The wizard starts by trimming the donkey's hooves

Rhine Province, Tidal Bay.

In a grand hall, a burly figure stood with his back to the door and facing the sea. It was the Tidal Sword Saint Leon.

He was looking at the dark clouds gradually gathering at the seashore, wondering what he was thinking.

As one of the few guardians in the entire empire who had not been in the imperial capital Tamriel for a long time, he was stationed in the southern Rhine Province, responsible for deterring the Poseidon Cult and guarding a secret realm, the 'Tidal Whirlpool', which was a heavy responsibility.

At this time, Sword Saint Leon suddenly said, "Lambert, come in."

A tall, muscular swordsman suddenly came in from the door. He carried a two-meter-long two-handed sword on his back. He came to Leon more than ten meters away and bowed:

"Teacher, I want to go to the imperial capital."

"Oh? Did the Drum family call you?"

"Not only do I owe the Drum family a favor, I heard that Carl also lost to them. I think that fighting with them may allow me to break through."

"So, I hope the teacher can agree to let me go." At this point, Lambert knelt on one knee and said.

"Alas, have you thought it through?"

"I have thought it through!"

"How many shadows have you killed with your sword shadow clones?"

"Eight shadows!"

"Okay! I agree to let you go." Sword Saint Leon nodded and said.

"Thank you, teacher." Lambert looked happy, stood up, bowed again, and said.

The imperial capital Tamriel.

In the study of the Rennes Mansion.

Claire found Ryan, her face a little solemn, and said: "Ryan, I have a basic understanding of the situation of the Dragon Scale Brotherhood."

"Oh? So fast, you didn't expose yourself, did you?" Ryan immediately stood up and walked out from behind the desk, motioning Claire to sit on the long sofa chair and talk.

Two days ago, Ryan and Claire met.

He asked Claire to learn some information about the Dragon Scale Brotherhood and the conservative nobles.

Although Ryan, as a fine gold-level sword holder, can call up the information in the Empire Sword Holder System at any time, most of the information is external due to the limitations of the sword holder's duties.

And for a secret organization like the Dragon Scale Brotherhood led by the second prince, it is a bit sensitive to inquire through the sword holder's intelligence system.

Of course, the sword holders should have more or less information about the Dragon Scale Brotherhood, but Ryan didn't want to expose the situation he was investigating.

So, when Ryan saw Claire, an idea flashed through his mind.

That is to let Claire find out the relevant situation through her circle of contacts in the Imperial Capital Royal Academy.

Don't underestimate the Imperial Royal Academy. There are descendants of both reformist nobles and conservative nobles; there are royal descendants, great noble descendants, and even a few low-level nobles and commoners with top talents.

This does not include circles divided by other types.

And this kind of circle is not the kind that is clearly divided. Many circles actually have overlapping parts.

As the daughter of a hereditary earl, Claire is in contact with both upper and lower circles, so she is the most informed of all kinds of news.

"No, I just hinted at it indirectly, and talked about it casually with some of my old friends at banquets and salons."

"It's just that although this method is safe, the information obtained is relatively general." Claire sat next to Ryan, lifted the hair hanging on her forehead, and said.

"Well, that's enough." Ryan said.

"I learned that there are several people in the Royal Academy who are said to have joined the Dragon Scale Brotherhood. Later, I asked a familiar friend to learn more about it. After these people joined the Dragon Scale Brotherhood, their strength improved very quickly."

"This improvement speed is not much different from yours." At this point, Claire looked at Ryan with her beautiful eyes.

"Is it just the rapid improvement in strength?" Ryan asked.

"The rapid improvement in strength is one aspect. In addition, someone told me a strange thing, that is, one of the students with dragon blood seems to have undergone a change in his blood recently."

"Oh? What kind of change?" Ryan raised his eyebrows and asked with interest.

"Well, the young man with the blood of the blue dragon, according to my friend, when he first transformed into a dragon man, the dragon scales on his body were light blue, but in a recent accidental battle, he was surprised to find that the opponent's dragon scales had turned blue-black."

"What's even more strange is that the opponent's melee ability seems to have greatly increased, while the original blue dragon blood's control over the frost power does not seem to have improved much."

"This situation is very strange. At least, in common sense, this is unlikely to happen."

"Generally, the descendants of the blue dragon blood will become darker and darker when they transform after their strength increases, generally from light blue to blue, and then to dark blue."

"At the same time, the control over the frost power is also getting stronger and stronger." Claire continued to narrate.

"Oh? Could it be an accidental mutation?" Ryan looked thoughtful.

After all, he himself is in this situation, and the system also shows 'mutated dragon blood'.

"It shouldn't be accidental, because I learned about the other two people, and they all have similar mutations. So, I guess there is something wrong with this dragon scale brotherhood." Claire shook her head and said.

"Is that so?" Ryan nodded.

The probability of all three people mutating is too high, there must be something wrong.

Suddenly, a flash of lightning flashed through Ryan's mind.

Is it because of the potion?

It seems that the bottle of 'Dragon Vein Evolution Potion' that Buchanan gave him last time was indeed problematic.

"Ryan, if the second prince asks you to join, you have to find a reason to refuse." At this point, Claire's pretty face was serious and she said seriously.

"Well, I have already refused." Ryan nodded.

"That's good."

Suddenly, Claire smiled and said, "Ryan, it has been a long time since the last time we competed in Meister. How about we compete?"

Hmm?

Hearing Claire's words, Ryan was stunned at first, and then he laughed and said, "Of course."

Since Claire's bloodline awakened, her strength has improved very quickly, but she has also heard about Ryan's superb record after coming to the imperial capital, and she has a vague idea in her heart that she wants to see it.

The two soon came to the training room.

"Ryan, then I'm going to start."

"Okay."

Claire drew out the two-handed sword behind her and held it diagonally in her hand.

Judging from the starting position, Ryan found that Claire was still using the Arcadian swordsmanship.

"Swoosh!"

As Claire's slender and elastic legs slightly pushed the ground, she rushed straight to Ryan like an arrow from a bow, and the greatsword drew a silver arc of light, slashing from top to bottom at a 45-degree angle.

"Snap!"

Facing Claire's extremely swift slash, Ryan simply raised his right hand and slapped it casually, and the blade of the greatsword was deflected to the side.

Instantly, Claire's beautiful eyes flashed with a hint of surprise.

She thought that Ryan might dodge, or retreat, or cast witchcraft for defense, but she did not expect that facing a slash of 70% of her strength, Ryan could resolve it so easily.

However, Claire's subsequent reaction was not slow.

Since the blade of the greatsword had been deflected, she immediately adjusted her steps quickly, re-energized, and changed from slashing to sweeping, continuing to sweep towards Ryan's waist.

And this time, the result shocked Claire even more!

Because Ryan's right hand was like a poisonous snake spitting out its tongue, and it grabbed Claire's sword blade like lightning, and fought barehanded.

Of course, facing Claire, Ryan naturally showed mercy and did not use metal deformation to destroy the weapon.

"Claire, your strength has improved, not bad."

"But you should not have used your full strength, right?" Ryan said with a smile, while releasing his hand.

"Your strength." Claire's eyes widened, and she was a little absent-minded for a while.

Although she had heard before that Ryan's strength seemed to have improved a lot, hearing and seeing are still different.

After the actual fight at this moment, Claire could better understand the horror of Ryan.

Remember that in the period of Shining Gold Town, she only needed to exert 20% to 30% of her strength to easily defeat Ryan who had just learned the breathing method.

But when she was in the county city, she was no longer Ryan's opponent.

However, at that time, it was still a match between two-handed swords.

But what about now?

Ryan was able to defeat her easily with just his bare hands, and with one hand!

Moreover, what was more crucial was that Claire's strength was not static, but had also improved by leaps and bounds after her bloodline awakening, but unexpectedly, the gap had widened.

However, Claire also had her own pride, even if she could not defeat Ryan with his bare hands.

But she couldn't let Ryan defeat her with just one hand, right?

"Ryan, I'm going to use my bloodline talent." Claire's eyes shone, and she said.

"Okay."

Ryan immediately realized that it seemed that he had just defeated Claire with just one hand, which made the other party feel a little unacceptable.

I saw a rich white Force light flashing across the two-handed sword in Claire's hand, and at the same time, a dark green airflow lingered on her slender and round legs.

"Swish!"

Claire bent her knees slightly, touched the ground with her toes, and the whole person disappeared from the spot, and the next second, she appeared in front of Ryan.

Ryan still fought with one hand, but this time his right hand was covered with a layer of hardened gold.

"Ding! Ding! Ding!"

Ryan stood still, and took Claire's jump, slash, and sweep from various angles with one hand. For a moment, sparks flew everywhere!

However, a hint of surprise flashed in Ryan's eyes.

Claire's speed increased by 50%, and in her current state, she was close to the strength of a quasi-legend.

From this point of view, Claire's strength improvement speed is still very fast.

"Blade Storm!" Claire shouted, and used all her strength to perform the advanced secrets of Arcadia swordsmanship.

Several whirlwinds appeared in the venue in an instant, and Claire spun like a gyroscope, slashing waves of air in all directions with the sword in her hand.

Ryan thought about it for a while, smiled, and cast a second-level defense magic on himself.

"Iron Armor!"

As a layer of dark silver metal film covered Ryan's body, a series of metal-iron collision sounds were heard, like the dense hammering sounds in a blacksmith's shop.

The blade of the greatsword in Claire's hand chopped on the shield that exuded a strong metallic luster.

Not only did it not cause any damage, but Claire's wrist was slightly numb from the recoil.

This made Claire stop the blade storm, her beautiful eyes widened, and she looked at Ryan in amazement, saying:

"This is... Is this a second-level metal magic?"

"Are you already a second-level liquefied wizard?"

Claire is the one who knows Ryan's growth trajectory best.

In more than a year, he started from scratch and grew into a second-level liquefied wizard?

The bard's songbook would not dare to write this!

"Well, but Claire, your strength is improving very quickly, and now you are close to the level of quasi-legend." Ryan nodded with a smile.

He also intends to gradually show his strength as a wizard.

Otherwise, it would be even more unacceptable to show the strength of a third-level crystallized wizard all at once.

"Compared to you, I feel that my strength has regressed." Claire shook her head and said.

"By the way, Ryan, let me ask you something, who is the Miss Anna that Mint mentioned?"

"Hmm?" Ryan was stunned for a moment.

"Uh, this"

At the same time.

At the Sword Bearer Headquarters, General Augustus' office.

"What are the current trends of the major cult organizations?" General Augustus said in a deep voice.

"Very active, but we think this is just a superficial phenomenon, and the purpose is to mobilize the strong men of the empire to leave the imperial capital." Major General Tatia said crisply.

"In the past few days, we have found that many legendary strong men of the cult have disappeared in many provinces. We think that the other party may have come to the vicinity of the imperial capital Tamriel."

"Well, this is the same as we predicted. Their goal should also be the Dragon Valley Secret Realm." General Augustus nodded.

"Strengthen the personnel screening, and after the results of the initial test come out, conduct a secondary screening of the personnel background information again."

Although the list of these personnel had been screened twice before participating in the Dragon Knight Assessment, Augustus was obviously not at ease.

The destructive power of the inner ghost is sometimes far greater than that of the external enemy.

"Yes, sir."

"How is the preparation work done on the Astrologer's Platform?" Augustus asked again.

"My lord, the arrangements have been made. Currently, four defensive magic arrays have been reinforced. For air defense, the Royal Griffin Guard will mobilize two battalions to be responsible for the air defense of the Astronomican Terrace."

"In addition, the military has also mobilized an airship formation to assist."

"For ground defense, it is even more heavily guarded, including the elite of the military, the internal security forces, and our sword bearers, a total of three lines of defense."

"By then, the Astronomican Terrace will have a defense force second only to the Imperial Palace." Tatia reported.

"Very good." Augustus nodded and said.

As the location of the command hall for this operation, the defense of the Astronomican Terrace cannot be overemphasized, especially since the commander-in-chief of this operation is still Marshal Alfred.