Chapter 218: Bloom Estate
Silas was fully aware that with his massive stockpile of Upgrade Points, he could easily push these spells to Tier 4 and above.
But honestly, he had done the math.
He had a massive pool of mana thanks to his core, but Tier 4 spells were mana wasters.
Sure, they packed catastrophic destructive punches, but they completely drained stamina for very little efficiency in a drawn-out dungeon crawl.
He would maintain his spells at a efficient lethal Tier 3 for now and mix it up with some Tier 4s.
Silas looked down at his calloused hands.
’And I also need to increase the ranks of the girls today...’ Silas thought, his Warlord ambition burning fiercely. ’I need to push Tasmin, Brida and the rest of their ranks to S-Rank. The higher their ranks, the faster they can level up in the field, and probably their classes would uniquely evolve as well.’
Silas currently possessed exactly 4400 UP. He was most definitely going to test out the limits of the Absolute Upgrade System today.
For now, he kept the scrolls back inside the heavy metallic box, sealing the lid tight.
"Alright," Silas announced, picking up the box and turning to the two women. "I will be heading back to my territory right now... I have a lot of administrative and magical work to process. I will most probably be gone for several days so keep the estate locked down, and keep yourselves safe."
He reached into the pocket of his sweatpants, pulling out a sleek black key card stamped with the Zenith IVR logo.
He tossed it onto the table in front of the maid.
"Martha," Silas instructed her. "That is the access card for the new transport parked in the garage. You have my full authorization to drive it wherever you need to go for groceries or errands, as long as you do not crash it."
Martha stared at the matte-black key card as if it were a live grenade.
"M-Master Silas!" Martha gasped, aggressively waving her hands in rejection. "I absolutely cannot accept this! That vehicle is a Supercar! I am just a humble maid! I could never pilot such a majestic machine! I will take the bus!"
"You are the maid of my house," Silas told her, his tone completely uncompromising. "You do not take the public bus, you’ll drive the car. Do it."
Martha gulped loudly, her hands trembling as she slowly, reverently picked up the key card.
She bowed her head deeply. "Y-Yes, My Lord! I understand!"
She quickly tucked the card into her apron and then rapidly rushed into the adjacent sprawling kitchen.
She returned a moment later, holding a beautifully wrapped, incredibly large bento box.
"I packed you a hot lunch for your journey, Master Silas!" Martha announced proudly, holding it out to him.
Her face flushed slightly with embarrassment. "Though I know my humble Earth-based cooking might not be nearly as incredibly good or magically enriching as what the women in your territory cook... I sincerely hope you enjoy it."
Silas looked at the lunchbox.
His heart actually softened.
It had been years since someone had just... made him lunch without wanting a favor in return.
’On Earth at least.’ Silas thought.
He reached out, taking the warm lunchbox with his left hand and then, his right hand moved on its own.
Without a single second of conscious thought, Silas reached forward and affectionately patted Martha directly on the top of her head.
Pat! Pat!
Silas completely froze.
’Fuck,’ Silas cursed violently in his thoughts. ’I did it completely out of reflex... I shouldn’t pat an older woman’s hea—’
"Oh my!" Martha gasped.
The middle-aged maid instantly blushed a furious deep shade of crimson.
She brought her hands up to her cheeks, looking up at the towering shirtless Warlord with an expression of overwhelmed delight.
"I am so incredibly glad you would bestow such an honor on me, Master Silas!" Martha squeaked, bowing repeatedly.
Lia sat at the dining table with her jaw hanging open, looking between her brother and the blushing maid.
She burst into a fit of hysterical giggles, completely unable to contain herself.
"Have a good trip, Big Brother!" Lia teased him mercilessly, waving her pen. "Don’t forget to pat your terrifying monsters when you get there!"
"I’m leaving," Silas grumbled, his face flushing red as he turned around and practically fled the dining room.
He took the metallic box of scrolls as well as the packed lunch and headed straight upstairs.
As he ascended the grand staircase, he swiped his hand through the air, completely dropping both items directly into his digital Lord Inventory.
Once he got to his sprawling master bedroom, he quickly stepped inside and closed the heavy oak door firmly behind him, engaging the lock.
He walked over and laid back heavily onto the plush mattress of his bed.
He was currently completely shirtless, wearing just the gray sweatpants, but he knew that once he got back to the Blessed Land barracks, he would probably just wear one of the comfortable magic-woven shirts Eluned had personally crafted for him.
Silas closed his eyes, centering his breathing.
He raised his hand and pulled up the glowing blue holographic system tab in front of his face.
He clicked the [Descend] command.
Instantly, the entire world became pitch dark.
The ambient noise of the Valoria city traffic completely vanished as Silas disappeared entirely from the physical plane of the living, his body dissolving into white light as he was violently, instantly pulled across the cosmic void and back into the Sovereign Realm.
...
Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away, in fact across the continent from the gleaming skyscrapers of Valoria.
In the sprawling bounds of Terres City.
A massive heavy-duty golden transport vehicle pulled smoothly up to the curb directly in front of the towering and imposing obsidian-and-crimson iron gates of the Bloom Clan Estate.
This was the ancestral seat of power where Seraphina was from.
She was Seraphina Bloom of the Bloom Clan.
Valerius Sterling engaged the parking brake with the transport humming to a halt.
He turned his head, looking at the fiery crimson-haired noblewoman sitting silently in the passenger seat beside him.
She looked completely exhausted with her armor shattered.
"Seraph," Valerius asked quietly. "Is the promise still active?"
She knew exactly what he was asking.
She had fiercely promised Valerius that she would not do anything drastic or politically lethal to Silas Graves.
But she still had to face her family.
She still had to tell her intensely powerful Father exactly what had happened in the dungeon, and why half the Lords were dead.
Seraphina slowly nodded, her red eyes staring out at the massive gates of her home.
"Yes," Seraphina confirmed softly.
She turned to look at the blonde Lord, her expression filled with genuine uncharacteristic gratitude. "Val... thank you. For getting me out of there."
Valerius offered a small, respectful nod.
Seraphina pushed the heavy transport door open and gracefully got out of the car.
Valerius didn’t linger.
He immediately shifted the heavy transport back into drive and smoothly drove off down the wide avenue, heading straight back to his own family’s sprawling estate in the neighboring district.
Seraphina turned and walked through the massive obsidian gates, completely entering the Bloom Estate.
The aesthetic of the place was overwhelming.
The air itself was noticeably hotter here, heavy with the scent of sulfur, burning wood, and sweat.
Massive crimson banners bearing the blazing sun crest of the Bloom family hung from the high stone walls.
As she walked up the grand central pathway, the booming sounds of martial discipline echoed through the air.
"HA! HA! HA!"
Hundreds of people, dressed in uniform red martial arts gis, were actively practicing fierce and aggressive combat forms in the wide, sprawling training courtyard to her left.
With every single synchronized punch and kick they threw, massive, concussive bursts of highly pressurized fire aggressively erupted from their knuckles and boots, scorching the training dummies.
They were the lower ranks of the Bloom Clan... the bastards, the branch families, and the elite retainers.
And soon, Seraphina would need to officially choose a right hand from among them to be her permanent sworn servant.
As she passed the courtyard, the lead Instructor caught sight of her ruined armor.
"Lady Seraphina!" the Instructor barked, instantly dropping his stance and bowing deeply.
The entire courtyard of hundreds of martial artists instantly froze, turning toward her and dropping into identical, ninety-degree bows of absolute submission.
Usually, Seraphina would simply ignore them, maintaining the cold impossibly strict untouchable persona of the elite Fire Lord.
But today, she was exhausted.
’I have seen the power of a God and compared to that...’
Seraphina was nothing so she stopped walking.
She looked at the hundreds of bowing lower ranks, and she gently, warmly waved her hand at them in greeting.
The entire courtyard completely lost their minds.
Every single martial artist, including the hardened men and the fierce women, instantly became incredibly flustered.
Their faces flushed red, their perfect formations breaking as they stared in shock.
Lady Seraphina was usually so incredibly strict! Why was she waving?!
Seraphina continued walking up the wide stone steps and entered the massive ornate main double doors of the ancestral mansion.
A squad of a dozen perfectly synchronized trained maids welcomed her to the front of the estate.
Within seconds, they were actively, gently stripping away her ruined, soot-covered armor, unbuckling the shattered leather straps, and unwinding the burnt fabric.
They quickly wrapped her bruised, exhausted body in a thick, incredibly comfortable expensive silk fabric robe.
Two maids knelt down and gently took off her heavy, melted combat boots.
Another senior maid stepped forward, holding her hands out.
"Let cleansing winds wash away the worldly ash..." the maid chanted perfectly with the seven-word incantation rolling off her tongue with practiced ease.
FWOOSH.
A gentle gust of concentrated, purifying green wind magic completely washed over Seraphina’s body.
The spell instantly stripped away every single speck of dirt, dried blood, and subterranean ash from her skin and hair, leaving her feeling perfectly clean and refreshed.
"Where are my Mother and Father?" Seraphina asked, tying the silk robe securely around her waist.
"They are currently receiving reports in the primary study, My Lady," the head maid answered instantly, bowing low.
Seraphina nodded.
She passed the squad of maids and began walking deep through the winding, incredibly luxurious fire-lit halls of the ancestral mansion, quietly admiring the massive portraits and ancient weaponry hung on the walls.
As she walked, she passed by a large, open-air indoor training room.
Inside, her younger sister was furiously practicing sword forms against a heavily reinforced wooden dummy.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
The young girl was sweating profusely with her wooden practice blade turning into a blur of motion but there was no fire.
There was no glowing aura either since her younger sister hadn’t awakened yet.
She was normal.
Unlike Seraphina, who had awakened her Lord Core and bonded with a Primordial Spirit when she was only five years old which was a testament to her terrifying once-in-a-generation talent...
Her sister was struggling just to manifest a single spark.
"I want to be as strong as her!" her younger sister was screaming in frustration, violently hacking at the wooden dummy with tears in her eyes. "I want to be as strong as Big Sis!"
Suddenly, the little sister paused. She sensed someone looking at her as she whipped her head around, looking directly at the open doorway, panting heavily but she saw nobody.
On the outside of the training room, hiding in the dark hallway, Seraphina had completely pressed herself flat against the cold stone wall, holding her breath.
Her red eyes were wide with a pang of guilt twisting in her chest.
’I am the last person she wants to see right now,’ Seraphina thought bitterly, knowing her presence only highlighted her sister’s failure to awaken so she silently slipped away from the door, continuing down the hall.
A few minutes later, she finally arrived at the massive solid mahogany doors of the primary Study.
Seraphina took a deep breath, steeling her nerves, and pushed the doors open.
She entered the massive, luxurious room, prepared for a serious high-level political debriefing.
Instead, she was greeted by humiliation.
Sitting in the center of the room was her Father.
He was an incredibly powerful, internationally feared Magistrate of the World Council as he possessed a terrifying aura that could crush buildings.
But right now, he was currently on his hands and knees, acting exactly like a submissive human chair.
Sitting incredibly comfortably directly on his broad back was her Mother.
The Matriarch of the Bloom Clan was a stunning and terrifyingly dominant woman with flowing crimson hair.
She was casually lounging on her husband’s back, eating sweet delicacies from a silver tray.
As Seraphina walked in, her Mother violently shoved her sticky fingers directly into her Father’s face, completely degrading him as he eagerly licked the sugar off her fingertips like an obedient dog.
Seraphina didn’t even blink.
This was exactly what she was used to.