After the students had chosen their respective destinations, they temporarily settled down at the Hidden Grove Association.

The next day, they gathered in the association’s side hall where a tall, thin old man was waiting for them.

He wore a deep brown woolen formal suit, had one hand clasped behind his back, and his hair was neatly combed.

Sylutia was one of the earlier arriving students. She first found a seat by the window and sat down. This side hall was similar to a church chapel, with tall vertical glass windows on both sides, but there were no statues of deities.

After some time, the newly registered students had all arrived one after another. The old man took a headcount and then spoke.

“My name is Bede, a member of the association. This time, I will be the one to explain some basic knowledge about life in the Hidden Grove to you all.” His gaze swept over the group.

“First, after you settle down, your primary objectives are two-fold. First, complete your assigned tasks or work well. Second, improve your own strength as quickly as possible.”

“Completing tasks well not only earns you rewards and commendations from the Hidden Grove, but also improves your personal evaluation. This is very important for whether you can join those powerful organizations in the future.”

“Then, improving your strength is also of utmost importance. However, this is not something that can be achieved in a single day. You also need to plan your future direction. So, for the first month, you can take it a bit slower, focusing mainly on familiarizing yourselves with the environment and life here.”

“But after that, you cannot slack off or relax. Raising your tier as soon as possible brings far greater benefits than staying stuck at a low tier and delving into minutiae.”

“At the First Tier, not only is the support you receive limited, but task rewards are also low, and learning many abilities will be difficult and arduous.”

“Once you advance, although the tasks and work you undertake will also become more challenging, the various benefits will be more than three times those at the First Tier.”

“Next, I will briefly introduce the directions and methods for improving your strength.” He took out a blackboard, hung it on a wooden stand behind him, and then quickly sketched and wrote on it with chalk.

“First is determining your direction. This direction is often aimed at a Third Tier profession. I will use the most common ‘Iron Knight’ profession from the School of Royal Authority as an example to explain.”

“【Iron Knight】 is currently the most classic and common Third Tier knight profession. The training methods for ‘Iron Knight’ are already an open secret among many nobles.”

“A complete Iron Knight requires three abilities: 【Steel Body】, 【Sharp Blade】, and 【Horse and Rider as One】.”

“Among these, 【Steel Body】 is formed by the fusion of 【Iron Armor Protection】 and 【Breathing Technique】. This means that an ‘Iron Knight’ must learn these two abilities in the early stages and attempt to fuse them together at the Second Tier.”

“【Sharp Blade】 is upgraded from 【Steel Edge Blade】. This means you must first master 【Steel Edge Blade】, then find an experienced blacksmith to forge a sword or spear for you using refined steel, and finally integrate this weapon into your Ability Card to complete the upgrade.”

“【Horse and Rider as One】 requires you to master 【Synchronization Method】 and 【Swift Charge】, and combine them into one. This allows your warhorse on the battlefield to completely follow your will in its movements and galloping, and grants the warhorse extremely fast speed.”

“Among these, 【Sharp Blade】 is the simplest to learn. You only need to be granted 【Steel Edge Blade】 by a higher-ranking noble during an investiture ceremony and then upgrade it. The other two, however, must be prepared in advance according to sequence. This means if you learn other abilities that cause a lack of card slots, making fusion impossible, then it will be difficult to become a qualified 【Iron Knight】.”

“When you fully possess the three abilities 【Steel Body】, 【Sharp Blade】, and 【Horse and Rider as One】, you need to undergo a trial.”

“Trials for knight professions are often designated by the monarch. The content can be participating in a massive campaign, tempering oneself on the battlefield, integrating and mastering these abilities, and finally condensing one’s own destined profession.”

“There is a vast gap between a Transcendent who has just stepped into the Third Tier with incomplete abilities, and a Third Tier Transcendent who has completed the trial and condensed their destined profession. The latter can defeat 6 to 9 of the former working together.”

“Now, you understand why planning the condensation of your profession is so important.” The old man’s words stirred excitement in everyone’s hearts, each looking forward to the profession and path they wished to take in the future.

“Furthermore, if you do not condense a profession, then each ability will always occupy a slot on your Ability Card grid, preventing you from learning other secret arts to improve yourself.”

“So you must condense a profession, consolidate your various abilities, and fuse them into your destiny. Only then will you have the possibility to continue advancing.” His words were like a sudden enlightenment, explaining why many talented people remain stuck at the Second or Third Tier, unable to progress an inch further.

After listening, the students discussed animatedly among themselves.

“This is terrible. I never planned what abilities to learn for the Third Tier before.”

“I don’t even know what I can learn at the Second Tier, how could I plan that far ahead?”

“Calm down, please.” The old man raised his hand, signaling everyone to end the discussion.

“You are worried about not knowing what to learn. The solution to this is very simple.”

“In the Glittergold Plains, the ‘Holy White Knight Hall’, the ‘Forging Gold Hammer’, and the ‘Four Seasons Alliance’ have already summarized and listed the abilities required for some Third Tier professions. You only need to spend a certain amount of points to inquire.”

“Of course, this is just a suggestion. If you can obtain the required abilities for your desired Third Tier profession from other channels, then you don’t have to follow the profession templates provided by these three organizations.”

“But I must tell you all, the profession templates provided by these three organizations are excellent templates that have been thoroughly tested and iteratively improved within the Hidden Grove. Templates from other small organizations or books of unknown origin are highly likely to be inferior to those of these three.”

Understanding this point, the students present relaxed. Afterwards, Sylutia exchanged a few words with them to get a general understanding of the situation.

There were ten people who came to the Glittergold Plains this time. Apart from Sylutia who was a gardener, among the remaining nine, six were children of nobles preparing to follow the knight path. Here, the Third Tier profession ‘White Knight’ possessed by the ‘Holy White Knight Hall’ was a superior profession template compared to the ‘Iron Knight’.

Of the remaining three, two planned to join the ‘Forging Gold Hammer’ to become excellent craftsmen. The last one had no particular goal, purely thinking the Glittergold Plains was safe, a place to comfortably drift through life without worrying about the various dangers of the Shadow World.

“Does the Four Seasons Alliance side have suitable gardener professions?” Sylutia inquired of the old man.

“There is the specialized profession ‘Wheat Field Keeper’ for large-scale wheat cultivation, and also the two more general profession templates ‘Orchard Pruner’ and ‘Rose Gardener’.”

“Currently, within White Stone Fortress, there are several ‘Wheat Field Keepers’. I also know one of them and am aware of some details.”

“To condense a complete ‘Wheat Field Keeper’ profession, you need 【Harvest Sickle】, 【Sunlit Fertile Soil】, and 【Scorching Poisonous Wind】.”

“These… sound like they’re all related to ‘Blazing Sun’?” Sylutia thought of Lady Franne.

“That’s correct. ‘Wheat Field Keeper’ is a profession of ‘Third Tier·Blazing Sun’. In fact, the Four Seasons Alliance is a massive organization. The branch here in the Glittergold Plains is the one leaning towards the paths of Blazing Sun and Gold Steam. There are other branches leaning towards ‘Verdant Nectar’ and ‘Slumbering Winter’.”

“Four Seasons, four seasons. The Four Seasons Alliance was formed from the alliance and union of four former organizations.”

“I see. Thank you.” Although still unsure which path to take in the future, she now had a preliminary understanding of the various profession directions.

Take it step by step. First, understand the knowledge from all aspects and the pros and cons of different paths. Anyway, she still had plenty of time and wasn’t in a hurry to make a decision now.

In fact, after hearing the old man talk about the problem of scarce Ability Card slots hindering advancement, she had already begun to have some ideas. They were speculations about her other talent, 【Star】.

Just like that day in the Shadow World, when her talent 【Star】 awakened and she sealed that Grotesque Black Cat, turning it into a card, could she use this kind of 【Alien Star】 ability to temporarily seal her original abilities and store them as cards too?

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep