“Thanks. I really appreciate hearing it from you. You, Robert, changed a lot on the other hand.” William looked at his mate again, capturing the scene of a half-naked man with armor in his hands to the image in his memory. Right now Stick looked like a different person.
Still short, he now was not near as thin as before. His body had got some muscles, making it look dense, but not huge. Any signs of weakness were gone, changing a feeling into a drawn bowstring just before the shot. The scars, which looked like from predator’s paws, blades, and even teeth, only added to that image. The same was true with inner heaviness that emitted from green eyes under bushy eyebrows. The horrible scar around his right eye that went through his cheeck and was partially covered by messy stubble. The short black hair on top of his head wasn’t in better shape as it was clearly cut with just a knife by an untrained hand. Robert was not handsome in the slightest with his aquiline nose and rugged features, but he definitely had some charisma of a fierce and experienced warriors. However, William was speaking not about appearance.
“You are not Stick anymore. You are more like Thorn now. Maybe still small and thin, but it can hurt anyone, who is not careful enough. Not only with your axe or mace but also with your sometimes harsh words. Don’t think that I am blind or oblivious. In my current position, I can’t change anything. Maybe in some way, I am quite naive, raised by a knight to become a knight, but I know that even walls can have ears. Plus to have some power to influence people around, I indeed need to be in a higher position.” William pointed up, finishing his words. “Maybe much higher than I initially wanted.”
“Then I only can wish you good luck, my friend.” Robert smiled wider, putting his sincerity into it.
“Thank you, Thorn. Again, I really appreciate it.” Aspen smiled back with a nod.
“What did I miss? Thorn? That sounds quite good and fits Robert!” Wolf barged in, immediately loudly capturing attention to himself.
“Oh, William just told me that he will soon become a knight, but also we will continue our advancement tomorrow.”
“Congrats, man! And fuck it! What the hell about continuing?” Lawrence's emotions started to boil, while Robert was thinking about another thing.
Maybe I was wrong about William…
They spent the next few hours speaking. Part of it was memories of Monk, while other future plans and goals. Only Aspen had aimed very high, straightforwardly walking his path without any doubts. That made Robert’s joke once more about his own goal of survival for food and entertainment. A similar situation was with Wolf – the image of being the barber was deeply integrated into his mind, so he was just collecting money for it. This again led to his sincere rage about being unpaid by the Baron, but William managed to calm him down, promising him to help, when he will become a knight.
“Is there any special ceremony for that? To become a knight?” asked Wolf, drinking from his flask again. He also offered it to Robert and William, but both refused, not willing to be drunk on the enemy’s territory.
“Of course, there is. You didn’t actually believe it was just a simple tradition, which can be conducted in any circumstances? What a nonsense!” Aspen laughed, holding his sarcastic comments only because of his upbringing.
“Oh, does it relate to the process of giving a spirit heart to the future knight?” asked Rob, after some thinking.
“Indeed. Sensing mana is a requirement to become a mage or a knight. However, the difference between them is not only in skills and training but also in the capacity of mana, which can be stored in the body. Our bodies naturally can’t store enough to be used such freely as knights can. A warrior must imbue his body with mana to strengthen it beforehand. Mages, on the other hand, use their mana outwards to charge rune circles for special effects. Only because of spirit hearts, a warrior can be named a knight. In theory, I think mages could use it too, but it is forbidden and, moreover, that will not change anything for them. Rune circles are too big and not mobile, while fueling additional energy can only hasten their charge time. Therefore, there is a special ceremony twice a year, where all possible knight candidates are gathered and ranked by their merits. Spirits stones are limited, so only the best can get them.” Surprisingly, William explained everything in detail.
You may be surprised what mages can do in books and games…
“Boring… It's just a noble version of dicks measurement!” Lawrence smirked.
“In some way – yes, but after the ceremony there is always a ball. Many noble families are searching for possible fiancé for their daughters and future knights with potential but without anything else are very good options,” William nodded with a barely visible smile.
“At least you have already covered that side with your girl,” Wolf grinned while hitting Aspen’s shoulder.
“I hope she will wait for me as she promised,” The future knight only sighed at that remark, clearly showing sadness.
“Don’t worry, man, she will without any doubts. Look at yourself – if not you, who will she choose? Some random fat guy? Nope. However, if it even happens, so what? You will have plenty of options out there. As it said – there a lot of fish in the ocean.” Robert’s attempt to cheer up his friend made Aspen smile.
“That is said by the man, who literally touched a woman’s body just once, but acts like a seasonal bed warrior. But he is right – you don’t have to worry about it. Everything will work out!” Wolf didn’t lag behind in lifting the blonde’s mood. Robert noticed that it helped, but the absent focus of William made him change the subject.
“By the way, how do you know about mages and knights? You slipped the tongue that you were raised by a knight to become a knight already… can you elaborate? Of course, if you are ready. I don’t insist, just curious.”
“Well, speaking short – I am the son of banished marquise’s son and magician from a tower. They both died when I was still a child because of betrayal, and I was raised by the old master of my father in a distant village. That is also one of my goals – to avenge their death, but for that, I will need enough strength, both personal and authoritative.”
“Just wow! You are like the main hero in some stories,” Robert’s first reaction was wide-open eyes, finally confirming his prior suspicions. However, seeing the absence of understanding from both Wolf and Aspen, he hastily corrected himself. “I think I’ve read some historical books… Or was it legends? As you remember, I have huge gaps in my memory. Don’t be bothered.”
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“Speaking of legends – you just need to become an archiknight. Then every single knight has to bow before you!” Wolf roared with a laugh. “Have you read about it, Rob?”
“Joking about the mess in my head is not funny. Archiknights don’t exist, right?” He turned to William.
“No, they did exist, but that was long ago. Only one recorded case. In knight’s tradition, hierarchy of strength is everything, so if it really happens and archiknight appears somewhere, he may become a ruler. But it is just a legend, and I don’t think that any Duke will give up on their power just because of old tradition.” William shook his head, before adding “Thank you for not asking more questions about my past… And it’s good to finally tell someone about it.”
“Be at ease. That is what are friends for! But telling sounds a bit exaggerated – you basically told just three sentences!”
They managed to prolong their gathering for half an hour before Robert was called for guard duty for the rest of the night. William went back to Baron’s place of stay, while Wolf continued to drink slowly, defiantly aiming to finish the flask without being completely drunk. Lawrence was clearly closer to Paul, and Rob suspected that it was his way of grieving the loss.
Sergeant Daniels, who managed to survive and didn’t get any wounds, led Robert around the camp, ordering him to follow that route until the morning. Because of limited forces after the fierce battle, they had put only several hidden spots in empty houses to guard their stay, while Rob with two more soldiers was sent to patrol. The next hours were quite boring. There was enough light to see everything clearly, but the overall atmosphere in the captured village was heavy. Rob knew that right now he was on the side of the aggressor. Fortunately, most of the local citizens evacuated beforehand and he didn’t have to witness or participate in subduing them. Still, it was just a matter of time before such a situation would occur and Robert wasn’t sure he would have any ability to disobey the order without huge consequences, including possible execution for treason. The real question was to what extent he would go to save his morale in such conditions? Rob didn’t know. Moreover, he didn’t wish to know.
It is again a matter of personal power. However, without the ability to sense mana, how can I have enough of it to ignore the possible confrontation with a knight and their energy-imbued armor or weapon? There is no chance for me. I can only partly compensate it with pure physical strength to exhaust them faster while avoiding any direct hits at all. Yeah, sounds very realistic. To have skill on par with warriors, who trained from childhood. Only my ability to focus on many objects simultaneously is my single advantage… Plus I need to train my physique – just fighting isn’t enough.
He remembered what shock he got when he discovered the actual drop in his Strength stat by one point. Robert subconsciously thought that his stats worked like in any game or novel – they were permanent and without any debuffs from illness, poison, or magic curses, they would stay on the same level for the time being. It was a stupid thought that crumbled under harsh reality quite quickly. The peak form only could be achieved by dedicated training. Still, he got some improvements from constant traveling and fighting, but he couldn’t lazy around on previous achievements.
Speaking of it, let’s see my status. It’s been a while since the previous check. Sometimes I even forget about it – such slow the change is.
Looking around to confirm no one near, Robert stopped near the corner of the building. Focusing on his forearm, he made his tattoo appear with a glow for a second before his vision was obscured by the familiar window.
Envoy of Wepwakor (candidate) – Tier 0
Strength 14/23 Agility 12/17 Endurance 17/25 Toughness 8/15
Vitality 10/16 Perception 10/14 Mind 40/50 Core 18/20
Mana regeneration (7): 1% in apr. 165 seconds
Current level of mana – 100%
Abilities: Adaptive
Traits: Remolded, Envoy, Spirit, Anchor, Imbuing
What is that? Imbuing? It is something new… I am already 3-4 points short of a human’s peak in my Strength, Agility, and Endurance. However, that is still one-third more in each respective characteristic from my current standing. Moreover, the peak condition of locals is noticeably higher. Not sure about Perception and Core though. From what I noticed, they tend to have worse senses and the problem with mana capacity. Hm, also is there is way to change the screen? It is minimalistic, which I like; can show my progress, but I can’t refer to humans… But do I need it actually? Maybe to see overall effectiveness? Let’s try it…
For the first time, Robert tried to visualize the change in screen, just to see if he could do something with it. To his surprise, it did have an effect. Almost like triggering the command, his status blinked a few times, before sending a new message.
Initializing the visual change in the status screen for the user…
Done…
Envoy of Wepwakor (candidate) – Tier 0
Strength 14 (380%) out of max 23 (895%); humans average peak 18 (556%)
Agility 12 (314%) out of max 17 (505%); humans average peak 15 (418%)
Endurance 17 (505%) out of max 25 (1’083%); humans average peak 21 (740%)
Toughness 8 (214%) out of max 15 (418%); humans average peak 10 (259%)
Vitality 10 (259%) out of max 16 (459%); humans average peak 11 (285%)
Perception 10 (259%) out of max 14 (380%); humans average peak 16 (469%)
Mind 40 (4’526%) out of max 50 (11’739%); humans average peak 21 (740%)
Core 18 (556%) out of max 20 (673%); humans average peak 27 (1,311%)
Mana regeneration (7): 1% in apr. 165 seconds
Current level of mana – 95%
Abilities: Adaptive Growth
Traits: Remolded Brain, God’s Envoy, Spiritual Body, Soul Anchor, External Mana Imbuing
That’s overwhelming… Too many numbers. Way too many! I can get rid of a human’s average peak and can try to set the fulcrum from average humans, not the peak. I don’t believe I am lower than that in any stats right now. That will make a status screen cleaner and more informative. I am such an idiot that I didn’t try it early… However, I doubt this info will change anything, except convenience. Still, why not? After that, I can finally check External Mana Imbuing. I already can see that it has some references to Mana regeneration as it appears to be faster than before.
Okay, let’s think that 0 points are a baseline of the average human, while each point will get increased by 10% as before. Despite it being a universal instrument for God, I hope I can adapt it to my liking. At least visually. Guess they must have more abilities or even their own way of seeing it… Right now I need to decide if it's going to be additive or multiplicative. Damn, I really had to try it much earlier – a good way of spending time. Wait, but do I even need to compare myself to the average Earth human if I not going to see one any time soon? Or even ever? Hmm, first, let’s test some things…
Another mental command was followed by the same process, and a new image appeared in front of him. However, Robert only barely started to read it, before he felt the strong grip on his face, which immediately broke him from the process of observing the status screen. Still, the bright image it took some time for his eyes to adapt to darker surroundings. The time was fully utilized by an unknown attacker to slice Rob’s throat with a deep cut, preventing any possible screams. The surroundings immediately started to fade, when he failed to take another breath. Robert tried to turn around, to push away, or at least to warn everyone, but he just couldn’t. His body felt powerless, not being able even to lift a single finger. He was carefully put on the ground not to make any unnecessary noise, but by this moment all he could see was two moons high in the sky. Then everything went completely black.