Chương 39: Young man, do you crave power?

A dozen minutes later.

Henry, the former vice-captain of the Green Mercenary Group, led the rest of the mercenaries and the Phoenix family's henchmen to the hunter's cabin at the foot of the mountain.

They had recently discovered Ethan's body and realized Jostein's intention to escape. They had come to capture him.

Otherwise, who would they turn to for the mercenaries' wages and the Phoenix family's losses?

Someone has to take the blame for such a huge mess!

However, when they saw everything around them clearly, they realized they were too late.

"Joe... Jostein... is dead?"

"What happened to Duru? Was he killed too?"

"Who did this?"

"Look, there's a line of writing on the ground! It reads: 'No one can escape my judgment!' It's signed... Robin Hood!"

"Damn it, this name..."

"It's him again!"

Everyone was shocked when they recalled the other party's past deeds.

Henry, who was in the lead, felt a chill run down his neck.

Robin Hood, the elusive Robin Hood...

Not only did he easily open Big Gold Tooth, but he also had the strength to kill Jostan and that mid-level otherworldly follower!

It seemed as if their actions were entirely under his control!

Who exactly is he...?

Henry swallowed hard, then turned his head to take in the mercenaries' stiff expressions.

He realized clearly that, whoever Robin Hood was, none of them had the courage to face him.

at the same time.

Several kilometers away, Richard and Grace disappeared into the woods, crossed a creek to erase their footprints and scents, and then turned back to the farm where they had stayed.

On the way, Richard used his charm on the newly acquired secret manual.

You have successfully charmed the Water Flow Rock Shattering Fist manual.

[The Secret Manual of Flowing Water Rock-Smashing Fist: Young man, do you crave power?] That goes without saying.

Richard nodded immediately.

"Well then, I'll tell you three prescriptions called Kangfulong, Qunbolong, and Xislong. Once you mix them together and take them, you'll instantly gain immense power. The side effect is that it will make your head point, but that's insignificant..."

what?

No, what are you talking about? Is this the kind of thing a secret manual should say?

You're a martial arts manual, not a bodybuilding pamphlet!

Richard's lips curled into a smirk, and he began shaking his head frantically again.

Sensing his refusal, the secret manual changed the subject: Haha, I was just kidding!

[Because I've encountered too many people who want to become strong without putting in the effort, which I find very annoying, I thought I'd test you.] Congratulations, you've passed my test!

Richard: "..."

I'm curious what you'll say to me if I fail the test.

Do you really know how to concoct steroids in the Middle Ages?

Richard pursed his lips, then chatted with the secret manual and quickly reached an agreement with it.

Specifically He must then practice Flowing Rock Shattering Fist for at least an hour every day, and the manual will bless him during this time, accelerating his learning speed.

If he persists for a month, the manual will recognize his perseverance and give him its own gift, permanently increasing his speed in practicing the Flowing Water Rock Shattering Fist.

"Tsk, it takes a whole month. That's the most procrastinating thing I've ever encountered. But practicing boxing isn't a complete waste of time, so it's still acceptable."

"Perfect timing. I need to lay low outside the city for a while so I can focus on this matter..."

With this in mind, Richard and Grace returned to the farm and immediately went into their bedroom to study the secret manual.

Seven days passed quickly.

During those seven days, Richard spent all his time practicing the Flowing Water Rock Breaking Fist, except for eating and sleeping.

Although it was still a long time before the month required by the manual was up, he still made considerable progress thanks to the speed-up blessing provided by the other party.

Not only did they successfully learn the basics and have the skill recognized by the system, but they also gained an extra 1 point of perception attribute.

At this moment, his panel looks like this: Name: Richard Targaryen Race: Human [Occupation: Bard lv4 (Experience 70/110)] [Attributes: Strength 13 (+1), Agility 14, Constitution 12, Intelligence 12, Perception 12, Charisma 15] [Standard Skills: Performance (Proficient), Persuasion, Elvish, Thief Slang, Water Stream Rock Smash] [Extraordinary Skills - Spells: Harsh Words (Tier 0), Charm (Tier 1), Maniacal Laughter (Tier 1), Repose (Tier 1), Inspirational Song (Tier 1), Requiem (Tier 2), Vajra Shield (Tier 2), Shattering Sonic Wave (Tier 2)] 【Extraordinary Skill - Combat Art: Wild Slash (Tier 1)】 [Talents: Enhanced Dark Vision, Beast Intuition, Luck] [Specialties: Eye of Insight, Battlefield Spellcasting] Title: The Fearless One Free attribute points: 2 (The +1 in the Strength attribute is provided by the belt.) Richard was very satisfied with this achievement, and he was increasingly looking forward to the reward the manual would give him after a month.

He then went to the farmyard and began practicing.

Just as he was about to knock the nearly two-meter-tall wooden dummy in front of him away, Grace's voice suddenly came from behind him.

"Richard, I'm home~" Richard stopped what he was doing and turned to greet him.

Unlike Richard, Grace did not stay quietly at the farm for those seven days.

At first, she practiced boxing with Richard with great interest and was amazed by Richard's astonishingly fast learning speed, secretly wanting to have a match with him.

But soon she realized that she was no match for him at all—after all, the latter was really cheating.

This surprised her even more, and she also began to feel that the whole thing was no longer fun.

Consequently, she no longer wanted to meditate and comprehend any artistic conception all day long, so she volunteered to take on the task of selling the stolen goods and took the gem mine to the southern city of Turmoil.

According to the previous agreement, she would exchange three-quarters of it for gold coins, and the remaining quarter would be processed into real gems as her "dragon's private stash".

Now, she has returned to the farm with all of the above-mentioned gains.

"I got a total of 9000 gold coins."

Grace handed the full dimensional bag to Richard, pouted, and said, "We could have had twice as much, but the dwarf across the street noticed the ore's origin was questionable and kept trying to drive down the price. You didn't want me to cause trouble, so this is the only way."

It's okay, it's already great.

Nearly ten thousand gold coins, even in the imperial capital and the Twin Islands where mages are concentrated... well, that's still a bit short. It should be said that anywhere other than the imperial capital and the Twin Islands, it would definitely be considered a huge sum of money!

Richard probed his consciousness into the dimensional bag and looked inside, then happily raised his eyebrows.

At this point, Grace asked again, "Now that we've exchanged all the money, shouldn't we head back to Phoenix? Staying here any longer is just too boring..."

Richard smiled and nodded.

Yes, it's time to go back.

If you think about it carefully, there are still several things to do.

Firstly, these gold coins need to be exchanged for silver coins and distributed to those who need them.

Secondly, he needed to find a way to deal with his other enemy—Reverend Bill Benjamin, otherwise, who knows what might happen if things went wrong in the long run.

Thirdly, they also need to help Cinderella and her daughter get medical treatment.

Although it was just a minor matter of bleeding for Grace, it was a matter of life and death for others, and could not be forgotten.

Oh, by the way, I need to raise the favorability of the Strongman Copper Head Belt. It needs to whip ten butts on its own, but it hasn't whipped a single one yet, cough cough...

After a moment's thought, Richard said to Grace:

"Let's not delay, let's set off tonight!"