In any case, Roel was a little excited to be able to put what he had learned onto the battlefield. He had taken military warfare classes at Saint Freya Academy, and his past life memories had given him some exclusive warfare insights that were non-existent in the current era. Just like other transmigrators, he was curious to see how well modern strategies would fare in this world.

  Of course, it wouldn’t do for him to march onto the battlefield with only hot-bloodedness. Roel was well aware of that, and the System apparently agreed too.

  【First War Commemoration Sales

  Blow the war horns! Beat the war drum! Temper yourself with the hardships of war and be born anew amidst struggles!

  50% off all items!】


  【Intuition of the Military God

  It’s rumored that those blessed by the Military God possess uncanny sharpness when it comes to the tides of battle.

  Effect: The user will be able to sense the hostility amassed by a huge antagonistic army in high morale as if a blade is directed straight at the user’s heart.

  Price: 150,000 Gold Coins 75,000 Gold Coins】


  【Authority of the Military God

  It’s rumored that those blessed by the Military God command an intimidating presence on the battlefield.

  Effect: Anyone who dares disrespect the user on the battlefield will be subjected to the Military God’s pressure. No one will dare to undermine your order no matter how irrational it is.

  Price: 200,000 Gold Coins 100,000 Gold Coins】


  【Solemnity of the Military God

  It’s rumored that those blessed by the Military God harness absolute composure on the battlefield.

  Effect: The user will be forced to remain calm right before making any important decision on the battlefield, allowing the user to confront any challenge with a logical mind.

  Price: 150,000 Gold Coins 75,000 Gold Coins】


  【Note: You can only own one of the ‘Military God’ skills. The other skills will be automatically removed from the Gold Coin Shop once the user has purchased one of them.】


  “…”


  This was the support offered by the System as soon as Roel made the decision to step onto the battlefield. The ‘Military God’ skills came in the form of permanent blessings, which was why they were sold in the Gold Coin Shop. There were several other options, but those three were the ones that stood out the most to him.

  Needless to say, there was nothing more reliable than receiving the Military God’s blessing when stepping onto the battlefield. All of those three blessings were likely to be useful based on their description. It was a pity that he could only pick one.

  Roel was particularly careful about this choice. His instincts were telling him that this was an important choice that could affect his future, so he carefully analyzed the pros and cons of each of the blessings instead of choosing one right away.

  With a quick glance, the name, ‘Intuition of the Military God’, suggested that it was a life-saving skill. Its description supported that idea as well. There were usually only two situations where they would encounter a large number of hostile troops with high morale—chancing upon the enemy’s main force or on the eve of an ambush.

  Being able to detect enemy attacks in advance was indubitably a cheat ability on the battlefield. Not only would it be extremely difficult for the enemy to catch them off guard, but they could also use the information obtained through this ability to turn the tables on the enemy.

  War could be summarized as a game of mobilizing resources, after all.

  The effects of the second blessing, ‘Authority of the Military God’, were fairly direct. In summary, it allowed him to unconditionally establish near-absolute authority over any troops. This was arguably the most useful ability to him at the moment.

  The level of authority that a commander wielded on the battlefield was usually directly linked to his influence and the number of troops he had directly under his command. It would be naive of Roel to expect others to magically submit to his command, especially considering his young age and his lack of credentials on the battlefield.

  But ‘Authority of the Military God’ allowed this magic to happen.

  Furthermore, the presence of an authoritative general would suppress the morale of the enemy troops. Just imagine the sheer pressure from having to face a famous enemy general who had won all of his previous wars! The decline in morale could easily affect the outcome of the battle.

  These two aspects were more than enough to see how powerful ‘Authority of the Military God’ was, which could have been the reason why it was the most expensive of the three skills.

  Last but not least, ‘Solemnity of the Military God’. It appeared to be of limited effectiveness at first glance, only allowing one to maintain composure in order to make rational decisions, but those who carefully read between the lines would swiftly realize that there was a hidden clause to the skill that made it extremely powerful.

  Its trigger condition was ‘before making any important decision on the battlefield’, meaning that Roel could evaluate how important a decision was going to be by the activation of the skill.

  From that perspective, ‘Solemnity of the Military God’ was almost equivalent to a divination spell.

  The battlefield was often chaotic with many things happening all at once. A commander would have to make countless decisions ranging from minor details to major strategic deployment, making it impossible to think everything through. As a result, the most consequential decisions often ended up being made subconsciously.

  An ability that allowed him to sieve out consequential decisions and carefully think them through was practically a cheat.

  Roel desired to have all three of these skills, but reality—aka the System—wasn’t so kind as to grant him his wish. But again, if it was possible for someone to enjoy all three blessings at once, they would have become an existence comparable to the incarnation of the Military God.

  After struggling with the three choices for a long time, Roel eventually gritted his teeth and made his decision.

  【Are you certain you would like to pay 75,000 Gold Coins to acquire the skill ‘Intuition of the Military God? Yes/No】


  “Yes.”


  【Payment completed.】


  【You have obtained the skill ‘Intuition of the Military God’.】


  As soon as Roel confirmed his decision, an inexplicable heat washed through his body, only to vanish an instant later. At the same time, the other ‘Military God’ skills changed to an invalid gray color.

  He heaved a sigh of relief after it was all over and silently affirmed himself that it was the right choice.

  The reason Roel chose ‘Intuition of the Military God’ wasn’t because it was a better skill than the other two. He simply thought that it was more fitting for his current circumstances, or rather, it wouldn’t bring about any overly negative consequences.

  As powerful as ‘Authority of the Military God’ was, there were clear downsides to it too. For one, his dominance in the army could breed ill-will amongst other veteran soldiers and commanders, it’s just that no one would dare to openly speak up against him due to the skill’s intimidation. But more importantly, no one would dare to refute his orders even if he made an error in his judgment.

  Ultimately, Roel lacked practical commanding experience on the battlefield despite his deep theoretical understanding of warfare. He wasn’t so complacent as to think that his judgment was definitely better than the other veteran commanders.

  As for ‘Solemnity of the Military God’, it was useful for him to know which decisions were consequential, but it could result in hesitation. After all, who could confidently make a decision right away after knowing that there were great implications behind it?

  Hesitation came at a price on the battlefield. Often, there was only a small window of opportunity to grasp, and hesitation could easily cost him that opportunity even if he made the ‘correct decision’ in the end.

  In contrast, ‘Intuition of the Military God’ simply sharpened his vigilance to enemy presence, which didn’t seem to come with any adverse side effects. It was just that the activation criteria were rather strict, requiring there to be a huge number of enemy troops with high morale. He would need to test out what the threshold for the number of enemy troops and level of morale was.

  Regardless, he was still pretty satisfied with his new skill.

  75,000 gold coins was an exorbitant sum, but he was able to fork out the money thanks to the reward he received from Nora for his contribution at the eastern border, as well as the money he took from the Labyrinth Manor.

  Still, Roel was only rich for a couple of days before he was smacked into the dust again. It made him suspect that the System was keeping a close eye on his wealth and doing everything it could to ensure that he remained poor.

  Fortunately, the items at the Affection Points Exchange Shop didn’t require any gold coins.

  【Silverwing Eagle

  A masterpiece created by an alchemist of Karon Kingdom, the Silverwing Eagle can scout out enemy movements from the sky. Its mythril wings grant it invisibility, though you need to be careful to ensure that it doesn’t crash into a flock of birds.

  Price: 30,000 Affection Points 15,000 Affection Points】


  Roel checked out quite a few items in the Affection Points Exchange Shop, but he eventually went with the alchemy product of the ancient Karon Kingdom. Efficiency of intelligence gathering was a key determining factor in the outcome of a battle, be it where one’s allies or enemies were. Having a pair of invisible eyes in the sky overlooking the battlefield would go a long way.

  With this new skill and magic tool, Roel was finally done with his preparations. His troops, which included the inquisitors and heretics, were powerful enough to stand their ground on any battlefield. It looked like everything was in order; now all that was left was a stage for them.

  Despite this, Roel maintained a wary attitude. He knew that this war, to some extent, was not just an internal war anymore. He let out a worried sigh and prayed that everything would go well on the frontline.

  As Roel and his army started traveling along the military supply route and moving toward the Elric Fiefdom, he was able to acquire a steady stream of military reports from the frontline that were en route to the Holy Capital. Of which, there was one piece of news that made his heart sink.

  The second attempted siege on Edgar City had ended in failure.