Chapter 280: The Badge
The crimson crystal in my hand still looked utterly unremarkable. No dazzling light, no glasslike clarity—just an ordinary chunk. It felt firm, but if I squeezed it, it would yield and change shape, like a piece of tough red jelly.
Yet, as Leon held the crimson crystal, he suddenly noticed something new at its core...
A tiny black dot...
At first, Leon didn’t pay much attention, assuming it was just an impurity inside the crimson crystal. But as he kept looking, he felt something was off. That tiny black dot actually carried a faint breath of life—giving the impression of a seed.
"No way..." Leon's expression shifted instantly.
If this crimson crystal had come from anywhere else, Leon wouldn't have been surprised. The breath of life is everywhere—wherever life exists, its essence permeates all things, only varying in strength.
But...
This crimson crystal was clearly obtained from the Apocalypse Plane...
And now, in the Apocalypse Plane, everything is dead. Even time and space, and all the laws that once governed them, have ceased to exist. It’s nothing but an endless, empty grave.
How could a crimson crystal pulled from such a void grave possibly radiate even a faint breath of life?
No matter how faint, it was still the essence of life...
"What a shame..." The thought left a bitter taste in Leon's mouth. The Apocalypse Plane held secrets far deeper than he'd ever imagined, but now, he had no chance to unearth them. Beneath the Doomsday Storm, everything would be swept away into oblivion. In this lifetime, he doubted he'd ever set foot in that endless void again...
With a sigh of regret, Leon picked up the strange crimson crystal once more, turning it over and over in his hand, studying it from every angle...
It was strange—whenever Leon held the crimson crystal, a faint sense of dread crept into his heart.
Why did it feel so unsettling... That inexplicable sensation sent a chill down Leon's spine. He'd meant to put the crystal back in his pocket, but now, unease gnawed at him.
After pondering for a long moment, Leon chanted a spell and opened that sub-plane once again.
This was the second time Leon had accessed the sub-plane since stealing it...
The first thing he'd placed inside was a fragment of an ancient divine-demon's soul—a thing even Lord Shaun feared like the plague. Now, he was about to put in the newly acquired crimson crystal.
There was no doubt—both objects harbored secrets of unimaginable magnitude.
But with secrets like these came dangers far beyond what Leon could bear. The only way to handle them was to seal them away in the sub-plane, and wait—wait until the day he possessed enough strength to face them head-on.
As for now...
Leon was far more concerned about that single drop of Silver Dragon Blood...
That was the truly important thing. In terms of rank, a drop of Silver Dragon Blood might not compare to Hubert’s Three-Headed Golden Dragon Blood, but for Leon, the highest rank wasn’t always the best fit. The Death Tome was powerful enough, right? Yet the only chapter he truly used was the Sage’s Chapter.
The Death Tome held thirteen chapters, each capable of catastrophic destruction. Back in the day, the Heaven-tier mage Bain had never lost a single battle in a millennium, wielding the Death Tome in Northend World—a true legend.
The other twelve chapters weren’t unused because Leon didn’t want to—he simply couldn’t.
Twelve chapters meant twelve components.
Leon remembered it well: every one of those twelve components was at least True Spirit grade, and the three most powerful were on par with the Death Tome itself—genuine Heaven-tier relics.
How to gather those components? Best not to even think about it...
Just mastering those components was enough to drive Leon to despair.
Leon, still just a ninth-tier Grand Mage, dreaming of mastering twelve True Spirit-grade components—or the entire Death Tome—was pure fantasy. Not every component was like the Sage’s Chapter, usable simply by absorbing enough death energy.
For Leon, only the power he truly controlled was worth trusting.
Take, for example, that drop of Silver Dragon Blood.
This single drop would trigger another transformation in his Arcane Array Armor. Once complete, it would elevate the armor to an entirely new realm—a realm no Grand Mage in history had ever reached.
Even for Leon, this was unfamiliar territory.
After this transformation, what changes would occur in his Arcane Array Armor—even Leon himself had no idea...
He started out with extreme caution.
The drop of Silver Dragon Blood was completely enveloped in mana. Leon’s Arcane Array Armor spun at full speed, probing and analyzing it bit by bit—each time extracting only a minuscule rune for study. This went on for three days. At last, Leon was sure the Silver Dragon Blood posed no major threat, so he gradually lifted the restrictions on his armor and prepared to begin a systematic analysis.
"Leon, Leon..." But just then, William Merlin’s voice rang out again.
Perfect timing...
Leon sighed and paused his analysis of the Silver Dragon Blood. "What is it?"
"Leon, look..." William Merlin glanced around furtively before pulling something out of his pocket, his expression full of mystery. "I found this a few days ago..."
"Hm?" Leon took the object and examined it—it seemed to be a damaged badge...
The emblem on the badge was already faded, but you could just make out a blood-dripping dragon’s head.
Leon frowned, searching his memory. He couldn't recall any faction that used a blood-dripping dragon’s head as their insignia...
With that thought, Leon shot William Merlin a puzzled look.
"Leon, this is the Merlin Family crest!" William Merlin was practically trembling with excitement as he stared at the battered badge.
"You must be mistaken..." Leon remembered clearly—outside the Gilded Rose, William Merlin had pointed to a badge with a burning staff and told him that was the Merlin Family crest. How had it changed so much in less than half a year?
"No, no, Leon! Back in the Third Dynasty, this was the Merlin Family crest!"
"The Third Dynasty?" Leon was stunned.
"Didn't your father ever tell you?" Now it was William Merlin's turn to look confused.
"Never."
"Well..." William Merlin still looked incredulous, but after a moment, he couldn't suppress his excitement and grinned. "Leon, our Merlin Family history goes back much farther than people think. These days, everyone assumes we only rose to prominence after the founding of the First King’s dynasty. In truth, the Merlin Family’s history stretches all the way back to the distant Third Dynasty..."
"Oh?" To be honest, even after living as Mafa Merlin in Northend World for over a year, Leon had never cared much about Mafa Merlin’s family background.
All Leon knew was that Mafa Merlin came from a vast family whose ancestors had rendered great service during the founding of the First King’s realm. As the Andalusia Kingdom rose, the entire family soared in status, becoming one of the kingdom’s top powers.
Beyond that, Leon didn’t know much...
Now, hearing William Merlin talk about the Merlin Family’s roots in the Third Dynasty, Leon couldn’t help but grow curious. He toyed with the battered badge in his hand, urging William Merlin to continue.
"I only know what my father told me. He once entered the family’s ancestral lands and read from a secret tome. According to it, the Merlin Family rose during the early Third Dynasty, and one ancestor even followed Emperor Charles. Back then, our crest was the blood-dripping dragon’s head—a mark of great honor, showing the Merlin Family had taken part in the Dragon-Slaying War..."
Leon couldn’t help but suck in a sharp breath. Northend World had seen countless dragon-slaying heroes, but in millions of years, there had only ever been one true Dragon-Slaying War.
Beneath the Throne of All Things, the final battle erupted. The Five-Colored Dragons emerged in full force, clashing desperately with the Imperial army. Blood soaked the sky and earth, and corpses covered the land beneath the throne. In the end, Emperor Charles shattered the Throne of All Things, driving the Five-Colored Dragons and Pureblood Elves into the void. After that, the Silver Age ended, and Northend World entered the Age of Mortals.
That battle had long since become legend.
Every hero who fought in that war became a legend, living on in the hearts of all. Their names were woven into songs by bards and echoed through every corner of Northend World.
Originally, Leon had thought...
Even if the Merlin Family’s history reached back to the Third Dynasty, they were probably just another noble house.
Leon truly hadn’t expected the Merlin Family’s legacy to be so illustrious...
A family that had taken part in the Dragon-Slaying War!
Across all of Northend World, if lineage and nobility were measured, few families could compare.
But why would such a noble and powerful family fall into decline during the Third Dynasty?
Leon remembered clearly—among the Empire’s thirteen great houses, there was no Merlin Family...
"Unfortunately, something happened later..." Just as Leon was puzzling over it, William Merlin continued.