Golden Rock Province, Shining City.
As the central city of the barony, Shining City is actually more prosperous than many viscounty capitals.
Among the seven baronies in Golden Rock Province, the Shining Territory of the Yanest Clan indisputably ranks first.
In terms of both territory and economic power, it is little inferior to the viscounties.
Unfortunately, this also attracted the covetous eyes of big figures, causing the baron's position to easily transfer to another.
Inner castle, bedroom.
After dressing with the help of a pretty young maid, Owen Yanest then walked into the dining room. Just as he sat down to sip a warm glass of milk, the secretary hurriedly entered.
"My lord." The secretary bowed in greeting.
Owen nodded, saying, "You look like you're in a hurry, is there something urgent?"
"There are a few matters to report to you, my lord."
"Speak."
Owen was concise, not pausing his elegant dining gestures.
Since 'inheriting' the baron's position, he had become more attentive to noble etiquette, striving to integrate into the circle of noble lords.
And thanks to his efforts, more importantly with the support of Marquis Golden Rock, many noble lords have shown him goodwill.
With time, his standing in the circle of noble lords will only become more secure.
Once everything is stable, it will be time to eliminate all potential threats at ease.
"Lord Zolf has sent a message, clearly stating he will attend this year's Harvest Celebration in Shining City," the secretary said.
Upon hearing this, Owen paused slightly, a knowing smile appearing on his somewhat chubby face.
"It seems Zolf has finally understood the situation. Good. What about Norwood and Davin?"
"They haven't agreed yet, but neither have they refused explicitly. They're likely still observing the situation."
Owen's eyes flashed with contempt: "Observing... humph, do they think those two young ones can return to Shining City? Ridiculous notion."
The secretary fawningly smiled, "You are absolutely right, my lord. It's only a matter of time before these lords recognize that you're the true master of the Shining Territory!"
'The true master of Shining Territory.'
This title softened Owen's expression, lifting his spirits immensely.
"By the way, what have those two nephews of mine been up to recently?"
The secretary hesitated, then said, "I heard they're planning to restart the Black Stone Mine."
"Black Stone Mine?" Owen slightly furrowed his brows.
He had heard about the events of Black Stone City back in the day and naturally knew the situation of Black Stone Mine, which caused him to exhibit a puzzled expression.
"Do they have a way to deal with the creatures in the mine?"
"I'm not quite sure about that either." The secretary looked at Owen cautiously, explaining, "Black Stone City has sealed off the mine, so my people can't ascertain the specific situation there."
Seeing Owen frown, he hastily added, "Don't worry, my lord. If they really restart Black Stone Mine, my people will definitely get the news."
Owen thought this made sense and did not dwell on it, instead asking, "Is there anything else?"
The secretary promptly replied, "One more thing, just yesterday, Count Storm was heavily injured in an attack by the Starfire Sect while hunting, and now Storm Territory is in complete chaos."
Clang!
The crisp sound of knife and fork hitting a porcelain plate rang out.
Upon hearing this news, all of Owen's previous elegance vanished. He put down the cutlery and stood up with a solemn expression, asking, "Seriously injured? How severe?"
The secretary hesitated, "He's been unconscious for a day and a night, and hasn't woken up yet."
Owen's expression shifted.
It seems Count Storm's condition does not bode well.
Owen sat back down, his face changing indecisively.
He did not care about Count Storm's life or death; what concerned him more were the subsequent effects of this event.
Count Storm is one of the two most influential counts in Golden Rock Province, second only to Marquis Golden Rock.
Unlike Count Frost, who is close to Marquis Golden Rock, Count Storm has always been distant, even to the point of indifference.
To Marquis Golden Rock, who seeks to control the entire Golden Rock Province, Count Storm's existence is quite an eyesore.
Perhaps others are unaware, but Owen knows that Marquis Golden Rock's relationship with the Starfire Sect is not straightforward.
Back then, with the help of the Starfire Sect, Owen was able to seize the Shining Baron's position.
Behind the incident of Count Storm's attack, there might be the shadow of Marquis Golden Rock...
After a moment of silence, Owen said, "Continue to monitor the situation in Storm Territory, and report any intelligence immediately... Also, have Farid take people to patrol the borders of Norwood and Davin's territories, using bandit suppression as an excuse."
The Golden Rock Province is becoming increasingly turbulent, and Owen no longer plans to wait.
He needs to fully control the Shining Territory as soon as possible.
If Norwood and Davin still fail to recognize the situation, they will only have themselves to blame if he uses other means!
...
As time passed, it was now the Month of Renewal (March).
It had been over ten days since the discovery of Anger MacLaine's laboratory.
Kei sold the Black Stone Iron from the warehouse through a secret channel, obtaining nearly seven thousand Gold Coins.
Aside from keeping some to purchase military equipment and improve the territory, the rest was entirely invested into the reconstruction of Black Stone Mine.
Everything was progressing in a well-organized manner.
Sunan wasn't concerned about these matters.
After returning to Black Stone City, he, as usual, devoted himself entirely to studying and practicing, paying little attention to outside affairs.
After reading the books brought back from the laboratory, Sunan successfully triggered the progress bar for learning [Puppet Refining].
Compared to Biological Transformation and potion-making, Puppet Refining had a wider scope and a higher threshold.
This skill not only included enchantment knowledge but also covered parts of Biological Transformation and magic item crafting fields.
Thus, the learning progress for Puppet Refining was slower to improve.
Even with the bonus from a Sub-Grade Active Potion, after more than ten days, the learning progress had only surpassed 10%.
Sunan estimated it would take until the Month of Flowfire (July) to fully master the Puppet Refining skill.
On the other hand, meditation practice was going quite smoothly.
Upon returning from Black Stone Mine, Sunan immediately used a synthetic cube to blend three pieces of Spirit-Storage Grass.
[Star-Patterned Spirit-Storage Grass, purity 15.33%, upon ingestion can greatly increase spiritual power. The specific effect depends on the user's spiritual power; the higher the spiritual power, the weaker the effect. It has no effect if spiritual power is 20 or above (inclusive).]
As expected, the Star-Patterned Spirit-Storage Grass synthesized by the cube was stronger than just the sum of the three pieces of Spirit-Storage Grass.
After consuming the Star-Patterned Spirit-Storage Grass, Sunan's spiritual power surged by 1.87.
Almost equivalent to two months of meditation results.
Thanks to this, his spiritual power soared directly to 5.77.
The benefit of this surge in spiritual power was a faster growth in the proficiency of the Star Ring Meditation Method.
Meditation increases spiritual power, and the increase in spiritual power in turn speeds up meditation efficiency.
The two naturally complement each other.
Now, Sunan's daily meditation could increase the proficiency of the Star Ring Meditation Method by about 10 to 12 points.
At this rate, within seven or eight months at most, he should be able to construct the second star ring.
"But actually, it can be even faster."
"The financial pressure in Black Stone City is not so great now, so more Gold Coins could be spent on materials to make Sub-Grade Active Potions, and then I can use the cube to synthesize better potions."
"This way, the efficiency of meditation can be improved even further."