Chapter 738: 285

Furthermore, the strength of Freeman from the Black Flame Church is even above that of Raksul. Although he currently has no desire to fight, killing him would not be an easy task.

Especially if the enemy is determined to flee, even if he were personally in pursuit, it’s not guaranteed that he would get results.

Having inflicted serious injuries to the opponent was already a very good outcome.

…

After greeting everyone, Rein returned to his room.

Rein began contemplating the words Menia had just said.

To become a member of the Royal Griffon Guard was an honor, and an opportunity that most Knights would consider to be the best choice.

But in truth, Rein was very clear that his rapid advancement could not have happened without the various tasks assigned by the Sword Bearers organization.

Without the battles, his strength couldn’t have improved so swiftly.

Rein actually quite enjoyed his current status within the Sword Bearers.

The initiative for his tasks was mostly in his own hands; although there were assigned missions, they were infrequent, less than once a month.

Besides, he had just joined the Mingster Sword Bearers Branch and was still getting acquainted with many things.

Therefore, he probably wouldn’t consider going to the Imperial City in the short term.

However, speaking of which, he did need to return to Mingster soon.

“Firstly, naturally, I need to deal with the Evil Flame Mark; otherwise, it’s always a ticking time bomb.”

“However, I wonder if the gold-quality Conch Medal could persuade Archbishop Gomez from the Goddess Church to help me exorcise the curse?”

“But it shouldn’t be a problem, and if worst comes to worst, I can ask the Sword Bearers Branch for help.”

Besides, after returning to the branch, he’d check if there was an instructor at the threshold of the Legendary level who had mastered Will. If there was one, even if it cost a hefty amount of Merit Points, Rein planned to seek guidance.

Despite now knowing a path to grasp the splendor of Will, through enhancing it in battle,

Rein always felt that the predecessors must have had some methods to accelerate this process.

Last, after submitting the task, he would have a sufficient amount of task evaluation medals and points to consider hiring Great Knight instructors for sparring, to improve on the newly acquired Extraordinary Battle Technique.

After witnessing the core ability strength of the legendary Warhammer Wizard profession, Rein thought he should meet the promotion conditions for his only Epic level profession, the King of Thousand Blades, as soon as possible.

Now, the first prerequisite, ‘Weapon Master lv9 or above,’ has been met.

The next step is the second prerequisite: ‘Master nine different secret techniques.’

This will require a considerable amount of time to develop.

Rein had been hesitant about where to allocate his Talent Points, and this was why.

If he raised both ‘Junior Weapon Mastery (Passive)’ and ‘Junior Extraordinary Understanding (Passive)’ to intermediate talents,

not only would the power of the secret techniques wielded with other weapons be enhanced, but the training speed for Extraordinary Battle Techniques would also increase.

In simple terms, he could meet the promotion conditions for the Epic profession ‘King of Thousand Blades’ in a shorter period.

“But… there’s only one life!”

Rein thought of the matter of the mark on his body.

“If something unexpected happens meanwhile, then increasing my defense and combat strength is of the utmost importance!”

After a moment of thought, Rein decided to upgrade to ‘Intermediate Steel Body (Passive)’.

Because from the last time, he suspected that the talent Steel Body, upon evolving from junior to intermediate, also contributed to the improvement of his affinity with metal elements.

For most Wizards, elemental affinity is something that’s determined at birth.

But he was capable of improving his elemental affinity by upgrading his talent.

This meant that once his talent Steel Body was enhanced to an Advanced level, his metal elemental affinity would further increase, thereby enhancing the power of the metal-based witchcraft he could cast.

From this aspect, allocating Talent Points to Steel Body not only improved his defenses but also his offensive capabilities.

Having made up his mind, Rein silently chanted ‘Intermediate Steel Body (Passive)’ in his mind to allocate the points.

Instantly, a strange warmth circulated over his skin. Rein extended his right hand and looked down to see a thick silver-gray metallic halo suddenly light up on his skin.

The halo, rippling like water, continued for several seconds before it gradually receded.

Then, a system notification appeared:

[Congratulations, your talent ‘Intermediate Steel Body (Passive)’ has been upgraded to ‘Advanced Steel Body (Passive)’!]

Seeing the first advanced talent newly listed on his attribute panel, a bright smile couldn’t help but spread across Rein’s face.

…

That night, in Mingster.

In the underground intelligence hall of the Sword Bearers Branch, where the lights were bright.

Due to recent turmoil within the empire, the hall was a scene of bustling activity; dozens of staff members hurried back and forth, almost too busy to touch the ground.

This evening’s duty leader in the intelligence hall was still the slightly round-bellied administrative deputy–Colin, a middle-aged bald man.

He was seen leaning back relaxedly on a soft and spacious deer leather chair, crossing his legs on his office desk, leisurely sipping Yorton Red Tea, with an expression of stolen leisure amidst the busy surroundings.

“Thud thud thud!”

“Sir Colin, there is an urgent intelligence report from Madam Olena, the deputy of the task hall.” A petite female staff member hurried to the door, knocked, and reported with a somewhat urgent tone.