"Well... I really donât know." Raine shook his head with a wry smile and said.
It wasnât that Raine hadnât considered it, but he truly didnât know if he could rely on these special abilities from the bloodline, like Freezing Ray, to change classes.
Or did he need to master the Magic and Combat Skills by himself, without the aid of bloodline enhancement?
"Perhaps, when I get a chance to go to Dorne City, I can find the right person to ask."
Although he had not yet improved the completion rate of Shield Bash and Armor-Piercing Strike to above 95%, he already had a next step in mind, which was to take a trip to Dorne City and find a relatively knowledgeable Mage to inquire about it.
"Oh right, I remember now. You said last time that a Minstrel taught you your Magic. In that case, Raine, you really should find some time to go to Dorne City." Reya said with a look of realization.
"Raine, Iâd like to exchange some thoughts with you as well." At this moment, Grande, who was usually rather silent, suddenly spoke up.
Hmm?
Grandeâs words immediately drew the attention of everyone present.
"Of course." Raine nodded with a smile.
Competing could noticeably enhance his familiarity with Shield Block and Shield Bash.
Although he didnât have a proficiency panel, both his body and mind could feel this increasing familiarity with the shield.
Presented with such an opportunity for advancement, Raine naturally wouldnât refuse.
Several minutes later.
As expected, Raine won once more.
"Damn it, Raine, youâve beaten both me and Grande. Does this mean youâll be taking on the role of Tank from now on?" Chris couldnât help but jokingly tease.
"Not impossible, Raine, as a Mage Apprentice, youâll be the frontline core of the team from now on." Reya said with a gentle smile.
"Hahaha~"
Everyone couldnât help but laugh heartily.
At this time, Reya walked up to Raine, with a hint of both humor and seriousness in her beautiful eyes, and said:
"Raine, I formally invite you to join the Howling Hunter Squad. I hope youâll consider it seriously."
After just a slight moment of surprise, Raine also smiled and said, "No need to consider, Iâll join."
Though Raine had only worked with Reya and the others on two missions, the first mission was already a thrilling encounter with a Wild Boar Warrior ambush.
From the way everyone handled it back then, it was not hard to see that the combat quality of the Howling Hunter Squadâs members was significantly higher than that of the Bottom Adventurer Squad Raine had previously encountered and understood.
More importantly, the trust, mutual assistance, and teamwork among the team members during a crisis deeply touched his heart.
Sometimes, you can see a lot from just one shared mission experience.
In addition, a letter from the never-before-met Miss Priestess also confirmed the squadâs longstanding positive atmosphere.
"Great, Raine, welcome!" Chris lightly punched Raine on his firm chest.
"Frontline core, welcome aboard!" Fabian teased with a smile.
"Welcome!" Even the usually reticent Grande stepped up to shake hands with Raine.
"By the way, Captain, since Raine has officially joined the team, shouldnât we practice together?" At this moment, Chris suddenly had an idea and suggested it.
Since Raine was previously only a temporary member of the team, Chris naturally wouldnât have suggested it.
But now itâs different; being a formal member means working together for quite a long period, making team coordination very important.
Especially in some unexpected situations, good teamwork can sometimes stabilize the situation quickly, or even turn the tide.
"Yeah! Captain, why donât we practice together now?" Fabian said while deftly twirling a dagger with his fingers.
"Sure!" Reya agreed instantly and then smiled brightly at Raine.
Raine gladly agreed.
In fact, he was quite curious about the Howling Hunter Squadâs formal tactics, considering that during the last encounter with the Wild Boar People, Captain Reya was separated from the others.
And as a powerful Shooter, her presence or absence should entirely change the teamâs combat state.
"Then letâs take those two Wild Boar People from last time as our imaginary enemies!"
"Look, these two ironwood dummy targets will stand in for those two Wild Boar People," Reya said, pointing to the two mannequins approximately ten meters ahead in the courtyard.
"Now that we have such excellent melee ability with Raine joining, thereâs no need to lure one away separately. We can focus our strength to quickly kill one."
"Chris, Raine, you two will take the front to block."
"Grande, put away your Shield and attack with your sword."
"Fabian, throw a brightly colored throwing knife as the focus fire signal!"
With Reyaâs orderly arrangement as the captain, Raine quickly noticed that Fabian had a few special, shiny, small sword-like throwing knives tied to the side of his Leather Armor.
The throwing knives were very bright, seemingly coated with some kind of bright-colored paint.
And Grande surprised Raine somewhat too; it turned out that he was actually more adept at using the Half Sword.
In other words, Grande was indeed a Swordsman, but previously Reya had assigned him with a Sword and Shield, focusing on defense.
"Begin!"
With Reyaâs word, Chris and Raine immediately moved forward with Shields, positioning themselves close to the two mannequins.
Only a few seconds passed before a bright streak flashed in front of Raine as the throwing knife hit the mannequin neck in front of Chris. Fabian and Grande, who were behind Raine, immediately rushed forward.
"Ding!"
Amidst the humming of the bowstring, Raine noticed an arrow hit the dummyâs chest a step ahead of the two people.
At the same time, Fabian, who was faster, leaped high behind the dummy, his dagger drawing a silver arc before viciously stabbing downâitâs the combat skill "Backstab"!
Grande was half a step slower, holding the sword with both hands, the half sword swung out in a bright fan-shaped blade, chopping toward the dummyâs side ribs.
"Thud!"
"Thud!"
The dull sound of blades piercing or hacking into ironwood rang out.
"Stop! Too slow!" Reyaâs pretty face turned serious, she said.
"Grande, your movement is still a bit slow. The three of us did not form a perfect joint attack at the same time."
"Perhaps we can kill an ordinary Wild Boar person like this, but against a Wild Boar Warrior, this kind of joint attack isnât very threatening."
"Captain, thereâs nothing we can do about it unless you let Grande wear light armor like swordsmen. Otherwise, he surely canât keep up with the focused fire speed of you and me," Fabian interjected, tossing the dagger.
Raine glanced at Grandeâs equipment and nodded slightly.
A steel round shield, a nose guard helmet, and a chain armor set, Grandeâs burden exceeded thirty pounds, not to mention the hand crossbow and the crossbow quiver.
Hearing Fabianâs words, Reya also hesitated.
Previously, when Elise was here, Grande was a light armor swordsman. After Elise left, in order to improve the squadâs fault tolerance, she turned Grande into a shield armor.
"Why not switch with Raine? Donât forget, Raine is actually a Mage Apprentice." Suddenly, Grande, who seldom speaks, said.
Hmm?
Reyaâs eyes suddenly lit up.
Yeah!
Raine is a Mage Apprentice.
Like her, both are ranged classes!
She realized that after watching Raine compete with Chris and Grande, she surprisingly overlooked Raineâs spell abilities.
The same expression also appeared on Chris and Fabianâs faces.
"Haha, Raine, right, youâre a Mage Apprentice!"
"Alright! A Mage Apprentice who knows Shield Bash!" Chris patted Raineâs chain armor, laughing.
"Okay, Raine, switch with Grande!" Reya rubbed her forehead, somewhat embarrassed.
"Okay!" Raine nodded.
In fact, he had been hesitating whether to mention something to the squad.
Because, as he observed, although Grande mastered two swordsmanship combat skills, he hadnât mastered any high-speed movement skills, so if the goal was to focus fire first, the target couldnât be too far away.
And at the distance just now, Grande would inevitably be slightly slower than Fabian.
Even further, when Grande caught up, it would take at least two more seconds, and then thereâd be no talk of focus fire.
But he was different.
Apart from having the Freezing Ray spell, indeed, after many practices, the Barbaric Charge from the Wild Boar Warrior could also be used as a high-speed movement combat skill.
Of course, "Barbaric Charge" is still "Barbaric Charge," and not the warrior combat skill "Charge."
At the end of high-speed maneuvering, he would still viciously collide with the opposing target.
Because the process of using Barbaric Charge with the Wild Boar Warrior bloodline felt like his brain remembered hundreds or thousands of shoulder charge drills, his body formed muscle memory.
Changing it to Charge might not be impossible, but it would require forcefully altering the muscle memory ingrained by the Wild Boar Warrior bloodline, akin to relearning a new combat skill "Charge," which is not an overnight affair.
And Raine had been hesitating whether to demonstrate Barbaric Charge.
But at this moment, he thought again, deciding to show this "combat skill" to everyone in advance.
Itâs not for any other reason.
At this moment, he had officially joined the Howling Hunter Squad. As a formal member and with a key ability that could change the battle situation, yet hiding it from the others was inappropriate.
...
At this time, Reyaâs voice interrupted Raineâs thoughts.
"Chris, Grande, prepare!"
"Begin!"
Hearing Reyaâs voice, Chris and Grande quickly took up their shields and advanced, pressing against the dummy.
Seconds later, as a flash of light passed before Raineâs eyes, a throwing knife hit the chest of the ironwood dummy in front of Chris.
At the same instant!
Raineâs left foot pushed hard against the ground, the earth seemed to tremble slightly, and the tremendous counterforce was like a rocket booster installed under his foot, his entire speed increased sharply!
Almost as Reyaâs arrow made a "ding" sound as it pierced the dummyâs chest, Chris only felt a gust of wind roaring past his side.
Immediately following, a robust black shadow crashed with a "boom," causing the ironwood dummy firmly fixed to the ground to shake violently.
"Whoa! Raine, what combat skill did you just use?" Chris was stunned and blurted out.