Undercurrents

Golden Rock Province, Shining City.

As the central city of a barony, Shining City was in fact more prosperous than the central cities of many viscounties.

Among the seven baronies in Golden Rock Province, the Arnester Family's Shining Territory indisputably ranked first.

Whether in territorial size or economic strength, it was not much inferior to a viscounty.

Unfortunately, this also attracted the covetous eyes of powerful figures, making the baronial title easy to pass into other hands.

Inner castle, bedroom.

After being dressed by a young and beautiful maid, Owen Arnester went to the dining hall. He had barely taken a sip of warm milk after sitting down when he saw the secretary hurry in.

"Lord." The secretary bowed.

Owen nodded. "You look like you're in a hurry. What urgent matter has come up?"

"There are several matters I need to report to you."

"Speak."

Owen was concise, his hands never pausing in their elegant dining movements.

Ever since "inheriting" the baronial title, he had paid increasingly close attention to his daily noble bearing, striving to integrate into the circle of noble lords.

Thanks to his efforts—and more importantly, the support of the Golden Rock Marquis—quite a few noble lords had already shown him goodwill.

Given time, his position within the circle of noble lords would only become more secure.

And once everything had settled down, it would be time to free up his hands and thoroughly eliminate his lingering troubles.

"Knight Zolv has sent someone with a letter, clearly stating that he will attend this year's Harvest Festival in Shining City," the secretary said.

At that, Owen's movements paused slightly, and a knowing smile appeared on his plump face.

"It seems Zolv has finally recognized the situation. Good. What did Norwood and Devon say?"

"They haven't agreed yet, but they haven't explicitly refused either. They are most likely still waiting and watching."

A trace of contempt flashed through Owen's eyes. "Waiting and watching? Hmph. Do they think those two little brats can still return to Shining City? What a ridiculous idea."

The secretary smiled obsequiously. "You are right, Lord. The two knights will sooner or later realize that you are the true master of Shining Territory!"

"The true master of Shining Territory."

The title eased Owen's expression, and his mood instantly improved.

"Speaking of which, what have my two nephews been doing lately?"

The secretary hesitated before answering, "I heard they intend to reopen the Blackstone Mining Area."

"The Blackstone Mining Area?" Owen was slightly taken aback.

He had heard about what happened in Blackstone City back then and naturally knew about the situation in the Blackstone Mining Area. A puzzled expression appeared on his face.

"Do they have a way to deal with the monsters in the mining area?"

"I'm not sure about that either." The secretary glanced at Owen and carefully explained, "Blackstone City has sealed off the mining area. My men can't investigate the exact conditions there."

Seeing Owen frown, he hurriedly added, "Rest assured, Lord. If they really reopen the Blackstone Mining Area, my men will definitely receive word."

Owen thought that made sense and stopped dwelling on the matter. "Anything else?"

The secretary quickly said, "There is one more thing. Just yesterday, Storm Earl was attacked by the Starfire Cult while out hunting and suffered severe injuries. Storm Territory is already in chaos."

Clang!

The crisp sound of cutlery striking porcelain rang out.

Upon hearing this news, Owen instantly lost his earlier composure. He set down his knife and fork, rose to his feet, and asked gravely, "Severely injured? How severe?"

The secretary hesitated. "He has been unconscious for a full day and night and still hasn't awakened."

Owen's expression changed slightly.

Judging from that, Storm Earl's condition did not look promising.

Owen sat back down, his expression shifting uncertainly.

He did not care whether Storm Earl lived or died. What concerned him more were the repercussions this incident would bring.

Storm Earl was one of the two powerful earls in Golden Rock Province, second only to the Golden Rock Marquis.

Unlike Winter Frost Earl, who had close ties with the Golden Rock Marquis, Storm Earl had always kept his distance from the latter and could even be called somewhat indifferent.

To the Golden Rock Marquis, who sought to control all of Golden Rock Province, Storm Earl's existence was rather irritating.

Others might not know it, but Owen knew that the relationship between the Golden Rock Marquis and the Starfire Cult was far from simple.

The Starfire Cult had also played a part behind the scenes when he seized the position of Shining Baron.

There might well be the Golden Rock Marquis's shadow behind the attack on Storm Earl.

After a long silence, Owen said, "Continue monitoring the situation in Storm Territory. Report any intelligence to me immediately. Also, have Farid take some men around the borders of Norwood's and Devon's territories under the pretext of suppressing bandits."

Golden Rock Province was becoming increasingly unsettled, and Owen no longer intended to keep waiting.

He had to gain complete control of Shining Territory as soon as possible.

If Norwood and Devon still refused to know their place, then they could not blame him for using other methods!

In the blink of an eye, it was the Month of Revival (March).

More than ten days had passed since they discovered Angus MacLean's laboratory.

Kei sold the Blackstone Iron in the warehouse through a secret channel, obtaining nearly seven thousand Gold Coin.

Aside from keeping some for purchasing military equipment and improving the territory's conditions, he invested all the rest into rebuilding the Blackstone Mining Area.

Everything was developing in an orderly manner.

Sunan did not concern himself with these matters.

After returning to Blackstone City, he devoted himself as always to study and training, paying little attention to outside affairs.

After reading the books they had brought back from the laboratory, Sunan successfully triggered the learning progress for Puppet Crafting.

Compared to Biological Modification and Potion Making, Puppet Crafting covered a broader range of subjects and had a higher threshold.

This skill not only included enchanting knowledge, but also encompassed parts of Biological Modification and Magical Item Creation.

As a result, Puppet Crafting's learning progress advanced more slowly.

Even with the boost from Lesser Activity Potion, after more than ten days, its learning progress had only advanced to just over 10%.

Sunan estimated that he would not completely master Puppet Crafting until the Month of Blazing Fire (July).

His meditation training, on the other hand, was progressing very smoothly.

On the very day he returned from the Blackstone Mining Area, Sunan used the Synthesis Cube to fuse three pieces of Spirit Gathering Grass.

Star Pattern Spirit Grass, purity 15.33%. After consumption, it could greatly increase Spirit Power. The exact effect depended on the consumer's Spirit Power: the higher the Spirit Power, the weaker the effect. It was ineffective for those with Spirit Power of 20 or above.

As expected, the Star Pattern Spirit Grass synthesized with the Synthesis Cube was more effective than simply stacking the effects of three pieces of Spirit Gathering Grass.

After consuming the Star Pattern Spirit Grass, Sunan's Spirit Power surged by 1.87.

That was roughly equivalent to two months of meditation results.

Thanks to this, his Spirit Power shot up to 5.77.

The benefit brought by the surge in Spirit Power was that the proficiency of the Star Ring Meditation grew faster.

Meditation increased Spirit Power, while increased Spirit Power in turn enhanced meditation efficiency.

The two naturally complemented each other.

Now, one day of meditation could increase the proficiency of Star Ring Meditation by around 10 to 12 points.

At this rate, he should be able to construct the second star ring within seven or eight months at most.

"But it could actually be faster."

"Blackstone City isn't under much financial pressure anymore. We can set aside more Gold Coin to buy materials for making Lesser Activity Potion, then I can use the cube to synthesize potions with even better effects."

"That way, meditation efficiency can be improved even further."