After saying this, the squire turned and left without looking back, just as before.
Roger looked down at the staff in his hand and immediately used Appraise.
A transparent holographic interface expanded before his eyes:
【Name: Mana-Scarred Wood Staff
Quality: Common
Description: Crafted from Mana-Scarred Wood, a relatively common material for making staves. Its surface is covered with natural dark veins.
Due to prolonged use, there are signs of wear on the tip and the grip, but the internal magic pathways are not blocked, and its overall spellcasting capabilities remain unaffected.
Recycle Points: 800】
After a brief moment of thought, Roger returned to his room, opened the system shop, and typed the keywords “healing” and “spellcasting focus” into the search bar.
His current priority was still survival. For defense, he already had 【Iron Wall】, so the next thing he needed to supplement was a means of recovery.
Furthermore, low-level mages in this world had to rely on a spellcasting focus to cast spells. According to the system's mechanics, one could only cast spells barehanded once their magic level reached Lv5 or higher.
Roger glanced at the Mana-Scarred Wood Staff leaning against the bed.
It could certainly do in a pinch, but it was too long. If he held it, he could forget about using his bow and arrows at the same time, and constantly swapping between them on the battlefield would slow his rhythm too much.
“At least for now, it's not like I can grow extra arms like Nezha.”
As Roger grumbled to himself, he scrolled through the shop interface.
The two items that best fit his criteria appeared on the holographic panel:
【Name: Heal
Description: The most basic single-target healing spell. Upon casting, it releases a faint healing energy that slowly closes wounds, stops bleeding, and alleviates mild pain. The healing effect is tied to the skill level. At higher levels, it can treat deeper tissue damage and even reattach severed limbs.
Max Level: Lv10
Prerequisite: Magic Lv1
Redemption Points: 800】
This was one of the few spells that could be redeemed for only a few hundred points and had a maximum level of 10.
【Name: Rune Ring
Quality: Fine
Description: A ring cast from brass, with three miniature runes engraved on the inner band. It can be used as a spellcasting focus. Its compact size does not hinder the movement of both hands, making it especially suitable for situations where one needs to use weapons and magic simultaneously. Its drawback is that the brass material has limited durability and cannot channel high-level, powerful spells.
Redemption Points: 1000】
Thus, he looked down at the staff in his hand and chose to recycle it.
“Points +800.”
With this, his points balance reached 1,872, but it was quickly spent by Roger to redeem the skill and equipment, causing his balance to plunge to 72 points.
Looking at the pitiful two-digit balance, Roger suppressed his heartache and comforted himself, “It's fine. To save my life, no amount of points spent is a waste. As long as I'm alive, I can get as many points as I want in the future.”
He slipped the Rune Ring onto his right index finger. The magic within his body seemed to find a new outlet, flowing exceptionally smoothly around the ring.
At the same time, the spell structure of Heal was imprinted into his mind like a formula he had long memorized, requiring only a single thought to cast.
“The rest... I'll have to slowly farm by killing monsters.”
...
“These were all looted from the goblin corpses?”
Inside the military tent, Baron Raymond looked at the four bone chains on the table, his brow furrowing.
Before arriving at Salard Village, he had encountered several goblin attacks on the road. He had successfully repelled them without any danger, but they hadn't scavenged any such bone chains from those goblin corpses.
The surfaces of these bone chains were engraved with twisted patterns, but their arrangement did not seem random; rather, they resembled some kind of structured emblem.
According to history books and the oral accounts of his forebears, this emblem came from a cult organization called the Purple Sun Sect, a cult that had left a deep mark on the history of the Kingdom of Arank.
Fifty years ago, the Purple Sun Sect launched a large-scale rebellion within Arank, resulting in countless casualties.
Raymond's grandfather had participated in the war to suppress the cult rebellion in his youth. Although he ultimately returned alive, he was left with severe, lasting injuries.
When Raymond was young, his grandfather, who had been tormented by illness for years, passed away. A few years after his father succeeded the title, his father also died in an attack by cultists.
Although he had anticipated that there must be some unresolved reason behind the goblins' unusual behavior, the weight of these four bone chains still exceeded his expectations.
“Yes, my lord,” Stine, standing opposite him, nodded with a solemn expression. “Aside from these, there was also a burnt-out campfire at the goblin camp, and the ashes were purple. Combining these two clues, it is highly likely that cultists are behind the goblins' strange behavior.”
As he spoke, he took out a glass vial. The purple powder inside shimmered under the candlelight.
Baron Raymond picked up the glass vial, examined it, and placed it back after a moment. “Have you searched the entire forest?”
“I have, but we found nothing suspicious,” Stine replied.
“Regardless, this matter is far more serious than initially estimated.” Baron Raymond ordered a servant to bring paper and ink, intending to write a letter to the lord he served, explaining the situation here.
While writing with his head down, he spoke again to ask Knight Stine, “I heard you recruited a mercenary in Salard Village. How is his strength?”
“His name is Roger. He is skilled in archery, but his close-combat capabilities are still unclear,” Stine answered based on his observations. “Based on his performance so far, I suspect he has awakened Life Energy, and his level is likely between Rank One and Rank Two.”
Baron Raymond nodded.
“You hired him, so try to build a good relationship with him. When the time is right, ask him if he has any interest in becoming a knight. If he refuses, that's fine too; just treat him as a friend.”
“We are short on manpower right now. A Rank One warrior might be negligible in the eyes of those high nobles, but to us, he is still an important combat asset.”
“Understood, my lord,” Stine bowed in response.
Baron Raymond placed the written letter into an envelope, dripped sealing wax on it, stamped it with his signet, and handed it to the servant. “Deliver this to Count Nigel, as quickly as possible.”
The servant took the letter and left quickly.
Stine spoke again:
“My lord, I still have one question: isn't this expedition a bit rushed? Those conscripts haven't even undergone the most basic training. It will be difficult for them to be of any use on the battlefield.”
Baron Raymond sighed and leaned back in his chair. “But Count Nigel has been pressing us, and we don't have extra time to train them. Fortunately, we aren't the main force in this campaign against the goblins. We just need to do our part.”
...
Three days later, Baron Raymond began marching north toward the gathering point designated by Count Nigel.
Accompanying him, besides his own knights and private soldiers, were a number of conscripts with a hodgepodge of equipment, as well as Roger.
During these three days, Roger didn't idle for a single moment.
In the mornings, he practiced archery at the training ground, occasionally activating 【Iron Wall】 to spar with the militia. In the afternoons, he went outside the village to catch a couple of wild rabbits, injuring them and then healing them with 【Heal】, repeating the process over and over.
Logically, that forest was Baron Raymond's property, and outsiders were not allowed to hunt there without permission. However, both the Baron and the knights turned a blind eye to Roger's actions.
These wild rabbits were ultimately stewed into soup by the village chief's daughter, so they didn't go to waste.
After repeated practice, 【Bow and Crossbow Specialization】 was only a sliver of experience away from leveling up to Lv5, while 【Iron Wall】 and 【Heal】 had both reached Lv2. Roger didn't slack off on the march either, practicing his skills whenever he got the chance, wishing he could push his skill levels up by another grade.
However, the experience bars for these two skills were stuck at around 90%, and their growth rate was becoming slower and slower.
Perhaps only real combat could bring about further breakthroughs.
Besides practicing his skills, Roger also tested the limits of the system storage.
The system did not specify the exact capacity of the storage, so Roger collected a large amount of junk discarded by the villagers and stored them one by one to see how much it could hold.
The result was that it could still hold a lot more.
Next, he tested the volume of items the storage could accommodate. He found that tables, chairs, and benches could fit, but when he tried to use the storage function on an abandoned house, the storage showed no reaction whatsoever.
Furthermore, there was a restriction on the system storage: he could only store an item when touching it with his hand. When retrieving items from the storage, they would only appear in his hand or close by.
His idea of hiding a giant boulder in the storage and dropping it on enemies' heads when needed was thoroughly shattered.
The troops marched north, passing through several villages of similar size to Salard Village along the way. At each village, Baron Raymond would stop to conscript soldiers, and the troop count gradually exceeded a hundred.
Roger couldn't gauge what standard this scale of military force represented in this world, but he felt it was likely quite a bit larger than that of a baron during Earth's medieval period.
As time went by, after traveling for an unknown number of days, a stretch of city wall finally appeared on the distant horizon.
“We will soon rendezvous with the main army! Everyone, hang in there a bit longer!” Knight Stine, riding ahead, reined in his horse and called back.
A wave of relieved chatter immediately broke out among the ranks.
“Hey, we're finally almost there. After marching non-stop these past few days, my legs are about to break.”
“I'd rather march for a few more days. I even hope the war is over while we're still on the road. After all, once the fighting actually starts, people will die.”
“So you'd rather stay in the village doing farm work? Making achievements on the battlefield at least earns you money. Once you have money, you can go back and start a small business. Although you still won't compare to the knight lords, isn't that better than digging in the dirt your whole life?”
“Oh, come on. Military merit isn't like an egg laid by your family's hen. How could it be that easy to get?”
“Worst comes to worst, I can become a mercenary after the war. Doing a few runs will at least earn some coin.”
“A guy like you who can't even beat a goose wants to be a mercenary? You'd be lucky not to get hacked to death by your employer.”
Roger walked among the crowd, listening to the conversation between the two conscripts in front of him. He hadn't planned on chiming in, but the two of them suddenly turned around.
“Hey, man, I remember your name is... well, whatever. Aren't you a mercenary? How much money do you get for fighting a battle for a noble lord?”
“Depends on the noble lord's mood,” Roger replied casually. He wasn't familiar with them anyway, and he was only using the mercenary title to earn a living, so there was no need to sweat the details.
As for whether this answer would deter the other from becoming a mercenary, he didn't care.
“But no matter what, it's better than doing farm work for a lifetime,” the conscript who wanted to be a mercenary added.
The other sneered. “With your strength, I'm afraid no one would ever hire you even if you were a mercenary for a lifetime.”
The two conscripts continued their banter until the troops arrived before the city gates, where they simultaneously fell silent.
Roger looked up to inspect the city before him. As a traveler from another world, he didn't know the name of this city, but the pale yellow flag hanging above the city gates caught his attention, making him look a few extra times.
It was embroidered with a black cavalryman wielding a war saber, with horse hooves raised and the saber held high.
Rate on N.U.
