My Glitched World Throne System Came Ten Years Too Early!
Chapter 18: Leaving The Forest

Chapter 18: 18: Leaving The Forest

Roderic sat down and stared at the extinguished campfire.

His fingers absentmindedly rubbed over the ugly scar on his shoulder.

’Three days,’ he thought quietly. ’I’m going to guess that’s all the time I have left.’

After that, he’d finally get picked up.

’And it’s about time too!’

His gaze gradually drifted towards the river.

The mercenary’s corpse had long disappeared beneath the current, leaving only a few faint bloodstains on the nearby rocks.

Roderic remained silent for several long seconds.

Letting out a deep sigh, he closed his eyes.

’Let’s look back at this mess of a situation,’ he thought, rubbing his temples. ’I have a lot to improve on after all.’

The first thing that came to mind was his own naivety.

He’d clearly underestimated how much Margaret truly wanted him gone.

’I’d thought she’d send an assassin eventually, like after I returned,’ he thought, shaking his head. ’But this early? She must really hate me to the bone right now.’

His mistakes didn’t end there, though.

Roderic knew he’d practically always left his campfire burning and never bothered to mask his tracks.

This had been the only reason a single person could find him in such a vast forest.

But even then...

’’All of that wouldn’t have mattered,’’ he said, clenching his fists. ’’If I had simply noticed him earlier.’’

If Roderic had been aware of the mercenary, he could’ve simply dodged the arrow.

Instead, he’d been unable to fight to his full potential.

’Had I been able to use my technique, he would’ve died in an instant,’ he thought. ’Especially with how much he was underestimating me.’

That brought him to only one conclusion.

Not being able to detect enemies preemptively was his most glaring weakness.

’’Mhm, thinking more about it, maybe it was fortunate that I figured this out here.’’

Had he gone to a chaotic battlefield without fixing that problem, he would’ve most likely ended up with a sword through his back.

Not to mention if an assassin came after him in the middle of the night.

Roderic fell completely silent once more.

’’But how do I fix this problem?’’ he wondered, brows furrowing. ’’Is there, like, an aura sense or something?’’

Unfortunately, the previous Roderic had no relevant memories to rely on in that aspect.

With no other choice, Roderic opened the System and began searching there.

But there was nothing.

Neither the Technique Shop nor the Archive held any information regarding an aura sense.

’Seriously?’ Roderic thought, frowning. ’No, maybe it’s just called something different.’

Refusing to give up, he changed his search.

The two other terms that came to mind were Perception and Instincts.

Unfortunately, the System’s Technique section didn’t have anything with those words either.

The only two names that came remotely close sat inside the Talent section.

They were talents named ’Beastly Instincts’ and ’Sixth Sense,’ both of which cost thousands of Throne Coins.

’Unaffordable,’ he thought, shaking his head.

That left him with just the Archive to search through.

As he typed Perception in, several results popped up.

’’Year 552, Aster Empire revolutionizes talent detection through perception tests.’’

’’Year 553, Aster Empire knight cultivation increased fivefold through perception tests.’’

’’Year 553, Draker Empire follows the Aster Empire with their own perception test.’’

...

Roderic’s brows rose slightly.

’’What do we have here?’’ he muttered quietly.

Filled with curiosity, he opened the first record.

After skimming through it for several moments, he slowly leaned back.

’’So that’s how they selected their knights...’’

The Aster Empire, a large empire to the north, had apparently abandoned traditional strength and endurance tests, replacing them with something entirely different.

And the results had spoken for themselves.

Within a single year, the number of people awakening aura had increased nearly fivefold!

’’I’ve never heard of anything like this before,’’ he said, nodding slowly.

Though it wasn’t what he was looking for right now, Roderic decided to keep it in the back of his mind.

With a flick of his hand, he closed the Archive.

’I guess it makes sense,’ he thought, letting out a sigh. ’The Archive records history, not something as specific as that.’

His gaze slowly drifted over to the regular System screen.

His mind churned, searching for some kind of answer.

’I’ll just have to make something myself,’ he thought, lightly tapping his finger on his leg. ’That seems to be the best.’

No matter what, he never wanted to be caught off guard again.

Without another thought, Roderic rose to his feet and stretched his arms over his head.

’Three days,’ he told himself. ’That’s all the time I have to figure this out.’

...

The next two days passed by quickly.

From sunrise until long after sunset, Roderic remained immersed in his own experiments.

He’d succeeded in circulating aura through every part of his body.

That alone had been a huge improvement compared to his rudimentary use of aura beforehand.

But extending it outside his body?

That was a whole other story.

’I don’t know why it’s so different,’ he thought, opening his eyes.

When imbuing aura into his blades, no issues arose whatsoever.

But any aura send outside his body vanished instantly.

’’Fuck,’’ he cursed, shaking his head. ’’There’s no more time to figure it out either.’’

He paused for a moment.

’’But eventually, I will figure out how to make that damn aura sense work.’’

Pushing himself off the ground, Roderic glanced around his camp one final time.

The two weeks he’d spent inside the woods had certainly been something else for him.

But now, it was finally time to start preparing.

Sliding both hooked blades onto his back, a large smirk appeared on Roderic’s face.

’’It’ll be getting interesting soon,’’ he muttered. ’’I almost can’t wait for the first step of my plan.’’