After Lanqi answered, silence settled over the office for a time, broken only by the steady ticking of the hands on the antique wooden wall clock.
"..."
After a brief silence, Loren leaned back in his chair. The high-grade executive chair carried an air of authority while offering a comforting warmth.
"Then I will look forward to it," Loren said with a smile, looking at Lanqi and Hyperion.
Without needing to ask any further, Loren more or less understood.
Lanqi wanted to venture deeper into the north to find a supreme powerhouse of another race.
Only an objective like that could truly be considered a challenge for someone like Lanqi.
A little trial by fire would do him good anyway—the kid desperately needed to be brought down a peg.
Loren couldn't bring himself to be harsh with him.
But once he went to the Northern Continent, the people there wouldn't indulge him.
"Due to historical reasons and a complex mix of races, racial conflict is severe in the Northern Continent. Certain races hold immense hatred for humans, and some humans harbor just as much hostility toward other races. Unlike here, where it's merely prejudice, over there someone might kill you on the spot simply upon hearing your race. So under no circumstances should you treat the Northern Continent like the Southern Continent."
Loren pulled open a drawer, retrieved an ancient book bearing the cover of the Church of the Goddess of Fate, and handed it to Lanqi, indicating that he should finish reading it along the way.
"That's not good at all..."
Lanqi accepted the book, thanked Loren, and muttered under his breath.
"Once you arrive at the Protos Empire along the Northern Continent's coast, try not to venture any further north. If you manage to visit [Original Slate - Light] or [Original Slate - Undead], you'll still earn exceptionally high credits. After all, both of those bearers are extremely dangerous figures in the Northern Continent themselves," Loren continued.
Even though the Protos Empire struck Loren as quite sinister itself, it at least maintained order, however ruthless it might be.
"How dangerous are they?" Lanqi asked.
"Based on your understanding of a slate bearer's strength... if the Saintess of Destruction appeared in my field of vision, how long would it take for me to capture her?"
Loren chose to answer Lanqi's question with a concrete example.
Up to this point, the strongest enemy Lanqi had encountered was the Saintess of Destruction.
The Tier 7 Blood Clan Count, who had been weakened tenfold, locked up, ambushed, and ganged up on, did not serve as a good point of reference.
"A few seconds?" Lanqi guessed after some thought.
In the game, levels above 60 had never been made available, so he didn't know the exact disparity beyond Tier 6.
A Tier 6 powerhouse like the Saintess of Destruction was virtually the ceiling of the Southern Continent's younger generation.
Even now, facing her head-on, he and Hyperion would still be no match for her.
Hearing Lanqi's answer, Loren merely smiled.
Without giving Lanqi a specific number, he lightly lifted a fingertip resting on the desk.
Immediately, Lanqi and Hyperion wore expressions of shock and bewilderment.
In that instant, their bodies couldn't move even a fraction of an inch—and it didn't feel like an ordinary crowd control effect.
It was as though a single thought from Loren had solidified the surrounding airflow into steel!
It was a restraint so absolute that even if their power were multiplied tenfold in an instant, they could never find any way to break free.
Meanwhile, Loren, watching them, appeared completely relaxed and composed. The mana on his body had not even trembled in the slightest; he hadn't exerted anywhere near his true strength.
"Even if you were hundreds of meters away, it would be the same," Loren said calmly.
With that, Loren released Lanqi and Hyperion, allowing their rigid bodies to relax once more.
Although Loren had caused them no pain, they were entirely certain that if he had wished to strangle them with the wind just now, it would have taken nothing more than a passing thought.
"I understand. No wonder people say only a Tier 8 can defeat a Tier 8 powerhouse..."
Lanqi nodded.
Tier 8 and anything below Tier 8 truly belonged to entirely different leagues.
As for Tier 9, it was something Lanqi couldn't even begin to imagine right now.
Based on Loren's demonstration, Lanqi could deduce that if he and Hyperion entered the Bishop of Destruction's sight, the bishop would need only an instant to kill them.
At best, Hyperion might survive a couple more hits with her shields and death-immunity effects, but it was essentially meaningless.
Leaving aside spell mastery and the tiers of their magic cards, the difference in basic attributes alone was several hundredfold.
With their current strength, even if they managed to engineer an ambush against an Eighth-tier Blood Clan Marquis in an enclosed space, it would still mean certain death.
"Furthermore, Hyperion, whatever you do within the Protos Empire, do not expose your demon bloodline."
Loren knew Hyperion possessed a transformation spell capable of bypassing any current detection method in the Hutton Kingdom to disguise herself perfectly as a human, which was why he issued the warning.
"Why?" Hyperion asked in confusion.
Due to isolated and outdated information, many books and intelligence reports circulating on the market regarding the Northern Continent were of questionable authenticity.
Only someone like Loren, who had visited the Northern Continent in person, could speak with absolute credibility.
"Under the newest laws enacted by the Protos Empire in recent years, falsifying one's race is a capital offense, punishable by severe execution to serve as a warning to others. In the Protos Empire, different races and bloodlines correspond to vastly different social strata," Loren explained to her.
"What if I just present myself as a half-demon directly?" Hyperion asked after considering it.
Since the risk of being exposed was not zero, perhaps being honest from the start would be better.
"Then, unless you can prove you are a freeman, you will very likely be captured and made into a demon slave. In the Protos Empire's hierarchy, demons are a subordinate criminal race with virtually no human rights," Loren said, shaking his head.
Demon half-bloods were marginally better off, but most were offspring of attractive demons purchased by nobles or wealthy merchants. They received none of the privileges of nobility, and they were fortunate if their lives were slightly better than those of commoners.
"There's actually such a thing?" Lanqi frowned slightly.
"Just disguise yourselves as humans. As long as you don't actively look for trouble, you generally won't provoke any disputes," Loren said with a serious expression. "Of course, you must also be aware that the slate bearers aren't the only dangers in the Northern Continent. Slate bearers aren't necessarily stronger than non-bearers either. Certain supreme powerhouses have more composite attributes, and to them, consuming a fixed Tier 5 card slot for an Original Slate simply isn't worth it. Even if they had the chance to obtain one, they chose not to use it themselves, or perhaps they simply never found a suitable slate. It's fair to say that acquiring a slate requires not only solid strength, but also a great deal of luck."
"I understand, Dean Loren."
"Outside the royal capital, I can no longer protect you. You need to remember that not everywhere is as peaceful and stable as the Hutton Kingdom. Moreover, both of you have crossed the Resurrection Church, and occasionally there will be people blinded by greed who target you for the bounties. So you must be careful and keep your identities well hidden," Loren said earnestly after a moment of silence.
Hearing that Lanqi and Hyperion were traveling so far, he was still somewhat surprised.
Although he hoped Lanqi and Hyperion would travel in the Northern Continent for an extended period, he still placed their safety first and foremost.
"You are permitted to delay your return by up to two months. If you exceed that limit, you will face the risk of expulsion."
After stamping the documents with three different official seals, Loren handed them back to the pair.
With the three and a half months of vacation, that gave them five and a half months in total. Under normal circumstances, that would be plenty of time even for an expedition across the Northern Continent.
Right now, the situation in the Southern Continent was volatile. The equilibrium established over many years among dozens of large and small nations was gradually fracturing, and Loren sincerely hoped that the Hutton Kingdom would produce pillar-level powerhouses in the coming years.
The world was vast, and this was the perfect opportunity for Lanqi and Hyperion to broaden their horizons—an indispensable experience to catalyze their growth.
Besides, the two of them had already cleared both [Purgatory Corridor Academy] and [Banquet of Sanctuary Villains], Shadow Worlds that seemed practically suicidal for freshmen. Loren didn't really have much reason to worry about them now.
As long as they didn't actively go courting death, their talents already placed them among the formidable young powerhouses out in the world.
And having given so many warnings just now, he was confident that a fellow as smart as Lanqi would surely abandon any thought of seeking death.
Chapter 234