A Small Dispute

"Alright, there shouldn't be any more enemies. It's just one Crawling Hand here; the Heretical Cultists aren't likely to be around," Sart said, noticing Alice was still on guard.

As Alice cleaved the Crawling Hand in two with her sword, the "Earthbound Hand" it had unleashed lost control and reverted to soft soil. Aaron and Sart were easily freed.

Alice glanced at Ed, who had been sent flying, and after confirming he was alright, she asked Sart, "How did you know?"

"If a Silver Tier Heretical Cultist had truly attacked, our fight would have been much harder. However, he didn't make a move; at most, he just activated 'Charm Humanity'."

As he spoke, Sart looked at the corpses of the attendants lying on the ground and sighed.

"Why... kill him?" Aaron hesitated before asking Ed, who had walked over.

"Because if I hadn't killed him, he would have killed us," Ed said, pulling a small, portable torch from his waist, lighting it casually, and then speaking to Aaron.

But he was just a normal person, and a teammate just a second ago...

Aaron wanted to argue, but Sart, as if guessing his thoughts, stopped him, "You might not understand now, but you will later. Ed's actions..."

He paused, then said, "were the safest course of action."

"If you're worried the Lord Bals will blame me for killing his guards, please don't worry," Ed added. "The moment they were controlled by the Heretical Cultists, they ceased to be human."

Aaron's mouth moved, and he subconsciously looked around. He found neither Alice nor Sart showing any objection, as if it were only natural.

He realized the difference between this world and his original one once again, and this difference was fundamentally profound.

He was powerless to argue, unable to refute.

"So, this is... Transcendent?" Aaron's mind was a bit muddled. Seeing the Crawling Hand and hearing this conversation, he asked this question subconsciously.

He saw Ed nod matter-of-factly, Sart's hesitant gaze, and only Alice responded directly.

"You should know, you are a noble, a member of the Albert Family. Until the kingdom strips you of your noble status, you will always be a knight of the kingdom," she said, putting away her longsword and looking at Aaron seriously. "As a noble, you must protect your people, you must fulfill your duty as a noble in the most dangerous moments. Similarly, we protect our people, or rather, we only protect those who deserve protection."

Aaron was speechless. On one hand, he realized Alice's words might be biased and not entirely correct, but on the other hand, the education he had received since childhood made it difficult for him to accept this reality.

He could kill the old man in the sewer without hesitation because the old man intended to kill him first, and he had to kill the Heretical Cultist to survive.

He had no choice.

But it was different now. As a Transcendent, he could clearly feel the gap between Transcendent beings and ordinary people. At least Bronze Tier and ordinary people were concepts that were worlds apart.

No strong adult could directly smash through a solid wooden door, nor could any strong adult send a person weighing nearly two hundred pounds flying several meters away.

Ed, as a Bronze Tier Sword Affinity Transcendent like Alice, Aaron believed that even if he couldn't match Alice's outrageous power, he wouldn't be far off.

It could be said that to them, ordinary people were not troublesome at all. Ed could have simply knocked out that attendant or easily incapacitated him.

For a moment, all sorts of thoughts flooded his mind, and Aaron's heart was in turmoil.

Although Sart noticed Aaron's expression, he thought Aaron was just unaccustomed to it and didn't say much. Rubbing his crystal ball, he circled the surroundings and finally stopped at a spot a little further away.

"Starlight above, all shall be revealed."

This time, he didn't consume any more Spirit Powder. After all, he had already used quite a bit here, and the surrounding environment had been subtly changed. Now, he only needed to activate his soul to complete some simpler rituals.

For example, an aggregation ritual.

Aaron's heart stirred, and he felt a sense of connection. Although he didn't know what was happening, he could vaguely sense something gathering towards Sart.

The darkness around them lightened by a few degrees, finally returning to its normal color. He could finally see the clear moonlight and faint starlight overhead.

In the blink of an eye, a bronze-colored card appeared in Sart's hand, emitting a strange aura under the torchlight.

Although the front couldn't be seen, Aaron could see a half-open book depicted on the back.

The lines outlining the book were twisted, and the lines themselves vaguely gave a sense of discomfort, let alone the pattern formed by these lines.

Is this... the origin of the Heretical Cult?

Aaron speculated in his heart.

[Witnessed extraordinary creature "Crawling Hand", Knowledge Points +1, Crawling Hand Encyclopedia 1/8]

[Do you wish to consume 1 Knowledge Point to randomly allocate 1 attribute point?]

It was only at this moment that the system, which had a faint presence, reappeared, popping up a light screen before Aaron.

Aaron was startled and subconsciously glanced at Alice and Ed, but they didn't seem to notice the light screen.

It seemed this light screen could only be seen by him?

Aaron's heart settled, and he calmly consumed another 1 Knowledge Point to increase his attribute value.

[Consumed 1 Knowledge Point, Constitution +1]

[Strength 3, Agility 4, Constitution 6, Will 7, Spirit 4]

Another point in Constitution?

Aaron breathed a sigh of relief and gave a positive review for this random allocation.

He had witnessed several extraordinary events and personally experienced several incidents. The strange methods of the Heretical Cultists had given him a bit of Heretical Cultist PTSD.

He even suspected that even under Alice and Sart's protection, he might inexplicably die at the hands of the Heretical Cultists one day.

If nothing else, just seeing the "Crawling Hand" nearly made him choke himself to death; the danger factor was extremely high.

Even if he had a system that seemed to grant attribute points by witnessing various Transcendent events, this system apparently couldn't modify backend data or farm equipment.

In this situation, the higher the Physique attribute, the better.

Sart handed the bronze-colored card to Alice without saying a word.

But Aaron saw that Alice showed no joy after defeating the enemy. Instead, she accepted the card expressionlessly.

"What exactly is this Crawling Hand?" Aaron couldn't help but ask.

"It's very likely Tien's hand. Or rather, the heretical cultists made the Crawling Hand from Tien's hand. Members of the Crawling Hand Cult can corrupt people's hands and turn them into their tools."

Alice looked towards Tien's residence and said coldly.

It was hard to say whether they had arrived a step too early or a step too late.

Hmm, thanks to White Big Boss, Duwa, Changsheng, and a certain silly classmate Zhang for the tips~

(Kneels gently.jpg)