The wizard starts by trimming the donkey's hooves

Chapter 438 Earl Ryan
"Okay, Lord Ryan, I will report to Major General Tatia immediately. With your current status, if you are sure to go, I think the headquarters will take it very seriously."

"In addition, the situation in Ferdinand Forest is still unclear. If you decide to go there, you should be cautious." Olena added before leaving.

"Thank you, I will." Ryan nodded.

After Olena left, Ryan thought about it and immediately decided to quickly upgrade the leatherworker to level 7 so as to get 11 skill points.

However, he still had to go to old Henry to find a new style of leather armor.

Because when his leatherworking level reaches level 4, the improvement speed of the carved leather jacket is not so fast.

According to a preliminary estimate, to upgrade from level 4 to level 5, a leatherworker needs to make more than one hundred carved leather jackets. Moreover, more experience points are required after level 5, and the upgrade will be slower.

So, Ryan took a carriage to visit old Henry's leather workshop again, and spent half an hour learning a new style of leather armor, 'Thick Leather Breastplate'.

This breastplate also has carvings on the front and back, but its thickness is much greater than that of an ordinary carved leather jacket.

And this is where the difficulty of this model lies.

First of all, six layers of tanned cowhide are laminated together with a special glue, and compacting each layer of cowhide is very laborious for ordinary leatherworkers.

Secondly, after six layers of cowhide are stacked together, it is extremely difficult to sew them. It is extremely difficult to thread the needle and the thread is easy to run.

However, the thick leather breastplate made in this way has the same protective power as mail armor, but its weight is only about half of that of mail armor, and it sells very well.

Of course, these are difficult for ordinary people, but for Ryan, they are naturally a piece of cake.

Since the specific production process only requires a sufficient amount of tanned cowhide, glue and tools, Ryan loaded a large amount of tanned cowhide on the back of the carriage and returned to the mansion.

Just as Ryan returned to the mansion and arranged for people to move things to the storage room, Olena and Major General Tatia came together.

As soon as Tatia met him, she got straight to the point: "Lord Ryan, I heard from Olena that you plan to go to Ferdinand Forest in the near future?"

"Yes, Lord Tatia, I have this plan. By the way, I heard that the headquarters will not send anyone for the time being?" Ryan nodded and said.

"It wasn't possible before, but now that you've decided to go, the situation is different. The headquarters will mobilize logistics personnel and arrange an airship for you to go there, ostensibly to investigate the movements of the cult."

"Thank you, that's much more convenient." Ryan said with a smile.

"In fact, the headquarters originally planned to mobilize two or three teams of adamantium-level sword bearers to accompany you, Lord Ryan. However, due to some special reasons, the higher-ups disagreed with this plan."

"So, on this issue, General Augustus wants me to seek your personal opinion."

"Oh? Different opinion?" Ryan couldn't help but look at Tatia with some curiosity.

"Lord Ryan, let me first introduce to you some confidential information about Ferdinand Forest that the headquarters holds."

"Okay!" Ryan nodded.

"It's like this. The situation in Ferdinand Forest this time is quite complicated. This time, a high-level traitor appeared among the elves of Ferdinand Forest. It is said that he was seduced by the Mother Tree Cult and believed in the legendary Void Mother Tree."

Tatia elaborated.

"Including the elf ambassador in the imperial capital, no one has been able to contact the elf leaders for a while. Although we have reported the specific movements of the cult, as the core decision-making body of the empire, we have not received any formal request for help from the elves, so we are still waiting and watching."

"I understand. To put it simply, while the elves are in turmoil, other evil cults are also trying to get a piece of the pie." Ryan nodded and continued to ask:
"What about the Empire's subsequent plans? Should it intervene or continue to wait and see?"

"This is still controversial at the moment, but the Empire has already sent two guardians to the provinces of Dogne and Gironde in secret."

Ryan knew the locations of these two provinces, which were respectively to the east and north of Ferdinand Forest.

In other words, the empire was actually prepared, but had not yet formally intervened.

"The Marshal's opinion is that due to the activeness of the cult, it is necessary for the Sword Bearer to intervene in advance, but he has not been able to find a suitable candidate."

"Because if it's nominally a reconnaissance mission, then the number of people cannot be too large, otherwise the nature of the mission will change, and it will easily cause tension among the elves, leading to diplomatic incidents or even conflicts."

"As for the number of people, it is too small. As far as we know, several cults have sent strong personnel to the area, so I am afraid that safety will be a problem."

"So, after hearing that you were interested in going, the two adults asked me to confirm with you again and also to inform you of the relevant confidential information."

Ryan nodded. He knew that there were some confidential information in the headquarters that Olena at this level was not aware of. No wonder Tatia came here in person.

However, this time he was mainly going to confirm Anna's condition, and it would be inconvenient to go with other sword-bearing colleagues.

The two people under his command, Claire and Beyonce, are relatively weaker.

If it was just a general mission, it would be fine, but given the current complex situation in Ferdinand Forest, we are likely to encounter very powerful enemies, so it is not appropriate for us to go together.

"Sir Tatia, please tell the Marshal and General Augustus that I am going there."

"Also, apart from the logistics personnel, I will go alone." Ryan said.

"Okay, Lord Ryan, I will report your decision immediately." At this time, Tatia took out a map from the file bag beside her and unfolded it flat on the coffee table.

"Lord Ryan, this is a rubbing of the map of Ferdinand Forest. Although this map was drawn hundreds of years ago, the general location will not change at will according to the custom of the elves."

"This is Ferdinand City. These green dots here represent the elves' villages." Tatia explained, pointing to a location slightly south of the middle of Ferdinand Forest.

"As for the small red dots around the edge of the forest, they are the elves' outposts and fortifications. But the intelligence we have received so far is that more than ten defense outposts in the south have been breached."

"Oh? The cult entered from the south?" Ryan asked.

"Yes, but the current situation is that the gap has spread, and many of the elf outposts in the southwest and southeast have been breached!"

Ryan nodded. It seemed that the situation was worse than he had imagined.

"By the way, Lord Ryan, if you go there, in addition to the cult and the elven rebels, there is another force that you need to pay attention to, and that is the slave-catching team."

"The human slave-hunting teams wandering around Ferdinand Forest are very strong. The strength of some of the captains of the slave-hunting teams has reached the legendary level. They are also capable and familiar with the terrain."

"Many of the members of the slave-catching team are not simple either. Many of them are skilled fighters privately raised by the great nobles of the empire. There are even some wanted persons and criminals who are on the brink of death who have been absorbed into the slave-catching team."

Ryan had heard of this situation before. It was very common among the nobles in the imperial capital to keep these wanted criminals, because the nobles often needed these people to do dirty work, and they could quickly distance themselves from the matter if something went wrong.

"In the past, these slave-hunting teams rarely had any big gains due to the tight defense of the elf outposts. They could only capture individual elves sporadically. This time, they encountered such a good opportunity, and they will definitely step forward to share a piece of the pie."

"These people are all ferocious jackals. According to our understanding, the destruction of some elven border outposts was not caused by the cult, but by them. This also means that when you enter this time, you are likely to be regarded by the elves as an intruder like these slave-hunting teams."

"I understand the situation." Ryan nodded and said:
"That is to say, there are roughly three enemy groups, namely the teams of the major cults, the elven rebels, and a large number of human slave-hunting teams. It is even possible that the official forces of the elves will mistake me for an invader, right?"

"It is like this, Lord Ryan. The nobles behind the slave-hunting team played a certain role in the Empire's decision on this matter."

"In addition, the existence of the elven rebels has made the situation in Ferdinand Forest more complicated. This is also the reason why the Empire has not taken any major action yet."

"Okay, I understand. By the way, Lady Tatia, I plan to set off tomorrow at noon." Ryan put away the rubbing of the map of Ferdinand Forest.

"No problem, Lord Ryan, Lady Olena and I will arrange everything, don't worry."

"Also, this map is for you. Lord Ryan, I will go back and report right away." Tatia bowed slightly to Ryan and said.

"Lord Ryan, Lady Tatia and I will return to the headquarters first." Olena on the side also quickly stood up and said.

"Okay, thank you both for your hard work." Ryan smiled and nodded at the two of them.

After the two left, Ryan began to think about what Tatia had just said.

"It is indeed a bit complicated, but to overcome these obstacles, it is simple. The most important thing is to rely on one's own combat power."

"In addition, it is accurate intelligence."

"We can bring Cookie and Bloodfeather along this time." Although the fighting power of the greyhound Cookie seems a little outdated now, his keen sense of smell can play a unique role in the forest, especially in the field of tracking. As for the aerial reconnaissance function of Bloodfeather Hippogryph, its importance is self-evident.

"Looks like I need to pack my bags and prepare some things."

Just as Ryan was thinking, suddenly, he looked up and looked out the window.

A rare flying manta ray landed on the open space of the mansion. On the manta ray stood a man with his arms folded across his chest and a two-handed sword on his back. It was Lambert.

A few minutes later.

In the study room.

"Sir Ryan, I was planning to say goodbye to you. After competing with you, I have some insights in my heart. This time I plan to travel outside for a while and then return to Tidal Bay." Lambert stated his purpose with a smile.

"Traveling? Great idea." Ryan nodded.

He could see that Lambert in front of him exuded a sharp aura all over his body. This was because the explosive growth of his sword faith made it impossible for him to restrain the sharpness of his will in a short period of time.

"Hey, Lord Ryan, are you going out?" Lambert originally came to say goodbye, but when he saw Ryan packing his bags, he couldn't help but ask curiously.

After all, both Ryan and he had just returned from the secret realm, and the frequency of going out on missions again so soon was a bit too high.

Or are all Imperial Adamantite-class sword wielders this unpredictable?

"It's like this. I'm going to Ferdinand Forest this time. Something happened there because a friend of mine is there. For now, it's not an official mission." Ryan smiled and said.

It seems like Lambert, the eldest disciple of the Tide Sword Saint, is a bit like a stranger to him. He came to cause trouble for him before because the Drum family had some kind of agreement with the other party.

From this perspective, the other party is still a person who keeps his promises.

"Oh? Something happened? Sir Ryan, was there a battle?"

"Oh, what I mean is, if there is a fight, you might as well include me," Lambert said with a smile.

After his last battle with Ryan, he had gained a lot of insights. Now he plans to travel in order to fight with different strong opponents, so as to further improve his sword faith and become a sword master!

"This... may be a little dangerous, but there should be no shortage of battles." Ryan couldn't help but laugh when he heard Lambert's words.

"Haha, it's good to have a fight. However, Lord Ryan, if I act with you, I'm afraid I won't have many opportunities to take action." Lambert frowned as if he thought of something.

"Sir Ryan, do you need someone to serve as the vanguard for this mission?" Lambert thought for a moment and suddenly asked.

After thinking for a moment, Ryan thought that he could let Lambert go ahead and check the situation.

Another consideration is that Lambert is extremely fast and his combat power has almost reached the legendary ceiling. Even if there is an enemy that he cannot defeat, escape is always no problem.

"Well, the main purpose of my trip this time is to confirm the safety of a friend, her name is Anna."

"If Sir Lambert doesn't mind, could you help me check on the other party's situation first? He lives in the southeast corner of Ferdinand Forest, in a small town called Bashalan."

"Also, Lord Lambert, you need to be careful of cults, elven rebels, slave-hunting teams, and even official elven forces. If you find her, please ensure her safety. I will come to find you."

"So many enemies? Interesting, Lord Ryan, I'll set off now. By the way, do you have any proof that I can talk to Miss Anna?"

When Lambert heard what Ryan said, he was not scared but quite excited.

At this time, Ryan took out a green leaf that looked like a maple leaf and emitted a light green glow from a drawer beside him and handed it to Lambert.

"Hey, this seems to be the leaf of the ancient tree of wisdom. Lord Ryan, it seems that your friend has a high status in the elves."

"This is a leaf that an elf lady once gave me. It contains the natural magic 'Life Blossom'. When Anna sees this, she will naturally know that you are my friend."

"Understood, Lord Ryan, I will set off now."

A few minutes later, the resolute Lambert rode the flying sea ray, quickly took off into the air, left the Ryan Mansion, and flew towards Ferdinand Forest.

After watching the other person go away, Ryan felt relieved.

Then, he began to focus on making a thick leather breastplate.

A quarter of an hour later, when the finished product came out, the system prompt sounded:

[You have made a thick leather breastplate, and your understanding of the relevant items has improved! ]

[You have learned a new skill - making thick leather breastplate]

[Your skill in making thick leather breastplate is improved, experience value +31]

[You successfully made a thick leather breastplate, leatherworker professional experience +27]

"Sure enough, the experience points have almost doubled!"

Several hours later, Ryan finally upgraded the leatherworker's professional level from lv4 to lv7, and his skill points finally reached 11.

At this point, his remaining attribute points reached 12 points, which could basically support two medium-intensity battles in the fourth form. This could be considered as some preparation for the trip to Ferdinand Forest.

Of course, it would be better if there were more attribute points.

The number of gold skill points remains at 203, so there is no need to worry about not having enough of this number in the short term.

Without any hesitation, Ryan immediately invested 11 skill points, plus 8 gold skill points, into the third-level metal-based new sorcery 'Serrated Ring'.

With the third-level attack towards the witchcraft 'Sawtooth Ring', it suddenly increased from lv1 to lv20!

In an instant, a huge torrent of memories about the witchcraft 'Sawtooth Ring' flooded into Ryan's mind.

For a moment, Ryan seemed to be in a mysterious space, practicing the third-level witchcraft "Sawtooth Ring" for more than a hundred years. Various insights came one after another, and casting spells seemed to be instinctive!

A few seconds later, when Ryan had digested the memory and was about to give it a try, he heard the slightly excited voice of the little Matteo from outside the door:

"Lord Ryan, a team of internal guards has arrived outside the door, led by Lord Marquis Javier, who said he was ordered to award you the title of earl."

"Please ask Mr. Javier and his entourage to sit in the reception room for a while. I will be down soon." Ryan replied immediately.

Olena had already told him about this matter before, and the earl had reported it several months ago, so Ryan was quite calm.

Perhaps, after he receives the rewards from the Dragon Valley Secret Realm this time, he will be promoted to the title of Marquis.

However, to other people in the mansion, its meaning is very different.

For example, Matteo's heart was beating fast with excitement at this moment, and his face was slightly flushed with excitement.

Although it was not him who was promoted, Matteo was also extremely excited because it was his master who was promoted.

"The Count!"

"If Lord Ryan is promoted to earl, I will be a close follower of the earl!"

If this happened in the town of Glittering Gold, it would be something Matteo would never have dared to think about.

living room.

Ryan met Javier, who was smiling, and several of his entourage.

"Mr. Ryan, I am here this time on behalf of His Majesty the Emperor and the Senate to confer upon you the title of Earl of the Empire. Apart from those who are hereditary, you are the youngest among those who are promoted to Earl this time!"

(End of this chapter)