Chapter 10: Second Troop : Warhorse

William stood on the path between the Bloom flowers. The moment he said ’Summon,’ the token vanished from his hand. For a few seconds, nothing happened, then the space changed in front of him.

Thick white fog spilled onto the path, swallowing everything. He couldn’t see a thing as the mist swirled, lingering for a moment before it finally began to fade.

As the mist thinned, William’s eyes went wide. Towering in front of him was a seven-foot figure, lower half pure horse, dark brown fur trimmed neatly. A leather cloak hung across its back, at least doing him the favor of keeping things decent.

His upper half was all human, lean muscle under tanned skin, gripping a spear nearly as tall as William himself.

His face looked late-twenties, sharp features with a bit of a beard and long, dark brown hair hanging down past his shoulders.

William’s jaw dropped. "It’s a centaur! A real goddamn warhorse," he blurted.

As the fog cleared, the Centaur fixed his gaze on William, who just stood there, still stunned. The Centaur took a few heavy steps closer, then dropped on his front knees and pressed his left hand to his chest, giving a formal bow.

It was a pledge of loyalty to his new tower lord, but the whole thing made William cringe. Sure, he’d read about this kind of thing in novels, but coming from modern society, it just felt awkward as hell.

William stepped closer, resting a hand on the centaur’s shoulder. "No need to kneel. Prove your loyalty in the tower trial," he said. The centaur gave a nod and got to his feet.

Then William called to Rollie for Centaur’s status.

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Name: Sparkhoof Spearling (B-Rank)

Race: Thunder Centaur

Rank: Tier 1 (Low)

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Attributes

Strength: 15

Constitution: 16

Agility: 12

Intelligence: 8

Mana: 10

Affinity: Lightening

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Skill

Static Thrust (Low)

Thrusts his spear while channeling faint lightning. There is a 10% chance to stun the enemy.

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Technique

Spear Mastery (Low)

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Rank Upgrade Conditions

Tower points: 20/20

Tier 1 core: 0/3

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William let out a low whistle at those stats. Only B-rank, but the difference between this guy and Lumina was insane. He couldn’t help but think, ’If someone started with S-rank or higher, they’d be monsters.’

He noticed a new section on Centaur’s status, something neither he nor Lumina had. Curiosity got the better of him. "Rollie! What’s this technique thing, and why does only the Centaur have it?" he asked. Rollie replied instantly,

[Techniques are what let you actually use skills. The Centaur’s got spear mastery, so he can pull off Static Thrust, that’s a spear skill. Skills are easy, you can learn them right away and get better by spamming them. But techniques? You have to grind those out by practice, and they only improve as you actually master them.]

[You haven’t learned any techniques yet, which is why your status is missing that section. Fairies? They’re all born with mana manipulation mastery, it’s their racial trait. That’s why Lumina can use her skill, even without a technique section shoved in her status.]

It all made sense now. William had been planning to buy a skill from the tower merchant, but after that info dump, he realized he’d need a technique first.

William closed Centaur’s status panel and glanced his way. The guy stood like a statue, which was getting creepy.

"You don’t have to hover around me all day. Go explore the floor. Take a break if you want. And from now on, I’m calling you Cent, short for Centaur," William said.

Cent just gave a slight nod, zero reaction, and started off toward the grassland. Watching him go, William muttered, "Thank god he didn’t skewer me for that crap name. Guess every protagonist sucks at naming things."

He glanced back at the summoning spot and noticed several Bloom flowers wrecked. "Shit. Next time, I’m summoning away from here. If some big-ass troop like a dragon lands on the Luminara tree, I’m DEAD."

With gacha out of the way, the only thing left was welcoming the tuxedo rabbit. William pulled up his status and called for the tower merchant. A figure popped up instantly. William took one look and couldn’t stop himself,

"What’s up, Doc?" 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

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[A/N]: Please consider supporting by sending some Power Stones and Golden tickets. Your support means a lot and really helps me continue writing.