"Your Majesty Rhine, I’m really sorry..."

Milan introduced the overall situation to the Lion King, expressing some embarrassment for inadvertently involving the hospitable Animal Kingdom in wizard conflicts.

Fortunately, the battles weren’t to the death, just a struggle for the chief position.

Both sides were relatively restrained, and ultimately there were no casualties in the Animal Kingdom.

If these two had fought before the {Clock Tower} was manifested, they might have been the last inheritors of the {Clock Tower School}, making such a battle unnecessary.

Contribution naturally determines belonging, and others can’t seize it even if they want to.

Since there were no serious consequences, the Lion King waved his hand indicating he did not mind, instead patting Milan’s shoulder and asking with concern:

"Hahaha, as long as nothing happened. By the way, Mr. Snite, were you satisfied with the two rabbit ladies’ service last night?"

At the same time, a knowing look appeared on the lion face.

Aiven, who had returned to human form, of course understood.

’Oh~ Rabbit ladies... sounds thrilling.’

He glanced playfully at Milan, with teasing eyes materializing.

You’ve been hiding it for years, finally revealing your true colors. You like wild girls like Apsuya because she can transform.

Beside him, Olivia’s large blue eyes first showed shock then quickly turned to caution, pulling Aiven two steps away from Milan, afraid he might infect Aiven with strange traits.

Milan’s face went stiff, sweat pouring down his forehead like a waterfall.

"I’m dead! I’m dead! I’m dead!..."

Fortunately, Lion King Rhine realized there was a female present and stopped just before describing details.

Turning to Aiven, who Milan had introduced, the Lion King showed deep worry, bowed in respect, and eagerly spoke of the Animal Kingdom’s predicament:

"Your Majesty Galliot, we should have prepared a grand banquet, inviting the most beautiful females to dance in honor of your noble presence.

But please understand the urgency of a king’s heart, Mr. Snite has told me of your great power.

The Mushchinu Kingdom truly faces big trouble, which concerns whether our race can survive. For the sake of blood and flesh companions, please do us this favor."

Upon hearing "beautiful females," Aiven felt a murderous aura behind him and almost shouted: Can’t afford it! 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

But upon hearing "Animal Kingdom’s continuation," his eyes suddenly lit up.

Wasn’t one of his goals on this trip to gather materials to create his own beloved?

...

As the sky began to brighten, most city residents were still asleep, having returned to the normal timeline.

The group was already walking on the central hill of the city, looking up at the towering Great Raham Temple.

"Paracelsus Wizard indeed visited us and helped greatly, becoming a benefactor of the Mushchinu Kingdom.

If not for him, under the Ceramic People’s hunts, we might not have been able to hold out until now."

Since seeing the Four-headed Demon Dragon transform into human form, Lion King Rhine fully believed Milan’s words; this wizard might solve the survival problem of his species.

He answered every question Aiven’s group asked along the way, without deliberately withholding information.

Hundreds of years ago, Paracelsus Wizard indeed lived here for several months, and back then King Rhine was a prince and experienced it firsthand.

The situation was already severe for the Animal Kingdom, facing even worse than now, nearly falling prey to the Ceramic People extracting souls from them like livestock.

Only a mere dozen cities, including Aguirre Ancient City, remained under the kingdom’s control, as national extinction loomed.

But the Crowned Wizard from the Alchemy School’s Magic Potion Branch taught the Animal Kingdom much external knowledge, utilizing the environment to improve knight progression magic potions for them.

Balancing the power between them, it only addressed the symptoms without curing the root cause.

The Crowned Wizard didn’t fall here; once the situation stabilized slightly, he left early after promising to return and help solve their problem.

However, even as Rhine waited for over four hundred years, he never came back.

The temporarily suppressed problem had already reached a difficult-to-reverse state.

Furthermore.

King Rhine even directly told these "descendants" of Paracelsus Wizard the method of leaving.

Although the grand Secret Realm nation overall prohibited magic.

When at the full moon each month Spiritual Power is at its strongest, one can use the pillar-shaped active Magic Element zones over Aguirre Ancient City and Erbil City to breach the Secret Realm at three Mach speed.

Physical barrier breaking is impossible for a {Titled Knight}, but it’s not difficult for a Crowned Wizard from the Alchemy School.

Only the timing is wrong, and the origin of wise animals deeply sparked Aiven’s interest.

Soon the group arrived at the monumental Divine Hall gate, seemingly of gold, wood, and stone, merged with the mountain over time.

Beside the circular altar burning with fire in the main hall.

Whoosh!

When a group of people arrived, the High Priest with a snake head and human body was about to perform a certain ceremony in one second, then transformed into a dark green giant snake in the next and swiftly swam over.

Other priests in the divine hall, mainly lizards and snakes, continued their work at hand.

"Hiss! Honored Your Majesty, you’re here!"

In this Secret Realm, due to the characteristics of complete "Magic Ban" outside of Lam and Raham’s divine halls, almost all extraordinaries tread the path of "Combat Qi" or "Spiritual Power."

However, the priests within the divine hall were clearly exceptions.

What surprised Aiven and his companions even more was that these priests were not holy professionals belonging to gods, but bloodline sorcerers purely relying on bloodline power while co-studying some knowledge-based magic!

Truly puzzling.

"Priest Masum, I have invited a wizard who can help us solve our problems, they are descendants of the Paracelsus Wizard. Please open the breeding room, we need to see the ’Soup of Original Essence.’

Upon hearing this, the Giant Snake Priest gave a deep glance at the three accompanying individuals.

Possibly because the Crowned Wizard left a very good impression on them, the priest responsible for guarding the core secret of the species did not make things difficult for them.

"Alright, Your Majesty, the situation within the ’Soup of Original Essence’ has deteriorated increasingly, time is of the essence, everyone, please!"

Until half an hour later.

After winding through a divine hall much larger than it appeared, the group finally arrived at the most securely guarded depths of the divine hall, before a colorful wall as smooth as a mirror.

Shiss—!

Lion King Rhine and Giant Snake Priest Masum stepped forward, simultaneously placing their hands on a peculiar pattern on a pillar beside the gate. Light patterns flowed, passing verification, and finally this last heavy gate opened.

"This...."

Overlooking the vast ring-shaped space that resembled both an altar and a biochemical laboratory, Aiven’s pupils suddenly contracted.

Inside a circular space completely surrounded by transparent materials, in pure water, a golden stream continuously washed over the translucent flesh-like egg sac in the center.

The egg sac quickly underwent differentiation at a visible rate, single cells, chordates, fish, amphibians, reptiles, mammals...

It completed the evolutionary process of wise beings over billions of years within a short time.

No wonder the citizens of the Animal Kingdom, besides their differing appearances, had no food chain relationships and essentially no reproductive isolation.

Lions can mate with cats, jackals can marry deers, and still produce normal offspring.

It turns out they are entirely homologous, born in this myth-like manner.

Nearby, priests continuously added [Spiritual Gold] they had seen before into the water flow, clearly it was the treasure for the continuance of the wise animal population.

Ceramic People hunted the souls of these wise animals, while knights hunted various Ceramic People, using their forsaken extraordinary traits to concoct advanced magic potions.

And reclaim [Spiritual Gold] to nurture this golden stream and this mass of [Eternal Essence].

But evidently the key problem did not lie here.

Hiss—!

Recently born was a small black panther, yet with a venomous snake tail and still retaining gills on its face, filled with aggressive intent.

Issuing continuous roars at the priests, seemingly about to charge forward.

A group of clearly prepared Snake-man priests rushed out, easily capturing and taking it away.

Lion King Rhine sighed gently, looking at Aiven with hopeful eyes:

"His Majesty Galliot, you have seen it too, while we can artificially reproduce through pairings, the fertility rate remains low, and the largest source of population growth is still this ’Soup of Original Essence.’

Yet, for some unknown reason, from many many years ago, our bloodline began to mutate and deteriorate, leading to the appearance of an increasing number of non-intelligent monsters.

Currently, the deterioration rate is fast approaching over half...."

"Mm."

As a biologist standing at the pinnacle of this era, Aiven already figured out the reason.

Among the citizens, he had seen various animals, including half-human, half-animal beast heads on human bodies, human heads on beast bodies, or completely humans.

Yet had not witnessed the existence of a combination of several animals.

Evidently, those non-intelligent deformed ones were all dealt with at birth.

If this continues, Aiven can certainly foresee the consequences.

On the surface, it seems the population of the Animal Kingdom far exceeds that of the Ceramic People, yet all Ceramic People are Tier 2 formal extraordinary, while most animals are only Tier 1 apprentice level.

If the numerical advantage is lost, it would be akin to having consumers in a food chain exceeding producers. Before the consumers perish, the producers are bound to be annihilated first.

The best outcome for the Animal Kingdom would be to become livestock under captivity, living worse than death.

At this moment, Olivia suddenly gently pulled Aiven’s hand, pointing towards the ceiling above the group.

There was a pitch-black metallic ceiling, engraved with an enormous mural seemingly depicting an ancient battle.

Yet Aiven’s [Eye of Profound Wisdom] immediately focused on the key point within.

"Oh, that’s... the Purifier from the Muriyan Civilization?!"