socalfunplaces Page 29
Page 29
"You should leave here first. I'll wait for you at the road sign in Qingfeng Village."
Having said that, he pulled on the reins, turned the horse around, and galloped back the way he had come.
Upon receiving Arthur's reply, Gawain's face lit up with joy.
Then, he took off running, displaying superhuman physical strength and speed.
The villagers behind him could no longer catch up with the blond youth and could only stand at the tavern entrance, gritting their teeth as they watched Gawain leave.
But he looked at Gawain.
After easily shaking off the irritable villagers who had just attacked him, he didn't forget to turn back and greet them:
"Uncle Sam, I've found a way to deal with the Shadow Monster in the village again! I'll definitely be back in Qingfeng Village."
Upon hearing this, the villagers' faces contorted with anger, and they all watched with grim expressions as this jinx of Qingfeng Village departed.
-----------------
Night fell over the windswept collar.
Outside Qingfeng Village, next to a towering tree.
A bonfire was lit, dispelling the darkness.
Within the area illuminated by the campfire, a jet-black horse can be seen grazing on pasture, replenishing its energy.
Focusing the view on the campfire, two blond youths with strikingly similar appearances and attire sat on either side of the fire, looking at each other.
Arthur took out his food bag, picked out a palm-sized piece of dried meat, and handed it to Gawain across from him:
"Gawain, now you can tell me how you recognized me, right?"
"Of course, it was the lord's mount that told me this information. Besides Blackrock Territory, who else in the Northern Territory raises the Blackbeard, the warhorse used exclusively by the Grey royal family?"
Facing Arthur, Gawain showed no restraint whatsoever. Instead, he readily accepted the dried meat offered by Arthur, took a bite, and continued answering:
"Furthermore, from the first glimpse of you at the tavern, Lord, your unique aura and some details of your attire allowed me to deduce that your true identity is not only a knight of Blackrock Territory, but also the successor to the title of young lord of Blackrock Territory."
After saying that, Gao Wen began to focus on eating the dried meat.
Gao Wen's teeth seemed to be in bad shape; he seemed to struggle a lot to bite into the dried meat, and he even had a particularly exaggerated expression on his face.
Look at Arthur.
After receiving Gao Wen's reply, he suddenly realized that these details had indeed exposed his identity.
But he didn't take it too seriously; instead, he looked curiously at Gawain across from him:
"Then can you tell me why the people of Qingfeng Village are so hostile to outside knights?"
Arthur still remembered the deep hostility that erupted from the villagers of Qingfeng Village when they saw Gawain in the tavern.
"This all started with the shadow monsters that plagued Qingfeng Village."
After swallowing the food Arthur gave him, Gawain wore a thoughtful expression.
"Shadow monsters are illusory creatures that have no physical form and are immune to any physical attacks. They usually only appear at night."
Generally speaking, monsters like Shadow Monsters do not appear in areas inhabited by humans.
But for some reason, two months ago, three level two Shadow Monsters suddenly appeared in Qingfeng Village.
They attack villagers in Qingfeng Village at night, causing multiple deaths.
The villagers of Qingfeng Village were terrified and quickly reported the calamity caused by the shadow monster's appearance to Lord Fengpu.
Arthur frowned upon hearing this:
"After Lord Fengpu learned about this, did he send you to resolve the Shadow Monster incident?"
"Hehe! No, I don't know Lord Fengpu. I'm just a wandering knight passing through this place."
Gao Wen scratched his sideburns sheepishly, and after revealing his identity, continued:
"After hearing about this, Lord Fengpu dispatched two Black Iron Knights to deal with the Shadow Monster incident."
However, things didn't go as planned.
When Gao Wen got to this point, he unusually toned down his frivolous manner.
As the listener, Arthur noticed a serious look in Gawain's eyes.
In the firelight, Gawain seemed like a different person, continuing his story in a calm tone:
"The two Black Iron-rank knights sent by Lord Fengpu did not obey the lord's orders to drive away the Shadow Monster disaster after they arrived in Qingfeng Village. Instead, they took advantage of their noble status to exploit and oppress the villagers of Qingfeng Village."
As a wandering knight, I happened to pass through Qingfeng Village and witnessed their shameless act of betraying the knightly code. My heart was filled with rage.
So I took action and drove them away, determined to resolve this shadow monster disaster for the villagers of Qingfeng Village.
Upon hearing this, Arthur heard the system's cold, unfamiliar voice echo in his mind:
[Having detected Gawain's "zealous" chivalrous heart, subduing him will grant the host the blessing of a virtue.]
Chapter 34 The Sublime Knight Breathing Technique
Is he a "Knight's Heart" like Lancelot?
Arthur looked at Gawain's handsome face, which appeared particularly serious in the firelight.
After receiving the system notification, he lowered his eyes and began to unconsciously think about how to win over this young wandering knight who was the same age as him.
He looked at Gao Wen.
He didn't notice Arthur's odd behavior and continued recounting what happened next in Qingfeng Village:
"I settled near Qingfeng Village about a month ago."
Then he began devising tactics, venturing alone into Qingfeng Village at night to search for traces of the Shadow Monster.
"Oh! From your previous description, you said that three level two shadow monsters appeared, which means you have fought them multiple times?"
Arthur's thoughts returned to the present moment, and he continued.
Gao Wen nodded:
"That's right!
To date, I have fought no fewer than twenty battles with the three shadow monsters of Qingfeng Village.
In ten of those matches, I almost lost my life to the Shadow Monster;
In five matches, I was evenly matched with three shadow monsters;
Five times, I was lucky enough to 'kill' a Shadow Monster.
"Twenty battles!?"
Arthur exclaimed in surprise.
Gawain's casual remark about the terrifying combat endurance left him in disbelief.
But Arthur thought of the fact that his own family also had a "Knight's Heart"—Lancelot.
Lancelot is also a knightly genius with extraordinary talent; his leveling speed is like a rocket compared to others.
With this in mind, Arthur gradually suppressed his surprise when he heard about Gawain's achievements.
Soon, he noticed a contradiction in Gao Wen's account:
"You said you've killed Shadow Monsters several times, but there are still three Shadow Monsters left?"
In response, Gao Wen gave a helpless, wry smile and offered his explanation:
"yes.
My lord, you should also know that although Shadow Creatures are naturally immune to physical attacks, they are also afraid of supernatural powers with luminous features.
Coincidentally, although I practice the rudimentary "Firebird Breathing Technique," the waveguide power it generates is precisely a fire waveguide with certain luminous characteristics.
Therefore, I was able to confront three level two Shadow Monsters head-on with the strength of a Black Iron Knight.
However, although I managed to kill the Shadow Monsters several times by sheer luck, they would regenerate the next day and continue to plague the villagers of Qingfeng Village.
Hearing this, Arthur became even more puzzled.
What puzzled him first was not the Shadow Monster's bizarre rebirth, but the rudimentary knight breathing technique that Gawain had mentioned.
Because Arthur's common sense told him that the Shadow Monster was a special monster with a high level of danger.
While they fear supernatural powers with luminous characteristics, they are not something that can be suppressed by the wave-guiding power generated by a rudimentary knight's breathing technique.
Especially considering that this is the initial activation of a waveguide power by a Black Iron Knight, even when they are of the same rank.
Arthur couldn't help but think of another "Knight's Heart," Lancelot, whose innate aura power had been awakened.
Thus, a guess formed in Arthur's mind.
He asked again in a cautious tone:
"Can you demonstrate the waveguide power you've generated?"
Gawain blinked. He didn't refuse Arthur's request, but instead raised a hand:
"Okay!"
As he finished speaking, a faint red wave power emerged from the hand that Gawain raised, like a faint flame swaying in the wind.
But the pale red of the flame quickly changed, turning into a blazing white light.
At the same time, the blazing white flames stopped flickering and instead remained firmly attached to Gawain's palm.
As the observer, Arthur sensed a powerful energy fluctuation emanating from the white flame in Gawain's hand.
In a daze, Arthur couldn't help but have the illusion that the white flame in Gawain's hand, though seemingly stable, could explode at any moment.
After regaining his senses, Arthur couldn't help but think to himself:
You say this is a rudimentary level of "Firebird Breathing Technique"? Who taught you that?
Anyone with eyes can see that you've completely deviated from the scope of Fire Aura.
After his outburst, Arthur calmed down and began to think:
It seems that Gawain, who is still relatively inexperienced, has not been a wandering knight for long, so he may not know that he has awakened the "heart of a knight" and that his knight breathing technique has been elevated in some way.
He let out a long sigh and looked up at Gao Wen again.
He did not hide anything and decided to tell this fledgling knight the truth:
"What you're practicing is no longer the 'Firebird Breathing Technique'; it has been sublimated into a higher-level knight's breathing technique."
After saying that, Arthur raised one of his hands and activated the "Flame Lion Breathing Technique." Immediately, the flame wave transformed into a crimson flame that surged into his palm.
"I didn't expect that the lord also possesses fire-based aura power?"
Gawain's attention was drawn to the flame wave that Arthur had unleashed.
But soon.
Gawain noticed that his fire aura seemed to be fundamentally different from Arthur's flame aura.
As a Black Iron Knight, he could clearly sense that Arthur, who was of the same rank as him, seemed to have weaker wave power.
The Knight Breathing Technique that this Lord of Blackrock Territory has learned cannot possibly be of a lower rank than my "Firebird Breathing Technique."
Only now did the slow-witted Gawain finally notice what Arthur had just said:
"My lord, you just said... that my knight's breathing technique has undergone some kind of sublimation?"
"So far, yes."
Arthur retrieved the Flame Aura, and then he mentioned Lancelot, who remained in Blackrock Territory:
“In my territory, there happens to be a subordinate whose situation is similar to yours, and whose knight breathing technique has also been sublimated, so I can make this judgment.”
Arthur concealed the existence of the "Knight's Heart" because he himself did not know what the "Knight's Heart" actually was.
Hearing this, Gawain became curious about the knight Arthur had mentioned.
As he put away his sublimated "Fire Aura," he murmured to himself:
"Are there other people like me?"
He couldn't help but feel a strong longing to see that person.