Chapter 175 Discrepancy

Right where they stood, a single thought flashed through the minds of all three men simultaneously. Then, they surged to their feet in unison, their eyes burning with fervent heat as they stared at Ogle standing in the distance, as if trying to melt his very form.

"There can be no mistake. I should have guessed it sooner—in a world as powerful as this, it's hardly strange for it to nurture a mighty bloodline!"

Agla stared ahead, a blazing intensity in his eyes accompanied by a reckless, desperate resolve.

"A legendary bloodline... If I can just obtain his vital essence—no, even just a drop of ordinary blood—I can craft it into a diluted bloodline seed and transplant it into my own body."

"Given the might of a legendary bloodline, no matter how heavily diluted, it would still be enough to elevate my bloodline to a new tier, or at the very least enhance my elemental affinity, giving me a greater margin of success when I advance to an official wizard."

He stood tall, locking his gaze on the distance with a frenzied zeal.

"You've lost your mind!"

Hearing his words, the other two were instantly startled, looking at him in horror as if gazing at a madman.

"Given the might of a legendary bloodline, once it matures, it naturally attains a legendary physique comparable to an adult dragon or a pure-blooded god-like entity! How could we possibly dare to harbor such ambitions against it?"

Hearing their words, Agla slowly shook his head. "I have not lost my mind."

He looked forward, seeming to recall something as a look of deep vicissitudes crossed his eyes.

"When I was ten, my wizarding talent was discovered, and I entered the academy. Yet now, decades later, I am still nothing more than an apprentice."

"My talent is insufficient, and the family behind me could no longer offer any solutions after I advanced to a third-class apprentice. If things go on like this, I will never become an official wizard in this lifetime!"

He clenched his fists tightly and looked at the two men beside him.

"Shaliya, although you are dragon-descended, the bloodline within you has already grown too thin. Advancing to an official wizard is the absolute limit for you."

"Elas, your situation is even worse. Because of your previous failure in breaking through to an official wizard, you directly burned away the greater part of your lifespan. Under normal circumstances, breaking through again is utterly impossible."

The two men beside him listened in silence, gradually growing quiet.

Seeing this, Agla fell silent for a moment before speaking once more.

"A pure-blooded legendary bloodline is an existence comparable to at least a fourth-rank Morning Star wizard. With even a trace of that bloodline, our lifespans and talents can be improved, and in the future, we might even advance further."

"But have you thought about it? Setting aside how we would even acquire their bloodline, the mere act of implanting it carries inherent dangers. If we encounter a bloodline backlash, the few of us wouldn't be able to resist it at all."

Nearby, Elas, whose appearance was that of an aged man, flickered a few thoughts in his eyes and slowly spoke up.

To this, Agla merely shook his head and said no more.

Silence descended upon the spot until the knight order in front gradually advanced, replacing the troops that had originally escorted them, and pushed them toward a different direction.

***

"May I ask how the three of you are addressed?" A voice suddenly sounded beside the three men, startling them.

They turned around to see Ogle, who had previously been at the front, standing right beside them. A warm and polite smile graced his face, making him look like an elegant aristocrat.

Yet, as they looked at his smile, the three could not help breaking out in a cold sweat.

"The ability to communicate mentally?"

This thought flashed through their minds, and they could not help feeling remorse for their previous carelessness.

After a moment, they exchanged glances. Elas, wearing the guise of an old man, braced himself and stepped forward, meeting Ogle's pure gaze that seemed to pierce right through the soul.

"Greetings, esteemed knight."

He forcibly suppressed the instinctive urge to flee rising within his heart, maintaining a smile as he looked at Ogle.

Ogle nodded in response, then looked at them and said, "Our sovereign wishes to see you."

"Before that, as guests, you are free to move about, but please do not wander too far from the convoy. It would cause us some trouble."

Having said that, without waiting for a reaction from the other side, he simply shook his head and walked away.

Shortly after, an elderly man clad in high priest robes and wearing a benevolent expression walked up and stood beside them.

"Before you reach the imperial capital, if you have any needs, you may speak with me. Any reasonable request can be met."

The three looked at each other in dismay. Sensing the powerful divine aura radiating from the man—one countless times richer than that of the red-robed priests—a sense of helplessness slowly rose in their hearts.

The procession continued on its way, moving forward along wide, well-paved roads.

The scenery along the journey left the three wizard apprentices from another world utterly astonished.

Meticulously maintained main roads, rows of neat and orderly buildings within the cities they passed, and a vast multitude of subjects.

"Such a colossal world, with so many subjects, yet it all belongs to a single nation."

The three watched the scenery sweeping past, shock filling their hearts.

At that moment, several priests in white robes walked past on the road, causing the corners of their mouths to twitch involuntarily.

Through these days of communication, they had already learned some information about this world, including what the different colored priest robes signified.

Red-robed priests were equivalent to official wizards, while those ubiquitous white-robed priests were equivalent to wizard apprentices like themselves.

However, the sheer number of priests in this world was far beyond anything the scarce wizards of the main world could compare to, leaving apprentices who had yet to even reach official wizard status in a state of numbness.

At this point, the convoy gradually came to a halt. The three walked over to a resting area by the roadside and sat down securely.

Attendants nearby brought them water, clean grain, and various other provisions.

"Element water of pristine quality, and so many magical plants suitable for concocting potions."

Elas's mouth twitched. "If I had these items during my last attempt, how could I possibly have failed the breakthrough?"

"The elemental power of this world is terrifying, and those priests seem naturally suited for cultivating magical plants."

"Things that we consider extremely precious are probably just ordinary goods in the eyes of those priests."

Beside him, Shaliya smiled bitterly. "Just the magical plants cultivated in the plot of land beneath our feet—if we took them back to our academy, they would probably be enough to exchange for the resources a normal person needs to advance to an official wizard."

Elas and Shaliya looked back at the field of plants pulsating with natural elemental energy, a sense of unreality gripping their hearts.

This was the difference between worlds.

In this world, with Aidi-Si present, the divine domain of nature would gradually expand across the entire world along with the spread of faith, causing the elemental power within the world to grow steadily richer. Coupled with priests capable of communicating with nature, such elemental magic plants were exceedingly common.

In contrast, within the main world, aside from the secret realm outposts established by high-level wizards at elemental nodes, other places fundamentally could not produce them in large quantities.