Chapter 94: Breaking Through to the Advanced Silver Rank

After finishing the inspection that day, Verin stayed overnight in Orlando Town, and the next morning he returned to the castle with his men.

For the next half month, Verin set everything else aside, devoting himself entirely to cultivation and preparing to break through.

On January 28, Cael, as usual, stood quietly beside him with a towel in hand, faithfully keeping watch over Verin’s training and fulfilling his duty as a guard.

Verin threw himself wholly into his martial exercises, swinging the knight’s longsword in his hand again and again. Wood-element battle aura continuously enveloped his body, easing the searing pain that felt as though his flesh were being torn apart. Sweat streamed down his brow in unending drops, yet even that failed to make him stop.

By borrowing outside power to rise from low Silver to mid Silver, his foundation had become somewhat unstable. As a result, this further advance brought him pain no less than three to five times that endured by an ordinary mid-Silver knight ascending to high Silver.

“Damn, that hurts.”

Enduring the agony that felt like his heart was being ripped in two, Verin forced the wood-element battle aura through his entire body to reshape it. He resolved that from now on he must never take shortcuts again, or the suffering that followed would be more than he could bear.

After more than ten minutes, Verin lay gasping on the flagstones of the training ground. A faint chill brushed his skin, and he could feel a thin shell of wood-element battle aura covering the surface of his body. That was the sign of advancement to high Silver.

The first requirement for ascending to Gold rank was to merge this shell of battle aura into the outer layer of the skin. The second was to strengthen every part of the body so it could bear battle aura for long periods. The final step was to fuse the body’s aura vortex into the heart, making the heart the new vessel of battle aura.

For knights, or rather for any close-combat extraordinary profession, those below Gold were all about skill: about who could better coat their weapons with battle aura and grind the other side down through attrition.

But for those at Gold rank and above, once the body had been strengthened severalfold, they became living engines of war. They could release battle aura beyond the body, forming their own unique battle arts. Their destructive power multiplied dozens of times over, enough to alter the outcome of a small battle with ease.

In Verin’s eyes, humans at Gold rank and above seemed like a different race from ordinary humans, and yet they were still of one race, for their descendants remained ordinary people, save for those altered by the bloodlines of other beings.

When Cael saw that Verin’s advancement was complete, he hurried over and helped him sit on a stone chair nearby.

“My lord, here.”

Cael opened a bottle of ice-blue potion and handed it to Verin.

Verin took it and drained it in one gulp. At once, a cool, refreshing sensation spread through him, and the pain in his body eased considerably. Had Cael not been standing nearby, and had Verin not cared about his dignity, he would have almost groaned aloud.

After resting for a full half hour, Verin rose from the chair and felt his body brimming with strength; he reckoned he could now handle three to five versions of his former self.

“A breakthrough really is a fine thing.”

Other high-Silver knights of different attributes had a lifespan of one hundred and fifty years, but he felt he could live at least two hundred. Perhaps that was the trade-off: wood-element battle aura might be somewhat weaker in combat, but it made up for it in other ways.

“My lord, Steward Baird requests an audience.”

A castle guard trotted up to Verin and thumped his chest in salute.

“Have him come here.”

Verin buttoned his shirt and gave the order.

A moment later, Baird entered the training ground with a smile. The instant he saw Verin, he froze in surprise, then bowed respectfully.

“Congratulations, my lord, on another step forward in your cultivation.”

“Everyone’s talent is decent. I believe you’ll catch up soon enough,” Verin replied with a smile.

“What brings you here?”

“My lord, Lady Leila has finished constructing the ice-blue potion workshop. We are only waiting for you to come and inspect it.”

“Cael, go and fetch the box from the second compartment on the third shelf in my study.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Verin asked Baird to wait a moment, then went to wash up and changed into a set of white casual clothes.

……

Outside Star-Prayer Town stood a heavily guarded estate. Its surrounding walls towered high, and more than a hundred fully armed soldiers patrolled back and forth, ensuring that not even a single mosquito could slip through.

Verin passed through three gates and entered the underground core of the estate: the potion workshop.

“My lord, the workshop’s floor and walls have been mixed with a small amount of orichalcum, and Lady Leila has also inscribed many warning magic circles. If anything happens, we will know at once.”

“Move the barracks closer and strengthen the defenses.”

“Also, screen every worker strictly. It would be best to recruit only from the army. We cannot allow the slightest leak of information.”

“Yes. I will handle it at once after we leave.”

As he walked forward, Verin spoke with Baird, who followed half a step behind him.

After traveling more than thirty meters, Verin reached the lowest level of the estate, where the potion workshop was located.

When the door opened, what appeared before him was a workshop of more than a hundred square meters, composed of twelve magical machines. Because of their casings, Verin could not make out the structures within.

Then again, even if he could see the internal workings, he still would not understand the principles behind them.

“Leila, you’ve worked hard.”

After more than a month apart, seeing Leila again, Verin found that she looked rather weary.

“How is it? Quick, isn’t it?” Leila said with a smile, pointing to her masterpiece.

“Very quick. Leila, you’re the most remarkable priest I’ve ever seen, and the most remarkable mage as well.”

“Cough, cough, cough.”

Leila blushed a little at his praise and immediately changed the subject. “Baird, go fetch an ice-blue herb.”

“Yes, Lady Leila.”

A few minutes later, Baird returned from the nearby storeroom with an ice-blue herb and handed it to Leila.

Under Verin’s gaze, Leila placed the herb at the entrance to the potion workshop.

With the infusion of energy from the small elemental pool, the workshop sprang to life.

The ice-blue herb was lifted by a levitation array and carried into the workshop. As it passed through each magical machine, the corresponding residue was expelled, and more ice water was drawn in.

Three minutes later, Verin came to the final magical machine and saw two transparent potion bottles resting in a recess.

A pale blue mass of ice-blue potion was dispensed into the two bottles.

Verin stepped forward, picked up one bottle, and brought it to his nose. Its fragrance was somewhat different from the potion Leila made by hand.

Seeing that Verin had noticed the difference, Leila explained from the side, “Potions processed by the workshop are somewhat weakened. They’re only about eighty percent as effective as those I make myself.”

“Eighty percent is still good.”

Verin did not feel dissatisfied. If the potion workshop could perfectly replicate handmade goods, then this world would never have given rise to the profession of potion artisans.

“Cael, bring it over.”