A Guide to Becoming a God Starting from a Monastery

"We can't send a large group," the abbot mused after a moment. "I'm worried this is a plan of the bandits. If all the troops are mobilized, they'll have the opportunity to attack the monastery!"

It is hard to tell what their real purpose is. Maybe it is not for ransom, but for more sinister purposes.

In short, it’s definitely better to be more cautious.

"Go and fetch Giuliano," Conrad said finally. "Leave the defense of the monastery to Rostislav."

The latter is a battle-hardened mercenary with more experience in group combat than Giuliano.

"Giuliano alone might not be enough," said Sesley.

"Of course he's not alone; the mercenaries are coming too," Conrad said. "Also, someone should go to the city and tell the bishop about the kidnapping," he said. They need to be prepared just in case.

"I'll go." One of the men volunteered.

"When it comes to rescuing people this time, quality is more important than quantity. Sethley, you can come along. The others won't be needed."

Together with Giuliano and the mercenaries, we have five or six core fighters here, so we should be able to protect ourselves. At worst, we can escape.

As for Seth Li going along, it was to carry money.

He couldn't bring the money directly to the kidnappers, but he had to bring a certain amount of money, which he would only feel safe with if Sesley took it.

You can't let the mercenaries take it.

Chapter 53 Kidnapping 3

After finishing his classes for the day, Thomas returned to his room to read.

There was a book in the room that he had borrowed from the library - also something like history and geography.

Since the historical knowledge from my previous life is useless, I can only make up for it now.

Joshua wasn't here, probably because he was taking tutoring again. Thomas didn't even need to expend his divine power on recent rhetoric and logic studies, but Joshua had to take them.

Before I started reading, there was a knock on the door.

After opening the door, he saw none other than Giuliano.

"Thomas, get ready and gather at the martial arts arena in half an hour. Also, put on my old leather armor first."

"What?" Thomas asked curiously.

"Otto's kidnappers have sent a ransom letter, and Conrad asked me to find a few people to go with him," Giuliano said succinctly. "You and Visa will come with me. You two will serve as my attendants."

Visa is the apprentice who passed the knight assessment last time but has not yet obtained the status of knight.

After all, information transmission was inconvenient in this era, so it was normal for things like knighting to be delayed for several months.

"What about the rest?"

"The rest of you stay," Giuliano said. "Perhaps the kidnappers' real target is the monastery. Don't worry," he said, looking into Thomas's face. "Nine times out of ten, they'll just pay the ransom and let them go."

In this era, paying money to redeem someone is a normal thing, and it is not even considered shameful.

Knights captured on the battlefield had to pay a ransom. Any wealthy person captured could redeem themselves. Killing captives was considered immoral.

But Thomas knew that was impossible.

Ever since he learned the details of the red girl's treasure, Thomas roughly guessed the origin of the whole thing.

Their goal wasn't money at all, but... Conrad himself! Or rather, they wanted the secrets held by the Vice President.

So Giuliano thought this was an opportunity to gain experience, but Thomas knew that this was a very dangerous matter.

Even a strong man like Giuliano can fall into trouble.

After Giuliano left, Thomas acted quickly and arrived at the arena a short while later.

Giuliano didn't come, he must be doing chores.

Thomas stood alone in the arena, imagining the knight's movements.

Body skills do not belong to any martial arts. After mastering body skills, combat power will not be greatly improved, but the ability to escape and pursue will be greatly enhanced.

If you win, the enemy can't escape; if you lose, the enemy can't catch up with you.

From my current feeling, it is more accurate to say that body techniques teach you how to jump rather than how to run.

To move quickly across complex terrain, jumping is the key.

It’s like the “parkour” in the previous life. It’s called “parkour”, but in fact it’s not mainly about running, but jumping.

I wonder if this kind of technique existed in the Middle Ages on Earth before, but it undoubtedly places extremely high demands on the joints.

Modern anatomy has long pointed out that human joints are definitely one of the most important weaknesses of human beings.

Joints are easily injured during strenuous exercise, but are extremely difficult to recover after being injured.

If there weren't such things as potions in this world, this kind of technology would never have appeared.

But even with potions, learning and mastering this technique requires long-term and completely correct training.

Even if one is gifted, this is the only way, but Thomas is different, he has a damaged godhead.

After repeated attempts, he now gradually understood the effect of divine power.

When practicing anything for the first time, the best effect is achieved by infusing it with divine power for the first time, which can produce immediate results.

But the further you go, the harder it is to improve, and you need to consume more divine power to improve.

This is also in line with the normal state of the world - no matter what it is, the deeper it goes, the more time and energy it consumes.

The last point of improvement is the most difficult. For example, Thomas remembered a sprinter in his past life who improved his 100-meter dash speed from 9.99 seconds to 9.91 seconds, an improvement of only 0.08 seconds, or even less than 0.1 second, and it took him three full years.

Thomas looked inward and saw once again the damaged divine head and several balls of divine power entwined around it.

He made a rule for himself to always keep two balls of divine power to save his life, but he could use the rest.

Then, driven by his thoughts, all available divine power was poured into his body.

Avoid those irrelevant parts and focus on the required positions of the body.

As divine power poured in, his legs, back, and several joints all suddenly became hot.

The divine power turned into a hot current, lingering in these locations.

Many memories inexplicably emerged in his mind, as if he had practiced various body techniques countless times.

At the same time, the leg muscles begin to swell, the tendons begin to stretch, and the joints become flexible. From their previous state, they gradually become stronger, more adaptable to the needs of the body movements, and more capable of exerting powerful athletic ability.

This situation lasted for several minutes before it slowly ended.

Thomas stretched his legs.

He felt that his waist and legs were much stronger than before. Moreover, the movements that he had been unable to do before or had done with great difficulty now became easy.

An idea struck him, and he leaped forward, imitating the movements of Giuliano, whom he had seen before.

Holding the sword in one hand, he gently pressed the low wall with the other hand, and with the help of the force, he easily jumped over the two-meter-high wall.

His movements were smooth and effortless, he always maintained his balance, and the sword in his hand was ready to strike at any time.

Besides that, the whole action was so gentle that it was almost silent.

When placed outdoors, it can easily be covered by various noises such as wind.

Thomas jumped back and forth five or six times in a moment.

The body is light and there is no obstruction at all.

Body movement... this can be considered a small achievement, right?

If he could go back to his previous life, he would now have the confidence to participate in world-class rock climbing or parkour competitions.

He stopped suddenly without blushing or panting, without a speck of sweat on his body, and he could switch between movement and stillness at will.

Now that I have my face covered, I feel like I can definitely pass myself off as a ninja.

Although it's said that physical skills alone don't increase combat power, that's not entirely true. Thomas knew that with a significant improvement in leg strength and mobility, combat speed would increase, and thus combat power itself would be boosted.

It was indeed an essential skill for home, travel, murder, and arson. Every knight must master this divine skill.

If all else fails, and you can't become a knight, you can switch to being a thief.

"Awesome!" Thomas figured it out and couldn't help but praise.

Now he was more and more certain that using divine power directly to increase physical fitness was inefficient. Using divine power to increase skill levels was more efficient.

Over there, Giuliano came over, and so did Visa.

Not long after, Conrad arrived, along with the mercenaries and Sesley.

It is worth mentioning that Sesley wore a travel suit suitable for long-distance travel. The characteristics of this kind of clothing are lightness, flexibility, and it is easy to hide things inside the clothes.

Thomas only needed to glance at the personnel to guess Conrad's plan.

If this was just a simple kidnapping and extortion incident, then the Vice Dean's response was perfect. He considered every possible scenario. Not only did he consider the possibility of a falling out, but he even considered the possibility of the other party trying to divert attention and target the monastery itself.

But what if the ransom wasn't their goal? They might not even care about the monastery's wealth, let alone the ransom. What if their real target was Conrad himself?

Then this response is not so perfect.

Chapter 54 Kidnapping 4

The agreed location was a small hill half a day's journey from the monastery.

If we travelled on horseback, we could probably reach the destination in an hour or two, but the monastery was short of horses, with only a few available, and these were draft horses.

None of the knights of the monastery, including Giuliano, had their own mounts.

Even if there were any, the war horses were not in the monastery, and it was too late, so everyone had to walk.

There was nothing much to say, so we traveled all night and found a small village near our destination at dawn.

This village does not belong to the monastery, and the villagers are not tenants and serfs of the monastery, but it is still easy to find out that outsiders have spent a day here before.

There were a lot of strangers from other places. They looked very fierce and were armed.

Since there was no conflict between the two sides, the villagers naturally did not dare to provoke these people.

As for whether they were holding hostages or not, it was even more uncertain, but someone did see them carrying a large box when they left.

Big enough to fit one person's suitcase.

In addition, we can preliminarily judge that the kidnappers are about ten people, with some weapons and equipment, but they are in a mess. This fits the image of bandits in most people's minds.

The agreed location was on the mountain next to the village, but the agreed time was approaching.

In order to avoid harming the hostages, everyone had to hurry up and get up the mountain.

Although not a famous mountain or a large river, this mountain is quite steep. The road leading into the mountain is surrounded by a cliff on one side, a rushing mountain stream on the other, and a narrow path trampled by villagers in the middle.

The mountain wall on this side is okay, nothing noteworthy, but the stream side is quite dangerous.

There is a cliff about ten meters high, with a rushing stream and large and small rocks below.

If you fall down, you will most likely be killed or injured. Even if you don't die, you won't be able to stay in the chilly spring stream for long.

And maybe it had rained, so the stream was bigger and faster than expected.

"That's about it." Everyone stopped.

Only Conrad was allowed to come, which meant that if too many people showed up at once, it would cause unnecessary alarm. It would be bad if the hostages were injured in the panic.

Conrad looked around with sharp eyes, a hint of anxiety on his face.

Based on the terrain, the information in the letter, and the information obtained from the villagers, there is a small flat area in the canyon ahead. That is the location agreed upon by the kidnappers.

"Come with me," Conrad said.

If you only bring one guard, the other party won't be too nervous.

"You guys wait here first." Conrad said to the others.

The distance is neither far nor near, and you can hear it by shouting. If the worst happens, you can provide quick support.

"Wait, Lord Conrad, why don't you let me follow?" Sesley suggested. "I'll be a little distance away from you, so I can advance and retreat more easily."

"That's it." Conrad didn't care about this little change.

The team was divided into three groups, Conrad and a mercenary in one group, Sesli and Giuliano following behind, but at a sufficient distance. The rest of the people waited here, ready to reinforce the front at any time.

Conrad walked forward and saw several men in tattered clothes and armor in front of him, carrying a mess of weapons and escorting a familiar figure.