At an upscale restaurant in the Administration District, after spending a hefty sum of gold coins to hold a banquet, Lin Suo invited all the people he knew in Koster, and at the same time, entertained the ennoblement team, arranging food for them, handing out red envelopes, and providing women.
These officialdom activities, after some time learning and the Migaron family’s mentoring, he had begun to blend into the circle.
At the very least, the entire Koster now knew that there was a noble named Rhein Lin in the city.
His wizard identity had not been exposed on the surface.
In reality, nobles with a bit of background were all aware of his status, and with the Migaron family as his backing, his position was not unshakeable, but he would not be troubled by minor issues.
Thus, the first step of Lin Suo’s plan to rise from an undocumented status to nobility was successfully completed, and the background check by Prophetic Witchcraft seemed to have no effect on him.
The process went smoothly, also because the preparations were well-made.
The banquet lasted for three consecutive days, during which Lin Suo met many nobles who served the Migaron family and learned more about the top-tier noble hierarchy and adversarial relationships around Koster.
For the time being, they did not need him.
Now, it was time to prepare a legal army, with two hundred slots available, not counting slaves.
This was actually similar to household servants and bodyguards in ancient Huaxia—nominally slaves, but actually soldiers.
There were many ways to circumvent this.
But Lin Suo did not want to do that, priority was placed on the quality of the two hundred slots, with the existing Half-Beast slave knights serving as guards for the small castle.
Secretly, he planned to create beings through Corpses Synthesis.
Mainly using Evil God Synthesis, he aimed to create Synthesis creatures like Chimeras, artificial Griffins, Scorpion-tailed Lions, etc., whose corpses would not rot...
So far, his Synthesis creatures did not possess real souls, but merely a shell with the aura of a soul, to be either controlled by his mind or operated manually.
Therefore, he still needed to learn the Soul Witchcraft of the Life Transformation Sect, but there was also another plan—to infuse a sliver of the soul of the Demon Spirit Giant Shark, which could instill a Slaughter Instinct into the husks, eliminating the need for control, and to kill on sight.
And because the main body had a Symbiosis with Lin Suo, these killing machines would not attack him, which was quite excellent.
Just like Giant puppets, they would hibernate when not needed, and could be brought out for use when required, without the need for Magic Stones, just a bit of bioenergy (food) before each use was sufficient.
The Froggy version of the bio-motorcycle had already proven its feasibility.
Next, just to assemble them piece by piece.
When he left the city, he still had not seen Valia or Captain Tifa; the former had disappeared without a trace, while the latter had not returned from her sea voyage.
It made him suspect, could it be that, damn it, they were trapped on a deserted island again?
But lately, there hadn’t been any reports of storms either.
In comparison to the Magic Power island governed by the religious orders of the past, today’s Late Bell Island was swarming with "Eternal Drowners" that crawled out from the deep sea, most of them humanoid but having developed various features of aquatic creatures.
Scales, tentacles, gills, and fins, and so on.
Their bodies were enveloped in the persistent stench of the sea.
Their visages were hideous, with indistinct flesh and blood; decay and the sight of Giants were perfectly embodied in them.
Their bloated flesh occasionally burst open, emitting foul-smelling odors and Corpse Liquid, extremely disgusting.
The places splashed with it, even if it were stone, would quickly grow a layer of rotten flesh, occasionally sprouting eyes.
This was the Curse unwittingly released by the Divine Corpse!
Inside the giant building that resembled a clock tower.
A Dusk Shrine was enshrined beneath the huge bell, where a woman in a white dress with white hair sat, her body encircled by five rising and falling green rings, her eyes tightly closed and the eyeballs beneath her skin seemingly in continuous motion.
It was as if she wanted to wake up but could not.
The snow-white skin was constantly beaded with sweat, occasionally a yellow spot flickering beneath the surface, it was Lady Rose, trapped here for a long time, the surging Magic Power within her had dropped to freezing point.
If she didn’t wake up soon, she would become a witch tainted by the Twilight Power, turning into a monstrous creature devoid of thought!
At this rate, she had at most ten days left.
At the clock tower’s main entrance, a four-armed figure with the body of a human and tail of a snake slid over, its eyes purely murky yellow, with what appeared to be sutures around its forehead.
Approaching Lady Rose for a look, it then entered the side chamber, where Olivia Giant Beast was surprisingly tied up tightly!
And the Snake Demon was that individual who provided evidence and had its skull cap lifted.
Now, it seemed to have survived and gained control over the Twilight Power, feigning allegiance to the Giant Beast Brotherhood in order to borrow resources, and after breaking through to become an official wizard, backstabbed at lightning speed.
Directly seizing Olivia to present as a "repayment."
Olivia’s eyes were filled with a sinister coldness, her mouth gagged with a dirty cloth, and all her limbs were broken, with a headband to suppress her mind on her forehead.
After the Snake Demon entered, its mouth corners crazily turned upward.
Approaching Olivia, it began to chant spells.
It didn’t take long for the curse to start blooming upon her, the "Eternal Drowner" curse enveloping Olivia, and before long, completely transforming her into a monster.
It would still take time for body decay and the Giant’s gaze to set in.
Seeing this, the Snake Demon burst into a distorted laughter, its eyes brimming with deep resentment, and then covered Olivia’s head with a black cloth dense with Runes.
"Your brother is almost here; start infecting, revel in spreading the infection! This is the grace of the Ancient Gods, the power of the Twilight God Dusk!!"
The frenzied Snake Demon danced with its hands and feet, gradually returning to normal before it took the Rune-blackened cloth from Olivia’s head.
Olivia, recently cursed, reverted back to her normal human appearance, even the malevolent look in her eyes was identical; this "Olivia" held equal hatred towards the Snake Demon.
"A perfect disguise, one that deceives even oneself..."
Muttering to itself, the Snake Demon swam away, hesitating as it passed by the shrine but ultimately choosing not to act.
The snake tail skillfully weaved through the Eternal Drowners, perfectly avoiding all obstacles and dived into a small lake on the island, disappearing without a trace.
Repa spent a fortune to buy a wooden three-sailed ship from the nobles, loaded with three hundred people, all recently recruited Wild Wizards, with several well-known Peak Apprentices among them.
Loudly shouting orders to carry the necessary living supplies as well as cultivation resources.
The destination of the Giant Beast Brotherhood’s voyage was Late Bell Island!
Meanwhile, in another city not far from here.
The fief of the Purple Bauhinia Family also began to set sail; unlike Repa’s single ship, the Purple Bauhinia Family dispatched a fleet of eighteen ships!
Three hundred-meter class main ships, five fifty-meter class escort ships, and the rest were thirty-meter patrol ships, ten in total!
Led by direct descendants, commanding more than a dozen official wizards and hundreds of apprentices, all composed of family members.
The group set sail majestically towards Late Bell Island.
Yet there was no sign of Reynolds and his apprentice Vera who incited them.