Chapter 16.5: An'erduo Aye I

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The small Star Phase Dragon flew in from the opened door, placing the small tube containing the letter into Anto Aye's hands.

His own granddaughter had been surprisingly bold these past few days.

The white-haired old Grassland Elf heaved a sigh as he used Mage Hand to grab a piece of firewood and tossed it into the flames, opening the small red tube.

Unfolding the letter, it was filled with the pride of a girl.

· Grandfather, Durin completed his advancement today.

That was perfectly normal. Yishu, that old geezer, was lucky. The reputation of Durin had been something Anto had inquired about for many years, from initially working as an intermediary for the Adventurers' Guild, to later sending manuscripts to the Royal Publishing House in the North, and then starting to make guns at the age of 11.

The child was truly clever. To think that at 11, she could make guns and even pass the certification of the Craftsmen's Guild—if it were not for the fact that Durin had been doing all these under his own supervision, he would have seriously injured the person spreading such rumors—An 11-year-old gunsmith, what a joke!

Although she is now only a Fourth Ring Magician, in Anto's view, this had to do with Durin's daily disregard for proper pursuits in favor of gun-making and writing articles, not to mention the empty honor of being a 'little master'. Although the children of the town were supervised by 'little masters'—which was good for the adults of any family—to be a 'little master' was too much of a waste of life for Durin.

Even as a Magician, one needs time to engage in real combat and accumulate experience. Do you really think you can grow stronger by lying down?

Impossible.

But, considering the long-standing friendship between the Aye and Ailish families, and his granddaughter's affection for Durin, coupled with the child's talent and the hard work he observed, Anto thought that if these two children came together, he would be pleased to see it happen.

Look, even with so many mundane affairs occupying her energy, the child Durin still managed to complete her advancement in the last part of her twelfth year. Having completed advancement at only Third Ring shows that the child's talent as a Magician is already excellent.

Anto and Durin, although one is a mage and the other a Magician, Durin has wisdom. The things she does are not what ordinary children can achieve.

Anto believed that two intelligent children would certainly not produce offspring so foolish they couldn't learn Spell Formulas.

With this in mind, Anto looked at the second line of the letter.

· She advanced to the Candle Dragon lineage, something I have never seen in the Magician's Compendium. Grandfather, do you know of it?

Anto, with the letter in both hands, fell silent for a moment, tilted his head, then turned to his old butler: "Bring me the Compendium of the Old Era from my study, it's on the desk."

The high-hooved, skinny butler turned and walked into Anto's study, and after a while, he brought the thick tome to Anto's side.

With the book in hand, the high-hooved old butler watched as Anto flipped through many pages. As he turned the pages, he thought of the Ancient Era of this land, a time before life was finely divided by race, when people used terms like bronze, black iron, silver, and gold to differentiate between the powerful races and weaker beings.

In that era, the Giant Dragons were the standard for the gold children, the various Elf races were the silver children, humans were black iron children, and weaker still were the bronze children like the Goblin-like humanoid creatures.

Above the gold children were the terrifying ancestors known as the Divine Beings.

Legend has it that the children of the Divine Beings, subject to the ancestors' will, were noble beings, rare in number but each with the ability to move mountains and fill the seas.

In the Eastern Land, in the Western Lands, there are legends about them.

Among them, the Candle Dragon lineage is one.

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To be honest, Anta never believed such stories. Ever since he could remember, the ancestors were just tales from the Mage Tower library, and the cities and creations of the ancestors were indeed there, but most had been ravaged by time.

And the descendants of the ancestors...most of them had either fallen or had their bloodlines diluted over the long passage of time.

Take Wu Qieluo, for example, amongst these feathered tribes there was a branch with red feathers, they were the children of the Divine Beings. Every child of the red feather was a noble Caster, but the last of the red feather children died three centuries ago. Now, their bloodline has been completely diluted into this land, and although some Silver Dragons have always been searching for their descendants, they have never been found.

Therefore, at this moment, when his granddaughter told him that Durin of the Ailish family had awakened the Candle Dragon bloodline... Anta was not at all surprised.

That girl with the long tail, all these old folks had seen her before.

She was a lovely girl with hair as smooth as silk, a pair of fine horns dark as ink, and a long, slender dragon tail with indigo armor, adorned with beautiful scales and fuzz.

At the time, they had their suspicions, feeling that a child like that, even among the Dragonkind of the Eastern Land, must have a very noble lineage.

Turns out, she truly was of the Candle Dragon lineage.

Though there were rumors that her daughter had not chosen her bloodline, but instead had opted for the Silver Dragon bloodline.

But Durin's choice today finally solved the puzzle in the hearts of the older generation.

It turned out there were still children of the ancestors in this world, they still existed, and their descendants could still awaken the pride passed down from their forebears.

Eventually, in the column for the Chosen One, Anta read the introduction of the Candle Dragon lineage.

The newly awakened Candle Dragon lineage manifested with a bulge on the forehead, which would later grow into little dragon horns; on the upper part of the pelvic bone, a slender and shapely dragon tail would emerge, not as robust as those of the Western Lands Dragonkind, yet bearing extremely exquisite scales and the distinctive fuzz of the Eastern Land Dragonkind.

Every child of the Candle Dragon lineage could control flames as easily as moving their own limbs, born as a seed of a Divine Craftsman. Behind every legend of the Changtangians' Divine Weapons, there was a trace of a Candle Dragon lineage bearer.

With that in mind, Anta gestured for his old butler to take away the book, then he looked at the third line of text.

·I heard that my mother has found someone for me to meet again tonight, so I'm going to stay over at Durin's place. Could you help me find a way to stall my mother? I don't like her arrangements. I'm an adult now, with my own thoughts.

Anta smiled, looking at his butler who had returned, "Notify the cooks that I wish to host His Grace the Duke of Lublin this evening, see to it that they prepare well, and then I'll write a letter for you to deliver to His Grace the Duke. He's at his other villa across town today, don't deliver it to the wrong place."

"Yes, my lord, but regarding the young master's lady..." "No worries, we're inviting a whole family, one more honored guest won't matter. I believe my old friend Yishu would think the same way."

Having said that, Anta stood up, and with a laugh, he headed for the study.

Yishu, you always say I don't manage this house, but in reality, you and I are the same, simply too lazy to deal with the younger generation's affairs. They've grown up, they have their own ideas, and they don't want to be constrained by the elders anymore, which is quite normal.

Now that my granddaughter has such thoughts, I, as a grandfather, must lend her a hand.

The elders, of course, should show favor to the younger generation.

So I, indeed, shall fulfill my granddaughter's wishes, allowing her to achieve her heart's desire.

Yishu, I believe you would certainly feel the same, right?