Departure

After Kronos and his companion left Sharf's residence, Gner disappeared without a trace.

Although he didn't tell Kronos, Kronos roughly guessed that Gner had gone to see Benjamin.

Before the two disembarked, Gner handed over all the materials from the Evil-Patterned Black Panther to Benjamin for storage, since he had a safe storage room there.

So now that we need that Evil-Patterned Black Panther skin, we naturally need to go find Benjamin first.

Gner trusted Kronos's work completely, so he didn't even bother to ask questions.

Back at the Inn, Kronos cast a Spell on the Table, a "Bestowal.

The sole purpose of the Bestowal is to Endowment an object with one's own aura. It sounds like an extremely useless Spell, but it is not.

This Spell was developed by the family two hundred years ago. It's useless to others, but it becomes very useful when combined with one thing: the "Mystic Pouch."

The Mystic Pouch can only hold things related to Warlock and Scroll Professor, so it can actually hold very few things, and many materials are not even within its recognition range.

That's why this Spell exists. With its existence, Western Capital can be Endowment the aura of Warlock and Scroll Professor, and thus can be placed inside a skin.

However, this combination has only one drawback: the casting time for the Bestowal is very long, often taking ten days to half a month.

To this end, the family developed Ritual specifically for this Spell in order to shorten the time, but ultimately they could not shorten it to within a day.

Even a pound of spellcasting material takes more than a day to be fully Endowment with energy.

Meanwhile, Kronos is now Endowment the powder of the Heart of Life and the Lucky One Cane with life.

He could easily carry all his other items with him, but the Lucky One Cane was a bit of a problem. It wasn't the ideal length, and it was newly Endowment without any family aura, so Kronos had to make it himself.

Fortunately, the Walking Stick's level isn't very high, and it can Endowment in three to five days. If the level were higher than the Mystic Pouch, the Endowment would take months.

"How boring!" Kronos lay on the bed and sighed deeply.

He now misses the days of "survival in the wild" in the mountains. It was a bit dangerous and tiring, but it was definitely better than just sitting around doing nothing.

Actually, his anxiety wasn't due to having nothing to do; rather, he was under considerable pressure and couldn't find a way out of the predicament.

Now Kronos understood why his father and Grandfather, who initially promised to break free from constraints, ultimately both embarked on the path of commerce.

In such a situation, the only way to relieve anxiety is to find something to do; otherwise, if you have nothing to do, you'll feel a tightness in your chest.

Perhaps that's why they chose to learn business knowledge to keep themselves busy in order to alleviate their anxiety.

However, the best way to learn any kind of knowledge is to combine theory with practice. Gradually, business matters will take up more and more of their energy, leaving them with no energy to care about their actual abilities.

Perhaps this is a good ending. For a family caught between the Church of Steam and Machinery and the Royal Family, it is indeed best to have no power at all.

Finally, Kronos abandoned these wild thoughts and slowly entered a meditative state.

Since there's nothing to do, why not meditate properly? It's better than constantly complaining and blaming others.

Kronos meditated for so long that it was already evening, and he was awakened by a knock on the door.

Kronos assumed it was Gner bringing him the leather bag, and thought to himself, "How can I remain silent in this situation?"

When the Door Opening, it was Lü Er'an.

Lü Er'an saluted first, then said, "Major Kronos, the Your Excellency Admiral sent me to inform you that you will assemble at the entrance of the Navy Base at eight o'clock tomorrow morning. The base will provide sufficient military supplies, but if you have any needs, you will need to prepare them yourselves."

Kronos naturally returned a standard military salute, "Yes, I understand."

After receiving Kronos's reply, Lü Er'an was about to leave, but Kronos stopped him. "Secretary Lü Er'an, may I use another identity to enter this mission? I don't want to expose myself."

Lü Er'an thought for a moment, then replied, "If you use your true identity, Your Excellency Admiral can Record your military merits, and you might even be promoted exceptionally. But if you use your identity as an adventurer, you won't get any military merits."

Kronos didn't even need to think; he made a decision immediately. "Help me get a reliable identity. Name and appearance don't matter, the main thing is that it can withstand scrutiny, preferably even fooling government officials."

In fact, Kronos had wanted to create such a False Identity before he even set off from Backlund, but unfortunately, the Marquis Argel said he didn't have a way to keep it completely secret.

Moreover, if he himself were to help Kronos acquire this identity, countless people would pay attention, and within two or three days, this identity would be known to everyone in the upper echelons.

Lü Er'an looked at him and then asked, "Are you in a hurry?"

Kronos said, "Of course there's no rush. I just need to finish it before I leave Bayam."

Lü Er'an didn't say anything more, but nodded and left.

Two or three hours later, this time it was Gner who knocked on Kronos's door.

As soon as Kronos opened the door, something was thrown at him.

He hurriedly caught the object, and upon closer inspection, he realized it was a box.

Kronos opened the box; inside were three small leather pouches and a note.

Kronos glanced at Gner with a puzzled look, then picked up the slip of paper. It read, "The hide of this Evil-Patterned Black Panther is even better. It can conceal that Triangular Bayonet for three days. These are three leather bags that Sharf rushed to make. Each one can last for two months, and he is still making the rest."

Kronos was speechless. Gner was really stubborn, coming up with such a trick.

He looked up at Gner again, and to his surprise, he saw smugness on the man's face.

"Alright, alright, I surrender. You're really something, aren't you?" Kronos couldn't hold back any longer. If this continued, the two of them could be locked in a stalemate all the way to Backlund.

Upon hearing this, Gner burst into laughter. "I knew you couldn't beat me!"

Looking at Gner, Kronos asked a question, "What If...? we encounter danger in the Ruins tomorrow and need to communicate?"

"Then tell me, your life is more important! Otherwise, do you have any other options?" Sure enough, no matter how stubborn someone is, they wouldn't dare gamble with their own life.

Kronos didn't say anything, he just shrugged.

Seeing that Gner was about to say something, he slammed the door shut just before Gner could utter a sound.

Gner was taken aback, then heard a voice from inside the door. "Consider this a win for me."

Upon hearing this, Gner had only one thought—"I want to curse again!"

The next morning at seven o'clock, Kronos and his companion set off from the Inn.

The two brought Western Capital they could, especially Kronos, whose Beyonder Item were enough to equip a small squad.

When we arrived at the entrance of the Navy Base, two people were already waiting there.

After a brief chat, I learned that they had recruited four adventurers in the past few days, and the rest were filled by Death Row Inmate.

Not long after, a fully equipped squad emerged from the Navy Base, led by Amyrius's Personal Guard Captain — Baldwin Barrow, a Sequence 6 "Judge".

This was also because MI9 assured them that the Ruins were not dangerous, which is why Amyrius sent a Sequence 6 leader to lead the team.

He had originally planned to take action himself, since several of his Sequence 5 were currently on Warship patrolling the seas.

After a while, the remaining two adventurers and the death row Death Row Inmate escorted by the Police arrived one after another.

At this moment, Baldwin stepped forward, looked at the people before him, and said, "This mission is led by the military, so I expect everyone to obey orders and behave themselves. If any problems arise due to anyone's mistake, I will execute them on the spot without mercy. Move out!"

Baldwin's style was decisive and extremely tough, much like the legendary Amyrius.

Perhaps it was because Amyrius treated Kronos differently that he did not feel the Majesty emanating from the "Weaver of Laws".

Perhaps it was because the Personal Guard Captain was too tough that the deputy Captain he was paired with had a gentle and approachable demeanor.

As the entire team headed into the Jungle, the vice- Captain Chad, mingled with the group of adventurers.

He gently reassured the group, including Kronos and Gner, to prevent them from harboring resentment towards Baldwin.

Under his reassurance, Kronos felt that the resistance in everyone's hearts had been significantly alleviated.

Not only the adventurers, but even the Death Row Inmate showed understanding and agreement, as if sending them to their deaths to pave the way for everyone was a perfectly reasonable thing to do.

If Kronos hadn't pulled Gner back at the crucial moment, he might have ended up in the same situation.

After all, Warrior in this Sequence tend to have lower Spirituality, making them susceptible to being tricked if they're not careful.

These four adventurers and six Death Row Inmate, apart from three at Sequence 9, were all ordinary people, utterly powerless against Vice- Captain Chad.

Given this situation and Chad's Captain, Kronos had some guesses.

He should be an Beyonder in the Spectator Pathway, Sequence 7 "Psychiatrist" or Sequence 6 "Hypnotist".