Half-step Purgatory

Durin stroked the black cat on the armrest of his chair, sitting on the black leather sofa. Through the glasses perched on his nose, his gaze passed over the long table in front of him and settled on the man kneeling on the carpet:
"I understand, you've made money in Naples, your business has been very successful, and you've led a happy life. You've had those secret police, friends in both the law and the underground, and even the Royal Family speaking on your behalf."
"You don't need a friend like me, I know that. You're afraid of owing me a favor, and you don't want to get involved in troubles."
"But now you come to me and say, 'I beg you, Mr. Durin of the Corleon family, please help me seek justice, so that my life and my family will not suffer and sink into despair.'
Yet, in your eyes, I was nothing more than a second-rate artist involved in movies and music. Even at the brink of death, you still show me such disrespect, not even willing to call me by my title... Keeper of Secrets."

Durin's Diary

On the first day, two hundred and forty-seven children awakened, seventy-nine among them.


On the second day, six hundred and twenty-eight children, two hundred and one awakened.


Old Man watched Durin demonstrate his ability on the second day and mentioned that in Chang Tang, there were Candle Dragons with abilities like Durin's, but the chances were much higher here, more than thirty percent.


"It seems your sister awakened early because of you," Old Man said, slapping his thigh. "That won't do, I must send a letter back home. Since you can't return, I will have the Mo Family children come to Eternal Forge Fortress. You have to help me with this."


"Of course." Durin replied, "If it weren't for you and Mr. Yan, I would have been overwhelmed these past few days."


Durin, of course, could not stand idly by concerning the matters of the two, especially Old Man and the Mo Family affairs, though tangled with many, were at least more reliable than those of the Mo family.


Chapter 43: Change