Chapter 65: There Are Gaps Even Among Heroes

Slender, beautiful eyes radiated killing intent; the look that wanted to carve someone up could not be hidden, nor did she wish to hide it.

Miss Shaliman glared at Li En, pressed a hand to her chest and took a deep breath, yet could not quell the boiling emotions surging within her.

She, a pillar of the Royalist faction and head of a great noble house, had gone to the police station to bail someone out not once, not twice, but three times?

Bailing someone out was bad enough, but for such a trivial, unseemly matter?

Originally, sending a butler would have been overkill, yet she had come herself and made a fool of her family!

She drew a deep breath, more out of anger at her own lack of willpower.

She had clearly decided to ignore him, yet the moment she heard he was in trouble, she had foolishly rushed over.

And he, he had never shown the slightest interest in her! From the very beginning!

"This... is not pressing a warm face against cold indifference... too embarrassing!"

Many young men suffer from the delusion that women like them, while women are often far more sensitive and rational in this regard.

Miss Shaliman was certain that, unlike those foul men who always stared at her, Li En had always maintained a safe distance from her.

In the calm gaze he cast upon her, there might have been friendliness and camaraderie, but absolutely not a shred of romantic heat.

"So unwillful, I!" She was not angry with Li En; in fact, she somewhat admired the rationality of maintaining that distance.

She was merely furious at her own easy wavering; how could she be so useless!

Unrequited love in reality often has a time limit; Miss Shaliman was far from being in love, having only considered marriage due to the engagement.

For a man who held no physical attraction for her at all, Miss Shaliman would not actively draw near.

After all, as a woman who still yearned for beautiful love, she did not want her marriage filled with coldness and diplomatic pleasantries.

Even if it were a political marriage, she would at least find someone who treated her well.

Even if she held slight thoughts and hesitations toward Li En, reason would suppress them, refusing to let emotions fluctuate further.

Yesterday's farce might have been a good thing; Miss Shaliman, now calmed, had actually decided to keep her distance from Li En.

After all, he had no interest in her... she was angry because the reality was that the moment she heard he was in trouble, she had foolishly rushed over!

"Huh? This look."

But in this very moment, Li En's gaze made him seem somewhat unfamiliar, even stirring a hint of unease and fear.

This eagerness, this passionate look that seemed to want to devour her, she was far too familiar with.

"Could I be mistaken..." The mind-reading enchantress wavered slightly, while Li En was gazing at the sky, seemingly ashamed to face her.

"When apologizing, shouldn't one look at the person!" Her feigned anger gave the man even more remorse, forcing him to lower his head and face her.

When their eyes met, that familiar yet strange look confirmed it for Miss Shaliman.

I did not see wrong.

He has changed.

His gaze deliberately remained calm, yet it faintly carried eagerness.

Looking at her face, it unconsciously drifted downward toward sensitive areas.

Hmph, another foul man! He had pretended so well before!

She instinctively took a step back, as if sensing a threat.

"Uh, what are you smiling at?" The sudden smile on the woman's lips left Li En somewhat puzzled.

"Am I smiling? You saw wrong! I am angry; be serious!!"

Now, the woman was even angrier at her own lack of willpower!

But deceiving herself was somewhat difficult; she was also puzzled as to why she felt happy right now.

That gaze which usually made her uncomfortable, why did it not anger her? If it were any other rude noble, she would already be considering how to retaliate.

Seeing Li En making light of the situation, deliberately averting his gaze and daring not to look at her, seemingly afraid of committing an offense on the spot, Miss Shaliman felt an inexplicable joy and happiness.

"Forget it, forget it; getting angry with you is meaningless; it's probably a side effect of regression. Handle it as soon as possible. If you get into trouble again, I won't come!"

The other party had not taken her seriously before, yet was a rascal who kept forcing her to go to the police station to bail someone out; now he seemed to want to take back the grass he had rejected?

What should be done then? Of course, forgive him!

When such a soft complaint slipped out so easily, even Miss Shaliman felt something was slightly off with herself.

"Could it be that I am actually quite easy to handle?" The woman, realizing she was too easy to handle, fell once again into wordless self-loathing.

"I apologize, and thank you. I have troubled you several times." Li En's apology was sincere; hearing that someone had run such a long distance upon learning of his trouble showed they truly cared for him.

Toward those who showed kindness, Li En naturally responded with kindness.

He had no idea why this woman was smiling while angry; perhaps it was her period, or perhaps he had truly angered her, after all, the great mansion should still be in a mess.

The small interlude passed in a flash; since they had met again, he might as well deal with some trivial matters in hand.

"This is my mentor's letter of introduction; you can go to the Mage Street in the southwest of the Radiant District to find him." This was the agreed-upon item, yet also something Li En had long anticipated.

Li En was overjoyed and hurriedly took it.

Now, no matter how difficult that Hero might be, at least the extraordinary path of a spellcaster could be opened.

"You should stay in a safe place; your bounty is still active." What had driven Miss Shaliman to rush over so urgently was her worry that Li En might face retaliation.

Although his performance yesterday was outrageous, it was abnormal by any reckoning; perhaps it was a final surge of power.

She actually could not understand at all what had happened yesterday; now it seemed she could only attribute it to that so-called Hero Hall; it was impossible that Li En had truly been a high-level spellcaster before.

Now that Li En had lost his extraordinary power, whether it was hunters targeting him or vengeful cultists, both could be fatal.

"Mm, I will." Li En would naturally accept the other party's kindness.

But after considering it, he felt he needed to reveal a bit of his bottom line.

"Actually, I am not completely without resistance now." Li En extended a finger, and faint Jin Guang covered it.

"This? How is that possible! Regression should strip all class abilities!" Miss Shaliman's face was full of surprise; she had clearly seen the moment Li En's holy power dissipated.

"Indeed, I lost it, but I have re-cultivated it; this is power that belongs entirely to me."

Li En, with a smile, recounted his recent gains.

Miss Shaliman was completely stunned; how could he possibly become a class user again so quickly?! This was completely unreasonable.

But considering the combat record of the man before her, this miracle seemed acceptable.

Although he had regressed to the starting point, although this holy light was so faint it might extinguish at any moment, she was genuinely happy for him.

"But this time, I don't intend to specialize solely as a Paladin; the vow I've re-established is much looser," Li En mentioned casually, doing so to ensure she wouldn't take back the letter of introduction.

But this instantly made Miss Shaliman realize the truth.

As long as the conditions were met, the induction of a Vow Knight was indeed very easy; no wonder he had regained some strength so quickly, no wonder his eyes had changed.

"Re-established a new vow? Before, his vow must have included a clause like 'abstain from women,' right? He was truly ruthless to himself; now that he's freed, he's free." If that were the case, everything made sense; previously, Li En had been celibate!

Didn't Li En's previous vow include this clause? Some classical Paladins devoted to the path of Judgment and Revenge would hide their true vows, after all, that could become their weakness.

Otherwise, a beauty trap or a succubus could ruin a celibate Paladin.

As for the previous false vow? Li En himself, in Miss Shaliman's eyes, was not such a rule-abiding person.

Just from his dealings with the slave market, one could see he absolutely did not have an honest vow.

Miss Shaliman, whose mind instantly filled in some incomprehensible aspects of Li En, found her expression becoming even more complex.

Could yesterday's behavior have been the influence of a vow out of control? She had heard that if a man represses himself for too long, he becomes perverted.

Come to think of it, his emotional suppression going out of control, his mind not normal as he swayed back and forth, left and right before the statue, seemed understandable... Understand my ass! Completely incomprehensible, okay! Instantly, recalling that scene, Miss Shaliman's face turned red again.

As for switching to another path, she could understand Li En's choice.

Regressing once and then re-climbing the same path to reach the peak would be many times more difficult; indeed, it was better to take another road and start over.

"But why would he tell me this, say his current vow isn't strict (no celibacy), could he really be talking to me..."

Miss Shaliman felt a bit unsettled, then decided to run back first to sort things out (give up) without making a fuss.

Li En truly hadn't thought that much; he was just speaking the plain truth, letting her not worry too much, as his current state was far better than expected.

【Class: Level 1 Paladin, Level 1 Classical Vow Knight】

【Class Skills: Evil-Cleaving Slash (Tier 1), Detect Evil (Tier 1), Domain of Sin and Punishment (Tier 1), Sin-Punishing Strike (Tier 1), Holy Light Aura (Tier 3).】

【Class Passives: Mana Emission (Flame), Mana Emission (Radiance), Mana Emission (Positive Energy), Evil Protection (Paladin Passive Resistance Increase)】

He was already a complete Paladin, and his skill list was even far stronger than that of an ordinary Knight.

And this was still not the whole story.

【Heroic Soul Su Er expresses satisfaction with your dedication to eradicating evil and has granted the highest possible reward.】

【Current physical carrying capacity has reached its limit... Upon retraining the first three tiers of the Paladin class, you will receive progress speed as if aided by gods.】

This meant that originally Su Er would have directly rewarded you with a Level 3 Paladin, but your physical hardware was insufficient, so it only reached the limit of a Level 1 Paladin.

But as your hardware reaches the required level, what is yours will still be yours.

Similarly scaled down was the thing Li En was most excited about.

【Soul: Su Er's Wall-Breaker (Raw Stone): Your sword edge is unbreakable!】

It looked mighty and domineering, but in reality, it had been scaled down far too much compared to the original version.

Originally, this trait could be applied to the body, the roar, and supernatural abilities; now, it could only be used on the sword.

Although it still allowed him to use the Holy Sword... Slash Evil, retaining the core combat system, the reduction in combat power was obvious.

【This soul ability will also scale up as you compensate for class abilities and your biological level ascends.】

The good news was that as long as Li En leveled up his Paladin class a bit more and evolved his species twice, he should be able to reclaim that original Wall-Breaker.

The current Li En, of course, could not compare to the state of being possessed by a Heroic Soul, but the legacy left by Su Er was already enough to make him be called an excellent warrior.

Li En was just expressing that he still had self-defense capabilities, letting Miss Shaliman not worry too much.

Noticing that Miss Shaliman seemed very happy because of this, he also smiled and nodded.

"She is happy that I have self-defense capabilities? Truly a good woman." The understanding of the two seemed to have a subtle deviation, but at this moment, they seemed to have reached an agreement.

Getting into the carriage, the woman hurriedly left, while Li En sighed, having to face his own mess.

That steam locomotive had exploded; it was worth a fortune.

"I didn't do it, really, I didn't."

"Hmm." The look in the eyes of the police officer opposite him at that time was like a kindergarten teacher looking at a child with ADHD, trying hard to hide the slingshot that broke the glass behind their back.

The evidence was still on the table; you say it wasn't you? Fine, I'll pretend to believe you, just let's see if the judge believes it.

But Li En was released so quickly; it wasn't because of noble pressure.

"This is Lord Paladin Li En; it was he who eliminated the cultists in the underground cave a couple of days ago."

The identity of a Paladin was always a ticket to trust; his reputation made the law enforcer opposite him much friendlier.

Plus, this incident happened on the street, with numerous witnesses.

"So, Lord Knight saw a suspected gnome thief crawl under the carriage?"

"Yes, I tried to stop him." This was indeed the plain truth, and there were even eyewitnesses.

"Then he created an explosion, and after running out, threw that thing at you?"

"Hmm. Although it sounds ridiculous, this is indeed what just happened." Although it was absurd, there were witnesses, and logically it actually made sense.

"Sorry, sorry, it seems we misunderstood you; this was clearly a malicious frame-up by a gnome thief; did you get a clear look at his appearance..."

Actually, for most of the time Li En was at the police station, he was helping the station draw the wanted poster for that "masked gnome thief."

But now, he sighed, opened his personal backpack, and that "gnome thief" was silently reading a book inside.

Seeing Li En look down at it, it even got angry.

"You actually didn't bring what Kuku wanted! Compensate me, compensate Kuku!"

【Satisfaction -22%】

Alright, it even directly deducted Li En's satisfaction.

(End of this chapter)