Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
After having some drinks and a merry conversation in Wissen Castle, Elder Yakut brought Antalya, the imprisoned Fairy Dragon and Ducasse, and left in haste. Before he left, he invited Yang Ling as a guest to the Royal Elven Palace in the Forest of Fog.
“Hehe, that’s a good sign!” Looking at Elder Yakut’s figure a long distance away, Faern, in the red robes, was full of smles. “Brother Yang Ling, Yakut doesn’t leave the Divine Temple more than once in a few hundred years. It is even more rare for him to invite someone over. Hehe, it must be something good for him to invite you over personally. By then, don’t stand on ceremony with him. The Royal Elven Palace is full of treasures. You will be doing yourself a disservice if you don’t take a few for yourself!”
“Lord Faern, too bad you only mentioned this now. If not, it would have been good for me to follow him back just now!” Looking at easy-going and humorous Faern, Yang Ling smiled. “The Troops Association also has thousands of years of history. I heard they have lots of treasures too. Can you…”
“This… Look at how I’m so poor that I can’t even change my clothes. How could I possibly have any treasures?” Seeing that Yang Ling had set his sights on him instead, Faern quickly shook his head, speaking while waving his grease-stained sleeves.
So poor that he couldn’t even change his clothes?
Looking at Faern’s dirty clothes, Yang Ling smiled, while Annie harrumphed and pouted. Elder Berger, who was standing at the side, turned his head to the side and pretended not to have seen anything.
Within the Troops Association’s management, Chief Elder Faern’s lifestyle was like his power, famous and well-known.
This elusive Chief Elder did not like to attend any lavish banquets. He was even half-hearted about the King’s National Banquet. But, he often snuck out to eat street food. He would often be happy with just a few chicken drumsticks and a few bottles of wine by himself, not caring even if he got grease spots on his sleeves.
As a close disciple of the God of Fire, and the sixth generation Leader of the Barkley Family, he did not like the elegant and sophisticated young women of the noble families, nor did he like the simple women of the countryside. He liked going to different bars and hotels to flirt with the seductive prostitutes and young women.
It was rumored that Annie’s mother was a bastard child, which was a result of a one night stand with a prostitute. Nobody knew the truth, but one thing was clear. No one had ever seen Annie’s father and mother. It was heard, vaguely, that Faern had mentioned that Annie’s parents had passed away under unfortunate circumstances after Annie was born.
“Oh right, Yang Ling, are you at Sage Level or Domain Expert? Why can’t I see your powers clearly?” After taking a few gulps of wine, and looking at Yang Ling beside him, Faern shook his head in bewilderment.
After reaching the maximum level in his Domain, all these years, Faern had always been able to gauge a person’s power just by looking at them. However, Yang Ling was different. He had pulses of energy hidden within his body, that Faern’s Mental Energy was unable to penetrate. It was very odd!
“Honestly, I’m not very sure myself!” Yang Ling smiled wryly, paused and continued, “Even if I do not summon the Magical Beasts to help me in battle, not to mention Sage Level, even the ordinary Domain Experts are not my match. But if I were to clash with high level Domain Experts, then I may need to find other ways to deal with them!”
“Oh, come with me!” After being silent for a while, Faern brought Yang Ling to a deserted corner. “Yang Ling, come at me with your strongest attack. Show me the power of the Ice-sealing Armor!”
“Ice-sealing Armor, you… How did you know?”
“Hehe, I had already seen the Divine Weapon, the Ice-sealing Armor, thousands of years ago! You may be able to hide it from other people, but how can you hide it from Yakut and I, both of us being old fellows?” Looking at the astonished Yang Ling, Faern smiled, “I reckon Yakut that old fellow, has invited you to the Royal Elven Palace only because he saw the Ice-sealing Armor!”
“Okay, then have a taste of my Ice Sealing the Environment!” After understanding that he could not pull the wool over the old grease ball Faern’s eyes, Yang Ling stopped hesitating and immediately used his most powerful attack, charging towards Faern with lightning speed while roaring.
According to the Corpse Wizard king, Faern had already reached the peak level of the Domain, and was one step away from breaking through to Divine Level. How could he give up this opportunity to learn from such a master?
“Aye, not bad, you understood the Ice-sealing Domain by yourself so quickly?”
Looking at the light blue glow beside Yang Ling, Faern nodded. In an instant, he cast Quicksand Technique, making it difficult for Yang Ling to move. After that he muttered and few words, and released a purple fireball about the size of a ping pong ball. It did not look like much, but it travelled at a great speed, and hit the blue glow Yang Ling had cast with a ‘swoosh’.
On impact of the fireball and the blue glow, an incident occurred!
The fireball suddenly expanded, and searing heat exploded from it, breaking Yang Ling’s ultimate move in an instant. The smooth-sailing blue glow disappeared in a puff of smoke within seconds.
“This… What magic is this?” Yang Ling was astonished to see that a small fireball could be so powerful.
“Hehe, this is the Heavenly Fire of the Barkley Family. Used especially to counteract Ice and Water Elements magic!” Faern smiled smugly, and retracted the fireball. “However, conversely, your Ice-sealing Domain is the jinx to our Fire Element Spellcasters. It’s just that you are not powerful enough yet. With the Ice-sealing Armor, a Divine Weapon, one of these days, even us old fellows will not be your match!
Looking at the puzzled Yang Ling, Faern plonked onto the ground, and signaled for Yang Ling to sit beside him. Faern then slowly spoke.
Actually, a few thousand years ago, when he just leveled up to the Domain, he had once followed the Spellcaster God to a mysterious place, and had witnessed the power of various Divine Level Experts on the Tailun Continent, like the God of Swords and Chief Elven Priest, including the Snow Goddess, on whom the Ice-sealing Armor was draped around. He had personally seen her freeze the King of Flames, whose whole body was on fire, into an ice sculpture, without touching him and by just lifting her finger.
“The Snow Goddess was very powerful, but it was too bad that she did not listen to the God of Swords. In the end… Sigh!” Recalling the intense and suspenseful great battle all those years ago, Faern looked grave. “The Ice-sealing Armor was not a Divine Weapon made by the Snow Goddess. It was said that she could only use less than one percent of its power. If you could master the ultimate mystery behind this Divine Weapon, I’m afraid that by then, nobody in the whole of the Tailun Continent can be your match!”
Even the Snow Goddess could only use less than one percent of the Ice-sealing Throne’s power?
Yang Ling sucked in a cold breath. He did not expect the Divine Weapon he had unintentionally gotten to be so terrifyingly powerful. “Lord Faern, what exactly happened to the Snow Goddess? And, where did you go back then? Have you heard anything about an Ancient Wizard?”
It was rare to be able to meet and old fellow with unfathomable power, and a broad knowledge like Faern, so Yang Ling could not wait and asked him all the questions that were bothering him at once.
“There are some things that will naturally come looking for you once you have attained a certain level of power!” Faern did not answer Yang Ling’s first two questions. He then fell silent for a while and continued, “As for the Ancient Wizard, I think the old fellows in your family would know better than I do. It is rumored that the Ancient Wizard had left remnants overseas, in the desert and in the Magical Beasts Mountains. If you have the time you can go out to look for them. But remember, you must take extra care when dealing with whatever happens at those remnants!”
After standing up and brushing off the dirt from his butt, Faern drank the rest of the gin in his wine flask in one gulp, then left in big strides, to persuade Annie to go home with him.
“Hmph, who allowed you to go out and fool around? Why can’t I take a spin outside?” The mischievous little devil Annie, took two bites of her chicken drumstick and served herself a glass of rum, acting cold toward Faern beside her.
Go out and fool around?
Seeing the few guards who were trying not to smile, and Elder Berger, who had turned his head to the other side and pretended not to hear anything, Faern shook his head helplessly. In the eyes of others, he was the Chief Elder of the Troops Association, high above many, and the close disciple of the God of Fire. But faced with his mischievous precious granddaughter, Annie, he was helpless.
“Annie, there are dangers everywhere on the outside. What if you encounter a powerful enemy? Then what will you do?”
“Hmph, with uncle Roke around, I have nothing to fear!”
“Annie, no matter how powerful a person is, he won’t be able to defeat a group of people. You better go back with me. At most, I’ll allow your uncle Roke to accompany you home!”
“Hmph, what’s there to be afraid of? With uncle Yang Ling around, I’m very safe in the Magical Beasts Realm!”
…
Annie rebutted every word of Faern’s while eating. She was enjoying the food, but the others around her looked strange.
Faern was at his wit’s end, and the guards’ faces were red from holding in their laughter, not daring to laugh. Elder Berger was standing stiff as a log by the dining table, while the Corpse Wizard King almost got choked to death by a chicken bone. Taking a big gulp of wine after rolling his eyes, he swallowed the meat along with the bone.
The Corpse Wizard King was bemused, while Yang Ling, who had just walked in the door, did not know whether to laugh or cry!
When she first came, the little devil Annie called him a perverted old man. But now, he had suddenly become and uncle. Yang Ling did not know if he was considered a naggy old uncle, or a weird uncle in her mischievous little brain.
“Okay, one month. You can stay outside to play for at most one month. During this period of time, you can only move around within the Magical Beasts Realm. I’ll come fetch you in a month’s time!”
Looking Annie who was treating him coldly, and seeing Yang Ling, who had just strode in, Faern had a sudden thought, and found a way to compromise. The Magical Beasts Realm was powerful. With such a powerful lord like Yang Ling looking after Annie, she should not be in any danger.
“Brother Yang Ling, with Annie in your care, I’m assured!” After patting Yang Ling on the shoulder, Faern took a big gulp of rum and continued, “I have another important matter to attend to for my trip out this time. I’ve got to get going first. I’ll be back in a month’s time!”
After leaving some instructions with Elder Berger, Faern left without warning. Like the wind, he disappeared without a trace in a blink of an eye, not giving Yang Ling the chance to refuse.
The grandfather called him brother, but the granddaughter called him uncle?
It was not that he could not keep up with the times, it was simply that this world was too crazy!
Looking at the mischievous Annie, Yang Ling shook his head. Faern might feel assured to have just upped and left, but Yang Ling was full of worries. He already had a headache over the weird, bordering on perverted, Corpse Wizard King. How could he handle a fearless little she-devil on top of this?
