The wizard starts by trimming the donkey's hooves

Chapter 409: Astrologer's Platform

Rhine Province, Tidal Bay.

In a magnificent hall, a burly figure stood with his back to the gate and facing the sea. It was the Tide Sword Saint Leon.

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

As one of the few guardians in the entire empire who is not in the imperial capital of Tamriel for a long time, he is stationed in the southern Rhine Province, responsible for intimidating the Poseidon Cult, and also responsible for guarding a secret realm called the 'Tidal Vortex', a heavy responsibility.

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

A tall, muscular swordsman suddenly came in from the doorway, carrying a two-meter-long two-handed sword slung across his back. He came to a distance of more than ten meters in front of Leon, bowed, and said:

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

"Oh? Did the Durham family invite you there?"

"It's not just that I owe a favor to the Durham family. I heard that Karl was also defeated by the other party. I think that if I fight with them, I may be able to break through."

"So, I hope the teacher will agree to let me go." When he said this, Lambert knelt on one knee and said.

"Hey, have you thought it through?"

"Think it through!"

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

"Hakage!"

"Okay! I agree that you can go." Sword Saint Leon nodded and said.

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

Imperial capital of Tamriel.

In the study of Ryan Mansion.

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

"Oh? So soon, 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 with him.

Two days ago, Ryan and Claire met.

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

Although Ryan, as a fine gold-level sword bearer, can access intelligence within the Imperial Sword Bearer System at any time, most of the intelligence is external due to the limitations of the sword bearer's duties.

As for a secret organization like the Dragon Scale Brotherhood led by the Second Prince, it would be somewhat sensitive to inquire through the Sword Bearer's intelligence system.

Of course, the Sword Bearers should have more or less information about the Dragon Scale Brotherhood, but Ryan did not 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 network of contacts in the Imperial Capital Royal Academy.

Don't underestimate the Imperial Royal Academy. It has descendants of both reformist and conservative nobles, descendants of royal families and descendants of great nobles, and even a few top-notch talented descendants of lower-level nobles and commoners.

This does not include circles divided by other types.

Moreover, these circles are not clearly defined; many of them actually have overlapping parts.

As the daughter of a hereditary earl, Claire has access to people from all walks of life, so she is well-informed about all kinds of news.

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

"Although this method is safe, the information obtained is relatively general." Claire sat next to Ryan and said, brushing away the hair that fell on her forehead.

"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 speed of improvement is not much different even compared to yours." Having said this, Claire looked at Ryan with her beautiful eyes.

"Is it just that the strength is improving quickly?" Ryan asked.

"The rapid improvement in strength is one thing. In addition, someone told me something strange. One of the students who has 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, that young man with blue dragon bloodline, 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 improved, while the original blue dragon bloodline's control over the power of frost doesn't seem to have improved much."

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

"Generally, when the blue dragon bloodline descendants become stronger, the color of their dragon scales will become darker and darker when they transform, usually from light blue to blue, and then to dark blue."

"At the same time, my control over the power of ice is getting stronger and stronger." Claire continued.

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

After all, he himself was in this situation, and the system also showed "bloodline of mutant dragon".

"It shouldn't be a coincidence, because I got to know the other two people and they both had similar mutations. So, I guess there's something wrong with this Dragon Scale Brotherhood." Claire shook her head and said.

"Is that so?" Ryan nodded.

The probability of all three of them mutating is too high, and there is definitely something wrong.

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

Is it because of the medicine?

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." Having said that, Claire's pretty face became serious and she said seriously.

"Well, I've already refused." Ryan nodded.

"That's good."

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

Ok?
Hearing what Claire said, Ryan was stunned for a moment, then he laughed and said, "Of course."

Claire's strength has increased rapidly since her bloodline awakened, but she has also heard about Ryan's outstanding performance after coming to the imperial capital, and she has a vague desire to see it for herself.

The two soon arrived at the training room.

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

"it is good."

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

Judging from the opening move, Ryan discovered that Claire was still using Arcadia swordsmanship.

"Whoosh!"

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

"Snap!" Facing Claire's extremely swift slash, Ryan simply raised his right hand and slapped the sword aside.

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

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

However, Claire's subsequent reaction was not slow either.

Since the blade of the greatsword had been deflected, she quickly adjusted her steps, re-applied her strength, and changed from a slash to a sweep, 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 the blade of Claire's greatsword at lightning speed, and fought bare-handed.

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

"Claire, your strength has improved, that's good."

"But you didn't use your full strength, did you?" Ryan said with a smile as he released his hand.

"Your strength." Claire's eyes widened, and she was a little dazed for a moment.

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

After the actual fight, Claire could better understand how terrifying Ryan was.

She remembered that during her time in Glitter Gold Town, she only needed to use 20% to 30% of her strength to easily defeat Ryan, who had just learned the breathing technique.

But when she was in the county town, she was no match for Ryan.

However, at that time it could be considered a evenly matched duel, at least it was a duel between two-handed swords.

But now?

Ryan was able to defeat her easily with just his bare hands, and with one hand!
Moreover, what is more crucial is that Claire's strength did not remain unchanged, but also improved by leaps and bounds after her bloodline awakened. However, unexpectedly, the gap became larger and larger.

But Claire also has her own pride, even if she cannot defeat Ryan with his bare hands.

But you can't let Ryan defeat her with just one hand, right?
"Ryan, I'm going to use my bloodline talent." Claire said with a stern look in her eyes.

"it is good."

Ryan immediately realized that he had just defeated Claire with just one hand, which seemed to be difficult for the other party to accept.

A rich white Force light flashed from the two-handed sword in Claire's hand. At the same time, a dark green air current lingered on her slender and round legs.

"Shh!"

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

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

"Ding! Ding! Ding!"

Ryan stood still, using one hand to block Claire's jumps, slashes, and sweeps from various angles. For a moment, sparks flew everywhere!
However, there was still a hint of surprise in Ryan's eyes.

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

From this perspective, Claire's strength improvement speed is still very fast.

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

Several whirlwinds appeared in the venue in an instant, and Claire began to spin like a top, with the sword in her hand slashing out waves of air in all directions.

Ryan thought about it for a moment, then smiled and cast a second-level defensive spell on himself.

"Iron Armor Technique!"

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

The blade of the greatsword in Claire's hand chopped off the shield that was emitting a strong metallic luster.

Not only did it not cause any damage, but it also caused Claire's wrist to feel numb from the recoil.

This made Claire stop the Blade Storm. Her beautiful eyes widened as she stared at Ryan in amazement and said:
"This, this, is level 2 metal magic?"

"You are already a second-level liquefaction wizard?"

Claire knew Ryan's growth trajectory best.

In more than a year, starting from scratch, he grew into a second-level liquefied wizard?
Even the troubadours wouldn’t dare write this in their librettos!
"Well, but Claire, your strength is improving very quickly, and now you are almost at the level of a quasi-legend." Ryan nodded with a smile.

He also intended to gradually reveal his strength as a wizard.

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

"Compared to you, I feel like 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?"

"Huh?" For a moment, Ryan was stunned.

"Uh this"

at the same time.

Sword Bearer Headquarters, General Augustus' office.

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

"It's very active, but we believe this is just a superficial phenomenon. The purpose is to mobilize the empire's strong men to leave the imperial capital." Major General Tatia said crisply.

"In the past few days, we have discovered that many legendary cult members have disappeared in many provinces. We believe that they may have come to the vicinity of the imperial capital Tamriel."

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

“Strengthen personnel screening and conduct a secondary screening of personnel background information after the initial test results come out.”

Although the list of these personnel had been screened twice before participating in the dragon knight assessment, Augustus was obviously not reassured.

The destructive power of an internal enemy is sometimes far greater than that of an external enemy.

"Yes, my lord."

"How is the preparation going on at the Astrologer's Platform?" Augustus asked again.

"My Lord, everything has been arranged. 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 Astrologer's Platform."

"In addition, the military has also mobilized a fleet of airships to assist."

"As for the ground defense, it is heavily guarded, including the military elite, the internal security forces, and us sword bearers, a total of three lines of defense."

“By then, the Astrologer’s Platform will have a defense capability second only to that of the Imperial Palace,” Tatia reported.

"Very good." Augustus nodded and said.

As the command hall for this operation, the defense of the Astrologer's Platform cannot be overemphasized, especially since the commander-in-chief of this operation is Marshal Alfred.

(End of this chapter)