Chapter 150: Chapter 115: Imperial Technology All Comes From Digging, a Knight’s Military Rank and Titles
「Two years after the Verne Campaign.」
「Ilibya World.」
「Granada 3D City Garrison Fortress, training room.」
A powerfully built young man was doing one-handed handstand push-ups, supporting himself on just the index finger of his right hand.
Beads of hot sweat trickled down his torso, gathering into a small puddle on the hard floor.
Across from him sat an Imperial Knight, his brows tightly furrowed. The man’s frame was so immense that he resembled a wide door panel, even while sitting cross-legged on the floor.
His voice was aged and ragged, as grating and unbearable as the sound of Steel Boots grinding on broken glass.
"There’s a rumor going around the Fortress lately that your Knight Talent received a blessing from the Divine Emperor. What’s your take on that?"
The young man’s body was covered in battle scars. His short black hair was neat and trim, and the power emanating from his Knightly Physique billowed through the training room like a howling wind.
Performing a one-handed handstand push-up on a single finger seemed to pose no difficulty for him whatsoever.
His breathing remained perfectly even, not in the slightest disarray, as he responded in a measured tone, "A Knight’s talent is, in itself, a blessing from the Divine Emperor to mortals.
You told me that yourself last year."
Though the burly Knight sitting cross-legged on the floor kept a stern expression, he was inwardly quite satisfied with Reinhardt’s answer.
In the entire Ilibya World, or even the whole Ash Soil Star Zone, there were no more than a hundred Knights with talent on par with Reinhardt’s.
He had reviewed the young Knight’s file.
Initially, he had served in the Steel Knight Order under the Imperial Seventh Group Army. However, for some rather obvious reasons, that once-great Main Battle Knight Order of the Empire had been reduced to a third-rate local Battle Group on Grillers World.
That was when Reinhardt had joined the training camp.
As a decorated Grandmaster of the Shield of the Empire Battle Group, Jeffroy had taught many genius Knights like him, but few could match words with deeds the way Reinhardt did.
Reinhardt wasn’t the type to pay lip service to humility while inwardly seething with arrogance and conceit.
Oftentimes, arrogance and conceit are the source of a Knight’s courage, but they can also become a Knight’s grave in the face of failure.
What Jeffroy admired most about Reinhardt was his Spiritual Power—his mental fortitude—even more than his acknowledged talent.
In two years, the young Imperial Knight had not become complacent. He hadn’t let the glory of repelling the Demon Prince with a single sword strike, or of leading Verne World to victory against the Destiny Weaver Battle Group, go to his head, nor did he parade it around the Iberian Great Fortress for all to see.
Instead, like a Silent Ascetic of the National Church, he had remained here in obscurity, quietly honing his Physique and mastering the power of the Earth Ring, bit by bit.
’Such loyalty.’
Jeffroy slowly rose to his feet. His heavy, gunmetal-gray Anti-Magic Steel Armor was inlaid with all sorts of ornate decorations. On closer inspection, however, one would discover these seemingly lavish adornments were either various medals bestowed upon him by the Empire and his Battle Group or trophies taken from the bodies of his enemies.
His weapon was a mechanical contraption almost as large as his forearm.
It was a firearm, driven by gunpowder, steel, and a Witchcraft Power Backpack.
That’s right, a gun.
If this had been when he first arrived in this world, Reinhardt would have thought he’d stumbled into the wrong story. Now, however, he wouldn’t even be surprised if some seemingly backward Agricultural World suddenly produced a Star Destroyer.
After doing some detailed research on the Wizard Civilization, which had once ruled the cosmos for tens of millions of years, Reinhardt finally had a grasp of what Imperial Technology truly was.
The technological trajectory of the normal Human Worlds was about what he’d expected. Some Imperial Knight Battle Groups, especially those that possessed their own home worlds or were simply absurdly wealthy, had begun mass-equipping firearms as early as ten years ago.
These were firearms blessed by the Divine Emperor and augmented with Witchcraft Technology, of course.
Even a bullet from the most primitive flintlock gun could punch through a one-centimeter-thick plate of composite steel.
To a powerful Knight like Reinhardt, the destructive power of these firearms was negligible. On a strategic level for the Empire, however, they effectively doubled the combat power of Imperial Knight Battle Groups and even some elite Infantry Legions.
As for where this Witchcraft Technology came from...
Archaeology!
Because Ilibya was the capital world of its Imperial Administrative Region, Reinhardt was often privy to certain secret whispers.
For instance, an endless debate raged within the National Church over the status of Wizards and Mixed-blood Mages.
One faction argued that Wizards, who had ruled the cosmos for tens of millions of years, were originally human; their flesh and souls had simply been warped by the influence of Witchcraft Power.
An even more radical faction went so far as to declare that Mixed-blood Mages were, in fact, human.
The conservatives, however, maintained that an impure bloodline was, in and of itself, heresy.
This internal debate was the only reason Witchcraft Technology had a gray area in which to exist within the Empire. It was also how Combat Priest Raphael had earned a moment’s reprieve, managing to avoid being beheaded by a Grand Judge from the Judgment Court and forced to "prove his loyalty" on the spot.
Nevertheless, any of Raphael’s activities on Ilibya World had to be carried out under strict surveillance. Even when he went out, he had to be accompanied by one of the Radiant Angels, or by Reinhardt himself.
After all, Raphael was his Combat Priest.
That relationship was the main reason the Judgment Court had stayed its hand.
The training room occupied a massive area. It was built inside a mountain whose peak had been hollowed out, the resulting space merged with the Great Fortress itself.
Jeffroy nodded slightly and continued, "After a little while, once you’ve perfected your first Special Ability, you can attempt the promotion to Earth Knight."
Even after two years, the Battle Group Grandmaster’s grating voice was still difficult to endure.
The cause of it was a horrifying scar that slashed across his throat, looking as if it had nearly severed his head from his neck.
Still, Reinhardt had learned a great deal during his two years of study.
First, he learned that the military ranks for Earth Knights also ranged from One-star to Seven-star. Of course, Jeffroy had specifically explained that, by tradition, the military ranks of Earth Knights in ancient times were represented by petal-shaped gold medals, symbolizing that they were sons of Mother Earth.
Therefore, in ancient times, Earth Knights were also known as Golden Flower Knights.
This was similar to the "Star of the Sky" at the Official Knight stage, which symbolized the favor of the moon god. Thus, the ancient name for an Official Knight was Moonlit Knight.
However, during the Empire’s second military founding 1,600 years ago, all these traditional titles were abolished. After all, according to the Imperial State Church’s definition, all Knight Power originated from the Divine Emperor.
This was especially true for the sages of the ignorant ancient past, who believed that the Mighty Power of the Celestial Star Knights—now known as Sky Knights—came from the ancient Star Gods.
Sheer blasphemy!
Reinhardt’s current strength was roughly equivalent to that of an Earth Knight recruit; he had not yet earned a military rank.
However, he had already finished developing the first Special Ability required for the promotion. Relying on the power of his Extraordinary Armament Defeated Demon, Reinhardt called it the Forbidden Magic Force Field.
