Investigation

"Strength, agility, and constitution have all increased. Unfortunately, if I want to train again now, the time required will increase greatly."

Looking at his attributes, Arthur sighed inwardly.

He picked up his sword again and practiced the Knight Breathing Technique once where he stood.

After completing a full cycle of the Knight Breathing Technique, Arthur was drenched in sweat, but his eyes were exceptionally bright as he panted and sensed the data in his mind.

"After practicing continuously three hundred and twenty-three times, strength can increase by 0.1, agility by 0.2, constitution by 0.1..." The mechanical voice rang out in his mind.

Arthur shook his head helplessly. "The time has only tripled, which is still acceptable. But the further I go, the more time it will require, and the fewer attributes I'll be able to increase."

Lowering his head, he thought for a moment. After this period of frenzied training, he had found that his limit for practicing the Breathing Technique each day was around fifteen times.

That was the ideal maximum. If anything went wrong, such as an injury or a mistake in his movements, that number would have to be reduced accordingly. However, with the Chip and his growing proficiency over this period, such accidents rarely happened.

More than three hundred repetitions would take over twenty days even under ideal conditions. If anything unexpected happened along the way, taking a month or so would not be strange at all.

That amount of time was not much under ordinary circumstances, but now, it felt rather pressing.

"What a pity." Thinking of the news he had recently gathered, Arthur sighed inwardly.

Perhaps because the situation at the front was growing increasingly tense, the surrounding region had become more and more chaotic lately. During this time, Arthur had already heard of several villages being massacred. It seemed that Bandit Groups from elsewhere had come from afar, intending to plunder while the nobles of this region had no spare hands to deal with them. Everyone nearby was living in fear, and even the nobles had little sense of security.

That was hardly surprising. This world had never been a safe or peaceful place. The wilderness was filled with wild beasts and bandits, and without sufficient military force, it was impossible to maintain local order.

Under such circumstances, as the guardian of order in this region to some extent, Count Polia naturally had to take action to preserve the stability and order of the surrounding area.

Arthur and the other Knight Apprentices, each possessing considerable strength, had been sent out one after another during this time, leading teams to carry out various missions.

Over the past few days, the few remaining apprentices had all left as well. Now, including Arthur, only two or three apprentices remained here.

The reason Arthur was still able to stay was probably because he had been seriously wounded on the battlefield before, so he had been given extra time to recover.

Thinking of this, Arthur put down the longsword in his hand and switched to another weapon used for swordsmanship training.

The situation around them was far too tense now. Besides the Knight Breathing Technique, he could not neglect swordsmanship either, as it was another means of quickly increasing his combat strength for the battles to come.

More than ten days later, just as Arthur had expected, Count Polia seemed to have judged that his injuries had mostly healed and ordered him to be sent out as well.

In an empty, uninhabited mountain forest, Arthur rode a black horse, with several attendants on horseback following behind him.

"Is this the area?" Reaching a certain spot, Arthur dismounted. His sharp gaze swept quickly over the surroundings as he asked the attendants behind him.

"Yes, my lord."

Seeing Arthur dismount, the attendants behind him dismounted as well. One weathered-looking attendant answered him.

"According to the information gathered earlier, there were indeed reports of Mountain Violent Bears appearing nearby in the past. Not long ago, one even attacked several villages in this area and killed the people in them."

Having arrived at this place, the atmosphere around them seemed somewhat gloomy and oppressive. The attendants appeared tense, and one of them silently relayed the intelligence about the area.

When he mentioned the Mountain Violent Bear, fear surfaced in his eyes. He seemed extremely terrified of such a creature.

Arthur did not think much of it.

Mountain Violent Bears were terrifying creatures in this world.

In this world, where the wilderness was filled with all manner of dangerous beasts, there were also some especially formidable lifeforms.

The Mountain Violent Bear was one of them, the ruler of the mountains. According to rumors, it could even slaughter a small army alone. Its strength was terrifying.

There had been reports of people spotting Mountain Violent Bears in the region where Arthur was currently stationed, which was why Arthur had specifically been sent to investigate.

Of course, that was only one of his missions on the surface.

Some time ago, as the fighting at the front became increasingly deadlocked, large numbers of Bandit Groups had flooded into this region, plundering the territories of various nobles and stirring up trouble.

As for this area, hunters had previously seen a large group of bandits pass through. They seemed to be hiding somewhere nearby, though no one knew what they were planning.

Besides searching for the Mountain Violent Bear, Arthur's mission was also to find traces of that Bandit Group.

Neither task could be called easy. If they truly encountered either one, danger could arise at any moment.

Leaving aside the Bandit Group of unknown size, anyone daring to openly plunder noble territories was a true desperado. When gathered together, their strength was usually far from weak.

The Mountain Violent Bear was no easier to deal with. A lifeform of that level was no longer something ordinary people could handle. Unless an army was dispatched to surround and kill it, or a top Knight Rank expert took action, it was basically impossible to deal with.

Fortunately, Arthur's mission was only reconnaissance. He was not actually being asked to deal with such opponents.

The group moved forward a few steps. Arthur quickly swept his gaze around, observing the surrounding terrain.

On the surface, his observation seemed casual. In reality, with the Chip, he only needed a quick glance. Through the Chip's data analysis and comparisons, he could obtain precise results, making his method of scouting far more effective than anyone else's.

"Detected residual traces of an unusual presence. Based on data analysis, similarity to a Mountain Violent Bear: 74%."

The Chip's mechanical voice suddenly sounded in his mind.

Arthur looked ahead. There, a large tree had been knocked crooked, its crown hanging down toward the ground.

The tree looked enormous, more than ten meters tall and requiring two people to wrap their arms around its trunk. Yet the middle of the trunk had snapped for no apparent reason, causing the upper section to lean toward the ground.

At a point roughly four meters above the ground, a huge depression marked the trunk, deeply sunken inward. Judging from its shape, it looked like the claw mark of some beast.

"This is a trace left by a Mountain Violent Bear." Behind Arthur, a middle-aged man's face went pale as he looked at the fallen tree.

Arthur's expression was not much better. He carefully studied the marks on the tree, analyzing the Mountain Violent Bear's strength in his mind.

To nearly break a tree more than ten meters tall with a single paw strike—if that kind of force landed on a person, it would likely turn them directly into a lump of mangled flesh, shattering their entire body and leaving nothing but blood and meat.

Even Arthur, if he were struck head-on by this Mountain Violent Bear, would probably be severely injured in a single blow. There was no way he could contend with it.

"Ding! Analysis complete. Target's strength attribute is above 5.7..." The Chip's voice sounded in his mind at the same time.

A strength attribute of at least 5.7 was absolutely terrifying. An ordinary person, unless they were a Knight or an exceptionally strong Knight Apprentice, would likely die from even a glancing blow.

Arthur's face immediately turned ashen. This level of strength had already exceeded the limit of what he could handle. Even among Knights, probably not everyone could deal with it.

He raised his head and carefully looked around. The Chip in his mind scanned the surroundings through his eyes, continuously gathering information in search of lurking danger.

The Chip within his body continuously fed the analyzed data back into his mind.

He looked ahead. Four or five meters away, there was a green protrusion, well concealed among the surroundings, but easily detected through the Chip's comparative analysis.

Arthur did not move forward. He merely raised an arm slightly and quietly aimed a crossbow ahead.

"Calculating wind resistance. Please correct movement: shift arm three centimeters to the right."

As Arthur moved, the Chip in his mind rapidly calculated every piece of data that could affect his accuracy, then fed back the corrected motion.

That was also why Arthur carried a crossbow. He was a Knight Apprentice who had trained for years, and his body was highly stable. Coupled with the Chip's ability to analyze data and calculate resistance, he did not need to worry about aiming.

With a soft sound, the crossbow string trembled lightly, and an arrow shot out at high speed, striking a target seven or eight meters away.

The attendants at his side quickly reacted and hurried forward to inspect it, retrieving both the arrow and the prey.

It was a small, emerald-green snake about a meter long. Its body was slender, and its entire form, including its pair of snake eyes, was jade green, making it difficult to distinguish in the mountain forest.

It looked like a venomous snake, but an arrow had pierced straight through its head, leaving it unable to move.

"That is a Green-eyed Snake. Its venom is extremely potent. Even a lion would die within an hour if bitten."

Behind Arthur, a hunter who had accompanied them as a guide recognized the species of snake and explained with a fearful look toward Arthur.

Arthur nodded, pulled out his arrow, and directly grabbed the snake by its body.

As if struck by lightning, the previously motionless little snake suddenly moved at that instant. Its jaws opened, and it viciously lunged to bite Arthur.

The attendants beside him were alarmed and hurriedly tried to step forward to stop it.

An arrow stained with green snake blood abruptly stabbed down. Terrifying force instantly split the little snake's entire head apart, sending it falling to the ground.

Arthur's expression did not change in the slightest. Calmly, he cut open the snake's body and found a green solid within it.