It felt so good to be close to the witch!

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Chapter 187 I witnessed, I surpassed!

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Having clarified the empire's upper echelons, Roy had a direct and clear understanding of the Border Duke's current actions.

The cleaning of the cathedral temple in the province of Rafah was just a preliminary step.

The key question is how the temple, or rather the Pope, will respond.

Without a doubt, in terms of foundation, our side is far inferior to the temple.

The good news is that, without considering forbidden items, the Border Duke's direct combat strength is enough to suppress any demigod.

In the current situation, the enemy is in the open while we are in the dark. The temple could never have predicted that the border duke, who suffered such heavy damage, would recover so quickly. This is a huge advantage.

It should be noted that the border duke's fatal wounds all came from Class A forbidden items, and ordinary treatments would be completely ineffective.

Under normal circumstances, legendary knights are rarely injured, but once they are injured, recovery is not so easy and requires a long period of recuperation. After all, reaching the legendary level involves the soul, and soul injuries are not so easy to heal.

Shanika's "life healing" is extraordinary; it can heal not only physical injuries but also damage to the soul.

Even border dukes have never heard of any talent or forbidden item with such healing effects.

Shanica's "healing" was not originally such a bug-like level. With her talent, if she had not met Roy, she would never have been able to undergo her first talent evolution in this life, let alone advance to the rank of Grand Witch.

This world implies a kind of fairness—the more special one's talent, the greater the obstacles one will encounter in order to improve it; this is true for Shanika, and it is also true for Elena.

Inside the courtyard, Roy lowered his head and pondered.

Suddenly, he spoke up: "Your Grace, I don't think it's the best policy to just wait for the temple to make its move."

"The best way is to increase our strength, so that no matter what moves the temple makes, we can deal with it calmly."

“That’s true.” The border duke nodded approvingly, then sighed, “But at my level of demigod, there’s no room for further advancement, and there are almost no secret techniques that can work on demigods. Right now, unless I can comprehend the third trait of the Flame Breathing Technique, [Newborn], it will be difficult to make any changes in my combat strength.”

Upon hearing this, Roy smiled slightly: "Have you forgotten your specialty?"

"You mean?!" The border duke's eyes lit up.

“Yes.” Roy nodded: “The specialty comes from a special training system called ‘Demon Mark’. It is divided into four levels from low to high, which correspond to the bronze to legendary levels of our battle aura system. The specialty I taught Princess Fuma is only the first to third level of ‘Warrior’. Above that, there is a fourth level specialty.”

"Previously, I was hampered by my insufficient realm and lack of knowledge, and was unable to adjust the correct runes corresponding to the fourth-tier warrior feat."

"After this period of intensive study, I have come to understand it."

Roy smiled.

During this period, he only made about 50% progress in researching the fourth-tier exclusive feat of "Starlight Paladin". However, by drawing inferences from similar cases, he managed to develop the fourth-tier Holy Map level feat for the Warrior class first.

The difficulty of the Star Paladin's special runes is far greater than that of ordinary classes. In terms of difficulty coefficient, the former is 100, while the latter is only 30 to 40 at most.

Compared to the Star Paladin's Tier 4 exclusive feats, the Warrior's Tier 4 feats are relatively ordinary, but that doesn't mean they are weak.

In fact, the core specialization of each profession at the fourth tier is the true essence of that profession.

The fourth-tier feats, also known as Sacred Art feats, or, to put it more simply, legendary feats.

Warriors have two Tier 4 Legendary feats. The first is called Damage Reduction, a feat with a seemingly simple and unremarkable name.

However, this specialization allows warriors to bathe in lava without taking any damage at Tier 4.

[Legendary Feats - Damage Reduction]: Any damage dealt to you (physical, energy, soul, etc.) below the Legendary level will be forcibly negated; damage exceeding the Legendary level will be reduced by 50%. (This feat requires a rank check; if the check fails, you will receive the full damage.)

The legendary feat of damage reduction is terrifying.

Once you possess this specialty, warriors will no longer fear swarms of enemies, and in battles against opponents of the same rank, they can withstand massive amounts of damage, giving fourth-rank warriors a higher margin of error in combat.

The second specialty is called Thunder Fury.

[Legendary Feats - Thunder Fury]: Each of your attacks applies a shockwave damage bonus equal to 30% of the previous attack's power to your next attack. This effect stacks up to 6 times, and after the 6th stack, it maintains a maximum shockwave damage bonus of 180%. The effect resets one minute out of combat. (This feat has extremely high weapon requirements; prolonged use will cause significant weapon wear.)

The Legendary Feats of Thunder Fury and Damage Reduction, one offensive and one defensive, transform warriors, who were struggling before Tier 4, into top-tier Tier 4 classes. While not as strong as the hidden top-tier classes, they are still stronger than ordinary classes.

Once the border duke learns these two legendary feats, his combat prowess will undoubtedly improve significantly.

And so, with the Border Duke's utterly serious expression, Roy imparted to him the essentials of these two legendary feats of runes without reservation.

An hour later, Roy breathed a sigh of relief, while the border duke beside him was filled with shock.

Compared to these two legendary feats, the warrior's first to third tier feats are far too weak.

Of course, those specializations are also important; without the prerequisite specializations, it is impossible to learn these two legendary specializations.

"Thank you so much for sharing, Roy."

The border duke's voice was extremely solemn.

The value of the Demon Mark system far exceeds the imagination of the world.

If he were in Roy's shoes, even the border duke couldn't be sure if he could share with others so freely.

Even the border duke didn't know what he should give in return for this gift.

In truth, the Duke's mansion, he himself, and his daughter Fuma owe Roy far too much, so much that he doesn't even know how to repay it.

"The Demon Mark System was obtained from a relic of a previous generation. Its appearance can be considered as a contribution to the improvement of the Battle Qi System. However, the current situation is special, so please do not spread it to others for the time being, Duke. We will spread it widely after everything has calmed down."

"The perfection of a system cannot be achieved by individuals alone; it requires the contributions of countless practitioners, bit by bit."

"The specialties that a knight can possess are not limited to those of a warrior. As time goes by, all sorts of specialties will be born in people's hands."

"Only such a magnificent and diverse era can drive the continuous exploration of the path to the extraordinary."

Roy remarked with emotion.

The wisdom of the extraordinary beings in this world is in no way inferior to that of the professionals in the "Seventh Realm of Original Sin: The Realm of Lust". The emergence of their specialties is just a trigger, the first butterfly flapping its wings. No one can predict what kind of storm it will eventually brew.

"Definitely!" The border duke remained silent for a long time, and his gaze towards Roy was no longer the same, but solemn and serious.

“By the way, Your Grace,” Roy suddenly spoke up, “what kind of power did you just mention that a legendary knight can master the domain characteristics after reaching the limit stage, and the incomplete rules derived from and developed based on those domain characteristics?”

"I want to experience it for myself."

"Want to experience it?" The border duke raised an eyebrow. "You mean, you want to fight me and experience these two powers?"

“Yes.” Roy nodded frankly: “Although my current level is still some distance from the second star of the Legendary Realm, my actual combat strength should be comparable to the third star of the Legendary Realm.”

"In this situation, learning about higher-level forces in advance can give me a clearer assessment of the strength of both sides."

“Yes,” the border duke readily agreed. “Shall we begin now?”

Given his control over his power, he naturally wasn't worried about hurting Roy, and he was also quite curious about Roy.

What kind of strength does this young man, who is not even twenty years old, possess?

As a "comrade," the Border Duke neither wanted nor was willing to actively pry into Roy's secrets, but he was quite happy to have a simple exchange with him and get a rough understanding of Roy's strength.

"Do we need to go out into the wasteland? This place is cramped, what if we break something..." Roy asked.

The border duke waved his hand with a smile: "No need for such trouble. The legendary peak knights have already reached a level of consummate control over their domain power and battle aura, not to mention the legendary limit and demigods. As long as they don't want to, they won't destroy anything."

"So, very good."

The two walked to the center of the courtyard and stood facing each other, about twenty meters apart.

"The fundamental ability of a domain is to enhance oneself and weaken the opponent. You should be well aware of this, so I won't elaborate." The border duke raised his right hand, palm open in front of him, and grinned.

"I'll mainly talk to you about the characteristics of the domain."

A crimson-gold flame ignited in his palm, and at the same time, Roy sensed that the environment here seemed to have undergone some subtle change.

"The breathing techniques practiced by knights have their own characteristics, and even those with the same attribute will have different characteristics."

"The characteristics of the Flame Breathing Technique are [Explosive Flame], [Extreme Bloom], and [New Life]."

"A knight who has reached the legendary peak of the Flame Breathing Technique now faces two choices."

"First, thoroughly understand the characteristics of your own breathing technique and achieve a state of unity, thereby stepping into the legendary limit realm."

"Secondly, it's about walking your own path. The characteristics contained in breathing techniques can lead to legendary limits, but ultimately they are not your own. You can't fully unleash 100% or even more than 100% of their power. Therefore, a very small number of people choose to embark on this path with an unknown future."

"Unfortunately, since the founding of the Radiant Empire, there has only been one person in the records who has achieved the legendary limit through the second method. It is even unknown whether this is true or not. The difficulty is just too great."

"There is a certain difference in combat power between the two paths, but neither will affect the advancement to demigod."

"I am walking the first path, and all demigods today are walking the same path."

"And what I will show you now is the 'Explosive Flame' property of the legendary limit of the Flame Breathing Technique."

As he finished speaking, the border duke pushed the ball of crimson-gold flame in his hand toward Roy.

The flames didn't fly fast; rather, they flew very slowly, so slowly that an ordinary person could easily dodge them.

Roy, who was the one facing the situation, experienced an unprecedented terror.

Under the glow of the crimson-gold flames, the fighting spirit that was originally flowing rapidly within his body slowed down instantly, and even the burning soul fire dimmed.

That's because a stronger fire of the soul has stolen the light that originally belonged to it.

Anyone who looks directly at this ball of flame can feel its extreme instability, as if it could explode at any moment, causing unimaginable and terrifying destruction.

The closer the distance, the clearer Roy could observe the details of the crimson flame.

Its exterior is made of ordinary crimson gold flames, but its interior is composed of countless ultra-high-speed rotating fire element particles.

Under the will of the Border Duke, it barely maintains its own balance, but once this balance is broken, the ultra-high speed rotating fire element particles will collide and produce unpredictable scenes.

"drink!"

The unprecedented sense of threat made Roy highly focused, and he roared.

"Burning Heart - Ultimate", various specialties...

Aside from his most prized talent, he had bestowed upon himself all other abilities and expertise.

In an instant, Roy's aura surged, causing even the border duke to turn his head in surprise.

Especially the long sword in Roy's hand, so sharp that it caused black patterns to constantly appear in the surrounding air.

"Good knife!"

The border duke couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.