novelraw Chapter 43 : Intelligence Network!
Chapter 43 : Intelligence Network!
Chapter 43: Intelligence Network!
Fidis laughed loudly and agreed, “You really are a fair person.”
Leo’s terms satisfied him.
Since the last Beast Calamity, Leo’s valiant image had left a deep impression on Fidis.
His opinion of Leo had greatly improved.
The two finalized the deal on the spot.
Leo immediately got to work. With his max-level Mount Control skill, combined with his current strength, everything came naturally to him.
With a strength as high as 2.1, he did not even need tools to remove the horseshoes or hammer in the nails.
Leo commanded the horse to lift its hoof.
His five fingers clamped down like a vise on the horseshoe, and with a single pull, the entire horseshoe along with its nails was cleanly removed.
Next, he fixed the new horseshoe in place, pinched a nail, and pressed firmly—one nail was driven straight into the hoof.
A task that normally required several hours was completed by Leo in just over ten minutes.
Fidis and Arthur, standing nearby, were almost dumbfounded.
“Th-this… this fast?!” Fidis stared at the horse in front of him. “So fast… this… can it really work?”
Leo gave the horse a look. The horse immediately lifted its hooves, began running, and even performed two elegant leaps.
“Good heavens… they all say you’re good with horses. Now I’ve truly seen it.”
Fidis handed over a silver coin and mounted his horse.
Leo reminded him, “Don’t forget the five deals you promised.”
“Don’t worry.”
Leo knew that Fidis was someone who believed in the Knight’s Code. He would definitely honor the agreement.
After securing the first deal, Leo no longer needed to offer any discounts to the other Knight’s Squires.
In truth, Leo had long planned to earn some extra income.
Blackstone City allowed Quasi-Knights and Knight’s Squires to engage in business.
For example, Burton’s son Zoro had invested in several taverns within the town.
But if not for this Beast Calamity, Leo’s business would have remained in the planning stage.
Because he had been lacking one crucial thing—
Respect.
If this had been before the Beast Calamity, his business would have been very difficult to establish.
He deeply understood that in this world where strength reigned supreme, the most important factor in making money through business was power.
Either his own fist had to be strong, or the fist behind him had to be strong.
His potential clients were all noble offspring.
If it had been a few days ago, even if Leo took on work, others could simply refuse to pay or even smash his stall—and he would have had no way to deal with it.
But now, at least among the Knight’s Squires, no one would dare disrespect him.
As long as this business gradually expanded, he would have a steady source of income.
Once he had a stable customer base, he could add simple services like cleaning or grooming fur, expanding the scope of his business.
However, aside from making money, Leo had another, far more important reason for doing this business.
Just during the process of shoeing the horse earlier, Leo had read fragments of memory from Fidis’s horse.
Basically, everything Fidis had done the previous night—including the scene of him reciting the Knight’s Code in the morning—was clearly seen by Leo.
Moreover, these noble horses needed to be exercised regularly. Everything they saw along the way could become intelligence for Leo.
Once scaled up, he could even adjust the horses’ patrol routes and frequency. It was practically perfect.
Next, as long as he expanded this business and had over a hundred horses acting as his eyes and ears—
he would possess a unique intelligence network.
And this was exactly what Leo needed most urgently right now.
Beside him, Arthur held the silver coin they had just earned and muttered, “Good heavens… earning a silver coin this quickly. Money is way too easy to make.”
Leo, on the other hand, marveled at how readily these noble youths spent money.
In their eyes, spending two silver coins to give their beloved horses high-quality maintenance was nothing to worry about.
“Alright, we’ll split this silver coin evenly. You handle the arrangements from now on. I’ll do the work—leave the business side to you.”
Arthur calculated in his mind—if they could bring in all the horses in Blackstone City, earning dozens of silver coins a month would be effortless.
After finishing the first deal, Leo quickly returned to the Training Room.
At the beginning, he would naturally need to invest some time.
Once the business grew, he could recruit a few Knight’s Squires from less wealthy families to work for him.
For Leo, the most important thing was the intelligence network.
As for money, after killing the Blood Goblin last time, he had obtained gold coins and gold jewelry.
After some time had passed and the situation calmed down, he would find an opportunity to convert them into cash.
Now, with an additional stable income source, it was foreseeable that his life would become extremely busy.
While planning along the way, Leo had already arrived at Eve Sova’s Training Room.
Closing the door, the vast Training Room now held only Leo.
He looked at his panel.
【Leo
Strength: 2.1
Agility: 1.3
Spirit: 1.4
Class: Stablehand (White), Swordsman (Green), Hunter (Green)
Unassigned Classes: Sword Master (Blue), Beast Tamer (Green)
Breathing Technique: Furnace Breathing Technique Stage One 29/100
Traits: Horse Whisperer (White), Tempering (White), Environmental Awareness (Green)
Skills:
Basic Sword Techniques (White) Level 5 100/100 (Strength +0.5, Basic Sword Techniques Proficiency +5)
Tide Cross Sword (Blue) Stage One 92/100 (Effect: Power of Dark Tide)
Mount Control Level 5 100/100 (Spirit +0.5, horses personally trained will continuously increase in potential, effect scales with Spirit Attribute)
Hunting (White) Level 2 2/100 (Discern prey weaknesses, obtain information about hunted species) (Effect: Hunting Moment Level 1)
Tracking (White) Level 1 3/100 (Agility +0.1, able to mark prey location, number of marks: 1)
Basic Archery (White) Level 1 1/100 (Strength +0.1, initial mastery of archery, one arrow every three seconds)】
Both his Breathing Technique and sword techniques were steadily accumulating experience.
Moreover, the Tide Cross Sword was only 8 experience points away from leveling up.
There was also the new archery skill to grind.
With so many things to do, he needed proper planning to avoid neglecting anything.
Leo planned to spend six hours each day on swordsmanship and the Breathing Technique.
This was the foundation of his combat strength, and he could not afford to slack off even for a single day.
Furthermore, after this Beast Calamity, his panel had unlocked the Hunter class, along with three additional skills.
The Hunting skill was not something that could be trained routinely—it required finding prey.
He had already tried. Common creatures like insects or rats in the castle either provided no experience or such negligible amounts that they could be ignored.
After all, even a Level 1 Beastkin like a Goblin only provided 1 point of experience.
To level up this skill, he would have to take risks.
For now, Leo had no intention of risking his life just for experience.
The same applied to Tracking.
Leo could sense that the Goblin he had marked had already reached outside the city.
He noticed that focusing on tracking a specific person or animal increased experience.
However, within the castle, the efficiency of training this skill was very low.
And for now, Leo had no intention of wandering aimlessly within the city, nor did he plan to leave it.
Perhaps once his strength was sufficient, he could go outside the city to hunt like Laforin and the others.
As for the final skill—Basic Archery.