Chapter 403: Chapter 402: The Gorge

“It was as Esteemed Grandmother expected!” Mike said as soon as he returned to the strange cave they were hiding in, This place was under the sea, next to the main island. It seemed to be a secret base of some sort. “They are gathering the heirs for some kind of assessment…” he added, looking down from the control room at the kids who were training martial arts down below under the supervision of many elders. This was his grandmother’s secret base!

“Oh… Perfect, I was worried they would take their fucking time…” Ann said, looking at Mike. She wanted all the traitors to show themselves to grab them in one move! “Was the rest of the heirs settled?” she asked.

“Yes… But they were not pleased… Did you have to lock them up like that?” Mike asked.

“One of them was the poisoner, and he must be working for Marcos… If not for him, I would have not hurried down there!” she said. “I can’t trust them now… Beside You and Alice that is…” she sighed.

“I understand…” Mike said, squeezing his fist. “When can we check the Jaded room?” he asked, he was worried about his brother.

“Don’t worry about Victor… that kid is more resourceful than you can imagine!” she said, with a strange twinkle in her eyes. “Follow me…” she said, leaving the control room.

Mike frowned and quickly followed as she guided him through the intricate tunnels, and after walking for half an hour.

Mike didn’t dare to talk, and Ann was not in the mood for a chat.

In the end, they seemed to reach their destination when Ann stood in front of a huge door and took a deep breath.

“This is the center of the main island… Right under the Main hall…. Normally, only the patriarch can come here…” she said, seemingly hesitating for a moment. “Mind your manners!” she said as she pushed the door open then walked in followed by Mike into the dark hall.

She bowed… Mike quickly imitated her.

“Ann greats the protectors…” she said, bowing down.

“You may raise…” an old voice said, making Mike rise up and slowly make out the details in the darkness.

In the center of the hall, there was a large crystal that stretched all the way into the ceiling, and inside of it, Mike could make out a black heart that was slowly beating!
Around the crystal, on black jade beds, four extremely old men were sitting in a lotus position. It was as if the Crystal was a bonfire and they were sitting around it to get warm on a cold day.

“Protectors…I will need your help… Marcos…” Ann said toward the men.

“We already saw what happened…”

“We see everything…”

“But, Marcos is the Patriarch…”

Three of the men said, making Ann’s face change. Without the protectors, she would be in a very shitty situation

“But that bastard dared to collide with outsiders… So he lost his right…” the last old man said, making Ann sigh in relief as all of them looked at her. The atmosphere was no longer cold.

“Lass… Ever since you were a brat, you liked to use others…” one man said, sighing.

“I learned from the best…” she answered.

“Haven’t you been creating some kind of army with unique bloodlines?” the other asked. “Why not use them?”

“They are not ready, Their level is just too low, and I don’t want bloodshed in the family…” she said, telling the truth.

“Indeed… Well said!” another protector sighed, in his breath, Mike could feel the aura of a ferocious beast. “But if you need us to appear, you would have to deploy the barrier, or the world would attack us!”

“Don’t worry, I already contacted Theodore, and he is taking care of it!” she said. “We need it anyway in case they try to escape…”

“Good…” the last one finally spoke. “Hopefully, you will not let them trick you again…” he said.

“Ahh… I don’t know how they did it… Marcos seemed to have somehow cured the SSS-ranked Poison I used on him to keep him in check, and that bastard must have found some loophole in the contract I made him sign… I just didn’t expect him to have the balls…” she explained. “And for the last few years, I couldn’t really directly oversee anything due to my poisoning… You know that the only one I truly trust was Ariana…”

“Regardless… You were the one who made him Patriarch, to begin with, if he didn’t collide with outsiders, we wouldn’t have helped you! Let this be a lesson for you…” he said.

“This young one knows…. “ Ann bowed, “May I know who he collided with?”

“A brat who thinks he is too smart… He is way above your league, don’t care about him…” one old man said. “He can’t enter this world anyway, so we just have to take care of his minions…”

“Ahh…” Ann didn’t like not getting the answers she wanted, but those old foggys were not cooperating.

“Is this one Theodore's son?” one protector suddenly asked, pointing to Mike with his bony hand.

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“Yes… I think he is the best candidate for the patriarch's seat…” Ann said.

“Oh… Indeed. That strange high-grade bloodline that runs through Theodore, runs in him too… ” one old man said, as he raised his head and took a whiff of Mike’s smell.

“Bruce would not like that…” another old man said. It was as if he was teasing Ann.

“Bill, Bruce’s kid is too aggressive and calculating… He is not suitable to be a patriarch…” Ann quickly said.

“You too are very aggressive and calculating…” the first old man interrupted.

“Ah… And look where I ended up!” She confessed, “Every age has its needs!” she added.

“Indeed… We will test Bill when the time comes…” the last protector said. “And we will test you too…” he told Mike who kept his silence. He didn’t care for all of this at the moment, he was just really worried about Victor, wanting to hurry to the Jaded room to check on his life jade!

…

“So… You sold the girls in the end?” the guard asked as the old master left the town alone just before dawn.

“They were too naughty for a man my age… And I found a good master for them, “ Victor replied, “Thanks for the hospitality!” he added, throwing a piece of silver to the man.

“Our pleasure… Going to the demon lands?”

“That’s the plan… Maybe find some artifact to pay for my retirement, and I also need to get my level up,” he said. He checked things in town, many people who came here had only one goal and that was to cross into the demon lands to kill demons and level up.
Some chose to do missions for the temple or go after bounties, but as an old man, Victor knew that it was not reasonable to act like a youth, so he made up a reason.
As people leveled up, their lives increased, this was a known fact, so many old men who feared death more than demons tended to try their luck beyond the gorge!

“We all do when we grow older…” the guard nodded. “If you got anything good, make sure to return before the auction in five days… It would be a waste to have to wait for three months to sell your loot.”

“Can’t the shops take it?”

“The money is in the Auction!” the old guard simply said.

“I see… thanks man…”

“Take care, and be careful on the road. If I were you, I would stick to the right side of the road… When it is this late, some boys go out to play and might mistake you for a demon!”

“Noted!” Victor said, throwing another Silver to the guard before leaving.

He wanted to leave earlier, but the girls in the cauldron seemed to have gone berserk after making them see what he really looked like when he activated all his bloodlines. He had to knock them out after 10 rounds or they would have really died of exhaustion without realizing it!.

He only tried his charm on Lily before, and she was the one who told him not to reveal it to the rest of his harem. She was right… He did try looking at himself in the mirror, it was a mistake. He almost turned gay for real if he didn’t remember that the handsome man who was looking back at him was himself… His charm was really too fatal!

He sighed, checking on the cauldron one last time by sending his consciousness into it.

The cauldron as a whole was divided into 12 compartments.

6 upper ones that were suitable to be lived in and 6 lower ones that were meant to store materials.

At the moment he had 3 separate groups of girls. The ones Rita got, and we're still building a village, the ones Tom got and were still in the phase of recovery and were starting to train in the manual he left them... That dark scion Mavis was still plotting escape too… He needed to find a good place to dump her, but this place was not safe for mortals...
Wait... If he let them out here, could they become players? Maybe he would try something in the morning!

In the last compartment, he left the two half-elves who needed some long sleep… The hut they were in was relocated by Victor from the village, and he planned to leave it as his ‘resting’ place.

Damn it, he had many things to do and he needed some time before some idiots swallowed the baits he scattered, so the first thing to do for now was to leave town to provide an ally and maybe go take a look at the Death Gorge… Places like that usually had treasures at their bottom.

Victor slowly made his way toward the gorge following the official road.

Along the way, he encountered many random groups who were ‘casually’ hanging around or returning from the demon lands with spoils.

Still, by made sure to stick to the right side of the road as the old guard told him no one touched him. This must have been some rule between the locals.

It took him about 2 hours to reach the Gorge, and it was already dark with the clear sky illuminated by two moons.

Victor sighed as he looked around. This Gorge was by all means far larger than anything he expected. It was as if a huge sword slashed the earth, separating the two sides and leaving mirror-like cliffs. Its width was about 300 feet, and its depth was immeasurable. He couldn’t see its bottom when he looked down, not even with his enhanced eyes.

Between the two sides, a huge 20-foot-wide bridge stood majestically. It was constructed out of some strange metal that made it appear as if it was cast from one piece!

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