It felt so good to be close to the witch!

"Um...it was indeed my oversight; I didn't notice your birthdays." Roy's voice was full of apology.

“How could this be your fault?” Shanica smiled gently, raising her left hand and lightly pressing it against Roy’s cheek. “You’re under so much pressure. You’ve already endured so much for us. You shouldn’t have to worry about something as trivial as this.”

Roy shook his head, suppressing his reluctance as he gently laid Shanika's soft body down: "You go ahead and get busy, I also need to prepare a gift."

Shanica's beautiful eyes darted around. The disappearance of the warm embrace left her feeling a sense of loss, but she still nodded obediently and gently, then turned and walked away.

Roy stood under the snowflakes, stroked his chin, and pondered. Soon, his eyes lit up as he figured out what kind of gift he should give Elena.

……

"Hmm, what should I do?"

In a room decorated in a girly pink color scheme and with a very cozy atmosphere, Irina stood in front of the mirror, pressing down on the hem of her skirt with a troubled expression.

Today, instead of her usual short-sleeved shirt and leather pants, she wore a soft purple dress. The reason for this was not because she wanted to change her style of dress for her birthday, but because when Elena woke up this morning, she discovered something that terrified her—another tail had grown behind her, and it was not the short, small tail, but a fluffy, soft tail that was almost the same size as her original tail.

I changed into a skirt to see if the loose skirt could cover up the extra big tail.

The result is obvious.

She failed.

"Ahhhh!"

Elena was very upset.

Although the big tail was warm around her waist, it was still inconvenient most of the time, and now there was another one... Thinking of the teasing looks that people might give her, Elena wished she could just burrow into the ground.

After struggling with her thoughts for a while, Elena decided to give up.

Forget it, let it be. Let it be destroyed.

She changed back into her original outfit—a short jacket and leather pants. The only difference was that she made a slight alteration so that her other large fox tail could also be comfortably displayed.

That's right!

She, Elena, has decided to confront them.

They'll be discovered sooner or later anyway; dying sooner or later is the same as dying.

With a spirit of "fearlessness," Elena pushed open the door and was about to stride out when she saw a handsome young man in fine clothes with black hair and brown eyes standing outside the door, wearing a gentle smile.

"Elena..."

Before the young man could finish speaking, Elena instinctively slammed the door shut again.

"Hu Chi... Hu Chi..."

"Hmm... Phew... I must be seeing things... I must be seeing things..."

Elena muttered to herself, but soon she slumped against the door, covering her two large fox tails with her hands, and said in a tearful voice, "It's all over, it's all over, I've been seen... no, I've been seen..."

Although the decision was made to "give up," giving up is not always an easy thing.

After hesitating for a while, Elena finally got up and reopened the door, meeting Roy's gaze, which was full of confusion and doubt.

"Good morning, Brother Roy," the little fox girl stammered, her eyes darting around, her hands unconsciously behind her back, trying to cover the "strange thing."

Unfortunately, the fluffy, soft fox tail was too conspicuous, and Roy spotted it immediately.

"this?!"

Roy was shocked.

Although the little fox girl with two big tails looked even more appealing, how come she suddenly had an extra tail overnight? Is she a nine-tailed fox? Ah!

Wait, a nine-tailed fox!

Roy was startled, recalling Elena's story about her experience in the Talent Evolution Space.

The nine-tailed fox woman nestled beside that sword-shaped monument—could it be that Elena, who completed the first perfect evolution of her talent, in some way accepted the other's inheritance, which is why she grew a brand new tail, and that she might grow even more in the future?

While Roy was deep in thought, Elena, standing inside the room, cautiously observed Roy's reaction. Seeing his eyes fixed on her second big tail, she felt a surge of shyness. Suppressing the urge to close the door and retreat again, she stood there straight, her face unconsciously turning red.

After a while, Roy came to his senses and saw the little fox girl with her cheeks flushed at the door. He smiled apologetically and said, "I'm sorry, I was rude."

"However, Elena looks even cuter with her new tail, and I couldn't help but take a few more glances at her."

Roy's words of praise echoed in her ears, and Irina's cheeks turned bright red. She looked down at her toes as if there were some breathtaking view there, and her hands, clasped behind her back, revealed her inner turmoil.

"Oh, right, Elena."

At that moment, Roy suddenly called out.

Upon hearing this, Elena raised her head slightly, and then her entire gaze was drawn to something handed to her.

It was an exquisitely beautiful bracelet.

Its base material is high-purity magic crystal, which is cut and polished with exquisite skills to finally take shape.

The purplish-red glow was exceptionally captivating under the morning light.

Elena's gaze remained fixed on the bracelet, unwilling to look away for even a moment, before she whispered, "What is this?"

"This is a gift for you," Roy said gently.

Happy birthday, Elena.

At that moment, the little fox girl felt a ray of warm sunlight penetrate her body and soul.

Chapter 170 The Beginning of a Legend

A week has passed since Irina's birthday dinner.

Recalling the little fox girl's two big fox tails slapping the ground incessantly that night, yet she forced herself to remain calm and composed, Roy couldn't help but chuckle.

However, the star-like gleam in the little fox girl's eyes when she received her birthday gift remains unforgettable to him.

Through this incident, Roy realized that he had shown far too little concern for the witches.

It wasn't that he didn't want to care, but ever since he met the witches, he had hardly had a moment to spare. The war to merge territories, the Star Lake incident, Fuma's destined death, the monster calamity... one thing after another forced him to constantly strive to improve his strength in order to cope with the terrible crises.

Even now, we cannot slack off.

The mastermind behind the monster calamity, the massive accumulation of life force and soul power, and the deep connection with the power of the alien abyss, is still lurking in the shadows. The seemingly peaceful present is merely the prelude to a storm.

Therefore, after diverting some of his attention to the witches, Roy turned back to continue his diligent training.

……

In the small courtyard.

The snowstorm continues to rage today, with outdoor temperatures reaching a terrifying minus eighty degrees Celsius.

Even though his physique had advanced to the legendary Battle Qi Body level, Roy still felt a chill.

He exhaled a deep breath, the scorching air causing thick white steam to rise wherever he passed. Moreover, the flames of his battle aura surged around him, melting away every last bit of snow within a radius of several meters.

"Finally, it's done..."

Roy remarked with a sigh.

After a week of dedicated training, he finally mastered the secret breathing technique of the Flame Breath [Extreme Bloom] – Radiant Light!

As the secret technique of the second trait [Extreme Bloom], which is extremely difficult to master in the Breath of Flames training, Brilliant Light has both passive and active effects. The passive effect is to make Roy's battle aura flame have a more terrifyingly high temperature, while the active effect is to allow the user to use "intense light" once. This "intense light" is useless even if you close your eyes, and it will force the enemy who "sees" it into a "blind" state. The specific duration depends on the strength of the enemy. If they are of the same level, it can last for at least five seconds.

Of course, the Brilliant Light is only a secret technique of the Bronze rank. Even if Roy uses his peak Gold level battle qi to activate it, the effect will not be very good. At most, it will cause beings of the same rank to fall into a "blind" state for one second.

but.

The most difficult part of mastering the Brilliant Light technique is getting started. However, the Silver and Gold tiers of "Brilliant Light Modified" and "Brilliant Light Secret" are not particularly difficult to learn.

Roy was confident that he would be able to cultivate to the level of "Radiant Secret" in three days at most.

As for the other breathing technique, [Explosive Flame]'s "Burning Heart" has been cultivated to the Gold rank "Burning Heart Secret," and its effect is several levels stronger than the original, resulting in a significant boost to his combat power.

However, the biggest gain this week has to be the inscription of expertise.

The specialization runes for the third-tier professional "Star Paladin" were extremely difficult to obtain. It took Roy five days to complete the adjustments and finally inscribe them on his body. The effect was so strong that it greatly surprised him.

Unlike the "Stargazing Knights" who could only look up at the stars in the second tier, the third tier of the Starlight Paladin is called the "Star Chasing Grand Knight," which, as the name suggests, means a knight powerful enough to chase after the stars.

Its specializations are the same as in the second tier, with only two, but both are extremely powerful high-level specializations, named "Star-Bathing Body" and "Meteor X-Skill" respectively.

The effect of the Star-Bathing Body is simple and straightforward: it increases the maximum amount of starlight and the recovery speed of the Star Chasing Knight by 100%, and the increase increases by 1% for each day of starlight absorbed, up to a maximum of 200%.

Starlight is the primary energy source for the advanced feat "Meteor" at Tier 2. Previously, its growth only occurred in one way: as the professional's level increased.

Those who can obtain "Advanced Specialty - Meteor - Accumulation" are basically already at the peak of the second tier. At this time, the total amount of starlight is 100. After advancing to the third tier, the upper limit increases by 20 for each level.

However, Roy's situation is special. He is not a practitioner of the "Demonic Mark" system, so he does not have any so-called "level". Therefore, the total amount of starlight has no possibility of natural growth. This is a consequence of the different systems. Even Roy can't do anything about it. He can only wait until he has a deeper understanding of the Battle Qi system and the Demonic Mark system to see if there is a solution.

The emergence of the advanced feat "Starry Body" brought hope to Roy.

The initial 100% starlight limit and the increase in recovery speed, with a 1% increase for each day of starlight exposure, up to a terrifying 200% increase, make Roy's benefits extremely considerable even if his starlight cannot grow naturally.

Based on 100 starlight, a 200% increase would result in 300 starlight, which, under extreme conditions, could boost a weapon's sharpness by 300% for one minute!

This boost to combat power is terrifying.

Another advanced feat, "Meteor X-Skill," is quite interesting. The "X" in this advanced feat refers to the type of weapon. For example, if the class that acquires this advanced feat uses a sword as their primary weapon, the feat will be named "Meteor Sword Skill"; if it's a gun, it will be named "Meteor Gun Skill." Roy's primary weapon is a knife, so his feat becomes:

Meteor knife skills!

Advanced Feat - Meteor Blade Technique: When using bladed weapons, gain the blessing of starlight, increasing speed and strength by 50%, and also producing the "Brilliant Stars" effect. —Brilliant Stars: The starlight is dazzling and bright, making it difficult for enemies to predict the trajectory of the blade.

This is an extremely powerful advanced passive feat.

The acquisition of two advanced feats, coupled with the gains in breathing techniques, caused Roy's combat power to surge once again.

Because he had no opponent, he couldn't make an accurate assessment, but Roy estimated that even a legendary one-star peak Extreme Evil Spider would probably have difficulty withstanding a single strike from him in his current state.

At this point, Roy's combat power had basically reached the limit of the Gold rank.

Even if he cultivates "Brilliant Light" to "Brilliant Light Secret", it won't significantly increase his combat power.

To crush a legendary one-star knight with a golden body is something that only a legendary two-star knight could do. Such terrifying combat power is unprecedented, if not impossible!

The improvement in his strength gave Roy great confidence, but he had not yet stepped into the true legendary realm, which ultimately made him somewhat uncertain.

After a week of training and adjustment, Roy felt he had reached his peak condition and met with Fuma. He was currently standing in the courtyard, waiting for Fuma's arrival.

Not long after, accompanied by a streak of crimson gold light flashing across the southern sky, Fuma and Doug, carrying a long spear, entered the courtyard.

"Lord Roy, I didn't expect your strength to have progressed so quickly..."