You're Too Rational

Half a month later.

Brandenburg Territory, a Blood Ring stronghold.

Clang!

Amid the crisp reverberation of clashing metal, two Blood Ring Hammer Knights slammed into each other.

Their Blood Ring armor was identical, making them look like two iron cans. The only difference was that the Hammer Knight on the left had a ribbon tied around his arm, embroidered with the crest of Brandenburg.

Moreover, this special Blood Ring Hammer Knight had a sturdier build and greater strength. He knocked his opponent back two steps, even leaving a shallow dent in his armor.

"The 7 free attributes from Pure Blood Guard were all added to the servant's Strength. The improvement is quite obvious. Unfortunately, Pure Blood Guard has a relatively low success rate when converting enemies with Elite Templates.

"More importantly, the servants created through Pure Blood conversion are only temporary at this stage and cannot be taken out of this plane! My departure means its death. To turn Qin into my servant, I'll have to advance to a Heroic Profession and obtain a slot to convert a permanent servant."

Behind them, Bai Pu held an alchemy tome in his hands. He looked up at the two Blood Ring Hammer Knights brawling, their steel hammers constantly throwing off sparks, while quietly assessing the situation.

The Blood Ring Hammer Knight with the ribbon was an elite servant Bai Pu had enslaved using Talent Skill 2: Pure Blood Guard.

The enemy Blood Ring Hammer Knight suddenly let out a loud roar. As he roared, several Plague Dead quickened their shambling steps and lunged at Bai Pu.

Self-Adaptive Evolution: Keratinous Skin! Bai Pu put away his book and directly activated his first evolution stance, gaining a massive 50% reduction against Sharp Damage! He lowered his shoulder and charged, his spiked Iron Thorn Shoulder Guard knocking the first Plague Dead staggering backward.

He charged left and burst right! The combined assault of several Plague Dead only left a few pale marks on Bai Pu's skin. They could barely breach his defenses.

After all, aside from the specialized defenses provided by Self-Adaptive Evolution, Bai Pu's Basic Stamina was as high as 15, which meant 15 points of basic armor and considerable physical damage reduction.

The crimson lines of the Flesh Rune on his Iron Thorn Shoulder Guard lit up as though scarlet flames were burning. Threads of bloody energy stretched from the bodies of several Plague Dead toward Bai Pu, clinging to his body and forming a translucent blood-red shield.

Class Skill: Flesh Armor! The Plague Dead continuously suffered magic damage. Though 1 to 3 points of magic damage per second was not much, it added up. For Plague Dead with only seventy or eighty Health Points, high armor, and low magic resistance, it was unbearable pain!

The bone mace in Bai Pu's hand also rose and fell with practiced precision. Every blow accurately struck a Plague Dead's head, deforming its skull and spraying black blood from its nostrils and earholes!

Soon, the Plague Dead all died beneath Bai Pu's bone mace, providing several dozen Spirit Energy Points in total.

After clearing out the minor enemies, Bai Pu switched to Self-Adaptive Evolution: Fluid Skeleton form. He stepped forward and worked with the Hammer Knight servant to kill the Blood Ring Hammer Knight.

Wisps of blood-red mist drifted out of the Blood Ring Hammer Knight's body and were absorbed into Bai Pu. Only Bai Pu could see this process clearly.

You gained 2 Life Source Points. Current Life Source Points: 79/100.

Life Source Points were the resource required to activate the third unknown ability of the Evolution Heart. Through his experiments, Bai Pu had discovered that only enemies at Elite rank or above would produce them.

He still did not know what Life Source Points were for, so he could only collect them for now.

A Blue Treasure Chest floated into view.

Bai Pu scooped up the chest, a hint of delight rising in his heart. He opened it directly and selected one of the blue cards.

The card flipped over, revealing the image of a Lucky Bag, with a small "X3" symbol beside it. Bai Pu then received a notification: You gained 458 Spirit Energy Points.

"Spirit Energy Points again. Still, triple drop rates aren't bad. Better than drawing equipment I can't use..." Bai Pu consoled himself.

"Your combat power has already taken shape. None of the elite knights under Zweig Lieutenant's command are your match now. Once you accumulate more combat experience and raise your level, even Zweig may not be able to defeat you."

Qin stood not far behind Bai Pu, draped in a magnificent cloak with a broad fur collar.

Over the past few days, Bai Pu had constantly traveled and fought across the frozen soil of the Brandenburg Northland. Qin had accompanied him throughout, claiming that she was recording Bai Pu's combat data for research purposes.

The Northland was vast, and the Blood Ring strongholds were spread far apart. Even though Bai Pu could calculate the approximate locations of the strongholds through mental calculations, it often took him one or two days of travel to find one.

Along the way, Bai Pu would occasionally encounter Plague Dead. All told, he had experienced dozens of battles, large and small, over the past half month.

By now, Bai Pu had raised his one-handed hammer Combat Expertise to Basic Level 4, 56%, while his Fighting Expertise had reached Basic Level 3, 99%.

Such a rate of improvement in expertise was terrifying. Aside from Bai Pu's own high comprehension and talent for identifying his shortcomings, guidance from powerful natives was also an important factor—these past few days, Bai Pu had often sought out Zweig Lieutenant and the elite knights under his command to spar.

With Qin accompanying him, Bai Pu had an alchemy teacher he could consult at any time. As early as ten days ago, he had successfully comprehended the Alchemist secondary profession and learned several basic alchemy formulas.

As for loot, Bai Pu had obtained four Blue Treasure Chests, all dropped by Blood Ring Hammer Knights. He had also acquired several White Treasure Chests from killing Plague Dead.

Of the four Blue Treasure Chests, only two had produced equipment. The rest had yielded Lucky Bags containing Spirit Energy Points.

The low equipment drop rate was plain to see.

One of the pieces of equipment was Bai Pu's current "Iron Thorn Shoulder Guard." It had come from the dark-blue treasure chest dropped by Blood Hand Colen's guard, the Aberrant with the enlarged right arm.

Iron Thorn Shoulder Guard (Sealed)

Quality: Reinforced Elite (Dark Blue)

Equipment Slot: Shoulders

Equipment Requirement: Basic Strength 5

Attributes: Shoulder Armor +10

Additional Skill: Charge: Charge at double speed toward a target, dealing minor piercing damage, blunt damage, and knockback. During the charge, you are immune to slowing effects with additional priority of (2) or lower. Cooldown: 12 hours.

Durability: 18/20

Description: The fangs of the Blood Ring thirst for the blood of the innocent.

Dark-blue equipment was far superior to white equipment. Its added Charge skill could be activated manually, effectively giving him another movement ability. With Bai Pu's current base priority of 3 from the Enhanced Elite Template, he was immune to slowing effects with priority below 5.

The other item was an ordinary white upper-body piece: Blood Ring Standard Plate Armor (Sealed). It granted +15 upper-body armor and a flat reduction of 5 physical damage, but required a full 10 points of Basic Strength! Bai Pu's pitiful 5 points of Basic Strength fell far short, so he could only leave it gathering dust in his Storage Space.

Bai Pu's personal attribute panel was currently:

Bai Pu / Reinforced Elite Level 1

Race: Humanoid Race / Human

Profession: Blood Armor Shield Guard / Alchemist

Attributes: Strength 5, Agility 5, Constitution 15, Spirit 9

Class Skill: Flesh Armor

Combat Expertise: Advanced Weaponry (Two-Handed Hammers) Level 1, Basic Weaponry (One-Handed Hammers) Level 4, Basic Fighting Level 3.

Combat Skills: None

"Let's return to Stettin Town... It's time for me to leave," Bai Pu said.

Less than a day remained of his free exploration time, and Bai Pu was mentally exhausted as well. There was no point in staying any longer.

News had arrived from Brandenburg. Duke William had convened a gathering of lords in Westphalia. During the meeting, Yvette, formerly a Swedish Royal Junior Knight, gave an impassioned speech exposing the Blood Ring Fortress's ambition to conquer the world. Duke William took the opportunity to call for the formation of a resistance army.

Yet the shortsighted lords argued endlessly over troop numbers and command authority. Even Duke William's prestige could not settle the dispute. After all, there were more than three hundred autonomous territories of all sizes.

It was said that after the meeting, Duke William had remarked half-jokingly and half-seriously, "We need a unified German Empire."

Since the key faction leader was absent, it was basically impossible for Bai Pu to uncover Main Quest III and obtain the third stage of residence time. The later a Main Quest progressed, the harder it became to trigger.

Qin hugged Bai Pu from behind. Even through their clothes, the soft yet substantial weight pressed clearly against him.

"Dio, you're too rational. Sometimes, I truly wonder whether I have any charm at all..."

Bai Pu turned sideways, reached an arm behind him, and gently lifted Qin into his arms.