“Dick, you must be wary of Adolf. This man is both patient and ruthless.” Now that the two brothers had turned against each other, Adolf, who remained hidden within the Seven Star Fort, was sure to become a lurking threat for Dick.
"Liu Tiesheng!" Annie interjected.
“It’s possible. Since the Viscount’s family of Li Cong knows of the Seven Star Fort, and the Liu family has risen to the rank of an Earl, finding it wouldn’t be strange at all,” Dick said.
“That makes sense. The grudge between Liu Tiesheng and you runs deeper. Back when he failed to kill you in the Beast Mountain Range, now that you’ve arrived at the Seven Star Fort and have the potential for a greater future... sacrificing a child from a remote noble family to plant a ticking time bomb by your side…”
“Indeed, even if Liu Tiesheng can’t control Adolf, Adolf’s resentment alone will drive him to act against you sooner or later.”
Dick’s heart was warmed by his friends' concern for him.
“Dick, don’t underestimate him. Though Adolf’s bloodline concentration wasn’t enough to allow him to train in the core areas of Seven Star Fort, his talent is still considerable. When he killed Thomas Sharp, it was only then that he revealed his strength as an intermediate warrior.”
An intermediate warrior? This guy really knows how to bide his time!
“How do you know about Adolf’s bloodline concentration?” Dick asked curiously.
“My father often does business with the Kǎiyáng family’s Elder Fanyun. It’s well known that Adolf’s bloodline concentration was insufficient. Though he was acknowledged by Seven Star Fort, he wasn’t permitted to train in the core of the Yaoguang family. Likely fearing harassment from core family members like you, he quickly defected to the Kǎiyáng family,” Harvey explained.
Defecting to the Kǎiyáng family, huh? That explains why Harvey knows.
It was true that the Yaoguang family paid little attention to those with insufficient bloodline concentration, often relegating them to backwater towns. Many of these descendants would join other families to further their training.
“It’s said that after joining the Kǎiyáng family, Adolf demonstrated extraordinary talent and broke through to a Level 5 warrior in just a few days. Otherwise, Elder Fanyun wouldn’t even know his name.”
“Oh, Dick, you’ve made quite a name for yourself in the Yaoguang family as well. Even Elder Fanyun has heard about the feud between you and your brother. He was rather amused when speaking with my father about it.”
Dick knew the animosity between the Kǎiyáng and Yaoguang families ran deep.
Dick’s fame in the Yaoguang family stemmed from his early comprehension of the rare Water Affinity, only shortly after his arrival. As for Adolf, he must have displayed some extraordinary talent as well.
The Kǎiyáng family wasn’t as entrenched in tradition as the Yaoguang family, being a more progressive force within the Seven Star Fort.
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Seven Star Fort’s origins lay with a single family. Legend had it that the first Paladin in history hailed from here, and his seven sons, all of great talent, eventually formed the seven branches of the fort. Over the centuries, the fort produced a continuous line of Paladins, with each of the seven branches taking turns in achieving glory, sustaining its power for millennia.
In essence, the Seven Star Fort's seven great families were merely extensions of the same bloodline, making them one of the seven prominent bloodlines on the Snowy Continent.
Dick had been in the fort for half a year now and understood these basic facts. Though there were internal struggles, the seven branches remained united against external threats. Over time, their training methods and combat skills diverged greatly.
Given their shared bloodline, it wasn’t surprising that someone like Adolf from the Yaoguang family would seek refuge with the more adaptable Kǎiyáng family, especially considering their openness to new ideas.
Uniting more disciples from other families would only strengthen Kǎiyáng’s influence within the fort. Meanwhile, the Yaoguang family, with its rigid adherence to tradition, was indeed the smallest and least resourceful among the seven.
As for Dick, he was still too weak to influence the family’s development. Who could say which path was truly the best? Even within the Yaoguang family, there were factions—the extreme purists and those who believed in bloodline supremacy.
“Now that Adolf’s been exposed, I’ll keep an eye on him. But it’s Liu Tiesheng, lurking in the shadows, that troubles me. He can’t touch me while I’m at the fort, but you all need to be careful. After all, the Liu family has become a powerful Earldom.”
With the formidable strength of the Seven Star Fort behind him, a mere earl from the kingdom was no match for Dick.
At his current strength of only a Level 4 warrior, Dick had neither the power nor the connections to take down Liu Tiesheng, the son of an earl.
What Dick needed was time to grow.
“Don’t worry about us,” Li Cong said with a smile. “I’m already a Level 3 mage. At the very least, the royal family will protect us academy students until we’re sixty. They only dared target the second son of a baron from a remote region because he didn’t advance to a Level 2 mage within three years and was expelled from the academy. Ha!”
Li Cong chuckled.
“Didn’t Liu Tiesheng’s family have a way to break through bottlenecks?”
“The problem was, that baron’s second son had such poor aptitude, he wasn’t worth the effort. As a disposable pawn, his last use was likely to force Adolf to infiltrate the Seven Star Fort. Thomas Sharp, that fool, really thought he could be a partner to Liu Tiesheng? Ha!”
“If Thomas had just fled back to his remote York territory when he was expelled from the magic academy, he might’ve survived. But that fool insisted on staying in the capital, mingling with Liu Tiesheng and Allen. His hatred for you drove him to constantly torment his knight-servant Adolf, until finally, Adolf was pushed to the edge, forced to take a desperate gamble…”
Dick also felt that, with people like Harvey and Li Cong, not to mention the protection of the magic academy, and with Level 3 mage power, they had little to fear. In the Kingdom of Yan, such power was already quite formidable.
Dick spent two days wandering around Seaside Town with his friends, using the time to unwind.
After bidding his friends farewell, Dick returned to Yaoguang Mountain, where he received a message from his mentor: his “free period” had been shortened by six months, and he was now required to start taking on missions.
Well, whatever they say, goes. Six months was more than enough for Dick to sharpen his abilities. Besides, the primary free resource he received—bloodline stones—was incredibly precious, critical for enhancing his own bloodline. Dick had been too frugal to use much of it for his training.
Now, with only two bloodline stones left, Dick found his pockets emptier than ever. In Seaside Town, he couldn’t afford to buy anything. Taking on missions might be a good thing—without money, he couldn’t do anything anyway.
Moreover, the family provided resources for Dick’s warrior training, but for magic? Dick had to earn his own resources for that. The path of a mage was slow and resource-heavy. Though Dick’s jade pendant space could accelerate his magical training, he still needed a substantial amount of magic crystals and ores to make real progress.