Chapter 148: Li En

Holy Knight? Isn't that just a Purge Slash projector?

Occupational jokes are never in short supply, but this version of the Paladin is somewhat special.

"To gain divine spells through faith in a deity? Forget it—I've got Purge Slash already."

Most Holy Knight jokes revolve around Purge Slash, and even they themselves accept them.

Because in most cases, landing one more Purge Slash is more effective than receiving flashy divine spells from a deity.

And this is largely due to the deities' "stinginess."

Unlike priests, who are seen as divine emissaries, Holy Knights' relationship with deities is often delicate; most follow a general moral path of "pure goodness," with religious faith frequently secondary.

If priests are servants or children of deities, Holy Knights are more like mercenaries or like-minded enforcers, receiving noticeably thinner divine power (you do well, then I reward you), and most combat doesn't rely on divine spells.

A Holy Knight is first a knight, then adorned with holy power—self-deprecatingly calling themselves a Purge Slash (Holy Slash) projector is entirely justified.

Most ordinary Holy Knights' divine spells cap at fifth-rank, and unlike other casters whose spell progression ties to rank and level, Holy Knights awaken divine spells at a painfully slow pace.

Most Holy Knights only gain second-rank spells at third rank, and third-rank spells only at fourth or fifth.

Even at the Grand Knight stage, the direct offensive power of third-rank divine spells often still falls short of one more Purge Slash.

This is why over ninety percent of Holy Knights become either Judgment Knights or Guardian Knights.

Only a tiny handful of exceptionally gifted individuals pursue the path of Devotion Knights (Divine Spell Knights).

Precisely because divine spells are so rare and precious, the Holy Knight spells passed down through trials are often extraordinarily subtle and unique.

"Blessing makes my Purge Slash more accurate and brutal; Command makes enemies stand still and take my Purge Slash; Devout Shield and Heroic Spirit let me endure enemy damage while outputting Purge Slash; Thunder Slash lets me switch to elemental damage when enemies resist Purge Slash's holy damage."

With Su Er's legacy, Li En has some understanding of the first-rank Holy Knight divine spells he might awaken upon advancing to second rank.

But his understanding is saturated with "Su Er's bias." You can't say it's wrong—in fact, it's often remarkably accurate and practical—but it only deepens outsiders' stranger misconceptions about Holy Knights.

For ordinary Holy Knights, opportunities to awaken divine spells are extremely precious, usually only granted during advancement or when serving a deity (or church).

It's likely a whole squad of Holy Knights couldn't even assemble a complete list of divine spells.

For Li En, a Covenant Knight, opportunities are even rarer—only possible upon advancement or achieving major breakthroughs through fulfilling his covenant.

A covenant is, in a sense, an "agreement" with the world and Pure Goodness (seen as the collective embodiment of all beings' longing for kindness), also a form of service to a higher dimension in exchange for return.

But the order of the world and Pure Goodness is too exalted, so their returns to mortals are even scarcer—in practice, even less divine spell reward than deities provide.

In a way, Li En should thank Su Er's gift, which granted him several first-rank divine spells for free upon gaining his class.

Otherwise, he'd have to rely on luck to awaken "Protection from Evil" and "Detect Evil," even though these are supposedly the most essential and easiest to awaken.

At this moment, as Li En allowed the Radiance energy to flow into his body and merge with his holy power, he naturally became a true second-rank Holy Knight.

"Only one divine spell." That was expected—Judgment-line Holy Knights already have weak divine spell capacity, and without a patron deity (a generous big spender), a pure Covenant Knight's awakened spells are barely the baseline.

"But it's Command. Good. Really good." The spell isn't powerful, but it fits Li En's fighting style perfectly—he's satisfied.

As he contemplated the newly awakened spell in his mind, Li En felt a quiet understanding.

【Command (Command), First-Rank Divine Spell: Force a creature to execute a single-word command, duration extremely short (max five seconds, minimum one second).】

This is a language-based divine spell similar to Dragon Speech; Li En even suspects it originates from Dragon Speech. He increasingly felt that supernatural powers awakened through self-realization often align closely with one's existing abilities.

"The most common and effective single-word commands must be instantly understandable and unambiguous."

"Veterans' accumulated wisdom: 'Come,' 'Fall,' 'Run,' 'Stop.' In combat, gaining one extra free Purge Slash is pure profit."

This spell, paired with Li En's fighting style ("Stand still! Let me ambush—you're not moving!"), should work exceptionally well.

Li En doesn't expect much—Holy Knight divine spells are mostly for support; using them for direct offense is what priests do.

Of course, these limitations aren't absolute: on one hand, there exist further, rarer class advancements (Covenant Knight can be seen as one such advancement of the standard Holy Knight, though most advanced Holy Knights derive from some great being's gift).

On the other hand, when software stalls, you can always try upgrading hardware.

"I'm starting to understand Larry's choice—apparently her evolution target is Crystal Poison Spider."

True strength lies in the integration of mind, body, and technique; individual class abilities are merely one component of this construction.

Larry is clearly a Judgment Knight, and among them, a rare type who wields multiple one-handed weapons.

The reason this is rare is ultimately due to the foundational design of Holy Knights as Purge Slash projectors: with the same holy power, swinging the same number of Purge Slashes, two-handed weapons naturally deal higher damage.

Two-handed swords or polearms sweep entire groups, turning Purge Slash into area attacks; single swords can only strike single targets with piercing wounds, delivering noticeably lower output.

This isn't about swinging more times—Purge Slash's cost is already high for ordinary Holy Knights.

"She really could be a warrior."

After her fighting system matures, Larry should wear a layer of crystal armor over her regular armor, using multiple fine blades to rapidly stab and continuously wound enemies.

Crystal poison is the core of her fighting system—it seeps into those wounds, crystallizing opponents, far harder to counter than ordinary poison.

She could easily become a pure warrior; perhaps an agile melee ranger was her original design, only diverted onto the knight path due to some (political) reason.

As for another Holy Knight, Dimon—he's probably thinking too far ahead; his two cleavers are just his chef's combat habit, and he's recently been seeking advancement paths, with Su Er leaving him some potentially compatible options.

Contemplating his peers' fighting systems is because Li En has reached the point where he must consider them.

Only the integration of mind, body, and technique can forge a true powerhouse; Li En already holds many cards.

His stats—second-rank Holy Knight, first-rank Mage, first-rank Dragon Speech Mage—are already impressive; Li En has long walked the true path of transcendence, and now he must figure out how to integrate his fighting methods so these powers synergize.

"Li En, you can learn to fight like a dragon."

This was Li En's question to Ku Ku, who gave a definitive yes.

Li En had assumed this was metaphorical, something he'd need to figure out himself—but Ku Ku gave him a far more precise answer.

"Evil dragons are nearly perfect combat beings: they're heavy armor units who also master both magic and martial arts; most dragons are melee-focused, using spells and Dragon Speech primarily for support."

"Anyone who's truly fought an evil dragon knows: the close-range combos of dragon wings, claws, fangs, and tail are lethally devastating—in an instant, your whole team can be wiped out."

Contrary to most locals' beliefs, what Ku Ku says makes evil dragons most agonizing isn't their breath or Dragon Language magic—those are precious combat resources for dragons, used sparingly.

In most cases, their thick hide, high magic resistance, and enormous size and absurd weight form the perfect dragon body—their true greatest weapon.

They are true super-heavy combat machines, with astonishing real-world speed; against ordinary foes, they won't even bother casting—just a few close-range strikes end it.

"So you mean I should build my own magic-warrior fighting system, using my dragon-blood abilities as a base and my Holy Knight heavy armor role as the core."

"Something like that—but you can rely even more on your bloodline abilities; they're part of you too—don't resist them."

Ku Ku also noticed Li En has always feared his dragon blood—he always worries that using it more will make him truly become a dragon, losing himself.

"Didn't I mention before? You don't need to obsess over Speed Boots—your mobility shortfall might resolve itself."

"Uh, I thought you meant solving it with mage methods, like the second-rank spell Phantom Step (short-range teleportation)."

As far as Li En knows, some Holy Knights also use Phantom Step, seemingly obtainable through rare class advancements or rituals.

Though nowhere near as effective as for mages (no spellcasting bonuses), it still greatly compensates for their short legs—a Holy Knight who can't land Purge Slash is essentially nonexistent!

"No, at that time I had no confidence you'd become a second-rank mage anytime soon—Phantom Step is among the hardest second-rank spells, requires casting in armor, and has extremely short range." Ku Ku wasn't explaining—he was dissuading Li En from relying on this path in the short term.

He should invest his time and energy where he gets clearer, faster feedback.

Pure Holy Knights can obtain Phantom Step—there are specific paths—but the cost is high, and Ku Ku doesn't recommend Li En pursue it now.

"I meant Dragon Wings. Your next dragon-blood ability should be it." Ku Ku revealed his trump card outright.

Dragon-blood mages aren't rare; the awakening of dragon-blood abilities is very similar, and at a certain level, nearly all dragon-blood mages possess Dragon Wings—a tremendously useful racial talent.

"What good are chicken wings? I'm in heavy armor." Li En wondered—could he even fly, unlike ordinary dragon-blood mages?

"Look more at the Book of Dragons—it's a magical wing."

With a dragon's weight, physical force alone couldn't possibly lift its wings.

Dragon wings are inherently filled with magic; if they can carry dragons, they can surely carry your iron armor.

Ku Ku patiently clarified for Li En, especially regarding dragon knowledge—he truly understood it inside and out.

Ku Ku's core design for him was this: since Li En is a dragon-blooded, he's destined to keep awakening dragon-blood abilities—so why not adopt a dragon-style combat mindset, seeking practical combat accessories suited to him?

For example: Dragon Claws fitting with Monk or Druid abilities; Dragon Tail as an exotic weapon, trained like a whip; Dragon Breath fused with evocation spells, and so on.

With such a dragon master designing his fighting system, Li En could more clearly acquire the transcendental powers he needs.

Normally, misjudging a single second-rank spell could waste two months—Li En couldn't afford that; he needed every ounce of power to become real combat effectiveness.

Ku Ku spoke at length, even projecting his system to mid-stage scenarios—when all classes reach third rank and have awakened more dragon-blood and Dragon Speech abilities—making Li En memorize even what he didn't understand.

And this seemed to imply his time was running out.

When night fell, it was the final two days of their dreamtime together.

Tonight was the appointed time.

"Bai" was already waiting in the hall.

Seeing Li En and Ku Ku, the pure-white girl smiled from the heart.

"At noon tomorrow, the agreement begins—I will lead the Beast Cult in attacking the Hive Core."

(End of Chapter)