A trace of fear surfaced on
"Wizards have been leaving in droves. People are flooding the streets, buying up everything that can directly boost their strength — it's as if they want to spend every last Magic Stone they have on hand…"
"This chaos didn't ease up until the Public Centre sent patrols out into the streets…"
"Also, your friend,
"What message?"
"'The night draws near — be careful of everything.'" Damien rattled off the phrase as if it were some kind of proverb.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Lei Lin frowned. "Since when did Clio start pulling that fortune-teller Wizard act? He never likes to explain anything clearly!"
Lei Lin thought for a moment, then finally addressed Damien. "Based on the information I've received, a fairly major war is about to break out…"
Although he had already suspected as much, hearing the confirmation still sent an uncontrollable shudder through Damien's body. He had originally been captured and enslaved because of a war. Even though a Soul Imprint had since been placed on him, the painful experience remained seared into his memory just as indelibly as the imprint itself — not a single moment of it could ever be forgotten.
"Oh, right — call Numbers One through Five over here!"
Lei Lin issued the order to Damien in a casual tone, and the latter quickly suppressed his trembling and withdrew at once.
A few minutes later, five tall figures clad in full plate armor with refined steel greatswords at their sides appeared before Lei Lin. They dropped to one knee and executed a flawless Knight's salute.
"Master!"
The steel armor, several centimeters thick, didn't hinder their movements in the slightest. Moreover, every gesture and motion the five of them made carried an unmistakable flavor of iron and blood — one look was enough to tell they were seasoned Knights who had weathered countless battles.
"Rise," Lei Lin said softly, looking down at the five before him.
These five, naturally, were the Great Knight-level slaves he had purchased alongside Damien at the slave market.
After placing Soul Imprints on them to ensure control, Lei Lin could now order these five Great Knights to their deaths, and they would comply without the slightest hesitation.
They had each originally borne their own names, but for convenience's sake, Lei Lin had simply given each of them new ones — numbered sequentially, from Number One through Number Five.
Lei Lin had invested a great deal of effort into these five Great Knights. Over the course of an entire year, he had continuously adjusted their physical condition, sparing no expense in consuming vast quantities of resources to prepare extremely rare potions for the five of them to use.
The five experimental subjects before him now — the energy fluctuations radiating from their bodies, along with the Life Energy they unconsciously leaked — had already begun to surpass the Great Knight level. They were advancing toward the next stage.
"The secret technique I taught you before — how is the circulation progressing?"
Lei Lin asked casually.
"Reporting, My Lord! After circulating the secret technique and combining it with the previous potion, Number Two, Number Three, and I have all felt our Life Energy begin to rise upward for the first time in ages. Our physical capabilities are also steadily increasing…"
The tall man on the far left stepped forward and spoke: "However, Number Four and Number Five experienced their brand marks trembling when they attempted to circulate the secret technique. The marks emitted an extremely intense, scorching heat that disrupted their training…"
This Great Knight slave designated Number One reported in meticulous detail.
Over the course of more than a year, Lei Lin had continuously subjected these five human Great Knights to Imprinted Swordsman modifications enhanced by the Chip, and had now obtained considerable experimental results.
As for the so-called "secret technique" he had taught these five Great Knights beforehand, it was nothing more than material compiled and supplemented from the Imprinted Swordsman training documents.
"Is that so?" Lei Lin's gaze grew solemn. "Take off all your clothes!"
Upon hearing their master's command, the five slaves present removed their armor without a moment's hesitation.
Clang, clang, clang! The sound of metal armor striking the ground rang out. In barely a dozen seconds, the Great Knights had shed every ounce of weight from their bodies, revealing completely naked forms.
And Number Four and Number Five — the two who were still female Great Knights — showed not the slightest hint of modesty, displaying their full curves and intimate areas directly before Lei Lin's eyes.
All five possessed Great Knight strength. Their bodies bore lines that were smooth yet full, with explosive power hidden beneath every inch of muscle.
Their entire forms resembled flawless sculptures.
But there were certain things that stubbornly persisted upon their bodies, offsetting that sculptural perfection.
Ignoring the two beautiful female knights among his subordinates entirely, Lei Lin's gaze focused completely on the crisscrossing brand marks that covered their bodies.
Lei Lin observed carefully.
Across his knights' bodies, he could see deep brand marks running in every direction. These marks were entirely black, with twisted scarring along their edges, as though they had been burned into the flesh with a searing iron.
These brand marks, resembling the crawling legs of a centipede, covered every slave's body from head to toe, converging on the chest and lower abdomen to form an extremely peculiar symbol.
However, at the ends of these brand marks, several breaks remained, preventing the marks from connecting completely into a whole.
"Chip! Scan the brand marks and the current state of these Great Knights, compare with the previous observation data, and create a new file!" Lei Lin muttered silently in his mind.
At the same time, a faint blue glow emanated from his eyes, sweeping straight across these slaves.
"Beep! Task established, data scan in progress!" The Chip faithfully carried out Lei Lin's command.
Rows of data and blue three-dimensional holographic images appeared directly before Lei Lin's eyes, constantly refreshing.
"Hmm! It looks like the training method I compiled is working quite well. The physical fitness of these Knights has improved significantly compared to before, and even their Life Energy cultivation, which had previously stagnated, has begun to grow rapidly!"
Lei Lin stared at the data for the three male Great Knights, looking very satisfied. Then, he shifted his gaze to the two female Great Knights.
"The training method for Imprint Swordsmen is conflicting with the brand marks on their bodies?"
Lei Lin studied the data on the Chip's display carefully, occasionally stepping forward to examine the position of the brand marks more closely.
"Where did it go wrong before? Here, perhaps?"
Without any hesitation, Lei Lin placed his hand over Number Four's lower abdomen. An immediate warmth radiated from his palm, and at the same time, he could feel the muscles beneath that smooth, firm skin gently trembling.
"Y-yes… it's there, Master!" Number Four was a female Great Knight with a beautiful face and an exceptionally voluptuous figure, but her voice trembled slightly at this moment.
"In that case!" Lei Lin stroked his chin.
"Chip! Adjust the parameters for these two female Knights, modify the PS-level content, raise the index to level three! Test it again!"
Such computational tasks were a piece of cake for the Chip. Very quickly, it presented the recalculated results before Lei Lin.
"Beep! Upon calculation, the brand mark positions and rune inscriptions for Imprint Swordsmen differ between males and females. The inscribed rune brand marks must meet the corresponding requirements!"
Looking at the conclusion the Chip provided, Lei Lin's expression showed not the slightest surprise.
"Just as I expected! The Imprint Swordsman data I obtained from Guofate was clearly far too incomplete regarding the brand rune inscriptions. Only a portion of the runes inscribed on male humans were deduced by the Chip, and these runes are obviously not applicable to females — which is why these two female Knights couldn't cultivate!"
"It looks like I'll need to purchase large numbers of male Great Knight slaves in the future to attempt creating Imprint Swordsmen!"
Lei Lin calculated silently to himself.
For him, using males or females made no difference whatsoever — it simply meant a few extra trips to the slave market.
However, the most critical aspect of the rune technology behind the Imprint Swordsmen—the version he had now only solved for males. Deriving a female version from scratch was not impossible, but it would be far too time-consuming, and Lei Lin could not afford to pour the Chip's precious computational power into such an endeavor.
"If that's the case, then the mass production of Imprint Swordsmen comes down to just one remaining problem—the energy node connection points of the imprint runes!"
Lei Lin stroked his chin, a fervent gleam flashing in his eyes.
The ancient Imprint Swordsmen, much like Bloodline Sorcerers and Elemental Singers, had been one of the most formidable professions within the Wizard branches. In terms of physical defense and melee combat, they were nothing short of nightmares to their enemies.
And the combination of an Imprint Swordsman with a spellcaster was often an eternal horror across many planes.
With an Imprint Swordsman holding the front line, the Wizards positioned in the rear would have ample time to prepare more devastating spells, potentially turning the tide of an entire battle.
A fully trained Imprint Swordsman possessed strength that, at minimum, rivaled that of a First-Level Wizard!
If Lei Lin could command a corps composed entirely of Imprint Swordsmen—and it didn't need to be large, just more than twenty—he would have no rivals among First-Level Wizards, and he would even have the confidence to challenge a Second-Level Wizard or two!
"But the energy node issue is the most critical component of the entire Imprint Swordsman rune system. Without extensive practical experimentation and data collection, even the Chip cannot guarantee there are no flaws. Plus, there's the matter of controlling Imprint Swordsmen once they advance…"
Lei Lin lowered his head in contemplation.
He was still only a First-Level Wizard. At most, a soul imprint could control third-tier apprentices and Great Knights.
But the ancient Imprint Swordsmen, like Wizards and Sorcerers, had broken beyond the boundaries of mortals and reached a transcendent level of power.
That kind of strength was far beyond what Lei Lin's current soul imprint could control.
Therefore, a safer and more effective method of control had to be researched and applied to the Imprint Swordsmen!
Only then could the loyalty of this entire corps be assured!