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Chapter 387: The Saint's Gate

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

The look on Inke's face suddenly changed when he heard the voice of the high priest. He took a step sideward and looked at Aska.

Inke was suggesting that it was Aska who made the trouble, and meanwhile was trying to keep the distance between them.

Aska, or Lucien, in fact, caused the conflict on purpose. Lucien knew that the gatekeepers would avoid the magic circles and take him an isolated corner, and there Lucien would have enough time to transform himself into one of the gatekeepers.

The high priest was also a sphinx but all of his four fuzzy legs were wrapped with black shrouds. He was the very one whom Lucien saw beside the Saint's Gate. Right now, the high priest was staring at Lucien coldly with his pure black eyes.

Lucien felt that the look of the high priest was somehow amusing, but still, he lowered his head, pretending that he was nervous and afraid, "Your Holiness, I just saw a tomb guard violating the rules. He was running around. When I stopped him, he was showing no respect to me. So… so I taught him a lesson on how to behave."

The high priest took a careful glance at Lucien from tip to toe. The look was extremely cold and carried the smell of death.

Lucien controlled his muscles to pretend that he was slightly trembling. He made his heart beat a bit faster, showing that he was feeling anxious.

After carefully checking Aska, the high priest asked slowly, "You used magic?"

His tone was rather flat and emotionless.

"He tried… to fight back… It wasn't on purpose!" Lucien hurriedly answered in a pretended stammering way. In fact, Lucien did that on purpose to make the high priest notice the magic waves.

If Lucien had just simply left Aska there, within ten minutes, Helges would definitely come to find Fil, and that would be the end of everything that Lucien planned. Thus, he had to find the chance to send "Fil" back first.

Lucien used Transformation and turned Aska into Fil. When he was doing so, he used two kinds of inherent spells of the sphinxes to hide the magic waves caused by Transformation. Therefore, Inke, although he was just around the corner, failed to notice it. Lucien had successfully turned himself into the gatekeeper, Aska, who used magic out of the great anger.

Lucien knew that the magic waves would always be detected by the magic circles in the tomb, and it was part of his plan that the high priest on duty tonight would come to them.

The high priest stared at Lucien's eyes as if he could see through a lot of things. In Lucien's eyes, the high priest saw anxiety, nervousness, and the lingering pleasure from giving the tomb guard a good punch.

"Aska, you should not use magic at any time in the tomb unless there are enemies here," said the high priest in the same flat tone, which made him sound like a dead creature, "Come to me after your shift for the caning."

"Yes, Your Holiness," said Lucien depressively.

"You bring the tomb guard back to his team and leave him to the team leader to decide the punishment…" continued the high priest. "Tell the team leader to come to see me later as well."

The high priest would not let the tomb guard just lying on the floor like that. However, the high priest himself was too honorable to do things like that. Everything went as Lucien wished.

"Yes, Your Holiness," answered Lucien. His mind was full of joy.

After the high priest went back to the Saint's Gate, Lucien took an angry glance at Inke and said, "Never talk to me again, you coward scorpion."

Inke was about to make some explanation out of his guilty conscience. Lucien's words pissed him off. Inke sneered and said, "Enjoy your caning!"

Lucien had easily ruined the partnership between the two gatekeepers, so he did not need to worry that Inke might find the truth from any further conversations between them. Dragging "Fil" on the floor, Lucien walked back to the hall in a pretty good mood.

…

Outside of the creepy hall filled with many black coffins, Helges roared angrily, "What did you do to him?!"

Lucien threw "Fil" on the floor and answered casually, "This scorpion was not being polite to me. So I taught him some lesson."

"You filthy scorpion! I'm his leader, and if he needs any lessons, I should be the one to give it!" Helges was very angry. He took a step forward and looked directly into Aska's eyes. He was only about a fist's distance away from Aska.

"So what? You want to beat me?" Lucien laughed hard, "Tell you what. The high priest wants to see you after your shift. You are in trouble haha!"

Helges' anger suddenly disappeared and his voice trembled a bit, "What?"

"Haha, enjoy your caning." Lucien borrowed the words from Inke and turned around, behaving in the typical Aska's manner.

Helges was very upset, but there was nothing he could do. He could only walk back and forth.

"Shall we find a priest to cure Fil…? So he can wake up earlier?" A tomb guard came to him, trying to please Helges.

"You idiot scorpion!" Helges lifted his front leg and kicked the guard hard. Then he bitterly stamped on Fil to release his anger.

No one dared to piss off the high priest!

…

In silence, Lucien and Inke stood in front of the Saint's Gate and started their shift.

The high priest had also gone back to the stone room and continued to pray.

Time quickly passed by, and the tomb became colder and colder. The power of death was boiling and shouting behind the gate as if countless undead creatures were hitting the gate with their pale, skinny arms.

In the silence, Lucien started to consider how he could go through the gate.

Rhine had left Lucien all the information he needed, including the magic circle design of the gate and the spells. Even as a legendary vampire, Rhine could not directly go through the gate.

Lucien secretly used his spiritual power and checked the gate. After making sure that the information he got was correct, he came up with the basic plan. He was about to use the very quick power change happening at the edge of day and night to hide his magic waves.

Everything went well for Lucien, except when Helges and his team patrolled by, Helges stared at Lucien a few times with great anger.

Before the early morning, at the darkest and coldest moment, the gate suddenly became unreal and distorted, as if it had been transformed into a shadow gate connecting to the hell!

Under the strong smell of death and coldness, Lucien even could not help trembling slightly.

He was very shocked when he sensed the familiar atmosphere—the atmosphere from the World of Souls!

Although Lucien was not wearing Sun's Corona, since he had been in the World of Souls and dealt with the senior-rank specters from there a few times, Lucien was sensitive enough to tell!

Lucien had so many questions in his mind:

Did Finks, the King of Sphinx, know about the existence of the World of Souls already? Was that the reason why he chose the place close to the gap connecting to the World of Souls to build his tomb?

Did that mean that the Kuo-toans' altar and Thanos' underground palace also had the gaps nearby?

Did Thanos know about the existence of the World of Souls? Was his death related to it?

Lucien had become more cautious and nervous about the World of Souls. He knew that it was not a good time for thinking too much. He tried to stay focused and waited patiently until the daylight arrived.

On the horizon, a slight touch of orange slowly rose and its divinity and grandeur pierced through the darkness.

As soon as the sun started to rise, a ray of sunlight somehow cast on the apex of the pyramid.

In the tomb, the horrible power of death hitting the Saint's Gate suddenly retreated like snow melting under sunlight. The power retreated so fast that it caused very strong power waves.

The high priest was completely focusing on the Saint's Gate, while Inke had seen this so many times, that he was simply looking at the front.

Suddenly, Lucien's body rippled like water and a creepy transparent figure came out. Under the cover of his sphinx body, the transparent figure silently cast the spell and sneaked into the gate from underneath.

However, in front of the gate, Aska was still standing straight.

The fifth-circle illusionary spell, Persistent Image!

And the fourth-circle spell, Gaseous Form!

Chapter 388: The Horrible Pressure

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

The black smoke quickly rose in the hall packed with the coffins and extended to every corner in the tomb, like ugly and vicious creatures fiercely seizing their territory.

Facing the apex of the pyramid, the tomb guards were all praying. Although most of the time they were all very violent and rude, now they were prostrating themselves on the ground, as docile as little lambs.

The black smoked overwhelmed everything, but the golden light covering their bodies prevented the horrible power of death from approaching them.

In the tomb, the bodies hanging on the wall started moving and roaring wrathfully.

The black coffins suddenly popped open under the invisible power, and many arms and hands wrapped with bandage reached out.

The old bandage soaked with the light yellow oil from the dead bodies looked extremely disgusting. Bitter moaning and angry shouting made the tomb a living hell.

"Lucien" and Inke lifted their spears and cut open the black smoke like dividing water waves. The black smoke went into the gate directly. Despite its ferocity, the black smoke also disappeared very quickly. After about ten seconds, it was completely gone, together with the vicious moaning and roaring.

Seeing that everything had become normal, Inke said to Aska without putting too much thought into it, "Finally, it has come to an end."

"I don't talk to a filthy scorpion," answered Aska coldly.

Inke was very angry, and the flame of anger in his eyes was burning.

However, Aska just sneered and turned around.

Although Inke was very pissed, he didn't dare to cause any troubles right in front of the high priest. He could only look forward, biting his lips. He would never talk to Aska again!

The high priest had noticed what was going on there, but it was not something important for him. He lowered his head and continued to pray to accumulate power.

The fifth-circle illusionary spell, Persistent Image, could create a substantialized copy of the caster that could speak and move, and the caster could even leave some simple messages to the copy to make some casual conversations possible.

…

Behind the Saint's Gate, the black smoke was silently boiling.

In the darkness, Lucien's figure was revealed. He had turned back to his original look and then put up the black hood to cover his face.

To him, this place did feel like the World of Souls. Looking around, Lucien saw some gray spots floating in the air in the boundless silence.

Lucien was right now in a round palace, around which the pattern of sunflowers was delicately drawn everywhere. On the floor, there were golden rays carved on the ground using unknown materials, extending all the way to the lifted altar in the middle.

There was a gold coffin at the center of the altar. On its lid, there were many different patterns of the silver moon.

Since the black smoke with the great power of death was blocking everything from the outside from peeping into this space, it was safe for Lucien to use magic now, and so he cast layers of defensive spells on himself.

However, Lucien still didn't dare to take out Sun's Corona, since it was very closely related to the World of Souls, and Lucien had not figured out the connection yet.

After making sure that the arrangement of the palace was the same as Rhine's description, Lucien started to walk to the altar in the middle following the weird route that Rhine told him.

The closer Lucien went, the colder he felt. The power of death was right above his head. Lucien could hear nothing, and gradually, all the colors also faded.

It took Lucien more than ten minutes to walk to the altar. He put one of his feet onto the gold steps.

Without Rhine's experience, there was no way that Lucien could arrive in front of the gold coffin so easily. It would have taken him days to analyze the arrangement of the magic circles there.

Without wasting any time, Lucien took out the miniature sphinx statue and clicked it into a groove in the lid of the coffin. It fit the groove perfectly, as if the miniature statue was just supposed to be there!

Lucien took a step back and cast a spell. Streams of blood came out of the sphinx statue, and it looked extremely creepy and weird.

The blood went into the coffin, and the black smoke suddenly twitched like it was alive. The silver moon patterns on the lid burst out dim light for a second and went out very quickly.

Although he was prepared, Lucien was still very surprised that everything was just that simple.

He would like to study the magic circles there, but also didn't dare to waste any time. After all, the high priests could find him at any time.

Turning around, he had just taken a few steps when he suddenly felt a horrible and threatening pressure in the space, as if the entire world would come to an end because of it!

A powerful vampire? Prince Dracula? That was Lucien's first thought. He had the blood power, Moonlight, and thus he was very sensitive to the power of a vampire. Clearly, the power was not trying to hide at all.

Facing that great power, even the black smoke had retreated like a scared puppy.

Outside of the tomb, the light at the end of the sky had now disappeared. The sun had disappeared.

Lucien felt that someone had just taken a glance at him, from left to right. He was sweating under the great pressure. His forehead was covered with tiny beads of sweat.

He could feel that the eyes stopped on his Ice & Snow Medal and his Holm Crown Ring for a second and then kept moving forward.

And then, outside of the tomb, the orange sun appeared on the horizon again.

Lucien wondered in fear if that was the power of Prince Dracula. Although his teacher, the Lord of Storm, was as powerful as Prince Dracula, Lucien had never experienced a legendary level's power over himself like this!

Before the darkness disappeared completely, the lid of the coffin squeaked open!

"Who… has… interrupted… my sleep?" The voice was husky, and the tone was completely flat and emotionless.

Lucien suddenly realized that a very vicious power was slowly waking up!

"I've… been… sleeping… for ten thousand years… I've been… trapped. You shall… bear my anger…"

The voice started to become emotional.

Did the Sphinx, who had died ten thousand years ago, come back to life from the World of Souls because of the power of Prince Dracula?

Chapter 389: Finks

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

Finks, the legendary-level leader who opened the golden age for sphinxes, was also the first leader ever in history to make all the tribes kneel down in front of it.

Although at that time many figures were still much more powerful than Finks, its power was beyond Lucien's imagination. There was no way that Lucien could fight against it. Also, Lucien had no idea what changes had happened to Finks before it came back to life ten thousand years later.

Run! That was the first though flashing past Lucien's mind.

And it was his only thought when facing a legendary-level enemy!

However, after running backward for just a few steps, Lucien calmed himself down and prevented himself from blindly running for his life.

Run? To where?

If Lucien direct went out through the gate, the level-nine high priest would kill him very easily.

Should Lucien sneak out? He had no idea if he had enough time.

Should Lucien hide in the gap of the World of Souls? No, inside the gap there was the projection of the mausoleum. Something unknown inside of the World of Souls had made Finks come back to life, thus it was the most dangerous place right now!

Lucien still had the space jumping scroll given by the Lord of Storm, and this was probably the only way out for him now. He took out the scroll and was ready to activate it.

"I have been… sleeping… for ten thousand years here… I am… trapped here. How… dare you!"

The voice of Finks sounded rather cold and dry as if it was a piece of wood cracking.

Wait! Lucien noticed the word "trapped"!

Finks was trapped there?! So it had no control over its own death and resurrection?

Then Lucien might still have a slight hope!

Lucien was born to be an adventurer, and his heart gradually started to beat at a regular pace. Holding the scroll tight in his hand, he could feel the rising of the great vicious power on the other side.

The recovery of the power was very slow. Although the power grew rather steadily, it was very slow! To recover its power after ten thousand years, Finks still needed time!

Lucien estimated that Finks still needed at least thirty seconds to fully recover its power. As if he was just like a bystander, Lucien took every factor into consideration.

He quickly cast Strength and Bull's Strength on himself, and in case, he also finished a tube of the magic potion called Molten Giant's Fists.

Since Lucien had expected the great danger that he would encounter during the adventure when he was still in Allyn, he had spent all of the arcana points that he got from Fernando using his annual profit to buy the materials. However, he had used a great amount of them to trap Count Vlad.

Lucien had to admit that every fight was basically burning money. Fortunately, he got some good supplement from Rhine's treasury.

Lucien's blood boiled in his veins after taking the potion. Bulks of muscles grew out on Lucien's arms, and he could feel the power of fire in his body.

There were about twenty-one seconds left… Lucien's body became very heavy and clumsy, but he could not take any more potions for improving his agility. He cast the second-circle spell Elegant Cat on himself to improve his speed a bit.

"Nineteen seconds… eighteen…" counted Lucien in his mind.

Lucien held the scroll with his mouth and took out the ordinary-looking sword from his magic pouch, holding the handle of the sword very tight.

The warm stream of power infused into Lucien's hands and drove the fear and anxiety away in his mind. What was left was Lucien's willpower that was further strengthened.

"Live… or dead… You shall be my… slave… forever…"

The fury in Finks' voice was more and more obvious, together with the pleasure of gaining its great power again.

However, it was still in the gold coffin, just like what Lucien expected. Its power was not ready yet!

"Fifteen seconds… fourteen…" Lucien had to leave the last five seconds to activate the scroll in case his great gambling would go wrong.

Lucien counted the seconds in his mind, feeling that the great power was slowly accumulating. He walked toward the gold coffin.

"I… have been… awakened… I shall… return…"

The voice of Finks became louder and louder, and the black smoke started to approach the Saint's gate.

"Twelve… eleven…" Lucien was still counting the seconds.

The lid of the gold coffin moved and the dense black smoke quickly covered Finks' body. Lifting Pale Justice, Lucien hacked at the cluster of black smoke using all of his strength.

There was no bright light, nor the overwhelming momentum. The ordinary-looking sword just hacked right in the black smoke. A warm light flashed past, and the black smoke quickly retreated like snow melting in direct sunlight. Finks' body was revealed.

Finks was two to three times bigger than most of the sphinxes. It was wearing a gold crown inlaid with many sunstones and moonstones. Its face and body were wrapped with white bandages, and only its long and narrow eyes could be seen. There was cold and vicious light shining in its eyes.

"I am… back… from… death…"

Finks' mouth did not move, but the voice continued. However, before the words were finished, Lucien's sword hacked right in its face.

Suddenly the sword burst out its great power, determined, fair, and brave!

Finks let out a bitter scream. The strips of bandage broke into pieces and the rotten and pale skin and flesh were exposed. Its golden-brown, fuzzy hair had turned into the clusters of black, filthy hair.

A strong stench came out when the flesh was cut open and the light yellow fluid went down. Facing the power of the sword, the fluid quickly evaporated.

In Finks' bitter scream, countless tiny black bugs crawled out of its body like dark clouds and prevented the blade from cutting deeper.

The power fiercely pushed Lucien backward. Lucien realized that Finks' body was even more resistant and strong than the hardest alloy from the Congress!

The black bugs fell down like it was raining. White and gray light covered Finks' body, and the light filled the gold coffin.

Under the unknown power, the gold lid was drawn back and the coffin was sealed again.

Everything calmed down, leaving the black smoke slowly rolling over and over in the air.

The power of Pale Justice, when facing demons, devils and the dead creatures, equaled that of a legendary level weapon!

Lucien used the sword to support the weight of his body, as the single one hacking had cost all of his strength. Fortunately, he had stopped Finks from coming back to this world.

Lucien never planned to directly fight against Finks, a legendary level creature. The reason why Lucien could hurt it was that Finks was still trapped in the gold coffin.

Therefore, seeing that the coffin stopped moving, Lucien took a few steps backward.

There were many questions in his mind – Who trapped Finks? Why? Why it could come back to life?

It was not a good time to time into all the questions. Lucien had to leave this place as soon as possible.

When he was about to leave, he recalled what Finks just said. He suddenly felt like playing a joke, so he slightly bowed in front of the coffin.

"Please go back to sleep."

…

Trembling, all the priests prostrated themselves on the ground under the great pressure from the stare of Prince Dracula, although the vampire prince had calmed down.

When the high priest felt a bit more relieved from the pressure, it felt something different happening behind the gate. The black smoke was stirring, as if it was embracing something, or celebrating.

The high priest knew that something was going on behind the gate. When he looked at the corridor, he saw a skinny sphinx wearing the gold crown decorated with many black feathers coming to him in a hurry.

"Your Holiness Hrotos." The high priest hurriedly lowered its head.

The skinny sphinx was the level nine holy priest, whose name was Hrotos.

The look on Hrotos' face was very serious, "A legendary level leader with a horrible power just passed here. I'm concerned that the long sleep of our king might have been affected."

Suddenly, Hrotos' eyes opened wide when seeing the gatekeeper, Aska, who was still standing straight in front of the gate, while Inke was sitting on the floor out of fear.

"It's a copy! Someone has sneaked into the gate!" As a level nine holy priest, Hrotos could easily tell.

The high priest was shocked. After casting a spell to check on Aska, the high priest finally realized what had happened.

"Someone's in the gate!" blurted out the high priest.

Chapter 390: The Demon Compact

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

The holy priest burst out an angry roar and pointed its gold scepter toward the Saint's Gate. Shining lines quickly lit up on the gray stone gate, outlining the strange shape of a beetle.

Suddenly, the Saint's Gate burst out strong light like a small sun. The light was so bright that the high priest had tears in its eyes. For a second, it could not see anything.

In the bright light, the gate slowly opened. The boiling black smoke was suppressed.

…

Lucien suddenly became very alert when he heard the gate opening. He had no idea what had happened, but he was certain that the sphinxes had somehow figured out that there was someone in there.

Should he activate the level nine scroll? Lucien was still holding Pale Justice in his one hand and in the other hand the scroll from Fernando. When his brain was working very hard to come up with the possible solutions, Lucien looked around in the palace. When he saw the gold coffin in the middle, he got an idea.

At that specific moment, it was still not necessary for him to waste this precious scroll.

The gate slowly opened, and bright light cast in.

Lucien used his left hand, the one holding the scroll, and took out another item from his magic pouch. In the middle, there was a cross, surrounded by sunlight rays. It was Maskelyne's Sun's Corona!

Since Finks had gone back to sleep, hiding in the gap of the World of Souls was less dangerous now!

The warm and soft feeling from the divine power soothed Lucien, although the space gap connecting to the World of Souls was just above the gold coffin.

The black winding gap was hanging above the coffin as if there was a sharp sword hanging over Finks.

Holding Pale Justice, Sun's Corona, and the scroll, Lucien jumped in the gap dragging his heavy body.

When the holy priest walked in and scanned the entire palace with its spiritual power, it found nothing there!

"Filthy desecrator!" Hrotos roared angrily, and all the sphinxes outside lay prostrate on the floor again.

Although the holy priest found nothing there, it did sense the smell of a stranger. Hrotos thought that the intruder had escaped.

Raising the gold scepter, Hrotos released a creepy roaring. One of its eyes turned as shiny as the sun, and the other was as bright as the silver moon.

In his creepy eyes, the scenes repeated. The holy priest saw the mysterious man wearing the black hood sneaking into the palace, hacking at the gold coffin, and when he jumped forward, the space twisted.

The ninth-circle spell, Retrospective Sight.

Although Hrotos could not see the details, it could tell that what the man did there.

The intruder had prevented Finks, their greatest king, from coming back to life!

"Your Holiness Hrotos, where is the intruder now?" asked the high priest using a lot of courage.

"He has escaped," said the holy priest coldly, whose voice sounded from hell, "He tried to ruin the body of our king to prevent him from coming back to life."

"Then…" said the high priest in panic.

"The greatest king's power is beyond that tiny bug's imagination," said Hrotos, staring at the gold coffin, "I can still feel that our king is watching us. I can still feel his overwhelming power."

Then Hrotos raised the scepter and tried to find more clues.

The light of sun shone, but it went dim suddenly. Hrotos was shocked, "He's not in this world?!"

No… that was not accurate. Hrotos could feel the man's existence, but it could not find him!

At least, the mysterious man was not in any dimensions that Hrotos knew.

…

After jumping through the heavy curtains at the entry of the World of Souls, Lucien felt the familiar deathly stillness. There was only black, white, and gray in this world.

However, he was still in the same palace, and the only difference was that it had been deprived of all the colors.

No, it was not all the colors. Lucien was shocked when he saw the dim red lines covering the gray-colored gold coffin. Those lines extended to all the magic circles in the palace.

Although the brownish-red color was rather dim, it still easily stood out in the black-and-white world, and there was no way that Lucien could ignore it. Above the gray coffin, there was also a bloody, dark-red light ball. It was beating like a heart in that very creepy world.

Closing his eyes, Lucien noticed that he could not feel this light ball at all with his spiritual power, however, when he opened his eyes, the light ball was just over there!

And there were many more things changing inside of the light ball.

Lucien wondered what that light ball was, and, in his eyes, these lines were drawing Finks' power. He tried his best not to spend some time there for any investigation, including collecting one of the lines, or taking a closer look at the light ball, after all, a senior-rank specter could be there at any time!

Putting back the sword, Lucien dispelled the spells for strengthening his power and cast a series of new defensive spells on himself. Then, he pushed open the Saint's Gate from inside.

There were no level eight or nine undead creatures since all of the holy priests and the highest priests could build their own tombs.

Beside the gate stood two sphinxes as well. They were the underworld guards wrapped in bandages.

The two guards released silent scream and attacked Lucien in a rigid way, like two cold statues.

Lucien calmly touched the corona that he was wearing in front of his chest, and a holy halo rippled out.

Affected by the warm light, the two guards suddenly became very stiff and they were trapped still. Then they were turned into two piles of ashes as if they had been weathered for thousands of years.

The six-level divine spell, Exorcist Halo!

Lucien quickly ran downwards along the corridor, and the halo was still around him.

The tomb behind the gate sensed the incompatible brightness and a great stir suddenly happened. In the world of black and white, the many underworld guards holding the spears came back to life and chased after Lucien with innumerable black little bugs like flood waves.

The entire tomb slightly trembled when the halo touched the edge of the insect waves and further spread out. The black bugs burned in smoke, and the gray and white guards were instantly demolished into ashes.

The corridor had been cleared out. Lucien ran fast through the corridors and he was already very close to the entrance of the tomb.

Suddenly, a tall and big guard whose eyes were shining with white light jumped out. Surrounded by a death halo and holding a giant sword, it directly rushed at Lucien from the corner.

Lucien did not try to avoid the attack, instead, he activated Sun's Corona before the layers of protection on him were cut open.

A thick light pillar shot down from the ceiling and directly hit the underground guard. The guard was instantly decomposed into many black light spots and they evaporated very quickly.

When the light pillar was gone, there was only a deep hole left on the floor. The black pieces were the remains of the guard.

The level eight divine spell, Sunburst!

Seizing the chance, Lucien ran out of the tomb and saw the gray sky of the World of Souls and the faded desert.

However, what Lucien just saw in the palace, including the dark-red lines, the hidden magic circles, and the dim light ball, still lingered in his brain. It seemed that they were all drawing Finks' power, and probably Rhine was stealing the power as well.

Lucien wondered who set up everything at the very beginning. He had some guesses, but the rust-colored light ball was still a great mystery to him.

However, he dared not to waste too much time there. Lucien activated the transformation mask and turned himself into one of the most common undead creatures in the World of Souls to find another exit.

…

In Viscount Nour's castle in Province Marimburg, Gusta Empire.

The viscount closed the door tight and activated all the magic traps, then walked into the secret chamber in his study. In the chamber, there were rows of beautiful females at different ages lying there, with their faces flushing like roses. It looked as if they were just sleeping.

The way that the viscount looked at them was sick and crazy. As if he was appreciating a piece of delicate artifact, Nour reached out his right hand and gently stroke one of the little girls' faces, who was just about thirteen or fourteen. He felt the coldness from her skin.

"They never understand… Bodies are the best in this world. Women with intelligence, they betray, they lie, they cause troubles… Only bodies are perfect! The coldness you feel when you touch them, and the soft muscles… This is art!" murmured the viscount crazily.

After being transformed into a vampire by a countess, Nour had developed necrophilia. Other vampires disdained him strongly, thus he needed to hide in human society to enjoy.

Suddenly, he sensed a certain stir in the air, and to his great shock, Nour discovered that he could not move anymore. In the mirror at the other end of the room, he saw a mysterious man wearing a black robe standing there.

"What… do… you… want?" Even his throat became very stiff.

Nour was very afraid. He knew that the man must be a senior-rank sorcerer as the third-circle necromantic trapping magic was very powerful.

"I was about to borrow a bit of your blood from you, and let you sleep for a while," said Lucien disgustedly, "but now… I have to say that I'll take your head."

After leaving the World of Souls through another gap, Lucien tried to find the vampires hiding in human beings society. Since Prince Dracula was still chasing after Rhine, turning himself into another vampire and returning to Night Highland was Lucien's best way out.

"No!" shouted Nour bitterly, but the sound he made sounded somehow ridiculous.

The bright light overwhelmed Nour and the beautiful bodies behind him.

…

Antiffler, Holy Heilz Empire, the grandest city in the world.

Standing in the corner and staring at the magnificent city wall built to prevent the invasion of the giants, Beaulac Von Anjou, the immediate member of the Gorse family, looked rather gloomy.

"Young Master, we shall go now." A thin man in a black jacket walked to him.

Beaulac turned around and slightly nodded, "I hear you, Giz. Hopefully, we can get something this time."

"Master Beaulac, the duke is still going to last for a while." Giz looked at the young man who was quite anxious, smiling.

As one of the most famous and long-living families in Holy Heilz Empire, the Gorse family today still had two gold knights and was in charge of its own order of chivalry – The Order of the Gorse. Since the eldest son of the old duke passed away many years ago, Beaulac had become one of the most promising contenders for the title because of his pure blood. However, for some reason, he had not awakened his Blessing yet, thus right now his competitor, Arthen, a level three grand knight, was having a great edge over him.

Thinking of how arrogant Arthen was and all the noble pleasers around him, Beaulac felt very humiliated.

He had sworn in his mind that one day he would make all the people who had once abandoned him feel extremely regretful!

Realizing that the magic potion from his family would not be helpful to him, after experiencing the great inner struggle, Beaulac finally made up his mind and came to the black market to seek for an amazing magic item that could do the job.

Led by Giz, Beaulac walked into an ordinary-looking villa. Under the villa, in a basement way more spacious than it would seem, hid the biggest black market in Antiffler.

Picking up magic items one by one and then dropping them down, Beaulac looked very disappointed.

At this time, a white-haired old man walked to him.

"Young man, I've seen your destiny in the crystal ball. Do you want to know it?" The mysterious old man smiled.

Beaulac's eyes suddenly opened wide, and he looked at the crystal ball in the old man's hand. How dare the sorcerer just show up like this in the black market?

"I don't believe in fate. Everything is a blessing from God." Obviously, Beaulac would not easily trust a stranger.

The old man wearing the black robe did not mind it, "It's fine. One's destiny is always changing. If you are desperate, come to me."

And then the old man left.

Shaking his head, Beaulac continued to look for the magic item he wanted. It was already the ninth time that he came there. As a quite stubborn person, he believed in the power of number nine. Beaulac was convinced that it was most likely for him to find the thing he wanted this time, and if he failed, the hope would become slim to none.

Right now, he was becoming more and more disappointed.

Maybe… maybe he could never defeat Arthen. Beaulac was beyond depressed.

"Young master… maybe we can try… I mean, the divination…" Giz suggested.

After a long silence, Beaulac nodded.

They went to the old man's booth and sat down, "Please."

The old man grinned as he gently stroke the crystal ball. It quickly became turbid inside.

Spots of light shone in the crystal ball and soon disappeared. The old man looked up and said, "You're expecting a great shift in your destiny."

"What is that?!" burst out Beaulac nervously.

The old man said slowly, "What I can see is that it will happen in the remote villa left by your father when the darkness arrives."

Beaulac was shocked that the old man had seen the remote villa belonging to his father. His father's mistress once lived there, and most of the family members did not know.

After paying the old man two Thales, Beaulac left the booth. Somehow, when he looked back, the old man had disappeared together with his tiny booth!

In the entire black market, they never found the black-robed old man again.

"Where did he go?" Beaulac and Giz exchanged a look filled with shock.

…

When night arrived, in the remote villa, Beaulac had dismissed all the servants. He tried to find something special in the house as indicated by the old man, but found nothing.

Beaulac became even more confused as he murmured to himself in the study. It was already mid-night, and the silver moon was hanging high in the sky .

When he was totally desperate, he saw that a beam of moonlight fell on his father's portrait. Under the moonlight, Beaulac saw the index finger of his father's right hand slightly distorted, pointing inward.

Inward?

Inside!

Beaulac jumped up from the couch and took out the portrait from the frame. After checking the portrait carefully, he discovered a piece of parchment behind it.

The parchment reminded him of his father's words that he was told a long time ago, "When you feel beyond desperate, come and see the portrait to find your power."

Beaulac's memory was rather vague. He hurriedly unfolded the parchment excitedly.

A piece of white paper fell out from the parchment roll, and he saw the familiar handwriting from his father.

"Beaulac, when you have lost all of your hope, you may want to borrow power from the compact. However, you cannot sell your soul to the demon, nor can you rely on it."

His breath became very heavy. The parchment was written in the ancient language of Sylvanas:

"The rule of demon: you pay when you want to get! Are you willing to accept it?"

Beaulac bit his lips tight and he gripped the parchment in his hand. After a while, he nodded heavily.

A line of words appeared on the parchment. Although Beaulac did not know the language, somehow he could understand it,

"You, who wants to sign the compact, shall follow the steps to summon the most powerful demon: when the clock strikes twelve, light a white candle in front of a mirror. With your hair disheveled, peel an apple. If the peeling goes all the way from the beginning until the end, and the candle does not go out, you will summon the demon!"

Chapter 391: Greed

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

Staring at the parchment in hand, Beaulac felt that it was just a joke. The so-called magic rite was too simple and ridiculous. It seemed that this magic rite just came from a piece of folktale.

How could anyone manage to summon the most powerful demon like that?

Although Beaulac never learned magic, he had some basic understanding of magic rites. As one of the most flourishing families with a long history in Holy Heilz Empire, the Gorse family had gathered a lot of precious documents related to magic, so the family members could be profound enough for their adventures outside of the empire. There were rumors saying that the Gorse family was the descendant of Thanos, the Sun King, from the ancient Sylvanas Magic Empire.

However, although at the first glance, the magic rite looked rather ridiculous, it was surely creepy. Maybe something powerful and mysterious was hiding behind it.

After around ten minutes, Beaulac started talking to himself as if he was puffing himself with the courage, "It wouldn't do any harm if I just tried it… Maybe it's just a joke, but maybe… I'm ready for signing the compact anyway."

He clenched his fists and the look on his face was quite distorted. His eyes were filled with enthusiasm and cruelty.

Looking up at the clock, Beaulac realized that it was already close to eleven thirty at night. He hurriedly set off to find the candle, mirror, apple, and knife.

However, the faster he rushed, the harder it was for him to collect all the materials. After more than ten minutes, he finally found a mirror and a knife, but the white candle and the apple were still nowhere to be found.

He was very regretful that he had dismissed all the servants and gave them one day off. He never had to rummage around himself!

His forehead was covered with sweat, and he even wanted to slap himself in the face, for he was going to miss that great opportunity tonight! It was almost twelve at midnight!

However, eventually, he managed to find a white candle and an apple in the kitchen.

He had never felt luckier before. Holding the candle and the apple in his hands, he felt the sincere joy.

Hurriedly running back to the study, Beaulac blew out the rest of the candles and only left one to provide light. Then, he placed all the items on the desk.

It was only two minutes to midnight. Beaulac made his blond hair a great mess and now he looked like a vicious wizard in the folktales.

After finishing all the work, he sat behind the desk and waited. Suddenly, a thought worried him greatly. He wondered if the clock was accurate.

Taking out his fancy pocket watch, Beaulac double-checked the time, but then he started to doubt if his pocket watch was still working properly.

Although Beaulac knew that it probably did not need to be this accurate, he was still very nervous. He felt that this was his last gleam of hope.

Tick-tack… Tick-tack… The sound of the clock sounded rather loud. Beaulac's heart beat fiercely as if it was going to jump out of his chest. His blood was flowing faster and faster.

Dang… The clock struck twelve. Beaulac's back suddenly straightened. He hurriedly blew out the candle and lit up the white one. Under such a great sense of pressure, he almost broke the candle.

The dim candlelight looked rather mysterious and dreamlike in the mirror, as if countless demons were hiding in the shadow.

In the dark closed room, Beaulac shivered from the atmosphere. He started believing in this magic rite now.

With his trembling hands, he picked up the knife and the green apple and started peeling it. Although he never peeled an apple himself, with his power equivalent to a high-level squire, Beaulac was quite good at controlling his hands. A few times, he almost failed, but still successfully got the job done.

When he looked in the mirror, he saw his face covered by his messy hair. The candlelight lit up part of his face.

He never looked at himself in this way, and Beaulac even dared not to recognize himself in the mirror, as if he had already fallen in the hell. The long and thin apple peel fell on the desk. Beaulac hurriedly looked up, hoping that the summoning had worked.

However, all he could see in the mirror was still himself.

Beaulac was very upset. He had no idea which step was wrong.

Suddenly, a cool draft rose in the closed study, making the candlelight flicker. Beaulac hurriedly looked in the mirror again and saw that there was a creepy smile on his face.

The 'Beaulac' in the mirror, with that vicious smile, started pulling the skin off from his face, and the bloody flesh underneath was revealed.

Beaulac wanted to scream but found himself unable to. He wanted to stay away from the mirror but discovered that he had been trapped on the seat.

The blood and flesh started wriggling and finally turned into a white-faced demon with a long red tongue hanging.

"You have summoned me, from the deepest places in hell. Now, you may say your request."

The extremely cold voice made Beaulac shiver, but at the same time he finally realized what was going on—he had indeed summoned the demon! The rite worked!

"I want to… I want to become a knight! A grand knight! No… I want to be the Gorse Duke!" burst out Beaulac, feeling extremely thrilled. At this time, in his eyes, the ugly and horrible demon was his last hope!

"You get; you pay. That's the rule of demons. Are you ready to pay?" With its long tongue hanging down, the demon put on a cold smile.

When Beaulac was just about to nod, a thought flashed through his mind and he stopped himself. Instead, he asked, "The costs are different, aren't they? For different things."

"Of course. I'm one of the seven most powerful demons from hell, and my name is Greed. Your pay must satisfy me," said the demon.

The demon's words reminded Beaulac of the most ancient story told in his family. In that ancient story, there were seven mysterious demons from ancient times, for example, Greed and Wrath.

Thus, Beaulac had completely believed in the compact and asked respectfully, "Your Excellency, Greed, what would cost me to be the duke, and what would it be to be a grand knight? What about just becoming a knight?"

When trading with a demon, one had to be extremely careful. Beaulac remembered the note left by his father.

Greed responded, "If you want to become the duke, you have to give me your soul when you die. No worries. Your soul will still be able to enjoy the endless happiness in my realm. If you choose to become a grand knight, you have to give me the rest of your life after reaching fifty. No matter who you are and how powerful you become, you can only live up to fifty years. If you just want to become a knight, you shall give me ten years of your life."

Beaulac took a deep breath and became hesitant. Of course, he did not want to sell his soul to the demon. What was the point of he becoming the duke if he had to die at fifty?

However, the demon, Greed, seemed to be quite different. It was not lying about anything, and it was very clear about all the consequences.

After a long time, Beaulac asked in the low voice, "After I make the choice this time, if somehow I fail to hit my final target, can I summon you and make another choice again?"

"No problem. But that will be another trade," said Greed.

"Then…" Beaulac took a deep breath, "I choose to become a knight who still has the potential to become a grand knight."

"As you wish. However, to do so, I have to slightly change your destiny track. So, you have to tell me in details whatever happened to you. The more detailed your description is, the more likely I can make sure that you can still become a grand knight in the future," said the demon in a very well-mannered way.

Beaulac could not wait to become a knight and did not doubt the demon's words. He was told that the more a prophet knew about a person, the more accurate the fortunetelling result would be.

"… My first time… happened when I was seduced by my father's mistress. She's getting old now, and I'm pulling away from her…" Beaulac confessed his life experience in great details, including his personality and many habits.

Outside of the study, the secret guard was just staring at the other end of the corridor. According to the tradition of the family, the guards could not interfere with inheritors' doing. As long as the inheritors had not sold their souls and betrayed the family, they could do whatever they had to become the duke, even including seeking the power from demons.

The motto of the family was: power and means form the foundation of everything.

Therefore, the guard did not stop Beaulac in the black market but simply protected the young master and later he was about to report this to the old duke. When he knew that the young master was looking for some white candles and apples, the guard wondered why the magic rite was so strange.

Soon after the rite started, the guard felt dizzy and then lost his consciousness.

…

In another room of the villa, wearing a black hood, smiling, Lucien was quietly looking at the mirror in front of them and listening to Beaulac's life story.

The best way to get someone's detailed information was to let the person talk himself!

Sometimes, even without using magic, one could steal another person's memory as long as the biggest weakness of the mind was found!

Chapter 392: The New Beaulac

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

When he was telling everything to the demon, Beaulac had a sense of relief, as he was letting out all the emotions that had been hidden for so long.

In the end, Beaulac felt that his mind was cleaner as if he had found the power to move forward.

The night was very quiet. Beaulac felt that his soul was drifting in the air and then slowly became part of the darkness. In the darkness, he felt very sleepy.

"You have signed the compact. When you wake up, you will find yourself a real knight," Greed's voice made Beaulac feel even more drowsy.

Beaulac was very excited and finally felt very relaxed. Then, he fell into the boundless darkness.

…

The secret guard outside of the study shivered because of the cold breeze in November, and then he heard a vague voice in the study, "You have signed the compact. You will give me ten years of your life as the payment, and you will become a knight, still with the potential to become a grand knight."

Frederick, the secret guard, who was a level-five grand knight, slightly nodded when hearing that Beaulac did not choose to sell his soul or betray the family. However, he had no idea why, for a short while, he felt very dizzy and lost his mind.

As there was no clock in the corridor, and Frederick also forgot to check his own pocket watch. He thought that his dizziness only lasted for around ten seconds, thus in his mind, everything was fine.

When Frederick extended his willpower into the room, he felt the strong heartbeat from Beaulac. He could tell that the heartbeat belonged to a knight.

It seemed that Beaulac, who had just become a knight, was not yet able to control the state of his body, thus Frederick was able to detect the difference.

Frederick could not believe that the ridiculous magic rite indeed worked, but it was true. Driven by greed, he felt like trying the magic rite as well, since he had been trying to become a radiant knight for almost thirty years!

…

In the study, Lucien looked at himself in the mirror in the dim candlelight. In the mirror, he had turned himself into a good-looking, blond young man with blue eyes.

It was known that the members from the Gorse family were all very good-looking. The blond Lucien smiled and combed his shoulder-length hair with his hand casually.

The gloomy and depressed Beaulac was gone, and he was now looking energetic and confident just the way he was five years before.

Among the many widely-told stories and poems about the Gorse family, although there were countless made-up or exaggerated ones, there was one thing true: the family was indeed the descendant of Thanos, the Sun King. Underneath one of their old villas in Antiffler lay the palace of Thanos, guarded by a gold knight all the time.

Lucien had to go to the palace, but there was no way that he could force his way into it.

The good news to Lucien was that there was an old and important tradition in this family: when time was proper, more than ten candidate successors would be sent to the secret underground palace, and they would fight against or cooperate with each other to explore the palace. The one who first completed the mission would be the first successor.

In the palace, the powerful knights in the family would not interrupt the competition. Only those who were dying would be sent out by magic circles. Therefore, the game was rather cruel: some chose to fight face to face; some chose to use the dirty methods; some lied; and others betrayed, and since the palace itself was rather mysterious and dangerous, the winner of each generation was either very powerful or resourceful. In other words, it was blood which made the family stay strong for hundreds of years.

However, in the recent several decades, the relatively remote nobles from the Gorse family also started to send their children to the palace to challenge the young nobles. In the game, they could also become closer to the possible future successor. Some young nobles from other big families might also join the game, as they simply wanted some excitement in their boring life.

In this game, social skills were very important.

Since only the Gorse family's blood could open the inner chamber where Thanos' Quadrant was kept. Based on Lucien's observation, he picked Beaulac, a young successor with many strong desires in his mind, which made his mind very vulnerable.

Because the spell for opening the chamber was very complicated, Lucien could not charm Beaulac to do the job for him. Lucien had to go himself.

In front of the mirror, Lucien made sure that the way he behaved was typical of Beaulac. Then, he looked at Beaulac, who was sleeping in the secret chamber which Lucien just spent two days building. He put on a smile and said to Beaulac, "When I have some spare time, I'll change your blood power."

If one still wished to grow into a grand knight after becoming a knight with external help, there was one way: a senior-rank vampire could change a person's blood power using another form of Embrace. And right now, Lucien was a senior vampire who was able to do so.

At the very beginning, it was vampires' Embrace that inspired the sorcerers when they were studying how to change blood powers.

At that time, they discovered that a vampire's Embrace could give the target the power of a knight, and the target was still able to increase the power further. Although the process would be much slower, this was definitely an easy way to obtain power.

The sorcerers thought that they had found the best way of acquiring power, and they used the method on some human beings. However, it turned out later that without a very strong willpower, one could never become a grand knight merely with external help. Even if magic could push a human being's body to the limit of a radiant knight or even a gold knight, the person would still die from the power collapsing, and his body would explode.

As for what would happen to Beaulac after he got the blood power from a vampire, Lucien did not care. Sometimes, Lucien could be as cunning as a demon.

And if Beaulac could be very careful, it was very unlikely that the family would notice, unless someone caught Beaulac sucking blood right on the spot and carefully checked. The power of the family came from Thanos, the Sun King, and thus any blood powers, or Blessings as the Church called it, that were related to the stars in the sky could be awakened, including the top ones such as Sun, Silver Moon, and Stars, and the relatively inferior ones including Thanos and the ones named after the other constellations. Therefore, the blood power of Silver Moon was very similar to the power of vampires.

Blowing out the candle, Lucien walked to the bedroom in the darkness, with his eyes dimly shining with a light akin to moonlight.

In the darkness, Fredrick slightly nodded. He had recognized the power—Silver Moon.

After the transformation, Lucien was still able to use his blood power, and his, Moonlight, worked especially great with the power of the Gorse family.

Lucien's plan worked very well. At the very beginning, Lucien had planned everything. Beaulac's choice would not affect the plan at all.

…

In Fredrick's eyes, the young master only spent a few days getting used to the power before becoming active again.

A fancy coach drawn with delicate pattern of gorses under the sunlight was speeding along a wide street.

The profound citizens living in this capital along both sides of the street were guessing who was in the coach. Was it Arthen who was getting all the attention? Or was it the poor Beaulac?

They knew from the shape and design of the coach that the person sitting in it was not a duke, marquis, or count. In Holy Heilz Empire, where the traditions were highly respected, any arrogation of the ranks was strictly forbidden.

"Obviously, it's Beaulac, the poor guy," said a citizen with great confidence, as if he was a member of the Gorse family. "Baron Arthen is a grand knight. He has his own seal. Beaulac never managed to awaken his blood power. He's not even close to my neighbor, Liddell."

Another man shook his head, "Baron Arthen is very confident with winning the dukedom, thus he never uses his own seal. He's been waiting for the day after the competition next month when he can use the gold-eye seal of the family."

Like the title, the Violet Countess, for the Violet family, the Gorse family's leader's title was the Tillis Count, and the core of the seal was a gold eye.

The residents in the capital were indeed quite knowledgeable. They even knew that the family competition would be carried out a month later.

Sitting in the fancy coach, Lucien, wearing the brand-new white shirt, was heading for a party held by the son of a count.

"Look, look… Aren't you Beaulac? I thought you went missing."

Lucien heard the sarcastic tone from the left side of the coach. He lifted the curtain and saw a dark-red coach moving parallel with his. From the window, the eyes on a pale face were looking at Beaulac with excitement and provocation.

"I'm terribly sorry, Duda. I never went missing, to your great disappointment," answered Lucien calmly. Recalling Beaulac's narrative, Lucien recognized the pale face. He was the son of Count Porti and used to hang out with Beaulac a lot, but now he was a loyal supporter of Arthen.

Seeing the confident smile on Beaulac's face, Duda recalled the time when Beaulac was gaining the greatest momentum several years ago. What happened to Beaulac? Duda could not help wondering.

"No kidding… You're coming over to Deniz's party?! Don't you know that Arthen will show up with Jocelyn tonight?" Duda hated seeing today's Beaulac, and he kept trying to embarrass his friend from the past.

"So? Arthen is not yet the Gold-eye Count," responded Lucien in a plain tone.

Beaulac loved Jocelyn before, who was the daughter of a marquis. He had spent a lot of time on pursuing her, but when they were about to engage, Arthen took Jocelyn away from him.

Seeing that Beaulac remained so indifferent, Duda tightened his right fist. He had no idea what had happened to Beaulac, but what Duda did know for sure was that Beaulac was even more confident and calm than he was before, as if everything was under his control!

Putting down the curtain, Lucien closed his eyes. His coach continued moving forward toward the garden villa where Deniz was holding the party.

Duda sat in the coach with a gloomy face. He knew that he must tell Arthen about this.

Chapter 393: The Guests

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

November was the Month of Winter. The city in the north, Antiffler, was ready to become the world of ice and snow at any time under the freezing wind.

The light blue and clear river named Donati went through the city, and Count Mecklen's garden villa was located on the piece of highland near the river. Behind the villa, there was a very steep hill called Saxony, carved with countless fine relief sculptures.

This was a classic pillar-structured villa, which accorded with the conservative building style of Holy Heilz Empire. However, when Lucien went through the garden blooming with the light-purple flowers called Crystal Elf and stepped into the hall, he discovered that the design of the place was definitely inspired by the passion from the Kingdom of Syracuse based on its luxurious decoration, the featured curved lines on the walls, and the unique layout of the place.

The walls around and the ceiling above were drawn with many beautiful half-naked young women. Together with the well-built male statues placed in the space, a bold and unrestrained atmosphere was created.

Lucien had some understanding of art and psychology. When he was appreciating the stunning design of the place, he was also trying to figure out what the young nobles of the empire were thinking. It seemed that the younger generation of the nobles in Holy Heilz Empire had been fed up by the extremely conservative traditions and rules, and they were leaning toward the luxurious style from the Kingdom of Syracuse not far away from them.

This was for sure a piece of good news for the Congress of Magic and the Kingdom of Holm.

While many places like Allyn, the Kingdom of Holm, and the Duchy of Calais were all developing at a fast pace with great energy, and the popularization of the alchemical items were also bringing many big changes to the social structures and people's way of thinking, the younger generations in Holy Heilz Empire and the Kingdom of Syracuse were still blindly enjoying their wealth and extravagant way of living.

When the young fell, the nation fell. Those people who worried could survive, and those who saw no dangers would die.

Wearing a polite smile on his face, Lucien walked to the host of tonight's party, Deniz Mecklen.

"My dear Beaulac, I thought you wouldn't come!" said Deniz, who was a delicate and pretty young man with long blond hair. There were many exquisite designs on his dark-red suit, including the mysterious ruby brooch and the fine silver chains.

In Lucien's eyes, Deniz was like a postmodernism artist, which complied with the description of Beaulac: Deniz was passionate about painting and sketch, and he also designed jewelry and clothes himself. At the same time, he regarded himself as a fine and perfect female, and thus Deniz liked men.

Lucien knew that he could never underestimate Deniz, who was the first one among the younger generation of the nobles in Antiffler to become a grand knight. At that moment, Deniz was only around twenty-seven, but he was already a level-five grand knight, and his blood power, Thunder, was very powerful.

After gently hugging Deniz, Lucien grinned, "Why wouldn't I?"

Deniz covered his mouth and giggled, "That was just my instinct. Men are always rude but fragile. I was afraid that you and Arthen might give each other some hard time over the party, and I know that Arthen has been waiting for this opportunity for so long, so he could rule you out from the underground palace competition. Then, it would be way easier for him to win the game. The rest of the monkeys will bend their knees in front of him."

Lucien had some uncomfortable feeling in his stomach, but he tried to maintain the loving smile on his face, "Monkeys are just monkeys."

Lucien's response surprised Deniz, and he looked at Lucien with his light-brown eyes, "What happened to you, Beaulac? You're different now. I can feel your confidence."

Playing to be mysterious, Lucien just smiled but did not say anything.

Deniz giggled again, "This is getting very interesting now. I'm wondering if I should go down there as well. Please me, Beaulac. Maybe I am willing to help you beat Arthen."

The fact that maybe Beaulac could win the important help from Deniz was the very reason why Beaulac accepted the invitation to the party.

Lucien purposefully put on a quite encouraged look, but he also said, "Maybe Arthen will have some helpers as well."

Deniz laughed, "Don't get all excited. This is not a decision yet. The old one in my family carries a lot of hope in Arthen after all."

Clearly, Deniz was waiting for Beaulac to ask again and use all the means he could to please him, but Lucien did not really need his help. So, he decided to look up at the ceiling.

"Isn't this my beloved cousin Beaulac?"

The deep and feigned voice came from the gate.

Lucien believed that he had heard the voice earlier when he was walking around. Turning around, Lucien saw a tall blond man walking toward them holding the arm of a beautiful young woman.

The young man was wearing a fancy and formal uniform from the military. On his right chest, there was a fine ribbon, and on the other side, there was a row of medals. Beside him, the young lady was very elegant dressing in a light-blue evening dress. She was definitely attracting most of the men's attention at the party.

Lucien looked at the blond man and grinned, "Arthen, you might want to behave in a more mature way, as a member of our Gorse family. The other guests here might think we're rude when you are yelling."

"Beaulac, you…" The look in Arthen's eyes changed. What Duda told him was correct. Something had happened to Beaulac, and right now he was showing a completely different attitude to him!

Arthen did not show his thoughts on his face, instead, he still put on a smile, "My dear cousin, nobility comes from our blood. A noble who cannot awaken his blood power is not qualified. Also, you know nothing about art. You don't know painting, music, piano, or poem. You tell me how you differentiate yourself from those ordinary citizens. After all, many of them at least know how to play a musical instrument!"

When Beaulac was the most promising inheritor of the title, he was busing with reaching out to the other nobles and attending all the parties, so he hardly had any time studying art. And when he lost his edge, he devoted all his time to knight training, but he obtained nothing in the end. Thus, many nobles called Beaulac a savage behind his back.

Lucien was not interested in winning the quarrel. He simply lifted his eyebrow a bit and responded, "He who laughs last laughs best."

"Oh, really? I've heard that you've been to the black market very often recently, my dear cousin. I'm sure that you've discovered some good stuff there. But I would like to advise you to think about how far you can go with this external help." Arthen was indicating that he was constantly watching Beaulac.

As he was saying it, Arthen held the young lady's hand tight in his own, "And the really wise lady, like Jocelyn, always chooses someone like me."

Jocelyn lowered her flushed face. However, to Lucien, a real wise lady should always rely on herself and her power.

When Lucien was considering how he should respond to this in accordance with Beaulac's personality, the hall suddenly quieted down. A blond girl dressing in an exquisite white evening dress showed up at the gate. Decorated with sweet laces, the girl was like an elf. She was not very tall, but there was energy in her elegance. Behind her, there was an old lady wearing a black dress.

"It's my great pleasure to have you here, Princess Sophia." Deniz walked to her and kissed her hand respectfully.

Somehow, Lucien could always encounter princesses.

Sophia grinned, "Deniz, I'll only recognize your hospitality if you play for me."

Deniz giggled with his pinkie up, "Come on, I'm not good at it. There're so many guests here. We should have a gentleman playing for us."

Lucien had some uncomfortable feeling in his stomach. When he looked up, he saw that the old lady was looking at him.

The old lady's eyes slightly squinted. It seemed that she could tell Lucien's knight power.

"I'd like to play for you, Your Highness." All of a sudden, Arthen stood out.

The look on Jocelyn's face became quite gloomy.

As known to all, Princess Sophia was a big piano fan. However, because she was not a knight and she did not have much talent in music, she was not good at playing the piano at all. At the same time, she was the second-in-line inheritor of the empire and a level five alchemist, thus Princess Sophia also had many pursuers.

Arthen's proposal surprised Deniz, after all, he was just joking. On the other hand, Sophia just smiled and her green eyes looked at Arthen, "I am looking forward to it, then."

Feeling encouraged, Arthen walked to the piano in the center of the hall and started playing.

Hearing the song, Lucien could not help rubbing his forehead, as what Arthen was playing was For Silvia.

Soon, Arthen finished his playing. All the nobles started applauding. Although Arthen was not good at music, as a grand knight, it was not hard for him to play a music piece after proper training.

Seeing the beautiful smile on the princess' face, Arthen stood up wearing a triumphant look. He cast a glance at Beaulac suggesting it again that he was nothing more than a savage.

Lucien spent a few seconds considering how Beaulac would respond to this, and then he also stood out, "Your Highness, can I do an improvisation for you?"

"What?" Both Deniz and Arthen were very surprised.

The surprised look on Sophia's face only lasted for a second, and then her elegant smile returned, "This is really out of my expectation, Beaulac. I did not expect that you would stand out. But if you can play a beautiful piano piece for me tonight, I would see hope again in my own playing. Are you going to give me some confidence?"

Her voice was soft and gentle. The scent of her body was very charming.

"I will." Lucien had already fallen in love with someone else, so he was not much influenced by the charismatic princess.

Lucien sat down in front of the piano and put his hands on the keyboard. Then, he pressed down the first key gently.

The impromptu was very beautiful. Deniz opened his mouth big as he could not believe that a savage could play such a beautiful song. Arthen looked very upset. He now believed that Beaulac had found some really useful magic items from the black market.

Lucien soon finished his playing. Sophia smiled and applauded, "Thank you, Beaulac, for giving me the confidence. I never knew that you were this talented in music."

After bowing slightly, Lucien walked to the princess, "About this, I've got a secret to share with you, Your Highness."

"Oh really? What is that?" Sophia blinked out of curiosity.

"Of course," said Lucien like a gentleman, "I can only share it with you, Your Highness."

All of the nobles could tell that Beaulac was trying to stay closer to the princess, but there was nothing they could do to stop him.

Lucien whispered in the princess' ear, "If you only play the black keys, in other people's eyes, you will look like an expert as well."

Sophia burst out laughing. When she laughed, she was as beautiful as a blooming flower. The nobles, including Arthen, were rather jealous.

The black keys could form the pentatonic scale, thus even an improvisation could produce a piece of classic melody.

Chapter 394: Their Own Plans

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

Although Princess Sophia was quite outgoing, as a well-educated princess, it was very unusual for her to burst out laughing like that. Seeing that Sophia was so amused by the trick, the rest of the nobles were very jealous. They wondered what Beaulac had told the princess and why it made the princess so happy.

It took Sophia a few seconds to calm down, and then her beautiful green eyes blinked. "Beaulac, you're very interesting. More interesting than I thought."

When the princess first became active in those social events, Beaulac was frustrated with the fact that he was not getting any attention. Facing the elegant and noble princess, as a hopeless inheritor, Beaulac never dared to take one step forward, although he knew that marrying the princess could for sure consolidate his position.

Therefore, the impression Beaulac left Sophia with was not good at all: gloomy, silent, and there was no hope for him at all to become the next Gorse Duke.

Lucien bowed deep to the princess, "Thank you so much for your sweet comment, Your Highness."

At this time, Lucien sensed that the mouth of the old lady standing behind Sophia slightly opened. And then the princess smiled again. Sophia held the corner of her dress in her hands and leaned forward. She whispered in Lucien's ear right in front of the public, and Lucien could feel her sweet scent from the breath.

"You're much better than these nobles who only know how to fight against each other and how to enjoy their extravagant life. They are so boring. I hope you won't become one of them."

Lucien was very surprised that, all of a sudden, the princess just became so close to him. He tended to be very suspicious by nature, thus Lucien did not believe that the princess was simply in love with him.

There was something unusual behind it, but what was it?

Did the old lady just tell the princess that Beaulac was already a knight? Maybe the princess wanted to get involved in the selection of the Gorse family's next duke to keep the family in better control of the royal family?

Although Lucien had many thoughts in his mind, he pretended to be shy and also excited. He nodded hard and said in a low voice beside the princess' ear, "I'll stick to who I am, Your Highness, and I won't let you down."

Lucien's response was so reasonable that he would even regard himself as a good actor. When he was talking, he made his breath hot and deep. The breath touched the princess' earlobe, and the princess' ear and neck began to redden.

As a very experienced actor, Lucien was sure that the princess was not in love with Beaulac.

However, what Lucien was thinking did not matter. Many of the nobles were now staring at Lucien very aggressively.

Sophia dropped down the corner of her dress and tried to put on a sincere but casual smile, "I'm glad that now I know you better, Beaulac."

Before Lucien could respond, she looked at Deniz and hurriedly said, "I've got something to ask you, Deniz."

"Let's go to the dressing room, then." Deniz held the princess by her arm and led her out of the hall. He was also curious what Beaulac had told Sophia.

With his eyes slightly squinted, when Lucien was looking at the princess from behind, he sensed a burning feeling on his face. Turning around, he noticed that the old lady wearing a black dress was staring at him coldly.

He nodded to the old lady, but only received an even colder look. The nobles spread out in small groups after the princess left, and Lucien was now all alone by himself.

Some tried to talk to Beaulac, but they were just doing some casual greetings. Lucien was definitely excluded, especially when compared to Arthen who was having a heated conversation in his group.

Picking up a glass of Gold Rum, which was Beaulac's favorite, Lucien tried to make himself look more decent.

"Beaulac, you've changed a lot."

When Lucien was taking his first sip, a soft female voice came to him.

It was Jocelyn.

Lucien saw that Arthen was surrounded by a bunch of young nobles, laughing and making small talk. He turned around and smiled to Jocelyn. "When one is desperate, one seeks for changes. Only changes can bring new hope. I have nothing to lose, so I'm not afraid of changes."

Lucien was quite satisfied with his ambiguous response.

"If… I mean if you had been like this last year, I wouldn't have…" Jocelyn sighed, but she did not finish her sentence. Turning around, Jocelyn's figure looked rather lonely.

Swirling the golden liquid in the glass, Lucien thought to himself that if the real Beaulac was there, he would probably show mercy on Jocelyn because of what she just said, but Lucien would not. When they were in the underground palace, Lucien would still do what he should do.

Holding the glass, he casually walked around in the hall. He saw a blond beauty dressing in black walking toward him. The blond beauty had deep blue eyes and looked a bit like Beaulac.

"Dear cousin, I am glad to see you like this." The beautiful lady gently clinked her glass against Beaulac's.

"I thought you'd be glad that one of your competitors was gone, Claire," said Lucien casually.

Claire von Anjou was Beaulac's cousin, a female knight, and also a competitive inheritor of the title. In most countries, since both men and women could become a knight, women also had the heirship to the title.

"No, without you, Beaulac, I would become Arthen's target. I know I am not able to handle him." Claire smiled. "He is too flamboyant and aggressive, and if he is the winner, it's a piece of bad news for all of us. He is for sure going to give us a very hard time. So, comparatively speaking, I would rather have you to be the Gold-eye Count."

"So, what are you trying to say?" Lucien put on a confident smile as if everything was under his control.

Claire grinned, "We cooperate with each other and teach Arthen a good lesson in the underground palace. After we solve the biggest trouble, we can have a fair competition. What do you think?"

"My pleasure," Lucien answered simply, without mentioning anything that would take place after beating Arthen.

Seeing that Beaulac did not care about the following competition at all, in her mind, Claire was quite concerned. She had no idea why Beaulac seemed so confident. Before turning around and leaving, Claire reached out her left hand and held Lucien's, and her fingers gently scratched Lucien's palm. Her voice became deep and arousing, "No matter who wins in the end, we can still enjoy a wonderful night together."

"Claire…" Lucien was quite shocked.

She put on a sophisticated smile, "Don't pretend, Beaulac. You even sleep with your father's mistress, and I am just your cousin. If you can awaken the blood power, Sun, we can even get married."

The blood power called Sun required the pure blood, therefore, in many empires, it was very common that close relatives got married, such as the Rafati family from the Duchy of Violet, and the Gorse family was no exception.

Standing with her back to Lucien, the smile on Claire's face disappeared, and it was replaced with a sarcastic sneer.

Lucien slightly shook his head. Although he had no idea what she wanted from him, he was clearly aware of the fact that what he wanted was different from all of theirs. After a while, when Lucien walked close to the balcony, a blond man suddenly approached him and invited him to the balcony to have a conversation.

"Yes, Relph?" asked Lucien a bit impatiently.

Relph was another possible inheritor from the family. He was quite good-looking, but he had not awakened his blood power yet.

In the cold wind, Relph looked rather serious but also excited, "Beaulac, I wish to work with you to beat Arthen. He is too powerful. If we don't unite, there would be no chance for us to win."

"That's good." Lucien's attitude remained uncertain.

"I know who your father is. He's the youngest brother of the duke. And I know you must have got a lot of extraordinary magic items or magic potions from him. You can't see my worth, right?" Seeing Lucien's attitude, Relph was a bit irritated. "Look, I've awakened my blood power, Sun!"

"What? Sun?" Lucien was quite surprised.

Relph first looked back and then he turned around, "This is my biggest weapon, and I'm now telling you this to show my sincerity."

When he was saying it, a ray of sunlight appeared in his hand, which showed that he could use magic.

"I'm glad to have you on my side," said Lucien using Claire's words. "Our biggest competitor is Arthen. We first beat him, and then we see who is the winner."

"Good. You're seeing this very clearly. I gotta go now, or Arthen would see us…" said Relph. "By the way, be careful with Claire. It seems that she has been involved with the royal family."

"Understood." Nodded Beaulac seriously.

As soon as Relph left, the look on Lucien's face relaxed. As a senior-rank arcanist, sorcerer, and a member of the Review Board, Lucien knew that the power that Relph used to cast the sunlight ray was not his blood power! Obviously, Relph had his own plans as well.

However, Lucien did not care. He knew that none of the nobles could become his concern.

…

In the study of the Gorse family's manor, the old duke was reading a report carefully. Part of his hair had turned gray.

"Greed… Demon Greed…" There was a sophisticated smile on the old duke's face. Fredrick, one of the men protecting Beaulac, was right now standing in front of the old duke.

Fredrick nodded seriously, "I've read the piece of parchment and I heard it myself, Your Highness."

"Good. This time you will go down into the underground palace as well. As the invisible power for protection, you need to keep things under control," said the duke seriously.

"Yes, my lord," said Fredrick very respectively.

After Fredrick left, a figure covered with a long black robe sneaked out of the shadow in the corner, "Why do you want to send him there? He's going to help Beaulac. Have you changed your mind and now you want Beaulac to win?"

The only duke only sneered. His eyes focused on the word "Greed" in the report.

Chapter 395: Gathering Together

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

In the following month, Lucien spent most of his time getting used to and improving his blood power, like what the real Beaulac would do. In the rest of the time, he attended many parties held by different nobles, where he further achieved a few preliminary agreements with them for the cooperation in the underground palace. He also remembered to go back to the remote villa to reinforce the power of Fake Death and Sleep (Strong) that he cast on the real Beaulac and gave Beaulac the nutrition to survive. So far, Lucien had not found the time to conduct the magic experiment on Beaulac to awaken his blood power.

Today, the sky was rather gloomy, and the wind was freezing. It seemed that the first storm of the year was coming.

The smell of old rotten wood was everywhere in the Gorse family's villa built in the time period of the ancient magic empire. Lucien was wearing a black knight armor and walked down to the bottom floor of the basement with great confidence.

Seeing Lucien's manner, the leaders of the Gorse family, no matter if they liked Beaulac or not, slightly nodded. In their eyes, the spirit that Beaulac was carrying right now matched the great honor of the family, and only a young noble like this was qualified for chasing after the dukedom.

"It's been only a month… Beaulac looks pretty good. Wait… has he awakened his blood power?" exclaimed Nuremburk von Anjou, the Aldenburg Count, who almost forgot to put back his thick cigar back to his mouth out of his surprise.

Nuremburk von Anjou was the third most powerful member of the family. He was a level eight radiant knight, respected as Dim Starlight. It was very easy for Nuremburk to tell the power of Beaulac since Lucien was not hiding it at all.

Ulrich, the Gorse Duke, a level-seven radiant knight respected as the Moon of Order, nodded. "The heritage that he got from his father definitely helped him with to awaken his power."

"Beckman had much of uncle's affection. He must have some good stuff." Nuremburk looked at the duke with a meaningful smile on his face. Both Ulrich and Nuremburk had the same blond hair and blue eyes, but some of the duke's hair had gone gray.

The uncle that Nuremburk mentioned was the father of Ulrich and Beckman, the previous duke. It was said that the previous duke had considered Beckman to be his inheritor, but in the underground palace, Ulrich all of a sudden revealed his power as a level-five grand knight, thus he finally beat Beckman, who had a lot of magic and divine items. In the end, Ulrich became the inheritor of the dukedom.

The marquises and counts from the family were all looking at the old duke with a strange look on their face. In their mind, they shared the thought that Beckman died young because of the old duke.

When Beaulac had no blood power, he was not a big deal to the old duke at all. However, Beaulac was totally different now. Such a confident and calm young man surely would get the special attention from the old duke.

As the duke, Ulrich said in a cold tone, "I don't like those who win because of the powerful items, but a winner is a winner. A winner will not be condemned and will have everything promised."

Obviously, the old duke was holding a contemptuous attitude toward Beaulac, but he also promised that he would make this competition fair.

"Very good," said Nuremburk meaningfully. In his mind, he doubted any grandiose speech from the noble family, especially the duke who had been controlling the family for almost forty years.

Within the Holy Heilz Empire, there were many other noble families that longed for the Gorse family's power with envy, not to mention the mysterious and ambitious emperor. Thus, Ulrich must be very capable as the leader of the Gorse family.

The Emperor, Rudolf II, was the only one who managed to ascend to the legendary level after inheriting the throne after the first few ancestors in the blessed family. His power was horrific, and he gave himself a strange title, the New Law and the First Born.

When the leaders of the family in front of the weird stone gate were talking, Lucien joined the other family members who were already there.

Claire and Relph pretended to regard Beaulac as their enemies, so they did not even greet him. The atmosphere was a bit embarrassing.

After a few seconds, Arthen, who was still wearing his fancy military suit, walked in with his noble friends, including Jocelyn and Duda. With great confidence, he nodded to the other family members, including Lucien.

"Are you going as well?" Seeing that Jocelyn, Duda and the rest of the young nobles were fully-equipped, Nuremburk asked.

Duda's voice came from underneath the sallet and it sounded hollow, "Yes, Your Excellency. I'm only one step away from becoming a real knight. My father sees the competition as a great opportunity. If anything happens, I believe that the magic circles built by the Gorse family can send us out in time. We won't die in there."

Obviously, Duda was more or less afraid.

"I can assure you. Aside for the magic circles, the Glorious Crown, Sir Metatron, will also go down into the palace to keep things under control," said Nuremburk assuringly. He and Duda's father, Count Porti, were friends. And of course, he did not mention the hidden power. The Gorse family wanted no one from the other noble families to die in the palace as they did not welcome any unnecessary trouble.

Hearing Nuremburk's words, Lucien closed his eyes to hide his concern. The fact that Metatron would also be in the underground palace was not a piece of good news for him.

The Glorious Crown, Metatron, was one of the two gold knights in the Gorse family. He was almost three hundred years old, much senior to the current leaders of the family. Thus, he was very respected.

"There is no need for us to worry at all knowing that Sir Metatron will also be there." Duda nodded, feeling more relieved.

Although most of the young nobles had awakened their blood power on their own, they still lacked real fighting experiences when compared to the nobles from the Duchy of Violet and some other countries. The greatest challenge that they ever faced was fighting against the goblins and cynocephalus. In other words, they were like flowers living in a greenhouse.

Therefore, when facing a real cruel fight, the young nobles were still very nervous.

Seeing that Nuremburk was looking at them, Jocelyn put on an elegant smile, "Sir, I am already a knight, and I want to be on my fiance's side."

The rose-colored chain mail revealed her beautiful figure. Many of the young nobles standing behind Arthen were stealing a glance at Jocelyn from time to time.

Hearing Jocelyn's words, a big smile appeared on Arthen's face. At the same time, the rest of the nobles turned to stare at Beaulac, waiting for the embarrassed look on Beaulac's face.

However, Lucien was just smiling, as if he was watching a boring opera.

Lucien's response greatly disappointed Duda and Arthen, and a young noble named Andris could not help being sarcastic, "Beaulac, are you a lady?!"

In his eyes, Beaulac was just a coward!

Lucien cast a glance at Andris and then said, "I hope you won't kneel down in front of me later."

"We'll see. Are you going to fight with the many items left by your father?" Andris saw the pouch tied to Lucien's belt around his waist.

"I can promise you that you will never want to see them in person," said Lucien using a threatening tone. Lucien had put his rings, amulet and all of the other divine and magic items in the pouch.

When Andris was totally pissed off by Lucien's attitude, a bunch of people walked in from the gate of the basement, and Deniz was the one leading the group.

"Hi, dear Beaulac, we're here to help you," greeted Deniz right in front of the nobles. However, no one was paying attention to him, since the blond-haired and green-eyed young lady was Princess Sophia, the only daughter of Rudolf II.

"Sophia, you are here for the competition as well?" Ulrich, the Gorse duke, slightly frowned.

There was a very sweet and adorable smile on Sophia's face, "That's right, uncle Ulrich. I want to join the competition to see what will happen down there. It's also a test for myself. I'm a level five alchemist. Even without the protection of Ms. Marnina, I am still the most powerful one among all of us."

"But…" All the leaders of the Gorse family were rather hesitant. If anything ever happened to the princess, the family would be in great trouble.

"Let me in please, uncle Ulrich! I can protect myself!" Sophia blinked and secretly pointed at her chest, indicating that she still had another way to guarantee her own security, "Some other royal family members also went down before, and I've been given my father's permission."

The last royal family member who joined the competition was the emperor himself, and at that time, he was still a prince.

Since the emperor had agreed, Ulrich nodded with a gloomy face, "Do be careful."

"Yeah!" Sophia celebrated happily. Then she walked to Lucien with Deniz. Today she was wearing an armored, milk-white dress, and she greeted, "Good to see you again, Mr. Beaulac."

The princess was as beautiful and sweet as a blooming tulip surrounded by many butterflies and bees, and Lucien found it was hard to remove his eyes from her.

"I will try my best to protect you, Your Highness, even at the cost of my life," Lucien answered using the opera tone. However, his heart was filled with questions. Why did Sophia want to join the competition? What was her plan? Was she just helping Beaulac become the next inheritor of the Gorse family?

Lucien hoped that his plan could still be carried out as he expected.

The rest of the nobles looked rather pissed. They had no idea why the princess would show affection to this useless Beaulac. The princess was a level five alchemist with an awakened blood power!

Meanwhile, many young nobles started considering if they should join Beaulac's group. In their eyes, with the support of the princess and Deniz, Beaulac was very likely to win!

All of a sudden, the situation had changed!

Suddenly, a deep voice came from the gate, "Uncle Ulrich, I am in as well."

All of them were very surprised. A tall and blond man walked in. His face was very featured, showing his manhood. Obviously, he was a tough man.

Seeing that the man looked a bit like the princess, Lucien was even more confused. Why was everyone interested in the competition of the Gorse family?

"The prince?!" They could not believe his eyes.

The young man who was wearing the simple silver armor was the first successor in order of Holy Heilz Empire – Beyer, the Prince of Steinburg!

He was a genius close to becoming a radiant knight!