, immediately appeared in the surroundings—this was a poison prepared mainly from Wolf Moon Grass and Lizard Flower, with several other herbs added; it not only had a quite powerful paralyzing effect but also had the effect of damaging nerves.

It was a formula that Dean had spent a high price to buy from a retired Assassin in his previous life, and it had repeatedly helped him complete several extremely difficult missions.

Every arrow, whether it was a bow arrow, a crossbow bolt, or a short bolt for the Hand Crossbow, Dean dipped the arrowhead into that small leather flask; and when all the arrows were dipped, Dean took out a handkerchief made of sheepskin, poured some of the poison liquid from the flask onto it, and seeing the dark blue color dyed in the center of the white handkerchief, Dean began to use it to carefully wipe his Longsword, Dagger, and throwing knives.

Then, with even more careful movements, he placed these weapons, except for the Longsword, into his specially made lining—called a lining, it was actually an inner armor shaped like a vest; of course, apart from providing some effective defense, its greater function was to allow one to carry more weapons in a more concealed manner.

Just like Dean now, six throwing knives, one Dagger, and a Hand Crossbow were all placed in the various leather sheaths and straps of this lining, and after putting a cotton-padded jacket over it, no one would be able to discover that Dean was carrying so many weapons—this was equipment that every Assassin would possess, and Dean was no exception.

Similarly, in order to make this lining, Dean once again paid a pearl large enough to buy that carriage and horse—the high fees in Thieves’ Guilds everywhere were their characteristic; of course, paying a high price inevitably brought corresponding gains.

At the very least, one could rest assured regarding confidentiality; however, this did not mean that Dean would be foolish enough to enter a Thieves’ Guild with his real face—in fact, anyone who did so, whether a rookie or a veteran, was courting death… or, directly running into it!

After adjusting the lining and placing the Crossbow and Longbow within easy reach, Dean tore the rag out of Ryder’s mouth, slashed his sword across the other party’s knees, and fiercely kicked him in the waist—

“Ahhhhh…”

With a series of screams, Ryder fell from the tree, which was a full twenty feet high. Dean clearly heard the sound of the other party’s bones shattering; however, Dean disregarded this, his gaze never falling on this ‘Bait’. In fact, if possible, he hoped the other party’s screams would be even louder.

Otherwise, how could he lure that Regiment Commander Potts and his opponent over?

As for the captive escaping?

With the ligaments of his knee joints severed by a sword, and more than one rib broken from the fall, if the other party could still escape like that, Dean would not mind letting him live!

However, clearly, this was somewhat difficult—

Rustle, rustle, rustle…

In the dense snow forest, the trees not far away suddenly began to shake, and just by looking at the swaying of the tree crowns and the flying snow, one could tell this was a big guy.

And in another direction, the friction sound of the Ferrchelen Knight Order Regiment Commander’s Boots against the snow, and of course, more importantly, that extremely angry shouting, also rang out at the same time.

“Dean, I will catch you, break your limbs, and hang you in the snow forest to freeze!!”

Accompanied by such shouting full of venom, that Ferrchelen Knight Order Regiment Commander Potts appeared within Dean’s field of vision, and when Dean saw Potts, the other party clearly saw Dean too.

Clang!

Without the slightest hesitation, the other party drew the Longsword from his waist, leaped up towards the big tree where Dean was; a vertical distance of twenty feet was insurmountable for ordinary people without the help of tools, but for a real Knight, it was very easy.

One had to know that after the body reached a certain level, every Knight who accepted the ‘Knight’s Baptism’ would gain extraordinary Strength beyond the imagination of ordinary people; for example: the Ferrchelen Knight Order Regiment Commander Potts before him, after accepting the ‘Knight’s Baptism’, gained the special power of [Power Burst]!

[Power Burst] was not a rare power among Knights, but even so, it was not something anyone could look down on; after all, being able to erupt with several times one’s own Strength in a very short time was not something anyone would underestimate; of course, Potts could not reach that extent.

Otherwise, he would not have become the Regiment Commander of a local knight order in a remote area, scheming to obtain a higher status.

One had to know that a Knight with truly good Talent was welcomed by everyone.

Whether it was local Nobles or the Royal Family, they would all throw out an olive branch.