“How did you get these?” the old appraiser nervously asked the mysterious old man who casually sipped from the teacup in front of him.

“Found them on the corpse of some dwarf who died right across the gorge… Are they expensive?” the old man asked, looking at the three dragon bones he placed on the table.

“Ahh….” the appraiser hesitated. “We don’t know what creature they came from… So, I can’t say” he lied.

“Then just put them on the auction…” the old man said.

“We can’t… They are not verified.”

“Butt that is not what I was told. Didn’t you guys buy anything, no questions asked?” the old man frowned.

“We do… It is just that the things in the auction needed to be verified. How about I buy them off your hand for 1,000,000 gold coins?” the appraiser asked.

“I thought you said you didn’t know their value?”

“I didn’t… I am taking a risk here…” the appraiser said, making the old man ponder. “I know some collectors who like strange things like these…” he added.

“... I can sell you only one… The other two will go into the auction!” the old man finally said after finishing his cup.

“I already said….”

“I will take 2,000,000 gold coins for it,” the old man interrupted.

“Wait, that…”

“3,000,000…”

“FINE DEAL!” the appeaser quickly said, realizing that the old man was not an idiot. But still, even if he bought it for 10,000,000 gold coins, he would be able to make a profit. And it was not like the old man would be able to enjoy the money.

“Good… Give me the money now, I need to buy a few sacrifices ... .Eh… girls at the auction tonight,“ the old man said, licking his lips. “Oh, and prepare some VIP auction tickets for me…”

“I understand,“ the old appraiser, who seemingly surrendered, said with a wretched smile. “You old men are too smart to fool!” he added, hiding his smirk.

“I know!” the old man said, taking the money and the ticket a maid brought and putting them in his ring. “By the way… Do you appreciate wine too?” Victor asked him.

“I sure do!” the appraiser said as he watched Victor take three bottles of some wine. The first thing he noticed was that the bottles were very old. Dwarven style.

“Those were with that dwarf corpse you found?” the appraiser asked.

“Yes… I tried one and it tastes somewhat a little too bitter for my taste… Try it yourself, but If you like it you have to promise to buy the rest!” the old man said.

“Let me see…” the appraiser said, taking a silver cup from under his table, and slowly pouring some of the wine out of the opened bottle in it.

He looked at it, smelled it then began to twirl it around.

“It is some kind of soul wine…” the appraiser said.

“Ah… Soul wine?” the old man asked nervously. “What’s that?”

“They used to take them for ceremonies to worship the three lords in the old days… We don’t really know what they do, but their price is very exorbitant…”

“Oh…”

“Its price would depend on how good it is though… Its smell is ok…” The appraiser hesitated for a moment then tasted it. He was not afraid of poison as this room had three hidden guards stationed around just in case.

“How does it taste?” the old man asked after one whole minute.

“Not bad… But why does it taste like it was brewed three weeks ago?” the appraiser asked as he got nervous. He was spot on!

"Really?" the old man just smirked.

"Ah..." Feeling something was wrong, the appraiser decided to end this meeting, sadly it was too late, as the next moment, he felt something grab him hard, stopping his movement and the old man sitting in front of him took a bottle then shoved it in his mouth, and began to empty it.

The appraiser struggled hard, gesturing to the hidden guards to move, yet no one came to his rescue.

He was about to lose hope when Finally the door was broken open by a few guards who wore the sun temple dress.

“CATCH THAT DEMON!” one of them yelled, grabbing the old man but only managing to hold his cape and pull it to reveal a demon with long horns and white silvery hair.

“DAMN IT…” the demon quickly took a talisman and activated it, disappearing completely.

“SHIT! We lost him again!” the temple guard said then hurried to the appraiser’s side. “Are you ok?” he asked.

“Ah… I am fine…. What was that?” he asked nervously.

“A demon as you have seen… The damn thing has been on the run for a week now after stealing an elven nobleman’s vault,”

“Oh… What did he take?” the appraiser asked, looking at the table to make sure that the maid had already collected the dragon bones. Thankfully, she did.

“Some dragon bones and a dragon heart…” the guard said. “Did he plan to sell you those?” he asked.

“No… He just wanted to use that wine to drug me…”

“Oh… I will be taking those bottles then…” the guard said, grabbing the buttles, inspecting them, and then placing them in his ring.

“Feel free…” the appraiser said. He was annoyed but didn’t dare to show it.

“Did he ask you about anything of interest?” the guard asked again.

“Ah… I don’t know… Nothing really…. Just the prices of a few things…”

“We just don’t know what he is after you see, this is getting really frustrating. What can a dragon heart be used for anyway?” the guard asked.

“Oh… well… it has many uses…” For one rare occasion, the appraiser felt that he should tell the guard everything he knew.

…

“ZOLA!” Zed screamed as he instinctively attacked the abomination that grabbed his sister, sadly he was too weak to even harm it, and his sword only sank in its guts without causing any damage.

“Ahhh….” Zola seemed about to suffocate.

SLASH
The abomination was cut in half as none other than Mike seemed to have appeared out of nowhere near them and attacked.

He quickly supported Zola and brought her to the ground.

“Ah… Thanks…” Zola blushed as Mike let go of her.

“Find a safe place and hide… Those things need to be struck with weapons that have an affliction. Pure physical damage won’t hurt them!” he said with a dashing smile then left, heading toward another abomination to kill it. “We will clear things quickly so take care of yourselves!” he added as he vanished.

“Wow…” Zola’s eyes followed him.

“Sis! We have to go find our mother and hurry to find Danny!” Zed told her. Danny was their little sister whom his mother left in the guest room with the maids. As a non-player, that little girl couldn’t enter the arena today!

“Ah!! Yes….” Zola nodded and began to hurry and follow Zed, her eyes were searching for Mike though. “Do you know his identity?” she asked as they ran.

“He should be one of our cousins, look at his hair color…” Zed said. “From the badge on his chest I think he is an elite or something…” he added, he was good at noticing such things.

“Is he single?” Zola asked, making Zed pause.

“Sis… He is our cousin…” he said nervously.

“You already told me that… I am just wondering!” she said pouting,her eyes darting around searching for his shadow.

“Shit….” Zed, who realized what his stubborn sister was thinking, cursed.
…

Totally unaware of what he had done, Mike joined the fight killing one monster after another.

He didn’t know how long it took, so after making sure no new abominations were appearing he gave the guards some orders to secure all the exits and then hurried toward where the elders were.

They were slowly wiping the guts and the blackened blood off their weapons after finishing the fight. Thankfully none were injured. Those abominations had hard skins but were not very powerful.

“Where is Grandma?” he asked his father.

Theodore pointed up where Ann was. Up in the air. She seemed to have grown a pair of dragon wings and was slowly descending. Did she awaken her bloodline too? She would be a fool not to try it after getting the notebook. Mike slowly checked his father. Theodore seemed to have done it too as the air around him seemed more dignified than usual. Mike didn’t see them for the last couple of days, and now he knew why. Those bastards must have tried the pills Victor gave them!

Moments later Ann who seemed to have been checking the situation slowly landed and the purplish dragon wings on her back vanished.
The elders seemed to want to ask her what skill was this, but none dared to do that.

“Grandma… Where are the protectors?” Mike asked, looking around. Were they fighting the dungeon’s boss?

“They escaped…” Ann said.

“Oh… WHAT?” Mike, who didn’t accept that answer, asked.

“The moment the dungeon opened they escaped to their safe room under the island,” Ann clarified. “You do understand that the guardians are not creatures of this world, if they get stuck inside a dungeon, the moment it is cleared, the world will also kill them!”

“Ahh… Then this taliman the Tolin used….” Mike who seemed to have understood something said.

“Yes, it was probably meant to be activated inside the hidden chamber, where the guardians will have nowhere to escape,” Ann nodded. “Right now, thanks to the array we placed beforehand, the entire main island seemed to have been engulfed into the dungeon in one piece, and the protectors managed to hide just before the dungeon was initialized!” she said.

“The entire island?” Mike gasped. “You mean those things are already all over the place!”

“Yes, it was as if we were separated from the rest of the archipelago!” Ann said as Theodore and the rest of the elders listened. “Don’t worry about your families…”

“Oh….Then shouldn’t we hurry and help others?” Mike asked.

“Don’t worry, the keeper elders have already ordered all nonfighting personnel to take shelter and activated many minor protection arrays all around the island. All the abominations are being exterminated as we speak…” she said. “Your sister and the others have already cleared the area around the Arena and are heading toward the treasury…”

“Then I shall go find them…”

“No, leave this for Alice and the rest of the elites. Your role is here, we need to organize ourselves and then plan a raid… Outside the island has turned into a sea of black water and a new island has sprung in the south!” she said. “I think the boss should be there!”

“What about the nonplayers on the island?” Mike quickly asked, thinking about something.

“As you suspect, they seemed to have all been awakened… This is probably the only good news I have…” Ann said. Sadly, the main island didn’t have many mortals. Most of the elders who smelled the danger sent all their descendants away a few days ago. It was their loss!

“What about Tolin?” Mike finally asked.

“She ran away…” Ann said the tracking talisman that Ann secretly placed on her was not responding. It was either destroyed or out of range.

If she knew Tolin had that strange Talisman, she would have been more careful. It is just that the bitch was way stronger than she expected. Not only did she manage to undo the chains they tied her with and escape, but she even threw a few poison bombs that she hid in a storage device in her mouth. Four elders and a few captured guards who were closer to her at that point all died without knowing how!

Thankfully She and Theodore have already awakened their bloodlines according to the ancestral notebook, and the poison didn’t affect them. If not, they would have died many times after taking the position directly!

Still, Tolin’s actions forced everyone to act cautiously when they attempted to capture her again, giving her a chance to activate that talisman.

The bitch was thoroughly prepared.

…

Entering his Inn’s room and locking the door, Victor’s expression finally changed.

SHIT HE REALLY SCREWED UP!

He quickly sat on the bed in a meditative pose then activated his blood slave's ability to watch through his slaves’ eyes. He felt it earlier but couldn’t make a move.

The situation on the family’s main island was disastrous, and he didn’t expect Tolin to go to that length! Dungeon-summoning Talismans were rare, very rare. Even in his past life, he had seen none and only read about them.

Thankfully, Poe who was at the main island to join the fun gave Victor a clear view of what happened. That bastard quickly joined the fight valiantly as an authentic heir. His plan was simple, to level up from a semi-player to a full player after getting some experience points! This was his chance.

Through Poe’s eyes, Victor caught glimpses of Zoe, Alice, and even Kuu who seemed to have awakened and was now fighting with the rest right outside the arena.
Sadly, Victor couldn’t activate his skills remotely, so he had no way of appraising her for now.

Still, that was some good news! Hopefully, she will turn into a scion.

Next Victor flipped to another slave, someone who acquired recently… No not Astran, that monster was wreaking havoc on the Von Rosen base, and Victor had no way to control him for now. He didn't even dare to watch the gory scenes as the bastard was enjoying his meal. Well, von Rosen deserved it.

The mysterious blood slave Victor wanted to monitor was none other than Mike who was in a meeting with the elders discussing what they should do to raid the Corpse Dragon’s lair.

Victor made him a slave when he gave him the antidote pills earlier in the cave. All of those were laced with his blood. He was not sure if Mike would take one, but thankfully he did!

The reason he did this was simple, it was to follow what was happening after he was gone. His second choice was either Kuu or Alice. But Kuu was troublesome as he feared affecting her fate, and with Alice, he feared that she would meet some lord at her sect and the same thing with Tulip would happen again.

Anyway, Victor initially planned to revoke the slave status and clear the slot as soon as he returned, but after he watched the meeting with the Protectors in the hideout he decided not to do that.
Seeing the beating black heart the Protectors were guarding Victor realized what it was. A dragon heart. The question was why it was here.
He had a hunch about it, but sadly the Akashic schooler skill demanded 5000 order points for any info like that so he could only find someone knowledgeable and ask about it. Thankfully he found that appraiser and realized that his hunch was correct!

Dragon hearts had the function to house and protect souls. In fact, according to the now asleep appraiser, many soul artifacts had pieces of a dragon heart as one of their components!

Although Victor was not 100% sure as he never encountered this heart in his previous life, he had a theory that his ancestor might have not really died, but he kept his soul alive, waiting to grab the body of a suitable heir from his family.
This would perfectly explain why Nickolace’s hideout and corpse were not known to the family as he planned to retrieve his things from there later!
This would also explain why Ann, despite being a woman, was allowed to act as a de facto Matriarch of the family. Those protectors were probably trying to steer the family’s bloodline in certain directions to create a perfect body for Nicloase to be reborn in and Ann’s were very suitable.
If Victor’s guess was correct, Nickolace is probably trying to create the perfect body. This probably had something to do with the mysterious patriarch test they conduct on every succession.

And yes, Victor had made a huge mistake by giving Ann the way to upgrade and activate her bloodline. Now, Nickolace would certainly take the body of the next patriarch, and that guy would most likely be Mike.

Shit…

He could only pray that the Imperial Corroded Dungeon would now last until he was back as the first thing he planned to do after he returned was to head there and grab that heart.
The patriarch ceremony would not happen before that as the protectors would never risk opening the hidden cave before the dungeon was cleared.

NO! Damn it!

Victor never liked depending on luck… If anything went wrong and he got delayed, his brother would truly die. He had no way to activate the blood slave skills from here to warn him!

His only hope was now one very crazy girl. But with her new class, she might be able to pull it off!

Victor first fetched a few SSS talismans and activated them, making sure the room was secure!

Then he took out the Cauldron and entered it. Appearing in a secluded region right in its center, in a grand granite-built room. This was the safest area here, where the demon boss was hiding.

Laying on a jade slab, he took a deep breath and adjusted his state before he reached for his soul, sending every ounce of energy to it to make a connection with the other half in Trilaria.

BAM…

It was as if the entire world shook.

Victor fell to the ground and began to cough up blood. He wanted to hold himself but his body that laid on the floor had no power to move even an inch.

Although this took all of his energy, the connection was a success. It was brief, but it was enough for the two parts of his soul to sync. Now, it was all up to Lily!