The wizard starts by trimming the donkey's hooves

Chapter 272: Improvements and Improvements (Two chapters in one)

"High Priest, I heard from the Black Flame Church that they discovered a dormant ancient creature, the Earth Snake, in Mayest County. Do you think this news is true or false?" asked the middle-aged man with a black Ouroboros pattern painted on his forehead.

The high priest with a ring-shaped Ouroboros pattern on his lips smiled, staring at the other party with a pair of yellow vertical pupils, and said:

"Aren't we going there this time just to confirm whether it's true?"

"But I think what they said is true."

The middle-aged man nodded and said excitedly: "High Priest, it would be great if it were true!"

"According to the ancient records in the association, the digging ability of the ancient creature ground snake is second to none among all the giant beasts."

"With it, we can quickly dig tunnels to connect various branches together. In addition, we can also explore those deep underground ruins more easily."

"That's right! Holden, the fact that you can think of this shows that you have matured a lot. This is something a qualified high priest should consider." The high priest nodded.

The ancient creature ground snake can be nearly 100 meters long and several meters in diameter when it grows up. It is an absolute behemoth.

Although it is named after a snake, its head does not look like a snake's head. Instead, it looks more like a petal with teeth. It has super strong bite and crushing power, and can dig underground at an extremely fast speed.

In less than half an hour, an underground tunnel as long as the body can be dug.

Of course, the most important thing is that as the Secret Snake Cult, they have a special way to control the ancient creatures, the earth snakes.

Otherwise, if the Black Flame Church could control the earth snakes themselves, they would naturally not be so kind as to tell them this news.

After receiving the praise from the high priest, Holden laughed, but soon he frowned and said:
"However, even if this news is true, given the nature of the Black Flame Church, they will definitely extort money from you."

The high priest smiled and said, "Holdan, this is actually not important."

"What's important is whether the ground snake they found is an adult, what its condition is, and whether it can be awakened by the ritual. That's why I came here in person."

"If there are no problems, then what does it matter if we agree to some of their requests?"

Upon hearing this, Holden's brows relaxed and he nodded, "Indeed, I heard that their plan in Meister was thwarted."

"I guess they will probably ask us to cooperate."

"Then cooperate. The more trouble they make in Meister, the better it will be for us. However, Holden, you need to deal with a few bugs from the empire first. They are over there."

The high priest stretched out his hand, pointed to the left rear side of the carriage and said.

The back of his hand was covered with dark blue snake-like keratin. It didn't look like human skin at all, but more like snake skin.

"Hmm? Little bugs from the empire? Leave it to me!" Holden took off his hood, revealing a bald head with various mysterious symbols tattooed on it, and said with a chuckle.

The next second, he suddenly opened the door and jumped out of the speeding carriage.
-
Meister, Wolf Hills.

In a secret cave.

"Lord Bloodburner, the latest news just came from Welsh County, Lady Galina has failed!" The black-robed monk who reported had an unpleasant expression on his face.

"What? Galina is so careless?"

“She probably didn’t take the Earl’s daughter seriously and let her escape.” Laxul smiled, shook the dark red aged wine in the transparent glass, and then sniffed it.

Obviously, he didn't take the news seriously.

After all, the other party was a top student of the Imperial Royal Academy and the daughter of a count. She had some means of saving her life, so it was understandable that she escaped from Galina.

"This." Hearing Laxul say this, the Black Flame monk who was reporting looked strange and didn't know what to say for a moment.

"Huh? What's wrong? Did something happen?" Laxul's face solemnly, and the blood-red flame mark on his forehead flashed.

He quickly judged from the expressions of his subordinates that something unexpected must have happened.

"Yes, my lord, Lady Galina died in battle!"

"What?" Laxul's pupils shrank, and he stood up suddenly with an expression of disbelief on his face.

The blood-red flame on the forehead turned even darker red!
Galina used to be his subordinate, and after he was promoted, she took over his position as the High Priest of the County of Wales. Naturally, he was very clear about Galina's abilities.

When he heard the report just now, several possibilities flashed through his mind, one of which was that the Earl's daughter Claire had escaped.

But he had never thought that his former capable subordinate, now the High Priestess of Wales, Galina, would actually lose her life because of a task just like his!

You know, with Galina's attainments in illusion, even if it were him, it might be easy to defeat the opponent, but it would be extremely difficult to kill him.

"How did Galina die?"

"Is Claire, the daughter of Count Habsburg, so powerful?" Laxul, who had calmed down, asked in a deep voice.

"Sir, it's not that the Earl's daughter is so strong. According to the two surviving Protestants, she is probably just a peak knight."

"But there was a young man next to her who was extremely powerful. It was said that he killed 'Wild Bull' Bildas with one punch, and he also fought against the giant axe golem guard and destroyed it."

As his subordinates spoke, Laxul's expression was solemn at first, but after hearing that the golem guards were destroyed, he was shocked!
"What! You said that Galina even used the secret weapon like Golem Guard, but in the end, she failed to defeat the opponent and was killed by him instead?" Laxul looked as if he had seen a ghost.

He thought that Galina didn't take it seriously enough and was killed by a surprise attack due to carelessness.

Now it sounds like that’s not the case at all!

Galina attached great importance to his request this time, and brought along a strong man like 'Bison' Bildas, as well as the secret weapon 'Golem Guard'.

The key point is that they were all killed?
I will definitely be questioned by the higher authorities!

Moreover, the Golem Guard has been exposed this time, the Empire should pay more attention to the activities of the Church. Perhaps, the subsequent counterattack from the Empire is already brewing. It's really troublesome things one after another.
For a moment, Laxul found it a little difficult to accept this answer!

"Uh, yes, Lord Blood Burner." The Black Flame Monk bowed slightly and said.

"I didn't believe it at first, but after using telepathy and injecting truth serum into the two surviving Protestants in Wales, they found that their statements had not changed."

"So, Lord Bloodburner, although it is hard to believe, it seems to be true."

When the Black Flame monk who reported the news learned the news, he was so shocked that he couldn't recover for a long time.

After reading the contents of the intelligence several times, he immediately came to report.

At this moment, Laxul's heart was in turmoil.

What the hell is going on?
How could a count's daughter have such a powerful master protecting her?
Imperial Royal Academy
That’s right! Could it be that
Could it be that the young master is the legitimate son of a great noble in the imperial capital, and is pursuing the earl's daughter Claire?

That way, everything makes sense.
Laxul's face showed sudden realization!

The background of the great nobles of the Dragun Empire is difficult for ordinary people to imagine, so it is not surprising that they can cultivate such powerful young people.

But if this is the case, things will become tricky. If you take action yourself, you may not be able to deal with the other party, and you may even fail miserably.

"Karam, if that's the case, the other party should have arrived in Meister by now, right?"

"Yes, Lord Bloodburner. According to intelligence, the team escorting the Earl's daughter Claire just arrived in Meister County this afternoon."

"In addition, I have asked several insiders in Earl Habsburg's mansion to secretly investigate the other party's background."

"Ah, very good."

"Investigate the other party's background and report to me as soon as possible." Laxul nodded and said.

"Yes, sir." The Black Flame monk slowly retreated.

However, a few minutes later, Black Flame Monk Kalam came in again and reported:

"Sir, we have received a message from the Secret Snake Cult. Their special envoy in charge of this connection, the Secret Snake Cult's High Priest Abad, has just entered the Minster Province from the Nome Province. He will arrive in Meister in about two days."

The status of the high priest is similar to that of the archbishop of the Goddess Church. He is responsible for church activities within a province and is an absolute high-level official.

"Oh? The people from the Secret Snake Cult will arrive in two days? And the one coming is a high priest?" Laxul had a thoughtful look on his face, and he had a plan in his mind.

"It seems that I have to go find Lord Freeman. The Secret Snake Cult has arrived at the right time." Laxul seemed to have thought of something, and his serious face suddenly relaxed a lot.
-
The county town of Meister.

Inside Earl Habsburg's mansion.

With the cooperation of Viscount Cerill, after making preliminary arrangements for the defense of the Earl's residence, Ryan came to the indoor training room on the first floor of the main building of the villa.

As the residence of the highest administrative chief of Mayest County, Earl Habsburg, it naturally has a training ground, and there are two indoor training rooms and an outdoor training ground that should be the largest in the county.

At this time, Xia Diya, who was wearing a black maid outfit, came over with a brown wooden box in her hands and said with a smile:
"Lord Ryan, this is the special potion, the 'Secret Strengthening Potion', that the young lady prepared for you before going to the secret room. Normally, only the Earl takes it in the mansion. It is quite beneficial to the training of the Great Knight."

"Hmm?" Ryan raised his eyebrows. He didn't expect Claire to be so thoughtful.

"Ms. Claire, don't you need it yourself?" After Ryan took it, he looked at Shadiya and asked.

"Miss, you are not a great knight yet, so you cannot take it for the time being. Also, although this secret medicine is precious, the stock in the mansion is very small, but it is more than enough for two or three great knights to practice with."

"Also, the lady also said that you are her guardian knight. The stronger you are, the safer she will be. So, please don't hesitate."

"Okay, then thank you Miss Claire!" Ryan said with a smile.

"By the way, Lord Ryan, is there anything else you need my help with?"

Ryan looked thoughtful, and after thinking for a while, he said, "There is one thing, head maid Xia Diya, I may need you to send someone to my mansion to invite a young knight named Haas to come here."

"Knight Hass, right? Okay, Lord Ryan." Shadiya slowly retreated.

When Ryan walked into the training room on the first floor of the main building of the villa, he found that it was equipped with almost all kinds of weapons, including swords, hammers, axes, shields, bows, etc. There were also all kinds of dummies and targets for training.

This training room was originally a dedicated training room for Count Habsburg and Claire. Now that one of them is seriously injured and the other has a breakthrough, naturally neither can be used.

Ryan doesn't have to worry that anyone else will come to disturb him.

In addition, since last night, Ryan has been wanting to test out the new Arcadia swordsmanship elementary secret 'Blade Storm' that he had learned.

Now, he plans to give it a try right away.

In order to test the effect of Blade Storm, Ryan first placed four iron and wooden dummies in front, behind, left and right of him, at a distance of four or five meters, and then placed four more dummies ten meters away.

Then he came to the center of the iron and wooden dummy and took a deep breath.

The next second, the hardened adamantium covering his knight's gauntlets instantly turned into a two-handed greatsword.

'Blade Storm'!
In an instant, Ryan held the two-handed sword in a gyroscope-like shape and spun at high speed. A whirlwind as strong as an airburst was generated out of thin air in the open space and quickly swept around in the form of a shock wave!

"Bang! Bang! Snap! Snap!" a series of noises were heard.

Whether it was the four iron and wooden dummies at five meters or the dummies at ten meters, they all fell to the ground.

After a few seconds, wait for the smoke to clear!
Ryan walked over to check, and saw four iron and wooden dummies five meters away, each with more than a dozen horizontal sword cuts several inches deep.

Ironwood is both hard and tough, and if a sword mark of several inches can be left on it, then even steel that has been tempered a thousand times can produce a similar effect.

Ryan nodded slightly.

Then he checked the four iron and wooden dummies ten meters away.

However, there were only a dozen or so faint white stripes on the bodies of these dummies. When Ryan saw this effect, he frowned slightly.

What caused damage to the Ironwood dummy was not the greatsword in Ryan's hand, but the effect caused by the Force on the greatsword affecting the air at an extremely fast speed, forming a high-speed airflow cutting in an instant.

If the greatsword hit the dummy directly, there would be no doubt that the iron and wooden dummy would be chopped into several pieces.

"It's quite powerful, but the attack range doesn't seem to be as wide as I imagined."

"If the effective attack radius is only about five meters, it's still too limited."

"But it seems difficult to spread too far just by relying on high-speed airflow."

Ryan immediately called up the system panel and focused his attention on the Blade Storm.

"If it is upgraded to intermediate level, it should be much more powerful."

".To upgrade to the intermediate secret, the breathing method is already sufficient, and Arcadia Sword Skill level 14 or above is required, and 2 gold skill points are consumed."

"According to this calculation, a total of 3 gold skill points are needed, which is just enough."

After thinking for a while, Ryan decided to add it to try the effect.

A few minutes later, Ryan looked at the many iron and wooden dummies lying around him and nodded slightly.

"The damage radius only expanded to about seven meters, which is still much lower than expected. However, the lethality within the radius is indeed considerable. The iron and wooden dummies within a range of three to five meters were directly cut off!"

Ryan thought about it for a moment, and an idea flashed through his mind.

I saw him concentrating his attention on the two-handed sword in his hand.

The next second, four-cornered darts similar to those used by ninjas in previous lives appeared on the surface of the two-handed sword. There was an extremely thin metal wire connecting the four-cornered darts and the two-handed sword.

"Blade Storm!"

In an instant, Ryan was spinning like a gyroscope with the two-handed sword in his hand. A strong sonic boom swept around, and black things were mixed in the air flow.

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

As it was used this time, the seventy or eighty densely packed four-cornered darts on the greatsword, due to the strong inertia of rotation, broke off the metal wires from the surface of the greatsword's blade and shot rapidly in all directions.

"Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding!"

A dense sound like frying beans came from the iron wooden dummy in the distance.

When the dust settled, Ryan went forward to check again. This time, he found that thirty meters away, a circle of iron and wooden armored men were placed against the wall. There were as many as seven or eight, or as few as three or four four-cornered darts nailed into the surface of the iron and wooden dummies.

Its depth also reached more than five centimeters, which was similar to the cutting effect of the high-speed airflow within the previous range of six or seven meters.

In other words, after Ryan's improvement, the attack range of Blade Storm was increased from the original six or seven meters to thirty to fifty meters!
Seeing this effect, Ryan showed a smile.

As for why choose four-cornered darts?

That's because Ryan took into account that the stability of the four-cornered dart after rotation is better than that of the kunai or willow leaf dart, so he doesn't have to worry about the angle of the greatsword when performing Blade Storm.

The four-corner darts can achieve a 360-degree coverage without any blind spots and sweep in all directions.

Of course, this approach is not without its drawbacks.

Especially hardened adamantium!
The seventy or eighty square-cornered darts that were shot out were all transformed from hardened adamantium. Every time a blade storm was performed, it meant that Ryan lost about ten kilograms of hardened adamantium!

Quite expensive.

Ryan adjusted the wire several times, finally getting the thickness of the wire to just the right level, neither too thick to break free of the rotational inertia, nor too thin to cause it to fall off as soon as it rotated, thus lacking power.

Half an hour later, Ryan finally smiled with satisfaction.

Suddenly, the system prompt sounded:
[Ding! The intermediate secret skill 'Blade Storm' and the innate magic 'Metal Transfiguration' have been successfully combined and improved, and the power has reached the effect of the advanced secret skill. Please name the new secret skill. ]

Huh?
Can you do this?

Ryan's eyes lit up!
As for naming
Since it is an improvement, let's call it 'Blade Storm·Revised'!
A lazy way of naming a waste.

[Ding! The naming of 'Blade Storm·Changed' is successful, and the synchronization adjustment with the original Blade Storm's related secrets is completed. ]

Immediately, Ryan focused his attention on the Weapon Master (Legend) career panel and looked at it in detail:
Blade Storm·Modified (Advanced Secret) Effect: Based on the arc slash, it exquisitely combines the Force and the innate witchcraft metal deformation. Swing the special sword in the hand, mix the metal in the high-speed airflow, and attack all enemies around.

(Note: Bladestorm: Modified is a secret skill and cannot be upgraded through skill points.)
（剑刃风暴·改提升至顶级奥义，需满足下列条件：一、阿卡迪亚剑术lv16以上；二、熊王呼吸法lv16以上;三、天赋巫术为金属变形术；四、力量42点，敏捷38点，体质38点以上；五、消耗黄金技能点4点。）
"That's good. Conditions two and three have been met, so the attribute points won't be a big problem."

"In this case, it means that with only 6 gold skill points, you can upgrade 'Blade Storm: Modified' to the top level."

"As a top-level secret skill for group attacks, it costs 2 fewer gold skill points than 'Crushing Hammer'. This is the benefit of combining it with the innate sorcery 'Metal Transfiguration'," Ryan thought to himself.

"Boom boom boom!"

At this moment, there was a knock on the door of the training room.

"Please come in!"

The one who came in was the head maid Shatia. She took a curious look at the iron and wooden dummies lying on the ground, which were covered with metal darts, and said:

"Lord Ryan, Knight Haas is not in your residence, but he left a letter for you."

"The servant who stayed behind at your mansion said that Knight Haas had just left this morning, and this letter was originally intended to be sent to Munster. The person I sent was quite smart and brought it directly to you."

Shadiya said as she handed Ryan a letter.

Ok?
Left?

Could it be because
Ryan raised his eyebrows and opened the envelope.

"Ryan: Larchmond Fishing Port was attacked by sea giants, and the situation is not good. Your family was still in the mansion before, so I couldn't leave, but now please forgive me! Haas."

Human nature.

Ren nodded slightly.

This is indeed the reason.

Haas's family were all in the fishing port of Larchmond, unlike himself, who had sent his parents and sister to Münster.

Early the next morning.

The messenger of the Sword Bearer Branch, the sturdy man in leather armor, arrived again.

"Lord Ren, both lords are very sorry."

"Ms. Veronica cannot come to help you this time. She is currently one of the information transmission channels between the imperial coast and the navy. There is no other suitable replacement in a short period of time."

Ryan nodded slightly to show his understanding.

Also, Veronica is a disciple of the naval consultant Master Enius, and has a natural familiarity with the navy's contacts.

In large-scale battles, keeping information flowing smoothly is of great significance.

"Well, the gentlemen Angus and Vieri you mentioned last time, they all suffered injuries of varying degrees in the last mission and are currently recuperating. I'm afraid they won't be able to recover in a short period of time." The man in leather armor said apologetically.

Ok?
Hearing this, Ryan frowned and said:
"So, no one can come here in the short term?"

"Not really." The man in leather armor thought for a moment and said.

(End of this chapter)