<h4>Chapter 168</h4>


    Unlike Grace, Leonard wouldn’t be able to manipte natural energy as if it were an extension of his body even if he reached the Demigod Tier. The goal of the Five Elements One Origin Sutra Sword was far too different.


    <i>They’re called the Five ssical Elements, but the barriers between them havepletely broken. They’re not just unified into one—they </i>are <i>one. </i>


    The Five Elements, which were the basis of all nature, weren’tpletely independent of each other, but mixing them all together didn’t make them one entity either. They kept the world in motion through the cycles of creation and destruction that arose from the elements interacting with each other. They were one system with five parts, five parts of one system.


    He recalled the firstment Grace had made when she’d suddenly appeared. He now understood how she’d known.


    “Commander Grace.”


    “Hm?” She blinked in response. It was hard to believe that someone so nonchnt was an incredibly powerful knight who had just neutralized Surge of the Dragon King with just two fingers.


    “I see you’ve alreadybined the five into one.”


    “...You noticed?” She looked genuinely surprised.


    It wasn’t very hard for a Demigod Tier expert to see through the abilities of a Transcendence Tier expert, but it was nearly impossible for a mere Transcendence Tier expert to see through the very foundation of the powers of a Demigod Tier expert.


    N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Though she had been born with a penta-core, she hadbined them like a single core to break into the Demigod Tier. That was when she obtained the ability to manipte nature however she wished.


    “Amazing. Not even Demian has been able to see that far, even though he has Dragon Eyes like you. You actually took me by surprise with that one.”


    The yfulness was gone from her voice. She now understood why the other Knights Commanders were acting the way they were, wary of the Order of the Golden Dragon.


    “At this rate, I don’t think it’ll be long until you reach the Demigod Tier...” she mumbled.


    Reaching the Transcendence Tier before the age of twenty was already very impressive, but reaching the Demigod Tier was a different story. Some never reached it after training for a thousand years, while some reached it after only ten years. It wasn’t very hard to tell who fell into which category, but anyone could tell that Leonard was thetter.


    If he could surpass the Demigod Tier and reach the Deification Tier, the House of Cardenas wouldn’t need to keep clinging to some ancient mission.


    <i>At any rate, it’s clear what my role is. </i>


    Demian would talk people into joining their side while implementing a general consensus. Wade and Audrey would give weight to that consensus, so there wasn’t much for Grace to do on that front.


    The only thing for her to do here was to guide him as someone who had already gone down the path of having a penta-core.


    “It’s exactly as you say. Ibined the Five ssical Elements into one, and I was able to reach the Demigod Tier when I could skillfully wield them as one. And that was when I was able to start manipting natural energy at will. But,” she paused, “you’re not trying to follow in my footsteps, are you? Since you keep sticking with five swords, I assume that you’re not trying tobine the five energies into one but trying to improve your skills while maintaining a system with five different energies.”


    “Precisely.”


    “Ah. You’re choosing a harder path than mine.”


    As someone who embodied the Five ssical Elements, Grace understood Leonard better than anyone else. Breaking down five elements tobine them into one was already incredibly difficult, but trying to reach the next level while maintaining their separation was naturally more difficult.


    It would be harder than trying to survive under a spiderweb during a storm.


    <i>But if he can make it to the very end... </i>


    Leonard could actually reach the level of a god. Grace felt it in her instincts, just as she had when she’d sensed her limits after reaching the Demigod Tier.


    The moment shebined her mana cores and became one with nature, she confined herself to the Demigod Tier. Nature was merely another part of their world, but in order to reach the Deification Tier, one had to reach something beyond that. Now that she was part of nature itself, she couldn’t go any further.


    “All right. It’s time to get serious,” she said.


    She didn’t regret what she had be, nor did she want to go back. But she didn’t want a talented young knight to end up unknowingly trapping himself.


    It was time to push him to his limits.


    She would show him where she had stopped so that he could reach higher heights. She was the only person in the family who could teach him.


    Nature de


    Her technique wasn’t called de of Nature or Nature of des—they were indistinguishable.


    “What?!” Leonard couldn’t help but shiver. Over a thousand swords formed around Grace. Not only that, the number was still increasing. Each sword was an augmented energy sword. With so many weapons, if they all flew out at once, they could topple a mountain.


    Something Demian had told him flickered through Leonard’s mind.


    <i>“Generally, the Seven Orders all fight a different type of enemy, so their leader, theirmander, is often appointed based on thepatibility of their unique trait.”</i>


    They needed people who could break through the Void Deities’ invulnerability and people who could overpower the Demoniacs’ healing abilities.


    Since Celestials could fly, what would the Blue Dragon Commander’s unique trait be like?


    The answer was very simple.


    <i>Immensely powerful wide-area attacks!</i>


    While Audrey was superior to Grace in terms of pure strength because she could destroy anything, Grace was superior to Audrey in terms of scale.


    Wade might be better for immediate, one-hit attacks, but Grace was more efficient because she could fire volley after volley of swords.


    Celestials wererge in number, unlike Void Deities, and they could spawn in more ces, unlike Demoniacs. But there was a reason they weren’t crawling around. Every time they tried to descend from the sky, they werepletely massacred.


    “For reference, my unique trait is very efficient,” she said. “Even if I fire this attack, it will only take me a few seconds to recover the energy it consumes. Though, it wouldn’t be very effective against someone like Audrey with an immense amount of brute strength or someone like Demian who can interfere with the direction of an attack.”


    “But you can take out countless enemies weaker than you.”


    “Yes. If you gather ten thousand Transcendence Tier experts, I can annihte them if given enough time. But it’s unfortunate that this power is mostly tied to this realm.”


    If Grace’s power could be used in the Demonic Realm or the Celestial Realm, other than a few monsters with Demigod Tier strength, all themon monster soldiers would have already been wiped out.


    Unfortunately, being restricted to the Middle Realm was a unique aspect of her inexhaustible power.


    “I’ll make sure to adjust the power of my attacks, but I can’t guarantee that I won’t hurt you. Are you still okay with that?” she asked.


    Leonard didn’t waver. “Yes. Please don’t stop unless I surrender or lose consciousness.”


    “If you’re unlucky, you might die, you know.”


    “That’s the type of risk I’ll have to take to reach the Demigod Tier.”


    Grace saw from his calm face that his courage came not from arrogance but from resolve. She took a step forward.


    It was time for them to talk with swords, not words.


    <i>Here shees, </i>Leonard’s nearly prophetic sixth sense warned, just as a downpour of swords came down upon him and covered the entire training ground.


    But the barrage was like a forest of des, too vast to target Leonard alone.


    * * *


    The one-sided sparring match was forced to end because of the time. While the Blue Dragon Commander’s schedule was rtively lightpared to the schedules of the othermanders, she didn’t have so much free time that she could spend a whole day sparring with Leonard.


    Leonard didn’t surrender or lose consciousness. But by the end, he wasn’tpletely unscathed either.


    <i>“Cough!” </i>He spat out globs of blood and barely managed to steady himself.


    His injuries weren’t light.


    Grace had inflicted so much damage that, had his body not been close to a dragon’s, he would have died on the spot or, at the very least, spent months recovering.


    “Thank... you... for... your... guidance,” he gasped, using great effort to force down the blood that had risen in his throat. Their match had taught him more than he would have learned after years of training.


    While Grace had taken a different direction to a different destination from Leonard, they had much inmon, so there was also much he could learn from.


    “Likewise. I learned a few things while teaching you. I can’t believe you didn’t copse even after I pushed you so hard. Amazing,” she said with genuine admiration for his grit and martial spirit.


    She had sensed that she had to treat him like a fellow seasoned martial artist, not a talented student, realizing that she also had things left to learn about sword formations and elemental energies.


    Perhaps that was why she feltpelled to make him a promise for the future, even though she didn’t know when it would be fulfilled.


    “Let’s fight again once you reach the Demigod Tier. I can show you my full power then.”


    Leonard didn’t need to say anything. Grace saw his answer in his eyes and smiled.


    She began to walk away. If she stayed any longer, it would’ve dyed Leonard in getting his wounds treated. Since he didn’t want to show her his vulnerable side, it would only be right to respect his pride.


    Grace left the White Dragon training ground, and just as she was about to leave the Ivory Forest, she saw someone blocking her way.


    “Demian?”


    “Oh.”


    Themanders hadn’t expected to run into each other. They weren’t close enough to exchange small talk, so they went straight to business.


    “How was it? Are you starting to understand what I told you?” Demian asked.


    He didn’t mention any particr subject, but Grace easily understood.


    “Yeah. I can see why you said that. He’s too valuable to hand over to the Order of the Golden Dragon.”


    “If we convince that old man Wade, we’ll be in the majority. There’s no way he wouldn’t be able to see it with that discerning eye of his, so he’s basically guaranteed to join us.” Demian’s lip curled up to one side. His n was going smoothly. The Golden Dragon wouldn’t be able to get their hands on Leonard if fourmanders opposed it, especially because Leonard himself had no intention of joining them.


    As Demian was muttering to himself, Grace interrupted, “Were you watching us fight?”


    “No, I just got here. Thatst shockwave was pretty big, though. Don’t tell me something went wrong.”


    “He is a little injured, but it’s not serious. But you know, his physique is pretty tough. It seems he’s awakened some other dragon traits besides the Dragon Eyes.”


    “...That’s a topic for another time,” Demian said, dodging the subject and trying to be vague. Leonard’s Dragon Heart was too important a secret, so he would tell her once he was sure she was on their side.


    After talking for a few minutes, they quickly came to the same conclusion.


    “Let’s keep Leonard hidden until he reaches the Demigod Tier,” Grace said.


    “It would be so nice if we could just convince Corbin to join us. But that man is a wild card in multiple ways,” Demian added.


    The Order of the Light Dragon typically focused on surveilling outside forces, but they also kept close watch inside the family as well, just in case any hostile forces or their coborators tried to infiltrate the House of Cardenas. They had been the ones to discover that some indirect descendants had been convinced to be spies.


    It was rare for them to spy on the Seven Orders, but that was because they chose not to. If they wanted to, they could.


    “Well, it could be good,” Grace said, grinning in response to his concern.


    It could take years, perhaps decades, for Leonard to break past the Transcendence Tier and reach the Demigod Tier, but she wasn’t worried. That was the hunch she had after fighting him.


    <i>Thatst technique he used was incredible, </i>she thought. Grace had tried to defeat him before their time was up, but she’d identally wounded him instead.


    She had been too taken aback by the sight of those giant tiger paws that swatted and destroyed a thousand swords.


    “I’ll be ready next time,” she said.


    “Hm? For what?”


    “Oh, nothing.”


    Leaving Demian bewildered by her mysterious words, Grace hummed to herself as she left the base. She had a faint smile on her face.


    It was a happy day.


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