Conquest of the Dragon Sovereign

Everything was normal for Feicui Long. In the past three months, he had become popular among various hunters, adventurers, and low-income mercenaries, earning a decent amount of money. He had already saved a total of 25 gold coins and had about 75 silver coins as change. He had even been able to buy a new high-quality three-person tent. Unfortunately, everything would be interrupted today, and that was because of the group of people currently standing in front of him.

It was a group equipped with armor and various weapons. At first glance, it was clear that they were artifacts due to the inscriptions carved into them. Feicui Long observed them carefully but did not notice any hostile intent. Then, he shifted his gaze to the center, where there was an imposing figure clad in higher-quality armor than the others. From the medals embedded in the armor, which also served to grant it extra abilities, he could deduce that this was the leader of the group.

Feicui Long narrowed his eyes, analyzing the leader. He couldn't think of anything he had done to provoke the city guards in this area, but soon, out of the corner of his eye, he saw what the captain of this squad was holding—or rather, the child in his arms.

It was a girl between six and seven years old. She was covered by a gray cloth, but her pale skin was visible, and even at a glance, it was clear that her pallor was sickly. Beads of sweat were trickling down the exposed parts of her body.

Feicui Long finally opened his eyes, looked at the leader of the guards, and asked loudly, "May I know, Captain, how I can help you? Have you come to buy medicine or to request some kind of treatment?" It wasn't that Feicui Long didn't already have an idea of why they had come, but he preferred to ask to be sure.

"I'm sorry to trouble you, Alchemist, and I'm sure I may be bothering you, but I would like to know if you could examine my daughter and see if you can treat her," said the captain of the guard as he slightly bowed with his daughter in his arms.

"Are you sure about that? I am certainly an alchemist, but seriously, are you really willing to entrust your daughter to a stranger who lives in an alley in a tent?" Feicui Long asked with a clearly doubtful tone.

"I know this is very sudden and all, but you see, Alchemist, I have taken my daughter to several nearby alchemists, and none have been able to cure her. And although I have wished to take her to the best alchemists or even go directly to the Union of Guilds of Inscription Masters, Alchemists, and Refiners, none of them would even let me enter without the money for the consultation. That is why when I heard about a kind alchemist, one who was quite talented and willing to help the poorest, I decided to try my luck and bring my daughter to you," the captain said in a serious tone.

"I see. Even so, that doesn't clear all my doubts, but it's not as if I would allow an innocent little girl to die just to refuse you," Feicui Long said, moving his hand to signal the captain to approach and place her on the blanket beside him. This blanket was different from the one Feicui Long used for sleeping; he had bought it specifically for treating patients.

The captain of the guard approached with slow steps and carefully placed the girl on the blanket. Following that, Feicui Long immediately removed the girl's cloak. He could see the girl's pale face and how her caramel-colored hair was stuck to her body due to the sweat. He took her temperature, and it almost seemed as if he were looking at freshly cooked food, given how hot she was. The thermometer read 40°C, and he even wondered how this girl had managed to stay alive for so long. Without further delay, he examined her body, letting his gaze pass over her neck, back, and so on, but unfortunately, he found no wounds, ruling out his initial suspicion that it was caused by poison.

Focused, he asked the father, "Has your daughter been anywhere special or eaten anything unusual lately?"

This time, a woman's voice responded, "No, we haven't left the city recently, and as for food, nothing that I can recall, except perhaps a rye bread from the new bakery in the city market, which I bought for her as a treat."

It seemed he hadn't noticed this woman before, but seeing that she was holding onto the captain's arm, he realized she was the captain's wife and the girl's mother.

"I see. Then I think I know what's wrong."

As fast as he could, he grabbed an antidote pill and placed it in the girl's mouth. To help her swallow, he uncorked a healing potion and a stamina potion, also known as a vital energy or true Qi potion, and poured both into the girl's mouth. With his other hand, he controlled the power of the three medicines. Little by little, the girl's skin regained its color. It wasn't until the medicinal power in the girl had been fully absorbed that Feicui Long stopped channeling his energy into her.

The girl, who had previously been frowning and burning with a high fever, now looked calm, with a bit of color returning to her soft cheeks. Seeing this, Feicui Long nodded and said to the astonished parents, "Your daughter will be fine, but it would be best to avoid buying bread from that bakery. In fact, if possible, the captain should have that bakery shut down."

Still in shock, the captain spoke and asked, "Thank you very much for saving my daughter. How did you know what she had just from that? Also, I'd like to ask—was the bread poisoned or something? Because if not, shutting down the bakery without reason wouldn't be easy."

Feicui Long, already expecting such questions, responded calmly, "What your daughter had is called ergotism. It's an illness caused by consuming food made from rye contaminated with a fungus that produces toxins, which can be deadly or cause permanent damage. And the reason I believe that bakery was likely aware of it is that this isn't the first case this month. Every single one of them has told me the same thing—that they bought bread from that bakery. And all of them are from this neighborhood, which I found very strange, considering the purchasing power of this area. How could so many people from here afford to buy bread from a bakery in the city center, especially when they have cheaper options nearby? The answer I got from one of my patients was that the bread from that bakery was even cheaper than the one sold in the lower district. Suspicious, isn't it? The only way they could sell bread that cheap would be if they got their raw materials at an extremely low price. And the only ones who would sell materials that cheap are those who don't want to throw away raw ingredients that they legally wouldn't be allowed to sell."

Hearing all this, the captain of the guard was shocked. Feicui Long was right. Lately, there had been a strange epidemic where people suffered from intense fever and even rotting feet. However, since it didn't seem contagious, the city lord had simply ignored it and ordered the commander and all captains to do the same. If it was ergotism, it would make perfect sense for the disease to spread like an epidemic without being contagious.

Furious, the captain of the guard angrily handed Feicui Long five gold coins and thanked him before taking his daughter and wife with him. It was clear that something was about to happen soon, but whatever it was, it no longer had anything to do with Feicui Long.

…

That same day, Feicui Long realized that he was running out of medicine and would need to go collect more, just as he did every week. He packed everything necessary into his spatial backpack and set off for the Golsen Forest, the first forest he had gone to for gathering herbs after awakening the memories of his past lives.

As he walked, several adventurers, hunters, mercenaries, and people from the lower districts greeted him, recognizing him. It seemed that, without realizing it, he had gained some fame among those with fewer resources, which pleased him a little.

"After all, things do feel a little better when they're going well and you're not constantly sinking into a bottomless pit," he said ironically to himself.

Without realizing it, he had already reached the entrance of the forest, so he simply opted to check his map for the places he would visit this week. The first was a well-known location, though not frequently visited, as only one type of medicinal herb grew there, one without much value—lemon grass. Its name was similar to that of an edible herb, but in reality, they were quite different. The one Feicui Long was looking for resembled regular grass, with ten-centimeter-long leaves that naturally released a lemon-like aroma.

The reason he came specifically for this herb was that it was an important stabilizer for a medicine he needed—medicine for Hilda, the owner of the bar, which her daughters, Olivia and Silvia, an important adventurer in the fortress city of Vienna, had secretly requested from him.

According to what he knew about this matter, Hilda, 35 years old, had been a very famous adventurer in her time. That was around ten years ago. During one of those missions, Hilda and her group found themselves in a dire situation in the nest of Crimson Flame Scorpions because it turned out to be the territory of a leader-type beast called the Crimson Flame Scorpion Matriarch.

The reason it was such a bad situation was solely due to the leader-type, and that was because, since the beginning of time in the Absolute Universe, all living beings have been divided into three types: wild-type, civilized-type, and leader-type. Wild-types tend to have greater brute strength but significantly less intelligence. They are the most common type, making up 85% of species and races among the Beast Clan, the Monster Clan, the Elemental Clan, the Plant Clan, the Fungal Clan, the Undead Clan, the Demon Clan, the Void Clan, and the Chaos Clan.

The civilized-type, on the other hand, possesses greater intelligence, ranging from slightly below human intelligence to slightly above it, but they are slightly weaker than wild-types. They make up 12.5% of the species within these same nine racial clans. Only 2.5% are born as leader-type, but in exchange, their strength is many times greater, and their intelligence is several times that of a common human.

It should be noted that all three types can emerge within the same species, and no species is entirely one type. However, only one type can be dominant within a species. Additionally, for these nine racial clans, these percentages apply only up to the Spiritual Palace Realm, where the dominant percentage shifts to the civilized-type. This shift is reversed in the case of the Demon Clan, the Chaos Clan, the Elemental Clan, and the Undead Clan, while the percentage of leader-types remains unchanged.

As for the Beast Clan, the Monster Clan, the Plant Clan, the Fungal Clan, and the Void Clan, the percentage shift is less drastic: the civilized-type rises to 50%, the wild-type drops to 47.5%, and the leader-type remains the same.

For all the other 21 clans, not including the Mortal Clan—such as the Dragon Clan, the Infinite Clan, the Superior Clan, among others—even if we include the Mortal Clan, which consists solely of the 14 mortal races that, ironically, belong to other clans, the percentage would be 85% civilized-type, 12.5% wild-type, and 2.5% leader-type. These percentages remain constant even beyond the Spiritual Palace Realm.

In any case, if you look at these percentages, you realize how rare the appearance of a leader type is. But it's not just rare; as previously mentioned, they are several times stronger than others of their same species, to the point that they can fight beyond their cultivation grades. Because of this, a division was established in the Absolute Universe Treaty, classifying them into ranks, which are: Mortal Leader, Knight, Baron, Viscount, Count, Marquis, Duke, Archduke, Prince, Regent, Lord, King, Emperor, Sovereign, and Supreme Lord. These, in turn, are divided into 11 grades: Mortal, Earthly, Sovereign, Mythical, Spiritual, Sacred, Immortal, Divine, Universal, Celestial, and Absolute. It may seem excessively complicated, but the quality of being a leader type is such that it justifies it.

Let's take talent as an example. While it is true that being a leader type is not directly proportional to talent, it does have a certain relationship. That is, the higher the rank of the leader type, the greater their talent. However, even so, someone who is not a leader type can surpass a leader type in talent.

Let's take an example in this case with two humans, one a leader type and the other not. If we compare them, even though the human who is not a leader type is much more talented, it is very likely that the leader type is still stronger than them, since they can still surpass levels of cultivation. In some extreme cases, such as those of Supreme Lord rank - Absolute grade, they can surpass 35 grades, which equals 4 entire realms. Of course, this powerful effect is only seen in the lower realms, such as the Elemental Realm, and it decreases until reaching the Great Absolute Realm, where they can only surpass 9 grades, that is, one entire realm.

Of course, it should be clarified that this drastic decrease in the ability to surpass cultivation levels is only seen in leader types of King, Emperor, Sovereign, and Supreme Lord rank, as they are the ones who can surpass the most grades at the beginning, setting them apart from the other ranks. The other ranks can only surpass grades in a more gradual manner among them.

In addition to this, we must keep in mind that leader types have what is known as a dominance aura, which allows them to subdue beings of their same racial clan with relative ease. If it is of the same race or type of creature, the effect is even stronger. But it doesn't stop there, as it can also affect other clans to a lesser extent depending on different factors. And lastly, as if that weren't enough, they also have a greater number of special abilities and capacities than those of their same species.

That is why its classification is so complex despite seeming simple. But in any case, the reason Hilda ended up in such a bad state, despite being so strong at that moment and facing enemies that were supposed to be easy, was because of that leader-type beast, which could match and even almost defeat her entire group.

Although it was defeated and Hilda was acclaimed as a hero, the Crimson Flame Scorpion managed to inject her with venom, and despite being treated with multiple antidotes, she could not be cured. As if that weren't enough, half of her money, including the reward for the beast, was spent trying to cure this venom, while the other half was stolen by her husband—who was a member of her team—to escape with his lover, leaving her with an eight-year-old daughter, a three-year-old daughter, and twins on the way. Because of this, she could only retire by selling several pieces of her equipment and buying a bar. But this is also why she suffered from numerous pains, and her daughters had always tried to help her, yet no alchemist in the city of Vienna dared to even attempt to cure the venom of a leader-type beast.

Feicui Long truly cannot cure her. He knows his own abilities, and in fact, he told her that he could only treat her to reduce her pain and extend her life. To begin with, he neither had the necessary cultivation to refine the medicine that was needed nor did he know the formula for it. But even so, they did not stop and begged him to help them.

In the end, he agreed because Hilda—a mature woman with beautiful vermilion-red hair, an elegant, beautiful, and sensual figure—had captivated him the first time he saw her before recovering his memories. He couldn't say that she hadn't moved his heart. So, you know what they say: love is the machine that moves the world...

…

"Finally, I didn't think it would be this far. It's a three-hour trip, more than I expected. I guess I'll only have the chance to pick the lemon grass and head back to the city," said Feicui Long, a little annoyed, but he immediately started gathering the herbs.

As he did so, he saw a group of people stop beside him. When he turned his head, he heard an annoying voice he thought he had forgotten.

"I thought you had been expelled from the Adventurers' Guild Union, Feicui Long," said a female voice, irritating to his ears, coming from a human woman who was 1.7 meters tall with blonde hair and sky-blue eyes.

"Oh, they did. At least that's what the receptionist told me, so I suppose I only came to gather herbs, Shirley," said a black-haired human woman in a mocking tone.

"Girls, we shouldn't be doing this. We have a mission to complete," said a wood elf calmly, yet she did not take her gaze off Feicui Long's green eyes.

Noticing this look, Feicui Long opened his mouth and said sarcastically, "Jeanne, of course, I came here for the herbs. Why else would I come to a place about 7 kilometers from the city, full of threats? To listen to a couple of comedians like certain people?" After that, the black-haired woman shot him an annoyed glare.

Cough, cough. "Girls, what Madeleine says is true. The mission cannot be delayed; it is a high-priority mission," said a 1.80-meter-tall man with brown hair before continuing, "Sorry for bothering you, Feicui Long. It's been a long time..."

"I forgive you. Now, Clark, can you take your team and stop distracting me?" said Feicui Long with a hint of irritation in his voice.

"Alright, I understand. Don't worry, we'll be on our way," said Clark as he turned around and continued down the path with his team.

…

About three hours had passed since then, and Feicui Long had gathered plenty of herbs and was already walking toward the exit of this small clearing when suddenly, the ground beneath his feet began to tremble.

Tremor Tremor

Soon, a large tree collapsed just a few centimeters in front of him, unleashing a loud crash. BANG! Just then, he saw a group of people carrying a brown-haired man past him. Surprised, Feicui Long turned his head slightly and realized it was the girls from the previous group, carrying a severely wounded Clark. They themselves were also injured, with some missing pieces of fabric in their clothing.

When he saw the blonde, Shirley, she passed by a tree branch that tore another piece of her clothing off, but she also gave him a cold smile.

At that moment, Feicui Long realized what was happening as a small horde of energy beasts began to surround him. Annoyed, he started running for his life, but soon the horde caught up to him, ultimately encircling him.

"Damn it, what terrible luck I have. Just when everything was going well, this happens," Feicui Long exclaimed angrily. "Well, complaining won't change anything. It's fight or die…"

After finishing his words, Feicui Long gripped his halberd in his right hand and his steel sword in his left.

Soon, the beasts lunged at him. The first beast was a boar-type beast, which Feicui Long slashed with his energy-coated sword, while with his right hand, he stabbed at another beast charging toward him—a bull-type beast. Its horns clashed against the sharp tip of Feicui Long's halberd, slightly deflecting it, but in the end, the tip still pierced its skull, killing it instantly.

In just one exchange, he had already killed two energy beasts, but there was no reason to celebrate because more and more kept coming. Feicui Long, frowning, lunged to the side, stabbing and slashing with his halberd first, while cutting down the beasts approaching from his other side with his sword. Following his momentum, he managed to create an opening and leaped forward to continue running until he reached a clearing.

But the energy beasts didn't relent. As if they were being ordered by something, they resumed their pursuit of Feicui Long, surrounding him once again. This time, it was even worse, as the beasts were more organized. At the front stood a beast known as the Copper Bull, a creature with high defense whose strength ranged between the first and third grade of the elemental realm.

Annoyed, Feicui Long muttered under his breath, "Damn it, I haven't done anything to them, yet they've chased me this far."

He had no choice but to keep fighting, but before that, he swallowed some energy restoration pills. Feicui Long continued battling for several dozen minutes, but soon, he simply couldn't keep up. The numbers were just too overwhelming—not to mention that he knew he wasn't even fighting those considered average in strength within this horde. He had only been fighting weaklings. It was obvious that this horde was being commanded by a leader-type beast; otherwise, it would be impossible for most of these creatures to display such intelligence.

In the end, Feicui Long was sent flying, with bleeding holes in various parts of his body, including his abdomen and chest. Immediately, several minor beasts began devouring his legs. Still conscious, Feicui Long let out a groan of pain.

"Arghhh…"

Finally, an imposing, large-sized bear-type beast emerged from the crowd as the others stepped aside to clear its path. When Feicui Long saw it, he realized that this was the leader-type beast commanding this small horde. He knew this would be his end, and in his fury, he could only curse his bad luck.

But just as it stood in front of Feicui Long, about to finish him off, something astonishing happened. A bird's cry echoed through the air—SCREECH! A majestic and elegant bird, engulfed in flames, appeared. Three tails extended from the end of its body, its plumage was vibrant and beautiful, and its long, graceful neck resembled that of a heron. Even the leader-type beast began trembling under the intense pressure that descended upon it and the other creatures. Feicui Long, his vision blurry, could still make it out unmistakably—it was an oriental fire phoenix.

The phoenix cast a piercing gaze over the beasts, but especially toward the bear leading them. With its intelligence, the bear instantly understood the phoenix's meaning, and though reluctant, it was forced to withdraw along with its horde.

The oriental phoenix landed on the ground, walking gracefully on its two slender legs, similar to those of a heron. It approached Feicui Long's battered body and looked at him with pity.

Feicui Long, stunned by the pain, couldn't suppress the surge of anger and humiliation rising within him. Tears streamed down his face. Never, in all his past lives, had he felt such disgrace. Perhaps it was because he had yet to recover the memories of his first life and true identity, but even so, compared to everything he had endured before, no situation had been as humiliating as this.

Now, even an oriental phoenix, one belonging to the weakest bloodline among phoenixes—comparable to the most basic dragon bloodlines—was looking down on him. He was a proud sovereign, the leader of the entire dragon race, a being before whom even the mightiest phoenix should kneel just to be in his presence. Yet, he had fallen so low. Not only had he been reduced to a wandering vagabond, but now, a mere burning chick pitied him.

He wanted to laugh. He wanted to cry. But every attempt was halted by the searing pain coursing through him. As his vision darkened, he caught sight of the oriental phoenix shedding a single tear. With one of its wings, it guided the tear into Feicui Long's mouth.

But that did not stop him from losing consciousness due to blood loss.