Looking at Harold, Jiang Jie felt a real pain in the balls.
The father believed in the Holy Light, while the son embraced the shadows... What an interesting father and son.
"Nicholas, this is Basil Luther, a full member of the Order of the Silver Hand and my guide in the Holy Light." Harold pointed to the only Paladin. "Lord Basil is a student of Lord Uther the Lightbringer, an intermediate-rank Paladin."
Basil!
A full member of the Order of the Silver Hand!
A student of Uther the Lightbringer!
An intermediate-rank Paladin!
That string of titles revealed just how extraordinary this Paladin was.
Even within the Order of the Silver Hand, an intermediate-rank Paladin held a captain-level position and enjoyed high standing. Every Paladin in the Order of the Silver Hand held the title of knight of the kingdom. An intermediate-rank Paladin's standing was far beyond that of Roand, an intermediate-rank rogue.
Although rogue was one of Jiang Jie's favorite classes, he had to admit that the differences in prestige between classes were enormous.
Paladins combined Warriors and Priests in one. Compared with Warriors and rogues of the same rank, Paladins were superior in both strength and status, with their status even matching that of mages and Priests.
This was not a game.
This had always been an unfair world!
"Nicholas Jiang pays his respects, Lord Basil." Jiang Jie quickly bowed.
Basil nodded, evidently a man of few words.
Most Paladins were not good with words, unless they had started out as Priests. Jiang Jie did not mind.
Everyone had arrived, and they were now waiting for Mage Nolan and his three students.
No one complained. The royal guards had all undergone rigorous training, and the two knights adhered strictly to the knightly code. Besides, the person they were waiting for was an esteemed lord mage.
Ten minutes later, a carriage finally arrived, and Mage Nolan stepped out.
Mage Nolan was around fifty, with graying hair and a somewhat aged appearance. Humans in this world had an average lifespan of fifty at most. Mages often had weaker constitutions than other classes, and most were so absorbed in researching and studying magical knowledge that they spent their entire lives in less-than-healthy condition. Their lifespans were often shorter than those of other classes.
Mage Nolan had essentially reached the end of his life. Death might already have been beckoning to him; there was no telling how many years he had left.
Many mages devoted their entire lives to magic, only remembering to recruit a few apprentices to pass down their knowledge and spells when they were near death. Mage Nolan was one of them.
A very ordinary, very conventional mage.
Three young mages followed behind him.
At first glance, Jiang Jie spotted that pale, plump young noble with his nose in the air, Dudley Dursley.
"Nicholas! Why is this lowborn here? I demand that he be thrown out! He doesn't deserve to join our party!" From over ten meters away, Jiang Jie heard Dudley's shrieks, and his expression instantly darkened.
Even a clay figure had a temper, let alone a living, breathing person!
The next moment, Jiang Jie vanished.
Stealth!
"Where's that lowborn Nicholas? Where's that damned slave? How did he suddenly disappear? Come out! Or I'll kill you! I'll have my father kill you!" Dudley kept shrieking, utterly unaware that Jiang Jie had used Stealth.
That pigheaded idiot with a brain full of lard!
He could not maintain his normal running speed while in Stealth, so Jiang Jie slowly approached. A dozen or so meters was not far to begin with, and he covered the distance in a few seconds.
No one stopped him.
The Paladin and the knight of the kingdom both stood where they were. They had been knighted by the king and were loyal to Lordaeron, not the Dursley Family. In fact, neither knight belonged to the peacekeeping force controlled by Baron Soroson. One belonged to the Order of the Silver Hand led by Uther, and the other belonged to the royal guard force personally commanded by His Majesty the King.
Baron Soroson had no authority over them. Simply put, they did not give a damn about a mere baron!
Without orders from those two, the well-trained royal guards remained motionless. Even if an assassin killed someone right in front of them, they would not budge!
As for Mage Nolan and the other two mages, for some unknown reason, they did not intervene either.
In that case...
"Sap!"
Jiang Jie silently circled behind Dudley and raised his hand to deliver a Sap!
Of course, he very much wanted to replace Sap with Ambush, Sinister Strike, or Eviscerate and kill Dudley outright. But they were still inside Lordaeron, under the watch of the peacekeeping force controlled by Baron Soroson, with several mages and knights present. He had no wish to court death yet.
But the next moment, a necklace around Dudley's neck flashed with azure light. The dazzling glow made Jiang Jie narrow his eyes slightly. Arcane energy flowed through the shimmering radiance, transforming in an instant into a layer of azure Mage Armor that kept his dagger outside. No matter what he did, he could not stab through!
This fat pig of a fellow actually had a magical necklace hanging around his neck!
"Hahaha, slave, did you think I was as poor as you? Let me tell you, this magical necklace of mine could buy ten slaves like you! Even if I stood still and let you hack at me all day, you couldn't get through! This magical necklace was personally enchanted by an intermediate-rank mage from Dalaran! A slave like you could never hope to touch one in your entire life!" Dudley roared with laughter.
"Is that so?"
Jiang Jie sneered. No defensive spell was eternally unbreakable. Even Dalaran's Violet Citadel Barrier could be breached, let alone a little Mage Armor enchantment on a magical necklace.
The next skill was...
"Sinister Strike!"
"Sinister Strike!"
"Sinister Strike!"
"Sinister Strike!"
"Sinister Strike!"
"Eviscerate!"
Jiang Jie attacked so quickly that he unleashed five Sinister Strikes in an instant!
Rogues relied on energy to use skills. Apart from the very few who possessed special talents, rogues had a fixed total amount of energy, only so much to draw on, and a constant recovery rate. This directly limited how frequently they could use skills.
High-rank rogues recovered energy faster and had larger energy pools. But even a high-rank assassin at Miles's level had a limited energy recovery rate and could not possibly use skills as rapidly as Jiang Jie!
Because what Jiang Jie used was not the energy unique to rogues, but...
Internal energy!
Thus, energy recovery was not an issue for him. As long as he had enough internal energy, he could use skills without restriction!
In the blink of an eye, Jiang Jie had already used Sinister Strike five times.
Of course, at his level, the amount of internal energy he could use for each Sinister Strike was limited. The two daggers in his hands were also Blades of Cunning obtained from the low-rank assassin Melva. Forged from refined steel without any enchantments, their power was limited.
Thus, even five Sinister Strikes failed to break the Mage Armor on Dudley. It was intermediate-rank Mage Armor, enough to withstand two full-power attacks from an intermediate-rank rogue!
But that did not matter.
Five Sinister Strikes had built up five combo points. The next attack, Sinister Strike used as a finishing move, was known in professional rogue terminology as...
"Five-Star Eviscerate!"