Eventually, they crossed the Highway Roads without much difficulty. Bandits were afraid of his reputation, and the name of Marius Dayne spread across the whole region. Afterwards, they moved past the natural frontier between the Porfield Kingdom and the fallen Western Kingdom called Atalion Kingdom.
At this point, four months had passed since their departure in Helios, and they were only one month away from Evergreen City, their final destination. Since they took shortcuts and even dared to go through the infamous Highway Road, the travel was estimated to take 5 months and 3 days instead of half a year, or perhaps even more.
The merchant party encountered magical beasts as well as terrifying bandits. Paul the freak, for instance, was a half-grand knight who rebelled against the Porfield Kingdom and preyed on merchants in order to get revenge, while creating a rebelling force similar to that of Vanessa Fireheart. He was the leader of the terrifying [Blood Sell Swords], an outlaw organization which had run rampant for the past two decades.
Yet, such an infamous man was taken care in a matter of minutes by the fearsome butler called Lewis. Paul The Freak had asked for a duel, and Lewis walked there, and unleashed a terrifying [Demon Slash], a freshly knight-killing technique that cut the outlaw in two without letting the man a chance of survival.
Magical Beasts would have wiped out any normal group of merchants, but 'Marius' rejoiced every time he encountered one. Usually, these ranks 1 creatures driven by hunger ended up being cooked and eaten by Marius' subordinates, under the shocked eyes of sentinels and merchants who had tagged along.
Most magical beasts could not just be eaten. They had to be cooked in a specific way so that the toxins would be neutralized by other ingredients. However, Drake found out that these toxins could actually be beneficial to the human body. Though it would be lethal for those with less than a certain threshold of constitution, usually around six points for rank 1 creatures and ten points for rank 2 magical beasts, these toxins would stimulate the immunity system and perhaps even increase attributes further!
Despite having reached the peak of the half-grand knight realm and having considerably improved in his acolyte cultivation, Drake felt that something was amiss. Though his body attributes were still going up, the growth rate had suddenly diminished significantly. His stats had long since surpassed the realm of mere half-grand knights but even then, he was very far from being a tenth of what the Grand Knights were with their higher mastery of internal energy.
[Name: Drake Moonlight. Age – 16 years. Rank: Half-Grand Knight, Rank 2 Acolyte
Status: Healthy
Attributes:
Strength – 11.2 (+2.0) | Dexterity – 5.9 (+1.2) | Constitution – 12.3 (+2.0) |
Internal Energy – 19.9 | Spirit – 12.5 | Mana – 12.5/12.5
Perk: Mutated Heart (+200% base recovery rate)
Barbarian Runic Tattoo – Death Mantis (+2.0 constitution, +2.0 strength, + 1.2 dexterity)]
Skills: Enhanced Tornado Sword Art (Grand-Knight level, proficiency: Advanced), Moonlight Shield Mastery (Proficiency: Peak), Moonlight Breathing Technique (Proficiency: Peak), horsemanship (proficiency: Peak), Original Meditation Technique (Proficiency: Peak), Trading (Proficiency: Intermediate)
Knight Killing Technique: Arclight Chop (Sword speed: 300%, [Strength*3] degrees of physical damage, 5 degrees of internal damage), Arclight Thrust (Sword Speed: 500%, [Strength*3] degrees of physical damage, plus 5 degrees of internal damage), Arclight Charge ([Strength*3] + [Dexterity*2] degrees of physical damage)
Spell: Wind Bindings, Wind Barrier, Wind Blades, Wind Blessing
Enchanted Heavy Armour Set (Grade 2), Enchanted Grand Roman Shield (Grade 1), Enchanted Orcish Sword (Grade 2).
Magical Artefacts: Minor Arcane Orb (Grade 3, [Arcane Amplification]: add 6 degrees of magical damage to offensive spells), Lich Cape (Grade 2, Neutralize the mental curses received by the wearer by 20%, and improve the effectiveness of curses cast by the wearer by 6%), Ghost Pendant (Grade 2 Healing Magical Artefact consuming souls, [5 213 Souls] Stored), Arcane (Grade 3, Reduce the casting time by 8%)]
He realized that unless his internal energy went past the threshold of 20 points, the requirement to become a Grand-knight, it wouldn't matter whether he consumed heavenly treasures or grade 3 body refinement fluid on a daily basis. Even if his physical stats increased slightly, it was almost nothing compared to the gains he would receive if his genetic limits were suddenly repelled by his breakthrough into the Grand Knight realm.
As for his spirit, it seemed that his practice of the breathing technique, body strengthening fluid bath and original meditation method were very efficient. Something that took normal acolytes' years and hundreds of magic crystals' worth of resources had been achieved by Drake in a matter of months in the wilderness during a travel.
[Beep! Daily meditation of 45 minutes will enable host to break through the rank 3 acolyte realm in 11 years and 6 months, and practicing enhanced breathing technique for four hours straight will enable host to break through the Grand Knight realm in 48 years, 8 months]
If anyone saw this, they would jump and celebrate right away. However, in Drake's eyes, it was…just too slow. Everyone knew that meditation didn't suffice to break through the rank 3 acolyte realm. Only grade 5 talents with ample resources like Drake could hope to break through by relying merely on meditation. Usually, the peak rank 2 acolytes would complete dangerous missions or gather incredibly rare ingredients to get their hands-on a [Reactive elixir], a grade 3 potion that forcefully increased spirit.
The side effects were quite harsh, but usually, the wounds would only take a few months to heal, hence the popularity of such elixirs. If it was several centuries ago, Drake would have been able to purchase one in the market, but unfortunately, the alchemy legacies were lost in the river of time, most likely during the wars.
Factions in Helios monopolised these elixirs, as well as the alchemists who knew how to brew them, forcing them to sign contract or alluring them with incredible terms. Furthermore, a reactive elixir would usually cost several thousands of magical crystals to brew. The ingredients would only cost several hundreds of magical crystals, but the success rate of the one-star alchemists was just too low for such complex solutions.
'Hopefully, I will be able to gather more data about Grand Knights in Evergreen City…If I could dissect a Grand Knight, that would be very good too…', Drake hoped as he got out of the tank of grade 3 body strengthening fluid.
Outside, Vanessa greeted him. Both Lewis and Vanessa followed him everywhere, the former being an elite guard and an excellent steward as well as the perfect helper for his identity as Marius Dayne, a 3-star-merchant, while the other was a devoted disciple who would do whatever was required to get her revenge. Since he was her best shot at revenge, she served him to the best of her ability, and her dedication eventually allowed her to reach the half-grand-knight realm by herself, even if one didn't consider the runes Drake had engraved on her body.
However, the reason why Drake went out of his carriage was because of a group of wandering acolytes. They were 12, ten being rank 1, two being rank 2. They didn't seem hostile, but they were dangerous enough to make the sentinels unbelievably tense, though Black Rat and the other subordinates of Drake were calm.
Their leader, a bald monk with a strange amulet of illuminated beads, started speaking. Drake squinted. The man was one of the infamous 'Spiritual Monks', acolytes-level powerhouses of Eastern Kingdoms' sects who travelled the world for the sake of enlightenment. Not only did they have a very healthy body, on par with half-grand knights, they possessed many unconventional spells, some of which could seal terrifying monsters and spirits.
Although they had a code, they weren't bound by moral laws. Their beliefs revolved around their own vows, their own codes. Better than acolytes who were taken in and trained at the age of 14, often at an older age even, these monks were taught the ways of monks the moment they could understand human speech. Although the bald man was only forty, Drake didn't dare underestimate his strength. His experience as a wandering acolyte probably exceeded everything Drake lived or saw at this point, especially in terms of battlefields.
The other wandering acolytes, however, seemed average, which was a relief. If a battle was to happen, he had confidence in surviving and winning easily with his subordinates, but he didn't have confidence in protecting the carriage and food provisions meant for Evergreen City.
Although their trip was very easy-going and pretty enjoyable thanks to its peacefulness, Drake never forgot that each minute they spent was an additional enemy in the orc's army. These green-skinned humanoid creatures called orcs were terrifying because of their physical attributes and their proficiency of wielding weapon regardless of pain sustained by wounds and crippling injuries. With an orc king, they could enter berserk state and overpower peak knights.
But…their true dangerousness came from their reproduction ability. Every few months, the orc king's army would see thousands of new recruits, whereas the continuous siege and battles on the Evergreen City's walls only decreased the numbers of fighting humans. Although the walls were sturdy and prevented a frontal assault thanks to the siege weapons on the walls, it was only a matter of time before the orc king found a way to destroy the wall.
Drake never forgot about the mission, his original goal and his best shot to gather data about grand knights. Each minute counted for the sake of completing the mission successfully and reaping the most benefits out of it.