Red Dragon Duchess

Goria's arrival has made Soren even more powerful!

No one can ignore a powerful high-ranking Witch, especially one who is a powerful figure in the Witches' Council and owns her own territory. Information about Goria is basically impossible to keep from others, after all, she has ruled a city in the North for nearly ten years. Goria reached the high-ranking level (Witch class level 15 or above) ten years ago, but only recently has she touched the threshold of Legendary Witch (Witch class level 18 or above).

Wizard' power increases at a slower rate as they progress, making Soren a complete anomaly!

Legendary Witch have remarkably long lifespans, far exceeding those of any melee class. Therefore, they have many requirements when choosing a spouse; otherwise, while they remain in their prime, their spouses may already be old and frail. In terms of lifespan, Legendary Melee Class are at a disadvantage, likely due to the excessive blood loss and injuries inflicted before advancement, consuming a great deal of Hit Points energy. The lifespan of a Legendary Melee Class is only one-third that of Spellcasting Faction, sometimes even less than two hundred years.

Goria's choice of Soren was naturally based on his potential; Legendary and non- Legendary are from two different worlds.

Temple of the Sea.

After seeing Soren and Goria off, the Naga Priestess's face immediately turned cold.

"Call the Deep Sea Hunter over!"

The Priest of the Sea, scepter in hand, stood before the goddess statue and instructed his servants, "Immediately spread the word about Goria. Asroder must know as soon as possible. This will frighten him, and he might be willing to do anything to eliminate Soren first, or even trigger the Naga Royal Family's Intrigue. Otherwise, he is destined to perish!"

"If they go to war, Soren's strength will definitely be weakened!"

"He has already seized most of the interests in the Overseas Islands. I must weaken his power and then take control of the power that belongs to the sea, so that I can be qualified to compete for the position of High Priest!"

"I have a premonition that the goddess will soon issue a new Divine Oracle, and only the High Priest holds the position closest to the Deity."

A deeply hidden ambition surfaced.

The Naga Priestess turned and entered the pool in front of the temple. Streams of Divine Power surged into her body, and her azure skin gradually became transparent, with faint, scale-like substances appearing to shed. This was the Power of Faith gathered by the Temple of the Sea. Since being bestowed a trace of Divinity by the Goddess of the Sea, she had been able to try to absorb this power. The Divine Power gathered in the Temple of the Sea was gradually changing her, and eventually she would completely transcend the realm of mortals, possibly becoming Chosen Avatar, or perhaps gaining the opportunity to ascend to a higher realm.

However, everything depends on her first suppressing those treacherous individuals within the Naga Race!

A distorted shadow emerged in the Seawater.

A creature whose exact shape was obscured but which exuded an aura of terror appeared, lurking in the Seawater beneath the temple, expressing its emotions with eerie voices.

The Naga Priestess removed her Priest robes, glanced at the indistinct Deep Sea Hunter, and slowly said, "Watch out for those restless Naga Royal Family. If there's any unusual movement, immediately open the prison gates of the Underwater Abyss."

"May the goddess's pet grant them liberation!"

At this point, a cruel smile appeared on the Naga Priestess's eerie face.

The indistinct black shadow gradually receded into the distance. One could feel its body twisting and turning in the Seawater. Although its form was indiscernible, one could sense the dangerous aura emanating from it—the terrifying aura of a predator.

Eastern Route.

On an island near the border of Eastern Trade routes, this place serves as Transit Station similar to Port Tyler and is also the territory of the Pirate King Asroder.

"What did you say?"

A man with a cold, sinister face listened to his subordinate's report. His expression darkened. "He actually managed to win over a high-ranking Witch? How is that possible? How could the incredibly proud Northern Witch possibly be interested in a mere Pirate King? Is the Witches' Council planning to interfere in the South Coast? No! How could the Witches' Council possibly be interested in the interests of the South Coast! This is the territory of the Temple of the Sea!..."

Damn it!

"I knew I had to take down that Throat Cutter from the start!... I never imagined he could grow so strong so quickly!..."

"No!"

"Immediately send someone to contact the Duchess of the Duchy of Rosado!... Last time, when we were ambushed by the Temple of the Sea in the Overseas Islands, the Red Dragon Duchess suffered the greatest losses!... She must also hate the Throat Cutter to the core!... She certainly won't be willing to give up her overseas interests so easily; perhaps we can try to form an alliance with her!..."

Upon hearing his words, a Half-Naga woman beside him, who clearly wasn't human, hesitated. She slowly said, "Your Excellency! The Red Dragon Duchess is now an enemy of the Temple of the Sea. If we openly contact her, wouldn't that be tantamount to directly disobeying the Temple of the Sea's orders? In that case, the Priest of the Sea might take the opportunity to attack!"

The cold-faced man frowned, glanced up at her, and slowly said, "I can't worry about that now!"

"If we don't secure the help of the Red Dragon Duchess, the Naga Royal Family currently lacks the resources to assist us. We might not be able to withstand the combined attack of the Throat Cutter and the High Witch. He already harbored resentment towards us when we dealt with the King of the Swamp! Now that we have the Northern Witch as our ally, he will definitely not let this go easily!"

"Someone come here."

"I want to write a letter to the Red Dragon Duchess!"

Shipping routes to Overseas Islands.

Soren didn't linger in Port Tyler for long; his base was now in the Overseas Islands. So after briefly handling some matters, he led his fleet back to his camp in the Overseas Islands. However, this time he brought back a considerable number of men, including twelve ocean-going ships. He had to thank the Pirate King Asroder for this; it was because Soren's men had robbed his Eastern ocean-going fleet that Soren was able to assemble such a large force.

This time, a considerable amount of goods were transported, and more than 800 people were also brought along.

Half of the Slave came from the mainland. Many of these Slave used to work in the mines, but recently fell into Soren's hands for some legitimate reasons. It must be said that a group of villains as his henchmen are indeed very efficient. Soren's current batch of Slave can easily dilute the proportion of native Slave. The number of native Slave cannot be controlled. Soren needs a batch of mainland Slave and then slowly transform them into urban residents.

Nothing should be given away for no reason; otherwise, they won't know how to cherish and be grateful. Soren has many better plans.

Ocean voyages are quite boring.

The two-week voyage forced Soren to once again focus his energy on learning Spell, while simultaneously uncovering the secrets of his teacher, Goria. With a high-ranking Witch as his guide, Soren's Spell speed was significantly faster, not to mention his Racial Feat of [Eidetic Memory] and [Loremaster]. After essentially mastering the most commonly used 1st-level Spell, Goria advised Soren to stop learning and instead focus on familiarizing himself with them to increase his casting speed.

In other words

She wanted Soren to conduct in-depth research and master the [Combat Casting] combat Feat through proficiency.

So, Soren spent the rest of his days memorizing Spell, casting them repeatedly after memorizing them, and continuing to memorize spells after running out of Spell Slot, in order to gain the [Combat Casting] Feat.

It was approximately the third day of the voyage.

A belated entry in Soren's battle log shows:

"Astral Plane War [Legendary Combat]: In mid-January of the Crescent Era 1676, while traveling to the North to invite the Witch to the Overseas Islands, you unexpectedly encountered the Githyanki attacking the North Tower. In this Legendary event, you chose to help the Northern Witch fight the Githyanki, and ultimately slew a fully grown Red Dragon in the battle. This greatly improved your relationship with the Witches' Council and spread your fame beyond the Material Plane. However, due to the Witches' Council's strict control over information about the Astral Plane War, your legend only circulates among the Githyanki in the Astral Plane. [Legendary Degree +3]"

I'm so late!

When Soren first joined the [Battle of the Betrayer], it took him many days to receive the Legendary Degree notification, but never as long as this time. He didn't know if it was because things were only just ending now, or because of the Extraplanar battle. However, Soren obviously didn't have time to think about that now. He just glanced at it and put it aside, focusing on studying how to Combat Casting.

Having the experience of this Travel to the Astral Plane.

Soren had a sneak peek at some of the secrets of Quicken Spell and also received a [Combat Casting] notification.

Success was within his grasp; he could feel himself nearing mastery of this Spell Feat.

Days passed by.

When Soren led his fleet to the Overseas Islands, people from the camp immediately came to greet him.

Sometime during this period, a lighthouse had been erected near the port. More than a month had passed since Soren left, and it was now early February. In accordance with the arrangements made before Soren's departure, the camp was bustling with construction work, and even a rather rudimentary dock had been built near the natural harbor. Then there was a five-meter-wide paved road for transporting goods and facilitating passage, which led all the way to the east gate of the camp.

The fleet began busily unloading cargo, with many supplies needing to be moved off the ship.

Soren gazed at the dock before him, took Goria's hand, and stepped off. Before they even set foot on land, Vivian, dressed in a white princess dress, appeared before them.

"Elder brother!"

The little girl cried out joyfully and then threw herself into Soren's arms.

(P. S.: Outline complete. Starting tomorrow, I'll resume two updates a day at 5 PM, automatically updated, trying to stabilize things. Writing inevitably involves fluctuations in my writing performance, so I hope you'll be understanding.) (To be continued~^~)