Chris stood calmly in the open space outside the orphanage with his hands behind his back, looking at the group of children who came out to play.
He seemed out of place, his eyes looked too much like a mature adult, like an adult employee looking after the children.
"Hey, no one wants to play with you?"
A girl with short light green hair came over with a cane. She was a little older than Chris, and her fair, chubby face was filled with a kind smile.
Her right leg was born with a severe deformity for an extremely strange reason, and even Irene was unable to cure it.
Chris just put his hands behind his back, tilted his head to look at her, and said nothing.
"My name is Vanessa, I came here because my parents abandoned me, hello."
Vanessa introduced herself very enthusiastically and did not show any sadness when she mentioned that she was abandoned by her parents.
She suddenly noticed that Chris's clothes were completely different from theirs. They had a completely different look and feel, and the price was probably very different. She smiled and said:
"You don't seem to be from here! I may have misunderstood you, but you can play with us if you want!"
Chris shook his head to express his refusal, and Vanessa was wondering why he just didn't say anything.
Suddenly, a fat boy came running over with a few children, surrounded Chris, and the fat boy yelled with anger on his face.
"You pushed me from behind last time. Don't think I won't hit you just because you're the dean's brother!"
Chris silently put his hands behind his back and jumped backwards continuously and rhythmically, dodging all attacks left and right. Then he stretched out his feet naturally, and
the little fat boy tripped with a cry and fell to the ground.
Vanessa quickly intervened, frowning and shouting, "Stop it, stop fighting, why did you push him from behind before?"
She wanted to hear the explanation from the dean's brother. The dean was the best person in the world, so her brother must have had his reasons for pushing someone.
Chris was silent for a while before uttering a word.
"interesting."
Vanessa was very angry and grabbed Chris's collar with a sense of justice.
"Then you apologize! In my eyes, Dean Irene is my sister, and you are also my brother, so I have to be responsible for you, and you must apologize!"
Chris hated it when anyone other than Irene touched him, and he gave Vanessa a cold look, but the other party was not afraid of him at all and just insisted that she apologize.
For some reason, Chris felt a complex emotion in his heart, not just annoyance. He pushed her down and ran away.
"ah!"
Vanessa had no idea of the outcome and she fell to the ground in a mess, sweating from the pain.
Chris heard the sound and stopped not far away, looked back at her, looking a little hesitant, but when he saw the fat boy and others picking up stones and throwing them at her, he turned around and ran away flexibly.
The children were very angry and quickly helped Vanessa up. They all liked Vanessa who always liked to help others and was always optimistic.
"Too bad, that boy is too bad, the dean sister actually has such a hateful brother!"
"Yeah, he's so abominable. He actually pushed Vanessa down."
After Vanessa was helped up by the children, sweat continued to break out on her face. She shook her head and said,
"Next time I see him, as his older sister, I will teach him a lesson."
She paused, smiled and said, "Sister Irene said that every child can be taught well. As long as they are children, there is still hope. I believe so in my heart."
Several children who had stolen things in the past lowered their heads. They could not forget Dean Irene's teachings. They all believed that they could become useful people when they grew up.
Vanessa looked forward to the future, muttered to herself as she looked at her deformed and disgusting right leg, and said with a smile,
"My leg is not good, so I want to learn writing and math so that I can repay Sister Irene and the Fisher family when I grow up."
"Good people should be rewarded."
That night, Vanessa came to the director's room of the orphanage as usual, and Irene calmly used her healing power to relieve Vanessa's pain.
Vanessa's deformed right leg is caused by a curse on her parents or ancestors, or a deal with a mysterious being, so it is essentially the influence of supernatural powers and not a curable disease.
All Irene could do for her was to relieve the pain, and now Vanessa was sitting on her thighs, calmly feeling the emerald power like a spring breeze.
Even though she cannot be cured and become a normal person, Vanessa is grateful to Dean Irene from the bottom of her heart.
"Did you meet Chris today?"
Irene had long ago used the "Mystic Ear Technique" to create several ring-like patterns in the orphanage. Through them, she monitored what was happening in the orphanage and basically knew everything that happened every day.
"Well, yes."
Vanessa originally wanted to write a report about Chris, but she soon felt that it was not a good idea and began to hesitate.
Erin wanted to know if Vanessa was lying to her, so she smiled and stroked the girl and asked, "Tell me, what happened to you?"
Vanessa thought about it and nodded, "Okay."
She told the whole story, but she still hoped that Irene would not blame Chris, and she thought that Chris could also repent.
Irene also noticed that Chris' temper had been getting weirder recently, but she couldn't control her brother. It was not like she could always remain serious when facing the children in the orphanage.
Vanessa is a very special girl, not just a disabled and deformed girl.
Vanessa is extremely rare in that she possesses an undiscovered talent as a spellcaster, and her potential qualifications are top-notch.
There are many different types of spells in the world, but 99% of spellcasters have talents that belong to eight main types.
They are "Elements", "Protection", "Prophecy", "Alchemy", "Summoning", "Necromancer", "Transmutation" and "Psychic". Only those who possess a certain type of spellcaster talent can learn the corresponding type of spells.
Her spellcaster talent type is "summoning".
It's just that the Fisher family doesn't have a legacy of summoning spellcasters yet, and they also don't think it's a good thing to train an uncontrollable spellcaster too early.
Irene thought she could first get closer to Vanessa and cultivate her character.
After observing for a period of time, she found that even though Vanessa had a tragic fate, she had a very cheerful and sunny personality, but the little girl also had a huge flaw.
That is, her sense of justice is too strong, but she thinks too little of herself.
When Irene returned home from Dawn Orphanage and came to the basement, Byrne and Chris were already waiting for her there.
They are about to hold a new ceremony tonight, offering a mysterious object given by a foreign merchant to the great Lord of the Lost.
The foreign businessman was once cured by Irene, but he was short of money at that time and could not repay the favor. It was only recently that he kept his promise and purchased a mysterious item to repay the favor.
Erin glanced at Chris, who looked as calm as usual.
She nodded and said, "Let's begin the ceremony and present our sacrifice."
The sacrifice prepared by the Fisher family tonight is a mysterious artifact of collection level. It looks like an extremely black bracelet inlaid with irregular and scattered diamonds.
"Blade Ring" contains extremely strange power. As long as the user wears the bracelet on the right hand, he can transform anything he touches into various weapons at will.
However, all the transformed weapons are ordinary weapons without extraordinary powers, so it is at best just a mysterious treasure of collection level.
Carl felt the breath of spiritual power and slowly absorbed it into his soul and gradually digested it. During the whole digestion process, the second seal became looser.
Finally, this mysterious object became the last straw. After completely devouring it, he clearly felt that the second seal deep in his soul was completely broken!
Brand new memories continuously surged up from the deepest part of his soul, instantly freeing up a completely different possibility for Carl!
Chapter 44 The Second Seal
The blood has long been permeated with the spirituality of the soul, and extraordinary powers will naturally be generated in the blood of certain powerful and mysterious life forms.
In the last era, humans suddenly tried to devour the flesh and blood of mysterious creatures at a certain time period. As a result, a large number of humans had their lifespans shortened and were eliminated. However, some descendants born by the few survivors gradually possessed tiny extraordinary powers.
Today's humans no longer use the high-risk method of arbitrarily devouring the flesh and blood of mysterious creatures.
Instead, only a few people who already have extraordinary bloodlines use the flesh and blood of similar mysterious creatures to make specific magic potions to activate their own bloodline potential, and then name the method of mastering the power of bloodline "Knight Heritage".
Compared to the more random spellcaster talents, the inheritance of bloodline power is more stable. More than 90% of noble families are knight families, and pure spellcaster families have always been very rare.
The power acquired by the ancestors was revived in the bodies of their descendants through blood, spanning thousands of years.
After the second seal was lifted, the large amount of memory that Carl recovered not only contained more content about the Sequence of Ascension, but also contained a lot of new mysterious knowledge, which was about the theory of bloodline.
He acquired a set of knowledge on how to purify latent blood and transform it into dominant blood, increase the level of blood qualification, and even completely sublimate the power of blood.
However, the methods mentioned in this set of mysterious knowledge are complicated, tedious and demanding, especially the ritual method for completely sublimating the power of blood, and the conditions to achieve it are extremely difficult.
"I'm afraid that with the current Fisher family, it is almost impossible to accomplish the last thing."
In addition to acquiring new mystical knowledge, he also transformed the newly acquired mysterious objects into rune "weapons". The extraordinary effect was still to transform the objects touched into ordinary weapons, but there was no one to whom they were bestowed for the time being.
Theoretically it could be given to Darren, but he didn't want to do so.
It is usually not a good thing for children who are too young to gain super powers, and uncontrolled super powers may even lead to catastrophic accidents.
After finishing his thought, Carl gave Irene the newly acquired mysterious knowledge about the power of blood.
Irene, who was kneeling on the ground and praying slowly, suddenly had her eyes light up.
She felt a lot of mysterious knowledge suddenly emerge in her mind, followed by a familiar feeling of dizziness, and subconsciously closed her eyes.
The whole person was swaying from side to side as if on a boat, his body was shaky and he was about to fall to the ground as if he lost gravity.
Byrne and Chris both looked at Irene with concern, but neither of them said anything to interrupt her. They both knew that the current situation was not an accident, but rather the great Lost Lord once again bestowed important mysterious knowledge.
Irene has mentioned several times how she first acquired mystical knowledge.
In fact, in order to make Dawn more regular, Irene has completely recorded everything that happened during each sacrifice, and even the first few contacts with the Lord of the Lost have been restored as much as possible.
The booklet recording all kinds of things was hidden in the basement. Corresponding to it was the family history written by Byrne that existed in the open, and all the content in it could be read by outsiders.
Finally, the girl gradually calmed down, her eyes were full of excitement and admiration, and her tone contained a hint of disbelief.
"I have witnessed the new possibilities that our Lord has revealed. The world will tremble at this!"
"That is the glory of the Dawn, and also a gift to the Fisher family!"
Today, she is no longer the little girl who knew nothing about the supernatural field. Of course, she can understand how important the mysterious knowledge about blood power is.
Only a very few of the most precious knight inheritances on the Oden Continent include methods to increase the level of bloodline qualifications. As for the possibility of purifying hidden bloodlines and sublimating bloodlines, it is simply unheard of!
Irene closed her eyes and thought for a long time, then slowly stood up and looked at the two people not far away and said,
"Byrne, I have obtained some mysterious knowledge about the power of bloodlines, which may allow your son to master the knight inheritance."
Byrne was slightly stunned, then shook his head and said, "Although the Hoffman family has bloodline power, my son did not inherit that part of the power, as you know."
Irene certainly knew this, but the situation now was completely different.
Not every noble descendant has the potential for bloodline power. Some people have potential that is worth developing, while the potential level of others can be considered non-existent, which is the so-called "hidden".
The Hoffman family possesses the blood powers of "Fire Lizard Spirit" and "Crystal Jellyfish", and about half of the family members can inherit the blood power, which is a very good ratio.
Most of them inherited the former bloodline, which gives them the ability to control fire. So far, family history records only two or three people who were able to inherit the latter.
However, the bloodline power of the underwater monster Crystal Jellyfish belongs to a high-level bloodline, which is one level higher than the ability of the Fiery Lizard Spirit, and its strength level is second only to those ancient monsters.
In addition to the level and quality of the bloodline itself, another important consideration is the qualification level. The higher the qualification level, the easier it is to be promoted to a higher level.
The rules of most noble families in the Oden Continent are that the person with the highest combined bloodline level and qualification level is eligible to serve as the next head of the family.
Darren has recessive bloodline, so a few days after the child was born, the Hoffman family, who had been well prepared, immediately sent people to test him. If the child had any visible bloodline, they would take it very seriously.
Unfortunately, Darren was just an ordinary person, and the purity of his blood was extremely insufficient. Everyone except his parents looked disappointed.
Irene smiled and said, "The blood power that Darren possesses will be revealed, because the great Lord of the Lost has given him the opportunity to change his destiny."
Byrne was stunned for a moment, then his body couldn't help but feel excited.
He would never doubt what Irene said. If that was the case, Darren would most likely be the first person in the Fisher family to master both sequence power and bloodline power at the same time!
His son might have a higher achievement than anyone else in the family!
Of course, Byrne felt extremely happy and fortunate about this, and even couldn't help but want to tell his wife the good news, but he immediately remembered that Margaret was not yet a member of Dawn, so he forced himself to endure it.
He quickly asked: "What should we do to activate the blood power in Darren?"
Irene said calmly, "It's impossible to do this in the material world. We must take him to the spirit world to perform a ceremony."
"The spirit world?"
Byrne fell into deep thought for a moment. The spirit world is a very dangerous place.
In fact, the Fisher family had mastered the method of traveling to the spirit world through dreams from the very beginning, and Irene obtained the relevant mystical knowledge when she was granted the mystical knowledge for the first time.
However, there are so many mysterious beings in the spiritual world and all kinds of supernatural phenomena are unpredictable that the cautious Fisher family members dare not set foot in it at will.
Byrne has occasionally heard people mention the word "spiritual world" recently. Those people started to contact the spiritual world in their own way several years ago.
Some nobles who were not strong enough were too curious in their dreams and could not stop pursuing their desires, so they passed through the woods and their consciousness was attracted to the spiritual world.
As a result, they encountered danger and died inside, and in reality they were in a coma for more than a month before waking up. After repeating this several times, they gradually fell into fear and madness and were completely unable to extricate themselves.
The spiritual world is full of opportunities but also very dangerous. The worst case scenario is that one will directly lose the soul, and the real body will completely become an empty shell.
Byrne was willing to take the risk of traveling to the spirit world for his child, but he had no intention of bringing Darren, who was still a baby, to such a terrifying and unpredictable place.
He shook his head, suppressing his inner desire to make the family stronger, and continued,
"It is in line with the principles of the Fisher family to cautiously acquire power. Let's wait until he grows up a little bit and we become stronger."
Chapter 45 Sequence "Hunter"
More than four years passed in a flash.
There are still twelve years until the peace agreement between Syat and Rhea expires.
Siat entered a relatively stable period, and the prices near the east coast gradually stabilized, but the prices of extraordinary materials never came down.
Once the price goes up, it goes up completely, with no sign of returning to the original level.
Fortunately, the Fisher family's income has increased greatly in the past four years, not because the new medicines developed later have better effects, but simply because of the medicine developed previously for restoring energy.
Its effect is not particularly good, it can only be said to be pretty good. Its biggest advantage is its low cost.
However, Mr. Jin was a business genius, and he made a suggestion that led to a gradual boom in sales of energy potions.
That is, they did not sell it as a medicine, but as a food additive to various people who sell food. Since this substance really had no obvious side effects, and Viscount Best was Mr. Jin's brother-in-law, the City Hall approved their practice.
Soon, those merchants selling food found that their food became easier to sell, while those merchants who did not add energy potions had their business squeezed out.
As a result, food merchants throughout the city of Fein rushed to buy the energy potions produced by the Fisher family, and they had to find more people to produce them.
Mr. Jin began to lobby Byrne, hoping to jointly open a food processing factory to produce food with added energy potions.
However, factories are a brand new thing that has appeared in Syat in recent years. Not everyone is very familiar with them, and there has never been a so-called food processing factory in the East Coast region.
Even Mr. Jin had heard people describe how people in the empire did it, but Byrne felt it was unreliable and was very hesitant.
Nowadays, the Fisher family receives a profit share of up to thirty-five gold coins every month. After deducting various expenses in four years, they have still accumulated a considerable amount of five hundred and thirty-five gold coins.
Just two years ago, Irene opened a Dawn Orphanage in Finn City, and the first batch of orphans she took in numbered more than fifty people.
At the same time, the treatment in the two orphanages improved as the Fisher family gradually increased their investment, and the children were basically grateful to Irene.
With the rapid influx of outsiders, the population of Fein City is much larger than that of Nasir Town, and there are still many orphans displaced.
Over the years, Irene grew fond of children and even had the urge to open a third orphanage to house more children, but reason stopped her.
Because according to investigation, there are hundreds of orphans in the entire city of Fein, and it is impossible for the Fisher family to take in all of them with its current financial resources.
The most she could do was open a window to give free food to orphans, and treat seriously ill orphans every time she went to Fein City.
Over the years, the orphans in Finn City called Irene the "Walking Madonna", and their biggest dream was to live in the Dawn Orphanage.
Today, the Fisher family is almost the richest family in the small town of Nasir. Only the new mayor has wealth comparable to theirs.
The new mayor, Francis, is not an ordinary mayor. He is the younger brother of Baron Hoven. However, as a member of the Hoven family, he is not an extraordinary person. At best, he can only serve as the mayor.
Compared with the previous mayor, the new mayor Francis is still not as good as the previous one, and he has no interest in managing the town of Nasir.
His biggest hobby was to ride his horse wildly in the town while laughing. He almost bumped into people several times. Byrne guessed that this guy must be depressed and felt that a small place like Nasir was not worthy of him.
Tonight, Irene, Byrne, and Chris gathered in the basement of the Fisher family's villa.
Chris has grown up to be ten years old. He looks more and more delicate, like a delicately carved jade doll. Although he is not a silver race, he has long, slightly curly silver hair, and can even be easily mistaken for a girl.
Byrne also had a gentle appearance when he was a child, but it was far inferior to Chris. He sometimes even suspected that Chris had a certain amount of elven blood, otherwise his hair color and appearance could not be explained at all.
Chris has grown taller, but his taciturn personality has not changed at all.
The entire basement has been fully decorated, and all the incense, candles, flowers, fruits, offerings, sacrificial utensils and other items needed for the sacrifice have been placed in place.
In addition there are statues and flags belonging to the great Lost Lord.
Irene personally made a black stone cross sculpture as a statue of the Lord of the Lost, but she did not worship it, because she could directly worship the bottle-shaped holy object for daily worship.
She also made a matching flag with a black cross mark on it. Of course, nothing could leave the basement.
At this time, the smell of burning incense had already covered the basement. Irene knelt on the ground and prayed silently, her face full of piety.
Byrne glanced at Irene, then looked at Chris who had been waiting for a long time, and said solemnly:
"Chris, today we are going to give you extraordinary power, the power of sequence. From now on, you will become more special."
He paused here. Chris was a very different guy.
Chris nodded silently, without responding to Byrne at all, and then when the time was up, they knelt together in front of the transparent bottle and prayed to the great Lord of the Lost for new gifts.
What they presented was a first-class extraordinary material called "Dust Demon Flower", which looked like gray petals with black pupils.
Carl absorbed the spirituality inside the Dust Demon Flower and once again came to the unpredictable and illusory spiritual world, where he searched for new extraordinary laws.
He found another "star".
At the same time, Carl could feel that some mysterious beings were observing his actions around the spirit world.
But they all dared not act rashly and did not touch their own thoughts at all.
To be honest, Carl was quite curious about the existence of the spiritual world. As for the degree of danger, he didn't care. Anyway, as long as there was danger, he would run to the real world as soon as possible.
He built a new stairway to godhood, the Path of Tranquility.
Sequence Force, "Hunter".
The first step of the Silent Road, the shadow of the "Hunter" among the stars, is a middle-aged man crawling in the snow waiting in the deep blue, lurking silently.
Carl returned to the real world, and the deep blue spiritual light he took out was cold and silent, and it silently came to the still very young Chris.
He closed his eyes and calmly felt the extraordinary power he had obtained.
First, there is the improvement of physical fitness, which is a little less than that of "Gladiator", and then there is the improvement of spirituality, which is a little more than that of "Gladiator".
Although the strength of the "Hunter" sequence cannot be said to be a balanced point addition, it is also a stage that is not so extreme.
Hunters have two extraordinary characteristics, namely "Tracking Senses" and "Trap Making".
"Tracking Senses" brings about an all-round enhancement of the five senses, and can even track over ultra-long distances based on clues left long ago. It is a special state that needs to be actively turned on, and can clearly see the footprints left by the target and the flow of various "smells" in the air.
"Trap Making" is the ability to make anything into a trap. Anyone who obtains it can become a leading trap master, which is extremely suitable for chaotic actual combat.
Chris opened his eyes again, nodded, tilted his head slightly, and finally uttered a short sentence.
"Thank you, Lord of the Lost."
Irene and Byrne both found it incredible. They never expected that Chris would know how to thank God.
They originally thought that with his strange personality he would just nod and turn away.
A gentle, relieved smile appeared on Erin's face.
She knew one thing deep in her heart, that is, Chris rarely spoke but never lied, and his thanks just now must be sincere.
Chapter 46 Alchemy Council
After Chris left the basement, he jumped out of the window of the house with great agility. Instead of going through the main door, he jumped onto the wall like a cat.
In the night, he walked silently on the wall with his hands behind his back, then turned down silently. Then the boy disappeared behind a few trees.
Most of the children in the orphanage were asleep, and even those who were not asleep didn't notice Chris sneaking in.
The silver-haired boy quietly came to the yard and found Vanessa who was looking at the stars under a tree. The girl didn't notice him at first until she was suddenly patted on the head.
"Ah! Chris, you scared me!"
Vanessa didn't realize that someone was approaching her. She was so scared that her face changed. After seeing the boy behind her, she became angry and embarrassed.
She has grown a lot in four years.
Because women develop early, Vanessa is now a little taller than Chris, but her right leg is still severely deformed, which looks scary and disgusting.
Vanessa pointed her cane at Chris's belly and frowned, saying, "Apologize to me, Chris. You always like to scare people."
Chris remained silent. He looked very beautiful in the moonlight, like a genderless angel, which even stunned Vanessa.
She sighed and said, "Chris, come over here, let's sit together and look at the stars."
Chris calmly sat down next to the girl, knowing that Vanessa must be worried. He soon heard her holding her face and mumbling her distressed thoughts.
"Chris, I recently heard a story from Dean Irene that made me feel very difficult to make a decision."
"In the story, a man with a strong sense of justice lets his enemy's child go, which results in his relatives being killed by the child... Dean Irene asked me if I would make the same choice if I were that man."
Vanessa lowered her head and couldn't figure it out. She was too young.
"I don't know what to do, but the children are innocent after all. But killing your own relatives is really... a very stupid thing to do, right?"
Chris said nothing, knowing that his sister was trying to slowly change Vanessa's perspective, and it was indeed becoming more and more effective.
But she seemed to be in great pain inside. Moral dilemmas are often extremely fatal problems for people with strong morals.
For some reason, Chris suddenly thought of the girl who once threatened to teach him a lesson. Deep down in his heart, he didn't really want Vanessa to change, but no matter what he said, wasn't he actively influencing her like his sister?
"Follow your heart."
Under the stars in the night, his voice was calm and reassuring.
Vanessa turned to look at the silver-haired boy. After a long silence, she couldn't help but say,
"I don't quite understand. What are you talking about? Can't you give me a more accurate answer? Forget it. You're a dumb talker and a bit weird. I can't count on you."
Chris, who suddenly became unhappy, stood up with a stern face and disappeared the next moment.
——
Byrne, Margaret and their child lived in the best room in the Fisher family mansion, but it was still far inferior to Margaret's previous living environment in Finn City.
He often stayed out all night, and many nights he was either researching new drugs in the renovated workshop or secretly discussing private matters with Irene.
In order to protect his family in the war more than ten years later, for the great achievements of the Fisher family, and for Lucius's unfulfilled wish, Byrne really has too many reasons to not sleep peacefully.
Over the years, Margaret seemed to have a vague sense that he was hiding something, and she often asked him indirectly, but Byrne always fooled her. At first, the strong-willed Margaret was very unhappy, but later she didn't care.
"Invest or do something else?"
Byrne wondered what the Fisher family could do with the wealth they now had.
It would be a pity to keep the money in your hands without using it, but you will regret it if the investment fails or it is used improperly.
While he was thinking about what to do, he calmly added some level zero extraordinary material into the reagent bottle containing his blood, just like he had done before.
At this moment, a voice belonging to Byrne suddenly emerged in Byrne's mind.
[Spirit World, Gate of Shadows]
He was slightly stunned. The research on the blood of the Fisher family members had been going on for several years. However, perhaps because of bad luck, he had only heard two hints through the extraordinary characteristics of the "self-collected formula".
They are respectively the first-level extraordinary material "Flower of No Life" and the ambiguous "Time of Ashes".
According to Irene's uncertain statement, the so-called "Time of Ashes" may refer to the time represented by the Lord of Ashes among the Gods Beyond the World.
It's zero o'clock.
As for the concepts of the Lord of Ashes and the God of the Other World, Irene said it was best not to mention them too much. Those horrible things did not belong to this world, and if they were mentioned frequently, it would attract their attention.
This time, the third hint about Fisher's blood came to his mind, and it actually mentioned the location of the "spiritual world"!
Byrne took a deep breath and could smell the fragrance of the Wusheng flower on the table.
"And what is the so-called 'Gate of Shadows' mentioned later in the spirit world? It seems to be some kind of 'building' that exists in the spirit world, or it refers to other things or concepts, not a physical door?"
Byrne decided to ask Irene tomorrow. She had much more to learn about the mysterious knowledge of the spirit world, and she might even be the person who knew the most about the spirit world in the entire continent.
The next day, the first rays of light in the early morning after dawn shone on the ground.
When Byrne found Irene, he saw her sitting on the sofa holding a letter, her eyes moving from time to time, as if the contents of the letter had made the girl fall into deep thought.
"Erin, I want to ask you about the 'Shadow Gate'."
Irene was slightly stunned, with a puzzled look in her eyes, and asked Byrne: "Where did you hear about it? The Shadow Gate is a concept of the spirit world, existing on the edge of the spirit world."
Byrne nodded and explained the hint that came to his mind truthfully.
After hearing all the causes and consequences, Irene thought for a while and continued, "So that's it. I understand."
She paused and continued, "The Shadow Gate is a spiritual door that exists on the edge of the spirit world. However, after we arrived in the spirit world, we had no idea which 'island' it was on. We could only search for it again and again. It is very difficult for you to go there."
Byrne shook his head. He really didn't want to give up, so he could only continue,
"But we have to try. I have been studying the blood flowing in the body for several years. It's hard to achieve results. We can't give up halfway!"
His eyes gradually became firm. Sooner or later, the Fisher family would have to set foot in the spiritual world. It would be better to try to study it from his generation than to pass the risk to future generations.
Irene thought for a long time and said calmly, "We really can't give up halfway, but if we really insist on going to the spirit world, we must be fully prepared."
After she finished speaking, she handed the envelope to Byrne. The words on it were like living golden tadpoles, swimming slightly in front of Byrne's eyes.
He was surprised, and then he looked carefully at the contents of the letter in front of him. It was actually an invitation letter with a very polite tone.
The organization that invited them called itself the "Alchemy Council". Byrne frowned slightly, vaguely remembering that he had heard of it a long time ago.
It is said that the Alchemy Council is a secret organization formed by spellcasters proficient in alchemy, specializing in the sale and auction of various items, including but not limited to alchemical tools and mysterious objects, and even various prohibited and illegal items.
His heart was pounding. After all, many things were difficult to buy normally. For example, mysterious and rare treasures were hard to trade from people.
Irene calmly stood up from the sofa, took the envelope again and said, "You and I are the ones invited, so the golden words on it should only be visible to us."
"Perhaps, we can transform some of the family's wealth into resources to prepare for a possible journey to the spirit world in the future."
Chapter 47 Contact with a Secret Organization
The Alchemy Council meeting will be held in Fein City in thirteen days, and Irene does not plan to leave Nasir, so only Byrne goes there by carriage.
He has traveled back and forth to Fein City dozens of times over the years and has long been accustomed to the experience of business trips.
"The Alchemy Council? This is my first time to come into contact with such a secret organization."
After stepping onto the land of Fein City, Byrne looked at the increasingly chaotic buildings around him and frowned slightly.
He quickly went to the designated bank and received a gift box deposited there from the bank employee.
After returning to the inn, Byrne opened the gift box and took out a dark golden mask.
He raised the dark golden mask and looked at it very carefully.
It is carefully made of high-quality metal materials, which is sturdy and elegant. The corners are carefully carved with complex patterns and the surface is covered with a layer of luster coating, which will be more dazzling under the light.
"It's a nice work of art. The creator must be a powerful person who is proficient in alchemy."
Byrne quickly realized that this was an alchemical product created through magic, and the maker was probably a powerful alchemical spellcaster.
Its existence is a declaration of the strength behind the Alchemy Council to all invitees.
He carried banknotes worth four hundred gold coins. Nowadays, many people use banknotes that can be exchanged for gold at any time in the bank.
As the night deepened, Byrne arrived at the deserted alley written in the address. The surroundings looked dark, old and dirty, and it was nothing like what he had imagined.
"What should I do?"
He touched the wall gently, but nothing happened.
"…"
He was silent for a moment, then suddenly came to his senses, put on the dark golden mask, and reached out to touch the cold wall again.
The next moment, Byrne felt that the environment in front of him had completely changed.
He came to a porch inlaid with golden brass decorations in a trance. The surroundings reflected bright and warm light. The waiters were all wearing smiling silver masks and looked quietly at the new guests.
"Please follow me."
The waiter led him through the porch and into the magnificent hall.
The high ceiling was hung with gorgeous crystal chandeliers, emitting sparkling light that illuminated the entire space. Guests wearing strange masks were seated in rows of chairs.
Just like a high-end aristocratic club, Byrne is no longer the country bumpkin. Over the years, he and Mr. Jin have occasionally come to places with similar decorations.
And through the powerful memory brought by the extraordinary characteristic "deep memory", he quickly counted that there were a total of twenty silver-faced waiters on the scene, and the number of guests who came here was thirty-two.
Byrne discovered something very interesting. Although he clearly remembered the physical features of the nobles and wealthy people in the city, they did not match any of the thirty or so people at all.
"I see. It seems that this is the extraordinary effect brought by the alchemical mask."
He soon realized that this was the "concealing" effect brought about by the mask itself. The extraordinary power contained in the mask was hindering his cognition, and he could not "perceive" the true identities of the guests through normal methods.
"It seems that the auction of the Alchemy Council follows the principle of secrecy."
Thinking of this, Byrne immediately felt a lot more relaxed, and even some of the shameful desires deep in his heart were relieved.
He immediately realized something. So that's why the mask's other meaning was to prevent people from being too restrained in auctioning contraband items.
Since no one can recognize anyone else, people's sense of morality will naturally decline after the auction begins, and they will become more unscrupulous.
The silver-faced waiter handed Byrne an auction list written on gold paper, which contained all the transaction details of the auction.
Byrne didn't think much of anything at first, but soon he was shocked!
There was actually an option of trafficking in alien populations on this list, and he fell into silent thought.
The public abolition of slavery has only been around for a few decades, but in reality slavery still exists in many small places. It is not incomprehensible that such places would sell slaves.
Soon, the auction began.
The host came on stage wearing a silver mask. He looked tall and thin, like a slender ghost. Every move he made while standing on the stage revealed a huge sense of weirdness.
"Auction, start."
The host's voice was emotionless, which made Byrne feel a little uncomfortable. He always felt that something was wrong with him.
At first, the items auctioned by the Alchemy Council were all insignificant works of art. Byrne just looked at them and had no intention of buying anything even though he was interested.
It was not until the Alchemy Council auctioned books and extraordinary inheritances that Byrne finally decided to take action.
He auctioned off some books about secret history, most of which were banned books that were not allowed by the church. He spent a total of fifteen gold coins.
At the same time, Byrne also knew Vanessa's talent, so he bought a set of spell inheritance belonging to the summoning type spellcaster, spending thirty-seven gold coins and ten silver coins.
Its creator was a monarch-level spellcaster five hundred years ago, and its contents include three common summoning spells: "Summon Fireflies", "Summon Birds", and "Summon Vines", and a universal spellcasting technique: "Spell Expansion".
"Spell Expansion" is one of the five common general specialties of spellcasters. The effect is to consume several times the mental energy in exchange for a larger casting range and a larger number of final effects. The spellcaster who masters it to the extreme can instantly burst out terrifying spell effects.
However, only spellcasters who have successfully reached the metamorphic level can learn and master the "spellcasting skills".
Vanessa is now just an ordinary person with talent, not even the weakest spellcaster, and she may not be able to become a metamorphic spellcaster in the future.
Byrne's purchase of this spellcasting inheritance can be considered an investment in the future.
In the military force system of each country, the second-level spellcasters can be regarded as the backbone. They are undoubtedly powerful extraordinary people with status and position.
"I hope she will live up to our expectations."
The Alchemy Council auctioned off some of the alchemy tools again. After thinking it over, Byrne decided to make a move again.
He bought twenty-five portions of blood potion, intending to use it as raw materials, and also purchased three specially made alchemical flintlock rifles and fifty matching bullets, as well as a large amount of alchemical explosives and three portions of powerful alchemical combustion potions.
Then Byrne bought two pale green alchemical poison mist potions. This thing looks disgusting, but it is actually very effective.
They will evaporate quickly after coming into contact with the air, covering an area of dozens of meters in radius, corroding the skin of all ordinary creatures in the area and causing them to fester.
Although it cannot kill people immediately, most lives will be caused by it, and they will almost completely lose the ability to move and the will to fight.
Finally, he also got five important doses of awakening potions, which could gradually make mentally ill people clear-headed. Irene said that they were necessities when wandering in the spirit world.
The above alchemical items cost a total of seventy-four gold coins and thirteen silver coins.
The auction came to an end, and the highlight of the night finally appeared. The silver-faced waiter handed it up on a tray.
The Alchemy Council's auction is only held every few months, and the finale item of each auction is bound to be something extremely greedy and coveted.
It looks like a blood-red ring, and contains extraordinary power.
The tall and thin host's voice was flat under the mask, and he introduced the auction item without any joy or sadness: "The last item for today's auction is the mysterious treasure of the 'Soul-Separation Ring'."
"Its effect is to make the wearer's consciousness temporarily leave the body in the real world. Afterwards, the consciousness can pass through obstacles such as walls and soil in an invisible state. The duration depends on the user's mental strength. The starting price is two hundred."
This was a mysterious treasure-level item, and many people on the scene immediately became interested. The starting price was 200 gold coins. Byrne made two bids of 230 and 270 respectively, but he couldn't get it at all, so he could only make up the number to add to the fun.
The mysterious treasures were all important items worth thousands of gold coins. He watched the bidding price go higher and higher until it was finally won by a female guest sitting in the front row for 1,535 gold coins.
Byrne couldn't help but doubt one thing.
The backers of the Alchemy Council are most likely the "pillar families" of the four eastern countries!
The four countries in the east of the continent are Syat, Rhea, Valer, and Kania.
Most of their land, wealth, and resources are completely controlled by the ten "pillar families" and the five major churches.
All other small families and organizations must completely submit to their powerful status.
The Hoven family, also known as the "Broken Giant" family, behind the East Coast Governor, Count Hoven, is one of them.
The Roman family behind Duke Roman is powerful and is of course one of the top ten pillar families. Their family nickname is "Angel of the Night".
Compared to them, the Fisher family is extremely small and not even worth mentioning.
But Byrne believed in his heart that with the help of the great Lord of the Lost, the Fisher family would sooner or later be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Ten Pillars, and even have a future that would surpass them!
Chapter 48 The Gun on the Forehead
After leaving the Alchemy Council, Byrne felt that he had not yet satisfied. The feeling of spending a lot of money would be addictive for almost anyone.
Then he thought of the aliens who were auctioned off and expressed a little sympathy but it was impossible for him to act as a "savior".
Suddenly, the extremely beautiful elf figure in the moonlight appeared in Byrne's mind again.
Byrne shook his head and said to himself, "That should be the last time we met. I hope she won't fall into the hands of those people."
When he was young, he had unrealistic expectations of reuniting with the elves, or even meeting them again, and even had some romantic ideas.
But after getting married, Margaret was the only wife in Byrne's heart.
"I don't know who is behind the Alchemy Council's auction. I'm afraid I will come here again in the future."
Just when he was about to leave completely, he suddenly stared at the dark gold mask for a while, stopped abruptly, and quickly turned back to the deserted alley.
He put on his mask and reentered the porch to meet the confused silver-faced waiters.
Byrne said in a very calm tone: "I want to buy a few more alchemical masks with the 'concealment' effect."
After the auction was over, the guests would not come back, and would leave in a hurry without wanting to stay, as if they were escaping from a dangerous devil's den.
However, Byrne was one of the few guests who returned repeatedly.
When he asked to buy the alchemical mask, the silver-faced waiters reacted quickly.
A very tall, silver-faced waiter walked up, bowed slightly, and responded very politely.
"We are sorry, but our masks are limited to one per invite only and we will not sell any more."
"So that's how it is. I understand."
In fact, Byrne was not surprised by the answer, and his sudden idea was just an experiment.
Because the "concealment" effect of the alchemical mask is so practical.
The leading silver-faced waiter spoke softly with a hint of smile,
"Dear guest, there is one more important thing I must tell you. The 'concealment' effect of the alchemical mask can only be effective here. You'd better not use it to deal with problems outside."
Byrne fell into deep thought, and deep down he felt extremely disappointed with the alchemical mask.
He then understood the reason.
Otherwise, whenever people want to do something they don't want to see others, they will put on the mask of the Alchemy Council, and then the so-called secret organization will become almost known to everyone.
Leaving the dark alley, Byrne came to the prepared carriage, took off the dark golden mask and put it in a special box.
The coachman was Theo, the captain of the guard who had worked for the Fischer family for many years and was Byrne's swordsmanship teacher.
Theo was once a boatswain and worked for the merchant John for more than ten years. Later, he refused to go to sea again because he almost died in a shipwreck.
A few years ago, his savings were getting less and less. In order to support his wife and children, he came to the Fisher family for re-employment under the introduction of John. Because of his excellent skills and rich experience, Lucius appointed him as the captain of the family guard.
After returning to the hotel, Byrne did not go to bed immediately, but thought about visiting Mr. Jin tomorrow to discuss matters related to the food processing plant.
The money has been spent, and what he has to do is to completely reject the investment invitation from the food processing plant.
It was already very late at night, and Byrne went to bed after finishing his thinking, and got up at around eight in the morning.
However, Mr. Jin is a "topsy-turvy man" who has no morning and noon, gets up in the afternoon, and is extremely active at night, so now is not the time to visit him.
He thought about what to do next:
"After traveling for such a long time from Nasir to Finn City, the guards and servants are very tired. We should take another day off tomorrow and visit the Hoffman family's father-in-law, mother-in-law and Baron Hoffman the day after tomorrow."
The long journey is indeed a troublesome thing, but unfortunately the speed of the carriage has a limit. Byrne couldn't help but think that if he had the luxury of using magic to travel much faster.
The Fisher family spent a huge amount of money at the auction, and the goods will be delivered to Nasir within half a month.
It was not until after three o'clock in the afternoon that Byrne, his guards and servants set off in a carriage and arrived at the door of Mr. Jin's villa in the city center.
"My name is Bayne Fischer. I hope to meet with Mr. King. I have something to discuss in detail."
Byrne announced his name, and soon he was led by the butler to the reception room to wait.
The courteous butler walked up and said to Byrne, who was already familiar with him, with a smile:
"Mr. Byrne, we meet again. Mr. Jin just said that he can see you in the study in about ten minutes. Mr. Jin will receive other guests at about five o'clock, so he will not keep you for dinner."
Byrne thought that this should be enough, leaving himself more than half an hour.
Because of the success in making money through cooperation with the Fisher family, the two sides naturally looked at each other more and more favorably.
His relationship with Mr. Jin grew stronger over the four years.
Byrne knew very well that a lot of the money that the Fisher family earned for Mr. Jin actually went to Viscount Best.
Viscount Best Leon is the head of the "Lion Family", Mr. Jin's brother-in-law, and also the lord of the city of Finn. He is just 53 years old this year and is still in his prime.
He had already reached the second level, and had even become a powerful knight who had transformed into a higher level, but it was basically impossible for him to go further and reach the level of a monarch during his lifetime.
The two extraordinary bloodlines that have been stably inherited by the Leon family are the "Bronze Lion" and the "Giant Stone Ape", both of which are bloodline powers derived from high-level magical beasts.
At the same time, the Leon family has a 17% chance of inheriting the "protection" type of spellcasting talent.
The entire Lion Family has been operating in Fein City for hundreds of years, and the core family has branched out to nearly a hundred people.
In comparison, the Eagle Family's foundation and power are much weaker. It can basically be said that its strength on paper is no match for the Leon Family.
Their biggest trump card is the support of Earl Hoven, the Governor of the East Coast.
Although Count Hoven and Viscount Best were always smiling at the banquet, on the surface they were even close friends who had known each other for many years.
However, everyone in the upper circles of the East Coast knew that the sparks of tension between Earl Hoven and Viscount Best had already spread all over the ground, and now all the industries owned by the Lion Family were being eroded step by step.
However, Viscount Best and the family behind him have not suffered any serious damage so far, because Mr. Jin has extremely strong business and wealth-making abilities and has been responsible for handling all major businesses of the Lion Family.
Ten minutes later, Byrne looked up at the navy clock on the wall. The time was a little after four o'clock.
He walked to the second floor of the villa with ease and knocked gently on the study door, but he did not hear Mr. Jin's low voice calling "Come in".
Byrne was stunned for a moment. His "deep memory" showed that Mr. Jin would always shout "Come in", but today's situation was a little different.
Then he heard a "crackling" sound of something breaking, and felt something was wrong, so he pushed the door open.
"Mr. Jin..."
Byrne was about to speak but stopped himself, his eyes gradually became gloomy and his brows slightly frowned.
broken.
The huge body weighing hundreds of pounds was lying on the ground with its back, and the bald man's eyes were fixed on the ceiling. His eyes were filled with anger and lingering fear, as if he had seen the most terrifying thing in the world.
There was a clearly visible bullet hole on his temple, with blood plasma flowing out.
An extremely exquisite alchemical flintlock rifle fell next to Mr. Jin's hand, and there was still a residual smell of smoke in the air.
Dead!
"Damn it!"
Byrne took a deep breath, not wanting to touch anything, and stepped back vigilantly, even suspecting that the murderer might still be nearby.
"Mr. Byrne, why are you here too?"
The sudden voice not far away made Byrne stunned for a moment, and then he turned around and saw two people.
One is the butler of Mr. Jin's family, and the other is the local sheriff of Finn City, a "metamorphosis-level" knight of the Lion Family, and Renzo, the third brother of Viscount Best.
Sheriff Renzo was wearing a black leather jacket, had a mustache, and looked very serious.
Why did they suddenly come here? After a moment of silence, Byrne said calmly, "Mr. Jin is dead, and the murderer may still be nearby."
The butler and Sheriff Renzo were completely stunned after hearing this.
"Mr. King is dead? What are you talking about!" Sheriff Renzo growled.
The two of them quickly walked into the study and watched what was happening in amazement.
Mr. Jin's heavy body was right in front of him. Everything was too shocking!
The housekeeper burst into tears and kept shaking his head, saying, "Lord of Redemption, why did this happen? It's impossible!"
Byrne paused and reminded again: "The murderer may still be nearby. We must be careful. He may attack again."
"It'll be alright, Mr. Byrne. I'm here to stop the murderer from succeeding."
Sheriff Renzo quickly calmed down and then comforted him in a calm voice.
Just as Byrne was about to nod, he saw Sheriff Renzo decisively and quickly pull out the alchemical flintlock from his waist and put it against his head without hesitation. The cold and hard touch was creepy.
"Don't move!"