“There were two major incidents that basically turned the entire continent on its head,” Amira explained as she took a seat on the edge of the bed. “The first was the Pavilion finally revealing itself to the world, although the rest of our accomplishments when challenging and defeating the other schools were quickly overshadowed by yours and master’s feats in the O’Brien Empire.”

Ace could practically hear Mira’s eyes rolling as she said that, but he didn’t interrupt her as she continued.

“As for the second, that was the reason Uncle Aiden and Cesar couldn’t make it back in time to assist you,” Mira explained with a hint of pity, unwillingness, and even guilt, knowing that if either of them had been able to make it back, things would never have gotten to the point where Ace was forced to overdraw his will.

Hearing that, Ace’s ears suddenly perked up. Even though he wasn’t a saint, his master’s power ranked among the very best, only surpassed by the prime saints.

As for Cesar, after his initial fusion of two profound mysteries, his strength far surpassed the average prime saint. According to Arianna, even if he didn’t finish his original profound mystery of the body of darkness and instead focused on his comprehension of the fusion, he wouldn’t need to complete the fusion to become a deity. Simply by comprehending around 25% of the fused mysteries, the king of killers would become a deity.

For two such experts to have been stalled on what should’ve been a simple mission for them, Ace couldn’t even imagine what could have possibly stalled them. Thankfully, Mira didn’t make him wait too long.

“The evening after Alyssa and I challenged and defeated all the students of the Ernst Institute and Rhine Centre of Excellence, the four of us had just met back up when ten saint-level beasts marched out of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, leading a beast tide filled with hundreds if not thousands of high-ranking beasts and innumerable middle and lower ranking beasts…”

“Ten saints?” Ace asked in surprise, not because that was a high number, but the opposite.

As previously mentioned, Aiden and Cesar were powerhouses that had the power to look down on most saints with complete disdain. Forget ten; there could be twice that number, and the two of them would still be unphased by the lineup unless…

“Were all ten at the prime saint level?!” Ace asked, believing that was the only way those two would be stalled by a mere beast tide.

“No,” Amira shook her head. “There were only three magical beasts at the prime saint level.”

“Three?” Ace asked in confusion. “That’s quite the line-up, but it wouldn’t be enough to stop the two of them, especially if they were together.”

“If that were all there was to it, then you’d be right, but leading them was a genuine deity-level magical beast!” Mira explained, bringing no small shock to Ace. “And it wasn’t your average deity like that bastard O’Brien or the High Priest of the Yulan Empire.

According to Uncle Aiden, that beast, Dylin, was a Full God!”

“Full God?” Ace asked in confusion.

“Ooh right, I forgot that you were taking your little nap when Master explained to us about the deity realms,” Mira said teasingly, causing Ace to roll his eyes. “Apparently, there are three realms when becoming a deity.

The first, as you already know, is the Demi-God realm. This is the realm that the O’Brien and High Priest are at. To enter this realm, one must be a peak saint who has comprehended a completely profound mystery in its entirety. Or, in the case of those like Cesar, comprehend a fusion of two profound mysteries to around the 25% mark.

The following realm is the Full God realm. To enter, one must fully comprehend at least two profound mysteries.

The next realm is the realm of Highgods. This is the realm one enters after completely comprehending all the profound mysteries of their chosen law. According to Master, this is the time when the average deity begins to focus on fusing profound mysteries.

The fourth and final realm for deities is the paragon realm. Paragons are supposedly the kings among deities, having completely fused all profound mysteries, becoming a paragon of their chosen law.”

Ace’s eyes opened in amazement, feeling as though a door had been opened into a far wider world. One he couldn’t wait to step into!

“What about after the Paragon realm?” Ace asked. “Are there no realms after that?”

“Master said there is another realm after that – the realm of Sovereigns, but not even she knows much about them, other than they’re all powerful beings who could kill even paragons with a thought!” Amira explained, unable to hide her awe and excitement.

“Sovereigns, huh?” Ace smiled, a faint but undeniable anticipation building up inside him. ‘One day…’

“But as Master said, that’s way too far away for the likes of us to even think about as we are now,” Amira continued.

“You’re right,” Ace sighed as he suppressed his bubbling excitement. “What happened with that Dylin guy anyway? I’m guessing everyone made it out in one piece.”

“We had a few close calls,” Mira sighed. “But we all made it out in one piece, even Linley.”

“Linley?” Ace asked with a raised brow. “You saw Linley again?”

“We did,” Mira nodded. “He and his father had just attempted to assassinate the King of Fenlai – King Clayde, I think his name was.

Apparently, it was this Clayde fellow who orchestrated the attempted kidnapping of Linley’s mother all those years ago.

At the time, Linley had already reached the peak of the sixth rank in his human form; after transforming, though, he was actually able to jump three ranks, effectively becoming a warrior at the peak of the ninth rank.

“Impressive,” Ace commented sincerely, a faint flicker of excitement appearing in his eyes as he remembered the real reason he gave Linley the blood of the Azure Dragon when they last met.

“Very!” Amira agreed. “But before they could assassinate that Clayde fellow, he successfully sent a signal to the Radiant Church. Even more unfortunate, the one to respond to the signal was a warrior at the early stages of the saint level.

That woman got there just in time to save Clayde and for him to explain Linley’s hatred of the Church.

Hearing how much of a problem the Baruchs apparently had with the church and seeing how their clan had already produced two fearsome Dragonblood Warriors, that woman attempted to kill Linley, Bebe, and Hogg to prevent any future problems that could arise.

If not for the intervention of Cesar, who apparently was a big fan of Linley’s work as a grandmaster sculptor, Linley’s old ghost of a Master would have gone on to sacrifice himself so Linley and his father could live on.

“Sculptor?” Ace asked, not seeming to care about Doehring Cowart’s near suicide.

“Yeah, apparently, he’s the best sculptor of the current era, even able to rank among the best our continent has ever produced.” Amira shrugged, clearly not very interested in art.

“Wasn’t he aiming to destroy the church?” Ace asked. “Why’s he wasting time sculpting instead of training?”

“Uncle Aiden guessed that he’s using art as a way to temper his spiritual essence. If he’s right, it’s the reason Linley was able to progress as a mage so quickly.”

“That’s possible too?”

“Of course it is,” Amira explained, rolling her eyes at Ace’s lack of understanding of anything that wasn’t combat related. “In fact, you know at least three people who have followed a somewhat similar path. We both do.”

Ace’s brows momentarily furrowed as he went through all the people they knew until a round and severely overweight figure popped into his head.

“Fatty!” Ace said in realisation, as he guessed that cooking had replaced sculpting for the young fire mage. “But who’s the other one?”

“Second sister Lauriella with her forging, and aunt Milianna with her healing,” Mira revealed.

“My mother?!” Ace exclaimed.

“You wouldn’t remember having been unconscious, but ever since returning from O’Brien Empire, your mother has thrown herself into furthering her comprehension of the art of healing,” Amira said with unconcealed admiration. “At least once, sometimes several times a day, Aunty would practice her healing magic on you.

It may have started with simply wanting to heal you quicker, but before long, she genuinely learnt to love it. Having devoted every fibre of her being to the art, she even experienced two bouts of sudden enlightenment, the last of which allowed her to gain a trace of insight into the edict of Life.

According to Master, that was the reason you were able to carry on progressing whilst in your coma.

Master said she wouldn’t be surprised if you experienced any added benefits aside from that.”

Ace had to admit that Arianna was spot on. It wasn’t just his realms that had progressed; even the power of his soul had improved, having reached its limits for his current realm, but aside from that, his body felt lighter and full of vitality.

It was hard to put it into words, but if one had to, the only way he could describe it was that his very life force had sublimated. He didn’t know what it meant for his future, if anything, but it felt amazing.

Still, Ace wasn’t thinking about any of that; the only thing he felt was joy and appreciation.

Still, as happy as his mother’s newfound passion made him, he still wanted to happen next with his master and the others.

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Book 11: Part 22 – Faye’s Opportunity