Time flew like an arrow, and the sun and moon flew like shuttles.
Cultivate breathing techniques, practice sword techniques, forge iron, cuddle bears, read some leisure books... This cycle repeated itself, and the days passed quickly when he was grinding for experience. Spring passed and autumn came, and winter was coming. It was the Month of Northern Wind in the 1005th year of the Holy Brilliance Calendar.
On the training ground, Levi and Sir Fred were moving around and competing in sword skills. Sir Fred only used one hand, and the storm-like sword attacks were difficult for Levi to block.
In the end, Levi was defeated. Sir Fred smiled and said, "Not bad. Last year at this time, you could only last a minute under my hands. This year, you can last five minutes."
"Very straightforward," Levi laughed.
He knew that Sir Fred did not even use one-third of his strength.
With Sir Fred's talent in swordplay, even if he suppressed his strength to the level of a Quasi-Knight, Levi would still be no match for him.
After training Levi, Sir Fred went to train the militia.
Levi sat there and opened his proficiency panel.
Levi --
[Black Snake Breathing Technique: Level 3 (3666/10000)]
[Golden Cross Slash: Level 3 (4399/10000). Special Effect: Advanced Vibration]
[Beast Taming: Level 3 (Maximum). Special Effect: Wild Heart]
[Forging: Level 3 (1314/10000)] Special Effect: Fine Grade Certainty]
...
In the past year, he had made great progress in the four skills that he had been working on.
The slowest and most difficult technique to cultivate was undoubtedly the Black Snake Breathing Technique. In a year, he had only gained more than 3,000 proficiency points. Without the secret medicine, he would need at least two more years to reach level 4.
This speed was fast, but Levi was not satisfied.
This world was filled with danger. Without strength, one could only lower their head. For example, the Wild Boar Gang bullied him and dared to snatch his people.
And he really couldn't do anything to the other party. It couldn't be helped that they had the backing of the Wilderness Brotherhood.
The cultivation speed of the Golden Cross Slash was quite fast. At this speed, he would be able to master Ripple Force in about a year.
At that time, with Ripple Force, he would be able to fight an official knight even if he was a Quasi-Knight.
As for beast taming, he had reached his limit. Levi had read almost all the books on beast taming available on the market. He also had three Giant Bears of the Northern Territory cubs as his targets, so it was not difficult to upgrade this skill. Levi was now confident that he could be called a "Master Beast Tamer" in the field of beast taming.
What made Levi overjoyed was that after the beast taming skill reached its limit, a special effect was born. This was something he had never expected.
"Wild Heart: You can perceive the thoughts of most wild beasts by observing their movements and listening to their voices. You can use body language and special pronunciation techniques to communicate perfectly with the domesticated wild beasts."
This was the effect of Wild Heart. The most direct change was that when the three little bears met Levi again, they were no longer afraid or fierce. Instead, they were very close to him. Levi could also magically sense the thoughts of the three little bears. This was a wonderful feeling.
Therefore, with such a godly skill, the three cubs were all taken good care of by Levi. Their bodies had also undergone earth-shaking changes in the past year. They were now nearly two meters long and weighed more than 500 pounds. Of course, compared to their mother, who weighed several tons, they were still tiny.
Without weapons, adult men could no longer subdue the cubs, and when the three cubs attacked together, even Levi, who was a Quasi-Knight, had to be careful.
If one was hit by their palms, it would be hard to withstand with level 3 Black Snake Breathing Technique.
Levi knew this when he saw the Siberian Tiger smash the car window in his previous life. Never underestimate these cute-looking little guys.
The most terrifying thing was that they were still babies that were less than two years old.
Training the beast taming skill was only one of Levi's gains in the past year.
The other skill that he was most interested in was his level 3 forging skill. Although this skill was not limited to level 3, it also had a special effect.
[Fine Grade Certainty: Everything you forge will be of high quality!]
It was a simple and unadorned introduction to the special effects, but it was the key to Levi's plan to become rich.
With this level 3 blacksmith, it would be very difficult for him to be extremely rich. After all, he was alone and did not have that much time to focus on forging. However, it would not be a problem for him to support his cultivation.
In the past year, Levi had forged a total of over a hundred knights' longswords in his spare time. Among them, 50 of them were high-quality ones, which he used to arm his militia.
Before level 3 forging, he could only occasionally produce fine grade longswords. However, after level 3, as long as the longsword was forged by him, it would definitely be fine grade.
Even if an official blacksmith, Old Toby, came, he would definitely be far inferior to Levi in terms of high quality rate and forging efficiency. After all, Levi was a Quasi-Knight. Whether it was his stamina or his control over his forging strength, his upper limit was far superior to an ordinary person like Old Toby.
However, if one wanted to become an official blacksmith in this world, it was not enough to only forge longswords. The difficulty of forging longswords was the easiest.
The craftsmanship was complicated, and it represented the high-end achievements of this world's forging skills. It was the lifelong pursuit of every blacksmith.
For Levi, who was already at level 3, the increase in his proficiency in forging a knight's longsword was negligible. Now, every piece he forged could only increase his minimum proficiency by one point. It was like a drop of water in the ocean when compared to the 10,000 proficiency points he had.
As such, Levi decided to start forging knight armor. However, Levi's forging efficiency was too high, causing the iron in the territory to be insufficient. Previously, the iron ore used for smelting in the territory was mainly imported from other territories. However, due to the chaos in recent years, as an important strategic resource, the lords who owned iron ore in the territory rarely sold them.
As for charcoal, there was no need to worry. With the endless Montenegro Mountain Range at its back, wood resources were inexhaustible for a small territory like the Black Water Valley.
Levi planned to sell some extra knight swords first. He had no plans to expand his army for the time being. He just needed to make a 50-man elite team. If he had too many people, the territory would not be able to support them.
Next, he planned to look for iron ore in the Montenegro Mountain behind his territory. He vaguely remembered reading some articles on how to find iron ore in his previous life. He could try it when the time came.
Of course, now that the snow had sealed the mountain, whether it was selling the knight's sword or finding iron ore, these things could only be done in the spring of the next year.
Levi temporarily stopped forging and focused on his breathing technique and sword skills.
Year 1005 of the Holy Brilliance Calendar, the Month of Winter.
Levi, who was cultivating the breathing technique, was suddenly awakened by the faint howl of a wolf from the mountain behind the castle.
His expression was solemn. From the sound, these wolf howls were not far from his castle.
Just as he was about to ask about the situation, Sir Fred rushed in and said, "Young Master Levi, the territory has been attacked by wolves. There are hundreds of them. Many of the cows and sheep raised by the farmers have been eaten, and a few farmers have been dragged away. You stay in the castle and don't come out. I'll lead the team outside to kill the wolves."
"What? I'll go too!" Levi's expression changed. Because Black Water Valley was located at the bottom of Montenegro Mountain, it was normal to encounter occasional wolf attacks. However, this was the first time he had heard of such a large-scale wolf attack.
Seeing how determined Young Master Levi was, Sir Fred did not stop him and said solemnly, "Then please don't leave my side, Young Master."
Putting on their armor, riding their horses, and closing the castle gate, Levi and Fred hurried to the scene of the incident.
Now that Levi had advanced to a Quasi-Knight and mastered the high-level Vibration Force, the militia under his command also had a knight's longsword, and Sir Fred was in charge.
He did not believe that he could not subdue these beasts!