Chapter 80: Baron Ster Bole
A middle-aged man with a face full of stubble rode on the back of a short-legged horse.
Although he appeared somewhat fatigued, his eyes were exceptionally bright.
"Ion, do you know? It's been a long time since I've felt this exhilaration." The middle-aged man laughed heartily, exuding a boundless spirit. "This reminds me of my youth, when I too was fearless."
Ion looked at the high-spirited Baron Ster without speaking.
Since the day they killed the Lord of Eastern Mountain Territory, they had led their men northward, crossing the borders between Eastern Mountain Territory and White Mountain Territory, and entered the territory of Eastern Mountain.
There, they plundered a transport convoy, seizing a large amount of food and water, and began wandering within the Eastern Mountain Territory.
During this time, they did attempt to enter Spring Breeze Territory, hoping to circle back to White Mountain Territory through it.
However, Spring Breeze Territory reacted faster than expected. Almost as soon as they entered Spring Breeze Territory, they were ambushed by two units.
Had there been no Third-Tier Bloodline Users, they wouldn't have been too concerned.
Unfortunately, things did not go as hoped.
These two units included four Bloodline Users in total.
One Third-Tier Bloodline User, two Second-Tier Bloodline Users, and one First-Tier Bloodline User.
Baron Ster remembered well that Spring Breeze Territory was not weak, possessing two Third-Tier Bloodline Users, five Second-Tier Bloodline Users, and two First-Tier Bloodline Users.
He suspected the force attacking White Mountain Territory was led by the Lord of Spring Breeze Territory, Baron Harris Robert.
And if the Wolf Soldiers were mobilized, then the Bloodline Knight being cultivated as the Wolf King would definitely be with the army.
Therefore, the invading Bloodline Users from Spring Breeze Territory should number between three to five, including the Lord himself.
Thus, when they encountered the two units from Spring Breeze Territory, Baron Ster realized these must be all the remaining active forces left in Spring Breeze Territory.
However, due to the disparity in strength, the battle ultimately ended with them leaving dozens of corpses behind as they retreated back into Eastern Mountain Territory.
At that time, Baron Ster lamented that had Knight Commander Ken Andar been present, they might have been able to defeat these two units in a direct confrontation and break through back to White Mountain Territory.
Regrettably, there are no "ifs" in this world.
So a defeat was a defeat.
Afterward, they wandered around the periphery of Eastern Mountain Territory and indeed came across two villages, burnt to the ground after being looted.
This sight left Baron Ster silent for an entire night. But when dawn came, his demeanor changed entirely.
Just as he had said.
He began acting like his younger self again.
Fearless.
Just like now. They had been roaming Eastern Mountain Territory for five days, breaking through three encirclements, raiding villages throughout the region, causing total chaos, and seizing dozens of short-legged horses used for transport as mounts. Yet, Baron Ster never genuinely attempted to break out.
But Ion knew it wasn't that Baron Ster didn't want to break out.
It was that, by now, breaking out was no longer a simple matter.
Not only had the forces of Spring Breeze Territory entered Eastern Mountain from the west, but the two territories to the north that bordered Eastern Mountain had also begun massing troops, ready to invade at any moment. The reason they hadn't entered yet to form a pincer attack with the armies of the three lords of Fertile Plains was likely because Spring Breeze and Western Wind Territories didn't want others to share in the spoils.
Even Ion could see clearly that Spring Breeze and Western Wind Territories intended to divide up the assets of the Abres Family of Eastern Mountain Territory.
The territory belonged to Count Shuvaric, but the assets did not.
Even a lord could not covet the assets of their own vassals, for that was a "legitimacy" granted by the laws of the Tyrella Kingdom.
So if the two territories divided up the assets of the Abres Family, it could only be said that the family’s leader lacked strength and could not protect their wealth.
As for whether Count Shuvaric would retaliate against Spring Breeze and Western Wind Territories later, based on Ion's recent understanding, it was highly unlikely.
After all, Western Wind Territory was Count Shuvaric’s most loyal watchdog and most trusted vassal. There was no need to strain their relationship over this.
As for Spring Breeze Territory, the Wolf King being cultivated by the Robert Family had already caught Count Shuvaric’s attention.
He could easily treat this as an early investment. If the investment succeeded, the Wolf King would ultimately be taken by Count Shuvaric. If it failed, the count would lose nothing, since the loss would fall on the Abres Family.
Indeed!
With only a single Second-Tier Bloodline User left, the Abres Family could no longer control Eastern Mountain Territory. Count Shuvaric could very well sell it again, he had plenty of knightly families under his command, and surely some would desire a promotion in rank.
Ion and Baron Ster had indeed considered devastating Eastern Mountain Territory to draw the attention of other lords and Bloodline Knights from Fertile Territory.
Only then would they have a chance to survive. Although the process might be difficult, at least there was still hope.
Ion simply couldn’t understand why Baron Ster's temperament had completely changed after seeing those two villages burned to white ash.
"The war has been going on for a few days now."
"If we're counting from the night of the surprise attack in Eastern Mountain Territory, then today should be the tenth day," Ion thought for a moment, then spoke. "But if we count from the day I realized the war had started and began making preparations, then it should be the ninth day."
Baron Ster nodded and said nothing more. Instead, he looked up at the sky.
By now, the sky had begun to brighten, and the soldiers riding on the short-legged horses were gradually waking up.
In recent days, they had grown at an astonishing pace: not only learning to gallop on horseback, but also learning how to sleep in the saddle and how to protect their buttocks and inner thighs.
Those who couldn't learn or were too slow had already become corpses lying on this land.
Roda’s body had acquired several more wounds, including a gruesome scar on his face.
Ion wasn’t sure whether it was due to Roda’s good fortune, or if the Iron Wolf bloodline truly had a powerful healing effect. But either way, Roda was still lively and hadn't died on the battlefield. Even the injury on his right hand was nearly healed.
Of course, his progress was also pleasantly surprising.
He had learned to fight using a weapon with his left hand, and even his bloodline concentration had increased significantly.
Under normal circumstances, he would have needed ten months of training to condense a single drop of True Blood.
Yet under the intense combat pressure of these ten days, it felt as if he had completed nearly half a year of hard training. He was already close to condensing his third drop of True Blood.
Ion’s own growth rate wasn’t slow either.
He was six drops away from reaching Third Tier.
But he knew well that his bloodline ability wasn’t obtained through the normal method. It was more like a "gift," meaning the aptitude and potential he had inherited were exactly what the previous owner of that drop of True Blood possessed.
Under normal bloodline stimulation training, it would typically take him a year to condense one drop of True Blood.
Being able to condense four drops now was largely due to the abnormal phenomenon triggered by the evaporation of his blood, which had essentially purified the "impurities" in his body.
This created a doubling effect similar to accelerated training. However, he sensed that once he condensed the sixth drop of True Blood, this accelerated training effect would completely vanish.
The remaining four drops would then require at least another four years.
In other words, even at the fastest pace, it would still take him five to six years to reach the threshold of the Third Tier.
In terms of aptitude, Ion knew he wasn’t as gifted as his two sons.
Given the "potential aptitude" of Yam and Akar, they would likely reach the Third Tier threshold in about two more years.
However, achieving the standard bloodline concentration and reaching the advancement threshold was only the first step.
The true challenge lay in the second step.
That was, finding a suitable Bloodline Elixir.
Ion wasn’t thinking about that for now, as he wasn’t even sure whether they would survive and return.
After all, their route back to White Mountain Territory had been completely blocked, the allied forces of Western Wind Territory and Spring Breeze Territory were now stationed at the border between Eastern Mountain Territory and White Mountain Territory.
Yesterday, another skirmish broke out, and after leaving behind a dozen corpses, they retreated from the main battlefield.
But Ion could clearly sense that the enemy seemed to be holding back and hadn’t gone all out.
This made him realize that the enemy was intentionally driving them to wander in Eastern Mountain Territory to facilitate easier division of the Abres Family’s assets.
"Let’s go through the Eaglehead Mountains."
Baron Ster suddenly spoke.
The sky had fully brightened, and a ray of sunlight fell upon Baron Ster, casting a golden hue across his body.
"The enemy surely knows we’ll act this way."
"I know." Baron Ster nodded, agreeing with Ion’s assessment. "But this way, we can buy ourselves a few more days."
"A few more days?" Ion couldn’t understand. "What’s the point?"
"There is." Baron Ster nodded firmly.
He looked at Ion seriously and said in a solemn voice, "Have you considered the Bloodline Elixir for Yam to advance to Third Tier?"
"No." Ion was briefly stunned, then shook his head. "We don’t even know when he’ll advance to Third Tier. Thinking about this now feels too far off."
"Choose the Flame-Spitting Lizard." Baron Ster smiled. "The Flame Hound only has two advancement paths: the Infernal Golem and the Flame-Spitting Lizard. The Infernal Golem may offer immediate results, but it has no known path to the Fourth Tier, at least none discovered so far. The Flame-Spitting Lizard, however, is one of the advancement paths from fire-type dragon bloodlines. Most importantly, this bloodline has a very crucial trait."
"Generally, failure in bloodline advancement can be fatal. But the Flame-Spitting Lizard won’t kill you, at least not before the Sixth Tier."
Ion silently committed the names of the two bloodlines to memory.
Then he smiled and said, "Alright. Once we return, I’ll tell Yam… But these matters will probably still trouble you, my lord."
"What trouble is there?" Baron Ster chuckled and shook his head. "Your son married my daughter. We’re already one family… That boy Giggs, although he seems unserious, he knows where to buy these elixirs. Just go find him and say I sent you. He’ll surely do his best."
"Alright!" Ion nodded seriously.