Just as Zuo Yu had expected, the news that Haven graduated from Ernst College with the rank of a Sanctuary Magician was like a bombshell dropped into the ocean called Magnolia Continent, instantly causing huge waves.

In just two days, the news spread across the entire Magnolia Continent at the speed of light.

The first to learn the news were naturally the Kingdom of Finlay and the Holy See of Light.

After a brief shock, the two immediately began to arrange personnel to try to contact Haven.

Although the Kingdom of Finlay is the leader of the six kingdoms under the Holy Alliance, it is only a vassal of the Holy See of Light after all. Any ambitious high-level strongman will directly skip the kingdom and choose to join the Holy See of Light.

This resulted in the Finlay Kingdom's strongest warriors and magicians being only level nine.

The strong men at the sanctuary level are just out of their reach.

Therefore, after learning the news, King Clyde's first reaction was to curry favor with the Baruch family, from Haven.

He quickly conferred the title of Duke on Hogg, the current patriarch of the Baruch family, and placed a large amount of territory around Wushan Town under the rule of the Baruch family. He then sent his own younger brother, Duke Padson, to lead a large group of people to Wushan Town, carrying expensive gifts worth tens of millions of gold coins.

In addition, Lin Lei, who is also a genius, was also included in the list of people who needed to be won over and flattered.

A group of royal nobles, including King Clyde, came to Ernst College, wanting to visit Lin Lei.

Unfortunately, Lin Lei had not returned from the Monster Mountain Range at that time, so even if the King of the Finlay Kingdom came in person, he could only see the vice-dean-level teachers in the academy, as well as Lin Lei’s three roommates, Yale, George, and Renault.

As for the so-called kingdom nobles who had visited Linley in the original novel, they were no longer even qualified to visit Linley.

They could only please the Baruch family and indirectly leave a little impression in front of Haven by engaging in commercial trade with Wushan Town and making concessions in the trade.

This is the deterrent power of the strong men from the Holy Land in the Magnolia Continent!

With the strength that Haven has shown now, the Finlay Kingdom, which was once a giant in Linley's eyes, has become a tiny existence that needs to flatter and please the Baruch family.

The only one who is qualified to meet Haven is the Holy See of Light, a huge entity that truly occupies a place in the Magnolia Continent.

Just like now, Linley was still in the academy, obediently letting the painter paint his portrait, but Haven had already left impatiently to meet the delegation that had rushed over from the headquarters of the Holy See of Light.

"Thanks a lot!"

After finishing the portrait, Linley politely thanked the old court painter.

The old painter was flattered and bowed quickly, indicating that Master Linley did not need to do so.

Seeing this, Linley sighed, accepted the old man’s bow, and then stood up and left the quiet room.

As soon as he went out, Haven's figure appeared in front of him.

Looking at Linley, who seemed to be in low spirits, Hai Wen asked in surprise, “What’s going on? Weren’t you quite interested in leaving a portrait before? Why are you so listless now?”

...What do you think?

Linley glanced at Haven, and recalled the brief conversation between Haven and Di Lin that decided the life and death of the Holy Domain Dragon. He couldn’t help but sigh.

Obviously, the impact of this incident on Lin Lei was much stronger than Hai Wen had imagined, and it was even more effective than Zuo Yu’s earnest preaching.

"Let's not talk about this, uncle. How did your talk with the Holy See of Light go?"

"Oh, it's settled. The Pope of Light named Heitings is quite easy to talk to. He agreed to all my requests. The only condition is that the Baruch family must nominally join the Holy Alliance."

At this point, Hai Wen smiled and said, "To put it simply, it means that I have to stand on the side of the Holy See of Light and the Holy See of Darkness."

"This condition is acceptable. However, considering that the condition mentioned the Baruch family, I did not agree to it hastily. I thought about coming back to listen to your and Hogg's opinions first..."

Linley looked stunned and asked, “Is it the Pope himself who is here?”

"Well, the Saint Realm experts of the Holy See of Light are very busy. They are either cultivating in seclusion or spreading their faith in the Territory of Chaos. There are no more than three Saint Realm experts left in the Holy City, so Pope Hettings came here in person."

After hearing Haiwen’s calm words, Linley finally calmed down from his shock.

Yes, my uncle can no longer be just a powerful Saint Realm warrior in appearance.

What is the Pope of Light, who is only at the sanctuary level? Even god-level monsters are defeated by him!

Haiwen looked at Linley’s expression and felt that he didn’t seem to be interested in staying here any longer.

So Haiwen smiled and said, "Anyway, let's go back to Wushan Town first!"

Linley came back to his senses and nodded softly, “Yes.”

…

…

As mentioned before, Wushan Town is not far from Fenlai City.

Even if it is just an ordinary war horse, it can arrive in one day.

The team led by Padson, as an envoy representing King Clyde, naturally has stronger Warcraft horses for transportation, and their travel speed is much faster than ordinary war horses.

In just a few hours, a gift-giving delegation of up to 800 people arrived in Wushan Town.

Also accompanying them were caravans from the top nobles of the Kingdom of Finlay, as well as personnel from the Dawson Chamber of Commerce sent by Yale.

Thousands of people poured into Wushan Town in a short period of time, making this originally remote town extremely lively and prosperous.

Various nobles and chambers of commerce brought precious gifts, so many that even the Baruch family's front yard could not hold them all. They had to temporarily send servants to clean up the abandoned backyards and houses and pile up the extra gifts there.

Perhaps because of the gifts, Hogg received them warmly and held a banquet in the central square of Wushan Town, entertaining all the visiting nobles, as well as the guards and servants.

All the nobles, including the prince's brother, the Duke of Padson, were extremely delighted with Hogg's reaction.

Even though they felt in their hearts that Hogg, a country noble, was too vulgar for allowing guards and servants to sit at the same table with them, on the surface they still maintained the reserved etiquette of a noble.

Everything seemed to be thriving as it seemed, and both the guests and the hosts were having a great time.

But in reality…

“Bang!”

That evening, in the back room of the Baruch family, Hogg, who had a warm smile on his face during the day, was now clenching his fists in anger. His entire right arm was covered with fine green dragon scales due to the surging fighting spirit in his body, and then he smashed a huge rock into pieces with one punch.

"Padderson...Padderson!"

Hogg's eyes turned red, and he stared at the broken stones in front of him with gritted teeth. His whole body was filled with fighting spirit, and he crushed them into powder.

"I didn't expect you to come to my door yourself!"

Hearing the deep hatred in Hogg’s tone, Hillman beside him couldn’t help but look worried. He whispered, “Master, please be patient for a while. When Master Haiwen and Master Linley come back, we can…”

"I know!"

Hogg interrupted Hillman and turned his back to Hillman, whispering, “Of course I know, but, Hillman, whenever I think of what happened ten years ago, I feel as if my heart is being eaten by millions of ants…”

"It's been ten years. Ten years. I really don't want to wait any longer!"

"Lina's death must be--"

"boom!!"

Before he finished speaking, an extremely terrifying aura erupted from the sky above Wushan Town.

Hogg's pupils shrank, and without caring about the tears flowing from the corners of his eyes, he quickly looked up at the sky.

In the afterglow of the setting sun, two tall figures descended from the sky amid the moving elements of heaven and earth.

The shorter boy stared at Hogg with wide eyes, looking at him in astonishment. The taller and stronger boy next to him lifted his feet off the ground, emitting an extremely terrifying and powerful aura. He just floated in the air and looked at him expressionlessly.

"...Hogg, what did you say?"

"Didn't Lina die in childbirth?!"

"Yes, father!"

Lin Lei, who was standing next to him, came to his senses and couldn't help but step forward to grab Hogg's shoulders. Dragon scales appeared on his already sturdy arms in his excitement, and in the blink of an eye they turned into two ferocious dragon claws covered in jet-black scales.

"Didn't mother die in childbirth because of complications during the birth of little Wharton?"

"Is there a hidden story behind this? Could it be that... you lied to us?!"

Linley stared at Hogg with bloodshot eyes.

At the same time, Linley subconsciously exerted force with his arms. His pitch-black dragon claws were like the sharpest weapon in the world, easily piercing through the green dragon scales on Hogg’s arm and sinking into the flesh beneath the scales.

Blood flowed out with a trace of pain.

Hogg opened his eyes wide and looked at the scene in surprise.

“…Lin Lei, you have also become a dragonblood warrior?!”

"Of course, but this matter doesn't matter. Tell me first, mother..."

Before he could finish his words, Lin Lei, who was holding onto Hogg’s shoulders, was knocked flying by Haven’s punch. He turned into a streak of black light and crashed into the house next to him. Then, with a loud bang, he was buried by the rising smoke and the collapsed houses.

"Calm down."

Haven glanced at the buried Linley, then turned to look at Hogg and said calmly, “I understand your previous behavior of concealing the truth, but now, we should have the right to know the truth, right?”

As he said this, dark dragon scales appeared all over Haven's body, and he transformed into Godzilla form and floated up.

Hogg stared at him with his eyes wide open. After coming to his senses, he couldn't help but said excitedly: "Not only magic, your warrior level has also reached the holy realm?!"

“That’s great! That’s great!”

Hogg was so excited that he was incoherent.

Hillman beside him also reacted and looked at Haiwen excitedly.

"boom!"

There was another loud bang, and the shattered house was blown open. Linley, who had also transformed into Godzilla, stood up unharmed, and then appeared next to Hogg and Hillman as if he had teleported.

The pair of azure blue vertical pupils stared at Hogg in front of him.

"……I see."

Hogg calmed down, patted Linley’s shoulder with a complicated look, and then softly told him the truth of ten years ago.