Chapter 15: He Knows Where the Entrance to the Land of Shadows Is
[Since there was nothing for you to do in Britain, you took advantage of the Picts' invasion to go wreak havoc on them instead.]
[War, when prolonged, should normally turn the people against it, but you defied this common sense.]
[The people of Selkirk Territory soon realized that whenever you waged war against the Picts, you'd charge in alone, single-handedly repelling the invaders, after which they only needed to clean up the battlefield.]
[You didn't even claim any spoils of war, required no food, and never gave the people of Selkirk Territory any further orders.]
[The war raged on for a full year, until the situation evolved into a bizarre scene: the Picts, the original invaders, were kneeling and begging you to accept their surrender, while the invaded Selkirk Territory was reluctant to see this happen, feeling quite unwilling.]
[When news of this reached Camelot, it became the talk of the town, as if war had truly turned into a game.]
[As for you, though your ability to go without food, water, or sleep—and your seemingly inexhaustible stamina—made you appear less than human, no one in Selkirk Territory, who had profited greatly from the war against the Picts, accused King Arthur of being out of touch with the people.]
[On the contrary, they lavished praise on King Arthur as the ruler who cared most for his subjects and was closest to the people.]
[After the Picts surrendered, you swiftly became the King of Britain and Pictavia, with the kingdom running smoothly under the management of Artoria and Morgan.]
[During this time, Lancelot, who had traveled from afar; King of Leonois, Rivalen of Selkirk Territory and his son Tristan; King Pellinore, the strongest among the Six Northern Kings, and his two future Knights of the Round Table sons, Lamorak and Percival—all were awed by your might.]
[You became almost synonymous with victory, and King Arthur was hailed as the King of Victory. Thus, every knight who heard of your fame yearned to pledge allegiance to you. After you established the Knights of the Round Table, you quickly gathered a large number of fiercely loyal knights.]
Reading this, Noah widened his eyes.
He never imagined that the physical prowess granted by this talent could be so overwhelming... It was practically the embodiment of invincibility.
And if he were like that, could he overcome Vortigern?
With this thought, Noah began to look forward to what came next.
[After you became the King of Britain and Pictavia, Vortigern grew restless and launched an assault on Britain.]
[Thanks to your immense power, you single-handedly repelled the Saxon barbarians eleven times in a row. As the acclaim for you in Britain grew louder, Vortigern finally took matters into his own hands.]
[You and the colossal White Dragon clashed in a decisive battle at the southernmost tip of Britain.]
[You and he fought all the way from the southernmost part of Britain to the northernmost, and then back again.]
[Your battle lasted a full fifteen years.]
[The Sword in the Stone had long since shattered in the combat, and you had long switched to using your fists and feet to battle the White Dragon.]
[Vortigern gradually began to fall short against you.]
[It couldn't believe such a thing, so to deal with you, it directly burrowed into the massive fissure you had created, and when it emerged again, its physique had grown dozens of times larger, as if it had become the incarnation of Britain itself.]
[The spiritual veins from across Britain coiled around its colossal body, making it appear exceptionally ancient and mysterious.]
[This version of Vortigern fought you for another fifteen years.]
[You won.]
[It took you thirty years to kill Vortigern, but before dying, Vortigern's final, hate-filled strike—the Vile King's Hammer—pierced your heart.]
[Vortigern died before you, and you, sustained by your immense vitality, didn't perish immediately. Lying on the scorched earth that was once Britain, you gazed at the now-barren land and, for the first time in your life, asked yourself a question as death approached.]
[The war is over. What have I gained?]
[Soon after the first question arose, a second one followed.]
[Did... I truly win?]
[You died.]
...
Seeing this outcome, Noah still felt somewhat emotional.
This simulation was the first time he had ever defeated Vortigern, but... while it was acceptable in the simulation, if translated into reality, he absolutely could not accept such an ending.
Moreover, he wasn't the same person as in the simulation, nor would he ever choose that talent that essentially sacrificed one's intellect.
However, even if he didn't select the talent, that didn't stop Noah from thinking about exploiting loopholes.
What if he didn't choose this talent and directly opted to inherit the physical attributes instead? Would that remove the flaw of the trait while allowing him to acquire that powerful body—strong enough to battle Vortigern for decades and even perish together with him?
As soon as this thought crossed his mind, Noah turned his attention to the reward options.
He hadn't forgotten what the system had explained earlier about rewards: under normal circumstances, it was a choice among traits, experience and memories, or attributes, while special circumstances would be addressed when encountered.
So Noah wanted to see if this situation counted as a special case.
If it didn't, that would be an overwhelming victory.
If it did...
Well, inheriting experience and memories would be acceptable too.
After all, those memories included thirty years of battling Vortigern, during which he must have witnessed all of Vortigern's techniques and combat habits. That would greatly aid him in confronting Vortigern.
Then.
—As expected, this counted as a special circumstance.
It wasn't that he couldn't inherit the attributes—he could—but inheriting the attributes would also mean inheriting the negative aspects related to intelligence.
Upon seeing this, Noah gave up on inheriting the attributes.
The cost of gaining such power was simply too high.
Although he couldn't obtain this power, acquiring the thirty years of experience fighting Vortigern was still quite valuable. Moreover, at the very least, this time he had gained a vague understanding of what the system meant by "special circumstances" regarding inheritance rewards.
He would pay more attention to this when selecting traits in the future.
Therefore.
—Inherit experience and memories!
With Noah's choice, the familiar sensation made him close his eyes once again, and the memories of thirty years of battling Vortigern instantly flooded into his mind.
It all seemed to unfold vividly before his eyes, and Vortigern was undoubtedly the existence he understood best in this simulation...
The thirty years of experience fighting against Vortigern proved more useful than Noah had imagined.
With these three decades of experience, he could confidently claim to be the person in this world who understood Vortigern best—perhaps even better than Vortigern understood himself!
Even if he were to confront Vortigern now, he would have a clear grasp of every move, every flaw, and every weakness.
In this case... the next time he faced Vortigern, the latter would likely be startled by his own reflection.
Moreover, as Noah reflected on the memories from this simulation, he quickly realized that the gains extended far beyond that.
The simulated version of himself also possessed memories of dealing with the Picts.
These memories were crystal clear to him after he inherited them.
He had a thorough understanding of the environment and terrain of Pictavia, the homeland of the Picts, as well as their various tactics, combat styles, and even the new strategies they desperately developed in their most desperate moments during the simulation.
So, before startling Vortigern, he might just end up startling these Picts first.
And there was more...
"Last time, I only gleaned fragments about the Queen of the Land of Shadows from the Pictish warriors. But this time, the memories seem to contain more detailed information."
"Due to the lowered intelligence in the simulation, my simulated self failed to notice it. But now... I might just know where the entrance to the Land of Shadows is located."