Chapter 29: Secret Plotting

Late at night, Grey had been asleep for a long time.

It was a dreamless night, and the deepest sleep slowly restored his exhausted body. Potent magic and vitality-restoring potions multiplied this process severalfold.

An ancient saying prevailed in the Gray Dwarf tribe: "Time is gold." But that referred to the time of ordinary people or those in subordinate dimensions. For individuals like Grey or even Lianna Dawnlight, their time, especially in the primary dimension, could no longer be measured solely in gold.

Grey knew he had taken the most crucial step, hence he slept particularly deeply and peacefully. The pent-up emotions from many days seemed to have been released during the wild galloping of the Iron-clad Horse. However, at this moment, he was still not fully aware of the impact his magical tattoo construct had on others, even on the entire Deep Blue.

Steven's residential area was larger than Aiden Grey's, with three more floors. To outsiders, this not only indicated the prince's favor and importance but also served as a symbol of his noble status as a descendant of a great aristocratic family. Only Steven himself knew the cost of maintaining such dignity.

Grey's residential area was completely free, while Steven had to pay the full rent for a larger, more functional one.

Even for Steven, who nominally had the full support of the Solam family, the monthly rent of nearly three hundred thousand imperial gold coins was a significant burden. Moreover, he had to pay double that amount for tuition fees. Although Duke Solam had paid his tuition fees for the coming years in one lump sum, the cost of his studies at Deep Blue was not calculated in this way. Even if not amortized monthly by professional methods, the interest that this huge sum should have generated was also considerable.

The vast resources of the Solam family could not be invested in Steven alone. A significant part of why he could impress the family council was the family's desire for a fully blood-related Grand Construct Master, a desire shared by any slightly ambitious family on the continent.. Randolph was originally the candidate, but his stupidity led to his failure before it even began. Steven seized the opportunity to convince the family council. He was not only a Dragon Pulse Warlock but also had the potential to be a Construct Master. His own resources surpassed Randolph's, and in recent years, he had begun participating in family matters and demonstrated exceptional talent.

However, the family's investment required returns. Especially after the Randolph incident, the family's patience was increasingly limited. Duke Solam had ascended to legend status and, after consolidating his realm for two to three years, it would be time for massive expansion.

Furthermore, Steven also bore the tuition fees for Minnie. After the marriage contract was established, Marquis Neo impatiently stopped paying all expenses for his daughter.

The frontline war was indeed intense, and Marquis Neo's financial situation was nearing collapse. Moreover, since the warfare was mainly raging in the marquis's territory, whether the marquis could survive until the end of the next year was a big question mark. Ultimately, it was because the marquis's subordinates were too incompetent. Of course, in Steven's mind, the list of incompetents also included the uncle who led the Solam reinforcements.

The allied forces of Neo and Solam already had an absolute advantage in manpower and were fighting in familiar terrain, but they had been dragging their feet in the war against Eligie. They had never truly achieved a frontal defeat, let alone surrounding and annihilating or defeating her small army.

This woman had an incredibly keen sense of the battlefield, and her troop movements were unpredictable. However, when she found her opponent's weak spot and launched an attack, she was as fierce as thunder, ruthless and unparalleled. With less than one-third of her opponent's force, she fought on terrain that was not vast or complex but had dragged the allied forces of Neo and Solam around, exhausting them. Moreover, she extensively destroyed fields, mines, forests, and towns within Neo's territory, plundering all resources and destroying what could not be moved. So, wherever she went, the marquis was heartbroken and could not sleep.

Neo's overwhelming weakness also made several large noble families bordering it restless and eager to make a move. Therefore, Solam's strong intervention had paid a corresponding price. As the war situation stagnated, most of the benefits Solam obtained from Marquis Neo had vanished. If Eligie continued to cause trouble, it would soon turn into a loss.

The latest news that Stevenson received was that the Solam family had decided to negotiate with the woman if they couldn't resolve the issue within a week. As for the matter of war reparations, they would let Neo deal with the headache.

For almost a year, Stevenson had tastefully decorated his living area. However, now, the constant sound of various utensils breaking came from his bedroom area. One by one, exquisite and elegant artworks were violently thrown against the walls and floor by Stevenson, with fragments flying everywhere. Several shards even grazed Stevenson's face, leaving faint blood traces. The tangible and intangible heavy burdens weighed him down almost to the point of suffocation. Throwing things could provide temporary relief, but it was only a short-term solution. Now, he just wanted to vent; otherwise, he would surely go insane.

"It's Archmonde again! It's always Archmonde! They're all a group of madmen! Devils! They should go to hell! Why do they all have to block my way!!" Stevenson ranted and cursed like a madman, but it was still not enough to vent the anger accumulated in his heart.

However, there was nothing left to break in the bedroom, except for an ancient vase made of mithril inlaid with crystals, which remained intact. It was once the most cherished collection of an emperor from another plane. Putting aside its immeasurable artistic and historical value, even if the mithril and top-grade magical purple crystals were cut and sold separately, they would be worth more than a million gold coins. Stevenson himself could not afford such a top-tier artistic treasure. In fact, it was one of Duke Solam's private collections, placed here to enhance Stevenson's reputation.

Stevenson's fury was controlled. He could afford to break decorations worth thousands, but this item, even if Aiden Grey stepped on his face in public, he wouldn't dare to touch it with a single finger.

Minnie stood quietly in the corner, lonely yet beautiful. She was in the prime of her youth, and her growing exquisite figure and cold, arrogant demeanor added to the vibrancy of her youth. However, there were also several thin red lines of cuts on her face and arms. Stevenson's fury had also affected her. Flying fragments didn't discriminate.

Seeing Minnie, Stevenson's anger suddenly rose again. At this moment, in his eyes, Minnie was not a beautiful girl or a talented mage but a massive gold coin sinkhole. Although Minnie's tuition was only one-fifth of his, the absolute amount was not small. And while her living area was not as large as Stevenson's or Aiden Grey's, it was not smaller than an ordinary mage's, so the rent for her living area even exceeded her tuition. And these two items did not include the expenses for her magic studies.

For the Solam family, supporting an additional Minnie was not difficult. However, Stevenson's own expenses had already reached an astonishing figure, and adding Minnie's portion made it even more suffocating.

On a sinking ship, even the weight of a small stone would make the people on the ship feel suffocated.

Stevenson was very clear that after utilizing such a huge investment from Duke Solam, he had no room for failure. The lives of legendary figures were greatly extended. In the still-long life of Duke Solam, there would never be a lack of sons and daughters, and talented ones would not be scarce.

Stevenson's mentor had told him long ago that before becoming a true strong person, a prodigy was nothing. There were countless prodigies born on the continent every year, but only those who received sufficient resource support could grow. Those who didn't get resources would only carry a seemingly brilliant but hollow title, and that was before they reached adulthood. Because when they grew up, they would really be nothing, even less than ordinary people. The former aura would become the shadow of their future lives.

Landov was the most recent example.

Stevenson yearned for success and feared failure equally, because the path he had walked on had already turned into a straight abyss leading to hell. Even taking a small step back would result in devastation.

A mere Dragon Pulse Sorcerer was not worthy of such a huge investment, and a reputation for being adept at social interactions was not worth so many gold coins. As for the management skills in family affairs, as an ancient family that had lasted for over a hundred generations, they had countless managers. In fact, to obtain this opportunity to become Liana Morninglight's inheritor as a Construct Master, apart from the resources of the family and Duke Solam personally, he had also invested a significant amount of manpower and material resources from his maternal side. Once the family decided to give up, his fate would not be much better than those busy mages outside the Inner Deep Blue Ring who were solely focused on earning money.

However, on the narrow path towards becoming a Constructor, the newly matured figure of Gray loomed like the "God's Abyss," the Augustus Mountains, blocking Stevenson's way, standing tall and unmovable.

The marriage contract he had unilaterally made with Minnie added a significant amount to the bill that Duke Soram had to pay. This couldn't really be blamed on Stevenson; he was just acting according to the rules of noble society, making a decision under the circumstances that was most beneficial for his future development. Because apart from his paternal family, his maternal and wife's families were also extremely important resources. But who could have imagined that Marquis Neo would be so despicable and ruthless, directly throwing his most outstanding daughter at the Soram family?

So Stevenson almost screamed into Minnie's face, "You! Tell me, what use are you now? Besides paying a large sum of tuition for you every month, what else can you do to help me? Help me progress in Constructor studies or help me gain my teacher's favor?! Tell me! Now that Aiden Gray has far surpassed me, what am I supposed to do?"

Seeing Minnie's silence, Stevenson found it even harder to suppress his emotions. He sneered, "I almost forgot that you're a woman, at least good for bed. Now, strip and get on the bed!"

Minnie didn't argue or resist. Instead, she silently removed all her clothes, lay on the bed, and spread her legs. As she did this, her expression was calm. But after lying down, she turned her face aside, not wanting anyone to see the tears that couldn't be stopped.

Minnie closed her eyes, but the expected violent assault didn't come. After a while, there was still no movement. She couldn't help but open her eyes and saw Stevenson standing beside the bed, gripping the neck of a bottle of strong liquor, occasionally taking a harsh gulp. His gaze went past Minnie's body, gazing at the floating ice bay outside the window. The harbor in the night was not completely dark; the ubiquitous ice crystals refracted eerie glimmers. There was no sign of any biological activity, making it appear particularly desolate and cold.

He looked at Minnie and coldly said, "You're a smart woman. This is not the time for you to be capricious or throw a tantrum. If I can't become a Constructor, then everything is over. Status, honor, money, power, nothing will be there. You should be very clear about this. Marquis Neo has already abandoned you, and your fate is now completely tied to mine. You should feel lucky because noble families with history like ours still respect formal marriage contracts, so I don't have the idea of abandoning the contract for now. But, you now need to fight for your future, prove that you're useful to me, useful to the Soram family, prove that you're worthy of the monthly expenditure of 500,000 gold coins. If you can't or don't want to do it, then I won't force you. You can leave Deep Blue next month! I believe no one would be willing to pay 500,000 gold coins for the daughter of a ruined marquis, a woman who has been used, every month!" The last few words were roared by Stevenson with a slight drunkenness.

Minnie blankly looked up at the ceiling, not moving.

What Stevenson said was true, and she couldn't lose the support of the Soram family. Without money, not only would her status plummet, but her situation would be even worse than Aileen's. Because of her once noble status, there would be many more men who wanted to leave something in her body. And her magical talent, at this time, was simply an insignificant factor.

One of Liana Morninglight's famous sayings was, "Gold coins are limited, but there are many talents."

To be fair, so far, Stevenson had been the one paying in this marriage contract.

After a moment, Minnie's eyes finally moved, and she slowly sat up. Her expression was still like an iceberg, but the pride and sarcasm in her eyes were gone, replaced by pallor and dark gray. A hint of sarcastic smile floated on Minnie's lips, but this time it was for herself. She put her feet on the ground, standing naked beside Stevenson, looking out the window with him, and said, "I indeed have no capital to be proud, and I can't really give up everything I have now. So I will choose to stand with you. Whether you see me as a woman, a partner and friend, or even a subordinate, I won't be a plaything."

Stevenson didn't respond. He just squinted his eyes, staring at the severe winter scene outside the window with a dangerous gaze.

Minny sighed and continued, "Don't you find this a bit strange? Aiden Gray had never learned how to draw a complete magical pattern construct before. You, with Saint Crus's guidance and using top-grade materials, spent over half a month and failed forty-one times before making a 20% complete magical pattern construct. How could Aiden Gray possibly make a usable construct plugin directly?"

Minny's words calmed Stedvenson down, and he began to think, "You mean that magical pattern construct wasn't made by Aiden Gray? No, that's impossible! Master菲尔 wouldn't lie because it would be meaningless, and he doesn't need to favor either Solam or Archmonde. The magical pattern construct must have been made by Aiden Gray himself. But you're right, the whole thing is very strange. We already have Aiden Gray's course schedule, and according to the curriculum design, it would take him at least a year to start learning construct manufacturing. There must be a crucial factor behind this, allowing Aiden Gray to instantly break through barriers that many people cannot overcome in their entire lives, achieving a leap. What we need to know now is what this key is. Even if I can't use it, it will be inspiring."

Minny frowned and said, "It's difficult."

"It is difficult. Aiden Gray has almost no friends and rarely interacts with irrelevant people. The ones he interacts with most are the mage instructors who teach him, and almost all of these old guys are unapproachable. This is Deep Blue, and I can't follow Aiden Gray to see who he's interacting with. Even if I could buy information about his whereabouts, it would be too conspicuous." Stedvenson unconsciously frowned, remembering the lesson from Landof. Directly showing malice towards a student who was also a prince would surely displease the teachers.

"Aileen! Maybe we should let her ask; she might be able to get an answer!" Minny suggested, "After all, she's the only woman who has been so close to Aiden Gray."

Stedvenson shook his head and said, "Aileen? What use could she be? I originally thought she was the woman Aiden Gray liked; otherwise, why would the Enforcement Mage Corps specifically issue an order against her, forbidding her from sleeping with Aiden Gray? I preempted and had her, wanting to make Aiden Gray furious or completely depressed under the blow. It would be even better if I could stimulate him to use some drastic measures against me. But you've seen it all; it has no effect at all. There's no change in Aiden Gray's study and life routine, and even his emotional response is undetectable. Is this called liking? And it's been so long; Aiden Gray must have lost interest in her long ago. How could he tell such an important secret to a woman who is unreliable? Now, it's different from that time. If Aiden Gray knows what happened between me and Aileen, it might only have the opposite effect. After all, those old guys are clearly on his side now! Don't think those old guys are fools!"

Minny didn't think so: "It's not bad to try. Moreover, you don't understand women's minds. It's clear that at least Aileen has some little thoughts. So she will never tell Aiden Gray what happened between you, at least not the details. But she must have been clear long ago that there's no future with Aiden Gray, and after being used by you, she became even more clear about it. Since there's no hope, why not use past feelings to exchange for a large sum of money, as long as the amount exceeds her psychological expectations. Women in the fringe areas are actually the same. If she really persisted, she wouldn't have let you get her so easily."

Stedvenson hesitated for a moment and finally nodded. But then he sighed and said with a hint of despair, "Even if we know the secret behind it, the gap that has already been created is difficult to bridge. Although this guy's overall evaluation is just excellent, far less than mine, evaluations are not everything. At least the talent he has shown now is not much worse than mine. What's more..."

Stedvenson gave a bitter smile before continuing, "The resources he can use for training are far more than what I have now."

Minny was silent.

This is the truth. Aiden Gray's monthly income is not a big secret. Anyone with some status can find out if they want to. Aiden Gray's total income is not unreasonably high, but his expenses are far lower than Stedvenson's. Most of Stedvenson's bills are for paying rent and tuition fees for himself and Minny, as well as various social expenses. After deducting this part, the money he can spend on course studies, magic experiment materials, and recovery potions is less than half of Aiden Gray's. These are the expenses that directly affect the progress of magic training. And the production of that beginner-level strength magical pattern construct has exhausted almost all of his reserve resources.

Stevinson took another large gulp of the strong liquor, allowing the fiery liquid to burn from his throat down to his chest. He had vaguely sensed that his efforts since entering Deep Blue had taken a directional deviation. He once thought he had perfectly employed both cunning and straightforward strategies, using Aileen to spiritually attack his opponents, gathering all potentially useful people to isolate them, and exhausting all resources to showcase his innate talent and strength as a constructor. However, the result dealt him a nearly devastating blow, as Gray won this undeclared war with progress two major levels ahead of him.

Stevinson couldn't help but reflect on whether he had made too many unnecessary moves. If he had invested all his energy and resources directly into studying as a constructor from the start, would the outcome have been different?

Deep Blue was unlike the outside world. It didn't need the fig leaf of public opinion or the pretext of righteousness. It only required the joy of Liana Morninglight and absolute strength.

Mini watched the ambitious man beside her show a discouraged and disheartened expression, and suddenly felt a chill running through her naked body, with her heart starting to tighten. Her fingers gently brushed over her smooth and tender skin. At this moment, she didn't feel humiliation, but a thick sense of cold. If Stevinson gave up, he still had the bloodline of a Dragon Pulse Sorcerer and a powerful maternal family. What would she have left?

After hesitating for a long time, Mini slowly said, "Perhaps there's still one last shortcut, though the possibility is not high."

"What method?" Stevinson's eyes lit up as he hurriedly asked, like a drowning person suddenly seeing a piece of driftwood.

"Try to get close to the teacher and gain her favor. I've recently had a hunch that the teacher's mood is becoming more and more unstable. This is a good opportunity. Although the teacher is a legendary mage, she is also a woman..."

Stevinson was stunned for a moment and then understood what Mini meant. His eyes gradually brightened. Yes, a legendary mage was also a woman. How could he not have thought of that earlier? Indeed, women understood women best.

"You mean I should try to make Liana Morninglight my woman?" Stevinson pondered, his face gradually regaining vitality and once again revealing the impeccable smile of a noble. Although he had suffered a complete defeat in magical pattern construction, he still had an overwhelming advantage over Aiden Gray in this field. And in noble society, such things were not uncommon, even without the slightest embarrassment. Although this was an alternative battlefield, its significance and impact were sometimes no less than those of a real battlefield.

A flash of determination appeared in Stevinson's eyes: "It's a method, but the chance of success is also very slim. I can't pin all my hopes on this! I still have a few people I can use in Deep Blue. When the time comes, I'll make that kid disappear!"