The story of the black silk female knight

"Hehe...uh."

Valensa couldn't help but chuckle as she thought of the smug and wonderful moments, but then immediately covered her head in pain.

She quickly opened her magical storage bag, found several bottles of healing potions, picked through them briefly, opened two bottles, and drank them in one gulp.

Both bottles contain alchemical potions; one can heal internal injuries caused by impact attacks, and the other can refresh the mind and relieve headaches.

The medicine for treating internal injuries took effect quickly; Valensa's right hand was still numb, but the churning sensation in her chest and abdomen had subsided by more than half.

But there was nothing that could be done about the headache and dizziness. Alchemy potions were completely ineffective against this kind of mental drain. Valensa could only grit her teeth and endure it, waiting for the mental drain to recover so that the headache and dizziness would subside naturally.

After resting on the ground for a while, and once the numbness in her right hand had subsided considerably, Valensa stood up again to deal with the spoils of war.

Looking at the already dead Winged Falcon and Demon Scale Bull, Valensa couldn't help but recall the incredibly dangerous yet completely under-control moment from just now.

She deliberately allowed herself to be hit by the charging bull. She had calculated the damage and her own tolerance; as long as she wasn't gored by its horns, the charge wouldn't be fatal.

The purple rare-grade round shield she had drawn from the Dimensional Hardware Store was strong enough to withstand the horns of the Demon Scale Wild Bull.

Valensa's action of touching the bull's head the instant she was thrown into the air was not a subconscious one, but rather a deliberate act to wrap the metal wire from her assassination ring around the bull's horns.

The metal wire was so thin and sharp that it was almost invisible unless you looked closely. The winged falcon crashed into it and cut itself in two.

As for the bizarre breakage of the right foreleg of the Demon Scale Bull, it was naturally due to the power of the divine runes.

Valensa used her right-hand shield to deflect the charge of the Scaled Bull, and the Scaled Bull's right foreleg naturally suffered the same attack... It crippled itself by crashing into itself.

Valensa's double jump to dodge the Winged Falcon's attack in mid-air was naturally aided by the tactical capabilities of her high-tech military boots.

After observing the Winged Falcon's attack through the mirror on the inside of her shield, she immediately used a double jump to raise herself, so that the Winged Falcon would crash headfirst into the metal wire connected to the bull horn below as it flew past her original position.

The supersonic slash was fast, but there was still a distance of nearly a kilometer, and those three seconds were enough for Valensa to react.

The entire operation seemed extremely risky, and Valensa appeared to have succeeded only by sheer luck.

But Valencia herself doesn't see it that way... The persistent dizziness and headaches she's experiencing are the price she's paying for the plan to succeed.

In those few seconds of explosive mental stimulation, Valencia did countless deductions, modifying and optimizing every posture and movement step by step, before achieving this final result.

The speed at which it runs, the angle at which it is gored by the Demon Scale Bull, the wind speed and humidity every second, and using sunlight to make the Wing Blade Falcon unaware of the existence of the metal wire... all of these must be taken into account.

Valensa was only able to execute the plan decisively after confirming that as long as the error could be controlled within a certain range, the plan would definitely succeed.

She has never been the type of person who is good at seizing opportunities and taking risks, so she has never had any business talent since her previous life.

But as long as she has enough intelligence, she is confident that she can make the best solution... or even actively create opportunities that others can only describe as luck.

This achievement further solidified Valencia's belief in this tactical style, and she also felt somewhat emotional.

Before coming here, she was determined to use her body misting and divine authority runes to deal with the Winged Blade Falcon, but she didn't expect that she couldn't use either of them on the Winged Blade Falcon.

The effects of the divine runes were absorbed by the Demon Scale Bull, and the reserves in the Heart Pool that had been reserved for the body's vaporization were used entirely to enhance the mind.

This gave Valensa a new understanding... intelligence can't always be correct; for example, the behavior of the Winged Falcon has repeatedly surprised Valensa.

Planning is essential for getting things done, but plans can't keep up with changes... A mind that can quickly adapt to changing circumstances is crucial.

"Hmm... It's a pity I'm not really that smart, so the explosive mental enhancement I used to strengthen my mind drained me in just a few seconds... Tsk."

Valensa sighed as she used her longsword to pry feathers off the winged falcon and collect them:

"I feel like I'm better suited for direct combat... Gathering intelligence and making plans is something that guy is better at... I wonder how she is now."

I ran away from the capital without even saying goodbye... She must be very angry, which is why she hasn't contacted me for the past three years... Maybe she's already unilaterally broken off all ties with me.

I'll find a chance to apologize to her when I get back to the capital, sigh..."

Valensa felt a pang of sadness as she recalled a certain old friend, and it wasn't until almost all the feathers on the Winged Falcon had been plucked off that she smiled again.

These feathers are the hardest and sharpest parts of the Pteranodon's body, and are the foundation that allows it to tear apart its prey with supersonic slashes.

Each feather is no less valuable than a steel blade, but they are too small. They are not even enough to make a dagger; they can probably only be used as a concealed weapon, like a ninja's shuriken.

Valensa doesn't know how to use hidden weapons, but there are ninjas in this world, and throwing hidden weapons is a required course for them.

Perhaps after returning to the capital, I can find a ninja to learn how to use hidden weapons... After all, it is also the largest port in the Kingdom of Fran, and many people from the Four Islands Alliance live in the city.

Chapter 73 Our elite force needs this kind of talent.

After plucking all the feathers from the Winged Blade Bird and storing them for future use as concealed weapons, Valensa looked at the hundreds-of-pounds corpse of the Demon Scale Bull.

According to the rules of the War Academy, the corpses of monsters must be handed in as scrolls as proof of passing the first test, and the magic crystals inside the monsters must also be preserved.

But the body doesn't have to be intact; Valensa could pluck feathers off the winged falcon as trophies.

What about the Demon Scale Wild Bull?

From the perspective of enhancing combat power and collection value, the Demon Scale Wild Bull has no value other than its magic crystals.

Those large, sharp horns looked fierce, but they were neither sharp nor sturdy. If it weren't for the sheer power of the Demon Scale Bull's charge, it wouldn't even qualify as a Pearl-level demon.

If the Winged Blade Falcon is the ceiling of Pearl-level monsters, then the Demon Scale Bull is the bottom of the barrel; the value of their corpses is vastly different.

But Valensa didn't think so, because in addition to wanting to become stronger, she also loved cooking.

She hadn't eaten the meat of the Demon Scale Bull yet, but the principle was the same... Meat nourished by magic often tastes better and is more nutritious, and most demons are of higher quality than ordinary beasts as food.

The Demon Scale Wild Bull is still a bull, and beef has always been one of the main foods for humans, so the meat of the Demon Scale Wild Bull should be edible, right?

Anyway, we should take something from the Demon Scale Bull to keep, since it was a Pearl-level monster that we finally managed to kill. It would feel like a loss to just hand it over to the academy.

With this in mind, Valensa used her longsword to cut open the carcass of the Demonscale Bull from behind, carefully selecting several large pieces of what looked like the best tenderloin, intending to study how to cook it when she had time later.

After everything was settled, she took out the magic scroll from the War Academy.

This scroll is not only an admission ticket, but also an invigilation tool.

It can record everything that happens around Valensa, present Valensa's experience to the examiners in a live text broadcast, and can also send out a distress signal via scroll when in danger.

As Valensa opened the scroll to face the corpses of the Winged Falcon and the Demonscale Bull, a bluish-purple arcane radiance quickly shot out from the scroll, sucking the two corpses into it.

Then the writing on the scroll began to change, and soon new content appeared.

[Congratulations, Ms. Valensa Bader, you have passed the first stage of the test. You spent 65 hours on the first stage, which is more than 89.3% of the candidates this year.]

Now, please proceed to the fourth assembly point in Suri City and find your Command Department Captain to begin the second stage of the assessment. Good luck!

"So it really is Suli City? It's the same as before."

Valensa breathed a sigh of relief, then frowned slightly:

"But the captain of the command department... tsk, most of the people who apply to the command department are nobles. I hope he's not one of those idiots who lust after me the moment he sees me. I really can't get along with those kinds of people."

The first stage, which tests combat strength by defeating monsters, tests teamwork in the second stage.

After all, scouts are also a type of soldier, and they are meant to serve in the war effort.

Tactically, elite soldiers can act independently based on their own strengths, but strategically they must obey commands and cooperate with their comrades.

The same applies to prospective command students. If you can't even command your own classmates, how will you command those more senior soldiers on the battlefield in the future?

The first test for each of the three departments—vanguard, command, and logistics—is based on their respective strengths, while the second test assesses their ability to cooperate effectively.

Another point is that the teams formed from the second stage onwards are not designated by the War Academy, but rather the candidates have to choose their own teammates.

The elite troops need to demonstrate their strength, and the command troops need to demonstrate their wisdom. They must be excellent enough to gain each other's recognition and form an even better team.

This is also why Valensa wants to get through the first stage as quickly as possible, because the faster she gets through the first stage, the higher the chance of encountering a high-quality captain and teammates in the second stage.

As for the fourth assembly point being set in Suri City, it's purely based on proximity... Candidates who registered in several northeastern cities, including Klar City, should all gather in Suri City for the second round.

All of this matched the intelligence Valensa had gathered during her preparations, so she wasn't in a hurry, and she couldn't be in a hurry even if she wanted to.

Her heart, already drained, hadn't recovered, and her head was both dizzy and throbbing. Even if she rushed to Suli City now, she was afraid that apart from the men who lusted after her body, no one in the command department would even notice her.

After all, Valensa's apparent strength is only at the Candlelight level, making it difficult for her to compete with those Pearl-level geniuses... unless she is willing to make some special sacrifices.

So Valensa did not immediately travel to Suri, which is about 500 kilometers away, but instead returned to Sergin and rested for a night to allow herself to recover as much as possible.

Divine runes are powerful, but they can only be used once a day. Valensa's biggest trump card and guarantee right now is her mental power.

Only after restoring her heart pool can she better attempt the second challenge.

. . . . .

What Valensa didn't know was that while she was fast asleep in the hotel bed in Sergintown, she had already become the talk of the town at the War Academy in the capital.

In a large office, a dozen or so middle-aged or elderly people were sitting, each holding an arcane scroll, watching the text livestream of the examinees with great interest.

Sudden.

"Hahaha...Good!"

A tiny, old man, as thin as a monkey, suddenly burst into laughter and held up the arcane scroll in his hand high, showing it off to the others as if to boast:

"Look at this! This is a genius... Can you believe it? A noble girl with only the strength of the Candlelight level actually killed two Pearl-level monsters at the same time! One of them was a Winged Falcon that would be troublesome for many Lighthouse-level monsters!"

"...She must be carrying some kind of inherited treasure, right?"

All eyes in the office quickly turned to them, and someone immediately guessed:

"If we had powerful inherited treasures, this kind of result wouldn't be surprising."

"A treasure passed down through generations, humph."

The old man snorted dismissively:

"Would I be this excited if that were really the case? You'll see for yourselves!"

"This……"

The text-based live stream of the Arcane Scroll was very concise; Valencia's double kill was completed in just a few seconds, described in only a few lines.

But those present were all teachers from the War Academy, including many veteran retired soldiers, who could easily imagine the scene from the description.

"It was indeed an incredibly beautiful double kill. I could never have done that at her age... But wasn't it a bit too risky? And there was a lot of luck involved?"

A middle-aged man with a square, long face and a slightly fake smile commented.

"You know nothing!"

The old man rolled his eyes rather rudely:

"Luck? Risk? Hmph... This is the true art of elite troops! Our elite troop department needs talents like this!"

Chapter 74 The Discovery Behind the Bird's Nest

Wanlunsha was unaware that she had already caught the teacher's eye before even starting school. Now that she had recovered to about 80-90% of her previous state after a good night's sleep, she still didn't go to Suli City. Instead, she went to the north of Sergin Town, below the cliff waterfall where Winged Falcon used to live.

This was the decision she made while munching on bread and sausage at the breakfast table.

Many of the actions of that winged falcon were so unexpected that they were all behaviors that had never been recorded or even rumored before.

Valensa didn't think the other adventurers were idiots, so it must be the problem with this winged falcon.

Its intelligence and cunning are either due to a rare and extraordinary brain mutation, or...

Valensa had a vague guess in her mind, and now it was time to confirm it.

She didn't waste the multiple jumps in her leather boots, nor did she use her mental powers to enhance her abilities. Instead, she relied on the grappling hook she had bought from the Nora Merchant Guild to slowly climb to the cave in the mountain wall where the waterfall flowed out. The Winged Falcon's nest was also built in this place, right next to the waterfall.

Valensa spotted it a couple of days ago when she used enhanced vision to see it from a distance in the dense forest, and now that she's observing it up close, she's even more alarmed.

The dead branches in the bird's nest were relatively few; most of the nest was made of animal hides and the softer clothing worn by adventurers.

Judging from the style and size of the clothing, there were at least a dozen adventurers who died in the Winged Falcon attack, including young women wearing cute dresses and underwear.

This made Valensa feel even more strongly that... it was good that the Winged Falcon died!

She stood by the bird's nest for a few seconds in silence, then began to dismantle it.

She collected all the relatively intact clothes and sorted them by style and size, intending to send them to the Adventurers' Guild later.

These are likely the victims' last possessions.

After dealing with the bird's nest, Valensa continued walking and soon arrived at the depths of the cave.

"This is……"

She wasn't surprised by the origin of the waterfall; it was a small hole from which water flowed down... Either the snow on the mountaintop had melted, or there was a natural water-based magic crystal vein above the cave.

Valensa leans towards the latter, because the waterfall's water quality is excellent, and it's richer in magical elements than normal natural water, so it's very likely that it contains slag particles of water-attribute magic crystals.

But she no longer cared about the waterfall; now she was focused on a plant growing deep inside the cave.