"My son is a mage, too."
As Hogg said this, he couldn't help straightening his chest with pride.
Though, as far as Hogg knew, Linley had probably only just learned magic and was merely a lowly Level One Mage.
But that did nothing to diminish Hogg's pride.
This wasn't Fenlai City, the capital of the Fenlai Kingdom.
This was just the countryside.
Both Hogg and Locke were merely minor country nobles.
They might be high and mighty in the eyes of ordinary commoners, but mages were hardly a common sight in the countryside.
Even a Level One Mage.
After all, across the entire Yulan Continent, mages held a higher status than crude warriors—except in the O'Brien Empire.
Sure enough, Locke's expression shifted slightly when he heard Hogg.
"Your son is a mage?" Locke looked at Linley. "Well, congratulations, Hogg. Having a mage among your children is quite an achievement."
A flicker of jealousy crossed Locke's face.
If he remembered correctly, Hogg's eldest son wasn't even ten yet.
Not even ten, and already a Level One Mage.
Who knew? He might become a Level Six or even a Level Seven Mage in the future.
Damn it.
How was that fair?
The Baruch Clan had fallen so far. Why were things suddenly turning around for them?
"Father, Baron Locke." Linley gave Locke a slight nod. "This is the Magic Core of a Bloodthirsty Wild Boar. My teacher gave it to me."
As he spoke, Linley took a thumb-sized, fiery red crystal from his clothes and handed it to Hogg.
"The Magic Core of a Bloodthirsty Wild Boar?" Hogg was taken aback. He accepted the crystal from Linley. "A Magic Core from a Level Six Magical Beast? It must be worth at least a thousand gold coins. Linley, your teacher just gave this to you?"
"This one should be worth around twelve hundred gold coins," Linley replied calmly. "A Level Six Magical Beast Core is nothing special to my teacher. He didn't think much of it."
"Gulp."
Linley's nonchalant manner made Baron Locke beside him swallow nervously.
A Magical Beast Core worth over a thousand gold coins, given away just like that.
Linley's teacher had to be at least an Eighth-rank Mage.
After all, even a Level Seven Mage couldn't kill a Level Six Magical Beast with ease.
"Hogg, my dear brother." Locke composed himself and spoke with a broad smile. "I'll take that core. I'll give you fifteen hundred gold coins for it. And these three music scores—I'll offer two hundred gold coins apiece. That makes two thousand one hundred gold coins in total. What do you say?"
Locke looked at Hogg with a smile, but beneath it lay a trace of unease.
A disciple of an Eighth-rank Mage would undoubtedly have a bright future.
It wasn't exactly coming to someone's aid in their hour of need.
But a little kindness was still better than making an enemy of him.
The music scores were really worth only a hundred and twenty or thirty gold coins each.
Including the price of the Magical Beast Core, Locke would lose at most a few hundred gold coins. But it was worth it if he could build a good relationship.
What surprised Linley, though, was that Hogg didn't accept right away this time. Instead, he looked at Linley. "Linley, what do you think? You brought these things back, so you should decide."
"I'll go along with whatever you decide, Father." Linley shook his head. "If you don't think the price is right, you don't have to sell them."
Locke's cheek twitched at Linley's words.
Not satisfied?
He was already losing several hundred gold coins.
Was Linley expecting him to raise the offer again?
"Brother Hogg, if—"
"Baron Locke, we'll do it this way," Hogg said before Locke could finish. "Two thousand one hundred gold coins in total. The core and the music scores are yours. As for the tusks and the boar hide, consider them a gift from me."
Hogg wore a smile, but there was a distinct distance in it.
Locke's smile stiffened as well.
The Bloodthirsty Wild Boar's tusks and hide together were probably worth several hundred gold coins.
In other words, Hogg had simply returned the extra value Locke had offered.
Still, Locke wasn't particularly upset.
He might not have brought them closer, but at least he hadn't made an enemy of Hogg.
"I'll need a little time to get together more than two thousand gold coins. I'll bring the money at this time tomorrow and take the things back then."
With that, Locke stood to take his leave.
Hogg tried to persuade him to stay, but Locke insisted on going.
After seeing Locke off, Hogg returned to the reception room.
"Father." Linley stood up and looked at Hogg as he entered. "We don't need to sell anything else from the house. I'm here now. Everything will be all right."
Linley's words left Hogg momentarily dazed.
At five foot seven, Linley wasn't short, but he was only eight years old. Wait—
Hogg noticed something amiss.
When had Linley gotten so tall?
"Linley, your height..." Hogg stepped closer and squeezed Linley's shoulder, astonishment on his face. "And your strength as a warrior—how is this possible?"
Hogg stared at Linley in confusion.
Being taken in by a mage and successfully learning magic was unusual, but Hogg could still understand it.
But Linley's physical strength was probably at least that of a Rank 3 Warrior.
How could that be?
If their bloodline didn't meet the requirements, Dragonblood Warriors could never cultivate the Dragonblood Secret Manual. They could only train their bodies through ordinary means.
But building up the body was a slow, painstaking process.
Many Rank 9 Warriors didn't even have the physical strength of a Rank 6 Warrior.
So how could a child like Linley have the physical strength of a Rank 3 Warrior?
"Father, don't be surprised by what I'm about to tell you." Linley stepped forward and closed the reception room door.
Hogg felt his hands trembling.
He didn't yet know what Linley was about to say, but he knew it would change the fortunes of the entire Baruch Clan.
The next moment, Linley turned around but said nothing. He simply looked at Hogg.
"Crack, crack..."
Just as Hogg was about to ask what was going on, a low rumbling sound came from Linley.
Then, under Hogg's horrified gaze, scales covered Linley's entire body.
Five dragon horns crowned his head like a diadem. His tail swept behind him, gouging grooves into the stone floor.
His wings spread wide, blocking out all the light from the window.
Linley had transformed into a nearly two-meter-tall, fearsome dragonman.
"Father!" Linley's transformed voice was low and hoarse. "This is the secret I wanted to tell you: the Dragonblood Warrior transformation."
Linley casually tore off the clothes that had become rags around his body.
"Impossible. Absolutely impossible." Hogg showed no joy. Instead, he looked as if his faith had been shattered. "If the bloodline concentration doesn't meet the requirements, it's absolutely impossible to transform into a Dragonblood Warrior. It's impossible. Absolutely impossible."
Hogg looked completely bereft.
When he was young, Hogg had undergone the same bloodline test as Linley.
His bloodline hadn't met the requirements, either.
But Hogg hadn't given up. He'd been full of ambition, determined to change his clan's circumstances.
Only in middle age had Hogg realized that his so-called grand ambitions had all been for nothing.
But how could Linley transform now?
And his scales were completely different from the blue dragon scales described in the clan records.
Before long, though, Hogg came to his senses.
"My son is a Dragonblood Warrior?"
Excitement gradually appeared on Hogg's face.
As the current head of the Baruch Clan, Hogg knew exactly what being a Dragonblood Warrior meant.
As long as he survived, he would surely become a Saint-level powerhouse!
Before you continue