Wizards begin by accessing the Inspiration panel.

Chapter 158 A Letter

Richard picked up an unopened practice sword from the weapon rack beside him, then walked straight to the center of the arena, facing his brother Levi, and assumed the starting stance of Cornell swordsmanship.

Richard's face hardened, and he said seriously, "Richard, you'd better watch out."

Richard nodded and said, "Brother, don't worry, just go all out and attack, don't hold back."

Li Wei, the elder brother, wielded his two greatswords with lightning speed and overwhelming momentum, and suddenly delivered a powerful slash towards Richard.

This aura was vastly different from what Richard had seen a year ago, because his brother Levi had already been promoted to a full-fledged knight half a year ago, and his strength had greatly improved.

But compared to Richard, it remains the same.

"Clang!!!" A piercing sound of metal clashing rang out.

Richard raised his sword with one hand and blocked his brother Li Wei's two-handed greatsword. Sparks flew everywhere, showing that Li Wei's attack was extremely powerful.

But Richard was still able to block it steadily with one hand and easily deflect it.

With a swift flick of his sword, the tip of the practice sword was aimed directly at his brother Li Wei's throat.

The old baron and the knight Rollins, who had been looking forward to a fierce battle, couldn't help but look at each other in bewilderment.

this.

They knew that Richard had embarked on the path of a wizard, but shouldn't wizards be skilled in witchcraft? How could he be so proficient in swordsmanship as well? Moreover, judging from his strength, Richard's strength far exceeded that of Levi, a novice knight.

This was truly unbelievable to them.

The numerous guards around were also dumbfounded, and those who had been whispering immediately fell silent.

Li Wei, the older brother, was also stunned. He never expected to lose in just one move.

I've already become a full-fledged knight!

So he immediately said, "I wasn't careful enough just now, Richard, let's try again!"

This time, Li Wei was even more serious.

"Clang, clang, clang!"

However, after a rapid exchange of fire, the result was the same.

Richard simply deflected his brother's two greatswords with a single strike, then aimed the tip at his brother's throat.

Now, even a fool could see that young master Richard's swordsmanship far surpassed that of his brother, Li Wei, despite the guards' rudimentary swordsmanship.

Moreover, judging from this situation, it is estimated that the old baron is no match for young master Richard.

Because when Young Master Li Wei sparred with the old baron, although he was no match for him, the fight was still quite even, unlike his match with Young Master Richard, where he was defeated in a second!

"Good lad! I thought your swordsmanship would have fallen into disuse after you became a wizard apprentice."

"I was thinking that if you could maintain your previous level, that would be good enough, but I didn't expect you to become this amazing!"

After two quick exchanges, Li Wei immediately realized that even in the knight's most proficient area—swordsmanship—he was no match for his younger brother.

He thought his swordsmanship would gradually surpass that of his younger brother, who practiced witchcraft, but to his surprise, the gap only widened.

"Brother, you've made great progress, it's just that I've progressed even faster." Richard smiled slightly and patted his brother's shoulder.

As the two brothers exchanged pleasantries, Stephania slowly walked over and said with a smile, "Master, would you like to have a match with me?"

Stephanie's words immediately caught the attention of everyone around her. Could it be that...?

"You're so naughty!" Richard was speechless for a moment, but after thinking for a while, he nodded.

Stephena's strength is comparable to his own, and a match would be a good boost to his own abilities. Besides, he could also verify something else along the way.

However, to avoid being too shocking, Richard decided to practice with Stephanie alone in the Silverpine Forest.

"Okay, but we need to go somewhere else. Let's go to the Silverpine Forest," Richard said.

Stephanie's eyes lit up, and she immediately understood what was going on.

"Ah! Why aren't you here?" the older brother, Li Wei, asked in confusion.

"I'm afraid of damaging the training ground. We'll be using witchcraft during our matches, which will be relatively more powerful," Richard said casually, offering a reason.

Actually, Richard mainly didn't want Stephena's transformed form, specifically her blade-arm form, to be exposed.

After all, this scene is still too horrifying for ordinary people.

"Can I go and watch?" asked Li Wei, the older brother, curiously.

Richard glanced at his father, and after his father nodded, he nodded as well, saying, "Brother, come along too."

Amidst the disappointed gazes of the guards, Richard led Stephanie toward the Silverpine Forest.

To his surprise, in addition to his brother Levi, his father also arrived with Knight Rollins.

Richard naturally wouldn't object if his father wanted to see it.

"Master, I'm about to launch my attack!" Stephania said eagerly.

After a day of exploring this body, she was becoming more and more familiar with it.

Stephania felt as if her soul was slowly merging with this body, and that after a while, they would become indistinguishable.

Their own strength also grows stronger as the integration process progresses.

One way to accelerate this process is through combat. She felt that whenever she entered combat mode, her soul and body would merge more quickly.

To give an example, if the fusion speed is 1 during daily activities, then the fusion speed can reach 3, 4 or even higher during battle.

"Come on," Richard nodded slightly.

It was clear that dealing with Stephanie was not as easy as dealing with her brother earlier.

After all, the opponent's strength has reached the level of a top-tier level three wizard apprentice. If you take into account the spider woman's super strong dark element resistance, she is even more troublesome than a level three wizard apprentice.

Even without summoning Abominations, Richard would have to go all out to secure victory.

"Whoosh!"

In an instant, Stephania's fair arms transformed into dark, bladed arms, the blades gleaming with a chilling light, clearly incredibly sharp.

"Hiss!" Just from this transformation alone, the three people watching from the sidelines gasped in shock.

Li Wei, the older brother, was so shocked his eyes almost popped out!

Last night in his study, ever since he learned that Stephanie was the legitimate daughter of the Marquis of Knight, he had harbored some thoughts of pursuing her.

I just don't know what the relationship is between Stephanie and her brother, so I can only keep it to myself. I hoped that I could find out more over the next few days.

But seeing this scene before him now, all those romantic thoughts he had before vanished instantly!

Richard immediately cast Bone Armor and Dark Element Shield on himself, manipulated his Mimicry Bracers into Arm Shields, and drew his Frost Guardian, looking ready for battle.

"As expected, wizards are monsters, not normal people," the older brother, Li Wei, murmured upon seeing his younger brother, who was clad in white bone armor with sharp bone spurs protruding from many vital areas.

With a stomp of her right foot, Stephena caused the ground to tremble and create a deep dent. She then shot straight at Richard like an arrow.

"Jingle bells!"

A series of sounds of swords clashing rang out.

Richard and Stephanie were both incredibly fast, and their attack speed was even faster. To the three onlookers, while the figures were still discernible, the rapidly swinging arms and the shadows of the swords were completely obscured.

This immediately horrified the three bystanders!

This speed is probably only at the level of a Grand Knight.

The usually composed old baron understood this most deeply. With his extensive combat experience and the strength of a mid-level knight, he knew that the attack speed of the two men before him must have surpassed that of a high-level knight, and even that of a typical grand knight.

"Clang!" Richard exerted a little force and used his arm shield to deflect Stephena several meters away.

"Warm-up complete, I'm about to unleash my power! Stephania, get ready," Richard said calmly.

Stephania's expression was no longer smiling, but became unusually serious. At the same time, she immediately cast her innate sorcery, Shadow Swiftness, on herself.

Richard, on the other hand, used the Shadow Dance.

In an instant, their speed nearly doubled, and they moved swiftly through the dappled shadows of the silver pine forest like butterflies flitting among flowers. If they were to meet, a dazzling burst of sparks would surely erupt.

"Ding!"

"clang!"

"Snap!!"

Stephena was thrown several meters away, crashing into a pine tree the size of a bowl.

Only then did Li Wei realize how monstrous his younger brother was!

As a formal knight, he couldn't even see his younger brother's figure clearly.

"Stephena, try summoning your human-faced spider," Richard said, stopping his attack.

"Yes, Master!"

Stephania stood up, took out a crystal ball from her bosom, and began to chant a spell softly. A few seconds later, the crystal ball projected an inverted pentagram magic circle several meters in diameter.

After a dazzling green light, a human-faced spider as large as a bull appeared before everyone.

The three of them felt a sudden chill. Having just experienced a monster tide, they still retained an instinctive wariness towards monsters.

With the help of the Spider-Man, Stephanie fought Richard to a standstill for a short period of time.

More than ten seconds later.

"Shadow Grip!"

A dark elemental hand appeared out of nowhere and overturned the human-faced spider. Richard seized the opportunity and struck again with his sword, sending Stephanie flying to the ground.

Just as Stephanie was about to concede, Richard said, "Stephanie, try the combination technique!"

Stephania was taken aback for a moment, then overjoyed, and asked, "Master, the Human-Faced Demon Spider is currently in a zombie body, can we still merge?"

"Why don't you try it and you'll see?"

In fact, Richard was already confident. During the transformation of the Spider-Man, he ensured its physical activity to be 100%. Logically speaking, there should be no problem with him reuniting with Stephena.

The only problem is whether Stephana's soul can withstand it, as this can be considered a transformation of her innate sorcery.

When the enormous human-faced spider crawled up to Stephanie, she leaped onto its back and began chanting a spell.

To the astonishment of the three onlookers, Stephania, a girl more beautiful than any flower, had merged with an incredibly ugly monster, transforming into a creature with the upper body of a human and the lower body of a spider.

This immediately shattered the strong affection that Levi had for Stephanie, which lasted less than a day, like broken glass scattered on the ground.

"Master, it really works! It actually works!" Stephania exclaimed excitedly, occasionally waving her two pairs of sword arms.

One of the bladed arms evolved from a pair of chelicerae of the human-faced spider after the combination.

When the number of bladed arms increased by a pair, Stephanie's close-combat ability more than doubled.

The one now being beaten and running around on the ground has changed from Stephena to Richard.

The entire battle scene suddenly reversed!

Currently, without summoning Abominations, Richard can only rely on the abundant vegetation of the Silverpine Forest to constantly maneuver and fight, barely maintaining an undefeated situation.

But if we relax even slightly, we will surely lose!

However, just about a minute later, the situation changed dramatically again.

Suddenly, Stephania in her combined form staggered and stopped, seemingly forced out of her combined state, and began vomiting profusely.

The human-faced spider vanished instantly, having been sent back to the underworld.

Richard immediately deactivated his skeletal armor, put away his weapons, walked over to Stephanie, and handed her a bottle of basic mental energy recovery potion.

"Are you alright, Stephania? Drink it, it should make you feel much better," Richard comforted her.

"Master... what... what's going on?" Stephania said, vomiting.

"It's probably because your mental strength is insufficient. Staying in the combined state for a long time puts too much strain on your body and soul," Richard explained.

"Glug glug." After drinking the basic mental energy recovery potion, Stephania's overall condition improved significantly.

Richard reviewed the battle that had just taken place and said:

"Your combined strength has surpassed that of a third-level wizard apprentice. If a formal wizard were to fight you using only their physical body, they might not be your match."

"But obviously, a formal wizard won't fight you hand-to-hand, so your current combined strength is above an apprentice but below a wizard."

At this moment, the three bystanders also came over. The older brother, Levi, looked at Stephanie with a completely different gaze. There was no longer any affection in his eyes; instead, he seemed to avoid her like the plague.

The old baron patted Richard on the shoulder and said, "Your fight has truly opened our eyes!"

He then turned to Levi and Knight Rollins and said, "Now you know why wizards are the most powerful force in this world."

For several days in a row, Richard spent his time with his family, took walks with his maid Serena by the Green Pine Lake, and occasionally sparred with Stephena.

He enjoyed a rare moment of peace and quiet.

However, his peaceful life was disrupted by a letter!

A letter shrouded in witchcraft was delivered to Richard by the Baron's father.

"It must be Lord Duan. A bone bird just flew into my study with a letter in its beak," the old baron said.

Richard took a look and saw that the intricate patterns were Duan's unique mark. Duan knew that he was spending time with his family, and obviously, unless it was something particularly important, the other party would not disturb him.

So what is the content of this letter?

He didn't expect that his previous gifts would be rewarded so quickly.

(End of this chapter)