Chapter 147: Judgment Paladin

When Li En finished his battle, the fighting on the other side of the bridge was also nearing its end.

"This really was a massacre." The wails and screams of the dark elves still echoed in his ears, but they had nowhere left to retreat.

"Uh, as a paladin, shouldn't you at least try to hide your smile during a massacre?"

"Ha, a massacre of evil by evil—I'm already being generous not to clap and cheer."

Looking at the corpses on the other side, Li En felt quite pleased.

The third daughter of the Third Family had already died completely after Li En severed the net bridge—who could expect a frenzied beast pack to act rationally? Now, the other side of the bridge was a brutal feeding ground.

On their own side, Larry, having removed her armor, was moving swiftly.

She pulled strands of netting from behind and tried to weave a new single-file bridge across.

Judging by her growing proficiency, it wouldn't take long.

In a sense, this was instinctive to the arachnids.

As the heir to the Net Baron (monopoly industry of Huicheng), she had received basic training as a child.

Li En noticed she had no ability to secrete silk; she merely used saliva to soften the threads before re-solidifying and weaving them.

Pale blue crystals exposed on her arms flickered continuously, drawing Li En's attention.

These were likely her race's evolutionary traits, but such information—regarding racial talents and weaknesses—was among the most core secrets of beast-human transcenders.

"Uh, I'm a Crystal Spider lineage—mainly pursuing crystallization. My liquid silk production has already degenerated into crystallization. This path mainly compensates for the arachnid body's fragility. Didn't you notice how steady my sword grip is? I'll soon have my own crystal armor and crystal shield."

This knightess was too honest—Li En had merely glanced a few times, and she volunteered everything, even her future evolutionary direction.

Li En nodded. He truly didn't understand others' racial evolution paths, but if he gave Larry, already a speed-focused attacker, a layer of crystal armor and shield, it would probably suit her well.

"Not only that—I can enchant the sword with crystallization virus and sharpness enchantments. Perfect for a speed-based melee like me."

Uh, this evolution path sounds powerful—what are its weaknesses?

"Weaknesses? None, I suppose—except I'll keep gaining weight. My silk-weaving ability is basically gone. I can still climb walls with my crystal arms, but it's not as easy as before. It's heavy."

Probably only paladins could exchange such candid secrets with each other.

"Gah. Nonsense. That's not the weakness of the Crystal line."

Kuku watched the silk-solidifying process with keen interest, seemingly disagreeing.

"Uh, what else are the weaknesses?" Larry, clearly unaware, immediately asked.

"It's expensive! This advancement is insanely expensive! You need to consume magic gems, crystals, and lots of high-tier crystal creature cores! They're rare on the Prime Plane—very costly!"

". see. I've learned something."

Larry looked enlightened and grateful; Kuku beamed proudly; Li En wanted to hit someone.

"Expensive advancement? Aside from the cost, there really aren't any other problems."

But Kuku was right—if one truly needed to consume rare Prime Plane living crystals, gems, and crystal matter, this advancement was undoubtedly not cheap.

But since she was the Net Baron's child, this hardly counted as a weakness.

"Li En senior, you're on the Pseudo-Dragon path, right? The Fire Dragon branch?" Some things are hard to hide.

Li En had already displayed various flashy flame enhancements, sudden shifts in his dragon eyes, and occasional dragon claws—all visible to his teammates.

Now that he'd revealed his secret, Larry finally voiced the lingering doubt she'd held for a long time—her tone hesitated, slightly uneasy.

"Uh, you don't have to answer if you don't want to…" Before Li En could respond, she pulled back.

Li En fell silent for a moment, then smiled and nodded.

"Red Dragon."

"Oh, the Red Dragon path? That must be expensive too—Red Dragon materials are the most costly." Larry immediately grinned broadly.

Was it because she wanted Li En to regain his strength? Or perhaps more because of his honesty?

"Expensive? Well, Red Dragon materials are certainly expensive."

Li En couldn't say he only needed to "capture dragon souls" to stabilize his dragon-blood evolution, nor that a senior had been personally guiding him to farm dragon materials.

He seemed even more outrageous than this "noble son."

Was this some new-age free-riding battle against the pay-to-win elites?

The brief interlude passed quickly. Larry worked efficiently; once the net bridge was complete, the operation entered its final phase, and Li En's squad began a new round of mopping-up.

Only scattered minor beasts and horned acolytes remained in the village.

Trapped on the high ground, they had no chance to flee, and most had already descended into madness.

The squad methodically eliminated them. After clearing everything, they helped the dark elves gather their remains—meat and bones were all gone; the beast pack didn't pick at all.

During the mop-up, Li En confirmed one reality: "Beasts" were also classified as "enemies of man"—killing them yielded substantial covenant rewards.

"Feels a bit odd… Shouldn't only the strong be considered enemies? Isn't the covenant supposed to grow only by slaying powerful foes?"

Magical items and loot were handed over to Kuku for storage and later appraisal; distribution would follow once everything was sorted and they had time.

Not to mention, Sallyman had expended numerous magic scrolls in battle. By adventurer custom, the team owed her reimbursement—at least partially. But Li En suspected even all the loot wouldn't cover her costs; they'd just give her something symbolic.

The group was utterly exhausted. After a hasty meal, they agreed to discuss anything further tomorrow, then rested and recovered. Whether magic, holy power, or physical stamina—all depletion brought mental and bodily fatigue.

Among the squad, only Violet Rose remained cheerfully hopping, holding a deer's head as if doing something.

Li En was truly drained—his prolonged, continuous battles had left him with zero magic, holy power, and physical stamina for the first time.

But he didn't rush to sleep. Something he'd been eager for was waiting.

"Phew, finally ready to advance."

Reality offered no system points to spend; advancement might feel like a fleeting leap, but fully mastering and absorbing its rewards required time.

Li En had crossed the threshold into Second-Rank Paladin, but he still had much to learn to complete true advancement.

Thanks to Su Xing's final gift, his progress through the first three ranks of the Paladin path would be swift, and he'd received a wealth of vocational "knowledge," preventing him from stumbling blindly without a mentor.

"Time to choose… but it seems I never had a choice to begin with."

Most transcendent vocations begin branching at Second or Third Rank.

Like mages choosing their "disciplines" at Second Rank, then specializing in a school of magic (enchantment, transmutation, evocation) at Third—this is a lifelong decision, requiring extreme caution.

Paladins are the same—and even more irreversible.

"Light of Protection, Light of Judgment, Light of Purity."

Li En now understood why Su Xing's holy power was so aggressive—he must have walked one path far too deeply.

This choice was about refining holy power, creating distinct functional branches.

The Light of Protection's holy power became more condensed and stable, greatly enhancing physical strength and bolstering auxiliary divine spells.

"Coating body and armor with holy power, fusing it with bodily qi to increase overall resilience and extend divine spell duration… a solid choice."

Having experienced "Holy Power Art," Li En knew the value of stats—this was the beauty of data.

Higher stats meant heavier armor and better shields—truly the path of "protection" in every physical sense.

The Light of Purity offered little practical use—it was the sole choice for support paladins, and also the choice of spellcasting paladins, its greatest benefit being healing spells.

"Channeling 'Upper Plane Life Positive Energy' into the body, integrating it into holy power, greatly enhancing healing and amplifying auxiliary divine spells."

This was excellent—but Li En would never choose it.

Li En did find the Light of Protection interesting—stacking stats was never wrong.

But due to certain reasons, he chose the final path—far more adaptable.

"Judgment Path: infusing holy power with radiant energy, refining it further to make it more aggressive and destructive. But since holy power is fully transformed into radiant energy, healing spells become far weaker."

Ordinary paladins choosing this path greatly increase the damage of "Smite Evil"—their attacks inflict exceptional pain upon "evil creatures."

Choosing a divergent path doesn't mean everything ends—it's merely the beginning of a progression route.

For Li En, this was the first time he infused radiant energy into his holy power, making him a Judgment Paladin—now he must continually refine and elevate his Judgment Holy Power, as Su Xing had done.

And this still didn't encompass all the choices required for Second-Rank Paladin.

"Do I need to choose a combat style? Hmm… seems I have no choice either."

Paladins and warriors typically use fixed combat styles. Paladins most commonly wield shield and sword (mace), two-handed greatsword (great mace), large shield, holy fists, or dual one-handed weapons.

But these often directly correlate with the chosen holy path: Light of Purity users almost always carry a shield; Light of Protection favors balanced shield-and-sword style; Judgment Path users favor two-handed weapons or dual one-handed—six weapons are also possible.

There are paladins who use ranged weapons, but they're rare—most on this path can't utilize their strength effectively.

"So, Su Xing's heir is truly a hundred percent Judgment Paladin."

From the start, there was no choice—like Su Xing, Li En was comfortable with two-handed swords (Su Xing could use others too).

"How to be a good paladin? Walk the Judgment Path, max out two-handed sword techniques, dump all skill points into Smite Evil, and carry one light spell for illumination."

(End of Chapter)