After the Battle

420 experience points.

Golden light gathered in mid-air, forming a trickling stream that flowed into Brando's body. Looking at the devastated battlefield, he couldn't help but lean against a rock, his body feeling weak. That was a level 22 monster, and he was only level 6, even counting his Commoner status. Killing a monster 14 levels higher, he wouldn't have dared to be so reckless even in a game.

But he had no choice but to do so under the pressure of survival. His original plan was to lure the adult Withered Beast under the rock and then seize the opportunity to escape when Freya attacked. This opportunity was too difficult to grasp; even in the game, few people would dare to do this, as it was also a level's worth of experience.

He hadn't felt anything when he made the decision, but now, thinking back, he felt a wave of lingering fear, his back chilled. The last bit of composure supported him in calmly replying to Freya and Romane a few words, so as not to make them too worried, but Brando himself knew his own situation.

He felt like he was overdrafting his courage, but unknowingly, people also grew in such extreme environments.

It wasn't just him; Freya was the same. Just a few days ago, she was merely a simple Militia, but now she had made her own decisions.

He slowly calmed himself down. The battle in the canyon was a rare great harvest for him. 420 experience points were too important for him at this moment, no less than timely help. The priority, of course, was to improve his strength. It took 70 experience points to upgrade the mercenary to level 4, 130 for level 5, and 220 for level 6. According to the settings, the second job skill would be unlocked after level 5.

Mercenary Level 4 (0.3 Strength, 0.2 Constitution, 0.2 Dexterity, 0.1 Perception)

Mercenary Level 5 (0.3 Strength, 0.3 Constitution, 0.2 Dexterity, 0.1 Willpower)

Mercenary Level 6 (0.4 Strength, 0.3 Constitution, 0.2 Dexterity, 0.2 Perception)

As he leveled up, rows of data indicating attribute changes streamed down onto the light screen projected onto his retina. At level 3 of the Mercenary class, his physical attributes already had Strength 2.5 Energy Level, Dexterity 2.3 Energy Level, and Constitution 2.4 Energy Level. After reaching level 6, with growth, his physical attributes had become Strength 3.5 Energy Level, Dexterity 2.9 Energy Level, and Constitution 3.2 Energy Level.

This meant his physical fitness had surpassed that of an ordinary person by more than three times in all aspects, and his absolute strength exceeded 25 times. Simply relying on strength and ignoring his experience, Brando could now easily defeat the entire Bucci Militia squad from before. And with the experience bonus, even a guard squad of the same number would not fare well against him.

This was the first level of strength.

Even Bresen, the deputy captain of the Bucci guard, could only barely reach the first level of strength when mounted. However, even so, the veteran Maden still considered him a genius. After all, Bresen was only twenty years old, and with his youth and talent, he might one day reach the level of a Lily Knight. In a sense, he was a pillar of the kingdom.

And Brando at this moment was one year younger than him.

If the original Brando were here, he wouldn't believe he could reach this point in just three days. Breaking through from ordinary human strength to the first level of strength was something half the people couldn't achieve in their lifetime.

And only one or two out of ten achieved it before the age of twenty.

However, Brando knew this was not enough. Among the newborns who underwent baptism at the Temple of Flames every year, he knew that many were born with the first level of strength already surpassed – the so-called born nobles – the Enlightened.

What's more, there were rare individuals born with the second level of strength surpassed – the so-called Chosen.

As for those with Knight talent (players also belonged to this category), they were countless. This was a world that revered strength, and Brando understood that if he wanted to make a name for himself, he had to make good use of his advantages. His advantage was the power bestowed upon him by another world.

The skill unlocked after Mercenary level 5 was Power Burst, which consumed three times the stamina in the next action, gaining a 1 Energy Level strength bonus.

This was the most important breakthrough skill for the Mercenary in the early game, and Brando would naturally not be stingy. He now had 150 skill experience points. Even upgrading this skill to level 6 would only use one-third, 55 points. After level 6, this skill would provide an instantaneous 4 Energy Level strength bonus, almost reaching the mid-stage of the first level of strength when activated.

The remaining skill points were naturally used to improve Military Swordsmanship and Grappling Techniques. He also casually put the remaining 6 job experience points into Militia, allowing this class to smoothly advance to level 3, which further increased his Strength and Constitution by 0.2 Energy Levels each.

This was why so many people in the game back then, despite the experience penalty, still dual-specialized in professions. The return on experience for dual-specialization in the early stages was much higher than for specialization. Of course, Brando also thought so, but everything has its limits. Those who crazily took on multiple jobs back then also paid a price later.

After all, after entering the third level of strength, with the awakening of elements, the class corrections would not be so obvious.

With a total level of 10, Brando couldn't help but close his eyes and let out a long sigh. Now, Withered Beasts were like experience delivery for him. If he wasn't in a hurry to deliver a letter to Ridenburg, he would have really wanted to grind for experience outside the Xavier Mountain Pass. In at most half a month, he could reach level 15. Unfortunately, time clearly didn't allow it now.

He squinted his eyes again, and some Withered Beasts began to appear in the distance in the canyon. Those shrub monsters were looking this way from across the valley – of course, they didn't actually have vision. The previous commotion must have alerted them.

Brando quietly picked up the sword placed beside him. He was not afraid of these things, of course. However, getting entangled wouldn't be good. Romane's aunt was still in the city, and they and the Madara army were racing against time to get to Ridenburg. At this moment, he suddenly remembered the Seal Ring that Maden had given him and couldn't help but take out the ring with the black pine leaf emblem from his pocket to look at it – however, the young man thought of something and couldn't help but sneer.

That veteran of the November War also didn't understand this. Considering that Bucci was a very important buffer zone on the Vanmir-Ridenburg defense line in this direction, the kingdom's central command had planned to establish a complete defense line here since the Year of Thunder.

However, the implementation of decrees was sometimes not as simple as it appeared on the surface. Due to funding shortages and deductions in the intermediate links, the actual repair of Vanmir Fortress and the establishment of Ridenburg were already the limit of this project. As for the early warning system in the buffer zone, those nobles never considered it.

As long as Ridenburg and Vanmir Fortress were still in their hands, they could still live very well. As for the countryside outside, Madara didn't invade every year, did they?

Despite having citizens of the kingdom like Freya, Bresen, and Maden fighting for this country, Eluin was indeed old and declining, and this was another fact. The corrupt upper class was destroying this country from its roots. In fact, Bucci was somewhat of an exception. Brando knew that the signs of this kingdom heading towards its end could be seen everywhere else.

He couldn't help but sigh and look to the east. The sky in the east seemed to be covered by layers of dark clouds, and even the morning sun had become dim. A nation in darkness was rising there.

"Brando, your ring."

Brando turned his head and saw Freya looking at him with bright eyes. He couldn't help but joke, "Does it look good?"

"You—" The ponytail girl's face instantly turned red. She turned her head away and saw Romane sitting on the slope, looking at them with a smile.

"Romane, you idiot!"

"What did I do?" The merchant's daughter was stunned for a moment.

Brando smiled. He knew that Freya was just taking her anger out on Romane. He put on the Wind Queen Ring and then touched the Fate Card in his pocket. Although he had never seen this thing before, he knew it was his greatest reliance at the moment.

Even a ten-minute state of second-level strength was enough to do many things – for example, defeating the Golden Demon Tree.

With the Fate Card, he re-planned. After all, the drops from the Golden Demon Tree were too tempting. Seeking wealth through danger, every bit of strength here would give him more confidence in Ridenburg. Moreover, defeating the Golden Demon Tree was not like grinding monsters; it didn't require much time, it was on the way.

He estimated that he had about 8 more hours, which was more than enough. However, if he could get another Soul Crystal before that, it would be even more certain, as attacking with the Sacred Sword required payment in earth elements.

He even considered whether to open his elemental pool. But for a magical item of 40 Oz strength level, taking on the role of an Elementalist or Magic Swordsman seemed not worth it, as professions should ideally be related to each other to provide mutual bonuses. Elementalists, Magic Swordsmen, and Sun Knights were all self-contained systems and could hardly provide benefits to warrior professions. In Brando's mind, he always treated Mercenaries as warriors, as the two professions seemed similar in the early stages, even having the same innate skills.

The remaining was the task of 'Elemental Soul' which opened the elemental pool for ordinary people, but he didn't know if there were similar tasks in this world.

Of course, those were things of the distant future. He didn't have time to consider so much now. There was still a distance from here to the Forbidden Orchard, but rushing straight there could save more than 2 hours. Using more than 2 hours to clear out some monsters and see if he could find another Elite Withered Beast was Brando's goal.

With that thought, he stood up, patted Freya, who was glaring at him, on the shoulder, and then said to the two ladies, "Alright, rest is over, let's get moving."

Unfortunately, his well-intentioned comforting gesture caused Freya to subconsciously step back, and he ended up patting a place he shouldn't have touched – the touch was quite good, and he could feel a soft elasticity through the layer of metal scale armor.

The atmosphere instantly froze.

Brando watched as the face of their future Valkyrie first turned red with heat, then pale, then dark. Just as he was about to explain, he was met with a fierce swing of a sword hilt –

"Shameless scoundrel!"

"Wait, I didn't mean to—Agh!"