Chapter 15：Narrow Escape

The night was a little dark. The wind was a little cold.

There was nothing on the wild plain except for a campsite. There weren't even any big boulders around, let alone obstacles that could block a person's line of sight. The horizon could be seen in any direction.

The campfire inside the camp was still burning, a bright spot of contrast against the dark sky.

The temperature of the fire should have been able to get rid of a bit of the coldness this night. However, it did not affect how they felt. It felt like the temperature inside the camp was lower than the temperature outside the camp.

However, if anyone were to approach the camp, they would be able to smell an extremely strong blood-like, coppery odor that was being emitted from within.

Within the camp, more than a dozen men who were wearing a black heavy armor walked out from different tents. The battle halberds they held in their hands were dripping with fresh blood. However, they did not seem to care about that at all. Their faces, which were no longer covered by helmets, looked very cold. No matter how many people they killed, it would not shake their determination in the slightest. It was obvious that they were a group of true human-killing machines.

"How did it go?" Seeing the people return to the camp, a man who stood in the middle of the campsite asked them quietly, barely audible over the crackling fire.

Even though the heavy armor on this man's body was the same as the others, there was an extra scarlet cloak attached to his armor. It was obvious that the class level was higher than the others.

If Sean or Drouin had been there, it would have been easy for them to recognize the origin of the man who wore a scarlet cloak outside his armor and devise a strategy to attack, if necessary.

A Heavily Armed Knight.

It was a special rank-three advanced profession that was unique to the Portoroa Kingdom. When learning it as a new profession, it had a very tiresome requirement. Regardless of if it was the NPCs or players in the game "Miracle," it was very troublesome to take up the profession. However, once the profession was successfully learned, the person would be on par with an average rank-four profession. In reality, any special classes could overpower the strength of an average class. Even when facing an ordinary profession with a higher rank, it would not fall behind.

When faced with the inquiry from the Heavily Armed Knight, all the soldiers who wore the black heavy armor shook their heads.

Although the people all had a class of a rank-three knight, they all had one very obvious feature, which was that they were all much younger than Drouin. That meant that they all had very high potential. However, in front of the heavily armed knight, they did not dare to be even a little bit proud.

Maybe back in the game "Miracle," a special class was just a class that was considered strong. However, on the Miracle Continent, people who could take up a new profession, such as the special class, were all considered real geniuses. Thus, they were more valued by others than the so-called people with a little bit of potential.

"It seems that Drouin is more cunning than the Lord Viscount imagined." The Heavily Armed Knight frowned slightly. It seemed that that fact had thrown a bit of a wrench in some plans. His voice was much colder when he started speaking again. "I think Sir Burwell will be interested in these goods. The internal units of the Arctic Silver Business House are not that quiet either. However, you guys have to remember to deal with it cleanly. Do not leave any evidence. I will take people to search along the borders. After you have taken care of this matter, go back and report on the situation to the Lord Viscount."

"Yes." Several of the young knights that were called out by the Heavily Armed Knight nodded as they answered.

After a while, raging flames that rose to the sky started burning in the camp. Nearly 10 shadows could be seen galloping towards the border between the Portoroa Kingdom and the Serian Kingdom in the reflection of the light from the fire. The one leading the 10 people was the Heavily Armed Knight who had been continuously giving the group orders.

....

Almost at the same time, within the Starfall Forest and the Land of Black Earth.

Sean stabbed apart the joints of the last skeleton with his sword. He had killed the skeleton in one second without any suspense. Afterward, he felt the experience points from this skeleton integrate into his own body.

Almost at the same time as when the experience points of the skeleton were integrated into his body, Sean, who had been staring closely at the experience bar, finally saw that it had reached the very end of the right side. Then, it emitted a golden light. Sean could feel the blood in his body start to boil. It was as if something inside his body was beginning to wake up. Even the skin on his body had started to turn slightly red due to his body heating up.

The joy and excitement that filled his entire body, which Sean had been suppressing the whole time, finally burst out at that moment.

If it had not been for the special circumstances he was in, Sean would have even yelled out in excitement to express the joy he was feeling inside.

He had finally received it!

After waiting for a long time, he had finally received the long-awaited professional reward that he had wanted!

[Professional Reward (Mercenary) ——Narrow Escape: A great deal of field survival experience has enriched your knowledge and common sense. You are not a rigid theorist, but a flexible practitioner. Common knowledge such as finding food, finding directions, avoiding danger, and conserving physical strength will almost be instinctive to you. You have already become a complete grandmaster in this area, and the team members that you work with will all feel at ease in your presence. (This skill is an advanced skill of [Wilderness Survival]. Therefore, your team will still be able to display half of their combat strength even if they are in a state of extreme thirst or hunger in a normal wilderness environment. Your attribute points will not decrease even if you were in a state of extreme thirst or hunger. The speed of your movement will not slow down in any land environments. You would never lose your way in any type of environment. You automatically master [Water Sourcing] and [Food Sourcing]. You can identify all living creatures, magical beasts, materials, and poisonous creatures.)]

When Sean saw the career reward, it was as expected. It was the same as what he had seen on the forum. Sean felt extremely excited and emotionally moved.

According to the settings in the game "Miracle," once a level of any class reached a multiple of ten, then it was possible to receive one professional reward. These types of professional rewards were all passive skills. Therefore, as long as the player wanted to, they could even start multiple new professions at the same time so that they could be developed simultaneously. However, because a rank-one profession was only the start of the profession, the highest level of three rank-one professions would only be able to reach level 10.

As for a mercenary, their final profession reward was the passive skill called [Narrow Escape].

However, back when Sean was in the game "Miracle," he had not known that his rank-one profession was not only a mercenary but also a part-time [Apprentice]. Even though he had indeed received two professional rewards, the reward of a [Mercenary] was a passive skill called [Wilderness Survival]. The effect of the profession reward was weaker than [Narrow Escape] by more than a half. Later on, because someone had posted something on a forum, everyone finally understood what was going on.

If a player wanted to learn [Narrow Escape], then they had to specialize in the profession [Mercenary]. If the player had taken up two to three rank-one part-time professions at the same time, then they definitely would not be able to learn this skill. Similarly, if a player wanted to learn the final profession rewards for [Apprentice] or [Cleric], then they would also have to focus on the development of only one rank-one profession. According to the official statement, 'a person does not have so much energy that they can concentrate on multiple things'.

Once the player had received the final reward for their profession, they would no longer be able to receive any more professional rewards, even if they started another part-time profession.

In other words, if Sean wanted to, he could start a new rank-one profession of either an [Apprentice] or [Cleric], but even if both of these professions were raised to level 10, the highest possible level, he would still not be able to receive the professional reward anymore.

However, Sean did not care about those things at all. The reason why he wanted to focus on the [Mercenary] profession was that it was the best solution he had come up with after having considered all his options.

Sean wanted the skills related to "all living creatures, magical beasts, materials, and poisonous creatures" in the passive skill to work together with his [Eye of Truth]. That meant that Sean would be able to easily obtain all the relevant data of any wild living creatures and magical beasts. He no longer had to further study the knowledge related to them. After all, the books he would need to learn some of that knowledge were not easily obtainable by ordinary people.

When Sean opened his eyes again, there had been some subtle changes in the world he saw. For any place that he was able to see with his eyes, the specific cardinal direction he was looking would automatically appear in his mind. He was even able to "capture" the path of the wind easily and with the changes of direction of the wind, the smell in the air also turned into thin lines in his field of vision. Each of the thin lines represented a type of smell. As long as Sean focused his attention on it, then he was even able to tell what things the separate odors were being emitted from and their trajectory.

It was a special feature of the [Narrow Escape]!

When Sean's eyes fell onto the skeletons that had been scattered on the ground, the detailed data about the skeletons immediately appeared in front of his eyes. It was data that he was not able to see earlier when he was facing these skeletons.

However, those were still not the most important things!

What mattered was a bone Sean had picked up from the ground.

[Spine of the skeleton: Magical ingredient (the undead spirit). Alchemy ingredient (bone). Hardness: 7.]

[Material Description: This is the first joint between the spine and the head of a skeleton. Because it has been affected by the dark magical energy, it is the strongest bone on the skeleton. Even when holding this solid bone of the skeleton in your hand, you will be able to feel the subtle dark energy inside.]

Appraisal!

That was also one of the abilities of [Narrow Escape]. However, the so-called 'all materials identification' of the [Narrow Escape] did not have such an effect. What made it possible to achieve such an accurate result was due to the coordination with the [Eye of Truth] ability. Sean could confirm that his original judgment was correct. Coordinating the passive skill of [Narrow Escape] and the naturally gifted skill of the [Eye of Truth] was absolute perfection!

After Sean had officially confirmed the effects of the professional reward, his eyes once again turned towards the guards and Drouin.

The level of his mercenary profession had already reached level 10, which was the highest possible level. This meant that it was now possible for Sean to take up a new rank-two profession.

As long as he actually took up a new profession, his combat power would be able to increase by a lot. Coupled with the coordination of the [Eye of Truth] and [Narrow Escape], it was possible to see the data and information of all creatures. Sean believed that the rest of this journey would be a lot easier.

Besides, he was not completely unprepared for the journey.