Stopping before one of the two men, Liora leaned down and reached out with her right hand.

As she did, the nails on her fingers grew longer and sharper.

Following her movements, they lightly traced against the man's skin, splitting it open as if they were knives.

The wound was neither big nor fatal.

Liora's actions had been extremely precise, cutting the skin just enough to allow a few drops of blood to flow out.

With a wave of her other hand, the blood dripping out of the wound gathered in her open palm.

Subsequently, she placed them on her chest.

Immediately, Supreme Adaptation activated on its own. Swallowing the blood, it began restructuring her bloodline once again.

It didn't take long.

The changes were ultimately completed within a couple of seconds.

Scanning her body with her consciousness, Liora checked on her Life Seed.

Just like she had predicted, another color had appeared on its surface, granting it an additional blue hue.

Liora nodded her head in satisfaction as she rose to her feet and began rummaging through the room.

Soon, she found a thin booklet lying inside a hidden compartment.

"Lupin Knight Technique.", the book's title read, and, not surprisingly, it was the Knight Technique belonging to this noble family.

Liora quickly skimmed through it.

With her strength, it only took her a couple of minutes to go through all its contents and memorize them, imprinting them in her mind.

Once she was done, she placed the booklet back in its place and approached the window, looking ready to leave.

Before she jumped out, though, her mouth opened, and a few unintelligible words rushed out of her throat.

When these words echoed and fell into the ears of the two unconscious men, their bodies shook, and they were both jolted awake.

Getting up, they completely ignored Liora's existence and faced each other calmly, as if nothing had happened.

"I understand. Don't worry. I'll make sure to collect more information regarding Duchess Lobelia's true purpose."

"Mhm."

The two continued their conversation, showing no signs of ever having been unconscious.

Seeing this, Liora confirmed that there was nothing wrong. Then, with a shove against the floor, she leapt out of the window.

Before long, her figure vanished into the darkness of the night, her footsteps leading to her next destination.

--

Liora's plan had been to collect Knight Techniques and learn their accompanying Knight skills, using them to enhance her combat power.

Originally, although this would not have been difficult, it should have been quite troublesome.

After all, Knight Techniques that allowed one to reach the Great Knight rank were all in the hands of the Empire's nobles.

If she wished to obtain them, she would have to go through a long journey through the humans' lands, visiting each noble's fiefdom.

But Duchess Lobelia's summons completely solved that problem.

Under her instructions, the nobles of the northern part of the Empire had all gathered here, giving Liora a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

And she would, of course, not waste it.

Before the night had passed and the sun had risen, Liora's traces could be found at the residences of the many nobles.

Within just a few hours, she had collected tens of Knight Techniques and hundreds of useful Knight skills.

As she went through the information in her mind, Liora felt that everything was worth it.

"Although most of these skills are far weaker than the ones mentioned in the Lavender Technique, this is to be expected. The techniques at the hands of the lower nobles only reach the Great Knight rank rather than the King of Knights rank."

"Still, if I were to learn all these skills and apply them in actual combat, my combat power would be brought to the next level.", Liora analyzed.

Most importantly, obtaining these skills had been extremely easy.

When one considered the final harvest and the small amount of effort and time invested, it was obvious that it was worth it.

With that in mind, Liora selected a dozen or so of the skills that she had collected. Their details resurfaced in her mind.

The route of the Life Force, the body's movements, and the skills' general outline constantly replayed in her mind, as she slowly took them apart and analyzed them.

--

The border area between the Iron Armor Empire and the Ancient Beast Wilderness was filled with bloodthirsty beasts.

The sounds of powerful limbs hitting the ground could be heard all the time, no matter where one went, while thousands of auras were gathered together and rushing towards the human cities.

However, the land affected was only a small part of the Ancient Beast Wilderness.

If one were to go deeper, they would discover that the wilderness had remained the same, mostly empty and devoid of signs of life.

If one didn't know what was happening at the border of the human Empire, they would never guess that the beasts were currently at war, causing bloodshed and bringing the deaths of tens of thousands of people.

"It seems strange, but it makes sense upon further thought. I'm afraid that the total number of beasts within the Ancient Beast Wilderness most likely numbers in the millions, if not billions."

"Considering their overall number, the ones attacking the Iron Armor Empire are only a tiny part of the beasts' population.", Liora thought.

Of course, she wouldn't underestimate this part. In her opinion, it was impossible for the beasts to attack the human cities for no reason.

Most likely, there was a reason behind their riot.

"But for the time being, this is none of my business. This is what the Iron Armor Empire's ruler and Duchess Lobelia should worry about.", Liora shook her head.

Then, she turned her attention to the matter at hand.

Or, more accurately, at her target—the beast standing not far away.

With a body that was more than forty meters in length and more than five meters in width, the snake's body was enormous and covered in hard crimson scales.

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