Wizard starting from shoeing donkeys

This couldn't help but make Rein laugh as well.

"It's my lack of thorough consideration; I should have split his armor open before handing him over to you," Read exclusive chapters at My Virtual Library Empire

"That would have saved you some trouble."

However, Rein thought that if he had used his greatsword to split the opposing knight's plate armor, he likely wouldn't have obtained this Extraordinary Battle Technique.

After all, if the secret was hidden in the concealed lining, he probably wouldn't have searched the spoils so meticulously.

"Originally, one of the prison's interrogators took a fancy to your item, but I stopped him on the spot! The man was quite discontented, so I immediately retorted, 'Do you know who captured this Great Knight of the rebels? The Baron of Hammer!'"

"Upon hearing it was the Lord, that interrogator immediately dared not utter a word," Matteo said, his expression bright and proud.

Rein was, after all, from their Night Watcher's Army.

And even though Rein had been promoted to a Baron, his attitude towards the Night Watchmen remained as it had always been, which deeply moved them.

Rein smiled slightly, patted the other's shoulder, and said, "I appreciate it, Matteo!"

...

After Matteo had left, Rein returned to his study, curiously unfolding the parchment scroll to see the title "Rocken's Single-handed Axe Combat Skill Outline" emblazoned across the top.

Rein glanced over it and noticed that it was an excellent Extraordinary Battle Technique that matched axe and shield, eloquently detailing the use of a single-handed axe and numerous shield defense techniques.

Most importantly, it included the move 'Rocken's Axe Skill Secret Technique - Flash Cut.'

Reading its description, Rein suddenly understood what a secret technique was.

Rein had heard Master Ganther mention the concept of secret techniques before, but he had never seen the true power of a genuine secret technique.

A secret technique is an extraordinarily powerful strike that could be unleashed by a Great Knight in combination with master-level combat skill specialization.

Rein recalled that a rebel colonel named Parix seemed not to have fully mastered this secret technique; the reason being that his mastery of Rocken's Axe Skill was at most a half-step master level.

If one were to describe it, that man's strike would only qualify as a pseudo-secret technique, but not a true secret technique.

Yet, the power of this pseudo-secret technique, even now, appeared to exceed the power limit of his own Hammer Skill secret technique, 'Earth-splitting Hammer.'

Despite the seemingly small gap, it should be noted that his mastery of the Tokkal Hammer Technique was at a master level, further enhanced by an LV3 hammer specialization; Rein's Earth-splitting Hammer secret technique decisively exceeded the power limits of ordinary knight-level secret techniques.

One could imagine that if the opponent's axe skill really reached the master level, he might not necessarily lose, but he would certainly sustain much more severe injuries.

Although this Extraordinary Battle Technique is very impressive, for the current Rein, he would not choose to learn it.

Those two Skill Points were his top priority.

"Knock, knock, knock!"

"Come in."

"Dear, this is the Behemoth Essence that Master Holland has sent." The beautiful woman, looking worried, handed Rein a brown wooden box while speaking.

"Hmm? Jennifer, you seem upset." Rein keenly noticed the woman's brows were slightly furrowed, and he asked immediately as he took the box.

The beautiful woman lowered her head to glance at the wooden box in Rein's hands, then looked up at him again, saying,

"According to Master Holland, although the essence was successfully created, its potency is probably among the lowest of the behemoth essences."

"So, my dear, maybe you could wait a bit longer? Our finances are quite stable at the moment, and I'm planning to have the Yakesen Auction House assist in acquiring a high-quality behemoth essence from the Imperial City sometime soon," the beautiful woman slowly explained.

Upon hearing this, Rein took the woman's fair hands into his, gave them a pat, and comforted her,

"Don't worry, Jennifer, becoming a Great Knight is not a problem for me,"

"The matter of acquiring a high-quality behemoth essence is insignificant to me."

"As for the specific reasons... well... you can understand that I am very close to becoming a Great Knight; any bottle of behemoth essence would suffice for my breakthrough."

Previously, although he had made a substantial sum in bets before a bloody duel,

the principal amount of the bets was mostly funded by the beautiful woman, and now it seemed, a large part of that income was also being spent on him, like the previous acquisitions of ice iron ingots, mithril, etc.

Now, with the beautiful woman still wanting to acquire high-quality behemoth essence for him, not only would her previous betting income be completely consumed, but it seemed she would have to inject even more money into it.

"Hmm? Dear, you're not deceiving me?" The beautiful woman expressed her surprise, as this was the first time she had heard such a claim from Rein.

"Of course!" Rein nodded affirmatively.

...

After the beautiful woman left, Rein thought for a while, safely stored away the second box of behemoth essence, and then continued to immerse himself in crafting intelligence potions.

Two hours later, Rein had used up all the materials, having successfully created nine out of ten potions, with one inadvertently failing. However, the success rate remained impressively high at ninety percent.

Having finished the potions, Rein naturally wanted to test their effect. Since the greyhound 'Cookie' was severely injured, it was not suitable.

Thinking for a bit, Rein took one of the intelligence potions and headed to the stables in the mansion's backyard.

"Baron, good day," a middle-aged servant, seeing Rein's arrival at the stables, immediately bowed respectfully.