Arthur held his bow and arrows and walked directly into the depths of the forest.
More than half a month had passed, and he was already very familiar with the environment in this area.
Aside from a few times when he ventured too deep and encountered a White-scaled Wild Boar, basically no animal could threaten him.
So, his steps were light and agile.
"Abnormal target detected." A light blue dot flashed in Arthur's eyes.
"Oh? What new prey is it this time?" Arthur smiled faintly, took out a white-feathered arrow, slowly nocked it, and drew the bowstring, aiming in the direction of the blue dot.
His movements were slow, powerful, and extremely steady.
The black arrowhead reflected a metallic sheen in the scattered fragments of sunlight.
The short bow creaked faintly as it was pulled taut.
Whoosh!!
A white line suddenly shot out.
Clang!!!
Arthur felt a sudden tingling on his scalp.
A sense of danger he had never experienced before surged into his heart, as if a sharp thorn was about to pierce his brow, cold and stinging.
The Chip instantly streamed a data flow into his brain.
Without time to think, Arthur suddenly moved sideways, using all his Qi to lunge to the left, hiding behind a large tree.
Bang!!
The sound of a Sharp Weapon piercing wood reached his ears.
The large tree, as thick as two arms embracing, trembled, and tiny leaves were shaken down, like rain.
"Oh?" A middle-aged man's voice came from afar, seemingly surprised that Arthur had not been hit.
Arthur's face was pale.
He cowered behind the large tree, gasping for breath, and beads of cold sweat appeared on his forehead.
In that instant, if he hadn't dodged according to the Chip's prompt, or even if he had dodged a little slower, his head would have been smashed to pieces.
Never before, not once, had Arthur felt himself so close to death.
"What should I do? What should I do?" His mind was blank.
"I don't want to die… I finally have another chance to live… How can I die again just like this?!"
Arthur trembled all over, his face ashen.
After all, before his Transmigration, he was just an ordinary young man.
In the peaceful and tranquil environment of Earth, even hunting was considered a very dangerous activity for him.
Let alone the perilous situation he was in now.
"Run!! That's right!! Hurry back, I'll be safe once I'm back at the castle!!" Arthur suddenly cleared his head.
He listened carefully to the sounds around him; the person behind him seemed to have stopped moving.
This made him uneasy.
However, the desire to return still drove him to start moving slowly.
Arthur slowly squatted, carefully moving his feet, inching back in the direction he had come from.
Suddenly, another wave of sharp coldness washed over him.
The Chip's data stream instantly entered his mind.
"Right side! Thigh!" Arthur immediately knew where the opponent intended to attack him.
He performed a forward roll on the spot.
His head hit something on the ground, causing a sharp pain.
Without time to think, Arthur scrambled to his feet and ran madly back in the direction he had come from.
Boom!!
A dull impact sound came from the ground behind him again.
"Damn it!" The man's curse faintly reached him.
"Second time!"
Arthur ran frantically.
The trees on both sides receded rapidly.
More than half a month of activity here had made him exceptionally familiar with the area, so even in the dense forest, his speed was not significantly reduced.
However, a chilling sensation once again emerged on his back.
Arthur lunged forward to the left, but the coldness on his back remained.
He again hid behind a large tree, but that abnormal coldness was still there.
Arthur grew increasingly panicked.
He clenched his teeth, constantly performing a series of evasive maneuvers, ignoring the scratches and wounds all over his body.
But that chilling sensation clung to his back like a persistent shadow.
"Optimal countermeasure: turn and block." The Chip transmitted its analysis.
However, Arthur, his face filled with fear, dared not turn around and face it at this moment.
He just ran madly back.
At this point, because he had ventured too deep into the forest while hunting, he was still a good hundred meters away from the castle's training ground.
But these hundred meters felt like an impassable chasm.
"Optimal countermeasure: turn and block." The Chip kept prompting.
Clatter!
Arthur again rolled sideways.
The jingle of metal chains suddenly came from Arthur's original position.
A black chain, as thick as an arm, shot out in front of him, wrapped three times around a tree trunk, and finally hooked firmly onto a branch on one side, its hook making a snapping sound as it dug into the trunk.
The chain effectively blocked Arthur's path back.
"Run!!" The man's voice came from behind.
"Damn it! Today is truly cursed!"
Arthur got up, intending to run again.
Suddenly, his shoulder felt cold, and he rolled to the right.
With another clatter, a chain shot past him again, embedding itself in a nearby tree trunk.
"Run… I can't run anymore…" A hint of despair rose in Arthur's heart.
He was now completely locked down by that bone-chilling coldness.
He dared not make any significant movements.
"Am I going to die again?" He slowly stood up, turned his body, and looked behind him.
A black figure silently emerged from the woods.
This was a middle-aged man wrapped in a black cloak.
He wore a black mask, and his eyebrows were a rare golden color.
He held a chain in each hand.
"It's over." The man released one chain, flicked his hand.
A black streak suddenly shot out.
Its speed was far greater than the previous attacks.
The black trace produced a sharp whistling sound in the air.
Arthur stood rooted to the spot.
An intensely painful and chilling sensation came from his brow.
"I don't want to die…" he murmured.
I don't want to die…
I don't want to die…
I don't want to die…
Echoes reverberated in his mind.
The black whistle grew closer and closer…
Arthur's pupils reflected the rapidly approaching black dot.
"Optimal plan: bend down, draw sword, block head." The Chip's data instantly entered his brain.
Arthur suddenly jolted, his right hand drawing his sword like lightning, holding it upright before his eyes.
Clang!!!
An extremely heavy force surged from the iron sword in his hand.
Arthur's face flushed, and a trickle of blood involuntarily seeped from the corner of his mouth.
This shock completely woke him up.
Since he couldn't run, if he didn't want to die, there was only one option: fight!!
Arthur's entire body tensed, his heart pounding almost out of his chest.
"You're lucky, kid!" In the woods, the black figure pulled and tugged his hands, and the two chains strangely released themselves from the trees, clattering as he reeled them back in.
The figure gave Arthur a deep look, then turned and silently disappeared into the shadows.
Only when the figure had completely vanished into the forest did Arthur slowly retreat.
He knew very well that if this black figure hadn't left on his own, he would most likely have died here today.
No matter how much the Chip assisted and corrected him, it certainly couldn't compare to the opponent's reflex-like quick movements.
He had never experienced actual combat before, while the opponent clearly seemed very skilled.
If it weren't for the Chip's prompts, he estimated he would have been killed directly from the very beginning.
After a long while, he came to his senses and discovered a black card stuck in the ground at his feet.
He bent down to pick it up; it was black with a red spider pattern etched into it.
Dyson clutched his right arm and walked quickly through the forest.
It wasn't that he didn't want to continue to kill that little fellow, but unfortunately, at the very beginning, that white-feathered arrow had suddenly shot out when he wasn't paying attention.
Although he had blocked it in time, the arrowhead still grazed his right arm.
It was this slight graze that now made him dizzy and weak.
"Damn it!" Dyson touched his forehead; it was burning hot.
"The arrowhead is poisoned! This damn little bastard!! How dare he poison his arrow! Where did he get so many insidious tricks?!" he cursed under his breath.
He hastily fumbled out a small light-yellow paper packet from his body, opened it, and swallowed the white powder inside in one gulp, gulping it down several times.
"I almost fell here.
Luckily, it was the One-Eyed Snake's poison, and I had prepared for it beforehand." However, Dyson still felt a wave of dizziness.
This was clearly due to the poison combined with strenuous exercise, which accelerated blood flow.
Full recovery would likely take several hours.
"Next time, next time I'll definitely deal with you first!" Dyson gritted his teeth.
"You ruined my mission; giving you a card is letting you off easy."
Suddenly, his foot slipped, and he was tripped hard by a tree vine.
Bang!!
Dyson fell to the ground, his head hitting a sharp stone.
"I…!!!!" A large gash appeared on his forehead, and blood immediately flowed down his cheek.
"Go to hell, you piece of shit!!!!"
Dyson's frustration reached its peak.
In the bathroom.
Arthur heavily closed the door, shrinking into the bathtub.
The warm water completely enveloped his body; all the fatigue and tension from the day seemed to slowly seep away.
Only today did he truly realize the dangerous nature of this world.
With a foundation in swordsmanship, coupled with the Chip's corrections, and an improvement in physical fitness, he was confident that his foundation was not much different from that of an ordinary Knight-level candidate.
However, having a foundation was one thing, but being able to face danger without fear and utilize one's strength in combat was another matter entirely.
Arthur submerged his entire head in the water.
He recalled the black card that fellow had thrown before leaving.
"Does the card he threw when he left mean he'll come back later?" There were many such tropes on Earth in his previous life.
The more Arthur thought about it, the more nervous he became.
The unknown is always full of mystery and fear.
He had to figure out the meaning of that card.
He simply sat up, grabbed the towel nearby, dried himself, and put on his clothes.
"Young Master, do you need more hot water?" Maggie's voice came from outside the door.
"No need." Arthur shook his hair.
He pulled open the door.
Leaving the specialized bathhouse, Arthur did not stop for a moment, heading directly out of the miscellaneous area.
It was nighttime.
In the castle's training ground, a few small shadows could still be vaguely seen practicing.
The evening breeze blew on him, feeling very cool.
Arthur walked through the training ground and headed directly to the main tower.
To look up information, the Baron's collected books were all concentrated in the main tower's library.
So, he had to go to the main tower's library.
In the entire castle, besides the Baron, Auden, and Ward, only Arthur had the key to the library.
This also represented his status and position in the castle.
In this world, books represented knowledge, and knowledge was an incredibly precious wealth.
Only nobles could receive instruction and study.
A single book could generally sell for at least dozens of gold coins, and even then, they were hard to come by.
Two guards stood on either side of the main tower.
Seeing Arthur approach, they respectfully bowed their heads.
"Young Master Arthur."
"Hmm, is Father present?" Arthur nodded and asked.
"Baron hasn't returned yet.
However, Auden and Crew just left." Crew was Auden the Knight's son.
The main tower not only had a library but also an indoor sparring ground, where the two often sparred to train their combat skills.
"Understood." Arthur walked directly into the tower hall.
Aside from the adults of his father's generation, in this castle, there were only people who had intentions towards him and those who didn't.
Crew belonged to the latter; with his Knight talent, he only showed superficial respect to Arthur, but in reality, there was no hint of respect in his eyes.
This was also the attitude of most of the future Knights in the castle.