Until Ilois had disappeared, leaving only Fisher and Emhardt alone in the corridor with the book, Emhardt sighed deeply, his expression somewhat plaintive as he turned to look at Fisher, who stood beside him deep in thought. He began to complain,
"You have the demi-human girl that you flirted with, and yet you want me to remind her to take her medicine. Do you think of me as an accomplice in your wrongdoing? Hey, you’re not even getting flustered. Normally you would have started fighting by now, right?"
Emhardt floated in front of Fisher, observing his contemplative demeanour. A small idea formed in his mind, and so he tentatively called out a few names to Fisher,
"Scumbag? Trash? Oh, this is truly miraculous, and again... AAAAHHH, I was wrong, I was wrong, let go!"
Fisher, his face dark, reached out and grabbed the annoying Emhardt, his mind had been occupied by the events of the previous night, which had given him an overwhelming amount of information to sort through. He also needed to strategize for the future.
He caught hold of Emhardt and headed towards his room, his expression far from pleased.
The issues facing him now were numerous, deep, and complicated, making Fisher suddenly feel it was a daunting task.
Firstly, the immediate problem was Erwin, a defector from the Creation Society, who seemed like a mountain. Based on Fisher’s prior estimation of his power, Erwin definitely wasn’t at the Thirteenth Rank — otherwise, he wouldn’t have been suppressed by Elliog’s soul avatar. However, the situation now appeared quite different.
The Cardinal reminded himself that Erwin had entered the Frost Snow Phoenix Tree to reach the Mythical Rank, or Fifteenth Rank, which meant that through the Life Completion Manual, the level of life he had achieved could very well be at the doorstep of the Mythical Rank. Even if he had been severely injured by the Cardinal, he would likely recover quickly.
His own ceiling rank was only at the Ninth Rank, making Erwin a full five ranks higher!
Erwin had obtained the Life Completion Manual much earlier than he had, gaining more forbidden knowledge than he had anticipated.
Even more crucially, Erwin didn’t care about the madness that came from reading the manual.
The Cardinal, or rather the Creation Society, knew that reading the second Completion Manual could lead to madness; Erwin surely knew this as well. This only indicated that his obsession with advancing was extremely strong, and he could ignore all risks.
[The Ultimate Truth]...
That was Erwin’s real goal.
Now, the Cardinal had been caught off guard and defeated by Erwin. Given the current situation in the Creation Society, no one besides the Cardinal was willing to listen to the nominal leader, the Cardinal of Destiny. The bridge of communication between him and the Cardinal of Destiny was severed. Even if the Creation Society wanted to help him, they had to wait for them to initiate contact. Fisher couldn’t possibly place his hope on their nebulous assistance...
Fisher, alongside Emhardt, arrived at his room door, feeling an unprecedented weight on his shoulders. Not only was Erwin a problem, but last night’s curse and the closely related Frost Snow Phoenix Tree evidently had extensive ties with the Turand Family.
Although both he and Erwin were headed for the Frost Snow Phoenix Tree, Erwin did not have a boss cursed by the Moon Princess’ Sword, effectively pulling the mysterious Frost Snow Phoenix Tree onto Fisher’s opposing side, facing both Erwin and the Frost Snow Phoenix Tree at once.
Considering this, was joining forces with the Turand Family perhaps counterproductive?
Fisher entered his room, hung the heavy clothes he had placed on Helldor earlier on the coat rack, and viewed the still-warm garment. Helldor’s final moments before death also gradually sunk into Fisher’s heart.
Dying Helldor hadn’t said anything, just kept quietly chanting Valentina’s name until his consciousness faded, constantly reminding Fisher of the promise he had made to help Valentina.
Fisher was silent for a second, shifting his gaze away from the clothes on the coat rack; his tumultuous thoughts also gradually calmed.
After all, aside from allying with the Turand Family, he had no other choice. There might be clues about Renie in the Frost Snow Phoenix Tree. Even for the long-missing Renie, he had to explore there, and although the pressure was massive, Fisher still had hope to grasp, far from a dead end.
First off, Erwin would not soon come after him; Fisher had the Death Rune given by Elliog, and its touch of death effect should deter even Erwin from engaging in direct conflict. Erwin was not a brute; otherwise, he would not have held back so long in Saint Nali before finally making a move.
The most secure way for Erwin to kill him and seize the Soul Completion Manual would be to wait until reaching the Mythical Rank. If the Mythical Rank were as terrifying as Moli’s mother, Xuan Can, even the Death Rune in Fisher’s possession would be futile, and that would truly spell the end of everything.
But before his adversary stepped into the Mythical Rank, there was still room to maneuver.
Fisher sat at the table, taking out each item he could utilise, one by one. The thoughts in his mind raced like lightning.