Seeing the newcomer, Finn’s face immediately drained of color. It dawned on him what a foolish mistake he had just made. Sweat began to pour down his face as he quickly bent his waist and said, “My apologies, General Winston. I was reckless just now.”
Beside him, Duke Lyon furrowed his brows and a look of wariness flashed in his eyes. He said, “General, the boy doesn’t know any better. I hope you won’t hold it against him.”
The burly man in black armor didn’t even glance at either of them. He simply said flatly, “Leave.”
Duke Lyon’s expression darkened, his eyes flashing with anger. But in the end, he held himself back and refrained from lashing out.
He waved his hand at Finn and spoke in a low voice, “Let’s go.”
It’s no wonder they’re father and son. They speak in the exact same way… Luca thought to himself.
Even Duke Lyon had been put in his place, so the rest of the nobles had no courage to speak further. One by one, they scurried out of the hall, their heads low, as if the man in black armor were some sort of flesh-eating monster.
At this moment, the burly man in black armor looked over at Luca and asked, “Are you the new student Orf just took on?”
Luca paused, surprised that this man knew Orf. He nodded and replied, “Yes, that’s me. Do you know my teacher?”
Winston’s lips curled slightly. “I know him. I studied magic runes under him once.”
What?! Everyone in the hall was stunned and turned to look at him in disbelief.
Orf had once taught the Empire’s God of War? They hadn’t known about this before.
“But wait, you’re a knight, right? How did you end up studying magic runes?” Anna raised an eyebrow, clearly puzzled.
Luca was also curious. How did his senior brother, who was a knight, end up studying magic runes halfway through his career?
Winston was silent for a moment before he sighed deeply. “Well, back then, I was studying magic runes, but I ran out of money to buy materials. It seemed like an endless money pit, so I quit and became a knight instead…”
Good grief! The others couldn’t help but laugh, though they were also slightly taken aback.
So, the Empire’s God of War was actually a late-blooming Demonic Rune Mage after all?
Luca now understood why Orf had sworn never to take on another student again. After going through all the effort to teach a student only for him to abandon the subject halfway, anyone would be furious enough to spit blood.
Winston clearly didn’t want to dwell on his “dark history,” and quickly changed the subject. “Enough about that. His Majesty sent me to take you to the library. Follow me.”
Luca gave a slight nod and said to Sophia, Lucia, and the others, “I’ll be back shortly. You all can head back first.”
Since there was little risk of danger in the royal palace, after bidding farewell to Fratis and the others, Luca followed Winston, who led the way with a group of nobles, out of the main hall.
“Let’s go.” Winston waved his hand, and suddenly, Luca felt his body lift off the ground.
The two of them quickly ascended, soaring into the clouds in the blink of an eye.
Higher-level professionals had the ability to fly, although most couldn’t maintain flight for long.
But for Superclass beings, flight was effortless. Luca wasn’t overly surprised.
Wrapped in Winston’s aura, the two of them glided through the clouds like shooting stars. Within just a few breaths, they had traveled from the very center of the royal palace to a quiet, serene pavilion situated in the northern part of the kingdom.
This pavilion stood tall on the center of a shimmering lake, its ancient architecture resembling a high tower, with the spire piercing the clouds above.
The large gates of the pavilion were closed tight, with several golden-armored guards standing watch—each one a high-tier expert.
After they landed, Winston casually waved his hand, tossing a token to one of the guards, and said in a deep voice, “By the order of His Majesty, Luca the Count is allowed to enter the library at will. No one is to stop him. This is the token.”
One of the golden-armored guards hastily caught the token and examined it closely.
After confirming it was legitimate, the guard respectfully returned it with both hands, saying, “The token is authentic. You may enter at your leisure, My Lords. If there is anything you need, do not hesitate to command us.”
Winston nodded, tossing the token to Luca. “Here, this will be yours from now on.”
“Thank you, Senior Brother,” Luca said quickly, taking the token.
Hearing Luca address him as “Senior Brother,” Winston’s footsteps faltered for a moment. He turned back to look at Luca, a smile briefly appearing on his lips, but he didn’t say anything more.
Although he had run away from Red Maple Academy years ago, Winston had never forgotten the help Orf had given him. If it hadn’t been for Orf’s concern, who sent him a storage ring back then, he might have died on the Eastern Territory’s border battlefield and never become the Empire’s God of War.
Winston always felt guilty about abandoning his studies under Orf, which was why he had avoided returning to Southwind City for all these years. As for Luca, he simply wanted to look out for the younger student—perhaps to make up for what he owed Orf.
Together, the two of them entered the library.
What greeted Luca was a grand, antique hall.
Around them, bookshelves were neatly arranged, filled with all kinds of books, stacked upon each other, towering all the way up to the top of the library. In front of the bookshelves were layers of circular staircases, spiraling upwards.
The library was nearly empty, save for a short elderly man in a robe, wearing glasses, who was organizing some books.
Upon noticing Luca and Winston’s arrival, the man adjusted his glasses and asked, “May I help you, gentlemen? Is there a specific book you’re looking for?”
Winston looked at Luca and introduced him, “This is the head librarian, Teddy Xavier. If you’re looking for something, just ask him. I have some matters to attend to, so I won’t be staying.”
“Thank you, Senior Brother. You can go ahead,” Luca said with a smile.
Winston nodded slightly, about to leave, when he suddenly remembered something.
He took out an ancient black magic rune from his storage ring and handed it to Luca. “Take this. If you ever find yourself in danger, it might just save your life.”
Luca stared at the black magic rune, momentarily stunned.
[Deadshot Magic Rune: Superclass item. When used, it releases a powerful dark attribute attack, inflicting fatal damage that ignores defenses. Usable only once.]
It was a Superclass-grade item!
Luca was taken aback. The difficulty in crafting such an item was far higher than typical temporary magic runes, and it required significantly more resources. He hadn’t expected Winston to just hand it over so casually.
Seeming to understand Luca’s thoughts, Winston chuckled. “This was something the teacher gave me a long time ago. I’ve kept it all these years, but never had the chance to use it. Now it’s yours.”
Luca felt a sense of gratitude. With this magic rune, even if he encountered some Superclass beings, he would have a way to defend himself.
After Winston left, Luca calmed his emotions.
He placed the Deadshot Magic Rune into his storage ring.
Turning to the head librarian, Luca asked, “Director Teddy, I’m wondering if you have any ancient texts on the Seven Demon Kings of the Abyssal Demon Realm?”
“The Demon Kings of the Abyssal Demon Realm?” The short elderly man gave Luca a curious glance.
Wondering what he could possibly want with such books.
However, Teddy didn’t ask further.
After a moment of thought, he waved his hand.
Immediately, dozens of books flew off the shelves and landed in front of Luca. There were some incomplete ancient texts, as well as transcribed notes, a mishmash of various materials—over seventy or eighty books piled into a small mountain.
Teddy explained, “These are all the books in the library related to the Seven Magic Runes.”
He paused before adding, “However, I must warn you. The Seven Magic Runes haven’t appeared for many years, so many of these books are simply speculative. The accuracy is uncertain, so don’t take them too seriously.”
“Thank you, I’ll keep that in mind,” Luca nodded in acknowledgment, expressing his thanks.
He then picked up a book titled “The Compendium of Abyssal Demon Realm Monsters” and began flipping through it.
Although Director Teddy had mentioned that the information here could not be verified, Luca suspected that he could never have guessed that Luca had actually seen a few Demon Kings with his own eyes. For Luca, distinguishing the truth from the fiction in these books wasn’t particularly difficult.
Even so, reading through all these books would likely take quite a bit of time. Fortunately, Luca had a lot of patience. To solve the puzzle in his mind, he was willing to spend time looking for any clue that might help.
Luca flipped through the books quickly, barely glancing at each one before he could tell if it contained any useful information.
The only issue was that the text in these ancient books was very different from the characters currently used on the Eternal Continent. Luca couldn’t recognize all of it and had to ask Teddy for help with translation.
Teddy wasn’t impatient at all, taking the time to explain everything to Luca, one book at a time.
Time passed slowly.
The pile of books in front of Luca continued to dwindle.
Finally, half a day later, Luca made a discovery in a damaged ancient text titled “The Secret Codex of Gods and Demons.”
This Codex contained records of many gods and monsters from the Eternal Continent.
However, due to the passage of time, much of the content was missing, and even Teddy found it difficult to translate.
Luca had to rely on his own knowledge and tried to correlate the information he was gaining with some obscure legends he had heard. Surprisingly, he made a few breakthroughs.
In the book, there was a very vague myth about Pandora.
It suggested that Pandora was once one of the gods, holding dominion over the emotional laws of life and death.
But, due to a grave mistake she made, the God King became enraged, stripping her of her divinity and casting her down into the Abyssal Demon Realm, condemning her to eternal damnation.
The godly essence she lost was then given to another deity by the God King. The name of this deity was unclear, but it was known that this new god wielded the power of frost…
“The God King… the divine essence… the Law of Frost…” Luca chewed on these terms, his frown growing deeper.
Suddenly, he felt that he might have uncovered something monumental.
Pandora’s divine essence had been granted to a god of ice, and Sophia would later come to master the Law of Frost and ascend to godhood… moreover, their appearances were identical…
There had to be a hidden connection between Sophia and Pandora. Luca felt an instinctive certainty that this was linked to something important he had been searching for. Unfortunately, the information was far too fragmented to make any clear conclusions.
As Luca was deep in thought, Director Teddy’s respectful voice suddenly broke through his contemplation.
“Your Majesty, what brings you here?”ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom