Chapter 769 Cautious?
After two days, Lothur's men returned with more hostages to feed on, helping him to improve some of his characteristics.
His resistance to the Lightning element had increased to Platinum grade, and he had improved his Perception a bit more during those days. However, apart from increasing the value of his Soul attribute, Lothur hadn't increased his cultivation level, even though he was close to a breakthrough.
Daemon's group and the level 19 beast from earlier returned these days, having successfully hunted down the demons Lothur had indicated.
Thanks to these creatures, Lothur's Soul Bones had also improved in their progress, with the bone responsible for the Black Flames reaching the Platinum grade.
After delivering 9 demons to Lothur and helping him eliminate them all, Daemon's group and the previous beast were again sent to other areas of the empire, this time without specific demon locations.
But their mission was still the same. To find such creatures, kidnap them and bring them to Lothur.
Meanwhile, many men from the Koch, Ritter, Becker, and Frost families had arrived in the Three Great Lakes Region and been given opportunities by Lothur.
A few of them had been able to absorb the inferior Soul Bones that Lothur had accumulated. Still, they most had achieved breakthroughs through the pills and other resources he had produced.
About 300 people had received these opportunities in the past two days, most of them level 15 Spiritual Warriors or level 16 Transcendents.
After receiving these opportunities, even the weakest of them were able to advance at least one level.
Of the 300 people who arrived here in the past few hours, none of them would return to their posts with a cultivation level below level 16.
But some exceptional cases, like Elke's father, had advanced their cultivation much higher than most of these people, reaching level 17 or 18. In this man's case, he had become a level 17 transcendent.
However, the Koch patriarch had reached level 18 after absorbing two Soul Bones, which Gomeric had not done because he had given one of his bones to his wife, Hilda.
In any case, the group of 300 that had set out from the Three Great Lakes Region had people between levels 16 and 18, much stronger than those who had arrived there before.
As a result, the empire's forces had been greatly strengthened in the past few days, something that could scare not only the enemies of the state but also its allies!
...
Peter's City...
This city was currently home to some of the families who were Lothur's partners in the Ritter Motor Company but who came from states currently at war with Leopoldine.
As partners of a cursed creature, the families of this company, who came from Utrary, Ashen, and Lenz, had naturally been forced to flee their home states after the start of the troop movement against Leopoldine.
As associates of Lothur, these groups moved to the city where the headquarters of the Ritter Motor Company was located, the only business they had after being expelled from their states.
But most of the stronger men from these families moved around the empire, while the weaker ones remained in this place, maintaining communication with their people.
At this very moment, one of the men from an Ashen family was using a high-level communicator to talk to one of the Saints in his family.
"Elder, it's bizarre what's happening. Suddenly, many people left the city two days ago and then came back much stronger!" An elder from Peters City said this while holding a crystal.
The person on the other end of the line couldn't see the elder's face, which had an ugly, somewhat incredulous expression. But from the tone of his voice, it was obvious to him the man's troubled feelings.
"The battlefield is strange too. The Saint on the other end of the line said. "Suddenly, Sages appeared in our group. Lothur Ritter's women have an impressive level of power. I still get goosebumps when I think about their aura!"
"What is going on, old man? How is it possible for the local forces to grow so strong so fast? Did they discover a treasure mine or something?" The man in Peter City asked, not understanding the situation.
Make no mistake, he and the Saint on the other end of the line were not sad. On the contrary, the sudden development of the local forces would favor them. However, this was not natural, and they wanted to know this progress's source.
"I don't know. We'll look into it. For now, I'll watch my post and try to find out what's going on. But in any case, let's take advantage of the good winds and eliminate our enemies."
"Yes, we'll do our best!"
...
Meanwhile, on one of the borders of Leopoldine, a man appeared hundreds of meters above the ground, looking at the area with a strange expression.
Seeing the signs of battle around him but no signs of bodies or the deaths of the strongest men in his state, he was surprised.
'What exactly happened here? Did these people take our men, hostage?' He asked himself but felt it didn't make sense.
Either way, this was a sign that demonstrated the enemies' power in Leopoldine. These people who were victimizing their state were so strong that they could kidnap their opponents and take them elsewhere.
Knowing that the same thing was happening on other borders of Leopoldine, this high-level man knew that at least four sages were operating in such a state.
Even though he was level 23, it wouldn't be easy to deal with four Sages, even if they were all level 22!
With this in mind, he decided to be cautious when investigating this place.
'I'll see if I can find those Sages. I don't see any of them in this place right now.' He looked around the area where Annaliese was standing.
As someone of a similar level to this man, Annaliese could easily hide her presence from him!
'They must be near the empire's capital or the Jansen family's territory... I'll start there!'
Having made up his mind, he opened a spatial rift and set off in the same direction as other Sages from the states that the actions of Lothur's people had victimized.
As old and experienced experts, most were cautious enough not to act rashly. Almost all of them wanted to investigate before doing anything more dangerous.
With no enemy troops around Leopoldine, the state was at peace while these experts conducted their investigations.