Otaku Translation: The Amber Sword V2C141

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Chapter 141: The Whisper of Hope, Part 4

The battle ended quickly.

Though Tiger Finch, Sanford, and their group were evenly matched with the ferocious cavalry in terms of strength, the noble cavalry captain who had foolishly forfeited his life early on had clearly not anticipated that among this seemingly ordinary group were two true Gold-Rank individuals.

Cinnabar, the Divine Messenger of Thunder.

And Brandon, who had just touched the edge of the Elemental Wall, entering the first tier of Gold Rank. When the two unleashed their full power, they erupted like a silver and crimson flame from beneath the earth. In an instant, they shot forward—then vertically sliced through the entire cavalry unit. From above, it was as if an electric dragon and an ice dragon had swept across the battlefield from north to south.

The dead lay piled high.

At that moment, the cavalrymen broke into chaos. Even before engaging in combat, they screamed and scattered in all directions. Unfortunately for them, the speed of their horses could only intimidate ordinary people—it offered no advantage in escaping. Within half an hour, the plains were left with riderless horses and corpses scattered everywhere.

This was the result of Brandon refraining from summoning Princess Metissa or using the cards he had purchased. If he had called upon Metissa, who possessed Gold-Rank strength and was trained in cavalry tactics, her unicorn’s speed being ten times that of a warhorse would have annihilated these remnants in mere moments.

But none of that mattered now.

After the battle, Brandon finally calmed down. He sat atop the corpse of a fallen horse, silently watching the others clean up the battlefield while taking stock of his own condition. His unexpected breakthrough at Grudin's castle, fueled by anger, had propelled him into the first tier of Gold Rank. Yet until now, he hadn’t fully examined what this meant for him.

Since arriving in this world, Brandon had always believed his unique advantage lay in leveling up through experience. Awakening elemental affinity required completing a few tasks that weren’t particularly difficult, so the barrier of realms—a daunting challenge for NPCs—was nonexistent for players.

However, after his dream battle with his grandfather, where his swordsmanship skill grew, he began to suspect that his skills might advance through training—a privilege supposedly reserved for NPCs.

Doubt remained doubt because he hadn’t encountered another similar instance since then. Besides, the growth in his swordsmanship could be attributed to inheriting and assimilating Brandon’s original memories. If viewed as a quest reward, everything made sense.

But today, he finally realized that he truly possessed some characteristics of NPCs. For instance, his skills could improve through training, or his strength could grow by breaking through realms—just as it had happened earlier.

Though this revelation seemed trivial, it was still a positive development. More importantly, it confirmed something else: he indeed possessed both player and NPC traits.

It was as if Su Fei and Brandon’s hybrid identity inherently carried such duality.

He stilled his mind and brought up his status menu. To his surprise, his actual level hadn’t increased at all—it remained at Level 32. However, he noticed that all his attributes had risen by over thirty percent.

What was going on?

Switching menus rapidly, the green holographic interface flickered on his retina. A quick glance nearly made him choke on his own saliva—he saw a small bracket next to his name:

Brandon (Elite Template)

"Marsha’s grace, can you be any more reckless?" he muttered inwardly. Did breaking through a realm equate to advancing a bot’s tier? Would the next step label him (Rare Template)? Then (Lord Template)? And eventually (Elite Lord Template)?

Seeing this, even Brandon couldn’t help but grumble under his breath. For a moment, he almost felt like a monster. It reminded him of those clichéd plot twists in the game novels he used to read before being transported here—where some boss mutates into a variant boss. Only, he never expected such a trope to happen to him.

And yet, it was happening to him.

Coughing slightly, Brandon instinctively glanced around, half-expecting 25 or 40 adventurers to jump out and raid him. Though the thought was absurd, the situation unfolding before him was anything but real.

Compared to this, nothing else seemed particularly unbelievable.

But wait—after a brief moment of shock, Brandon regained his composure. Given his understanding of games, possessing an elite template should mean changes beyond mere stats.

Elite skills? Additional resistances?

He scrolled through the menu and found three newly unlocked slots under character abilities. Written in ghostly green text were the labels: Elite Skills, Additional Resistances. These slots were currently locked, accompanied by numbers like:

(45), (47), (60).

Brandon immediately understood their meaning—level locks. Similar to unlocking additional elemental affinity slots after awakening, these required reaching specific levels to activate.

The difference was that the latter also required investing elemental points.

Elite individual skills were roughly equivalent to lower-tier combat techniques, while additional resistances amounted to gaining an extra cloak slot. But if this mutation continued, progressing to Boss, Elite Boss, or even World Leader status, the implications would be vastly different.

Brandon pressed his lips together, a thought stirring in his mind. Boss skills reached intermediate levels, Elite Boss skills advanced to upper tiers, and World Leader skills surpassed players entirely—the sole method to obtain top-tier abilities.

Even without much thought, he knew that breaking through realms followed NPC rules: the higher the realm, the slimmer the chances. This was why only one in ten NPCs awakened elemental affinity or entered the Gold Rank. It was also why the distribution of powerful individuals in this world formed such a distinct pyramid structure.

Otherwise, the late-game dominance of players in Amber Sword wouldn’t have been possible.

Still, the possibility was promising, however distant it seemed. Brandon quickly composed himself, focusing instead on something far more critical—elements.

Opening the panel, he found the words behind the awakened elemental affinity section: Stability, Stillness.

These weren’t his elements but rather the nature of the elemental force he had sensed. As his strength grew, the descriptors of this force would become more numerous and precise. Once he broke through the barrier, the true essence of his rule would manifest.

Only then would he truly possess the ability to wield elemental forces with mastery.

Elemental points, rule-based skills, domains—all these marked the non-human existence of warriors who had awakened elemental affinity. This was why awakening was so difficult in the Amber Sword, let alone advancing to the Gold Rank—a feat that deterred most.

In Amber Sword, it was common knowledge that reaching the Gold Rank required two conditions: Absolute Strength exceeding 100 units and the ability to sense elemental forces. While the first condition wasn’t overly challenging for many talented individuals, most remained stuck at the peak of Silver Rank.

The reason was simple—they couldn’t sense elemental forces.

Elements were the laws of the world. Without perceiving the threads of rules governing the other side of reality, no matter how strong one became, they would never touch the Elemental Wall.

In contrast, wizards, clerics, and even knights found it easier to grasp these threads. Thus, awakened warriors were rare among NPCs—perhaps one in ten thousand. Brandon knew a few awakened warriors, like Buga, who were exceptions. Most others held dual identities as knights.

As for someone like him, who attained enlightenment through serendipity, he was truly one in a million.

In that regard, his luck was unparalleled.

What puzzled him, however, was the description of his elemental properties. If his element were ice, cold, or even northern winds or water—or even heat at a higher level—he wouldn’t feel so perplexed.

His elemental manifestation clearly leaned toward secondary elements of cold and ice, yet the descriptions pointed toward stillness and stability—traits that seemed more aligned with space or time.

Brandon glanced at his hand, momentarily confused.

Ice or space?

The difference wasn’t trivial. Ice was one of the four superior elements, but space and time were legendary existential forces.

Shaking his head, he looked up to see Antietta and Roma approaching. To his surprise, they were holding hands with a timid little girl with long green hair—no older than eight or nine.

A Senian.

Brandon furrowed his brow.

The only village in the south was Green Village on the border of Tonygel, home to a community of Senians. Legend had it that the Senians were descendants of forest children, closely related to druids. They possessed innate wild abilities but were considered barbarians due to their isolation.

The Senians lived in secluded forest-edge settlements, refusing to integrate into Eruin. Local lords generally ignored these so-called “inferior races,” though some resorted to brutal suppression.

From the looks of it, Grudin seemed to belong to the latter group.

But why would that man capture a Senian girl? Nobles avoided contact with these “savages,” considering even a touch defiling. Ordinary citizens also looked down on these outsiders.

Brandon absently stroked his chin.

Green Village, however, was his destination.

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