Mixed Blessing System

Upon hearing the provocative question from that blonde woman, Lothur immediately looked at the statuses of those two. And with that, he soon realized that Nora was at level 8, and Caroline was already a 9th Transformation cultivator, the maximum level of the 1st stage.

[Name: Caroline Waldauer]

[Cultivation: level 9]

[STR: 38.7] [CON: 42] [DEX: 41] [AGI: 39.9]

'Wow!'

'This woman is the strongest I've ever managed to see the attributes of!'

'So that's the 1st stage limit?' Lothur watched Caroline's thin, beautiful face intently, drawing that woman's attention.

She then winked at Lothur, smiling graciously, while listening to the almost irritated Annaliese's response.

"Tsk!"

"Don't talk nonsense. He is my brother-in-law, Lothur."

"Oh?" The two beauties walking side by side with Lothur and Annaliese made the same sound of surprise, looking at that fellow as they frowned.

Both knew of the rumors going around Peters City that Viktoria had married a good-for-nothing guy who had nothing else besides looks. However, neither of them had ever seen Lothur, nor could they even associate that man who exuded a formidable aura with the good-for-nothing.

Thus, both were surprised to find out who that man was.

"Sigh..."

"That's a real pity," Nora said in a low voice, but not low enough for Annaliese not to hear her.

"A pity for what? Can you tell me that, Nora?" Annaliese asked with an irritated tone, looking thoughtfully at that redheaded woman.

Nora then looked for a moment into Lothur's silver eyes and smiled. "It's nothing. It's just a pity that he's already engaged, hehe..."

As she covered her mouth with one of her hands, Nora could not help but think of the waste in front of her. 'Ah, how can someone like that not have talent? This world is bizarre...'

'Well, I wonder why Viktoria is with someone like him? Is it just because of his looks? I don't believe it...'

While Nora was letting her curiosity run wild, Caroline was also thinking about Lothur. 'But that look of his... I can't tell, but I feel like I've seen him somewhere before. I wonder if I've met any of his relatives?'

Unfortunately, apart from the slight sense of familiarity with Lothur, Caroline could not get any answer to her question. As the daughter of the provincial leader, she had seen so many people, nobles, criminals, merchants, etc. So, it was not easy for her to remember the origin of that feeling.

After a few moments of silence, Lothur formally introduced himself to those women as they finally arrived in the entrance hall of that auction house.

There were already a dozen people chatting around the area, many with drinks in their hands. Meanwhile, a festive atmosphere was in the air, as if this was a reunion place for many old acquaintances.

But in fact, this place could be considered a reunion one. After all, this was the province's main city and the most famous auction nearby. Consequently, whenever there were valuable items to be auctioned, many old people already thought to be dead or missing would appear at this place.

Of course, not all of them liked to expose themselves and went straight to their VIP rooms. That could easily be seen as not even half of the capacity of the place was filled, even though there were only 20 minutes left before the start of the event.

After arriving at that place, Lothur and those three ladies soon had crystal goblets in their hands, chatting while waiting for the auction to start.

"So you joined the academy, huh?" Nora was surprised to discover such information since that institution was especially strict about new students.

"Hmmm." Lothur nodded at her, looking into her beautiful eyes. "That place isn't bad. I've met a lot of interesting things there, and I should be moving up from Sector soon."

"Really?" Caroline looked quizzically at Lothur, already thinking of a subject important to any student in that organization. "Annaliese, do you intend to take him into your faction? Without it, I don't think he'll be able to move up from Sector-3 to 4 in the future."

"Faction?" Lothur said in surprise, not understanding what they were talking about.

Annaliese then turned to him and explained. "Lothur, any student can start their own faction at the Morning Star Academy. As for why doing that, well, that's simply because, without support, no one can develop in the academy."

The factions of the Morning Star Academy were like small student organizations, which, depending on their influence, could have certain privileges in that institution.

An example of these privileges was the high-level missions.

Most people in the cultivation world could not cultivate, or they were just low-level cultivators. Because of this, the demand for low-level services was extremely high, as evidenced by the fact that even Lothur, who should not be able to cultivate, was able to accept missions.

Hence, low-level students like Lothur did not feel the most significant effects of the competition that existed between cultivators. Consequently, there was no need for him to be in a faction at the moment, so neither he nor Elke had spoken about it until then.

But that was not sustainable in the long run!

The number of high-level cultivators decreased more and more as one looked at the top of the cultivation ranks.

That was behind the existence of a smaller number of missions for more powerful students, creating more competition for these quests. That was the main point behind the factions!

To bring people with affinities and power together and then use their joint influence to gain ownership of those missions. That way, the members of a faction could grow faster within the academy, something useful for their status and personal power!

And so, at a certain point in a student's journey in that academy, such a person would need to join a faction, or one might not even be able to graduate.

Annaliese continued. "In any case, you don't need to worry about joining a faction until you reach Sector-3. Until then, you can develop without much help."

"On the other hand, no faction would accept a student from Sector-2 or below, so you don't have to stress about it now."

"Really?"

"Hmm, when you want to create your faction, talk to me, and I will help you." His sister-in-law commented, already thinking that was his goal.

After all, if he wanted to keep his strength secret, this would be the best option.

"Create your faction?" Nora asked with interest. But as she thought about his situation, she soon understood that there was no other alternative for Lothur.

Caroline then surprised her friend. "If you want, I can arrange a space in my faction for you, Lothur."

"What?" Annaliese and Nora looked at that blonde in amazement.

Caroline belonged to one of the three most influential factions of the Morning Star Academy, of which Nora was also a member too.

"Well, I appreciate the offer. I'll consider it, and I'll join the most suitable faction when the time comes." Lothur said with a smile on his face.

He genuinely wanted to hide his strength. But that could certainly be done in a faction where he would not have to have a lot of responsibilities for being the leader or anything like that.

Lothur understood that being a member of a family, sect, academy, or faction limited a cultivator's possibilities and power to act. But such limitation came with fewer responsibilities, something he greatly appreciated.

Lothur did not like the idea of becoming a leader or anything like that, and as such, starting his faction went entirely against his ideal of staying away from significant responsibilities.

And as much as joining a faction had the potential to go against another of his goals, he knew it could be circumvented.

In his vision, as long as he was strong and skilled enough, he would not only achieve freedom but also keep his strength a secret from most of the members of the faction he joined.

That was what made Caroline's offer so interesting!

That blonde smiled, finding it interesting that he had not turned her down as she had expected.

"Lothur!" Annaliese pinched his right hand, calling him in a low voice. She then looked at those two and said. "Well, let's say goodbye for now. The auction is about to start, and I want to find our place while there's still time..."

"Oh? Hehe, see you later."

"See you."

After that, Annaliese pulled Lothur by one of his arms, heading toward the flight of stairs on one side of that luxurious hall.

"Lothur, what are you thinking? Why didn't you refuse her? Now that you've said that, I'm sure she'll harass you into joining her damned faction!" She said in a slightly annoyed tone, but without drawing attention to the people walking by.

"Besides, I thought you wanted to keep a low profile, didn't you?"

Hearing that, Lothur smiled, thinking that his sister-in-law looked even more beautiful when she was irritated. "About that..."