Chapter 121

The confusion on Jellal's face not only failed to fade in the slightest, but actually grew even thicker.

The Black Mage founder Zeref that Lin Cheng spoke of was completely different from the Zeref Jellal knew, and from what he had read in historical records; in the eyes of others, the Black Mage founder Zeref was absolutely a demon.

A wretch who died badly, one whom people wished they could devour the flesh from and gnaw the bones of.

Yet such a being, in Lin Cheng's telling, was instead an unexpectedly good person.

Jellal didn't know why, but he felt the Zeref in Lin Cheng's mouth seemed more real.

"Mm, that's right, a good person."

"As for what this good man Zeref actually got up to over those four hundred years…"

Lin Cheng thought for a moment, recalled Zeref's life from the original work, and smiled: "He gained a country that worshipped him, and met a true love. Probably just that simple."

Only, although in those four hundred years he had gathered a handful of precious memories, Zeref himself would probably have preferred to stay alone forever, wretched and solitary.

"Is that so?"

"In your mouth, Zeref has actually become a pretty ordinary fellow."

Jellal was silent for a while, then laughed and said: "Doesn't look a bit like the Dark Mage from the history books."

"Still, having attacked the Kingdom of Fiore this time, things probably won't go so smoothly from here on out."

"That fellow called Aizen Sōsuke seems like he might end up opposing our organization."

After getting a rough grasp of Zeref, Jellal shifted the topic over to the Kingdom of Fiore.

This time Lin Cheng and Jellal had raided the nation's border, the Gao Ta in the land of Jibei specifically guarded by the Bai Hu squad, so the Kingdom of Fiore certainly wouldn't let it rest.

And then there was Aizen Sōsuke, the one Jellal remembered most vividly.

The sight of his strongest magic crumbling like nothing before Aizen Sōsuke — Jellal still couldn't let it go.

And what weighed on Jellal even more was that, from start to finish, Aizen Sōsuke didn't seem to have ever taken it seriously; even when faced with Jellal's full-power ultimate strike, True Celestial Magic — Star Collapse.

Jellal also had the feeling that Aizen Sōsuke simply hadn't cared at all.

"Ah, probably."

"I'm just an intern member myself. What the seniors in the organization are actually thinking, I'm not really clear on either. But one thing, I can still guarantee."

Lin Cheng glanced back at Jellal, the corners of his mouth curving up slightly, and smiled: "Our organization should be quite a bit stronger than you imagine~"

With that, Lin Cheng said nothing more, and turned his full attention to the system panel in his mind.

In just the time it took to chat casually with Jellal, Lin Cheng's emotion-value balance had already gone from fifty-three million to fifty-five million — absolutely terrifying.

With these emotion values, what Lin Cheng had originally felt a little unsure about now gave him considerably more confidence.

Originally, the combat strength of the Akatsuki side had a rather wide gap between top and bottom.

Apart from the A-rank two-star puppet Xuanwozhang Sect, all the other puppets were B-rank, and B-rank one-star puppets at best had the combat power of an A-rank Mage — or even a little weaker.

To be of any real use, at the very least the B-rank one-star puppets had to be raised to three stars.

B-rank two-star puppets had combat power roughly at the level of a strong A-rank Mage; some special puppets, like the B-rank two-star puppet Konan, even possessed a super ultimate move — Six Hundred Billion Exploding Tags.

If Konan actually managed to use that move successfully, probably very few people could withstand it. Still pretty terrifying.

B-rank three-star was impressive — their strength roughly reached the level of a strong S-rank Mage, the bottom-rung of the Ten Great Holy Mages — and each would possess a unique secret art.

One could say they'd formally attained the power of a Ten Great Holy Mage — well, the bottom-rung of the Ten Great Holy Mages.

Now, with a huge wave of emotion values coming in, Lin Cheng could properly boost his puppets' combat power, thoroughly raising the Akatsuki's average combat strength..........

Otherwise, with only Xuanwozhang Sect as the sole fighter in the entire Akatsuki, it really didn't look quite right.

'System, upgrade all B-rank puppets — keep upgrading until three stars.'

Without the slightest hesitation, Lin Cheng upgraded every B-rank puppet in the Akatsuki to three stars.

Upgrading B-rank puppets wasn't as outrageous as A-rank or S-rank; one star to two stars cost only a hundred thousand emotion values, and two stars to three stars only a million.

Lin Cheng had six B-rank puppets in total; altogether it cost just a little over six million emotion values.

【Ding! B-rank puppet, Akatsuki's White, Konan, successfully upgraded!】

【Ding! B-rank puppet, Akatsuki's South, Kisame Hoshigaki, successfully upgraded!】

【Ding! B-rank puppet, Akatsuki's Jade, Sasori, successfully upgraded!】

【Ding! B-rank puppet, Akatsuki's Blue, Deidara, successfully upgraded!】

【Ding! B-rank puppet, Akatsuki's North, Kakuzu, successfully upgraded!】

【Ding! B-rank puppet, Akatsuki's Three, Hidan, successfully upgraded!】

'B-rank three-star puppets' strength is passable, barely.'

'If we fight on Rain Village's home turf, with the enemy slightly weakened and our side slightly strengthened, fighting Jura of the Ten Great Holy Mages — the bottom-rung — probably shouldn't be a problem.'

Tenth of the Ten Great Holy Mages, Jura Neekis.

A core combatant of the Mage Guild's Lamia Scale, the bottom-rung of the Ten Great Holy Mages; his earth-attribute magic is extremely powerful, able to turn soft, loose sand as hard as steel.

Even more remarkable was his mastery over magic, earning him the title of Iron Rock.

'Oh right!'

'Speaking of earth-attribute magic, isn't Daiduosi Sect an earth-attribute magic spirit!'

At this moment, Lin Cheng once again recalled his first-pull card — still only at A-rank one-star stage — the Daiduosi Sect, Petirio Romani Conti!