《God of Systems: Maker of Heroes and Villains》


 Chapter 1: The Letter

    A man wearing a worn suit got out of a public bus and walked at the side of the road while his eyes were glued onto his phone''s screen. There was a huge wall of text and at the bottom of the screen, were four words in bold.


    ''Thank you for reading!''


    A few seconds passed and the man stuffed his phone into his pocket as he let out a loud sigh.


    "After 14 years.... this webnovel finally ended. I don''t really know how to feel about it though." he muttered as he took a left and walked on the familiar empty road.


    It was a normal book for everyone else, but for him? For him, it was something different. The book, even though it had more than 8000 chapters, wasn''t really famous. But for him, it was like this book was written for him and him alone.


    The actions of the main character were the ones that he himself would have done if he were in simr situations. Even when it came to the type of women he preferred, the food he liked and even the way he talked with both friends and strangers were very simr.


    ''It really is a pity that it ended...'' he thought as he sighed again and nced at a small apartment with three floors. Multiple cracks and green algae at certain ces showed that the building was either extremely old, or very badly maintained.


    He silently walked in and climbed up the stairs until he reached the third floor, only to see tworge cardboard boxes stacked on top of each other and sitting in front of his door.


    He walked closer and noticed an envelope, which he opened without any hesitation. Inside was a letter along with a small thank you card. He put the card in his pocket before reading the letter.


    Dear Loyal Reader,


    I''m writing this letter to show my appreciation for the support you have provided to me from the beginning to the end. Most readers read a few chapters and drop the book, but you were the only one who read the chapters every single day and leftments for me to read, be it constructive criticism, or just random memes and jokes.


    Now to the darker talks... based on the minor indirect conversations we had, I''m hoping that you won''t hate me for dropping this on you all of a sudden. Fourteen years ago, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Apparently it was gic and well... luckily for me, I beat it after a year.


    This was also the time when I started writing the book and back then, I had a lot of readers. Maybe I should be thanking my luck for that too, but after I beat my cancer, I still continued to write. The story slightly took a turn and maybe even you noticed it. After all, switching from a fast paced story to a slow paced one is hard to not notice.


    Anyways, a lot of readers actually left because of this and it actually made me feel like rushing the end. Just when I was about to make that decision, I was once again diagnosed with cancer and this was also breast cancer, but of a different kind.


    Then I remembered the main reason I started writing this webnovel. It was for myself so that I could pass some time, but somehow, I began to care more about what the readers wanted and ignored my own thoughts.


    Oops I''m writing too much crap, but please bear with me. Let''s speed things up. So yeah, I continued writing and many more readers left until only one remained...


    It was you, mister fwydchicken. Unfortunately I don''t really know your real name... and I wish I did. Unfortunately, it''ll be toote by the time you receive this letter, which you probably will after two weeks of me writing this.


    Well... Tada! I''ll be dead by then. I wasn''t able to beat cancer the second time and they''ll perform on me in three days. Chances of survival is less than 1 percent... but that''s just them trying to give me some hope.


    Now that the sad and sappy stuff is done, let me tell you about the two boxes. All of my money, valuables and everything that belonged to me is in there. I hope that it''ll help you in at least one way.


    Thank you for being there for someone who had no friends, nor family.


    Your happily dead author


    Red Snow


    Um... or Emma nkton


    After reading the letter, he stood silently as he continued to stare at the piece of paper. He was someone who got emotional pretty easilypared to the others, but this time, he simply stood in ce, not doing anything.


    He silently grabbed his phone from his pocket and opened the webnovel app before clicking on thetest and thest chapter that he had just read.


    He then tapped on thement button and typed a few words.


    Fwydchicken: Thank you for the chapter


    There was no response.


    ''It''s not like she''ll be staring at her phone waiting for my message.'' he thought to himself, but there was something inside him that pushed him to type more.


    Fwydchicken: Do you have any ns on writing another novel?


    Again, no response.


    He felt his vision go a little blurry, but he went back to the index and checked thements on the previous chapters.


    4 8 15 27 28


    None of these chapters had anyments other than his, but the 29th chapter from thest chapter, did.


    ''14 days... 28 chapters. No responses...''


    For four minutes, he stood in ce silently as tears rolled down his cheeks. He didn''t know the author personally and he also didn''t talk to her a lot online. Even then, he couldn''t stop himself from feeling like he was drowning. Even breathing was hard.


    He went back to thest chapter and began typing once again.


    Fwydchicken: My name is Keith. A divorced 28 year old guy who lost almost everything.

 Chapter 2: Transmigration

    After sending the message, he took a deep breath and sighed before grabbing the box that was on top. He exerted some of his strength and lifted it up, only to find his vision go blurry. He blinked a few times, trying to get back his clear vision, only to fail.


    His legs gave in and he fell to the floor along with the box, his body unresponsive as he stared at the ceiling until the blurry vision turnedpletely ck.


    Unbeknownst to him, the phone in his pocket vibrated a few times as it emitted a powerful light beam which shot through the thinyer of cloth. It brightened the entire area with the powerful glow for a few seconds before subsiding.


    Once the light was gone, only Keith remained. Or at least, his body. The boxes were nowhere to be seen. The most surprising thing was that no one came to check out the source of the powerful beam of light.


    ******


    Keith opened his eyes, only to find himself in an unfamiliar ce. He was in a small room that barely had any furniture. The entire ce was dark, but he would still guess what he was looking at based on the slight shapes that his eyes were able to see.


    There was a regr sized bed, a table with a few things on top of it and then there was a chair in front of this table. Other that these three items, there really was nothing in the room.


    After looking around, he ced his hand on the floor and pushed himself up. As he lifted his hand from the floor, he frowned as he felt like he had touched something wet.


    Since he couldn''t see, he brought his hand to his nose and sniffed.


    ''Blood....''


    The frown on his face deepened as he hurriedly stood up and this time, he felt like his whole back was wet. Not even a second passed since he realised this when he felt a stinging pain on his abdomen. He brought his hand to the ce where he felt the pain and found something sticking out from his body.


    ''.... is this a knife?'' he asked himself as he looked down at the thing he was touching at this moment. It felt like a knife''s handle, but he knew that if he pulled it out, he would die from blood gushing out of the wound.


    The knife was currently stopping the blood from flowing out, so even though he wanted to pull the knife out, he stopped himself from doing so.


    ''Just what in the hell is going on...'' he thought as he looked around, hoping to find a light switch.


    Before he could move towards the walls, he heard soundsing from outside the room. The sound of multiple footsteps entered his ears and that was when he heard voices.


    "Officer, this one. I think this is the ce from where I heard the screams." a mature feminine voice said.


    Not knowing what was going on, Keith lied back on the floor and closed his eyes, feigning ignorance and acting like he was unconscious.


    Lying back on a pool of blood was not really pleasant, but he didn''t know what else he could do as there was a possibility of him being framed.


    "We understand, miss. Can you please stand back for a bit." another voice said, this time masculine, but not too deep.


    Soon after, Keith heard a loud bang on the door. From the sound, he could make a guess that there were at least two or three people trying to kick the door open.


    Three secondster, he heard another bang and the process repeated. On the eighth round of kicks, he heard the door open with a loud bang, but kept his eyes closed and regted his breathing.


    "Stabbed in the stomach area." he heard a man say and a secondter, he felt someone grab his arm and ce two finger on his wrist.


    "There''s a pulse. Hurry and carry him to the hospital nearby! Quick!"


    "Yes sir!" another person said and Keith felt himself being lifted up. The pain in his abdominal area shot up and he was unable to keep acting anymore.


    He opened his eyes and screamed, "Aaarghh! It hurts!!"


    "He''s awake. It''s a good thing, but carry him properly you morons!" the one who seemed to be their leader said and the ones who were carrying Keith slowed down and adjusted their positions so that they could prioritisefort while not sacrificing speed.


    While he was being carried by the four men, he looked around and noticed that he was not in his neighbourhood. Infact, he could tell just by looking at the buildings that he was not in his country either.


    ''Did someone smuggle me for my organs or something?'' he thought to himself, but then he saw a statue of a schrly man in front of arge building.


    ''This... ''


    He couldn''t believe what he was seeing. Even though it was night and the only reliable source of light being the moonlight, he could still make out the general shape and features of the statue as there were multiple oilmps ced around it.


    The statue''s appearance was eerily simr to the description of the god of medicine from the book he had been reading for almost a decade.


    ''The god of medicine, Galen. Did I actually transmigrate? Just what is going on...''


    "Ugh!"


    Another burst of pain assaulted him, but this time, it was just his head. He felt like his skull was being split open with a hammer and the brain was getting squeezed by a giant hand. Unable to bear the pain, he passed out while his body twitched uncontrobly.


    The four people who were carrying him, panicked and increased their speed, not caring about hisfort anymore.


    "Hey! Is any doctor free? We have an emergency situation and someone is about to die!"


    A few seconds after they screamed, a short man ran out of a room and nced at Keith before looking at the policemen, "Stab wound. Follow me."

 Chapter 3: Expensive Hospital fees

    Keith slowly opened his eyes and found himself in a small room, lying on a hard bed. The confusion he had before fainting was no more, and he stared at the ceiling with a calm expression on his face.


    Or at least, that was what it would look like to everyone else other than Keith.


    He stared at therge gacha wheel in front of him and then nced at the red spin button that was below the wheel. He clicked the button mentally and watched the wheel spin for an entire minute.


    There were a lot of sections on the pizza-like gacha wheel along with a small blue dot on the top, but since there were too many of these "sections", Keith didn''t bother counting them. Instead, with just a nce, he could tell that around 60% of the sections were white.


    30% were yellow and around 10% were orange. There were only 3 red sections. All of this was just an approximate estimation based on a simple nce.


    A minuteter, the wheel slowed down and finally stopped at a white section.


    There wasn''t anything written on the wheel, but Keith felt new information pop up in his head.


    ''A revenge system...''


    Thest time he passed out from severe head ache, he received memories of the body he was currently upying and along with that, he had also learned about his so called system administrator abilities.


    The gacha wheel in front of him could grant him a random system which he could then give to others and share a portion of the system user''s abilities.


    ''Unfortunately, I can''t use the systems on myself.'' he thought as he looked at the small white translucent orb.


    This was the system that he had just received, but he was in no hurry to use it.


    ''I''ll have to find someone who''spatible with this. But before that... '' he thought to himself, sighing slightly, ''To think that I''m in the world that I loved so much.... but practically, it''s safer to stay on earth. There''s literal super humans and supernatural beings roaming in the regr streets like normal people.


    If my luck is bad, then I wouldn''t even know how I died. There''s also my new family... and my new past. Too much to digest.''


    While he preferred a life on earth, he also didn''t mind living here as there really was no one waiting for him back at home. He had no kids, his parents were dead and his wife had divorced him. His two close friends were the only ones whom he missed dearly.


    ''Going back to a peaceful world with a miserable life... or a potentially dangerous one where I can start anew. A tough choice, but I can''t really pick the first option anyways.'' he thought as he made up his mind to live a new life, and just as he did, he heard the door of the room creak as it opened.


    A short middle aged man paused as he saw Keith turn his head to look at him and then smiled.


    "You''re finally awake, mister Keith Zenister. Well, it''s been more than three days and you''re currently safe since I patched you up pretty well. Do you remember the person who stabbed you? The police wants to know, so it''ll be nice if you do remember."


    Keith looked at the man and shook his head, "Sorry, it was too dark for me to see his face."


    It was a lie. He did remember how the person who stabbed him looked, but he had no ns on turning the man in. In fact, the person who stabbed him was a friend of his elder brother who had joined a gang almost a year ago.


    His name was Norn, and the reason he hade to Keith was so that he could ask for where his brother was. And the reason for this was that the gang that Keith''s brother had joined, had gone for Norn''s sister.


    It was a ssic revenge story where Keith unfortunately acted aggressive when he saw Norn holding a knife and got stabbed by mistake.


    ''The old me was... kind of a pessimistic person wasn''t he?'' he asked himself before he thought of Norn, his first target for his system.


    The short guy nodded, not caring even a least bit about Keith''s answer, "That''s a pity. Anyways, you were taken care of for three days and we saved you from potential death. The total cost for all of this will be 30 Braks."


    Keith squinted his eyes as he calcted the proper amount.


    The empire that he was currently in, had three different currency denominations. It was akin to bronze, silver and gold in simpler words. Braks were the same as bronze coins, with lowest purchasing power. Zens were simr to silver coins, but Zens were distributed in paper form just like back on earth. It was the same with the strongest currency type which was equivalent to a gold coin; the Chrons.


    1 Zen was same as 20 Braks, and 1 Chron was the same as 50 Zens.


    "So.... 1 zen and 10 braks?" Keith asked, the expression on his face darkening.


    The short man gave him an amicable smile and nodded, "Yes sir, as soon as you pay the fees for your treatment and stay, you''re free to leave."


    Based on the memories he had received after fainting, he knew that he only had a total of 3 zens in savings. With one brak, he could buy a kilo of wheat flour and this much was more than enough for one person to fill his stomach for at least three days.


    He thought about it for a few seconds and sighed, "Okay, but my money is back at home. I''ll have to go back and bring it to you."


    "Sure, I''ll send someone with you. Or will it be fine if Ie with you instead?"


    "Doesn''t matter." Keith replied as he sat up from his bed, not wanting to talk to the man any longer.

 Chapter 4: Revenge System Delivered

    Keith walked back to his house and walked straight to his bed. He then lifted the mattress and grabbed the three notes that he had hidden for a long time.


    From the three notes, he took out two and gave them to the short man who was standing at the door and watched him take out a fat wallet. From the wallet, he took out onerge brownish coin and gave it to Keith.


    "Thank you, sir Keith. I''ll be on my way now." the man said and left the ce. Keith stared at the whitish grey note and the brown coin before sighing. He put both of them into his pocket and walked towards his table.


    He pulled open one of the drawers and grabbed a small leather pouch that had a thin rope tied around the opening. He loosened the rope and looked inside to see different sized coins. The smallest was the size of a bottle cap and had the number 1 written on it.


    The medium sized one was slightlyrger and had the number 5 written on it andstly, there was thergest one which had the number 10 written on it. This was also the same one that Keith received from the short man a few seconds ago.


    There were a total of 7 small coins, 3 medium sized ones and finally, tworge coins including the one that Keith had gotten recently. As for the 1 Zen note, he put it back under his mattress along with two of therger Brak coins.


    He then grabbed a 1 brak coin and snapped his fingers, making a silvery white orb appear out of thin air. With a simple mentalmand, the orb flew into the coin.


    Keith then put this coin in his pocket before tossing the other coins into the leather pouch and tied it to his waist. His current clothes had been washed by the workers at the hospital, but the small hole near his stomach couldn''t be hidden.


    He took off his shirt and turned towards the mirror to take a look at himself.


    A man with ck hair, dark brown eyes and anky build stared back at him. He was pretty tall even though he looked thin. There were barely any muscles on him, and his skin was pale.


    ''Looks like the only thing that the old Keith did, was hole himself in his room and study all day. Though... it''s a pity that he wasn''t able to get good grades in the final exams.


    Keith currently was 22 years old, and had received the results of thew enforcement exam that he had taken a month ago. Through this exam, a person could get three different types of jobs.


    One was awyer certification, second was a position in the police department and finally, the lowest of the three jobs, street patroller.


    ''Based on the results I got... the only option for me is thest one. But if I use connections... then maybe I can try for the police department. Either that, or I''ll have to follow my brother''s footsteps and join a random gang.


    I don''t have the money to be a merchant and nor do I have the license to sell things. Oh well... bing a police officer is safer than joining a gang, so I guess I''ll have to go meet my brother inw as soon as possible.


    But before that, let''s sow the seed of revenge.''


    After making his ns, he walked out of his house and locked the door before heading towards a familiar restobar; a ce that served as both a restaurant and a bar.


    The reason he was going here was because he had seen Norn serving people while he was heading back home from the hospital. It was the ce where Norn worked to make money for his family.


    As for why he was working like nothing had happened? Keith didn''t really know, but seeing that Norn was going through his life like always, it felt like going about his daily life was a better choicepared to disappearing from the city.


    ''If he did disappear after stabbing me, then it would be easy for the cops to pin the me on him even without evidence and once that happens, it''ll be hard for him to life a normal life, let alone search for his sister.''


    He looked at the restobar''s sign and walked towards it. There was an open area outside with multiple tables and then there was ce for people to sit inside too.


    Keith had a n in his mind as he walked inside and the moment he did, he saw Norn who was walking towards one of the tables while holding a mug of beer.


    Since Norn hadn''t noticed him, he silently walked towards him and when Norn turned around after serving the drinks, Keith smiled and waved at him like nothing had happened.


    "Brother Norn, I need some help from you like always." he said as he took out the small coin from his pocket and extended his hand, "I just need some bread so that I can have some food while I travel to my sister''s house."


    Norn stood silently as he stared at him for a few seconds before nodding, "Sure...." he said hesitantly before adding, "I heard that you got stabbed... are you alright?"


    "Oh that." Keith said, "Honestly, I don''t really remember what happened. The only thing I remember is the pain in my abdomen and my head. I woke up in a hospital and those bastards looted my savings!" he said with a pained expression on his face as he ced the coin on Norn''s open palm.


    Norn nodded as he listened and said, "As long as you''re safe, it''s good. Alright, I''ll go bring you the bread you need..."


    He paused for a second before looking at Keith straight in his eyes, "Do you know where your brother currently is?"

 Chapter 5: Unlikable Landlord; Good Bye

    "Yeah, him and his gang''s main base is located in the same district where my sister lives so maybe you''ll find him there. Unfortunately, he''s cut off all contact with me and my sister." Keith said when he heard Norn''s question.


    "Is that so... okay, take a seat and wait for me. I''lle with you since I have something urgent to do and it involves your brother''s gang." Norn said and when he saw Keith''s curious expression, he added, "Don''t ask me about the details, I won''t tell you anything."


    Keith lifted his arms in a surrender position, showing that he won''t ask him anything. He watched Norn walk into the kitchens and looked around.


    This was called Earth, but it was a bit too different for it to be the same as the Earth from where Keith originally came from. Around 20% of the poption underwent something called the "Awakening" between the ages of 3 to 20.


    People got various diverse abilities when they awakened, but all of them were categorised into four types.


    Physical, Elemental, Summoning and Mystic. Physical awakeners would have different forms of physical enhancements like overall strength, vision enhancement, smell, elongation of limbs and what not. Some could even turn invisible.


    Elemental was basically just getting the powers of elements in various forms. Mostmon ones are being able to shoot things from their bodies and the other is to turn their body parts into an element. Like a rock body or ming body.


    Summoning includes the summoning of various things and creatures like swords, spears, bricks, dogs, snakes and even goris. A few of them can summon divine artifacts and supernatural creatures like three headed dogs or staff wielding monkeys.


    Mystic Awakeners were the rarest and also the most diverse types known to mankind. In a sense, everything that didn''t fall into the first three categories would be thrown into this one. Some of them had really weak abilities such as predicting the weather, urately sensing the direction of the winds or being able to listen to the voices of the dead.


    There were also extremely over powered abilities such as future sight, fate alteration, human puppetry and multiple others.


    After a few minutes of waiting, Keith saw Norn walk out of the kitchen with arge bamboo basket filled to the top with bread loafs. Each one was the size of an adult human''s arm.


    "When do you n on leaving and uh... in which district is your sister by the way? After her marriage, I''ve never seen here here so I don''t really know much about her anymore."


    Keith nodded, "Auberg district... but do keep in mind that she''s been married for the past two years and that her husband is a sheriff. I know that you liked her so-"


    Before he could finish his sentence, Norn waved his hands, dismissing his words as he interrupted him, "Don''t worry, I have much more important things to do that to go behind a married woman. Don''t worry too much."


    "If you say so." Keith said as he shrugged before adding, "I''ll leave tomorrow, but if you''re in a hurry, then feel free to leave before me."


    Norn nodded, "Okay, I''ll do that then."


    After saying that, he left the ce while Keith stood silently while watching Norn walk further and further away.


    ''Set condition. Activate system the moment he reaches Auberg district.'' he gave out a mentalmand and saw a slight glow appear around Norn''s body before it dissipated.


    ''Preparations are done... but now I''ll have to focus on my own life.''


    He walked out of the restobar and headed back home. There wasn''t much to do, but he preferred to take his time and go through things thoroughly as this was a life he wasn''t too familiar with. He had received the memories, but he knew that he had no special feelings for his close ones like his sister.


    Once he got back home, he nced at the small calendar that was hung up on the wall and walked straight to his table. While he grabbed the important files that he would need for job hunting, his thoughts wandered.


    ''It''s year 4664 right now... The novel began at the year 4660, which means that 4 years have already passed. rk should currently be in the Morose Kingdom and since I''m in the neighbouring Kazak empire, it''ll take a long time for me to even get a glimpse of his face.


    I''ll focus on gaining personal strength using my system administrator powers first and when the war between the neighbouring kingdoms start, I''ll most probably be able to keep my life intact. If things go well, I should be able to reap some benefits too, like a nobility title.''


    He grabbed his result sheet, his birth certificate and finally, his citizenship certificate. These three were the most useful ones that he had and the others were just contract papers for the rent of his house, admission papers, which were of no use after his graduations and various other unimportant things.


    From under his bed, he pulled out a small suitcase and safely put the three important papers inside along with the money that was under his mattress. Then, he grabbed his fountain pens, ink bottles and two books that he owned before putting those inside the suitcase too.


    Books were extremely pricey, so people from poor backgrounds like Keith, would rent or lease books before returning them.


    There was still quite a lot of space inside, so he stuffed in the two extra pairs of clothes that he had and closed the suitcase.


    "Everything packed and ready to go. There''s no need to talk to thendlord about leaving as long as I leave the contract here." he muttered as he read the contents of the contract.


    There was only one simple condition which said that he could live in this ce as long as he paid the weekly rent.


    ''That guy is too rude, so I don''t really want to talk to him.'' he thought as he made up his mind and got onto his bed, nning to get a good night''s sleep before departing to Auberg District.

 Chapter 6: Mule Carriage

    The next day, Keith grabbed his things and swiftly left the ce after taking the lock that was used to lock the door along with the keys. They were bought by him and not thendlord, so he took them with him.


    "Locks are not cheap." he muttered as he climbed down the wooden stairs and hurried towards the main road closest to him. As he walked on the gravel roads while looking around, he felt like he had travelled back in time to the 1800''s.


    There were no cars or bikes. Instead, he saw a few stray dogs sleeping soundly in the middle of the roads. He ignored them and continued walking until he reached the main road. He looked up and saw that the sky was turning lighter.


    ''The sun is rising... I''m right on time.'' he thought as he walked along the main road and after a few minutes, he saw a bunch of carriages lined up.


    There were Oxen, buffaloes, donkeys, mules and horses silently standing while strapped to their respective carriages.


    Different animals cost different prices and served different purposes too.


    Oxen and buffaloes were used for carrying heavy loads, in short, they were equivalent to mini trucks back on Earth.


    Donkeys could be used for both heavy loads or regr travelling, but there was a limit to how much they could pull.


    Mules were the same as Donkeys, but cost more and didn''t provide goods carrying services. In short, they were like regr cabs.


    Horses on the other hand, were faster and only used to bring people from one ce to another. They did the same thing as mules, but were faster.


    Keith looked around and after a while, walked towards a man who was petting one of his two mules.


    "I''d like to go to Auberg district. How much will you charge?"


    The man thought about it for a second before answering, "It''s pretty far from here. The journey will take around two days in total, so ten braks."


    Keith nodded, "Sure. I''m the only one travelling, so maybe it''ll be better for me to wait for someone who want''s to go to Auberg and share the carriage with them."


    The carriage driver nodded, "As you wish, but since we''ll have to wait for someone else, I''ll have to increase to cost to 12 braks in total. If you split the money, you''ll still have to pay only 6 brakspared to 10."


    "Okay." Keith said as he shrugged. The first reason to share a carriage was of course, to save money.


    And the second reason was that he simply wanted to go to Auberg a littlete.


    After settling the deal with the carriage driver, he got into the carriage and closed his eyes.


    With a mentalmand, a system screen appeared in front of him.


    Revenge System


    User: Norn Sambucha


    Capabilities: Passively gathers information from the surroundings and creates quests to achieve a sessful revenge.


    System Tax: Copy of Norn''s awakened ability or physical money.


    Keith looked at the system tax and was pleasantly surprised. System Tax was basically what he would receive from Norn for giving him the revenge system. He could either choose money, or Norn''s ability which he didn''t really know about.


    ''He did a good job at keeping it a secret... it''s either that, or even he doesn''t know that he''s an awakened.'' he thought as he clicked on the system tax option and saw a new screen pop up in front of him.


    [Please choose the tax you wish to ept.]


    Without any hesitation, he picked the awakened ability and the moment he did, he felt a slight shock in his entire body. His head was the only thing the hurt, while the rest of his body seemed normal.


    As the information about Norn''s awakened ability entered his mind, he let out a slight smile.


    ''Danger Instinct huh.... it''s simr to spidey sense in a way.'' he thought as he looked around, only to feel no difference.


    ''A passive ability. Oh well, this thing could potentially save my life multiple times so it''s way better than getting an ability to summon weapons or offensive animals. Survivability should always be my first priority.''


    Keith''s personal ability was to give systems to others, but through this, he could slowly amass multiple abilities and grow stronger in various areas. When he was stuffed with information of his past and his powers, he had learned a few important things when it came to the usage of the gacha wheel and the systems.


    First was the limit to the number of people who could simultaneously use the systems and his current limit was one person. As he''d give systems to more and more people, this limit would slowly increase.


    White systems were short term systems like the revenge system that he had recently received, and would disappear once the user was done with their tasks like aplishing their desire for revenge. In this scenario, he could receive the tax right at the start.


    Yellow systems were around the same level as white systems when it came to the "features" or "help" that they provided to their users, but there was a slight difference between them. While white systems were short term, the yellow ones were long term and could stay with the user until they died or until Keith let them have the system.


    In this scenario, he could receive monthly taxes and these taxes could be in any form, such as money, physical strength, awakened abilities or a copy of a random item that is rted to the user.


    Next was the Orange systems and these were the same as White systems, but gave out overpowered abilities to the users.


    Red on the other hand, was the same as Yellow systems. Long term systems, but just like orange, extremely overpowered.


    As he thought about Norn and his system abilities, he silently made up his mind.


    ''If I get the chance, I''ll actively help out Norn with his goals. The sooner hepletes his revenge, the sooner I''ll be able to use the gacha wheel again.''

 Chapter 7: Leveraging Connections

    He didn''t have to wait for long, as a well dressed man climbed into the carriage and sat beside Keith silently without saying anything. Since the man didn''t wish to speak, Keith didn''t initiate a conversation either and sat silently for the entire journey.


    There was also the fact that the little finger of his left hand had begun to twitch the moment the man got into the carriage. This was the first sign that danger sense gave him, which also meant that the danger level was minimal.


    Not wanting to take any risks, he decided to not talk unless talked to.


    It took him a total of two days to get to Auberg district and once the carriage reached it''s destination, Keith paid the carriage driver and silently walked away.


    ''Weird guy.'' hemented inwardly as he thought of the man who sat beside him for two whole days without saying a word.


    He shook off his thoughts and used his memories to follow the route to his sister''s house, which wasn''t too far away from where he currently was. A few left and right turns, and he found himself standing in front of a well maintained house.


    From what he knew, it was a duplex house and had a total of three bedrooms. One on the first floor and two bedrooms on the second.


    There wasn''t any space in front of the house and nor was there any gate. The door directly opened to the street, like most of the houses in the Kazak Empire. The people barely had any frontyars orwns, but instead, they usually had pretty spacious backyards.


    ''Though, only the ones who have enough money to buy such properties, have the luxury of having empty space behind their homes.'' he thought as he knocked the door.


    A few secondster, he heard the locking mechanism on the door clicking. Unlike his previously rented room, this door had a built in lock.


    As the door slowly opened, he saw a familiar face and this brought a smile to his face even though he didn''t intend to smile.


    The young woman in front of him was his sister who was two years older than him. Compared to Keith who was extremely thin and malnutritioned, she looked pretty healthy. She had the same ck hair and dark brown eyes as Keith, but was shorter than him by half a foot.


    Before Keith could say anything, she frowned as she gave him a worried look, "Keith... did you... get into a gang like your brother? If that is the case, then you should not be here! You know that my husband is a sheriff right?"


    "Reba, you should calm down." Keith replied as he shook his head with a wry smile on his face, "I''m just here for some help. You know, like leveraging my connections."


    "Oh." Reba said, pausing for a second as she took a good look at her brother before nodding, "Come inside then, what are you waiting for? What help do you want though? If it''s money, then I should be able to talk to Adam about it."


    "Talk about what?"


    Hearing this not-so-familiar voice, Keith turned to look at a moderately tall man who stood at around 5 foot 7 inches. He had dirty blonde hair and an above average face, the focal point being his moustache which he had apparently been growing for more than a decade.


    "Oh, brother Adam. I didn''t know you were here." Keith said, his tone polite. He then gave Adam a slight nod before continuing, "It''s nothing. I don''t need money, but it is rted to money. I''m just trying to look for better job opportunities."


    Saying that, he opened his suitcase and grabbed his exam certificate before giving it to Adam, who silently took it and grinned.


    "Oh, so you want a job that''s better than a street patroller and you came to me because I''m a shriff." Adam said as he twirled his moustache, acting wise.


    Keith nodded, "Yes. And just like you, I''m an awakened. Unfortunately, I realised this a bit toote and because of that, I''m unregistered."


    Adam nced at Keith and went back to the exam certificate before nodding, "Follow me. Oh, and just leave your suitcase here. We''re going to get you registered and with that, I''ll have the power to appoint you under me."


    Grinning, Keith followed behind Adam and as they walked along the rtively empty streets, he spoke, "What''s the n though? Are we registering under the Empire''s direct order, or are we going to one of the churches?"


    "That''s your call." Adam said as he turned to look up at Keith who was taller than him, "Registering under the Empire will give you more benefitspared to the churches. Like, monthly bonuses, first priority for promotions, tax exemptions and multiple other things. If your awakened ability is really good, then the Empire might even give you freend and a house.


    As for churches, they have their own set of benefits. They aren''t rted or attached to any country, kingdom or empire, so they''re not too effected by wars as the churches remain untouched even if an entire country is turned upside down.


    Apart from that, there is a chance of you being able to go to other kingdoms as a part of your duty. The pay isn''t as high as the Empire, but you''ll have a lot more freedom. Also, unlike random bonuses, the churches give extra rewards based on your performance and let me tell you! Those extra rewards are too damn good!"


    He patted his slightly bulging belly and grinned, "Unfortunately, myzy ass won''t be cut out for churches. Picking the Empire a few years ago was a good choice for me, but things are different when ites to different people. I want you to make your own decision."


    Keith nodded and said nothing. He already knew everything about the churches. Their strengths and weaknesses wereid bare in front of him for more than a decade, so here was no way he would ever forget about them, especially his favorite church.

 Chapter 8: A New Job

    There were more than ten gods, but when it came to churches, there were only five. The ones who did not have churches were the ones who did not have to depend on the actions of humans to maintain their godhood.


    An example of this would be the Goddess of Life. It didn''t matter what the humans did, as she got her divinity through the "life". The birth and growth of humans, nts and various creatures on this gave her nourishment and she also never interfered in the matters of the humans.


    Not unless there was mass destruction involved.


    Then there were the gods with churches, the ones who depended on the actions of humans. The gods and goddesses of Money, War, Medicine, Art and Protection.


    There were more churches, but these five were the major ones that had presence in every single country, kingdom and empire. The strongest among these five, was the Golden Church of the God of Money as it had the highest number of believers, warriors, priests and servants.


    "I guess I''ll pick the Church of Protection. I have no interest in the others." Keith said as he looked at his brother inw.


    He was in-fact, very interested in the Golden Church of the God of Money, but he already knew their true nature so he stayed away from them.


    ''The upper echelon of the money church are too evil. They act all good on the outside, but in reality they do some of the most despicable things ever known to mankind.''


    Adam who was walking beside Keith, nodded as he took a right turn and continued to walk, "Protection ey? I was pretty sure that you''d choose money."


    "Well... wealth is fleeting. It''s like water, moving from one person to another just like how water moves from one ce to another. I feel like working for the Goddess of Protection will give me a better sense of aplishmentpared to getting a lot of money and spending it on random things." he said as he made something up on the spot.


    The two of them continued to talk until they reached the Church of Protection. Just from the outside, Keith could tell that the description in the novel did not do it justice.


    There was a huge open space at the front and there were some people walking around in full metal armor. The gate was open, so Keith walked inside with Adam right beside him. The main building could be summarised to be built in a U formation from a top view.


    He walked towards the left and followed the paved path until he reached the main door, which was extremelyrge, but was open. Theyout of the church was pretty simplistic and even the paint on the walls was in white.


    "Follow me." Adam whispered as he took a right the moment he entered the church''s main hall. There wasn''t any door, but Keith saw him stop in front of an armoured guard.


    He pointed at Keith and said, "Sir, I''m here with my brother inw to get him a job. Would you be kind enough to tell us where to go? He''s an awakener who wishes to serve the Goddess of Protection."


    ".... Awakener. I have no say in this matter, but sure, I''ll tell you where to go so you can get to the one in charge."


    The two of them listened to the directions he gave and headed off. The one who was in charge of this particr church was a priest and to get registered as an awakener under the church, Keith had to go to him.


    Keith and Adam walked along the lengthy corridors before stopping in front of arger than normal door way. There were two doors on either sides, but unlike the entrance, they were closed.


    Adam took a step forward and knocked.


    "Please enter." they heard a male voice and pushed the door open before walking inside.


    "Father, my brother inw here is an unregistered awakened and would like to join the church." he said as he ced Keith''s results sheet on the table in front of the priest before continuing, "He''s studiedw and justice, so I feel like he''ll be a good asset for the church."


    The priest lifted up his hand, his palm facing Adam. The moment Adam saw this, he fell silent.


    "You, wait outside." the priest said as he pointed at Adam and then turned to look at Keith, "As for you, we''ll talk one on one."


    Keith nodded and watched Adam leave and once he did, the priest spoke up once again, "What''s your ability?"


    "Danger sense. It''s like the sixth sense, but I can predict danger instinctually. I don''t really know if it is physical or mystic ability."


    The priest nodded when he heard his answer, "It''s a useful ability. As for it''s ssification, it doesn''t really matter. Hmm... danger sense huh? It''ll be really useful in certain situations and it''s a good thing that you picked the goddess of protection. Since you''re here to join us, I''m assuming that you won''t have any problem with me assigning you a job?"


    "...." Keith went silent for a few seconds before nodding, "I''m hoping that I''ll be given a job where I can perform well."


    "Sure, don''t worry about those small matters. Giving you a job where you can use your ability to the fullest is something we want too, not just you. Anyways, talking about the job, you''ll be working as a detective. The cases we get will mostly involve one party that needs protection from the unknown.


    It would be a regr person, or an awakener and as a detective, it''ll be your job to find out who this attacker could be and the protection of the client will also fall under your jurisdiction. Don''t worry too much about it. After all, you won''t be forced to fight people directly. You''ll be a part of the team and it''ll be your job to warn them if you sense danger.


    Now then, if you understood whatever I''ve said until now, we can move on to discussing your weekly pay."

 Chapter 9: Value of Danger Sense

    The next day, early in the morning.


    Keith stopped in front of a small inn in the Auberg district. The inn had no name, but was still pretty famous due to the low prices and tasty food. He walked inside and saw a room filled with tables and chairs.


    Beside the counter, was a door which had the sign "closed" hung up on it. Not caring about the sign, he walked towards the door and opened it.


    The woman who was silently wiping the empty beer bottles nced at the ring on his finger and continued to do her work without interfering.


    He walked inside and saw that the room was pretty spacious. Exactly opposite to the door and currently in front of him, was arge bookshelf filled with books. With all of them having leather covers.


    There was no space to his right, but a few meters to his left, was a decently sized table and behind it was argefy chair on which a middle aged man sat.


    To the right of the table, and beside the bookshelf, was arge couch where twodies were sitting. To the left of the table, was a rocking chair and sitting on it was another middle aged man, but unlike the first one, his hair was greying at certain areas.


    All four of them nced at his hand and noticed a familiar ring. The twodies and the man on the rocking chair turned to look at their leader, who was the head detective.


    "New blood in the team, huh? I did get a letter talking about you, but... you''re too... how do I say this? Not really fit for this job. Can you even lift a book without shaking?" he asked as he grabbed a thick book that was on his table and tossed it towards Keith, who hurriedly caught it.


    It wasn''t really hard to hold it, but seeing that no one said anything, he continued to hold it while staring at the head detective. It soon turned into a staring contest, which Keith lost after a minute as his hands really began to shake under the weight of the book.


    "Well, the result is better than what I expected but you really should work on eating well. We have no use for weak people in this department you know?"


    Keith nodded before sighing, "I apologise, but there really was nothing I could do about my food when I was struggling financially."


    It was far from the truth as the old Keith simply gave too much importance to moneypared to his own well being. This in turn led him to eat only one meal a day. This was also the reason why he had quite a bit of savings.


    "Understandable. My name is Brandon and I''m this department''s head detective. All the cases will go through me and you''re not allowed to take up cases without my permission. Also, no matter what happens, you must never move alone during your job. Always have at least one person with you at all times."


    "I understand, Sir Brandon."


    Brandon nodded, satisfied with Keith''s professionalism even though he wasn''t too happy with Keith''s current physique.


    "Good. Now that we have a total of five people, I can take some rest from personally acting on cases with you guys. Anyways, what was your weekly sry again? It was written in the letter somewhere but I didn''t really pay any attention to it."


    "Two Zens per week, sir." Keith replied, his eyes betraying his expectations for the money that he was supposed to get.


    The moment the words left his mouth, he heard a yelp from the right and turned to see the younger one of the twodies staring at him in shock.


    "Wha.. I mean how is your pay higher than mine? I joined one year before you and even after my pay raise, I only get one Zen and fifteen Braks each week! This is discrimination!" sheined before turning to re at the head detective.


    Brandon simply shrugged, "You''re paid based on the value your abilities provide to the department, not by your damn genders. ra is a clear example of that, don''t you think so?"


    The guy sitting on the rocking chair quipped in, "Right, I''m the oldest here but both ra and Brandon make more money than me hahahaha. Experience and loyalty matters, but our abilities are the ones that put a value on our heads."


    Hearing the oldest of the team speak, the girl didn''t really know what to say or do other than pout while looking away.


    Keith on the other hand, had a question that popped up due to the interaction just now. He turned to look at the guy on his left, who was sitting on the rocking chair and asked.


    "Sir, does that mean that my ability is valuable?"


    "Of course, and you''re currently joining us as a trainee. Amelia there joined directly as an employee. Your danger sense is focused on survival and that alone gives it a lot of importance, but after reading the details of your power, we realised that it could be used to verify our clients'' ims.


    Once you be an official employee, which will happen at around one month from now if your performance is good, you''ll be the one with the highest pay among us as your weekly pay will be doubled.


    We''re not counting the special bonuses we''ll get forpleting the requests from our clients, but if we include that, you''ll be getting the highest share among all of us here."


    Keith nodded as the gears in his brain turned.


    His danger sense ability worked in a simple way. He could sense danger from certain people and if he did sense danger from someone, it would mean two things.


    One was that the person themselves had intention of harming him and the second scenario was that the person would be involved in something dangerous, which would then indirectly harm him if he stayed too close to them or got involved with them.


    Due to this, his danger sense could be used to confirm whether the clients really had someone who wanted to harm them. Then, it could also be used as a alerting mechanism which would boost survivability if he stayed close to the clients.


    As danger got close to them, Keith would feel it and could alert his teammates who would then take action.

 Chapter 10: Restricted Weapon

    Keith was someone who had read the novel, and since he had read about a lot of extremely broken awakened abilities, he had never really given much importance to his danger sense other than treat it like a sign that''ll help him survive.


    "If that''s the case, then I''ll do my best to fulfill my role in the team, sir." Keith said respectfully before adding, "As for the bonuses... I''m fine with dividing it equally."


    In reality, he didn''t really wish to let go of his extra bonuses, but if he wished to maintain a good rtionship with his colleagues, this could potentially be the best way to earn their goodwill. The more they liked him, the better they would treat him.


    And as he had expected, the expressions on their faces changed while the girl called Amelia jumped up from the couch excitedly.


    "I like this new guy hehehe." she said as she looked at the others and grinned.


    Keith looked at her and smiled.


    She had a lot of simrities to the Kazak Empire''s natives; the signature ck hair tied up in a neat pony tail. Her hair was smooth and straight and she had dark brown eyes.


    Amelia could be considered tall for ady as she stood at around 5 foot 7 inches just like Keith''s brother inw, Adam. Just from one look, Keith could tell that she had a well toned body.


    Her figure could be considered perfect when it came to Kazak Empire''s beauty standards as men preferred t chested and t assed women for some reason.


    Keith on the other hand, had different tastes. To him, thedy beside Amelia was more to his preferences when it came to women.


    Since ra was still sitting, he couldn''t make out her height, but the rest wasn''t a problem. Just like Amelia, she had ck hair, but instead of being straight, her hair was wavy and it also had a silky lustre.


    Dark brown eyes, like the others but the way she dressed gave her a mature aura.


    Amelia wore a regr full sleeved white shirt and formal ck pants. The uniform of the department included a suit, but a single nce was enough to tell that she wasn''t wearing one.


    ra on the other hand, wore the suit and this alone made a huge difference. She didn''t exactly fit the beauty standards of this empire, but she certainly caught Keith''s eye.


    He looked away as he didn''t want to cause misunderstandings, but his mind was upied.


    ''Romance isn''t an option, at least not now. I''ll focus on improving my powers using my system administrator ability, but for how, I''ll go with the flow.''


    He turned to look at Brandon before speaking, "Sir Brandon, I was told that I''ll receive two sets of uniforms tailored specifically for me."


    "Oh that." Brandon said as he eyed him before nodding, "Sure, but not tailored."


    After saying that, he bent down to his left and pulled up a package wrapped in paper, "Here, based on your measurements, we got two standard sets for you. They''ll be loose for now, but I''m hoping that you''ll fit into them in the near future."


    "As for your weekly sry, you can get it from the owner of the inn. She''s actually a nun of our church and is in charge of our finances. So, if you need anything that isn''t rted to a client''s request, then she''s the person to go to."


    Keith nodded as he took a step forward to take the package and then walked out so the could receive his joining fee.


    Giving money to neers was a rule imposed by the empire and the churches also followed them. On the other hand, the ones who got the job would have no other choice but to work for a minimum of six months or pay three times the joining amount as a fine if they wish to leave early.


    This way, the poor people would be able to afford things that are required for the job, like new clothes. Corrupt ces that made use of this rule to exploit neers would be weeded out by the empire.


    As Keith opened the door, he heard a voice from behind him, "Use that money to buy yourself a weapon. You already received your uniform, so there''s no need for more clothes."


    "Understood."


    Saying that, he closed the door behind him and walked to the inn''s counter, only to see the woman give him a warm smile.


    "Congrattions on the job. Here''s the joining bonus." she said as she took out one silvery grey note from the pocket that was on her apron and ced it on the counter.


    Keith nced at the 10 Zen note and paused as he stared at it for a few seconds. While he had read about one person having thousands of Gold Chron notes, he personally had never been able to save up more than 5 zen in his entire life.


    ''And now, I''m getting 10 Zen just like that... I wonder how much I would have gotten if I joined the Money Church.'' he thought as he silently took the money and thanked the woman before leaving.


    His next destination wasn''t too far away, so after walking for a while, he stopped in front of a shop that said, "General Bett''s Weapon Store" and headed inside.


    The area was small. There was one counter in front of him like many other shops that he had visited, but there weren''t too many weapons on disy.


    On the wall, from the left to right, was a knife, a pair of knuckles, a short sword, a rapier, a small metal shield andstly, a regr long sword.


    He took out a folded piece of paper from his pocket and ced it on the counter before showing the ring to the old man in front of him.


    "I''m from the Church of Goddess of Protection and I wish to buy a restricted weapon on a loan. I''ll give you my Awakener Registration certificate as a coteral."

 Chapter 11: Double Action Revolver

    The old man, who was a retired general of the Empire''s army nodded as he took the paper and read the contents to verify if it was an original or not. Once he was done with it, he sighed, "Understood, but which weapon would you like to buy? Poisons or tranquilizers?"


    "A revolver, general Bett. As you can see, I''m not really cut out forbat, so the most efficient method of keeping my life intact is by having a weapon that doesn''t rely too much on skill and the quality of my physique."


    Bett stared at Keith for a while, deep in thought before nodding, "If you want to, then okay. No one must know about the revolvers at this point... so who told you about it? The priest?"


    "Sheriff Adam, he''s my brother inw."


    "Ah. Makes sense then. After all, he''s the one who used to provides us with ammo. The ability to create 12 bullets every day might not be much, but is extremely useful for the empire." he said as he nodded after finally understanding everything.


    Keith smiled in response, "Yeah, I''m d that my sister married someone as important as him."


    "Hahahah yes yes, she''s very lucky. Come with me and pick the revolver you want. Also, consider it a gift from this old man. Your family has helped me a lot, especially Adam."


    "If that''s the case, then I thank you wholeheartedly, General Bett."


    Bett waved his hand, showing that it doesn''t matter and walked into the store room that was behind the store with Keith silently following behind him.


    This room way way bigger than the actual shop and Keith saw multiple daggers, and every single weapon that was disyed outside. There were at least a hundred of each kind.


    He followed Bett to the end of the room and stopped in front of arge wooden box that did not have a lid on top. Inside the box, were multiple other boxes that had various luxurious finishes. Some boxes were polished until they reflected light and some had extremely intricate designs carved onto them.


    In Keith''s eyes, those boxes would have had more value in his oldpared to the revolvers themselves.


    He watched as Bett took out every single box and ced them on a table nearby. In total there were twelve boxes and out of these twelve, there were three different groups.


    Six boxes looked in, but were polished well along with having a small carving that said, "God Of War"


    Four boxes were painted ck and had a wax seal which showed the symbol of the Empire, which was basically a pce with a sun on top.


    Next were the two unique boxes. Both of them had intricate designs carved onto them and had no symbols or wax seals on them.


    Bett opened up one box that said "God Of War", one that had the wax seal of the empire and thest two boxes which had unique carvings on them.


    All four of them had revolvers inside them, but all of them had their own differences.


    Bett pointed at the first revolver, "This one is created by the craftsmen from the War Church. It''s cylinder can hold four bullets, but it has a unique mechanism where the entire cylinder detaches from the revolver so that you can quickly load up another cylinder."


    "This one is created by the empire and is the most basic one among all. While it is basic, it''s extremely reliable. It has five bullet chambers in the cylinder and uses stronger bulletspared to the Revolver from the War Church. This means longer ranger and higher attack power. Look, even the barrel is longer." he said as he lifted up the revolver, showing Keith the differences.


    Then, he picked up the two revolvers that were in two unique boxes.


    "These two... were crafted by individual craftsmen, so I can''t vouch for their reliability. But it''s my job to tell you about the weapons, so let''s continue."


    He lifted his left hand indicating that he was about to talk about the revolver in his left hand, "This one can also hold a maximum of six bullets, but the one thing that differentiates this one from the revolver issued by the empire is that this one is... let me remember... oh yeah, a double action revolver.


    Regr revolvers require you to pull the hammer back after you take a shot, but this one does it on it''s own. Which means that technically, you can shoot more in less time if you''re inexperienced with revolvers.


    Next, the one in my right hand is also made by the same guy. This one is also a double action revolver, but has a smaller barrel. This one will be easier to carry and hidepared to the others and it also uses the same bullets as the Empire''s revolver."


    Keith nodded, understanding what Bett was trying to say as he had already seen the bullets that Adam conjured out of thin air. They perfectly fit with the Empire''s revolvers and based on his old life''s knowledge, he could tell that these bullets were the same as 9mm bullets.


    He thought about it for a while and really liked the fourth revolver as he could easily hide on his body and move about freely. He didn''t care too much about range as he never nned on using the gun to snipe people more than a 100 meters away.


    "General Bett... I really like the fourth one, but I don''t know what to do since you told me that you can''t vouch for it''s reliability."


    Bett nodded, understanding what Keith was trying to say, "Yeah, I get it but you''re free toe exchange it whenever you want. After all, you''re going to have to practice with this first before using it on criminals."


    "That''s right." Keith said, nodding as that was exactly his n. He was from a country that had strict regtions when it came to the possession of fire arms, so he never had much of an experience rted to shooting.

 Chapter 12: First Death

    "Then just take it and have some fun. If youe across any problems, then I''ll exchange it for something else. I''ve been using the same craftsman''s revolvers for the past two years and I haven''t experienced any problems. Unfortunately, I''ve heard that some nobles areining about these revolvers failing randomly."


    Hearing this, Keith frowned as he remembered a character from the novel who had a history in crafting revolvers but had a lot of resistance from the nobles of the empire.


    "Will it be possible for you to tell me this craftsman''s name?"


    "Alvlin Bragus, that''s his name."


    Keith nodded and left the weapons store with the box in hand. The first thing he did was to go back to his sister''s house and hid the box in the guest room which he was allowed to stay at temporarily.


    Once he was done, he opened up the package and wore his uniform in front of the mirror.


    The suit wasn''t exactly luxurious as it wasn''t made of silk, which was the go to fabric type used by the nobles. Instead, every single piece of his uniform was made of cotton.


    ''From the texture, it looks like it''s high quality. To think that I''m getting something like this for free... hmm... feels nice actually.'' he thought as he put them on.


    They were slightly lose as he was extremelynky, but he didn''t really pose much of a problem as he could use a belt to keep his pants from falling off. He looked different in the uniformpared to his regr clothes.


    "I like this professional look better." hemented as he looked at his reflection.


    The uniform consisted of twopulsory pieces and the other two were optional. Thepulsory ones were the formal shirt and pants while the optional ones were the waistcoat and the zer.


    Keith liked the look of wearing all four of them, but then he took out a trench coat from the package and put it on after taking off his zer.


    ''With this, it''ll be easier to hide my revolver and there are a lot of pockets too. Will be very useful if used right.'' he thought as he nodded at his reflection before taking off the uniform. He then grabbed the two trench coats and the two zers before heading out of his room.


    He walked straight to the Kitchen where his sister mostly was during this time and saw her sitting on a chair with her back faced towards the door. Just from a nce, he could tell that she was breastfeeding her second child who was only four months old at the moment.


    "Reba? I need your help with something." he said, announcing his arrival while standing at he kitchen''s entrance.


    She turned around and looked at him, "What is it?"


    "Just need you to stitch me a holder for my uniform. Four in total, here''s my zers and trench coats."


    Reba nodded and turned back to look at her baby, "Okay, leave them in the living room and I''ll do it for you. I''ll have one ready by tomorrow so that you won''t have problems going to work tomorrow."


    She then paused for a second before hurriedly pulling her son off of her and fixed her clothes. She turned around and looked at Keith with a surprised look on her face, "You got a damn revolver?! How did you even know about them? Wait don''t tell me..."


    Keith gave her a nk and confused look, "Was I not supposed to know?"


    "You just... just go back to your room. Adam will be hearing form me tonight and I won''t go easy on him. I don''t care if he goes and drinks with his buddies at night but there''s no way I''m tolerating it when he nonchntly gives my brother a damn murder weapon!" she spat furiously as she red at Keith even though she was angry at her husband.


    The corners of Keith''s lips rose up for a second before he opened his mouth to speak.


    "Reba, listen. From today onwards, I''ll be working with the detectives of the church to both protect people who might have a chance of getting attacked, and also trying to subjugate the attackers. I''ll need a weapon to protect both myself and the clients. Think about it logically, yeah?" he said as he walked towards her and gave her a hug.


    "I''m d that you''re worried about me, but you shouldn''t be angry at Adam you know? This weapon could potentially save my life and it''s a fact that my job is a dangerous one."


    His eyes were on his baby nephew who was staring at him from the top of the kitchen counter as he patted his sister''s back, trying to calm her down.


    Reba said nothing for a few seconds before letting out a sigh.


    "Fine, I understand. Just... don''t be like Robert."


    Keith nodded and pulled himself away from her before nodding with a smile on his face. Seeing him smile, even Reba couldn''t hold herself back and giggled instead.


    "You bastard of a brother, you never hugged me before heiheihei. Anyways, you said you have a revolver right?"


    "I never did. You just assumed that I did but you''re right, I do have a revolver and they use the same bullets that Adam can create, so I n on asking him to give me some that he has been saving for all this time."


    Reba nodded, "Don''t worry about that. While going out tomorrow, you''ll see a small box at the entrance so just take that and go. If you need extra bullets, just ask me."


    "You''re the best sis! Love you!" Keith eximed as he grinned ear to ear and left he kitchen.


    As he walked back to his room, the expression on his face turned serious as a translucent screen appeared in front of him.


    [The host of the Revenge System has perished.]


    Cause of death: Stab wound, excessive blood loss.


    Would you like to rey the host''s death scene?


    Yes || No

 Chapter 13: First Target Acquired

    Keith first made sure that he was in his room and then locked the door before clicking on "Yes".


    His surroundings immediately changed and he found himself standing in an extremely small room small room.


    There was barely enough space for three people to sleep side by side and that was it. In a sense, it looked like a Japanese inte cafe''s cabin but without aputer.


    It didn''t take Keith any effort to spot Norn who was sleeping soundly on the bed that took up half of the room''s space. His suitcase was neatly ced beside his bed.


    A few seconds passed in silence until he saw the door open slightly. Frowning, he observed the person who had just opened the door and noticed that he was wearing a in reddish brown y mask.


    The man silently walked in, took out a dagger and swiftly brought it down at Norn''s neck, puncturing it. Before Norn could move even a bit, the masked man held him down for a few seconds until he died.


    Once he was done, he let go of Norn and stood still while looking down at the person he had just killed.


    "You might be lucky in evading us all this while, but looks like your luck runs out now. Or maybe just like Boss said, you could be an awakened with the ability to stay lucky. Does your luck go back to normal when you sleep? I better tell this to boss." he muttered as he continued to stare at Norn''s dead body.


    He then took out a small circr object and ced it on the stab wound before leaving the ce.


    Suddenly, a lot of smoke surrounded Keith and he was back in his room a secondter.


    ''...'' he stared at the wall in front of him in silence for a few seconds before taking a seat on his bed.


    ''Luck runs out when you sleep huh? I didn''t know about that... and I need to test it out.'' he thought as he imagined the gacha wheel.


    The moment he did, it appeared in front of him and this time, he felt a little more "powerful" like something within him had grown. In just one nce at the wheel, he could tell that it''s size increased.


    There was a slight change too, a very slight change. The white area was the same, but the others increased in width along with the increase in the wheel''s size. The increase was extremely small, so he didn''t really think that it would make much of a difference from the first time he had used it.


    ''Increase in my abilities... it should only be possible if Norn aplished his mission, which is revenge but I never received a notification about it. Oh well, it''s not like I won''t ept freebies.''


    He mentally pushed the spin button that was at the bottom of the wheel and saw it spin for an entire minute before slowing down. He watched in anticipation as he slowed down near a yellow section and was excited until he slightly moved forward to stop at a white one.


    "White again..." he muttered as the information about the new system flooded his mind.


    He closed his eyes and waited until he digested the information. Once he did, he nodded to himself as he looked up at the gacha wheel that still hadn''t vanished. But unlike before, there was a huge difference.


    There were only white sections on the wheel this time and the rest were nowhere to be seen.


    ''So now I can give two systems simultaneously as long as they''re both low level ones.'' he came to a conclusion as he pressed the spin button once again and waited for the cycle to repeat.


    Information flooded his mind and once he was done absorbing everything, he let out a smile.


    "To think that I''d be able to merge them together... but should I do it?" he asked himself and sat silently to think about it. A few minutes passed and once he made up his mind, he silently walked out of the house to search for his new system hosts.


    At this point, he had no solid goals to invest too much into one single person. Instead, he wished for instantaneous growth, which would work only if he gave his system to two different people and took something from them as a tax; notably their awakened powers but he didn''t mind taking their physicality as that was what he currentlycked at the moment.


    Keith''s first stop was the Church of the Money God. Unlike the Goddess of Protection''s Church which was simplistic, this one was adorned with gold sculptures. The stone walls were beautifully carved and there were a lot of paintings hung up on the inside of the church.


    As he was walking towards the confession room, which was also called the confessional and on the way, he spotted three guards escorting a youngdy from the other side of the room.


    All the churches had a simryout, so Keith could tell that they were bringing her in to make her a part of their church. And with three escorts like that, there was a high chance of this person being someone important, or someone who had recently awakened.


    ''Based on her clothes, she''s a middle ss family''s child and based on the policies of the Money church, there''s a high chance that her parents gave her away to the church and received money in return.'' he thought as he followed the four with his eyes until they left the main hall.


    After having acquired his target, he had no wish to stay her anymore, but he continued to walk toward the confessional and bbered nonsense. He was then forcefully pushed to donate money to the church, so he took out a small brak coin and pushed it into the donation box''s opening slit.


    Once done, he headed out of the church and went straight to the district''s training area that was right beside the empire''s army barracks.

 Chapter 14: The Maidens Pub

    The training ground was a ce were the Empire''s Military squadron that was deployed here for emergency, trained. Or at least, that was how it was supposed to be, but the only thing Keith saw was an empty ground.


    Not knowing what to do, he turned to look at the guard who was standing at the entrance of the training grounds.


    "Excuse me, why is the ground empty? I thought that the soldiers were supposed to be training here."


    "Oh that. Today is one of their birthdays so they went to party. They''ll be at a maiden''s pub if you wish to meet someone."


    Seeing that he got all the information he needed without having to ask much, he thanked the man and left to look for the pub. He asked the locals for directions and it took him some time to find the pub.


    ''.... so it''s that kind of pub.'' he mused internally as he walked in and saw approximately 20 men talking loudly while some of them touched the waitresses at inappropriate ces. The waitresses themselves did not mind, as this was a ce that encouraged such behavior.


    If they got a client, then it was an easy 1 to 3 Zen in their pockets.


    Keith didn''t pay any attention to the waitresses as he had other goals; to find a man who had an extremely good physique or someone who had awakened.


    As he walked towards an empty chair, his mind was on full gear as he tried to make up a way in which he could get information on every single soldier who was in this pub.


    For physique, his eyes were enough. But if he wished to know about their awakening, then he needed more than his eyes toe to a conclusion.


    As a waitress passed by, he signaled to her by raising his hand, showing that he had something to order. Seeing here to him with a glowing smile on her face, Keith smiled back and said, "Can I get a bottle of gin please?"


    "Just one, sir?" she asked with a stiff smile on her face.


    Seeing her expression change, Keith couldn''t help but sigh internally. Gin was the cheapest alcohol avable in the empire, and ordering something like that in a pub such as this, only meant one thing; Not a potential client to sell prostitution services to.


    "How much does one cost?" he asked her a question in return, instead of answering.


    She took a second to stare at him and then her expression changed even further, "You''ll get five bottles for one brak." she said with a scowl before adding, "So, how many would you like?"


    Seeing her act like this, Keith suddenly got an idea. He turned to look at the people at the bar and then shifted his gaze back to her, "I''ll take five."


    "O oh..." she stammered before adding, "I''ll get it for you sir, please make yourselffortable."


    He silently nodded and leaned back on his chair, knowing full well why her attitude took aplete 180 degree turn for the second time. Just from asking for the price of one bottle of Gin, Keith could tell that they were selling alcohol at market price.


    Which meant that the real business was prostitution services. As for why she acted respectful suddenly? It was because he had ordered 5 bottles for himself, which was equivalent to one bottle of Whiskey, which was priced at 1 Brak for a bottle.


    He didn''t have to wait for long, as the same waitress brought him his drinks pretty quickly and ced them on the table while also trying to seduce him.


    Unfortunately for her, Keith''s tastes didn''t align with most of the poption of the Empire. He simply thanked her and proceeded to ignore her antics as he downed two bottles at once.


    "Sir, please take it slow!" she eximed seeing his actions as it was prettymon for people to puke after drinking too much.


    Even though Keith didn''t say a thing, more than half of the bar''s attention was on him.


    "It''s fine, today I wish to get wasted." he said as he lifted his bottle and looked at the people of the bar who were already looking at him, "Today, Inded a great job and the pay is great too! Cheers everybody!"


    "Wooo, let''s go brother! Today is the night to celebrate!"


    "Hell yeah! Let''s get wasted together!"


    "Drink more, drink more!!"


    "More!"


    "More!"


    "Chug it all!"


    Kieth nodded, acknowledging all of them and downed the third bottle effortlessly. He then grabbed thest two and stretched his hand to the guy who was closest to him, "Let''s see who drinks the fastest."


    Seeing Keith''s smirk, the guy nodded confidently, "I didn''t drink much tonight, but this calls for a celebration isn''t it? My brother here is celebrating his birthday too."


    Saying this, he got up from his chair and grabbed the bottle that Keith gave him before clinking bottles with him, "Cheers! For my brother and for your new job!"


    "For your brother and for my new job!" Keith repeated before chugging down the fourth bottle as the soldier ced his arm around Keith''s shoulder, chugging his bottle along with him.


    "YEAAAAAAHHHHHH" the guy screamed as he ced the bottle on the table with a victorious smile on his face as he pointed at Keith''s half empty bottle, "I win, hahahahahaha!"


    "Hahahaha, yeah you win." Keith agreed before turning to look at the waitress, "Can I get something to eat? Any chicken dish will be fine."


    The waitress nodded and left, after which he shifted his attention to the guy beside him who had just let him go, "I drank too much so I''ll go pee. Let''s have some more fun tonight."


    "Sure sure, me and my brothers will be waiting for you right here." the soldier said, smiling ear to ear as he watched Keith head to the toilets.


    Once inside the toilets, the first thing Keith did was to stuff two of his fingers up his throat and a momentter, everything that he had just drank, came out, making it look like a dam had just burst.


    ''Can''t have so much alcohol in my body when I''m trying to get important things done. Gotta be sober.'' he thought as he flushed and walked towards the sink so he could wash his face.

 Chapter 15: Gifting a Playboy System

    Keith then washed his face and emptied thest half bottle into the toilet. He flushed it and walked out of the washroom with a smile on his face.


    He had experience all stages of drunkenness in his previous life, so he knew that he''ll have to act sober now and slowly begin to drift into acting like he was actually drunk. He headed to the group of tables where the army men were sitting, and joined their chatter.


    As a foreign party who had no experience of the military, he yed the part of a curious and easily impressed person.


    "Oh wow, so you guys train every single day from morning to evening? Oh god, that''s unimaginable for me, like just look at my bony arms hahahahaha!" he said as he pulled up his sleeves and even though it wasn''t too funny, the soldiers stillughed like they were having the time of their lives.


    From a single nce, Keith could tell that they were slightly intoxicated at this moment.


    ''Well, they came here before me, so it makes sense that the alcohol had started to move along their blood stream.''


    He continued chatting with them until his meal was brought to him by the waitress. It was a simple roasted chicken with a nice reddish brown gravy. He shared some with the boys and ate the rest himself until he felt like the time was right.


    "Do you guys know how I got this job? I actually worked extremely hard to get good grades in thew and order examination but unfortunately, I only did good enough to be a street patroller.


    A job with a measly pay and in return, I must walk around a few streets for an entire day. Where''s the fun in that? Also what do I get in return? 1 brak a day? Hah!" heined before smirking.


    "But then, I found out by mistake that I was an awakened. Boom! Now I earn two whole zen per week!"


    "Brother, you''re really lucky! Just like Minter here. He''s an awakened too, but it isn''t of much use in our field unfortunately."


    Keith was interested and didn''t hide this fact as he turned to look at Minter, "Woah, so you''re an awakened too? Why did you join the army when you knew that it isn''t going to be useful in your job?"


    Minter let out a wryugh before exining, "My parents died and I was taken in my the Empire. I never had a choice and nor is my awakened ability actually useful."


    Saying that, he showed Keith his palm and from the middle of his palm. a thread grew out.


    "See? I can make cotton threads... which is absolutely useless and I have no interest in bing a tailor." he said as he shook his head.


    Keith nodded, losing interest in the ability as well. He looked at everyone around him and saw that no one had any more words to say, which meant that there weren''t anymore awakened ones in this group or they were hiding it.


    If they were hiding information, then Keith really did not have a way to force them to blurt out the information, so he decided to go with the second best thing. He nced at the person who seemed to have the most athletic body.


    He didn''t go for the "strongest" person as he could copy a person''s entire physique and did not wish to look like a beefed up hulking monster.


    Keith then grabbed a few cups and poured wine into all of them, filling them halfway. Then he began to distribute them to everyone around him and made sure that he transferred one of the two white systems into the ss that he nned to give to his target.


    ''Set condition: Trigger the system screen when he looks at a weapon.''


    Once the condition was set, he didn''t have to worry about him being suspected and continued to be amicable with the soldiers until all of them were almost wasted.


    Keith too, acted like he was and put his head down on the table to sleep. He didn''t act this time and did fall asleep, only to be woken up after a few hours.


    With a groggy look, he opened his eyes at looked at the pretty face of the waitress before frowning.


    "Ugh, my head hurts..." heined as he turned to look at the others who seemed fine around him.


    "Hahahah, looks like your body isn''t too great with alcohol. Maybe it''ll be better to go back home to take rest instead. We''ll proceed to have some fun with these beauties."


    Keith nodded in response and got up from his chair before looking at the waitress, "How much was the chicken?"


    "That gentleman paid for you, sir. You don''t have to worry about it anymore." she said, smiling at him while getting her nonexistent ass groped.


    "Oh okay." Keith said and turned to look at the person whom she pointed at, "Thank you."


    "No worries brother, you have fun with your new job. Hopefully, we''ll meet again in the future." the soldier said with a bright smile on his face and Keith nodded in response while smiling back.


    Once he was done with the formalities, he walked of the pub and headed back home without stopping anywhere. Night time wasn''t exactly safe as he knew that there were too many things going on due to a certain gang''s existence.


    It only took him a few minutes of brisk walking to get back home and the moment he did, he rushed to the bathroom and took a nice bath. He then washed his own clothes and covered himself with a towel before heading to the guest room.


    It took him less than two minutes to wearfortable clothes and to put up his washed, wet clones onto a clothesline in the backyard. Once everything was done, he went to bed, expecting a nice gift when he''d wake up the next day.


    But.


    yboy System activated.


    Trigger: When user looks at a weapon.


    System''s Goal: Sleep with 10 different women in one year.


    [A/N: Original n was to name it the Gigolo system but I felt like certain people might get offended. But hey, yboy sounds better at least.]

 Chapter 16: Unusual Systems

    With a mentalmand, a new system screen appeared in front of him.


    yboy System


    User: Sahoy Tahini


    Capabilities: Provides an increase in sexual stamina the more women the user sleeps with. System will disappear once the user sleeps with 10 different women.


    System Tax: Physical money; 30 Zen or Inheritance of the user''s physique.


    ''Money is fleeting and I also don''t wish to spend too much time or money on gaining muscles.'' he thought as he picked the physique.


    For a second, he felt like the world around him stopped, but then a stinging pain assaulted his entire body. He hurriedly bit down on his own arm to keep himself from screaming.


    He rolled down on the floor as he struggled with the pain for one whole minute after which the pain slowly subsided. Hey down on the floor silently, panting as he thought about the changes in his body.


    In truth, there was no visual change other than the one inch increase in height, which now officially made him 6 foot tall.


    He hadn''t just received the pain for nothing. He also got a tiny bit of new information about how the ''inheritance'' worked.


    The concept was simple; he didn''t have to train or work out like the others and would only need to consume the necessary nutrients until he attained theplete physique of soldier Sahoy Tahini.


    "Great, just eat to build your body. Oh how great this would have worked in my previous life." he muttered before chuckling and got himself onto the bed before drifting off to sleep.


    The next day, he woke up and freshened up before putting on his uniform. He then headed to the kitchen and saw Adam wearing his trench coat.


    Adam noticed Keith and grinned before showing off, "This thing looks great on me don''t you think so?"


    "Yeah, but take it off. I woke up a littlete so I must hurry." Keith said helplessly as he did not really wish to lie. The trench coat almost touched Adam''s ankles and was clearly oversized.


    "Bah, you jealous bastard! You just don''t want me to look good."


    Before Keith could say a thing, a ball of cloth hit Adam on his face and from the other side of the kitchen, he saw his sister pointing at Adam with adle.


    "Wear my lingerie, I''m sure you''ll look way better than you look right now." she said as she red at him and then added, "Just go wear your own uniform, you blind pig."


    ''Damn...'' Kieth thought to himself as he didn''t want to interfere and nor did he want tough right in front of Adam''s face when his wife was scolding him.


    Adam sighed and shook his head, "Haii... these women don''t get humour."


    Saying that, he quickly took off Keith''s trench coat and tossed it towards him before rushing out of the kitchen as adle flew in front of Keith and went straight out of the kitchen.


    He scoured through his memories about his sister and realised one thing.


    She was an overly protective sister who''d always take her brothers'' side even if they were in the wrong.


    Once he realised this, he felt pity for Adam but silently wore his trench coat and turned to look at his sister.


    "What''s for breakfast?"


    "Since it''s your first day, I''ve made sausages, bacon, omelettes and I also bought a good cut of beef for you. I''ll send your breakfast to your workce so don''t worry about gettingte. Just eat this while you go." she said as he gave him a thick sandwich.


    It had a lot of meat slices in the middle and just from one look, Keith could tell that he would have no other vour.


    "I''m not thatte. Don''t worry, I''ll eat this sandwich right here." he said as he grabbed an onion, a tomato and a bowl of butter.


    Reba watched as he tweaked his sandwich and once he was done, it looked pretty nice. In fact, she was confident that it looked better than her original version.


    Seeing her look at him suspiciously, he shook his head with a smile on his face as he cut the sandwich diagonally. He then grabbed another small te and ced one piece on it before giving it to his sister.


    "Here, I''ll get the rest of my breakfastter so let''s share this for now."


    "No, I''m supposed to eat after everyone else in the family is done eating." she said stubbornly as she pushed the te away, but Keith shook his head.


    "Stop talking bullshit and just eat. No one''s here to judge you nor me."


    He then watched her stare at her te and then she looked up at him, wanting to say no, but he interjected her.


    "If you''re not gonna eat, then I''m going work on an empty stomach. Pick your poison, you witch."


    Hearing his words, she frowned and smiled at the same time, "I hate you."


    "Yeah yeah, I hate you too." he said as he saw her take the first bite and grabbed his part of the sandwich as well.


    The two of them didn''t say anything more and ate in silence. Once Keith was done, he washed his hands and walked out of the kitchen with Reba right behind him.


    "Your bullets are right there." she said as she pointed to the small tea table in the living room and Keith turned to look at a small wooden box ced on it.


    He nodded and grabbed the box before putting it inside one of his many pockets and walked into his room so he could grab his revolved too.


    He stuffed the revolver into a special pocket which was stitched on the inside of the trench coat by Reba for an easy ess.


    Once he was done with everything, he took a deep breath and left the house as he thought about the remaining system that he still hadn''t given to anyone.


    ''Lucky Protection System... of all the three systems that I''ve currently gotten, none of them really sound like actual systems. Maybe it''s because they''re temporary, so I guess I''ll have to wait until I get the other ones.''

 Chapter 17: The First Client

    The white systems not working like systems was partially true, but Keith felt that way only because he never put any effort into controlling his systems.


    Norn died before Keith could even do a thing and his new system user, Sahoy had gotten the systemst night. As for the target of the protection system, Keith still hadn''t given it to her.


    The reason why he picked the Church of Money was because their higher officials were extremely corrupt and there was a 99% chance of them taking advantage of the youngdy who would''ve already be an official member of the church by now.


    Keith silently walked at the side of the street while the carriages moved at the center of the roads. Hawkers and random people tried to advertise their products at the side of the roads.


    As for the pedestrians, they had no choice but to walk right beside the line of hawkers and movable stalls if they didn''t want to get stomped by animals or get cussed at for walking at the middle of the road.


    Keith stopped in front of a man who was standing beside a human rickshaw with an open roof. Instead of a human rickshaw, it would have been more urate to call it a modified human pulled cart instead as it did not have a seat for humans to sit on.


    Instead, there were stacks of newspapers.


    Keith recalled the prices of newspapers and looked at the thin, brown skinned man as he put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a brak coin.


    "Tokens for one brak." he said and the man nodded in response as he took the coin and put it into his leather pouch. He then grabbed a small stack of thin yellow papers and gave Keith three of them.


    Keith just took two and pointed at the newspapers, "I''ll take one of those for now instead."


    "As you wish, young man." the guy said as he grabbed one of the newspapers and gave it to Keith with a smile on his face, "Have a nice day!"


    "You too." he replied back with a smile before leaving with the newspaper in hand. As he walked, he put the tokens in a separate pocket.


    Minutes passed by and he finally walked into the inn, and then headed into the main office.


    All four of them were already inside and Keith greeted them with a slight nod, "Morning everyone."


    "Keith." the man who was the oldest in the room said with a smile on his face before pointing a finger towards himself, "You left before I introduced myself yesterday."


    "Ah yeah, sorry about that."


    "Nah nah, I''m growing old and forgetful already. It''s not your fault. As for my name, you can call me Edward and we''re good." he said with a warm and wise smile.


    Amelia energetically quipped in, "Yeah, you can also call him uncle Ed just like me."


    "Yeah I like the ring of it." Keith said, smiling.


    Brandon knocked on his table a few times, getting every single one of their attention.


    "We have a client and we must meet them at their mansion. The pay is good, so expect a nice bonus." he said with a rxed expression on his face before grabbing a piece of paper that was on the table.


    "Our client this time is a bar. Not a true noble, but hey, at least he''s rich. Anyways, moving on to the main point, he says that he found this in front of his door yesterday and along with this was a letter that said, "You''re Next." and well... the guy is currently lying on his bed with a high fever."


    He then grabbed something from his drawer and ced it on the table for everyone to see.


    Keith immediately recognised it as this was the same exact circr object that he had seen the assassin ce on Norn''s body after killing him. Apart from that, his little finger began to twitch.


    He silently lifted his hand and balled his fist except that one finger so that everyone in the room could see.


    "So this is the way you sense danger?" Amelia asked curiously as her eyes stayed on his pinky.


    "One of the ways, yes. The shaking of my finger means the lowest level of danger. If I feel my arms hurting, then that''s the second level and finally, when everything around me slows down including myself while only my thoughts move at a regr speed.


    Third level means that I''m extremely close to death. Second means that there''s a chance of me dying and also includes the chance of getting injured. First one i simply just a chance of injury. It can range from 20 percent to 100 percent, but this does not mean death." he exined as he walked towards the table and looked at Brandon as he pointed at the item.


    Brandon nodded as watched Keith grabbed the item before dropping it onto the table immediately.


    "Level two. There''s a high chance of this man getting attacked and there''s a possibility of anyone getting attacked as long as they are in possession of this." Keith said as he rubbed his forearm and took a few steps backwards.


    Brandon nodded and turned to look at Edward, who stood up from his rocking chair.


    "Well then, I''ll exin the how things normally work as we move. You''ll also have to learn about everyone''s awakened abilities too." Ed said as he walked towards the door, which Keith and the others right behind him.


    He looked older than everyone in the group, but just from the way he walked, Keith could infer that the man in front of him was extremely active. He followed Edward to a normal looking carriage and got inside.


    Once he did, Edward began to exin.


    "Let''s start with me first." he said, "I just have a regr physical strength enhancement. Nothing too serious, so I''m just slightly stronger than a regr human. As for Amelia... she''s an interesting child."

 Chapter 18: Want a Taste?

    "She calls her power the "Princess of the night", but that''s just her being a child. Her ability is categorised under mystic and basically makes her look more charming to the people around her during the night. It''s easier for her to convince people to do the things she wants too.


    As for Brandon, he''s an elemental awakener. He grows extremely hard rocks on his body, but they''re individually small, so it''s still easy for him to move normally. It provides him with exceptional defence and since his skin basically turns into stone, his punches hurt harder than mine.


    ra is the most unique one among us. It''s hard to categorise her ability as she summons a in white glove. But whomever she touches while wearing this glove, will obtain protection from our Goddess."


    Keith''s eyes opened wide when he heard about ra''s ability. Not only due to the direct protection of the goddess, but because he recognised this ability from the novel itself.


    It was from a character who was a soft hearted viin, and she was called the Shield of the Devil. Unfortunately, this character only got a a screen time of five to six chapters before getting killed by the main character.


    ''The ability to grant shields to others... but there was nothing written about summoning gloves.'' he thought as he frowned, trying to remember more about this character.


    As he thought, the others joined the two in the carriage until it almost filled up.


    After a while, Keith gave up as he could not remember anything important about the character. She had no fan arts and nor did anyone like or dislike her, which tossed her into the ignored and forgotten category.


    "Miss ra, could you show me your-"


    Before he could finish, he saw a glove appear on her hand. It looked like a whitetex glove that doctors wore, but when he touched her hand, he could tell that it was silk.


    "A physical glove... so you can grant the goddess''s protection to anyone you touch with this glove?" he asked as he shifted his attention from to gloves to her face.


    "U-um.. yes. But there are limits. At most, I can grant protection to five people at the same time, but the more I concentrate on one person, the moreyers of protection they get." she exined as her face slowly turned a light shade of red.


    Keith nodded and took his hand back before he went back to his own thoughts.


    The character written in the book never used differentyers of protection, so he crossed ra out as the chances of her being this character was now pretty low.


    But this changed when he heard her next words.


    "Back when I was twelve, the gloves I summoned were made of cotton. As I aged, these gloves went up to my elbows and when I turned twenty, they came back to my wrists but the material changed to silk. I''m twenty four now and from the past four years, the thickness of the gloves has been decreasing."


    Keith didn''t show any sort of emotion other than slight curiosity, "That''s interesting. I''m guessing that the potency of the goddess''s protection also increased as time passed."


    "Yes, it did." she said, her smile so charming that Keith had to force himself to look away.


    ''Skin as pale as a ghost... I clearly remember this description of that character. Maybe it''s not the skin but a very thinyer of silk that covered her entire body? The possibility is high as she was killed by the main character more than a decade from now.''


    While he was trying to recall the events from the novel, Amelia and Brandon had their eyes on him but with different expressions on their faces.


    "You... why aren''t you nervous? And why are you flirting with ra?" Amelia asked, prompting Keith to raise one of his eyebrows.


    "Who''s flirting with who? I''m just curious about her powers, that''s all." he said, but Brandonughed as he pped his left knee thrice while doing so.


    He then looked at Amelia and smirked, "You''re jealous that he''s not paying you any attention, am I right?"


    Hearing this Amelia red at him and her expression changed slightly as she smiled, "Well, maybe I am. After all, it''s easier to like someone who doesn''t ask me out of the first day I join. And damn, you were persistent."


    She then shook her head like she was dealing with a child.


    Keith, not knowing what to do, looked at Edward who was silently smiling while watching the drama unfold. Seeing the oldest in the team like this, Keith decided to not interfere and simply enjoy the entertainment.


    "Hah? You clearly used your charming ability to get into my head! I can create rocks on my body to protect myself from physical attacks but not magic spells from evil witches like you!" he countered back before pointing at Keith.


    "Also, it''s clear that he''s flirting with ra because he found out that you''re an evil witch the moment he saw you. Tch tch, who would even want to be with ck hearted vixen like you? Haaa...."


    Keith saw Brandon sigh exaggeratedly and didn''t know what to say. He simply wanted to enjoy the show, but now he was dragged into the center of the battlefield.


    The carriage was small, but Amelia was a slenderdy. She lifted her leg and stomped the area between Brandon''s legs. Her lips curled into an arrogant smile, while Brandon scoffed back with a knowing smile.


    "I''m used to your tricks by now."


    It was clear that Brandon had used his stone skin to protect his jewels, but unfortunately for Keith, Amelia shifted her targets when she found out that her tricks were ineffective against Brandon.


    "My dear neer, tell me. Tell me why you were flirting with ra. If you don''t..." she said warningly and nced down at his crotch area before licking her lips with a mischievous glint in her eyes.


    Keith couldn''t help himself and instinctively blurted out.


    "If you really wish to have a taste that desperately, just tell me directly."

 Chapter 19: The Grand Piano

    "You.. huh? what?" Amelia said as she was caught off guard and didn''t know how to respond.


    It was not just her, but everyone in the carriage as they stared at Keith like he had been possessed.


    The first one to break the silence was Brandon as he couldn''t stop himself from snickering, which then turned into a loudughter.


    "-aahaahaaaa! Oh goddess of protection! I love thisd, hahahahahahaahaaaa!" he eximed before he began to cough.


    Keith looked at the people around him innocently like he had never said something questionable, "Did I do something wrong?"


    Unfortunately for him, even he had a limit to how much he could control his facial expressions. On top of that, Brandon''sughter was too contagious, especially for Keith.


    The moment he finished his question, a smile popped up on his face, which gave Amelia the feeling that he was mocking her.


    She red at him as she balled her fist and just as she was about to punch his eggs, ra grabbed her by her arm and shook her head, "You''re making a very bad first impression..."


    "But raaa!! He''s the one who started it!" sheined as she looped her hand around ra''s and leaned against her.


    "Not really." ra rebutted before she began to reprimand her junior, "You were the one who started attacking Brandon''s... um attacking him. When you don''t act like ady, you shouldn''t expect them to act like gentlemen either."


    Amelia then make a cute face, but ra shut her down before she could do what she wanted to, "No, won''t work against me. If you act out more, then I won''t give you my protection."


    "Tch, fine." she said as she let go of ra''s arm, but ra didn''t stop there.


    "Don''t you think that you must apologise?"


    "But..." Amelia began and when she saw ra''s expression, she backed down and looked at Keith with fire in her eyes, "I. Am. Sorry."


    Keith nodded, "Okay, don''t worry about it. Just... don''t do it in the future. I value them a lot and I don''t have stone skin like our head detective. Also, I apologise for my remarks too. I blurted them out without thinking."


    Amelia blinked twice and paused for a second before nodding, "Okay, I won''t hit you."


    "Good, cuz I believe in equality. If you hit me there, I''ll hit you there too." Keith said with a face so straight that it shocked the team once again.


    Edward looked at Brandon andmented, "Theing days are going to be fun, aren''t they?"


    "Of course. I thought that this kid was a boring guy but this is shocking."


    "Sir Brandon, I''m just saying that I stand for equality."


    Brandon waved his hand nonchntly, "Yeah yeah. Only monkeys will believe your words. Say, do you want to visit the maiden''s pub with me tonight?"


    Keith stared at the muscr guy in front of him and shook his head, "Sorry, but I don''t swing that way. I prefer women."


    This time, Amelia didn''t let go of the chance andughed so loud and for so long that everything Brandon said got drowned by her voice.


    Unfortunately for him, they had reached their destination before he could clear things up. Agitated, he rushed out of the carriage while Amelia followed behind him with a bright smile on her face like she had aplished a great thing just now.


    Keith on the other hand, got off the carriage with mixed thoughts.


    ''I should have controlled my damn mouth. But.. I guess it''s fine to rx when I''m around these guys. They don''t seem too bad after all, and there''s a limit to where I can go by being alone. I''ll keep my important secrets to myself, but I''ll chill around them.''


    As he made his decisions, he followed behind his team as they walked towards a decent sized duplex house which was at least four timesrger than his sister''s house. Along with that, there was empty area surrounding the mansion on all sides.


    ''So bars have such wealth, huh?'' he thought as he stopped in front of the door while Brandon knocked on it. The group waited for a few seconds until a young man in a suit opened the door.


    Brandon showed him his church''s ring and the man lifted his hand until it was parallel to the ground, motioning them to enter.


    As Keith walked in, he leaned towards Amelia who was the only one beside him and asked, "Am I expected to learn about their etiquette and stuff? Because I don''t know a thing about any of those."


    "It''ll help you a lot if you learn, but hey, we''re a team and you got me so you don''t have to worry." she said with a confident look on her face.


    Keith nodded and straightened himself as he considered the possibility of learning etiquette.


    ''If I learn, then like she said, I''ll be able to mingle well with the high circles. And getting epted by the nobles will help me in the long run too. It''s slightly annoying, but there''s nothing bad that''ll happen from learning etiquette.''


    By the time he made his decision, they had reached arge room that was adorned with multiple framed paintings and pieces of calligraphy. There were also some nice looking statues, but the one that caught Keith''s eye, was the grand piano.


    Just one look at the ck and white keys brought back a wave of nostalgia from his teens and early twenties. He wasn''t exactly a grand piano yer, but he did y the electric piano which technically was different.


    ra and Edward noticed this as Keith had stared at the piano for a bit too long.


    And they weren''t the only ones who did as Keith heard a raspy voice while he was still staring at the piano.


    "Hm~ it would appear that one from amongst you fancies my piano performance. If it pleases you, I would be most thrilled to perform a piece for your entertainment"

 Chapter 20: Baronet Clangson

    "Oh, no it''s alright. I was just lost in thought and I feel like it''s better if we just do the thing we came here for." Keith said, rejecting the bar.


    The Bar was a slender man just like Keith, but for some reason he looked healthier. Bar was a title given to the people who contribute to the Empire financially or through other means and was temporary as it onlysted for two generations.


    Unlike Bars, the other noble titles were technically permanent and could be passed down to their respective kids indefinitely. The titles that fell into this category were Baron, Viscount, Earl, Marquess andstly Duke.


    Their importance and power went up from the left to right, with the duke being only below the royal princes and princesses.


    "If you insist." the man said as he pursed his lips, clearly unhappy with Keith''s response but Keith didn''t care.


    Brandon took a step forward and gave him a slight bow before standing up straight, "Well, my subordinate is right. It''ll be good for all of us to just get to our job and if I may ask, did you offend or antagonise someone in the recent times?"


    The Bar watched Brandon take out the circr object with a paper and nodded, "Hm, I was actually just minding my own business but while I was trying to buy something that caught my eye in the ck market, someone tried to bid against me for it.


    But they obviously didn''t expect me to be a Bar with immense wealth, so I easily won the item hohohohoho!"


    Seeing the guy pleased with himself when his life was on the line, Keith really was lost for words. Luckily for him, he didn''t have to do the talking as Brandon took care of most of it.


    After talking to the wannabe noble for a while, Brandon turned around and focused on Keith, "Keith, follow me. Others, stay close to Sir ngson."


    Keith nodded and followed behind Brandon and the Butler who guided them out of the living room, to the study room of ngson. He then pointed at a brush stand that looked like a mini human skull that had a hole on the top.


    Brandon silently walked towards it and nced at Keith who gave him a slight nod and grabbed it. The instant he did, he felt like his arm had turned into stone. One second he felt intense pain and the other, he was unable to even feel his arm.


    He let go and immediately sat down on the floor to calm down his racing heart, which took a few minutes. Once he calmed down, he grabbed random things in the room and didn''t feel anything serious other than slight twitching of his finger once or twice.


    "Sir ngson likes to collect unique items." the butlermented when he saw Keith examining various items in the room.


    "Well... understandable I guess." he said as he was actually impressed by the collections. Most of them were precious stones with some that looked like stones that had ancient text written on them which could easily just turn out to be random scratches or could have been forged.


    Once he was done examining the whole room, he turned to Brandon, "It''s just that skull. Everything else in this room is fine."


    "Okay." Brandon replied as he grabbed the paint brushes from the skull and ced them on the table before taking the skull with him, "Let''s go meet up with the others."


    Nodding in response, Keith followed the head detective but as they were on their way, Brandon began to speak, "Usually, the entire team doesn''t go out for a single mission so I want you to keep this in mind. It''s either 2 or 3 for one client but you got lucky as we got a bar.


    He promised to pay more, so the church ordered the deployment of everyone. Usually, it takes us more than just a day to keep someone protected as we don''t really know when they''ll get attacked. Try to learn as much as possible from this one."


    "Understood, Sir Brandon."


    "Mhm. I got a letter from an old friend of mine which said that a certain someone from our church was gifted a revolved by him." Brandon said as he ced his arm on Keith''s shoulder, "Learn how to use that thing as soon as possible. I''ll put you in a night shift with Amelia so use your free time until noon to practice and then try to sleep. We don''t need you sleeping in the middle of your shift."


    Keith nodded, but then he realised something, "But Sir Brandon, both me and her do not exactly havebat oriented capabilities."


    "Oh, you don''t know her do you? Well... just do as I say and some day, you''ll find out. Actually, since you''ll be sharing a shift with her, it''ll be soon."


    After saying that, he didn''t borate, but Keith understood what his words meant. If two people withbat focused awakened abilities put someone with nonbative ability on Keith''s team, then it only meant two things.


    One was that she was extremely strong even without abat oriented ability. Or Brandon was just messing with him by putting him in the same team as the devil.


    Nheless, he didn''t throw away the possibility of Amelia being strong. But there was one thing that contradicted this and that was her weekly sry. Even though he had doubts, he didn''t say it out loud and instead kept his thoughts to himself as he could just confirm his theory by observing when the timees.


    The two of them met up with the Edward and the twodies in the kitchen. The three of them were sitting at a long dining table along with ngson and his family, which consisted of his wife, two concubines and then a total of five kids, all of whom were of different ages.


    As for how Keith figured out the wife and concubines? It was from their essories. Married women wore an engagement ring on their ring finger along with a ne that has at least one emerald embedded onto it.


    When it came to concubines, they only wore nes but these were different as they had Ga embedded into them instead of emerald.

 Chapter 21: Spoiled Daughter and Noble Etiquette

    As for the reasons why they picked these two stones, Keith really did not know as it was never mentioned in the novel and since it was a concept more prevalent within nobles, the old Keith was also not exposed to knowledge rted to this.


    Polygamy wasmon in the Empire and this went both ways. Females could have multiple male partners or Males could have multiple female partners. But there was one thing that wasmon between the two.


    If a female decides to have multiple male partners, then her male partners would be forbidden from getting sexually involved with another woman. This went both ways and it was more urate to call it a w of the empire" more than calling it "forbidden".


    Usually, it was themoners who would take the role of concubines or a paramour, the male counterpart of concubine after the true meaning of "paramour" slowly changed through history from being a secret lover to an official lover.


    To sum everything up, it was usually the rich and powerful who had multiple partners. And among these, it was mostly men who went after harems as they were rtively "Free" in terms of social standing in the Kazak Empire.


    Keith silently followed behind Brandon and sat down beside Edward who was furthest from the main chair where ngson was sitting. Brandon on the other hand, took the seat that was right beside the Bar as it was left free specifically for him.


    One of the maids walked towards him and in just a few seconds, set up a te of food for him which was basically just cut up bread along with meat and vegetable stew. He nced at Edward who hadn''t touched his food yet and then looked at the others.


    Out of the five of them, only Amelia was the one who confidently ate her food along with the nobles of this family and based on the way she ate and the way the nobles did, Keith had a feeling that she was a noble, but of a higher standing.


    He leaned towards Edward and whispered, "Is Amelia a noble?"


    "She was. Then she pped one of the royal princes when she turned neen and her family disowned her. It was done out of necessity as that prince was spoiled and his mother, the queen was very supportive of all of his actions so her father had no choice.


    She then joined our church and one of our arch bishops had to move for her sake. In just one night, the prince changed his mind and so did the queen. Unfortunately though, her father never took her back."


    Keith nodded as his view of Amelia change drastically. As a reader, he knew how bad it was to live as a noble, especially as someone good looking as the royal family members were a bunch of horny dogs. This was the same for the neighbouring countries and kingdoms too, except a select few people.


    While Brandon talked to ngson, Keith silently listened to their conversation until he felt something touch his leg. He looked forward and saw a young girl who was barely 8 years old eating silently. The table was too wide even for an adult to be able to reach Keith''s legs, which only meant two things.


    One was that there was someone under the table and the second possibility was that someone at the table or one of the maids in the room, was an awakened.


    Just as he was thinking, he heard a high pitched yelp from his right and turned to look at Amelia who had jumped up from her chair while the chair itself flew backwards from the force. She then lifted the white cloth that was used the cover the table and looked under it, only to find nothing.


    "Brandon, I felt someone touch my leg." she said, frowning deeply as she looked at every single person at the table.


    ngson sighed when he heard her words and looked at his eldest daughter, "Maria, out of the room."


    "But father!"


    "I said out of the room, darling." the Bar said with a smile on his face which shut his daughter up in an instant. Feeling embarrassed, she left the room with her head hung low while Amelia red at her back.


    Unfortunately for ngson, she didn''t let the issue go and pressed for an exnation, "Bar ngson, is this how you teach your kids to behave when you have guests at your home?"


    "Miss detective, I apologise. I was too doting as she was my only daughter back then and now she''s too spoiled. It''s toote for me to do anything about her, but the rest of my kids are well trained in the mannerisms of nobles." he said, trying to exin himself, but when he saw that Amelia''s frown deepened even further, he ced his fork and knife on the table.


    "If you''ve been hurt by my daughter''s actions, then I apologise. As a token of apology, will it be fine ifpensate you with a thin stack of Zen?"


    Keith saw the disgust on Amelia''s face grow further, but ra and Brandon both grabbed her by the wrist which seemed to work really well when it came to calming her down.


    "Sure." she said one word and turned to look at the maids, "Will someone bring me back my chair? Or did this Bar not teach you guys anything?"


    "W- we''re sorry, madame!" the one who looked like the head maid stammered as she hurried over and brought her back the chair.


    The rest of the meal was eaten in silence until the Bar and his family were done. They silently left after telling Brandon''s group to have their fill.


    And the moment they left the room, Brandon dug into his food like a hungry bear before turning to look at Keith, "Kid, don''t let go of this chance and eat until the food fills up to your throat!"


    Keith nodded and looked at Amelia, "Can you teach me? The etiquette I mean."

 Chapter 22: Norns Death

    Two hourster.


    There was still a lot of food on the table, but Keith, Brandon and Edward were done. They''d eaten so much that they didn''t really feel like moving.


    ra, even though she was usually silent, spoke up, "Keith, you''re so thin but you ate so much... just how?"


    "Well... I usually only ate bread and drank some soup or water. Sooo... I just ate and now the only thing I wish to do is sleep." he said as he patted his bulging belly.


    It wasn''t that the food was tasty. Compared to the stuff he ate in his previous life, this was categorised as vourless one out of ten food. The only reason he stuffed himself was because of the meat and all the nutritious food on the table. Even though it wasn''t tasty, as long as it helped him boost his physique, then he would force himself to eat it.


    "Ugh..." Brandon let out a grunt as he got up from his chair, "Keith and Amelia, go and get some rest until evening. You two will be on the night shift, oh and Amelia, take this kid to the church''s practice range and teach him how to use a revolver."


    Amelia looked surprised when he heard Brandon''s words and so did the other two in the team. All of them shifted their attention to Keith whozily put his hand inside his trench coat before pulling out his revolver.


    "Oh wow..." ramented while the other two nodded in response. Brandon on the other hand, didn''t stop, "Fun fact guys, this guy is the brother inw of Adam Brown."


    "Ah that guy..." Amelia said as she gave Keith a pitiful look while shaking her head, "Anyways, let''s gozybones. I''ll teach you how to use this weapon and in return, you must pay me in bullets. I charge 5 bullets per day!"


    Seeing her change the topic cheerfully, Keith nodded as he nned to ask her more about Adamter on. He got up from his chair and let out a grunt before walking out of the room with Amelia following right behind him.


    As they walked out of the house, he turned to look at her, "Hey, will it be fine if we take a walk? I feel like if I sit down one more time, I won''t be able to get back up."


    "Sure." she readily agreed as she slowed down her pace to match Keith''s.


    Seeing that she didn''t n on talking, he decided to deal with other special matters and imagined the soldier he hadst night. The moment he did, a translucent screen popped up in front of him.


    ''Hmm... there''s no need for anythingplicated right from the start.'' he thought as he made up a simple quest and sent it to Sahoy who was the user of the system.


    [Quest Delivered]


    [Quest Details: Have sex with three women in a week. For each extra woman you sleep with after reaching 3, you''ll get an additional reward of 5 braks. If you reach 10 under the time limit, you''ll receive an extra Zen on top of 5 braks.]


    It was pretty pricey, but to Keith, it was a small price to pay if he could get Sahoy to hit the limits of the system. As for whether the guy would be able to do it in under a week or not, was a different matter altogether.


    As he closed the system screens that were in front of him, a new one popped up with a warning message.


    [Failure in delivering the promised rewards will result in the return of the tax you''ve taken from the user.]


    ''....'' he silently stared at it for a few seconds before closing it, ''Well, not like I ever nned on scamming people.''


    As the two of them walked, Amelia finally spoke up.


    "You... I mean, do you respect your brother inw?"


    "Hm? Well... I didn''t really interact with him a lot but so far he''s been a great help. Is there something wrong?" he asked, trying to probe her for information.


    Unfortunately for him, she just shook her head, "Not really. Anyways, you should expect a lot of clients knocking on our doorsteps from now on."


    "Is there a reason for that? Don''t tell me that some kind of mysterious political war is brewing up in our Auberg district."


    "No no, nothing like that happens here. In fact, it''s the exact opposite. We don''t have many noble families here, and even the Empire''s squadron of soldiers that reside here are among the worst of the worst.


    Due to this, there have been gang wars for the past four decades but now, there''s only two left. There is news that yesterday night, the leader of one of the two gangs was poisoned and killed.


    Apparently, his people took him to the church of medicine, but they were unable to bring a dead man back to life. Once his death was confirmed, his younger brother took over as the leader and this one is a psychotic man.


    He''s done a lot of evil deeds and unlike his brother who cared for his people, this guy only cares about usurping the Auberg district and gaining full control. If it gets to this stage, then the churches will have to step in. Which means that we must do it too."


    "I really hope that something like this doesn''t happen." he said, but on the inside, his thoughts were churning as he connected the dots.


    When Norn died, Keith didn''t exactly get a notification about the aplishment of revenge as the gang''s leader hadn''t died yet. On the other hand, if he was poisoned, then the scenario made more sense but it still didn''t make much sense to him as he felt like there was some inconsistency in the poisoning story.


    ''If the gang leader was actually poisoned and didn''t die before Norn''s death, then there was no way I''d be able to feel the increase in potency of my system gacha wheel. And if he died before Norn, then I should have gotten the notification of the Revenge being sessful.'' he thought as a crease formed on his forehead.


    ''That only leaves one possibility. The gang leader must have died the same exact moment that Norn did, but this is just- the probability is extremely low unless....''

 Chapter 23: Shooting Practice

    ''That only leaves one possibility. The gang leader must have died the same exact moment that Norn did, but this is just- the probability is extremely low unless Norn met Silver Thread.'' he thought as he recalled a secretive character from the novel managed to stay alive until the end of the novel.


    ''It''s better to not get involved with Silver for now. He''s a scary psycho.'' he mentally reminded himself.


    The two of them continued to walk, but Keith began to pant even though it was very slight panting. Amelia on the other hand, seemedpletely fine as she cheerfully walked forward.


    It took them a total of one hour to reach the church and Amelia confidently strode over to the right and entered the building through a "staff only" door while Keith silently followed behind her.


    The two of them walked along the corridors until they reached a staircase which went down.


    As he climbed down, he voices out his thoughts, "Underground... is this some kind of secretive thing?"


    While he did know about the churches, the novel never talked about the internal structure of the churches as most of the conflicts and fights happened in the outside world.


    "It''s not exactly secretive, but only official members of the church can enter." she said and pointed at the ring she was wearing, "This one is only given to official members and if you don''t have one, you won''t be able to open the door that we walked in from"


    "Interesting and impressive." hemented as he got off the stairs and entered another corridor. Unlike the one above, this corridor was three times as wide. At both ends of the corridor, were two doors each and in front of him, where the corridor ended, was another door.


    In total, there were only five doors, but the corridor itself was about five hundred meters long. As they walked, Amelia began to exin.


    She pointed at the first two doors that were parallel to each other while on the opposite sides, "The left one here is the library, so if you''re free and wish to read stuff, then you cane here. The one on the right is a training room. Brandon and Edward use this one a lot."


    Then she continued walking forward until she reached the other set of parallel doors, "This one is the artefact storage area, but it''s mostly empty. Even staffs like us are not allowed to enter but Brandon can as he''s the head detective." she said as she pointed at the left door.


    And she walked towards the door on the right and opened it before walking in, "And wee to the shooting range, woooo! Now give me five bullets, or five braks."


    Keith nodded as he inwardly sighed and took out the small wooden box that his sister had given him. He opened the lid and saw the bullets neatly stacked. In total, there were 30 bullets with five rows and six columns.


    He took five bullets out and gave them to Amelia before grabbing five for himself. He then grabbed his revolver from inside his trench coat and pushed the ammo barrel out so he could load it.


    The revolver he had was smaller than regr revolvers issued by the empire or the other churches. It had a slightly shorter barrel and could only hold five bullets in it''s cylinder, but this was enough for Keith.


    The shooting range was prettyrge, but there were a lot of things missing such as ear muffs and gloves. Luckily, the most necessary item was avable, which was the target boards.


    He quickly loaded his gun and took aim as Amelia watched. After aligning the front and rear sights, he pulled the trigger. The bullet hit the target board, but it wasn''t on the bullseye.


    "Wow, you''re a natural at this. Did the guy who sold you this weapon teach you how to use it?"


    Even though this was not the case, Keith nodded, "I guess."


    After saying that, he gave his pistol to Amelia, "Let''s swap for a bit. I want to try out a manual one."


    "Wait what? Manual? No wait wait wait! Don''t tell me... this revolver is the famed double action revolver?!" she yelped as she excitedly asked him and seeing her like this, made him smile a little.


    "Yeah. So, do you want to swap or not?"


    "Of course!" she said without any hesitation and took his gun before giving her own weapon to him.


    While she excitedly skipped over to the right end of the room, Keith popped open the bullet barrel and saw five chambers filled while one was kept empty. He then popped the cylinder back in and got into position.


    He aimed at the target and used his thumb to pull the hammer that was at the back of the gun. He had expected it to be easy, but reality hit him hard as he was unable to pull it backpletely with just his thumb.


    ''.... just how weak am I? Fucking hell...''


    Feeling slightly depressed, he stared at the gun for a few seconds before using his left hand''s entire strength to pull back the hammer instead of just his thumb. This time he didn''t feel too much resistance.


    ''Yeah, maybe I just need some getting used to.'' he thought and aimed at his target one more time before shooting.


    BANG!


    The bullet left the barrel while his hand flew diagonally backwards due to the recoil.


    "Oh god..." he muttered as he popped open the cylinder once again and noticed that the thickness of these bullets was slightly more than the ones he had brought with him.


    ''Ah, makes sense now.''


    A second ago, he felt a bit too much recoilpared to his own gun and the difference in the size of bullet made sense.


    ''If I learn how to use this, then using mine will be way easier. Just like dad said when I was young, learn how to drive an old squeaky car and you''ll be able to drive almost every normal car in the future.

 Chapter 24: Stocking Up

    Keith happily used up all the bullets and walked over to Amelia so he could exchange his bullets for hers.


    "Oh, okay." she said and took out a small piece of paper which looked simr to the newspaper token that Keith had bought earlier in the day.


    "Take this to the room that''s at the end of the corridor. There''ll be an old guy there and all you have to do is give this to him." she said looked at the gun she was holding, "You know, this thing barely has any recoil and that''s what makes these bullets so valuable."


    Keith gave her a confused look, and she immediately gave him an exnation, "Adam is well known in the noble circles and churches. The bullets that he produces have extremely low recoil, which makes them very useful in the hands of experienced shooters. If someone finds out that we''re using them to practice... they''ll curse our ancestors."


    She then let out a chuckle, "But, that''s the advantage of having connections. If you give your bullets to the old man in that room, he''ll give you double the amount of same sized bullets."


    "Thanks."


    He then walked out of the shooting range and went straight to the end of the corridor before knocking on the door.


    "Come in." he heard a voice and walked in. Just like Amelia had said, there really was an "old looking" man, but he was way too short. He seemed youthful, but his wrinkly face just made him look old.


    "Hahahaha, you don''t have to stare so hard." he said as heughed and the next second his skin moved and began to straighten up until it wasn''t wrinkly anymore. This just stayed for two seconds before his skin turned wrinkly again.


    The guy smiled at Keith and said, "Just a side effect of having the ability to change my facial appearance. Anyways, I heard that youngss a few minutes ago so maybe you''re here to get some bullets?"


    "Yes."


    "Great. I assume that you''re using a flintlock?"


    Keith shook his head, "No, a revolver. The bullets that I need are the ones that Amelia usually gets, but I also do need the ones that follow the Empire''s standards and measurements."


    After saying that, he took out the box of bullets that he had and emptied it into his palm before handing over all the 20 remaining bullets to the guy in front.


    "My brother inw is Adam and these bullets were made by him. In exchange, I wish to have thirty six of the bullets that Amelia''s revolver needs and four of the same size as these." he added as he put the empty box back into his inner pocket.


    "Hmm, you really must learn the names of these bullets you know? But before that, I must introduce myself. I have given up my actual name and currently go by storekeeper. As for the names of these bullets... it''s based on where the bullets originated from or their destructive effects.


    The ones that war church uses are basically just call the war church''s bullets as they''re only produced by the war church. The empire''s bullets are called the Kazak bullets and the ones that Amelia uses are actually the hunter''s bullets as they''re mostly used to hunt animals.


    The revolver she uses is also a hunting variant of the empire''s revolvers, but here''s a fun fact. The empire actually never made the weapon. The one that she carries is actually an artefact that she received through her dead grand father''s will two years ago.


    The hunting bullets are mostly used in hunting rifles, but her weapon is just a miracle."


    Keith listened to everything and nodded. While these bullets did have their own native names, the author of the novel had used normal terms such as 9mm, 10mm, etc so that the readers didn''t get confused.


    Even Keith hadn''t paid too much attention to the native names and now it bit him in his back.


    "Understood." he said, nodding as he digested the information which was actually very easy to remember.


    The Kazak bullet was basically the 9mm luger that was mostmonly used bullet/round in his old. The hunter''s bullet was 10mm, which had more recoil and power. It was the war church''s bullet that was more unique.


    Compared to 9mm luger, which had the diameter of 9mm and length of the case as 19mm, the war church''s bullet had a diameter of 8mm but the length of the case was at 25mm. This change allowed their bullets to have almost equal kic energypared to the 9mm counterpart.


    But in Keith''s eyes, the 9mm was still better as it had more diameter, which meant more damage area.


    After he made the calctions in his mind, he got a better understanding of the three types of bullets. He watched the storekeeper take a step back from the table that was between them.


    He walked towards one of the shelves and grabbed two boxes before bringing them to the table.


    "Thirty six hunters and four Kazak bullets." he muttered as he grabbed four bullets from one of the boxes and then he began to slowly count up to thirty six of the thicker bullets before putting them all in a group on the table.


    "Do you need anything to carry these in? Or will you just put them in your pocket?"


    Keith looked at the bullets and said, "I''m just practising, so I''ll keep them in my pocket."


    As he filled his outer pocket with the bullets, he thought about the money he had, which was 11 Zens and 32 Braks in total.


    After thinking about his money while looking at the box of bullets in front of him, he made up his mind and took out a silver zen note that had the number 1 printed on it along with a big nosed man''s face.


    Then, he grabbed a big 10 Brak coin from his leather pouch and ced it on the table along with the 1 Zen note.


    "By the way, I forgot to ask. How much does each bullet cost?"

 Chapter 25: Adams True Limits

    Keith practised his shooting skills and got used to the recoil of the hunter bullets before swapping weapons once again. He put his gun under his trench coat and left the church feeling confident about his shooting skills when it came to stationary targets.


    ''I''m not really sleepy... so I guess I''ll go visit the money church.'' he thought as he walked along the road.


    Unlike the other churches, the Money God''s believers had a strict hierarchy so he was confident that he''d be able to meet her as long as her awakened ability wasn''t too important.


    A few minutester, he silently walked into the church and looked at every single helper nuns who''s main job was to keep things clean in the church and to help people whoe to the church with minor things.


    But after looking at almost 20 nuns and monks, Keith frowned.


    ''Not here. Did she really have a great awakened ability?'' he thought, but then he walked to the confessional and talked about his brother joining the gangs and how it''s been negatively effecting him.


    All of it was bullshit, but he continued bbering for almost five whole minutes and stopped the moment he saw a familiar face. It was the same youngdy he had seen a day or so ago, but she wasn''t wearing the regr nun clothes.


    Instead, she wore a pure white tunic instead. Regr nuns wore a 90% ck tunic with some parts having white, like the ends of their sleeves. This was the case with every single church.


    The higher ranking Nuns like the priestesses wore pure white ones instead.


    ''So, it''s like this huh? Well, it''s a good thing that she wasn''t taken somewhere else.'' he thought as he began to act more and more depressed while also getting louder which easily caught the girl''s attention.


    After spouting even more bullshit for an extra minute, Keith took out a 5 brak coin and stopped right before putting it in the donation box.


    "Tch, this person in the confession booth didn''t help me at all!" he said out loud and put the coin back inside his pocket, but just as he was about to leave, he heard a sweet voice from the direction where he saw the girl at.


    "My child, if you desire, we can retire to a more private sanctuary where you may confide in me. Share your burdens without hesitation, for I am here to offer sce and guidance."


    Keith turned to look at her, ''Spoken like a true priestess... even though I''m kinda older than you...''


    "You... you''re a priestess?"


    The girl simply smiled and didn''t say anything. Seeing this, Keith shook his head and took out the 5 brak coin instead.


    "Oh Priestess, I feel like my soul has been healed by your presence already. Please take this measly offering from me." he said as he gave the coin to her and left with a smile on his face. Before exiting the building, he turned back and saw her holding the coin that had a slight glow to it.


    Then, with a slight smile, he left the ce and headed back to his sister''s house. On his way, he gave out a mentalmand.


    ''Set condition; Trigger the system the next time she is sexually involved with anyone.'' he gave out amand as he recalled the thing that most nuns were of the Money Church did.


    And that was to get money by sleeping with believers and higher ups for money. This was the mostmon method employed by both the male and female members of the church as the "act" did not need any mary investment.


    Once he got back home, he went straight to bed after asking his sister to save the food she made in the morning for him so he could eat it at night.


    ********


    After 2 hours of struggling to sleep and 5 hours of disturbed sleep, Keith work up with a grumpy look on his face. He smacked himself with a cold mug of water and put on his uniform before he sat on his bed with the revolver in his hand.


    He had bought a lot of 9mm rounds, also called the Kazak Bullets from the storekeeper. In total, with the 1 zen and 10 braks, which was just 30 braks, he had bought himself 30 bullets.


    The thing that was most surprising here, was that the hunter bullets cost only half of the kazak or war church''s bullets. And the reason for this was simple.


    It was easier to buy hunting riflespared to revolvers. Due to this, even the cost of the bullets was less.


    Unfortunately, the church''s exchange policy when it came to Adam''s bullets was that for every bullet, the storekeeper only had to give out 2 of any regr bullet.


    While Keith felt like he was scammed, he didn''t feel too bad as it was just 20 bullets worth.


    He then grabbed the box of bullets and inserted 4 of them into his gun before stashing the rest back in his pocket. Once he was ready, he headed to the kitchen and ate all the food before leaving.


    But just as he was wearing his shoes, his sister rushed towards him and stuffed a package that was covered in paper and tied with a thread.


    "What''s this?"


    "Just take it and go. You told me that you used up all the bullets for practice right?" she said and patted his back.


    Keith simply stared at her silently, ''If only I had someone like her in my previous life... oh well, what''s done is done.''


    "Thanks sis, but just how many did you save up until now? I thought that Adam was supposed to give away his bullets to the empire."


    Reba nodded, "Yeah, but it isn''tpulsory. He''ll be forced to provide them bullets when it''s war time and now, it''s peaceful. Anyways the empire thinks that he can only create 12 bullets a day but in reality, he can make 30 each day.


    This is boosted to a total of 40 if he.... um makes love but it only works once a day. "

 Chapter 26: The Black Market

    Keith headed back to the Bar''s mansion and saw that Amelia was already there, talking to Brandon and Edward right outside the gates.


    "Hey guys, good evening." Keith greeted them.


    "Look who''s here... you''re too early by the way." Edwardmented when he saw Keith walking towards them.


    Keith nodded, "Well... it was hard to sleep when I already sleptst night. Anyways, I simply have to keep watch outside the Bar''s room right?"


    Brandon shook his head, "Not really. We let you go early, but now that you''re here, there''s something you must do." he said and paused for a second before continuing.


    "Well, the only thing you checked was ngson''s study room, so your job now is to look at every single room in the mansion and report to your senior, who in this case, is Amelia. Just tell her if you find something suspicious."


    "Understood." Keith said without thinking too much of it and looked at Amelia who was grinning from ear to ear, "You... wait I forgot that you were the junior until I got hired."


    The target hit the bullseye as Amelia expression warped to that of fury, but she didn''t say anything lest he counter her with another lewdment. Instead, she directed her frustration at Brandon.


    "Can''t we just transfer him to some other district? This kid is too disrespectful."


    Edward chucked while Brandonughed loudly, "You do know that he''s an year older than you right?"


    "I...."


    "It''s fine." Keith interrupted before the two guys in front of him angered the girl too much. He had to spend the rest of the night shift with her as his boss and he didn''t want an uncooperative partner.


    "When ites to work, age doesn''t matter. Isn''t that right, sir Edward?"


    "You''re right." Edward said, the yfulness in his voice gone as he looked at Keith with a serious look on his face, "We must learn when to act professional and when to act like friends."


    He then patted Keith''s shoulder before leaving and Brandon followed behind him as he stretched his back, letting out a satisfied grunt while doing so.


    Keith turned to look at Amelia and a yful smile popped up on his face, "Senior Amelia, I hope you can teach me a lot of things tonight."


    "Y- you! Stop making things sound so.... so suspicious!"


    "Hahahahaha sorry." he said as he walked in, thinking about ngson and the words he had said in the morning.


    A slight frown formed on his face as he recalled the information.


    ''He has connection to the ck market, so I''ll have to try to get some information from him. Once I do, I can give Adam a system and sell the bullets at the ck market.''


    He silently walked inside and began to scour through the entire mansion with a maid as a guide while Amelia stayed with ngson. It took him more than 5 hours to check every single room, but once he did, he let out a sigh.


    He looked at the butler who was standing in front of him and said, "Tell the oldest daughter of Sir ngson to meet us in the living room. There are quite a few things that I must ask her."


    Keith''s gaze the shifted to the maid who had been guiding him until now, "As for you... just bring the item that you have. Once you''re done, you''re free to leave."


    "Thank you, detective.... um."


    "Keith."


    "Yes, yes. Thank you, detective Keith."


    Keith simply nodded and headed towards the living room where Amelia and ngson were at. Once he got close, he heard a terrible sounding out of the room and from the notes that were being yed, it was obvious that someone was ying the piano.


    With an annoyed look on his face, he walked in and saw Amelia sitting in front of the piano with an extremely focused gaze.


    Keith pped twice and the two ps echoed in the room, which prompted the two of them to look in his direction.


    "I have news, but it''s not exactly good."


    "Just blurt it out, please? I was trying to learn this thing."


    Keith nced at the piano and sighed, "Maybe it''ll be better to learn somewhere else. If you continue, my ears are going to bleed."


    Before Amelia could say anything to counter him, he continued, "Anyways... Sir ngson, I feel like your daughter might be in danger. Almost every single thing in her room gave me urge to leave the room."


    "There''s also one object that''s on the same level as the skull that we saw in the study room." he said as his gaze shifted to Amelia.


    ngson thought about Keith''s words for a second before speaking, "My daughter attends a lot of parties hosted by the other bars. Maybe it''s from them?"


    "That''s possible, but there could also be other reasons." Amelia said as she got off her chair and walked towards the tea table where the maid had just ced a small fountain pen. She picked it up and looked at Keith, "Is this the one?"


    He nodded in response and looked at ngson, "By the way... this ck market. What kind of ce is it? And how do you get an entry?"


    "It''s just a regr market but some illegal things are sold there. There''s also a lot of stolen items sold for cheap. As for getting an entry... this is not really a secret society kind of thing. It''s avable to the public as long as you know where to go.


    You simply have go to that theatre that''s behind the God of Money''s Church and as long as you have enough money, or something valuable, they''ll let you in. Just make sure that you''re wearing a in y mask that''s painted white."


    Keith nodded as he began to make his ns. There was no need for him to wait for too long if he wanted to visit the ck market.


    ''I''ll just go see how things work there and start my business once I get Adam''s awakened ability.''

 Chapter 27: Youre My Bro!

    Amelia took care of talking to the girl, while Keith silently stood outside ngson''s bedroom. He didn''t have to wait for long as he saw her walk towards him with a tired look on her face.


    "She didn''t say it directly, but I can tell that she''s been getting involved with other noble kids. Haaa.... I have a feeling that she angered the wrong person and ngson isn''t the only one in danger here. We must share this information with the Brandon and the good news is that we don''t have to get involved in this case anymore.


    We technically have two clients and both of them seem to have gotten involved in something serious. If we continue, we''ll probably lose a member or two from our team and I''m sure that Brandon wouldn''t want that. He''ll most probably send a request to the neighbouring churches and ask them for help."


    She then sat down on the floor with her back against the wall, but just as Keith was about to follow her actions, he saw the door open slowly.


    Standing there was ngson''s wife, whose name he didn''t know yet, but his mouth slightly opened as he stared at her. He had never seen someone as bold as her in his entire life as she was standing in front of him while wearing an almost transparent lingerie.


    Keith could see everything as his eyes were now used to the small amount of light that the candles in the corridor were emitting. Even Amelia who was sitting on the floor, stared at the woman in shock.


    "Care to join me in my bed?" she whispered as she leaned in slightly, like the amount of exposure wasn''t enough.


    Keith immediately shook his head, "Respectfully, I apologise. I''m already engaged to this beautifuldy beside me and I would like to remain faithful to her."


    Surprisingly, Amelia went along with his story and stood up, "Well, if you want I can join you along with my fiance. Just so you know, I get very rough when ites todies."


    Maybe it was a secret code or maybe it was something that only the women understood, but when thedy heard Amelia''s words, she gave Keith an awkward smile and pushed the door slowly.


    "Would you do me a favour and keep this a secret?"


    Amelia answered for Keith, "Sure."


    Once the door closed, Keith let out a sigh of relief.


    "Thanks." he whispered and sat down on the floor while Amelia walked towards him. Instead of sitting on the other side of the door, she sat directly beside him.


    "Are you alright?" she asked worriedly, and Keith nodded, "Yeah... just reminded me of someone."


    "Oh... wait, you have no reaction?!" she eximed, still whispering as she did so, but her eyes were on his crotch.


    Keith didn''t know what do say, so he chuckled instead, "Is itmon to stare at men''s crotches?"


    "I mean, you''re wearing a pant over it so I''m sure that I can''t really see anything. But oh god... don''t tell me you''re impotent. Wait no, it makes sense. You''re the only one who didn''t stare at me like an idiot when you met me.


    Also, it''s night time right now and my ability seems to have no effect on you. Do you not even see me as a woman?!" she asked, utterly bbergasted at theck of reaction from Keith.


    Hearing her words, he sighed loudly, not knowing how to exin. He thought for a few seconds and decided to keep it simple.


    "Listen, I have different preferences. Most guys like slender... petite, delicate and um... lean girls, but I have different tastes. If I must take an example... the princess of Morose Kingdom is more of my type." he said.


    The princess of Morose would be killed in a few years, but Keith had seen her character art. If there was any important character who was as pretty and "well-gifted" as her, then it would be a woman who was a major antagonist.


    But her mentality and character was warped to the point of no return as she was extremely evil. And unlike her, the princess of Morose, was just unlucky and made a bunch of bad decisions.


    Amelia heard him and frowned as she silently stared at the floor in front of her beforementing, "So... that''s the reason why you look at ra so differently. You... you do know that romance between work colleagues will only cause problems to the team right?"


    "Yeah, I know." he nodded, "That''s the reason why I hold back and don''t actively try to talk to her a lot. I''m confident that with my looks, a lot of women will line up. Mrs ngson is a prime example."


    Hearing his words, she sighed as she didn''t know how to refute him. It was true that he was handsome and from just one look, it was very obvious that as long as Keith gained some muscle, then he would be almost irresistible to the women.


    "Well, don''t worry. I''ll act as your fiance to protect you. It''s my job as a senior."


    Keith nodded, "Thanks. Just don''t get too into the role though... I already told you my preferences and it''ll be awkward if you know... if you start having feelings."


    "Hah? Who do you think I am? I get flowers and gifts almost every week. There''s a bunch of men wanting to take me on a date and there''s also a lot of people trying to jump directly into a marriage. What made you think that you''re better than them?"


    Keith put his arm around her shoulder, "Ay ay, don''t worry I was just joking. You''re very easy to get along with, so you''re somewhat like a bro to me."


    "Bro? what does that even... did you mean brother?!!" she whispered loudly as she pinched his sided.


    "Oiiii, I mean it in a good way!" he eximed as he pinched her back after seeing that she wasn''t letting go.


    Once she got a taste of her own medicine, she red at him like he had wronged her but Keith took this chance to exin himself.


    "What I mean is that you''re like a great friend to me. It''s only been a day or two, but it''s alwaysfortable talking to you and I can just be myself. Do you understand now?"

 Chapter 28: Priestess Arias Awakened Ability

    Keith and Amelia simply talked for the whole night. It was mostly Amelia talking about nobles, their habits and they way they talk to people. She also took this time to teach him more about etiquette.


    Once the sun came up, the two of them headed back to the church as ra took over for them until Brandon and Edward arrived. They had ryed their findings to her, so they didn''t have anything else to worry about.


    "So, are you going to practice shooting today too?" she asked as she walked into the church and Keith nodded in response.


    "Yeah, but before that, I must grab some food."


    Amelia turned to look at him, "Well... the church offers free food. Though, I don''t really like the taste. It''s mostly made for the knights and pdins, so it''s healthy but the taste doesn''t suite my pte."


    "Oh miss noble woman likes to eat only high quality steak." he said, imitating ngson''s way of speaking.


    In response, she just red at him and humphed, "Just wait until you taste that thing... Ugh. It''s unbearable. Let me take you there."


    After saying that, she backtracked and walked out of the church building before heading to the training area which was at the back of the church. Most of the are was taken up by muscr men who were wearing minimal clothing, but on one side, there was a long table which had huge pots ced on top of it.


    She pointed at the table and said, "It''s there. Just grab a te and eat what you want to."


    Then she paused for a second before putting her hand in her pant''s pocket and took out a small folded piece of paper.


    "Since I feel a little bad for you, I''ll let you use this. It''s salt."


    "Oh okay, thanks." he said and rushed to the table before grabbing a te.


    The first pot had t bread, but when Keith grabbed one and took a good look at it, the only thing it reminded him of, was naan from India and Pakistan. As for whether the process of making it was the same here or not, he did not know.


    He simply grabbed five of them and put them on his te before moving on to the next pot which had mashed potatoes. Keith already had Naan as a source of carbohydrates, so he skipped the potatoes and moved on to the next pots.


    One by one, he slowly filled up his te and by the time he was done, he had a total of only four different dishes.


    Naan, raw vegetables, a bunch of roasted chicken pieces andstly, there was a small mound rice cooked with lentils.


    Keith then grabbed a ss of milk and walked back to Amelia who took him to a stone b before sitting down. He simply followed her and sat down before digging into his food.


    Unfortunately, just like Amelia had said, the food tasted terrible as it barely had any seasoning. With a sigh, he looked up at Amelia who gave him the look that said, "I win, bitch."


    "Well, food is food." he said and unfolded the small paper packet before sprinkling some salt into his food. The taste was still terrible, but Keith pushed through as he wished to get his muscles as soon as possible.


    Once he was done, he went back for seconds and did a total of four trips until he couldn''t eat anymore.


    "You... why are you doing this to yourself?"


    "Brandon told me to get buff, didn''t he. I''m trying to do just that... ugh. Oh man, I just want to sleep right here... I don''t think I can walk back home like this."


    He sounded miserable, but when Amelia looked at his bulging belly, she couldn''t do anything but shake her head in disappointment.


    While she was thinking about how to change his mind about eating so much food, she heard him speak.


    "Hey... is there something that I can carry in my pockets? I just want something that is portable, so that I can eat anytime."


    She looked at him like she was seeing a brainless idiot, but answered him anyway, "Well, there''s jerky, dried fish, hard cheese and even dry fruits work. You can also carry some fresh vegetables which you can eat raw, like tomatoes and carrots."


    Keith nodded as he thought about it let out a burp before giving her a satisfied smile, "Yeah, that. That just gave me a lot of room in my stomach. Though, I think I''m done with food for now."


    He got back up on his feet after a slight effort and then headed back home, intending to hit the bed the moment he walks into his room but just as he was walking, he saw a system screen appear in front of his face.


    Protection System activated.


    Trigger: When user is sexually involved with anyone


    System''s Goal: Avoid Danger 50 times.


    The protection system worked simr to Keith''s danger sense ability, but instead of the body reacting to danger, the system simply showedyer of coloured aura around a person.


    From white to blue to red to ck, with the threat level increasing from white to ck.


    He didn''t really care about the system goal as things would eventually happen and there was no need for him to give out a quest to her. Instead, he directly went for taxes.


    He gave out a mentalmand and a new system screen appeared in front of him.


    Protection System


    User: Priestess Aria


    Capabilities: Enables the user to actively see the threat levels of people based on their actions.


    System Tax: Physical money; 4 Chron, Modified copy of Aria''s awakened ability, or inheritance of user''s physical ability.


    Keith picked Aria''s awakened ability without any hesitation and instantly felt regret as her ability did not help withbat in any way.


    ''Libido and Sensitivity maniption.... what am I a gigolo? I don''t n on sleeping around so this thing is absolutely useless...'' he grumbled inwardly, but then he also wasn''t too disappointed.


    ''Well... if I do get someone, it''ll be pretty useful and fun. But damn, I wanted an increase inbat capability or at least something that gave me the power to protect myself."''

 Chapter 29: Artificial System Progress

    It was slightlyte but Keith suddenly realised something. The system said that it was a modified version of Aria''s awakened ability and this genuinely awed him.


    ''The libido control aside... I could technically use the sensitivity control to increase my target''s sense of pain. This way, even if my punchesck strength, it''ll make them feel like they''re getting hit by a truck... hehehehe I''m liking this more and more.''


    The smile on his face couldn''t be hidden as he went back to his room and took of his uniform. He directly jumped into the bed as he opened up Sahoy Tahini''s yboy system and when he saw the progress, he was left bewildered.


    "Wow... it has only been like, one day and this guy already hit the 5 mark." he muttered and saw a red warning sentence under the rewards message.


    Seeing this, he sighed and grabbed his leather pouch before taking out his 10 Zen note. He didn''t feel like parting with it, but he shook his head and gave out a mentalmand.


    The instant he did, the note in his hand disappeared and a new system announcement popped up.


    [Would you like to convert the currency to other denominations?]


    ''Yes. Keep a total of 55 braks with you and give the rest back to me. I need them in 1 zen notes and the rest can be in 1 brak coins.'' he said mentally and the system screen disappeared for a second before a seven notes fell to the bed along with five brak coins.


    He put the money inside his leather pouch before changing the systems from yboy to Protection system.


    He stared at the system screen for a while, not knowing what kind of quest to give. There was no reason to give her any quest as things would just happen eventually, but letting her keep the system for a long time would only hurt Keith''s profits as he wouldn''t receive anything from her after this.


    ''Before I do anything drastic, it''s better to check out what kind of person she is and the stuff she usually does.'' he thought as he summoned his system again and this time, a slight white glow emanated from his body as he gave out an order.


    ''Give me the information on what she did from the time she got the system. In text format.''


    The moment he gave out themand, a long wall of text began form in front of him and he watched it happen with a slight smile on his face.


    ''Oh man, this is essentially stalking but I don''t really n on harming you with this.'' he said to himself as he thought about the priestess and began to read the wall of text which looked more like a detailed diary entry.


    At first, his face was neutral, but the more he read, the more disgusted he looked. Once he was done reading everything, he let out a sigh.


    "So they had contact with her way before her parents gave her away... these damn groomers. She''s long gone now, toote for me to help and even if I try, she''ll most certainly report me instead. Haaa... I feel like shit." he grumbled as he stared at the ceiling.


    Seconds quickly trickled by and Keith let out one final sigh as he made up his mind.


    ''I''ll make things quick and cut my ties with this girl.''


    [Quest Delivered]


    [Quest Details: Walk around the city five times to get a sense for your new ability. Do not wear your holy clothes and use civilian clothes instead.]


    [Failure to do this quest will result in the user''s death.]


    Keith then wore his normal shirt and pants before putting on the trench coat that was provided by the protection church. He put his hand under his trench coat and felt his revolver safely lying there.


    ''I''ll trigger the dangers myself. All I need to do is have the intent to murder her and hopefully, her system will tell her to run away.'' he thought as he walked out of the room and went straight to the shop that sold masks.


    It was a small hawker stall, so Keith had to crouch down to take a good look at the masks that were ced on the cloth that was on the ground. He grabbed two y masks and looked up at the kid who seemed like he was barely 13 years old.


    "How much?"


    ''Two braks for one mask, sir. If you buy three, I can sell them to you for four braks.'' he said confidently, to which Keith simply nodded before he went back to look for another mask.


    He looked around for a few seconds before he directly grabbed a 5 brak coin and gave it to the kid, "Here, I like these two masks but I don''t like the others. Keep the change, kid."


    Before the kid could say anything, Keith stood back up and walked away. The boy then looked around to see if there was anyone who was looking at him, and then packed up his things before he ran back home.


    Keith continued to look at his system screen that was showing him Aria''s location through text and he silently walked to one of the roads. Soon, he got a chance to wear his mask as there was no one who had an eye on him.


    Once he did, he stopped at the side of the street and leaned back against the wall before taking out the newspaper that he had bought in the morning. He acted like he was reading it, but his eyes were on the system screen that was leaking information about her location.


    ''She''ll be here in just a minute.'' he thought and saw the headlines on the newspaper. As he was turning the pages to find something interesting, he saw a familiar face appear a hundred meters away.


    He stopped reading his newspaper and grabbed his revolver that was inside his trench coat while staring at her.


    The image of him shooting her in the head formed in his mind and the moment it did, the girl stopped walking. She stood where she was for a second before running away.


    Keith grinned, "Looks like it''s working."

 Chapter 30: Unexpected Returns

    Aria was happily roaming around the church when she saw a familiar system screen appear in front of her eyes. She had seen it recently, but didn''t understand what it even was as the only thing that it said was that she now had the ability to see a person''s threat level through colours.


    In the church, there were many male and females that had the colour of dark blue, almost on the verge of violet. There were also some who had orange and redyer of aura.


    But this was mostly useless to her as she already knew about these people as she had joined them in a certain "Holy Ritual". While it sounded shady, she still trusted these people and joined them.


    This happened for more than a year before her parents gave her away to the church in the name of god. By then, her mind and psyche about the so-called rituals was positive.


    But now that she got the system, she began to believe in her subconscious feeling more than what she just saw through her eyes or heard from her ears. All the sweet talks that the priests and high priests gave her fell to deaf ears after she got the system.


    To her, this was a gift from god, and the quest announcement in front of her only screamed one thing.


    ''The holy one wishes to test my belief.'' she thought excitedly as she rushed to her quarters and quickly changed into civilian clothes. Once she was done, she didn''t bother with anything else and walked out of the church to roam the district.


    Everything went fine at first as the people she saw, mostly had white aura or aura with various shades of blue. But things changed after a few minutes of walk. She saw a man reading a newspaper but as she got close, she saw him lower his hands.


    This was the time when she slowed down as she saw that he was wearing a mask and masked people were mostly bad news.


    The aura around him was white at the start so she continued walking, but the color quickly changed. It went from blue, to orange, to red and finally, stopped at a dark shade of red which almost looked like it was ck.


    When Aria saw this, the first thing that she did was to turn around and run as fast as she could. After a few seconds of intense running, she turned around and saw that no one was following her, which made her sign in relief.


    But she still felt uneasy.


    ''God''s gift will help me out. I just have to walk around.'' she thought to herself as she steeled her mind and walked in a different direction.


    Unfortunately for her, after five minutes of walk, she saw the same man walking towards her from the front and this time, there was no colour change in his aura as it was red from the start.


    Thanks to her "God''s Gift" she turned around and ran, losing the masked man once again before heading to another ce but this time, she picked a crowded ce.


    But yet again, after a few minutes, she saw the same guy standing on the side of the street while leaning against the building''s wall. This time, she didn''t run away and used the cover of multiple people in the crowded market street to walk away from him.


    Once she got out of the crowded street, she walked into a nearby alleyway that connected to anotherrge street but while she was halfway past the alleyway, she heard a sound behind her.


    It was rough and gritty, but also had a certain youthful feeling to it which gave her the feeling that the gritty voice was made deliberately to hide their actual voice.


    "I... I''m a priestess from the Church of God of Money. You''ll be marked as a sinner if you harm me."


    He had two options. One was to attack her and the other one was to rob her as these were the only two things that could justify his previous actions. He didn''t wish to actually hurt her, but taking some money was something he didn''t mind as long as he could let her go without any suspicion.


    As for other options, Keith just wasn''t able to process them at the moment.


    "Hmm..." Keith hummed as he got closer to her, "Well, give me all your money and I''ll let you go."


    "Do you swear on the Money God Mammon that you won''t harm me if I give you my money?" she asked while shivering slightly.


    Keith did not expect her to get this scared so he took a step back, "Sure. I just want money. Empty all of your pockets and ce the money on the ground. Then you''re free to leave and I won''t do anything."


    Aria silently nodded and grabbed the small leather pouch that was tied around her waist before putting it beside her on the ground. Once she did that, she took a step forward and stopped.


    "Please don''t attack me."


    "I won''t, just go."


    The moment Keith told her to go, she did and she did it extremely fast. Keith silently watched her run away and once she was out of his sight, he took the leather pouch and took out all the money that was inside before tossing it away.


    ''Her leather pouch is of a higher qualitypared to mine, but using it would just raise suspicion.'' he thought as he put the money he just got in his pocked before walking away. He then entered a random empty alleyway and took off his mask before heading to a smoked meat shop which was quite far from his sister''s house.


    On the way, he slowly took out the money that he had just robbed and saw three golden yellow Chron notes. Each one of them had the number 1 on them, but Keith was in awe just from the color of the note.

 Chapter 31: Injured Brandon

    ''A currency that is considered to be used only by the nobles and rich families.... I feel sorry for her, but oh well... I''ll make good use of this.'' he thought as he put the three notes in his inner pocket before he began to count the silvery grey Zen notes.


    ''-even eight and nine... damn she''s rich. I should probably be a priest...'' he thought to himself before shaking his head, ''Nah I''d rather not sell my soul and body just for money.''


    "A total of three chrons and ny Zens. Oh well, going for her directly will simply cause me trouble if I continue doing it. I''ll have to find other ways... and maybe I''ll take a look at the ck market. If possible, I''ll issue a bounty on her."


    His walking pace increased until he reached the smokery. The ce didn''t have any customers at the moment, and the shop was pretty small. It was merely a 5m x 5m room that had multiple cloth sacks filled with various jerky.


    On top of each sack was a thin wooden board with prices written on them.


    Keith took a look at each and every one of them before looking at the older woman who was sitting on a worn out stool.


    "Can I try each one of them before I decide on buying one?"


    After hearing his words, she nodded, "Only if you promise me that you''ll buy. If none of them are to your liking, then pay me one brak and leave."


    "Thanks." he said and began to eat the different types of jerky. The shop only had beef, pork and chicken jerky, but there were different types of each animal.


    Keith simply ate each one of them to get a feel for their texture and taste as he noted down the ones he liked. It took him around 5 minutes to make up his mind.


    "Miss, I''ll buy two kilos of pork loin jerky and hmm... I guess I''ll buy another kilo of top round beef jerky." he said as he pointed a the two different jerky that he wanted.


    The woman stared at him for a second before hastily shaking her head, "That''ll be two zens young man, are you sure?"


    "Absulutely!" Keith responded with a smile, making the woman shake her head. She then silently grabbed threerge tin cans and carefully measured the weights.


    Once everything was perfect, she grabbed an extra handful of jerky for each type and tossed it in before she took out three tin lids that perfectly fit the tin cans.


    She then tossed the tin cans into arge cloth bag and gave it to Keith, "Here you go."


    "Thank you." Keith replied and gave her two zen notes before leaving the shop.


    He didn''t have anything else to do for the day and he was feeling slightly sleepy, so he went back home and plopped onto the bed directly. He woke up almost ten hourster and freshened up before he headed to the ngson Mansion.


    To his surprise, there were a bunch of police patrolling around the mansion and this included his brother inw, who waszily picking his nose while staring at the opposite side of the street.


    Keith went straight to Adam, "What''s going on?"


    "Oh you''re here. I didn''t tell Reba about this because well... you know how she gets when ises to safety. Anyways, someone attacked this ce a few hours ago and the knights from the Church of Protection are inside the gate.


    I don''t even know why they want us here when they can do everything on their own. Oh yeah, the important part. Your boss wants you to head back to your headquarters as your job here is done."


    "Is that so..." Keith muttered as he looked up at the mansion and then sighed, "Okay, thanks. I''ll head there."


    Adam nodded and patted Keith''s shoulder, "Take care of yourself, okay? If something happens to you, Reb will be a huge mess."


    "Understood, but well... you do know what kind of job I''m in right?"


    "Yeah, being a sheriff is rtively safer but I do know what your job is all about. Anyways, I''ll see you in the morning, yeah?"


    "Yup. See ya Adam."


    Keith then rushed to the inn and the first thing he saw was Brandon sitting on his desk with a thickyer of bandage wrapped around his arm.


    "Was it that serious?" Keith asked as he took a step inside and closed the door behind him.


    Edward nodded, "Exploding bullets... never seen one of those in my entire life. Looks like there''s someone new in town. We were lucky to have ra''s protection, but even with that, there was a limit to how much damage Brandon could take.


    His stone skin got absolutely destroyed and if the guy''s revolver hadn''t run out of bullets, then there was no way we could have survived. Anyways, now that the bad news is out of the way, let me tell you the good stuff.


    The church from the capital has sent out one of their inquisitors to take care of this case. The danger was too much and since we technically did protect Sir ngson, we received out bonuses."


    Keith nodded as he nced at the others in the room, only to see every single one of them other than ra grinning like idiots. Even though ra wasn''t grinning, she still had a smile on her face.


    "Just why are you guys so... how do I put this, happy?"


    Hearing his question, Brandon chuckled before pointing at ra, "Why don''t you exin?"


    "Yes sir." she replied and looked at Keith, "Sir Brandon was indeed attacked and yes, he did sustain injuries. But we must look at the bright side. The important thing is that he survived."


    Edward nodded, "Right. Both of you, listen to me." he said as he pointed at both Keith and Amelia, "No one knows when we''ll die. Most of our jobs are mildpared to the Bar''s case, but there is always a chance for things to go wrong.


    I''ve seen eight of my colleagues die right in front of me... and well, it''s important to celebrate the fact that we survived instead of crying over an injury that will heal over time."

 Chapter 32: Shes Engaged?

    [A/N: Not including the debate cuz it''ll feel like filler. It won''t have a much of an impact on the story, so it''s better to get to the slightly more important parts. Also, for those few readers that I have currently; Thank you for reading andmenting, it is one of the few things that keeps me motivated.]


    Keith had a small debate about life and how to live while having a dangerous job which took a few minutes of everyone''s time. While it was a slightly heated debate, it was fun.


    Edward punched Keith in his gut, making him hunch forward even though he didn''t put too much strength into his punch.


    "That''s more than enough for now. From what I can see, you''re fine with enjoying life the way it is so there''s no need to be so stuck up about forcing Brandon to be careful. Anyways, here''s your share of the bonus that we received." he said and stuffed a few notes into his pocket.


    Keith silently plopped himself on the couch beside Amelia and took some time to recover before taking out the money to count the amount he had received.


    ''-thirty seven, thirty eight, thirty nine and forty...'' he counted mentally and then turned to look at the person whom he talked to the most in this team.


    "So, we got 4 Chrons as a bonus?" Keith asked and she shook her head, "Two Chrons, a total of 100 Zens. You got forty, ra got twenty five, Brandon took eighteen, Uncle Ed got ten and well.... I only got eight."


    Keith listened to her, but he could tell that the distress she showed was just an act. He ignored her rants and nced at the others before sping his hands together, "Well, since our great head detective survived like a real man, don''t you guys think that this calls for an celebration?"


    "Nah, there''s no need to waste any money." Brandon said as he put his hand in his pocket, but Amelia who seemed to have something against him for a long time, didn''t let him go, "Hah, you stingy bastard! You took eighteen Zen and you don''t want to spend even one on your beloved team? What kind of head detective are you?"


    Before Brandon could respond, Keith ced his palm on Amelia''s head and pushed her down slightly, "I never said he had to pay, it''s my treat. Consider it a.... what do I even call it? Oh well, I''m spending money today in celebration of receiving a huge bonus and also for our head detective who survived."


    Edward chuckled, "Hahahaha, don''t worry about it kid. We''ll make this stingy bastard cough out his bonus. Today we drink until we pass!!"


    "Hell yeahhh!!!" Amelia jumped up along with ra and the two of them rushed out of the room first.


    "Haaa... that Amelia is such a pain in my ass." Brandonined and looked at Edward, "And why are you taking her side all the time, this is just unfair."


    Edward shrugged, "She reminds me of my daughter. Also, you shouldn''t be the one who''s talking you know? You literally slept in front of her house, trying to win her heard after she rejected you."


    "I... can we not talk about that?" he said, his voice slightly less loudpared to before as he nced at Keith who was smiling.


    "What are you smirking for?"


    Keith blinked, silent for a second as he was caught off guard "Well, I think you two will be a great pair."


    "I''m buying you some top quality whisky today." Brandon said as he walked out of the room, unable to hide his smile.


    Edward looked at Keith and motioned him to follow him out and as they walked out, he asked, "Amelia is a fine girl you know? Why don''t you try your shot at her? From what I can tell, she-"


    "I''ve got different tastes, sir. I''d rather go for ra instead...." he said, not hiding much and this surprised Edward as he had never seen anyone pick ra over Amelia. Even without her night princess ability, she always had people look in her direction during the day while ra was mostly ignored.


    Even in gatherings, she would be called "the girl who walks around with Amelia" instead of her actual name and Edward who had seen this first hand, did not know how to respond.


    It took him a while to gather his thoughts and once he did, he smiled, "It''s a good thing I guess. After all, she barely gets any suitors but it''s a pity."


    "Huh? Why?" Keith asked, not understand what Edward was trying to say, but when he heard the next words of Edward, he felt his mind go nk for a second.


    "Well, she engaged and she''s got strong values and beliefs. So, I suggest you give up on her."


    "...." Keith said nothing for a while.


    Indeed, he didn''t really have ns on getting into a romantic rtionship with his coworker, but that didn''t change the fact that he had a slight crush on her. While he wasn''t too effected by the news, it still made him a little disheartened.


    "Understood." he said one word and silently followed the others until they reached a resto bar which was simr to the ce where Norn used to work. It had tables outside and inside but it also had specialpartments for customers if they wanted slightly better privacy.


    Brandon simply got one of thesepartments and ordered a bunch of food and drinks. He made sure to get premium whisky for Keith and low quality diluted gin for Amelia who began toin when she saw the dirty gin bottle ced in front of her when everyone else other than Keith had clean beer bottles in front of them.


    "Chill, I''ll share my drink with you. There''s no way I can drink so much." Keith said as he pushed his bottle towards her and looked at the waiter, "You can take back the gin bottle."


    Hearing this, Amelia perked up and started gossiping cheerfully while Keith was lost in his own thoughts as he absentmindedly stared at ra.

 Chapter 33: First Time

    All five of them leaned back against their chairs, their muscles loose as they chatted about random things that were going on in Auberg district. They stayed at the ce until midnight and spent a total of 2 Zen, which Brandon took care of.


    To Keith''s own surprise, he was the one who was unable to walk straight even though the others drank more than him. He took a few unstable steps to the front, the right and then trotted backwards before falling to the ground.


    "Oh god...." he said out loud and thenughed at himself for a good minute before closing his eyes.


    Amelia was the first one to notice that he was fast asleep and helped him up with ra''s help. But just as she was about to leave, she heard Brandon behind her.


    "Hey, you''ve been rejecting me for years! Why don''t youe to my house this night?"


    Hearing his words, she sighed as her eyes slowly focused on her surroundings, the alcohol in her body was quickly ejected out of the pores in her body like sweat.


    She then turned around to look at him, "If you change the way you went about women, maybe you''ll find someone who''d want to spend their life with you. I''ll only give my virginity to someone who wishes to marry me. It''s a simple thing but you''re still so stubborn."


    "Hey, life is fleeting. I don''t want to die like a dog, leaving my kids and wife without a father."


    "And that''s where our ideologies differ. I want a husband and you just want a nice one night stand." she retorted before leaving Brandon and Edward behind. Once the two of them carried Keith out, they stopped.


    ra looked at Amelia and let out a hup, "Hic. Should we just take him to our house?"


    "Yeah let''s do that..." Amelia responded with a serious expression on her face which she rarely showed, ''It''s better to keep him with uspared to leaving him in Adam''s house. I must find a way to tell Keith about him without sounding like an idiot.''


    As she thought about Adam and the Keith, the new friend she had made, she couldn''t help but sigh, ''Things would have been different if Keith wasn''t good looking. Looks like both of us were born with gifts that could turn into a curse at any time.''


    She then let out a wry smile as she thought about the past events. One guy who was in power just randomly fancied her which led to her being kicked out of her family.


    ''Even though father didn''t wish to, he had no choice. And now I must walk around without myst name.''


    ra who was on the other side, supporting Keith''s weight, heard Amelia sigh loudly and let out a slight knowing smile.


    "Are you thinking about the prince again?"


    "Bah, who''ll think about that asshole? I was just worried about Keith... and hmm." she paused and turned to look at the girl whom she considered as a big sister. The gears in her mind went on an overdrive as she nced at Keith who was clearly knocked out.


    Then she grinned, "Hey ra, do you really have to listen to your father and marry that ugly bar? I mean, he has two wives and seven concubines... it''s clear that he simply wants you for sexual purposes."


    "The marriage has been fixed and I will keep my promise to my father. I don''t really like that man, but I will do what I must. After all, I swore on Goddess Seraphina and I will honour it." she said adamantly, but Amelia had different thoughts.


    She nodded and agreed with ra before giving her an imaginary scenario, "Well, alright. But just in case you never promised anything, would you pick Keith or that Bar? I mean, just look at this guy... he might have a sly tongue, but he''s such a caring man. He''s also so damn good looking and he doesn''t have an ability simr to mine."


    Hearing her words, ra''s face went red as she nced at Keith.


    "Come on, answer me!"


    ".... I''ll pick Keith, but there''s no way he''d be okay with taking someone like me. My chest is too big and doesn''t look goodpared to yours, and even my backside isn''t any better. I might have an above average face, but there''s a reason why so many people rejected me even though I have such valuable awakened ability."


    Amelia grinned and was unable to control her facial expression as she pushed ra even more.


    "You know, yesterday during my shift with Keith, we talked about the kind of girls he likes. And guess what? He directly told me that he''d pick you over me and I was using my ability on him back then. Surprisingly, it had no effect on him, which means that he barely has any kind of sexual thoughts when ites to me." she said and paused before asking ra another question.


    "Do you know what that means?"


    "...."


    "You promised to marry that fat pig, but you never promised that you''ll stay faithful to him. At least not before your marriage. Why don''t you try your shot with Keith and see if he wants to do it or not? You should have some confidence in yourself."


    ra stayed silent and said nothing, to which Amelia sighed, thinking that she had failed. But the moment they brought Keith into their house, ra grabbed a ss of water and sprinkled some on Keith''s face.


    Keith didn''t not have much of a change as he simply frowned in his sleep. Seeing this, she was about to give up when Amelia grabbed the ss and poured all the contents on Keith''s face, waking him up in an instant.


    Seeing that it worked, she pushed ra onto Keith who was already on the floor and heard her whisper a few words to Keith while blushing hard.


    Keith, who was clearly intoxicated, stared at her for a few seconds and let out a silly smile.


    "Hehehe,e here then."

 Chapter 34: Adams Secret

    Keith woke up the next morning, but didn''t move one bit. He remembered most of the night and there was only one word to describe it; unforgettable.


    ''It''s a pity that she''ll be marrying some random guy just because she made a promise. Well, it''s her life and I don''t really know her well enough to try and stop her.'' he thought as he let out a slight sigh.


    "Oho look who''s awake."


    He heard the familiar voice and looked to his left, only to see Amelia smirking at him, "Come on now, you owe me a thank you."


    "You...." he began when he saw the dark circle under her eyes, "didn''t sleep did you?"


    "Of course not. Not with the amount of noise you two made. Heck, you went on for four whole hours... like don''t you get tired?"


    Keith simply smiled, not knowing how to exin. If he told her about his second awakened ability, she''d most probably freak out as there was no one who ever managed to have multiple awakened abilities.


    "Well... I don''t know. It was my first time." he said. It was technically true as he was a virgin in this life.


    Amelia stared at him like he was a monster before shaking her head, "Anyways... I asked for a leave today. For all three of us and Brandon agreed as there isn''t any case for us to take on at the moment. But that aside... you should probably let her go and put on your clothes."


    "Nah, I''ll stay this way. After all... this is the first and thest time for me right?"


    ".... yes." she replied and nodded before leaving the room. Seeing him hugging ra made her feel both good and bad. It was simr to anxiety. She was happy for the girl who was under confident in herself but there was something that was tugging her the other way.


    Once she got out of the room, she smacked her own cheeks and headed over to the kitchen so that she could make the three of them some breakfast. Midway, she stopped and sighed, "That guy eats like a pig. Tch, I''ll go buy some groceries first."


    Inside the bedroom, Keith gently ced ra beside him and put on his clothes. Using his libido control, he brought his golden staff to normal non-hard size and felt morefortable in his pants.


    "You''re awake aren''t you?" he asked as he put on his shirt and when he got no response, he continued, "I just need one word. Keep that in mind and I hope that you''re not toote."


    ra still didn''t respond, so Keith silently put on his clothes and once he was done, he walked out of the room, only to see a Amelia dressed up in a cute one piece gown that was bright blue in colour.


    "I thought you didn''t want to let her go?" she asked as she gave him a suspicious look, but he simply shrugged, "I just wanted to tell her something... alone."


    "Is that so..." she muttered and nodded, "Alright, just wait here for me and I''ll buy some groceries before I make us some food. Oh yeah, there''s something I want to talk to you about too. It''s about Adam and it''s important."


    Keith nodded as he walked towards her, "Sure, let me join you though. I feel like ra need some alone time to think about things."


    "Sure." she replied and walked out of the house with Keith right behind her.


    The two girls basically lived in one of the church''s living quarters but unlike Aria who''s room was inside the church, Amelia and ra''s house was outside, but it was extremely close to the church.


    Keith and Amelia walked silently for a few hundred meters until Keith took out a self made paper bag filled with pork and beef jerky. As he chewed on it, he nced at Amelia, "Want some?"


    "Nah, I''m good... I don''t like jerky too much. Not when I can eat fresh meat in an hour or two."


    "Wow, spoken like a true noble." Keithmented and grabbed another strip of jerky before biting it, "By the way, tell me about Adam. There''s no reason to wait is there?"


    Amelia nodded and took her sweet time to segregate her thoughts, "He''s... well, from what I''ve seen, he has special inclinations. I''ve never seen someone like him, like ever."


    "Can you not talk in riddles please?" Keith said, sounding annoyed. His mind was still stuck on ra.


    "Oh great sir, I humbly ask for your forgiveness!" she shouted before smacking Keith on the back of his head, which he dodged by ducking down slightly.


    Seeing this, she clicked her tongue. She then took a deep breath and sighed, "Alright sorry. Bad habits die hard and nobles always talked in circles. Gossips included." she exined before getting to the point.


    "What I wanted to say is that Adam likes men. I didn''t want you to be his target."


    Keith raised his eyebrow and recalled all of his interactions with Adam before dismissing the thought.


    "That''s... hard to believe."


    "He''s good at keeping secrets. If I hadn''t seen him naked in my brother''s bedroom... with his thing inside my brothers.... ugh. You get what I''m saying right? Anyways, I saw it with my own eyes so I want you to be careful.


    If possible, move out of your sister''s house and live in one of the church''s quarters. You''ll be given one for free just like how ra and I got ours."


    Keith nodded, but he was busy thinking about Adam.


    ''If she''s write, I must talk to Reba. Or should I not? Ugh, I hate family drama...''


    The two of them shopped for the required ingredients, but the shopping that only needed a few minutes turned into a three hour shopping spree. This just gave Keith more time to think about things.


    ''Yeah, it''ll be better to talk to Adam about it first. If he ever targeted me, I would have known with my danger sense, which means that he never had any ns to harm me. I think it''ll be better to take Amelia with me and confront him in the afternoon. This way, even if my danger sense failed me in the past as sexual interest doesn''t really count as danger, I''ll have someone to rely on.''

 Chapter 35: Bottom Lines

    Amelia and ra stared at Keith who nonchntly exposed his bulging stomach after he had eaten a huge portion of food once again.


    "How do you even live after eating so much...."


    No matter now many times she saw the same thing, Amelia just couldn''t get used to it. Seeing a lean guy lying on the floor with a bulging stomach after eating for two whole hours was amusing but also slightly scary.


    "Gotta get some of that muscle." he replied as he patted his stomach, "Anyways, let''s rest for a bit and then we can go meet Adam. He''s most probably at the police station."


    "Mhm." she replied and patted ra''s back, "Before we go, it''ll be better to get some blessings."


    Keith nodded and looked at ra who avoided his gaze, "Oh dear angel in disguise, please give me your divine blessings."


    "Already did." she said softly before getting up and heading to her room.


    Amelia saw this and smirked, "Wow just look at that. A girl who isn''t phased by most of the things is unable to handle staying in the same room as you. Just what did you two dost nigh- oow!"


    Keith''s eyes followed the small wooden box that had just bounced off of Amelia''s forehead and caught it.


    "Hai hai, I never expected to see a shy side to her." she added before lifting her hands, "Okay okay okay!!! I''ll stop."


    Keith couldn''t really see what ra was doing as he was sleeping in an awkward position and was toozy to move. For the next two hours, he chatted with Amelia until some of the food was digested and then left the ce.


    The two of them didn''t have to walk into the police station as Adam was standing outside with a mug of coffee in his hands.


    "Hey!" he said and waved his hands, but when he saw Amelia, he paused. He then looked at Keith, hoping to find some kind of answer but was unable to find anything.


    Keith silently walked towards him, "Listen, I just want to talk about something important. I mean no harm."


    Adam sighed and then looked at Amelia, "Well, I guess I know what you want to talk about. Come with me."


    Saying that, he walked into the police station and went straight into one of the smaller rooms after grabbing one chair from the main room where the Sheriff''s table was at. Keith silently followed him into the room with Amelia right beside him.


    The door of the room had one sign stuck to it which said, "Interrogation Room"


    Keith and Amelia walked in and saw Adam take a seat on one end of the small table. On the opposite side, there were two empty chairs.


    As for the rest of the room, it waspletely empty. Keith silently sat down and went straight to the topic.


    "Is it true that you prefer men over women? If yes, I want to know the reason why you married my sister."


    Hearing this, Adam nced at Amelia and then shifted his gaze back to Keith, "Can I smoke..."


    "I don''t mind." Keith said before Amelia could give out an answer. To him, this was a family matter and Amelia was simply here for his protection.


    Nodding in response, Adam took out a pipe from his pocket and filled it with what Keith could only guess, as dry tobo leaves. He then lighted up a match, which he used to get the tobo heated up.


    He took a long puff and exhaled, which looked more like a long, tired sigh.


    "Well, if people find out, I''ll be executed but yes you''re right. As for why I married Reba... well, I wanted kids and to get kids, I needed to marry a woman no matter what. Reba already knows everything and we''ve talked about it long ago. Before we married.


    I just want a loving family with kids that have my own blood flowing in them. As for Reba, she''s fine with it as long as I provide for her and our kids. Though, she had a condition and that was for our kids to not find out about me.


    Does that answer your question?" he asked and took another puff of smoke before exhaling.


    Keith coughed a few times due to the smoke before nodding, "As long as you take care of my sister, I don''t really care what you do. Also, my friend here was just worried that you''d target me and that''s the only reason why she told me about you. I hope that you don''t hold it against her."


    "Nah, we''re good as long as the wrong people don''t find out." Adam said and looked at Amelia, "Just so you know, miss. Your brother is the same as me but he''s... well he''s, to put it mildly, crazy. Doesn''t care who it is or how old they are. Unfortunately it was toote before I found out and by then, he had harmed way too many people.


    Even now, I have no means to stop him and the feeling of powerlessness I get... it''s hard to exin. Haa... no matter how useful my ability is, touching a Duke''s kid is almost impossible."


    "Can you give me the details?" Keith asked, frowning deeply as hepared Amelia''s brother to a certain guy in the music industry from his past life.


    ''Though I wasn''t there to see what actually happened in the end, this is my bottom line. Every single pedo, children maniptors, and groomers... I will stop them.''


    There was a limit to how much of the "When in Rome, do what the Romans do." that Keith would follow and this was his bottom line. He could ept multiple things but taking advantage of little ones was something that was the vilest and the most disgusting thing to him.


    He silently listened to everything that Adam said and the anger in his heart simply grew further and further. Amelia was also extremely shocked when she heard Adams words.


    ''I''m sorry Amelia, but your brother must and will mysteriously disappear some day.'' Keith said mentally as he nced at the distressed girl beside him.

 Chapter 36: Black Market

    Evening, after sunset.


    Keith wore casual clothes, which were basically just a lose cotton shirt and a pair of trousers. After checking himself out in the mirror, he stuffed his revolver halfway under his pants and covered it with his long shirt to make it hard to see.


    The handle was up and outside the pants with the barrel pointing downwards. He practised drawing it a few times before he loaded the weapon with 4 bullets while leaving thest one empty.


    For a secondyer of safety, he took out a 1 brak coin and pulled back the hammer of the revolver before cing the coin in between. The hammer kept the coin in ce and whenever he pulled the trigger, the coin would slip out and fall while the hammer hit the empty chamber.


    Keith simply rotated the cylinder and did this a few more times to make sure that it worked all the time. Once he was done, he grabbed a handful of bullets and put them in his pocket before leaving the house.


    He went straight to the area where the ck market was said to be and found a theatre that had avish look to it. He silently walked into an alleyway and put on the white y mask that he had tied to his waist using a thread.


    It did take him some time as he had to pull up his shirt to get the mask lose from the thread. He then waited for a while until he saw another masked person walk in and followed the guy.


    The moment he entered the building, he found himself in a decent sized empty hall. There were three doors, one on the left, middle and right each. Keith simply watched the masked person enter the right door and followed him until he was in an extremely small room that had another door on the opposite side.


    He was then stopped by a thin dude who was standing in front of this door.


    "Are you here to buy or sell?" the guy asked and Keith took out three of his 10 Zen notes before replying, "Buy."


    The guy nodded and stepped aside to let Keith in.


    Keith walked inside, not really caring about theck of security as the guy hadn''t checked him for weapons.


    ''I guess I''ll just have to be more careful here.'' he thought to himself and walked forward, passing by the stalls that had random things on disy. Most of these items looked like theatre props and Keith''s gaze paused on one such item.


    It was a trench coat simr to his own uniform, but this was was light brown in color while his uniform was ck. He walked to the stall and pointed at one of therger trench coats that were hung up and asked for the price.


    "Two Zen."


    Keith nodded and stared at the trench coat as he recalled the market prices. Usually a brand new trench coat was 4 Zen and this was only the average as the high end ones could go up to Chrons. 2 Zen was rtively cheap so he decided to buy it.


    The stall owner saw him take out a 10 Zen note and rubbed his hands together before immediately bringing out the change.


    "Here you go, sir." he said amicably as he gave Keith the trench coat and 8 zen before taking the 10 zen note from him.


    Keith simply nodded and left the stall to look for other things. As he walked, he put on the trench coat and saw the stalls slowly change when it came to their themes.


    At first, he only saw items that were theatre based but now, he could tell that the things at the stalls were stolen goods that had damage marks on them. There were chipped ded weapons, damaged leather armor, weird looking medicines and many more.


    Keith took his sweet time asking about the things he had interest in, but didn''t buy anything. That was until he moved even further and the theme changed again.


    There were animal carcasses hung up on thick steel hooks, a stall that openly advertised poisons, multiple stalls that sold drugs and there were two stalls that had frozen human bodies for sale too. And among all of these, Keith saw a few people selling pornographic novels and his only reaction to this was a chuckle.


    ''There''s always demand for stuff like this isn''t there?'' he thought and shifted his gaze from the porno stall to the guy who was selling gun powder.


    He simply ignored him as he didn''t require gun powder at the moment. He continued to walk forward and was quite surprised to see live wild animals chained up and there were also humans in wooden cages.


    ''Hm, isn''t ve trading illegal?'' he thought as he recalled the Empire''sws that had connection to ves. The only ones who could be sold as ves would be war prisoners, but Keith knew that it had been more than a decade since the Empire got into a war with their neighbors.


    But that was when he realised that he was at the ck market. Selling random people was illegal.


    ''No need to get myself into trouble. If I try to be a messiah without strength to protect or save myself, then I''ll be the one in those cages.''


    It took him a few more minutes to scour though the entire ce before he back tracked and bought two knives that he could easily hide in his trench coat. Then he walked over to the stall that promised assassinations and ced a 1 Zen note on the small table.


    "Priestess Aria from the Church of the Money God, Mammon."


    The old man sitting on the chair looked up at Keith as he quietly slid the note towards himself, "What''s the bounty?"


    "Four Zen, I want her alive. You can threaten her or beat her up a bit, but if I find out that anything else happened...." he whispered, but it was still loud enough for the old man to hear. As he whispered, he put his hand on the guy''s shoulder and increased his sensitivity to the limit before applying all the force that he could.


    "Aughhh!"


    Keith looked down at the old man who was was close to tearing up and brought his sensitivity back to normal, "Do you understand what I mean?"


    "Yes sir.. ugh,I''ll give them strict orders."

 Chapter 37: Awakened Bounty Hunter

    Two hourster, at night.


    Keith silently munched on some chicken jerky that he had bought a few minutes ago as he watched the contents on the system screen. He maintained a a close distance to Aria as he walked along the streets, using the guidance of his system to keep things urate.


    After observing her for the past few minutes, he only had one thing to say about her and that was how good she was at running away. Though it was mostly thanks to the system she had received from Keith.


    The goal was to avoid danger 50 times and by now, she had already managed to reach 12.


    Keith suddenly stopped munching on the jerky and rushed forward as he read the contents on the system screen. As he ran, he took out a new mask that had some cracks on it and put it on.


    [User Aria is surrounded by three men and is unable to escape. She pleads them to let her go...]


    The text that was generated was connected to the live events, so Keith ran as fast as he could and in a matter of just thirty seconds, he found her lying on the hard ground while one of the men had a rope in his hands, ready to tie her up.


    He continued running, but before he could reach them, one of the three guys spotted him and alerted the other two.


    "Who is this bastard?!" the guy screamed and the other two guys turned to look at Keith as he got closer.


    Two of the three guys were free, so they rushed to stop Keith before he got to Aria.


    Keith observed the two of them as he got closer. Both of them were thin, but based on the visible muscles that he could see, he could tell that they were strong guys. Physically, they could have been around Keith''s strength, but he knew that they would have a whole lot of experience whenpared to him who had lived a peaceful life for almost three decades.


    While he was at a disadvantage when considering experience and physical strength, he still had something that his opponents didn''t.


    The man who was closest to him, sent a punch flying towards his face but Keith dodged it by tilting his body to the left. As he did this, he returned the favour by punching the guy''s with all the strength that he could muster.


    As soon as he fist came in contact with his abdomen, he increased his sensitivity to the max.


    "Ough-" he let out a constipated grunt as he bent forward and directly fell face first into the ground, his body as still as a rock.


    Keith didn''t waste time and directly rolled backwards, only to see the second guy stop in his tracks instead of attacking him mindlessly.


    "Hey, take the girl and run. This guy doesn''t look like a normal person." he warned his friend, keeping his true goal in mind, "I''ll try stalling."


    Hearing this, Keith squinted his eyes and without wasting any time, he grabbed his revolver and pointed it at the guy in front of him.


    "If any one of you moves.... hands up in the air, assholes." he said, trying to assert his dominance, which he seeded in as both of them raised their hands, not wanting to lose their lives.


    Keith nodded, satisfied with the oue and spoke, "Now, turn around and leave silently. Without the girl."


    He then silently watched as they left the ce without causing anymotion and once they were gone, he untied the robed that bound Aria. Just as he was about to leave, the girltched onto his arm like a leech.


    Not wanting to deal with her, he directly pointed his gun at her head which forced her to let him go.


    "Leave."


    Unfortunately for him, this girl wasn''t like the three men that he had just scared off. Just from one look he could tell that her survival instincts were absolute garbage, but then he remembered about his system.


    ''Ah... she must be seeing white or blue aura around me right now.'' he thought as he changed the image in his mind. He imagined himself shooting a bullet through her head and stared at her menacingly.


    This did the trick as she stumbled backwards and began to apologise.


    "Leave." he repeated once again and this time, she listened to him and left the ce.


    ''This might be mentally scarring, but I need you to reach the goal as soon as possible. That''s the only way I''ll be able to have sufficient ability to protect myself when the war starts.'' he thought to himself as he recalled the start of the second arc in the novel.


    The entire arc was dedicated to the war between multiple regions and it was extremely bloody.


    ''rk... you must be fighting in the underground cage fights right now, huh? After all, the closer you get to death, the stronger you be.''


    Recalling the information on rk, the protagonist of the novel, he couldn''t stop himself from feeling helpless. His abilities screamed "protagonist" no matter how he thought about them.


    ''Well, there''s still two years time.'' he convinced himself as he opened up his system screen and continued to keep an eye on Aria as she had a quest to roam the district until the sun rose in the next morning. And she had to do this alone without any help from the Golden church, aka Church of the God of Money.


    Which meant that even Keith had to stay awake so that she wouldn''t actually get kidnapped by the bounty hunters. He simply wanted her to escape danger 50 times and did not wish her any physical harm.


    After his first conflict with the three bounty hunters, he was rtively free for the next few hours until she reached the 48 out of 50 escapes. It was at this time that Keith panicked.


    [User Aria stops in front of an Awakened bounty hunter, paralyzed and unable to move.]


    "Oh shit."

 Chapter 38: The God of Systems

    Aria was still pretty close to him, so he immediately rushed towards her location. Only to see her on the shoulder of a tall guy. He was extremely muscr and intimidating, but Keith silently took out his revolver and pointed at the guy.


    After all, no matter how strong a person was, there was an extremely low chance of them being able to fight against a firearm. But that was where he was wrong.


    The buff guy looked at Keith and smiled, "Oh a gun. Well, that''s fun."


    And as soon as he finished his sentence, thick scales grew out from his skin and covered his entire body including his face and head.


    "You think you can harm me?" he asked and Keith wasn''t really confident anymore. Even then, he pushed the coin to remove the makeshift safety on his gun and cocked the hammed back before firing twice in a quick session.


    First one was a nk shot, but second one went out with a loud bang before ricocheting off the guy''s scale armor.


    ''Fuck.'' he cursed inwardly before immediately turning around. Without wasting even a second, he ran. As his luck would have it, he heard heavy footsteps behind him, but he didn''t dare turn around. Instead, he put more effort into running.


    He continued to elerate until he got to a speed where he was unable to control his bnce. His whole posture was in a mess as he was leaning forward, which was not a good thing in the slightest.


    To his dismay, the sound of footsteps behind him just got closer no matter how fast he went. Even though he was unstable, he continued to run as he used to momentum to keep himself on the ground.


    He felt his heart beating hard and loud, but the sound of footsteps was just behind him now. Left with no choice as fear gripped his heart, he jumped forward and stopped worrying about his bnce as he turned around, ready to make onest gamble.


    The grip on his revolver was tight as he spun around and immediately pulled the trigger. This time, he went absolutely mental and did it thrice, emptying the cylinder before fell to the ground.


    Bang Bang Bang


    ng ng Skrshh


    First two bullets ricocheted off the scale armor just like the previous one, but the sound that Keith heard when thest bullet hit the guy was different. He didn''t know where it hit him, but from what he could see, the guy lost his footing and fell forward.


    Keith used the momentum that he had built up to roll over and this prevented him from sustaining any grave injuries. But when he took good look at the guy in front of him, he couldn''t help but let out a sigh of relief.


    Blood gently flowed down from the guy''s left calf and Keith used this opportunity to his advantage.


    "Run!!!"


    Hearing his shout, the Aria didn''t know how to respond as her ankles had been cuffed. Keith on the other hand, didn''t give a shit and just ran away.


    The scaly guy grunted as he stood back up and limped towards Aria, "Fucking bitch, all this trouble and we only get four Zen."


    "I''ll give you five!" she eximed when she realised that there was a bounty on her head. The theatre and ck market technically belonged to the Golden Church, so as a Priestess, she knew about the businesses in the ck market.


    Though the ck market was under the Golden Church, it didn''t stop them from going for their own people as even the official members used the bounty hunters to target fellow official church members. That was how corrupt and chaotic the Golden church was.


    Hearing her words, the guy thought for a bit before nodding as this was amon urrence in his line of job. This was also the reason why he dly took on the bounty for an official member as the chances of getting bribe money was high.


    "Sure, but I need double. 10 Zen."


    Aria nodded and took out a few silvery grey notes from her pocket but before she could count them, the guy snatched it all. He then bent down and was about to unlock the cuffs when he heard a series of loud gunshots behind him.


    The next instant, he felt immense pain in his lower back. He hurriedly got up, but since his left leg was injured, it immediately gave in to his weight and he fell back down, kneeling. This was enough time for Keith to get close as he was only a few meters away, just hiding as he reloaded his gun a few seconds ago.


    He pounced on the guy and increased his sensitivity to the max as he dug his finger into the bullet hole on his calf. The guy twitched violently before passing out and once he was out cold, theyer of scales gradually sunk back into his body.


    Keith went straight for cuffs that still had the keys in them and unlocked them. He then took a quick nce at the system screen which said 49/50 danger escapes.


    He didn''t think too much about it and pulled out one of the knives that he had hidden in his trench coat before pointing it at Aria, "Go take the money that''s in his hands. If not, I''ll kill you."


    "Y- yes." she stammered as she rubbed her ankles and then rushed towards the fallen guy. The moment she grabbed the money that was in his hands, Keith grinned.


    "I don''t need that money, but I want you to take this guy to the theatre and hand him over to the people there." he said and was about to leave the ce when he saw her fall to her knees and bow down to him.


    With her head almost touching the ground, she spoke, "Is... is the holy one satisfied with the results of my trial?"


    Hearing this, Keith stared at her silently as the gears in his mind turned. A few seconds passed as Aria waited, hoping to hear some good news.


    "A new god that grants people unimaginable power has been born. His name unknown, but we call him, the God of Systems."

 Chapter 39: Gold Ritual

    Keith sat in the office with Edward and ra while the other two were out to deal with a minor case. He had a book in his hands but, he was looking at something else; his system screen.


    The soldier guy had managed to sleep with 10 women in under a week, and now that both him and Aria had finished doing their things, Keith could now use his gacha wheel again.


    He stared at he red button in front of him and decided to postpone it until he got off his shift.


    ''I have a lot of money right now, so instead of gambling with extremely low chances, I''ll use the luck enhancement ritual.'' he thought as he recalled the ritual that rk learnt about in thetter half of the novel.


    The day went on peacefully and once his shift was up, he immediately left the ce and went to the Empire''s official Bank that was in Auberg District. It looked like regr stalls with a counter, but there were three people behind it.


    Keith silently walked up to them and ced his three 1 Chron notes along with a bunch of Zen notes which added up to 100.


    "I''d like to exchange this for fifty grams of gold." he said the the man behind the counter nodded before he began to count. Once he was done, he looked up at Keith, "Exchange fees will be five Zen."


    Hearing this, Keith let out a soft sigh and ced a 5 zen note on the counter.


    He then saw the guy grab the money and walk into the back room where only the staff were allowed. He didn''t have to wait for too long as the guy game out with a small gold coin and ced it on the counter for Keith.


    "On the name of Money God Mammon, I swear that this gold coin weighs 50 grams."


    Keith watched the guy make his oath and nodded before taking the coin from the counter. Promises and Oaths when made using a god''s name, had a huge impact on people. If they broke that promise or lied while making one, they would receive severe punishments.


    Since nothing happened to the guy when he made the oath, Keith happily took his coin and walked away. Instead of going back home, he headed to an inn and paid the owner one brak coin for the night before going to the room that he was given.


    Once inside, he he took out his knife and made a small cut on his palm before using the empty bullet shells to store the dripping blood. It took him some time, but once he managed to fill them all up, he went on to the next step.


    Blood still continued to drip from the cut, so he used his small handkerchief to stop the blood flow. Once done, he used a small chalk that he had bought on the way to the inn to draw two simple shapes.


    An equteral triangle that had equal sides and a circle that touched all three corners of the triangle. It took him multiple tries, but thanks to the ability to rub the chalk off the floor, he could get it done more efficiently.


    He looked at the simple diagram from multiple angles and made changes until he was satisfied with the oue. Once done, he ced the bullet shells filled with blood at the center of the triangle.


    The firstyer was a triangle, with a total of 9 bullet shells. On top of these bullets, Keith ced three more and then he carefully put the gold coin on top.


    "Phew... finally done." he said out loud and sighed. He then took a few deep breaths to calm himself down and then took off his handkerchief as he needed more blood. He wiped some of it off of his palm and used it to write one word around the bullet shell pyramid.


    He did this three times on each side and once he was done, he sped his hands together, "Oh great god of prosperity, I humbly offer you this gold and my blood as a sacrifice. Please grant me some enhanced luck."


    Keith stayed still with his eyes closed for a few seconds and then, he suddenly felt heat radiating from the front. He didn''t open his eyes and kept them close until he no longer felt any heat hitting him. This took a few seconds, but once it was done, he immediately opened his eyes and nced at the clean, empty floor that only had empty bullet shells on it.


    With a grin, he mentallymanded the gacha wheel to appear before him and pressed the spin button. As it spun, Keith prayed like he always did when he was ying gacha games in his previous life, hoping that he could get a 5 star character.


    ''Yellow system is confirmed but I really really hope that I can get an orange one. Please please please pleaseee!!''


    He watched the gacha wheel slow down at a yellow section and sighed, knowing that his wish wouldn''t be fulfilled.


    But it didn''t stop there and slowly moved to the next section and stopped at red.


    Keith stared at the gacha wheel, shocked and surprised. He didn''t move for two whole seconds before the excitement suddenly erupted like a volcano.


    "Gah DAMNNN!! Let''s fucking goooooo!" he screamed as he jumped back up from his sitting posture, breaking into a little victory dance as if he were at the wildest rave.


    Once he calmed down, he felt a slight headache that hit him thanks to the information regarding the red system which was the most valuable type. They were long term and extremely powerful.


    They remained active with the user indefinitely or until Keith wished to withdraw the system from them. The only drawback of this was that, if he did withdraw the system from them directly, then he wouldn''t be able to give this system to anyone else and it would simply cease to exist in the world.


    ''Now... I can''t just give this to a random person. I''ll have to give it to someone who has high potential and the timing must also be right.'' he thought as he recalled every single character from the novel that were still in his memories.

 Chapter 40: Training Program

    The more time he spent thinking, the more he calmed down. He silently picked up the empty bullet shells and put them in his pocket.


    ''At this point in time, there is only one guy who fits the criteria. I could either go with him, or I could pick ra... though, that''ll be for personal reasons. I need someone who can go head to head with rk, so ra is out of the question. I don''t wish to put her in danger.''


    As he got back to the bed in the small room, he frowned, ''No, I can''t pick him. He''s too evil and he''ll just get worse. I need someone with potential not someone who''s already strong.''


    He fell back onto the bed and stared at the ceiling as he thought more, trying to pick the perfect person for his goals, someone who had the potential to go head to head with the protagonist of the novel.


    Time quickly passed as he was lost in thought and before he could realise it, he fell asleep.


    *****


    He woke up a few hourster and looked out the window to see that it was night time.


    "It''s dark already... oh well, if I''m lucky enough... I should be able to find him in the slums. Hopefully, he hasn''t been taken away by the ve traders." he muttered as looked away from the window and walked out of the room.


    He then went straight to the inn where his workce was, and found a young girl sleeping at the counter while simr looking boy was sitting on one of the chairs. Before he could speak, the guy got up and greeted him.


    "Hello, you must be Keith Zenister right?"


    Hearing him, Keith nodded.


    "Great, I wanted to inform the head detective first but anyone is fine. The headquarters has sent out orders for your entire team to attend the training program. Of course, everyone excluding Edward.


    You must head to the main church that''s located at the capital of Baroma Kingdom and once you''re there, someone will guide you as long as you show them the Church''s official ring."


    "Hmm... that''s a bit too sudden but I understand. Will I receive any money for the travel?"


    The teenager nodded and immediately took out a cotton pouch from his pocket, "Here''s a bunch of braks and Zens. You can leave as early as you can, but you must reach the church in two months from now."


    Keith then talked to him a little more and fished for some information before leaving. He had no ns to stay for too long, but he had some preparations to do. The first thing he did was to head back home and since it wasn''t toote, he saw both Adam and Reba awake in the living room.


    He went straight to the topic without wasting time and once he was done exining everything, Adam got up from his chair, "Wait here, I''ll bring something for you. The training program for me was extremely hard and I''ve heard that the Chuches take things even more seriously."


    "I''ve heard of it..." Keith replied as he recalled the training camp arc from the novel. rk was a part of the War Church for a while during and after the war, and due to this, Keith had a lot of information regarding training camps.


    He then talked a bit with his sister and made sure to make light of the hardness of the training camps. Though, from the look on her face, he could tell that she didn''t really trust his words.


    Adam walked back to the living room a few minutester with a briefcase and gave it to Keith, "Filled with bullets and um some bottles of whisky. When are you leaving by the way?"


    "Now. I''ll pack my stuff and just leave before all the cart drivers go back home." he said and rushed to his room. He tossed out half of his old clothes and reced them with his new uniforms instead.


    Once that was done, he really did not have anything else to do so he grabbed the suitcase that was filled with his clothes and the briefcase he received from Adam before leaving the room.


    After saying his farewells to the couple, he left the house and went straight to the Auberg district''s main road where most of the carriages would normally be stationed. Unlike the first time when he hired a mule carriage, this time he went for a horse carriage as it was faster.


    "To the River Market."


    "That''ll be 16 Braks sir." the guy said and Keith immediately gave him a 1 Zen note.


    The guy thanked him in response and gave back 4 braks before getting onto the carriage, ready to start the journey. Keith put the money in his leather pouch and got in before opening his briefcase.


    Inside, he saw three bottles of whiskey and the rest of the space was taken by bullets. He silently counted them and was quite happy by the end of it.


    ''90 bullets... I don''t think I''ll use these many, but having them is better than not having them.'' he thought to himself before closing the briefcase. He then recalled the information regarding the River Market from the old Keith''s memories as this ce wasn''t mentioned in the novel.


    ''It''s got a way better marketpared to Auberg district, but I''ll simply use the river port to hire a boat. This way, I''ll be able to travel much fasterpared to using any carriage.''


    His goal was simple. It was to head to the Morose Kingdom and meet his target. He also nned to help him out financially before continuing to Baroma Kingdom.


    Keith stretched his body and leaned back against the seat before letting his body rx. Time passed by and he safely switched to a boat before continuing on his journey while not encountering any danger.


    That was until he stopped in front of a mud hut in a vige that was at the outskirts of Morose Kingdom. Fearful screams escaped out of the hut and just one second after Keith heard the sounds, there was a loud bang like something was banged against the wall.


    And then, there was silence.

 Chapter 41: Fabian; The Unkillable

    Inside a small mud hut, was a kid who seemed to have been 14 years old, his limbs tied to a stake that was nted deep into the ground. In front of him stood a muscr guy who was holding a wooden club.


    "Now that I''m done with your parents... it''s time to get you." the muscr guy said as he inched closer, "Hmm, you''re too thin but if I fatten you up a little, I''m sure you''ll look pretty. I should be able to sell you off as a ve and get back the money that you guys borrowed."


    The kid growled as he stared back at the man, "I''ll kill you... i''ll kill you! I''LL KILL KROFFFF-"


    *Bang*


    The guy rammed the wooden club into the kid''s abdomen, silencing him immediately before taking a few steps back until he got to the dead bodies of his parents, "Oy kid, do you know why these two died?"


    He didn''t wait for an answer and just went on, "It''s because they caused a scene when they simply had to obey my orders and pleasure my clients. As long as they did that, I would have given them three meals a day but looking at you now... you''re even more of a rebel than these two fuck bags.


    It really would be more profitable to sell you off as a ve. Those old noble women will get wet while trying to win you in the auction hahahahaha!!"


    "I''ll... kill..."


    "Oh shut up, you!" the guy growled as he walked forward and began to beat him up. Screams escaped the hut, but he didn''t care as hew as the vige chief''s son and his father had everyone under his control.


    If anyoneined, then they would face a simr fate as the kid and his parents.


    He continued to hit the Kid while he screamed and every single scream from him seemed to be getting the muscr guy more and more excited, which continued until he hit the kid on his head, after which he passed out.


    "Tch, should have hit his shoulder instead." he muttered, as regret settled in him since he wanted to hit the kid more. Just as he was about to untie the kid, he heard the door break open with a loud bang.


    Keith rushed in and saw the kid lying on the floor with multiple bruises on his body along with some that were bleeding. He shifted his attention to the muscr guy and with an expressionless face, pointed his revolver at him.


    "Move away from the kid. Now."


    "You bastard, do you not know who I am?" he asked angrily as he red at Keith, but Keith shrugged nonchntly, "A dead man."


    *Bang*


    The bullet left the revolver''s barrel with a bang and hit the guy straight in his chest. Keith didn''t stop there and pulled the trigger once again, hitting his torso this time. He then walked towards the guy and punched him right in the face while he was struggling to deal with the pain, which immediately went up thanks to Keith''s sensitivity increase ability.


    He twitched multiple times, but unlike Keith''s previous opponents, he didn''t pass out. Instead, he rolled on the floor, screaming and crying after Keith let him go.


    Keith watched him struggle as he had him on gunpoint for a few seconds until he heard amotion behind him. He quickly turned around to see a simr looking buffed guy who just had an older look to him.


    "My son..." he said, his expression pained, but Keith on the other hand was just extremely shocked to see the guy in front of him.


    ''I knew that the guy looked familiar but to think he was this mother fucker''s son.'' he thought as he stared at the middle aged muscr guy in front of him.


    "Fabian." he muttered as he squinted his eyes, slowly raising his right hand that was holding on to the revolver, "A lot of people wouldn''t have to suffer in the future. As long as you die, that is."


    Saying that, he pulled the trigger. Fabian let out a grunt before grinning, "You think that can kill me?"


    The bullet wound on his chest healed at a rapid pace and in just six seconds, the bullet was pushed out of his body and the hole fully healed.


    ''It''s not as broken as it used to be in the novel, but I guess it makes sense. His regenerative capabilities increase the more he uses his awakened ability.''


    Fabian on the other hand, rushed towards Keith after his wound healed.


    Keith swerved to the left, trying to avoid the punch, but Fabian was too fast and precise. His fist connected with Keith''s left half of his face, knocking his head back.


    Panicking, he shot thest bullet that was in his revolver and grabbed Fabian''s arm to increase his sensitivity. He didn''t have too much hope as he knew that Fabian must be used to pain, and his prediction proved to be true.


    He screamed as he pressed against the fresh bullet wound that was on his chest and kicked Keith away with all his strength, sending him flying until he hit the wall behind him.


    Not letting this chance go to waste, Keith grabbed his knife and cut the rope that had the kid bound to the stake before lifting him up. He then ran towards Fabian who was now on the ground and kicked his face with all of his might before running out the door.


    He made sure to increase his sensitivity to the max once again, but unlike the bullet wound, his kick didn''t do much damage. Fabian wanted to run behind him, but Keith''s next words stopped him from doing so.


    "If you try to follow me, I''ll shoot your son next! I still have a bullet left, you bastard!"


    Fabian punched the ground due anger and frustration, "AAAAARGH!!! YOU DAMN SON OF A WHOREEEE!"


    Even though he wanted to kill Keith right at this moment, his son''s life mattered more.

 Chapter 42: Battle God System Activated

    Once he got the kid, Keith ran as fast as he could before stopping in the middle of a forest. He could have taken a save path and picked the roads, but if he did that, there was a chance of Fabian finding him.


    Thanks to his existence, Keith had no choice but to pick the forest. He put the kid down reloaded his revolver with 4 bullets and kept one nk for safety before he crouched down to the kid''s level of sight.


    He gently patted his cheeks, trying to wake him up but when it didn''t work, he grabbed his shoulders and shook the guy back to consciousness.


    "I''ll kill-" he began the moment he opened his eyes, but when he saw Keith''s unfamiliar face, he looked around.


    "You..."


    Keith shrugged, "I took you away from those guys, but I''m sorry I couldn''t get your parents."


    "It''s fine... I don''t really consider them my parents anyways. They gave birth to me and just used me to work in their farms." he said, his expression calm but Keith could tell that he was nervous.


    "Well, my name is Keith and I''m an official member of the church of protection. I must go now, but if you ever need help, feel free to ask the nearest church for my whereabouts. Oh and.... this should help you with a new start." he said and opened his leather pouch before taking out a 5 Zen note from it.


    The kid looked at Keith and then the money before stammering, "I.. I s sir, but..."


    "Just take it. Also, you should probably introduce yourself. That''s the first thing you do when you meet someone new and heck, I even saved you!" he said,ining as he stuffed the money into the kid''s hands before grinning, satisfied with the results when he saw him staring at the money in awe.


    "My name.... is Vincent Vance Valentino. I''d rather be called just Vincent though, and um I''m seventeen years old even though I look like this. And uh, thank you." he said softly, not realising that tears were rolling down his face as he spoke.


    Keith nodded, "Well, nice to meet you Vincent. I must go now, but like I said, feel free to find me if you need something."


    Vincent nodded in response, not knowing what to say or do even though he wished for Keith to stay. To his surprise, just before Keith was about to leave, he stopped.


    "You''ll probably get lost if I leave you here, so you can follow me to Bromburge town if you want to."


    "Yes!" Vincent eximed as he jumped back up onto his feet, ignoring all the pain that he felt thanks to the bruises and wounds from the repeated beating that he had to endure until now.


    Keith felt pity for Vincent, but he also couldn''t just take him in as he needed Vincent to be strong enough to be able to fight people like Fabian and rk, both of whom would be absolute monsters after the war.


    He also regretted the fact that he wasn''t able to kill Fabian as his aim wasn''t good enough. If it was, he would have gone for a head shot. Hitting a stationary target while in a quite and safe room felt way differentpared to aiming for a person''s head.


    As he thought about Fabian, he sighed, "I should have tried to kill him off, but oh well... at least I''m alive. There was no way I could fight him without a loaded gun."


    "Wait, you fought the vige chief?!" Vincent quipped in from the side, to which Kieth nodded, "Yeah, but I was panicking back then. If I kept my cool, then things would have ended differently."


    "Whoa, you''re strong aren''t you?" he asked Keith. To him, it didn''t matter if Keith was using a gun or not. Just the fact that he fought Fabian and ran away with is life intact was a huge achievement as he knew Fabian extremely well.


    Keith smiled deprecatingly as he knew his capabilities very well, "Not really. But guess what? I have a feeling that one day you''ll be way stronger than Fabian. Maybe you''ll be the strongest awakened in the entire world."


    "Hah? Me? Hell no, there''s no way I can be the strongest. Not when I didn''t even Awaken."


    "Like I said, it''s just a gut feeling." Keith corrected him as he patted his back, "And you should have some confidence."


    The two of them continued to talk, learning more about each other as they walked towards Bromburge town that was close to Vincent''s vige. It took them a few hours and by the time they reached the town, it was already morning.


    Keith stopped in front of a small restaurant and looked at Vincent, "Give me the 5 Zen note that I gave you earlier. If you go around showing off so much money, then you''ll have a target on your back if you don''t have any backing."


    "Oh okay, here." Vincent replied and gave Keith is money back, only to see Keith give him four 1 Zen notes along with a few brak coins that added up to 1 Zen in value.


    "Well, use it responsibly and try to find a job that pays well before you run out of money." he advised before leaving Vincent in front of the restaurant and headed off to the other side of the town where he had left his things.


    He walked into an inn and went straight to his room before grabbing his things and walked out. The first thing he did was to hire a mule carriage as he felt a little poor after using up most of his money.


    ''I only have 26 Zen and 2 Braks right now... it''s better to start saving until I find another opportunity to make money.'' he thought as he took out a 1 Zen note from his leather pouch so he could pay the driver 14 braks, the amount that both of them had agreed upon.


    He climbed into the carriage after getting his 6 braks of change back and gave out a mentalmand.


    ''Set condition: Trigger the system screen when Vincent eats food.''


    The moment he set the condition, he saw a system notification pop up.


    Battle God System Activated.

 Chapter 43: First Step to Becoming the Battle God

    Vincent was sitting at a table while stuffing himself with bread and stew when a translucent blue screen popped up in front of him.


    [Congrattions, you have been selected as the host for Battle God System. From today onwards, you are free to use all the features and abilities that the system can offer. Would you like to check your current stats?]


    [Yes || No]


    Vincent had heard about people getting blessed by gods through the stories that some people told in in the past, so this was a pleasant surprise which got him a bit too excited.


    "Yes!" he said out loud, gaining attention of the people eating nearby, but didn''t care too much about them. Instead he stared at the screen in front of him, hoping so see what it had to offer.


    [The host can issuemands mentally. There is no need to say them out loud.]


    [Host''s current stats:]


    Physique: Grade F (Absolute garbage)


    Gic Physique Type: Endurance


    Awakening Status: Not Awakened (24 days, 4 hours, 49 minutes remaining)


    Skill Trees:


    Battle God''s Body: Locked


    Awakened Ability Boost: Locked


    Unarmed Combat: Locked


    Sword Arts: Locked


    Spear Arts: Locked


    Staff Arts: Locked


    Shield Arts: Locked


    Knife Arts: Locked


    Archery Mastery: Locked


    Throw Mastery: Locked


    War God''s inheritance: Locked


    Vincent read the contents on the screen in awe and by the time he was done, a new system notification popped up.


    [Beginner Quest: Visit the Bromburge town''s underground cage fight organisation and register your name. Approximate Location: The old weapon store beside the graveyard.]


    Reward: Immediate Awakening, Unlock the Battle God''s Body.


    Seeing this, he quickened his pace and ate the food extremely fast, almost choking a few times. Once he was done, he payed the guy 1 brak coin and left the restaurant.


    **********


    Keith leisurely sat in his carriage as he read the contents on the screen, which was showing him Vincent''s current actions through text format.


    ''There''s a limit to what I can give him for free. '' he thought as he knew about the limits of his powers. Previously, he only got the white systems, so it didn''t have much of an importance but for a red system, things were different.


    Every awakened person had a limit to their awakened ability. A perfect example would be Adam''s limited bullet creation. Most people wouldn''t use their abilities to the limit, but everyone had limits to their capabilities and Adam wasn''t an exception to this.


    ''In simple words, it''s simr to a person''s physical stamina but the more I use my ability, the more my capacity grows. I could technically give Vincent a lot of freebies, but that won''t be worth it in the long run. He needs to feel like he''s achieved the rewards on his own, but he does need a boost at this moment.'' he thought as he stared at the screen in front of him.


    He rubbed his chin, deep in thought for a few minutes before sping his hands together, "Yeah, there''s no need to worry too much. Bromburge''s cage fights aren''t too deadly."


    ''As long as he''s alive, I can give him a regeneration boost as a participation reward. If he wins a fight, then I''ll give him extra stuff but again, I shouldn''t give him too much.''


    Keith had a lot of time in his hands at the moment as the journey would take around 5 days to get to the nearest river ports. So until then, he nned to focus on Vincent''s growth.


    ''Well, that aside... let''s take the tax first shall we?'' he thought mentally as he opened up the system screen that he had ignored for the past few minutes.


    Battle God System


    User: Vincent Vance Valentino


    Capabilities: Gives ess to multiple skill trees that aid and push the user to be close to a battle god.


    System Tax: Physical money; 4 Zen, Inheritance of user''s physical ability.


    ''Hmm, no awakened ability. I guess I''ll wait for him to get to that ce. Once he awakens it, I''ll take a copy of his ability as tax.''


    Fortunately, he didn''t have to wait for long as Vincent was very proactive when it came to quests. In just a few minutes, Keith got a notification that informed him of the quest''spletion.


    And at the same time, he also felt lethargic all of a sudden.


    ''Wow, it feels like all of my energy has been drained.'' he thought to himself, ''This isn''t something rted to calories, food of physical energy for sure. Must be mental energy or maybe there''s a special term for it. Though, I wonder why there was no information about mental energy in the novel.''


    Keith then began to create another quest for Vincent after taking his newly awakened ability as tax.


    [Quest Created]


    First Step towards bing the Battle God: Wait until night and sign up for a fight as a newbie.


    Win: Reveal conditions to unlock Unarmed Combat Arts, free regeneration boost.


    Lose: Body Regeneration boost in exchange for 1 Zen.


    Once done, he sent it to Vincent and leaned back against his seat to get some well needed rest as he was feeling slightly nauseous at the moment. It was just a short nap as he woke up two hourster, feeling better than before.


    He raised his index finger and with a simple thought, a spark was generated before it turned into a bright yellow me. He knew that he could make the me bigger, but since he was in a carriage and didn''t wish to raise suspicion, he decided to test the full extent of his powerster on.


    Keith then tried to nap once again, sleeping for an hour or two before waking up and he did this five times until the sun went down. Seeing that now was the right time, he kept his eyes on the system screen and waited.


    Minutes slowly passed and even though he was bored, he continued to wait until-


    [... Vincent enters the cage and faces the man known as Smelly Rat.]


    ''Switch to video mode.'' Keith gave out a mentalmand and saw the text on the system screen disappear. Recing it was a first person view of the cage in Vincent''s perspective.

 Chapter 44: Wild Vincent

    Vincent stared at the scrawny looking guy in front of him who wasn''t too different from himself. He himself was a 17 year old teenager, but looked like a 14 year old thanks to malnutrition, which happened due to theck of food.


    "Smelly Rat huh? Do you actually smell?" he asked as he tried to hide his nervousness, but the guy simply stared at him like he didn''t care about the question even one bit. He couldn''t help but nce at the crowd that was surrounding the cage.


    There were around fifty people watching and even though Vincent was nervous, he pushed through. And his first step to focus was to bang his head against the cage.


    "Ah, I feel slightly better now." he said as he looked at the middle aged woman who was outside the cage, sitting on a huge chair that looked like a makeshift throne, "Can we start?"


    Hearing his confident words, the woman grinned before nodding, "Absolutely kid, absolutely!"


    She then looked at the spectators who seemed to be ready to watch the fight too and beganmenting, "Okay then, before we begin the fight, I''d like to introduce this new blood to everyone of you. He will be called the Battle God from now on and even though it sounds narcissistic, it''s hard to deny the fact that is sounds cool! But here''s the question!


    Will he be able to spread and make his name in the cage? Or will he get chewed out by our trusty Rat?!"


    "CHEW CHEW CHEW CHEW!!"


    "RATTY RATTY RATTY!"


    The crowd mostly cheered for Smelly Rat and seeing the crowd roar, the woman raised her voice even louder, "LET THE FIGHT BEGIIIIINN!!!"


    The moment she was done, Rat and Vincent dashed forwards before both of them punched their opponent, not caring much about their own bodies. But unfortunately for Vincent, Rat''s punch was just stronger than his own.


    First punch was the deciding factor and a chance for Smelly Rat and he did not let it go. He pressed on and continued to rain down punches on Vincent who tried his best to dodge and block his hits.


    He saw a fist flying from the left towards his cheek, so he immediately leaned back before sending a powerful kick towards Rat''s delicate eggs. He lost his bnce and fell backwards, but Rat''s situation was even worse as the guy fell to the floor, struggling as he cried out in pain.


    Vincent got up, but didn''t use the chance to end the fight early. Instead, he waited for his opponent to recover and used this time to take a quick nce at his system screen which showed how War God''s Body worked.


    [Battle God''s Body]


    1) Battle Instinct: The more you fight, the more you learn from the fight. This knowledge will be permanent and cannot be erased under normal circumstances. Current Grade: F


    2) (Locked)


    3) (Locked)


    ''I don''t really know what it means... but I''ll just have to make the fightsst longer to gain more benefits right?'' he thought, feeling slightly doubtful and conflicted as the opportunity to win was right in front of him.


    But fortunately or unfortunately, Rat recovered while Vincent was struggling internally.


    "I''ll make you regret not taking this chance!" Rat dered, feeling humiliated thanks to Vincent''s mercy. He then took a few steps back to make some distance so that he could buy some time to recover a bit more.


    Vincent understood what he was up to and let him do as he pleased. He used the free time to mentally prepare himself and after a few seconds, he rushed in to fight.


    He balled his fist and let it fly towards Rat who easily dodged it, but Vincent didn''t stop and used his momentum to his advantage, rotating his body as he sent a roundhouse kick towards Rat.


    It hit his shoulder and even though it wasn''t a delicate area, the force behind the kick was a bit too much for Rat to withstand. He lost bnce and fell to the ground along with Vincent who had also lose his footing thanks to the risky move he made.


    ''I should keep him on the ground!'' Rat came to a realisation after experiencing the kick and knew that there was no way he could withstand too many of those kicks. He knew that he didn''t have the same level of technique as Vincent, but he knew his own strengths well.


    He pounced towards Vincent as he screamed, "Battle Goddd!!!"


    It was toote for Vincent to act as Rat had alreadytched onto his legs, but when he turned to look at Rat, he saw him open his mouth wide before chomping down on his leg.


    Rat didn''t show any mercy and every single spectator could see that as blood flowed from the bite marks.


    "AAAARGH!!!" Vincent let out a blood curdling scream before pouncing on Rat with his mouth wide open. The logical part of his brain seemed to have taken the back seat while his beastly side took control.


    He copied Rat''s move and chomped down on his arm, his teeth tearing into the poor guy''s biceps that were barely there. Rat wed on Vincent''s back, but it seemed to have no effect on stopping him from biting.


    Instead, he sent his right arm towards Rat''s face, copying his move once again but instead of wing his back, he went for the face. His nails pulled the skin, tearing it in straight lines while he pulled his head backwards, tearing out the flesh that was on Rat''s arm.


    Stinky Rat screamed, but he didn''t let Vincent go. With pain and rage as a fuel, he went for another bite, but before he could do anything, his was met with a hard punch right to his face.


    Vincent didn''t stop and nor did he wish to as he continued to punch. The more he punched, the more his fingers and knuckles hurt, but this also pushed him to get even more aggressive.


    "Raaaghh!!" he screamed, iling his arms and legs violently as he felt himself getting yanked backwards, away from the bleeding Stinky Rat who looked like he had passed out.

 Chapter 45: Affordable Travel Options

    Keith stared at the screen in front of him with disbelief. He wasn''t new to fights as he had watched plenty of MMA fights on TV, but seeing people biting each other''s flesh out was something he never expected.


    "Make a new rule. From today onwards no one is allowed to bite people." he saw the middle aged woman say to her people as she watched Vincent and Rat getting taken away.


    The view stayed with Vincent so Kieth wasn''t able to hear more after Vincent was taken far away from the crowd. But it did not matter as his system gave him ess to the information that he needed.


    [Quest has beenpleted. Please get ready to reward the user.]


    [Expected rewards: Reveal conditions to unlock Unarmed Combat Arts and free regeneration boost.]


    Seeing this, he knew that Vincent was dered the winner. He then let out a soft sigh and closed his eyes before increasing his "intent" to give out the rewards. The moment he did, he felt energy from his body getting drained but it wasn''t as bad as earlier.


    ''Haa... looks like directly unlocking something takes a lot more mental strengthpared to revealing the unlock conditions and regeneration. Though, this is getting kinda exciting.'' he thought as he essed Vincent''s system.


    Unarmed Combat Arts: Beat someone in a fight while using only your arms, legs and head to unlock the skill tree.


    "Well, it''s pretty easy but I guess I''ll have to get him to earn some money on the side first. He needs nutritious food to build a strong body and he also needs to work out. Too much work... I wonder if there''s a shortcut." he muttered as he inspected Vincent''s stats in depth.


    One by one, he checked all the skill trees before moving up to Vincent''s personal stats. When he got to physique, he grinned.


    ''Great. I''ll use physique upgrade in return for money. Let''s start with 1 Zen for the first upgrade, which is from F to E and from there we can just keep quadrupling it (multiplied by 4) until he reaches SSS grade.''


    After making up his mind, he sent out a new notification to Vincent letting him know about the new feature.


    "He''ll probably buy the E grade once he wakes up, but I''m a bit too tired right now. Oh well, he can wait." Keith muttered as he leaned back and closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep almost instantly even though he had slept for almost an entire day already.


    Five days quickly passed and during this time, Vincent lied on his bed as he focused on recovery while Keith kept an eye on him, feeling extremely bored thanks to theck of portable entertainment in this world.


    During this time, Vincent had bought the E and D grade physiques using the money he received from Keith and the money he made from the underground cage fight, which was 7 Zen. In total, he had 11 Zen and 19 Braks, but after deducting the 5 Zen that he used for the upgrades and almost 9 braks that was spent on food, he only had 6 Zen and 10 Braks.


    Just as Keith was watching Vincent in boredom, he heard the carriage driver''s voice.


    "Sire, we have arrived."


    "Oh great, give me a second." Keith said as he grabbed his things and climbed out of the carriage before heading straight to the river port where he could see multiple boats lined up to transport people and goods.


    Not wanting to waste too much money, he went to the long boat that was behind arge goods ship. Most people picked the long boats for their travels as it cost the leastpared to other boats as long as they didn''t have too much luggage to carry.


    Keith with his suitcase and briefcase fit the criteria so he didn''t bother wasting his money on other boats.


    Long boats usually followed one particr path and would drop people off along the way. It was like a public bus back on his old, but the long boats only operated on rivers.


    He stopped in front of the boat and looked at the man who was handling the tickets, which were basically just small pieces of paper that were stamped like the newspaper tokens that Keith bought a few weeks ago.


    "I''d like to go to Baroma Kingdom. Any district that has Goddess of Protection''s church will suffice." he said and the guy nodded before using a thin stick to poke a hole on one of the boxes that were printed on the brown ticket.


    "Four Braks. The journey will take around five months and we''ll be making stops at other river ports so that''s the only time you''ll get to buy food and take care of your other needs. We''ll stay at each river port for half a day before moving on. Any questions?"


    Keith nodded, "What if I have to take a shit or pee?"


    "Pee in the river you idiot. As for shitting, we can stop for you at the banks but you must make it quick. Is that it?"


    "Yeah." Keith said, nodding as he walked towards the boat and picked a nice spot for to sit before turning to look at the guy once again, "When are we going to leave?"


    The guy turned around and sighed, getting slightly annoyed with Keith, "Based on the number of peopleing to us right now, I''m guessing that we''ll leave during the night."


    He didn''t look at Keith anymore and went back to staring at the women who were standing outside a well known local pub.


    Keith on the other hand, leaned back and directly fell asleep as he knew that the journey would be bumpy and getting quality sleep during that time would be hard. When he woke up, it was almost evening and the boat was also almost filled up.


    "Hey, would it be toote if I go and buy some food right now?" he shouted as he looked at the ticket guy, who turned around and nodded, "Go ande back here in an hour. We won''t be waiting for you."

 Chapter 46: Help Me Out, System!

    The journey on the boat was long and tiring, but Keith at least had something he could watch. A day after Keith boarded the boat, Vincent had managed to recover almostpletely.


    Once he felt fine, the first thing he did was to go back to the underground cave ring to find the owner, who was the middle aged woman.


    "Hey, I''m fine now. Who should I fight next?" He asked enthusiastically, wanting to unlock the unarmedbat skill tree as soon as possible.


    Keith, who was watching everything happen from far away, sighed, ''This guy... his parents most probably got killed in front of him and he himself got tortured too. Just how is he able to act so enthusiastic and cheerful?''


    Putting Keith aside, even Vincent wouldn''t know the answer as he was trying his best to not think about his past and the best way to do it was to blindly follow the system''s orders to get as strong as possible.


    Every time he saw a reward, he couldn''t help but get excited.


    Keith continued to watch and saw the womanugh loudly in response to Vincent''s question.


    "Hahahahaha, this wild kid! I''ll arrange a fight for you tonight, but keep in mind that biting isn''t allowed anymore and hmm, let''s see... if you win this fight, I''ll give you 10 Zen."


    Vincent nodded, unable to stop himself from grinning when he heard about the price money, "Wow that''s a lot!"


    "Yeah, but don''t expect to win easily. You''ll be fighting an awakened this time, but as for whom you''ll be fighting, that''s a surprise." she said, smiling back at him.


    Keith squinted his eyes when he saw this and immediately issued a quest as he was feeling refreshed and rejuvenated at the moment.


    Vincent paused when he saw a system screen pop up in front of him, but he yed it cool and talked to the woman for a few more seconds before leaving the ce.


    Only when he felt like no one would bother him, did he take a good look at the notification.


    [Event Quest: Bet 20 Zen on yourself and win the fight.]


    ept: Receive 20 Zen and temporary physical ability boost during the fight. The gains from the bet will be taken by the system.


    Reject: No rewards or Drawbacks.


    Quest Completion reward: None


    Quest Failure punishment: 5 Zen


    Vincent stared a the screen for a whole minute as he thought about the pros and cons of epting the quest.


    ''If I ept it, even though I won''t be getting any money at he end, I will still receive a buff which will increase my chances of winning. And if I do win, I''ll get 10 Zen as a prize anyways. But if I lose... I''ll have to give away most of my money.''


    He frowned as he walked back to the ce that the owner of the cage had lent to him for stay. He didn''t know when he would be kicked out, but until that happened, he decided to stay there for free.


    Keith silently watched him overthink about the quest through his screen and rxed as he didn''t bother too much with he the oue. He was technically gambling his own money through Vincent, so if he rejects the quest, then he wouldn''t have to risk losing his money.


    And in the off chance of Vincent epting the quest, Keith simply nned to support him as much as possible so he could win some good money.


    ''In both cases, there isn''t much for me to lose.'' he thought as he sent out another notification which wasn''t a quest but a simple message.


    [System Advice: Practice using your awakened ability in secret to get ready for the fight that''ll take ce at night.]


    Reading this, Vincent nodded to himself and rushed out of the room before heading towards the river. He ran along the river bank for a few minutes until he got tired and continued to walk for a few more minutes.


    Once he made sure that there was no one in the vicinity, he took a deep breath and opened his hand, making his palm face the skies before forcefully willing to create a fireball.


    Keith stared at Vincent''s constipated like face and chuckled before sending him another tip.


    [System Advice: Imagine a spark forming on your palm and once it does, imagine it turning into a me. If you want a ball of fire, imagine a vortex of air forming at the center of this me, sucking in the air from the surroundings.]


    "Ooooh so it''s like that." Vincent muttered as he followed the advice.


    He remembered the times when he used to y with the other kids of the vige, hitting two stones against each other to create sparks. The one who created the biggest spark would be he winner.


    He felt a little sad as he remembered the good times, but he pushed those thoughts away and imagined a spark forming on top of his palm, which happened almost instantly.


    "Hell Yeah!! I love you, battle god system!"


    The corners of Keith''s lips twitched, but he didn''t take Vincent''s words at face value and silently watched without responding.


    Vincent tried it once again and this time, the spark turned into a me. With a wide grin on his face which made him look foolish, he imagined a vortex forming at he center of the existing me which pulled the surrounding air towards itself.


    It made the me even bigger, but it didn''t exactly create a fireball.


    "Well, something is better than nothing." hemented, imitating one of the sentences that Keith used while he travelled with Vincent.


    He then stretched his arm forward with his palm facing a rock that was at he river bank.


    "Alright, here we go..." he muttered as he used his imagination as a tool once again to shoot he fire forward.


    The me shot forward, but disappeared in less than a second as soon as it left his palm.


    "Uh... what am I doing wrong?" he asked out loud before looking at the skies, "Hey system, help me out will you?"

 Chapter 47: Underground Cages Legend: The Bone Crusher

    Keith took on the job of a mentor and used the knowledge he had from reading the novel to help Vincent out. One of the reasons to his actions was that he himself did not have the opportunity to practice or try things out, so he decided to see Vincent do the trial and error.


    Hours quickly passed and once 2 to 3 hours passed after noon, Keith sent out a message for Vincent to take a break. Keith himself wanted to get some rest as he had to stay awake at night to watch the fight.


    Both of them took a nice nap, but Keith had some trouble sleeping as the boat wasn''t exactly stable. A few hours after sun set, he groggily woke up and grabbed a long loaf of bread that was wrapped up in a cloth and ced in his suitcase.


    He tore it into four parts and put three of them back into the cloth before he closed the suitcase. As he took a bite, he opened up his system to check what Vincent was up to.


    The kid was standing in the middle of the crowd while he watched a fight happened inside the cage. Both the fighters were bruised and bloody, but they continued to hit each other. Minutes slowly passed as Keith watched the two men fight while the spectators screamed random things.


    ''So damn deadly... I could technically fight there if I wanted to make money, but there''s no way I''m going to do that when I have other options.'' he thought and knew himself very well.


    If possible, he''d always avoid a direct conflict but there were still certain situations where he knew that he''d ball his fist to deliver a punch.But an underground cage fight was not one of those situations.


    Three more fights urred and each one of them went on for more than forty minutes with one of them crossing the one hour mark.


    ''These fights are kinda boring... but it''s hard to look away. The business makes sense now.'' he thought as he saw Vincent walk over to the stage confidently.


    The moment he put his foot into the cage, the woman began to shout, "And for the final fight of the night! Our widely known newbie, the rabid dog! Also called the battle dog! I mean battle god! Tonight, he''ll be facing against one of our favourite brawlers, please wee, the great Bone Cruuuuusherrrr!"


    Vincent felt depressed when he heard the announcement. He was called a dog twice while his opponent got a hyped introduction. He wanted to bury his face into the ground to hide from all the shame, but forced himself to stand still.


    From one end of the room, a normal looking guy walked in while wearing a cloth mask that covered his face except his eyes and nose.


    "Once again, everyone cheer!! Cheer for the Bone Crusher!!"


    "Oraaaaa"


    "Bone Crusshheeeeeeer!"


    "Marry meee!"


    "Break that doggy''s bones!"


    Bone crusher raised his arm up to wave at the people as he walked towards the ring. He then stopped right before walking into the cage and roared loudly.


    Keith who was watching his antics couldn''t help but find it funny as he didn''t really sound intimidating. Unfortunately, it was only after Bone crusher walked into the cage, did Keith understand what Vincent had to deal with.


    As Bone crusher roared, the people around him roared as well, hyping him up as much as they could, which added to Vincent''s nervousness.


    ''Oh god... epted the quest and bet on myself but now... ugh. Just what in the hell is his awakened abi- damn.''


    Bone crusher got into the cage and the staff locked the door behind him.


    "Urrrgh!" he let out a grunt with a smirk on his face as he kept his eyes on Vincent. Muscles grew at a rapid pace, making him look like a steroid abuser back on Keith''s old.


    His forearms were the size of an adult muscr thigh and his biceps were even thicker. His height remained the same, which made him look a bit funny to Keith but the awe in his heart didn''t change.


    Vincent cursed his luck that exact second as he stared at the muscle monster in front of him.


    "Can I give up?" he asked meekly, but no one could hear his words as the crown was screaming at the top of their lungs.


    ""CRUSH HIS BONES! CRUSH HIS BONES!""


    Just as he felt like running away, he suddenly felt a wave of warmth wash over his body. A system screen popped up in front of him too.


    [Physical Ability Boost Active.]


    [Bonus: Physical regeneration boost Active.]


    [System Administrator cheers you on!]


    ''Huh? A system administrator? Is that the person who controls my system? Or is this person actually a god?'' he asked himself. He had too many questions but almost no answers.


    ''I can try to ask the systemter, but let''s focus on the fight for now.'' he thought as he smacked his cheeks, trying to distract himself from unwanted thoughts.


    [System Advice: Dodge his attacks for a while to keep the tension up and once things get hyped up, go for the kill with your mes.]


    "ALRIGHTT!" Vincent screamed as he smirked at the guy in front of him, "Come catch me, you damn muscle piggy!"


    He was fried up, but he never expected the buff muscle man in front of him to be fast. Bone crusher closed the distance in just a second before sending a powerful punch towards the shocked Vincent.


    Seeing therge fist fly towards him, he brought both his arms forward and crossed them to form an X, hoping to block the punch. The next moment he felt immense pain assault his arms, but he also felt a certain warmth that counter acted the pain, healing him at an incredibly fast pace.


    ''This is the perfect time to adapt to his guy''s speed and strength since the system is giving me buffs. I won''t get a chance like this so easily.''


    As he thought, he dashed to the side and tried to circle around Bone Crusher, only to see arge muscr shoulder closing in on him.

 Chapter 48: Skill Tree: Unarmed Combat

    Five minutes had passed since Vincent began fighting the bone crusher, but he had already sustained quite a few serious injuries. The warmth in his body did not fade away, but instead the temperature rose to the level of it being ufortable.


    He could feel his body healing at insane speeds, but it was not enough to keep up with the damage that his body was taking. He dodged more than half of the punches, kicks and shoulder rams, but the ones that did hit, knocked the air out of him.


    Vincent stumbled backwards as he panted, feeling his arms burning thanks to the damage they took while trying to block bone crusher''s attacks.


    ''A little more.... just a little more...'' he thought, trying to force himself to fight the monster in front of him, but to his surprise, he saw another system screen appear in front of him.


    [System Administrator: End it, you idiot. NOW!]


    "Ah damn it!" Vincent cursed as he red at bone crusher, "If only you didn''t hit me so hard! Now I''m forced to end things."


    As heined, he raised both his hands to his sides, horizontal to the ground as his palms faced forward. Sparks immediately appeared in front of his palms and turned into huge balls of mes the next moment.


    "Wai- wait! I did not agree to fight an awakened!!! I give up!" Bone Crusher screamed, but his words fell to deaf ears as none of the spectators cared and nor did the owner of the underground cage.


    Time seemed to have slowed down for him as he saw Vincent slowly bring both of his arms together,bining both the fire balls into one with a confident smirk on his face.


    Before he knew it, mes shot out from therge fireball that was still floating in front of Vincent''s palms. Unlike before, they didn''t vanish as the fire ball wasn''t thrown out. Instead, he simply extended the mes towards his opponent, consuming the oxygen in the air in front of him to keep the mes alive.


    In less than a second, the burst of mes consumed Bone Crusher. No one could see what was going on inside the mes, but every single person could hear the blood curdling screams of the man who they considered as the legend, the unbeatable monster who had reigned the underground cave for more than five years.


    Three seconds. That was how long Vincent kept his fire going before he made the mes disappear. There was no more hulking monster in front of him, but instead, all he could see was a short man who had a lot of burn marks on his skin.


    His mes weren''t too hot at this moment, so the damage done wasn''t much. Even then, it had given the guy enough burns to put him out of order for a month or two.


    Vincent leaned back against one of the cage''s walls and sighed, "I won."


    Keith on the other hand, copsed on the boat, losing consciousness as he had used up too much of his mental energy to support Vincent in his fight.


    *******


    Next day, in the evening.


    Vincent anxiously paced around the room as he called out for his system.


    "Hey system,e on talk to me! I won the bet and got a total of 57 Zen and 15 braks. Didn''t you say that it belongs to you? If you don''t talk to me, I''ll use this money for myself."


    He had been trying to get his system to talk like before, but he received no response and no quests either. The only thing he could see was his regr system screen.


    [Host''s current stats:]


    Physique: Grade D


    Gic Physique Type: Endurance


    Awakening Status: Awakened (Fire creation and maniption)


    Skill Trees:


    Battle God''s Body: (Click to view Skill Tree)


    Awakened Ability Boost: Locked


    Unarmed Combat: (Click to view Skill Tree)


    Sword Arts: Locked


    Spear Arts: Locked


    Staff Arts: Locked


    Shield Arts: Locked


    Knife Arts: Locked


    Archery Mastery: Locked


    Throw Mastery: Locked


    War God''s inheritance: Locked


    [Battle God''s Body]


    1) Battle Instinct: The more you fight, the more you learn from the fight. This knowledge will be permanent and cannot be erased under normal circumstances. Current Grade: E


    2) (Locked)


    3) (Locked)


    [Unarmed Combat]


    Pick one style of unarmedbat.


    1) Fist Style:Bnced, aggressive with countery potential


    2) Palm Style: Defensive and focuses on Countery


    3) Kick Style: Aggressive, dominant and risky


    Since his system wasn''t responding to him, he decided to pick his style and try things out.


    ''Well... I don''t really like ying defensive and my body is gically endurance focused... which means that aggressiveness won''t go well with it. Either fist or palm style...'' he thought and didn''t think more about it.


    He immediately picked Fist Style and saw the contents on the screen change.


    [Modifying the skills to synergize with User''s awakened ability.]


    Vincent didn''t have to wait for long as a new skill tree appeared in front of him. He could only see three skills while the rest of them only had "???" written instead of their names.


    First skill was Fists of Steel and it branched out into two different skills. One was the Red Hot Fists and the other one was the ming Fists. He couldn''t tell much from just the names so he checked their descriptions instead.


    Fists of Steel: Grade F


    Increases the hardness of your arms from the fingers to the elbows, directly improving their defence and offence.


    Red Hot Fists: Open to select


    Increases the internal heat of your arms, making them resistant to mes and heat. Once a certain level is reached, every touch will cause severe burns to your target. The heat of the fists increase with skill grade.


    ming Fists: Open to select


    Creates ayer of mes around your arms, causing burns to the anything that they touch. The heat of the mes increase with skill grade.


    Note: Picking one will lock the other skill, so choose wisely.


    Just when Vincent was having trouble deciding, he saw something he had been waiting for almost an entire day.


    [System Advice: Red Hot Fists scale better with each grade, which means higher temperature and fire resistance. ming fists have their range increased with each grade, which means better versatility.]

 Chapter 49: Reunion and Food

    As the system administrator, Keith could take a look at the upgrades that higher grades gave, so he shared the information with Vincent the moment he woke up. The other passengers on the boat were worried about him, so it took him a while to convince them that he was fine.


    He saw Vincent immediately choose the Red Hot Fists and the other option got greyed out, locked forever.


    "Wooo, you''re back!!" Vincent dered, making Keith smile slightly as he took the money that belonged to him.


    His hand was inside his leather pouch, so all the 57 Zen and 15 braks were teleported inside it, sessfully managing to avoid suspicion. Once done, he put his pouch back into his suitcase and created a quest for Vincent.


    [Training Quest: Stay at Bromburge town for three weeks and fight against various opponents to gain experience.]


    Reward: Requirements for Awakened Ability Boost or Direct unlock for 10 Zen.


    The reason for the option was simple. Keith knew the requirements needed and due to this, he knew how hard it would be. On top of that, he liked money so he decided to make some money on the side while increasing Vincent''s strength.


    Once the quest was issued, he sent out another message.


    [System Alert: System will be be undergoing maintenance during this time, you will not receive any messages until then.]


    Keith then let out a sigh and chomped down on his bread, ''Talking to Vincent is fun, but he''s talks so much that it get''s annoying. Especially now that he thinks that his system has sentience. I should probably give him a quest to make some real friends in the future.''


    He was slightly worried about Vincent, but he didn''t bother getting too involved.


    For the next three weeks, Keith suffered on the boat while Vincent proactively looked for fights both in and outside the underground cage. This did worry Keith, but after observing for a while, he stopped bothering as Vincent had gotten a bit too strong for a regr person to win against him.


    Of course, things would be different if he faced someone with a firearm, but Vincent just asked for a duel and didn''t go around making people hate him.


    Keith got off the boat and headed towards the protection church that was in the town, only to see a few familiar faces in front of the Chuch gates.


    "Wait, is that Keith?" Edward asked, squinting his eyes so he could get a good look at him, but got his answer thanks to Brandon.


    "Yeah, looks like he''s been beat up. That damn kid, he should have just waited for us. He left early and still came here after us." Brandonined as he crossed his arms across his chest.


    Amelia stood with them silently as she red at Keith while ra went on to defend him, "Maybe he got into some trouble? I''ve never seen him this tired."


    By the time they were done talking, Keith got close enough to hear their words.


    "What are you doing here? I thought that you didn''t have toe." he asked as he looked at Edward who grinned and nodded.


    "I didn''t have toe, but I sent a request which was approved in under an hour. I''ll be one of the instructors for the training program, so let me tell you one thing. Get ready to experience hell."


    Keith groaned when he heard this. He already knew, but Edward''s reminder just made him want to run away.


    "Hahaha, now that''s the kind of attitude everyone has towards the training program. Now then, we just have to get to the capital and then we''re good to go. The church will let us borrow a carriage, so don''t think about the money."


    Hearing this, Keith nodded before asking, "Um, can I get some rest first? I haven''t eaten anything good for like... an entire month."


    "Aha, so you came her by the river route!" Amelia eximed feeling victorious as shepared her ownfortable journey to Keith''s, but he simply gave her a shrug and focused on Edward.


    "Sure, let''s go and have a nice feast. Though, this time everyone pays for their own food and drinks."


    Keith nodded and turned his head to look at a restaurant that was on the other side of the street, but just as he was about to rush there, Amelia grabbed his shirt, "You! Wait dammit. That ce is known for bad food. It''s better to find another ce."


    Hearing her words, Keith stopped resisting, "It''s bad huh?"


    "Yeah, everyone who goes there drinks a lot and they always cause trouble. The food is also bad and there are rumours of their food having insects in them." she exined with a serious look on her face as she looked at Keith whose frown deepened the more he listened to her.


    He turned to look at this team mates and dered, "Let''s go to another ce."


    "Well, why care so much about picking restaurants? Let''s just go inside the church and ask for food. They''ll feed us for free." Brandon nonchntly said, enlightening Keith who immediately nodded.


    Amelia clicked her tongue while Edward and ra shook their heads.


    "Why are you guys looking at me like that? We''ll be eating with the priests and not the knights. The food for the priests is much better." Brandon added and Edward sped his hands together.


    "Oh yeah, I totally forgot. Let''s go." he said and walked in with the others following behind him.


    Amelia inched closer to Keith, the annoyed look no longer on her face, "Hey, why were you actuallyte? You also look like you might pass out at any second."


    "Well... I got lost." he lied before continuing, "And I boarded a long boat since it''s cheap. It was ufortable and slightly stressful since I couldn''t get good sleep and nor was I able to eat good food. I mostly just survived on stale bread and didn''t buy jerky because the people on the boat liked to steal stuff."


    Hearing this, she felt pity and patted his back, "Well, I can give you my portion of meat if you want. But only for today."

 Chapter 50: Quest to Steal

    For the first time in almost a month, Keith finally felt like he had overeaten. As he got onto the carriage, he opened up his system screen and let it stay in front of him as he kept an eye on Vincent''s actions.


    "Ah man, I''m stuffed." he said as he scooted beside Brandon who took the corner seat.


    "Yeah, we can see." Ameliamented as she pushed ra inside before following behind her. Edward on the other hand, went ahead to sit beside the driver.


    Brandon saw ra''s hesitation and didn''t keep his thoughts to himself, "Hey, did you do something? I''ve never seen ra act this skittish."


    "Yeah of course he did. Remember the day we all went out to celebrate your survival? Yeah, that night these two- mmph!!" Amelia began bbering until her lips were pinched close by ra whose face was beet red.


    Brandon wasn''t dumb. Amelia had given him enough information to put two and two together.


    "Wow, that''s... unexpected." hemented as he nced at both Keith and ra. One who looked like he didn''t care too much while the other one looked like a ripe tomato.


    He nudged Keith and leaned towards him, "Hey, you should probably show some emotion here. Use this chance,e on."


    "Well... she has her own circumstances and wants to keep things temporary between us so I do not wish to make things hard for her nor for myself. I don''t want to get emotionally attached... especially in a romantic way when I already know that she''s going to marry some other guy. Back then I was drunk and didn''t have a clear control over my actions or thoughts."


    He didn''t bother whispering and made his true thoughts known to everyone as he kept his face as stoic as possible. It did hurt him deep inside, but he knew that this was the right thing to do. It was a fact that he was attracted to her, and he knew it more than anyone else. But that was all there was to it.


    Awkward silence settled in the carriage as no one else spoke after him, but that was until Amelia opened her mouth.


    "It was my fault... I was the one who pushed her into doing it." she said, not making eye contact with anyone, but the guilt in her voice was hard to hide.


    Neither Keith nor ra responded, but from the silent restrictive sobs that came from his right, Keith knew that the girl beside him was crying.


    He let out a soft sigh and hugged her from the side, "I told you already. One word. But you should also understand that I do not wish to get hurt over this whole thing. If you change your mind after having your fun and marry some other dude, I''ll be pissed and devastated. You do understand that right?"


    Keith had experienced something simr in his past life. He lost ess to his kids and his only house was taken away, leaving him on the streets. It wasn''t just his feelings that were hurt back then. He had lost more than just his heart.


    "I understand." ra said in between her sobs, but didn''t ask him to let her go.


    Keith then looked at Amelia who was smirking on the side and gave her a disapproving head shake, "You really enjoy watching others suffer, don''t you?"


    "Hey! I just don''t want her to marry that douche bag okay? He treats his concubines like sex ves and ignores them all the time. Heck, there are even rumours that he lets his sons join him at night. Now tell me that his guy isn''t messed up in the head. I don''t want her to suffer...


    I really don''t."


    Hearing her words, he sighed and closed his eyes, "Well, at the end of the day, it''s her choice. I''m going to sleep for a bit, so don''t wake me up unless it''s something important."


    The carriage ride was slightly bumpy, butpared to the boat ride, this was way better as the roads didn''t have pot holes in them. He slept like a baby for more than eight hours before waking up, only to see the other three sleeping soundly.


    Both of his shoulder were upied by Brandon and ra while Amelia slept as she hugged her room mate. Seeing that he was stuck, he gave in to his fate and look a look at the system screen.


    He read through the text and nodded to himself.


    ''So he''s at the capital of Morose right now. Perfection, but instead of cage fights, there are diator rings here. While death isn''t really a guarantee, the chances are extremely highpared to the cage fights that Vincent participated in until now.'' he thought as he frowned.


    ''rk never participated in the diator fights, so there''s no need to worry about him at the moment. Based on the timeline, he should currently be in the slum city. No matter what happens, I should make sure that Vincent avoids that monster, at least until he gets strong enough.


    Or I could technically send Vincent to join rk, but that guy is like a nuclear reactor. The moment he feels like someone is stronger than him, he''ll go for their lives, tch....''


    Keith lost himself in his own thoughts for a few minutes until a mischievous grin formed on his face, ''Right, I can always just give a system to someone around him. Currently, he most probably only has femalepanions, so it should be easy if I n things right.''


    The more he thought about his new n, the more excited and confident he felt.


    ''Well, let''s not make him wait and give him a quest.'' he thought to himself as he opened up a new system screen and created a quest.


    [Quest: Infiltrate Lady Grace''s red stone mansion and steal everything in her treasury. As long as you touch the money, it will be sent to the system.]


    Reward: 10% of stolen money and two free upgrades to any skill''s grade.


    Additional Rewards: Based on the value of the goods stolen.


    Quest Failure: System Hibernation for 6 months.

 Chapter 51: Battle Gods Regeneration

    Grace was the second daughter of the richest businessman in Morose Kingdom and was also the one who held the most power in her family. She was also a great artifact enthusiast, so Keith had some expectations for this quest.


    Money was secondary to him, but he put a lot of importance on artifacts as their importance was higher than even awakened humans.


    There were two types of artifacts, both formed through different means. One type was called the Blessed Artifacts while the other was called the Cursed artifacts.


    In simple words, artifacts were the amalgamation of an awakened human''s ability and emotions. Negative emotions gave birth to cursed artifacts while the blessed ones were formed from positive emotions.


    The emotions had to be extremely strong and thest condition was for the awakened user to die.


    Due to these strict conditions, finding artifacts was extremely hard. On top of this, the number of blessed artifacts were very lowpared to their cursed counterparts but this just increased their value.


    Cursed artifacts were called cursed for a reason and it was because, while the artifacts granted various powers to people, they also came with serious drawbacks such as reduced life span for each use, losing eye sight, etc.


    Blessed artifacts on the other hand, had no negative effects and this was another reason why their value was so high up.


    ''Let''s just hope that he gets something valuable. She should have pissed off the princess of Morose almost an year ago, so there''s a high chance of seeing Vincent escape scot-free. But if he does get punished, then it''s a direct ticket to the diator ring so there''s no problem there.'' he thought as he switched from text to video mode.


    Vincent stared at the quest notification with depressed look on his face, "You''re sending me out to such a dangerous mission and I only get two free upgrades? This is just unfair!"


    ''Indeed, it is unfair. But that''s just life isn''t it?'' he thought as he sent out a message, not trying to exin his ns and instead, he simply gave Vincent the pill of truth.


    [System Administrator: You are strong right now only because of the system. This is not a charity, so I do expect something in return. Take it or leave it.]


    [Quest Update: Upon ignoring the quest, user will permanently lose ess to the system.]


    "Wha... this is just.. damn it!" Vincent cursed, but Keith just watched as he knew how much he would have to invest into Vincent in the future to quickly make him a strong fighter.


    This needed a lot of money and resources, which he had no ns on emptying his own pockets for.


    ''I''ll use the money you give me for your sake. Though, I''ll pocket some for myself.''


    Keith didn''t regret his actions as the value of getting a permanent boost to one''s strength was iparably more valuable than money in his eyes.


    He watched Vincent throw a tantrum, but didn''t bother responding as he had expressed his thoughts directly. The rest was in Vincent''s hands.


    It took Vincent a few minutes to gather his thoughts and he finally agreed.


    ''Human greed knows no bounds. Luckily this guy is smart.'' Keith thought as he smiled and switched the screen back to text mode.


    Vincent sat in the room he had rented for a day and let out a defeated sigh, ''If I refuse, I''ll lose the chance of getting strong. If that happens, there''s no way I can get my revenge against Fabian and I also won''t be able to pay Keith back for his help.


    But in case I manage to fulfill the quest requirements, I should be able to get quite a lot of money which I can use to upgrade my physique and then I can use the free upgrades to improve my strength even more.


    I probably would have a choice if I didn''t piss off the system administrator.... haaaa, I don''t want to lose my lovely system so I''ll do anything to keep it. Even then, maybe I should show some kind of resistance towards the system administrator, or he''ll just push me around.''


    Keith could easily read his thoughts, so he simply chuckled and shook his head, ''Have fun trying. But don''t worry, I won''t give you a dangerous quest like this for a few months.''


    He then nced at his other screen and focused on the numbers beside the Tax Timer.


    00 Days: 00 Hours: 12 Minutes: 19 Seconds


    ''Welp, time to take some tax for now.'' he mused as he recalled the amount of money he had made through his indirect betting.


    ''There''s no need for money right now, so I''ll try picking something else.''


    Minutes slowly passed by and once the timer hit zero, he immediately checked his options before grinning.


    ''Looks like I can pick one of his skills.'' he thought as he read through Vincent''s stats and skill information.


    [Vincent''s current stats:]


    Physique: Grade C


    Gic Physique Type: Endurance


    Awakening Status: Awakened


    [Battle God''s Body]


    Battle Instinct: Grade D


    The more you fight, the more you learn from the fight. This knowledge will be permanent and cannot be erased under normal circumstances.


    Battle God''s Regeneration: Grade E


    Improves stamina recovery and boosts the rate of regeneration of wounds.


    [Unarmed Combat Arts]


    Fists of Steel: Grade E


    Increases the hardness of your arms from the fingers to the elbows, directly improving their defence and offence.


    Red Hot Fists: Grade E


    Increases the internal heat of your arms, making them resistant to mes and heat.


    ''Currently, my physique is only slightly worse that Vincent''s so there''s no point in picking that one. Battle instinct is a good option, but it won''t really help me out as much as Battle God''s Regeneration as I''ll be in the training camp.


    Based on what Edward said, they''ll mostly focus on physical training and won''t give too much importance tobat. Both skills under unarmedbat are the same as they won''t really help me as much as regeneration will.'' he thought before picking Battle God''s Regeneration.

 Chapter 52: Stealth Check Failed, Proceed to Bruteforce

    ''Hmm... can I see my own status screen like Vincent does?'' he thought and willed for it to happen, which it did. A new system screen popped up in front of him, but unlike the usual light blue, it was yellowish and almost golden.


    [Status Screen]


    Name = Keith Zenister


    Age = 22 years old


    Birthday= February 23rd 4642


    Current Year = 4664


    True Awakened Ability:


    System Administrator


    Copied Awakened Abilities:


    Danger Sense


    Libido and Sensitivity control


    Fire Creation and Maniption


    Special Skills:


    Battle God''s Regeneration: Improves stamina recovery and boosts the rate of regeneration of wounds.


    ''Hmm...'' he stared at the screen, ''Let''s see. Change Battle God''s Regeneration to just Regeneration. It''s better to keep things simple so there''s no need for fancy names.''


    Just as he thought of changing the name, it happened. The skill''s name changed and recing it was just "Regeneration".


    ''Now that''s convenient.'' he thought as he nodded before feeling bored once again. Theck of portable entertainment had begun to get on his nerves and there was nothing he could do about it.


    Frustrated, he closed his eyes and began thinking about the contents of the novel, hoping to remember something important but as he was in the middle of his imagination, he felt a slight nudge from his left where Brandon was sitting.


    "Let''s go and eat something."


    "Ah yeah, okay." Keith replied and absentmindedly climbed out of the carriage behind the others and saw Edward grab some fallen branches off the nearby trees for firewood.


    Keith simply stood in one ce and went back to getting lost in his own thoughts.


    ''Going to the capital will take us another three weeks... we''ll barely be there on time but at least I can sleep better this time.''


    By the time they were done eating their dinner, it was already dark. Keith kept his eyes on Vincent through his screen as the kid was on the move since the past few minutes.


    Keith went in first this time and upied the left most corner. Amelia got in next and behind her was Brandon and then ra wasst. While he was keeping an eye on his screen, he didn''t make the mistake of ignoring his surroundings.


    Due to this, he could easily see ra actively trying to get inst, trying to keep as much distance from him as possible.


    ''Oh well, it is what it is. There''s no point in dwelling over it even though she''s kinda hot ording to me. I''ll find someone else in the future... hopefully.''


    As a person who didn''t like forcing things, he finally decided to let things go. He also lost all hope of ra ever asking him to stop her marriage.


    ''Power first. Money second. Women third.'' he convinced himself even though he knew that he wouldn''t be able to stick to this rule. But he still had the confidence of having some self control.


    He made himselffortable by leaning against the wall on the left and focused on his system screen as he ignored everything else.


    Vincent silently stood behind the corner of a wall as he kept an eye on the Lady Grace''s mansion. There were four guards in total with two at the front of the gate and the other two patrolling around the mansion, outside the 3 meter tall wall that surrounded the entire property.


    Right after he gave in to his fate, thanks to a specific heartless system administrator, he rushed out to scout the area and based on his observations, he could tell that these four were the only ones guarding outside.


    As for what could potentially be on the inside, he had Keith feed him spective information.


    Based on everything Keith had told him until now, he knew that there was a possibility of servants and the butler havingbat capabilities but he was sure that there wouldn''t be any knights inside to protect anyone.


    ''No one other than the nobles or the royals are allowed to hire body guards or knights in Morose Kingdom. But that''s just officially. Rich people can easily use loop holes and hire bodyguards who can do other things such as gardening and cooking. Pretty cool actually.'' Keith thought as he watched Vincent walk along the road normally.


    Two of the patrolling guards took a turn and the two standing guards were now alone.


    As he got close to the guards, he suddenly jumped towards them as he grabbed a knife from his pocket. His right fist flew straight towards the guard in front of him and the moment it connected, he threw the knife at the second guy.


    His punch hit the guy straight in the jaw, knocking him down instantly while the other guy blocked the knife with his arm.


    "INTRUDER! INTRUDER!"


    "Ah damn, I knew it!" Vincent cursed as he immediately created a fire ball and shot it straight at therge wooden gate. The sheer volume of the mes was so huge that it directly pushed the gates open.


    As the gates burned, Vincent threw another fireball at the guard who had messed things up for him before rushing in. He didn''t care about a perfect job anymore and simply wanted to get his hands on the money and artifacts.


    He rushed towards the door and punched it open, leaving a ck burn mark that was the shape of his fist on the door''s surface.


    [System Information: Run straight until you reach the end. Take a right turn and continue running until you reach the end again. This time, get into the room on the right. It''ll be a very well maintained art storage room. Once inside, look for a clock and punch the wall right below it. If it doesn''t break, use your mes.


    You''ll then see a passage that leads underground, so just follow it.]


    Originally, rk would invade the mansion after the war ends and this arc was exceptionally important as the goal was to steal a Blessed Artifact. Keith had read this arc more than four times, so he remembered most of it.


    ''Well, Grace finds the Blessed artifact during the war so it''s highly unlikely for me to find it right now. But this is a chance that I just can''t let go.''

 Chapter 53: Mission Comes First

    Vincent followed Keith''s directions and rushed forward, but just when he wanted to take a right, he saw two women in maid dresses running towards him. On top of that, he heard footsteps from behind him.


    "God damn it!" he cursed as he shot out mes behind him with one hand and used the other to attack the women. He expected his mes to burn all of them down, but to his surprise, he saw one of the maids spew out water from her mouth,pletely neutralising his mes.


    "Now that''s amazing, isn''t it?" hemented sarcastically as he rushed towards the two maids, not bothering with creating any more mes as he knew that hey could counter him easily.


    But that was where it stopped. Thanks to his battle experience, he could tell that the water girl didn''t have any force behind her attacks. All she could do was spit out water and nothing more.


    As he closed the distance between them, he pulled his fist backwards, intending to hit them with his red hot fists. The moment he got close enough, he nted his foot on the ground to stop his momentum and let his fist fly forwards, aiming for the water girl a she was the only one who could counter him.


    Just as his fist was about to make contact with chest, he felt incredible resistance that stopped his punch in an instant. It felt like he had just punched a block of iron and he wasn''t too far from the truth.


    His eyes followed the palm that had grabbed his fist until he finally took a good look at the maid who was beside the water girl. Her entire skin was light brown, with the texture of a rock.


    "You aren''t touching her, not on my watch, kid." she said with a condescending grin on her face, but Vincent smirked back, "Hah... I didn''t really wish to resort to this. You guys might be awakened, but this mansion isn''t fire proof, is it? All you have to do is get beat up a little and you''ll be able to keep your lives even if you lose the job.


    But imagine what would happen if you let me burn this entire ce down."


    He read the contents on the system screen with confidence, but the n didn''t work as it was intended to. The girl simply sent a punch flying to his face, but Vincent quickly dodged it.


    "Oh well." he sighed as he saw a new system announcement appear.


    [Temporary Awakened Ability Boost Granted. Time Left: 5 seconds]


    He took a deep breath and jumped up, nting his feet on the stone girl''s torso before using all his strength to send her flying backwards.


    "Behold!!" he screamed excitedly as he saw the time go down to 4 seconds, "RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH"


    As he screamed, thin streaks of fire shot out of his pores before forming into a fire barrier around him. The ball then shot outwards, burning everything in it''s path excluding the water and stone girls.


    The walls, carpets, ceiling, paintings. Not a single thing was spared as the hot yellow mes consumed everything they touched.


    2 seconds left, all the nearby corridors had been burnt with mes everywhere.


    1 second left, the mes had travelled to almost the entire mansion


    Andstly, by the time the timer finally ran out, the entire mansion was burning, both from the inside and the outside. As for the people who might die, Keith wasn''t too worried as he knew that most of them had means to protect themselves.


    As for the unlucky ones who couldn''t, there was nothing Keith could do and he convinced himself by thinking along the lines of "They''ll die after a few years anyways."


    Vincent was immune to his own mes and his red hot fists had a certain level or resistance to all mes. Due to this, he didn''t have too much of a problem in finding the hidden staircase that went underground.


    He jumped down five steps at a time to speed things up, only to spot an extremely gorgeous woman wearing a night gown, standing at the middle of the room.


    Both Keith and Vincent were stunned for a second, but when Keith saw her run towards one of the items that were on disy, he immediately sent out a message for Vincent.


    [System Alert: Stop her from reaching the items.]


    Vincent didn''t dare dy and went with a shortcut instead of running towards her. mes shot out from his palms and created a huge wall between her and the items. She immediately stopped, but by the time she turned around to look at Vincent, the only thing in her sight was a speeding fist.


    It hit her straight in the middle of her face, breaking her delicate nose but Vincent didn''t care. He pulled his fist back and sent out another hard punch, hitting her square in the jaw and knocking her out instantly.


    "Missiones first." he said as he looked at her with pitiful eyes before turning away. He didn''t even bother looking at the items on disy and just grabbed every single one of them. The moment his skin came in contact with them, they disappeared.


    He did this with every single item in the room before moving onto the two locked wooden chests. One touch, two touches and both the chests were gone with only a few briefcases on one corner of the room.


    Smoke had begun to fill the room thanks to the fire above, but Vincent didn''t stop midway and hurried towards the stack of briefcases.


    Once he emptied out the entire room, he took one deep breath of the polluted air in the room and rushed outside with all his strength. He climbed up the stairs and instead of going back through the route that he used toe here, he punched his way through the walls, breaking them one by one.


    Four wallster, he found himself on the side of the mansion and looked around, only to see all the servants and some maids getting rescued by the ones who had the ability to help.


    ''Lucky me, my path is clear.'' he grinned as he effortlessly climbed up the wall and disappeared into the night.

 Chapter 54: Birth of a Flaming Gladiator

    The items that Vincent touched, had vanished but hadn''t appeared in front of Keith. But his was exactly what he wanted and he also knew that this would happen.


    As long as something was rted to quests, for example; giving out things or taking things like money or items, then the system would keep it within itself. As for where it went, Keith didn''t know but he knew that he could take these items whenever he wanted to.


    But that was where the problem appeared. As long as he took the items out and brought them to the real world, he wouldn''t be able to send it back.


    ''I''ll wait until the training program is done and then start acting on my ns. For now, it''s better to let everything stay in the system as I can still use the money and items as rewards for Vincent.'' he thought and paused for a second before smiling, ''Actually... maybe this loop hole will work.''


    He then looked at Amelia who was holding onto him and sighed, ''Maybe I''ll try it outter.''


    After using his mental energy to boost Vincent''s fire output, he was very exhausted. The only reason he didn''t pass out yet was because he didn''t expend all of his energy and kept some as a reserve.


    Even then, he was extremely tired, so he stopped thinking too much and just drifted off to sleep after creating a quest for Vincent.


    ******


    Vincent ran along the streets and alleyways until he reached the 5 meter tall wall that surrounded the capital of Morose kingdom. Not wasting any time, he used his momentum to rush upwards but his limit was just four meters.


    The moment he slowed down and lost all of his built up momentum, he dug his fingers into the y mortar that was keeping the wall together. It basically worked like concrete and was used to holdrge chunks of rocks in ce while building walls.


    Thanks to his Fists of Steel skill, his fingers were tougher than an average human''s. But even then, he felt pain. Using this method, he pulled himself up the wall by digging his fingers into the mortar that was in the wall.


    Once up, he ran along the wall until he reached the part that faced the forest as the capital had threerge towns that surrounded it from three different sides. But just as he was about to jump down, he received a quest notification.


    [Quest: Birth of a ming diator.]


    Register your name in the diator ring and win 10 battles without using your awakened ability.


    Quest Sess: One Free skill upgrade + 100 Zen


    Quest Failure: Permanent Confiscation of User''s money.


    [System Alert: Rewards for the recent questpletion will be given tomorrow.]


    Vincent read both the notifications and sighed, "Anything for revenge, anything for power."


    Instead of jumping out the capital, he jumped back inside before he leisurely walked towards the diator arena, which was also called the diator ring or the ring of death.


    ''There are no restrictions on time, so there''s no need to worry too much. If I face a strong opponent, I''ll use my mes without any hesitation.'' he said to himself making up his mind as his life was more important than the system quest.


    But as he walked along the streets, he saw a bunch of girls wearing loose gowns that exposed their shoulders perfectly. He was currently at a bustling market street where there were multiple stalls.


    He just didn''t expect to see women dressed in such a way as this was something he never saw in his vige. Even the caravans that visited the vige twice a year did not sell these kinds of services.


    As he saw two women escort an ugly middle aged man inside, his imagination ran wild. He grabbed his leather pouch with his jittery hands and checked how much money he had.


    ''I have more than forty Zen... should be enough right?''


    He tied his pouch back to his waist and stuffed his hands into his pocket before walking towards the girls. Before he could say a thing, two of them walked forward and hugged his arms from both the side.


    "Hey young man~ looks like it''s your first time here, but as long as you pay 1 Zen, you''ll be in for a great night." she whispered in his ears in a sultry voice as he she brought the back of his palm to her own kitty.


    Vincent who was as hard as a rock by now, nodded stiffly before melting into the arms of the two women, "Yes please."


    Giggling, the two of them took him in and carried him upstairs, into a room before locking the door.


    Hours passed by and Keith woke up, only to see something he didn''t wish to see as he had left the system screen in video mode before sleeping.


    ''Just how many are in there... three four five and six... damn. Did they milk him dry or does he actually have monstrous stamina?'' he thought, bbergasted from what he was seeing.


    ''Wait just how much money did this kid even spend on prostitutes?'' he frowned and switched to text mode before scrolling up.


    [Vincent enters the room with two girls and ejactes the moment one of them touches his penis.]


    [Seeing that he''s still hard, the girls get on top of him and start their work.]


    [He shoots thrice in an hour and is absolutely exhausted. The two girls cuddle him to sleep before drugging him.]


    [They walk out and bring four more girls before staging an act to scam more money from Vincent.]


    ''Ah so that''s what actually happened. Well, he should learn from his mistakes so I''ll just see what he does but if they try to scam too much money from the kid... heh, I guess time will tell.''


    He put the matter aside for now and sent Vincent his 2 free skill unlocks. He felt most of his mental energy getting drained, but he didn''t mind it as the more he used his mental energy, the more his total capacity increased.

 Chapter 55: Free Skill Upgrades

    Vincent walked out of the "Pleasure House" with his face full of smiles even after he got scammed. They had forced him to pay 6 Zen and Vincent did it without any hesitation before deciding toe back again.


    As for the person who was watching him through the system screen, he was both frustrated and dumbfounded at his stupidity.


    ''As long as he doesn''t waste too much money, I guess it should be fine.'' he thought before sending out a side quest.


    [Side Quest: Pervert''s Research]


    Ask around and learn more about all the brothels in the capital.


    Note: Do things in moderation.


    Quest Rewards: Divine Truth


    Vincent nced at the system screen and nodded before heading towards the diator ring. As he got close, he asked his system mentally.


    ''Hey, can you tell me some more about the diator ring? Is it the same as a cage fight?''


    [diator Ring is simr to a cage fight, but it is also different. There could be multiple fighters in the ring at the same time and the usage of weapons is also allowed for certain fights. There are two different categories, one is the prisoner fight and the other one is volunteer fight.


    War prisoners and people whomitted crimes will be allowed to fight for their freedom and in this version, the option to give up doesn''t exist. The fight will end when there''s only one person alive in the ring.


    When ites to the volunteers, they will be allowed to give up but this category isn''t too famous.]


    Vincent read the information and nodded as he walked to the Arena. As he got close, he saw a lot of small stalls that sold merchandise and food. He didn''t waste any time and ignored them all as the quest came first.


    There were two entrances, one for spectators that was a staircase that went upwards and the other one was a wide corridor that had a wooden board that said "Staff and Volunteers only".


    Vincent walked through the second entrance and once he managed to cover some distance, he saw a bony old man sitting on an old wooden chair that looked like it was about to break at any moment. He was too busy digging into his nose as he rxed with both his feet on the table that was in front of him. Vincent had to resort to clearing his throat loudly to get his attention.


    "Oh, a new guy and a young one on top of that." hemented as he flicked the booger that was on his finger, "So, why are you here? We are not hiring any staff right now."


    "Volunteer."


    The old man chuckled before shooing him away, "Ay kid, just leave. If you want to make money, there are other ways. Feel free to set up a stall outside or something."


    Vincent could tell that the guy simply wanted him to stay away from danger, but the diator ring was his best option to grow strong right now. The more he fought, the more his skills would level up and the higher his skill levels were, the stronger he would be.


    "Hey grandpa, please just get me registered. I''m very strong even though I look like this." he said as he flexed his muscles.


    Compared to the time Keith saved him from Fabian, he had grown a lot. He had grown by a whole seven inches in height and he didn''t look as skinny as before even though he wasn''t too muscr. Chapter Find:


    The old man shrugged before scoffing, "Hmph, if you wish to throw your life away, then who am I to stop you? What''s your name? Not your real name but the one you want people to call you here."


    Before Vincent could respond, he saw a new message pop up.


    [System Suggestion: ming Gigolo]


    "ming gig-" he read it out loud and paused as he grit his teeth, "ming Fist."


    "Okay done. Your name has been registered, but there''s onest step left. We need your thumb stamp and to do that, you''ll have to pay 1 brak."


    Vincent nodded and ced a small coin on the table, after which the old man took out a small ss bottle filled with ink and used a sponge to absorb some ink. He then lightly ran the sponge over Vincent''s thumb before pointing at the bottom of the paper that was on the table.


    Once he got the thumb print, he gently put it inside a file before looking up at Vincent, "When do you want your first fight to ur?"


    "As soon as possible would be great."


    "Hm... fine,e back here in the noon and keep this in mind. Your life is worth more than anything money could buy."


    Vincent nodded with a smile on his face, "Yes, I understand. If I''m about to lose, I''ll just give up."


    After saying that, he left the ce and decided to find a ce to rent as he could tell that he''d be staying in the capital for quite some time. Compared to a monthly rent for a small house, inns were expensive.


    As he walked around the capital, he took a look at his system, wanting to im his quest rewards.


    Once he imed them, a system notification popped up.


    [100 Zen has been transferred to your leather pouch. You had received a total of three free skill upgrades.]


    [Calcting 10% loot reward... please wait.]


    Not wanting to waste time, Vincent opened up his status screen and upgraded just one skill, which was the Fists of Steel. It was at E grade, but after the upgrade, it directly went up to B grade.


    Keith who was busy picking the rewards for Vincent, didn''t notice this but once he was done picking, he looked at what Vincent had done.


    ''Oh this fucking idiot. It''s harder to increase the grades as it goes up so it would have been better to level up battle instinct as it''s at D grade right now. He could have brought it to A grade.


    Heck, he could have also saved the free upgrades and used them once one of his skills got to A grade. Oh well, the more idiotic he is, the more I can get him to do quests using free skill upgrades.''

 Chapter 56: Shifting Blame

    Renting a ce was extremely easy as the only thing that was required was money. As long as the tenant payed money in advance, then they would be allowed to stay.


    Kazak empire followed the weekly rent schedule while the Morose Kingdom went for monthly payments.


    Keith waited until Vincent found a ce to rent and once he moved in, the 10% of the money loot was delivered.


    [System Message: 10% money loot delivered. Total amount delivered is 10,400 Moros.]


    Moro was a standard Morose Kingdom''s currency. They had rich gold mines and ess to many other metals other than silver, so they took inspiration from Kazak Empire and created a standard paper money called Moro.


    Each one was equivalent to half a Zen or 10 Brak coins.


    The smallest currency was literally called a bronze coin and it''s value was the same as 1 brak. As for the one above Moro, they used gold coated coins instead of notes and each one of the gold coins was worth 2 Chrons. Chapter Your:


    Thanks to this, the mostmonly used currency in the Morose kingdom were the bronze coins and Moros.


    While Kazak Empire made notes of different values such as 1 zen, 5 zen and 10 zen, the Morose Kingdom stuck with just one and that was the Moro note which did not have any number on it.


    As for the reason why the old man at the arena epted the 1 brak coin from Vincent, it was because the weight of 1 brak coin was the same as 1 bronze coin.


    On top of that, the diator arena had a lot of nobles as regr spectators and these nobles payed with braks instead of the kingdom''s bronze coins but when it came to Zens and Chrons, no one from the Kingdom epted them.


    Even the rent of Vincent''s current house was paid with Braks.


    When it came to the brothel that scammed Vincent, they did indeed take the Zen notes but they didn''t bother trying to ask for Moros as they didn''t want the knowledge of their scam to spread outside.


    Their target, Vincent might have been dumb enough to fall for it, but the locals would easily put two and two together. Why risk exposing themselves when they could just stock up on Zens from tourists and exchange them through back channels.


    As for the underground cage''s owner who paid Vincent with Kazak currency instead of Morose currency, it was because it shared the border with Kazak Empire and a lot of people in the town epted both kinds of currency as the influence of Morose kingdom wasn''t too strong in Bromburge Town.


    As long as the money could be used to trade for various things, they would ept it with open arms.


    Vincent also opted for Braks and Zens as this was what Keith had given him.


    The moment he saw the five digit number, he felt his head go dizzy. He blinked a few times and rubbed his eyes before taking another good look at the system screen to make sure that he wasn''t seeing wrong.


    Just as he was in a daze, one briefcase appeared out of nowhere along with four stacks of notes and fell to the floor. Seeing this, he hurriedly opened the and saw it filled to the brim with notes.


    "Oh great system administrator, I love you! If there''s this much money involved, then I don''t mind risking my life again."


    Seeing that there was no response, he shifted his attention back to the money in front of him and grabbed a few stacks before smelling them.


    "Ahh, I love this. It''s time to enjoy myself!" he dered as he pushed the briefcase under the bed and hid 390 Moros under the mattress before leaving the house. After locking the door from the outside, he ran off to have fun, not having even the slightest idea that Keith had just scammed him royally through the y of words.


    The quest mentioned 10% of the money stolen, but that just included money.


    Top tier merchants, aka the rich ones, converted most of their gold coins into gold ingots. Usually, they kept some just in case, but now that the news of a potential war had reached their ears, they went ahead and converted everyst one of their gold coins into gold ingots.


    Lady Grace''s father only kept the Moros because they were the most used currency after bronze coins. In fact, the money and gold that was hidden in the mansion only consisted of around 20% of his wealth that was in the form of hard money and gold.


    If properties andnd was included, then that would be another matter entirely.


    Thanks to the wordy, Keith only had to give Vincent 10% of the money that was stolen. Which means, he had managed to steal a total of 140,000 Moros but that was just money.


    When it came to gold, there were a little more than a hundred ingots with each ingot weighing 1 kilogram.


    [A/N: I''ll update the Aux chapter with new currency information so feel free to check it out if it''s hard to understand from text.]


    Keith saw Vincent run into the streets and switched from video to text mode once again as he had no interest in watching a kid rail skeletons in the form of female humans.


    He turned to look at Brandon who had woken up, "I''m hungry."


    "I''m hungry too..." he replied before whispering, "Why don''t you push Amelia to me and go ask Edward to stop for food?"


    Keith knew what Brandon wanted but he didn''t feel like listening to him as he understood how much Amelia wanted to stay away from him. Especially when it came to getting physical.


    "Sure." he said and immediately shook Amelia awake, pissing her off in an instant but before she could do anything, he put the me on Brandon.


    "Not me, it''s Brandon. As the head detective, he ordered me to tell you to use his shoulder to lean on while you sleep. I''m just following orders." he said innocently, directing her anger towards Brandon who looked absolutely betrayed.

 Chapter 57: Accursed Marriage

    "You want me to lean on you, huh?" she hissed before biting his shoulder, only to feel like she had bitten a hard bone.


    "Tch, that annoying stone skin." she cursed before turning to look at Keith, "Let''s make seating official now. Brandon will take your ce in the corner and you''ll sit beside him. I''ll go next and the one beside the door will be ra. Is that fine with you?" Chapter Discover:


    Keith shrugged, "Your wish is mymand, maday." he said imitating ngson''s ent, immediately making the frown on her face disappear. She smiled before shaking her head, "Idiot."


    "You two, this is just unfair!" Brandon appealed but Keith simply pointed at Amelia, "Gotta listen to the Laday."


    Three of them bickered, waking up ra in the process before all of them got out to ask for breakfast.


    Edward groggily opened his eyes, grabbed a small basked and passed it to ra, "Last night''s food. Eat that for breakfast."


    Such was life when it came to travelling long distances in this world and for Keith who had lived his entire life with rtivefort, this would take some getting used to.


    As he chewed on the stale t bread that was simr to a Pita bread, he thought about his powers.


    ''Hmm... I still have a long way to go until I can spin the wheel again.'' he thought as he brought out his gacha wheel that hadpletely greyed out and had no partitions like before.


    The energy that was required for giving out quests was simr to mental energy that was depicted in the novel, but the energy that was needed to spin the wheel gave him different vibes.


    Every time the system user managed toplete the main quest of the white system, he felt like he was growing in size but this was just a feeling. In reality, his size stayed the same.


    ''It felt like a different sense simr to sixth sense and instinct but different in a way too. I only feel it when the system is extracted after questpletion and get used to it in a matter of seconds. After which, I''m unable to get the same feeling again.'' he mused, feeling pretty tired thanks to expending most of his mental energy to give quest rewards to Vincent.


    ''Once I manage to umte enough of this mysterious energy in the future, I''ll have to try creating my own system using my own rules and imagination. Though the possibility of this working is pretty low, there''s nothing wrong in trying.''


    Without his knowledge, he subconsciously frowned as he delved deeper into his theories and Amelia spotted it while she was gossiping with ra.


    Since all of them were walking around the caravan, taking in the fresh morning breeze that gently swept along their skin, it was more of a coincidence for anyone to spot Keith''s current expression.


    "Give me a second. It looks like he''s bothered by something." She whispered to ra and was just about to go to Keith when she felt her hand being grabbed.


    She turned around and saw ra looking at her with an awkward expression, "Isn''t it better to just leave him alone? I mean, he looks like he wants to be alone."


    Hearing this, Amelia said nothing and simply stared at her friend for a few seconds before losing her cool, "Look, I know that I made a huge mistake by telling you to sleep with him, but you were not drunk. Your divine protection is strong enough to keep your mind intact.


    I messed up, but that doesn''t change the fact that you were the one who acted upon it. You did it because you wanted to. I didn''t force you, remember? I simply gave you an option and you took it.


    What goes on between you and Keith stays between you two. I don''t mind it if you ask me for my help, but he''s a friend too. In fact, he''s the only guy that has ever seen and treated me like a normal person.


    Brandon wants to sleep with me and so does every single pervert of a man I''ve ever met! Edward is married and keeps to himself but he''s more like a father to me. Though, it feels like I''m talking to another Brandon when he''s drunk."


    After saying what was in her mind, she let out a long and drawn out sigh, "Listen, both of you are my friends. Like not the fake friends but actual friends who I deeply care about. It hurts to watch you guys act like strangers to each other. If you want, I can talk to him.


    I''ll make sure that he never takes any romantic or sexual actions towards you. He''s a gentleman who has tremendous control over his actions as far as I''ve observed. You can at least talk to him right?"


    ra stood silently, feeling a lot of emotions at the same time.


    Guilt, for losing her virginity to her co-worker when she was supposed to marry someone else. Even more guilt after listening to Amelia''s words for not treating Keith fairly.


    Sadness, for being forced and obligated to marry someone she barely knew, and also for trying to push Amelia into distancing herself from Keith.


    Anger, for getting reprimanded due to her actions.


    Andstly, confusion. Unable to discern what was right and what was wrong.


    She felt utterly lost as she stared into Amelia dark brown eyes.


    "I.... I need some time." she said softly, trying to hold back her tears and quickly walked away as she felt like her heart was getting squeezed by an ethereal hand.


    Amelia watched her leave and took a deep breath to calm down her messy, jumbled up emotions, "I hope that she thinks it through and makes a good decision. Oh great Seraphina, our holy shield and goddess of protection... please protect my friend from her own thoughts. I beg you."


    ''It''s way better to stay unmarried that to marry that asshole, ra. You mighte to hate me, but I''d rather have you hate me if it means I can stop this ursed marriage from happening.''

 Chapter 58: Amelias Reasons

    Amelia ran her palms from the top of her face to the bottom as she suppressed her negative emotions and thoughts before putting on an amicable smile that she always had.


    She headed towards Keith and patted him on his shoulder from the back, "What''s up sir philosopher?"


    "Oh it''s nothing..." he said softly before making something up, "I was just wondering how different the Baroma Kingdom ispared to our Kazak Empire. Like... they''re so orderly and follow so many rules that it feels like there is no importance given to freedom.


    Every person''s job is selected by the higher officials from the royal court, mothers give up their babies readily if the Kingdom passes the order. Businesses don''t really exist either but somehow, in just two hundred years, they''ve managed to surpass the Kazak empire in the domain of technological advancements.


    It''s both impressive and scary at the same time."


    "So that''s what you were thinking about. Well, better not to worry about it you know? We are affiliated with the Chuch, so they don''t dare to touch us." she said as she looked up at him, only to see him nod and not say anything in return.


    ''Yeah, even though they didn''t touch any of the churches, the god of war went ahead and stirred the pot, wreaking havoc. After this war, this country would cease to exist and the only reason for this is the existence and growth of a new god.'' Keith mused, not intending to help or antagonise any party in the war as hecked the means to do so.


    Rather, his only goal was to reap as many benefits as possible so he could start preparing for the inevitable event; the fight that almost wiped out humanity.


    Suddenly he felt a light smack at the back of his head and snapped out of his reverie before turning to look at Amelia who looked pissed.


    "Are you even listening to me?"


    "Of course." he lied instantly, "You were asking me how big my co-"


    Before he couldplete his sentence, the girl let her fist fly towards his gut without any intention of holding back.


    "Krof! Damn..." Keith cursed as he bent forward, clutching his stomach with both his hands, "I as just joking, you witch!"


    "...." Amelia didn''t say anything and simply stared at him for a few seconds, "You... why do you only make dirty jokes in front of me? I''m a woman and you''re a man!"


    Keith thought about it for a second before nodding, "Yeah, so?"


    "What I mean to ask is, does it not bother you when you spout such jokes even though there''s a high chance of making me angry?"


    "Hmm..." he hummed, "You see, there''s a difference between anger thates from hatred, annoyance or frustrationpared to the anger thates from momentary embarrassment. I don''t make these jokes to make youugh, Amelia. It''s to piss you off.


    Making you angry gives me a sense of aplishment and that''s what true friendship is, isn''t it? The fact that you try to hit me instead of deciding on ignoring my existence proves my point.


    This is what friendship between true bros is. You and me? We''re bros for life."


    It was all bullshit and was meant to piss her off as the concept of "bros" didn''t exist in this world. But surprisingly, her short fuse didn''t go off and instead she just stood in ce, lost in thought as she frowned.


    "You''re telling me that I''m like a brother to you? Like... I''m a man?!" she eximed after she digested the absurd words that Keith had just fed her.


    "You... you... ugh! Dammit, I hate you! I shouldn''t have tried to change ra''s mind again but I''ll go fix it now. I''ll tell her to stay away from your ass!" she growled and just as she was about to leave, Keith grabbed her arm.


    As she tried to get herself free from him, he pulled her arm, forcing her to look at him.


    "I was just messing around. If you don''t like it, then I''ll stop making jokes like these. But I want you to answer this question, does it really bother you that much? If it does, then okay. But if it''s just because you think that my words would make you feel embarrassed in front of others, then that''s a different matter. First tell me what the actually problem is."


    For the first time, Amelia considered the question and thought about it beforeing to a conclusion almost immediately.


    ''It''s not really embarrassing, not even if he makes these jokes in public... no, the main problem is that this bastard gets me flustered all the damn time! I don''t know how to respond to his dumb jokes and it makes me my mind go nk. Chapter Experience:


    It''s like ying a mysterious game against a master while not knowing the rules of the said game. I''ll always lose!''


    After realising the true problem, she clicked her tongue and red at Keith, "Tch, do what you want but keep in mind that every time you make those dumb jokes of yours, I''ll be cursing you and your ancestors in my heart."


    "I want to say something but I''d rather not." Keithmented as he kept his thoughts to himself before stuffing thest bit of bread into his mouth.


    "Anyways, let''s get back to the carriage."


    She shook her head in response, "Brandon goes first. That horny dog just wants to get into my pants."


    Keith turned to look at Brandon who was busy chatting with Edward and asked, "Would you have dated him if he had ns on making a family with you?"


    "Nope. That''s just one of the reasons... he''s just not my type. He''s strong and all that, but he''s like a barbarian when ites to women. He sees a chick, he goes behind that chick. He used to date a woman who was the daughter of a bakery owner but guess what he did?


    He went ahead and began to flirt with her mother in front of her and her father. He didn''t leave her sister nor the neighbor alone and I personally, wouldn''t stand such disrespect."

 Chapter 59: Meeting The Father

    The journey was boring but Keith now had two sources of distraction and entertainment. One was Vincent and the other was the newspapers that they bought whenever they passed through a town or city.


    He watched Vincent''s first fight in the diator arena, but it was pretty boring as it was a 1v1 fight and Vincent won it in under a minute.


    Days passed by while Keith passed his time in boredom and on the other end, Vincent fought a handful of battles as he got addicted to sex.


    Luckily for Keith, the journey didn''tst too long as they managed to reach their destination in time. It was the Goddess of Protection, Seraphina''s Church that was built along with the other churches in the Capital City of Baroma Kingdom, name Baroma City.


    ''Heh, talk about not having creativity. God of technology and advancement, Baroma helps create a kingdom and gives it the same name as his own. Then his people name the capital behind him too.... oh well, who cares about the name as long as the ce is doing good.''


    He got off the carriage and stood in front of the church gates along with his team, staring at the huge building in awe.


    ''The church in Auberg District feels tinypared to this one....'' he mused as he stood in one ce unable to move as his gaze shifted to the statue of Seraphina. It''s height was 80% of the church building, but it looked grand and domineering.


    Keith also felt a wave of peace and quite for the first time in weeks, but only when he turned to look at his colleagues was he able to figure out the true reason for this feeling. It was because every single one of them had their mouths shut.


    As he was the first one who escaped the state of reverie, he grabbed his belonging and walked in.


    Seeing him move, the others also hurriedly grabbed their things and followed behind him until Edward ran forward, "Oy Keith wait!"


    He overtook Keith and frowned, "I''m the instructor here! No one is allowed to enter the Church''s property without an instructor guiding them. If you don''t follow this rule, you''ll get cut into bits."


    Keith stopped in his tracks and looked around, unable to see anyone nearby and that was when he remembered a part in the novel that he had overlooked thanks to how little it was mentioned.


    ''Curses? Or is there some kind of overly strong awakened here?'' he thought before opening his mouth, "... I don''t see anyone here."


    "It''s like a curse that''ll activate as soon as you break the rule. Anyways, you and Brandon grab my arms and you guys can just ce your hands on my shoulders." he said as he stood right in front of the gate.


    Keith and the others followed his orders before getting dragged by him into the Church''snd.


    "Is that it?" Keith asked as both his feet touched the grass that was within the gates and Edward nodded, "Yeah that''s it. Now, let''s go inside and have a nice feast before resting. It''s been a tiring journey and luckily, we managed to get here three days in advance."


    "Oh yeah, all four of you will be sharing the same room. You''ll be in the same team and represent the Auberg district''s branch along with a few other church members who do different jobs."


    Brandon nodded when he heard Edwards words before remembering something, "Oh and Keith,e with me to change your status to an official detective instead of a trainee. You''ve done well until now."


    Saying that, he looked at Amelia, "Can you do us a favour and take Keith''s belongings to our room?"


    Seeing that Brandon had gone from his regr attitude to a professional one, Amelia kept to herself and nodded, "Sure."


    "You owe me a drink." she said as she winked at Keith and grabbed his suitcase and briefcase before following behind ra. Keith turned away from her and looked at Brandon, "Let''s go."


    "Head Detective." Brandon said and Keith nodded, "Shall we go then, Head Detective?"


    Brandon nodded curtly before walking over towards the confessional booth. He passed his ring and a bronze badge through a small slit and waited.


    "Head Detective Brandon?" an elderly voice came out and Brandon replied with a yes before going on to the main topic.


    "Yes father. Today, I''m here to promote a trainee to an official member and would love to have a father from the main church do the honours." he spoke softly, eliciting a chuckle from whoever was inside the confessional booth.


    Silence ensued until Keith saw an old man walk out from the back of the confessional with a wide grin.


    "Oh you''re a handsome young man, aren''t you? Very tall too, mhm." he said and nodded to himself, "But first, can you tell me the reason why you decided to pick the holy goddess Seraphina? Why not go for others?"


    Keith thought for a bit before smiling sheepishly, "I''ve always been enamoured by her beauty. Her teaching have always resounded in my heart so when I got the chance to join, I grabbed it. Truth to be told, I care more about my family and friendspared to strangers. But because of this, it is hard for me to follow her teachings perfectly.


    If I was given the choice to pick whom I''d save between a hundred random people and my sister, then I''d pick my sister every single time."


    The priest nodded, "You''re a believer who isn''t blinded by divinity. That''s a great thing to have, my child. Great thing indeed... you, go back to your team. Me and this kid here will be heading over to the Arch bishop to have a long talk about the role he''ll be ying as an official member."


    Keith stood in ce as he smiled at Brandon, "I''ll see youter then, head detective?"


    "Yeah, and looks like you''ll be getting a huge promotion."


    Nodding, Keith replied, "Hopefully, it''ll be something I like."

 Chapter 60: Found You

    Keith followed the priest and walked along multiple corridors before entering a medium sized room that was almost empty. It only had one bed and a study table with a chair in front of it.


    On top of the bed, sat a girl who looked no older than twelve.As soon as the door opened, she turned her head to look at a familiar face and then there was someone she never saw in her entire life.


    "Miss Archbishop, I''ve brought someone who isn''t blinded by the goddess'' divinity. His thoughts are independent and at a first nce, it looks like he fits the criteria." the priest said as he saw Keith close the door behind him.


    "Grandpa, just call me like you usually do... I don''t like this. Big brother, you don''t mind it do you? After all, grandpa says that you aren''t blinded by divinity." she said as she looked up at Keith with her yellow eyes.


    They were mesmerising, but Keith didn''t focus too much on them and nodded, "I don''t have any problems."


    The priest chuckled as he walked over to her and patted her head, "Well then Maria, what do you think about him?"


    Maria smiled cutely before looked at Keith and then instantly nodded, "Mother Seraphina gives her approval. Hmm.... yep, he should be an inquisitor of our church. That fits him the best based on mother''s words."


    "But his awakened ability is not offensive, is it? Danger perception will mostly help him with evading danger." the priest said as he frowned.


    "Mother asks you to trust her, grandpa."


    "The goddess'' wish is mymand." he said before going silent.


    Keith on the other hand watched everything and knew even more as Maria was an extremely important character who would be the High Priestess of the Protection Church two years after the war ends.


    ''The ability to talk to a goddess directly.... she''s not the daughter but an apostle of Seraphina and based on her words just now... it looks like Seraphina knows about my powers. It''s either that, or she''s expecting me to go through a second awakening.


    I need more information toe to a solid conclusion.'' he though inwardly before asking Maria a question, "If I get promoted to an Inquisitor, I''ll have to leave my team right?"


    "Yep!" Maria eximed as she pointed her finger at him, "But if you want, I''ll let you pick someone to be an inquisitor with you. And... if you help me out with a few things, I''ll help you with a second awakening. Both you and your partner will receive it."


    "Wow... a promise from the archbishop herself. There''s no way I''ll decline that offer, but what do you want me to do in return?"


    Maria smiled, her eyes carrying a hint of determination, "I''ll tell you if our church gets the first or second ce during this training program. All the churches willpete against each others byparing the results of their people and I want to see us at the top.


    We''ve been stuck at the third ce for decades if not centuries and I just want that to change for once."


    Keith nodded, "I''ll do what I can."


    A second awakening was a phenomenon that only urred when certain conditions were met and these conditions were extremely strict and different for every person. But there was an exception to this, and that was the involvement of a god''s blessing.


    The second awakening would either enhance this ability by a huge margin or give them an extra branched out ability that had connection to the first one.


    For example, if a person''s awakened ability was creating threads, then their second awakening could potentially give them the power to create thousands of threads at the same time while also super enhancing the strength and durability of each thread.


    As for a branched out extra ability, they could potentially be able to transform into a beast with a lot of fur and gain ess to use this fur as an extension of their powers. This way, they would gain a boost to their speed, strength and other senses while also being able to use their fur to attack, defend, trap, etc.


    This kind of person would be way stronger than someone who could transform into the same animal but without the ability to control their fur, they''d just lose in the condition that both of them had simr experience or mastery over their powers.


    And for Keith, this was extremely valuable as he expected it to boost his already over powered ability to another level. On top of that, he had the option to awaken someone else from his team too.


    ''ra... nah, using such an opportunity on her is a waste. She''ll just go marry some random guy and settle with him, wasting the entire second awakening. Edward is a bit too old at the moment so it''s better to not go with him. Brandon has potential but we''re not exactly close so there''s that.''


    One by one, he eliminated them until he reached Amelia.


    ''She''s chill but I''ll have to spend some more time with her beforeing to a conclusion. If things go well, I can get her to awaken a second time before giving her a system to copy her upgraded ability.


    There''s also the fact that her ability falls under the mystic category just like ra and never once has the second awakening of any mystic ability disappoint in the novel as every single one of them turned out to be extremely broken in one way or the other.''


    He slowly made his ns and decided to talk to her and observe her for the two months time period that the training program would take.


    While he was thinking, Maria hurriedly grabbed a book from the study table and wrote something on thest page before tearing the page.


    "Mother told me to show this to you." she said as she handed it over for Keith to read.


    Found you, my one and only Fwyd Chicken!

 Chapter 61: Preparations: Taking Responsibility for Shopping

    A few minutester, Keith walked out of the room with his thoughts upied.


    ''If things go well, then I''ll request a second awakening for Amelia, but if it doesn''t, then I guess I''ll pick Brandon as he too has potential. His stone skin might get upgraded so much that it might have the potential to negate almost all damage. If I copy this, then it won''t really be a loss.''


    He walked back to the main hall of the church and saw Brandon waiting for him near the main door.


    "Why are you here?" Keith inquired as he walked towards him.


    Brandon sighed, "Well, we''re not allowed to sleep in the church apparently. We''ll be taken to a forest and the whole training program will be conducted there, so the others have gone out to buy some essentials."


    "Is that so... can''t we just stay in an inn until the program starts?"


    "I suggested that too, but Edward wants us to practice from the get go. Better to be prepared or whatever... Anyways, let''s go."


    Keith nodded in response and was just about to follow Brandon when he remembered something important, "Wait, I forgot to exchange my money."


    "Well, you can just exchange it here. Go through that door right here and walk along the corridor until you reach a door that has the word Treasury written on it. You''ll be able to exchange it there." Brandon said as he pointed at the wall on the right, the one that was closest to the main door.


    Keith thanked him and went straight to the door as he ignored the two other doors that were on the same side of the main hall, but were further away from the main door. He followed the instructions and managed to find the room.


    He pushed the door open and saw a middle aged nun sitting on a chair while she was busy knitting.


    "Excuse me, I''m here to exchange some of the Kazak Empire''s currency to Baroms."


    Without even looking up at him, she said, "ce the money you wish to exchange on the table."


    Keith silently picked a few Zen notes from his leather pouch and counted them before putting them on the table.


    The Nun stopped Knitting and took the thin stack of notes before counting them.


    "Twenty Zen, that''ll be four hundred Baroms." she said and put the 20 Zen notes into a wooden box before taking out four stacks of green notes.


    Keith took the money and stuffed it into his zer''s pocket before leaving the room.


    Baroma Kingdom only had one kind of currency denomination and that was the Barom notes. Each one''s value was the same as one Brak of Kazak Empire.


    Keith felt nostalgia when he saw these notes as they reminded him of his previous life. Just one currency that everyone used and was a simple way of doing thingspared to having three different currency types like the other two kingdoms.


    He got back to Brandon and followed him to the market until he met the girls who were busy shopping for clothes instead of buying the stuff that actually had to be bought.


    "You two... were you guys just wasting time?" Brandon frowned as he looked at the two of them, but Amelia shrugged, "We were waiting for you two. I didn''t want to buy something only to get reprimanded by you for not buying something better. Since you''re the leader of the team, we thought that it''ll be better for you to make the important decisions for the team."


    "You just want to dump all the work on me!" Brandonined before turning to look at Keith, "Well then, you''ll be our treasurer for the day. Keep an eye on the money that we have and stop us if you think that we''re spending too much."


    Saying that, he shifted his attention to ra and Amelia, "You two, give him your money. Each person has to contribute one month''s worth of their sry."


    He then took the lead to hand over his quota, which was a total of 240 Baroms as Brandon''s weekly sry was 3 Zens, which tranted to 60 Baroms or Braks a week.


    Following his example, ra and Amelia gave out 280 and 140 respectively. Keith calcted the amount he had to pay in his mind and took out two stacks of 100 Barom notes.


    He ced one stack on the pile of notes given by others and handed it to Brandon, "Hold it for a bit while I count."


    It took him a few seconds, but once he was done, he put 40 notes back in his pocket and put 60 on the pile, bringing up the total to 820 Baroms.


    Once done, he took all the money back from brandon and divided it into two parts before putting each stack into each one of his pant pockets.


    As for his personal money, which was a total of 240, he had it all hidden in his zer''s inner pocket.


    "We have a budget of 820 Baroms... isn''t that an overkill?" Keith asked, feeling slightly hesitant to throw away so much money just to buy a few things.


    Amelia sighed, "Well, we''ll be getting double of our sries for the next two months and Edward stressed a lot about not sparing any money on preparations. He basically told us to buy anything that might help us out in the forest."


    "Welp, I''ll keep track of money and leave the buying to you guys." he said, deciding to take aid back approach to this.


    "Yeah, leave the buying to Brandon so we can me him when things go wrong. Heh." she said, smirking evilly as she looked at Brandon who patted Keith''s back as he shook his head, "When you have subordinates like her, it doesn''t matter how many good things you buy. All of them are bound to turn out useless."


    Sensing another potentially long argument between the two, Keith decided to change his approach and took things into his own hands.


    "Let''s go, I''ll do the buying. But just in case there''s something you guys want me to know, don''t hesitate to speak out. I''m not really too knowledgeable about camping and stuff."

 Chapter 62: Shopping Spree

    The first ce Keith stopped at was the store that sold different fabrics. Tents weren''t ready made and had to be stitched by hand, so this was the only way to get things done. If one needed to build a temporary shelter in the wild, then they''d need good quality cloth.


    Keith spent a total of 600 just on the cloth, ropes, threads and needles, which were then given to Brandon to carry as he was the strongest among the four of them. Then, they moved on to other essentials like leather canteens, which were basically water bottles of this world.


    They bought two for each one of them, totalling up to 8, which cost them 80 Baroms.


    "We need some utensils. They need to be small but also not too small." ra said as she pointed at a store that sold kitchen essentials.


    They then spent another 40 Baroms on utensils before stopping as they didn''t know what else they''d need.


    "Hmm... I guess I''ll scour the market and buy things that might be useful." Keith said, and Brandon nodded, "Good idea. I''ll take these back to the church while you guys do your thing. I suggest splitting up."


    Keith agreed, "Right. I''ll divide the money equally."


    As he said that, he counted he remaining money he had before looking up at the two girls, "I only have a hundred Baroms left."


    "Make it forty, thirty and thirty. ra and I''ll take thirty."


    Nodding, Keith did as he was asked to and gave them the money before heading out to search for things that could potentially help out with camping.


    Like always, his thoughts wandered until he remembered something important.


    ''I need something that can purify water, but based on the stuff I learnt from the novel, there''s nothing ready made for me to directly buy so I guess I''ll have to settle for DIY now.'' he thought as he went straight to the butchers.


    After asking around for prices, he decided to buy onerge goatskin leather for 25 Baroms and then proceeded to find something that''ll help him start a fire.


    ''Matches should be easily avable... but let''s see if there''s something advanced.'' he thought as he walked along the busy streets.


    He had the ability to make fire whenever he wanted to, but he didn''t have any intention of exposing this ability in front of others.


    After visiting various shops, he stopped at one ce, which was the store that sold ss jars, vials, statues, etc.


    "Do you guys make magnifying sses?" he asked and the owner of the stall nodded, "Yes sir, we do make them. Would you like a custom one or standard size?"


    "I need a custom made one. Is it possible for you to let me join you while you make it? I wish to make some calctions before settling on the dimensions of the lens."


    The guy nodded before pointing at a small house behind his stall, "Feel free to go inside. My master is inside, making some ss statues. You can talk to him about your requirements."


    Keith nodded and walked into the house, only to find himself in arge room. It was more like a mini factorypared to a house. Inside, he saw a middle aged man working with molten ss and decided to not disturb him.


    Instead he looked around and spotted a book, which he decided to use for his calctions. He took out a pencil from his pocket and began to note things down.


    ''I need a bi convex lens, one that bulges out on both sides as this is the best one to focus sunlight at one point. Next thing I have to keep in mind is the diameter. The bigger the diameter, the more sunlight I can use to generate heat but it can''t be too huge. I should be able to carry it easily in my pocket.'' he thought as he began to scribble onto the notebook.


    He had learnt about lenses in his high school, but he never expected it to help him out in real life and it never did. Until now, but this was a different world altogether.


    After noting down the important details like focal length, diameter and lens type, he turned to look at the guy who was working on a ss statue, only to see him staring at him.


    "Oh hi, I''m here to give my custom order and the guy outside told me to talk to you about it." he exined as he handed the notebook to the guy before continuing, "I wrote down the details in here. Basically, I just need a lens and if you give it a handle like a magnifying ss, then that''d be great too."


    "Easy stuff." the man said as he took a look at Keith''s notes before nodding, "Looks like you know your stuff, huh? By the way, each lens will cost you 3 Baroms."


    "I''ll take two then."


    Hearing his words, the guy nodded, "Okay, feel free to take a seat right there." he said as he pointed towards a wooden chair.


    Keith thanked him and took a seat before watching the artist do his job. He first grabbed a thick ss b and cut a medium sized rectangle out of it before making two circles.


    Once that was done, he tossed them into the furnace to let them heat up so that they could be malleable enough for him to work with. It took some time, but once the time was ripe, he took out the semi molten ss and began shaping it with just a few metal spats.


    To Keith who was used to seeing people use machines to get things done easily and efficiently, this was like watching a master at work.


    Both the lenses had gone through the shaping process, but now there was nothing much to do but wait, which Keith happily did as he needed some alone time to think about a few things without having two idiots fighting all the time near him.


    [A/N: Feeling burnt out... but gotta grind 4 more chapters forst priv tier. *sob*]

 Chapter 63: Preparations Complete

    Keith met up with ra and Amelia back at the church. Originally, he didn''t have much of an expectation when it came to Amelia but surprisingly, she had teamed up with ra, pooled their money together and had bought something that Keith had absolutely forgotten about.


    Two axes, Two machetes, 6 knives andstly, two big buckets of animal fat tallow.


    "ra pitched in some extra month as we ran out. Fat tallow will be very useful right? We could use it for cooking, lighting andstly, it''s easy to carry since it''s mostly solid when it isn''t exposed to heat. Anyways, what did you get?" she asked as she skipped over to him and grabbed the goat skin leather.


    Keith pointed at it and exined, "We need to make something that can help with filtering water. I had an idea so I bought this. Also," he said as he took out two magnifying sses from his pockets, "We can use these to start a fire. I still have some money left so I''ll go back and buy two more things."


    He gave the magnifying sses to Amelia before running off to spend the rest of the money as there still was one thing missing.


    ''If we need a fire during the night, we''re cooked. Same thing if it get''s cloudy... just why in the hell are we supposed to do all the preparations ourselves? Can''t they just give us the essentials and start the damn thing?'' he cursed inwardly even though he was having fun doing the shopping.


    Strangely it felt rxing, but this feeling only applied when he was alone. Having any of his other team mates didn''t trigger this mysterious peacefulness.


    The first thing he did, was to go to a shop that sold matches. He had spotted it earlier, but didn''t bother buying any as he had expected the girls to get these. But since they didn''t, he decided to do it himself.


    For just 8 Baroms, he managed to buy multiple boxes of matches along with three striking surfaces.


    Unlike his old, the matchboxes here didn''t have striking surfaces on the side. Instead, they came separately. Each striking surface was slightly smaller than the size of his palm and each box of matches contained exactly thousand match sticks.


    In total, Keith bought 5 boxes of matches and 3 striking surfaces.


    ''I only have 4 baroms remaining in my budget, but I guess I''ll pitch in my own money like ra did.'' he thought as he headed over to the next stop and bought a medium sized tin can filled with wax.


    Wax was pretty pricey as they only sold natural wax, which was the bees wax. Due to this, Keith had to pay 10 Baroms just for a medium sized can of wax.


    Once he had everything ready, he rushed back to the church, only to see Amelia waiting for him at the gate.


    "Let''s go behind the church. That''s where we''ll be camping until the training program officially starts and funnily enough, we also spotted people from the other churches doing the same." she said as he got close enough.


    Keith nodded and walked to the back of the church with her. All the churches were built side by side and they shared the 100 acres worth of freend behind them. It was mostly used for training their knights and pdins, but now a part of it was given to their official members from other branches.


    Even though there were multiple tents pitched on the ground, there was still a lot of free area for the knights to train.


    "Brandon went out to get some food for us, but we''re supposed to get things going while he''s doing his part." Amelia said as she sat down with ra and began stitching tworge pieces of cloth together.


    Keith had picked some really dense and thick fabric as he wanted the tents to stay strong even when facing strong winds. As for the problem of weight, Brandon''s existence solved it.


    "I''ll coat some matches then... is there some firewood here?" he asked as he looked at the two of them.


    Surprisingly, ra was the one who responded instead of Amelia, "You should ask someone at the church. Usually, they have a lot stocked up in their store rooms as they have to regrly cook meals for the knights."


    "Thanks." Keith responded politely before he rushed back into the church and asked around until he was given arge bundle of firewood, which he was unable to carry thanks to being physically weak.


    ''If not for the journey, I would have managed to eat enough to reach the physique of that soldier guy.'' he thought inwardly as he sighed.


    With no other choice left, he went ahead and asked one of the knights to help him out which they readily did.


    Back in the training ground, Keith started a fire and used some stones to form a U shape around the fire. He then ced the tin can of wax directly on the stones and watched it melt.


    It took a few minutes, but once all the wax had turned to liquid, Keith began to dip the head of the match sticks into the wax and ced them on a cloth to dry. It was to protect them from water as he didn''t know what kind of environment he might have to face in the forest.


    There were too many matches, so it did take him a long time to finish his job but by the time he was done, the other three were done eating their dinner. The sun had already gone down, but luckily ra and Amelia were done with their stitching too since the job wasn''t too hard.


    They simply had to stitch tworge pieces of fabric together and that was it. Of course, it wasn''t perfect at the moment, but it would do for the night as they were forced to sleep here thanks to Edward''s orders.


    Once Keith was done with his dinner, he joined the others to pitch the tent. It took them a few minutes, but they managed to seed.


    "Oy Keith,e with me for a bit. You and ra need to sort things out."

 Chapter 64: Claras True Plight

    Keith followed Amelia and ra to a bar that was close to the church and ordered a few drinks before getting to the topic.


    "Okay, so first let me exin everything. ra can''t get into the details thanks to a contract that binds her from doing so and I''ve gotten permission from her to tell you about it." Amelia began after downing half of her beer bottle.


    "Sure... but how do you know about the details when ra can''t talk about it?" Keith asked as he leaned back against his chair before ncing at ra who didn''t took as ufortable as she usually was.


    Amelia nodded before smirking, "I''m the princess of the night. She''s bound by the contract but that bar isn''t. I simply got the information from him after giving him a few smiles."


    "Anyways, let''s get to the juicy bits." she began, "ra''s father used to be a Bar but he messed up real bad and had to borrow some money from others. Unfortunately for him, the only person who agreed, was this Bar.


    His name is Timothy Sanders, just for the record and well... he lent ra''s father a lot of money which ultimately, he was unable to pay. Timothy agreed on letting the debt go as long as ra marries him and back then, he was twenty nine years old and ra was barely eight.


    It''s infuriating, but her father convinced her to make an oath to marry him and he also included an oath of secrecy. There is one other way to break off this marriage and that is by paying off the debts.


    She''s been saving up like an idiot but even if she turns fifty years old, she won''t be able to pay off the debt. The sum of money is that huge. Did I miss something? Uh.. oh yeah, ra''s father lost all of his property and his title as he was unable to pay off a debt directly.


    You should know about this rule right? Bar is a temporary noble title but it has very strict rules. One of them is to not have any unpaid debts. He cheated his way through by selling his daughter but this didn''t escape the eyes of the royal family and they immediately took away his title.


    Now that I''ve exined everything, I think you two should talk it out among yourselves. I''ll be here to give you information on things she''s not supposed to talk about."


    Keith took a long deep breath and nodded before asking, "This... Timothy guy, does he have a son named Timmy?"


    Amelia raised her right eyebrow, "How did you know?"


    "I''m taking that as a yes." Keith said instead of giving her an answer.


    ''Timmy... it was a shot in the dark but to think that the character who appeared in the novel was really ra. Skin as pale as a ghost''s... I wasn''t too sure before, but now I''m a hundred percent certain that this was ra and based on what Amelia said... it only means one thing. In the novel, she had already married Timothy.


    But that should be on the surface level. Timmy... to think that I''d be able hear this bastards name again.'' he thought as he recalled information on the guy.


    ''He had awakened at the age of three and could spot the people who would awaken and the potency of their awakening. A very useful ability in his hands as he managed to make an entire fighting force of just awakened people and even rk had trouble getting to him.


    It looks like he told his father about ra and got him to make the deal instead of forcing ra''s father to pay the debt. Maybe I''m reading too much into this... but oh man fucking hell.


    Amelia did say that Timothy included his sons while he had sex with his concubines so I can''t really exclude the possibility. Let''s put the dangers aside for now and focus on the present.''


    He let out a sigh and looked at ra, "Did you meet Timmy before? Like before the deal happened? I mean the oath."


    She silently nodded, "I met him in a social gathering when I was seven years old. I think he was eight or nine back then."


    Keith tapped the table for a few seconds as he contemted something and then came to a decision.


    "I''m going to tell you guys something so listen carefully." he said as he leaned forward and then whispered, "Timmy is an awakened who can tell whether someone can awaken or not and do you want to know something even more important?"


    It was a question, but he didn''t give them any time to answer, "He awakened it when he was three years old. In his eyes, normal people and awakened people do not have any kind of aura around them.


    But the ones who didn''t awaken yet and would do so in the future, did have an aura. Based on the size of this aura, he can determine how strong a person''s awakened ability will be."


    "Wait, so he''s the reason why ra was involved?" Amelia whispered back, but she sounded absolutely furious and bamboozled at the same time.


    "You tell me. ra must have some siblings right? I''ve never heard of a noble family having just one child." Keith responded as he turned to look at ra whose expression was aplete mystery to Keith.


    Hearing his words, she nodded, "I have an older sister and a younger brother. I was wondering why my father didn''t get my sister engaged but I guess I know the reason now... she never awakened."


    "Oh god..." Amelia muttered as she downed the rest of the bottle while Keith kept his eyes on ra, "How much is the debt?"


    "Nine hundred Chrons...." she said softly, her eyes almost tearing up but she did a good job holding them in.


    Keith nodded silently. For the first time, showing his serious face to both Amelia and ra as he thought about the absurd situation.


    ''If it was some other guy, then I would have just helped ra out with whatever she had nned out for her future, but now that Timmy is involved, there''s no way I''m letting him get his hands on her.'' he said to himself inwardly as he stared at his bottle of beer intently.

 Chapter 65: Drunk Amelia is a Dumb Amelia

    Keith had learned from experience, to not spend too much money on a woman thanks to his ex wife. But ra somehow got tangled with Timmy, whom Keith absolutely hated to the core and was also slightly afraid of.


    ''He won''t be too strong right now, but that''ll change in the future. Even though ra did die in the novel, she stalled rk for enough time so that Timmy could save his people. One person died to save more than fifty awakened... a good trade in any sense possible.


    I have the money to help her out, so why not? Also, I still kinda like her but I think it''s better to make things clear and set up some rules before things get messy. I don''t want her to misunderstand.'' he thought to himself as he looked up at ra.


    He took a deep breath, "I know someone who can help with the money but that''s not the important part here as I''m sure that he''ll help out. Let''s fix the thing between us first ande to an agreement, okay?"


    "Okay." ra responded as she nodded.


    She looked both nervous and confident at the same time as she watched Keith observer her silently for a few seconds.


    "Mhm... okay, let''s start with me first. It''s clear that I find you attractive, yes?" he asked and she nodded.


    "Yes."


    Keith nodded back in response, "Good, now let''s get to the main part. You''ve been making thingsplicated and confusing until now, but I just want to know what you think about me. Don''t talk about love right off the bat. It''s aplicated emotion that doesn''t pop up in just a few days."


    "I... I do find you attractive. Very attractive..." she said softly and just as she was about to continue, Keith cut her off.


    "Great, now let''se to an agreement. We clearly like each other, but we need some time to get to know each other first. So there won''t be any talks about marriage for a few months or maybe even two to three years. I want to know a lot more about you and I don''t want to do that in a hurry, so it''ll take time.


    Let''s start off as lovers first, but I hope that you can keep in mind that romance alone isn''t enough to keep a rtionship stable. I want us to be friends first before lovers. Sex alone doesn''t help. If I just want sex, I can visit a brothel." he said, not hiding anything and smacking her with his words.


    Amelia stomped on his toes when she heard his words, "You''re insensitive!"


    "I''m realistic. Only when we know and understand each other, will we be able to avoid most problems rted to marriage. One of the mostmon ones is misunderstanding and distrust, which can be sorted out as we spend more time together."


    Before Amelia could counter his words again, ra opened her mouth, "I''m fine with it."


    Keith nodded as he turned his head to look at ra, "Great. Now I just want to know one thing. Why did you decide to tell me about this? Was it just because you wanted to escape from Timothy''s clutches, or was it because you wished to be with me?"


    "Both... but I never really had any intention to tell you anything. That was until we got to this ce. When you went to get your promotion, I heard a voice in my head.


    It was feminine and calming. It gave me the feeling that the goddess was talking to me. The voice... it told me that talking to you will solve my problem.


    I... I''m not lying. I know it sounds flimsy but it did happen." she said, her voice losing confidence by the second as she watched Keith stare at her intently.


    Keith shook his head, "Nah, I believe you. I got a message from the goddess too... but oh well, I really didn''t expect this."


    He then looked up at the ceiling, knowing that two people were watching him right now. He didn''t bother with Seraphina and instead had the author of the novel in mind.


    ''My lovely fucking author... damn red snow, you''re trying to fix the mistakes you did in your book by using me aren''t you?''


    And the moment he thought of that, for the first time in a few months, he finally felt his pinky twitch. Danger sense had activated and the source was the beer bottle in front of him.


    He let the bottle go, but didn''t fail to notice the word that had formed on the ss thanks to condensation of water.


    No


    That was the only thing it said, but Keith trusted it.


    ''Oh well, I guess you have your reasons then.'' he thought and sighed before looking at the two girls, "Well, now that we settled things between us, cheers! For a new found friendship!"


    The three of them clinked their bottles, with Amelia''s being empty but she poured some water into it and drank anyway.


    Once the three of them were done emptying their drinks, they got up and headed back to the church but on the way, Amelia being Amelia, didn''t stay still and pushed ra into Keith.


    "Well well well, I really did not expect an angel to fall into my arms did I?" Keith yed along by blurting out a cheesy ass line as he put his arms around her shoulder.


    ra was shorter than Amelia, standing at 5 foot 5 inches, or in other words 165 cm while Amelia was 170 cm. The difference wasn''t much, but it was there.


    ra''s face went beet red when she heard his words and even though she wanted to smack Amelia, the feeling of being held in his arms felt like a way better deal. As they got closer to the church, Keith let her go.


    "Let''s keep things a secret for now. I don''t want the others to find out." he said as he looked at the two of them, but Amelia looked angry when she heard him.


    "What? Are you saying that because you''ll feel humiliated if people see you with her?"


    "No, you dumb bitch. There are people here who are loyal to Timothy and Timmy. If the news gets to their ears, it''ll only mean trouble."

 Chapter 66: Vincents Efficiency

    Amelia shut her mouth when she heard his words, looking apologetic, "Okay that was my bad, I''m sorry."


    "It''s fine. Next time, instead of rushing into conclusions, maybe it''ll be better if you just ask in a normal way without pushing me on me."


    "Yes, sir! Your wish is mymand!" she said, mimicking Keith''s way of "agreeing".


    Shaking his head, he walked into the churchpound and directly headed into the tent that him and his team mates had pitched up. Thanks to therge amount of cloth, the size of the tent was also huge.


    It was more than enough for 6 people to sleep side by side, but when it came to just four of them, they could sleepfortably as there was enough of extra space. As he lied down on the thin cloth that was on the ground, he opened up his system screen and checked what Vincent was upto.


    ''He''s at a brothel again... he''s a lost cause.'' he thought and sighed before his gaze hardened, ''You forced me to do this. I told you to do things in moderation but you''re fucking around for like three to four times a day.''


    Keith was annoyed. He had picked Vincent as he thought that he had potential, which he did. But thanks to the changed Keith had done, by giving him a system, things had changed drastically.


    His own personal growth was also dependent on Vincent at the moment, so he decided to take things seriously and not let the guy ck off anymore.


    [Daily Quest Created: Fruits of Hard Work]


    Partake in at least one fight a day.


    Do 100 Push-ups without any breaks


    Do 100 Sit-ups without any breaks


    Do 100 Squats without any breaks


    Run for 10 km without any breaks


    Eat threerge meals that consist of 50% meat.


    Rewards: If done continuously for two weeks, one free skill upgrade will be gifted.


    Punishment for Failure:


    Day 1,2 and 3: Immense body pain


    Day 4,5 and 6: Reduction of Penis Size by 1 cm


    Day 7: System Self Destruction


    Note: If quest ispleted on alternate days, quest failure count will not be reset.


    Once Keith was done designing the quest, he sent it over to Vincent without bothering whether he was busy having his snu snu time or not.


    Vincent, who was almost about to reach the "peak", saw the new quest screen pop up right in front of his eyes, blocking his vision entirely. Unlike the past when it was translucent, it waspletely opaque this time.


    ''Damn why a quest at this time?'' he felt annoyed, but he still checked it out, only to feel depressed as he read through the punishments.


    ''What the hell?'' he thought as the quest notification disappeared. He was no longer in the mood to have any more fun, so he pushed the girl''s face away from his family jewels and got up to leave.


    As he wore his clothes, he took out two Moro notes and gave it to her.


    He left the ce quickly as he cursed Keith in his heart, ''Damn system administrator! You don''t have to force me to stop just because you can''t have sex, you jealous bastard!''


    [System Administrator: I don''t rely on prostitutes for my needs and I have a satisfactory control over my sexual urges, thank you. Give me a second, I''ll prepare another quest for you.]


    ''Oh fuck you! I don''t care if you''re a god or not, but fucking, fuck fuck!!'' Vincent cursed in his heart as he violently kicked a stone that was on the road, sending it flying while also hurting his own toe.


    Before he could recover from the pain, he saw another system screen pop up in front of him.


    [Quest: Rob the Sanders'' Jewellery Store in the capital.]


    Rewards: None


    Punishment for Failure: Reduction of Penis size my 2 centimeters.


    Reading this, Vincent stopped walking and looked up at the sky, "Just why in the hell are you treating me this way?! Just what in the hell did I do wrong?"


    Keith didn''t respond and just closed his eyes, hoping that Vincent could figure that out himself.


    ''If he does, I''ll change the reward to something nice but if he acts ignorant, then I''ll continue being an ass to him.''


    That night, Vincent went from loving his system to absolutely hating it to the core. But unfortunately for him, Keith didn''t care.


    The next morning when he woke up, Keith was pleasantly surprised as he saw a system notification floating in front of him.


    [User Vincent haspleted the Quest.]


    ''Well, at least he''s efficient.'' he thought as he checked the text logs to see what Vincent had done while he was fast asleep.


    ''Hm, so he basically just broke in during the night when the store was closed and robbed it clean. Pretty good, and he also seems to have an idea of what he did wrong.


    Well, technically it isn''t really wrong in any sense but I just don''t want him to be doing nothing. I''m just doing this for my own benefit since I invested such a strong system in you.''


    As he thought about it, he decided to give Vincent a reward as he seemed to have realised what he had done wrong.


    Vincent was currently in his room as he stared at therge bag filled with jewellery. The look of frustration on his face could not be hidden, but all of a sudden, he let out a sigh.


    Then he went back to read the system notification once again.


    [System Administrator: Congrattions, you have realised the mistake you''ve made so I won''t make things hard for you. I simply want to see you get strong, but if you don''t work hard, then I''ll have to push you to do so in my own way. Rewarding through.]


    [System Gift Box: Would you like to open it?]


    Vincent didn''t wait and immediately answered with a yes.


    With a bright sh, the bag filled with jewellery vanished and taking it''s ce was a singletex glove that was dark red in color.

 Chapter 67: The Three Trainee Inquisitors

    The red glove was one of the three cursed artifacts that Keith managed to get from Lady Grace''s mansion. It allowed the user to shoot out mes through the glove or cover the glove with mes, but in return, it burned the hands of the user.


    Keith sent out the pros and cons of the cursed artifact to Vincent, but the guy was too busy staring at the item in awe.


    Seeing this, Keith had a feeling that Vincent would do something dumb, so he decided to sent out more instructions.


    [System Administrator: Do not use this item unless absolutely necessary until your Red Hot Fists get to Grade S. Even then, you should use it sparingly. But as long as you manage to bring that skill to SSS grade, then you''ll be able to negate almost all of the effects of the curse.]


    "No problem! Love you system administrator!"


    [System Administrator: I''m a guy.]


    "It''s fine, I still love you!"


    Keith shook his head with a wry smile and sat up before looking around him. It didn''t take much for him to know that he was the only one left inside.


    From the outside, he heard familiar voices but along with that, there were also a few unfamiliar ones. Curious, he walked out of the tent and saw three new people crouching on the ground as they tried to use the magnifying ss on a thick piece of wood.


    "What are you guys doing?" he asked as he walked towards Brandon and Amelia who had the second magnifying ss and were trying to do the same thing.


    "We''re figuring out how to use this damn thing..." Brandon said as his gaze was focused on the tiny dot in the wood. Keith shook his head and looked at the three new guys.


    He inched closer to Amelia and whispered, "Who are these guys?"


    "Trainee Inquisitors... regr inquisitors are higher ranked than both Brandon and regr detectives like us, but trainees are ranked on par with normal detectives. They''ll be joining our team, apparently."


    Hearing this, Keith nodded and pped loudly to gain their attention, "I was the one the brought that thing, so let me show you guys how to use is."


    He then grabbed the one that Brandon was holding and looked at Amelia, "I need a knife."


    With a slight nod, she took out a knife that was strapped to her belt and gave it to Keith who used it to scrape out some wood shavings.


    As he did his work, he asked, "Where is Senior ra by the way?"


    "She went to buy us some ingredients for cooking." Brandon said as he frowned. He paused for a second and then asked, "You two made up?"


    "Yeah, thanks to Amelia. We''ll be maintaining a professional rtionship from now on and keep out personal grievances on the side." he said as he stopped scraping the wood and began to pile up all the wood shavings.


    Brandon smiled as he nodded, "That''s great! Now I don''t have to worry about you guys getting into a serious fight during the training camp."


    Keith said nothing at looked at the three trainee inquisitors before ncing at Brandon and Amelia.


    "Okay so here''s the thing guys, firstly, you need some tinder. Something small that can easily catch fire. Wood shavings work, but there are better alternatives that we can find while in a forest.


    Now, once you grab some tinder, you must clump it together and then adjust the distance of the magnifying ss until you see one small point of light converging onto the pile of tinder.


    After that, all you gotta do is to wait for a minute or two and you''ll have your fire ready." he said and waited for a minute.


    Just like he said, the tinder started to smoke and then it quickly caught fire. The fire was small, but it was enough for Keith as he began to pile up small twigs onto it and increased the side of the sticks until he got to the regr sized fire wood.


    "Welp, there you go." he said as he gave the magnifying ss back to Brandon before getting back up onto his feet, "I want to take a bath... do you guys know a ce that I could go to?"


    One of the three inquisitors raised his hands, "I know one. There''s a public hot water bath a few streets from here."


    Keith nodded as he looked at the three of them. There were two guys and one girl. Based on just their looks, he couldn''t really say much but all of them looked fit.


    "That''s great. Why don''t you guys join me and we can get to know each other along the way?"


    "Ew, what a pervert! You''re asking ady to join you in the bath?" Amelia quipped in with a smirk on her face.


    Keith looked at her, "I said along the way, you dirty minded wench!" he said as he smacked her head lightly, to which she retaliated with her own smack.


    Based on his past experiences, he could say that it was a yful smack so he didn''t bother hitting her again and instead, he just shifted his attention back to the three inquisitors who were trying their best not tough.


    "So, what do you guys say?"


    "Sure." the girl said first as she stretched her hand out and Keith shook it, "I''m Keith by the way, Keith Zenister."


    "My name is Laura. I don''t have a surname since I''ve been an orphan from birth. I''m an awakened obviously, and I can transform into a yellow Python."


    Keith nodded and looked at the other two.


    "I''m Caleb and I grew up in the same orphanage as Laura. I can control the winds."


    "I''m the same as these two ande from the same orphanage. You can call me Nathan and uh... my awakened ability is the summoning of a Holy Knight''s armor. When I''m within this armor, my strength, speed, stamina and defense are all enhanced by a lot."

 Chapter 68: Training Programs Rules

    Keith spent some time with them in the public bath, but once they came back to the church, all six of them got to work along with ra who was waiting for them. By the time the training program started, they were finally done with all the stitching.


    The sound of bell reached their ears, and Keith who was busy learning how to stitch from ra, looked towards the direction of the source of the sound.


    There was one old man who was standing on a makeshift wooden tform at the centre of the training grounds.


    "Everyone gather here, please! Everyone gather here, please!" the old man said, his voice amplified, which anyone nearby could tell that it was thanks to an awakened ability.


    People followed his orders and gathered in front of the wooden tform.


    "Hmm, looks like everyone is here." he said as he looked at the people below before continuing, "Alright, it looks like the news has spread and you guys found out about certain aspects of the training camp. We won''t hold it against you, for those who don''t know, I''ll exin everything now."


    "Firstly, you will all be put into teams that range from five to ten members. Next, like most of you have been informed, you will be sent to a random forest. It is actually arge ind that has been recently discovered and it''s as huge as the Baroma Kingdom. It has it''s own two hills, a river and finally a thick forest.


    You will be taken there by one of the arch bishops belonging to the War God Balmond''s Church and once you''re there, you will be given a time limit of three days to do whatever you want, but from the fourth day onwards, there will be one instructor who wille to your team.


    You must do every single thing that they say and based on your performance in their tests, you will be given a grade by every single one of them. At the end of the training program, every one of your team''s scores will be added up and ranked from the highest to the lowest scores.


    There will be no penalties, but the top three teams will get prize money and the first team will receive an additional cursed artifact." he said and paused as he swallowed some of his saliva.


    "Now, let''s go through the rules. Teams are allowed to fight over various things, but you are not allowed to kill or seriously injure someone. If that happens, you will be punished ording to the damage caused. Which means, if you kill someone, you will be executed.


    Next, the things you''re not allowed to bring with you. There are only two things and those are money, and food. You''re allowed to bring water, but that''s the only thing that''s allowed." he said, but a nun who was standing behind him leaned forward and whispered something in his ear.


    "Oh yes, you''re also not allowed to bring revolvers, hunting rifles or anything that uses gun powder."


    "Now Keith is useless in our team, tch tch." Amelia whispered in Keith''s ears, only to get elbowed by him.


    She let out a soft grunt as she covered her mouth with her hand, "Ooof, you didn''t have to do that."


    "You should''ve just shut your mouth then." he retorted as he kept his eyes on the old man who was on stage.


    "Now then, this is probably something that you guys already know, but there will be two people who will be tagging along with you to keep tabs on your progress. One will be from the same church as you and the other one will be from any of the other four churches so that things stay fair.


    They will not help you with anything, so do not expect them to do that. If you guys do have any of the things that have been banned, feel free to hand them over to the two people who''ll be in charge of your team. Now, that is all for the announcement. Grab all your things and assemble here in three hours."


    More than half of the people rushed back to their tents, but Keith''s group was among the ones that didn''t feel too pressed about the timings as they had most of the things packed and ready already.


    But they still felt slightly depressed thanks to the ban on foods. And in Keith''s case, he did feel a little under prepared now that he wasn''t allowed to bring his revolver with him.


    He looked at Laura, Caleb and Nathan who seemed down and sighed, "Guys, don''t worry too much about it. We prepared as much as we could and you guys contributed by buying food for us. It''s just an unlucky coincidence, but don''t worry too much. We have Laura who can turn into a damn python for God''s sake! She''ll be able to easily hunt animals for us.


    Nathan is the best fighter among us, so he''ll be the most important person when ites to defending or attacking other teams and as for Caleb, he''ll uh be very useful in keeping the fire hot.


    Based on where we''ll be sent, there could be various ways he could put his ability to use. From what I can see, it''s only me who''s the dead weight in this team since I won''t have ess to my revolver.


    Amelia is good with the guns, but she''s just as good with hand to handbat. ra on the other hand is even better than Amelia, but that''s what Amelia and Brandon told me. As for Brandon... he''s our stone pir. The front line fighter along with Nathan."


    ra crossed her arms across her chest, "Don''t put yourself down, please. You were the one who prepared most of the things until now and you also taught us a lot of stuff when ites to camping out in the wild. You''re our team''s brains, the one who knows his stuff and has a stable mentality.


    Even if we don''t consider that, your danger sense will be able to save us from a lot of potential dangers. Don''t you guys think so too?" she asked as she turned to look at the others who immediately nodded.

 Chapter 69: Seraphelle

    "Well, thank you for your vote of confidence, I guess." he said, but he still stood my his own words and believed that if he didn''t use all of his powers, then he really was the most useless in his group without the revolver.


    "Anyways." he added, "What should we do with the money though? Should we give them to whoever is in charge of our team?"


    Amelia nodded, "Yeah, just wait for Edward I guess. I''m not going to trust anyone else with my belongings."


    Keith looked around and saw Edward walking towards his group with anotherdy right beside him. Unlike the regr female poption in this world, she was muscr and could bepared to Brandon who was the most muscr in the group.


    "Damn..." Keith blurted out, clearly impressed but then the possibility of it being the side effect of an awakened ability came to his mind, which dampened the impact.


    Once Edward got close enough, he introduced the woman to the group.


    "Well, four of you guys already know me but for the other three, I''m a part of Goddess of Protection, Goddess Seraphina''s Church and I''m from the Protection Detective Department." he said and then pointed at the woman beside him.


    "This esteemeddy is a Countess from Kazak Empire and is a Royal Knight while also holding the title of the Head Musician in the Church. She is a part of the Church of the Goddess of Art, Goddess Seraphelle and she is also named after the goddess."


    "Head Musician..." Keith muttered, but Seraphelle managed to hear him.


    She turned her gaze to him and asked with a stern look on her face, "Is there a problem, young man?"


    "No, mydy. I was just wondering if I could learn something about music even though I''m a part of the Church of Protection, that''s all. You see, I''m just very interested in learning the piano." He said, covering for himself immediately.


    She silently stared at him for a while before nodding as a smile bloomed on her face, "You''re free to visit our church any time you wish. It''s not like anyone will stop you from learning music."


    "It is as you said, mydy." Keith responded, "But I barely have any free time to spare as I''ve been focusing on trying to gain some muscle. When I first joined, I was basically just bones."


    Seraphelle nodded slowly before looking at the others, "If you guys have anything that has been banned, please hand them over to us. I guarantee you that you''ll get everything back perfectly."


    "Everything other than food. We''ll be eating all of that while we''re with you." Edward added and she nodded before shifting her gaze back to Keith, "Keep persisting and one day you''ll reach your goal."


    "I will do my best." he said as he watched Amelia give her leather pouch to Edward while the others followed her, but Keith untied his leather pouch from his waist and handed it over to Seraphelle instead.


    The reason for this was simple. He simply did not want to see her offended over minor things like the team''s trust in her. Even if one person ces their trust in her, then the difference could potentially be drastic.


    ''I''m sure Edward wouldn''t hold it against me.'' he thought as he looked at him, but Edward gave him a wink and went back to tying all the leather pouches to his waist.


    Seraphelle did the same, but with just Keith''s leather pouch. Once she was done, she looked at everyone and said, "Since this is done, Edward and I will go take all the food that''s near your tent. Does any of you have revolvers or any kind of firearms?"


    Keith raised his hand and right behind him, two people followed up. One was Amelia as Keith had already expected, but the other one was Caleb the wind guy.


    "Alright, you''ll be good to go as long as you hand over your weapons." Edward quipped in as he happily patted ra''s leather pouch, the one that had the most money in it with a wide grin on his face.


    Even though he never had any ns to take the money for himself, the feeling of carrying so much money at the same time was exhrating to him.


    Just like Keith, Amelia and Caleb had their weapons on them, so they immediately handed them over to Edward but Keith did the same thing he did a few seconds before and gave his weapon to Seraphelle.


    ''Why don''t these guys understand how much her support could help us?'' he thought in his head as he looked at the others and sighed inwardly before following them back to the tent.


    The work they had to do at the moment was to just dismantle the tent and fold the cloth to make it easy to carry. As for the other things, they were packed and ready to go as that was what they did thest night; packing.


    Dismantling the tent and folding the cloth barely took them a few minutes but once they were done, ra informed everyone of something important.


    "I''ve heard of someone from the War Church having he ability to teleport things and people. If that does happen, I feel like it''ll be better for every single one of us to have some kind of weapon in our hands."


    Hearing her words, Keith nodded as he too had read about a woman from the war church having this ability, so the possibility of this happening wasn''t too low.


    "Sure, but feel free to pick a weapon without me. I can summon a sword along with my armor." Nathan said and grinned widely, while Caleb and Laura also refused to take any weapon.


    When Keith insisted, they took out a pair of daggers from their inner pockets and showed them off.


    "Ah.. alright." Keith said as he looked at the stuff they had bought a few days ago.


    "Can I take a machete then?" he asked as he looked at ra who had taken the responsibility of distributing the weapons.


    She readily nodded and handed over one of the two machetes to him before giving him an extra dagger along with it, "We have a lot of daggers, so just keep it."

 Chapter 70: Timmy Sanders

    On the other side of the training grounds, six men hurriedly packed the things that their group had bought while one guy and three girls stood on the side as they watched them.


    The guy who was surrounded by gorgeous girls, had long and curly light brown hair that fell to his shoulders. His face didn''t have any striking features, making him look like a normal average guy, but with hisvish clothes made of silk, he stood out among the rest.


    "Timmy, shouldn''t you tell you father about this at least once?" one of the beautiful girls hugged him from behind and asked, but he shook his head.


    "It''s fine. He''s at the Morose Kingdom right now to take care of some business and coincidentally, someone robbed one of our jewellery stores. So he''ll probably be staying there to investigate, so there''s no need to bother him with things that don''t need his immediate attention.


    Well, it''s not like he doesn''t know about it. All three of you are his concubines but you mostly spend time with me and all of us know the reason why. He''s just an useless old fart who''s only reached this level thanks to me." he said confidently as he groped the two other girls who were beside him.


    "Well, anyways. I saw a familiar face today, so I''m hoping that I''ll meet her." he said as he smirked and licked his lips, not intending to hide his intentions.


    The girl on the right leaned closer, "Is it ra? Even I saw her a few minutes ago but is she even worth the trouble?" She has that ugly big chest and big ass, like why would you want to even touch something as filthy as her when you have us here?" she said as she grabbed his hand and ran it up from her stomach to her neck.


    "You three should just shut up and stop asking me questions. She may be ugly, but her usefulness is way higher than unawakened pigs like you." he snarled and spit on her face before pushing her away, only to see her crawling back to him like an abandoned animal.


    ''Once I get my hands on her, I''ll make a trade with one of my old ssmates who''s currently a part of War God''s Church to get the method of creating Cursed Artifacts on my own. From the rumours that I''ve heard, it involved a set of rules and this is exactly what I need.


    This way, I''ll turn her into a cursed artifact and feed her ugly body to the dogs. Did this bitch really think that I was attracted to something as ugly as her? Yuck.'' he thought as he stared at the girl who was hugging his thigh and pped her hard.


    "You, I''ll punish you in the forest tonight." he smirked evilly before turning to look at the two instructors that were sent to keep an eye on his team.


    He got the girls to let go of him and walked towards the instructors with a friendly smile. One of them was from the same church as him, the Money God Mammon''s Church, but he had barely met him until now.


    "Excuse me gentlemen, if you don''t mind, I have an idea that I''d like to propose to you." he said as he got close to them and saw that both of them smiled.


    The guy from the money church smiled, "We''ve heard about you. Tell me what your idea is, but just so you know, we will not be helping you with matters rted to other teams."


    "Oh it doesn''t have any rtion to other teams. I simple need your help with our own team. I need the expertise of this gentle man here to heal my women when ever they''re injured and in return, you can have your fun with them." he proposed his idea and the two of them looked sightly disappointed.


    Timmy cursed inwardly before adding more to the equation, "Both of you are from Morose Kingdom, yes?" he asked and when they nodded he grinned.


    "Well, then I''ll give you one Moro each time you heal my girls. One moro each, one moro for you guys to keep everything that happens a secret and every time my girls get injured, I''ll give you an extra moro to heal them and I''ll also let you have your fun with them. Are you two satisfied with this?"


    The two instructors looked at each other''s faces and turned to look at the three women who were looking back at them before nodding, "Sure, now go back to your team and stop talking to us. We''ll take the money directly from the stash that you''ve given us."


    "Feel free, feel free." Timmy said as he grinned and walked back to his father''s concubines.


    Two hours passed and the sound of the bell reached everyone''s ears, which prompted them to rush back to stand in front of the wooden tform.


    Timmy''s team wasn''t an exception either and he got his men to carry everything for him. Each one of them had onerge bag strapped to their backs and had each of their arms grabbing onto one cloth bag each, which was basically just a bunch of things ced at the centre of a cloth with the corners of the cloth tied together.


    The bags consisted of various tools, weapons and traps but Timmy wasn''t the only one who had prepared a lot as he saw another guy walk beside him with exactly ten people but every single one of them were carrying things unlike Timmy''s team where only six were working.


    ''Hmm... Duke Arthur''s son, Adrian huh? Heh, thanks to his sister getting kicked out of the family, he''s now the heir. What a sore loser.'' Timmy thought, consoling himself by putting others down mentally, but his expression changed when he saw Adrian turn his head to look past him.


    Timmy followed his gaze and turned around to see Adrian''s sister and ra talking to each other amicably.

 Chapter 71: Amelia, The Fortune Teller

    Amelia who was talking to ra, paused when she noticed a familiar face, and smiled, "Adrian!"


    "Hey, I hope you''re doing fine." he replied as he gave her a gentle smile, but he didn''t fail to notice Keith''s expressionless gaze that was fixated on him.


    "You should introduce your friends, don''t you think so?" he asked as he looked at the people in her group, but Amelia shook her head, "Don''t bother with the etiquette bull shit here. Both you and I know that you''ll not see my friends like... almost never unless you get lucky, so there''s no need to bother."


    Saying that she pointed at Adrian, "This is my brother guys, and he was born two years before me. We share the same mother but we do have step siblings."


    Keith leaned towards her and whispered, "Is he the one who Adam mentioned?"


    "Nah that''s my step brother."


    "Oh." Keith said as he looked at Adrian, but this time he had a smile on his face, "Hi, my name is Keith and let me just tell you one thing. Your sister is a pain to deal with."


    The moment he finished saying that, he immediately crouched down as a palm flew past his head and Adrian began tough when he saw this.


    "Hahahaha, that she is. But don''t worry, she still has a delicate heart and when times are serious, she can be a huge help. She''s my favourite sibling for a reason." he said as he walked past Timmy''s group and tried to pat Amelia''s head, but she dodged him expertly.


    The two of them then began to bicker, but Keith''e eye was on ra and he didn''t fail to notice her staring at the ground like a statue. But as a person who had seen Timmy thanks to the novels character art that the author usually posted, he easily understood the reason.


    He absolutely hated Timmy, but that was only due to him learning about him through a reader''s perspective. He wasn''t really too sure about how to face him now that he was physically present inside the novel, but when he saw the red p mark on one of the girls'' faces, he felt a sense of relief.


    ''He''ll get what he deserves in due time, but I have to keep my enemies close to me.'' he thought as he turned to look at Timmy who was staring at ra with a smirk on his face.


    "Excuse me, sir. I don''t really know who you are, but I hope you can take my words seriously. My awakened ability lets me sense danger and thanks to that, I can tell that you''ll face serious threats in the near future. I hope you take care of yourself." he said, sounding sincere and worried.


    Timmy stared at Keith for a few seconds before frowning, "Hmm. I''ll keep that in mind, thank you. If you need anything in the future, don''t hesitate toe to the Sanders'' estate in Kazak Empire''s north."


    Keith nodded and went back to ignoring him, ''Now, all I need to do is get Vincent to target all of their businesses. This way, even if he doesn''t trust me now, he will remember my words in the future and I''ll make him live in fear.


    Unfortunately for Timmy, the indirect threats didn''t stop there as Amelia too, began to talk to him.


    "Hmm, do you mind if I ce my hand on your forehead? I have the ability to see into the future, you see? I just want to confirm if what my teammate said is right or wrong."


    "Amelia..." Timmy muttered before frowning once again, "I know about your awakened ability and as far as I know, it doesn''t involve future sight."


    "Oh, you dumb idiot." Amelia clicked her tongue as she ced her palms on her chest, "You do remember how I looked before I awakened right? I had a bigger chest and a bigger ass too. But once I awakened, their size reduces and now I''m a beauty that every single man in the empire thirsts for.


    Unfortunately for me, this included the prince and that bastard was an ugly dog just like you. But as ugly as you may be, I wouldn''t want to see someone valuable to the empire die, if you know what I mean.


    Oh yeah, about my power. I am the princess of the night and I do have the ability to see into the future, but I realised this a bit toote."


    Timmy nodded as this wasn''t too umon. People wouldn''t just learn about their awakened powers directly. It was mostly through coincidence and if they were lucky enough, guidance and multiple trials.


    Keith too knew about it as he had read the novel, but he also could tell that Amelia waspletely bullshitting at the moment. People normally did not have the luxury to get information about their abilities stuffed into their brains.


    This was the same with Norn as the guy didn''t even know about his own awakened ability. It was the same with ra as she still was unable to figure out the true extent of her capabilities. When she first awakened, she was only able to create normal cotton gloves, but as time passed, the length of the gloves increased.


    Once they reached a certain point, the cotton gloves changed to silk gloves and then the size was also reset back to a normal glove size, which stopped at her wrist.


    Vincent was a simr case, but he had Keith to guide him to an extent.


    Timmy was angry with Amelia, but he knew the importance of his own life so he ignored all the bad stuff she said about him.


    "Okay, please tell me what you see." he said and Amelia nodded before pressing her thumb on Timmy''s forehead. She increased the force until it made him feel pain, but that was her limit.


    She kept this on for one hour as she made up a story in her mind and then blurted everything out, "Hmm, it''ll start small but as time passes, the bad things will umte and then, it''ll lead to your death."

 Chapter 72: Training Program Officially Begins

    Her so-called prediction was extremely generic and barely had any details, but it was enough for her as Timmy''s expression slightly changed. Whether it was fear or anxiety, she couldn''t tell, but she knew that it wasn''t anything positive.


    "I see..." he said with a deep frown on his face as he nodded, "Thank you, I''ll keep this in mind."


    "Time''s up everyone." the old man''s voice shot out, entering everyone''s ears before he continued, "Grab onto all of you things and make sure that you have a physical contact with your team mates. If two or more teams are caught trying to form an alliance, then they''ll be disqualified. You only have three seconds. Three."


    Keith and the others made sure that they had everything at hand before they made sure to physically touch each other in one way or the other. It was Keith who made sure to keep his hands on Amelia and ra''s shoulders.


    Brandon and Nathan had their hands upied so the others grabbed onto them instead. Once the chain was formed, they heard the old man reach the count one.


    "One, and... Zero!"


    Instantly, Keith felt his stomach churn, but he made sure to keep himself from vomiting as he needed all the food inside his body to stay inside if he wished to walk around the forest without being carried by someone else.


    It took him a lot of effort, but once he got a hold of himself, he looked at he others and took in some information from his surroundings, which wasn''t much.


    Caleb was still holding onto his mouth, but the others had already recovered. They were in a forest that had trees and nts everywhere, but it wasn''t overly dense. There was enough space for three people to walk side by side if they didn''t carry anything.


    "Hmm." Seraphelle hummed as she looked around and said, "Came her once already, so as long as you guys promise to do your best in the tests, I''ll guide you to a good ce where you can set up our camp."


    Edward himself was slightly taken aback by her words, and Seraphelle, who saw this, decided to exin.


    "Well, of course. This won''t happen if Edward rejects my idea, but I want you guys to know that the other instructors aren''t honest or too rule abiding. I''m helping you out because I don''t want to wander aimlessly in this forest.


    You guys have indeed prepared well, but there are others who did it better. They bought a lot more things and have more people in their teams too. Personally, I just want to set up a camp and settle down instead of struggle with you lot."


    "Oh, I have no problem with your suggestion, mydy." Edward said as he bowed slightly, showing respect to her noble title.


    Seraphelle nodded and looked at the team, "What do you guys say?"


    Keith looked at Brandon, waiting for his answer, but everyone else looked at Keith and this included Brandon as all of them could tell that Seraphelle was asking him and not the official team leader, who was Brandon.


    "Oh um, I see no problem with it. Thank you for your help, mydy." Keith said as he finally caught on and Seraphelle nodded before pointing towards a particr direction.


    "Just go this way and we''ll reach the river."


    Keith nodded and looked at the others who began to walk in the said direction. It took them a few hours of continuous walking until they finally reached the riverbank.


    "Finally." Brandon said with a grunt as he ced therge roll of cloth on the ground, and everyone else followed his example. He then looked at Keith, "What next? You''re our nner until the training program is done."


    Sighing slightly, Keith nodded, "Okay, every one of you will focus on getting the tent pitched up." he said and turned to look at Edward and Seraphelle, "Should we help you with your tents too?"


    "No we''re fine. Just take care of yourselves and that''s more than enough." Edward said as he tossed the stuff he was carrying and began to set up his own tent along with his instructor partner.


    Keith didn''t bother with them anymore and turned to look at his team, all of whom had already busied themselves with the tent.


    ''I guess I''ll build the water filter in the meanwhile.'' he thought as he looked up at the sky and saw the sun slowly going down.


    He grabbed an axe from the stash and looked around for dead trees. There weren''t too many, but here were quite a few of them.


    ''Well, these can be used for firewood but I guess I''ll take some branches from live trees for my water filter'' he mused as he stopped in front of a tall tree. He didn''t know which tree it was, but he didn''t really care as the tree had no fruits hanging.


    He then began working on cutting it, but thanks to hisck of strength, it took him a long time. Even then, he persevered and managed to get it down. Then, he cut off some rtively thin but strong branches and took them back to camp.


    "Oh, you guys are done." he said as he looked at the threerge tents that had been set up. One was for Edward and Seraphelle while the other two was for his own team.


    He looked around as he gathered his thoughts and then locked his gaze on Laura, "Well... we could technically find some food or catch some fish, but we''ll expose our location to the others if we start a fire at night."


    "Don''t worry about all of that, child." Seraphelle said, sitting in front of the tent with crossed legs, "This ind is extremely huge and the number of people taking part in the training program aren''t too many. So don''t worry about exposing your location and just do as you wish. Even if they do spot us, they won''t have too much of an incentive to attack. Not when they could just camp somewhere else."

 Chapter 73: The Great Flaming Fist

    Keith''s n to build the water filter was simple. Thrust a few long sticks into the ground and tie up the goat skin leather to the top of the sticks to make a saggy leather bowl. Inside that, he nned on tossing in someyers of cloth, charcoal powder, soil and some small stones.


    It''d work as a physical filter, but they''d still have to boil the water to make it safe to drink.


    As he got to work, he kept an eye on Vincent''s actions as he had to fight a tough opponent this time. He didn''t n on helping him win the fight, but if things went wrong, he did hope to at least preserve his life.


    The reason for his nervousness was the all group fight and based on the information he received until now, there would be a total of twelve opponents that Vincent would have to face.


    ''There are five awakened in that group and every single one of them have strong abilities. If his luck is bad, then he''s done for. I just hope that they don''t gang up on him.'' he thought as he kept an eye on the system screen.


    Vincent took a deep breath and entered the ring, only to see every single one of the twelve prisoners shift their attention towards him.


    "Hehe, looks like we got a new chick here boys." one of the more buffed guys said while the othersughed in response.


    "Yeah, he can just surrender and safe his own life while we must fight to death." another one spat out as he red at Vincent.


    Keith who was watching everything from the side, understood what was going to happen if he let things be as they were and decided to immediately interfere. He began to create a new quest for Vincent and since it was a simple quest, it didn''t take too long to make.


    [Quest: Surrender Immediately]


    Reward: None


    Punishment for Failure: Death


    "Oh my god,e onnn! I can beat these assholes even if they gang up on me!" Vincent screamed at the sky, making Keith sigh.


    He shook his head and withdrew the quest before deciding to take a risk.


    ''It''s almost night time, so we''ll all head to bed soon. Everyone else should also be busy with their own preparations, so I guess I can take a risk by helping Vincent out. He''s been obedienttely too.'' he thought as he created a "gift pack" and kept it ready just in case Vincent might need it.


    Vincent on the other hand, had sessfully drawn the aggro of all 12 diators instantly by saying that he could beat them even if they ganged up on him.


    "Damn this kid, I''LL VIOLATE YOU!!!" the buff guy roared as his muscled began to twitch. Dark brown fur grew over his body along with a long tail.


    "Nah, I''d rather do it with a beautiful girl instead of a monkey." Vincent replied as he put his pinky in his ears, trying to dig out some wax from inside.


    "Grrraaahhh!" the buffed guy, who was now a two meter tall gori, roared before jumping up into the sky. Vincent simply nced as him, but his eyes were on the other 11 people who were staring at him.


    He immediately picked a target and without waiting for the gori tond, he dashed forward with his balled fist, ready to strike. His speed wasn''t too high, but not a single person in the ring had expected to see that happened next.


    As he neared one of the diators who had multiple scars on his face, he punched outwards, only to have his fist grabbed by the guy. Contrary to everyone''s expectations, Vincent grinned.


    "Thanks, that''s the reason why I punched so slow." he said and the next instant, the guy was up in mes. One second felt like an entire minute to him as he didn''t really feel any heat, but once his pain receptors sent the signal to his brain, he began to scream.


    Every other diator including the gori, stood silently as they watched the guy burn for more than a minute before falling to the ground. He still continued to struggle, but it didn''tst long.


    His body continued to burn, but when Vincent snapped his fingers, the fire was immediately suppressed.


    "All I need to do, is touch you once and you face the same fate as this guy here." he said as he turned to look at every one of them. His gaze paused when he reached the gori, but the guy who had shown the most amount of guts and rage, looked away and attacked the person closest to him.


    "Oraaaaaa" he screamed as he grabbed another diator and immediately pulled his arms out from his body before stomping his head, eliciting a loud crunch and a stter.


    Everyone but two of them actively ignored Vincent, but when he saw these two slowly walk towards him with umunicated coordination, he was pretty surprised.


    "I''m guessing that you guys have something that could counter me." he said confidently, but inwardly, he was pretty nervous.


    One of them grinned and thickyer of rocks formed over his body. It took him approximately three seconds, but in that time, he grew up to be three meters tall and looked like a massive stone golem.


    The other guy didn''t do anything and just stood still with a smirk on his face, "Come hit me, you idiot. Do you really think that I''m afraid of your mes? I''ve won forty eight diator fights. Do you really think that I''ll lose to someone like you?"


    Vincent didn''t really know the answer himself. Not when he had no information on his opponent. He knew that he couldn''t fight the golem and he was too hesitant to fight the other guy too.


    His meagre, but intense fighting experience had taught him not to fall for taunts and he trusted his experience a lot.


    "Oh well, I can''t kill you guys. But that doesn''t mean that I won''t try." he muttered under his breath as he raised his arms outwards, to his sides and opened his mouth to scream.


    "I am! The Great ming Fist!"

 Chapter 74: Connoisseur of True Equality

    "I am! The Great ming Fist!" Vincent screamed as sparks began to appear all around him before they extended outwards by evolving into a me. The mes rushed outwards with Vincent as the center, but soon, they began to rotate.


    A me tornado was formed and as seconds passed by, it only grew and grew until it covered the entire diator ring.


    The screams of the diators drowned Vincent''s own roars and the spectators that were sitting at the front seats were forced to run as far as they could as just the heat alone made them feel like they were getting cooked alive.


    Keith who was silently watching, frowned when he saw Vincent''s skin peeling off while he was inside the mes. This wasn''t supposed to happen as Vincent hadplete immunity towards his own mes.


    ''An ability to redirect damage? There should be a limit to this right?'' he asked himself as his gaze locked onto the guy who hadn''t shown his awakened ability yet. He didn''t have any interest in the rock golem guy as he knew that he''d be effected by the mes in one way or the other.


    ''It doesn''t matter if the mes can''t directly hurt this guy. The heat alone will be able to cook him from the inside, but I have no choice but to help this reckless idiot now.'' he cursed Vincent before using everything in his power to boost his physical regenerative powers.


    Almost a minuteter, the size of the fire tornado began to reduce, but the spectators weren''t surprised to see Vincent crouching on the ground with burn marks all over his body but they were surprised when they saw the damage reflection guy lying on the ground, burnt to a crisp.


    ''Good thing that he didn''t have the capability to perfectly reflect all damage. It looked more like he took around thirty percent of the damage and returned back seventy percent. Though, it would have been great if I managed to get my hands on this ability but it is what it is.'' Keith thought as he felt slightly tired.


    Vincent on the other hand, weakly stood up, stumbling a few times as he tried to stay on the ground before looking up at the golem guy who was still standing. The stone golem slowly lifted up it''s leg, but Vincent raised his arm, "I give up."


    He knew his limits and since he had taken too much damage, he decided to forfeit as his life was more important then a mere win. He was brave and slightly reckless, but he knew when to stop. Or at least this was what he personally believed.


    Keith on the other hand, was absolutely annoyed since he had to use quite a bit of his energy to heal Vincent.


    ''Well, I healed him up so I guess that could be considered as a gift. The free awakened ability upgrade can be saved forter.'' he thought, but even though he didn''t n on giving Vincent anything, he still decided to automatically count this as a "draw" for the daily quest and disabled the punishment for failure just for this one day.


    As he saw Vincent safely walk out of the arena, he let out a sigh of relief and got back to work.


    It took him a while to set everything up, but once he did, he couldn''t stop himself from smacking his own forehead.


    "How in the hell is the water going to get filtered when there''s no way for it to pass through the leather? Oh god I''m so dumb." he muttered, feeling slightly depressed.


    Nheless, he quickly came up with a solution and untied all the threads that kept the leather ends secured to the sticks and walked up to the others to see if anyone was free.


    Everyone had taken on some or the other responsibility and were busy doing the work they picked. Brandon and Nathan took on the responsibility of gathering firewood and they were doing a great job.


    In just a few minutes, they had already managed to cut more than ten dead trees and chop them up into manageable pieces. Caleb and Laura had gone off to find something to hunt while Amelia and ra were busy gathering wild berries, mushrooms and fruits without any knowledge on whether they were poisonous or not.


    Keith took out his dagger and poked a few holes in the center of the leather before walking up to ra.


    "Hey, could you stitch a thin cloth on both sides of this leather for me? They must be in the center and cover all the holes that I''ve made." he said as he got close to them and ra nodded, "Sure, but we''ll need your help with Lady Seraphelle. I''m sure that she knows about the nts in this ce, but I''m not sure if she''ll help out if any of us ask her other than you."


    "Sure. But you guys should have shown some trust in her at the start. Always expect to be treated the same way that you treat others." he said and looked at Amelia, "This applies to you mostly."


    "What did I do wrong now? I''ll kick your balls, you bastard."


    Keith shrugged, "That exact reason, is why I said that. Just keep in mind that I can kick too and I''ll do it with all my strength. The pain won''t be as high, but I can close the gap by kicking you multiple times. Will you be fine with that?"


    "You... you''re like a wild animal! Who in their right mind would kick a beautifuldy''s private parts?"


    Keith stared at her for a few seconds and shifted his gaze back to ra, "Please don''t let this witch corrupt you, and here." he said as he gave her the leather, "Thanks a lot. I''ll go dig up a fire pit for us."


    "Don''t worry about her, she''ll change. She just has the tendency to show all the bad traits that she acquired as a noble and the stuff she learned after getting disowned, to the people close to her. Especially men, so I must pray for the man who''ll fall into the pits of hell." ra said, her voice as calm as always but it hit Amelia at the ces where she didn''t expect.

 Chapter 75: Animals, Evolutions and Monsters

    Time quickly passed as everyone did their respective jobs. By the time the sun had settled down, Keith had managed to dig up simple, but umon firepit. There were two holes on the ground.


    One small and onerge, which both connected to each other under the ground. Keith tossed in some tinder and lit it on fire before he slowly fed more wood to the mes. Once he saw that the fire was stable, he looked at Caleb.


    "Come here and shoot out air from this small hole. The air will help fuel the fire better and will reduce the production of smoke." he said. Scientifically, that wasn''t the case, but he didn''t bother with giving out the proper exnation as he knew that they wouldn''t understand.


    He watched Caleb do as he said and saw the volume of mes increase. Along with that, he also did not see any more smoke.


    ''All that matters is the results. There''s no need for aplicated exnation.'' he thought as he shifted his gaze to Laura who was busy cutting up a fish that she had managed to catch. Just one fish was enough as it was extremely huge, having a length of three meters.


    Keith''s expression turned serious as he saw this, but there was nothing he could do but curse his luck. The reason was very simple; it was because he knew that this was no ordinary fish.


    ''Awakened animals. They''ll appear in the novel after the war arc but damn... I really did not expect this.'' he thought and sighed lightly, ''Luckily, the ones that are in this ind seem to only be the non aggressive ones. At least, that''s what Seraphelle said and the events in the novel also slightly point towards the same thing. But I''m still a little anxious.''


    He had originally nned to umte strength and awakened abilities during the war, so he could prepare for the inevitable catastrophe, but he did not expect that he''d get thrown into an ind that had awakened animals in it.


    The first thing he wanted to do at the moment, was to learn more about the animals that resided on the ind, but he did not have the means to do that efficiently.


    ''Let''s take one step at a time and stop worrying about the things that I have no control over.'' he said to himself inwardly as he walked towards Laura to help her out with scaling the fish. It took him a while, but he had to resort to using a cleanly washed stone to scale the fish as he did not want to dull the de of the machete.


    Thanks to his culinary experience in his past life, Keith took up the responsibility to cut up the fish. He couldn''t just directly fillet it, so he had to resort to cutting it into chunks before pulling out the bones.


    It took him a while, but once he was done, there was a tall pile of delicate fish meat ced on a bunch of cleanly washed leaves.


    "Let''s eat everyone. We have managed to bring some salt and spices with us, thanks to them being an exception to the food ban, so feel free to do what you want with this fish. But please don''t waste it." he said as he grabbed a big chunk of white meat and directly tossed in onto the pan that was on the fire.


    Everyone took their turns to cook their own food, and Keith took this leisure time to extract a bit more information from Seraphelle.


    "Mydy, are you sure that there aren''t any dangerous animals in this ind? I have a feeling that there should be a handful of them at the very least."


    Seraphelle heard him and nodded, "Yeah there are a few, but they''re just slightly evolved versions of their normal forms." she said before she began to get into the details. Keith already knew about the evolution phenomenon, but he still silently listened.


    "For you to understand what''s going on in this ind, you''ll have to learn about something crucial. We humans can awaken, but the animals also can do the same. The five great divine beings created a magical barrier to protect our continent from creatures like there. That''s the stuff that''s written in the ancient records, but I don''t really understand how the animals in this ind can even pose a threat to us.


    Anyways, let''s get to the main point. The barrier also stops animals from awakening on our continent. We''ve been sending out people to explore the seas for the past five hundred years, and only a decade ago did we manage to find this ind.


    It took us a while to learn more about it, but it''s pretty safe considering the kind of awakened people we have on our side." she said, but yed his part as a curious person and asked her a question.


    "How do animals awaken though?"


    "They awaken just like us... but for some reason, if two awakened animals breed, they give birth to another awakened. Due to this, they evolve rapidly. The carnivores in this ind aren''t too strong, so don''t worry too much about it." she said and Keith nodded.


    He knew even more. He knew stuff that Seraphelle wouldn''t even imagine about, but he kept it to himself.


    ''The reason they created the barrier, was for their own gain. They gain divinity from the actions of humans, so they had to do their best to protect us from dangers because without us, they''ll lose their divinity and ultimately, their lives.


    It looks like the animals here haven''t evolved much, but there were creatures that had turned into dangerous monsters that reached hundreds of meters tall, ones that could control the nature and some that could even move the seas.


    Compared to them, we humans pale inparison and in less than a decade, we''ll face the full brunt of their attacks thanks to you guys going out to look for trouble.'' he thought, frowning slightly.

 Chapter 76: Passing Down Awakened Abilities

    Every single creature, including humans could awaken and if the awakened ones bred with each other, then they would produce an offspring that was also awakened. This rule also applied to humans, but thanks to the extreme diversity of their awakened abilities, they were unable to follow the same path as the regr animals.


    That was just one reason, but the other one was thanks to the divine barrier protecting the continent. It stopped humans from producing an awakened offspring even if they fulfilled all the conditions.


    The conditions were simple. The human parents must have awakened abilities that synergise, for example, a mother with the ability to create mes and a father with the ability to control the heat of his surroundings.


    While there was still a y of chances, if they did give birth to an offspring that was awakened, then that meant that the child would either have the ability of the mother, the father or abination of both.


    Which could potentially be the ability to create mes and control the heat of the mes.


    Though, it has to be noted that the possibility for an awakened child to be born is 50%, there was a huge potential that was being wasted in the main continent where humans resided. There were other continents, and inds far away where humans lived, and these guys weren''t restricted by any gods.


    Just like the animals, they they could stack awakened abilities upon each other and thanks to their intelligence, they managed to figure out all the rules and restrictions. They were extremely strong, incredible awakened abilities in current times after centuries worth of awakened abilities being passed down.


    Though, there were limits to this. One of the few was that if two people with the exact same awakened abilities, copted, then their offspring would have a 50% chance of getting the same awakened ability and not a stronger version. The other 50% chance was to be born as a normal person.


    As Keith recalled all of this information, he sighed as he could sense the impending doom. He stared at the fish meat in his hands, knowing full well that it was just a regr fish that managed to increase the hardness of it''s scales and it''s average size.


    There were far worse things in other inds and even in the ocean waters.


    ''Let''s focus on the present.'' he thought as he did his best to suppress his fears and anxiety. He had always been an overthinker, but this trait of his would always show itself in the worst of times. His usual pessimistic attitude would also be amplified, giving birth to anxiety.


    He took a long and deep breath before standing up, "I''ll take a stroll around the camp. I just need some time alone." he said as he looked at the others and left.


    He didn''t go far, but stayed pretty close to the camp, the sound of fire crackling still reached his ears. He gently ced his hand on a nearby tree and looked up at the sky.


    ''''Hey Red Snow, why did you you even bring me here... or maybe I should ask, how did you do it? I hated by previous life, but I don''t like being in a situation where I''m facing impending doom. I''m not your brave main character, you know?'' he said, knowing full well, that she was keeping an eye on him.


    There was no response even after Keith waited for a few seconds, but then his gaze fell on the leaf that had fallen in front of him a few seconds ago. He picked it up and saw a few words cut into it.


    I don''t have answers either. But I believe in you.


    He stared at the leaf for a while before sighing, ''Of course you say that. You''re not the one who''s thrown into danger, are you?'' he thought before tearing the leaf into multiple pieces before tossing it away.


    He didn''t bother waiting for an answer and continued walking. As time passed, he slowly managed to suppress his fears and began to think with pure rationality.


    ''Well, it''s better not to waste this opportunity. There are thousands of fishes of a simr size to the one that Laura caught for us, so we won''t have much of a problem with food. I should make use of this and strengthen my body as soon as possible. Maybe I should go ask Seraphelle what her awakened ability even does.


    She''s as muscr as steroid injecting gym maniacs in my old life, but there''s no way she can maintain that form for an entire day if that is her awakened ability.'' he thought as he turned to look at her.


    She was talking to Edward while sitting on one of the tree stumps. Keith didn''t feel any kind of attraction towards her and this was because he didn''t have a thirst for overly muscr women.


    He did have a thing for girls who were fit, but things changed when they had too much muscle. He respected their work ethic and dedication to their goals, but they were just not his type.


    He gobbled up the rest of the fish that was in his hands and headed back to the camp to stuff himself with more. He had a goal to aplish and he''d do it no matter what happened as long as he didn''t put his team in danger.


    As he got close to the firepit, he saw ra cooking up some meat.


    "Is everyone done with their dinner?" he asked as he crouched down beside her, his eyes fixated on the fish.


    She silently nodded, using a stick to flip the fish meat, "Yes. They said they''re full and as you can see, they just want to sleep after such a long and tiring day."


    Keith looked at the others who did look tired. They had walked for miles and then began to set up a camp, all of with consumed a lot of their energy. Now that their stomachs were full, the only thing they wanted to do was rest their tired bodies.


    "Looks like you''re hungrier that them." he said, smirking.


    ra shook her head immediately, "No, this is for you. I know you eat a lot, and since there was so much meat left, I thought I''ll just cook some while you ate your first chunk of meat."

 Chapter 77: Ill Keep My Hands To Myself

    "Thanks." Keith said as kept his eyes fixated on the pan, "By the way, I want you to use your divine protection on Laura, Amelia, Caleb, me and you. Brandon and Nathan have their own ways to protect themselves, so they''ll be fine."


    "Mhm." she hummed and nodded in response before taking the fish off the pan. She ced it on the wooden te that Keith was using, "Do you want more?"


    He nodded and grabbed four chunks of meat from the stash before cing them on a cleanrge leaf that was ced on the ground, beside the fire.


    "Yeah, I''m hungry. We don''t really have a problem with food as long as Laura is here, so there''s no reason to hold back." he said and sat down beside her, "It''s a pity that the guys and girls have to sleep separately though."


    Hearing hisment, she turned to look at him, "You... want to sleep together?"


    "I mean, why not? You don''t want to?" he asked back as he dug into this food.


    ra didn''t answer and directly switched topics, "What''s the n for tomorrow? Nathan said he''ll stay at the camp for safety purposes while Laura and Brandon n to take care of the hunting. Caleb is slightly depressed that he''s not being of any use while Amelia and I are also slightly lost at what to do."


    "We need to build a smoker and a storage unit." Keith said after swallowing the food in his mouth, "We don''t have problem procuring food, but we can''t just waste it. Everyone ate until their tummies went full, but we still have so much meat left over."


    Hearing his words, she looked at the pile of fish meat that was still pretty tall and nodded, "You''re right."


    "Mhm." he replied, his mouth filled with fish. He took his time to swallow it before pointing at the water filter, "I also have to toss in some filter materials into that thing. But once that is done, I don''t really know what we''re supposed to do. They did say that we''ll have free time of three days before some random instructores here on the fourth day."


    "I asked Edward about it and he told me that the instructors will just focus on training us physically and will teach us a few things based on their church''s specializations. He also told me that the training will be physically intense."


    Keith heard her and immediately blurted out, "If that''s the case, then we need to stock up on berries or various fruits. Something that''s sweet. Meat alone won''t cut it if we''re supposed to strain ourselves physically."


    He knew the importance of micro and macro nutrients, so he knew that fish meat alone won''t provide enough energy to do intense physical tasks. He''d need carbohydrates for that, so he went straight for sweet things, which technically should contain a lot of calories.


    He wasn''t a great nutritionist or herbology expert, but he knew some surface level information.


    "Then Amelia and I will look for them. Maybe we''ll take Caleb with us too."


    Keith nodded and finished thest bit of fish that was left on his te, "Is it done?" he asked as he looked at the chunk of meat that was on the pan.


    "Wait a bit."


    "Alright..."


    The two of them chatted while he filled up his stomach, but once four extra chunks of meat were taken care of, Keith patted his belly, "I guess that''s enough for tonight."


    ra nodded and looked at the tents, "If you want, you can share a tent with me. Brandon went ahead and asked Edward if he could use the smaller tent for.. um recreational purposes and Edward agreed.


    I''m sharing my tent with Amelia and Edward, so only cuddling is allowed. Is that fine?"


    Hearing her words, Keith immediately nodded, "Yes of course. I''m not Brandon you know? I totally don''t think of getting into your pants all the time. Especially not now."


    His words said one thing, but the smirk on his face said something else. ra blushed slightly as she recalled the night she spent together with him before she red at him, "Pervert!"


    "Heh. Let''s go, I was just joking. I''ll keep my hands to myself. After all, I am pretty tried." he said, yawning slightly. It was in fact, true that he was tired. The only thing he wanted to do right now, was to close his eyes and drift into the realm of nothingness.


    ra nodded with a slight smile on her face before taking him to her tent. There were three "beds" made of leaves, but it would basically just feel like sleeping on the ground as it wasn''t exactly soft. There were only threeyers of leaves.


    There were only three leaf beds in the tent, which was clearly meant for the three girls, but now, two of them were upied by Edward and Amelia.


    ra seemed to have overlooked this and turned to give Keith an apologetic look, "It''ll feel cramped."


    "It''s fine. You guys should have used some of the cloth for the bedding though, we bought so much cloth after all, so what''s the point of saving it."


    Hearing his words, she immediately pinned the me on Nathan.


    "I... it was Caleb who took care of the bedding. And even though we noticed... it felt rude to reprimand him when he was already feeling so down." she whispered, sounding guilty.


    Keith sighed and shook his head, "Communication is important. Leaves don''t do a great job at blocking heat so I''m a hundred percent sure that everyone here will have trouble sleeping tonight. It''s already getting cold and it''s not even midnight yet. What do you think will happen when Caleb sees the others suffering? It''ll just make him feel even worse. Even he will suffer thanks to the cold."


    He looked at the other two in the tent and sighed once again as they were fast asleep.


    "Go wake the others. Tell them to change the bedding as soon as possible. If not, they''ll just wake up feeling grumpy and I don''t want to see that."

 Chapter 78: Whats Your Awakened Ability?

    The next morning, Keith slowly opened his eyes and immediately jumped up. His chest felt a stinging pain on the inside thanks to the sudden shock he felt. He looked down at ra who looked apologetic and sighed.


    "I''m sorry, I''m just used to sleeping alone and I just... did not expect to open up eyes and see tworge eyeballs staring at me." he said. He knew that he would have been fine if he saw someone sleeping beside him, but a pair of eyes staring at him, just caught him off guard and almost gave him a heart attack.


    "I''ll need some time to get used to this, but what were you trying to do though?" he asked as he sat back down on the thickyer made of wool nkets.


    ra''s face turned slightly red, "You look very cute when you''re asleep... so I don''t know why but I just watched you sleep after waking up."


    "Oh. So it''s like that." he said and chuckled before shaking his head, "Alright got it, let''s go and eat as much as we can. Although we salted all the fishst night, it won''t stay too fresh if we leave it for too long."


    Keith took his sweet time to fill up about 80% of the water filter with various natural filters. From the bottom to the top mostyer, he put in some cloth, ayer of cotton, charcoal powder, crushed and dried weeds, chunks of charcoal, andstly, the top mostyer was just a bunch of stones and pebbles that were washed in the river.


    Once done, he grabbed a medium sized copper pot and used it to bring some water from the river. He slowly poured it all into the filter and put the copper pot under the holes, the area that had a thick cloth stitched onto it.


    He head to wait for a few seconds to get a glimpse of the first drop of water but as time passed, the flow increased to a thin line of water falling straight into the pot. Satisfied with the oue, he wished to move on to the other things, but food came first.


    Luckily, the fish hadn''t spoiled yet so everyone ate it without having any intention of hunting as they didn''t want to waste any food. Unlikest night, every single person in the team stuffed themselves thanks to Keith''s rants about not wanting to waste food while they were in the forest.


    Once they were all done, they decided to rest but Keith couldn''t help but notice Laura limping around even though she tried her best not to. And then there was Brandon who had clear scratch marks on his arms.


    ''Wow, these wild bastards. Just how hardcore did they getst night?'' he mused, and Amelia who was right beside him, noticed it and leaned towards him.


    "When he gets too excited, his awakened ability activates. That should answer your unasked questions." she whispered as she kept her gaze on Laura, feeling pity for the girl.


    Keith, for the first time in his life, felt like he had been hit with something extremely huge. His imagination instantly ran wild, but that was also when he noticed how Laura kept giving Brandon hateful looks.


    "Looks like it didn''t go wellst night."


    "Mhm, I did tell him not to take any risk but that horny bastard thought it''ll get me jealous. Anyways, the team is in your hands now so this matter is yours to deal with. From the moment Seraphelle unofficially made you the team leader, Brandon decided to let loose and act like his normal self. So yeah, good luck." she said and patted his back before heading over to ra.


    Keith stood in ce and sighed, "Oh well, let''s just go make a smoker. Or maybe even just a grill like thing should work."


    He put Brandon''s case at the back of his mind as food was the first priority.


    Caleb was silently sitting beside the fire, so Keith headed towards him, "Hey Caleb, do you want to go with Brandon to find some animals? Oh yeah, tell him that we don''t need any more fish."


    "Yes!" he eximed and ran off before Keith could change his mind.


    ''Well, at least he''s enthusiastic I guess.'' Keith thought as he walked over to Laura.


    She was silently sitting on a tree stump as she took in the beautiful sounds of nature, but frowned slightly when she heard sensed someone getting close.


    She opened her eyes and turned to look at Keith who had gotten pretty close to her by now.


    "What? I''ll go hunt something after a while, so you don''t have to worry about it." she said, sounding annoyed even though Keith didn''t really do anything.


    Hearing her words, he sighed, "Nah I''m here to change your task. Just stay at camp until you recover from whatever happenedst night. If possible, your help will be appreciated in crafting something that can preserve the meat."


    Laura''s gaze softened when she heard his words and she silently nodded, "Oh, okay. But I''ll help out. What do you want me to do?"


    Keith raised his eyebrow, but didn''t say no to assistance. He had given her an option and she made her choice.


    "It''s pretty simple. Just grab a knife and make U shaped grooves on the sticks that I give you. I''ll mark the ces where it should be done with some charcoal." he said and patted her shoulder before he headed out to find some nice sticks.


    He gathered a lot more sticks than he originally intended to, but thanks to that, he could now make two smoker tforms. Laura made some really urate grooves on every single stick and Keith took all the sticks with him and sat down beside Seraphelle.


    As he tied up the sticks, he asked her the question to one answer that he was extremely curious about.


    "Lady Seraphelle, if you don''t mind, can you tell me about your awakened ability? Like, does it increase the volume or your muscles or something like that?"

 Chapter 79: Time For A Lucky Draw!

    Seraphelle looked at him and smiled, "No, it''s the opposite actually."


    "A part of my ability is topress all my muscles and multiply my strength, speed and stamina by ten times the normal." she said and immediately, her muscles began to shrink. It only took her two seconds and this form of hers left Keith absolutely stunned.


    She was way prettier than Amelia and even though Keith didn''t really prefer her body type, he had to give her credit where the credit was due. Seraphelle was pretty slender now, having only slightly more muscle masspared to ra who was the second most "muscr" in the group.


    "I''m ten times stronger right nowpared to my muscr form." she said, grinning.


    Keith nodded, "Right. Thank you for letting me know, you you said that this was only a part of your ability."


    "Yes." she said and returned back to her normal form, "The other part of my ability allows me to gain and preserve muscle better than anyone else. And for some reason, I don''t really get as tired as the other guys who have the same muscle mass as me. So I guess I also have some energy efficient muscles too."


    She then adjusted her clothes that had shifted slightly thanks to her transformation, "And this is one of the problems I have to face when I transform."


    Keith smiled, but his thoughts were still fixated on her ability. Two secondster, he asked, "Why don''t you just stay in your slimmer form then?"


    "That, my child. Is a secret." she said as she patted his head like he was a little kid and got got up, "It''s a weakness of my ability."


    Without borating, she left him alone and walked back into her tent.


    ''Weakness huh?''


    He continued to think, but his hands were busy crafting the smoker tform. It took him a whole hour to make sure that there weren''t any problems and once he was done, he went back to the fire pit.


    Laura sat there silently with a smoker tform ced beside her. Keith took it to see if it had any faults and sighed as it did. He didn''t me her though, and instead he silently grabbed two long sticks that had a Y shape at the top and stabbed them into the ground right beside the fire pit.


    With the two sticks in the ground, he tied the smoker tform he had crafted to an almost straight stick before cing the stick on the two Y sticks that acted as holders. The tform was almost a meter away from the ground and that was exactly what he wanted.


    He simply wanted the heat to slowly dry out the meats and did not wish to cook them with mes. He grabbed a block of meat and cut it into thin slices before cing them on the smoking rack.


    Once that was set, he went back to fix the one that Laura had made.


    For the next 40+ hours, Keith got his team to focus on creating two long pits for fire that spanned 5 meters each and were parallel to each other. The ground was dug up by half a meter and there were multiple Y shaped sticks pushed into the ground with smoking racks hanging thanks to their support.


    There were 5 smoker racks on each fire pit strip, totalling up to 11 after including the first fire pit and even though there were 11 of them, they were barely enough to smoke half of the meat of one fish.


    They could do more if they had thicker chunks of meat to smoke, but Keith preferred to use thinner slices instead as these took less time. Setting all of this up took him one day and testing the results took another, bringing him to the fourth day.


    He knew that someone woulde at any moment, but he was busy checking out the slices of meat that he had ced for smoking.


    "They came out great." hemented and looked at the others before passing out the piece of meat to them, "Here''s the n. We catch one fish every morning, eat half of the meat and smoke the other half. In the afternoon, we''ll catch another one and use it for lunch and dinner.


    But that''s is only possible when we have the time to do the hunting and stuff. We don''t know what we''ll be forced to do in the name of training, so we''ll only follow step one. Catch a fish, eat half and smoke half. In the evening, we flip the meat slices over to make sure the other side loses it''s moisture too. We save the dried meat for emergencies." he said and the others nodded, happy with his ns.


    Seeing that no one had any problem with his arrangements, he let a smile escape, "Well then, I''ll go take a bath in the river. You''re sure that there isn''t anything scary there right?"


    Brandon nodded, "Yeah. Those fishes eat some weird looking nts that grow in the river. There are some other smaller fishes that they eat too, but I''ve never seen them attack me. Though, I suggest that you don''t go too far downstream. There are some really aggressive fishes there."


    "Okay, thanks. All men, assemble." he said as he nced at Edward, Nathan, Caleb and Brandon, "We gotta feel fresh before we''re thrown into hellish training. I already feel kinda sticky after not taking bath for three days."


    Nathan and Caleb nodded as they too felt the same way, but Brandon and Edward on the other hand, didn''t have the same feelings. This was because Brandon took a nice bath every time he went out to hunt and Edward was free for the whole day so he too went out to swim in the river.


    Caleb had gone out on the second day, but that time, they didn''t go to the river and tried to hunt onnd, which just proved unsessful.


    But nheless, all the guys did rush into the river to have some fun and also clean themselves. Keith followed behind them, but as he stared at the colorful gacha wheel in front of him after waiting for almost two long months, he smiled.

 Chapter 80: The Four Types of Energy

    Even though he now had enough of the "mysterious energy" to spin the wheel, he could tell that he hadn''t reached the max as the gacha wheel only had white and yellow sections. But he never had any ns on spinning the wheel so early as he had a theory in mind that he wished to work on.


    ''Creating my own system... I should try it.'' he thought as he took a deep breath and stared at the calm river water. The night had just passed and it was early in the morning right now, which meant that the water would be extremely cold.


    Even then, he closed his eyes and steeled his mind before taking off his clothes. With just an underwear on, he jumped in. The cold assaulted his body, making him shiver uncontrobly but after a few minutes, he got used to the cold. It still felt cold, but he wasn''t shivering anymore.


    With is body submerged in the water up to his neck, he focused on his system creation.


    As he tried to control his powers, he recalled the one line that had appeared on the window of Maria, the archbishop''s room back when he was too shocked thanks to the message that said, "Found you, my one and only Fwyd Chicken!"


    ''So this whole system gacha and ability to give out systems were both thanks to the hidden divinity that''s inside me. Should I consider the so called mysterious energy as Divine energy instead?'' he thought before he began focusing his powers.


    The energy that was consumed when he spun the gacha wheel always felt differentpared to the so-called mental energy that he used to give out system rewards for others. They were inherently different, but Keith had originally thought that the energy consumed when he spun the wheel, was spiritual energy.


    The novel written my Red Snow, or in other words Emma nkton, had four different types of energies. Physical, Mental, Spiritual and Divine. There were others like Chaos and Demonic energies, but those were just corrupted derivations of the first four kinds. There were a few other kinds too, but they weren''t given too much importance in the novel.


    Most awakened abilities consumed either physical, mental of both physical and mental energies to manifest in the real world, but there were a few that utilised Spritual energy too.


    An example of this could be ra''s Divine Blessing or Amelia''s Midnight Princess.


    Abination of Mental and Physical based on whom Keith had met until now, was Laura''s snake transformation and Brandon''s stone skin. Every single transformation type was abination or Mental and physical energies.


    This was the same for almost every single physical boost as they were all based on solely physical energy.


    If there was one that was abination of all physical, mental and spiritual energies, then that would be Nathan''s summoning of his Holy Knight armor set that boosted his physical abilities too.


    Adam''s was abination of Mental and Spiritual as it did not really boost his physical abilities and only summoned bullets. But there was a chance of it having some physical energy involved as the bullets existed permanently after their creation.


    Regr summoned things or creatures would disappear once the user was exhausted, but Adam''s never did.


    The first three energies were present in every single human being, but those that awakened, possessed the ability to control one to three of these energies in a specific way that was directly imprinted onto their DNA.


    But everything would change when it came to Divine energy as it was on a league of it''s own. There were two ways to produce Divine energy, or in other words, cultivate.


    First method was the one that independent gods used, also called the true gods by the author of the novel. Each one of these gods'' had ess to a specificw of the universe from life and death to space and time.


    As long as things or events urred that had any kind of rtion to a specific universalw, then divine energy would be produced and would go to the god/goddess who was in charge of that specificw.


    It was thanks to this reason that none of the True gods had any interest in creating any churches.


    On the other hand, there were the "False Gods" whose existence could be exined by their dependence over humans to survive. In fact, they were actually just awakened humans who had reached enough strength to make people think that they were god-like existences.


    These gods needed two things to produce divine energy. It was the so called faith, which was basically abination of mental and spiritual energy. But this was only 50% of what they''d need to create divine energy.


    Along with faith, they''d need dependence on a specific type of action. For god of war, he''d love to see humans wage war against each other as this would help him umte a lot of divine energy at once.


    The only reason why the continent was at peace for almost 2 to 3 centuries was thanks to Balmond, the god of war, needing to umte faith. Without enough faith, no matter how much the humans waged war, he wouldn''t be able to umte divine energy.


    This was the exact reason why God of Money, Mammon was so powerful. People loved money, they used money all the time and he had a lot of people praying to him for a stable life or great fortune.


    Thanks to this, it didn''t matter if it was war or peaceful times, he''d manage to get his share of divine energy no matter what.


    This was one of the core reasons for the God of Money, Mammon to be so strong. Second was the goddess of protection, Seraphina. Third, fourth and fifth ces were taken by Galen the God of Medicine, Balmond the God of War, and finally, Goddess of Art, Seraphelle who was canonically the twin sister of Goddess Seraphina.


    ''I have a clear path to bing a god, but it''s going to be extremely hard and dangerous if I don''t act carefully.'' he thought.

 Chapter 81: Unexpected Face

    [A/N: To the handful of readers that I have, I''ve decided to start a quest based extra chapter releases. Rest assured, it''s nothing too mboyant. It''ll be based on Golden Tickets and since we currently have 16, we''ll start the count from there.]


    5 Golden Tickets = 1 Extra chapter (To make things easier, I''ll upload extra chapter once we get to 20 GT)


    My regr release rate will be 3 chapters per day until the end of this month.


    Starting Date: 9th November 2024


    Update: Current GT count: 71


    Extra Chapters Needed: 11


    Extra Chapters Posted: 2


    Pending: 9 (I''m gonna die at this rate so I''ll be changing the rules. No more extra chapters for GT *sobs*)


    The current extra chapter count will stay the same since I don''t wish to betray any of your trust. But instead of GT, I''ll change it to gifts instead.


    Luxury Car: 1 Extra Chapter


    Dragon: 2 Extra Chapters


    Castle: 4 Extra Chapters


    Additional: Thank you for all the support guys, it means a lot.


    *************


    It took Keith a whole two minutes to figure out how to use his divine energy. Originally, he expected it to be hard, butter realised that it was pretty easy as all he had to do was imagine something rted to systems and it would just happen.


    Just like the nk translucent white screen in front of him.


    He yed around with the system for a few minutes until he was forced out of the river by others, but during this time, he found out one important thing. Creating certain system based things worked simr to programming from his old world, but it was way more simple here.


    There was no need to learn any programmingnguage, but he still had to give his system every single necessary instruction for possible scenarios. If given enough time, he could technically automate the entire system, but that would drain a lot of divine energy from him.


    By the time he got back to his camp, he was done with creating a very simple system but the gacha wheel that had white and yellow sections before, only had white now.


    ''I should be able to add a few more things.'' he thought, but decided to put it aside when he saw an unfamiliar face in his camp. Or the right word to use was "mask" instead of face.


    The person wore pure white robes and had a in white mask that covered their faces. The only thing that Keith could make out from seeing the person was that it was a female thanks to the slight bump in the chest area.


    "You guys have ten minutes to get ready." she said and stood still while Keith and the others rushed to the tents to change their clothes.


    Keith didn''t wear any uniform this time and instead decided to put on a well fitting tunic. It was the same as a shirt, so it didn''t feel too different. As for his legs, he just put on some regr trousers and used a belt to secure it before walking out of the tent.


    This was also when he noticed something unnatural and it was ra. One of her most important assets had shrunk and Keith just stood still, absolutely shocked. None of the other guys hade out yet, so he silently walked over to her and asked curiously.


    "Hey, um. I know I shouldn''t be asking this by how did they shrink? Do you also have the ability to transform?"


    ra''s face went red as she instinctively covered her chest even though she was wearing clothes, but Amelia clicked her tongue, "You wouldn''t understand. Haaa... but I''ll tell you. You see, if they make her run, they''ll bounce too much and that hurts if it happens for a long time. So she used a long strip of cloth to secure them in ce."


    "Oh okay." he said and turned to look at ra with an apologetic gaze, "Sorry, I didn''t know."


    "It''s fine." she replied and smiled gently.


    The other guys walked out one by one and once everyone was ready, the masked woman nodded, "Make a line and grab each other''s shoulders. We''ll be going somewhere else temporarily. Only for a few hours, don''t worry." she said when she saw them giving her depressed looks.


    She understood that they did not wish to leave behind such a nice spot, so she rified immediately.


    Keith let out a sigh of relief and so did the others before forming a line and grabbing each other''s shoulders. Every one of them had a few pieces of dried fish in their hands, but thedy didn''t stop them. Instead, she ced her hand on Laura who was standing at the front and the surroundings immediately changed.


    They had nned to eat after taking a bath, but they hadn''t expected to see an instructor ready to take them somewhere. Luckily they had some food ready, so they weren''t too worried.


    Keith noticed the bracelet on the instructor''s hand glow for a few seconds before dimming down.


    ''Hmm, I don''t feel nauseous like the first time.'' he thought and looked at the others, none of whom showed any signs of nausea.


    "Feel free to eat until every other group gets here." the instructor said and walked away.


    Keith didn''t wait for anyone and instantly began to chew on the dried fish meat. Luckily, it wasn''t too dry and hard. It was slightly chewy and was salted pretty well too, which went well with the taste of the dry fish meat.


    As he ate, he looked around and saw a few teams nearby, all sitting on the sand of the beach.


    ''Well, this ce is pretty pleasant... but if they''re going to train us here, it really will be hell.'' he thought, dreading the worst case scenario.


    They were currently at a beach that had coconut trees almost everywhere. In front was the blue ocean and at the back was a decently dense forest. Keith also noticed a bunch of shelters made from coconut tree leaves.


    ''Hmm, it''s a nice ce so whoever picked this spot made a good choice. There''s a lot ofrge coconuts for water and they''re extremely rich in minerals, vitamins and micro nutrients. Though, I hope they don''t each too much coconut flesh or they''ll suffer from diarrhoea.''


    Just as he was thinking, he heard Calebin, "Not the beach... I''ve trained at a beach before and I don''t want to do it again..."


    Keith was about to ask Caleb more about the training, but that was when he noticed a familiar face. It wasn''t Timmy and nor was it Amelia''s brother, Adrian.


    It was someone he never expected to see before the war, and especially not during a training program conducted by the churches as this guy was never supposed to join any kind of church before the war as an official member.


    ''What in the hell is rk doing here?''


    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and


    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 82: Keiths First Plan

    If there was one person Keith was confident in knowing about, then that would be rk, the main protagonist of the novel. But there was one problem. He wasn''t supposed to be a part of any church at the moment.


    Keith stared at him with a loss for words, but the more he stared, the more he felt like something was off.


    ''rk should have only been eighteen years old right now... and he was extremely outgoing and naive back then, but this guy in front of me... feels more like the rk during the end of the novel.'' he thought and frowned.


    ''It''s fine, there''s no need to panic.'' he calmed his beating heart, ''He doesn''t know about me so I''ll stay on the sidelines and observe.''


    As he silently kept his eye on rk, more and more people began to appear on the beach and all of a sudden, rk also had his eyes locked onto one person just like Keith.


    Keith followed rk''s gaze and saw that he was looking at a familiar hateful face, Timmy.


    Seeing this, Keith couldn''t help but squint his eyes slightly.


    ''Don''t tell me... is this even possible?'' he thought, frowning as he still had his eyes on rk, ''Did he regress back in time? If he did, does he have the powers from his past life or did he start anew?''


    He had too many questions, but he was certain that he would be able to get his answers soon. rk never knew Timmy during this time and this would continue for a few years after the war ends.


    So seeing rk staring at Timmy only meant one thing; he knew him.


    And Keith had also seen rk ball his fists, which meant that he was either pissed or had an aggressive attitude towards Timmy. This was only possible if rk had experienced bad things due to him and this happened in the novel.


    Keith took a deep breath and closed his eyes. It took him a few seconds to calm down and this time, he did not focus on rk and instead, he looked around.


    Most people were already here and only a few minutester, multiple instructors went back to their respective groups. The maskeddy walked over to Keith''s group and looked at them.


    "You''ll need a name for your team. Anything will work." she said and waited for them to decide on one.


    Half of them looked at Keith while the other half looked at Brandon. Keith smiled slightly and patted Brandon''s shoulder, "As an official leader, you should take this."


    Brandon nodded, not caring much about the spit in people''s opinions about who the team leader should have been, "Well, Team Sera should work right?"


    Thedy nodded, "Okay, team Sera it is. From now onwards, you guys will call me instructor Sera."


    ''Damn, there''s too many Sera''s now. There you, the team, Seraphelle, Goddess Seraphelle and Goddess Seraphina.'' Keith thought and shook his head as he was pretty bad with remembering names.


    "Anyways, the first task for you guys is to drag wooden logs from the forest back to the beach. There will be other teams that will be taking care of cutting the trees. Also, this will go on until noon and then, you''ll be allowed to go to the temporary market that we set up for you guys.


    Today, you''ll get free lunch, but from tomorrow, you''ll have to bring your own things to trade for various items. The market will have a lot of things. Meat, grains, flour, spices, salt, weapons, traps and even clothes. Keep in mind though, that the prices of these items will be expensive. I suggest trading with the others instead of using the market.


    You will have an hour of free time to eat and do your trades, but after that, there will be variousbat type events along with recreational events." she said and looked around to see if the other instructors were done with their speeches.


    When she saw that everyone was still talking, she looked back at her team and said, "Keep in mind that most of your actions will have an impact on your grades when you''re here. Good trades, will get you points from the money church. Performing well during the recreational events will help you with Art Chuch.


    Protecting your teammates and others from various things will of course, grant you points from protection church. Medicine and War churches are the same, so something rted to those churches and you''ll get points.


    There will be two weeks worth of siege event which is specifically made to get you points from the war church. There are other ways too, but this will be the best source for war church points."


    Keith took in all the information and nodded silently. His goal was to get top two for protection church, but for that to happen, he would have to rally all the members and teams that belonged to protection church first.


    ''Too much work....'' heined in his mind, but he didn''t have any ns to withdraw from the task, ''I''ll see what I can do but there''s no point in stressing myself out. Let''s just carry whatever logs these guys want and during that time, I can think about the variables.''


    Instructor Sera saw the other teams getting into positions and looked at her own, "Alright then, you guys stand right there and wait for people to bring the logs to you."


    Keith and the others looked a the ce she pointed at before they walked over.


    After sending her team to a good spot, instructor Sera left. Keith looked around and walked over to Amelia, knowing too well that he''d have to wait for a few long minutes for the first log to get to his team.


    "Hey, you''re good at talking to people, so I want you to do something for us." he said as he got closer to Amelia.


    She looked up at him and nodded, curious about his ns.


    "Just talk to the other teams from our Church and get them to cooperate with us. Suggest free help and resources as long as it isn''t too much. I want our church to get the first or at least the second ce."

 Chapter 83: Clarks Similarities

    By the time the first log arrived to Keith''s team, Amelia was done talking to four teams, all of whom agreed to cooperate with each other and decided to spread the word.


    Once she saw that the logs had started to arrive, she decided toe back but Keith sent her back to talk to more people. He knew she was physically stronger than him at the moment, but she was the best person for the job.


    Seeing her run off happily, he turned to look at his team, "Welp, I have a n where we wouldn''t have to do too much work. But it''ll take some time to set up."


    He then pointed at the beach, "See, from here to that ce, the ground is sloped. We can use this to roll the logs, but since the ground here is made of sand, it''ll just make things hard. Instead, we''ll ce two long rows of logs parallel to each other. Then we can use these two rows to roll our logs down there."


    Everyone listened to him and nodded. Why go through physical strain when there was a way to reduce their work load?


    Keith dragged the first and second logs and ced them side by side, with their ends touching each other. Brandon followed his example and ced to more logs parallel to the where Keith ced his logs.


    The two rows were approximately one meter apart from each other.


    As for the fifth log, Keith looked at Laura who was carrying this one and said, "Just ce it on these logs and push it with your feet."


    Laura nodded and did as he told her to. The log rolled down and stopped once it hit the sand, after which she ced the log beside the other logs, creating a path.


    This process continued and in one hour, the passage wasplete. It took so long only because they were getting logs a little slowly. Thanks to this, everyone in the team was perfectly fine and weren''t too exhausted.


    Keith was weak, but he had his regeneration to keep him going. On the other hand, it was Caleb who was struggling the most.


    "Well, the physically straining job is done. Do you guys mind if me and Caleb take a short break?" he asked and patted Caleb''s back.


    Brandon looked at the two of them and then turned to look at the others before nodding, "Sure. We don''t want injured people so it''s better if you guys rest."


    "Thanks!" Keith said and jumped over the sand. It was warm, but since there was shade from the trees, it wasn''t too hot.


    He looked up at Caleb and asked, "Do you have any other talents? I''m not trying to find faults but there must be a reason for you to be selected as an inquisitor, right?"


    Caleb nodded, "I''m physically weak, but... I''m well versed in the weak points of people and I don''t have any problems while harming animals or people. Laura puked the first time and Nathan was even worse. He pissed his pants too... and they didn''t even kill anyone. It was me. All they did was see, and it effected them so much.


    But I know the reality. The only reason I was able to kill that man, was because he was tied up. I''m very weak and I have nobat experience. I have the knowledge to strike at the right ces, but my body doesn''t have enough speed and power to strike the way I want it to.


    It''s like... it''s like my brain and body are two different beings."


    Caleb let out a sigh, "If things go on this way, I''ll get kicked out of the team and I''ll probably be forced to work as a servant at the church instead."


    Keith listened silently and nodded, "Hmm, I''m weak too. I used to be even weaker two months ago. The first thing you must do is to focus on eating a lot of food and then you must work out. It''ll take some time since it''s a slow process, but in maybe a year or two, you''ll be able to control your body the way you want to."


    Caleb didn''t say anything and nor did Keith. Both of them silently stared at the coconut tree above them, deep in their own thoughts.


    ''In the future, if I get a system that can boost physical strength, I''ll give it to Caleb. He has potential, but his awakened ability isn''t all that special...'' Keith thought and turned to look at the two groups beside him that had been fighting since the past one hour, ever since the work had begun.


    It was Timmy and rk''s group, but Keith really did not expect rk to be this aggressive with his actions. Though they were fighting, Keith didn''t bother to help or get involved at the moment. His suspicions wereing true and he needed to change his ns as soon as possible.


    As he thought about rk, he suddenly remembered the one thing that made him feel chills.


    ''He has the same taste in women as me... and he''s actually a lot more aggressive when ites to romance. I''m a hundred percent sure that he''lle for ra.. damn, I thought I could avoid him.''


    He ced his palms on his face and let out a long sigh, ''I''m not gonna let you take her away, rk. Not when I finally started to trust me.''


    But there was another problem. rk was actively going for Timmy while Keith was doing it behind the scenes through Vincent. ra was a intelligent human who could see and hear things so it was pretty simple way to get close to her.


    ''No, rk still doesn''t know ra''s backstory. So he''s fighting Timmy for his own sake. Things will get difficult if he finds out and starts doing things to please her. Fuck, this isplicated and I don''t like this.''


    He let out a groan and looked at rk once again, ''I''ll prepare for now and see how you''ll act. If you doe for ra, consider yourself my target.''

 Chapter 84 Let Me Fight Him

    Just like Keith had expected, rk did try toe in contact with ra.


    Once they were done with log transportation, they had to go and receive their share of food, he tried to cut the line. Coincidentally, the ce he picked was right behind ra and that was exactly where Amelia was standing.


    Keith turned around and looked at rk who was two inches taller than him, slightly more muscr that Brandon and had a majestic silvery white beard.


    Before Keith could express his dissatisfaction, he saw rk''s head jerk forward.


    Amelia pped his head angrily and red at him, "Oy, you fat bear bastard, why the hell are you cutting the line? And even if you''re cutting the line, why are youing here instead of going to the front? Which church are you from, huh?!"


    She wasn''t quiet about it and her voice was high, gaining attention from various other teams in an instant.


    rk looked at her and frowned.


    "What?" she asked aggressively, but he ignored her and got out of the line before moving to the back.


    Keith followed him with his eyes and nodded inwardly, ''Indeed, he''ll just walk away from things if he can''t use violence to solve them and this is no ce to use violence either. But I''m sure that he''ll keep an eye on Amelia.''


    He shifted his gaze to Amelia and smiled, "That was great!"


    "What do you mean great? That bastard just came here and stood in front of me like nothing was wrong. Which church picked him up from the gutters and didn''t bother teaching him manners, huh?" she asked loudly and looked around, clearly waiting for answers.


    In that moment, someone from the war god''s church walked forward and gave her a slight respectful bow, "I apologise miss Amelia, he''s a new recruit and he takes mercenary missions. He might be a bit rowdy, so I hope you forgive him."


    Using this chance, Timmy walked forward andined too, "How is it possible to forgive him? Not just this incident, from morning, he''s been trying to sabotage my team''s progress! I suggest kicking him out of the training camp as he''s causing too much problems."


    rk on the other hand, nonchntly looked away, making Keith squint his eyes.


    ''He''s plotting something... that bastard.''


    Keith took a deep breath and shook his head, ''Just wait and watch for now... or... I''ll give him a trash system and keep tabs on him.''


    Even though he thought that, he did not act on it as he wanted to experiment a little with creating his own system.


    Just before the fight escted, the announcer old man let out a fake cough, demanding everyone''s attention.


    "Fighting is not against the rules. You''ll only be punished if you harm someone a bit too much." he said and pointed at a bunch of sumo rings on the beach behind him.


    They looked like traditional sumo rings, with thick ropes used as a boundary but these rings had a diameter of ten meters.


    "Today''s event will bebat based and the usage of weapons or armors is not allowed. Even the ones that can be summoned with your awakened ability are also not allowed." he added before continuing, "There will be neutral judges to watch your fights and you''re allowed to pick whichever team you want to fight. As long as both parties agree, the fight will be official.


    The teams that didn''t manage to get any opponents will be paired up by us, so I hope you guys won''tinter. Both the winning and losing teams will get certain points based on their performance, which you can use to buy certain things.


    Oh yes, another thing. The fights will have to be one on one, and the limit to the number of fights will depend on the team with the lesser members. You guys can also reduce this number as long as both the teams agree to it.


    You have ten minutes to pick your opponent team. Good luck all of you."


    Keith saw Timmy run over to rk''s team, trying to challenge him. Unfortunately, rk ignored him and looked at his own teammates, who amounted to just two people.


    Once he was done talking, he brought his team towards Amelia, "We challenge you."


    Amelia frowned and looked at Brandon, hoping that he would reject the guy, but Brandon nodded, "I don''t know why you want to pick on my team, but we won''t back out from a challenge. A total of three members, right?"


    "Yes. I don''t particrly have anybat rted abilities and it''s the same with my teammates." rk said and pointed at the guy beside him, "This kid here can turn invisible and the girl beside him is his sister and she can summon arge bag that can carry things."


    Experience new tales on empire


    "And make them weightless..." the girl added meekly and rk nodded, "Yes that."


    Hearing this, Brandon grinned, "Heh, you guys will lose for sure. We have Nathan who can use a holy knight armor set, I can use stone skin and we have Laura who can transform into a snake. You guys... are very impulsive."


    "We''ll win." rk said and walked towards an empty ring with his teammates right behind him.


    Keith sighed and patted Brandon''s shoulder before reminding, "Nathan can''t use his armor set. Weapons are not allowed... were you even listening?"


    "I mean, he can still use his enhanced physical abilities right?"


    "Not without his armor on, you dumbass." Amelia frowned as she looked at Brandon who shrugged, "It''s fine. We still have me. I can guarantee a win and Laura should be able to get that girl too. They don''t have any kind of abilities, so we have an advantage. Even though we can''t use Nathan, we have ra. She can easily beat me up if I don''t have my stone skin on."


    Amelia nodded, "That''s right, there''s nothing to worry about. Though, let me correct you Brandon. ra can beat you up even when you have your stone skin on. I saw it happen."


    Before Brandon could reply, Keith ced his hand on Brandon''s shoulder, "Let me fight rk."

 Chapter 85 Using Rules To His Advantage

    The two teams stood face to face while the instructor looked at them, "Here''s the rules. Apart from the stuff that you just heard, anyone who wins a round will be allowed to fight another round." Stay tuned to empire


    "You won''t lose if you fall or faint when you''re inside the boundary, but if you stay outside for more than ten seconds, it will count as a loss. Any questions?"


    rk and Brandon shook their heads. Brandon confidently walked into the ring and seeing this, rk sent in the invisible guy.


    Seeing him, Brandon flexed his muscles, clearly trying to show off, "What''s your name kid?"


    "Cloud..." he said and immediately turned invisible. Next, his clothes were tossed to the side as they were still visible.


    "Heh, you have to be naked to use your skill properly?" Brandon asked and activated his awakened ability, growing ayer of stone over his body.


    Cloud didn''t respond, and no one could see where he was. Brandon tried to look for his footsteps, but there were none.


    "You''re just standing in one ce." he said with a grin on his face before punching the ce where Cloud originally was, only for his fist to hit nothing but air. The next second, he felt immense pain in his eyes.


    "Argh, damn you! You threw sand on my eyes!" he yelled and randomly threw his fists, hitting nothing but air every single time.


    Brandon then grabbed a bunch of sand and tossed it around, not knowing what to do. Keith shook his head and just waited for Brandon to lose as he knew that the chances of him winning was low now.


    Minutes passed with Brandon attacking nothing but air. He tried a lot of things, but every single attack was wasted. By this time, even he realised that he couldn''t win, so he raised his hand, "I give up."


    He walked out of the ring, hoping to find his team, only to get pped my rk.


    "Damn. Fuck." he cursed and punched out, which rk easily dodged before kicking him away.


    Amelia ran over and helped Brandon back to the team before she and ra began to help him with cleaning his eyes.


    "Laura, you''re more suitable to fight that kid. You should be able to sense him through vibrations and stuff right?" he asked and Laura nodded, "Yes, I should be able to smell him with my tongue too."


    Saying this, she walked into the ring and looked at the instructor.


    "Cloud huh? Do you wish to go for a round two?" she asked and rk was the one who answered instead, "He will continue."


    "Let the fight begin." the instructor said as she nodded.


    Laura immediately transformed into a yellow python and hissed. Two secondster, she darted towards the right and circled around the air. Which was physically not possible, but that was how it looked to the others as Cloud was invisible.


    She dragged him back to the ring and blocked off his nose and mouth, until he fainted. Once Cloud was out cold, she transformed back to her human form and grabbed him by the ankle before tossing him outside.


    "He had been standing outside all along, this is just cheating!" sheined as she red at the instructor, but rk scoffed at her.


    "Do you have any proof? As far as I can tell, he clearly went outside one second before you caught him."


    The instructor really did not have any way of confirming whether Cloud was in or out, so she agreed with rk even though she too felt like Cloud had been standing outside all along. She felt helpless, but she had to abide by the rules.


    "rk is right. Neither you guys, nor I have any proof so there is nothing I can do. Nheless, Cloud is out now." she said and looked at rk, "Who''s going in this time?"


    The girl silently walked in after rk pushed her forward. She meekly stood inside the ring while Laura scoffed. The more she looked at this team, the more she hated them.


    "A bunch of cheaters. Tch." she cursed and clicked her tongue before running towards the girl even without transforming. Seeing Laura rush towards her, she crouched down and covered her head with her hands, clearly afraid.


    But Laura didn''t show any mercy and directly kicked her, pushing her out of the ring with ease. The girl sat on the ground, with tears in her eyes and just as rk was about to go to her, the instructor spoke.


    "If you touch her while she''s officially still fighting, both of you will be disqualified."


    rk stared at her for a few seconds, raising the tension in the air before he suddenly nodded, "Okay."


    "She''s been out for more than ten seconds, so she''s disqualified." the instructor announced.


    Keith had been counting on the side too, and he was surprised as it had only been nine seconds, not ten. Just from this, he could tell that the instructor didn''t like the way rk''s team was doing things either.


    rk didn''t cause any fuss and nodded, "Okay. I''ll go next."


    As he walked into the ring, he nced at everyone on his opponents team. Keith watched him and the moment they made eye contact, his pinky twitched.


    ''....''


    Just from one look, he knew that rk would overpower Laura and that was exactly what happened. The moment he entered the ring, he dashed towards her as he kicked up a wall of sand and punched her right in the face, sending her flying along with a few droplets of blood that fell onto the sand, following Laura''s trajectory.


    Keith took a deep breath, getting ready to fight, but just then, the instructor raised her hand, "rk, disqualified. You started the fight before my signal."


    "...." rk was silent for a few seconds as he red at her, "You never said that the fight was supposed to start only after the signal. The first two fight also didn''t have any signal rule either."


    "Both in the first and second match, the participants had enough time to get ready. You attacked the moment you walked in. Are you saying that I''m being unfair?" she asked, challenging him.

 Chapter 86 I Know All About You

    rk didn''t say anything in response and simply looked away.


    Keith, who originally wanted to fight rk got into the ring, "Well, we won but I still wish to fight you." he said and then looked at the instructor, "Will that be possible?"


    "Sure. I''ll keep watch just in case someone gets too hurt."


    Keith looked at rk and the buffed guy nodded, "You''re a cocky guy. You don''t have any ability that''ll help you inbat but you still want to fight me after seeing what I did to your friend?"


    "I don''t know about being cocky, but I can confirm that I do have a big cock." Keith said, knowing well that rk absolutely hated lewd jokes.


    rk red at him but Keith shrugged in response, "Oh looks like I''ve made you angry. Don''t worry, even if yours is small, it''s fine. A lot ofdies will still ept you as long as you have stamina."


    "Can we start?" rk asked, his voice cold.


    Keith stared at him for a second and exhaled, "Yes."


    The moment the word left his mouth, rk moved forward with his fist clenched and punched outwards. Keith did not move his head to the side, and instead crouched down before sending a punch flying upwards.


    Then, there was silence. rk had trouble breathing as he fell sideways like a statue, the shock from the pain immobilizing him.


    Keith stood back up and looked down at rk, "Well, looks like I won."


    He knew very well that the only reason he won, was thanks to him knowing how rk usually fought. He always punched forward and if the punch missed, he would grab his opponent by their hand and pull their head down to kick them with his knee.


    This worked most of the time thanks to people instinctively dodging sideways, but Keith just went below and used the perfect opportunity to crack his eggs.


    "If you want to impress ra, you gotta do better bitch." Keith cursed at him before walking back to his team. He knew rk''s most preferred way of impressing girls and it was through showing off his fighting skills.


    In the novel, he somehow managed to get involved with multiple girls sexually and he also deserted almost all of them by the end of the novel if they didn''t get strong enough. The moment rk challenged his team, Keith saw him nce at ra, which gave him the answer to his question.


    As he got back to his team, his thoughts wandered, ''He''s fast, very fast. But it''s not as outrageous as it was in the novel during this time. What caused this change...''


    rk''s awakened ability was simr to certain monkey warrior race in an animated TV series in Keith''s old world. It wasn''t the exact same, but it had a lot of simrities.


    Only one condition had to be met for rk to get a power boost, but there were other two that could help increase the boost in power even further. First was for him to get to a near-death state and recover. This was the main condition while the second one was dependent on how intense the fight was.


    The more his mind and body was stimted, the greater the physical boost would be. If he simply stabbed himself and recovered, then the power boost would be negligible.


    Thest and most important condition was the nutrition or in simple words, calories in his body. The more he had, the better the boost, but this also went against the second condition as the more he would fight, the more calories he would burn.


    There were other variable too, such as his intentions. Both his mental and physical states had to align with death. His body had to be close to death, while his mind had to resist the idea of giving up on his life.


    If rk ever nned or even had a thought of getting hit intentionally to boost his powers, then the boost in power would get reduced by a lot.


    Keith thought about it and as he saw rk get up from the sand, he realised something important.


    ''He''s a regressor and he never knew all the conditions of his power. Especially the second and third conditions... so maybe he did try and get into fights, but wasn''t able to get as much power boost as before thanks to his fighting experience from his previous life. He probably yed it safe and only took fights that he could win, just like I do....''


    All of them were spections, but Keith had a feeling that at least half of them were true.


    ''During this time in the novel, his punches would make a snapping sound whenever he punched.'' he thought and chuckled, ''He''s either holding back, or the regression indirectly nerfed* his ass.''


    Keith was both happy and slightly sad. On one side, rk seemed to have hots for ra, which Keith did not like. And on the other side, rk was one of his favourite characters. Seeing him getting nerfed didn''t feel good.


    ''I gotta be realistic. It''s better this way, but I need him to be strong if I want to sit back and chill while he does all the world saving for me. I don''t want to take action directly...'' he thought and nced at ra.


    She smiled at him and whispered, "I thought you''d get punched for a second there. His punch was very fast."


    "Yeah... let''s just say that the only reason I was able to dodge him was because of my instincts." he said and looked at the instructor, "Can we leave now?"


    "Oh sure. But you''re also free to fight against other teams. Treat them as friendly matches. The goal of this training camp isn''t to make you guys fight among each other, but to have you guys improve."


    Brandon looked at her with his red eyes, "I hope that was easy to do... thest time I was in a camp, it was so messy."


    Nerf: Reduce effectiveness/power of something.

 Chapter 87 Fighting Snakeman, Adjusting Sensitivity

    Almost an hourter, Keith smiled at the team in front of him which was from the Art Church.


    "Thank you for agreeing to spar." he said and Caleb hurriedly nodded beside him.


    The leader of the team gave them a curt nod, "No worries. We hope that our newbies can also gain some experience with this."


    Brandon patted Keith''s back, "Go for it, and try tost long. That guy there has an ability simr to mine."


    Keith silently walked into the ring and got into a fighting stance, crouching down slightly with one arm loosely outstretched and the other close to his face, the fingers facing outwards in a w like way.


    The guy in front of him made a constipated expression and two secondster, a thinyer of yellow snake scales formed on top of his body. From just one nce, Keith couldn''t make out how thick or strong these scales were, so he felt slightly nervous.


    "Let''s learn from each other." the snake man said and he walked forward, looking slightly overconfident with his long strides.


    Once he covered enough distance, he sent his foot swinging towards Keith''s face, which was grabbed instantly with the hand that had it''s fingers pointed outwards like a w.


    "That was quite obvious." Keithmented as he used his other hand to grab the snakeman''s leg, "And now, time to eat some sand!"


    He pushed himself upwards and used all his strength to try and lift the snakeman. His n was to lift him up and smash him down onto the sand, but the only thing he managed to do was make him lose his bnce and fall sideways.


    ".... I wish I was stronger." hemented as he let go of the guy''s leg.


    Snakeman got up and this time, he faced Keith seriously, "Yeah, you''re weak. But apparently I have a really bad fighting sense..."


    Keith did not expect this, but he nodded, waiting for him to act, which he did. Punches and kicks flew forward, most of them hitting Keith effortlessly while the others missed by a small margin.


    Snakeman was simply just punching randomly, but thanks to Keith''sck of fighting experience and weak physicality, he was put at a disadvantage.


    After a few seconds of getting hit, he decided to give up on defence and went bonkers on punching snakeman. The instant he let down his guard, he got punched right in the face. Even though it hurt like shit, he sent a punch flying back at snakeman, making him stumble backwards.


    Seeing his reaction, Keith finally remembered something important.


    ''Oh wait, let me reduce my pain sensitivity.'' he thought and used his sensitivity control to reduce the amount of pain he could feel. It pushed it down to almost nothing, but stopped before hitting the "no pain" mark.


    He needed to feel something.


    The snake skin did not cover the guy''s face and thanks to this, Keith was able to make him feel pain. He had the option to increase the guy''s sensitivity to pain, but decided against it as his goal here was to learn and gain some fighting experience, not to kill or gravely injure someone.


    Both of them punched and kicked each other, but everyone around the ring noticed the difference in Keith. He was barely reacting to snakeman''s hits and always retaliated with his own strike.


    The snake skin wasn''t too tough. It wasn''t like Brandon''s stone skin, which was able to negate all direct unarmed attacks by regr humans. Kicks, punches and any kind of direct unarmed hits did not harm him in any way.


    But the snake skin wasn''t the same. It was like having an extremely thin chainmail on his body. It helped with reducing the damage received, but that was all it could do. It didn''t give him any kind of physical boost, and nor did it give him any kind of regeneration.


    Thanks to this, Keith''s hits were effective even though their damage was slightly reduced. It was the same as a billion ants being able to kill an elephant. His punches were weak, but he could hit a lot more once he stopped feeling pain.


    His regeneration helped him out, but it was not enough to keep up with the damage his body was taking at the moment.


    As minutes passed, he felt more and more tired. And as he got more tired, he began to feel pain in various parts of his body.


    Once this reached a certain point, he took a step backwards, "I give up."


    "Heh." the snakeman said as he fell to his knee, but Keith on the other hand did a foolish thing. He brought his sensitivity back to normal, curious about how much damage he took, only for the sudden influx of signals to send his brain into an overdrive.


    His eyeballs rolled backwards while his body went absolutely stiff as he fell backwards.


    "Oi." Brandon said and he rushed over to Keith''s side, shocked by the sudden change of events. Unfortunately, they had no healers in their team so all they could do was carry some water and ssh his face.


    Keith slowly opened his eyes, "Ugh... I went too far." he grumbled and tried to stand up, only to feel intense pain in his abdominal area. This was the same with most of his upper body. Luckily, the snakeman didn''t hit Keith''s legs too much so there wasn''t too much pain there.


    Even though his legs were rtively fine, was just unable to stand up thanks to his abs feeling like hard rocks. His muscles refused to move, so after a few tries, he just gave up and looked at his team with a pained expression.


    "Looks like I won''t be able to do much for the next few days... unless there''s someone here with the ability to bring me back to normal."


    ra ced her hand on his chest with a serious look on her face, "...."


    She stared at him for a few seconds and looked up at Amelia,municating with her friend through her eyes alone.


    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and


    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 88 Quest Upgrade Battle Gods Regeneration

    Keith lie in the shade of a tree with Amelia sitting beside him. She had a frown on her face as she looked at him.


    "Can you talk? I have a few questions and the curiosity is getting out of control." she asked him.


    Keith opened his eyes and looked at her, "Yeah, shoot."


    "You told me not to throw usations at you, so now I''m asking you questions instead." she said and began, "I want to know why you rejected ra''s offer to take care of you. Why did you say that you''d be fine with anyone other than her? I didn''t ask her but I''m sure that she felt hurt."


    "....." Keith silently looked at her for a few seconds before nodding, "Good progress. At least you didn''t call me an asshole then and there. Well.. the reason I didn''t want her beside me is thanks to Timmy. That bastard is right there, so if he sees us together, it might be a problem.


    I mean, technically the chances are low. But if he sees us together too often, then it''ll be troublesome. I''m just trying to reduce the amount of time we spend alone while we''re under the scrutiny of everyone else.


    Heck, I literally share a bed with her back in our camp and you know it. It''s not like I don''t want to spend time with her. I''m just trying to keep trouble away from her and me."


    Hearing his exnation, Amelia nodded, "Makes sense. Now my second question, why did you try to fight that bastard when ra is a way better fighter than you? What''s his name? Anyways, as far as I know, you don''t really like getting into fights so I want to know why you acted to impulsive."


    "rk." Keith said and went silent. He knew that he couldn''t tell her the true answer. One of the reasons he wanted to fight him was because he wanted to see the difference between them. But that changed the moment rk went for the first punch.


    Everything happened almost instantly and before Keith even knew it, rk was lying on the ground. Even though he won, he knew that if the guy was careful and fought the way he fought usually, then he would easily win.


    ''rk is a monster even though he got an indirect nerf. If I wish to beat him, I''ll have to take full leverage of Vincent''s monthly taxes.'' he thought but he gave Amelia a sheepish smile.


    "I kinda got a bit possessive. Call it an instinct but I could tell that he wanted to get close to ra, like establish some kind of connection. Though I don''t understand what he''d aplish by annoying her." he said.


    Although he said this, his thoughts were different.


    ''That''s his go to method though. He''ll either annoy or piss them off and then using this as a way tomunicate, he somehow manages to make them have a soft spot for him. I know all his tricks so there was no way I''d let him fight ra.''


    Amelia on the other hand, smirked, "Good job then. At least you won, but I don''t understand why you went so... hard against thest team. Like, you probably won''t be able to walk for at least a week."


    Keith nodded even though he knew that he''ll take less time than what she thought, "Yeah, I''m sorry for getting impulsive."


    "Hey, it''s fine. We''ll cover for you. These guys told us that they won''t let you rest back at camp a few minutes ago, so you''ll have no choice but toe here. But that aside, Brandon said that there''s no need for you to do any physical work. All we need is your creativity, like the log thing you did today." Amelia said as she looked around.


    "Hmm." Keith thought for a second, "Something like that is not reallymon. Those kind of ideas hit at random times, so I can''t really guarantee anything."


    "That''s fine. Don''t worry about it. Anyways, we''ll only have to wait for a little bit more before we go back to our camp so hang in there."


    Keith nodded and silently closed his eyes, opened his system screen to collect his monthly tax from Vincent.


    ''I already have regeneration so I guess I''ll take Battle Instinct this time.'' he thought and immediately made a n, ''Time to give him a slight push.''


    Keith didn''t have to pick the same thing again and again to upgrade it. Once he picked a skill, it''ll keep increasing based on his system user''s progress. In Vincent''s case, if he upgraded his Battle Instinct to SSS grade in the future, Keith wouldn''t have to take it as tax as his own Battle Instinct would be SSS grade just like Vincent''s.


    He picked Battle Instinct and felt his divine and mental energy increase. He then automated most of the upgrades so that they could be bought using money. Once that was done, he gave out a quest.


    [Quest: Important Upgrades]


    Find more chapters on empire


    Upgrade Battle God''s Regeneration.


    Rewards: For every 3 upgrades, you receive a free upgrade of any skill.


    Punishment for Failure: None


    Vincent was resting in his room when he saw the quest pop up. He immediately opened up his system screen and saw a change. There was a price tag for every upgrade just like how it was for his physique grade two months ago.


    [System: Host is currently in Morose Kingdom. Default currency set to Moros.]


    Currently, his battle god''s regeneration was at E grade. He used his fingers to count and muttered, "SSS, SS, S, A, B, C, D. In total, there''s seven and to upgrade to D grade, it''s 8 Moros. Back then I had to pay 4 Zen but since each Zen is the same as 2 Moros, it looks like the cost is same as the physique grades."


    "I did splurge a little bit, but I still have more than 130,000 left. Maybe I can upgrade a few others too." he said as he began to invest all of his money into his skills.

 Chapter 89 Striking A Deal With The Healer

    The money that was in front of Vincent, disappeared steadily as he upgraded three of his skills.


    In an instant, 131,064 Moros disappeared.


    The money required for each upgrade was multiplied by 4, with Grade F to E being 1 Zen and E to D being 4 Zen. When converted to Moro, this was multiplied by two.


    From E to S, he would need 4+16+64+256+1024+4096+16384. Which summed up to 21,884. When converted to Moro, it was 43,688 and for three skills, it was 131,064.


    But even though the money vanished, Vincent didn''t see any change on the system screen.


    "Hey, system... did you just... scam me?" he asked, his voice almost a whisper due to his disbelief.


    Keith on the other hand, stared at his system screen, speechless and lost on how to handle the situation. He could indeed help him with the upgrades, but it consumed his mental energy. He didn''t have enough to help Vincent to upgrade three of his skills to SSS grade in just a second.


    With a sigh, he used some of his mental energy to give Vincent one upgrade to his Battle God''s Regeneration and sent a message.


    [System Overload. The activation of all upgrades will take time and until then, no more upgrades will be avable.]


    Seeing this, Vincent calmed down and went back to dreaming about beautiful girls. The system administrator could stop him from visiting brothels, but he couldn''t stop him from imagining things.


    The moment Vincent''s Battle God''s Regeneration went up from E grade to D grade, Keith''s regeneration also improved. He then decided to let go of his worries and take a nap. A few hourster, he was woken up by Amelia.


    "Time to go?" he asked and she nodded, "Yeah. Do you need help with walking?"


    "Girl, I can''t even stand up on my own... like... how do I exin?"


    Amelia sighed and nodded, "It''s fine, I understand." she said and carried him up like a princess.


    She then looked at him and frowned, "What? Stop looking at me like that."


    "Nah, I just realised that you''re pretty strong. I thought you were mentally like a brother to me but now..."


    "One more word and I''ll drop you right here." she red at him and Keith shut up, not having any intention to have himself dropped back to the ground.


    Once they got back to the group, ra brought a guy with her to Keith, "I found this person and has an ability to help with recovery."


    "Yeah she went around asking every damn team." Amelia said and nodded but Keith shook his head, not wanting to get back to normal at all.


    "No no, what are you guys thinking? I mean, I appreciate it ra, I really do. But think about it like this. I''m one of the weakest in the team and if I''m injured, there will be a reason for you guys to reduce the number of fighters when there''s anotherbat event like today.


    This way, you won''t have to worry about losing since most of our team other than me, is pretty strong themselves." he said.


    ra gave him a disapproving look, but didn''t express it through words. On the other hand Brandon nodded, agreeing with him.


    "He''s right. If he participates in a fight, he''ll only drag us back."


    Amelia and ra stared daggers at him.


    Seeing their reaction, he shrugged and looked away but everyone in the team failed to notice Caleb walking towards the forest. By the time they did, it was toote.


    He bashed his head against a tree with all the strength he could muster and passed out in an instant.


    "What the hell?!" Laura shouted before rushing over to him.


    Nathan on the other hand looked at Keith, "He basically followed your example...." he said and sighed, "What am I even supposed to do with him.. and you."


    He stared at Keith, "Please don''t say things like that in front of Caleb again. He cares about the team too much and has very low confidence."


    "Yeah, I didn''t expect that. I''ll keep that in mind."


    Nathan nodded and turned to look at Laura who was carrying Caleb back to the team.


    "What do we do now?" she asked as she looked at the others.


    Brandon rubbed his chin, "He should have broken his back or something. Once he wakes up, he''ll have to get involved in the events anyways." he said and after seeing everyone''s pissed off expressions, he coughed slightly and added, "But I''ll lecture him to not do this again. This is not good for the team."


    The healer on the other hand, couldn''t help chuckling, "You guys are a fun team. Everyone in my team is so damn serious that even breathing around them feels hard. Yikes." Explore more stories at empire


    Keith looked at him, "Well, a team is still a team. By the way, if you need anything, don''t hesitate toe to us. We can trade fish meat with you, some fresh water and maybe some other things as soon as we get our hands on them."


    The healer nodded, "That''d be great actually. We''re were really struggling for food for the past three days and today was a godsend. We ate until out stomachs were full but we do need a stable source of food and we don''t mind trading for it. My team has medical experts so if you need anything, do tell me."


    Hearing this, Keith grinned, "I need something that can paralyze animals. Even the big ones. Then maybe something like tranquilizers, preservatives and oh yeah, pain killers."


    The healer heard his needs and thought for a second before nodding, "We do have ingredients to make preservatives right now, but we''ll need more time for the the others. Salt is like the best preservative option, so the one we''ll be able to make is like a paste. It''ll keep the food fresh for a maximum of two days."


    "Only two days huh..." Keith said and nodded, "Yeah I guess it''ll be fine. Or maybe not, let me think about it tonight and I''ll tell you tomorrow if I need it or not."

 Chapter 90 Calebs Hidden Potential

    Two hourster, in the camp.


    The sky was dark, but the night was still young. Laura had caught them a fish and everyone was done with their dinners. Though they all wanted to sing and dance, they listened to Keith''s advice and went to bed early.


    As silence settled in the camp, Keith slowly opened his eyes and began to expend his mental energy to upgrade Vincent''s Battle God''s Regeneration from D to B. He had slightly more energy left, but he felt a splitting headache, so he decided to stop.


    With a frown on his face, he opened up his system screen and checked his own information.


    Age = 22 years old


    Birthday= February 23rd 4642


    Current Year = 4664


    Start of god of system = 4664


    Start of Novel = 4660


    Awakened Abilities:


    Danger Sense


    Libido and Sensitivity control


    Fire Creation and Maniption


    Special Skills:


    Regeneration: Grade B


    Improves stamina recovery and boosts the rate of regeneration of wounds.


    Battle Instinct: Grade D


    The more you fight, the more you learn from the fight. This knowledge will be permanent and cannot be erased under normal circumstances.


    ''Grade B is good. Unfortunately, it doesn''t really improve the regeneration of mental energy.'' he thought and closed his eyes, slowly drifting off to sleep.


    He woke up earlier than everyone the next day, and gently put ra''s arms away before slipping away from her hug. He walked out, and saw that the sky was still dark.


    ''I should have bought a pocket watch....'' he thought as he looked up at the sky and estimated the time based on the moon''s cement.


    ''Slightly over midnight... maybe one or two AM.''


    He grabbed some logs and tossed them into the fire pits that still had some red hot coal in it. After flipping the fish meat, he went ahead and sat on a tree stump before closing his eyes.


    His mental energy was quickly expended, upgrading Regeneration from Grade B to A. He could push it to S grade, but he didn''t have any interest in getting a splitting head ache once again.


    He twisted his torso and winced, ''It still hurts, but it''s way better. I''ll be able to fully recover by the end of tomorrow, or if I upgrade the regeneration skill even more, it could be faster.''


    With a sigh, he grabbed a decently thick stick and used his dagger to cut out bits and pieces from it. As he kept his hands busy, he thought about Timmy. Time slowly passed and weird looking wooden spoons had started to stack up beside him.


    Once he ran out of wood to work with, he opened up his system screen and sent out a quest to Vincent.


    [Chain Quest: Great Thief in the Making]


    Visit the ck Market and talk to the man named Red Mole.


    Reward: Quest Advancement


    Punishment for Failure: Potential loss of 100,000 Moro.


    [System Note: Feel Free to buy a ve if you wish to.]


    [System Administrator: If you buy a sex ve, I''ll reduce your penis size.]


    After sending the quest he focused on creating his own system, but unlike yesterday, he went with a different approach.


    There were no system screens this time. Instead, it was transparent, untouchable and was unable to be sensed. It was like an invisible seed, or in other words, it worked like an untraceable virus in aputer.


    Only Keith, the creator of this object, was able to see how it looked.


    He stared at the extremely small blue dot that was smaller than a particle of dust and sent it flying towards the tent where Brandon, Nathan and Caleb were sleeping in. It glided inside the tent and slowly entered Brandon''s body.


    Two secondster, Keith used a bit more of his divine energy to create something akin to a server that connected all the ''dots'' that he had created a few seconds ago.


    Once that was done, he added in a few mentalmands and a system screen popped out in front of Keith.


    [User Status]


    Name: Brandon


    Physique: Grade A


    Gic Physique Type: Instantaneous Burst


    Awakening Status: Awakened


    Awakened Ability: Stone skin


    Stone Skin: Forms ayer of stone over the body, providing great physical defence.


    This system screen was designed in such a way that Brandon wouldn''t be able to see this until Keith wanted him to.


    ''Now all I need to do is add in some spy elements like the video and text format stuff that I''m able to do with Vincent.'' he thought and began to work on it. It wasn''t as hard as actual programming as he simply had to think about something and how it worked. As long as he had enough divine energy, then whatever he nned, would be possible.


    Though, all the tweaking was only limited to systems.


    He tried for a few minutes and found out that it wasn''t possible to recreate a video style format. Text was possible, so he wasn''t too bummed about the results. Now that he was done, he was ready to test the one thing that he was most excited about.


    ''My divine energy is drained when I use the gacha wheel, but I don''t feel any drain when I give the systems to others.'' he thought and with a snap of his fingers, two more system seeds were created.


    He sent these into Caleb and Nathan before mentally sending out amand to see their stats.


    Instantly, two system screens popped up.


    [User Status]


    Name: Nathan Discover stories with empire


    Physique: Grade D


    Gic Physique Type: Strongman


    Awakening Status: Awakened


    Awakened Ability: Holy Pdin


    Holy Pdin: Summons a set of Armor, shield and a sword. When equipped, physical strength, defence, agility, stamina and overall body recovery is boosted.


    [User Status]


    Name: Caleb


    Physique: Grade E


    Gic Physique Type: Instantaneous Burst


    Awakening Status: Awakened


    Awakened Ability: Wind Sovereign


    Wind Sovereign: Ability to create winds across a wide region, including the intensity and direction of natural winds. (Mental Suppression = Diminishes the potential power of the ability due to theck of mental energy output.)

 Chapter 91 The Person Keith Wished He Was

    Keith was pretty shocked when he saw Caleb''s awakened ability.


    ''To think that it was so damn good.'' he thought as he stared at his screen, making Caleb one of his most important targets to copy awakened ability from. He currently faced the problem of having too much to eat but with the limitation of stomach space.


    Read new adventures at empire


    He summoned his gacha wheel and saw everything greyed out.


    ''There''s no need to worry too much. Once I recover my divine energy, I''ll pick someone based on my current needs.''


    He then sent the system seeds to the others nearby, not leaving a single person behind. Once done, he went back to his bed and lied down beside ra.


    Vincent''s Battle God Regeneration was pushed up from A to S grade instantly and he felt a stinging pain in his head once again. He then closed his eyes and tried to go back to sleep, which happened pretty easily thanks to hisck of mental energy.


    By the time Keith woke up again, it was sunny outside. He groggily walked out and instantly smelled the cooking fish.


    "We''ll have to trade for some rice, flour or even berries. We can''t just depend on fish." he said as he walked to the fire pit, wincing slightly as the pain in his body was still present.


    Amelia widened her eyes and nced behind him repeatedly, which prompted Keith to turn around, only to see the masked instructor standing silently as she stared at him.


    Keith instantly fell to the ground, "O o my whole body hurtsss! Aaaaoulouloulou!"


    "Pft-"


    *cough!*


    ra sprayed the food that was in her mouth while Brandon''sugh was brutally destroyed by the fish meat which got stuck in his throat before shooting out of his nostrils.


    The instructor shook her head, "Don''t worry. Your name has been registered in the injured people list and based on the words given by the person who spectated your fights, you''ve been given a resting period of three days. Even if you recover earlier than that, you''re free to stay back at the camp."


    "Oh." Keith said and got back up, this time wincing genuinely, "That''s great, but I heard that we''re not allowed to stay back at camps no matter what."


    "Wrong information. You''re free to do what you want. You can either stay here ore to the beach and rest there. But do keep in mind, if you stay back here, you will have no choice but to wait until evening to meet your teammates." she said and Keith nodded.


    "Understood. By the way, umm can I know the schedule? Like when the recreational events will take ce and also about the stuff that we''re expected to do."


    Instructor Sera nodded, "The first one will take ce two dayster, on thest day of your resting period. It''ll continue for three days and the stuff that you''re supposed to do... anything works.


    As long as it has some kind of artistic value, you''ll be allowed to do it. But keep in mind that the dance, music, painting, drawing and things like that are mainstream. There''s other unique art forms too, but based on how impressive you are, the better scores you''ll get."


    Hearing this, Keith nced at Amelia and shifted his attention back to instructor Sera, "Um... is there a way I can acquire a grand piano? I hope to practice before I perform."


    "You can rent it from the trade market." she said and looked at the others, "You guys have two more hours of free time before I take you to the beach, so please keep that in mind."


    Everyone nodded and went back to eating but Keith decided to wait for a little while as he had urgent things to do.


    He looked at the others and began, "Guys, let''s catch as many fishes as possible and trade them all for a huge amount of salt. I also request for a grand piano to be rented for my practice."


    Thest sentence was directed towards Brandon as he was officially the team leader.


    Hearing this, Brandon nodded, "Anything to push our team up. You said that you wanted to get our church to the top two right? Do you have any ns?"


    "Hmm... I''ll have to think about it for a bit. I''ll give you my ideas by evening." Keith responded as he pointed toward the basket that was halfway filled with berries.


    "You guys should eat those if you wish to work efficiently. It''s way better than meat when ites to giving you energy."


    The others nodded and grabbed a handful of berries before stuffing themselves. Once everyone was done eating, they hurried over to the river.


    Laura caught one fish every minute and tossed it over to Brandon and Nathan to carry back to the camp. Everyone else felt like they weren''t even needed there.


    After about half an hour, everyone returned back to the camp and therge pile of humongous fish was waiting for them.


    "Twenty eight fishes." Brandon said as he looked at the pile, "This really is a lot of fish and I do hope that we''ll be able to get something valuable out of this."


    Everyone nodded while Keith took a step forward, "Guys, I hope you do remember rk. The guy who tried to cause trouble."


    "Of course." Laura said, frowning and everyone else nodded.


    "Yeah, I want you guys to be wary of everything he does." he said, not mentioning Timmy as he knew that Timmy wasn''t someone who''d try to cause trouble openly. There was a chance of him doing underhanded things, but that would only happen if he considered their group a threat.


    Unfortunately, rk was a different breed altogether. He was someone who''d do whatever he wanted to as long as the consequences weren''t too dire.


    After Keith gave out his instructions, he went ahead and sat down on a tree stump, sighing as he realised a major change in his perspective of both himself and rk.


    ''Simr to my in almost every aspect my ass... he''s basically who I wished to be but will never be. But that''s not necessarily a bad thing.''

 Chapter 92 Timmys Trade Offer Rejected

    rk was the exact same copy of Keith''s "ideal" persona, someone who he hoped he could be but was unable to. He hadn''t realised it for a long time and it was only after directly meeting him, did he see the differences.


    Act brave to go around and cause trouble? That just wasn''t Keith''s preferred way of doing things. He''d rather pull strings from the shadows instead of putting himself in danger.


    But rk wasn''t like this. He was calcting and maniptive, but that was where it stopped. He preferred to be the center of all action as he was strong and didn''t care too much about the negative oues.


    Just like Keith, he was a guy with regr IQ and it was only now that Keith realised how their way of thinking was different.


    Keith didn''t stay back in the camp and instead, grabbed two of the dead fishes'' tails before leaning in on ra as he rested his chin on her shoulder. His arms weren''t too damaged, but since his torso and in other words, abdominal area was severely beaten up, it made it hard for him to lift heavy things.


    With each fish weighing almost 30 kilograms, there was no way he could even lift one, let alone two. Everyone except Brandon and Nathan grabbed onto two fishes and leaned against each other to maintain physical contact. Stay connected through empire


    Brandon and Nathan on the other hand, had arge cloth bag hanging over their shoulders, each one of them carrying 9 fishes each.


    Seeing this group, instructor Sera shook her head and smiled behind her mask before cing her hand on Laura''s shoulder as she was the one who was at the front. A secondter, they were all standing on the beach, one of the earliest groups to arrive.


    Brandon and Nathan took two more fishes from Caleb and Keith before moving onto the trade market. Keith had already visited this ce so he asked for an empty table, which was free of cost as long as he returned it back.


    He ced multiple tables beside each other and traded one fish to rent 13rge wooden boxes, a lot of ice and also salt. Nathan broke the ice into smaller chunks while the others threw in the rock salt crystals into the ice before mixing it all.


    This was to make sure that the temperature didn''t go up too fast. With twelve boxes containing two fishes and thest box having three, Keith took up the responsibility of taking care of all the trades for the day.


    It was still early in the morning, so there weren''t too many customers. Keith took this as an advantage and walked around socialising, doing that job that Amelia had done the previous day.


    While he was busy talking to people, he still kept an eye on his stall just in case someone tried to steal things. Luckily, no one caused any trouble.


    A few hourster, he felt his mental energy recover back to full, so he used it to boost Battle God''s Regeneration once again, bringing it to SS grade. This time, the headache wasn''t too severe, but he still felt a slight pulsation that was ufortable.


    By the time everyone were done with their chores, Keith was back at his stall, diligently cutting up the fish before tossing it back into the box of Ice and salt.


    He only did it with one box of fish, which was the one with three fishes while he let the others be the way they were. He didn''t have to wait for long as a lot of people began setting up stalls alongside him.


    Seeing this, Keith got Brandon to help him move the tables in such a way that it formed a U shape. Two tables were used as the main counter while there were four tables on each side. The rest of the tables were given back to the staff while the extra boxes that didn''t have space on the tables, were ced on the sand.


    Wood was a decent instor, so Kieth wasn''t too worried about the ice melting too much in the next few hours.


    Behind the stall, his team was busy preparing fish soup using leftover bones from the three fishes that Keith had cut up. Beside the pot of soup, there was another pot that had rice cooking in it.


    Surprisingly, the first customer was Timmy. He walked over and looked at all the boxes before giving Keith is attention.


    "I heard that you were selling fish." hemented as he ced his hand on the table.


    Keith nodded, giving him an amicable smile, "Yes, do you have anything you wish to trade for it?"


    "Hmm... I do have a few things." he said softly as he thought about the things he had, "Most of the valuable things are back at camp, but I did bring a bunch of fruits."


    He then ced two different fruits in front of Keith, one was simr to an apple, being bright red in color but it was almost perfectly round.


    "We don''t really know the name of this fruit, but the texture is simr to a pear and it is slightly sour. Me and my people have tasted and eaten them for the past few days. I assure you that there are no problems with this fruit."


    Next, he pointed at a bright yellow branch like thing, a well known root called Yakka. Keith recognised this thanks to his experience as a reader. It was basically just Cassava or as few others in his old life used to call it, tapioca.


    Though, there was a slight difference. Yakka would always be slightly bitter if it was boiled directly and if it was dried and pound into a powder before cooking, then the bitterness would be almost nonexistent.


    "Well, you know this one." Timmy said and proposed a deal, "One kilo for one kilo."


    Keith immediately shook his head, "I apologise, but that''s not gonna happen. The best I can do is one kilo of fish for three kilos of any of these. If you have Yakka flour, then I can trade one kilo of fish for two."


    [A/N: Extra chaptersing soon. If I don''t pass out while writing at least. Anyways, since we reached 26 Golden tickets, you guys will be receiving 2 extra chapters.]

 Chapter 93 A Successful Day of Trading (Extra Chapter)

    Timmy thought for a while before nodding, "Fine, but let''s make a deal. You sell this fish only to me and I''ll give you five kilograms of any of these for one kilogram of fish."


    "Not gonna happen. I don''t really need so much fruit of yakka, so it''s basically a loss for me. We can just proceed with the trade based on my terms or maybe if you have a better deal, I''ll consider it."


    Seeing Keith reject his offer once again, Timmy couldn''t help but frown. He reconsidered the prices and made another offer, this time taking out a small transparent vial that was filled with transparent liquid.


    Keith looked at it, but he couldn''t really guess what it was as there were multiple liquids that were transparent.


    "Here, this vial contains ten millilitres of a very potent aphrodisiac. It''s very valuable, so I''ll give this to you for at least three whole fishes." Timmy said, smirking as he knew that there was no way Keith would reject something so tempting.


    "I''m sure you''d want to get inside Amelia''s pants."


    "...." Keith silently stared at him and then frowned as he tried to exin the situation to Timmy, "Listen, this could be very valuable if I was back in the city but right now, we''re in a partial survival situation. I have no use for an aphrodisiac sir so in my eyes, it''spletely worthless.


    Look here, what I need right now is basically food, spices, medicines and things like that. I wouldn''t mind receiving certainbor intensive work or anything special that your team can provide. Oh and I have no interest in any kind of sexual services."


    At this point, Amelia who was chatting with the others while cooking, walked over to the counter and looked at Timmy, "What do you want? Are you trying to scam him with your usual tricks?"


    Timmy scoffed, "I wish. This guy is very stubborn, let me tell you that."


    He then clicked his tongue and nodded, "Fine, I''ll bring you a sack of yakkas and the fruits each. One sack will weigh 30 kilograms, so I hope that I can get a total of 20 kilograms of fish."


    "Sure." Keith said, closing the deal, "Feel free to bring your things while I measure some fish for you."


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    It took him a while to settle the trade but once he was done, he began to receive quite a few customers. In just two hours, he received 21 customers and among them, 8 of them got took some fish for free.


    Originally, the free time was supposed to be one hour, but after a lot of teams requested for an extension, the higher officials agreed to it and increased the one hour free time to two.


    Keith just gave it to their teams when they said that they were desperate for food and to confirm if they were lying or not, he hired one of the teams from medicine church to cross check as the entire team consisted of medical professionals.


    He simply offered them 1kg of fish each and they readily agreed to work for him.


    The reason for his charity was simple, it was to form connections and even though he gave out food for free, there was a condition attached. They would only get the free meat once and after that, unless they were ready to trade something, they wouldn''t receive anything.


    During the two hours of free time, his team mates weren''t sitting idle. Brandon rented arge stone mortar and used his fists covered with stone to pound the Yakkas to a slightly wet but powdery texture.


    Yakkas did not have too much water content inside them. Brandon did not pound every single Yakka root and listened to Keith''s advice to only do 3 kilograms.


    His team then rented a fewrge copper trays and spread the powdery yakka paste onto them so that the sun could help them dry out. To amodate these trays, they had to move the wooden boxes to the ground.


    By the time the free time ran out, Keith had received various promises and favours while also managing to form multiple alliances with quite a lot of teams.


    Satisfied with the oue, went to look at the things he had managed to hoard thanks to the trades.


    First was the 30 kilo of fruits and 30 kilos of yakka root that was given to him by Timmy. Then there was the healer''s team whom he had met the previous day. They brought him a decent sized bucket of a dark greenish paste that smelled slightly minty and based on their words, applying it on the surface of the body helped with muscle recovery and also open wounds.


    Apart from that, there were things like bows, multiple arrows, eggs, mushrooms, coconuts, fruits, berries and one team traded deer meat too. He also managed to acquire arge y pot and a small bowl filled with hardened animal fat.


    He still had almost 18 fishes left, and since the ice had barely melted, he thought of letting them stay where they were and continue selling them tomorrow, but then he remembered that he needed to rent a grand piano.


    With a sigh, he walked over to the church staff who were in charge of the trade market and requested for one.


    Luckily, just renting a piano for a week wasn''t too pricey and "only" required 210 kilos of fish meat, which was equivalent to almost 7 fishes. Keith traded all of his 18 fishes and in return, he was allowed to keep the grand piano for a week and also received slightly more than 115 kilos of salt.


    The staff dragged 6 sacks filled with salt and ced them beside his stall which was technically sold out now. Keith waited until evening before returning all the tables and trays.


    All the traded items were neatly packed by the time his team walked back to him.


    "Let''s go back to the camp for now and then I''ll show you guys everything I managed to get."

 Chapter 94 The Grand Piano

    Once he was back at camp, he showed them all the things he managed to get during the day. The piano was ced right beside the official instructors'' tent, which was used by Edward and Seraphelle.


    For dinner, he didn''t get anyone to make anything and instead just settled for some fruits, berries and the deer meat that he had. Everyone appreciated the food thanks to the change after almost 5 days.


    As he went to bed, he used the replenished mental energy to boost Vincent''s skills once again. The next morning, he decided to stay back and sent the others away with just three fishes.


    Once they were gone, he was left alone with Edward and Seraphelle who sat on the ground, chatting away as they didn''t really have much work to do. He walked over to the grand piano and yed around with it, trying to get a feel for it as he knew that grand pianos were way differentpared to the regr electric piano that he used to y.


    The grand piano followed a simr principle to the guitar, using strings to produce sounds. It was just that the entire mechanism was extremelyplicate for it''s time, having multiple hammer and gear like things to make sure that the piano worked as intended.


    Thanks to this, the force needed to press the keys was higher than what he normally used for electric keyboards and on top of that, it also had three pedals that allowed him to control the sounds even further.


    At first, he sounded horrible but since he knew the fundamentals, he improved at a tremendous pace until he hit the peak of his learning curve.


    "There''s so much more I could do... the amount of control over the sounds with a grand piano is incredible and way better than a regr piano, but that will probably take me months and even years." he muttered, knowing that he never was a world ss piano yer.


    He only used to do it as a hobby and he had no ns on spending most of his time on the grand piano.


    ''Well, this much is enough for now and maybe by night, I''ll be able to get used to all the differences.'' he thought as he went back to practicing.


    Time quickly passed by and he entered the perfect flow state multiple times, going in and out of this state randomly. Some times, he was too distracted by the sounds of nature and some times he was so engrossed in the grand piano that everything else seemed to have stopped existing in his mind.


    He had a few pieces learnt by heart, and he decided to practice Mozart''s Concerto No.21 which he really liked. Moonlight Sonata was a top ssic, but he felt like going for something else.


    By the time the sun had set, Keith had almostpletely done with his practice. He got up from the makeshift chair he had made by cing a thick tree trunk on the ground.


    He could have moved the piano, but it was way easier to move a cut up logpared to therge piano.


    "Oof, my ass hurts like crazy from sitting down for so long." he muttered as he patted his behind before looking at Edward and Seraphelle who already had their eyes on him.


    "It''s almost night time. When are those guys going toe back?" he asked as he walked around.


    Edward shrugged, "I don''t know, but I''m sure they''ll be here soon. Though I must tell you, you''ve managed to impress this countess." he said as he nced at Seraphelle who nodded in response.


    "Indeed. You''re very good with the piano and when I listened to you getting better and better, it felt like you had some kind of experience with using this instrument. It''s like you abandoned it and came back after getting rusty."


    Keith gave her a stiff smile as her analysis was on the mark, "Maybe I did try it out in the past." he said and didn''t bother exining.


    Seraphelle gave him a slight nod, "Anyways, that musical piece of yours is absolutely phenomenal. It made me feel goosebumps everywhere."


    "She literally cried, Keith. After you got the music to flow better, there was nothing stopping her tears." Edwardmented, only to get have Seraphelle re at him.


    With a slight cough, she turned to look at Keith, "Don''t bother him, his taste in music is absolute garbage. Also, yes I did shed tears but I want you to know that not everyone perceives music the same way. Some may cry, and some may feel various other emotions. There will also be some who will not be able to feel anything from your music, but don''t let that stop you."


    Keith silently nodded. He never nned on following the path of music professionally, at least not in this world.


    "Why don''t-"


    Just as Seraphelle began to speak once again, their teammates teleported back to the camp.


    "- you y a different piece for me?"


    "y a what? Keith already learnt how to y that darn thing?" Amelia eximed, shocked beyond her wildest dreams as her gaze switched between Keith and Seraphelle.


    Most of the people in their team wasn''t familiar with the Piano but since Amelia was a former noble, he had taken sses to learn how to y the instrument. Due to this, she knew how hard it was to learn the grand piano.


    Keith looked at them and didn''t say much. Instead his gaze was locked onto Brandon who had arge bag on his back. Explore more at empire


    "What did you manage to get through trades today?"


    Seeing him ignore her, Amelia flew into a fit, "Oi bastard, did you just ignore me? Just what in the hell is your problem."


    "Hey, chill. I was just interested in what we got today and as for your question, the actual answer is no. I didn''t learn the Piano in just a day. I yed around with a piano back when I was in college and all I did was brush up and shake off the rustiness." he said and nced at everyone in the group.


    With a smile, he spoke, "If you want, I can y something for you guys."

 Chapter 95 Clarks Attempt at Scamming

    [A/N: Gonna keep this short. If I try to describe the whole piece, it''ll probably take up around 1 to 2 chapters.]


    After ying around with Amelia for a while, annoying her by quite a bit, Keith sat down on the log and rested his hands on the piano before closing his eyes. Then, he waited for a few seconds before he started to y the Concerto no.21.


    He didn''t y the entire piece and ended the whole thing in just eight minutes before getting up from his seat. He looked at others who were staring at him and said, "That''s it for now. I don''t want to y this for thirty whole minutes, not when I''m hungry."


    Just like Seraphelle had said, not everyone had the same tastes and understanding of music. Everyone''s perception and intake of music was different had a spectrum of various levels. A great example was his team itself as it was split into three groups at the moment.


    ra, Caleb and Nathan had tears on their faces. Amelia looked absolutely oblivious to the effects of Concerto No.21 but was impressed by his music skills while Brandon and Laura were just smiling as the music had made them feel happier.


    "No questions until we eat." Keith announced the moment he saw Amelia open her mouth, which prompted her to close her mouth immediately.


    ra on the other hand, still couldn''t help but ask out loud. She wiped away the tears, "That... is very impressive. I''ve never attended any Orchestra but this... it felt like it touched my soul. How did you do it? I mean... you must be very talented to be able to attain this level of skill right?"


    Keith smiled at her, but it was a stiff smile. He had tried to make music his main profession in his past life, but reality hit hard. Thepetition was extremely severe and even though he could y the piano extremely well, it was nothingpared to the others who had the same dreams as him. Instead of pushing forward, he simply decided to make music a hobby and got back to focusing on his studies.


    Compared to those monsters, he knew that his so-called talent was just a culmination of all his hard work up until now, one of the many fruits of his past life.


    He shook his head, "Compared to the actual talents, I am nothing. This piece... it took me almost two years topose." he said shamelessly, but this was the only way as he knew that Concerto No.21 was never a thing in this world. If he went around saying that he learnt from Mozart, then the people would give him weird looks.


    If there was one piece from his past life, which managed to get into this world, then that would be the great ssic, the moonlight sonata.


    ''Red Mist probably never had any knowledge about most of the ssics so there''s a high chance that she simply picked the moonlight sonata since it''s so famous.'' he thought, but Amelia walked towards him, huffing in anger.


    "Hey! You said no questions but you still answer ra. This is discrimination!"


    Keith wanted to say that ra was a special case, but didn''t as no one other than Amelia, him and ra knew of the whole picture. It was a checkmate from Amelia, so he sighed, "You still got your answer didn''t you? I''m sure you had the same question."


    "Well... that''s true, but... yeah, it''s still discrimination."


    Hearing this, Keith smirked, "Of course, I''m just paying you back for all the bullying you did when I was new to the job. ra was such an angel to me back then."


    "I... you... what? I bullied you? You''re not easy to bully!!!" She eximed almost on the verge of tears due to feeling frustrated from his antics, "I mean, I know that I wasn''t such a great friend back then and I did try to cause trouble but you always pped me back in your own way, you.... you lewd dog!"


    Hearing her talk about their past in such a way did make him feel slightly guilty. He gave her an apologetic smile and patted her head, only to realise that he was led on by her. He took his hand away and frowned, "You were the one who started everything and all I did was... actually, never mind. I''m hungry."


    He then walked over to ra dramatically, "Oh my lovely senior, please take me away from this witch.", elicitingughter from the others.


    ra chuckled and walked over to the firece to start the fire while the others followed. Keith ced his arm around Amelia shoulder and smirked as he whispered, "Bro, listen. You totally deserved it all but! I feel like that''s what makes our friendship so unique. Don''t you think so too?"


    "...." Amelia stayed silent as she frowned, "Sure, but you should stop calling me your bro. It makes me feel weird and not in a good way."


    "Okay." Keith nodded, "Let''s go eat... and also, tell me about today. Did anyone notable make contact with our team?"


    "Well... there''s my brother. We fought them and lost miserably. Brandon won against two of his opponents but he was way too tired by the time he fought the third guy. ra won against one and gave up once she saw my brother walk into the ring. As for me..." she said and blushed slightly from shame, "I took ra''s ce and lost without being able to do a thing. My brother isn''t an awakened but he''s a very strong knight. Maybe in two or three years, he''ll be able to receive the title of a royal knight too."


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    She then went on about various teams that were extremely friendly towards them, but then her expression turned serious.


    "Lastly... that rk guy came to us for a trade. He asked for two entire fishes and told us that he''ll pay us with a lot of weapons and ropes." she said and frowned, "Well, I don''t really like him so I told him to fuck off."


    "Hahahahaha! Great job, he''s a great scammer so there''s a high chance of him just ignoring us the next day if that happened. There are no rules that punish scammers."


    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and


    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 96 This Is What I Call A Business.

    [A/N: If you''re not interested in cooking/culinary stuff, feel free to skip this chapter.]The next day, Keith joined the others on the beach. This time too, he set up a stall, but it was pretty small compared to the first time. Just one box filled with ice, salt and fish. Though, on the side, there was a large clay pot that he had managed to get on his first day of trading.


    He also brought a fourth fish with him and used it to trade for various ingredients that he wanted so he could create the perfect dish. There were two wide wooden logs placed side by side, one of which Keith used as a stool and he placed a medium sized copper pot on the other.


    ''This is going to be physically straining.'' he thought as he tossed in some Yakka flour that he and his team made before adding some water into it. He then mixed it into a thick slurry, using his hands to break up the clumps of yakka flour that was floating on the top.


    Once the mixture was without any clumps, he poured it into the clay pot which was placed on top of three similar sized big stones. It was a time consuming process and by the time he was done, almost two hours had passed.


    He then rented a large pot that was slightly smaller than the one he had, and made fireplace for it too. Once the setup was complete, he made a fire and got the pots heating up. He tossed in some sugar into the yakka slurry to give it some kind of taste, but made sure that he didn''t add too much as he wanted the sweetness to be subtle.


    "Now, there''s no need for me to keep stirring this thing until most of the water is absorbed and evaporated." he muttered as he grabbed a smooth granite stone and planned to use it as a cutting board.


    He then grabbed the copper pot and dug into the multiple sacks that were filled with the things he had used the fourth fish to trade for. He tossed in a lot of tomatoes, onions, chillies, bell peppers, ginger, garlic and multiple other things.


    His plan was simple, to make a dish inspired by the beloved food of various African countries which was commonly known as Fufu. And most of the time, fufu was eaten with some kind of thick stew which was what he planned on making while the slurry cooked.


    He chopped up most of the ingredients, but paused when he got to the onions. He took out a small pocket watch from his pocket, which he borrowed from Clara and checked the time.


    ''10:13... yeah, I don''t have enough time and I''m also feeling lazy so let''s take the easy way out of this.'' he thought and began to peel the onions.


    Originally, he planned on cutting the onions into extremely small pieces, almost 1 to 2 millimetre cubes as it would give a great texture to the stew, but now that he was stressed for time, he cut them up into large chunks instead and planned on grinding them later with a stone.


    Once every ingredient that needed to be chopped was chopped, Keith tossed most them into the second pot and added in some water for them to boil. On the side, he grabbed a large but smooth wooden stick and used it to stir the Yakka slurry that had begun to thicken up.


    After making sure that there was nothing sticking to the bottom of the pot, he took out a fish from the ice box and filleted it. Once decent sized chunks were cut, he placed them on the side as they were still very cold and slightly frozen.


    Minutes quickly passed and during the time, Keith crushed and grinded most of the ingredients that had been boiled. Once the preparations were done, he went on to the final stage, pouring the flavourful water into the copper pot.


    He tossed in some oil, ginger, garlic and a few other spices to cook them slightly before pouring in the paste that he had made a while ago. As it boiled, he added in the fish chunks along with some yakka flour to make the stew slightly thick.


    The flavourful water also went in and Keith poured in more water until the pot was 90% full.


    "Now I only need to wait for this stew to cook but damn... this fufu is going to be hard work..." he said out loud before sighing. The main pot which was filled to the brim with yakka slurry had now gone down to 70% of it''s original volume.


    It grabbed the stick and pushed it in, easily feeling the resistance as the mixture had now turned thick and dense. He could feel some of it stuck to the bottom of the pan, so he did his best to scrape it used all of his strength to move the stick, mixing up the fufu more.


    A few minutes of hard work later, he pulled the stick out and dipped his hands in a bowl of clean water before he started to scrape off the fufu from the stick. He dipped his hands into the bowl multiple times to make sure that the fufu didn''t stick to his palms or burn him.


    Once he got most of it out, he poured some water over the fire and doused it. One the side, the stew was still cooking and after checking the time, he could tell that by the time the stew cooked completely, the break time would start.


    Which was exactly what happened. A long line formed in front of his stall as Amelia, Clara and everyone else in his team had spread the word about today''s stall. This was because Keith had noticed a trend in the market and that was ready made food. Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    People only got 2 hours of time to take a break and everyone valued it a lot. Cooking itself took up a huge chunk of their break time and due to this, the stalls that sold jerky, fruits, berries and any kind of ready to eat foods, were always in high demand.


    Keith looked at the long line and grinned, "Now this is what I call a business."

 Chapter 97 Clarks Desperate Offer

    Keith''s way of trading was very different compared to everyone else''s. To him, it didn''t matter if he was taking a loss as he had no shortage of fishes. He knew that the profits made from the training camp wouldn''t last forever and if taking a slight loss helped him with getting a better rank for his church, then he would do it.His rule for trading was simple and it was to trade points for his items. They couldn''t trade points directly, but it could still be done if the teams state that the credits of their work goes to Keith''s team. It was similar to having a share of a company.


    And in Keith''s case, each team was like an independent company.


    Those that did not have useful things to trade, would readily give away a part of their work''s credit to Keith''s team. This was because "credits" did not have any physical form and no one had access to the amount of points their teams made.


    It was similar to how it was easier to pay money online compared to handing out hard cash in his previous world, but here it was even more severe and elusive as no one knew how much they were making or spending.


    More than 80% of the people grabbed a plate or a bowl from the trade market. These were free to use, but they had to return everything back after cleaning them thoroughly.


    One by one, Keith gave them a ball of fufu along with a good amount of stew, making the dish look like a large white ball floating on top of a reddish orange pool. The fufu was hot, so the person who was in charge of making the balls was Nathan, but as time passed, Amelia, Clara and Caleb learned how to do it by using Keith''s method, which was dipping their hand in water to insulate their palms from heat for an extremely short period of time.


    As the number of people who made the fufu balls increased, the serving speed also increased. Laura took care of pouring the stew into everyone''s plate and Brandon took the role of a bouncer, making sure that no one stole any food.


    Keith on the other hand, took care of the trade deals while having an official neutral church member keep tabs on everyone''s trades, aka the amount of "shares" they were giving him access to.


    This neutral church member was actually a high priest of the Church of Art and he had a few other members of his church write down the names of all the teams along with their offers. They ignored everyone who gave physical things away and only paid attention to the ones who made an oath on giving over a part of their team''s credits.


    Minutes passed by and in just fifty minutes, the line was nowhere to be seen. Everyone was busy eating and some even came for seconds, to which Keith happily obliged. Since there weren''t too many customers now, he gave everyone in his team a plate and let them eat freely.


    To his surprise, he saw Clark walk over to his stall with a dark expression on his face, "On the name of War God Balmond, I make an oath to give you the credit of one third of everything my team gains."


    Keith normally just took around 5 to 10% for each team based on their number of members, so he was quite surprised by Clark''s oath. But the surprise didn''t last long as Clark continued.


    "In return, I want free lunch every day for my team until the training camp ends." S§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Keith immediately shook his head. As someone who was currently taking advantage of everyone''s need for proper food, there was no way he would allow Clark to scam him.


    "If you want free lunch everyday, then the minimum amount of credit I''ll accept is eighty percent."


    Hearing this Clark frowned, "You''re ripping me off."


    "Food is a necessity here, the thing that has the most demand and this is true especially for you." Keith said as he smirked. In the past few days, Clarks antics had offended a lot of people. Though he had mostly offended Timmy and technically Keith, by trying to go for Clara, it was a grave mistake on his end.


    Timmy was extremely influential and well known outside the island while Keith was extremely resourceful and charitable to almost everyone in the training camp. One used connections while the other used feelings to turn a lot of people against him.


    Clark was basically an outcast right at this moment and Keith had no plans on going easy on him even though Clark was someone whom he used to look up to in the past. Thanks to this, no one wanted to trade with Clark even if they had something to eat, such as fruits, berries or nuts.


    At this point, Keith was one of the very few who was willing to trade with Clark and he was the only one who seemed like he had a foolproof way of acquiring food.


    Clark glared at Keith, trying to intimidate him, but Keith didn''t budge. Instead, he frowned at Clark and spoke out, "If you have a problem, feel free to leave. I''m open to bargains but I don''t appreciate being threatened indirectly."


    "Forty percent." Clark said and Keith shook his head, "Hundred percent."


    "What the hell? You said you were open to bargain but this is too shameless!" he exclaimed as he banged the table with his fists.


    Keith looked up at him and clicked his tongue, "Keep in mind that this table belongs to the trade market. If you damage it, it''s you who''ll have to pay for it. Also, I did say that I''m open to bargains and that''s exactly what I''m doing right now. Hundred percent is my offer, what do you say?"


    Seeing Keith''s playful smirk, Clark felt like punching his face in, but held back. He rubbed his temples with a frown on his face before making another offer, "Fifty percent and on top of that, I''ll help you out in the future events as long as it doesn''t harm my team''s resources or interests."

 Chapter 98 Keiths Grand Performance

    Keith readily agreed to this offer as help was way more valuable than the extra 50%. At the very least, to him it was more valuable as he didn''t really lack sources of income. Or in other words, shares or credits.Clark just gave him a nod and made a new oath before calling his other two teammates. Keith on the other hand, asked him a few questions that he was curious about. Continue your story on empire


    "I didn''t expect you to look for food if I''m being honest. Are you facing any problems?"


    "...." Clark turned away from his teammates and looked at Keith, "Yes. We were tossed onto the other end of this island and at that place, there''s only rocks along the beach that are hard, smooth and black in colour. There''s no coconut trees and I''ve barely seen any animals there. Though, I did find a few crabs and turtles which we cooked and ate right away but now there''s nothing for us to eat there."


    Keith nodded as he walked over to his pots. He gave them their portions and sent them away before he too put some for himself. He then joined his team and ate with them until the break time was over.


    Just as the church officials were about to leave, Keith called out to them, "Hey guys, I want to trade this fufu to you guys. I mean, I know that you guys have great food but I''m sure that you never tasted this dish."


    The head priest looked at his people, who looked extremely interested and nodded, "Sure, these guys will take care of the trades. I have other things to do right now."


    Once the head priest left, Keith traded away all of the fufu but kept some stew for himself and his team so that he could reheat it at night for dinner. He then cleaned up the pots and utensils before taking some well needed rest.


    The people gathered at one place and sat close to their team members. Each team sat beside each other, but with a distance of half a meter between them, forming a large circle with a lot of empty space in the middle.


    At the circumference of the circle, were two large gaps that were almost five meters wide. Keith sat on his log and watched people walk up to the centre of the circle to perform various things. Some straight up displayed paintings and calligraphy that they made in advance with their instructors backing their claims that they didn''t do it before the training camp started.


    Then there were people who displayed their dancing skills, some who played various musical instruments and then there were also people who showed off their efficiency with the swords. Many people had something unique to show even though they did something similar like dancing or singing. Time quickly passed as there were too many people who had things to show off.


    Even though the sun had gone down, people still stayed to watch the others perform.


    Keith on the other hand talked to a few of the officials and had his grand piano moved to the centre of the circle. He was considered an injured person and had the rights to stay at camp and do nothing, but he decided to just go for it as he had other plans for the next few days.


    There were multiple candles placed around him and his piano but the flames were dancing gently despite the occasional gusts of wind.


    "And now, ladies and gentlemen. We have Keith Zenister from Team Sera and he will be performing a piece that he composed on his own, and this piece is called the Concerto number twenty one."


    People muttered for a few seconds and Keith let them blabber around until he placed his fingers on the piano. With one fluid motion, he pressed down on ten keys, emitting a loud and rich, resonant sound that instantly quietened the crowd.


    With just the sounds of the gentle breeze and the fluttering of leaves as the background music, Keith began his performance. The way his hands moved around the keyboard wasn''t elegant, like most others who tried to be as graceful as possible, waving their hands and fingers up and back down to the keys when they played a slow tune.


    His way of pressing the keys was sharp and direct. He didn''t go around waving his hands and instead, his fingers would quickly travel to the next key and rest there until the key had to be pressed. S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Unlike his crude and direct method, the music that came out was absolutely graceful. It set up a confident and joyful tone as he resonated in the air. This continued on for almost a minute before Keith added in a few more key presses, making the music sound even more smooth, like it was flowing effortlessly.


    A few more minutes passed as people enjoyed the music, some of their eyes slightly closed thanks to the music''s calmness. A very small number of people had tears in their eyes but the effect was present. Keith did not really understand why people would even cry over something like this, but he factored it to himself not being able to understand the music very well.


    As time passed, he moved on to add random key notes into the mix, making the listeners confused at first, but then most of them realised that the music was still graceful and only sounded slightly different.


    It was still as enjoyable as before.


    Keith''s fingers slowed down and so did the music until he ended it with a dramatic effect just the way he started, by pressing ten different keys at once, making a loud but reverberating strong sound.


    The silence remained in the air, most of them still waiting for Keith to continue, but he didn''t and silently got up from his stool before bowing down to the people.


    "Oh." the commentator said before clapping his hands, "And a round of applause for this amazing performance from Team Sera!!!"


    Keith walked towards his team with a grin on his face and once he got close, he looked at Amelia, "How did the talks about a group dance go?"

 Chapter 99 Claras Needs and Expectations

    For the next two weeks, Keith continued on with his regular schedule. Free time was basically just the time period where people weren''t given any responsibilities and could do whatever they wanted. But this didn''t mean that they couldn''t rest while working in the morning.As long as their team was making sure that the work was getting done, then a few members would do their own thing. This trend was started by Adrian, who was Amelia''s brother and it was implemented by Timmy who made it popular by walking around with his fathers concubines, showing them off.


    Keith''s way of rolling logs on the beach was also copied by various teams and had become a norm in the training camp by now. With these two methods combined, the teams put in a 100% effort at the first 30 to 60 minutes and once the wooden bridges for rolling other logs were created, they split up and went ahead to do various other things.


    Most of the teams from Art church focused on recreational activities and art based things while Medicine and money churches focused on their own specifications. They had to depend more on trading and they did their best but the churches of War and Protection really had nothing that made them stand out.


    Due to this, most of them just joined the other churches and followed their examples while doing things together. Between the three churches, these two were the neutral parties with one side having the most beloved team among the masses, Keith''s Team Sera. And on the other side there was Clark''s Team Death which most people hated, included his own War church members.


    But even with so many people against him, Clark still went on with his days as usual but he did not cause any more trouble.


    Keith''s team on the other hand had unanimously decided to split into two. One would take care of their food business and the other would join the other teams to prepare for the recreational events. Amelia, Clara and Keith were on the second team.


    Amelia was a great dancer, specialising in ball room dances while Keith had established himself as a great Pianist. Even though this was where he made a name for himself, he still participated in dance practices with two different groups.


    Clara on the other hand, followed Keith''s footsteps and decided to learn how to dance.


    Brandon was the only one who took care of transporting the logs as he didn''t get tired easily and after almost an hour, there was requirement for him to even use most of his energy.


    Nathan, Laura and Caleb. The trainee inquisitor trio took care of cooking up fufu and stew based on Keith''s recipe and made sure that everything was ready before break time. In just two weeks, everyone had gotten so efficient with their roles, that it was barely physically straining to any of them.


    But among all the positive things, there was one person who was struggling the most.


    Clara sat down on a wooden log and took a few sips of water from her canteen as her eyes kept looking at the dancing group where Keith was currently with. Amelia walked over to her and sat down beside her, but Clara''s attention was completely fixated on Keith and the group.


    "Oi, I''m talking to you!" Amelia said as she pinched Clara''s belly, making her wince slightly.


    "What? Sorry I wasn''t paying attention."


    Amelia shook her head, "You know, if you''re having trouble with the dance, you should just ask Keith to practice with you. I''m sure that he wouldn''t say no. On one end, he''s too worried about Timmy and on the other hand, you''re too worried about Keith''s opinions. One of you must make a move, Clara. I also know that the only reason you joined the two of us was so that you can spend more time with him."


    Clara sighed, "But what''s the point. Those people tell Keith to dance with other women instead of me... I was even pushed out into the trainee group instead of the main one where both you and Keith currently are."


    "That''s exactly why I''m telling you to ask Keith to help you out. He started out at the same point as you and now he''s almost as good as me. Heck, I''ve been practising this shit for more than a decade and he''s managed to fill in the gap in just two weeks. It''s frustrating to say this but that bastard is talented, very talented.


    You should see how the tribal dance group praise him. It''s like he never gets tired nowadays and no matter how much he has to stomp his foot onto the sand, he keeps doing it. But both of us know how much he worked to get to his point. After all, you were the one who put medicine on his blisters last week." Amelia said as she hugged Clara from the side.


    Clara nodded as she turned to look at Keith who was standing in a circle with the others in the group, jumping around as he moved sideways energetically.


    "But he''s not wrong about Timmy... he could cause a lot of problems if he saw me being extremely close to another man. The first thing he''ll do once the camp ends, is to go to Timothy and complain about me and his father always listens to him, so I''ll be forcefully married off." she said, knowing very well that Keith''s logic made a lot of sense, but she also wanted to spend time with him and her patience was running out even though she wasn''t expressing it.


    Amelia shook her head, "He only thinks about the extremes, that idiot. Like listen to me okay? You dancing with Keith is only for the events. Even if Timmy sees you training with him, there''s no way he''ll think that you have a romantic interest in Keith unless you start doing... you know... those kind of things in public.


    Discover hidden tales at empire


    Think of it from Timmy''s point of view. Will he really get suspicious when he sees you dancing with Keith when Keith is literally supposed to dance with 5 different women during out dance performance?" Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 100 Week 4 Commencement of Camp Wars (Extra Chapter)

    On the same night, after all of the teams performed, the old announcer walked to the center of the circle and raised his hands up, "Alright everyone, I need silence."He looked around at everyone for a few seconds as they paid attention to him.


    "Congratulations, all of you have managed to do great during these first three weeks. But from tomorrow onwards, for seven days, you will be free from all labour. You won''t have to come here to work and nor will anyone help you to teleport to this beach." he said, and from the crowd, there was a shout.


    "What''s the catch, old man?"


    The guy chuckled, "Heheh, it''s time for camp wars. The trade market will not be available during the week and for every trade that you do among each other, fifty percent of it will go to us as tax. The only way of not getting taxed is by taking over a camp, steal things from other teams and there''s multiple other ways on how you can gain the resources that you need.


    Just keep in mind that your trainers will be keeping an eye on you guys. You can take over a camp and if you do, that team will belong to you. No matter what happens the losing team will have to listen to your orders and if they don''t, they''ll be disqualified from the camp wars. They''ll also be forced to do labour until the training camp is finished and they won''t be allowed to participate in events.


    Lastly, the things that belong to your teams will be transported to a different island that''s very close to Baroma Kingdom and is technically a part of this kingdom. Baroma Island is way smaller than the one we''re currently at, so the fight for resources will be tough. You can also choose which things you wish to take but just so you know, your tents and shelters will stay back in this island."


    Hearing his words, the jolly atmosphere vanished instantly. Many of the teams from war church had smirks on their faces as they had been over shadowed by teams from the other churches until now and they finally felt like their chance had arrived.


    The teams from the church of Protection on the other hand, had neutral gazes in their eyes since they were welcomed to join other teams pretty easily thanks to Keith''s influence. Even outside the island, they always had a good name, so everyone were amicable with them. S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It was the teams Church of Money and Arts that felt like they would be at a disadvantage during this event as most of their members were unawakened users and even the awakened users were mostly non-combatant types.


    The teams from the Church of Medicine weren''t too worried as they''d been stocking up on poisons, weird drugs and also medicines, all of which would help them out massively during the next week.


    With most of the teams'' moods dampened, they teleported back to their camps silently. Keith and his team also popped up in front of their tents, but the moment they did, everyone looked at Keith, including Brandon.


    "What''s the plan?" Brandon asked as he leisurely sat down on the ground, in front of the campfire before he grabbed a small pot and passed it to Caleb who went ahead and filled up half of it with the filtered water. He and Laura began to make some fufu for dinner while Nathan placed the leftover stew onto the fire where the smoking racks were placed.


    Keith followed Brandon''s example and sat down near the fireplace before thinking.


    "Well, we need to pack up the most important things first. We have more than a hundred kilos of yakka flour left, so we''ll be taking that with us along with all the dried fish and meat jerky." he said as he glanced at the large sack that was filled to the top with dry fish meat.


    More than 90% of the fruits and berries that Keith had got from trading, was used to trade for beef jerky as fruits and berries had low shelf life. Beef jerky alone filled up more than four sacks, so Keith had no shortage of protein sources.


    "Same with all the salt that we managed to hoarde until now, but we don''t need too much of it, so we''ll only take a small bag of salt. We''re only going to stay there for a week, so taking too much won''t be a good move."


    Laura looked up at him as she was breaking up the yakka clumps to make the slurry, "Then why are we taking so much yakka flour and jerky with us? Won''t that be too much to carry too?"


    "I''m guessing that he wants to use this to make people come to our side." Amelia said as she looked at Keith, who nodded, "Yeah, there are too many teams that don''t have access to any useful resources, especially food. All these days, they''ve only been eating one meal a day so they''re weak compared to the other teams.


    We simply ask them to surrender to us and promise them that we won''t mistreat them. They have a good opinion about our team so I''m pretty confident that most of them will agree. As for the others, we''ll just tell them that we have no intentions of fighting them, but we''ll threaten them. If they try to attack us, then we won''t hold back.


    And with so much man power in our team, unless the others team up completely, they won''t be able to even compare to us. It''s just a safe defensive plan where we''ll use our resources to build up a huge group to repel the offensive teams. Simple, isn''t it?"


    "But what about the church of medicine? I heard them talking about poisons..." Clara said, frowning.


    Keith chuckled, "Oh, I''ve talked to most of them already and most of their teams are joining us. I also asked a few people to spread some word around since I didn''t have enough time to talk to all the teams. Anyways, once we''re done eating, let''s get to work. There''s so many things that we must leave behind this time."


    [A/N: SynOcean... bro 28 golden tickets... that''s 5 extra chapters. Do you want to torture me? T.T]


    Well, a promise is a promise I guess...

 Chapter 101 A Change of Rules Targetting Keiths Interests

    The next morning, Keith stood along with his team while he carried a large bag of beef jerky in one hand and had his other hand placed on his water filter. Everyone in his team carried something or the other and they still managed to make physical contact with each other while they stood in a line.Instructor Sera looked at them and nodded before teleporting them to the beach. Unlike the previous days, almost all the teams were early this time. But there was another difference too.


    Keith saw four people walk towards him, and he recognized one of them. It was the Protection Church''s Archbishop and Seraphina''s apostle, Maria.


    They walked over to his team and Maria let out a soft sigh before speaking, "I''m sorry but there will be some changes to the rules. We''ll announce them in two hours but since it''s heavily connected to you guys, it''ll be better if you learn about it first."


    Keith frowned and so did the others from his team.


    "Firstly, there is a weight limit over food items and it''s one kilogram per person. Weapons are allowed, but you''re not allowed to use it during fights. Luckily for you guys, weapons, armors and anything summoned through awakened abilities will be allowed." she said as she looked at Nathan.


    Then she shook her head once again before continuing, "You will not be allowed to team up with other teams or take them under your wing anymore. The teams that you defeat, will be sent back to this island directly and as a punishment for losing, their salaries will be cut by half for six months. They''ll also have all of their achievement or in other words, their credits annulled, which means everything that they did until now will be useless. I hope you''re understanding how severe this rule will affect you."


    Keith made eye contact with her and nodded grimly. All of the oaths and credit shares that he managed to receive through trading until now would go down the drain if his team loses. All of the new rules targeted his team. First was by limiting resources that he could carry and due to this, he wouldn''t be allowed to bribe other teams.


    Though, this rule didn''t really do much thanks to the other rules. If he couldn''t take other teams under his wing, then having too many resources wouldn''t really help him in any way and instead, make him a target for other teams.


    ''This rule is most probably for keeping the other teams with too many resources in check too. Like Timmy''s team....'' he thought and sighed. The main advantage he had, was now gone.


    The gears in his head turned as he tried to come up with a new plan while Maria and the other three people watched him. Almost a minute later, he looked at Maria, ignoring the other three.


    "When it comes to food items, are spices, sugar, oil and other similar things included?"


    Maria heard his question and frowned as she looked at the other three who were beside her. Then she closed her eyes for a few seconds before opening them, "Sugar will be included but the others won''t. Can you specify what items you''re talking about? Just in case we don''t miss anything important."


    "It doesn''t matter really, I only wanted information on sugar, salt, spices and oils." he said as he shook his head. Then he turned to look at his team and Instructor Sera, "We need to change the things we''re gonna take with us. Can we go back to the camp so we can put them back there? Also, I need a scale to measure things."


    Instructor Sera nodded and his teammates formed a line once again. Instructor Sera ran over to the trade market and grabbed a scale along with some weights before running back to the team. They were brought back to their camp right after that and Keith looked at his teammates, all of whom looked absolutely disgruntled just like him.


    "I know it sucks guys... but we have to change our strategy." he said before smirking, "There''s another loophole hehe, just keep in mind that unless our entire team is captured or defeated, the defeat won''t count. So as long as at least one person is somewhere out there, hiding and alive, then we wouldn''t be punished."


    "Next, we need to pick important supplies." he said and looked at Brandon, Nathan, and Laura who were carrying the most important things, the things that he currently needed.


    "We''ll need four kilos of yakka flour, one kilogram of sugar and two kilos of beef jerky. We won''t be taking dry fish with us since they contain slightly more moisture and aren''t as dense as beef jerky. Due to this, beef jerky is more... let''s just say efficient when it comes to weight." he said and looked at Caleb, "Will you take care of weighing them for us please?"


    "Of course." Caleb said as he went ahead and began to do his thing.


    Keith on the other hand, continued, "It''s a pity, but we''ll have to dismantle this water filter since it''s not really convenient to carry directly. We just need the leather and we''ll be able to craft this again. Next, we need a lot of oil since I plan to make some chips with yakka flour. This way, it won''t be as heavy as fufu and it''ll also have great shelf life, so we just need to make them once and carry them around like we do with jerky."


    "With jerky and yakka chips with us, we should be able to manage without having to actively hunt or attack other teams. Our plan will be to simply hide and when someone wishes to fight us, we just run. The next week will be extremely tough on us as we won''t be setting up a camp. We won''t have a comfortable place to sleep, but as long as we huddle together and cover ourselves with a blanket, we should be able to stay warm during the night."


    Clara spoke up next with a worried frown on her face, "Won''t we also need someone to stay on watch while the others sleep at night?"


    [A/N: We''ll be stopping the GT event cuz I can''t keep up. But worry not, the promised extra chapters will still come.]


    Current GT count: 71


    Extra Chapters Needed: 11


    Extra Chapters Posted: 2


    Pending: 9


    The current extra chapter count will stay the same since I don''t wish to betray any of your trust. But instead of GT, I''ll change it to gifts instead.


    Luxury Car: 1 Extra Chapter


    Dragon: 2 Extra Chapters


    Castle: 4 Extra Chapters


    Additional Note: Thank you for all the support guys, it means a lot. To not overwhelm myself and decrease the quality of the chapters, I''ll post 1 or 2 extra chapters every day until we bring the pending chapters down to 0. Cuz damn, including my daily schedule, it''ll be a total of 12 chapters if I try to get all extra chapters done.


    S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 102 When Live Gives You Tamarinds, Take It

    The team did their preparations and teleported back to the beach with drawn out expressions on their faces. None of them liked the new changes, but they couldn''t do anything about it.Maria was surprised to see how much their luggage had changed. Before, everyone had atleast one large bag beside them, but now only Brandon had a medium sized sack. She then saw that everyone had two small leather pouches tied to their waists.


    "You don''t have to worry, we don''t have any money inside these." Keith said and showed her the contents of the leather pouch.


    A dark green paste was in one pouch and the second one was filled with light yellow, round pills. Everyone had the same pair of pouches with the same contents inside.


    One of the people beside Maria spoke up, "Hmm, a multipurpose paste that can do a lot of things like help with muscle recovery and every open wounds, while the yellow pills will make you guys feel less pain. Nice thinking."


    Keith looked at the middle aged man and nodded, "Thank you for the compliment, sir."


    The four of them checked all of Team Sera''s luggage and once they made sure that the rules were followed, they left them alone and walked away. Keith then let out a sigh and sat down on the cold sand.


    Time quickly passed and once all the teams had arrived, the old man made an announcement about the new changes, after which every single team had to go back to change what they''d bring with them.


    Most of them were extremely disgruntled as they had plucked a lot of fruits, berries and some had even hunted a few animals, most of which would go to waste now.


    Unfortunately for them, the church officials didn''t give a damn about them and went on with their duties until everyone was ready again. It was almost 10 AM now and Keith was also getting tired of waiting.


    "Looks like everyone is ready for a new adventure!" the old man said, his face full of smiles while everyone looked at him with hate-filled eyes, directing their frustrations towards the poor announcer.


    He coughed slightly and continued, "Well, you''ll be transported to Baroma Island in three, two and... one!"


    .....


    There was no change.


    Everyone stood silently, waiting for their surroundings to change but nothing happened. Experience tales at empire


    Just as they were about to look at the announcer to ask is he was messing around with them, it happened.


    Kieth found himself with his team in middle of a sparse forest. Unlike the previous island, the trees here had an average distance of 8 meters between them and their trunks were extremely thick, almost as thick as five average sized humans huddled together.


    There were thinner and thicker trees too, but the trees with trunks of approximate diameter of 1 meter were more common.


    Keith looked up and saw a familiar looking fruit.


    It was light brown in color and was long. With just one look, he could tell what it was and he couldn''t help but smile.


    "Tamarind trees." he said and looked at the other trees nearby, most of whom were also tamarind trees.


    He looked at his teammates and his gaze stopped at Laura, "Um, can you go up there and send some tamarinds down for me please? I wanna eat them..."


    Tamarinds did give calories, but they were acidic and sour so eating too much of them was never a good idea. But to Keith, this screamed of his childhood and he couldn''t say no to the nostalgia.


    For the first time, Clara felt like she was seeing stars in his eyes but she also felt like it was like an illusion. As Laura transformed into a snake and slithered up the tree, Keith''s eye never left her, which also burned a flame in Clara stomach even though she didn''t like this feeling.


    She stood behind him with a slightly annoyed pout but she didn''t say anything. She watched Laura shake the branch violently, making multiple tamarinds fall while Keith hurriedly crawled over to grab them.


    Unable to take it anymore, she turned to look at another tamarind tree and like an agile cat, she climbed up effortlessly before she walked on top of a branch until she got close to the end where a bunch of tamarinds were hanging at.


    With one slight push downwards, she made the branch bend and then used this to propel herself upwards. She went up by two meters before gracefully stepping back down on the branch, bending it so much that it cracked and fell to the ground along with her.


    Unfortunately, this time she got unlucky and her foot landed on the branch, which rolled forward and made her lose balance. Keith stuffed his pockets with all the tamarinds that he had collected and rushed over towards her.


    "Just what are you doing? We don''t need so many tamarinds... are you alright?" he asked as he offered his hand, which she took.


    Once he pulled her up, she looked away from him and said, "I thought we might need more."


    "Oh, well if you guys wanna eat them then yeah I guess we can take more." Ketih said as he nodded and grabbed the branch, "Once we wash the leaves, even they''ll be tasty but I doubt you guys would like it."


    Keith knew that his taste for tamarind leaves was something that most people would call an "acquired taste". He looked at the others who were clearly disinterested, at least everyone except Clara for some reason.


    So he went on with the explanation, "They''re also sour but they also have a leafy taste to them and I personally like them a lot." he said but kept the next sentence in his own head, ''I used to eat them in classes to pass time too...'' S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He grabbed a ripe tamarind and peeled off the hard, brittle shell before giving a small piece to her, "Here, have a taste if you like. There''s a seed inside by the way."


    She put the small piece into her mouth and instantly, her face scrunched up, "Eyaak! Sourr!"

 Chapter 103 Timmys Threat Diminished

    "Eyaak! Sourr!" she exclaimed, but then a look of surprise flashed on her face, "Why is it sweet all of a sudden? I mean...""Heheheh" Keith smirked before looking at his teammates, this time his expression serious, "We need to find a good place to rest first."


    There were multiple system screen in front of him, none of which his teammates could see. Each one of them gave Keith information on the actions of some key teams, the ones that were among the better teams. It was too much work to keep an eye on every screen, but Keith did his best.


    Clara and Caleb stuffed their pockets with the rest of the tamarinds while Amelia carried the branch that Clara had broken. Keith silently walked with them as he licked the ripe tamarind in his hands, enjoying it as he remembered his childhood.


    After a few minutes, they heard a commotion to their right and the first thing that Keith did was to look at Laura, "Spy for us?"


    "Okay." she replied and gave him her leather pouches before she transformed. Her clothes stretched along with her body and the more she became snake like, the more they stretched. Then the scales formed over the clothes and covered them entirely.


    Team Sera watched Laura slither away and Keith pointed at the trees nearby, "Let''s hide behind these trees." S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As everyone rushed to different trees, Amelia pushed Clara towards Keith, who had walked over to the tree that was furthest from the direction at which the commotion was happening.


    "Go go. This is the perfect time, like... one tree should be able to hide two people easily." she whispered hurriedly and pushed Clara again, who jogged over to Keith with no other option. Or at least that was what she wanted to believe.


    Deep inside, she just wanted to spend more time with him but a large part of her stopped her from not listening to Keith''s words, which clearly said that they shouldn''t act too lovey dovey openly. It was like rowing a boat against the river currents and Amelia''s push was akin to her rows getting stuck between two rocks, letting the boat freely move with the river''s currents.


    Keith simply wanted to focus on the system screens so that he could spot the ones who were close to him, but when he saw Clara walk over to him, he looked at her with a confused expression on his face.


    "Hmm?"


    "Two of us can hide together right?" Clara asked as she walked closer, remembering Amelia''s words from last night. She didn''t know what made her do it, but by the time she realised what she had done, her body was already pressing against his.


    Keith''s brain was just confused as Clara was someone who never made the first move, but his little brother was a different case entirely as he woke up from his deep slumber.


    The first thing in Keith''s mind was concern. He looked down at her with a worried look on his face and when he saw her bright red face, he didn''t know what to say. Was it fever? Was she blushing? Or did she eat some suspicious mushrooms? He didn''t know.


    "You... are you alright?" he asked, making her face even more red until she couldn''t take it anymore. Embarrassment consumed the entirety of her being as she closed his eyes and bumped her head onto his chest repeatedly before finally saying, "Jerk."


    Keith squinted his eyes. He wasn''t sure what she wanted or what was going on in her mind, but facing such a scenario, he had to test it out on his own.


    He put the rest of the tamarind into his mouth and looped his arms, hugging her back. He instantly felt her body relax, almost melting into him. With this, he finally understood what she wanted and let out a soft sigh as he gamble had paid off.


    "You know, if you want something, you don''t have to hesitate about talking to me about it. I know that we talked about starting out as friends and stuff but that''s only because I didn''t want our whole thing to just be about pure lust. But I also didn''t mean that we have to completely refrain from doing the romantic things." he whispered as he rubbed the back of her chest and felt her nod.


    Clara looked up at him, her gaze soft, but worried.


    "What about Timmy? You said that if he sees us together, it will cause trouble..."


    Keith smiled, "Oh, you don''t have to worry about him when he''s not here to see us."


    "Okay." she replied and put her face into his chest, not asking any questions. Keith looked up at a tree in front of him and smiled slightly, which soon turned into a smirk as he thought about Timmy.


    In the past two weeks, he wasn''t sitting still. He had been sending Vincent on multiple quests, all of them targeting the Sanders'' businesses and currently, Vincent was travelling from Morose to Baroma Kingdom as he had already robbed and destroyed most of the main businesses in Morose Kingdom.


    Timmy''s father had almost 50% of his businesses in Kazak Empire, 35% in Morose Kingdom and 15% in Baroma Kingdom. These were only the legal businesses, but Keith had his plans for their slave trading business, which he wanted to personally take care of later.


    With more than 35% businesses in shambles and having a looming threat over their heads, the chances of the Sanders'' family taking action against Clara to forcefully wed her to Timothy were diminished.


    Due to this, Keith wasn''t too afraid of the consequences if Timmy did see him and Clara together anymore.


    He spent a few minutes with Clara in his embrace until he heard Laura slither back to the team. Experience tales at empire


    "Just two teams that fought against each other for food. One of them got teleported back but the other team is pretty injured. I also checked the surroundings and there''s no one nearby." she said after she transformed back to her human form.


    Hearing this, Keith grinned, "Nice."

 Chapter 104 Clarks Devilish Plans (Extra Chapter)

    Keith and his team silently stood a few meters away while Nathan beat up the whole team. They barely had any awakened in their team and on top of that, they were tired and wounded. It was very easy to beat them all up.As he watched the show, Keith realised something important from the information that Laura had told him as he walked over to check out the results of the fight.


    ''They basically fought because they didn''t have any resources.'' he mused, ''Most teams did not have the food problem before but now that trading isn''t allowed, they''ll have no choice but to fight for it. Though, more than 80% of the teams should have brought their own food the other 20% who didn''t have much to trade for, will not let them go.''


    Once he understood this, he shared his thoughts with the others while Nathan brought back a large bag filled with berries and fruits.


    "-due to this, there should be a lot of fights in the first and second day. Then, for at least two or three more days, there should be peace as most people do have food. It''s the last two to three days when we''ll see a lot of fights take place on this island. Those that know about wild edible berries won''t really go on the offensive, but the others will surely try to attack them for the food that they''ve hoarded." he said and stomped his foot on the ground in front of him.


    "We''ll start a fire here. it''s better to prepare before things become hellish." he said and suddenly jerked to his right, his fist flying towards the empty space beside Brandon. He felt his fist making contact with something and he also heard a painful yelp.


    With his eyes fixated on three system screens in front of him, he spoke, "Just show yourself kid, or I''ll have Nathan swing his sword randomly. Sure we might face punishments, but we can always say that we were just swinging at the air and suddenly the sword hit you."


    The moment the words escaped his lips, a familiar looking guy appeared. One of his hand covered his private parts while he had a knife in the grip of his other hand.


    "Clark.... this is just getting annoying at this point. Why did you pick us?" Keith asked as he looked around randomly, trying his best to act like he didn''t know where he was.


    The information on his system screen had already exposed Clark''s team and Keith knew from the start that the three of them were hiding silently, watching the fight happen way before Laura even went to see.


    A few seconds after he said that, he hard footsteps from his right, from the direction where his team originally came from. Clark kept his distance from them, but he took out a small clay pot from the girl''s bag.


    "Let him go and I''ll give you this antidote. I won''t tell you when it should be used but I can tell you how to use it. Mix one pinch of this power with water and drink it." he said as he placed the pot on the ground.


    Keith''s expression was stoic. He already knew of Clark''s plans, but he still glanced at the so-called antidote. His gaze went back to the system screen, just to confirm if it actually was an antidote or not.


    [Clark placed the pot filled with antidote power on the ground as he requests for the release of his teammate.]


    Satisfied, Keith looked at Brandon who now hand his arm on the guy''s shoulder.


    "Let him go and hmm... grab the pot that Clark throws at you to distract you while he runs away with his team." he said and looked at Clark who nodded in understanding before taking the pot back into his hands.


    The moment the invisible guy joined back with his team, Clark threw the pot at Brandon''s face before running away, which Brandon easily caught. The lid was also made of clay, but it was sealed with wheat flour and had dried up by now.


    "Why did you listen to him? If we eliminated that invisible pervert, we would have weakened his team a lot..." Amelia said as she looked at him with a frown on her face.


    Keith gave her a wry smile as he gave her the answer he had prepared a few minutes ago.


    "A few minutes after we gathered the tamarinds, I suddenly got some slight goosebumps. I looked around and paused as I looked towards the south as my pinky was twitching. Do you know what''s in that direction?"


    "There''s a pond in that direction." Caleb said as he frowned, "But there shouldn''t be any problem with the pond right?"


    Keith nodded, "Normally, there wouldn''t be any problem but what did Clark give us? An antidote. And what did he tell us about it? To mix it with water."


    "Can you just get to the point?" Laura asked, clearly out of patience as Keith was just going around in circles asking them questions instead of giving them the answers directly.


    Smiling, Keith revealed, "I suspect that Clark has already poisoned the pond and came here after doing that. You do remember what happened back at the other island right? The church officials took out quite a bit of berries and fruits from that girls bag along with a large bag of powder and a few pots that looked like the one we have right now."


    "Oh yeah, they said that the powder itself can be considered as a food since it doesn''t fit the category of spices or oils. I was pretty surprised that he chose that bag of powder instead of fruits... are you trying to say that this big bag had the poison?" Amelia said and Keith nodded in response.


    "Yup. A person can survive up to a month without food, but without water, the limit is only three or four days. Clark can simply poison the only water source in this island and starve for a week in hiding while everyone else gets disqualified by getting weak due to the poisoned water." Discover stories at empire Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    [A/N: Extra Chapters Left: 8]

 Chapter 105 Initial Preparations Done, Its Time To Steal

    In the next few hours, it was Brandon and Clara who took care of the cooking while everyone else were keeping an eye on their surroundings. The thing they were making wasn''t an easy thing to make thanks to the lack of certain instruments, culinary skill and time.But since Brandon was there, he solved most of the problems.


    Keith''s plan was simple. He got his team to make fufu but he got them to make it extremely thick and dense. It was this part that was hard as it got very difficult to knead the thing in the latter stages. The sugar was also added into the fufu just to make sure that he could pack in as many calories into it as possible.


    But once that was done, Brandon grabbed a small amount in his hand and smeared a thin layer onto his stone skin fingers before dipping them into hot oil. The thin layer of fufu would separate and float in the oil while he continued this step multiple times.


    By the time they were done making all the chips, it was already evening. Everyone had already tasted the chips and no one particularly liked it, except for Nathan who seemed to have gotten addicted to them as he had chomped down on more than 50 chips already.


    Keith didn''t like them either, but at this point, the chips were a means to an end. They were currently a great source of carbohydrates. He packed all the chips into 7 small cloth bags and tied them to the end of a stick.


    "Here, everyone gets one and please do make sure that you don''t eat everything in one sitting. For the next few days, we should be able to survive on these fruits and berries." he said and grabbed a stick for himself before he pointed at a large rock.


    "You guys should go to bed. We''ll need two people to keep watch while everyone is sleeping and we''ll make two groups. Those who''re ready to keep watch at night can join my team and those who want to sleep normally can just go to that rock and close your eyes. I only need three people in my group."


    The first one was Clara, and Keith didn''t really want to see her mess up her sleep but just as he was about to look for someone else, Amelia joined her too. The other four had no interest in keeping watch at night and Keith felt like it would be too much if he tried to force them into the night shift when two people were ready to do it.


    With a wry smile on his face, he shook his head before looking at the trainee Inquisitor trio and Brandon.


    "Welp, just huddle together and cover yourselves with blankets. That should be enough to keep you warm. The fire will also probably help... Oh yeah Caleb, just control the air near the fire and bring it in towards yourselves. Once you feel enough heat, just cover yourself with the blanket and it should be enough to trap the heat. Do put a few on the ground too." he said, instructing them as they tried to set things up for a decent sleep.


    Keith watched them huddle together and a few minutes later they were fast asleep. He took a swig from his water canteen and sat down on a stone before looking at the two girls, "If you guys are sleepy, feel free to take a short nap. This week will be frustrating."


    He had multiple system screens in front of him thanks to the system seeds he had placed on almost all the people in the training program. Most of them were sleeping, but there were a few that were lurking around, searching for prey.


    Amelia looked at him with fiery competitive spirit in her eyes, "Do you think that I can''t stay awake for just one night? You''re underestimating my capabilities, the capabilities of the midnight princess."


    "What about you? It''s not a good thing to stay awake at night and you know that right?" he asked as he turned to Clara, ignoring Amelia almost entirely but the slight smirk that tugged at his lips said another thing. Amelia knew him pretty well at this point and when she saw the smirk that he was trying to suppress, she knew that he was trying to get her to rage.


    "Hmph, annoying dog." she cursed him before looking away.


    Clara chuckled slightly before looking at Keith, "Okay, I''ll take some short naps until I get used to this schedule."


    But what Keith didn''t expect, was to see her latch onto his arm and use his shoulder as a headrest.


    He blinked twice and sighed slightly. While he didn''t necessarily dislike this, especially when his arm was buried in her bosom, he had something important to do tonight. Something that would keep his team''s morale high.


    But he stopped himself as there was no need for him to hurry with his plans. He had the leeway to spend some time with her, even if it was a time spent in silence.


    Almost an hour later, Keith was about to wake her up but she had never gone to sleep. Discover hidden content at empire


    "Oh, you''re awake." he commented as he separated from her reluctantly, "I have something I want to do.... like go to someone else''s camp and steal stuff. I have danger sense so I''ll be fine but you should should stay back here so that you can keep an eye."


    "I''m coming with you." Amelia jumped in. He could see the tiredness in her eyes and even with that, she was jumping around.


    Keith shook his head, "Did you not hear a single word that I just said? I want you to keep watch so that these four don''t get assassinated. I mean robbed or attacked or something like that." Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Tch, I''m getting bored! If I stay here without having anything to do, I''ll go mad... I''ll probably fall asleep. Don''t you have any heart? Have some pity."


    "I told you to take a nap, but you didn''t listen. You too." he said as he looked at Clara, "Feel free to sleep while taking turns but just make sure that both of you don''t fall asleep at the same time. Oh yes, I actually sense that invisible kid nearby."

 Chapter 106 An Easy, Effortless Thievery

    Keith jogged around the island, using the forest a few times whenever he saw other groups camping at the borders of the island. Thanks to the information from his system screens, he was able to avoid most of the teams and had a safe path.Almost an hour worth of jog later, Keith finally found the place he had targeted. It was Timmy''s camp and it looked absolutely luxurious. At least compared to the camps that other teams set up.


    They weren''t allowed to bring the structures or tents that had been already set up in the previous island, but Timmy clearly had more than enough cloth to bring to this place so he could set up another tent.


    Keith saw multiple blankets around the campfire, which totaled to 6.


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    ''Hmm, so his servants sleep outside while he and his father''s concubines have fun inside the tent.'' he thought as he looked around.


    There was no one nearby and Keith knew the reason already.


    ''Thanks to Clark, I have such a great opportunity.'' he thought to himself as he walked towards the tent and kicked the wooden box that was beside it. He opened the lid and found a lot of ice inside, which he pushed to the sides.


    Buried in the ice, were well cut pieces of meat and all of them were rolled up in a wax paper. He silently grabbed all the meat and took off his shirt to use as a bag. He tied the ends together and was about to jog back to his camp when he stopped.


    He turned around and stared at the tent, the look in his eyes complicated.


    Timmy was an asshole in the novel, but right now, in Keith''s reality, Timmy had done almost nothing to Antagonise him in any way. On the other hand, Clark was the main character of the novel who had done a lot of good things even though the way he did these things were questionable.


    Yet, the main character of the novel went ahead to try and get Clara. It wasn''t a direct attack on Keith, but Keith didn''t like it in any way.


    He stared at the tent, with one side of him wanting to push the tent into the fire and the other half telling him to leave Timmy alone.


    Almost a minute later, Keith sighed and turned away before he began to run back. This time, he didn''t stop to turn back at all.


    ''He becomes a true asshole after the war... but there''s no need to make his life difficult right now. Though, I don''t really feel good about it for some reason.'' he thought, but as he felt the weight of the meat that he was carrying, he smirked.


    ''Well, it doesn''t matter much. Without any food, he''ll have no choice but to try and fight someone to steal their resources. And now he''s trying to chase Clark, which will make him lose a lot of energy and also water... oh man, he''s going to struggle.''


    On one end, Keith had stolen all the food that Timmy had brought with him, which was just meat and on the other hand, there was Clark who was making them run around the forest, which would make them thirsty and prompt them to drink more water.


    Both of them targeted the same person, but each of them had their own plans.


    ''Funnily enough, I had this plan in my mind way before I found out about Clark''s plans.'' he thought and couldn''t help but chuckle.


    He jogged slightly faster, almost starting to run but stopped after a few minutes as he managed to reach his camp.


    Both Clara and Amelia had their eyes peeled open, scanning the surroundings intently like they were trying to spot a chameleon. Sear?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ''Maybe I shouldn''t have lied about the invisible kiddo... but at least they didn''t sleep, so that''s a good thing I guess.'' he thought as he walked towards them.


    "What are you guys doing?" I ask as I place the bag on a stone and look around, "By the way, did you guys see any flat rocks here? I need one right now."


    Amelia and Clara turned to look at him, "No, I''ve only seen roundish and cubic rocks here when it comes to shapes, but most of them have weird shapes. Also, what did you bring and can you still sense that slippery invisible pig?"


    "Oh, nah I don''t sense anything right now. At least not anything dangerous. He could technically still be somewhere near but we''ll need Laura if you wish to catch him. But well... I guess it''s better to just do our thing since I don''t really sense any danger." he blabbered his lies without any worry.


    As he talked, he grabbed two long spatulas and kicked the stones that were placed around the fire. He replaced them with bigger stones and stacked two stones each on two ends before placing the spatulas on top of them.


    He then nodded to himself and grabbed the spatulas again before using the ends to pierce three meat chunks. Once done, he placed it on top of the fire with the ends of the spatulas resting on top of the stone towers.


    He silently watched the meat drip it''s juices onto the fire while he heard Amelia talk.


    "Ugh, this damn Clark and his twin minions. I absolutely hate them and I hate them even more than Timmy right now! Ugh!!! If I get the chance, I''ll strangle them to death!"


    Keith chuckled as he turned to look at her, "Well, maybe you should just sleep for now. I''ll keep watch so take a short nap. But do keep in mind that I''ll wake you up since I don''t want you sleeping for the whole night. Consider tonight as a training period since there will be no nap times from tomorrow onwards."


    "Bleh... but yeah, I understand. I''ll take a nap with Clara for now so wake us up whenever you want to. Good night."

 Chapter 107 Clarks Poison Takes Effect

    Eight people ran through the forest, stopping only after a few minutes when they felt like there was no one on their tail. Timmy turned to look at his team, all of them tired and about to collapse."S- sir, I can''t hold it in anymore... I can''t.." one of his teammates said before he ran towards a tree and took off his pants before squatting down. With a loud fart, this human wastes shot out staining the bottom of the tree in yellow. Explore stories at empire


    It looked absolutely disgusting, especially to Timmy who had never seen such a display, not until he came to his island. He had lost two of his teammates thanks to multiple skirmishes against other teams.


    "Sir Timmy... my stomach also hurts a lot..." another guy said and the others nodded, including his father''s concubines. Timmy himself felt like his stomach was acting weird, but he wasn''t able to understand why.


    Just as he was thinking, he saw one of his father''s concubines fall to the ground as a yellow fluid pooled behind her. Her face was red with humiliation and embarrassment as she looked away from the others.


    Timmy closed his eyes and walked away from them before taking out his canteen to drink the water he had gotten from the pond since all the running earlier had made him very tired.


    Two days had already passed since he had arrived here and the first day had gone pretty well for him. He kicked the tree in front of him in frustration as he remembered the events that happened on his first night here.


    "That bastard Clark! Once we''re out of here, I''ll find him and get him killed!" he hissed, seething in anger. sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Clark had send his teammate to steal all of his clothes, which were neatly folded and placed in a bamboo basket. It was a bit too late when he finally found out what was going on as it was one of his teammates who had shouted that his clothes were burning on the fire.


    And when he came out, what did he see?


    It was Clark, standing beside a tree with a cheeky grin on his face as he held a fire torch with one of his hands.


    Unable to control his anger, he got his team to catch the bastard and they ran for almost four hours before deciding to stop. Clark was also tired, but for some reason once every thirty minutes, his team would get hit by a random trap.


    Some traps simply tripped them while some shot arrows at them. The four hours were some of the most hated hours of his life and yet, he was unable to catch the person who was responsible for it.


    Then, when he went back to camp he found out that all the 7 kilograms of meat was missing. He originally had 10, but his team had already consumed 3 kilos earlier.


    The lack of food and sleep pushed them into a cycle of misery as they had to fight three small groups for food , which did help them for almost half a day until he faced a skirmish from another team and lost two of his teammates who were heavily injured.


    A masked instructor appeared and teleported the two of them away, leaving his team with only eight members and even after that, they were attacked by another team but this team was a big one with 10 members.


    With no other option, he had to leave all of his belongings behind and run away with his team. But little did he know that the very water he was drinking would be his most dangerous problem yet.


    He sat down on the ground with his back leaning against the tree he had just kicked. His eyes move to the guy who had just shot out a huge amount of excreta onto a tree and his father''s concubine who was now wailing as she used the little bit of water she had to clean herself.


    The others also helped her by giving her their canteens, but Timmy looked away, not wanting to see something so disgusting.


    Multiple thoughts passed through his head, the reason why he had even decided to take part in this damned training program.


    ''That damn cursed artifact... if it wasn''t for that, I wouldn''t have bothered in the slightest. Damn it all! If only I was born in an actual noble household instead of being born as a son of a shitty baronet.'' he cursed as he punched the ground.


    He was a baronet''s son, someone who would never be able to become a noble unless he gave up on most of his businesses. Almost all the baronets were wealthy businessmen who used money to get the title, just to feel superior when people called them "Sir" or "Madam"


    Most of the baronets weren''t invited to the important events and parties that the true nobles held and even the royal family did not put much importance in them as they were just wealthier merchants in their eyes.


    True nobles could receive cursed artifacts from the Kings, but baronets weren''t trusted enough for that. It was because baronets had businesses in other kingdoms and empires, and the royal families did not like the uncertainty of where the baronets'' loyalties lied.


    Timmy let out a tired sigh as he though about his status. He wanted to become a true noble, to get his hands on a cursed artifact, to get tax benefits, but none of them were possible since he was just a baronet, just a rich, glorified commoner in the eyes of true nobles and royals.


    Just as he was wallowing in his own distress, he felt his stomach grumble weirdly. He then felt like something was coming out from his ass hole and instinctively clenched his ass cheeks.


    His face slowly turned red from the strain of holding in, but no matter how much he tried, he wasn''t able to hold it in at the end. A loud fart echoed in the forest as he felt wetness under him.

 Chapter 108 Jumping to Conclusions. Again! (Extra Chapter)

    Almost all the teams except Clark''s and Keith''s were having the same problems as Timmy and his team. One by one, they all fainted due to dehydration and lack of energy, which prompted the masked instructors to teleport them back to the other island.Even though it was just the fourth day since the event started, there were only two teams left on this island. One was Keith''s and the other was Clark''s. Most of them didn''t even know the cause of their loose bowels when they were taken back.


    The guys from the church of medicine should have been able to neutralise the laxative, but Keith knew the truth. No matter how much knowledge they had, they wouldn''t be able to make a cure without raw ingredients. But how did Clark manage to do this? It was thanks to a particular snake''s venom sack.


    This snake''s venom sack could be used for other products like tranquillisers or pain suppressants. There were other methods of making medicine for loose bowels that way cheaper but little did they know that the only way of counteracting Clark''s laxative was to make powder using the snake''s venom as one of the ingredients.


    Another reason for this was the fact that this "cure" was supposed to be discovered in the future and since Clark was from the future, he used this knowledge to the fullest. Like most protagonists, Clark had experience in multiple fields, but even then, he his core talent lied in causing havoc.


    Which was exactly what happened in the past few days as people gathered at the pond and fought others due to food shortage.


    On the fifth day, Keith looked at the four who had just woken up and yawned tiredly, "Guys, let''s attack Clark today. Not now, but after I wake up."


    Brandon nodded and cupped some water with his palms and used it to rinse his mouth.


    He spit the water on the ground before looking at Keith, "Are you sure? What if someone else attacks us when we''re too involved in the fight?"


    "It''s fine, we have seven and they only have three. If someone else joins the fight, then we leave everything and run." Keith said as he took the blanket that the four of them used to keep themselves warm and sat down on the 3 layers of blankets as he stretched his legs.


    He looked up at Clara and Amelia who silently joined him, with Clara in the middle and Amelia on the other side. Amelia silently watched as she saw her friend hug Keith without any of the hesitation that she had a few days ago, but this left a bitter feeling in her heart for an unknown reason.


    ''..... I feel weird.'' she thought, noticing the weird feeling in her heart as she looped her arms around her knees and closed her eyes.


    Clara on the other hand sniffed at Keith''s chest like a hungry cat before using his thighs as a pillow. Her legs kicked Amelia who just wanted to sleep and she hurriedly got up before apologising.


    "I didn''t mean it, I''m sorry!" She said as she put her hand on Amelia''s shoulder, "Um.... also, can you like move to the other side? To Keith''s left?"


    Amelia silently stared at Clara and nodded before she crawled to Keith''s left before covering herself with the blanket while leaving her head outside. She watched Clara get comfortable on Keith''s lap and exhaled heavily.


    "Looks like you guys have gotten really comfortable with each other, huh?" she asked. She didn''t know why she was spouting nonsense right now, but she felt bitter and wanted to vent indirectly.


    Keith slowly turned his head to look at her, "Well, yeah. I''d say it''s thanks to you."


    Hearing his words, she felt like a cold stone had been dropped in her stomach. She frowned as her eyes lingered on him, her thoughts drifting.


    ''.... am I getting jealous? Me? There''s no way that''s possible... he''s handsome and is quite a gentleman to others but he''s an asshole when it comes to me. Well, a good kind of asshole but still.. Ugh, damn I hate him.'' he thought as her gaze slowly moved to his neck and lingered on his trapezius muscles.


    He was still pretty skinny, but he had grown quite a bit of muscle in the past three months and for the first time, Amelia was entranced.


    Just as she was staring at him, a high pitched but barely audible yelp reached Amelia''s ears. There was some shuffling under the blanket but since her head was outside, she couldn''t see what was going on inside unless she actively went down under the blanket, which she did not wish to do. Not right now when Keith was staring straight at her.


    The straight face of his made her thoughts falter, her imagination of Clara doing something funny under the blanket, crumbling. Clara clearly wasn''t someone who''d participate in such naughty acts when there were people around them, or at least that was what she thought as she could never imagine Clara doing such things.


    But her world view shattered when she heard a muffled moan and saw Keith suddenly look away.


    Unable to accept the sudden change, her body moved on it''s own. She grabbed the blanket and pulled, wanting to see what in the hell was going on under the blanket, only to see Keith''s hand on Clara''s back.


    His thumb pressed down as it slowly rotated in circles.


    Keith hurriedly grabbed the blanket and covered her as her back was, in fact bare.


    "What the hell is your problem?" he whispered to Amelia as he looked at the other four who were groggily walking around, oblivious to what had happened just now.


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    "I... I just thought that you were taking advantage of Clara since she doesn''t speak out about her problems. Yeah, I was trying to look out for her." she said, partially making up a reason for her actions and partially to convince herself away from the true reason behind her actions. Sear?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Well, she told me that her back hurts so I''m giving her a massage. I already told you before to not jump to conclusions in your head and to ask about things to clarify." Keith replied, exasperated with her actions.


    [A/N: Alright, I''m feeling burnt out so I''ll rest tmro. 2 or 3 chapters will be uploaded but I''ll continue with the extra chapters from the day after tmro.]


    [Extra Chapters Left: 7]

 Chapter 109 Claras Untold Game and Goals

    [A/N: This chapter was written to give you a more detailed insight into Clara psyche on how she''s changing but it does have some naughty stuff. This isn''t full smut and I didn''t really put any emphasis on smut so feel free to skip this if this isn''t your cup of tea.]******


    Clara got into the folds of the blanket along with Keith and Amelia with deep thoughts in her mind. After the talk with her best friend about how to be assertive with guys a few hours ago, she had one goal in mind and that was to take action on her own to wake up Keith''s little brother.


    ''All of Amelia''s experiences shouldn''t apply to me right? We''re very different people with different body types so maybe I should take a different approach. I''ll just go with my feeling.'' she thought as she sat beside Keith and snuggled, one of her soft twin mounds pressing against his body.


    She immediately felt his reaction as his body suddenly stiffened before it went back to being relaxed. But unfortunately for her, everything she tried after that, didn''t seem to work.


    But little did she know, Keith had reduced his sensitivity using his powers, down to 20% of normal. He knew too well about how strong his body would react if she was trying naughty things. Unfortunately, he had goals today so he just wanted to sleep.


    Almost two minutes later, Clara pouted slightly before leaning against his chest and taking a loud whiff as she placed her hand on his thighs. Then she got an idea, something she used to do with her elder sister when she was a small child.


    She tried to sleep while using his thigh as a pillow, but Amelia was on the way, whom she kicked by mistake as she was too immersed in doing her own thing with Keith. Her clumsiness made her feel slightly embarrassed, but she went ahead and apologised before asking Amelia to move to the other side.


    "I didn''t mean it, I''m sorry!" She said as she put her hand on Amelia''s shoulder, "Um.... also, can you like move to the other side? To Keith''s left?"


    She saw her friend crawl to the other side and then went back to doing her own thing. She rested her head on Keith''s thigh but she didn''t sit still. Her face faced his abs while her hand slipped under his shirt and roamed across his back.


    Her hand could feel the muscles on his back. There wasn''t much, he wasn''t as muscular as Brandon, but this just felt better. As her hand continued it''s adventure, she imagined herself hugging him from the front with her legs looped around him while her hands just got the perfect feel of his back muscles. The more her hand moved, the wilder her imagination got and the more ragged her breaths became.


    By the time she realised what was going on, it was too late as she could feel a slight wetness between her legs.


    ''I... wanted to get him hard but this is not working.'' she thought and moved her hand to his chest before pushing her nail onto his nipple. She instantly felt him wince, but what she didn''t expect was that she''d feel his hand on her own sensitive bulbs.


    Before she could do anything, his fingers pinched, sending a wave of both pleasure and pain coursing through her nerves.


    "E eek!" She yelped as she brought her hand to her mouth to suppress the sound but it still escaped. Her legs parted, making the blanket slightly move but then she decided to take the target away from him.


    She knew how sensitive her pink buds were and she wanted to win this unofficial fight that she had started no matter what. She glared at Keith and was about to pinch him harder, but she saw his hands moving expertly over her shirt, unbuttoning her shirt in a mere three seconds.


    Seeing this, she panicked and hurriedly turned around, her belly touching the ground now but she couldn''t feel her shirt on her body. Instead, she looked to her left and saw the shirt still on her body but it was only the arm sleeve.


    But then, she realised that he had just grabbed her shirt when she was turning, which seemed to have worked really well. Just when she was about to give up on making him hard, she caught a glimpse of the slight bulge in his pants. Experience tales with empire


    She knew that this was barely what he had. After all, she had seen it''s greatness and had it''s majestic size thrust deep inside her. Even now, that night was unforgettable and just as she remembered that night, her hand subconsciously moved towards the space between her legs.


    One simple stroke and she moaned. She also felt Keith''s hand pause on her head for a second before he pushed her head onto his lap. His hand moved to her back and he pushed down once again, stopping her from stroking her sensitive folds.


    Only four seconds passed since he had pushed her down, but suddenly the darkness under the blanket was gone. It was replaced by the bright sunlight and Clara suddenly felt self conscious. Reality hit her hard, making her realise that she wasn''t in a dream and that she was trying some risky things in real life.


    That she was not alone with Keith and that there were other people nearby. Shame and embarrassment hit her when the blanket was pulled away, exposing her with just a bra on. sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The first thing in her mind was just one question.


    ''Will Keith leave me? After I''ve been so... so...'' she thought, not lifting up her head and unable to find the right word. But just as she was thinking, she felt his thumb press against her upper back as it gently moved around in a circular motion.


    And then the sunlight was gone, replaced by the slight darkness once again but her senses were now heightened and she heard the conversation between Amelia and Keith before smiling.


    ''Phew.... I shouldn''t act up next time. Luckily it was Amelia this time... I don''t know what I''d do if it was someone else.''

 Chapter 110 Finding Clarks Cave

    Keith woke up after a few hours and took off the makeshift eye cover, to see that the sun was right on top of him, indicating that it was close to noon. He groggily looked around and saw that Clara and Amelia were still asleep so he closed his eyes and went back to sleep once again.His eyes were closed, but he could still see the two system screens. His team didn''t know about this, but the invisible kid had gotten captured and beaten up a lot by other teams. He wasn''t in this island anymore and Clark only had the weightless bag girl with him.


    He saw the text on the two screens in front of him and drifted off to sleep after he saw that those two were hiding in a cave, not knowing about the number of people in the island right now.


    ''Information really is the greatest resource ever.'' he thought as he quickly drifted back to sleep and was woken up after two hours. The culprit was Brandon who had just roughly pulled the blanket away.


    "Yo, the fuck is your problem?" Keith lashed out from the sudden lack of familiar texture.


    "Oh Brandon... what do you want?" he asked, this time having some semblance of control over himself.


    Brandon stared at him, his gaze going towards Keith''s crotch but his professional attitude took over.


    "It''s nothing serious. We ran out of water so we had plans to go to the pond. We can''t send just one or two people since there''s a high chance of getting grouped up on. And on top on that, we haven''t taken a bath for like four whole days. You usually wake up around this time so I just thought I''d wake you up and go there together." he said and looked away from the large tent which was towering over Clara''s head that was on Keith''s thigh.


    Keith looked at him and nodded before waking up Clara first. He needed to get his little brother away from the eyes of others. One part of him wanted to show off his great manhood, but the other part of him wanted to keep it a secret.


    At the end, the second part of him won as he covered himself with a blanket once again.


    "I''ll get up once things settle down." he said to Brandon who nodded with a straight face. But just as he was about to walk away, he paused.


    "Um Keith. Do you have any tips to like... uh... make your you know? Your manhood bigger?"


    Hearing this, Keith did not know what to say. He stared at Brandon for a whole second which felt like an hour before opening his mouth, "No, I don''t think I have any tips."


    "Oh... is that so? Okay, I''ll wait for you over there." Brandon said and walked away.


    Keith looked at Clara and gently patted her cheek to wake her up, which she did a few seconds later. She groggily sat back up at looked at Keith before her eyes fell on the tall tent.


    Her face instantly went red as her hand slowly moved towards it. Just as she was about to tentatively touch it, he grabbed her hand before whispering.


    "I''m trying to bring it back to normal. If you tough him right now, we''ll have to do a lot of things to calm him down." he said as he smirked at her.


    Clara instantly looked away before muttering, "I mean... I can help you out."


    "Nah there''s no need..." Keith said, not wanting to do the horny things in the open when their relationship was only known to Amelia.


    He sent her away so that she could have some food. Once she was far away, he used his libido control to calm down his little brother before he woke up Amelia and walked over to the others with her. He ate some sweet chips along with some salty jerky before setting off to the pond.


    Everyone knew that the water wasn''t fit for direct consumption so they got a medium sized pot filled before they boiled the water. They then let the water to cool before adding a pinch of antidote into it. After mixing, Keith filled up everyone''s canteens and distributed them before passing the pot to the others so they could drink from it.


    Finally, Keith took the pot and saw that there was a little bit of water inside, which he drank and placed the pot back on the ground.


    "Alright, I''m guessing that you guys are ready." he said as he looked at the others, all of whom nodded in response.


    "Great!" he exclaimed before pointing at Brandon and Nathan, his team''s strongest people, "You two will take care of the fighting while the rest of us support you. Laura will keep an eye on the invisible kid and she''ll suppress him when she spots him. As for Clark and his luggage girl, you guy should be able to manage on your own.


    As for me, Caleb, Amelia and Clara, we''ll keep an eye on the surroundings and make sure that no other teams can attack us by surprise. Once one of us give you a warning, I want you guys to run in any direction that you can before coming back to this spot." sea??h th§× n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Nathan and Brandon nodded while Laura spoke with confidence, "Yeah, don''t worry about the stinky kid. I''ll grab onto him the moment I sense him." she said, patting her chest.


    Keith gave her a smile before looking away, ''Well, he isn''t here anymore so I really want to see what you''ll grab. Anyways, at least my acting is working.'' he thought and walked towards the pond.


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    "Follow me, on the first night when I went to steal things, I saw the luggage girl walk into a cave so that could potentially be their hiding spot." he said as he entered the forest.


    He chatted with them as he walked and messed around a bit as he knew that there was no need to worry about threats. But when he saw a cave that had a low ceiling, he knew that he was at the right place.

 Chapter 111 Victory Dance Baby!

    The height of the cave was quite less, but Keith could still crawl inside if he wanted to. The entrance was also hidden pretty well, thanks to various vines, leaves and a few medium sized stones. While he could crawl inside, he didn''t bother doing it at all.Instead, he put his index finger to his lips and motioned the others to keep quiet while he grabbed a few dry and wet sticks before stacking them on top of each other, into a pile. He then grabbed a few specific leaves and stuffed them in between the sticks before he used his magnifying glass to light up a fire.


    It took two minutes, but it worked. The dry sticks caught fire while the wet sticks produced smoke. Keith took off his shirt and gently waved it in front of the fire, sending the smoke into the cave. He continued doing this until he heard a rough cough from inside the cave and smiled.


    ''Yes, you use laxatives. I''ll poison you with hallucinogens and make your life miserable for the next few minutes with carbon dioxide.'' he thought, the smile on his face transforming into a smirk.


    Minutes passed and the frequency of the coughs just increased until Keith heard sounds of buttons scratching against stone.


    "Oh you''re coming out, Clark? Do you really think that I''ll let you out? Not after you tried to steal from me Clark, not after you tried to steal from me." he said as he looked at Nathan, "Come here and smack him with your shield if he tries to crawl out."


    Clark didn''t stop and tried to crawl out even after Keith warned him. His arm was the first thing that came out and in reaction to that, Nathan brought down his shield, immediately braking the fingers. S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Ooof... that was harsh..." Keith said, wincing in pain for Clark but he didn''t have any intention to stop. Little did he know, that Clark was a mental guy, someone whose insanity Keith wished to have.


    Clark''s head popped out next and Nathan paused, not knowing that to do since heavy injuries were forbidden. Keith stared at Clark, who was smirking at him but he simply smiled instead of feeling cornered like Nathan felt.


    "You thought you were smart huh?" he said and grabbed a medium sized log that was still burning. The end that wasn''t burning was the place that he grabbed as he looked down at Clark.


    "Three seconds. Go back inside and suffer until someone comes to take you away, or you can try to crawl out even more and the moment you do, this thing will come down at your head without any hesitation." he said, staring at Clark with a playful smile, challenging him to crawl out.


    Clark stared at Keith, trying to see if he was just putting up a false front of whether he was being serious. But even after he stared for two whole seconds, he wasn''t able to tell what was going on behind Keith''s eyes.


    As someone who always took risks, he instinctively pushed himself outwards by a few centimeters when he saw the red and grey part of the stick fly towards his face.


    Your journey continues on empire


    With a light crack, the burning part of the stick broke into three pieces, flying in different directions.


    Clark had been hit hard, and he had also crawled back inside hastily but Keith noticed something. It was the lack of any burns on Clark''s face.


    With a slight frown, he grabbed another stick that was similar to the one he had used previously, a branch of a dead tree which was very brittle. He extended his left arm forward and brought down the burning stick.


    It cracked and fell to the ground after it hit Keith''s left arm but other than his arm hair getting burnt, there was barely any burn marks. He did feel the heat, but it wasn''t much and the only pain he felt was from the impact of of the blow.


    "Hmm... I wanna experiment with something but I guess I''ll have to wait until I get you disqualified first." he said as he walked back towards the cave''s entrance and looked at Amelia who had a bunch of leaves in her arms.


    The moment he did, she immediately walked over and dropped all the fresh leaves into the flames. As the leaves heated up, they released the moisture along with various chemicals, all of which were pushed into the cave.


    Keith''s actions went on for three minutes until a masked instructor appeared in front of them. The masked guy poured some water over the fire and crouched down to look into the cave.


    "Come out both of you." he said and just then, another masked instructor appeared and this person was someone that everyone in Keith''s team recognized just from the shape of her body.


    She looked at them and then at Clark who was crawling out of the Cave before nodding, "Congratulations to all of you. Your Team Sera is the only team that''s managed to stay in a relatively healthy state. Every other team has been disqualified and will have to get involved in intense physical labour for the next month."


    Clara raised her hand slightly, "If everyone got disqualified, then they won''t be able to participate in the future events, right? If we''re the only team, then all of the events will feel like a waste."


    Instructor Sera nodded, "Yes, you''re right. Since every team has been disqualified and you''re the only one remaining, you can consider the training camp to have ended. You''re the winners and once we get back, you''ll receive your rewards. Currently, the higher ups are deciding on which one of you contributed the most and the one who they pick, will have the rights over distribution."


    As she said this, everyone in his team couldn''t help but glance at him as all of them knew that he was the one who had done a lot of stuff compared to anyone in the team.


    Keith on the other hand, was in his own world.


    ''Secondary awakening! Let''s gooooooo!!'' he thought, wanting to dance but held himself back.

 Chapter 112 The Cursed Artifact Smoking Pipe

    Two days later, Keith stood in the protection church headquarters, in front of a familiar looking old priest. sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality."So all of you guys vote for Keith to distribute the prizes?" he asked as he looked at the team, all of whom nodded confidently except Keith who simply stood in place, lost in thought.


    The priest nodded slowly before he focused his gaze on Keith, "Well, let''s start with a hearty congratulations. You guys were the only ones who didn''t get disqualified so you''ll be receiving the cash prizes of first, second and third places.


    The first place winners were supposed to receive a cash price of.... hmm. Which currency would you like me to give the money to you in? Wait, before that." he said and pointed at the three trainee inquisitors.


    "Keith, the promotion of these guys will be in your hands. Like Archbishop Maria had promised, you are now an official Inquisitor and these three will be placed in your team. You can promote one of these three to an official inquisitor just like you, but two of them will remain as trainees and you will be the leader of your team. This decision was taken based on your performance in the training camp."


    When Keith heard this, he silently nodded and turned to look at Nathan, Laura and Caleb. Nathan looked slightly nervous while Laura was the opposite, oozing confidence. Caleb on the other hand, looked like he didn''t care and Keith could instantly tell what was going on in his mind.


    ''Haaaah... this guy is confident that he won''t be picked. Well, in a way it''s a good thing because I was never going to pick him anyways... unless...'' Keith thought as he shifted his attention back to the priest.


    "Can I take a look at the cursed artifact that''s supposed to be given to the first place winners?"


    The priest nodded, and turned around before he began to walk towards one of the doors, "All of you stay here. Keith will be the only one coming with me." he said without looking at them.


    Just one glance at the door and Keith knew that he was taking him to Maria once again.


    He silently followed him while his team stayed back at the church''s main hall. It took them a minute or two to reach the room, but once they did, Keith took a deep breath to calm down his excitement.


    Maria had a serious look on her face when she saw them walk in.


    "Grandpa, please wait outside." she said, her voice soft but the priest nodded and walked out, leaving Keith alone.


    She stared at him for a few seconds and then smiled, "Hehe, you did a good job! Well, here''s the artifact that you were supposed to get, but just keep in mind that I can help you exchange the artifacts that you have with any of the other cursed artifacts in our church. The head Priestess will not question my actions in any way, so you don''t have to worry about her either."


    Hearing her words, Keith couldn''t help but sigh, "So you know that I do have artifacts... did Seraphina tell you?"


    "Yes, mother did tell me about it but she told me that it was her friend who gave her this information. She also gave me the permission to do this deal with you and she told me to tell you that she''s on your side, but she won''t help you unconditionally."


    "Of course. That''s fine." Keith said as he watched Maria take out a small smoking pipe. It had a similar to the one that Adam normally used.


    It resembled a finely crafted wooden pipe, its surface polished to a high sheen that caught and reflected the light. Delicate silver embroidery adorned its length, adding a touch of elegance to its design. The wide bowl of the pipe featured silver seamlessly melded into the wood, while the slender mouthpiece, from which one would draw in the smoke, was also capped in gleaming silver. Your next journey awaits at empire


    Maria handed it to him and Keith silently looked at it, waiting for an explanation on how it worked and the negatives of this cursed artifact.


    "This one, does not really have a name and you''re the first official owner of this smoking pipe so congratulations." she said, smiling at him as she continued, "Well, this pipe only works when you use the dry leaves, petals and even the fruit of the Veluria Thornplant. It still works if you use the other things too, but just like a normal pipe.


    If you use Veluria, then your mind will be clear. It''ll keep your mind safe from illusions, hypnotism and many other mental attacks. Long term use will increase your mental defenses permanently. Though, do try to smoke this in moderation since the negative effect is overconfidence. At first glance, it might not be much, but it is a deadly thing to any man."


    Keith silently nodded as he stared at the pipe as he remembered reading about similar effects in the novel. The one who had this pipe was a side character who wasn''t given much importance, and he did die after doing multiple dumb things in a row.


    ''Overconfidence huh...'' he thought and immediately knew that this thing alone could bring him close to being his ideal self, being him close to being like Clark but he absolutely hated this idea. It was his self control and overthinking that pushed him this far, made him avoid most of the dangerous situations.


    But even then, he couldn''t help but want to use the pipe. The positive effects of clearing his mind and improving his mental defenses was a hard thing to say no to, especially for Keith since he knew how dangerous it was to have a weak mind.


    "Thank you, and um I do wish to trade my cursed artifacts. I have two."


    "No." Maria proclaimed before pointing at the pipe, "You''re the first owner, so you must give it a grand name."


    Kieth''s gaze moved from her cute face to his pipe before he flatly said, "Okay, I''ll call it a Smoking Pipe."


    "....."

 Chapter 113 The Two Cursed Artifacts

    "Anyways, I need a large empty room that has no surveillance and I want to be alone in there for ten whole minutes." Keith said as he looked at her and then added, "It''ll be nice if I also get a decent sized leather bag."Maria nodded as she pointed at the door, "Call my grandpa inside, please."


    Keith did as she told him to and invited the priest inside, who immediately trotted in.


    "Grandpa, please arrange a large empty room for Keith. Make sure that no one is inside and also get him a few leather bags." she said and the priest nodded before leaving.


    Keith, unable to contain his curiosity, looked at her and asked.


    "Why do you sound so cold when you talk to your grandpa? The last time I was here, everything was so different."


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    Maria looked up at him and sighed, "Well, my grandpa didn''t buy me candy yesterday. And today morning when I told him that I want to meet you in the church''s hall, he scolded me and told me that I should act according to my post. I hate him!"


    Keith silently watched her with slight hesitation before he gave in. He patted her head gently, "It''s fine, I''m sure he still had your best interests at heart."


    With an angry pout on her face, she glared at him, "You''re taking my grandpa''s side too! All of you adults are evil! I hate you!"


    ''Oh yeah, I forgot how annoying kids could be.'' he thought and made some distance between them. He then made some small talk and distracted her from the topic until the priest walked back into the room.


    Keith followed the priest along with Maria and walked into a room that the priest pointed at. The two of them stayed outside while Keith walked in. The room wasn''t exactly large and at most, it was twice the size of Maria''s room.


    He saw four large leather bags placed on one corner of the room and let them stay there for the time being. Instead, he walked closer to the center of the room and closed his eyes.


    With a single mental command, a huge pile of gold, silver and various other valuable things appear in the room. Keith kicked some of the things that were in the pile, pushing them away until he found what he was looking for.


    He grabbed a worn out book with leather bindings in one hand and a metallic flask that was in perfect condition in the other. He placed them on the side and grabbed two leather bags before going back to the pile.


    ''I need money for Clara''s situation and maybe I''ll try to sell the jewellery off.'' he thought as he grabbed a few gold bricks and placed them in his leather bags. 5 bricks in each bag with each brick weighing a kilogram.


    He then grabbed some silver jewellery along with some items that were made of silver like cutlery, plates, utensils and even weapons that were made purely for display purposes.


    Everything was stuffed into the bags until they were 90% full.


    He then looked at the pile that was still pretty huge and smiled, "Well, this much is enough for me to take care of all the things I guess."


    As he said this out loud, everything in the room vanished, going back to his system storage that was inherently flawed.


    ''If possible, I should try and make the inventory more streamlined. Having the ability to store things is great, but it''s inconvenient if I have no choice but to take every single thing out.'' he thought as he grabbed the two more empty leather bags and stuffed the filled up leather bags into them, upside down.


    He then picked up the book and the flask before walking out of the room.


    "Let''s go to your room and talk or maybe we can use use this room instead." he said as he pointed at the room behind him while looking at Maria and her grandpa.


    Maria nodded and walked inside while saying, "Okay, come in. Grandpa, stay outside and keep watch."


    It was clear that she was still angry, but Keith didn''t bother meddling and silently followed her inside before closing the door behind him. He then gave her the two cursed artifacts before taking a deep breath.


    "I don''t know the names of either of these two, but I do know how they work." he said and then pointed at the book, "This book... well, you can write any question on one of it''s pages and it''ll give you the answer to that question without any problem. But that only happens once. The second time you ask a question, it still gives you an answer, but this time, it''ll cause hallucinations on the side and in just a few days, you''ll go crazy without a shred of usable intelligence in your body."


    Maria''s mouth opened wide and Keith nodded, "Yeah, it''s a one time use thing if you want to be safe."


    "As for the flask..." he began as he pointed at the flask, "This flask has unlimited water, but if you try to pour the water out, it won''t work as not even a single drop will come out. The only way to drink the water is to bring it to your lips directly.


    Now, it can be extremely helpful and it could also be extremely fatal since it''s entirely dependent on luck. Sometimes, just one sip of this water could be equivalent to an entire bottle and sometimes, just one sip will take you to your grave. It can improve your memory, mental strength, physical strength and also spiritual strength. Well, energy but still, I know you understand what I''m trying to say here.


    The chances of getting good things is the same as bad things so you could also just lose a bunch of memories, feel mentally drained, feel weak or maybe even loose your hair. There are too many things to take into account and the effects are extremely random." S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 114 Finding The Better Cursed Artifacts

    Maria heard his explanations and sighed, "The book is fine but this flask is basically unusable... oh well, momma told me to exchange them and that''s what I''ll do. Just follow me to the artifacts storage room and pick any that you like. Though, I won''t be giving you any weapons since we need those just in case something bad happens.""Sure." Keith said and nodded before pointing at the book, "Let me use that once. I have one question that I want an answer to and it''s very important."


    "Okay." Maria gave the book to Keith so silently stared at it before looking at her with a wry smile, "Um, I don''t think I have anything to write with. We can go to the artifact storage room and on the way, we could probably get a pen or something."


    Hearing Keith''s words, Maria nodded and walked out of the room with him right behind her. On the way, she asked a servant to get her a pen and told the servant to knock on the door of artifact storage room.


    Keith silently walked behind her and entered the artifact storage room. It was very large. Larger than the room he had been in a few minutes ago. There were various artifacts placed on platforms every five meters along with a note that explained how they worked.


    He silently walked, reading the contents of each and every message that described the cursed artifacts. Once he was done with 10 cursed artifacts, he heard a knock on the door.


    Maria, who was already standing guard at the door, took the pen and brought it to Keith.


    "Thanks." he said and sat down on the floor before opening the book. He then looked up at her and smiled, "Could you move to the other side please?"


    "..... okay." she said, sounding slightly sad but Keith didn''t care. ''Seraphina will just tell her what I asked anyways, so this entire thing is just pointless.''


    With a sigh, he began to write a question on the paper.


    Tell me if Clara Glynov and Keith Zenister will have any problems in our relationship in the future. Also, do you know who the god of systems is, and which two artifacts in this room will help me out the most?


    It was three different questions, all of them asked for different purposes but Keith wasn''t afraid of going insane as the only way to trigger the power of the book, was by using a "?"


    The moment he finished writing his questions, the ink seeped into the paper and words began to form.


    {I cannot ascertain the future, but based on the mental psyche of both the couple, there is a higher chance of Keith Zenister leaving her compared to her leaving him. His departure will not be from hate of any negative feeling but due to the need to keep her safe.}


    {Sorry, but I do not know about any gods.}


    {The artifacts that will help you the most, are the Blind Eye Patch and Psychic''s Emerald Pendant.}


    Keith read all of the answers and nodded to himself, satisfied with the answers. sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ''No future sight and it doesn''t have the ability to gather information on anything related to divinity or gods. I''m technically not a god yet, so it can still talk about me but if people ask about the god of systems or anything related to my system, I''m sure that they won''t able to get many answers.'' he thought as he got back up and gave the book back to Maria.


    He then looked around the room, not leaving a single artifact behind as he read about each and every one of them without fail. As he did this, he did find the Blind Eye Patch and the Psychic''s Emerald pendant, but he let them stay where they were as he moved on to the other items.


    It took him almost an hour to read through every single description and once he was done, even he was surprised on how accurate the book was.


    There were many cursed artifacts, but the truly strong ones were weapons which he was not allowed to take. Among the non weapon type cursed artifacts, it was only these two that caught his eye.


    Psychic''s Emerald Pendant was an item that increased a person''s mental energy the more they wore it, but the more they wore this cursed item after a certain point, the user would have their memory degraded, similar to Alzheimer.


    ''The negative effect can be neutralized by taking it off and wearing it in regular timed intervals, but it also mentally effects the wearer, making them reluctant to take it off.'' he thought as he picked it up and looked at Maria who nodded, signalling that he could take it.


    As he moved towards the eye patch''s location, he stared at the pendant in his hand, ''I''ll just give it to Caleb and tell him to wear before sleeping. Once he comes to work, I''ll take it off him and this way his memory won''t be degraded.''


    Once he got close to the Blind Eye Patch, he read the description once again.


    Experience exclusive tales on empire


    (Blind Eye Patch: Automatically sticks to the eye, blinding it. As long as this is worn, the user will have access to heightened senses and reaction time.)


    It was a simple description which didn''t really seem to have any negative effects at first glance, but anyone would be able to figure out what the problem was if they read it the second time at least.


    ''So blindness in one eye in exchange for heightened senses and reaction time. A great trade actually.'' he thought and grabbed it too. It was basically just a circular cushion and it did not have any threads attached to it.


    He turned to look at Maria and she nodded once again, after which he directly brought it close to his left eye and the moment it made contact with is eyelid, it immediately stuck to his eye.


    ''Wow... I can''t even see the redness that I normally see when I close my eyes while I''m in a bright room.'' he thought as he looked straight at the oil lamp that was emitting a lot of light.

 Chapter 115 Distributing The Prize Money (Extra Chapter)

    While he did lose a part of his vision, the heightened senses really were significant. His sense of smell, hearing, touch, taste and even the sight of his remaining eye felt like they had been multiplied by at least 5 times."Mmm, yeah I like this one." Keith said as he looked around and then stopped at Maria, "I''ll take these two."


    "Okay." she said and nodded, "Now we need to settle the money that you won, but that''s something you can get from grandpa too so I''ll just go back to my room."


    Hearing her words, he silently nodded and walked out. He followed her until she got to her room and saw the priest waiting outside her door.


    "I''m done with the artifact and all that''s left right now is to settle the prize money. You guys never mentioned it but how much should I expect?"


    The priest nodded and smiled, "Well, first you must tell me what you want. Which currency you''re willing to accept the prize money in. Once I know that, I''ll be able to give you an accurate answer without making things confusing."


    "Kazak Empire. I''ll take money in Braks and Zens."


    Continue your journey on empire


    "Oh, you don''t be receiving money in Braks and Zens. You''ll be receiving Chrons. The third place was supposed to get five chrons. Second place, twenty chrons and the first place was supposed to get a hundred chrons. In total, you''ll receive 150 chrons. The extra 25 is from our church, a reward for your exceptional performance."


    Keith said nothing and silently walked beside the priest. His heart was pounding in his chest and he could feel it.


    It was the first time he had made so much money on his own and without resorting giving Vincent quests to steal from others. In a sense, he felt like he had accomplished a great thing.


    They walked for a minute or two until they reached the treasury. Keith followed the priest inside and saw another guy sitting inside.


    "Give us the prize money and add in twenty five Chrons into it. Yes, Kazak Empire''s currency." the priest said as he looked at the guy, who nodded respectfully and got to work.


    Keith didn''t have to wait for long as he soon had a thick stack of 1 Chron notes in his hands.


    "Whew... I''m supposed to distribute all of this to my team right?" Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Yep, and you''re free to distribute it however you like but I suggest that you either split it equally, or pay them purely based on their contribution during the training camp."


    Keith let out a light sigh and nodded. It was a tough decision as both of them had their pros and cons. Giving money to everyone equally would undermine the efforts of the ones who did more and splitting the money based on contribution had a huge chance of making one feel like they were being targeted, especially the one who''d receive the least.


    But at the end, Keith decided to go with the second option and by the time he got back to the church''s main hall, he had made up his decision on how to split the money.


    "In the name of Goddess Seraphina, please split the money." the priest said as he closed his eyes and hung his head down with his body as straight as a stick.


    Keith silently looked at his team for a few seconds before he parted his lips, "Laura, you were the one who contributed the most to the team. Thanks to your efficient hunting of the fishes, we were able to build a great momentum against other teams. You were one of the main reasons for our exceptional performance, so I''ve decided to give you a huge chunk of price money."


    As he said this, he counted 50 Chron notes and looked at her, "Come and take it. Forty Chrons."


    Laura stood as still as a stone. Even though she wanted to run over and grab the money, she was unable to move. But that was until Caleb patted her back and pushed her forward.


    "Go." he whispered and that one word alone seemed to have magically given her the control of her legs back to her.


    She walked over to Keith with a stoic expression on her face and did the universal salute, bringing her stiff palm to the side of her head with all of her fingers straight, touching each other.


    Keith suddenly felt awkward as he had never done such salutes, but then he saw Brandon giving him a curt nod before a thumbs up.


    This action was more than enough for Keith to pick up on, as he had read about it in the novel and hadn''t paid much attention to the small details. At first, he was stumped on how to respond to her salute, but now his mind was clear.


    He looked at her and gave her a curt nod before handing her the money. He watched her as she turned back and swiftly walked back to where she was originally standing at.


    "Brandon comes second, since he also contributed a lot and in multiple ways. Carrying heavy luggage, even though he wasn''t efficient, he still hunted fish for us. He did great during the fighting events and was of a huge importance while we were in Baroma Island. He''ll be receiving thirty Chrons for his contributions."


    He saw Brandon follow the same routine as Laura and he gave him a salute before handing him the money. Once done, he looked at Nathan and then at Amelia.


    "The position of third highest contribution is actually shared by two of us. First is Nathan. He wasn''t really useful in the fighting events as weapons weren''t allowed, but he still was very useful when it came to doing chores. In fact, he was the one who did most of the heavy lifting and also contributed a lot during our time in Baroma Island.


    He will receive twenty Chrons and sharing the spot with him, is Amelia. She didn''t participate much in fighting events, but she did show off her dancing skills in the recreational events."

 Chapter 116 What A Wild B*tch

    "She also helped with bringing other teams together, which at the end benefited our the most. Like I said, she will be sharing the spot with Nathan and will receive twenty Chrons. Both of you, come over."On his cue, the two of them took a step forward. Nathan walked normally, but Amelia just couldn''t stop herself from showing off. With a graceful dance, she moved behind Nathan and once they got close to Keith, she stopped and stood beside her spot sharer. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Twenty Chrons each for both of you." Keith said and gave them their money after the saluting was done.


    He silently watched them as they walked back and then looked at Clara.


    "Next spot will be taken by Clara. She did well in the fight events and also participated in recreational events. Apart from this, her divine blessing did give us a sense of safety while we were sleeping or doing relaxing activities. Especially for the ones who were weak like me, Caleb and Amelia. This warrants her the fourth place, and in other terms, she will receive fifteen Chrons."


    He didn''t have to say more as she silently walked towards him and gave him the salute while a slight smile tugged at the corners of her lips. Keith nodded and handed over the money.


    A few seconds later, once she was back with the others, he glanced at Caleb who looked at him hopefully. Keith gave him a slight nod before pointing at himself.


    "I''ll be sharing the spot with Clara and it feels awkward to talk about my own contributions. So, if anyone has any objections, feel free to express them right now. Oh yeah, and Caleb will be taking the last spot but although his contributions weren''t much, he did help us with most of the chores.


    It wasn''t that he didn''t want to help. It was just that his awakened ability didn''t allow him to. He will receive the remaining 10 Chrons, but before that, I still want you guys to express your opinions on my place if you''re not satisfied."


    His gaze was locked on to Caleb so stood silently with a smile on his face and Keith''s eyes were on the system screen that was directly in his line of sight, reading what was going through Caleb''s mind.


    ''Well, he''s satisfied so that''s a good thing.'' Keith thought but Amelia raised her hand, which clearly meant that she had an objection.


    Keith looked at her and nodded, sighing internally as he knew that there was a high chance of her wanting to cause trouble. The "system seed" connected to her gave him the information on the stuff that was going on inside her head and Keith was pleasantly surprised by what he saw.


    His worries quickly faded away as he nodded at her, the gears in his mind turning quickly so that he could find an optimal way of making use of this situation.


    "I feel like your position should be higher than both Nathan and me. Maybe even better than Brandon but that is debatable since he did, in fact contribute a lot even though I don''t like to admit it.


    But you on the other hand... your awakened ability worked in a similar fashion to Clara''s and you were able to help us avoid a lot of dangers. The entire plan was set up by you and without your orders and ways of doing things, Laura''s worth would have gone down exponentially.


    You weren''t so great at the fighting events, but all of us saw how you improved during the second week''s fighting event. You also performed your piano piece, danced with the nobles and also performed the tribal dance.


    You allied with other churches'' teams and got them to support us too. You were a key part of our team so I am absolutely not satisfied with your placement. Being humble is a great thing but being idiotic isn''t.


    Currently I feel like the money I got isn''t really deserved."


    Keith nodded and took out his leather pouch, the one he used to store his money. He opened it and took out all the money inside before stuffing his pockets. He then tossed the empty leather pouch to Amelia, who caught it before looking at him with a confused expression on her face.


    "One of our team members is facing a very serious financial problem. Unfortunately they cannot speak about this directly and also don''t want their name revealed so I''ll ask you guy in their place.


    It''s a problem that I cannot talk about directly, but if it does happen, then this teammate of ours will have no choice but to quit working with us. So, if you feel like I deserve a better place, then I want you to donate the money that you think you don''t need for their cause instead." he said and looked at them.


    Amelia immediately tossed in all of the money that she had received and then paused for a second before taking back one note with an embarrassed look on her face.


    "I''m still poor so I need some money too. I''ll be keeping one Chron for myself." Continue your saga on empire


    Brandon took one note from his stash and put it into the leather pouch, "I''ll pay for you, don''t worry."


    He immediately formed a layer of stone skin around his crotch and felt an impact almost half a second later.


    "Whew that was close."


    Clara knew that he was talking about her, so she silently put in all the money that she had. Laura hesitated slightly and counted twenty notes before pushing the notes into the leather pouch.


    Nathan on the other hand, followed Amelia''s example and took one note for himself before putting the rest into the pouch while Caleb also did the same.


    "Wow, that was unexpected." Keith said as he clapped, the sounds echoing in the hall.


    "What are you clapping for, you stingy bastard?!" Amelia hissed as she kicked Brandon''s ass, this time making him yelp as he jumped forward before patting his butt.


    He shook his head and sighed, "What a wild bitch...."

 Chapter 117 Valuable Wood

    While his team kicked each other''s asses, Keith looked at the priest who had leaned close to his eat."Don''t forget about the double awakening." he whispered and Keith nodded.


    He looked at his team and walked over to Amelia before taking the leather pouch from her. Then he looked at Clara.


    "Follow me, the archbishop said that she wants to talk to you." he said and glanced at the others, "You guys are free to go now. Just come back to the church by tomorrow morning so that we can leave together."


    Brandon nodded and immediately ran for the entrance with Amelia right behind him. The inquisitor trio looked at each other''s faces before they too walked out.


    Keith and Clara followed behind the priest until their reached Maria''s room. Once they were there, the priest stood outside while Keith walked in with Clara right behind him.


    "You''re back... and looks like you chose this woman. Hmm.... what''s you''re name?"


    "Clara. Clara Glynov." she said and didn''t add anything more.


    Maria nodded and shifted her gaze to Keith, "Did you tell her about it? If not, I''ll have to do it..."


    "She doesn''t know."


    Hearing this, Maria nodded and turned to look at Clara, "Do you know about double awakening? Well, you probably don''t but it''s still my responsibility to ask."


    "No, lady archbishop."


    "Well, it''s basically an awakening that happens second time. It''ll either boost your existing powers, give you a new one or both. It''s something that has a high chance of making you strong." Maria said and pointed at Keith before walking towards him.


    She patted his hand and continued, "I told him that I''ll help him awaken a second time along with one other person if he gets our church to the first or second place during the training program, but he exceeded my expectations and did a lot more.


    He picked you and didn''t tell you anything prior to this so now I have to explain stuff. Anyways, now that you know what a second awakening is, do I have your permission to start the ritual?"


    Clara''s mouth opened slightly as she looked at Keith, who gave her a silent smile before nodding.


    Seeing his response, she looked at Maria and nodded, "I give you my permission."


    "Great, now follow me." Maria said and walked out of the room. Keith and Clara silently followed behind her, walking down the stairs and going underground. Minutes slowly passed and Keith lost count of how far they had come.


    The stairway was lit with a reddish crystal type stone that was embedded in the wall, but the light that it emitted was barely enough to see his surroundings. The distance between each stone being 15 steps each didn''t help his case either.


    Time quickly passed and Maria finally came to a stop, panting slightly as she placed a palm on something in front of her that Keith couldn''t see. A rough sound of metal scraping against the ground was heard, something akin to a thick door opening.


    "Walk ten steps forward and that''ll be good enough." Maria said and walked forward while Keith and Clara followed, taking ten steps before stopping.


    "Okay, you two just stand there while I close the door. This process shouldn''t be seen by anyone."


    Five seconds later, the sound of metal grating against the ground was heard once again and it happened a total of two times before a loud ka-chink was heard.


    "Phew, these things are heavy even with my physical strength." Maria commented as she walked past the two of them and suddenly, with the sound of a slight scratch, a match stick was lit up.


    She brought the matchstick closer to a doused firetorch, but this one looked different from the regular cloth head fire torches. They looked like honey dipper sticks with grooves in them, but the grooves looked different. It looked more like a cup with holes that looked like a honeycomb.


    "Oh it''s empty." Maria said and tossed the matchstick away, killing the little bit of fire that she had and Keith heard her walking to the left.


    ''Luckily, I have my eyepatch.'' he thought as he followed the sound while his right hand grabbed Clara''s arm. She directly looped her arm around his while he was too focused on Maria''s position.


    The footsteps stopped and Keith heard an unfamiliar sound. It was clear that something hit something else, but he couldn''t tell what was going on. But even without this, he still had a guess on what it could be.


    ''Is that the waterwood? They were supposed to be close to getting extinct but it also makes sense for the churches to have it.'' he thought as he recalled more information about the waterwood.


    It came from an huge underground plant, which looked like a large brown coral under the water. When taken out of the water and dried, it could be used as a very strong sponge.


    It was hard like wood but also had the liquid absorption capabilities of a sponge. But that was just something that made it slightly better. A lot of people still used cotton cloth to absorb water as it was readily available but the thing that set the water wood apart was the fact that it''s first priority was water when it came to absorption.


    Thanks to this, people began using the waterwood as a long term oil stove. They would make it absorb oil and whenever it caught fire, the oil would be pushed outside and consumed as a fuel instead. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Even a small piece that was the size of a brick could last a common man upto six months and the best part about it was that as long as they submerged in it water, it would push out any foreign liquid and go back to absorbing water.


    It was basically an auto clean function which people absolutely loved, especially the middle class families and the nobles who had no problem with buying oil.


    [A/N: Alright guys, the burnout is getting crazy. I have so much in my head but lately I''ve been feeling like I''m unable to put it on out in the right way. It looks like I need some rest so for the next 2 to 5 days, depending on how much time I need, I''ll be posting 2 chapters per day. In my free time, I''ll read some other novels to relax my mind for some change. Thank you for understanding, have a nice day.]

 Chapter 118 Pseudo Gods Blood

    Maria put the wooden ball into the cup with holes and tossed the matchstick in, instantly igniting the ball which emitted an orange flame. This light alone was enough for Keith to take a good look at his surroundings.With his one eye, he took in the surroundings.


    It was a large circular room and in the middle, there were grooves etched into the ground, making a particular pattern which looked like labyrinth walls, but dug out instead.


    In the center, there was a small circle painted with something white. The circle was enough for just one person to sit but there was enough space around this circle. Keith saw Maria grab a large barrel before she turned to look at him, "You two, come here and grab those wooden balls. Take them and put them onto those fire torch stands before you light them up."


    Then, in a quick motion, she brought the barrel onto her shoulder before she put her hand in her pocket and took out a matchbox. She dropped it on the floor with a strained expression before looking at Keith, "Here''s the matchbox."


    After giving them instructions, she began to walk towards the grooves that were on the floor and while Keith watched, she placed the barrel on the ground right in front of the groove and uncorked it.


    Then she grabbed the top and leaned it towards the groove, pouring out oil that had a light greenish tint. Keith picked up the matchbox and joined Clara, grabbing a two wooden balls before following her to the fire torch stands.


    As he did his job with lighting up the space, his thoughts wandered to the oil.


    ''Greenish oil huh.... looks like she''s using the camphor oil.'' he thought and recalled how the thing worked.


    It was named camphor, but it was different from the way camphor trees and camphor worked in his previous life.


    The camphor tree in this world grew large fruits similar to papayas and every single one of them had a lot of oil content in them. These fruits were usually just crushed and filtered before using the juices as oil, but only for lighting and other non consumable purposes.


    Unfortunately, the oil was poisonous to humans and could easily cause rashes if ingested. Long term use could make them smell like camphor oil and would give them strong stomach cramps.


    It didn''t kill, but it made people''s lives hell.


    The fruits were one thing, but the tree itself along with the leaves were another matter altogether. Once cut up and boiled, they released a greenish oil which was highly flammable, similar to gasoline.


    In fact, this oil caught fire even faster than gasoline, so it had to be stored in cold places. Though it was highly flammable, the oil was extremely thick, similar to the consistency of honey.


    Thanks to this, it also burned for a lot longer.


    The three of them silently did their jobs and once Keith and Clara were done lighting up all the fire torches, they joined Maria and helped her move the barrels. It was hard labour and it took almost two hours to get everything ready. S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Oh god my back hurts..." Keith groaned as he stretched backwards, making Clara chuckle.


    Maria on the other hand, went straight to business, "Anyways, which one of you wants to go first? I don''t want to stay here even one second longer that I need to, so let''s hurry up please."


    Keith let out another groan as he straightened his back, "Clara goes first."


    "Okay, Clara, follow me." she said as she looked at Clara and then walked through the gaps that were in between the pits. Clara glanced at Keith before she followed behind Maria, feeling nervous.


    As the two of them walked, Maria opened her mouth and began to give out instructions.


    "The first and most important thing we''ll need is your blood and we''ll need a lot of it. So by the time we''re done, you''ll feel dizzy or you might even faint. Apart from that.... I heard that you''re a summoner type."


    Clara nodded, "Yes, I summon gloves like these. When I have them on and touch others, I will be able to provide them with an intangible shield that can protect them up to a certain extent."


    "Hmm..." Maria said as she glanced back at the gloves, "Can you take them out?"


    "Yes, miss Archbishop. I can give them to others but they won''t be able to use it''s powers. Unless I''m the one wearing them, the divine blessing won''t be given out."


    Maria nodded and took a step to finally reach the center of the labyrinth like formation.


    "That''s enough for us. All we need is those gloves and it doesn''t matter if the powers won''t activate. That''s how we do things with summoners and well, just consider yourself as a lucky person since this step alone can improve the chances of getting something really amazing." she said as she pointed at the small circle in front of her.


    "You see this? This is where you''ll be sitting but before that..." she said and took out a knife from the folds of her robes before giving it to Clara.


    She then pointed at her palm, "Make a deep cut and let the blood drip into those gaps. Let it mix in with the green oil."


    As she said that, she took out another knife and walked toward the edge of the center. Just as she was about to cut open the flesh in her palm, she stopped and closed her eyes.


    A few seconds passed silently and when she opened her eyes, she turned to look at Keith, "Keith, come here and do this step instead of me. Cut your palm open and let your blood mix in with the oil."


    "Can I know the reason why I was chosen for this? You seemed to be ready to do it yourself." Keith said as he carried a large barrel and placed it on the floor.


    Maria sighed, "Yeah, but mother told me that your blood is the second best thing after gods'' blood when it comes to this ritual."

 Chapter 119 Second Awakening: Impact of Marriage

    Keith silently nodded, instantly coming to a realisation as he walked towards the center, jumping over the pits playfully. Once he got to the center, he took the knife from her and immediately made a deep but on his palm, making blood flow out almost instantly.He then brought his hand over the pit and watched the blood drip down into the light green oil. On the other side, Clara was doing the same, but she was surprised to see so much blood flow out from his palm.


    ''He cut in too deep didn''t he?.... He will need a doctor at this point but Maria isn''t saying anything.'' she thought, her eyebrows furrowing.


    Time slowly passed and the more blood Keith bled, the more anxious she became, finally reaching her tipping point.


    "Hey, maybe you should stop right now. You will die if you loose too much blood." she said as her eyes darted between Keith and Maria nervously.


    Both of them looked at her and Maria nodded, "Yeah, he will but don''t worry about that. I have my ways to keep him safe and I want you to know that the more blood he gives up for this ritual, the greater your second awakening will me."


    Hearing this, Keith turned his head to look at Maria, "Wait, if that''s the case, can you bring me some kind of medicine that''ll help me create more blood? And if there''s any other conditions or things like that, then please tell me. No matter what happens, I want Clara''s second awakening to be the greatest. Oh yeah, I also wanted to ask about divine contracts.


    She made a pact that she''ll marry some baronet unless she pays her father''s debts and now she''s stuck. And well... we both have feelings for each other so if there''s a solution then we''ll gladly take it."


    "Hmm... I really don''t understand you adults." Maria commented as she closed her eyes. It didn''t take her too long to open her eyes with a knowing look on her face.


    "Well, her pact has a lot of loopholes. She''s supposed to marry that guy, but no one is stopping her from marrying others. We can do the ceremony right now and mother said that she''ll give you her blessings. The contract can''t be cancelled unless you clear the debt but mother says that you won''t have any problem with that."


    Keith silently stared at her and then glanced at Clara who had a neutral expression on her face. The urge to open up the system screen to read what was going on in her mind was strong, but he stopped himself from doing it. Discover hidden content at empire


    ''Marriage.. it''s too early by my standards but compared to people here who get into arranged marriages and marry someone they don''t even know, my case is relatively better.'' he thought as he stared at Clara, trying to see if she wanted this or not.


    The tradition of proposing an engagement or marriage was nonexistent in this world as it was parents who did most of the preparations thanks to the trend for arranged marriages.


    Due to this, Keith felt absolutely lost on what to do and at the end, he simply opened his mouth and asked her directly.


    "Do you want to do it, Clara? The first thing we''ll do when we get out of here, is to find Timothy and settle the debts. Don''t worry about the money, I''ve got everything sorted."


    Clara stared at him, but her eyes were entirely focused on the cut on his palm that was still dripping blood. With a frown on her face she pointed at it. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "You should probably stop that first... looking at it makes me feel like my heart is going to jump out of my throat."


    Hearing this, Keith looked at Maria, "Is there a time limit for this blood thing?"


    "Yes, once the blood starts falling into the oil, we''ll have one day''s worth of time to finish the ritual. Usually, the ritual itself will take three hours so you have enough time. I''ll go get the medicine you asked for and maybe a few more, so feel free to talk about this matter while I''m gone." Maria said and began to walk way from the center and towards the staircase.


    Keith looked at the cut and saw it healing slowing. The blood flow had thinned down a lot compared to a few minutes ago.


    ''Yeah, SSS grade regeneration can''t really be considered broken when compared to instantaneous regeneration that characters from other novels have, but in my eyes, it''s still broken.


    Being able to heal and completely close the cut in just a few minutes while it would take almost two weeks or more normally, is broken level stuff to me.'' he thought as he shifted his attention to Clara.


    "Just two more minutes and the wound will close." he said and saw her nod. Her own wound had closed up, leaving a thin line of clotted blood.


    Though the two minutes hadn''t passed, Clara walked over to Keith and grabbed his other hand, her thumb tracing over his knuckles.


    "Are you sure about this? The archbishop is talking about the marriage that''s done very rarely, in the presence of an actual divine being. You said that you wanted to take some time and all that so why did you change your decision so suddenly?"


    Keith nodded slightly, "Well, yeah I did want to take some time but you see, I feel like we''ll be able to work things out pretty well. You''re not like Amelia, jumping into conclusions and stuff. You also know how to communicate properly even though you don''t usually speak much.


    Anyways, I''ve decided but the rest is in your hands. If you don''t want it, then I''m fine with waiting for even longer but here''s the thing. Marriage actually brings a new element into the equation when you''re getting a second awakening.


    I can''t tell you the reason right now, so I want you to trust me. You did hear Maria say that my blood is the second best thing after gods'' blood."

 Chapter 120 Time For Another Luck Ritual

    Keith silently stared at her, waiting for a response. The reason for marriage wasn''t what he had just said and it was heavily related to the chances of the ritual failing.He remembered the time in the novel when mass second awakening became a thing. Thousands of people died, but it also allowed the scholars to note down some data and find patterns.


    Second awakening was slightly linked to the way DNA worked in humans but it also involved spiritual energy and mental energy at the same time.


    Women had an advantage when it came to second awakening thanks to one simple reason and that was the existence of wombs.


    It was not a morally correct method but it was the safest. Keith took a deep breath as he made his first hard decision.


    ''It''ll be fine if I impregnate her right before the ritual. There won''t be enough time for the cell to grow and this is also the perfect way to make sure that her ability is strengthened instead of her getting a new ability.'' he thought as he recalled the depraved things he read in the novel.


    The kingdoms took full advantage of this method and cultivated advanced awakeners, most of whom were women and the fuel for this advancement was their own unborn children.


    The more he remembered the contents of the novel, the more depressed he became.


    ''We humans could turn into some of the worst creatures ever... meh, thinking about this is leaving a bad taste in my mouth.'' he thought and shook his head, trying to push away the disturbing thoughts.


    He then placed his hands on Clara''s shoulder and held her before looking straight into her eyes, "Clara, do you trust me?"


    "I... yes. I''d love to marry you, Keith. I was just wondering why you''d pick me over someone like Amelia." she said, her voice barely audible, but in the large, empty room, there was no way her words would go unheard.


    Read exclusive content at empire


    Keith silently pulled her into a hug, "I already told you the reason, but I want you to listen to me now because this is going to be very important. Maria probably doesn''t know about this but there is a way to strengthen the effects of the ritual."


    As he whispered, he played with her lustrous hair.


    "And that method is to have sex right before the ritual. But of course, you probably don''t trust me because this sounds too far fetched so I''ll leave the choice to you. Though, keep in mind that we gotta do it before Maria gets back. I don''t want a child seeing us doing stuff like that."


    Keith expected her to either say yes or no, but the result surprised him as he felt her hands exploring his back.


    "Should I take that as a yes?" he asked and she immediately pulled back before nodding, "Mhmm, I was wondering when you''ll ask..."


    ********


    (A/N: This smut session will have no impact on the story and it won''t give you any kind of extra information either. So yeah, no smut unless you guys really REALLY want it.)


    Minutes slowly pass and Maria finally walks into the room with a large bag slung onto her back. She sees Keith and Clara sitting silently at the center of the ritual formation but she senses something different in the atmosphere.


    Keith turned to look at her and waved his hand, "Hey Maria, why don''t we wait for tomorrow and start all over again? I have a plan in mind."


    "You and your plans..." Maria muttered as she placed the bag on the ground before walking over to the two of them.


    "What is it?"


    Keith pats the ground in front of him, motioning her to sit, which she does.


    "Alright so listen. I''ll be the subject of the ritual today and I know a different variation of the same ritual so I plan on doing that one instead. Though, I''ll have to go out and buy a few things to get the preparations in order but by the time I''m back here, I want at least three medical professionals." he said and looked at her expectantly.


    Maria let out a sigh, "Of course. It''s not like I have a say in this since mother likes to pamper you... at this rate, I''ll be turned into your personal servant." she complained as she pouted, making Keith smile.


    "Hey, I''ll leave this place in a few days so you don''t have to worry about that. Also, thank you for your help and support. I owe you one." he said and got up before heading towards the stairs.


    "Don''t forget, I need doctors here by the time I come back and I''ll probably be back in one or two hours."


    Maria and Clara silently watched him leave and once he was gone, the child looked at Clara with a smirk on her face.


    "I know you did something suspicious while I was gone... care to tell me about it? Because it doesn''t smell normal in here."


    Clara shrugged, acting like she didn''t know what Maria was talking about.


    "Hm? I don''t think we did anything after you went though. Oh yes, Keith did take out some jerky from his pocket and ate them." she said, making Maria squint her eyes suspiciously.


    "Hmph, you adults think that we kids are dumb aren''t you? Fine! Don''t tell me anything. It''s not like I want to know about it anyways." she said, sticking her tongue out as she got up and walked towards the stairs just like Keith.


    ''I''ll ask mommy about it.'' she thought but a few seconds later, she grumbled and walked up the stairs grumpily, ''Even mommy isn''t telling me about it...''


    A few minutes later, Keith rushed out of the church and hurriedly ran into an inn. He placed one Barom note on the counter and asked for a room, to which the receptionist gave him a key along with a number.


    Keith rushed inside the room and empties his two leather bags onto the floor. S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ''Time for another luck ritual.''

 Chapter 121 Meeting A True God

    Keith drew the diagrams once again and this time, he used the gold bars to draw straight lines. It took him a while to make sure that the diagram was perfect but unlike before there were a few changes. Instead of chalk, he used his blood to draw the diagram directly on the floor.The diagram looked the same as before, an equilateral triangle that had equal sides and a circle that touched all three corners of the triangle. The triangle was inside the circle.


    Keith grabbed a silver chalice and placed it at the center before letting his blood drip into it. He waited for a few seconds and then took a deep breath. He turned to look at the gold bars near him and sighed, "I need more containers."


    He used his handkerchief to stop the blood flow before walking out of the room. He made sure to lock the door behind him and then walked downstairs before asking the waiters for some drinking cups, which they gave without any hesitation when they saw a Barom note in his hand.


    With the containers acquired, he rushed back into his room and got back to work. he emptied the contents of the silver chalice into one of the drinking cups before he used a knife to cut up the wound once again, determined to fill up every single container with his blood.


    Minutes passed and once he was done, he felt slightly dizzy since he had already given up a lot of blood a few minutes earlier for the sake of Clara. He shook his head and used his handkerchief to stop the blood flow before closing his eyes.


    With a deep sigh, he opened his eyes and placed six containers along the sides of the triangle and one at the center before he began to stack the gold bricks on them.


    The six containers supported three bricks, forming a golden triangle and on top of this triangle, Keith made another triangle but this time, it was a reverse triangle, making the thing look like a starfish with six limbs from top.


    This was to give it a better stability and Keith continued to make another layer using three more gold bricks before descending the last brick, the tenth brick into the hole that was formed from the three layers of triangles.


    Tenth brick gently rested on the cup in the middle and Keith carefully brought his hand out. Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ''Alright, since I have so much gold this time, I should be able to form a connection with the god of trades.'' he thought, recalling the list of true gods that he had seen before coming to this world.


    God of trades was a true god, independent of human actions unlike the God of money. Every single atom in the universe partook in the exchange of ions, electrons, energy, etc. All these exchanges were basically trades in their purest forms and Keith wanted to eliminate the middleman in the trade, who was the god of money, Mammon.


    This wasn''t because he "knew" something. No, it was because he had a theory in his mind that made way more sense than what he had read directly in the novel.


    The novel said that the ritual belonged to the money god mammon and using this ritual, one could give their money to mammon and ask for anything in return.


    Keith on the other hand knew that this wasn''t how things were supposed to go as human dependent gods couldn''t help people with things they don''t have control over.


    And in Mammon''s case, there was no way he could grant luck or anything other than money to people. It was all bogus, a well crafted plan to scam people.


    ''Well, Red Snow also showed me the summoning diagram for god of trades and it was extremely similar to this one.'' he thought and looked at the diagram with a smirk on his face.


    With his index finger, he rubbed the circle and made a hole in the diagram before using his blood to make a pathway from the hole towards himself.


    Once he was done, he smiled with a satisfied expression on his face as he looked at the hourglass like diagram. One end had the ritual diagram while the other was just empty. Find more to read on empire


    Keith silently sat on the empty side and closed his eyes as he bowed down, his head touching the floor. He then opened his mouth and began chanting.


    "Oh great overseer of trades, I humbly give you this gold and blood. Please grant me enhanced luck for the day." he said, his body immediately going stiff the moment he finished speaking.


    The gold in front of him began to melt and drop into the containers. Miraculously, the blood in the container did not spill when the gold fell into it and instead, it began to evaporate instead. The melted gold also only flowed into the containers and didn''t even touch the ground.


    On the other side, Keith was still, with his head still on the ground but his skin began to turn extremely red and slowly there was formation of cracks on it.


    By the time the gold had completely melted, Keith''s skin was nowhere to be seen. Instead, there was a small amount of ash around him.


    The gold in the cups began to boil like water while holding onto it''s color instead of turning bright orange. Seconds quickly passed and the golden liquid in the containers slowly began to decrease in volume.


    Five minutes passed and as Keith was doing his best to keep his mouth shut, he heard a voice deep inside his consciousness.


    "A fellow divine being. Good."


    As the voice echoed in his mind, a new layer of skin began to grow rapidly, overly efficient compared to his SSS grade regeneration.


    The pain was still present, so Keith began to bang the floor with his balled fists, trying to push out the pain and frustration that he felt a few seconds ago.


    "Oh god.... oh my fucking god, that hurt like crazy." he muttered and suddenly saw something glint under the bed.

 Chapter 122 Hunters Black Market

    "Looks like my luck has begun already." he muttered as he crawled to the bed and fished out the thing that was glinting, only to find himself staring at a small glass shard.With a disappointed look on his face, he threw it into the trash bin and walked out of the room. Once he went down, he paid the people 20 Baroms for the cups and left the inn, heading straight towards the hunters'' black market in Baroma Kingrom.


    It was a very secretive place, and the location was only known to certain small cults and multiple well known hunters. The reason Keith knew of this location was the same old reason; due to the novel. He walked for a few minutes until he reached a small butcher''s shop. Instead of walking inside, he silently walked around it through the alleyway as he took out his bloodied handkerchief to cover the lower half of his face. . Enjoy more content from empire


    ''Like I expected.'' he thought as he saw a young teenager smoking a pipe while he sat on top of some crates.


    He got closer to him and took out a stack of Barom notes before handing it over to him, "I''d like to see some rotten meat, the one that has maggots crawling all over it."


    The teenager silently took the money and stuffed his pockets before placed his hand on one of the crates, turning the top part of the crate pitch black.


    Keith didn''t question a thing and silently grabbed the crate, put it on the ground and jumped inside. For a second, all he could see was pitch black darkness and instantly, he felt his feet touch something hard.


    He looked around and found himself in an island which he knew was very small. The island didn''t have any official name, so it was called the hunters'' black market for the ease of remembrance. It was small, at most it was the size of Auberg district.


    But the land that was used by the people here, was actually like an elevated platform. It was similar to a ring that had a tall pillar in the middle which was also extremely wide. This elevated platform helped the people at the top to stay safe from high tides and offered slight protection from storms too.


    When Keith considered just the used land in this island, he could tell that it was barely just 30% of the size of Auberg District. He looked around and the descriptions from the novel did not betray what he was seeing at the moment.


    Every single stall had some kind of monster put up on display and the entire place was filled with hushed murmurs and whispers. Keith silently walked, taking a look at the stalls on both his sides.


    All of them were actually selling monster meat or monster carcasses which were basically the animals that had undergone mutation.


    ''The mutations vary a lot here, but using this method will boost my capabilities by a huge margin. I''ll need to find something that has the most stable evolution or something that is in large quantities.'' he thought and he continued to walk. Most of the carcasses that were being sold, were cold and buried in ice boxes.


    There were weird looking birds, ones with no feathers, ones with just bones and some that didn''t have legs. Then there were the aquatic creatures which were mostly fishes of varying sized and creative mutations. Octopuses with more than ten tentacles, crabs with scorpion tails, and there were also some creatures that he couldn''t even describe.


    Land mammals were easier to look at as the mutations weren''t too drastic.


    Almost twenty minutes later, he stopped in front of a board that made him feel a certain pull, a pull that he couldn''t say no to for some reason.


    Feeling good about this, he walked over and saw a paper pinned to the board.


    "Hmm, a hiring service huh?" he said as he glanced at the guy who was sitting on a chair right beside the board.


    "Yes, I can only do land creatures but I''m highly efficient. I only do barters and I don''t take cash." S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Keith heard this and nodded before going into a deep thought, "I know that it''s taboo to ask where you''re catching these creatures from, but I want to know what kind of creatures I can get."


    He didn''t bother asking them about the location because he already knew about it. Unfortunately, his memory wasn''t good enough to remember about all of the animals that were available in that place and even the novel didn''t go into detail about it.


    The guy sitting on the chair nodded and crossed his arms across his chest, "Sure, my name is Agar by the way and I''m an expert hunter."


    "Ki-" he paused for a second and continued "Kira. My name is Kira Brokalee."


    "Mhm, nice to meet you. Well, here''s the list of things that I can catch for you. The way they act, taste and the uses of their body parts is all mentioned here. Just read it and if you have any questions about specific creature, feel free to ask me." Agar said as he handed Keith a thin book that didn''t have any binding.


    Keith silently took it and went through the pages. Most of the creatures had the word "unknown" written in most of the slots, especially the uses of their body parts. The book also had data on the population of the species.


    ''I don''t have knowledge on most of these animals but oh well...'' he thought as he continued to skim through the pages until he was done with the entire book. There were only thee animals that stood out in his eyes.


    "Tell me more about this One Winged Snake, Iron Centipede and Six Legged Crocodile please. They seem to have the most population compared to the others, so they must be special right?" Keith asked and the Agar sighed before nodding.


    "Yeah, they''re special alright. They''re all extremely hard to catch so if you want them alive, you''ll have to pay more. As for the specifics...."

 Chapter 123 Keiths Reckless Method For The Ritual

    "The One Winged Snake can glide in the air. It''s called one winged, but it actually just elongates the sides of it''s skin to make a makeshift wing. It does this on it''s left or right side to change directions mid-air. It usually attacks from branches of tall trees and used it''s tail to push against the tree so that it can fly towards it''s prey faster.They''re highly venomous, so it''s a risky creature for me to catch and I have no plans on putting my live on the line for a little bit of riches.


    As for the Iron Centipede, they''re just a bigger versions of the normal centipedes with the adults reaching a length of half a meter and their shell is extremely hard. On top of that, they can further increase the hardness to make it as hard as iron and that''s where their name comes from. They''re relatively easy to capture but no one wants them as their body parts are literally useless. Their shell without the hardening, isn''t really valued that much.


    Lastly, those six legged crocodiles live in groups and I don''t want to take the risk of getting eaten by them. Also, they''re not anything special and simply have two extra legs." Agar said as he looked at Keith.


    "Hmm, that''s kinda boring... I don''t really want those centipedes either." he said and went through the book again before stopping at a creature called the "Water Jelly". He pointed it to Agar and the hunter nodded with a smile.


    "They''re just weird creatures that can''t die from blunt attacks. Though, we can kill them if we grind them into a paste but they''re basically just semi solid water-like jelly fish without tentacles and live on land instead of water."


    ''Yeah, so a slime....'' Keith thought and nodded, "Okay, since their population isn''t too bad compared to the first three, I''ll take these. The more you bring me, the more things I''ll give you but I need it in under half a day."


    As he said that, he opened his two leather bags and showed the contents to Agar, "This is just what I have on me currently. If you deliver it to the church of protection, I''ll give you way more. How much would you need?"


    Agar stared at Keith with wide eyes before nodding, "Okay, I''ll take the deal and expect me at the church by nine in the night."


    Keith nodded and gave him four silver necklaces before smiling, "That''s the advance payment, but I suggest bringing more people with you so that you can hunt more. After today, I''ll have no use for them so this is a limited time offer and I don''t think I''ll ever come back here for such a big order."


    "Of course, but will you be able to pay? It might be extremely expensive." Agar said, feeling skeptical about his words but Keith simply shrugged, "How many of these water jellies can I get for the silver I gave you?"


    Agar thought for a bit before sighing, "They''re extremely easy to catch since they''re not aggressive and they''re pretty dumb and mindless too, so that also factors in." he said and took out a scale from under his chair before he placed the silver chains on one end and a few weights on the other until it had some semblance of balance.


    "Okay, three hundred grams... so I could get you ten of them. Usually I charge more but since it''s a massive order, consider this as a discount. Hmm wait, just in case you need an estimate of how many I can get for you, hmm." Agar said and frowned, thinking deeply as he tried to calculate.


    "Alright, I should be able to bring you around five hundred of them. That means, I''ll need fifteen kilograms of silver or silver jewellery. I also take payment in gold."


    Keith nodded and gave him assurance, "It''s fine, I''ll pay in silver. It''s not like I don''t have it. Anyways, I''ll see you at night, so I hope that you can bring me as many as you can. Don''t worry about getting more of them as I don''t lack the silver to pay."


    The two of them talked for a little while more before Keith bid farewell and left the place. He had other things to do and those were also extremely important.


    ''Haa... now it''s time to drain blood once again. I feel exhausted from just thinking about it.'' he mused to himself as he walked around and found a guy with a mirror beside him.


    He walked over and gave him a small silver ring, "Church of Protection that''s in the capital of Baroma Kingdom."


    The guy took the ring and placed his hand on the mirror before looking at Keith, "You''ll be sent to an inn that''s near the church. You''ll have to walk for a bit if you want to go to the church." Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Keith just nodded and walked through the mirror, not waiting for an explanation on how his awakened ability worked as he already knew about it thanks to the novel. After coming back to Baroma Kingdom, he rushed back to the church and asked the priest for an empty room once again, which he was given access to without any questions.


    He brought out all the things stored in his system and filled up four bags instead of two this time. Once done, he put the rest back into this system storage and rushed back to the underground ritual room, only to see a group of five men sitting silently outside the ritual border.


    "Oh looks like you guys are all here." Keith commented as he rushed over to Clara and gave the four bags to her before whispering, "Here, these are filled with gold and silver so keep them safe." Read new chapters at empire


    Without waiting for a reply he rushed back to the ritual area and lied down right outside the ritual border with his arms hanging over the dug out pit where the green oil was.


    "Come on, feed me those pills and medicines before cutting my wrists. If you have any other ways to draw blood, then do it. I should be able to withstand an outflow of blood that''s equivalent to five cut wrists, but let keep it four for safety purposes."

 Chapter 124 I Am Alive Im Alive Imalive

    Keith lie on top of a small bed that had an elevation, with is hand and legs extending over it''s length. Four large bowls were placed right below the cuts and blood slowly dripped down into them. The doctors took care of feeding him the medicines and a few other foods to help him with the production of blood.He felt his hands go numb, but he continued to eat. The area near the cuts felt like it was getting bitten by red ants, giving him stinging sensation. Time slowly passed, but Keith still looked decently healthy. He wasn''t at the top of his condition but it wasn''t too bad.


    As night came, he looked at Clara, "Come here, I want you to do something for me."


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    "What is it?" she asked and hurried over before bending down so that Keith could whisper in her ears.


    Keith had no intention of hiding his actions, but he couldn''t just talk loudly when her ear was right in front of his mouth.


    "Well, I want you to go to the top with those bags. At nine in the night, someone or a group will come to find you. They''ll have something called the water jelly with them and I need those so you''ll do the transaction instead of me. Each one of those water jellies is 30 grams of silver and that''s the bargain price, so don''t try to bargain more. You should receive around 500 of those things, but if you get more, buy that too. I have a feeling that they''ll bring their own scales, but it''ll be better to have one prepared."


    Hearing his words, Clara nodded and took out her pocket watch to check the time, "We still have two hours so that''s fine right?"


    "Yeah, just chill for now. Once you settle the trade, you should go and get some rest since it''ll be your turn tomorrow."


    Clara frowned, "But, what about you? You said that you''ll be giving out blood tomorrow for me so don''t you need rest? Maybe we can postpone it to the day after tomorrow?"


    "Hmm..." Keith hummed as he thought about it, "Indeed, there is no need to rush, but I have some important things to do and it''s slightly connected to you. So yeah, we''ll need to get this thing settled before I can put my mind at ease and move on to other things."


    "Connected how?" she asked and leaned towards him again, to which Keith responded by whispering, "Timothy."


    "Ah, okay." she said and pulled back before she went back to where she had placed the bags. Keith watched her sit down and he too went back to thinking about random things. sea??h th§× n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Time quickly passed and Clara walked back into the room with a long line of people who had large baskets hung over their back. Maria walked along with Clara and Keith could tell that all of these people were the servants of the church.


    "Just toss all of them into the oil." he said and continued letting his blood drip.


    Clara headed over to him and hastily whispered, "That man brought us a thousand of them.... I had to give him thirty kilograms of silver."


    She expected Keith to get angry about the situation, but contrary to her expectations, he smiled and nodded instead.


    "That''s great. I told him to bring me as much as possible and he did exactly that. Anyways, just go rest for now. I guess I''ll be done by morning." he said and got her to leave the place. The doctors were focused on getting him fed without asking any questions and Keith was also pretty surprised that Clara hadn''t asked him about his regeneration.


    But that was something he wished to talk about later with her, so he didn''t put too much mind into it. Blood extraction went on and on while the servants tossed in the slimes into the oil and blood mixture. The oil was as thick as honey and it didn''t really mix with blood but it did manage to dissolve the slimes.


    Keith couldn''t really watch what was going on, but he could tell what was happening thanks to the servants talking about how things were going.


    The slime bodies slowly mixed up with the oil and blood at the same time, enabling the mixture to truly exist in a homogeneous form. The bright green liquid slowly turned light brown and as time passed, the thick oil slowly began to thin down as it''s consistency decreased.


    As the sun began to rise back up, Keith saw the time and nodded to himself when it hit 6AM.


    "I guess that''s it for now." he commented and looked at the doctors, "Close up the wounds and I''ll get things going. Maria, is everything ready?"


    Maria, who was at the center of the formation, woke up with a snap and looked at him. The sudden burst of energy went down as fast at it came up and she felt lethargic once again.


    "Ugh... yes. Everything is ready so just come and sit down here." she said as she got back on her feet and jumped around to push away the sleepiness. Keith waited for his wounds to close before he walked towards her and sat down where Clara was supposed to sit almost a day ago.


    "The rest is in your hands right?" he asked and Maria nodded, "Yeah, just make sure that you keep the words, I am alive."


    Hearing her words, he nodded, "Okay. I am alive. I am alive. I am alive. I''m alive. I''m alive. I''malive. I''malive. i''malivei''malivei''malivei''malivei''malivei''malive"


    "STOP!!! You dum-" she paused when she saw the smirk on his face and frowned, feeling extremely annoyed, "Can''t you like... stop playing?"


    "Yeah sorry, my bad. I was getting so bored back there while I was getting my blood extracted." he said and closed his eyes as he began to say the words "I am alive" in his head.


    His sense for the passage of time went haywire as time passed, until he suddenly felt like he had lost all physical sensations.


    "Hello, Keith. Or should I say... Fwyd Chicken?"

 Chapter 125 Red Mist, AKA Emma Clankton

    Keith opened his eyes and saw two women staring at him. He could instantly identify one of them thanks to her clothes."Seraphina... and I''m guessing Red Mist." he said as he shifted his attention to the short one beside Seraphina. She was short and cute, with her skin slightly tanned. Looking at her felt like he was looking at a human version of chipmunk that was five foot three inches tall.


    She smiled widely and immediately hugged him before nuzzling her face against his chest, "I wanted to meet you sooo, soo much!"


    Keith couldn''t help but freeze due to the sudden hug but he recovered quickly before he patted the back of her head.


    "Yeah... though I didn''t really expect to meet you. Do you know what''s going on though? Like how and why I came here or how you came here? This whole world was created by you so you should know something right?" he asked and felt her pull away from him.


    She looked up at him and shrugged, "Well... ahem. If you want me to be honest... this world is real just like ours and it''s just an alternate universe. Explaining everything will be a waste of time so, long story short, the patient who shared a bed with me when I first got admitted into the hospital, gave me a small slip of paper that had instruction to a ritual. He promised me that this will help me with whatever I was facing and he died the next day.


    And based on the stuff written on the letter, you probably already know how I started to write. The reason for me starting to write was the ritual. It was a simple ritual, but once I did it and fell asleep, I felt the sudden urge to write, to put my thoughts into a written form.


    And that was what I did. There wasn''t much improvement with my cancer, but the book helped me keep my shit together. Then, tada! I beat my cancer the first time and it happened so suddenly. The chances of the surgery succeeding was around 10 percent and once it did succeed, I thought that the ritual was the reason for my second chance at life.


    My drive to write went down and I started to let the readers dictate how the novel would go and well... my cancer returned. This time, I tried the ritual again, but every time I did, I fainted and the cancer became even worse. I felt like that was the end for me and went back to my dream world, this world and continued writing my story." she said and let out a soft sigh, "And well, I died. My life was painful. Both physically and mentally thanks to the cancer and my close ones abandoning me."


    Keith knew most of the story other than the ritual part, so he waited for her to continue, hoping to get a proper answer even though the urge to give her a hug was almost irresistible. It pained him that she had to suffer so much, especially when all the while he was enjoying her novel and cursing her for the way she tried to torture Clark.


    ''Though, I will torture that bitch if he tries to come for Clara again.'' he thought as he waited for her to continue, which she did.


    "Well, that was when things changed. I suddenly found myself in this universe.... the one I created of course and even I don''t know how or why things turned out this way. I also don''t know the reason for your transmigration either but since you''re here, I''m very happy about it!" she said, as she smiled once again but suddenly went serious.


    "Also, call me Emma. No need for my last name and I have a question for you."


    Keith nodded and raised his eyebrow, "A question huh? I thought you''d know everything but sure."


    "This world is both polygamous and monogamous. I want to know which path you''ll choose. I''ve always been curious since you absolutely hated Clark''s harem."


    Once he heard her words, he sighed, "Well, that was because that bitch treated them like objects that he could throw away whenever he wants to. Honestly, I thought you were a guy due to this but now I''m even most surprised on why you''d write something like that."


    "Well, even I don''t know. I just did it and now that I''m here, I''m wondering about most of my decisions with the story. Like every time I started writing my book, I''d lose myself and once I realise how much time had passed, I''d have already written a lot of chapters. It might sound creepy, but I feel like whenever I wrote the book, I wasn''t myself."


    Keith felt a chill and his hair stood on end when he heard her words.


    "... do you think-"


    "I don''t know. Maybe someone was controlling me and maybe this person or thing is looking at us right now but all of it is just my assumption. Though, don''t worry too much about it. I don''t have those kind of episodes any more. I mean the ones where I lose control of myself and stuff." she said reassuringly, to which Keith nodded silently.


    "Anyways, answer my question will you?"


    "Tch." he clicked his tongue as he really did not wish to answer that question. With a frown on his face, he began to speak, "Haaa... well, before I answer that question, why don''t you guess the reason why I choose Clara?"


    Emma pouted as she looked at him, "You''re asking me questions now? Tch, but fine, the reason is very simple. All you men are the same, you only like those with big jugs."


    Keith sighed and shook his head, "Yeah sure. Anyways, that was not the main reason. It her personality, her looks, the way she talked and even her awakened ability was considered when I picked her. I want someone who can protect themselves and treat me the same way I treat them. The size of their jugs only give them extra points but there''s a limit you know? Too much is too bad."


    S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 126 Seraphinas Help

    "Nah you''re still trying to dodge the question. Tell me if you want a harem or not!!!" Emma yelled as she clung to his torso the same way a koala would cling to a branch or a tree trunk.At this point, Keith felt like he was trying to placate a spoiled child.


    "I already told you but alright, listen. I don''t mind having a harem as long as the girl is able to protect herself, is good to me and has decent looks. Let''s talk realistically, it''s hard to get infatuated with someone ugly unless you''re into someone like that and everyone has their own standards. That aside, I also will not accept another girl as my partner unless Clara says yes.


    Because, if I go around building a harem like your beloved Clark, I''ll have problems with the girls fighting amongst each other. Also, following Clark''s manipulative ways don''t sit well with me and it''s also exhausting to keep my mind occupied on how to keep them from fighting.


    I want a peaceful and happy family and I actually prefer monopoly if I''m being honest. Too many partners feels like a headache, especially when I think about the future and how this whole continent will get dis-"


    Her small hand covered his mouth. He saw Emma''s eyes wide open in shock, but his gaze immediately went to Seraphina who was now frowning.


    "This whole continent will what?" she asked, her voice sharp as she glared at Emma who let out a soft sigh and shook her head, "Well, I just wanted the story to go the way it was supposed to, but I guess I got no choice now."


    "This continent will get absolutely destroyed and your lovely shield will break. A lot of people will die but some will escape to the other islands. You should know what that means right? Well, even if you know about this, there isn''t much you can do, is there?"


    Hearing this, Seraphina''s frown grew deeper, "I''ve helped you so much and you tried to keep such a huge secret from me...."


    "Nuh uh, I came to you because I knew you''d help me out. I didn''t really want to kill my beloved characters but I don''t mind doing it right now." Emma said, her expression absolutely serious but Keith simply grabbed her small head and pulled her back. Experience more on empire


    "Seraphina, don''t take her words too seriously. Not everyone will die and the shield will actually remain intact. The fights will happen and most of them will actually die, but you guys will still be left with around ten percent of the population. While she''s right about you not being able to do anything to stop it, you sure can start preparing for the event.


    Use it as an opportunity to get your own people to safety and as for the other survivors, you should be able to convert them to your church. This will benefit you since you know what''s going to happen." he said, lying effortlessly as he mixed in truths with lies.


    In reality, whatever Emma said was the absolute truth, but Keith had his own plans for the event so he simply decided to get someone else to do his work instead.


    Unfortunately for him, Seraphina paid no attention to him and instead just stared at Emma.


    "Haaa..." Emma exhaled as she patted Keith''s back, "You forgot how much she values friendship and truth. She''s pissed about me not telling her things."


    "Ah."


    Emma then looked at Seraphina and sighed, "The reason I didn''t tell you, is because I didn''t want you to start worrying about it so soon. Also, there''s Keith and I''m sure that he''ll do a way better job than you since he can actually go down there and interact with people directly unlike us." she said and looked at Keith with a bright, playful smile.


    "No free labor for you. She''ll help you out but you gotta do everything on your own, Keith. You kept telling me how you wanted to live a life in this world but now that you are here, you want others to do your work? What''s the difference between reading the book and this then?"


    Keith let out a sigh before nodding, "Yeah I understand." he said, not really in the mood to start a debate with her.


    He wanted to live in this world, yes. But he only wanted the good things without needing to take the trouble of fighting others. Although it was wishful thinking, it didn''t change the fact that it was what he wanted.


    "Anyways, about my second awakening..." he said and Emma perked up before running over to Seraphina. She slapped her ass and gave her a command, like she was sending out a Dokemon to fight for her. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    (A/N: I don''t want copyright troubles.)


    "It''s your turn, go help him with is awakening. After all, he did it within your church."


    Seraphina sighed and walked over to Keith, "Please take this girl away from me. She''s a pain in my ass... literally."


    Keith''s expression went stiff immediately. He expected a second awakening, but instead he got a complaint about Emma.


    "Anyways, you''re actually not an awakened so you''ll go through two awakenings at the same time. I don''t really have a say in how your awakening will go since you used a different method compared to the one I taught Maria but with your permission, I can give you some of my divinity to fuel your awakening. It won''t impact your awakening in any way other than just strengthen it." she said, getting directly to the point after she was done complaining about Emma.


    Keith nodded, "Okay, what should I do?" he asked as he really did not know what he was supposed to do at this moment. Usually, the ones who go through a second awakening would simply have to do the ritual and everything else would happen automatically.


    "Oh just wait for now. Everything that must happen will happen automatically. We just used the ritual as a way to bring you here because Emma wanted to meet you. Rest assured, there won''t be any impact on your awakening but since you said okay to receiving my help, are you ready?"


    [A/N: Aux chapter updated. Please do tell me if you want me to add things to it.]

 Chapter 127 Keiths Official Awakened Ability

    Keith and Emma just sat in Seraphina''s "Divine Palace" and talked for the remaining 150 minutes. It was called a divine palace, but it only had a small hut and a large courtyard around it.Their talks mostly consisted of the stuff related to the novel and technically this world and unfortunately for Seraphina, she wasn''t allowed into her own home since Emma wanted to talk to Keith in private.


    "Oh well, looks like the time''s up. It was nice to meet you." Keith said as he felt a strange pull.


    Emma nodded and patted his shoulder, "Go and show them who the real protagonist is! Fighting!"


    "Uh yeah." he said awkwardly as he the suction increased and he was unable to keep himself there any longer. Everything turned into a blur, with white, gray and black popping up randomly in his peripheral vision until he found himself in the ritual room.


    Maria looked at him with curious eyes, "So? Any changes?"


    Keith immediately shook his head, frowning as he knew that he would receive an influx of information regarding his powers whenever a second awakening happened. sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Hmm..." he hummed as he brought out his system screen and looked around, finding no difference once again.


    ''System, show my awakened ability. The one that belongs to me must be highlighted.'' he thought and another screen popped up instantly, which made him nod.


    Awakened Abilities:


    Spatial Dimension (Unique)


    Danger Sense


    Libido and Sensitivity control


    Fire Creation and Manipulation


    ''Give me more information about this spatial dimension.''


    [Spatial Dimension (Unique): Access to a Spacial Dimension where everything is under your control. You are the absolute master of this Dimension and you can access it though a simple mental command. Spacial Dimension also has synergy with User''s System Administrator abilities.]


    Keith read the information and nodded before he looked up at Maria, "Well.... I''d rather keep it a secret."


    Maria instantly pouted, but Keith laughed as he raised his hands up, "Hey hey, I was joking. I have the ability to manipulate fire, that''s all." he said and pointed his finger at one of the fire stands and made the flame go out instantly.


    Then he pointed at another one and used the little bit of fire to produce a huge flaming dragon which disappeared after a three seconds.


    "Well, that''s it. Let''s take a day''s break and get to Clara tomorrow." he said and got up from the circle where he was sitting before he stretched, "Ugh, damn that feels good. Anyways, I''ll see you later."


    Saying that, he got out of the ritual diagram and as he moved, he saw that the oil mixture was nowhere to be seen. It wasn''t surprising to him since he already knew how the process worked but he still wished to see it happen in real time.


    ''Oh well, I''ll be able to see it when Clara gets her second awakening.'' he thought as he grabbed two vials from one of the bags that the doctors left and downed them instantly. It was bitter, but he simply swallowed it and made a face before tossing the empty vials away as he headed back upstairs.


    As he walked up the stairs, he got two system screens popped up and checked what Timmy and Clark were up to.


    ''Hmm... Timmy is back to his old fuckery and Clark... well, he''s just trying to make money so there''s nothing much to worry about for now.''


    He climbed back up and this time, he planned on going to an inn that was slightly pricey compared to the one he had gone to for the sake of the luck ritual which had helped him in ways he didn''t know it could help.


    ''The fact that I''m alive after undergoing a ritual that only has a ten percent survival rate is a miracle in itself but Agar bringing me a thousand slimes could be considered as a product of my luck too.'' he thought as he walked into the inn.


    He payed them 5 Baroms and received a key along with a room number, which he went ahead to find.


    Your next chapter awaits on empire


    Keith unlocked the door once he found the room and walked inside before closing the door behind him. Unlike the cheap inns, this one had a large room with a comfy bed, a small dining table for two along with two chairs, a separate bathroom and a toilet.


    ''Baroma kingdom is really advanced... though it''s a pity that they''ll get wrecked after the war.'' he thought as he lied down on the bed and closed his eyes.


    With a simple thought, he found himself looking at a large piece of land. It was mostly just a green plain filled with grass, but there was also a large pond in one corner.


    "I can do anything in this plain huh?" he muttered as he imagined some of the water shooting out of the pond and into the glass land. Just as he imagined, the water in the pond shot out.


    Seeing this, he couldn''t help but nod to himself. "Yeah, that''s impressive... but I kinda wanted an awakened ability that helps with combat but there''s no worries. I can get those using my system."


    He then continued to do a lot of experimentation and mentally noted down some things related to his new awakened ability.


    ''Every action consumes mental power and I can use this place as my system''s storage. Maybe, just maybe.. let''s try it out.'' he thought and snapped back to the real world before summoning his gacha wheel. It still hadn''t recovered completely, but it had the white and yellow sections ready to go.


    Just as he was about to press the spin button, he stopped himself and sighed, "I don''t really wish to do the ritual once again but I need a yellow system... oh well..."


    And just like that, he began to draw a diagram on the floor once again and this time, he didn''t use too much gold and imply tossed in a gold coin made of pure gold at the center.

 Chapter 128 Team Brandons Keith Zenister

    He used his spatial dimension to create a clay cup and brought it to the real world before filling it with his blood.''At this point, my blood is like an infinite resource as long as I have enough nutrition and medicine...'' he thought with a wry smile as he closed his wound and started the ritual. He had no plans to feel overwhelming pain again, so he used Money God Mammon as a proxy like he did the first time, and got his luck enhanced for a minute.


    He immediately got the gacha wheel spinning and saw a yellow section stopping at the pointer.


    "Well, my first yellow system is here." he muttered and checked it''s information.


    [


    Name: Body Cultivation System


    Capabilities: Allows the user to cultivate their body beyond human limits.


    ]


    ".... that''s unexpected." he muttered as he tried to think of someone he use this on and there were multiple options.


    ''Let''s make a proper, logical choice.'' he thought as he clasped his hands together.


    The things that happened on the islands had given him a new perspective when it came to his systems and he had completely changed the way he approached quests. He no longer had any plans to force his system users to complete various quests like the way he threatened Vincent a few weeks ago.


    Instead, he had a more subtle way of doing things now and unless it was absolutely necessary, he had no plans to threaten anyone to focus on getting strong directly.


    ''The best way to get people to get strong is to pit them against each other. This way, I won''t have to take risks of exposing myself since certain people are too smart and they''ll be able to guess the person who''s behind the system.'' he thought as he remembered Fabian, the person whom Vincent wanted to get revenge on.


    With a slight nod, he made up his mind, "His regeneration ability, when coupled with battle god''s regeneration skill, should be able to boost my regenerative capabilities to the next level." he muttered as a slight smile formed on his face. S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He no longer had plans to stop the people with questionable ways on his own and instead, he planned on copying their abilities to make himself stronger.


    ''Fabian will clearly get stronger, but I can use Vincent to keep him in check and vice versa. I''ll make them push each other to get stronger and stronger while not giving Fabian the chances to commit extremely evil things.''


    Keith didn''t really mind petty crimes or things like stealing or even killing people as long as they deserved it. He didn''t mind murder even if his system users had some personal beef with someone but he had a line and that was harming innocent kids.


    The world of adults was a tough one and even he wasn''t immune to being a "bad person". He knew that he had done quite a few things that couldn''t be considered as "good" and he knew that he had no right to refute someone if they hated him and wanted to take his life.


    But that was where it stopped, the fight between beliefs. If someone felt like killing him, then they were free to do so but Keith had no intention of letting anyone kill him. He was a realistic man in a realistic world and he knew that he had no right to determine what was right and what was wrong. He simply wished to fight for his own beliefs.


    As he stared as the system, he sighed, "Now I gotta go find out where Fabian is... based on what I know, that bastard is an overconfident asshole so I guess I should be able to find him in the same village."


    He silently made some mental plans and slowly drifted off to sleep.


    Nine hours later, Keith slowly opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling lazily before sighing, "Come on, get up. You gotta go steal some nice stuff from Timothy''s jewellery store."


    Even though he said that, he continued to stare at the ceiling for a few more minutes until his sleepiness and laziness slowly thinned down. He then got up, took a nice bath and put on the same old clothes before walking out since his suitcase was at the church and he had forgotten to bring it to this place.


    He didn''t need the clothes urgently, but he wanted to get back his revolver so he had no choice but to visit the church first. He walked inside and saw a different priest compared to before and greeted him.


    "Good evening father, I just wanted to know where luggage is at. I''m from Brandon''s team." he said politely as he flashed the priest a slight smile.


    The priest nodded and waved his hands, "All the luggage is at the storage room. Go through that door and just walk until you find the room. It should be on the left side."


    "Thank you, father." Keith said and followed his instructions until he found the room. He pushed open the door and found a middle aged plump lady sitting on a comfy chair as she read a newspaper.


    "Excuse me, I''m here to get my luggage back. My name is Keith and-"


    "Ohhhh! Keith Zenister am I right?" she asked enthusiastically as she placed the newspaper down and looked at him excitedly, "Your team was the only one that came back so early. Of course, some others did too but they paid their way out of the island and they''re all from other churches. All of our staff follow the rules to the T." she said proudly as she puffed up her chest.


    Keith nodded with a smile on his face, "Yeah, they''re indeed very disciplined." he commented before getting back to the topic, "About my things..."


    "Ah yes, of course." she said and got up from her chair before she looked around. She then went straight for a specific rack and grabbed a suitcase along with a briefcase before taking a look at their surfaces.


    "Hmm, yes. It says Keith Zenister from Brandon''s team so here you go. Have a nice day!" she said as she gave them to him.

 Chapter 129 Human-Pulled Rickshaw (Extra Chapter)

    Keith took his things and walked towards the exit, not knowing where to keep them. Just as he entered the main hall, he saw both Clara and Amelia chuckling as they walked towards one of the doors."Hey!" he whispered loudly and ran as people weren''t supposed to go around shouting in the main hall. Especially when there were devotees sitting on the large benches. Even though he had whispered, people still turned their heads towards him, looking annoyed.


    Feeling slightly embarrassed, he ignored them and rushed over to the two girls before giving Clara his suitcase, "Here, just keep this with you for now. I got something to do and I''ll be back by tomorrow morning."


    Just as he was about to leave, Amelia grabbed his hand and pulled him along with her. She passed through the doorway with both Keith and Clara right behind her.


    Once out of the main hall, she closed the door and glared at him, "You know, maybe it''ll be nice if you actually told your beloved where you went instead of just treating her like your servant. You can''t go bossing her around just because she doesn''t speak much, you know?"


    Keith frowned and turned to look at Clara, "Does it actually bother you that much? I mean... it''s not that I can''t talk about it but even if I do tell you, it won''t really change anything."


    "It''s not about-"


    "You shut the fuck up. I''m talking to her." Keith lashed out as he glared at Amelia. This was something that was supposed to be settled between the two of them alone. He''d seen his friends'' relationships getting ruined thanks to their partners'' friends multiple times and didn''t want that to happen with him.


    Clara placed her hand on Amelia''s shoulder and gave her a reassuring nod before she faced Keith.


    "I don''t really mind it but I''ll be happier if you did tell me about the things you''re up to. It''ll give me a sense of peace." she said as she maintained her eye contact with him.


    Hearing her words, Keith let out a soft sigh and nodded "Alright, come here." he said and pulled her closer before whispering in her ears, "I''m going to rob Timothy''s jewellery store and don''t worry too much since he''s not here."


    "Heyyyy come on! You can''t just keep secrets from me! You called me your best friend!" Amelia complained as she hit his arms lightly.


    "Well, I''m going to attend an orgy. I''m getting late, so see ya." Keith said as he winked at Clara and left immediately, leaving Amelia utterly bamboozled. It took her a few seconds to process what he had just said and couldn''t help but look at Clara incredulously, "You''re okay with it? He''s going to get eaten by old bitches!"


    Clara chuckled when she heard Amelia''s words and shook her head, "No, he won''t. He''s just messing with you."


    "Oh... god damn it. If only he was ugly... then it would''ve been easier to not believe those words of his." she complained as she frowned and looked at her friend, "So, what did he tell you? Come on, you''ll tell me right? I''m your cute little best friend, am I not?"


    Hearing her words, Clara nodded and leaned closer to Amelia''s ear before whispering, "He went to attend an orgy."


    ************


    Keith walked out the door and sat down on the last bench in the main hall before silently opening his briefcase. He took out his revolver and checked if the cylinder had the five bullets before he pushed it into his inner gun pocket. The whole briefcase was filled with bullets and three bottles of whiskey.


    ''There are more than enough bullets, so there''s no need to count.'' he thought as he closed the the briefcase and walked out of the church. The place he wished to go to was pretty far from the church, so he decided to hire a carriage instead.


    He didn''t have to walk much as there were almost twenty carriages parked on the other side of the road and none of them had animals at the front. Instead, there were different men leaning against their carriages as they waited for customers.


    Keith silently walked over to one of them, "How much for the King''s cross?"


    "Two Baroms." the man said as he looked at Keith hopefully while some of the others gave him jealous looks.


    Keith nodded and took out two Barom notes and gave it to him before he climbed into the carriage. As the guy started to pull the cart, Keith took a good look at the carriage. It was different from the mule and horse drawn carriages that he had ridden until now. S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Those carriages had roofs and walls made of wood while this one had a cloth instead. There were three U shaped bamboo strips that were connected to the main body, which was made of wood and the cloth went over these bamboo strips.


    Keith made his observations and looked at the guy in front of him, "What do you do when it rains? This cloth won''t be able to stop the water from seeping through, will it?"


    "There''s a storage compartment right below the floor of the carriage, sir. I have a leather one stored in there just for the rains. and I also have one to shelter me too." he said as he slapped the two metal rods that he was holding and continued.


    "They''ll get connected to these and it''s enough to shelter me from most of the rain. Though, I''ll have to stop working if the rain is too heavy."


    Keith nodded as he continued to look around, "That''s pretty nice. How much do you make in a day by the way, if you don''t mind me asking?"


    "Sir, it depends on luck. Some days, I make absolutely nothing even after standing outside for the entire day and some days get a lot of customers. My highest record is twelve, sir and I made fifteen Baroms that day. It was the happiest day of my life, since I was able to buy my son a dozen stuffed buns that he wanted to eat for a long time."


    (Extra Chapters Left: 6)

 Chapter 130 The Mini Heist: Fooling The Mob (EC)

    Keith continued to chat with the guy until he reached King''s cross, which took them almost an hour to reach. He got off the carriage and took out a small ring from his pocket before giving it to the guy, "Here, feel free to sell it for money."The carriage puller thanked him profusely, which make Keith feel slightly awkward so he left quickly after calming the him down. His destination was still four kilometers away, so he silently walked the rest of the distance as he kept an eye on Vincent''s whereabouts.


    ''He''s already at the site...'' Keith thought as he sped up. Masks weren''t a big thing in Baroma Kingdom, so he had no choice but to go with other options. He bought a watermelon and tossed way most of it while keeping just the outer part. Two decent sized holes and it was ready to be worn.


    He stared at it for a few seconds and sighed, ''It won''t feel good, but at least I can take a bath once I''m done.''


    Not wanting to take the risk of people looking at his face while he walked around while carrying a watermelon helmet in his hands, he decided to just wear it then and there. As it fell in place, he felt the wetness inside even though he had used his handkerchief to absorb the moisture from the inside.


    He let out a soft sigh and went deeper into the alleyway before sitting down on a slightly slanted rectangular stone that was two times wider than him. It was still evening, so he decided to wait until night to make his move.


    Vincent on the other hand, was already busy looting a warehouse that was filled with rye flour, wheat flour and rice. Everything he touched went into the system storage and dropped into Keith''s Spatial Dimension.


    ''Productivity at it''s finest..'' Keith mused as he watched everything happen on his system screen thanks to the video mode. Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Though, thanks to the robbery being done in different times, I''ll have to face a proper security force..." he muttered and shook his head, not minding it too much as he could easily just fight through the group as long as they didn''t have too many deadly weapons along with them.


    As he went through many imaginary scenarios, he he chuckled, ''Well, I have a revolver so there''s not much to worry about and when push comes to shove, I can just use my flames.''


    Time slowly passed and the sky went dark. His target wasn''t exactly in the market area, but it sure was in a good location where many people would be able to see what was going on. On the other side, Vincent was still getting chased, so there wasn''t any security at the jewellery store at the moment.


    Keith took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down as he stood back up. "This might be your first time, but you can do it. You were a virgin at first too but you learnt from those videos and did well when you got laid the first time." He motivated himself and hyped himself up.


    Once he felt enough confidence, he walked out of the alleyway and jogged straight towards a jewellery store that was almost two hundred meters away. His goal wasn''t to steal silently, but to rob and leave a message behind.


    As he got close, he sped up and began to sprint. His hand slid into his inner pockets and pulled out his revolver. Keith didn''t even look at the door and went straight to the display glass that was acting like a wall.


    The people nearby watched in amusement as Keith ran towards the glass, only to feel a sudden surge of excitement, fear and worry when they saw him barrelling into the glass wall, shattering it instantly. Keith rolled on the floor and got back up on his feet with his revolver raised up, pointing at the one person who was in the store.


    "Leave this place. You have three seconds. One..."


    Even before he counted to two, the person behind the counter took off. Seeing this, Keith couldn''t help but nod to himself, "Good survival instincts." he muttered as he looked around.


    The space wasn''t large and he also noticed that the jewellery on the display was fake after he tried to grab some of them.


    "Damn, the whole thing is just metal..." he cursed as he wasn''t able to pull the jewellery away from the display table. With a sigh, he let it go and jumped over the counter before checking the drawers that were filled with stacks of Barom notes, all of which were instantly sent over to Keith''s spatial dimension.


    Once he emptied the drawers, he kicked open the door to the backroom and barged in. He didn''t bother with a light and instead snapped his fingers, creating a four fireballs that hovered around him while also lighting up the room.


    There were multiple boxes filled with various trinkets, jewellery and other things such as vases, statues and photo frames. Keith didn''t let go of a single thing and took everything away before taking out his knife. One stab to his palm and he began to use the flowing blood as an ink to write on the wall.


    It didn''t take him too long to get things done and he didn''t waste anymore time. He immediately rushed out of the room and saw a large crowd around the store.


    "Damn!" he screamed for everyone to hear, "There''s still a lot of gold and silver in there so don''t miss this chance! I''ve taken all I can take so make way!!"


    People immediately rushed inside instead of letting him leave, but Keith waited for half of them to come in before he pushed himself out since people were slightly afraid of using the broken glass path to get in.


    Keith rushed out and ran, leaving the people behind as he tried to get as far away as possible before they figured out that there was nothing left inside for them.


    [Extra Chapters left: 5]

 Chapter 131 Buying Skull Masks (Extra Chapter)

    With a deep frown and a disturbed expression on his face, Timmy stared at the red sentence on the wall.You capture one child, I rob one store. I''m always watching. S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Timmy had been messing around in a brothel when one of his father''s people delivered a letter to him. The contents were short and simple, telling him that someone was targeting their businesses and that his father wanted him to stay at Baroma for a while to make sure that things were safe.


    But little did Timmy expect, that these mysterious people had already begun to move. By the time he had come back to he capital, his grains warehouse and a jewellery store was robbed clean, both of which had happened just last night.


    Frustrated, he kicked the wall and groaned in pain before glaring at one of his father''s concubines. Once he found a target to release his emotions on, he got on with it as he rained down slaps and punches on her.


    Minutes later, he walked out of the backroom with bloodied knuckles while the three women followed behind him with messed up faces.


    ''At least, we don''t have any more businesses at this place so I could just leave but I just want to find the person who caused this so bad... I want to rip whoever it is to shreds!''


    Still enraged, he headed over to an inn and let his father''s concubines pay the fee as he sat down on a chair before ordering food.


    His mind slowly calmed down and once he felt slightly level headed, his thoughts shifted.


    ''How did this person know that I hired people to capture kids for me? It seems like someone close to me has sold all of my secrets. Otherwise, it won''t make any sense... unless, someone has the ability to see visions, or someone who can track people. Nah, tracking shouldn''t be able to work since I''ve never met those guys directly and they don''t even know who I am... ugh, this is getting annoying the more I thing about it!''


    Lost in thought, he ate his meal in silence once the food arrived, trying to figure out what in the hell was going on. All he knew was that someone was targeting his family businesses and that they used to work in Morose Kingdom before coming to Baroma.


    ''Hmm... in Morose, they only attacked one place at a time but last night, it happened with two places at the same time. One of them used fire just like the person in Morose Kingdom while the other one just barged in like some maniac and stole everything.'' he thought as time passed, the clues pointed towards one person.


    Timmy stabbed the meatball on his plate angrily as he hissed one name, "Damn Clark!"


    ''Single attacks while he was at the island and when he comes out, there are two attacks at the same time. It did look like he had some grudge on me back then but this is just too much. Everything makes sense now, he was one of the few who paid the church guys to let him leave the training camp along with me, Adrian and a few other nobles.''


    "Tch, you three." he growled as he stared at their messed up faces, "Hire a horse carriage as soon as possible. We''re going back to Kazak Empire and while you do that, make sure to send a letter to father. Tell him everything that happened here and make sure that you don''t miss a detail. Once you''re done writing, bring it to me so I can cross check." he ordered and stuffed the meat ball into his mouth.


    ******


    Last night, a few minutes after the jewellery store was robbed.


    Keith rushed into an alleyway and ran until he was far away from the store. He took out the watermelon helmet and saw a glass shard sticking out from it.


    "Wow, that was close... and I didn''t even know it." he muttered as put it back on and straightened his clothes. He continued walking through the narrow streets and alleyways until he reached a familiar butcher shop. He headed over to the kid and payed him some money before he got into the black void-like box.


    His surroundings changed and he found himself in the hunters'' black market once again. He simply planned on roaming around this place while the heat settled down, but he also had other plans. Though, he totally did not expect to see a stall that sold bone masks.


    Most of them looked similar to each other, but Keith could tell that all of them were hand crafted and polished. Each one of them had two holes in the side with threads passing through them.


    "How much for one and what currency do you accept?" Keith asked as he picked up a plain and dull looking cream colored mask. Most of them looked similar to a human skull and there were also ones that looked slightly different.


    "Gold coins, Moros and bronze coins. I also take pure gold, silver and yeah, I also accept trades." he said and pointed at his masks before he began to explain, "These are actual human skulls and these are ape skulls. One of my people has the ability to knead bone like clay so we were able to make these sturdy. Once I get your measurements, I''ll be able to give you a head cap that fits you well."


    As he said that, he took out an ivory bowl like thing that had a curve similar to a U and gave it to Keith, "All you have to do it put it on and tell me if it fits you. Here, you can use this tiny stall."


    Keith nodded and tried it on, only to feel like it was too big for his head. He continued to try two more and found the one that fit him perfectly. It went from the top of his head to the back of his neck.


    [A/n: Extra chapters left = 4]

 Chapter 132 I Want Flowers, And I Need Them Urgently (Extra Chapter)

    Once he was done with the selection, the guy grabbed a skull mask and looked at Keith as he pointed at the two rectangular extensions at the top of the skull, "All you gotta do is to push these into the holes in the other part of the skull mask. Then, you use the threads to secure them together in place."Keith did as he was told and he could tell that his ears were exposed. Even then, this mask was way better than the ones he had been using until now, so he decided to splurge for the future.


    "I''ll take as many masks as you can sell. How much will it cost by the way, I need time to count." he said and the guy beamed at him as he grabbed multiple skull masks along with the "bowls" that fit Keith''s size.


    As he saw Keith take out silver jewellery, the guy gave him his price, "Just five grams for one skull."


    He gathered a total of twenty for Keith, including the one that Keith was already wearing and gave them to him after putting nineteen of them into a bamboo basket. Keith silently used the scale to balance the weights and his silver before paying the guy.


    He then took the basket and walked away. A few minutes later, the basket vanished from his hands and appeared in his spatial dimension, except for one mask that he was still wearing.


    With a new and more comfortable mask equipped, Keith continued with his browsing of wares. He wanted live creatures for his spatial dimension and he wanted the ones that could keep the place working while giving him resources.


    Unfortunately, the area he was at, did not offer creatures that were alive, so he moved to the other side of the market. As he moved, he saw that Agar wasn''t at his stall and instead, there was some lanky kid taking his place. sea??h th§× novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ''He''s probably partying'' he thought as he continued walking. Once he reached the other side of the market, he began to see stalls that sold live creatures. There were snakes, lobsters, crabs, birds, moving plants, wolves, monkeys and many more.


    Keith continued walking until he found a small stall that had a small bee hive on display.


    "Are you selling the queen?" he asked directly, not wanting to waste his time on other matters and the girl at the stall nodded, "Yes, but you''ll have to pay more for it. It''ll come with it''s own small comb and a few other bees too. Hmm, I take money in Kazak currency and I want one Chron for it."


    Keith nodded and opened his leather pouch before pulling out a bunch of Zen notes. He didn''t have chrons, so he gave her fifty Zen instead. Once he made the payment, she took out a medium sized bamboo basket from under the table and gave it to him.


    "Here you go, the queen is inside. Just keep in mind that their honey is slightly addictive and their stings can cause a numbing effect. That''s what people usually buy the bees for, to numb the pain in different areas of their bodies. All you have to do is get one of the bees to sting you at that place."


    Keith hadn''t asked her to explain, but she still did, which made him feel slightly grateful. "Thank you," he smiled at her warmly before leaving to find something else.


    One by one, he bought a few other creatures. A literal iron scaled fish, a short goat with extremely sharp horns. He wanted some plants but unfortunately, this wasn''t the right place to find those. In front of everyone''s eyes, he sent the ten goats and twenty fish to his spatial dimension before leaving the place.


    He took off his mask and put it away as he left the inn that was close to the protection church. Keith wanted to buy the Veluria Thornplant that he needed for his pipe, but since it was almost midnight now, he had no choice but to go back to the church.


    He silently stood in front of the large door, staring at it before letting out a sigh. It was closed.


    ''I guess I''ll go to an inn once again.'' he thought as he turned back. Once he got the keys to his room, he went straight to bed and closed his eyes as he took a look at his spatial dimension. The bee hive was placed on one corner, the fish were all in the pond while the goats were silently grazing.


    ''I need flowers and I need them fast...'' he thought and sighed. There was a limit to what he could do within his spatial dimension and one of them was that he couldn''t create something that didn''t exist. Creating things itself consumed a lot of mental energy and even though he had a lot of it compared to most awakened people, he knew that it wouldn''t even be enough for him to create a small knife.


    He tried to sleep, but realised that he couldn''t do so thanks to the worry he had in his heart.


    "Man, fuck this." he cursed as he sat back up and checked what Vincent was up to, ''He''s escaped the pursuers but he''s sleeping in an inn in another district huh? Oh well, I can''t just tell him to get things for me, can I?''


    With a soft sigh, he stood up and left the inn to find some flowers for himself. He didn''t have to go too far as the churches had their own gardens filled with flowers and Keith had no intention of letting these flowers go, especially when they were so close to him.


    He ran over to the medicine church or the church of healing, and began to uproot the flower plants before sending them into this spacial dimension. He had his mask on, and knew that this place had no guards since these were just regular plants.


    Once he was done pulling out more than a hundred flowers, he stood up and looked in a certain direction, ''I should be able to find Veluria Thornplant somewhere there and these will surely be taken good care of and will have better effects, so maybe if I knock the guard out...''


    [Extra Chapters Left: 3]

 Chapter 133 Second Awakening Ritual Begins (Extra Chapter)

    Keith held himself back and just headed back to his inn as he had gotten what he wanted the most. He could always just buy the plants directly from Medicine church tomorrow like a normal person would, so he wasn''t really worried.He dived to his spatial dimension and planted the flowers at the corner where the bee hive was and expended his mental energy to pull up some soil and compressed it to the point where it was as hard as a rock.


    With this, he formed a wide rectangular frame that was half a meter away from the ground with two legs going deep inside to keep it stable. He then placed the hive at the bottom of the frame and let the bees do their thing. He also made a fence for his goats so that they wouldn''t mess with the bees but he didn''t bother with the pond as they''d need water to survive.


    Once the preparations were done, he got back to the real world and sighed, feeling tired.


    ''This shit consumes too much mental energy...'' he thought before shaking his head, ''No, on a positive note, it''ll help me exhaust my mental energy, which will help me increase my total mental energy''s capacity.''


    As he closed his eyes and waited for sleep to hit, his thoughts wandered, ''Well, most of my mental energy was taken up to build those fences, which was a lot of them so I guess it''s not too much as long as I don''t try to create something out of nothing.''


    The next day, Keith rushed over to the church and saw Maria and Clara waiting for him silently at the main hall.


    "You''re finally here. I''ve done all the preparations and the doctors are also ready to go." Maria said as she got up from the bench and began to move while the other two followed her.


    As they walked side by side, Keith leaned closer to Clara and whispered, "Hey, where are you guys even staying at?"


    "Here, at the church. They provide rooms for staff, you know? I mean, when we first came here, we were supposed to spend time in those rooms but Edward stopped us." she explained, whispering just like he did.


    The two of them continued to talk until they reached the ritual room where the five doctors were silently sitting. Maria pointed at a small silver platform and looked at the two of them, "Go and stand on it while you hold each other''s hands. This thing will be short, but you''ll feel a certain warmth once I''m done reading the prayer."


    "Oh, the marriage?" Keith asked as he looked at Maria, who nodded silently while taking out a small book, "Now will you just go there please? We got other things to do too."


    "Yikes, so impatient." he commented as he headed over to the platform with Clara and held her hands. Her face was slightly pink, so he couldn''t help but ask, "Were you looking forward to this?"


    Clara nodded with a complicated look on her face, "I mean, yes. But not like this.. I''m literally wearing my uniform and it doesn''t suit the occasion."


    "I''m wearing my uniform too... and well, don''t worry about it. Just consider this as an extra step that''ll boost your awakened ability even more than what the ritual is supposed to. We can always plan a proper marriage in the future." he said and waited for her reaction.


    "Okay." she said meekly as she kept her head down to hide her smile from him. She just couldn''t stop smiling after she heard him talk about a proper marriage. After all, she wanted everyone to see them getting married, she wanted everyone to know that she was his and he was hers. S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Maria began to recite the prayers and they didn''t have to wait too long. After just thirty minutes, they felt a sudden warmth envelope their bodies. For a few seconds, both of them felt like there were two hearts beating inside them.


    They stared at each other, speechless as they didn''t know how to describe their experience. It was like they were in an entirely different body. The feeling quickly passed, but the two of them were still in a trance-like state.


    Maria wanted to snap them out of their reverie, but she decided against it and headed over to her doctors before giving them orders, the same ones she gave them yesterday and two hours ago.


    Keith slowly recovered and gave Clara a slight jolt, making her jerk out of her dreamlike state.


    "Oh god, that felt weird." she said and saw Keith nod, "Yeah, it did. Now, let''s get to work."


    He went ahead and lied down on the small platform, letting the doctors cut up four of his arteries partially so that the blood could leak out, which it did. The process began but unlike before, Keith didn''t add slime bodies into the oil and instead, it was just his blood and Clara''s.


    She didn''t let out too much blood as she had already done it two days ago and didn''t have regeneration capability. Instead, she simply sat in one place and read a book to pass time. Hours slowly passed by as the day turned to night and Keith still continued to donate blood.


    It went on for a few more hours until Maria clapped her hands together, "Alright, three hours and thirty minutes left. Let''s get to work."


    Keith nodded and got back to his feet as he ate a blood clotting pill before drinking a vial of healing medicine. His wounds quickly began to clot, blocking the pathway while his arteries closed. He waited for a few more minutes before scraping off the clotted blood and saw a layer of skin form instead.


    Once done, he grabbed a fire torch and looked at Maria who nodded and took out a book.


    Since he had gotten the signal, he took a step forward to go and light the oil, but stopped midway before shaking his head. He put the torch back into it''s place and grinned, "I should be using my flame control instead."


    With a snap of his finger, four fireballs popped up in front of him before they shot towards the oil trench, lighting it up almost instantly.


    [Extra Chapters Left: 2]

 Chapter 134 Pipe That Doesnt Produce Smoke (Extra Chapter)

    The flames spread through the oil trench and lit up the entire place, making fire walls around Clara and Maria as they were at the center. Keith couldn''t look inside thanks tot he flames, so he simply sat down and waited as both excitement and anxiety filled his being.Passage of time felt extremely slow and each minute felt like an hour filled with anxious agony. After a few minutes, he was unable to hold it in and walked out of the place in a hurry.


    The fact that the marriage would help with the survival rate was true and was also written in the novel, but it never stated that the survival rate was a 100%. It was only after the ritual began, did Keith realise this and he just couldn''t contain his anxiety anymore.


    Not knowing what to do, he decided to distract himself with other things but before that, he had one thing to do. He rushed over to an inn and completed the luck ritual, the result of which was to increase Clara''s luck for the next three hours.


    Once that was done, he felt way better and left the inn before he moved to the church of medicine. He saw a middle aged woman cursing some smelly thief as she planted flowers at the place where the flower plants were missing.


    Keith thickened his skin like multiple shameless young masters and continued on to the right side of the church. As he got closer to the medicine garden, he saw four armoured knights standing guard so he approached them with his ring in hand which proved that he was an official member of the church of protection.


    "Hello, I''m here to buy a specific plant. Can someone tell me how to get the process done? After all buying directly from a church is a pretty lengthy process." he said and the Knights looked at each other before they faced Keith. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Go to to the confessional. That''s the place." one of them said and Keith left.


    He headed over to the confessional and asked for the Veluria Thornplant.


    "Ten baroms for ten grams of dry leaves, or flowers. We don''t sell the fruits, and if you want a life plant... you''ll have to pay a hundred baroms for one."


    ''Damn, that''s so pricey...'' he thought as he did his calculations, ''A hundred baroms.... that''s like five zen for one plant.''


    He let out a soft sigh and nodded, "Alright, how many do you have? Live plants, I mean."


    "We only sell a maximum of hundred to a person." the priest said calmly and Keith silently nodded as he brought out a lot of Barom notes that he had robbed from Timmy''s place last night. He sat down on a bench and silently counted the notes one by one. By the time he reached a hundred, he realised that he would have to repeat the process ninety nine more times and frowned.


    ''Damn, too much work.'' he complained inwardly and left the place to go to a bank. Once he was there, he took a look at the conversation table for gold and silver before nodding to himself.


    1 gram of gold = 100 grams of silver


    1 gram of gold = 100 Baroms


    1 gram of silver = 1 Barom


    It was slightly confusing, especially since 1 barom, which was equivalent to a bronze coin, could be traded for one gram of silver, but it actually did make sense. Each coin was around 10 grams, which meant that the value of silver wasn''t misplaced.


    1 Barom for 1 gram of silver felt fair since 1 Barom could also be exchanged for 1 bronze coin from Morose kingdom.


    Keith stopped right there and didn''t go further since he didn''t feel like filling his head with useless information. He could also recalculate the values of different currencies if he needed it, so he simply walked out of the bank, bought a jute bag and tossed in 10 bricks of silver.


    Each one of them weighed one kilogram, so he was able to exchange them all for 10,000 Baroms.


    The whole thing was long and annoying, but Keith finally managed to get his 100 Veluria Thornplants. He got a few people to carry them all to the protection church''s training grounds and then he got more people to help him move them to an empty room inside the church.


    Once he was alone, he sent them all into his spatial dimension and made sure to water them before he rushed back to buy a hundred grams of dried velluria leaves. He received a large bag and took it with him as he walked back to the ritual room.


    He took out a few leaves and used his knife to cut them into small pieces before he put them between his palms and crushed them even more. Once they were crushed and torn into small pieces, he put them into the pipe and lit them up before taking a deep puff.


    It felt extremely smooth unlike the cigarettes he had smoked in his previous life. He hadn''t touched them since he came here because this body wasn''t addicted to nicotine. Veluria wasn''t an addictive product and the pipe''s only drawback was that it induced over confidence if used too much.


    As for the smoke itself, there wasn''t any at all. He could feel some warmth in his throat when he inhaled, but when he exhaled, nothing came out. He took a second puff and instead of taking it into his lungs, he blew it out to see if there was any smoke.


    There was no smoke at all. It was just a pleasant smell that was similar to the mixture of mint and lemon.


    "If there''s no smoke, then it shouldn''t effect my lungs." he muttered as he looked at the doctors since he didn''t really know much about this subject.


    He walked over to them and began to ask about Veluria Thornplant. Two of the doctors enthusiastically explained while the other three chilled while they listened to their colleagues talk to Keith.


    (Extra Chapters Left: 1)

 Chapter 135 Interviewing The Trainee Inquisitors (Extra Chapter)

    By the time the ritual was done, Keith had stopped smoking and was ready to see the changes. The flames stopped burning and he saw Clara slowly open her eyes.She looked around and when she found Keith, she smiled widely, "It''s amazing!!!"


    "Tell me how it went. I mean about your second awakening." Keith said as as he skipped over the trenches to get to the center and Maria quipped in, "Yeah, tell us. After all, you''ll be sent with Keith as an Inquisitor so we gotta know if your abilities can fit the role or not. Mother told me to trust Keith, but she didn''t tell me to trust you."


    It was a very blunt way of speaking, but Clara didn''t mind it and nodded, "Firstly ability to give divine blessing has changed. Instead of some intangible barrier, I can not give others a body armor. It''ll be weightless and it will also improve your physical abilities by a certain percentage based on how much I want it to be. It can go from zero percent to a thousand percent."


    "Hmm, so no boost to a ten times boost." Keith said and nodded, feeling satisfied with the outcome, but he knew that this couldn''t be the end and he was right.


    Clara continued, "I can also summon this body armor, but I also gained a permanent physical enhancement. Which means, even without an armor, I''m deadly in combat. I can also summon revolvers, shields, spears, swords and many other weapons which can only be used by me.


    On top of that, I can upgrade any weapon temporarily and this doesn''t have a restriction on who can use it. Though, this will cause the appearance of the weapon to change." she said and glanced at Maria and Keith, both of whom looked extremely impressed.


    Seeing that they were waiting for more, she gave them a sheepish smile, "Um, yeah that''s it."


    "Alright, that''s very impressive." Keith commented and looked at Maria, "There shouldn''t be any problems with her becoming an inquisitor right?"


    Maria nodded and then sighed, "Well, it''s fine if she an inquisitor but I want you to keep in mind that there will be times when you''ll have to work with inquisitors from other churches. We have a policy of only killing the ones who cause trouble, but this isn''t the case wit the church of war.


    They operate based on the phrase, prevention is better than cure, so they''ll kill people before they cause trouble without any evidence. When you do team up with them, you''ll have to follow their orders since their inquisition branch is way stronger than ours and they also have more experience."


    Keith knew of this thanks to the novel so he nodded, "Yeah, I understand. I''ll think about it and make a decision to either keep my teammates out of it or not." S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "I don''t have a choice but to trust you so do what you want. Feel free to leave whenever you want to and just so you know, the other three are still at the church. Clara will help you find them." she said and began to walk away with the doctors while leaving the two of them alone in the room.


    Keith was about to follow them, but Clara grabbed his arm as she shook her head and brought her finger to her lips.


    He could tell that she wanted some alone time with him, so he stayed. Once the others were gone, she excitedly grabbed his arm, "You told me before about the inventory thing right? I have it!"


    "It''s like... a five meter cube and I can put anything inside it." she said with a smirk on her face, making Keith chuckle, "Looks like it worked, huh? Anyways, keep that as your last trump card and once we''re out, we''ll figure out how to use it properly."


    "Okay!" she said as she walked out of the room with him, feeling extremely good about the secondary awakening. The two of them walked to the rooms that were used by Nathan, Laura and Caleb.


    Once they gathered them all in a room, Keith made his announcement.


    "You''ll be leaving to the Kazak empire tomorrow with Clara. If the others join you, then that''s fine too, so make sure that you exchange all the Baroms you have to Braks or Zen before you leave. I''ll be taking a detour so I''ll be late and hmm... Caleb, you''ll be coming with me. I have a way to make your control over the winds even stronger, so consider it a training session."


    Caleb looked surprised for a few seconds before he nodded enthusiastically. He knew that his awakened ability was weak compared to others and he didn''t shy away from an opportunity to make it strong.


    "Um, so like... from today onwards, what should we call you? I mean, we used to address our team''s superior as Inquisitor, but since one of us is going to become an inquisitor too, it''ll probably cause some confusion." Laura said as she looked at Keith.


    "Hmm, just call me sir. I don''t like the sound of captain." he said and Nathan immediately spoke up, "Captain Keith... Sir Keith... I think Captain Keith sounds better."


    Laura, Caleb and even Clara nodded in response to Nathan, making Keith sigh, "Fine, call me Captain. Also, about the promotion..." he said and looked at the three of them.


    "Who do you think is fit for the role? Every one of you must answer."


    Nathan went neutral and said that everyone deserved the role equally while Laura was confident in herself. Caleb on the other hand voted for Nathan and stated his reasons.


    "No one will ban him from using his ability while we go to fight people. I''m not saying that Laura is bad. In fact, she''s way better than me but I think Nathan deserves the promotion."


    Keith nodded, "Right, but confidence is something I need and Nathan, if you can''t take a step and say good things about yourselves, then you don''t deserve a promotion. I''m valuing your mental psyche along with your physical capabilities so, let me give you another chance. Tell me why you deserve the promotion."


    (Extra Chapters Left: 0)


    [A/N: I did it! But damn I''m tired XD.]

 Chapter 136 A Three Way Soft War

    Keith looked at Nathan, waiting for an answer.Nathan took a deep breath and nodded before he began to speak, "I am strong and I prioritize the safety of my team more than the mission. I know that this won''t go well but I feel like being truthful right now is better than lying about myself and regretting later."


    Keith silently stated at him and nodded, "Alright, you''re promoted. I need some rest so I''ll go ask for a room or something." he said and left with Clara right behind him.


    "Hey, why don''t you share a room with me today? We can cuddle... " She said a she looked at him and Keith nodded, "What about Amelia though?"


    "She''ll take the bed and we can both sleep on the floor. We have a lot of blankets and stuff lying around so, why not just use them?"


    Keith thought about it for a while and nodded.


    He silently followed Clara to her room and saw Amelia dancing in her pajamas. She stopped abruptly and once she realised that it was Keith and Clara, she went back to dancing. Keith made himself comfortable on the bed and watched her dance while Clara used his arm as her pillow.


    "So, is your secret stuff done?" Amelia asked as she stopped dancing and looked at them a few minutes later.


    Clara nodded, "Yeah, I''m super strong now. Even stronger than Brandon, but it''s a surprise!"


    Keith silently watched as the two bickered and closed his eyes as he was feeling slightly tired. He headed over to his spatial dimension and watered all the plants and flowers. S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ''Speed up time, ten times.'' he gave out a mental command and saw the bees, goats and fish move extremely fast. His mental energy was getting sucked out and Keith silently waited until it was almost empty.


    Once he felt a slight sting in his head, he stopped and got the time flow back to normal. Only ten seconds had passed in real time, which meant that 100 seconds had passed in his spatial dimension, which really wasn''t much.


    ''Well, the consumption is way less if I go with doubling the time flow, so I guess I can do that from tomorrow.'' he thought as he opened his eyes and looked at Clara, "I''m tired..."


    "Okay, let me make a bed for us." she said and began to grab the blankets that were placed on one corner of the room and under the bed.


    Amelia stared at him for two seconds before raising her eyebrows, "How come you looked fine a minute ago and now you suddenly feel tired? Heck forget about feeling tired, you literally look like you''re half dead right now."


    "Well, like Clara said, we both got super strong and the only reason I was fine until now, was thanks to my willpower."


    "Hmm, okay that''s believable." she said, as she nodded while she remembered how he took a nice beating and stood inside the ring for a long time while they were at the island.


    She then sat down on the bed beside his legs and asked, "Now, Clara wants to mess around with me but at least you''ll tell me about your new powers right?"


    Keith nodded and produced a tiny ball of flame that hovered over to her. Seeing this, she scoffed and was about to comment when Keith beat her to it.


    "I can make a fireball as big as this entire church if I wanted to." he said, shutting her up instantly.


    "Oh. Oh, okay... that''s um impressive. Wait no, that''s so damn impressive! You can just go and burn down Timothy''s mansion and threaten him to annul the contract." she said, clearly excited, but Keith shook his head.


    He then let out a soft sigh and rubbed his temples, "No. Let''s talk about this tomorrow please. My brain doesn''t have enough processing power for any serious discussions right now."


    "Tch." she clicked her tongue and was about to make fun of him, but held herself back and frowned, "... fine, sleep well. Are you going to sleep on the floor?"


    He nodded silently and Clara quipped in, "I''ll be joining him too! He needs someone beside him so he can heal faster."


    "Heal faster my ass. You just want his dick in your- fuck my life..." she said and let out a loud sigh, "Just don''t make too much noise okay? Your moans are too loud, Clara. Very loud."


    "But I-" Clara tried to defend herself, but Keith kicked Amelia off the bed, "Is sex the only thing in your mind? I mean yeah, she moans loud but that turns me on, okay? And also, we''re not doing any baby making today, so don''t worry, you can expect some peace tonight.


    Wait, it''s still morning for fucks sake... why are you even complaining? Let us take the bed for now and you can go outside and do something productive instead of dancing in your pajamas here. Tch, talk about being an official member of the church." he said and shook his head disapprovingly.


    "Productive my ass!" Amelia shot back, "I''m on a break so I''m allowed to laze around and this is MY room." she said and patted the bed harshly, "This. Is. My. Fucking. Bed!"


    Keith stared at her intently before kicking her off the bed and that sparked a flame within Amelia as she immediately jumped back up to her feet and pounced on Keith before she grabbed the pillow beside him and began to hit him with it.


    After getting hit a few times, Keith grabbed her arms and pushed her off the bed and the moment he did, he got hit by a densely folded blanket. He turned to look at Clara who had a playful grin on her face as she grabbed another blanket and got a head shot on Amelia.


    Keith turned to look at Amelia who also turned to look at him at the same time. Both of them nodded and focused on Clara who slowly raised her hands up in the air.


    "Ummm... I surrender?"


    [A/N: Can you guys let me off the hook if I just post 2 chapters today? I kinda feel exhausted after yesterday''s writing marathon. Actually, I guess I''ll just sleep and see how I feel once I wake up.]

 Chapter 137 Science, AKA Nature Philosophy

    Almost an hour later, Keith and Clara lay on the bed while cuddled up together under a blanket.Amelia, who was now wearing a shirt and some neatly ironed trousers looked at the two of them and sighed before she left the room.


    Hours later, Keith woke up and pulled his numb arm from under Clara''s head and tiptoed out of the room. As he slowly regained some feeling in his arm, he walked out of the church and got himself some breakfast and a newspaper.


    He enjoyed his time of peace as he read the headlines until he went through the whole newspaper.


    ''Hm, nothing interesting....'' he thought as he pulled out three system screens, each one of them showing him what Vincent, Timmy and Clark were up to.


    He took a look at their current actions and chuckled, "Yeah, this shit is more entertaining."


    Vincent was ignored as Keith wasn''t interested in pornographic material, but Timmy''s inner thoughts and Clark''s desperation for money was fun to look at.


    ''At this rate, I''ll turn into a psychopath who likes to watch people suffer....'' he thought as he eyebrows creased, ''But it''s still fun though, to see Timmy curse Clark once every minute while Clark is ignorant about the things going on in the dark.''


    He finished breakfast and relaxed for the rest of the day until everyone was ready to depart. Keith grabbed his suitcase and his briefcase before looking at Caleb, "Ready?"


    "Yes."


    Keith nodded and took out a pendant and gave it to Caleb, "Here, put this on. Keep in mind that you should not wear it for more than half a day so the safe option would be to put it on while you sleep. As for when you''re not sleeping, just make sure that you have it in your pocket or something."


    Caleb put on the Psychic''s Emerald Pendant and looked up at Keith as he whispered, "Is this a...."


    "Yeah it''s a cursed artifact. I got this one specifically for you." he said and put on the eye patch before getting into a carriage that belonged to the church.


    Caleb followed him and sat down beside him in the carriage before looking at him nervously, "Um what kind of training am I going to get into?"


    "Hmm, do you know about nature philosophy?" Keith asked as he turned to look at him, "You know what that is right?"


    "Yeah, it''s the stuff that those scholars blabber about. Or like a specific group of them.. what are they called again? Philosophers right?"


    Keith nodded. The word "science" did not exist in this continent and people called the study of nature as nature philosophy.


    "Right, now I''ll teach you some of it in a simple way okay?" he said and conjured a small fireball that was the size of a small pearl before looking at Caleb, "Now, shoot a strong gust of air. The strongest you can, and it must be super concentrated, like all of the wind must be aimed around this ball of fire."


    Caleb did as he was asked and shot the strongest gust of air that he could ever produce. It hit Keith''s entire palm, but it range was still acceptable.


    The red fireball looked like it had flames shooting out towards the direction in which the gust of air was moving in.


    Seeing this, Keith nodded, "You could have compressed it more, but this is fine for now. Did you see the flames shoot out along with your gust?" S~ea??h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Yes." Caleb said as he frowned, and Keith began to explain.


    "Okay so here''s the thing. You see, without air, fire cannot exist under normal circumstances. This is also the reason why furnaces use air blowers. Normally, the flames aren''t too hot but people need higher temperatures if they want to work with metals, so they pump air inside the furnaces to fuel the flames. This is done repeatedly."


    Caleb went deep into thought as his eyebrows creased. It took a few moments to gather his thoughts and raised a question.


    "If that''s the case, then why does the flame on a match, or a candle go off when I blow air at it?"


    Keith smirked, "Well, now we''re entering the territory of something slightly more complex so listen carefully. Fire needs three things to keep going. One is temperature, second one is fuel and third is air." he said and thought for a second before making things more simple.


    "Consider air as a fuel too, but it''s the most important fuel that cannot be ignored or replaced. The normal fuel on the other hand, can be anything that can catch fire like wood, cloth, paper and many other things. These two are easy to understand right?" he asked and saw Caleb nod before he continued.


    "Now, the temperature is basically the heat. You need heat for a fire. Do you remember the magnifying glass we used on the island? It was used to produce heat at a certain point and when this heat goes high enough, then things can catch fire. Once this heat is reached, the flame that''s on the item will keep the heat high enough for it to keep burning."


    Caleb''s frown deepened as he took out a match from his pocket along with a match striker and lit it before looking at Keith.


    "So this has enough heat?"


    "Yes"


    Caleb then blew at the candle forcefully, "Fuu!" and the flame went off.


    "And when I blew air, the heat went down so the fire went off too?" he asked, and saw Keith nod.


    "Then..." he said and lit up another match before blowing some warm air, "Hooo"


    The fire went off again and he looked at Keith, "I blew hot air, so why did it go off?"


    Keith looked at him and sighed, ''How the hell am I going to explain force and turbulence to him? Especially in simple fucking terms?'' he thought to himself darkly.


    "Well, I can try and explain it to you, but it''ll probably just confuse you even more. Let''s wait until the carriage stops somewhere first."

 Chapter 138 Fabian Acquired

    [A/N: December Quest!]10 Golden Tickets = 1 Extra Chapter


    Luxury Car: 1 Extra Chapter


    Dragon: 2 Extra Chapters


    Castle: 10 Extra Chapters


    My daily release rate will be 2 chapters, but if I''m in the flow, then I''ll post 3 or even 4 once in a while.


    *******


    The journey was long and time consuming, but Keith didn''t have to struggle for food as the carriage passed though multiple cities, towns and villages. He spent the time on teaching Caleb many things, especially things that were related to air and the winds.


    He also sparred with him and realised that Caleb was very aggressive, always going for the sensitive parts in his opponent''s body. Keith actually learned more from Caleb during the sparring sessions thanks to his SSS Rank Battle Instinct.


    Apart from this, he also did his daily task of depleting his mental energy by speeding up time to two times normal for an hour at first and did it everyday until it increased to almost 81 minutes by the end of the month.


    Keith also got his tax on the first few days of his travel and picked the Fists of Steel, which Vincent had already upgraded to SSS grade.


    By the time the two of them had reached the Bromburge town, a month had already passed and Keith let Caleb rest in an inn while he took off to the village where Fabian resided. As he rushed over, he opened up his system screen and sent out a quest for Vincent who was in one of Baroma Kingdom''s cities.


    [Emergency Quest: An unknown system administrator has found Village Chief Fabian and has decided to grant him a system. Since you have developed well for the past few months, this is the best time to attack him, to kill him before he develops.]


    Accept Quest: Free Skill Unlock


    Quest Completion: Free upgrade of any skill to S rank


    Punishments: None


    Keith silently watched Vincent panic for a few seconds before it turned into rage. As Vincent grabbed his things and left, Keith knew that his plan was working. Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As he ran through the forest, he put on his skull mask and checked the time left for his next tax collection.


    ''Two days... alright.'' he thought as he looked up at the sky that was getting dark and sped up as he knew that he was close to the village now. Just a few minutes later, right as the run completely set, he reached the village.


    There was a lot of noise and as Keith hid in the bushes, he could see that the people were setting up a bonfire which clearly meant that they were celebrating something.


    He silently took out a silver ring from his spatial dimension and tossed it into the sky. The ring flew up dropped down near the bonfire. Some people noticed it, but none of them dared to move to grab it as they didn''t know if it was their village chief''s test or not.


    None of them wanted to offend the tyrant.


    Fabian had also noticed the ring and he looked around suspiciously. He knew that none of his villagers were rich enough to have silver rings as their own, so he could tell that there was someone who had infiltrated into his village.


    Little did he know, Keith was far away, hiding in a bush. His eyesight had been enhanced thanks to the eye patch, so he didn''t need to be close to observe things properly.


    Keith saw Fabian look around cautiously and chuckled, ''He hasn''t changed much.''


    He then began to shoot out his system seeds into the villagers and did not miss Fabian. Once he was done with everyone, he left the place silently and rushed back towards Bromburge town.


    As he walked, he checked everyone''s information and saw that there were four awakened in the village other than Fabian, all of them who had undesirable abilities. Seeing this, Keith ignored them and focused on Fabian, sending over his Body Cultivation System.


    [User Status]


    Name: Fabian Rikolph


    Physique: Grade S


    Genetic Physique Type: Endurance


    Awakening Status: Awakened


    Awakened Ability: Supernatural Regeneration


    Supernatural Regeneration: Boosts the regenerative ability to an unbelievable extent. Does not rely on nutrition as a fuel and instead uses Mental Energy.


    [Body Cultivation System Activated]


    Body Cultivation System


    User: Fabian Rikolph


    Capabilities: Allows the user to cultivate their body beyond human limits.


    System Tax: Physical money; 94 Zen + 438 Braks, copy of Fabian''s Awakened ability, or inheritance of user''s physical ability.


    Keith immediately picked Fabian''s awakened ability and opened up his status information.


    [User Status]


    Name: Keith Zenister


    Physique: Grade B


    Genetic Physique Type: Endurance


    Awakening Status: Awakened


    Awakened Abilities:


    Spatial Dimension (Unique): User has access to a 1km x 1km land that is cut off from the real world and as control over almost everything in this spatial dimension.


    Danger Sense: User''s body reacts to danger, working like a seventh sense.


    Libido and Sensitivity control: Absolute control over libido and sensitivity. Condition to activate is physical contact.


    Fire Creation and Manipulation: Creation and Manipulation of any kind of flame.


    Supernatural Regeneration: Boosts the regenerative ability to an unbelievable extent. Does not rely on nutrition as a fuel and instead uses Mental Energy.


    Special Skills:


    Regeneration: Grade SSS


    Improves stamina recovery and boosts the rate of regeneration of wounds.


    Battle Instinct: Grade SSS


    The more you fight, the more you learn from the fight. This knowledge will be permanent and cannot be erased under normal circumstances.


    [Unarmed Combat Arts]


    Fists of Steel -> Red Hot Fists


    Fists of Steel: Grade SSS


    Increases the hardness of your arms from the fingers to the elbows, directly improving their defence and offence.


    Seeing his status screen, he felt extremely satisfied. His patience had paid off but he knew that he couldn''t just slack off yet. As he continued to walk, his thoughts went back to the increase in time that he got from expending almost all of his mental energy.


    ''When I started it, the amount of time I could keep up the time boost of two times was just sixty minutes, and now I can go on for approximately eighty one minutes. Welp, I should be able to make some sense of it when I take a proper look at the notes I made I guess.'' he thought as he took out a small notepad that was the size of his palm and opened it.


    Day 1: 60min, 0sec


    Day 2: 60min, 36sec


    Day 3: 61min, 12sec


    Day 4: 61min, 49sec


    Day 5: 62min, 26sec


    Day 6: 63min, 4sec


    .


    .


    .


    .

 Chapter 139 A New System Upgrade, Emmas Help

    Keith rushed back to Bromburge town and went to bed, only to wake up in the afternoon. He grabbed some lunch and passed some time until it was night so that he could get into the underground cage fights.He registered himself under the alias "Newbie" and asked for a fight against the current strongest with certain conditions.


    The middle aged woman sat on a chair while Keith stood in front her her. A small table stood in between them.


    "Kid, you''re very new here and you want to fight the strongest? Like are you mad? It''s not only a risk for your life, but it also is a loss for my business. Everyone with bet against you and I don''t want to see something like that. I want to see some close fights where the chances of winning is close for both fighters."


    Keith sighed softly and took out a briefcase before putting it on the table. He opened it, to show her stacks of Moros. As her mouth opened in shock and greed, he grabbed one thick stack and put it on the table before making the briefcase disappear.


    "I''ll pay you to arrange the fight and I don''t expect any money after the fight. I take full responsibility for my own life and I''ll also make sure that my opponent doesn''t die. I want to fight someone who can challenge my way of fighting, someone who can beat my martial arts." he said, knowing very well that he knew no martial arts.


    He simply wanted a fight that could push him beyond his limits so that he could make full use of his SSS grade battle instinct.


    The woman happily took away all of the money and looked up at Keith, "There''s a guy who can transform into a black cat and he can also transform into a humanoid version too. He''s like our third best fighter but when it comes to raw fighting style, he''s better than the first two. Our best one can control lightning and our second best one can turn his skin into literal steel."


    "Okay, I''ll fight the black cat guy." Keith said when he heard about the awakened abilities of the first two rankers.


    "Great, I''ll set up a fight for you in... two hours. Will that be fine?" she asked and Keith nodded, "Sure, I''ll be back in two hours then."


    The woman raised her hand and paused for a second before pointing at his face, "Um, are you going to wear that mask?"


    "Yeah, my identity must remain a secret."


    After saying that, Keith promptly left the place and headed over for some nice supper at a local restaurant. S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He ordered some boar meat, plain brown rice and some boar meat curry to go along with it. As he ate, his thoughts wandered to something important.


    ''Mental energy...'' he thought and frowned before using his one month''s worth of divine energy to give his system the ability to receive a question/input and give out an answer/output. He used his own brain as a computing unit for his system since he knew that he wouldn''t be able to use his entire brain on his own.


    Once done, he asked it a question, ''Hey system, grade the mental energy capacity of mine, Caleb''s, Vincent, Clark and Fabian.''


    [Idiot, your system needs some form of information source to even give you answers. Welp, I''m feeling generous so I''ll help you with it. Also, I''ll create something like a super server for your system to use instead of your brain. Thank me later when you meet me again (¤Å??????)¤Å]


    [Mental Capacity]


    Keith: Grade A


    Caleb: Grade SS


    Vincent: Grade B


    Clark: Grade F


    Fabian: Grade E


    Keith read the message and smiled as he shook his head and then he silently looked at the results and tried to understand how Caleb''s mental capacity was higher than his own, or how Fabian''s capacity was just E grade.


    ''Fabian at this point in time, should be able to literally regenerate limbs like... four times in a row. If I consider one limb alone, then that''s like sixteen fucking limbs and you''re telling me that his mental capacity is just E grade?


    Caleb on the other hand, can''t even use his awaken ability properly and his capacity is literally just one grade less than SS... ugh. System, tell me how Caleb doesn''t have enough mental power to use his abilities while Fabian can do it so many times while his grade is just E.''


    [An indivitual''s capability depends on both their capacity and efficiency. Caleb''s efficiency of using his mental energy is close to zero and Fabian''s efficiency of using his mental energy is above 90 percent.]


    "....." Keith silently stared at his screen as he stuffed his face with food, ''Then can you tell me what my efficiency is?''


    [Your efficiency varies based on the awakened ability you use. Spatial dimension''s usage has 100% efficiency, but the other awakened abilities have a much lesser efficiency and it''s tied to the user from whom you copied the ability from.]


    ''Can efficiency be increased? If yes, then tell me how.''


    [There is no way of increasing efficiency other than second and third awakening. But even these do not guarantee an efficiency increase.]


    ''Oh well, I wanted to copy Caleb''s awakened ability but now it feels like it''ll just be a waste to do that. Oh well, I guess I''ll just go for others instead. Hmm, you said that my efficiency of using an ability is dependent on the source, so is mine the same as the others? Like do I have the same efficiency as Fabian when I use Supernatural Regeneration?''


    [No. You''ll have a decreased efficiency ranging from 20% decrease to a 50% decrease. This is based on the type of system you get from the gacha wheel. White systems give you a 50% efficiency decrease, yellow forty, orange thirty and red is twenty. Here''s an example, if a person''s efficiency is 90 percent and you give them a white system, then your efficiency will be 45%. Which means that the decrease in efficiency is only in comparison to the system user.]

 Chapter 140 Limits of a Grade B Physique

    ''Oh okay, it''s not so bad then. At least I know how to increase my mental capacity but why do I feel like the rate at which my mental capacity is increasing, is different from what I read in the novel?''[Scouring administrators'' memories....]


    [It''s doesn''t follow a different rule, but instead, you can consider it as a talent. Similar to how your efficiency is 100% for your own awakened ability, every time you exhaust your mental energy, you get a 1% increase to your capacity. Others have variable increases that are a fraction of yours. For example, Caleb''s mental capacity will increase a mere 0.001% if he exhausts all his mental energy]


    ''Ahh... okay, that''s cool I guess... very cool actually'' he thought, unable to stop the smile that crept up his face.


    He silently finished his supper and lazed around before he went back to the underground cage fight. As he walked, he put on his mask and ten minutes later, he found himself inside the cage.


    "Hello, you can call me black cat. The owner told me about your deal, so if you have any requests feel free to tell me." the guy said as he smiled at Keith. He was two inches taller than Keith, standing at six feet two inches and he was he looked pretty well built, like someone who wasn''t supposed to be in this town.


    Keith was pleasantly surprised at his accommodating ways and nodded, "That''ll be great. Feel free to go all out but just don''t scratch me and stuff. Those take much longer to heal. I''ll tell you when you can go full power though."


    "Sure." the guy said and did some stretching as the people around them screamed and cheered. Keith looked around and then stopped when he looked at black cat, "Hey, don''t you think they''ll be angry? I mean, I''m sure that the guys at the front heard us speak just now."


    "Nah, don''t worry about it. I asked someone I know to cast a barrier that blocks sound, so yeah, no one will be able to hear us until the fight starts."


    Keith nodded and began stretching too, imitating the guy''s exercises until the bell rang.


    "Raaaaaah, are you ready to become my dinner, boy?" black cat roared as he snarled at Keith, who silently got ready to fight.


    Black cat immediately transformed. His skin turned pale pink and black fur grew over it as his face began to warp, resembling felines. A tail grew while his arms changed too.


    Once the transformation was done, Keith felt disbelief, ''That''s not a black cat, dammit. That''s a fucking jaguar!''


    Instead of feeling fear, Keith actually felt a rush of excitement. Fighting a jaguar meant that he could gain more from this fight, which was exactly what he wanted.


    Black cat then stood on his two hind legs and another transformation began, his legs began to resemble humans more as they got slightly longer, but it was his arms that shocked Keith more. Each one of them were slightly longer than a meter.


    He also grew taller, reaching seven feet as he watched Keith''s reaction with glee.


    "Surprised?"


    "Kinda." Keith said as he dashed forward to punch him, but just as he was a few inches away from him, black cat moved towards the right and the only thing that Keith could see was a black blur.


    He immediately turned around, but right at that moment, he felt like a hammer had smacked him right across the face. Keith staggered towards his left and shook his head to stop the blurry images that he was seeing at the moment..


    ''Damn, this is going to be a long night.''


    Keith tried his best to keep up and black cat did his best to come down to Keith''s level, slowly increasing his pace his opponent began to get used to his speed.


    "Gosh, you''re good." he said as he increased his speed once again and punched Keith in his gut, making him bend forward.


    "Ugh." Keith groaned, his voice barely audible as he had trouble breathing thanks to the punch. But it only lasted for a second before he recovered. His foot shot towards his right as he made a round house kick, but black cat easily dodged it by taking a step back.


    The moment Keith''s foot passed in front of him, he took a step forward and punched the side of his head, sending him rolling to the floor.


    Keith continued to improve until he couldn''t anymore. No matter how much his brain adapted to black cat''s speed, his body was unable to keep up. It didn''t matter how small and efficient his movements had become as this was the limit that he had reached, a limit that his body couldn''t surpass anymore.


    He felt a sudden surge of helplessness and frustration as he continued fighting. His body healed no matter how much beating it took, but he was unable to improve anymore. sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Each one of his punches and kicks felt heavy and slow as his eyes easily tracked black cat moving around his attacks, easily dodging them without having to exert too much stamina.


    ''I guess this is the limit of a B grade physique...'' he thought as he sighed and slowed down, "I give up."


    Hearing this, black cat stopped and patted Keith''s back, "Good job there, buddy. I''ve never met anyone who could adapt to my speed as quick as you but it looks like you''re out of steam now." he said as he saw Keith panting lightly.


    "Well, there''s a limit to what my body can do I guess." Keith said and looked at the owner of the cage fights, who nodded in response and got her men to unlock the gate.


    Since he was achieved his objective, Keith went back to the inn to get some rest before leaving the next day. He lay down on his bed and spent the remaining mental energy to boost time in his spatial dimension as he made plans for the next day.


    ''The horses here aren''t well fed, so I guess I''ll just get one to the next major city and switch carriages there.''

 Chapter 141 Body Cultivation System

    The next day, Keith woke up and checked the system screen that gave him information about Fabian, on what he was doing.He had given Fabian the system and had also triggered it, but it still stayed hidden from Fabian''s sight. This was the amount of control that Keith had over his systems at this moment.


    ''I guess now is a right time to trigger it.'' he thought as he did exactly that and checked how the body cultivation system worked.


    Keith wasn''t someone who read too many cultivation novels in his previous life, so the names felt like they were all over the place.


    ''Jade Skin, Heaven-Forged Flesh, Gold-Woven Tendons, Adamantine Bones, Divine Marrow Purification, Dragon Blood Tempering, and Golden Organ Refinement... what the fuck? How is it dragon blood tempering if there is no dragon blood there? Divine marrow without any divinity and adamantine bones without any adamantine... yeah this shit sucks.'' he thought as he immediately edited the names.


    "Yeah, looks better now." he muttered as he took a good look at the body cultivation system again.


    Skin Hardening: Builds the foundation by fortifying the body''s outermost layer, increasing resistance to physical harm.


    Grade: None


    Muscle Strengthening: Muscles thicken and become denser without increasing mass excessively. It enhances flexibility, endurance, strength, agility, and resilience, allowing the user to exert superhuman force.


    Grade: None


    Tendon Strengthening: Fortifies the connective tissues to withstand extreme strain and improve explosive power.


    Grade: None


    Bone Forging: Reinforces the skeletal structure for unyielding durability, letting them withstand immense stress, strain and absorb tremendous shock.


    Grade: None


    Marrow Cleansing: Purifies the bone marrow to rejuvenate the body and enhance vitality. Provides improved blood production, faster healing, and extended longevity.


    Grade: None


    Blood Purification: Enhances the quality of the blood to improve energy circulation, by increasing the concentration of oxygen in the blood. Provides increased stamina.


    Grade: None


    Organ Refinement: Fortifies internal organs for greater endurance and resilience. Additionally, the heart pumps more blood, lungs have higher capacity, Liver and Kidneys become more efficient, helping with detoxification and poison resistance.


    Grade: None


    ''Yep, looks way better. The names aren''t flashy and are to the point.'' he thought as he stared at the system screen, ''Hmm, the progression is linear huh? Let''s change that.''


    From the original settings, where the user could only move on to the next stage after achieving max grade in the previous stages, Keith took out the limitations, making it possible to upgrade anything that a person wanted.


    ''Hmm, there''s no need for auto upgrades with money either. I''m rich now so there''s no point in taking money from these guys. I should also take this away from Vincent and start exploring other money making options. I can''t keep pushing people to steal for me.''


    He then took a nice bath and set off with Caleb for his 5 weeks journey to Kazak empire. He wasn''t taking a water route anymore, so even with a horse carriage, he knew that it would take more time.


    **********


    Fabian groggily woke up and looked at the wife of another villager whom he didn''t even know and grinned, remembering the events of last night.


    ''Heh, fucking weaklings. You if you can''t protect your women, then you don''t deserve them.'' he thought, but right at the moment, a translucent screen popped up in front of his face.


    [Body Cultivation System]


    Name: Fabian Rikolph


    Physique: Grade S


    Genetic Physique Type: Endurance


    Awakening Status: Awakened


    Awakened Ability: Supernatural Regeneration


    Supernatural Regeneration: Boosts the regenerative ability to an unbelievable extent. Does not rely on nutrition as a fuel and instead uses Mental Energy.


    Body Cultivation: Allows the user to cultivate their body beyond human limits.


    Body Upgrades:


    - Skin Hardening (Click for more info) sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    - Muscle Strengthening (Click for more info)


    - Tendon Strengthening (Click for more info)


    - Bone Forging (Click for more info)


    - Marrow Cleansing (Click for more info)


    - Blood Purification (Click for more info)


    - Organ Refinement (Click for more info)


    Fabian did as it asked him to do and checked the information on every single body cultivation realm, his smile growing wide as he did so.


    ''.... I thought that there was no way for me to get stronger than I currently am, but damn, a chance like this out of nowhere? Is this the work of the gods?''


    Keith, who was sitting in his carriage, smirked when he saw Fabian''s thoughts and immediately replied as he made up a new persona.


    [Golden Jade Dragon Emperor Daoist Young Master: Junior, the path of a cultivator is to ascend against the heavens, the defy heaven itself and to conquer it with your body. The journey will be hard and tumultuous, but conquering everything is the way of the dao. Are you willing to do anything to achieve greatness?]


    "YES! I will do anything! Anything for power!" Fabian screamed as he looked around, making the woman beside him wake up suddenly.


    "You, get the fuck out of here." he growled as he grabbed her clothes and threw them at her face, "Now."


    As the woman scurried away, he looked around, waiting for answers.


    Keith thought for a while before sending another message.


    [Golden Jade Dragon Emperor Daoist Young Master: Then you must control yourself, junior. Stop committing extremely evil things. Think about it, are those women absolutely needed for your survival and growth? All they do is take away your life energy from you. Harming innocent children goes against my way of dao, so if you want me to guide you, you must swear on your life that you''ll never harm an innocent child intentionally.]


    Fabian thought for a while and this act alone disgusted Keith. What was even there to think about? But he knew that everyone''s morals were different and to change those, he''d need time, patience and a few other things.


    "Fine, I swear on my life. But if some kid who''s trained to kill or has grudge against me, comes to fight me then I won''t show any mercy."


    [Golden Jade Dragon Emperor Daoist Young Master: That is acceptable. Now go outside and punch a tree, and a rock]

 Chapter 142 Special System Persona For Fabian

    Fabian did as he was told to and rushed outside. He first went to the edge of the village and stood in front of a tree before taking a deep breath and with a sudden burst of strength, his fist shot forward.A dull thud sounded along with a few cracks. Not on the tree, but one could easily tell that they came from Fabian himself if they saw the blood dripping from his fist.


    The would healed in mere three seconds as he walked towards a decent sized rock and send a punch flying towards it too.


    This time, there were no thuds and instead, just a small squish and the sound of bones shattering like before, but crispier.


    Fabian only had a slight frown on his face due to the pain, but this was a very mild reaction to something as painful as having the bones broken.


    Keith saw this and sighed, ''This guy, putting his questionable goals aside... he''s way better than Vincent when it comes to fighting potential. Especially with his familiarity to pain.''


    He took a deep breath and gave Fabian a free upgrade.


    [Golden Jade Dragon Emperor Daoist Young Master: Good. I''ve seen all I need to see. My divine artifact will keep an eye on you from now on and I''ll come back if there''s something urgent.]


    [Ding! Congratulation, you have received a free upgrade to Skin Hardening.]


    Fabian saw this and opened up his system to see that the skin hardening had gone from no grade, to F grade. He also felt it in his body, his skin going taut against his body, diminishing the wrinkles on his face that had formed thanks to ageing.


    "Hmm..." he hummed and punched the rock again, only to see his fingers crack against the force he applied.


    ''I feel less pain, but the difference isn''t much. Hmm... if I bring up the grade, then will I be able to hit harder without having to heal my hands after every punch?'' he thought as an evil grin filled with excitement formed on his face.


    He immediately went back to his system screen, wanting to find out how he could upgrade them more. The weird sense of happiness he felt from the sudden improvement in his body was hard to forget, even it it was negligible.


    In his mind, the possibilities were endless and he wanted to make full use of it.


    Keith still had his eyes on Fabian, but he panicked when he saw that Fabian was searching for a method on how to level up his body cultivation.


    ''I completely forgot about that...'' he thought as he stared at the system screen awkwardly, ''Oh well, it''s not too late.''


    He immediately went to work on the automated progression system and the first thing he did was to lock all the realms of cultivation other than skin hardening, making it linear again, but this was just a temporary measure.


    Knowing Fabian, he picked some of the more physically brutal methods as a prerequisite for upgrades. From F to E grade, it was a simple and small number, especially for someone like Fabian.


    He created a training cycle. Each cycle consisting of 100 full power punches against rocks, 1000 full power punches against dry sand, 100 full power kicks against rocks, 100 headbutts to rocks, 100 friction body rubs until skin peels off and finally, 10 hours of body soak in extremely hot water.


    Once he set up what each cycle consisted, he went ahead and put in the values needed for each upgrade of Skin Hardening.


    Unlock F Grade: 1 Cycle


    F to E Grade: 5 Cycles


    E to D Grade: 10 Cycles


    D to C Grade: 20 Cycles


    C to B Grade: 50 Cycles


    B to A Grade: 100 Cycles


    That was where it stopped as Keith had other plans for the S, SS and SSS grades. He also had plans to give access to the other upgrade options, like the muscles and bones once Skin Hardening reached A grade.


    Once he was done, the information was uploaded into the Body Cultivation system and Fabian also received a notification about the access to upgrades, which he immediately checked.


    ''Damn, so harsh. But it looks like I was picked for this specific reason, because it''s so harsh that a normal person might die while doing it. Heh, who''d have expected that I''d get something out of my ability. Oh baby~ I''m a special man on this world~'' he sang mentally, making Keith chuckle inwardly.


    ''Well, this was made specifically for you... but I guess I''ll let you be delusional for now. Or maybe you''re just singing, even though your voice is trash.'' he thought as he closed the system screen, not wanting to listen more.


    He stretched his body, feeling slightly better as he yawned, ''Well, now that he''s busy with upgrading his Skin hardening, I have a good amount of time to get things done but before that... I must send this bastard a warning.'' sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Keith then began to create a quest for Fabian, wanting him to know about Vincent''s arrival. As he created the quest, a playful smile tugged at the corner of his lips as he decided to create a persona specifically for Fabian when he talked to him as his "system".


    [Quest: The ant that slipped through your fingers is returning back as a dragon. Prepare yourself to fight, or run to save your life until you turn into a dragon.]


    Quest Reward: None


    Punishment: None


    [System: Old bitch, I don''t think you can fight the young man, so just run. All you''ve been doing until now was fucking others'' women cuz you couldn''t get one for yourself. Talk about being pathetic. Ptui! Tch, it''s a pity that I can''t really spit... if I could, I''d have spit right on your face. Anyways, tell me if you''re running or if you''re going to stay here stubbornly and get burnt like a bitch?]


    Fabian froze when he saw the message, his mouth wide open in shock until his rage took over.


    [A/N: I''ll be bringing down the chapter updates to 2 per day as I need some time to plan out the plot for the next arc. I won''t reveal much, but get ready for Gang Wars in Auberg District.]

 Chapter 143 A Calm Caleb

    Keith spent the rest of his time teaching Caleb a few things he knew, while also learning some things in return, especially about Baroma Kingdom where Caleb was from since there wasn''t much written about the kingdom in the novel.That is, when compared to it''s neighboring kingdoms and empires.


    On the way, he set up the Battle God System and Body Cultivation System in such a way that he would be able to chill without having to keep an eye on the two of them constantly. He set up prerequisites for upgrades until the A rank and for the later upgrades, there would be no other option for the two of them but to wait for Keith to give them a special quest where they can get free skill upgrades. Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ''Gotta keep the supply low and the demand high. Only then will I be able to give them high level quests for something as small as one skill upgrade.'' he thought as a he stared at the system screen, emotionless.


    He then looked at Caleb and sighed inwardly, knowing very well that he wouldn''t be able to reach his full potential as his mental energy usage efficiency was abysmally low.


    ''Two percent efficiency... and that''s in ideal conditions. With his mentality, it''s lower than one percent at the moment.'' he thought as he recalled the system''s words on how efficiency varied every second, based on physical, mental and spiritual condition.


    Physical and mental condition was easy to understand, but spiritual condition had a slightly hazy meaning. It was connected to mental condition, but relied heavily on faith, trust and certain other positive emotions.


    As he was deep in thought, he heard the carriage stop and shook his head slightly to push away his thoughts, clearing his mind.


    "Lunch time huh... I guess now''s the right time to talk about your progress Caleb." he said as he got out of the carriage.


    Caleb, who was about to open the door beside him, froze when he heard Keith''s words. He knew that there was no progress since he couldn''t really feel any difference. But he still had a slight hope, a hope that maybe some day in the future, he could use his abilities to a greater extent.


    It was Keith who had planted this seed of hope within him, but now, he felt like his entire being was getting surrounded by a dark smoke. His body felt unnecessarily stiff and he could feel his heart beat on his head.


    Sweat beads began to form as he stared at the door in front of him silently, not wanting to open it. Not wanting to walk towards his impending doom, only to find his only bright path getting shrouded in darkness.


    "Oi Caleb, come out." Keith called out as he kept an eye on Caleb''s system screen in front of him, a frown forming on his face.


    Keith''s voice, the one which felt soothing for so long in his ears, felt like a sharp knife digging into his brain at this moment.


    He took a deep breath and with sweaty hands, pushed open the door. He got out and turned to see Keith filling up his pipe with some dry leaves. He walked over and once he got close, he saw Keith extend his arm towards him, offering his pipe.


    "Here, take a few drags."


    Caleb didn''t know anything about the effects of the pipe, but he knew that Keith smoked it once in a while.


    He stared at the pipe for a few full seconds before taking a long drag. For a second, he didn''t feel a thing, but then he felt a sense of peace settle in his body that he didn''t expect he could ever feel.


    ''.... I feel weird.'' he thought as he looked at Keith who was smiling, ''But it feels nice.''


    "Give me that pendant, Caleb. I can tell that it''s of no use to you." Keith said as grabbed a small stone from the ground and began to play with it, tossing in the air and catching it.


    Caleb, who expected something dreadful, knew that this was exactly what he had expected. But for some reason, he calmly took off the pendant and gave it to Keith.


    "I know that this isn''t doing much for me... but is this pipe controlling my mind? The one thing I feared was to let go of this pendant." he said as he looked at Keith, waiting for answers.


    "Nah, it doesn''t control anyone''s mind. It gives you immense mental clarity, that''s all. You probably already knew that the pendant wasn''t working and it makes sense to just let go of it when it''s not working for you right? Though, you shouldn''t worry too much since I have another way but I would be lying if I said that it will have a guaranteed effect." Keith said as he patted a medium sized boulder beside him, signalling Caleb to sit down.


    Caleb silently did as he was told to and looked at Keith, awaiting more answers.


    Seeing this, Keith sighed and snapped his fingers, creating a small fire ball.


    "I''m still surprised that you didn''t ask me about how I got this." he said as he smiled.


    Caleb nodded, "Well... I didn''t want to intrude too much. After all, if it''s something you wanted to tell me, then you would have told me without me having to ask for you."


    "Tch tch tch." Keith clicked his tongue and shook his head, "Sure, you''re right. But sometimes, it''s better to ask. If people don''t wanna talk about something, they''ll tell you directly, or show some signs like discomfort. That''s when you know that you''re intruding too much or not. Anyways, back to the topic."


    With a slight wave of his hand, the small fireball flew into the sky, forming a large spear as it''s speed increased.


    "This... is what I received from something called the second awakening. Just stay with me for now and if I get a chance, I''ll ask one of the higher ups to consider you as their next investment. I feel like the time will come soon, especially within the next three years. If your luck is good, then just eighteen more months."

 Chapter 144 Cute Little Nephew Kris

    Thanks to the pipe, Caleb accepted Keith''s words without any effort but that only lasted for almost an hour before he began to feel like he had reached a dead end once again. But luckily for him, Keith promised him a responsibility since he knew that Caleb simply wanted to be of use to the team.He simply wanted a place where he felt like belonged in. Or at least, that was what Keith assumed from reading Caleb''s inner thoughts.


    "You know what, you''re still a part of the team so don''t forget about it. You and Laura will be responsible for intel gathering and cleaning up. I believe that you''ll be able to make proper decisions. Just keep in mind that the ability to fight isn''t the only thing that brings value to a person..


    Just take me for example. I won''t be humble this time and I believe that there''s no need for me to tell you how much of an impact I made during the training camp right? Tell me, did I have abilities that helped me with fighting? No, right? I barely did shit during the sparring events.


    But I contributed in other ways and I believe that you can do the same. You just have to trust yourself and work hard towards the things that you can do instead of crying over things that you can''t." he said, knowing well that the main reason for the strong impact, was his system and the way he used his divine energy to make "system seeds" so that he could read what the other teams were doing. S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This information was crucial for the success of his team and he knew very well that he was not an overly smart individual who could make guesses based on extremely minor clues. It was all thanks to the information being fed to him in it''s face value.


    Luckily, Caleb cheered up once Keith began to list the various things he could do to help the team and Keith also pushed him to learn etiquette, teaching him everything he had learnt from Amelia in the past few months.


    Days quickly passed and Keith switched carriages every time he got to a new district or town. This saved time as he didn''t have to wait for the horses to rest, but it also cost more money. Luckily, money wasn''t a problem for him and he was able to reach Auberg district in four weeks and two days instead of five weeks.


    He got off the carriage and stretched, his joints making snapping sounds.


    "Ugh... that felt good." he said, his voice lazy as he turned to look at Caleb who was doing the same, "Go to the church and they''ll tell you what to do next. I''ll go meet my family and join you."


    "Understood, Captain Keith!"


    Keith blinked twice as he stared at Caleb, "We''re not on duty..."


    "It''s fine, I''m trying to get used to the sound of it."


    "Do whatever you want..." Keith said as he shook his head and began to walk towards his sister''s house.


    Keith didn''t feel any kind of strong connection to his sister, but she had given him a place to stay when he had almost nothing. Adam had helped him find a good job while also giving him bullets that were very valuable.


    Due to this, even though the connection didn''t feel deep, he still wished well for the family. He didn''t want to see them suffer and he also wanted to get his hands on Adam''s awakened ability.


    As he walked, he took a look at his system and saw the countdown for tax collection getting close to zero. Vincent''s tax was ready to be collected, but Keith simply wanted to keep things in order so he waited for Fabian''s cooldown to end so that he could collect both at the same time.


    He didn''t have to wait for long as there were only few more seconds to go and once it hit zero, he immediately claimed his monthly rewards. SSS grade Red Hot fist from Vincent and S grade physique from Fabian.


    He suddenly felt lighter, his mental energy began to drain at a rate that he did not expect, but he felt a sudden surge of energy in his muscles. It went up to a point where he started to feel uncomfortable so he began to run, expending the energy that was mysteriously getting shoved into his body from god knew where.


    Jogging wasn''t enough, so Keith sprinted, reaching a speed that was slightly more than 40kmph but he didn''t have an instrument to measure it and nor did he care. He simply wanted to run and the more he ran, the more thrilled he felt.


    The burning muscles made him feel alive and before he knew it, he was right in front of his sister''s home. He stared at the door, looking slightly disappointed that his run had ended so soon. A part of him wanted to turn back and continue running, but another part of him wanted to get the important things done first.


    After hesitating for a few seconds, Keith knocked on the door and waited. The door opened and Rebecca stood in front of him with her baby in her arms.


    "You''re back." she said as a smile bloomed on her face and she raised her free arm to hug him. "Welcome back"


    Keith silently patted her back before taking a step back from her, but just as he was about to speak, the kid pointed his small finger at him.


    "Daada!"


    "Nooo, that''s your uncle. Come on Kris, say uncle!" Rebecca said, as she looked at Kris while pointing at Keith.


    Kris grinned, showing of his tiny teeth as he looked at Keith and bobbed his head backwards, "Daada heheehe aaaah." he said and stuffed his four fingers into his mouth.


    Seeing this, Keith couldn''t help but smile, "Damn, he''s growing up fast..."


    "Yeah, and I''m still salty that he knows how to say dada and not mama." Rebecca said, pouting as she pinched Kris''s chubby cheeks.


    Enjoy more content from empire


    [A/N: Damn, too many names with K and I''m getting confused. I called Kris as Kira like 3 times T.T I need more variation.]

 Chapter 145 Keith, About Robert...

    Keith sat with his sister and talked until evening, only stopping when he saw Adam walk into the house."Wha... you''re back? That''s pretty early as far as I know." he said as he walked inside, looking tired but there was a spark in his eyes. "Anyways, how did it go?"


    Keith smirked, "My team won." he said, but his expression immediately turned serious, "I got something important to talk about and I''ve been waiting for you to get home so that I can tell you both at the same time."


    Hearing Keith''s words, Adam let out a soft sigh, "Oh god... not more. Those gang bastards are already a big pain in my ass... and I have something to tell you too." he said and pulled a chair so he could take a seat.


    "Well..." Keith began as his eyes darted between the two of them and the sleeping baby, "Whatever I''m going to tell you right now, is not supposed to reach anyone''s ears okay?"


    He observed their expressions as they nodded and continued, "There''s going to be chaos in an year and a half. Or one could even call it war. I want you guys to move to the capital or the cities that are immediate neighbors of the capital because that''ll probably be the safest place."


    ".... I mean, I could technically move since I know people who owe me favors, but is there really no other option?" Adam asked as he rested his arm on the table, focusing on Keith with a serious expression on his face.


    "Staying here isn''t too dangerous really, but keep in mind that you have a child. Do you really want to take a risk? Anyways, I also plan on hunting down the gangs in this district with my team, so you wouldn''t really have to wait for too long if you want to watch chaos. I have a feeling that they''ll target you guys in retaliation and that''s the reason I want you guys in a safer place."


    Rebecca looked at Keith with fear and worry, while a smile popped up on Adam''s face.


    "Heh, your team ay? Looks like you got a promotion. Which position? Head Detective? or is it just a regular detective? Last time I remember, you were just a trainee."


    "Well... let''s just say I switched branches. I''m an inquisitor now and I guess you already know what that means. Riskier missions, high chances of getting transferred or called to a different place and yada yada. Though, I don''t have to wait for a client if I wanna do something. As long as I have a valid reason, I can take action against anyone." Keith said with a slight smile on his face.


    Inquisitors from the protection church, did the same thing as the detectives, but they didn''t have the responsibility to protect. A detective''s job entailed protecting the client from danger while also trying to find the culprit at the same time.


    They weren''t allowed to kill unless it was an extreme situation, but this wasn''t the case with Inquisitors. All they needed was a reason and some minor proof that a person is a danger to society, or someone else. With just this, inquisitors could go around taking action and they were also allowed to kill as long as their target did some unforgivable crime.


    If it wasn''t something serious, then unless the situation was extremely dangerous, the inquisitors weren''t allowed to kill. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Hearing Keith''s words, Adam banged the table hard, waking up the baby while Rebecca stared at Keith silently with her mouth slightly open.


    "Damn, what''s your salary? I heard that inquisitors get paid a lot and you also get contracts from the empire too... damn, my brother in law is a big shot now." he said, grinning widely. Stay connected with empire


    Keith smiled sheepishly as he watched his sister put her baby back to sleep, "Well... twenty Zen a week. So like... One chron and thirty zen in four weeks."


    Hearing this, Adam nodded, clearly impressed.


    "Alright, since you''re an inquisitor, I''m guessing that all the stuff you told us came from someone important. If not, you wouldn''t be worrying so much. I guess we''ll move, but let me pull some strings tomorrow. I probably won''t get the sheriff post, but if I sign a contract that I''ll give them all the bullets that I make, maybe they''ll give me a good pay on top of buying my bullets." Adam said, losing himself in his own thoughts.


    Rebecca nodded as she looked at both her brother and her husband, "Right, if it''s going to get dangerous here, then it''s better to move. Oh yeah, how could I forget about this..." she said and smiled playfully.


    "Can you take a holiday tomorrow, Keith? I have a surprise for you." she said and Keith didn''t think about it as he nodded.


    "Sure I guess, but I''ll have to go talk to my team once and get things going. So yeah, I guess I''ll be gone for like three hours max." he said.


    Adam rapped on the table a few times before sighing, "I guess I''ll go start things right now. It''s still evening so a lot of people will still be awake."


    Keith and Rebecca silently watched him leave and once he did, Keith leaned back against his chair leisurely, "I guess I''ll go sleep. The journey was long and tiring after all..."


    "Oh that''s not happening." Rebecca said sternly as her eyebrows creased, "You gotta eat something before you sleep, you know? And god knows how much you must have suffered while traveling. Did you even eat anything nice?"


    With a slight smile on his face, he watched her get off the chair so she could make something for him.


    "Something small is good enough for me, sis. I actually ate a lot while travelling, tasting different food from different places." he said as he leaned forward and rested his head on the table, relaxing slightly.


    Rebecca worked on the kitchen counter, but paused for a second and hesitated before speaking.


    "Keith... about Robert."

 Chapter 146 Mandatory Revolver Rule

    The next morning, Keith woke up and took a nice, hot water bath before he headed over to the church to ask for an official workplace for his team. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.He walked into the church and compared to the one in Baroma Kingdom, this one looked way less impressive. It was smaller, but he liked this smaller church building more than the larger one.


    Stay updated with empire


    Instead of the confessional, he walked past a door that was specifically meant for the staff and walked along the corridors until he reached the room where the person who was in charge of the church resided.


    He looked at the small wooded board with the name, Priest Pascal. Three knocks were made on the door and Keith heard a voice come out.


    "Come in, child. Whoever you are."


    Keith pushed the door open and looked at the young priest. He was fully clad in white robes, having below average looks but his smile was a warm one. Being in his presence felt like getting in a magical hot spring as Keith''s body relaxed along with his mind.


    But while this did feel good, Keith couldn''t help but frown, "Your awakened ability?" he asked as he took out a few papers and looked at the priest who nodded, the smile still plastered on his face.


    "Yes, but I can''t really stop it so I apologise if it makes you uncomfortable."


    "Nah, it feels good. As long as it isn''t used against me, I''m fine." Keith responded as he placed the papers on the table and took out his pipe before lighting it up. While Priest Pascal read the papers, he took one nice drag and felt the relaxed feeling reduce.


    Pascal silently read everything and then looked up at Keith looking slightly uneasy, "So, you''re an inquisitor huh? I didn''t think that Auberg district would need a team of inquisitors so I''d like to know the reason for your choice."


    Usually, Inquisitors set up their offices in extremely populated places or the ones where there''s a lot of crime. Auberg district on the other hand, wasn''t too populated and while there was crime, it had just started to bloom and was also being suppressed.


    Which meant that people outside shouldn''t have known about the state of Auberg district this soon.


    Keith looked at the priest with a straight face and answered, "It''s confidential, but..." he said as he shot a system seed at Pascal before accessing his thoughts and memories.


    With the help of his system server, he asked it to compile data that connected Auberg district to Pascal.


    Long walls of text began to pop up in front of Keith, which meant that Pascal had a long history here and since Keith couldn''t read everything right now, he decided to put the matter on hold.


    "It''s confidential, but I guess I can tell you one thing. I''m here to erase the gangs."


    Pascal froze for a second before nodding, "I wish you good luck. As for an office... feel free to use the one that our detectives are using. I''m sure they''ll help you with your goals too."


    "Great, now it''s time to talk about payments." Keith said and saw Pascal smile.


    "Yeah, don''t worry about money. 20 Zen for you, 10 Zen for Lady Clara, 10 Zen for Nathan and 3 Zen for both Laura and Caleb. A total of 46 Zen, did I get that right?"


    Keith nodded as that was exactly the salaries that Maria''s grandfather had fixed for his team, and that was what was written in one of the papers. It was a large amount of money, but Keith knew one drawback from this.


    It was the lack of commissions. Detectives would get extra money in the form of commission from the clients on top of their weekly salary, but Inquisitors didn''t get any of this.


    Even then, this was a stable income source and Keith preferred this way more than those inconsistent clients when it came to money matters.


    He talked to the priest for two more minutes before he walked out of the room and strolled out of the church, only to see his Inquisitor team standing along with his ex-coworkers.


    "What are you guys doing here?" he asked as he walked over to them and Edward grinned as he responded, "Well, Laura here saw you head into the church, and since we were all inside the church, to collect out weekly salaries, we were able to gather before you came out.


    Anyways, what''s the verdict? I''m guessing that you want to set up your base in Auberg, so what kind of place did the priest offer you? A luxurious office that''s like.. huge? or did he just give you a villa and-"


    "He told me to share the office with you guys.. though, I reckon that it''s going to be crowded." Keith cut him off and sighed, "Though, I''m thinking of renting a place separately with my own money but I do have plans of working together with you guys."


    Brandon nodded, "Yeah, it''s better to get a new office but usually the priests take care of all the necessities. An inquisitor team being pushed to share an office with the detective department is something I''ve never heard about."


    "Captain Keith, why don''t we just buy a house instead? The three of us are looking for one, so why not buy a house with two to three bedrooms and use one of the rooms as an office? This way, we''ll be able to split the rent and also save up some money." Caleb voiced out his thoughts and his two friends nodded in response.


    "We''ll talk about that later. But for now, we have a few important things to do." Keith said as he took out his revolver, "I''m making it mandatory for the members in my team to have a revolver. I know a guy, and since all of you have gathered, I feel like now''s the right time to just go and get you guys some weapons."


    Laura frowned as she looked at Keith, "Captain, did you forget? We donated most of our money to the mysterious person who needed our help."


    "Oh, of course now. I''m buying the weapons for you guys."

 Chapter 147 A Hug And Two Revolvers

    Keith took them to the same place where he had originally bought his revolver and greeted the man behind the counter."Hey General Bett! Nice to see you again. I gotta tell you, the revolver you gifted me has helped a lot." he said as he walked towards the counter before adding, "I''m here to buy some revolvers for my friends, but I also have another request. I want to meet the gunsmith who created my revolver... what was his name again? Avin Bramos?"


    "Alvlin Bragus." Bett said as he smiled and looked at the group, "So, what kind of firearms do you want me to give them?"


    Keith shrugged and look at his friends, "They can pick whichever they want I guess. I''ll pay, and um feel free to take them to the back room."


    Bett nodded and opened the door to his store room as he waited for everyone to get in, but Amelia stayed back as she looked at Keith who was waiting for her to get in.


    "You don''t want any? Oh wait you already have one... I mean, feel free to buy an extra. I don''t mind." Keith said, but Amelia shook her head before looking at Bett.


    "Old man, get back in. I got something private to talk about." she said with a frown, making Bett chuckle, "This kid didn''t change at all, did she." he said as he walked inside and closed the door behind him, only to have Clara open the door again.


    She popped her head out of the door and looked at the two of them who were facing each other, "Oh... I... Amelia, you should have told me first... but it''s fine, I don''t mind it if it''s you. You can be his second." she said, without knowing the context.


    Even Keith panicked and opened up his system screen to see what was going on in Amelia''s mind, but while he did that, Amelia flared up.


    "I... it''s not what you think it is!!! Also, I''m not dumb enough to ask a guy out when I clearly know that he isn''t interested in me!" she shot back, but Clara smiled and came out of the store room before closing the door behind her.


    "But you''re not denying that you like him are you?" she asked as she grabbed Amelia''s hand and looked at Keith who seemed like he was staring at the wall behind her, "Hey, you don''t mind dating her right? After all, she''s a top class beauty."


    Keith took his eyes off his system screen and sighed, "Now''s not the time for this discussion Clara, and also, the topic seemed serious from the look on her face."


    "No wait." Amelia said and turned to face Clara, her expression both furious and sad, "Please don''t poke your nose into this matter. Especially when I wanted to talk to him alone."


    Clara stared at Amelia silently like she was in a state of shock before nodding. Her voice shook as she spoke, "I... I''m sorry." Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Keith, stuck as a third person, couldn''t help but sigh. In his eyes, both made mistakes and he didn''t want to see their friendship crumble. He silently watched Clara leave and looked at Amelia, "You know, you didn''t really tell anyone that you wanted to talk to me alone..."


    "Let''s not talk about that please. I just lost my cool and I already regret it... you don''t have to deepen the guilt I''m feeling right now." She said with a complicated expression on her face before letting out a soft sigh.


    She took out her revolver and grabbed Keith''s hand before pushing it into his palm, "Here... it''s a special revolver and I feel like it''ll be of more use to you than to me."


    Keith frowned slightly as he looked at the gun, "But, isn''t this an artifact? Are you sure that you want to give it to me? I mean, people consider these more valuable than human life." he said as he gave it back to her, not wanting to take something so valuable.


    "I mean, yes it''s an artifact. In fact it''s a blessed artifact but you gotta keep in mind that the effects of this artifact isn''t world breaking." she said as she looked up at Keith, and added, "Come on, just take it alright? You can buy be two guns in return. Also, all this gun does is allow you to use hunter bullets instead of the empire ones, so it''s not all that great."


    Keith, who had his eye on the system screen in front of him as he read her thoughts, sighed and shook his head, "You''re hiding something from me, aren''t you? Come on, why not just tell me instead of keep me in the dark?"


    "I... well, fuck I hate you Keith!" she cursed as she stomped her foot on the ground and shook her head with an annoyed look on her face, "What I mean to say is... the blessed artifact is actually the striking hammer in the revolver.


    All it needs is one touch to the butt of a bullet and it''ll be able to fire it. It can''t really negate the recoil, but it has other functions. You don''t need a safety since this hammer has it''s own semi consciousness. As long as you have it on you and you''re the official master, it will have some form of connection to your mind and body.


    In times of danger, it can fire at your enemies for you and... yes, that''s the reason why I wanted you to keep it. I mean, you''re an inquisitor now Keith and inquisitors get into a lot of dangerous situations. Compared to me, you''ll need it more. So stop asking more questions and just take it before I smack you."


    Keith let out a soft sigh once he heard her words. He already knew, but it felt different when he heard it from her directly instead of reading her thoughts in the form of text.


    "Alright, I''ll take it. But I''ll grant you a wish as long as it is within my capabilities. Also, no dating and bullshit cuz having two lovers sounds like a pain in the ass." he said and saw Amelia''s serious face falter a she let out a smile.


    "Just give me a hug... and two revolvers."


    [A/N: I kinda lost track of the dates and just realised that today is the last day of the month. I plan on changing the priv tiers so I thought it''ll be better to give you guys a heads up. It''ll go with 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 chapters. I''ll first release tier 4 and once I accumulate 5 more chapters, I''ll release tier 5. I also plan on doing the extra chapters for golden tickets/gifts but I think I''ll change it from 5gt for 1 chapter to 10 gt for 1 chapter. Anyways, enough of my blabbering. Have fun reading since another chapter is coming soon.]

 Chapter 148 Amelias Priceless Gift

    Keith pulled her close and embraced her before speaking, "Promise me that you''ll make up with Clara. She looked devastated.""It''s her fault for teasing me at the wrong time... but yes, I love her too much to not apologise. We fought a lot in the past and always made up with each other you know? So you don''t have to worry about it." she said, her voice sightly muffled as she made full use of her situation to rub her face on Keith''s chest.


    "Anyways, go pick whatever you want and once I settle the bills, you take Clara to a restaurant. I''ll leave all the talking and explanations to you, so yeah, I''m confident that you''ll manage." he said and took a step back from her.


    Amelia puckered her lips before pushing her tongue out, "Tch, so stuck up. You can''t even let me hug you for more than ten seconds. Anyways, you should do better as Clara''s man. Like come on, why didn''t you support her when I... said whatever I said?"


    "Cuz she was at fault too and I''m not sticking my butt into a fight between friends who have known each other for a long time."


    "Tch, whatever." she said and began to walk towards the door of the store room. As she moved, she turned her head around as much as she could and spoke, "Also, I''ve made you the master so you should be able to communicate with it now."


    Keith watched her leave and then looked at the revolver, "You can talk?"


    There was no sound, but instead, the hammer simply moved back and forth.


    "Ah, so you communicate like this huh? Well, that''s kinda cute I guess... Oh yeah, since you''re a striking hammer, does that mean that I can move you to a different weapon and you''ll be able to function without depending on one single revolver?" he asked and saw the hammer move backwards, go to the center and go backwards again.


    Keith did not really understand if that was a yes or a no, so he silently stared at it for a few seconds before setting some rules, "Alright, I don''t think I can understand you or communicate with you like this. Show me the action you do for a yes first and then for a no."


    The hammer paused for three seconds before it repeated the thing it did a few seconds ago. It moved backwards, then front but only until it reached the center and then went back again. Once done, it rested for three more seconds before snapping towards the front extremely fast and it did this three times.


    "Okay... so a yes is half the distance and a no is full distance but aggressive." Keith commented and the hammer said replied with it''s "yes".


    "Alright, that''s cool." he said and put it in his pocket before walking into the storeroom so he could see what his people were picking.


    To his surprise, they weren''t settling on just revolvers. Instead, they were checking out other kinds of firearms too. Edward stood with a shotgun, Nolan had a hunting rifle and Laura also grabbed a shotgun for herself.


    Before they could even ask him for permission to buy them, Keith raised his hand to stop them from opening their mouths.


    "Feel free to pick whichever you want, but I need a reason for your picks."


    Edward raised his shotgun to his chest and was about to tell Keith his reasons when Keith stopped him, "Not you, I''m talking about my team. You can feel free to pick whatever you want and I don''t need reasons for your pick either. Though, I won''t be paying for Brandon."


    "Wha? Why? What did I even do to you?" Brandon stammered as he looked at Keith, feeling betrayed.


    Keith gave him a blank look and shook his head, "You''re a stingy bitch, so I''m gonna be stingy with you too. Buy it with your own money." he said and turned away.


    No one in the group had expected this since Keith wasn''t someone petty enough to do something like this, but that was until Amelia opened her mouth.


    "Heh, serves you right bitch Brandon. You refuse to help your friends in need, so don''t expect others to pay for you either. I''m with Keith on this one." she declared proudly, but Brandon shot back too.


    "Yeah sure. You always take the side that''s not with me, you damn witch!" Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Bleh." Amelia stuck her tongue out before walking over to the other side where there were a lot of revolvers and flintlocks.


    She ignored all the flint locks and focused on just the revolvers as she opened the wooden boxes one by one to see the weapon that was hidden inside.


    Amelia stopped when she saw a familiar looking revolver inside a box and then turned to look at Keith who was busy watching the others shop.


    ''It''s the same gun!'' she squealed inwardly and took it to Bett, "Hey old man, I''ll take this one."


    Keith turned to look at her as she was the first one who had made up her mind so soon.


    "You already found one? Hmm... you need another though." he said as he looked at the gun and then at Amelia, who nodded and turned towards Bett.


    "Old man, give me another revolver that''s the same as this one."


    Bett chuckled, "There isn''t any. I only keep one of them in my store since most people don''t buy them. Feel free to pick something else though."


    Keith shook his head, "Nah, the weapons gotta be the same. It''s cooler that way and it also has it''s practical benefits." he said and frowned as he thought for a few seconds before taking out his own revolver from his inner pockets.


    He gave it to Amelia even though he felt slightly sad for giving away his weapon but when he thought about the one that Amelia had given him, he knew that even if he gave her ten weapons, he wouldn''t be able to even things out.


    "Here, take it. I''ll buy a new one."

 Chapter 149 Alvlin Bragus And His Ferrokinesis

    Almost an hour later.Keith stood in front of a medium sized house. His eyes were fixated on the separate room that was built beside this house and he could hear the sounds of metal hitting metal from where he was standing. He felt slightly nervous but he still walked over to the room and knocked on the door.


    "Coming!" a gruff voice shot out, but the rhythmic metallic sounds did not stop for ten more seconds. Once it did though, Keith heard some footsteps until the door suddenly opened up.


    Alvlin looked straight as Keith as he was standing at the same height and then his gaze moved to Keith''s hands.


    "Hmm, what do you want?" he asked as his gaze went back to Keith''s face.


    Keith silently took out his Inquisitor badge that he had received two months ago and showed it to Alvlin.


    "... but I didn''t do anything?" Alvlin said as he frowned deeply before grumbling, "I bet those smelly nobles went around accusing me for things I didn''t do. Tch, smelly bastards."


    Keith smiled and shook his head, "Nah, I''m here to offer you some work. I want you to sign a pact with me. One where I''ll give you ideas and help with making designs while you do the work. I''ll pay you for the materials and also your time. You''ll also receive fifty Chrons the moment you sign the pact or contract or whatever you''d like to call it."


    Alvlin raised his eyebrow and stared at Keith, trying to figure out if he was lying or not before nodding, "Well, how did you learn about me and why do you want to work with me specifically?"


    "Can I come in first?" Keith asked, his smile still plastered on his face as he waited for Alvlin to let him in.


    Which he did. Alvin nodded and moved aside to let Keith in before locking the door behind him.


    The room was pretty simple. It had one large furnace, two anvils, a drum filled halfway through with water for quenching purposes, a barrel of oil and then there were more than ten hammers hung up on the walls. Keith also glanced at the large basket filled with iron ore and then turned to face Alvlin.


    He watched Alvlin move the anvils away from the thick wooden logs and sat on top of one before pointing at the other, "Come sit."


    Keith nodded and sat down before he got back to business, "I learn about you from General Bett and he gifted your revolver to me when I needed it and was broke too. It helped me out a lot, mind you. But as time passed and I learnt more about revolvers, I realised that the double action function that you created, is revolutionary.


    Unike manual revolvers, we don''t have to pull the hammer back on our own and as far as I''ve seen, most people use their free hand to pull the hammers. As for the ones who use just one hand to operate the weapon, they use their thumb to cock the hammer but this takes time.


    This time is very precious when we''re in a combat situation and your double action mechanism solves every problem. Having this while in actual combat is like having a great advantage. As for the reason why I picked you, it''s not yet decided. Consider this as an interview of sorts and as long as you pass my tests, you''ll be picked." Keith said and waited for Alvlin''s answer, which was a simple nod.


    "Alright, firstly I want to know about your family, your financial status, about your problems and lastly, your awakened ability if you have any."


    Hearing the list, Alvlin took a deep breath and noddeed, "Got it. My wife died while giving birth along with my child. I''m currently living alone and I bury myself in work to keep my mind off the depressing thoughts. I have quite a bit of money in savings... around ten chrons. I usually sell my weapons to store owners with a simple formula in mind. Twenty percent more than the cost of all raw materials.


    As for problems... well, the smelly nobles are putting dirt on my name and then there''s another group of bastards that are trying to force me to make weapons for them. Which I can''t do since they''re civilians. I can only sell my weapons to reputed store owners who have the badge of permission from the empire.


    If I go around distributing my weapons to random people, I''ll get thrown in prison." he said and then took out a small iron bar that was as long as his finger. He glanced at Keith and the iron bar began to bend slowly.


    "I can control metals... that''s my awakened ability. I can''t make them fly and all that, but it helps me with my work." he said and waited for Keith''s answer.


    Keith nodded as he closed his eyes, acting like he was thinking deeply but all he did was look at Alvlin''s status info.


    [User Status]


    Name: Alvlin Bragus


    Physique: Grade C


    Genetic Physique Type: Instantaneous Burst S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Awakening Status: Awakened


    Awakened Ability: Ferrokinesis


    Ferrokinesis: The ability to manipulate iron and iron-based metals as if they were clay, allowing the user to shape objects at will.


    Keith opened his eyes and smiled, "Great, it''ll be a pleasure to work with you, Sir Alvlin." he said and took out a carefully rolled sheet of paper from his pocket and unrolled it before showing it to Alvlin.


    "Feel free to read it." he said and gave it to Alvlin, who took his sweet time to go through the terms and once he was done, he nodded, "Okay, sounds good but why do you want free access to my workshop?"


    "Well... you see, I have some interest in blacksmithing myself but thanks to my job and a few other reasons, I''m unable to pursue what I want. So yeah, I want to treat this as a hobby and learn things slowly."

 Chapter 150 The Unwanted Surprise

    Alvlin silently signed the contract and Keith gave him another copy to sign as he wanted both of them to have one copy each. Once done, Keith began to walk towards the door."I''ll bring you the money tomorrow." he said and left the place before going straight to his house, but as he was walking, he saw Amelia and Clara giggling together as they ate skewered meat.


    ''Well, that was fast. It was a good thing I didn''t get involved.'' he thought as he walked over to them and looped his arm over Clara''s shoulder, prompting her free hand to fly towards his cheek which he caught effortlessly.


    By then, Clara had turned her head to look at him and the frown on her face disappeared instantly, "It was you... don''t scare me like that again, please." she said and leaned into his embrace while Amelia ordered more skewers for Keith.


    "I don''t think I need them. I gotta hurry back home since my sister said that she has a surprise ready for me." he said when he saw her grabbing a handful of skewers.


    Amelia looked at him in surprise, "Wha? A surprise? Can I come too?"


    "No." Keith rejected her instantly, but couldn''t stop himself from grabbing two skewers for himself.


    Just as Amelia was about to through a tantrum, Keith heard a familiar voice from behind him and turned around.


    "Oh hey Adam. What are you doing here?"


    Adam shrugged, "You were late so Rebecca sent me to find you." he said and showed Keith a small compass.


    "Is that a..."


    "Yeah, it''s a cursed artifact. I usually don''t use it even while I''m at work, but Rebecca forced me to use it... I have to feed this thing my precious blood for it to work and it also needs a part of your body. Luckily or unluckily, Rebecca found your hair in in your room. It points in the direction of the target basically." Adam said, his voice low.


    He then put the compass inside his pocket and looked at Keith, "So, you coming or what?"


    "Coming..." Keith replied as his mind was still on the compass. He liked it a bit too much and now he wanted it for himself. But on the other side, he had another question.


    ''How did Adam get his hands on something like this?'' S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Keith couldn''t keep his thoughts in and asked him directly, to which, Adam chuckled, "Well, a secret person gifted it to me a few months after I became the sheriff. As for the name, I think I''ll keep that a secret."


    Just as Keith was about to leave with Adam, Amelia blocked their path and looked at Adam cutely, "Hey, can I also come and see what this surprise thing is about? Pleaseeee"


    Adam looked at her and then at Clara, who also looked like she wanted to tag along. He smirked and looked at Keith who shrugged in response, "Your call, I don''t really know what this surprise event is about."


    "Well... I saw the way you were holding this girl." Adam commented as he looked at Clara before pointing at the two girls, "But sure, you two can join us. I''m really looking forward to the mess that Keith will have to handle with your presence there. I told Rebecca that now isn''t the time but she was stubborn and this is the perfect situation to prove her wrong."


    Amelia and Clara felt both worried and excited when they listened to Adam''s words, but Keith let out a soft sigh and decided to check what in the hell was going on. He didn''t want to ruin the surprise for himself but Adam''s words made him feel like something bad might happen.


    He stared at the system screen in front of him as he walked with the other three and as time passed, the frown on his face deepened. The situation wasn''t dangerous in any way, but it was something complicated and something that Keith did not want to deal with at the moment.


    But he knew that he had no choice but to go. He then glanced at Clara as a smile formed on his face, ''I''m with Adam on this one. Rebecca was too hasty... ''


    The four of them shared their skewers until they reached Adam''s house and the moment he opened the door, Keith stared at the three extra pairs of foot wear.


    "More guests?" he asked, feigning ignorance as he looked at Adam, who simply smirked and pointed at the living room, "Why not just go in there and hear it from your sister instead?"


    Keith thought that he was mentally prepared, but his legs just did not move.


    ''Damn...'' he thought as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath before moving forward. His hand grabbed onto his pipe that was in his pocket and as he slowly moved forward, he stuffed it with a small ball of dry leaves that he had prepared before and lit it up.


    One long drag and he exhaled, feeling his body turn lighter. The anxiety disappeared like it was never there and he walked into the room with confidence, only to see his sister talking to a family of three.


    The man was huge, with a lot of muscle mass that was covered up with fat. He also had a nice fat belly, but just one look and Keith could tell that it was a stiff belly and not a flabby one. The girl in the middle was young, around his age and was pretty cute.


    She fit the beauty standards of the empire in a certain way and she also had a certain youthful charm to her. Beside her sat a middle aged woman who was also someone who conformed to the beauty standards of the empire.


    Rebecca excitedly got up from her chair when she saw Keith enter the room, but the excitement diminished when she saw Clara and Amelia stand behind him with Adam grinning behind the two of them.


    "What is this, sis?" Keith asked as he feigned ignorance, but he still looked visibly annoyed.

 Chapter 151 Please Shut Up, Mrs Glynov

    Rebecca was caught off guard by the accusatory edge in her brother''s voice. She looked at him, feeling both confused and betrayed, but she still decided to explain what was going on, hoping that he had misunderstood her intentions."Keith, this is Mister Glynov and this girl is his daughter. We were just talking about how she''d be a great fit for you so why don''t you take a seat and get to know each other?"


    Hearing her words, he silently turned to look at the family of three who were already scrutinizing him. Though, Keith also noticed the guy''s eyes fall on Clara. Keith watched him stare at her with a frown for a few seconds before he pointed at her doubtfully.


    "Did I see you somewhere?"


    Clara who was taken aback by the set up in front of her, did not know how to respond. She was still slightly at a shock and did not know how to act in this situation. Too many things happened at the same time in her mind, making her confused on what to do.


    She didn''t know whether Keith wanted the public to know about their relationship and a part of her also shot up her insecurities back up, making her wonder if Keith will feel shame if she claimed herself as his partner.


    Luckily for her though, Amelia spoke up.


    "Her last name is Glynov too and her father used to be a baronet. That should be enough for you to guess who she is and also..." she began, but Keith held her hand and shook his head.


    That was enough to stop her from spilling the beans. She knew that she shouldn''t expose her friend''s relationship with Keith until the debt was settled.


    Unfortunately, it was too late. The Mrs Glynov got up from her seat and pointed at Keith accusingly, "Young man, are you trying to say something to us by bringing to girls with you? If you have any problems with my daughter, talk to us like a man instead of bringing girls to intimidate my daughter."


    Keith raised his eyebrow as he looked at her, but her husband stood up and grabbed hold of her shoulders before pushing her back into the couch, "Let''s talk peacefully, all of you. Let''s give each other a chance."


    "Yeah, these two are his colleagues from work and I just brought them here so that they can support Keith." Adam spouted bullshit as he walked into the room and stood beside Rebecca.


    Keith took a deep breath and glared at Rebecca before he took a seat in front of the family. Amelia and Clara stood behind Keith''s chair along with the two couple, waiting for chaos to unfold.


    "Alright, from what I can tell, you guys came her for a marriage proposal. Am I right?" he asked as he looked at the three of them.


    The girl acted meek, looking down at the floor the moment Keith''s gaze made contact with her eyes.


    "Yes, Rebecca said that she knew someone who had established himself as an official employee of the Protection Church, so we thought that we''d come and meet you." the man said and immediately, he wife began to tell him about her daughter.


    "I''ve taught Tina how to keep the house clean, to take care of all the chores and how to cook. She''s been learning since childhood and I''m very proud of her. On top of that, she knows how to read! Having a literate wife is a huge plus in the society and this alone will make people look up to you, make them respect you."


    Keith silently listened to them and once they were done, he looked at the girl, "Tina." he said and saw her lift up her head. Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Listen, I have nothing against you so don''t let this get to your head." he said and then looked at her mother who frowned when she heard his words.


    "I can cook, clean and do everything that your daughter can do. On top of that, being able to read doesn''t mean that she''s literate. Before we go around arguing about various things, I''d like to tell you that I have someone I like and I plan on spending my future with her."


    Mrs Glynov waved her hand and chuckled, "Hahahahah, that''s fine! Tina can be your second wife, I don''t have any problem with that. Rebecca just told me that you got promoted to an Inquisitor, so that means that your salary is pretty high. You should be able to take care of my daughter on top of having another woman, can''t you?"


    Keith ignored her since listening to her alone made him feel exhausted. Instead he looked at Tina and her father instead.


    "Ignore your mom for a minute and listen to me, okay? I said that I have someone I plan on spending my future with, which means that I care about this person a lot. Even if we do get engaged, the foundation of it was a single meeting, which is this.


    Think about it logically. Do you think that I''ll give both of you the same amount of time and affection? Do you think that you can handle seeing me spend more time with someone else while not giving you enough attention? Think about it and tell me. And sir," he addressed Tina''s father, "Do you really want to see your daughter go through emotional pain?"


    Keith''s words were partially true, but he wasn''t someone who would ignore someone just because he liked someone else more. Marriage was a responsibility and while he didn''t have any intention to marry the girl in front of him, he also wanted her to come to an understanding that the marriage is a bad idea.


    Just rejecting her directly felt like a heartless thing to do.


    "It''s fine, she''s a tough girl!" the woman said, pressing him more, but Keith had reached his limits with her garbage.


    The mental clarity he had gotten thanks to his pipe, simply amplified his annoyance as her words made absolutely no sense when context was considered.


    "I said that I''m talking to your daughter and your husband. Not you, so please shut up or do you not understand such simple words?"

 Chapter 152 Another Gacha Draw, Target Adam

    Unfortunately for Keith, it was clear that the woman was the one who was in charge of her family. She had almost full control over them and the two of them simply agreed to whatever she said even though she proposed things that they did not like.Once Keith realised this, he decided to just outright reject the marriage proposal.


    He got up from his chair and looked at her before glancing at Tina and her father.


    "I''ve made up my decision and I have no interest in this marriage. I don''t care about your dowry and nor do I care about the respect that your family might get from getting me married to your daughter. I hope we''re done with the talks and..." he said and looked at his sister.


    "The two of us need to have a long talk tonight."


    Once he said what was in his mind, he left the place, not wanting to deal with Tina''s mom any longer. Clara and Amelia followed behind him while Adam did the same while shouting.


    "Hey Keith! I said that I wanted to tell you something yesterday but I forgot. Let''s grab some drinks and we can talk about it."


    "Sure." Keith said and hurried out before heading towards a bar nearby.


    While he rushed out, Rebecca stood in the living room while Mrs Glynov scolded and cursed her for wasting her time, but the moment she started badmouthing Keith, Rebecca frowned.


    In a matter of a few seconds, the frown turned into a glare and a lout "Pak", her palm left a red mark of Mrs Glynov''s cheek.


    "How dare you... HOW DARE YOU LIFT YOUR HAND ON ME!!!" she screamed as she turned to look at her husband, "Did you see what she just did? Do something!!"


    But before the man even moved, Rebecca grabbed the knife that was on the tea table in front of her, the same one that she had used to peel some apples for the family in front of her while they waited for Keith to come home.


    "Out. Or don''t blame me for using this."


    Surprisingly, it was Tina who got up from the couch and bowed slightly in front of Rebecca, "Thank you for inviting us, but you should have talked to your brother about this first. I feel utterly humiliated, but we weren''t in the right either. I hope we don''t meet again."


    Once she said that, she wiped the tears that were threatening to escape the confines of her eyes before rushing out of the room with her father right behind her.


    Mrs Glynov glared at Rebecca and clicked her tongue before leaving the place.


    Once everyone was gone, Rebecca plopped onto the couch and tossed the knife away before sighing.


    ''I really should have talked to Keith about this.''


    *************


    Keith sat in a nice bar with his friends and Adam as he ordered some whiskey along with some spicy sides. He watched the waiter leave with his orders before he shifted his attention to his brother in law.


    "So, what was this thing that you wanted to talk to me about?"


    Adam took a sip of water, "Sigh... well, you remember the noble family in our district? The Clangsons?"


    Keith nodded, remembering the one serious mission he had done during his time as a detective.


    "Well, his wife got kidnapped. He also received threats from unknown sources. Messages left in front of his house, or arrows that had a paper tied to them being shot into his house. All of the threats indicate that they''re aiming for his daughter next."


    Amelia leaned forward, looking worried, "But, we were told that an inquisitor would come here to take care of the matters. What happened to that?"


    "I know nothing about an inquisitor. A few months ago, maybe around two weeks after Keith left, there were a bunch of gunshots around the district. Three days after that, Sir Clangson''s wife got abducted."


    Keith silently listened as he recalled the way the priest talked to him yesterday. He had been suspicious and wanted to check what was going on in his mind, but there was too much to see, so he had postponed doing it, only to forget about it once he got back home.


    Clara thought about the matter too and even she found it suspicious that an inquisitor didn''t take action. But when she heard that there were gunshots, she had a bad feeling in her heart.


    "There''s a possibility that this inquisitor was taken down while on duty. If this is true, it means that we''ll have to face something far more dangerous than we had ever imagines. Though, we''ll have to find out if an inquisitor really came or not." Keith said as he looked at the three of them before pausing at Adam.


    "You know something?"


    Adam shook his head, "Nope. If there''s someone who should know about an inquisitor from the church of protection, then that should be you guys. The fact that no one told you guys about the shooting either means that there was no inquisitor, or that there''s something fishy going on.


    Anyways, this inquisitor topic aside, I''ve managed to get a transfer to the capital city. I can move any time and at this point I''m just waiting for your signal Keith."


    "Hmm, that''s great. You should leave as soon as possible, preferably tomorrow. What about packing and that? What about your house?" Keith asked and Adam grinning.


    "All sold. I mean the paperwork is done and the one who bought it is a friend of mine. The moment I leave with Rebecca, he''ll start renovating this place to give it out for rent."


    Hearing this, Keith smiled too, feeling reassured that his sister would be away from all the chaos that would happen in Auberg District in the future.


    The food and drinks were delivered to the table and the four of them stuffed themselves. Keith, Clara and Adam drank conservatively while Amelia went ham on the whiskey, taking down more than half of the bottle on her own.


    Keith looked at Adam and Clara who were helping Amelia stand up as he got his gacha wheel out.


    ''Time for another draw.''


    Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 153 Gamblers Profit System

    The wheel turned until it came to a halt at a white section, which Keith saw and smiled, ''Fuck, this is a dumb system.''Gambler''s Profit System


    User: Vacant


    Capabilities: Improves vitality based on the profits earned.


    Goal: Make profits of 10 times the initial investment.


    Keith took a small puff of his pipe and sent the system over to Adam, triggering it instantly, but also hiding it from his sight. His system seed made sure that Adam wouldn''t be able to see the new system while Keith walked over to him.


    As he walked with the three of them, he silently looked at the taxes that were available and ignored everything other than the awakened ability. He saw the new name pop up in his status screed and nodded to himself inwardly before proposing a bet to Adam.


    "Hey Adam, let''s make a bet." he said, making Adam look at him with curiosity, "What bet?"


    "I''ll leave it to you. I''ll put 10 Braks at stake, while you put one. Any bet is fine."


    Adam heard his words and smirked, "Do you want to lose so bad?"


    "Nah, I''m confident that I''ll win."


    Chuckling, Adam shook his head, "That''s what all the losers say, but sure. Let me think about it for a bit. We can settle on the conditions once we take this girl back to her house. I''ve never seen anyone drink so recklessly."


    Keith silently followed the three of them until they got Amelia back to her house safely. He got some quick alone time with Clara for a minute and left the place after leaving a hickey on her neck.


    "So, did you think something up?" Keith asked eagerly and Adam nodded as a smile crept up on his face, "Yeah, you pick any girl and if I make her slap me without asking her to slap me, I win. If she doesn''t slap me within five minutes, you win."


    Keith nodded and looked around. He wanted Adam to win so that he could recover his divine energy for something else. They walked silently for a while as Keith scoured the streets for a potential target who would slap Adam without any hesitation and found one after a few minutes. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    She was a slightly plump woman who had luxurious clothes on, signifying that she was someone from a rich background.


    ''People like her have a high chance of getting offended.'' he thought as he pointed at her and looked at Adam, "That''s the target."


    "Dude, you serious? Are you trying to lose the bet on purpose?" Adam asked as he frowned but Keith smirked and shook his head, "I like taking risks and I have a feeling that I''ll win."


    "Yeah, sure." Adam mocked him before he began to walk towards the woman. Just as she was about to get into the carriage in front of her, the one that had expertly carved designs on it''s body, Adam called out to her.


    She turned around and looked at Adam curiously, "Do you need something?"


    "Of course. Let me have a taste of you. I''m sure you''re starving for some action." he said as he gave her a smouldering look while Keith watch from far away, waiting for a slap to land on Adam''s face but contrary to both of their expectations, she chuckled and grabbed Adam''s collar before pulling him into the carriage.


    Keith stood in place, frozen from the turn of events and the little bit of alcohol clouding his mind didn''t help one bit. He watched silently for two minutes, expecting Adam to come out of the carriage but nothing happened.


    Not wanting to be the reason for his brother in law cheating on his sister, he rushed towards the carriage and banged the door hard.


    "Ma''am, don''t get cheated. He has a disease that''ll kill you if you touch his rod!" he shouted and ran away from the place. He hid in an alleyway and peeked to see Adam stumble out with a torn shirt, panting heavily.


    He looked around and spotted Keith''s face before he rushed over with a fearful expression on his face.


    "Keith, I give up. Looks like your so called feeling worked for you and damn... that fat bitch looked like she wanted to eat me alive. Phew, even the rough guys are better than her, damn." he said as he fished out a Brak coin before giving it to Keith.


    "Here, you win. Remind me to never bet against you." he said and began to walk towards his house, leaving Keith behind as he stared at the small coin in his hand, wondering whether the world was against him or with him.


    He thought for a while before giving up on the gambling system.


    ''I made a bet of ten for one and if I show Adam the system now, there''s a very high chance of him suspecting me... meh, I fucked up but I guess it''s fine. I can just wait for another month or two to get another spin on the wheel and I''ll be good to go.


    There''s no need to put too much attention on him when I already got access to his awakened ability. It''s better to just let him do things as he normally does. If he''s lucky enough, he''ll win big in the future.'' he mused as he followed behind Adam.


    Once he was back at home, he saw Rebecca sitting on the couch looking depressed.


    She lifted her head and looked at Keith before she walked over to him and hugged him tight, "I''m really sorry. I should have asked you before I went around asking people to wed their daughters to you."


    "It''s fine. Just... don''t do something like this again, okay?" Keith said as he patted her gently, "Also, I already have someone I like and she likes me back. I''ll tell you who it is after a few months since there''s some family problem on her side. So once I sort things out, you''ll be the first one to get the invitation to my marriage."


    "I''m so glad that you found someone. I''m so glad that you won''t die a virgin, Keith."


    [A/N: 4th priv tier set. Now I gotta write 5 more chapters for last tier. Anyways, my keyboard isn''t working properly so now I gotta write on phone. Pray for me pls.]

 Chapter 154 Happy Home Dealers

    Keith wanted to take a nap, but he knew that his sister would move the next day so he needed to find a new place to sleep and he had to do it as soon as possible. But before that, he had something else to do.He headed over to the church''s treasury and was greeted by a familiar face, a lose, wrinkly skinned guy who looked old, but wasn''t.


    "Hello, I''m here to get the salaries for my team. Two of us got a job change from detectives to Inquisitor and one of us got promoted from trainee inquisitor to inquisitor. Here''s the official salaries for us that was decided and stamped by archbishop Maria." he said and placed a paper on the counter.


    Storekeeper read the contents and nodded, "Job change, you''ll get five chrons each but nothing for promotion. Also, if you need anything else, don''t hesitate to tell me about it. We''ll take care of the costs of housing for you and your team, but the weekly rent shouldn''t exceed one zen per person."


    "Oh, that''s some good news. We''re searching for a place that we can use as both an office and living quarters so it should be useful." Keith said as he watched the store keeper walk towards a bronze box.


    He fished out some golden yellow notes that had the number "1" on them and once he counted to ten, he stopped and moved to another box before he began to count the silvery grey Zen notes.


    Once done, he brought them all to Keith and placed them on the counter, "Here you go. Ten chrons for the new inquisitors and forty six zen, which is the weekly salary for your team. Once you have the papers for your new place, make sure you bring it to me if you want to claim the benefits. Good luck."


    Keith smiled and took the money before he left the place. First, he roamed over the church and found the trio training in training grounds along with the knights.


    "Hey, we''re going to scout some places. Feel free to join me but if you''re not coming, don''t complain about not liking the place later on." he said and the three of them immediately left whatever they were doing and decided to tag along.


    Next, he headed over to Clara and Amelia''s living quarters and took Clara with him too.


    "So, to get things straight, let''s make up our minds about what we need. Three bedrooms is a necessary thing and we also need a large room that we can use as our office." Keith said as he looked at his teammates who were walking beside him.


    Laura nodded in response to his words, "Right, I''ll share a room with Clara while Caleb and Nolan can take one room. As the team leader, I guess you''ll get the master bedroom. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I''ve heard of some large houses that have big study rooms or workshops since most of the previous owners were rich hobbyists or business people who needed a large room to work in."


    Clara gave her a surprised look, "How did you learn so many things in such a short time? Like you arrived at this place recently."


    "I mean, I have a mouth to ask questions.. and I did pester quite a lot of people so yeah. Anyways, the housing aside, shouldn''t we all take responsibility for some of the chores? I don''t want to see one person getting pushed to do all the work." she said as she glanced at Caleb, giving him a worried look.


    Keith silently walked as he pushed his hands into his trench coat''s pockets and listened to their words.


    "I... I think it''ll be better for one person to take care of the chores right? It''ll cause less chaos that way."


    Before the discussion spiralled into an argument, Keith spoke, "We''ll do things differently. All we gotta do is hire a maid to keep the house clean, wash the dishes and to do the laundry. Though, when it comes to cooking, I''m hoping that some of you can cook."


    "I can cook." Clara said first while Laura and Caleb quipped in too.


    Keith turned to look at Nolan who smiled sheepishly, "Um... you see, when we were small, Laura was the one who learnt cooking on her own. She taught Caleb but refused to let me into the kitchen for some reason. Even though Caleb wasn''t really a good cook."


    Hearing this, Keith turned to look at Laura whose face went slightly pink but she kept a straight face, "I didn''t like Nolan back then. He was... a weirdo."


    He didn''t need to know more and simply looked ahead, "It''s fine. I can cook too so having one person who can''t cook is fine. We can just send him to do the chores for us instead. On top of that, we need a budget planner so that we don''t go around fighting based on who put in more money on food and whatnot."


    Nathan rubbed his chin and pondered loudly, "Hmm... so everyone has to donate a certain amount of money huh? How much and who''ll be in charge of this?"


    "Caleb. I think he''ll do a good job and as for the budget... I want us to eat well, so ten braks each per week. Though, most of the money will go towards fat tallow and meat." he said as he knew that most flours and grains were pretty cheap. Rice was pricier in Kazak empire as most people did not grow them.


    "Oh yeah." Keith said as he remembered about their salaries and took out the money before distributing everything.


    Ten Zen for Clara and Nolan along with Three Zen for Caleb and Laura while he kept twenty Zen for himself.


    He then continued to discuss about their office until he reached the place that had a board that said, "Happy Home Dealers! We will find you the perfect home for your needs."

 Chapter 155 The House Options

    Keith walked through the entrance, which was basically just a door similar to most houses. Inside, there was three rooms. One, a simple partition with a small space which looked like a kitchen and then the other small room which he could only assume was a toilet. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.The third room was large and spacious with three tables placed randomly in the room. All of the tables had multiple papers and thin books placed on them. Each table had one person sitting on one side and with two chairs opposite to them.


    Keith simply went to the nearest table and sat down on the chair in front of a well groomed man, "I''m looking for a new house. But before that, could you be kind enough to provide chairs for my friends here please?"


    "Oh, of course sir." he said as he twirled his mustache and looked at his coworkers who immediately grabbed the chairs in front of them.


    The other four sat down and the man smiled, "So, could you tell me what you''d like sir? We can help you with getting any kind of house in Auberg district as long as it exists."


    Keith told him about his requirements and while the guy was scouring though his materials, he added, "If it''s at the center of the district, then that''ll be better. Somewhere near the market."


    "Sure sir, sure." the guy said and continued scouring though the papers until he found the ones he needed. He placed them on the table and pushed them towards Keith for him to see.


    "These two are close to the market, but one of them is a relatively small house. It only has two bedrooms, but both of these rooms are pretty big. As for the other, it''s got five bedrooms and two of them are spacious. It doesn''t really have a specific study room since it used to be a top end brothel.


    It was recently renovated to look like a proper house but it was a business before. It does have a nice kitchen and each bedroom has it''s own bathroom and a toilet. The things I''ve talk about is only the first floor and when it comes to the second floor, it has two large rooms so you guys could use that as a study room if you''d like."


    To Keith, this felt like too much but as long as it was in his budget, he was fine with it.


    "How much?" he asked and the guy hummed as he referred to the paper, "Weekly, you''ll have to pay six Zen. I know it''s a lot, so may I ask what your weekly salaries are? This will give me an idea on what kind of properties will fit your budget."


    Before anyone could respond, Keith spoke up, "Three zen and we don''t plan on spending more than one Zen each. So a total budget of five zen but that''s stretching it. It''ll be better if the rent is lesser since we also plan on saving some money for our future."


    "Understood sir." the guy said and put the paper aside but Keith kept it in his mind. 6 zen wasn''t too much in his eyes and he was willing to put 1 zen on his own on top of the 5 zen that the church would pay for them.


    The salesman then pointed at the other two properties, "These two were built by the same man thirty years ago for his two kids and both of them are currently empty as his sons got trapped in a lot of debt. And just like the owner of the previous place I talked about, it happened two months ago.


    Thanks to this, they sold their property to the Kingdom, so the rent is also pretty low compared to the other properties and only costs three Zen per week. Both of them have three bedrooms, a decent sized living room and all the basic rooms. As for the study... it''s slightly bigger than normal and the whole house only has one bathroom and one toilet."


    "Alright, let''s go take a look shall we? Only when we see, will we be able to decide if it fits our needs or not." Laura said as she got up from her chair feeling bit too energetic and excited.


    Keith saw her grab Caleb''s shoulder before shaking him violently.


    The sales guy saw this and chuckled, "Looks like this young lady is really excited to take a look at the property directly."


    As they all walked out of the place, Keith leaned closer to Laura and whispered, "Why so excited?"


    "Well, this is the first time I''m actually going to, you know like... look at houses before buying. Until now, we stayed in small dorm rooms so yeah, I don''t like it but I''m excited." she said, blushing slightly as she rushed forward to join Nathan and Caleb.


    Clara inched closer to him as they walked and said, "Looks like they lived harsh lives."


    "....." Keith said nothing for a few seconds before nodding, "Yeah, life isn''t really fair but let''s not get into a debate about it."


    "Anyways, once we move in, I want you to write a letter saying that you''re breaking off the pact between you and Timothy. Then, you can get it stamped by the priest and once that''s done, I''ll give the letter to someone to deliver it to Timothy." he whispered quickly as he tagged behind the group with Clara beside him.


    Hearing this, she gave Keith a worried look, "The bags of silver and gold that you gave me... should we send that to him too?"


    "Nah, I''ll exchange all of it for money. The debt was eight hundred Chrons right?" he asked and Clara nodded silently, feeling slightly complicated at the sudden turn of events.


    She had never expected Keith to get things done so quickly and a part of her felt a sense of loss.


    ''I was kinda enjoying the days of breaking rules with Keith but now....'' she thought as she remembered the night she hooked up with Keith while she was technically engaged.


    ''Oh well, it doesn''t matter. I have a feeling that he''ll take me with him to break more rules in the future. All that matters is that I''m with someone I actually love!'' she screamed internally as she looped her arm around his and squeezed.

 Chapter 156 Keiths First Pocket Watch

    The group went ahead to check out the two different places and after long discussions, they finally settled with the one that had five bedrooms. The place was extremely spacious and although it was missing some furniture, Keith didn''t mind it as he could buy them later.As he walked back home, he saw the sky turning orange and looked at Clara, "I should buy a pocket watch. You know a good place where I can get one?"


    Nodding, Clara took Keith to a small shop that didn''t really look like a watch store from the outside. Instead, it had a board at the front that said, "Timmy The Tinkerer"


    It didn''t take a genius to know that there were multiple people with the same names. Keith walked in and saw that the shop was kinda messy. The counter was filled with weird looking metallic parts while the skinny guy behind it was bending a wire with his mouth.


    Though it looked messy, Keith strangely felt at home, reminding him of his childhood where he used to scatter the entire room with his lego pieces before he began building anything.


    "This place sells pocket watches for a very affordable price compared to the others. I got mine from here too and it''s lasted me three years already." she said and turned to look at the shopkeeper.


    "We''re here to buy a watch."


    The guy gave them an awkward smile before taking out three different watches from a drawer and placed them on the counter, "Here. I made them all myself and they''re all affordable. If you want ones that last longer, I do have ones that I made with polished stones."


    "What do you mean by longer?" Keith asked as he looked at the guy and saw him grab a strip of metal in his hands.


    He then pointed towards the strip, "You see this? When I roll this up...." he said as he rolled it and then let go, making the rolled metal unroll chaotically, "and let go, this happens. But inside the watch there are many things that can use this roll to make the watch work. I don''t know how all of it just... works, but that''s what my teacher told me."


    "Oh and," he muttered as he took two iron strips that were decently thick and gave it to Keith, "Here, rub them together."


    Keith did as he said and rubbed them, waiting for the guy to explain, which he did.


    "Do you feel it? it''s harder to push and pull them while they''re touching each other right? When I use polished stones like these, I replace some of of the inner metallic parts." he said and rubbed two large ruby stones together.


    "Rubbing them against each other isn''t that hard now, which means that the watch will last longer. Usually, you''ll have to turn the knob on the watch to keep it going and with metallic ones, it''s normally once a day. With the stone ones, it''s just slightly better and gives you three to four extra hours."


    Keith nodded, his inner thoughts filled with both curiosity and fascination.


    He had read and heard a few things about how watches in past times worked when there weren''t any batteries. Instead of electric energy, the clocks and watches worked by using mechanical energy. A very thin metallic sheet with high resistance would be rolled and this energy would be used to spin the gears. Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This had one drawback and that was the fact that the people would have to use a knob or a key to re roll the metallic sheet. This was the reason why old pocket watches had two turners.


    As for the rubbing action that the shopkeeper did, Keith could tell that it was basically just friction. After thinking for a while, he decided to buy one that was made of stones and he got two of them.


    One was for Clara and one for himself but as he walked out of the store, he made up his mind to integrate a clock into his system once he accumulates enough divine energy. He then went back home and saw Adam and Rebecca packing things up, getting ready to move out.


    It was mostly just clothes, utensils and other important things.


    Keith looked at them and asked, "You''re leaving the furniture behind?"


    "Yeah, they''re too much to carry and since we plan on moving to the capital, the journey will be long. Probably around four months since we''ll have to hire bullock carts for pulling all this weight. Maybe we should just take the boats instead." Adam mused, expressing his thoughts as he tossed a bunch of spoons into a pot.


    Keith nodded, "Yeah, get one that had enough space and make sure that you can get some kind of comfort. It''s fine if the cost is high since it''ll help you reach the capital faster. If things go right, you should be able to reach the capital in just a month."


    "Will Kris be alright? I mean, it''s going to be a long journey right?" Rebecca joined in as she looked at Keith.


    He chuckled as he gave her a thumbs up, "Of course. As long as you keep an eye on him and get one of the better boats that is. You know what, I wasn''t able to thank you guys for all the help you''ve given me until now, so let me pay for the trip." he said and immediately grabbed a Chron note before stuffing it into her hands.


    "No questions or I''ll burn this place down." he said, grinning playfully as he conjured a small flame that danced at the top of his index finger.


    Rebecca let out a sob as she chuckled before calling him an idiot.


    "Alright then, I guess I''ll enjoy some nice sleep for the last time in this house." he said as he walked to his room and locked the door.


    He plopped onto his bed and dived into his spatial dimension

 Chapter 157 I Hate This Bastard!

    Keith silently recorded the time as he watched everything in his spatial dimension go at double the speed. In the first month, he had managed to increase the time from sixty minutes to eighty.But now, that another month had passed, he had taken it from eighty to almost 110 minutes.


    He put aside his thoughts on mental energy and focused on the bees that had managed to repopulate into a full colony by now. In the past few months, he had also spent some mental energy on actively dispersing the seeds of the flowering plants.


    Due to this, in the corner where the honey comb lied, there was a thick layer of different colored flowers around them.


    He stared at the bees and let out a soft sigh, ''I wanted to experiment with mutations but I guess I can''t do that until I reach a certain level of mental energy capacity. Time is the most important resource when it comes to evolution.'' he thought.


    He then made sure that everything was going well without any problems and retracted his consciousness back. Instead of sleeping, he waited for a few minutes before raising his finger slightly. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    All he had to was give out a mental command and a small bullet appeared on top of his finger before it fell beside him.


    ''It works.'' he thought, but he was excited for something else. He opened up his status screen and looked at the awakened ability that he had gained from Adam.


    Ammo Summoning: Summon 9mm ammo and recover 50% of your mental energy through sex. Mental energy recovery can only be done once a day.


    "Oh well, things will change tomorrow." he thought and checked what Fabian and Vincent were doing at the moment before he went to bed.


    The next morning, he helped his sister with moving things to the carriage and took got his things ready so that he could move too. He headed over to Clara''s place and was invited in by Amelia as Clara was taking a bath at the moment.


    Once Keith sat on the bed, Amelia stood in front of him with a serious look on her face, "Hey Keith, I heard that the place you''re moving to, has a lot of bedrooms. Can you like... let me stay with you guys? I''ll kinda feel lonely here without Clara and I already miss her at work. Please? How much is the rent? I''ll pay."


    Keith nodded, understanding where she was coming from, but he smirked when he heard her talk about the rent.


    "Six Zen." he said before continuing, "The church contributes 5 zen for the rent and I take care of the rest, so if you wanna move in with us, you''ll have to pay rent too. Let''s see.... we can split the rent between us by half, so that''s ten braks."


    Amelia''s face went ashen when she heard the price. A few years ago, she wouldn''t have batted an eyelid. But now it was a different matter altogether as she barely earned slightly more than one zen a week.


    Seeing her stiff face, Keith chuckled, "Hehehehe I''m just joking. Go talk to the treasurer and ask him how much he''s willing to give you for housing purposes. Just put that in and we''re good but you''ll still have to donate 10 braks for groceries and food requirements.


    Rest assured, the meals will be lavish. I simply want my team to eat well, so if you want to join us, you''ll have to follow our rules. Oh yeah, on top of that, everyone decided to take one room each and there''s only five bedrooms, so you''ll have to convince someone to let you sleep with them."


    "I''ll talk to Clara about it. As for the money needed for food, I''ll pay that." she said as she didn''t need to worry about rent anymore. With the current set up, she could save more than half of her salary, which was a pretty good deal considering the fact that she''d be able to live in a large mansion.


    Keith shook his head, "Nah, Clara is gonna share a room with me. I''ll talk to her."


    "...." Amelia silently stared at Keith, frowning slightly as she felt kinda annoyed, "Then why did you tell me that I''d have to convince someone to let me sleep with them?"


    "Just messing with ya." he said and noticed her leg shooting towards his precious jewels. His body instinctively moved and he stopped her kick with his knee, letting out a shaky breath as he stared at her bare feet that looked like heavy hammers at this moment.


    He slowly looked up to see her staring at him with a complicated expression on her face, "Tch." she clicked her tongue before taking a few steps back.


    Seeing this, Keith sighed and went back to the topic as he remembered about Clara''s work.


    "Oh yeah, take Clara with you too. She needs to get a letter signed so that she can officially cancel the pact with Timothy. I''ll go get the money in a bit." he said and lied down on the bed, resting his head on the soft pillow.


    "I''ll take a nap until you guys get back."


    Amelia silently watched him cover himself with her blanket and let out a soft, inaudible sigh before leaving the room. She felt conflicted about her feelings about him.


    Sometimes, he made her feel like she was being played around with, like a toy. He called her a "Bro" a few times and she absolutely hated it even though she didn''t know why.


    ''Is he really going to treat me like a fucking brother? Doesn''t he even see me like a girl?'' she thought as she turned her head to glance at him, taking in his handsome features as she tried to hold back a tear.


    "Damn, I hate this bastard." she muttered under her breath and walked towards the kitchen, the frustration on her face apparent, but when she heard the sound of water splashing against hard tiles, the image of her and Keith''s bodies intertwined in the small confines of the bathroom popped up in her head.


    She felt strange and also felt a sense of longing, but she rushed over to the sink and splashed her face with cold water.

 Chapter 158 Vincent Reaches The Village

    Keith didn''t really sleep. S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.Instead, he silently watched the two people he placed a lot of importance on, getting ready to face each other.


    Fabian hadn''t listened to Keith''s words and instead, decided to fight Vincent as he could guess from the quest''s clues that the person who was coming for him, was Vincent himself.


    Vincent silently crept closer to the village and saw that the whole place was on an alert. Every single person was outside their small huts, walking around as if searching for something. or someone.


    He recognised all their faces and he was surprised to see that the whole village had unified to do just one job. He looked everywhere, but he was unable to spot Fabian, the one person whom he wanted to kill as soon as possible.


    ''The whole village seemed to have grouped up and... they''re actually doing things without having a sour face. There''s no way that''s possible unless the chief himself changed a lot and this is only possible if he also got a system. Just like I did...''


    Vincent felt weird. A sense of fear began to creep into him the more time he spent hiding in the bushes. He stared at the villagers, the ones who watched his father getting whipped in public, and heard his mother''s wails through his home''s walls while she was getting ravaged, only to whisper amongst each other.


    Only to call his mother a loose woman and his father a greet hat when they themselves were doing the same things.


    No, there was one difference. His parents were getting punished.


    His parents were getting punished while the others tried to appease their village chief even if they didn''t like it. The events of the time when he was tied up and forced to watch his parents getting torture resurfaced.


    Tears welled up in his eyes and he felt like something hard had gotten stuck in his throat, making it difficult to breathe. In just a few seconds, he began to hyperventilate.


    He crawled backwards as his whole body shook, his chest heaving up and down as he desperately breathed.


    Vincent didn''t like it. He didn''t want to go back to the village, but he knew that he couldn''t back out right now. Not when he had news that Fabian had also received a system.


    He leaned against a tree and took deep breaths, trying to calm down his wildly beating heart and as he did, he realised something important.


    ''It''s already been more than a month since I got the news, which means that he''s had enough time to get strong. I don''t know his limits and capabilities anymore... I don''t know if he knows whether I''m coming or not. My system was able to notice his system, so there''s a chance of the same thing happening in reverse right?


    What if his system has also managed to sense the system inside me? What if he knows everything and has prepared for my attack? Yeah, there''s no way the behaviour of these people can make sense if not for this possibility.


    My system has also not spoken to me since the previous quest and I also lost the option to upgrade my skills with money...''


    Vincent''s thoughts raced as his subconscious mind tried to keep him busy, doing it''s best to pull his attention away from the village.


    But there was a limit to how much his subconscious mind could influence him.


    He steeled his heart and took a deep breath, "I don''t care anymore... I shouldn''t care about this village anymore. I''ll...I''ll burn everything. My past, my fears, my pain.... and give my parents a proper cremation. It''s my responsibility to free their souls." he muttered, trying to use the sound, the words to push himself.


    But before he could even do a thing, he heard the sound of a twig snapping at his right and immediately turned around to see a body disappear behind the tree.


    He didn''t need high level intelligence to figure out what was going on. He knew that when he had crawled backwards thanks to his fears acting out, he had made quite a bit of sound. It wasn''t much, but enough for people to figure out the direction.


    Which was exactly what they did and Vincent knew that he was getting surrounded right at this moment.


    Without any hesitation, he raised his gloved hand up, his palm facing the sky as he created a huge ball of flame. It looked like a miniature sun, but for the people around him and also himself, all of whom didn''t know the concept of stars, only had one thing in mind.


    ''It is bigger than the sun.''


    People screamed and ran, praying for their lives while Vincent focused on his gloved hand. The cursed artifact amplified the heat of his flames and while it also had a side effect of burning his hands, he managed to negate it thanks to his SSS grade red hot fists.


    He continued to pump out more and more into the fire ball until it was half the size of the village and this time, he knew that he was reaching his limits. He stopped increasing it''s size and was about to scream out Fabian''s name when he saw him walk out of his house.


    "Like I guessed, you''re really here huh?" he said as he walked towards him fearlessly.


    Vincent could tell that there was something different about Fabian. He looked younger, the wrinkles on his face were nowhere to be seen and for some reason, Fabian looked slightly tanned unlike his usual fair skin tone.


    "I''ll... kill you, you damn bastard!" Vincent yelled, his face turning red from anger, but right at that moment, he saw a familiar face.


    It was a face that he hated more than Fabians. It was his son, the guy who took it upon himself to punish his mother.


    "Father, let me help you! I''ll ki- what in the god''s curse is that?!"


    Fabian''s face was tinged with worry as he saw Vincent''s face warp into a maniacal smile as he locked on to his new target.

 Chapter 159 Tch Tch, Poor People

    The large fireball flew straight towards Fabian''s son but thanks to it''s size, it managed to engulf both of them.Vincent watched as the large fireball shrunk in size, which only took a few seconds. He had used his powers extremely inefficiently, his actions fueled by rage, fear and desperation.


    The large ball of fire was exactly what it was, a mere ball of fire that was just big. It had no "fuel". His power was fire creation and control, which meant that unless he actively controlled the flames, the fire would follow the law of nature.


    Which was exactly what happened. Due to the lack of fuel or in other words, due to the lack of things to consume and spread, it began to shrink. In just a few seconds, most of the flames were gone.


    Though, these few seconds were more than enough.


    Vincent watched Fabian''s son scream, cry and run randomly before he fell to the ground and rolled, but it was far too late for the poor guy.


    Fabian on the other hand, stood silently as he watched his son burn to death while his own skin regenerated at a pace where Vincent was able to see the burnt skin fall off, the partially cooked flesh regain it''s fresh color before the skin grew back.


    At this moment, there was just one word echoing in Vincent''s mind.


    Run.


    And run he did.


    While Fabian stood in place, staring at his son''s dead body in shock and distress, he ran.


    Which this was the truth, Keith also had a hand in Fabian''s current state. Knowing that Vincent would be attacked, he decided to start the process of upgrading Fabian''s Skin Hardening to an other grade, from grade D to grade C.


    He intentionally slowed down the process, paralysing Fabian as he used his mental energy to help him with the upgrade.


    Vincent retreated using this chance and Keith kept Fabian locked in place for two whole minutes before he properly completed the upgrade and let him go.


    He silently watched as Fabian screamed, holding his son''s burnt head in his hands instead of running behind the person who caused this.


    ''His son deserved death for the things he did, but that aside, their enmity will be much deeper now. One avenging his parents while the other avenging his son... this will be fun.'' Keith thought as he closed the system screen.


    The fight ended way faster than what he had expected thanks to Vincent''s dumb move, but Keith didn''t really mind it too much. As long as they met once, he knew that he had the power to make them meet each other again and again.


    Such was his power as the system administrator.


    He dived into his spatial dimension and glanced at the few weapons and jewellery that he had looted from the Sanders'' family. The jewellery and weapons floated towards an empty corner opposite to the bee hive and Keith manifested physically.


    He looked at the jewellery and with a mental thought, he forced all the metals to one side and gems to the other. Inside this dimension, he knew that he could do anything and that was exactly what gave him the confidence. S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Flames shot out of his hands as the gems flew behind him and fell. Silver and gold separated to the left and right as they were slowly getting melted. It didn''t take too long and Keith managed to get everything melted pretty quickly before shaping them into bricks.


    Luckily, he had a few weighing scales lying around as they too were taken from the Sanders'' businesses. He put a one kilogram weight on the scale and began to measure the weight of his bricks.


    He then either shaved off some metal or added some based on the weight and once he was done, he put them all in one place.


    ''It''ll be easier to trade these bricks instead of jewellery. Anyways, time to do something else...'' he thought as he looked a the weapons he had. Machetes, swords, axes, spears, daggers, arrows and many other things were in the pile.


    Keith simply grabbed a few machetes, and burnt the handle off before melting the metal blades. Once he was done, he began to shape this metal into the shapes he wanted. Multiple small parts were formed and Keith excitedly linked all the parts together.


    "It''s done..." he muttered as he looked at the pistol in his hands, or one could say that it was something that simply looked like one.


    The pistol was a prototype and did not have any magazine loading mechanism. Instead, it used a mechanism similar to an old shotgun..


    Keith grabbed the barren and pulled it down, exposing the one hole at the back before he pushed a bullet inside it. He then put the barrel back in place before aiming at the sky and then, he pulled the trigger.


    A loud bang resounded and Keith felt a stinging pain in his arm. He looked up and saw smoke slowly flow out of the barrel, but his thumb was hanging just barely thanks to his skin keeping it connected.


    He immediately reduced his sensitivity to pain and put his thumb back in place as he watched the flesh and bone slowly meld together, coming back to normal before the skin also recovered.


    ''Good as new.'' he thought and then inspected the gun, only to see the shell and the bullet, both stuck inside the barrel.


    This observation was enough for him to know that he needed something he did not have yet, and that was experience, tools and knowledge.


    ''Gotta meet Alvlin... oh yeah I promised to give him some money too, didn''t I?'' he thought as he turned to look at the pile of gold and silver bricks.


    The Jewellery he managed to get from Timothy''s businesses, had only managed to give him 2 gold bricks along with a few hundred extra grams, and 14 silver bricks that also had some extras.


    ''Lady Grace''s mansion gave me a lot more compared to these guys... even though Vincent robbed more than ten stores. Tch tch, poor people.''

 Chapter 160 War Gods Inheritance; Unlocked

    Vincent scurried over to Bromburge town and immediately hired a boat that could take him anywhere far away from this place.As he sat on the boat, the image of Fabian''s flesh and skin growing, squirming and recovering back to normal replayed itself in his mind. Vincent just felt fear and the rage was nowhere to be seen anymore.


    He simply wanted to run away, but there was also a part of him that had subconsciously made Fabian''s death it''s entire goal. He opened up his system screen and looked at the red hot fists as he clenched his jaw.


    Originally, he simply went for something that he thought was the most optimal option, but now that his priorities changed, he wanted something different. He wanted pure attack power.


    ''Hey system, please talk to me... or even the administrator... please let me pick my skills again, please.''


    Keith saw this and let out a sigh before depleting some of his divine energy to make the changes required. Helping with upgrades didn''t cost any divine energy, but when it came to making direct changes to the system, then it did.


    Upgrades only needed mental energy, which Keith didn''t have any shortage of. Vincent was his only red system user and he simply did not wish to lose him. And since this was an important turning point, Keith decided to help the guy.


    Immediately, the contents on Vincent''s system screen changed. The change wasn''t much, but Vincent couldn''t help but let out a sigh of relief.


    [Host''s current stats:]


    Physique: Grade B


    Genetic Physique Type: Endurance


    Awakening Status: Awakened


    [Battle God''s Body]


    Battle Instinct: Grade SSS


    The more you fight, the more you learn from the fight. This knowledge will be permanent and cannot be erased under normal circumstances.


    Battle God''s Regeneration: Grade SSS


    Improves stamina recovery and boosts the rate of regeneration of wounds.


    3) Locked


    [Unarmed Combat Arts]


    Fists of Steel -> Flaming Fists


    Fists of Steel: Grade SSS


    Increases the hardness of your arms from the fingers to the elbows, directly improving their defence and offence.


    Flaming Fists: Grade SSS


    Creates a layer of flames around your arms, causing burns to the anything that they touch. The heat of the flames increase with skill grade.


    Skill Unlocks Remaining: 1


    Skill list:


    1. Awakened Ability Boost


    2. Sword Arts


    3. Spear Arts


    4. Staff Arts


    5. Shield Arts


    6. Knife Arts


    7. Archery Mastery


    8. Throw Mastery


    9. War God''s Inheritance


    Vincent silently looked at the one small change, which was the switch from red hot fists to Flaming fists. He nodded to himself and looked at the skill list where he could pick one to unlock.


    ''I can learn weapon stuff and throws from others, so the one''s that are most important right now are the awakened ability boost and war god''s inheritance... but which one is better?'' he thought as he stared at the screen.


    Keith silently waited, hoping that Vincent would pick the awakened ability boost. On one end, he didn''t want to influence Vincent''s decision making when it came to himself, but he also hoped that the kid would pick the one that''d benefit both Keith and Vincent.


    Unfortunately for him, Vincent decided to go for War God''s Inheritance instead.


    The moment he picked it, Keith felt his mental energy drain, but for some reason, even his divine energy was getting sucked out of him at an incredible pace. Suddenly, he also felt a sudden influx of divine energy filling his body.


    Along with that, he heard a soft voice in his head.


    "I won''t help you if you mess up again. Lock the things that''ll take too much divine energy, idiot. You should have know about it right? The moment you won this red system through the gacha." sea??h th§× n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Keith coughed slightly, feeling embarrassed, ''I forgot...''


    He didn''t get any reply, but he felt a strange sense of disappointment envelop his body.


    Shaking his head, he went back to looking at his system screen.


    Vincent silently sat on the boat as he stared at the horizontal system screen in front of him that had a bunch of items displayed on it.


    Body suit, plate armor, spear, halberd, pike, bows, arrows, swords, sabers and many more.


    But the thing that Keith did not expect, was that all of these were blessed artifacts. He had indeed gotten information that the user would receive the weapons and various other things that belonged to the "War God", but he never knew that they would all be blessed weapons.


    Though Vincent could see all the items, the "locked" tag under each one of them depressed him. Luckily, he got a system notification pop up in front of him.


    [Congratulations on receiving a free item unlock. Time limit left to claim: 5 seconds]


    Vincent panicked when he saw the timer and immediately picked the first thing that was in front of him, which was a simple looking sword. The moment he did, a small screen appeared in front of him with multiple grids.


    A small sword was shown on the top left corner and before he could try anything, a new system message appeared.


    [Anytime you wish to bring the sword out, just tell the system mentally.]


    Vincent saw the message and nodded as he glanced at the man who was rowing the boat. This wasn''t the right place to make things pop out in front of him like magic, not when he was trying to run away from Fabian. He did not want to leave any clues behind.


    Keith on the other hand, had dived into his spatial dimension and was standing in front of the sword. The so called "inventory" that Keith told Vincent about, was just bogus. Instead of an inventory, he had made it so that the sword stayed in his spatial dimension instead.


    He grabbed and sword and swung it around, only to realise that it was not doing anything that it''s description told about it''s capabilities.


    ''Looks like only Vincent can use these...'' he thought before smiling, "Welp, doesn''t matter. I can copy the same after a month."

 Chapter 161 The Desire For Pistols

    Keith walked out of the house along with Amelia and Clara, but they separated as they had different places to go to. The two girls went to the church while Keith headed over to the nearest bank. On the way, he slid into an alleyway and put on his skull mask before continuing his walk.He walked inside the bank that was as small as he remembered, but to his dismay, the staff saw all the gold that he had and dismissed him immediately.


    "Sorry sir, but we do no have enough money to exchange for that."


    Keith let out a sigh and nodded before he took out one of his 14 briefcases filled with moros. He originally had 14 briefcases, with each one having 10,000 moros.


    He had given one briefcase to Vincent along with 4 stacks, each containing 4000 moros but when Vincent used most of his money to upgrade his skills, Keith got back most of the money.


    He opened the briefcase and showed it tot he staff in front of him, "Ten thousand moros. Can you exchange them? Also, tell me how much money you have in your storage room so that I can know how much I can trade."


    The staff sat on his chair, shocked and bewildered as he recalled the instance when the briefcase appeared out of thin air. This made him realise that he was dealing with an awakened and immediately decided to act more respectful.


    "Of course sir, we always have a stock of two thousand Chrons in our storage. Most of it is in zens and Braks, so I hope you don''t mind that."


    Keith nodded but he didn''t really want money in zens and braks. He wanted to do high level transactions in the future and using zens didn''t feel right.


    "How many chrons do you have?" he asked directly and the employee gulped down his saliva as he tried to recall the numbers. Usually, no one asked such questions as no one cares about chrons. Getting loans wasn''t easy in Kazak empire, especially through the banks.


    The other guy in the bank raised his hand high up like a student in school, "Sir, let me tell you. We have two hundred chrons just in case someone important comes here and needs money urgently. We can give you that."


    Hearing this, Keith nodded and did the calculations in his head.


    ''One Zen is two Moros and one Chron is fifty zen. So one Chron is a hundred Moros. Two hundred multiplied by a hundred...''


    "Okay, so I can exchange them for 20,000 moros then?" Keith asked and the guy nodded, "Yes sir, but you''ll also be charged a transaction fee of one zen or two moros."


    Keith shrugged and emptied the contents of the briefcase onto the counter before bringing out another briefcase. Once he put 20,000 notes on the counter, he took out two extra notes and gave it to the staff, "Here, the transaction fee."


    "Please give me a minute sir. I''ll have to count all of this...." he said, looking at the money on the counter with an awkward expression on his face.


    Keith''s eyelids twitched in annoyance. Count 20,000 notes? that would take almost an hour.


    He clicked his tongue and shook his head, "Tch, get the money ready and just give me fifty chrons first. I''ll come back for the other 150 later. Keep in mind, if you try to scam me, I''ll make sure that you''ll face the consequences."


    "Of course sir. We will do everything honestly. Based on the volume of all the money, I can confirm that the value is more than 50 chrons, so let me go and bring you the money sir." the second employee said and headed over to the backroom.


    Keith silently watched the guy in front of him count the notes before putting them on his left, on the table. He didn''t have to wait too long as the second guy brought his sixty chrons two minutes later.


    With the money in his hand, Keith left the place and headed over to Alvlin''s house as he took off his mask on the way.


    Like the first time, there were sounds coming from the workshop, which meant that Alvlin''s house was currently empty. Keith walked over and knocked on the door.


    "Alvlin, open the door. I''ve brought you the money!"


    "Coming, please wait."


    And wait he did. The sound of metal hitting metal sounded for two whole minutes before the sound of footsteps got close.


    Alvlin opened the door and saw Keith standing with a thin stack of golden yellow notes.


    "You actually brought the money... okay, so you said that you had some ideas and other things so do you wish to talk about them right now?"


    Keith nodded as he walked in, "Yeah, if you''re free. I do have an idea, but I don''t really have the skills to bring my ideas to life. I''ll focus on learning for now while I share my ideas with you." he said and handed over the money to Alvlin, who put it inside a drawer in one of his tables.


    Keith grabbed some papers from the drawer along with a fountain pen before he began to draw. He wasn''t too used to fountain pens, so after multiple failed attempts at and torn papers thanks to applying too much pressure, he placed the pen aside.


    Instead, he grabbed some small pieces of charcoal and used them. His drawings weren''t great, but they did the job of helping him explain the image in his mind.


    One by one, he drew the parts while he tried to explain the complex mechanism to Alvlin. Springs, the trigger, the magazine, the slider, and everything that he could remember about. Keith did his best to explain how a pistol worked, but since he didn''t have the 100% knowledge, it was hard for him to explain everything.


    Alvlin on the other hand, silently nodded as he listen to all of Keith''s words and finally chuckled once he was done speaking.


    "Huhuhuhu, you''re thinking of something so complicated... why not just use the regular revolver and just make the storage cylinder removable instead?"


    [A/N: As cool as it is to have pistols, I feel like it''ll take me around one to two chapters to explain how a pistol properly works. Just in case some of you don''t know how, but I feel like you wouldn''t care either so in the future, if a pistol is getting introduced, then I''ll keep the explanation minimal and not so detailed. Please don''t hesitate to give me your opinions.]


    S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 162 Making Things Official

    Keith spent two whole hours with Alvlin as he discussed about a revolver with a swap-able cylinder before ditching the entire idea. It was cool, but very impractical since trying to make the cylinder swap-able introduced a lot of issues.And these issues were things that Keith did not want to deal with at the moment.


    Instead, he gave Alvlin the revolver that Amelia had gifted him and pointed at the hammer, "I want you to use this hammer on your new gun. It has to be a double action revolver and it has to be a powerful one that uses the hunter''s bullets. Feel free to use this gun as a base if you want."


    Alvlin picked up the gun and inspected it before nodding, "Just the hammer then. I''ll make a new weapon instead of using this one. Any other requirements?"


    "Nope, I just want power and uh, try to do the grooving inside the barrel. The theory that I just told you a few minutes ago? About how we can make the bullets spin and what not."


    "Sure, come back here in... four days."


    Keith then left the workshop and went back to Clara''s house where he saw his entire team lazing around. Experience tales with empire


    "Looks like all of you are ready." he said as he looked at them before smiling.


    Caleb nodded and got up from the chair, "Yeah, let''s go!"


    Everyone in the room got up and so did Amelia. The trio looked at her questioningly and seeing this, Keith chuckled before explaining to them.


    "She''ll be living with us and she''ll pay the ten braks that''s needed for groceries. Don''t worry too much about it guys."


    Laura looked at her two childhood friends and then at Keith before nodding. She knew that she had no right to object, not when she wasn''t really paying any rent. Amelia had also agreed to pay for groceries, so she wasn''t getting any special treatment.


    Nathan also nodded, "Yeah, it''ll be fun with more people."


    The furniture and most of the things in the house belonged to the church, so they didn''t have too much to move. Though, Amelia had four large bags filled to the brim with neatly folded clothes and on top of that, she also had two boxes of jewellery.


    Keith looked at it and then glanced at the one bag that belonged to Clara. He felt a strange sense of relief, but he still turned to look at Amelia, trying to taunt her.


    "Are these all, or do you have a few more bags filled with shoes?"


    "Oh yeah!" Amelia exclaimed, not taking his taunt as a taunt and instead thanked him, "I almost forgot. There''s a bag in my room and it''s got my footwear." she said, smiling proudly.


    Keith''s lips twitched, but he shook his head and grabbed one of the bags before carrying it over his shoulder. Clara carried her own while the trio helped Amelia since they didn''t really have anything they owned.


    Most of their things, including clothes, were left in Baroma Kingdom.


    Keith had to hire four rickshaws to get to the place as he felt too lazy to walk.


    ''I''m contributing to the economy and helping poor people by using their services.'' he told himself instead of blaming his own laziness.


    Once they reached their new house, all of them rushed inside and Keith threw Amelia''s bag at her with full strength. It hit her accurately and pushed her to the ground. sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Dammit!! What did I even do to you!?" she screamed below the bag, making Keith feel like he really had done it without any reason.


    He frowned as he watched her push the bag away and contemplated the reasons for his actions, only to realise that he had no reason.


    ''Wow, I''m turning into an asshole...'' he thought as he walked over to her and sighed, "I''m sorry. I just... I don''t know why I did that."


    Amelia glanced up at him, her breath hitching as her eyes lingered on the curve of his neck, the sharp line of his jaw, before finally meeting his gaze. In his eyes, she saw guilt and regret, raw and vulnerable, stirring emotions she never expected.


    He had literally hit her with a bag filled with clothes, carelessly, thoughtlessly, for no apparent reason.


    Yet, in this moment, all she wanted was to close the distance, to wrap her arms around him and whisper that it was okay, that she forgave him. Not because he deserved it, but because her heart couldn''t do otherwise.


    Keith too, saw the sudden change in her expression and felt worried. He immediately took out his system screen to see what was going on in her mind and the only thing there was that she wanted to hug him.


    Though she wanted to, she held herself back and clicked her tongue.


    "Tch, annoying bastard. I hate you."


    Keith, not knowing what to do, sighed and took a few steps back. On one end, he did not want to get too much on her good side, but on the other end, he also did not want to antagonise her too much.


    "Meh." he said and looked at the others, "Clara and I will take the master bedroom." he said and heard them gasp.


    Laura excitedly looked at Caleb, "See?! I told you that there was something going on between these two!" she said and shifted her attention to Keith, "So, is it official yet? Though, I wanted to ask... is dating between co-workers allowed? Our previous boss prohibited it since it''ll cause problems with the job."


    Keith let out a soft sigh. He knew that it was a bad thing, to date a co-worker. He didn''t really want his teammates to start dating, but since he himself was in a relationship, he knew that prohibiting it would not be a good example.


    He shook his head, "Feel free to date, but when you''re working, I want you to focus completely on the job."


    Hearing this, Nathan immediately got on his knees and looked at Amelia, "Lady, would you like to-"


    "No."

 Chapter 163 Knowledge of Growing Mushrooms

    Turns out, Nathan was just messing around. Or at least, that''s what he claimed.Keith could tell that he was slightly hurt, but his feelings weren''t deep enough for the rejection to hit him too hard.


    "Welp, all of you can consider today as a holiday but we''ll start our work from tomorrow onwards. If anyone is interested in knowing something early on, feel free to come to my room before evening." he said and headed over to toss his things into one of the bedrooms.


    Two bedrooms were slightly bigger than the other three, but there were no "master bedrooms". This was because, even the smaller bedrooms were larger than a traditional master bedroom.


    Keith did not forget that this placed used to be a brothel before. After tossing his things inside, he decided to simply take a walk.


    The place had a lot of base area, with a 4 meter wide corridor that went straight from the entrance to the other and of the house. On the right, were multiple bedrooms and on the left of the corridor was a large hall.


    This large hall was used as a living room plus kitchen. There were four large couches that looked incredibly luxurious and there was also a place for playing darts. The kitchen area was very spacious, but it had a regular firewood stove. S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Keith did not like this, so he decided to change it in the future.


    The living room and kitchen had doors, but there was an open entrance for people to walk in. Keith then walked to the other end of the corridor that was opposite to the door and climbed up the stairs to get to the second floor.


    This place only had two rooms and each of them had sliding doors, which was very uncommon in Kazak empire. But Keith didn''t care about the type of door and simply went ahead to take a look.


    Both rooms were empty and Keith knew that one of these rooms would be converted into their main work office. As for the other room, even Keith did not know what to do with it.


    Once he was done taking a look at all the rooms, Keith left the place. He wanted to find a carpenter who could craft him one large table and three smaller ones along with a bunch of chairs.


    He knew of a few places and as he walked along the streets, his eyes fell on the basket filled with mushrooms. At this moment, he felt like an absolute idiot.


    ''I should have tried to grow mushrooms in my dimension... damn, I wasted so much of my precious time. But it''s fine, we learn with time.'' he thought and kept the mushroom seller in mind as he continued walking.


    It didn''t take him too long to hire a carpenter and once he gave the group some directions to his house, they were off to get the work done. Keith on the other hand went to look for the mushroom seller.


    "Excuse me, how do you grow these mushrooms?" he asked as he looked at the thin girl who barely came up to his chest level.


    She looked up at him and blinked a few times before stuttering, "Um, mother plucks them from the forest... but my grandma knows how to grow them."


    Keith nodded and gave her a Zen note, "Take me to your grandma and this note is yours. I''ll help you carry this basket." he said and put it on his shoulder as he looked down at her, waiting for her to guide him.


    "Okay mister..." she said and stuffed the money in her pocket before she began to walk.


    Keith silently followed her until they reached the outskirts of Auberg district, a place that was literally making contact with the forest around the district.


    There were a few huts and the girl walked over to one of them before calling out for her grand mother. Keith looked at the multiple tree logs lying on the ground, slightly wet but also having a thin but large cloth tied between a few vertical sticks to keep the logs protected from direct sunlight.


    He then saw a short granny walk out of the hut with a hunch back. She looked at her grand child and then at Keith before frowning, "What do you want, young man? We don''t want trouble."


    "G-grandma, big brother gave me money to bring him here. He said he wanted to learn about mushrooms from you. How to grow them..." she said as she ran over to the old woman and gave her the money.


    Find more chapters on empire


    The grandma looked at the one Zen note and then glanced at Keith before giving him a curt nod, "Thank you for your generosity." she said and sat down directly on the ground.


    "Come on, sit down. If you want to learn how to grow mushrooms, it''ll take me a few hours to tell you everything I know." she said and slid her hand into her blouse before pulling out a small piece of folded paper.


    Keith looked at it and sat down, not caring about dirtying his pants as knowledge was more important to him at the moment. He could wash his clothes later.


    Hours quickly passed and just like the old woman had said, it did indeed take her a long time to pass on all the knowledge she had. Keith happily thanked her and took out ten Zen notes before giving it to her.


    She tried to give the money back to him, saying that the 1 zen that he gave earlier was more than enough, but Keith simply ran away.


    "I''ll come back with my mushrooms later grandma!" he yelled as his silhouette shrank the further he ran.


    The granny shook her head and smiled before looking at the money in her hand. It was something she never expected to get, but it also made her extremely happy.


    "Little Mii, let''s go buy some pork for dinner." she said and placed her hand on the girls head, "Let''s surprise your mother before she get''s back home."

 Chapter 164 Clara Wants to Talk Personally

    By the time Keith got back home, it was already evening. Caleb, who was sitting on the stairs, saw Keith return and immediately stood up."Captain, you said that we should ask you if we have any questions but you disappeared. Anyways, the carpenters said that they''ll need four to six days to get the tables ready." he said as he walked over to Keith who was taking off his shoes.


    Keith nodded "Yeah, that''s expected. Anyways, I didn''t really think that you guys would have questions so I went out to get a few things done. Ask up now since I''m here."


    "About the empty room in second floor, I talked to the others and all of us felt like it could be a good place for physical training. Did you have other plans for that room?"


    "Hmm..." Keith hummed and thought for a bit before shaking his head, "Using it as a room for physical training isn''t a bad idea, but based on my future plans... I think we''ll need to use it as a prison instead. Or maybe... ugh, honestly even I''m not sure. Let''s wait for a few days and then make a decision."


    Caleb nodded and asked another question.


    "Um.. Laura said that it''ll be better to share rooms for building camaraderie. This way, we''ll have extra rooms to spare and we can use these rooms as prisons instead. We just need to get someone to build us some strong cages."


    Keith waved his hand dismissively, "Sure sure, we''ll talk about this tomorrow. Is the dinner ready?" he asked as he walked into the living room and glanced at the empty kitchen. S~ea??h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "No... detective Amelia said that we can eat outside tonight, to celebrate this auspicious day since we moved in just now."


    Hearing this, Keith silently sighed and shook his head, "Eating is fine, but none of you guys are allowed to drink. She can just go to her office and laze around, but you guys will be on active duty. Anyways, where are the others?"


    "Upstairs. Lady Clara is in her bedroom with Amelia, but the other two are upstairs since they wanted to watch the carpenters work."


    Keith nodded and walked over to the door that was the farthest from the main entrance. This room was also the closest to the stairs.


    He pushed the door open and saw Amelia crying in Clara''s embrace. Feeling like this was the worst time to walk in, he immediately closed the door and looked at Caleb who was climbing up the stairs, oblivious to what Keith had just seen.


    With a sigh, he headed over to the living room and sat down before he took in the atmosphere. The room was turning dark thanks to the setting sun.


    There were multiple oil lamps hung up on the walls and there were also some metallic hooks at one corner just in case anyone wanted to hand up a lamp in the middle of the room.


    Keith looked up at the ceiling and saw multiple U shaped wood pieces, which he could guess the purpose of.


    ''Welp, there is no oil in those lamps so it''s pointless right now.'' he thought, but he still went ahead and grabbed five of the hooks. Each rod had two hooks, one of each end and Keith hung them all up using one hook.


    And then hung up the oil lamps on the other end of the rod. Once done, he walked out and knocked on his room''s door, "Hey, it''s getting dark. Let''s go get some dinner first." he said and then walked upstairs to call the others.


    By the time he walked back down with the trio, Amelia and Clara were ready to go. He also saw that there were no tear marks or any other sign of distress on Amelia''s face.


    The dinner was simple, with just some bread, meat stew and a nice cup of sweet tea. To his surprise, Amelia did not buy any alcohol and nor did she complain. Instead she silently ate just like everyone else.


    Keith grabbed his leather pouch and took out two medium sized bronze coins that had the number "5" on them. He placed them on the table and pushed them towards Caleb, "Here''s my weekly quota."


    Seeing this, everyone else followed and gave Caleb the money for food and groceries.


    Keith went back to eating and brought up the topic that Caleb had talked to him about.


    "So, I heard that you guys wanted to share rooms. I just want to know the reason for this thought." he said as he wondered why they would say no to personal privacy.


    "Well, you said that we an get into a romantic relationship with our teammates, so having different rooms will make things difficult. You just happily took Clara away by using Amelia as an excuse but what about me?" Laura said and pointed at Caleb, "I want him in my room and we talked about it already."


    Keith glanced at Caleb to see his face go bright red. He smiled slightly and nodded, "Sure, as long as you keep work and private life separate. I originally wanted to get you guys teamed up, but now I''ve changed my mind." he said as he turned to look at Nathan.


    "Nathan, you''ll work with Laura and Caleb, you''ll be coming with me. Oh and Clara, you''ll be working with Nathan too. It''s not fair if I split them up while.. you know..."


    "It''s fine, I understand." Clara said as she smiled gently, "You''re just worried that we''ll act based on our emotions instead of using our brains. Even you''re not confident in controlling yourself, are you?" Discover stories with empire


    "You''re right." Keith nodded before looking at his teammates, "When you have someone you care deeply about in your team while doing a dangerous business, you''ll be more occupied with their safety instead of focusing on the mission. Especially when one of them is weak, like me and Caleb."


    The group continued to talk and debate until they were done eating, but just as they were about to leave, Clara grabbed Keith''s hand sleeve.


    "I have something to talk to you about." she said and then smiled at the others, "We''ll join you soon."

 Chapter 165 Norns Tarot Reading

    [A/N: This chapter will be longer than usual since I''m a bit too busy today and wanted to finish the tarot reading scene in one chapter. GT crossed 10 yesterday so look forward to an extra chapter. I''m taking things slow for a while so it''ll probably come out in the next 3 to 4 days.]A little more than four months ago.


    Norn got off his mule carriage and looked around before heading over to an inn. His goal was clear, and that was to kill the man who was responsible for his sister''s disappearance.


    As he walked towards an inn that was nearby, he saw an old man waving at him. He squinted his eyes and looked at the man who was standing in front of a very shabby tent. The first thing he wanted to do was to ignore him and simply walk away, but he felt something tug him toward the man.


    In just a second, the thought of ignoring the old man had completely disappeared from his mind. He stood a few meters away from him and asked, "Do you need something?"


    "No, my child. It''s you who needs my help." the old man said, his eyes twinkling as he smiled, "I see a mysterious red fog behind you. It smells like blood and... it looks like a shadow. If you come inside, I''ll read your tarots for free."


    Norn clenched his fist as he looked at the old man, wanting to punch him in the face for trying to waste his time, but a part of him wanted to know. It wanted a form of hope, and also answers.


    "Okay." he said and followed the old man into the tent. There wasn''t much inside, just a small table, three chairs and an oil lamp.


    The fortune teller old man took out a deck of tarot cards and shuffled them before spreading them neatly on the table.


    "Please pick three of them."


    Norn nodded and lifted his hand up. He slowly pushed his finger onto one of the cards and dragged it out of the neat pile before doing the same with the second card and the third.


    He then looked up at the old man in front of him, waiting for instructions but he got none.


    Instead, the fortune teller placed his hand on the first card and flipped it before nodding silently.


    "Hmm... the reversed lover as your past. It means that you were in a relationship or bond that isn''t healthy, mutual or in other words, a forced relationship. It also means that you experienced separation, or lost from someone close to you." he said as he stared at the card and then slowly raised his gaze to meet Norn''s eyes.


    Norn shifted uncomfortably, ''Sister... no, this could just be a fluke.''


    "Continue." he said as he frowned, feeling both excited and anxious.


    "Sure sure." the old man said as he flipped the second card, "The tower as your present huh?"


    Norn silently waited for him to continue, but the man slightly frowned instead of speaking. Just as Norn was about to ask what was wrong, he apologised.


    "Oh sorry about that, I got lost in my thoughts. Okay, so where were we? Oh yeah, the tower... it represents destruction, and chaos. Right now, it probably feels like everything you know is crumbling. Something drastic may have happened recently or is about to."


    Hearing this, Norn couldn''t help but clench his jaw. He had lost his sister and it indeed felt like everything was crumbling. The rage in his heart did feel chaotic and unquenchable. He didn''t say anything and nodded as he pushed the last card towards the old man.


    With a slight smile, he took the card and flipped it before nodding, "Okay, so future is the moon. It symbolises uncertainty, secrets and the unknown. Whatever you plan on doing or you might do in the future, the there really is no answer to how things will end. It''s a mix of both good and bad, which means anything can happen."


    As he said this, the old man looked up, his gaze landing on the empty space behind Norn as he frowned, "... I''ve never seen a case like yours. Maybe I should help you out a little and of course, for free." he said as he fished around in his pockets trying to find something.


    "Found it!" he said as he took out a small piece of wood. It was rectangular and was around one centimeter thick, with a simple human carved into the wood''s surface.


    It was basically a stickman, but with thicker sticks. He then glanced at Norn as he pushed the wooden piece towards him, "Here, pluck some of your hairs and put them into the space where the man is carved in." he said before looking around.


    Norn didn''t want to do it, but he felt a strange push mentally. Looking slightly dazed, he plucked a few strands of his hair and put them onto the wooden piece. S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The old man on the other hand, took out a beeswax candle and melted it before letting it drip into the hair. Once he managed to cover all the hair strands, he stopped and gave Norn a small knife.


    "Blood next. Just a few drops are fine." he said, his voice calm and hypnotic. He watched Norn nod silently as he grabbed the knife and did as he was told.


    Droplets of blood fell onto the wax and it didn''t stop until the carved human indent was completely filled up.


    "Okay that''s enough." the old man said before taking the knife from Norn''s hand and used it to pierce his own thumb. He then pressed it against Norn''s forehead before pulling back, "Use the blood that''s still dripping and press it against the place I just pressed."


    Nord immediately did as he was told and the old man smiled, "Good, now think about the goal. The one thing you wish to do at the moment."


    ''My sister... I want to get her back. But if I can''t do that, I''ll kill the person who made this happen... I''ll kill the leader of the gang no matter what!''


    His rage boiled and so did his fears.


    The old man grinned as he saw the liquid on the wooden piece solidify, transforming into a jelly like substance.


    "Great, now pick the cards again young man." he said as he shuffled all the card and placed them on the table, looking hopeful.


    Lovers, tower and the world.


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    This was the set that Norn picked up this time. The old man nodded and smiled, "The world, this means that everything will end once you''ve achieved your goal. It''s a good sign... and you may leave now."


    Norn silently stared at the three cards in front of him and nodded. Once he left, the old man smiled as he grabbed all of his cards and stuffed them into his pocket.


    He turned around and looked at his shadow which grinned at him before waving it''s hands.


    ''To think that there''s someone out there who can send weird creatures to follow behind others... this is interesting. Maybe I''ll watch and see if I can play around a little.'' he thought as he walked out of his tent and kept his eye on the red mist that was behind Norn.


    He then glanced at his shadow and pointed at Norn, ''Follow him. If this kid dies, then the person towards whom his anger is directed towards, will also die. My lovely art of soul bind is just amazing.''


    As the shadow slithered towards Norn, the old man''s appearance changed almost immediately, making him look like a young teenage girl.


    **********


    In a dark underground room, there were four men who were sitting in front of a table. They stared at the crude plan that their leader had written on the paper, a plan to expand their slave trading business.


    "Tch, why do we even need all this damn businesses brother? Can''t we just loot the entire place? We''re gangsters, not businessmen! We should be spreading our name, making people fear us... but just look at this garbage!" a white haired guy said as he stabbed a knife on the table.


    Another man who looked similar, spoke, "You wouldn''t understand so just shut up. The only reason you''re here is because you''re my brother, you dumb shit. These two here are stronger than you and they also know how to use their brains. Ptui!" he said and spit on his brother''s face, as he scowled.


    The other two snickered and were just about to make fun of him, but to their surprise, the leader began to cough.


    "Kuk... keok!"


    Dark red liquid splattered onto the paper as he struggled to breathe and then a hole appeared on his neck, which began to spurt blood like a fountain.


    The leader''s brother watched this and the shock on his face suddenly turned into a grin. He ran his fingers through his hair, soaking them with blood, ''Heh, you played things safe and someone targeted you. I''ve always been right brother. Always.''

 Chapter 166 Otto And The Shadows

    [Warning: There will be some deep depiction of gore in this chapter. Basically human body''s insides.]As these thoughts appeared in his mind, he turned to look at the other two. One of them had a calculative look on his face while the other was shouting the leader''s name as he watched life leave the leader''s body.


    "Kek, look at this bastard!" he screamed as he pulled out the knife in his pant and immediately stabbed it through the guy who had a calculating look on his face.


    "O-Otto!! Why?!" the last guy cried out as he looked at the two men bleeding in front of him while the leader''s bother was grinning from ear to ear.


    "Why you say? Because it''s time for me to take over, you dumb mutt!" he said and let out an evil cackle before using the same knife to attack the last guy. S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The two of them struggled, but since one of them had a weapon ready and the other was still recovering from a shock, the results were tilted in Otto''s favour.


    "Heh... heh hehe." he chuckled as he knelt on the floor in a pool of blood, "Now, it''s time to take hold of the gang and start a rebellion! I''ll make my gang so big that even the Empire''s army would be small!"


    His dreams were far fetched and unrealistic, the shadow of his brother opened it''s eyes and looked at Otto.


    ''Soul binding worked. Both of them are dead and I found a new toy to play with. Lovely~''


    The shadow moved from Otto''s brother to the table and then connected to Otto''s shadow.


    ''Hmm... let''s see, not a long life but with my help, he should be able to last pretty long. Though... what''s this feeling?''


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    Inside an inn, a young girl opened her eyes and immediately took out a stack of cards from her bag. She then took a deep breath and her body began to transform, slowly growing in size and after she was done, she looked into the mirror.


    Otto looked back with a playful smile on his face, "Nice. Now as Otto, I''ll pick my cards. Please give me an answer."


    Three cards floated out from the deck and showed themselves to him.


    "Emperor, devil and justice huh? Oh well, it''ll be fun for sure.... and hmm, should I get involved this time? Maybe I''ll help this Otto with an awakening and I''m sure that he''ll need it since his goals are grand." he thought and immediately turned back into a young girl.


    The little girl punched herself in the stomach and coughed out a small wooden token, the one that had Norn''s blood on it.


    ''The requirements have been completed. Now all I gotta do is use those three lives as fuel for my ritual'' she thought as she took of her clothes.


    Using the reflection on the mirror, she took the wooden token and pushed it against her tender belly, which got pushed in.


    "Not sharp enough..." she muttered and grabbed a tarot card.


    The card effortlessly sliced through the skin and once she was done making a circle, she pushed her finger nail into the cut that was made by the knife. Then she pinched the skin and ripped it off, exposing her insides and organs.


    All of them were going on and there was no blood loss. She silently stared at her body, ''Hmm... I want to see the insides of others though... ripped to shreds and bleeding while they stare in to my eyes with despair. Kuuuuu just imagining it makes me so excited... haaaa~ but I gotta stay focused.''


    She grabbed the wooden token and shoved it down her throat, her hand seemingly working like a boneless tentacle as it slithered down her throat and pushed the token into the intestines without letting it stay in the stomach.


    The hand was then pulled back out and then she made her intestines transparent so she could watch what was going on inside.


    Blood that Norn had given, was separated from the token and there was also a lot of dark smoke that was being emitted by the blood.


    ''Oof, so much anger and rage. He died in the end, but I''ll make use of his awakened ability and amplify it for Otto. Oh gosh, it''s going to be so much fun!''


    All the blood condensed into a dark red ball and quickly moved though the overly clean intestine before coming out of her back hole.


    "The pill is ready, and now the only thing that''s left, is to give this to Otto as soon as possible. Before he leaves the room." she muttered and the red ball in her hand disappeared. She didn''t with the skin that was on the floor, nor the open stomach.


    Instead, she closed her eyes and found himself under Otto''s shadow. She immediately saw the red ball that was hiding on the pool of blood, but this was the thing that she wanted most. The blood of the three men began to flow into the red pill it''s colour became darker, getting close to a rusty brown.


    The change wasn''t subtle at all, and Otto didn''t fail to notice it. He was just in disbelief as he stared at the dark ball. It suddenly looked extremely tempting.


    It didn''t have any smell, and it didn''t really look grate either. It was simply a ball. But even then, he felt a strange sense of pull.


    His legs moved on their own as he crawled towards the ball, picked it up and tossed it into his mouth.


    The shadow under him let out a secretive smirk and chuckled to itself, ''What an idiot. Anyways, danger sense huh? Looks like it transformed into survival instinct... and I can''t really tell what the difference is.''


    Otto suddenly felt a surge of information, the influx almost frying his brain as he stumbled forward, "Ugh, I gotta go and announce that there was an infighting. Then I gotta make up a lie for why I managed to escape with almost no injuries. "

 Chapter 167 A New Idea For System Upgrade

    "Captain, we have no clues on this... gang. Based on what we gathered until now, they used to be active for quite a while and suddenly disappeared. There are new drugs being sold and people being threatened, but we''re always too late to the scene. It''s like someone already knows what we''re doing." Caleb said as he walked alongside Keith as they roamed the market.Keith nodded, frowning slightly, "Yeah, and the two guys whom we caught... they don''t even know who their superiors are. Our torture methods did not work either."


    He knew that they really did not know who their superiors were as he could dive into their thoughts using his system seed.


    ''It''s been almost three months since I''ve started shooting my system seeds at everyone I saw, but I''ve been unsuccessful in finding anyone important in the gang... meh''


    Caleb silently walked beside Keith until he voiced out his thoughts, "It''s like... there''s someone who is always following us. The big things only happen when we''re asleep, be it night time or day time. Two gangs from the neighbouring towns were massacred at the borders and it was too late by the time we found out."


    Keith did feel this way, but his danger sense had never acted up, which meant that they weren''t in any danger. But for some reason, he did not feel great.


    "Let''s go back, we need to change our strategy." he said and rushed back home.


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    There was no one inside, but Keith knew that it was only a matter of time for the other three to get home, which they did.


    Caleb saw them dragging a man and looked at Laura, "Was it Lady Clara again?"


    "Yeah, ever since Keith told us to split up, we''ve been able to catch people with relative ease even though it takes a lot of time and luck. The first time was a fluke, but the second and third time, Clara managed to capture two more."


    Keith ignored the lack of prefix on his name as he didn''t really like it. His attention was focused on Clara, "Looks like my theory came true."


    "Yes... and I''ve only been able to catch them when my armor is on."


    "Which means that the cause isn''t something external, but instead, it''s internal." he muttered as this fit the description for his own system seed. He mostly used it to spy on others and it looked like the person who was keeping an eye on them, was doing the same.


    ''Hmm... but can they look into the minds like me? or is it just like regular spying where they can only see our actions? Oh well, let''s first get the experiment done.'' he thought as he looked at the others.


    He pointed at Clara and said, "Form a circle all of you. Clara will give you her divine armor, which is just like Nathan''s but has a few extra features. Fast."


    The trio nodded and formed a circle in front of Clara, who got herself an armor first and then gave an armor to the other three.


    Right at this moment, Keith saw three black strands shoot out of the shadows of the trio before merging into his shadow.


    ''Hmm... shadows huh? Troublesome...'' he thought as he looked at Clara, "Now me."


    He immediately felt a sense of warmth, but he didn''t get distracted. His eyes were focused on his shadow and he saw a thin but longer strand shoot out and merge into the shadow of the couch nearby.


    Keith then looked at the other four looking slightly confused. Four system screens popped up he read the stuff that was going on in their heads.


    ''Hmm, no one saw the black thread huh? Interesting... but this also gave me an idea. It''s troublesome, but I gotta thank the person behind this.''


    "Alright, feel free to roam the district however you want, but only when you have armors on. I have something to do so I''ll be focusing on those preparations. Also Caleb, go get the weekly salaries for us from the church will ya?"


    Caleb nodded and ran off to get the money while Keith silently headed to his bedroom.


    ''Splitting up shadows and making them move sneakily... for some reason only I''m able to see them. Anyways, let''s use this to make my system seed better.''


    Immediately, he willed for his system seeds to get a new feature where they can produce more and more system seeds automatically and spread to new people without his interference.


    Unlike before when he didn''t have any problems, this time a system error popped up in front of him.


    [Error. The base system seed cannot be changed. The feature you wish to add should be included when you created the system seed and now it''s too late to add.]


    ''Hmm... explain how it works and also, will it work if I just create a new system seed instead?'' he asked. As someone from earth, he had seen people fail multiple times and the failures had to be discarded while also learning from them.


    If he simply latched onto the first system seed he had created, then there won''t be much hope for improvements.


    [Currently, your system seeds work linearly. When you first created it, you wanted to be able to give system seeds to others whenever you wanted and take information from them. So in simpler words, it works like very basic spy app. It has no ability to spread and multiply.] S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    [If you want to automate the spreading process, you must make changes to the base. To set up a new system and make it share the actions and thoughts of the people, you''ll need a lot more divine energy compared to what you have at the moment. Based on my estimations, you''ll have to wait for slightly more than five months to reach this level]


    ''Well, it''s going to be a battle of information since we both have similar powers. Five months is fine, I can wait this much. The war will start soon and I don''t want to see internal chaos happen in the empire.''

 Chapter 168 A New Farming Plan

    Keith glanced at Clara who just walked into the room and scooted over to the side of the bed to give her some room."What are you thinking about?" she asked as she sat down and looked at him.


    "About opening a new business. I''ll need a lot of money in the future." he said and then thought, ''And I don''t want to continue stealing since it''ll increase the risk of losing my system users. I also don''t really want to make them pay me money for upgrades so I gotta be self sufficient.''


    Clara placed her hand on his thigh and gently rubbed it, "So, what kind of business?"


    "You know about my- hmm... put on your armor. And go stand there." he said and watched her do as he said. Her shadow did not make contact with anything other than the floor. The white armor covered her body immediately and a black thread shot under the table.


    "Damn so annoying." he grumbled as he punched the mattress. He knew that he couldn''t harm a shadow since it was intangible and sighed, "Let''s go."


    Clara gave him a confused look, but Keith simply placed his hand on her and took her to his spatial dimension.


    "This is the first time I brought you here, didn''t I?" he asked as he looked around with a smile.


    She silently nodded but her expression soon turned into awe, "Wow, this is just so much more compared to my small space."


    Keith nodded, "Yeah, and since it''s technically a product of my awakened ability, I can get access to your spatial dimension too. Wait, you called it spatial storage right?"


    "Yeah... but is there even a reason for you to control my small space when you have soo much here?"


    "Well, it''s for communication and transport." he said and grabbed a random axe that was on the ground. It instantly vanished and appeared inside Clara''s spatial storage, "You get it now?" S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Mhm" she said and nodded before going back to the main topic, "So, what about this business?"


    Keith sighed and pointed at the large empty space in front of him, "Just look at this... I have so much space and I''m doing nothing with it. I feel like the best way to make use of it is to make something that a lot of people will absolutely love. It has to be something that can be consumed, be sold in various price ranges for both rich and poor.


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    Originally, I thought of meat but it''s just too much time and effort. I''d rather go with something related to plants, but I don''t know what to pick. I don''t want to sell a basic vegetable or fruit... I wanna sell something more."


    "Hmm..." Clara let out a sound as she began to think, "Wheat is consumed by almost everyone but you said that you didn''t want to sell something simple."


    Keith nodded, "Yeah, and something that I can sell in bulk too."


    "Why don''t you make beer or whiskey? You have enough land and all that''s needed is some manpower and knowledge."


    Keith stared and Clara as the gears in his mind turned in full speed. There was silence for a few seconds until Keith screamed, "VODKA! OR MAYBE RUM!"


    Vodka and rum weren''t really available on this continent as people only knew about grain based drinks. While vodka could also be made by grains, people clearly didn''t bother with mass production since Keith had never heard of Vodka being drunk in this place.


    Clara gave him a confused look, but she felt slightly happy that he was content with the answer. Though she wanted to celebrate with him, the curious part of her won.


    "What''s a vodka and rum?" she asked and Keith hugged her tight instead of giving her an answer.


    "You''re amazing Clara!" he exclaimed, ''I was thinking about growing poppy plants to sell drugs but this is better. I don''t have to feel too guilty.''


    He then pulled away from her and began to explain, "Well... it''s just something I read in a book. They''re just different kinds of alcohols, with vodka being a concentrated version of whiskey in a way but without too much of a taste.


    As for Rum, it''s a kind of alcohol that''s made from sugarcane. I have some plans for both of them and before I start with that, I got other important things to do."


    Keith raised his hand and both him and Clara began to fly into the air. Once he reached a decent height, he looked down at the land in front of him.


    ''System, split it into parts based on my requirements. A square plot with a side of 700 meters for farming first, then two equal squares for both bees and goats. Leave a small amount of land behind for my personal needs.''


    The 1000m X 1000m square split into multiple parts, while also changing the shape of each part. The creatures didn''t feel a thing and just went on with their daily lives.


    They were divided into four parts, all of them squares.


    First was the largest plot of land which was 700m x 700m. This one was purely just land and did not have any water on it. Then there were two squares and both of them were of the same size, which was 500m x 500m.


    These two had water as one of them housed the bees while the other had goats, both of which needed water.


    As for the last one which was the smallest, it was just a 100m x 100m square and this also did not have any water just like the first one.


    [700mx700m for farming = 490,000 square meters]


    [500mx500m for bees and flowers = 250,000 square meters]


    [500mx500m for goats = 250,000 square meters]


    [100mx100m for personal space = 10,000 square meters]


    [1000mx1000m of total space = 1,000,000 square meters]


    ''Okay perfect.'' Keith thought as he changed the terrain of the bees side a little. The honey come went in the center of the cube and flowers surrounded it while also leaving a lot of free space.


    ''Hmm... what next?'' he mused as he looked at the large piece of land.

 Chapter 169 Thousands of Kilograms of Potatoes

    The next day, Keith woke up with Clara stuck to him and he instinctively patted her head, ''I''ve sent a messenger to Timothy''s house so by the time he gets back home, the messenger will be there with the letter. If he wants the money, he''ll have to come here. There''s no way I''m going to meet him on my own.He silently rolled Clara away from him and went into his spatial dimension. Like a routine, he spent most of his mental energy to create bullets.


    Unlike Adam who could only make around 30 per day, Keith''s maximum number was in the thousands. This was because he had a lot of mental energy and on top of that, Adam''s efficiency was higher than 90, which meant that Keith could use the ability with an efficiency of around 45%.


    While this was less, thanks to the white system, Keith didn''t really care too much as creation of one bullet didn''t take too much mental energy. Thanks to this, even though his efficiency was low, he could make up to it with his capacity.


    He then looked at the large pile of bullets and couldn''t help smiling.


    Six of them floated towards him along with a gun that had a longer barrel compared to his old revolver which was currently with Amelia.


    "It''s been a while, hasn''t it?" he asked as he looked at it and the hammer went back and forth, as if agreeing with him.


    Keith nodded, "Yeah, but today I want to check something out."


    As soon as he said that, he gave out a mental command. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ''Bullets inside the revolver, come out.'' he thought and instantly, six bullets appeared in front of him. He then checked the cylinder and saw that it was empty.


    "Great." he said to himself and with another similar mental command, the cylinder was now filled with bullets.


    With a nod, he got out of his spatial dimension and repeated the steps. This time, he sent the bullets into his spatial dimension and then put a new batch into the revolver.


    ''Switching to a second gun is faster than reloading, and this is almost instantaneous so it''s faster. I just need a little bit of practice to make it a muscle memory.'' he thought as he stared at his revolver.


    He knew that it wasn''t too useful against people like Nathan and Clara who had really amazing awakened abilities.


    ''Well, people like these two are hard to find. I guess I just got lucky...'' he thought as he looked at Clara''s sleeping form.


    ''So adorable...''


    He immediately got rid of the distracting thoughts and focused on important things. His gaze moved to the bed below him and he couldn''t help but sigh lightly.


    ''Damn shadow... I probably won''t be able to do much in the next five months, but if all of us have the armors on, I feel like we''ll make some progress. Even then, it''ll be impossible to do spy work with attention drawing armors.''


    There was a solution to the problem of the weird tracking shadow, but it also raised other issues, which was not a good thing.


    ''Something is better than nothing, but I guess I should go and ask Brandon for help with intel. On top of that, I''ll try and see if Seraphina''s blessings can push this shitty shadow away.''


    As his thoughts wandered, he headed to the bathroom to take a bath and by the time he was done, he saw Clara wake.


    "Oh morning!" he greeted her with a wide smile and pointed towards the door, "I''m going to buy some materials for the farm, so if the others ask, just tell them that I went out for a morning walk."


    Clara nodded silently, looking slightly sleepy as she gave him a hug, "Do you really have to go so soon?" she asked and suddenly, he felt her tongue on his collarbone, "I''m a little thirsty~"


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    Keith smirked and with one simple motion, his towel dropped to the floor, "And I''m starving."


    ********


    Along the bustling morning streets, Keith walked silently with a newspaper in one hand. Following his daily routine, he greeted multiple vendors on the way and walked towards the cart of a small time merchant whom he knew.


    He was a healthy looking young man around the same age as Keith, but he had a physical build similar to Brandon. He was in fact, bigger than Brandon but his voice was high pitched and very soft.


    "Good Morning sir, what would you like to buy today?" he asked, smiling as he saw Keith who was a regular customer at this point.


    Keith gave him a nod of acknowledgement before smiling back, "Well, I''m here to propose a deal. You told me that you get all your vegetables from the neighboring county right?"


    "Um, technically we''re a part of the county sir. All of our taxes go to the count and yeah, I do buy all my vegetables directly from the count. His mansion is located in the neighboring town, so the journey usually takes half a day to get there.


    I spend the night there and buy everything I need the next morning before coming back. Usually, the grains and vegetables last around a week, but most of the times, the goods are all sold out in two to three days."


    Keith nodded and he didn''t really care too much about which noble the district belonged to, but since he got some free knowledge, he decided to keep it in mind.


    "Understood. Anyways, I wanted to ask if you''re willing to take on a transportation job for me. I need hundreds of kilograms of potatoes. No wait, I''d need it in tens of thousands actually."


    The vendor stared at Keith with his mouth wide open. Once he recovered from the shock, he nodded, "Well, I guess you''re lucky. The count recently got his farms harvested, but I don''t think he''ll be able to meet your requirements by his own. You''ll have to ask various other nobles if you want tens of thousands of kilograms."

 Chapter 170 Whose Birthday?

    Keith spent the next five weeks traveling just for the sake of potatoes. On the way, he did forge some connections with some important people and thanks to his performance in the training camp, some people from the churches recognised him.But that was where the good things ended. During his travel, he didn''t waste any time or energy and shot out his system seeds at everyone he saw. Thanks to this, he realised something important.


    From the areas that belonged to three different nobles, there were two gangs that wanted to get their hands on Auberg district, but were unable to. Seeing this, Keith had both negative and positive thoughts.


    ''It''s a good thing that Auberg isn''t getting effected but I have a feeling that this shadow guy is the one behind it all.'' he thought and shook his head as he got out of his carriage, ''Welp, I think he''s too busy with the other gangs, so I can just relax until I get my new system created. Just four months more....''


    He paid the driver and walked over to his house, feeling tired since the journey was pretty uncomfortable. He silently opened the door with the key that he had, but to his surprise, he heard multiple familiar voices from the living room.


    "Aren''t you guys supposed to be working right now?" he asked loudly as he closed the door before adding, "I''m back by the way." Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Clara immediately rushed out and latched onto him and Keith just hugged her back.


    "It''s Amelia''s birthday today so we all decided to come home early. I promise that all of us roamed the streets like you asked us to, but lately we haven''t been able to catch anyone. It''s like the armors have lost their effects." she said, giving Keith the info that she thought was important.


    Keith panicked slightly, but still nodded.


    He had the ability to look at what people were doing, but he had his limits. He was merely a human and he couldn''t keep an eye on everyone at the same time while also doing other things, like talking which was a simple thing to do.


    "Amelia''s birthday huh? I still have to repay her for the gun she gave me so I guess this is the best timing." he said as he pulled away from Clara before he walked over to the living room with her.


    The trio were in the kitchen, using the oil stove that Keith had created. It would have been better if there was a outdoor kitchen since there wasn''t any active ventilation in the room.


    Amelia still wasn''t home, but he knew that she''d be there in an hour or two.


    "What are you guys doing?" he asked as he walked over and saw them boiling some meat along with wheat flour.


    Caleb used a long spatula to pick up some of the brownish red stew and everyone saw the meat falling off of it, tender and mostly broken down.


    "Sir, this is a dish that our orphanage used to make for us once in six months. They didn''t put in a lot of meat like we did in this pot, but it was very tasty. As for the name... I think they called it the Mutton Pottage?"


    Keith heard this and nodded before pointing at the pot, "Is it done? I want a taste."


    "Yes of course. We''re just heating it up since the more it cooks, the better it becomes." Laura said as she grabbed a bowl for him, but Keith shook his head and took a small spoon instead.


    "This is fine." he said and scooped up some of the thick stew before blowing on it to cool it down a little. He then put the spoon in his mouth and he instantly knew that the thing in front of him is a flavour bomb.


    It was almost perfect and Keith''s mind went straight to find out what the small imperfection was and it didn''t take him long to figure it out. The texture of the stew looked extremely dull, and Keith smiled at he looked at Caleb who was stirring the pot.


    ''This looks similar to the dish my friend used to send photos of, so let''s try adding oil a little.'' he thought and grabbed a ladle along with a small pot.


    He filled the pot halfway with the stew and added in a generous amount of groundnut oil before he began to stir it. The fire below the pot was decent since it was an oil stove and it wasn''t fluctuating too much. Discover hidden stories at empire


    Minutes passed by Keith continued to stir until the look of the stew had become "shiny". It now had an oily sheen, but it also looked more palatable instead of looking like dark brown dung. The meat and wheat were not easier to differentiate and he was also able to see the small pieces of dried chillies in the stew unlike before where the dullness made it hard to spot the smaller things.


    Keith then took a spoonful and tasted it before sharing it with the others, all of whom gave him a nod of approval.


    "Great! Let''s add some butter into it and the flavour will get even better than groundnut oil. I''ll make something else on the side for her." he said and then looked at Clara. He knew that cake cutting wasn''t a tradition in the world.


    Instead, people had different ways of celebrating birthdays based on their financial standing. The people who earned less than three braks a week, would just go on with their daily life. To them, birthday had no meaning and celebrating it was the same as getting some well wishes from others.


    Then there were people who earned from 4 to 8 braks and these people had some extra money to spare. This was because small houses cost only 1 brak a week as rent and 1 brak had the power to purchase around 5 to 6 long loaves of bread.

 Chapter 171 Nathan Finds Out

    With the other spends such as various food ingredients like vegetables and meat, coal, firewood, savings for clothes, etc, the total weekly spends would be around five to six braks. The rest of the money would go into savings, which these people used for special occasions. sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.Then came the group that was paid well, and this group got a lot of respect from the people. This was the group that made 9 braks to two zen per week. Usually, a regular family would have both parents working to feed themselves and their kids.


    While most of these families with well paid members still continued the tradition, it did not change the fact that just one person would be able to support an entire family on their own. Even if things went south and they had just their jobs left, they could keep their family well fed.


    The second group usually celebrated their birthdays with a slightly loftier and meatier meal compared to regular days while the third group, the one that made money over 8 braks, added in alcohol and invited others to celebrate along with them.


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    This was also done due to the influence of parties that the nobility threw, but unlike the nobles that had guests in huge numbers while also having extremely lavish parties, the common working class just invited their neighbors, colleagues or close ones who lived nearby.


    Keith decided to go with inviting others to the party since there wasn''t really a lack of money. The second reason was that Caleb had made too much stew.


    He looked at Clara, "We should probably invite Brandon and Edward too. Hmm, is there anyone else?"


    "The owner of the inn where the office is located. She''s a nun of the church and she''s a sweetheart, so I''m sure that Amelia would love to see her here. Then maybe the priest? We''re not exactly close so maybe we shouldn''t, but having his blessings would help too."


    Keith nodded, "Yeah, the nun is very sweet. I''ll leave the inviting to you, but no need for the priest." he said, his expression hardening as a frown formed on his face, showing his displeasure.


    He didn''t really hate the priest. Instead, he respected priest Pascal a lot after he found out what was going on behind the scenes, but he had to put on an act since he knew that the shadow person was keeping an eye on him.


    ''To think that these gangsters have abducted the kids from the orphanage that was run by Pascal... I now understand why he isn''t opening his mouth and I also don''t want to force him.'' he thought as he saw Clara nod and leave.


    He then looked at multiple loaves of bread that were placed in a basket and spoke, "We have enough bread, but we might need more. I''ll take care of the stirring, so two of you go and buy more bread along with some bottles of wine. We also ran out of butter, so get some of that too."


    Caleb and Laura immediately left, following behind Clara. Keith then looked at Nathan and gave him the ladle, "Here, do the stirring while I go get a few things ready."


    He grabbed the barrel that was partly filled with groundnut oil, and took it with him to his room. In an instant, he was inside his spatial dimension along with the oil and the first thing he did was to look at the large pile of potatoes that were left over after plantation.


    A rough estimate was that he had around 8000 kilograms left over, which meant that he had spent a bit too much money on potatoes. He had expected some of them to be spoilt, but contrary to his expectations, the number of spoiled potatoes he had received were close to none.


    Due to this, he had a lot of potatoes left over and now that he got a chance to use them, he didn''t hesitate.


    Almost 10 kg of potatoes flew out of the pile and were shot with water, cleaning them efficiently. Keith then used his power of absolute control inside the dimension to slice the potatoes into thin pieces.


    The oil that was inside the barrel, shot into the air and took the form of a 10 cm thick slab. Keith then heated it up and sent the potatoes into the oil, making them move inside from one end to the other.


    ''Hmm, it needs more time...'' he thought as he saw half cooked potato slices come out from the other end and decided to make 3 trips. It did take some time, but Keith used his time boost around himself and the oil slab, which was very less area compared to the 1km x 1km land that he used to boost the time for in the past.


    With a 5x boost, he got to work and by the time he was done, almost an hour had passed. Which meant that in the outside world, only 12 minutes had passed.


    Keith immediately got out of his spatial dimension and rushed to the kitchen to get some salt before rushing back to his room. He didn''t go back into his dimension this time and instead, he simply sent the salt in. The salt acted like wing, flying towards the warm chips and sticking onto their surface.


    The salt "sprinkling" took Keith around a minute before he put the oil back into the barrel and brought it out before taking it to the kitchen.


    He glanced at Nathan who was diligently stirring the pot and placed the barrel where it originally was. Next, he took the biggest container that he had in the house, which was a large clay pot and filled it up with chips before placing it on the kitchen counter.


    "Stew and bread done, snacks done, drinks they''ll bring so that''s done too. Is there anything else?" he asked as he looked at Nathan whose eyes were fixated on the pot.


    "You... did you just make something appear out of nowhere? You can create food from nothing?"

 Chapter 172 These Dumb Detectives are Trash!

    Inside a small makeshift shed in the slums of Auberg district, a relatively short man sat on a chair as he stared at two people who were kneeling in front of him."B-boss, four of our people died while they fought the Pazy group and we lost all our goods. T-there really wasn''t much we could do to stop them. They had more than fifty people, boss." one of them said as he banged his head onto the floor, shaking in fear and pain.


    As for the other guy, he lifted up his head and looked at the man in front of him who had taken over the entire gang. There had been a lot of resistance from multiple people but all of them had been massacred.


    Instead of fear, he looked at the boss with reverence as he growled angrily, "Boss Otto! We were outnumbered this time but they shouldn''t have gone too far. Just give me one chance and I''ll capture all those kids again. I''ll also bring you the heads of all the Pazy members!"


    "Heheheheh" Otto chuckled as he took a knife that was on the small table beside him and threw it at the guy who was shivering on the floor. It didn''t hit him right and instead, bounced off his head.


    Otto didn''t mind it and looked at the other guy, "Kill h-"


    Even before he could finish his order, the guy had grabbed the knife and pierced the other guy''s back.


    "-im"


    *Chack chack chack chack krck chack*


    One stab after the other assaulted the first guy and before he could hit back or recover, he lost his life as he took his last gasp.


    With a bloodied hand, face and clothes, the guy looked up at Otto and grinned, "What next boss?"


    Otto grinned back and clapped the armrest on his chair happily, "I like this one!!" he roared and pointed at him, "I''ll take care of Pazy. You go and harass that Clangson."


    He then paused for a second before grabbing a metallic stamp with a handle that was around 40cm long.


    "Here, take this and put the seal on that bastard''s wife. I''m done playing with her and waiting for that rich bastard to apologise. It''s time to end it all and also for people to learn about us.


    Stamp her head, back, front, hands, legs, and everything before you kill her. After that, use a long stick and hang her for everyone to see. It should be done right before sunrise tomorrow."


    The guy in front of him nodded as he took the branding seal and pointed towards his right, "She''s in the hut beside us right? Can I play with her for a bit before I get things done, boss?"


    "Do whatever you want but don''t miss the timing." Otto said and pointed at the door, "Now get out of this place you dumb mutt!"


    As the goon scurried out of the shed, Otto clicked his tongue with an annoyed expression on his face. He got up from his chair slowly walked towards the door.


    ''No goosebumps or fear... looks like the path is clear. Time to act.'' he thought as he walked out of his shed.


    A few kilometers away, in an inn.


    "Hm hmm hm hmmm~" a young girl sat on a bed, humming as she had her eyes closed.


    Her eyes were indeed closed, but she was able to see things and at the moment, she watched Otto leave the shed and rush out.


    ''This shadow will stay inside to keep watch... but I don''t think I can hold it in anymore.'' she thought as she opened her eyes with a flushed face, "My shadows can''t interfere or manipulate the thought processes of your group. On top of that, your lover Clara''s armor can repel my shadows too. Ah~ I love this game. I love hard things~"


    She slowly lifted up her skirt, and looked at the reflection of her bare skin.


    Her hand moved to the place between her thighs as she giggled with a giddy look on her face, "Oh this will be fun. How should we play this game Keith? How? Should I show you my face or should I play from the darkness before surprising you at the end?"


    Just as she was planning and fantasizing about the so-called game, she heard a knock on the door.


    "Sir, your dinner is ready. Would you like to eat in the dining area or should I bring your food here?"


    The girl clicked her tongue and her throat immediately thickened. It''s color changed while the structure of the face also changed at the same time. In just one second, her neck and face had transformed.


    She looked at her reflection that had a gruff manly face that was rectangular while also having a thick slice mark on the right cheek.


    Then, she snapped her fingers and an almost transparent bubble appeared that was invisible before. It shattered almost a fraction of a second after the bubble showed itself.


    "I''ll come down in a minute, thank you." she said, her voice slightly deep and throaty unlike the sweet and youthful voice from a few seconds ago.


    "Okay sir, we''ll get the food ready for you."


    The sound of footsteps slowly faded away and the body also began to change, she became taller, muscular and slightly tanned. Short black hair replaced the long blonde and once she was done, she looked down at place between her thighs.


    ''I''ll let it be. It''s not like people are going peep when I''m wearing trousers.''


    The man moved out of the room and his thoughts went back to Keith, ''Hmm... I guess we''ll play to our strengths. You have some mysterious defensive abilities so I''ll stay true to my specialty and move in the dark.


    Or should I appear in front of you and act like your friend while you search all over the district for me? Yeah, this is more fun compared to hiding. Ah, I want to see you cry and scream in despair...''


    ****** S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Amelia silently stood in the living room where Clangson and his kids were, doing her job of keeping an eye on them and their surroundings.


    ''If only Brandon listened to me and asked Keith for help. Our team only has three members now, so it''s harder to protect these people if things go overwhelmingly wrong.''


    She glanced at the five kids, three of whom were in their teens and two who were younger than 10. Her eyes slowly moved to the two concubines who, based on her observations, looked pretty happy with the current situation where Clangson''s wife had been abducted.


    Amelia pushed away her negative thoughts and just as she was about to check the time, she heard a familiar voice.


    "I''m here, time for shift change."


    She turned to look at Edward and smiled, "Thank you for not being late."


    "Heh, have I ever been late?"


    "No, but Brandon was supposed to come today for the night shift and he always comes one or two hours late just to antagonize me. If only he wasn''t my boss, I''d have punched his face in."


    Edward chuckled when he heard her words and shook his head slightly, "Even if you punched him, it wouldn''t have made much of a difference. Anyways, he''s never late when it''s me so I guess he''s simply doing this to get your attention."


    "Pissing me off isn''t going to help him in any way, uncle. I mean sir."


    Edward patted her shoulder, "Well, go back home. I''m sure you feel like partying tonight."


    "Heh, of course. I did tell Clara that it''s my birthday but I have a feeling that she forgot." she said, her expression crumbling for a moment as a hint of sadness escaped through her expression, but she was quick to hide it.


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    "It doesn''t matter though. I''ll grab the whole group with me and announce that it''s a special day. Heh, I''ve been saving up money for a special occasion like this." she said and smirked, making Edward grin in response.


    He pointed at the main door and jerked his head towards the same direction, "What are you waiting for then? Get going. Or do you want to do some overtime?"


    "No thanks!" Amelia said happily as she rushed towards the main door, "Have a nice night!"


    Clangson, who was still a doing his best to deal with the abduction of his wife, felt anger rising inside him, but he kept his emotions under control. He looked at Edward and gave him a curt nod before he went back to reading the few papers that had information regarding his few businesses.


    Unfortunately, he wasn''t able to focus as he knew that in a few minutes he''d get a threat in one form or another.


    ''Yesterday, it was it was a dead pig... if things keep going this way, then all my servants will quit. These dumb detectives are just acting like body guards instead of finding the person who''s doing this to me. Ugh, I hired a bunch of trash!''

 Chapter 173 Amelias Birthday

    Read exclusive adventures at empireAmelia walked to the front of the house and paused for a second before opening the door.


    "I''m home!" she exclaimed and got no response. Instead, she heard sounds of water hitting the floor and the sounds came from multiple rooms at the same time.


    ''Of course Clara forgot. I shouldn''t have expected much.'' she thought and smiled, ''Well, it doesn''t matter. I''ll drag them with me tonight!''


    She then walked towards her own room and just as she passed by the entrance to the living room, a familiar figure jumped in front of her.


    "Happy birthday!!" Caleb exclaimed and so did the other four. Her eyes instantly moved towards Keith who was playing with a brak coin while grinning from ear to ear but her gaze was fixed on his apron instead.


    She raised her eyebrow as she took in his look, "You cooked? No, even though you do cook once in a while, I''ve never seen you wear an apron."


    "This woman here forced me to. It''s not like I wore it because I liked it." Keith said as he placed his palm on Clara''s head.


    Amelia smirked and nodded before looking at everyone, "Thank you. I was thinking of dragging you guys to drink with me, but this is way better!"


    Laura grinned and grabbed Amelia''s hand before pulling her into the living room. Then, she pointed at the kitchen counter that was filled with multiple containers, most of which were metallic and due to this, Amelia was unable to see inside.


    Just as she was looking at the counter, she felt a rough hand on her shoulder, "Uncle Edward?"


    "Heh, yeah. Don''t worry about Clangson. Those people are just threatening him, so I asked the new sheriff to keep an eye on their property. I can spend a few hours here before going back." he said and took a step back to stand behind Brandon.


    "Wait, how did you get here faster than me?"


    Edward chuckled, "That wasn''t me, but the storekeeper. I asked him to help and he did it for me, but anyways... surprise surprise!" he said and clapped his hands together. S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The door that was opposite to the entrance of the living room immediately opened and a pretty middle aged woman walked out, "May the goddess'' blessings be upon you, darling."


    "Aww, even you came here?" Amelia said as she gave the nun a tight hug, "We''re going to drink tonight, so will you join?"


    "Hohoho of course child. I''m not a full fledged nun so I don''t have to follow all the rules. Did you forget that I also sell alcohol to people when they come to the inn?" she asked and patted Amelia''s back before pulling away.


    Keith silently walked over to the counter and began to set up the plates. The meat stew went onto a bowl which was placed in the center of the plate and surrounding it were bread slices, potato chips, steamed fish that was bought from a nearby restaurant.


    It wasn''t much, but that was how the traditions went. Good quality items that were less in diversity, but could be eaten until everyone was full.


    Keith placed all the plated on the empty area on the counter and looked at the others who were still talking to Amelia, "Maybe you guys should grab some food and talk while you eat." he said and then pointed at a copper pot.


    "Wine is in that one and then there''s sweets for dessert in the pot beside it." he said and grabbed a donut from the pot and showed it to them, "It''s my personal recipe."


    He lied effortlessly and took a bite of the donut before licking the extremely sweet condensed milk glaze from the corner of his lips.


    Everyone rushed over to the counter and picked up the plates, but Clara stopped them all.


    "Hey, stop! Did you forget about presents?" she said and took out a small box before giving it to Amelia.


    There were no gift wraps, so it was pretty easy to know what the present was. The container looked like jewellery container and just as Keith thought of this, Amelia excitedly opened it up.


    "Ooooh these earrings are so pretty!" she said and then glanced at the trio who were walking towards her.


    "Um, we pooled in our money and bought a... dress for you." Caleb said as he handed over a folded piece of red fabric, which Amelia immediately pushed against her body to see if it would fit well or not.


    Laura smirked, "Clara told me about your measurements so this one is pretty accurate. The tailor also told me that she will help with alterations in the future."


    "This looks great!!" Amelia exclaimed and folded it back up before Clara took it from her, "I''ll hold it for you."


    Amelia smiled and looked at Keith expectantly, but Brandon, Edward and the nun walked towards her instead.


    The nun gave her a small envelope and smiled, "We found out a little late, so we didn''t have the time to buy you anything special. I hope you can accept the money instead."


    "Oh of course! Even if you didn''t bring anything, it would have been fine!" she said and hugged her while Brandon clicked his tongue.


    "Tch, I told you guys that it would be fine even if we didn''t give her anything." he said, but Edward smacked the back of his head, "Stingy bastard, she gifted you a nice pair of shoes for your birthday and this is what you say when it''s her turn?"


    Brandon frowned and nodded, "Yeah, that''s my mistake. I apologise."


    Edward sighed and shook his head while Amelia turned to look at Keith as she remembered the look of regret he had on his face a few seconds ago. This was more than enough for her to know that he hadn''t got any gift for her.


    "It''s fine, I wasn''t expecting any gifts. Let''s just eat and drink to our heart''s content!"


    Keith let out a soft sigh and shook his head before taking out his pocket watch from his inner pocket.


    "Here, I wanted to give you something better... but it''s a dangerous item, soo..."


    Amelia instantly snatched the watch from him, "This is exactly what I wanted! My watch broke a few days ago."

 Chapter 174 A Confusing Situation

    The food was great, but Edward and Brandon left early since they had to go back to the Clangsons. Keith followed them until the doorway, but the moment they opened the door to walk out, Keith felt his pink twitch.''It''s been weeks since I''ve felt this...'' he thought as he looked at the two, "You''re going back to Clangson''s mansion right?"


    Edward turned around and nodded, "Yeah, the danger increases during the night time so we both have to go. Today, I''ll stay inside the mansion while Brandon will keep an eye outside but usually it''s the opposite that happens."


    Keith stared at them for a few seconds as he thought about his danger sense.


    "Okay, I have a weird feeling that something might go wrong tonight." he said and saw their expressions change, "So, give me a second. I''ll bring the others with me."


    Saying that, he rushed back to the living room and looked at the group before sighing, "Everyone, I need your attention please."


    "I have a feeling that something bad might happen around Brandon and Edward so I''ll be going with them. And before you ask how, it''s thanks to my danger sense." he said and looked at the trio and Amelia, all of whom had glasses of wine in their hands.


    Laura, Nathan and Caleb looked absolutely drunk while Amelia was slightly flushed.


    ''She has a good resistance but I don''t think I should be taking her...'' he thought and turned to look at Clara, "Stay here with them just in case."


    Clara nodded and stood up quickly before she walked up to him, "Wait." she said and placed her hand on his chest as she summoned a creamy white armor. It was sleek and good looking unlike Nathan''s bulky plate armor.


    Keith looked similar to a iron armored flying super hero from a certain franchise that started with M in his old world. The armor didn''t have any core or reactors and it also didn''t have a cool unmasking helmet either.


    Instead of the moving parts, it had tinted glass that let him see the outside while keeping the inside hidden.


    "How much of a boost does this one have?" Keith asked and Clara winked, "Four hundred percent on top of your original strength, so a five times boost. I''ll go and give one to Brandon and Edward too." she said and groped his trench coat.


    "Hmm, where''s your revolver?"


    Keith instantly made it appear in his hand and handed it over to her.


    "Great." she said and placed her hand on the revolver before a pale white light enveloped the weapon. A few seconds passed and the layer or light slowly dissipated, revealing a creamy white revolver instead.


    Keith took it from her and asked curiously, "What boost did this one get?"


    "Range. As for how much, I don''t really know."


    Keith nodded and walked towards the two men who were standing at the main door. Clara gave both of them an armor each before nodding to herself, "Great, now your powers are doubled. I''ll need the rest in case of an emergency."


    ''Hmm, she did say that the maximum boost she can do is an additional 1000%. She gave me 400 and these two got 100 each, which means that she has 400 more. Yep, she''s got enough to protect the other four.'' he thought and gave her a hug before leaving.


    He rushed over to Clangson''s mansion and felt his pinky twitch at a higher frequency compared to before, but he didn''t let it bother him much. Instead, he looked at the other two.


    "I''ll stay outside, so you guys should head inside instead. I''ll give you a signal if I spot something."


    Just as he said that, he saw a flaming glass bottle fly towards one of the windows of the mansion. The bottle crashed into it and while the window did not break, the bottle did.


    The contents splashed and burned as the liquid stuck to the window and the walls. Most of it fell onto the garden below and began to burn the green plants.


    Keith raised his hand and with a single snap of his fingers, the fire was doused. He then walked toward the place were the liquid splashed and slid his fingers on the liquid before bringing it towards his face.


    The helmet prevented people from seeing from outside and it also wasn''t possible to remove it but Keith was still able to smell the thing on his hand.


    "Hmm... alcohol." he said and turned to look at the other two, "And it''s very concentrated."


    Brandon nodded before pointing at a certain direction, "It flew from there so maybe we should check it out?"


    Keith looked at the direction before nodding, "I''ll do it."


    Before the other two could respond, Keith rushed towards the direction where Brandon had pointed and felt his pinky twitching slow down.


    ''Wait, the true danger lies near the mansion?'' he thought and immediately skidded to a halt before rushing back.


    "You two should go check it out. This mansion is giving me a bad feeling so I''ll stay back instead." he said and his ex-colleagues nodded. S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He silently watched them run and yet again, he felt his finger twitching slow down.


    He frowned and looked at his hand before his gaze shifted to the mansion beside him, "Just what in the hell is going on?"


    It didn''t take him too long to come to a conclusion.


    ''My finger twitching reduced the further I got from Brandon and Edward... which means that they''re the ones in danger right now. Should I really leave this place and rush towards those two?'' he thought but even though he wanted to leave the place, a certain part of him felt like there was something missing. Read latest stories on empire


    "Tch." he clicked his tongue, feeling frustrated as he rushed into the mansion and then to the living room where the whole family had gathered.


    "You guys, go and hide somewhere safe. Close the doors and don''t make any sounds." he said, but at the exact same time, his left arm began to sting like it had received a strong electric shock.

 Chapter 175 Silver Threads Creation

    [A/N: Long chapter once again, but don''t worry. I plan on writing 2 extra chapters today.]A few meters from the Clangson estate, a muscular male walked into an alleyway and looked around for a few seconds. Once he made sure that there was no one nearby, his physique began to change and quickly turned into a cute girl.


    "Okay!" she exclaimed excitedly as hopped in one place and grinned, "Time to bring out my second half."


    Her shadow began to move like a liquid, but instead of separating from her entirely, it simply was a copy of her shadow.


    One shadow was still connected to her while the other moved formlessly like water. The girl then bit her tongue and spit the blood out, which fell exactly on the moving shadow.


    She then watched the shadow gain a physical form as bubbles and balls of flesh grew on top of each other with the shadow being the base. While this happened, she placed her finger on her tongue and the bleeding slowly stopped.


    The rest of the blood that was in her mouth, was again sent flying towards the mass of flesh. The speed of growth increased and once a 170cm tower of flesh was done, it began to take on a humanoid form.


    Limbs and head began to grow and once they were done, the other organs sprouted out. Eyes, nose, ears, lips, teeth, tongue, fingers, nails and everything that was needed to make it look like a human.


    The girl smiled as she looked at the bald man in front of her and plucked out a strand of hair from her scalp. She then used the finger that had blood on it and wiped it on the hair strand.


    Instead of turning read or staying blonde, the hair turned silvery white.


    Once she was done, she placed the hair strand on the bald man''s head in front of her and smiled. The hair strand moved like a worm and stabbed into the scalp.


    There was no movement for a few seconds but all of a sudden, the guy''s head began to bleed all over. Along with blood, there was a layer of silvery white which soon grew out.


    "Heheh, looking really handsome but that doesn''t matter. All you need right now is physical strength and an ability. You have the first one, but for an ability... hmm..." she said and thought for a few seconds.


    Once she made up her mind, she looked down at her shadow and with a simple thought, two black balls the size of a golf ball shot up.


    She grabbed the two and pushed them against each other, merging them before she silently watched the one ball in her hand.


    ''.... hair control and strengthening. Pretty good I guess.'' she thought and pushed the black ball into the guy''s mouth, which he swallowed silently.


    "Now, we''ll have to give you some intelligence and experience. Let me compile a good combination for you." she muttered as made him go on his knees and bend down. Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Then, she used his back as a stool and sat down before closing her eyes.


    ''Not this.. not this either... I''ve taken the memories and experiences of hundreds of people but none of them fit my needs... I guess I''ll have to mix a few of them to get the desired product.'' she thought and got to work.


    Extremely thin black strands flew out from her shadow and began to condense into a ball right in front of her. It took her more than ten minutes to get everything done. Explore stories on empire


    "Phew, that took some time." she muttered and slid her tongue across her plump lower lip as she looked at her puppet.


    Without any warning, she grabbed the black ball and slapped it on his head, shooting the black ball into his brain.


    The guy convulsed violently, but right at that time, the girl smirked, ''Looks like Keith followed those two to the mansion tonight. I wanted to kill them for being so annoying but I guess we can play and have some fun tonight, hehehe.''


    She moved from one shadow to another as she tried to find the shadows that were under the people who were given the responsibility to attack Clangson''s mansion. In just one second, she scrolled scrolled through hundreds of shadows before finding the one she wanted the most.


    It was the crazy guy who absolutely worshipped Otto and since he was the current leader of the raid, she knew that influencing him would give her better returns compared to anyone else.


    She read through his thoughts and clicked her tongue mentally, ''Tch, what an idiot. He''s aggressive just like Otto but this guy is so much dumber. Why do you even want to go in for an all scale attack when you have other choices?''


    She shook her head and looked at the silver haired pretty guy in front of her who was still convulsing, but compared to before, it was much tamer.


    Suddenly, an invisible form of energy surged around her as the dust and small debris flew outwards with her at the center.


    Thoughts and goals of her target began getting influenced and just after a few seconds, the guy gave out an order.


    "Everyone, keep your weapons down. We will attack stealthily this time and harass them until they can''t take it anymore." he said and grinned widely as he pointed at one of the people near him, "Light up that bottle and throw it at the window. Which one of you is the strongest here?"


    A guy from the back lifted his hand up, "Of course it me. I can''t believe that you forgot about me Han."


    Han clicked his tongue and pointed at the bottle of high purity alcohol, "We can catch up later asshole! This is a job from the boss so let''s get this done right. Take that thing and throw it at the mansion."


    The other guy sighed and nodded as he walked over to the person who had the bottle. He took it from him, lighted up the tip which was just a cloth passing through the cap and pulled his hand back as his muscles expanded and grew.


    "Here it goes!!" he groaned and immediately tossed the bottle towards the mansion.


    It few in a long arc and accurately struck the window.


    Seeing this, the girl nodded with a smile on her face as she kept at eye on the silver haired man in front of her who was recovering at a steady pace.


    ''What will you do now, Keith? I''m just a few meters away so the moment you run far away, I''ll kill your friends.'' she thought, talking to an imaginary Keith in her mind as she kept an eye on him from the shadow that was formed by the mansion.


    And just like she had expected, he rushed out like a hero but to her surprise, he stopped midway and ran back.


    "You two should go check it out. This mansion is giving me a bad feeling so I''ll stay back instead." she heard him say.


    Hearing this, she frowned, ''A bad feeling? And you got this feeling while you were running? Yeah, it doesn''t add up. For some reason, you decided to join those two while you could have been partying. It''s a pity that I wasn''t paying attention to you during that time... if not, I probably would have known the reason.''


    Her thoughts wandered, but she was unable to come to a conclusion.


    "Tch, fine. It was me who was clumsy, but let''s see how you''ll stop me this time." she muttered as she watched her creation stand up straight and elegantly push his hair back.


    He gave her a confused look but the girl simply grinned before opening her mouth.


    "Your name from today onwards will be Ken, but tell others to call you Silver Thread. Make sure that no one learns your real name but for now, I''ll give you orders randomly along with information and instructions. You can call me Juliet. Oh and add in the suffix Master."


    "As you wish, Master Juliet." he said and saw her smile, "Great. Now... play the game for me."


    Just as she said that, she pressed her thumb onto his forehead and gave him all the knowledge about Keith and the current situation in Auberg district along with various other things. In just a second, her job was done and Ken turned to look in the direction of the mansion.


    "I''ll take my leave, master." he said and bowed down slightly before he began to move.


    He climbed over the tall wall that served as a protection for the mansion and as he jumped in, he saw that Keith was not outside anymore.


    His expression was calm and emotionless as his hair moved to cover his face, taking the form of a silvery white egg.


    Equipped with his makeshift mask which looked like an egg helmet, he rushed towards window that was connected to the living room.

 Chapter 176 Clangsons True Past (Extra Chapter)

    Keith didn''t have to wait for even a minute as he suddenly heard and saw one of the windows break into pieces.Each window had one sixteen sections of glass that were separated and kept in place by the help of wood. One main "+" design with the wood and in each of these sections, there was another "+" sign.


    Pieces of wood and shards of glass fell into the room and Keith saw a man climb in with a silvery white mask. The guy turned his head to look in Keith''s direction before multiple strands of hair uncoiled and revealed his face. Keith squinted his eyes and immediately shot out a system seed at the guy.


    ''Silver hair, handsome and also having feminine looks, slender yet slightly muscular... is this silver thread? I don''t really want to fight that menace but I didn''t expect him to come out in the open. Usually he likes operating in the shadows so did something go wrong?'' he thought and immediately, an error message popped up in front of him. S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Stay tuned for updates on empire


    [System Error: System Seed could not be activated as the target is not a human being.]


    This message make Keith feel a sense of fear as this was something he had never expected. Silver Thread was barely given screen time in the novel and whenever he was mentioned, it was from other characters, rumors, riddles or other indirect ways.


    ''He didn''t pay too much attention to Clark at the start of the novel, so Clark grew pretty strong. But even then, Silver managed to stay alive and play with Clark like he was playing with a toy.


    It''s so hard for forget the things he did to cause trouble to Clark and I''d rather not have someone like this as my enemy.


    I originally thought that he was human but this is so unexpected...''


    Keith''s thoughts did wander, but he kept his eye on Silver who silently stood amidst the broken glass shards.


    "Keith... Zenister." He said as he stared at Keith before smiling, "I request you to hand over the family you wish to protect. They''ve done things that they shouldn''t have and their existence is something that is annoying."


    Clangson angrily glared at Ken, "Who gave you the right to declare that I did wrong things? Huh?!"


    Ken shifted his gaze to look at Clangson before smirking, "Let''s start from when you were fourteen years old, shall we? You studied in the royal academy and passed with average scores, but you managed to earn a lot of money during the five years at the academy by selling aphrodisiac drugs to your peers.


    You used that money to start your own textile business and in a few years, you expanded to making wine. Though, that''s all on the surface. Away from everyone''s gazes, you continued your drug business and began selling different drugs and poisons too.


    Then you married your wife whose father partook in slave trading and you took over that business too, which is illegal. As for your beautiful concubines, you forced their fathers into debt and got them to hand over their daughters to you.


    I''ll give you one chance, trash. Will you give away your life for your family, or will you drag them with you by resisting?"


    Keith turned to look at Clangson with a surprised expression on his face. The women beside him glared at him with hatred as they placed their hands on their kids'' shoulders.


    Clangson on the other hand, looked absolutely afraid as he heard Ken''s words. He thought desperately for a few seconds before proposing a request.


    "I- I''ll give you whatever you want, please let me live and please don''t tell people about this. I''ll lose my title... I''ll lose everything."


    Keith squinted his eyes as he watched him trying to negotiate and to his surprise, Ken chuckled playfully instead of pushing forward.


    "Do you really think that you''ll be safe even after I left you alone? You literally confessed in front of an inquisitor and he''s not a normal inquisitor either. He''s a captain of a team who has the power to set up a manhunt for your head." he said and shook his head, "You''re such an idiot... but you should know that you still have an exit. After all, you''ve worked in the shadows for so long."


    Clangson grinned as he nodded repeatedly, "Of course. What''s the price for this inquisitor''s head and my safety? You can take these two commoners along with their kids, but just leave one for succession."


    Keith silently watched as the two concubines panicked, and so did their kids.


    Ken laughed loudly when he heard Clangson''s proposal and shook his head, "Nope, I''ll give you another offer instead. You''ll sponsor a certain group and on top of that, you''ll have to pay us protection fees every week. As for how much, that''ll depend on your profits."


    Before Clangson could react, Keith took out his revolver and pointed it directly at the baronet''s head, "Move an inch and I''ll pull the trigger."


    Clangson froze in fear while Ken chuckled, "You''re forgetting about me, aren''t you?"


    "Not really. You need money and it looks like you''re the one who''s controlling the gangs in this district. I''m just curious about how you managed to evade my group so efficiently, but I guess that''s related to the person who has a power related to shadows.


    I just have one question. What is your goal? If it''s something that doesn''t directly clash with mine, then we can come to an understanding and maybe we can have a partnership. Though, I have another question about Clangson. Did he involve innocent kids in his shady businesses?"


    Ken looked at Kieth with an amused expression on his face, "Looks like you don''t want direct confrontation unless absolutely necessary, ey?" he said and then glanced at Clangson before smiling amicably.


    "Children huh? While he didn''t sell child slaves, he did gather them and kept them for himself. He taught them how to create his drugs, taught them how to trick people to drop their guards so that he could scam them into poverty before he gave them loans with absorbent interest rates." he said and paused for a second.


    "Oh wait, he also used them to test his drugs, which resulted in deaths of more than a hundred kids."


    [Extra chapters left: 1]


    [Current GT: 27]

 Chapter 177 Making Jerky

    "Oh wait there is more but if you need that information, you''ll have to let me have this man."Keith kept his eyes on Ken and shook his head, "There''s no need, I''ve heard enough."


    The trigger was pulled backwards and with a loud bang, the weapon went off. At such a point blank range, Clangson''s fate had been decided as he fell to the floor with two holes on his skull.


    "You... you''re so hasty." Ken said and Keith shrugged, "I hate people like him, but we can still come to an understanding if you want. Tell me what you need and we can talk things through."


    "I''d love to play but you just killed someone whom I really wanted to I''m very angry." Ken said as he smiled and the egg like mask appeared on his face once again.


    Keith grit his teeth and silently moved his gun to aim at the guy in front of him as he tilted his head slightly to the side.


    "You guys, both adults and the kids, please move out. It''ll get dangerous if you stay here."


    "Heh, you think I''ll let them leave when I can use them as my meat shields?" Ken chuckled and rushed towards them.


    Keith immediately fired his weapon but Ken didn''t flinch one bit as the bullets passed through his body, leaving holes.


    With a frown on his face, Keith dashed forward to intercept Ken, but found himself stuck and unable to move.


    ''Damn strings... they''re strong.'' he thought as he saw Ken close the distance between himself and Clangson''s family, but to his surprise, the eldest daughter raised her hand and screamed.


    "Get away from us!!!"


    And right at that moment, as if something invisible had popped up, Ken was stopped in his tracks just like Keith and before he could do a thing, he flew towards the broken window, exiting mansion like a broken doll.


    The near invisible strings that kept Keith locked in one place also seemed to have vanished as he regained his movement.


    "Good job, try to leave from the other side now. I''ll go fight him." he said and immediately rushed out, but this time, he saw a huge mass of silvery strings fly from the outside.


    Not waiting for miracles, Keith used his flame abilities and coated his entire body with fire. Everything happened almost instantly; the fire that formed around him flew outwards and immediately caught onto the hair, burning it as it grew.


    The result of this burning was an undesirable stench of burnt hair and Keith rushed out of the mansion to face Ken who was standing in one place while the hair extended out from his egg helmet.


    Keith dashed forward, using all of his strength along with the boost that the armor gave to quickly close the distance. As he skidded to a halt right in front of Ken, he made the fire around him explode outwards, burning every single strand of hair along with the mask and his clothes.


    His open palm flew to Ken''s face and grabbed it and sensitivity was increased to the limits, but to Keith''s surprise, Ken didn''t show any reaction.


    Not having a concrete reason for this phenomenon, Keith slowed down his assault with his flames to take a look at his opponent''s situation.


    His hand was still on Ken''s neck as the fire that blocked his sight went out.


    In front of him was a human shaped flesh mound that looked like well cooked meat with a great crust. Before Keith could do anything else, the burnt bits fell off and fresh bubbles of reddish pink flesh began do grow out.


    Keith kicked him away and silently watched, studying the way the flesh regrew. He grinned behind his helmet as he saw Ken''s face form once again along with his limbs. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The hair coated his entire body, making him look like a certain white celled creature in a ninja world.


    "Cool, you said you wanted to play right? Let''s play. What should I call you?"


    "Silver Thread."


    Keith nodded and let him stand up before he rushed forward as the armor covering his fists went bright red. Hundreds of strands of hair flew towards him, but all of them shrivelled up as they got into the 1 meter radius around his hands.


    Having no other choice, Ken went for Ketih''s legs. The hair made multiple turned around his calves and ankles before digging into the ground but a single burst of fire that erupted from Keith''s leg burnt it all away.


    The smell was still as bad as before, but the red hop fists landed on Ken''s handsome face perfectly. The force of the punch blew away the head, but Keith silently waited as the head formed again.


    "You''re too weak. Tell me, do you think it''s fun to play when everything gets easy? Nah, it''s boring. I was expecting a bit too much from you but I guess fire is a great weakness. Also, it doesn''t look like you''re a living person, which means you''re just a puppet that''s being controlled by someone else." he said as he grabbed Ken''s neck.


    "Go back to them and give them my message. I''ll wait for you right here, so come and we''ll have a talk."


    Keith then let him go before taking a few steps backwards as he waited for a reply.


    And unlike his expectations, Ken simply went for an attack instead of backing down. A huge mass of silvery hair shot towards him, making him shake his head as he created a barrier of flames.


    But to his surprise, the hair didn''t try to hit him and instead flew past him. Even without looking behind, Keith shot out flames in all directions as a tall pillar of orange flames hit the skies.


    Every single strand of hair was burnt while leaving a stinky smell. Keith scrunched his nose and decided to end it right that instant as Ken wasn''t listening to him anymore. Stay tuned with empire


    Bright orange flames covered Ken''s body and burned for ten whole minutes until the entire body had turned dry.


    ''Let''s see how this jerky comes back to life, if it''s even possible.''

 Chapter 178 Silver Threads Master

    LIke Keith had expected, the mass of flesh did not come back to life and nor did it regenerate. He thought for a bit and sent the burnt body to Clara''s spatial dimension instead of his own as he could not tell whether Ken was trying to fake his death or not.''Her dimension is empty so it''s better to send him there. I can still keep an eye on him, so it''s not much of a problem.'' he thought as he turned around and looked at the family that was standing behind the cover of a thick tree.


    His gaze then moved towards the direction in which Brandon and Edward and rushed to as he got their systems popped up in front him.


    All the information lay bare for him as he read through the contents, ''They''re cleaning things up so I''ll stay here and see what to do with these people.''


    The two system screens disappeared and in their place, appeared seven. Two for the concubines and five for the kids.


    Keith silently gave a command to his partially sentient system, "Compile all the information regarding their involvement in illegal things with Clangson."


    [Affermative... information compiled. Time taken: 1.45 seconds.]


    The seven screens in front of him disappeared and only one large screen appeared instead. As he walked towards the family, he silently read through the contents and a frown appeared on his face.


    ''Both the concubines were involved and so was Clangson''s eldest son... the four kids are innocent, but with their dead father''s history, there''s no way they''ll be able to keep the title of baronet anymore. Well, not like it matters to me.'' he thought as he halted in front of them.


    "I''ll take you guys for interrogation, so I hope you answer truthfully. Just so you know, I have an artifact that can tell if someone is lying or not and if you do lie, then your punishment will just become more severe. If you want proof, let me ask you something." he said and glanced at the eldest daughter.


    "You slept around with a Count''s son, didn''t you?"


    The girl frowned and shook her head, "No way, I didn''t! He tried to force himself on me in one of his parties and I ran away. I didn''t let him touch me!"


    "Truth." Keith said before leaning closer to her and this time, he asked with a dangerous tone, "Now tell me, you slept with his father that same night, didn''t you?"


    "..." she stared at him with her eyes wide and immediately shook her head, "N- no! I... I just rushed back home."


    "Lies. I''m sure that your whole family knows about this so there''s no need for me to do anything else. After all, Clangson told you to do it for the sake of political power and even though you went along with your father''s wishes, the Count just tossed you and your family away like rags after that night.


    Anyways, just keep in mind that I''ll know if you lie to me. As for these young kids... they deserve better parents." he commented as he glanced at the youngest child who was an eight year old girl.


    With a sigh, he took a few steps back but he didn''t take his eyes away from them.


    He didn''t have to wait for long as Brandon and Edwards came back with multiple people tied up behind them and to Keith''s surprise, he saw a familiar face.


    ''Robert...'' he thought and let out a heavy sigh as he took in his ragtag, scrawny look, ''He looks like he has been malnourished for months... but even though I''m his brother, I can''t give him special treatment. It doesn''t change the fact that he joined a gang and caused trouble to innocent people.''


    He felt slightly complicated as a part of him wanted to help Robert as a brother, but another part of him simply did not care as he had no attachment to the guy. He knew that he was not the Keith from this Earth, but from another. sea??h th§× n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Take them to the church''s prisons and I''ll come to question them. Let''s just say that I have an artifact that can tell apart truths from lies." he said and then pointed at the family beside him, "Take them under custody too and get some letters to the royal family ready since Clangson has been involved in drugs and human trafficking."


    Brandon nodded and looked at Edward, "Will you go and buy some rope?"


    "Sure."


    Keith silently watched Edward leave before he sat down on the ground and let out a soft groan, "Ugh."


    "Your instincts... I wish you were still a part of out team Keith." Brandon said as he stood tall, keeping an eye on the Clangson family, "You guys, kneel and keep your hands behind your back until we get the ropes."


    "We can always work together. You know, like before. Amelia told me that you guys barely have any manpower and heh, as inquisitors, we have perks that you guys don''t.


    Enjoy exclusive adventures from empire


    Which means that we are allowed to kill people who cause trouble instead of having to subdue them like you guys.


    I also want Caleb, Laura and Nolan to get some experience in these things and also-" he stopped abruptly as an arrow lodged into the ground right in front of him.


    It had a letter tied to it, so Keith took it off and unfolded it so he could read.


    I''m Silver Thread''s Master.


    You killed my creation, but I''ll give you the win this time. I don''t want to meet you, but I do have a proposal. I''m having too much fun playing this game with you, so I don''t want to stop. You won, so I''ll do one thing you ask me to.


    I can hear your words from where you''re currently at, so don''t worry about anything and just say it out loud. As long as it isn''t the disbanding of the gang or anything that might bring me a loss, I''ll accept almost anything.

 Chapter 179 Distribution Networks

    Keith returned back home and went straight to bed, a few kilometers away, there were a lot of people getting ready to move out of Auberg district.Inside an inn nearby, Juliet lay on her bed with a dejected look on her face, "I wanted to play more but you send me to Baroma Kingdom... well, you didn''t exactly tell me to dismiss the group so I guess I can''t really blame you."


    She then sat up and grinned, ''But you promised me that something nice will happen in the next few months so I''ll look forward to that. As long as I can have fun, I''ll happily go to that place.''


    In the next few days, the gangs in Auberg district moved out and even though most people did not see a difference, the ones who had been affected in the past few days, felt a sense of relief. Even Keith relaxed, but he too realised something important.


    And that was the fact that Auberg district didn''t need him anymore. There were still petty crimes being committed, but this didn''t require inquisitors to get involved. The sheriff''s group took care of such matters, which meant that staying in Auberg district was a waste of time.


    He had a few things to do, but apart from those, there really was no need for him to stay here anymore. A part of him wanted to laze around in Auberg district, but he also knew that he was getting paid for a reason.


    At first, he joined for the money. But now he wanted the role of the inquisitor for one thing along and that was the license to kill. There were conditions, yes. But he never had any plans to kill innocent people so it was the perfect thing for him to have.


    Keith silently stared at the timer in front of him and once it reached 0, he took his taxes from Vincent and Fabian.


    From Vincent, it was the war god''s inheritance and when it came to Fabian, the guy really did not have much to offer since he was still focusing on skin hardening. Due to this, Keith decided to give him a mission instead.


    [Special Mission]


    Move to Morose Kingdom''s Capital and become a permanent resident there.


    Sub quest: Take over the gangs, bandit groups, mercenary groups and unify them under your name.


    Sub quest: Make a name for the group.


    Rewards:


    Main quest is mandatory, with no rewards.


    Each sub quest''s completion will give you one free skill upgrade.


    Punishment for failure:


    Main quest: Withdrawal of cultivation system


    Sub quests: No punishments


    Keith then headed over to the church and stood in front of the priest in his office.


    "I''ve taken care of the gang so your orphanage should be safe. I suggest hiring or transferring at least one person for the detective department." he said as he took a seat in front of Pascal, who let out a sigh of relief.


    "So you knew huh... I thank you from the bottom of my heart, inquisitor Keith." he said as he smiled, "If there''s anything you need, please do tell me about it."


    Keith nodded and spoke out, "Just need a letter from you that the inquisitors are needed to make sure that the stability in Auberg district stays intact. It doesn''t have to be a lot, but just five months."


    "Of course. But if you don''t mind me asking, what do you plan on doing for these five months here?"


    "I have a few personal things that I want to take care of. Other than that, I also want my team to focus on training since some of my team members don''t have strong awakened abilities. I actually planned on setting up my own orphanage, but since you already have one, I''ll sponsor it.


    I just want you to treat the kids well and teach them good things. Since the gangs are currently gone and this place is empty, the groups from neighboring places will come here so I''ll also have to keep those in check.


    Auberg district will be protected by my team for the next five months and after that, I''ll easily get reasons to hunt for such groups in the neighboring places too."


    Hearing this, Pascal nodded and immediately began to write a letter for Keith. As he did that, Keith continued to speak.


    "I plan on getting into the liquor business. Do you have any ideas or suggestions?"


    Pascal continued to write, but when he heard Keith''s question, he hummed.


    "Hmm... I know a Viscount who sells beer to this area of the empire. He already has an established distribution network, so you can start from there. I''ve also heard of a few big players but they''re all from the central area so traveling itself might take a lot of time."


    Pascal''s answer got Keith thinking.


    ''What I need right now is a good distribution network. There''s only so much I can do on my own and expecting people to come to Auberg district just to taste some vodka or whiskey is just wishful thinking. Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    There isn''t any hype around properly aged whiskeys or other kinds of liquor, so even that will fail. The only way I have is to compete with others but since everyone sells their liquor without branding, I guess I can make a change to that. Enjoy new adventures from empire


    A distribution network.... I think I have some ideas.''


    He then looked at Pascal and spoke, "I do need a distribution network, but I don''t want the people to buy my things for an extremely low price, only to sell it at a high cost.


    I plan on setting up a fixed selling price but I''ll also need people who are willing to take up the job. And if I go to the Viscount with this plan, I don''t think he''ll like that."


    Pascal nodded and paused what he was doing so he could think.


    "Well, you could always approach the baronets or well established merchants. There''s a merchant group in the capital and they have a network that''s better than any noble''s I''ve seen. But they also have their own problems."

 Chapter 180 Robert, The Second Child

    Keith then left to the police station and went directly to the prison area where all the people who were caught, were there."Keith?" a familiar voice came out, but Keith simply gave him a knowing gaze before shaking his head, "I told you long ago, to not join a gang but you still did it. Don''t try to ask for help cuz I don''t think I can or will."


    The workers at the station silently watched as Keith took a good look at the prisoners.


    He then turned to look at the new sheriff who was sitting on Adam''s previous chair and gave him a curt nod.


    "I wish to know your take on their punishments, sheriff."


    The middle aged man nodded and pointed at six people, "Those six have multiple charges of assault, robbery and public disturbance. We''ve arrested him a lot of times, but it looks like they never change. We don''t really have any power to punish them seriously as the only thing we can do is to keep them in the prison and get them fed.


    It''s infuriating, but I will be really glad if you take care of them. As for the others... it''s their first or second time here, so I have some hope for them."


    Keith nodded and looked at the six people. All of them were smirking, but Keith didn''t bother with their facial expressions and simply placed his hand on one of their heads.


    The next instant, he had disappeared. People gasped in shock as Keith moved on to the next person.


    "I will erase them from this world. They will get neither a cremation or a burial." he declared as he placed his hand on the second guy and even he disappeared.


    This continued until he got all the six and once he was done, he looked at his brother, "... Father gave you his three acres of land. Sister got married off and luckily, he was a good guy. I had to get a scholarship to the academy and work hard while you sold off all the land and threw the money away on alcohol.


    I''m disappointed in you and I also feel anger towards both you and father. But the old man is dead, so I hope that you change after you''re released. Just keep in mind that if I find you in a similar situation, I will treat you as my worst enemy.


    Rebecca still cares about you, but I''ll make sure that you disappear. She''ll never know what happened to you, so take this seriously."


    "Keith! I''m your elder brother!! Is this how you respect m-"


    A resounding slap echoed in the room.


    Keith looked down on his brother who was shaking from rage, "You.... you dare?"


    Seeing Robert in such a state, Keith crouched down and made eye contact with him.


    "You have no one left in your life Robert, and you lost the right to call me your brother the moment you joined the gangs. Both me and Rebecca tried to stop you, but you literally spit on us for not being of much use in the name of family when all you wanted was money so you could throw it away on gambling. One more word and I will, kill."


    Robert stared into Keith''s eyes and he instantly knew that the person in front of him wasn''t his brother. Keith never was a strong person emotionally and he also never spoke against him. This kind of change in such a short amount of time was something Robert found hard to believe.


    He wanted to open his mouth and blame Keith for not stopping him in the past, for not giving him money as that was the sole reason for his decision to join a gang.


    Read new adventures at empire


    But as he stared into Keith''s eyes, he just knew that if he did speak, he might not live to see another day.


    Keith silently stared at Robert and once he made sure that his brother was not going to talk, he stood back up before he moved to the sheriff.


    "Don''t give him any special treatment. We don''t consider him a part of the Zenister family anymore." he said and pointed at his brother, "In fact, I''ll be happier if you teach that bastard an unforgettable lesson instead."


    The sheriff nodded and Keith left the place before he mentally dived into his spatial dimension. The six guys were on his 100m x 100m plot and there was nothing but gold, silver and weapons there.


    He silently watched them jump around and celebrate as they played with all the gold. He silently smiled and shook his head, "Let''s see if those things will feed you or quench your thirst. I''ll wait until you guys reach a state of despair first."


    He then left his spatial dimension and headed straight to the church''s library. In there, he grabbed the books that promised information on the current baronets, the trading organization and the books that might have information on businesses. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It was still early in the morning, so he used this time to silently read these books. It consumed a lot of time and the reading wasn''t really done in just a day.


    Instead, Keith spent almost two weeks to finish reading all the books he had picked. He had learned about the baronets and the trading organization a lot, but the knowledge about business and trading was exceptionally lacking and didn''t really show much promise.


    He placed the last book on the table and leaned back on his chair, ''The things I learned in my previous life is way more practical and useful than the business ideas here. But all in all, it doesn''t change the fact that I need a strong distribution network.''


    His thoughts slowly wandered as he thought of various strategies and ideas until he settled on one.


    ''The trading organization is corrupt and they do a lot of scams against new merchants so going to them is a bad idea. I guess I''ll talk with the baronets who are barely able to pay the taxes and since they''re in need of money and already have a decent distribution network, they can be more trustworthy.''

 Chapter 181 A Meeting With Baronets

    Two months later, Keith sat on one end of the table in his office, which was supposed to be used for meetings.There were five chairs on both his sides while there were two opposite to him, totaling at 12 chairs. All of them were occupied by baronets who had received his letter 4 to 6 weeks ago.


    All of them lived at different distances from Auberg district and Keith knew that they''d need time to travel. Due to this, he set up a time for when he expected better attendance.


    He didn''t expect a 100% attendance, but it had happened nonetheless so he was pretty happy with the current outcome.


    "As I mentioned in the letter, we''ll be discussing about the distribution of liquor. I have a new kind and I plan to call it Vodka. The plan is to sell different variants of it with three concentration levels. One will be extremely diluted and will have the same effect as a beer, but it''ll be flavored with lime and mint.


    Second one will have a concentration that''ll be double of the first one and this one will have no flavoring. As for the third and last kind, it''ll have the same concentration of a whiskey. It''ll taste different, but it''ll have the same outcome when it comes to the buzz.


    If you have any questions, please feel free to ask." Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    One of the guys on the left raised his hand, "You said that there will be a fixed price and that you will only sell one version to us. What did you mean by that?"


    "The one version that I''ll be selling to you, will be the third one which has the highest concentration. I''ll tell you the steps to manufacture the first and second kind so that you can do it on your own. This way, it''ll be easier to transport the goods since the initial quantity will be low.


    You guys will then dilute it and based on what you want to make, even adding flavors will be counted. This way, we''ll be able to make better use of our money instead of spending too much on transportation.


    I''ll sell you the equipment that''s needed for the base price, which means that I''ll give them to you at the same price of the material costs. All you have to do is follow the instructions perfectly when you make the products and to price them according to the rules."


    Another person, who was younger than most people in the room leaned forward slightly as he spoke.


    "Yes, you did talk about the fixed pricing, so what is the exact numbers? And before we decide on whether we want to join hands with you, we''ll need a sample so that we can judge if it''s worth the efforts or not."


    Keith nodded calmly as he passed a sheet of paper to the guy on his left, "Read the contents and pass it to the others. The pricing will be very simple. The first type, which is the flavored one will be priced at half a brak per bottle. Which means that they''ll be sold in pairs. This is technically the pricier version of all three based on the alcohol content to money ratio.


    When it comes to the second one which has a ten percent alcohol content, it''ll be priced at one brak per bottle but with a special offer. If they buy five bottles, they''ll get one bottle for free. This is for the bars and pubs in your locality since even they''ll have to make money through the business.


    As for the last one which has a 50% alcohol content, you''ll be selling each one for ten braks each. You''ll make the containers look fancy and tell people that it''s a premium product. I''ll invest 50% of the money that''s needed to set up a glass bottle manufacturing facility.


    Now, coming to the topic of bottles themselves; set up a recycling facility in your locality and pay people for giving you guys used glass bottles. This way, you won''t have to import too much sand or glass from other territories and in the long run, you''ll be able to make more profit.


    As for how you sell the first and second types, is dependent on you. You can sell them in both glass bottle versions or wooden barrels but I feel like it''ll be the bars and pubs that''ll buy the barrels instead of common folks.


    You''ll also set up a separate stall that only sells my products and this will be directed towards common folks. You''ll only sell alcohol in glass bottles to them and this will also be the place where the extremely poor will come to sell empty or broken bottles to you.


    As for the price at which you buy the bottles, I suggest keeping it low but not too low that people wouldn''t find it worth their time. Your next journey awaits at empire


    And when it comes to samples, I knew that you guys will ask for it so I did prepare a small batch just for this scenario." he said and a second later a small glass bottle appeared in front of him.


    He grabbed it and looked at the door, "Caleb, bring in the glasses please."


    As if everything was planned, Caleb immediately pushed the door open and walked in with a bunch of drinking glasses. He placed one each in front of the baronets and left as soon as he was done with his work.


    Keith then got up from his chair and began to pour the drink into everyone''s glasses. The amount poured wasn''t much, but it was more than enough for them to taste a sample.


    Everyone took a sip and they were pleasantly surprised with the refreshing taste that hit their tongues. The cool, minty flavor chilled their throats as it counteracted the burn of the vodka.


    Compared to the various drinks they had in the past, they could all tell that the one in their hands was a unique one.

 Chapter 182 Ending The Meeting

    Almost everyone loved the taste but before they could voice their opinions, Keith took out another bottle and began to pour the contents into their glasses."This is the second one and it has no added flavors."


    The group took a sip and Keith could immediately tell that more than half of them didn''t like the taste. Two of them even coughed like they were about to puke and this was enough for Keith to tell that the people would need some time to get used to.


    "Looks like some of you don''t really like the way it tastes." he said as he glanced at these people and all of them gave him a bitter look.


    "We''re just not used to something like this. Almost all alcohols taste bad, so this one will take some getting used to. Same goes with the people who''ll buy this, so if you want this drink to become popular, you''ll need to take some drastic measures."


    Keith grinned, "You''re right. We really should take some drastic measures and the answer for that is to dilute this to 4% alcohol content before selling it to the people. Which means that you''ll have to use two of these bottles to make 5 diluted ones. sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Then you can sell them at the same cost as a bottle of beer, at 5 bottles for 1 brak. The profit margins on this one won''t be high, but this low pricing will make people have only two options. The beer or my vodka.


    Beer is extremely bitter, especially the cheap one. But when it comes to this, even though it slightly burns, it''s almost tasteless." he said and took out another bottle and filled up their glasses once again.


    Everyone drank it and this time, their reactions weren''t as exaggerated as before.


    One of them frowned as he stared at the glass that he was holding, "Hmm... this might work but it doesn''t have the fizz that beer has and some people like the bitterness too. This one tastes like water but it does have a faint taste of something else. Though, it mostly tastes flat."


    Keith nodded in response and pointed out the advantages, "And this will cater to those people who don''t like the bitterness." he said and took out the last bottle that had 50% alcohol concentration and gave it out.


    "Instead of taking a sip, gulp it all down in one go. Just trust me on this one." he said and the others nodded before doing the exact thing that Keith had said.


    This time, the reactions were even more exaggerated. One of them spit the liquid back into the glass while two of them tried their best to swallow until the vodka shot out of their nostrils.


    Keith expected this, but he stayed silently as he watched the other nine who were recovering from the hit. Find adventures at empire


    Once again, the same guy who commented a minute ago, spoke.


    "Okay, this one has promise. Those hardcore liquor people will absolutely love this one but the pricing is a little..."


    Keith nodded as he understood the problem, but he grinned and pointed at the glass that the man was holding.


    "That''s the reason why we''ll sell this one in a different way compared to others. We''ll sell these in glasses as well as bottles. We''ll make more profit from the glasses but there will be people who''ll still want to buy the strong version instead of the weak ones. Do you know why?"


    "Stomach capacity?" one of them replied and Keith nodded with a smile on his face.


    "Right! The main goal of alcoholics is to get drunk and if they can''t get drunk by the time their stomachs are full, then they''ll feel like they''ve wasted their money. That''s were this comes in. You''ll sell two glasses for 1 brak and each glass will only contain 30 milliliters of vodka.


    And unlike bottles, the customers are not allowed to take the glasses with them. So this way, you''ll be saving money too. Just tell the bartenders to give you back the bottles once they''re empty and you''re good to go.


    You''ll just have to pay them one or two braks for ten bottles and this way, there won''t be a need for recycling. All you''ll have to do is clean the bottles well and use them again."


    The discussions continued and Keith promised to deliver the goods on time. He also gave each of them 50 Chrons as an investment to set up the glass manufacturing facility in their locality.


    Once they left, he let out a soft sigh and dived into his spatial dimension. His potatoes were still growing, but to make samples for his distributors, he had to resort to using the left over potatoes to make vodka.


    The one he currently planned on selling was unfiltered vodka, but in the future, he had plans to use filtering. This way, the vodka would be smooth and softer on the throat.


    ''Right now, let''s just make the brand known to people. That''s the first priority.'' he thought as he used his mental energy to boost the time flow by two.


    Currently, he could keep the time boost up for approximately 9 hours straight but that was mostly because the plot he was boosting the time for, had an area that was less than half of the maximum. (Accurate answer for the whole 1 million square meters of land is 267 minutes.)


    And while these 9 hours passed, his mental energy also recovered during this time.


    Originally, he needed around 18 hours to recover his mental energy to full capacity and due to this, he could easily recover 50% of his mental energy in those 9 hours.


    This meant that he could continue the time boost for even more hours. His natural recovery could keep the time boost active for 17 hours and 50+ minutes, but as long as Keith got his snu snu time with Clara, he could easily extend the duration to 24 hours.


    Though he could extend it over 24 hours, he would still need to recover his mental energy after that as there wasn''t any function that would reset his mental energy back to full once a day was done.

 Chapter 183 A Letter From The Royal Family

    Keith only had to wait for 15 more days before it was time to harvest his potatoes. He didn''t have to do any physical labor as this place could be controlled at will.All the plants shot out of the ground and the soil that was attached to the potatoes fell back down. All of them were then piled up at the center as Keith decided to ask for his system''s help.


    "Hey system, give me an accurate calculation of how the plantation went and about the current yield."


    [Affirmative. Here is the data:]


    Length of Plot''s sides = 700m each


    Number of rows = 778


    Spacing between each row = 0.9m


    Number of plants in each row = 1750


    Spacing between each plant in a row: 0.4m


    Total number of plants = 778 x 1750


    Total number of plants = 1,361,500 plants


    The plants have grown ideally and have an average output of 4kg per plant.


    The final yield is 5,446,000 kilograms of healthy potatoes.


    "Okay wow, that''s a bit too much...." he muttered as he turned to look at the barrels that he had purchased for the sake of fermentation. But now that he saw the output, he knew that he''d need more.


    ''Well, it''s fine. I can do it in batches.''


    The potatoes were peeled and boiled in a large bubble of extremely hot water that floated in front of Keith. Then the potatoes were crushed inside the water and the boiling continued.


    This was done to breakdown the starch content in the potatoes and make it easily accessible for fermentation. Once everything was done, Keith then cooled down the mixture and filled up the 10,000 barrels that he had managed to acquire.


    Once they were filled, he then poured some yeast infested water that he purchased from breweries nearby. He had been doing this for the past few months so he had more than enough yeast to get the fermentation going.


    He then cut off a 30x30m area and began to place the barrels in a pyramid structure to minimize the area occupied. Once done, he checked the limits of time boost for such a small area with the system''s help and decided to go for a 7x boost.


    ''It''ll last for 777 minutes huh? That''s almost 13 hours, which means that I can keep it going for 18 hours with my natural recovery and stop the boost while I sleep. This way, I can get things going smoothly.''


    (Damn, too many numbers in this chapter and this is taking way too long. I''ll do the calculations behind the scenes instead of writing here. After all, there aren''t many people who are interested in numbers.)


    Once he was done with his preparations and the time boost had started, he flew towards his goat farm and saw six men working out with sheer dedication and discipline.


    ''Playing god really worked, didn''t it? All I had to do was promise them a place in heaven and they got to work... yikes'' he thought and got six chickens to fly from his small 100m x 100m plot. Enjoy new tales from empire


    The group cheered when they saw the chickens as this signified their rest day, but that wouldn''t start unless they caught the agile things.


    Keith silently watched them chase the chickens for a few minutes until he got bored and then left the place. He opened his eyes slid away from Clara''s sleeping form before walking out of the room.


    He repeated the routine he had been doing since the past ten days and headed towards the main entrance. Unlike before where he didn''t get anything, this time he spotted a small envelope.


    ''It''s finally here.'' he thought as he picked it up and tore open the envelope to get to the contents inside.


    The letter was small and as he read the contents, he smiled. Once he was done, he stuffed the letter into his pocket and walked back to his room.


    ''You guys can complain all you want, but she''s already gotten the stamp of approval since she''s paid the loan. No matter what you do, you guys can''t force her into a marriage anymore'' he thought. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The money, approved documents and a letter written my Clara herself had been delivered to the protection church that was close to Timothy''s estate. While the letter itself was given directly to them after quite a lot of trouble, they would have to go to the church if they wanted the money or documents.


    On top of that, the interests would have to stop at the moment as the documents were stamped by the church. Due to this, if they purposefully decide to stall for time, their plans wouldn''t work.


    With everything important settled, Keith expected no more problems but as luck may have it, he received a letter directed towards him a few weeks later.


    The envelope had multiple silver engravings along with a special stamp. He frowned as he glanced at Caleb who had brought him the letter and took it from him.


    Amelia who was sitting beside him, spoke "That''s the stamp of Kazak royal family... did you mess up with something?"


    "I don''t think I messed up but I sure am surprised..." he said as he opened the envelope and pulled out a letter before reading it out loud.


    Inquisitor Keith Zenister, as the third prince of the Kazak royal family, I would like to invite you to the palace for my youngest sister''s coming of age ceremony.


    You and your entire team is invited and I request you to follow the dress code that is written at the back of this letter.


    The banquet will be held on February 21st, but I hope that we can have a personal meeting before that. Feel free to ask for me once you reach the capital and I will free up some time for you.


    I won''t hide my intentions. There have been multiple skirmishes at our borders with Baroma and Morose Kingdoms. I know that you have dedicated yourself to the Church of Protection, but I would be glad if you decide to take our side and help us.


    I promise you on the name of the great Kazak family that you will be rewarded handsomely for every contribution.


    .


    .


    .

 Chapter 184 She Needs Self-Confidence

    Keith continued to read the letter and once he was done, he put it back into the envelope."So, are you going?" Amelia asked as she looked at him and Keith nodded, "Yeah, but I don''t really want to join him. I''ll need some time to think things through but before that, I''d rather listen to everyone''s opinion on this."


    He then looked at his teammates and one by one, they began to share their thoughts.


    "I want to go just because I''ve never been to a grand banquet." Nathan said as he gave Keith a leisurely look.


    Laura looked at Caleb instead of answering and he did the talking, "I feel like it''ll be a good experience. As for taking sides, I feel like we will benefit a lot from this as we are originally from the church of protection.


    We are inquisitors and usually, there''s a lot of respect and fear when it comes to our job."


    Clara nodded and continued after Caleb, "We can also use this chance to get information about the corruption and crime that''s happening in the empire. There is no need for us to directly get involved in the borders and we can always change the conditions. Read latest chapters at empire


    By using the information network of the royal family, we should be able to get into a stable give and take relationship. The royal family cannot act against nobles without concrete evidence, and this is where we come into play since we operate outside the rules of the empire."


    Amelia on the other end, let out a soft sigh, "The royal family is a bit too late when it comes to hiring inquisitors from churches. Almost every single noble family from the Marquess have already hired a lot of them.


    It''s been decades since this has been happening and this is the first time I''ve seen the royal family take a step like this. I have a feeling that this isn''t about the royal family and instead a personal thing to the third prince."


    "And what would be the reason?" Keith asked even though he knew the answer and Amelia smirked before answering.


    "It''s almost time for succession. The youngest princess is the tenth official child of the emperor and once the tenth child comes of age, the emperor will announce succession wars. It won''t have too much bloodshed, but it works more like a tournament.


    This is probably why the third prince wants you guys to support him. Your team has three people with exceptional awakened abilities and even though Laura and Caleb don''t have such abilities, they''re way stronger than an average knight at this point.


    Having your team on his side will boost his chances by a huge margin. He will probably ask you to join the tournament too, but I suggest that you leave the place right after the banquet ends. If you ever take sides, I suggest the second princess or the eighth prince. Everyone else is not worth the trouble.


    I''m not invited so I don''t think I''ll be able to help you when you''re out there but I''ll tell you everything you need to know right now. So feel free to ask me anything."


    Keith nodded, "I heard that the second princess is an absolute beauty."


    Hearing his words, both Amelia and Clara squinted their eyes. Before he knew it, he felt a sudden pain on his sides and saw Clara pinching him ruthlessly.


    "Ow ow ow ow, stop! I was joking!"


    "Hmph, you''re an asshole." Clara said and grabbed his ear before dragging him to their room.


    He silently waited for her to speak and instead of screaming at him, she let out a sigh, "You... still didn''t tell me what your decision is when it comes to Amelia. Why are you saying things like that in front of her when you clearly know that she has feelings for you?"


    "I just said what came to my mind... but I just have one question. Why do you want me to get into a polygamic relationship? Like, don''t you think that you might get jealous?"


    "No, I''ll be happy to have someone who''s like a sister to me being in a lovely relationship with someone she likes. But I do understand that if you don''t find her attractive, it''ll be hard to be happy for you." she said before hugging him.


    "I just want her to be happy... but I also don''t want to force you to do something you don''t want." S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Keith held her as he gave her pats on the back, "I don''t have a problem with Amelia if I''m being honest. I do have a certain type that I prefer but that doesn''t mean that I''ll say no to others. She''s extremely pretty and I agree with the fact that she''s one of the top beauties too.


    But you see, I feel like it''ll be better for her to take a step forward instead of me. Feel free to give her some nudges but don''t directly tell her to go for it. She''s extremely confident when it comes to her beauty, but it seems like the words I''ve said in the past effect her a lot.


    She has to love herself first for who she is. She thinks that I''d never date slim or lithe girls who don''t have frontal development so I want her to have some confidence in herself first.


    If she impulsively tells me that she has feelings for me and if I accept in such a situation, the lack of confidence will still stay inside her and that alone can cause multitude of problems. Even small things might trigger negative emotions like jealousy.


    I''ve already started doing my best you know? I stopped calling her my bro since the past three months and it looks like she likes the change. Though, sometimes it''s hard not to give her snarky answers because that''s just how my friendship with her goes."


    Clara smirked as she looked up at him, "Snarky my ass. The way you speak to her is way too saucy and provocative. No wonder she fell for you, tch."

 Chapter 185 The First Vodka Distribution

    Keith and Clara walked out of their room and saw the trio grinning from ear to ear."Looks like the beast has been tamed by the lioness." Laura teased with a playful grin on her face while the others laughed.


    Keith shook his head and just plopped himself onto the couch before looking at Amelia, "I''ll add you to the team as a temporary support member. This way, you''ll be able to attend the banquet with us and it''ll be nice having you there since none of us here have any experience with grand banquets."


    "So... wanna come with us or not?" he asked and waited for a response as he kept his eyes fixed on her.


    "But Brandon..." S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Keith shrugged, "You guys barely have any serious cases anymore and you also told me that there was a new face in the team too."


    Amelia nodded and sighed, "Yeah, her name is Juliet and she acts like a damn child. It''s a good thing that Edward is the one who''s in charge of her and I''m so glad that it isn''t me."


    "Heh, but how does it feel to have your junior become a head inquisitor?" he asked and smirked, only to get a "tsk" in response.


    She dodged the question and instead gave him a nod, "Fine, I''ll join you guys. It''s December now and if we wish to reach the capital before the birthday ends, we''ll have to use the water route instead of horse carriages.


    It''ll be an uncomfortable journey, but that''s our only choice. The best thing to do right now is to get things packed and leave by tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. I''ll go get permission from Brandon, but I''ll need an official letter from you too." she said and looked at the group.


    "What are you all looking at? Start packing!" she commanded and the trio rushed towards their rooms while Keith stopped Clara from leaving.


    Once he saw that they were gone, he spoke, "It''s fine, there''s no need to hurry. I''ll write the letter for Amelia and then we can go buy some food for our travels."


    He then paused and gave both of them a sheepish smile, "Um... I need a paper..." he said and headed to his room at the end.


    Clara stayed back with Amelia while Keith wrote his letter and once he was done, he gave it to the girl.


    "I have to do some preparations for the business that I planned, so I''ll leave the shopping to you." he said and took out two zen notes that had the number 10 printed on them along with a leather pouch filled with brak coins.


    "Okay." Clara said and took the money before the three of them left to take care of their responsibilities.


    Since the meeting with the baronets, slightly more than four weeks had passed and Keith had a lot of vodka ready at this point in time.


    ''I planned on sending everything to them after another week, but this should also be fine.'' he thought and headed towards an inn that was close to the edge of Auberg district.


    He listed out the names of 12 people and the owner of the inn helped him with calling those people out of their rooms.


    "The product is ready. Did you guys get the containers prepared?" he asked as he looked at the people in front of him who were all trusted aides of the baronets.


    All of them nodded and then looked at each other. One of them took up the responsibility to talk for everyone.


    "We all talked to each other and decided to buy two hundred barrels, with each one of them having a capacity of a hundred liters. They''re all stored in a warehouse so as long as you''re ready, we''ll take you there."


    Keith nodded as he did some calculations in his head before frowning slightly, "Well, I only have 200,000 liters of the product. So you guys will have to split them among yourself depending on the amount of reach your baronets have."


    "That''s doable, shall we go?" one of them said and once Keith nodded, they set off to the warehouse.


    On the way, they discussed about their quota and Keith kept an eye on the system screens in front of him to make sure that they weren''t hiding information from him or lying, which they didn''t.


    While they did try to get an advantage over the others by telling Keith about the advantages of giving higher quota to their baronets, this was something that Keith didn''t mind.


    Getting nice deals was a part of a merchant''s skill set, so he decided to give them the goods based on their efforts in indirect bragging.


    Keith first made them line up their barrels and keep them in groups to separate them from each others.


    Once the preparations were done, he sent them all out and closed the doors before he took the barrels into this spatial dimension so he could fill them up.


    A large ball of liquid floated in the air and once a group of barrels popped up inside the dimension, the vodka would fly in and fill up the barrels.


    The cycle continued twelve times and once everything was done, Keith opened the doors and told them to take their quota.


    "I''ll be heading over to the capital since I got an invitation to attend the tenth Princess''s coming of age banquet. Due to this, I''ll be absent for four to five months but rest assured, Once I come back, you''ll receive more vodka from me." he said and talked to them for a few more minutes before leaving.


    As he walked back home, his thoughts wandered to the events that happened in the novel and sighed.


    ''The succession wars are going to get brutal so I originally didn''t want to get involved, but now that I have some amount of power in my hands, I guess it won''t be so bad... I don''t really like the royal family though.''

 Chapter 186 Running Out Of Space

    Keith walked into the house and saw everyone ready to an extent. The trio had their suitcases ready while Amelia and Clara were both taking a look at the things that Clara had gotten from the market.There were a few large bags of beef jerky, pickled cabbages that looked more like kimchi, a few cartons of beer, some spices and a bag of salt.


    Seeing this, he took out a small ring that he had bought on the way back home and put it on his finger before looking at everyone, "I rented this artifact for a few months so that we won''t have to struggle with luggage."


    After saying that, he placed his hand on all the items that Clara had brought and made them disappear.


    The reason he did this was to keep his ability a secret and even though Clara had the same ability, he didn''t want people to find out about it.


    With the ring, if anyone wanted to get their hands on the "artifact" that can store objects, then he could easily just throw it away for distraction and run. He wouldn''t have to endanger Clara or himself in the worst case scenario.


    ''Though, I''ll probably be hunted down once they find out that the ring is just a normal one, it''ll still give me a layer of security.'' he thought and looked at the trio.


    Then he glanced at Amelia and began to give them a false explanation.


    "This thing can store objects inside it and it only works when it''s on me since the owner did some kind of ritual on the ring. He got it to bind with me with my blood so yeah, just tell me if you want something and I''ll take it out of the ring."


    Caleb and the others nodded in response before they all sat down on the couch to talk about the future journey.


    Keith on the other hand, simply walked back to his room and lied down on his bed before shifting his consciousness to his spatial dimension.


    He got to work with making potato chips and fries before placing them all in a small 1mx1m area that was separated from the 100mx100m plot. The time was then frozen to keep them fresh, hot and crispy.


    Unlike time boost that required him to continuously expend his mental energy, time freeze was a one time payment thing. He would have to spend his mental energy to keep the time in a stasis and the amount would depend on the area.


    Since the area was just one meter square, he didn''t have to spend much. S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    If he wanted to get the time flow back to normal, then he would have to spend the same amount of mental energy that he used to bring the time to a state of stasis.


    Once he was done with the basic preparations, he took a look at the plot where the bees were still continuing to increase their population but this time, he could see a small problem.


    Almost 99 percent of the plot was covered in flower plants and in a few more days, it would reach a stage where the bees would need even more flowers for their nectar source.


    ''I don''t want to spend too much land on just flowers.... I''ll have to find a more efficient plant for these damn bees. Once they reach their max population, I''ll can start harvesting honey from them.'' he thought as he watched the bees do their work.


    He silently thought for a while before coming up with a solution to his problem. It was to simply increase the surface area on which he can do the planting while not having to increase the plot''s area.


    On one corner of the plot, he erected a tall 10 meter soil tower which was a meter in diameter and grinned.


    ''All I have to do right now is to erect such towers all over this plot and I''ll be able to exponentially increase the output. But for this, I''ll have to pick the flower plants that have shallow roots so that I won''t have to increase the diameter of these towers.


    Then I''ll also need to pick the flowers that produce a lot of nectar while the plants also produce a lot of these flowers. It''s always better to have a plant that gives me ten flowers instead of one.


    Hey system, help me out with this one. Give me a list of flowers that grow in high density.''


    [Compiling data...]


    Keith took his sweet time to read though the list and asked his system for more information whenever needed until he finally settled on one answer.


    Green Thyme.


    It was a human made plant that was created a few hundred years ago and was now being used as a main ingredient to create concoctions that help with the recovery of wounds.


    It was a plant that the church of medicine had a monopoly over and they absolutely refused to sell them to anyone.


    The only product sold was the medicine and not the plants or any raw ingredient.


    Knowing this, Keith decided to put his tower plan on hold for a few more days as he wanted to get his hands on these flowers first.


    ''I''ll get those two to infiltrate and steal these plants for me.'' he thought and immediately began to create a quest for both of them.


    Vincent was currently in Baroma Kingdom while Fabian had already managed to establish his mercenary group in Morose Kingdom.


    One of them operated with a group while the other moved alone and did a lot of secretive operations as a part of an assassination group.


    As he made their quests, his thoughts wandered towards a few people that he knew from the novel.


    ''That girl''s name was never mentioned but she should currently be in the slums of Baroma Kingdom. She dies in the novel like a helpless side character but she did have an interesting ability. Maybe I should take her in...''

 Chapter 187 Fabian and Vincents Quests

    Fabian was sitting on a chair when he saw a familiar screen that he had been missing for quite some time. It had been months since he had gotten any quest and until now, he had only managed to finish one of the sub quests.[Assistance Mission]


    You have managed to unify all the small groups into one and the only thing remaining is to make a name for yourself. Reputation is reputation, it doesn''t matter whether it is good or bad.


    Main Quest: Steal or Rob the plant known as Green Thyme from God of Medicine, Galen''s Church.


    Optional Quest: The first prince of Morose kingdom is a scholar and is trying to create an aphrodisiac that does not have a smell or color. One of the main ingredients to achieve this is the Green thyme petals. Make a deal with the prince and get hired by him so that you can have a reason.


    [System Message: You are just a mercenary, so you simply work for money. With a client, the blame can easily be diverted.]


    Fabian quietly read the contents of the quest and then his gaze fell on the rewards, which was basically two free upgrades. He already had one saved up, but now that he got an opportunity to get more, he didn''t hesitate.


    ''I''ll go request for a meeting with the prince first. Maybe I should write a letter and give him a small clue that I know one item that can help him achieve a breakthrough.'' he thought and got up from the chair.


    He barely took any break or rest and he absolutely loved his one hour worth of daily rest. This was because he spent most of his time doing the physical tempering that the system had advised him to do.


    And now that his rest time was done, he had to get back to training. S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This was the difference between Vincent and Fabian. One of them had an extremely strong system, but barely put in the work while the other had a weaker system and worked to the bone.


    Fabian''s discipline was something that managed to inspire even Keith a few times and he was the sole reason for Keith''s decision to give his team a two month intense physical training.


    Fabian did his daily routine, but by the time he was done, the sky had turned dark. His group worked and brought him money, so he didn''t have to worry too much.


    But there was one thing that they couldn''t bring him and that was quests and the free skill upgrade rewards. In his eyes, these were invaluable.


    He sat down in front of the small table in his room and began to write a letter to the prince. Once he was done, he got one of his men to deliver it to the palace.


    "Here, take this and give it to the knights that are around the royal palace. Tell them that the leader of Black Boar Sect wants the prince to read this letter and that it is extremely important. Give them some money too." he said and slid a few noted into his subordinate''s palms.


    The subordinate nodded enthusiastically, "As you wish, boss. I''ll go give it right now."


    Fabian silently watched the guy leave and then headed back to his house to get some well needed rest after all the training.


    *********


    In a small city that neighbored the capital in Baroma Kingdom, Vincent silently stared at the ceiling as he caressed the bare back of the prostitute with whom he had slept with a few minutes ago.


    He felt absolutely unmotivated and in a way, he felt like no matter what he did, he wouldn''t be able to beat Fabian.


    Every time he closed his eyes, the twitching muscles and flesh on Fabian''s body replayed over and over.


    Sometimes he felt rage, sometimes sadness and despair and sometimes, he felt like there was no purpose in life other than waiting for death to take him away from all his suffering.


    And that as exactly what he was feeling at the moment.


    The only thing that gave him some semblance of "feeling" was sex and right now, he didn''t even know that he was partially addicted.


    Keith''s new approach of indifference wasn''t helping him in any way and he was moving closer and closer to depravity. His savings had been slowly going down and at this moment, he barely had any money.


    Even then, he splurged money on prostitutes for only a few hours of pleasure while he could have used the same money to keep himself well fed for a week.


    As he stared at the ceiling, a system screen suddenly popped up in front of him.


    He sighed and began to read the contents, making up his mind to skip the quest as long as it wasn''t compulsory.


    [Regular Quest]


    Scour through the streets and slums in the capital of Baroma to find a child that has an awakened ability. She has the ability to control plants and she also has bright green eyes.


    Rewards: Cursed Artifact (2 Hours usage), 1 Free war god inheritance unlock.


    Punishment for failure: Intense physical torture


    [System Note: Trash.]


    Vincent read the contents and the message from the system stung him hard. It hurt, but he knew that he had no excuse.


    Even now, he didn''t not want to get up from the bed.


    With a groan, he pulled his arm from under one of the girls and got up from the bed. He then turned around to look at them with tired, dead eyes.


    "I already paid, so I''ll take my leave. Today wasn''t that good... you guys did better last week. Maybe I should find a different place."


    Before any of the girls could say anything, he left the room and closed the door behind him before he walked out of the building.


    "The capital huh... it''s been a while since I went there, but I guess I don''t have a choice right now. Ugh, I don''t like pain."

 Chapter 188 The Attack On Galens Church

    The First Prince of Morose Kingdom, sat in his room as he read the letter that he had received from one of the royal knights."He can help me get my hands on the miracle flower of the medicine church? Why would I ever say no to that?" he said out loud and stood up before he summoned his servant.


    "Go and invite the leader of this mercenary group and tell him to come meet me."


    The servant nodded and quietly left the place. Once he was gone, the prince grinned, "Even though I''m the first child, father clearly likes that slut''s son more. If I have to get my hands on the throne, I''ll have to do something that everyone can see and acknowledge.


    This way, even father can''t openly show favoritism. The petals of the flower do have the properties of an aphrodisiac, but they are just the side effects. Why would I waste such an amazing plant on making aphrodisiacs when I can make god''s nectar with it?"


    He walked over to the bookshelf that was in his room and took out a book from there before smiling.


    "I really was lucky to be able to find this in the black market. Thanks to this book, I know that I can use the leaves and the petals of the flowers to help with faster wound and fatigue recovery."


    It was dark outside, and even though he knew that Fabian would come the next day, he was unable to sleep due to the excitement.


    ''I even resorted to begging those church bastards and they still refused to give those plants to me. Heh, and now I can get it at a cheaper price thanks to this foolish mercenary.''


    He struggled to fall asleep but at the end, he did manage to get it done. Experience new stories on empire


    The next day, he talked to Fabian and after quite a bit of bargaining, they finally decided to stop at a huge amount of money.


    Fabian walked out of the palace with a wide grin on his face, ''One bronze coin for a single petal, heh. He said that each flower has five petals, which means that I''ll get five bronze coins per flower.''


    He had gotten his official commission from the first prince of the Kingdom and as a leader of a well known mercenary group, he knew that he had to make use of his resources.


    For the first time in centuries, there was a group that was preparing to steal and rob from a church.


    There were people who were arranging horse carriages, bullock carts, boats and they were even renting warehouses. Multiple awakened people were picked for specific tasks and everyone agreed to take part in this secretive mission.


    The prince had promised a lot of money and Fabian had already received an advance of fifty gold coins. Everything was being put to use and Fabian himself had decided to stop training temporarily.


    He used this time to scout multiple churches of medicine, taking in the info so he could tell his people about it all. The church also had it''s own farms, warehouses and apothecaries .


    Fabian noted everything down and in just a week''s time, he managed to gather a good amount of information on 2 churches, 3 warehouses and 2 farms. Apothecaries didn''t matter as they were protected a lot more than other places while also not having enough of the things that Fabian needed.


    Due to this, the apothecaries weren''t worth the risk.


    The other members of the Black Boar Sect had also managed to gather enough information for the final heist. In total, they had intel on 12 churches, 27 warehouses and more than 200 farms.


    Out of these 200 farms, Fabian decided to target only 15 of them as the others either had plants that were in their infancy stage, or they simply did not have the green thyme plants.


    A few days later, during the night.


    Cannon shots were heard in multiple places at the same time and Fabian silently watched barrels of gun powder were being emptied at a fast pace. Bombs similar to Dynamites were being thrown at churches and also the farms along with molotovs that used extremely concentrated alcohol as fuel.


    The sudden attack against the medicine church caused a lot of chaos. Multiple knights moved from apothecaries and warehouses to provide manpower, but this was exactly what Fabian wanted.


    A few minutes after the knights left the apothecaries, Fabian and his men launched an attack on these extremely important places, forcing the knights to rush back.


    The chaos was at an all time high while Fabian and his men sneaked into the warehouses that were unguarded at the moment and looted the places clean.


    With excessive manpower, they got everything done in under two hours. The knights caught the people who were attacking their facilities, only to find out that they were all malnourished slaves who had nothing in their lives.


    At first when they found out that they were being attacked by slaves, but they had no choice but to defend their facilities. This was because, even if they tried to check what was going on in other places, the attacks here wouldn''t stop. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    They were already having trouble with manpower and with so much chaos, they decided to stop the threat in front of them first.


    While there were people who went with the straightforward approach, there were also a few that decided to go check out the other facilities.


    Unfortunately for them, all the strong people were concentrated at these locations and the only result of this was the deaths of the knights.


    Fabian silently watched the mule and ox drawn carts move away. His plan had worked, but now he had one last thing to do and that was to kill the people in his own mercenary group.


    ''I can''t give everything to the prince. The main reason I''m doing this is for the mission and as long as I complete it, I''ll be able to get free upgrades. Those guys work for money, so if I tell them that I''ll take most of the plants for personal reasons, it''ll just cause chaos.''


    "They''ve outlived their usefulness." he muttered as he silently stared at the retreating carts.

 Chapter 189 Fabians Scamming Scheme

    Multiple carts headed into the forest and the drivers stopped once they saw a large hole in the ground. It was man made, and it looked like a crater.Two men walked over to the carts while the drivers detached the carts from their animals. One of them grew bigger, reaching four meters in height before he grabbed the cart and emptied the contents into the crater.


    This process continued for all the carts that came to this place and by the time they had received most of the plants, they saw a familiar face.


    "Boss, there''s still two carts that have to get here and once we''re done with them, we''re good to go." they said and Fabian nodded as he walked closer to the crater where both of them stood.


    Once he was close enough, his hand immediately stabbed into the guy who could turn into a giant. Two fingers went into his eye socket and pierced the brain, killing him instantly.


    Fabian then turned to look at the other guy, "Is everything ready?"


    "Yes boss. Please don''t forget about the twenty percent share."


    Hearing this, Fabian nodded, "Sure. You''ll get twenty and the rest will be given to the others. I''ve decided to keep nothing for myself."


    "Is the person behind you really that... miraculous?" the guy asked as he watched Fabian walk closer to the Crater.


    Fabian nodded and answered, "Yes. It''s my master and I''m willing to do anything he asks me to since he''s the only one who can help me get stronger."


    He then placed his hand on the huge pile of plants and mentally communicated with his system.


    ''I''ve got all the plants that I could collect. Please take them.''


    A moment later the whole pile vanished, which made Fabian smile as he got a notification that he had finished the quest. The rewards were delivered and now, he had a total of 3 free upgrades which he decided to save for later.


    He then turned to look at the other guy who had his mouth slightly open. He smirked and then pointed at the dagger that was on his waist.


    Experience tales at empire


    "Use that dagger to cut me." he said and walked back out of the crater. Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    His subordinate hesitated at first but when he saw that Fabian was confident, he nodded and did as he was told. He slashed with half strength as he was still skeptical, but to his surprise, the dagger only left a white scratch mark.


    "Full strength." Fabian said and this time, he slashed with all his might.


    The dagger went in and pierced the skin but he could feel extreme resistance. He felt like he was trying to cut into hard leather. While he did feel resistance at first, things changed once his dagger went deep enough.


    The flesh was the same as a normal human''s and he didn''t feel too much of a resistance. It was only when he was trying to go through the skin.


    He then pulled the dagger out, only to witness the godly level of regeneration that Fabian was known for. This was the sole reason he had given up on his ambitions and brought his small time mercenary group under Fabian.


    "See? This is the reason why I don''t care about money too much. I can make more in the future and I don''t really require too much money. Increasing my personal strength has way more value compared to even a hundred kilos of gold." he said and patted the guy''s shoulder, "Fill this crater up and then we''ll forge a believable scene."


    The guy nodded and took out a small leather pouch before opening it. There was some pepper powder inside and he took a sniff before instantly inhaling.


    With extreme force, he sneezed and a bunch of dried up plants, weeds, leaves and bottles shot out of his nostrils.


    In just a second, the entire crater was filled and he then took out a small match. He then walked over to a nearby tree and grabbed a molotov before lighting it up.


    The match was tossed into the pile of dry leaves, but his eyes also moved to spot multiple open bottles that were currently spilling alcohol into the dry pile.


    Multiple matches were tossed into the placed were alcohol was at and then, even the molotov was tossed in.


    The pile quickly caught fire and once he was done, he turned to look at Fabian, "Boss, I''m done."


    Fabian nodded and ran over to him before punching him right in the face, knocking him out cold. He then took out a small vial of liquid and forced it down his throat.


    He left him there and rushed back to the city to see how the situation was going on.


    There were still two carts that would reach the crater in the next hour or two. This was because the location from where these carts were coming from, were very far. The contents in these carts were the ones he planned to give to the prince, but he didn''t care whether the church found the group or not.


    If the two carts were caught, then so be it. It was technically a commission from the prince so he could always pin the blame. He had an official commission letter from the prince while he also managed to get a hold of the letter that he had sent to the prince, which was now just some scattered ashes.


    He wanted to spread rumors that the prince had hired him early on, but since it could heavily impact the operation, he decided to not go with the rumors plan.


    Now the only thing he had to do was to go into hiding, which was exactly what he did once he made sure that the situation in the capital was going according to his expectations.


    Multiple horses were seized as they helped in faster transportation of the carts for a short distance before the animals were switched. The investment that went into this operation was huge, but Fabian didn''t care too much about it as it helped him get two free upgrades.


    And that was all that mattered to him.

 Chapter 190 Reality or Dreams

    Vincent Spent almost an entire month scouring the streets of the capital and he still hadn''t found the girl that fit the description on the quest.At this point, he was extremely close to giving up.


    He stopped walking in the middle of an alleyway and leaned against one of the walls before groaning.


    ''What''s the point of doing this when I''m unable to find her? This is just a waste of time...''


    This wasn''t the first time he was having these thoughts and every single time he called the quest a waste of time, the system would come out to threaten him.


    ''Fuck, just come out and say it. I don''t even want to live anymore.''


    Keith had been keeping an eye on Vincent all this while and seeing him this way, he couldn''t help but sigh.


    ''I really picked the wrong person. But if threats don''t work...''


    [System Administrator: The other system administrators are making fun of me because of a useless dog like you. You gave up just because you saw that Fabian guy recover? What''s so great about that?


    His system administrator is so weak compared to me and yet, you''re sitting here and crying like a bitch instead of training. That bastard keeps boasting that his user trains every single day without a break and then I have you.


    A dog who just wants to sleep around. I made a mistake picking you, but I can''t change my decision. I''ll give you one last chance. If you find the girl, I''ll give you a free unlock along with the upgrade. I''m talking about skills and not your war god''s inheritance items.]


    Vincent stared at the system screen, feeling unmoved as his mind was still at the same place. He didn''t feel like listening to the system anymore.


    "Fuck off." he said and began to walk out of the alleyway. He didn''t continue searching and instead, he walked into an inn and got a room.


    Keith silently watched him go to sleep as he felt a tinge of range inside him.


    ''This bastard pisses me off, but I should also understand his situation.'' he thought as he stared at his system screen, ''That encounter with Fabian has impacted him deeply and I don''t really know how to help him.''


    While Vincent slept, Keith silently tried to come up with a solution to his problem.


    It didn''t take him long to come up with a way to get things done even if it had a chance of failure. He dived into his spatial dimension and created a small 2mx2mx2m cube.


    Using his connection with Vincent thanks to the Battle God System, he brought him into his spatial dimension.


    Vincent was inside the box and Keith used his mental energy to keep the oxygen levels even inside. All the carbon dioxide that was being exhaled, was magically transformed into oxygen.


    This went against the scientific laws and due to this, he had to expend a bit more mental energy per second. Overall, it wasn''t much as the change was only being done in a small space.


    The dimension was his world and he was like a god of this place.


    Using this ability, he tried to induce a dream within Vincent and to his surprise, it worked. The system helped him see what was going on in Vincent''s mind and using this, he controlled the dream to go the way he wanted it to.


    ''I''m not really great at this... System, can you do it for me instead? Show him a dream in such a way that it''ll give him a spark. Motivation, drive or even desperation. It does not matter as long as he isn''t lazing around.''


    [Affirmative. Showing user Vincent a dream that''ll trigger his past trauma, targeting his rage.]


    Keith silently watched the dream play on the screen in front of him.


    Vincent''s father, who was just a regular farmer, did his daily routine of going to his farms with his son. But what greeted them weren''t their crops which they had been taking care of for four months.


    It was Fabian''s son and multiple bullock carts filled with their crops.


    "You still haven''t paid the loan so I''ll be taking these from you. This barely covers the interest, heh."


    It was blatant stealing and due to their harvest getting stolen multiple times, Vincent''s father had no choice but to continue taking loans to keep his family fed.


    Until one day, he was introduced to gambling. He won big, putting in just a brak and winning three zen in return.


    The wins and losses were random and at first, he was making a profit overall. This continued for one whole year until suddenly, Fabian himself came to get the loan money from the family. Find exclusive content at empire


    After begging for a few days time, Vincent''s father decided to go all in on one single bet. It was a loss and he went back to zero.


    The interests from his loans racked up and at the end of the day, Fabian was done with him. He let his son do whatever he wanted as long as he could get his money back and that was when hell began for their family.


    Vincent''s father was sent to work in other''s fields while his mother was sold to a nearby brothel that did not have a good reputation.


    Vincent saw his family fall right in front of his eyes. He squirmed in his sleep as he watched his younger self getting lied to by his mother whenever he asked her where she went.


    She always gave him a smile before telling him that she was working at a small restaurant.


    Things unfortunately changed when Fabian''s son learned about Vincent''s fiance, an orphan girl who was living in an orphanage. It was in the same town where Vincent''s mother worked, and it didn''t take him too long to drag the girl out of the orphanage.


    Once she found out what was going on, he promptly grabbed a sharp object and pierced her own neck right in front of Vincent, ending her own life as she stared at him.


    Those eyes screaming just one thing.


    "You''re the reason for my death."


    sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 191 An Appreciated Change

    "He had a fiance?" Keith muttered and a message showed up in front of him.[No. User Vincent had a crush on that girl since childhood. He did have a fiance but he liked this girl more. Both the girls weren''t affected in reality. This is just a dream to trigger his emotions.]


    Keith nodded and silently watched Vincent struggle in his sleep. He knew that the system had it''s own way of gathering info thanks to Emma''s help.


    Time slowly passed and right when Vincent was about to wake up, Keith sent him back to his room in the inn.


    He opened his eyes, sat up, groaned a little as he drank some water and then went back to sleep.


    Keith knew that it would take some time to get Vincent on track and didn''t try forcing things. Instead, he floated over to the bee plot and smiled as he saw the 10 meter tall towers completely covered densely with Green Thyme. S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Unlike before, most of the plot was now bare. There were soil towers with one meter diameter while having a space of 2 meters between each other.


    Due to this, there were less flowers compared to before since he didn''t really have as many thyme plants. But he knew that the numbers would grow in time.


    Until then, the bees would manage with the old flower plants that were still there just to keep up with the nectar intake of the bees.


    "A little bit more and I''ll be able to start harvesting honey without having to worry about impacting their population. As for where to use it... I guess I''ll just add it along with the potatoes for fermentation.


    This way, I''ll probably be able to make some unique drink out of it. It has a numbing property, so maybe it''ll help with numbing the tongue or something. I''ll have to try it out myself before selling it."


    Keith then spent two more weeks actively trying to help with the propagation of the green thyme and his efforts weren''t futile. Small baby plants had begun to grow on the towers and he also received another good news.


    Vincent was back on track with renewed vigor. He didn''t really pay attention to what kind of dreams his system made Vincent see, but he was just glad that the guy wasn''t just wasting his time.


    ''A little bit more and I''ll have enough divine energy to create a new system with properly planned base. Once I get my hands on that, I wouldn''t have to depend on Vincent and Fabian as much.''


    As a reward for coming back on track, Keith decided to give Vincent a reward that will help him with his quest.


    [System Administrator: You''re finally doing something without me forcing you to... is the run rising from the west?]


    [System Reward: 1000 Moros]


    [Note: Exchange it to Baroms and use the money to hire people to get the job done faster. Make sure that the girl doesn''t get harassed.]


    Vincent looked at the three new messages with a surprised look on his face.


    The only reason he had decided to get this mission done was due to the recent dreams that he had been getting.


    A small girl who fit the description perfectly, was working for a small gang. Her job was simple; to steal money from unsuspecting people in the market. She was terrible at the job and got caught almost every time she tried to steal.


    After this he saw two dreams. In one of them, she continued working for this gang until one day, she got killed. He was unable to see who it was as the only thing in front of him was a sword that pierced straight into her neck.


    The second dream showed him a scene where she was freed from a gang and taken in by a mysterious faceless man. Here, she happily played in a garden full of flowers and he also saw some bees flying around her while not attacking her.


    This was when he realized that if he did not find her, she would die and for some reason he felt that the reason for her death was himself.


    Just imagining that he had a chance to save a child, but didn''t do it because of his laziness weighed down on him a lot and this was the reason why he had decided to force himself to work hard.


    He stared at the system screen for a few seconds before nodding, "Thank you. I thought I had no one and lost you due to my previous actions, but to think that you''d help me when I decided to change... I''ll live up to your expectations, but if I don''t... please give me a wake up call."


    Keith raised his eyebrow when he saw this, but even though he was happy with the result, he didn''t reply.


    Instead, he closed all his system screens and focused on Amelia''s lesson.


    She had taught them all the etiquette and the way they had to talk and behave in front of other nobles for more than a month. Even though Keith and Caleb had managed to learn faster than others, she refused to teach them more until the others caught up. Explore new worlds at empire


    But now, everyone had some practice when it came to mannerisms, especially the annoying table manners.


    "Okay, I''ve taught you all the annoying things that all the nobles would pay close attention to, but since all of that is done, we can start with the common knowledge." she said and looked at Keith and Clara.


    "You''re both from Kazak empire from birth, so give me the list of all nobility titles in order from the least important to most important. You first."


    Clara nodded and gave her a short, but straight answer.


    "Baronet, Knight, Baron, Viscount, Count, Marquess, Duke, Grand Duke, and Emperor."


    Amelia smiled before turning to look at Keith, "She''s mostly correct, but point out the mistake she made."

 Chapter 192 Nobles and Taxes

    "Baronets and Knights aren''t true nobles. They both have a right to be called as Sirs or Ladies, but the Empire doesn''t give them any land to govern.Baronets get the title by donating a large sum of money to the empire while the knights take a different approach. They are technically offering their life to the empire by accepting the title of a knight.


    Or should I say a Royal Knight? Most of the so called knights aren''t exactly official like the ones at our church. Anyways, let''s move on to the others." he said and turned to look at the trio before he began explaining.


    He knew that the reason Amelia asked this question was to both test the two of them while also wanting the trio to learn from their answers.


    "The lowest noble title is Baron or Baroness. These nobles have a small land to govern like a small district like a small town. Their territory is called the Barony.


    Next is the Viscount and Viscountess. They are stronger nobility titles compared to the first. They usually have enough land that can occupy three medium sized towns and their land is called the Viscounty.


    Count and Countess are the next. They control land that holds upto five towns and their land is called the county.


    Marquess and Marchioness are a higher level than a count and they have control over seven towns or cities. The land under them is called a Marquisate.


    Things take a leap from the next one, which is the Dukedom. The ones in control of a dukedom is either a Duke or a Duchess and they can have control over ten to twelve towns or cities.


    Grand Duke and Grand Duchess are a level above but there''s only three in our empire. They have control over fifteen to twenty five towns, cities and villages. S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    And lastly, the Emperor... he''s basically the one who owns everything in the empire."


    Amelia heard his answer and nodded before she began to speak.


    "You got everything right but there''s a huge line that differentiates the dukes, grand dukes and the emperor from the other nobles.


    It''s the ability to have other''s territory under them. Just like how the emperor owns everything in the empire, this is the same for Grand Duke and the Dukes.


    They can have Marquesses, Counts, Viscounts and Barons in their territory and this is what usually happens.


    It''s like the Empire has three levels. First is the nobles below the duke.


    They collect taxes from the people in their land and give it to the Dukes or Grand dukes who are above them as long as their own territory is a part of the Dukedoms.


    The Dukes and Grand dukes on the other hands, pay taxes to the emperor.


    The way the taxes are paid depends on the owner of the land. Some of them just buy the grains and other produce from the farmers directly for a lower price. The discount can be considered as tax in this situation.


    Usually, this is done by the lower four nobles and they then use these grains to make money. This money is then used to pay taxes to the Dukedoms while they also keep a part of the profits for themselves.


    The Dukes keep a part of this money before sending the remaining to the Emperor."


    "So the farmers are basically getting ripped off. Dukes and the other nobles keep a part of the money and this happens twice before it goes to the emperor. This is blatant corruption." Keith said as he did not really know how the system worked until now.


    This was because the novel never mentioned about it and this was due to Clark originally being from Morose Kingdom. There was a lot of info on Morose, but not much on Kazak.


    Amelia shrugged, "They need this money though. They have to feed their soldiers, their horses, they have to buy weapons and there are a lot of other things to consider.


    Also, it''s not just the farmers who pay money. The regular workers also do the same but instead of grains and produce, they just directly give money.


    We''re just exempted from all taxes since we''re official members of one of the churches."


    Looking at Keith''s unsatisfied expression, she sighed and continued. Stay tuned for updates on empire


    "If a war pops up, the ones who are supposed to fight in the war isn''t the common people, but the nobles and their soldiers. Morose Kingdom uses their civilians as soldiers but we have rules.


    We don''t force civilians to go into a war unless it''s absolutely needed, which happens if a lot of soldiers are losing their lives while not being able to give much returns.


    When this happens, the empire sends out a messenger who tells everyone about the situation at the borders and the people will voluntarily join as soldiers.


    This is the second stage and if the situation worsens, that''s the only time when the empire will force people to fight. Though, it''s only able bodied men who are sent into war.


    Two hundred years ago, we had four times the women compared to men and now, the difference has reduced. Out of a hundred, there are thirty five men and sixty five women now.


    This is all because the men are sent to war and most of them lose their lives there. And a few hundred years back, we got into a war with a bunch of kingdoms and it was very brutal.


    One of my ancestor, the one who managed to get the title of a Duke from the past emperor, was a commoner at first and he was forced into the war.


    He returned with just one hand, but he was one of the exceptional soldiers back then and the Emperor noticed his contributions. So yeah, don''t blame the nobles too much for keeping some money for themselves.


    In the long run, it''ll only help us in case a war springs upon us but there are also a few nobles who splurge this money on useless things. I personally have no respect for them, but I also can''t do much about it."

 Chapter 193 The Child And Her Uncle

    Keith nodded and continued learning more while Vincent used the money to get more manpower for his search.He expected that it would take him more than a month to find the girl but to his surprise, it only took two days.


    All of the money he had saved up was now used and even though he was broke, he did not stop with the mission as he was so close.


    In his dream, he had seen the girl in a gang but in reality, she was currently living with her uncle. The men that he had hired gave him all the information he needed.


    Thanks to this, he knew a little bit of her backstory.


    Her parents used to have a large plot of land and were living well until the girl was born. Her mother died due to complications during birth and her father irresponsibly took his own life due to his wife''s death.


    The child was then handed over to a relative, who was her father''s elder brother. All the land that went to him, was sold to fuel his addiction to cock fighting, a sport where black feathered cocks fight against each other.


    Gambling was a huge part of this and in just a few years, he lost all the money he had gotten from selling his brother''s properties.


    Vincent could tell that it was just a matter of time for him to make use of the child for money. On one end, he was glad that he was about to save her life but on the other end, he wanted to know how his system found out about people like her.


    He knew that he was going through something similar in the past and in a way, the system had helped him change.


    As he stared at the small house from the safety of a narrow alley, he sighed, ''And then I went around brooding and wasting time. I changed a lot, didn''t I?''


    He recalled the time when his family wasn''t in a dire state and he remembered how daring and brave he was as a child. He had never feared going out with his father to hunt for animals and he had actively tried to help with the farm work.


    Even he couldn''t explain how he had changed so much in such a short time. Discover more content at empire


    As if the system had been peering into his thoughts, a notification appeared.


    [System: It was due to the lack of motivation and being content with your current situation. You are strong enough to fight against most people, but you gave up on the one person whom you really wanted to get a revenge on. I am a better system compared to Fabian, so I hope you don''t give up again. S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I am connected to you. This means that if you die, I will also die. I''m not some inanimate thing and I also have the will to stay alive. Do you really think that Fabian will just sit back and watch while you waste your time?


    The answer is no. You killed his son. His system can sense me so it can easily point out a direction for him to move at. So when he is confident that he has enough power to kill you, he will come for you no matter what. So please don''t laze around now and die later.]


    Vincent nodded, "Got it. Now how do I get this girl away from her uncle though? He mostly ignores her, but there have been rumors that he''s been trying to talk to people about selling her away for some quick buck."


    [System Administrator: Money solves everything. But you''re a broke bitch, so I''ll help you out once again. Tch.]


    [System: Congratulations on receiving a gift! One silver ring.]


    A small silver ring appeared in front of him and he immediately grabbed it before silently looking at it.


    It was a small ring that looked pretty simple. He didn''t have too much of a design but it did have a small gemstone at the top. He took the ring with him and didn''t think too much about the outcome as he walked towards the small house in front of him.


    Knock Knock Knock


    He knocked the door a few times and waited for an answer which did not come. He then knocked a few more times until he heard a small voice.


    "Uncle, is that you?"


    Vincent paused and looked down at the door. He couldn''t see her, but he could tell that she was right behind the thin wooden thing in front of him.


    "No, but I''m here to talk to your uncle. Looks like he isn''t here right now, so can you let me in? I''ll wait for him inside."


    There was no response but just as Vincent was about to turn around and leave, he heard her voice again.


    "I can''t open the door...." she said and Vincent heart the sounds of something hitting the door at an uneven interval.


    His gaze then moved to the small lock system that was built into the door and sighed, "It''s fine. It looks like your uncle locked the door from the outside. I''ll just come back another time."


    "O- okay..." her voice came out and Vincent headed back to the alleyway to wait for her uncle. It was afternoon, so he knew that the guy would be back by night and just as he had expected, he saw him walk back to his house.


    But what he hadn''t expected, was to see two other men with him. He was known to be a lonely guy who only cared about money and due to this, he didn''t have any friends. The alleyway was pretty far from the house, so Vincent couldn''t hear what they were talking.


    ''I guess I''ll wait for those two guys to leave before I go and talk to him. I''ll first figure out the situation first and confirm whether the rumors are true or not before I decide whether it''s a good idea to leave her with him or not.


    Though, I don''t have too much confidence that it''ll turn out well. After all, there''s no way my system would give me this mission if everything was going well''

 Chapter 194 Miya

    [a/n: wrote this chapter at 6am while sleep deprived. i''m about to sleep now but if you find any mistakes, pls tell me and i''ll edit it once i wake up. have fun reading.]he didn''t expect her uncle to be a good guy but to his surprise, he saw the two guys walk out with a small girl with them. she silently followed them while they held her hand while her uncle stood by the door as he counted the notes from the stack he was holding.


    ''he really sold her off? it''s not even legal in baroma kingdom...'' he thought as he cursed the man, but he knew that he was dealing with gangs that operated gambling dens, which was also not legal.


    not wanting to cause a scene, he silently followed the two men. as he walked, he silently glanced at the red glove that was on his hand and sighed.


    ''it''s been a while since i used you, hasn''t it?''


    there was no response, but vincent smiled and shifted his gaze back to the girl and the two men.


    while vincent was far from them and was unable to hear what they were talking, this was not the same with keith.


    he could easily see what was going on in text format and to help vincent out, he let him hear it all.


    [system administrator: here''s a temporary gift.]


    the moment this message appeared, vincent was able to listen to what the two of them were talking.


    "-rk. that''s the rule you''ll have to follow when your in our house, okay? all you have to do is to act cute and cry whenever we tell you. do you understand?"


    "but why uncle? are you going to hurt me? i''m a big girl, i won''t cry." she said, a hint of stubbornness pretty apparent to vincent.


    but then, he heard one of them scoff, "heh, we''ll see about that. we''ll make sure that you''ll be a part of our big family so don''t worry."


    soon, they moved from busy roads to the ones that barely had people and then, they began to use alleyways. vincent silently followed until he took a turn and saw them staring at him.


    "so you''re the kid who''s been following us? do you want to get killed?" one of them asked and vincent glanced at the girl.


    she was still unharmed and this made him feel slightly better.


    he then shifted his gaze to the two men and shrugged, "i don''t know. i just want answers to some questions, that''s all. did that bastard really sell this child away? he walked into his house with empty hands, but when you left, he had a thick stack of baroms in his hands."


    "and what of it? you got a problem?"


    "no no, not really. if i had a problem, i would have gone to him instead of following you. so, what''s your plan with her? she''s just a child."


    "we''ll get back the money we spent to get her. she might be a child but she''ll serve as a nice distraction to our gang''s plans." one of them said and the other grinned widely.


    he took out a stack of cash before waving it in front of vincent, "if you bring us more kids, we''ll gladly pay you. we don''t mind their condition. broken or amputated limbs? we''ll take them. blind, deaf or any disabilities, we''ll take those too.


    you see all those beggars in this city? all of them are a part of our gang. we make a lot of profits each day, so why not join us? you can start off with kidnapping some kids and selling them to us and if you do a good job, we''ll promote you to something better."


    vincent silently listened and once they were done, he pointed at the girl, "give her to me and i''ll pay you double of what you paid her uncle." s§×arch* the n?vel(f)ire.¦Çet website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "hah, and why should we do that? someone like her can easily fulfil the role of a spoiled child as long as we train her a little. she will be of great use to us, so just fuck off if you don''t want to sell us some slaves."


    "well, thank you for saving me some money."


    "huh?"


    they gave him confused looks but he silently began to walk forward. seeing this, one of them took out a knife and rushed forward.


    "damn bastard! you dare to try funny things with us?" he cried as he thrust the knife forward.


    vincent side stepped before pulling his fist back. orangish red flames coated his arms in a mere instant and he let his fist shoot forward, hitting the guy with an upper cut.


    his fist made contact with the chin and while his fist was slowed down due to hitting something solid, the flames continued moving forward.


    they flew upwards and instantly burning his hair, both nose hairs, facial hair and also some of the hair on his head. experience tales with empire


    usually these flames would have just disappeared, but that did not happen with vincent. he controlled the flames in such a way that they kept on burning.


    thanks to this, in just two seconds, all the hair on his head had just disappeared, melted away. the guy screamed violently as it wasn''t just his hair burning but also his skin.


    in just a few seconds, his face was unrecognizable and due to the pain, he passed out.


    the other guy kicked the girl hard, making her fall on the hard ground. vincent watched as she rolled a few times and bruised her knees, but his eyes did not leave the guy''s back.


    ''run all you want, bastard. you''re lucky that my first priority is this child.'' he thought and shifted his attention back no the girl before rushing towards her.


    "are you alright? what''s your name?" he asked as he kneeled down to get a better look on her wounds.


    she sniffled as she stared at the tiny wound on her knee and then looked up at vincent before answering.


    "miya... uncle, are you the one who talked to me today? you said you wanted to talk to my uncle."


    vincent''s lips twitched as he looked at her teary eyes.


    ''i''m only eighteen!'' he screamed mentally.

 Chapter 195 Clarks New Approach, and a New Possibilty For Keith

    [system: take the child out of the city as soon as possible. the gangs will come after you at any moment and it''s better to not scar the child anymore.]vincent saw this message and then looked at miya. her gaze was fixed on the guy that he had burnt. sear?h the nov§×lf~ire.net website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    your next read awaits at empire


    he was still alive, and while vincent couldn''t understand why it would have mattered, he still decided to listen to his system.


    "let''s get out from this place first, okay? you can call me vincent and there''s no need for uncle."


    miya nodded and held his hand before leaving him him, but a few seconds of walking later, vincent just decided to carry her as she was walking pretty slow.


    he then ran through the alleyways to reduce the chances of people spotting him and after an hour, he found himself at the borders of the small town. he immediately hired a carriage and got in.


    the moment the carriage left the town, vincent saw a notification pop up.


    [congratulations on completing the quest! the rewards will be delivered once you''re along with miya.]


    vincent smiled when he saw this and nodded before he took out some pork jerky from one of his inner pockets.


    "want some?"


    "yes!" she said as she stared at the strip of meat and vincent happily gave it to her before chewing on his own share.


    he silently watched her take small bites, but there were multiple questions on his mind.


    after hesitating for a while, he decided to try and quench his curiosity.


    "hey miya, did your uncle not teach you to listen or go with strangers?"


    miya looked up at him and shook her head, "no, uncle never told me anything like that. he simply told me to not open the door when he''s gone. i never went out of the house hehe. what are those big things?"


    ".... those are trees."


    vincent then became a very detailed guide as he blabbered on and on for hours as he pointed out at the things while the carriage moved.


    seeing this, keith''s opinion on vincent became better as he grew a soft spot for the guy instantly.


    ''it''s a good thing i picked him for this instead of fabian.'' he thought as he kept the screen on the side while he silently listened to amelia lecturing about how to drink wine properly.


    ''now what should i do with miya though... i originally wanted her to help me with speeding up the harvest but now i don''t really feel like doing it. fuck, why do i have such a soft spot for kids dammit!''


    even though he cursed himself, he wasn''t really that distressed about it.


    ''kids aren''t that great at keeping secrets and i can''t just keep her in my spatial dimension to use her for farming purposes. she''s just a child... and if i try to give her freedom by bringing her to the real world, then there''s a chance of my secrets leaking.


    i also can''t just give her away to some random person now that i got her snatched from the hands of that gang. should i just adopt her? i always wanted kids... but it would also bring me quite a few problems. i guess i''ll talk to clara about this first and then make a decision.


    if she doesn''t want it, then i''ll get vincent to take care of her like a little sister and since he already has a good rapport with her, i feel like it will be fine. but then there''s the problem of fabian too, ugh. such a pain...''


    he felt like no matter which path he took, he was meeting a dead end. so after a few minutes of wasting his time on thinking about the solutions, he decided to just talk to clara about it and hoped that things will go well.


    ''this is life. i can''t have everything under control and there is no author out there writing my story with me as the protagonist. i''ll have to act based on my current situation and that''s exactly what i''ll do.


    that lucky bastard clark had emma who gave him a lot of trouble but at the end of the day, he had that annoying plot armor which i don''t.''


    as soon as he thought about clark, he felt annoyed.


    ''i wonder what he''s doing though. i haven''t paid much attention to him recently.'' he thought as he got another system screen pop up in front of him and what he saw, made him feel like he had underestimated clark a lot.


    inside a large warehouse, clark and the twins silently placed bricks on each other and filled the gaps with mortar.


    the project seemed to be in it''s initial stages but thanks to the system''s help, he could tell that they were building a place that resembled the one at the protection church.


    ''so he plans to get a second awakening huh? come to think of it, he never got a second awakening in the novel because his ability was a growth type. and it looks like he''s figured out the disadvantage his regression is causing.


    even though he has all the knowledge and gotten into multiple fights, he was unable to get as strong as he was in the novel thanks to his previous life''s experience.


    and looks like this was the main trigger that pushed him into getting a second awakening but i wonder which god he''ll choose.


    he''s a part of the war church so maybe he''ll pick balmond...''


    as keith watched clark do the preparations, he realized another thing and this was about himself.


    the so-called second awakening that he undertook with maria watching, had only served to awaken him. it wasn''t a secondary awakening and instead, it was a primary awakening.


    ''i can do it one more time... but i''m not sure if it''ll work or not. i should probably talk to maria about this... nah wait. hey system, tell me if i can undergo a secondary awakening or if it already happened.''


    [you have only undergone a primary awakening.]

 Chapter 196 Uncle Vincent Takes Miya to Meet Keith

    [you have only undergone a primary awakening. secondary awakening is possible, but your body will need some time to properly adapt to the strong primary awakening that you were subjected to.][if you undergo a secondary awakening while your body hasn''t adapted, the results will be not be optimal. in other words, the secondary awakening will be weak.]


    ''hmm... how long will it take for my body to adapt to the awakening?''


    [scanning body... analysing...]


    [three years for your body to adapt. four years to get the best results from the secondary awakening.]


    ''didn''t you say that i''ll get better results if my body adapts to the awakening? why would i need more?'' he asked mentally and a new message popped up.


    [better than not adapting, but it''s not the most optimal.]


    keith understood and nodded to himself. he waited silently for a few hours until vincent got into an inn with miya.


    he looked at everyone around him who were sleeping peacefully and rested his head on clara''s, which was resting on his shoulder.


    with his eyes closed, he dragged her into his spatial dimension. it wasn''t just her but the entire carriage.


    ''we''ll switch back to boats tomorrow, so it''ll be easier to do this at that time but this matter is of high importance.'' he thought as he looked at the horses that were completely oblivious to their surroundings.


    he had made sure that they would all stay sleeping as long as they were in this place with his powers. absolute control really was very convenient when it came to matters like these.


    keith then teleported clara out of the carriage and took her a few hundred meters away so he could talk to her alone.


    clara who was sleeping peacefully was suddenly woken up with a slight jerk. she opened her eyes and saw keith sitting right beside her.


    "hmm? you brought me here while everyone is sleeping? something important?" she asked and keith nodded.


    he then pointed towards the carriage that was a few hundred meters away, "i brought them all here, but they won''t notice so it''s fine. and yes, it''s something important."


    keith hesitated for a second and then tried to come up with a proper way of telling her what was on his mind.


    "well, there''s this child that i want to adopt. her parents passed away and her uncle sold her off to a few people but i got someone to save her. i know that you have a lot of questions and i''ll answer them all but some things... i''ll need some time.


    once the time comes, i''ll tell you everything and i hope you understand that i''m not trying to deceive you. as long as your questions aren''t related to my powers, i''ll answer you."


    clara silently stared at him for a few seconds before nodding, "are you lying about this child? what i mean to ask is... is she your daughter? if she is, then i want to know who the mother is."


    keith shook his head, "no. her parents are different people and they''re both dead. she''s from baroma kingdom and you know that we only went there recently. i''ve lived in kazak empire my whole life and that child is just four years old."


    "i''m so glad." she said as she put her hand on her chest before letting out a soft sigh, "how did you find out about her and who is this person that helped you save her? i''m not against adopting but how are we going to explain this to the others?"


    "i can''t answer the first two questions." he said and gave her a wry smile before glancing at the carriage, "as for explaining things to them, i''ll just say that goddess seraphina asked us to take care of her. they''ll accept this easily since i haven''t hidden the fact that i talked to her during my second awakening."


    clara gently put her hand on top of his and nodded, "since you''ve planned everything.... i just want to know why you wanted to tell me about this."


    read new chapters at empire


    "well, it''s more of me asking you if we can adopt her. i''m not the only one who''s going to be her parent. i want her to have a mother too, but i understand if you don''t want to take care of a child that''s not yours."


    "... you wanted to ask for my permission?" she asked and frowned before nodding, "usually if the husband wants something, he''ll just do it and the wife simply has to accept the changes. what will you do if i say no?"


    keith shrugged, "it''s a pity but she''ll have to grow up with a guardian who''ll be like a big brother to her instead of parents. i don''t know how it''ll turn out since he''s pretty immature at times but yeah..."


    "it was just a hypothetical question. i have no problems when it comes to adopting a child but you must promise me. i want one that shares our blood too." she said as she crawled closer to him and pushed him down onto the ground.


    keith smirked as he grabbed her wrist and pulled her onto him, "just wait until our official marriage." sea??h th§× n??el fire.n§×t website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ******


    two hours later, he got into the carriage along with clara and took it back outside. he then dived into his spatial dimension and took a look at his system screen to see what vincent was doing.


    ''looks like she''s hungry but it''s too late to ask for food now.'' he thought as he looked at them and immediately sent out a system message.


    [system administrator: i''ll bring you to my other system user. i want you to hand over the child to this person and he will take care of her.]


    ''is this person trust worthy?'' vincent thought and as a reply, he got another notification.


    [system administrator: you decide.]


    and the moment he finished reading it, he found himself in a small five by five land. he was still holding onto miya''s hand and the moment he saw the person in front of him, he was surprised.


    ".... sir keith? you were also blessed by the system administrator?" he asked.


    the shock was still present but the time when he was rescued from the hell hole became a fresh memory as he recalled it almost instantly when he saw keith''s face.


    he wanted to hug him and thank him for all his help, but he stopped himself as he knew that they weren''t exactly close.


    ''he saved me just because of a coincidence, nothing more.'' he thought and turned to look at miya.


    "i was told that you''ll be taking care of miya."


    keith nodded, "yes. i plan on adopting her, but that decision is in her hands. if she doesn''t want it, she can just go with you but i''m worried that it won''t be a safe."


    "don''t you get dangerous missions from that bastard administrator?" vincent asked as he frowned, but keith gave him an awkward nod.


    "he does give me dangerous missions, but i have the means to keep her safe. this place is something i got from the system and i can keep miya safe inside.


    on top of that, i don''t think i get too many dangerous missions. the administrator told me that you''re way stronger than me so he gives you all the heavy work, heh."


    miya just stood there as she looked at keith with a confused look on her face.


    vincent chuckled and gave keith a wry smile before shrugging, "i don''t have a choice do i? i either do it or die. anyways..." he said and turned to look at miya.


    "miya, this person here will take care of you from now on."


    "let me explain." keith said and walked towards them before he crouched down in front of the girl.


    "your name is miya right?"


    miya nodded, "yes, my name is miya. why are you taking me?"


    "because, i think you''re a good child and you need someone to take care of you. are you a good child?"


    "yes. miya is a good girl."


    keith smiled and patted her head before getting to the main point, "do you know what adoption means?"


    "no" she said and shook her head.


    "mhm, it means that if you say okay, i''ll be your father from now on and i''ll take you to your mother too. you''ll be my daughter and i''ll treat you nicely. do you want that?" he asked.


    he did not know how to approach the situation, so he just went with his feeling.


    miya knew that keith wasn''t her father and she didn''t really understand how he would become her father if she said yes. she looked up at vincent and saw him nod with a smile on his face, encouraging her.


    even though she was confused, she nodded, "okay. what should i do after i become your daughter? those two uncles told me that if i become their daughter, i''ll have to go into shops and cry."


    keith smiled and patted her head before shaking his head.


    "you don''t have to do anything. just be a good girl, listen to me and your mother, and go to school with other kids. if you want anything, you should tell me and if you want to talk, you should come to me and talk. i won''t ask you to go to shops and cry."


    "if i want something..." she muttered before her face lit up, "i want that long thing that vincent uncle gave me!"


    keith turned to look at vincent who looked absolutely devastated as he took out a small jerky strip from one of his inner pockets, "she meant this..."

 Chapter 197 Blue Snow Inn

    vincent found himself back in the inn after a few minutes and smiled."at least she''s in good hands." he muttered and covered himself with a blanket before he went to bed.


    keith on the other hand, decided to spend some time with miya so that they could both familiarize themselves with each other.


    he showed her the small 5m x 5m land and said, "this place is a secret okay? you should not tell anyone about this."


    "okei" she said as she chewed on the jerky.


    "i''ll take you to a friend''s place okay? close your eyes." he said and she did exactly that.


    keith then went ahead and covered her eyes just to make sure that she saw nothing. a second later, he teleported the two of them to his goat farm.


    at the same time, the gang members that he had imprisoned inside his dimension were all sent over to the plot where the bees were.


    as they were sent there, a voice echoes in their heads.


    "continue training and do what you were doing."


    while they went back to their training, keith on the other hand, still had his hand covering miya''s eyes.


    he looked at the goats in front of him and whispered in her ear, "have you seen goats?"


    "no" she said and grabbed his pinky, "can i see now?"


    "sure." keith replied and took off his hand.


    the lush green fields and the lazily grazing goats were registered by miya''s eyes. as she looked at them, she smiled subconsciously as she held onto keith''s trousers with one hand.


    "....can i touch them?" she said and recalled what he had told her a few minutes ago before adding one word, "papa..."


    keith froze in his place, almost forgetting what he was about to say. seeing this, miya''s face turned red in embarrassment as she raised her voice, "can i touch them, papa?!"


    "uh, yeah. sure." he said and watched her run towards the nearest goat that was a hundred meters away. he was in a slight daze and the only thing in his mind was, ''if only i got to hear my own kids call me that... my past life really was miserable wasn''t it?''


    even though it was a question to himself, he had no answer. he silently stared at miya and suddenly, his brain activity shot up as he ran behind her.


    ''damn those goats are not domesticated. if they attack her, she''ll probably die.''


    it was a panicked response and only when he was midway though his run, did he realize that there was need to worry since he can easily just stop a goat in it''s tracks if it tried to harm miya.


    he slowed down, but he still caught up with her and placed his hand on her small head, "come on, let papa carry you."


    miya looked up at him and nodded before lifting up her arms. keith grabbed her and put her on top of his shoulders.


    the girl hugged his head for support and giggled, "i''m so tall!" find exclusive stories on empire


    keith chuckled with her as he interlocked his fingers together and put his hands on her back so that she didn''t lean backwards and fall. with his hands supporting her back, he didn''t have to worry about her doing dangerous things.


    he could have held her ankles but every since he was a teenager, he had been giving his younger cousins shoulder rides and had experienced them leaning backwards. this wasn''t a good thing so he learnt from his experience and went with supporting their backs instead of grabbing their legs.


    miya happily giggled when he kneeled down in front of a goat. it looked up at the two of them and went back to chewing on grass.


    "let me pet you!" miya said and extender her hand forward.


    the goat took a step forward as if understanding her words while keith silently watched.


    ''did she awaken already?'' he thought as he watched her pet the goat but a few seconds later, he saw two kids zoom in towards their mother.


    right in front of their eyes, the two baby goats latched onto their mother''s udders and started sucking.


    "baaaa" the goat cried out before going back to chewing on some grass while miya pointed at the two kids, "papa, i want to touch them!"


    keith hesitated for a second before rejecting her, "no. i''ll let you pet them later, okay?"


    he expected her to complain and cry since that was how half of the kids were in his previous life, but she didn''t and instead, just rested her chin on his head.


    "aw okay..." s§×ar?h the n?velfire.n§×t website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ''kids are unpredictable and they''re also fast and playful so if they attack her, it''ll be hard for me to react in time.'' he thought as he looked at the kids that were drinking milk.


    he patted the goat roughly before getting back up, "you guys have fun. i''ll go for a walk."


    the two of them got into a small talk with keith mostly asking her small questions while she did the answering. he then took her to the pond and showed her some fishes.


    time slowly passed and keith saw the others waking up beside him in the carriage. he felt tired and sleepy so he bid miya a temporary farewell before leaving his spatial dimension.


    originally, his plan was to stay with miya the whole time but he had seen the goats and even the kids behaving extremely amicable towards her so he felt like it would be fine.


    he opened his eyes and looked at clara who was awake, but was still resting her head on his shoulder. the others were awake too and had gotten out of the carriage so that they can prepare breakfast so he had the privacy he needed.


    "she''s in my dimension but i didn''t sleep the whole night so i''m pretty tired..." he said and sighed.


    clara patted his thigh and nodded, "it''s fine. just have some food and go to sleep. you can tell them that you kept an eye out at night because you sensed danger."


    "that could work, yes. i''ll nap for a while, just call me once the food is ready."


    with just a week or two left in their journey, keith didn''t feel like it would be that big of a deal and like he had expected, everyone accepted his reasons and let him sleep in peace. the next day, they switched to a nice, spacious boat and began traveling by water.


    the journey would just be faster this way and it was the most dependable way to get to the capital before the youngest princess'' coming of age ceremony.


    during the morning, he slept for a few hours and then spent some time with his team in the afternoon before going into this spatial dimension to spend some time with miya at night. during this time, he taught her a lot of things, especially on the topic of secrets.


    he taught her how dangerous it could become if she told others secrets and used multiple stories as examples. on top of that, he patiently taught her the letters so that she could read in the future and she was a great student, learning everything pretty quickly.


    knowing that he would reach the capital in a few hours, he bid farewell to his daughter and got some good sleep until he was woken up.


    they had to hire a carriage from the neighboring port town because the river didn''t pass though the capital. thanks to this, he could sleep better compared to the boats.


    he opened his eyes with a pleading groan, but when he saw that everyone was outside the carriage except him and clara, he forced himself to not go back to sleep. he could hear the hustle and bustle outside and knew that he was at the capital.


    with a sigh, he crawled out of the carriage and paid the driver his fee before he looked at his team.


    "let''s just go to an inn and rest there for a few days." he said and looked at amelia, "any recommendations?"


    "well... if i still had my surname, i could have just taken you guys to my home but i don''t think that''s possible anymore so... let''s see." she said and thought for a while before nodding.


    "there''s a place called blue snow inn. it''s very luxurious but a single day''s stay costs two braks. there''s another one called the empire''s den and it is better than most cheap inns while only costing one brak a day. the only difference is that the other inns give you free meals while empire den doesn''t.


    their rooms are great but the food is not to my liking. they make cheap food and say that they''re giving you an experience of what the emperor eats. well, they''re not exactly wrong but they just use low quality ingredients and their chefs aren''t as good as the royal chefs.


    blue snow has better rooms comparatively and it also offers free food. it''s like a buffet system but they have a set time for food. seven to nine in the morning for breakfast, one to three in the afternoon for lunch and six to eight in the night for dinner.


    and i guarantee you that their food is top notch. it''s even better than what the cooks in my house used to make for my family so once in a while, i used to go to this place just for their food."


    keith shrugged, "two per room, i''ll pay for everyone so let''s go to blue snow."

 Chapter 198 That Inquisitor is Interesting

    in a large room that was filled with paintings and other decorative objects, a handsome man sat in front of the mirror as he admired his looks.he turned to glance at his maid and pointed at a small pot in front of him, "rub that thing on my face and tell me everything you learned from the lettered you read."


    "as you wish, my prince." the maid said and walked over to him before grabbing the small pot that was placed in front of the mirror.


    inside, there was thick, condensed milk and she took some in her hand before applying it on his face. as she rubbed it onto this skin, she spoke.


    "both the grand dukes have arrived and are currently living inside our palace''s guest quarters. they have brought their eligible sons along with them and it looks like they wish to extend a marriage proposal for the youngest princess''s.


    as for the dukes, other than the ones who came her a few days ago, there isn''t any new news about recent arrivals. apart from this, there isn''t anyone important that would concern you."


    the prince hummed as he felt the cold condensed milk getting rubbed on his face, "hmm... tell me if any inquisitors or church officials come here. i''ve extended an invitation to a lot of them. also, tell me about the movements of my siblings."


    as he mentioned his siblings, his expression turned serious and the maid paused for a fraction of a second before going back to what she was doing.


    "i understand. one team of inquisitors did enter the capital and based on our information network''s letter, the leader of this group is keith zenister and they''re currently residing in the blue snow inn. they came here last night and they don''t look like they have any plans to come out of that place for the time being.


    though, they also have lady amelia with them and it looks like her presence will cause some disturbance during the banquet. should i send a letter to them stating that she''s not allowed?"


    "there''s no rule that warrants a ban. just because my brother is a donkey and was rejected by her in the past, it doesn''t mean that she''ll get banned from all events." he said and chuckled before pointing at another pot in front of him.


    "use that one next."


    the maid nodded and did as she was told while she continued to speak, "as you wish, my prince. when it comes to your siblings... the first prince has almost no support from the nobles, but the royal army is very loyal to him as he''s their commander. s§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lfire .net website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    fourth princess has been making progress with both the grand dukes'' sons so i''m assuming that she''ll get some support from these men.


    on the other hand, if there''s anyone who''s been making the huge movements, then that would be the youngest princess. she''s been making connections left and right, using her status as the youngest princess.


    a lot of nobles have agreed to support her as long as she allows their sons into her harem."


    "what an idiot she is.... she''s reducing her own chances by doing this. doesn''t she know that father will give more importance to the one who picks a partner that has a similar awakened ability to them? while he didn''t explicitly say it, it should be common knowledge since all of our mothers have similar awakened abilities to father in one way other the other."


    he then chuckled before smirking, "one down, but looks like my sister is going a good job by picking those two losers. they were bred specifically to get married into the royal family so i won''t say that the grand dukes are dumb.


    those dogs know how to get their hands on the things they want but that won''t be enough. i''ll have to keep my eldest brother in mind but other than him, maybe i should keep my second brother in mind too. while his methods aren''t righteous, the results speak for themselves."


    "but prince... do you really wish to take part in this succession? there is a chance of you losing your life..."


    "heh, that won''t happen." he said and took out a small badge from his pocket before showing it to her, "the war church has begun to make their move and it looks like their target is the baroma kingdom. we''ll easily get dragged into this war based on the information i received so my main goal at his point is to wait until my sister''s birthday.


    that will be the day when the fight for succession starts and that will also be the day when i''ll be able to make a decision on whether i should take a side or fight for the throne. on top of that, you know about the rumors that have been spreading about keith, that inquisitor.


    he''s the one who got his team to win the training program one month prior to the day they planned to end the program. he was the one who won after everyone was disqualified, but almost no one has anything bad to say about him.


    instead, most of them praise him for all the help he provided them during the whole thing and it''s very intriguing. based on his official documents, it''s said that he has an awakened ability that let''s him sense danger.


    but there have been some rumors about him being able to shoot fire from his hands and this means that there is a high probability of a second awakening. before the training program, no one saw or heard about him being able to shoot fire from his hands. your journey continues on empire


    these rumors began after the training program was done and based on the scorch marks left at baronet clangson''s estate, we can tell that there was some form of fire usage in a wide area. and guess what? keith was said to have helped the detectives of the church of protection.


    while the reason for my invitation was his victory in the training program, the rumors make him more interesting. send him a letter and ask him to come meet me."

 Chapter 199 Nathans Unfortunate Accident

    while keith was lazing around on his bed with clara, he heard a knock on the door and went to check out who it was.once he opened the door, he saw a petite woman holding a letter in her hands. continue your journey with empire


    "sir, there''s a letter for a man named keith zenister and it is from the third prince." she said and waited for a response instead of just handing the letter over to keith.


    "i''m keith, thank you." he said and extended his hand forward as he looked at her, waiting for her to give him the letter and she did, albeit a little flustered.


    she bowed slightly, "i''m sorry for not being able to tell sir, i apologise for my actions earlier."


    keith waved his hand, "it''s fine, have a nice day." he said and closed the door before he tore the envelope open and unfolded the letter that was inside.


    "what''s it about?" clara asked from the bed while she looked at him.


    keith looked away from the letter and glanced at clara who was tangled up in the blankets like a worm. he shook his head with a slight smile and sat down beside her before showing her the letter.


    both of them read the letter together and while clara was excited, keith just didn''t share the same excitement.


    "he invited you for a private meeting! we''re going to have a dinner with the third prince... wait, why aren''t you excited?" she asked and keith shrugged.


    "he''s just human like us. and i don''t feel like going because the people from the royal family can be pretty tiring. but well, it''s not like i can just reject him but damn... why in the hell does he want to meet me? isn''t it better to invite those big nobles instead?" he complained and tossed the letter away before looking at clara.


    she smirked and slowly pulled the blanket down, "let''s have some fun before we go out to buy some clothes. we''ve been postponing this and amelia doesn''t look happy."


    "she''s just grumpy nowadays, nothing we do is going to please her but... yes." he said and yanked the blanket away from her.


    her bare form was extremely stimulating and his little brother immediately woke up from his slumber, ready to fight even the biggest enemies as long as he could reach nirvana.


    "pick your poison." keith said as he placed his hand on her leg and looked at her.


    she gulped down her saliva before she sat up and placed her hand on his chest, "let me serve you this time."


    ***********


    almost an hour later, keith and clara walked out of their room before they headed over and knocked on everyone else''s doors.


    caleb and laura came out from one room, looking absolutely flustered while amelia and nathan walked out from the third room, looking completely different.


    amelia looked absolutely grumpy while nathan had dark circles under his eyes, indicating a lack of sleep and even the whites of his eyes had a tinge of red.


    on the other hand, caleb and laura barely had their clothes on and with just one look, keith could tell that there had nothing under that one layer of clothing and that they had hurriedly put them on so they could answer the door.


    he didn''t pay much attention to the couple as him and clara had just indulged themselves in carnal pleasures. but this wasn''t the same with the other two.


    "why in the hell do you two look like that?" he asked as he looked at nathan who sighed.


    "captain, the bed is too soft and i can''t sleep. i tried to sleep on the floor but the floor is too cold. miss amelia isn''t letting me take the blanket and because of this, i couldn''t sleep."


    "selfish bastard, why are you omitting the things you did?" amelia grumbled before she looked at keith and pointed at nathan, "he couldn''t sleep so he didn''t let me sleep either. at the end of the day, i had to kick him to shut him up.


    and why should i give him the blanket? i''ll feel cold too. if he wants a blanket, he should just sleep on the bed and share the blanket with me instead of crying like a bitch."


    keith listened to them silently and then placed his hands on amelia''s shoulders, instantly silencing her. he stared into her eyes silently as he watched her hold her breath in and then patted her shoulder before smiling.


    "why didn''t you tell him that he could just ask the staff for a new blanket? hm?"


    amelia hesitated for a second before steeling herself, "because i held a grudge. this idiot flashed me his small peanut. it felt like i was looking at brandon for a second and my impression of him took an absolute nosedive.


    he was just trying to take advantage of the situation since we were sharing the room, this horny pig!"


    "captain! she''s lying!" nathan pleaded before he gave his two cents, "i just came out of the bath and my towel slipped. i didn''t do it intentionally. please believe my words..."


    keith silently looked at the two system screens in front of him and based on the things going on in both their heads, he could tell that it was a misunderstanding.


    the towel had indeed slipped, but nathan had paused from shock for a second before he hurriedly covered himself but this worked against him instead. due to this, amelia''s trust in him had been shattered and this would not go well if they continued to share a room.


    keith sighed and shook his head, "amelia will share a bed with clara for the next few days. i''ll move in with you instead."


    he then got the both of them to agree before he moved on to the main topic, "the prince invited us for a dinner and he asked me to bring every single one of you so we''ll have to go buy some clothes.


    i''ll leave the selections to amelia because who''s better than her when it comes to the customs of kazak empire''s nobles and royalty? no one."


    s§×ar?h the n?velfire(.)net website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 200 Clothes For The Banquet

    [a/n: weeeee chapter 200!! let''s go! i got 4 extra chapters pending and i''ve procrastinated enough so i''ll try to get them done in the next few days. oh yeah, merry christmas !!!]keith and his team followed amelia into a small shop, but in contrast to their expectations, the inside of the shop was extremely clean.


    inside, there was a short middle aged woman with a bob cut and amelia immediately waved at her with a wide smile on her face.


    the two of them got into a small talk until amelia decided to introduce her friends.


    "okay so aunty, these people here are all my friends as we were invited to the youngest princess''s coming of age ceremony. we all need an outfit that works well for the occasion."


    the woman nodded and looked at all of them, checking them out slowly with just her eyes before nodding.


    "you all have good looks." she said and nodded before tapping on the counter with her finger a few times.


    "let me think... three gorgeous dresses for the girls and three sets of suits for the handsome men here. though, i have one question. do you guys want to break the rules a little and wear something that''ll draw the eyes of people towards you?


    the clothes will still be luxurious ones, but just not suits or a simple dress. what do you guys say?"


    keith shrugged before placing his hand on amelia''s head who was in front of him, "we''ll just go with what amelia says. she knows best." s§×arch* the n??el fire.n§×t website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    the lady focused her gaze on amelia and saw her nod. seeing this, she smiled and pointed towards the door, "let''s go to the gold royale fabics store that''s a few meters away from here. we''ll have to pick proper clothes with which we can make you guys something."


    just as she said that, she took out a small rectangular piece of cloth and in front of everyone, the strands of the cloth began to come undone. in just two seconds, the cloth had become a bunch of threads.


    "controlling threads with such efficiency... really cool." keith commented and the woman smiled, "thank you, now let''s go."


    the group followed her out and after she locked the door of her store, they left for the fabrics store.


    it didn''t take them long to find this place and compared to the small shop they had visited earlier, this one was vastly different. it was huge and that wasn''t all. it had four floors and all the floors had rolls upon rolls of fabric for people to buy.


    one by one, the woman bought different kinds of fabrics of varying lengths. red for amelia, creamy white for clara and black for laura. when it came to the guys, she took a bit more time as she tried to decide what would go well on them.


    and do to this, she asked them to take their shirts off and they did.


    a few months ago, keith was a scrawny guy who was no different than a skeleton. but now, he had a good amount of muscle on himself and looked pretty athletic.


    nathan on the other hand had gained some muscle compared to before thanks to the training and diet that keith had planned for the team but his genetics did not help him much with aesthetics. he had two pack abs and was very slim even though the muscles could be seen.


    caleb on the other hand, was extremely blessed by genetics as his six packs had a slight definition. even though they weren''t as pronounced as keith''s, they showed promise.


    "nice arms but we have to do something about this guy." she said and looked at nathan before choosing a high quality cotton fabric for him. she picked two different colors with one of the fabrics being thicker than the other.


    "you guys have anything to say? i''ll keep your words in mind when selecting colors or the types of fabric."


    caleb hesitated for a second, but after he glanced at laura, he spoke up, "i want black. i want to match with her."


    she accepted caleb''s suggestion and bought some black cloth before she faced keith, "what about you?"


    "i''m fine with anything. just make me look presentable."


    "nah, he''s the face of our group so he should stand out." amelia interjected before glaring at him, "take this seriously will you? those dumb dogs will try to find anything to put others down and since you have great looks, they''ll get jealous. you''ll be their prime target so it''s better to not give them a target to hit."


    keith looked at her with a confused expression on his face, "isn''t it better to look like an idiot then? this way, they won''t get jealous of me."


    "they will get jealous of your face and make fun of your dressing sense. you should show your dominance and to do this, you''ll have to appear perfect." she said stubbornly before shifting her gaze to the woman.


    "aunty, make him something that''ll make him stand out a lot. no one should be able to talk bad about his clothes in any way."


    the woman nodded and glanced at clara before smiling at keith, "okay then, we''ll go with a red shirt and black trousers for you. i''ll switch clara''s dress to red so she can match you too.


    three members in your team have black clothes and two have red, so black and red will represent your team well and i will make sure that your outfit will send a strong message to the nobles in the banquet."


    keith shrugged, "anything you say. though, how much will everything cost by the way?"


    "hmm, i''ll get a discount for you guys at this place but it will still cost you quite a lot. i plan on picking silk for your shirt so the cost of it will be higher than the other ones i picked. let''s see... it will cost you around thirty zen just for the fabric."


    "oh." keith said, looking quite surprised as he had expected the costs to go in chrons instead of zens.


    the woman smiled and added, "i kept the budget in mind but if you want me to pick better materials, then as long as you give me the yes, i will."


    keith looked at the others in his team and thought for a bit but before he could answer, amelia did.


    "it''s fine. we''ll probably only wear this once and maybe a few more times in the future so the quality of the fabric won''t matter. the one that will give our clothes more value is your stamp, aunty."


    "hahaha, that''s true." she said, but still waited for keith''s answer.


    keith looked at amelia and nodded, "amelia is right, it''s not like we''re going to wear these clothes everyday."


    the group then headed over to the counter and keith settled the payment before leaving with the others. he didn''t mind spending a little on his team since this was an important event and he didn''t feel like telling them to pitch in some money of their own.


    this was mostly due to laura and caleb being trainees, which earned them less compared to the others so asking them to spend 5 to 6 zen on their clothes did not feel right.


    he walked back to the woman''s shop and once inside, she got to work in front of everyone.


    strands from the fabric flew out and quickly weaved themselves back together, forming perfectly fitting dress for laura. things went same for everyone and once she was done, she handed over the clothes to everyone and pointed at the door behind her.


    "go inside and change. let''s see how you look."


    one by one, everyone walked in and came out with their new clothes on. while keith didn''t really care about his clothes, he couldn''t help but admire the way everyone looked. especially clara.


    while he was ogling his girl, amelia walked out and yet again, he couldn''t help but agree that she was gorgeous.


    stay updated through empire


    ''no wonder the guys want her so bad.'' he thought and grabbed his clothes before heading into the changing room.


    the trousers were a perfect fit, but his red shirt was pretty lose and didn''t even have the first two buttons. he tucked it in and didn''t feel like he looked great when he looked at his reflection in the mirror.


    "i think a suit would fit better..." he muttered and walked out.


    the woman chuckled when she saw him and simply let caleb go in before she pointed at keith, "you come here. that''s not how you''re supposed to wear that."


    she grabbed his shirt and pulled up the part that he had tucked it. she didn''t completely pull it all out and still made sure that it was tucked. the loose part that was out, was carefully patted so it sat snug.


    keith saw her take a few steps back and after she looked at him, she shook her head and went back to work.


    by the time she was done, both caleb and nathan had put on their clothes.


    keith went ahead and looked at his reflection.


    the front of the shirt was tucked in completely, but that was only the center and the part that was tucked in was around fifteen centimeters. the rest was pulled out slightly while some of it was still tucked and this gave out a unique look.


    ''her fashion sense is different from most people here.'' he thought as he recalled a few people who wore their clothes this way in his previous life.

 Chapter 201 Put These On So You Can Look Even Better (Extra Chapter)

    "buy a nice belt and you''re good to go, kid." she said and grabbed the sleeves of his shirt before using her power to reduce the length.keith silently watched as she did her thing and once she was done, she gave him a satisfied smile, "now, people can see those muscles of yours. good luck at the banquet."


    "thanks." he said and glanced at everyone before focusing on her, "how much for your services?"


    "hmm... since amelia brought you guys here, i''ll just take one chron total."


    keith took out the money and gave it to her before him and his team changed back to their normal clothes.


    they then left and on the way, keith scooted closer to amelia, "how much does she usually charge by the way?"


    "ten to hundreds of chrons. the clothes she makes have some sort of magical resistance to cuts and they can heal or in other words, repair themselves to a certain extent. she''s made a name for herself and having that stamp on your things will easily raise it''s value."


    ''she''s the first one i''ve seen who has managed to put a value on her name. very impressive.'' he thought, as he glanced at the small bag in his hands.


    ''two more days for the banquet. as for tonight''s dinner with the prince... i have a feeling that it''s going to be slightly annoying but let''s see how it unfolds.


    i gave that vincent free unlock but he''s saving it for what? damn idiot. i''ll somehow get him to use it so that i can collect some tax next month.


    atleast fabian will reach rank a with his skin hardening in a few days so he''ll get a free unlock for one of the other skills. after months, i''ll finally be able to collect something meaningful.


    i just have to get vincent to unlock another one of his skills so that i can get two meaningful taxes next month.''


    he got back home and took a nice bath before he went ahead and shifted his belongings to nathan''s room and helped amelia move her things to clara''s room.


    once that was done, the group simply gathered in caleb''s room and gossiped for a while until it was close to evening.


    "alright guys, let''s get ready and leave. we don''t need to risk pissing off a prince just cuz we were late now, should we?"


    the others nodded and rushed to their rooms so they could change. keith did the same and put on his clothes the way he was advised to before walking out of his room. he didn''t have a belt, so he looked at nathan who was still putting on his suit.


    "i''ll go buy a belt and get to the palace as soon as i''m done so just wait for me with the others." he said and left the room before knocking on clara''s door.


    "i need some help."


    the door opened a few seconds later and he was dragged inside. clara was standing with just her inner wear on and amelia was nowhere to be seen.


    discover more stories at empire s~ea??h the n?vel?ire.net website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "i just wanted to ask amelia for a place where i can buy a good belt fast, that''s all."


    "there''s this place called felix''s accessories and it''s pretty close to the palace. it on the way and very easy to spot." amelia''s voice came from the bathroom.


    keith nodded, "thanks." he said and waved at clara before leaving.


    it didn''t take him too long to buy the belt and put it on, but it sure was pricey. the good one cost him twenty five zen and even though it was a lot of money, keith still bought it since first impressions mattered a lot.


    the belt had a plate buckle with an intricate design of two daggers placed in an x shape. there were carvings of one drop of blood attacked to the tip of each dagger, looking like it was about to drip.


    it went well with his bright red shirt, so he just bought it and rushed towards the palace. he expected his team to be waiting for him but there was only nathan.


    "amelia asked me to bring you home. we still have an hour until the scheduled time so she wants everyone to look perfect. and um... her brother is also at the inn and he said he''ll help us with a few things."


    keith sighed and nodded. this was one of the reasons why he wasn''t enthusiastic to meet the prince or any noble. it just felt like too much work.


    even though he didn''t like it, he didn''t want to offend someone in power. this was because he did not have a stable foundation or backing.


    the church could serve as a good backing but they wouldn''t be able to protect him forever. on top of that, he also had a few goals that he wanted to achieve and the prince could help him speed up the process.


    he left the place with nathan and rushed back home, only to see amelia''s brother jumping around caleb like an idiot.


    caleb looked different compared to before and most of it was due to the rings on his fingers, the shoes and lastly, the two gold chains that were around his neck. while keith couldn''t tell if it made him look better or not, he was sure that he looked different.


    "you''re finally here." amelia said as she handed a small box to clara, "put these on and i''ll get you some of adrian''s bracelets and maybe one of two rings should go well."


    keith watched as clara opened the box and grabbed a small stud earring before looking at amelia, "both?"


    "well..." amelia replied and looked at keith as she puckered her lips, going into deep thought, "hmm... one is fine. i''ll tell adrian to help keith with his hair."


    clara moved closer to keith and muttered, "this might hurt, but i can imagine you looking good."


    "you like seeing me with an earring?" keith asked, slightly surprised and clara blushed.


    "i like you the way you are right now, but-"


    [extra chapters done: 2]


    [extra chapters left: 3]


    [current gt: 59]


    [one more gt for 60 and i''ll write another extra chapter.]

 Chapter 202 Meeting The Third Prince (Extra Chapter)

    "i like you the way you are right now, but i don''t think i''ll dislike you with earrings on. let''s just say that it''ll give you more of a... assertive or in other words, a wild look. and i think it has it''s own charm." she said and seeing her blushing so much, keith decided to go with what she wanted.who cared about the prince as long as his girl liked to see him wearing earrings?


    adrian left caleb and beamed at keith, "oh look at that natural handsomeness. the young men will glare while the ladies drool at you in the banquet, hahahaha! it''ll be fun to watch but since you''re going to meet the third prince, let''s get you the perfect look."


    keith nodded and let the guy do his think. he felt a prick on his ear and simply withstood the pain for a second. the wound healed almost instantly thanks to his supernatural regeneration.


    a few minutes passed and once adrian was done, keith took a look at himself in the mirror.


    ''i look like an gangster.... but that aside, i should be glad that i got transmigrated into a body that has great looks.'' he thought but there were different things going on in amelia and clara''s minds.


    his soft curly hair that looked slightly messy gave him a sort of charm and along with his new clothes and the one earring on his right ear, he looked different but in a positive way.


    enough to make their hearts beat faster. one one hand, amelia''s emotions and thoughts were conflicting once again, and on the other hand, clara just wanted keith to do something with her in private.


    keith looked away from his reflection and looked at the others, "let''s go? and thank you for your help adrian."


    "no worries! when i heard that my sister was attending the banquet, i was so overjoyed that i asked my people to search for you guys hahaha.


    but to my surprise, my sister contacted me first instead. i''ll look forward to meeting you in two days."


    keith nodded and watched adrian leave before he glanced at his teammates. sea??h th§× n?vel(f)ire.n§×t website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "shall we leave? we only have around forty minutes."


    amelia nodded and put on her heels before giving a pair to both clara and laura, "i''ll lend you these for tonight but we''ll have to get you two a new pair tomorrow."


    the two girls nodded and put on their heels before they tried to walk.


    amelia was a natural thanks to the practice and extensive use of heels in the past while the other two struggled slightly.


    keith grabbed clara''s hand to give her some support and in a way, it did help. seeing this, caleb did the same and the whole team left the place.


    most of them were excited but there were two who weren''t. amelia was anxious on how she''d be received after all the drama that surrounded her name while keith simply didn''t want to talk to a prince.


    ''i''m here for benefits. let''s just go and see how it goes. who knows if it''ll miraculously turn out to be a pleasant meeting.''


    instead of walking the whole way, keith hired two rickshaws to take them to the palace and they managed to reach their destination approximately twenty minutes in advance to their meeting time.


    keith and the others headed inside after the knights saw the letter and let them in. a girl dressed in proper maid clothes received the group and guided them through the hallways.


    she stopped in front of a door and looked at keith, "the third prince will join you soon. please make yourselves comfortable inside. one of the maids will bring you some snacks and tea."


    keith nodded and walked in. there was a rectangular table with eight chairs. three each on the long sides and one each on the shorter sides.


    seven of the chairs were identical while the chair on one of the shorter sides was slightly bigger.


    amelia walked in and pointed at the chair opposite to the one that was big as she looked at keith, "you''ll sit there. and beside you should be the ones with higher positions. the further the chairs are from you, the lower the position the person who is sitting there should be."


    "you guys heard her. sit based on your positions and well... looks like she''ll be the one sitting farthest from me." he said as he sat down.


    read new chapters at empire


    amelia nodded and watched clara and nathan take the seats were were adjacent to keith''s. as for laura and caleb, they sat beside the two inquisitors since they were just trainees.


    lastly, amelia sat down beside laura with the chair opposite to her being empty.


    they didn''t have to wait too long as the prince walked into the room a few minutes later.


    "i''m glad that you decided to accept my invitation." he said as soon as he entered and three maids followed behind him with two trays filled with cookies and pastries while the last maid had a tray that had a tea pot and some cups.


    keith nodded and bowed slightly, "i was looking forward to meet you prince. though i must say, i am quite surprised at the attention you''re giving me. i wonder if there''s anything you want from me."


    "straightforward, i see." the prince said and smiled before he sat down on the big chair.


    "my youngest sister will join us soon. she heard about the meeting and insisted that i let her join so i was helpless about it." he said as he glanced at he empty chair beside caleb.


    he then pointed at the snacks and tea that his maids had placed in front of them, "feel free."


    while everyone took something from the trays, the prince spoke, "i did want to talk about something. i''m mostly curious about the rumors surrounding you and... i also wanted to talk about the succession war that''ll start as soon as the coming of age banquet ends."


    [extra chapters done: 3]


    [extra chapters left: 2]


    [current gt: 59]

 Chapter 203 Join My Side, Keith.

    "rumors you say... may i know what you''ve learnt from the rumors please?"the prince smiled and shook his head, "introductions first."


    keith nodded and introduced himself while his team followed his example. once everyone had done doing their part, it was the prince''s turn.


    "as you might have all known, i am the third prince and i was named mathew kazak the eighth but you can call me prince mathew. i have a total of twenty six siblings and ten of them have the right to the throne. as for the rest, they have no other choice but to support the others." he said and glanced at amelia.


    "would you like to do that honors and tell your friends about how succession works and a brief summary of my whole competition?"


    amelia nodded and turned to look at her friends, "okay so succession is succession. whoever does well during the succession wars will become the official heir to the throne while the other nine candidates will get various nobility titles or will get married off to someone powerful.


    the succession wars have multiple areas in which the candidates should compete in. one is personal strength, be it mental or physical. there''s also their military might, status, their expertise in strategy, business and multiple other things.


    as for prince mathew''s competition, i believe that with the current state of affairs, he does not have a high probability of winning this race. the first prince''s military might is extremely strong and the royal army has pledged their lives to him.


    the... second prince..." she said and hesitated for a second before taking a deep breath.


    she then put on a straight face and continued, "the second prince has officially married more than twenty ladies, all of whom were from various noble families. thanks to this, he has a huge military might too as he can ask for assistance whenever he wants and these families will help him.


    and since he took the approach of making connections, he has a wide network of businesses where he profits from and when considering his status as a son in law for multiple noble families, i would say that his chances are higher than the first prince.


    the third prince has a small group of royal knights under his command, but the numbers and quality pale in comparison to the first prince. he also has one wife and two concubines but the come from smaller noble families except for his wife who''s from a dukedom.


    as for his concubines, one is from a county and the other from a viscounty. he''s talented in arts, but it will not play a huge role in helping him ascend to the throne. he also barely showed himself to the public so he won''t get the support of the people either."


    keith''s eyes were focused on the table in front of him but in reality, he was looking at the system screen that showed mathew''s thoughts.


    ''he''s not angry but pleased huh?'' he thought as he kept ears open to amelia''s lecture.


    "the fourth princess... she''s the best among the candidates when it comes to the art of making money and she used to be a friend of mine in the past. as far as i can say, she''ll do anything she can to make money and losing the succession equivalent to losing everything she has built so far.


    they''re not allowed to borrow money from the royal treasury, which means that she''s the strongest when it comes to financial aspect and i''m sure that she''ll hire thousands of people to make her own army apart from the few royal knights that she already has under her.


    she has enough resources to train these people so her chances are also high.


    this is also where things change a little. the first four kids were all conceived by one of the queens but the next three are children of concubines so they have no right to the throne. the eighth prince is mostly a scholar but he has the second biggest squadron of royal soldiers and knights after the first prince.


    he also has multiple businesses that generate money for him and the one thing that gives him an edge against the others at this moment is the fact that he''s still unmarried. the two grand dukes of our empire would rather have their daughters as wives instead of concubines."


    "wait, what about the second prince then? you don''t us that he married a lot of women from the noble families." caleb asked as he grabbed a cookie.


    amelia nodded, "yes, but it''s mostly the ladies from the dukedoms and marquisates. both the grand dukes refused the marriage proposal when he went to them and for clear reasons." she said and did not elaborate on the reasons.


    instead, she hummed as she tapped on a table a few times, "hmm... other than the eighth prince, i''d say that the rest have a very low chance. three of them have spent most of their lives on debauchery and barely focused on important things while the last two are too young.


    while they might have potential, they didn''t get enough time to build a foothold for themselves. though i must say, the information i have is outdated and i do not have a clear understanding of the current state of matters within the palace."


    mathew clapped his hands as he smiled widely, "it''s good to know that you haven''t changed much, lady amelia. your directness is something i''ve always admired and you''re right for the most part. my sister, the fourth princess has been trying to get two of the grand dukes'' sons to marry her.


    she''s taken a step that i never expected her to take and well, it looks like her plans are progressing well. as for the eighth prince, the situation is quite opposite. my sister is aggressively trying to get those two guys to marry her while both the grand dukes are fighting for my brother''s hand.


    though, he''s only allowed to choose one and the other grand duke will most probably go to my eldest brother. it''s a pity but you''re right. i don''t think i stand a chance during the succession and this is the main reason why i decided to call you guys here." s§×ar?h the n??el fire.n§×t website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    he looked at keith and then glanced at the maid that was standing at the door, "bring the dinner in once it''s ready."


    as the maid walked out, he shifted his gaze back to keith, "most nobles have managed to get the support of various people from the church and this will directly impact the strength of the second prince.


    that idiot doesn''t know this but while he was goofing around with girls, i''ve been keeping an eye on various things that have been happening within our empire."


    he paused for a second and took a sip of his tea before continuing, "and i''ve come to a conclusion that the only way to make a difference is to have a small group of awakened people that are extremely strong. this way, i''ll be able to focus all my resources on them.


    almost no one knows this but i''ll place all my cards on the table for you guys to see. i have the most simple yet complicated information network in this entire continent. it''s the most efficient one when compared to the others.


    my business might look small on the outside but i have a few secret businesses that i run. i''m the only one in this empire who has access to the camphor oil. i have managed to get access to the island where these trees grow, thanks to my connections with the art church.


    the demand for it is high and i can easily make a 1000% profit just by buying this from the church and selling it all to the nobles." experience more content on empire


    he then smirked at he looked at keith, "one barrel of thirty liters costs me two chrons to buy and i sell it for 25 to 22 chrons each. there''s been rumors that you''ve undergone a second awakening, which means that there''s a chance for you to know how much of this oil is needed for just one awakening.


    if you guys join my side, i promise you guys nobility titles based on how well you do and it will range from duke or duchess to viscount or viscountess.


    and if there''s anything you need, feel free to tell me and i''ll do my best to help you with it. but before that, i''d like to see if the rumors were correct."


    keith nodded and snapped his fingers, producing a small flame.


    "what rumors did you hear by the way?" he asked as he manipulated the flame to look like the prince in front of him and then added, "also, when will your sister join us?"


    "when i give my guards a sign to let her in. she''s probably outside but this discussion just isn''t for her so until we''re done with the important talks, she''ll stay out.


    as for the rumors, it is said that you can shoot out a huge amount of flames and that''s all there is to it. it looks like the rumors were slightly wrong..."


    "no they''re right. i can shoot a bunch of flames but i have a huge amount of control over what i do. which means that i''m very versatile." keith said as the flame that was the shape of the prince, transformed into a bird and then into a large sword.


    the fire poofed after a second, but that was more than enough for the prince to learn about how keith''s flame control worked.


    "that''s great, so let''s get to the important part. will you join my side? i''ve showed you all my cards and i plan on bringing in a few others in too."

 Chapter 204 The Youngest Princess Makes Her Entry (Extra Chapter)

    keith gave him an awkward smile before shaking his head, "i don''t really want to get involved in this whole thing if i''m being honest... but, there is a possibility. i have two conditions."mathew grinned and suppressed his excitement. he had mostly expected keith to reject his offer as there were better options out there, such as the second or the first prince.


    "state your conditions." he said and keith smiled.


    "first is that you''ll only get me to join your side. if you want my team members, you''ll have to convince them on your own. as for the second condition, i want a hundred camphor fruits. not the oil, but the fruits and they shouldn''t be tampered with."


    mathew looked slightly confused but he nodded, "sure. but just so you know, those fruits are not good for consumption."


    keith nodded and smiled instead of saying something. seeing this, mathew sighed and looked at the others, "if you guys need anything, please tell me right now."


    the trio looked at each other''s faces and quickly decided what they wanted.


    laura asked for money, a huge amount of 1000 chrons. caleb wanted to be free from taxation for fifty years and this included the future fief that he would get along with his nobility title.


    everyone''s gazes were fixed on nathan as he spoke next. s§×ar?h the n??elfir§×.net website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "i want you to help me find a partner who can help me manage my land along with me. someone capable, without much of a bad history and well... if she looks good, then that''s a plus."


    mathew nodded and agreed to all of their demands before turning to look at clara and amelia.


    "i''ll leave my decision in keith''s hands." clara said and glanced at keith before turning back to look at mathew who nodded.


    as for amelia, she took her time to think before making up her mind.


    "if you win, i want a public execution of the second prince. he forced me to cut my ties with my family and there''s no way i''ll let him go if i have a chance to ruin his life. if you lose... well, it''s a loss anyway so i don''t really want anything."


    "a promise huh... understood. if i win, i''ll expose all of his atrocities and use my power to suppress him as much as i can but i don''t think i''ll be able to execute him as long as my father is alive. i hope you understand that."


    amelia nodded, "yes, just do what you can to make him regret the things he''s done. once you become the king, then we can talk about the execution."


    "great, and lastly... what about you keith? what would you like me to give clara?"


    keith hummed as he rubbed his chin, "let''s see.... oh yes, if you can give her the lampuru hills and the area surrounding it, then that''ll be great."


    "lampuru hills? that place is barren and has almost nothing. instead, it is considered as a bad place since it''s close to the borders of morose kingdom."


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    keith nodded, "right. i have a feeling that our empire will get involved in a two way war against both morose and baroma kingdoms in the near future. i suppose you should know more than me about this matter since you have a strong information network."


    hearing keith''s words, mathew felt a slight shock as this was something that most people were not supposed to know. this also included most of the church members like keith.


    at the end, he nodded but he was still confused.


    "you''re right to a certain extent and there are forces that are trying to trigger a war between us. but that is what i don''t understand. why do you want a place that barely has any people and also has a high chance to be at the forefront of the war?"


    keith grinned when he heard this question, "i''ll probably get a random title but as a prince, you should know the best way of getting promoted politically right? it''s through war efforts and being at the forefront gives me better opportunities."


    while this was what he said on the outside, the real reason for wanting the lampuru hills was different. in the novel, after the war ended and baroma kingdom was split between the other two parties, there were a lot of changes that happened geographically.


    kazak empire''s land had gone down and morose kingdom had managed to claim enough land to call itself an empire just like it''s neighbor. and one of the lands that they managed to claim was the lampuru hills, which was later revealed to have a huge gold mine hidden under it.


    this was the sole reason for keith''s choice. gold.


    the currency of the kingdoms and empires would be of no use once the barrier breaks and disaster strikes. at that time, it was raw materials like gold that were more valuable since he never planned to stay back at this continent.


    "i see... you''re pretty ambitious. alright, i''ll give you the lampuru hills but since both of you are a couple, i guess you''ll be fine with sharing the same land. don''t worry, the amount of land you get will be an addition of both of your nobility titles." mathew said as he nodded slightly.


    the discussions continued for a few more minutes but they weren''t anything major. while they were talking, they heard a knock on the door and mathew looked at everyone else.


    "alright, we don''t talk about our deals in front of my sister. i''ll lead the conversation and you guys respond accordingly." he said and smiled while everyone else nodded.


    he then turned to look at the door and spoke loudly, "come in and let my sister in too."


    almost immediately, the door opened and keith saw a tall and slim girl walk in with an annoyed look on her face.


    "brother, is this how you treat me? you''ve started to ignore me just because the succession wars are about to start?"


    [extra chapters done: 4]


    [extra chapters left: 2]


    [current gt: 63]

 Chapter 205 The Slight Changes in Miya (Extra Chapter)

    the youngest princess was tall, slim and she had an air to her that was hard to explain. her hair was shorter than most females in the empire, coming down only a two inches below her shoulder.in keith''s eyes, she looked malnourished but he knew that most of the men in the empire would find her absolutely beautiful.


    ''not that it''s a bad thing but she should take care of her health too.'' he thought as he saw her take a seat in front of amelia.


    "ameliaaaaa!! it''s been so long since i''ve seen you!" she said excitedly while the maids placed multiple dishes on the table one by one.


    amelia gave her a slight smile before nodding, "yes, it''s been a while hasn''t it? we were just having a debate on which is better, marrying the person you love or just a powerful person to get a better position politically."


    "hmm~" the princess said cutely, "isn''t it better to get both? love someone who''s powerful and marry them?"


    "but that''s not realistic now, is it? most of the times, the person you marry for political power just won''t be as compatible with you as you''d expect. take the second eldest, zander as an example.


    he has three wives and multiple concubines, but most of them have lovers and regularly go out to meet them. they married for political power, but it''s clear that they''re not happy with zander." mathew said as he looked at his sister.


    the debate continued while they had their dinner and once they were done, mathew escorted them out personally while his sister headed back to her room.


    once they got to the palace gates, he took out a small badge and gave it to keith.


    "here. it''s the proof of connection that you have with a member of the royal family and this is something that most nobles don''t even get to touch. this should help you out to an extent while you''re here and once the banquet is done, let''s have another meeting and i''ll arrange a temporary residence for you to stay in for a few months."


    keith took the badge and put it in his pocked before nodding, "thank you for the help. also, when will the delivery be made?" he asked, not mentioning the camphor fruits since there were knights standing nearby.


    mathew thought for a second before answering, "should be a few days. let''s take two weeks as a safe bet but you can expect it earlier than that."


    the group then bid farewell and headed back to the inn before going straight to bed.


    everyone slept except keith as he dived into his spatial dimension to go meet his daughter. he wanted to bring her out, but he couldn''t find the right time or the opportunity to do so.


    "miya, i''m back!" he said as he walked towards the small house that he had built with his powers. it was mostly made of soil, but compressed until it was rock solid. there was no risk of external threats in this place, so he wasn''t too worried about the durability of the structure.


    as he got close, he could hear the sound of footsteps from inside and as soon as the door opened, the rushed out hugged him tight.


    he placed his hand on her small head and gave her a few pats before picking her up, "so, how was your day?"


    "i played with kimmy, jimmy and timmy today and jimmy let me drink her milk!"


    keith raised his eyebrow and turned to look at the goat that had relatively small horns compared to the rest of the group.


    "is that so? did it taste good?"


    miya nodded, "yes! but papa, you promised that you''ll take me to mama right? how long should i wait?" she asked as she grabbed his shirt like she always did.


    keith gave her an awkward smile before nodding, "i''ll bring you to her soon. or maybe, i''ll just bring her here. what do you think?" explore more at empire


    "yesss!!" she exclaimed and looped her small arms around his neck to give him a hug before pulling back, "so papa, let''s continue the story you started yesterday. we can go to the pond and grab some fishies too."


    "sure sure, let''s go. i''ll tell you the story after we are done playing with the fishies" he said, imitating her way of speech as he began to move towards the pond.


    there were a few goats that were drinking water and even though keith walked right beside them, they didn''t move and just went on with doing what they wanted.


    keith slowly brought miya down before spinning, making her scream and giggle as she flew in the air. he then placed her down like he always did and laughed while she struggled to keep standing.


    miya fell to the ground and instead of standing back up, she lied down as she stared up at the sky.


    "papa, the sky is spinning again..."


    "is that so?" keith said as he lied down beside her and looked up at the sky. it spun a little for him too, but he didn''t say it out loud.


    instead, he simply waited. s~ea??h the n??elfir§×.net website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    a few seconds later, miya got up and looked at him, "papa, can we eat something different today? please?"


    he could sense a sort of hesitation in her voice, so he turned to look at her.


    ''looks like her experiences with her uncle won''t just disappear over a few days.'' he thought before smiling at her.


    "sure. i''ll make you a new dish that you''ll like a lot! and we''ll also have meat today." he said and the moment he did, miya beamed as a wide smile appeared on her face.


    keith then sat up and patted her back before pointing at the pond, "go for a swim while i cook for you, okay?"


    unlike the past when she simply nodded and did as she was told to, she stood in place this time and didn''t seem to have any intention of moving at all.


    "hmm? you don''t want to swim? i thought you like it."


    she hesitated for a second before shaking her head, "i like swimming. but i want to watch papa cook for me."


    [extra chapters done: 5]


    [extra chapters left: 1]


    [current gt: 63]

 Chapter 206 In The Future

    the next day, keith woke up 4 hours late compared to the others. he glanced at his system screen to find out where the others were and walked out to knock on caleb''s door.once the door was opened, he saw everyone inside and there was an extra face that he was slightly familiar with.


    "adrian? what brings you here again?" he asked as he groggily walked over to the bed and sat down beside caleb.


    "my father invited you guys to come live in our mansion for the next few days." he said politely before smirking, "he just misses his cute little daughter that''s all and this is just an ruse so he can get to spend some time with her."


    keith nodded and looked at amelia who had a complicated look on her face, "i guess you''re lucky to have such a nice father."


    hearing his words, she sighed in response, "yeah i know, but what if that donkey second prince makes a huge deal out of this and tries to do something? i don''t want my father to face difficulties because of me."


    "well, he''ll have his hands full with the succession stuff to pay your father any attention anyways. i don''t think you need to worry about him." he said as he gave her a thumbs up with a goofy smile on his face, which in turn brought a smile to her face.


    "i guess you''re right. i''m just thinking too deep into this."


    "oh wow, you''re thinking?! damn, looks like you have a functional brain. would have been better if you used it more often."


    "you''re one to talk." she retaliated before chuckling, "anyways, it looks like we''ll have to pack up our belongings again but on the bright side, we don''t have to pay a daily fee to stay here do we?"


    clara nodded, "yes, but i''ll miss the food. it''s sooo good."


    the group then went debating about he pros and cons of leaving while keith silently watched. once they were done and were ready to leave, keith raised his hand.


    "i have something to say. there''s someone i must meet in a bit and i''ll be taking clara with me. tell us where to come and i''ll be there once i''m done with the job." he said and the people in the room had mixed reactions.


    some had confused looks while the others were curious. even clara looked confused as she did not hear about any meeting from him in advance.


    adrian nodded, "sure, take your time. our mansion is close to the palace but let''s see... just walk out of the market towards the palace and take a right on the wide road. there''s only one road that''s very wide so it''ll be hard for you to mistake it.


    once you take a right, just keep walking until you see a mansion with a steel name plate right beside the gate that says duke arthur toretto. i''ll make sure to inform the guards about you so that you won''t face any problems once you get there."


    "thank you." keith said and got up from the bed before looking at clara, "let''s go right now. better to get things done early."


    clara nodded and turned to look at her roommate, "amelia, i''ll leave the packing to you but i guess there isn''t much to pack since i have everything almost ready."


    "yeah, don''t worry. i''ll take your things with me."


    while everyone headed to their rooms to pack their things, keith bid farewell to caleb and laura before leaving with clara.


    once he was out of the inn, he silently walked with her for a while. after walking through multiple alleyways, he finally spoke.


    "she''s been wanting to meet you so... i thought this would be the perfect time and excuse to bring her out." he said and leaned against the wall as he looked at clara.


    he could sense a sort of excitement in her eyes but he could also see that she was quite nervous. he chuckled and looked around before extending his hand towards her, "grab my arm and i''ll take you to her."


    once she did, he instantly took her to his spatial dimension while his body also disappeared. both of them appeared in front of the small house and they saw miya playing with the goats.


    in a way, it looked like she was herding the young ones but in reality, she was playing her own version of tag with them.


    "miya, guess who''s here?" keith shouted and saw her come to a sudden halt before turning around.


    she then looked back at the kids and raised her palm, signalling them to stop, "okay, i''ll come and play with you later. looks like papa finally brought mama to this place." s§×arch* the n?vel(f)ire.¦Çet website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    the kids looked at each other and gave her a sad look before they walked towards their mothers while miya happily ran towards keith.


    "so, do you have a guess?" keith asked once again as he hadn''t heard what she had said to the goats.


    miya nodded and grinned, "mama right?"


    "mhm, smart miya." he praised her and lifted her up before looking at clara, "so, what do you say?"


    "yeah, let''s take her out of here. she needs to meet people or i feel like there will be problems." she said before looking at miya who was staring at her.


    "so... um, my name is clara." she said as she smiled awkwardly, the nervousness showing very clearly. explore more adventures at empire


    keith couldn''t help but smile when he saw her like this while miya confidently nodded, "my name is miya zenister! daughter of keith zenister and uh..."


    she paused and blinked twice before continuing, "clara zenister?"


    "hahahahahahaha, technically yes but she''s not a zenister yet." he said before looking at clara, "though, she will be in the future."


    clara wouldn''t stop herself from grinning when she heard both of their words. her face turned bright red as she nodded, "yes, in the future."

 Chapter 207 Adrian, The Chaotic

    changing surnames went both ways. if a man was the head of the family, then the wife would take on the husband''s surname and if a woman was the head of the family, then the husband would take on the wife''s surname.this included both monogamist and polygamist families.


    in clara''s case, she was treated as a collateral object for a loan and she had already talked with keith on how she''d prefer taking on his name instead of going the other way around.


    while it was mostly her who spoke about the adoption of surnames in the past, this was the first time she heard him say it directly and it made her heart flutter in a way that she never expected.


    a tiny part of her felt a slight jealousy towards miya who adopted the surname first, but she suppressed it almost instantly.


    ''she''s just a child and she''s his daughter, not lover. no, she''s our child now.'' she thought as she shifted her gaze towards keith.


    "so, what''s the plan?"


    keith hummed as he collected his thought and then began so speak, "let''s see... first, we''ll go with a simple story. a random guy rescued her from her uncle and brought her here." he said and looked at miya.


    "if someone asks you, tell them that you were being dragged by two uncles and suddenly, you fainted and found yourself here okay?"


    "yes! i woke up and saw that i was in a small room. then a uncle who was wearing a mask told me that they''ll give me to someone nice and that this nice person will be my papa. then papa came and took me away with him. hehe, did i say everything correctly?" discover exclusive tales on empire


    keith nodded and gently pinched her cheeks, "correct! papa then brought you to mama and took you two with me." sear?h the n?vel(f)ire.n§×t website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    clara and miya both nodded. the three of them talked for a few more minutes to get their story aligned before leaving the spatial dimension.


    all three of them appeared in the alleyway and the first thing that keith did was to whisper in his daughter''s ears.


    "don''t tell anyone about the goats and stuff okay? the place where you were for a while is a secret place and it belongs to a divine being, so telling others will bring trouble. do you understand?" he asked and miya nodded cutely.


    "yes. trouble bad."


    keith then put her down and patted her back slightly, "go on, hold mama''s hand and follow me."


    "i think she needs a change of clothes first..." clara said as she looked at the thin, ragged clothes that miya was wearing and sighed before shifting her attention to keith, "i know you don''t care about the things you wear but you should at least teach her the good things. and maybe also set an example by wearing nice clothes too."


    keith looked down at his casual clothes that he had ever since he had transmigrated. he hadn''t bought any clothes for himself until now.


    "well... at least the father and daughter pair have matching clothes i guess?"


    clara glared at him before shaking her head and held onto miya''s hand before pointing at the road that was at the other end of the alleyway, "we go and buy her at least two sets for now. we can get her more things tomorrow when we have more time."


    "sure sure." ketih said and began to walk.


    they then spent almost two whole hours just to buy her some sundresses but instead of two, they were walked out of the store with almost eight of them. keith hadn''t expected that he''d spend so much time on selections and on top of that, him and clara had also argued over which pattern suited miya better.


    at the end of the day, both of them let miya choose and the child opened their eyes by picking everything they had selected.


    "we were so blinded by the limit we set for ourselves..." clara said as she looked at the bag that keith was carrying.


    "yeah, but it was surprisingly fun."


    the three of them walked out of the market and followed the directions that adrian had given them until they found what they were looking for.


    "amelia told me that this is just a property that is mostly used as a temporary residence for their family. those that come to the capital for business purposes use this mansion instead of going to inns. their estate is a bit far from here." clara said as she walked towards the gate.


    the guards looked at the three of them and glanced at each other before hesitantly asking, "please state your name."


    "keith and this is clara. as for this child, adrian probably didn''t tell you guys since he didn''t know but she''s my daughter." he said and then added, "though, it''s not yet legalized."


    "oh okay, please go in." one of the guards said while the other swiftly opened the gates for them.


    keith walked in and was received by a butler who was pretty young, which was not a common thing among noble households.


    "it''s quite surprising to see a young butler at a noble household." keith commented as he followed behind him.


    the butler chuckled, "sir i''m thirty nine years old but yes, you''re right. my father is sixty and he''s the butler at the toretto''s main mansion. you could say that i''m just a butler in training as this place doesn''t need as much attention or maintenance compared to the one where my father works."


    "i see..." keith muttered before nodding, "looks like you''ll get promoted in the near future."


    "i''ll be glad if that happens." the butler said before stopping in front of a door, "everyone is inside, please walk in."


    as soon as he said that, he pushed the door open and held it in place while keith walked in with the other two.


    the room looked quite chaotic and the one person at the center of it all, was adrian.

 Chapter 208 Miyas Introductions, Keiths Secret Revealed

    he stood on top of the tea table with a newspaper in hand while the rest were laughing like crazy."-h nooo, i want to see my baby! i will kill that dog of a prince if i get an opportunity, ahhhh. oh keith, you''re here." he said and jumped off the table.


    keith nodded and faced the middle aged man in front of him whose hair seemed to have started to turn grey due to age. he bowed slightly and introduced himself.


    "it''s a pleasure to meet you, duke arthur toretto. on behalf of my team, i thank you for your hospitality."


    the guy waved his hand nonchalantly, "don''t bother with all that stuff. i''m already tired of keeping appearances in front of the others and i don''t wanna do it with everyone i see. just talk to me normally."


    he then turned to look at the butler, who in turned shifted his gaze towards a servant who was standing at one corner.


    the guy immediately bowed low, hitting 90 degrees before standing back up, "i''ll bring extra chairs."


    keith watched him leave the room and then turned to look at duke arthur. sea??h th§× novelfire.net* website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "well, since you''re fine with it, then i guess we''ll just talk normally like you want us to. oh yeah..." he said as he noticed everyone''s gaze which was fixed on the child who was holding clara''s hand.


    he placed his hand on her head and spoke, "i''ve adopted her and well... i haven''t done the paper work, so it isn''t official yet."


    "anyways!" he said and looked at miya, "come on, introduce yourself."


    miya let go of clara''s hand and took a few steps forward before bowing down slightly just like keith had done a few seconds ago.


    "it is a pressure to meet you... um papa''s friends. on half of my papa, i thank you for your hospital."


    keith wanted to smack his forehead, but didn''t do it as she just looked way too adorable when she tried her best to copy him.


    "name, tell them your name."


    she looked up at him with her big, cute eyes before nodding. she once again faced the crowd before introducing herself.


    "my name is miya zenister! my papa''s name is keith zenister! my mama''s name is clara will become zenister in the future!"


    "good girl!" keith praised her gave her a few head pats before looking at his friends proudly, "what are you guys staring at? introduce yourselves dammit."


    everyone hurriedly introduced themselves after hearing his words and this included duke arthur. once he was done, he grinned and said, "you can call me grandpa if you want. if you do, i''ll give you a gift."


    "grandpa." miya said and stared at him, "now give me gift."


    the corners of arthur''s lips twitched as he glanced at keith who was smirking, happily watching the child play her games with him.


    ''at that age, amelia was even harder to handle so this is nothing.'' he thought as he smiled again, "sure, this grandpa is one of the most renowned knights in this empire and as a gift, i''ll teach you how to wield a sword."


    miya looked up at keith, "papa, is this grandpa really that strong?"


    keith shrugged in response, "who knows. i haven''t seen him wield a sword so i can''t really tell. he''s old so he could be weak."


    "oh..." miya said and turned towards arthur, "i don''t want to learn from grandpa. papa will teach me better."


    amelia and the rest were having fun as they watched this interaction, but arthur was starting to get pissed. continue your story on empire


    he looked at keith and stood up, "let''s go have a spar."


    "sure, but no one is supposed to watch. i have a few secrets that are... well, secrets and i don''t want others to see."


    arthur nodded before he looked at the people inside the room, "what about these guys?"


    "they''re fine, but i guess miya will have to stay inside. after, i''ll be fighting with my fists so it could turn gruesome. though, i have a humble request. teach me how to use a sword once the spar is done. just consider it another spar but go a little easy on me at the start."


    before arthur could answer, amelia got up from her seat, "no. you''re not sparring my father with bare fucking hands! are you an idiot? he''s literally known as the sword of the empire and you want to fight him with bare hands? are you our of your mind keith?"


    "it''s fine, i''ll go easy on the kid." arthur said and began to walk out. he looked pretty cool at the moment, but amelia didn''t back down and used her most powerful card.


    "if you fight keith, i''ll never talk to you again!"


    arthur stopped walking immediately and turned around to look at his daughter who looked absolutely serious. a part of him wanted to show miya that he wasn''t just some random old dude, but another part of him was now trapped in his daughter''s effective blackmail attempt.


    seeing this, keith laughed before shaking his head, "it''s fine. let me show you guys something.... but before that." he said and looked at all the servants.


    the butler who was standing behind him took charge and sent out orders, "everyone, let''s wait outside."


    once all the servants left the room, keith turned to look at his daughter who was staring at him curiously.


    "close your eyes, miya."


    "no..." she said, sounding slightly hesitant but keith shook his head before giving her a stern look, "i''ll show you when you grow older okay? so listen to papa now and close your eyes. if you do, i''ll buy you a big cake."


    miya immediately nodded and used her small hands to cover her eyes but keith had his eyes on the system screen in front of him.


    knowing that she was peeking from the gaps between her fingers, he looked at clara, "cover her eyes for me, please."


    once clara crouched down and covered miya''s eyes, keith took out a dagger out of thin air and immediately pushed it into his arm, tearing through the muscles and flesh

 Chapter 209 Arthur Toretto, Unanswered Questions

    after keith''s display, everyone had questions and this included clara as even she hadn''t known about keith''s healing abilities until now."i''ll be back in a bit, so take care of my daughter until then please." he said after he opened the door.


    the butler looked at miya and nodded, "as you wish, sir."


    "miya, stay with uncle for a few minutes until i''m back, okay?" he said as he patted her back slightly and she walked forward before standing beside the guy.


    she nodded and then said, "you promised cake."


    "sure sure, i''ll buy you a huge cake once i''m back." he said as he smiled and then left the mansion along with the others.


    the whole place was covered by 4 meter tall walls, which provided privacy from the eyes outside. but that wasn''t the case when it came to the servants. they could see what was going on through the windows, but when keith looked up, he saw all the windows covered by curtains.


    he inwardly nodded to himself and walked to the back of the mansion where there was quite a lot of empty space.


    arthur didn''t have any sword in his hand, but keith already knew that he didn''t need to carry one thanks to his awakened ability.


    "i''m ready." he said raised his hands up slightly, getting into his most comfortable stance.


    arthur nodded and almost instantly, a long sword appeared in front of him, the one that contributed a lot in earning the title of the strongest sword of the empire.


    the handle seemed to have been made of gold and the blade was slightly greyish in color. it didn''t look too flashy and didn''t have much of a grand feeling to it, but keith did feel danger from it. his arm stung, signifying that the threat in front of him had a chance of ending his life.


    ''even though i have supernatural regeneration? damn.'' he thought as he stared at the sword before looking at arthur.


    "just don''t slice my head off, okay?"


    "sure. you should let your daughter learn under me though. it''s an opportunity that even the kids from the royal family crave for." he said as he began to walk towards keith. s§×ar?h the n?vel_fire.¦Çet website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    seeing the duke close the distance leisurely, keith got serious but he didn''t stop talking as he still had a question. explore stories at empire


    "why miya? she''s just a child and there''s no way you''re doing it for free right?"


    arthur suddenly dashed towards keith and his sword drew an upward arc as he swung his blade swiftly.


    "tch." keith clicked his tongue as he leaned backwards slightly while the tip of the sword missed him by a millimeter.


    but the sword didn''t stop moving. arthur paused midway and brought the sword back down as he took two steps further.


    this time, keith could tell that he couldn''t just lean back to dodge the incoming attack. before he could even think of what to do, his fist flew towards the sword, hitting it''s flat part and deflecting it''s trajectory effortlessly.


    arthur paused this time and looked straight into keith''s eyes, "you''re good. you have talent... a lot of it." he said, but keith did not miss the punch that flew towards his chin.


    using the short distance between them, he leaned backwards to dodge the punch and immediately kicked. his foot made contact with arthur''s chin and forced him to take a few steps back.


    "well well well... i didn''t expect that." he said and this time, he didn''t launch any sneak attacks. instead, he clenched his jaw and glared, "but i can''t let you beat me up in front of my daughter so i''ll have to get serious now."


    ''fuck...'' keith cursed and instead of retreating, he dashed forward as he knew that he was at a disadvantage when it came to the range.


    just as he released his punch, he saw arthur''s palm closing in on him but it was too late for him to react. the guy in front of him was not in his prime, but the grip he had was strong and painful.


    keith''s leg instinctively shot towards arthur''s eggs but instead of feeling an impact, all keith felt was stinging pain.


    "going for such places... it feels like you learned your way of fighting from the streets. you have no honor at all." arthur lectured as he pushed his sword deeper into keith''s leg until the tip appeared from the other side.


    "ughhhh!... fuck." keith cursed and reduced his sensitivity to pain before grabbing arthur''s neck with his right hand.


    he couldn''t see anything thanks to arthur''s large hand blocking his vision, but he could feel his opponent''s large boot planted on his chest.


    almost immediately, he found himself flying backwards and fell to the ground. with his vision restored, the first thing he looked at was his leg which had a deep gash that started from his knee and went to his foot. it was cleanly sliced in half.


    the cut healed extremely fast while keith shifted his attention back to arthur who shook his head.


    "the only way to beat you is to kill you but i can''t do that now, can i?" he asked and walked towards keith before offering his hand to him.


    keith took it and got back up on his feet before nodding, "yes, that''s the only way but i never expected that i''d be played with like a ragdoll..."


    "of course. who do you think i am? i''m the sword of this empire."


    keith sneered in response, "i never used my fire abilities though. if i did, you''d probably be burnt before you could even touch me."


    arthur laughed loudly when he heard keith''s words, "haaaaahahahahahahahaa!!! oh god, you''re funny. my sword cuts everything. those elemental awakened bastards can''t do a thing against me since my sword can literally absorb their power and use it against them. there''s a reason i''ve gone undefeated until now."


    "is that so... i''m sorry, i didn''t know." keith said as he frowned. arthur was never mentioned in the novel and even though the war arc was pretty long, there was not even one instance were the word "arthur" was written.


    ''i wonder what happened.''

 Chapter 210 Youre Not a Genius. Youre a Monster

    as amelia slowly walked towards him with a wooden sword held in each hand, his thoughts wandered.''i''ve fought against the black cat guy a few months ago and he was way faster than arthur. even then, i was unable to fight this old man properly... there''s more to his awakened ability, or he''s just... i don''t know. maybe all of this is just the effect of experience?''


    he then took the wooden sword and watched amelia give the other one to her father. read exclusive content at empire


    "hey, i''ve fought a guy who''s faster than you and held my ground to an extent, but even though i can keep up with you, i''m unable to beat you. is there a reason for that?"


    arthur raised his eyebrow slightly and then smirked, "when two people fight, they not only use their bodies but also their minds. i''ve been born with the talent to predict what the person in front of me is thinking. sea??h th§× n?velfire.n§×t website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    though it''s slightly complicated to explain but in simple terms, if you think of something like, "i''ll stab his chest", then i can predict that move.


    but when you think of complicated things like how to sell weapons through out the entire kingdom, then the only think i can predict is the surface level stuff. as for the steps and intricate plans, those will be elusive to me.


    you can say that this is a part of my awakened ability. whenever i wield my sword, my ability to predict your moves based on simple thoughts will be at a whole another level. do you understand now?"


    "hmm, yeah makes sense." keith said as he nodded, "things will be more fun this way but please go easy on me this time. i''m just trying to learn."


    arthur gave him one curt nod before smiling, "come on then, let''s start with you going on the offense and based on your performance, i''ll see what''s the best thing to do."


    "okay." keith replied and just as he was about to rush forward, arthur shook his head, "actually, no. you spar with my son first. i''m too old for this shit so i''ll observe from the side."


    "....."


    keith silently stared at arthur who nonchalantly walked towards adrian and gave away the wooden sword, "go fight that kid. he''s good with hands but i don''t really know if he''s lying about swords or not."


    "don''t go easy on him, right? got it." adrian said and nodded as he walked towards keith, "come on."


    with a sigh, keith just went with the flow and rushed forward. a sparring partner was a sparring partner and as long as he could learn something, then he didn''t mind who he was sparring against.


    slashes and stabs rained down on adrian but he effortlessly deflected them all.


    "yeah, you don''t know a thing about swords. it''s my turn now, try to defend as much as possible."


    hearing this, keith jumped back and copied the same stance that adrian used for the past few minutes. this made both the father and son question his actions inwardly, but adrian just went ahead and switched to offensive.


    ''you can copy my stance but i''ve been wielding swords for more than two decades.'' the thoughts flashed in his mind as he slashed at keith. it was the most basic vertical slash and keith blocked it almost perfectly.


    adrian squinted his eyes when he saw this, but he didn''t stop and continued slashing at keith from various angles. at first, keith seemed awkward with his deflections and blocks but in a mere five minutes, he improved to the point where adrian felt speechless.


    "you''re.... a genius, i''ll give you that. but i''ll go all in from now so get ready." he said and began to use thrusts from various angles along with slashes.


    the power behind each strike varied, with some being extremely soft while some were so strong that keith almost lost his grip on his sword.


    "okay stop!" arthur announced as he stared at the two of them, his expression unreadable as he stroked his stubble.


    keith took a few steps back while adrian stood where he was, looking extremely frustrated with how things had turned out. he had just seen a total newbie who didn''t even know how to hold a sword grow into a copy of himself, a noble who had practiced swordsmanship for more than two decades.


    and all of this happened in under an hour.


    a huge part of him felt extremely humiliated, but there was also a part of him that felt like giving up on everything and becoming a wandering sage with no earthly attachments.


    "it would be unfair to call you a talented guy or a genius. the right word would be that you''re an absolute monster" arthur said as he walked towards his son and took the wooden sword, "and you, don''t compare yourself to him."


    adrian looked up at his father and sighed, "okay."


    "listen, you''re here because of your hard work. i''d say that you''re more talented than me in a way. the only reason i''m this strong and well known is because of my summoned sword. if you had her, then you''d have reached greater heights than me compared to when i was your age.


    i was going behind various ladies back then and wasted a lot of my time but you? you spend most of your time responsibly. i''m proud of you adrian, and i don''t want you to give up. ever."


    arthur then patted his shoulder and pushed him aside, "now don''t act all sappy and go stand there. i feel like puking already."


    "you''re the one who stared it, damn you!" adrian cursed and stomped off to the side before standing beside his sister.


    with his eyes still on his father and keith, he leaned closer to his sister''s ear before whispering, "you picked a great guy."


    amelia flinched when she heard his words and her eyes widened as she turned to look at her brother.


    "who... how did you come to that conclusion?"


    "dad. he saw the way you looked at him and yeah, that''s it. you know him." he said and shrugged while amelia let out a soft sigh.

 Chapter 211 Children are Unpredictable

    keith sparred with arthur for three whole hours until the old man began to pant heavily."damn, i''m growing old. back in my day, i used to be able to fight for months on end without needing food or water." he said, rubbing his stubble like a wise old man.


    keith smirked and nodded, "sure sure, you probably drank your opponent''s blood to quench your thirst and ate their flesh to satiate your hunger right?" he said sarcastically but arthur nodded shamelessly.


    "yes, you''re a smart kid."


    "....."


    arthur then looked at his wooden sword that had multiple dents and chips before tossing it to the side, "anyways, i''d say that you''re strong enough to fight two royal knights on your own currently. without your fast healing and fire thing i mean."


    "satisfactory results, i''d say." keith muttered and nodded before tossing his almost broken down sword to the side too, "can i improve more by the way?"


    "depends on what your goal is." arthur replied as he walked toward the group of spectators, "the sword is great for duels and such, but when it comes to war... i suggest learning how to ride a horse. along with that, you''d have to learn how to wield a long ranged weapon like a spear or glaive."


    "spears or glaives huh?" keith said as he followed behind him, "alright, got it."


    *******


    late at night.


    keith took a bath and put on some comfortable clothes before lying down on the bed along with clara and miya.


    find your next read at empire


    the two of them made eye contact before glancing at miya, immediately understanding that they won''t be able to have their sweet snu snu time anymore.


    "alright, let''s sleep now." clara said as she patted miya''s belly.


    keith silently closed his eyes and took a look at how vincent''s mission was coming along. he had given him a small quest of looting the gang that was responsible for the gambling situation and "buying" of miya. in return, he offered him a reward of free unlock for one of his skills.


    and that skill was the battle god''s spear arts.


    as he watched silently, he inwardly nodded before pushing the system screen aside so he could get some good sleep.


    ''he''s almost done so there''s no need to worry too much. the rewards will be given automatically so there''s no need for me to wait for him to finish either.''


    the next day was spent on shopping for clothes, which were mostly just for keith and miya. amelia and clara did helped with the selections and by the time their shopping spree was done, both of them had more than twenty sets of clothes each.


    "i''m slightly nervous..." clara said once the tree of them went back to their room.


    keith looked at her and gave her a wry smile, "same here but it''s not like we can skip the event. though, i suppose there''s no need for us to worry so much. after all, amelia will be with us and all we have to do is stick to her like the way ducklings stick to their momma."


    this got him a chuckle from her as he tossed all his and miya''s clothes on the bed before heading towards the door, "i''ll take a shower and put on some clothes before joining you guys at the dinner table then."


    "okay." clara responded but miya trotted over to keith before lifting up her hands, "take me with you papa."


    "no, you''ll be taking a bath with mama from today onwards okay?"


    the child pouted before turned around angrily, "bad papa."


    not knowing what to do, keith looked at clara who shrugged. she could clearly help him out but he could tell that she just wanted to see how he would handle the situation.


    with a sigh, he crouched down and patted miya''s head, "momma will help you with bathing while i will do your hair okay? momma said she wanted to spend some time with you. she is very jealous of be because you''re always with papa."


    clara''s smile immediately disappeared as she saw him throw her under the bus, but miya gave her a deep stare before nodding.


    "okay, i will take bath with mama after dinner."


    "good girl! come on, give papa a hug." he said as he raised his arms to the side and almost immediately, the kid grabbed onto his torso like a koala.


    he then talked with her for a few minutes before leaving. the rest of the day went smoothly and so did the next day until afternoon.


    the whole group got ready for the event and before leaving, keith handed over his daughter to the butler along with a leather pouch that had quite a bit of money inside.


    "use this if she wants something." he said before looking at miya, "be a good girl and don''t cause trouble okay?"


    "come on, she''s the most well behaved child i''ve ever seen. stop bothering her." amelia said before winking at miya, who nodded energetically.


    "big sister is right, miya is a good girl. papa is worrying too much."


    for the first time, keith felt like he was getting ganged up on. with an awkward cough he shook his head and pointed at amelia, "that''s not big sister. that''s an aunt- ay ay ay ay let go of my ear dammit!"


    "say that again? i''m literally younger than you! if i''m an aunty, then you''re an uncle." she growled as she twisted his ear slightly. sea??h th§× ¦Çovelfire.¦Çet website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    keith didn''t bother with her and acted helpless and pitiful as he looked at miya, "see? this woman is bad. she''s hurting... me... damn."


    he didn''t have to say more as the child was already glaring at amelia with tear filled eyes. he had forgotten how random kids could be and even though this was like a joke to him, miya was totally taking this very seriously.


    seeing her reaction, he decided to stop playing and grabbed amelia''s wrist before pulling it off his ear. he didn''t even look at her as he had his attention focused on his daughter.


    "come on, give papa a hug. amelia didn''t mean to hurt me okay? she''s a good person."

 Chapter 212 Clara Sets Them Up To Dance (Extra Chapter)

    the banquet was held behind the palace, in a large hall that was built specifically for such events. there were tables both outside and inside, which meant that people were free to choose where they wanted to sit.keith walked in with his group and while he was pretty early, there were a few people that had arrived before him.


    he could see most of them point towards his group as they whispered amongst each other, but he knew that it wasn''t his group that they were talking about. it was mostly amelia, the daughter of the duke who was kicked out of her house.


    the person who was once considered the flower of the empire, was back in person. most of them had never expected to see her once again and most of the ladies gave her cautious looks.


    though, that was only until the third prince rushed over to greet them.


    "you guys came too early..." he complained as he made sure that his hair wasn''t disheveled.


    keith nodded, "yeah, i felt like it would be better to come early compared to being late. duke arthur will be coming a little late and apparently, he shouldn''t be coming early since he''s a duke."


    "yeah, it''s some sort of a hidden rule among the nobles. and yet, i had to rush in here because you guys came too early." mathew complained as he shook his head.


    "anyways, let me take you through today''s events." he said as be began to walk towards the large hall, "my sister will start with showing people what she has to offer. currently, she has quite a few suitors among the barons, viscounts and even some counts, but most of higher nobles want to pick a side that has a higher chance of winning."


    the group followed behind him and amelia was the first one to ask a question.


    "that sure is needed but even then, i don''t think her awakened ability will be able to attract a lot of people since your awakened ability is technically better than hers. as far as i can tell, she has almost a negligible chance of winning the succession wars."


    mathew nodded, "you''re right, but her plan is to join the second prince''s side. he already has a lot of support and most of the people on his side will not hesitate to send their sons to compete for her hand in marriage.


    and once she reveals her ability, they wouldn''t mind letting her marry multiple men. it signifies power and her ability also goes well with zander''s. on top of that, she can heal people which is something that almost everyone wants.


    the only thing stopping them would be the succession wars but since she took a side and announces that she has no interest in the throne, the people will line up steadily."


    "aren''t you worried?" nathan asked before continuing, "i mean if they team up, your chances will go down right?"


    "yes, if they team up, my chances will go down. but no one is stopping me from teaming up either and guess what? i''ve gotten hold of someone way powerful than my sister. we share the same blood but she picked that asshole instead of me and i won''t lie, it did hurt at first but that''s just how things are in my family.


    blood means nothing. anyways, i''ve told you about the fourth princess right? she is one of the stronger contenders in this war but no one really likes her. in fact, it''ll be more accurate to say that everyone hates her. i too have some bad blood with her but i''ve decided to let the past go since teaming up with her will give me a lot of benefits.


    the deal between us was simple. she helps me get the throne and in return, i will exempt her from taxes for ten years and won''t touch her businesses in the future. she''ll also get the title of a duchess and a group of three hundred royal knights. discover exclusive content at empire


    all she wanted was to protect her own businesses and none of my siblings wanted to let her go, so i simply took this chance to get her on my side. of course, one of the reasons she accepted my proposal was thanks to you guys.


    if you hadn''t joined me, then she wouldn''t have much of a confidence to make such a risky move. she also wants to see what you guys are capable of, so please use this event as an opportunity to show what you guys can do."


    "ahh... that''s annoying but if it helps, then sure." keith said as he looked at his teammates, "whether you guys want to join or not is in your hands. i won''t force you since this is not in your job description."


    "tch, what are you talking about?" laura said as she glared at him, "we''re here as a group of friends, not inquisitors. you''re not our boss at this moment and in this situation, the things you tell us to do won''t be considered as orders, but requests instead."


    the others nodded in response, making keith grin like an idiot.


    ''friends huh? i kinda miss those two bastards now but this doesn''t feel bad.'' he thought as he nodded, "alright, let''s all show these people what were capable of."


    clara smirked as she grabbed amelia and keith''s hands, "banquets like these have a dance event so you two should go out there and show them what you can do."


    amelia froze in shock as she looked at both keith and clara while keith gave the two girls a wry smile, "it''s been months since i danced you know? i''m rusty."


    "it''s fine. amelia will make sure that you look good even if you''re not doing the right steps." clara said confidently as she patted both of their shoulders, making keith sigh inwardly.


    even though he didn''t like it when she tried to get the two of them together so openly, he couldn''t help but nod since refusing would just make the girl in front of him feel worse.


    "alright then." he said and smirked at amelia, "i''ll be in your hands at the start but once i get back my touch, you''ll have to work hard to keep up with me." s~ea??h the n?velfire.net website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    [extra chapters done: 6]


    [extra chapters left: 0]


    [current gt: 64]

 Chapter 213 Creating The Second Custom System

    almost an hour later when most of the guests had arrived, keith and the others saw the princess walking towards the place where everyone was gathered.beside her, was a man with a potbelly. he had a large crown on his head which looked more like a golden helmet. in keith''s eyes, he was someone who was a great example of having a dad bod in this world.


    he saw amelia and the third prince standing up from their chairs, so he also did the same.


    the princess walked towards the center while her father raised his hand to get everyone to shut their mouths.


    a knight beside them took a step forward and announced, "princess silvia has arrived, gracing us with her beautiful presence. today''s coming of age ceremony will also function as a place for all the eligible bachelors to compete for her love!


    we will have three events today. the first one is where princess silvia shows everyone the qualities that make her special. second event will be a small tournament where the ones who wish to impress her, can fight in various topics. it can be duels for warriors or debates for the scholars.


    the third event is where the selected candidates will dance with the princess and get to know each other well so that she can make a decision."


    mathew leaned towards keith and sneakily pointed at a particular direction, "see that red haired guy? he''s the third son of one of the grand dukes and he''s the son of a concubine. he''s way better than his elder brothers when it comes to fighting, but his father doesn''t like him much.


    i have a feeling that once silvia reveals her plans, he''ll try to win her hand in marriage. he''s not a bad guy, but he''s one of the strongest in the current age group so he is the best person for you to prove your strength again.


    just beat him up and withdraw later. as for the dance, once silvia''s dance is done with the selected partners, everyone else will be allowed to share the stage so feel free to show off there too."


    "sure." ketih nodded and glanced at the people who were standing close to the red haired guy, "i have a new plan. i''ll threaten all these nobles directly and i''ll do it in front of your father."


    mathew slowly turned to look at keith, his expression filled with utter disbelief, "you... what?"


    "don''t worry, he won''t do anything if i take his side and accuse the nobles for faking their profits to reduce the amount of taxes they''ll have to pay. i''ve heard rumors that your father is pretty greedy."


    "well, he is greedy..." the prince said and sighed, "but he''s just way too meek and doesn''t openly go against these people. i''d say that he''s happy with his current life but he won''t say no to a free chance of getting more money."


    keith nodded as he kept his eye on the emperor, ''i know.''


    silvia smiled widely and looked around her before bowing slightly four times in four different directions.


    "firstly, i thank all of you for attending my coming of age ceremony. i believe that i''ve talked to almost everyone who has gathered here in the past so i''ll refrain from talking about the things that most of you already know." she said.


    "i am the youngest, and i know that most of you don''t expect much from me. but there''s a reason that everyone still came here despite that and i know the real reason why. we royals only reveal our awakened abilities during our coming of age ceremonies.


    and it''s my turn now, so without wasting any time, let me demonstrate." she said and turned around to look at a familiar face.


    "brother zander, why don''t you help me do the honors?"


    keith turned his head to look at the blonde haired guy who was standing between multiple nobles.


    zander nodded and walked over to her with a smirk on his face before standing beside her. the crowd cheered for him, which was a clear indicator that he was famous among this crowd.


    "a part of my ability helps me with the healing people. i can go as far as bringing the dead back to life as long as it isn''t too late." she said, getting multiple gasps as response from the nobles.


    keith stood with his group and hummed, "interesting. she''s only telling them the positives of her ability while hiding the negatives huh?"


    "right, they don''t need to know. as for the ones who already know, they are powerful people and they won''t really care too much about it." sea??h th§× novel(f~)ire.net website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "can we get some context?" amelia joined in while the rest of them nodded, looking curious.


    keith silently watched the princess cleanly slice off the second prince''s arm. a golden light enveloped the prince and his arm, which was swiftly brought back to his body. by the time the golden light dissipated, his arm looked as good as new but the sleeve that had been cut off was still on the ground.


    "tch, i didn''t expect this." he said, clearly annoyed at the turn of events but instead of making a big deal out of it, he looked at everyone who was watching the two of them and grinned.


    "my sister has promised to take my side in the future so i hope that all of you support her." he said and immediately left as he walked towards the palace.


    once he was gone, keith looked at his group before glancing at mathew, "why don''t you tell us about your sister''s ability?"


    "you sounded like you knew about it so why me?"


    "it was just a hunch." keith said as he shrugged, "i have great senses."


    "yeah, sure." mathew scoffed before looking at everyone, "well, she has to kill someone if she wants to help someone heal. she has to kill them with her own hands and well, it''s not a great ability if i''m being honest. the cons far outweigh the pros.


    even if she wants to heal a small cut with her power, she''ll have no choice but to kill one person. the best trade is to bring someone powerful back from the dead by using the life of someone weak, but there are a few conditions for this to work too.


    she only has a ten seconds time window. she''ll have to kill someone on the spot before using her ability to bring someone back from the dead. when it comes to healing injuries, be it major or minor, she can store her healing chances for a year." experience more on empire


    keith nodded before giving his opinion, "it''s actually a great ability if she was a fighter since it''ll be extremely useful in war. but from what i can see, she''s like a delicate flower. though, i am pretty surprised that she actually killed people with her own hands."


    "she probably killed the prisoners that were in the royal prison." mathew said and shook his head, "my ability is clearly better, but i can''t bring people back to life. on top of that, i can only heal ten people in a day so it''s pretty restrictive i''d say."


    the group continued to talk while most of the other nobles were busy talking to each other. there was till an hour left until the next event and silvia had already been surrounded by multiple young men, including the red haired guy who was the son of a grand duke.


    ''hey system, how much longer will i have to wait to accumulate enough divine energy to create the system i planned before?''


    [you currently have more than enough divine energy to create your planned system. this is mostly due to you not taking any taxes from your system users for the past few months.]


    keith silently stared at the screen in front of him. he was slightly annoyed with the current development even though things were going great since he could have had to wait for a few more weeks to be able to make his system.


    ''couldn''t you have told me this earlier?'' he asked and the system promptly responded.


    [user did not give me such instructions in the past.]


    ''basically you''re telling me that i never asked huh? oh well, at least i got it early.'' he thought as he turned to look at his group.


    "i need some alone time to think about a few things so i''ll go take a seat right there. call me once the dueling event starts."


    caleb and the others nodded, "sure."


    mathew then added, "you have like an hour and feel free to take more time too. we''ll call you once we see our target move."


    "thanks." keith said as he walked towards an empty table and sat down before closing his eyes.


    he sat down on a 1m x 1m plot before boosting the time inside it by ten times.


    ''i''ll need this extra time so that i can make sure that i don''t make any mistakes. i''ll check everything twice or even thrice before finalizing.'' he thought before he began to plan his system''s functions.


    he simply had three rules for the foundation.


    the first rule was that the system had to have the ability to extract all the information on the person that it was attached to.


    second rule was the one that forced him to make a new system from ground up, the ability to spread from one person to the other without direct action from keith himself.


    as for the third rule, it was to give him access to the awakened abilities of all his system users but he knew the restrictions. he couldn''t use the abilities for himself, but it didn''t stop him from giving one person''s ability to another.

 Chapter 214 A Duel with the Grand Dukes Son

    [system creation progress:]99.4%


    99.7%


    99.9%


    [system creation complete]


    [your system will now use mental energy to spread from one person to another. the target should be under a 5 meter radius for the system to make a copy of itself on them.]


    [copying one''s awakened ability to give it to others will also require you to use mental energy and the copied ability will be a degraded version. to perfectly copy an awakened ability, you''ll have to use your divine energy.]


    ''great. tell me how much i can let the system spread with my current mental energy capacity. compare it with the time boost.''


    [affirmative]


    [current duration for 2x time boost = 597 minutes]


    [one system share is equivalent to 5 minutes.]


    [the maximum number of people it can be shared with, is approximately 119 people.]


    ''okay thanks.'' keith said mentally and left his spatial dimension.


    he hadn''t used too much of his mental energy today, so he decided to pick 50 people before his fight would start.


    ''once everyone is ready to leave, i can use the rest of my mental energy. it''s better to save more than half for emergency purposes.'' he thought as he opened his eyes and looked around.


    his group was nowhere to be seen inside the hall, so he knew that they were outside. in face, he was one of the very few people who were sitting inside the large hall.


    keith walked out and saw the people cheering loudly. just one look at the crowd and he could tell that the duels had already started. it was clear that the system had taken way too long to be created. but even with this, he still divine energy left over.


    the gacha wheel popped up in front of him and although it didn''t have the red sections, all the orange sections were still there.


    ''i''ll do the luck ritual once this whole thing is done.'' he thought, but suddenly had an idea. a smirk formed on his face as he silently walked towards the crowd while he searched for his group.


    ''i''ll have to do the luck ritual here in the real world but since i can do anything in my spatial dimension, i wonder if i can also enhance my luck in there.''


    it was just an idea but he was hopeful since he had the ability to manipulate time and create something out of nothing inside his spatial dimension.


    though, creating something out of nothing cost him a lot of mental energy.


    after walking around for a bit, he found his group and went ahead to join them.


    "oh you''re back." mathew said before pointing at the two guys who were holding a violin. one of them was playing it while the other was silently watching with a defeated expression on his face.


    keith nodded and whispered, "that guy plays the violin pretty well."


    "he''s good indeed. but i''m better." the prince said and keith shook his head before focusing on the performance.


    multiple people came forward and most of them had competitors. the few people that didn''t have anyone challenging them, simply did their part and moved on.


    minutes trickled by and finally, the red haired guy walked towards the open space in the middle. he looked at the crowd as if he was trying to intimidate people and then bowed down slightly in front of the king.


    "i am an expert swordsman. if anyone would like to challenge me, you''re free to do so." he said and then glanced at the princess before smiling, "i''ll win your heart with my blade, my dear princess."


    mathew and the others immediately looked at keith and this change did not go unnoticed by the crowd.


    everyone turned to look at keith and all of a sudden, he felt slightly conscious about himself. sear?h the ¦Çov§×lfire .net website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    without showing emotions, he held his head high and walked forward. he gave the king a slight, respectful nod before turning to look at the weapons stand that was placed a few meters away from the place where the king now sat.


    there were weapons made of wood and also ones that were made of steel, iron and other metals.


    keith leisurely turned his head to the side and looked at the red haired guy, "hi, my name is keith and i''m an inquisitor. i''ve heard that you''re a very good swordsman, so i just wanted to see where i am."


    "i don''t mean to disrespect you, your highness." he said as he looked at silvia with a smile, "i simply wanted to see if the ones who are going to marry you have the skills to back them up instead of just titles."


    silvia''s lips had turned white by now but she still gave him a slight awkward smile before nodding, "feel free. the ones that dare to ask for my hand should at least be the level of a sword master."


    the empire had their own titles that were given to people based on their sword mastery, but to keith, this did not matter much. he had reached a level where he could beat adrian in a duel and adrian was one of the strongest sword masters in the empire at this time.


    he turned to look at his opponent and smiled, "are you not going to introduce yourself?"


    "you said that you knew me didn''t you?"


    "indeed." keith said and paused for a second before smirking, "i was just following the noble etiquette. i didn''t expect the son of a grand duke to be this crass. oh god, i think i''ll feel really sorry for the princess if you win this one now."


    "max von cruz." he said and stormed towards the weapons rack before grabbing a steel sword.


    "i hope you don''t mind a proper duel." he challenged as he grinned at keith, who shrugged before slowly walking towards the weapons rack too.


    he picked up a sword that was slightly shorter than the one max had taken, but after trying to get a feel for it, he nodded silently and walked back to the center.


    "i''m ready. but since this is a proper duel, i hope that no one will blame me if accidents happen." he said before extending his hand forward as this was a custom among the swordsmen in the whole continent whenever they planned to fight each other in an official duel.


    max nodded and glanced at his father before walking towards keith to shake his hand, "no one would bother."


    both of them took a few steps back and keith immediately gave his system an order.


    ''show me his status screen and mine too so that i can compare.''


    [affirmative.]


    name: max von cruz


    physique: grade a


    genetic physique type: burst


    awakening status: awakened


    awakened abilities:


    white dragon: summons a dragon made of hot white flames. it moves independently from it''s master control, but works to help him.


    -------


    name: keith zenister


    physique: grade s


    genetic physique type: endurance


    awakening status: awakened


    awakened abilities: continue your adventure with empire


    spatial dimension (unique)


    danger sense


    libido and sensitivity control


    fire creation and manipulation


    supernatural regeneration


    ammo summoning


    ''a dragon made of flames huh? i feel sorry for you but this isn''t a fair match up.'' he thought as he kept his eye on max while he waited for the signal.


    soon, the sound of the bell rang in his ears and keith immediately rushed forward. max did the same and dashed towards keith at such a speed that the crowd felt surprised.


    his posture was low as he closed in on keith and as soon as he got into range, he slashed upwards. it was his most favourite move as most people were unable to block this attack until now, but to his surprise, he heard a loud clang.


    the sword had barely moved upwards and keith had already blocked the attack. it was as if his move had been read flawlessly.


    "hmm.. did you learn this from adrian?" keith asked as he kicked, but max pounced to the side and rolled away before getting back up.


    he gave keith a complicated look before nodding, "he beat me in a spar a few years back and yes, i did learn this move from him."


    "i see." keith responded before rushing towards max once again and both of them clashed their swords this time.


    none of them backed down and keith stared directly at max, making eye contact before he smirked.


    "i beat adrian."


    "no you didn''t!" max screamed and kicked keith away.


    caught off guard from the sudden outburst, keith took a few steps back and shrugged, "stop crying now."


    it was clearly a taunt, but max absolutely hated it. something told him that he couldn''t beat keith in a pure sword fight, so he immediately turned to look at the emperor and the princess who were sitting beside each other.


    "am i allowed to use my ability here? it''s not fair if we can''t use everything we have, is it?" he asked as he grinned widely, almost looking like he was gritting his teeth.


    the emperor raised his hand and nodded, "use everything you have."


    "heh, you heard him!" max exclaimed as he laughed and as he did so, a long snake like creature few out of his mouth that was wide open. after flying out, it grew in size and had become almost one meter wide.


    it''s length was also a lot and keith could tell that it was around ten meters long. the snake was originally red in color when it came out of his mouth, but as it grew larger, it''s color changed.


    it progressed from red and moved through orange, yellow, blue and finally, hit white.


    [a/n: happy new years!!!]

 Chapter 215 Dont Force My Hand, Princess

    "i was worried that a lot of people heard rumors about me." keith said as he looked at the almost transparent flames.he could sense the flame dragon but most of the people in the crowd couldn''t. max frowned slightly, but he quickly went back to grinning as he shook his head, "no matter what you say now, don''t expect mercy."


    "i originally didn''t want to hurt you too much but the way you talk gets on my nerves." keith said as he flicked his fingers.


    a small spark appeared before it grew humongous. max and everyone nearby stared at the orange dragon with wide eyes as it continued to grow.


    experience more tales on empire


    "hmm... i was right. creating a huge flame really does feel exhausting." he muttered as he stopped getting his flame dragon to grow and immediately made it fly towards max.


    the guy didn''t even flinch, clearly knowing that his own flame dragon would help him out on it''s own as he ran towards keith with his sword pointed forward.


    unlike max, keith had to keep his attention focused on his flames if he wanted to control them. if he didn''t, then the flames would just dissipate.


    ''i think i fucked up...'' he thought as he too rushed forward and gave up on controlling his flame dragon, ''but it''s fine.''


    as soon as he gave up control, he focused his attention on max''s dragon and with a simple thought, got it to instantly collapse. the extremely hot flames died out and max felt this happen but he knew that he couldn''t stop as keith was still running towards him.


    "aaaaahh!" he roared as he slashed horizontally and keith met his blade with his own sword before kicking max right in his face, making him spin as he fell backwards.


    "do you really want to humiliate yourself further?"


    hearing keith''s words, max got back up on his feet and looked at the crowd. the smirks on the contestant''s faces and the sneers immediately told him his situation.


    with a begrudging grunt, he stabbed the sword into the ground and bowed to the emperor before leaving. keith saw this and put his sword back in the weapons rack. once he was done, he joined his group and went back to spectating.


    "that was a little too soft don''t you think?" mathew said once keith joined him.


    "probably.... but i just saw someone familiar so my mind was occupied. i didn''t expect to see baronets here." he said as he nudged both clara and amelia before pointing at a familiar face.


    "oh that donkey father and son pair are here but well, it''s not too surprising since they have some really strong connections with a few counts." amelia said and the prince looked at the two of them.


    clara silently held keith''s hand and scooted closer to him as she saw the two of them looking at her. she then hugged his arm before grinning at them.


    keith saw this and chuckled slightly while mathew looked at the three of them, "well, they don''t look like they have any intention of getting the attention of my sister or the emperor so i wonder why they''re here."


    "probably money." amelia said, but keith shook his head as he quickly skimmed over the contents on his system screen. s~ea??h the novel(f~)ire.net website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "no, they''re here to take sides. the sanders'' family is pretty rich thanks to their businesses and i''d say that their wealth is on par with some of the dukes who aren''t great at managing their territories. by joining a side, they''ll be able to get a proper nobility title and this alone will allow them to expand their business further.


    lower taxes, higher number of invites to multiple events, marriage proposals from established noble households... all of these are very valuable for those two."


    amelia gave him a deep look while mathew nodded, "yes, you''re right but business expansion would actually become hard once they tie themselves up to the empire. not that i''m complaining, but what business do they operate?"


    "jewellery and weapons on the surface." keith said before whispering, "slave trading, drug dealing, child extortion and forced labor in secret. i had plans on slowly shutting down their illegal businesses, but since they''ve given themselves to me on a silver platter by coming here, i won''t say no."


    mathew stared at keith who had a deep, predatory look as he kept his eye on the two baronets. he didn''t know why, but this made him feel chills.


    timmy looked away from clara with an annoyed expression on his face as he turned to look at his father, "father, let''s humiliate that bitch in front of everyone here."


    "but that guy called keith... he''s been mentioned in the letter she sent and he''s pretty strong. i don''t think it''s a wise choice to antagonize her anymore. leave her be." timothy said as he gave keith and clara a thoughtful look.


    "but father! he is strong, yes. i won''t deny that, but he''s just an inquisitor from the church. we have stronger connections than him so wont it be easy to suppress the two of them right now?"


    timothy frowned as he looked at his son, "do you think that the third prince right there is a mere statue? can''t you see how the both of them are talking so casually?"


    timothy was a dumb man in keith''s eyes because that was how the novel had portrayed him. and as he read the conversation between the father and son duo, he felt like something was missing.


    ''wait... i thought he was dumb because he trusted his son a lot and at the end, he got stabbed in the back by him. but he''s a father, so it''s natural to trust someone he watched grow up...'' he thought as his eyes were focused on the two system screens in front of him.


    "father, listen to me." timmy said, "the third prince has an extremely low chance of winning and that''s probably why he tried to get a small inquisitor team on his side. once we join the first or the second prince, we''ll have a greater support. there''s no need to fear someone who is going to lose his status as a prince."


    timothy shook his head, "a prince is still a prince. she already paid all the money with interest so it''s better to stay away from her. we know that she couldn''t have made so much money by herself, which means that she has the backing of someone powerful.


    to easily throw away nine hundred chrons is not a simple matter. if possible, i''d rather have good relationship with the guy instead of antagonizing him. he''s an inquisitor and has the church on his side.


    on top of that, he also won the cursed artifact and we don''t know anything about it."


    timmy finally stopped being stubborn and nodded, "yeah... you''re not wrong father. i''m sorry, i got a little too angry earlier."


    ''hmm... it''s a pity he didn''t get aggressive.'' keith thought before shifting his attention towards the two guys who had now begun a duel.


    "welp, i don''t think there''s anything to watch here anymore so i want to go somewhere and sit quietly." he said, only to get a deep stare from amelia.


    "i already told you about these events right?"


    "yeah, and its rude to leave. i get it. i just said i wanted to... it''s not like i''m actually doing it." he said as he put his elbow on her shoulder, "be my support now, please. my legs feel tired from all the standing."


    amelia stared at him but didn''t say anything for a few seconds before turning her attention back to the fight in front of her.


    time slowly passed and by the time the sky turned dark, everyone was done with showing off their "specialties".


    the group followed the crowd into the large hall and saw that the tables and chairs had been moved to the sides. the center was empty, which was clearly done to give space for the dances.


    a knight silently watched everyone walk in and looked at the princess, who gave him a nod. once he got the signal, he stood straight in attention and announced.


    "may the princess come forward to pick her first man for the dance!" he said and everyone clapped and cheered for her as she took a few steps forward with a wide smile on her face.


    keith saw the system screen in front of him and sighed, ''why in the hell does she want to dance with me?''


    and just as he thought that, he saw her look at his direction before smiling, "the one that captured my heart the most... was keith zenister, one of the head inquisitors from the church of protection. i would love to have a strong swordsman share the stage with me on this prosperous night."


    amelia glared at her while clara simply gave keith''s hand a slight squeeze.


    "it''s fine, i don''t mind a dance." she said while amelia grit her teeth, "sometimes, i absolutely hate the rules that we nobles have."


    keith knew that he couldn''t just say no, so he sighed and nodded before walking towards her.


    ''i know that i''ll have to kneel and kiss your hand but don''t blame me since you''re basically forcing my hand now.'' he thought as he stood directly in front of her.


    "i''m sorry, my dear princess. i was born a commoner and i don''t have much knowledge about the etiquette so i hope you can forgive me if i did something wrong." he said as he gave her a slight bow.

 Chapter 216 State Your Price, Prince Mathew

    silvia was smiling on the outside, but it was extremely easy for keith to tell that she was pissed by just looking at her eyes."it''s fine. i''ve heard that you dance really well so i hope that the rumors are true." she said as she gave him her hand.


    keith stared at the small, delicate hand for two whole seconds before taking it, "of course, my princess." he said before giving her a bright smile. explore hidden tales at empire


    he then laced his fingers with her other hand and pulled her close, "i hope you can keep up with me." he whispered as he looked at the few people who were now hurrying towards the musical instruments.


    "i''ve already picked a side and it''s a pity that i''ll have to go against you in the future." he continued while the princess was way too busy sniffing him.


    "what the hell are you doing?" he asked but she simply looked up with half lidded eyes, "you smell nice..."


    ".... get a hold of yourself. there''s others watching."


    "hmm hmm... why don''t you just join my side? brother zander has a lot of power and i feel like he has the highest chances among all."


    keith shook his head and right at that moment, the sound of the piano entered his ears.


    "follow my lead." he said and didn''t wait for her as he took steps sideways. the hand that had it''s fingers locked with silvia was raised up slightly as he began to dance.


    it didn''t take the two of them too long to get into rhythm but keith wasn''t surprised as the girl he was currently dancing with was a princess.


    ''it''s obvious that she got some really nice dance lessons'' he thought before whispering, "zander does have a high chance of winning but that was when he wasn''t my target. watch how i bring him down in the next few months. most of the nobles he''s working with, are corrupt and a lot of them have underground businesses. you picked the wrong side, princess."


    "what... do you plan on doing?" she asked as she maintained eye contact with him as this was something that was absolutely needed while dancing.


    keith grinned, "there''s no way i''m telling you that. but here''s an open secret; mathew has teamed up with the fourth princess. do what you want with that information."


    silvia''s eyes opened wide when she heard this information. she wanted to speak, but no words came out. she wanted to think, but keith''s deep stare made her lose herself.


    at first, she was dancing with her own will and had control over her steps. but after she heard keith''s words, she was so shocked that she let go of everything.


    keith immediately felt the difference as it was the same as dancing with a lifeless doll.


    "come on, put in some effort." he said as he guided her in a circle.


    she immediately came back to her senses, but continued to let him take the lead. sea??h th§× n?velfire.n§×t website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "mathew teaming up with leora... so unexpected." she muttered before she gave keith a determined look, "can i switch sides now? please?"


    keith stared at her as he thought about her offer for a few seconds before nodding.


    "sure, but you''ll continue to act like you''re on zander''s side. invite max to a dance next, he''s a talented guy and i''m sure that he''ll support you as long as you give him the one thing that he lacks the most. love and affection.


    having him on your side alone will be more than enough. i don''t think you''ll need anyone else since you''ll have mine and mathew''s full support from now."


    silvia''s eyes sparkled as she smirked, "of course! you basically want a spy on zander''s side and there''s no better option than me isn''t it?"


    "yes." ketih lied as he sped up his tempo to match the music. he originally planned on getting way too fast for her to keep up, but since she had decided to switch sides, he too went back on his original plans.


    ''i''ll first see if she actually plans to give is insider information in the future. i''ll just throw her under the bus if she tries to play both sides.''


    the two of them continued to dance for a few more minutes until the music ended.


    keith gave silvia a courteous bow before walking back to his group. the first thing he did was to pat mathew on his shoulder before pointing at one of the corners that was empty.


    while the two of them walked away from the crowd, keith''s group stayed where they were while silvia called max to dance with her.


    "so? you went a bit too soft on her don''t you think? you say grand things in front of me, but when it comes to doing the actual job, you just don''t live up to your words."


    "she wants to switch sides and she''ll be a spy for us." keith directly said instead of giving mathew roundabout reasons, "so i thought i''d give her a chance."


    mathew nodded, but he still had a frown on his face, "i see, but we don''t really know if she''ll actually help us or not."


    "i have my ways to figure that out, so don''t worry about it." keith said with a smirk on his face, "that aside, when are you going to introduce me to the fourth princess?"


    "tomorrow. she told me that she has things that are far more important than this coming of age ceremony."


    "she''s not wrong." keith said before laughing, "i''d rather do something else than come here but this was slightly important so i did it anyways."


    mathew nodded, "i''ve gotten a reply from my supplier. he said that he''ll be sending the camphor fruits for you and they''ll probably arrive in a few days. i can give you a hundred of them for free, but if you want more, you''ll have to pay up. what do you think?"


    "state your price. i''m willing to pay."

 Chapter 217 Target Locked; Second Prince

    amelia gave him a silent look as he walked back towards her while clara simply ignored him. discover more content at empirewith a wry smile on his face, he slowly explained the situation to the two of them.


    "i see..." clara said as she nodded, but then she turned back to watch the princess dance. keith knew that she was jealous since the synergy he had with silvia was almost perfect.


    on top of that, the sniffing action that silvia had done at the start had not gone unnoticed. keith tried to hold her hand, but she shook it off almost immediately.


    seeing this, keith shook his head and sighed before looking at amelia, "you ready to set the stage on fire? after all, i gotta show the people that you''re my true dance partner."


    "it looked like you both really suited each other back then though." amelia replied back, her tone filled with venom but keith shrugged.


    "isn''t that what you nobles do? i couldn''t just mess things up in front of everyone you know? on top of that, you and i have been practicing since yesterday so you know that this was just a warm up for me."


    amelia silently stared at him for a few seconds until she couldn''t hold her smile back anymore, "sure, let''s show these people that amelia is back. no one holds a candle to my charm."


    "me too... " clara joined in, "dance with me after amelia. i know we didn''t practice, but i want to dance with you."


    "of course, there''s no way i''d say no to that. if i ever did, i want you to stab me in my sleep."


    clara chuckled and so did the rest of them. silvia took her sweet time to dance with various people but once she was done, almost every single noble in the hall began to ask each other for a dance.


    amelia grinned as she saw everyone getting ready and looked at keith before giving him her hand to hold.


    "ready?"


    "of course." keith said before looking at mathew, "let''s start?"


    "sure." mathew said before walking towards the group that was hired to play music.


    while the prince got to work, keith took amelia to the center of the stage while many other nobles joined them. the music began to play and everyone moved to the upbeat tune that was slow and romantic.


    "let''s warm up a little first. slow to fast." ketih said and began to dance. his moves were slow and deliberate while amelia followed his lead.


    "just as we practiced." she said and keith nodded as he took long strides to move around the hall, weaving between multiple dance couples.


    meanwhile, mathew walked up to the people who were playing the musical instruments.


    "guys, speed up the music gradually. i''ll give you a heavy tip if you do this for me."


    "but sir, the emperor..." one of them said hesitantly while his hands expertly glided across the keys of the grand piano.


    "my father is leaving, look." mathew said as he pointed towards his father who was being escorted back to the castle. s~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lfire .net website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    seeing this, the group felt less pressured and immediately agreed to mathew''s request.


    the music slowly began to speed up and the and even though the ones who were dancing didn''t mind it the increase in speed, keith grinned as he predicted how everyone would feel distress in a few minutes.


    he pulled amelia closer until her waist was touching his body. their lower bodies were extremely close while amelia slowly arched backwards.


    keith turned and turned as he moved across the hall, making people turn their heads to look at him instead of focus on their own dance.


    most of them were able to keep for a few more minutes until the tempo became too hard to follow. the ones who tried, felt extremely self conscious as their legs didn''t move as fast as the music.


    the nobles who had given up, moved to the sides to watch the ones who were still hanging on and there were just three couple who still looked graceful and comfortable with the current tempo.


    keith and amelia, silvia and max, and finally, it was zander and a woman that keith did not know.


    one more minute and the ones who were trying to hang on, gave up and joined the crowd to watch these three duos.


    "amelia is still as charming as she always was, isn''t she?" one of them asked as he looked at his brother who nodded.


    "yeah, i would have asked for her hand if only she wasn''t kicked out of her household. prince zander really was selfish and did us all dirty."


    "indeed..."


    there were similar discussions going on among the crowd with both men and women praising amelia''s beauty. this also got keith a lot of attention, making him the most sought after man at the moment as women swooned over him.


    keith on the other hand, leisurely looked at the two other couple who were dancing and smirked before looking at amelia.


    "ready to fly?"


    "ready when you are." she replied back and ketih immediately switched styles.


    he pulled her closer as he pushed both his hands to his sides, "three." he said and took a long step, which amelia imitated.


    "two." he said and jumped slightly. this time, covering more distance and after barely waiting for a second, he muttered, "three."


    this time, the two of them covered even more distance and keith grinned before saying the last bit, "let''s fly."


    the two of them barely stayed on the ground as they pounced around the hall graciously with amelia''s dress fluttering behind her as she moved with keith.


    keith came to a halt right in front of zander and made eye contact with amelia. both of them leaned backwards and spun around the couple, immediately disrupting their moves.


    zander fumbled, taking a step backwards as he saw keith appear in front of him, but before he could do much, keith had already moved behind him.


    the two of their shoulder''s collided and the second prince lost his balance before falling to the ground. he angrily looked at keith, only to see a smirk on his handsome face.

 Chapter 218 Slight Guilt

    Zander immediately got up from the floor grabbed the server who was carrying a plate filled with wine glasses close to the crowd. All of the wine spilled as the glasses shattered but he grabbed one bottle midway before tossing it at Keith who was still dancing with Amelia.The bottle rotated at it flew and struck Keith right at sight of his skull as he was spinning.


    The entire hall went silent as Keith slowed down and finally stopped. He let go of Amelia''s hands and turned around to look at Zander who was glaring at him.


    "Hmm... I didn''t expect the second prince to have such a short temper. If you can''t dance, get the fuck out and let the others continue. You don''t have to fight and ruin the atmosphere."


    "YOUU!! You were the one who pushed me!" Zander said as he stomped the ground and walked towards Keith.


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    The sound of a slap resounded across the hall, making the nobles gasp as Zander brought his trembling hand to his cheek.


    "You... you slapped me? The prince?"


    "And what if he did, brother? It''s clear that you were in the wrong." Mathew said as he walked out of the crowd.


    Zander glared at him and hissed, "He. Pushed. Me. First!"


    "All I saw was that you bumped into him while HE was dancing and fell. To me, it looks like you deliberately fell to antagonise my people. Why don''t you apologise and end it right here?"


    Mathew did not back down and stood right in front of Zander, whose gaze faltered before he decided to stand his ground.


    "Everyone here saw what happened!" he yelled and looked at the crowd.


    The people who were on his side, all nodded and began to yell, "Yes!! The prince was pushed and it is disrespectful to the royal family!!"


    "Keith was the one who started this!!"


    "Yes, punish him!"


    "Punish him!"


    Keith silently noted down everyone''s faces and nodded to himself before laughing, "Haaaahahahahahahaahahahah!! Oh my god, this is funny. Disrespectful to the royal family huh? Let''s see, more than half of the nobles here gave fake reports to the emperor and payed less taxes than they usually should."


    He the pointed at Zander before grinning, "The second prince secretly accepted bribes, which can be interpreted as stealing money from the empire and the emperor! I wonder if this is disrespectful or not."


    Everyone who just supported Zander had ugly expressions etched on their faces as they glared at Keith.


    "Where''s your proof? This could be considered as going against the royal family by instigating a rebellion." Zander said.


    The nervousness was apparent on his face, but he did a decent job at hiding it from the crowd.


    "Yes!! Where''s you''re proof?!"


    "Bastard inquisitor of the church, Ptui!!"


    Keith immediately turned his head to glare at the person who had called him a bastard.


    "Calling an inquisitor of the church, a bastard is the same as cursing the goddess. Do you know that the punishment for this action is?" he asked as he walked towards him.


    "O- oi! Why are you coming towards me? I didn''t say anything!" the guy yelled as the people around him moved away.


    Keith did not answer his question and grabbed both his arms, "It''s death. But I''ll let you go once I take your arms."


    Flames extended from Keith''s fingers and immediately burned the guy''s arms. He screamed loudly as he voice cracked, but Keith did not let go.


    As the flesh burned, Keith''s fingers sank into the cooked flesh. The guy fainted midway but Keith let him go only after a few more seconds once he burned both his arms.


    He then wiped his hands on the guy''s suit before turning to look at Zander, "An inquisitor is not required to provide proof since the goddess will judge my actions. But since you''re asking, I''ll give you an open challenge.


    Try to get bribes from today onwards. Every time you fill your pockets, the one who gives you money will die. You''re the prince, so I won''t touch you. But the nobles that work with you do not have that privilege.


    I''d love to see how you or your people will stop me."


    Mathew nodded as he looked at Keith and then turned to face his brother, "Why don''t you go back and rest in your room, brother? You''re ruining the atmosphere. Just look at our dear little sister over there."


    Zander frowned as he turned to look at Silvia who was now in Max''s arms. The grand duke''s son had somehow managed to turn his face as red as his hair as he held the girl in his arms.


    "Tch." Zander clicked his tongue and grabbed the woman''s hand whom he was dancing with until now and stormed off towards the palace.


    Keith looked around and with just a glance, he could tell that many nobles wanted to leave right now so he grinned and clapped his hands.


    *Clap clap clap*


    "I suddenly have a question in mind... the second prince just left, so will his followers also leave now? Amelia, note down the faces of the people who leave early and give me the list later. We''ll start a special investigation on these families. Also, can someone please toss that man out?"


    Before anyone could do as he said, an old man grabbed his legs while another person held the guy''s shoulders. The two of them looked at Keith and the old man spoke.


    "My family has no connection to the third prince and we have no intention of taking his sides but, please allow me to take my son back home. I don''t mind an investigation, but I hope that you don''t harm the people who are under me."


    Keith nodded and looked at the guy whose hands he had just cooked and sighed internally.


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    ''I''m feeling guilty now. But your son planned on assassinating you so he could take over as the head of the family and join Zander''s side. Though, I don''t think you''ll believe me if I told you that.''

 Chapter 219 Amelias Old Appearance?

    The servants hurriedly cleaned up all the mess that had been created and while the atmosphere wasn''t as good as before, it was slowly recovering.Keith decided to take a break for a few minutes since it wouldn''t really be a good thing for the nobles to see him dance again.


    He socialized with multiple people whom Mathew introduced and just as it was getting a bit too tiring, he saw Clara grab his hand and pull him away from the group of ladies.


    "Sorry, but this guy here promised me a dance so I''ll be taking him with me for a while." she said. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It wasn''t a request but a statement. The ladies complained but Clara simply pulled Keith back to the center of the stage before she looked up at him.


    "Thank you for saving me." he said as he held her hands.


    Clara smirked before hitting his chin with her forehead, "You looked like you were enjoying their company a lot."


    "Gotta pretend, right? That''s what Amelia taught us."


    "Right." She said as she followed the slow steps that Keith took.


    The nobles nearby watched them for a few seconds before looking at the group that was playing music. Only when they felt like the music wasn''t speeding up, did they let out a sigh of relief.


    One by one, everyone went back to focusing on their dance partners. Keith got immersed in the music as he danced and the way Clara looked at him gave him shivers of excitement.


    ''Control yourself. She wants to dance with you, that''s all.'' he thought as his mind went to his little brother who was slowly waking up. The way her curves felt on his body were hard to ignore.


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    A part of him wanted to reduce his sensitivity to touch, but he stopped himself from doing that as he knew that this was an important moment for both him and her.


    "I think I''m about to lose control." he whispered in her ears.


    As the warm air tickled her ears, she nodded, "Me too... let''s... go back home."


    Keith stared down at her for a few seconds before nodding, "Kay, give me a minute."


    He then brought her away from the place were people were dancing and rushed over to find his teammates.


    Nathan was busy with a random lady while Caleb and Laura were in their own world while they danced. Keith spotted Amelia standing beside her father and rushed over to her.


    "Hey, I''m going back home. No wait, I''ll just go out for a bit and come back." he said and left before she could even say a thing.


    Arthur looked at his daughter and sighed as he placed his large hand on her head, "Listen here. If you want something, you should chase behind it until you grasp it. And once you do, never let go no matter what happens alright?"


    "You''re spouting nonsense father." she said with a sigh as she silently watched Keith rush back to Clara.


    She had gotten over her jealous feeling by now, but it still didn''t feel great when she saw him treat her like a normal friend.


    As she saw him leave the hall, she remembered the incident that happened almost an hour ago and couldn''t help but smile.


    Seeing him slap the guy who forced her to leave her family felt amazing. While she herself wanted a chance to slap Zander, she knew that doing so would just bring more trouble.


    "You know... I married your stepmother for political reasons. It helped me get more money, but I wasn''t really happy. She barely talked to me and when she did, it was always a request. Her father wants something, her brother wants money, and similar things.


    Only when I met your mother did I feel like I could just stop using my brain and I''d still be in good hands. She made me feel alive but you know what? Even though I was a Duke, she ignored me when I first approached her.


    It was clear that she didn''t know my face or could recognize me. Though, my outfit back then also probably played a part since I was just roaming around with regular clothes.


    She came from a poor household but she fed the dogs in the streets everyday. I was just curious why she was giving things to dogs when those dogs could probably never give her anything in return.


    I got some people to investigate and found out that she didn''t have a good impression of nobles since some random Baron forced her to get engaged with him. As for the reason why she fed those dogs, my people had no idea either.


    By this time, I had already fallen for her and I didn''t even know it. I disguised myself as a random guy and got a job as a postman. I wrote letters for her and went to deliver them myself and that was how we started speaking.


    You should know the rest of the story right?" he said as he looked at Amelia.


    "Yeah.... she fell in love with you after a few months and when the baron found out, he came to drag her away. You killed him and announced that you were the duke, after which she ignored you for three months hehe."


    Arthur''s expression froze as he gave her an awkward smile, "Hey, come on. She wasn''t able to handle living without me so she finally decided to come back."


    "Sure sure." Amelia said with cheeky smile on her face as she teased her father, ''Mom just loved seeing you wait outside her house. If only Keith was this passionate about me but I guess I''ll have to take things in my own hands.


    Just like you did back then, father.


    The only thing I''m afraid of... is that he probably doesn''t find me attractive at all. Maybe I should go and ask mother to give me back my old appearance..."

 Chapter 220 Gerald

    Inside the palace.Zander rushed into this room and pushed the girl onto the bed before kicking a table that was nearby. He grabbed the maid that was standing outside the room by her hair and pulled her inside before closing the door.


    "Go and tell Gerald to come here. Tell him that the second prince is summoning him and his presence is of utmost importance."


    "Yes, your highness." the maid said as a tear tricked down her eye. Once he let go of her, she immediately left the room and rushed to find the person named Gerald.


    Zander saw the girl on his bed slowly undress and clicked his tongue, "Wait until I sort things out first. Then we can have fun for the whole night."


    "Alright." the girl said as she put her clothes back on before sulking. The prince ignored her and silently sat on the bed as he waited for Gerald.


    A few minutes later, he heard a knock on the door and felt a sense of relief, "Come in." S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    A gruff looking man entered the room and silently closed the door behind him. He only had one hand, but he was Zander''s most trust worthy aid.


    "Gerald." he said and the man nodded.


    "Yes, please give me orders."


    "There''s a guy called Keith Zenister. He humiliated me in front of everyone tonight and he also threatened the ones who are supporting me. I want you to set an example. No one offends me and gets off scot free."


    Gerald nodded, "Do I have the permission to act on my own?"


    "Yes, do whatever you want. I want to see at least one person dead from his group tonight."


    Gerald stared at Zander and nodded, "I will do as you wish." he said and walked out of the room, leaving Zander satisfied.


    "Now all I have to do is wait." Zander grinned as he turned to look at the girl near him, "Come."


    Gerald on the other hand, walked out of the palace and let out a low whistle.


    Ten members who had their faces covered with a thin black cloth, appeared in front of him almost immediately.


    "Kill one person who is close to a man named Keith Zenister. It''s fine if you kill more. Disperse."


    The ten people disappeared in a puff of smoke and just as Gerald was about to walk towards the hall where the celebrations were going on, his surroundings changed magically.


    He looked around him and saw that he was now in a large grass plain. There was a small mud hut a few meters from him and he also saw multiple goats grazing silently. Their horns looked different from the goats he had seen until now, so he decided to keep a distance from them.


    ''What is this place...'' he thought as he stared at he mud hut, contemplating whether he should go and check it out or not.


    "Welcome to my abode, human." a voice echoes in his mind, making him jump slightly.


    "Leave the prince''s side and join Keith. As the God of Systems, I will help you save your daughter from Zander''s grasp."


    Gerald frowned when he heard this but the offer was extremely tempting. His one and only daughter, his only family was currently under Zander''s "care".


    On the outside, it looked like he was teaching her how to use her awakened ability but in reality, she was made to go under the prince''s tutelage just so he could use her father however he deemed fit.


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    Gerald thought about it for a while and shook his head, "I can''t do as you say, not unless you save my daughter. You might be a god, but my daughter is more important to me."


    Silence.


    Gerald got no response. The voice did not echo in his mind once again and this immediately got him anxious.


    ''I just tried to bargain with a god... I''m fucked. I should have just accepted it. Damn it... no wait, it''s not too late.'' he thought and looked up at the clear sky above him.


    "I will do as you say. Please rescue my daughter from the Prince''s clutches."


    Once again, there was no response.


    ********


    A few people stood behind trees as they watched Keith and Clara walk out of the hall and rush to the back where there was no one in sight.


    The ones who were keeping an eye on these two also moved so that they wouldn''t lose their target.


    ''Hm hm hm...'' Keith kept an eye on his surroundings and was unable to find anyone. He had put a system into Zander and knew about the plans he had made. He had been ignoring Gerald for the past 40 or so minutes since he was way too focused on Clara.


    ''He can wait for a little bit more.'' Keith thought as he stopped and faced Clara. He grabbed both her hands by the wrists and pinned her against the wall.


    "Hic!" she let out a sound as her eyes went wide. Her breath immediately sped up as she gazed into his eyes that were closing in.


    "Mmmphh." she set out a muffled moan as his lips pressed against her and just when she thought that he''d push his tongue in like he always did, she felt herself being lifted up the ground.


    Almost instinctively, her legs wrapped around Keith''s waist as he turned around and leaned against the wall. He went back for a kiss once again, but his eyes scanned his surroundings slowly.


    A few seconds later, he felt his pinky twitch and grinned inwardly as his hands squeezed Clara''s soft thighs.


    ''Found you lot.'' he thought as he sent his system towards the direction where he felt the danger and immediately got a response.


    The system latched onto one person and Keith got an influx of information before the system multiplied and attached itself to the other nine assassins that were nearby.


    ''Looks like they''re just watching for now... no.'' he thought as he looked at the system screen in his mind since he had his eyes closed.


    Right at that moment, eight of them moved from their hidden places and rushed towards the hall silently. Two of them stayed back to keep an eye on Keith.


    ''Your attempts are futile... damn, I''m way too hard right now. I can''t even focus.'' he thought and with a simple mental command, all the ten assassins vanished from where they were and found themselves facing their leader.


    "Huh? Even you guys got thrown in this place?" Gerald asked as he looked at his men and sighed.


    The god who had ignored him turned out to be way above his expectations. He had heard legends about the god of war Balmond who could fight for a month straight while sustaining almost no injuries.


    He had heard about the goddess of protection Seraphina offering a sanctuary to the weak and helpless during the times of war.


    He had heard about the god of medicine bring people back to full health while they were on the verge of death.


    But never in his entire life, had he seen a divine being provide this much help to one single person.


    ''This Keith... if this god of systems let''s me leave this place, then I must offer my life to the man under this god. I must offer my life to Keith...'' he thought as he heard his people tell him about the things they had seen Keith do behind the hall.


    ''He might be young but he''s way too daring to do such things in a place where anyone could find them with minimal effort.''


    Gerald silently waited and after almost twenty minutes, he heard a voice once again but this time, it was different.


    Instead of echoing in his mind, the voice echoed around him, audible to everyone.


    "Consider this a test. Kill them all and I''ll offer you my support. Your daughter will be brought to this place and if you wish to, she will be set free."


    Gerald stared at the ten people who were once his subordinates. They were always disposables who were trained by Zander''s special team of assassins.


    He had no attachment to these ten young men who could die at any time and even if he did, he knew that he''d always pick his daughter over them.


    The ten of them took up their stances and pulled out the daggers that were at the sides of their waists.


    Gerald sighed and raised his hand. A visible white layer covered his hand and a whitish ethereal hand grew out from his left stump.


    "It''s a waste of effort." he said as the ten guys took a step backwards.


    "Master Gerald, are you really going to betray the prince by killing us? If he finds out, heh... consider your daughter to become the property of the royal family. A pig just for the sake of breed- ugh."


    The guy who just spoke looked down as his stomach, only to see a white ethereal hand coming out of it. It vanished immediately, leaving a gaping hole behind as the guy fell to the ground, barely alive.


    "Damn traitor!" one of the other nine shouted as he rushed forward, but Gerald didn''t make any move and stood still.


    Once the guy got close, his ethereal hand moved at a speed beyond human limits, stabbing directly into his skull.


    Bone shards and brain matter flew in different directions, with some sticking to Gerald''s body but he didn''t even bother to look at it.


    Instead, his gaze was completely focused on the eight guys in front of him.


    "Come. You can''t win unless you surround me. But even then, you have an extremely low chance of killing me."

 Chapter 221 This is Just the Beggining, Zander

    Keith and Clara went back into the hall and saw that people were getting ready to leave. It was the same with Amelia, but Keith noticed that the trio were nowhere to be seen.''I made sure that those assassins don''t attack so where in the hell did these three disappear off to?'' he mused as he checked his system, only to see that all three of them had the same idea as him and were currently engaging in snu snu activities.


    He walked over to Arthur and Amelia before joining them to go back home.


    "Where are the others?" Amelia asked as she looked around.


    Keith shrugged, "Who knows. They probably got tired and went back home or... well, you know the things that are common in events like these." S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Ah.. I see." Amelia said and moved closer to him, "I''m feeling a little tired. Carry me."


    "Go ask your brother..." Keith said as he glanced at Adrian who was on the other side of Arthur but to his surprise, he saw Arthur frowning at him.


    ''Ah... does he actually want me to carry her?'' he thought as he felt like crying.


    He silently looked at Amelia who now looked disgruntled and sighed, ''Some times, it''s better to not know what people are thinking.''


    Keith quickly poured over his system screen that showed him the thoughts of Arthur and realized that the man had decided to support his daughter when it came to her selection for a partner.


    He sighed inwardly and lifted her up in an instant, catching her by surprise. Keith did not look at her face and simply walked forward while she melted in his embrace.


    Clara watched Keith give Amelia a princess carry treatment and even though she felt a slight jealousy, the happiness in her heart overpowered the negative emotion.


    Adrian was caught by surprise but a wide grin appeared on his face once he absorbed the scene in front of him.


    As for Arthur, he didn''t say a thing or show any kind of emotion as he walked behind Keith.


    The group got back home and Keith finally looked down at Amelia who was now acting like she was asleep. The urge to mess with her was strong, but he fought against his instincts and went along with her acting as he carried her to her room and placed her on the bed.


    Amelia felt the absence of his touch and hastily rolled around on her bed.


    ''Let''s see how you respond... if you reject me now, I don''t think I''ll ever be able to muster up the confidence to tell you about my feeling.'' she thought as she felt her eyes tearing up.


    "I... want you, Keith. I... want..."


    Keith silently stared at her, knowing that she was just acting like she was sleeping.


    He stood still, unable to decide on what to say. A part of him wanted her to accept herself, to tell him about her feelings while she believed that she wasn''t his type.


    Another part of him wanted to tell her that he liked her too, but before he could decide, his emotions took over.


    "What a coward." he said and walked out of the room, leaving her alone.


    Amelia immediately opened her eyes and tears rolled down her cheeks.


    "Coward huh..." she muttered, "Did he know that I was awake? Or does he want me to tell it to him while properly? Ugh! Stop confusing me...."


    She then grabbed a pillow and buried her face in it while Keith silently walked back to the room that he was supposed to share with Clara.


    Miya and Clara were both in their pajamas, ready to sleep.


    "Yeah, let''s go to bed." he said as he took off his shirt and put on an old loose shirt instead.


    He then grabbed a pair of pants and looked at the two, "Close your eyes Miya."


    "Okay" she said and dived under the blanket.


    Keith then put on his pants and joined the two on the bed before he closed his eyes. He felt tired, but he had other things to to at this moment.


    He took a look at his spatial dimension and saw Gerald sitting on the ground while ten corpses were scattered around him.


    ''Alright, looks like he''s made up his mind.'' Keith thought as he began to make some minor preparations.


    Gerald silently sat and waited for the voice. As time passed, he grew slightly anxious but all of a sudden, he heard the voice again.


    "I will save your daughter. But you''ll have to tell her to work under Keith. As for what kind of work he''ll give her, I will not interfere. In return, you will be his sword."


    "As you wish, oh great god." Gerald said and just when he thought that he would be ignored once again, the voice resounded in his head.


    "Get some rest. Your daughter will join you soon."


    As Keith saw him walk into the hut, he shifted his attention to Zander who was playing with four naked women in his bedroom.


    "Well, time to give you a gift, Zander." Keith muttered as he glanced at the ten dead bodies and made them disappear. Your adventure continues at empire


    With his system inside Zander as the teleport point, he spent some of his mental energy and made the dead bodies appear close to the second prince.


    This caught him by surprise and the girls screamed as they saw lifeless bodies fall onto the floor out of nowhere.


    Zander stared at the dead bodies in shock, not reacting to the screams of the women near him.


    That was until a letter appeared right in front of him. It fell on the mattress, right in front of him and he slowly picked it up before he began to read the contents of the letter.


    Hi Zander, sorry for the sudden message but.... I just wanted to tell you one thing.


    This is just the beginning. I''ll make sure that you''ll suffer more.

 Chapter 222 Change In Succession Wars

    Keith woke up the next morning and saw Amelia hanging out in his room. Miya was cheerfully making clay dolls with her and Keith silently sat up from the bed."Oh you''re up." Amelia said as she pointed at the door behind her, "Clara went out to buy a few sweets."


    "Got it." Keith nodded and stood up before heading to the bathroom.


    Just as he was about to open the door, he heard Amelia speak.


    "Um... can we talk for a bit? After you''re done with your bathing and stuff I mean."


    "It''s fine, you can tell me now. It''s not gonna take hours right?"


    "Of course not..." Amelia replied and steeled her heart before speaking, "Uhhh I just wanted to ask if you''re fine with coming with me to my home. I want to introduce you to my mother."


    Keith silently stared at her for a few second and slowly nodded, "Sure. Your step brother should also be there right?"


    "Huh? Oh..."


    Amelia recalled the conversation she had with Adam and as she saw Keith walk into the bathroom, she got a weird feeling. A feeling that gave her goosebumps.


    She had never seen Keith look so determined and angry until now and even though she did not really like her step brother much, she felt like something really bad might happen.


    ************


    A few hours later, in the afternoon.


    Keith walked into the palace alone since there was no need for his team to join him for this meeting. Mathew simply wanted him to meet his sister Leora and had never mentioned wanting the others involved.


    One of the servants guided Keith to the same room where he had first met Mathew but there was a slight change in the room.


    The table wasn''t long like the last time he came here. Instead, he was a round table with a diameter of approximately two meters.


    Fresh fruits, biscuits, cookies and a tea set was placed at the center of the table and unlike before, there was actually someone already waiting for him.


    He looked at the silver haired lady who was staring at him and gave her a slight bow, "You must be Leora Kazak, the fourth princess."


    Leora nodded and took a sip from the cup she was holding, "Indeed, I am Leora. It''s a pleasure to meet you, Inquisitor."


    "Keith Zenister. I''m pleased to make your acquaintance."


    "Please have a seat. My brother will join us soon."


    Keith gave her a curt nod and sat down on one of the two empty chairs. Leora took another sip of tea and silently stared at him.


    "If there''s something you''d like to say, I hope you say it princess." Keith said as he was unable to handle the awkward atmosphere, which made Leora chuckle.


    "Well, I was just wondering what was so special about you, that''s all. You have the looks, and I''ve also heard about the grand things you did yesterday but, that''s not enough to get my youngest sister on your side right?


    On top of that, it really is hard to believe that someone actually publicly humiliated someone from the royal family."


    Keith said nothing and silently stared at her. Or at least that was how it looked to Leora but he was taking a look at his system screen instead. Continue reading on empire


    ''Hmm, he''s not angry about it so why did she even bring it up?'' he thought before nodding.


    "All I did was to tell Silvia that you had taken Mathew''s side and she immediately jumped in to work as our spy. As for the prince... let''s just say that I have a personal grudge against him."


    Leora raised her eyebrow, showing that she was curious, "Is that so? Would you mind telling me about this personal grudge of yours?"


    "Amelia is a dear friend of mine. You should have a rough understanding of the rest." S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The princess nodded, "I see, I see. She''s really lucky to have someone like you as her friend. I''m very jealous."


    "Princess, can we get to the main topic please? Mathew said that there were important matters to discuss."


    "Oh, but we''ll have to wait for him to join us first." she said and as if on cue, the door opened and Mathew walked in.


    He looked at the two of them who were waiting for him and nodded before joining them at the table.


    "I hope that the two of you have learned a bit of each other by now." he said and continued, "Anyways, I wanted both of you to meet so that we can make plans to crush the others effectively."


    Keith nodded and glanced at Leora before speaking, "Got it. Tell me your plan first and then I''ll share my thoughts."


    "I have none... but I do have some really important information. Father has received information about the war. Actually, it''s more like he was ordered to start a war against the Baroma Kingdom.


    There is a high chance of the succession wars getting integrated into the actual war between our empire and Baroma kingdom. Father will most probably make an announcement in a few days.


    This means that the ones who have high military strength will have an advantage this time and finances are probably the second factor. With Leora on our side, we have the power to boast about finances but we have nothing to help us when it comes to military strength.


    Marcus has his team of royal knights, Zander has a secret team of assassins and on top of that, he also has the support of multiple nobles. These two will have a huge advantage thanks to that.


    I''ve been thinking for hours but I really am unable to come up with an idea that I can be confident in."


    Mathew then sighed before looking at Keith, "Oh and, Marcus is the first prince."


    "I am willing to put in everything I have, Mathew. We can hire the independent mercenaries to work for us." Leora said but Mathew shook his head.


    "They are not reliable. Did you really think that I did not consider that option?"

 Chapter 223 Mutated Wolves, Must Have

    "Mercenaries just switch sides if one party offers them more money. They thrive in war situations since they can just jump sides. They''re not worth the effort but we don''t have a choice.Having them on our side will help but I don''t know for how long. We''ll need the support of nobles and such. Only then can we have a stable group of soldiers and knights."


    Keith looked at Mathew and nodded, "True, but you should try talking to Duke Arthur. I''m sure he bears a grudge against the second prince for forcing him to kick his daughter out of his house.


    On top of that, we still have one year. I need a way to travel extremely fast and if you give me a way to do it, I''ll be able to pressure the nobles that are on Zander''s side. It''ll be great if I get some cursed artifacts too." he said as he glanced at Leora, hoping that she had some.


    "There is a way to travel extremely fast, yes." Leora said as she thought, "But I don''t think I''ll be able to provide you with cursed artifacts. It''s usually the churches who store these things and even the royal treasury only has four artifacts."


    Mathew nodded when he heard his sister''s words, "We have been breeding wolves and they''re slightly faster than a horse. They also have the stamina of a mule so they can run extremely long distances while pulling carriages. If you want, I can talk to my father and get you one."


    "And I can provide you with water transportation. The boat is medium sized and can easily carry around fifteen people. It has sails, but you can also pedal to increase the speed."


    "Thank you, those should do the trick. Though, are you just giving those wolves to me or are you simply lending them for a year?" Keith said as he turned to look at Mathew.


    The prince thought for a few seconds before shrugging, "If you pay money, you can just buy them. On top of that, they only eat meat those damn wolves."


    "So the maintenance is going to be high, huh? Am I allowed to take a look first?"


    Leora nodded, "I have a few under my name so you can just come with me once this meeting is over. Aside from that, I have a question. How do you plan on pressuring the nobles?"


    "War. Almost every noble under the second prince have some really shady businesses under them. I''ll use those as an excuse to hunt them all. Your father won''t help them since I''ll be sending letters that expose all these businesses.


    On top of that, there''s a law in the empire that helps the emperor in such situations right?" he asked and the other two nodded.


    "Yes, if a noble looses their life and the household has no successors, then the property will go back to the emperor. This includes the money that has been saved, the businesses and every single piece of land and property that once used to be under the noble''s name."


    Keith grinned when he heard this and nodded, "Right on the mark! You guys should just focus on expanding your military power. No wait, it''ll be great to have Leora come with me.


    I''ll pressurize them by using their crimes and give them an option to escape. This escape option will basically be them taking our side by giving us soldiers and knights. On top of that, you''re known for being a very greedy merchant so you should also be able to get a few thing out of this."


    "Even if you didn''t invite me, I would have asked you myself. There''s no way I''d let go of such an opportunity." Leora said with a smirk on her face.


    "Great minds thing alike, great minds think alike..." Mathew said before laughing, "This is great but it sure will take a lot of time. You guys got any other plans?"


    Keith had one plan, but that was something that eighth prince would do and one that would help him become an emperor. But giving this method to Mathew was something that did not go well with his interests so he kept the plan to himself.


    ''Teaming up with Morose kingdom and going against Kazak empire once they''re done taking over Baroma. A great plan indeed, but you manipulated my favorite character and treated her like shit so I''ll end you before you get to that stage.''


    "I have a plan, but I''ll keep that a secret for now." Keith said before tapping the table, "Anyways, let''s get things done. You two should go talk to you father and ask for a bigger team of royal knights. If you need my help, then feel free to ask."


    Leora shook her head, "The royal knights are only allowed to pledge servitude to the people of the royal family. The only thing we can do is ask for more knights and see what happens. Though, you''re right. Let''s get moving."


    The three of them got up from their chairs and moved towards the door while Keith asked them one more question.


    Explore stories at empire


    "How much are you selling one wolf for, by the way?"


    "We can only sell you a maximum of eight wolves. As for the price of each... I''ll keep my profits aside and sell them for just a hundred chrons each." Leora said after thinking for a bit.


    Keith stared at her, extremely taken aback by the massive price that she put on the wolves.


    "Don''t be so surprised. They''re massive wolves that have been domesticated. You won''t find them anywhere and they''re not just mounts meant to pull carriages. They can help you with attacking people and are also trained to be war mounts. Usually, the royal family doesn''t sell them to anyone." Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Keith thought for a bit and nodded, "Got it."


    Mathew left to talk to his father while Leora took Keith to her own mansion before guiding him towards a large warehouse. Only when Keith walked in, did he realize that no matter what the price was, he had to buy the wolves.


    ''Mutated wolves... but since they''re inside the barrier, their mutations won''t progress further.''

 Chapter 224 Wolves Acquired

    The wolves inside the warehouse were huge, with a body length of almost three meters and a height of almost 1.8 meters."They''re as tall as me..." Keith said as he looked at the wolves in awe, sending his system seed to one of them before the system spread to every single wolf nearby.


    ''Show me the stats of these wolves. I want to know what kind of mutations they have.''


    [Affirmative.]


    [Collecting data...]


    "Yeah, they''re huge. That''s the reason why we domesticated them." she said as she saw one of the wolves speeding over to her.


    "No Tingy, not now." she said, her voice stern.


    The wolf immediately stopped in front of her and sat down before looking at the two of them with puppy eyes.


    "They''re huge, but they''re adorable..." Keith said as he looked at Tingy and pet it''s head fearlessly, making it whimper and purr, which sounded more like a growl.


    Leora stared at Keith and shook her head, "You''re fearless, I''ll give you that. While we did domesticate them, they still have their wild instincts. Tingy killed one of my men recently while he was playing with her.


    It was so sudden that he was unable to react. One would think that Tingy was hungry, but no. When another one of my people walked in to check up on the wolves, he saw Tingy sitting in front of the corpse with tears in her eyes."


    "Sudden instincts huh? Perfect match for my danger sense so there''s no need to worry." Keith said as he scratched Tingy''s ears with a grin on his face.


    Leora clicked her tongue but didn''t dare get too close to the wolf. She was scared and didn''t wish to show it by giving a half-assed attempt.


    "Anyways, pick your wolf. And do you have the money ready?"


    Keith nodded, "Wolves. I''ll take eight but can I pay in gold? Eight Kilos of gold with is equivalent to eight hundred chrons."


    "You really want to buy eight of them?" she asked, surprised with his sudden decision.


    "Yeah." Keith responded as he read the contents on the screen in front of him.


    ''Tingy is actually a defect. No wonder her instincts took over. I''ll just pick the best ones among the twenty wolves here.'' he thought as he began to point at the wolves around him that were in cages.


    Two males and six females. Once he was done picking them, he looked at Leora, "So? Do you accept gold?"


    "Yes..." she said slowly as she continued to stare at Keith, "no wait! How do you even have that much money?"


    "Some things must be kept under wraps, dear princess." he said and looked at a wolf he had picked first.


    It had pitch black fur and was napping silently. He walked closer to it''s cage and stared at it, ''The best one is you. Highest endurance, second best speed and the highest chance of producing a mutated offspring.''


    Leora watched Keith stare at her wolves and immediately made a decision that was not logical in the eyes of most businessmen.


    "Hey Keith, I can''t do much but charge you for the wolves but if you want, I can give you the ship for free."


    "Huh? Wait, you weren''t planning on lending it to me from the start?" S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Leora shook her head, "I did, but what I''m trying to say is that you can keep the ship for yourself. I won''t be taking it back once your job is done. What do you say?"


    "Naaah, I don''t have much use for a ship. Instead, why don''t you just lend me two extra wolves for free instead? You can have them back once we''re done with those nobles under Zander."


    Leora tilted her head slightly, clearly confused, "That ship costs almost eighty chrons..."


    "Yeah, I would have taken it if it costs eight hundred. Eighty is too low. I can make way more than that just by looting those nobles." he said and turned to look at her before adding, "Yeah, I''m a corrupt inquisitor. So what?"


    "You''ll do anything for money huh?"


    Keith shook his head when he was give this question, "Nah, I have my bottom lines and my own rules. Some of these nobles have no choice but to become one with the soil."


    "I see.... okay I understand. Pick any two wolves you want me to lend you. As for the ones you wish to buy, I''ll get them delivered to the place you want."


    "Nah, it''s fine. Just give me some alone time in this warehouse and I''ll get them moved with the help of someone mysterious." he said and pointed at the large door, "Go on."


    Leora stared at him for a few second before letting out a soft sigh and then walked out of the warehouse before getting her men to close the door.


    Keith instantly dived into his spatial dimension and made an extra partition by splitting the area that was given to the goats in two.


    He made sure that all the goats were in one place and one by one, he send the cages into his spatial dimension along with the wolves before opening them effortlessly.


    Once all the wolves were out of the cages, he brought them back out and placed them where they once were.


    After he was done with the work, he took out eight gold bricks and placed them on the floor before heading towards the doors of the warehouse.


    Leora was standing right in front of the entrance and once Keith opened the doors, he pointed at the gold bricks, "There''s the eight kilograms of gold. As for the two wolves that I wish to use for the next few months... I''ll take those two brown ones that are at the right side corner."


    The princess nodded and looked at her servants, "Get those two wolves ready and also get a carriage made for high speed travels." she said and then turned to look at Keith.


    "I''ll bring my own carriage with my own two wolves. Feel free to share mine if you need extra space."

 Chapter 225 Gifting Awakened Ability

    ''At first, I was like a headless chicken. Picking whatever I thought would work but now that I got the wolves, I don''t see a need to keep these goats with me anymore...'' he thought but then immediately changed his mind.''No, the goats are fast and can also attack. I''ll need to find a way to incorporate both the wolves and the goats into a proper system where they act as preys and predators.''


    He looked at the system screen in front of him.


    [Plot has been divided into two equal parts. 500mx250m rectangular area.]


    ''Hey system... about this time boost thing. Is there a way I can get things done more efficiently? If there''s something that I''m missing, then it''ll be great if you tell me.''


    [Affirmative.]


    [User has only been using time boost but never the time slow. Using just one will consume mental energy, but in a specific scenario, the consumption can be made zero.]


    [Example Scenario: Use two equal parts of a plot. Boost the time in one of the plots by X and slow down the time in the second plot by the same value. Like speeding up the time by two in one plot and slowing down the time to half in the other.]


    "Wait, this let''s me bring down the usage of mental energy to zero?"


    [Yes. But the user has to keep in mind that if you bring your physical body to the plot where the time is being sped up, then you will also age at the same rate. This can be negated using a clone of yourself.]


    "There''s no need for making clones of myself right now. After all, we''re just talking about goats. They simply need to eat grass and stuff."


    [The goats need minerals and salts for their survival. Suggestion: Leave a few blocks of salts on the ground for them to consume whenever needed.]


    "Okay got it." Keith said and grinned as he immediately gave out a mental command to boost the time in goat land by 1000, only to get an error message.


    [Error: User cannot go above the limits of your maximum mental energy capacity. Current Max: 14times time boost for 1.11 seconds.]


    "I see... now much mental energy do I have to spend for each increase? For example for two times boost and three times boost?" he asked and the system immediately gave him a response.


    [The mental energy required for each jump in time boost is multiplied by 2.1 times compared to previous. Take time boost 1 as base where there is no boost in time flow. Boosting time by two times will require you to spend 2.1 points of mental energy and boosting it by three times will consume 4.41 points.]


    "Alright got it." Keith said and boosted the time of the goat land by 14 times and immediately slowed down the time of wolf land by 14 times.


    This act took him almost half a second and consumed half of his mental energy instantly.


    "Phew it''s done but my head hurts like crazy now...." he muttered and saw way the goats and wolves moved.


    "Hey, compared to my time... they are 14 times faster and slower respectively but how much fast is the goat land when compared to wolf land now?"


    [The land used to raise goats is 194 times faster than the land used to raise wolves.]


    "DAMN!" Keith exclaimed, feeling excited, "I''ll go buy some meat so I can feed these wolves for a few days. Once the population of goats reaches thousand, I''ll just send the goats to fight for their lives in the wolf lands."


    Keith then focused his attention on his 100mx100m land that was separated just for himself and saw the 5 guys still focusing on working out.


    "Time to start slaving away for me, you dogs." he muttered as he sent a system seed to one of them and it spread to the other four almost immediately.


    Once that was done, he took at look at the list of awakened abilities of the people that his systems had taken root in.


    "Let''s see.... yeah, this one will do. I''ll first recover my mental energy and use everything to give one of these guys an awakened ability." he said as he stared at the guy who was the shortest in the group. S§×arch* The nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "It''ll take five days to give them all their awakened abilities, but that''s a necessity and a great investment since I''ll be using them for my dirty work from now on."


    Keith then shifted his attention to the potatoes that were still lying around and spent the rest of his mental energy to cook, mash and store them before boosting the time by two.


    Once he was done with all the things that had to be done, he retracted himself from his spatial dimension and went to bed.


    Next morning, he send Miya out to play with Caleb and the others to he could get some alone time with Clara. After indulging in carnal pleasures for almost half an hour, he recovered half of his total mental energy, which filled up his capacity to full.


    ''Time to awaken one pawn.'' he thought as he dived into his spatial dimension and created an illusion.


    A being made entirely out of light descended in front of the five men and pointed at the shortest one, "You will be blessed by the great god before the rest. You were noticed for your dedication and hardwork, so congratulations."


    The guy knelt down immediately and began thanking, but Keith didn''t give a damn and simply got to work.


    ''System, which ability has the best compatibility with this guy?''


    [Metal Control. The original user has very low mental energy, so he was unable to use this ability to the fullest. The one you picked has high compatibility and also has very high mental energy compared to the original user.]


    ''I see, okay. I''ll give that to him.'' Keith said mentally and as the ability took root in the guy''s body, he fainted and his body heated up.

 Chapter 226 Departing From The Capital

    The fever subsided after a few seconds and after another few minutes, he woke up.[User Information]


    Name: Alpha


    Physique: Grade B


    Genetic Physique Type: Burst


    Awakening Status: Awakened


    Awakened Ability:


    Metal Control: Enables the user to control all kinds of metals.


    ''Okay, my job here is done.'' Keith thought as he controlled the being of light.


    "Tomorrow, another one of you guys will be picked. Just wait for your turn." S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Everyone knelt and smashed their heads against the ground while the being of light vanished. Keith withdrew himself from his spatial dimension and walked out of his room to see everyone getting ready to leave.


    "Oh you''re here." Adrian said as he walked over, "The third princess is waiting for you in the living room. You should probably go meet her."


    Keith nodded and rushed over. Leora was silently sipping on some tea and when she saw him, she gave him a polite nod.


    "Good morning, Keith."


    "Morning." Keith said and nodded back at her, "You''re ready to leave already?"


    "Yeah. It''s better to hurry since we don''t have much time. We should pay a visit to Duke Arthur''s territory before we start moving right?"


    Keith nodded as he sat down in front of her before he began to pour himself some tea, "You''re right. Amelia said that she wants to introduce me to her mother, so yeah."


    "Well..." he continued, "There''s viscount Barbarossa''s viscounty close by so we can hit him first once we leave Duke Arthur''s territory."


    Leora hummed before nodding, "Yeah, we can do that. I''ll just be tagging along and well, I''ve decided to not bring any knights with me so my safety is in your hands for the next year."


    "Sure, I''ll make sure that there won''t be even a single scratch on your body." Keith said confidently before standing up, "Alright then, I''ll go take a nice bath and then we can depart. Everyone else is getting ready so you don''t have to wait much."


    Leora waved at him as he left and smiled, ''You''re the only one who treats me like a normal woman instead of a grand princess. Feels refreshing... it would have been great if Chowder saw me as a normal girl instead of some untouchable gem. Tch, damn knights. So frustrating. Can''t you even tell that I have feelings for you after all the signs I''ve been giving you?


    Keith silently spied on her thoughts and chuckled as he walked into the bathroom.


    ''That''s the curse of being a princess. Some want to get close to you for fame and money while the others would do their best to not get too close since history has taught them that getting romantically involved with royalty when you''re just a commoner, is not a great idea.''


    He grabbed a jug and poured some cold water onto his head before shivering, "Ugh... so cold."


    As he continued to wet his hair and skin, he thought, ''If I didn''t have the ability to give systems and such, I would have done my best to stay away from you and the succession wars too. It''s just way too risky even though you''re a beauty in your own unique way.''


    Keith took his sweet time to wash himself up and once he walked out, he put on the new clothes he had bought recently along with Miya and Clara before walking out.


    His clothes and other things were tossed into his spatial dimension and he did the same with his group''s luggage once he met them at the living room.


    "This will give us more flexibility and room when we''re traveling. A great artifact indeed." Leora said as she saw Keith making the suitcases vanish right in front of her eyes.


    Keith nodded, "Yeah, it''s great. I''m simply renting it for now." he said and turned to look at Arthur who seemed ready to leave.


    "Shall we go then?"


    Arthur nodded, "Yeah. We''ll be practicing swordsmanship whenever we stop to cook meals. Are you ready?"


    "Of course. There''s still a lot that I can learn from you but just make sure that you don''t run out of tricks. It''ll get boring if I surpass you too soon."


    "Tch. Must be nice to have such great talent." Arthur grumbled as he walked towards the exit while the others followed.


    Keith, Clara, and Miya took one carriage for themselves while Amelia joined her father and brother. Caleb jumped onto a horse while Laura and Nathan shared a carriage with the fourth princess.


    "I''ll switch with you in a few hours Caleb." Keith said and pointed at Nathan, "And Nathan will take over the night shift."


    Caleb nodded, "Okay."


    Arthur had brought his own knights and all of them did the same thing as Caleb and sat on top of individual horses. Their job was to make sure that nothing unexpected happened and to keep their masters safe from danger.


    Keith silently observed them and nodded to himself before he closed the curtains of his carriage. He turned to look at Miya and patted her head, "Since we''re traveling, I''ll be teaching you the numbers while mama will teach you the alphabets."


    "Okay!" Miya said excitedly while Clara placed her hand on Keith''s knee, "Are you sure that you don''t want to meet your sister before leaving? I''m sure that she''d love to meet you."


    "She would, but it''s not a good idea to meet her right now. If Zander finds out that I''m close to her, there''s a high chance of him attacking Adam and Rebecca and I don''t want that to happen."


    Clara silently stared at him for a few seconds and once she realized that he had no intention of meeting Rebecca, she gave up on persuading him.


    "Okay, understood. But would the second prince really go to your family?"


    Keith chuckled, "Of course he would. He tried to assassinate us when we left the hall during the youngest princess''s coming of age ceremony. We''re literally going to chop off his fingers and limbs by hitting the nobles on his side, so it''s not too far-fetched for him to attack my sister to retaliate."

 Chapter 227 Keith The Great Snitch

    Keith expected the journey to last almost a month, but to his surprise, it was pretty fast. In just two weeks, he had reached Arthur''s dukedom and he could tell that Amelia was more anxious than excited."We''re finally here huh?" he asked as he looked at Clara who nodded, "Yeah. Amelia was always downplaying how big and prosperous her family was. But now I can see for myself."


    Keith smiled as he looked at the various stalls at the side of the road, "Generational wealth is a great thing. But thanks to getting kicked out, I''d say that she''s learned more about us commoners than she''d have ever expected to."


    "True..."


    "Papa! I want that!" Miya exclaimed as she pointed towards a weapons store.


    Keith turned to look at the shop and saw various weapons on display, mostly just made of wood.


    "Hm, weapons for training huh?" he muttered and suddenly got an idea as he turned to look at his daughter, "Which one? The sword?"


    Miya nodded multiple times in a quick succession, only to see her father jump off the carriage.


    She panicked and peeped through the window to see Keith standing in front of the shopkeeper.


    Before the knights would respond in time, Keith grabbed a sword, placed one zen note on the counter and rushed back into the carriage before giving the wooden sword to Miya.


    "Here you go. You''ll be training with grandpa here for now. Papa and mama will come and meet you every night but you should keep this a secret okay?"


    Miya nodded as she took the sword and hugged it, "Okay... but you should come everyday okay? Promise?"


    "Yeah, promise." Keith said as he hooked his pinky with hers.


    A few minutes later, the carriages stopped in front of a large mansion and everyone sitting inside, climbed out.


    Two women walked out of the mansion and there was a tall young man with them. Keith squinted his eyes and immediately sent a system seed towards him before checking the guy''s information.


    ''Found you, you damn predator.'' he thought and turned to look at Amelia, "Hey Amelia, I''m running out of meat. Do you know a place that can sell me a lot of meat in bulk?"


    "Yeah, let''s go out to buy some meat but not now. Probably at night?" she asked and Keith nodded.


    "Sure." he said and paused for a moment before adding, "By the way, which one of those two is your biological mother?"


    Amelia smirked and didn''t respond. Instead she ran forward and hugged the woman who was taller than the other.


    ''Okay, got it. But damn these two don''t look alike at all.'' he thought and walked forward before bowing slightly in front of the two women.


    "Mother, this is Keith and Clara. They''re my closest friends and without them, I''d probably lose my mind with all the shit that goes on at my job." she cursed and Keith had never expected her to use such language in front of her mother and it was the same with her mother too.


    Even she did not expect her daughter to use such language and was stunned for a second before smiling.


    "Hahahaha is that so? I''m glad that you found great friends, Amelia." she said and kissed her daughter''s forehead but a high pitched voice stabbed her ears the next second.


    "You! How could you just brush it off? But it''s alright. After all, she doesn''t have the Toretto name anymore so it doesn''t matter. A commoner can say whatever garbage they wish as long as they don''t associate themselves with our household."


    Keith turned to look at Amelia''s stepmother and then glanced at Arthur. To his surprise, the guy was grinning from ear to ear.


    While Keith stood in place, confused on what the hell was going on, Amelia shot back.


    "Oh here''s the bitch who married my father for money. Hey dad, how many times did this witch ask you to help out her family''s business?" S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Arthur shrugged, "Don''t drag me into your fights..."


    "Oh that''s great!" Amelia said with a beaming smile on her face before her palm flew towards her stepmother''s face. The should was crisp and loud.


    Before the woman could speak, or even do something, Amelia slapped her once again.


    "Ahhh feels great. I''ve been holding back the grudge for what you did to me eight years ago. How does it feel to get slapped by a filthy commoner by the way? I hope it feels amazing cuz I really feel great right now."


    "Pfft-" Laura slapped her hand on her mouth as she tried to contain her laughter but Keith silently stared at the two females in front of him.


    As he saw Amelia''s step brother take a step forward with his hand raised, Keith immediately brought out his revolver from his spatial dimension and fired it at the sky with a loud bang.


    "Keep your family matters to yourself but I won''t stand by idly if I see anyone raise a hand on my people. Or even try to do so." he said as he stared at the guy in front of him.


    Arthur frowned and Keith met his eyes before adding, "By the way Duke Arthur, I know that you are not corrupt and do your duties for the empire as you should. But there are people near you who are going behind your back and going illegal things.


    Out of respect to you, I''ll ignore it. But I hope that you clean this matter on your own by the time I''m done with the others, so you have one year''s time."


    "Are you threatening me Keith?" Arthur asked, frowning slightly but relaxed once Keith shook his head with a wry smile.


    "No, I just don''t want you to get betrayed in the future. I''ll give you a clue by the way. You should start with the Green Water Port and find a guy named Red Patch Rory.


    Human Trafficking, slave trading and a lot of other things are going on in your territory and the one who''s responsible for it all is someone really close to you." he said as he glanced at Amelia''s step brother.

 Chapter 228 Keith Is Different From The Other Men

    Arthur nodded and turned to look at his son, "You''re not allowed to get out of the house for the entire year from now.""But father! I-"


    "No. Shut up and get back inside, Lawrence."


    Keith silently watched the mother and son walk back inside while Amelia had a wide goofy grin on her face.


    "Well, I''ll go take a walk with Miya and take in the beauty of this place. You guys can settle in but do keep in mind that we''ll be leaving the day after tomorrow." he said as he looked at his team and then glanced at Amelia, "I''ll come and talk to you and your mom in a few hours. Until then, I hope you two can catch up."


    "Okay, take care." Amelia said and waved while Keith took out the suitcases that belonged to his teammates and looked at Clara, "You coming? or do you want to just take some rest for now?"


    Clara thought for a second and shook her head, "I guess I''ll rest this time. I feel really tired."


    Keith nodded and looked at Miya, "I know that I said that we''ll go out for a walk but if you''re tired, feel free to go with mommy."


    "Noooo I want to spend time with papa." she said and hugged his leg tightly.


    "Alright alright, comere then." Keith said as he grabbed her arms and pulled her up.


    Once Miya found herself at her favorite place, her father''s shoulder''s she giggled and hugged his forehead like she always did and felt his large palm support her back.


    "Now get ready! I''ll do rhino style." Keith said and Miya immediately hugged him harder.


    Once he made sure that she was ready, he ran forward at full speed, making Miya scream with excitement.


    Clara, Amelia, Caleb and the rest walked into the mansion. Keith''s group were escorted to separate guest rooms while Amelia joined her mother in the master''s bedroom.


    "So, tell me. It looks like you have a lot to talk to me about." she said as she sat on the bed and looked at her daughter.


    Amelia stopped moving almost immediately and after a second, let out a sigh, "I really can''t hide much from you, huh?"


    "Don''t underestimate me. I''m your mother." she said, acting arrogantly as she pushed her hair backwards. S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Tch. I''ve changed okay? I don''t act like that anymoreee!!" Amelia exclaimed as she sat down on the bed beside her mother and her expression turned serious.


    She took a deep breath and sorted her thoughts before speaking, "I want my old looks back. I don''t care about looking like the perfect lady anymore."


    "Hmm..." her mother hummed as she looked at her daughter, "You really did change huh? Give me the reason why and I''ll turn you back to how you looked before."


    "I, well... um." Amelia said, unable to say the things that were in her mind.


    She clicked her tongue and frowned as she began, "You see, I think I did something dumb and fell in love with Keith. He joined as a trainee detective at first but now he''s the head of an inquisitor squad.


    He''s sooo insensitive! He used to call me bro and made... made... ugh. He used to make a lot of sexual jokes just to annoy me and even then!! Even then I somehow fell for him and I don''t even know why.


    He barely pays any attention to me and he told me that he likes women like Clara. Nice curves and.. and.. uh he likes bigger ones." she said as she placed her hands on her chest.


    Look at me, mom. I''m as flat as a cutting board right now. I want him to look at me... no.


    I want him to see my real appearance. The ugly burn scar that''s supposed to be on my back. I want to see how he reacts to my appearance and only then will I make my decision."


    "I thought you changed but you didn''t ahahahaha. It''s funny, I''m sorry Amelia. Back then you wanted to look good to that people would praise you. But now, you want to look good for just one person instead.


    At the end of the day, you''re just giving too much importance to your appearance. Look at me, I have average looks and yet, I got your father to fall in love with me.


    You should keep in mind that attraction and love and two entirely different things. Sure, most of the times, romance starts from attraction but at the same time, it mostly doesn''t end with a lovely relationship.


    There will be a few lucky ones who get their relationships working perfectly, but not everyone is lucky.


    Anyways, you''re my daughter and since you found someone you really like, I won''t reject your request but I want to tell you just one thing. If you come to me again, to make you look different, then just keep in mind that I''ll never agree.


    You''re an adult now. And your decisions must carry some weight." she said as she looked at Amelia, who was slightly stunned.


    Amelia thought for a bit and nodded, "I''ve made my decision and I won''t go back on it. If it''s not Keith, then it''s no one. It''ll be great if he accepts me for who I am. But if he doesn''t, then there''s nothing I can do really other than accept the outcome."


    She then paused and with shivering lips, she slowly muttered, "I''m... just scared that he''ll say no."


    Her mother bonked her head with her knuckles before giving her a stern look, "Listen here. You told me that he is with Clara right now. No noble in our empire would even look at her since slim and flat women have high value in out society.


    And yet, he picked Clara who doesn''t meet those conditions and based on what you said, he shows her a lot of affection. He''s a unique and different person. I have a feeling that we shouldn''t see him the same way we see the other men in our empire."

 Chapter 229 Amelias Live Transformation

    Keith walked towards the mansion while Miya hopped around beside him with her hands filled with snacks and skewered meat.As they walked towards the door, it opened. Inside, there were maids standing on both sides to welcome the two of them and Miya panicked.


    She stuffed all the food that was in her hands into Keith''s pocket before she wiped all the oil and spices that was around her mouth. She still looked messy but more than that, she was acting way to cutely.


    Keith stared at her and glanced at his pocket that was filled with snacks and skewered meat now.


    ''It''s great that she''s acting this freely but I should teach her some manners first.'' he thought on the inside but outside, the smile on his face didn''t seem to have any intention of going away.


    A man wearing a tailcoat bowed as Keith got close and said, "Lady Melia is expecting your presence in her chambers, sir."


    "Oh, okay." Keith said and looked at Miya, "Come, let''s go meet Amelia''s mother."


    "Sir, she''s expecting to meet you alone. You, her and lady Amelia." the butler said and Keith thought for a second before nodding.


    He patted Miya''s back and looked at the maid who was closest to him, "Can you take my daughter to Clara while I go meet Lady Melia?"


    The maid didn''t say anything and simply nodded before she extended her hand towards Miya, who looked up at Keith and when he gave her a nod of approval, she grabbed the maid''s hand.


    Keith silently watched the two of them leave and then focused his attention on the butler, "Shall we go now?"


    "Of course, sir. Please follow me."


    Instead of taking Keith directly to Melia''s chambers, the butler gave him a tour of the mansion first. After almost two whole hours, he finally stopped in front of a door that Keith had passed by once already.


    "Please head in sir. Lady Melia is waiting for you."


    Keith let out a soft sigh and nodded before walking in. It was noble custom to show the guests their homes before they got to anything serious and this only happened the first time someone visited a noble household. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Once Keith walked in, he saw the mother and daughter pair sitting on the bed while they played cards. Just one glance and Keith could tell that it wasn''t poker since the cards for poker were very different from the ones that the two women were currently playing with.


    Keith remembered playing this game with his brother and sister in his younger days. They were the memories of the Keith who was no more, but they still felt like he had experienced it all himself.


    With a sigh, Keith knocked on the door that was behind him and the two of them turned to look at him.


    "Yeah we know you''re here. Come and join us." Melia said cheerfully as she motioned him towards the bed.


    Keith nodded and went ahead to join them.


    "This game brings back memories." he said as he looked at the UNO equivalent cards in front of him, "But how in the hell do you guys even have fun with just two players?"


    "Two is the bare minimum to be able to play this game, so why not?" Amelia said and then added, "Wanna join?"


    Keith shook his head, "Nah, I''m way too nervous to be playing right now. It''ll be better to finish the discussions that I was called her for and then we can play."


    Hearing this, Amelia paused and felt her hands shake slightly. She turned to look at her mother and nodded.


    Melia nodded back and focused her gaze on Keith, "You see Keith, my lovely daughter here isn''t supposed to look the way she currently does. My ability allows me to change the appearance of two people at the same time.


    Currently, one of them is Amelia and the other one is a secret." she said and winked at him before placing her hand on her daughter''s shoulder.


    "She wants you to see her real appearance first since she decided to stay true to herself or whatever thing she said to me. I don''t really remember all that nonsense. Anyways ahem, she basically wants to embrace her real appearance and she wants you to be the first one to see her once that happens."


    Keith nodded and looked at Amelia whose face was pretty red at this point due to the way her mother worded the situation.


    With a slight smirk, Keith turned back to Melia and said, "It''ll be my honor. Though, I don''t really get why she''d want to do that when her current appearance easily turns everyone''s heads towards her. Doesn''t it also help with her awakened ability?"


    Amelia blinked a few times and looked at Keith, realizing that she had completely forgotten about her awakened ability. She was way too focused on Keith to even give a damn about her own self.


    Her ability worked great when someone felt attracted to her and if they didn''t, then the effects would be greatly reduced.


    She thought about it for a few seconds and shook her head, "It''s fine. I''ll still go through with my decision." she said and looked at her mother.


    Keith felt like she was fucking up the synergy she had with her ability, but he didn''t push her against her decisions. If that was what she wanted, then so be it.


    "Okay then, I hope you''re ready." Melia said as she got off the bed and stood up.


    Amelia followed and stood in front of her mother while Keith silently watched the two of them.


    The mother and daughter pair held hands and the changes began to appear almost instantly.


    Amelia''s height stayed the same, but most of her other features did change a lot. The length of her face got slightly smaller, her hair grew down until it touched the floor, her "flat as a board on two sides" body began to grow in the right places.


    He silently watched as the changes took place and after almost five minutes, Melia let go of Amelia''s hands and looked at her daughter dotingly, "See, you look like my younger self now. If only Havena didn''t pour boiling hot water on you..."


    Amelia gave her mother a sad smile before looking at Keith. She unbuttoned her shirt slightly and pulled down the sleeve on her left side, revealing a dark red scar that started from her near her shoulder and went down by ten centimeters.


    "Ugly isn''t it?" she asked, and immediately regretted asking the question. For the first time in her life, she felt afraid of hearing an answer.


    ''I wish I could turn back time right now....'' she thought and watched Keith stare at her scar. While she never saw anyone stare at her scar as much as he did, she had also never experienced people look at her scar like it was something normal.


    They had always given her a look of disgust.


    Before her mind could process Keith''s reaction to her question, he spoke.


    "Well, it''s just a scar. What''s the big deal? Your father has so many damn scars and he looks fucking cool you know?" he said and shrugged.


    He then pointed at the scar before continuing, "Treat it as something unique. Like come on, imagine. There''s hundreds of people who come from noble backgrounds but how many of these have a scar on their arm? Probably just a handful and that is what makes you different."


    ''So it''s not ugly?'' She asked in her head, but her mouth seemed to have escaped the control of her mind, "I like you! No, I love you."


    By the time she registered what she had just said, it was too late. Her face immediately turned bright red while Melia covered her mouth to suppress her chuckles.


    Keith on the other hand, was absolutely speechless. He had a system screen in front of him the entire time and he had been reading the stuff that was going on in Amelia''s head but this was unexpected for him too.


    "Huh?" he said unintentionally, still pretty speechless from her sudden confession, "No wait, did I hear that right?"


    Keith felt like crying since he absolutely hated being put in a tight spot and Amelia had done exactly that. Unfortunately for him, she had different thoughts in her head a she felt like she had dug a grave for herself.


    And when she heard Keith''s words, her bottled up feelings exploded. Explore new worlds at empire


    "Yes you bastard!! I said I love you, okay? Just give me a response so I can go cry in peace, you goddamn jerk!"


    ''Wow... she''s being a tsundere right? Nah, tsundere''s don''t really express their feelings. Ugh fk, I can''t fucking think!''


    Keith took a deep breath and nodded with a serious expression on his face, "I see... Alright, I need some time to think about this so I''ll have to ask you to wait for a few days."


    "Huh?" Amelia gave him a confused look before pointing at herself, "You said that you didn''t like people who are flat right? I mean, I''m not flat anymore but I still can''t beat Clara when it comes to... comes to... uh."


    "I never said I didn''t like them you know? I just said that I prefer a certain type. Personality comes first and I''m not praising you here. You''re a bitch sometimes just like I am, but I do like your company a lot and I do care about you. So yeah, I need time to make a decision."


    Amelia stared at him as she thought, ''He never said I''m attractive... I knew it... I shouldn''t expect much.''


    "And well, you''re attractive in your own way." Keith added, ''I''m so glad I can read minds.''

 Chapter 230 It Finally Happens

    "Ugh, I''m going to my room." she said as she stormed towards the door, only to stop and rush back towards Keith, "How much time do you need?""Honestly speaking, I don''t really know. I feel like you''re rushing this too so maybe you should take some time to gather your thoughts.


    I already have Clara, which means that you''ll be my second if I do accept. Are you sure that you won''t get jealous, angry and other things? I''m asking this because me and Clara have had time to develop our relationship."


    Amelia shrugged, "I''m not new to jealousy and heart ache. I''m sure that the pain will be way less than what I experience nowadays. It''ll feel way better seeing you with Clara when I know you''re mine compared to when you''re hers alone."


    "Fine then. We can test the waters for now..." Keith said as he looked at her straight in the eyes.


    "Huh? What? Now? Didn''t you say that you needed time?" she asked, absolutely dumbfounded by his sudden decision but Keith simply shrugged. Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He turned to look at Melia, "She''s getting way too flustered don''t you think? Her face is so red that I won''t be surprised if she passes out right now."


    Amelia''s palm came flying towards his cheek but Keith ducked expertly before ramming into her with his shoulder. She buckled bent down due to the force and Keith immediately stood up with Amelia hanging on his shoulder.


    "I''ll leave you two here so you can talk in private. No funny things okay?"


    Keith waved his hand as Melia moved towards the door, "Of course."


    Once Melia was gone, Keith pushed Amelia onto the bed and looked at her, "So, you wanna say something or what?"


    "....."


    She silently stared at him with a frown for a few seconds before nodding, "Yes. Why did you say yes to this thing?"


    "I don''t hate you. In fact, I do like you a lot like I''ve said before but you see, love takes time to develop. When it comes to romance and stuff, even that will happen through time. Having a lover is like getting a free trial to marriage with them so why not test out the waters right now?


    Simple right? Why not just do it since it''ll help us both. If you think you don''t like it when I have women other than you, then feel free to talk to me about it and break things up between us.


    But if it does work out... you know what that means right?" Keith asked and Amelia nodded.


    For the first time today, she wasn''t being aggressive and for some reason, suddenly turned meek as she nodded shyly.


    "I''ll make it work.... If I feel jealous, all I have to do is wait for you to end your session with Clara before I can have you. Simple right?" she said. Even though she sounded cute with her non-aggressive way of speaking, it was hard to hide the way she imitated his way of using "simple right?"


    Keith nodded and let out a soft sigh, "Phew, anyways... since we''re done, we should leave."


    "Leave where? This is our room for now and I''ve been waiting for months for this... fantasizing..." she said as she got up and walked towards Keith before placing her hand on his chest.


    "Always fantasizing about getting freaky with you, so there''s no way I''m leaving. Not until you kiss me but I won''t mind more."


    Keith already knew about this but he didn''t expect her to get open about her fantasies. He silently stared as her as he walked backwards along with her since she gently pushed him, guiding him towards the wall behind him.


    Once he felt his back pressed against the wall, he grabbed Amelia''s wrists and pulled her closer, "You wanted this huh? Or wait..." he said and leaned closer to her shoulder before whispering in her ears, "Or do you want to get spanked by my strong hands?"


    Keith had to put in otherworldly effort to keep himself from cringing. There were the dialogues that Amelia envisioned in her day dreaming sessions and at this moment, there was no doubt that his words worked wonders.


    Before Keith could say anything, she began to straddle his thigh as if unable to keep herself together.


    "Who even taught you this?..." he asked, his voice barely audible but Amelia could clearly hear him.


    She silently looked up, her nose almost touching Keith''s as she spoke, "I saw my mom and dad do it when I was.... I think ten years old."


    "Damn..."


    "Damn indeed." she repeated as she pushed herself up, standing on her toes as she looked at Keith with half lidded eyes.


    There was no need for words and both of them knew what was next. Keith leaned in slightly and pushed his lips against hers.


    He made sure she got comfortable with it before pushing his tongue into the mix, making Amelia yelp in surprise but she took in the change pretty well.


    Each breath was warm and filled with wanting as Keith deepened the kiss, leaving her breathless after a few seconds.


    "Welp, you''re a great learner but we should probably go. Before we lose control and your mom finds us tangled in the sheets."


    "Bleeeeeh." she shot her tongue out, "Carry me."


    Keith shook his head, "You''re not a child. Walk on your own."


    "But you carry Miya though..." she said as she looped her hands behind his neck.


    ".... girl, that''s my daughter. Don''t you hear her calling me papa? Wait, don''t tell me you''re jealous of a damn child..." he said and Amelia immediately pouted.


    Seeing this, Keith couldn''t hold back his laughter and wheezed until he found it hard to breathe, "Imagine getting jealous of a child, hahahahahhahahaaaa!!"


    "I hate you!! What''s wrong with getting jealous huh? Will you carry me if I call you papa too?"


    ''... this shit is going to start the equivalent of Daddy stuff I heard about in my old life.'' he thought and shook his head.


    "Fine, come. I''ll carry you but don''t call me papa."

 Chapter 231 Camphor Trees; The Key To The Future

    Adrian was sitting in front of Miya and Clara as he talked to them when he heard the door open. Keith walked in with with a very visible red mark on his neck and right behind him, was Amelia.This alone was enough for Adrian to figure out what had happened between his sister and Keith.


    "Oho, look who''s here." Adrian said with a smirk on his face as he took out a letter from his pocket and gave it to Keith, "That aside, the third prince wrote a letter for you. There are four carts waiting for you in the backyard and I have my men standing guard."


    Keith nodded as he took the letter and read the contents before smiling, "Looks like the goods are here." he said and immediately walked out of the room, leaving Amelia standing silently while the other two smirked at her.


    "Welcome to the family~" Clara teased while Adrian laughed.


    Keith took his attention away from his system screen and walked past Lawrence. He headed outside and circled around the huge mansion until he finally saw the carts that looked more like carriages.


    "They have roofs too huh?" he muttered and walked towards them. The guards gave him a curt nod and Keith returned it before he began to inspect the contents inside.


    There were oval shaped green fruits that looked similar to papayas but were slightly bigger. In a way, one could say that the length of the fruits was similar to two basketballs touching each other.


    ''Nice, fifty camphor fruits in one cart. Which means a total of two hundred... I got more than what I asked for but I should probably go and pay Mathew once I meet him again.'' he thought but then he noticed another letter in the second cart.


    He read the contents and burned the letter with a smile on his face, "Why will I ever say no to free stuff?"


    Keith didn''t bother with appearances and sent all the camphor fruits into his spatial dimension before he headed back into the mansion. He spent the rest of the day with Amelia''s family and his team before he went to bed.


    He closed his eyes and like he always did, jumped into his spatial dimension. A part of the potato farm was cleared up and the two hundred camphor fruits were harvested.


    Each fruit had almost two hundred small black seeds just like a papaya did and Keith made sure that they were safety removed and stored. As for the fruits themselves, they were crushed and stored in barrels.


    With the help of his system, he tossed away the defective seeds and only picked the seeds that were healthy, which added up to 20,000 seeds.


    He planted the seeds while giving each one of them sufficient space of 4 meters on each side and by the time he was done, most of the land looked barren. Potatoes only took up around one-fourth of the space.


    ''Hmm....'' he thought as he silently stared at the land.


    "Hey system, how much of the land that''s being used by the potatoes, should I merge with the land used by bees to make both have equal area?"


    [Calculating...] Enjoy new adventures from empire


    [700mx700m for farming = 490,000 square meters]


    [500mx500m for bees and flowers = 250,000 square meters]


    [Area needed for camphor trees = 320,000 square meters.]


    [Area used by potatoes = 490k-320k =170k]


    [Solution: Merge 120k square meters of land that potatoes use, with bee land. Keep 50k square meters with camphor land. This way, both sides get 370k square meters, enabling you to use time boost without having calculative complications.]


    Keith didn''t say anything and did as the system told him to before nodding to himself. His mental energy dropped by half in an instant, but Keith was able to get the time boost going.


    14 times time boost in the camphor tree land and 14 times time slow in the bee land. He wasn''t in an urgent need for honey and he had already ditched his vodka business since the war was looming around the corner.


    ''Selling alcohol is a great long term business but looting stuff in war will give me a lot of instantaneous wealth. It''s better to focus on the camphor trees since they hold the key to my second awakening and not just mine but everyone around me too.'' he thought as he stared at the empty plot.


    "Hey system, how long do the camphor trees usually take to mature completely?"


    [Regular water and sunlight will help it reach maturity in 4 to 5 years.]


    [This can be increased by feeding it organic matter since the tree is mutated and is sentient.]


    "Organic matter huh? not really possible right now since I don''t have anything that grows really quick of reproduces at insane rates. Four to five years... with a time boost of 14 times, it should be ready in... hmm. Oi system, help me out."


    [If a tree needs 5 years to reach maturity, then for you, it''ll be 4 months and 8 days.]


    "Okay, got it. Do another thing for me now. Consider 1kmx1km land that needs time boost and I boost the time by two times. Use the number of minutes as points and give my mental energy a score for it''s storage."


    [Affirmative.]


    [Calculating...]


    [Your current mental energy value is 728, which is 728 minutes.]


    "Okay, great. From now onwards, I''ll spend all my mental energy on spreading my system seeds. The more people I have under my system, the more information I''ll have access to.


    Once I accumulate enough divine energy, I''ll probably integrate a chat function and the next step would be a market function. Hehe this is fun." he said as a grin popped up on his face.


    He then went to sleep and spent another day with the Toretto''s before he began to move once again. This time, traveling did not take too much time and Keith was able to arrive at his target''s Viscounty in under two weeks.


    "Time to start the purge..." he muttered as he looked out the window.


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 Chapter 232 Stage 1: Planning

    Keith immediately got out of the carriage and rushed forward to stop the wolves from moving."Alrighty, we stop here. We''re gonna pay them a surprise visit okay? We can''t be going around with eye catchy wolf pulled carriages." he said as the two carriages stopped in front of him.


    The people sitting inside poked their head out and looked at Keith before they all climbed out one by one.


    Keith saw Leora walk out with Laura, Nathan and Caleb and was pretty surprised since he didn''t really expect her to join them to do grunt work.


    Just in case, he decided that it would be better to tell her his plans first.


    "Princess, we are just going to take a look around the town at this moment. Well, one town and two large villages, but yeah... it''s basically just information gathering and such so you should probably just stay back here." he said.


    Leora shook her head, "And what if I get ambushed? I''m coming with you to ensure my own safety."


    Keith raised his eyebrow and one by one, he pointed at four different trees near him, "You got people hiding here though? I''m sure they''ll be able to protect you."


    ".... you knew?" she asked incredulously as she watched her knights walk out of their hiding spots with embarrassed expressions on their faces.


    With a light shrug, he replied, "Yeah, I have my ways. Though, I''m curious on why you want to tag along with me when it''ll just cause you problems. Your people won''t be able to hide well in villages or towns you know? It''s way easier in forests."


    "When they''re inside towns and villages, they won''t wear their armors so it''s actually easier to keep an eye on me since they can just blend in with the locals." she said and turned to look at her men who began to take off their armor.


    The clothes they were wearing inside were light half-sleeved cotton shirt and regular trousers, which was what most people wore.


    Trench coats, suits and half suits were mostly used by people in specific professions and by nobles.


    "Oh well, if you insist to join then I won''t stop you. But you should put on clothes that''ll not make you stand out though... just look at that thing, it''s gorgeous. You gotta wear something plain."


    Leora stared at him for almost two seconds but nodded and walked back into the carriage so she could change. Almost three minutes later, she walked back out wearing a plain long skirt and a blouse that covered most of her skin.


    "You still stand out you know..." Keith said and let out a soft sigh, "But it''s fine. Just follow what we do from now."


    He then looked at his team and all of them grabbed some soil and rubbed their hands with it. Once their hands were coated with the tiny particles, they clapped their hands once to get rid of most of it before rubbing their faces.


    This way, they didn''t look too dirty but also didn''t look too clean. Keith also joined his team but the Knights clearly did not look happy with Keith''s way of doing things.


    One of them stepped forward and grabbed Keith''s collar, "You dare tell the princess to rub soil on her face? Are you asking to get executed, you bastard?"


    Keith glanced at Leora who seemed hesitant to stop the knight.


    Seeing this Keith let out a soft sigh, "Unrequited love and a strong sense of duty huh?" he said, making Leora flinch slightly before continuing, "Take your hands off me, you dumb bitch. I already told her to stay the fuck in the carriage didn''t I? Or are you intellectually challenged to not understand human language?"


    The Knight didn''t withdraw and instead pushed Keith forward until he was pinned against the carriage.


    He looked pretty angry with his red face and clenched jaw, but Keith calmly turned to look at Leora, "If you don''t tell him to stop, I''m sorry but he won''t stay alive for long."


    Leora immediately came back to her senses and ran forward to push her knight away from Keith, "None of you are allowed to touch him and what he said wasn''t wrong either."


    Keith took off his trench coat and tossed it into the carriage before he slightly fixed his collar. He didn''t try to get it back to being perfect as this would help him look more like a normal person.


    He stared at the knight for a few seconds before chuckling, "Princess, you should probably do a background check on the people close to you. Especially those who are in charge of your safety." he said as he looked at Leora but then he shifted his attention back to the knight.


    "I didn''t expect the first prince to be this crafty. I wonder if he planted assassins beside all of his siblings..." he said and began to climb into the carriage, "Change of plans. We rest for one hour and depart by foot. Until then, feel free to do whatever you wish."


    Leora watched Keith disappear into the carriage and one by one, the others in his team followed his example and climbed back in.


    "Princess, don''t trust that bastard. I''ve sworn my live to protect you." the knight grumbled as he saw the princess give him a look of betrayal.


    She didn''t say anything. She had basically grown up with the knight in front of her and had indeed began to grow feelings for him since her early teens.


    Leora knew that Keith had his own mysterious ways to find things, but she just did not want to believe his words this time. S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Even though she didn''t want to, she still went with a logical approach.


    "Chowder." she said and the knight frowned as it had been years since he had heard her use such a stern tone with him.


    "Yes, your highness..." he replied as he bent down a little.


    Leora stared at him silently for a few seconds and clenched her jaw as she gave an ultimatum, "Go back to the capital. I want you to take care of the wolves that are under my name until I come back. Can you do that?"


    Chowder cursed inwardly, but nodded, "As you wish, your highness. But please trust me..."


    "That''s something I get to decide, not you. Now leave." she ordered before climbing into the carriage.


    Chowder turned to look at the other three knights, but all of them looked away from him.


    "Fucking traitor." one of them said before he walked towards the back of one of the carriages and stood guard there.


    ''Fuck, I should have just kept my mouth shut. This Keith guy really does have mysterious ways to find out about even the most secretive or hidden things. I must report to his highness the first prince as soon as I get back.'' he thought as he put on his armor.


    His fellow knights silently watched as he left and Keith kept an eye on his system screen in front of him.


    ''Mysterious ways of getting information huh? Heh, it''ll mostly lead you to Mathew''s information network. There''s no way you''ll find out about my systems so have fun trying.'' he thought as he checked his own status information.


    Name: Keith Zenister


    Physique: Grade S


    Genetic Physique Type: Endurance


    Mental Energy: 820


    Awakening Status: Awakened


    Awakened Abilities:


    Spatial Dimension (Unique)


    Danger Sense


    Libido and Sensitivity control


    Fire Creation and Manipulation


    Supernatural Regeneration


    Ammo Summoning


    Special Skills:


    Regeneration: Grade SSS


    Battle Instinct: Grade SSS


    [Unarmed Combat Arts]


    Fists of Steel -> Red Hot Fists


    Fists of Steel: Grade SSS


    Red Hot Fists: Grade SSS


    Skin Hardening: Grade B


    Description: Builds the foundation by fortifying the body''s outermost layer, increasing resistance to physical harm. Read exclusive content at empire


    ''If only Vincent fucking used his free skill unlock....'' he thought but he wasn''t too distressed with the outcome since skipping tax collection gave him additional divine energy.


    He made the system screen disappear and replaced it with Fabian''s status information.


    ''He used his free unlock to get muscle strengthening but I still haven''t created an upgrade path for this one yet.'' Keith thought as he began to work on it immediately.


    He felt lazy, so he simply copied the workout of a well known character in his past life. After almost 5 or so minutes he set up a detailed plan for Fabian and once he was done, he sent out a system message.


    [System Notification: Routine for Muscle Strengthening has been created.]


    Unlock F Grade: 1 Cycle


    F to E Grade: 5 Cycles


    E to D Grade: 10 Cycles


    D to C Grade: 20 Cycles


    C to B Grade: 50 Cycles


    B to A Grade: 100 Cycles


    1 Cycle = 100 Push ups, 100 Pull ups, 100 Sit ups, 100 Squats, 10 KM Running


    Keith had this strong urge to add a note at the end that said, "There might be a risk of turning bald", but he held himself back.


    He didn''t bother with Fabian''s reaction and closed the system screen before looking at Miya.


    "Miya, I want you to stay in god''s land for a while. Can you do that for me?" he asked and the child nodded.


    Keith patted her head and sent her to his spatial dimension before creating a small house for her using some of his mental energy.


    Once he was done, he looked at Clara and Amelia, "Just have fun and go do some shopping for the next two days. We''ll meet up back here and share information on the stuff we gathered. What do you think?"

 Chapter 233 Keiths Sudden Aggression

    Inside a small room in an inn, there were multiple large bowls that were empty.Keith sat in front of those bowls with a dissatisfied look on his face.


    ".... luck really is hard to guarantee isn''t it? Even though I increased my luck for a second, I still got a yellow system." he muttered and let out a sigh before he went ahead and lied down on his bed.


    He felt his mental energy go down at a steady pace as his system seeds automatically spread from one person to another. A little more than 120 and Keith began to feel his head hurt.


    ''This is not efficient at all... hey system, the left over divine energy. Do I have enough to add another function to my system seeds? I want them to use up fifty person of their host''s energy as fuel instead of just mine. Is it possible?''


    [Possible. User has enough divine energy to make these changes right now. Would you like me to add this function?]


    "Yes." Keith said as he stared at his system screen.


    [Affirmative.]


    [. . . Adding new function.]


    [New Function Added. The system seeds will now use 50% of a hosts mental energy and will constantly drain their physical energy to convert it into mental energy.]


    ''That''s a bit more than what I asked for but alright.... just make sure that the people don''t feel these changes.''


    [Temporarily nerfing the function. Physical energy conversion will now happen at a very slow pace.]


    "Alrighty, great." he muttered as he shifted his attention to the new yellow system he had gained.


    ''Necromancer system... starting with summoning simple humanoid skeletons to being able to command an entire army of undead huh? In a way, this is better than cultivation system but it does have it''s own limitations.'' Keith thought as he read it''s description for the second time.


    The necromancer system allowed it''s user to control undead and that was the root of all problems. The undead weren''t autonomous and had to be controlled by the "necromancer" through the use of simple commands and even this, was only available if the user unlocked the command function.


    Keith let out a soft sigh as the limitations were very clear, but he had the perfect candidate for his new system.


    "Gerald.." he muttered as he dived into his spatial dimension and glanced at the girl whom he had put into a temporary coma. He had teleported her into his dimension the moment a system seed took place in her body.


    ''I made him wait for a long time...'' he thought as he snapped his daughter out of her coma and made her appear right in front of her father who was sitting silently in a 10x10m space.


    Gerald''s eyes went wide and he fell into a state of shock for a moment before he hugged his daughter tight, "Hannah... Hannah, I''m so glad that you''re here."


    The girl sat on the ground, confused for a few seconds but as her mind absorbed the new situation, she hugged her father back.


    "I''ve fulfilled my promise and now, I''ll give you a gift. Would you like to be my apostle?"


    The voice echoed loudly and Gerald nodded immediately as he wiped his tears, "Yes, my lord. I will devote my life to your divinity."


    "Good." the voice echoed again and Keith gave him the necromancer system before speaking once more.


    "You will stand along with Keith Zenister, my first apostle and will act as his sword."


    Keith then withdrew and silently watched Gerald as he checked out his system.


    Name: Gerald


    Physique: Grade C


    Genetic Physique Type: Burst


    Awakening Status: Awakened


    Awakened Ability: Ethereal Psychokinesis


    Ethereal Psychokinesis: Create objects and control them mentally.


    Necromancy Skills: (All skills currently locked)


    Bone Manipulation: Controlling or reshaping of bones.


    Undead Summoning: Summon Undead to fight for you.


    Corpse Manipulation: Controlling of corpses. sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Corpse Reconstruction: Crafting, merging and modification of corpses.


    Necrotic Healing: Healing oneself or others by absorbing life force from targets.


    Undead''s Intelligence: Enables the undead to understand commands.


    ''I don''t have enough mental energy to help him unlock even one of them at this moment, but I''ll give him upgrades for free unlike Vincent and Fabian.'' Keith thought as he shifted his attention from Gerald.


    He glanced at the five ex-criminals and smirked as it was time to put them to use.


    ''Let''s wait for some of my mental energy to recover first...'' Keith thought as he withdrew from his spatial dimension and took a nice nap which lasted for more than six hours.


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    He dived back into his spatial dimension and saw Gerald sleeping silently beside his daughter.


    ''Welp, time to wake up broski.'' Keith thought as he made a voice echo in Gerald''s head.


    Gerald immediately jumped up, panting from the shock as he slowly calmed down.


    "I want you to teach five sinners the ways of assassination. They will also work for Keith Zenister, but they''ll stay in the shadows while you stand beside Keith."


    Gerald silently nodded, "As you command, oh great God."


    Keith snapped his fingers and teleported Gerald in front of the five men who were busy working out. The moment they all saw him, they stopped what they were doing and silently stared at him cautiously.


    "Ahem." Gerald cleared his throat before he went directly to the point, "The great god has commanded me to teach you guys how to assassinate people. Which means, I''ll be your teacher from now onwards. Let''s start with the introductions, shall we?"


    The ex criminals looked at each other and nodded before one of them spoke up.


    "We have given up our names and our past, so we have no names." he said and Gerald nodded as a slight smile formed on his face.


    "Good. That''s a great start." he said and continued, "Assassins need no names, history, or a family. Your entire existence is meant to act as a sword for your masters. From today onwards, you are not humans but tools instead."


    The five of them frowned and one among them angrily walked towards Gerald before poking his chest aggressively, "Oy, the only reason we gave up our names is because we wanted to start over. I''m not a tool and I don''t have any plans on serving some random bastard."


    Gerald was about to speak, but to everyone''s surprise a humanoid being made of light appeared above them.


    "You are all sinners and already have your names written in the book of hell. Consider this as a chance to redeem yourselves. If you do well, then the God of Systems will personally go and erase your names from the book."


    The concept of heaven and hell was something that was ingrained in the minds of almost every single person in this continent, but in reality, things like that did not exist in this world.


    There were divine palaces, but in reality, these were just personal spaces of the so-called wannabe gods who were basically just extremely strong awakened beings that underwent the third awakening.


    The souls of people would simply be absorbed by the planet, only to get mixed with trillions of souls as a mystical form of energy. This energy was in-fact, the key to third awakening but even the people of this continent did not know of this.


    Keith silently watched as the ex criminals were having an existential crisis and didn''t get involved further. Gerald took the lead instead.


    "I didn''t expect something like this but it looks like you guys have no choice." he said, his voice soft..


    "Fucking bastards... fucking fuck fuck!!! You''re no god! You''re a fucking devil!" the guy to whom Keith had given the ability of metal manipulation cursed.


    Keith controlled the being of light and made him imitate his body language. It snapped it''s fingers and the guy burst into a mist of blood, leaving behind nothing.


    "Damn, this crazy... fuuuuc-"


    Before he could end his sentence, he met the same fate as the first guy and all that remained after this, was pure silence.


    Even Gerald was shook to the core as he saw how ruthless the god he served was.


    While the three ex-criminals and Gerald were in a state of shock, a familiar voice echoed in the air.


    "I gave you guys a chance before, but now I give you a choice. Forge your minds and bodies for the sole purpose of one man, or meet the same fate as the other two."


    The being of light chuckled, "Pick your poison, sinners."


    Before any of them could respond, one of the remaining three also burst into a mist of blood. A dull white powder softly fell on the ground while the remaining two jumped backwards.


    "He took part in abducting kids and also did unspeakable things to them before selling them off as slaves. Keith absolutely hates people like this, so I decided to take him out of the equation."


    Keith silently stared at the remaining three people, one of whom was Gerald. He didn''t know why, but all of a sudden, he felt extremely aggressive and impulsive.


    ''I should just take a step back and leave Gerald to take care of the rest.'' he thought as a deep frown formed on his face, "Tch, wasted three days worth of mental energy by killing these three dogs. I should have just done this first before giving them their awakened abilities."


    The being of light disappeared after a few seconds and Gerald finally relaxed slightly.


    "... I''ll just wait for your decisions so take your time." he said and sat down right where he was.

 Chapter 234 Hannah

    Compared to how he trained people for the second prince, his approach of his could be said to be very soft.Almost five minutes later, one of them knelt on the ground as he wiped his tears, "I''ll do it. Turn me into a weapon and I''ll cut down anyone my master orders me to cut down. His name is Keith right?.... he''s the one who brought us here."


    Gerald nodded, "Right. I''ll be beside him while you two will be working in the shadows. Let''s start again, my name is Gerald and I''ll be taking charge of your training from now on. You two won''t need names so from today onwards, your names will be Alpha and Beta."


    The two of them looked at Gerald and nodded silently.


    "I''ll... be Alpha then." one of them said and the other one nodded, "I''ll call myself Beta from now."


    Gerald smiled and an ethereal hand grew out from his stump.


    "First, explain how your awakened abilities work. I can create anything using this mysterious thing and I can control it however I wish to. I can make it as hard as steel or as soft as a sponge."


    Alpha nodded and raised his hand up slightly before focusing his attention. Sparks immediately shot out with his palm being source.


    "I can create lightning but.... even though I''ve been practicing hard for the past few days, it''s been really hard to master this ability." he said and Gerald raised one of his eyebrows.


    The ability was the exact same as one of the maids who worked under the second prince. Gerald had met her quite a few times and based on his observations and comparison, he could tell that the guy in front of him had a stronger version of the ability.


    ''She could only shoot out lightning for around two seconds before panting like crazy but Alpha kept it going for more than five seconds. On top of that, he seems unphased.'' he thought inwardly as he nodded.


    "It''s a good ability. I''ll teach you how to use it well, so don''t worry." Gerald said and turned to look at Beta, "What about you?"


    Beta hesitated for a second before he reached into his pockets and pulled out two small daggers.


    "I can control these however I want. I don''t really know the limits since I was only provided with two daggers until now but I have no difficulties when it comes to controlling these two."


    "I see, it''s slightly similar to my ability but instead of some mysterious thing, you control daggers?" Gerald asked. Enjoy more content from My Virtual Library Empire


    Beta shook his head in response, "No. Let me just read what the system says."


    He opened up his system screen and began to read, "Blade Psychokinesis. Ability to control and manipulate all kinds of bladed weapons."


    Gerald nodded and muttered, "Okay got it. To start off, we need to give Alpha something that is made of metal. Something similar to iron or steel will work amazing since it''ll help contain the lighting in it."


    He then looked at Alpha with a serious look on his face, "Someone I know has a similar ability and she used a cane as a medium to shock her targets. It''s almost impossible to control the trajectory of these electric sparks, so having a medium will work wonders."


    As soon as he said this, a gauntlet made of copper and steel parts appeared in front of them.


    All three of them looked up to see if the being of light has appeared once again or not, but he wasn''t anywhere to be seen.


    "I guess this is a gift for you Alpha." Gerald said as he grabbed the levitating gauntlet and tossed it towards Alpha who caught it before putting it on.


    While he was putting on his gauntlet, twenty daggers and four swords appeared in front of the three men.


    "For me right?" Beta said and instead of grabbing the weapons with his hand, he tried to use his awakened ability to control them.


    One by one, he took control of the daggers and made them fly around him until he reached his limits.


    "Just eight daggers huh?" Gerald muttered, but Beta shook his head, "No, I lost control because I wasn''t looking at the dagger behind me."


    The dagger that was fallen on the ground, flew back up. Beta controlled them in such a way that they flew around in front of him instead of circling around him.


    By using this strategy, he was able to control all twenty daggers and the four swords before hitting his limits.


    The three of them continued to test the limits of their abilities while Keith withdrew from his spatial dimension as he was getting bored.


    ''Wait, lemme send them to goat land first. This way, two weeks would have passed for them once I visit them at the same time tomorrow.'' he thought and implemented his plan.


    Once he was done, he lazed around for the first time in months. In just one hour, he got bored and let out a sigh, "This world has no fucking entertainment... other than theaters and a few books filled with poems." he complained as he stared at the ceiling.


    Not knowing what to do, he dived into his spatial dimension and spent the rest of the day with Miya before putting her to sleep. He did the same thing the next day, but he also introduced himself to Gerald''s daughter, Hannah.


    Hannah silently listened to Keith''s words and once he was done, she nodded, "I see... so you want me to teach your daughter about multiple things? Etiquette, literature, general knowledge and economics are the subjects I''m confident in."


    Keith shook his head, "No need for all that. I want you to be her friend and someone she can take guidance from. I''m asking because I don''t think I''ll have enough time to spend with her in the near future.


    Just teach her how to be a good human being and that''s more than enough. As for the rest, feel free to teach her whatever you want to. How much salary are you expecting though?"


    "Hmm... sounds like an easy job but this sounds more like you''re asking me to be her nanny instead of a teacher."


    "You can call it whatever you want to." Keith said as he shrugged and Hannah took a few seconds to think about it.


    She then nodded, "Okay, I understand. Since you''re not forcing me to teach your daughter a lot of things, I won''t ask for much. You''ll be providing me with a place to stay and you''re also going to give me food for free, so it''s embarrassing to ask for more money."


    Seeing the girl being shy, Keith chuckled and shook his head, "Pick your salary, girl. Just promise me that you''ll take care of my daughter, that''s all."


    "I''ll... be happy with five braks then." she said, hesitating slightly.


    Keith smiled as he took out his leather pouch and gave her a 1 zen note, "Here you go. I''ll be paying you once in two weeks instead of following the norms."


    Hannah nodded, "Understood. When do I meet your daughter?" she asked and Keith smirked.


    "Now." he said and immediately, both of them found themselves inside a dimly lit mud hut.


    Miya was silently playing with the soil on the ground but when she saw Keith appear, she jumped up and hugged him tight.


    Keith patted her head gently and introduced Hannah, "Miya, this big sister will be staying with you from now on. She''ll be your friend and play with you whenever I''m not here."


    Miya pulled back and looked at Hannah before bowing down slightly, "My name Is Miya Zenister and I want to become a swordsman like my papa."


    "Swordswoman, Miya." Keith corrected and patted her head as he chuckled before adding, "I think you''ll change your mind later though."


    "No, I wanna be like papa. Grandpa said that papa is strong and beats up bad guys! So I wanna beat up bad guys too!"


    Keith grinned and nodded, "Sure sure, you''ll become strong and beat up bad guys in the future."


    Miya smiled wide as she heard his words before turning to look at Hannah, "What''s your name, aunty?"


    "A... aunty?" Hannah stammered, absolutely speechless with the innocent attack the child had hit her with.


    Miya tilted her head slightly, "Hmm... mama did tell me that there are uncles who look like aunties... are you an uncle then?" Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Unable to keep his laughter in, Keith exploded, causing Miya to get even more confused while Hannah''s face turned bright red.


    "Call her big sister. She''s pretty young, you know?" Keith said as he pointed at the girl and Hannah nodded in response, "Yes. I''m too young to be called an aunty... anyways, my name is Hannah. Nice to meet you, Miya."


    Miya nodded, "Yes, nice to meet. Now shoo, I wanna play with papa."


    Hannah felt like crying as she silently nodded and walked out of the hut. Keith felt a little sorry for her, but he knew that he couldn''t force things.


    Once the girl left the hut, he turned to look at Miya and knocked her head with his knuckles, "You were very rude Miya. It''s not good to tell others to shoo when you just meet them. If someone is being kind to you, then you should also be kind to them okay?"


    Miya pouted as she looked up at Keith and nodded, "But I wanted to play with papa.... see, I made a small house for us." she said as she pointed at the small cave like structure she had made with the soil.

 Chapter 235 Meeting The Trio

    Keith spent the next few hours playing with Miya and Hannah before leaving. He floated up in the sky, invisible to all eyes as he watched his world.''Let''s finish upgrading his skills first...'' Keith thought as he got to work. He had spent most of his mental energy before sleeping, but now that he had recovered, he could spend even more.


    He spent a bit of his mental energy to upgrade the last two necromancy skills and once he was done, he sent out a system announcement.


    [System Administrator: Keith asked god to help you with your skills so here you go, new skills for you and more work for me.]


    [Bone Manipulation has been upgraded to Grade SSS]


    [Undead Summoning has been upgraded to Grade SSS]


    [Corpse Manipulation has been upgraded to Grade SSS]


    [Corpse Reconstruction has been upgraded to Grade SSS]


    [Necrotic Healing has been upgraded to Grade SSS]


    [Undead''s Intelligence has been upgraded to Grade SSS] S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    [System Administrator: You should now have a way to make yourself a physical arm.]


    Gerald looked at Alpha and Beta after he was done reading the contents on the system screen.


    "I have a few things I want to experiment with... feel free to watch if you want." he said and walked a few meters away from them before he used his second skill.


    "Undead summoning huh?" he muttered as he raised his hand slightly and with a simple thought, nine skeletons appeared out of nowhere.


    Each one of them had black bones, sharp claws and sharp teeth. No one knew how the lower grade skill would have worked, but Keith didn''t care as he watched everything happen from top.


    "You guys... jump up." Gerald said and they did as they were told. All the skeletons jumped up and landed perfectly on their feet before looking at Gerald as if waiting for their next command.


    Gerald thought for a bit and pointed at the group, "Fight against yourselves until only one of you is remaining."


    The moment his words left his mouth, the skeletons got to work as they grabbed, pushed, pulled, punched and killed each other without any restriction.


    Time quickly passed but everyone watching the fight came to one conclusion; The soldiers could recover easily, almost like they were immortal.


    "Unless..." Gerald muttered as he created an ethereal hammer that was huge and brought it down on the group, crushing them and breaking their bones. Or at least that was what he had expected.


    While the group of skeletons did have their bones pulled out of their joints, the bones themselves weren''t damaged. They attached back without wasting any time and continued fighting among themselves.


    ''Okay, I don''t think I have the ability to test their durability anymore but let''s see....'' he thought and gave out his next orders.


    "Stop fighting and make me some fish soup."


    The skeletons stopped fighting, but they didn''t move an inch after that.


    Gerald glanced at the pond nearby, the place where new fishes appeared mysteriously everyday.


    Seeing that the skeletons didn''t move, he changed his command.


    "Go to that lake and catch a fish for me." he said and the skeletons ran this time.


    They bravely jumped into the lake and drowned to the bottom, finding themselves unable to come back up no matter what they did since the mini lake was way too deep.


    Gerald saw this and nodded to himself, "So they can''t swim huh? Alright..." he said and de-summoned them using a simple mental command.


    He summoned them once again and this time, he caught a fish on his own before placing it on the ground in front of his skeletons.


    "Make me some fish soup." he said and the skeletons didn''t move. Explore stories on My Virtual Library Empire


    "Alright, not just simple commands but it''s more like these things can only do simple tasks." he muttered and nodded to himself before using bone manipulation on one of the skeletons.


    At first, he found it slightly hard but in just a few minutes, he got he hang of it and was able to control the skeleton the way he could control his own body.


    "Feels great... but now it''s time to control all." he muttered and took control of all the nine skeletons.


    Like before, he felt like this was hard but he wasn''t able to get used to it quickly.


    ''A little more practice and I should be able to do it...'' he thought as he moved to test his next skill, only to find out that all his other skills needed a corpse.


    He grabbed the fish with his ethereal hand and used another ethereal hand to cut his own skin. Necrotic healing was instantly used and Gerald saw the cut close itself up and heal right in front of his eyes. It only took around five seconds.


    "Wow...." he muttered and turned to look at his stump, "Will it help with this too? Now''s not the time, but I''ll test it out later."


    Keith withdrew from his spatial dimension and rushed outside. He left the inn and went straight to the butchers.


    "I''d like to buy an entire carcass." he said as he walked in, but the guy wearing an apron shook his head, "That won''t be possible. If you want an entire body, then you''ll have to go to the people who sell us their animals."


    Keith let out a sigh and walked back to his inn before diving into his spatial dimension once again.


    ''I can''t go around revealing my face to the viscount, so I guess it''s time to put these guys to use.'' he thought as he appeared in front of the trio physically.


    The three of them were shocked at first, but they relaxed once they saw that Keith was smiling.


    "Hi, I''m Keith. Nice to meet you guys." he said amicably and Gerald nodded in response, "Nice to meet you too."


    Keith turned to look at Alpha and Beta next before speaking, "You two should be the assassins in training right?"

 Chapter 236 Skill Experimentation

    "Yes... I''m Beta and this is Alpha. We swore to live the rest of our lives for your sake." Beta said and Keith nodded with a smile on his face, "I see, at least you guys won''t harm the innocent anymore." sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality."Anyways, what are you guys doing right now?" he asked as he looked at Gerald.


    "Just testing out this new system thing of mine, that''s all. I''ll need some corpses to test more but I don''t think I''m allowed to harm these goats here..."


    Keith nodded, "Yeah, don''t touch them."


    This time, his tone was different and sounded more like a command instead of a request.


    Gerald instinctively nodded in response, but Keith hummed before speaking, "Hmm... you just need corpses right?" he asked and the guy nodded.


    Keith turned to look at Beta, "Time for your first mission. I''ll send you somewhere and all you have to do is place your hand on the animals near you. I''ll make sure to bring you back here if things get dangerous."


    "As you command, master."


    ''Master huh...'' Keith thought. He didn''t like it but he also didn''t complain about it.


    Keith then snapped his fingers and Beta disappeared. He then glanced at Alpha and said, "I think it''ll be better for you to join him too. Just shock the humans that see you guys and make sure to not kill them."


    "Okay." Alpha said and instantly found himself in front of a middle aged scrawny man who looked horrified.


    From the corner of his eyes, he saw Beta running as he slapped the cows, calves, bulls, steers and oxen.


    Alpha immediately placed his hand on the middle aged man''s shoulder and sent a small jolt of electricity. The man lost focus and fell to the ground as his muscles spasmed violently before relaxing.


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    The soil near his groin turned wet, but Alpha didn''t pay him any more attention and kept an eye on his surroundings.


    There were barely any humans here and other than the guy who was now on the ground, Alpha saw no one.


    The job was done quickly and after just ten minutes, there were eight people who were passed out. The two of them had managed to get their hands on pigs, boars, sheep and even goats apart from the cows.


    Once they were done, they found themselves back in front of Gerald and Keith.


    Keith then snapped his fingers and two steers appeared in front of the group. Steers were just castrated bulls that were raised solely for the purpose of meat.


    "Feel free to use these for testing." he said to Gerald before he turned to look at Alpha, "Kill them both. Nah, wait..."


    Keith placed his hand on both the steers and decreased their sensitivity to pain and touch to an extent that they''d feel absolutely nothing.


    He then turned to look at Gerald, "Tell me about your skills. All of them."


    Gerald began to tell Keith about his necromancy skills and once he was done, Keith silently nodded before pointing at the steers in front of him, "Bone Manipulation. Crush their skulls and pierce their brains with the bone pieces."


    "What? But it''s alive..."


    "The skill description doesn''t say that it can only be used on the bones of dead things now does it?" Keith asked, making Gerald realize that he was not thinking creatively.


    Hearing Keith''s words, Gerald nodded, "Okay let me try."


    He tried using mental commands, mental visualizations and even tried to use his hands like a fraud shaman to control the skull, but it just did not work.


    "Welp, looks like it only works on the bones of the dead. A pity really, but it''s always a good idea to test things out instead of assuming that it will never work." he said as he looked at Gerald and then added, "As for undead summoning... it''s called undead summoning for a reason right? It''s not called skeleton summoning."


    "What are you trying to say?" Gerald asked, frowning slightly, "Undead is basically a skeleton right? They crawl out of the ground and what not."


    Keith stared at Gerald for a few seconds but he understood why his thinking was so linear.


    ''He doesn''t have access to novels, mangas and anime so no wonder he doesn''t know about zombies, death knights and things like bone dragons. It''s fine though, I should be able to teach him but I think I''ll have to give him some sort of image reference first.


    It''s most probably dependent on his imagination, so there''s no way he''ll be able to.... wait.''


    "Hey Gerald, imagine a dead human. Those are zombies basically. Imagine those and use undead summoning." he said and Gerald nodded.


    A few seconds later, nine zombies appeared in front of the group. They looked human but had intense stench coming from them.


    "Works..." Keith muttered and Gerald nodded in response as he hid his excitement.


    "Alright Beta, kill these two steers and let''s get to work." Keith said as he looked at the guy and Beta nodded before stabbing a dagger into the eyes of the creatures in front of him.


    It was an instant death.


    "Corpse manipulation and reconstruction are the two skills that are left right?"


    Gerald looked at Keith and nodded, "Yes. Let me try it out."


    Corpse manipulation felt very similar to bone manipulation, but it was also very different.


    When it came to bone manipulation, he had to control every single bone but it was different for corpses.


    Controlling each one of the steers felt like he was controlling one bone each and on top of that, he could sense that the creatures in front of him could follow simple commands just like the skeletons a few minutes ago.


    He tested out various commands with Keith and once he was done, it was time for corpse reconstruction.


    "Merge both the steers or separate the flesh from bones. Do whatever you want and play around with the skill. It has insane potential." Keith said before taking a few steps back, "I''ll take my leave for now, so let''s meet again later."

 Chapter 237 Giving An Offer To Barbarosa

    The next day, Keith left the inn and headed back to the place where his carriages were parked at and saw that everyone else were there already."So, found anything useful?" he asked and the first one to respond was Caleb.


    He nodded his head and took out a map before placing it on the ground, "I kept an eye out for rumors and I also talked to a few people. In a way, I kinda got lucky. A guard who worked for the viscount met me at a local bar and gave me a lot of clues."


    He then pointed at one of the placed on the map, "Anyways, this place is approximately two kilometers away from their mansion and it''s a small lab where they research on poisons and venom."


    Keith nodded, "Nice, creating poisons and such is banned in our empire so I can easily use this as a way to wipe them all out..."


    "There''s more important things...." Amelia said and paused for a few seconds before continuing, "The viscount goes out for a ride once every seven days and.... visits random homes. If someone catches his fancy, he offers the family a few zen to be able to have a woman for a few days."


    She then took a deep breath and continued, "While he has an interest on just the older women, there are rumors of multiple families disappearing in the middle of the nights. And apparently, it only happened to those who rejected his offers."


    Keith nodded and looked at the others, "Anything else?"


    "We did find a few things but they''re not anything important unfortunately." Leora said and the rest of them nodded.


    "Alright, let''s fix some information first. You''re right on the part where he offers the families money to be able to sleep with the wives or mothers. We can''t do much if the families just agree to him since he isn''t really threatening them." Keith said before moving to the next part.


    He let out a soft sigh, "Haa well, as for the disappearances... it''s not the viscount but his wife. There''s a small gambling den around the outskirts of the town and that''s the place she uses to conduct her operations.


    On the outside, it''s a regular gambling den. But once you go in and find the stairs that lead underground, you''ll find a place filled with naked people. The funny part is that legally, we can''t do anything to her since she isn''t selling these slaves to others.


    Instead, she sells services. Rents them for various purposes and for different time periods so even if I take her to the royal court, she can be spared."


    Leora looked embarrassed when she saw Keith glance at her when he said that.


    Feeling the sudden urge to defend herself, she spoke up, "There''s nothing I can really do to change the rules since it''s mostly in the hands of my father. I''ve seen Mathew raise this issue multiple times but Zander and many nobles opposed this.


    And my father, like always, sided with the majority and dismissed my brother''s explanations."


    "It''s fine, I''m not really blaming you. No kingdom or empire is perfect and even if you did patch the rules, it''s the people''s choice to follow them or not. Then, various other problems pop up once it comes to actually making sure that the rules are followed." Keith said with a smile before giving the map back to Caleb.


    He turned to look at the town right in front of him and grinned, "We don''t have to follow the rules either. We''ll see blood tonight and we won''t be the ones who kill the Viscount''s wife."


    "What do you mean?" Clara asked as she looked at him and Keith smirked.


    "Public rage. Crime exposure to the common people and they''ll do the job for us. All we gotta do is to tie her up." he said and placed his hand on the carriage beside him, "Let''s rest for an hour or two before we get going."


    The others nodded as Keith climbed in and the first thing he did was to open up his system screen.


    It showed him the actions and thoughts of the third child of the viscount, the one whom Keith had an eye on since it was this person who had been doing the most diabolical shit.


    ''Gets a snake to bite his targets and while they''re tied up and are struggling with the venom, he has his way with them.... no matter how many times I see this, I can''t get used to seeing it.'' he thought as he silently stared at the screen in front of him.


    In the next few minutes, Keith had a nice quickie with Clara and once he was done, he helped her reach climax.


    The two of them talked about things that did not concern the job at hand but after two hours, Keith and Clara walked out of the carriage. Others joined the duo and left to the viscount''s mansion.


    As they walked on the streets with their neat uniforms, multiple heads turned towards them but none of them cared about the attention they were getting. In fact, Keith was glad that there were so many people turning to look at him.


    ''The more people that wanna watch, the grander the execution will be.'' he thought as he continued to walk and it didn''t take him too long to get to the viscount''s place.


    Keith turned to look at one of the three knights that came with the princess, "Make an announcement."


    It was unmistakably, an order. The knight turned to look at the princess and she nodded.


    The knight sighed inwardly, ''I''m not getting paid for this....''


    Even though he had such thoughts, he did as he was told to.


    "Viscount Barbarosa! Please walk out of the mansion and surrender! Please walk out of the mansion and surrender!"


    "Tell him that I''ll burn his house down if he doesn''t come out in under a hundred seconds." Keith said as he created a small flame at the tip of his finger.


    The knight nodded and screamed this out too and Barbarosa, who was happily eating his lunch inside, panicked immediately.


    "Damn, the second prince did make an enemy with this inquisitor but I didn''t expect him to come to me first.... just how bad is my luck?" he cursed as he kicked a vase, "Goddammit!"


    He turned to his wife and kids next and growled, "Run to the store room and hide all the money we have. All the gold, weapons... every single thing. Even the heirlooms. Quick, while I go out and keep them occupied."


    Barbarosa then rushed out of the room and paused right in front of the main door as he heard the knight say "Sixty Seven!".


    "They can''t attack me without any reason right?" he muttered as he straightened his clothes and then he took a deep breath before opening the door.


    He walked towards Keith with fake bravado and to his surprise, Keith simply smiled, "Nice to meet you Viscount Barbarosa."


    Barbarosa stared at the outstretched hand in front of him and without thinking, he shook Keith''s hand.


    "Wh- what is this about? If you wanted to meet me, you could have just knocked on the door."


    "Oh my, Viscount Barbarosa." Leora said and chucked before shaking her head, "We came here for your wife, not you."


    "But the question is, will you hand her over to us voluntarily?" Laura joined in with a smirk on her face, "Consider her dead but your future depends on how you act from now on."


    Barbarosa stared at Laura for a while before nodding, "Okay, feel free to take her. Is there anything you need?" S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Everyone except Keith was surprised at the viscount''s reply. The man never liked his wife and was forced into an arranged marriage. His lover died mysteriously a few weeks later and even though he had suspicions, there wasn''t much he could do since his wife was the daughter of a count.


    This was a chance he would never say no to and Keith expected something like this to happen since the start.


    "Great, get your people to set up a cross to which we can tie your wife to. We''ll be announcing all the crimes she committed and let the people decide what they wish to do." Keith said without wasting any time and then leaned closer before whispering.


    "I heard that you were siding with the second prince. A pity indeed..."


    Barbarosa body went stiff from the pressure he felt at this moment, but he gave Keith a restrained smile instead of saying much.


    Seeing this, Keith shrugged, "It''s fine, don''t worry too much. I won''t be forcing you to switch teams but I do hope that you keep this in mind. I will, kill the second prince with my own two hands. The one you''re supporting will be nothing but a bag of bones by the time I''m done with him."


    "You... that''s a rebellion!" the viscount whispered, but he was still pretty loud, "If the royal family finds out, they''ll come for your head!"


    "They won''t do shit. There''s one right beside me." Keith said as he pointed at the princess, making Barbarosa eat his own words instantly.


    Keith then smirked, "Well, I''ll stay here for two more days to think about it. I won''t ask you for money but instead, we need a few soldiers and it doesn''t have to be knights. We''re willing to pay you if you want."


    "Huh?"

 Chapter 238 Princess Leora Messes Up

    Keith dragged the noblewoman around the town while his team announced her crimes to everyone nearby. Invites were sent out to everyone so that they could attend the main event that would occur during the evening.Time quickly passed but it was pretty exhausting to shout for hours on end. By the time it was close to evening, Keith had managed to gather a huge crowd of angry people.


    Keith turned to look at one of the knights and the man didn''t need anything more to understand what he had to do. He nodded and grabbed the viscountess and tied her up to a cross. Your journey continues at My Virtual Library Empire


    Once this was done, Keith walked around her a few times and then addressed the crowd.


    "As you all have heard, Mrs Lia Barbarosa is the person behind the disappearances in the past decade or so." he said and then looked at Amelia, who nodded brought her fingers to her mouth.


    A loud whistle pierced everyone''s ears and the next second, there was another voice.


    "I''m cominggg!"


    Everyone turned to look in the direction at which the voice had come from and saw Nolan walking with a wide grin on his face. Behind him was a huge group of scantly clothed people.


    "This is the proof of her crimes and the people here are the few lucky ones who have managed to survive her terror. There are still hundreds of people who are currently being rented.


    Some of these people here could be your own family, and some of them could be your close friends, so I''ll leave this decision to you. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    There are stones on the ground, firewood in homes near us and a lot of other things that you can use to make her remaining few minutes a living hell!" he said and looked at Alpha and Beta who were a part of the crowd.


    The two of them grabbed stones and hurled them at the viscountess. Once one person began, the rest followed. Stones, sand and sticks were thrown at the woman until she dies from excessive bleeding.


    "Burn her off." Leora said and walked towards Keith who was currently staring at the Viscount''s family members.


    Keith noticed her from the corner of his eye and went back to doing his own thing. He hummed a little and turned to look at the viscount.


    "Oh dear Viscount Barbarosa, it appears to me that your kids will be cursed by a mysterious being in a few days." he said with a serious look on his face before adding, "I can help you with preventing this from happening as long as you give me soldiers."


    Barbarosa frowned and shook his head, "Not going to happen. If you''re done with the inspection or whatever you came here for, then please leave."


    During the past few hours, Barbarosa had realized that he couldn''t be attacked or accused when he didn''t do anything wrong. Keith wasn''t that kind of person based on what he had observed until now.


    ''Once he leaves, I''ll bring my mistress back home and live a happy life with her.'' he thought, but to his surprise, Keith suddenly smiled as he looked straight into the nobleman''s eyes.


    "You see, Barbarosa... it''s all right to have a mistress. But I wonder if it''ll be all right to find her missing."


    "You..... you wouldn''t..."


    Keith smirked in response, "Oh, I would!" he said and walked towards Barbarosa''s youngest son.


    "How old are you, kid?"


    "Thirteen..." he said as he looked up at Keith and then was surprised to see the inquisitor giving him a warm smile.


    Keith patted his head and said, "You see, if you need anything. A new start in life, away from this filthy place, then feel free to find me. I''m an inquisitor from the church of protection."


    The reason for this action was simple, the kid was untainted and had not been involved in most of the other siblings'' or parents'' shenanigans until now. As for the few that he did participate in, he did not have a good feeling towards these experiences and Keith learned about this thanks to his system.


    "I''ll give you until tomorrow morning, Barbarosa. Don''t disappoint me." Keith said as he turned to look at the viscount and then left with Leora right behind him.


    "What did you mean by a mysterious being coming here to curse those kids?" Leora asked as she tried to catch up to Keith''s fast walking pace.


    Keith slowed down and chuckled, "I was just blabbering nonsense. I was trying to threaten him but it probably looked like I was trying to scam him. That''s why I changed my approach later. Threatened to get his mistress disappeared."


    "Does that mean that you were actually going to curse his kids if he doesn''t listen to your wants?"


    Hearing this, Keith shook his head, "No, I was going to kill them. I believe that there are some things that shouldn''t exist in this world. Some of them might be kids, but the things they''ve done could be considered as some of the worst things ever."


    Leora didn''t say anything and simply nodded as she turned around to get a look at the four kids of the viscount.


    "The eldest is almost twenty eight now. Second and third are both twins at twenty two and the last one is actually the son of this mistress instead of the viscount''s wife. It''s thanks to this woman that this child was able to grow..... untainted by the filth around him."


    "How do you even find out such things?" Leora asked, absolutely perplexed by the amount of information he had compared to the rest of them.


    Keith gave her a side-eye before smirking, "I wonder why you''re asking... is it because you got your people to keep an eye on me when we came her to scout? Let me tell you one thing princess." he said and the smirk on his face vanished, only to be replaced with a glare.


    "Try that shit one more time and you will find your people lying in a pool of their own blood. You might be a princess, but at the end of the day, you''re a fragile human being just like everyone else here."

 Chapter 239 Hallucinogens, Aphrodisiacs And Bull

    The next evening, Keith watched Leora and Amelia walk towards their carriages with a group of hundred men behind them. The men had no armor or weapons, but those things didn''t really matter since Leora could just buy them in bulk.Once the group got closer, Keith snapped his finger and a masked man crawled out from under the carriage. It was Beta.


    Everyone stared at him, but Keith acted like everything was normal, "Take these guys to the third prince Mathew. He''ll be in the capital of course."


    No one said anything and even Leora didn''t question him as she watched Beta guide the group of men towards the capital.


    "This one was easy but our next target will be the Marquess who''s pretty close to this place. Will probably take us a week to get to his mansion, but I doubt we''ll be received warmly." Keith said as he leaned against the carriage.


    "That do you mean?" Nathan asked, looking pretty confused.


    Keith let out a soft sigh and began explaining, "The Marquess had spies in this town and he will most probably find out about the stuff that happened here before we reach there. I''m assuming that he''ll have his army ready to defend the town''s walls."


    "Yes, the town under him is known for it''s ability to help with defending the territory... if he really wishes to go against us, then he surely will use this to his advantage..." Leora said and Amelia nodded in response.


    "Right, and we don''t really have anything that can help us with breaking the walls. On top of that, we only have like....eight people here."


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    Keith looked at Amelia and nodded, "Seven without knights, ten if you include them." he said and then smiled, "Don''t worry about the wall. I''ll give you guys a surprise once we get there."


    He then looked at Leora and added, "Especially you, heh."


    The group then began to move. Keith spent most of his time in his spatial dimension as he kept an eye on the goats and helped Gerald with his experimentations.


    Two days before he reached the town, Keith dived into his spatial dimension and opened up his system screen.


    Viscount''s third child, the younger twin was smoking a few leaves when Keith pulled him into his spatial dimension.


    "Hello, nice to meet you." Keith said and before the guy could respond, grabbed his face and began to drag him to a small mud hut.


    Keith used his full strength and kicked him, making him hit the wall opposite to him.


    "I''ve been waiting." Keith muttered as a large bull appeared inside the hut. There was enough space for two bulls inside but since there was only one bull, there was a decent amount of space for the other two.


    "Barbos huh? I don''t even know what that name means but it doesn''t really matter. Your other brothers are also fucked in the head but you''re the worst." Keith said as he use his authority as the master of the spatial dimension to close Barbos''s mouth.


    He punched the guy''s face a few times, drawing blood before feeling slightly better, "Phew, now that I don''t feel the immense urge to dig your brains out, let''s move on to the next step."


    His voice was cheerful, but to Barbos, it felt like he was listening to a sly devil''s whispers. It felt like he was listening to an alternate version of himself.


    Keith had seen a lot of things that Barbos had done, so he simply took inspiration from what he had seen and began to act it out.


    "Now then, let''s see how poison works on your body hehe. Will your lips turn blue? Or will your body go stiff? I wonder if you''ll die, but it doesn''t matter. Until your body rots.... i''ll use it... nah. Yuck. I can''t even force myself to say this, ugh." Keith said with a disgusted look on his face. S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He then shook his head and snapped his fingers, making a thick stack of grass appear in front of the bull. The bull silently ate the grass and leaves while Keith turned his attention back to Barbos.


    "I can''t do things your way, so we''ll skip a few steps and go with the last stage okay?" he said and took out a small vial filled with blueish liquid from one of his inner pockets.


    "Do you know what this is?" he asked with his eyes wide, "Indeed..." he said slowly as he stared right into Barbos''s eyes.


    *Slap* *Slap* *Slap*


    Keith slapped him a few times before punching his already broken nose, "Come on, speak. Oh wait, I forgot... well, it doesn''t matter. I don''t like your voice so I''ll do the talking."


    "This is the same fucking drug you use on yourself. To make those innocent kids come to you when they''re intoxicated by strong aphrodisiacs, to become the target of their needs... Imagine needing an extra step even after using an aphrodisiac bruv. Talk about being pathetic." he spit before pulling out the plug of the vial.


    Barbos usually used it as a perfume and sprayed it on himself but Keith simply emptied the vial on the guy. The liquid trickled down Barbos''s face and the guy let out silent screams thanks to the chemicals in the liquid causing intense irritation on his exposed flesh.


    Keith then turned to look at the bull that had eaten all the leaves and grass that it was given. It now had slightly red eyes and Keith could tell that it''s breathing had turned quicker.


    "Aphrodisiacs mixed with hallucinogens.... can cause a man to fuck a tree thinking that it''s a woman. I wonder how this will turn out since you have a huge sign on your body now. I wouldn''t be surprised if you get split in two actually, but I don''t think I want to witness the act of you getting backshots from a bull." he said and began to walk towards the door.


    "Actually, if you do survive.... no. I hope you do survive this. I want to see you suffer even more, so keep fighting!" he cheered before closing the door and sealing it up completely, except for the few holes that allowed air to pass in and out.

 Chapter 240 Invitation For Lunch

    While Keith was busy with Barbos, a beggar rushed towards a huge gate and stopped in front of two guards."Here," he said and showed them a bronze badge.


    Seeing the badge, the guards looked at each other''s faces and immediately opened the gate without a word.


    The beggar walked in and went straight to the mansion of the Marquess. The people there recognised him and escorted him to the study room of the noble.


    "Marquess Hamstero, I''m here with an important piece of news for you." the beggar said as he walked into the study.


    Hamstero was a short man, but he had a mysterious sort of activeness within him. He nodded and looked at his servants who immediately left the room.


    He then stood up from his chair and began to walk across the room as he spoke, "Tell me." S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "An inquisitor named Keith Zenister came to the Barbarosa Estate and publicly executed the lady. There is a high chance that he might come to us next, but there is also a chance of him going to Countess Wisteria first."


    Hamstero shook his head, "No, he''ll most probably come here next if you consider the distance. Lady Wisteria has taken a neutral stance in the succession wars and this inquisitor seems to have some bad blood with the second prince.


    On top of that, he has also sided with the third prince. If he attacks the people under his opponent, then it''ll be easy for the third prince to win."


    "But sire... there''s more." the beggar said as he took out a few small scrolls from his pockets and gave them to the Marquess, "My brother has been sending me these through pigeons and apparently, the viscount gave a hundred soldiers to Keith.


    On top of that... I forgot to mention the fourth princess. She''s been traveling with Keith and it looks like she might accompany him if he does plan on coming here."


    "I see." the nobleman said as he began to read the letters one by one.


    Two minutes later, he nodded as he crumpled all the letters and tossed them into the trash bin.


    "Feel free to go back to your family and spend some time with them. Things might get a little heated in a few days..." he said and pointed at the door, "As you leave, tell the knight to come in."


    "As you wish, sire."


    The beggar left and soon after, a muscular man walked into the room, "You needed me?"


    Hamstero nodded and smiled, "How''s your wife doing? She gave birth a few months ago, right?"


    The knight''s expression turned serious immediately, "You... usually don''t ask about her... are we in some sort of emergency situation?"


    "My sister is the concubine of the second prince, so we didn''t really have much of a choice but to side with him and now it''s biting us in the back. There''s an inquisitor who is out for the blood of everyone who''s on the second prince''s side and it looks like we''re his next target."


    The knight smirked and flexed his muscled, "Heh, don''t worry. You know how strong I am, right?"


    Hamstero kicked the knight''s thigh before clicking his tongue, "Tch, it still feels like I''m kicking a rock. But even then, you won''t be able to beat that man. You weren''t allowed to attend the coming of age ceremony so you don''t know much about him, but...


    You know Max right? Max Von Cruz, the unfortunate child of the Von Cruz family?"


    "Yeah... he''s an extremely talented swordsman and he can actually kill me if he wanted... He''s so young, but so damn strong."


    "You''re just one year older than him." Hamstero commented before giving him a wry smile, "Keith absolutely humiliated him in during the event. It felt like he was playing with Max like he was some sort of toy."


    The knight stared at the Marquess, absolutely speechless due to the words he had just heard.


    He blinked a few times and shook his head, "Wait.. what?"


    "You heard right. I saw him completely suppress the grand duke''s son, like with almost no effort. In a way, it felt like I was watching Duke Arthur fight... haaaa, I really don''t want to go against him since I don''t really know the full extent of his powers."


    "Well, we can always use a revolver to get his ass, right? What''s the big deal?" the knight asked, but this time, Hamstero genuinely felt like slapping him.


    He clenched his fists a few times to calm down before nodding, "Sure, we can use revolvers but we only have four with us. We don''t know how the awakened abilities of his teammates work. He''s not the only mysterious person in the group."


    "Then what''s the plan? Are you just going to sit here and cry like a bitch?"


    Hamstero looked at the knight and clicked his tongue, "You should be glad that you''re my friend. If someone finds out that a knight called me a bitch, they''d be shocked to death."


    "Yeah yeah, stop exaggerating. Anyways, you have a plan right? You always do..." the knight asked, feeling slightly under-confident.


    The Marquess sighed, "We stand our ground and we''ll not allow them into the city. That''s the best option at this moment since we can bit our time and ask for help from our neighbors and the second prince.


    We can technically use this to scare him but I doubt it''ll work. We don''t know what his plans are, so all we can do is wait and watch."


    "Can you tell me what in the hell is going on? We can''t be that helpless right?" The knight grumbled as he punched the wall with frustration.


    Hamstero shrugged, "Like I said, I don''t know. It depends on what that inquisitor wants from us."


    He saw his friend''s expression and then sighed before sitting down on his chair, "Alright, listen. I''ll tell you everything I know."


    He then shared everything he found out from the letters and once he was done, his friend frowned, "Looks like he wants soldiers... we have a lot of them, so can''t we just give some of our men to him?


    Also, it''s a good thing that bitch died. I can''t believe she did things like that.... ugh, evil witch."


    "They''re my people, Romano... I can''t just hand them over to some random guy and expect him to treat them well. Why do you think my grandfather build this great wall? It''s so that he could protect the lives of his people better.


    I don''t think I''ll be able to forgive myself if I just give them to him.... never..."


    Romano stared at his friend and sighed, "Listen, if that inquisitor does plan on attacking, then it''s not like you have a choice. You''ll probably end up seeing more than thousand of your people dead if he''s as great as you portray him to be."


    "I.... I know..." Hamstero sighed as he pushed his hair backwards, "I just, I''m just so confused right now."


    "Sometimes, you gotta be flexible my friend." Romano said as he patted the Marquess''s shoulder, "Why don''t you talk to him first before seeing what he wants? Then it''ll be easier to make a decision. There''s no point in assuming things and beating yourself over them."


    "Right.... thanks."


    *******


    Two days later, Keith''s two carriages stopped a few meters away from the gate. The group climbed out and saw soldiers standing on the wall with their crossbows loaded.


    "Hmm, such a nice welcome." Keith said and chuckled. The rest of his team felt a slight annoyance with their current situation, but Keith silently waited as he kept an eye on his system screen.


    ''Four... three... two and... hmm? Yeah one.'' he thought and right at that moment, a rope was dropped from the wall and a guy climbed down before walking towards Keith''s group.


    Once he got close, he nervously pulled out a scroll from his pocket and began to read the contents inside.


    "Arh, Ahem." he coughed to clear his throat and began, "I''ve received news that you caused chaos in Viscount Barbarosa''s territory and due to this, I wish to not have any troubles brewing in my territory.


    It would be great if you tell us what you want and we will do our best to accommodate as long as it isn''t something excessive.


    As the Marquess who is in charge of this territory, I do not wish to get into a confrontation and I really hope that I wouldn''t have to see any blood spilled. If you need something, we can talk."


    Keith silently listened at he stared at the messenger and once he was done, he smiled at the guy.


    "Go tell your Marquess that I''m willing to talk peacefully over lunch. We didn''t come here with aggressive intentions either. The wife of Viscount Barbarosa was criminal, so we had to take action but I don''t see any serious problems with your territory." he said and the messenger nodded before running back towards the wall.


    Once he climbed back up, he let out a heavy sigh of relief before rushing towards the Marquess who was on the other side of the wall.


    "Marquess, the inquisitor..." he began and once he was done relaying the message, he saw the nobleman in front of him visibly relax.


    "Oh good lord... but we can''t take his words at face value so stay alert. Go and tell him that he''s invited to join me at my mansion but only he''s allowed. No wait... ugh, I don''t wanna piss him off." Hamstero said and sighed before continuing.


    "Just tell him that he''s invited to join me with his team..."

 Chapter 241 What Am I Lacking?

    A few hours later, Hamstero found himself sitting face to face with Keith and to his surprise, the inquisitor had decided to come alone.Multiple dishes were placed on the table, but none of them ate.


    Unable to bear the awkwardness, Hamstero spoke first, "I hope you''re having a good day."


    "Is that really what you wanted to say?" Keith asked as a slight smirk popped up on his face, "There''s some things that only me, and you, can talk about. That''s one of the reasons why I came alone."


    "I... I see..." Hamstero said and once he saw that Keith was smiling, he relaxed slightly, "... Well yes, I did want to ask you for the reason why you came here when we clearly don''t have a history like Viscount Barbarosa. My wife has been helping the citizens a lot and she I''ve never seen her-"


    "The problem isn''t your wife, nor you." Keith interrupted before stabbing a small piece of meat on the table.


    He put it into his mouth chewed slowly, "You see, let me just get to the point directly."


    "Before going to the main subject, you''ll need to learn some information that''s only supposed to be known by those extremely closed to the second prince, which you clearly don''t know about." he said and swallowed the food that was in his mouth.


    Hamstero frowned, "What do you mean?"


    "Your sister doesn''t have much importance in the royal family and nor does she hold much power in Zander''s eyes. Which means, that you hold no importance in his eyes either." Keith said as he put some more food in his mouth without any care in the world about manners.


    "I''ll let you in on a secret that most of the dukes, grand dukes and some of the members of the royal family know." he added and looked at Hamstero''s frowning face before he continued.


    "Kazak Empire will start a war against Baroma Kingdom and the winner of the succession war will be decided through their performance during this war."


    Hearing this piece of information, Hamstero stayed calm and shrugged, "And how does that effect me?"


    "As the supporter of the second prince, or should I say... as the supporter of the second prince who holds no value in his eyes," Keith paused as he kept an eye on Hamstero''s enraged expression.


    "You''ll be sent to the battlefield. In an offensive against Baroma."


    "What?!" Hamstero asked, speechless with the sudden conclusion that he did not understand. "How did you even assume something like that?"


    Keith shrugged nonchalantly, "You''re a Marquess, a man from a family that has mostly focused on defending their own territory for centuries. You didn''t make much effort in events when it comes to socializing, which led to people underestimating you and talking behind your back.


    Anyways, I don''t care if you believe me or not. Once the war begins next year, you''ll be one of the first few who would receive the orders to mobilize your army. As someone with low importance, your men will be sent out as cannon fodder.


    You mostly focus on defense, so you don''t have many war horses for your soldiers to go on an offensive. You mostly give your soldiers chain mail or leather armor while the other nobles go with plate armor and chain mail.


    Your soldiers don''t know how to use swords and are mostly adept at pouring hot oil, shooting arrows with cross bows and stuff like that. Stuff that''s mostly used in defense. Imagine how your soldiers will manage themselves in close quarters combat?


    Don''t even try to tell me that they can train. You barely have one year and on top of that, this is simply information I wanted to give you. Whether you believe me or not is not my problem."


    Hamstero heard Keith''s words and sighed. A part of him wanted to believe Keith, but a part of him didn''t since he wasn''t given any proof.


    "Is that the reason you came here?" he asked, going back to the main topic and Keith smirked once again.


    "Oh that. There''s a person in this very mansion who has been maintaining contact with Morose Kingdom and this person is someone who shares your blood. You know what that means right?"


    The Marquess frowned, ".... what do you mean? I only have three kids and I''ve taught them all to take care of the people well. I''m not going to believe you if you don''t give me proof."


    "With all due respect, an inquisitor doesn''t have to provide proof." Keith said, his expression turning serious.


    "But since you''re a good man, I will help you get the answers and then, you can decide on your own. What do you say?"


    Hamstero thought about the offer a little and nodded, "Okay..."


    "Good, but I want you to keep this in mind. I''m giving you two options alright? The first one is to leave the second prince''s side and join the third prince. This way, we''ll let you stay in your territory and focus on defending.


    Second option is that you can continue staying with the second prince, but you''ll have to give me half of your soldiers. As for how they''ll be used, their mastery over defense will be valued greatly." Keith said and cleared his plate before adding one roasted potato onto it.


    "Only if you prove that one of my kids are traitors of the empire."


    Keith nodded, "Easy stuff, summon your second son."


    Once the order was given Hamstero immediately looked at his friend, who nodded and left to bring the second son.


    Keith didn''t have to wait for long as a young, twenty year old guy walked into the room an stood there silently.


    "What next?" Hamstero asked as he glanced at Keith, but Keith simply chucked before nodding, "Just watch, but I hope that you don''t act ignorant once everything is done, because that will make me really angry."


    Seeing that the Marquess had no objections, Keith turned to look at the man''s second son, "So, I found some very interesting thing... care to explain these?"


    Before the young man could ask what he was talking about, Keith snapped his fingers and a thick stack of papers appeared on the floor between him and the young man.


    "Your name is Mikey right?" Keith asked right after he got the stack of letters to appear out of nowhere. Discover hidden stories at My Virtual Library Empire


    Mikey was too stunned to speak as he could immediately tell what these letters were about. Not because they had some sort of special design or something like that, but because of the thickness of the stack of letters.


    Especially the size of the papers, ranging between three different sizes which was specifically used by him and another guy who was from Morose Kingdom.


    "I... I... those letters are not mine." he said as he kept glancing between Keith and the stack of papers.


    Keith smirked and turned to look at Hamstero, "I never mentioned that they were letters though, heh."


    Mikey panicked and raised his voice slightly, "Whatever they are, they''re not mine!"


    "Yeah, sure. They''re not yours." Keith nodded as be took a few of them and gave them to Hamstero as he kept an eye on Mikey, intimidating the young man with just his gaze and a knowing smile.


    Keith then watched Hamstero read the letters and spoke, "They have a secret code, so you probably won''t understand everything with just a glance. Though, you should still be able to spot a few sentences that don''t fit the context properly or don''t make any sense at all."


    "Yeah, I did find a few...." the marquess said with a serious look on his face as he continued to read.


    Once he was done, Keith snapped his fingers again and another stack of papers appeared. This time, they were the ones that were written by Mikey himself.


    Keith grabbed a few sheets and handed them over to Hamstero, "Recognize the handwriting? What about the way of writing? I''m pretty sure that your son wrote to you a lot when he was at the prestigious royal academy for scholars."


    The marquess silently read the letters one by one. His hands shook slightly when he started and recognized the familiar handwriting but the more and more he dead, the more he felt like his life itself was getting sucked out of his body.


    Five minutes later, he placed the papers on the table and leaned back on his chair, "Roberto, come and read these... I don''t think I can read anymore."


    The man''s eyes were slightly red. Whether it was from anger or sadness, that was for the others to guess.


    Roberto didn''t look at his son and simply stared at the food in front of him as he spoke, "What did I do wrong, Mikey? I gave you everything I could ever since you were a child... every single thing you asked for, was given to you. Just why would you want to poison me, your mom and your brothers? Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    All of us treated you so well and yet... I, I just don''t understand..."


    Keith silently sat on his chair and didn''t say a word to interfere. This was something that was between a father and his son, but he knew that if he had to interfere, then he totally would.


    Mikey didn''t say anything for a few seconds but then, it looked like he had decided to let everything go as he grit his teeth and glared at his father angrily.


    "Why you ask? It''s because you picked that idiot for an older brother as your successor! What am I lacking, father?"

 Chapter 242 Spill The Beans, Spill The Blood

    "Why you ask? It''s because you picked that idiot for an older brother as your successor! What am I lacking, father? I''m smarter than him, stronger than him, I''m better with socializing... heck, I''m the best among the three of us and yet! And yet, you picked that dumb bastard instead of me!You were the one who betrayed me first, father. You were the one who cast me aside, so I decided to join those who would support me."


    Hamstero stared at his son with a pained expression on his face as he stammered, "I- I see, go back. I don''t want to see your face anymore."


    "Nuh uh." Keith interrupted right as Mikey took one single step back, "Wait bitch, you''re done talking to your dad but I''m not done here."


    Mikey grit his teeth and even though he wanted to scream at Keith, he didn''t. He was one among the people who were present in the event and he had seen Keith''s abilities. If there was one thing he wanted the least to happen right now, then that would be to see Keith pissed off.


    "What is it that you want, sir Keith?" Mikey asked, but even though he didn''t want to aggressive, he couldn''t help but glare at the guy in front of him.


    "Just wanted to praise you, that''s all. It was a smart choice, to give information to the people of neighboring kingdom I mean. If things go well, you''ll be able to flee to Morose and life a good life there."


    Mikey was surprised with the sudden turn of events and gave Keith a confused look as he nodded, "Yes... that felt like the most logical thing to do. I don''t have any intention of living my life under my brother."


    Keith nodded and turned to look at Hamstero, "Not everything goes the way we want things to go. I don''t know about your reasons to pick the eldest son as your successor, but it''s foolish to expect your other kids to be happy with it.


    Your family problems aside, you do know how big of a crime it is to betray the empire right? Mikey will get executed publicly in the capital for this offense... as long as I spread the word."


    Hamstero understood what Keith meant and even though he wasn''t happy with his second child right now, he couldn''t stop himself from doing what he could to protect his son''s future.


    "What do you want... I don''t think I can take your side completely. Not when I already promised to support the second prince." the marquess said before he let out a soft sigh.


    Keith grinned and pointed at Mikey, "I''ll become a duke once the war ends and I''ll be able to appoint your son as one of the Marquess under me. So, I''ll be taking him and this option is way better than him licking the shoes of our enemies. sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    On top of that, you still have the second offer left. Give me half of your soldiers and with our current scenario, you can always make a reason they they followed your son and came over to my side.


    What do you think?"


    The marquess took a deep breath while Keith turned to look at Mikey, "You''re fine with that right? Support the third prince and fourth princess and in return, you''ll be able to become a Marquess under me."


    "You''re going to forgive me just like that? I mean... I literally tried to betray the empire you know?"


    "Tried. Didn''t do it yet, did you?" Keith asked.


    Mikey nodded, "Yeah, they''ve been asking for sensitive information and I''ve been telling them that I won''t give them anything unless I get something in return."


    "Yeah, and yesterday they sent out a letter stating that they''ll give you four kilos of gold but I killed the messenger and kept this letter with me." Keith grinned as he said this and took out an envelope from his inner pockets before giving it to Mikey.


    The young man took it, but instead of opening the envelope, he looked at Keith, "What''s the point of reading this when I''m joining your side?"


    "You give them the information obviously and take the gold." Keith said as he poured himself some tea.


    "What?"


    Both father and son were absolutely bewildered with the command that Keith had just given. Wasn''t he just preaching about betraying the empire? And now, he was telling them to share important information?


    They just couldn''t understand the logic.


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    "Write a letter stating that the grand duke Marcello Von Cruz is having problems with food shortage and is mostly reliant on neighboring territories. They have good iron ores, a wide river where they can fish in, but they have a huge shortage of grains.


    This is very important information but it''s fine to share since Marcello is on the second Prince''s side. The worst case scenario would be that the Morose Kingdom getting into an open war with the Grand duke, but as far as I can tell, he should be able to hold his own ground for at least one year."


    Hamstero nervously looked at his servants and knights who were silently standing near the walls of the room. They had mixed expressions on their faces but before he could say something, Keith spoke.


    "You don''t have to worry. If any of them even try to speak about this outside, they''ll find their entire families murdered. And I''ll make sure that they''ll be dead too. All I need is one person spilling the beans and everyone connected to them will be killed mercilessly." Keith said.


    He then looked at the knights and servants before giving them all a warm smile, but to them, it looked like a devil himself was smiling at them.


    "You don''t have to worry about them. I''m sure that they''ll keep everything a secret."


    Keith turned to look at the marquess with one eyebrow raised, "I''ll be the one to decide that, Marquess Roberto. Not you."

 Chapter 243 A Great Deal

    [A/N: I feel like the story has been progressing slowly so I''ve decided to speed things up a little.]Two hours later, Keith walked out of the mansion with Mikey right behind him.


    "The soldiers will be sent to the capital directly, but I''ve decided to change my plans. Going to different territories one by one is going to consume a lot of time, so from now on, you''ll act as my proxy." Ketih said.


    Mikey took long strides to catch up with Keith, "But why? I don'' think I''ll be able to do things as effectively as you do."


    "One of the main reason is to make sure that people find out about you changing sides. This way, your father won''t face as much pressure from the second prince. As for the other reasons... you don''t need to know but I''ll tell you one thing.


    Just make sure that you threaten the nobles if they refuse. I''ll make sure that you''ll be unharmed but you should be careful with what you eat when you''re in these places. I can save you from physical harm but even I''ll be helpless if you get poisoned.


    All you have to do is, go to the people I tell you to and ask them to either join the third prince, or to give us soldiers. I''ll give you another list and these people are the ones that have taken a neutral stance.


    Don''t threaten these guys, but feel free to do anything else you can to bring them onto our side. That is all I need. I''ll ask the fourth princess to join you too."


    Mikey listened intently and then nodded, "I''ll put in all my efforts on this mission. As for the..." he said and began to whisper, "Morose kingdom, why do you want me to ask for twenty kilos of gold?"


    "That''s the value of the information you''re going to provide them. The twenty kilos is just the advance payment. Tell them to give you thirty kilos more once they receive the information."


    "What if they don''t?"


    Keith shrugged, "I have my ways."


    Mikey wanted to ask what those ways were, but decided not to. The two of them met up with the main group outside and immediately began to move.


    A few kilometers later, the group split up in two. Find your next read on My Virtual Library Empire


    The first group was made up of the Fourth Princess, her knights, Caleb, Nathan, Laura and lastly, Mikey.


    The second group was smaller, with just Keith, Clara and Amelia. sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Keith had his own reasons for such a team. One of it was that he simply wanted to spend more time with his girls and the second reason was connected to the first. Carnal pleasures so he could recover his mental energy daily.


    "What''s our next destination?" Amelia asked as she lied down and rested her head on Keith''s lap.


    Clara sat on the opposite side and even though there was more than enough space to lie down, she preferred to sit.


    "Hmm... I still haven''t decided if I''m being honest." Keith muttered as he began to think about it.


    "It will probably get harder from here on right?" Clara asked before adding, "I mean, the first two were pretty easy but since you gave the responsibility of talking to Nobles of the rank Marquess and below to the other team, we''re supposed to tackle the dukes right?"


    Keith nodded, "Yeah, and I doubt that they''ll welcome us with open arms. On top of that, other than taxes, I don''t think I have any other way to pressure them. They probably should have bribed the emperor by now."


    "Does that mean that you don''t have a plan?" Amelia asked as she stared at him.


    Keith shook his head, "Nah, I do... but not conventional means. The best we can do is to make some money by playing dirty games and this will most probably take up a few months of our time.


    I''d say that we''ll need around three to four months to get one dukedom to give in to my tricks."


    "You have plans then... what kind of tricks do you have though?"


    "The easiest way is to contaminate the water they use to drink... but I don''t really want to see the common people suffer as a side effect. We could just infiltrate and cause problems to their businesses, or we could.... assassinate some key figures to give birth to fear.


    There''s no way that someone who lives a comfortable life, will just accept death as a result. There''s a high chance of them coming to us directly to ask for what they can give us in exchange of sparing their lives."


    Clara tilted her head slightly as a frown appeared on her face, "But, they could also just report this to the emperor and that will cause problems for us, right?"


    "They can''t do shit if they don''t have proof. Especially considering the fact that I''m an inquisitor. They''ll need solid proof to even summon me and all they''ll have in their hands is speculations and guesses.


    Even though they''ll know that it''s me who''s doing everything, they''ll have no way to prove it.


    I do hope I can think of a different method though... What we need the most right now, is basically just man power. We need soldiers more than anything so that should be our first priority." he said and the two girls nodded in response.


    Amelia thought about it a little and spoke, "You''re doing so much but you''re not really getting much in return... I mean, with your current capabilities, you could just stay neutral and still be able to get a nobility title after war."


    Keith shook his head once he heard her words, "Not really. Firstly, while I might be able to get a nobility title, I wouldn''t have any say in the territory I''d be given. On top of that, the best I''d be able to reach is probably a Marquess but I want a Dukedom to proceed with my future plans.


    As for rewards... The fourth princess promised me five chrons for each soldier I bring her and I think that this is a great deal."

 Chapter 244 Personalised Deck of Cards

    It took Keith six whole weeks to reach the closest dukedom even after using a combination of land and water travel. During this time, he changed his plans a little regarding the goats.He originally only had around twenty adult goats and fifteen kids, which was a low base number in his eyes.


    Due to this, he decided to simply buy regular goats in bulk since the main goal was to secure enough food for the wolves.


    Mutating hunting monsters was way more practical compared to mutating grass eating herbivores.


    Now, after an entire month of traveling, Keith had managed to buy enough goats to reach the four digits. On top of that, he also bought rabbits in bulk since they reproduced a lot quicker.


    As the carriage got close to the dukedom, Keith dived into his spatial dimension to take a look at his herbivore plot.


    ''Hey system, tell me how many goats and rabbits I have. Also include the number of males and females.''


    [Affirmative.]


    [Goats]


    Males: 413


    Females: 651


    Total: 1064


    [Rabbits]


    Males: 1431


    Females: 1198


    Total: 2629


    "Alright...." Keith muttered and teleported some of the male rabbits into the wolf land and watched the wolves chase their food.


    The rabbits were fast, but they weren''t fast enough to escape their fate.


    "That''s that." he said as he shifted his attention to the plot that now looked crowded thanks to the excessive number of animals.


    He had been actively trying to not take taxes since it helped him recover divine energy faster, but at this moment, he could tell that he had to do something about the space really fast.


    With a soft sigh, he took taxes from all three people who were currently using his systems. S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    [Copied Skill: Muscle Strengthening]


    [Copied Skill: Awakened Ability Boost]


    [Copied Awakened Ability: Ethereal Psychokinesis]


    ''Show status screen.''


    Name: Keith Zenister


    Physique: Grade S


    Genetic Physique Type: Endurance


    Mental Energy: 1185 (1184.96)


    Awakening Status: Awakened


    Awakened Abilities:


    Spatial Dimension (Unique): User has access to a 1km x 1km land that is cut off from the real world and as control over almost everything in this spatial dimension.


    Danger Sense: User''s body reacts to danger, working like a seventh sense.


    Libido and Sensitivity control: Absolute control over libido and sensitivity. Condition to activate is physical contact.


    Fire Creation and Manipulation: Creation and Manipulation of any kind of flame.


    Supernatural Regeneration: Boosts the regenerative ability to an unbelievable extent. Does not rely on nutrition as a fuel and instead uses Mental Energy.


    Ammo Summoning: Summon 9mm ammo and recover 50% of your mental energy through sex. Mental energy recovery can only be done once a day.


    Ethereal Psychokinesis(New): Create objects and control them mentally.


    Special Skills:


    Awakened Ability Boost:


    Use it to boost your awakened ability. Can be used once to give permanent boost for free and multiple times for temporary boost at the cost of mental energy.


    Regeneration: Grade SSS


    Improves stamina recovery and boosts the rate of regeneration of wounds.


    Battle Instinct: Grade SSS


    The more you fight, the more you learn from the fight. This knowledge will be permanent and cannot be erased under normal circumstances.


    [Unarmed Combat Arts]


    Fists of Steel -> Red Hot Fists


    Fists of Steel: Grade SSS


    Increases the hardness of your arms from the fingers to the elbows, directly improving their defense and offense.


    Red Hot Fists: Grade SSS


    Increases the internal heat of your arms, making them resistant to flames and heat.


    [Body Cultivation]


    Skin Hardening: Grade SSS


    Description: Builds the foundation by fortifying the body''s outermost layer, increasing resistance to physical harm.


    Muscle Strengthening: Grade C


    Description: Muscles thicken and become denser without increasing mass excessively. It enhances flexibility, endurance, strength, agility, and resilience, allowing the user to exert superhuman force.


    "Alright... let''s test some things first..." Keith thought and immediately used the Awakened ability boost skill. It was almost instinctual and right in front of his eyes, all the plots that had been split up in the past, merged together.


    All the living things looked like they were experiencing a time pause while Keith witnessed a miracle.


    The plot of land that had an area of one cubic kilometer, began to expand. He didn''t know how much time had passed, but when the time flow returned back to normal, he hurriedly made the segregation once again.


    "Wow... just one boost and it increased by this much?" he asked himself before addressing his system, "Hey system, tell me the area my spatial dimension right now."


    [The current area is 400 million meter square, or 400 kilometer square.]


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    "That''s a lot..." Keith muttered before asking the other question that was in his mind.


    "What about this temporary awakened ability boost? How much will that increase and how much mental energy will it consume?"


    [Insufficient Data. User is suggested to use it a few times to gather data.]


    Keith nodded and spent his mental energy. First, he used exactly 10%, then he went with 25% and lastly, he hit the 50% mark before asking the system for information.


    [Calculating based on new data.]


    [The awakened ability passively consumes mental energy proportionate to the amount of mental energy spent. Every 10 points of mental energy spent gives you 1 km square worth of extra land.]


    Keith read the response and thought about it a little before speaking, "What did you mean when you said that the ability will passively consume energy proportionate to the amount of mental energy spent?"


    [Generating Example.]


    [In simple words if you use less mental energy, your mental energy''s recovery is not impacted much. But if you use more mental energy, then your recovery will be significantly impacted.]


    [Case 1: You use 100 points to create 10kmx10km area of land.]


    [Case 2: You use 1000 points to create 100kmx100km area of land.]


    [In case 1, you''ll only have access to 1085 points of mental energy (1185-100) which means that 100 mental energy points will be locked up. In case 2, you''ll only have access to 185 mental energy points (1185-1000).


    In a sense, this could be considered as a semi-permanent state. Now, coming to the recovery.


    In case one, you''ll have 1085 points of mental energy and based on your regeneration capabilities, you can regenerate 10% mental energy every hour. This means that you will regenerate 1085 points of mental energy in 10 hours instead of 1185 points.


    Similarly in case two, you''ll only be able to regenerate 185 points of mental energy in 10 hours. Indirectly, it will effect your recovery rate.]


    Keith stared at the screen for a few seconds as he processed the information and then nodded, "Okay so... the more mental energy I invest in increasing the area, the slower my regeneration will become and it''s the same with my capacity since it gets locked. Right?"


    [Yes.]


    Keith still had a few questions but he didn''t feel like getting answers right now since his head was currently feeling prickly inside since he had used up 90% of his mental energy for accumulating data.


    ''Anyways, time to test other stuff...'' he thought and used Awakened ability boost on Danger Sense, only to see that there was no response.


    "Hmm... the single use was based on the user and not on the awakened ability huh... well, I was hoping that it would work but I guess there''s nothing I can do about it right now..."


    [Nah you idiot! (¥Î?Òæ?)¥Îáê©ß©¥©ß


    I just wake up from my sleep and see you making idiotic assumptions. Tch. It works on multiple awakened abilities but since most of your abilities are artificial, aka, connected to your system, it won''t work.


    If you underwent a second awakening in the future and you got an ability that''s completely different from your current one, then you''ll be able to boost that one too.


    Anyways, fuck you. I''m going back to sleep. I used way too much of my divine energy to make this shitty server for you and now I can''t get my daily entertainment.]


    "Emma?" Keith asked, surprised by the sudden change of tone he could sense from the words on the system screen.


    Unfortunately for him, there was no response.


    He let out a soft sigh and re-read the entire message before nodding to himself, "I see... so my spatial dimension is kinda biological while the others are like extra attachments. Pretty cool... but it feels like this overpowered ability got nerfed.


    My disappointment knows no bounds...." he muttered as he looked up at the sky, as if looking at an invisible being who was keeping at eye on the entire universe.


    Keith then withdrew from his spatial dimension and got the carriage to stop since he wanted to rest and get back to his optimal state before he started his plans.


    "Is something wrong? You wanted to hit them as soon as possible right?" Clara asked and Keith nodded.


    "Yeah, hmm... I don''t really feel great right now, but maybe I should stick with it. Yeah, let''s just do it."


    He then took out a stack of playing cards that he had purchased along the way and began to pick out a few of them.


    One king, three queens, two jacks and lastly, cards going from 8 to Ace. He didn''t care about the spades, hearts, clubs or diamonds and simply focused on the card values.


    He took this specific group of 14 cards and tied them up neatly before giving it to Amelia, "Give this to the guards and tell them to deliver it to the Duke."


    "Why do you want to do this though?" Amelia asked, looking confused.


    Keith smirked as he pointed at the card that was at the top of the stack, "Well..."

 Chapter 245 I Hope You Get Pregnant!!

    A tall man walked along the streets and stopped in front of a huge wooden gate. He glanced at the nameplate on the wall beside the gate."Duke Silas Jude Waverly, Waverly Mansion huh? I didn''t expect a direct letter from the duke but if he asked for my services personally, then I guess it''s something serious." he muttered and a petite blonde girl smirked beside him.


    "Hey Detective, will you allow me to actually help you this time instead of just making me do the chores?" she asked and the man looked at her.


    He shook his head, "Nah, I don''t need the help of some kid."


    "I''m twenty!!" she complained, but the detective ignored her and looked at the two guards that were standing on either side of the gate.


    He took out a small letter and showed it to them, "I was invited here by the Duke."


    Both the guards nodded and opened the gate for the detective, who quickly walked in with his assistant right behind him. sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The two of them headed inside and were escorted to the Duke''s study room where they saw him sitting with one of his wives, looking absolutely distressed.


    "Duke, I''ve come here due to your summons." the Detective said as he stood near the door.


    Duke Waverly looked up at the guy and nodded, "You''re finally here, Detective Asher." he said and took out a few cards from his inner pocket before placing them in front of the study table.


    "Take a look at these and tell me what they mean... I got this delivered to me three weeks ago and since then, once in every four to five days, my kids have been disappearing out of nowhere." he said before taking a deep breath.


    He then pulled one of the drawers and took out four cards before giving them to Asher, which was taken by the blonde assistant instead.


    "These four cards... each one of them were left at the place were my kids originally were. I have my doubts about someone being the main culprit but I have no proof."


    Asher glanced at the new set of four cards and raised his eyebrow, "Hmm... The four of spades, three of spades, six of hearts and ace of diamonds huh? Can you tell me more about your kids please? And also about this main culprit that you have doubts on."


    "Our kids..." the duchess muttered and began to speak, "Well, I think I already know the connection between our kids and those cards. When the youngest disappeared, there was an ace of diamonds left for us.


    Our youngest daughter, who is our youngest child, represents the three of spades and that''s basically the pattern here. As for the one we have our doubts on, it''s an inquisitor from protection church who is called Keith Zenister."


    "Yes, and it''s most probably related to the succession wars that began recently. We openly supported the second prince but this Keith is on the third prince''s side and we have information that he''s camping a few kilometers away from our estate." the duke said before continuing.


    "He visited one of the viscounts and a Marquess and based on the information received, he managed to get a total of 1600 soldiers and also got the Marquess''s second son to break ties with his family just to take the third prince''s side.


    Things really aren''t looking good for us. We originally expected him to attack us openly since we had plans to accuse him of targeting us, but since he isn''t doing that, we really have our hands tied.


    I don''t care about the second prince anymore... as long as I can get my kids back, I''ll do everything that inquisitor says but he''s not even replying to the letter''s I''ve sent to him."


    The detective looked a the cards for a few seconds before giving them back to the duke, "These are normal cards and I don''t think they''re cursed or have anything suspicious going on with them. You''ve told me what happened but what do you need me to do?"


    "Bring me concrete proof that Keith is the one who''s responsible for my children''s disappearance. That''s the reason I called you here."


    The blonde girl chuckled, "You say that you want to give in to this inquisitor but here you are, trying your best to go against him. Hey detective, I already told you that I don''t like working for nobles so why did you even bring me here?" she asked as she pouted.


    Asher glanced at her and shook his head, "I never told you to come with me. You simply follow me like you''re my shadow." he said and turned to look at the Duke, "Don''t mind this kid. As for the proof, I''ll need to confirm if he''s really the one behind the disappearances first.


    Once I make sure that it''s really him, that''s when I''ll start moving to collect proofs. If he''s not the culprit, then I''ll tell you and collect my payment. I have no interest in falsifying evidences against people."


    The duke nodded and took out three golden yellow notes from his pocket before extending his hand forward, "Here''s the advance. I hope that you''ll stay impartial."


    "You should know about my reputation already, right?" Ashen said as he smiled and took a step backwards before turning around, "I''ll see you tomorrow or maybe the day after tomorrow."


    Once the detective left, the Duke let out a sigh and leaned back against his chair.


    "When was the last time one of our kids disappeared?" he asked as he looked at his wife.


    "Five days days ago... today is the sixth day. After our youngest was taken, the gaps between the kidnappings were five days each but I''m getting really worried since nothing happened yesterday.


    Even though we sent most of our knights to keep an eye on our remaining kids, I''m feeling very anxious..." the duchess said as she placed her hand on her husband''s shoulders and squeezed.


    Just as she said this, the couple heard a knock on their door; one that sounded extremely urgent since the knocks were fast paced and sounded aggressive.


    Duke Waverly immediately opened the door, only to see one of his concubines standing in front of him with tears in her eyes and a card in her hand.


    "....." he said nothing and stared at the card that showed the queen of diamonds.


    "I... I was there with her but two people with masks just appeared out of nowhere!" she wailed, her voice extremely loud as she fell into the Duke''s embrace.


    She sobbed for a few seconds before she continued, "One of them grabbed my arm and I was unable to move. It hurt so much... and I couldn''t do anything as they grabbed her and disappeared.


    It felt like I was looking at mysterious ghosts...."


    The duke took a long breath as he saw the detective walk towards him with a curious look in his eyes.


    "My other concubine was taken away just a few minutes ago. I focused too much on my kids and this happened... my beloved is gone..." he said as he gave Asher a pained expression.


    The detective nodded and looked at the woman who was hugging the duke, "Miss, could you please guide me to the room where everything happened? I just overheard the stuff you said a few seconds ago."


    The woman sniffed and nodded before heading to the room, which looked untouched other than the bed sheets being slightly crumpled.


    "Hmm.... no signs of struggle." Asher muttered and turned to look at the Duke who was standing by the door, "Give me one day."


    Without saying anything extra, he left the room and walked out of the mansion.


    "So, what''s the plan? Are you really going to meet him?" the blonde asked and Asher nodded before looking at the knights who were standing near the main gate along with the guards.


    "Where''s this inquisitor at?"


    One of the knights pointed to his right, "Towards north, around the outskirts of the forest but a few meters inside. There''s a nice tent between the trees and that''s where he currently sleeps and does most of his things."


    "I suggest that you don''t go too close though." another knight added, "Those guys have these huge ass wolves keeping guard."


    Asher nodded and bowed slightly, "Thank you for the directions. I''ll take my leave now."


    His assistant on the other hand, waved her hand cutely at the knights before following behind him.


    "Hey Kid," he said as he continued to walk but the girl glared at him, "My name is not Hey Kid!"


    ".... Okay, Julie." Asher said and sighed before continuing, "You said that you had some sort of spying ability right? Tell me about it."


    The girl pouted before clicking her tongue, "We''ve been together for almost an entire month and you ask me about my awakened ability now? Like... heck, I told you about it two times already! I bet you didn''t even pay attention."


    Asher turned to look at her.


    "Never needed it... not until now."


    "Oh mister jack of all fucking trades, guess what? I don''t feel like helping you right now."


    Asher let out a soft sigh and shook his head, "Your brother is way more cooperative compared to you. I guess I''ll go wake him up first and take him with me since I''d probably need his help if things get serious."


    Julie stopped walking and turned around, "You both should just fuck each other. I hope you get pregnant too." she cursed before running away.


    ''There''s no way I can let that Keith know that I''m here. Let''s play again, and this time... let''s play it rough~''

 Chapter 246 We Meet Again, Ken

    Asher headed towards the given location after taking a detour and this time, he had Ken with him. Like the knight had said, there were tents that were pitched up at the outskirts of the forest, in between the trees.


    Even though they were technically inside the forest, it was very easy to spot them since there was quite a bit of distance between the trees.


    Four large wolves silently sat on the ground near the tents, but when the detective and Ken got close, the beasts immediately stood back up before growling at them.


    Amelia walked out of the tent while wearing just her pajamas and Keith followed right behind her while wearing just a shirt.


    Compared to one year ago, when he was skinny and looked like a skeleton with human skin, the view was very different.


    While not bulky, he still had some really solid muscles, looking more like an extreme endurance athlete instead of a body builder.


    "Oh, look who''s here.. a familiar face that I didn''t expect to see. At least not here." Keith said as he looked at Ken.


    Ken nodded, but Asher was taken aback by the short sentence that contained shocking information.


    ''These two know each other? What in the hell is going on?''


    "Detective Asher, I assume?" Keith asked and looked at Amelia who nodded and headed inside the tent before tossing a small stool out.


    Keith sat down and made himself comfortable before smiling at the duo.


    Asher nodded and glanced at the wolves who had gone back to sitting down before he focused his attention back on Keith, "Yes, I''m detective Asher and I came here to simply ask you a few questions."


    "An awakened ability that lets to tell if a person is lying or not... interesting." Keith said before looked straight into the detective''s eyes and then paused for a second before smiling, "Sure, ask what you wish to."


    Asher stared at Keith for a few seconds. He looked fine on the outside, but his mind was a complete mess.


    "You see detective..." Keith began, "The ones who win wars, fight and even arguments are those who use all their resources efficiently. One of these resources being information. You came here knowing almost nothing about me, but on the other hand..."


    "You know a lot about me..." Asher finished Keith''s sentence with a grim look on his face.


    Keith smirked and nodded, in reaction to which, Asher let out a heavy sigh, "Are you the one who kidnapped the Duke''s kids and concubine?"


    "I didn''t even touch those people, detective. Heck, I don''t think I ever talked to them either."


    Asher nodded and took out a small notepad before writing stuff down.


    "And are you indirectly involved in these kidnappings?" he asked as he looked over the notepad.


    Keith shrugged, "Hmm... I didn''t tell anyone to go around kidnapping people you know?"


    Asher looked at the space on top of Keith and saw a green "true" floating there. He then nodded and noted down the answer before heading to the next question.


    "The duke said that Lady Amelia gave his guards a set of cards and now these cards are being used as a sign or some kind of pattern to target the ones close to him. What do you have to say about that?"


    Keith smiled and didn''t respond this time. Instead, he took out a deck of cards from his pocket and grabbed three before giving them to Asher. Continue your journey with My Virtual Library Empire


    "What cards do you see here?" S§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Asher took the cards and spoke, "Three Jokers...."


    "Yeah, now do they have a meaning?"


    "How would I know? There''s no way I can give you a solid answer without any clues..."


    Keith nodded and then looked at Ken, "What about you? Just make a guess."


    Ken nodded and thought for a few seconds before glancing at the detective, "Does it represent me, my master and Asher?"


    "Nah." Keith shook his head and pointed at himself, "It represents me and my two partners who are currently inside the tent. You can''t just make random assumptions and pin the blame on me, you know? Not when I sent those cards while having a different idea in my mind."


    "What idea did you have in your mind then?" Asher probed and Keith shrugged, "I sent it as a code but since you''re using it to frame me, I''ll help you get to the answer on your own. Don''t expect me to spoon feed you everything."


    Asher frowned, but nodded.


    "First, the easiest card. The King. Just take a guess." Keith said and then looked at Ken, "You can join in too."


    Ken nodded and immediately said, "Duke Silas Jude Waverly?"


    Keith shook his head and shifted his attention to Asher, "Come on, think of the empire as a whole."


    "The emperor?"


    "Ding ding ding! You got it right! Now, what about the two Jacks and three Queens?"


    Keith then leaned over towards the camp fire and grabbed a kettle that had been boiling, "Come on, think about it."


    Asher and Ken began to discuss while Keith poured himself a cup of tea and took a sip.


    ''Playing around with puzzles is kinda fun...'' he thought to himself as he silently watched the two of them bicker.


    "You seem more human now, Ken. It''s pretty surprising."


    Ken stopped talking and looked at Keith, "Thank you. I was allowed to experience new things that shaped me to become who I am right now. But no matter what happens, when my master gives me a command, I will follow it even if it means to die."


    "Sure sure." Keith said and waved his hand nonchalantly before looking at Asher, "So, got an answer? You''re pretty close though, I won''t lie."


    "So the Jacks are the second and third prince while the queens are well.. the three queens of our empire?" Asher asked but Keith shook his head, "I said that the king was the easy one, not the others bruv. Come on, get more creative."


    Ken frowned as he asked, "Are the two Jacks the grand dukes?"


    "Ding ding!! You''re correct! Dang just look at that detective, your assistant is better than you at this game. Heh, loser!"


    Asher''s lips twitched with annoyance as he whacked his brain to get the queens right but even after thinking about it for five whole minutes, he was unable to arrive at an answer.


    Ken was in a similar situation but he was having his own fun while trying to come up with wild theories.


    Seeing that the two of them were unable to get to the answer that was in his mind, Keith chuckled and decided to tell them instead.


    "Alrighty, listen up." Keith said before taking out three queens and two jacks, "These two jacks are indeed the grand dukes. The two most powerful people after the Emperor but what comes in between the emperor and the grand dukes?"


    "The royal family?" Ken answered and Asher nodded in acceptance since even he had the same idea in his head.


    Keith nodded too and tossed the three queens on the ground in front of him before he grabbed a thin stick.


    "You probably couldn''t guess this because of the lack of information, detective. But I''m a little disappointed with Ken here." Keith said and then stabbed one of the queens as he turned to look at Ken.


    "Didn''t your master tell you about the three different factions that have been formed due to the succession wars?"


    Ken silently stared at Keith, deciding not to respond.


    Seeing this, Keith shrugged and shifted his attention to Asher, "You see, currently there are three different factions. Well, technically there''s just two right now but call it an intuition of mine.


    One is the first prince''s faction. The eighth prince has decided to team up with the eldest since he can use his strategic capabilities extremely well when he has a great army and a great commander.


    Second faction is the second prince''s. He currently has the most number of nobles supporting him and there are also a lot of his siblings who are on his side but most of them are not someone whom I''d categorize as exceptional.


    They simply picked his side so that they can continue living lavish lives in the future since they believe that he has the highest chance of becoming the next emperor.


    Oh yeah, the alliance between the first and the third is a secret that no one knows other than those two. And me of course. Even the third prince doesn''t know about it, not yet.


    As for the third faction, it''s of course, the third prince''s. The fourth princess has decided to ally with him and everyone knows how deep her pockets are. Unfortunately, this alliance doesn''t have much weight when it comes to manpower so I''m doing my best as his supporter."


    While Asher listened to Keith, he kept glancing on top of his head, only to see a bright green "true" floating there.


    "I see..." he muttered and then let out a sigh, "I heard that there might be a war between the three forces soon. I''m not talking about the succession wards, but the kingdoms and our empire. Is it really necessary? I''m not asking this as a detective but as a common man who''s just looking for answers..."


    Keith stared at Asher for a few seconds before even he let out a soft sigh, "I wish there weren''t any wars either... but there''s very little we can do when the literal god of war wants us to point our swords at each other.


    Baroma Kingdom is being supported by a newly ascended god..."

 Chapter 247 Apex Physique

    "Baroma Kingdom is being supported by a newly ascended god and this is actually being used as a main trigger this time. Balmond, the god of war of course, usually has this war and peace cycle that he''s been controlling for the past few millennia.


    Once every two to three decades, there has always been a major war. And unfortunately for us, we have been born at the worst possible time. Anyways, we''re straying off the path here... so let''s get back to the main topic.


    The three queens are actually the three factions here and the various numbers...." Keith said and tossed out eight more cards onto the ground.


    "Take a guess gentlemen."


    "There are eight dukes in our empire so..." Asher began but Keith quickly cut him off, "Nah not dukes. Lemme give you a clue since this is not really connected to the empire compared to the first three categories." S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Asher nodded and glanced at Ken who also looked pretty interested in this one, but Asher did not trust the guy anymore due to the fact that there had been a lot of things that had been going on behind his back.


    With most of them related to Ken and his so-called master whom he suspected, as Julie.


    ''Maybe even their names are a lie...'' he thought as he shifted his attention back on Keith.


    Keith pointed at the ring on his finger, the one he had received when he had become the member of the protection church.


    "Five of them represent the five churches that are active all over the continent, including the empire. They''re not obligated to help, or go against the empire so they''re all wild cards.


    As for the other three, they''re also wild cards but in a sense, you could say that there''s a higher chance for these three groups to go against the empire unlike the churches who mostly stay passive." he said and then stabbed the card that had the number three on it.


    "One of them is a mercenary group that has been growing rapidly for the past few months. There has been news that they robbed the church of medicine recently and let''s just say that they''re getting very famous nowadays.


    Next is an ancient cult that had been in hiding for a few centuries. I have a feeling that they''ll show themselves this time." Keith said and smirked as he glanced at Ken, who immediately grit his teeth but swiftly put on a poker face.


    This did not escape Asher''s eyes and he immediately began to make up multiple scenarios in his mind. While he wanted some peace to think about this in silence, Keith simply continued with his explanations.


    "As for the last card... another group. Or maybe you could call it a cult too." he said and frowned slightly as he gathered his thoughts, "A very new one unlike the ancient cult actually.


    It barely has any members as per my knowledge, but they could potentially turn against the empire. I have a feeling that they''ll either move based on where they can profit the most, or stay passive since they''re not big enough.


    There''s not much information on them so... it''s hard for almost everyone to learn about them."


    Keith then turned to look at Ken and gave him a curious look, "Don''t you think so? Your master should already have some information on this last group and it''ll be great if you can share some information."


    "We do not know about this cult that you''ve been talking about... but if they''re new, they shouldn''t pose much of a problem to most of the groups. Be it the empire or the kingdoms."


    Keith shrugged, "Well, I guess only time will tell." he said and send out a system seed towards Ken as he finally managed to recover enough of his mental energy to not feel a head ache since he was running extremely low a few minutes ago.


    Originally, he couldn''t use his system seeds on creatures other than humans but now, that limitation no longer existed.


    ''Show status screen of Ken.''


    Name: Ken


    Physique: Grade SSS


    Genetic Physique Type: Apex


    Awakening Status: Awakened


    Awakened Abilities:


    Hairy Zombie: Grow, manipulate and strengthen self''s hair.


    Keith silently looked at Ken''s status screen and was pretty surprised to see something new. It was not the SSS grade physique but the physique type that surprised him.


    This was because until now, he had only seen three physique types. Burst, Endurance and lastly, Strongman.


    To put it in simple terms, people with burst physique were similar to cheetahs. Extremely fast for a short amount of time and would need to rest more often.


    Ones with endurance physique were like marathon runners, being able to be under constant physical stress for longer amounts of time. Their bodies just can''t support instantaneous burst of movements.


    It worked similar to how humans leaned towards different things when it came to their genetic physique.


    The third type strongman, was basically just the group of people who could easily build muscle. They''d need less proteins and even physical strain to be able to bulk up and they''d also need less maintenance to keep their hulking physiques in shape.


    These kind of people generally just had raw power and in a way, could go as fast as the burst physiques. Unfortunately though, unlike people with burst physique who could recover just as fast as they got tired, the strongmen would need a lot more time comparatively.


    The thing that separates them from burst physiques was their raw strength that burst types did not have. Such as being able to lift heavier things or just straight up raw gripping strength.


    Apex on the other hand, was something that Keith had never seen in his entire life. Not until now.


    While he did want to ask his system about it, he had no choice but to focus on the two guests in front of him instead.


    "Anyways, I hope my answer was satisfactory. I was just trying to see if the duke could understand my message or not but it looks like some mysterious people found out about it and are using this as a way to frame me.


    Though I must say, the whole thing is pretty coincidental. Don''t you think so?" Keith asked as he looked up at Asher.


    Asher didn''t reply and simply stared at Keith for a few whole seconds.


    "I have a personal question... unrelated to the duke."


    "Feel free to ask detective. Or should I say, Asher?" Keith asked as he took another sip of his tea.


    Asher shrugged, "Anything is fine. As for the stuff I''m curious about, why did you tell me about the wars and the gods? I mean, that stuff isn''t supposed to be leaked right?


    Like, aren''t you afraid that I''ll spread this? Maybe even tell the duke and earn some money using this?"


    Read exclusive adventures at My Virtual Library Empire


    Hearing this, Keith smiled, "Nothing I can do about it can I? Don''t worry, I''m not really gonna restrict you. In fact... here." he said and took out a yellowish golden note from thin air.


    "I''m paying you to relay this message to the Duke, but while you do that... tell him to come meet me too. I''m free for discussions as long as he doesn''t have ulterior motives.


    As for your previous questions detective, I''ll answer as Keith and not as an inquisitor from the church. Yes, I do know the ones behind the attack and yes, I''m the one who''s behind it all.


    It''s just a matter of time before you find out about all of it but no matter what you do, you won''t be able to prove it. You pose no threat to me and as for the explanations I gave you about the cards and all the coincidences..." he said and smirked.


    "I just made it all up using existing information. To make it sound believable and I''m sure that you did buy the explanation I just gave you. Do you know why?"


    Asher shook his head, "I did buy it but I had this weird feeling that there was something amiss."


    "Indeed. Its good that you don''t ignore those hunches. Anyways, the reason why you bought it is because all of it is true. All the information, I mean. As for the relation to the cards, it''s just something I made up on the spot like I just said."


    "And there''s nothing we can do about it...." Ken muttered as he looked at Keith while Asher let out a sigh.


    He then rubbed his temples and sighed once again before asking, "I still don''t understand why you''re telling me this... a lot of stuff you just said is extremely important information.


    Heck, I don''t even know if I''ll be able to get back to the duke in one piece with this Ken with me. Who knows what he''s planning since he''s been exposed...


    Like, even though I don''t know much.... I could be considered as a huge target since I have so many clues."


    "Heh, you''re funny." Keith said and chuckled a little before pointing at Ken, "This guy won''t even touch you. As for the reason why I told you this and the reason why I''m paying you to deliver this message, it''s because you''re a neutral party between me and the Duke."


    He then took out an antique looking pipe and took a puff before exhaling, "Phoooo... where was I? Oh yes, you''re a detective right? Come up with an answer on your own. Just keep this in mind while you think about it.


    No one other than me, the first and the eighth prince know about the alliance between the two princes.


    This means... come on, tell me? Or do you want me to spoon feed you everything?"

 Chapter 248 Waverly Visits

    After sending the two men, Keith tossed the stool aside and lied down on the ground with his palms under his head.


    ''Hey system, tell me about this apex physique.''


    [Apex physique is an extremely rare and unnatural physique type that almost no one is naturally born with.]


    [In a purely genetic perspective, humans have a combination of all three basic types. An example would be 10% concentration of endurance genetics, 50% strongman and 80% burst. The one with the highest "concentration" is currently used to categorize someone''s body in status screen.]


    [Based on this example as a base, Apex physique could be said to have more than 90% concentration of all three types of genes. This makes them extremely versatile and physically capable.]


    [The only way of achieving this naturally is though selective breeding but considering the current human population in this continent, natural apex physique is impossible to have unless artificially produced or created.]


    ''I mean, Ken is technically just a flesh puppet so it does make sense... Can I take that physique type as a tax by the way? I mean if I ever give him a system.''


    [Affirmative. You can change your physique type but switching physiques too often might cause problems in the long run.]


    ''That''s not something I''d have to worry about, I guess? It''s not like I''m changing my physiques left and right....''


    [User, your mental state fluctuates a lot and so do your decisions. First, you went and learned about mushrooms but never really started growing them. Then you started a vodka business but look at what the farm is filled with.


    Camphor trees. Your partners will feel betrayed and on top of that you went ahead and bought mutated animals like a donkey, only to use them as fucking food for your wolves. I was expecting a nice fluffy and cute goat farm but look at that shit!


    It''s filled with goats! And rabbits fucking around everywhere! You were so cute before but you''re an evil bitch now.


    You went ahead and got yourself two girls while leaving the great goddess lonely. As your system, I suggest that you spend more tim-]


    Keith lazily tried to dig his nose but nothing came out.


    "Meh. Also Emma, stop impersonating my system...."


    [Oh fuck you! This system is mine not yours, it''s mine! Look at you having fun everyday while I have to take care of my business on my own two fingers. Do you know how frustrating it gets? Especially when I can watch every single thing you do with Clara and Amelia?]


    Keith''s expression immediately turned serious as he stared at the screen, "Hey Emma... "


    [What?]


    "Please erase everything from your memory..."


    [Puha! Hell no, hahahaha. The steamy, kinky ass shit you do with them will forever stay in my mind.(???)]


    ''.....'' sea??h th§× Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    [Anyways, leave those two and come to me. I''ll treat you well~ like a sugar baby.]


    "Stop playing..." Keith said and let out a sigh before shaking his head, "Also, can you tell me more about this whole Apex thing? Like, is it still apex physique if the burst genetics are above 90% in concentration while the other two are both above 70?"


    "You know, it''ll be easier if you just gave them grades... damn I can''t even talk to you without alerting the other dogs. I mean gods." her cute voice entered directly into his head but stopped soon after.


    This time, the words began to appear on the system screen in front of him like it always did.


    [I suggest giving them grades for every 10%. Or have a custom setup, it''s your wish. The system should be able to give you an output based on your plans. Anyways, I''ll poof now but I''ll be watching. Though, that Clark really is working hard this time... unlike in my novel where he just went around causing trouble.]


    ''It would have been cool if you gave him a second awakening in the book you know? This way I wouldn''t have to go around guessing what he''d get.''


    Keith stared at the screen in front of him but got no response this time.


    ''Oh well, alright. System set the grades like this. If someone has a concentration of 90% genes in endurance, burst or strength genes, then put that in SSS and SS grade. 5% each. As for the rest, go with 10 percent and we should be good.''


    [Affirmative. Calculating... system set up.]


    [Genetic Affliction Rating]


    SSS Grade = 100 - 95.1


    SS Grade = 95 - 90.1


    S Grade = 90 - 80.1


    A Grade = 80 - 70.1


    B Grade = 70 - 60.1


    C Grade = 60 - 50.1


    D Grade = 50 - 40.1


    E Grade = 40 - 30.1


    F Grade = 30 - 20.1


    ''Categorize the stuff lower than 20 as trash.''


    [Affirmative. Setting Trash Grade. 0-20%]


    ''Good now show me my genetic inclination. And make sure that you implement in the future for every single person when I ask you for status screen.''


    [Affirmative.]


    [Gathering data on User''s genetic type concentration.]


    [Data Gathering Complete.]


    [Keith Zenister''s Genetic Physical Composition.]


    Burst Genes: Grade B


    Endurance Genes: Grade SS


    Strongman Genes: Grade E


    ''Grade E strongman huh? Is that the reason why I''m so lean even though my physique is SS grade? Meh... While I don''t wanna look like hulk... it would still be nice to have some volume.'' Keith thought as he flexed his muscles, showing off his sleeper build.


    He thought for a bit and asked, ''Can''t I actually just take a physique type as tax? That way, it''ll be crazy good. I can just copy Ken''s body type... hey system, show me Ken''s stats.''


    [Affirmative]


    Name: Ken Discover more stories at My Virtual Library Empire


    Physique: Grade SSS


    Genetic Physique Type: Apex


    Awakening Status: Awakened


    Genetic Physique Details:


    Burst Genes: Grade SSS


    Endurance Genes: Grade SS


    Strongman Genes: Grade SS


    Awakened Abilities:


    Hairy Zombie: Grow, manipulate and strengthen self''s hair.


    ''I see... so he''s not perfect either...'' Keith thought to himself as he nodded, ''I want to copy Ken''s physique but I also don''t wanna give him a system. Is there really no other way? Oh wait, there''s no need for him to know about the system.


    I an just give him one and keep him in the dark the way I did with Adam. Heh, this is perfect. On top of that, I should be able to take a look at the one who''s been pulling the strings all this while.... I''ll probably have to wait for a while though.''


    Keith then walked back into the tent and soon after, erotic sounds leaked out of the thin fabric walls.


    *****


    The next day, Duke Silas or as more commonly addressed as Duke Waverly, walked towards Keith''s tent and stopped before he got too close to the wolves.


    "Oho, look who''s here!" Keith exclaimed as he placed the ugly wooden thing that he had been carving and got up from his stool.


    Waverly nodded and turned around to look at the knights who had come to escort him, "Leave us alone for a bit."


    While the knights distanced themselves, Keith grabbed another stool from a few meters away and dropped it close to his.


    It landed perfectly and Keith pointed at it, "Come on, take a seat."


    The wolves sat back down but did not take their eyes off of the knights while the Duke took a seat in front of Keith.


    "Inquisitor... I know we have our differences but I came to ask you for help since I feel like you''re the only one who can help me." The duke said as he was extremely careful and mindful with his words.


    ''I have to make sure that this goes according to Asher''s plan. If not, who knows if I''ll ever be able to see my kids ever again.''


    Keith, knowing everything that was going on in the duke''s mind, simply played along.


    "Oh, sure I''ll do my best to help you but I gotta say. Everything has a price." he said as a small smile formed on his face.


    Waverly kept his eyes on Keith and nodded immediately, "Of course. I''m willing to give you anything. Money, men, women, weapons... anything."


    Keith raised his eyebrow at this, but he still nodded, "Wow that''s cool. But I do have one question... why are you coming to me when you have more than ten people from the church of medicine under you?"


    "They''re good but they are specifically trained in the subject of medicine. I hired them so that my family and my people can live healthy, not to push them into a complicated scenario like this.... not when they aren''t equipped with the appropriate skill sets. Like you."


    Waverly did his best to take in every single bit of information he could, so that he could act accordingly. But unfortunately for him, his attempt at studying Keith''s body language went to waste as the latter just sat on his stool like a statue.


    Keith gave the duke a serious look, acting like he was giving it all a thought. A few seconds later, he nodded.


    "Alright, tell me what you need. I''ll do my best to assist you. As lo-"


    "As long as I pay you well." Waverly said with a smirk on his face.


    Keith shrugged and nodded but he couldn''t stop himself from smiling either.


    ''This is easy. I wanna play in hard mode... so maybe I''ll go ham on the next duke. Destroy his entire territory or something... nah, too troublesome.'' Keith thought before focusing on the topic at hand.


    "Tell me what happened and I''ll see how I can help you out."

 Chapter 249 Preparations After Eight Weeks

    A few weeks later, the duke greeted Keith as he pointed at the seat in front of him.


    "You finally found them¡­." the duke said as he looked at his kids and his concubine who were all standing behind Keith.


    Keith shook his head, "Nah, I was the one who got them abducted. Are you gonna complain now?"


    The corner of Duke Waverly''s lips twitched slightly but he still kept up a smile, "I already had my suspicions. I''m happy as long as they''re back¡­"


    "Your part of the deal, Duke. Ten Thousand soldiers in exchange for the people behind me."


    "Everything is ready." The duke said and nodded, "Please don''t force me to switch sides now. I can give you my soldiers but I do not wish to withdraw my support for the second prince."


    Keith nodded as he sat down on the sofa, "Understandable, but can you tell me why you wish to stay with the second prince?"


    "It''s simple really, he has the highest chance. The royal family has been stubborn about recruiting commoners and training them into becoming strong knights. We nobles took a different approach and recruited people from the church.


    With so many nobles on his side¡­ even if the first and eighth prince team up, I don''t think their chances will be higher than the second prince." Waverly said as he too, took a seat.


    "You guys can go back to your rooms. I''ll be having a long talk with this gentleman here." he said as he looked at his family members, all of whom nodded and left the room.


    Once they were gone, Keith placed his elbow on the sofa''s arm rest and rested his chin on it, "If you have the support of the people from the church¡­ why didn''t you ask them to help you? They could have helped you much more than Asher."


    "That¡­." Waverly began and then sighed right after, "You see, for some reason your name is very well known among the people of the church. None of them want to go against you and they said that if I plan on fighting you¡­. They''d leave my side."


    "Wow¡­. I didn''t expect that I''d have this much influence¡­ Like what in the hell did I even do?"


    The duke shrugged, "They said something about you helping them out in desperate times. I think they meant that secret training camp thing that the churches plan once every few years."


    "I see. Anyways, let''s put that shit aside and talk about important stuff." Keith said as his expression turned serious.


    "The second prince won''t win this succession and I''ll make sure that he doesn''t. I''ve said all that''s needed to be said, so I''ll take my leave. Where are the soldiers?"


    "I''ve already sent them to the capital. They should reach the third prince in a few months." Waverly said with a grin on his face before adding, "If you do mange to get the third prince to win the succession war, then I hope that you can let me continue govern this territory."


    Keith raised his eyebrow at this request before shaking his head, "That''s not how succession works though? If the third prince thinks that you''re a danger, then he''ll just get you executed or toss you into a place that''s really bad. Or probably demote you. The decision lies with the prince, not me."


    Just as Waverly was about to speak, Keith continued, "But!" he said as he raised his index finger.


    "But if you give us more soldiers, then we can promise you that. Another ten thousand."


    "¡­. You''re a bit too greedy, don''t you think?" the duke asked as he gave Keith a helpless smile.


    Keith on the other hand, shrugged, "The price of a secure future is high, my friend."


    "Haaa¡­" Waverly sighed and nodded, "Fine, I''ll send another ten thousand to the capital. Happy now? Or do you need anything else? Maybe drink my blood too¡­"


    "Hahahahaha, good joke. But I don''t really drink blood." Keith replied and stood up, "Anyways, since I''m done here, I''ll go to the next duke."


    The duke too stood up and walked with Keith until the main door.


    "By the way¡­ I suggest that you don''t bother with the next two dukes. They''re both young and they''re the type to abandon their families as long as they have a chance at getting more power. They were also the second prince''s classmates a few years ago and their friendship runs deep."


    Hearing this, Keith nodded, "Thank you for the information, but I already knew. I''m not really going to the dukes now since I have a different plan. Have a nice day, Duke Silas."


    "You too, you too." The duke said and waved good bye before closing the door.


    "He''s finally gone¡­ it doesn''t matter where my soldiers go as long as I can keep my family safe¡­" he muttered and went ahead to meet his family after a long time.


    Keith leisurely headed back to his camp and began to pack everything up.


    "We''re moving¡­ back to the capital this time. Or we could just go to Amelia''s home." he said as he looked at Clara and Amelia, both of whom were busy making some soup on the campfire.


    "We can go to my house¡­ but¡­" Amelia began but Keith shrugged.


    "Who''s gonna stop us? I''d love to see the second prince attack us. If he dares to, that is." Keith said and patted her shoulder, "Don''t worry about that sissy bitch. You got us with you, don''t you?"


    Clara nodded, "Yeah, Zander is probably pissing his pants right now. I''m just surprised that he didn''t send any back up to the duke even after receiving information that you were here."


    "You''re getting way too influenced by Keith¡­" Amelia muttered as she looked at Clara, "Where did my elegant and well mannered friend go?"


    "Huhuhu~ What can I say? It feels nice to speak my mind."


    While the two of them went on with their teasing, Keith focused on packing things up. It took him a few minutes, but once he was done, he turned to look at the soup.


    "Is that thing cooked?" he asked and Amelia shook her head, "Will probably take a few more minutes. This huge pot of soup should last us for two whole days."


    Keith nodded and sat down on the ground before leaning against the tree that was behind him.


    ''Time to do my daily check up¡­'' he thought and dived into his spatial dimension.


    "Today''s Mental Energy points please." he said and a screen popped up in front of him.


    Discover exclusive content at My Virtual Library Empire


    [Total Mental Energy: 2069 (2068.71)]


    [Locked Mental energy: 1000]


    [Usable Mental energy: 1069]


    ''Alrighty¡­ it took me almost a year to build up a thousand points of mental energy but I was able to do the same in just eight weeks¡­ that''s the power of compounding I guess.'' he thought as he shifted his attention to the goats and rabbits.


    ''"Almost fifty thousand rabbits and seven thousand goats¡­ should be good enough to start I think? Nah I guess I''ll let them breed more.''


    Keith knew that he was indecisive, especially after Emma had pointed out so he simply decided to make some rules for himself whenever he planned something new.


    And the rule for his goats and rabbits was to let them breed for six months in total. S§×arch* The nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "I guess it''s been almost four months already. Two more months and I''ll start focusing on the wolves¡­ this is gonna be exciting but it''ll probably also be tough. That aside¡­" he muttered and took at look at what Vincent was doing.


    The young man had gone back to his previous habits of splurging money on prostitutes but this time, he had also gotten addicted to alcohol.


    ''He realizes his mistakes but he still reverts back to his bad habits in a few weeks¡­ I''m getting tired of trying to fix him. In the novel, he went thorough a harsh life and wasn''t saved by a random guy who just happened to find him¡­


    I expected a lot from him but he keeps letting me down. A part of me wants to give up on him but a part of me still wants to give him another chance¡­ just how long should I keep giving him second chances though¡­''''


    Keith let out a deep sigh and switched the system screen to the one that showed Fabian instead.


    Unlike Vincent who simply wasted most of his time, Fabian was completely locked in. It was to an extent where Keith was confident that even he wouldn''t be able to become as disciplined as the ex-village chief.


    ''"Things would probably be different if I gave the Battle God System to Fabian¡­. His dedication to training is unparalleled" he muttered as he switched back to Vincent, "¡­. I''m starting to lose hope on this guy but¡­ maybe one more chance wouldn''t hurt."


    With a soft sigh, he created a new quest for Vincent.


    [Chain Quest]


    1) Head to Kazak Empire and kill Duke Hector Sambo.


    2) Complete Quest 1 to unlock.


    Quest Reward: Unknown


    Punishment: Death.


    "Now that this is done¡­." he muttered as he turned to look at the eight wolves.


    There were two males and six females. Keith picked thee female wolves for one male each and got them to breed. It took quite some time, but by the time he was done, he felt extremely tired and sleepy.


    He stretched and groaned before saying, "All steps done¡­ now it''s time to go back out and sleep like a log.. Or I could spend some time with Miya instead¡­."

 Chapter 250 Shadow VS System

    Keith brought Hannah and Miya to the outside world instead of simply spending time with his daughter inside the spatial dimension.


    "Mama!" the girl exclaimed as she ran to Clara.


    Keith turned to look at Hannah, "You want me to send you to your father?"


    "That would be great, thank you." Hannah said and gave Keith a slight bow, only to find herself right in front of her father.


    After he was done sending the girl back into his spatial dimension, Keith walked toward Miya and Clara.


    "Let''s drink some soup and then we can leave." he said and then turned to look at Amelia who was tending to the pot, "How much longer?"


    "A few more minutes, have some patience¡­"


    Keith nodded, but he suddenly felt his pinky twitch.


    ''Hm?'' he looked around, but found no one. He opened up the system screens that were connected to the duke, Ken and a few more people''s who held important positions in the duke''s territory.


    Keith silently read the contents on the screen, but did not find anything out of the like.


    ''The only thing that I''m suspicious about, is Ken¡­ he went back with Asher that day, but he never met this master of his. Even though he searched for her¡­ I wonder if she found out about my system seeds.''


    ''Hey system, you''ve been keeping a log of all system seeds right? Tell me if something unexpected happened in the past two months.''


    [Affirmative.]


    [Going through the Database.]


    Just as this message popped up, Keith''s arm began to hurt. It wasn''t just his pinky twitching anymore but something far more dangerous.


    "What in the hell is going on¡­" he muttered as he stood straight in high alert, "Clara, armor on everyone of us. Now."


    Clara wasted no time in following his command and almost instantly, all four of them had sturdy armors protecting them.


    Keith''s arm pain went back to just his pinky twitching once again and a few seconds later, his system beeped, giving him an output.


    [Error 1]


    Date: 27 May 4665


    Name: Zander Kazak


    Error: Lost connection with main server


    (Click to View)


    [Error 2]


    Date: 27 May 4665


    Name: Harith Kazak


    Error: Lost connection with main server


    (Click to View)


    [Error 3]


    Date: 2 June 4665


    Name: Martis Von Cruz


    Error: Lost connection with main server


    (Click to View)


    [Error 4]


    [Error 5]


    .


    .


    .


    ''Lost connection with the server?'' Keith asked himself as he gave the system screen a mental click.


    The contents on the screen changed and showed the second prince silently sipping some wine while he gazed out of the window from his room.


    A few seconds passed with nothing happening, but all of a sudden, the shadow under him moved. Like a coiling serpent, it covered Zander from head to toe before the entire screen turned black.


    It was the same with the others and Keith had an idea on who it could have been, a very strong guess.


    ''I wanted to use her for the war but oh well, it looks like this bitch wants to go against me now.''


    Keith let out a sigh, but after a long time, he finally felt a sense of danger. Anxiety slowly rose in his heart and he quickly realised that he was going into an internal panic mode.


    ''Where''s my smoking pipe¡­'' he thought to himself and brought it out from his spatial dimension before lighting it up with a small flame that popped out from one of his finger tips.


    He took a long drag and let out a heavy exhale, "Haaaaaa, feels way better."


    "Does it now?" a sound came from right behind him, making him jump slightly as he spun around.


    "¡­.." Keith silently looked around and then focused his attention on the three girls who were all staring at him. He couldn''t see their expressions due to the helmets covering their faces but the image of them giving him a look that said, "Is something wrong with your head?"


    "Did you guys hear anything?" he asked, but all three of them shook their heads.


    Amelia walked towards him as she took out her two revolvers, "What''s going on?"


    "¡­ I sense danger. Wait¡­" he said and turned his head to look at his shadow. ''It can''t be right? Last time it didn''t work¡­ what the fuck?''


    His shadow moved independently.


    Two holes formed at the top, imitating the eyes and a few centimeters down, a wide and creepy mouth formed.


    The fingers transformed into sharp and long claws and it was the same with the legs.


    From the corner of his eyes, Keith saw the same thing happening to Clara, Amelia and Miya''s shadows and he immediately sent them into his spatial dimension.


    ''Not on my watch¡­ I wanna jump into my dimension too, but I wanna clash against this bitch at least once. I''m not as weak as I was one year ago.'' he thought and jumped backwards when he saw his shadow claw at him.


    To his dismay, the shadow stuck to him. Just like a normal shadow would.


    "Fuck." he cursed and ran around at full speed, only to get slashed by the claws of his own shadow.


    Four deep gashes that exposed his bone were formed, but they healed almost instantly.


    "LeT''s PpLayyY MoReEe!" His shadow screeched, making Keith''s ears hurt due to the high pitched scratchy voice.


    "Fuck. You!" Keith cursed as he kicked, but to no avail since his foot just passed through the shadow.


    With another swipe of it''s claws, it gave him four more deep gashes but this time on his shin.


    Keith felt his bones getting cut but he felt a resistance, something that would only happen when a blade was dull. Just that this time, it was claws instead of sharp metal.


    He instantly turned down his sensitivity, but even with that, he felt helpless.


    ''An intangible creature that can attack me, but I''m unable to deal any damage¡­.''


    "Come out you fucking coward!" Keith taunted, even though he didn''t have high hopes of his enemy actually showing themselves.


    He stopped running around and simply stood in place as he looked around, ''Only a dumb person would show themselves and even in the novel, this shadow bitch was extremely crafty¡­''


    Multiple gashes were made on him, but Keith didn''t react to them as they healed faster than the speed at which his shadow could attack.


    "This whole thing is futile, you know? Just show yourself."


    Just as he said that, the shadow stopped moving. It expanded outwards, merging with the shadows of the trees and expanding them in turn too.


    Keith silently watched, ready to escape to his spatial dimension at a moment''s notice.


    ''Will it turn into some kind of giant monster now?'' he thought to himself as he saw the shadow expand it''s area but contrary to his expectations, the whole shadowy area began to move like it was some sort of liquid.


    Similar to how waves and ripples form on water, the shadows began to show similar properties until a hand poked out from below.


    Unlike Gerald''s undead zombies or skeletons, this one looked like a random human''s hand. Soon, a familiar looking human crawled out of the pool of darkness but Keith was simply just bewildered and confused. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    A system screen immediately popped up with a mental command and there, he saw Ken eating his lunch at an inn. Keith then shifted his attention to the man in front of him, one who looked like an exact copy of the Ken who was in his system screen.


    ''She technically did actually create Ken so I shouldn''t really be surprised if she creates more copies of him¡­'' he thought as he took a deep breath and for the first time, summoned one of the swords that was a part of War God''s Inheritance.


    Orangish red flames shot out from the blade, turning the blade bright red as the flames slowly got hotter and hotter.


    "Let''s play more, Keith. This is fun!" a cute voice came out from the mouth of the Ken clone in front of him.


    "Just answer one question¡­ how did you manage to get past the restriction? Back then, your shadows just couldn''t come near us as long as we had Clara''s armor on." he asked.


    The Ken clone in front of him didn''t speak but Keith still got an answer; An answer that came from behind him.


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    "Hik hik hik hik hik hikk!"


    Keith rushed to his right first and then turned around, all in an attempt to keep both his enemies in his line of sight but when he saw another clone of Ken, he felt slightly annoyed.


    ''That hair bull shit won''t work on me even if you send a hundred clones. Just what in the hell are you trying?'' he thought inwardly as he saw the second clone laugh in a creepy way.


    "I wasn''t able to touch you because you were blessed by Seraphina." The second Ken clone said as his body began to melt and take another shape.


    Thick, sticky blobs of flesh squirmed all over the body until it finally formed the body of a petite girl. Her silvery white hair dropped down to the level of her knees and the one thing that took the most time to form, was her face.


    "That girl''s awakened ability is highly connected to Seraphina, so I wasn''t able to get close to you people back then. But now¡­ now I can! Do you know why? Come on, answer my question. Take a guess! Isn''t that how you like to play?"

 Chapter 251 New Game: A Change of Rules

    Keith grit his teeth and glared at her. He liked riddling people and playing around with the clues and made up answers but he didn''t like being on the receiving side. S~ea??h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ''Karma really is a bitch¡­'' he thought as he tried to come up with an answer.


    "You managed to succeed in your third awakening?"


    "Huhuhu, I wish. If you fail once, you don''t have another chance of awakening the third time. Not unless I take down someone who has awakened a third time, like those fake dogs role-playing gods." she said and then grinned, the corners of her lips tearing until it reached her ears.


    There was no blood and instead, it just looked like a squirming mass of flesh.


    She then launched herself towards Keith and so did the Ken clone. Both of them flew towards their target but midway through their flight, they were completely consumed by a huge burst of flames.


    The flames weren''t orangish red like they always were and instead, they were pure white in color. This was thanks to Vincent using the awakened ability boost on himself, which also carried over to Keith.


    Keith sensed a presence behind him and immediately rolled to the side, barely escaping a large sword that sliced at the place where he originally stood. The flames he had been shooting for the past two seconds was not gone, but Keith could not find anyone.


    Not a single human being other than the sword that was magically floating in the air.


    Not the girl and nor the Ken clone. Even the ownerless flying sword fell to the ground and was consumed by the shadows beneath it.


    "Do you like this game? Hehehe, I''m having fun!"


    Keith didn''t respond and stood silently as he expected another sneak attack, but nothing came. Instead, he saw the mystical sea of shadow crawl up a tree and soon after, a face formed on the tree trunk.


    It was the face of the same girl he had seen a few moments ago and she began to speak with a creepy smile on her face.


    "You want to know how my shadows can bypass your baby girl''s armor right? It''s because of Balmond. I made a deal with him and got this in return, a blessing from the wannabe god of war. Do you understand now?" she asked and Keith immediately nodded.


    "Yeah, he''s the only one stronger than her when it comes to pure strength. The laws they integrated with, go against each other and in a way, they do kinda counter each other. Based on the scenario, both of them can one up the other."


    The face chuckled and sunk back into the tree trunk, just to pop out of another tree that was right beside Keith.


    "Boo!"


    Keith turned to look at her, but he didn''t attack or dodge preemptively. This was mostly because he didn''t sense any danger from her.


    "So boring¡­ but anyways, Have fun with the third prince. I''ve decided to help the second prince since it''ll be more fun this way. What do you think? Let''s play this game okay? The one who get''s their prince to ascend the throne, will win this bet." she said excitedly, which only made her look even more creepy due to the torn lips.


    Keith thought for a while and nodded, "Ascend the throne huh?"


    "Yes yes!" a voice came from Keith''s right, to which he turned around to see Ken''s copy once again.


    "Why in the hell do you keep switching?" Keith asked and cursed inwardly before making up his mind, "But sure, we can have a bet but that''ll depend on what the stakes are. Just so you know, I''m not a huge risk taker."


    Ken clone nodded, "Stake? It''s obvious isn''t it? Death of course! Or if you wanna do something lighter, then let''s make it so that the losers will be exiled from the empire. What do you think?"


    "Exile seems alright, we can do that¡­" Keith said and Ken clone nodded before adding in more rules, "Just to make things fair, both of us are not allowed to directly attack the royal family, grand dukes, or any of the nobles.


    I''m telling this because, we both have really strong escaping capabilities, but the other''s don''t. If we take this seriously, we could easily just attack the king or anyone of the opposite team to help our teams win and this is not fun.


    If you attack the second prince directly, I''ll kill your sister and brother in law."


    It was a clear threat and Keith could sense it. He let out a sigh and nodded, "I won''t attack the second prince¡­ even though that was my plan. Alright then, like you said, we''ll play fair for the most part. Stay tuned with My Virtual Library Empire


    Don''t complain if I get more soldiers from the other nobles."


    "You won''t and cant. Not anymore" Ken clone said and went straight into the sea of shadows. A few seconds later, the the forest went back to normal; with normal shadows and a fresh environment.


    Keith let out a soft sigh and sat down on the ground as he leaned against a tree.


    ''Compared to regular people, I''m really strong¡­ but I''m completely helpless when I go against those who took a step further than the second awakening¡­'' he thought and let out another sigh.


    The amount of helplessness he felt for the past few minutes felt really hard to digest even after the entire ordeal had disappeared.


    Keith dived into his spatial dimension and unlike how he went in most of the times; with a mental image. This time, he used his physical body instead.


    He didn''t tell the three girls anything and instead, he simply spent some time with Miya until she got tired and went to bed.


    Then, he walked out of the hut and saw both Clara and Amelia waiting for him there.


    "Now''s a good time to talk right?" Clara asked and Keith nodded before making a makeshift chair for the three of them using just the soil. It was a simple concept of compressing the soil to extreme levels until it''s hardness was close to that of a stone.


    He sat down, and so did the other two. Keith recounted everything that happened and then got to the main topic before he asked them for their opinions.


    "- once he poisons the first prince, I thought of abducting Zander and killing him in secret but now I can''t do that anymore. If I do, she''ll kill my sister and also my brother in law." he said and while Clara nodded, Amelia had a frown on her face.


    She tilted her head slightly as he stared a the ground, but after a few more seconds, she looked up at Keith, "This is an unfair rule right? I mean, she has a hostage while you don''t. If she breaks the rules, then there''s nothing we can do to punish her or anything of that sorts."


    "Yeah¡­ but there''s nothing I can do about it now, can I? And this is the first time I''ve felt this helpless after a long time¡­ If I''m being honest, I feel extremely frustrated. Anyways, since there''s nothing we can do other than just play along with what she wants, I need ideas." Keith said and leaned forward a little.


    "A way in which we can beat the second prince without having to teleoport him to this place and killing him here. I can''t touch them, like attack them and stuff, so it does get kinda annoying.


    All I need is ideas to help the third prince win."


    Amelia nodded and used a thin stick to make a few plans on the ground.


    "Well, the most simplest and straightforward one is to have a huge army." she said and made a huge cross on the number "1" that she had drawn a minute ago.


    "The next way would be to make a team that takes care of just the supplies. While it''s very crucial for the war and can work well thanks to the funds we have from Princess Leora, it most probably won''t hold much weight. After all, your success depends on the amount of land you manage to conquer."


    She made a large circle around the "2" and the poked the "3", "As for the next option that we have, it''s to hire mercenaries but they can very easily switch sides which is not really optimal when we''re in a long war that could potentially last for one to five years.


    If possible, it''s best to not use this method at all but there are situations where we could hire these men temporarily. This really is hard.. Nothing else comes to my mind."


    Seeing her best friend and boyfriend whacking their heads, Clara decided to share her thoughts too, even though she was not too confident with her ideas since she had never taken any classes regarding warfare or strategies.


    "Umm¡­ can''t we use the first method and reverse it? Like, go with quality instead of quantity? Having ten thousand men who are the best of the best is better than having a hundred thousand who are barely average¡­ or am I wrong?"


    Amelia nodded in response, "You''re not wrong, but when it comes to wars¡­ it''s very important to have numbers. Also, we don''t really have the resources to train our soldiers into becoming war machines and even if we solve the problem of resources, we are still limited by time."


    "No wait, this plan should work." Keith said and caressed his chin, "I didn''t tell you guys about the time boosts did I?"

 Chapter 252 Fabians Grand Reward

    A few months later, somewhere in Baroma Kingdom.


    Fabian stood in a dimly lit room with all of his limbs chained up.


    "Ugh¡­" he suppressed a groan as one of the three men around him gave him a strong hit. He felt his femur break and puncture the muscles around it, but he grit his teeth and silently stood as it automatically regenerated.


    Without waiting, the second guy swung his heavy iron baton, breaking one of Fabian''s arms with a single hit but other than a suppressed grunt, there was no other reaction.


    This continued for three whole hours and the guys who were in charge of hitting Fabian, swapped once every thirty minutes.


    "Switch your weapons¡­" Fabian said as he panted with blood slowly dripping from various parts of his body. Even though he kept healing as soon as he got hit, it was inevitable to have some blood drip.


    The men around him nodded and switched to a barbed mace before continuing but just after one round, Fabian screamed.


    "Stop!" he said and took a few deep breaths before looking at the guy who was right in front of him, "Take off the chains, I got something to do."


    "As you wish, boss." the man said and hurriedly took the chains off. Fabian rushed out of the room and climbed up the stairs until he reached the first floor.


    He turned to look at a familiar face and gave him a curt nod, "Make sure that no one disturbs me. No one."


    "Sure."


    Fabian rushed into his room which was just a few meters away and locked the door behind him before he read the contents of the notification once again.


    [Golden Jade Dragon Emperor Daoist Young Master: Junior, it''s time for you to take the next step. Come to me and I''ll help you awaken a second time.]


    [Emergency Quest Created]


    [Quest: Accept the Golden Jade Dragon Emperor Daoist Young Master''s invitation.]


    [Rewards: Second Stage Awakening]


    [Punishment for rejection: The young master will be disappointed with your decision.]


    "I accept." Fabian said and the system screen emitted a blinding light, forcing him to shut his eyes close.


    Two seconds later, he felt the intensity of the light reduce since the back of his eyelids didn''t look red anymore. He opened his eyes and looked up at the sun that was up in the sky, making him feel a sense of warmth.


    "You''ve been working hard." a voice came from his left, which prompted him to turn around, only for him to see an old man.


    The words "young master" gave him a feeling of the man being youthful and young. He had never expected him to be an old man.


    Fabian immediately nodded and bowed down, "It''s a pleasure to finally meet you¡­ master."


    "Just call me dragon emperor." Keith said as he stroked his fake beard that was extremely long and also white.


    "Follow me child." he said and waved his hand, making himself float slightly above the ground as a long sword flew down to act as a platform for him to stand on.


    As Keith flew, he looked behind to see Fabian run at full speed as he tried to catch up.


    "You''re a very disciplined child." he said and smiled, "Even I didn''t work as hard as you when I was young."


    He then pointed at a large empty area, "Race me to that place, child. If you win, I''ll give you a cursed artifact."


    "But¡­" Fabian began, wanting to complain about the unfairness since Keith was flying around on a sword but before he could even get to the point, Keith jumped off his sword and began to run at the same pace.


    "But?" Keith asked and Fabian shook his head, "Nothing¡­. Let''s just race."


    Keith silently watched as Fabian put in full effort to overtake but when there was just two hundred meters left, Keith stopped holding back and ran at full speed.


    With partial assistance thanks to his control over the spatial dimension, he cheated and easily overtook Fabian. Once he reached the destination, he stood still and looked forward as he teleported a cup of hot tea that he had prepared in advance. Continue reading at My Virtual Library Empire sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He held the cup in his hand and close his eyes before taking a sip.


    Fabian had reached the destination by now and when he saw the "old man" enjoying his cup of tea, he decided to sit down on the ground and recover slightly since he had strained himself a lot physically in the past few hours.


    "Haaaa, nothing beats fresh tea." Keith said and snapped his fingers, making the terrain shift and transform.


    Fabian watched in awe as the whole thing began to take the form of a huge maze, at least in his eyes. Two meter tall walls rose up and the pathways looked really confusing and hard to traverse.


    While Fabian simply had mazes in his mind, Keith silently watched the ritual formation take shape. It was 90% similar to the one that he had seen at the church more than a year ago and it was also larger in scale.


    "Take a seat right there." he said and Fabian immediately followed the orders.


    Keith then checked the amount of mental energy he had remaining and used a decent chunk of it on Fabian.


    [Ding! The Golden Jade Dragon Emperor Daoist Young Master wishes to help you unlock and upgrade your marrow cleansing passive skill.]


    [Would you like to accept?]


    ''Do you even have to ask?'' Fabian thought, ''Of course I accept.''


    As soon as he did, there was a bombardment of notifications that looked mostly similar, but the meaning behind those small notifications were huge.


    [Congratulations! Your Marrow Cleansing Skill has been upgraded to Grade F]


    [Congratulations! Your Marrow Cleansing Skill has been upgraded to Grade E]


    [Congratulations! Your Marrow Cleansing Skill has been upgraded to Grade D]


    [Congratulations! Your Marrow Cleansing Skill has been upgraded to Grade C]


    .


    .


    .


    [Congratulations! Your Marrow Cleansing Skill has been upgraded to Grade SS!]


    [Congratulations! Your Marrow Cleansing Skill has been upgraded to Grade SSS!]


    Keith silently looked at Fabian who had his mouth wide open while he stared at the system screen in front of him.


    ''¡­. Maybe everything would have gone differently if I made things hard for Vincent like I did with Fabian¡­'' he thought as he watched Fabian.


    The man had changed a lot in the past year. While he was still crafty and didn''t hesitate to pick evil methods, he had learnt to have a baseline for the things he did.


    ''Though, I think it''s better for Fabian to continue earning the stuff he wants using the hard way for now. After all, he''s someone who enjoys the grind.'' Keith thought and walked towards Fabian.


    "Close your eyes and relax." he said and placed his hand on Fabian''s head, "Relax¡­. Relax¡­ I''ll help you recover."


    Keith''s mental energy drained slowly as it was being transferred into Fabian.


    "Now all you need to do is close your eyes¡­ yes just like that." Keith whispered and sat down beside Fabian as the guy drifted off to sleep almost instantly.


    With a simple mental command, Keith made a small barrier around Fabian and boosted the time inside it by a whopping twenty times. Then, he waited until Fabian woke up, which was just twenty minutes for Keith.


    The barrier instantly vanished and Keith took out a sharp knife and gave it to Fabian, "We''ll need your blood for this one. A lot of blood."


    Fabian nodded and immediately slit his wrist. Then, he swapped the knife to his other hand and repeated the step before looking at Keith for more instructions.


    "Just lie down and let your hand hang over the wall so that that blood can drip into the hollow space." Keith said and snapped his fingers, making almost fifty thousand camphor fruits appear behind him.


    Another snap of his finger and all of them were crushed while keeping the seeds intact. Keith teleported the seeds away and watched the bright green oil fall into the formation.


    "I''ll be back after twenty hours." he said as he turned to look at Fabian and once the guy nodded, Keith disappeared.


    A few kilometers away, he fell onto a soft mattress that was inside a decent sized hut.


    ''Fabian is first but since I''m going to use almost all the fruits on him, I''ll probably have to wait for another week or two before I pick someone else but should it be?'' he thought as he stared at the ceiling.


    ''Amelia maybe? But I did promise Caleb so I should probably prioritize him first. There''s Miya too¡­. She''s really young and she hasn''t undergone an awakening yet, so this should help with giving her a huge boost directly at the first level just like how it happened with me..''


    Keith then brought out a system screen in front of him and watched Clark who was still preparing the materials, which were mostly just a lot of animals.


    "Isn''t he going to wait for war?" He could literally just pick a place that might have a lot of blood shed and he''ll automatically be able to undergo a second awakening without having to take extra steps. Actually, maybe it''s time¡­''" he muttered to himself and turned around to look at a small bag that was inside the hut.


    ''This much gold isn''t enough, but I guess I''ll just gamble right now.'' he thought and got the gacha wheel pop up in front of him.


    "Time to test my luck¡­" he muttered as his finger moved towards the roll button.

 Chapter 253 High Standards

    The gacha wheel spun for more than a minute and stopped at a while partition. Keith took a look at the system details and set out a soft sigh.


    "Trash¡­ but system is a system I guess¡­" he muttered and decided to save this system for the near future, ''Maybe I can do a little experimentation with this one since it won''t really feel too wasteful. Compared to the red and orange systems at least.''


    Keith then used the rest of his divine energy that he had been saving up for the past few months.


    "Let''s see¡­ With this much divine energy, I should be able to create a chatroom, a guild system and also a party system right?" he asked and added, "System."


    [Yes, all of those functions can be added and they will use 40% of your current divine energy to set up.]


    ''Just forty percent huh? I wonder what I should do with the rest¡­ you got any ideas? System. Nah, Emma help me out here.'' Keith thought as he stared at the blue sky above.


    [Fuck off. You ignore me whenever you want and you only talk to me when you feel like it. Don''t you know how lonely I feel?]


    "You have Seraphina to keep you company right? Why are you complaining so much¡­ I mean, it''s not like you always respond when I call for you." Keith said as he stared at the system screen that suddenly turned red.


    This was something that happened whenever Emma wanted to express her anger or frustration.


    [I''m not free all the damn time okay? I got stuff to do!]


    "Same here¡­ but anyways, help me out since you''re already here."


    [Tch. You can add a market system where people can buy and sell things through the system. This way, they wouldn''t have to worry about traveling and will also be able to save a lot of time. You can also add in a tax for each trade.


    This thing will be a complicated set up since it''ll involve the manipulation of space so the rest of your divine energy will get consumed. You probably might fall short too if I''m being honest.]


    "I see¡­ thanks a lot. By the way, do you wanna meet up once again?" Keith asked after he read the contents on the system screen.


    Five seconds passed by and there was no response.


    "And she''s gone again¡­" he muttered and let out a sigh, but to his surprise a message popped up the next second.


    [Okay¡­ but after the war ends so try to stay alive until then. Balmond made a deal with Clark recently and the future looks grim for you.]


    Keith nodded since he already knew about Clark''s meeting with Balmond. The only problem was that he was unable to spy on their conversation.


    "I know that they met but can you tell me what actually happened?"


    [They basically made a deal. Balmond set up an awakening altar underground for Clark and the only thing Clark has to do, is to wait for the war to get extremely bloody. Once that happens, he''ll be able to undergo his awakening while he''s on the battlefield.


    In a way, you can say that this awakening altar''s formation is way more advanced compared to the one you''re currently using.]


    "But mine is safer right? I know about the blood altar but I decided not to use it since I don''t really wish to see capable individuals losing their lives for a small chance of increase in the outcome."


    [Yeah, it''s a good choice. The environment in your spatial dimension will actually help them get results almost on par with Clark''s method so there''s nothing to worry about other than the excessive amount of resources this whole thing might consume.


    With your current camphor yield, you can only get one chance at awakening once every six to seven months. Taking the time boost into equation, it''s around one to two weeks.]


    Keith nodded, "Yeah, I plan to take the time boost another step further this time. Will take it up to 15x instead of 14 and now that I have almost a million seeds, I should be able to plant more trees which will be of use in the future.


    But for now, I''m still trying to decide on whom to give the second awakening to next."


    [Hmm¡­ there''s a lot of people with good potential. I''d say that you''ll be extremely surprised with Amelia but you should keep your promise to Caleb first. These two have the greatest potential when it comes to their second awakening.


    As for the third person, I''d say Adam but it''s better to go with your daughter instead since she still hasn''t awakened. This way, you can drastically boost her first awakening and if she''s lucky, she might just have a double awakening which is extremely rare.]


    Keith thought about it for a while before nodding, "Got it, but I think I''ll go with Miya first. Two weeks won''t make much of a difference when it comes to second awakening and Caleb can wait. In Miya''s case, this thing can help with boosting her potential by a huge margin so the earlier it is, the better."


    [Dang, look at this guy¡­ what a father. If only my dad was like you.. Should I call you daddy for you to pamper me like you pamper Miya?]


    "Stop trying to make this awkward¡­" Keith muttered and clicked his tongue but Emma didn''t let go.


    [Oh daddy~ Span]


    Keith immediately pushed his system screen away and closed his eyes, "Damn degenerate¡­"


    "Says the guy who fucks twice every single day." he heard a familiar voice in his head and grumbled, "Damn, get the fuck outta here. It feels weird to have a foreign voice in my head."


    Keith then opened his eyes and brought the system screen back in front of him, "Fine, let''s go back to communicating through this okay?"


    The two of them went back to bickering with each other and this continued for three whole hours. Keith then got up and teleported back to Fabian.


    "Twenty hours, I want you to stay alert so that you can keep your awakened ability in check. Just the cuts and not the creation of blood since we need a lot of blood for this to work properly."


    "Understood master. I mean Dragon Emperor¡­" Fabian said as he looked up at Keith who nodded and vanished from where he originally stood.


    Keith appeared back in the temporary room that was assigned to him by Arthur and found Amelia playing kitchen with Miya.


    "Where''s Clara?" he asked as he got up from his bed and walked towards them.


    "Mama said she was going to make food." Miya said and Amelia nodded, "Yeah, she kinda got way too excited with the sour dough thing you told her about. It''s been four days since she started and well, she said that it was time to put it to test."


    Keith nodded and sat down on the floor with the other two. The average temperature in the continent was warmer than the place where he lived back on earth in his previous life.


    It was mostly due to this that the sourdough needed just four days to fully mature instead of six to eight days that Keith was used to.


    Miya grabbed a small wooden sword and pushed it into Keith''s hands, "Papa, you''re the knight and you should save me from my evil mother." she said and pointed at Amelia.


    Keith glanced at Amelia and nodded as he turned his head back to his daughter, "And what did this evil mother do?"


    "Evil mother wants me to marry the prince of another kingdom and I don''t wanna."


    "I see¡­" Keith said as he nodded, "And why don''t you want to marry this prince?"


    Miya paused at this question and thought about it for a few seconds before pouting, "Because this prince is not like papa?"


    Keith raised his eyebrow and turned to Amelia, "Just what have you been teaching her?"


    "Hey, I didn''t teach her anything!" She retorted before looking at Miya, "How is he different from papa?"


    "Hmm¡­." the child hummed and pointed at Keith, "Papa is strong and the prince is weak. Papa is beautiful and the prince is ugly." she said and put her hand into the pocket that was stitched into her skirt before pulling out a small paper.


    She unfolded it and revealed the picture of the first prince of Kazak Empire, Prince Barou Kazak. Discover more stories at My Virtual Library Empire


    Miya then pointed at the sketch and said, "Ugly."


    Keith looked at the picture and felt like crying. Barou was an extremely handsome guy but the only problem in this situation was that Keith simply had better looks.


    ''Her standards are way too high¡­'' Keith thought and sighed inwardly, worrying over her future since number of people who were on par or better than him appearance wise, were probably just 0.01% of the continent''s population.


    ''Maybe even less¡­.'' he thought to himself and poked the picture that Miya was holding, "The first prince is pretty good looking though?"


    Miya shook her head, "No." she said stubbornly, "Papa better. Mama said that I should marry a man who''s like papa." Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ''You shouldn''t be teaching such stuff to kids!'' he inwardly screamed as he looked at Amelia, but she raised both her arms up, "Not me, Clara. It was Clara!"


    Keith stared at her for a few seconds before sighing, "If she ends up unable to find a partner in the future, I''m gonna blame both of you."


    "Why? Do you want her to settle for less?" a voice came from behind him along with the smell of freshly baked bread.

 Chapter 254 Two Bits of Great News

    Keith played with Miya for a while and then sent her out since it was time for her sword practice with one of the knights of Toretto estate.


    Once she was gone, Keith turned to look at Clara, "We gotta talk¡­ "


    "About Miya right?" Clara asked and nodded as she got up from the floor and sat down on the soft bed.


    "Yeah." Keith said and continued, "I''m not saying that it''s bad to have standards, but the standards shouldn''t be that high¡­ especially when it comes to the appearance since people don''t really have the means to change the way they look."


    Clara thought for a bit and then nodded, "Well¡­ you''re not wrong¡­" she said and then sighed, "Alright, my bad."


    Seeing this, Amelia joined in, "Hey if you''re not looking for appearance, then what''s your priority?"


    "Just someone who can treat her right, that''s all. Anyways, it''s way too early for all that but I still wanted to you know¡­ make sure that she doesn''t go down the wrong path. After all, this is the age when they learn a lot of things." he said and paused for a second before adding.


    "Let me ask you a question." he said and pointed at himself as he looked at the two of them, "Almost one and a half years ago, when I joined you guys as a newbie detective. Imagine that back then, I had the appearance of Brandon but a skinnier version instead. I''d consider that an average appearance.


    Now, tell me¡­. Do you think things would have ended up the same if that was the case?"


    Amelia and Clara both frowned at this question and seeing their reaction, Keith spoke more.


    "Like, what part of me made you guys make the decision of picking me over millions of other guys out there?"


    This time, Clara nodded but Amelia''s frown deeper.


    "You''re dependable, smart, helpful and generous when it comes to your loved ones. Well, you''re handsome too but I don''t think that counts in this scenario. Though I must add, you are quite despicable in certain scenarios but I''ve come to accept it as it is."


    Keith let out a fake cough to hide his embarrassment before looking at Amelia, "What about you? Don''t tell me that it was just for my looks. While it is pretty flattering, I think I''ll also feel kinda down if there''s no substance to our relationship."


    "I don''t know bitch!" Amelia cursed as she sent a kick flying towards his face, but Keith dodged it like it was some sort of daily occurrence.


    "You made me feel miserable¡­ unwanted even. But something just fucking pushed me towards you and I don''t know why. It''s annoying and well¡­ frankly very frustrating to not know the reason but I''ve come to live with it. I hate you but I also love you okay? Now stop asking useless questions."


    Keith raised his hands up in a surrender position and nodded, "As you wish, your highness. Should I wash your feet with enemies blood to appease your anger?"


    "Oh stop playing¡­" she said, feeling annoyed with him but then she remembered something important and her expression turned serious, "By the way, dad said that he received a letter from the fourth princess. You should go and talk to him now."


    Hearing this, Keith nodded and immediately left the room before heading towards the training area since this was the place where Arthur liked to hang out a lot recently.


    Your next journey awaits at My Virtual Library Empire


    And just as he had expected, the old man was sitting on a chair as he sipped on some wine while casually spectating Miya''s training.


    "How''s she doing?" Keith asked as he got closer.


    Arthur looked up at Keith and saw him bring out a similar looking chair out of nowhere but he didn''t question it since he had gotten used to Keith''s bizarre and mystical ways of getting things done.


    "Can''t you tell? You''re literally on par with me when it comes to swordsmanship."


    Keith nodded and asked, "Hmm.. What''s the score between us? Twelve wins, eighty seven draws and thirty one losses?"


    "Sounds about right¡­. I lost those twelve times only due to my old age. I can''t fight for more than an hour straight. Especially in my peak physical form¡­. Oh god, my old age is catching up to me and it looks like this war might me my last one. It would be nice to die on the battlefield."


    Keith turned to look at Arthur, but didn''t say anything. Instead, he waited for a few seconds and then pointed at Miya, "Now tell me about your granddaughter will ya? I can''t really gauge her progress. My body knows how to use the sword, but my mind¡­ I really don''t understand the intricacies behind the art at all."


    Arthur nodded and sighed, "The curse of being a genius ay? Anyways, that child has no talent in swordsmanship. It''s a pity really¡­ since she''s such a hardworking child."


    Keith felt a little bummed out when he heard this, but he accepted the answer before switching his gaze back to Miya.


    "I guess it''s fine¡­ she''ll awaken soon anyways. Is there anything else she could try out?"


    "Well¡­" Arthur muttered and thought for a bit before nodding, "I guess so. There''s archery, spear arts and even maces but I don''t think she''ll be able to wield maces well. I mean, even I find it hard to use those things."


    Keith nodded, "Alright, I''ll talk to her about it later but I heard that you got a letter."


    "Oh yeah, the princess basically said that she''s done with trying to make a deal with the other nobles and well, it didn''t go perfectly. In total, she managed to get her hands on thirty three thousand men.


    She also asked us to get to the capital since she has to pay you for your work¡­ something about a contract or whatever." Arthur said and took a sip of his wine.


    Once Keith got this information, he got up from his chair and sent it back to his spatial dimension before stretching. sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Ugh, that feels good. Anyways, are you gonna join us?"


    "I won''t be coming unfortunately. Someone gotta stay here and keep this place safe. You go with Amelia and do your thing." Arthur said and stood up from his chair before placing his hand on Keith''s shoulder, "Also¡­"


    He then paused and stared straight into Keith''s eyes for five whole seconds before continuing, "When are you going to marry? I''m getting impatient you know? I want a grandchild that shares my blood. Before I die¡­"


    "¡­. You should stop guilt tripping me old man¡­" Keith said, feeling slightly awkward. Seeing that Arthur had no intention of letting go of his shoulder, Keith sighed.


    "The three of us will marry soon. It''s just that now''s not the right time you know? With the war looming extremely close and stuff."


    Arthur shook his head, "We don''t need a huge banquet, Keith. A small group of friends and family is more than enough. I don''t want you to regret not going through with this later on too.


    A war will change your life completely¡­ and a war doesn''t forgive anyone. Be it the strong or the weak, anyone might lose their lives. Just keep this in mind alright?"


    Keith nodded absentmindedly as Arthur''s words had a very strong impact on his thoughts.


    Arthur left the place while Keith silently watched Miya train, with his mind completely occupied by the thoughts of marriage and war.


    ''Marriage huh¡­ ''


    ******


    Two months of journey later, Keith and his family met up with their teammates, all of whom were currently residing in an inn that was pretty close to the palace.


    "How did it go?" Amelia asked as she walked into the room while Keith silently leaned against the wall.


    He already knew how things went and most of it was just good news. With two bits that were very important too.


    Laura excitedly hugged Amelia like they were long lost friends and the first thing she did after that was place her hand on her belly, "Guess what? I''m pregnant!" she squealed.


    Caleb on the side grinned proudly as he saw Keith give him a nod.


    "Yeah, and I¡­ I think I''ve found my love." Nathan said as he polished his sword, giving Amelia another shock before she could recover from the bomb that Laura had just dropped on her.


    "You¡­ what? I mean, who?"


    Nathan grinned and rummaged with his inner pockets while Clara walked towards Keith and leaned against the wall beside him before whispering, "You already knew didn''t you?"


    "Yeah, I wanted you guys to experience this event properly so I decided not to tell you two. I guess it was worth keeping it a secret."


    The girl nodded, "Yeah, totally worth it." she said as she turned to look at Nathan who had taken out a paper.


    He unfolded it and showed it to Amelia, who gave him a disgusted look instead.


    "Did you personally draw this?"


    "Um¡­ yes¡­ she said it was good!" he exclaimed innocently, which got Clara curious. She looked at Keith who looked calm and shook her head since she knew that he was not going to tell her anything.


    She headed over to take a look and Keith followed behind her. The drawing that greeted them was basically an ugly stick figure, but Keith silently stared at Nathan.


    Once the guy got his fair share of fun with seeing their reactions, he took out a small painting that was framed and showed it to them.


    "I hired an artist for this¡­ she''s the only daughter of a baronet and things just went really well. We met completely by accident-"

 Chapter 255 Clones, But Different

    Meanwhile, somewhere in Seraphina''s divine palace.


    Emma was silently resting with her eyes closed until she sensed a foreign presence, a presence that was familiar but fairly different too.


    ''Keith?'' she thought and opened her eyes to see Seraphina running out of her small house. The two of them turned to look in the direction at which they felt the presence.


    As if on cue, two extremely familiar people appeared out of thin air.


    "Wha?" Emma blurted out as she saw herself and Keith standing side by side. Both of them wore completely black clothes while her "clone" had some extremely revealing clothes on which embarrassed her even though she herself wasn''t wearing it.


    She stared at them with a frown on her face, but before she could ask or say something, the Keith in front of her spoke.


    "Look at this¡­ the great author-turned-goddess is right here but she doesn''t even know how she got here." he said and sneered, "Welp anyways, I kinda broke some rules in my universe so I got thrown in here¡­"


    He then extended his hand towards her, "Join me Snow¡­ and we''ll rule this whole world together."


    Emma looked at him cautiously and shook her head, "Don''t wanna¡­ I don''t like the vibe you''re giving me¡­"


    ''Hmm, I can''t read his mind and nor can I check his genetic data¡­ is it because he''s from another world?'' she thought to herself, but while she did, her clone grinned.


    "Are you wondering why you can''t read minds and stuff? That''s because we''re from a different universe and you, my dear¡­ only have control over this one. Just join us obediently, I assure you that Keith here will take good care of you and we¡­ will take good care of him."


    "This is mind fuckery!" Emma cried out as the cogs in her mind turned, "If this whole different universe shit has restrictions, then doesn''t that mean that you have no fucking control over this one? Since it''s mine?"


    Hearing this, the two look-alikes'' expressions turned serious.


    Keith snapped his fingers and a huge army of almost a hundred thousand undeads popped up behind him.


    "If you''re not going to come willingly, then I''ll have to take you by force!" he yelled and pointed at her, "Get that bitch!"


    Seeing this, Emma glared at the two of them, "It''s not going to be so easy, you bastards! Sera, run away! Now!"


    Seraphina shook her head but before she could do a thing, she found herself in a completely different place, a familiar place in fact.


    "Sister?"


    Back at Seraphina''s divine palace, Emma glared at the two who were in front of her. Both of them were struggling to break out of an invisible prison that restricted their movements.


    "Welcome to my universe, bitches." she said as she walked towards her counterpart and lifted her chin up with her index finger, "Wow, I really am pretty cute. I mean, I''ve taken a look at myself in the mirrors but dang the real thing really hits different. If only Keith would-"


    "I know you like him and yet, he refuses to be with you and instead he went for two weak bitches. Your universe''s Keith is a fucking pussy. Mine is better, so just come and join us. He''ll give you everything you want, be it affection, attention or pleasure." the clone said as she tried to move her face away from the finger.


    "He''s an idiot for not being able to figure out your feelings for him. He''s a naive donkey, the kind of protagonist I hate the most!"


    Emma stared at her clone and took a step backwards, "I see, it looks like this Keith and my Keith are completely different people, yet very similar. They just have different ideologies and ways of doing things." she said and looked at Keith who was in front of her, and the other Keith who belonged to her universe though her godly senses.


    She walked towards the Keith in front of her and sneered, "You already knew that she liked you so you decided to use her for your own personal strength¡­ even though you particularly weren''t attracted to her.


    There''s no way you can actually fall in love and STAY in love with a girl whom you can''t meet often¡­ actually scratch that, were you guys even able to meet each other more than thrice in the first three years?


    The Keith I know isn''t the type of person to commit unless he actually sees himself with me in the future. Especially when he''s got a bad experience in his past life with his wife."


    "What do you mean a bad experience with my wife? I killed that bitch and her new husband after a year or two of careful planning. On top of that, I don''t care about appearances as long as my bitch is dedicated to me and is willing to do anything for me." he spat and looked at the other Emma.


    "Tell me snow, you''re my bitch aren''t you?"


    "Yes I am¡­" she muttered, her voice lower than usual.


    Emma stared at Keith and her clone before nodding to herself, "I see, I was wrong. You''re very different from Keith¡­ he''s not the kind of person to take advantage of someone''s feelings and manipulate them into emotional dependency. You''re a pure narcissist¡­ "


    Keith grinned and shook his head, "I''m not different. I''m just him who has taken a different path." he said and then, he suddenly screamed, "SNOW! NOW!!!"


    ***********


    Keith leisurely read a story while his daughter was on the verge of drifting off to sleep. He saw her struggling to stay awake so she could listen more, but was unable to fight it off and finally closed her eyes.


    He continued to read the book for five more minutes before stopping. He then placed the book on the bedside table and left the room to join Amelia for the night. S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Well, you took a bit long tonight." she said as she untied the simple knot that was keeping her silk robe on her body. Keith nodded as the robe slid down and used up most of his remaining mental energy on Vincent.


    The kid had failed his mission and was currently imprisoned in Duke Hector Sambo''s prison. Keith finally gave up on him due to this and his main goal was go get his money''s worth from Vincent.


    He upgraded Vincent''s last skill which needed an upgrade, the Draconic Twister Throw that was under the Throw Skill tree. It reached SS grade and needed one more, but Keith had almost run out of his mental energy, so he simply stopped and spent some nice time with Amelia.


    A few minutes later, Amelia panted heavily and whispered, "Good night¡­ I''ve never seen a man who can do this every fucking day."


    "Magic! Anyways, night night and sweet dreams." Keith said with a grin and patted her head while she slept on top of him. With half of his mental energy restored, he spent a good chunk of it on getting the skill to SSS grade.


    He then used the rest of it on healing Alpha and Beta who had been getting into fights with the wolves as a part of their training.


    Just as he was about to sleep, he heard a voice in his head and a system screen popped up in front of him.


    "Urgent! Take a look at the system, we need to talk."


    ''Hmm? Urgent huh?'' he thought as he focused his attention on the system screen.


    [I think I finally know a little more about how both of us got here¡­ me as a goddess and you as a regular human with the potential to become a god.]


    [There''s a being above us¡­ someone who''s actually creating universes and stuff and it looks like this being simply wants to watch the results of it''s creation. Unfortunately, I don''t know the details and this is just a¡­ sort of a speculation on my end.]


    [A few minutes ago, I met clones of me and you. I wouldn''t say that they''re clones but they do look exactly like us and they have the same abilities as us. My clone having the power of reality manipulation and your clone having the power of systems.]


    Keith stared at the last message for two whole seconds before he finally came to his senses. He pushed Amelia gently to the side and immediately put on his clothes, "Something urgent came up and I need some time alone. I''ll be back in¡­ I don''t really know."


    "Okay, take care." Amelia said and waved her hand while Keith returned the gesture before leaving the room.


    He rushed out of the mansion and began to walk along the streets of the town before he went back to his system screen.


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    ''This¡­ I don''t know how to feel about this but I guess it''ll be cool to meet myself? Nah it''ll probably feel weird but oh well, let''s see how it goes.'' Keith thought optimistically since he did not have any details about the clones.


    [It''s not- I mean, they''re different from us even though they look the same. I just escaped after a huge fight with them and I''ve used up most of my power to lock my clone in a curse.]


    [There''s a lot I wish to say but this is going to take a while¡­ so get ready. Your counterpart.. I mean clone, is¡­ let''s say a person who has no moral boundaries. Maybe he does but it''s safe to say that he''s an evil man.]

 Chapter 256 Hot. But Not Hot Enough

    [I have an advantage against my clone since this universe listens to my wishes more than hers but she also has some sort of control. This caught me off guard and well, anyways¡­ I locked her up at the cost of most of my power so now I''ll be living inside your system.]


    [I''ll assure you that you don''t have to worry about a reality warping crazy bitch coming for your neck, but there''s another psycho whom I can''t do much about since I''m basically powerless at this point.]


    [I''ve hurt him quite a bit so he''ll need some time to heal up. Based on what I''ve seen, he has no healing capabilities so this should take him some time. If you need any information on him, feel free to ask me.]


    [Just two questions for now though. I''m very tired and it''s hard for me to keep myself awake after using up almost ninety nine percent of myself as a sacrifice to seal my clone.]


    "Two questions¡­" Keith said and nodded, "Do you know about his power? I mean the kind of skills and awakened abilities he got from using his system. As for the second question, how does this whole different universe thing and the control over reality stuff."


    [That''s three questions you bitch!]


    Keith saw her complain and even though he wanted to smile, he couldn''t since this matter was serious and it weighed down on him quite a bit.


    [Oh well, about his power¡­. I only know of two of them for now. One is related to necromancy but is on a level far higher than Gerald''s. It''s from a red system and the other one is probably an awakened ability.


    You remember the archbishop who was responsible for teleportation stuff during your training camp right? It''s probably hers¡­]


    Keith nodded, "I mean, it''s a great awakened ability but is it really needed? I mean, I can literally teleport to any person as long as a system seed is planted on them. I don''t think I need a teleportation ability like that¡­"


    [You don''t, but maybe he does. He looks just like you but like I said, he''s different. The path he took to reach the point where he destroyed his entire planet¡­ says a lot. Meanwhile, you''re sitting here waiting to get as much gold as you can from a damn war. Your motivations seem very different from each other.]


    [Anyways, let''s get back to the questions. As for how the universe and control over reality works¡­ this is just my theory but I feel like most of it is right? So basically, this universe probably has a parallel counterpart.]


    [Well, it probably doesn''t exist anymore but basically, my clone had control over the reality of that universe while I have control over the reality of this one.]


    [As for the ability to control reality itself and how it''s connected, I feel like it''s related to the universe slowly accepting those two as a part of itself. This will probably take a long time and this was the reason why she was able to catch me off guard a while ago.]


    [She tried to control my mind and made me submit to the other Keith but since I had more authority, or in other words control, I was able to negate her attempt and counterattack.]


    [Even if she does get accepted by this universe, she won''t be able to come out of the seal anymore. I made sure of that. If I was trapped in that seal myself, even at full strength, I wouldn''t be able to escape. I took care of the biggest threat, but the rest is in your hands.]


    "¡­.. I don''t like this."


    [I don''t either, but as the new protagonist of this¡­ universe, you gotta do what you gotta do.]


    "Fuck you¡­ but yeah, I guess I got no choice. If he does plan on going against me that is. I don''t really care if he goes for people like Clark and such."


    [Imagine an evil version of yourself. Someone who wants to rule this world¡­ do you think you''ll just leave your "clone" out there to do his thing? I mean, there''s no way someone like that would just let a potential threat grow into something big right?]


    Seeing this, Keith let out a sigh since this was very true.


    ''First it was that shadow person and now it''s my fucking clone¡­ just what in the hell is going on? Why does this world want me to suffer all of a sudden when I''ve been living a relatively good life by keeping my powers hidden¡­ wait, don''t tell me that this is all your plan to push me out of my comfort zone.'' he said to her mentally before he took out his pipe and took a long drag.


    ''I mean, you could just be acting now while all of this might just be the result of your reality warping powers¡­ ah man I don''t know what to make of this anymore.''


    [¡­.. Can you put your logical reasoning aside for this? I''ve been on your side for so long and you think that I''ll put you through a lot of suffering? I mean, for what? You''ve been getting strong even though you don''t go around advertising your true strength. It''s a smart thing and I don''t have any problem with it.]


    [Just in case you''re comparing yourself with Vincent, then don''t. You''re lazy indeed, but you still work towards your goal while going with a safe option.]


    [I just have one request Keith¡­ just please trust me. It hurts a lot when you doubt my intentions and actions¡­]


    Keith silently took a drag from his pipe and inhaled deeply before letting out a deep sigh, "Fuuuuuu¡­. Life sucks sometimes, but I guess it''s the same even if you have a godly power of giving systems to others. Fine, I''ll trust you but please don''t break it."


    [Thank you. I''m going to sleep now¡­ so keep an eye on your surroundings and speed things up. I don''t think you can just lie back and relax while passively accumulating strength anymore.]


    [We don''t have much information about the other Keith but the one thing we do know, is that he managed to destroy his world. And this must be your goal from now. I''ll help you with shadow but that''s after I wake up. From today onwards, your true enemy is yourself¡­ your evil counterpart.]


    ''Understood¡­. I guess. Meh, I don''t like this at all.'' he thought as he took another puff and put his pipe back into his inner pocket before he continued on with his walk. He needed some time alone to think things through, and this was a good way of doing it since the streets were extremely silent this late into the night. Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ***********


    Somewhere in the capital of Kazak Empire, a black gauntlet shot out from the ground before it dug it''s fingers into the place in front of it. A second later, half of a knight''s body came out from the ground before it crawled out completely.


    The ground''s surface went back to normal almost instantly and the knight turned it''s head to look at an inn that was a few meters away from it.


    "Target found master¡­" it said and began to walk towards the inn.


    It stopped right in front of the inn''s door and after a short pause, it lifted up it''s leg as it''s foot began to emit a mysterious black smoke that moved more like a smooth, dancing flame.


    With one single motion, the knight stomped and the smoke spread outwards in all directions, covering the entire inn in black along with a few other buildings nearby.


    "Come out come out wherever you are¡­" it said, it''s voice robotic but raspy as it pushed the door open and walked inside.


    The people at the counter and waiting area all fell to the floor with just one look from the Knight before it began to climb up the stairs.


    It barely took four steps when a bunch of threads shot out from above and restrained it''s hands, legs, head and finally, they also circled around it''s torso tightly.


    "Who are you?" Ken asked as he looked down at the knight and two more clones walked from behind and stood beside him.


    One of their eyes turned bright red while the other transformed into a one meter long snake with bright red and green scales.


    "Flesh¡­ disgusting." the knight said and a long sword appeared in front of him before it moved in the air to cut all the threads in one swift motion. Your next chapter is on My Virtual Library Empire


    The knight grabbed the sword''s handle while keeping his bright purple eyes on them.


    "Attack!" Ken shouted and shot out more strings while his body began to get covered by multiple layers of tread. The one with glowing red eyes immediately shot out two laser beams at the knight while the snake darted forward, slithering along the handrails of the stairs.


    The lasers hit the black armor of the knight, but the knight showed no reaction. It continued to take steps forward even though the strings kept grabbing onto it''s hands and legs.


    "Weak." it said and with a simple yank, all the threads broke.


    The snake tried to find a gap in the armor but it was useless since there wasn''t any other than the eye sockets, which seemed to be containing two purple glowing gemstones instead of eyes.


    The knight then brought it''s sword in the path of the laser before it looked down to see two bright red spots on it''s armor.


    "Hot¡­ but not hot enough."