Chapter 20: Even When Being Reckless, One Must Follow Reason and Basic Rules
Year 831 of the Falling Stars Era, Winter, November 3rd, Moldavia. Gale winds howled.
The gloomy sky was shrouded by gray-black clouds, with not a trace of sunlight visible. The cold wind swept through the streets, whipping floating snow into the air. The weather in the Northern lands changed abruptly. With the sudden strong wind, the snow that had stopped in the middle of the night began to fall again, growing heavier by the moment.
Biting cold spread everywhere. The blizzard, mixed with the roar of the gale, drowned out all other sounds.
But just at that moment, a deafening rumble suddenly erupted from the city center, audible even in the outskirts.
Boom——!!!
Accompanied by a tremor like an earthquake, the massive building, comparable to a castle, slowly collapsed like a sandcastle crumbling. Dust and gravel rose against the blizzard, forming a huge mushroom cloud. And a figure walked out from the smoke and rubble, step by step.
Joshua emerged from the dust cloud. Behind him lay the Lord's Manor, now reduced to ruins. The warrior's face was expressionless, as if lost in thought.
"The enemies in the Lord's Manor are dealt with. Now I should purge the enemies within the city."
Though he was alone, he spoke of "purging" hundreds of enemies without a hint of hesitation. Joshua seemed to regard those foes as utterly beneath notice. He looked up at the sky, frowned, and said, "Another blizzard. Can't the Northern lands ever have decent weather?"
At this moment, Joshua's upper body was completely bare—no clothing could withstand such an intense eruption of power. The [Power of the Gods] state was gradually fading, and his skin was turning from red back to its original pale tone. But the waves of intense heat radiating from his body still melted the snow underfoot and the snowflakes swirling around him, forming puddles of water.
"An entire squad of Silver-rank warriors. Counting the patrols and those guards, I've taken out at least two-thirds of them... That so-called uncle of mine probably couldn't have survived either. A mere Black Iron High-rank, propped up by potions, wouldn't be able to escape when the building collapsed."
Thinking it over, everything seemed to have gone smoothly. Feeling there were no oversights, Joshua confidently turned and walked away, heading toward Ying, who stood not far off, looking somewhat sullen.
"..."
The girl said nothing, only frowned with a cold expression.
"Well... this time, it's my fault."
Bending down, Joshua spoke gently, trying to console Ying. "But not letting you fight was to prepare for even more dangerous situations ahead."
How could he possibly say, "I spent seventeen days alone on horseback across the wilderness, pent up with frustration, and when I finally let loose, I was having so much fun that I completely forgot I even had a Divine Mechanism"? As a highly dignified strongman, Joshua naturally explained with a straight face: "As far as I know, a Gold-rank enemy will be coming soon. I'm still only at Silver-rank right now. To defeat him, I'll have to rely on you. Divine Mechanization only lasts an hour—I can't waste it."
"Huh?"
Hearing his voice, Ying looked up blankly. She hadn't caught what her master had just said. The Divine Mechanism girl was just a little upset, staring at the Lord's Manor, now reduced to rubble, and muttered gloomily, "I never got to see the places where Uncle Fan and the previous Lord lived... and now they're gone..."
"Oh, that is a shame... Wait?!?!"
Ying's voice wasn't loud, but to Joshua, it struck like a thunderbolt. He suddenly snapped to attention, his eyes widening. His stern expression slowly shifted as he turned back to look at the mushroom cloud of dust that hadn't yet dispersed behind him. The warrior was speechless for a long moment.
Right... it seems... it really does seem that way...
Hahaha! He had been having too much fun fighting and had blown up his own home!
To cover up his embarrassment, Joshua let out a hearty laugh, but his heart was bleeding—
Damn it, why was he so reckless just now! He was a former Legendary warrior, a dojo master. He had a thousand exquisite ways to kill those guards. But in the end, he had chosen the most reckless, the most violent, the most direct, and the most destructive one!
Staring at the ruins before him, even the battle-hungry Joshua felt deep regret. Once the blood rushed to his head, it was truly world-shattering. Before the fight, he had been reminiscing and feeling sentimental, but once the battle started, he forgot everything. Caught up in the thrill of the kill, he had even unleashed his ultimate move, blasting the entire Lord's Manor into rubble.
"Even setting aside the memories, that was Far South Elven Feathered Carpet, covering the entire hall. The raw material cost alone was conservatively over twenty thousand gold coins. Adding labor and artistic value, it was practically priceless!"
"The furniture in the hall was all made from enchanted redwood, meticulously carved by Half-Elf artisans. It was a treasure passed down from who knows which generation of the family. The murals and reliefs on the walls were cultural relics accumulated over generations... not to mention the things upstairs..."
Lowering his head to calculate the losses, he arrived at a staggering figure. To be honest, Joshua would rather be surrounded by fifty Silver-rank warriors or spend an entire morning playing hide-and-seek with those guards than suffer such a loss. This was probably the darkest moment since the founding of the Radcliffe Family—years of accumulated wealth wiped out in an instant, and by his own hand!
"...The Wilson Family."
He suddenly looked up, a fierce glint in his eyes. Joshua curled his lips, revealing his gleaming white teeth. "They helped my enemies, stole my estate, and caused this destruction—fine! I'll remember this!"
In short, it was all their fault! As a strongman, Joshua had no intention of being reasonable right now. Opening the system, he roughly scanned his current attributes.
[Name: Joshua Van Radcliffe]
[Template: Leader]
[Title: ...]
[Race: ...]
[Level: Lv30 · Silver Luminant (Challenge Level Lv30 · Silver Luminant)]
[Attributes: ...]
[Status: ...]
[Status: Power of the Gods (Residual - Strength x1.1), Martial Posture (First strike: Strength +5, Agility +5, Endurance +5)]
[Class: ...]
[Talent: Weapon Mastery (Class), Return from Bloodbath (Personal)]
[Life Class: ...]
[Skills: Max Ultimate Essence]
[Life Skills: ...]
[Equipment: ...]
[Weapon: Seventh Generation Anti-Wild God Divine Mechanism (Humanoid)]
[Wherever the gaze falls, there is no equal.]
Everything else was irrelevant; Joshua focused on his level.
Within the same rank, killing enemies granted normal experience. For example, since he was currently at Silver Luminant, killing any Silver-rank enemy, regardless of their specific level, gave normal experience. But if Joshua were bored enough to kill Black Iron Revelation-level monsters, he would suffer a significant experience penalty. Conversely, if he fought across ranks against a Gold Glory-level enemy, he could earn experience bonuses—though the chance of success was extremely slim.
Now, having killed nearly thirty Silver-rank peers, plus quite a few patrolling Black Iron warriors, the massive influx of experience had pushed Joshua to Level 30. However, he was still some distance from Level 31, the threshold for the Gold realm.
But that wasn't a major issue.