Chapter 17

I decided to have Sartius and the two Saint dragons settle at the location of the entrance to the pocket dimension for now as it would bring too much attention if I brought them back to the Union with me. They could not hide their strength like me after all, the Stellar Transformation technique was really good at hiding one's power level. I also decided to hold off on turning Sartius into a Soul mutate as well, let him recover for a few months more before I subject him to that procedure.

I also decide to leave Grandpa Doehring there as well as he had requested for some quiet place for personal solo training. There was also the fact that he was very knowledgeable and I could trust him to guide the others even if he wasn't the strongest of the group. Even the two Saint dragons agreed to follow Grandpa Doehring's lead for now once they learnt that he was in fact my teacher.

With everything settled, Bebe and I found ourselves back near our hideout in the Holy Union thanks to Beirut dropping us back. I had still over shot my intended month long leave by three weeks so I was hoping my friends did not worry for me too much, especially Delia.

"Now he shows up? What happened Linley, you said you would only be gone for about a month?" Dixie asked. I was surprised to see him as it was not the rest day of the Ernst institute and he should not have been here with Anna.

"Sorry about that but I got delayed, I'll explain later. What are you doing her by the way, shouldn't you be back at the institute?" I ask back. I decide to hold the more detailed explanations for now till everyone else has gathered so I will only have to explain once.

"I also decided to graduate early. With my talent it wasn't really so much of a stretch to have the institute think I had reached 6th rank. Besides the 10,000-year Yulan Festival is coming up and I have already got a summons from my clan to return home, Delia and Anna will be accompanying me." He responds.

"Ah, well when are you guys planning to depart? I hope it is no for another couple of months at least as I have a few more important things to tell you all. I learnt quite a bit on this last journey and I am sure you will all find it useful." I tell him. While I was a little disappointed that I will have to say goodbye to Delia soon, I comforted myself with the knowledge that it won't be for ever. Besides it would give both of us some time to settle the various affairs with our families. For me especially as I had to check up on my little brother and other clan members as well as those of the Violetflame warrior clan members that I had taken under my wing.

"It's only the middle of March right now so we still have time. It will take us around 4 months at the normal pace of a caravan to get there so we were planning to leave by July at the latest." Dixie answers.

"That's right, I also have to make some arrangements with my family so we can also move to the Yulan empire. I don't want to be associated with the Church or Cult in any way now that I know more about them. Thankfully Yale and Dixie have agreed to help me migrate my family over so now I only have to give the impression of still staying within the Union till they are away from the territory. After I eventually make it to the empire, I doubt the Church would have the ability to force me back here." Anna adds.

"That's right so, you don't have to worry about us leaving immediately. It will take a few months for us to settle everything here before we depart." Dixie says and I see him squeeze Anna's hand a bit. It really is nice to see they have grown so close, so being the good brother-in-law that I am I decide to pull Dixie aside for a bit to talk in private.

"What is this about Linley?" He asks me after we were alone. He seemed to be a little nervous ever since he saw me smile at their lovey-dovey couple behaviour.

"First off, I guess some congratulations are in order. Taking Anna to meet your parents already? Way to go brother." I clap him on the back and am rewarded with Dixie blushing in embarrassment while still trying to maintain his image of a noble.

"Thank you, Linley. Now is there any other point to all this other than to tease me more?" He fires back.

"Two things actually." I start off- "First off, I was also thinking of officially proposing to Delia soon and as her elder brother I thought you should know." I state and I see his face go over a multitude of emotions starting with indignation and anger before finally settling on resignation and even relief.

"Sigh, well I can't really say that I was not expecting this. Still if you upset my sister, Linley I will come after you with everything I have. I don't care if you have already reached the Saint realm, I will still fight you even if you have reached the legendary Deity level." He gives me the standard 'Big Bro threat' as is his right.

"Noted. The same applies for you and Anna, you know. She is my friend too and I will be very upset with you if I ever find out that you haven't been treating her right." I fire back with a smirk. We both glare at each other for a bit and eventually just nod seeing as we had reached some understanding.

"Delia will still have to come back to our clan with me you know and I can't exactly speak for my parents either." He tells me.

"I know, which is exactly why I want to come clean about my feelings to Delia right now. I don't want to leave her wondering about our relationship while we both are busy dealing with our families for a bit. I also want to make it clear that we are serious so that your clan doesn't go and look for some other suitor for her while we are away from each other." I tell him.

"Understandable, now at least I would not have to worry about my parents or elders trying to play matchmaker for her with some random idiot. I know for sure they will still try to pull something with us and even my relationship with Anna would be called into question but with our personal strength, we should be able to pull through. Now, what was the second thing you wanted to talk to me about?" Dixie decides to change the topic towards the end.

"Well, I found some really interesting new books on formations and enchantments, it was one of the reasons for my delay. Long story short, I wanted to invite you to join me in making some engagement rings for our amazing girls, there are some really good enchantments. So, you interested?" I ask him and after getting a very eager nod we both settle on designing matching rings for ourselves and our lovers.

Both of us eagerly got to work on a pair of rings after that. We mostly worked on the design and physical appearance on our own, only bouncing ideas off each other for the enchantment bits. I had already shared the details about making inter-spatial rings with Dixie as well as the Saint beast cores so that was definitely one of the features we would be incorporating into the rings. For the other enchantments we decided on a Soul protection formation that doubled as a spiritual power focusing aid as well as a unique paired Soul bond formation based on the edicts of Fate, Life and Death.

The Soul bond function could help one track the matched pair to a certain extent, enable long distance spiritual communication between the two and also help share their spiritual power if one of them finds themselves in a dangerous situation. It all seemed very complicated and the raw materials required to make them were all treasures themselves. Thankfully I had everything we would need thanks to Beirut's goody bag and I finally put the special nebular flames from the Stellar Transformation techniques to good use.

I was very happy to have mine and Delia's engagement rings be the first things I would forge with my stellar flames. By the time Delia returned to our base on the next rest day after a week and a half, Dixie and I were both done with our respective ring sets. I had to help Dixie out with the special properties of my stellar flames as well but I let him be the main forger for his own rings and only provided the fire and some raw materials.

In the end, Dixie's rings looked like a White Tiger curled up to form the main ring with blue and red flame designs around it. He had decided to incorporate Anna's strong fire affinity along with his own Tigerstriped warrior heritage into the design and both the rings looked beautiful. They also had an internal storage capacity of 100 cubic metres each, thanks to the higher quality of raw materials and the special properties of my Nebula flame, the quality of the finished product was top notch.

I also had similar ideas so my set of rings had an Azure Dragon and a White Tiger entwined around each other to form the ring. Now I just had to plan out how to actually pop the big question to Delia which was proving to be a little difficult. She was quite upset with me as I had delayed meeting with her by a whole month, the fact that we would soon be separated for longer when she went to the Yulan empire only seemed to make her more upset.

I was just thankful that she at least listened to all the new information I had found after only chewing me up a bit. In the end she forgave me for taking so long once she found out that a Deity level expert was mostly responsible for the delay, I just hope Beirut wouldn't mind me using him for a scapegoat like this.

Needless to say, everyone was amazed to find out that I had come across a Deity expert, by now they had already resigned themselves to all the odd happenings in our group. The Supreme warrior clan members, our special training methods, our ridiculous growth speed, etc. but meeting a Deity who was also the ancestor of one of our own was still out there. After a brief summary of the story, I got them all to swear oaths to not carelessly divulge the Soul mutation method we had come up with by again using Beirut's name.

With that out of the way I started explaining the other things I had found out like information on the higher planes as well as the books and knowledge I had been given. Especially the more advanced knowledge on the 4 Edicts were very much appreciated seeing as the ones George and Reynolds had found were largely incomplete with only basic info. Sadly, I only had one copy of them for now so we all decided to take a few of the ones we were most interested in and start making copies. We hoped to each have a copy of all the books by the time we separated.

Things settled after that intense discussion so I got to preparing for a private romantic picnic dinner with Delia and I could hopefully go through the proposal by the end of the night.

"I'm really sorry for keeping you waiting Delia, I know it was made all the more difficult knowing what was coming up." I start of the conversation by apologising once again after we had set up under the starry night sky. There was still quite a bit of snow all around but the sky was clear, all in all it was quite a romantic atmosphere if I do say so myself.

"Sigh, I understand, I'm not happy but I understand. The summons from my clan got me to panic a bit and I just wanted to spend as much time with you as possible before I have to go. Who knows how long it will be before we see each other again?" She says as she rests her head on my shoulders.

I pull her closer to myself and into a comforting hug to reassure her- "Grrr, we definitely won't stay separated for long, I'll find a way to meet up with you again within three years. Don't think for one moment that you will be able to get away from me." I growl out in a very possessive manner.

"Hehehe, oh my, looks like someone's getting really worked up. Calm down my dragon, we will always be together… one way or the other… always." Delia states and I just can't help but kissing her intensely after that passionate statement.

"Always…" I finally echo after we break our kiss. I spend just a moment longer hesitating before deciding I would not get a better chance than this to propose. I pull out the rings I had made earlier and also create numerous tiny glowing lights to dance around like fireflies with a little application of the Laws of Light.

"Ahem… Delia…" I feel my heart racing like mad, the blood rushes to my face so fast I could hear it as my face turns red- "Ahem… I wanted to ask… if you could… gulp." Damn, why is it so hard to propose to the girl you like, two lives worth of experience and I'm still reduced to this pitiful state.

Just soldier through it Linley, I psyche myself one final time before pushing through with all the decorum and manners I learnt this time- "Delia, would you do me the honour of becoming my bride?" I manage to get the whole sentence out without tripping over my tongue and open the box with the rings at the same time.

Delia just freezes up after hearing my words, a particularly nasty part of me is screaming at me and telling me this is the part where she will reject me. I squash my insecurities down and just wait to give Delia the time to properly process my words. Her wide-eyed shocked look tells me that she is still processing my formal confession. She looks at me, then at the rings and then back at my face couple times; tears were starting to pool in her eyes and just as I called her name in worry, she leaps forward to hug me tightly.

"Yes… a thousand times… a million times, yes. I will marry you, Linley." She said yes! That was pretty much all I could process at that time as I was too busy returning the hug with joy.

"Sniff… took you long enough, idiot. I was starting to fear if you would ever ask me properly." She chides me.

"Hahaha, I'm really sorry Delia. Will you ever forgive me?" I ask gently as I carefully wipe away the tears spilling from her eyes and comfort her some more. Now that the nerve-wracking part of the actual proposal is over and she has accepted, I can focus on the more important task of comforting my fiancée.

After our emotions settle down a bit more, I finally slip the ring on to the ring finger of her left hand and she does the same for me with the matching ring. I just continue to give her a one-armed hug as she takes some time to admire the ring under the light of the stars and the magic firefly lights I had created. For people at our level of strength, it was enough light to clearly see after all. Once that was done, I was more than relieved to continue eating the meal I had prepared for us.

"Care to join me for a dance my love?" I ask after we finished the food.

"Why of course, dear. I would love to dance." She answers with a giggle and so I pack away the empty food containers and picnic blanket into my inter-spatial ring with a casual hand wave before taking her hand into mine. Another application of the Laws of Wind had soft music playing in our general location, it was a nice soft musical piece to which you can slow dance to.

"How are you doing that?" Delia asks with curiosity as this was the first time I had used my direct understanding of the Laws of Wind to create music. I did not have enough spiritual power before and had to make use of formations for something like this.

"A little perk of having Saint level Spiritual power dear." I whisper in her ears. I just continue to hold and guide her to dance along to the beat as she takes her time to study how I was making the music. I did not want to distract her, far be it from me to constrain her learning of insights into the laws, I was also distracted as I was wondering what I could do to help her get stronger. Maybe it was time I upgraded her weapons as well with the new materials and knowledge I had.

"This is just perfect; I wish we could stay like this forever and that I did not have to go to my clan." She says after learning all she could about my methods of creating music. She leans into the crook of my neck and nuzzles closer to me while still dancing.

"Nothing is forever Delia, other than my love for you." I take the chance to drop a really cheesy line but I truly feel that way towards Delia so instead of being embarrassed or anything I nuzzle into the top of her head with a dopey grin.

I honestly felt like I was floating thanks to all the warm fuzzy feelings in me and I got another bright idea- "Hold on tight." I tell Delia as I grip her more firmly to myself before I start levitating to take our dance up into the skies.

"Gasp, Linley!" She was only surprised and shocked for a moment. She then throws an accusing look my way that I answer with a playful smirk of my own.

"What? You can cast the flight spell too you know." I tease her a bit. There was a light dusting of pink on her cheeks as she had forgotten about that and soon both of us continue to dance freely in the sky for the rest of our date.

All good things must come to an end eventually though and everyone in our gang who was still enrolled in the Ernst Institute had to return once the rest days were over. I chose to return as well if only to apply for graduation myself, with my current strength it was time to move forward with my plans.

We had discussed that by now we had all learnt as much as we could from the institute and its resources. Only the basic and low-level knowledge was provided by the institute and we had all already supplemented regular magical knowledge with enough topics of our individual interest be they enchanting, forging, runes and formations. There was no point in just continuing to waste time here so we made plans to graduate sporadically over the next few months.

Most everyone had decided to only display the minimum 6th rank magus capability needed to graduate despite all of them being 7th rank now at least. I was the only one who decided to display 7th rank power as I needed some more influence to smoothly get my clan's heirloom war-blade back. My friends were not too bothered by me showing off more than them as they understood my reasoning, plus they found it really funny that a Grand Magus Saint like myself was trying to pass off as just a 7th rank mage.

I opted to graduate first and have the institute management focus on my 'amazing 7th rank power' so the rest could easily slip past the scrutiny of the Union and graduate without any hassle over the next few days. Since not all of my friends were Union natives, we thought it best to underplay their abilities so they won't be tempted to try some underhanded tricks. The others then graduated one at a time with a few days gap between according to their known talent level to make it look more believable. The hub-bub from my graduation as a 17-year-old-7th-rank-magus and 2nd most talented mage in recorded history was still going strong so even Yale managed to smoothly slip out two whole months after I graduated without any higher ups from the Church finding the situation odd.

I on the other hand had to go through all the crazy hassle that comes with being declared a genius, the management of the Institute that had so far had an indifferent attitude towards me were now tripping over themselves to curry favour. If that wasn't enough, I had to fend off ambassadors from the Cult of Shadows and the Four Empires as well and I was just thankful it was only the lower rungs stationed in Fenlai City for now as word of my achievements had not spread to their upper echelons yet.

The Holy Union's Church was taking its time in some power play move while also testing my attitude towards my sudden fame, I had no doubt they would personally stab me in the back if I showed even a trace of friendly diplomatic behaviour towards the other powers. They only met me a full week after the news had spread while the ambassadors of the other powers had pulled back to wait for more orders from home.

I still remembered the day a Cardinal and Knight Regiment Commander of the Union both showed up to meet with me personally. People with that rank were among the peak in the Union and only second to the Saint level experts and the Holy Emperor himself, they were way above even the various Royal families in the Union.

I had to do a lot political manoeuvring to gently turn them down when they offered me a position in the Church. While I would have more resources if I joined the Church, I would also have more of their oversight and just the thought of constantly having to hide my true power before them caused me to shudder.

Thankfully I was able to successfully turn them down gently by telling them that I was way too inexperienced for the position they were offering me. It was true after all as even the subordinate Vicars and Vice-Commanders in the group seemed dissatisfied with me being offered so much so soon. I still had to reassure them I had no plans to join another faction as long as the Church itself doesn't antagonise me (Too late for that but they don't need to know that, I thought internally). In the end I just requested for a lower position within the Kingdom of Fenlai itself for a time to gain experience and ease the remainder of their worries.

I honestly started to wonder if all this was worth it just to increase my chances of retrieving the war-blade Slaughterer. While there was a good chance, I could swoop down to collect it during the chaos of Apocalypse Day, I was not sure if circumstances would conspire against in that intense moment and besides, I had some other plans for then. In the end I just put my game face on and roll with the times.

My friends were now completely content to continue hiding their power after seeing all the madness I had to put up with after revealing only a portion of my ability. Things got especially bad when some reasonably powerful experts from the Cult of Shadows decided to waylay Yale and I as we were making our way to Fenlai city just like in cannon. The two of us were heading to Fenlai city in a carriage accompanied by some Dawson Conglomerate guards to contact the Lucas clan that had bought my clan's 'Slaughterer' heirloom war-blade centuries ago.

"Hahaha, looking at all the trouble you need to put up with now makes me thankful that I've long since stopped pursuing fame, Third Bro. If I was still the same person as I was when we first met then I would have carelessly bragged about my current power and promptly gotten into a lot more problems." Yale laughs as we were sitting in the carriage.

"Sigh, stop mocking me Boss Yale. I am already beyond frustrated with all the things going on, no need to add to… hang on!" I quickly change my words from the casual banter at first to something more serious as I sense some powerful signatures head towards us from far away.

"Be on guard, Boss Yale. I am sensing two 8th rank warriors and even a 9th ranked one heading our way fast." I warn him. They might not be hostiles but I still thought it was best to remain vigilant. I get a nod from Yale as he grips his katana.

It takes a while for them to enter Yale's detection range let alone actually get close enough to interact with us, my own detection range is truly ridiculous right now. When they are close enough we both sense them get ready to ambush our party.

"I'll discreetly help reinforce the defence of our guards so they will only look dead when they are actually just knocked out. Whoever they are, they should only be after me so you should be able to heal the others after I leave with the attackers. No need to worry about me, you already know my actual strength and besides, I sense another presence that is hiding close by so we might have another watcher. Just be careful." I quickly make a plan and explain it to Yale so we can still maintain cover.

The coach driver and guards of the Dawson Conglomerate are swiftly taken down but thankfully still alive due to my help. We then hear a sharp voice call out to both of us by name so we carefully step out to see the trio of black clad warriors lead by a heavily scarred muscular man.

"Young masters Linley and Yale. There is no need to worry too much. We have no ill intentions towards you and we only wish to have a small private chat with Linley." The scarred leader says with a not so sincere smile.

"Right… no ill intentions… only want to talk. Humph, well since we are all here already, why don't you lead the way?" I ask back just as sincerely after looking at the 'corpses' of our guard.

"Third Bro, don't go with them." Yale says worriedly giving an Oscar worthy performance.

"I trust you will not do anything else if I agree to come with you quietly?" I ask the scarred man in order to continue the act.

"Of course, Young master Linley, you have my word." Scarred man answers and I agree. We are soon on our way with me in the centre as the trio surround me in a triangular formation. When we were a good distance away, I was relieved a bit to sense that Yale had successfully healed his subordinates while not revealing more that 6th rank magus ability. The watcher himself seemed to have sent some sort of signal towards Fenlai city and thankfully not paid much attention to Yale.

We were heading towards the mountain range of magical beasts and I made it a point to keep my speed just low enough to pass as an average rank 6 warrior. That way any other parties looking to use this chance could act or even backup from the Church itself could show up and I would have an easier time escaping without revealing my true abilities. My efforts seemed to pay off as I soon sensed a party of 6 more people speedily rush towards us, they would eventually catch up as we were moving slower.

"Come out, I know you're there." The scarred man loudly calls out after coming to a stop while we were still a couple kilometres from the mountain range of magical beasts.

"Humph, a Judicator of the Cult of Shadows dares to so brazenly abduct a citizen of our Holy Union?" One of the leading two in the new group calls out.

"My my, I did not expect to attract the attention of so many judicial executors led by a Deputy Arbiter and Ascetic. Looks like your Church values…" Scarred man never got a chance to finish off his sentence as I used this chance to create an exploding fireball under my feet to launch me high in the air. I used just enough power to have it be written off as a simple non-verbal use of the rank 1 fireball spell, I also used the time to clearly and loudly chant the incantation for the flight spell before flying even further away from my kidnappers.

"Humph, did your foolish Cult think it would be so easy to have me betray the Church? Let me teach you scum the error of your ways, may the light of the Church shine through." I gave a Church fanatic worthy speech before quickly chanting the Super Gravity spell to inhibit the movement of the Cult trio.

Making use of the chance I had bought them, the back up from the Church moved to take advantage of my sudden attack on the Cult. The Church and the Cult were nearly always at each other's throats and looking to find a chance to hurt each other. Now that the Cult side did not have me as a hostage and were outnumbered, the Church's people weren't about to let this chance slip by wasting time with more dialog.

"Why you brat…" Scarred man loudly bellows at me in rage as the simple hemp clothed Ascetic jumps to attack him. The black robed Deputy Arbiter and the rest of the executors immediately aim to take out the two weaker Cult goons. I stopped using anymore high-level spells and resorted to taking pot-shots at the Cultists from a safe distance, my aim was to only prevent them from escaping. I only showed the power of a rather capable 7th ranked mage in order to keep my cover while still winning some goodwill from the Church. It would be difficult to gain the Church's Trust if they knew I had just gone alone with members of the Cult even for a short while after all.

The battle was over swiftly with all Cult members killed and minimal damage for our side. Other than a few minor injuries it was a complete victory for our side so the leading Deputy Arbiter and Ascetic were both very pleased. They made sure to shower me with praise for my contribution as they escorted me to Fenlai city, they also chastised me for being as rash as I was by telling me to be more careful as a valued young talent of the Union. Some more acting like a scolded youth along with a couple insults at the Cult thrown in saw me easily forgiven and also served to improve their favourability of me instead.

I had no doubt that word of this incident would spread to the upper echelons of the Church and it would no doubt contribute to painting a good picture of my loyalty in their eyes. Hopefully that good will would then translate to the Church not constantly looking over my shoulders to monitor all my actions too closely. Besides I did not like the Cult either so I had no issues with hurting them to further my plans against the Church.

"What did you do?" Yale asked me after taking one look at the sinister smile I had on my face when we met up in private later. We were relaxing in the private lounge of my new manor on Greenleaf Road in the East of the city, both the kingdom of Fenlai and the Church had expedited the process of assigning me with a fine estate manor in the classy part of town.

"Oh, I may or may not have helped some experts of the Church take down the Cult members who had attacked us to ingratiate myself with the Church." I answer with my smile growing more sharklike.

"Forget I asked. Now can we get to discussing how you are going to get your clan's heirloom back from the Lucas clan. Their current head, while getting on in age seems to be a bit of a collector, a hoarder really if I have to be honest. Trying to get him to just return the blade will not be easy, even with money it will not be easy as the clan is moderately rich and very influential even if it is not one of the top ones." Yale explains the results of his research as well as initial negotiations with them.

"I'm sure I can think of something to convince them to the deal. If worst comes to worst, I could just go through the Church. They should be more than willing to help me out with something this small." I casually respond. Unlike the original Linley, I am not averse to making use of my connections to get what I want though I would still leave that for later if the other party proves to be too stubborn.

Just as we were discussing some more negotiation tactics for when we meet the Lucas clan Patriarch later in the day, we were interrupted by one of the butlers knocking on the doors of the lounge to inform me of a visiting minister of the kingdom of Fenlai. Thanks to some lucky plot device, the visiting minister happened to be a high ranked member of the Lucas clan who was here with a request from King Clayde of Fenlai.

With some smooth talking from both Yale and I we got the minister's help in trying to convince his uncle who was the Patriarch of the Lucas clan. The minister left soon after and the two of us got to planning again to make the best use of the new insider information we had obtained from a member of the Lucas clan itself.

"Well that went well. Seriously Third Bro, sometimes I just feel as though opportunities just fall in place for you." Yale states with a smirk.

"Eh, your luck is not so bad either Boss Yale and your instincts have certainly gotten better recently. Especially after you started training in Oracular magic." I reply back with smug smile of my own before continuing- "At least we now have a better idea of the character of the head of the Lucas clan. As a senior fellow near the end of his life, money would not sway him much and neither would threats to his life work that well. I might have better luck by appealing to his collector's heart though."

"What did you have in mind?" Yale asks.

"Well, if he is reluctant to part with the blade even for millions of gold coins, what do you think he would do if I offered to trade the blade for a grandmaster level sculpture." I ask with a playful smile.

"You would give away the 'Relentless'?" Yale asks in shock.

"Hell no! That is my best work so far and I won't give it out even if it was the only thing I had to trade for the heirloom. That sculpture means a lot to me personally and I won't part with it for a dusty old relic I won't even be using." I exclaim.

"Then what exactly will you offer? It will have to be impressive if you want use it to trade for something like 'Slaughterer', the war-blade of the very first Dragonblood warrior." Yale asks.

"Really, Boss Yale? I am now a bona fide grandmaster sculptor, while creating another work of art on the level of 'Relentless' might not be possible, my other works would not be that inferior if I put some effort into it. Plus, if I play to the old man's ego and create something with him as the centre subject…" I leave the rest hanging but the smile on Yale's face tells me he understood and was confident in the plan.

That evening the two of us dressed up in some fine robes before heading to the manor of the Lucas clan for our scheduled meeting. The Lucas clan had decided to make the most of it and hosted a banquet in my honour so I had to play the cultured noble role and make nice with all the bigshots that were in attendance. After close to nearly an hour of socialising, I finally cornered Marquis Jebs, the head of the Lucas clan and got him to hear out my proposal.

"Sigh, my nephew has already informed me of your request Linley but you must understand, I am an old geezer now and I really can't go against my collector's heart." He looked really pitiful as he makes his case and even I felt a little bad for forcing him so much.

"Marquis Jebs, you must understand what this means to my clan. This is part of our 5000-year-old legacy and the loss of the heirloom was an unprecedent shame to us. Many members of my clan have worked tirelessly with only the recovery of the war-blade as the goal, even for me it was one of the reasons I pushed myself to achieve what I have." I try to explain how much the return of the blade means to me and my clan.

"I understand, I understand but still, Linley. You need to understand that in the past someone offered me a million gold coins for it and I still refused them as I couldn't bear to part with it. Despite our clan not being one of the wealthiest around and that amount being significant even for us, I just couldn't…" He trails off.

"I also understand your difficulties Marquis Jebs which is why I have an offer I feel would be more to your taste. Tell me Marquis Jebs, how much do you know about me other than my accomplishments in magic?" I ask with a smile.

"I'm afraid I don't follow, Linley." He replies in wary confusion. He got especially tense when I asked him what he knew about me and a part of me connected his behaviour to victims of thugs who had used their backgrounds to get their way.

"No need to worry Marquis Jebs. I was just wondering if you were also aware of my accomplishments as a master sculptor as well. I know my reputation as a mage recently has overshadowed that but I must say that I am quite good at that ancient and noble art form. Now coming back to topic, I am more than willing to accept a personal commission from you to create a special sculpture in exchange for the blade. Tell you what, let's have you model as the main subject with the war-blade in question and we have the piece showcased in the Proulx Gallery. After that if you still feel that I am short changing you I will offer an additional 2,00,000 gold coins as well." I give him a stupidly good deal.

I remember that in canon he settled to return the war-blade for a very cheap price once he found out that I was actually a grandmaster sculptor as well. This way I could get the heirloom back cheaply and also increase my fame some more as well. At my current level of strength, more fame would only serve to help rather than being a hinderance. Besides if he directly asks for a lot of money, it would be difficult for me to show how I got that amount with my displayed strength. Even by trying to pass it off as money borrowed from a friend it would negatively impact my image so I found my current idea to be the best.

"Hmm… very well, Linley. Let us go with that." He agrees. He does not have much reason to reject now either as he still has some confidence in the skills of a master sculptor and moreover, I would be hurting myself a lot if the sculpture I end up making is subpar.

With the deal set, I ask him to do a few heroic poses with the war-blade 'Slaughterer' in hand while clad in his finest armour. Once I have a clear enough image to work with, I decide to return to my new manor to get started on my new project. I already had a few ideas in mind for what I wanted to make and I felt that for this particular piece it would be better if I focused more on the looks so that even if the aura feels lacking, the value of the work would not drop. Not that I would have any difficulty to also impart a unique aura to the piece, at my level it would be easy enough.

With that settled I had a portion of the backyard of my manor partitioned off with some panels so I could work on the large rock I had chosen as the raw material. I had decided to make a sculpture of Marquis Jebs valiantly charging off to fight a Silver Dragon with 'Slaughterer' in hand while mounted on a Thunderwing Pegasus. The Lucas clan had a special fondness for that winged horse breed apparently as they even used its likeness in their clan's crest. Hopefully it would tick all the right boxes for the old Marquis.

I spend a moment of time meditating to get into the required mindset for the job a head, I have no intention to half-a*se this job. I really want it to be at least comparable to canon's 'Awakening from a dream' to increase my fame even more and I was confident I could pull it off. I got to work soon after and pieces of stone started flying off as I sculpted.

I started off with the sculpture of the Silver Dragon seeing as I had an up-close encounter with a magnificent specimen of that breed. I remembered my battle with Sylvia and her daughter Selene and drew upon that to create the sculpture of a magnificent dragon with wings spread and roaring at the opponent that dared to challenge them. I was easily able to capture the aura of a battle-ready dragon from experience and with my understanding of the laws, the level of work was immediately bumped up a few levels be it quality, beauty or aura.

The charging Marquis Jebs proved to be a bit of a challenge though as the real Jebs did not have the kind of aura that would convince people that he had it in him to charge a mighty dragon. For this I had to greatly improvise and add the flare to the image of the man. Thankfully I had the experience from making 'Relentless' to fall back on as well as numerous other fights where weaker challengers gave it their all to fight stronger foes. I also used my bond of trust with Bebe for inspiration when sculpting Jebs mounted on a Thunderwing Pegasus. It added a whole new dimension of camaraderie between man and magical beast companion into the piece that I was particularly proud of.

It took me a full three weeks to complete it which I thought wasn't bad, it certainly was a whole lot faster than other sculptors for a work of this size with as much detail as I had added. I certainly did not work non-stop on this piece like I did when working on 'Beloved Grandfather' or 'Relentless' but instead took plenty of breaks in between for other things or just stopped if I felt I was not in the mood to sculpt. Forcing myself to complete the job would have negatively impacted the quality of the finished sculpture after all.

Once I was done, I decided to show it to my friends first to see what they think. I felt as though they may be able to give me a more accurate and unbiased opinion of my work and some of them with powerful backgrounds like Yale, Dixie, Delia and George could also tell me how this piece fared against other grandmaster works they had seen.

"I don't know, Linley. It certainly is impressive and I can say with confidence that it is definitely comparable to a lot of the finer works I have seen but there is just something lacking." Dixie was the first to give a review.

"No need to be so upset Linley. It is a very beautiful sculpture but if I have to compare it with 'Relentless'…" Delia tries to reassure me as well after seeing that my confidence is dropping.

"Yeah, Third Bro. 'Relentless' is something else though, I mean I've even seen 'Hope'- one of the publicly acknowledged top sculptures by Grandmaster Proulx and I felt that even that was not as grand as 'Relentless'. While this piece can definitely be ranked among the top 10 grandmaster works, it is a little below the level of 'Hope' and well below 'Relentless'. You'll still get a good price if you were to sell this though, definitely a few millions." Yale adds some critical evaluation and I start to feel better. Even I feel that this is nowhere near 'Relentless' after all and I don't really have experience seeing another grandmaster's work to compare my own with.

My other friends also give their honest opinion and after I am assured some more, I have the sculpture boxed up and ready to be taken over to the Proulx Gallery for display. Looking at all the cumbersome steps the hired help from the Dawson Conglomerate had in shipping my new sculpture almost made me just want to store it in my inter-spatial ring to avoid the hassle. Sadly, I was still keeping a lot of things close to my chest to not attract undue attention to myself so I had to put up with all these little inconveniences.

I met up with Marquis Jebs at the entrance of the Proulx Gallery, I had invited him to be among the first to view the sculpture before it is put on display in the gallery seeing as it would be his soon enough. The Director of Fenlai City's Proulx Gallery, Mr. Maia had also come down to meet us in person after he had caught wind of the deal I had with Marquis Jebs. All of us were ushered in to the inner most display hall where only the finest sculptures were displayed and we all stood around as my sculpture was being unboxed.

"Gasp!"- many of those in the room inhaled a huge breath in surprise as my work was finally unveiled. Looking at the reactions of people other than my friends was truly an eye opener for me, while I had already sort of disillusioned my closest friends to many wonders, I had forgotten just what was considered as normal for the general public of the Yulan plane.

"This… this is magnificent… a true Masterpiece!" Director Maia finally expresses his feelings in words. Marquis Jebs is still staring at the sculpture in open mouthed awe though as if he still could not believe something this exquisite was about to be given to him.

"Really? Is it that wonderful?" I ask in honest curiosity. I mean at my current level of insight into the laws I was fairly confident that any sculpture I made would no doubt be highly regarded but I still felt they would be inferior to something like 'Relentless', it was my Magnum Opus after all.

"Linley… this… I have no words for it. This is undoubtedly worthy of a place among the best Masterpieces in the world, such beauty, such exquisite lines and that aura that seems to inspire courage…" Director Maia starts evaluating my sculpture.

"Just the sheer size of this work alone is shocking, I can't imagine how long it took you to sculpt something so massive and, in such detail. Truly a Masterpiece, and to think this is the work of a less than 20-year-old who also happens to be a genius magus. If this work were ever to be sold in an auction, I can guarantee that the price would not be less than 5 million gold." Director Maia continues with spittle flying off.

"Right…" I just state while I'm internally scratching my head and wondering if it was really all that much and off-handedly wondering what his reaction to something like 'Relentless' would be like.

Just then it struck me, it wasn't just my friends that had their perspectives warped by 'Relentless', it had affected my view on the world at large as well. What was worse was that I had sort of put it on a pedestal and was trying to get all my subsequent works to have even a smidgen of that same aura even if they may not reach that level. It had become a goal to reach rather than a goal to surpass and I couldn't help but wonder if that content mindset was affecting me in other areas as well.

Was I somehow subconsciously limiting myself seeing as I had vastly surpassed canon Linley, what about my other pursuits? Was hiding my abilities affecting me so much and hurting my future growth? Caution was still a necessity but how much was just paranoia and what opportunities had I missed because of it?

Finally, I figured out that in my bid to silently improve myself without bringing undue attention I had started to limit myself. I wasn't taking that many risks and more importantly, I was losing my original drive to constantly improve. The dangers that I would need to face in the future were by no means reduced but I was already growing complacent with my achievements. If I do not reach the peak of power in due time I could sign off on my life as well as my loved ones seeing as Augusta and his secret clone Orloff were old monsters with a complete set of Overgod artifacts.

That gave me a new insight on my path of cultivation, necessity truly was the biggest drive for one's development, whether it be a simple goal or a moment of true desperation. The fact that both of my finest sculptures were born from desperation just added credence to this fact, the desperation to not let Grandpa Doehring down led to the creation of 'Beloved Grandfather' and the desire to quickly immortalise the amazing battle between Sartius and Gregor in the short a time of my epiphany led to 'Relentless'.

Without a proper goal, future growth would be stunted and just trying to copy something already achieved would not be enough. Imitation may be the truest form of flattery and in a sense, everything we do is only manipulation of nature in our favour but that was no excuse to not dream big and push onward. Even in canon, Linley did not just copy the divine ability of the Amethyst Godbeasts, he took that technique and made it his own with numerous variations. I need to do the same thing and really apply myself to get the most out of this opportunity that I've been given.

I was partially tempted to just smash up the sculpture I had just made and remake a new one but looking at the expressions of Director Maia, Marquis Jebs and the other staff and stragglers in the room made me rethink it. Whatever the case, this sculpture still was an amazing work of art and while I was now confident, I could make a much better one I decided to leave it be as a reminder of the lesson I had learnt here.

"What are you calling this sculpture, Master Linley?" Marquis Jebs asks me in a very respectful manner after he had finally rebooted his brain a bit. He was also a lot more respectful to me now as he was a lot more impressed with this achievement of mine than my talent as a mage.

"Oh uh, I call this one 'Daring Charge.'" I say as it really was one of the few qualities of Marquis Jebs that I could say was honestly reflected in the sculpture. He was so daring and stubborn in refusing to resell my family's ancestral blade and making it more difficult for me despite knowing all the trouble I could cause him. He was the kind of person who would even willing to give up his life for his principles after all and I could definitely picture him charging headlong into hopeless situations if pushed so I had immortalized that characteristic in stone.

"'Daring Charge'… Wonderful…" The old man repeats with tears in his eyes as he gazes at the sculpture with renewed intensity. We all made our way back as the Gallery still needed to make some preparations before my latest sculpture was unveiled for public viewing the following day.

Not long after my friends and I returned to my new manor, we received a guest in the form of Marquis Jebs. He had seemingly rushed back to his place to pick up 'Slaughterer' and now practically threw it at me, as if afraid I would go back on our deal and not give him the sculpture. He directly told me that he did not need even a single extra coin from me for the blade as long as he could have the sculpture, he only left after numerous reassurances from me that yes, my promise would stand and the sculpture would be his.

I was also very happy with Marquis Jebs' enthusiasm and the return of the war-blade lifted a weight off my shoulder. Despite my feelings for the blade itself not being much, I had a vested interest in having it returned to my family just because of what it meant to them, especially my late father. It was quite liberating at having achieved a small part of my grand goal, no matter how tiny, it was a step forward and gave me hope to continue.

"Well, that was unexpected." Reynolds stated after watching that drama unfold.

"I guess it is to be expected. Still, even I did not know that Third Bro's sculpture would be evaluated so highly. I mean I know that his works are amazing but still…" George adds his own opinion. The others just nod in agreement.

"Speaking about sculptures Third Bro, Fourth Bro and I were wondering if you would agree to teach your special stone sculpting method to a couple of friends we made?" Yale asks of me and Reynolds nods along.

"Well, that would depend on who these friends of yours are and if they are trust worthy enough. You all know my concerns already." I respond back.

Imagine my surprise when both of them introduce two pretty girls to the rest of the group. The one that Reynolds introduced to us was a beautiful green eyed red head, she was also well endowed with plentiful curves and we could all tell exactly what prompted Reynolds to befriend her. Her name was Windsor and she was from a minor noble family from a small town near the capitol, she had apparently run away from home after her father tried to sell her to a wealthy merchant before falling into the clutches of Reynolds. While we all commiserated with her plight, I only decided to teach her the most basic training methods like the stone sculpting for now. None of us were about to completely open up to her with our secrets just yet.

The person who Yale introduced was also just as pitiful as she also had a similarly disastrous home life but the shocking thing about all of this was that we were already acquainted with the girl. It was Alice Straf, the girl who had broken canon Linley's heart, the very same girl I had tried to put as much distance from as I could. This had me very curious and I really wanted to know how all this happened and especially if I had to 'take care' of the girl to protect Boss Yale.

I really couldn't help but shake my head at Yale's story of his encounter with Alice and it just went to further prove to me how the plot of the world tries to accomplish some things as close to canon as it can. Despite not offending my Bros after breaking my heart, the Debs clan still managed to antagonise the Dawson Conglomerate this time around as well. Only this time, that fool Kalan had really given a bad impression to Yale directly when we had all met. Yale had subsequently spoken with his father to severe ties with the Debs clan leading to misfortune for those poor fools and the start of Alice's woes.

It turns out that Alice's deadbeat of a father had raked up quite a bit of debt to numerous parties, chief of them being the Debs clan so when the Debs had come knocking to recollect funds in their times of trouble, Straf senior offered up his daughter instead. Initially things were still going good as Kalan had seemingly stepped forward to have Alice engaged to himself but the financial crisis of the Debs with Kalan being the source of it, caused some problems in the family. The elders had tried to completely remove Kalan and his father from power but the duo had managed to scrape by the skin of their teeth by securing a marriage alliance with another rich noble house by promising them the position of Kalan's main wife.

Alice was distraught at this turn of events and suddenly being thrown to the wayside by her family and friends. She had seemingly run into Yale in the Jade Water Paradise of all places where she had run to by chance after hearing that she would be reduced to a concubine. The thing that I found most odd was Yale even agreeing to help her so much, I mean he was not the sort of person to not help someone in need but this seemed too much for a stranger. I decided to ask him in private what this was all about before I jumped to conclusions though.

"Alright, Boss Yale what is this about? Why are you trying to help out that Alice girl so much? Fourth Bro, I can tell was a little too taken in by the looks of Windsor and is more interested in just her body but you never came across as that sort to me. You would never offer something like this for a girl if you just want into their pants, you would rather just go to the Jade Water Paradise and I know you are not the sort to force another if they are unwilling. Tell me honestly Boss Yale, what is up between you and Alice?" I asked him as I had found his actions truly odd.

"Sigh, would you believe me if I told you it was just a gut feeling Third Bro? Well, not exactly as it was more of my Oracular Divinations but you get the idea." He responds back and I have no comeback for that without more context so I ask him to explain further.

"Well, I've recently taken to just randomly use Divinations whenever I get this odd feeling and I have found that the results of acting along those feelings gives me quite a bit of profit. When I first ran into Alice and spoke to her, I had again used that ability and found out that she seems to have a powerful strand of Fate energy around her. She certainly has some good potential, the same as me I'd wager and I thought that it would be a crime to let talent like that be wasted. I then revealed to her the true character of those who had upset her while also trying to improve my impression of her and it wasn't that hard." Yale starts explaining.

"Right and her looks had absolutely nothing to do with it?" I ask in a deadpan voice.

"Well, she certainly is pretty but I must say I am surprised that you also think the same, I wonder what Delia would say if she found out you think another girl is pretty." Yale fires back.

"I'm just stating facts and besides, Delia is still the most beautiful and nothing would make me want to leave her let alone a slightly pretty stranger I barely know. Now carry on with your story." I respond, still with a deadpan voice.

"Sigh, you really are hopeless you know. Whatever, like I said, I felt that she had good potential so after showing the true character of those Debs trash and even her own father I had a very upset pretty girl to comfort. On second thought, it might not have been the best idea to offer so much to that Kalan idiot for a few nights with Alice, the girl was absolutely devasted after she found out that she was just being pimped out like that. Being forcibly married off is one thing but this, I thought it best to just completely buy her off from those scum and help her get back on her feet eventually." Yale states.

"Groan, I can see how the situation escalated from there but still, all this just based on the feeling you got from a Divination? What else have you been doing based on these new feelings of yours?" I ask as I truly was curious. I was more than willing to just leave Alice be and see where Yale's relationship with her goes, she was decently talented even in canon, comparable with canon Yale I would say so it was fine. I would still take her aside to give her a warning on what I would do to her if she ever hurt Yale or my other friends.

"For starters, it was one of the main reasons I asked my old man to severe ties with the Debs clan. My own pettiness may have played a part but it was not all of it. I also got the feeling that it would be better to pull out from the markets under the Church and Cult as much as possible within the year. I don't know why exactly but I feel as though some disaster is about to happen and it would do me well to be as strong as possible before then in addition to just liquidating our assets here. I have some other faint warnings of danger but they feel much further off, it is just that they seem even more dangerous despite being so far in the future. That feeling was the main reason I talked my old man in to giving the head position in the Conglomerate to my elder brother so I can focus more on training." Yale explains his reasons with as much detail as he could and I am very shocked.

"Wow, and I thought only I had those odd feelings sometimes." I mutter before convincing Yale to do some more testing with his Fate affinity. The results really surprised me as Yale had an exceptional affinity for the Edicts of Fate which was even better than his original best of only high affinity for Lightning. In the end I promised to help him out while also giving him some more advice on how he could alter his training regime to make the most of the information we had just obtained.

Another discussion with the rest of the old gang later and we decided to share some of our special training methods with them. We still had them swear some strict magical oaths to keep what they learnt secret but we still taught them our techniques to quickly improve spiritual power and also how to train the body better. The secret Soul mutation method and other clan secrets we still kept to ourselves, they had to prove they were trust worthy before we completely let them into our circle and time was the only requirement for now.