NOVEL NEXT Chapter 61: Preparations for Breaking through to Silver
In a corner of the West District.
A young couple expressed their gratitude to their old friend.
The friend had told them that a kind noble was constantly recruiting people, offering excellent treatment, and that the two of them could directly follow him to learn soap-making and definitely earn money!
The young couple had just gotten married and were in dire need of money.
"That's great, really, thank you so much to your old friend for introducing us to such a good job."
"I'm also puzzled. He's not usually this enthusiastic. It feels like he's hiding something from us."
"You're being silly! Haven't you heard? Lord Sivis has been recruiting people all the time, and many families in our area have been taken over by their relatives and friends."
"There are so many people. Even if he has some kind of plot, we can just run if we see it's not going well!"
"You're right. I don't think it's dangerous. This is a great opportunity to earn money! Once we save enough, we can have more children..."
As the two were fantasizing about their future, they suddenly heard a faint rustling sound behind them. A figure, reeking of blood, had quietly stood there.
"Ah -" Two short, sharp screams rang out, and a middle-aged man with a beard, humming a tune, abruptly stopped in his tracks.
He seemed to have heard some unusual sounds coming from the house of the newlywed couple he had just visited. After hesitating for a moment, he turned and walked back - every person he recruited who worked for a full month would earn him half a silver coin from Lord Sivis, and he didn't believe this kind noble would go back on his word.
For the sake of the silver coin, the man was willing to take the risk.
However, as he approached, he found no one where the sound had come from.
"That's strange..." he muttered, suddenly noticing the couple standing behind him, "What are you doing? You scared me! I found you a good job..."
He laughed and reached out to pat their shoulders, but his hand touched cold, rigid skin. Then, another scream tore through the night.
Similar scenes played out across Minnet City.
As the good news of Sivis's recruitment spread through the streets and alleys, and countless people rejoiced, the Blood Clan, which had lain dormant during the day, was using the cover of night to massacre, their sharp fangs piercing throat after throat.
The next morning, Sivis slowly opened his eyes, a smile curling at the corners of his mouth — he had reached the peak of the Ninth Bronze Rank, just one step away from the Silver Rank. With half a day of cultivation, he could complete the breakthrough.
When he closed his eyes to check the system notification, his smile froze, and his face turned extremely grim.
His system notifications were filled with many messages —
[One of your residents has been attacked and has been converted into a Blood Servant. You have lost one resident. Extraordinary Dark Power decreased.]
[One of your...]
[Your...]
...
There were dozens of such messages, densely packed.
Yesterday, Sivis had recruited several hundred residents, and nearly one-tenth of them had been infected by the Blood Clan.
"Sure enough, the Silver-Rank Blood Clan is not just lying low, they are actively causing chaos."
"At this rate, it won't be long before the number of Blood Servants reaches a critical mass, ultimately infecting the entire city."
Sivis was at a loss.
The number of Blood Servants was vast, and they could hide in various secluded corners. It would require a massive amount of manpower and resources to screen for them.
He could only rely on the personnel stationed by the Church.
Sivis, alone, was powerless against the current situation.
"First, I need to have the workers set up temporary accommodations near the Daister family's compound."
After some thought, he realized he couldn't manage the entire Minnet City, but he had some means to protect his own residents.
If these people stayed near the family compound, he and Vikalina could patrol together.
This should greatly reduce the probability of infection.
As for the other areas of the city, Sivis was powerless — the Blood Servants were elusive and mostly active at night. Sivis was currently at the peak of the Bronze Rank, and even if he advanced to Silver, it would be difficult for him to clear them out on his own.
The only thing he could do was to race against time with the Blood Clan, breaking through to the Silver Rank before the number of infected could bring about the downfall of Minnet City.
At that point, he could return to his territory and recruit Silver-Rank monsters to maintain order. As for the fate of Minnet City... it would be of little consequence.
Sivis was willing to save people when it didn't affect his own interests, but he had no choice now.
He went out once, but Vikalina was still nowhere to be found, seemingly out on patrol.
Sivis gathered a few foremen and assembled his workers, then shared his decision.
He didn't mention the impending blood plague, as that would cause panic. Instead, he said that to speed up everyone's work efficiency, they would build a batch of temporary accommodations.
They would still be paid for building the temporary accommodations, and those who agreed to live in them would receive an extra meal at night.
As Sivis had expected, the announcement was met with cheers and enthusiasm, and everyone readily accepted the conditions.
An extra meal at night was incredibly tempting for these commoners!
Their usual meals at home were far inferior to what Sivis was offering for free!
The workers enthusiastically began their new task.
After the temporary accommodations were built, Sivis, as expected, found that the messages about his residents being infected stopped coming.
However, this did not make him relax, instead, it made him even more vigilant — the infections by Blood Servants were not random but were actively avoiding the areas patrolled by him and Vikalina.
This indicated that the Blood Servants were being controlled by an intelligent being, and they were currently in a phase of discreet expansion.
This calm before the storm was more unsettling than a direct attack, as no one knew when the truly terrifying outbreak would occur.
The only thing Sivis could do was to follow his cultivation routine step by step.
Extraordinary Dark Power steadily increased, even though the number of residents did not meet his expectations. He was well aware that this was due to the continuous infections by the Blood Clan. Many people who originally wanted to be recruited had already died before they even signed up with Sivis.
Three days later.
With a series of strange currents of energy.
In a room at the Daister family's compound.
Sivis was glowing with a colorful light.
The Elemental Core in his hand had dimmed considerably.
His strength had clearly broken through to the Tenth Bronze Rank!
At this moment, Sivis was sitting cross-legged in the room, his magic surging wildly. His clothes fluttered violently, and his body slowly floated into the air without any external support — this was the hallmark of the Tenth Bronze Rank, just a step away from the Extraordinary stage, with a complete transformation of the body within reach!
The energy flow gradually subsided, and Sivis opened his eyes.
At this moment...
Sivis, just sitting casually on the ground, exuded a somewhat transcendent aura.
Not only had he reached the Tenth Bronze Rank, but his potential had also broken through to Class C!
In Gandanyir, the difficulty of breaking through to the next potential level increases exponentially.
Sivis had not expected to rapidly reach Class C, but in Minnet City, he had absorbed the essence of nearly a thousand "half residents" in just a few days.
This breakthrough in potential was a significant achievement!
Extraordinary Dark Power continued to enhance his cultivation speed.
This time, Sivis did not inform the residents that he would be extracting their potential. The batch of people and monsters he had recruited in his territory had not even noticed that they had been drained.
Extraordinary Dark Power seemed to be quite harmless.
"Class C potential!"
"I can now cultivate to the Silver Rank in about a week!"
"Considering the daily improvement in my potential, it might only take four or five days."
Sivis felt that this was finally some good news.
He opened the system exchange panel, his expression hesitant.
The [Hurricane Spell] for breaking through to the Silver Rank had not yet been exchanged. Using any magic to break through to the Silver Rank would result in no significant difference in strength.
However, the magic used for the breakthrough would provide permanent enhancements and increase his affinity with that type of magic.
Above the Silver Rank, each subsequent breakthrough required obtaining a specific ability for the next stage. However, in addition to acquiring the ability, other conditions needed to be met to advance to the next stage.
These breakthroughs, like the Silver Rank, would also allow the ability used for the breakthrough to be enhanced, and the player would gain an affinity with the related type of ability.
In the previous life's game, some players even exploited this mechanism to pull off "tricky moves" — making characters with no affinity for Holy Light use Holy Light magic to advance, thus forcibly acquiring the Holy Light talent.
Sivis himself possessed a wind affinity, and the [Hurricane Spell] had a Gold Rank version. Using this spell to break through would yield zero benefits.
It would not expand his magic domain, and the enhanced Silver-Rank Hurricane Spell would be completely outclassed by the Gold Rank Hurricane Spell.
He was a bit hesitant. If he wanted to quickly form combat capabilities at the Silver Rank, should he exchange for the enhanced version of [Holy Swordsmanship], known as [Sword of Radiance]?
[Sword of Radiance] is the new magic spell that is an optimized and improved version of [Holy Swordsmanship]. However, even though it can be instantly mastered using the system, the Bronze Rank abilities Sivis originally possessed are not of the same type as the Silver-Rank abilities. Therefore, when Sivis uses it to advance, he will need to spend more time fusing the abilities.
The thin iron wire was most worried about not having enough time...
"Forget it, I'll consider the Silver-Rank advancement magic a waste. I need to be more cautious when choosing my advancement magic for the Gold and Platinum Ranks." he thought.
Sivis had an optimal path for his advancement in mind — he already possessed the divine power of an Evil God, which allowed him to control ordinary monsters under that Evil God's command. However, he could not manipulate creatures like the Blood Clan, who were followers of another Evil God.
But if he could gain a Silver-Rank ability related to the Blood Clan during his advancement, it might allow the highly repulsive divine power of his Evil God to be compatible with a bit of Blood Clan power. Additionally, necromancy and original sin powers from other Evil Gods were also attractive options for him to consider.
Just this type of magic, involving "exclusive racial powers." was extremely expensive in the system.
Even the Silver-Rank version required over 2000 soul points.
After exchanging enhancement items for the Goblin and Stone Demon, he only had 700 soul points left, so he had to put these ideas on hold for now.
"Fine, I don't need to rush into deciding which magic to exchange for." Sivis thought to himself, his fingertips gently tapping the table. "I still need to accumulate more magic power at the Tenth Bronze Rank before I can start fusing Silver-Rank abilities."
"Maybe in a few days, I can earn some extra points."