As Kaka had said, Gangke had come to the Cloak Society while injured. He had indeed been very polite. That was how things worked in the Demon Realm: whoever had the stronger fists was in the right. The defeated either fought to the death or admitted defeat.
Gangke had asked to meet Agulie not because he wanted revenge, but on behalf of the security officer, Allen. He wanted the Cloak Society to become an officially recognized organization in Darkmoon City. They only needed to pay a small number of Magic Crystal Coins each month and avoid causing any major trouble to operate freely in the city.
Only then did Chen Rui realize that Allen secretly controlled all sorts of "civilian organizations" in Darkmoon City. In a way, that was a case of "officials and bandits working together." This new information sparked plenty of ideas in his mind. Several thoughts flashed through it, but he would need time to sort them out calmly. For now, his priority was to return and test those spiritual-energy materials.
"Agulie's been cultivating lately. He should be free in two days. I'll let him know. Just tell Gangke to meet him here the night after tomorrow."
The old goblin had been worrying about this. Hearing that, he was overjoyed. "Lord Chen Rui, then I'd be grateful if you could pass the message along!"
"One more thing!" Chen Rui said through gritted teeth. "If you don't want to truly anger Agulie, your daughter absolutely cannot keep pretending to be his concubine!"
The old goblin hurriedly nodded. Suddenly, his small eyes lit up, and he gazed at the human record keeper with hope. The look sent a chill through Chen Rui. Before the old goblin could try to sell his daughter to him, Chen Rui bolted from the Cloak Society's headquarters.
Chen Rui hurried back to the room in the laboratory and quickly entered the Star God Temple inside the Super System. Sure enough, a warehouse building had appeared on the open ground outside the temple. Another section had been added to the throne's screen, showing the warehouse's storage status. It displayed the current items and capacity in a series of flat, grid-like squares. It also had an automatic sorting function, which was very convenient.
Chen Rui's consciousness left the Super System and returned to the room. With a thought, he stored the bed and chairs in the room. Together with his baggage, they occupied only three small squares on the display—about one percent of the total space. It seemed the Storage Warehouse was indeed spacious, and as the system's evolution level increased, it would automatically expand.
However, after activating the warehouse, his spiritual energy, which had originally been 1'0, had dropped to only 570. Fortunately, he had a pile of magical materials here, so it was the perfect time to test them.
Chen Rui started testing the materials one by one. His experiments showed that ordinary materials could provide around 80 points of spiritual energy. One piece of Vine Stone was of medium quality, with good purity, and converted into 160 points—a decent source of spiritual energy. Aside from that, three kinds of material were even better than Vine Stone. The first was Jade Ice Crystal, an extremely rare material that provided a staggering 850 points. The second was Blood Crystal, a higher-grade magic crystal than Black Crystal. Because it was rare, it wasn't used as currency like Black Crystal and Purple Crystal, but was instead classified as a high-end item. It provided 6 points of spiritual energy. The last was Fluorescent Shadow Stone, a magical auxiliary material that yielded 315 points after conversion.
After this round of testing, Chen Rui's total spiritual energy had reached 4015. It was as if he'd spent a fortune only to earn it all back. Jade Ice Crystal and Blood Crystal were extremely rare: one piece of Jade Ice Crystal was priced at one thousand Black Crystal Coins, while Blood Crystal cost six hundred. Buying them was not worthwhile. Fluorescent Shadow Stone was an exception. It was a crafting material that gave off a faint, eerie glow, and it was much cheaper than Vine Stone, costing ten Black Crystal Coins per piece. It suppressed and stabilized magical energy, and was generally used to limit the backlash of certain magical containers. But a fist-sized piece of Fluorescent Shadow Stone could be used many times, so demand was low. Due to its unusual texture, many people also liked using it to make magical crafts. All in all, it was a rather obscure commodity, and the magical shops only stocked a few pieces.
In terms of spiritual energy, Jade Ice Crystal and Blood Crystal were too expensive, while Fluorescent Shadow Stone seemed to offer the best value. It looked like he would have to find a way to focus on that material in the future.
Chen Rui ground those materials into powder and left them in the Storage Warehouse, then exited the Super System. He now had over four thousand spiritual energy, and once the sixty pieces of top-quality Vine Stone arrived, he would have even more. Still, he couldn't afford to waste it carelessly. In particular, he wasn't ready to cultivate independently in the Training Ground yet. He should save as much spiritual energy as possible and make the most of the resource that was the Poison Dragon, Pagliu, using the special training to further adapt to wielding Star Power.
Not long afterward, Kagulon arrived at the laboratory with a document. It contained the information Chen Rui had once requested from Shea. The palace guard captain had brought Shea's message: memorize it, then destroy the document.
As Chen Rui read through it, he understood why Shea had been so cautious. It detailed every aspect of the Darkmoon Territory, including its finances, military, family powers, and influential figures. After successfully completing his initial evolution, his already formidable memory had improved further. His mind was like a computer database, capable of accurately recording all kinds of information. He carefully read through the document and committed it to memory. As for the document itself, he didn't destroy it, but casually put it in the Storage Warehouse. It hardly took up any space anyway.
Chen Rui paid particularly close attention to Joseph's information. Joseph was already three hundred years old, but among the Greater Devils, that only made him middle-aged. He was the son of Lord Chiyou Zhuo Qie and the eldest son of the Alvin Family, but he wasn't first in line to inherit the family. Zhuo Qie had several other children, and the one who posed the greatest threat to Joseph was his youngest son, Kanita, whom Zhuo Qie favored most. Joseph had come to Darkmoon to distinguish himself and improve his chances of becoming heir. Although Kanita was far away in Chiyou, their overt and covert struggles had never ceased. Zhuo Qie didn't interfere. The survival of the fittest was a Demon Realm tradition, and it was also what ensured a family's continued existence.
In the Demon Realm, nothing mattered more than this. Even the royal family was no exception. The biggest reason General George, Athena's father, openly supported Shea was that Prince Heiyao still couldn't comprehend the Sword of the Fallen Angel. That meant he couldn't wipe out the direct descendants of Emperor White Night, leaving the Lucifer Royal Family with its final hope of passing down the divine weapon and preventing the Lucifer Family from following the same path as the other royal families that had been destroyed. In other words, once Heiyao gained the Sword of the Fallen Angel's recognition, then unless General George was willing to bear the stigma of treason as well as the risk of his family's destruction, he would no longer be able to protect Shea.
As for Allen, he was the only son of Legu, head of the Kalon Family. The Kalon Family had originally supported the Crown Prince Green's faction, just like General George, but after Green's death, they began to side with Prince Heiyao. Allen was now at the peak of the Mid-tier Demon level. He had once been about as strong as Athena, but she had since advanced to High-Rank Demon and left him behind. The difference between the peak of the Mid-tier Demon level and the initial stage of High-Rank Demon might seem like only one small step, but the gap between ranks was enormous. Allen was now no match for Athena at all. However, he was also protected by powerful members of the Kalon Family, so he couldn't be underestimated.
Dark Moon had once been a famous and prosperous place, home to many economically powerful families. But after the ravages of war four hundred years ago, it gradually fell into decline, leading many families to shift their focus elsewhere. Even so, they still had deep-rooted foundations built over many years. The Saifo Family and the Meilong Family were representative forces among the old families. The Saifo Family was a devoted supporter of Shea's faction. Two years ago, the clan head Carter's son, Tim, had been maneuvered by Joseph into taking a dangerous position as a mining officer in Xilang Mountain. He had died there without a trace, leaving old Carter with an even deeper hatred for Joseph and the Alvin Family. The Meilong Family, on the other hand, was a fence-sitter and currently sided with Joseph. The other small families were divided among various factions as well.
This information was quite useful, but getting Joseph and Allen to turn against each other would not be easy. It would be difficult to make a move through Joseph, so perhaps he could start by using Allen. The key was to find the right opportunity. Besides, Joseph's sworn enemy among his brothers was another possible target, though for now Chen Rui didn't have a particularly good plan.
Shea was meticulous. To prevent anyone with ulterior motives from sneaking into the area around the laboratory and noticing the Wyvern's unusual activity at night, she had greatly strengthened security in the outer palace. To Royce, who had already been keeping an eye on Aldas, this only confirmed that the Dark Elf master might be on the verge of advancing to master-level potion-making.
Chen Rui had no idea how much of a stir this coincidence would cause. As usual, he rode the Wyvern to Blue Wave Lake for special training, then completed his routine work as a record keeper that afternoon and took the opportunity to discuss the situation in Darkmoon with Shea.
Two days passed. Chen Rui remembered that he had to visit the Cloak Society that evening and began preparing a full getup. After all, Agulie was the leader of the Cloak Society.
Night gradually fell. Outside the Cloak Society's "headquarters," the old goblin Didi paced anxiously. Gangke's side had already agreed to meet and could arrive at any moment, but their master, Agulie, still hadn't shown up. It would be disastrous if he didn't come. If the human record keeper hadn't repeatedly told him to keep the matter secret, he would have gone to the laboratory to find him long ago.
The old goblin's nephew, Kaka, rushed over with a report. "Uncle Didi, Gangke and the others are already at the end of the alley."
"But the master hasn't arrived yet. What should we do?" The old goblin had barely finished speaking when he saw Kaka staring behind him with a horrified expression.
The old goblin turned around and abruptly discovered that someone had appeared behind him without making a sound. He staggered backward in fright and fell to the ground.
"Useless," came a cold, slightly hoarse voice.
The old goblin looked at the man before him, who wore a cloak that concealed his face. The man's build seemed similar to the figure in his memory, but his voice was somewhat different. Unsure, he asked, "M-Master?"
"You haven't earned my recognition. I'm not your master." The cloaked man held out five fingers toward the old goblin and said coldly, "Just for using my name to establish the Cloak Society, I could blast you to pieces!"
The old goblin recognized the pose from the terrifying ball of light the man had unleashed that night. He didn't dare doubt him and begged for mercy. "Spare me, Master! Didi only wanted to do a little something for you!"
"Hmph!" The cloaked man slowly lowered his hand. "Go stand off to the side. Once I've dealt with that defeated opponent, I'll settle things with you."
The old goblin hurriedly stood respectfully to one side. Just then, Gangke's voice came from the doorway. "Where's your leader?"
Before you continue