The wizard starts by trimming the donkey's hooves

Chapter 384 Collision
I saw three middle-aged men in khaki wizard robes walking towards me.

The three people were two men and one woman. The middle-aged man in the lead was holding a short gnarled wooden staff, but on the top was a fist-sized ochre-colored sphere.

Even the servants around who knew nothing about witchcraft could feel that there seemed to be some kind of tangible and powerful energy surging in the ochre-colored sphere, making them feel uneasy.

Duke Durham's eyes also quickly swept across the short staff in the other's hand.

He knew that the ochre-colored sphere on the top of the other party's staff was actually infused with a large amount of earth element essence.

The essence of earth element is extremely difficult to collect, and the crystal sphere is even more difficult to make. Overall, this is a treasure that can significantly enhance the power of earth element witchcraft and is extremely rare.

At the same time, it is also the walking stick of Harold, the legendary 'sculptor' who is known as the strongest.

The male wizard on Harold's left was about the same age as Harold, but his aura was much weaker in comparison, about at the peak level of a second-level wizard.

Although he is a quasi-legendary level expert in public, he seems a little pale in comparison next to Harold.

As for the female wizard, she looked to be in her thirties or forties, the most charming age for a woman, but in fact, she was over fifty years old.

It's just that as a wizard, she ages more slowly than ordinary people. At the same time, she takes good care of herself, so her face looks quite charming.

But the other person's thin and slightly upturned lips looked a bit arrogant and sharp, giving people the feeling that he was not easy to get along with.

"Sir Harold, welcome, welcome!" Duke Durham stepped forward and said enthusiastically.

"Your Excellency the Duke, you're welcome." Harold bowed slightly and said with a smile.

Although Harold's face was also filled with smiles, the pride that seemed to come from his own powerful strength made people feel alienated.

Soon, several people sat down in the Durham family's luxurious reception room.

"Your Excellency the Duke, I heard about Greenwood's incident. Please accept my condolences."

"Thank you!"

After some greetings, Duke Durham asked his butler Owen to hand a stack of papers to Harold.

"Sir Harold, these are some of the other party's previous battle records and intelligence."

After Harold took it, he looked at it casually at first, but when he quickly glanced at the end, he let out a soft "eh" and a touch of emotion flashed in his eyes.

"Hey, we killed the Venom Dragon and Greg the Corpse Ripper."

The last one is naturally the latest record, which can best reflect the opponent's current strength.

But Harold was merely moved.

If the Venom Dragon has a way to avoid or resist the opponent's poison attack, the difficulty of killing the opponent can be greatly reduced.

This is equivalent to Venom Dragon's strength being reduced from the peak of Legend to the late Legend level.

On the contrary, the fact that the other party was able to kill Greg the Corpse Ripper made Harold take it more seriously. As a wizard, he was very familiar with some bloodlines.

He knew that Greg had the blood of a giant. When he activated his blood talent 'Giant Rock Combat Body', his defense was comparable to that of a rock giant.

If this Ryan waits until Greg's strength is exhausted and forcibly separates himself from the giant rock battle body before killing him, then it is naturally not worth his worry. But if the other party kills Greg when he activates his battle body, then it is worth taking seriously.

"Sir, is the opponent very strong?" The female wizard Caroline, seeing Harold, whom she admired the most, showed a hint of surprise on her face, and immediately became curious about this Ryan.

"Well, pretty good strength, you can take a look." Harold handed the information about Ryan to Caroline.

"What is your Excellency the Duke's plan?" Harold turned and asked Duke Durham.

Although Harold had no doubt that he could take care of Ryan, at his level, it was impossible for him to be like the top killers of the Black Knife Organization and kill someone recklessly for money or an object.

In particular, this Ryan also has a very clear official identity—an Imperial adamantine-level sword bearer, plus an official nobleman canonized by the Empire.

Therefore, Harold needed a suitable reason to take action, or at least a reasonable "excuse".

"It's like this, Sir Harold. I have contacted some of the families of women who were killed by Ryan, including Greenwood's mother, and asked them to go to the Imperial Capital Noble Court to complain."

"Although this incident, according to our intelligence, will soon be classified as self-defense by the Sword Bearer Headquarters, and in principle the noble court will not accept it, we will let the elderly, the weak, women and children tell the story to the judge from an emotional perspective, which can be regarded as appealing to their emotions."

"In addition, we will also mobilize our connections to lobby the judges and explain the situation to them."

"The main purpose is, of course, to have the judge of the Noble Court summon this Ryan to the scene and understand the situation."

"Duke Drum, even after being summoned, this Ryan has the ruling of the Sword Bearer Headquarters, so you are bound to lose this lawsuit, right?" Another male wizard, Darren, frowned and couldn't help but interrupt.

Although he was a second-level liquefaction wizard, he had a hot temper. He stopped just now and did not understand Duke Drum's intention.

"Haha, Mr. Darren, we know that we can't win this lawsuit, but we just need the official procedure of a court summons."

"According to the regulations, everyone must cooperate and appear in court to explain the situation when summoned by the court."

"At this time, if Ryan refuses to cooperate, Sir Harold and you will naturally be able to take action with justification." Speaking of this, Duke Durham showed a hint of satisfaction on his face.

"I see." Darren glanced at Duke Drum, nodded, and secretly called him an old fox.

These old nobles are indeed all shrewd people. Even if they are not familiar with it themselves, there are always people in their families who are familiar with the rules and regulations of the empire, big and small, and they can actually find this entry point.

"However, these actions need to wait for the Sword Bearer Headquarters to make a formal ruling. It is expected to take two to three days. Once the ruling is made, we will arrange for this Ryan to negotiate somewhere outside the imperial capital."

"During the negotiation, the court summons will arrive at the scene, and then this Ryan will resist cooperating."

"What if the other party actively cooperates?" Caroline couldn't help but wonder.

"Haha, most of the court enforcement officers who go to summon are our people. Even if the other party cooperates, they will become uncooperative by then." Duke Drum smiled and said.

Although the two men in front of him were both second-level liquefied wizards, in his eyes, when it came to political intrigue, they were as pure as the white ice cap grass on the ice field.

"Okay, since His Excellency the Duke has already made a complete plan, then we will just wait for notification." Harold stood up and said.

"Thank you, Sir Harold! By the way, my people have found some clues about the Heart of the Mountain. I think it should be solved after this incident." Duke Durham mentioned this casually when he stood up to say goodbye.

Harold glanced at Duke Durham and said, "Then I'll trouble you, Your Excellency."

He knew very well that the Drum family actually had a treasured Heart of the Mountain. It was just that before things were accomplished, the news about the Heart of the Mountain from Drum's mouth would always remain at the level of certain clues.

But it’s okay, at least the other party agreed.

Once you kill Ryan, the Heart of the Mountain will be delivered.

Harold is about to break through to the fourth-level Dawn Wizard and needs a large amount of rare resources to assist in the breakthrough.

Some things are extremely difficult to find. Even if he wants to collect them all, it will take a lot of time and energy. If he can get help from the great nobles of the empire, many things can be collected with twice the result with half the effort.

Especially the Duke of Drum in front of him. Harold knew that he was one of the shareholders of the largest auction house in the Dragun Empire - Axon Auction House. He was also the controlling shareholder of many branches in the provinces.

It has a natural convenience in collecting materials.

He also learned from a secret channel that the Durham family had a mountain heart that he urgently needed.

The Heart of the Mountain is an extremely rare and precious earth-based treasure that can only be generated in the body of a dead mountain giant. Mountain giants, super-giant creatures with epic combat power, have not appeared in the empire's territory for at least hundreds of years.

Apart from the fact that the mountain giants were far more powerful than he could contend with, even if they really appeared, they would be killed by the empire's epic guardians, and it would not be his turn at all.

Therefore, now he still needs to pretend to be nice to these old nobles.

However, once he breaks through to the fourth-level Dawn Wizard, he will basically not have to care about these messy things.

at the same time.

Bavarian residence.

Ryan also came back to his senses from his thoughts in the room.

There were still about three days left before the restriction ended. Ryan thought about it and went to the exchange office at the school again.

There was a rare girl who seemed to have half-ling or dwarf blood at the counter. She was only about 1.2 meters tall, but her figure was well-proportioned and not deformed.

"Hello, can you help me check what metal-related witchcraft I can exchange?" Ryan asked.

As he spoke, Ryan handed the other party his school identity certificate and an object similar to a memory crystal.

"Okay, Lord Ryan, according to your authority, you can query and exchange all level 2 and below witchcraft in the school." The dwarf girl took Ryan's crystal voucher, put it into the card slot, and soon, she said enthusiastically.

"Oh? What if you want to look up the third-level witchcraft?" Ryan raised his eyebrows and said.

Naturally, he had anticipated this situation. Just like the Sword Bearer Headquarters, the levels of authority and exchange items were different depending on the level of authority.

"If you want to view the third-level witchcraft, according to the school's regulations, you need more than 10,000 historical contribution points."

"Historical contribution points?"

"Yes, that is, the total contribution you have made to the school exceeds 10,000 points, including the points you have used."

"To put it simply, it means adding up the contribution points from your past consumption and your current contribution points, and the cumulative total must exceed 10,000 points." The dwarf girl explained.

"I understand." Ryan nodded and said.

"By the way, Lord Ryan, there are four types of metal magic you are looking for, level 2 and below."

"I have presented it on the Wisdom Slate, you can check it out." Ryan raised his eyebrows, obviously quite surprised, but after reading it, the joy in his heart was mostly gone.

Because among the four metal-related magics, he has already mastered the three of them, 'Sharpness', 'Metal Transfiguration' and 'Metal Barrier'.

The only thing he hadn't mastered was the second-level spell 'Iron Armor'.

It is not difficult to guess from the name that this is a defensive second-level witchcraft, which is slightly different from what Ryan had thought before, "maybe I can find an offensive second-level witchcraft."

The lowest exchange price was 3500 contribution points, which was just enough for him. He had previously submitted the remains of the metal arm to the school and received a reward of 3700 contribution points.

However, he only has so many contribution points, so he still needs to take a look at the description of this witchcraft first.

After a moment's thought, Ryan continued to ask, "Can you show me the specific description of witchcraft?"

"Of course, all right, Lord Ryan."

After the dwarf girl finished speaking, she skillfully operated, and the content on the black wisdom slate in front of Ryan was updated again:

"Iron Armor: A second-level sorcery that consumes a certain amount of mental energy and uses a specific sorcery model to attract the surrounding metal energy particles, covering the host's body with a layer of iron armor."

Ryan nodded slightly and said, "Help me exchange this Iron Armor Technique."

"Okay, my lord."

Soon, Ryan left the school's exchange office with satisfaction, holding a parchment scroll emitting witchcraft aura.

Soon, Ryan returned to the Bavarian mansion again. After closing the door of the study, he calmed down and began to study this new witchcraft seriously.

The previous first-level defensive sorcery "Metal Barrier" has become as powerful as the second-level sorcery after Ryan's multi-faceted enhancements.

Ryan believed that if the second-level defense of "Iron Armor" could be transformed into combat effectiveness as soon as possible, the defensive power would probably be comparable to the effect of third-level witchcraft.

Naturally, no one would think that “stacked armor” is too thick!
Moreover, if he had mastered this "Iron Armor Technique" before fighting with the projection of Hela, the goddess of the underworld, the whole battle would have been much easier.

After one hour.

As Ryan silently chanted the spell, three seconds later, his body was covered with a thick, gray-black, metallic-looking water film.

It seems that due to his super affinity for metal elements, coupled with the enhancement of the Iron Heart Advanced Meditation Method, the current effect of the second-level witchcraft "Iron Armor" is more powerful than what is described in the parchment scroll.

It was almost one-third thicker than the half-finger thickness stated on the parchment scroll.

At this time, the system prompt also came:

[You have studied the art of armor, and your understanding of it has improved! ]

[You have learned a new skill - Iron Armor]

[Your skill Iron Armor is improved, experience value +4]

At the same time, a new icon has been added below the Warhammer Wizard (Legend) panel.

The pattern on the icon is a wizard with a thick and slippery gray-black covering on his body. The smooth surface with a faint metallic luster would not be mistaken for armor.

After all, armor has joints, but the covering in front of him does not have any.

The small text below the icon explains as follows:
Iron Armor Level 1 (1/100)

Effect of Iron Armor Technique lv1: consumes a certain amount of mental energy, uses a specific witchcraft model to attract the surrounding metal energy particles, and covers the host's body with a layer of iron armor.

(Note: The operation takes 3 seconds.)
After practicing for a while, Ryan decided to improve his skills because the three-second casting time was basically difficult to integrate into his current fighting style. In addition, the difficulty of improving the proficiency of level two witchcraft was quite high, which was several times that of level one witchcraft.

Next he will face the threat from the conservatives, so it is natural for him to directly increase points and quickly build up combat effectiveness.

But the problem is that he doesn't have enough skill points.

He currently has only 6 skill points left, and if he wants to upgrade to level 12, he needs 5 more points.

So, for the next few days, Ryan was in his Bavarian mansion, making high-end ready-to-wear clothes, which made Beyonce and Claire who came to visit him dumbfounded.

Both of them had bloodshot eyes, obviously they didn't get enough rest.

"Captain Ryan, why are you still making clothes? The situation is urgent. After you killed Greenwood, this incident caused an uproar in the entire Sword Bearer headquarters." Claire said hurriedly.

"Oh? Has the ruling come out?" Ryan was still conscientiously working on the pearl embroidered tunic in his hands.

"Yes, it was just announced this morning. Many people support you, but many people also think that you are too cruel." Claire nodded quickly and said.

"Okay, that's almost it, let's go back to headquarters and take on a mission." Ryan put down the coat in his hand, smiled and said.

In the past few days, Ryan finally found a high-end ready-to-wear clothing style with high experience value rewards, and promoted the master tailor from level 4.

Now, the skill points are ready.

Without any hesitation, Ryan invested 11 skill points and 8 gold skill points into the second-level sorcery "Iron Armor".

With the second-level witchcraft 'Iron Armor' suddenly upgraded from lv1 to lv20!

Instantly, a torrent of memories about the second-level metal magic "Iron Armor Magic" entered Ryan's mind.

Ryan seemed to have come to a mysterious space, and had been practicing the second-level witchcraft "Iron Armor" for more than a hundred years. Various insights on improving the speed of casting spells came to his mind like a revolving lantern.

"Accept the mission?" Claire and Beyoncé couldn't help but look at each other again. They found that they couldn't keep up with their captain's train of thought.

Captain!
There's a lot of commotion outside, and these old nobles are obviously planning to attack you.

Are you going out to take on a mission?

this.
In fact, Ryan knew as early as yesterday that the headquarters would announce the ruling today. Yesterday, Major General Tatia visited him again secretly.

In addition, Tatia also conveyed the above meaning, hoping that Ryan could act quickly, because once he left the imperial capital, the other party would never let go of this God-given opportunity.

To some extent, this means taking the initiative and being able to choose the venue and time.

at the same time.

The entrance to the Noble Court of the Imperial Capital of Tamriel suddenly became bustling with activity. Many luxurious carriages with noble emblems arrived at once, and then many elderly, weak, women and children in gorgeous clothes got off the carriages.

Faced with these elderly, weak, women and children who were either from the duke's family or the marquis' family, the guards at the court door were naturally quite cautious. Soon, these people were welcomed into the mediation room inside the court.

"Your Honor, my child Greenwood was very filial since he was young, but he was brutally murdered by his fellow Sword Bearer, Ryan."

"Yes, Your Honor, my boy Chandler"

Each of them spoke with deep emotion and tears streaming down their faces, which made the young male judge, who did not know the truth, feel quite indignant for a moment.

"Didn't the Imperial Sword Bearer Headquarters make a ruling on this matter?" After thinking for a moment, the young judge asked back.

At the same time, the young judge also asked his subordinates to contact the Sword Bearer headquarters as soon as possible to find out the situation.

"Sir, although Ryan is young, he is very powerful and is highly appreciated by the Sword Bearer upper echelons. Therefore, the Sword Bearer Headquarters was obviously unfair in handling this matter."

"Your Honor, in this case, the response from the Sword Bearer Headquarters is actually not very important. How about asking this Ryan to come to the Noble Court and you ask him in person?"

At this time, several people inside the court looked at each other and began to lobby the young judge.

"This." After several words, the judge fell into deep thought.

Although the Sword Bearer headquarters seemed to have made a decision and it was within his rights to have the parties come to court for questioning, this was also to appease public anger.

Soon, a letter was issued asking Ryan to come to court for questioning.

That afternoon, Ryan accepted a mission at the Sword Bearer Headquarters and left the imperial capital Tamriel with Claire and Beyonce.

Naturally, this news was known to certain people at the first time, and after deliberate misleading, Ryan's behavior was interpreted as an attempt to escape.

When Ryan stopped for a while in a small town called Tavlin, more than a hundred miles away from the imperial capital, a team of people wearing the uniforms of the court enforcement department blocked him, Claire and the other two.

"Sir Ryan, I'm sorry, but according to the letter from the Imperial Capital Noble Court, you have to go back with us and be questioned."

"Oh? The Noble Court?" Ryan looked at the team in front of him, which included at least one titled knight and a third-level crystallization wizard, and couldn't help but laugh.

When did the executive branch of the Noble Court become so powerful?

There are actually two legendary warriors in an execution team.

When the two women saw this scene, they felt nervous, and Claire had even placed her hand on a second-level defensive witchcraft scroll.

The scroll was provided by female Major General Tatia and given to the two women by Ryan. You know, the more advanced the witchcraft scroll is, the more difficult it is to make, and naturally the more precious and valuable it is.

"Okay, let's go." Ryan smiled and said.

Ok?
Now, it was the turn of many people in the court execution team to look at each other in bewilderment.

Isn't it said that Ryan is very unruly because of his strength?
"What a pity, Mr. Ryan, your cooperation is too late." A middle-aged leader in uniform shook his head, and then his face became serious and he said loudly:
"Attention everyone! Ryan refused to obey the court summons, and now we are enforcing the order!"

At this time, three middle-aged men in khaki wizard robes happened to pass through the town and watched this scene with smiles on their faces.

"Oh? Is this what you rely on? Very good, I like the way you confuse right and wrong." Ryan glanced at the three people in the distance and said with a smile.

(End of this chapter)