The story of the black silk female knight

The contestants' strength is limited to below the Radiant rank, and there are various other restrictions. They can even ban each other's skills during the finals, which looks quite interesting.

To be honest, Valensa was quite tempted. If it weren't for the fact that she had a lot of things to do at the underground ruins and probably wouldn't have the time, she might have agreed.

However, she didn't directly refuse, saying that she was indeed interested and might participate if time allowed.

"No problem, that's easy to do."

Yashilo laughed at this:

"Anyway, our chamber of commerce is just having fun and trying something new. During this period, I will recruit some other duelists for contract training. If you want to join, you can contact me anytime. You can also bring your friends. There's still time before the qualifiers officially begin next spring."

"Okay, then it's settled."

. . . . .

By the time Valensa left the Nora Chamber of Commerce headquarters and returned to the War College, it was completely dark.

She first went to the girls' dormitory in the command department to try to find Tia, but Tia hadn't returned yet. She was probably still at the underground ruins, forging new equipment under the guidance of Friggia.

Valensa herself didn't have the ability to teleport long distances to a fixed point, so she couldn't go to the underground ruins. She returned to her dormitory building first and searched around the pool next to the building.

She planned to find the old fisherman, whose real identity was one of the three giants of the Food Association, to discuss selling information.

But the old fisherman wasn't fishing here today. Instead, Melody, Giru, and Harry started studying under the moonlight again, which gave Valensa a headache.

Valensa didn't bother the three people and left the school again. Based on her memory of following the bald man to find the old fisherman a few mornings ago, she searched for several ponds near the college that were suitable for fishing.

When Valensa found the sixth pond, she spotted her target... not only the old fisherman, but also the bald-headed principal.

The old man fishing was still sitting leisurely by the water, holding a fishing rod, with a small bag of bait and an empty fish basket beside him, just like before.

The bald man was lying on a large rock a little distance from the pond, basking in the moonlight and taking a nap. There were more than 20 empty wine bottles around him, and you could smell the alcohol on him from more than ten meters away.

Valensa didn't slow down her pace or hide her movements while searching for someone. Her arrival quickly alerted the old fisherman, and the bald man sat up, rubbing his eyes and yawning.

"Sir, Principal."

Valensa politely bowed to the two men in turn, and then presented them with two sweet and spicy ducks and a bottle of wine that she had packed from Yashilo.

The two men were quite familiar with Valensa, so they didn't put on airs of being elders or powerful figures.

The old man holding the fishing rod in one hand tore off a duck leg and started gnawing on it. The bald man also bit off the cork of a wine bottle and chug it straight from the bottle.

A diligent, capable, well-behaved, and sensible junior will be liked by elders no matter where they are, not to mention the super bonus of being a beautiful girl.

Valensa quickly struck up a conversation with the old fisherman and the bald man, and while they were in high spirits, she revealed her purpose for visiting.

"You've discovered a new dungeon!?"

Just as Valensa had predicted, even powerful figures like the bald man and the old fisherman were very interested in the new dungeon.

In simple terms, a dungeon is a kingdom entirely ruled by high-level monsters with intelligence no less than that of humans.

Since most monsters dislike sunlight, dungeons are usually built underground or by hollowing out a mountain range, which is where the name "dungeon" comes from.

In the former territory of the King of Fran, there were countless monster dungeons of all sizes, even more than the towns built by humans.

It wasn't until humanity, with the help of the Sun Goddess, rapidly developed and established nations that those dungeons were successively conquered by humans... The wealth collected by the monsters all became human wealth, and even the monsters themselves became wealth known as materials.

Back when dungeons were plentiful, each one was a symbol of wealth and prestige. For example, the ancestors of the Baldr family conquered a dungeon of the highest difficulty level, which is how they became one of the great noble families of Fran.

Lika was once the lord of that underground city, a Moon-level succubus dark mage. She was offered as a trophy to the Sun Goddess by the ancestor Baldr, which led to the current succubus paladin Lika.

The dungeon that Rika once owned was the predecessor of the Battle Formation Academy Trial Maze, and it still has great value to this day.

Because of the high profits from conquering and developing dungeons, human civilization was in the dungeon era for about two or three hundred years, clearing out all the monster dungeons discovered on the entire continent of Frenoia.

However, real-world dungeons are not like game instances that reset and refresh; they lose their value after being conquered and cleared once.

Therefore, during the Dungeon Era, the monster dungeons on the continent of Frenoia, much like the extremely colorful giant chickens that were eaten to extinction by humans, were almost completely wiped out by humans.

The last small dungeon discovered in the Witch Forest was about 80 years ago, and no monster dungeons have come into human view since.

The monster dungeon that Valensa discovered naturally came from the memories of the battle-hardened dungeon monster whose soul crystal she had consumed.

Even that battle-hardened crypt monster was originally a member of the monster dungeon. However, during an external battle, it abandoned its superior and ran away. Fearing punishment upon its return, it simply went to the Mawsmora Basin and hung out with the crypt monsters there.

The newly discovered monster dungeon certainly represents a huge fortune, but conquering it is not so simple... At the very least, the female knight alone is definitely not enough; if she did, she might very well become the monsters' treasure.

Chapter 150 Selling the Intelligence

Monster dungeons are a symbol of wealth, but they are also fraught with danger.

Among monsters, those with domains and the rank of Radiant Monster are also known as Monster Lords. Each monster dungeon has multiple Monster Lords and one strongest dungeon lord.

According to records from the Church of the Sun, the Adventurers' Guild, and some large families, the lords of monster dungeons are at least at the peak of the Star Glory level, with the majority being at the Moon Glory level or higher.

A monster dungeon with such combat power is definitely not something Valensa can develop and explore on her own right now.

Moreover, this monster dungeon is located nearly three thousand meters underground, making it a true underground city. When exploring it, in addition to encountering powerful monsters, there are also various dangers inherent in the deep underground environment itself.

Concealing this information and exploring it later when you're stronger is an option, but who knows when that will take? Besides, Valensa isn't the only one capable of discovering this underground city through various clues.

Therefore, it's better to sell this intelligence to a major power while it's still valuable, and then follow along when that power develops its dungeons to see if you can gain even more benefits.

In this situation, Valencia's only options for intelligence buyers are powerful entities with whom she has close ties.

The Church of the Sun is an option, but historically, they haven't been particularly interested in conquering dungeons... The blessings from the goddess have made the Church of the Sun too wealthy, and they rarely engage in activities solely for the sake of wealth.

Furthermore, Valencia is destined to become a Knight of the Temple, a position that is already a high-ranking position in the Church of the Sun. Even if she doesn't sell this information to the Church of the Sun, she can still mobilize a lot of resources from the Church of the Sun, so there is no need for her to do so.

The Britannia family is also an option, but while they excel in warfare, they are less adept at exploring deep underground cities due to the high risks involved. Furthermore, the Britannia family currently lacks any experts at the Moon-level or higher, thus lacking top-tier combat power.

Adventurer's Guilds are actually the most professional at this, and more than half of the monster dungeon walkthroughs in history were organized by Adventurer's Guilds.

However, Valensa's relationship with the Adventurers' Guild wasn't particularly close, so her intelligence might not fetch a good price, and she would have little chance to make a profit once the strategy began.

In the end, Valensa chose the Food Society.

This is a large organization that is in no way inferior to the Adventurers' Guild in terms of scale. And while most of the members of the Gourmet Association are indeed chefs, they are not only chefs, but also many experienced and powerful food hunters.

Even the bald guy enjoys diamond-level membership in the Food Association, often helping the association procure some difficult ingredients.

The Gourmet Guild is definitely capable of conquering and developing monster dungeons. Furthermore, Valensa has a good relationship with the Fishing Grandpa, one of the three giants of the Gourmet Guild, and is confident she can sell information for a good price and obtain some preferential treatment during the official raid.

Selling information about the dungeon to the Gourmet Association was Valensa's best option after careful consideration.

Faced with the bald man and the old fisherman's enthusiastic gazes, Valensa didn't hold back and recounted her experiences in the Mawsmora Basin a couple of days ago in detail. She also mentioned that the source of the information was the memory of a tempered monster, so it shouldn't be wrong.

“…A battle-hardened monster, that’s really rare.”

Upon hearing Valensa mention the battle-hardened cryptids, the bald man rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger, a hint of reminiscence in his expression.

"The last time I encountered a tempered monster was almost a hundred years ago... I remember it was in the Witch's Forest, a Moon-level tempered Azure-Wispy Bear, it was really powerful, it fought me for almost a month, throwing and shoving me around..."

"So you finally defeated it?"

Valensa asked curiously, then put on an expression of girlish admiration:

"As expected of the headmaster, he's amazing."

"No, that's a Moon-level battle-hardened monster, extremely powerful. Even I'm not confident I can defeat it... Even if I could defeat it, I might not be able to kill it, because it can run away."

The bald man shrugged.

"In fact, at my level of strength, unless there is a deep-seated hatred or overwhelming combat power, it is difficult to determine life or death... In most cases, as long as one side uses all its strength to escape, the other side has no good way to deal with it."

"That's it..."

Valensa nodded slightly, looking like she had learned something, and then asked curiously:

"What about the Moon-class tempered Azure Wisps? Did it leave after fighting you?"

"...No, it's still dead. The bear paw meat tastes pretty good, and the wine made with its internal organs is also very delicious."

The bald man's expression suddenly turned somewhat speechless:

"We were having a great fight when two Moon Witches suddenly attacked, using some incredibly powerful and unreasonable magic to snipe the bear and kill it instantly... I was a little disappointed that I didn't get to fight to my heart's content, but I could only discuss the distribution of the spoils with the two ladies."

The two ladies were very generous when distributing the spoils; they only took some spell materials that they needed more, and gave the rest to me.

According to them, they were a couple who lived nearby. They originally didn't want to disturb me and the bear, but we'd been fighting every day for a month and it was getting too noisy... So they finally found an opportunity to launch a surprise attack and take the bear away in one fell swoop.

After the bald man finished telling his story about the bear, Valencia continued talking about the dungeon, saying that she wanted to sell information about the dungeon to the Gourmet Association and ask for an entry right for the official strategy.

The old man who was fishing hesitated for less than half a minute before readily agreeing.

He immediately used his authority to give Valensa enough food points to exchange for two ingredients in a special pheromone solvent recipe, and promised that when she officially conquered the dungeon, Valensa could bring a team of no more than 10 people to participate, and she only needed to hand over 15% of the loot, keeping the rest for herself.

These were incredibly generous terms, even better than Valensa had anticipated, the kind that didn't require any haggling... She obediently and sensibly agreed, and based on the information she obtained from the memories of the battle-hardened dungeon monster, she revealed the exact location and depth of the dungeon, as well as the possible types of monsters that might exist there.

The old fisherman and the bald man discussed it briefly and decided that there was no time like the present, so they would go and conduct a preliminary reconnaissance that night, and asked Valensa if she wanted to come along.

After confirming that it was just a preliminary exploration of the ground directly above the underground city and there would be no danger, Valensa agreed without hesitation.

Chapter 151 The Fisherman Can Catch Anything But Fish

For most Beacon-level warrior-type cultivators, supersonic speed with their physical body is the limit.

Even for a female knight like Valensa, who possesses exceptional agility, her maximum speed is only about 1.2 times the speed of sound in her normal state without entering Evil God Mode, using mental power to enhance herself, or activating the [Ritual Armor: Dark Lightning Armor].

However, for warrior-type cultivators at the Radiant Rank, supersonic speed is merely the lower limit.

Even the strongest warriors or shield-wall warriors, who have the lowest agility among all attributes, can experience a leap in agility after breaking through to the Shining Rank; supersonic speed is just the minimum requirement.

This is why the Radiant Rank is insurmountable for the vast majority of cultivators below it, because the Radiant Rank can be considered an evolution of life level, a comprehensive and significant improvement.

Valensa followed behind the bald man and the old fisherman. Neither of them used teleportation or flying; they simply ran and jumped at supersonic speeds, traversing the Kingdom of Fran diagonally. In about half an hour, they covered more than 1100 kilometers and arrived directly above the underground city.

This place is quite close to the Maussmora Basin, less than 200 kilometers away as the crow flies. It is also a wilderness with no human habitation within a diameter of 60 kilometers. The terrain is a mix of jungle and plains, somewhat like a stitched-together combination of the African savanna and the Amazon rainforest in Valensa's previous life. In fact, more than 70% of the wilderness in the entire Kingdom of Fran is similar to this.

Valensa knew she was just there to join in the fun and broaden her horizons, so she obediently refrained from offering any advice and waited patiently for the two big shots to put on their show.

The two big shots did not disappoint her.

The old man who was fishing was the first to make a move.

After confirming with Valensa that the underground city was directly below them, the old fisherman took out his fishing rod and casually cast the line forward.

The ground, which was clearly made of mud, rocks and weeds, turned into a water surface, creating ripples the moment the fishhook hit the ground and swallowing it up.

Then the hook continued to descend, and the reel on the old man's fishing rod kept spinning, making the hook go further and further into the ground, and the fishing line get longer and longer.

With her powerful dynamic vision, Valensa could clearly see the nearly 40 revolutions per second spinning of the fishing rod reel of the old man.

Based on the approximately 60mm diameter of the fishing rod reel, a simple mathematical formula can easily estimate the length of the fishing line released by the old man.

When the fishing line had been cast to about 2500 meters, Valensa nervously swallowed and brought her legs together a few times.

When the fishing line reached 2800 meters, Valensa had already drawn her pseudo-noble treasure, Moon Kiss, and was prepared for monsters to appear at any moment.

When the fishing line exceeded 3000 meters in length, Valensa's eye emitted a dark light, which was the concentrated power of the evil god. She could enter the evil god mode at any time.

However, after the fishing line had exceeded 3000 meters and several breaths had passed, nothing had happened. Valensa felt like she was holding her breath in a ball of cotton, her face flushed, and she felt uncomfortable.

"Don't be nervous, young lady... The most important thing when fishing is to have a good mindset. Even if the fish never bite, you should still keep smiling."

The old fisherman seemed to only then notice Valensa's nervousness, and gently patted her shoulder with his free hand:

"Don't worry, I've already sensed the existence of the dungeon through the fishing hook. Your information is correct... Now we just have to wait for a lucky monster to take the bait."

"I see... Thank you, sir."

Valensa breathed a sigh of relief; she had indeed been quite worried.

Although the existence of the dungeon was very clear in the memories of that tempered dungeon monster, it had been a long time since that monster left, so it was hard to say whether the dungeon had moved.

Many dungeon lords like to completely integrate their dungeons with their own domains, allowing them to move around with their homes at any time, like a snail.

However, this method of fleeing also incurs significant losses for the dungeon lords, and they generally won't move unless absolutely necessary.

But better safe than sorry. Now that she was certain that the underground city deep beneath her feet hadn't moved and that the intelligence fee she had already received wouldn't be refunded, Valensa finally calmed down.

After the tension subsided, she couldn't help but become curious again:

"Sir, your fishing rod must be a treasure, right? I don't think I saw you put on any bait... Can a treasure fishing rod catch fish without bait?"

"No, he can't catch anything... I've known him for almost 200 years, and I've never seen this fisherman catch a fish."

The bald man chuckled and chimed in:

"But this fisherman who almost never catches a fish can catch anything except fish... I've never seen anyone better at hunting than him."

He hasn't lifted the fishing rod yet, probably because he's looking for a suitable target... After all, the dungeon lords are no weaklings, and if we make any big moves, we might easily alert them.