"Now that you mention Rank 3 Kings, if I recall correctly, the Sword King should be fairly old as well," Elizabeth said. "His most famous feat was defeating several Perception Realm Masters at once, over fifty years ago. This was when he was a Perception Realm Master. After that, he disappeared from the public eye for decades, only to make his reappearance in the Yunyun Stronghold as an Instinct Realm."
Shirley frowned. "Is disappearing a requirement for Rank 3 King? They both seemed to do it."
"In my uncle's case, I think he decided to lay low, after the fall of the Arcellius Family," Freon explained. "He did not gain his Blue Depth Core until recently."
Benedict chimed in. "My master was finding inspiration for his Cloud Sea Style, and he travelled to many places. He had accepted two disciples as well. At some point, he discovered Martial Energy, and I think that was the push he needed to reach Instinct Realm."
"Maybe… becoming a Rank 3 King enhances your vitality?" Elizabeth theorized. "Martial and Magic Energy are a part of you. It makes sense that breaking through that blockade would have an impact on your vitality too. That would explain why Protector Avin and the Sword King became younger."
"Suddenly, I'm very motivated to become a Rank 3 King!" Shirley exclaimed. Which girl did not want to stay young? Appearance mattered a lot to her! On the side, Nassandra found herself agreeing. Even Elizabeth had some yearning.
"Regardless, we should take things one step at a time. It won't be easy or quick," Elizabeth concluded. "Where's Lady Kalasena by the way? Wasn't she with you?"
Freon said, "She didn't seem interested, so we left her with Aster and Solis."
"I think your uncle pulled everyone's attention, so I'll stick with you."
"Isn't that Lord Fredrick?" Benedict gestured. They saw Lord Fredrick chatting with Lord Aster, Lady Solis, and Lady Kalasena. As they walked up, the other party noticed them.
"Lord Fredrick, when did you arrive?" Elizabeth asked.
"A few minutes after Protector Avin, Your Highness. Everyone was distracted by him, so no one noticed me."
"I've been meaning to ask, but how did you and Lady Kalasena get invited? I thought you came to the Zino Kingdom secretly to negotiate with the Engelsheft Families. The kingdom shouldn't know that you're here."
"We were invited by the Second Sage some days prior. I suspect the commotion in the marketplace might have played a part in it. As for why we chose to come, every Engelsheft Families is in attendance tonight. I thought it would be a good chance to associate ourselves with them."
"I see."
"Right. Before I forget, I wanted to inform Your Highness on our progress for those rare materials. Is now a good time?"
"I don't see why not." Elizabeth glanced at Lord Aster and Lady Solis.
"We shall take our leave here then, Your Highness," the two Engelshefts bowed and left. They could tell they were not welcome.
Lord Fredrick continued, "We found some information on one of the four materials."
"Oh, that was quick. Is it about the four-horned goats or the rainbow wood?"
"Stories about the three-horned goats originate from the far north of the Alzar Kingdom, so it will take some time for my family to learn anything. As for the rainbow wood, Lady Kalasena has requested the help of the Fourth Clover, but they haven't begun investigating yet."
"Then…"
He smiled. "I have a lead about the Nebulous Star Root."
"What?" she blurted out loudly. People nearby shot her weird looks, causing her to shirk her head in shame. However, she really did not expect this. Quieter, she asked, "Are you sure about this?"
"I will need to verify it myself, but according to the description that Your Highness provided, it is plausible."
"Tell me more."
"An acquaintance of mine has a lapidary business. They would acquire special gems and ores from various parties unprocessed, identify the valuable ones, and then process them before selling them to an auction. About thirty years ago, they received a bizarre rock from a distant quarry. It was about the size of a melon, weighed an incredible amount, was mainly metallic, and felt warm to the touch. They failed to identify it, so they invited many experts to take a look; however, nobody could cut or melt the rock. It was incomparably tough. Unable to process it, my acquaintance eventually shelved it into storage and forgot about it until now."
"It does sound similar… Where is it now?"
"My acquaintance still has it. Their lapidary business is in the Poderis Region, specifically the regional capital Uyuna or the 'Gemstone City'. Shall I ask for it to be transported over?"
"Yes, please. If your friend asks for payment, tell them I can compensate them."
"I understand. I will invite Your Highness to appraise it when it arrives."
Elizabeth shook her head. "To tell you the truth, I can't appraise it. I will need to invite someone else to do that."
"That won't be a problem."
She pondered briefly. "In exchange for your help, I will provide some information about the Xingyuu Empire. I believe your family will find it useful."
"Thank you. We won't bother Your Highness anymore. I will send a messenger when the rock arrives."
"Take care." She waved Lord Fredrick and Lady Kalasena away, leaving her and her friends.
"The Nebulous Star Root is one of the materials that the Featherwind Sect wants, right? Should we be giving it to them?" Freon asked. "Or rather, should we trust them?"
"No," she stated flatly. "Of course, we shouldn't trust them. They betrayed the Imperial Council once already. They could betray us next."
"Then…"
"We have a transactional relationship, like the one between Lord Fredrick and me. We shelter them, and in exchange, they give us information. Finding out how their airship works, and if it can be rebuilt by us, is one of my goals with them."
"What are your other goals then?" Shirley wondered.
"I have three main goals. First is repairing their airship. Second is forging new equipment."
Benedict tilted his head. "I agree that our weapons aren't custom-made, but they're more than enough. As for our armor, the Royal Guard's plate armor is the best available. There isn't much room for improvement."
"You're wrong about that. Our equipment is reaching their limits. Take your sword for example. What would happen if you fully channelled your Martial Energy and swung it? Against a soft target, it could cut through, but against a harder target, it would probably break. The same goes for your armor. It might protect against swords and spears, but what about magic? Or another Martial Energy user? Your armor would become useless. With the correct equipment, it would act as a force multiplier, improving our combat ability many times over. In order of how we would get stronger, it would be improving our base strength, then our combat system, then our equipment, then finally our teamwork."
"What's a combat system?" Nassandra whispered to her brother.
"I don't know if there's a proper term for it, but it's like a sword style, except it covers every aspect of combat. Offense, defense, mobility, sensory, and recovery. The idea is that a complete combat system would handle all five aspects perfectly," he explained.
"There's more nuance to it," Elizabeth corrected. "A complete combat system should compliment the individual's strengths and cover their weaknesses. A sword combat system would be useless to me, since I don't use swords. Therefore, it should be unique to the person who created it. Creating and perfecting one is supposed to be a lifelong process."
"I… I never knew." She was embarrassed. Despite being a Ten Dawn and considered one of the strongest Arcanists in the human world, it turned out there were so many things she did not know about.
"There's no need to feel ashamed. I don't think anyone's heard of a combat system, until the Sword King mentioned it. I don't even know if our uncle has one."
"My master's Cloud Sea Style isn't complete yet either. It must take an extraordinary amount of talent and effort to perfect one."
Shirley looked at Elizabeth. "What's your third goal then?"
Elizabeth smiled. "My third and final goal for the Featherwind Sect is to set up a communication array. Currently, it takes a month to deliver a message to Algard, two months for a reply, and that's using the established routes. It takes much longer for distant or isolated locations." Lord Fredrick's conversation came to mind. Although he had the right contacts for the four-horned goat, he could not get in touch with them quickly, since they were in the far north. This made a simple inquiry into an unbearably long wait. She continued, "In theory, a communication array would lower the time required from one month to maybe one day or less. It would forever transform how information is shared in the kingdom!"