Swords, magic, and martial arts

Rhodes, dressed in black night clothes, looked rather strange in the inn. Many adventurers were looking at him and began asking around who this strangely dressed person was. People who didn't know him before now knew who "Troll Buster" Rhodes was.

However, all that remains now are adventurers of weak strength. Those who are strong or who consider themselves to be quite capable have accepted Lord Foss's employment and entered the forest to search for the tomb.

Aya sat next to Rhodes, also eating the charcoal-grilled venison steaks that the innkeeper had given him for free. Although Aya didn't like the innkeeper, he was a grateful person, so he decided to waive the room and food fees for Rhodes and his guests for the next few days as a way of repaying him for protecting him and his guests.

While eating, Rhodes kept thinking about who the mysterious man in black was. When he was in dire straits, the man suddenly appeared beside him. He had never sensed the man's presence before. After the man dealt with the troll, he disappeared into the darkness. Rhodes regretted not using a mageball to sense where the man had disappeared to.

Looking back now, however, he was completely stunned when he saw this series of events and almost lost the ability to think.

Rhodes hesitated about what to do: should he go into the forest to hunt wild beasts to complete the mission, or try to make money, or try to find Baron and the others?

He thought about it carefully and realized that Jon's family caravan seemed to be heading to Ebony, one of the largest cities in Winterfell Province, which, like Frostwood, was ruled by House Forth.

The Fors family is very powerful in the north of Winterfell province, owning the large city of Ebony and several magnificent castles, and commanding hundreds of knights and thousands of soldiers.

Rhodes roughly estimated the time. If Baron and the others had not gone to look for him and had continued to travel at their previous speed, it would have taken them at least twenty days to reach Ebony City. However, it would only take about half a day to travel from Frostwood Town to Ebony City.

The soldiers sent to quell the beast tide last time were from the vicinity of Ebony City. Given the extreme urgency of the situation, they arrived here in just half a night.

Accommodation in the city is too expensive, and I don't have much money on me right now. Should I stay here for more than ten days before heading to Ebony City? What should I do during this time? Rhodes put down his knife and fork and fell into a daze again.

Why don't we take advantage of this time to complete the system's tasks? If there aren't so many wild beasts around, who knows how long it will take to complete the tasks later.

Rod made up his mind and asked Aya, "I'm going to the forest for a while. You stay at the inn and I'll come back in half a month to pick you up so we can go find Baron and the others."

Aya hesitated for a moment, then shook her head. "No, I want to go into the forest with you."

"It's dangerous in the forest, I might not be able to protect you, so you should stay here," Rhodes advised.

"Who needs your protection? I can protect myself. Even if you don't let me go, I'll still go by myself," Aya said loudly as she stood up.

Rod had no choice but to agree. Afterward, he took Aya to the tailor to pick up the clothes that had been made, and then went to the general store to buy some things that they would need in the forest.

He hadn't prepared much food, but he figured he could hunt wild animals for food. To make the animals taste better, he brought a lot of salt and some seasonings unique to this world.

Perhaps because Rhodes's reputation had spread throughout the town, when they went to the same general store again, the grocer gave him a book that hadn't been bought for a long time. It was about a herbalist's research on most of the plants in Nord, but the book was unfinished because the author was poisoned after tasting a plant and couldn't find an antidote.

The main reason why no one wants a book that is so helpful for wilderness survival is that its descriptions of plants are entirely text-based, without a single illustration. This makes Nord adventurers, whose literacy is not high, simply unwilling to read it.

Nord adventurers prefer books that include illustrations and only state whether a plant is poisonous, edible, or valuable; books like this, which are all text, give them a headache.

For Rhodes, who had a slight reading addiction before his transmigration, it was perfectly tolerable. It was a good way to pass the time when he was bored. There were too few forms of entertainment in this world, so many adventurers liked to gamble and find beautiful women to relax their tense nerves after their adventures.

Rhodes lay in bed that night feeling a little nervous. He was going to enter the forest again the next day, and this was probably the last good night's sleep he would get during this period.

His main objective was to kill the wolves, but he was finding it difficult to deal with the trolls. Previously, he and the two adventurers had managed to kill the trolls by paralyzing them with poisoned needles and then burning them to death with strong liquor. After so many battles, he only had four poisoned needles left, and he decided to prioritize survival.

Thinking of the poisoned needles, he also thought of the mother-and-child throwing knives. It seemed that he hadn't been able to let it suck blood to generate new throwing knives in the past few days. He suddenly felt like he had lost a fortune and wanted to get out of bed to find an animal to suck his blood, but it was too late at night to find one, so he gave up the idea.

After drawing "Treading Snow Without a Trace", Rhodes still had six more chances to draw prizes in the store. He suddenly had the idea of ​​using up all his chances.

He decided to draw a martial art first. If he drew a good martial art, he could replace the "Embrace the Yuan and Guard the One" skill when fighting, and then put it back on when he needed to use it.

The lottery results came out quickly:

White Rainbow Sword Technique: Also known as Southern Tai Chi Sword or Pure Yang Sword, it mainly uses the tactics of stillness to control movement and striking first after the opponent has moved to defeat them.

After seeing the result, Rhodes was somewhat helpless. Although it was a sword technique, it was actually a defensive sword technique. He had been hoping to draw some martial arts with great destructive power, even something like the Seven Injury Fist.

The longsword he got from the mercenary in the forest has been lost again, and now Rhode has no sword at all, so he can't use his swordsmanship.

He wondered if he could get a sword from the system shop, so he started drawing lots again. The first piece of equipment he drew was a straw hat.

Fisherman's straw hat: Wearing it can protect you from the rain and increase the speed of your boat when rowing.

Rhodes felt he had wasted his chance, drawing a useless piece of trash. Although it could increase rowing speed, the problem was that he had never rowed a boat before and didn't know how at all.

He drew again, and this time he drew a white veil.

Female Warrior Veil (Women Only): Wearing this will prevent others from seeing your face and has a certain chance of increasing your charm.

This is another piece of junk that I can't use myself. But it seems that other people can use the equipment in the system. Aya stole the dagger that the system drew and hasn't returned it to me yet.

Rod hesitated for a moment before making one last draw, vowing it would be the last one of the day.

A golden light flashed across the system shop, and Rhode guessed that something good must be coming out. He hoped it wouldn't be another piece of equipment exclusively for women...