Bang!

With a muffled sound, the Winged Kobold's upper body slid apart along the line of blood. The cut was smooth as a mirror.

Just like the Bloodscale Kobold before it, the gushing blood ignited before it could hit the ground.

Flames curled inward and devoured the corpse, reducing the savage monster to ash in a few breaths.

The white object clutched in its left claw fell with it and rolled to Roland's feet.

Inside the ashes, a tiny crimson crystal gave off a weak glimmer.

Roland had no time to examine either one.

After repeated practice at the estate, using Cleave no longer made him collapse from exhaustion the way it had the first time, but fierce weakness still washed over his body.

The Executioner stood not far away.

This was someone who had killed humans and monsters without distinction. Roland could not afford to show fatigue.

He drove the iron sword into the ground for support, braced his trembling hands on the hilt, and breathed out.

"Are you all right?"

"Me?"

The Executioner's deep blue pupils quivered, shock still lingering there.

The earlier exchange with the Winged Kobold had been brief, but its blade-proof scales, monstrous strength, and terrifying mobility had made one thing clear.

That was not an opponent an ordinary human could contend with.

Yet the man before him had done it.

The Executioner's gaze shifted to Roland's face.

That clean, youthful face clearly belonged to someone not yet very old. And while the sword strike just now had been extraordinarily sharp, it had not carried the power of a transcendent expert.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

He coughed a few times and spat out clotted blood. Then he wiped the corner of his mouth with his sleeve and pushed himself upright.

"What you used just now... was a Combat Technique, right?"

This was the first time Roland had heard the Executioner speak.

Compared with the mysterious appearance and ruthless methods, the voice was clear, even carrying a woman's softness.

Wait.

A woman?

Roland tested the guess as he addressed the slender figure under the black robe.

"Miss... how should I address you?"

"Teresa Hernandez. Just call me Teresa..."

Teresa lifted her face covering, and long silver hair fluttered in the wind.

Her calm deep blue eyes held a hidden edge. Her nose was high and straight, giving her face a heroic sharpness, while her lips were softer and more delicate.

Those lips pressed together like a drawn sword.

Elegant. Deadly. Impossible to ignore.

Roland was not distracted by her beauty.

As she approached, his grip tightened on the sword hilt. His attention kept returning to her fair neck.

He was drained, but Teresa had clearly suffered more severe injuries in the battle.

If she drew her sword, Roland was confident he could kill her in one strike.

"No need to be nervous..."

Teresa stopped roughly three steps away.

Her gaze drifted past Roland, focusing behind him on something he could not see.

After a moment of silence, her voice came out clear and even.

"Roland... oh... both parents dead. Your life story truly is tragic. Aside from that..."

Teresa frowned, confusion entering her eyes.

"Your other information is wrapped in mist. I can't see it clearly... how strange..."

Roland's pupils tightened. He studied Teresa's face with care.

He was certain he had never met this mysterious woman before.

How could she know that about him?

Seeing Roland's expression darken, Teresa only shook her head.

"Please rest assured. You are different from those dregs. You are trustworthy, and I will not attack you. As for why I understand you so well..."

Her arm trembled as she sheathed the slender sword.

"You can think of it as a great power granted to me by a deity."

A deity?

Roland's brow twitched.

Outwardly, he remained calm and unhurried.

While recovering his strength in silence, he spoke in an even tone.

"In that case, Miss Teresa..."

Roland narrowed his eyes and smiled.

"For fairness' sake, shouldn't you introduce yourself as well?"

"How rude of me..."

Teresa nodded, lifted a corner of her damaged black robe with her left hand, placed her right hand over her chest, and bowed with standard etiquette.

"Teresa Hernandez, formerly a member of the Church of Truth."

Church of Truth?

It was likely one of the many churches Bronson had mentioned, the ones that had sprouted in recent years.

Roland filed that away, then caught the key word in her sentence.

"Formerly?"

"Yes."

Teresa straightened. Her already pale face seemed even dimmer.

"I have left the Church of Truth. Now I am only a free, wandering adventurer."

"I simply did not expect the first stop of my journey..."

Thinking of the greedy outlaws in Pinewood Town, disgust entered Teresa's eyes.

"To be a place even filthier than the Church of Truth."

Before Roland could ask more, Teresa bowed again and spoke softly.

"Thank you for your help earlier. I will certainly repay this kindness in the future."

"I still have important matters at hand, so I will take my leave first. Until we meet again, Mr. Roland."

She left without waiting for his response.

Her steps remained calm and elegant. Though her figure wavered slightly, her speed was astonishing.

In only a few moments, she vanished from sight.

"Huff..."

Roland watched the direction Teresa had taken and released a long breath. Questions still lingered in his mind.

"Was she telling the truth? A great power granted by a deity..."

He shook his head and set aside the questions he could not answer.

Roland bent, put the tiny red crystal into his pouch, and reached for the white object at his feet.

The instant his fingertip touched its surface, his pupils contracted.

Through the [Furnace Heart] trait, he could clearly sense a pulse deep inside the white object.

It carried the emotional ripple unique to flame.

Weak, yet alive. A final spark dancing in embers.

Suppressing his astonishment, Roland raised the white object before his eyes and examined it carefully.

Traces of dirt clung to it, proof that it had only recently been dug from the earth.

Beneath the warm, polished surface lay a hard core. Its hollow cylindrical structure resembled a carefully carved bracer.

"Bone structure?"

Connecting it to the events he had recently experienced, an astonishing guess surfaced in his mind.

"Could this be a fragment of the giant remains that caused the bloody battle between the Blazing Sun Church and the goblins?"

Roland's knuckles tightened around it, and the object in his palm seemed to grow scalding.

The sight of those monsters fighting madly over the skeleton in the forest remained vivid.

And that was without considering the unknown force behind the Blazing Sun Church.

He quickly placed the bone fragment into the pouch at his waist.

An unnatural rustling came from the canopy.

Roland looked toward the sound and saw monsters emerging from the shadows between the trees.

He swept his gaze across the battlefield. After confirming none were troublesome mutants, he breathed a little easier.

More than half of his stamina had recovered.

The corners of his mouth lifted.

Clang!

The longsword came free of the ground, bringing up damp clumps of soil.

The sharp blade caught the patchy sunlight.

Sword shadows swept through the clearing. Monsters wailed one after another, and foul blood arced through the air.

During the slaughter, a line of text seemed to appear across the occupation panel.

Roland did not examine it at once. He only glanced at the Warrior job-change information.

[Requirements: Strength 9, Agility 6, five max-level combat-related skills 4/5, kill 100/100 hostile creatures]

Seeing that the hostile-kill requirement for changing occupation to Warrior had been fulfilled, he flicked his wrist and shook the sticky blood from the blade.

The bone fragment at his waist might attract more troublesome prey like the Winged Kobold at any moment. He did not dare stay long.

After passing through the final stretch of bushes, he reached the edge of the forest and stepped into open sunlight.

A crisp whistle echoed through the trees.

Familiar hoofbeats answered from far away and drew closer.

Blackwind rushed over like a streak of black lightning, glossy mane flying in the wind.

"Good boy."

Roland rubbed the black horse's mane and mounted neatly.

With a quiet command, man and horse raced toward Pinewood Town, leaving only fading hoofbeats on the forest path.

Three days later, the journey remained calm and uneventful.

When the tall watchtower north of Pinewood Town entered his sight, Roland's tense mind finally relaxed.

He dismounted, passed the guards' routine inspection, and headed straight for the Adventurer's Guild.

Roland pushed open the heavy wooden door and found the guild strangely quiet. The hall was empty.

Only when his gaze landed on the black-robed figure before the counter did he understand why.

He walked toward the counter and found the bartender wearing his usual lazy expression. Even when facing Teresa, who bore the title "Executioner," the man showed no change at all.

From the corner of his eye, Roland saw that the parchment in the bartender's hand was the commission notice to investigate abnormal monster movements.

"So she accepted this commission..."

Sensing movement beside her, Teresa glanced over. When she saw Roland, she nodded in acknowledgment.

"The reward totals two silver and fifteen copper."

The bartender tossed a heavy money pouch onto the counter with a muffled thud.

"You can count it."

"No need."

Teresa placed the money pouch into her chest and said to Roland, "Until we meet again."

Before the words fully settled, she turned and left. Her black robe fluttered, and her figure soon vanished beyond the door.

Roland had no interest in investigating this mysterious woman. The "deity" she had mentioned made him wary, and he instinctively kept his distance.

In response to her farewell, Roland only nodded. Then he untied the pouch at his waist and placed it on the counter, together with the commission copy from his chest.

"Oh! So it's you, rookie... You actually came back alive. Impressive."

The bartender narrowed his eyes and recognized Roland, teasing in his tone.

He counted the trophies in the pouch with practiced hands and whistled.

"A full sixty goblin ears! Well done. Didn't expect you to have real skill, kid."

Coins clinked beneath the counter. The bartender counted the reward and pushed the heavy pouch toward Roland.

"According to the rules, eight copper coins per goblin ear. Total is four silver and eighty copper."

Roland weighed the money pouch, and the corners of his mouth rose.

Added to the spoils he had scavenged from the goblin camp, this adventure of less than ten days had earned him nearly nine silver coins.

That was more than he would earn in half a year as a blacksmith apprentice.

This line of work earned money far too quickly.

And aside from that...

Feeling the heavy bone fragment in the pouch at his left waist, Roland's desire to return to the estate grew even stronger.

Although Roland wanted to return at once, the recent wilderness exploration and battles had left him physically and mentally exhausted.

If he set out in this state, he might not be able to handle an unexpected problem.

The sky was already dark, so Roland decided to rest in Pinewood Town for one day and leave early the next morning.

Lying on the soft bed in the inn, Roland finally had time to open the occupation panel and examine it carefully.

When he noticed the changes in the attribute column, he made a quiet sound of surprise.

"Strength and Agility actually rose by 0.2 each?"

After some thought, Roland pieced together the answer.

Compared with his previous battles against monsters, the greatest difference this time was the Winged Kobold.

Although he had encountered the Bloodscale Kobold in the village before, the two battles had been completely different.

In the earlier fight, he had mainly relied on Peyton and John to restrain the Bloodscale Kobold from the front, then delivered the fatal blow at the end.

This time, because Teresa was injured, Roland had taken at least seventy percent of the Winged Kobold's attacks himself. It had been a true frontal confrontation.

"Looks like..."

Roland stroked his chin as understanding settled in.

"Compared to daily training, real combat on the edge of life and death has a much stronger effect on improving attributes."

His gaze moved downward.

After [Ecology Scholar], the extra buff triggered by Scholar and Hunter, a conspicuous exclamation mark had appeared.

"Is this... ecology notes obtained?"

As he recited the thought in his mind, the transparent panel before him changed.

Three-dimensional models of kobolds and goblins appeared out of thin air, displayed vividly before him.

Detailed text explanations appeared beneath each model.

"Kobolds, burrowing reptilian humanoids..."

After the concise species introduction, their strengths and weaknesses were listed in detail.

Most eye-catching of all, the weak points were marked in bright red on the three-dimensional models.

"This is..."

Roland shifted his gaze left.

The goblin ecology notes also contained a complete three-dimensional model, detailed explanations, and a weakness analysis.

He compared the notes with the information he had gained in real combat and nodded.

"The contents recorded in the notes not only match what I observed in battle, they are even more detailed. In that case..."

Roland's eyes brightened.

"If I can collect the ecology notes of a certain kind of monster, then the next time I encounter it, I can respond in a much more targeted way. This really is quite a practical buff effect!"

"Unfortunately... I killed at least over a hundred goblins and dozens of kobolds before triggering the ecology notes for these two monsters. It looks like the trigger rate for ecology notes isn't high."

After a regretful shake of his head, Roland exited the ecology notes and browsed the occupation panel again. Once he confirmed there were no other changes, he closed it.

Lying on the soft bed, Roland's thoughts returned to the dangerous fight with the Winged Kobold, and his expression turned grave.

With his current strength, he could defeat that kind of mutated monster alone, but the process was not easy.

First, the battle dragged on and consumed a great deal of stamina.

Second, his main attack method still relied on the Combat Technique [Cleave].

That move carried real risk.

If it hit, it could heavily injure or even kill the enemy.

If it missed, the brief exhausted state afterward would leave him no time to dodge a counterattack.

"And..."

Thinking of the major differences between the Bloodscale Kobold and the Winged Kobold, Roland's expression grew even more solemn.

"Looks like Mr. Bronson was right. As mana elements revive, these monsters are also evolving, or rather... recovering the power they once possessed at their peak."

"First, there was the blood-colored goblin that could cast magic. Now, a kobold with a wing has appeared... This shows that these mutant monsters are not isolated cases. As time passes, similar powerful mutant monsters will probably become more and more numerous..."

At that thought, Roland clenched his fist, his mind made up.

"I must improve my strength as quickly as possible!"

"Right now, the conditions for changing occupation to [Warrior] only lack one max-level combat skill and the attribute requirements. After returning to the estate, I can meet them through the [Combat Readiness] trait and daily training. It only means spending more time..."

"Aside from that, riding-related skills also need more urgent practice, to see what new occupations and buffs they can unlock. And the plan to learn cantrips and that mysterious script from Mr. Bronson cannot be delayed either..."

"I wonder how the research on those Spell Circuits is going..."

Thoughts churned until Roland's eyelids grew heavy.

Before long, his breathing evened out, and he sank into sleep.

Early the next morning, when the sky had only begun to brighten, Roland opened his eyes.

He rolled out of bed, washed up simply, went downstairs, spent a few copper coins on a rough breakfast, then mounted Blackwind and galloped toward the estate.

Nothing happened along the way. At noon, the familiar outline of the estate finally entered his sight.

Roland's nerves eased completely.

He lightly pulled the reins to slow the horse. After the guards' routine inspection, he entered the estate without trouble.

After settling Blackwind at the horse grounds, Roland went straight to the blacksmith shop to report his safety to Hawk, then hurried to that remote wooden house.

This time, he had only just reached the door and had not yet raised his hand to knock when the weathered wooden door creaked open from inside.

Bronson's face, even thinner than before, poked out. Feverish excitement burned in his sunken eyes.

"Hah! Roland!"

He waved his bony arm.

"Just from the sound of footsteps, I knew it was you! When did you get back?"

Without waiting for an answer, he stepped aside and called impatiently,

"Come in quickly! My research has made another major breakthrough!"

Roland had long grown used to Bronson's occasional madness, so he said nothing.

The moment he stepped inside, Bronson's endless chatter rang beside his ears.

"I made some tiny adjustments to the Spell Circuits. Guess what? The speed of absorbing mana elements increased by a full three times! Of course, the price is that the capacity for storing mana elements decreased, but it's completely worth it..."

Ignoring the gesticulating Bronson, Roland checked the room.

After confirming it was safe, he closed the door behind him, then swept the scattered parchment on the table aside.

"No! Roland!"

Bronson clutched his head and let out an exaggerated scream.

"Those are all my hard work! How could you..."

The complaint stopped, because Roland had already untied the leather pouch at his waist.

Bang!

With a soft thud, the pouch opened across the tabletop, revealing the mysterious bone inside, pale and jade-smooth.

"This is..."

Even before touching it, Bronson, as a scholar who had once studied at the Tower, sensed the extraordinary aura carried by the bone.

"Do you remember the giant creature skeleton I mentioned before, the one the Blazing Sun Church and the goblins were fighting over in the forest?"

"You mean..."

"That's right. According to my deduction..."

Roland had traveled nonstop without proper rest, and his voice was hoarse. He untied his waterskin and drank deeply.

After wiping the droplets from his jaw, he released a long breath and said,

"This bone is likely part of that giant creature's remains."

"I..."

Bronson's Adam's apple bobbed, his voice hoarse with excitement.

"May I examine it carefully?"

"Please."

Roland leaned back in the wooden chair, exhausted from the journey.

"In fact, I am hoping to use your expertise, Mr. Bronson, to identify the true origin of this bone."

After receiving permission, Bronson stepped forward. He no longer cared about the research material scattered across the floor.

He picked up the pale bone with care, held it before his eyes, and examined it with complete focus.

The wooden house fell silent.

A moment later, Bronson trembled with excitement, his voice rising.

"This bone actually..."

Roland raised his index finger to his lips.

The mad scholar lowered his voice at once, but the fever in his eyes did not lessen.

"It stores mana elements inside!"

Roland had expected this, so he was not surprised. He only asked calmly,

"Similar to your Spell Circuits or Mana Crystals?"

"No, no, no... there are differences..."

Bronson held the bone in both hands and examined it again and again.

"As I said before, Mana Crystals only exist inside monsters and are pure one-time consumables. My Spell Circuits can continuously draw mana from the environment, but without a suitable carrier, the effect decreases greatly."

He closed his eyes, fingertips brushing over the rough lines on the bone's surface. After a moment, he opened them again, disbelief spreading across his face.

"But this bone... the purity of the mana elements it absorbs is actually even higher than my Spell Circuits..."

"And even while carrying such high-purity mana elements, this bone shows no sign of damage..."

Realizing what that meant, Bronson murmured to himself, his tone filled with shock and unwillingness.

"But how is this possible? A biological bone fragment can surpass Spell Circuits that I have studied for so many years..."

Roland's eyes sharpened. He ignored Bronson's self-pity.

He stood, stepped forward, and lightly tapped the bone with a bent finger.

Dong!

A muffled resonance answered.

Roland ran his tongue over his dry lips, excitement hard to suppress in his voice.

"Mr. Bronson, perhaps... we can try carving Spell Circuits onto this. What do you think?"