The Carian mages, formally known as the Carian Royal Mage Corps.
This was a mysterious and powerful legion of sorcerers, where every member had been meticulously nurtured by the Carian royal family since childhood, becoming utterly loyal supporters of the royal house.
They possessed unwavering faith and loyal hearts, willing to give everything for the royal family, even sacrificing their own lives.
Such loyalty made it nearly impossible for them to be swayed by outside temptations, much less betray the Carian royal family over trivial benefits.
Moreover, Full Moon Queen Rennala was still alive. Although she had fallen into madness, her power remained something that could not be underestimated.
Not to mention that no one could predict when the Full Moon Queen, who had once ruled over Liurnia, might regain her former glory.
Therefore, the Carian mages would never easily betray Queen Rennala.
As long as their master still existed in this world, they had absolutely no reason to betray her.
Faced with these unwaveringly loyal Carian mage devotees, Xiao took decisive action.
He sent them all back into the Grand Library, allowing them to continue accompanying their mad Full Moon Queen.
In the following days, Xiao chose to remain here and study Liurnian sorcery.
The sorceries of the Lands Between were far more extensive than what had been shown in the game from Xiao's previous life.
There were many highly practical and functional spells here, but because they were irrelevant to gameplay progression and would only increase memory and development costs, they had never appeared in the original game.
However, in the real Lands Between, these functional spells were the true mainstream core of sorcery.
They contained the deepest secrets of magic, while destructive combat spells were merely outward manifestations of one's accumulated knowledge.
Only by thoroughly understanding and mastering core magical knowledge could one truly become an exceptional sorcerer.
After all, even powerful figures like Marika and Rennala were scholars with immense stores of knowledge.
When Marika created the Golden Order, she even drew upon the endless wisdom accumulated by two entire dynasties.
The countless stone tablets piled within Marika's chambers and the innumerable books stored within the Grand Library recorded the crystallized wisdom gathered throughout tens of thousands of years in the Lands Between.
However, Xiao's peaceful days did not last long, because the First Battle of Leyndell had already ended.
The First Battle of Leyndell began when Starscourge General Radahn united forces with his younger brother, Rykard.
They assembled their armies on the Altus Plateau, while the two brothers reached an agreement with the Haligtree faction outside Leyndell, and the three armies simultaneously advanced on the Royal Capital.
The reason these forces united was because they clearly understood how formidable Leyndell's defenses were and how insignificant they themselves remained.
After all, under the Golden Dynasty, demigods were at most equivalent to high-ranking officials, not true feudal rulers.
Furthermore, during the Night of the Black Knives, aside from Godwyn the Golden—the perfect golden one—the Black Knife Assassins had also slain seven other demigods of the Golden Lineage.
Those seven demigods died even more miserably than Godwyn. Their heads were severed, their souls annihilated, and their corpses sealed within Wandering Mausoleums to suppress them and prevent them from becoming Those Who Live in Death like Godwyn.
During the Night of the Black Knives, only the thin-blooded Godrick managed to escape, becoming the final descendant of the Golden Lineage.
Therefore, Radahn knew very well that without uniting with Malenia and Miquella, they would have absolutely no chance of breaching the Royal Capital.
The three armies attacked from both front and rear, launching a massive siege against the Golden Lineage within Leyndell.
Yet precisely at such a critical moment, the heavily weakened Golden Lineage within Leyndell was still consumed with internal power struggles.
They fought among themselves over the throne of Leyndell, all attempting to become the next Elden Lord.
Especially Godrick and Godefroy, direct descendants of Godwyn's bloodline.
From the moment the Shattering War began, they constantly proclaimed their identity and status.
They claimed that they possessed both the legitimate bloodline and rightful qualifications to inherit the throne of Leyndell.
However, within the Golden Lineage, beginning with the First Elden Lord Godfrey, inheritance had never been determined by bloodline or status.
"The strength you possess is the reason you are king."
This was the creed of the Golden Lineage, spoken by Godfrey himself, the founder of the Golden Lineage, and it was also the truth upheld by the Golden Order.
But in the eyes of the other members of the Golden Lineage, neither Godrick nor Godefroy clearly possessed the qualifications to become king.
Their strength among the demigods—no, even among mortals—was not particularly impressive.
If not for the affinity toward the Golden Order granted by their demigod bloodline, they might not even have been able to defeat a Tree Sentinel.
If they were to lead the Golden Lineage, Leyndell's walls might not even withstand a single assault from Radahn.
Among all the surviving demigods of the Golden Lineage, whether judged by seniority or by strength, Morgott was clearly the most suitable heir to the throne.
Little Godrick and Godefroy launched a coup during the succession struggle, but with their strength, they were incapable of causing much chaos.
The turmoil was swiftly suppressed by Morgott. In the end, Godefroy was captured alive, while Godrick escaped carrying his ancestral Great Rune, disguising himself as a woman using Marika's Mimic Veil and fleeing beneath the cover of his loyal retainers.
He escaped alongside the followers still loyal to him and fled toward Stormveil Castle, swearing that one day he would surely return to Leyndell, back beneath the foot of the Erdtree.
Morgott ascended the throne of Leyndell as the Veiled Monarch, but because of his Omen bloodline, he did not wear the crown that rightfully belonged to him. Instead, he placed it upon the throne, reserving it for his long-dead elder brother.
At the same time, outside the walls of Leyndell, the combined armies of Radahn and Rykard were intercepted by Morgott's blood-related brother, Mohg.
By sharing the power of the Formless Mother, Mohg infected both armies with his accursed blood. Those contaminated soldiers were enthralled and corrupted by the blood.
They began slaughtering their own allies, craving ever more bloodshed. Combined with the fact that the allied forces rarely interacted normally and their respective leaders all harbored ulterior motives,
the coalition armies quickly turned upon one another, and thus the crisis outside Leyndell's walls was resolved.
After the allied forces of Radahn and Rykard retreated, the Haligtree army withdrew without hesitation.
According to their agreement, Miquella would fully support Radahn in becoming Elden Lord.
Since Radahn had already retreated, there was naturally no reason for the Haligtree forces to continue attacking the Royal Capital.
Morgott and Mohg were both younger brothers of Godwyn, sons born to Godfrey and Marika.
Although the two brothers had been thrown into the sewers at birth because they were unable to assimilate into the Erdtree,
when the Golden Lineage suffered devastating losses and Leyndell stood on the brink of destruction,
these two brothers still chose to protect their family and successfully drove away the various rebels.
They even brought an end to the Shattering War that began with the First Battle of Leyndell.
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