Chapter 51

Chapter 25: "Sparring Partner"

Ye Qi's invitation to ride together was not realized; the female cavalry captain refused his invitation without hesitation and bluntly pointed out how inappropriate his knightly salute was...

"Warhorses are a knight's companion and brother! They are not tools for you to flirt with girls!" The female cavalry captain's wheat-colored skin turned a dark red, but it quickly disappeared as she began to scold Ye Qi for his rudeness: "Mr. Ye Qi, please maintain a proper attitude. As an apostle with powers beyond the imagination of ordinary people, you should be more restrained in your behavior..."

Dogma? What a simple girl!

Ye Qi crossed his arms and sat on the horse, listening to the female cavalry captain's lecture. Seeing her becoming increasingly agitated, the corners of his mouth involuntarily curled up. He really didn't expect that beneath her stern and mature appearance, she had a heart as innocent as a child who had not yet experienced the world. Instantly, Ye Qi suddenly became very interested in the girl in front of him...

"Is it very funny?" The female cavalry captain saw Ye Qi's smile and said with some anger: "Is this how you mock those who give you advice, Mr. Ye Qi?"

"Of course not!" Ye Qi shook his head, then stared at her wide eyes, which were filled with anger, and slowly asked: "Ails, has anyone ever told you that you look very beautiful when you're angry?"

"You..." The female cavalry captain was taken aback, her chest rising and falling rapidly due to her anger, making Ye Qi, who was in a higher position, narrow his eyes. Her rude gaze clearly infuriated the female cavalry captain, who pointed outward: "Get down! Leave immediately! The Ranger Camp does not welcome you! If you're looking for women, there are many in the Shaker Central Square!"

"I have a dispatch order from the headquarters of the Demon Hunters!" Ye Qi reminded the already furious cavalry captain with a smile: "I believe that with your current position, you cannot directly negate the orders from headquarters, right?"

"Rogue!"

The female cavalry captain was so angry that her whole body trembled, but what Ye Qi said was true, leaving her unable to refute it. After a long while, she could only utter a word she thought would insult him, then turned and walked away.

Watching her back, Ye Qi gently stroked the black horse's mane: "Groning, do you think she is very simple? She doesn't even know how to curse!"

"Whinny!"

The black horse betrayed the female cavalry captain, who had always been good to it, and instead fawned over its current owner, nodding continuously.

Seeing the black horse's agreement, Ye Qi happily patted its head a few times, then returned to his riding practice. This continued until the system's voice sounded.

"Skill acquired: Riding."

When the system's prompt came, Ye Qi breathed a sigh of relief and jumped off the black horse—before practicing riding, Ye Qi had deduced from the additional skills he had gained over the past six months, such as hand-to-hand combat and climbing, that this was definitely a skill. Therefore, even after he had basically learned to control the black horse, he continued to practice, aiming to get the system's recognition of this skill—only with the system's recognition could Ye Qi more conveniently and intuitively check and improve the skill.

Glancing at the 1 representing the level of the riding skill, Ye Qi sighed lightly—although skills could be upgraded through practice, each upgrade required time and effort, and the higher the level, the more difficult it became to improve. For example, with his proficiency in cold weapons, he found a way to upgrade in the Thorn Tower six months ago, and at first, his levels increased rapidly, with two or three levels gained each day. However, as time went on, it took two weeks, three weeks, or even a month to gain a single level. Thus, after six months, his proficiency in cold weapons had only increased from 18 to 26...

Shrugging, feeling the hunger in his stomach, Ye Qi walked out—if there was one thing that made Ye Qi happiest about coming to the Ranger Camp, it was that he no longer had to eat that "green mud" for lunch! After eating "green mud" for six months, Ye Qi was thoroughly sick of it! Although "green mud" had the effect of quickly restoring energy, it certainly did not have the miraculous effect of increasing physical attributes as the giant had claimed. This could be seen from the fact that Ye Qi's attributes had not changed at all over the past six months. Ye Qi suspected that this was a ruse by the Demon Hunters' headquarters to make new apostles eat the "green mud," or perhaps it had some effect on physical attributes, but the effect was very weak...

The sun was high in the sky, and it was lunchtime. All active and reserve rangers, as well as the blacksmiths and laborers in the camp, lined up in neat rows in the center of the Ranger Camp at the loud calls of several chefs.

Wrinkling his nose, Ye Qi took a deep breath of the food's aroma carried by the wind and joined the queue in the camp. As the people in front of him gradually decreased, Ye Qi finally reached the chefs distributing the food—holding a tray full of food, Ye Qi smiled and bid farewell to the chefs, then found a shady spot, sat on a wooden box, and began his first proper lunch in six months.

As for the "green mud"? Ye Qi and the other new apostles would never consider it as lunch. As its nickname suggested, it was just mud, and at most, it was green...

Enjoying the cool breeze of midsummer and savoring the delicious lunch, everything made Ye Qi feel so happy and comfortable. However, soon, when several active rangers, each wearing a knight's sword, came to him with a fierce demeanor, his first pleasant meal in six months was interrupted, causing Ye Qi to frown involuntarily.

From the female cavalry captain's previous introduction and his own observations, Ye Qi could already simply distinguish between active and reserve rangers in the camp—active rangers were all adults and wore proper knight's swords and firearms; reserve rangers were much younger and, in addition to firearms, only carried short swords.

"Are you the new apostle sent by headquarters this time?" The leading ranger unsheathed his knight's sword very rudely: "Let's have a match!"

Although the other party said it was a match, from the way they approached with a fierce demeanor, Ye Qi guessed that they were not there to see the abilities of the apostles. Connecting this with his previous speculation about the purpose of the headquarters setting up the Ranger Camp, Ye Qi guessed that these few people were likely sent to be his sparring partners, to hone their combat skills.

Of course, it was also possible that they were there to vent their anger—the female cavalry captain left the stable where he was with a puffed-up face, and many people must have seen it, including some hot-blooded rangers who had a crush on the female cavalry captain...

From the other party's eyes, which were filled with a murderous rage, Ye Qi was more inclined to the latter guess. However, whether it was for sparring or venting, these clearly weaker rangers were not important to Ye Qi—the lunch on his plate, which he had only eaten halfway, was the most important thing at the moment!