Chapter 17 : Level 5 【Mount Control】, The Hunt of Deep Winter
Chapter 17: Level 5 【Mount Control】, The Hunt of Deep Winter
Leo looked at the 【Mount Control】 skill that was about to be unlocked.
【Mount Control Level 4 98/100 (Spirit +0.4, able to connect with the horse’s mind, greatly enhancing riding control; can read fragments of a horse’s memory, with the readable content depending on Spirit)】
At this moment, as he blew the Bone Flute, whatever he thought in his mind could quickly be sensed by the six horses.
Originally, he could only sense one horse, but while blowing the Bone Flute, Leo felt that he could command six horses at once.
It just so happened that he was about to walk the horses.
He untied all their reins and held the Bone Flute in his mouth.
The six horses obediently came before him.
Leo mounted his own white horse.
Now, he no longer needed a whip to drive them, nor did he need to issue constant commands—he only had to gently blow the Bone Flute.
Along with the clear and resonant flute sound,
the six horses seemed to be completely under Leo’s control.
Accelerate, decelerate, turn.
The six horses circled calmly within the not-so-large stable, helping them digest the feed they had just eaten.
With the help of the Bone Flute, Leo felt that controlling horses had become much easier. If his Spirit continued to grow stronger, would he be able to control even more horses at once?
At the same time, he continuously read fragments of memory from the other horses.
Since the observable duration had increased, he now saw many scenes that he could not previously access.
In the memory of one black horse, it showed that—
in the latter half of last night, Laforin’s Knight’s Squire, Zoro, had ridden that black horse into the town and killed a strange-looking Beastkin.
It was a hunched, gaunt green-skinned dwarf.
Leo had seen that kind of Beastkin in the Beastkin bestiary before.
Goblin.
Ever since Leo suspected that he had encountered Beastkins previously,
he had found a way to retrieve an Beastkin bestiary from the castle’s archive room—Goblins, Kobolds, Gnolls, Minotaurs…
Based on the illustrations in the book,
Leo confirmed that what he had encountered before was indeed a Goblin.
Now, as he watched the memory fragment, Zoro rode directly to a residence.
Then he dismounted, rushed inside, and with a single strike, split the Goblin apart, before carrying the corpse back onto the horse and returning to the castle to report.
It looked like he had been carrying out a mission.
“Sure enough, there are Beastkins active within the town. It’s just that the information is likely being suppressed, or perhaps someone of my level simply doesn’t have access to such knowledge.”
Leo repeatedly watched this memory fragment.
What attracted him the most in the entire sequence was Zoro’s swordsmanship.
One clean and decisive strike severed the wooden stick the Goblin used to block, splitting the small Beastkin from head to toe into two halves.
At that moment, Leo also noticed that Zoro’s entire body seemed to emit a dark bluish aura, with streams of black breath exhaling from his mouth and nose.
“It looks like some kind of Breathing Technique.”
As he continued watching, without realizing it, Leo—still on horseback—felt a shift in his panel.
The final point of experience for 【Mount Control】 instantly ticked over.
【Mount Control Level 5 1/100 (Spirit +0.5, horses personally trained by you will continuously increase in potential; effect scales with Spirit)】
His Spirit attribute increased by 0.1, reaching 1.4.
And a new skill effect appeared.
“Horses personally trained by you will continuously increase in potential.”
A growth-type effect had actually appeared, and it was also tied to his Spirit attribute.
Could it be that he could train an ordinary horse into a thousand-mile steed—or even something stronger?
Sitting on horseback, Leo imagined the future, feeling that this skill might even become a way to make money.
……
Time passed in a flash, and more than ten days went by. In the blink of an eye, it was already the Month of Deep Winter.
Howling winds and snow wrapped Blackstone City in a layer of icy armor.
It had been half a month since the last Kingdom Merchant Caravan arrived at Blackstone City.
With Deep Winter setting in, animals in the mountains and forests had drastically decreased. The Beastkin tribes outside the city had begun eyeing Blackstone City with growing restlessness.
Thus, every year during the Month of Deep Winter, Laforin would summon the five great knights of the city to sweep through the Beastkin tribes outside the city.
This was known as the Hunt of Deep Winter.
The swordsmanship instructor Clarsen was one of the five knights, and he had also been dispatched with the hunting party.
With Clarsen gone, the remaining thirty-plus Knight’s Squires continued practicing swordsmanship in the main great sword hall.
Separated by only a wall, Leo was sparring in the smaller sword room next door with Arthur and Hogg.
Now, Leo faced two opponents alone with ease, and he wasn’t even using his full strength.
【Strength: 1.6 Agility: 1.0 Spirit: 1.4】
In just over ten days, relying on swordsmanship skill bonuses, along with daily hard training and nourishment from Beastkin meat,
Leo’s Strength attribute had increased by 0.4.
His body had been fully built up.
During this period, he had stayed within the castle, living a monotonous life.
Day after day of sword training and Mount Control—he spent nearly all his time grinding these two skills.
【Leo
Strength: 1.6
Agility: 1.0
Spirit: 1.4
Class: Stablehand (White), 【Swordsman】 (Green)
Unassigned Class: Sword Master (Blue)
Traits: Horse Whisperer (White), Tempering (Green)
Skills: Basic Sword Techniques (White) Level 5 100/100 (Strength +0.5, proficiency Level 5)
Mount Control Level 5 87/100 (Spirit +0.5, able to connect with the horse’s mind, greatly enhancing riding control; can read fragments of a horse’s memory, with the readable content depending on Spirit)】
Since most of the horses in the stable had been deployed outside the city by Laforin, only Leo’s white horse remained.
The progress of the Mount Control skill had slowed significantly.
Leo had not relaxed at all, but the skill still lacked 13 experience points to be fully maxed.
At present, it seemed that Level 5 was likely the maximum level.
The reason Leo made this judgment was because of another of his skills.
【Basic Sword Techniques】—after this period of arduous training—had just now been completely maxed out.
Through testing, Level 5 appeared to be the limit of Basic Sword Techniques.
At the same time as maxing out Basic Sword Techniques, a new class appeared in Leo’s unassigned class panel.
【Sword Master】 (Blue)
A Blue-tier Class had actually appeared!
And when Leo looked at this class,
several lines of annotation-like text appeared on the panel.
【Sword Master (Unassigned)
Requirements:
1. Strength reaches 1.5, current 1.6 (Met)
2. Agility reaches 1.2, current 1.0 (Not Met)
3. Max out a swordsmanship skill of Green quality or above (Not Met)】
“It looks like Sword Master is an advanced class of Swordsman.”
However, among the three requirements, only one was currently fulfilled.
His Strength had already reached 1.6.
As for Agility reaching 1.2, Leo currently had no way to increase his Agility.
Still, due to long-term rigorous training and supplementation from Beastkin meat,
his Agility had increased by 0.1.
But without a skill that could raise Agility through grinding,
reaching 1.2 would be a very long process.
As for the final requirement—
he needed a Green-quality swordsmanship skill.
Leo had no clues about that for now.
This might have to wait until his teacher, Eve Sova, returned.
At this moment, Leo faced Arthur and Hogg, slowly lowering the sword in his hand.
With Basic Sword Techniques maxed out, continuing to train would no longer grant experience—there was no benefit to the panel anymore.
‘Might as well fully grind Mount Control first and see if a new advanced skill appears.’
Just as he was thinking this, Leo heard a burst of noisy footsteps rapidly approaching the sword room.
He, Arthur, and Hogg all turned toward the door.
They saw the Knight’s Squires who originally served under Clarsen rushing into Leo’s sword room in a swarm.