Raymond slept all the way until the next evening.
During that time, no one came into the guard hall except to bring him food.
Ever since he cut off Bucky’s ear with one swing of his sword, no one dared to knock on his door and bother him.
Raymond pushed open the break room door and saw a neatly arranged tray of soup, bread, and milk right outside. He picked it up.
Then, munching on the bread, he turned his attention to the empty space.
By now, Lorraine’s countdown for a new draw had ended.
Raymond went ahead and drew. He got an Experience Card (Black Iron Stage - 10 Days).
He stared at the time on the card and let out a sigh.
It turned out that only the first draw had a 10x reward bonus.
Good thing he had logged in three more Sinner Cards last night. Otherwise, three straight days of quarantine would definitely slow down his progress.
Time ticked by. Raymond finished his last bite of bread, and right at that moment, the countdowns for the other three girls ended.
He started with Sangria’s draw. The result was another Experience Card (Black Iron Stage - 5 Days).
Seeing that it only gave 5 days of effect, Raymond was stunned. "A level 17 female giant, and that’s all I get?"
The system prompt was right. The higher the Guard Contribution Points, the better the rewards.
The three girls he had logged in last night all had only 5 Guard Contribution Points on their card panels.
"I need to find a way to raise those Guard Contribution Points," Raymond muttered as he started Nami’s draw.
Another Experience Card (Black Iron Stage - 5 Days) appeared in the empty space.
Raymond didn’t even bother to look at it. He walked straight to the last card panel.
"Samantha? Probably nothing good either." He casually pressed the draw button.
Suddenly, a bronze-colored light flashed.
- "Congratulations, host! You have successfully drawn a reward from Sinner ’Samantha’: Talent Card (Swift Reflexes)."
[Prize Name: Talent Card (Swift Reflexes) ]
[Prize Type: One-time use item. Can only be used by the host.]
[Prize Description: Once activated, the host will gain all the abilities of the talent "Swift Reflexes" with no side effects.]
...
Seeing these messages, Raymond’s eyes lit up.
Awesome!
So he really could draw a talent from another race!
Without hesitation, Raymond activated the Talent Card.
Suddenly, a bronze-colored light shot out from the card and vanished into his forehead.
Raymond felt his chest grow warmer and warmer. The heat quickly spread through his entire body.
It was as if he could see the white neural networks wrapped around his brain, spine, and the bones of his arms and legs.
As the heat passed through them, they grew thicker, tougher, and more elastic. Even the number of neurons connecting each organ in his body seemed to multiply.
Raymond understood. His body was going through a talent transformation.
The whole process only lasted a few breaths.
When Raymond opened his eyes again, the first thing he saw was that a new talent had appeared on his status panel: [Swift Reflexes (Level 3)].
It was a passive talent. And it was Level 3.
Raymond suddenly remembered something from his childhood.
Lucian Baron had once told him that in this world, the difference in talents between races was huge.
The higher the talent level, the stronger the effect. Talent levels went from low to high: Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, Level 4, and so on.
Level 3 Swift Reflexes?
Not bad at all.
He just wondered if there was a way to raise a talent’s level.
Raymond pulled himself out of the empty space and returned to reality.
He could feel every inch of his skin, every single pore, working.
It was like having a radar. He was fully aware of everything happening around him.
He looked at the messy plates, knives, forks, soup bowls, and coffee cups in front of him. Then, he suddenly yanked the tablecloth.
In a flash, Raymond felt like the dishes flying through the air had slowed down, as if in slow motion.
He quickly reached out and easily caught all the plates, knives, forks, bowls, and cups before they hit the ground - without making a single sound.
"Because my neural network got stronger, my reflex time shortened?" Raymond looked at what he had just done and felt a rush of excitement.
This talent allowed him to sense danger faster and make his body react.
Raymond turned his head to look at the wall. He jumped up from the sofa and charged toward it.
One step, two steps, three steps... By the time he was back behind the sofa, he realized with surprise that he had just run up the wall, across the ceiling, and then back down to where he started.
It wasn’t because he had some kind of wall-climbing ability. It was purely the result of his speed and body coordination.
"Did my agility and overall athletic ability get enhanced too?" Raymond kept testing his talent and kept finding new surprises.
And this was just Level 3 Swift Reflexes.
If he could raise it to Level 4 or even Level 5, he couldn’t imagine how strong he would become.
Right now, he still had a 20-day Black Iron Stage Experience Card that he hadn’t used.
He had already upgraded [Basic Swordplay] to Advanced. To reach the next level, Master, a 20-day card was nowhere near enough.
"I wish I could learn a few more skills," Raymond sighed.
...
Three days passed in the blink of an eye.
Luckily, no one in the guard hall got sick. Raymond and the other junior guards were all released.
He looked around the hall and noticed that both Barbara and Bucky were gone.
He asked around and found out that someone had come to pick them up early.
Just then, Hal walked in.
He looked at Raymond and said coldly, "You cut off Bucky’s ear?"
Raymond nodded. "Yeah. Are you going to punish me?"
Hal frowned. "Do you know that his brother, Barron, is a close aide to the Executioner? That guy is ruthless. He’s got blood on his hands."
Raymond spread his hands. "I didn’t know. But even if I did, Bucky still wouldn’t have kept his ear."
Hal laughed out loud and gave Raymond a hard punch on the shoulder. "Haha, good! You’re not a coward after all. I should’ve known that what the papers wrote was all lies!"
Raymond still wasn’t used to Hal’s sudden change in attitude, but Hal grabbed him by the wrist. "Come on! I’m taking you for a drink!"
The Hanging Tavern, First Floor Above the Abyss Prison
"To Lucian Baron!" Hal raised a bottle of beer and drank straight from the mouth.
Raymond looked at the table full of roast chicken, steak, fruit salad, bread, and cheese. It hit him.
Ever since he transmigrated, he hadn’t had a single copper coin in his pocket.
Luckily, Hal reminded him. As a junior guard, he could collect 30 copper coins every week from the Abyss Prison.
And this whole table of delicious food and beer had cost Hal 83 copper coins.
"Raymond, don’t feel bad about the copper coins. Once you become a full junior guard, you’ll get 100 copper coins a week." Hal patted Raymond on the shoulder and grabbed a chicken leg to chew on.
Raymond really liked how straightforward Hal was.
Hal explained things clearly. He had heard the rumors about Raymond and didn’t like him at first.
But Raymond was Lucian Baron’s eldest son.
And Lucian Baron was the officer Hal respected most.
So, even if Hal didn’t like Raymond, he couldn’t just ignore him.
"Raymond, you’ve been hiding it well. Black Iron Stage level 10, and you’ve trained Basic Swordplay to Advanced. I didn’t even notice any of that!" Hal gave a thumbs-up and downed another glass.
Clang!
Hal set down the empty glass and let out a burp. "Kid, so what if someone stole your title? Once you get stronger, we’ll take it back!"
With that, Hal pulled out a memory stone and handed it to Raymond. "Inside this memory stone are the combat lessons Lucian Baron taught the soldiers in the camp. Since you’ve already mastered Basic Swordplay, it’s time for you to learn these advanced techniques."
Raymond took the memory stone and felt deeply moved by Hal’s encouragement.
He wanted to ask Hal more about Lucian Baron.
But unfortunately, Hal downed three bottles of beer and passed out cold.
From the first glass to being completely drunk, it took Hal less than five minutes. His tolerance was weaker than a teenage elf’s.
Yet Hal still had a habit of chugging a whole bottle of beer in one go. That way of drinking was too misleading-it made Raymond think Hal could hold his liquor.
Raymond helped Hal into a room at the tavern, then went back to the guard hall on the first basement level by himself.
He found an empty break room and sat down, running his fingers over the patterns on the memory stone.
During the three days in isolation, Raymond had done 12 draws in total.
Apart from the first day, when he got a talent card, the other 11 rewards were all experience cards. Together, they added up to a total of 70 days.
"Using all 70 days of experience cards on these advanced techniques should give me pretty good results." Raymond smiled slightly and activated the patterns on the memory stone.
A beam of light shot out from the memory stone, and Lucian Baron’s familiar voice slowly echoed in his ears.