The Original Vampire

  The atmosphere in the Bearded Tavern was still noisy and warm.

  However, the atmosphere in the corner, where Saru and the others were, was instantly stagnant.

  ”Ride a… knight?” The old mercenary opened his mouth wide and looked at Colin in surprise.

  He knew that Colin’s identity was not simple, but he never thought that he was actually a knight.

  You know, there is a fundamental difference between the knights in this world and the warriors on the streets.

  Any civilian who can afford meat and is well-developed can learn how to stimulate fighting spirit in the warrior union and become a warrior apprentice, as long as he can afford a few silver coins.

  But the Cavaliers are different.

  To become a knight’s apprentice, you must first have certain talents, and, more importantly, you must accept the baptism ceremony hosted by the priest of the Church of Light.

  It is completely different from the kind of baptism on earth that only has a symbolic meaning and can be sprinkled with water. The baptism ceremony in this world is for the priest of the Radiant Church to cast a spell to communicate with the Lord of Radiance and engrave a sacred mark on the baptized person.

  This process consumes a lot of money for the priest, so each priest is limited in the number of baptismal ceremonies he can perform in his life.

  Therefore, such baptismal quotas are extremely precious. They are basically completely monopolized by the nobles and are almost impossible for common people to access.

  One can imagine the scarcity of knights.

  For example, Baron Angelet has only three loyal knights under his command. Including the baron himself and his son Colin, the entire baron has only five knights.

  Among them, Colin has not even entered the rank yet and is currently just a knight apprentice.

  Professionals in this world can be divided into nine levels according to their strengths, with level one being the weakest and level nine being the strongest.

  Of course, there is an apprentice level below the first level, which is set up for rookies who have not officially entered the level.

  In fact, the difference in combat power between knights and warriors of the same level is not very big. Knights do have an advantage, but in a head-on confrontation, they may not necessarily win against warriors. After all, factors such as martial arts, willpower, weapons, and equipment must also be considered.

  What really makes nobles flock to the profession of knight is its potential.

  The pinnacle of the warrior profession is level six.

  That’s right, looking at the entire continent, there has never been a seventh-level warrior, whether it is humans, trolls, orcs, elves, etc.

  According to His Majesty Peter Messier, the first pope of the Church of Radiance,

  ”Mortals need the gift of gods to enter the Holy Realm.”

  The seventh level and above are the Holy Realm, so the seventh-level knights are also called Paladins.

  Therefore, according to this statement, warriors who have not been baptized will certainly not be able to obtain the gifts of the gods, and will not be able to reach the seventh level.

  Currently, there are only five professions in the world that can break through the sixth level.

  And without exception, they are all professions that believe in a certain god.

  They are the human knights who serve the Lord of Radiance, the troll warriors who serve the god of war, the elf rangers who serve the goddess of destiny, the Naga royal guards who serve the god of storms, and the orc skull crushers who serve the god of destruction.

  Even those spellcasters who claim not to believe in gods and only believe in arcane truth cannot break through to the sixth level.

  However, they can release forbidden spells with seventh-level or even higher power.

  However, releasing such a forbidden spell requires the caster to pay an extremely terrible price, and it cannot be regarded as a conventional attack method.

  Of course, the sanctuary is by no means easy for knights to enter.

  Once a paladin is born in any family, the entire family will become extremely prominent.

  All families that have given birth to Paladins will receive the honor of having the word “Holy” before their family name.

  For example, the Hilde family, the owners of the northern territory of the Glorious Empire, are descendants of the founding Paladins of the empire and are therefore respectfully called the Saint Hilde family.

  In the entire history of the Glorious Empire, there have only been seven Paladin families.

  This shows how difficult it is to enter the sanctuary.

  As for the eighth level, it is called the legendary realm.

  The founding emperor of the Glorious Empire, Garna Lorenzo, was a Paladin in the legendary realm and the only one recorded in history.

In more than a thousand years after him, there has never been another Paladin who entered the legendary realm.

  Not to mention the ninth level.

  The ninth level is also known as the realm of demigods, and it is said that only the dragons who once dominated this world can reach it. After their extinction, no race has ever been able to give birth to a strong demigod.

  As for those above the ninth level, that is the realm of the gods…

  In short, knights, a noble and rare profession that can even be said to belong only to nobles, should obviously appear in castles rather than places like the Bearded Tavern.

  Generally, no knight would choose to follow a mercenary group to another city. After all, they have their own retinues, servants, and even armies.

  Therefore, Colin’s appearance is particularly strange.

  Just as the atmosphere in the corner became increasingly solemn, a furry little head suddenly emerged from Colin’s shirt.

  ”Meow——” As if he were dissatisfied with his good sleep being disturbed, the kitten roared at the bearded man.

  Colin smiled slightly, stuffed a certain guy who got up angrily into his clothes again, and then asked the bearded man: “How do you know that I am a knight?”

  In fact, Colin felt that he was careful enough.

  He was not equipped with armor, and his sword was just a standard one-handed sword that he carried casually, and his clothes were the uniforms of a guard who was “borrowed” with a similar figure to himself.

  Moreover, according to the memory of the predecessor, although warriors and knights do have different combat performances, there should be no difference unless they take action.

  What’s more, for a knight apprentice like Colin who has not yet entered the rank, because he cannot inspire the Holy Light to assist in fighting, even if there is a fight, it is no different from a warrior apprentice.

  Is there really a way to distinguish between these two professions at a glance?

  Colin felt that this might be the knowledge blind spot of the predecessor.

  But who knew? Saru smiled slyly and said, “Guessed.”

  Fooled!

  Colin immediately realized that he had been tricked by this seemingly reckless and honest-beared man.

  Saru should have just been suspicious, but Colin’s subconscious reaction made the other party confirm his identity as a knight.

  The main reason is that Saru’s appearance is too confusing.

  This made Colin less vigilant, and he was defrauded of his true occupation by the other party.

  Fire Fox Mercenary Group.

  Haha, no wonder it’s called this name.

  He looks like a violent bear, but is actually as cunning as a fox.

  ”I have been in the mercenary world for more than 40 years, and I have seen so many people with these eyes. Hehe, you kid, although you are dressed in ordinary clothes, you don’t look like a civilian at first glance. Sure enough, the secret will be revealed when you cheat. Got it!”

  Colin took a deep breath and kept reminding himself in his mind that he must be careful when dealing with an experienced veteran like Saru.

  However, on the surface, Colin appeared calm and composed, not at all nervous about having his identity revealed.

  First, in front of Saru, he took out ten copper coins and threw them to the old mercenary, indicating that he could leave first.

  Then he pulled up the chair next to Saru and sat down with a natural expression: “I admit that the little trick before was indeed inappropriate, and I apologize to you. But, you shouldn’t refuse a knight to go with you, right?”

  ”Your name?” Saru put away his smile and looked into Colin’s eyes.

  Colin looked directly into Saru’s eyes and replied in the most sincere tone:

  ”Kahn, Kahn Sudor.”