Mount & Blade: Rebuilding Rome from Mercenaries

After a brief moment of excitement, Tancred began to carefully study his system. Through the information transmitted by the system, he was able to understand the meaning of each term.

Vitality primarily affects a person's melee combat ability, while also impacting their proficiency with one-handed, two-handed, and polearm weapons.

Control primarily affects an individual's ability to control their body, which translates to the lethality of ranged weapons in combat. It also affects the proficiency in using bows, crossbows, and throwing weapons.

Physique primarily affects an individual's physical qualities, including strength, agility, explosive power, etc., and also influences the improvement of riding skills, endurance, and Iron Body skills.

Knowledge reflects an individual's mastery of language and literature, engineering, theology, and medical skills.

Social skills reflect an individual's appearance and social abilities, determining their attractiveness to others and influencing the development of charisma, leadership, and negotiation skills.

Prestige is a comprehensive evaluation based on one's reputation and renown, while piety reflects a person's influence, sanctity, and control over the church in religious affairs. These two values ​​will affect other people's first impression of Tancred.

As for traits, they reflect an individual's personality, abilities, reputation, deeds, hobbies, and physical characteristics. They are divided into innate heredity and acquired traits, and they can either enhance or weaken one's own attributes.

In this system, vitality, control, and physique are data directly related to an individual's combat power. In this world, ordinary people have these three data points around 5, professionally trained knights have between 10 and 15, and the world's top fighters can reach around 20 in these three values.

The original owner only liked poetry and theology and never took mercenary training seriously. Fortunately, the innate trait [Hercules] boosted his physique to 8 points, which was quite an advantage among commoners; unfortunately, his vitality and control were only a pitiful 1 point, making him no match for even a medieval old farmer with a pitchfork in combat.

As for combat-related skill proficiency, Tankred was a complete mess, basically at the initial 0 points. Fortunately, the original owner was forced by his father to complete some knight training when he was young, so he barely had a passable 10 points in polearms and riding skills. The [Hercules] bonus also pushed his stamina and iron bones to 20 points, which allowed him to barely have any combat power.

However, the original owner of this body had always enjoyed studying literature and theology. Tankred had also transmigrated to this era of information explosion and had learned a lot of basic scientific and medical knowledge. As a result, he was able to possess 14 points of knowledge far exceeding that of ordinary people, and his proficiency in theology, engineering, and medicine had all reached a terrifying 100 points.

Although I don't know what use these things will have in reality, having them is better than not having them.

As for social interaction, are there only 4 points?

Forget it, what charm could a rude Norman mercenary have?

"It looks like a hybrid system combining Mount & Blade 1, Mount & Blade 2, and CK3. I just don't know how to upgrade?"

Tancred was talking to himself when he turned his head and saw old John standing next to him.

My uncle looks like he's not someone to mess with, so I might as well use him as a benchmark to see just how much I'm capable of.

"Great job, little Tankred! You're finally acting like a man!" Old John clapped his hands with laughter when Tankred invited him to practice martial arts. "Come on, pick up this wooden sword. I won't hold back!"

The two each took a wooden sword from the weapon rack in the camp and stood apart in the center of the camp.

Tankred had only ever killed people in games; in reality, he was a law-abiding citizen. He was still a little intimidated by Old John, so he took a deep breath and decided to launch the first attack.

He stepped forward, his shoulder driving his arm, and slashed down from his right side. His 8-point constitution gave him superhuman strength, and the strike, carrying immense force, aimed straight for Old John's shoulder and neck.

However, Old John did not retreat. Instead, he swiftly slashed out with his sword, striking Tancred's blade with great force along the opposite diagonal, using the strong blade to strike Tancred's weak blade.

Clang! The two swords clashed in mid-air. Old John not only blocked Tankred's attack, but also used the momentum of his sword to strike Tankred's shoulder and neck!

pain!

Tankred felt a pain in his shoulder, his fingers loosened, and the wooden sword flew out of his hand, rolling several times on the ground.

"That sword technique looks so familiar... Isn't that the Master Strike from Kingdom Come: Deliverance?"

Tancred instantly recognized Old John's move.

"How about it, little Tank Red? I learned this from a Bohemian, isn't it impressive!" Old John boasted, leaning on his sword.

So, such swordsmanship really can be used in real life? My uncle's strength is terrifying, but he really doesn't know how to hold back when he attacks!

Tankred's mind was in turmoil when suddenly a string of words appeared before his eyes:

「叮！你受到了轻微伤，铁骨+1（20→21），个人经验+1，当前等级lv1（1/10）」

Good grief, you can level up by getting beaten up?

Moreover, it looks very similar to Mount & Blade, where skill proficiency can only be increased by using related skills, so it is estimated that personal level increases will grant one's own basic attribute points.

"Uncle John, let's go again!" Tancred immediately perked up, ignoring his aching shoulder, he picked up the wooden sword that had fallen to the ground and launched another challenge.

"Yes, that's it! Don't give up!" Old John looked at Tancred with satisfaction, then casually knocked his wooden sword to the ground with a swift Master's Strike.

"Uncle John, again!" ×8

As Tankred's wooden sword hit the ground for the tenth time, the system notification popped up in his mind again:

「叮！你受到了轻微伤，铁骨+1（29→30），个人经验+1，当前等级lv1（10/10）」

"Ding! You have leveled up to lv2 (0/20), with 1 attribute point available."

"Ding! Your Iron Bones skill proficiency exceeds 25. You can choose one of the following feats:"

[Strong and Robust]: Increases the physical condition of you and your squad members by 5%.

[Custom-made] Your perception of armor weight is reduced by 30%, allowing you to wear heavier armor.

You leveled up so quickly! But as your level increases, the experience points required also increase.

And just like Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord, you can choose a special skill bonus when your proficiency reaches a multiple of 25.

Tancred's gaze lingered on that line of prompts for a moment, and he quickly began to calculate in his mind.

You must be extremely careful when allocating skill points, because "a wrong skill point allocation can lead to lifelong regret." Back when Mount & Blade II didn't have a skill point reset function, he restarted several save files to optimize his skill point allocation.

After hesitating for a moment, Tankred decided to opt for armor to reduce weight. Although enhancing his squad's physique could build a powerful elite force, he was still a novice at this stage and needed thicker armor to protect himself. As for the available attribute points, considering there wasn't any urgent need for them yet, he decided to save them for later and allocate them as needed.

"System, give me some points!"

Tankred no longer hesitated and chose [Customized]

With a shudder, Tankred felt his soft armor become instantly lighter, and he now felt that he could move as fast as the wind even if he were wearing 20 kilograms of heavy armor.

"Uncle John, stop! Stop!"

Seeing that Old John was about to charge forward again with his wooden sword, Tankred quickly waved his hand to stop the sparring, secretly pleased with himself.

Since getting beaten up can level me up, I estimate I'll soon be able to build up some fighting strength. It's just that the process...

hiss……

Tankred rubbed his shoulder; it was probably covered in bruises under his clothes.

"Well done, little Tankred. Keep it up, and you'll become a respected mercenary captain like your father someday," Old John said, putting away his wooden sword, patting Tankred on the shoulder, and adding with satisfaction, "Put on some clothes and go back to your tent, don't catch a cold."

Touched by this kindness, Tancredi reached out and lifted the tent flap, inviting old John to come inside and rest.

By the way, it's time to discuss my debt situation.