Winter Lord: Starting with Daily Intelligence

Chapter 130 Dual Cultivation
The original inhabitants were moved to the new territory and settled in newly built semi-subterranean dwellings.

The space here is small, even a bit crowded, but it's warm and safe. Compared to that lifeless wasteland, it's like a completely different world.

There were even two meals a day: hot porridge and rye flatbread, which were enough to fill their stomachs and tasted pretty good.
This is the best life they can imagine.

On the first night, a thin old man handed over a bowl of hot soup. The new man carefully took it, his hands trembling slightly.

"Thank you, thank you..."

"Don't thank me." The old man grinned, revealing several missing teeth. "Actually, we haven't been here long either... All these people in the territory are only alive because of Lord Louis."

The man paused, then looked down at the hot soup in his palm: "He doesn't know us, yet he's willing to save us."

"Lord Louis never asks who you are," the old man said gently, "he only cares whether you can survive."

There was a moment of silence in the room, followed by soft sobs, and someone secretly wiped their eyes.

“This isn’t a camp,” he said softly, “it’s paradise.”

They never imagined that anyone would be willing to reach out to them in hell.

And that name, Louis Calvin, is deeply etched in everyone's heart.

…………

After resolving McKinney's mess, Louis's life returned to normal.

As winter officially arrived, even the lord's work became increasingly sparse.

Snow blocked the mountain roads and the river froze over, and even the infighting among nobles disappeared.

Even the daily intelligence system posts eight out of ten items about trivial matters like "whose horse kicked whose door" or "the warehouse rats have learned a new trick."

Although life in the frost and snow was indeed difficult, he had made ample preparations in advance, so there were no difficulties at all.

Bradley, as the old steward, managed all the day-to-day affairs of the territory very well, and most problems didn't even require his intervention.

So during this period, Louis basically focused on only two things:

The first thing he did was cultivate; now he was a dual cultivator of martial arts and magic!
Putting everything else aside, cultivating both martial arts and magic sounds impressive, but in reality, it's a life of doubly grueling hardship.

It's like working a full day and then coming home to work hard writing to serve the readers.

Louis himself was well aware that his original talent in fighting spirit was only below average.

If one cultivates at a normal pace, it would conservatively take at least three to four years to reach the level of an intermediate elite knight.

But now, in just two or three months, he has already stepped into the threshold of becoming a mid-level elite knight.

It was all thanks to the gallbladder of that giant ice vein serpent from before.

It's the kind of top-quality supplement that's like being reborn after drinking it.

Louis, however, drank a pot of snake gall soup every day without fail for half a month.

As for the taste... it was barely edible.

However, the effects of clearing blood impurities, strengthening the body, and improving the sense of fighting spirit are almost immediate.

At this rate of development, Louis will be a mid-level elite knight in less than two months.

The old cultivation method of "relying solely on willpower" is so unsettling that even recalling it sends chills down one's spine.

And now?

He only needs to drink soup every day and do some basic exercise, and his cultivation level will increase visibly.

Grateful for Brother Snake's great contribution!
As for magical cultivation, that's a bit different.

He was naturally practicing the "Primal Meditation Technique" that Archmage Loken had spat into his brain.

It's not too difficult to sit cross-legged and meditate to gather magical energy every day; in fact, it feels quite smooth.

The problem is that he doesn't know any mages, has no knowledge of magic, and doesn't even know his progress in cultivation.

There was no one to guide them, no textbooks to read, and they had no idea what spells a beginner in magic should know.

As for whether his talent was good or not, whether his magic power was gathered well or not, or whether this meditation method was really powerful or not, he had absolutely no concept of those. He was simply imitating the meditation technique practiced by the black-haired youth in his memory.

His magical training process was like pouring buckets of water into a dark well.

Is the well full? I don't know.

Is there anything at the bottom of the well? Nobody knows.

So he could only sit in the room and meditate intently, accumulating magical power while secretly praying in his heart:

"If only a wild mage could fall into the vicinity of my Red Tide Territory... old or young, as long as he's alive."

The second thing... can also be considered dual cultivation.

Louise and Sif were both young and full of energy. After their first taste of forbidden fruit, they had long since forgotten their former restraint.

Like dry tinder igniting a raging fire, once lit, it's impossible to stop.

Sif never refused, and even... occasionally took the initiative.

When she curled up in his arms at night, her blue eyes always seemed to carry a hint of deliberate provocation and clinginess.

A single glance is enough to unsettle one's mind.

So every night, when the night was deep, there was not a sound outside the wooden wall, only the crackling of the fire in the stove, and a few rhythmic breaths and soft noises.

They never said anything explicitly.

There were no promises, and no plans for the future.

She was aware of her identity, and Louis never asked her about it.

But like an unspoken understanding, neither of them took the initiative to avoid that step.

But one winter night, she said to him with her back to him, "If you have children... remember not to make them suffer too much."

Louis paused for a moment, then gently reached out and hugged her: "No, they will have a stable home."

…………

The cold winter is slowly receding.

It's late winter, but the footsteps of spring are already faintly in the distance.

When Louis woke up in bed, it was just dawn, and the light outside the window was still grayish-blue.

He turned his head and saw Sif lying quietly beside him, breathing steadily, her eyelashes fluttering slightly.

He reached out his finger and gently poked her cheek.

"Hmm..." Sif mumbled, her brows furrowing slightly, but she didn't wake up. She just turned her face slightly toward him, like a little animal seeking warmth in its sleep.

Her short, silvery-white hair hung down beside the pillow, making her cool face appear slightly flushed.

Eyelashes cast thin shadows on her pale face.

While her figure still retained the lean and agile physique of a warrior, her lines had subtly gained some curves.

Areas that were too thin became softer, and a healthy tension filled the space between the bone structure and the skin.

After a whole winter of companionship and comfort, her spirit and body gradually became warmer.

Louis blinked, a slight smile playing on his lips.

It's too beautiful.

He didn't wake her again, but carefully pulled his arm out, sat up, and waved.

A semi-transparent light screen appeared before his eyes, with several lines of text rapidly appearing on the panel.

[Daily intelligence update complete]

……

(End of this chapter)