A few days later, the army continued its march toward the goblins' main nest, passing several ruined villages and manors along the way.
Judging by the signs of destruction, they had all been plundered by the goblins, but no goblin garrisons were stationed inside.
And counting from the day Magnus was assassinated, the assassin never appeared again.
The high-ranking officers of the noble coalition attributed this to the heightened security of each unit, which deterred the assassin from acting rashly, but Roger did not buy this explanation.
The Rank Five old mage's tent had been heavily guarded as well, yet it had been completely useless against the assassin.
A more reasonable explanation was that the highest-threat target had already been killed, the assassin had completed their mission, and there was temporarily no need to strike again.
During the march, the goblins did not sit idly by and wait for the human army to arrive at their doorstep. They constantly sent small units to infiltrate from the mountains, harassing the advancing coalition.
This was exactly to Roger's liking; every harassment was a source of income for him. After repelling over twenty waves of attacks alongside the main army, the number on his points panel reached 4,000.
Just as a fatter paycheck gives a person new ideas, looking at these 4,000 points gave Roger some new ideas.
So far, his skill loadout was relatively complete, with offensive, utility, healing, and defensive elements basically all covered.
But in terms of equipment, other than his two rings—the Rune Ring and the Azure Ring—he had been making do with makeshift gear.
After thinking it over, he decided to spend some points to upgrade his equipment. Lately, his mind had been focused entirely on skills, so his equipment configuration was due for an update.
When the army camped to rest, he slipped into his tent, closed the flap to isolate himself from the outside, opened the system shop, and entered the keyword: protection.
After browsing the shop for a while, he found the item he wanted:
【Name: Protective Rune Plate
Description: A thin metal plate engraved with basic defensive runes. When used, attach it to the inside of any armor. Once the runes automatically activate, it provides an additional defense boost on top of the original armor.
The metal plate does not affect the wearer's mobility and can be repeatedly detached and installed. If the armor is destroyed, simply remove the rune plate and attach it to a new piece of armor to continue using it.
Exchange Cost: 1,000 points】
A brand-new set of heavy armor would draw eyes wherever he went, but hiding a thin metal plate beneath the lining of his old leather armor would not change his appearance at all.
Furthermore, even if this old leather armor was retired in the future, he could still detach the plate and install it on new armor to keep using it.
Roger clicked exchange, and a palm-sized thin metal plate with a dull silver luster appeared in his hand.
He took off his leather armor and pressed the rune plate against the inside of the chest area. The moment the metal plate touched the leather, it adhered automatically. The runes glowed faintly before fading away, leaving no visible trace from the outside.
He put the leather armor back on and moved his body. It was as light as ever, with no feeling of restriction.
With his armor sorted, next was the weapon.
【Name: Windwood Bow
Description: A magic bow. A natural mana pathway is preserved inside the bow limbs. When drawing the bow, the mana pathway automatically activates, granting the arrows additional wind element propulsion.
It slightly increases arrow flight speed and flattens the trajectory, with an additional power bonus when used with magic arrows.
Exchange Cost: 1,000 points】
This was the cheapest magic bow in the shop, and its description was as simple as “slightly increases arrow flight speed.”
But for Roger, who was still using an ordinary shortbow, this was already a massive upgrade.
Then, he spent another 600 points to exchange for a new sword.
【Name: Fine Steel Sword
Description: A one-handed longsword forged from fine steel by an experienced blacksmith, subjected to multiple folding, forging, and precise heat treatments. Compared to ordinary iron swords, it has significant advantages in sharpness, durability, and toughness, with better edge retention and resistance to chipping or rolling.
Exchange Cost: 600 points】
Roger intentionally adjusted the appearance of the Fine Steel Sword to look almost identical to the arming sword he was currently using. This way, as long as he sheathed the sword, no one would be able to tell he had changed his equipment.
With the three pieces of equipment exchanged, his points plummeted from 4,000 to 1,400.
He then recycled the arming sword and shortbow that had accompanied him until now back to the system, scraping together 100 points from the two items.
With his points back up to 1,500, he took one last look around the shop and found a skill he had noticed before but hadn't been willing to buy.
【Name: Croft's Meditation Method
Description: A passive skill created by the famous mage Croft, a meditation method specifically designed for low-rank mages.
Once learned, the host's body will automatically enter a shallow meditation state during rest or sleep. Without needing active guidance, it will continuously absorb free mana from the surrounding environment, accelerating mana recovery speed, and slowly increasing the upper limit of mana capacity and magic level over time.
While awake, the host can also actively enter deep meditation for more significant improvement, but cannot move or cast spells during deep meditation.
Level Cap: Lv5
Requirement: Magic Lv1
Exchange Cost: 1,500 points】
Roger pressed the exchange button, and his points balance was wiped clean.
Before he could even feel the sting of his points dropping to zero, a cool sensation slowly spread from deep within his body.
The surrounding air seemed to grow slightly damp, and the thin, free mana in the environment was slowly gathering toward him.
The feeling was extremely faint, almost imperceptible unless he focused closely, but it was definitely there.
...
During the day, whenever there was a break in the march, Roger would sneak off to a quiet corner to practice archery, getting a feel for the Windwood Bow and its trajectory.
The arrows shot from the magic bow were indeed much faster than those from an ordinary shortbow, and the trajectory was flatter, significantly reducing the amount of lead needed for the same distance.
Since discovering he could get free arrows, he stopped exchanging for them in the system shop. Instead, under the pretext that his own arrows had run out, he requested a batch of arrows from Baron Raymond.
Naturally, Baron Raymond did not mistreat this sharpshooter and readily agreed.
At night, he would lie on his bedding, letting Croft's Meditation Method run on its own as he fell asleep in a state of shallow meditation.
Every morning when he opened his eyes, the first thing he did was bring up his panel to check the experience bar for his magic level. Although it only increased a tiny bit each day, it was at least progressing.
After ten days of marching, the Cliffside Mountains finally loomed before them like a massive colossus.
As they neared the foot of the mountains, Count Nigel ordered the entire army to halt and set up camp.
Roger took some time to walk around the perimeter of the camp, getting a general sense of the surrounding terrain.
“While it's not a grand plain, the terrain is fairly flat except for a few occasional hillocks, so it shouldn't affect the cavalry's mobility too much.”
Standing on a slightly elevated hillock at the edge of the camp, he shielded his eyes from the afternoon sun with one hand, studying the mountain range in the distance.
“The slope of that mountain looks quite steep, and the vegetation is fairly dense. Climbing it will probably take a lot of effort. Besides, from this position, those on the mountain can see us clearly, while we can only see a forest of trees looking up.”
In short, their side was easy to attack but hard to defend, while the enemy's side was easy to defend but hard to attack.
And with Magnus dead, the geographical advantage the goblins already held was amplified even further.
Aside from setting fire to the mountains, Roger couldn't think of any other way to take this mountain area for the time being.
But setting fire to the mountains required enough flammable material on the slopes, and the wind direction had to be stable.
If the wind suddenly shifted after the fire was lit, blowing the thick smoke and flames back toward their own camp, it wouldn't be a siege—it would be self-immolation.
“The battles ahead are probably going to get harder and harder.” Keeping this grim assessment to himself, he turned and walked back to his tent.
By evening, the coalition's encampment had risen on the flat ground at the foot of the mountains.
Count Nigel also seemed to realize the risk of a cavalry raid on the camp, ordering a large number of chevaux-de-frise to be set up around the perimeter.
Several temporary watchtowers were also built at the four corners of the camp, with sentries taking turns to monitor the mountains.
The next day, Roger learned from Baron Raymond that Count Nigel was planning to send scouts into the mountains to find a path.
The scouting party consisted of elite scouts directly under the Count and several rangers skilled in forest combat. Their mission was to map out the terrain and goblin defenses on the outskirts of the mountains, providing intelligence for the next phase of the offensive.
Roger did not plan to get involved this time.
After confirming the wind direction for the day, he found a corner on the downwind side of the camp, far from the water source and tents. He took out his small iron pot, set it on a few stones, and lit a fire.
Once the water in the pot began to bubble finely, he retrieved all his stored Stink Shrooms from the system warehouse and threw them all into the pot.
Before long, the pot emitted an odor like a mix of rotten eggs, smelly socks, and kitchen waste that had fermented for half a month.
Smelling this stench, Roger felt his stomach churn. He quickly covered his nose and mouth with his sleeve, took several steps back, and kept his eyes glued to the heat of the iron pot, never letting it leave his sight.
After about ten minutes, the liquid in the pot gradually turned from off-white to a viscous dark green, with a layer of bubbles on the surface that one wouldn't want to look at too closely.
Holding his breath, Roger quickly stepped up to the pot. He pulled out several empty glass bottles he had bought from a traveling camp merchant and carefully poured the dark green sludge into them.
Just then, footsteps sounded behind him.
He did not turn around immediately, but his right hand gripped the hilt of his Fine Steel Sword at an imperceptible angle.
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