Chapter 73: I Swear by My Love for Donkeys

The Nine Hell Gates isn’t a top-tier physical technique that you can just practice whenever you want.
Although it’s called a “physical technique,” in the early stages of training, it has extremely high requirements for the user’s magical control precision. One small mistake during practice will result in the technique backfiring.
Minor cases result in muscle and bone injuries, severe cases lead straight to the grave.
Back then, when Leon first opened the First Gate, he even needed the assistance of a Dragon King-level being like Rosvitha.
Moreover, the further you progress in the Nine Hell Gates, the greater the difficulty becomes. The book clearly states that after the Fifth Gate, it often takes several years to make a breakthrough.
This is why General Leon, even with his talent and effort, quickly opened up to the Fifth Gate, but after that, his progress suddenly dropped off like a cliff.
But his youngest daughter had already reached the Eighth Gate at such a young age…
Unless she started practicing the Nine Hell Gates when other little girls were still playing with dolls, it would be impossible to reach this level at just twenty years old.
“So… Little Light, at what age did you start practicing the Nine Hell Gates?” Leon asked.
Physical techniques like the Nine Hell Gates are different from magic.
With normal magic, you can formally begin learning once your body’s magic circuits have matured.
Ordinary young dragons typically start learning magic around five or six years old; Noia started reading spellbooks following Leon when she was just over a year old.
But the prerequisite for practicing the Nine Hell Gates is that your body strength must meet various standards.
Leon still remembered those standards, like maintaining breathing for twelve hours while critically injured and near death.
If Aurora really started practicing the Nine Hell Gates during childhood, how could her body strength possibly meet such extreme standards?
Aurora thought for a moment, “Probably around… eight years old.”
“Eight?!” General Leon was shocked.
THIS is eight years old?!
“What’s wrong with eight?” The pink-haired girl leaned in closer.
Leon quickly waved his hands, “No-nothing… but did you meet those prerequisites for practicing the Nine Hell Gates at eight years old?”
The scientist gave a little laugh, “Although I hadn’t met them, I had a good teacher.”
“Good teacher?”
Leon’s first thought was of that old man, his master.
Because in this timeline without him, his daughters knew about his true identity and those past events.
So Rosvitha might have told them about his master as well.
And since the Nine Hell Gates was originally given to Leon by his master, it was very possible that over eight years, the little ones had managed to contact the master through various means.
“But these people don’t seem very skilled in physical combat.”
“Claudia Poseidon.”
At these words, Leon’s thoughts drifted to the past.
He had a very deep impression of this extremely special surname.
Rosvitha had once told him that Poseidon was the royal surname of the Sea Dragon clan.
Additionally, Claudia was also the author of “Nine Hell’s Gates.”
Wow!
The author herself showing up to teach?
When others pray before battle, it’s usually for good luck or psychological comfort;
But darling, you went straight to getting the actual person herself, didn’t you?
“For a long time after Mom fell into a coma, we sisters were taken care of by Anna and Shelly. Of course, after the Silver Dragon clan was disbanded, many of Mom’s subordinates were willing to stay and stand guard.”
Aurora crossed her arms, leaning against the stone table, and slowly said,
“But the Empire never stopped hunting down the Silver Dragon clan. At first, we thought they wanted to silence us, but even after learning that Mom had fallen into a coma, they still didn’t stop. So there must have been other reasons behind it that we don’t know about.”
“Anna, Shelly, and Sister Milan died in succession protecting Mom and us sisters.”
“Great-grandmother wasn’t a combat-type dragon either, and could barely hold off the Empire’s offensive.”
“And Aunt Isabella’s Red Dragon clan got caught up in the chaotic war. They wanted to help us but were powerless to do so.”
“So we sisters and Great-grandmother could only keep running, but in the end, we still couldn’t escape the joint siege of the Empire and the Dragon clans.”
“In our final moment of despair, Claudia of the Sea Dragon clan appeared, rescued us, and brought us to this hidden underground space.”
“After recuperating for a while and making sure enemies wouldn’t find this place, Great-grandmother set out alone to search for a way to wake Mom up. Meanwhile, Claudia took care of us and taught us various survival skills.”
“It was during that time that she taught me the Nine Hell’s Gates training technique.”
After hearing Aurora’s account, Leon stroked his chin and frowned in thought,
“Did Great-grandmother know this Claudia?”
“No.”
“Then she actually trusted Claudia enough to leave you with her…”
“By that time we had already been living together for a while. If Claudia wanted to harm us, she would have done it long ago, without needing to wait for Great-grandmother to leave.”
Aurora said, “Besides, everything she did afterward proved that she truly had our sisters’ best interests at heart. She personally taught me Nine Hell’s Gates, and she also taught and guided Big Sister’s illusion magic and Second Sister’s twin awakening.”
“Wow, this kind-hearted Sea Dragon person seems quite versatile,” even Leon couldn’t help but marvel.
Physical combat, illusion techniques, magic – she knew it all.
And she taught everything so well.
Noia’s illusion magic had indeed reached a very proficient level, with the boulder illusion at the cave entrance being the best example.
“Why did Claudia decide to help? Did you ask her?”
Leon remained curious about this Sea Dragon.
Rosvitha said they had stayed out of worldly affairs for thirty years.
Yet when the master learned her disciple couldn’t concentrate magical power, she immediately pulled out a Sea Dragon clan-created martial art “Nine Hell’s Gates” for the disciple to practice;
And after Leon disappeared, she extended help to his wandering daughters, both saving their lives and becoming their teacher.
Just who was this Sea Dragon bodhisattva?
Why did she repeatedly help Leon and his family?
“Of course we asked, but Claudia only said she was helping us at someone’s request,” Aurora said.
Leon thought for a moment, “Do you have a photo of this Claudia?”
“Hmm… Oh! Yes! Muen took it secretly back then.”
Saying this, the pink-haired girl dove into a nearby junk box and started searching.
After a while, Aurora walked back to Leon with a yellowed photograph and handed it over.
Leon took the photo and looked at the person in it.
It was taken from the side angle.
A beautiful mature woman who still retained her charm.
Leon looked carefully for a while, muttering, “I feel like I’ve seen her somewhere…”
Aurora patted her father’s shoulder and said matter-of-factly, “Dad, I’ve told you before, your pickup lines are absolutely terrible. Starting with ‘I’ve seen you before’ is definitely going to make you look like a clown!”
Leon shook his head, “No, I really do feel like this Claudia looks familiar. I definitely have seen her face somewhere… but I just can’t remember—ugh, it’s frustrating.”
This feeling was indeed uncomfortable.
It’s like when a line “Wumon Mountain connects to mountains beyond” suddenly pops into your head, but you just can’t remember what the next lyrics are no matter what.
Argh—it’s so frustrating!
“If you can’t remember, then don’t think about it for now.”
Aurora said, “You just said you only opened five gates? Come on, I’ll help you open the remaining ones. This way, when you return to your previous timeline, you can destroy those dragon kings who hurt Mom!”
These words truly resonated with the old father.
I swear by my love for donkeys, all dragons who have ever hurt Rosvitha Melkvi—must die!