Chapter 66: 64: Rune Fusion

Karl’s consciousness often hovered in the sky above, silently observing the unfolding events of the silver descendant incident, clearly understanding that there was no need for his own intervention.

After all, the silver descendants clan of Nasir only amounted to a few hundred people on a single street.

For the past ten years, every family in East City District who had suffered from serious illness had received Irene’s beneficence, and combined with the support of sea merchant John at the docks, the influence of the Fischer family had grown immensely.

There was no doubt that Irene’s daily toil had paid off.

“Moreover, many who learned that Irene was in trouble probably didn’t think first about ‘I have received favors, I am grateful to Irene and must fight for her’…”

“But rather, ‘If there’s no Irene in the future, what shall I do if I become seriously ill?’ is probably what they thought.”

Any action meant to attack Irene would strike at these people’s fundamental interests, which has always been a crucial reason why those “with knowledge of herbs and medicine” tend to become Priests since ancient times.

He is now also trying to do something “fresh,” since just “watching the little people” is frankly too boring, and he definitely needs to find ways to relieve his ennui.

Ever since Lucius died, the normal rune of “protect” evolved into the more advanced spirit rune “Iron Wall,” Karl immediately had a bold idea.

Whether it was possible, through some means, to cause the soul imprints linked to runes for Byrne and Irene to evolve, to become higher-level spirit runes, or even to evolve “Iron Wall,” which was already a spirit rune, to an even higher tier.

Karl gradually attempted to integrate the runes within his soul.

Given the limited number of members in the Fischer family, the soul imprint of the unoccupied “weapon” rune could only be given to the young Darren, which obviously wasn’t very useful yet.

It wasn’t until recently that he finally figured out how to disassemble the “weapon” rune into the more fundamental “rune essence” and then let other runes “consume” it.

Devouring, evolving, much like what he had been doing all along.

Karl also discovered through research that each rune contained a different amount of rune essence, and their evolutionary needs were drastically different.

If the base of the “accelerate” rune, a Collectible-class rare artefact, were to evolve into a higher-level spirit rune, it would only require three ordinary runes extracted from Collectible-class rare artefacts of the same level.

However, evolving the “healing” rune, which likely originated from a Forbidden-class rare artifact, might require more than thirty ordinary runes extracted from Collectible-class rare artefacts.

He even found that the spirit rune “Iron Wall” also held potential for further evolution.

However, the amount of rune essence it required was nearly a stupendous figure, a situation that didn’t need to be considered at the current stage.

So he ultimately decided to break down the “weapon” rune into the essence of runes, feeding them one after another to the “accelerate” rune.

The blue accelerate rune, shaped like a triangle, fluctuated slightly within Karl’s soul, growing brighter; the actual effect of acceleration also improved to a certain extent.

“It’s a success!”

But to truly evolve, it would still need to be “fed” two more ordinary runes, or alternatively, given a rune extracted from a Treasure-class rare artifact in one go.

After merging the runes, Karl’s intangible consciousness roamed through accessible places in the town just like always when suddenly, he sensed an extremely enticing aroma.

It was a rare artifact far more powerful than ordinary ones, appearing within the range of his perception!

Enticed as if by delicious cuisine, he instantly pulled his intangible consciousness over, and then “saw” a man in a black robe with a black mask sitting calmly in a carriage, moving along the street.

That was the carriage of the Isaac knight family!

Karl could feel distinctly that the black-robed man possessed the strength of Transmutation level, and also carried with him what should be a Treasure-class mysterious rare artifact.

He was a noble who controlled the power of Bloodline, with a “Earth” type Bloodline.

Odd, considering Karl’s ten years of knowledge about Nasir, there was no such person there; that guy was an outsider.

“He seems to have a bit of a problem, his exact strength is roughly low-level Transmutation, but the ‘Treasure’ he carries might be more troublesome than his actual strength,” Karl thought.

In any case, he still conveyed his will to the members of the Fischer family, urging the favored members to offer better mysterious rare artifacts.

Moreover, it would be best to acquire the rare artifact possessed by that mysterious person, as the mere “Collectible” grade mysterious rare artifacts were becoming less and less satisfying, and the prospect of breaking through the subsequent seals seemed distant.

——

“I have felt the will of the great Lord of the Lost!”

Down in the basement, Irene, who was praying, suddenly perked up, her face beaming with a joyous smile.

She had sensed the will of the Lord of the Lost, followed by a sound—an indication that Byrne was descending the stairs into the basement.

“You heard it too, didn’t you, Irene?”

He looked at Irene with a grave expression, and the girl nodded calmly.

“A mysterious stranger has arrived at the Isaac knight family’s abode, carrying with him what our Lord desires.”

Byrne nodded slowly, lifting his hand as a blue light surfaced in his eyes, speaking of the events that had just transpired.

“I feel that the power of the runes that can be activated seems to have been enhanced; it’s as if I have been further graced by the great Lord of the Lost.”

Irene, without a hint of envy, congratulated him sincerely with a smile:

“Congratulations on receiving more of His favor, Byrne! Surely, your continuous devotion and actions have all been seen by our Lord!”

Although Byrne hadn’t given it much thought, he felt embarrassed the moment Irene finished speaking.

He believed in his loyalty to the Lord of the Lost, but in terms of devotion, he was nothing compared to Irene, and yet he was the one who had first received further divine favor.

“Byrne, we cannot simply enjoy His favor without giving back to our Lord. The great Lord of the Lost has long graced His protected mortals with blessings, and we too must learn to give our utmost efforts.”

After speaking these words softly, Irene gazed at the silent Byrne with absolute calm.

Her meaning was clear: whether through trade or other means, they were to offer the Mysterious rare artifact to the great Lord of the Lost.

The Isaac family, is it? Byrne mused before continuing:

“We have discussed this just a few days ago, haven’t we? There might be something amiss with the Isaac family. Let’s wait until the ‘Secret Ear’ Chris is carrying is introduced into their midst and then decide on our next move.”

Having learned of Margaret’s involvement in the tea party, he had already become vigilant.

For the past ten years, Byrne had been continuously studying and reading about religious matters, and he could make many associations.

He didn’t directly restrict his headstrong wife; instead, after giving her several precautions, he had handed her a piece of paper with the symbol of the “Secret Ear” to carry with her, and he had arranged for a female guard capable of attending the tea party with her.

Afterwards, Byrne also contacted the sons of Grandma Narda, having the thieves’ guild collect information and covertly investigate the current state of the Isaac family, yet so far nothing suspicious had been discovered.

After reflecting for a moment, Irene still shook her head and said, “At least during this time, I haven’t heard anything out of the ordinary.”

“I had even started to think there was nothing wrong with the gatherings of the Isaac family, but after the divine oracle of our Lord, a mysterious person with Level 2 strength suddenly appeared inside the carriage of the Isaac family, so now I am unsure again.”

Having lived in Nasir for a full ten years, both of them were very familiar with the Isaac knight family.

The head of their family was Lady Isaac.

She was a female knight with high-level Beginning strength, skilled in swordsmanship, and a person of great strictness and solemnity.

Besides, she had a brother in his thirties, a mid-level Beginning Bloodline Knight, who was also an “Element” type Spellcaster—an extremely rare fortunate individual capable of dual cultivation.

But they had indeed never heard of any Bloodline Knight reaching the Transmutation level in Nasir nowadays.

Byrne clenched his fist in silence, sensing that an unknown crisis had come to Nasir Town and could potentially endanger his family, yet he contained his impulse and continued:

“We must maintain sufficient caution and not rashly engage with an unknown Extraordinary Exponent, let’s gather information first.”

“Yes, indeed, the Fischer family must always remain cautious.” Irene nodded in agreement, heartily concurring.