Ordinary iron tools could not withstand a surge of elements inside them, so each weapon could barely support one enchanted effect. Even so, it was already a major boost to Roland's strength.

After all...

Looking at the iron post split in two at his feet, Roland nodded slightly.

For that strike, he had deliberately avoided using any traits. He had not circulated his breathing method, and he had even suppressed his own strength.

It had been nothing more than the simplest chop.

Yet an iron sword made from ordinary material had cut through the iron testing post as easily as rotted wood.

That level of power was already comparable to some low-level spells.

Then...

What if he imprinted elements onto arrows?

Even if an arrow shaft was poor at conducting mana, and even if wood itself had only mediocre elemental affinity, as long as he guided elemental energy into it at the instant it was fired...

As long as it could endure until the moment it struck the target before erupting...

Roland estimated that while its power would not match the [Fire Bolt] he currently mastered, it would still be considerable.

More importantly, guiding mana into pre-imprinted circuits consumed far less mental power than casting [Fire Bolt] from scratch.

That would give him an attack method with strong concealment and sudden burst.

Enemies facing him for the first time would find it very difficult to imagine that a seemingly ordinary arrow could erupt with spell-like destructive force.

Of course, the method was not without cost.

The biggest issue was expense.

Ordinary wood used for arrows clearly could not endure even a brief surge of elements.

On top of that, arrows imprinted with Mana Elements would be single-use consumables. There would be no chance to recover and reuse them.

But Roland could almost ignore that drawback.

With the wealth he had accumulated, as long as he did not burn through hundreds of specially made arrows in every battle, he could afford it.

"Ordinary wooden arrows definitely won't work..."

Roland calculated silently as he cleaned up the iron fragments and the broken testing post.

"Maybe... I can forge the arrows out of iron? It would be best to pair them with a strong enough longbow."

With his current physical ability, firing iron arrows should not be difficult.

"And besides arrows..."

Thinking of the throwing techniques he had mastered, more ideas rose in Roland's mind.

"I can also forge short spears or throwing blades..."

After restoring the testing ground to its original state and extinguishing the lights, Roland turned and left the Blacksmith Guild.

"The item I have that conducts mana best right now should be this mithril longsword."

His fingers brushed the sword hilt at his waist. His feet did not stop, but his thoughts kept turning.

"Its texture is hard, and it has a naturally powerful affinity for the wind element. But..."

Remembering the finely forged iron sword shattering in an instant, he shook his head.

Before he understood the limit of mithril's ability to endure elemental surges, he truly was not willing to risk the only mithril longsword he had.

If it was completely ruined after only a few battles once the imprinting was complete...

That loss would be immeasurable.

With his current strength, ordinary iron weapons could no longer withstand his full power once a battle grew intense.

If his weapon shattered at a life-or-death moment, the consequences would be unthinkable.

"Mithril... They say veins of this rare metal exist only deep inside the Dwarven Kingdom."

Roland pondered.

"Maybe I should visit Master Griffin first thing tomorrow morning and see whether he has any channels for obtaining mithril. If I can secure a stable source..."

The thought of one day equipping himself with armor and weapons carefully forged from mithril, all bearing elemental enchantments, filled Roland with quiet, irrepressible anticipation.

"However..."

His gaze returned to the mithril longsword, his eyes carrying a hint of scrutiny.

With the support of [Material Synesthesia], he could clearly sense that the sword spine bore traces of damage that had later been repaired.

"For this mithril longsword to have been damaged, what kind of fierce battle did its previous owner go through..."

As he thought this, Roland walked out of the Blacksmith Guild.

A cool sea breeze with a faint salty tang brushed his face, refreshing his tired mind. The agitation from becoming an [Enchanter] earlier settled.

"Right."

Roland lightly patted his forehead and opened the occupation panel.

"I almost forgot to check what resonance buff [Knight Apprentice] and [Enchanter] can produce."

His gaze focused on the fresh lines of text that appeared on the panel.

[Knight Apprentice occupation detected. Occupation resonance available.]

[Occupation Resonance]

[Knight Apprentice + Enchanter]

[Extra buff gained: Echo Forge]

[Echo Forge: When a Knight Apprentice invokes Ember Echo, the golden embers born from the turbulence of the battlefield not only nourish allies, but under the instinctive pull of the Enchanter's Material Synesthesia, flow like liquid battlefield will and cover allied equipment. This is not simple attachment, but deep tempering between energy and matter through the synesthetic talent. The embers instinctively smooth away fine fatigue in metal, mend potential cracks in leather, and according to each material's own magical affinity, temporarily gild it with sharpness, toughness, or elemental affinity]

"Oh?"

After carefully reading the description, Roland raised an eyebrow.

"[Ember Echo] is a group buff that can significantly increase allies' stamina and battle will, while [Echo Forge] is a group enchantment... Doesn't that mean..."

As he walked home, he rubbed his smooth chin.

"After I activate [Ember Echo], the overall strength of nearby allies will leap? I just don't know how effective the temporary enchantment granted by [Echo Forge] actually is."

"Surely it won't be that after one exchange, the weapons in their hands and the armor on their bodies all shatter because they can't withstand elemental energy surging through them..."

Imagining everyone's equipment collapsing at once, the corner of Roland's mouth twitched. He shook his head and turned his attention back to the attribute panel.

[Strength: 27.5]

[Agility: 25.5]

[Spirit: 18]

"Back when my Strength and Agility both broke through ten points, I stepped into the transcendent realm and surpassed the limits of ordinary people."

"Then, if I use the occupation panel's attributes as a reference, what is the attribute threshold for Transcendent Professionals? Thirty? Forty? And..."

His gaze stopped on his Spirit attribute, now at eighteen points, and Roland recalled the strange sensation he had felt earlier when becoming an [Enchanter] granted him six points of Spirit.

"That indescribably tenacious barrier my spiritual perception touched at the time... could it be the barrier of the Deep Consciousness recorded in ancient texts?"

This was completely different from the feeling of awakening the Consciousness Shoal after taking an Awakening Potion.

He remembered very clearly that if wizards wanted to cast circle spells above cantrips, they usually had to cultivate specific meditation methods and open a Deep Consciousness in their spiritual world stable enough to bear complex rune structures.

"The core purpose of meditation methods is to increase mental power. Then does that mean opening the Deep Consciousness itself doesn't actually require a specific secret art? As long as mental power accumulates to sufficient strength and reaches a certain critical point, it can naturally break through that barrier?"

The thought made Roland's heart burn.

After all, ordinary people could only rely on lucky encounters or arduous meditation to improve their mental power. Roland only needed to keep changing to new occupations. Through the accumulation of occupation attributes, he could steadily increase his spiritual power with almost no bottleneck.

"Maybe twenty points of Spirit is the threshold needed to open the Deep Consciousness?"

After making that bold guess, even Roland's steps grew lighter.

Because it was too late, the boatmen had long since gone to rest, so Roland had no choice but to walk home.

By the time he finished a simple wash and lay down on the soft bed, night had deepened.

Early the next morning, as the first ray of sunlight slipped through the window lattice, Roland opened his eyes.

The significant growth of his Spirit attribute had swept away his fatigue. After waking for only a moment, he rose from bed.

"Good morning, Joe."

"Good morning, Roland."

Hearing the greeting, Joe, the red squirrel standing by the window and breathing fresh air, waved a furry little paw in response.

Compared to when it had been in Blackwater Territory, Joe had grown noticeably rounder, perhaps because life had become comfortable. Combined with its fluffy fur, it could easily be mistaken for a small cat from a distance.

During these peaceful days in the River Kingdoms, Joe had also lowered its guard and gotten along well with Teresa, Bronson, Hobby, and the others.

Galvez in particular always liked to tease it with various foods, adding quite a bit of laughter to the otherwise quiet courtyard.

Because of that, Roland had not carried the red squirrel with him as often as before. Instead, he usually left it in the courtyard for the others to look after.

Only toward the Elf girl Avril did Joe maintain a strange vigilance.

Through the [Animal Friend] trait, Roland could even catch Joe's dislike toward Avril in its thoughts.

But even Joe itself could not explain where that dislike came from. It only avoided the Elf girl during daily play.

That made Avril, who liked small animals, rather disappointed.

"Hah..."

Only after the "voices" of matter around his ears quieted did Roland let out a long breath and stretch.

[Material Synesthesia] was indeed powerful, but he had still not fully adapted to this ability he had suddenly obtained.

Just as he put on his clothes and prepared to go to the kitchen to make breakfast, a strange sensation seized him.

He noticed that in this room, aside from the mithril longsword beside him, another existence was giving off an especially "loud" voice.

Following that perception, Roland's gaze finally landed on Joe, the red squirrel lazily sprawled across the wooden table.

"This is..."

Roland's pupils shrank slightly, and he nearly cried out.

After testing it on patrolling guards last night, he had discovered that [Material Synesthesia] worked exactly as its name suggested. It had a clear effect on lifeless "materials" such as wood and metal, but when it came to living beings, his perception was vague or even unresponsive.

Yet now, he could clearly "sense" abundant Mana Elements surging like a river inside Joe's tiny body.

Even more shocking was that the squirrel displayed an affinity for the fire element so natural that it seemed born as one with it.

That innate and powerful elemental affinity even surpassed his precious mithril longsword.

"How is that possible..."

Roland frowned deeply, stepped forward, and carefully held Joe in his palm to examine it.

No matter how he looked, this was only an ordinary red squirrel, with no abnormal physical features compared to others of its kind.

"What's wrong, Roland?"

Seeing Roland's solemn expression, Joe scratched its fluffy head with one paw, eyes full of confusion.

"Nothing..."

After observing for a while and still finding no external abnormalities, Roland gently shook his head.

He placed the squirrel back on the table, but his thoughts drifted back to when he had first met it.

The dim, dense forest.

The mysterious dragonbone.

And after the dragonbone was taken away, the forest had rapidly shown signs of decline...

"Could it be... the influence of that dragonbone?"

Linking this to Joe's intelligence, which far exceeded an ordinary animal's, a bold guess formed in Roland's heart.

"Could a mere remnant dragonbone influence the ecology of an entire area?"

Remembering the terrifying Dragon he had encountered in Mist Creek Town, Roland gained a deeper understanding of the level of power such beings possessed.

And as he looked at the lively little life before him, Roland slightly reevaluated the [Material Synesthesia] trait for the first time.

No matter how one looked at Joe, it had nothing to do with a cold, dead thing like "material."

"Uh... Roland?"

Seeing the nervousness in the red squirrel's eyes, Roland immediately relaxed his brow and gently rubbed its furry little head.

No matter how strong Joe's elemental affinity was, he absolutely could not treat this little companion as some kind of "material" to be used for forging tools.

Throwing his scattered thoughts aside, Roland carried Joe into the kitchen.

As cooking smoke rose, a hearty breakfast was placed on the dining table before long.

At Roland's call, Galvez and the others gathered one after another and began eating.

"Teresa..."

Roland noticed that the silver-haired woman's face had clearly grown thinner. As he added food to her plate, he said softly, "Your current strength is already very impressive. There's no need to rush."

"I understand. Thank you for your concern, Mr. Roland."

Teresa smiled faintly. After elegantly placing the food on her plate into her mouth, she asked, "Mr. Roland, Galvez mentioned yesterday that you had something to ask me?"

"Hey! Teresa! That's not fair!"

Before Roland could answer, Galvez immediately protested in dissatisfaction.

"Why do you call him 'Mr.' but call me by name?"

After spending so much time together, everyone had long since grown used to the bard's jumpy nature, so no one paid any attention to his protest.

"It's like this..."

Roland ignored Galvez's resentful gaze and set down his knife and fork.

"I remember that when you first arrived in the River Kingdoms, you took Trevor's ship and passed through Wailing Gorge?"

"That is correct."

Teresa nodded lightly. She tucked a loose strand of silver hair behind her ear, and her voice grew calm.

"That is not a good place..."

Her gaze seemed to pass through the dining table and return to that dangerous stretch of water in her memories. A hint of gravity entered her voice.

"It is a narrow waterway squeezed between enormous, nearly vertical black cliffs. Cold and gloomy, like a tomb."

"The seawater churns and roars inside. It is so narrow that large ships do not dare risk entering. At the entrance, reefs and broken stone pillars lie like fangs beneath the water, covering the route. The slightest carelessness will wreck the ship and kill everyone aboard. However..."

Her tone shifted.

"Once inside Wailing Gorge, the water becomes calm. The reefs and broken rocks vanish, making the passage unusually smooth. But..."

She paused.

"Although it is still some distance from the Misty Lands at the River Kingdoms' border, from there, one can clearly observe the area shrouded in dense fog... That place gave me a very bad feeling."

"I understand."

Roland nodded lightly, digesting Teresa's description, then asked, "Then do you think there is anywhere inside Wailing Gorge suitable for hiding a large number of people?"

"Hiding?"

Although she did not know why Roland was asking, Teresa still thought for a moment before answering.

"There are many caves on the rock walls on both sides, some distance above sea level. Among them, there are also several quite solid pieces of land protruding from the sea without warning..."

Recalling those abrupt platforms, she frowned slightly and continued, "So there are many places suitable for hiding. In fact, when passing through, Captain Trevor even discovered moored ships and traces of human activity. But when we passed by, we were not harassed in any way."

Before she finished speaking, the bard beside them had already raised his brows proudly.

Roland, meanwhile, curled a finger and tapped the tabletop in a steady rhythm.

Amid the light tapping, his thoughts moved quickly.

"In other words, the only difficult part of entering Wailing Gorge is safely passing through the dangerous waterway at the entrance, which is full of reefs and stone pillars. As long as we can successfully enter..."

Combining this with Teresa's description, Roland made up his mind. He then explained his plan to exterminate the pirates in full.

Seeing that Teresa and Galvez had no objections, he quickly finished the food on his plate. After chewing and swallowing properly, he rose and walked toward the door.

Although Teresa's information was already detailed enough, Roland still decided to have Hobby send several of the most experienced sailors to carefully scout the outskirts of Wailing Gorge again.

To him, every adventure carried unknown risks. No amount of caution was excessive.

Besides, preparing the supplies needed for the trip to Wailing Gorge would also take time.

And the distance from there to the Royal Capital was not especially far. By the time the scouting sailors returned with more detailed information, the supplies should be fully prepared as well. Neither side would delay the other.

With that thought, Roland quickened his pace and headed toward the Knight Academy.