Thousand-Faced Dragon

Chapter 147 Judgment of the Holy Knights
As Rean finished his battle, the fighting on the other side of the bridge was also nearing its end.

"It really was a massacre." The wails and screams of the dark elves still echoed in their ears, but they seemed to have nowhere to retreat.

"Well, as a paladin, shouldn't you at least try to hide your smile when facing a massacre?"

"Ha, the slaughter of evil by evil, I'm already being lenient by not applauding!"

Looking at the corpses over there, Rean was quite pleased.

The three daughters of that third family were already dead after Rean severed the net bridge. Who could expect the frenzied beast horde to have any reason? Now, the other side of the bridge is a cruel dining scene.

Meanwhile, on their side, Larry, having removed his armor, was moving swiftly.

She pulled some network cables from behind, trying to weave another log bridge that she could walk across.

Judging from how skilled she is, it shouldn't take long.

In a sense, this is the Spider-Man's instinct.

As the heir to the Weaving Baron (a monopolistic industry in Huicheng), she received some basic training in her childhood.

Rean noticed that she didn't seem to have the ability to spit out a web; she just used saliva to help soften the web before re-solidifying and weaving it.

The pale blue crystals exposed on each arm shimmered and glowed, attracting Rean's attention.

This should be a characteristic of her racial evolution, but this kind of information involves racial talents and weaknesses, and is basically the most core secret of beast-human superhumans.
"Uh, I'm from the Crystal Spider family, mainly pursuing crystallization abilities. My liquefaction web-producing ability has already evolved into crystallization. This path primarily compensates for the spider race's weakness of having fragile bodies. Senior Rean, didn't you notice how steady I am when I hold a sword? I should be able to have my own crystal armor and crystal shield soon."

The female knight was too honest. Rean only glanced at her a few times before she told him everything on her own initiative, even revealing her future evolutionary tendencies.

Rean nodded. He really didn't understand other people's racial evolution paths, but if Larry, who was already an agility-based attacker, were to be given another layer of crystal armor and shield, it would probably be quite suitable.

"Not only that, but you can also enchant your sword with Crystallization Virus and Sharpening enchantments, which are perfect for a speed-based melee fighter like me."

Uh, this evolutionary path sounds impressive, but are there any weaknesses?

"Weaknesses. None, I guess I'll just keep gaining weight. My web-weaving ability is basically gone. Although I can still climb walls with my crystal arm, it's not as easy as before. It's very cumbersome."

Perhaps only paladins can exchange secret information so frankly.

"Gah. Nonsense, that's not the weakness of the Crystal type."

Kuku was watching the condensation and weaving process with great interest, but seemed to have some differing opinions.

"Uh, are there any other weaknesses?" Larry seemed genuinely unsure and immediately asked.

"Very expensive! This advancement is extremely expensive! It requires consuming magic gems, crystals, and the cores of many high-level crystal creatures! There aren't many in the main plane, so it's very expensive!"

"I see, I've learned something new."

Larry looked enlightened, Kuku was smug, but Rean felt like punching someone.

"The expensive upgrades, apart from being expensive, really have no other problems."

However, Kuku is right. If one really wants to consume rare living crystals, gems, and crystals from the main plane, this advancement would probably be extremely expensive.

But since he's a child of the Baron of the Web, this doesn't really seem like a weakness.

"Senior Rean, is this the Path of the Pseudo-Dragon, or a branch of the Fire Dragon?" Some things are hard to hide.

Rean unleashed a variety of enhanced flames, including suddenly changing dragon eyes and unexpectedly transforming dragon claws, all of which were displayed before his teammates.

Now that she had revealed her secret, Larry still asked about a question that had been bothering her for a long time. Her voice was hesitant, and she seemed a little uneasy.

"Uh, it's okay if you don't want to say." Before Rean could answer, she shrank back.

Rean paused for a moment, then smiled and nodded.

"It's a red dragon."

“Oh, the Path of the Red Dragon? That must be very expensive, the materials from the Red Dragon series are the most expensive.” Larry immediately smiled happily.

Was it so that Rean could return to the path of power? Or was it more because of the other party's honesty?

"Is it expensive? Well, the materials for the Red Dragon are certainly very expensive."

Rean couldn't say for sure either. He only needed to "capture dragon souls" to reliably evolve into a dragonborn, and there were even experts who would help him farm dragon materials.

It seemed as if I was even more outrageous than the "young nobleman" in front of me.

Is this some kind of new era's free-to-play versus pay-to-win battle?

The minor incident passed quickly. Larry was very efficient. After weaving the net bridge, the work entered its final stage, and Rean's squad began a new round of clearing.

Only a few scattered small animals and horned beasts remained in the village.

Trapped on the high ground, they had no chance of escape, and most of the beasts had already gone mad. The team cleared them out one by one, and after completely cleaning up, they even helped the dark elves sort through their belongings. There was no meat or bones left; the beast horde really wasn't picky at all.

During the cleanup process, Rean also realized a reality: the "beasts" were also regarded as "enemies of man," and the rewards of the oath after killing them were quite substantial.

"It feels a bit awkward. Shouldn't the weak be seen as having a vow that allows them to grow stronger only by slaying powerful enemies?"

All magical items and loot are given to Kuku for cleaning and storage. Once they are appraised and there is less free time, they can be distributed according to needs.

Putting everything else aside, according to adventurers' rules, everyone should replenish the magic scrolls that Suliman used in the battle, at least some of them. But Rean estimated that even if he gave her all the spoils of war, it wouldn't be enough to cover her needs, so he would just give her a token amount.

The group was also quite exhausted. After a quick meal, they agreed to discuss anything else tomorrow and then went to rest and recuperate. Whether it was magic power, holy power, or physical strength, the depletion of these resources would bring mental and physical fatigue.

Of the group, only Purple Rose was still happily hopping around, seemingly doing something while holding the deer head.

Rean was truly exhausted. The excessively long and continuous battles had left him completely drained of magic, holy power, and physical strength for the first time.

But he wasn't in a hurry to go to sleep; there were some things he couldn't wait to do.

"Phew, finally I can advance to the next level."

In reality, you can't just ask the system to add points. Advancing might be a fleeting moment of progress, but fully mastering and absorbing the benefits of advancement takes time.

Rean has already crossed the threshold of a second-tier paladin, but he needs to do a lot of homework before he can truly advance.

Thanks to Sull's final gift, not only will he make rapid progress in the first three stages of the Paladin's path, but he will also be given a lot of professional "knowledge" so that he won't be completely lost without a mentor.

"It's time to make a choice, but it seems like there was no choice to begin with."

Most extraordinary professions will begin to branch out around the second or third tier.

For example, a mage might choose to study a range of "skills" at the second tier and then specialize in a particular spellcasting school (Enchanting, Transmutation, Evocation) at the third tier. This is a life-altering choice that must be made with great care.

Paladins are the same, but they are even more determined to never turn back once they've started.

"The light of protection, the light of judgment, and the light of holiness."

Rean somewhat understood why Sul's holy power was so aggressive; perhaps he had gone too far down a certain path.

This decision involves processing the holy power to create distinct functional branches.

The holy power of the Guardian Light is more concentrated and stable, providing a greater boost to the physical body, and can also enhance some auxiliary divine spells.

"Let holy power cover the body and armor, and merge with the blood and energy of the body to increase overall strength and enhance the durability of divine spells. A pretty good choice."

Having possessed the "Holy Power" spell, Rean certainly knew the importance of the panel; it was the beauty of data.

Higher stats allow for heavier armor and better shields, truly embodying the path of "protection" in a physical sense.

Holy Light isn't very useful; it's the only choice for support paladins and also for divine magic paladins. Its biggest benefit is healing spells.

"Importing 'positive energy of life from higher planes' into the body and integrating it into holy power greatly enhances the paladin's healing abilities and also strengthens the effects of some auxiliary divine spells."

This is a good choice, but Rean would never choose it.

Rean is somewhat interested in the Guardian Light; stacking up stats is definitely a safe bet.

However, for some reason, he chose the last path, which was clearly much more adaptable.

"The path of judgment involves infusing holy power with radiant energy, reprocessing the holy power to make it more aggressive and destructive. However, because the holy power is completely corrupted by radiant energy, the healing spells will be less effective."

Ordinary paladins who choose this path can greatly increase the damage of the Evil Slash, and its attack is extremely painful on "evil creatures".

Choosing the path of divergence does not mean that everything is over, but only the beginning of a path of progress.

Rean's first integration of the power of light into his holy power also signifies that he has become a knight of judgment, and like Sull, he will continue to refine and elevate his holy power of judgment.

However, this still does not mean that all the choices a second-tier paladin needs to make.

"Do we still need to decide on a fighting style? Hmm, it seems like we don't have a choice."

Paladins and warriors typically employ relatively fixed fighting styles. Paladins' most common fighting styles often involve shield and sword (hammer), two-handed greatsword (hammer), greatsword, holy fist, and dual one-handed weapons.

However, this is often directly related to the chosen path of holy power. The path of holiness usually involves a shield, the path of protection also prefers a shield and sword mode that combines offense and defense, while the path of judgment involves either two-handed weapons or two one-handed weapons, or even six weapons.

There are paladins who use ranged weapons, but they are very few. Most paladins cannot use their power if they choose this path.

"So, Suer's successor really is a true Judgment Knight."

There was no choice from the beginning; it's the same two-handed sword as Sull, which Rean is very used to (Sull can actually use other swords as well).

"How to be a good paladin? Start with the Path of Judgment, max out two-handed swordsmanship, put all skill points into Evil Slash, and just add a spell like Illumination to your divine spells."

(End of this chapter)