Crown of Humility

Dusk City, Commercial Street.

"It was rare for me to come here, so I should bring Ilith and Danielle some gifts."

On his way out, Karen looked at the bustling streets around him and suddenly muttered to himself.

A moment later, after buying the gifts and preparing to ride the Black Abyss Wolf away, he found that it stubbornly refused to move.

"What's wrong, Black Tail?" Karen asked in confusion.

It was his first time encountering a refusal to carry a rider.

The Black Abyss Wolf extended a wolf claw and pointed at the gifts in Karen's hands.

"You want a gift too?"

The Black Abyss Wolf shook its head, then turned and bit off a clump of black fur from its body, placing it on the ground.

".You mean I should bring His Highness a gift too!"

After pondering for a moment, Karen spoke in shock, as though enlightenment had struck him.

The Black Abyss Wolf nodded heavily.

"I've suddenly realized that I'm worse at being a person than you are," Karen said, patting the Wolf Head and mocking himself.

At that, a trace of smugness flashed through the Black Abyss Wolf's dark green eyes.

How could a mere human understand how to be a "dog" better than it did? Then, carrying gifts of all sizes and an empty money pouch, Karen set off for home.

After several days of travel, he finally returned to Black Wolf Castle.

Inside the castle's highest-standard guest room.

"Your Highness, this is the Eagle Eye potion you requested. Congratulations as well on successfully advancing to True Magician. May your path through magic be smooth all the way, until your glory is inscribed in history."

Karen respectfully presented the potion in his hands, and a trace of admiration flickered in his gaze as he looked at the emerald-green words above Xian's head.

He had already learned from his daughter that His Highness had taken only two days to learn every basic magic rune from scratch, along with several hundred commonly used magic runes.

That was simply... terrifying! Calling him magic's beloved son or a Great Mage destined to rise in the future would not be an exaggeration.

As a noble, Karen had naturally studied magic in his youth as well. Yet before he had even learned his first magic rune, his brain had nearly burned out, and he had run away crying while clutching a sword.

He truly wondered what miraculous ability His Highness's 1.4 Billion Status Blessing had given him. It must have been related to learning magic, or else how could anyone memorize hundreds of those dull and complicated patterns in two days? Karen felt sincere envy in his heart.

"Thank you for your help, Viscount. I will remember this friendship."

Xian thanked him as he accepted the potion from Karen and examined it.

The potion was contained in a slightly cloudy little glass bottle.

Glass had already been invented in this world, but it was expensive and most pieces had cloudy surfaces. It had yet to become widespread, and only the nobility could use it.

Through the bottle, he could clearly see the murky green liquid inside, as well as two eyeballs floating quietly within it.

The eagle's two eyeballs had been preserved extremely well. Even when looking directly at them, he could sense a sharp, intimidating air.

"So disgusting. Good thing I'm not the one drinking it." Xian's mouth twitched.

"Your Highness, it is my honor to be of help to you. How could you possibly need to thank me?" Karen said seriously.

That was indeed what he said, but the brilliant smile blooming sincerely across his face exposed his true thoughts.

Friendship... Did His Highness consider me a friend?

What an honor, what generosity, what happiness!

"Your Highness, I also brought you some gifts during this trip to Dusk City." Karen smiled and clapped his hands.

The servants filed in one after another, carrying boxes of various sizes into the guest room.

"Your Highness, you may inspect the other gifts later, but I must ask you to take a look at this one."

Karen ordered a servant to present an exquisite wooden box before Xian.

What kind of gift was so mysterious? With a hint of anticipation, Xian gently opened the wooden box.

Inside lay a black bowler hat, resting quietly on a deep crimson silk lining.

The hat appeared to be made of fine black velvet, gleaming with a delicate sheen beneath the sunlight streaming through the window.

The most eye-catching feature was the feather tucked into one side of the brim. It was a pure white, with a thin ring of gold thread wrapped around its base and a tiny obsidian-like gem hanging from its tip, glimmering faintly as the light shifted.

Overall, it was a very beautiful hat.

"Your Highness, you previously instructed me that you did not wish to reveal your identity to the outside world for the time being, and I also heard from my knight that you had worn round hats before."

"So I specially bought this magical item for you. It is called the Crown of Humility. As long as you wear it, it can conceal the Status Blessing above your head."

Karen spoke carefully.

This hat had nearly drained all the money he had left at the time. He had even sold the accessories on his person to barely gather enough—and that was only after the merchant gave him a twenty-percent discount because he was the Masha Family's son-in-law.

Excitement flashed through Xian's eyes upon hearing this. The exposure and rapid spread of his identity had always been a concern, to the point that he currently did not even dare leave Black Wolf Castle.

He impatiently put on the Black Top Hat before a mirror.

The next moment, under his gaze, the white feather on the brim gradually turned black. Then a mass of black mist emerged from the feather's tip and wrapped around the words "Heir to a Kingdom of 1.4 Billion Citizens" above his head. They gradually became transparent together until they were difficult to discern with the naked eye.

Then, with a thought, he concealed the Profession Blessing of True Magician.

After doing all this, he was delighted to discover that he had once again become that ordinary, slightly handsome man from Blue Star.

"Viscount... no, Karen, I truly like this gift!"

Xian patted Karen's broad shoulder with considerable force.

Even though he knew that the viscount undoubtedly harbored some expectation of benefit toward him, Xian could still feel his goodwill.

Upon noticing the change in address, Karen's heart was also filled with barely containable ecstasy.

He knew that this noble His Highness had finally begun to acknowledge him.

"By the way, Karen, can a Status Blessing be altered artificially?" Xian suddenly asked.

"A Blessing is heaven's protection. While one may use tricks to interfere with one's line of sight and conceal it, artificially altering it is absolutely impossible."

"People have indeed done such things before, but they could only fool ordinary people. Any Transcendent Rank transcendent could easily see through it, let alone a Morning Star Expert who had awakened magical power."

Karen answered.

That was also why, after personally seeing His Highness's Blessing, he had almost immediately cast aside his doubts.

Inside a secret chamber of the castle.

"Berg, this is the Eagle Eye potion used to advance to Hunter. Drink it immediately."

Xian handed the potion to the young man before him, who had visibly grown much sturdier after training and eating ample meat.

"My lord, thank you for your generous favor. I will not disappoint your expectations and will become your most vicious Hunting Dog."

The young man knelt on one knee and accepted the potion with both hands. Ignoring its disgusting appearance, he directly swallowed the murky liquid together with both eyeballs.

Just to clarify, this hat only appeared a few times throughout the entire book, so it had little impact.