NOVGO.NET Chapter 315: Challenge Accepted
Chapter 315: Chapter 315: Challenge Accepted
Chapter 315: Challenge Accepted
Thousands of miles away, within the halls of the Royal Palace in Solathane City.
Lucius lounged carelessly on his seat. He was in an exceptionally good mood after his political maneuver had successfully cornered his enemy,
"Your Royal Highness!"
A royal guard rushed into the grand hall, dropping to one knee. His voice was filed with urgency.
"Alchemy Emperor, Lord Marcellis, is approaching your chambers!"
The moment those words dropped, the arrogant sneer on Lucius’s handsome face vanished without a single trace.
He immediately stood up, smoothing out the invisible wrinkles on his imperial white robes.
The condescending aura of disappeared, and what remained was the subservient posture of a junior greeting a master.
In the Solathane Dynasty, even the Emperor himself had to give face to the sole Emperor-rank Alchemist.
Lucius, despite his boundless ambition, knew perfectly well that Marcellis was his greatest backer, offending this old monster would severely cripple his influence
A moment later, an elderly man with a long, flowing white beard stepped into the hall.
His eyes were sharp, carrying the inherent, untouchable arrogance of a man who had stood at the pinnacle of his field for ages.
Alchemy Emperor Marcellis.
An eight-hundred-year-old monster who sat at the pinnacle of the Solathane Dynasty’s alchemical hierarchy.
"Lord Marcellis," Lucius greeted, bowing at a respectful angle. "You could have just sent a guard, there was no need for you to come in person."
Marcellis did not bother with pleasantries. He waved his hand dismissively, his sharp eyes locking onto Lucuis.
"You must have already heard of the public missive," Marcellis stated,"The challenge issued by the Celestial Elixir Pavilion."
Lucius straightened his posture, instantly adopting an expression of outrage and deep indignation.
"Indeed, Lord Marcellis," Lucius replied, "I heard that a messenger dared to present this absurd challenge directly to the royal court!
He looked at Marcellis, his amber eyes burning with righteous fury.
"Lord Marcellis, I am utterly appalled! How dare a nameless, unproven upstart step out of nowhere and challenge the supreme Alchemy Emperor of our Royal Family? To demand that you kneel and apologize?"
Lucius spoke passionately, fanning the flames of conflict with meticulous precision.
"It is a shameless insult to your eight hundred years of legacy! I wanted to dispatch my Domain Masters to execute this ’Korryn’ immediately just to protect your dignity!"
Marcellis looked at the fiercely indignant Crown Prince.
His ancient eyes were calm.
He had lived for eight centuries. He was not a fool.
He could easily see through Lucius’s subtle provocations and calculated flattery.
He knew that Lucuis was merely using him as a blade to eradicate his enemy.
But...
Even knowing he was being used, Marcellis could not deny the bitter, stinging reality festering in his own heart.
He was not happy.
Before the Celestial Elixir Pavilion opened its doors, Marcellis had been the undisputed peak of alchemy in the Solathane Dynasty.
He was worshipped as a living god.
But since those flawless, one-hundred-percent purity Epic and Mystic-Grade pills appeared on the market, the foundation of his supremacy had been shaken.
Everyone had started comparing Korryn to him.
He could hear the quiet whispers even within the walls of the Royal Palace.
The nobles and officials were secretly doubting whether he, the great Marcellis, was truly the best alchemist in the dynasty, or if this mysterious Korryn had already surpassed him.
Although these doubts were only spoken in hushed whispers, they pricked his monumental pride like a poisoned needle.
So, apart from the fact that Lucius had previously requested him to issue that vague, condemning statement, Marcellis had his own, deeply personal reasons for wanting to crush this upstart.
He needed to firmly stomp on Korryn’s neck before the eyes of the world to prove that the title of ’Alchemy Emperor’ was unshakeable.
"You must be happy to know, Your Highness," Marcellis finally spoke, his voice chillingly confident, "that I have officially accepted his challenge."
Lucius’s eyes widened in perfectly feigned surprise.
"The duel will take place in exactly one week," Marcellis declared, his chin tilting upward with supreme arrogance. "I will personally show this arrogant fool the insurmountable chasm between a true Emperor and a street-peddling charlatan."
Lucius immediately bowed deeply, hiding his face from the elderly alchemist.
"I am completely certain that the victory will belong to you, Lord Marcellis," Lucius praised subserviently.
But beneath his bowed head, an evil smile curled across Lucius’s lips.
’You dared to go against me Korryn," Lucius sneered inwardly. ’Once you lose, I will have hundreds of ways to control you, and your Celestial Elixir Pavilion."
In less than half a day, the news dropped like a catastrophic meteor across the Inner Province.
The Royal Court had accepted the challenge!
The supreme Alchemy Emperor of the Solathane Dynasty would face Grandmaster Korryn in a public refinement duel in one week!
The entire dynasty was thrown into a frenzy of anticipation.
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Meanwhile, back in Valdris City, within the Special Alchemy Room beneath the Valdris Royal Academy.
Rhain carefully secured the freshly refined Pill-Veined Mystic-Grade pill into a jade bottle.
He then retrieved his transmison tailsiman.
"Vulcan," Rhain ordered, "Gather the men. We are going to the Vaelstrum Clan."
"Understood, Master!"
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A short while later, outside the sprawling ancestral estate of the Vaelstrum Clan.
The captain of the gate stood rigidly at his post, flanked by a dozen elite Core Formation guards.
Since the visit of the wanted fugitive Rhain Voss a few days ago, his nerves had been completely fried.
But suddenly, the captain felt the ground tremble.
He looked up.
His pupils contracted to the size of pinpoints.
Marching directly up the massive stone plaza toward the Vaelstrum gates was a group radiating overwhelmingly dense pressure.
As the group drew closer, the captain’s heart skipped a beat.
He immediately recognized the beautiful girl walking near the front.
Elara Thunderwood.
But it was the towering, muscular man walking beside her that made the captain’s blood run cold.
Manager Vulcan of the Celestial Elixir Pavilion!
The captain’s eyes darted frantically to the figures marching in perfect, synchronized formation behind them.
Fourteen people.
Fourteen true Domain Masters!
"What is the Celestial Elixir Pavilion doing here?!’ the captain screamed in his mind, ’Did they bring an army of Domain Masters to retaliate against our Clan?’
But as the group drew closer, the captain noticed something even more bizzare.
All fourteen Domain Masters.
Manager Vulcan.
Even Lady Elara.
Every single one of them was walking half a step behind a single man.
It was a dignified, middle-aged man with deep and unreadable eyes.
The captain’s entire body shivered as he tried to fathom the identity of the man who could command such submission from fourteen Domain Masters and the manager of the pavilion.
There was only one possible answer.
The group stopped a few paces away from the gates.
Vulcan stepped forward, his massive frame towering over the trembling guards.
His booming voice rang like a thunderclap in the ears of frightened guards.
"Go and inform your Patriarch immediately! Tell him that my Master, Grandmaster Korryn, has come to your doors!"
The captain’s soul almost left his body.
Grandmaster Korryn!
The legendary Alchemy Emperor who had just challenged the Royal Court!
"Y-Y-Yes! Immediately!"
The captain didn’t even care about his dignity.
He spun on his heel and sprinted frantically toward the hall, screaming at the top of his lungs.
"PATRIARCH! ELDERS! GRANDMASTER KORRYN HAS COME! GRANDMASTER KORRYN IS HERE!"