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The merchant bowed politely, expressing his respect for the extraordinary nobility.

Byrne smiled but felt that something was amiss; the merchant before him evoked a peculiar sense of familiarity, though they had only just met.

A distant relative of Viscount Bast?

Something seemed off; Byrne was not entirely certain whether the Viscount truly had such a distant relative.

The situation along the East Coast had been unstable in the recent months, the Sea God Cult had burnt down three villages and slaughtered thousands of people, even obliterating two baronial families and over a dozen knight clans!

The Tempest Church was incensed and resolved to eradicate the Sea God Cult completely. The sea war that Viscount Bast had once prophesied was imminent.

When it arrived, the Fischer family would be duty-bound to join the battle.

Having sensed that something was wrong, he quickly became alert.

The merchant’s smile seemed warm, his brown hair meticulously groomed, and his black attire fastidious, yet there was an unmistakable mockery in his eyes.

After being silent for a long while, Byrne nodded and asked,

“Mr. Robert, our family has a friendly relationship with the Lion clan. We welcome your investment in the Fischer family’s factory, but I would like to ask more directly, how much are you planning to invest?”

Upon hearing this, the merchant cocked his head, hesitated for a long time before saying,

“Hmm, well, I’m thinking of investing at least five hundred gold pieces to start, possibly more, but that depends on how persuasive you are in convincing me to contribute more.”

He smiled at Byrne, inquiring,

“Why don’t you share the specific future development plans for the Fischer factory?”

Taking advantage of being a distant relative of Viscount Bast, the merchant’s tone became less respectful.

“Hmm…”

After a prolonged silence, Byrne suddenly asked, “Chris?”

The merchant’s face tensed, the smile vanished from his face at the mention of the name.

As Chris began to remove the wig from his head, he fell into deep contemplation, pondering how he had been exposed.

Byrne’s eyes widened and after a long stun, he exclaimed in amazement,

“You’re incredibly skilled, I would never have seen through your disguise if not for my extraordinary abilities!”

As Chris stripped off his clothes and removed the height-enhancing insoles, he asked calmly,

“How did you do it?”

Byrne offered a smile and replied, “Because we are far too familiar with each other. My Profound Memory records every minute detail of your actions, and by comparison, I could sense that the person before me might be you…”

He paused briefly, adding, “Actually, the most crucial reason was that feeling of familiarity. I felt something was wrong from the start, which made me think someone might be in disguise, so I compared it with the memories in my head.”

Concluding, Byrne nodded and sincerely praised Chris’s performance,

“If you wish to deceive someone unfamiliar with you, it should be an easy feat. That’s an impressive disguise! I believe it will be very useful!”

A look of utmost joy appeared on Byrne’s face as he embraced Chris.

“Hard work pays off!”

He reached out gently, intending to pat his cousin’s shoulder, his eyes filled with admiration and concern.

“Since you’re back, it must mean you’ve fully ignited your spirituality and are ready to ascend to the 3rd Rank.”

“Chris, you must have endured a lot to complete the ascension ritual. It’s a stroke of luck for the Fischer family to have someone as dependable as you. As head of the family, I must thank you.”

Chris calmly dodged Byrne’s hand; he wasn’t keen on being touched by anyone other than his sister, leaving Byrne awkwardly moved on his own.

However, Byrne sighed a sigh of relief; the months since Chris’s departure had seemed very long, and the Fischer family was barely holding on.

The Kesse clan had been overstepping their bounds, persistently extorting lavish gifts and continuing to encroach.

Perhaps pressured by the Garcia family behind the scenes, the Kesse clan relentlessly forced the Fischer family, aiming for them to relinquish and even depart from Nasir Town.

The Kesse clan had not released Theo’s son, whom they’d kidnapped, and sought complete control over the town’s management.

The Mayor of Nasir, who had long withdrawn from public life and kept a low profile, was a mere figurehead. Nowadays, the Fischer family decided all matters concerning the town, using benefits gleaned from their control to maintain the family’s operations.

If they were to completely lose Nasir Town, it would be a catastrophic blow to the Fischer family.

Murdering the workers of Nasir Town, leading evil cultists in nocturnal raids, kidnapping family members’ relatives.

The deeds of the Kesse clan had pushed the Fischer family beyond the brink of tolerance.

They must retaliate; they could not simply wait for death in silence!

“Finally, the wait is over.”

Byrne, Irene, and Chris gathered in the basement.

Shortly after, Chris would ascend to the “Path of Tranquility” 3rd Rank.

They would hold a brief meeting first and then invite Vanessa, Erik, and Archibald to join them in the basement for the ritual.

Although all lost followers of the Dawn Church, the Fischer family remained the absolute core of the covert organization.

Byrne looked at the three of them and said, “Actually, before we officially start the sacrifice, I plan to decide on a very important matter through a family meeting.”

“Whether or not to grant John and Theo the blood, allowing them to receive the great blessing of the Lord of the Lost?”

“In fact, we have always needed more Blood Receivers; it’s quite difficult to support the family with just the few of us, like walking on thin ice, seemingly safe but actually at risk of falling into the deep ice caverns at any moment.”

Irene fell silent for a long while before saying, “I recently probed them a bit, Theo is still the same as before, with no intention to delve into ‘nothingness’.”

“As for John, he quickly evades any deeper religious matters, cunningly unbearable, like a slippery eel in one’s hands.”

So it was. After hearing Irene’s statement, Byrne already had a specific answer in his mind.

Chris was silent, not speaking. He had said far too much lately.

And he didn’t want to say another word.

Byrne took out the scale used for voting and placed it on the wooden table in the basement, nodding slightly.

“Let’s begin.”

They wrote down their opinions on slips of paper, one by one, placing them on the scale, and the results of the three were surprisingly unanimous!

Three votes in favor of Theo becoming a Blood Receiver, and three votes against John becoming one.

In reality, unanimous decisions were extremely rare in the Fischer family meetings, yet there happened to be two such unanimous votes on the same day.

They all could perceive Theo’s character; he was full of loyalty, valued honor, and had long been one of the most core and trusted family members.

Even though Theo showed complete disregard for gods and religion, there was no need to worry about his loyalty.

As for the sea merchant John, even though the Fischers had worked with him for over ten years, their relationship had always purely been that of collaborators.

Equal transactions, mutual assistance, with neither party overstepping the boundaries by even a step.

John himself was very shrewd, extremely afraid of being dragged into any unnecessary dangers, giving no opportunity for Irene to proselytize.

Even Byrne could surmise that should John become aware of the Lord of the Lost’s existence, he would surely swear fealty at the first chance to preserve his life, proclaiming his willingness to join the Dawn Church and never betray the Lord of the Lost.

However, he would definitely be filled with fear and anxiety deep inside, utterly unwilling to join a dangerous heretical cult.

If they were to force John into the Dawn Church, the end result may not be favorable, and Byrne and the others felt it was not a good idea; better to keep him as a collaborator.

Since the voting was completed, Byrne nodded again and continued to speak:

“I’ll call the three of them over, and also bring in Theo. First, we’ll carry out the Lost Ritual to make Theo a Blood Receiver and then proceed with the bestowal ceremony, allowing Theo and Chris to receive the God-given powers.”

Soon, there were seven people standing in the basement.

Vanessa, Erik, and Archibald all maintained solemn expressions.

“What on earth is going on!”

Theo’s face was full of shock and amazement!

He had long guessed that there might be some hidden door in the ground floor of the manor, leading to an even deeper space below.

But he had never imagined that the Fischer family’s basement housed such a vast second underground level!

“Theo, regarding everything about this place, we need to make things clear to you here,” Byrne said seriously, looking at his swordsmanship teacher, the Guards Captain, and continued rigorously.

“You’ve likely noticed it, even though it’s not public knowledge, but Vanessa and the others suddenly acquired extraordinary power.”

“And all this comes from the great Lord of the Lost, who is the deep roots and foundation of our Fischer family, the past, the present, and the future.”

In the following few minutes, Byrne selectively disclosed many important truths that had been hidden for years to Theo.

Vanessa and the others, having already heard it once, silently listened on.

“To think it would be like this, I’m truly too shocked; I never imagined that the truth would be so astonishing.”

Theo’s mind went blank from surprise; he could sense that the Fischer family might have some secret, but he would never have contemplated such an astonishing possibility!

Very calmly, Irene asked, “Theo, do you wish to join the Dawn Church and become one under the protection and blessing of the Lord of the Lost?”

“I… I am willing.”

He hesitated for a moment, finally nodding.

Things went very smoothly; Theo had almost no objections to joining the Dawn Church.

He felt that it didn’t really make much difference; regardless, he was a man who was to serve the Fischer family. If he could gain extraordinary power by doing so, it was certainly a good thing.

Following that, Theo, led by Irene and Byrne, entered the Spirit Realm and became a Blood Receiver.

His eyes were filled with shock from beginning to end. For a middle-aged man who did not understand mysticism or religion, the volume of information obtained today was overwhelming, enough to repeatedly assault his worldview!

Next, it was the time to sacrifice to the Lord of the Lost, to pray for His blessing to be bestowed.

Everyone knelt down, Irene carrying out the ritual with great proficiency. Only Theo looked on dumbfoundedly at each step, still unable to recover from the shock.

The path he was granted was a brand new step on the God Pantheon stairway.

The Path of Authority!

The Power of Consecution, “Servant”!