The Mist

This sleep lasted a full three days and three nights.

During that time, the two elders, Merrell and Atok, had already led their group to the royal capital. When everyone learned that the prince had begun unlocking his Dragon Bloodline Inheritance, an uproar broke out. Elder Atok and the two guard captains were not ancient dragons, but they understood all too well the risks of opening that soul seal ahead of time—if he merely tested the waters and stopped there, that would be one thing, but if the prince, young and hot-blooded, insisted on forcefully breaking through after failing, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Lansseax, meanwhile, remained inside the hall, waiting in restless anxiety. If she had not left a divine mark on Lucia in advance, allowing her to sense his safety at any moment, she probably would have lost patience long ago.

On the other side, because of the little fox, Malenia, who lived next door in Haligtree Hall, dragged Miquella over to visit every day. After learning that Lucia had been in seclusion the whole time, the little girl looked somewhat downcast, while Miquella would occasionally glance toward the inner hall, a trace of worry showing on his face.

Although Priestess Lansseax and the two dragon elders did not say it outright, with Miquella's understanding of the ancient dragons, along with the divine power fluctuations that occasionally seeped from the depths of Valeria Hall, he had long since guessed what Lucia was attempting. Even with his unruffled temperament, he could not help but marvel at the courage and resolve of this young ancient dragon demigod.

The only son of the Dragon King and the Dragon God, the sole demigod of Sky City... these were merely noble titles Lucia-Sancus had been born with. Priestess Lansseax's unconditional support, Queen Marika's goodwill, and even the position of Empyrean bestowed by the Greater Will were, in the eyes of the outside world, no more than advantages brought by demigod blood, plus a tiny bit of lucky circumstance.

Under such circumstances, whether it was the Senate and council of elders within Farum Azula, where undercurrents were surging, or the new-party nobles outside who had been deeply dissatisfied over these past two days with Lucia being named an Empyrean, none of them would truly regard him in the short term as a political force equal to the other demigods. As a result, they would also tacitly exclude him from the chessboard of power spanning the three great dynasties.

But once he successfully unlocked the Dragon Bloodline Inheritance, everything would be completely different from how it was now—because at its root, the only factor that determined a demigod's status was the demigod's own strength.

The present was the brilliant, resplendent Golden Age, not the later era of Tarnished, when rites collapsed, laws were severed, and anyone with a blade dared to hack their way to a demigod's doorstep. As supreme existences standing at the pinnacle of mortal life, demigods possessed both endless lifespans and the natural support and following of mortals.

Even without considering any other factor, as long as a demigod possessed sufficiently formidable strength, countless outstanding talents would come of their own accord, drawn by reputation, and place themselves under that demigod's command—the Redmane Knights of Radahn, the Cleanrot Knights of Malenia, the Haligtree Knights of Miquella, and even the later Blood Nobles of the Mohgwyn Dynasty were all powerful groups born through this process.

Moreover, the foundation of potential followers Lucia possessed was absolutely among the very best of the demigods—the powerful legacy accumulated by the Ancient Dragon Dynasty over a thousand years after the Forbidden War, the great number of believers the two priestesses had gathered in Leyndell's Ancient Dragon Temple over the past decade, and the Banished Knights who had scattered across the continent after the Storm Dynasty's fall... If one day he could truly grasp these forces in his hands, then needless to say, that "hostage" status tacitly acknowledged by the three great dynasties would naturally vanish into smoke at once.

As for whether the Dragon Bloodline Inheritance could grant an ancient dragon demigod a sufficient increase in strength, at least while the Sword Monument standing outside the royal city had yet to collapse, the upper echelons of the three great dynasties who had personally experienced the Dragon-Tree War would absolutely not doubt it.

On the morning of the fourth day, Lucia slowly opened his heavy eyelids. Faint morning light spilled through the fine latticework along the upper edge of the quiet chamber and fell across his face, making him narrow his eyes instinctively... A moment later, he blinked, revealing a puzzled expression.

That beam of sunlight had become different in his eyes—or rather, everything he observed was now vastly different from before. The tiniest engraved grains on wooden furniture more than ten paces away were fully visible to him, down to the finest detail. The gentle dance of a few specks of dust in the air appeared slow and rhythmic. Even the natural divine power flowing and fluctuating within the sunlight had become incomparably clear.

He then turned his attention to himself. He could now distinctly feel every beat of his heart, every faint tremor of his muscles... Blood surged through his cobweb-like veins, causing an endless stream of power to flow within his body. Wait, when did his body gain this much divine power?

That was right. It was not the intangible but substantial mental power from before, but strands of divine power shimmering with a golden luster—the powerful force refined from mental power and used to cast incantations and divine arts.

Lucia sat up in one motion, slapped his cheeks to wake himself up quickly, then summoned his status panel in his mind.

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Name: Lucia-Sancus

Race: Ancient Dragon (Royalty)

Level: 148

Available Rune Points: 0

Attributes: Vigor 40, Mind 30, Endurance 15, Strength 31, Dexterity 21, Intelligence 30, Faith 30, Arcane 30

Skills: Ancient Dragon Combat Art (Unranked), Storm Swordsmanship (Unranked), Dragon King's Body (Unranked), Claw of Ruin (Unranked), Dragonbolt Incantation (Unranked)

Legendary Abilities: Dragon Bloodline Inheritance (Unlocked), Memory Battlefield (Unlocked), ??? (Locked)

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"Hey, hey, hey, why did you go and add points randomly on your own!"

Lucia broke the moment he swept his gaze over it. Did it not understand that when points were insufficient, a jack-of-all-trades build was every Tarnished's greatest taboo?!

When someone was past level five or six hundred and had all stats above 80, that was called a jack-of-all-trades build, that was called being so strong there were no blind spots. With four of my stats only raised to 30, at best I'm a water cup, not a water bucket. This is called being so weak I have no specialties, okay?

A full 71 Rune points—if they had all been added to Vigor, and then the overflow piled into Strength, wouldn't this wave have already produced knockoff versions of Undying Scales and Dragon King's Body? Even if I have to train Dragonbolt Incantation next, relying on Mind to stack total divine power and Faith to stack incantation strength, then adding everything to those two would've been fine too. What's the use of adding Intelligence and Arcane?!

One increased magic strength, and according to Memory Battlefield's description, the other "increased occult ability." But in reality, there were no such things as weapon status panels or abnormal status thresholds. Who the hell knew what "occult ability" was supposed to mean?!

After a frantic burst of complaints in his heart, he sat weakly on the floor for a long while before finally calming down.

Thinking it over carefully, it did make sense. During the process of unlocking the Dragon Bloodline Inheritance, he had not obtained even the slightest Rune from the outside world. The fact that he had suddenly shot up by 71 levels was most likely because the soul power from his parents within the inheritance had flowed back into him after the seal was broken, and therefore had been added to the various mental-type attributes.

But what he could not figure out was that the ancient dragon race had never been renowned for magic. To put it bluntly, eight generations of his ancestors were all "low-Int" warriors. As far as he knew, from his father Placidusax to Sister Lansseax and Fortissax, the two contemporary ancient dragon leaders, not a single one had outstanding talent for magic. Firing a few of the simplest Glintstone Pebbles or enchanting a weapon was already their limit—under such utterly mediocre family inheritance, how had he managed to gain Intelligence this time?

"Could it be because of Mother?" A sudden guess occurred to him.

His gaze fell on the newly added "???" among his legendary abilities, and Lucia could not help but think again of the mysterious runes at the eyes of his mother Hlaris's illusory nebula. After pondering for a long time without reaching an answer, he could only sigh helplessly.

After breaking the seal this time, the bizarre and dazzling visions within the Dragon Bloodline Inheritance seemed to have revealed some ancient secrets, but in truth, they had led him into an even deeper fog.