Chapter 407: Divine Authority

At the same time, in a manor on the northern outskirts of Atlanta, Jennifer Wiltonstein rested her hands on the railing, her gaze vacant and listless as she stared out the window.

Her butler, Oliver, stood behind her with a weary expression.

“Atlanta City National Bank has given their reply—they refuse to provide a loan. That was the last one; I’ve tried every bank in Atlanta.”

Jennifer’s eyes dimmed. “Is there really no way to raise funds from other sources? Even those underground banks are worth considering. I can pledge several of my artifacts as collateral. As long as we can hold out for two months—”

“I’ve contacted them too, including the ladies of those underground banks.”

Oliver interrupted her. “It’s clear someone has put pressure on them; they wouldn’t even discuss details with me. And if the interest rate exceeds 30%, it’s like drinking poison to quench thirst—we still won’t make it through.”

“Is it Christian Wiltonstein?”

Jennifer’s eyes narrowed. This former collaborator of hers had become her most dangerous enemy.

“It could be him, or perhaps several acting together.”

Oliver frowned. “But miss, we’re not entirely without options. Your younger brother, Master Andrew, is currently well-funded—”

“Silence!”

Jennifer snapped angrily. “Are you asking me to bow to him? To beg for his help?”

Oliver remained calm. “But miss, without more funds, you won’t even be able to pay the salaries of those four high-level outlaws next month. However, if you truly refuse to bow, selling your base and breeding farm might be a good alternative.”

“But that’s my life’s work! If I give it up, it’s a loss of at least three hundred million gold shields. Our farm only needs two more months to reach harvest.”

Oliver said nothing, lowering his head in silence.

Jennifer understood his meaning—losing three hundred million gold shields was better than losing everything. But she couldn’t accept it. It wasn’t just the monetary loss; she had invested four years of her life into this venture, which she hoped would one day elevate her to the top of the world.

“I understand. But we still have some time, don’t we? Oliver, let me think it over. I’ll make a decision before the end of the month.”

Having said this, Jennifer turned pale and walked toward her study. She shut Oliver out, then stood alone before the bookshelf. Pressing a well-hidden mechanism, the bookshelf slowly slid apart.

It was a twenty-square-meter secret room, displaying over twenty artifacts and firearms.

Jennifer walked straight to the deepest part, opened a sandalwood chest covered in strange runes, and gazed with a complex expression at the three items inside.

—Dragon Vein Stone, Prometheus’s Blood, and the Sacred Artifact ‘Sword of Oath’!

…

In an unmanned cabin in the rear living area of the *Troia*, Li Mochen sat cross-legged, his eyes fixed for the last time on the two red crystals floating in the void before him.

Without hesitation, he used his own magic source to activate both crystals simultaneously. The moment he triggered a certain ‘knot’ within them, a large amount of pure blood energy surged out, pouring into Li Mochen’s body.

—This should be the final gift from Li Chuchu and his wife to the original owner, a part of the ‘War Angel’s Heart’ essence they had refined and purified with their own power, a treasure only he and Jennifer could use.

Thus, Li Mochen’s mood was especially complex. He felt warmth, yet also grief, sorrow, and more than anything, hatred and indignation—all these emotions mixed together, churning within his mind.

A month ago, these emotions of the original owner were separated from him by an invisible membrane. Li Mochen could sense them, but they were not his own.

Now, however, with the further fusion of the two souls, Li Mochen felt them as his own.

Fortunately, once the blood energy entered his body, Li Mochen had no mind to think further. All his blood cells were undergoing a transformation—cell membranes, organelles, nuclei, and even the more minute mitochondria and chromatin began a change akin to ‘awakening’.

According to the knowledge Li Mochen had acquired in this world, it was the part of his gene sequence that had been ‘dormant’ that was being activated.

As a result, Li Mochen’s bones also began to exude a silvery luster.

However, this also made Li Mochen feel an unbearable itch all over, as if thousands of ants were gnawing at him.

The entire process lasted about seventy minutes. At the end, the two blood-red crystals burst with a ‘bang’, shattering into fine particles like dust and atoms, which also surged into Li Mochen’s body.

After that, Li Mochen sat in meditation for another five hours. He didn’t stir until the sun outside the porthole had set below the sea.

His physique had strengthened again, and his potential had also increased considerably—

As this thought surfaced in his mind, Li Mochen looked at his hands with surprise and delight. They now had a luster almost like jade.

This physique enhancement was not large—strength increased by about a hundred tons, maximum speed by over seventy kilometers per hour, and the upper limit had only risen by about seven percent.

Yet it truly brought him to the extreme realm of body refinement, allowing Li Mochen to stand shoulder to shoulder even with the demigods of the mythical age.

Additionally, he noticed that the fascia and dermis beneath his skin had become exceptionally tough. The fibroblast and tissue cells there had produced several peculiar trace elements, making his body compact and firm, like a sturdy suit of armor.

These were changes in physique caused by genes entirely independent of dragon blood and Titan blood. They allowed him to withstand blows from certain weapons with just his skin, and even repel magical energy to some extent.

Li Mochen now very much wanted to go to the Death’s Home Magic Tower to test how his resistance to blows had changed.

But before that, there was something he cared about even more—

Li Mochen first stood still, focusing his mind and meditating. The next moment, a layer of cyan light, invisible to ordinary eyes, spread from under his feet, covering an area of about one kilometer in radius.

After about twelve minutes, Li Mochen opened his eyes in surprise.

“Is this… the divine authority ‘Wind of Battle’?”

He hadn’t expected that Li Chuchu and his wife had left him such a great gift.

This was part of the divine authority they had obtained from the ‘War Angel’s Heart’. After gaining this power, as long as the wind was blowing and battle was occurring within a hundred kilometers, his strength would be inexhaustible and would grow without limit after activating the divine authority, until it exceeded the upper limit his physique could bear, and he could command the power of the wind.

What he had just manifested were only the intermediate ‘Swift Wind Domain’ and intermediate ‘War Domain’, derived from ‘Wind of Battle’.

The Mayan god of war, Huracan, was also the god of wind. He had fused the powers of war and wind to form a unique and powerful divine authority.