Chapter 278 - Lord Wenmord's mystery

"So… by your standards, the Sword King and my uncle Avin are Early Rank 3 Kings. And there's Mid, Late, Grand Rank 3 above that? Not to mention Rank 4 Emperor and Rank 5 God?"

Although he knew his uncle was not omnipotent, but Freon believed his uncle was, at least, close to the ceiling. Being able to affect the entire capital city in his wake, was it not already ridiculous? If that was considered as 'mid-tier' in the grand scheme of Ranks, then he could not imagine how preposterous those stronger than his uncle would be!

Benedict also found it hard to believe. His master, the Sword King Sin Quelldown, was regarded as the most recent Instinct Realm in the last century to emerge. Whether that was true or not, it did highlight the overwhelming scarcity of Instinct Realms and Rank 3 Kings in general. Sure, he could accept his master being the only Instinct Realm. If it was a one-in-a-million occurrence, then it was bound to happen. That was what it took to reign at the top! Yet, if that was the mere tip of the iceberg of a much grander stage… What about him then? It seemed to make all his accomplishments meaningless!

Shirley was less affected since she never encountered those Rank 3 Kings of legend. While she did meet with Protector Avin a handful of times, she had neither witnessed the heavenly phenomenon nor the Third Hand's slaughter. She had no way of understanding exactly how powerful Rank 3 Kings were! And to be honest, neither did Freon nor Benedict. The Sword King could effortlessly annihilate the First Hand, while Protector Avin could massacre the Third Hand. When fighting against those of a lower Rank, was there a need to exert your best effort? There was not! Only against equals or people of a higher Rank would they show their true strength. The extermination of the Featherwind Sect was the best example.

"Elizabeth… are you making this stuff up? I never heard of anything like this," Freon frowned. It sounded borderline mythical like the ramblings of a child with a bit too much imagination.

"I… I don't think it's made up," she defended poorly. Because this was a second-hand recounting from Rena, she had no way of knowing if it was true or not. Even she had troubles believing the existence of Rank 4 Emperors or Rank 5 Gods…

"Where did you hear about this?" Benedict questioned.

"You must have read or heard it somewhere, right?" Shirley tried helping on the side.

"It's…" Elizabeth sighed. "I did hear it from someone… My teacher."

"Your royal teachers?"

Not wanting to keep secrets from her friends, Elizabeth grabbed her bow and placed it gently on the table in front of her. The Whiteangel Bow continued presenting its endless l.u.s.ter, as if it were untouchable by the filth of the mortal world. The delicate curved appearance, born from peerless craftsmanship, and the beautiful white wings almost seemed to lift itself to the heavens, hence the name 'Whiteangel'. And it was not a flashy piece either for its features were gentle and inconspicuous, requiring a cautious eye to notice. The bow could be regarded as a timeless masterpiece! But… that was all. Nothing else happened! It remained a simple bow, so her friends grew befuddled. What was this supposed to mean?

"What does your bow have to do with your teacher?" Freon asked.

Upon noticing her strange expression, Shirley asked, "Are you okay, Elizabeth? Are you sure you don't want us to call someone?"

The reason why Elizabeth was upset was because of Rena! She wanted to introduce her teacher to the rest of her friends, but the bow remained unresponsive. So, although she was telling the truth, from their perspective, she looked like an unhinged person, rambling about incoherent things! Her cheeks flushed red in embarrassment as the girl tried to telepathically complain to the spirit. Alas, it was the same. She realized she was being ignored.

"Never mind…" Elizabeth sighed, taking her bow back. "The point is… Lord Wenmord is theorized to be either a Grand Rank 3 King or a Rank 4 Emperor. As my teacher once explained, he's likely to be one of the strongest people in the whole world."

"I don't get it," Benedict added. "How did a Grand Lord patriarch like Lord Wenmord gain that level of strength without anyone noticing? This goes beyond talent, skill, or intelligence."

It took his master, the Sword King, most of his life, to reach the pinnacle level of Instinct Realm. And that was by enduring nightmarish training everyday, coupled with countless near-death encounters, as well as pushing his swordsmanship to the utmost limit. He even managed the perfect all swordsmanship styles and achieved the thought-to-be-impossible Sword Intent! For him to become an Instinct Realm, it made sense.

Freon nodded on the side. He was closer with his uncle, Protector Avin, so he knew a few more things. A long time ago, he wondered how his uncle could look and act so young. He originally thought it was a disguise, formed with magic or otherwise, to help disguise his uncle's movements in Firecast, but as Protector Avin later explained, this was not true at all. When he achieved Blue Depth Core Level, he gained both the appearance and vitality of a middle-aged person! That was the power of transcending limits! The heavens were equal, in exchange for the immense requirement in effort and talent to become a Rank 3 King, they would be granted lifespan!

However, Protector Avin took almost ninety years to reach that ultimate level. As far as Freon knew, a human's lifespan was limited to eighty or ninety years. Perhaps there were some elusive century-old humans, but they would be extremely rare. Therefore, that would mean that a Rank 3 King would take close to their entire lifespan to breakthrough, where countless others would fail and perish. Yet, Elizabeth was claiming that Lord Wenmord reached a level beyond their two teachers? The patriarch of the Lannisail Household and a Grand Lord, Lord Wenmord surpassed both the Sword King and Protector Avin in less than a fraction of the same time? The so-called mythical Rank 4 Emperor, one step below a God? Neither Benedict nor Freon could accept it. It sounded ridiculous!

"I don't know how Lord Wenmord did it. I also don't know what he wanted from me," Elizabeth said. "But using the Whispering Shadow, he kidnapped me and then caused the Lannisail explosion."

"I'm confused," Shirley interrupted. "If Lord Wenmord is so much stronger than everyone else, then why did he bother with the Whispering Shadow?"

"That is a good point," Freon remarked. "A really good point coming from Shirley. If I were that strong, then I would do things directly. There wouldn't be a need to sneak around and scheme everywhere."

"That would be crazy," Benedict refuted. "There were three brigades around Castle Reinhard, a total of fifteen thousand soldiers. And that was not counting the presence of the kingdom's three strongest knights and dozens of Royal Guards. I doubt Lord Wenmord could handle all of them by himself."

"One high-level spell from a Rank 3 King or a Rank 4 Emperor could probably do it," Freon returned. Since his uncle could already create the heavenly phenomenon which siphoned the World Energy from across Firecast then it was natural to assume that his uncle could affect an entire city with a spell. If something of that magnitude occurred in Algard, then what did a paltry fifteen thousand amount to? A Rank 3 King's attack might destroy the capital city completely!

Benedict was speechless. He had neither seen the Lannisail explosion nor the heavenly phenomenon, so he had no way of understanding the true scale of a Rank 3 King's power. While his master seemed unbelievably, unfathomably, and unimaginably strong, Benedict believed it was still within human limits. For example, look at his father, Sir Roland's, performance. Although the man was regarded as one of the strongest Royal Guards in the realm, right below the three greatest knights, Benedict highly doubted that his father could defeat three brigades simultaneously. After all, four hands would beat two. What to say about thirty thousand? The idea that 'quantity over quality' was common sense. There was no way a 'one-man army' could exist, right?