The wizard starts by trimming the donkey's hooves

Soon, Olena took Ryan to the top floor of the administrative building, to Admiral Edward's office.

"Viscount Ryan, we meet again!" Duke of Munster greeted Ryan with a smile when he saw him come in.

"Good morning, Duke, Admiral Edward." Ryan bowed slightly and smiled.

After a few pleasantries, Duke of Munster got straight to the point and said:

"Viscount Ryan, in recognition of your outstanding contribution in handling the Black Flame Cult attack, I, on behalf of the Munster Administrative Office, have decided to award you the Munster Province Medal of Outstanding Contribution."

"In addition, considering that you are new to Munster, perhaps you need a mansion that suits your status. I think the former Earl's mansion in the noble district should be more suitable." Speaking of this, Duke of Munster paused.

He opened a dark brown wooden box with exquisite workmanship on the coffee table and took out a golden medal in the shape of a bauhinia flower.

"Thank you, Lord Duke, for your generosity." Ryan immediately expressed his gratitude and leaned forward slightly to let the Duke of Munster hang the medal on his chest.

He naturally knew that the symbolic meaning of the medal was greater than its practical meaning.

The real reward this time was still the mansion.

"Secondly, after discussing with Admiral Edward, we agreed that your achievements have met the conditions for being conferred the title of Earl. Therefore, Admiral Edward and I will jointly write a letter of recommendation to the higher authorities in the near future to recommend you as Earl."

"It's just that His Majesty the Emperor is seriously injured, and the promotion of titles above Earl requires the Emperor's consent, so this matter may be delayed for a long time."

"Thank you very much for your appreciation." Ryan stood up and expressed his gratitude to the two again.

The first reward was of great practical use to Ryan.

You know, the situation in the entire Munster Province is also relatively turbulent now, and many noble families in the county town have moved to the relatively safe provincial capital.

This has led to rising housing prices in Munster.

Not to mention the noble district, even in the upper city, it is hard to find a slightly better mansion.

Now the Duke of Munster has directly allocated a count's mansion to him, which can be regarded as a solution to his urgent needs. Moreover, the location is in the noble district. Whether it is the environment, public security and other conditions, it can be said to be the best area in Munster.

One of the reasons why Ryan has been staying in the Sword Bearer Branch recently is because the Diamond Star Sword Bearer Captain Suite allocated by the branch includes a training room.

And his current mansion near the branch, let alone the training room, has only five bedrooms in total, and his family can hardly live in it.

As for the second reward mentioned by the Duke of Munster, the declaration of the earl, Ryan is not so anxious.

Because judging from the current situation, even if he is awarded the title of earl and has his own hereditary territory, the defense pressure he has to bear is also very great.

This can be seen by referring to the Habsburg family where Claire is.

Now the situation in the empire is turbulent, and attacks are constantly happening. The territorial nobles with hereditary territories will be forced to disperse their combatants due to the vast territory, which is not conducive to resisting various attacks.

The Duke of Munster stayed for a while and then left.

He was in charge of the entire Munster administration and was quite busy.

Ryan noticed that the other party had been sitting for only a quarter of an hour, and the guards came to pass on three times, which were urgent official letters from different county cities.

At this time, Admiral Edward and Ryan were the only two people left in the office.

At this time, Admiral Edward looked apologetic and said, "Ryan, the headquarters has also responded to the request for the Imperial Guardian to help you remove the mark."

"The battle in the imperial capital a few days ago caused many Imperial Guardians to be injured. Other Guardians have urgent tasks and are not in the imperial capital."

"So, I'm afraid your matter will be delayed for a while."

When Admiral Edward said this, he took out a gray wooden box from the drawer and continued:

"Of course, don't worry too much. This is a high-level purification potion sent by the headquarters. Although it can't completely eliminate the mark, it can at least suppress the impact of the mark on you within three months."

"Thank you, Admiral Edward." Ryan bowed slightly and took the wooden box.

He had certain expectations for this result at the emergency meeting two days ago.

Under the current situation of the empire, it is estimated that every Imperial Guardian will be in a relatively busy state.

In terms of priority, the matter of removing his mark will naturally be ranked behind.

Of course, Ryan's biggest confidence in facing this situation calmly is that he has completely suppressed the evil flame mark.

In fact, from the confrontation with the evil flame mark, he turned a disaster into a blessing and quickly improved his will attribute.

Ryan has a hunch.

It is very likely that when his will attribute is increased to ten points, he can completely erase this evil flame mark.

Of course, this situation is only known to him, and he does not intend to report it to Admiral Edward in front of him.

After all, this is another difficult situation to explain.

If a person is known to have many secrets, then the possibility of others having the intention to explore is naturally higher.

Ryan does not intend to test human nature.

After Admiral Edward finished speaking, he has been quietly looking at Ryan's expression. Seeing Ryan's calm face, he can't help but admire him more.

He really liked this young, humble but powerful subordinate.

"Ryan, don't worry. I have written to Cardinal Osborn of the Imperial Goddess Church about your situation. He is an old friend of mine. Even if the situation is bad, I believe he will have a solution."

"By the way, how is your health after the last battle?"

"No big problem, sir. Is there a more difficult task?" Ryan was quite grateful to Admiral Edward.

"Not yet, but I have a bad feeling. Perhaps you will receive an assignment in the near future." Admiral Edward frowned and said.

"When I held an emergency meeting last time, I mentioned the headquarters' requirements. One is to check and protect all the forbidden gates within the province, and the other is to eliminate the cult."

"If we do the two things separately, our branch will be short of manpower. So, after discussion, we decided on a preliminary plan to combine the two things and carry out the above tasks in a district-based manner."

"Considering the limited number of diamond-level sword holders, we plan to assign one diamond-level team, two to three gold-level teams, and multiple silver-level teams to every two county cities to be responsible for the above two tasks."

"Ordinary search and combat tasks in the assigned area will be handed over to these silver-level or gold-level teams, and once they cannot handle it, you will need to intervene."

"As for the choice of county cities, Ryan, do you have any intentions?" Admiral Edward asked proactively.

Ryan naturally knew that Admiral Edward was giving him preferential treatment because the other party had long known that he was from Meister.

In this regard, Ryan thought about it and did not intend to refuse.

After all, Claire is still there, and Veronica is in the fishing port town.

"Sir, then what do you think of Meister and Rosby County?" Ryan smiled and said.

"Of course, but now the pressure from the sea tribes there is not light. Although the Imperial Navy is dealing with the front battlefield, some emergencies are also likely to occur."

Admiral Edward reminded.

"Thank you for your reminder, sir. I will pay attention." Ryan nodded and said.

Ryan returned to his residence and continued to let Vieri and Angus practice daggers with him.

In the center of the training room, Ryan flashed two phantoms with different postures in an instant, jumping down and turning left, and attacked Vieri at the same time.

Although these phantoms are just phantoms and will disappear soon, they are not like the witchcraft "Illusion", which is a certain energy aggregation, but in battle, they can also confuse the enemy.

In the battle between masters, a moment of distraction can often determine the outcome.

The phantom in front of him made Vieri stunned for a moment, and Ryan's dagger pierced the tip of his left ear.

Suddenly, a small tuft of hair was cut off!

And Angus, who was standing next to him, was also pierced by another dagger from his forehead by Ryan.

Both of them were defeated.

"Captain, what was that just now? Secret?" Angus' eyes widened and he said in disbelief.

In the past few days, Ryan has been practicing daggers with them.

At first, they really thought that their captain was just on a whim and wanted to practice daggers.

But after two days, as sparring partners, they knew how fast their captain improved.

From the original one-on-one to one against two later!

This is not a whim!

A few days are almost equivalent to the efforts of others for several years!

Ryan nodded and said, "Well, I suddenly realized that this is the secret of the 'Brack's Assassination Dance' I practiced - Shadow Step."

While talking, Ryan glanced at the system prompt and was quite happy.

The system prompt was as follows:

[Congratulations, you have comprehended the primary secret of Brack's Assassination Dance: Shadow Step! ]

"Shadow Step! Another secret is mastered!"

"Now there are only two different weapon categories of extraordinary combat skills. Once completed, the requirements for job transfer will be met."

At the same time, Ryan saw a new icon located directly above 'Brack's Assassination Dance' on the Weapon Master (Legend) panel.

The pattern in the icon is three thin men holding daggers in different attacking postures.

If you look carefully, you can find that the figures on both sides are slightly blurred, like phantoms, and the one attacking in the middle is the real person.

At the bottom left, the text description of the secret is as follows:

Shadow Step (Primary Secret) Effect: Use a special step that combines the Force with the leg strength to leave two additional phantoms within a three-meter range around the body to confuse the enemy.

(To upgrade Shadow Step to Intermediate Secret, the following conditions must be met: 1. Burak's assassination dance step level 14 or above (specialization can offset some level requirements); 2. Fire Dragon Breathing Method level 12 or above; 3. Strength 30 points, Agility 38 points, Constitution 34 points or above; 4. Consume 1 gold skill point.)

Ryan did not expect that with the support of "Advanced Supernatural Comprehension", his comprehension of supernatural combat skills would be so fast.

Of course, "Intermediate Weapon Mastery" and the last skill point added are also very critical, shortening the two most difficult levels to upgrade later.

Otherwise, relying solely on the ‘advanced supernatural comprehension’, Ryan would need at least twenty days to reach the current level.

At this time, Vieri and the others on the side opened their mouths, wanting to say something, but they didn’t know what to say.

These days, they have been shocked by their captain’s abnormal learning ability.

Even the scroll master Neoro was speechless at this moment.

With such a perverted knight talent, is it still necessary to learn wizards?

Ryan was considering another question.

The name of the extraordinary combat skill ‘Borak’s Assassination Dance’ can actually reveal some clues. It is different from the general dagger-type extraordinary combat skills in terms of concept.

The founder of this extraordinary combat skill, Burak, believes that the most important thing for an assassin using a dagger is the swift attack speed and flexible body shape.

Therefore, the extraordinary combat skill he created focuses on strengthening and improving the movement speed, and at the same time, relying on fast and special steps to generate phantoms and confuse the enemy.

After comprehending the secret of 'Shadow Step', Ryan made up for one of his shortcomings.

Originally, he was wearing plate armor, and although his linear acceleration was not afraid of anyone, his flexibility in movement was a little insufficient.

But now it's different.

"Should I upgrade Shadow Step to the intermediate secret?"

Ryan looked at the remaining 16 gold skill points on the attribute panel, thought about it, and decided to upgrade 'Shadow Step' to the intermediate secret.

After consuming two gold skill points to upgrade Burak's assassination dance, and another gold skill point to break through, the system prompt sounded again:

[Congratulations, you have comprehended Burak's assassination dance intermediate secret: Shadow Step! ]

At the same time, on the Weapon Master (Legend) panel, the icon of Burak's assassination dance secret 'Shadow Step' also changed.

In the icon, the number of people attacking the thin man with a dagger has become five.

In other words, in addition to the real person, the phantom has increased from two to four.

Sure enough, this point was also confirmed by Ryan in the text description of the secret:

Shadow Step (Intermediate Secret) Effect: Use a special step that combines the Force with the leg strength, leaving four additional phantoms within a five-meter range around the body to confuse the enemy.

(To upgrade Shadow Step to Advanced Secret, the following conditions must be met: 1. Burak's assassination dance level 16 or above (specialization can offset some level requirements); 2. Fire Dragon Breathing Level 14 or above; 3. Strength 35 points, Agility 42 points, Constitution 38 points or above; 4. Consume 2 gold skill points.)

"The range has been increased, and at the same time, the number of phantoms has also increased"

"This secret is very practical!" Ryan was secretly happy.

——

At the same time.

In the city of Munster.

Having never been to such a prosperous city, Anna looked around with curiosity, especially when she climbed up the stairs along the main road in the city of Munster, Leavenworth Avenue.

Anna was amazed by the various shops along the way, the vast scenery of the Dorne Plain that came into view from the gradually rising city.

After walking for a while, Anna came to the Munster Trade Zone.

The dazzling array of goods, vendors, and pedestrians around her made her a little overwhelmed.

But soon, Anna was stunned. She was staring at a tall building with extremely gorgeous exterior decoration not far away, and she was in a trance.

The tall door sign on it read "Axon Auction House".

"Is this the Axon Auction House?" Anna muttered to herself.

"Clues to my mother's disappearance"

For a while, the six words "Axon Auction House" seemed like a black hole, attracting Anna to approach uncontrollably.

At this time, among the people entering and leaving the auction house, a middle-aged man in a black wizard robe came out accompanied by several well-equipped personnel.

I just heard a few people chatting casually:

"I heard that Marquis Orenz encountered a tough guy in Minster and was defeated. He had no choice but to give up all the family's shares in the Minster branch."

"Yes, I heard that too. It is said that the Bloodtop Mercenary Group was completely wiped out."

"So powerful? Scorpion Girl and Iron Man are not easy to deal with! Especially the strength of Asimov, the leader of the Bloodtop Group, is almost the same as that of the boss. Didn't he escape?"

"Yes, the beautiful woman this time is the representative of the other party."

"Is it that beautiful woman? It turns out that she is the new shareholder. She is really attractive. Boss, do you think we should go and find out the bottom of the other party?"

"Don't make trouble for me! We will go to Nome Province tomorrow." The middle-aged man in black robe said in a deep voice.

However, when the man passed by Anna, he was suddenly stunned and his nose moved slightly.

"Huh? This smell" His eyes lit up, as if he had discovered something.

Then, he turned around and looked at the slender girl who had just passed by, and sensed it carefully.

"No, it was the essence of plants and trees. Is this girl a rare natural wizard?" The middle-aged man thought about it, and then he rubbed the ring in his hand towards Anna.

It seemed that it absorbed a trace of Anna's breath, and the ring emitted a faint green light.

"No! This... Is this the breath of a druid? The other party is an elf?" The middle-aged man's eyes suddenly widened, and then he stared at Anna's slender figure and showed a meaningful smile.

"What good luck! I can meet an elf girl even when I come to Munster for a meeting. If I present this to Duke Drum, I will definitely get a lot of good things."

The middle-aged man is named Sam Yagiel. He was originally one of the captains of the slave-hunting teams under the head office of the Axon Auction House.

Due to his outstanding performance, he was noticed by Duke Drum, one of the shareholders of the Axon Auction House, and became the Duke's agent, responsible for the affairs of the Axon branches in many provinces of the empire.

This time, he came to Munster because the Munster branch held a shareholder change meeting.

"Dixon, follow the other party and see where the other party lives. Maybe we will take action at night." Sam pointed at Anna and said.

"Okay, boss." The thin leather-armored man named Dixon immediately agreed excitedly.

Due to the many customers coming in and out, and Anna who was immersed in observation, she didn't realize that she had been stared at at this time. After stopping to look at the auction house for a long time, she walked towards the administrative district.

The servants who stayed at the Ryan Mansion in Meister County City told her that she could go to the Sword Holder Munster Branch to find Ryan.

Dixon followed Anna all the way and came to the gate of the Sword Holder Munster Branch.

"Huh? Is the other party related to the Sword Holder?" Dixon frowned and watched the scene from a distance.

"This is a bit troublesome."

But soon, his brows relaxed and thought to himself: "In the Sword Holder Branch, as long as it is not the few diamond-level sword holders, with the boss here, it should be able to be dealt with."

"Don't worry, just observe here and you will know."

After a while, a tall young man walked out quickly, and there were several young people of similar age beside him.

These people were Ryan, Neolo, Vieri and others.

Seeing that the girl's friends were such a group of young people.

Dixon's heart relaxed immediately.

Before, he heard that the Bloodtop Mercenary Group was wiped out in Munster, and the one who did it was a diamond-level captain of the Sword Holder Munster Branch.

But the group of young people in front of him, at first glance, have nothing to do with the Diamond-level team.

Because in his impression, let alone the Diamond-level team, even the Gold-level team, the men are bearded or have strong faces, and the women are mature and charming, after all, they are at least 27 or 28 years old.

Unlike the group of young people in front of him, the young ones don’t even know if they are 20 years old?

The one carrying the shield seems to be a little older, but at most he is in his early twenties.

Just a group of rookies.

At most, they are members of the Silver-level team, and who knows, they may even be newcomers!

Dixon smiled and quickly wrote the investigation on a small piece of paper. Then, he released a small but extremely fast swift from his arms.

Seeing the swift soaring into the sky, Dixon hummed a little song easily, followed Ryan and the others, and followed all the way.

And Ryan was naturally overjoyed to see Anna. When he heard the guard report that "there is a girl named Anna waiting outside." ’

He rushed over immediately, and Neoro and the others followed curiously when they saw the excitement and joy on their captain’s face.

After seeing Anna, they all looked at her.

“Anna, long time no see. Don’t leave without saying goodbye this time.” Ryan wanted to reach out, but when he thought of Anna’s shy personality and the onlookers on the side, he put his raised hand down again.

“Long time no see, Ryan! Wow~ Ryan, you have grown too much taller, haven’t you? Last time I was with Aunt Delanna, I’m really embarrassed.” Anna saw Ryan, her beautiful eyes lit up, stretched out her hand to gesture the height difference between the two, and couldn’t help but exclaimed.

“You have changed a lot. By the way, Anna, did you come with your aunt this time?” Ryan smiled, looked at Anna, and found that Anna had changed a lot.

From the original thin figure, to now a well-nourished and well-developed appearance.

"No, I actually ran out secretly this time." Anna lowered her head shyly and said softly.

Hearing this, the teenagers behind Ryan looked at each other in surprise.

Oh! Our captain is really good! He actually fascinated such a young girl and made her come all the way to find him.

A love saint!

Although the girl in front of him has a good figure and the temperament of a girl next door, she is not pretty enough and feels a little unworthy of the captain.

Vieri looked at the girl and then looked at the red-haired beauty Evelyn next to her. If he had to choose, he would naturally choose the prettier Evelyn.

After a brief greeting, Ryan took the lead and walked towards his mansion with Anna.

Anna missed mint very much.

After walking only a short distance, Ryan suddenly stopped and said, "Don't look back, someone is following us."

As soon as the voice fell!

Lei left a shadow on the spot, and with lightning speed, he came to Dixon in front of him.

It was the newly mastered intermediate secret - 'Shadow Step'!

And Dix was following with a relaxed look on his face, because he subconsciously thought that Ryan and the others were new sword holders, so he didn't follow them far away.

Suddenly, he felt a flash in front of his eyes, and a tall figure suddenly appeared in front of him, like a wall, blocking him.

Dixon was about to curse, but when he looked closely, his heart suddenly tightened, and his entire back was soaked with cold sweat.

"You you." Dix pointed at Ryan with a trembling expression, as if he had seen a ghost.