" huh?? " exclaimed Leo as he looked at the woman in front of him, not following her train of thought. How did she go from, ' ' ' you're wrong ' and ' you should change ' to let me join you
" I thought that my way was incorrect and barbaric " asked Leo sarcastically, remembering her previous words clearly. He wasn't petty enough to mock her but he wasn't gonna let that slide
Hilda replied to his words, her body bowing even further to hide her embarrassment, seemingly intending to bow until Leo accepted her request
" I was wrong, Rebecca is only 5 years younger than me, if they keep advancing at this pace, they'll surpass me in less than a year. You are my greatest hope at gaining the respect of my family "
" plus in our inheritance, they're several notes on how to effectively train our bodies, our father said that they were a waste of time. You've proven that he's wrong, that we're all wrong " said Hilda as she pointed towards the girls
" the youngest of them is 7, the oldest is 12, yet they've achieved what people take years to achieve in a matter of months. Because of you, because of your barbaric ways "
" this proves that the barbaric way isn't wrong, so I want to know why this change occured and I believe I can find out by joining you. Plus I want to get stronger as well " said Hilda as impassionedly as raised her head and looked at Leo determinedly, only for her voice to gradually get softer, almost inaudible towards the end
Leo listened to her words, silently before his attention locked unto one thing that she said
" you're 17? " asked in disbelief as he looked he looked her up and down. Even without seeing her face, he pegged her to be a grown woman, especially her voice. Hilda nodded her head
" what about the count? " asked Leo, not really against the idea but he didn't intend to put himself any deeper into this cesspool of noble bullshit
" his father doesn't value him, my father doesn't value me. I saw myself in him, so I offered him my services, to work together to prove our worth. He has no power over me, as I work for his father, not him " said Hilda calmly
Hearing her words, he thought about it for a bit before turning to the girls
" what do you guys think? "
Hearing his question, they turned to each other and started discussing it, less than 20 seconds. They all nodded and agreed
" you heard the ladies, welcome to the group. Play your cards right and one day you may join the family " said Leo calmly as he helped Hilda stand up, finding that she was looking at him strangely
" what's wrong " asked Leo in confusion
" you asked their opinion? " asked Hilda, her gaze even more strange
" why wouldn't I? " asked Leo, looking at Hilda strangely, not getting what she meant as he led the girls to start back training, that spar was enough of a break
" what about the skills in my inheritance? What about my loyalty? Aren't you worried that I'd betray you " asked Hilda, seeing how careless he was about the whole thing
" what about the skills? You either give them to me, or you don't. Loyalty is even simpler, you're either loyal or you're not. 50 50 chance. Sounds like good odds " replied Leo calmly as he shrugged
He wasn't someone who could invoke Loyalty in others, he could only treat them with as much caution and sincerity as the situation required. What they decided to do is completely their decision
What he believes in is, personal power, when you're strong enough, everyone is ' Loyal '
***
After getting the girls to resume their training, he was about to resume his own when Hilda came to him and gave him 2 thin books
" what's this? " asked Leo curiously as he glanced through the books, finding that they were freshly written
" these are 2 skills that I have in my inheritance. I thought that these 2 best suited you " said Hilda, her voice lower because she had put back on her helmet
Hearing her words, Leo looked at her silently before he got up and got paper before he sat down and started writing. A few minutes later, he handed the paper to Hilda who took it and looked at it in confusion
" this your training plan for the next week, usually I'd write them for the next month, but your recovery should be higher than that of the girls. So yours will need to be different " said Leo as he got up and started explaining
" you're stronger than the girls but, you've never done any of these exercises and brute forcing your way is just going to get you injured. So you'll start slow and gradually increase in weight as you get the proper form down "
" you can let Rebecca, correct your form and guide you until you get the hang of it " said Leo as he watched her read through the plan, before nodding to him and turning to leave
" by the way, you don't need that helmet when you're here " said Leo as he looked at her back . Hilda's steps froze before she continued walking not replying
' I'm curious, can missed attributes be made up for? ' thought Leo before he turned his attention to the books
[ Giant Skin Refining ( INTERMEDIATE) ]
[ WHETHER TO LEARN? ]
[ Giant Bone Refining ( RARE ) ]
[ WHETHER TO LEARN?
' pretty self explanatory ' thought Leo as he decided to learn both skills, not seeing as much information as the army Swordsmanship
Thirty seconds passed with nothing happening, whether it was information entering his mind or physical, only for his body to suddenly fill with warmth which rapidly turned into a scalding heat
Leo fell to the ground, his body spasming in pain, his mouth opened as if he was screaming, yet no sound came out. His eyes blood shot and bulged
This heat continued for several minutes before it gradually turned into a refreshing cool, allowing his mind to gradually calm as he laid on the floor taking deep breaths
" what the fuck was that " muttered Leo, his voice hoarse never in his life has he experienced pain like that, if he didn't know any better he'd think that Hilda wanted to kill him
[ skin refinement 1% completed ]
[ +1 Physique ]
[ bone refinement 1% completed ]
[ +1 Physique, +0.5 Strength, +0.5 Agility ]
' refinement? Did it mean actual refinement? ' thought Leo as he shuddered at the thought of that previous heat. Opening his panel to see what changed
* ------ *
Name : William Lake ( Leo Forde )
Realm : Apprentice Knight Level 8 ( 475/900 )
Health : 2170 [ Physique x 100 ]
Stamina : 217/217 [ Physique x 10 ]
Age : 15
Height : 70 inches
Weight : 165lbs
Strength : 19.9 ( 1 )
Agility : 19.6 ( 1 )
Physique : 21.7 ( 1 )
Intelligence : 18.2 ( 0.5 )
Attack = 617/617 [ Strength + Agility + Physique x 10 ]
Defence = 217 [ Physique x 10 ]
* numbers in brackets represent average for adult male *
Skills :
Army Swordsmanship ( ADVANCED )Level 3 : ( 150/600 ) [ 3 years combat experience, increases attack by 30% ]
Basic Archery Level 3 ( 40/300 ) [3 years combat experience, 100% accuracy within 30m ]
Basic CQC Level 2 ( 19/200 ) [ 2 years combat experience, ability to exert 110% of strength ]
Commander Level 1 ( 24/100 ) [ 1 year combat experience, increases troop morale by 10%. Increases troop strength by
1%, increases training speed by 10% ]
Skin Refinement : 1% completed [ Level 1/1 ]
[ Bathe in 1 litre of a High Level Beast blood to complete 1% ]
Bone Refinement: 1% completed [ Level 1/1 ]
[ Break all bones, then ingest the water of the Tree of Life to complete 1% ]
Universal Points : 26 884 ( 6 generated every hour )
Status : Recovering
Subordinate : 21/50
* ------ *
' nothing much changed besides his subordinates. I guess getting a bronze level subordinate met some criteria, which allowed me to increase the number of subordinates' thought Leo
He had found before that after each of the girls reached Apprentice Knight, the UP points they generated increased from 0.1 to 0.2. He expected it to further increase when they reached bronze, now he didn't have to guess as Hilda gave him one point
He looked at everything carefully before his eyes locked on the conditions for skin and bone refinement. And suddenly felt like cursing
Based on what he knew from the information Hilda told the girls, beast like the one caught by the mayor are equivalent to Apprentice Knights
Low Level Beast are equivalent to Bronze Knights
Intermediate Level Beast are equivalent to Silver Knights
High Level Beast are equivalent to Gold Knights
So not only did he have to hunt and kill Gold Knight Level creatures he had to bathe in their blood. He might as well give up on this skill, as for the bone refinement skill, he didn't even look at it.
He didn't think getting the water of the Tree of Life was any easier, and he had a feeling that it was much fucking harder
With a sigh, Leo got off the ground. Intending to go wipe off the excess sweat before he started working out. When he was about to close the panel, he found that there was an exclamation mark besides the requirements for the skills
Clicking on it, he found that he could upgrade the skills which made him face palm as he had completely forgotten about this in his excitement
He found that the skills needed 10 UP, after last time he knew that every skill advancement required 10x the previous amount of UP. Meaning it was cheaper to get high quality skills than to upgrade new ones, but he couldn't be bothered and upgraded the skin refinement skill
[ Skin Refinement ( Rare ) ]
Teaches skin refinement Level 1-3
Level 1 upon 100% refinement, increases Physique to Defence ratio by 100%
Level 2 upon 100% refinement, increases Physique to Defence ratio by 200%
Level 3 upon 100% refinement, increases Physique to Defence ratio by 300%
Refinement gains 1%
No attribute requirements.
No upper limits of daily practice
[ 1 blood node per percent at level 1, doubles every level ]
Seeing the changes, Leo smiled especially when he saw that blood nodes could be used but when he read the skill he found that he didn't get what it meant. Opening his panel he looked at his defence before it clicked
His current Physique to Defence ratio is 1-10, an increase of 100% would make it 1-20. Essentially doubling his defence. So this skill had a passive multiplying effect.
For giants who didnt train, it was an okay skill but for him? It might as well be a legendary skill, if his physique was high enough, he could just stand there and no one would be able to injure him
Seeing this, he turned his attention to the bone refinement skill and chose to upgrade it before looking at the changes
[ Bone Refinement ( Epic ) ]
Teaches bone refinement Level 1-5
Level 1 upon 100% refinement, increases bone density by 100%
Level 2 upon 100% refinement, increases bone density by 200%
Level 3 upon 100% refinement, increases bone density by 300%
Level 4 upon 100% refinement, increases bone density by 400%
Level 5 upon 100% refinement increases bone density by
500%
[ Bone density of 1 = 2 Physique, 2 Strength, 2 Agility ]
Average bone density 0.3 - 0.7
Refinement gains 1%
No attribute requirements.
No upper limits of daily practice
[ 4 blood node per percent at level 1, doubles every level ]
Seeing this change, Leo fell silent before he burst into laughter