Over the next few days, Green asked Basel, the castle's butler, to collect some poison for him. Basel, of course, did not refuse Green's request and promised to find the poison for Green in the shortest possible time.
Green, who only needed to wait to complete his official knighthood advancement, did not engage in meaningless training. Instead, he decided to return to his original profession; in his previous life, Green was a very radical scientist.
Upon arriving in this world, due to his own lack of power, he initially chose to pursue strength. Now that he possesses the power to protect himself, Green naturally begins to pursue the essence of power—to understand not only what it is, but also why it is.
Given Green's status within the castle, he could freely enter and exit the castle's library.
With the chip in hand, Green quickly input the castle's books into the chip and, relying on its analytical capabilities, began to conduct in-depth analysis of all the books.
Inside the VIP room, Green was sitting at his desk, looking at the book in his hand but actually manipulating the chip's interface.
[The majority of the books retrieved from the library are history books, a small number are chivalric romances similar to novels, and there are very few about basic education. Most are literary works. It seems that this world has very strict control over knowledge. If I hadn't met Old Grimm, even if I had survived, I probably wouldn't be literate at all.]
Most of the books obtained from the castle were of little use to Grimm; only a small portion could broaden his knowledge of the entire continent.
But there were three books that Green was particularly interested in.
After Green entered the library's information, he had the chip perform in-depth analysis and discovered that a special secret was hidden in three novels.
The three books are: [The Wizarding Legends], [The Mysterious Continent], and [Spiritual Ascension].
The content resembles a novel, roughly describing the troubles and trials encountered by a group of humans with special talents on their journey to seek the truth. Greene initially didn't pay much attention to the content of these books; he only chose to record them to broaden his knowledge.
However, after the chip was analyzed, it was discovered that the three books contained some kind of hidden code. According to the chip's analysis, the true nature of the books was revealed after removing the useless content from the codes and information they carried.
[Unknown book analysis progress: 77%]
Looking at the analysis that still wouldn't be completed for some time, Green's face turned serious. The Truth Chip possessed unimaginable advantages in traditional computing; brute-force attacks were its forte. Three days had passed since they began cracking the book's contents, and the book's encryption strength was simply unimaginable.
Based on Green's understanding of this world, its mathematics and cryptography are far beyond what is publicly known. This world likely harbors many unknown secrets.
The thought made Green's heart pound. He took a deep breath, suppressing the excitement within him.
After glancing at the progress of the cracking, Green began to work on another task.
He walked to the side, picked up his longsword and metal bow, and went straight outside the castle.
Feeling acutely aware of his lack of practical combat experience, Green wanted to increase his combat experience through real combat training.
However, Green's physical attributes were too strong; even during his apprenticeship, he already possessed the physique of a full-fledged knight. Only Baron Crow and Captain Oss of the Guards were allowed to train with him directly, but to conceal his true abilities, Green outwardly presented himself as an ordinary apprentice.
To gain experience, Green chose hunting as his path, honing his skills by killing powerful beasts.
"Lord Green, are you going hunting again?" The guards at the castle gate had seen Green in this outfit many times these past few days, and he always brought back some game, so they naturally knew what Green had been up to.
"Hmm." Green nodded, acknowledging the guard's response.
Seeing that Green was unwilling to say more, the guard dared not press further. He respectfully took a quiver full of arrows from the side and handed it to Green.
The baron's castle lodging area did not have an armory; the nearest warehouse was built next to the inner wall of the castle. Green also needed to come here to retrieve arrows for each hunt.
Along the castle wall, Green slowly walked into the forest. To avoid encountering Saladin's men, Green deliberately chose the other side of the mountain. Originally, Green didn't want to take any risks, but unfortunately, practical experience can only be gained in actual combat. If he didn't act now while the risk was still small, he would regret it when he actually faced the battle, and that would be too late.
The snow in the forest had almost completely disappeared, and all sorts of wild beasts appeared in the forest to hunt, which fully satisfied Green's needs.
Green walked through the forest, using the chip to monitor the surrounding environment in all directions.
[Chip, searching for traces of large prey]
Under the chip's influence, red arrows appeared in Green's eyes, indicating the location most likely to contain large prey, based on the chip's analysis. Green followed the arrows and quickly moved in the designated direction.
"Roar!!" Before Green even arrived, a tremendous roar resounded in the direction indicated by the arrow. Green immediately quickened his pace, rushing towards the source of the sound as fast as he could.
As he got closer to his destination, Green slowed his pace, trying to minimize the noise he made while walking.
"Huff, huff, huff!!"
"roar!!"
Two different sounds entered Green's ears.
[Are two creatures confronting each other?] Green wondered, listening to the two voices.
Green bent down and carefully parted the bushes in front of him.
What came into Green's view was a pig and a bear facing off.
The two opposing forces faced off. The wild boar, resembling a small mountain, possessed massive bodies covered in bristles and a thick layer of mud, appearing incredibly formidable. Its enormous tusks were capable of piercing any creature; a single puncture would be fatal. Its hind legs pounded the ground incessantly, as if gathering strength. The black bear, on the other hand, circled the boar, searching for weaknesses. Its 4-meter-long body, thick limbs, and sharp claws on its paws all demonstrated immense strength and destructive power.
[Mountain Bear]
[Strength: 3.1~3.2]
[Speed: 2.1~2.2]
[Constitution: 3.5~3.7]
[Baros Black Pig]
[Strength: 3.3~3.5]
[Speed: 1.9~2.1]
[Body Condition: 3.6~3.8]
How did these two creatures, the Baros Black Pig and the Mountain Bear, end up facing off? The chip instantly analyzed the situation upon seeing the pig and the bear before it.
[Boars and mountain bears are both creatures with extremely strong territorial instincts and will never easily leave their territory, let alone engage in battle with another dominant creature.] Unlike humans, wild beasts face immense risks after being injured, and they rarely fight to the death unless they are extremely hungry.
[Something's not right, let's observe for a while!] Green wasn't planning to take down both sides at once.
[The Baros black boar has an advantage in every aspect except speed, but the black bear is no slouch either. Taking advantage of the boar's weakness in needing to mobilize its entire body when turning, the bear relentlessly pursues the Baros black boar, employing guerrilla tactics.]
The mountain bear kept circling around the Baros Black Pig, drawing the pig's attention, and as it turned, the distance between the mountain bear and the Baros Black Pig kept getting closer.
As the distance between the two drew closer, the Baros Black Pig sensed something was wrong and charged directly at the Mountain Bear. The Mountain Bear had achieved its goal; the distance between them had been compressed to a very short distance. In this short-distance sprint, the Baros Black Pig could not accelerate, giving the Mountain Bear time to react.
Just as the two were about to collide, the mountain bear suddenly stood up, like a human, and dodged the Baros black boar's impact by sidestepping it. It then raised its forelegs and slammed them hard into the boar's body.
Under the attack of the mountain bear, the Baros black boar lost its balance and fell to its side.
Seeing the Baros black boar's belly exposed, the mountain bear roared and slammed its paw down hard on the boar's abdomen. Paw after paw, relentlessly striking. The Baros black boar, its weak point attacked, let out two mournful cries before falling still.
Looking at the dead Baros black boar, the mountain bear began to enjoy its spoils.
[Legend has it that mountain bears can use traps, so it seems that mountain bears are quite intelligent.] Green, who witnessed the entire battle, exclaimed in amazement.
Looking at the longsword and metal bow in his hands, Grimm hesitated for a long time before finally deciding on the longsword. His close-combat skills needed to be improved; otherwise, fighting would be far too dangerous. The mountain bear was also a suitable opponent. Although he couldn't match its strength and physique, Grimm's speed was overwhelming. Controlling the pace and avoiding direct confrontation would minimize the risk.
Green picked up a rock and hurled it at the mountain bear.
A mountain bear that was eating was hit by a rock and immediately turned around, adopting a defensive posture.
The moment it saw Green, the mountain bear let out a roar and charged straight at him.
[Battle Assist Activated]
Rows of blue data appeared in Green's eyes; the chip had synchronized the prediction of the mountain bear's movement trajectory onto Green's retina.
Seeing the mountain bear rapidly approaching, Green, who was prepared, charged towards it with even greater speed. In the instant he got close, Green lowered his body and leaped to the right front, while simultaneously slashing his longsword at the mountain bear's left forelimb.
A tearing sound came from the left forelimb of the mountain bear, and Green had already slashed it.
The injured mountain bear went into a berserk state, roaring once more as it waited for Green to charge again.
In the eyes of a mountain bear, a creature that would normally flee at the sight of it has caused it harm—an unforgivable sin.
[Some intelligence, but not much.] This is the assessment Green gave when looking at the ferocious mountain bear.
With his superior speed, Green relentlessly pursued the mountain bear, employing guerrilla tactics. Assisted by the chip, every movement of Green was highly efficient and direct. The mountain bear's immense strength was utterly useless.
Each of Green's sword strikes aimed at the mountain bear's blind spots, leaving the bear helpless and unable to react. Like a wooden stake, it could only watch as Green attacked.
"Roar!" Like a final lament, the mountain bear roared this last utterance before collapsing to the ground in despair. At this moment, the mountain bear had dozens of scratches all over its body. Even with its formidable physique, as it continued to lose blood, it finally reached the end of its life.
Seeing the mountain bear lying on the ground, Green didn't approach rashly. Bears are masters of feigning death to ambush their prey. Besides, Green had a cheat code; in the chip's vision, the mountain bear's heartbeat hadn't stopped.
He took out the metal bow from his back, drew the bowstring, and shot a sharp arrow directly at the mountain bear.
"Roar!" The mountain bear, which had been lying on the ground, launched a final, frenzied charge at Green after being hit by his arrow.
"Whoosh"
"Peng"
One was the sound of an arrow flying out, and the other was the sound of a bear falling to the ground.
A white feathered arrow was stuck straight into the mountain bear's head, half of it already embedded in its skull.
[The target's heart stopped beating, blood energy began to dissipate, confirming death.]
The chip's announcement confirmed the mountain bear's official death.
Green took out the rope he had prepared beforehand, tied the mountain bear and the Baros black boar together, and slowly dragged them back to the castle.
For creatures of this knightly caliber, their flesh and blood would be extremely beneficial to ordinary people. However, it would be difficult for an average knight to kill them in a one-on-one confrontation. Grimm's ability to easily hunt these beasts stemmed from his own strength, the chip's ability to block their escape routes, and his near-superhuman archery skills.
"Lord Green is back!" The guards on the castle called out to the guards at the city gate as they saw Green emerge from the forest. "No, Lord Green's hunt was huge! It was a bear and a wild boar! Quickly prepare a wagon to help Lord Green transport his prey back."
Soon the guards arrived in a carriage beside Green.
A series of hissing sounds rang out; these ordinary guards had never seen such a large prey before.
"These are Baros Black Boars and Mountain Bears, knight-level creatures! Lord Grim is actually able to hunt these creatures!" Among the guards, there were quite a few knowledgeable people who quickly identified the breeds of the boar and the bear.
The guards looked at Green with increasing respect; some even seemed to worship him.
"Quickly transport these two creatures back to the castle. Instruct the cooks to prepare them as food as soon as possible. Don't waste their flesh and blood. Keep the best parts for me and Old Green, and distribute the rest to everyone in the castle." Green said directly to the leader of the guards who were loading and unloading the food.
Upon hearing this, the guards quickened their pace, eager to transport the pig and the bear back to the castle immediately.
News of Grimm's hunt for two knight-level creatures spread rapidly throughout the castle. Although the wounds suggested the boar and bear had likely fought each other, with Grimm catching them off guard, the bear's fatal blow was delivered by an arrow. The bear's wounds also indicated that Grimm had indeed engaged the mountain bear in direct combat and successfully killed it. This demonstrates that Grimm's combat talent far surpasses that of ordinary people.