Chapter 131 - Adequate Pre-Battle Preparation

"Slight increase? Just how much is this slight increase?" Cassius excitedly began experimenting, eager to see the effectiveness of his level 1 Skin Hardening.

The chamber soon echoed with the dull thuds of blows, and after a few minutes, he came to a rough conclusion. When Cassius was in his normal state and didn't purposefully exert or channel his energy, the Stone Armor Technique enhanced his defense by forty percent. But in a fully explosive state, the Stone Armor Technique boosted his defense by eighty percent, nearly doubling it!

It was quite a significant feat. Prior to training in the hardening Qigong, Cassius could already withstand bullets coming from small firearms, with the only injuries he suffered superficial. But now with this 80% increase, small firearms wouldn't be able to even break his skin, and light machine guns or automatic rifles would likely be of no threat. It would be as if Cassius was wearing a permanent bulletproof vest.

Not only could Skin Hardening render a person completely impervious to bullets, it could also effectively withstand slashes or stabs from cold weapons as well as strong blunt force, almost like wearing an all-purpose leather armor.

Furthermore, this was only Light Armor. If he were to master Heavy Armor, Cassius's physical defense might improve by leaps and bounds.

Admittedly, there were some highly effective techniques. By specializing and focusing on one aspect, one would eventually be totally unmatched. Additionally, techniques had their own unique advantages.

In an open area, Cassius took on a combat stance and performed a simple set of Wind Elephant Fist exercises. As he punched and kicked, the initial discomfort from the various changes to his body faded away. The side effects the Hellsings claimed would arise from rapid, excessive enhancement was negligible, practically non-existent, for Cassius.

One reason was because Cassius had spent the past six months studying the Stone Armor Technique and was well-prepared. Another reason was that, at the second-level accelerated blood flow stage, his body had fully adapted to the rapid enhancements from the hardening Qigong.

𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Five minutes later, a tall figure in a cloak walked briskly down the gray road of the Black Rain Manor. His cloak fluttering slightly behind him, it vaguely revealed the strong muscles underneath along with a layer of gray stone.

The next day, a conversation was taking place in a simple, dark room within the Black Rain Manor.

"How much do you need? Sticky Oil may not be rare, but each bottle is worth at least a thousand Federation dollars. How about this? If you buy more than five bottles, I can give you a ten percent discount," a man said slowly, a black pipe in his mouth. His hair was disheveled, and he dressed sloppily. He looked to be in his forties.

"Give me a thirty percent discount," the customer in front of him haggled in a low voice.

"No way, that’s too much—"

"I’ll buy ten bottles, thirty percent off."

"Sold!"

The man quickly shook Cassius's hand. Then, he took out a small box where ten transparent bottles, each about the size of half a fist and containing a thick, dark green liquid, lay. Though all the bottles were sealed, the box emitted a foul odor of swamp gas.

"Ten bottles of Sticky Oil, a total of seven thousand Federation dollars!" The man wore a shrewd smile on his face.

The Hellsing rarely used dark essence for ordinary transactions, because it seemed like such a waste to exchange it for money or mundane luxuries.

Ordinary marked-ones struggled even with the compulsory missions every three months, much less having the strength to complete extra tasks. Furthermore, a low-level compulsory mission only rewarded a mere pittance of one or two units of dark essence. To survive their next task, they'd have to use most of the dark essence they had earned to enhance their abilities. As such, marked-ones usually used money to conduct ordinary transactions.

In Twilight’s era, seven thousand Federation dollars wasn't cheap. Its purchasing power was comparable to that of the British pound during the Industrial Revolution. This amount could easily buy a small estate.

As for where Cassius got his money? Well, many of his tasks involved him madly hunting dark creatures down, some of whom had blended into high society by creating noble identities for themselves. In an effort to better infiltrate cities and hunt humans, they acquired vast wealth. Once Cassius took those creatures down, he naturally took whatever he wanted. After all, fortune favored the bold.

He had plenty of money, so seven thousand meant nothing. Accepting the box from the man, he took the chance to ask, "I heard you also have..."

In the room, Cassius reached into his cloak, quickly pulling out a stack of bills and handing them to the man. Twenty minutes later, a cloaked figure holding an umbrella and carrying a large mahogany box stepped into the rain. Behind him, a middle-aged man waved enthusiastically, beaming. "You'll be the first to know when I get good stuff! Remember my brand, boss, it's called Melancholic Rose Miscellany..."

In the afternoon, at a shop in Black Rain Manor, a marked-one was hanging a freshly crafted, sturdy medieval-style shield on the wall. It was an inverted triangle, with sides that curved outward and a menacing axe emblem in the center of the shield.

Heavy footsteps came from outside, and a burly man walked in.

The marked-one put down a white cloth and hurried over. "How can I help you, sir?"

"Iron scale armor, flanged mace, battle axe, flail, scimitar, Tulak cleaver, rapier... On second thought, give me one of each of these weapons, and have them sent to the Bolt Sect."

The marked-one’s eyes lit up at the customer’s request. A big order had come in!

Two days later, in the largest training room of the Bolt Sect came the continuous clanging of clashing weapons. A scimitar slashed through the air at a slant, a flash of silver light following.

Clang!

Two thick fingers clamped onto the blade. The man wielding the blade jerked it backward, but no matter what methods he employed, he couldn't retrieve the scimitar and was forced to release the hilt. He shook his head, smiling wryly.

"Twilight, that's all the moves I've learned from the Keyumu Scimitar Technique. As for the more advanced ones, you'll have to forgive me for my lack of skill."

"No worries, thank you for your help, Mr. Tusi," Cassius replied. He handed the scimitar back. Then he took out a small stack of bills from his pocket. "Here's the remaining one thousand Hongli Federation dollars. This is yours, Mr. Tusi."

"Thank you." Tusi sheathed the scimitar and nodded gratefully. Marked-ones weren't short of money, but it was situation-dependent. In just an hour of sparring and demonstrating some martial arts moves, he had netted himself fifteen hundred Hongli Federation dollars. What a steal!

He stuffed the bills into his pocket and pushed the door open to leave. Outside the door, four or five marked-ones holding various weapons were sitting and waiting, chatting amicably among themselves.

As Tusi emerged, several people turned to look at him. He smiled, patted his left chest and nodded. Without a word, he walked toward the corridor. The people on the chairs also smiled and continued chatting. After a moment, a voice came from inside the training room, "Next, Mr. Bartley with the flail."

A burly man stood up. "My turn."

Two days later, on the outskirts of Nington City, at Joachim Manor. It was a remote place, with the nearest landmark being a small town half a kilometer away, and was at least five or six kilometers from the city center.

Two figures in suits embraced each other at the entrance.

"Mr. Twilight, Joachim Manor is now yours. Use it however you wish. I also wanted to thank you for your generosity; you gave me the chance to make some extra cash. Alright, I'm off. Goodbye." The middle-aged man got into the carriage beside him.

As the black carriage stuttered to a start, the curtain at the left window lifted up, and the man waved with a smile.

A tall figure in a suit stood silently at the entrance. In his hand, the man held a blueprint that detailed the structure of Joachim Manor. In addition, there were many kinds of designs within the manor that had yet to exist in reality—specifically traps, spikes, pits, stakes, explosives, landmines, and so on.

That evening, many young and strong farm laborers in the villages nearby received news that a generous lord had arrived at Joachim Manor with plans to hire some workers to completely renovate it. The more people, the better! Moreover, they'd be paid an ample hourly rate! The more work they did, the more they earned.

For a while, the entire village was restless.

A few more days passed until one night in Nington City, two boxy cars parked on the decaying floor in an abandoned warehouse under a hazy moonlight. They emitted a rotten smell. Two groups were in the midst of a deal.

"Shall we inspect the goods first?"

"Sure."

One of the boxy cars opened, revealing a considerable number of smuggled arms. There were landmines, grenades, submachine guns, heavy machine guns...

"Hmm, not bad." The tall shadow nodded.

"Where's the money?" the slightly shorter figure asked.

"Here." The tall one handed over a briefcase directly.

Ten minutes later...

"Pleasure doing business," the two said. Both satisfied parties got into their boxy cars and drove off in opposite directions.

Late in the night at Joachim Manor, a car drove into the nearby warehouse.

Half an hour later on the second floor of the villa, Cassius sat on the sofa, sipping his freshly brewed black tea. He pondered for a moment and shrugged off his cloak, revealing a set of hard, silver, tight-fitting armor. The armor not only boasted strong defensive capabilities but was also fairly flexible. If Cassius were to use his full strength, it'd still hold together even with his bulging muscles. He raised the teacup and took a big gulp of hot tea.

Glancing at the pistol on the coffee table, Cassius stood up. Behind him was a counter that looked like decoration with all kinds of brand-new cold weapons and a set of metal armor.

He walked through the living room to the balcony, glancing over the manor's vast interior space. On the surface, it seemed peaceful, but danger lurked beneath, with various traps hidden within. Oh right, he still had a few landmines left to bury.

Although having prepared to this extent, Cassius was still somewhat dissatisfied. Due to the tight timeframe, he couldn't implement many of his ideas, but it should still be enough to deal with the first assassination attempt.

He had a magnificent gift waiting for his dear Decaying Knights...