Guild Wars

King Neptune was seriously injured by that slap from Shuangtian, but he could only spit another mouthful of blood and retract his words. Right now, his kingdom's capital was in ruins, hundred of soldiers and civilians were dead, his nobles and allies had been knocked away into some corner and his daughter was held by the enemy.

Even worse was the fact that his people's heirloom, the Golden Trident, something forged for Poseidon and passed down to Neptune, was seized like this and his connection to it was fading.

Neptune had never been more sober in his life. His millennia of sitting on the throne and managing this kingdom had dulled his mind, because the most the dealt with on a daily basis were mundane issues.

They never experiences crises, they never experienced calamities. When the Demons came every thousands.l you for sure know that they avoided the water world, so the Kingdom of the Undersea did not even have a clue about the Great War.

And the main issue was that they made no efforts to know. King Neptune was not ambitious, wanting to expand and control more, there were already hundreds of thousands of towns and cities in the kingdom with many different races, more than enough to fill his plate.

Besides, this kingdom was handed down to him by Poseidon, his ancestor, so he didn't want to overstretch his boundaries. All of that had led to a rather complacent and average lifestyle in the kingdom where the biggest thing was usually petty theft or simple one-off murders.

Now, he and his kingdom were faced with the biggest crisis since their founding, and the slightest mistake could cause everything to shatter. Realizing this, a glint entered Neptune's eye as energy welled in his body from a place he himself did not even know.

He straightened his hunched back and stretched his hand out. Immediately, the Golden Trident in Draco's hand exploded with light and left his grip, rushing back into Neptune's palm.

He majestically flourished it and then smashed the butt to the water beside him, causing ripples to occur in the entire city.

"I am Neptune, King of the Undersea Kingdom! Friend from afar, we got off to a wrong start due to our reaction towards your purpose here. I will give you an explanation for that, but we must reset our hostilities to neutrality. What say you?"

Draco, who was smiling even though his 'loot' had been snatched back, nodded to Shuangtian and Eva. The two returned to his side, Eva pushing the young mermaid princess to Neptune lightly.

"Daddy, are you okay?!" Olivia cried out when she was freed, rushing into her father's arms and checking on his injuries.

"I am perfectly fine as long as my beautiful little Olivia is well." Neptune replied gently as he stroked his daughter's hair.

"Daddy…" Olivia sniffed sadly, her eyes filling with tears.

Neptune then turned back to Draco and co with a serious expression. Most of the hostility and anger within him had quelled now that the trident was given back and Olivia returned.

Yes, that's right, the Trident was given back. Neptune knew that Draco could have forcefully kept it since he could silence the spirit within and even injure it. Currently the reason the spirit even returned to him and gave him back maximum compatibility points was that it had been taught a lesson.

As a divine weapons spirit that used to follow Poseidon, it too had high standards and was arrogant, even lowering Neptune's compatibility mid-battle for something like this, which led to his suppression.

After Draco caught it and gave it a brutal beating, it was filled with fear and had woken up. Neptune, no matter how bad he was, would always bee a better master than Draco.

So the spirit rushed back and cozied up to him, realizing that it had been living really good and should treasure what it had.

"My name is Draco, and I am the Guild Leader of Umbra! We are a guild of Immortal Adventurers here for  the Vault and not your kingdom." Draco introduced himself casually.

Neptune was about to reply when he and Olivia froze in place, the AI doing the usual updating. When they came to, their faces changed greatly and were filled with horror at the thought that they had almost provoked a bunch of powerful fellows who could respawn endlessly.

Neptune laughed bitterly when he remembered his excitement at the thought of killing Shuangtian. What was the point when she could come back to life easily with just a slight power loss?

Neptune was finally understanding why the Rank 7 powerhouses on the main plane didn't slaughter players by heart or bully them. While they were weak now, they would inevitably grow, and you couldn't kill all of them anyway.

Best to ignore them and not offend them than try to nip them in the bud, because it was more likely that you would fail that task and now incur their enmity.

Eva then pointed a hand forward like she was grabbing a dial, and then turned it back. To the shock and horror of Neptune and Olivia, it was as if the world was being reversed, time going backwards as all the events played back from the end to the beginning.

In the end, all the damage was restored as the nobles and guards who had been sent flying were back at their places. Since Eva made sure they kept their memories, they simply stood there in disbelief, touching their whole bodies with stupefaction.

I remember my leg was minced to pieces and my arm had been like 5 meters away… now they're back?

When they looked up and saw that it was Eva's power that achieved this, their hearts leapt to their throats. The ability to control time… wasn't this the domain of the Gods??

They didn't dare to think further along this path and rather looked to King Neptune. Neptune's eyes flashed as he asked.

"You come for the Vault of the Deep left by my ancestor? May I see if you possess the Deep Vault map?"

Draco took out the map and tossed it carelessly to Neptune. Neptune grabbed it and his face changed as he saw it was the real thing. A hint of greed appeared in his heart at that moment.

This was the Deep Vault map!

If he could open it and take what was within, he might ascend from Rank 7 to True God in a day!

However, Neptune only glanced at the map and presented it back to Draco semi-respectfully. After tasting the power of this group, he wasn't in the mood to get his ass beaten for no reason again.

"Yes, this is the map itself. Please follow me to the Altar of Awakening so we may verify your Sea Race bloodline." Neptune offered gently.

This was the first task of seven, so Draco nodded. He had no plans of staying in the Kingdom as a guest and to go through any nonsensical plots within. He was here with his crew to complete this Unique Quest in record time.

Already, the two weeks they had spent out cold was enough time wasted.

The guards and some weaker nobles were dispersed by Neptune, along with Olivia who protested the whole time. However, a stern look from her father made her understand that he was serious, and she left while grumbling cutely.

Neptune then led the significantly smaller entourage towards the Palace of the Kingdom. It was a grand and magnificent building that was carved into a small mountain connected to the depths of the sea floor, like a plateau that had been sunk.

In a courtyard near the back of the palace, which was a forbidden area marked by the royal family for centuries, the group were met with a large platform that glowed with a variety of blue lights.

In the center was a small fountain that was styled like a bird bath. It had a pool of deep blue liquid inside that was like water, and moment they entered this place, it expelled all the sea water and created an airy room similar to the surface.

The mermen looked uncomfortable having lost the seat water, but they could still breathe normally. Even more interestingly, their fins turned into two human legs, their scales manifesting as lower garments that covered their nakedness.

They stepped gingerly and some even fell on their asses with embarrassment. However the core members didn't laugh because if they were suddenly given mermen like fins to walk on the ground, they would be even worse.

Neptune forcibly controlled himself from falling and brought the core member group to the platform, then gestured to the glowing fountain.

"This is the Altar of Awakening. Please drip a drop of your blood inside to verify your sea race blood. The level of reaction will tell us the purity and strength of your bloodline." King Neptune explained calmly.

The core members didn't all go. Only Omegaraider, Kronalord, Cold Summer, Ghostpro, Warm Spring, The Showman, Hades, Hunter101Bomber (Austin), Loving Aunt and Essence Stalker went up one by one.

Omega and Krona were saved for last, so Cold Summer went up first. The fountain sucked I n his blood and then the liquid shook and exploded outward, causing a majestic reaction.

The faces of the mermen here changed as they watched this, and Neptune's eyes flashed deeply as he explained in a shaky tone.

"Bloodline Purity: Perfect. Bloodline Power: Supreme. Bloodline Affinity: Strong!" He called out, making the mermen stop breathing.

Neptune took a deep breath and turned to Draco. "The ranking for each is like this."

"For Bloodline Purity: Common, Good, Great, Superb and Perfect."

"For Bloodline Power: Weak, Average, Elite, Potent, Supreme."

"For Bloodline Affinity: None, Feeble, Strong, Excellent, Atavistic."

"Bloodline purity denotes the purity of your own bloodline in terms of how clean it is. Bloodline power denotes the raw power of your bloodline and the kind of strength it can unleash. Bloodline Affinity denotes how close your bloodline is to the most perfect sea race know, which would be Poseidon himself." Neptune explained solemnly.

"Oh? So Ian (Cold Summer) has pure blood and limitless power, but his sea race quality is only at the middle? Hmm." Draco commented.

Well, his bloodline was a Elemental Water Golem, so while it was a water bloodline, it wasn't necessarily a sea bloodline.

Ghostpro, Warm Spring, Showman, Hades, Hunter and Essence Stalker yielded the same results.

"Bloodline Purity: Perfect! Bloodline Power: Supreme! Bloodline Affinity: Feeble!"

Well, God Serpents or not, it was fair. Power was definitely off the charts, but you were mad if you expected them to be anything above Feeble. After all, they weren't water related serpents, rather it was just that all serpents could manage underwater.

Then Loving Aunt went up and her results were impressive as you'd might expect.

"Bloodline Purity: Perfect! Bloodline Power: Supreme! Bloodline Affinity: Excellent!"

After all, Loving Aunt's Blue Sea Serpent was like, 5 tiers below the Leviathan. It was even a half-Leviathan sort of thing, so it was natural that she would be so close to the peak, but fall short.

Finally, there were the two freaks, Omega and Krona. One Poseidon himself and one Leviathan. Of course the fanfare when they dripped a drop of their blood in was tumultuous and the Altar itself seemed to be about to shatter.

For both of them, it was the same.

"Bloodline Purity: Perfect! Bloodline Power: Supreme! Bloodline Affinity: Atavistic!!"

The Merman had fallen to their knees once Omega and krona finally stopped hiding their aura as per Draco's instruction.

To Omega, they cried out: Ancestor! Even Neptune himself brimming with tears when he sensed the suppression.

To Krona, their faces changed as they shouted: Great Leviathan, Behemoth of the Deeps!

What made them go crazy was that these two nominal enemies were standing side by side and chatting casually instead of trying to kill each other!!