John Atlantis

Wayne's words instantly silenced the scene.

The boys and girls surrounding Wayne

all thought of their departed parents.

Until Sakat said,

"Of course. One day, I'll definitely become a seventh-level Sacred Dragon Knight. How could I fall on the lands of pioneering?"

Hearing Sakat's bold declaration,

the other boys and girls relaxed somewhat, though their eyes were filled with solemnity.

Clearly,

they had taken Wayne's words to heart.

As they spoke,

a cool voice rang out. "It seems your spirits are still quite good.

Then make your final farewells.

In ten minutes,

we depart."

As soon as the words fell, Wayne turned and saw Rose Marquis

standing at the very front of the square.

Seeing this,

Wayne did not hurry over. Instead, he turned to look at Sakat and the others.

"Everyone, although I've already said this, I'll say it once more. Remember my words: during your studies, your cultivation realm is fundamental.

As descendants of Xun Lie alike,

I hope that twenty-five years from now, none of you will fall behind."

After saying that, Wayne left the center of the crowd and walked toward Rose Marquis.

He had not gone far

when Sakat's idiotic voice rang out. "Wayne,

I, Sakat, swear that I definitely won't fall behind."

As soon as he finished speaking,

before Wayne could turn around, the voices of the boys and girls rose one after another

as well.

"Wayne, don't underestimate us! We won't fall behind either!"

Hearing the responses rise and fall around him, Wayne still felt soul-crushingly awkward,

but he forced himself to endure it

and raised a hand in response.

Then he quickly headed toward Rose Marquis. The closer he got, the more clearly he could see the amusement in her eyes.

Feeling the gazes from before and behind him,

Wayne hurried behind Rose Marquis and let out a long breath under her cover.

At that moment,

Rose Marquis turned around, her voice coming from above Wayne's head.

"Little Wayne,

you really did look like an inspiring leader just now.

Now that you look like this, is it because your big sister saw you,

so you're embarrassed?"

Hearing that,

Wayne raised his head and looked at the teasing in Rose Marquis's eyes.

"Big Sister,

please stop teasing me. What kind of leader was that? They're just a group of twelve-year-old boys and girls.

I said those things

because we share the same identity. I don't want them, one day, to fall

on the lands of pioneering because their cultivation realms are insufficient."

Hearing that,

Rose Marquis chuckled.

"It seems I've discovered another lovely quality in Little Wayne."

As the two spoke,

ten minutes passed. Rose Marquis raised a hand, and a palm-sized airship appeared in it.

After she tossed it out,

it rapidly began to expand. In just a few moments,

the airship had grown to a thousand meters in size.

Countless roses were emblazoned on its sides. The airship had five levels in total, and a staircase extended from its right side.

Without Rose Marquis needing to say anything,

twelve knights boarded the airship first and stood on either side of the deck at its entrance.

At the same time,

another twelve maids boarded as reception and arrangement staff. Once that was done,

Rose Marquis spoke.

"Board the airship. Prepare to depart."

As soon as she finished speaking,

Wayne felt himself float again. This time, however, he was quite relaxed, because

there was no one else

who could make him feel this way besides Rose Marquis.

Sure enough,

Rose Marquis brought Wayne to the corridor on the fifth deck of the airship, where they slowly descended.

Wayne stood by the railing

and watched the boys and girls board below one after another. At a rough glance, there were around seven hundred of them.

That made him rather curious.

"Big Sister, there are around seven hundred people, right?

Is there really no one

with dual talents like mine?"

Hearing Wayne's question,

Rose Marquis shook her head with an amused smile. "Do you think dual top-tier talents are so easy to come by?

You should know,

since I established Rose Territory, including you, only three people have awakened them so far. And among them,

one had a top-tier physical talent.

Counting you, only two could become lord wizards."

She paused as she spoke.

"Still, this year is quite good. The total number of people able to go study is seven hundred and twenty-five,

more than two hundred above the average of previous years."

Wayne nodded slightly at that.

"I see. It seems I'll have to wait until I reach the academy to meet someone with talents like mine."

After he finished speaking,

Rose Marquis laughed. "So Little Wayne wants to see

someone evenly matched with himself?"

Wayne shook his head slightly.

"Not really. I'm just curious. With such a vast population base,

only three dual-talent holders have appeared after all these years. It's rather difficult to imagine."

Rose Marquis shook her head.

"Little Wayne, you think a genius with dual top-tier talents appears once in hundreds of millions,

but in truth,

it is one in several billion."

She paused as she spoke.

"Only territories above the rank of duke, after they have stabilized,

will produce roughly one dual top-tier talent every year."

Hearing that,

Wayne was somewhat shocked. What shocked him was that his talents

were far, far greater than he had imagined.

At the same time,

Wayne suddenly thought of a question.

"Oh, right, Big Sister,

do you know of any geniuses who awakened three top-tier talents?"

"Of course.

The founder of the Atlantis Empire,

John Atlantis,

possessed three top-tier talents."

Hearing Rose Marquis's words, Wayne asked instinctively,

"Only one?"

"Of course. And it is said that John Atlantis was not a native of the Myriad Clans Continent,

but a lord wizard who crossed the sea from

the Sacred Domain Continent,

the core land of wizards."

Hearing that,

Wayne stroked his chin and fell into thought.

Could it be

that the Myriad Clans Continent had not yet met the conditions needed to awaken three talents?

Otherwise,

why had only one outsider with three talents appeared in more than a thousand years?

As he pondered,

a sudden sensation of weightlessness struck him, making Wayne stumble.

At the same time, it pulled Wayne

back to reality

from his thoughts.

Looking up, he saw that the airship had begun to rise slowly. Rose Manor kept shrinking beneath them

until they could overlook Rose City.

"So huge!"

Rose Marquis chuckled. "This is nothing.

Once you see the Imperial Capital,

you'll know what true size and prosperity are."

She continued.

"All right, the airship has taken off. Let's go inside."

As she spoke,

she turned and walked through the door.

Wayne followed her inside. He found that it was a control room,

or more accurately,

the control console was at the front left, while the rest was arranged like a living room. There were also three tightly shut doors.

If he was not mistaken,

they should lead to bedrooms and a washroom.

Wayne walked over to the sofa and sat down. He did not dwell on those details,

instead turning to ask,

"Big Sister, what is the difference between three talents and dual talents?"

Rose Marquis thought for a moment before answering calmly.

"The difference is that three talents are more well-rounded than dual talents.

Given enough time,

they almost have no weaknesses."

As he spoke, he paused for a moment.

"In the early stages, you basically only cultivate one path—

either wizard or knight.

"The real gap opens up in the later stages, when you reach the end of one path, or rather, when you hit a temporary bottleneck.

"At that point,

you'll generally switch to cultivating the other path."

Hearing this,

Wayne's lips curved slightly. Then he was not too bad off. Though he did not possess top-tier physical talent,

he at least had high-tier talent.