Soft music drifted through the air, accompanied by a gentle woman's voice: "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen! Welcome aboard this airship flight! The dining hall is now serving dinner. Today's menu features foie gras with truffle, roast whole chicken, white bread, and squirrel meat..."
Leylin sat in a leather chair, his eyes fixed on the white clouds outside and the faint outlines of rice paddies and buildings drifting below, a faraway look on his face.
Beside his seat, several witches chattered away among themselves, in the highest of spirits.
"Darrenlei, where are you headed? I heard the Nine-Ring White Tower's standards for recruiting professors are really low this time—maybe we should give it a shot too!"
The witch called Darrenlei had a few freckles scattered across her face, though they didn't look the least bit out of place—in fact, they lent her a certain charm. At the suggestion, she smiled ruefully: "The Nine-Ring White Tower is a sanctuary for White Wizards. At best, we can only go and try our luck. As long as I can land a decent job in Trigionis City this time, I'll be perfectly content!"
"Hehe! You're the star student of our Wetland Garden, you know! Don't be so modest!"
The witches' laughter rang out one after another...
Hearing those familiar names—"Nine-Ring White Tower," "Wetland Garden," and "Trigionis City"—Leylin felt a surreal sense of detachment, as though he had been transported to another lifetime.
He had come from the Dark Northern Domain to the South Coast, and was now aboard an airship bound for Trigionis City.
Matters back in the Dark Northern Domain had been straightforward—he'd merely met briefly with Xiling, named his first child "Daniel," set up an isolation formation, and told Xiling to keep out of sight for a while. After that, there had been no further complications.
Then Leylin had made his way directly to the South Coast.
Though the regions surrounding the South Coast were rife with all manner of dangers—rumored to be so perilous that even a Level 3 Wizard couldn't escape unscathed, effectively isolating the entire South Coast from the outside world—in Leylin's eyes, it might as well have been his own backyard.
"So much time has passed. I wonder how those friends and enemies of mine are doing now?"
Through the glass window, Leylin gazed at the white clouds drifting outside, and familiar faces began surfacing one by one before his mind's eye.
Friends and followers—George, Niss, Damion, Number Four, Number Five, and the former dean Sly; and enemies—Gegewu, Avik...
Memories long sealed away came flooding back with vivid clarity.
Most of all, that moment when he hadn't even been an apprentice yet, riding an airship to the South Coast for the very first time—it all felt as though it had happened just yesterday.
"Can't believe so much time has already slipped by without me even noticing..."
Leylin raised his arm and stared at his impossibly young, vitality-filled hand, falling into a daze once more.
"Jiamen with fifth-grade aptitude should be doing fairly well. As for George and Kreweir, it's hard to say... After all, for Wizards, soul aptitude is the most important thing!"
Leylin sighed. If he hadn't walked the path of a Warlock, he'd probably only be hovering between first and second-tier Wizards right now even with the Chip's assistance. But as it stood, not only had he forcefully broken through the limits of the Morning Star realm, he had even reached the Radiant Moon realm—something unheard of, even as a legend, on the South Coast.
Still, it was precisely the power of the bloodline that had landed him in his current predicament—there was an air of the truly unpredictable about it.
"And also..."
Leylin gazed at the massive silhouette of the volcanic city not far away, a faint smile appearing at the corner of his lips.
Threads of blood-red light coiled ceaselessly around his hand. Through this bloodline resonance, he knew with absolute certainty that somewhere in the vicinity of Tritonis City, other descendants of the Farell family were active at this very moment!
"Could they be other children of my body's father, Viscount Farell?"
Leylin chuckled. "I don't remember having any siblings when I left. That John Farell really does have the spirit of his ancestor Lante..."
The Farell family still held a place in Leylin's thoughts, after all, this body he inhabited had come from them.
In the past, he had sent Damien along with Numbers Four and Five to provide protection, yet even so, he hadn't been able to sever those ties completely. However, because he found it too difficult to face, Leylin had done just that anyway.
Now, several centuries later, the loved ones and friends he once had had long since turned to dust and bone, making things much simpler. A small gift to those descendants would be more than enough.
"Attention all passengers! The Airship will soon be arriving at our final destination—Tritonis City! Please gather your personal belongings and disembark in an orderly fashion..."