Heading into Town Again!

"Lin Ke, will you become my disciple?"

Ove's voice boomed like thunder, and everyone throughout the castle heard him in an instant.

John and Nix, who stood closest, jumped at Ove's sudden shout.

Even Ove startled himself after shouting, his whole body going rigid.

Oh, how embarrassing.

So many people had heard him!

Lin Ke froze for a second, then immediately dropped to his knees. "I am willing to become your disciple, Master Ove!"

Well now, he had no idea why Ove had suddenly taken a liking to him, but an opportunity like this couldn't be missed!

Ove hadn't expected Lin Ke to be so decisive either. Then he remembered the concerned look Lin Ke had given him earlier.

He really is a gentle child... A little warmth stirred in Ove's heart.

He had always known that Lin Ke was trying to help him become less afraid of people. He had noticed everything the boy did.

"Get up, child."

Ove's voice was gentle.

Lin Ke felt a little embarrassed. He had actually tricked such a gentle elder into becoming his teacher through all sorts of schemes.

He would have to treat this teacher well from now on.

And so... for a while, teacher and pupil enjoyed perfect harmony, each finding the other more likable by the moment.

"Master, I'm going into town to buy some supplies in a couple of days. Would you like to come with me?"

After a while, Lin Ke asked the question.

It hadn't been long since their last shopping trip, but Lin Ke needed a lot of materials.

Besides, the castle's two celebrations-one for Ove's arrival and the other for Lin Ke becoming a [Scholar]-meant they needed to buy more fine ingredients.

And they needed a lot.

After all, as Steward Billy put it, now that Young Master Lin Ke had become a Professional, he could no longer eat ordinary ingredients.

Lin Ke also wanted to take a proper look around that little town. His last visit had been so rushed that he hadn't explored it at all.

"Hmm, I won't be going."

Just imagining those crowds made Ove feel hot all over, as though a level-nineteen lava behemoth had burned him a hundred times.

But after some thought, Ove added, "I heard you encountered a level-two Deep Blue Giant Tiger last time... How about this? I'll summon a level-five Servant of Truth for you to take along. Remember to use it if you run into danger."

Level five was quite impressive.

As far as Lin Ke knew, a skill slot became available every two levels.

Compared with magic, skills consumed less energy, took less time, and could inflict greater damage.

That sounded like little more than another version of magic, but thinking about the difference between swords and guns made the distinction clear.

Undeniably, swords were more useful in certain situations, but most of the time, Professionals preferred to solve problems with a shot to the head.

And casting level-five magic or using a level-five skill required a level-ten Professional.

The Deep Blue Giant Tigers from before had only been level one and level two.

"Thank you, Master," Lin Ke said.

Ove nodded, feeling a little dazed. The first disciple of his centuries-long life stood right before him. For someone so accustomed to being alone, it truly felt different.

Next, the lesson began.

Ove began explaining knowledge from other fields.

He mainly possessed some knowledge of the study of force and the study of lightning. His knowledge of other fields amounted to little more than "knowing a bit" or "having heard of it."

Still, this allowed Lin Ke to rapidly absorb knowledge and gauge the general state of research in this world.

And so, two days passed.

The ox cart slowly set off once again.

This time, Lin Ke and Furon were much safer.

With Ove in the castle, Lin Ke could assign more guards to accompany them.

And the guards themselves had changed as well.

Lin Ke had purchased bow-making methods from some nearby hunters, then had two hundred bows made and arranged dedicated archery training.

Steward Billy said that Lin Ke's bastard of a father had never distinguished between infantry and archers. His soldiers had always consisted solely of Knights.

Though that referred to the [Knight] class.

"Little Lin Ke, we won't run into those tigers again this time, will we?" Furon was worried enough that she hadn't even gotten out of the cart to play.

This made Nix, beside her, feel guilty. Lin Ke hurried over to comfort Furon. "It's all right, Mother. I'm a powerful Professional now."

Unfortunately, he had learned neither magic nor any skills, because he hadn't even reached level one yet.

Calling himself powerful was merely a way to reassure Furon.

"Yes! That's right, little Lin Ke is really amazing now." Looking at Lin Ke before her, Furon couldn't resist pinching his cheeks.

Lin Ke let her pinch them a few times.

Once Furon was in a better mood, she got out of the cart to play, and John went with her.

Bringing Furon along this time had been Lin Ke's idea to begin with. Ultimately, a young girl like Furon was just a village girl who had seen little of the world. The tiger encounter last time had given her quite a fright.

This was a good chance for her to relax.

Lin Ke looked at Nix. "Nix, you don't need to blame yourself. Even if I hadn't given you shelter back then, the outcome would've been the same once those two tigers encountered us."

Those two tigers would have followed Nix's scent and then come across Lin Ke and the others.

And upon encountering the two tigers, Lin Ke's first thought would certainly have been that wild beasts had come out of the woods to hunt. He probably would have attacked immediately.

So Nix had no reason to blame himself.

Nix nodded at his words, his expression easing a little.

The convoy traveled north at a steady pace.

Inside the cart, Lin Ke closed his eyes and began cultivating.

Seeing that someone as talented as Lin Ke cultivated whenever he could, Nix sat down too.

Beyond the soul space lay darkness, with all sorts of specks of light flickering within it.

Lin Ke spread out his consciousness, caught those faint specks, and tossed them like food to the "Knowledge" sapling growing inside his soul space.

This was meditation.

With his Andrew Level talent, the sapling could consume a tremendous number of specks of light, so he had to feed it plenty.

Fortunately, his soul was strong enough. Aside from the two souls having merged when he transmigrated, whatever that King of the Gods had left behind was probably playing a part as well.

Suddenly, amid the scattered specks in the darkness, Lin Ke spotted a large green light in the distance.

What a huge clump of wood element!

Delighted, Lin Ke immediately abandoned the tiny specks and lunged at the large one with all his strength, enveloping it and dragging it back.

He dragged it to the edge of his soul space, then hurled it at his knowledge bloodline without hesitation.

Upon contact, the bloodline immediately absorbed the large speck of wood element like a sponge soaking up water.

In an instant, a feeling of fullness came from his knowledge bloodline.

Holy shit, that's a lot!

All done.

Lin Ke, who had only just closed his eyes, opened them again. Seeing Nix cultivating beside him, he quietly slipped out.

"John, aren't you going to meditate?"

Lin Ke jumped down from the cart and saw John happily helping Furon put flowers in her hair.

John, who was having a wonderful time, stiffened at Lin Ke's words.

Lin Ke shook his head and walked over, advising him, "If you want to catch up to Nix and follow in my footsteps, you'll have to work very hard."

Cultivation, or meditation, was actually very boring.

Just like studying in his previous life.

But to get into university, you had to be patient and rein in your natural urge to play before you could achieve anything.

Right or wrong aside, that was how the world worked.

So if John wanted to achieve something in the future, he would have to cultivate diligently.