Money Power

Money Power

What was your superpower?—I was super-rich! As time passed, Anvis eventually came around to it.

Although there were less than a few decades left before the New Era, the Olyvendi Family was simply far too wealthy...

As one of the Four Great Families, second only to the Royal Family in age, the Olyvendi Family's history could be traced back thousands of years to the end of the Magic Empire. It had once been Emperor Gloria's right-hand man.

Its hereditary territory, Carlas Province, lay in the northwestern part of the Empire and occupied one-eighth of its entire territory.

According to the game's background setting, it covered a full 3.34576 million square kilometers, had a total population of over ten million, and collected several million Gold Coins in Poll Tax alone each year.

After adding tariffs, commercial taxes, franchise taxes, and other special taxes, the total could even exceed one hundred million, far surpassing the vast majority of Kingdoms.

There were countless estates and industries, both aboveboard and covert, while rare resources and treasures were piled up like mountains.

During the years after his birth, he experienced happiness that he had never even dared to imagine in his previous life.

Profound Ice Soul, Necro Soul Crystal, Moonlight Spring Essence, Life Source Matter, Saint Blood Potion...

All kinds of treasures that could permanently improve a character's talents and attributes—most of which Anvis had never even heard of in his previous life—were used by the family as casually as food and water, without any concern for cost-effectiveness, solely to lay the strongest possible foundation for him.

The Saint Blood Potion, for example, was a sacred medicine for bloodline bearers. It could purify a bloodline to an immense degree and improve one's physique without any side effects. Its only flaw was that its ingredients were extremely rare and difficult to obtain.

Due to an accident, Anvis had once taken this potion in his previous life.

It had been when he changed to the rare Dragon Vein Warlock class. Because the Giant Dragon Blood Essence used as the key class-change item was not pure enough, his Bloodline Concentration had only reached a barely passable sixth level after the class change, causing his level cap to drop directly to 62.

Left with no choice, he had spent nearly his entire fortune to exchange for a tiny fist-sized bottle of Saint Blood Potion at a branch of the Magic Council.

Its effects matched its price. After taking it, his originally sixth-level Bloodline Concentration had forcibly risen to a barely passable eighth level!

His level cap had risen back to 81, while all his attributes and the power of his bloodline spells had increased substantially—not even counting the additional improvement to his physique.

Yet this incomparably precious potion was used by the Olyvendi Family by the pool! Starting from three months after his birth, he was immersed in one pool every week!

There were even specialists who adjusted the potion's ingredients according to the precise details of Anvis's bloodline, maximizing its effects!

When Anvis first saw that pool of golden liquid, the glare from its surface made him feel slightly dizzy.

It looked less like a potion and more like an entire pool of gleaming Gold Coins!

Three months later, the potion had lost all effect on him, and the Concentration of both his Legendary Bloodlines had risen to a barely passable tenth level.

Converted into a level cap, that meant he had returned to level 96, the current version's level cap.

Here, Anvis's mother had to be mentioned: Elena Lo Alfred, the third genius daughter of the Alfred Family, one of the Four Great Families; an Eighth Rank Radiant Bird of Paradise Bloodline Warlock.

The four great families of the Empire were all bloodline families. The bloodlines passed down by the Olyvendi Family and the Alfred Family were even the only two documented Legendary Bloodlines: the Icy Wind Crystal Bird Bloodline and the Radiant Bird of Paradise Bloodline.

At the coming-of-age banquet, Carrot met Elena, who was still a young girl at the time. The two danced together, developed feelings for each other, and soon fell in love.

Thus, the two families, which had already been fairly close, went with the flow and arranged a marriage alliance. Under their elders' arrangements, the two soon officially married. At the time, both Carrot and Elena had reached the Fourth Rank.

"This is a marriage founded on pure love—"

That was how representatives of the two families explained the marriage alliance at the Noble Assembly held after the wedding.

Upon hearing this explanation, the expressions of the other noble representatives present twitched. Quite a few nobles cast strange looks at the Royal Family representative seated at the head.

At the level of the Four Great Families, marriage had long ceased to be a personal matter. It was instead a powerful alliance between two forces.

Everyone present knew perfectly well that a noble marriage might involve territories, property, alliances between forces, and other factors—but love alone would never be one of them.

However, the Royal Family representative merely nodded indifferently without offering any opinion, disappointing the many nobles who had been looking forward to a good show.

Regardless, this was ultimately the first marriage alliance between families bearing Legendary Bloodlines. People thus learned what would result from the union of two people with different Legendary Bloodlines—

A Dual Bloodline Bearer! The Legendary was unique and without equal. According to ancient Recorded Data, every creature that stepped into the Legendary realm would undergo an evolution in its level of life, thereby becoming an entirely new species transcending its original race.

Unlike ordinary bloodlines, a Legendary Bloodline could not be extinguished by another bloodline. This remained true even when both were Legendary Bloodlines.

Starting with his eldest son Raymond, all four of Duke Carrot's descendants possessed Dual Legendary Bloodlines.

However, Anvis was the only one whose two bloodlines advanced equally. The bloodlines of his three elder brothers each had a clear primary and secondary distinction.

Still, Anvis learned from his memories that due to the faint conflict between the bloodlines, using the power of both bloodlines at the same time caused Mana consumption to rise sharply. This counted as a minor flaw of Dual Bloodlines.

Aside from the treasures mentioned above, every two days the family also provided one unit of Super Magic Crystal. A special device extracted the Source Mana contained within it, continuously improving Little Anvis's aptitude and Mana affinity.

Super Magic Crystal specifically referred to Raw Ore with a purity exceeding 90%. Aside from a few extremely special, ultra-small veins, it was produced only at the centers of large-scale or larger mineral veins.

In certain secret Black Markets, one standard unit of Super Magic Crystal had already been driven above one hundred thousand Gold Coins. It was often available at no price at all.

This was because it could serve as the core energy source for high-level Magical Rituals, disaster-grade Magic Weapons, and the like.

The Empire classified Super Magic Crystal as a top-level strategic resource and strictly controlled its circulation on the market. Its status was almost equivalent to that of the mushroom-weapon materials from his previous life.

Few people knew that there was a fundamental difference between freshly mined Super Magic Crystal and Magic Crystal with a purity below 90%:

Super Magic Crystal contained a trace of Source Mana! This Mana possessed extremely special properties—when professionals absorbed it over a long period, it could steadily improve their innate talents without side effects.

This included, but was not limited to, enhancing the physique, improving Mana affinity, and purifying Spiritual Power.

Moreover, the younger one was and the lower one's strength, the greater the benefits brought by absorbing Source Mana.

This secret was circulated only among nobles and High-level professionals, and its spread beyond those circles was strictly restricted.

Anvis had likewise known nothing about it in his previous life. He learned of it only after absorbing the memory fragments.

All large Magic Crystal mines that produced Super Magic Crystal were controlled by nobles and powerful factions. Once Super Magic Crystal was mined, it was immediately sent back and stored in the family's Secret Vault.

Only Super Magic Crystal that had been used by family descendants and had its Source Mana extracted would enter the market.

In truth, many secrets concerning the improvement of descendants' talents were passed down in this way. They were also methods used by the upper classes to maintain their own positions.

The Gap between the High-level and the lower classes had already been pulled far apart from the starting line.

①: Some readers may have questions about the family surnames here. Please refer to the section on family surnames in the related works.