Chapter 742
Chapter 742 - 728: Black Knight
1,448 words
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8 min read
The Soldier Path, among battle-professions, is considered a bit unconventional.
Its weapon specialization is added to a wide variety of weapons, but the regular increase isn’t even half of what a normal combat-profession weapon specialization has.
Its "War Memory" only adds some obscure passive and natural instincts of war. You can’t say it’s useless, but you also can’t say exactly what it’s useful for.
Many low-level soldiers, after taking this Profession, feel... nothing. It improves so many subtle aspects that even awakened abilities within the Profession are mostly supportive.
But mid-to-high-level soldiers are a different story. Their two categories, WarBoss (Battlefield Stir Stick) and Warlord (Warlord/Battlefield Conductor), are both great battlefield professions.
The former greatly improves battlefield survivability (directly effective at increasing combat power), while the latter, is the path Big Cat recommended for Lu Ping’an.
The Warlord (Lu Ping’an’s current War Chess Player) is capable of providing a series of battlefield support abilities and is a popular choice for Beast Tamers and Combat-series Gardeners.
It’s worth noting that Lu Ping’an’s development in this area is quite low... he didn’t have the time to practice those support abilities, and he only has the 2-tier War Chess Player framework.
Regarding the lack of feeling for low-level soldiers after joining a profession, Lu Ping’an is qualified to speak.
The Soldier profession is also quite difficult to cultivate. Full weapon specialization adds breadth, but the feedback of improvement is limited. The most fatal aspect is the War Memory-related professional skills, which require enhancement through battles.
If you choose the Warlord route, simply participating in battle is not enough. Lu Ping’an’s War Memory has been renamed to War is Like Chess... At this stage, only by acting as a "Conductor" or "Battlefield Leader" can one gain an improvement in professional skills.
Obviously, one of the paths corresponds to the All Weapon Specialization, while the other corresponds to "War is Like Chess," and the latter is much more difficult to improve than the former. As a result, very few Soldiers choose the Warlord Path.
In fact, the previous 2-tier War Chess Player Profession ceremony required commanding a supernatural war. Lu Ping’an only successfully joined the profession after commanding the Special Service Team’s volcanic alien domain battle.
After that, there was virtually no improvement in professional skills, and his professional abilities remained stagnant... To borrow experience, he would have to find another Warlord who was also fighting a war, which was not realistic.
"...Lu Ping’an, this is actually a chance for you."
But in this world, as Lu Ping’an intervenes in this war and successfully guides it in the direction he hopes for, his long-stagnant professional skills skyrocket.
Once his main professional skills meet the standard, Lu Ping’an can naturally consider advancing, especially for Warlord professions, which are genuinely tailor-made for war.
[Black Holy Grail Holder (Black Knight Path) Profession successfully joined.]
[Gained professional abilities: Black Holy Grail (Brass Upper Professional Ability), War Declaration (Brass Upper Universal Professional Ability)]
[War Declaration (Brass Upper): As a commander on the battlefield, your declarations, inspirations, and threats will be more persuasive (easier for people to believe).]
This professional ability, considered a universal skill for Warlord professions, is simple and crude, but extremely effective and useful.
War is not an SLG game, where you can just draw a box and expect soldiers to die and fight for you. Instead, by transmitting supernatural languages, making your orders more authoritative, making your reasons more persuasive, and making your assumptions more acceptable to the warriors, it’s already a remarkable ability.
[PS. This professional ability can be enhanced by ’War Memory’ related skills and may increase the obedience probability of ’spiritual animals.’]
This PS is quite meaningful since languages with supernatural abilities can even affect Demonized Animals.
Just this feature alone makes the Warlord profession very useful for Beast Tamers.
The downside is that it doesn’t work on Magic Plants... Of course, it could be that the skill tier isn’t high enough, as the compatibility between War Gardener and this profession is also very high.
[Black Holy Grail (Brass Upper Professional Ability): Hatred and blood shed on the battlefield because of you will flow into this black cup...]
Lu Ping’an stretched out his hand, and a dark gold cup with a black rim appeared in his hand.
"Blood-red (Blood Grudge) crystal? Is it a Black Knight?!"
"Black Knight System... I never thought I could be happy seeing this thing..."
In the Command Center, there were still people who knew what this represented, but those who knew of this Path had subtle looks in their eyes.
With Lu Ping’an staying in this area, advancing to become a third-tier Soldier might be difficult... but with Big Cat’s Path, there’s no pressure.
In Big Cat’s original report about her information, it was listed as "Beast Tamer, Healer, Black Knight, and other professions" ... Since this profession could be in line with Healer and Beast Tamer, it is naturally one of her main paths. Its strength can be expected, and its potential is unlimited.
"... An obscure evil path that becomes stronger as more people die on the battlefield ..." someone said, revealing the reason why this profession was despised; a profession that only brought bloodshed and death.
What’s more, not many people knew that the Black Holy Grail Holder was the Black Knight among the Black Knights. The definition of "dying for you" didn’t only apply to opponents.
Killing teammates with overflowing resentment would make the holder more powerful... Many Black Holy Grail holders would first sacrifice a group of teammates when they entered the battlefield.
However, many high-level officers in the meeting room had real combat experience and knew many Black Knight System commanders who only pursued efficiency and victory without caring about casualties...
"... Beasts are originally consumables, and they fit very well with this profession." Big Cat briefly explained, but then thought about how she might have trained this thing to the ninth-order, only heaven knew how many unlucky souls she had killed.
Lu Ping’an swirled the wine glass with a thin layer inside. It seemed that there wasn’t enough blood flowing for her to unleash the powerful abnormal ability of this profession.
"... Spirit Vision."
Lu Ping’an opened his eyes, and he saw the composition of the Black Holy Grail, which was a kind of eerie...
"... Black life crystal? Oh, this thing is actually collecting the power of life on the battlefield, um, spirit body fragments as well..."
Lu Ping’an nodded, it seemed, "Life" and "Death" were indeed inseparable sides of the same coin.
Corpse Controlling Practitioners and Healers were divergences of the same path, and the so-called Power of Death might be another form of the static Power of Life.
"... Can life-points be charged?"
Lu Ping’an’s wild imagination did not receive any response.
But he didn’t feel annoyed, and touching his chin, thought that maybe it wasn’t that he couldn’t use higher-level Power of Life to "recharge," but that he lacked the appropriate rules.
He wasn’t in a hurry, placing the materialized cup on the table and letting it fill up with blood by itself.
At this time, the frontline information was almost received.
"Report, our ’Aerial Raid Plan’ was a great success, and their artillery positions have been wiped out! Do we continue to pursue!"
This news made everyone in the command center overjoyed.
"Pursue, seize this opportunity to pursue them..."
"Great, we can hold on safely now."
Suddenly, the originally harmonious meeting room was divided again.
However, some sharp-eyed people noticed that Lu Ping’an picked up...the communicator!
"... No, he’s not going to issue an all-out attack command, is he?"
Black Knight Commanders were notorious for not caring about human lives, and some wondered whether they should stop Lu Ping’an or not.
Unexpectedly, Lu Ping’an immediately used his "War Declaration" ability when he opened his mouth.
"... Everyone, we have eliminated their biggest threats of the Sky Knights and artillery positions, now both sides are back on equal ground. We have the confidence in a war of attrition, so please continue fighting your hardest to survive."
Immediately, cheers erupted across the entire battlefield, and the joyous news of victory spread to every corner of the trenches.
Turning around, Lu Ping’an said to the communication officer.
"Tell them to return, this is destined to be a protracted battle, and there’s no need for meaningless deaths there."
Lu Ping’an’s calmness made everyone breathe a sigh of relief.
— End of Chapter 742 —