Setting Out and Pursuit

There were seven books on the desk, all about the Kingdom of Yating.

Lister had realized that one of his important tasks after transmigrating into this game was reading books.

He needed to sort out the chronology of each expansion, or it would be hard to match it to his fragmentary memories of the game.

He opened the most authoritative official record among them.

"Kingdom of Yating, solar calendar 707-1233."

According to the timeline, the Lost Land had been discovered around fifty years before the Kingdom of Yating fell.

It went to war with the Duchy of Luxian in 1225, and the war lasted nine years in all.

The Yating royal family was destroyed, and the Duchy of Luxian became a kingdom.

The present-day western continent had originally sprung from the Empire of Aixisaiya, whose founding marked the start of the solar calendar.

Several hundred years later, the empire had completely fractured into seventeen major kingdoms and forty-one duchies, ushering in the chaotic era.

With so many countries, war was inevitable. It had lasted 140 years, leaving only three independent kingdoms and five independent duchies.

The Kingdom of Yating had been one of them, but it had ultimately been destroyed by its vassal, the Duchy of Luxian.

The political landscape had continued to change since then. Only two of the three great kingdoms remained: the Kingdom of Lucian and the Kingdom of Tyrande, along with seven other independent duchies.

Independent duchies were different from the Duchy of Will, which was a vassal of the kingdom. It was effectively one of the Duchy of Luxian's provinces, though it enjoyed somewhat greater autonomy.

The seven duchies currently recognized as the great duchies were truly independent. None was large: the smaller ones were about the size of a single province, while the largest was only about the size of three.

If they grew any larger, these duchies would crown themselves kingdoms.

According to Lister's memories of the major expansion in the second act, the Kingdom of Lucian eventually became an empire by annexing the Kingdom of Tyrande and all the duchies.

It was currently the year 1538 of the solar calendar, and Lister no longer remembered what year it had been in the Kingdom of Lucian when the second act began.

He did remember that the Kingdom of Lucian seemed to have become an empire in 1562, which meant it would complete its unification in another twenty-six years.

If nothing unexpected happened, the Kingdom of Lucian's wars against its neighbors should begin soon.

As for the Great Chu Imperial Dynasty, its timeline wasn't aligned with this one. The timeline advanced with each new act and expansion in the game.

But only a little over twenty years passed between the founding of the Lucian Empire and the end of the second-act expansion, so the Great Chu Imperial Dynasty expansion should open soon.

If players were going to arrive, it should be within the next few years.

Lister made a judgment: he didn't have much time left to reach the Great Chu Imperial Dynasty.

If there really were players, he didn't want to miss the treasure-hunting period during the first act.

Half a month later.

At the border of the Kingdom of Lucian, two professionals stared in disbelief and terror at their companion, who had just been killed by a single saber strike.

Of the two who remained, one was a shield warrior carrying a greatshield and a greatsword, while the other was a mage wielding a staff.

"Th-this is impossible! You're only at the third tier..."

As a fourth-tier shield warrior, Nasis had never encountered anything so bizarre.

The moment they met, the enemy's ghostly figure had closed in on the fourth-tier healing professional in his three-person team.

Then, with nothing more than an ordinary-looking strike to the chest, their companion had died on the spot.

The enemy professional's aura was clearly only at the third tier, yet every movement he made as he attacked filled Nasis with an uneasy fear, as if he were staring death in the face at every moment.

The black-haired man in silver armor looked at them with an even more eager and amused gaze, as if he had expected this all along.

Before Nasis could compose himself, the silver-armored man advanced on him again.

His companion Tracy seized the moment and instantly unleashed an Extreme Fireball.

Worthy of a fourth-tier professional's Fireball, its color was almost blue, and it rapidly expanded as it shot forward.

It ultimately swelled to several meters across, completely engulfing the silver-armored man before them. Tracy let out an involuntary sigh of relief.

But before she could relax for long, the Extreme Fireball gradually dissipated, and the silver phantom, seemingly unharmed, charged straight at her again.

A saber swung horizontally toward her, only to be blocked by Nasis's greatshield in front of her.

The blade seemed unstoppable, cutting straight into the greatshield and cleaving it in two.

A reverse slash followed immediately. Although Nasis could see Lister's movement, his body couldn't react fast enough, and with the mage Tracy behind him, he could only raise an arm to block.

He had thought that, as a shield warrior, the worst that could happen was the saber cutting into his bracer. Besides, the straight slash didn't look like anything special.

In fact, the strike severed his arm along with the bracer. The next moment, the saber changed direction again, and a flash of its blade swept toward his neck.

A mist of blood erupted from Nasis's neck, and he died, though at least his body was left intact.

Lister shook the blood from his blade and silently looked at Tracy, the last one standing.

He had known this trip out of the city to the Kingdom of Lucian wouldn't go so smoothly.

Duke Will had certainly been ruthless this time.

He had sent three fourth-tier professionals after Lister at once, truly intent on killing him.

Unfortunately for them, although all three were fourth-tier professionals, Tracy, the strongest overall, was only E-rank. To Lister, she didn't even seem as formidable as Kailina, whom he had fought before.

With his current strength as a third-tier boss, dealing with these fourth-tier professionals was like toying with children.

His basic attacks in particular, bolstered by the combined passive effects of his level-twenty Breathing Technique and Saber Mastery, now dealt damage no lower than many high-level active skills used by high-tier professionals.

His enemies had to treat every strike with caution, or any one of them could take their lives.

"Um... I was actually forced into this..."

Before Lister, Tracy's gaze turned pitiful in an instant.

Her hands moved just as quickly. She undid her already thin dark-green mage robe at the chest, revealing her ample "assets."

Her small red undergarment covered part of her, leaving a wide expanse of pale skin exposed. Combined with her pretty face, it was indeed eye-catching.

Seeing that Lister hadn't immediately continued his attack, Tracy thought her ploy had worked.

The magic within her was ready to be unleashed, and her only instant-cast Fireball was prepared. She was just waiting for Lister to come a little closer and make a move on her before casting it.

With her looks and proud figure, Tracy had turned the tables on her enemies and escaped from crises like this several times before.

Now tears welled up in her eyes, and her voice grew increasingly pitiful and seductive.

"Whatever you want me to do... I'll agree to it! As long as you can..."

Before she could finish, Tracy's expression suddenly changed as a flash of silver saber light appeared before her.

Lister's saber swept across her exposed chest. A mage's body was so frail that the single strike cut her in two.

Lister had no notion of going easy on a woman. He even muttered to himself.

"That woman wasn't bad. I didn't expect her to be worth twenty thousand experience points."