532 Vaan's Suspicion
Shortly after Vaan heard Head Eunuch Blaize's news, his Omni-Sense immediately scanned the entire palace and locked onto the Great Hall.
Inside the Great Hall, Minister Mistral could be seen pacing back and forth anxiously with impatience. Clearly, he had something urgent to discuss with the Sun God or Imperial Princess.
However, Vaan could already guess what the problem was.
After all, he made such a big wave with his return when he decided to save the suffering Darkans and brought some of them back to the palace. Such news would surely spread to everyone in the holy capital unless people lived under a rock.
Since the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade was looking for them, it could only mean the envoys from the Great Ratholos Empire had finally lost their patience and caused trouble.
"I understand. I will see Minister Mistral shortly," Vaan acknowledged before dismissing the head eunuch, "You may return first."
"Understood, Sun God," Head Eunuch Blaize complied.
He took a few steps back and bowed to the door to show his respect before leaving to take care of other matters in the palace.
"This matter is most likely related to Red Dragon Clan. Leave this to me."
"Mm."
Shortly after Astoria obediently agreed, she watched Vaan purify his body with flames and put on his dragon-silk clothing. A blissful smile hung on her face.
Just watching her man getting up in the morning for work was also a form of joy.
She found happiness in the simplest of things.
Meanwhile, as Vaan prepared to leave, he also checked the system log. Without any surprise, he had reaped a bountiful harvest from the night of dual practice.
Ding!
<You have completed an unassigned Subjugation-type Witch Hunt>
<You have obtained the target's primal essence and light-attribute mana>
<You have absorbed an enormous quantity of light-attribute refined mana from a Late-stage High Witch>
<Calculating appropriate rewards...>
<...>
…
Ding!
<The system has issued you an objective mission>
<Objective mission: Collect 5 High Witch-level primal essences>
<Upon completion of the mission, you will be able to awaken a High Witch-level specialized magic>
…
…
Ding!
<The rewards have been calculated>
<Based on the enormous quantity of light-attribute refined mana collected from the High Witch, a list of suitable rewards is available>
<Please allocate points to the directives according to your preference for improvement (103 chances remaining)>
<Directive 1: Reinforce the body with light-attribute refined mana and increase your three physical aspects (Defense, Strength, and Speed) by one unit each> <Note: This is a balanced increase – Higher physical aspects may receive a smaller increase, and lower physical aspects may receive a bigger increase>
<Note 3: There is a slight chance to upgrade an existing low-rank talent to a higher rank>
<Cost: 1 point per selection (value of improvement will depreciate from repeated selection)>
<Directive 2: Use light-attribute refined mana to raise your affinity to the light element by 1%>
<Note: There is a slight chance to upgrade an existing healing-type talent>
<Cost: 1 point per selection (value of improvement will depreciate from repeated selection)>
<Directive 3: Feed the light-attribute refined mana to the Heaven-Swallowing Space and expand its subspace>
<Note: There be unexpected gains or nothing at all>
<Cost: 1 point per selection>
<...>
...
Ding!
<You have allocated 77 points to Directive 1, 23 points to Directive 2, 3 points to Directive 3>
<Allocating light-attribute refined mana to designated areas of improvement>
<...>
…
Shortly after making his choice, Vaan experienced the changes to his body carried out by the system. The light-attribute refined mana he received from Astoria certainly couldn't be underestimated. There was a lot he could do with it.
However, he had another agenda for leaving all the work to the system.
Since his soul rank has reached Peak Demigod, Vaan figured his soul power was powerful enough to study the system in greater detail.
Unfortunately, even after focusing his perception to the limit, he still couldn't peek inside the system's main body, which was hidden inside the depths of his soul.
He could only sense a source of soul power released from it.
That said, this source of soul power had no conscious will. But it was still guided by an unknown law. If it did have a conscious will, he would have felt threatened by the system's existence long ago.
After all, a conscious will would imply the system was another being's soul or acting on behalf of another being to play the part. It would also mean another existence secretly monitored him. Such a situation involved too many risk factors.
Fortunately, that was not the case.
Nevertheless, after his failed attempt, Vaan understood his level of existence was still too low to comprehend the system. The system existed on a much higher level.
Vaan couldn't help but delve into deeper thoughts regarding the system.
Why did Furhengir have it? If it was given by Balmodan the Undying, what was the Great Devil's purpose? Did the Great Devil create it? Or did the Great Devil find it somewhere?
Vaan didn't think the system was something a Rank 6 divine being could create.
As such, he was more inclined to believe the system was an ancient artifact or primordial relic found by Balmodan the Undying and later gifted to Furhengir for testing.
However, it would raise a bigger issue if that was the case.
If Balmodan the Undying didn't have a problem handing such a valuable asset to Furhengir, the Great Devil likely had other, more valuable and powerful ancient artifacts or primordial relics.
And this was just the Balmodan the Undying.
If the other six Great Devils also had such trump cards, it was impossible for Pangea to win against Gehenna even if they reached the same number of Rank 6 divine beings.
'What a headache,' Vaan thought.
He understood the urgency to increase his own trump cards. But just because he wished it didn't mean it would just happen.
It wasn't a problem he could resolve quickly.
As such, he slightly shook his head and pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind. He could only focus on other objectives.
'Status!' Vaan willed.
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