- Fantasy Lord: Start with Daily Intelligence
- FLDI Chapter 8
Chapter 8: Raine’s Astonishing Talent
After handing Raine over to Michael, Thor didn’t concern himself further. He trusted Michael completely. As his father’s right-hand man and an Earth Knight, Michael was second only to Thor’s father in terms of power at Dressrosa Castle.
More importantly, Michael was an exceptional teacher.
Several of Thor’s older brothers had trained under Michael, with one of them even reaching the peak of Grand Knight. Under Michael’s instruction, the number of knights in the family’s knight order had also grown significantly.
Having Michael teach Raine would undoubtedly provide him with a solid foundation.
However, even Thor hadn’t expected what would come next.
Raine’s talent turned out to be far more terrifying than Thor could have imagined.
In less than two weeks, while Thor was still preparing for his journey as a frontier knight and using his intelligence system to gather useful information, Michael summoned him for a surprising reason.
“What?”
“Raine is ready to break through to Apprentice Knight?”
Thor couldn’t help but exclaim in shock when he heard Michael’s news.
“Yes!”
“Master Thor, I could hardly believe it myself, but it’s true. Raine’s life force has already reached the necessary threshold. He should be able to break through to Apprentice Knight within three days at the latest. I was planning to request a vial of low-grade Life Elixir from Count Dressrosa.”
Michael was just as astonished.
Even though he had seen Raine’s talent firsthand over the past few days, he was still deeply shaken by the speed of Raine’s progress.
Even as an Earth Knight, Michael found it hard to believe.
He was certain that Raine had never practiced any knightly techniques before.
And yet, in just two weeks, Raine was about to break through to Apprentice Knight.
This level of talent was almost terrifying.
To put things into perspective, even Michael, a powerful warrior in the kingdom, had taken three years to form his Seed of Life. Even Count Dressrosa himself had taken a full year to accomplish the same.
But Raine was about to do it in just two weeks.
Michael could hardly comprehend how high Raine’s potential truly was.
“Whew!”
“Thank you, Uncle Michael!”
“I understand. Please keep this a secret for me, Uncle Michael. Aside from my father, don’t tell anyone else about this.”
Thor took a deep breath and expressed his gratitude, then made a request after a moment of contemplation.
Although Raine was now his loyal guardian knight, Thor wanted to minimize the risk of anything going wrong by keeping the news quiet for now.
“Understood.”
After a brief pause, Michael glanced at Thor and then nodded in agreement.
“Thank you, Uncle Michael.”
Thor nodded back.
“No need to thank me.”
Michael gave Thor a long look, his thoughts stirring.
He knew that Raine was someone Thor had brought in from the commoners.
But as the most loyal knight of the Dressrosa family, Michael also knew there were some things he shouldn’t ask about.
In fact, he knew not to be curious about such things at all.
After a few more words with Thor, Michael headed back into the castle.
Since he had promised to request the low-grade Life Elixir, he wasn’t going to delay.
Thor didn’t follow but went to check on Raine before returning to his own work.
Meanwhile, in the study…
Michael had arrived to report to Count Engel Dressrosa.
“What?”
“You’re telling me that Thor’s guardian knight is about to break through to Apprentice Knight?”
Count Dressrosa was startled by the news.
He was aware of his son’s new guardian knight, Raine, and had even had someone investigate him.
But beyond that, he hadn’t given the matter much thought.
After all, Raine was just a guardian knight and a commoner at that. What use could he be?
But to hear that in just two weeks, Raine was already close to breaking through to Apprentice Knight was a shock.
After the initial surprise, Count Dressrosa found himself breathing heavily.
“Yes, I’ve confirmed it.”
“At the current rate, there’s a 70-80% chance Raine will successfully break through.”
Michael nodded firmly.
Hearing this, Count Dressrosa began pacing back and forth, his eyes glinting with deep thought.
Michael stood silently, waiting patiently.
After a few moments, Count Dressrosa stopped.
“Charlie!”
He called out.
The door opened, and the butler, Charlie, entered the room.
“Go fetch a vial of low-grade Life Elixir. From Cabinet One, the third bottle on the first row. No, take the third bottle from the first row and the fifth bottle from Cabinet Two as well.”
Count Dressrosa instructed.
“Yes, sir!”
Charlie was visibly surprised but quickly nodded and left to carry out the order.
“Michael, I’m aware of the situation now. I’ll have Thor deliver the Life Elixirs to his guardian knight. You may return to your duties.”
With that, Count Dressrosa dismissed Michael.
“Yes, sir.”
Michael nodded, not surprised, and left promptly.
After Michael’s departure, Count Dressrosa ordered a servant to summon Thor to his study.
Thor had been in the middle of his preparations when he received his father’s summons. He immediately put everything aside and headed to the study.
When Thor arrived, Charlie had already returned with the items.
“Father!”
Thor greeted respectfully.
Count Dressrosa didn’t respond immediately. Instead, he gazed deeply at his son for a moment.
Thor kept his head bowed, waiting in silence.
Finally, Count Dressrosa spoke.
“Thor, you’ve done well.”
“Here is a set of silver armor and a vial of mid-grade Life Elixir. You may give them to your guardian knight.”
Thor couldn’t help but look up in shock upon hearing his father’s words.
Silver armor and mid-grade Life Elixir.
Thor had never expected his father to be this generous.
A set of silver armor alone was worth over a hundred gold coins. And as for the mid-grade Life Elixir, it was a rare resource, even used by Grand Knights trying to break through to Earth Knight. Its value was easily over a thousand gold coins, and it was incredibly difficult to come by.
Yet his father was offering these items for Raine.
(End of Chapter)