Chapter 135 : A Confusing Situation! Steady Improvement!
Chapter 135: A Confusing Situation! Steady Improvement!
Leo always felt that Anthony was somewhat mysterious.
A strategist known as the “decisive hand,” the chief strategist of Blackstone City.
Leo had never liked those clever people who toyed with schemes.
He preferred being grounded, advancing step by step.
But people like that always gave him a sense of opportunism.
Like a few of the people around him.
The one he liked interacting with most was Arthur, followed by Fidis.
As for Rog, he didn’t really like him.
Now that he had become a Formal Knight, it was inevitable that he would have dealings with the other knights of Blackstone City.
But when dealing with such clever people, he would always have to be more cautious.
……
At this moment, inside the private room, Laforin looked at Anthony, who had stayed behind, and knew the other party must have something to say.
“Anthony, what is it?”
Anthony seemed to ponder for a moment before looking at Laforin, a trace of seriousness in his eyes. “Laforin, don’t you feel that Blackstone City has been a bit chaotic this year?”
Anthony’s words seemed to carry deeper meaning.
Laforin stared ahead steadily and took a deep breath.
He hadn’t spoken about this openly, but he indeed felt the same way.
Regarding the Wilderness Knight Order’s attempt to exchange Dragonblood Horses for Tier 3 Body Tempering Potion, aside from himself and Lady Manta, only Anthony in all of Blackstone City knew.
Thinking back now, too many things had happened recently.
First came two consecutive Beast Calamities, then the loss of the Dragonblood Horses, and now the threat from the Wilderness Knight Order.
It was as if Blackstone City had been targeted, with dark clouds lingering overhead.
“So you mean, among us, there might be…?”
Anthony shook his head. “Whether there’s a traitor, I’m not certain. But I feel that until the seven surrounding cities reply, we should act more cautiously.”
“You mean…”
“I hope you’ll issue an order to fully tighten external hunting activities and enter a state of combat readiness to conserve strength. If the Wilderness Knight Order has already set their sights on us, then any hunting groups leaving the city will be extremely dangerous.”
“But fully tightening things… wouldn’t that be too cautious?”
“It’s better to be cautious. The replies from the seven cities won’t take long. Let’s endure for a while. The safety of our brothers comes first.” Anthony also looked troubled.
Laforin listened and nodded inwardly.
His strategist, Anthony—the decisive hand—always managed to think one step ahead of him.
On the other side, Leo exited the Hunting Moment.
What Anthony said did seem reasonable.
Although the Tier 3 Body Tempering Potion had already been prepared, Leo felt that the subsequent transaction might not go smoothly.
If the Wilderness Knight Order truly intended to target Blackstone City, those leaving the city could indeed face danger.
However, if hunting activities were fully restricted, what would happen to the raw materials for potions?
This seemed to be a dilemma.
Leo stopped thinking about it. He didn’t want to get involved in political matters or spend too much energy on them.
What he needed to do now was to improve his strength as quickly as possible.
After a night of rest, Leo returned to his training rhythm.
With both of his minds activated and his spiritual power having broken through, Leo’s cultivation seemed to have entered a fast lane.
……
More than ten days passed in a flash.
Outside Blackstone City, spring had quietly arrived, and all things were reviving.
Inside the city, vitality was everywhere; the bonsai and peach blossoms in Leo’s courtyard had already bloomed.
Yet Leo was still in the dungeon.
He had voluntarily requested Lady Manta to let him take care of the Beastkin in the dungeon.
Just moments ago, he had completed another round of Breathing Technique cultivation and was now adjusting and resting.
He looked at his panel.
During this period, in terms of swordsmanship—
Through passionate sparring with the Beastkin brothers, Leo’s progress in the Dark Extinction Cross Sword had steadily improved.
【Dark Extinction Cross Sword Phase One 57/100 (Special Effect: Black Marsh)】
The progress was already more than halfway.
As his swordsmanship advanced, Leo noticed that the range of Black Marsh seemed to have expanded.
Meanwhile, his Breathing Techniques had also improved rapidly.
【Breathing Techniques: Furnace Breathing Technique Phase Two 56/100 (Black Aura Coating)
Lightning Breathing Technique Phase One 96/100
Rock Breathing Technique Phase One 1/100】
It had been nearly a month since he activated his Second Mind.
In this month, the speed of his Breathing Technique progress had been unprecedented.
This was mainly due to the small amount of Tier 3 Body Tempering Potion left by Lady Manta.
Using a Tier 3 Body Tempering Potion to train a Phase Two Breathing Technique was indeed highly efficient.
Even faster progress was seen in his second Breathing Technique, the Lightning Breathing Technique.
After a month of nourishment from the Tier 3 Body Tempering Potion, this first-tier Breathing Technique was now on the verge of breaking through.
As his Breathing Techniques improved, Leo’s attributes were also gradually changing.
【Strength: 4.3
Agility: 3.5
Spirit: 2.0】
His Strength had already surpassed the 4-point threshold.
But compared to Strength, his Agility had improved even more noticeably.
At 3.5, the gap between Agility and Strength had narrowed to just 0.8.
This was mainly due to the supplementary cultivation of the Lightning Breathing Technique.
Clearly, unlike the Furnace Breathing Technique, which improved attributes in a balanced way, the Lightning Breathing Technique focused more on agility and flexibility.
Thus, it provided greater improvement to Agility.
This made Leo very pleased.
The reason he chose the Lightning Breathing Technique as his second Breathing Technique was precisely because he had previously felt insufficiently agile.
And the Lightning Breathing Technique was said to enhance movement speed.
Rather than becoming a bulky brute relying solely on brute strength, Leo wanted to become a well-rounded fighter who could both fight and run, with exceptional mental acuity.
He was very satisfied with this training result.
After the attribute improvements, he now found it easier to scratch his back.
His muscles had become more flexible, and both his body’s flexibility and muscle reaction speed had improved.
Leo couldn’t help but sigh inwardly—dual-track operation was truly powerful!
However, he was now facing a problem.
His Tier 3 Body Tempering Potion had run out.
The small reserves left from two rounds of alchemy had been completely used up.
There was also no news of further potion-making from Lady Manta.
Moreover, according to Leo’s Intelligence Network, there hadn’t been any new potion supply in the Knight Hall for some time.
At least Leo still had a considerable stock of Tier 2 Body Tempering Potion, but many other Quasi-Knights had already completely run out.
“This is the inevitable result of halting hunting.”
But suddenly, everything changed.
Just a few hours later, Laforin issued an order, and almost all Quasi-Knights were sent back into hunting activities.
At the same time, Lady Manta suddenly resumed making Tier 3 Body Tempering Potion.
Leo was urgently summoned to the Potion Laboratory.
“Little Leo, I’m really sorry, but you must help me,” Lady Manta said. Although she maintained composure, her tone was much firmer this time.
Leo sensed something unusual. “Lady Manta, what exactly happened?”
“Don’t ask. Let’s get started quickly.” She clearly had no intention of explaining.
Leo noticed that her attitude was completely different from before—it felt as if the potion had to be made no matter what.
Moreover, he could clearly see that she was troubled.
‘What exactly is going on?’
Although he had doubts, Leo didn’t dwell on them and immediately followed her lead, beginning the fourth production of the Tier 3 Body Tempering Potion.
He glanced at her material box. “Lady Manta, so many Catalysts.”
He saw a bottle of Catalyst in her kit.
Hadn’t the previous supply already been used up?
Lady Manta did not explain. “Little Leo, I’m afraid you’ll have to work hard during this period. Tier 3 alchemy may need to be done once every half month. It will delay your cultivation.
But as compensation, I will leave about one-quarter of each batch of Tier 3 Body Tempering Potion for you to use.”
“One-quarter?” Leo knew this was no small amount.
That was Tier 3 Body Tempering Potion—each bottle was a rare treasure unavailable on the market.
If he could get a quarter each time, his cultivation plan would accelerate greatly.
And he could also use this opportunity to improve his alchemy skills.
This was too strange.
Where did Lady Manta suddenly get so many Catalysts?
And the more he looked at her expression, the more something felt off.
She seemed weighed down by worries, completely unlike her usual straightforward demeanor.
Leo felt that asking directly wouldn’t yield answers.
He used his Second Mind to assist her while simultaneously using his Shared State to control a fat rat to investigate clues.
“Let’s check Laforin first.”
Soon, he found the answer.
……
Inside a private room in the Knight Hall, Laforin and Anthony were arguing fiercely.
“Damn it! This is all my fault,” Laforin said in deep self-reproach. “I shouldn’t have agreed to let Eve Sova go out hunting.”
“Sigh! I never expected those damned Wilderness Knights to be so despicable!” Anthony gritted his teeth.
“It’s my fault for not listening to your advice earlier.” Laforin clenched his fists.
Following Anthony’s suggestion, he had ordered a state of combat readiness during this period.
However, Blackstone City quickly fell into a shortage of potions.
Morale began to waver.
Many Quasi-Knights started making guesses.
Some even began considering leaving.
A prolonged lack of potions among Quasi-Knights would soon lead to a decline in their realm.
Meanwhile, replies from nearby cities arrived one after another.
Almost all found excuses to decline the proposal of jointly eliminating the Wilderness Knight Order.
Just as Laforin was caught in a dilemma—
Eve Sova and Clarsen proposed leading a team out to hunt and alleviate the urgent situation.
He had hesitated at the time.
But unexpectedly, as soon as Eve Sova left the city, something really happened.
“Now that Eve is in their hands, Laforin, it seems we can only compromise for now. Should we write to the Second Miss?” Anthony suggested earnestly.
“Damn it! At this point, that’s the only option.” Laforin looked at Anthony with regret for not heeding his advice earlier.
Now, only Mia Sova could help.
“I’ll handle it immediately.”
Anthony glanced at the corner of the wall and muttered inwardly, ‘What’s that? A rat? Why would there be a rat this season?’
……
Meanwhile, Leo and Lady Manta had already begun intense alchemy work.
The two stood before the workstation.
Lady Manta carefully reviewed her operation checklist.
Leo followed each step meticulously, executing support tasks like a precise machine.
At the same time, a continuous tingling sensation began spreading from his lower back.
He wasn’t merely doing alchemy.
He was using his Second Mind to cultivate the Lightning Breathing Technique while working.
Both tasks were not difficult for him.
In fact, for high-spirit-demand tasks like crafting Tier 3 potions, executing dual operations with a Spirit Attribute of 2.0 was still somewhat taxing.
But for auxiliary work like this, he handled it with ease.
Meanwhile, Leo noticed that Lady Manta’s condition wasn’t very good.
Possibly due to pregnancy, her stamina had declined noticeably, though she tried not to show it.
Fortunately, Leo’s assistance was flawless, like a perfectly precise machine.
This allowed her to relax slightly.
And after several rounds of coordination, their teamwork had already reached perfection.
After two days and two nights, their fourth bottle of Golden Body Tempering Potion was successfully completed.
“Leo, you are truly a perfect assistant!”
……
Elsewhere, under the moonlight, Anthony rested in his room.
Faint incense smoke drifted from a burner nearby. He picked up his Calming Tea and took a sip before lifting a chess piece from the board.
A faint smile lingered on his lips.
Up to this point, everything was under his control.
He gently placed a black piece onto the board.
‘First move: lure the snake out of its hole.’
After pushing Zoro out as a scapegoat last time—
He used the Dragonblood Horses as leverage to negotiate with Blackstone City, seeking three Body Tempering Potions.
This move was mainly to confirm whether Lady Manta had the ability to produce Tier 3 Body Tempering Potion.
“Second move: retreat in order to advance.”