Chapter 169: Chapter 134: Story Mode Activated, Path of Awakening: Knight’s Treasure
[Prologue: The Great Rebellion. Interlude: The Rise of the Vengeful Angels. Complete.]
[Assist Mode has been deactivated. Story Mode is now initiating...]
[Act One: The Founding of the Second Empire.]
[Though the glory of the Old Empire was shattered by the Void Storm, Imperial Knights like you still fight for the great cause of the Human World in the Ash Soil Star Zone.
The Wizard Lords view humanity as nothing more than lowly livestock.
Mages and Knight Warlords who have fallen to Demons wantonly slaughter Mortals, using them as fodder to nurture their own Mighty Power.]
[Even though the Lord Governor has never discussed this with you directly—and you have met only a handful of times—you know what that man wants to do, what he is planning.]
[Should the worst come to pass, the Imperial Administrative Region in the Ash Soil Star Zone will be the last ember of the Human World.]
[In Story Mode, you can ignore the requirements of missions or events and freely explore this world. But your every action and every choice will affect the development of the timeline and the future.
Of course, making these choices will also bring you handsome rewards.]
[Act One - Opening: You have spoken with Lady Catherine, the matriarch of the Capet Family, and are preparing to set out for the Ancient Wizard Ruins where the Saint’s Remains have appeared.]
[Basic Reward: A Wizard’s Secret Treasure that can be used to develop the Earth Ring.]
[System Reward: Power Armor and Weapon Upgrade Components.]
[Event Reward: ???]
[What is this, the dark ages? Still using a traditional flintlock gun? Take this and go blow your enemy’s damn head off.]
During the three years Reinhardt spent in quiet study with his Battle Group Tutor, Geoffroy, he mastered a great deal of extraordinary knowledge about Earth Knights.
Extraordinary Knights, Destruction Knights, Elemental Knights, and Guardian Knights.
After developing their first Earth Ring and advancing to the Earth Knight Military Rank, the subsequent advancement paths for Knights differed completely depending on the attributes of their Power.
To develop a more advanced Earth Ring, an Extraordinary Knight had to use special mediums, crafting them into a Knight’s Treasure to serve as an extension of their Mighty Power.
To be specific, due to the limitations of their Extraordinary Armaments from their time as Official Knights, an Extraordinary Knight had to rely on external materials as a vessel for their Mighty Power in order to develop an Earth Ring.
Elemental Knights followed a different path.
Elemental Power was one of the oldest systems of might in the Cosmos, even more ancient than the Wizard Civilization. There were two ways for an Elemental Knight to develop an Earth Ring.
The first was to search the Cosmos for exotic Elements and integrate these wondrous substances into their own Knightly bloodline, much like the Magma Tentacles Sedon often used.
According to Geoffroy, that thing had once been the core of a magma creature, but beyond that, probably no one but Sedon knew its true nature.
The second method was to trust to luck—or, to put it more esoterically, to attempt to master certain principles of Elemental Power.
The path of awakening for a Guardian Knight was completely different from the previous two.
If Extraordinary and Elemental Knights formed a sort of systematized connection with the material world to grasp greater power, then the Guardian Knight’s path to awakening was to seek strength from within.
Philosophy, religion, introspection...
They had to be firm in their path and remain steadfastly committed.
This Spiritual Energy would then help them construct their Earth Ring.
This trait also resulted in the stable nature of Guardian Knights, who rarely rebelled or fell to darkness. Thus, the vast majority of the Empire’s Main Battle Corps, the primary force on any grand battlefield, were Knights of this type.
As for Destruction Knights...
There was only one way for them to awaken their Earth Ring: battle.
Endless combat and slaughter, accumulating experience, honing an absolutely indomitable physique—they didn’t even need to develop any Special Abilities. They only needed to make their Destruction Force Field increasingly powerful, until it transformed into Knightly Suppression.
That’s right.
Unlike the varied Domain Powers of the other three Knight types, a Destruction Knight’s Domain would ultimately point to a single terminus: Knightly Suppression.
And this suppression wasn’t just a change in the enemy’s perception or psychology, but a tangible, physical presence.
It was similar to a gravitational field, but it also acted upon the mind and soul, like a form of spiritual pressure.
Once a Seven-star Military Rank Destruction Knight unfurled their Domain and brought down their suppression, even steel could not withstand the immense pressure. The minds of the weak would be crushed instantly! They would die violently on the spot!
However, their path of advancement dictated that very, very few Destruction Knights could ever truly awaken their Domain.
To become stronger through endless combat also meant they were likely to die in endless combat.
Reinhardt’s Destruction Force Field currently showed no signs of coalescing into an Earth Ring. Therefore, if he wanted to advance to the Two-star Military Rank, it would be more effective to start with a Knight’s Treasure capable of bearing Extraordinary Power.
Moreover, the two were complementary. A higher-rank Extraordinary Armament would enhance his strength, and this increase in strength would, in turn, help him achieve victory after victory in battle.
Therefore, Reinhardt was determined to obtain this Wizard’s Secret Treasure that could bear Mighty Power!
At that moment, a Clerk from the Government Hall found Reinhardt.
"Sir, the Grand Governor wishes to see you."
Reinhardt was in a secret operations base specially constructed by the Imperial Administrative Region for the Vengeful Angels project. Located deep within the mass of the Great Fortress, it was a place of pipes and gears, filled with a steampunk aesthetic.
It was not only extremely secretive but also had comprehensive internal facilities.
It possessed its own small Military Port, private meditation chambers, and an equipment repair bay.
The Punisher was docked in the secret base’s Military Port, and Technician Soldier Agate was constantly fussing over the small Ancient Wizard warship, day and night, without rest.
The other squad members were also resting in their respective meditation chambers.
Because the Vengeance Angel Squad was part of a top-secret project, they had received no commendations after completing their mission on the Rebino World—at least, no public medals or promotions.
After Raphael reconstructed the codebook from memory, they had all been confined to the base, forbidden from leaving without authorization.
...
「Government Hall」
The place seemed to be impossibly busy at all hours. As Reinhardt entered, he saw a Master of Internal Affairs, so exhausted he had apparently coughed up blood, being carried out on a stretcher.
Even in his stupor, he was still muttering incredibly complex data calculations, his hand tightly clutching a blood-stained document.
Compared to the last time Reinhardt had been here, the piles of documents stacked in the Government Hall were visibly higher, like mountain ranges of paperwork.
Even Grand Governor Sedon, a man who always prized his dignified bearing, had a look of unconcealable exhaustion on his face.
The two exchanged no unnecessary greetings. After instructing an aide on a matter that needed handling, Sedon led him to a relatively quiet lounge.
"Since you’ve already met with Lady Catherine, I’ll get straight to the point. The matter of the Saint’s Remains is of great importance to myself and the Mechanical Order. It contains a vast amount of ancient technology related to weapons and equipment.
And I intend to use it to complete a total modernization of our military equipment as part of the upcoming legion restructuring."
