Swords, magic, and martial arts

Hunger brought Rod back to his senses. He opened the window and saw that the sun was almost setting. He went downstairs to get something to eat.

It was lunchtime, and the hall was full of people, but as he walked down the stairs, everyone in the hall stared at him.

"Isn't this our 'Troll Buster'?" one of the seated adventurers shouted, and the others all began to clap and cheer loudly, "Troll Buster! Troll Buster!"

Rhodes was a little bewildered by this treatment for the first time. Should I wave back with a blank expression?

"You're awake? I specially prepared my best honey-roasted venison steak for you. I was even planning to personally deliver it to your room." The innkeeper walked up with a smile. "You must try my homemade rye wine. I've been storing it in the cellar for many years. A while ago, I took out all the ice, and after tasting it, I found that it tastes really good, especially fragrant and strong."

Rod had always found it strange that low-alcohol rye wine that hadn't been distilled could burn, but now he knew why.

It seems that the freezing point of alcohol in this world is lower than that of water. The ice cubes scooped out of the rye wine are water with a higher freezing point. After the ice cubes are scooped out, most of what remains inside is alcohol, which also has the effect of increasing the alcohol content.

It seems that this world with magic is somewhat similar to the world I came from before.

Rhodes sat down in a seat offered to him by a young adventurer, and the innkeeper brought him freshly grilled, still steaming venison steaks and a glass of rye wine that had been heated up.

"I'll definitely try your rye next time I have the chance, but I just woke up and I'm very thirsty, so I'd like some water," Rod said to the smiling hotel owner standing next to him.

The hotel owner quickly ran to get a glass of water.

Rod finished his large glass of water in one gulp and started eating the venison steak in front of his noodles, even though the people around him were still staring at him, which made him a little embarrassed.

He ate the venison steak while checking out the martial arts system.

After killing the cave bear with Taizu Long Fist yesterday, his Taizu Long Fist was upgraded to level 5, which is also the maximum level of Taizu Long Fist.

After reaching the maximum level, he received a prompt that he could add an effect to the Taizu Long Fist, but because he was focused on dealing with that huge troll, he hasn't made a choice yet.

Like the Iron Shirt skill from last time, it offers three effects to choose from.

Effect 1: Slightly increases the damage of the Taizu Long Fist active skill.

Effect 2: Taizu Long Fist can cause internal injuries to the target.

Effect 3: Taizu Long Fist can produce an armor-piercing effect.

After some thought, Rhodes chose effect three. Although effect two was also good, Rhodes' internal strength was not deep enough at the moment. Using Taizu Long Fist would mainly cause external injuries, so it would be better to focus on external injuries.

After the Taizu Long Fist skill is upgraded, its effect in the skill bar also changes.

Taizu Long Fist: After use, the next punch deals 200% damage and increases fist and palm power by 50% for ten seconds. (Cooldown time: determined by the host's status.)

Rhodes summarized that after grasping the essence of Taizu Changquan, it was integrated into every move he made. In game terms, Taizu Changquan became a passive skill or trait for him. Every time he attacked with his fist, it would deal additional damage with Taizu Changquan, and even when he didn't attack, it would increase his parrying ability and his understanding of fists and palms.

The system's skill bar gave him an additional active skill called Taizu Long Fist, which, after use, allows the next punch to deal double damage, and for the next ten seconds, each punch deals 1.5 times the damage.

After upgrading Taizu Changquan to level 5, Rhodes completed the previous weekly mission and earned a chance to draw a prize, which he chose without hesitation.

The pointer on the lottery wheel finally stopped on the set of equipment.

Night Clothing Set: A set of night clothes made of finely woven pure black silk, warm in winter and cool in summer, allowing you to remain unseen in the dark.

Rod felt a little disappointed. It would have been better if it were a normal set of clothes that he could wear normally. He didn't have any clothes to wear right now, and his new clothes wouldn't be ready for a few days. He didn't know if the tailor had gotten into trouble.

He opened the system's shop again, and his chivalry points increased again, now totaling 783. His sinful souls didn't increase at all, probably because Pilt and his group weren't as evil as the priests of the Cult of Death.

Now that Taizu Changquan doesn't take up a martial arts slot, Luo De has another empty slot. He had forgotten about it for the past few days, and now he's ready to test his luck.

After consuming 100 chivalry points, the lottery result appeared immediately: a movement technique.

Without Leaving a Footprint in the Snow: A profound movement technique that, upon reaching a high level, allows one to walk in the snow wearing iron shoes without leaving footprints. (After learning this technique, movement speed increases and footsteps become lighter.)

The "Treading Snow Without Leaving a Trace" skill was automatically added to his martial arts skill list. Rhodes felt lighter and more agile. He looked at the training methods and found that walking and running could increase proficiency. However, he thought that such an easy-to-learn martial art might be difficult to level up.

Rhodes opened the taskbar again and found that it had changed. The tasks were no longer weekly. In the past, even if you completed the weekly tasks quickly, you had to wait until the task refreshed the following week before you could accept a new one. Now, you could immediately accept a new task after completing one, and the difficulty of the tasks had obviously increased a lot.

He felt that the system might be encouraging him to save others to earn chivalry points for the lottery, rather than relying on completing tasks to participate in the lottery.

Three tasks were refreshed in the taskbar for him to choose from.

Task 1: Upholding justice and eliminating evil is the duty of a chivalrous hero.

The objective is to capture or kill one hundred bandits.

Task Two: Not only humans, but also many animals pose a threat to the lives of local residents.

Requirements: Kill 10 trolls, 200 wolves, or an animal of similar strength to a wyvern or mammoth.

Task 3: Only by having power and status can one protect more people.

Requirement: Become a baron.

Choosing between mission one and mission two left Rhodes somewhat conflicted. After finishing off all the roasted venison chops, Rhodes sat down at the table and began to think.

"Lord Foss is recruiting adventurers to solve the strange phenomena in the forest. Do you want to go? They've determined that the source of the chaos is a tomb, and it's even the tomb of Lord Foss's ancestor. He needs a powerful mercenary like you to help him. I heard the price is quite high. You might want to consider it," someone said to Rhodes.

Rod felt he looked familiar, and after thinking for a moment, he remembered that he was the melancholy middle-aged man who had been talking to the hotel owner in the back yesterday.

Rhodes was still considering which mission to accept when he heard the middle-aged man's words and made his decision, choosing mission two.

"Where can I register?" Rod asked.

"I'm just missing a teammate, the two of us can go together..." The melancholy middle-aged man pulled Rhodes out of the tavern...