Chapter 224: Rising to Gold Rank

The events at Port Leyton caused a nationwide sensation, and all factions in Thelos realized Donald’s true strength. Just the legendary dragon alone surpassed the Mage Association, becoming the fourth major force in the kingdom after the three dominant powers.
As for why it was only one of the four major forces rather than the top one, it was because both the royal family and the Ansel family—these two pillars of Thelos—were branches of the Banai Empire, ancient families with a history of thousands of years. No outsider truly knew how much strength they possessed, and even the established powers in the central and southern parts of the continent and the Church of the Gods did not dare underestimate them.
Although Dalarn already had a legendary powerhouse in the form of a legendary dragon who had become a Sea Lord, its foundation still lagged far behind those two families, even behind the Mage Association. After all, the Mage Association was a nationwide organization with a strong grassroots base, while Dalarn relied solely on less than ten silver-ranked powerhouses aside from that legendary dragon—a huge disparity in numbers.
After staying in Port Leyton for half a month, both sides finally signed a trade agreement based on their respective terms. Donald then led his team back to Dalarn, escorted by the people of Port Leyton.
Thanks to the Ansel family’s promotion, these alchemical airships had become the hottest topic after the legendary dragons. After all, ordinary people in that world longed to fly across the vast skies.
When receiving rewards in Port Leyton, a royal envoy ordered three airships on behalf of the king, at a price of 50,000 gold sols each—something the royal treasury could afford.
Donald deliberately revealed the advantages of these airships, such as low consumption and high speed, causing mages like Gold, who had returned in shame with the rescue team, to regret bitterly. If they could replicate such excellent alchemical devices, it would bring them immense wealth! Unfortunately, they had dismissed them earlier due to the Mage Association’s usual arrogance and hadn’t taken the time to investigate further.
Upon returning to the lord’s mansion in Dusk Town, Donald’s first words shocked the key members of Dalarn who came to greet him, followed by even greater joy from them than from the speaker himself.
“Master, I’ve gained a lot from this trip. I’ll become a gold-ranked powerhouse before you!” The old mage, who knew his disciple possessed both divine and high elf bloodlines, was already prepared and simply nodded in satisfaction.

This disciple was no longer the once weak but confident mage apprentice; he was now a stronger being determined to surpass himself and go even further. After a celebration banquet, everyone in the territory got to work, leaving all tasks to Donald, who entered the underground training chamber in Darknight Manor alone. With the help of the Book of Truth, he separated a tiny trace of divinity and integrated it into his own, doubling the strength of his divine lineage. Then he entered the House of Time, drawing knowledge from that divinity, learning new spells, and deepening his understanding of the Will of Natural Punishment and the Heart of a King. This period of seclusion lasted five days in reality, but within the House of Time, where time was accelerated a hundredfold, it felt like nearly seventeen months. When Donald emerged from the basement and appeared before everyone again, he had changed completely. In his previous Silver stage, his presence was strong, but it lacked refinement and stability. Now, if Donald did not deliberately display his presence, he would appear as an ordinary noble youth, devoid of any aura of strength. Yet, those with keen senses could detect a profound aura surrounding him, akin to that of the ocean, and it was vastly different from that of ordinary Gold Archmages. This was the result of the two distinct sword spirits that Donald had cultivated. This was the restrained presence that came with reaching the Gold rank—not all Gold-level strongmen liked to overwhelm others with their presence like Gold, one of the five giants of the Mage Association, who often displayed his aura. The Gold-level strongmen Donald had met, including Marquis Ansel, the Storm Sword Saint he first encountered, as well as the Magic Sword Carlisle and the two Dark Elf strongmen from the Banrey family, did not habitually display their presence. They kept their aura restrained in daily life and only unleashed it during battles. Unlike swordsmen who must grasp a fundamental law to advance from swordsman to Gold Sword Saint, mages who progress from Silver to Gold Archmage must understand at least one law contained in the low-level spells of a particular school before they can master the powerful level-9 spells of that school and truly achieve Archmage status.

Silver mages can cast powerful spells at levels seven and eight, but level nine marks a critical threshold. Learning level nine spells requires a deep understanding of the underlying principles, and only Archmages can unleash them through their own strength. If a silver mage were to cast spells beyond their level, they would automatically advance to the stage of Archmage due to their understanding of the rules, thus rendering the concept of casting beyond one’s level meaningless.

After careful selection, Donald began by repeatedly casting spells starting from level zero to gain insight, mastering spells such as Magic Stability at level five and Limited Wish at level seven before finally comprehending the level nine Wish spell. Through this process, both his mental strength and soul essence underwent natural transformation, bringing him close to becoming an Archmage. Seizing this opportunity, he did not stop there but started again from level zero, learning spells like Dazzling Spell and Confusion Spell at level one, and Laughing Spell at level two—spells he had not studied much before—continuing all the way to Blindness by Command at level seven, Intimidation by Command at level eight, and Death by Command at level nine. He went through the process of ascending to Archmage once more.

His extensive accumulation enabled Donald to master all spells from the lower to higher levels of the two powerful sub-disciplines of Wish and Command. Upon becoming an Archmage, his strength far surpassed that of ordinary newly promoted Archmages. Moreover, in terms of power alone, these two sub-disciplines were even more formidable than the spells of the School of Transformation, one of the eight great arcane schools he had inherited.

The former is the strongest sub-discipline system within the general school that incorporates rules from various disciplines such as prophecy, transformation, and enchantment, while the latter is one of the most powerful spell systems within the enchantment school. The progression paths of Wish and Command spells, like those of the Great Unraveling Spell in the School of Unraveling, lead to divine-level spells that surpass even legendary spells—such as Great Prophecy and Great Command.

Only beings of the true god level can cast such ultimate spells. Aside from true gods, perhaps only former Archmage lords, powerful demigods, and mighty saints or apostles granted power by true gods can cast them. Donald had also learned earlier that not all true gods can cast these ultimate spells; without understanding their underlying principles, even the most powerful higher gods cannot master them. On the contrary, once the principles are understood, even demigods with the lowest divine power can cast them.

It was because the Demon Hunter had stolen the bloodline and innate abilities of demons that Donald had the opportunity to comprehend these powerful spells so easily.

With such two powerful magic systems, they were of course Donald’s top choices. As for the Transformation School he inherited, there were too many options, and most of them focused on altering matter, energy, and life. As a result, their effects on initial attacks and defenses were not strong, but they offered better enhancements in alchemy and equipment creation. Therefore, Donald did not choose to advance through the systems of the Transformation School; instead, he planned to first gain great strength before gradually learning and mastering them.

His first plan upon returning was to comprehensively enhance the overall strength of his domain. With Nozdormu at his back, the power of a legendary dragon was enough to deter any forces attempting to uncover his secrets.

Thus, it was time to be more open and reveal some secrets. After strengthening his own power, Donald prepared to implement the elite plan he had set forth long ago.