The morning light emerges.
Next to Duncan lies the still sleeping Crow Queen Triss. She has to both keep her vow and take care of Duncan, which has truly exhausted her.
At this moment, she rather misses Anya.
Duncan quietly rises, puts on a coat, and steps out of the camp. His wounds have been rebandaged and are now scabbing over; they will be completely healed in a day or two. Perhaps due to the suppression of supernatural powers at the end of the mythological era, the effect of regeneration isn’t as amazing. Although the wounds heal quickly, intense activity can cause them to reopen. Bleeding would result in a small sliver of virtual health bar depletion, which often requires a large intake of food and nutrients to recover fully. Content orıginally comes from 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝•𝖿𝗂𝗋𝖾•𝘯𝘦𝘵
Avalon’s scabbard can only prevent continuous bleeding, but since it hasn’t been completely finished, it’s not as powerful as the legends say.
"It doesn’t affect my combat, it’s just that after losing too much blood, the maximum health bar seems to get shorter."
Duncan feels his offensive power is maxed out, reaching the pinnacle for mortals, but his defense is truly not enough. Or rather, everyone is the same; without armor, no matter how long the health bar is, it can’t withstand chaotic hacking and slashing and would be chopped into pieces.
This is the limitation of mortals.
In combat skills, there are always moments where blocking and parrying are too slow. It’s impossible to block every arrow from a rain of arrows; even Qiao Feng would be hit by random arrows.
"The ancient Greek Achilles seemed to be immune to blades and guns, but that was a character from the mythical era."
"Giant dragons have dragon scales for protection, I’m human, at most I have tougher skin."
"How can I enhance my defense so as not to get injured, or get hurt less?"
This era doesn’t have plate armor. If he had plate armor from the late medieval period, Duncan could truly charge into the midst of the chaos, but now he wears a set of lord’s scale armor, which is ultimately a bit lacking in protection.
Now is the Middle Ages; as times develop, life becomes more fragile. When firearms emerge in the future, then fighting head-on will no longer be feasible.
"However, when it does come to the firearms era, I might instead thrive."
With Duncan’s abilities, if he were to fight using firearms, he can’t even imagine how powerful he would become; perhaps only an interstellar battlefield could allow him to unleash his full potential.
Very soon, an attendant comes to assist him with washing up, dressing, and armoring.
Last night, a Valkyrie hovered over the wounded camp for half a day. One by one, heavily injured people succumbed, and for those who couldn’t make it, the captain personally delivered the final blow to send them on their way. Duncan has been there several times, but each time he sees the injured groaning in agony, he feels a bit of reluctance. After personally sending a dying personal guard of a general on the last journey, he hasn’t been back since.
After all, these are his soldiers, he feels hesitant. If they can be saved, he will save them, even if they are left disabled, it doesn’t matter; he can support them.
Combat with cold weapons is extremely brutal!
Due to limited medical conditions, many people die from infection. Duncan has already introduced some modern medical knowledge, along with the herbs prepared by the Druids, but still cannot prevent the heavily injured from dying.
Sometimes, when there really is no hope, a swift end might be better than prolonged suffering.
A general must not be soft-hearted; Duncan sends some of the wounded back to the Exile Camp where their survival depends solely on Celestial Destiny.
Such is the chaos of troubled times.
If you don’t die on the battlefield, you’ll end up dying elsewhere.
During the chaos of the Five Barbarians’ Invasion of China, the Northern Han Chinese population dwindled to only about four million, nearly experiencing genocide.
The empire faced hundreds of years of barbarian invasions. Although there are no specific statistics, after the fall of the Western Empire, Rome’s population was only one-twentieth of what it had been before, and the entire population of Western Europe was reduced to just over five million.
In light of this, dying on the battlefield indeed seems preferable; at least one falls with dignity on the battlefield.
A sound of footsteps approaches.
Very soon, a young boy clad in armor comes in respectfully saying, "My lord."
"An envoy from the empire has arrived!"
After two battles, Carl is already Duncan’s personal guard; in the future, he may lead a cavalry unit in combat.
Great generals arise from the ranks, chancellors originate from regions.
Duncan now essentially equates to a regional military dictator, temporarily not needing to waste too much effort on internal affairs.
Upon hearing this, he looks up and says, "An envoy from the empire?"
Footsteps sound outside the tent, and the person who enters makes Duncan involuntarily pause for a moment.
Months ago, Duncan was fleeing with him. Catus wanted to introduce Duncan to Protector of the Realm Aetius; in one of the law of cause and effect deductions, the number one human form happened to be Aetius’s adopted son, being groomed as one of the military’s heirs.
Behind Catus stands a somewhat sly-looking young man, it is Almaqun, who was once sycophantic towards Duncan. This fellow is quite successful now, seeming like Catus’s attendant.
When Catus sees Duncan, his expression becomes dazed. He had thought back then that Duncan was no ordinary person with immense potential; it was a pity that Duncan insisted on traveling with Crow Queen Triss to Great Britain, and he couldn’t introduce such a talent to Aetius.
This time, upon hearing that the leader of the British reinforcements is called Duncan, Catus had some suspicions but did not dare to think of such a possibility. Given the short time, seeing Duncan in person now still leaves him in a somewhat dazed state, as if it has been an entire lifetime.
Bright scales are not ordinary things, encountering storms and they transform into dragons.
Catus reveals a slight wry smile, takes the initiative to bow, and greets warmly, "Lord Duncan!"