The Duke heard the minstrel actually mention Earl Hardy, and he couldn't help but admire this person's courage, daring to discuss the Earl in his own domain.
However, this was also related to the fact that this was the Adventurer's Tavern, considered a relatively freer place.
Listening to the group talk, he learned that Earl Hardy was also called Red Glove Earl.
The reason was that Earl Hardy wore a red glove on his left hand all year round, a glove possessing extremely mysterious and eerie powers, capable of causing sudden violent deaths to those near Earl Hardy.
This was one reason why many had great respect and fear for Earl Hardy; faced with such inexplicable powers, they could only harbor fear.
"Red Glove..." The Duke took a sip of wine, contemplating the authenticity of this matter.
This was also his first time hearing about this; the people he interacted with before didn't dare to recklessly discuss Earl Hardy, unlike this bold group of adventurers.
The Duke still leaned towards believing the powers of the Red Glove were real, after all, this was an Extraordinary World.
Although the notion of causing sudden violent deaths nearby sounded somewhat bizarre, it only showed that he had encountered too few things and his understanding of the world was still rather shallow.
This world was far from as simple as it appeared.
The Duke lingered on for a while longer, and not obtaining any valuable information, left the tavern and returned to the manor to continue grinding proficiency.
After experiencing the past two days, he increasingly felt his own weakness.
He used to think that after practicing the Breathing Technique and becoming a Knight Attendant, mastering stronger powers would offer some capacity for self-preservation.
It now seemed that anything less than a Knight Level was just cannon fodder.
Even becoming an Official Knight made it difficult to handle Magic Power.
The Duke took a deep breath, deciding not to ponder further; all he could do was carefully tread each step and methodically practice.
...
One month later.
The Duke stood in his room, shirtless, with sweat dripping off his muscles.
He chewed a piece of Magical Beast Meat, swallowed it, and continued practicing Pile Skill exercises.
The current Duke could easily perform these moves, as if they had become instinctual without any difficulty.
But accordingly, the training effects decreased significantly.
For ordinary people, at this point they would have reached their limit, and it was difficult to further enhance their physicality through Pile Skill; the Knight's path essentially ended here.
Even if complemented with Magical Beast Meat, the enhancement gained was extremely limited.
The Duke was different; he had the Skill Tree at his disposal, needing only to repeatedly practice Pile Skill to enhance proficiency in the Giant Whale Breathing Technique, sure to someday break through.
In his mind, the branch representing the Giant Whale Breathing Technique had a green tender shoot shaking, which then bloomed like a flower and stretched out into a patch of green leaves.
[Giant Whale Breathing Technique: Level 3 (1/1500)]
[Giant Whale Breathing Technique Level Up, Constitution +0.5, Strength +0.3, Agility +0.5]
[Constitution: 8.2]
[Strength: 8.4]
[Agility: 8.2]
[Spirit: 8.1]
[Free Attribute Points: 3]
This boost brought a particularly noticeable feeling to the Duke; his entire body felt somewhat expanded, becoming more taller and robust.
Though this wasn't visually apparent, he could feel it himself in that instant.
Now, all the Duke's attributes had exceeded eight points, the comprehensive enhancement in all aspects granted him a qualitative leap in power.
Throughout this time, he also observed others in Nightingale.
The Duke found that the average attributes of mid-tier Knight Attendants were around six points, and high-tier Knight Attendants were about seven points.
If not for the existence of Fighting Spirit, he could have crushed high-tier Knight Attendants a month ago.
Others had slowly elevated their physical attributes through years of diligent practice.
The Duke never fully showcased his strength before these people, often maintaining a low profile; outwardly he was merely a typical low-tier Knight Attendant.
Now, having advanced the Giant Whale Breathing Technique to the third tier, the Duke successfully stepped into the threshold of mid-tier Knight Attendants, and the capacity of Fighting Spirit his body could hold increased substantially.
He felt as though his body's meridians were more open, causing the flow of Fighting Spirit to become smoother, with the feeling of broader pathways.
These were all internal changes in the body, not visible from the outside.
The Duke sensed the changes within his body, discovering that upon advancing to mid-tier Knight Attendants, the widening of the internal meridians allowed him to deploy more Fighting Spirit at once.
He could now gather twice the amount of Fighting Spirit in his fist compared to before, rendering it as hard as iron, with incomparable strength.
Previously, the body could hold very little Fighting Spirit, unable to amass a large quantity of it at any spot; the internal meridians couldn't bear so much Fighting Spirit.
But now, with widened and thickened meridians, the permissible amount of Fighting Spirit collectively housed increased, indirectly enhancing his power.
The Duke's meridians transformed at the instant the Breathing Technique advanced; others require at least several years to achieve this step.
If one's aptitude wasn't up to par, they might never overcome this hurdle in their lifetime.
[Basic Swordsmanship: Level 5 (Feature: Bleeding)]
During this time, the Duke also managed to grind Basic Swordsmanship to max level, besides gaining some free attribute points, he had activated a feature.
[Bleeding: When using sword weapons, has a probability of affecting the enemy's blood clotting function.]
The Duke looked at this information, unsure of its actual impact.
The blood clotting function could be significant or negligible, dependent on duration and whether the effect was notable.
If he could influence the enemy's blood clotting function for a long duration, in battle he could inflict a sword wound, flee, and gradually allow the enemy to bleed to death.
But the Duke suspected it wasn't that simple; for ordinary people, there was a chance of achieving such an effect, but it would differ for strong and healthy Knights.
After practicing Breathing Technique, the body generally became more robust; the bleeding feature might have limited utility.
The Duke intended to observe during future combat; this feature was somewhat better than nothing.
But this also led him to ponder more: since Basic Swordsmanship reaching max level triggered a feature, what about other skills?
Currently, only Basic Swordsmanship had a feature, indicating it was probabilistic.
The Duke glanced at his Giant Whale Breathing Technique, presently at just the third tier, far from max level, unaware of what changes might accompany it reaching max level.
After experiencing the enhancement to his body, he picked up some Magical Beast Meat nearby, sliced off a small piece, consumed it, and continued Pile Skill exercises.
Several minutes later.
[You completed a session of Giant Whale Breathing Technique training, proficiency +2]
"Proficiency has decreased?" The Duke frowned.
Throughout this period, he always used Magical Beast Meat for supplemental training, with a minimum increase of three points in proficiency; this was his first time encountering a two-point gain scenario.