The Arrival of the Saint Baton Clan

After a full day’s voyage, Grand Matriarch Lily led the five students of Group Four to their destination: Sharkstone Reef, located southeast of the Palkin Sea!

Though named a “reef,” this was in fact a relatively small island, formed by a submarine volcano breaching the ocean's surface. Despite its mere few square kilometers in area, it was a convergence point for abundant Water Element and fire-elemental energies. While the concentration of both elements far surpassed ordinary locations, it didn't pose an excessive burden on ordinary Battle-Warriors, making it perfectly suited for the capabilities and battle qi characteristics of the Group Four students. Thus, the Disciplinary Affairs Office had arranged for this entire group to undergo their specialized training here.

Upon their disembarkation, the grand vessel specially dispatched by Battle God Isle slowly turned its bow and departed from Sharkstone Reef. It would only return to collect the students in a week's time.

Lily led the five students onto the barren, black island, its surface composed solely of solidified volcanic ash. As they walked, she barked, “You have ten minutes to set up camp! In ten minutes, training begins immediately!”

The students instantly sprang into action, all except Du Chen, who grinned impishly and sidled up to Lily, whispering, “Miss Lily, you…”

Lily’s face hardened. “Kindly address me as Instructor Lily, Francis. As your teacher, I am now responsible for you! I know your Precious Lotus Scripture conceals many peculiar things, but during this training, I do not wish to see you use them to cheat! Although, given your character, you likely wouldn’t… If you understand, hurry and set up camp!”

Du Chen recoiled slightly, chuckling. “Brook usually trains me. You see…”

Lily's eyes widened. “You wish me to play favorites and bend the rules!? Impossible!” She glared at Du Chen. “Brook is indeed one of The Masters of this era, but he is fundamentally an assassin-type Battle God. While his training methods can rapidly enhance your strength, they absolutely cannot compare to the Battle God Academy’s millennium of accumulated teaching experience! What are you still gawking at? Get moving!”

Du Chen gave a dry laugh, grumbling reluctantly, “Well, don’t you already know my true strength? I can already defeat a Sixth-Level Battle God, so doing this Four-Star Fighter training is a bit…”

“Are you trying to skip class again?” Lily’s beautiful eyes narrowed, and her voice abruptly turned cold. “You certainly have many responsibilities, but right now, I am teaching you! Skipping class is absolutely forbidden! If you’re truly set on it, you may, but only if you can defeat me first!”

Du Chen hung his head, slinking away sheepishly. He was intimately familiar with Grand Matriarch Lily’s temper. If he continued to argue, it would surely “escalate to a full-blown brawl,” and this time, he would undoubtedly be the one getting thrashed! Yet, upon reflection, Grand Matriarch Lily was indeed a dedicated and excellent instructor…

Soon, the five students swiftly erected their camp and then gathered before Lily by the seashore.

“Your objective this time is to adapt to crisis combat in a marine environment, or rather, in an area abundant with Water Element! And the only aid you will receive are the ample fire-elemental energies on Sharkstone Reef, and the Water Element within the sea itself!” Lily raised a hand and commanded, “The Academy has already negotiated with the Sea Clan. The sea area within a ten-kilometer radius, centered on Sharkstone Reef, is your training zone… After I give the command to begin, you will have three minutes to hide. I, too, will hide during this time—during which you may choose to attack me. Conversely, I will also attack and even ambush you. Of course, you may collaborate, or you may even turn on each other. Ultimately, only one of us will receive dinner tonight—the sole portion of food!”

“Oh gods, that’s so unfair! Instructor, you’re a peak Sixth-Level Battle God! Even if all five of us teamed up, we couldn’t possibly defeat you!” Sem complained loudly.

“You are mistaken. If you can truly unite perfectly, you absolutely can defeat me! My decision will not change!” Lily declared resolutely.

“How… how could that be possible?!” Sem asked, bewildered.

In contrast to Sem’s confusion, the other four students stood tall and proud. Charles said coldly, “Student Sem, complaining solves nothing!” With that, his eyes turned towards Frinda.

Frinda glared back at Charles. “Student Charles, please conduct yourself with more respect!”

Charles’s handsome face flushed, but he retorted defensively, “Student Frinda, since only one of us can get food, and there will only be one victor today! Then, I hope to defeat you first, before Instructor Lily finds us!”

“An overconfident idiot!” Frinda suddenly curled her lip, her gaze shifting to Du Chen. *He must surely understand Instructor Lily’s true meaning now, right?*

Du Chen and Arthur exchanged a knowing smile. Their Azure Eyes drifted in unison toward the highest point of Sharkstone Reef, only to shake their heads in sync, a bitter smile spreading across both their faces. Seeing the identical reactions, they shared a silent, understanding laugh.

They had both realized that the true test was, in fact, the teamwork and cooperation that the Academy had always emphasized! Five Four-Star Fighters, united, could never defeat a peak Sixth-Level Lily in a head-on confrontation—in truth, Lily’s strength had already reached the pinnacle of the Seventh-Level; she had concealed her true power upon entering the Academy. But this was a volcano, and three of the five students were fire-elemental. If they collaborated sincerely and harnessed the natural power emanating from the volcano, it wouldn't be impossible to simply trap Instructor Lily, even if defeating her was out of reach!

Then, with Lily trapped, the five could naturally retrieve food from her tent at will, ensuring no one would starve—this was the second test: in times of crisis, one must be adaptable, not bound by old rules.

Alas… Sem couldn't conceive of cooperating with Charles, Frinda despised cooperating with Charles, Du Chen detested cooperating with Charles, and Arthur had no desire to cooperate with Charles…

Arthur laughed. “It seems quite a failure!”

Du Chen also laughed. “That’s not just any failure!”

This “failure” referred to Charles’s interpersonal skills…

“Starve?”

“Then we starve!” The two exchanged another glance, bursting into hearty laughter.

At that moment, Lily’s hand decisively dropped. “Begin!” Her figure vanished.

The remaining five looked at each other. Charles was the first to draw his sacred artifact longsword, shouting, “Student Frinda, I request your instruction!” With that, he thrust his sword, pressing forward with a fierce, swift strike aimed at Frinda’s shoulder.

*Idiot! This test is about teamwork!* Frinda was incensed, but she also made up her mind. *So what if I starve for a day? Do Battle-Warriors fear hunger? Fine, I’ll use this opportunity to test my progress since Francis defeated me last time!* With that thought, Frinda sidestepped Charles’s attack, drew her sacred artifact sword, and yelled, “Francis, I request your instruction!”

Du Chen was taken aback, dodging aside! Charles, on the other hand, was furious. *Frinda, are you deliberately showing disrespect for me!?* He roared, “Frinda, do you dare to scorn the Sacred Flame Sword of Sigurd’s mystical transmission!?”

“Charles, you are no match for me. I don’t wish to fight you! Get lost!” Frinda snapped.

“I will defeat you, behold my sword!” Charles’s moves grew increasingly ferocious. The two clashed.

Elsewhere, Sem was far less concerned. As soon as he saw Frinda and Charles fighting, he excitedly patted his small chest and yelled, “I’m here too!! Haha, Francis, I can’t beat you! So it’s Arthur!” He pushed up the Golden Circlet on his head. Suddenly, a cloud of fire bloomed forth.

Arthur frowned, then smiled. “Good! I haven’t challenged a Four-Star Fighter yet!” He drew the colorful longsword from his waist, gave a sharp cry, flipped the sword in front of his chest, then chopped down forcefully. The oncoming cloud of fire was forcefully cleaved apart by his sword wind. Arthur then dashed forward, instantly closing the distance to Sem.

“Oh my, Instructor said you could reach Four-Star strength without battle qi, and she wasn’t lying! Ha, a Battle Mage like me can’t fight you up close!” Sem’s short legs pumped rapidly, putting a significant distance between them in an instant.

Arthur had been rather displeased with Sem’s choice to pick on the ‘soft target,’ but upon hearing his guileless, simple words, he understood Sem’s character a little better. Moreover, seeing himself push back a Four-Star Fighter, his heart swelled with satisfaction. He let out a long cry and pursued him, “My speed has also reached Four-Star! Be careful!”

Four people were now locked in two separate brawls. Du Chen chuckled, then flashed into a small Mountain Hollow. As the scenery shifted, he found Grand Matriarch Lily standing there, just over the crest.

“Francis, you still left a flaw when you tracked me just now!” Lily was, in truth, waiting for Du Chen. She smiled. “But for your current strength to track my aura is already quite remarkable! I can barely imagine what your strength will be when you become a Titled Battle God. Perhaps, then, you might even challenge the gods!”

Du Chen basked momentarily in Lily’s praise, but then her tone shifted. “But don’t get too happy too soon. Do not underestimate the fundamentals of the Battle-Warrior stage. Without these foundations, you will never become a Titled Battle God!”

Du Chen retorted defiantly, “But they are just mere Battle-Warriors…”

“Do not underestimate Battle-Warriors. You have been progressing under the tutelage of Deboning and our sisters, so your perspective is naturally elevated. But to ordinary people, Battle-Warriors are extraordinary!”

Lily lectured, “On the battlefield, a First-Level Battle-Warrior can defeat a squad of ten elites, and a Fifth-Level Battle God can rout a battle formation of two hundred! Think, how many troops do you have in your territory?”

“Only eight hundred irregulars maintaining order…”

“Then, if your army has no Battle-Warriors, and you and Brook are absent! Your current Group Four, with its five Four-Star Fighters, could crush your territory’s garrison and conquer your lands on the battlefield!”

Du Chen was startled by Lily’s words, and quickly said, “I have indeed underestimated Battle-Warriors. No, I must strengthen my territory’s military power!”

Lily smiled and waved her hand. “No need. My sister has studied Lanning’s situation, and your territory will not face large-scale wars in the foreseeable future… Oh heavens, what is this…?”

As they conversed, both secretly observed the fighting on the beach. Lily pointed at Frinda and suddenly exclaimed in surprise, “Francis, this girl’s Secret Technique… that’s Marshal Migho’s Wrath of the Sun God! Could she be…?”

Du Chen nodded. “That’s right, Frinda is a descendant of the Sun God Clan! I only recently investigated it thoroughly! Oh, and she’s the Saint Dak family descendant my mother asked me to find!”

“Unbelievable, to think I would meet a descendant of Marshal Migho!” Lily sighed with emotion, then added in surprise, “The Saint Dak family? No, Marshal Migho’s surname wasn’t Saint Dak. Ah, but those must be the Seven Forms of the Sun, no doubt about it!”

“Seven Forms of the Sun? I did see her use one move, Wrath of the Sun God, when I fought her. It was… decent!” Du Chen recounted his duel with Frinda with a laugh.

Lily shook her head repeatedly. “What do you mean ‘decent’? The Wrath of the Sun God is merely Marshal Migho’s initiation move! You, if Frinda could use the more advanced Fourth Form, ‘Sun Shower,’ your life might well be in danger…”

Du Chen stuck out his tongue, rather unfazed. By the time Frinda could use the Fourth Form, he would probably have developed countless more moves for Vanishing Snow!

At this very moment, far out in the ocean.

A Tiger Shark, leading two Merfolk, smiled at a brawny man standing proudly in the seawater. “Francis is on the island, and there’s only one Battle God Academy instructor and four Four-Star Fighters there. You can make your move anytime!”

“Thank you for the Sea Clan’s righteous aid; we shall remember this favor!”

The Tiger Shark smirked triumphantly. “We, the Palkin Sea Clan, have been old friends with you for many years. Helping with a small matter is only natural, haha. It’s not boasting, but in the ocean, no one can escape my surveillance!”

A barely perceptible sneer flickered across the brawny man’s lips. *Sea Clan!? Hmph, only Sea Emperor Thanes of the Sea Clan can call us friends! What is a mere general of the Palkin Sea Clan to us!?*

*Who are we? Descendants of Lynch Baton, the Undying Death God, the foremost beastmen family: the Saint Baton Clan!*