"I've heard of these before," Knox muttered as he shifted direction, leaping to a different tree and narrowly avoiding the expansion of his fiancée's Innate Energy Barrier.
Midair, his sharp eyes flickered toward Sammy and her Spirit Summon. Under normal, more dire circumstances, he would have gunned for them, using them as distractions to throw Yennefer off guard.
However, given that this was his fiancée—and she was clearly holding back—he refrained from doing anything that would burn all bridges between them.
Right now, what he truly needed were more Attribute Orbs.
But as far as he knew, Attribute Orbs dropped randomly unless he actively killed something.
That meant his chances of finding one in this kind of situation were… slim.
Until—
'Wait, is that…!?'
A sudden chime echoed in his mind.
*Ding!*
[A Peak Foundation Establishment Realm Cultivator has dropped an Energy Attribute Orb!]
[+120 Energy]
A dark purple spherical object separated from Yennefer and fell to the ground.
Knox's mouth almost watered.
He waited until the exact moment it left her Innate Energy Barrier's sphere of influence, then sprang off the side of the tree he was perched on.
Although he didn't fully close the distance, caution urged him to keep a safe gap from his feisty fiancée. He got just close enough to pull the Attribute Orb toward him using his mind.
The dark purple sphere streaked through the air like a blur before merging into his body.
At once, an empowering sensation coursed through him.
Unlike the Agility Attribute Orb he had absorbed earlier, this one didn't enhance his body physically. Instead, it strengthened something deep within the core of his being.
His Sea of Innate Energy.
His Energy Stat!
Before, he had possessed no talent for cultivation or energy amassment. But now?
That no longer mattered.
His lack of talent was overridden, replaced by a direct increase in the amount of Energy stored within his Innate Energy Sea—a sea that now stretched a dozen meters in diameter.
Far superior to what it had been before.
Which was nothing.
Yennefer's brows furrowed slightly, a hint of surprise flashing through her violet eyes.
"Hmm?" she mused, tilting her head slightly. "Did you just advance your cultivation base?? But… it doesn't seem to be that way…"
A deep inquisitiveness settled into her expression.
None of this made sense.
Had he been concealing his cultivation base all along?
That would be the most logical assumption.
But up until mere hours ago, Knox Falazar had been a cultivationless cripple. How could he have possibly progressed his cultivation to the point of possessing Innate Energy in such a brief window of time?
The more Yennefer pondered over this inexplicable development, the worse her mood became.
Just as she was about to escalate the situation—
A furious and deranged voice cut through the tension like a blade.
"So you're the thieving whore who plans to take my Knox away from me!??"
A violent aura erupted from the edge of the battlefield.
There she was.
Cela Bonanier.
The sole heiress of the Bonanier Count Family.
Knox's eyes flickered toward the source of the voice.
Cela stood at the clearing's edge, her glacial blue eyes ablaze with pure madness, her posture tense with hostility.
She and Yennefer locked eyes.
A deadly glare-off ensued.
Knox sighed, shaking his head.
"It appears she instinctively knew the Energy I acquired was mine," he mused. "I must say, although she's definitely one of the craziest chicks I've ever met, she's a real genius in what she does."
As the two women's auras clashed, tension crackled in the air. An opportunity which Knox took to sneak away.
There simply wasn't enough of him to go around!
Handling two at once was far beyond his current capabilities.
[You can say that again! Even one would be far more than you could handle!]
[Sh*t, that doesn't even just apply to human women either! A single furr—]
"Stop being gross, you damned System!" Knox snapped internally, clicking his tongue in annoyance. "Just be quiet and let me figure out my next course of action."
[Fine, fine… You're no fun, humph!]
Ignoring both his System's whining and the explosions resounding in the background, Knox ran toward a small cave tucked away between the dense foliage.
He slipped inside and ventured deep within.
However—
Realizing that the darkness was far too thick to see through, he retraced his steps and settled near the entrance, where the dim light from outside barely illuminated the space.
Lowering himself onto a medium-sized boulder, he leaned forward, his expression serious for the first time since this whole mess began.
He needed to think.
This land was known as the Water Kingdom, one of the Kingdoms of the Elemental Nations. The Elemental Nations consisted of eight powerful kingdoms:
Water Kingdom
Fire Kingdom
Earth Kingdom
Air Kingdom
Ice Kingdom
Dark Kingdom
Lightning Kingdom
Metal Kingdom
The Water Kingdom alone housed hundreds of Noble Families and one Royal Family. At the top of the noble hierarchy sat the three Duke Families.
Directly beneath them were ten Count Families.
And somehow… Knox had managed to entangle himself with the heirs of not one, not two, not three… But four of these Count Families!
The fourth had yet to make an appearance since his miraculous return to the world of the living. But he knew it was only a matter of time.
With so many high-profile figures orbiting around him, Knox's chances of being stabbed in an alley or left in a ditch were increasing by the second.
The political climate of the Water Kingdom was simply that bad.
If he wanted to survive, he needed one thing above all else.
Strength.
He could scheme and charm all day long—
But in a world where one's fist reigned supreme, he needed to be strong himself.
Only then could he truly live this non-crippled life to its fullest.
And, if he was being completely honest, he had the teensiest bit of fear that if he died again, he'd end up trapped in the eternal cycle of crippled rebirth…
That left him with one final question.
What should his next move be?
He needed a game plan.
'Game plan, game plan… think, Knox!' He thought. 'Welp, I've got nothing.'
Maybe he should just go around soccer-punching people?
No, wait—his System!
That sick, sadistic a*shole of a System!
Attribute Farming!
That's what he should be doing!
"Attribute Farming as a Crippled Young Master!"