Chapter 203: Beyond Secret Techniques - The Ultimate Technique

Chapter 203: Beyond Secret Techniques - The Ultimate Technique



"It's too late. Even if we contact them now, it'll take at least five days for someone to arrive, and by then, it'll be too late," Magnus shook his head.

But his confidant's words gave Magnus an idea, though not for a rescue, but an assassination!

After a moment's thought, Magnus' eyes flashed, and he took out a small, black, nail-sized round pill from his pocket and handed it to his confidant, instructing, "Grind this and find a way to put it into his healing medicine."

"Parikus' injuries are severe, and he'll need some treatment before we can interrogate him," Magnus said with certainty.

Over the past two years, he had witnessed many such incidents in the prison, so he considered himself experienced in this matter.

However, his confidant's eyes widened in shock, staring at the pill in front of him.

He knew exactly what it was—a highly lethal poison, used by spies like them as a last resort in desperate situations.

Although he wasn't sure how effective it would be against a Great Knight, he believed that with Parikus' severe injuries, the poison would most likely be fatal.

The confidant was stunned. He had always thought of Parikus as a Great Knight of the organization, but now, his boss was asking him to assassinate him!

"But boss, he's a Great Knight of the organization!" the confidant blurted out, his confusion evident.

Magnus shook his head firmly, "No! Whether he's a Great Knight or not doesn't matter now! He's a ticking time bomb."

"If our Brigadier Parikus can't withstand the interrogation, then you, I, and everyone in Meyster County will be swept away by the Empire."

The confidant was stunned for a moment, then his eyes lit up with admiration for Magnus, giving him a thumbs-up, "Boss, your decisiveness is admirable!"

Magnus continued, "Additionally, I'll report to the organization. Parikus is indeed a Great Knight, but only at the first-tier level, equivalent to a Full Knight. This time, I'll request the organization to send a Senior Great Knight to eliminate Rain, this festering tumor!"

The confidant nodded in agreement, "You're right, Boss! Rain has caused significant losses to the organization, and they'll surely view him as a thorn in their side."

"As long as the organization still has interests in Meyster County, they'll definitely support us by sending someone!"

---

Magnus' plan for Rain was not just about eliminating a threat but also ensuring the safety of the entire Meyster County operation. By proposing to bring in a Senior Great Knight, he aimed to protect the organization's interests and prevent any potential fallout from Rain's interrogation.

---

Magnus continued his thoughts, considering how to allocate the remaining two skill points. He had already formulated a preliminary plan for one of them.

For one skill point, Magnus intended to gradually increase his Wizard Apprentice (Extraordinary) profession experience by practicing basic meditation techniques and studying Wizardry daily.

Rain calculated that the remaining 500 experience points would take about ten days to accumulate, and this was inseparable from the significant improvement in his Mental Power's endurance.

In the past, after casting a few spells, his Mental Power would be nearly depleted.

For the last skill point, Rain decided to try making a Wisdom Potion first to see how it would affect his Beast Tamer's profession experience, as he had already prepared the materials.

Thinking of it, he set out to do it.

Rain left the room and soon arrived at the nearby alchemy room, which was similar to the junk room he had in Flash Gold Town.

Recently, he had asked the Beautiful Woman to help purchase some common glassware like beakers for less complicated alchemy, and for now, it was enough.

Before starting, Rain carefully reviewed the process of making a Wisdom Potion in the Beast Tamer's Journal:

"Step one, weigh and grind a Starfish Grass into powder."

Soon after, Rain began the first step of making the Wisdom Potion - preparing the Starfish Grass solution.

This step required grinding the Starfish Grass into a powder, adding distilled water, diluting and filtering it to obtain the Starfish Grass solution. Rain weighed a Starfish Grass, then used a wooden pestle to crush it.

After a few minutes, Rain nodded at the transparent test tube containing a pale green liquid.

With the enhancement of his Mental Power, the first step was exceptionally easy for Rain.

Step two.

Step three.

Rain gazed at the glass test tube in his hand, filled with green liquid and constantly bubbling, and nodded in satisfaction.

A success on the first try! Not bad!

At this moment, the system refreshed with a row of notifications:

[You have crafted a Wisdom Potion, and your understanding has increased!]



[You have comprehended a new skill - Wisdom Potion Creation]



[Your skill, Wisdom Potion Creation, has improved. Experience gained: +30]



[You focused on creating Wisdom Potions, and your Beast Tamer (Extraordinary) profession experience increased by 22.]



Hmm?

22 points, that's a decent amount of experience, even higher than the Mutation Growth Potion.

After several attempts, Rain was confident.

He gained approximately 20 points of experience for each successful Wisdom Potion, and if he were to craft all ten potions, it would mean nearly 200 points of Beast Tamer profession experience," Rain estimated roughly.

Additionally, a portion of the Beast Tamer's experience comes from subsequent feeding.

Rain roughly estimated that he could gain around 500 points of Beast Tamer (Extraordinary) profession experience from these Wisdom Potions.

However, there was still a noticeable gap from the required 2,000 points for leveling up.

This caused Rain to furrow his brows slightly.

"The main ingredient, Starfish Grass, isn't sold in the Bat Bazaar."

Just as Rain was pondering a solution, a knock sounded on the door.

"Knock, knock, knock!"

"Baron, there's a Night Watch captain at the entrance of the mansion who wants to meet you. He said his name is Mateo," a male servant reported.

Hmm, Mateo. Rain's eyebrows rose, as he had a good impression of Mateo, who was meticulous and efficient. Thinking about it, it had been a while since he last saw him.

"Please invite him in quickly!"

Soon, a short but well-built man entered the room.

"Mateo, what brings you to the county town? Come, join me for breakfast," Rain said, looking up at Mateo with a smile.

"Baron, there's no need for breakfast. Lord Hamilton has entrusted me with a task. After this, I have to rush to the prison as a representative from the Night Watch to interrogate a Resistance Army brigadier."

Mateo waved his hand apologetically.

Rain nodded, as he was aware of Mateo's expertise in interrogation. He didn't expect Lord Hamilton to transfer Mateo from Flash Gold Town so quickly.

"Lord Rain, this is what Lord Hamilton asked me to give to you. It was found on the Resistance Army brigadier and should be your rightful spoils of war."

"Oh?" Rain raised his eyebrows and took the parchment scroll from the short Mateo.

"After removing the Resistance Army brigadier's plate mail, we found this inside the lining of his armor," Mateo said proudly.

His sharp eyes had spotted it.

"Lord Rain, you damaged the enemy's armor too severely. We struggled to remove the armor that had fused with his flesh."

"In the end, we had to find two blacksmiths to help us remove the plate mail from his body."

This couldn't help but make Rain laugh.

"I didn't think it through; I should have smashed his armor before handing him over to you."

"That would have saved you some trouble."

However, Rain thought again. If he had used a greatsword to split the enemy's plate mail, he probably wouldn't have obtained this Extraordinary battle skill.

After all, if the item had been hidden in the armor's lining, he probably wouldn't have searched for spoils of war in such a concealed location.

"A prison torturer had his eyes on this item, but I stopped him right there! He was quite displeased, and I asked him if he knew who had captured this great knight of the Resistance Army. It was Baron Hammer!"

"As soon as they heard it was you, Lord Rain, the torturer didn't dare say another word," Mateo said, his face beaming with pride.

Lord Rain was the one who had gone out with their Night Watch unit.

Moreover, even after being promoted to Baron, Lord Rain's attitude towards them remained as it had been before, which deeply moved them.

Lord Rain smiled slightly and patted Mateo's shoulder, saying, "Thank you, Mateo!"

After Mateo left, Lord Rain returned to his study and curiously unrolled the parchment, seeing the title, "Locke's One-Handed Axe Technique Outline."

Rain skimmed through the pages and quickly realized that this was an extraordinary combat technique for axe and shield, with a large section dedicated to single-handed axe usage and some tips on shield defense.

Most importantly, it included the ultimate technique known as "Locke's Axe Technique: Flash Cut."

Rain suddenly understood as he read the description. This was the technique that the Resistance Army's Brigadier Parix had used, but he hadn't fully mastered it. Parix's skill in Locke's Axe Technique was only at the semi-master level, which meant his attack could be considered a quasi-ultimate technique, but it wasn't a true ultimate technique.

An ultimate technique required the combination of an Original Force at the Great Knight level and a master-level combat technique, resulting in an incredibly powerful strike. Rain recalled that Parix, the Resistance Army's brigadier, hadn't completely mastered this ultimate technique because his skill in Locke's Axe Technique was only at the semi-master level.

If Rain had to describe it in one word, Parix's axe strike was at most a quasi-ultimate technique, falling short of being a true ultimate technique.

However, the power of a quasi-ultimate technique, as demonstrated by Parix, had already surpassed the upper limit of Rain's secret technique, "Earthsplitting Hammer."

The difference might seem small, but Parix's Tokkar Hammer Technique was at the master level, with a level 3 specialization in hammers. Rain's "Earthsplitting Hammer" secret technique had already exceeded the power limit of a Knight-level technique.

If Parix had truly mastered the axe technique at the master level, he might not have lost, but he would have suffered more severe injuries.

Although this extraordinary combat technique was impressive, Rain decided not to practice it at his current level.

His top priority was to allocate his two skill points.

"Knock, knock, knock."

"Come in."

"Dear, this is the Giant Beast Essence that Master Holland sent over," said the beautiful woman, her face filled with worry, as she handed Rain a brown wooden box.

"Hmm? Jennifer, you don't seem to be in a good mood," Rain noticed the woman's knitted brows and asked after taking the box.

The woman glanced down at the box in Rain's hands and then looked up at him, her beautiful eyes filled with concern. "According to Master Holland, this Giant Beast Essence was successfully made, but its effectiveness might be considered the lowest quality among Giant Beast Essences."

"So, dear, why don't you wait? We still have sufficient funds. I plan to ask Axson Auction House to help us acquire a high-quality Giant Beast Essence in the capital city after some time," the woman explained.

Rain held the woman's white hands, which had applied the essence, and reassured her, "Don't worry, Jennifer. Becoming a Great Knight is not a problem for me."

"Acquiring a high-quality Giant Beast Essence isn't that important to me."

"To be specific... well, you can understand it as me being very close to becoming a Great Knight. Any bottle of Giant Beast Essence will be enough for me to break through."

Previously, during the betting on the bloody duel, he had earned quite a bit.

But in betting, the majority of the capital had come from Jennifer. Now, her earnings were mostly spent on him, such as the previous acquisitions of Frost Iron Skull, you worry too much. I'll be fine.

"Hmm? Dear, are you sure you're not lying to me?" The woman was surprised, as she had never heard such a claim before.

"Of course!" Rain nodded.

After the woman left, Rain decided to store the second bottle of Giant Beast Essence and continued making Wisdom Potions.

Two hours later, Rain had used up all the materials and successfully made nine Wisdom Potions with one failure, still resulted in a 90% success rate.

After finishing the potions, Rain naturally thought of the injured Lynx Dog, Cookie, and decided to bring one of the Wisdom Potions to the stable at the back of the manor.

"Good day, Baron," said a middle-aged male servant upon seeing Rain at the stable.

The servant was the manor's stable hand, responsible for feeding and caring for the horses.

"How's Black Pearl doing?" Rain asked casually.

'Black Pearl' was the name of the black warhorse that Rain had been feeding with Mutation Growth Potion, making it increasingly robust and large.

The name was given by Rain's sister, Mint, and it was indeed an improvement over the previous name, Cookie, the Lynx Dog.

"Hmm? Black Pearl seems to have grown even stronger. Its appetite is astonishing, devouring a whole bag of premium feed or grass in one meal. It's almost unbelievable," the stable hand reported.

"Of course, if you want a horse to run, you've got to feed it well!" Rain laughed.

"Everything else is normal. Oh, and it seems to dislike being confined in the stable, preferring to roam outside, so it can get a bit temperamental at times," the stable hand added.

Rain nodded in agreement. It had been a while since he last rode Black Pearl.

The manor's backyard was too small for the horse to run freely.

Rain looked up and saw that Black Pearl now stood out among the other ordinary horses.

It was a true high-headed horse, its black coat sleek and shiny. As it moved, its muscular body became evident beneath the skin.

It wasn't an exaggeration to say that among the seven or eight horses, Black Pearl stood out like a crane among chickens.

Rain carefully compared the heights. If the other horses stood at around 1.4 to 1.5 meters tall, Black Pearl now reached a height of 1.8 meters at the shoulder.

And that was just the shoulder height; if you included the neck and head, Black Pearl's total height exceeded 2.2 meters.

Clearly, such a significant change couldn't be described as just "growing stronger."

The reason for this was that after two consecutive months of taking the Mutation Growth Potion, Black Pearl had undergone some form of mutation, with its body undergoing comprehensive transformative changes.

If it were merely a matter of muscle growth or reduction, the horse's skeletal structure would not have changed, but at this moment, Black Pearl's bones had thickened, and its overall form had transformed.

Seeing Rain approaching, Black Pearl neighed twice, snorted twice, and then rubbed its forehead against Rain's outstretched palm.

Clearly, 'Black Pearl' was delighted by Rain's arrival.

Rain patted 'Black Pearl's' head and took out the Wisdom Potion in his hand, pouring it into the high-quality feed in the trough.

As the pale green, bubbly liquid flowed out, 'Black Pearl' sniffed it, neighed once, and then began to chew vigorously, seemingly quite fond of the flavor.

One minute later, the system refreshed with a notification:

【Your understanding has slightly improved after feeding your warhorse with high-quality feed mixed with the secret medicinal Wisdom Potion!】

【Your Beast Taming skill has improved. Experience +45】

【Your Beast Tamer (Extraordinary) profession experience +22】

Rain nodded in satisfaction, glancing at the Beast Tamer (Extraordinary) profession, which had reached lv5 (348/2000).

However, the usage of the Wisdom Potion was different from that of the Mutation Growth Potion.

The Wisdom Potion only required a single bottle to gradually affect the pet, unlike the Mutation Growth Potion, which needed to be consumed continuously for two months.

This meant that Rain could only gain experience from feeding one pet, and even with his best efforts, he currently had only two pets.

On the one hand, this was because he hadn't devoted much energy to the Beast Tamer (Extraordinary) profession before, and on the other hand, it was still unknown whether there was a limit to the number of pets a Beast Tamer could have.

Recalling the previous profession panel limit, the system had only notified Rain when he already had three profession panels (3/3): 'The total number of panels has reached the current limit.'

Later, when he advanced to the Knight (Extraordinary) profession, the number of profession panels increased to four (4/4).

Therefore, Rain speculated that there was a limit to the number of pets a Beast Tamer could have, and without a particularly suitable pet, he didn't plan to adopt pets indiscriminately.

At this moment, a male servant hurried over and bowed to Rain:

"Baron, there's a cavalry squad outside, and among them is a beautiful female officer who says her name is Marika."

Huh?

How could it be her?

Rain immediately recalled the beautiful female major in her naval uniform, with her graceful figure.

It should be the detachment of the sixth division fleet that Earl Habus mentioned last time, but I didn't expect it to be so soon? Rain's eyebrows rose, and he said, "Okay, I'll be right there."

When Rain arrived in the front yard, he found that the cavalry squad had already been led into the yard, and in front of them, the beautiful woman, Jennifer, was smilingly receiving Major Marika Morales, who was dressed in a naval uniform.

What caught Rain's attention was that beside Marika was a girl with twin tails wearing a light blue robe, who seemed to be not much older than Jenny.

"Baron, I was just about to invite Major Marika and her team to wait for you in the reception room." The beautiful woman smiled and said.

"Rain Baron, it's been a while," Marika said with a bright smile when she saw Rain.

She hadn't expected that in a short time, the young man had become even more robust and noble, and at the same time, he exuded a faint aristocratic aura.

This transformation seemed a bit too fast.

"Major Marika, it's been a while," Rain nodded with a smile.

"Rain, this is Veronica Meyer, a disciple of Aenius Master, the Imperial South Sea Fleet Advisor. As a third-level wizard apprentice of the Urbek School, Veronica specializes in avian transformation and is also the liaison officer of this detachment."

Rain was taken aback by this.

Hmm?

The Urbek School? It should be a school of wizardry.

Rain's eyebrows rose, and he was surprised that this twin-tailed girl was actually a third-level wizard apprentice, which was beyond his expectations.

However, Rain soon realized something.

He recalled that in Adams' diary, there was a record of a full wizard serving as an imperial duke.

Indeed, the imperial upper echelons did not view wizards as monsters, but rather as a form of assistance.

"Miss Veronica, it's a pleasure to meet you," Rain said with a slight bow.

"Baron Rain of the Imperial South Sea, I've heard much about you," Veronica's voice was a rare, childlike tone.

At this moment, the sound of flapping wings filled the air, and a black shadow swiftly dove from the sky.

Rain's pupils constricted, and he immediately gripped the hilt of the greatsword on his back with his right hand.

"Rain, wait."

"Hmm?"

"This is a specially modified white seagull, our messenger." Veronica immediately called out from the side.

A white seagull, larger than an ordinary one, landed on Veronica's outstretched arm. Rain noticed that under the blue robe, Veronica's right forearm was covered by a brown leather sleeve, likely serving as a perch for the bird's claws during landing.

Rain's eyebrows rose.

A specially modified white seagull?

Was this the result of wizardry or some secret technique?

However, from any angle, it seemed like a perfect pet for him.

Unfortunately, the seagull was still a bit weak, and if it were a raptor, it would be an excellent choice.

But if he were to acquire another bird of prey like an eagle,

wouldn't it be like 'holding a tiger in one hand and a dragon in the other'?

Veronica quickly recited a spell, and as she stared at the seagull's eyes, they remained motionless. After a few seconds, she spoke:

"Major Marika, Baron Rain, Lieutenant Silva says that the fleet has departed and is expected to arrive in the waters near Meyster County in three days."

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end