A Knight’s Breakthrough
After Kaliweir finished speaking, he took out a black powder-like substance from his robes and sprinkled it onto his legs. He suddenly appeared taller and upon closer inspection, it seemed that not only had his height increased, but there were also tufts of black fur growing out of the bottom of his shoes.
With this black fur, Kaliweir’s speed increased tremendously and he disappeared from the forest in the span of a few steps, with a speed faster than Raynor’s.
“The seed from a blade of Nimble Grass? It seems like Kaliweir used it to protect his life, but the aftereffects of this seed are not small!”
Leylin muttered, looking towards the two girls at his side, “It is a little embarrassing to say this, but we had still better split up!”
“Since we chose to come out here and take such risks, we should naturally be prepared to lose our lives! To be honest, the fact that you were able to stay behind those two guys has already shocked us !”
Neela said as she took out a green potion in a test tube and threw it on the floor. A green-coloured hurricane swept up and enshrouded Neela and Lilisse within its centre.
“See you at the academy!” Enveloped in a whirlwind of green, the two girls disappeared from Leylin’s vision.
“Everyone has a trump card, huh?” Leylin smiled, moving his feet and disappearing from the forest.
In a flash, the party of five began to split up, with everyone using their own methods to escape from the scene.
Leylin’s footsteps never faltered, and the trees on either side of him disappeared into the distance as he sped ahead.
“The attack power of the Violent Hilly Bear is extremely high, while its speed is just average. In the party of five, Kaliweir used the Nimble Grass, while Neela and Lilisse used a speed-enhancing potion. As for me, I have the strength of a Knight, and therefore, my speed is pretty good. However, Raynor, the first to run, has the slowest speed amongst the five of us and is also in the greatest danger. If he did not prepare any trump cards, it is highly likely for him to die here.”
“I should be able to escape from this Violent Hilly Bear’s hunting grounds with Raynor as a decoy, so I had better not use this potion just yet!”
As a Potions Master, Leylin was still rather rich despite not being able to sell his goods in bulk. Naturally, he had prepared several trump cards that could protect his life, without which he would not have the confidence to come outside to train.
Every step he took was perfect, his every move and action seemed to blend in with the forest and he did not receive any obstructions from any branches or vines, his actions as smooth as flowing water. His speed was actually almost the same as Kaliweir who had used the Nimble Grass.
“Groarrr!” A vicious roar sounded.
Suddenly, a black figure appeared in front of Leylin, and with it came a huge bear paw.
“Impossible! How could it have made a detour to be in front of me? Was Raynor unable to draw it away ?”
Greatly startled, Leylin’s body reacted, his conditioned reflexes causing him to take out his cross blade and begin slashing in front of him.
*Clang!* Leylin hurriedly used the huge recoil travelling through the cross blade to turn his body around and escape the attack range of the bear’s paw. He did not have a good grip on the cross blade and as a result, it flew out of his hands.
*Bang!*
At this moment, Leylin did not hesitate to throw a fire red potion at the Violent Hilly Bear.
The moment the test tube exploded, a scorching red flame suddenly engulfed the Violent Hilly Bear.
Leylin did not stay to watch the scene. Instead, he immediately turned around and ran.
“The explosive potion’s might may be great, comparable to an average rank 0 spells, however, it still lacks the power to penetrate the Violent Hilly Bear’s thick hide.
“Groarrr!” The Violent Hilly Bear’s roar sounded from behind, and it seemed to be getting closer to Leylin.
Leylin turned around to look, and his eyes almost popped out, “This is illogical!”
He saw that the Violent Hilly Bear’s head was a little charred, but the rest of the body remained undamaged. The explosive potion seemed to do nothing else apart from further enraging the Violent Hilly Bear.
The Violent Hilly Bear’s massively oversized body seemed to be as light as a feather and did not hinder its speed in the slightest, allowing it to tail behind Leylin.
“A.I. Chip! Take readings!”
Leylin gave a command, but the A.I. Chip did not reply even after half a day and only a faint static noise could be heard.
“A.I. Chip! A.I. Chip!” Leylin called out again, but it was to no avail.
“Damn it, just what exactly is happening?”
Leylin’s face distorted in frustration. The A.I. Chip was his greatest trump card in this world. Suddenly losing it had turned him a little crazy.
*Thwack!* The Violent Hilly Bear caught up to Leylin once again, and it swatted with his massive paws as if it was swatting at a mosquito.
“Umbra’s Hand!” Leylin hurriedly chanted and a black coloured hand rose from the Violent Hilly Bear’s shadow, firmly holding on to the bear’s paw.
The huge bear roared nonstop but was unable to escape from the Umbra’s Hand.
Seizing this opportunity, Leylin hurriedly ran off. “The Umbra’s Hand’s effect will only last for a few seconds! I must hurry!”
Leylin fled miserably.
“Damn it!” Leylin grumbled yet again, “What on earth is going on? This Violent Hilly Bear is stronger than my expectations, and it has such a swift speed too!”
In the black forest, the grass and shrubbery blew in the strong wind and the occasional insect cry could be heard from time to time.
“At last, I have finally escaped for now!” Leylin ran for a dozen-odd minutes before he dared to turn back and look. The dark forest resembled the mouth of a huge beast, seemingly wanting to swallow him whole.
“Caw! Caw!” Just when Leylin had finally caught his breath, the abominable sound of ravens could be heard in the sky.
Leylin raised his head and looked. There were ravens that were much larger than the Red-Eyed Ravens from earlier. Furthermore, there were three of them! Once they spotted Leylin, they immediately swooped down towards him.
“My cross blade has already been lost and my spiritual force and Magical Power are almost drained too. Am I going to die here today?”
An ominous premonition rose in Leylin’s heart.
A black talon came slashing at him, and Leylin hurriedly attempted to dodge it. In spite of his attempts, the claw of the raven etched three gashes into his back.
The immense pain clouded Leylin’s vision, “No! I don’t want to die! I have not qualified as a Magus yet! Or seen the rest of the world! How could I just die a silent death here !”
As he tumbled to the ground, Leylin picked up a green rock from behind him.
“Ha!” Jumping back up, he viciously smashed the rock down onto the Red-Eyed Raven’s head!
*Bang!* This time, Leylin used all of his strength, and the Red-Eyed Raven swayed as it fell onto the floor.
“Caw! Caw!” Angry cries were heard in the sky. Seeing that their comrade had died like that, the other two Red-Eyed Ravens immediately cried out and swooped down to avenge it.
“Bring it on!” Leylin lowered himself slightly, coiling his body into position, like a leopard who was about to catch its prey.
He felt every artery in his body expanding quickly, and the blood continuously surged, circulating huge amounts of energy into the various parts of his body. A warm current gradually rose in his lower abdomen, and the wound on his back no longer seemed as painful.
“Die!” Leylin shouted, and flung the rock in his hands out ruthlessly. This time, he seemed to have used all his energy, and the warmth in his body constantly responded to him. The rock let out an ear piercing whistle and directly struck one of the Red-Eyed Ravens.
“This is......Internal life energy!” Leylin was mildly shocked. He had attained the qualities of a Preparatory Knight long ago. Moreover, he meditated constantly, so he was almost comparable to that of an actual Knight. However, he had not been able to ignite his internal life energy until now, and he never thought that he would be able to have a break through at this point.
Right at that moment, the warm current in his lower abdomen travelled to his two eyes, and a piercing pain in his eyes made them water.
When he opened his eyes, his vision was extremely blurry, as if he was shrouded in mist. However, the faint blue words of the A.I. Chip had finally reappeared.
[Beep! The host has suffered from an unknown effect...... Abnormality in the current state!]
[Ho...... Host is hallucinating!]
The screen of the A.I. Chip displayed was intermittent as if it was suffering from a very strong interference.
“Hallucination!” Leylin was startled. However, at this moment, the other Red-Eyed Raven had already swooped down right in front of him. Behind him, there came a violent roar from the forest and a massive bear paw vehemently struck out at Leylin with a hooked claw.
Facing such a life-threatening attack, Leylin grit his teeth and actually closed both his eyes.
The sharp claws pierced his body and he felt an immense pain. However, it was not as painful as he thought, and Leylin’s body did not fall.
“It really is like this, huh?” Leylin’s lips curled upwards.
“A.I. Chip! Show me my current state!”
The A.I. Chip’s display merely appeared more distinct in the darkness.
The lines full of red-coloured warnings about the abnormal status was extremely striking, but Leylin had actually not realised it before.
[Beep! Detection over! The Host has breathed in very potent and delicate hallucinatory gas particles! The five senses were affected! To expel or not?]
“Begin expulsion immediately!” Leylin commanded.
[Beep! Reserve energy has been used, expulsion in progress!]
The A.I. Chip indicated that the expulsion was complete, and only then did Leylin open his eyes.
Right now, he was situated inside a shrubbery, and the Violent Hilly Bear and Red-Eyed Raven disappeared without a trace.
There were many cuts on his body from the barbs in the shrubbery, and blood was dripping from them. However, there were no gashes on his back.
“It seems like it really was an illusion. What I saw earlier was completely artificial!”
Leylin looked at his surroundings again. On the left, there was a tree that had fallen, and he saw traces of scorch marks in his surroundings.
“Although what I saw was fake, my reactions were all real. The explosive potion and Umbra’s Hand uprooted the tree, and it is very likely that I mistook the tree for the Violent Hilly Bear!”
Leylin felt a little regretful. The explosive potion had cost him plenty of magic crystals, and he had spent a whopping amount before buying the formula and ingredients from Woox. But now, he had actually used it against a tree.
“However, it’s not like I didn’t reap any benefits.” Leylin looked at the prompt shown by the A.I. Chip earlier.
[Secretion of adrenaline in the Host’s body has rapidly increased, blood flow has increased by 58%!]
[The Host has ignited internal life energy and broke through the boundaries of a Knight!]
“It might have been an illusion all along, but the igniting my internal life energy and advancing to a Knight was real!”
“It is also thanks to my advancement into a Knight that led me to realise that something was amiss, if not, I would have died just like that!”
Leylin was a little afraid, “A.I. Chip! Record the status I was in earlier when I broke through into a Knight!”
[Beep! Recording is done, name: State of advancing to a Knight]
“This state may be the key to igniting internal life energy! However why would it have some resemblance to the magic powers of my previous world? It seems extremely unconventional!”
Leylin harboured a few suspicions. This Knight’s advancement method was extremely perilous. Many of the situations required luck, otherwise, there might be an excessive secretion of adrenaline, opening up the possibility of being poisoned to death.