Chapter 174: The Foreign Wizard

Time passed slowly, and in the blink of an eye, more than a century went by.

One hundred and fifty years after the founding of the Aethyr Empire, countless knights walked the grand avenues of the imperial capital, Aethyr.

Compared to the knights of a century ago, these men wore different standard-issue armor. The aura of divine power emanating from the armor was exceptionally rich, clearly the result of careful blessings by the priests.

Over the past century, divine arts had developed rapidly. Across the world, not only had various facilities based on divine arts emerged, but cheap civilian devices powered by divine energy had also appeared.

Under Aethis's efforts, the production of armor, weapons, and basic equipment had largely been industrialized. Apart from the energy source being replaced by divine power, everything else was gradually beginning to resemble his previous life.

At this moment, within the city of Aethyr, towering ancient trees stood proudly across the streets, where grand buildings could be seen everywhere, arranged in neat, well-planned rows designed and constructed by the empire.

"So many knights are showing up. It looks like this year's tournament is going to be exceptionally lively."

"Which family do you think will take the final championship?"

"Hard to say. So many geniuses have emerged in recent years; it might even be won by some commoner knights."

"I heard that because His Majesty Aethis will be attending in person this time, more than a dozen divine descendant families are sending their younger generations to participate," a straight-backed old man said, pointing at the divine emblems visible everywhere as he gossiped to the surrounding crowd.

"Divine descendant families!"

"If the divine descendant families are entering the arena, then the rest of us are probably in trouble. How could mortals possibly be a match for the descendants of gods?"

"Not necessarily. Word has it that decades ago, a knight from an ordinary province uprightly defeated a divine descendant."

"That was just an anomaly, and he only defeated a collateral branch member with a very thin trace of divine blood. How can that even count?"

Waves of discussion erupted on the spot, as a group of commoners discussed animatedly with excitement in their eyes.

Inside the imperial palace in Aethyr City, Aethis looked at the urgent report in his hand and froze slightly.

"On the borders of the Ogla Province, local priests discovered three strange figures shrouded in an aura of evil and decay, carrying unusual energy fields. It is suspected to be a power system different from battle qi."

He read the notice word by word, his previously calm expression vanishing as a hint of a smile flashed across his face.

"A different system. Is this the precursor?"

He raised his head to look at the sky. Through his senses, an extraordinarily massive world was drawing closer and closer.

"Ogre! You will go."

He looked downward and issued his command.

A tall, noble knight stepped forward, enveloped in an aura of nature similar to Aethis's.

He had handsome features; although tall, he appeared delicate and elegant. His hair, like Aethis's, was pure, pitch-black. Within his body, an aura of natural divinity radiated outward, forming faint, cyan-colored patterns upon his forehead.

This was a descendant of a Child of Nature, a divine descendant. After that initial batch of fruits matured, over the past century, these Children of Nature had successively married and had children, gradually forming distinct families. Because their bloodline originated from the God of Nature, they were known as divine descendant families.

Looking at Ogre, Aethis nodded, a brief thought passing through his mind, and then instructed, "Go and bring them back. Take the imperial guard and escort those individuals back intact."

"Understood!" Ogre bowed his head and respectfully withdrew.

In the distance, the heavy gates slowly closed, and Aethis gazed into the distance, deep in thought.

***

Across the distant lands, along a straight ancient road, a massive army was marching. In the center, several tall military horses pulled a carriage carrying three men moving forward.

The three men wore expressions of varying emotions, and their auras and attire stood out starkly against the surrounding knights, looking quite bizarre.

"Agra, don't bother resisting. This world is far more powerful than we imagined."

Among the three, a middle-aged man looked at the white-robed young man glancing around frantically, speaking in a calm voice.

"Look around you. Over a thousand knights comparable to tier-three wizard apprentices, and nearly a hundred powerhouses at the level of official wizards or higher are guarding this place, just to escort a few mere wizard apprentices like us."

Saying this, he couldn't help but let out a bitter smile.

Opposite him, Agra nodded helplessly, frustration and despair etched in his eyes.

"Damn it! When we fled to the southern continent's frontier, we thought fate was finally smiling on us, allowing us to discover a passage to a new world. Who would have thought this would be the situation here?"

"A moment ago, we were still praying that this world wouldn't be too weak so we could reap more rewards, yet we never expected this world to be overwhelmingly strong."

He looked at the surrounding knights, lingering fear in his eyes, and spoke resentfully.

"What have we seen since coming to this world?"

"An unprecedentedly powerful world, active and dense elemental energy, fertile and safe lands, buildings everywhere, and formation-organized legions."

"Tens of thousands of knights comparable to wizard apprentices, official wizard-level powerhouses everywhere—forget about just us, even if all the wizards from every academy on our entire southern shore attacked together, we probably wouldn't be a match for this world."

The three exchanged bitter smiles, realizing how utterly naive their previous thoughts had been.

"Still, there's no need to despair entirely. The civilization here appears quite enlightened; it isn't vicious like some wild, desolate worlds, and we didn't actively harm the natives of this world, so there's no need to worry excessively."

"Look, though we've been restrained along the way, haven't our accommodations been quite decent? They're even better than what we had back at the academy."

Another person among the three—a white-haired, wrinkled old man—spoke up, his expression entirely calm.

Hearing him say this, Agra could not help but smile bitterly.

For wizard apprentices like them, arriving in an entirely new world, how could they possibly maintain a truly friendly attitude? It was just that they hadn't managed to do anything yet before they were discovered by the local priests.

"Still, this world is truly terrifying. Red-robed priests who can rival official wizards are everywhere. Not even the Dragon Islands of the dragon race or the ancestral lands of the Olynth pantheon could be this terrifying."

The old man in the black robe looked at the several red-robed priests nearby, his voice trembling uncontrollably.

"It's a pity our language parsing isn't proficient yet, and we haven't mastered spiritual communication wizard templates. Now we can only learn the local language using the slowest, clumsiest methods."

"I feel that although the language here is complex, it's not too difficult. I can master it in three months at most. Let's just hope nothing unexpected happens along the way."

They conversed word by word, completely unconcerned about the outsiders around them.

Perhaps in their view, just as they were unable to communicate with the knights outside, these knights couldn't understand a single word of their language either.

However, ahead of them, a knight turned his head, looked at their figures, and a sneer appeared on his face.

"It seems we can confirm it. They are indeed outsiders."

A yellow-robed priest beside him appeared, bowing slightly.

"Captain Geyia, should we take measures against them? They carry strange powers. Sealing their minds with divine arts would be safer."

Geyia shook his head. "There is no need."

"His Majesty has already issued orders for us to escort them safely to the imperial capital. Furthermore, Lord Ogre has been specially dispatched here. With these people possessing strength no greater than ordinary knights, they are completely incapable of pulling off any tricks."

He wore a look of contempt, speaking disdainfully.

Indeed, if knights were still considered rare and formidable warriors over a hundred years ago, they were now as common as dirt. Within every major mainline legion, even the common soldiers were required to be at least knights; they were by no means rare or exceptional powerhouses anymore.

"Lord Ogre? If it is the venerable divine descendant, then there will be no problem."

A flash of surprise crossed the priest's eyes, and he slowly stepped back.

After so many years of development, with the existence of extraordinary power, the speed of construction in this world had accelerated tremendously. Although it couldn't reach every single corner, all major cities boasted well-paved highways and intermediate transit stations.

These transit stations were typically garrisoned by retired veterans from various regions. Not only did they feature complete military supply systems and horses, but they also possessed vast attached lands and warehouses, where farming and animal husbandry were carried out—a long-standing tradition.

At this moment, at the transit station ahead, a group of silent knights stood waiting.

These knights wore armor inlaid with divine emblems and exuded powerful auras. Any single one of them was at least at the Great Knight level, accompanied by a potent aura of divine power, clearly indicating high priestly ranks.

At the very forefront of these knights, Ogre rode a tall white horse, quietly watching the approaching formation.

At this time, Agra and the other two wizard apprentices also noticed the anomaly. Their expressions turned solemn as they gazed at the knights stationed ahead, their faces growing somewhat pale.

"Damn it! A legion of a thousand knights comparable to official wizards—what kind of world have we stumbled into?!"

Agra's voice trembled as he stared at the stationed knightly order, the last remnants of pride in his heart thoroughly shattered.

"Agra, Salia, look ahead." Another voice rang out.

The middle-aged man named Salia looked at the formidable Ogre ahead, a trace of shock flashing in his eyes.

"I feel a powerful majesty emanating from that man. He possesses a powerful bloodline that is making it hard for me to breathe."

He forced the words out, causing his two companions to look at him as if he had seen a ghost.

"No way! Salia, you're of dragon descent! A bloodline strong enough to terrify even you must be at least of golden lineage. How could such a thing appear in this world?!"

"I'm afraid it's even more than that!"

Salia looked forward with a solemn expression, speaking only after a long silence.

"I once had the privilege of witnessing a true golden race, but the majesty I felt then was definitely inferior to this—far below that young man across from us."

The sound of hard swallowing echoed.

Agra and the old man exchanged glances, seeing dense shock and terror mirrored in each other's eyes, before speaking almost simultaneously, filled with fanaticism and excitement.

"A legendary bloodline!"

Silence fell upon the spot, and even the surrounding air seemed to grow slightly hotter.