It felt so good to be close to the witch!

After spending more time together, Roy gained a deeper understanding of the girl.

Besides being intellectual, elegant, and gentle, Shanika doesn't express her emotions like a shy girl; she is frank, direct, and poised.

Having lived two lives, Roy is not emotionally naive. Moreover, anyone who isn't an idiot can sense the intensity and passion in Shanika's emotions.

But Roy was facing an imminent life-or-death crisis and had no time to think about matters of the heart.

He must spend every single moment on improving his strength and influence!

but now.

With the conclusion of the Star Lake Incident and the Balance of Power Incident, Blackstone Territory entered a relatively stable period of development, and Roy was finally able to catch his breath.

With his mind at ease, he had the extra energy to focus on Shanika.

When Roy helped Shanika completely remove the pollution in the past, he learned that Shanika's original sin characteristics were 60% lust and 40% gluttony. After the Star Lake incident, after obtaining the "Basic Meditation Method" manual passed down to the Witch Guild from Cecil, Roy understood that if a witch wanted to improve her strength, it was necessary to match the original sin characteristics of her own soul.

Of course, none of these are the main points. The main point is...

How many people could resist the allure of a stunningly beautiful ram-horned girl who harbors passionate and intense feelings for you?

Roy felt he couldn't handle it.

and so……

Roy stretched out his hands and, under Shanika's slightly widened gaze, wrapped them around her waist. With a swift movement, Roy's physique, comparable to that of a Golden Knight, allowed him to easily switch their positions.

Roy looked down at Shanika, gazing into her eyes, which were now completely filled with a deep purple, and exhaled hot breath.

Roy gently stroked the girl's cheek with his right hand, slowly moving it downwards. During this process, he paid close attention to the girl's expression, and he would stop his actions if the girl showed the slightest sign of reluctance.

But clearly, Roy's idea was completely unnecessary.

Throughout the entire process, until his hand stopped, Shanika simply stared at him intently.

“Shanika…”

The hot breath flowing from his mouth tinged the girl's snow-white skin with a rosy blush.

"You just said you wanted to eat me?"

"but……"

"Who will eat whom is still uncertain."

Shanica raised her fair hands and wrapped them around Roy's neck.

"Really?"

As soon as the sound faded, the candlelight on the desk not far away suddenly went out.

Just like the spring sunshine.

(slightly)

……

The moon is as cold as water.

After the Feast of Abundance, the crimson moon high in the sky loses its fullness and begins to wane little by little until it returns to its full shape on the 15th of the following month.

As the moonlight dimmed, the countless stars gradually revealed their starlight.

Roy sat cross-legged alone in the small courtyard.

As for Shanika, she was fast asleep in her room.

She's too tired and needs to rest.

Roy raised his head and looked up at the night sky. At this moment, he felt a peace he had never felt before.

Only then did he begin to truly feel the world.

Because he had found his first true, inseparable "family" in this world.

On the turbulent lake of the heart, the ripples gradually disappeared until finally, it became as smooth as a mirror.

Subconsciously, Roy began to use the "Flame Breathing Technique".

From the outside, he appeared to be surrounded by tiny red orbs of light. As time passed, the orbs multiplied and grew brighter, eventually transforming his body into a miniature sun.

The changes don't stop there.

Crimson flames ignited, like a blazing torch, dispelling the darkness of the night. Amidst the raging inferno, a faint, almost negligible, pale golden light silently appeared.

The moment the pale golden light appeared, the expanding torch began to shrink, eventually conforming to Roy's body.

I do not know how long it has been.

Roy slowly opened his eyes, and two crimson-gold flames flashed across his pupils.

He looked down at his hands, his expression a mixture of surprise and confusion.

He could sense that, with the change in his state of mind, the Flame Breathing Technique he was practicing underwent a peculiar and subtle change, but for the moment, he himself was not clear about the specific changes.

"Wow..."

A flame ignited in Roy's palm.

The outer edge of the flame is the common crimson of flames, but due to the addition of battle qi, the color is slightly darker than that of ordinary flames.

The biggest difference between it and ordinary flames or even battle aura flames lies in the color of its center point.

It was a pale golden light more dazzling than the morning glow or the evening glow, and the entire cluster of flames became completely different because of the appearance of this pale golden light!

Raising his other hand, Roy gently touched the flame and sensed that in addition to the intensity and explosiveness of the flame, this cluster of fire possessed other distinct properties.

How to describe it?

Dazzling and dazzling?

No, a more accurate description would be—light.

This is? !

Roy's eyes widened in astonishment. He quickly took out the manual recording the "Breath of Flames" from his spatial ring and opened it to the beginning of the "Extreme Bloom" section after "Explosive Flame".

"Flame brings heat, and it also brings light."

"Light is the second characteristic of flame, also known as—[Extreme Bloom]."

"call……"

Roy took a deep breath, his eyes revealing an emotion that was hard to describe as either surprise or astonishment.

Normally, practitioners of the "Breath of Flames" technique must cultivate the first part, the [Explosive Flame] trait, to at least the Gold Peak before they have even a slight chance of mastering [Extreme Bloom].

In fact, among all practitioners of the Flame Breathing Technique, and even going back several hundred years, only Fuma Soros was able to achieve a single point of [Extreme Bloom] at the peak of her Golden Age.

Even the Empire's first legend, the current master of the Flame Breathing Technique, the Border Duke Breton Soros, only achieved the [Extreme Bloom] after entering the legendary realm.

It is easy to imagine how difficult it is to comprehend and master [Extreme Bloom].

It should be noted that a knight who cultivates the [Explosive Flame] trait using the Breathing Technique is not weak among knights who also cultivate a special-grade breathing technique. Once they cultivate the second trait [Extreme Bloom], their combat power will increase dramatically, making them difficult to defeat among their peers. Even in battles between legendary-ranked knights who are a small level apart, they have a chance of victory.

Otherwise, how could the Border Duke be revered as the "First Legendary Knight of the Empire"?

If one cultivates the third trait [Newborn], then that would be extraordinary. Their combat power at the same level would be comparable to that of the Great Witch, and they might even be able to defeat the Great Witch single-handedly.

Of course, to date, no one has mastered the third trait of the Flame Breathing Technique, [Newborn]. Even the creator of the Flame Breathing Technique only proposed this theoretically possible state; he himself never succeeded in cultivating it.

Let’s not talk about these for now.

In the courtyard, Roy clenched his right hand, extinguishing the crimson flames in his palm.

The addition of the [Extreme Bloom] trait to his battle aura brought about a huge change, making Roy eager to find an opponent to test it out on the spot.

But it was already late, so there was no rush to conduct the experiment.

Roy closed his eyes and continued practicing the "Breath of Flames" technique. He wanted to experience it for himself first to see if the increased [Extreme Bloom] quality of his battle aura had changed its effect on his physical training.

……

"Sorry..."

Just as dawn broke, at the gate of the lord's mansion, Red, fully prepared, led a full twenty official knights on their journey to Red Ridge to purchase grain.

In addition to the official riders, there were also forty apprentice riders who would be responsible for driving the chariot.

Roy stood at the gate, seeing the grain purchasing team off.

This time, Blackrock Territory plans to purchase a large quantity of grain from Red Ridge. If possible, they will also purchase some food items in addition to staple grains, such as fruits and dried meat.

Roy took thirty percent of the wealth accumulated in Lord Denham's treasury and the Blackstone Treasury to buy food.

Don't underestimate 30%; this wealth represents over a decade of accumulation by Lord Denham and the old lords of Blackrock! 30% is already an enormous sum!

An ordinary lord might feel the pinch and be reluctant to spend the money, as the lives of his subjects are far less important than his wealth.

But Roy knew very well that this year was the first year of the merger of the two territories, and he had to minimize the number of people who froze to death, ideally achieving zero deaths. Only in this way would the people of Iron Mountain Territory truly recognize him as their lord and truly come under the control of the Turenbel family.

Only with a large enough population can more knights be born, thus increasing the number of knights under his command.

Roy has a plan.

He plans to build an elite knightly order composed entirely of extraordinary knights.

With his help, the difficulty for a formal knight to break through to the bronze knight level will be greatly reduced. The breakthrough itself is not the problem; the difficulty lies in the subsequent support.

Without a sufficient number of subjects, it would be impossible to support such an extraordinary knightly order!

For ordinary lords, and even higher-ranking nobles, they would control the outflow of advanced breathing techniques and strictly manage the number of Bronze Knights.

While it's true that even with advanced breathing techniques, the chances of a formal knight breaking through to the Bronze rank are slim, the main reason is for safety.

A viscount with the strength of a bronze three-star rank can still keep the situation under control if he has one or two bronze one-star knights under his command, but what if there are ten or twenty?

Anyone in that situation would probably be restless and unable to eat or sleep.

But Roy is different.

He believed that his strength would always be far superior to that of his knights, so he had no concerns about it.

The only problem he faced was how to increase the population of his territory.

There are two main directions for this: open source and cost reduction.

Leaving open source aside for now, with winter approaching, the most important thing is how to cut costs, that is, to preserve the existing population as much as possible.