“So that’s what happened….” Victor, who was driving, said after hearing Margret’s narrative of her dungeon dive, “It was a gay door indeed…” he nodded. He really wanted that door!

“That’s what you care about? Can you tell me exactly what those souls were?” she asked.

“No… But I can guess,” he said. “Those skeletons must have been experts who were sealed in that dungeon. They must have been sealed even before it became a dungeon. It is one of the demonic punishments, they lock someone up and even after he dies, their souls would not dissipate, but suffer in a dead body for eternity…” he explained while keeping his eyes on the road.

“Oh…”

“The seal on them must have weakened with time, and those guys took the chance to attack you when you went there, they were intending to take your body… But since your soul already belonged to me, they couldn’t break my mark and ended up being eaten…. Thankfully I renewed the seal that day at the ho…..”

“YOU DID WHAT?” Margret screamed in surprise. Making him momentarily lose control of the car. He almost ran over a cat.

“Don’t scream!” Victor said casually. “That day, I was not sure if you were a friend or foe, so I strengthened the seal on your body with my authority…. If not, the seal would have not been strong enough to repel them!”

“Making excuses….” she pouted as she looked to the side, “What happened next? Why did I feel pain?”

“You just ate more than you can digest… If not for the seal your soul would have exploded!” he said, making her look back at him with some fear in her eyes.

“Really?”

“Yup… You got super lucky! After we return, I will teach you some advanced soul arts to let you slowly harvest the energy that was absorbed in my seal…”

“Don’t you want it?” she asked with surprise.

“Nah… One can’t eat too many souls at once, and I ate a lot lately…. Those ones are your trophy!” he said.

“What are souls good for anyway?” she asked.

“The souls are everything…” he said, “It is too early for you to learn this… soul arts are really scary though, and a strong soul is never a bad thing…” he added mysteriously.

“You didn’t tell me though, why didn’t I get any experience points after defeating them?”

“They were already dead. The system does not recognize souls as things! So you did nothing according to your log!”

“Ohh… what a bummer…” she puffed her cheeks. She was jealous of Lily and the twins, who had leveled up a lot!

“You were super lucky though, you got a shit ton of authority…” Victor said, as he carefully looked at her.

“No, I didn’t! My authority didn’t change at all!” Margret interjected.

“You did! But you need to level up for the changes to apply!” She could not see it, but through his inspection, he could see it in the log.

“Really? Did I get other things?” she asked with a smile.

“You want more? That 10478 Authority points are not enough for you? You must understand that whenever a soul devours others if it doesn't use any divine arts, there is only a 0.0001% chance that one of the five soul attributes can be transferred!” Victor said. “That thing must have had so much authority that some of it leaked to you!”

“Oh… Soul attributes?”

“Authority, Memories, Fates, Afflictions, and Karma!”

“Then are there things out there who eat other people's souls?” she asked.

“They exist, like the demons who attacked Yin’s parents!” he said before noticing the worried look on her face.

“Don’t worry, soul-devouring is very rare, as to attack others, you first have to risk everything by leaving your body defenseless. Likewise, attacking a strong soul that is inside the protective shell of the human flesh is suicide… For a 0.0001 chance of getting a random attribute, it is not worth it at all!”

“Then how did the demons take the bodies of Yin’s parents?” she asked.

“They probably destroyed their souls with torture or some drugs first… They wouldn’t even want to eat them. They needed the bodies after all.”

“Then the one who attacked you that day… When you saved Theta!”

“Oh, that one was special. It uses a trick to attack when the soul is getting awakened as a player… The soul would be in a vulnerable position for a few seconds at that time!” he said, “I took the hit for Theta at that time, so the demon tried to trick me…. She was smart and delicious…” he said with an evil smile.

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“You have a method to devour souls, don’t you?”

“No comment….” he said as he parked the car to the side in a small alleyway. It looked familiar.

“Stay in the car for a minute, I will need to grab a few dirty things…” he said as he stepped down and headed toward the shabby-looking pharmacy to the side of the road.

…

“Young master Victor, we meet again!” the old alchemist said while rubbing his hands when he spotted Victor. This was a fat sheep that he really liked to fleece.

“Yah… Master Albert… Nice to see you again too!” Victor greeted with an awkward smile as he took out a list and gave it to the alchemist… He knew that this guy was a greedy bastard, but his wares were the real deal!

“I heard that you are getting married…” Albert asked as he read the list then frowned slightly.

“Yeah… News travels fast these days…” Victor said like an old man.

“It sure does…” Albert said as he read the list slowly… “Windflower… Blue rose… Powdered Gems… Goblin feces and slime core? Are you perhaps planning to replace the bride?” Albert asked stunning Victor, he didn’t expect this Alchemist to be this knowledgeable, recognizing the rare recipe of the shapeshifting pill despite the ingredients being obfuscated among others.

“Don’t look at me like that kid… When you live a long life, you see a lot!” Albert said.

“Well… Not the bride… but the bridesmaid…” Victor replied, telling half of the truth.

“Oh…” Albert nodded with a knowing smile. “I have to warn you though, this recipe would only work for three hours.”

“Three hours is more than enough!”

“The amount of the ingredients is enough for 100 pills……” Neil added with surprise then looked at Victor. With a dirty smile. It was nice to be young.

“Exactly…” Victor replied cryptically.

“Do you need an alchemist to do it for you?”

“Nah, I already contracted one from my family…” Victor lied.

“Oh… too bad…” Albert said. Then looked at his assistant and threw the list to him… “Get us those!”

Victor sighed as he watched the assistants hurry around.

…

Margret sighed as she waited for Victor… Couldn’t he confess like a gentleman?

She slowly took out her phone and called her aunt after some hesitation.

“Margret! Why were you not answering my calls! Didn’t I care for you for years you ungrateful child! Do you know how worried I was?” her aunt scolded with a soft caring voice as soon as she answered.

“Ahh… sorry, my boyfriend forbade me from contacting my family… But that’s no longer a problem…” Margret casually lied. Her aunt had been calling her lately, to ask for money, and she was totally ignoring her.

“Did you break up? Did he realize your true nature and dump you? Or did he finish with you and kick you to some other man?” her aunt quickly changed her tone reverting to her true snobbish nature. “Did you get pregnant?”

“None of that…. He trusts me now! He wants to accept me as his concubine… He told me to invite you to the wedding…”

“Oh… As I expected….. No… What? A concubine?” her aunt asked in shock. She could not understand what the word Concubine might mean in a normal conversation. She only heard it in historical dramas.

“Yes… A concubine, one of many. I will be part of the grand wedding!”

“What grand wedding?”

“Mom! It’s that one! Victor White! The double wedding!” Lulu’s jealous voice could be heard, she must have been listening to Margret too.

“What?” Margret’s aunt asked, “Margret… Are you one of the brides?”

“No… I already told you! He plans to take a few side concubines in addition to the two main brides… He chose me…” Margret said with some annoyance… “If you can’t come it’s ok…”

“We will come! Make sure to send us money for the dresses and accessories….”

Margret hung up immediately while silently cursing just as she heard knocking on the window. She expected it to be Victor, but it turned out to be a stupid guy with a few piercings and dyed hair.

“What?” Margret, who was in a bad mood, snapped at him as she unrolled the window.

“Hey, beauty… How about you come with me? Look at that red FireRat car, it is mine, My daddy works for white Tech as a director! I am better than that stupid boyfriend………. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

The man howled as the nutcracker who was holding a large bag of goods got to him from the back.

“Don’t touch my toys!” Victor scolded coldly as he threw the bag into the back seat and then hopped into the front.

“Finished already?” Margret asked as she pitied the gangster… He shouldn’t have touched Victor’s car… She was not a toy! She refused to be!

“Not really… Let’s go to our second destination….” Victor said.

…

The second destination, was, of course, the grand white hotel, the wedding venue!

The grand white hotel was hosting the biggest event since its establishment 80 years ago. It was the wedding of the century so even now, two weeks prior, when Victor reached there, he could easily notice how busy the workers were bringing objects in and out in preparation for the big event.

“Young master!” The security guard at the door quickly welcomed Victor as he stepped inside with Margret.

“Is Aria here?”

“Yes, Miss Aria arrived two hours ago!” the guard quickly replied.

“Good…” Victor said, stuffing a tip in the guard's hand as walked into the grand lobby and looked around. This place always brought him so many memories, both good and bad. He even had to work as a receptionist here once. The family really treated its heirs differently depending on their rank!

Many of the guests began to gossip when they noticed him as he waited for the elevator. He didn’t care though, that’s the effect he wanted. He just smirked as he took the elevator with Margret toward the top floor, the same place where the party he attended a month ago was.

That’s when Victor’s phone rang… It was Kai.

“What?” Victor asked impatiently.

“Young master, there is trouble…” Kai said.

“Trouble? Speak!” Victor asked. Lately, everything around him was troublesome.

“Yulian, the guy you asked me to keep an eye on… The guard who was on our payroll just called. Yulian seemed to have beaten a man, and that guy just died in the infirmary!”

“Bad luck… Find another man to kill the corpse and take the fall!… Yulian must not be affected, and his name must not be mentioned anywhere. This must be done very discreetly!” Victor said, “Yulian must be out of prison by the time of the wedding no matter what!” Victor said.

“Understood… I already prepared things!” Kai replied.

“Good! Anything else?” Victor asked as he stepped out of the elevator and spotted Aria who was scolding some workers.

“Yes… About The ticket Miss Hilda sent me. It is for a cruise trip on the grand ship The Three-Horned Dragon… It is set to sail for it's first trip three months later in the south sea. The event is sponsored by a company called Past Holdings registered in the bluebird Islands.”

“Get me a few tickets… Not directly, but discreetly, I must be there naturally…. If you can’t do it, find some unlucky idiot, steal his card and identity then let him enjoy a permanent residence in the middle of the sea!…. ” Victor said.

“Understood…” Kai said before Victor hung up.