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In the meantime, the crossed-legged Konrad tested himself in the formation setting arts. Twenty-four glittering blue crystals hovered around him, aligned in an intricate web and connected by blue light lines.

The twenty-four crystals formed a formation circle that swirled above Konrad's head. With a wave of his hand, the formation circle expanded, before descending onto the ground and setting a detection array across the room.

With his first successful formation setting, Konrad could officially call himself a Formation Master. Of course, with his current knowledge and skills, he only qualified as an Elementary Formation Master.

Yvonne, who lied by his side, eyed all this neutrally.

"The Formation Master path is too time-consuming. Although with your current soul power, you can probably compare to the average Profound Formation Master, I'm not sure you can actually reach that skill level without a year's worth of work."

Formation levels were ranked as elementary, nascent, great, profound, and sublime.

Elementary formations were effective on True Rank experts and below. Nascent formations were limited to the Arch Rank. Great formations to the Transcendent Rank, and profound formations to the Holy Rank.

With his current soul power, Konrad indeed didn't lose out to the average Profound Formation Master. A pity that his learning level was still too low.

"Time is not a big problem."

Having mastered the Elementary Formation Code, Konrad exchanged the Nascent Formation Code from the system.

Seeing its price equal to a high-grade Arch Rank artifact, it wasn't hard to imagine that the Profound Formation Code would cost a high-grade Holy Artifact's price.

As for the Sublime Formation Code, it would probably rival Divine Rank treasures.

While formations were of vital importance in faction and army building, Konrad wasn't willing to expend billions of exp just for a Formation Code. With that amount, he could improve his bloodline and physiques.

If a bloodline upgrade was an overall boost in strength, a physique was like an additional cultivation base. For example, a Mastered Holy Physique was equivalent to an extra Saint-level cultivation base.

Although in the Awakened Stage, physique abilities were greatly restrained, they still gave many passive boons.

For that reason, Konrad's current body was already more resilient than the average high-grade Holy Artifact. Without a high-grade Holy Artifact or a Star Taming Stage cultivation base, injuring him was a daunting task.

Therefore, as far as Tribulation Stage experts were concerned, even if he couldn't defeat them, they could forget about taking his life.

For the same reason, Konrad didn't pay much attention to external forces such as artifacts. He would use them if he had to, but his soul, flesh, and blood would always form his mightiest foundation.

As for the following formation tomes, they were likely to exist within the Tower of Rebirth. There, he could surely build the whole collection.

In a twister of dark sand, Yvonne morphed into her half-serpent form, with everything beneath her waist turning into a long serpent tail while she coiled around Konrad's sitting form.

"Though he might not show outward complains, the water alliance king will surely not take kindly to his son's treatment. Which one do you think it will be? Poison or assassins?"

She asked while wrapping her scaled tail around Konrad's waist.

"Why can't it be both? In any case, I came to suck his fifteen states dry. He and I were never meant to be friends."

Konrad replied and took her lips into his. Clothes were quickly set aside, and moans soared against the walls.

…

At dusk, servants knocked on the door to announce the banquet's imminent start. The disheveled Konrad reorganized his appearance while Yvonne returned to her miniature hekeret demon form.

As before, she wrapped herself around his torso, maintaining the façade of the tamed, exotic pet cobra, and together, they left the chambers.

As the "delegation leader," Krann was the first alerted and already waited on the outside.

The tenth elder soon appeared, and after him, the twenty-one remaining delegation members quickly showed themselves. Led by the maidservants, the group then headed toward the banquet hall where the royals awaited.

Music brightened the lavish setting while rows of royal family members filled the many seats. At the hall's end, the water alliance king sat on his throne, with the queen by his side.

As the delegates arrived, all eyes fell upon them. But while Krann led the group, all ignored him to instead stare at the "human elder" at his back.

The von Gradl kinswomen, in particular, regardless of their own marital status, could hardly shift their gaze from that cobra wielding, purple-eyed man whose body looked like a marvel.

"Is he…a dream spirit's descendant?"

That thought swirled within the mind of all the gathered individuals. After all, in their knowledge, only dream spirits could produce such an effect. But when they recalled that the few dream spirits that existed in the Ancient Crystal World all resided within the Celestial Church, they dismissed the thought.

From the corner of his eye, the water alliance king could see that although more reserved, even his queen wasn't indifferent to that teen looking, Saint-elder's charms.

Doubly incensed, he gritted his teeth in suppressed rage, while clutching his thighs beneath the table.

That man's outrageousness truly knew no bounds! Not only did he dare wreak havoc within his realm and smack his royal face, but he also openly seduced his wife?

Since his face transcended the limits of human perfection, couldn't he hide it?

The gals!

Why had he never heard that there were also men whose looks could topple countries?

But when he recalled the fate he had in store for Konrad, his ire dispersed and with a bright, hospitable smile, he rose from his seat.

"Your grace, dear delegates! It is my house's honor to welcome you to our table. Please take your seats. We've prepared our Water Kingdom Alliance's most outstanding dishes, musicians and dancers to entertain you all!"

As the delegation's official leader, it was now Krann's turn to speak.

"Thank you, your majesty, for your kind welcome. It's a pity that your second son was instigated by disloyal officials and almost ruined our two countries' good relationships.

But I heard he's so distraught about the whole thing that he chose to kneel at the palace's gate until our departure. Such a repentant heart is truly hard to come by.

To make sure his good intentions don't go to waste, your majesty should ensure he keeps kneeling…until we bring the future crown princess back to the Holy Flame Empire."

Krann replied in a polite bow, causing the water alliance king to drop his wine glass.