Chapter 196: The Bell and the Kennel

At the edge of the city stood a sacred mountain perpetually surrounded by a vast sea of dense magical clouds.

And above that surging cloud sea—

Floated enormous inverted-cone-shaped islands like divine miracles.

The climate upon the islands remained springlike throughout all four seasons, while broad silver waterfalls poured endlessly from the island edges.

The rushing torrents crashed heavily into the clouds below, and beneath the refraction of sunlight, a dazzling seven-colored rainbow forever hung in the sky.

The streets of the entire city of Elcadia were planned with perfect order.

Exquisite magical rail vehicles could be seen everywhere rapidly traveling along laid tracks through the gaps between densely packed buildings.

Within the deepwater harbor in the distance rested gigantic magical cargo ships resembling colossal sea beasts.

And at that moment—

A long and heavy bell chime suddenly rang throughout the sky above the city.

The sound possessed astonishing penetrative force, instantly spreading to every corner of the Radiant Capital.

Whether merchants busy inside trading halls or guards patrolling the streets, everyone tacitly stopped what they were doing.

Without prior agreement, all of them raised their heads and looked toward the peak of the sacred mountain.

Once this special bell sounded, it meant that somewhere upon this vast continent, someone had once again completed a Legacy worthy of being recorded into history.

Because many years had already passed since the birth of a new Legacy—

The moment the bell rang, astonishment appeared upon everyone’s faces.

Very quickly—

The clergy upon the sacred mountain spread news of that earth-shattering Legacy downward.

Throughout streets and alleys, people whispered among themselves, frantically spreading the scalp-numbing news.

Almost before long, every resident of Elcadia knew.

Just moments ago, someone had defeated the God of Rebellion, Chaos, within the Astral Realm through a mortal body!

And this explosive piece of information was now beginning to spread throughout the continent at terrifying speed through the Adventurers’ Guild, merchant associations, and countless hidden channels.

……

At the same time—

Deep underground beneath the prosperous royal capital of the Iris Kingdom.

The Black Iron Directorate’s secret base, codenamed “Kennel.”

This was the bloody cradle specifically used by the Directorate to train reserve “young hounds,” and also a brutal arena completely beyond the laws of the kingdom.

Every year, this shadowy hidden department carefully selected young candidates possessing exceptional combat instincts and sufficiently resilient mentalities from orphanages, slums, and even death row camps holding severe criminals across the nation.

They were then forcibly brought back here.

All traces of their former identities and names were completely erased.

Through round after round of slaughter, they were forged into the sharpest and most obedient blades in the Directorate’s hands.

At this moment, within the observation room on the second floor of the training grounds—

Two high-ranking officials stood behind the railings, coldly watching the graduation Class Advancement Ritual of this batch of young hounds below.

One of them was Glahad Cromwell, commander of 【Fangs】, the department responsible for all operational deployments and assassination executions within the Directorate.

He was an old man built like an iron tower.

A gray Directorate-issued long coat draped over his body, while a dense bloody aura emanated from him.

At this moment, Glahad’s expression looked extremely ugly, his brows tightly furrowed.

Because among this batch of young hounds completing the ritual below, not a single one had been fortunate enough to receive Chaos’s gift and become the “lead wolf” of this generation.

This meant—

These newcomers could only determine the strongest among themselves through the most primitive form of mutual slaughter.

Glahad’s gaze crossed the chaotic crowd and locked tightly onto a grayish-white-haired young man standing in the corner.

The young man’s body appeared extremely thin and even somewhat malnourished, his skin carrying the sickly gray-white tone of someone deprived of sunlight year-round.

Yet at this very moment—

He was fighting three opponents alone, both hands gripping one opponent’s head tightly while repeatedly smashing it against the hard stone wall like a madman, displaying a horrifying level of strength.

His name was Asa Skamander.

Originally, he had been born into a low-ranking baron family that had long since fallen into decline.

At the age of twelve—

This seemingly frail noble youth suddenly awakened an extremely violent and abnormal rare talent within his body.

During a stormy night filled with thunder and rain, without relying on any outside assistance—

He singlehandedly slaughtered every servant within the baron’s manor.

After the incident, he was swiftly captured by the local Patrol Office and mercilessly sentenced to death by the local court.

However, just as this sharp killing blade was about to be sent to the execution platform, the Directorate’s intelligence network happened to discover him upon the death row candidate list.

Thus, Glahad personally exercised his authority.

He snatched away this unpolished jade stained with innocent blood and brought him back to the Kennel.

During the next five years of inhuman torture and hellish training—

This silent youth displayed a killing talent so terrifying it shocked everyone.

He forcibly trained all five exclusive skills within the Directorate that were publicly recognized as possessing the highest mortality rates to the terrifying level of condensing bodily specialties.

【Blood Trace Tracking】, 【Spell Bloom Vision】, 【Silent Death Body】, 【Living Poison Tempering】, 【Internal Bone Armor】.

Even if ordinary young hounds exhausted their entire youth, mastering merely two of these abilities would already qualify them as elites within a squad.

Yet Asa alone mastered all of them.

And not only that, he had successfully advanced into a rare class while polishing nearly all his personal attributes to the highest possible limit permitted by same-rank Attribute Locks.

Yet despite such nearly perfect performance—

He still failed to receive Chaos’s additional gift.

“Did you verify it carefully?”

Without even turning his head, Glahad asked.

“Are all personnel who possess knowledge of the core secrets behind Chaos’s Class Advancement Ritual still completely under the control of your Hound Chain?”

Standing beside him was one of the Hound Chain intelligence department leaders urgently summoned to handle the situation—Sith Valentin.

He was a slender middle-aged man wearing a single gold-rimmed monocle over his nose, a faint smile hanging upon his lips.

Hearing Glahad’s questioning, Sith slightly bowed.

Within the Directorate, his rank was one level lower than the other man’s.

Moreover, he had originally been promoted through Glahad’s faction.

Although his command over the intelligence network granted him special occupational immunity, he had no desire to offend an old man who possessed genuine authority and an explosive temper over matters like this.

“Please rest assured, Commander. Every individual who possesses knowledge of the ritual’s core secrets has been assigned the highest-grade ‘Wind Whisperers’ for uninterrupted twenty-four-hour surveillance.”

“There is absolutely no possibility for any internal personnel to leak the ritual’s secrets.”