Chapter Thirty-One: Summoning the Warhorses

While Zhang Cheng was busy transporting magical bread out of the command tent, Xu Kang had already arrived at the entrance of the military camp.

Soldiers stood guard at the gate, and patrol squads moved around the camp’s perimeter. To avoid detection, Xu Kang activated the rogue’s stealth skill, slipping away unnoticed by anyone.

Clearly, his earlier claim to Zhang Cheng that he was “going out for some fresh air” had been nothing more than a pretext. His true intent was entirely different—he planned to test his own class abilities!

Xu Kang had not forgotten that he had crossed into this world carrying eight major magical beast class skills, but so far he had only experimented with and mastered five.

These were the warrior’s “Charge and Execution,” the rogue’s “Stealth and Search,” the mage’s “Create Food and Water,” the priest’s “Healing and Disease Removal,” and the warlock’s “Agony of Despair.”

As for the remaining three—paladin’s “Invincible Warhorse,” hunter’s “Beast Mastery,” and druid’s “Animal Transformation”—he had previously deemed them unnecessary and had yet to practice or master them.

Now, he felt it was time to master all of them—especially the paladin’s “Invincible Warhorse,” the most crucial skill to familiarize himself with at this moment.

“Carriages are only suitable for travel when there’s no danger. In battle, warhorses are far more practical. We’re less than a hundred miles from Changshe now—there’s no time to waste!”

With this thought, determination filled Xu Kang’s gaze.

“I have healing skills, so even if I fall from the horse, there’s nothing to fear. No matter what, I must completely master the paladin’s summoned warhorse within two days!”

Having made up his mind, he immediately focused his energy and activated the paladin’s signature skill.

“Invincible Warhorse!”

With a low shout, a piercing warhorse’s call echoed across the open wilderness under the night sky.

Xu Kang hadn’t even had time to react before his field of vision suddenly broadened. Looking down, he saw that he was already astride the summoned warhorse.

The warhorse he had conjured was just as it appeared in the game—a tall, white steed clad in blue-and-white armor, with a sharp horn set atop its head, striking fear into any who beheld it.

Ordinary people would surely focus all their attention on this magnificent warhorse, for it was simply too beautiful, too imposing!

But Xu Kang, after a brief moment of surprise, only furrowed his brows.

He had prepared himself for the inevitable fall—after all, no one learns to ride without falling, and even seasoned riders need time to adjust to unfamiliar horses.

Yet Xu Kang discovered he could skip this step entirely. Upon summoning the paladin’s warhorse, he felt as though he wasn’t riding the horse, but had become the warhorse himself!

More precisely, his legs had transformed into the horse’s four limbs.

Though he appeared to be mounted on the horse, the legs straddling the saddle felt merely decorative, while the warhorse’s limbs were truly his own!

He walked a few steps experimentally, finding his movement smooth and comfortable. The only reminder of his new form was the rhythmic “clop-clop” of horseshoes striking the ground.

It was a strange sensation, prompting him to end the experiment immediately.

“Dismiss mount!”

With a thought, the summoned warhorse vanished in a puff of white smoke, leaving him standing firmly on the ground.

He touched his legs—nothing amiss. Relieved, he summoned the imposing armored warhorse once more with the “Invincible Warhorse” skill.

As the saying goes, practice makes perfect. On his second summon, Xu Kang cast aside all hesitation and let himself gallop across the wilderness, four hooves pounding the earth.

Soon, he accelerated to a hundred miles per hour, weaving his path across the plains—straight lines, curves, S-shapes, B-shapes—perfectly demonstrating the art of expert horsemanship.

In that moment, he felt neither human nor horse, but a jubilant centaur.

As he ran, he couldn’t help but sing the once-popular song—“The Man Who Rides the Warhorse.”

“The man riding the warhorse, strong and bold, the galloping steed like a gust of wind, the boundless plains yours to roam, your heart as wide as the earth itself… hey hey hey hey…”

At that instant, a phrase surfaced in Xu Kang’s mind—“Galloping is thrilling for a moment; keep galloping and the thrill never ends!”

He longed to keep running, but when the familiar fatigue began to set in, he knew he had to stop.

For an ordinary knight, halting a warhorse charging at one hundred miles per hour would take at least several dozen seconds.

One must be careful with the reins—not too light, or the horse won’t stop; not too heavy, or horse and rider might tumble, risking injury.

But for Xu Kang, who had achieved “man and horse as one,” none of these concerns existed. He didn’t even need to pull the reins, for the four horse legs were his own—stopping was simply a matter of will!

“One-two-one… one-two-one… halt!”

In less than ten seconds, he came to a flawless stop, dismissed the mount, and retrieved a bag of magical fresh water from his system space, unscrewing the cap and drinking deeply.

“Gulp gulp gulp…”

After several hearty swallows, he paused, letting out a long breath.

“Whew… That was exhilarating. The only pity is that maintaining this form consumes mental energy, and the faster I run, the more it costs. With my current reserves, I can sustain full speed for barely over an hour. Clearly, increasing my mental power remains essential!”

With this realization, he resolved never to neglect the cultivation of his mental strength, even after the upcoming battle.

For now, nearly all the skills he possessed required the expenditure of mental energy.

Having made up his mind, he finished the magical fresh water in a few more gulps, then closed his eyes to sense his own condition.

Once he felt his mental energy had recovered, he opened his eyes again and gazed toward the nearby forest.

“Next, time to test the hunter and druid skills. Let’s see if there’s a suitable animal companion in these woods!”

With that, he drew a deep breath and sprinted toward the forest at a hundred-meter dash.

As he neared the forest’s edge, he suddenly leaped upward, and, following the memory in his mind, gave a low shout.

“Animal Transformation—Eagle Form!”