Chapter 163 Savage Charge
Ma Lu felt a sense of relief the moment the HP of that giant cabbage hit zero.
According to the scan results of the Traveler's Bracelet, this Infinite Split Cabbage was already a 3-star ingredient, far surpassing the strength of other Energized Plants in the abandoned warehouse by more than just a little.
Moreover, it was his first time in this universe's dimension, and he only had two Witches by his side, without time to boost affinity, he had quite a struggle before the two agreed to accept his commands.
On the contrary, the battle phase, although it seemed dangerous, was actually always under his control.
That's how war chess games are, the biggest challenges actually come from pre-battle calculations and arrangements; once the battle truly begins, unless something unexpected occurs, the outcome doesn't vary much from projections.
After the battle ended, Ma Lu first checked on the two Witches' condition; Yun Que, since she was furthest away, barely lost any health and maintained an uninjured state.
The Hellhound, however, was a bit worse for wear, her HP had dropped to 26 points once again, and her Sin Value had risen to 38 points.
Ma Lu instructed her to stay on that square with the Recovery Banner to heal, while he took the opportunity to check on the loot from the battle.
Firstly, there was a large pile of cabbages, both 1-star and 3-star, and from appearance alone, Ma Lu couldn't really tell much of a difference.
They all looked fresh; it was just that one had a darker shade of green, while the other lighter, but Ma Lu was certain to pick up the higher-starred ones first.
Just putting that single Infinite Split Cabbage into his bag used up 400 jin of his carrying capacity; then Ma Lu stuffed in the Cucumber Skull Crusher he had dealt with at the beginning, and together with the previously obtained ingredients, he had reached the limit of a thousand jin.
This expedition had not been in vain for Ma Lu.
Next, he glanced at his experience bar; that single Infinite Split Cabbage was quite generous, providing him with 100 points of experience, and combined with those smaller cabbages and the Cucumber Skull Crusher, he was now only a few experience points away from leveling up.
Yun Que walked over to pick up the silver briefcase that had fallen to the ground, wiped off the dust, and handed it to Ma Lu.
"Here, Sir Knight."
The location of this briefcase was rather peculiar; not only was it exactly in the room of the Infinite Split Cabbage, but it was also wrapped in the cabbage's leaves, with only the handle exposed.
In other words, it would have been difficult to retrieve without defeating the giant cabbage.
Ma Lu took the briefcase; outwardly it looked quite new, unlike the other objects in the abandoned warehouse, probably because it had appeared here not long ago, and who knows what happened to its owner.
The first impression upon receiving the briefcase was how light it was, as if it were empty; Ma Lu shook it and could hear the sound of paper sliding, curiously asking, "What's inside?"
"Don't know," Yun Que shook her head, "The Church issues the tasks, we just execute them, no need to know the details."
"Is that so?"
Seeing that Ma Lu seemed about to open the briefcase, Yun Que got a big scare, but fortunately, there was a combination lock on it.
After trying 000000 and 123456 with no success, Ma Lu also gave up on his attempt to open it.
Although curious, there are too many combinations of six-digit numbers. Unless he resorted to force, guessing would obviously not yield quick results.
But if he used force, it would be difficult to explain to the Church.
Considering that the Bliss Bird on the verge of being lost needed healing, and the Hellhound and Yun Que's Sin Values had both risen considerably after the battle, they must return to the city to receive baptism.
And Ma Lu himself was also eager to see what that Otherworld City, managed by a religious order, was really like.
At least at this time, it wasn't suitable to make enemies with the ruler there.
After the Hellhound had rested, the three of them went downstairs and finished off the remaining four Energized Plants, filling up Ma Lu's experience bar once again.
With another level up, the reward Ma Lu received wasn't a Virtual Item, but rather, he unlocked a Knight Technique—Savage Charge.
Effect: Charge at full speed towards a designated target, causing 5 points of damage and knocking the target back one square; if there is an obstacle behind the target, crashing into it causes an additional stun for 2 seconds. Cooldown time: 1 hour.
Five points of damage could only be considered negligible, and the cooldown time of one hour seemed a bit excessive, but the accompanying knockback effect was quite nice.
Moreover, when pulling up the statistics afterwards, the fact that Ma Lu's output data wasn't zero at least made things look a little better on the surface.
As for why he could deal damage even though he wasn't a Witch, well, that's the caprice of having a cheat.
...
Leaving that dilapidated warehouse, the trio first found the Bliss Bird, still unconscious in the forest, then headed south and spent about four hours walking out of the forest to arrive at a grassland.
Here too, life was thriving.
Beneath a hillside covered with wildflowers, Ma Lu found the warhorse that Yun Que had mentioned.
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It was a white flying machine, specially provided by the Church for Knights on missions. According to Yun Que, every Knight had one.
Ma Lu's was just the most basic type of warhorse, capable of carrying a maximum of five people, as his predecessor had only graduated from Squire School and became a Knight less than two days ago.
"Knights have to go to school?" Ma Lu asked.
"Yes, but they learn different things from us, mainly knowledge about commanding battles."
Yun Que paused and then said with admiring eyes, "But the knights I've seen are not as impressive as you are."
"How many knights have you actually seen?" Hellhound let out a sneer upon hearing this.
Only when she sat inside the flying machine did she truly relax, because few of those Energized Plants could fly; thus, the sky was much safer than the land.
Hellhound had wanted to close her eyes and rest in her seat for a while, but among the three of them, only she knew how to pilot the machine. So, she ended up having to double up as the driver.
Feeling somewhat embarrassed by her remark, Yun Que scratched her head, "Although I haven't seen many knights, I've heard quite a few stories from seniors who have graduated and returned to the school to share their experiences. The knights they talk about are never as formidable as this.
"Besides, A'Quan, didn't you get sent into battle early by the Church as punishment for violating school rules? You must have seen other knights, right?"
Upon hearing this, the previously cheerful Hellhound's smile suddenly vanished, and after a moment, she spoke again.
"You're right, those guys were all pathetic, just a bunch of cowards hiding behind women."
Seeing her downcast, Yun Que and Ma Lu tacitly dropped the subject. Afterwards, Ma Lu asked Yun Que about various matters related to the Holy Temple City, including but not limited to the local customs.
Unfortunately, although Yun Que lived in that city, witches were raised and trained in isolation since childhood and were almost never allowed to leave the school, so she was not very familiar with matters outside the school.
If Ma Lu wanted to know what that city was really like, he would have to wait until he entered the Holy Temple City and observe with his own eyes.