Chapter 365: Chapter 364 : VENGEANCE GHOST?

Reaching the mansion, Margret hurried to Victor’s bedroom after taking a shower and putting on a sexy red nightgown.

Too bad he was not there, as she was welcomed by a few grumpy girls who were left to sleep alone.

Without bothering to ask them, she hurried downstairs, toward the study in the basement.

As expected, Victor was there.

He was lying on the couch with his eyes closed and his head resting on Lily’s lap. She was feeding him some grapes while casually looking at the detailed maps on the coffee table in front of them… No, those were not grapes but energy pills!

Elise was with them, sitting on the opposite side, taking notes and charting something on the maps while knotting her pretty eyebrows.

“What is going on here exactly?” Margret asked.

“He is scamming some pool girl to risk her life for him…“ Elise said, sighing.

“Cool!” Margret said as she grabbed a seat to join the fun.

…

“How big is this graveyard?” Rita asked after walking for 30 minutes between strangely marked graves. They only had numbers on them. Very long numbers.

“The entirety of the Deep Valley is a graveyard in a sense… “ Victor said as he guided Rita.

“Deep Valley? We are in a valley?” she said as she looked around. She could see several mountains in the north and near the south.

“Yes… It is. This place in its entirety belongs to the Von Zwei family,” Victor said. “It is their ancestral land.”

“Did many of their people die or something for them to create this big graveyard?” Rita asked.

“No, they collect corpses from all over the world and bury them here. They even created several cults that believe that people buried here would resurrect after 1000 years!” Victor said. "They bring their corpses here in a festival at the end of the year!"

“Ahh… Why do they like corpses?” Rita asked.

“I am not sure…” he lied. “From the info we have, we believe that their bloodline originator is called the corpse-eating maggot, so they may need something they call ‘corpse energy’ to stimulate their bloodlines. You can see those inscribed monoliths every once in a while right?”

“Yes…” she just passed next to one of those. A black obsidian monolith with strange inscriptions. It had so much foul air around it that she didn’t even dare to walk near it.

“Those are death energy array beacons… Their job is to gather all the corpse energy generated by the buried bodies in its range, then transfer it toward the valley’s center,” Victor said. “Think of it like some Video game setting…”

“I don’t play those…”

“Oh… Anyway, Legends had it that their demonic ancestry is still alive deep underground in a hidden cave… Waiting to rise when the world collapses!” Victor said. Although that thing never appeared in his previous lifetime, according to Lily it was alive but very weakened. It went missing when the Von Zwei family was defeated though, they only found the empty chamber he was in after digging the entire valley 50 yards deep.

“AHH….. “ Rita felt a shiver run through her back as she. “Hopefully, no such things exist…” she said.

“... Hopefully… ” Victor said after some hesitation. It was not time to break the bad news for Rita yet.

When she was first sent to the Von Zwei base, Victor’s plan was just to use her to steal the second awakening artifact before silently returning with it when they sent her back. His current plan would have been pure madness to implement.
But now, not anymore, not with the skills he got and the knowledge Lily’s gained after her time adventure. He would be a fool not to utilize those to his advantage in this one-in-a-lifetime opportunity to dig out all the benefits he could get.

…

Walking through the stone-tiled side roads through the graveyard, It took Rita another 20 Minutes to Reach the target… The Von Zwei family’s ancestral Awakening hall, a huge, gothic-style, highly decorated two-domed hall, where the two awakenings Von Zwei’s artifacts were placed.

“Now that’s what I call architecture!” Victor said with satisfaction, making Rita frown and then blush at his comment.

“Where should I enter from?” she asked.

“Oh… Go left… Right behind that big tree, Float 5 feet above ground until you reach that decorative ledge. Be sure not to approach the gargoyles while you are at it, those are real ones, not statues, and they might notice something if you are too close…”

Rita quickly approached the spot he marked for her, nervously keeping her eyes on the hundreds of stone gargoyles that dotted the building.

“Are all of those real?” she asked.

“Yup!” Victor said, “Don’t worry about them for now…”

“Um…” Rita said as she activated the shifting skill, immediately finding herself inside an elongated black marble-decorated empty hall. She had to confess, that this shadow-shifting skill was amazing.

“Where am I now?” she asked.

“You should be in the eastern wing of the awakening hall… Just to make sure, Look up, do you see a bronze serpent?”

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“Yes…” she answered, looking at the strange sculpture of a bronze serpent that decorated the rectangular hall’s ceiling.

“Then you are in the right place,” Victor said. “Head to the door on your left, then turn right facing the wall, take two steps to the right…”

“Is there no one here?” she asked as she quickly followed his command, appearing in a long empty corridor.

“This place can only be accessed by high-ranking members of the Von Zwei family, so there are not many people here… Still, I am taking you through the safest route possible, but you have to keep your guard! There will be many hidden guards at our destination!”

“Um…”

“Now, turn right, move two steps forward toward the golden-painted wall…...”

Rita quickly followed his instructions, one by one, and after going through another 3 empty halls and 11 security barriers, she finally found herself in an indoor exotic garden under a huge dome that had a hall in its center showing the sky.

In the middle of this patio, right beneath the opening in the dome, there was a still pond that perfectly reflected the night sky on its clear surface.

Around it, 7 individuals were sitting separately meditating. Two kids, a charming young woman, and four men.

“What are they doing?” Rita whispered. She didn’t have to, but the solemn atmosphere made her do that.

“Trying to become players!” Victor said.

“Trying? Don't they have an awakening ceremony like our family?” Rita asked as she looked at them.

“They do. The Von Zwei family has two awakening artifacts… The first and main one is in the other hall, It has an 80% awakening chance, and is what most Von Zwei members use in their awakening ceremony that happens once a year…The second one is here, and it is open all year to those of pure blood to try their luck.”

“Where is it?” Rita asked, looking around trying to find it. There was only a wall.

“Yes… It is in the pond,” Victor said.

“Oh…” Rita looked at the pond. There is nothing in it. It must be hidden. “When will they finish?” she asked. She was tasked to take that artifact after all.

“When they get tired of it…” Victor said.

“Aren’t they here to awaken as players?” Rita asked.

“...They want to… “ Victor paused to swallow the energy in his mouth. “...But they don’t know how to activate the artifact here, so they just sit down and wait… That’s how the current patriarch did it. He meditated here for 39 years without leaving until he made it and became a player…”

“Ahhh….. Can’t they attempt the ceremony with the other artifact?”

“They can, but the one who manages to awaken here would not only automatically become a patriarch candidate, he would also get 10 authority points and a high chance for a high-ranking class!” Victor said.

“Ohh… And I presume you have a way to get it and activate it,” Rita said.

“Of course I do… Those fools are doing it all wrong…” he said mysteriously. “Now, I will use my skill to create an illusion and help you take it, You have to do exactly as I say!” he said. “First go forward while keeping your distance from those guys, and stand on the side of the lake…” he said.

“I understand…” she said as she slowly approached the lake.

“WHO IS THERE?!” The young woman who was sitting silently meditating suddenly shouted as Rita who was 6 feet away from her froze.

“What’s wrong Diana… “ one of the men looked up and asked.

“I felt something here… It is as if there is an intruder…” she said as she began to look around, “I don’t know what, but…. But… I think we should investigate… ”

“There is no one here! Sit down and meditate or I will kick you out!” another man scolded. He seemed to be an elder. “This place is surrounded by guardians, it is not your place, a servant bitch to tell us what to do… If it weren't for your father’s merits you would not have been allowed here!”

“Sorry, Master…” Diana said as she sat down, but kept looking around nervously.

…

“She must have felt something… Strange… I am disguising everything I could think of…” Victor pondered as he appraised the young woman.
She was about 25 years old, charming with sharp deep eyes and a heroic-looking face.

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