Clive looked down on him.
There were plenty of geniuses in the Roland Empire. Countless emerged every year, but only a rare few ever reached the Saint Domain—perhaps one every few centuries.
In the eyes of these Saint Domain family scions, a genius who hadn't yet come into their own wasn't worth taking seriously. At the very least, a genius had to be a seventh-level Great Mage before these scions would bother trying to win them over.
At thirteen, Lynn was, at most, an intermediate mage. He might even die in an accident before he had the chance to grow up. There was no need to pay him too much attention.
If Lynn really did grow up and break through to the seventh level, becoming a Great Mage, Clive thought he could still recruit him then, relying on the power of the Zorn family behind him.
There was no need to waste his energy now. Clive's main focus was on the heirs of other Saint Domain families. Lynn simply wasn't as important as they were.
After exchanging a few perfunctory words, Clive left.
"Damn snob." Seeing Clive's attitude, Kasa muttered a curse as he watched him walk away.
Then Kasa turned to Lynn. "Clive isn't especially talented. His elemental affinity is only average, and his mental strength isn't enough for him to become a mage. At best, he'll reach the seventh level as a warrior. And yet he thinks he can look down on you, Boss, even though your talent far surpasses his, just because of the family behind him. What a fool—he can't even see reality!"
"There's no need to take someone like that seriously." Lynn shook his head. "If power isn't your own, after a hundred years you'll be nothing but a pile of dirt. Everything you build now will be nothing more than a joke."
The people of other worlds fought desperately, even going to war over a single spirit stone. In some worlds, they fought so fiercely that the Great Dao itself collapsed, all in pursuit of immortality. But in the Coiling Dragon World, Saint Domain meant eternal life.
Lynn couldn't understand it. By rights, shouldn't the people of this world be even crazier?
In other worlds, immortality was only a legend, yet it drove countless living beings into a frenzy. In the Coiling Dragon World, eternal life was a fact. The ordinary people might be excused, but the scions of these Saint Domain families definitely knew the truth.
They lived in the world where it was easiest to attain eternal life, yet they didn't know how to cherish it. If the Supreme Beings next door, clinging to life by a thread, saw this, they'd probably be so furious they'd ascend to the pinnacle of their power on the spot and declare that these people deserved to die.
The gathering continued. The little incident didn't affect Kasa or Lynn. With Kasa's help, Lynn met several heirs of Saint Domain forces closely connected to the Rivas Family behind Kasa.
They were Colin of the Gonzalez Family, Wally of the Harris Family, Percival of the Rost Family, and Zena of the Riley Family—three men and one woman.
Zena, Kasa, and Lynn were mages, while the other three were warriors.
The group stood around chatting casually. Nearly everyone present was a direct descendant of a Saint Domain family, so they all had access to plenty of information. Even their casual conversation broadened Lynn's horizons and introduced him to many things he hadn't known before.
For example, the royal family of the Laine Principality had been sidelined by the principality's grand general. The Laine Principality was a principality in name only.
And three days earlier, the City of Wind and Snow, in the far north of the Azeron Continent, had been attacked by the Saint Domain magical beast, the Nine-Headed Hydra Emperor. The city lord had died, tens of thousands of civilians had been killed or injured, and the city had become a playground for magical beasts.
"I thought the City of Wind and Snow was in the Thorn Principality. If the Saint Domain magical beast, the Nine-Headed Hydra Emperor, attacked it, wouldn't it know that the Thorn Principality was a vassal state of the Roland Empire?" Percival asked in puzzlement.
The fact that the three great empires of the Azeron Continent all had gods behind them was no secret. Even plenty of ordinary people knew it. How could a Saint Domain magical beast dare attack a force within an empire's territory?
High-level magical beasts were at least as intelligent as ordinary humans, and Saint Domain magical beasts were even cleverer. By rights, they shouldn't have made such a foolish mistake.
"Heh... Sea-dwelling magical beasts are proud and wild. What wouldn't they dare do? Besides, in the eyes of the empire's higher-ups, the destruction of a mere town in a vassal state is no big deal!" Colin sneered, his words dripping with scorn.
The Gonzalez Family behind Colin was a Saint Domain force in the sea, so he naturally knew the temperaments of sea-dwelling magical beasts.
The ocean was vast and boundless, embracing everything. As long as they didn't utterly offend a god, these Saint Domain magical beasts could occasionally come ashore and grab a few people for a snack. Then, so long as they fled into the deep sea, ordinary Saint Domain experts couldn't catch them, and the lofty gods wouldn't waste time paying attention to such things.
Seeing Colin steer the conversation in a grim direction, Lynn changed the subject. "By the way, I heard the Church of Light has been making quite a stir lately. What do you all think?"
"What else can we do? Sit and watch!" Zena said playfully, easing the heavy mood.
Wally, who had short red hair and rugged features, set down his glass of strong liquor. "The Church of Light?"
"They've had a rough time lately. I heard the Pope of Light recently mobilized branches across the continent to search for someone, causing quite a stir. The Zhongyuan Empire and the Roland Empire were the main targets of the investigation. They deployed more than twenty special inquisitors alone!"
"I heard that too. Apparently, the Church of Light even sent angels. They're a powerful race whose weakest members are already in the Saint Domain!" Percival added, with a hint of envy in his voice.
The angels who lived in the Light Divine Realm were all at least early-stage Saint Domain—even the weakest Two-Winged Angels. In the Material Plane, they could found an undying family.
"But it's strange. To find this person, the Church of Light has taken control of quite a few directly governed towns in both empires. You could say they've crossed the empires' bottom line. Given how domineering the two empires are, they should have punished the Church of Light long ago, but nothing has happened." Colin looked puzzled.
"Didn't they kill a team of special inquisitors?" Percival asked.
"They were just a bunch of ninth-level warriors who'd reached the end of their potential. To the mighty Church of Light, what's that kind of loss?" Colin scoffed.
"Given how domineering the two empires are, they should have killed all the Church of Light's people sent there for such an outrageous transgression, not just one team of special inquisitors," Kasa said, rubbing his chin.
"Who knows what the empire's higher-ups are thinking? Maybe the Church of Light secretly paid some kind of price to appease the two empires!" Wally said bluntly.
Listening to everyone's conversation, Lynn fell into thought.
...Panshi Town, the back mountain. Xiao Yan leaned against a rock.
"The three great empires have jointly ruled the Azeron Continent for thousands of years. Many forces have challenged them over the millennia, but every one of them was crushed in bloodshed."
"But the punishment meted out to the Church of Light this time seems to be all thunder and no rain."
"Something's wrong. Nine times out of ten, something is seriously wrong!"
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