Alice, who was chatting with Rowling not too far away, couldn’t help but turn her head and glance at them. “Big brother Linley is being conferred a rank of nobility?” Alice murmured to herself.
Within the royal palace of Fenlai City. Dozens of important ministers were lined up in orderly fashion in the court, while King Clayde was sitting up high, overlooking everyone below.
“Everyone. Today, I have something important to announce.” The smile on Clayde’s face was radiant, and he spoke in a bright voice. The major ministers who had received the news in advance all knew what King Clayde was going to say. Clayde glanced at an attendant by his side. Instantly, the attendant shouted in a loud voice, “Linley Baruch, enter the palace!”
His voice echoed in the palace. Shortly afterwards, Linley, dressed in black and gold magus robes, entered the palace. All of the nobles and ministers in the palace turned to look at him. “I pay my respects to his Majesty.” Linley bowed as he spoke.
Clayde looked at Linley, and a smile appeared on his face like a flower blooming. “Linley, for you to be willing to labor on behalf of our kingdom is something I am extremely gratified about. I now confer upon you the title of Prime Court Magus, and also bequeath upon you the rank of Marquis.”
“Does anyone have an objection?” Clayde swept the court with his gaze. All the nobles and ministers stared enviously at Linley, but none of them voiced any objections.
“Your servant thanks you, Majesty!”
Actually, per what Cardinal Guillermo of the Radiant Church had originally said, the Radiant Church was planning on immediately giving Linley the rank of Duke. Linley, however, had felt this would be too amazing and draw too much attention to himself, especially given that he previously never had a rank of nobility. If he rose in rank too fast, that wouldn’t necessarily be a good thing. That was why they decided to go a step lower and confer the rank of Marquis.
“Linley, as the Prime Court Magus and as a Marquis, you naturally can no longer reside as a mere guest of the Dawson Conglomerate. I have already arranged for an extremely peaceful and secluded estate to be granted to you. It is on Greenleaf Road, not too far from the palace,” Clayde said with a smile to Linley.
Linley immediately once more thanked the king for his generosity. In reality, Clayde had already discussed the question of conferring rank and land with Linley in private. Today, they were simply openly announcing it in court.
Upon leaving the palace, Linley engaged in some idle conversation with the other ministers. The highest level of power in the Kingdom of Fenlai was mostly occupied by the Minister of War, the Left Premier, the Right Premier, the Inspector General, and other people on the similar level. These people virtually governed the entirety of affairs in the Kingdom of Fenlai, and most of these people had the rank of Marquis. Even the lowest ranked amongst them, the Inspector General, was a Marquis.
On Greenleaf Road. Linley was seated within his carriage, his eyes closed as he quietly trained. “Lord Linley, we’re here.” The servant’s voice rang out from outside the carriage. Linley opened his eyes, then pushed the curtain to his carriage open. Bebe directly leapt from the carriage seat onto Linley’s shoulders.
“Wow, what a big estate!” Bebe’s eyes were gleaming as he stared at the mansion.
Linley was also carefully inspecting the estate which the ruler of Fenlai had gifted him. This estate took up a vast expanse of land, and the main gate alone was over ten meters wide. Through the open gate, Linley could see there were many male servants, female servants, and also many Knights of the Radiant Temple.
Not bad. Linley nodded as he entered. “Milord.” Seeing the gatekeeper bow respectfully, instantly all of the male and female servants in the courtyard suddenly stopped whatever it was they were doing and bowed respectfully towards Linley. It was important for them to give Linley a good first impression. These servants all knew how incredible their new master was.
“Master Linley, congratulations, congratulations!” Suddenly, a very familiar voice rang out from not far away.
Linley turned his head. “Mr. Bernard.” The person who had come was the leader of the Debs clan, Bernard Debs. Bernard smiled at Linley. “Master Linley, what a coincidence. My clan’s manor is also on Greenleaf Road. We’re only one house over. In the future, it will be quite easy for us to visit each other.”
“Oh.” Thinking back to when he had first rescued Alice and delivered her and Kalan back to Fenlai City, it did seem as though Kalan’s manor was not too far away.
“But Master Linley, your manor is much larger than mine. This manor of yours used to be where his Majesty himself lived,” Bernard said admiringly.
Linley himself felt that this manor was astonishingly large, much larger than his ancestral mansion. To have such an enormous estate in Fenlai City, where each inch of land was as valuable as an inch of gold, was not something mere wealth could accomplish. So this was the former residence of his Majesty, King Clayde? No wonder it was so large!
“Mr. Bernard, I have to head back now. In the future, we’ll be able to chat quite often.” Linley smiled modestly, then turned his head and walked towards his own manor.
Right at this moment, at the gate to the Debs clan’s manor, Kalan, Rowling, and Alice were standing and watching from afar.
6
Tomes of Magic
In terms of both furnishings and layout, this estate was definitely first rate. Linley was particularly fond of the Hot Springs Garden.
The Hot Springs Garden within the estate was the place where his Majesty trained when he lived here. Clayde was a warrior of the ninth rank. In order to become such a mighty warrior, naturally he didn’t rely solely on his raw talent. He also spent years of painstaking effort.
The right half of the Hot Springs Garden was covered in a large, grassy area, filled with all sorts of exercise equipment. On the left side of the Hot Springs Garden, next to a man-made hill, was a hot springs pool. The hot springs within this pool came naturally from underground. After a day of frenzied training, spending some time in the hot springs pool definitely was a wonderful way of relaxing.
Linley was currently bathing nude within the pool. The bubbling hot water rushed against his skin, making Linley feel so comfortable that his eyes began to close.
“Boss, when are we going to kill that Patterson guy? Last night, during the dinner, I really wanted to kill him for you already.” Bebe hopped out of the pool, all the fur on his body wet.
“Don’t be impatient.” Exiting the hot springs, Linley changed into a clean set of training clothes, then walked over to the grassy area while beginning to mumble the words to a spell. After a few moments, an earthen glow began to cover the ground beneath Linley in a certain area as earth elemental essence began to swirl about him.
Earth magic – Supergravity Field.
Linley immediately leapt into the air, then inverted himself, head pointed down, feet pointing up. Using his two hands, he kept himself upright. Next, he moved to holding himself up with just one finger on each hand. Relying on just one finger, under the pressure of the Supergravity Field, Linley began to push himself up and down.
“One. Two…” Linley counted silently. Each time he reached a thousand, Linley would change to a different finger. The most important thing for a fighter was his physical conditioning. Only a strong body would be able to accommodate a high amount of battle-qi. Only through this method would he be able to quickly grow strong! Even though he was now a Dragonblood Warrior, he still needed to maintain his daily training regime.
“Hrm?” After training for about half an hour, Linley returned to the normal upright position. Linley stared coldly at the attractive female attendant who had just entered the Hot Springs Garden, carrying a tray with tea and fruit on top of it.
“Mi-milord, here is some fruit and tea.” The female attendant was made somewhat uneasy by Linley’s stare, and she stammered a bit.
“I didn’t call for you,” Linley snapped coldly.
&nb
sp; The nervous female attendant stammered, “Milord, I… I was worried that you were thirsty.”
“Thirsty?” Linley glanced at her expressionlessly, then shouted, “Guards!” Instantly, four burly warriors rushed in from outside the Hot Springs Garden. These four warriors all belonged to the Radiant Church, which had dispatched over a hundred knights to safeguard Linley.
“Mercy, milord!” The attendant was so scared, she fell to her knees. In the Yulan continent, nobles had a much higher status than commoners, especially high ranking nobles, who could casually kill a commoner without repercussion. As for Linley, whom even the king of the Kingdom of Fenlai treated courteously? Without question Linley was one of the highest ranking nobles in the Kingdom of Fenlai.
Linley glanced at the attendant. In a cold voice, he said, “Remember this. In the future, when I am in the Hot Springs Garden, no one is permitted entry. Anyone who does enter will be punished with twenty strikes of the military rod.”
“Twenty strikes of the rod?” The attendant’s face turned pale. Military rods were extremely heavy. Even most muscular warriors would not be able to move for ten days or half a month after receiving twenty strikes of a military rod. A physically weak maid might very well die from such a beating.
“Mercy, milord! Mercy!” The female attendant hurriedly pled.
Linley continued, “You should know better, but since this is your first time committing such an offense, I instead sentence you to twenty lashes of a rattan whip. If you make this mistake again, I definitely will not be merciful.”
“Thank you, milord! Thank you, milord!” The female attendant felt relieved. The strikes from a rattan whip would sting quite a bit, possibly causing even more pain than a military rod, but it wouldn’t cause any serious wounds or any internal damage. It would hurt, but it wouldn’t kill.
“Remove her,” Linley ordered the four warriors.
“Yes, Lord Linley.” Two of the warriors stepped forward, pulling the attendant away and frog-marching her out. As for the tea and the fruit on the tray, those were all left on the floor.
Linley turned and once more returned to the grassy area, a slight frown on his face.
The Bloodviolet Godsword was one of Linley’s secret weapons. Although whenever he trained with it, Linley usually made sure to keep it straight and hard, on occasion, Linley would also let it remain flexible and wield it in a bizarre, flowing manner. Linley had to make certain that the secret of the Bloodviolet Godsword was not discovered by anyone. This meant that he could not allow anyone to watch him train.
With his right hand, Linley stroked his waist. Instantly, with a cold, violet flash, an extremely thin violet blade appeared in Linley’s hands.
Swish! From within the Hot Springs Garden, one ray of violet light after another began to appear, while Linley roved back and forth within the garden like a wandering dragon. Having totally merged the support of the wind-style Supersonic spell with his own power, not only was Linley extremely fast, he was also incredibly agile.
Through the usage of the Secret Dragonblood Manual, Linley trained his body. When he was relaxed, he would engage in the carving of sculptures to raise his spiritual energy, while he would enter the meditative trance in the middle of the hot springs to refine his mageforce. His training permeated his every daily activity.
Unfortunately, Linley still was not able to find a good opportunity to make his move against Patterson. After all, he had relatively few encounters with Patterson. If Linley went directly to Patterson’s manor, or Patterson came to Linley’s residence, once Linley killed Patterson then King Clayde would find out within perhaps just half a day.
No matter how great Linley’s potential was, if he murdered King Clayde’s own brother, Clayde definitely would not be gentle with him.
Linley was gracefully eating lunch within the main hall. After he finished lunch, Linley once again began thinking about Patterson. “This Patterson fellow hasn’t come to visit me at all. Seems like I’ll have to personally pay a visit.” Linley decided to no longer be the hunter setting a snare for the rabbit. He would head directly to the Patterson manor.
“Milord.” Just at this moment, an attendant ran over from outside. “Milord, Lord Cardinal Guillermo of the Radiant Church has arrived.”
“Guillermo?” Linley trembled, then he immediately headed for the door, going out to personally welcome Guillermo.
Within the main hall. “Linley, I hear that your recent life has been leisurely and carefree. Every day, either you are training, resting in the hot springs, or engaging in stonesculpting. This sort of life really makes one envious,” Guillermo said with a laugh to Linley. Linley nodded and laughed as well.
“But Linley,” Guillermo said solemnly, “I must remind you that although your sculptures are worth money, the thing which truly determines a person’s status is power! Just look at that nearby Debs clan. Don’t they have money? But in terms of status, they are inferior to you.”
Linley understood this rationale as well. True, money was a useful thing. But when one reached a certain level, the uses of money would grow fewer and fewer. For example, to a Saint-level combatant, money was nothing more than a worldly possession. This was also why the Dawson Conglomerate had been willing to offer a hundred million gold coins to acquire Linley and have him join them. To these trading unions, the support of a super-combatant was simply too vital.
“Lord Guillermo, I thank you for your reminder,” Linley said with a smile. Linley didn’t say, of course, that stonesculpting that was the true reason behind him becoming a seventeen-year-old dual-element magus of the seventh rank.
“I’m just making small talk. After all, when you need to rest, you should.” Guillermo glanced at one of the Vicars behind him, who immediately opened the package he had been carrying on his back. After opening the silver-white package, a stone case was revealed within. The Vicar then placed this stone case between Linley and Guillermo. “Lord Guillermo, this is?” But Linley already had an idea as to what this was.
Guillermo laughed with self-satisfaction. “Linley. Open it up yourself.” Linley slowly opened the stone case, lifting up the lid. Within the stone case, there were two tomes made from silk thread. Both of these two tomes appeared to be colored a dark gold color.
“This is…?” Linley looked towards Guillermo.
“Linley, didn’t I previously say that I was going to give to you books regarding magical incantations for wind-style and earth spells? That’s what these two tomes are,” Guillermo laughed.
Linley couldn’t help but feel excited. Magical incantations and the proper method by which one cast the spell were both very important. Otherwise, even if one had enough spiritual energy and mageforce, one still wouldn’t be able to cast more powerful spells. Linley immediately withdrew one of the two books and opened it up.
“Wind-style!” Upon reading the first page, Linley saw that the first page was a general summary regarding this tome. After the summary, it began to describe one wind spell after another. This tome explained everything in great detail, and also clearly explained what to focus on for every single spell.
Linley flipped directly to the section on spells of the seventh rank, feeling astonished as he read through one powerful, intricately designed spell after another. Linley had to admit, the bygone people who had invented these spells in the past were, without a doubt, absolute geniuses.
“Spell of the ninth rank – Windshadow Technique. It was derived from a combination of the ‘Supersonic’ spell and the ‘Airwings’ spell. It possesses the special effects given by the Airwings spell, great speed, and great agility. It can be described as perfect…”
Seeing the deep, in-depth explanation of the Windshadow spell within this tome, Linley felt all the more excited. A brand new world of magic was beginning to open up in front of him.In the future, with his prowess in earth-style and wind magic as well as the power of a Dragonblood Warrior, his future offensive potential would be enough to cause anyone to shudder.
Seeing how Linley had become totally absorbed with these magical tomes, Guillermo quietly left by himself without making a sound.
Within the Hot Springs Garden. Linley was seated cross-legged on the grass, all of his muscles and bones quivering as the special dragonblood battle-qi permeated through his body with its force, causing every part of him to experience a constant strengthening.
“Boss, Patterson will be arriving tonight. You still in the mood to train?” Bebe mumbled, lying next to Linley.
Linley opened his eyes and looked at Bebe. “In the mood?” Linley felt bitter. Early this morning, that Duke Patterson had sent word via messenger that tonight, he wanted to come have a one-on-one visit with Linley. As the Minister of Finance, Duke Patterson naturally felt the need to be on good relations with all the other important nobles. These past few days, he had been busy dealing with the issues raised by illegally mining and smuggling water jade, which was why he hadn’t had the time to visit Linley yet.
“I’m not in the mood, no, but I must train. Only when I have enough strength will I be able to do what I want to do,” Linley murmured to himself. Per his current plans, he would kill Patterson within half a year as well as find out who the person behind Patterson was. After that, Linley would, before the next anniversary of his father’s death, either find out what happened to his mother or kill the person behind Patterson.
Swish! Swish! “Ahhhh!” A miserable scream suddenly rang out from outside the Hot Springs Garden. Linley immediately leaped atop the man-made hill within the Hot Springs Garden. Standing on the top of the hill, he could clearly see that the bodies of those ten or so Knights of the Radiant Church who had been standing guard had begun to decay. They screamed in agony nonstop as their blood stained the ground.
At the same time, a dense black fog began to billow at high speed towards the Hot Springs Garden from every direction. Wherever this black fog passed, everything, be it animal or human, would begin to corrode and then die.
Dragonblood: Book 2 of the Coiling Dragon Saga Page 5