One-Eyed Monster

Outside Lord Bern’s attic, Edmirs and his few small followers suddenly collapsed without any warning, these Circus elites just perished.

These elites vanished until the end without understanding exactly what force had crushed them.

Especially Edmirs, who had just taken over the entire Circus, hadn’t even adapted to the new situation before fading away, which is truly a pity.

Yet inside the attic, Lord Bern didn’t show much regret. To him, these subordinates were just rubbish; he didn’t care for them at all. Now there was even a hint of a mocking smile on his face, as if the demise of these subordinates was entirely within his expectation.

"Trash should play its role as trash!" Lord Bern slowly stood up from the recliner, still holding a fragment.

He opened his hand, letting that fragment slip from his palm to the ground.

Crackling, the fragment resonated momentarily with its companions on the ground.

Lord Bern then took out a small transparent sphere from his pocket, playing with it, his eyes full of reluctance and affection. Yet in an instant, his gaze turned sharp, and his withered hand squeezed the sphere, crushing it to pieces.

"What should come will eventually come, and what should go will eventually go. I never thought I would have to personally try such power."

Lord Bern murmured to himself, the memories of many years past surfacing in his mind.

At that time, he was over fifty years old, supposedly a time to retire and enjoy his golden years.

Yet he was extremely anxious, so anxious that he couldn’t sleep well each day.

His children were very worried about his health, relying on their accumulated, seemingly endless gold coins to find various Wizards and Scholars to check on his health condition.

After checking, the Wizards and Scholars always brought optimistic results about his health, but he remained anxious.

He was worried about death’s return.

Though he always emphasized that one brings nothing when born and takes nothing when deceased, the truth was that he cared too much about what he had.

He knew he was a hypocritical person who couldn’t bear to part with all he had.

He was afraid of losing, afraid that one day someone else would sit on his recliner, afraid that one day someone else would enjoy his residence.

He fiercely guarded his wealth at that time, refusing to give even a penny to his children.

His wealth was already enough to rival the entire Empire, yet he was still unsatisfied.

He wished to guard his wealth forever.

After this thought arose, Bern’s anxiety somewhat eased, his wealth was enough to pursue such things, but by then he was already an old man, and many times his body could not keep up with his mind. And he didn’t trust others enough, not even his children...

Such anxiety arose once more in him.

Being as wealthy as a nation, he naturally didn’t lack visitors; he had seen all kinds of fraudsters, all kinds of lowlifes.

But one day, a visitor made him vigilant.

The visitor was dressed in a black robe, claiming to be a Wizard, but Lord Bern saw the shadow of the reaper in that guy.

Black robe, black hood, black mask...

The guy was all dressed in black, to the point where Lord Bern felt even his speech was black.

The guy told Lord Bern that he was a Soul Guardian.

Soul Guardians, Bern knew, were organizations formed by some ancient Adventurers with Class clans to guard secrets. Their task was to protect the secrets within the ancient clans’ tombs.

The guy also told him that as a Soul Guardian, they knew many ancient secrets, one of which was the power to transcend life and death.

To Bern, this guy was clearly a reaper, so when he spoke of the power to transcend life and death, he didn’t hesitate to believe it.

That unique feeling, Lord Bern still remembers.

It was precisely because of that meeting that he acquired a magical power, one that allowed him, near the age of ninety, to walk without a cane.

This power rejuvenated him, finally letting him taste the chance of immortality.

The reaper also told him that everything here follows Equivalent Exchange; if he truly wanted to obtain the power to transcend life and death, he had to offer something equivalent in exchange.

At that moment, Lord Bern’s eyes gleamed; he was willing to exchange everything he had for the chance of eternal life.

As long as he could live, he could create more gold coins.

So the black-robed reaper gave him a transparent sphere.

The reaper told him that this item was a Spirit Core, and the more Spirit Cores he collected, the closer he could get to the power to transcend life and death. With it, he could sustain his life indefinitely.

Lord Bern asked how to use this item, wondering if he should swallow it directly?

The reaper laughed coldly and told him that ingesting it wouldn’t grant him power; only by crushing this sphere would the power of the Spirit Core be released.

This power would occupy his body, allowing him to persist endlessly...

At that time, Lord Bern wanted to shatter the sphere...

The reaper stopped him, saying it wasn’t the time yet. Without enough Spirit Cores, the power of this Spirit Core would only devour his body, turning it into something else, resulting in the opposite outcome.

The reaper also told him that the Spirit Core contained life energy; immortality involves continually seizing the energy of others for one’s own use.

If he wanted to achieve true immortality, he must collect Spirit Cores, various kinds of Spirit Cores.

Lord Bern thought it was an impossible task because he wasn’t even an Adventurer with Class, how could he obtain more Spirit Cores?

The reaper told him, "Your gold coins can sway some Adventurers with Class, and this Spirit Core will also assist you."

Lord Bern knew there was no free lunch and wanted to know what the price was.

The reaper chuckled and told him that as long as he collected the Spirit Cores in time, he would be able to continue to exist. But if he failed to collect the Spirit Cores, then the reaper could take his life away at any moment.

This was an exchange he couldn’t refuse.

For Lord Bern, immortality was the ultimate goal.

To obtain this power, he became a worker for the reaper.

Collecting Spirit Cores became his job.

His wealth helped him a lot, and the Spirit Core given by the reaper continuously provided him with various plans.

Over the years, Lord Bern’s mercenary army spread across the entire continent, and the Spirit Cores he collected were countless.

Lord Bern vividly remembers that time; his empire has been built to its current extent over nearly forty years. The Spirit Cores collected during this time have been entirely delivered to the destination specified by the reaper.

Lord Bern had always been a loyal executor; in order to achieve immortality, he became a slave to that reaper.