laulau20

Chapter 112: New Knight Order

Added 2025-08-30 04:47:08 +0000 UTC

“Hm… there is nothing here. Where do you think Andrew planned to reignite the star?” James looked around. It was wasteland and forest as far as the eye could see.

“It should be in that ruined city. But it’s in shambles—we only have the cores. I have no idea how he planned to do it. Andrew kept most details to himself. We did get briefings, but I didn’t read them.” Kouki shrugged. Andrew had gone with the rest of the team, leaving Kouki and Kaina to tend the dragon and the pegasus.

“You guys aren’t coming in?”

“I’ll look around, trying to get Kaina some level-ups. The boss here is a horde, not a single monster. Kaina needs the boost,” Kouki said.

“Um… thanks.” Kaina nodded. James frowned. Infected monsters in this dungeon gave little to no XP. The only ones that gave XP were knights, and they were too dangerous for someone like Kaina to take on.

“...” Kouki glanced at James as if hinting at something. It took a moment for James to understand.

“...I’m not here to babysit a little girl. I won’t be responsible if she dies,” James said.

“Don’t say it like that! I am not a little girl! I can take care of myself.”

“James only says it so we don’t get complacent. James, it would be safer if you went with us. Please.”

“Alright.”

James then ventured into the wasteland, fighting random goblins and orcs as they got closer to the tower. The land was sick; James could feel the mud seeping into him like an infection. The system didn’t give him a notification that he was infected, so it should be safe—but the slick mud in the damp, dark forest kept reminding James of disease.

“Ugh. I don’t like this place.” Kouki frowned.

They soon came upon a village where a dozen orcs and goblins had nested. Kouki and Kaina cleared them without James’ help—though it was mostly Kouki. While Kaina was immune to infection thanks to her unique skill, she couldn’t deal any real damage to the infected creatures. Kouki couldn’t lend her James’ sword either, since she specialized in spears rather than blades.

Meanwhile, Andrew beamed with hope when he learned the Knight Order of Mystis had returned. He also realized his favor had risen after helping those civilians. He couldn’t wait to defeat the floor boss and be ennobled as a knight.

“Boss, must it be Kouki and you who get to be ennobled as knights?” Hain, who had been silent all this time, asked Andrew.

“Hm? Well, Kouki is our best damage dealer. Immunity to debuffs would suit him well. Do you want to be knights too? In other dungeons, where you can use your full cyborg body, you should be immune to most status effects such as paralysis and poison. I think Kouki and I could make better use of Mystis’ blessings.”

Andrew’s reasoning was sound—Hain knew that. Kouki was the damage dealer, while he was the healer. But the fact that they had worked so hard only to empower others left him unsettled. Even more so now, when he was essentially powerless.

Hain had once amassed a cyborg body worth over 5,000 points. But all of it was destroyed on the first floor when the Knights of Mystis attacked him. James should have been in the same situation, having lost his hand and legs, yet it didn’t seem to slow him down in the slightest.

That was what made Hain feel like he was the only one truly losing in this dungeon. He knew the blessing of Mystis would probably be less useful to him, but he still wanted to seize the chance to grow stronger, to recover what he had lost.

Andrew and the guild could probably fork over some coins to him, but 5,000 was pushing it. There was no way the guild would lend him that much when it had already been proven that Hain could lose it again in the future.

Ignoring the distressed Hain, Andrew continued talking to the receptionist, asking about the knight order.

“Who is the new knight order’s grandmaster? Can he be recruited? I have news for him.”

“Unfortunately, you may not meet with him. We are currently very busy reorganizing. The knight order’s numbers have been severely reduced, and we are sorely lacking in knights.”

“You know, if the knight order needs members, why not recruit us?” Hain commented on the side.

“...Your contribution is currently lacking. We need someone with at least intermediate—no. At least novice mastery with a weapon.”

“We happen to have another part of the Pestilence God—the heart. Will this be enough? We’ve proven ourselves useful to the knight order of Mystis, haven’t we?” Andrew was about to spend a long five minutes kissing up to the knights, a skill honed from his previous job as a manager and company CEO.

He had tried the same thing in the previous playthrough, but he eventually realized the dungeon’s NPCs did not respond to flattery. They followed a strict set of ironclad rules. As long as you weren’t hostile at them, they behaved according to how many favors you owned.

The reverse was also true. No matter how much he extolled the virtues of the knights, they wouldn’t budge. Favors in the knight order worked the same way. They didn’t care about Andrew’s attitude; as long as he submitted parts of the Pestilence God, he would gain favor. Completing certain quests also earned favor. That was simply how dungeons worked.

“Understood… you have enough contribution. We need three people who meet the criteria. However, you will not become knights of Mystis, but squires of Mystis. The blessing is the same, but it will be temporary.”

Andrew beamed at the prospect of becoming a knight. But the word temporary unsettled him. That meant he could only be a knight of Mystis inside this dungeon. He needed this power in other dungeons—without it, he might fall unconscious from sleep gas, or a toxic fume could wipe him out. With the blessing, his vanguard would be immune.

“Temporary? How do we make it permanent?”

“You can only become a true knight of Mystis when you are ennobled in the Lighted Star Tower. Only when the danger of the pestilence is over can you be ennobled. You will also need more contributions.”

“System? What does she mean?” Andrew asked.

[Your current favors are 3. To become a squire of Mystis, you need a favor. Then you will need one more favor to become a knight of Mystis. But you can only be ennobled as a knight of Mystis under special circumstances.]

“What special circumstances?”

[That information is classified.]

“...I see.” Andrew restrained his frustration with the robotic system. It didn’t spell it out for him, but he could imagine becoming a true knight of Mystis once he reignited the Star Tower and defeated the next floor’s boss, liberating the dungeon from the Pestilence God’s influence.

That was how one should have become the knight of Mystis in his previous run. Unfortunately, he had run out of favors back then, so he couldn’t.

“Let’s call Kouki.”

“Ah, you will also need to donate 12 gold bars to purchase the remaining armor of Mystis’ knights. You are required to use it at all times once you become a squire.”

“Understood. What if we don’t have the gold bars?” Andrew winced. He had 20 of them, but he had already spent 10 on ropes, food, and bags.

“100 coins for each gold bar would do,” the receptionist said.

“Understood. Please let me rethink this for a bit. I also need to call my comrades. We have to decide who will become the squires of Mystis.” Andrew left the receptionist.

“Well, it appears you will become a knight, Hain. Happy? We have enough favor for three people to become a squire.”

“Yes, boss! You’re the best!”

Andrew wondered whether he should give the knighthood to someone else, like Henoch or Hou Yi. But after some deliberation, Hain had the highest level compared to the others except Jmaes, Kouki, and him, so he decided this was for the best. Andrew also felt pity—Hain’s cyborg body parts had been destroyed during the knights’ attack.

Hain had been an exceptional survivor before. With his four arms, he had no blind spots, and each arm could perform a weapon skill. His enhanced legs put him leaps and bounds above Andrew and Kouki. His go-to tactic was “double skill,” using two different weapon skills at once on the enemy he dueled. In the previous dungeon, he could climb cliffs or leap onto rooftops. But now, he was reduced to a normal combatant—even Andrew could beat him.

“Where is he? We told Kouki and the others to wait here, right?” Hain scoffed.

“They probably went out hunting,” Andrew said. “Let’s wait a bit. Ah, there you go.”

In the distance, Andrew saw a speck of a white dot in the sky—it was Kouki’s dragon. An hour later, the group rendezvoused, and Andrew broke the news to them.

“Really? I can become a knight right now?” Kouki beamed.

“Yes. It’s only as a squire, not a full knight, but the knight order said you could. The blessing is the same—we just need to gather more favors later to be ennobled as full-fledged knights.”

“Nice!” Kouki said.

“That’s different from what you told us, Andrew,” Kaina frowned.

“It is different from what I experienced before. In the previous playthrough, there was no such option. But not all changes are bad. We finally have some luck on our side. Maybe this is how the system balances things? We need the blessing if we want to survive against the horde.”

“Let’s go to the order, right now!” Kouki said excitedly. Becoming a knight was a dream come true for him.

“Yes. Afterwards, we shall depart to reignite the star,” Andrew nodded.

The knight order was abuzz when Andrew presented them with the star. Things were finally going his way.

[Name: James
Age: 35
Sex: Male
Level: 58
Coins: 1400
Merit: 10
Biomass: 300

Stats:
STR: 180
DEX: 177
MAGIC: 140
MANA: 1240

Skills:

Novice Axe Mastery Level 5 (Powerstrike, V-Slash, Boomerang)
Novice Sword Mastery Level 5 (Hurricane, Vorpal Lunge, Twin Fang, Lunar Counter)
Novice Bow Mastery Level 1 (Quickshot, Homing Shot, Triple Shot)
Beginner Dagger Mastery Level 1

Magic (Mind Magic Tier 3):

Mind Flay
Sense Alteration
Mana Sonar
Parallel Thought
Dispel

Class:
Attacker (Level 41) (↑1) (+10% bonus when attacking) (+1 STR, DEX per level)

Shop (Level 2):

Health Potion (100 coins)
Hematonic Potion (50 coins)
High Potion (300 coins)
Antidote (50 coins)
Sell / Repair Function
Bullets (10 coins/round)
Grenades / Flashbang (50 coins/piece)
Arrow (50 coins/dozen)
Metal Pocket Arrow (100 coins/dozen)
Poison Dart (10 coins/round)
Merit Shop (10 merit/skill)
Body Modding (Human: 100 biomass/part)

Unique Skill – Chimera Level 3 (3 Extra Slots Open):

Goblin Stomach (Iron Guts) (Stomach Slot)
Eyes of Mana (Mana Sense) (Right Eye Slot)
Golem Arm of Valhalla (STR +30%, Physical Resistance +30%, Repairable, Mana -200) (Right Arm Slot)
Flaming Tiger’s Fire Lung (Fire Breathing, Mana -100, MAGIC -10) (Lung Slot)
Golem Core (Poison Resistance, Mana -250, MAGIC -10, Repairable) (Heart Slot)
Orc’s Torso (Torso Slot)
Shadow Snake Fang (Intermediate Life Leeching) (Mouth Slot)
Flaming Tiger Lord’s Firefur (Fire Cloak, Fire Resistance, Physical Resistance +15%, Mana -100, MAGIC -10) (Skin Slot)
Land Shark’s Ear (Echolocation: 10m) (Ear Slot)
Mana Core (Water Spells: Ice Spear, Water Manipulation, MAGIC +60, MANA +1000) (Extra Slot)
Quetzalcoatl Horn (Lightning Shot, 20 Mana/shot) (Extra Slot 3)
Mana Core (Wind Spells: Wind Gust, Wind Wall, MAGIC +20, MANA +300) (Extra Slot 4)