Chapter 220 – The Ring

Kulun had emerged victorious. Princess Trelinka, already mentally defeated, quickly agreed to sign a treaty with the Kamos Kingdom a month later and explicitly accepted her identity as “Kulun’s fiancée.” Having successfully completed all his tasks and won the beauty’s hand, Kulun naturally left Greenvine City in high spirits.

Even his greasy hair seemed to float with joy as he rode in the carriage.

However, there was one person whose mood might have been even better than Kulun’s—Punk.

Punk had followed Kulun into Greenvine City. This city didn’t even have a single Formal-Level expert above level 12. Perhaps the Glory Army was truly exhausted, as Punk managed to tail Kulun all the way to the outside of the Lord’s Castle without being detected.

Of course, Punk wasn’t a Stalker, so silently following Kulun into the castle was impossible. Fortunately, Kulun and Princess Trelinka met in the castle’s great hall.

This hall, specifically used for discussions, not only lacked any alert magic arrays but was also separated from the streets outside by only ordinary walls. It was said that the first patriarch of the Green Vine Family who built this castle originally intended it to symbolize “openness and honesty, with no concealment.” Now, it conveniently benefited Punk.

After Punk used a “Scrying Eye” with see-through functionality, everything happening inside the hall became crystal clear.

At first, Punk felt quite disappointed. Neither the Kamos Kingdom’s schemes nor Princess Trelinka’s inner turmoil held any significance for him. But just as Punk was losing patience and preparing to leave, something Kulun took out abruptly captured his full attention.

Just as Trelinka was shouting angrily at Kulun, Kulun—who appeared calm on the surface but was actually extremely nervous—swiftly retrieved a small object from his storage ring and concealed it in his palm.

Even though Kulun’s movements were rapid, Punk clearly saw what he had taken out.

It was a ring of ancient design.

The ring vividly depicted a soaring black eagle, its bright yellow eyes seeming almost alive with spirit, every feather texture meticulously engraved.

“A Master-Level alchemical creation, and the absolute pinnacle at that!”

After sensing the nearly imperceptible, fleeting magical fluctuation emanating from the ring, a conclusion immediately sprang into Punk’s mind.

Although the ring clearly possessed extremely strong aura concealment abilities—so much so that the faint magical fluctuations went completely unnoticed even by Trelinka, who was right beside Kulun—Punk, as a level 14 spellcaster who dabbled in divination magic, had exceptionally powerful perception. Coupled with the System’s instantaneous recording capability, he immediately determined that the level of the ring’s magical power fluctuation was simply beyond imagination.

If the aura of a “useless” piece of equipment like “Dawn’s Radiance 512” was like a thin mist spell, then the aura of this ring was like eternal, unyielding ice—in terms of quality, it was incomparable to such crudely made items.So Punk immediately determined that it was an extremely high-quality Master-level item, possibly even superior to the Master-level Robe he wore and the “Wind-Bathing Punisher” wielded by Vick Swordsaint.

“This is like manna from heaven! The only combat-capable member of this envoy group is a rookie warrior who just advanced to Formal-Level. Once I eliminate that novice, such excellent equipment will be mine for the taking!”

Greatly disappointed by the harvest from this “rescue mission” (the only Master-level equipment obtained being the Tears of the Spring…), Punk almost instantly decided to seize this equipment.

Of course, openly robbing an envoy delegation and stealing a national treasure would inevitably lead to a joint manhunt by the Kamos Kingdom and Dillon Kingdom. Even Archmage Sanggesi and the National Guardian-level powerhouse of the Kamos Kingdom might aggressively search for the perpetrator. But Punk had no such concerns.

As the saying goes, with the prophecy-blocking ability of the “Haitzita Magic Box,” even if two Master-level experts came searching—or even several Legendary ones—it was uncertain whether they could find Punk.

With no worries about consequences and minimal risk, if Punk didn’t take advantage of such a golden opportunity, he wouldn’t be the neutral-chaos aligned spellcaster he was.

Thus, Punk decided to launch a surprise attack as soon as Kulun left Greenvine City.

“It seems the evolution of ‘curiosity’ in living beings has its uses. Who knows, you might stumble upon something extraordinary.”

Punk carefully retreated from the vicinity of the Lord’s Castle, thinking joyfully to himself.

——————————————

The outskirts of Greenvine City were quite chilly during the cold season. Though located in the western part of the Dillon Kingdom where snowfall was rare, the layer of frost on the ground and the leafless trees gave the entire environment a sharp, cold atmosphere.

A luxurious carriage moved leisurely along the official road, its wheels leaving shallow tracks. The four fine horses could have pulled it twice as fast, but the carriage’s owner had ordered the convoy to slow down to avoid jostling.

“A fancy carriage attracts the attention of petty thieves? Hmph, that old coachman is just fearmongering. What enemy would dare attack a carriage guarded by a Formal-Level expert in this wilderness?”

Sitting inside the carriage, wrapped in two layers of fleece blankets, Kulun clearly dismissed the old coachman’s warning. Though he knew the elderly man was merely being loyal, Kulun never considered his own decisions to be wrong.

He used a silver fork to spear a medium-rare piece of steak from his plate and brought it to his mouth, while his other hand gently caressed the ring his father had secretly passed to him.

The ring felt cool and smooth to the touch, very comfortable.

Kulun’s confidence was currently soaring, all thanks to the ring on his finger.

As the family’s primary heir, Kulun recognized this ring. It was the heirloom of their Laila Family, a symbol of the clan leader’s identity. Most importantly, it was a powerful magical artifact capable of unleashing strong attacks and instantly teleporting the bearer back to their family’s designated magic formation, regardless of distance. Once activated, no means short of Master-level intervention could intercept it.With the Ring, Kulun completely disregarded his own reaction speed issues, already convinced he could go anywhere under heaven.

Of course, Kulun’s father hadn’t secretly given his son such a ring just to let this rich second-generation flaunt his superiority. Kulun might not know how dangerous this journey was, but did his clan leader father remain equally ignorant?

King William had offered the Laila Family substantial benefits in exchange for sending someone “valuable” like Kulun as an “excuse” for a diplomatic mission to Dillon Kingdom.

Coincidentally, the elders who truly held power in the Laila Family had already decided they would rather let a collateral relative inherit the clan leadership than allow a good-for-nothing fool like Kulun to lead the family. Those people were practically hoping this idiot would perish in Dillon Kingdom – conveniently satisfying King William’s wishes while aligning with the family’s decision.

On the eve of Kulun’s departure, while he still believed he was about to reach the peak of his life, his clan leader father finally decided to violate clan regulations to prepare an escape route for his son. That’s why he secretly slipped this Ring to Kulun.

After all, Kulun was his father’s only remaining son. No matter how hopeless he was, his father couldn’t bear to watch him be manipulated.

Theoretically, Kulun’s father’s backup plan was quite effective. As long as Trelinka wasn’t the type to draw her sword at the slightest provocation, and as long as Kulun detected any signs of danger in advance, even with only an ordinary person’s reaction speed, he would have had the opportunity to activate the Ring’s teleportation function.

But…

Probably no one anticipated that while Kulun’s arrogant attitude didn’t anger Princess Trelinka, it was precisely this Ring that brought fatal disaster to the smug young man.

(End of Chapter)