Mixed Blessing System



The next day...

As another day began, signaling the halfway point of the Secret Realm event, Peters City dawned with the takeover of the Baier and Vogel properties by the Frost family!

In the dead of night the night before, Mabel and men from the Frost family invaded the headquarters of the annihilated families, taking control of these areas under observation by the Imperial Guard.

They did not invade the outpost of the local family that had attacked them but had not been exterminated because survivors had the right to keep their possessions.

Since imperial guards were near that property to protect those survivors from potential attack, House Frost could not act without getting into serious trouble.

In any case, acting against the properties left behind by the Vogel and Baier families was enough, and by the dawn of this new day, Peters City would find out about the new ruler of those areas.

Even without the officialization that they were the new lords of the lands and businesses of these two families, House Frost took everything that was to be taken from these families.

The cars of the Vogel family were already on the Frost estate for the use of its members. At the same time, letters had gone out from Peters City to all the former business allies of these two families, indicating that they should do business with Aiken from now on.

And with this move, Viktoria and Annaliese's family now had most of the food and mineral production in Linn Province, with land that practically competed with House Waldeaur.

The Duke had already discovered Mabel's actions in the dead of night, but he could do nothing about it. It didn't matter if he or others in his family would worry about this family losing relevance in the province because of this. They could do nothing, as they would both risk angering Lothur and could not act without a position from the emperor.

That was also the case for the members of the imperial guard stationed in Peters City, who was quite irritated by this bold move.

...

In the center of Peters City, the streets were full of people coming and going, with bars and restaurants, meeting and talking places, crowded with people talking about the recent news.

"Did you pass in front of the Baier property earlier today?"

"No, but I heard that the Frosts are around there..."

"Not only that, all the Baier family symbols were destroyed or burned at dawn and replaced with the symbols of House Frost!"

"Hmm, I heard that Matriarch Mabel has commanded a general cleansing of the Baier family headquarters, taking the values and titles of that nobility to the Frost headquarters."

"Soon, the Frost family will become the largest in the province!"

Comments broke out around a business establishment in that part of the city, with several people talking about it.

...

In another area of the city center, in front of the Morning Star Academy, where people followed the Secret Realm results, Annaliese had just parked her car.

After she put her feet out of that red SUV, the crowds immediately began to stare at her, some swallowing their saliva, others murmuring in low voices.

"I heard that Second Miss Frost didn't participate in the battles... It seems that this is related to that rumor about her..."

"Hey, are you crazy? Lothur is the strongest in the city! If it gets to him that you're talking about this, you're finished."

"Hmm, it's not good to talk about such things." Another person added. "In any case, her family didn't even need her help.

I heard that few Frost elders died in combat, and even then, most were supposedly traitors to the family."

"Yes, House Frost lost virtually nothing!"

"Anyway, I heard Annaliese is going to take over the business of one of these two families and Viktoria that of the other... Is that really true?" A local noblewoman asked her friends, not far from where that woman of Lothur was walking.

Another nobleman, a Duke family member, commented on this. "Probably. At her current level, she is already stronger than some local patriarchs... But, at the same time, if her relationship with Lothur is as good as they say, she'll probably get something to please him."

"Tsk! What a lucky girl!"

"Ah, I wanted to be favored by him too..."

Some envious women commented among themselves, while Annaliese didn't know what so many people were talking or thinking about her. The only thing on her mind at the moment was to see how the Secret Realm ranking situation had developed from the end of the previous afternoon to now.

She had last heard about it late the previous afternoon, having spent the rest of the time cultivating and training her techniques. So, before going to her family to see how things were developing, Annaliese stopped to observe this.

As she got close enough to see the results of the overall ranking and those of Lothur, Viktoria, and Elke individually, she stopped and analyzed the situation.

In the overall ranking, the situation was as follows:

- 1st Elke Becker: 485

- 2nd Larissa Carstensen: 369

- 3rd Viktoria Frost: 316

- 4th Constantin Leopoldine: 299

...

- 8th Lothur Ritter: 199

...

- 15th Boris Huwe: 19

The Secret Realm's overall ranking score depended on level advancement, opponents killed, spiritual fluctuations of items collected, etc. The competitors' medals could analyze everything that exhibited spiritual fluctuations and had an equivalent score.

Through this, those outside the Secret Realm could get an idea of how the youngsters within that space were doing and thereby bet on the results of this event.

She saw this and remained curious about what Lothur was trying to do, unconcerned about Viktoria and Elke.

People died within the Secret Realm, but usually, young people not far from level 16, as should be the case with them, hardly ever returned from that space. So Annaliese was relaxed about the situation of those two.

As for Lothur, she wasn't worried about his safety. Only about losing the opportunity to be in the Secret Realm and not advancing in level.

He was getting stronger. She was sure of that. But he wasn't collecting resources, something essential for anyone in that place.

'What is he doing?' She wondered as she looked at the screen that showed more detailed results from Lothur.

[Lothur Ritter] [Cultivation Level: ???]

[Status: alive] [Deaths: 896]

[Gathered items: 0]

[Explored Area: 6 square kilometers]

[Strongest adversary: Nascent Soul Transcendent Beast]

[Weakest adversary: 4th Revolution Spiritual Warrior Beast]

Meanwhile, Elke's results were quite different from Lothur's.

[Elke Becker] [Cultivation Level: 15]

[Status: alive] [Deaths: 97]

[Gathered items: 23]

[Explored Area: 32 square kilometers]

[Strongest adversary: Soul Core Transcendent Beast]

[Weakest Adversary: 3rd Revolution Spiritual Warrior Beast]

Annaliese sighed, imagining that Elke was walking the path to reach Viktoria and Lothur while he was standing somewhere, probably with a problem in his surroundings.

'I hope he fixes whatever it is quickly, or he'll miss his chance!' She sighed before turning and leaving that square to meet her parents.

Her situation with them was not the best, but she was prepared to help her family at this decisive moment!