War of attrition
Two weeks passed in a flash.
Rather than charging like a muscle head, Arthur decided to begin a war of attrition. Orcs had enormous strength, but it was both a strength and a weakness. They required enormous amounts of food, and because their settlement was only recently constructed, they didn't have food reserves.
Arthur took advantage of it, and killed any orc hunter that tried to catch rabbits or birds ruthlessly.
Taking five more orcs in that manner.
After taking out the group of orc hunters, the chieftain reacted swiftly and forbade any orc from going out of the fortified settlement. The number of orc warriors guarding the wooden walls tripled, and Arthur could not see any breach in their crude defenses.
Still, there only remained 23 orcs capable of fighting normally, and about 20 non-fighting orcs with nothing but huge bodies.
The few orc kills allowed him to reach level 7 as well.
[Name – Arthur Landragon
Class – Level 7 [Beginner Rank] Acolyte (0 / 3 500 EXP)
HP – 50 / 50 | Mana: 60 / 60
→ Experience Stored: 360
Attributes:
Strength – 9 | Agility – 3 | Vitality – 5 | Magic Power – 7
Skills: Intermediate Swordsmanship (58), Magical Knowledge (33), Archery (35), Ice Magical Knowledge (25), Deceiving (20), Spell Reading (18), Acting (16), Cartography (16), Scroll Copying (15), Eloquence (14), Charming (12), Poetry (10), Trading (8), Information gathering (6)
Knight Technique: Heavy Vertical Strike (23), Power Thrust (12), Killing Intent (10)
Spell: Freezing Touch [Low Grade – Rank 0] (20)
Items: Celeste (Medium-grade Enchanted Weapon), Ring of Courage (Low-grade Enchanted Item), Amulet of Healing (Low-grade Enchanted Item), Orc General Flag (Low-grade Enchanted Item)]
This mission was taking more time than expected, but it was not unpleasant.
[You have completed two cycles of [Black Widow High-grade Meditation Technique]. You have earned 20 EXP]
Meditation brought him 20 EXP daily. After two weeks, he had earned 280 EXP alone, which was extraordinary to him. This was the power of high-grade meditation techniques.
Still, the amount necessary to level up from the beginner acolyte realm to the intermediate acolyte realm was enormous. At this rythm, it would take a long time before he would be able to reach the elite standard of the Ivory tower.
Besides meditating, he also trained Evangeline in close combat and forced her to meditate daily. Anyone would have crumbled under the pressure and pain, but Evangeline not only possessed a great healing technique to recover from injuries, she also happened to be completely enamoured with Arthur. Any second she spent in Arthur's presence was pure joy, so she was happy to go through hellish trainign.
This was an interesting turn of event, to the point that John also joined in the training at some point. Even though Evangeline was still far from John's standards of strength, taking toxins and training like a mad woman showed some results.
[Name - Evangeline Fallister
Class - Level 4 Acolyte
HP : 20/20
Attributes:
Strength – 3 | Agility – 2 | Vitality – 2 | Magic Power - 4
Status - Healthy
Skills - Magical Knowledge (18), Nature Elemental Knowledge (16), Beginner Swordsmanship (14), Litteracy (5)...]
Spell - Nature Touch (28)]
[Name - John Bellford
Class - Level 3 Acolyte
HP : 40 / 40
Attributes:
Strength – 4 | Agility – 2 | Vitality – 4 | Magic Power - 3
Status - Healthy
Skills - Beginner Swordsmanship (21), Litteracy (5)...
Knight Killing Technique - Powerful Slash (16)
Spell - ø]
"Seems like our orcish friend ran out of patience", William reported as he pointed the settlement in the midst of Arthur's meditation
Evangeline, who was meditating nearby as well, opened her eyes. She was dirty and tired, but Arthur found her increasingly more beautiful as time passed. He valued strength, and she had great talent. He would have to check with the old witch Diana Blackhope, but he wanted to make her one of theirs.
"What is he doing? There must be 15, no...20 orc warriors with him!", Evangeline observed, "He must really want to kill us!"
Arthur smiled: "They are starving. Their children must have stopped walking. Their women must have stopped talking due to their hunger. The chieftain is probably looking at his warriors growing thinner by the day in despair. I didn't think he would last 2 weeks. I expected the narrow-minded orcs to go out and charge us as soon as we took out one of their hunter leaders, but it seems like the chieftain is wise"
John said: "What do we do? Even though we made traps throughout the forest, they are unlikely to kill them all. Should we ambush them?"
Arthur laughed: "You really want to fight them? Even though I am taking toxins and training with my family's ancestral breathing technique, the chieftain probably possesses more strength than I do. He has more strength than intermediate knight! No, I am not stupid enough to risk casualties in a frontal charge. We will destroy their settlement"
[Cruelty Skill activated...]