“Y-Young Master Leon?!” High in the sky, Doncic stared at Leon's smiling face, unable to believe his eyes for a moment.
How could Leon, a mere Silver priest, fly so high into the sky?
But in the next instant, when Doncic sensed the aura radiating from Leon, his eyes, already wide with shock, stretched even wider.
“Y-You've advanced to the Gold rank?!”
Doncic asked in astonishment.
Over the past few days, he had been busy scouting and gathering intelligence regarding the reappearance of Burns V. All the information Leon had received previously had been provided by him.
As a result, he had rarely been by Leon's side lately and was completely unaware of the progress in Leon's strength.
But... it had been less than half a month!
How did Leon suddenly advance to the Gold rank when he was just a Silver priest not long ago?!
“Just good luck. I only recently completed my advancement to the Gold rank,”
Leon replied calmly, seeing the sheer bewilderment on Doncic's face.
His nonchalant tone made it sound as if advancing to the Gold rank was no difficult feat at all.
“But didn't you just advance to the Silver rank a few months ago?!”
Doncic couldn't help but ask upon hearing this.
“Yes, it's already been a few months. Advancing to the Gold rank again isn't that big of a deal, is it?” Leon turned his gaze and said.
Doncic: “...”
Listen to that! Just listen to that!
Was that even something a human would say?
What did he mean by 'it's already been a few months, advancing to Gold isn't a big deal'?
If that was the case, then what did it make someone like him, who had spent over a decade just to advance from the Silver rank to the Gold rank?
Doncic opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but in the end, he only opened and closed his lips before falling silent.
“So this is the world of a peerless genius...”
Doncic was able to become an Imperial Shadow Agent and was often called a genius by others, but in front of Leon, he suddenly realized that he didn't understand the world of true geniuses at all!
He made up his mind right then and there: he had to cling tightly to Leon's thigh!
Leon was not even eighteen years old yet, yet he was already a Gold-rank priest!
By the time he reached his fifties or sixties, wouldn't he be at the Epic or even Legend rank?
His future was so dazzlingly bright that it could keep someone awake at night just thinking about it!
He had to seize this opportunity to ride his coattails!
Meeting Doncic high in the air was merely a brief interlude.
Leon proceeded to test his abilities further after his mental power had advanced to the Gold rank.
The detection range of his Radiance Perception had increased from the original one hundred meters to around two hundred and fifty meters.
The Radiance Force Field, created through the linkage between Radiance Perception and the Healing Art, had also expanded to a range of one hundred meters, with the number of Radiance Orbs inside increasing to over one hundred and twenty.
In other words, if someone triggered all of these Radiance Orbs, they would have to endure over a hundred and twenty times the mental burning effect!
It was absolutely terrifying!
In addition, the power of many of his other Divine Arts had also received a significant boost due to the expansion of his Sea of Mental Power.
Overall, Leon's current strength was at least four to five times greater than before his advancement!
After a brief test of his strength, Leon descended from the sky. He then set off for Eldenborg, accompanied by Alicia, Ratahn, and several Falcon warriors.
...
Meanwhile, a figure was already waiting along the path between Jellyfish Town and Eldenborg.
This figure was named Shawshank, a Gold-rank assassin of the Three Sword Guild.
Shawshank came from a poor family. In his childhood, he had been bullied and tormented by the villagers because of his weak constitution.
Later, after awakening his bloodline power and becoming a bloodline warrior, he took up a longsword and wiped out everyone who had bullied him in his youth!
Among them was even a family of baron nobility.
Since then, he had been wanted by the Heron Empire and fled to the ends of the earth, eventually escaping into the Three Sword Guild to become a bloodline warrior assassin.
Because of his childhood experiences, Shawshank harbored a deep hatred for the Heron Empire, specializing in accepting commissions to assassinate Heron nobility.
To this day, he had lost count of how many Heron nobles he had killed.
It was just as a person would not remember how many slices of bread they had eaten since birth.
A few days ago, he had accepted a new commission. The target was to kill the second son of the ducal Douglas family, Leon Douglas.
Truth be told, after hearing that Leon Douglas had executed quite a few Heron nobles with an iron fist, Shawshank had long admired him.
They were both in the business of killing nobles, yet while he diligently slaughtered them household by household, Leon wiped them out region by region.
His efficiency was far superior to his own!
If Leon had not been born into a top-tier noble family, and if Leon were not his designated target, Shawshank felt that the two of them could have surely become bosom friends, perhaps even sharing an intimate, zero-distance connection!
“I wonder if he prefers to be on top or on the bottom...”
Shawshank thought with a suggestive look on his face.
The only pity was that he had to become Leon's enemy...
But before that, he could kill Leon's guards first, then sever Leon's limbs to turn him into a human pig, letting him thoroughly experience the taste of ascending to paradise...
Clop, clop, clop!
The sound of horned horses galloping in the distance reached Shawshank's ears. He quickly reined in his wandering thoughts and hid inside the magic-modified rice stalks, which grew taller than a man.
“Black hair, black eyes, delicate features... That's Leon Douglas...”
Shawshank parted the stalks blocking his view and looked toward the approaching party traveling at high speed.
The leader wore a well-fitted priest's robe, possessing a refined and extremely handsome face.
Only...
“Why is his physique different from the intelligence report?”
Shawshank was puzzled. According to the reports, Leon was supposed to have a relatively lean and well-proportioned build, as he had undergone bloodline warrior training before transitioning to a priest.
But the Leon that Shawshank was looking at now had a build that was far sturdier than just well-proportioned.
Although his physique did not look as exaggeratedly muscular as a typical bloodline warrior, it was exceptionally robust...
“This kind of muscular build isn't really my type...”
Shawshank sighed, feeling a sense of disappointment after such high anticipation.
“Who's there? Show yourself!”
Just as Shawshank was sighing, he saw Leon, who was riding a horned horse, suddenly pull on the reins to halt. Leon barked sharply in Shawshank's direction.
“What sharp perception!”
Shawshank was startled. He hadn't expected Leon to detect him from such a great distance.
If it were an assassin from any other organization, they would have aborted the mission and retreated immediately upon being discovered by their target.
But Shawshank was an assassin of the Three Sword Guild!
He had absolutely no intention of retreating. Instead, he rapidly mobilized the Battle Qi in his body, unleashing it in a sudden burst!
As Battle Qi surged into his longsword, Shawshank lunged forward with explosive speed, shooting out from the stalks!
At the same time, he slashed out violently. A thunderous sword Qi erupted like splashing plasma, hurtling straight toward Leon and his companions!
According to Shawshank's estimation, this single strike would be enough to instantly slaughter the two guards in front of Leon, while completely draining the mental power Leon would need to condense a Sacred Light Shield.
However, when the thunderous sword Qi swept forward, the reality turned out to be vastly different from what Shawshank had envisioned!
Facing the full-power sword Qi of a Gold-rank bloodline warrior, Leon merely raised his scepter slightly, condensing a translucent armor around everyone.
“Bemis’s Protection.”
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