Chapter 397: Lifeline
By now, Leo understood all too well that the Golden Aura of Fate was a double-edged sword.
It did not reward cowardice, nor did it forgive recklessness, and making a choice when it appeared could permanently alter the trajectory of his life.
On one hand, he didn’t particularly like the Evil Cult, nor the two elders seated before him, cloaked in their masks of civility and half-truths.
But on the other hand, he was no longer the naive, hot-headed fool who had once arrived on Terra Nova from Earth, burning with the illusion that he could conquer the universe alone without ever facing setbacks.
That version of himself was long gone, buried under years of war, failure, heartbreak, and quiet realization.
He had matured over time, grown sharper, colder, and more calculated in how he weighed risk against reward.
No longer did he see himself as some unbeatable prodigy fated to walk unchallenged beneath the heavens, because in the grand scheme of things, he knew the truth.
He was just a Grandmaster-tier warrior, one among hundreds of billions scattered across the cosmos, and no matter how talented or fast he advanced, he remained far from invincible and even farther from self-sufficient.
Starting his own faction and being self-reliant was a fantasy for when he had the power to be independent, but he wasn’t there yet....
And he understood that all too well.
’The smartest course of action for now is to grow stronger using the Cult’s vast resources, even if it means playing the part of their loyal pawn for a little while.
Of course, that doesn’t mean I’ll stay under their thumb forever. It’s only wise to begin planning for independence now, so that when the time comes, I’ll have my own exit route ready if things go south.
But with Luke still injured and my own strength not yet enough to protect an entire faction from the monsters lurking out there, I’d be a fool to reject the elders outright.’ Leo thought, as he calmly assessed the truth behind his current situation.
His ego, ever restless and aggressive, screamed for him to stand up right now, insult the old bastards to their faces, and walk away with his pride intact.
But pride, Leo reminded himself, was a luxury best afforded by those who had the power to back it.
And right now, he did not.
"At this point, I need clarity," Leo said calmly, narrowing his eyes. "When you say I have to compete with Aegon Veyr for the title of Dragon, what exactly do you mean by that?"
His question earned a visible grimace from the Twelfth Elder, who instinctively pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration before responding.
"Well... that..." the elder began, clearly trying to suppress the irritation bubbling beneath the surface, "that’s a headache you were never supposed to deal with in the first place.
We had an arrangement that would’ve guaranteed your ascension to the Dragon title with unanimous backing from the Elders Council, as long as we recovered Noah’s scroll. But the fools I sent to retrieve it failed spectacularly, even after you gave them direct access to the vault."
The elder’s voice wavered slightly with shame as Leo blinked in confusion.
"Failed? What happened? Did the portal not function properly?" Leo asked, brow raised in disbelief.
"No," the Twelfth Elder admitted, sighing deeply. "The portal worked perfectly. And the stupid team brought back every single treasure from that vault... except the scroll."
There was a beat of silence as Leo simply stared at him.
Then his eye twitched.
’The fuck?’
It took a few seconds for that fact to settle in, as his mind involuntarily drifted back to the all the hardships and near impossible odds he had to overcome just to gain access to that vault and somehow place the frame in there, only for the Cult to screw up the golden opportunity he provided them, in what was supposed to be one of the most straightforward and easiest missions ever.
"Well... damn," he muttered at last, letting out a dry, self-deprecating chuckle.
"You people managed to abduct Darnell from an arena crawling with elite security personnel and his own father watching from the stands, but you could not retrieve a simple scroll from an unguarded vault?" he asked incredulously, his voice tinged with sarcasm and amusement.
The question landed hard, making both elders flinch ever so slightly, as shame returned to their faces like a shadow creeping back under the sun.
The abduction was the Fourth Elder’s mission, and he had executed it perfectly, while the two of them could not even coordinate a simple heist.
"Well, we can’t change what has already come to pass," the First Elder interjected firmly, cutting the conversation short before it could spiral further. "What matters now is figuring out a way to convince the Council to name you Dragon, even without the scroll."
His words were laced with urgency, and as they left his lips, the Golden Aura flared in Leo’s vision once more, almost blinding in its brilliance as it settled like a cloudy fog around the three of them.
This was it.
A fork in the road. A life-altering choice that would shape everything moving forward.
’What do I do?’ Leo asked himself, heart thudding once as he stared at the shimmering golden mist surrounding the table. ’Do I tell them I memorized the scroll’s contents? That I might be able to self-learn the technique once I reach a higher tier and gain access to Divine Essence?’
’Or do I hold onto it? Let the fact that I can self-learn it remain a secret weapon? An ace card that I can leverage later if the Cult ever betrays me or threatens my family?’
It wasn’t an easy call to make.
Revealing the secret now meant giving up one of his rare advantages. Yet, if the mission had succeeded as originally planned, the scroll would’ve been in their possession already, rendering that card unplayable anyway.
Maybe, just maybe, this was never a card he was meant to hold onto in the first place.
After a long pause, Leo exhaled and made his decision.
"I don’t actually need the scroll," he said, his voice steady and confident. "I memorized its contents while I was inside the vault. The technique requires mastery of both mana and Divine Essence to activate, so I can’t use it just yet, but once I advance to a high enough tier, I should be able to."
The moment he finished speaking, he noticed the change instantly.
A spark lit up in both elders’ eyes like twin lanterns flickering to life. The First Elder shot up from his seat, practically glowing with relief and excitement as he reached out and clasped Leo’s hands.
"What did you say? You memorized the scroll? Are you absolutely certain you can recreate the technique from memory?" he asked, his voice practically trembling with hope.
Leo nodded.
"I am."
The First Elder’s grip tightened slightly, as if anchoring himself to the promise of that answer. Then, with a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips, he looked skyward, gazing up at the bright blue expanse above them as though it finally held answers instead of questions.
As though the heavens themselves had just handed him a lifeline.