From Secret Clan to the Divine Dynasty - Chapter 108
Chapter 108: Chapter 104 Feigned Surrender
The Fischer family had already sent someone with a large number of gifts, preparing for negotiations with the Kesse family. The most suitable negotiator would have been Byrne, but he always felt that if he went, he might not return, so in the end, he had no choice but to let Baron Leander speak for him in the peace talks.
Byrne also wrote a letter, filling it with as many obsequious words as possible, which could be described as the extreme in fawning.
He claimed that the Fischer family truly lacked the capacity to manage Ourde Village and could only trouble the Kesse family to take over its administration.
They voluntarily offered all the resources within the range of Ourde Village to Baron Kesse for safekeeping.
With the covert support of Viscount Garcia, the Kesse family had always been arrogant in the land of the four towns, and they were also unaware that the Fischer family had found the Lion clan to serve as a deeply entrenched backer.
They would naturally assume that the Fischer family had been thoroughly overwhelmed by fear and terror.
Next, the Kesse family would certainly greedily find a way to encroach upon Nasir Town.
But that would not be something accomplished immediately; the Fischer family could use every means possible to delay for a few months, exchanging various monetary gifts and flattering words in return for precious time.
As long as a few months passed and Chris successfully stepped onto the 3rd Rank of the Path of Tranquility, then the plan to annihilate the Kesse family would be immediately put into motion.
The only request they made was the hope that the Kesse family would release Theo’s son back to them.
Unexpectedly, after receiving all the gifts, the Kesse family rejected the Fischer’s only request.
They were willing to accept the subservience of the Fischer family and then immediately sent their people to Ourde Village, where those individuals became the new managers of the village.
The Fischer family did more than just send a batch of gifts to the Kesse family; they immediately began preparing a second batch of expensive gifts.
After all, those extraordinary materials, Gold Coins, and alchemical tools were just for the Kesse family to store for a few months, and the likes of Byrne and the others didn’t much mind the interim loss.
Only Irene, seeing the funds on the account diminish, was confused and her heart constantly bled, often sighing and lamenting.
In the precious time they had bought, the Fischer family entered into a phase of preparation for war.
Byrne began to use his “Deconstructive Perspective” ability to focus on analyzing the specific material compositions of the two types of masks from the Alchemy Council.
He discovered that the material for the white mask was very complex and each of the alchemy materials was highly valuable, while the components of the lower-quality dark gold mask were much cheaper.
Byrne started to attempt to create alchemical tools that could act as a “shielding” effect.
In fact, he had been trying for several years to create an alchemical potion capable of altering one’s facial features, but without success.
Now, with the capability of “Deconstructive Perspective”, Byrne could instantly reverse-engineer all the materials inside the mask, which could be considered a stroke of divine inspiration.
Karl quietly observed all the movements of the Fischer family, hoping things would go smoothly.
If they didn’t proceed well enough, he knew Irene was prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice.
At that point, Karl would not refuse to offer a prayer, fulfilling Irene’s wish to destroy the Kesse family and accompany her through the final leg of her short life.
He had recently discovered that the dismantled Mysterious rare artifact hadn’t completely disappeared but remained as a faint shadow in the depths of his soul.
Simply put, all the runes within the Mysterious rare artifacts could be broken down into rune essence, and in fact, that rune essence could also be reassembled into the original runes.
However, runes are like extremely intricate building blocks.
Dismantling them is easy, but trying to piece them back together perfectly is excruciatingly difficult.
“Although it will be very tedious and complex to reassemble, it is ultimately a pleasant discovery.”
Karl was still happy, since in the future he could recklessly dismantle the essence of runes without feeling the loss and waste of the original runes disappearing.
If a rune’s evolved new effects and the matching Fischer family member didn’t get along, he could dismantle that rune and reassemble it into a previously dismantled rune to replace it.
For example, the Consecution ability of “Iron Wall” was currently not very compatible with Chris.
He pondered that one day, he might dismantle “Iron Wall” and give Chris a different rune.
The replacement rune might be one that had been obtained but dismantled, or perhaps a new rune acquired in the future.
“In short, the various combinations of runes will be very flexible, and one need not be afraid of mismatches or dissatisfaction with newly evolved effects.”
The only issue is that while dismantling runes is easy, reassembling them is incredibly difficult.
Reconstructing runes would take a very long time; otherwise, he would have considered immediately replacing Chris’s “Iron Wall” with “Lightning Expulsion” or “Tainted Blood”.
But Karl, being extremely bored, also felt that it would be rather amusing.
“Chris, have you finished writing?”
In the alchemy workshop of the Fischer family manor, Chris silently wrote down his discoveries about the specific route to the 3rd Rank advancement, as Byrne had requested.
“You’ve actually discovered two routes?” Byrne was a bit surprised after reading what he had written.
Having finished writing, Chris set down the feather pen, nodded, and said nothing.
In actuality, he had accidentally discovered that in two different circumstances, Spirituality begun to stir suddenly, showing signs of boiling.
The first instance was assassination.
As long as he killed someone without being detected, he could initiate the autonomous stirring of his Spirituality.
As for the second situation, Chris had once, while disguising himself as a random passerby, found that his spirituality could likewise autonomously adjust itself.
Furthermore, he quickly discovered that the efficiency of adjustment in the second situation was higher than the first one and made it easier to approach a boiling state.
Byrne pondered for a moment, then confirmed with a nod and said,
“It seems that the second route would be easier after all. Your 3rd Rank abilities should be closer to ‘disguise’ rather than ‘assassination’.”
Chris also felt this made sense, predicting that he would be able to advance in a few months.
“Then, we’ll wait for your return.”
After listening to Byrne’s entrustment, Chris went to say goodbye to his sister, Irene, and then left the Fischer family manor.
He thought about it and decided not to go see Vanessa.
Afterward, Chris left Nasir Town alone by carriage.
He arrived at Fein City, which was seeing an increase in population every day due to the establishment of various factories.
It was said that several families in the city, at the suggestion of the Lion clan, had made a significant decision.
They wanted to expand the urban area of Fein City and establish several towns surrounding it to alleviate the various issues caused by the surging population within the city.
Chris was well aware that establishing new towns required a large sum of money and would involve many construction projects, which would inevitably lead to many intricate conflicts.
But none of that concerned the Fischer family; he had only one task to focus on now.
The route for the advancement ceremony was “disguise.”
Based on Byrne’s experience in advancing to a ‘Mysterious Scholar’, it seemed the more complex the ceremony steps were, the more significant the impact was, and the more apparent the boiling of spirituality.
For over a year, Chris had been pondering how to completely disguise himself as another person.
Time was pressing, and he had to step onto the 3rd Rank as soon as possible.
The young man took a deep breath. Although he hadn’t interacted much with others, it didn’t mean he didn’t value family and friends.
He recalled the worry in Theo’s eyes, the moment Archibald was nearly killed, and the dismembered bodies outside the factory, as well as Vanessa’s sorrowful and angry plea in the rain.
Chris knew very clearly that there was no more time.
If the Kesse family were not removed, Nasir Town would sooner or later be completely devoured, and Byrne, Irene, Vanessa, Archibald, and everyone in the Fischer family would lose their foothold.
His sister, would never tolerate the true arrival of that scene.
He had to completely abandon himself, change his appearance, and become a completely different person.
The young man shaved his silver-white hair, endured the pain of using a dagger to carve messy wounds on his face, and finally put on a set of tattered clothes.
He approached the foul-smelling muddy water; the youth in the water lost his originally beautiful appearance and turned into an extremely ugly “dwarf.” Chris jumped into the mud and took a long time to crawl out.
By now, Chris was dirty all over and reeked with a strong foul smell.
It was very uncomfortable.
Chris suppressed the discomfort in his body and closed his eyes.
He then headed to a mining area outside Fein City, intentionally hunching over, and found a man in charge of recruiting workers.
A few toughs surrounded the man in charge of recruitment, constantly patrolling around, and they all scowled at the smell of Chris.
“What kind of pig swill is this, a dwarf that stinks enough to make you vomit!”
Chris didn’t care; he acted as if he had been starving for a long time, slowly approaching, and suddenly burst out with a string of imploring words:
“I need a job, I’m willing to do anything! I need money!”
As he spoke these words, he could clearly feel his spirituality showing signs of boiling.
Although it didn’t last, that moment of boiling was very clear.
The man in charge of recruitment stared at the short, filthy, and ugly fellow for a while before he chuckled and said,
“Alright, stinky dwarf, but looking at your condition, you probably can’t work for long, so we can’t pay you money, only food. How about that?”
“No money, I, I…” Chris pretended to hesitate.
The man suddenly shouted in anger, “Getting food and still not satisfied, huh? If you don’t work, there are plenty of others who will. If you don’t agree, then scram!”
He was telling the truth; the influx of newcomers to Fein City had recently been so great that the mining area was not lacking workers, prompting mine owners to decide to reduce human costs as much as possible.
“I’ll do it! I’m dying, I’ll do anything!”
Chris shouted excitedly, his eyes bulging, his body trembling, and he even sprayed a few drops of saliva!
Killing was easy, but speaking…
Was so hard.
