The day of the duel was drawing nearer, and in the blink of an eye, tomorrow would be the appointed day.
During this time, ever since he cleared out the Cerberus settlement, Liszt had not gone out to farm monsters again.
This wasn't because he was slacking off, or because he felt he had it in the bag.
It was because there were no other monster settlements near the main city of the Will Duchy.
Unless he went to the remote areas of the duchy, where there were still two monster groups: the Cyclops and the Frost Wolves.
But that would be too far, and a round trip would take about ten days just for travel.
The duel was to be personally witnessed by the Duke, and if he dared to stand him up, the trouble would be even greater!
That's why Liszt slowed down his pace of leveling up, spending more of his time on the Pauli Chamber of Commerce.
The development of the chamber of commerce was unexpectedly smooth.
The magical plants from Viscount Gabriel's territory were soon supplied in large quantities to the main city of Will.
The family's gold coins saw a bountiful harvest, and at the same time, Liszt's resources for growth became abundant.
Right now, he was in his room, holding a blue potion that the Pauli Chamber of Commerce had just purchased for him.
Under the sunlight, the blue potion shimmered with an unusually dazzling luster.
"Congratulations on obtaining 'Remington Potion'"
[Remington Potion]
[Quality: C-Grade (Rare)]
[Effect: Permanently increases your Intelligence and Agility by 1 point each after consumption]
[Note: Attributes cannot exceed the level limit, and the potion becomes ineffective after three uses]
Although it wasn't as good as the Turquoise Liquid, which could increase all attributes by 1 point, the Remington Potion could be consumed three times.
Comparatively, it provided a greater boost than the Turquoise Liquid.
Of course, the price was also higher, a tiny bottle of potion like this was actually worth over a thousand gold coins, which would take up more than half a month's income from the Merrick family's new trade route.
Fortunately, although the Merrick family had declined, it still had some savings.
At the same time, the Pauli Chamber of Commerce was very considerate, secretly subsidizing a significant portion of the cost for the potions purchased for Liszt.
The bottle in Liszt's hand was already the third one he had received during this period.
In between, other potions were continuously purchased and consumed, and the Merrick family's savings were rapidly depleted in a short time, almost running out.
He downed the potion in one gulp, and the familiar cool, refreshing, and clear sensation in his brain came once again, his body feeling light again.
[Attributes: Strength 18, Stamina 16, Intelligence 17→18, Agility 15→16]
As expected, farming monsters to level up is not as good as chugging potions, no matter where you are, money and resources are the fastest shortcuts to increasing your strength.
With the boost from a large number of precious potions, Liszt's four primary attributes were gradually approaching the level cap of 20 points.
This also meant that the day of his first class advancement was getting closer.
"Baron, Quint has left the castle!"
Butler Anke hurriedly knocked on the door and entered the room to report the news.
"He's out? Where did he go?"
...
"Judging by the direction, it should be Viscount Amber's home."
He's finally out, tomorrow is the day of the duel.
Could it be that Quint was really grounded by Duke Will II before?
Rushing to the Amber family as soon as he got out, could it be that I was overthinking things?
"Have someone keep an eye on Quint, and report any new information to me immediately."
After speaking, Liszt had already gotten up and was heading to the family castle's training ground.
With his newly increased primary attributes, he needed to get used to his strength again for tomorrow's duel.
...
The Merrick family's training ground was actually the open space right in front of the castle.
Most prominent families would plant gardens in this area, but the Merrick family used all the land to build a training ground.
Including the Duke of Will's family, there were a total of eight old-line professional families in the city, and only the Merrick family was of the martial arts lineage that used blades, requiring a large area for blade mastery training.
The other professional families' legacies naturally had their own separate grounds.
"Swish~!"
The C-grade (Rare Quality) family heirloom saber was indeed comfortable to use.
When practicing the Merrick Blade Technique, it felt exceptionally smooth and light.
Liszt's current Merrick Blade Technique was still at LV5, and he hadn't added any more points to it.
However, the commotion from practicing this blade technique was not small, with the passive boost from the LV9 Breathing Technique, his 27-point Strength attribute was already the limit for a level 27 professional.
Even if the skill level was not high, its actual power far exceeded its current stage.
Suddenly, Liszt stopped his practice of the Merrick Blade Technique, his expression turning serious.
He bent down slightly, holding the blade horizontally in front of his chest with both hands, it was the starting stance of the Merrick Quickdraw Slash!
Suddenly, the figure of a strange man leaped over the outer wall of the Merrick family's castle from the side and rapidly approached him.
Just as Liszt was calculating the distance, ready to draw his blade at any moment, the approaching stranger greeted him first.
"Liszt, long time no see."
The strange man before him wore a light purple silk robe, with a dark purple cloak over it that draped from his shoulders to his ankles.
The chest of the robe was densely embroidered with gold thread, the specific pattern was indistinguishable, but the clothes looked very magnificent.
The man had a high-bridged nose, deep-set eyes, and a head of short golden hair that was exceptionally dazzling under the setting sun.
A height of nearly one meter ninety, paired with a strong and powerful build.
Also wearing purple, President Porter of the Pauli Chamber of Commerce wore it in a way that was hard to criticize.
But the young man in front of him wore the noble temperament of purple to its fullest.
"What? Not even going to talk to me before the duel?"
Hearing this, Liszt's gaze immediately scrutinized the other party.
So this young man was his opponent for tomorrow's duel, the son of Duke Will II, Quint Will!
Didn't Butler Anke's report say he went to the Amber family?
How did he suddenly show up at my home in the blink of an eye?
No! Since Butler Anke didn't get any news, it means he came here secretly, otherwise, he wouldn't have needed to climb the wall.
He immediately retracted his horizontal blade stance, sheathing his saber.
"Instead of using the main gate, you insist on climbing the wall, what are you trying to do?"
As Liszt spoke, he had already made the system scan the opponent's strength.
Until today, he had no idea about Quint's strength, only thinking that as the Duke's youngest son, who was not favored by the Duke, his strength shouldn't be particularly strong.
[Comparing enemy and self strength... reconnaissance in progress... reconnaissance results obtained...]
[Level: Lv21]
[Age: 25/97]
[Class: Shield Warrior (Martial Arts) (First Advancement)]
[Health: 1371/1371]
[Stamina: 861/861]
[Attributes: Strength 18, Stamina 21, Intelligence 16, Agility 13]
[Skills: Eternal Shield (C-Grade Rare) LV2: Resists frontal attacks for three seconds, and absorbs 381~461 damage (absorbed damage will be boosted by Stamina), Shield of Will (C-Grade Rare) LV2: Counterattacks damage received based on enemy's strength, Will Sword Technique (D-Grade, Advanced) LV4: Deals 271~291 damage to the enemy, causing a gash effect and applying bleed damage, Will Breathing Technique (Passive, No Grade) LV1: Additional Stamina +1]
[Overall Evaluation: E]
Well, I'll be, I didn't expect him to have already entered the third tier at only 25 years old, a whole tier higher than me.
No wonder I was no match for him in the original timeline.
And this Quint Will has trained quite a lot! A total of four skills, besides the Will family's secret techniques, this Eternal Shield is probably a skill given after class advancement.
He is the Duke's son after all, even if not favored by the Duke, the basic resources of the ducal family are already superior enough.
Otherwise, with Quint's own efforts, his four primary attributes would definitely not be this high, his Stamina was even promoted at the cap value.
Of course, no matter what, Liszt was relieved inwardly, at least Quint, who had just entered the third tier, could not be his opponent.
Although he was level 20, at the limit of the second tier, his actual strength had already reached the late stage of the third tier, he could crush the opponent with just basic attacks.
Not to mention that the opponent's skill levels were not high, he probably focused more on professional training and neglected to hone his skills.
His overall combat power evaluation was only E-grade, indeed nothing to be afraid of.
It was just that the Will family's legacy class was something Liszt hadn't expected, it was actually a Shield Warrior.
Although the Shield Warrior class belonged to the martial arts category, it was at the bottom of the martial arts food chain, and was even collectively condemned by players to be kicked out of the martial arts category in the later stages.
The reason was simple, in the early game, Shield Warriors were capable of both dealing damage and tanking, and could even shield bash.
But in the later stages, the Star River era was almost all humanoid BOSSes, being a jack-of-all-trades meant being utter trash, a super health pack, ranking at the bottom of the martial arts classes.
The only thing that pleasantly surprised Liszt was that the Will family really had the passive he was looking for, and it was a basic stamina passive.