“Raphael, don’t tell me you killed another Giant Dragon?!” Gibran was so excited his voice went an octave higher than usual. “I can sense that the dragon crystal is extremely pure! Gods… it must have been a Giant Dragon on the verge of breaking through!” Julia excitedly shouted as well.
Jeddes stared at Han Jin with a shocked face. He had to admit he had underestimated Han Jin’s power. A few days back, before Han Jin had left, he had repeatedly warned him to not engage the Dragon Knights, Grand Magi, or any other superior-grade professionals working for Nicolas. Of course, he had good intentions in mind at the time, but looking back, those warnings seemed foolish. Once a person’s power reached a peak, he would have already formed his own battle style, and there was no need for other people to tell Han Jin whether and how he should fight.
Sunier, Moxinke, and the rest were all shocked as well. Even though everyone called Han Jin ‘Dragon Slayer’, they themselves knew how Han Jin had come by that title. It wasn’t that they didn’t believe in Han Jin’s power. On the contrary, his mysterious and enormous matrices and spells never ceased to surprise them. But they had never been sure, because after all, Han Jin had never actually slain a dragon by himself before this point.
Now, staring at the brilliantly shining dragon crystal, all of their doubts had vanished. Before, they would only smile knowingly if they heard someone calling Han Jin ‘Dragon Slayer’, but not anymore! Not after today!
Dwightsteel’s face twitched from shock. As a Draconid Knight, he had always dreamed of taming a Giant Dragon and becoming a true Dragon Knight. However, he knew that he was nowhere near powerful enough to battle a Giant Dragon at his current stage. After all, dreaming was one thing, but it was an entirely different matter to realize those dreams. Thus, the Dragon Crystal had shocked him the most!
Han Jin only shrugged. It was too complicated to explain, and he didn’t want to tell them about Murphy. In his eyes, Giant Dragons were only a kind of demon. If a fox demon appeared in front of him, he would strike her dead no matter how beautiful she was. Cultivators believed that those not of their own kind always harbored malice, which was why there has never been trust between cultivators and the various kinds of demons. This was also true from the demons’ perspective; if the fox demon had the advantage, she too would strike mercilessly. For demons, a cultivator’s vital energy, soul, and even body was great nourishment. In the modern age where Spirit Energy had become increasingly scarce, the battle for survival between Daoist sects and demons had also become extremely cruel.
At least in Han Jin’s mind, there was no difference between dragons and demons!
Of course, there were rare stories of friendship or even love between humans and demons, but those were extreme cases, and a few outlying cultivators were nowhere enough to overturn the attitude of an entire sect. On his first day of cultivation, Han Jin’s master had told him about several principles he must unwaveringly follow as a cultivator, and slaying demons was first among them! Cultivators needed demons’s essence and blood to create elixirs and weapons, while demons needed cultivators’s vital energy and soul to increase their power. This meant that the two sides were destined to become mortal enemies, and all those who showed mercy were already dead!
During the battle of Nuremberg, when Ronning had proposed slaughtering the Cavemen, Han Jin had firmly stood on his side precisely because of this principle! He didn’t really understand war, but he knew those blind and hideous Cavemen looked like demons, and even if they weren’t, they were monsters. He wouldn’t bat an eye even if the fields were littered with tens of thousands of them.
But Murphy had shown him no ill will, and he was also Blanche’s friend, which meant he was also Panven and Louise’s friend. That was what made him feel guilty, which was also why he didn’t want to explain it.
“This Dragon Crystal can’t be your only spoil! You must have more!!” Yalina stared at Han Jin with hopeful eyes. “Bring them out!”
“How did you know?” Han Jin smiled.
“Hurry!” Yalina was anxious.
“I’m going to show everything eventually, why are you so anxious?” Han Jin stretched out his hand and handed Yalina several space rings.
“Wait!” Jeddes suddenly shouted, dashed in front of Han Jin, and picked up a small but quite eye-catching space ring. After carefully examining it for a moment, he asked, “You… where did you get this?”
“From a kid.”
“Wow… we are robbing kids now?! How cruel…” Moxinke sighed and shook his head.
“That kid almost killed me.” This, Han Jin did not want to hide. He wanted everyone to learn from his mistake. As for his self esteem, that wasn’t something he could maintain by hiding the truth.
“Are you serious…” Moxinke’s eyes instantly went wide.
“That kid almost killed you??” Sunier was also shocked. “How old was he?”
“Around ten.”
Everyone stared at each other in disbelief – too shocked to say a single word. The Dragon Crystal proved that Han Jin was a real dragon slayer, yet a ten year old kid had almost killed him? Was this kid the avatar of some god?!
“I didn’t want to hurt him at the start and only struck him unconscious. Yet, while I was setting up a matrix, he suddenly attacked.” Han Jin bitterly smiled. “Luckily, I had another life.”
Sunier looked horrified. Han Jin had said that he ‘had another life’, which meant that Han Jin had already died once! Sunier said through gnashing teeth, “What a vicious kid! What happened then?”
“I wanted to kill him, but he released a barrier and said that… Master Jeddes had personally made it for him.” Han Jin then looked at Jeddes. “Then he escaped.”
“You were right to not kill him.” Jeddes bitterly smiled. “Or else you would have suffered the full force of Nicolas’ fury and vengeance.”
“Huh?” Han Jin blinked.
“He is Nicolas’ only son. His name is Timothy, and…” Jeddes looked like he wanted to say something. “Sigh…”
Now it was Han Jin’s turn to be shocked. When he had jumped down and started attacking, he had only thought that the tenth-grade knight was very powerful and had caused him quite a headache. He had realized that the kid must be special, but he would have never guessed that he was Nicolas’ only son.
Would Han Jin have killed the kid if given a second chance? Yes, absolutely! If you wanted someone dead, first make him mad! Nicolas was at his most powerful when he was calm, collected, and had a plan in his heart.
Unfortunately, there was no turning back!
“And who’s Nicolas?” Sunier asked in surprise.
Gibran only then remembered that he hadn’t introduced Jeddes’ yet. Cessacioun had immediately started talking about Ronning when he had come over, and then the topic had shifted to military funds, Han Jin’s Dragon Crystal, and to the kid that had almost killed Han Jin, before the topic had finally reached Nicolas, which was what they had been talking about in the first place. Gibran smiled and said, “Come, everyone, allow me to introduce Master Jeddes, Archbishop of the Church and the Supreme Arbiter of the Tribunal!”
Among everyone present, only Moxinke didn’t realize what an Archbishop represented. Thus, Sunier, Cessacioun, Dwightsteel, and everyone else instantly became more serious and walked up to greet Jeddes one at a time, who likewise smiled politely in response.
Cessacioun was the best at storytelling, but unfortunately, he didn’t know what had happened. Thus, Reg had to temporarily serve as their bard and start recounting the story. He started with their mission to rescue Winston, followed by their ambush of the Thunderbird flock, sensing the power of a forbidden spell, Han Jin’s trip to the Kingdom of Light, and finally, their journey back. He told everything factually, and thanks to his good memory, there weren’t many errors in his story. He had even managed to recount most of the details.
Sunier and everyone else in the audience had never thought so much could happen in one trip and were all enthralled by the story. It was dusk by the time Reg started mentioning the Dragon Crystal, which was the part of the story they had left off. However, Han Jin had never told them how he had actually killed the Giant Dragon. Everyone had assumed it was because of his secretive magic, and thus had all knowingly avoided the topic.
As Reg told his story, Yalina didn’t idle around either. She hid in a corner and erased all the seals on the space rings Han Jin had given her, and by the time Reg was almost finished, a small mountain of magic crystals, armor, weapons, and even cloth and other everyday items had formed beside her.
However, Nicolas’ son Timothy’s space ring was still holding strong. As she closed her eyes and tried to probe the matrix that sealed the space ring with her mind, she could sense that it was a strange and complicated sealing technique – one that she had never seen before.
Jeddes had also left the crowd while everyone was enthralled by the story and walked up to Yalina. He silently observed her, and when she opened her eyes, he quietly said, “Strange, isn’t it? Ah… that is one of Grand Magus Zilinch’s masterpieces.”
“Grand Magus?” Yalina frowned.
“Oh, and I happened to hear…” Jeddes slowly shifted the topic, “that magician say an army is about to attack Beitman? Raphael has his own army? I thought you were all mercenaries?”
“Raphael is the Lord of Black Raven City. Why wouldn’t he have his own army?” Yalina slyly smiled. “You seem to be quite interested in it?”
“Mhm… you are correct.” Jeddes nodded.
“Haha, Master Jeddes, you are an honest man.” Yalina smiled.
Back in the other group, Han Jin suddenly said, “Why did you all come? Hogan and Alexandre have always hated each other, and if there isn’t anyone there to calm them down, they are bound to cause trouble!”
“I told Alexandre to go to Beitman,” Sunier said.
“Why?”
“Ronning said in his letter that, although they have completely annihilated Beitman’s combined army and Woodrow’s troops, the Riptide Regiment also suffered some losses. It just so happened that Hogan had also freed several hundred slaves from their rings. Alexandre vouched that they were all excellent warriors, so I decided to send Alexandre and the warriors to assist Ronning.” Sunier observed Han Jin’s expression as she said, “Ronning is short-handed. It wouldn’t hurt for us to help.”
“Ah.” Han Jin nodded. He only wanted power so he could cultivate in peace, and he wasn’t a very power-hungry person to begin with. Thus, he naturally approved of Sunier’s decision.
“Don’t worry, Raphael. They brought a lot of Interspatial Scrolls and can return any time they wish, though… their journey might be a bit difficult.” Moxinke said. “We arrived two days after you guys left, but god knows why we got teleported to the West. It was a long and hard journey to reach here. If not for Dwightsteel, we would have gotten lost so many times.”
