AI Model: gemini-2.5-flash
Chapter 187: You, a Holy Grail Knight... why are you using an elephant as a mount!?
Under normal circumstances, players assigned to the Knights of the Round Table would have an initial reputation at the bottom of the 'Friendly' tier, meaning they could easily drop back to 'Neutral' if they made any mistakes.
Cheng Tian's faction reputation should have been the same.
As indicated by the loading panel's prompt, although Cheng Tian's Holy Grail Knight status came from the Warhammer Fantasy Battles worldview, the origins of both were highly consistent. Compared to other odd-looking players, Cheng Tian, with his Holy Grail Knight identity, was clearly more likely to gain the trust of Arthur's three knights.
However, it was only relatively easier to gain, and how things would actually unfold should have depended on Cheng Tian's own actions.
But Cheng Mouren had a "Legendary +1" attribute obtained by taking down the Twin Towers!
This allowed him, who should have been obscure, to gain some natural fame when he first arrived in a completely unfamiliar instance.
And in medieval Europe, fame, reputation, and credit were truly things that could put food on the table!
Not to mention the "Holy Grail Knight" template identity, which was directly linked to fame.
Under the blessing of multiple factors, Cheng Tian was instantly elevated from the status of an "avaricious foreign mercenary" to an "exotic knight who traveled across the seas to provide support in order to resist the Evil Roman Empire."
His faction reputation also soared to 300 points, a quarter of the way through the 'Friendly' tier, and his personal reputation with Percival even reached beyond half of the 'Friendly' tier.
Cheng Tian even obtained the authority to temporarily recruit militia retainers in the camp with the permission of leader Arthur, as well as the privilege of completely free mount care.
It was perfectly normal for knight lords to have a few retainers to handle miscellaneous tasks; their deaths on the battlefield wouldn't even affect Cheng Tian's reputation, as he could simply recruit more.
But completely free mount care... Cheng Tian decided to postpone the appearance of his war elephant, Mammoth, for a bit, otherwise, it might just devour all the fodder in the entire camp.
However, a high initial reputation doesn't necessarily mean all benefits.
Firstly, Percival's praise directly distinguished Cheng Tian's identity from other players. They even ignored the players' opinions and directly assigned Cheng Tian the title of "Foreign Mercenary Commander," which further exacerbated the conflict between Cheng Tian and the players he was already unfamiliar with.
And this situation had two sides.
Some players were very displeased by the series of privileges Cheng Tian received, primarily taking a 'listen to the announcement, not the command' approach, intending to treat Cheng Tian as if he were invisible.
But at the same time, some players directly chose to cling to Cheng Tian's coattails, such as Luo Meiling and Eve.
While they might be annoyed with Cheng Tian, Luo Meiling absolutely recognized his abilities. Without Cheng Tian, it would have been unlikely for the two of them to return victorious after facing the Sun God Kukulkan in the BOSS battle.
Even knowing that Cheng Tian's chariots were likely unusable, as long as the war elephant Mammoth was present, he would absolutely be a significant figure in this type of legion battle.
So, after Cheng Tian obtained the identity of Foreign Mercenary Commander, the two of them immediately approached him proactively, and without a word, directly stood behind him.
With them as an example, players who were preparing to cling to Cheng Tian's coattails also lowered their guard and took sides.
Although they didn't know about the 'Legendary' setting, this didn't prevent them from treating Cheng Tian as an experienced player with a save file, who had previously established a good relationship with the current faction.
Having discussed the two-sided nature, it's time to talk about the purely negative aspects.
The greater Cheng Tian's positive reputation with the Knights of the Round Table, the greater his negative reputation with Prince Allen's legion. Compared to other obscure players, his Aoko Knight, with its innate 'Legendary +1,' would inevitably face more targeting and attacks from the enemy faction.
And don't forget, Cheng Mouren also had an additional skill called 'Bounty Target.'
This meant that, at this very moment, he had likely already landed on the enemy faction's bounty list ahead of others due to his innate 'Legendary' status. It's estimated that enemy players were already seeing Cheng Tian as a bounty mission target to earn extra money and were eagerly preparing for action.
The sky had completely transitioned from dusk to night, and the battlefield analysis inside the tent was still ongoing.
On a sand table constructed by magic, which could almost perfectly replicate the entire panorama of the great plains, Arthur and his companions controlled pieces representing their own and enemy forces, constantly simulating scenarios.
The core objective was to break through the Twin-Bladed Knight's legion interception and assault the Silver Fortress. But the problem was that the Twin-Bladed Knight Balford not only had a large number of fully armored knights protecting him, but he also possessed very powerful strength as Prince Allen's chief subordinate. At the same time, after being reminded by the players, Arthur and his companions realized that the enemy forces would also have foreign mercenaries intervening.
With such unknown external factors intervening, the battlefield situation would only become more chaotic. When the real fighting began, all tactics would probably be thrown out the window, turning directly into improvisation.
One player suggested that an elite vanguard squad directly assassinate the enemy commander, but Arthur immediately rejected it.
This was not out of some knightly virtue or fastidiousness, but because the terrain was unsuitable.
The opposing forces were confronting each other on a flat great plain. While it was very suitable for knight charges, there was almost no cover available. The plan to bypass and infiltrate to directly assassinate Balford would likely be very difficult to execute.
Similarly, the enemy should be in the same situation.
However, upon hearing a player propose an assassination plan, Cheng Tian also turned to look at Luo Meiling. Wasn't she the most skilled at this kind of infiltration and assassination work?
Yet, Luo Meiling, noticing Cheng Tian's gaze, shook her head slightly.
She was indeed good at infiltration and assassination, but this was a sword and magic instance, which meant there would certainly be many high-spirit spellcasting units, and her parasitic ability could very likely be directly exposed.
If an adventure yielded no profit, then there was absolutely no need for it.
After listening to more tactical discussions that made no progress, Cheng Tian couldn't help but yawn...
Although Cheng Tian understood how to play Warcraft, Red Alert, and Age of Empires, he truly couldn't contribute to discussions about ancient legion tactics. Adhering to the principle of 'keep quiet if you don't understand,' Cheng Tian never offered any constructive opinions.
However, at this very moment, the sound of a horn, signaling an enemy attack, suddenly blared—
Prince Allen's army had actually launched a night raid using the cover of darkness and unknown means!
The horn blast just now was blown by the night watch sentinel just before his death.
In terms of soldier professionalism, they couldn't compare to the Roman Empire at all. Currently, over seventy percent of the soldiers were actually low-level farmers whose homes had been destroyed and had nowhere to go, forming the nascent Knights of the Round Table. When faced with a night raid, the camp instantly descended into chaos.
Even leader Arthur was temporarily unable to quell the camp's confusion until a powerful elephant's trumpeting reverberated across the camp.
When everyone subconsciously looked towards the source of the sound, they saw the person riding on the back of the colossal beast, holding aloft a holy sword that seemed to be constructed of holy light, emitting a dazzling radiance.
At the same time, Arthur and the other two stared blankly at Cheng Mouren, who was riding a Mammoth war elephant, wielding a Blessed Blade, with holy light illuminating the night sky.
What is this? A Persian War Elephant Holy Grail Knight? Is this right?
Recently learned a new adjective—
The antonym of "Himmel" is "Lios."
From this, an example sentence can be derived—
The antonym of "Himmel would definitely do that!" is "Lios might do that..."