Chapter 4, Preparations Before Departure

"By the way, where is Teresa?" Ryan thought of something and asked casually.

"Teresa? Are you talking about Ms. Trovik? She met a mercenary group after acting with you, so she acted with them." After the archbishop answered, he turned off the communication.

"What a stubborn woman." Ryan shook his head.

The caster is very powerful, a spell casted by a caster of the same rank with all his strength is enough to eliminate ten melee occupations.

But the caster is also very weak, and the time it takes to cast a spell is enough to kill him ten times by a melee class of the same level.

Therefore, spellcasters especially need human protection.

As for why there is a mercenary group willing to act with that woman?

The answer is also very simple. Whether there is a spellcaster in a team will double the strength and crisis response ability of a team. For example, an elite fighter is compared with an elite spellcaster. , It’s like a brick mover with a monthly salary of 6,000 and a senior engineer with a monthly salary of 6,000. Although the brick mover earns the same money as a senior engineer, what they know is just moving bricks. A senior engineer can do more things. With a variety of spells, rich potion reserves, as well as extensive experience and profound wisdom, spellcasters are so popular.

This is the role of spellcasters. They are the darlings of heaven and earth, known as "mages", and they are the dream team members of all adventurers. Ryan has traveled for many years and has a deep understanding of this situation. For example, he knows Yes, if a mission requires an elite spellcaster to dispatch once, then the expected return must be at least ten gold dinars, otherwise it is impossible to persuade Mages to dispatch.

Ryan also dreamed of becoming a mage when he first traveled, but the result made him very sad. After testing, he did not have enough magic affinity, and he was doomed to miss the mage in this life. The reality is not a game. After all, there are only a very small number of people who can have the talent of casting spells. Only those 0.1% or even less people will have enough talent to embark on the path of arcane magic. Among them, 90% of them can only be ordinary apprentices in their lives. Ordinary level, after entering the elite level, they can be regarded as truly independent spellcasters.

But well~ Ryan stretched out his hand, his blue eyes gathered light, and light blue energy threads lingered around his fingertips, and then disappeared without a trace.

Thanks to the mysterious man I met in the passage, he taught Ryan how to use the human brain to cast spells, so Ryan himself is also a hidden spellcaster. On the surface, he is just a warrior, um, a member of Nord A kingdom knight of the Kingdom White Wolf Knights.

Now that enough information has been obtained, there is no need to visit around anymore. Ryan went directly to the blacksmith shop. He just experienced a fierce battle yesterday, and he happened to repair the equipment and maintain the weapon by the way.

Many people are used to playing games, and take it for granted that a weapon can be used forever after it is equipped. This weapon is so sharp from the beginning to the end, and it does not need maintenance from the beginning to the end. As long as it is allowed, the protagonist of the RPG can use it This weapon is from the beginning of the game to the end of the game. In the same way, a piece of clothing can accompany the protagonist through countless battles. After countless knives and axes, countless long guns and short cannons, and even the baptism of magic, it can still be as clean as new And provide consistent protection.

However, a game is a game, and reality is reality. The fact is that if you use too much sword, the blade will be curled and chipped. If the armor is subjected to too many attacks, it will be damaged and gradually lose its defense. Check, and regularly replenish various medicines, such as regular application of sword oil and the like.

The town's blacksmith shop is located close to the center of the town. This old blacksmith has more than 20 years of experience as a blacksmith. Although he must be very skilled in forging techniques, in Ryan's opinion,

This old blacksmith has been working as a blacksmith in this small town all his life, so one can imagine his level...

It's definitely not good. From Ryan's point of view, this blacksmith's shop must be similar to the RPG Novice Village, selling some whiteboard weapons and equipment.

Entering the blacksmith shop, sure enough, all the old blacksmith could do was to help Ryan check the damage of the inner ring of his chain armor, and help him maintain his weapons. As for the equipment hanging in the blacksmith shop, he It can be said that he didn't like anything, picked up a standard fine iron long sword, Ryan danced a few sword flowers, and the cold sword edge was shining in the room. Ryan has a very high attainment in swordsmanship. The long sword in his hand seems to have spirituality and a strange rhythm. The sword body shakes around the room reflecting the cold light.

The old blacksmith was oiling Ryan's warhammer. When he saw the guest trying the sword, he glanced worriedly at the small face outside the door and shook his head slightly, but that small face was full of reluctance. He just continued to look at Watching the knight dance sword.

"Well~ this is a good sword." Ryan put down the standard long sword and said to the door: "Don't look, come in!"

A boy about fifteen or sixteen years old walked in timidly. He was wrapped in a thick cotton padded coat made of linen and a robe made of animal skin. His face was flushed from the cold: "Hi, hello, my lord knight." !"

After finishing speaking, the boy made a ritual, which was not very standard. He touched his left chest with his right hand, straightened his left hand to the left, and palmed up.

"Hello!" Ryan nodded, and the old blacksmith breathed a sigh of relief: "Master Knight, this kid is called Nim. He is thirteen years old this year. He has awakened his professional talent at the age of eight. He is now a warrior. My lord is dancing the sword, maybe he wants to learn something, please forgive me."

"Awakened the talent of a professional at the age of eight?!" Ryan became interested.

The awakening time of a professional's talent is mostly when he is seven or eight years old. If a person's talent is good enough, he will automatically awaken his professional talent when he is seven or eight years old, and he will determine his future development direction and change jobs.

Most civilians who have not awakened the talents of professionals will go to the church to check the talents of professionals when they are nine to thirteen years old, and the church will also assist them in awakening the talents of professionals - of course it is not free, if they cannot afford to pay, they can ask the church first By borrowing, most of the remaining people will spend their entire lives as commoners, learning a craft or simply farming. A small number of them still have the opportunity to awaken their talents before the age of thirty. Once the age of thirty is over, the human body begins to age. , the probability becomes very small.

After awakening, human beings began to be called ordinary professionals or ordinary adventurers. People of this level are the basic strength and general level of the national army and adventurers. In Ryan's eyes, these people are just a bunch of miscellaneous hair.

Only a small number of soldiers and adventurers will continue to exercise and advance to the elite level. These people are the backbone of human beings, such as the regular knights of the Knights, the royal elite swordsmen, and those veteran adventurers and veteran mercenaries. is this level.

Going up is the legendary level. At this level of powerhouses, they will have the strength of Megatron. Whether an army is led by a legendary level powerhouse, the combat effectiveness shown is completely underground. How many legendary levels does a country have? It can directly explain the level of national strength.

As for going further... Ryan thought that the King of Nord was at the sanctuary level, how could there be a sanctuary strong in such a small town?

The talent of a professional was awakened at the age of seven or eight. This child's talent must be very good.

"Master Knight, can you teach me how to use a sword?" The boy looked fifteen or sixteen years old, but he was actually only thirteen years old. He looked at the long sword hanging on the wall with longing on his face.

"Why do you want to learn swords?"

"Because I want to protect my family! Dad is a hunter. I saw him come home covered in blood a few days ago but he didn't catch anything. If I learn how to sword, I can go hunting with my dad!" From the boy's clothes From the looks of it, this family's family background should be considered good. Ryan became interested, and then asked: "Apart from hunting? Is learning a sword just for hunting?"

"That's definitely not the case. My goal is to learn swordsmanship well, and then strive to become a knight squire, such as the lord's knight squire, and follow the lord to eliminate evil together." The boy clenched his fists, and there were sparks of hatred in his eyes. Like all human beings, boys have been educated to hate, hate those monsters that kill humans, hate those monsters.

"In the end, I will definitely become a glorious knight like you, my lord knight, and fight on the battlefield with a hammer and sword!" The boy finished talking about his ambitions, and the knights of the kingdom gave him approving glances.

The nobles of the old empire were very stingy and domineering, but after the second Chaos invasion war 150 years ago, the old nobles either took refuge in Chaos, or passively avoided the war, abandoned their territories and went into exile. Running wildly, desperately running south, only a small number of nobles chose to follow the savior Ludwig to fight to the death.

In the end, the Allied Forces of Order won, and the fate of those nobles who surrendered to Chaos and abandoned their territories can be imagined. Except for some of them who were directly beheaded for public display, their homes were ransacked, changed, and their titles were stripped. Afterwards, they lost everything in the Great Cleansing. These people who lost their former glory and status are the most despised objects of the people in the entire mainland, both commoners and nobles look down on them.

Most of the new aristocrats are military aristocrats. They have obtained their own territory by virtue of their military exploits after battles. Compared with the old aristocrats, they will be more close to the people and tolerant. Although the degree is limited, it is just that the new laws and systems make them These new aristocrats realized that their income and security could only be guaranteed if the population in the territory increased and became more prosperous, and blindly extorting and extorting money was actually suicidal.

It is not surprising that young people are eager to become knight servants. In addition to commissions and bragging capital in the future, an important channel for civilians to rise to the noble class is to become a knight apprentice of a knight.

Apprentice knights will learn from knights and take care of their daily life. After a few years, outstanding knight apprentices will be promoted to knight retinues. The knight entourage of the best knights will have the opportunity to become apprentice knights, fight on horseback and wait for the canonization of nobles with titles, become formal knights, and begin to enter the noble class.

However, at this time, the official knights are still not kingdom knights like Ryan. These knights are generally called ranger knights. The biggest difference between them and kingdom knights is that they have no fief. Mutian is his own fiefdom, but there are also kingdom knights like Ryan who refuse the fiefdom and only receive regular salaries. The biggest difference between ranger knights and kingdom knights is here. Kingdom knights have a stable income, while ranger knights do not.

If someone like Ryan was formally canonized by the kingdom with a document and became a knight of the kingdom, he would have completely become a member of the noble class.

No matter how much the general peasant class improves, it will be capped at this level. Unless there are special exceptions, most nobles cannot allow non-noble-born peasants to enter the noble pyramid with titles.

Out of interest, Ryan also gave the child some advice. Seeing that it was getting late, and in the middle of winter, there were only six hours of daylight in Nord, so he had to hurry up and get ready to leave.

"Thank you, Sir Knight! May I ask your name?" Ryan taught the boy a set of the most basic swordsmanship of the Nord Kingdom army - cross swordsmanship, and left.

"Lane."

"Lane?"

"Well, my name is Ryan."

"Ah, so you are!?"

"Ha ha!"

After returning to the hotel, the hotel has become much more lively. Ryan went back to his room to sort out his things, and he was ready to go.

"Mr. Knight? Hello!" A middle-aged man who was enjoying lunch saw Ryan coming down the stairs, and after seeing the knight badge on his chest, he took the initiative to strike up a conversation.

"Good noon." Ryan realized that wasn't this the businessman from the Empire who had a carnival with the group of locals in the hotel last night?

"My name is Oliver. I come from the Empire. May I be honored to know your name, Mr. Knight?" The businessman stretched out his hand actively, and Ryan frowned indistinctly. He has experienced a lot of communication with the businessman. It is very purposeful, and a businessman who takes the initiative to please must have something to ask for.

"Ryan, my name is Ryan."

This businessman looks to be in his forties, with long hair, a monocle, and a very luxurious outfit, and there are many gold rings and gemstone rings on his hands, but Ryan can tell that he is not very advanced Good thing, the silver wrench on his left thumb looked out of place, but Ryan could feel the fluctuation of magic from it. If he expected it right, it should be a magic item.

interesting!

Just about to have a full meal before setting off, Ryan also had time to chat with the imperial businessman. From his mouth, he learned that the businessman originally acted with the caravan. A final payment was not settled, so he came here to collect the payment. Ryan noticed that the merchant's guard equipment was good, with uniform standard scale armor and standard long sword, and two of them were wearing hand crossbows behind their backs.

The wealth of the merchant can be seen from his guards and his attire. The wild roads of this world are very dangerous, and all kinds of monsters and robbers are wandering in the wild. Locked up for ransom, not killed.

"Mr. Knight, may I have the honor to know your name?"

"My name is Ryan."

"Black hair and blue eyes, less than twenty-five years old, when I saw you yesterday, I knew you were the hero of the Nord Kingdom they said." Oliver said "I know your little secret", He snickered, with a little flattery on his face.

"I never thought of hiding my identity." Ryan scooped up a spoonful of broth and complained.

"Mr. Ryan really doesn't look like a Nord, like our imperial people. The Aachen blood among our imperial people is black hair and blue eyes like Mr. Ryan. This kind of blood is the most popular object in our empire. , besides, Brunswickers like me with black hair and blue eyes and Mrs. Aldau with brown hair are also very popular." The businessman seemed not to go straight to the point, but chatted about blood.

"The blond-haired and blue-eyed Bretons must be treated well in the empire, and those with red hair, yellow skin and black skin are not so popular, right?" Ryan chuckled and saw the businessman He didn't intend to get straight to the point, and he didn't say anything, but speeded up his eating.

Charlemagne was of Aachen blood with black hair and blue eyes, and the first twelve Carolingian knights who followed him also included the blood of Brunswick and Altdorf. These three bloodlines are the most popular in the empire. Surprised.

Sure enough, Ryan was not in a hurry, and Oliver was starting to worry.

"Mr. Ryan, the wilderness of Ulan Town doesn't seem to be safe. It is said that people from the Justice Church are hunting down a certain evil power, so..." The businessman obviously had something to ask for, and after talking about the situation, he said Euphemistically express whether you can go with me? He paid for the expenses on the way.

"Sorry, I have an appointment with someone." Ryan shook his head with a regretful expression on his face.

"An appointment?" The businessman looked disappointed.

"Yes, it's not good to make others wait any longer." Ryan put on a full set of equipment, raised his warhammer, and walked out of the hotel braving the snowflakes all over the sky.

"May Goddess of Luck bless your future, Lord Knight." The innkeeper looked at Ryan's background and said silently.

"It can't be helped, Falk, Mather, let's go." The businessman Oliver sighed. He had stayed in this small town for long enough and had to go.

"Let's go!"