Lucian donned the complete Banished Knight Set and pushed open the door.
He was heading to the Site of Grace behind the castle, the nearest one.
The other two Sites of Grace required taking elevators to reach, which was rather inconvenient.
What Lucian did not know was that shortly after he left, Irina, supported by a maid, arrived outside his guest room.
Irina had already changed and bathed. Her pale green gown complemented her delicate features, sweeping away the bedraggled state she had been in while wandering outside and fully revealing the beauty of a noble lady.
Though Irina was always highly mindful of courtesy and etiquette toward others, she herself carried none of a noble lady's haughtiness.
Now, the gown embroidered with patterns in fine golden thread added a touch of noble elegance and splendor to Irina.
The maid stopped walking, and Irina knew they had arrived.
She reached out with her right hand, found the door, and gently knocked.
She wanted to properly thank Lucian for helping her along the way. If not for him, she would have long since become a cold corpse, never able to return to Castle Morne and reunite with her father.
For this expression of gratitude, no matter what reward Lucian wanted, Irina would surely agree.
If it was something beyond her authority, she would certainly plead with her father.
"Knock, knock."
There was no response.
"Knock, knock."
Still no response.
Had Lord Lucian fallen asleep? After all, they had gone through such an intense battle.
But there did not seem to be any snoring from inside, either.
Irina hesitated, gently biting her lower lip in indecision.
After thinking it over, she finally called through the door:
"Lord Lucian, are you there?"
After waiting a while with no sound still coming from within, Irina could only leave regretfully.
By then, Lucian had already reached the Grace behind the castle.
Lucian removed his helmet. It was a habit of his. He did not want to speak with Melina while wearing it; that would feel somewhat impolite, so he took it off every time.
As he sat before the Grace, Melina appeared.
Seeing Lucian wrapped from head to toe in the Banished Knight Set, Melina could not help praising it.
"What beautiful, sturdy armor. With this equipment, the battles ahead will be much safer."
Lucian strongly agreed.
The Banished Knight's equipment was indeed excellent. Though it was heavy armor, it did not sacrifice too much mobility.
No wonder Castle Sol's finest warrior had been able to use Lightning Whirlwind Slash so fluidly.
Melina extended her hand, signaling Lucian to take it.
"Take my hand. I will bring you to the Roundtable Hold."
"No, the Roundtable Hold can wait. I want to convert my Runes into strength first."
Lucian placed his hand in Melina's.
Feeling the enormous amount of Runes within Lucian, Melina was greatly shocked, followed by deep confusion.
The Misbegotten had not possessed many Runes, and the Leonine Misbegotten could not possibly have had so many. Where had these Runes come from?
Melina had watched from Lucian's side throughout the battle. If there had been an enemy carrying an enormous amount of Runes, she could not have failed to notice.
The only time she had stopped following him was when Lucian had washed himself in the adjoining room. She had remained in the guest room, idly lost in thought.
Was it then?
No, forget it. Everyone has their secrets.
Since we are companions now, I should trust him as he trusts me.
Although Melina had initially called it a transaction when she spoke to Lucian,
she could tell that Lucian had never regarded it as merely a transaction from the very beginning.
He had truly trusted her as his second Maiden.
Even when she had tested Lucian, that act of distrust had not angered him. His attitude toward her remained exactly as it had been before.
Since that was the case, she should not pry into her companion's secrets either.
"Melina, what's wrong?"
Seeing Melina suddenly space out, Lucian called to her, interrupting her thoughts.
"Sorry, I was distracted for a moment. Please tell me which aspects you wish to strengthen."
Lucian was just about to explain the stat allocation he had planned earlier when, looking at the attribute panel only he could see, he discovered in surprise that his Endurance and Strength had each increased by one point.
Lucian carefully checked again. That was right. His Endurance had been 11 and his Strength 15 last time, but they were now 12 and 16.
Fortunately, Melina spoke up, neatly answering Lucian's question.
"Oh, and congratulations. Your Endurance and Strength increased during battle."
Lucian thought about it. He had constantly pushed his stamina to its limits in the previous battles, so it was only natural that it had improved after recovering.
After all, aside from Tarnished, other beings such as soldiers still had to rely on training if they wanted to grow stronger.
Yet Lucian still had a question, so he asked Melina.
"Will these attributes that increase naturally raise the Rune cost?"
If they did raise the cost, then it would not matter much if the attributes had been ones he already intended to level up.
But if attributes he had no plans to raise for the time being increased, it would disrupt Lucian's Rune allocation.
"No. Attributes gained through your own training naturally will not increase Rune costs."
Thankfully, they did not increase the cost.
Lucian thought for a moment and began assigning his points.
First, he added 6 points to Vigor, bringing it to 25. The goal was simple: be as steady as a rock.
He added 4 points to Endurance, which, along with the point gained through battle, brought it to 16.
He added 4 points to Strength. With the point it had gained on its own, it reached 21.
He also added 4 points to Dexterity, bringing it to 18.
He had added a total of 18 attribute points, leaving over 3,000 Runes.
By the game's standards, Lucian had jumped from level 15 to level 32 in one go. And because he had gained two points through battle, his actual attributes were now equivalent to level 34.
His level had more than doubled. His strength had soared, surged, exploded!
Now, as a warrior, Lucian's power had improved across the board.
Lucian clenched and unclenched his hand, feeling the newly gained strength.
There was a basis for Lucian's stat allocation. He was not simply spreading points evenly at random.
Vigor went without saying. Could a warrior really call himself one without raising Vigor to 40?
The Banished Knight Set was somewhat heavy, so Endurance was essential for combat.
Strength and Dexterity were for mastering a variety of weapons.
And now that both his Strength and Dexterity were fairly high, Lucian could freely wield most warrior weapons, whether it was a Greatsword requiring tremendous Strength or a large curved sword like Bloodhound's Fang that demanded both Strength and Dexterity.
The more varied his weapons were, the more flexible his tactics could be.
He could also pull out different weapons tailored to different enemies.
As for Intelligence, Faith, and Arcane, Lucian did not rely on those for combat for the time being.
If Intelligence genuinely increased one's intellect, Lucian would absolutely prioritize maxing it out.
Unfortunately, Intelligence here was merely one's capacity to comprehend magic.
Besides, as long as he used Wind Spirit Moon Shadow, enabled the fivefold Rune multiplier, and fought achievement bosses, would not a full-stat build be inevitable sooner or later?
After defeating one, he could use the fivefold Runes to level up, then use the restored attempts on the next achievement boss. It was a completely cost-free deal.
Lucian looked at Melina and smiled confidently.
"All right, Melina. Take me to the Roundtable Hold."
"Let me see how I compare to those heroes."
Melina looked at Lucian and smiled as well.
"I believe that even among those heroes, you will surely be the most radiant."
Combat was awesome! The early game would mostly follow a storm-based warrior style, since this was a Vagabond Knight start. Once the snowball got rolling in the midgame, he would begin turning into a minor full-stat build, using Intelligence and Faith to branch into the various related questlines. There should not be any issue with the setting that attributes could improve through training, right? Growing stronger in battle was a warrior's destiny to begin with. Of course, the protagonist would not gain many points in total—I expected fewer than ten altogether, mostly just some early-game boosts. The main purpose was to give NPCs a chance to grow, since they could not allocate points. Lastly, as always, please send some recommendation votes my way! ∩_∩
Before you continue