Chapter 179 - Different Scenario (9)

Familia Hotel, Raneil Barony.

Night had ended, and the sun was slowly creeping up the sky. Basil had spent his entire night at the rooftop, bathing himself under the starlight while Forging his body. Although he didn't achieve another breakthrough, the result was much better than the one he had achieved in the Dungeon.

No one had bothered him for the entire night; Iliana had visited the rooftop once, and she had quickly left upon noticing Basil was really immersed in his training.

Of course, Basil didn't just forge his body; he had also reviewed his every ongoing scheme to make sure there was no mistake that could potentially happen in the future. He had two big ongoing schemes, and he meant to successfully realize all of them.

The first one was the invasion of Three Sacred Grounds: Southevile, Westerheiss, and Northonham. The Viscountcies that belonged to Braxtein Kingdom's three great servant families; the families that served Braxtein Kingdom's first King to the current King.

The three family heads, due to the trust they had earned from the Kingdom, were entrusted the responsibility to guard all of the legacies that Braxtein Kingdom's Kings had left behind. No one knew where they were; no one but the King and the select few knew of their existence.

The three families lived in three different Viscountcies that were located in the south, west, and north of Fortescher County. No one could go to these Viscountcies, and not even a single soul could see them; a powerful Magic was set to hide the Viscountcies from the rest of the world.

Of course, the way they were hidden wasn't as straightforward as putting up a grand Magic Barrier—invisible to the ordinary eyes—that could be seen by any high class Mages—Seventh Circle and above.

The Magic that was set on the three Viscountcies to hide them from the rest of the world was a High Grade Bewitchment that played with one's perception. That means, the Viscountcies weren't necessarily located in a place that had the least inhabitants.

In fact, they were located very close to the busy part of Fortescher County. Even the inhabitants of the three Viscountcies always interacted with the other inhabitants of the County; they didn't live in constant secrecy.

One might wonder how was this possible, and the answer was the powerful Bewitchment. None of the people who were living close to the three Viscountcies knew of the Viscountcies' existence, because their mind simply refused to admit it's existence.

Many of them had stumbled upon the hidden Viscountcies—nothing separated the Viscountcies with the other world; they were just hidden—but their mind always registered the new scene they were witnessing as if they had seen it many times before. Thus, no one had ever visited the Viscountcies.

As it felt so natural and subtle, not even just any High Class Mage could feel the Bewitchment; their mind was convinced that they didn't see anything new when they stumbled upon the Viscountcies. This way, the three Viscountcies remained hidden; they were there, but no one registered their existence.

Of course, for the inhabitants of the the hidden Viscountcies, things were different; all of them could easily find their home even after they got out of the hidden Viscountcy they were living in. There was no Magic involved in this matter, and the reason why they could do it was a little bit silly.

It is because they knew—they knew of the existence of the Viscountcies.

Hearing of what the Bewitchment did to one's mind would make one think, "This is not a simple Bewitchment," but one would easily change their mind upon knowing the weakness of the Bewitchment.

Ever wondered why the existence of the three Viscountcies were highly confidential despite how "hidden" they were? The reason was the weakness of the Bewitchment; it only worked on people who didn't know of the existence of the thing that was hidden in the very first place.

Supposed that one wanted to hide a hat with said Bewitchment from three people who already knew of the hat's existence. Once the Bewitchment was casted upon the hat, it was indeed hidden from the three people's eyes.

When they coincidentally stumbled upon it however, unlike what the Bewitchment did to the other people, the three people's mind didn't reject what their eyes were seeing; it would quickly register that the hat was, in fact, in front of them—that they were seeing a reality.

All of this was because they knew of the hat's existence in the very first place. This is the weakness of the Bewitchment used on the three Viscountcies, and that is why it was a simple Bewitchment.

The same thing happened to the inhabitants of the hidden Viscountcies: they knew that their home existed, and they only needed to thread the right path to find their home.

This was the reason why the Kingdom strictly kept the three Viscountcies' existence a secret: to prevent people from knowing them.

Basil had known of the Three Sacred Grounds' existence when the second Outbreak had occured in his past life. Due to some reasons, the existence of Three Sacred Grounds was revealed to the public, and they didn't become a secret ever since.

Right after getting out of Death Howl Dungeon, Basil had quickly controlled the Dungeon, separated the horde of Demons in four groups, and picked the four strongest Demons that presumably would be a horde leader in the future—replacing the current leader who Basil didn't know of.

Basil hadn't been really targeted by the Demons at that time, but for the sake of his plans, he had made a deal with them. He had told them about not only the existence of Three Sacred Grounds, but also the route to get there in exchange for his "safety."

This way, not only could the Demons enter Three Sacred Grounds, but also register the fact that they, in fact, had stepped their foot on the hidden Viscountcies. The Demons would then wreak havoc for him, and the Kingdom would be busy protecting the Viscountcies.

When the Kingdom's attention was split, Basil would take his time to go to Randalvine, and retrieve one of the Kingdom's renowned Mages' legacy that was kept in Arthan Library. That way, he wouldn't alert anyone, nor would anyone notice the "succession."

Although there were many useful things—Legendary Relics, Ancient Artefacts, Rare Potions and such—that he could use buried in Three Sacred Grounds, Basil wasn't worried about "losing" them to the Demons. He knew the Kingdom would be able to warm them for him.

Of course before that happened, Basil needed to realize his another scheme successfully.

The recalling of his complicated schemes took him only 30 seconds; when the sunlight fell down on his face, Basil's thought ended, and he opened his eyes. A pair of bright, golden orbs gazed at the world distantly in the next moment.

Basil was looking at the world as if he had completely grasped the world—as if he owned the world. He blinked his eyes once, and his golden eyes were replaced with light brown eyes.

"I was in a trance once again..." Basil muttered under his breath. "While it is not a bad thing, not being myself is not something I can just tolerate."

After Basil had performed [Hand-Over] with Caesar—since the moment he had broken through to the Middle Realm—he sometimes experienced the moment where he felt he was not himself; just like when he had given Caesar his blessing right before Caesar's death.

He didn't know what he was doing back then, but he had felt right doing it. Whenever he experienced the 'trance,' he would feel like he was watching himself through the third person perspective, while still having full control over his body.

While he didn't feel any sense of dissociation with his body, he felt that his mind didn't belong to him; he noticed that whenever he experienced the 'trance,' the way he thought changed, but he was strangely completely okay with that—it felt natural.

He had attributed it to the upgrade of the Guide at first, but upon feeling the new connection he got with the Fragment, he suspected that Matheus' Soul Imprint was the cause.

"Huuh... There is no end thinking about it." Basil lightly frowned. "At least, my control over my action is better than before."

Although the 'trance' made Basil feel slightly uncomfortable, he was still glad that he could finally get full control over his action. Prior to his breakthrough to the Middle Realm, he had done many things that had even bewildered himself.

He never had the urge to pat anyone, but his hand had always moved by itself. It was as if he was feeling the need to comfort whoever the person he was patting.

He also didn't have any urge to help anyone, but his body had often moved by itself to help people. His mind had always convinced him that he would regret not helping the person who he witnessed was having a difficulty; it felt like he was watching over his ... Kids.

"Was I really that experienced to consider even an elderly woman my child?" Basil was talking about his actual age, and the time where he had helped a stranger old lady.

"I don't believe so." He frowned, before he was reminded of something. "Matheus ... Maybe, he was already affecting me since the very beginning."

Matheus was thousands of years; he himself had even said everyone was a child in front of his eyes. Although Basil didn't know how much of a doting parent Matheus was, it was logical to deduce that the reason why Basil had unintentionally "babysat" other people—his "child"—was due to Matheus' influence.

'But then again, Matheus' Soul Imprint resided in the Fragment that was connected to him before he forfeited the connection to me. Consequentially speaking, his influence should've taken effect the moment I was connected with the Fragment, not before it.'

Basil was about to ponder a little bit more, when the door to the rooftop was opened.

Bang!

"They have arrived." Even without turning around, Basil knew it was Iliana. "Darius and the others have arrived ... Along with the pretentious prick." She clicked her tongue in annoyance.

Basil didn't need to ask who the pretentious prick was; he already knew who the person was. Getting up from the floor, he turned his body around to face Iliana. Her hair was still damp, and her skin glowed under the sunlight, showing that she had just taken a bath.

Walking toward her calmly, a faint, incomprehensible smile decorated Basil's face.. "Let's greet them, shall we?" One of his schemes was ready to be realized.