Swords, magic, and martial arts

In every era of Nord, there has been a legend of the King of Assassins. The King of Assassins is not a single person, but someone who has inherited the legacy of the King of Assassins.

Legend has it that on a specific day each year, the King of Assassins must go to a cave to accept the challenge of all those who enter the cave to compete for the throne of the King of Assassins, and in the end, only one person can survive in the entire cave.

This makes each generation of Assassin Kings stronger than the last, especially in terms of direct combat ability. It is said that several generations of Assassin Kings did not even know how to stealth.

Later, an Assassin King installed many magical traps in that cave, which successfully helped the future Assassin King filter out many berserkers who came to challenge him.

This information about the King of Assassins was collected by Waver when he was young, and he dreamed of becoming the King of Assassins, but he has long since given up on that dream.

Baron and his companions had also heard these legends, but most people only knew that the King of Assassins had a short sword made of black dragon bone, and only a very few people knew that he also had a transparent short sword.

"Nobody knows who the current King of Assassins is. It's said he's been sitting in that position for decades," Webber explained.

"But judging from his voice, he sounds like a young man," Rod said, puzzled.

"Perhaps the previous King of Assassins died of old age and he happened to obtain it, or perhaps he was a creature of a long-lived race, like an elf," Weber replied after a moment's thought.

"Why have you come to Winterfell Fortress?" Rhodes suddenly thought of this question.

"Weber wants to see Winterhold before he retires, and then we'll send him back to that place in Dawn Province to retire," Hammer, who had been silent until now, replied.

"Pinewood Town," Weber added.

"Yes, yes, that's it," Hammer said.

"When are you leaving?" Rod asked again.

"We can do it anytime," Weber replied.

"Could you wait until my dragon scale armor is finished? I'll go with you then," Rhodes said.

"I'm not in a hurry. Maybe I'll get the chance to become a nobleman in the final days of my adventuring career," Weber said, having always wanted to be a nobleman since he got older.

"You'd have to survive and kill a lot of people," Hammer said.

"Of course you don't aspire to be a nobleman; you never told us you were the son of Marquis Smith of Starshine Province," Weber said.

"He's just a second son with no right to inherit the family business, otherwise they wouldn't have sent me to Ebony City to be adopted," Hammer said somewhat unhappily.

"If you're willing to go home, you're at least a baron, unlike me," Weber said.

"I think being an adventurer is more carefree and liberating; you can drink when you want, and fight when you want," Hammer said.

"If I were a nobleman, I definitely wouldn't become an adventurer. I'd rather fish and ride horses in my territory every day. Even if the territory is poor, at least I can eat and dress warmly," Weber said.

"Didn't you have enough to eat and wear before?" Hammer blurted out.

Weber fell silent. Hammer noticed Weber's silence and apologized to him.

"Alright, let's go out and walk around the fortress together now. We haven't had a proper look at this magnificent pass in the past few days," Baron said.

……

It was already evening when they returned to the tavern. Even from a modern perspective, Winterfell Fortress was undoubtedly a formidable stronghold. However, Rhodes had never studied military matters and couldn't see the intricacies of it.

However, the countless arrow towers and the city walls tens of meters high deeply shocked Rhodes.

Rod rented a room from the tavern owner, took a shower, and then returned to his room.

He roughly estimated that he had been in a coma for nearly two months. When he went to the forest, it was only March, and now it was almost May.

In this world, a year also has twelve months. In the Roman Empire, January, February, and March are springtime, while in the Kingdom of Nord, March, April, and May are springtime. June, July, and August are summer. In the cold Nord, there is only September, which is autumn; the long winter begins in October.

There was no fighting in the Lindong Province in May. The winter wheat harvest in the Roman Empire was just around the corner, and no lord with a normal IQ would choose to start a war at this time.

The Kingdom of Nords gained the upper hand in last year's war, and a large area of ​​land south of Winterfell Fortress was temporarily occupied by the Kingdom of Nords.

Rod learned from Baron and the others what had happened after he fell unconscious; first, a bard found him in the wilderness.

A kind-hearted bard carried him to Ebony City to find someone to treat him, and they happened to run into Baron and his group. Since Hammer had been the adopted son of Marquis Forth, the lord of Ebony City, with Hammer's help, Rhodes received treatment from the best doctor in Ebony City.

Because the time for the curse to break was approaching, Baron and Waver left Ebony City to find the temple before Rhodes woke up, and finally lifted the curse.

When Baron and his companions returned to Ebony City, they encountered the Dragonkin who had turned half of the city into a sea of ​​fire. Enraged, Baron severely injured the Dragonkin and earned the title of "Savior of Ebony City".

After the battle, they found Rhodes missing and assumed he had been burned to ashes.

Rhodes guessed that he was rescued by that so-called King of Assassins, who killed the dragonman and used dragon blood to heal him.

As for why the King of Assassins would do this, he couldn't figure out the reason. Could he really be the ancestor of this body?

Unable to find the answer, he didn't continue thinking about it, deciding to ask the King of Assassins again if he encountered him in the future.

Rhodes opened the martial arts system, which he hadn't used in a long time.

He discovered that he had actually completed the task from last time.

The previous mission requirements were to kill 10 trolls, 200 wolves, or an animal of similar strength to a wyvern or mammoth.

He killed that dragon-man once with the help of Shengxie and the Peacock Feather. It is estimated that the system classifies that dragon-man as being of equal strength to a dragon or a mammoth.

I don't know if the dragonman will be resurrected again this time. Rhodes has never been able to understand the principle of the dragonman's resurrection. I cut the corpse into small pieces and threw them everywhere, and I even carried its head with me. Yet, it reappeared in front of me a day later.

If the dragonman were to be resurrected and find a place to fully recover its strength before causing trouble again, given how powerful it was before it recovered, I wonder how many people in the entire Nord Kingdom would be able to defeat it once it fully recovers its strength.

After completing the task, Rhodes started the lottery, and the results appeared instantly, without waiting for the pointer of the large wheel to stop.

Martial Arts Upgrade Card (Beginner): Can raise any martial art below level 5 by one level.

After obtaining the martial arts upgrade card, Rhodes entered the martial arts inventory and found that there was another slot in his inventory. He carefully checked the information sent by the system and found that he had grasped the essence of the Golden Bell Iron Shirt technique and that the Golden Bell Iron Shirt technique had been upgraded to level 5. However, it seemed that it could continue to be upgraded.

Rod still remembers how badly he was beaten that day. He was first beaten and then burned. He doesn't know how he survived the flames. Could it be because of Shenzhaogong?

With that in mind, he used the martial arts upgrade card (beginner level) to upgrade his Divine Illumination Skill by one level. After the upgrade, he felt much more relaxed and decided that after accepting the mission, he would start practicing the Divine Illumination Skill.

He reopened the taskbar.

Task 1: It is the duty of a hero to uphold justice on behalf of Heaven.

Request: Punish one hundred people you consider to be bad.

Task Two: Reading ten thousand books is not as good as traveling ten thousand miles.

Requirement: Walk 10,000 li (approximately 5,000 kilometers).

Task 3: It is the duty of a knight to eliminate evil and uphold justice.

Requirement: Kill or capture one hundred bandits.

After seeing the three tasks, Rhodes fell into thought. The first and third tasks seemed similar, except that the first one was more free, requiring only the punishment of one hundred people he considered bad, while the third task required killing or capturing one hundred bandits.

Could my actions cause the system to shift its assessment of my faction?

If I keep punishing good people, will the martial arts system turn into a villain system?

In the end, Rhodes chose the first task, which seemed to be the easiest to complete. Actually, he felt that the task might be easier to do and could also upgrade his Snow-Treading Without a Trace movement technique, but the first one looked more interesting.

After receiving the mission, Rhodes sat on the bed and began practicing the Divine Illumination Technique. He wanted to experience the difference after the upgrade of the Divine Illumination Technique...