Knights' Entry, New Goals

Ten o'clock.

The silver moon in the sky cast down a faint layer of silver frost, cold and mysterious.

Ian walked along the road and returned to his house.

"What a bountiful haul!"

Ian lowered his head to look at what he held in his arms. Besides Halman's Lionheart Knight Method, there was also a sheet of white paper densely covered in writing.

The paper recorded two wizard tricks, obtained from several members of the Mutual Aid Society.

Naturally, he had also answered some of their questions.

A fair trade.

There was nothing much to say about the tricks. Of course he had to learn them—after all, reaching Master Level would allow him to improve his talent.

He just did not know how many points it would take to advance to Third-grade Talent.

He quickly flipped through the knight method as well and soon decided to cultivate it.

Although the environment he was in now appeared relatively safe, that safety was only superficial.

From the people in the Mutual Aid Society, he had learned that the Academy recruited new apprentices almost every year, yet the Residential Area had never once been filled.

So where had those people gone?

Without a doubt, they had all died outside the Academy.

"Veridian Forest..."

Ian looked out the window, his gaze passing over the Academy toward the forest in the distance, a swath of color as dark as thick ink.

To fight for resources, to gain a foothold here, who knew how many people from Horton Wizard School had died within it.

And not only outside—even within the Academy, nowhere was completely safe.

With bad luck, one might die inexplicably someday and become a corpse by the roadside.

Ian had seen this with his own eyes over the past month.

Learning a knight method would still leave him incomparably weak before certain wizards, but at least it could improve his ability to protect himself.

If he encountered danger, he would have one more sliver of a chance to escape.

Besides, it could also increase his talent.

With that thought, Ian lowered his head and began studying it carefully. Before long, all manner of information about knights entered his mind.

This was a profession that strengthened the body through vital energy and blood, divided into two levels: Knight and Great Knight.

Once one advanced to Knight, one could greatly improve control over one's body, reaching a limit of two to three times that of an ordinary human.

A Great Knight, meanwhile, broke through the body's limits, potentially reaching five times the strength of a mortal.

That was already astonishing.

This book only contained the Knight portion. Halman had not given him the subsequent sections.

"The Lionheart Knight Method, as the kingdom's foremost knight method, is also among the most difficult. The first step—sensing vital energy and blood—is exceptionally hard."

Following the knight method, Ian assumed the required stance, already prepared for a long campaign.

But the next instant, he froze.

Because only a few minutes after taking the stance, he sensed a wondrous aura arising from within his body.

"Vital energy and blood?"

Feeling the fluctuations described exactly in the knight method, Ian blinked.

It did not seem difficult?

Could it be that he was a knightly genius?

Time flew by.

Three days later.

Inside the stone house, Ian stood on the ground with his eyes closed and his legs bent.

At that moment, he was circulating his vital energy and blood at full force. It flowed endlessly through his body like a slender snake.

At last, as the vital energy and blood completed one circuit around his body, Ian slowly opened his eyes.

"One complete circulation of vital energy and blood means the knight method has been initiated, and it also means I've become a Knight Attendant."

Ian clenched his fist. He felt somewhat stronger, perhaps by less than ten percent.

But if he circulated his vital energy and blood, his explosive power would be even greater.

And this was only the beginning. As long as he continued circulating the knight method every day, his vital energy and blood would make his body stronger and stronger.

Until it had circulated more than a hundred times, condensing a seed of vital energy and blood, allowing him to become a true Knight.

The panel had changed as well.

[Name: Ian Green]

[Age: 12]

[Strength: Knight Attendant (1/100)]

[Talent: 100 (Fourth-grade Star)]

[Skills: Basic Meditation Method (Proficient 80/200), Ignition Spell (Master Level), Water Condensation (Master Level), Light Spell (Mastery 163/300), Lionheart Knight Method (Knight Chapter—Beginner 30/100)]

A Beginner-level Lionheart Knight Method had appeared in the skills column.

At the same time, Light Spell had advanced from Beginner to Mastery. This was the result of three days of effort; it was expected to reach Master Level in another four or five days.

The greatest change was still his strength—he had gone from an ordinary person to a Knight Attendant.

"Cultivating a knight method is more difficult than practicing tricks, and knights are ultimately inferior to wizards.

"I still need to focus my energy on the meditation method and tricks. I can practice the knight method in my spare time."

Ian pondered.

Though this feeling was quite good.

Becoming a wizard apprentice was still his greatest goal at present.

He had to devote all his energy to meditation now. After all, as long as he advanced within the required time, the Magic Stone reward was no empty promise.

With Magic Stones, he could buy the Compendium of Tricks and learn tricks.

This was also planning for the future.

As far as he knew, after becoming wizard apprentices, the School would give them another half year to study.

During that time, they would further study wizard knowledge before being assigned to various departments within the School.

There was no shortage of dangerous departments among them.

Naturally, Ian did not want to enter any of those dangerous departments.

Though he did not know how the selection would be conducted then, he could guess that it would definitely be inseparable from strength.

And talent's role in improving strength was beyond doubt.

"So I must obtain those five Magic Stones."

Ian narrowed his eyes.

The sense of urgency in his heart grew much stronger.

Eight days later.

Inside the stone house.

Ian sat cross-legged on the blanket, sinking into the world of mental power.

As the Basic Meditation Method circulated, the first portion of Mental Power Runes rapidly condensed into existence.

He did not stop.

He continued condensing them.

Soon, the second portion of Mental Power Runes also slowly condensed into existence.

"I finally condensed the second portion. It took eleven days."

Ian opened his eyes.

If he wanted to obtain the reward of five Magic Stones, he needed to finish condensing them within a month.

There were still two portions left.

Nineteen days remained. On average, he would have to condense one every nine and a half days.

At the previous speed, it was nearly impossible.

Yet Ian felt there was still hope.

He opened the panel.

[Name: Ian Green]

[Age: 12]

[Strength: Knight Attendant (17/100)]

[Talent: 101 (Fourth-grade Star)]

[Skills: Basic Meditation Method (Proficient 190/200), Light Spell (Master Level), Breeze Spell (Mastery 1/300), Dust Spell (Mastery 163/300), Lionheart Knight Method (Proficient 150/200)...]

Light Spell had long since broken through to Master Level, and his talent had thus increased to 101.

Breeze Spell and Dust Spell were newly learned tricks, obtained from the Mutual Aid Society.

The former could stir up a breeze, while the latter condensed a patch of dust in front of him.

These were not important.

What mattered was that the Basic Meditation Method was about to break through to Proficient.

Once the meditation method broke through, his meditation efficiency would increase greatly, much faster than it was now.

Of course, raising both tricks to Master Level could also improve his talent a little.

There was still great hope.

"Once tomorrow's classes are over, the meditation method should be able to advance to Proficient."

Ian narrowed his eyes slightly.