For instance, living beings needed to sleep and rest, weapons and equipment wore down with use, and striking different parts of the body resulted in vastly different amounts of damage...
Therefore, combat here wasn't a simple clash of numbers—it wasn't a case of 'as long as my attack and defense are higher, I can completely crush you and leave you powerless to retaliate.'
Instead, it was extremely dependent on experience, skill, and luck.
Furthermore, these variable factors were difficult to quantify with fixed numbers, so they couldn't be converted by the system into part of the Combat Evaluation.
'Interesting.'
'If that's really the case...'
'...then the Ranger's "Bow Mastery" skill must be the Divine Technique of Divine Techniques.'
With this in mind, Qin Feng picked up the Wooden Short Bow lying on the ground, drew a Poison Arrow from a nearby quiver, and focused, sensing the change in his combat power on his stat panel.
As expected.
It was still Zero-star (Blue).
It hadn't advanced to Zero-star (Purple).
However, Qin Feng could clearly feel the Archery Skills and Mysteries of Archery flooding his mind. This, combined with a newfound, keen judgment for wind direction, trajectory precision, and arrow velocity, was coalescing into a power that could bring about a total metamorphosis of his strength.
As he was now.
He could have easily killed the Ratman Leader, Bakadi, the very instant he stepped into the Lord's Hall.
And the remaining Ratman Warriors wouldn't have escaped, either. In just over ten seconds, Qin Feng could have turned them all into cold corpses on the floor.
'I get it now.'
'After equipping the short bow, my combat power increased, but not fully.'
'I might not get a chance to use my bow in every fight and play to my greatest strength. So, if the system gave me a Zero-star (Purple) Combat Evaluation, it would be misleading.'
'It's the same if I equip Defensive Equipment like leather armor and a shield. If the enemy doesn't strike my armor or shield but instead just hits me directly with a Fireball Technique...'
'...then the defensive advantage from that conventional gear is practically zero.'
'Factoring them directly into my personal combat power...'
'...is clearly inappropriate.'
After figuring out the mechanics of Combat Evaluation, Qin Feng developed a new plan for his personal growth.
He needed to get more technique-based Skill Books like "Bow Mastery."
These Special Skills, which directly poured decades of Combat Experience into his brain, would be considered trash-tier abilities in a typical online game. They couldn't compare to ultimate Finishing Techniques that could wipe out entire armies in a single blow.
But in this Lord World, they were incredibly practical, sustained killer moves. They couldn't be easily seen through by enemies and could bring unexpectedly high returns.
'What?'
'You think I'm just some trash melee cannon fodder with a Zero-star (Blue) Combat Evaluation?'
'That I can't compare to a noble Zero-star (Purple) Knight like you?'
'Too bad!'
'Actually, I'm the Jinchuriki of a Badanian Fiona Champion Warrior!'
'I can blow your damn head off with a single arrow!'
'So, how about it? You scared?'
...
「Late that night, in the Lord's Hall dungeon」
Diablo sat dazedly on a wooden plank bed, staring blankly at the few Forest Wolves curled up asleep beside him.
'Wait!'
'What is this? What's going on?'
'Why did I willingly surrender to that human Lord? Why did I obediently walk into this dungeon to await my fate?'
What puzzled Diablo even more were those Forest Wolves.
These savage beasts had been tamed by the Bakadi Leader using a special Secret Technique. Normally, they were so arrogant they wouldn't give other Ratman Warriors the time of day. Yet now, they were docilely curled up, fast asleep in the dungeon, showing no determination whatsoever to take revenge on their enemies, even if it meant mutual destruction!
"Damn it all!"
"What in the hell is going on?"
Diablo glared at the Wolf Pack and growled, his voice filled with confusion and resentment.
"Aren't you supposedly the most vengeful beasts in the forest?"
"Doesn't matter who provokes you or kills your packmates, aren't you supposed to hunt them to the ends of the earth with that keen sense of smell? You're supposed to tear your enemies to shreds, even if it means dying with them, right?"
"Your closest kin were just killed by the enemy... and look at you, holed up in this busted dungeon, sleeping as if nothing happened?"
'Damn it!'
'Could this be some kind of mysterious Extraordinary Power?'
'Have we all been bewitched?'
The more Diablo thought about it, the more terrified he became, and the more terrified he became, the more he thought. Cold sweat trickled down his temples, and a tangible sense of Fear began to eat away at his body.
After a long while, Diablo began to struggle, trying to escape. But he found his limbs were as heavy as lead. He couldn't move his body, and a faint whisper, like the murmur of an Ancient God, echoed endlessly in his subconscious.
"Submit."
"Submit to him."
"That Divine Power, which comes from the heavens, is far more Powerful than the Secret Technique the Bakadi Leader mastered."
"If you can win his favor, both you and the Ratman Tribe you represent can be reborn, and eventually, ascend."
"Then, in this treacherous forest, any enemy who dares to stand in the way of your rise will be utterly crushed."
'Shut up!'
'Just shut up!'
Diablo screamed internally. He shot to his feet and lunged for the dungeon entrance like an arrow loosed from a bow. He slammed his hands against the door like hammers, knocking open the unlatched gate.
'It's... not locked?'
'The cell door was wide open?'
'They aren't even afraid of us escaping?'
Just then, the sound of footsteps approached from outside. Before Diablo could stagger back to his wooden bed, Qin Feng and two villagers who served as his personal attendants had arrived outside the cell.
He ignored Diablo, who was standing by the entrance, and instead looked toward the two Forest Wolves sleeping inside the cell. He muttered in a low voice:
"Recruit!"
[You have recruited the Forest Wolves!]
As the system prompt appeared, the two sleeping Forest Wolves suddenly scrambled to their feet. They ran affectionately to Qin Feng, rubbing against his leg and wagging their tails excitedly, as docile as pet dogs he had raised for years.
Diablo: "???"
"You're a demon!"
"That's demonic power!"
Qin Feng glanced in surprise at the Ratman Warrior slumped by the cell door.
'Huh?'
'What's this about?'
'Wasn't this guy captured by the Riding and Cutting system? Shouldn't he be a captive unit, unable to attack me and immune to my attacks?'
'So why does he sound so hostile?'
'Besides...'
'...judging by the look in his eyes, he seems defiant, with a faint hint of killing intent. He doesn't look at all like someone who's 'unable to attack me.''
His interest piqued, Qin Feng swaggered into the cell and sat down on the hard wooden plank bed that had been Diablo's.
The two villagers remained outside, raising the recently captured Bone Blades and spears in their hands. They watched Diablo with warning glares, ready in case the creature decided to suddenly attack their heroic and handsome Lord.
"What's your name?"
Faced with the question, Diablo didn't want to answer, but the whisper like an Ancient God's murmur kept echoing in the depths of his mind, compelling him to speak against his will.
"Diablo."
"When I was young, I was a slave. I lived for a while in a city in the Northern Territory of the human empire."
"Later, during a large-scale slave rebellion, I found an opportunity to escape back to the Northern Forest. I was taken in by members of the Poison Arrow Tribe and eventually became one of their Archer Warriors."
Qin Feng stroked his chin.
"So you're saying..."
"...you know a lot about both this forest and the human empire outside?"
Diablo answered without hesitation.
"I do."
"What is it you wish to know?"
"I will tell you anything I know."
'Fuck!'
'What am I doing?'
'What the fuck am I even doing?'
At that moment, Diablo's mental defenses were gradually crumbling. But his thoughts were growing sharper, and he was beginning to agree more and more with the whisper in his mind.
'If...'
'If this human really is the Divine Chosen Lord from the rumors...'
'And he wields such a strange and terrifying power of Spiritual Control...'
'...then choosing to submit might be my only path to survival. And the only path for the Poison Arrow Tribe...'
'Otherwise...'
'...when the Withered Leaf Tribe attacks from the south...'
'...without the Bakadi Leader to command us...'
'...and after losing so many Ratman Warriors tonight, not to mention the Forest Wolf Army that was our ultimate strength...'
'...the remaining old, the weak, the women, and the children of our Poison Arrow Tribe will never be able to fend off those rats from the south. We'll become their spoils of war, to be humiliated as they please...'