"Boss, there's something I'd like to say, but I'm not sure if I should." Splitting Blade, riding a shabby warhorse, leisurely fell half a length behind Kent's old horse and stretched his neck forward to speak.
At that moment, Kent, who was riding the old horse, was brimming with joy. After a recent battle with the Merman Deep Diver Guard, they had reaped considerable rewards. After rummaging through the Deep Divers' belongings and chests, they now possessed a full bag of gold sand, nearly ten pounds in weight. If all of it were minted into coins, they'd have roughly a thousand gold pieces.
"Just say what you want to say, or get it out another way," Kent responded, still immersed in his dream of getting rich.
"Hehe, boss, I've got a suggestion." Splitting Blade pushed his face forward with a shameless grin. "Next time you throw fire bombs, maybe don't do it so close?"
"Hm? Hmm…" Kent was a bit taken aback, not expecting Splitting Blade to be so concerned about him.
"Wouldn't want to ruin the black armor, or it won't be worth as much." Splitting Blade's words, accompanied by a grin, caused the entire escort team to laugh out loud.
"Splitting Blade, is that all you're worried about?" Kent asked, half laughing, half exasperated.
"Boss, look, this heavy armor could be worth at least twenty thousand gold coins, right? Now, with all that scorching, maybe it's only worth eighteen thousand," Splitting Blade replied, his face showing real pain.
"Ah, that's not necessarily true, Splitting Blade," Udo objected. "I'd say, when our boss makes a name for himself, that burn mark alone might make it worth twenty thousand gold coins."
"What? Why's that?" Splitting Blade was taken aback.
"Think about it. When the boss lands on the influence ranking, becoming a big shot, wouldn't everything he's worn be worth a lot of money?"
"Now that you say it, it does make sense." Splitting Blade nodded thoughtfully. "Boss..."
"I'm keeping it for myself; I'm not selling it!" Kent replied impatiently.
"Hey, boss, I wasn't talking about this armor. Even if you were selling, I wouldn't want to part with it." Splitting Blade switched back to his shameless expression.
"Then what were you going to say?" Kent asked.
"That woman..."
Splitting Blade glanced cautiously at the still-unconscious Waterflow in the wagon.
"What should we do with her?"
Waterflow—the infamous assassin, leader of Blood Rose, ranked ninth in the Northern Wilds' power rankings—had put on a nearly life-risking show for the escort team, truly impressing everyone.
When it came to single combat, Waterflow's fighting ability was superior to everyone else's. Even Splitting Blade, a sixth-level warrior, felt a chill recalling her fierce fighting style.
During this battle, the escort team and Waterflow had briefly allied. Especially when the boss stood in front of the big-headed fish and saved Waterflow—that moment was just dazzling.
He had simply stood there, right in front of the enemy's trident, not even flinching.
Such a high-level move to charm someone had worked so well that it nearly charmed the lady into unconsciousness.
"Boss is truly a master," Splitting Blade thought, in admiration. He mentally jotted down that move.
Little did he know, Kent hadn't been trying to stand still in front of the trident.
He just… hadn't dodged fast enough.
Splitting Blade's admiration rating +100.
Hmm? What's going on?
Kent glanced over at Splitting Blade. Who knew what was going on in that guy's mind, always contributing a bit of admiration here and there.
In any case, Kent's act of saving Waterflow created an ambiguous relationship between the escort team and Blood Rose.
This made a few team members, who had originally planned to capture Waterflow for bounty money, rethink their strategy.
Of course, the ultimate decision still rested with the boss.
"How to handle her? We'll decide once she wakes up," Kent replied, rolling his eyes. From experience and intuition, he figured it best not to keep this topic going.
Waterflow had fallen into unconsciousness. The seasoned Dry Leaf, a former hunter, judged that her body was weakened from poisoning, injury, and exhaustion, resulting in an overall state of frailty. During the recent battle with the Merman Deep Diver Guard, she'd overextended herself, and now she lay in a deep sleep.
Poisoning, injuries, infections, and illness were serious threats to the safety of any territory, in a world still dependent on limited herbs and strange shamanic remedies.
Riding along, Kent searched the star system for a solution.
The system's various options, while numerous, had high demands on admiration points, forcing Kent to give up on the unrealistic idea of unlocking everything. Instead, he carefully selected what he wanted to unlock.
No field hospital, no bandages, no antidote...
Finally, he spotted something in the abilities section: Prayer.
It was a healing spell.
The system had accumulated over 30,000 admiration points, but unlocking a new ability system required 10,000 points, and learning Prayer would need another 10,000.
Admiration points were spent as fast as water flowed. No, faster.
Kent glanced around at the escort team members.
It looked like he would need to increase the population base to gain more and more admiration points.
Perhaps weakened by her injuries and poison, and calmed by the safety of Kent's presence, Waterflow remained asleep even after two rounds of healing spells from Kent. Her wounds had gradually healed, but she still lay in a deep sleep.
After learning Prayer, a strange symbol appeared in Kent's mind. The symbol was simple, drawn with two strokes, resembling a small squiggly figure—a bit like an ancient oracle bone script character.
Now, he faced a new dilemma.
How to cast the spell?
He tried to recall something from memory, but found no clue.
He'd have to experiment on his own.
"Prayer!" he whispered in his mind.
Nothing strange happened.
"Biu~" He made a Spider-Man-like gesture with his fingers. "Biu~ biu~ biu~..."
Still nothing, but his team was now giving him strange looks.
"Ahem..." He cleared his throat, sitting up straighter in the saddle, sweeping his gaze across the team.
Immediately, the escort members turned their gazes away, pretending they'd seen nothing.
"Abra cadabra…"
"Open sesame..."
"Grant me power..."
Kent, sitting on horseback, muttered every incantation he knew, but it was all a mess. With a long sigh, he stared at the symbol in his mind, frustrated by his inability to use it.
His head moved unconsciously.
Poof…
A blue flame suddenly appeared in his hand.
"Whoa!" Kent shouted, falling off his horse.
"We're under attack!"
"Boss!"
The escort team rushed to his side, with Splitting Blade the quickest to support him, while the others instantly formed a defensive perimeter around them.
The team's efficiency, coordination, and complete defensive positioning were displayed perfectly.
"Boss, what happened?"
"Nothing." Kent replied with a strange expression as he got up, brushing himself off. But clad in heavy armor, he couldn't brush off much.
The moment he fell, the hard ground bruised him badly. But as soon as he hit his chest, the blue flame touched his armor, and a cool, soothing sensation swept through his body, erasing all his pain, leaving only a languid, pleasant feeling.
So that's the effect of Prayer?
But… how did I activate it just now?