The wizard starts by trimming the donkey's hooves

Chapter 296 Job Change and Intelligence (Two chapters in one)

"This is probably going to be difficult. After all, the opponent killed Grant in three moves. He is obviously a strong opponent."

"I may be true for you, but not for the captain." The seductive scorpion girl praised the captain Asimov subtly.

Asimov smiled and said, "Scorpion girl, Tienan is right. The opponent killed Grant and Elihu in a row. His strength should not be underestimated."

"Also, is this all the intelligence the branch has collected? Only what happened before the other party joined the Sword Bearers and when he killed Grant." Asimov turned to look at Drake, his expression slightly unhappy.

"Is there any information about Elihu fighting this Ryan?"

Draco didn't know how to answer this question, so he asked someone to call Viscount Fabien.

"The intelligence capabilities of this Munster branch are limited. In addition, the battle with Elihu took place in Meister. It is said that it was in the room at the time, with only Ryan and Elihu."

"So, we have no way of knowing the specific circumstances of the fight." Fabien shook his head and said.

"Does this Ryan have any family? Will coercion be useful? He looks very young and probably lacks experience in handling things." asked the Scorpion woman.

"It's not a good idea. Even if you have family, would you surrender if you were in my shoes?" The tall and strong man named Tienan retorted.

"That's not necessarily true. What if the other person is a family-oriented person?" When the Scorpio girl saw Tienan refute her, she was not angry at all. Instead, she looked happy and giggled.

"Then the other party will be more likely to keep a useful body and seek revenge on us then." Tienan's face became serious, as if he remembered something, and straightened his body slightly.

A solemn atmosphere permeated.

"Boring, ha!" The Scorpio girl's face changed. She knew that she must have unintentionally touched upon a painful memory of Tienan, and the other party was already a little serious.

If I continued talking, I was afraid we would get angry, so I stopped talking.

"The enemy is currently staying in the Munster Sword Bearer branch for a long time. It is impossible for us to attack the branch."

"That is to say, we can only start from the opponent's mansion."

"The problem is that the streets of Munster are currently being patrolled very frequently. By the way, Mr. Fabien, how many days will the high alert situation in Munster last?"

"It is expected to last at least another week." Fabien said, recalling what he knew.

"A week? We don't have that much time to waste here. I have to go back to the capital to get my manicure done." The Scorpion girl's voice became higher involuntarily. She flicked her nails with beautiful patterns on them and said dissatisfiedly.

Tienan looked at the map carefully, calculated the distance between Ryan's residence and the Sword Bearer branch, and said in a deep voice:

"If we attack the enemy's mansion directly, we will only have three minutes at most to retreat, and that's even if we have to kill two groups of street patrols."

"The other party is very smart. The straight-line distance from their residence to the Sword Bearers' branch is about 850 meters, and the path distance is about 1,200 meters."

"No, we don't have three minutes. Don't forget, this is the provincial capital after all, and there are griffin riders patrolling the sky." Asimov shook his head and said.

"If it's a violent attack, we'll have to evacuate in two minutes at most."

"If it's two minutes, then our chances of capturing him alive are slim. We can only hope that the opponent is a little stronger and doesn't die too quickly under the captain's 'Lava Fist', hehe." The Scorpion Girl seemed to have thought of something and laughed again.

"That's settled then. Scorpion girl, you send people to follow and investigate. When the enemy returns to the mansion from the Sword Bearer branch, we will take action." Asimov took another look at the intelligence and made the decision.

"Then why don't we wait for the information from the Sword Bearer? I have already contacted someone to help investigate." Draco on the side hesitated for a moment, but still asked.

Because he had met Ryan.

He always felt that the young and somewhat excessive boy gave him a feeling of being unfathomable, his eyes were as calm as a deep pool.

If he had nothing to rely on, most people would probably not be so calm when they saw him.

"Hehe, Lord Draco, if the captain takes action personally, does it make any difference whether the opponent is a silver-level swordsman or a gold-level swordsman?" The Scorpion Woman was obviously quite disdainful of Draco's suggestion.

But knowing that the other party was the younger brother of Marquis Orenz, his tone was not so obvious.

"Then we will wait for a day. If there is no news tomorrow, we may take action at any time. Lord Drake, I will trouble you to help the three of us book a return airship."

Asimov smiled and said.

at the same time.

That night, with the cooperation of Vieri, Ryan upgraded the witchcraft "Metal Barrier" to level 3, and the casting time was reduced to 2 seconds.

As it was getting late, Ryan asked the guards to take a message home and then rested in his new residence.

The next morning, Ryan was eating breakfast when suddenly, two system prompts came quietly:

【Congratulations! Your physical attributes are improved! 】

【Congratulations! Your agility attribute is improved! 】

"what?"

"It seems that the effect of the previous fusion breathing method has gradually begun to show."

Ryan glanced at the attribute panel:
Constitution: 46
Power: 46
Agility: 46
Spirit: 55
Will (hidden attribute): 3
"Strength, Stamina, and Agility are all 46, but they are still far from the requirements for the annihilation field."

"However, we are currently in the period of increasing effectiveness of the breathing method, and this growth should continue for some time."

In addition, I don’t know if it’s an illusion, but Ryan always feels that after his willpower has been improved a little, the influence of the Evil Flame Mark on him seems to have weakened a little.

"Could it be that after the will is enhanced, this evil flame mark can be eliminated on its own initiative?"

"Or does it simply reduce the impact of the evil flame mark?"

Suddenly, Ryan thought of another thing.

"There seems to be no movement at the Axon Auction House."

"Could it be that something unexpected has happened again?"

Thinking of this, Ryan frowned slightly. After all, two days had passed.

If the other party is sincere, it shouldn't be in this state now.

"Looks like I need to find someone to find out."

Half an hour later, Neoro came to Ryan's room.

"Captain, are you looking for me?"

"Well, Neoro, do you know anyone here at the Minster branch of the Axon Auction House?" Ryan put down the mithril shoulder armor he was making and motioned for Neoro to sit anywhere.

"Oh? Captain, do you want to buy something, or do you want to participate in the internal auction?" Neolo said with a smile.

"Neither, I just want to know their movements." Ryan shook his head.

"Hmm? Captain, are you and them?" Ne'oro said with a serious face.

"There was a small misunderstanding before, but there was a man named Draco on the other side. He seemed to have come from the imperial capital and met with me on behalf of the Marquis of Orenz's family in the imperial capital."

After thinking about it, Ryan informed Neoro of the general situation.

"Two days have passed, but the other party has not made any move. I feel something is wrong."

"Captain, I understand what you mean. This is easy to handle."

"I'll have someone contact the auction house's internal staff. If the other party makes any unusual movements, they should be able to detect it." Neoro agreed readily.

However, although Neolo's expression was calm, his heart was filled with waves of emotion.

Our captain is indeed strong and talented.

But the strength of the Yaxon Auction House is among the best in the entire empire.

Does it mean that the stronger one is, the greater the ability to cause trouble?

Although the Marquis Orenz family sounds like it is just a shareholder of the Yaxon Auction House, it is still a behemoth for all the families below the marquis.

But the strange thing is that Neoro always feels that his captain can deal with the opponent.

Maybe it was Ryan's composure?

It could also be that he was impressed by Ryan's strength.

He had been very optimistic about Ryan's strength and development prospects before, otherwise, as the heir of the Marquis, he would not have chosen to join Ryan's team.

What surprised Ryan was that Neoro, the "local boss", was quite efficient.

After only half a day, the other party found out the situation and came to him again.

"Captain, you are right. The other party does not seem to want to peacefully hand over the shares. Because I heard from their insiders that three extraordinary fighters came from the imperial capital yesterday evening."

"According to the waiter, the aura was very strong and they were frightened when they saw it." Ne'oro said with a solemn expression.

Ren's eyes narrowed at Neoro's words.

"By the way, I asked someone to give a brief description of the other party's appearance. They all have very distinctive features. One is a seductive woman with a scorpion pattern on her forehead, the other is a strong man carrying a huge shield, and the leader is a sinister middle-aged man holding a short staff."

Neoro said as he handed Ryan three sketches.

"Thank you, that's thoughtful." Ryan nodded, took the sketch and looked at it immediately.

“That’s all we’ve found out so far.”

"However, these three people have distinct appearances, and we know that they are from the headquarters of the Axon Auction House in the imperial capital, so their origins should be relatively easy to find out."

"Considering that the other party came from the Imperial Capital, the fastest way at the moment should be to retrieve intelligence from the Imperial Capital through the Sword Bearer's internal intelligence system. The strength of these three people should be quite strong, and the headquarters should have a record of them."

Neoro suggested.

"I'm not familiar with the affairs officer of the intelligence department in the branch. I will ask someone else for information."

"Mr. Ryan, don't you know that as a gold-level sword bearer captain, you can query some confidential information through the sword bearer's internal intelligence system, and you are a diamond-level, let alone."

Neolo was a little surprised. He found that his captain seemed to be the kind of person who was obsessed with improving his strength and did not even understand the treatment of Diamond Star.

If it were him, he would have known everything clearly before he was promoted.

But the top strong ones should all be like this.

When Ryan heard Neoro's words, he was slightly startled.

"That's convenient," he thought to himself.

"Sir Ryan, do you need me to talk to Evelyn and the others about this matter?"

"Not yet, wait for my news." Ryan shook his head and said.

After Neoro left, Ryan stood up and looked down at the training ground from the third-floor window.

At this time, large and continuous dark clouds were floating in the distant sky, which seemed to indicate that Münster would be hit by a violent storm in the near future.

"From the current perspective, the other party must be planning to take action."

"Two seconds of casting time is too slow after all. Basically, it still cannot be used in actual combat."

"I was thinking of training harder for a while, but now it seems that time is running out, I have to work harder."

Ryan glanced at the attribute panel and found that the remaining skill points totaled 6.

Without any hesitation, in an instant, Ryan invested all 6 skill points into the witchcraft "Metal Barrier".

As the witchcraft 'Metal Barrier' suddenly increased from lv3 to lv9!

In an instant, a flood of memories about the witchcraft 'metal barrier' flooded into Ryan's mind.

For a moment, Ryan seemed to have come to a mysterious space, and he had been practicing the witchcraft "Metal Barrier" for decades. For syllable compression, it was like instinct, faster and faster!
When Ryan digested the memory and recited the spell again.

He found that after only about 0.5 seconds of casting the spell, three hardened platinum kite-shaped shields surrounded his body.

The casting time of half a second is almost comparable to the casting time of innate witchcraft.

Now, if Ryan said that his innate magic was "metal barrier", it would be convincing enough to fool people.

"But it's still not fast enough." "If I gain another 3 skill points and upgrade it to level 12, the casting time will be 0.25 seconds. Only then will it be truly indistinguishable from the real thing."

"After you change your job to a great armorsmith, you will gain another wave of skill points."

However, Ryan did not start making the 'mithril carved plate armor' immediately, but left the room and came to the mission hall.

Inside the Office of the Under-Secretary of State for Affairs.

Ryan and Olena sat facing each other.

"Sir Olena, there is something I may need your help with."

"Sir Ryan, please go ahead." Olena smiled at Ryan's request, as if she was eager for Ryan to come to her for help.

"It's like this. I heard that Diamond-level sword holders can ask the branch's intelligence department to help retrieve some information. But I'm not familiar with the head of the intelligence department, so I would like to ask Lady Olena to introduce me to someone."

Ryan stated his purpose directly.

"Sir Ryan, do you want to inquire about intelligence? It would be the same if you come to me directly. I will help you contact the intelligence department." Olena took the job immediately.

Although she finally waited for Lord Ryan to ask her for help, Olena naturally knew which to choose between helping once and helping many times.

Are you kidding? If she introduces Lord Ryan directly to the intelligence department, will Lord Ryan come to her again in the future?

Even if there is, the chances are much less.

At the rate of Mr. Ryan's advancement, we don't know when he will be promoted or transferred. It would be foolish not to take the opportunity to build a better relationship with him.

Olena had long believed in her heart that as long as Ryan did not die, he would 100% become a legendary powerful man in the empire.

Of course, you should build relationships as early as possible!
Ryan didn't expect Olena to be so enthusiastic. After thinking about it, he felt that there was nothing wrong with this and it would be a lot more convenient.

So, he handed the portrait of three people that Neoro had given him to Olena and said:

"I want to look up the information of these three people. They are all from the imperial capital. Can the branch help me contact the imperial capital as soon as possible to retrieve the information?"

"Sir Ryan, of course. Do you have the names of these three people?" After taking it, Olena took a quick look and said readily.

"No, but these three people should all be affiliated with the forces under the jurisdiction of the Axon Auction House, uh... or the Marquis Orenz family of the imperial capital."

"Hmm? Lord Ryan has a conflict with the other party. Do you need the branch to intervene? As a diamond-level sword holder, as long as you are not in the wrong, the sword holder will always be your strong backing."

The capable young woman said with finality.

Ryan felt a little warmed at heart after hearing this.

"Not yet. I want to understand the other party's situation first."

"Okay, I will contact the Intelligence Office right away. Colin, the Undersecretary of State, should be on duty today. I will have him contact you as soon as there is any news."

"Thank you, Ms. Olena."

"You're welcome."

After returning to the room, Ryan began to make the "Mithril Carved Plate Armor".

At this time, Ryan once again felt the benefits of choosing 'Metal Transfiguration' as his innate magic.

Because under normal circumstances, even other metal wizards can transform metal ingots directly into armor form, but this is equivalent to casting a first-level witchcraft, and the consumption of mental energy is not small.

But Ryan solidified the "Metal Transfiguration" into a natural witchcraft, and the mental power consumption was less than one-tenth of the normal situation.

So, at this moment, Ryan quickly transformed the mithril ingots into knight suit parts in an instant, and then he began to engrave inscriptions on the parts.

If he fails, Ryan will transform the mithril armor again and engrave it again.
The efficiency is so high that it is almost dozens of times higher than the normal forging process!
After just over an hour, Ryan completed the job requirement of "making ten pieces of inscribed plate armor" for the Great Armorsmith.

The system prompt also sounded:

[The prerequisites for an Armorsmith to be promoted to a Great Armorsmith are: 5. Armorsmith level 15 or above; 15. Strength 18 points or above, Constitution points or above, Spirit points or above; . Independently forge ten pieces of any qualified inscribed plate armor parts; . Master the knowledge related to inscriptions. The current conditions are met, yes/no to be promoted to a Great Armorsmith? ]

[Note: After changing to Grand Armorsmith, the Primal Armorsmith panel will be integrated into the Grand Armorsmith occupation panel, and the Primal Armorsmith core skills will be retained.]

Without any hesitation, Ryan immediately decided to start changing his job!
"Yes!"

[Ding! Successfully changed to Great Armorsmith (Extraordinary)! Strength +2, Constitution +2, Spirit +3! Obtained the Great Armorsmith's core skill: Inscription Expertise (Passive). ]

"what?"

"Another core skill for crafting?"

Ryan couldn't help but think of the previous armorer's 'Armor Forging Expertise (Passive)', plus this time's 'Inscription Expertise (Passive)', which almost made up a set of core skills for making plate armor.

[Core Skills: Inscription Mastery (Passive)]

Inscription Mastery (Passive) Effect: When you engrave inscriptions on armor, the success rate is greatly increased.

"It seems that even if I just open a blacksmith shop, I can still make a lot of money in the future."

With the help of the core skill 'Inscription Mastery', Ryan began to engrave inscriptions again as if with divine help!

The speed of making mithril carved plate armor has increased exponentially!
Finally, it was getting close to evening.

雷恩顺利将大铸甲师（超凡）的职业等级，提升到了lv4（3/1000），又获得了3点技能点和3点属性点。

With the investment of 3 skill points, the casting time of the witchcraft 'Metal Barrier' was finally further compressed, and it can be successfully cast in just 0.25 seconds, which is comparable to the innate witchcraft!

You know, if a normal wizard wants to achieve this effect, it will probably take decades of hard practice, and the hard practice is for this one witchcraft.

Even if wizards have a relatively long lifespan, it is almost impossible to achieve.

After all, there are too many things that will consume a wizard's limited energy and time.

"Boom boom boom!"

At this time, there was a knock on the door!

When Ryan opened the door, he saw a strange, plump middle-aged man with a Mediterranean hairstyle and a big smile on his face.

"Hello, Mr. Ryan. Let me introduce myself. I am Colin, the Deputy Minister of the Intelligence Department. Nice to meet you."

After Olena told him, Colin's face lit up and he took action immediately.

Only after he owed Olena a big favor did he get the opportunity to report to Lord Ryan in private.

After all, who wouldn’t like to flatter a future legendary figure?

"Hello, Sir Colin, please come in." Ryan immediately realized that this should be the Colin that Olena mentioned.

The two sat down in the reception room and Ryan pressed the bell.

The waiter, dressed as a maid, respectfully served tea and snacks, then left quickly.

"Mr. Ryan, based on the clues you gave us, we have obtained information about the other three people from the imperial capital."

"The three of them belong to the Bloodscalp Mercenary Group, led by their leader Asimov. They are a force affiliated with the Axon Auction House and have a particularly close relationship with the Marquis of Orenz's family."

"Among them, the leader, Asimov, is a descendant of a rare mutant bloodline."

"Descendants of mutant bloodline?" Ryan seemed to be thinking about something when he heard these words.

"Yes, Asimov was a descendant of a noble family, but his blood was too thin to awaken. When he was young, his efforts to become a formal wizard were not smooth. Later, he took the initiative to become a test subject for his mentor's blood fusion experiment, but unexpectedly, the experiment was successful."

"He immediately killed his mentor and found out that he had absorbed the blood essence of the Bloodscalp Troll, thus gaining the talent 'Frenzy' - the ability to quickly chant spells."

"That's why they are called the Bloodtop Mercenaries."

Ren nodded.

He had read relevant information about this Bloodscalp Troll before.

It is said that the trolls of this clan have not become extinct, and some of them still survive in some remote areas where few people go.

Their innate ability 'Frenzy' is to speed up the chanting of spells, which is different from compressing syllables.

Simply put, after the opponent uses "Frenzy", he becomes very eloquent, relying on his fast speaking speed.

Of course, there is a huge difference in strength between the current trolls and the ancient trolls, otherwise the Orenz family would not have been so obsessed with the ancient troll fangs.

At this time, Colin handed a stack of materials to Ryan.

"Moreover, from the perspective of strength, the three are not inferior to the captain of the gold-level swordsman. Even the leader of the Blood Summit, Asimov, is not much inferior to the captain of the diamond-level team."

"In addition, I would like to remind Lord Ryan to be careful, because the three opponents all have special talents and abilities."

Talented ability?

Same as yourself?
interesting.

Ryan narrowed his eyes.

He opened the stack of information Colin gave him and read it carefully:
"Iron Man, real name unknown, came from the Eagle Federation three years ago. His right hand is a metal prosthesis. He is good at short spear throwing and shield defense."

"Yes, Lord Ryan, this strong man with a shield on his back is often misunderstood. In fact, there is a row of short spears on the inside of his shield, and the shield will only be used after his bloodline is transformed."

Colin glanced at the information in Ryan's hand and added.

"If you don't understand it, you might suffer a loss if you fight it."

Ren nodded.

It is true. If you are distracted for a moment during a battle, the enemy will seize the initiative and put you in a passive position.

"Scorpion girl, real name unknown, her blood gift is swiftness and poison, she is good at witchcraft such as wind blades and venom bullets, and is also proficient in bandaging and herbal treatment."

"Asimov, leader of the Bloodscalp Group, a second-level liquefied wizard, has fused the blood essence of the Bloodscalp Trolls. The entire mercenary group is named after him. The other party's ability seems to be that he is good at fire magic."

Colin added: "Asimov attacked many times, but he didn't leave any survivors. So, the opponent must have some kind of killer weapon."

"Also, this time the three of them attacked at the same time. This is extremely rare. It seems that the other party regards you, Lord Ryan, as a formidable enemy."

Ren nodded.

Judging from the appearance of the three people, the normal judgment of these three people is that the strong man is definitely a charging player who can attack cities and capture strongholds, while the Scorpio woman is most likely an agile assassin or controller.

Asimov is the team's 'heavy gunner'.

But now according to the intelligence, except for Asimov who is very likely to be the "heavy gunner", the other two are completely different from what they appear to be.

interesting.

Ryan once again realized the benefit of "leaning under a big tree for shade".

"Mr. Ryan, if you need any intelligence in the future, you can contact me directly."

"Of course, you can also contact Lady Olena." After thinking about it, Colin added this sentence.

"Thank you, Sir Colin."

Soon after, Ryan took Vieri and left the Sword Bearer Branch and headed towards the mansion.

I didn’t go home yesterday, so naturally I have to go back home today.

The main thing is to remind my family members to try not to go out in the next two days.

Just as Ryan and the other man left the Sword Bearer branch.

Several disguised auction house staff who were on the lookout were delighted and immediately released a carrier pigeon to report.

A few minutes later.

In a room on the second floor of the Münster branch of the Axon Auction House.

"Tsk tsk, I didn't expect that we could take action today!" The Scorpion Girl showed a look of joy, flicked the note, and said to the other two.

(End of this chapter)