After Izroth and Qi Jiguang finished their final match, there was no one else who wanted to challenge Izroth to a duel.
To Mirage's and Midnight's surprise, Qi Jiguang appeared to be spirited instead of depressed as a result of his crushing defeats. However, Qi Jiguang had made it clear that although he had lost the battle, he had not given up on the war.
Now that he had a goal to strive towards, Qi Jiguang was fired up. He understood that even if Izroth was stronger than him at the moment, he felt that as long as he pushed himself it would be possible for him to one day catch up. It may not be tomorrow, next week, or next year, but he decided that no matter how long it took he would not stop until he reached that same level or even better yet, surpassed it!
…
Four hours later...
A group of nobles could be seen leaving Zenrou's throne room. The expressions on their faces were mixed with some being excited and others being angry. However, the most common expression that the nobles shared was one of complete disbelief as if it was still difficult for them to digest the words they had just heard.
There were two nobles who were the last to exit the throne room. One was a man who appeared to be in his mid-forties with flaming red hair, burning red eyes, and a sturdy build. There was a stern look on his face as if he was always serious and it often made it difficult for others to approach him without feeling intimidated.
That man was the current head of the Aragon family, one of the three strongest families within the Proximus kingdom, Torogo Aragon. The Aragon family was well known for its powerful fire magic. When it came to famous fire-based magic casters, nine chances out of ten, that person would be a member of the Aragon family.
As for the other noble, he was thin with a weak and sickly complexion. His hair was white and his eyes were gray in color, as well as, unfocused. This man was blind. He had a staff in his hand that was embedded with magic. But, if one underestimated him based solely on appearances alone, then they would be in for a rude awakening.
That blind man was the current head of the Rutazou family, Ban Rutazou. The Rutazou family, along with the Aragon family and Jestal family, completely dominated the top three spots of power in Proximus. Of course, this excluded the royal family themselves. The Rutazou family specialized in a unique nature magic and Ban's eldest son was the current leader of Proximus' military magic division.
The Jestal family, on the other hand, specialized in rare spatial magic! That automatically put them at the very top spot amongst the three families. The members of the Jestal family were all born with a strong affinity for spatial magic. These days they were very secretive and never really associated with others, however, their talent and strength could not be overlooked.
"What do you think?" Torogo asked as he walked along the inner palace corridors with Ban.
"About?" Ban replied as if he had no idea what Torogo was talking about.
Torogo glared at Ban and said, "You know very well what I'm talking about, Ban. What do you think about his majesty's decision?"
Ban stayed quiet for a while as they strolled down the corridor. He then released a small sigh as he shook his head.
"To be truthful, I believe his majesty's decision is too hasty. Though I suppose since it came from the Wiseman of Everpeak his majesty will not question it. Wouldn't you say that such blind faith in a single individual is a bit too dangerous?" Ban stated.
There was a high level of respect that the noble families held for the Wiseman of Everpeak, however, they all felt that she had become too powerful over the past few decades. Not only did she have the king's unquestionable trust and faith, but she was even capable of controlling every magic formation within the palace itself! Not even the king's elder brother, Zenrou, had that level of access and control!
But, the news that they had just received from their king was disturbing to say the least.
The reason Kryxelsia left it up to Zenrou to decide when to inform the noble families of Proximus was due to the fact that she was not blind to how she was viewed in the eyes of the noble family. While she did not really care for their judgment or opinions of her, in the end, she was still considerate of Zenrou.
"Indeed, as nobles of Proximus, we cannot allow his majesty's trust to become blind faith. However, we can worry about that part at a later date. But, for now, even if his majesty trusts the words of the Wiseman of Everpeak without a doubt, I believe it's best that we both send some members of our family to personally investigate." Torogo said.
Ban gave a small nod in response as he replied, "I am in agreement with you. Although, it would have been much faster if the Jestal family were the ones sent to confirm it."
"It can't be helped. They involve themselves as little as possible in the affairs of the kingdom. The current head is different from his late father in that regard." Torogo stated.
The two continued to talk for a few minutes as they arrived at the front area of the palace.
"I'll be heading back to my territory to prepare before the king's declaration." Torogo said as he held one hand up into the sky.
A few moments later, a flaming red wyvern descended from the sky and landed in front of Torogo. The wyvern was around twenty meters tall and one could feel the overwhelming power of the creature. The wyvern was one of the closest races to the true dragons and those who could tame them were few and far in between.
"I suggest you do the same, Ban." Torogo stated as he jumped onto the wyvern's back and stood tall as the wyvern flew away at great speeds. The nearby palace guards were terrified of the giant wyvern as they were knocked over by the strong gale left behind after its take-off.
Ban released a heavy sigh as he said to himself, "It looks like the age of peace in the Mortal Realm is about to come to an abrupt end."
A few moments later, a beautiful lotus rose from the ground that was around three meters in size as it bloomed in front of Ban. He stepped onto the center of the lotus as it closed shut before it returned to the ground without leaving a single trace behind. Ban was nowhere to be seen.
…
Meanwhile...
Izroth and Valentine currently sat down at a table with Kryxelsia. She had returned to the estate around three hours ago. Around one hour after that, Qi Jiguang and Omega decided to make their way back towards Amaharpe. The following hour Mirage and Ying Yue logged out of RML as they had already been online for quite some time and wanted to take a small break.
As for Midnight, he felt a bit awkward being the "talkative" one as Izroth and Kryxelsia were both individuals of few words. Therefore, he politely excused himself and thanked Kryxelsia for her hospitality before he logged out.
Once Izroth and Kryxelsia were alone, the two of them talked about various topics that would have definitely gone over Mirage and the others head. From magic to all the way to the Chaotic Dogma Realm. In the end, Kryxelsia was pleasantly surprised by Izroth's level of knowledge. Not only was he not ignorant of the different kingdoms within the Mortal Realm, but what impressed her the most was his understanding of magic despite his massive lack of mana.
When it came to Izroth's fundamental understandings of the basic knowledge of magic, she could not find a single flaw! Unfortunately, his knowledge was incredibly lacking when it came to advanced magic sequences and matrices. However, even with his lack of information about it, he quickly understood any topics she spoke about once she explained its foundations.
It was at that point she felt that it was unmistakably due to Izroth's limited resources that his magical progress was halted at such a poor level. Kryxelsia believed that this was a waste of his potential. Therefore, she decided to lend him a small hand.
"Izroth, your mana is unstable and extremely fractured. It appears you've been reckless as of late." Kryxelsia said. She had noticed Izroth's fractured mana from the very beginning, however, since it was not life-threatening and there were more important things to take care of at the time, she did not bring it up.
'So that's why my mana has been regenerating at such a slow rate.'
Izroth could only give a helpless smile in return. It was just as Kryxelsia said, but it was not as if he did so on purpose. Thanks to his Breaker of Limits skill, the system automatically searched for a substitute energy source to make up for his lack of mana in order to perform an Element Fusion without his consent. Since then, out of 270 points of mana, even after so many hours, it was still only at 35 points.
Kryxelsia held out her hand as a thin stream of rainbow-colored mana drifted from her hand and flew towards Izroth. As the mana made contact with Izroth's body, he felt as if a shattered mirror that was inside of him had started to mend itself. In just a few seconds, his mana had shot from 35 points to 270 points! But, that was not all that happened.
〈System Alert: You have acquired the passive skill «Seal of Ten Chakrams»!〉
'This skill...'
Izroth could actually sense his mana pool expanding at an incredible rate.
300 points...
450 points...
585 points!
Izroth's mana had increased from a mere 270 points all the way to 585 points. In just a few seconds, his mana had doubled! It was all thanks to the skill he acquired from Kryxelsia, Seal of Ten Chakrams.
Of course, Izroth was grateful and made sure to thank Kryxelsia for her thoughtful gesture. As he read over the skill, Izroth was taken aback. He did not think that he would gain such an amazing skill from a simple conversation with Kryxelsia.
'With this skill, it may be possible for me to eventually form a mana core.'
...
After his fight with Izroth, Valentine locked himself inside of the room he had originally stepped out of when Izroth and the others first arrived at Kryxelsia's estate. However, around ten minutes ago Valentine busted out of that room with a look of excitement on his face. When he saw Izroth and his master, he went on a long and happy rant about having successfully completed the sixth magic sequence!
After calming down a bit, Valentine took a seat to join Izroth and his master and now, here the three of them were sitting at the same table having a discussion.
Zuuuuuuu! Zuuuuuuu! Zuuuuuu!
All of a sudden, a loud sound echoed through the entire magic capital city.
"What's that noise?" Valentine asked.
"I see, it seems he has already made his decision." Kryxelsia said stood to her feet and began to walk towards the exit of the building.
"Master? Where are you going?" Valentine questioned.
"Both of you, follow me." Kryxelsia responded without halting her steps.
Izroth and Valentine followed after Kryxelsia as they soon arrived outside in the front area of the estate. When they went out, there was a large thin veil over the sky in the magic capital city. However, unknown to Izroth and Valentine, the same thin veil appeared over the capital city of every major kingdom in the Mortal Realm.
Amaharpe, O'Tolhelm, and even Tempest had that thin veil appear over their capital cities.
A few moments later, a person appeared on the thin veil. That was when they found that it was not just some barrier of sorts, but instead, it was some type of magic screen!
'It's him.'
On the screen was a man sitting on his throne with a look and aura of authority. That man was none other than Zenrou Proximus, the current king of Proximus!