Chapter 50: The Agreement
McKenzie’s gaze toward Linley began to change.
“Haha…” After a moment of silence, McKenzie burst into loud laughter. At the same time, he descended from the air, slowly walking toward Linley. His attitude had become much more amiable. “Linley, you, the legendary magic prodigy, are also called the second greatest in history. But in my opinion, your warrior abilities are even stronger than your magical ones. To possess Saint-level strength at such a young age… the Dragonblood Warrior, truly the ultimate warrior.”
Linley had always been proud of his family. But thinking of how his family had been shattered, leaving only himself and his brother, a trace of sorrow stirred in his heart.
“Mr. McKenzie, do you have any other business? If not, I’ll take my leave now,” Linley said.
McKenzie quickly replied, “Brother Linley, this is our first meeting. How can we not spend some time together? Besides, I’m very curious about the legendary Dragonblood Warrior. If you have the time, I’d truly like to spar with you. After all, to improve at the Saint level, exchanging blows with an opponent of the same rank is an excellent method.” Having said this, McKenzie looked at Linley with sincere anticipation.
Spar?
McKenzie was a dominant figure in the Northwest Administrative Province. Building a connection with him would bring some benefits. Moreover, Keane was also in the Northwest Administrative Province, so this could be considered helping Keane out as well.
Linley considered for a moment, then nodded. “I still have injuries on me. Even if I go to your place, it wouldn’t be good to spar immediately. How about this—I’ll go back first… and after some time, I’ll visit you. It won’t be too long. Within a month.”
McKenzie nodded happily.
“Very well. I’ll await your arrival at the Jacques family castle.”
“Certainly.” Linley smiled and nodded.
At that moment, heavy snow began to fall, snowflakes swirling through the air. Linley and McKenzie, both Saint-level experts, exchanged smiles and parted ways.
In the vast wilderness, only Linley and Bebe remained.
“Winter snow…” Linley gazed at the boundless expanse of snow. During a heavy snowfall in his youth, Linley had fallen in love with Alice.
The following year, during another heavy snowfall, Linley had broken up with Alice.
And in the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, during yet another snowy day, Linley had comprehended the realm of ‘force.’
Now, on another snowy night, he had broken through to the ninth-rank warrior level, and his true strength had fully entered the Saint realm.
“Snowflakes…”
Linley was filled with emotion. But when he looked down at himself, he couldn’t help but laugh. “I was just standing here, chatting with a Saint-level expert like this?”
Because of his transformation and battle with the angel, Linley’s shirt was in tatters. His pants were no better.
In this state, he looked even more pitiful than a beggar.
Yet McKenzie hadn’t minded at all. In fact, many Saint-level experts, when training hard, might go for months without washing, covered in filth. They didn’t care much about outward appearances; what they valued was a person’s inner qualities.
Take Linley, for example. Even in rags, just standing there, no one would underestimate him.
That was a person’s aura.
“Boss, since you said you’ve stepped into the Saint realm, why don’t you transform now? Let me admire your awesomeness!” Bebe’s small, round eyes looked at Linley as he deliberately flattered him. Linley felt a surge of warmth in his heart.
Not a bad idea.
“Alright.” Linley smiled. Bebe immediately jumped down from Linley’s shoulder. Black scales began to emerge from Linley’s body once more, spikes sprouting from his back, elbows, and forehead, and his pupils turned dark gold.
It was almost exactly the same as before.
But Linley could feel the difference.
“Whoosh.” Linley sensed the unique energy of the Dragonblood Warrior bloodline, dormant within his body, beginning to merge into his bones, muscles, and even his scales, spikes, and dragon tail.
The originally black scales now bore a faint, barely noticeable greenish glow.
“Such a powerful feeling.”
Linley felt his vision and hearing increase dozens of times over. Every movement within several miles couldn’t escape his perception.
“Powerful strength, powerful battle qi.” Linley clenched his fist, and the very air trembled. The muscles, brimming with strength, contained far more terrifying power than before, and the battle qi within his body was now much more abundant.
“Haha…” Linley laughed with excitement.
In the dead of night, amidst the heavy snow in the wilderness, the fully transformed Dragonblood Warrior, like a monster, floated directly into the air, hovering in place, and let out an ecstatic laugh that echoed through the heavens and earth.
“No wonder Buck was so excited when he transformed and reached the Saint realm. I didn’t expect that just breaking through that boundary would increase my strength so much.” Linley was overjoyed.
The Dragonblood Warrior was gifted by nature. As long as the energy was sufficient, flight came naturally—just like birds could fly. It was an innate talent, requiring no comprehension.
“In terms of wonder, the blood of the Spiked-backed Armored Dragon is far inferior to the Dragonblood Warrior bloodline.” Hovering in the air, Linley was deeply moved.
Back then, Linley had absorbed a large amount of living dragon blood and the dragon crystal of the Spiked-backed Armored Dragon. Yet even so, it had been completely dissolved by the Dragonblood Warrior bloodline within him.
Moreover, now that he had stepped into the Saint realm, he could feel the Dragonblood Warrior bloodline energy enhancing every function of his body.
“My speed has at least doubled now.” With a thought, Linley left a series of afterimages in the sky.
“As for defense…” Linley looked at his now-perfect scales, especially the greenish glow within them. “Even if I took another blow from a four-winged angel now, I’d at most suffer some minor injuries.”
A slight smile curled at the corner of Linley’s mouth.
Confidence!
Unmatched confidence!
In truth, Saint-level human warriors had naturally weak physical defenses. Even those at the peak of the Saint realm couldn’t match the defenses of a Saint-level magical beast.
But the Four Ultimate Warriors were existences even more monstrous than magical beasts.
This was why, if a Dragonblood Warrior in human form stepped into the Saint realm and then transformed to reach the Saint-level peak, they would be invincible—no need to consider realms.
Even if they only used brute force, they would be unmatched among Saint-level experts. That was talent!
Just as Heiru had been so envious of Bebe’s strength, the Four Ultimate Warriors were worthy of the envy of any race on the continent.
“Boss!” Bebe leaped up from below.
Linley reached out and caught Bebe directly. Bebe climbed onto Linley’s shoulder. Linley, covered in black scales, with a black Shadowmouse on his shoulder—it was indeed a perfect match.
“Bebe, feel the speed of true Saint-level flight!” Linley laughed heartily. At the same time, his speed instantly reached its limit, turning into a black streak of light, leaving a series of afterimages in the sky as he vanished into the horizon.
In the deep night, the wilderness was still covered in heavy snow.
Only the corpses on the ground bore witness to the battle that had just taken place.
The flight speed of a Saint-level expert was terrifying. In an hour, they could easily cover over a thousand miles. Linley felt as if only a moment had passed before he saw Cloudpeak Town ahead.
Under the heavy snow at night, Cloudpeak Town was very quiet.
Linley flew directly toward the mansion at the westernmost edge of the town. Like a meteor, he plummeted from the sky and landed straight into the courtyard.
“Who goes there!” A low shout rang out, and several figures rushed out.
Linley’s flight speed was so fast that it had even created sonic booms, naturally drawing the attention of Buck and the other experts. But when they saw Linley in his Dragonblood Warrior form, they breathed a sigh of relief.
“Huh, you came in without opening the door?” Gates, the fifth of the five brothers, said in surprise. Then he stared at Linley and asked, “Lord, have you already…?”
Linley glanced at Gates with a smile.
Gates was the sharpest and most intelligent of the five Undying Warrior brothers, and the first among them to comprehend the principle of ‘lifting heavy weights as if they were light.’
“Ah, Saint realm!” The others also reacted, and the five brothers all looked at Linley in shock.
“Brother Lei is back?” Jenny’s voice rang out. She ran out as well, but when she saw Linley’s transformed appearance, she screamed in fright, “Monster!”
Rebecca and Rina, who shared a room with her, quickly comforted her.
“Jenny, that’s Brother Linley. That’s the Dragonblood Warrior transformation,” Rebecca said with a smile.
At that moment, Linley reverted to his normal human form. Jenny, who had been startled, stared blankly at the scene, then looked at Rebecca. “Dragonblood Warrior? What’s a Dragonblood Warrior?”
“Haha, the Dragonblood Warrior is one of the Four Ultimate Warriors. We five brothers are also Ultimate Warriors—the Undying Warriors!” Gates said proudly.
Jenny looked around at the group.
She had arrived tonight with Heiru and had been staying with Rebecca and Rina temporarily. Rebecca and Rina had been introducing her to the backgrounds of this group, but they had only gotten as far as Sessler.
Jenny was still reeling from the shock that Sessler was a Necromantic Archmage, and now she was hearing about Dragonblood Warriors and Undying Warriors.
“This… this is all…” Jenny felt her mind spinning.
“Jenny, go back and rest first,” Linley said with a smile.
Buck and his five brothers, however, were still stunned by Linley’s breakthrough. Anke, the second brother, grinned helplessly and said, “Lord, you broke through so quickly. Even when Buck reached the Saint realm, he wasn’t your match. Now he’s even less so… The gap is too big.”
“If he weren’t so powerful, would he still be our lord? Would he still lead us to take revenge on the Radiant Church?” Gates said proudly.
“All of you have already gained Saint-level power,” Sessler said with a smile on his face. “Fortunately, this old man has finally gained some insights. I believe I can break through and reach the Saint realm within ten years.”
Ten years?
Sessler was over eight hundred years old. To him, ten years was a relatively short time.
“A Necromantic Saint Archmage—that’s a truly terrifying existence,” Linley said, his eyes lighting up. “Then you could summon several Saint-level undead, or even lead an army of millions of undead…”
A ninth-rank Necromantic Archmage was already incredibly fearsome.
But a Necromantic Saint Archmage was as terrifying as an entire empire.
“Haha, everyone is improving. Damn it, if that Radiant Church dares to send more people, we’ll kill one if they come, kill ten if they come. Then Sessler can enslave their corpses and send them back to fight!” Gates grew more and more excited as he spoke, thrilled by his own idea.
Everyone was very happy. With their increased strength, they now had the capital to stand against the Radiant Church.
Linley was also overjoyed.
He looked up at the sky. Snowflakes were still falling. Turning to the others, he said, “Alright, it’s snowing heavily outside. Let’s go to the living room and chat.”
“Good. Tonight, we drink until we drop!” The steady Buck also spoke loudly with excitement.
The group celebrated late into the night. In truth, this group standing against the Radiant Church was built on strength. Linley, being the strongest, was naturally regarded as the leader.
Time passed, and three days went by in the blink of an eye.
Jenny had now fully learned everyone’s backgrounds and gradually accepted it all. It was only at this point that she realized a city lord of a prefectural city meant nothing in the eyes of this group.
Not to mention a prefectural city—even the powerful Jacques family of the Northwest Administrative Province was nothing to Linley’s group. They only regarded the Jacques family as equals because of McKenzie’s existence.
“Buck and the others, and Brother Linley too—they train so hard.” Jenny, Rebecca, and Rina chattered among themselves as they carried baskets into the mansion.
But as the three beauties approached the courtyard, they suddenly saw—
The Shadowmouse Bebe was actually floating in midair. Seeing Jenny and the others enter, he winked playfully at them and spoke in a clear human voice: “Wow, three beauties, how are you!”