Chapter 160

"Brother Ryan, where is the Grand Duke?"

Everson looked left and right, and then brought the carriage as instructed.

Ryan closed the game interface and said, "He said he was going to change his clothes."

"Change clothes?" Everson felt the word was unfamiliar. "What kind of clothes could the Grand Duke change into? I've never seen her wear anything other than her battle armor."

Ryan shrugged. He had seen him twice before. Once was when Magana and he sneaked into the castle in the middle of the night to steal treasure in Childe City, and the other was when they were watching the moon at night in Silver Peak City. However, he was only dressed in ordinary clothes, which showed that this Iron-Blooded Grand Duke did not like to dress up in his daily life.

That makes sense. They go to the battlefield every now and then, and they're too lazy to change out of their armor when they're not in the game. Even if they're confident in their abilities, they still need to have all the necessary equipment.

As the two were talking, they suddenly heard a series of crisp footsteps.

Ryan turned his head and was immediately stunned.

It was Magana who came over.

At this moment, Magana changed out of her armor and wore a black Lolita dress with delicate lace. She wore a red lace hat decorated with gold flowers and feathers, which was worn to the side. Her long white hair cascaded down her shoulders, making her look petite and delicate, like a doll that had stepped out of a fairy tale.

Da da da da.

The black Mary Jane shoes made a crisp sound as they stepped on the ground. Magana stood proudly with her chest out, like a proud fighting peacock that would never lower its noble head.

"The carriage has arrived? Let's go."

Magana walked to the carriage and, seeing that neither of them had moved, turned around in confusion. "What are you standing there for?"

Everson remained stunned. "Grand Duke, how come you've changed so much? You weren't like this before."

Magana asked blankly, "What was I like before?"

Everson wanted to say something, but Ryan immediately replied, "The Grand Duke is always elegant and generous."

Everson: "Huh?", confused. "Is that so?"

Elegance and grace—how do those things fit with the Grand Duke? Isn't the Grand Duke known for being as violent as can be?

However, Ryan did not give him another chance to speak and boarded the carriage to set off.

If it had been any later... tsk~ the Grand Duke's wrath could cause bloodshed within five steps.

Inside the carriage, Magana sat with her legs together, a book on her lap, which she was reading intently.

"Your Grand Duke, what are you looking at?" Ryan asked.

"Information on the Western Barbarians." Magana held up the book. The cover was black and crumpled, with no information on it. Seeing Ryan's confusion, she explained, "This is a relic called the 'Book of Darkness.' It will display whatever information you want."

Ryan was stunned. Such a treasure existed?

"And the cost?"

"The soul, it needs to be fed enough souls to be used."

"The Path of Death?"

It seems that every god has his own way of getting what he needs from his believers through a seemingly equal exchange.

For example, the priest Janus Path had already obtained the answer when he inquired about the Wild Hunt, but the price was a large number of sacrifices.

It's hard to say which one comes at a greater cost. If the Grand Duke were to use it, this book would naturally be more convenient, since the battlefield is full of souls.

Ryan suddenly wondered if he could use this method to find the fragments he needed for his advancement.

Although we haven't reached the second-order limit state yet, it's still necessary to plan ahead.

"You need it? Here." Magana handed the book to Ryan.

When he took the book, the densely packed content on it suddenly disappeared, turning into a blank page.

"The answer I just asked for is something you couldn't see."

Ryan suddenly realized why he couldn't see the words in the book clearly earlier.

"This book contains many souls. You can try reciting them silently in your mind," Magana said.

"Anything is fine?"

"In theory, you can ask whatever you want. The more complex the question, the harder it is to get an answer, and the more souls you will need to spend."

Ryan hesitated for a moment. He was reluctant to reveal the secret of the fragment to others, but the Grand Duke was trustworthy, and no one else could see the contents of the book.

With this in mind, Ryan asked the Book of Darkness in his mind.

Splash splash~~

The blank pages began to flip, and a dark flame ignited on the book, releasing wisps of souls that burned into the flames.

These are the souls of the dead, unclaimed souls that Magana 'picked up' from the battlefield. They are essentially a form of energy; by burning this energy, one can unleash the power of the Book of Darkness to obtain the answers one desires.

That's how it should normally be.

But this time was different. As more and more souls were burned, the black flames rose higher and higher, eventually almost reaching the roof of the car.

Tumultuous!

The Book of Darkness burst into flames, and then everything returned to calm. Fortunately, the fire was illusory, otherwise the carriage would have been burned long ago.

Looking at the still blank pages in the book, Ryan was a little confused. "Grand Duke, what's going on?"

Magana also a little confused. "What did you ask?"

Ryan was bewildered. "Just asking casually."

The Grand Duke was dumbfounded. "The soul has been burned up. There was a full 100,000 units of soul power stored inside."

Ryan was bewildered. "A lot?"

The Grand Duke was bewildered. "There are many. You could even ask Pope Janus what color underwear he likes to wear and you'd get the answer."

Ryan thought to himself, "This kind of problem shouldn't be so serious as to require burning 100,000 souls, right?"

However, judging from the situation, his problem did indeed burn 100,000 souls, and it was clearly not enough. You should know that 100,000 souls should be more than enough to be converted into sacrifices for the Janus priest. In other words, the secret of his advancement fragment is far greater than the secret of the King of the Wild Hunt.

Um?

Ryan noticed that a delicate silver badge had suddenly appeared on the previously blank page.

"This is?"

"Has something happened?" Magana asked.

"A small thing appeared, but we don't know what it is."

What kind?

"A badge, silver."

Ryan described the badge as best he could. Since it appeared in the Book of Darkness, it must have special significance. The Grand Duke is knowledgeable and might know something about it.

"Hmm...it looks like the emblem used by the Wilderia royal family." Magana frowned and thought for a while. "Yes, that should be it. The Wilderia royal family came to the Augustus Empire five years ago. I saw them once."

"Veldya?"

Ryan was taken aback. Good grief, he's gotten involved with Game Character again.

Elvian is the king of Veldria.

However, with just this badge, Ryan doesn't know where to start looking. The answer obtained by burning 100,000 souls is too cheap, isn't it?

"What exactly did you ask?" Magana was also curious. Ten thousand souls, just like that, gone. If it were Everson doing this, she would definitely kill him.

"I asked... well, how can the Grand Duke unify the Northern Continent? Perhaps that was a rather vague question, but it seems we should perhaps start with Northern Coalition?"

"How could the Book of Darkness possibly know such a thing?" Magana said irritably. "Even the gods only know the definite answers to given things. They cannot answer uncertain things like this, because their way of achieving their goals is completely different from ours."

It's like asking, "God, how can I live forever?"

But God said, "He will live and not die."

How do you govern this country?

But God said, "Let them all believe."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Your Grand Duke, it's a waste."

"Never mind, it's my fault for not explaining it clearly to you. Anyway, we'll have it after a few battles."

Magana waved her hand dismissively.

Ryan looked out of the carriage, his thoughts drifting. He had been considering creating Alts these past few days. A tool-like figure to rule the empire was definitely needed. What about Wilderia? The new map had just been unlocked, so he might as well take the opportunity to explore it first.

"The burning of 100,000 souls was not in vain."

To be honest, if I had asked what that thing was instead of how to obtain Advancement Fragment, I wonder if I would have gotten any answers.

Da da da da.

The carriage gradually drove into the majestic castle.

Through the carriage curtain, Ryan saw several other carriages traveling together on the road, each one luxurious and grand, with various ponies and horses. He knew nothing about horses, but he could tell from the gilded decorations on the carriages that they were very valuable, and some even had royal insignia.

"That's the Senate's carriage; I guess it belongs to Prince Audus."

Magana squeezed her head out and looked at the most luxurious of the many carriages, saying, "That guy is Kahn's brother, and he has the most power in the Senate, but he doesn't have any military power, he only has the title of Prince."

"Although that old guy hasn't been doing so well these past few years, he did accomplish a lot in the past, and he held all the power in his hands. No one in the entire empire dared to oppose him."

The power of the Tribunal, the Senate, the Burning Covenant, and other institutions was all in the hands of the Old Emperor. Magana's words spoke of the old man in a fairly good light, but unfortunately, he had recently lost his reputation and was tricked by the Eye of Dawn.

Although the Senate has the power to vote on imperial political affairs, most of its members are actually confidants of the Old Emperor, and because they only have the title of senator, they are nominal rather than powerful, so they are not a great threat.

Generals like Kalkart, who lead armies, pose a far greater threat than this so-called Prince.

Magana pointed at the carriages along the way.

Occasionally, someone would lift the curtain, but upon seeing Magana, they would be so frightened that they would quickly lower the curtain, and the carriage would speed away.

Before long, everyone gathered in the castle's 'parking lot', and as Ryan stepped down, he clearly felt countless eyes staring at him.

Some were surprised, some were puzzled, and some were confused...

"Is that Magana?"

"It's her."

"I almost didn't recognize you dressed like that."

"That Magana actually has this side to her?"

"My God! This must be fake! How could that devil be so charming?!"

Although Magana's reputation outside is indeed not good, it must be said that the Grand Duke is quite charming today... well, if she doesn't say anything.

"Shut up! If you keep yelling, I'll rip your tongues out!" Magana's death stare swept over them, and the surrounding nobles immediately turned and left.

"Snort!"

The proud black peacock, Magana, walked with her head held high toward the palace in the center of the castle.

With Ryan by his side, he felt that Magana was the kind of person who was born with absolute confidence, and who would do whatever she wanted, no matter what others said.

But she also has the ability, so those who are annoyed and disgusted by her can't do anything about it.

Take this outfit for example. Although it took some getting used to at first glance, after a few more looks you'll know how charming the Grand Duke is.

Great, Grand Duke Duchess Lolita's artwork has been unlocked.

Speaking of which...

Ryan glanced at Magana's shoes, black Mary Janes. Weren't the soles a bit too high? He hadn't noticed before; it seemed like every pair of Magana's shoes had exceptionally high soles. Judging from this... was the Grand Duke even 1.5 meters tall?

"Hmm?" Magana suddenly turned her head. "What are you looking at?"

Ryan broke out in a cold sweat. "I was looking at what brand the Grand Duke's shoes were, they're really nice!"

"Oh, I had these custom-made. If you like them, I can have them make a few men's pairs for you too."

"No need, no need. Only Grand Duke you, Your Excellency, can pull off these shoes with style. They would look ridiculous on anyone else."

Hehe~

Magana seemed very happy to be photographed.

She thought Ryan had great taste.

People had noticed her shoes before, but that guy actually questioned her height first, ugh! Go to hell, you piece of shit.