Chapter 21_ Sword Saint (3)

Greed was confused for a moment. He definitely suffered an overwhelming defeat yet, it said that not just he completed the sudden quest, he also received a bountiful rewards that helped him reach level 100 earlier than he imagined.

He then swiftly looked at the mysterious NPC who also looked at him with a smile and said.

"I am grateful to you. Please pardon my rude behavior earlier of attacking you out of nowhere but it was a good fight."

"Why aren't you killing me?"

Greed questioned, making Lexus click his tongue.

"I'm not crazy. Why would I kill a person for no reason? You would've died if I wanted to kill you."

Greed was silent but then remembered his identity through a system message.

'A prince of Eternal Kingdom?'

He had made contact with a noble already but didn't expected that the mysterious NPC he encountered would turn out to be a royalty.

"I wanted it to be a sincere fight. I'm sorry."

Lexus bowed his head without hesitation and apologized sincerely. What he had done was really rude but with the benefits he gained, there was no regrets. It was enough if he could compete with someone who's a legend.

"Fine."

Though Greed was furious about the fact of being attacked out nowhere, he accepted Lexus' apology as the overwhelming difference between them was clear in his mind.

He also thought that his encounter with such NPC might be the effect of his non-existent luck.

"Ahem! Let me introduce myself."

Making a fake cough, Lexus fixed his gaze at Greed and truthfully said without any pretenses.

"I am Lexus, third prince of Eternal Kingdom. Pleasure to meet you."

Seeing his smile, Greed narrowed his eyes. He found Lexus' friendly attitude suspicious but then remembered about the system message of his affinity with Lexus had slightly increased.

"I am Greed. A blacksmith."

Greed replied but then flinched, remembering Lexus' position. As someone who had lived in the modern world where monarchy is not the trend, greeting a prince in a proper way was the last thing that came into his mind.

"Well~ugh...!"

Seeing how he reacted about it, Lexus casually replied.

"No need for formalities. I can't possibly make a legend kneel to me, right?"

Greed widened his eyes when he heard those words. Since he had become Pagma's Successor, no one had instantly noticed that he was a legend at first glance. His body quivers thinking of the possibility that the person in front of him was also a legend.

"Don't need to worry about anything thus, you may be at ease."

Hearing him, Greed felt relieved.

'That's unexpected.'

Greed thought. He guessed that Lexus would have an arrogant attitude of a prince. From his experience, he had negative impressions to nobles because of a certain earl that made him suffer. (#A/N: Referring to his hatred at Earl Ashur so I think his impression about royalties who were superior than the nobles were also negative.)

However his expectation about him being an arrogant prince shattered seeing how he acted.

"Greed, you are amazing. Your sword dance earlier was wonderful to the point that I want to be acquainted with you as my knight.'

As a prince, Lexus had the authority to appoint knights. Lexus nonchalantly said but then held his chin, now that he think about it.

"Then, wanna be my first knight?"

Lexus sounded intrigued but Grid was shocked again, not expecting to hear that. He seriously thought about it. Accepting the offer of a prince, it gives him huge benefits.

Seeing his silence, Lexus spoke once again but his voice didn't sound forceful at all.

"Don't worry. There will be no restrictions for you. You had complete freedom and I won't do anything to take that away from you."

"Really? Is that so? Hrmm… Then I have a condition before accepting your offer.

Seriously thinking about it, Greed thought of a problem to be addressed.

"The money I will earn from my personal activities and the money I will earn from working with you. Which one will be bigger?"

Lexus replied without thinking about it. "Of course you will make more money when being my knight than what you can make before. You will get more money and reputation."

He didn't react much, knowing Greed's current personality who wanted to earn more money than he could. He also knew the reason so he did not have much problem with it.

Hearing it, Greed took a gamble that Lexus was true in his words.

"Here's my condition. I am based here at Khan's smithy. I am Khan's successor and will someday inherit this smithy. I don't want to move my base for the time being."

"Ha~ha~ha... Just that? No problem. Just like what I said earlier, I won't intervene in your freedom but I just simply wanted to form a connection with you."

Lexus then halted his laughter as he gazed Grid and seriously said to him.

"Your worth is just that much so you should not degrade your value."

'Have I ever been recognized and needed by someone before? No. It was my first time.'

His heart was weakened due to the incident with his date so he felt overwhelmed at the fact that someone had acknowledged him. Though Greed would normally be wary of him, the thing that made Greed accept his offer was because Lexus was a named NPC in his eyes. For users, Named NPCs are hidden quest givers.

[Congratulations! Greed has succeeded in becoming your Knight.]

[You are the first Non-Player Character to obtain three legendary classes you have made a legend to serve you as your knight.]

[Hidden condition has been met.]

[The title, 'Pioneer' has been obtained.]

[Pioneer]

[A 10% increase in character experience acquisition.

10% increase in rewards for discovering new places.

Access to the Tower of Wisdom.

* This is a title that only the foremost person can have.

Keep in mind that it can be taken away by others at any time.]

Seeing that Greed accepted, Lexus decided to give him a gift, as a simple token of gratitude. Picking a heavy sack of something from his inventory, Lexus handed it to Greed. The moment Greed unconsciously caught it, he was surprised by the notification and even doubted his eyes.

[3,500,000 gold has been acquired.]

"This is all I can give at the moment but if you'll do well, I'll give something better in the future."

Saying that, Lexus turned around and started walking away. Looking at his back, Greed who was speechless after he just received a total of 4,200,000,000 won, saw him waving his hand and then said goodbye to him, "Let's split up and meet again in the near future. Surprise me of who you'll be or what you will gonna be in the future."

Greed was silent, unable to speak anything. He was feeling thrilled that he was stunned. He also looked forward to their next meeting.

"By the time we meet again, I won't easily lose to you."

Lexus turned around and grinned at what the stunned Greed was saying.

"Okay, I'll look forward to it."

•~~~•

Lexus decided to take his leave. If his guess was right, after a short while of their meeting, the Tzedakah Guild would have contacted Greed to join them.

Not wanting to make him decide of declining as that guild was one of the reasons why his character grew or to be said, when his character development was guided.

Walking in the streets of Winston, Lexus had a smile while looking at the system panels in his vision.

[Wave]

[Unleash a violent sword dance like a high wave.

Inflicts 155% of your attack power to all enemies within 1m, as well as reducing their speed.

Skill Usage Conditions: Have a sword equipped.

Skill Mana Cost: 350

Skill Cooldown Time: 120 seconds.]

[Restraint]

[A restrained and understated sword dance.

Overwhelms the surroundings. No one will have access to you for three seconds.

* Does not apply to the undead.

Skill Usage Conditions: Have a sword equipped.

Skill Mana Cost: 300

Skill Cooldown Time: 300 seconds.]

[Link]

A dazzling sword dance that is like the wings of a butterfly.

Deals 500% of your attack power to a single target.

Skill Usage Conditions: Have a sword equipped.

Skill Mana Cost: 350

Skill Cooldown Time: 100 seconds.]

[Kill]

[A killing sword that expresses hatred.

Deals 1500% of your attack power to a single target. There will be a bleeding and desperation effect.

Skill Usage Conditions: Have a sword equipped.

Skill Mana Cost: 1,200

Skill Stamina Consumption: Consumes 50% of your stamina.

Skill Cooldown Time: 500 seconds.]

[Transcend]

[A sword dance that transcends imagination.

Your attack power is doubled and your default attacks will turn into ranged attacks.

Skill Usage Conditions: Have a sword equipped.

Skill Mana Cost: 1,800

Skill Duration: 30 seconds.

Skill Cooldown Time: 3,000 seconds.]

"Awesome…"

Pagma's Swordsmanship was really great now that he personally see it. The skills' capabilities and damage was something beneficial to him. As he had experienced how the damage was calculated by the system, it's effect greatly helped him.

Pagma's Swordsmanship increased attack power and chances of a critical hit when deactivated. Together with the title effects and skills with similar functions, Lexus definitely benefitted a lot.

[Legendary Blacksmith's Craftsmanship - Lv.2]

[Produce equipment items that you know how to make.

You can create the production methods for a new item with the 'Legendary Blacksmith's Creation' skill.

There is a certain probability of producing rare~epic rated items.

There is a rare probability of creating unique rated items.

There is a very rare probability of creating legendary rated items.

* All stats of a production item will increase by 12%.

* When rare rated items are produced, all stats will permanently rise by +2 and reputation throughout the continent will rise by +30.

* When epic rated items are produced, all stats will permanently rise by +4 and reputation throughout the continent will rise by +80.

* When unique rated items are produced, all stats will permanently rise by +12 and reputation throughout the continent will rise by +300.

* When legendary rated items are produced, all stats will permanently rise by +25 and reputation throughout the continent will rise by +1,000.

* Something special will occur with every five legendary items created. (Currently 0/5).]

Production-related classes such as blacksmiths were said to not be able to learn combat skills. However, the legendary class, Pagma's Successor has a combat buff that Greed had obtained which Lexus simply copied.

[Legendary Blacksmith's Breath - Lv. 2]

[When you are concentrating on making an item, the will of Pagma's Descendant will fill the production item.

All stats of a production item will increase by 7%.

There is a rare chance of giving special features to your production items.]

Lexus' production skills increased from level 1 to 2 for the last months after he made 47 unique items. In addition, the skill level that he had copied from Greed.

Nevertheless, the skill levels stagnated at level 2.

'The experience to increase the level is a lot worse compared to level 1…'

Legendary skills are much more harder to raise than skills at unique and below. 'The problem is the Legendary Blacksmith's Breath. The breath is random, so it is hard to raise the experience.'

Thinking about its random activation, Lexus sighed and proceeded to the skill he had copied from Greed.

[Blacksmith's Rage - Lv.5]

[Increases attack power by 25% and attack speed by 40% for 20 seconds.

Skill Mana Cost: 250

Skill Cooldown Time: 100 seconds.]

Then for the last time, Lexus looked at the benefits of being a Sword Saint.

[There is No Sword in the Hand, but a Sword in the Heart]

[* Can cuts all recognizable objects in range.]

[Swordsmanship Creation - Lv.1]

[You can create new sword techniques.

The number of times it can be created will increase every time the level of 'Complete Sword Mastery' increases.

* The term sword techniques refers to skills that can be used when wearing sword type weapons.

* There are six factors that determine the power of the created sword technique.

* Passive skills can't be created.

Number of sword techniques that can be created: 0/3.]

Seeing it, after also reading that he had obtained the title Pioneer, the idea of meeting the tower members came into his mind.