"So, Mespels, where is your family's main base?" Arlott turned to the father-son duo after he put Natan's soul in his soul sea, along with tens of other souls.
There was also a white vortex above Arlott's soul in his Soul Sea with a few souls inside—Soul Vortex, 3rd realm of Soul Path. They were being refined in the Soul Vortex, turning them into pure soul force for Arlott to absorb.
"W-Why do you want to go there?" the middle-aged man asked, his fear rising.
"I am not going there now," Arlott smiled and exerted his soul pressure on the duo, making both of them feel strange suffocation. "But I will go later, so give me the address."
"Alep Mountain Range. Mespel family is there, in a valley," the middle-aged man quickly answered while almost pissing his pants.
"Good. You two can go now, but-" Arlott said before his eyes narrowed and his smile turned sharper and colder, "If you tell anyone about me, I'll fish out your souls, and you won't even know how you'll die."
The young man's pants became wet due to not being able to bear Arlott's soul pressure any longer, and he fainted there and then.
*Thud!*
"C-can we go now?"
"Go."
The father picked up his son and quickly left as his car was parked outside the mansion.
Arlott removed his barriers afterward as Iris and Luna had only one question in their mind.
"Arlott, just how powerful are you?!" Luna asked, her eyes shining.
"That's right, brother! Just how freaking powerful are you now? I heard that the leader of Black Rattan House was a 5th-class mage," Iris asked, her eyes filled with shock as she looked at dead Natan lying on the ground.
"I am weaker than him in terms of Arcane Force, but I am more powerful than him overall," Arlott grinned.
"I'll explain to you two about everything later, but for now…"
Arlott turned around towards the mansion's door and whistled. "Come out, kids!"
Iris and Luna looked at the mansion's door as they saw kids walking out wearing rags.
"Line up in a single row," Arlott clapped, and the kids obeyed as they lined up before the trio.
"This…" Luna's heart ached. "Were they kidnapped by Black Rattan House? Damn, what is the police and Arcane Tower doing?"
Iris signed and shook her head. "They don't have time for this and don't care about it. The officials of this city already knew about the crimes here, but they also took a bite from here every now and then, and Rattan House fed them. All they see is business, profit, and power."
"It seems that you learned some darker things after leaving the academy and joining Moonstorm Guild," Arlott glanced at Iris in surprise.
"Sigh, you are right. I talked to them about destroying this Black Rattan House, but none stepped forward and told me how they had connections."
Guilds were organizations that anyone could form as long as they got approval from the Earth Federation. The requirements were a bit steep, and each Guild had some duties to perform and help the masses in case of some magical phenomena like powerful magic beasts appearing, Minion tides, the appearance of some powerful entities from other realms, dimension gates breaking, and such.
Naturally, the influence and power of Earth Federation was lower than Arcane Tower. The only area in which both were equal was in the progress of the new Path, the Genome Path. Earth Federation might even be a bit ahead in this as they had more manpower than Arcane Tower.
But Arcane Tower was still a massive entity, and it had branches in every city in the world. They had the most knowledge of magic and more access to everything than the rest of the world.
After all, Arcane Tower was helmed by the top ten ancient clans, the lineage of five sages and the five sages themselves, and many of the top 100 families and other organizations that gradually joined them to revel in the pursuit of power and riches.
Of course, there were powerhouses in the Earth Federation who opposed some of the darkness and were good, but they were few and far between.
Corruption ran in both entities, and Arlott intended to take full advantage of this darkness while crushing anyone who opposed him.
…
"Kids, are you wondering what will happen to you now?" Arlott asked with a smile as he crossed his arms.
The fifty kids had various expressions. Some were wary, some had deadpan eyes, and some were filled with despair with no hope. All of these kids were from poor families and poor areas of the city.
"Don't worry. You are free to go back to your home or anywhere except the ten of you," Arlott said before he twirled his finger, consuming his mana as ten gentle gusts of winds pulled up ten kids as they were startled and floated in the air.
Four girls and six boys around 8 to 12 years old.
Iris and Luna were curious about what Arlott wanted to do with the kids, but they let him finish first.
"As for the rest of you," Arlott swept his glance at the rest of the kids. "You all can leave and spread the word to your parents and anyone you know that Black Rattan House is no more. They were killed by a ghost who sucked their souls."
"Understand?" Arloot asked as his eyes glinted, a small smile on his lips. "Be sure to spread this, or I'll suck your souls and feed them to the devil."
The kids quickly nodded, but their eyes showed clear joy and liberation because they knew that…they were free!
They wouldn't be sold as slaves to some families or people for experiments or any other things they heard from those men!
"All of you are from the outskirts behind this market area, right?" Arlott asked in confirmation.
Everyone nodded.
"Then go. You are free."
They were free!
Arlott used a skill of his Soul Enchanter talent tree, Power Weaver, as his eyes briefly shone. Consuming 50,000 Soul Essence, Arlott filled all the kids with energy and infused an affinity in them.
[ Power Weaver]: Weave powers you possess, like skills, affinities, and knowledge, directly into someone's soul and mind.
All the kids were energized internally, but that was not all.
Arlott also consumed 50,000 Vitalis to activate their Genome potential. For the next ten days, the kids' physical bodies would gradually become powerful, and all their malnourishment and weakness would be gone.
The kids could clearly feel the hunger and pain in their bodies vanishing as they teared up.
Some even started crying.
"Hey, stop, or I'll feed your souls to the devil!" Arlott loudly snorted, enhancing his voice with mana. "Get out of here and return to your homes. You can cry and cheer there."
Luna and Iris wryly smiled upon hearing him.
The forty kids quickly left while running. They were fully energized!
"What about these ten kids, Arlott?" Luna curiously asked.
The ten kids that floated in the air were not as cheerful and happy as the others who left.
"They'll be my subordinates," Arlott said with a smile as he looked at the kids. "I'll feed you and give you a place to stay. Your life will be better and colorful from now on."
"What about their parents?" Iris softly asked.
"I am in!" the oldest girl shouted, who was 12 years old.
"Me too!" the oldest boy also shouted, who was 11 years old."
"M-Me too!"
These ten kids were not as happy as other kids and also readily agreed with Arlott for some very clear reasons that could be summed up in one sentence—They were abandoned, sold by their parents, or orphaned with their parents killed.
Laverna chose the kids based on that after quickly reading their memories since they needed manpower and nobody was there in this world waiting for these ten kids.
"Good. For now, the ten of you will stay in this mansion and get some good sleep in the luxurious beds inside," Arlott said with a smile before he snapped his finger, consuming 20,000 mana and 100,000 soul essence.
Arlott created the Crystal element in his Elemental Zone by combining Earth as a primary and Fire as a secondary element.
Mana oozed out from Arlott before they shaped into faint red crystals and transformed into two five-meter tall amber crystal golems.
But these were not simple golems.
Arlott had also consumed 100,000 Soul Essence and granted them animated souls. He could only do this because he had Animus affinity.
As such, these Soul Golems had powerful soul attacks that could weaken enemies along with their strong physical strength due to Crystal element structure.
"These two will attack anyone who crosses the mansion's gate, and I'll also get informed, so rest assured and sleep."
They needed to sleep to quickly digest the power Arlott granted them!
Arlott also took out twelve dead bodies from his storage ring that he took from Kiera and hanged them outside the mansion's gates.
After the kids went inside, Arlott turned to Iris and Luna. "Now then, ladies. We have to do some shopping and looting. Which one first?"
"Eh? Looting, of course, right?" Iris grinned. "How will you shop without money?"
"Exactly."
"Who are we going to loot?" Luna asked.
Arlott chuckled.
"I'll leave that Iris since she knows more about this city. Tell me, Sis. Who should we loot?"
"Hmmm...Let me think for a bit. There are many scums here, but the most disgusting one is..."
"Ah yes, the Cloudford Guild!"
"What?!" Luna was dumbfounded. "That's a first-rank guild of our city."
"They are first-rank because they are scum, and they also had dealings with Black Rattan House," Iris narrowed her eyes. "I heard the leader is someone from the top 100 ancient families, so he must have backing from Arcane Tower as well. This could be dangerous, Arlott."
"It's fine. How will they hunt a Ghost?" Arlott deviously smiled. "For this event, you two will watch the show from afar as bystanders."
"I see."
"Got it."
Arlott held both girls' waists and walked out of the gate. "I'll also explain you about my current powers on the way."