Book 9, His Fame Shakes the World – Chapter 1, A Powerful Supporter
Linley and Wharton had been separated for nearly seventeen years.
Seventeen years ago, shortly after the Yulan festival of that year, Wharton had left Wushan Township by the side of Housekeeper Hiri and headed towards the distant O’Brien Empire. At that time, Linley was only ten, while Wharton was six. The two brothers had been very innocent and knew so little about the outside world. And back then, they were supported by Hogg, who had protected them like an old hawk looking after its chicks.
But now, Hogg was long dead. Of the two brothers, one was a Count of the O’Brien Empire, while the other possessed the terrifying power of the Saint-level.
Within the Count’s manor.
Linley, Wharton, Housekeeper Hiri, Hillman, Nader, the Barker brothers, Zassler, Jenne, Rebecca, and Leena were all gathered together.
Two rectangular tables had been covered with wine and food.
Wharton and Linley were engaged in conversation regarding what had happened in recent years. Although Wharton had gotten general information regarding Linley from the Dawson Conglomerate, when he personally chatted with Linley, he couldn’t help but grow anxious as he listened.
So close. His big brother had come so close to dying.
“During those three years of training in the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, followed by the six years of training in the Northwest Administrative Province, although I encountered several dangerous battles, in the end, I arrived without suffering any major harm.” Linley laughed. “In the past, I was worried about the Radiant Church. But now? Although I don’t have the power to raid their headquarters yet, I have more than enough power to protect myself.”
The Radiant Church had been established in the Yulan continent for many years now.
For it to be on par with the O’Brien Empire as one of the premier powers of the Yulan continent, it definitely had a terrifying amount of hidden power. From the fact that the War God’s College was able to send out three personal disciples who were all at the Saint-level, one could determine that the Radiant Church must surely have quite a number of Saint-level experts of its own.
“Big bro, you, you’ve reached the Saint-level?” Wharton was shocked and excited. Wharton knew how difficult training could be. Although he himself had an extremely high density of Dragonblood in his veins, he was still only of the eighth rank, and even in Dragonform was only at the peak of the ninth rank.
The density of the Dragonblood in Linley’s veins was lower than in his own.
But for Linley to be able to claim that he had more than enough power to protect himself surely meant that Linley had reached the Saint-level.
“After Dragonforming, I indeed am at the Saint-level.” Linley said with a smile.
Hillman and Housekeeper Hiri, seated at the same table, exchanged glances, excitement in their eyes. Housekeeper Hiri’s voice was hoarse with excitement. “I’ve taken care of three generations of Baruch clan members now. The Baruch clan has finally produced a Saint-level combatant.”
The Saint-level was simply on a whole different level.
If a clan had a Saint-level in it, as long as that Saint-level did not die, then the clan would never decay or weaken.
“Wharton.” Linley looked at Wharton. “When I was in the Northwest Administrative Province, I paid attention to your affairs. It seems that you and that Imperial Seventh Princess...”
Wharton nodded honestly. “It’s true, big brother. I truly wish to marry Nina, but right now, the situation is very complicated. Right after Caylan gave up his pursuit of her, Blumer appeared.”
On the road over, Linley had already learned of this issue.
After all, right now, there are many rumors regarding Wharton, Nina, and Blumer.
“Blumer. I’ve heard people in the streets of the imperial capital discussing Blumer. He seems to be the personal disciple of the War God, and is the younger brother of Olivier.” Linley laughed calmly.
Wharton nodded, a hint of worry appearing in his brows again. “Big bro, you don’t understand how famous Olivier is within the O’Brien Empire. Olivier is simply too powerful, terrifyingly powerful. Nine years ago, he already possessed the power of a peak-stage Saint-level. And now...who knows how powerful he has become?”
Linley patted Wharton on the shoulders. “Wharton, don’t inflate the deeds of others and downplay your own abilities.”
Wharton nodded.
Housekeeper Hiri sighed emotionally. “Young master Linley, you’ve never lived in the imperial capital. Perhaps you don’t fully understand how influential the War God’s College is. Even the Emperor himself would be extremely courteous to the personal disciples of the War God’s College. The personal disciples of the War God have an extremely exalted status.”
Hillman said seriously, “After all, there have been over a hundred generations of Emperors since the War God founded the Empire. Many of the Emperors in the history of the Empire have never even met the War God. But the personal disciples of the War God? They are qualified to meet him. Tell me, who does the War God care more about?”
Linley now understood.
Good point.
A hundred plus generations had passed. Although the War God was the ancestor of Johann, after five thousand years, who knew how many descendants the War God had? How much affection would the War God truly have for each individual descendant of his over the past hundred generations?
Just judging from the fact that many Emperors had never even met the War God, one could tell what the answer to that question was.
By contrast, personal disciples were different. The War God would even personally instruct them.
“It isn’t that I’m inflating the deeds of others. It’s that I truly am not confident.” Wharton was frustrated. “I really don’t know what I’ll do if Nina ends up being given to Blumer.”
Wharton truly could not accept this result.
“F*ck his grandmother, if that Emperor dares to do such a thing, then we bros will go over and abduct the princess and bring her over to be your woman.” Gates immediately said.
The entire hall immediately grew silent.
Wharton stared at Gates in shock, then looked at Linley. “Big bro, who is this?”
Only now did Linley come to his senses. He had been so excited at his reunion with his little brother that he had focused on chatting with him, and had totally forgotten to introduce Zassler and the others.
“Haha...”
Linley rose to his feet. “Wharton, let the servants leave first. The attendants outside can leave as well.” Linley was about to introduce these people in his group to Wharton.
There was no need to hide anything from one of his own.
“Understood.” Although Wharton didn’t know what Linley wanted to talk about, he immediately followed Linley’s instructions and dismissed the servants and attendants.
Linley first walked in front of Jenne, Rebecca, and Leena. Sighing with emotion, he said, “Wharton, in the past, our mother was forcibly abducted by the Radiant Church, precisely because her soul was pure. Rebecca and Leena had been abducted for the same reason.”
Hearing these words, Wharton felt an emotional resonance in his heart.
“When I was in the Northwest Administrative Province, I rescued them. This one is Jenne. Wharton, you need to treat these three girls as you would a big sister or little sister.” Linley instructed.
Wharton nodded.
“As for this gentleman...” Linley walked towards Zassler. Actually, whenever Wharton and the others looked at Zassler, they felt their hearts tremble. His thin, skeletal body and his dark green eyes caused fear in the hearts of whoever saw him.
“This is Zassler, an Arch Magus necromancer of the ninth rank. He is the oldest member of my group, and is already over eight hundred years old.”
Linley’s words caused Wharton, Housekeeper Hiri, Hillman, and Nader to all be astonished.
Necromancer? This was a legendary type of magus. And an Arch Magus necromancer of the ninth rank? It was far harder for a magus to advance than a warrior, due to the high requirement for spiritual energy. By contrasts, warriors didn’t require much spiritual energy.
The spiritual energy of a magus of the eighth rank was generally greater than that of a Saint-level warrior.
Although Saint-level warriors possessed extremely tough, durable spiritual energy, in terms of volume, a magus of the same rank would possess a hundred times the amount of spiritual energy, if not more.
“Eight hundred years old? As I recall, a person’s maximum lifespan is only five hundred years, unless he reaches the Saint-level.” Housekeeper Hiri suddenly said.
The Saint-level experts had an essentially unlimited lifespan, but humans who did not reach the Saint-level couldn’t live for more than five hundred years.
“Haha...” Zassler’s ancient voice rang out. “You are referring to normal people. Let me tell you something. Those magi who train in the three ultimate types of magic, Oracular Magic, Life Magic, and Necromantic Magic, have extremely long lives. Of the three, we necromancers possess the longest lifespan.”
Zassler glanced with an evil look at the group. “If one of you were about to die from old age, you can come find me. Given my relationship with Linley, I can help you transform your body into a zombie-body and allow you to never perish.”
Never perish?
This was the goal of countless people. But a zombie-body? Just from the sound of it, one could guess that it must be one which belonged to an undead.
Wharton, Housekeeper Hiri, and Hillman all squeezed out a smile. They really were rather nervous in dealing with an Arch Magus necromancer.
“Zassler.” Linley looked unhappily at Zassler.
Zassler’s eyes flashed with green light as he laughed, “I’m just joking with your little brother and his friends. Transforming a body into a zombie-body isn’t an easy task either.”
Linley shook his head, then walked over to Barker and his brothers.
“It’s finally our turn.” Gates intentionally puffed out his chest. Wharton’s eyes lit up as well. All five of the brothers were as tall as Wharton, and they were much more muscular than him. Those long-handled greataxes in particular clearly were extremely heavy weapons.
“Wharton, have you heard of the Armand clan?” Linley looked at his younger brother.
“The Armand clan? Can it be...the Undying Warrior clan?” Wharton’s eyes lit up.
Linley nodded with satisfaction. “Right. Barker, Ankh, Hazer, Boone, Gates. These five brothers are the descendants of the Armand clan, and all five of them are Undying Warriors.”
“All five of them are Undying Warriors?” Wharton was shocked. Next to him, Hiri and Hillman were stunned as well.
Being a descendant of the Armand clan and being an Undying Warrior were totally different concepts.
For example, although Hogg was a descendant of the Dragonblood Warrior clan, he himself wasn’t a Dragonblood Warrior. It was very rare that one of the Supreme Warrior clans would produce a genius actually capable of transforming into a Supreme Warrior.
“Right.” Linley nodded.
Seeing the astonished look on Wharton’s face, the five brothers felt extremely proud.
“The Armand clan had fallen on extremely hard times, and even their ‘Secret Undying Manual’ had been lost. Fortunately, Lord Cesar helped out.” Linley said gratefully. “Wharton, amongst these five brothers, Barker, Ankh, and Gates have already reached the ninth rank of power. The other two are at the peak of the eighth rank.”
“Ninth rank!” Wharton was frightened when he heard this.
“Big bro, are you saying that...?”
“Right. After transforming, all three of them have Saint-level power.” Linley smiled.
Wharton, Hillman, Housekeeper Hiri, and Nader’s hearts were filled with a hot gush of excitement. They were already very excited upon learning that Linley possessed the Saint-level of power, but who would’ve expected that three more Saint-level combatants would have popped up?
Four Saint-level experts!
What a terrifying force this was.
A basis for being confident!
A very strong basis for being confident. Previously, Wharton had been worrying about how he would go about struggling with Blumer. But now that his big brother had come with this group of people, Wharton felt like a beggar who had suddenly acquired a trillion gold coins.
“Lord Hogg, can you see this? Can you see this?” Hillman repeated emotionally.
If Hogg was still present, he would definitely be very happy upon witnessing this.
“Wharton, this is a magical beast that I tamed in the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts. His name is Haeru. Haeru, greet everyone.” Linley said with a laugh.
The Blackcloud Panther that had been lying on the ground stood up. He swept Wharton and the others with his cold, dark eyes, and then spoke in the human tongue. “Haeru pays his respects to you all.”
Wharton stared at Linley in astonishment. “Big brother, this magical beast, this magical beast just...”
“Right. Saint-level magical beast.” Linley nodded.
The throats of Wharton, Hillman, Hiri, and Nader all clenched. Good heavens. Magical beasts, by their very nature, were stronger than humans of the same level. Generally, only peak-stage Saint-level human experts would be able to defeat any Saint-level magical beasts.
Linley was a Saint-level expert. Fine. But his magical beast was as well?
“Hrmph.”
A cold sneer could be heard. Wharton and the others all turned upon hearing it. The sound came from Bebe, who was seated next to Linley. Bebe’s head was arrogantly raised.
“Bebe.” Seeing Bebe’s familiar figure, Wharton felt very close to him. After all, Bebe had been with Linley early on. When they were young, Wharton had often played around with Bebe as well. “Bebe, how does it feel to be travelling alongside a Saint-level magical beast? You must really worship him, right?”
Bebe stared at Wharton, then said loudly, “Wharton, you stinking little punk! What sort of magical beast do you take me, Bebe, to be? That fellow Haeru, even at the Saint-level, he isn’t a match for me, Bebe!”
“Aaaah!”
Wharton and the others had shocked expressions on their faces, as though they had seen a ghost. They could accept that this mysterious panther-type magical beast was a Saint-level magical beast, but Bebe? They had all watched as Bebe had first followed Linley when they were young.
That adorable little Shadowmouse had actually reached the Saint-level as well.
“Bebe is indeed stronger than me.” The Blackcloud Panther, Haeru, once more growled in the human tongue.
Bebe raised his little head high, his eyes filled with self-delight.