Although the journey had been full of hardship and turbulence, in the end, Figaroia did not disappoint Oakes and Yagonia. Time and again, he managed to resolve one crisis after another and successfully escorted them all the way to the foot of Mount Nether.
And on this journey, Figaroia experienced something he had once believed he would never know—the feeling of protecting and saving his parents.
In that instant, it was as if he had matured by leaps and bounds.
This was not the kind of superficial maturity he had shown before—when Locke had frightened him once, only for him to revert to his old self after learning that Lord Locke was a Sovereign.
No.
This was true growth.
The kind of transformation that turned a child into a man capable of holding up the sky.
One could say that the entire journey from the Nether Mountain Range to Mount Nether had tempered him in both body and soul.
"Oakes greets Lord Locke."
"Yagonia greets Lord Locke."
"Figaroia greets Lord Locke."
Passing through the opening in the chain of lightning and entering Mount Nether, the family arrived at the main hall of the Water Manor and knelt before Locke.
"That's enough. Rise."
"Yes, Lord Locke."
Once the three stood up, Locke gave a small wave of his hand.
"Although I already know your answer, I'll ask once more here."
"Oakes, are you willing to become my Sovereign Envoy and serve under me for the rest of your life?"
Faced with Locke's solemn question, Oakes immediately replied with utmost respect.
"Lord Locke, I am willing."
"Very good."
"Then, as the first Sovereign Envoy under my command, Oakes, I grant you a material defense Sovereign artifact."
With a wave of his hand, an armor radiating soft white light appeared in midair and floated toward Oakes.
"Thank you for Lord Locke's reward."
Without the slightest hesitation, Oakes sliced open the tip of his left finger with his right hand, forcing out a drop of blood and letting it merge into the Sovereign artifact.
The next moment, after successfully establishing a connection with the material defense Sovereign artifact, Oakes fused the armor into his body.
From now on, whenever he came under attack, the armor would automatically emerge to protect him.
After granting the Sovereign artifact to Oakes, Locke shifted his gaze to Figaroia.
After so many years together, Oakes and Yagonia understood Locke extremely well.
Likewise, how could Locke not understand the couple just as deeply?
The moment they had Figaroia lead them through the sea of mist, Locke had already understood what they intended.
Of course, more often than not, what Locke truly understood was Yagonia's thinking.
Oakes's strength was unquestionable, but when it came to dealing with certain matters, he could be frustratingly slow and dull.
Yagonia, however, was the opposite.
Though her strength was not particularly impressive, her intelligence had long since made her the true brain behind Oakes.
One could say that the reason Locke was willing to accept Oakes as his Sovereign Envoy was due in no small part to Yagonia's wisdom.
"Figaroia."
"Lord Locke."
The moment he heard his name, Figaroia immediately bowed.
"I watched your performance leading your parents through the mist."
"If you had to score yourself for this journey, with ten as the full score, what would you give yourself?"
Figaroia fell silent.
He thought back on the many times his poor decisions had led to his parents being injured, captured, and put in danger.
After a long moment, he shook his head.
"Lord Locke… I don't think I'd even deserve three points."
"Not bad. At least you're self-aware."
"The score I gave you in my mind is only one point."
Figaroia's heart jolted.
Though he had already been dissatisfied with his own performance, he had never imagined that in Lord Locke's eyes, he would be worth only a single point.
"Then, Figaroia, do you know why your score is so low?"
"Please enlighten me, Lord Locke."
"Because you are too weak."
Locke spoke bluntly.
"Figaroia, if your strength were ten times greater, do you think your parents would still have encountered so much danger, even if you had made all those wrong decisions?"
"And what if your strength were a hundred times greater?"
Figaroia pressed his lips together, unable to answer.
Yes.
If he had been ten times stronger—no, a hundred times stronger—how could his parents possibly have fallen into danger?
Wasn't that the very reason his father had given him this trial?
Because Oakes possessed the strength to turn everything around, no matter how badly he messed up.
The problem was…
there was nothing he could do about it.
Did he not want to grow stronger?
As the son of the Lord of Shadowmoon Prefecture, possessing only the strength of a Five-Star Demon was frankly humiliating for Oakes.
But there was no helping it.
No matter how hard Figaroia trained, he simply could not find the point of convergence for his third profound mystery.
At this point, Locke suddenly turned to Oakes.
"Oakes, Figaroia's comprehension of the profound mysteries has essentially reached its limit."
"However, I still have another method that can make him stronger."
"It's just that this method is extremely dependent on the army."
"In other words, after learning it, Figaroia will only be at his strongest when his soldiers are gathered around him."
"The moment there are no troops under his command nearby, he will be reduced to his original state."
"Are you willing to let him study this method under me?"
Before Oakes could answer, Figaroia had already stepped past his parents and dropped to both knees before Locke.
"There's no need to ask my father, Lord Locke."
"I am willing to learn this method from you."
"I beg Lord Locke to permit me to join your Sovereign Army and allow me to offer up my own strength in service to you."
After Figaroia knelt, Oakes also bowed deeply.
"Lord Locke, since Roa has already made up his mind, I ask that you show mercy and allow this disappointing son of mine to join the Sovereign Army."
"All right, all right, Oakes, Figaroia."
"Since I proposed this method, naturally I intend for Figaroia to use it within the Sovereign Army once he has mastered it."
"As for whether he's disappointing or not, save that judgment for after he leaves my tutelage."
"However, let me remind you, Oakes…"
"If Figaroia truly has talent in the study of magic formations, then once he leaves here…"
"…it's entirely possible that even you may no longer be his match."
At those words, the eyes of all three members of the family lit up.
There was no child who did not dream of surpassing their father.
And there was no parent who did not hope their child would surpass them.
If Figaroia truly became stronger than Oakes under Lord Locke's guidance, Oakes would not feel resentment in the slightest.
On the contrary, he would be grateful from the bottom of his heart.
"Hahaha! In that case, Lord Locke, I'll head into the Nether Mountain Range and begin recruiting soldiers."
"I'll leave Figaroia in your care."
"Go on, then."
Locke waved him off.
"Oh, right. Oakes, aside from you, there is another commander of a Sovereign Army recruiting soldiers in Mount Nether."
"If you run into her, give way a little."
"And one more thing."
"My requirement for soldiers in the Sovereign Army is that they must independently cross the mist of the Nether Mountain Range and reach the foot of Mount Nether."
"Be sure to keep that in mind."
"Yes, Lord Locke."
After Oakes and Yagonia departed, only Locke and Figaroia remained in the Water Manor.
"Rise, Figaroia."
"Yes, Lord Locke."
"Come with me."
"Yes."
Locke led Figaroia out of the manor.
Everywhere Locke walked, the surrounding mist parted on its own.
Before long, the two had left the fog-shrouded mountainside and arrived near the foot of Mount Nether.
"Figaroia, what I'm going to teach you now is something called a magic formation."
"But before learning magic formations, you must first understand what they are."
"When a being's affinity with heaven and earth is high enough, they can begin to sense certain universal laws."
"If one can turn those laws to their own use, then they can wield many wondrous abilities."
As he spoke, Locke bent down, picked up a few small stones from the ground, and casually tossed them out.
In an instant, the scenery before Figaroia began to distort and blur.
When he blinked again, the rows of trees that had stood before him had vanished.
In their place was a vast, rippling sea.
"Figaroia, can you still find the trees that were here before?"
Figaroia spread out his divine sense.
Yet just like what his eyes showed him, what his divine sense perceived was exactly the same scene—
a boundless ocean.
He took a few steps forward, crouched down, and reached out as if to touch the seawater.
But the moment his fingers made contact, the sensation that came back to him was that of solid earth.
"This is…"
Rising to his feet, Figaroia stretched both hands out in front of him.
Very quickly, he touched the tree trunks he had seen before.
"How incredible…"
A spark of excitement flashed in his eyes.
Even both sight and divine sense could be deceived?
If he had not touched it with his own hands, who would have guessed this was not a lake at all, but still the same forest?
"This is the power of a magic formation."
Locke said calmly,
"With only a few small stones, I drew upon the laws of heaven and earth and projected scenery from tens of thousands of kilometers away onto this place."
"Both your eyes and your divine sense are deceived by the local laws manipulated by the formation."
"If you do not physically touch it yourself, you won't be able to detect anything wrong."
"Of course…"
"This is only the most basic application of a magic formation."
(End of Chapter)
T/N: Back to Back bonus chapters is crazzzzy.
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