Chapter 406 — The Ancient Kingdom of Tingxiang

Just who was this person who had earned such lofty praise from Her Majesty the Empress?

"I do not know whether you have heard his name," President Orlan said. "Shi Jin. A prodigy archaeologist of Donghuang, whose representative achievement is the invention of the mechanical phantom beast system. At present he is the foremost figure below legend in Donghuang—a sixth-level beast tamer."

To be honest, although the name Shi Jin carried great weight in the mechanical and archaeological fields of the Seven Nations, to these prodigy elves it was not at all familiar. After all, the hottest topic among the Seven Nations lately was still the World Championship.

And the most discussed figures at the World Championship were undoubtedly the prodigies of each nation who had reached legendary level, along with the legends of the Totem Nations.

People like Ye Xing and Shen Ling were among those drawing the most attention.

Meanwhile, the title of foremost below legend occupied a rather awkward position.

For even the foremost below legend was, after all, not a legend—and at the World Championship, legend should be the threshold for contending for the championship.

Knowing little of the mechanical and archaeological fields, the four elves could not fully grasp the weight of that name.

Even so, the name Shi Jin still startled them considerably—simply because President Orlan had said the man was only a sixth-level beast tamer?

A level-six beastmaster...

The two Overlord-level sprites exchanged glances. How had Her Majesty seen legendary potential in that one?

"Her Majesty did not tell me the specific reasons. But if she says so, she must have her grounds. One thing worth noting:

this Shi Jin is the leader of the Chenyuan City delegation this time, and he holds no small status within Chenyuan City as well."

"Honorary Grand General of Yexing City, in charge of a special department, with nearly a hundred Overlords under his command. The training team that has come this time—all of them are Shi Ying's subordinates in Chenyuan City."

If the previous notion had been somewhat abstract, then with President Olan's revelation, the four sprites present were stunned for the first time with a sense of real, tangible shock. What kind of joke was this!

A level-six beastmaster with nearly a hundred Overlords under him?

Even a single Totem Dragon King did not have that many Overlords under its command, did it? This was rounding up every last Overlord in Chenyuan City!!!

How could that be? Though Chenyuan City and Donghuang enjoyed excellent relations, it was absolutely impossible for something as absurd as a level-six beastmaster commanding nearly a hundred Overlords to occur!

How could this Shi Jin hold such an exalted position in Chenyuan City?

"Just what is Her Majesty's purpose in all this?" At this moment, not to mention the four sprites, even President Olan was rather puzzled—and shaken—

unable to understand how Her Majesty could evaluate a new-generation prodigy of Donghuang in such a manner.

Destined to become a legend.

An absurd evaluation.

Still, compared to these four sprites, President Olan did know a little more about Shi Ying's achievements. The mechanical phantom beast system—that was truly an epoch-making invention. It had even driven Shenfeng Nation into a frenzy of fossil acquisition. Could it be that Donghuang and Her Majesty had reached some kind of agreement? Regarding mechanical phantom beast technology, perhaps? No, that did not feel right either... If that were all, Her Majesty would not hold this Shi Jin in such high esteem.

The key must surely lie with Jue himself.

That was unknown for now, but it would soon become clear. Once the four of them had some contact with Shi Jin, they would learn just why this level-six beastmaster was rated by Her Majesty even higher than a legendary descendant like the Divine Bell Legend.

And if this person was truly as extraordinary as Her Majesty said, then on the larger stage to come, he would inevitably become the most brilliant rising star!

After a voyage, Shi Jin and the others finally arrived at the Ancient Kingdom of Tingxiang.

Port Rograns.

As they drew near, Shi Jin summoned everyone out.

The Frost Dragon, the Gem Cat Second and Third Princes, and the rest of the Dragon Palace host descended upon the sea one after another.

At this moment, the descent of a giant dragon—nay, of numerous divine dragons—instantly threw the Ocean Sprite Legion stationed at Rograns into shock.

They nearly thought the Dragon Empire had come to attack.

After all, by all appearances, the one at the head was a giant dragon.

But in the very next moment, the officer in charge here remembered that a delegation from Huijin Lancheng was due to arrive recently.

Tingxiang's President Olan had been waiting for some time. Standing at the port, buffeted by the sea breeze, she caught sight of the Dragon Palace host descending and immediately broke into a smile.

"Welcome, honored guests. Please follow me," said President Olan.

"Greetings, President Olan." Shi Jin, as the delegation leader, took on the duty of liaison.

The Frost Dragon could not be bothered with any of this. It had already shrunk to normal size, standing two or three meters tall, blending in among them all cute and inconspicuous.

As a Totem-level being, it already possessed the ability to modify its species and develop skills. The vast majority of Totem creatures, the first thing they did, was develop a magnification skill, so that their physique could reach an appropriate scale on different occasions.

At the same time, maintaining a smaller state was also beneficial for long-term activity. Otherwise, hauling around a body a hundred meters tall—fine if it was to display dominance or to fight, but if one was merely bored in daily life, it was pure self-inflicted suffering. One would get hungry very quickly. Better to sleep.

"Lord Shi Jin."

"And this must be Lord Frost Dragon King."

President Olan looked toward the Frost Dragon King, the most distinguished among them. She found it rather novel that a giant dragon would join Tingxue City, since the vast majority of giant dragons joined the Dragon Empire. She was also well aware, however, that this had to do with this ice dragon having been the battle pet of a Donghuang sage.

At the same time, it also had to do with the ice dragon's own grumblings. Who could be blamed, when two thousand years ago the Dragon Empire's inheritance had nearly been wiped out by a human beastmaster?

The Dragon Empire's prestige had plummeted in the young ice dragon's heart all at once.

At the time, it had not joined those other dragons in resistance either. To avoid being implicated, it had decisively slipped away—slipped all the way to Donghuang, where it was caught by Mu Huiyin and made into a cooling device.

That period of fighting shoulder to shoulder with Mu Huiyin, painful as it was, had genuinely changed the ice dragon somewhat.

"I am. You must be Tingxiang's President Olan." Seeing the other party address it, the ice dragon replied, "I hope this exchange event proceeds smoothly."

Titled legends, too, differ in prestige. The likes of President Olan counted as a normal titled legend, able to match a Totem in battle, or even defeat weaker Totems.

Someone like Mu Huiyin, by contrast, was a rather powerful titled legend. In the Totem War, the Totems they faced were basically all top-tier Totems. At such times, ordinary Totems could barely survive—they were directly finished off as the first batch of targets by the Time Emperor. Mu Huiyin, though unable to defeat top-tier Totems, could hold her own against them for a long while without falling at a disadvantage—truly worthy of the name of the Time Emperor's foremost general.