It felt so good to be close to the witch!

"Now, we are about to step into the realm of legend."

As Fuma stepped into the courtyard, she felt the lingering heat in the air. Having also practiced the Flame Breathing Technique, she naturally understood what this meant.

It must be at least at the peak of the Golden Age, and the secret technique "Brilliant Light" with the [Extreme Bloom] trait mastered; otherwise, the temperature of the battle qi flames could not have reached such a terrifying level...

“Thank you.” Roy smiled, then turned to Doug beside him and greeted him, “Lord Doug, you’re here too. Welcome, welcome.”

Doug forced an awkward smile onto his usually stern face, but Roy knew that this was the greatest kindness he could offer; most of the time, Doug had a cold expression on his face.

"Congratulations," Doug said in a slightly hoarse voice.

Even though the difficulty of advancing from Gold to Legendary is extremely high, Doug does not believe that a "monster" knight like Roy will fail. If he fails, then no one in the world can advance to Legendary.

"Thank you." Roy smiled and expressed his gratitude. "The snow is very heavy outside. Please come inside."

After the three of them took their seats in the hall, Roy looked at Fuma and asked, "Your Highness Fuma, have you made any progress lately?"

Fuma paused for a moment, then shook her head: "Unfortunately, my cultivation of basic meditation techniques is too slow. I'm only at the sixth rune now. If I could advance to the Grand rank, I might be able to see more clues to the prophecy."

"Winter is already halfway over. During this period, the major provinces have suffered greatly from beast tides and snow disasters, resulting in the deaths of far too many people. However, according to intelligence from the major provinces in the past two days, the monsters seem to have rarely ventured out, and they have only been seen once or twice."

When Fuma mentioned this last piece of information, her expression did not relax at all; instead, it became even more serious.

Roy frowned, and his expression turned serious.

The appearance of monsters and the formation of beast tides are all orchestrated by those behind the scenes to obtain massive amounts of life force and soul power. Now, those behind the scenes have slowed down or even stopped this operation. There is only one possibility: they have already collected enough life force and soul power.

This is a very dangerous sign.

"Unfortunately, we couldn't catch him..." Roy sighed.

Even after finding the extremely hidden "artificial large-scale magic energy point," killing the overlord monster, and learning one of the goals of the person behind it all, it didn't help much in finding the identity of the person behind it.

The empire was too vast, and coupled with the extremely harsh blizzard weather, even if the nobles of the major provinces knew of the existence of the "artificial large-scale magic pulse point" and sent legendary knights to search for it, the possibility of finding the "artificial large-scale magic pulse point" was extremely slim.

Moreover, Roy had reason to suspect that there was a connection between the person behind the scenes and the pale, boneless statue, and that they were very likely aware of the destruction of the pale, headless statue in the province of Rafa. In that case, the person behind the scenes, now on alert, would hide even deeper and become even more difficult to find.

For a moment, the hall fell silent.

In fact, Roy and Fuma both knew very well that the reason why it was so difficult to track down the person behind the scenes was because they were not strong enough.

It's true that the Duke's Mansion is very strong, but the Glorious Empire is even stronger than it, including the Royal Family, the Noble Council, and the Temple.

The royal family and the temple need no further introduction, and while a single noble in the council is no match for the border dukedom, their combined strength is enough to give the dukedom a major headache.

If they had enough power, a forceful investigation could quickly pinpoint the identity of the person behind it all, but unfortunately...

"What are His Highness's plans?"

Roy tapped his fingers lightly on the long table a few times and began to speak.

Fuma pursed her lips: "Father already knows the purpose of the person behind the scenes, but there is no good way to deal with it at the moment. We can only do our best to prepare for war. However, there is something that worries me."

“As is customary, every year during the last week of winter, Father would randomly choose a day to go to the capital alone to collect ‘border defense funds’ from the Noble Council and the Royal Family. This is an agreement between Father and the Royal Family and the Noble Council that has been going on for a long time. However, given the situation this year, and considering one of the prophecies about the collapse of the solid wall, I have a bad feeling.”

"However, the border defense funds have to be taken. I once suggested sending a legendary knight to the capital instead, but my father just shook his head and told me that no one else could get the border defense funds except him."

Upon hearing this, Roy tapped the long table more frequently.

The Border Duke is undoubtedly the strongest force in the current Rafa province. Even at her peak, the Moonlight Great Witch Cecilia would most likely not be a match for the Border Duke. After all, Cecilia was only just entering the realm of the Great Witch, while the Border Duke was already at the legendary limit.

Legendary one-star, two-star, three-star, peak, and then, the limit.

“Forget it, let’s make plans for that later. There’s still some time.” Fuma sighed and then said, “Lord Roy, regarding the ‘fire seed’ you asked about in the conch shell, it’s too pale and powerless to describe it in words alone. Some things can only be truly understood through personal experience.”

Please hold my hand.

Looking at the delicate, jade-like hand offered to him, Roy didn't hesitate much and gently grasped it.

This scene made Doug, who was standing to the side, narrow his eyes slightly, as if he were deep in thought.

"Lord Roy, your physique?!"

The touch of palms together allowed Fuma to perceive Roy's situation in greater detail, and her beautiful eyes widened in shock.

She simply couldn't imagine how someone whose battle qi was already at the golden peak could have their physique transformed into a legendary battle qi body ahead of time.

Before Roy could answer, Fuma calmed down on her own after a brief moment of shock.

She had seen far too many "unreasonable" things happen to Roy, and now she was somewhat used to it.

At the pinnacle of gold, possessing a legendary physique, that makes sense... right?

Taking a deep breath, Fuma said slowly, "Having a legendary battle aura body is a good thing. In this way, it will be easier for you to advance to the legendary level. Next, I will unfold my domain and reveal the full state of the Soul Flame."

"You can feel the presence of the 'fire point'."

As soon as she finished speaking, a strong aura of battle energy surged around Fuma.

Chapter 171 shared some "interesting stuff" with me?

A powerful aura of battle energy emanated from Fuma's body.

This time, instead of condensing her domain to a radius of half a meter as she did when fighting at full power, she expanded it slightly, reaching a radius of about twenty meters.

The legendary realm can exert extremely strong pressure on beings below the legendary level. Even at the peak of the gold level, it will be difficult to move around in the legendary realm, let alone fight.

However, thanks to his legendary fighting spirit, Roy did not feel much pressure.

At this moment, what attracted Roy's attention most was not the domain that Fuma had deployed, but the faint, transparent flames burning on her body.

—The fire of the soul.

As their hands intertwined, the flame of their souls spread to Roy, allowing him to see Fuma's "soul" more clearly.

It was a transparent entity the same height as Fuma, covered in soul flames, and between Fuma's eyebrows, a cluster of transparent flames was burning quietly.

"So that's the ignition point... I see."

At that moment, Roy realized exactly what the so-called "fire point" was.

That is the "foundation" of the soul, the "imprint" of life and wisdom.

Each person's "fire point" is in a different location, and under normal circumstances, it is absolutely impossible to see. Only when one burns with vitality, fighting spirit, and everything else, in the ultimate brilliance of life, is it possible to glimpse it.

Vitality and soul are never separate or opposed.

There is an inseparable connection between them, and the search for the "ignition point" utilizes this relationship to illuminate the soul with the ultimate flame of life, thereby finding the "ignition point".

Everything returned to normal as Fuma withdrew her hand. Roy's dazed gaze gradually focused, and he saw the blush rising on Fuma's neck, as well as the girl's slightly evasive and shy eyes.

He was taken aback at first, then felt a surge of emotion.

After understanding the "fire point," he also realized how much trust Fuma had placed in her soul by revealing her own "fire point"—revealing her most important position. If Roy had been hostile at that time, Fuma would have undoubtedly died.

"……Thank you so much."

Roy pursed his lips and said earnestly.

"...It's alright, we're allies." After regaining her composure, Fuma returned to normal and smiled playfully: "After Lord Roy is promoted to Legendary, we'll need your help a lot."

“I will,” Roy said sincerely.

“Hmm… Now that you understand the meaning of ‘Fire Point,’ there’s nothing more for me to do.” Fuma stepped aside with her hands behind her back, revealing Doug behind her. “The rest of the time is yours.”

Under Roy's slightly puzzled gaze, Doug stepped forward, his cold face revealing bright eyes: "Lord Roy, do you remember our duel when we parted last time?"

At this point, he gave a self-deprecating laugh: "Although it sounds a bit disheartening, I know very well that once you advance to Legendary, I'm afraid I won't be your match. So, I'd like to take advantage of the fact that you haven't advanced to Legendary yet and invite you to a battle."

"Battles between knights can unleash potential to the maximum extent, which will greatly help you advance to legend and me find a breakthrough. What do you think?"

“Of course, no problem!” Roy’s lips curled into a smile, and his eyes gradually brightened.

He has made great progress recently, but because he has no suitable opponents to fight against, he always feels a bit unsatisfied.

Right now, Doug has come to us of his own accord, which couldn't be better.

Don't be fooled by how badly Doug was poisoned by the Evil Spider during the battle against the Overlord Beast. It was because he was misled by the death of the Ghost-Faced Pangolin, and the Evil Spider's stealth techniques were too sophisticated, which led to his defeat before the battle even began.

In fact, if Doug and the Wicked Spider were to fight head-on, it would be hard to say who would win.

Having been promoted to Legend for many years, Doug's battle aura had already reached the peak of Legend One Star, only slightly weaker than Fuma's. Coupled with the combat experience accumulated from years of bloody battles, his true combat strength was extremely formidable.

Having such an opponent allows you to check how strong you are now, more or less.

Roy thought to himself.

With the duel concluded, the three arrived at a remote wasteland.

The legendary battle was a huge event, so it was impossible for it to take place in the Blackrock Lord's mansion. If things were damaged there, Roy would have to spend money and effort to repair them himself.

This wasteland between Blackstone Territory and Iron Mountain Territory is quite nice.

The place is large and in a remote location, so there's no need to worry about affecting pedestrians or damaging anything, allowing for more unrestrained sparring and combat.

Roy and Doug stood facing each other, about thirty meters apart.

The biting snowflakes continued to fall, but when they entered a ten-meter radius around the two people, they vaporized into mist.

Fuma stood a hundred meters away, watching the battle that was about to take place, her eyes filled with anticipation.

That day, she was forced to heal her wounds due to the spider's venom and did not see Roy's battle with the Evil Spider. When she opened her eyes again, what she saw was Roy shattering the black and purple bead in the Evil Spider's chest cavity with a single strike.

Therefore, Fuma had no idea how Roy managed to defeat the extremely evil spider, even though it was a vast difference in power.

Even though Roy possessed a legendary battle aura body ahead of time, it was still far from enough.

Therefore, Fuma was very much looking forward to it.

On the battlefield, a bright flame of fighting spirit burned in Doug's eyes.

A surge of powerful battle aura erupted from him, spreading outwards before rapidly receding back to a radius of half a meter around him.

Doug knew very well that the pressure of the domain would have no effect on Roy, who already had a legendary battle aura body. Rather than wasting his battle aura by expanding it, he should condense it and strengthen himself.

"Click—"

The burning flames of battle aura began to solidify, condensing into a dazzling crimson crystal armor on Doug's body.

"Armor of the Flame God, activate!"

Although Roy was only at the peak of the Gold rank, his record of killing a legendary one-star peak Extreme Evil Spider made Doug not dare to underestimate him in the slightest. Therefore, he entered a serious posture as soon as the battle started.

Roy narrowed his eyes slightly. He could sense that, under the blessing of the "Armor of the Flame God," although the quantity of Doug's battle aura had not changed, its purity and temperature had undergone a qualitative leap.

"call……"