Inside the inn room.
Imina's small lips moved as she chewed on white bread with an expressionless face. Hearing Lyle guess that she had bought the inn, her expression remained unchanged.
Drip, drop!
The rain outside fell on the windowsill, making a pitter-patter sound.
Seeing that Imina didn't speak, Lyle gave a gentle smile, picked up a spoon, and began drinking the vegetable soup on the table. The room fell silent again.
The atmosphere wasn't tense; rather, it was somewhat peaceful.
Imina stuffed the last bite of white bread into her mouth, her purple hair lifting slightly at her forehead as she said with some disdain, "You've caused quite a stir on your way here, My Lord."
"I heard you were attacked by quite a few adventurers and mercenaries?"
Speaking of which...
Imina crossed her arms over her chest, her amber eyes quickly sizing up Lyle. Seeing that he had no injuries, she finally raised her chin.
"Has the news reached the Royal Capital? What's the specific situation?" Lyle's eyes flickered, ignoring the faint edge in Imina's tone.
After all, leaving her in the Royal Capital for so long to deal with an organization like 'Eight Fingers,' it was normal for her to have some frustration and resentment.
Imina gave Lyle a sidelong glance, a trace of worry appearing in her narrow, somewhat fierce eyes. "You didn't hide your route and caused such a huge commotion."
"Seven 'gold-rank' adventurer teams, five 'platinum-rank' adventurer teams, and one 'mithril-Rank' adventurer team."
"The famous seventy-man 'Death Spreading Sword Sect' mercenary organization, plus a mysterious unit of Assassins."
"So many people all died at your hands. Currently, except for that 'sword genius' Brian who escaped from you, not a single person survived."
Imina leaned forward, her beautiful eyes staring at Lyle. "Tell me, My Lord, is that a big stir or not? The moment you entered the Royal Capital, all the factions here already knew."
Lyle was somewhat speechless. "So many people died?"
The attacks he encountered along the way were indeed numerous, but they were mostly scattered. The Emerald Leaf Witch could easily handle them alone, so Lyle hadn't really paid much attention.
He only paid a bit of attention during the 'Death Spreading Sword Sect' incident, and that was because of Brian.
Thinking carefully...
The number of people eyeing the Empire's bounty was likely even higher, but those Lyle dealt with weren't weaklings. The rest were simply too scared to act.
"I've already scouted Brian's location. Should I send someone to kill him?" A cold light flashed on Imina's face as she spoke softly.
Brian's fame was immense, and she heard he had a good relationship with 'Warrior Captain' Gazef. She was worried that the escaped Brian would bring trouble to Lyle.
Lyle looked at Imina with some surprise, amazed that she could actually track Brian's location.
From this, it was clear that Imina was already able to mobilize the power of 'Eight Fingers.'
Lyle shook his head. "No need. He's much more valuable alive than dead."
"How is the situation with 'Eight Fingers'?"
"With the strength you displayed before, 'Phantom Demon' Succulent has been very honest and cooperative. The entire Security Department is completely under control."
Confidence showed on Imina's face. Her own strength wasn't weak, and with a hidden powerhouse like Lyle, suppressing the others wasn't difficult. She continued:
"I've also made contact with the heads of the other departments. Because of the death of 'Battle Demon,' 'Eight Fingers' held a collective meeting."
At this point,
Imina's tone became a bit more serious. "In addition to the eight department heads, a mysterious person presided over the entire meeting."
"The specific identity of that person is unknown; only a few department heads likely know. Furthermore, the departments are nearly independent, making it more troublesome to control the others than expected."
After hearing Imina's detailed description of 'Eight Fingers,' Lyle didn't look surprised.
He already had some understanding of the 'Eight Fingers' situation. Moreover, for such a massive organization, it was clearly impossible for there not to be other forces supporting them from the shadows.
"There's no rush to take over those departments. As long as we hold the important 'Security Department' in our hands, we can exert a certain level of control over the entire 'Eight Fingers.'"
Lyle placed his soup spoon back into the bowl, gave a soft smile, and continued:
"Next, there are a few things I need you to do."
"Go ahead, I'm just a laborer after all." Imina curled her lips, but a hint of a smile appeared in her eyes.
"First, in the name of your 'Security Department,' secretly recruit Magic Casters to fill the vacancies in the 'Six Arms.'"
"Specifically, I need you to look for Magic Casters who have mastered classes in the faith system, psychic system, and other systems."
Imina was somewhat confused, not knowing why Lyle was doing this, but she still nodded.
By the way...
Do Magic Casters really have so many different systems?
"Second, through the 'Slave Trade Department,' purchase several slaves who possess the 'Wild Shape' ability. There shouldn't be many humans who master this method."
"demi-human races find it easier to master, especially those from tribes destroyed by the Slane Theocracy. The Slave Department should have channels to acquire slaves captured from there."
Lyle glanced at Imina as he said this.
He actually wanted to mention the Elven slaves captured by the Slane Theocracy from the Elven Kingdom, as they would find it easier to master this skill.
However, since Imina was a Half-Elf, he changed his words to demi-human races at the last moment.
Imina's expression didn't change as she nodded.
"Third, I need to purchase several large warehouses in the territories of each of the Six Great Nobles. Contact grain merchants in various places and transport all the unsellable moldy grain and rotten food to these warehouses."
"You can arrange for people from the 'Smuggling Unit' to handle this."
Imina continued to nod, though she grew increasingly puzzled. These three tasks seemed to have no connection whatsoever, but looking at Lyle...
Each matter was clearly a major move.
At the same time, Imina felt somewhat excited and happy.
She and Leinas had stayed in the Royal Capital together, but their situations were completely different. Leinas clearly had Lyle's various arrangements and schemes.
As for her, aside from controlling a Security Department, she seemed to have been completely forgotten by Lyle until now, with no action for several months.
Now.
Imina finally knew what she was supposed to do.
"I'll have to trouble you, Imina," Lyle said.
"These tasks are each more troublesome than the last," Imina muttered. Her slender, shapely figure stood up, her two purple, wavy twin-tails swaying gently.
"Oh, take this."
"These things will cost a lot of money. Except for the first task, don't use Eight Fingers' money for the other two."
Lyle took a magic leather pouch from his waist and tossed it to Imina. "There are gems inside. If you like any, you can pick a few for yourself."
Imina caught the magic pouch. Her pale fingers pulled open the opening, and a faint reddish glow emerged from within.
"This is..."
Imina's eyes couldn't help but widen.
The magic pouch was packed full of various gems, mostly red ones. Several of them even shimmered with the light of magic power.
They were clearly precious magical gems containing mana.
Seeing Imina's stunned look, unable to look away, Lyle laughed softly.
As expected, women always like shiny things. In this regard, they were just like the Dragon Clan.
These gems were, naturally, the legacy of the Ancient Red Dragon.
During his journey to the Royal Capital, Lyle would return to the Lava Zone every night. It took a lot of time, but he finally found the Ancient Red Dragon's lair.
It was filled with a massive amount of treasure. As for the specific value...
Lyle couldn't calculate it. The cave was mainly filled with various gems, special red Ore, and gold coins. Unfortunately, there wasn't a single magic item, which disappointed him slightly.
It was hard to estimate the value of the gems and Ores, and the same went for the massive amount of gold coins.
Since the Ancient Red Dragon seemed to like sleeping on those gold coins and gems, almost all the gold coins had been melted by the high heat, turning into small mountains of gold fused together.
"You said it yourself then." A smile appeared on Imina's face. She put away the magic pouch and was about to step forward when she suddenly remembered something. She narrowed her eyes and turned her head:
"By the way, who are those two girls with you? According to the news I heard, they seem to have joined your adventurer team?"
She and Leinas had both thought about joining Lyle's adventurer team back then, only to be rejected by him.
"Do you want to meet them?" Lyle shrugged and continued, "I told you, my adventurer team isn't recruiting."
Hearing this answer,
a look of satisfaction flashed in Imina's eyes. She raised an arm and waved. "Never mind then."
"Give me your hand," Lyle said suddenly.
"Huh?" Imina was startled.
Lyle directly reached out and grabbed Imina's palm.
It was a bit soft and a bit cool.
As this thought flashed through Lyle's mind, a faint white light appeared on his palm. He left a Magic Mark on Imina and then released her hand.
"W-What are you doing?"
Imina's delicate cheeks flushed red. She subconsciously took a step back, her voice nervous and stuttering.
"Nothing, just a small spell. It'll be easier for me to find you if anything happens," Lyle said calmly and softly.
"Hmph."
Imina gave a light snort. Her figure had already reached the window. She picked up her raincoat, draped it over herself, leaped out of the window, and disappeared into the rainy mist.
"Honestly, why does she have to go through the window?"
Lyle muttered a complaint, then a thoughtful look appeared on his face as he considered his next steps.
The three tasks he gave Imina were all very important. Since he had money and the 'Eight Fingers' forces at his disposal,
there was no reason not to use them!
Even if someone noticed, they would only trace it back to 'Eight Fingers.' Even if internal factions of Eight Fingers investigated,
these three unrelated matters couldn't be linked together. At most, they would suspect the supporter behind Imina—that powerful Magic Caster who controlled corpses and Bone Dragons.
As for him, the Genius Alchemist who could summon angels, he was naturally unrelated.
If these three tasks were prioritized, the first was the most important.
The purpose of the second task was mainly for Lyle to experiment with the Magic Ritual he had obtained from the 'Forest Gnome' Dogan.
The purpose of the third task was to provide food for the Goblins being raised in the Great Forest of Tob. After all, the more Goblins there were, the greater the impact on the forest.
Lyle didn't intend to let anyone notice the situation inside the Great Forest of Tob, so he could only obtain food from the outside to provide for those raised Goblins.
And the first task was the one he currently cared about the most!
...
magic power system: Pharmacist, Alchemist, Mage, Necromancer, Warlock
faith system: Priestess, Priest, Forest Priest, Cleric
psychic system: Wizard, Witch
other systems: Shaman, Summoner
...
This was the number of classes in each magic system he currently possessed.
Back then, obtaining the [Mad Mage] class required fulfilling the prerequisites for the Base Classes of each system:
magic power system · Lv 15
faith system · Lv 15
psychic system · Lv 15
other systems · Lv 15
A total requirement of 60 class levels.
Lyle had previously speculated that if each magic system's classes reached Level 20, for a total of 80 class levels, whether it would trigger a new High-tier Class.
The reason for this deduction
was that if there were a second related High-tier Class, then [Unknown High-tier Class] + [Mad Mage] would occupy ten class levels.
The remaining 90 levels, spread across four magic class systems, would only be 22.5 levels each.
Clearly, Level 20 was the most reasonable, at least it was reasonable in the game.
The result was,
even though the current four magic class systems combined had already met the Level 20 condition, he had not obtained a new class.
While Lyle was disappointed, a crazy idea suddenly popped into his head. Possibilities that didn't exist in the game didn't mean they didn't exist in this other world.
If he raised all four class systems to the level of the Tenth Tier, namely "Lv 64~70," would he be able to obtain a new class?
This was a situation that could never happen in the game!
If not for the [Genius] class unique to this other world, then neither in the game nor in this world could anyone raise four magic class systems to the level of Tenth Tier magic!
"I have to try it once. Even if I don't get a new class, raising the four class systems to the Tenth Tier is already part of the plan."
Lyle tapped his fingers lightly on the table, his eyes gleaming.
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