The projection carried a cacophony of confused voices.
As bounty hunters, the members of the Bronze Guild were no strangers to Sword Intent or scrolls.
A swordsman who had comprehended Sword Intent could completely crush a swordsman who had not. Even against a mage, he could kill them in an instant.
Sword Intent had appeared when a powerful swordsman suddenly emerged in history.
On the day that swordsman burst onto the scene, he boldly declared something.
The gist of his exact words was: From today onward, there are two kinds of swordsmen. One is the swordsman who has comprehended Sword Intent, and the other is every other swordsman.
From that day onward, the profession of swordsman gave rise to a new title: swordsman who had comprehended Sword Intent.
Above ordinary swordsmen were swordsmen who had comprehended Sword Intent, because they had grasped an Sword Intent of their own.
Swordsmen accepted this new title quickly, because all those who refused to acknowledge it were defeated by the powerful swordsman who had suddenly appeared.
His emergence made the path of the sword even more brilliant.
It also meant that swordsmen's goals were no longer limited to the length of time they could release sword aura or the rank of swordsman they could become.
The swordsmen's goal became: comprehend Sword Intent and become a swordsman who had comprehended Sword Intent.
From that day onward, the path of the sword had four realms.
First Realm: The sword lives, and the person lives. The sword dies, and the person dies.
Second Realm: No sword in hand, but a sword in the heart.
Third Realm: No sword in hand, and no sword in the heart. The sword is me, and I am the sword.
Fourth Realm: No sword and no self, with object and self completely forgotten.
The swordsman who had suddenly emerged organized these Four Realms of the Sword from the path of the sword and made them public.
Afterward, the path of the sword entered the fast lane. One swordsmanship prodigy after another emerged, and one swordsman after another advanced to become a swordsman who had comprehended Sword Intent.
Killing with a glance was no longer a joke.
Because a swordsman who had comprehended Sword Intent really could kill with a glance.
That powerful figure who had suddenly emerged on the path of the sword was called the Evil Dragon Sword Ancestor by later generations of swordsmen.
Evil Dragon was what that powerful figure called himself. Later generations of swordsmen analyzed that the reason the Sword Ancestor called himself Evil Dragon was probably because the Sword Ancestor felt he resembled a fierce and unreasonable evil dragon that had plunged into the world of swordsmanship and swept aside all the powerful swordsmen of his era.
For the sake of the development of the path of the sword, he had forcefully left the Four Realms of the Sword behind for the swordsmanship world of that time.
Because of the Evil Dragon Sword Ancestor, swordsmen who had comprehended Sword Intent were rather hostile toward Dragon Slayers.
Anyone in the human world who dared call themselves a Dragon Slaying Hero would have a swordsman who had comprehended Sword Intent come challenge them.
Of course, to protect humanity, those true Dragon Slayers who had slain evil dragons would not be challenged.
They targeted only those who possessed nothing but an empty reputation as Dragon Slayers.
Ever since Sword Intent had appeared, no one had ever heard of a swordsman being able to seal their Sword Intent inside a scroll.
Sword Intent was not source energy. Source energy could be sealed inside a scroll, but Sword Intent could not. It was invisible and intangible—how could it be sealed inside a scroll? They had heard of powerful swordsmen placing a strand of sword aura inside a greatsword.
But sealing Sword Intent inside a scroll? Not only had they never seen it, they had never even heard of such a thing.
Besides, no matter how powerful a strand of Sword Intent sealed inside a scroll was, could it really be more powerful than the swordsman who had comprehended Sword Intent himself?
It was not merely that Sword Intent Scrolls were nonexistent. Even if they existed, few bounty hunters, adventurers, or mages would buy them. With the money needed to purchase a Sword Intent Scroll, they might as well recruit a swordsman who had comprehended Sword Intent directly.
Even if the Sword Intent Scroll Old Man Lance had given them was real, there probably was not much Sword Intent in a single scroll. Its destructive power might not even match that of a Holy Light Scroll.
Louis, Dalton, and Bazel wore bitter expressions. In the end, they still had to rely on their own strength to fight the lich.
"Old Man, how about you replace the Sword Intent Scrolls with source energy scrolls?"
"No. I can't afford them."
Source energy scrolls in the human world were expensive, and the better the quality and the greater the power of a scroll, the more expensive it was.
Rather than buy scrolls, he might as well make them himself.
The source energy scrolls he made himself were reasonably powerful.
Lance wanted to praise the Sword Intent Scrolls he had made, but he changed his mind before the words left his mouth. Better not to praise them.
If he did, they would definitely think he was bragging.
Once they tried them and experienced the quality of his Sword Intent Scrolls, they would know how good they were.
"Go without worry. Remember what I told you. If you can't defeat the lich, use the Sword Intent Scrolls I gave you immediately."
"If the lich tears us apart, Old Man, remember to avenge us."
"Fine."
"Then pay us ten Psychic Gold Coins first, or we won't have enough money to pay the teleportation fee."
"..."
Lance ended the projection call. He suddenly remembered that Death God Solomon had not given him his bounty. Since Death God Solomon had not paid him, the few coins on him were not enough to cover the teleportation fee. He had only sixty-eight coins in total.
He still had to contact Death God Solomon.
The pitch-black Death God Scythe flew out from his dragon horn. He activated the scythe's projection call function, and a projected light screen appeared. Before long, Death God Solomon's figure appeared within it.
"That was fast. As expected of my most appreciated Trainee Death God. You certainly completed the mission quickly. The bounty will be sent to your Death God Scythe shortly. Keep an eye out for it. I have something else to deal with, so I'll stop here."
Death God Solomon shut down the projection. Not long afterward, thirty-five coins from hell arrived in Lance's Death God Scythe.
He counted out fifteen coins from the coins from hell, then took two scrolls sealed with Evil Dragon Sword Intent from his dragon horn and placed them inside the Bronze Token.
He activated the Bronze Token's teleportation function. Before long, the fifteen Psychic Gold Coins and the two Evil Dragon Sword Intent Scrolls appeared in the Bronze Guild.
Grandpa Lance, your bounty mission has been claimed by Louis, Dalton, and Bazel. The fifteen Psychic Gold Coins you paid have been received, and the Sword Intent Scrolls you gifted have also been delivered to the three of them.
To improve efficiency, Louis temporarily mortgaged the fifteen Psychic Gold Coins to the guild in exchange for six hundred coins. At midnight, they will travel to the Nod Kingdom through the teleportation array. Once the bounty mission is complete, I will notify you immediately.
Grandpa Lance, may the Goddess of Luck be with you. Sweet dreams.
After receiving Lance's Psychic Gold Coins and Sword Intent Scrolls, the Bronze Guild immediately sent the information back to Lance through the text projection function.
That was absurd. He had never seen an evil dragon play things this well.
Not only had they never seen it, they had never even heard of it.
If the legendary evil dragons were all as good at playing the game as Evil Dragon Lance, evil dragons would not have become symbols of evil and greed in the human world.
And then there was Sword Intent.
An evil dragon had comprehended Sword Intent. Nothing could be more absurd. If the swordsmen of the human world found out that an evil dragon had comprehended Sword Intent—
Those swordsmen who had never managed to comprehend their own Sword Intent would surely cry out: Their comprehension was actually worse than an evil dragon's.
Living with an evil dragon who knew a little about everything and was also good at cultivating connections was so stressful. If she were human, that pressure would still be bearable. But if she were a true young dragon, she absolutely wanted to grow into a dragon like Evil Dragon Lance.
She truly did.
Because she felt that an evil dragon like Lance was kind of handsome.
"Stop writing essays. Why are you looking at me?"
"N-no, nothing. I just suddenly thought you were kind of handsome, Lance."
"I've always been this handsome. Handsome? What do you know about being handsome at your age? You should think I'm amiable and approachable instead."
"???"
How strange. Why had he gotten angry when she praised the evil dragon for being handsome?