First Battle

Green, having completed the condensation of his Life Seed, did not return to the castle immediately.

He wanted to test his own strength.

Old Green naturally had no intention of stopping him.

However, Green's advancement to Knight Apprentice was a major event for the entire barony. Old Green drove the carriage back to the castle himself to prepare a feast for Green.

After seeing Old Green off, Green went to the warehouse beside the cottage.

Before leaving, Old Green had already handed him the key.

Green opened the warehouse doors and found several training targets inside.

The best way to test strength was archery. In every era, archers represented the elite; without enough strength, one could not even draw a bow.

Holding the targets he had found in the warehouse, Green set them up at 100, 300, 600, and 1,000 paces. Assuming an adult's pace was roughly 75 centimeters, 100 paces was 75 meters, 300 paces was 225 meters, 600 paces was 450 meters, and 1,000 paces was 750 meters. Once the distances felt about right, Green secured the targets to the ground.

"By the calculations from my previous life, Lü Bu's Shooting the Halberd at the Camp Gate was probably at a distance of around 100 to 200 meters. I should be worth at least several Lü Bus now, right?" Green suddenly thought inexplicably while fixing the targets in place.

Returning to the warehouse entrance, Green picked up the prepared bow and arrows. They were all standard-issue guard equipment brought from the castle before Green's advancement.

The guards' standard equipment was made of wood. Without extraordinary physiques, the guards could not draw metal bows and could only use wooden ones. Even so, in this world of extraordinary power, the guards' physical qualities far surpassed those of the elite soldiers from his previous life.

After weighing the bows in his hand, Green found that those made from special wood still had some heft. In his hands, however, they seemed a little light.

"This will do for now. I'm only testing their destructive power," Green said thoughtfully.

The Storm Breathing Technique already provided a high boost to his basic attributes. With the Chip's intervention, Green's physical qualities had reached the limit of a Knight Apprentice. These standard-issue bows and arrows used by the guards already seemed outdated to an overpowered Green.

He picked up the quiver beside him. It was filled with fifteen arrows.

Steeling his concentration, Green drew the bow to its full length and aimed at the distant target.

[Auxiliary Activated] Green silently recited in his mind.

Blue light appeared in Green's eyes. He adjusted his posture until it overlapped perfectly with the blue light in his vision.

"Whoosh!"

The instant the blue light aligned, Green released the bowstring. The arrow, tipped with white fletching, shot forward.

With a thud, the arrow struck the target at 100 paces. But that was not the end. Carrying tremendous force, the arrow pierced straight through the target and continued flying for more than ten meters before slamming into the ground, half of it even sinking into the earth.

Seeing the incredible lethality of the arrow he had fired, Green felt a surge of exhilaration. After training for so long, he finally had something to show for it. In this dangerous world, he now possessed the power to protect himself.

Striking while the iron was hot, Green sent one feathered arrow after another flying. With the Chip's assistance, he was practically incapable of missing. Every arrow struck the bull's-eye precisely. Even at a distance of 1,000 paces, Green could still put every arrow on target.

Just as Green was immersed in his archery, a faint tremor reached him, and the Chip instantly issued an alarm.

[Unknown heat source detected approaching. Prepare for combat immediately. Combat assistance activated]

The Chip's warning interrupted Green's immersion in his archery. Green, who had always distrusted the outside world, immediately tightened his grip on the bow.

However, Green did not immediately assume a defensive stance. From the Chip's analysis, the unknown heat source was in the forest to the right of the warehouse, still a considerable distance away. It would be difficult for the other party to launch a surprise attack. The only thing he needed to be wary of was a ranged attack such as an arrow.

[Humanoid organism detected—or rather, a human]

Looking at the image from the Chip, Green saw that spring had just arrived. The heavy snow had absorbed the heat, leaving the entire forest in a relatively low-temperature state. Under the Chip's heat sensing, the humanoid figure in the forest was exceptionally conspicuous.

Without changing expression, Green touched his quiver. Only five arrows remained. Pretending that nothing had happened, he picked up the Longsword beside him. Then he walked toward the targets as though he intended to retrieve his arrows.

Although he remained calm on the surface, Green's scalp had gone numb. An unprecedented feeling surged through his heart.

[Adrenaline rising. Energy activity within the body increasing]

Green could feel strength surging through his body. His body had already prepared itself to face danger. Even so, Green still hoped that no fight would break out. He had too little combat experience, and he knew too little about the enemy. Rashly becoming embroiled in battle was itself a risk.

At a time like this, he still had to play it safe.

[Long-range projectile detected. Roll forward and crouch to evade immediately]

An unprecedented sense of danger flooded Green's heart. He felt a frantic warning at his temples, as though a sharp sword were about to pierce him. With no time to think, Green followed the Chip's prompt and instinctively threw himself forward.

A thud reached Green's ears, like a blunt weapon smashing into the ground. He felt the soil beside him fly up, with some of it even landing on his face.

"Hmm?" The person attacking Green from afar let out a puzzled sound, apparently surprised that Green had managed to dodge.

Green had narrowly escaped by lying flat on the ground. His adrenaline erupted wildly, and the fear in his heart was instantly drowned out by rage—the rage of nearly losing his life overwhelming his primal terror.

Without the slightest hesitation, Green rolled over, nocked an arrow, and drew the bow. With the Chip's assistance, he locked onto his opponent in an instant.

The arrow shot forward and flew straight toward the target. Fueled by adrenaline, Green unleashed all his strength in this attack, sending the arrow speeding through the air so quickly that the other party had no time to react.

"Chk!" The sound of an arrow piercing flesh rang out.

[Target injured]

Seeing the message transmitted by the Chip, Green nocked another arrow without hesitation.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!" Green fired three arrows. With the Chip's powerful calculations and nearly penetrating heat detection, the three arrows completely sealed off the opponent's escape routes.

"Damn, what kind of Monster is this?" Sike cursed under his breath. After being struck by the first arrow of Green's counterattack, Sike had already grown afraid. He had not exposed himself, yet his opponent had still discovered his position and launched a swift counterattack.

When he saw Green's three-arrow volley, Sike was even scared out of his wits. It was as if he had heard the call of the Death God. Coldness spread throughout his body, and his blood seemed to freeze.

Without the slightest hesitation, Sike reached into his clothes and touched a pale green bead. He crushed it viciously in his hand.

The instant the bead shattered, a translucent white shield appeared. Green's three arrows slammed into it with tremendous force.

The shield lasted for only a very short time. It merely blocked Green's three arrows for an instant before vanishing.

But that instant was enough for Sike. Clutching his wounded left arm with his right hand, he fled beyond the area covered by the three arrows and ran straight into the depths of the Annabur Mountains without looking back.

Green did not rashly pursue him. What if the other party had laid an ambush or had companions nearby? With his lack of combat experience, he might very well lose his life.

Watching the heat image from the Chip, Green only dropped onto the ground after confirming that the other party had fled.

Green's mind remained blank for quite some time before he slowly recovered. Looking at his trembling hands and feeling the exhaustion radiating through his body, the swelling pride he had felt in his newfound strength vanished completely.

Bracing himself up slowly with one hand, Green took several deep breaths and steadied his mind.

Walking to the pit in the ground beside him, Green looked at the hidden weapon used in the ambush. It was a huge iron dart with tail fins to stabilize its trajectory.

Green cut off a corner of his clothing with the Longsword. After wrapping the dart in it, he carefully picked it up.

He was not certain whether the other party had coated the dart's surface with poison. Better safe than sorry.

After examining the dart closely, Green quickly discovered a line of small characters on its tail fins.

[Saladin First Legion, First Reconnaissance Squad, Sike]

Damn, was he really that bold? He didn't even bother disguising it?

Green now knew exactly who had launched the attack. It was perfectly normal for Saladin to attack people from the Lodin Kingdom.

Green was clearly a Knight Apprentice as well. Killing him would probably count as a considerable military achievement. No wonder the other party had attacked him directly.

"Damn, how unlucky can I be? I just broke through and immediately ran into something like this." After lamenting his luck, Green's expression turned solemn. The shadow of war was drawing closer and closer. The days of peace probably would not last more than a few days.

After stuffing the dart into his pocket, Green slowly walked toward the forest. During this skirmish, he had not seen the other party's face or figure at all, relying entirely on the Chip's heat-imaging ability. He still needed to investigate how exactly the other party had escaped.

According to the image transmitted by the Chip, the arrows seemed to have been obstructed by something when they neared the opponent, giving him enough time to escape.

At the edge of the forest, Green used the Longsword in his hand to hack apart the nearby bushes and walked toward the place where the attack had been launched.

"The attacker's final strike landed in the ground beside me. That means he launched the attack from higher ground." Green analyzed the situation and looked up at the towering tree before him.

Relying on his physical strength, Green easily leaped onto the branches. After searching for a long while, Green confirmed that the opponent had launched the attack on a sudden impulse. In an environment where movement was restricted by the branches, launching a surprise attack had not been a good choice.

It had been easy for him to be counter-killed, just like with Green's three-arrow volley. It had nearly cost him his life.

However, Green still found no clues about how the other party had blocked the arrows.

He arrived at the place where the opponent had launched the attack, imitated the attack, and confirmed that his three arrows had indeed locked down the opponent completely.

Just as Green was thinking, the Chip suddenly spoke.

[High-Energy Matter detected. Collect immediately.]

Hearing the Chip's prompt, Green immediately crouched down to search. He soon found scattered green powder.

[Large quantity of Life Force Crystals detected. Life force is dissipating. Absorb immediately?]

[Absorb immediately]

Good things really do fall from the sky. Green was overjoyed.

As the green powder vanished, a warm current slowly flowed into Green's body. He could not help moaning.

[Green]

[Strength: 2.6]

[Speed: 2.8]

[Constitution: 3.1]

After absorbing the energy in the green powder, all of Green's attributes increased by 0.1. This was no small matter. Green's constitution had already reached the upper limit of what a Knight Apprentice could attain. Moreover, because Green's calculations used curve-based growth, these three increases of 0.1 made him at least thirty percent stronger than before.

After confirming that there was no more useful information, Green hurried back to the castle to tell Old Green about what had happened.