Mount and Blade System: Start from Pioneer Lords

After a pleasant breakfast where the host and guests all enjoyed themselves, Leah took a small sip of her tea and proactively asked, "Li Wei, I heard you're looking to acquire a Battle Qi Codex?"

She had learned this information from Miriel. Although this half-elf aunt of hers constantly spoke ill of Li Wei, she was running around everywhere, seeking a Battle Qi Codex.

"Miss Leah has a lead?" Li Wei's eyes lit up, and he hurriedly asked.

"No." Leah shook her head.

The Iseli family naturally possessed profound Battle Qi Codices. She had learned them before, but she lacked talent in that area and hadn't even condensed a Battle Qi seed.

However, these were family secrets, only to be learned by members of the Iseli family. If she taught it to Li Wei, she would definitely receive a message from the Southern Border—she would be stripped of the Iseli name!

Being stripped of the family name meant not only losing inheritance rights, but also severe subsequent consequences. Li Wei, having learned the Battle Qi Codex, would definitely be hunted down by the entire Iseli family.

They would certainly eliminate anyone who might leak the Battle Qi Codex because once the method of cultivating Battle Qi was known, enemy forces could devise ways to counter the Iseli family's Battle Qi.

So, whether for her own sake or for Li Wei's, she would not teach him this family Battle Qi Codex.

Li Wei rolled his eyes, thinking, 'If you don't have one, then why bring it up?'

He wondered if he hadn't heard a magpie chirping this morning. How could such a good thing fall on his head?

"Have you heard of the Radiant Holy Word Codex?" Leah carefully continued, "I suggest you cultivate that."

The lord was taken aback. After remembering what that was, he immediately responded with two sneers, "Heh, Miss Leah, does anyone still cultivate that old antique these days?"

Li Wei mingled in the Western Border and dominated the Southern Border arena for two and a half years. Even if he hadn't sparred with every type of professional, he had at least heard of them. How could he not have heard of the Radiant Holy Word Codex, this famous piece of trash?

The so-called Radiant Holy Word Codex was actually a cultivation method exclusive to paladins of the Holy Church. To be fair, it was indeed extremely popular in the Ancient Continent, once becoming a mainstream profession.

But 'once' referred to at least two thousand years ago, in an era when magic flourished and gods revealed themselves. Various powerful magics and legendary powerhouses with terrifying reputations emerged endlessly.

Compared to Battle Qi, which borrowed elemental power and was essentially no different from magic, the Radiant Holy Word Codex focused more on the dual enhancement of spirit and body, further combining the two to stimulate the incredible power of the human body itself. It could be said to be a path completely contrary to other professions.

Unfortunately, the reason why the mainstream became the mainstream was precisely because of its unique advantages of the times, but as time passed, this advantage gradually faded.

On the surface, compared to Battle Qi knights, paladins were more in line with "exceptional physique, compassionate heart."

They also possessed greater knightly virtues.

If one were to interview a surviving paladin today, one would certainly hear endless praise, wishing that their descendants would cultivate the Radiant Holy Word Codex endlessly.

However, their mouths said one thing, but their bodies were very honest. In secret, they were teaching their descendants not to become paladins.

If the files of the number of people becoming paladins each year for the past two thousand years were slightly organized and analyzed, one could arrive at an expected result.

The number of people choosing to cultivate the Radiant Holy Word Codex each year has been decreasing exponentially. To this day, if the Holy Church didn't allocate a portion of the people becoming knights each year to cultivate the Radiant Holy Word Codex in order to maintain tradition, it would probably have become extinct.

Whether it was species or items, they all existed in competition and obeyed the law of "survival of the fittest."

Li Wei wasn't clear about the specific reasons for the decline of this school, but the reason for its elimination was probably just that it was out of sync with the times.

Nowadays, in dragon-like knight novels, it's common for the protagonist to join the Holy Church, become a paladin, cultivate the Radiant Holy Word Codex, and then slaughter everyone, marry the Holy Church's saintess and princess, open a harem, and embark on the pinnacle of life.

But stories are just stories. If it were really as awesome as the novels say, it wouldn't have fallen to the point where it had to force others to cultivate it to avoid extinction.

"Miss Leah, as far as I know, this school is already outdated, right?"

Sky was a bit curious as to why Leah would recommend her vassal to cultivate this thing.

After all, their interests were tied together. It was impossible for this Miss Leah to harm her vassal.

Sky himself cultivated a Battle Qi Codex, which was of medium to high quality and was awarded by the Martel family to those who made outstanding contributions.

He also knew something about the Radiant Holy Word Codex, and his evaluation was that it was useless to learn and a pity to discard.

"The so-called outdated is just that there isn't a suitable person right now." Leah smiled mysteriously. "Li Wei, do you know the effects of the Radiant Holy Word Codex?"

Li Wei frowned. He really couldn't answer this. He thought it was trash because the mainstream disdained it, coupled with the subconscious inherent impression in his mind.

In his previous life, the so-called paladin was the one who wore the thickest armor, took the most poisonous beatings, and had a few divine spells that were all for buffing or healing teammates.

Li Wei had always respectfully avoided this kind of profession that sacrificed oneself to benefit others.

"Li Wei, have you tested your strength?"

Leah put down her teacup, clenched her small fist, and swung it hard in the air. You have to say, it really had some momentum. "That is, the limit of a punch's strength."

"This… I haven't tested it, but I think it's definitely no problem to kill a giant with one punch."

The lord hadn't actually tested his strength, so he directly used the giant as a unit of calculation.

"Bullshit!"

Knight Sky clearly didn't say a word, but his face showed this meaning.

He admitted that this lord might have superb martial skills and be stronger than him.

But what was a giant? A giant beast with a height of more than four blades and a weight of several thousand pounds. Even if it took a sword infused with Battle Qi from him, it might not die. Wanting to kill it with one punch using only physical strength was simply a daydream.

Highcliff Fortress had dozens of giants. Sky had personally seen that group of orcs with arms as thick as wooden stakes whipping these giant beasts with three-finger-thick leather whips.

If it were a human, they would have been whipped to death with one lash, but these giants only howled in pain and were fine after a while, a typical case of thick skin and flesh.

But the next moment, he shuddered and then lowered his head to sip his tea as if nothing had happened.

He admitted that he had spoken a little too loudly just now.

He saw the lord get up and grab an iron bar as thick as an arm. With just a light force, there was a "creak" sound, and the iron bar was bent, with the two ends easily touching each other.

It was as easy as breaking a chopstick.

Clang!

The dull sound of it hitting the ground proved that this iron bar was definitely not a fake but a real iron bar cast from real materials.

The simplest and purest brute force brought the most shocking visual impact.

Zat picked up the iron bar. The veins on his marble-pillar-like arms bulged like pythons, and his cheeks were flushed red before he barely managed to restore it to its original shape. He admired Li Wei so much.

He was a giant beast with a height of two and a half blades. Compared to him, the boss's physique was like a cat and a tiger, but the strength contained in the two was completely opposite.

Being able to bend an arm-thick iron bar with just physical strength, one could imagine what kind of force would be wrapped around his fist.

Killing a giant with one punch was not guaranteed, but killing him was no problem at all. Sky, with his head buried, had eyes full of horror.

"My dearest Miss Leah, what exactly do you want to say?" The lord asked helplessly.

Only Leah could keep him in suspense here. If it were Sam, he would have slapped him long ago.

If you have something to say, then say it quickly. Don't be so slow, it's not like you're shitting.

"The main purpose of the Radiant Holy Word Codex, apart from those enhancement-type divine spells, is to temper the body." Leah took a sip of tea before slowly saying.

"Oh." Li Wei instantly lost interest.

No wonder paladins took the most poisonous beatings. This simple and crude method might be more practical than Battle Qi in the early stages, but if it couldn't achieve a qualitative change like his, it would only be played to death by the colorful Battle Qi.

Not to mention that Battle Qi also had the effect of temporarily increasing physical strength, which might be even stronger than the Radiant Holy Word Codex.

After all, Li Wei had never heard of any paladin who could reach his level with just their physical body.

No wonder they could only become healers later, sacrificing themselves to benefit others.

"The physical strength tempered is increased by multiples." Leah smiled slightly.

"What?!" The lord's hands trembled like an aunt serving food in the cafeteria. He couldn't help but stand up, put his hands on Leah's shoulders, his face close, staring at her starry blue eyes.

"Miss Leah, do you know what you're saying?"

"The fact is indeed like this. The greater the original strength of the person cultivating, the greater the increase. If you have ten times the strength of an average person, the increase you get will definitely be ten times." Leah turned her head away a little embarrassedly. The strong masculine aura hit her face, making her a little flustered.

"The cultivation of the Radiant Holy Word Codex is divided into five stages. The first stage can temper the original body to 1.5 times its strength, and the last stage can reach about twelve times."

"Good heavens!"

The lord quickly sat down and drank some tea to calm his nerves.

If his current strength was increased by multiples, he couldn't imagine how strong he could be.

"Moreover, this is your body's actual strength, so it's different from Battle Qi, which requires time to recover once it's exhausted. As long as your stamina isn't exhausted, there won't be any time limits."

Leah's words were like a bomb, setting off a shocking wave in Li Wei's mind.

Increasing by multiples was a standard case of the strong getting stronger and the weak getting weaker. The same two-fold increase, whether the base was ten or fifty, determined whether the final gain was twenty or one hundred, which were completely different.

For ordinary civilians, even if they cultivated to the final stage and reached a twelve-fold increase, they would probably only be able to deal with a troll.

But it was a different story for Li Wei. With his current strength, probably only dragons or giants were stronger than him.

His starting point was the ending point of those temple paladins.

However, this only applied to today's paladins.

In the era of flourishing magic thousands of years ago, those legendary paladins were all top powerhouses. A single Radiant Healing spell could even revive someone who had died within an hour, and their physical strength was comparable to that of a dragon.

"Also, the body tempered by the Radiant Holy Word Codex has a very high increase in magic resistance. After becoming a paladin, you can also cultivate various Radiant Divine Spells."

Leah continued to add.

The lord had to admit that he was deeply moved.

Increasing strength, increasing magic resistance, and cultivating various divine spells that buffed himself, this Radiant Holy Word Codex seemed to be tailor-made for him, perfectly matching his current fighting style.

More importantly, profound Battle Qi Codices were firmly controlled, and it was unknown how long it would take to obtain them. The Radiant Holy Word Codex, which had now been relegated to the sewers, was obviously easier to obtain.

Of course, this 'easy' was only relative.

"Although I don't know much about paladins, I also know that to become a paladin, you need to believe in the Goddess of Holy Light, right?" Li Wei asked.

The Radiant Holy Word Codex was indeed relegated to the sewers, but it hadn't reached the point of being a dime a dozen.

Debe believed in the Three Gods of Justice, and the Goddess of Holy Light was one of them.

As for how to be considered to believe in the Goddess of Holy Light, naturally, it was to join the Holy Light Church of Debe.

As a thorough pragmatist, Li Wei valued how much benefit the Radiant Holy Word Codex could bring him more than the Holy Light Church's so-called doctrines, precepts, rules, and obligations.

Useful Holy Light was good Holy Light, and the same was true for the goddess.

If she could actually bring him benefits, Li Wei would reluctantly believe in her and offer incense on festivals. It didn't matter.

But if it was purely generating electricity for love, then he would quickly refuse.

"Not for the time being. I have a good relationship with the saintess of the Royal Court's Holy Light Church. I wrote a letter asking her to bring me the first stage of the Radiant Holy Word Codex's cultivation method."

Leah took out a piece of silk from her arms. When the lord took it, a fragrance similar to hers wafted over.

It was obviously carried close to the body for a long time, causing the fragrance to completely permeate the silk.

"Miss Leah, to be honest, my admiration for you is as turbulent as the Highcliff Fortress's rushing river." The lord gave a thumbs up, speaking sincerely, and firmly grasped the holy scripture that recorded the secret technique in his hand.

He really didn't expect that this Miss Leah could actually be related to the saintess of the Holy Light Church.

It seemed that he still knew very little about this feudal lord.

After all, she was also the granddaughter of a grand duke, and most likely to inherit the title of duke. Her interpersonal relationships would definitely not be much worse. In the past, many people wanted to take the initiative to curry favor.

Knowing a saintess or two was also reasonable. After all, these saintesses had transcendent status, and ordinary people couldn't get in touch with them, but as long as they were intelligent creatures, they couldn't completely cut off social interaction.

Therefore, whether it was to relieve worries or to get to know more powerful figures to consolidate the church's position, these princesses and daughters of dukes were the best objects for the saintesses to associate with.

Brothers, I'm sorry, I can't write the fourth chapter. Don't wait.