[NT: Yes, just one Chapter today. But don’t worry, I’ll make up for it all on the 22nd, when I’ll release a mass update of ten Chapters.]

Smiling at Mireya, who was walking away alongside Aerick and the other hundred soldiers, Ethan reached out toward the bodies scattered across the ground, activating the Blood Emperor’s Ring.

[You have absorbed the blood of 1,102 goblins.

You have extracted a small portion of your target’s talent and attributes.

+10 Strength

+9 Vitality

+11 Agility

+1 Intelligence

Blood Reserves: 1600/1600]

[Your Talent has increased! Rank B -> Rank A

All Attributes: +15%]

Ethan’s eyes glowed a deep red as the wave of power flooded his body, coursing through every nerve and muscle before finally reaching his mind.

Goblins didn’t offer much intelligence to draw from, so all that gain had come solely from the improvement of his talent.

He had already noticed a massive difference when advancing to Rank B, but the leap to Rank A was of a different magnitude.

It was strange.

He could sense the aura much more clearly than before, and when he closed his eyes, he could observe everything around him within a five-meter radius, using nothing but the aura and mana circulating through the environment.

And that difference would only grow.

The gap between Rank A and Rank B talent was infinitely smaller than the gap between Rank S and Rank A.

The same was true for Rank SS compared to Rank S.

With every step, the abyss between them grew wider.

With a sigh, Ethan opened his status screen.

[Name: Ethan GoldenVeil

Level: 70/120 (XP: 12%)

Available Rebirths: 2

Stage: 3 (Advancement Quest available at level 120.)

Talent: Rank A

Noble Title: High Baron. (Increase your prestige to upgrade your title)

Heroic Title: The Unparalleled Degenerate of Darkwall! (-3 prestige), Goblin Slayer! (+2 prestige, +30% fear among goblins.), + 1.

Prestige: 27/100

Aura: 4144/7296

Attributes.

Strength: 643

Agility: 576

Vitality: 532

Intelligence: 546

Charm: 805

Available attribute points: 41

Wives: 3

Concubines: 5

Monthly prestige gained from wives and concubines: 12]

Seeing the number of attribute points still left to distribute, Ethan sighed, quickly allocating them among strength, agility, and vitality, setting intelligence aside for the time being.

The reason he always waited so long to improve his attributes was simple: when tired, allocating points worked much like a stamina potion, immediately restoring vigor to his body.

The moment he distributed the forty-one points, his body was filled with renewed strength and his eyes shone with intensity.

Now, despite being only at level seventy, his attributes should in no way be inferior to those of a Rank A warrior at level ninety.

A twenty-level difference equaled sixty attribute points, but that ignored the years of hard training and the insights that, beyond mere leveling up, also created a significant difference.

Generally, at the third stage, twenty levels should correspond to about two hundred attribute points, which put Ethan in a very comfortable position relative to his peers.

Once he reached the peak of the third stage, he might even be able to take on the weakest warriors of the fourth stage.

With a slight sigh, Ethan simply watched Alice, who had already moved the most seriously injured guards out of the danger zone and was now walking toward him, her immaculate white dress fluttering gently with each step. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

"Are you okay, love? Did you get hurt anywhere?" She approached him, still covered in goblin blood, immediately casting a healing spell.

"I’m fine, I don’t need healing, just a shower." Ethan smiled, pulling off his helmet and letting his sweat-soaked golden hair fall freely.

He almost pulled her into an embrace, but, noticing the pristine white dress, he held back at the last moment.

Hearing that, Alice didn’t hesitate to cast one of the most basic spells she knew, a simple cleaning spell, restoring Ethan to his pristine and beautiful form once again.

Evelyn, on the other hand, upon witnessing the scene, didn’t waste a single second.

She threw herself at Ethan, trying to bury his face between her tanned, blood-covered breasts, only to remember too late, with a disappointed grimace, that she was still clad in her full armor.

"Ugh... that’s why I hate these metal things!" she complained, puffing out her cheeks and looking away, eliciting hearty laughter from Ethan and Alice.

It was an adorable sight on the usually provocative, mature, and confident face of that tanned beauty.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t wait for long.

The troops organized themselves at the palisades, the wounded who were still unable to fight were hidden in the fortress’s inner chambers, and soon silence reigned over every corner of the place.

It was only after five hours, as nightfall approached, that the goblin troops returned, bringing with them more than three hundred prisoners, in addition to all the loot and several goblin women, taken from the leaders of the previous camps.

They now numbered only about four hundred, having lost approximately eight hundred goblins in the endeavor.

For humans, those casualty rates would be absurd, but for goblins, they were quite decent.

As long as the females were safe, nothing else mattered.

The two goblin leaders were in high spirits as they carried enormous sacks, stuffed with looted items, on their backs, a trail of weak and malnourished prisoners following close behind, their feet dragging against the dirty ground.

That excitement, however, didn’t last long.

Soon, the pungent smell of blood filled their nostrils, dominating the air, and then their eyes fell upon the thousands of goblin corpses left behind by the Goldenveil guard.

Rage took hold of the two remaining leaders, and they charged like madmen toward the shattered gates, sniffing out the scent of humans inside.

They would kill them all. All those disgusting humans!

Little did they know that was exactly what Ethan wanted.

The moment the goblins entered the field, a roar of flames erupted behind them, the searing heat raising a red wall.

The soldiers of Goldenveil, previously hidden, emerged from both sides, surrounding them and advancing.

Soon, the carnage resumed, the desperate goblins being cut down like pigs in a slaughterhouse, shrill screams piercing the night as steel met green flesh time and again.