Chapter 444: Preparations

With Lucius not wanting to spoil the extra thing he added to the upgraded [Mortal Grasping Corporeality Manual], the three could only leave the inheritance with great curiosity as to what Lucius added.

As he watched the silhouettes of the three gradually disappear from his field of vision, Lucius’ expression could not help but turn into a light smile as he looked at the small pouch the three gave to him. Then, looking at the woman beside him, he tightly clenched his fist around the pouch as he and the woman returned to the temple.

As to what happened next, only time would tell.

…

Making their way back to Verdant Breeze Town, as the three were cruising down the terrain on Melzarin’s platform made out of earth, Horell could not help but look at Aurus beside him. “To be honest, I thought you left the gold coins we got from that Rank 9 Mana Stone back at town when we headed to the pavilion.”

“Hmm?” Hearing Horell’s words, Aurus brought out the card. “This? Well, I could’ve done that, but I thought it was better in the long run if it was kept in a safer place. After all, Verdant Breeze Town is a town. There’s only so much we can do to reinforce a certain place until it becomes incredibly stupid to continue any further.”

“Aside from that, I didn’t want any of the citizens to find out where we were getting the funds for the town’s development,” he added as he kept the card. “Given my mysterious origins in their eyes, they would instantly think that there was some organization or some powerful person backing me up as I helped the town out. Saves a lot of headache.”

Melzarin could not help but nod in response to Aurus’ words. “You just reminded me of a time when I was just starting to develop my first town. I made the stupid decision to keep gold and stuff like that in a place everyone could see, prompting everyone to just steal it outright.”

Hearing that, Horell and Aurus let out a light hiss as they imagined the losses he had incurred during that incident. “What did you do after that, though?”

“Since I was hotheaded during that time, I surprisingly made the decision to retrieve all of the assets I could still retrieve and have the citizens of that town keep what I couldn’t,” Melzarin replied. “If it was any other time, I would’ve probably gone on a rampage and bury everyone alive under a couple layers of earth. Even as I reminisce back at that, I’m still surprised I made that decision.”

Ignoring the slight fear that was apparent on both Horell and Aurus’ faces, he continued, “Anyways, that town I left behind experienced an era of prosperity, though it was short-lived as nearby cities caught wind of the resources they had. Right now, that town doesn’t exist anymore.”

“As for the towns I helped develop after that, all of them naturally fared better once I learned my lesson.” He lightly smiled as he recalled those memories. Turning to look at the two, he then told them in a prideful tone, “One of the towns I developed even went ahead and became a province under the Seraph Kingdom, if you didn’t know.”

Naturally, the two were left astounded as they asked Melzarin more and more about his experiences regarding town management, with Aurus keeping mental notes along the way.

…

Three days later, the three had returned to Verdant Breeze Town, with Herellia surprisingly at the town’s entrance to greet the three.

“Herellia? How long have you been waiting for us?” Aurus could not help but ask, noticing that her legs were slightly quivering. From what he could deduce, it had been quite a while since she started waiting.

“Not too long ago, actually,” Herellia said in response, making sure that the three did not know how long she had been truly waiting for them. “Anyways, did you three successfully get what you needed?”

In response to that question, both Horell and Aurus lightly nodded, causing a wide grin to appear on Herellia’s face. “Finally, all three of us will finally be Animates!”

“Well, I’m already an Animate. You two are the ones finally going to become Animates,” she corrected herself soon after.

“So, when are you two going to use the technique?” she asked after that, prompting Aurus to say, “In a bit. I just have something to do first.”

“Melzarin, Horell, Herellia, you three can head to the manor first,” he said after that, to which the three could only nod in response as they had an idea as to what he was going to do.

Walking around town to see what had changed during the week or so he was gone, Aurus circulated a bit of his energy around his body, establishing a connection with four of the Spirit Contracts located within a certain part of his body.

Connecting all of the Spirit Contracts together to form a conference call, he then asked through the connection, “What’s the update on the Mana Tenacity Cores?”

“I’ve obtained a couple updates from my informants in the three kingdoms.” Helios was the first one to answer. “They told me that the kingdoms did have Mana Tenacity Cores available for sale, however, they’re still trying to find out where exactly.”

“Same thing on my end,” Rosalia said after Helios was done talking. “Already asked a couple people I know from the mage guilds in the empire. However, all they told me was that they were still finding the place to buy it from.”

“How about you, Eleanor and Felix?” Aurus could not help but ask after that. “How are you two faring?”

“We’re still in the process of building the teleportation gate that’ll bring us to Mercuria Continent,” Felix said in response to the question. “It’s basically the reason why it’ll take us a month or so to get there.”

“I see.” Aurus inwardly nodded after hearing those words. As he thought about what he was going to say next, he could not help but scratch his head as he knew that the four would definitely have their own comments to what he had to say. However, in the end, he decided that it was best for them to know, thinking that there was something else they could do.

Taking in a deep breath, he then told them, “Well, you guys could stop searching for them, actually. We… already got the Mana Tenacity Cores.”

“Hmm?” Surprisingly, Aurus heard this sound from the four in unison. Allowing a bit of silence to pass, he explained, “I asked a person I know from the Origin Pantheon if he knew where I could buy some Mana Tenacity Cores. With that, I bought the Mana Tenacity Cores, gave it to Lucius, and got the Existence Transition technique modified.”

Once he was done talking, a deafening silence spread throughout the call, prompting Aurus to let out a light cough to break the tension.

“So… if we’re getting this correctly, our efforts have all been for naught?” Helios could not help but ask, his tone laced with a hint of anger.

“It’s not, it’s not!” Aurus hastily replied. “In fact, what I want you to do instead actually has something to do with what you’re doing right now!”

“It better be,” said Eleanor out of nowhere. “If not, be prepared for the consequences.”

Knowing that it would be difficult for him to appease their rage, Aurus decided to just get to the matter at hand, ignoring their underlying anger. “With the Existence Transition technique modified, we actually need a few more materials to start the process.”

“And that’s where you four come in.”

“Could you get me 2 liters of Sacred Wisdom Sap, a couple sprigs of Lesser Spatiotemporal Thyme, some…”

“…”

…

By the time Aurus had gotten to the manor, he had an exhausted expression on his face, causing the three to look at him with slight worry.

“Is something wrong, Aurus?” Herellia could not help but ask.

In response, he could only give a wry smile. “All good. I just had to appease the anger of the four. They’re probably on their way as we speak.”

“Well… that’s very understandable,” said Melzarin as he thought about it. “You did lead them on a wild goose chase of sorts with the Mana Tenacity Cores, after all.”

“Anyways, what did you do to appease their anger?” he asked soon after.

“Got them to buy the other materials we need for our transition,” Aurus replied, which elicited some weird looks from the three. Realizing what he had just said, he quickly added, “Of course, I’m gonna pay them for their efforts. I’m not that heartless, you know?”

“You better pay us at the very least for making us work hard for a week,” said a female voice not long after. Soon, a rift opened up in the room the four were in, revealing Eleanor and Felix, the former having a slight frown on her face. As for Felix, he had an apologetic smile as he looked at Aurus.

“Please don’t get too mad…” was the only thing Aurus could say in response to her words, not wanting the matter to escalate. Fortunately, Eleanor listened to his words, taking in a deep breath as her previously fiery temper had disappeared within seconds. Pressing on her forehead, she then snapped her fingers, making a bunch of items appear in front of Aurus. “Here you go. The items you need for the transition. The other items you’ll have to wait for Helios and Rosalia to come.”

“Thank you,” said Aurus with great sincerity, rummaging a card with bronze borders before giving one of each to both Eleanor and Felix. Seeing the bronze card, the slightly fiery aura still surrounding Eleanor had finally disappeared as a calm smile appeared on her face. Sensing this, Aurus finally let out an inward sigh of relief.

“We’ve arrived.” A few minutes later, Helios and Rosalia had appeared in the room as well, placing a couple more items on the floor in front of Aurus. Nodding in response, Aurus sent the same cards to the two, prompting their slight frowns to disappear without a trace.

With that, he took a look at the items the four had brought, eventually nodding in satisfaction as all of the items needed by the Existence Transition technique had been obtained. Looking at the items in front of him, he could not help but feel a slight twinge as he could not help but think about the money he had left, only amounting to around 50 million gold coins.

‘In any case, as long as I play the right moves after the transition, I could definitely earn that back and even more without a problem,’ he thought to himself, taking in a deep breath before looking at Horell.

Nodding at Horell, the latter nodded back, prompting him to look at the others with a solemn expression.

“It’s time.”