Endless Debt

Finally, the day to venture into the Land of Secrets arrived, with no special occasion or particular significance, just like one day when you wake up and suddenly feel the urge to pull a friend out on a spontaneous trip.

An unexpected turn.

Bologue donned his clothes and checked his equipment. After advancing to a Defender, he did a bit of an analysis of his abilities, discarding some unnecessary gear and adding quite a few new items.

The Wailing Bite was sheathed and hung at his waist, with sticky, semi-transparent gel oozing from the metallic gaps. This was the Void Shedding Sword Oil, specially prepared by Mamo for Bologue. As a consumable, Mamo had prepared several canisters back then.

Strapped to his thigh was the Vengeful Saw Axe, an Original Sin Armament, which came with the Protection·Sacrificial Slaughter. In crucial moments, it would be Bologue’s trump card for a reversal.

In addition, a bronze bracelet appeared in Bologue’s hand. When it was handed to him initially, he was somewhat puzzled, but he soon recognized it.

Contract Object: Time Ring.

This was once the contract object of Red Dog, retrieved by the Order Bureau after his death, and now it had passed into Bologue’s hands. Its effect is to consume one’s own time in exchange for distorting and halting the surrounding time.

For an ordinary person, this is an extremely costly contract object, but for the Undead, time is the cheapest commodity.

Bologue guessed that for this reason, the Order Bureau deemed him the most suitable holder of this object, making him its rightful owner, and this encompassed all of Bologue’s current equipment.

The Order Bureau also offered Bologue some high-tier Alchemy Armament options, but after careful consideration, Bologue decided to forgo them.

Too many weapons could interfere with Bologue’s combat. It’s better to selectively keep a few to match his fighting style.

"Hey! Wake up!"

While heading out, Bologue knocked forcefully on the adjacent room’s door. Although technically they weren’t roommates anymore, Bologue still retained the habit of waking Palmer up. Palmer was full of complaints about it.

After some rustling sounds, Palmer got dressed and emerged.

"Ah..."

He let out a big yawn.

After advancing to a Negative Power User, Palmer also undertook a round of equipment upgrades, adding a sky-blue rapier alongside the Lucky Dice and Storm Feather. The cold metallic surface of the rapier was adorned with smooth patterns, resembling clouds rolling over a sword blade.

This rapier wasn’t from the Order Bureau but rather a weapon issued to Palmer by the Clarks.

As the inheritor of the Perfect Path: Wind Fury Way, every step of Palmer’s growth followed a strict plan, from Secret Energy inclinations to derived secondary disciplines and the configuration of Alchemy Armaments.

After countless trials and errors by the Clarks’ predecessors, they had achieved an almost perfect optimal solution.

In essence, Palmer’s Path of Transcendence was meticulously arranged by his family. Realizing this, Bologue couldn’t help but feel a tinge of envy and gain a deeper understanding of Palmer’s carefree personality.

Palmer needn’t think too much; he just needs to focus on advancing. The rest had already been settled by his predecessors.

"Where do we start from?"

Dragging his luggage, Palmer followed Bologue, asking from behind.

"The Transfer Station. We’ll pass through the Curved Path Gate and traverse between various outposts, stopping at one on the edge of the Land of Secrets, and then taking the pre-arranged train to our destination."

Due to the special nature of his work, Bologue seldom had business trips, the furthest being to the Narrow Countries before.

But back then, due to an attack by the Zongge Orchestra, the outposts were in a standstill, preventing any Curved Path Shuttling. As a result, they had to spend considerable time slowly advancing by train. This time is different. The teleports within the Rhine Alliance Territory are operational, making it easy to cover long distances.

Bologue waved his hand, and the wall in front of him suddenly fragmented, revealing a murky void.

Palmer paused, rubbing his eyes, doubting his sight.

"Through my application, we can also freely transfer inside the Cultivation Room now, albeit with a few restricted destinations."

Aside from the Decision Room, also known as the Inverted Hall, and the detention areas like the Black Prison, Bologue could now navigate freely within the Order Bureau.

Bologue spoke as he stepped into the darkness. Palmer had no time for exclamations, as a hand emerged from the darkness and pulled him in.

In the dimness, an overwhelming silence squeezed Palmer’s mind. He actually disliked the Transfer Station, always feeling like he had entered another Otherworld, filled with eerie unrest.

Bologue patted Palmer’s shoulder, the intervention dispelling the silence in Palmer’s mind.

"Ha... ha..."

Palmer’s breathing grew slightly rapid. He glanced at Bologue, who pointed ahead. Not far away, a large group of people had gathered, suggesting that the two of them were the last to arrive.

"Good morning, everyone."

Bologue greeted them, his gaze sweeping quickly over the crowd.

The number of the delegation members was less than Bologue had imagined, indicating that the fourth group didn’t come out in full force, only dispatching a portion of the high-tier Condensers.

That’s to be expected. The delegation’s strength was already formidable. Adding more people would blur the line between negotiation and warfare.