Chapter 212: Chapter 133: The 5 Tiers of the Knight Profession
’My parents passed away, so I had to fight for everything myself. Even after I made it, I never forgot where I came from, bringing my sleepwalking, mentally ill uncle to live with me and taking care of him personally.’
’Mr. Li Wei,’ the guard thought to himself, ’is such a good person!’
When Don Quixote got back in the shuttle and the three of them set off again, Li Wei noticed the guard’s attitude toward him seemed to have changed, now tinged with a strange sort of respect.
After the shuttle had made a full loop around the community, Li Wei tried to give the guard another 20 USD, but he was refused.
"You’re a truly good and respectable man," the guard said. "I can’t take your money this time."
"You should still take it," Li Wei said. "Next time my uncle starts sleepwalking, you can prepare some props."
When the two of them passed through the lobby and returned home, Don Quixote looked around and let out a sigh of relief.
"I can feel that we are weakening the Witch’s power," he said. "Her projection in this world is dissipating. It should be gone within a few days."
[Mission Complete: Assist Knight Don Quixote in Constructing the War Array]
[You, along with Knight Don Quixote and the Captain of the Royal Guard, have thwarted the Witch’s plot. She can no longer stir up trouble or wreak havoc.]
(For the ex-wife’s side story, see the monthly ticket bonus Chapter.)
[Mission Reward: +0.1 Free Attribute Points]
"What’s next?" Li Wei asked. "Is our mission finished?"
"Of course not!" Don Quixote stated emphatically.
Li Wei let out a small sigh of relief.
’The frequency of quests from Don Quixote has been dropping recently. The entire main questline has been about the Witch. Now that the Witch problem is solved, I was worried his questline might just end, with no new quests ever appearing.’
"Your power is nearing a bottleneck, isn’t it?" Don Quixote asked. "You should be able to break through very soon."
Li Wei froze. ’I’m only 0.4 attribute points away from breaking through to Knight: Silver Body (Extraordinary) and completing my second life evolution. That does sound a lot like the breakthrough Don Quixote is talking about.’
"Yes," he said, a little eagerly. "Unc—Knight Don Quixote, do you have any advice?"
"I don’t," said Don Quixote.
Before Li Wei could say anything, he quickly added, "But I know where you can find it."
"Where?"
"The Royal Knight Academy," Don Quixote said, shaking his head with his eyes closed. "It’s a sacred place for all Knights. Only the most elite, those who have performed illustrious deeds for the King, are allowed entry."
"After your breakthrough, you’ll be promoted to Silver Knight." He pointed at Li Wei’s body. "If you don’t pursue further studies at the Royal Knight Academy, Silver Knight is as far as any Knight can go."
"How many Knight ranks are there?" Li Wei’s interest was piqued. "What’s the final rank like?"
This was important. It was about the upper limit of his potential.
"I only know that Silver Knights can advance to Golden Knights, and Golden Knights can become Heroic Knights," Don Quixote said, shaking his head. "As for the final rank, I’ve heard there’s a tier above Heroic Knight, but you’ll probably have to go to the Royal Knight Academy to find that answer."
"And..." Li Wei was more focused on the practical aspects. "What about their actual power levels?"
"I don’t know about Heroic Knights," Don Quixote said, "but I know that Golden Knights can briefly levitate. They also awaken various auras and buffs. They’ve fully entered the Extraordinary stage, setting them apart from ordinary humans. It’s said a Golden Knight can punch through a wall."
"That powerful?" Li Wei perked up at the mention of flying. "What about Heroic Knights?"
’If what Don Quixote says is true, then Golden Knights are incredibly strong.’
’The ability to fly briefly, buff auras, the power to punch through a wall...’
Li Wei glanced at the solid, reinforced concrete wall in his living room, which was over a meter thick.
’He couldn’t possibly mean *this* wall, could he...?’
"How would I know?" Don Quixote frowned. "I’ve never seen a Heroic Knight in action. But I’ve heard Knights returning from the Royal Knight Academy say that a Heroic Knight’s power is seemingly endless. They can snatch a Leviathan from the depths of the sea and capture a Demon Dragon from the sky. Their destructive power is beyond anything a Knight from a remote Kingdom like ours could imagine."
"Listening to you," Li Wei asked curiously, "it sounds like the Royal Knight Academy isn’t in the Royal City?"
"Of course not," Don Quixote scoffed. "The Royal Knight Academy doesn’t belong to any one nation."
He paused before continuing, "However, every nation is entitled to recommend Knights who have performed meritorious deeds. Each nation gets three nominations. The two of us eliminating the Witch’s threat this year should be more than enough."
"For now, just focus on preparing for your breakthrough." He clapped Li Wei on the shoulder. "I have high hopes for you. You’re young. You have a real chance of reaching Golden Knight."
"Why not Heroic Knight?" Li Wei retorted instinctively.
"Ha," Don Quixote said, already starting to wobble as he removed his armor. "Becoming a Heroic Knight isn’t so easy. If you really do... break through to Heroic Knight one day... then even I would have to address you respectfully as ’Lord Heroic Knight’."
With that, he hugged his armor and staggered back into his room. Less than a minute later, loud snores erupted.
Li Wei shook his head, followed Don Quixote into his room to tidy up a bit, and then returned to his own.
Looking at the walls around him, Li Wei drew the curtains and quietly activated [Wall Walking]. His entire body went parallel to the floor as he stepped onto the wall.
Feeling the solid surface beneath his feet, Li Wei walked all around the room, a full 360 degrees, just like a real Spider-Man.
Before his Strength reached 3.0, he would feel a slight burn in his core muscles when walking on the walls. Now, he felt nothing at all.
"But..." he murmured to himself. "Flying?"
’Can people really fly?’
Even though he had unconditional faith in the system, which had already granted him such Extraordinary abilities, the idea of flying still sounded too much like fantasy.
After all, even the Wizards in Harry Potter had to rely on flying broomsticks.
It was only in the later movies that exceptionally powerful Wizards with immense Mana could fly without any aids.
’Bronze, Silver, Gold, Heroic... and then what?’
"Holy shit..." Li Wei muttered to himself while standing upside down on the ceiling. "If I really can add points indefinitely, does that mean I’ll be totally OP... Wait, I still have 0.1 attribute points I forgot to assign."
He deactivated [Wall Walking] and let himself fall onto his large bed.
[Spirit 2.5] -> [Spirit 2.6]
His mind felt as if it had been caressed by a pair of small, cool, and gentle hands. The sensation quickly faded.
’Just 0.4 more attribute points to go,’ Li Wei thought, closing his eyes. ’I should be able to get them soon.’
Two days later, Li Wei got a text from Anya. Just as they were about to head to Queens to try a new, trendy restaurant, his phone rang.
"Mr. Li, it’s me, Lin Daohang."
Li Wei raised an eyebrow and switched the phone to his left hand. "Chairman Lin, what can I do for you?"
"It’s all thanks to you," Lin Daohang’s voice was full of energy, a stark contrast to his subservient demeanor the last time they met. "I heard through the grapevine that Mayor Holmes has relented. For now, they’re no longer planning to build a shelter on that plot of land in Chinatown."
It took Li Wei a moment to figure out what had happened.
’Back at the press conference, the mission had automatically completed before I even said a word.’
’I figured it out later. Mayor Holmes must have seen my connection to Lin Daohang and deliberately made a concession.’
Three weeks had passed since then, so it made sense that Lin Daohang had gotten the news.
"That’s good to hear," Li Wei said shamelessly. "It was nothing."
"It may have been nothing to you, but to the thousands of us in Chinatown, it was a life-saving favor," Lin Daohang said. "Mr. Li, are you free this evening? I’d like you to come by. There’s something I want to give you in person."
"There’s no need for dinner," Li Wei said, glancing at the time. "I’ll be there in about forty minutes."
The last time he’d been to Chinatown was two months ago. The festive atmosphere from the New Year had completely vanished, but there were noticeably more Chinese faces around.
The car had barely come to a stop when, before Li Wei could even turn off the engine, a figure hurried over and respectfully opened his door.
Li Wei took a closer look and chuckled.
’Isn’t that the young guy from the barbecue shop?’
"Mr. Li," the young man with the buzz cut said deferentially, "Master is waiting for you upstairs."
Li Wei nodded. Without asking for the young man’s name, he headed straight upstairs.
Lin Daohang was already waiting at the door to greet him. When he saw Li Wei, he clasped his fists in a standard martial arts salute.
"Mr. Li, please, have a seat."
The two sat down, forgoing the usual pleasantries. Lin Daohang pulled a thick manila envelope from a drawer beneath the tea table and slid it across to Li Wei with both hands.
"What’s this?" Li Wei didn’t rush to open it, simply tapping his fingers lightly on the tabletop.
"It’s a fifty-one percent silent partnership in a restaurant on Baiye Street, next to Chinatown," Lin Daohang said in a low voice. "I’ve already had all the paperwork taken care of. It’s not worth a fortune, but in the future, Mr. Li, whatever you want to eat—whether it flies in the sky or swims in the sea—you just have to say the word, and Jinfeng Building will get it for you."
"That’s quite a statement," Li Wei smiled. "A fifty-one percent silent partnership has to be worth at least two million USD, wouldn’t you say? Isn’t this gift a bit too much, Chairman Lin?"
"Mr. Li, please hear me out," Lin Daohang said earnestly. "For people like us, surviving in the cracks, our biggest fear is having no one in our corner. Mayor Holmes may have relented this time, but there’s no guarantee he won’t pull some other stunt next time..."
"Also," he added, leaning forward and lowering his voice, "if you ever have funds that are... inconvenient to account for... Jinfeng Building has a very substantial daily cash flow."
Li Wei frowned as he looked at the grand gift Lin Daohang had placed before him.
