Claire returned home alone, dragging her injured body.
That night, Claire lay in bed, replaying the day's battle, feeling that she was still not strong enough.
"I must become stronger!"
"Claire, you disappoint me greatly!"
A voice came from outside the window.
Claire recognized the voice; it was her master, who had taught her.
"Master, I am truly sorry, I was careless!" Claire said apologetically.
"I have been observing you all this time, and you have truly disappointed me!
Therefore, I intend to seal your magic!"
Xi Nuo, in the guise of a man in black, reached out and grabbed Claire's arm.
Claire watched his actions and accepted them without any resistance or regret. Her rapid increase in strength over the past few years had indeed made her overly confident. This time, it made her clearly realize that there are always people stronger than you, and there is always a higher heaven.
A special mark appeared on Claire's left shoulder.
"Nine-tenths of your magic has been sealed by me. If you can break the seal yourself, then your strength will reach a new level!"
Upon hearing this, Claire's heart swelled with joy, realizing there was still a possibility for her master-disciple relationship to turn around.
"Master, I will work hard!"
Xi Nuo disappeared.
Claire looked at the moon.
"Midgar Magic Swordsman Academy, I will become stronger there, to protect my family, Xi Nuo!"
Xi Nuo did this to prevent Claire from being too conspicuous. Currently, Claire's strength was enough to easily defeat Princess Alice.
That would easily draw the attention of The Order to Claire again.
And this seal only converted her magic for defensive purposes, and the seal would be released if she suffered severe injury... To ensure Viscount Olba successfully became one of the Knights of the Round Table, Xi Nuo made a plan for Viscount Olba.
Viscount Olba had previously led people to find Claire secretly, without reporting to The Order. He was doing it for his personal matters. Xi Nuo used this incident.
Xi Nuo, in conjunction with Alpha, disguised it as Viscount Olba discovering a Shadow Garden stronghold and then launching an attack on it.
In the end, he was the only one left alive, but he managed to retrieve some laboratory data.
Because Shadow Garden had been attacking The Order in the shadows of the Midgar Kingdom, Fenrir, the Fifth Seat of the Knights of the Round Table, was extremely angry.
The Midgar Kingdom was essentially Fenrir's territory, and such things were happening on his turf, yet he couldn't even catch a trace of the culprits.
This left him with a belly full of anger with nowhere to vent.
Although none of them were particularly large bases, their sheer number was still very annoying to him.
Recently, Fenrir had also heard that the Tenth Seat had died at the hands of Shadow Garden.
This news was good news for him.
The Order itself was not united; the Knights of the Round Table only appeared to be non-hostile on the surface, but secretly, they often sabotaged each other.
Just then, a subordinate came to report that a Midgar Kingdom The Order cadre had returned, claiming to have important intelligence.
Fenrir met with Viscount Olba.
Viscount Olba recounted everything.
The gist of it was that he had discovered a Shadow Garden base and, finding a good opportunity, ambushed them, but the enemy was too strong, and all his subordinates were killed.
However, he also brought good news.
The Tenth Seat of the Knights of the Round Table's main research base contained a large amount of important data, which had been attacked by Shadow Garden and taken back to their base. When he ambushed Shadow Garden, he managed to snatch that data back.
Fenrir summoned professional researchers to compare the data.
"Reporting to Lord Fenrir, this data is real, and some of it is very important to our research institute!" the researcher replied after examining it.
"You may leave!"
"Yes!"
Fenrir looked at Viscount Olba.
"Olba, you've done very well. Keep up the good work. If you can become even more outstanding, I will recommend you for the next opening among the Knights of the Round Table!"
"Thank you very much, Lord Fenrir!"
"You may withdraw!"
"As you command!"
Viscount Olba left Fenrir's residence and informed Xi Nuo of all the intelligence.
Xi Nuo felt that Viscount Olba's strength was still a bit weak.
To make it easier for him to become one of the Knights of the Round Table, Xi Nuo found Xi De, a convenient tool, to teach Olba how to fight.
Xi Nuo himself was unwilling to teach a grown man; he preferred Xi De to handle such matters.
Upon meeting Xi De, Xi De immediately responded to Xi Nuo's request without hesitation.
"I refuse!"
"One hundred million Zeny!"
Hearing one hundred million Zeny, Xi De immediately changed his mind.
"As a companion to the Eminence in Shadow, I will certainly fulfill your request!"
"When will I get that one hundred million Zeny!"
"In one month. For the next month, you must put him through hellish training every day!"
"No problem!"
Xi Nuo contacted Viscount Olba.
Viscount Olba found an independent training ground within his territory and waited alone every night for Xi De to appear.
Xi De trained Viscount Olba every day with the strictest training methods.
Viscount Olba's strength was also improving by leaps and bounds... With nothing to do, Xi Nuo went to Mitsugoshi Company. Mitsugoshi Company had opened a super-large shopping mall in Viscount Olba's territory.
This was all thanks to Viscount Olba's efforts behind the scenes, combined with Gamma's intelligence.
With the help of the lord, most problems in opening a shopping mall could be easily solved.
Gamma now had both people and money. Under Xi Nuo's guidance, Eta had invented various foods like hamburgers, French fries, coffee, cola, and Sprite, as well as other miscellaneous items.
Mitsugoshi Company was making money faster than robbing banks, and banks also appeared as a result.
Merchants in Viscount Olba's territory all came begging Mitsugoshi Company for cooperation; otherwise, they would be driven out of business by Mitsugoshi Company.
Mitsugoshi Company, in conjunction with its smaller affiliated companies, built a large commercial street in Viscount Olba's territory.
The appearance of the commercial street also boosted the economy of Viscount Olba's territory.
"As soon as Xi Nuo arrived at the entrance of Mitsugoshi Company, Gamma appeared!"
Gamma now had strong control over magic, and sensing Xi Nuo's arrival, she immediately went downstairs to greet him.
Gamma was very excited to see Xi Nuo and ran over, but suddenly lost her footing. She was about to fall but managed to stabilize herself.
It was Gamma's Magic Hand. Gamma could now control two Magic Hands.
She hadn't fallen in a long time.
"Mr. Xi Nuo, please follow me!"
Gamma said.
People came and went in the mall, and no one noticed what was happening here.
Not everyone knew Gamma, the owner of the mall; only important figures had the privilege of knowing Gamma.
Xi Nuo looked at everything in the mall; it was completely copied according to the mall operating model he had described.
"Indeed, everything is difficult at the beginning, but with a large amount of startup capital, everything becomes much simpler! However, this also wouldn't be possible without your efforts, Gamma!" Xi Nuo said.
"This is all thanks to the wisdom of Lord Shadow. I merely followed Lord Shadow's instructions!"
"There's no need to be modest, Gamma, you are actually very smart!"
"My intelligence is less than one ten-thousandth of Lord Shadow's!"
"Excessive modesty is unnecessary!"
Xi Nuo reached out and touched Gamma's head, giving her a light tap.
Gamma now looked quite mature and steady.
The surrounding Shadow Garden members watched in shock.
In their eyes, Gamma was a formidable adult, decisive, efficient, with a beautiful appearance and a super-intelligent brain.
Even Viscount Olba was deferential to Gamma.
But Gamma, next to this seemingly young, ordinary-looking child, became like a child herself, even getting her head tapped by him.
Most people did not know that this young man was their Lord Shadow.
They all wanted to say something, but seeing that Gamma didn't mind him tapping her head at all, they sensibly kept their mouths shut.
Xi Nuo took the elevator to the top floor.
The elevator was magic-powered, an invention of Eta. It could be activated by injecting a small amount of magic into the elevator's control device.
On the top floor, there was a small, independent house with a very luxurious throne inside.
Two rows of Mitsugoshi Company service staff stood around, filling the space.
They were the staff on rotation, who had just been resting, but because Xi Nuo arrived, they were all forced to return to their posts.
Gamma led Xi Nuo to the throne.
"Lord Shadow, do you have any instructions for your visit this time?"
"I need funds!"
"Clap! Clap!"
Gamma clapped her hands.
A Mitsugoshi Company service staff member pushed over a large cart full of gold coins.
"This is the liquid capital that Mitsugoshi Company can freely use right now, totaling two billion Zeny!"
"Real estate assets are approximately 30 billion Zeny! Including merchandise assets and other funds, Mitsugoshi Company's market value is roughly 100 billion Zeny!"
"Lord Shadow, is two billion Zeny enough?"
"You must make more money than robbing a bank!"
"Lord Shadow, you jest. We opened the bank, so you can rob it whenever you wish!"
"I'll take two hundred million Zeny. You can use the rest of the funds to circulate and make more money!"
"As you command!"
Xi Nuo extended his magic, enveloping two hundred million Zeny. One hundred million for Xi De, and one hundred million for himself.
Having spent a lot recently, Xi Nuo's personal stash was running low.
"Gamma, I want to explore your mall. Please arrange a guide for me..."
"Please allow me to be your guide!"
"Alright!"