Free Web NovelChapter 95: Chapter 72: Four Years Past, Combat Reflections, Traces of a Mage
「Let’s turn back the clock four years.」
During the retreat of Reinhardt and his party.
An unprecedented storm swept across the Empire, blocking the Radiant Channel, disrupting spatial coordinates, and destroying the Radiant Waymark they used for their escape.
Reinhardt had teleported to a point a thousand meters up in the sky.
If not for his Morphic Armor’s ability to suspend him in the air, he would have fallen to his death in this world four years ago.
However.
He was too grievously wounded.
Two Blood Burning Needles had drained the last ounce of his strength. He only remembered crashing onto a massive mountain of trash.
When he next awoke, he was in Caster Monastery.
Raphael, then just a monastery apprentice, had found him in a trash heap while giving alms in the Lower City District. At the time, all the Cultivators at the monastery believed the blood-soaked young man had to be an Imperial Knight.
The Divine Emperor must have heard their prayers and sent an Angel to save their world.
But after an old Defense Army veteran, who had once served in a Knight Order’s Squire Training Camp, examined him, he confirmed that he couldn’t sense any trace of Power from the young man.
In other words.
This unusually burly young man was most likely a training camp follower from some Knight Order, or perhaps a cadet evacuated from an Imperial military academy.
After that.
The monastery forgot about Reinhardt’s existence. Only Raphael continued to care for him.
When news of the rebel army besieging the Radiant Holy City and the sacrifice of the Divine Emperor’s Radiant Angels reached the Seventeenth Military Port World, and when the world learned that the Regent Council and the Lord of the Empire had defected to the Demons...
...it was a carnival for the Cultists and the Heretic Rebel Army.
It was a tremendous test of faith for the Cultivators.
Obviously.
No matter how strong their Loyalty, in the face of the rebel army’s steady advance, in the face of starvation, in the face of a silent Radiant Beacon...
...the faith of too many Cultivators had been shaken.
Around this time last year, a Judge even stormed the monastery and, on charges of blaspheming the Divine Emperor and colluding with Demons, arrested a High Tier Cultivator who was plotting a rebellion.
Raphael also graduated last year, becoming a low-ranking National Church Priest.
In this world filled with despair and madness, his unwavering faith was completely out of place, even here in Caster Monastery, a Holy Land blessed by the Divine Emperor’s radiance.
Faced with Raphael’s dissuasion and promises...
...Reinhardt could only remain silent.
For four years, he had tried countless times to reconsolidate the Knight Power within his body, but every attempt had ended in failure. He couldn’t even sense the existence of his Power anymore.
The grueling battle that had pushed him beyond his limits.
The two Blood Burning Needles that had overdrawn his Life Force.
The terrible curse of the Avernus Divine War Axe.
Even with a Knight’s Physique, it was still difficult to recover from his injuries. This required not only food and medicine...
...but also a great deal of time.
Fortunately, the system panel was still there.
Reinhardt could clearly understand the extent of his body’s recovery.
His current disastrous negative statuses were like a long-winded prescription drug insert. Not only had they temporarily sealed his ability to call upon his Power, but his stamina was also a shadow of its former self.
[Grievously Wounded: Your body has sustained severe damage. You have multiple bone fractures, a compressed liver, and the muscle tissue in your right arm is completely destroyed.]
[Overdrawn: While human potential is infinite, you have overdrawn too much of your future Life Force. Your genes’ survival instinct has temporarily sealed your ability to call upon your Power.]
[Cursed: Although the curse of Avernus could not corrupt your will, its remnants are still eroding your flesh and blood. A great deal of time is needed for recuperation.]
[Weakened: The Divine Emperor’s blessing may be powerful, but its consequences and costs are not something a mortal body can bear. Your mind has fallen into a weakened state, making it difficult to control your body with precision.]
[Based on your current diet and medication levels, you can achieve full recovery in 137 days. In 30 minutes, you will be able to call upon 30% of your Power’s strength.]
[Giant Devouring Current Layer Number: 3675]
[Physical Enhancement Coefficient: 3.675]
[Physique Strength Increase: 9%] ƒreewebɳovel.com
[Current Slaughter Points: 913.]
[Available Enhancement Options...]
Every day for these past four years, Reinhardt had been progressively maintaining the strength of his Physique, trying to avoid losing his combat vitality due to the long recuperation period.
His only regret was that his one punch, due to the fight lasting less than six seconds, had failed to stack a layer of Steel of the Heart on the Great Demon’s head.
’Perhaps it’s because my strength is too great now, far beyond what I was as a new recruit at Frostfire Fortress.’
’In the system’s judgment, a lifeform on the Level of a Convicted Demon is already considered a minion, not a hero unit, so it’s impossible to stack Steel of the Heart.’
’On second thought, a judgment like that is consistent with the design and mechanics of Steel of the Heart.’
’If minions could also stack Steel of the Heart...’
Of course, Reinhardt’s thoughts on the application of Power had never ceased.
The battle in Grillers World, especially the fight with Sedon, had made him realize that his own application and control of Power were on a completely different level from that gloomy bastard.
’Repelling the Scaya Dragonfolk invasion, slaughtering the Abyssal Army on the Northern Grassland... in those fights, I was facing enemies that could barely threaten me. Maintaining the complete form of Morphic Armor wasted far too much stamina and exposed too many of my Special Abilities to the enemy.’
’Compared to Sedon...’
’If that guy could kill an enemy with one finger, he would absolutely not use even an extra sliver of Knight Power.’
’That is the kind of experience, or rather... combat instinct, that can only be gained by surviving on grand battlefields, facing wave after wave of endless enemy attacks.’
’An all-out battle is certainly gratifying.’
’But when dealing with large-scale armies of Low Tier enemies, maintaining the complete form of Morphic Armor just wastes stamina for no reason.’
’A suit of Anti-Magic Steel Armor would be perfectly sufficient.’
’That is also the point of Imperial Technology.’ frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
A Knight’s stamina and the Special Abilities of their Power are considered strategic weapons in conventional warfare; under normal circumstances, they are never used lightly.
Therefore, Reinhardt planned to learn how to minimize the Morphic Armor’s stamina consumption once his body recovered enough to call upon the strength of his Power.
He would learn to activate only partial abilities and living matter.
It was worth mentioning that...
...four years ago, after he had crashed into a garbage pile in the Lower City District of the Desolate Wasteland Ruins...
...the local City Lord, having confirmed that Reinhardt was not an Imperial Knight, had "reclaimed"—or rather, stolen—his Black Cutter in the name of the Empire.
However, in the current Empire, the Radiant Channels were no longer passable through the storm. Even as a City Lord, he couldn’t escape.
Since someone was willing to look after the Black Cutter, Reinhardt was actually happy to leave his weapon in the City Lord’s private collection for the time being.
’I can take it back whenever I want.’
For now.
He only had a battered Iron Sword that Raphael had salvaged from a trash heap in the Lower City District. It was more than enough to kill Cultists and rebels.
At this moment.
The Newbie Priest Raphael was gesticulating wildly, his emotions running high. He angrily cursed his colleagues for their wavering faith and the City Lord for his indecisiveness, roaring that it was they who had blasphemed the Divine Emperor’s magnificent radiance, leading to the world’s corruption by Demons.
But the sound of chaotic footsteps and panicked screams from the street outside interrupted the Divine Emperor fanatic’s passionate speech.
Amidst the jumbled, indistinct shouts...
...Reinhardt faintly heard a title: Mage.
