After meeting with Lady Varlyeth, Gaya secured vital information and an intelligence network that helped her discover who the lady that bribed the manager could have been.

Lady Varlyeth operated a merchant guild. Merchants were the most reliable when it came to procuring or spreading any kind of information.

Moreover, she was also a highly reputable noble lady with extensive government connections.

She used that network to uncover the source of the commotion and was, of course, able to discover that the Golden Wing clan was behind all of this—even the attack that had devastated her estate.

Of course, there was no way for her or anyone to have known that the bird had fled there solely because of Lucien, and there was no need for her to know. So Gaya carefully guarded that part of the entire matter, as well as the baby dragon. Thankfully, it was a heavy sleeper.

She eventually had to set out. After all the discoveries, her next destination was naturally the clan's base of operations: the Goldenvale Kingdom.

Lady Varlyeth provided her with one of the horned stallions she had seen, and thus her journey began the following day, having spent the entire previous day gathering intelligence.

Her journey was swift, though not as fast as she could manage, because she had to stop and center herself while trying to locate what exactly had happened with her Soul Heaven.

She didn't notice a significant difference, but there were subtle changes.

She could hazard faint guesses. Soul Heaven followed a concept of strength that she had cultivated. It was a voracious realm that had to be fed relentlessly, else it would only grow weaker and weaker.

For Gaya, she controlled seven, which demanded an overwhelming amount of resources from her—the time she had to dedicate to mana absorption and circulation. Of course, it yielded tremendous results and made her the greatest.

But ten thousand years of absolute stagnation had caused all those Soul Heavens to go so dormant that they felt almost nonexistent. After twelve days of mana absorption, she could finally sense them, albeit faintly. But that was something.

She wasn't sure if she was ready to face whoever she would be meeting in this condition, or if her current strength was enough to raze an entire nation. But she wasn't going to halt just because of her current predicament.

She was certain she'd work something out. All that mattered right now was getting Cien back.

And so, she journeyed during the day, and by late afternoon, she began mana absorption, continuing until very early morning when she slept for three hours before setting out at first light.

However, something strange had occurred during her mana absorption the previous night, which made her speed increase dramatically—the black horned steed was now galloping powerfully through the forest because last night, during her mana absorption, the young dragon had awakened and begun acting erratically.

It began to keen. Gaya did not understand dragon tongue, so there was no way she could have communicated with it or understood its intentions, given that it was quite young.

She eventually had to restrain the baby dragon and continue her mana absorption, which was when she felt the tiny drop of Superior mana that resonated with mana several kilometers away from her.

Gaya suspected that the only person it could have been was Cien, but she was also skeptical—beings that possessed dragon hearts instead of mana hearts were exceedingly rare, so the possibility that it was Lucien remained.

However, Gaya was far too cautious to abandon her routine only to sabotage herself. So she maintained it and departed by morning, but at a much greater speed, eager to meet them in the city and incinerate the entire kingdom.

***

"You must be his accomplice then. I'm sorry, but if you want him, you'll have to go through me."

Lucien's face paled.

'What? I think she has the wrong idea…'

With his mouth bound, every sound he tried to produce came out muffled, and he couldn't move around too much without risking a fall, so no matter how much he tried to communicate with her, it was fruitless.

Lucreatia's gaze remained locked ahead. Even if she wanted to look away, she didn't dare. She was acutely aware of the chasm between her strength and her opponent's—more so, she was troubled by something she was trying to mentally navigate.

But still, she meant what she had said: she was going to take Lucien back to the clan by any means necessary.

Meanwhile, the stranger casually strolled forward, then veered right toward the tree that Lucreatia had shredded when he punched her.

He plucked one of the splintered pieces from the trunk, examined it thoughtfully, and nodded.

"Hmm, this should work."

He swung it downward three times, then nodded in satisfaction before turning back and approaching Lucreatia.

He raised the makeshift weapon and locked eyes with her.

"Go through you, huh?"

He smiled.

"Easy."

Lucreatia scraped the flat of her sword against the rim of her shield before launching forward with ferocious speed and a war cry.

Lucien sighed through his gag as he watched them.

The man remained perfectly still. As Lucreatia closed in, a savage grin spread across his face. He planted his leg forward, and as they collided—Lucreatia intending to bulldoze him with her shield—he slammed the flat of his boot against it. The entire air shuddered for a moment before he shoved her back with devastating force.

Lucreatia hit the ground hard, tumbling and bouncing before rolling to a stop with her shield still clutched tight.

Lucien watched in horror as the lady rolled past him and came to rest somewhere behind.

The man's lips twisted downward.

"What a pathetic disappointment. I wasn't even able to use the stick."

Lucien stood frozen like a statue, sweat beading on his face and soaking his clothes.

'Who the hell is this bastard?'

The man turned to Lucien and flashed him a warm smile.

"Now that she's out of the way, I have some—"

The man suddenly stopped, his expression twisting into something dark and menacing.

The sheer gravity of his seriousness made Lucien equally wary, but he became far more conscious of the icy presence behind him, pressing against his neck like death's own fingers.

The Dragon of the East forced out a smirk.

"So you are one of those…"

Behind Lucien, a massive white serpent reared its head, black vertical pupils gleaming with predatory malice as they fixed on their prey.

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