Chapter 233: Money

"Mhm? So, this book is a kind of introductory book for Ardagan. There are only three main points in this book. The first is Ardagan is a living spirit and it chooses its owner by fate, not qualification. However, because of the pact between the ancestor and Ardagan, only those with Ardagan blood can become its owner.

"Secondly, according to this book, Ardagan has a few main features. I have experienced how highly interactive he is from all those system notifications. It's quite handy and powerful, considering Ardagan has the power to see a glimpse of the future like how he can suddenly give me a mission.

"Anyway, the other main feature is the knowledge embedded into Ardagan. From my understanding, Rune and Ardagan Swordsmanship are included in this knowledge and other skills that I can learn with Skill Points... He can transfer the knowledge he has, so the more knowledge I give him, the more he can pass down for the future generations. This is so powerful but maybe that's why Ardagan didn't have an owner this whole time.

"Either way, everything I have seen right now is going to be useful someday. I might not be able to feel that much of a difference currently, but I'll surely feel it in my later day.

"Now that I think about it, Ardagan gives me a bonus stamina by percentage. Then, let's make an example of my current power. If my current Spiritual Energy reflected by the number of Demon Crystals... I have absorbed 1,000 crystals for example. Then, I will get an additional 20 crystals since it's two percent boost. But if I absorb 10,000 crystals, I will get an additional 200 crystals.

"I can see where this is going. If I keep getting stronger, I will be able to increase my strength even further. At the same time, this number will keep increasing by continuously training myself. If I can get at least twenty percent boost or even more, I will be able to overcome anything, especially with the fact that I can store twice as much with the help of Ardagan as my second spirit.

"I can discover more tricks from Ardagan in the future, so I should be satisfied with what I have right now. In fact, I should focus in enhancing them so that it will benefit me later.

"Well, aside from this, the last thing this book told me is the secret of the spirit. The True Spirit Body. It's not explicitly described, but I can understand it because the Sword Sa..., I mean Ancestral Uncle told me." Noel scratched the back of his head, feeling overwhelmed by the information.

It was quite simple to understand, but Noel felt this information would be helping him in the long run. "As much as I want to bring this notebook with me, I don't think I should, since there are people who are interested in me. If they somehow know about this book, they might realize that I have two spirits in my body."

Noel let out a long sigh and closed the book. Since there was nothing to find inside the secret room other than this book, he returned it and closed the secret room.

After that, he began to look around the office to see if there was any more clues hidden by his father.

Unfortunately, he couldn't find anything even after five hours. Hence, he gave up and walked to the library to find Anna.

When he opened the library, he was stunned by the amount of books that Anna researched. In front of her was three giant books that were opened side by side. There were also a few stacks of books standing next to her.

"What is happening here?" Noel's eyebrows twitched.

"Ah, Noel! Come here!" Anna raised her head and waved her hand, calling him.

Noel was confused, so he walked to her to see what book she was reading. To his surprise, she was actually opening his family's account book.

"Do you know this is a family secret?"

"I didn't mean to open this book at first, but I found some clues from these books."

"Clues?"

"Yes. Well, I'm not good at reading these books, but I can see something is missing from basic calculation. Take a look!" Anna pointed at the books.

Noel's expression became serious as he stood next to her and lowered his body a bit. His hand was on the chair as if he was reading together with her.

"..." Noel soon narrowed his eyes. "Well, I didn't read many books, but account book was one of the books I study, considering I would take over a merchant family. But this is kinda dumb..."

"I am not an expert on this. What can you see from these numbers?"

"Give me a few minutes."

Noel fell silent for a few minutes, looking at the number in the account books. If it was a small embezzlement, he would have a hard time to find it because he had to do a thorough calculation. But this was different. There was a big gap in the account book as if telling him to find them.

"This is..." Noel's expression became grim.

"What's wrong?"

"The clues I found was about the connection between the royal family and the Supreme Devil Organization. Also, my father and your father seemed to be best friends for life and wouldn't betray each other, unlike you. Last but not least, they went to different sides to investigate the king as well as the third prince."

Noel explained, shocking Anna to the core.

"Huh? What did you say?"

Noel's reply came in the form of action. He pointed at the account books and said, "There is a huge hidden money in the account book. The purchase is useless if you see it here, so it means they're using that transaction to give the other party some money. And there are three parties that are involved in those transactions.

"The first one is my mother's family, the Greenwood Kingdom's Ezenholm Family. The second one is your Stargaze Family. And last but not least, there is an unknown fraction that is not stated here. And this... might be where my parents are."