"A deal?" Doehring Cowart asked, puzzled.
"Yes, a deal you have no choice but to make," Andrew said decisively.
Looking at the Azure Dragon Ring in Andrew's hand, Doehring Cowart understood somewhat.
"Does Your Excellency wish to exchange something for the Ring of Earth with me?"
Andrew nodded. "Indeed, this ring is very important to me. Whatever you want, whether it's gold coins or a title, I can give it to you."
Fearing that Andrew was lying, Doehring Cowart immediately said, "If you want it, sir, please take it..."
Andrew was both annoyed and amused; this guy was really cautious.
"Don't worry, I'll keep my word. Do you really think I'd lie to you when I have the ability?"
Doehring Cowart then realized that if the other party hadn't intended to do this, they would have simply taken the ring and left. They might even have killed him to prevent the information from leaking, so why go through all that trouble?
"Well, I can't think of anything I need right now..." Doehring Cowart really had no interest in money or titles.
Andrew said, "It seems your thirst for power far surpasses anything else. Excellent, I admire you even more now. Here's what I'll do: I'll take you to the Lance Duchy and build a magic tower for you. Coincidentally, the Lance Duchy recently discovered a magic crystal mine. With the magic tower, given your talent, breaking through to the Saint-level in the future won't be a problem."
Several pieces of information stunned Doehring Cowart: the Lance Duchy, the Magic Tower, the Magic Crystal Mine—he had never heard of any of these.
Andrew explained, " The Lance Duchy was formerly the Chaotic Territory, and is now the fiefdom of the Duke of Lance."
Doehring Cowart thought for a moment, then his expression changed. He knew of the famous Duke of Lance. Although he hadn't watched the battle that day, he knew from various rumors that Duke of Lance was only seventeen or eighteen years old, yet he had already become a Saint-level expert.
"My lord, are you perhaps Duke of Lance?"
Andrew smiled and said, "Not bad. So, are you satisfied with this deal?"
Doehring Cowart nodded eagerly, "Satisfied, satisfied."
He couldn't help but be dissatisfied. With the Azure Dragon Ring, he would at most have slightly more magical power and stronger regenerative abilities, but he was still far from being able to truly grow. If the ring's secret were discovered, he could very well lose his life. However, with Andrew's protection, he could still improve his cultivation quickly without worrying about his safety. On the continent, there were truly few people who dared to oppose Andrew.
Having successfully found the Azure Dragon Ring, Andrew returned to the Duchy triumphantly, accompanied by Doehring Cowart.
Upon returning to his territory, Andrew was first scolded by his family, and it took him a great deal of effort to quell their anger. As for Doehring Cowart, he was not neglected; he not only introduced him to his family but also appointed him as the chief mage of the Lance Duchy. This made Doehring Cowart extremely grateful.
The mining of the magic crystal veins went smoothly. Under the protection of the Yulan Empire and the Lance Duchy, no one dared to provoke them. Ultimately, strength reigns supreme on this continent. Without Deity-level powerhouses, who would dare offend the High Priest and Andrew?
That day, Andrew drove the drunkard out of the small dimensional space and began to comprehend the Azure Dragon Ring himself.
" Sovereign Artifact! This is Sovereign Artifact..." Andrew was excited as he dripped blood onto the ring. Before this, he had already had Doehring Cowart sever the connection with the Azure Dragon Ring so that he could reclaim it as his own.
After the blood was dripped, Andrew could feel that his Divine Power had become much more active. He tried casting a Fire Element spell and found that it only consumed a quarter of his original Divine Power.
"As Sovereign Artifact, even in its damaged state, the power of the Azure Dragon Ring is far more than this."
Andrew knew very well that although Doehring Cowart had obtained the Azure Dragon Ring and even bound it to him with his blood, his strength was too weak to make the Azure Dragon Ring truly acknowledge him as its master.
"In this world, the gap between mortals and gods is too vast. According to the original story, Linley only discovered the core of the Azure Dragon Ring after becoming a god. However, this doesn't mean that only Deity-level powerhouses can claim the Azure Dragon Ring as their master. As Soul Defense Sovereign Artifact, as long as one's soul reaches the Deity-level, that's enough!"
Andrew felt he didn't even know the limits of his own soul. However, Andrew had tested it during his duel with the drunkard. At the very least, the drunkard's soul, at its Peak Saint-level, was much weaker than his own. Based on this comparison, Andrew secretly guessed that his soul power might have reached the standard of Deity-level.
"Perhaps, I can access the core of the Azure Dragon Ring in the Saint-level and obtain the Azure Dragon Essence Blood and the Sovereign’s Might within..."
With this in mind, Andrew channeled his Divine Power into the ring. He felt as if his Divine Power was stuck in a swamp, making movement extremely difficult. However, he did not give up and continued to increase his Divine Power.
A quarter of an hour...
Half an hour...
Two full hours passed, and Andrew's Divine Power was exhausted. By then, he had only explored about a third of the distance.
"It seems my Divine Power isn't as powerful as I thought. Deity-level... that's a transformation, something I can't compare to now."
Andrew was slightly disappointed, but he quickly adjusted his mood. After all, he had only been in the Saint-level for a short time. With the accumulation of time, his soul power would become stronger and stronger, and sooner or later he would be able to enter the core of the Azure Dragon Ring.
Andrew soon emerged from seclusion. It wasn't time for him to go into seclusion for further cultivation.
After enjoying a leisurely time with his family, Andrew also relaxed. During this period, Ferreira and Angis handled the affairs of the Duchy, and everything proceeded smoothly. Not to mention anything else, the development of the magic crystal mines alone made the Lance Duchy extremely wealthy.
Unlike other nobles who hoarded their gold coins in their homes after becoming wealthy, Andrew invested heavily in rebuilding the Chaotic Territory, adding another thirty-six cities to the existing thirty-six. At the same time, he began constructing wide roads connecting the various cities.
In addition to infrastructure, he increased investment in education, with each city having a warrior academy and a magic academy. Low-level Battle-qi manuals were also made public, and anyone who had the aptitude and pledged allegiance to the duchy could learn them.
While developing the economy, Andrew was also actively involved in education, finding the life of a lord quite enjoyable. Andrew felt a great sense of accomplishment watching the Lance Duchy change daily. However, others thought he was a fool; what nobleman would invest his money in his territory... A nobleman's job was simply to extract as much money as possible from his land!
After indulging in the life of a lord, Andrew set aside other ambitions and began conducting experiments. Recently, his magic tower was also built, its extravagance absolutely shaming most Saint-level Magus. What can you do? He's got too much money!
In order to figure out how to fuse blood essence, Andrew recruited a group of test subjects. These people were all death row inmates, each of whom had committed heinous crimes, and Andrew had no qualms about using them for experiments.
"What we're missing now is Saint-level Magical Beast."
Andrew rode the Golden Peng and left the Lance Duchy, heading towards the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts. Actually, the Dark Forest was not far from his ducal mansion. There were quite a few Saint-level Magical Beast in the Dark Forest. However, he dared not go there. If he offended Beirut, or the three Purple-Gold Rat King, even if Andrew was a genius, he would be dead.
"If I want to fuse with the Azure Dragon Essence Blood, then I'll use the Dragon Clan as my experiment. Dragonblood Warrior can awaken their bloodline by drinking dragon blood, which means that the Dragon Clan and the Azure Dragon have some connection."
Upon entering the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, Andrew released his Divine Power to search for the Saint-level Dragon Clan. Surprisingly, he was quite lucky this time, finding a Fire Dragon on the very first day.
" Saint-level Fire Dragon, not bad, let's catch it first."
When Andrew discovered the Fire Dragon, Fire Dragon was bathing in a volcano. It flapped its wings, stirring up the lava, which occasionally splashed out and landed on the ground, turning the nearby trees into charred remains.
Andrew thought for a moment and realized that if they fought here, the volcano would probably explode immediately, and the surrounding area would be reduced to ashes.
"Let's change the battlefield. Golden Peng, go lure it over here!" Andrew Soul Transmission to Golden Peng. Although Golden Peng was only level nine while the Fire Dragon was at the Saint-level, he wasn't worried. The Fire Dragon definitely couldn't catch up with Golden Peng's speed.
"Coo-coo!" The Golden Peng flew off his shoulder, circling above the crater, unabashedly releasing its aura. In the world of magical beasts, this was a provocation!
Provoked by a Level Nine Magical Beast, the Fire Dragon flew into a rage, bursting out of the volcano and spewing a torrent of fire at the Golden Peng. The Golden Peng nimbly dodged, retaliating with a bolt of lightning. The lightning struck the Fire Dragon, but failed to harm it, as it was blocked by its scales.
"Hold head high!"
The Fire Dragon was enraged. It let out a long roar and its speed suddenly increased. At this moment, it only wanted to devour this ignorant little bird. The nearly 100-meter-long Fire Dragon had extremely strong explosive power and was also very agile. In just a few breaths, it had caught up with the Golden Peng.
"Giant lizard, you're going too far by chasing my magical pet right in front of me!"