Kolan couldn't help but recall his past.
Back then, the Level Nine Necromancer Kless had taken a liking to him and accepted him as a disciple, teaching him Necromancy.
Learning Necromancy required a powerful soul, and a pure one, too. Its standards were far stricter than those of other schools of magic.
Necromancers were hated and hunted across the Yulan Continent.
Even Kless, a Level Nine Necromancer, kept an extremely low profile. Later, he took Kolan to the edge of the Forest of Darkness to practice Necromancy.
Unfortunately, although Kless used Necromancy to break through the five-hundred-year limit on his lifespan, he lived for only a little over nine hundred years. In the end, he still didn't reach a thousand.
When Kless died, Kolan was already a seventh-level Necromancer and had the strength to protect himself.
Kolan had also lived in the Chaotic Territory for a time.
But nearly two hundred years had passed, and the Chaotic Territory of today was completely different from the one he remembered.
Back then, he recalled, there had been thirty-six duchies. Now there were fifty-eight.
The one thing that hadn't changed was the chaos!
There were no laws here. It was truly survival of the fittest!
The Chaotic Territory was half the size of the O'Brien Empire, as vast as the Holy Union!
And yet this enormous region had remained in a state of chaos all this time.
A Saint Realm powerhouse might carve out a kingdom here, but once he got tired of being king, it wouldn't take long for the kingdom to fall.
Aside from the time when the Yulan Empire united the Chaotic Territory, no empire or powerhouse had ever managed to unite it again.
This was also the most lawless region on the Yulan Continent. Many utterly wicked people fled here to escape their enemies.
Kolan took a tour of the Chaotic Territory, then entered the O'Brien Empire. Compared to the Chaotic Territory, the O'Brien Empire was far more orderly.
Although the O'Brien Empire had not been founded all that long ago, the War God kept a firm grip on the entire empire. Its people worshipped him, and the empire was divided into seven provinces, each under the protection of a Saint Realm powerhouse. These powerhouses had all followed the War God back when he was still a mortal. After O'Brien became a god and founded the O'Brien Empire, he made them dukes, each in charge of a province.
With the War God being a god-level powerhouse, the O'Brien Empire's social order was incomparably better than that of the Chaotic Territory.
And because the War God had become a god through the path of a warrior, the O'Brien Empire placed great importance on martial prowess, and its martial spirit thrived.
Kolan wandered at his own pace, stopping along the way to experience the local customs and sample the food and wine.
His greatest pleasure was finding a wine he liked and buying some to store in his Space Ring.
He was different from the original Kolan. Perhaps because of his childhood and the habits he had developed, the original had been cautious and meticulous, disliked going out of his way to search for things, and was quite solitary. Kolan was different now. He had confidence, and he was open about who he was. Even when he attended the Baruch Clan's founding celebration and Baruch announced that he was a Saint Realm Necromancer, Kolan had acknowledged it without hesitation.
Chiyan City, the capital of the O'Brien Empire.
Kolan arrived at Chiyan City's gates, then looked toward a distant mountain with several peaks.
He knew it was the famous War God Mountain. The War God lived there, which was why it had that name. The War God Sect, founded by the War God, was also located on the mountain.
As for the emperor of the O'Brien Empire, he was a grandson of the War God!
Kolan glanced around Chiyan City. As the capital of the O'Brien Empire, founded by the War God, it had been built by the War God himself. It was enormous, every bit as large as Yulan City, the capital of the Yulan Empire.
Chiyan City had been built only a little over a hundred years ago, but it was already the second-largest city in the world, surpassed only by Yulan City.
Kolan entered Chiyan City and walked along the broad streets of the capital. Shops and restaurants lined both sides.
Warriors were everywhere, and some even rode Magical Beasts through the streets.
Kolan noticed that Eighth-level Warriors were not uncommon in Chiyan City. Even Ninth-level Warriors, who would be remarkable elsewhere, could be found here.
As for mages, they were much rarer.
Among Saint Realm powerhouses on the Yulan Continent, the ratio of Saint Magi to Saint Warriors was roughly one to three. In the Yulan Empire, it was one to one, while in the O'Brien Empire, it was one to ten!
If the Yulan Empire was the cradle of mages, then the O'Brien Empire was the cradle of warriors.
O'Brien Academy had been founded just over a hundred years ago, yet it was already hailed as the finest warrior academy on the Yulan Continent!
He arrived at a hotel with a large lot and a lavish-looking decor.
He ordered a table full of fine dishes and a jug of the hotel's best wine.
Kolan had sold the Level Nine Magical Beast crystal core earlier for a full five million gold coins. He was certainly not short of money.
He could spend as much as he liked and still never run out.
Even if he did, he could always mine and sell the magicite deposit. It was worth at least hundreds of billions of gold coins, enough to let him spend lavishly.
"Not bad, not bad. The food here is excellent. And the wine is good, too. No wonder a jug costs twenty gold coins." When the food arrived, Kolan tasted a few dishes and took a sip of wine, looking pleased.
That meal of food and wine cost him more than a hundred gold coins.
There were two commonly used currencies on the Yulan Continent: silver coins and gold coins.
Silver coins were mainly used by ordinary people for small purchases, while gold coins were a higher-value currency.
A hundred gold coins were enough for a family of five to live comfortably for a year.
After enjoying the food and wine, Kolan strolled around Chiyan City.
Night fell, and Chiyan City was noisy.
It was bustling with activity.
Kolan made his way to Blue Water Paradise. At night, Blue Water Paradise reached the height of its bustle and liveliness. Women's coquettish laughter rang out without pause, joined by men's hearty laughter.
It was a place where men went to spend their money. Blowing a hundred gold coins in one night was nothing out of the ordinary.
"Good evening, young master. Is there a lady you know here?" the manager asked as he came over, his manner warm.
"No," Kolan replied. "This is my first time here. Arrange a large private room for me."
"Esteemed young master, our Blue Water Paradise requires first-time guests to deposit a thousand gold coins to get a membership card. A large private room is available only to Diamond members." The manager bowed.
"Then sign me up for Diamond membership," Kolan said with a faint smile.
Diamond membership required a deposit of 100,000 gold coins!
The manager entered the private room with a group of women.
There were girls with green hair and girls with red hair.
Some were innocent and sweet, while others were seductive young wives. There were all sorts.
There were twenty of them, all there for him to choose from.
Among them were daughters of minor clans, princesses from fallen duchies, and countesses.
They came from all kinds of backgrounds.
Looking at the twenty women and learning who they were, Kolan couldn't help but marvel inwardly. No wonder so many men dreamed of visiting Blue Water Paradise. Its owners really knew how to do business. They knew exactly what men liked.
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