Holy Radiance Federation

Lynn's gaze swept across the diverse men and women on the dance floor, focusing primarily on the young men and women from noble families.

Perhaps I could approach them and leverage their family influence to investigate the origins of Yao Lao. However, since we are in the Starfire Kingdom, the reach of ordinary noble influence doesn't extend that far. I must find someone reliable; it requires careful screening...

According to what Leiluo and Gates usually say, this Nina they often mention seems like a decent target...

Seeing Lynn ignoring him and keeping his eyes fixed on the dance floor, Kasa, who was naturally impulsive and hot-tempered, could no longer sit still.

"Hey, Lynn, I'm sitting right in front of you. Where are you looking?"

Kasa's words brought Lynn back to his senses. "Sorry, I was just lost in thought. What did you say? Is something the matter?"

As he spoke, Lynn calmly observed Kasa's attire. His gaze lingered for a split second on a cyan wooden token that had accidentally slipped out from Kasa's waist. Recognizing what it was, Lynn's pupils constricted sharply, though he quickly returned to normal.

Hiss—this is... the Azure Glass Holy Token. Could Kasa be a descendant of the Rivas family, where the Azure Glass Saint Mage resides?

Having identified the origin of the token, the way Lynn looked at Kasa changed in an instant.

What a perfect mark. Impulsive, gullible, and most importantly, backed by a formidable power. At this moment, in Lynn's eyes, Nina, who was exuding endless charm in the center of the dance floor, no longer held any allure.

We aren't close, really, we aren't close at all!

Mere female beauty is nothing compared to my brother Kasa.

"Brother Kasa, I apologize for my neglect earlier. Say no more, I'll toast you myself!" Before Kasa could react, Lynn downed the wine in his glass in one gulp.

After finishing, Lynn even turned the glass upside down to show he had finished every drop.

"Uh..." Faced with Lynn's sudden enthusiasm, Kasa was a bit at a loss.

"Come, Brother Kasa, don't be so reserved. That was just me having a drink; now, let's have one together. It's a party, after all—having fun is what matters most."

"Cheers!"

"Clink!" Lynn controlled the collision of the glasses.

"Gulp~ gulp~ gulp~" Lynn drained his glass.

Not yet accustomed to Lynn's pace, the passive Kasa, seeing that Lynn had already finished, felt too proud to lose and had to pinch his nose and follow suit.

"Great tolerance!"

"Come, bottoms up!"

"No... I can't drink anymore..." Kasa waved his hand.

"Shh—Brother Kasa, I understand, I understand. Waving your hand doesn't mean we stop; it just means we need a refill. This wine isn't good enough—let's switch to something stronger!"

"Red wine, beer, and fruit wine—you have to mix them all together. That's where the kick is!"

"Gulp~ gulp~ gulp~"

...Under Lynn's masterful control of the situation, it wasn't long before Kasa's cheeks were flushed, his eyes filled with drunken haze.

At this point, seeing that the time was ripe, Lynn spoke with a slightly tipsy tone.

"Brother Kasa, it's a pity we didn't meet sooner!"

"I think today is an auspicious day. Why don't we swear an oath to become brothers of different surnames!"

"Okay!" The muddled Kasa, not bothering to think it through, replied subconsciously.

"Brother Lynn, I was born on December 1st, 9996 of the Ize Era. When were you bor— blegh." Before he could finish, Kasa hunched over on the sofa and began to vomit.

Beside him, the equally intoxicated-looking Lynn dodged the vomit while reciting his own birth date.

"Brother Kasa, it seems I'm a few years older than you. I was born on December 31st, '96."

"Blegh... born on the 31st? Shouldn't I be older than you?" Kasa, who had vomited all over the floor, regained some of his senses and looked up in confusion.

"Gulp~~" Seeing this, Lynn opened another bottle of wine.

"Gulp~ gulp~ blegh..."

"Brother, look, you're drunk again. Setting aside the year and month, just tell me: is thirty-one bigger than one?"

"Blegh... I suppose so."

"So, am I older than you?"

"Blegh... that makes sense!"

"Then what should you call me?"

"Big Brother Lynn!" "Second Brother Kasa!"

"Big Brother!" "Second Brother!"

"Deep bonds!" "Blegh... bottoms up!"

"Gulp~ gulp~"

"Blegh... gulp~ blegh... gulp~ blegh..."

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, several months had passed since Lynn attended the party.

On this day, Kasa sought out Lynn, who was cultivating on the back mountain.

"Big brother!" Kasa, whose cheeks still held a hint of baby fat, roared boisterously from quite a distance away.

"I've got news about the thing you asked me to look into!"

"Oh, what's the word?" Lynn, exiting his meditative state, was full of excitement.

"Here." Kasa handed over a notebook filled with information, his expression looking a bit strange.

"Boss, according to the information sent over by my family, that 'Yao Lao' you mentioned should have been from the Holy Radiance Federation back in the day."

"Back in the day? Could it be that the Holy Radiance Federation has been wiped out?" Lynn grasped the main point.

"Uh... not exactly wiped out, more like 'purified.' This goes back to the history of the Holy Radiance Federation. It originally started as the Nine Cities Alliance, founded by a few level-nine warriors in the Black Zone of the Azeron Continent." Kasa cracked a dark joke.

"Later, two warriors in the alliance broke through to the Saint Realm, unified the entire Black Zone with their Saint-level strength, and renamed the Nine Cities Alliance the Holy Radiance Federation."

"Among them, 'Holy' referred to the Light-element Saint Theodore Holy, and 'Radiance' referred to the Fire-element Saint Hector Radiance. The two named the federation after their surnames and established two separate families."

"About eighty years ago, the Fire-element Saint Hector died mysteriously. Theodore took control of the Holy Radiance Federation, renamed it the Holy Light Federation, and governed the Black Zone together with the Church of Light. The family of the Fire-element Saint Hector subsequently fell apart."

"As for the Yao Lao you speak of, his real name is Albert Radiance. He was the patriarch of the 'Radiance' clan at the time. Under the pursuit of the Holy Light Federation and the Church of Light, he barely managed to save his life by defecting to the Zhongyuan Empire, and he later established the Dragon Knight Warrior Academy in the Starfire Kingdom."

"Oh... right, there's one more thing I forgot to mention. It's said that before Albert fled, his techniques had already reached the requirements for a Saint Realm warrior; the only thing he lacked was the accumulation of battle qi. However, it seems that because his dantian was damaged during his escape, he couldn't store battle qi beyond the level-nine limit, which caused him to be unable to break through for the rest of his life."

Listening to Kasa's introduction of the Holy Radiance Federation, Lynn had more or less sorted out the origins of Yao Lao.

"A long-lived Saint dying mysteriously... that really is 'mysterious,' heh. It seems the person Yao Lao wants me to kill is, in all likelihood, the Light-element Saint warrior, Theodore!"

"Holy Radiance Federation... Holy Light Federation... Whew~ I wonder what kind of role the Church of Light played in all of this."

Inside the Dragon Knight Warrior Academy, Xiao Yan gazed at the sky with deep eyes, his mind involuntarily recalling the scene from several years ago when Yao Lao had recruited him into the academy.

"Don't force me, otherwise..."

"At worst, I'll sink the Church of Light!"