The villainous young master just wants to live a Buddhist-like life.

　Relatively speaking, both the conservatives and the radicals are more extreme types.

　Therefore, although their faction is not very powerful, its presence is very strong.

　In this legislative election, many of the candidates belong to their group.

　Conversely, the doves and hawks, whose factions are powerful, have not made many moves.

　There are only three candidates for the Holy Church's Mingpai.

　The Valkyrie faction only has two revealed cards.

　One of them is Lord Montilfali of the Free City.

　Of course, three plus two equals five, so it seems that the five seats for members of parliament have already been divided up between these two factions.

　In reality, the Holy Church and the Valkyrie faction provided very little support to those candidate councilors.

　They clearly didn't value it that much.

　In Arvit's words, even if none of their people are ultimately elected as members of parliament, they can still turn them into their own.

　Instead of focusing on the legislative elections, pay more attention to the Outstanding Talents Conference starting in July. It's said that hidden talents emerge from the common people; perhaps someone will rise to prominence at this conference and become a darling of the times.

　If a mage with exceptional potential were to emerge, both this side and the Holy Church would consider taking action.

　Because what's coming will be an era where individual power reigns supreme. They can't just stand by and watch all the best talents be snatched up by the king. "Speaking of the Heroes' Gathering, after today, it'll be July the day after tomorrow. There should already be a list of some particularly outstanding contestants," Dark said.

　Arvit rested her chin on her hand and said with a smile, "Yes, there are, but there are always a surprisingly large number of people who like to hide their strength."

　Dark laughed, "I'm just browsing to kill some time." Arvit asked curiously, "Aren't you going to follow Suna's election?"

　Dark said, "That's why I need something to pass the time." Then he laughed.

　In these last two days, he planned to personally accompany Aurora and directly participate in the election for Lord of Montilfari.

　I just don't know if being the son of a Valkyrie is enough to command respect.

　After the meal, the mother and son quickly separated.

　This was the busiest time of year for Arvit, and Dak also had his own things to do.

　The gold dust I received from Emma still hasn't turned back into sand.

　They are the best materials for studying "turning lead into gold".

　It tastes even better when eaten in conjunction with the "Golden Alchemy Array" recorded by Emma at the end.

　The three "Golden Horse Knights," one "Golden Mummy," and one "Golden Saber-toothed Beast" that were captured earlier are still alive and have not been taken back by the "Golden King."

　In addition, the gold artifacts selected from the City of Gold, such as the "Book of Gold," are also of great research value.

　However, there aren't many things that can be used as materials for refining. The most valuable items are the gold bricks and the six rhombus-shaped black diamonds sent by the "Golden King".

　As for Alibaba's magic lamp, that thing definitely needs to be studied carefully.

　In addition, there are the "Altar Incantation", the "Gold Alchemy Array", and the "Blood Alchemy Array".

　Aside from these, Dark's greatest gain was his mastery of the theory of "ancient alchemy" and the budding "golden power".

　To master the art of "turning lead into gold," the "power of gold" is indispensable. Going further, it might even be possible to master the method of creating "golden elements."

　The "Golden Elemental Seed" of the Golden Kingdom bears a striking resemblance to golems from alchemy. If its creation could be mastered, coupled with a "cursed cage," it would be a deadly weapon.

　However, what Dark wanted even more was the "Death Power" of the "King of Heroes".

　The soul of the deceased is taken from the underworld and transformed into a "heroic spirit" that exists between life and death.

　This ability is itself a taboo among taboos, yet it also possesses a strong allure.

　Dark's current idea is to apply it to the life-transformation experiments of magical spirits.

　They treated magical spirits as souls and stitched them together with the body, transforming them into creatures similar to "Corpse-Stitching Demons".

　One of the key points is to mold the magical spirit into something similar to a soul.

　The Heroic Spirits controlled by the "King of Heroes" provided Dark with a seemingly feasible idea.

　In other words, "Heroic Spirits" are actually very similar to "Magical Spirits," but they are closer to the soul than Magical Spirits.

　"I wonder if we can deduce a similar method from what we have at hand."

　"If all else fails, I'm afraid we'll have to find a way to obtain it from the 'King of Heroes'."

　"However, it is indeed a pipe dream to try to obtain the core power that a god relies on for survival from him."

　"The acquisition of the Golden Power can be considered one of the rewards for awakening the 'Golden King.'"

　Dark clapped his hands, summoning the magical spirits one by one, and letting them go to their tutors on their own.

　Then he went into the bedroom, took a bath, changed into aristocratic clothes, put on a "sword sheath," took out a new notebook, clipped on a pen, and officially went out.

　"Lists, documents, and newspapers."

　I received the list of participants for the Heroes' Assembly from the maid.

　After reviewing the documents and all the recent newspapers worth noting, Dak boarded a carriage and headed towards the temporary residence of Lord Montilfari.

　He first browsed through recent newspapers to get a feel for current events before starting to look at the list of names for the conference of outstanding individuals.

　The old king promised incredibly generous rewards for this gathering of heroes, and the very existence of the "Twelve Heroes" itself attracted many powerful mages.

　Among them were many heroes who had been active during the war. Dark only glanced through their information but found that many of the contestants' profiles indicated they came from the Hall of Heroes…

　The Hall of Heroes is a mutual aid organization created by war heroes who are independent of the major powers; it is a retirement home for heroes.

　Professor Ryan Hawkes is from the Hall of Heroes.

　However, Professor Ryan Hax is not a mage and is not qualified to participate in this year's Heroes' Conference.

　Besides the war heroes, some renowned scholars, famous figures who were only one step away from becoming "sages", or even magicians who were "sages" in the first place, also participated.

　Finally, almost all the professional duelists who could be considered "stars" signed up for this year's Tournament of Heroes.

　This year's Heroes Tournament is limited to Magisters, and the competition is divided into three modules: knowledge, practical combat, and duel.

　Contestants can participate in different modules of the competition at the same time, but the three modules are not intertwined.

　Given this situation, all the confident mages in these three modules came to participate.

　Just by looking at this list, Dak could sense that this year's conference of outstanding individuals was unprecedented in scale.

　In the past, he might have been excited to join in the fun. But now, the thought that this was just a warm-up for the new rules of the duel killed his interest.

　"There's nothing to get involved in; fighting and killing aren't for me." "Being a spectator is pretty good too."

　Dark smiled and continued reading.

　City Lord Montilfarri's speech today is scheduled for noon. However, it will not be in St. Louis Square, where the largest audience will be, but in a smaller, more approachable square.

　Tomorrow, she will go to St. Louis Plaza to give her final speech.

　The carriage drove directly into the backyard of the mansion.

　Dak put the list he hadn't finished reading into his notebook, then got out of the car with the notebook in hand and went inside with Aurora, who had come to greet him.

　Lord Montilfali is discussing the specifics of her speech with the high-ranking officials of the Free City who have accompanied her.

　Dak was already quite familiar with them; after nodding to each other, he sat down to listen.

　He is not involved in the specifics.

　Lord Montilfali has a professional team led by Aurora, so she doesn't need to be involved.

　As for the propaganda offensive, it had already begun the moment they stepped out of the Duke's mansion.

　In fact, the relevant public opinion had been laid out long ago, and today is just the trigger for it, a do-or-die battle.

　As soon as Aurora entered the meeting room, she took over the conversation and became the main speaker of the meeting.

　In contrast, Lord Montilfali is more like a tool responsible for reading from a script.

　That is indeed the case.

　The true heart of the Free City is actually the city lord's daughter. Dark rarely saw Aurora display such a powerful side. At this moment, she radiated a captivating, almost glowing charm.

　Noon, after lunchtime.

　The team from the City of Freedom has arrived at today's speaking venue—Rose Square.

　Although Rose Square is a small square, it has a considerable flow of people because it is located in a bustling area.

　But precisely because of this, it's a mixed bag, and there are definitely more people who dare to cause trouble in Rose Square than in St. Louis Square.

　However, at noon today, when the city lord of the Free City stepped onto the stage, people suddenly noticed that there was someone who had never been there before beside her.

　—Darkdemon, the kingdom's only duchess and son of the Valkyrie!

　[Monthly passes and razor blades will be collected at the end of the month, so please vote now before they expire! We need to get into the top ten in monthly passes! Help!]

Chapter 1110 The Valkyrie Faction (6k views, please vote)

　Because of his frequent appearances on newspaper headlines, Dark has become a household name in the capital.

　He was recognized immediately just by standing there. Then the news spread like wildfire, and in the blink of an eye, everyone knew.

　The blond boy standing next to Lord Montilfali was none other than Dark Dimon, the kingdom's only duchess and son of the Valkyrie!

　Why is he here?

　"Could there be some connection between the Free City and the Dimon family?" More and more eyes were focused on Dak.

　Many people who heard that the Child of the Valkyrie had appeared in Rose Square gathered there out of curiosity.

　The troublemakers hidden among the crowd are proving to be a serious concern. However, it's not fair to say that everyone is hesitant to act against them.

　Some people think they have no future, or they feel that the law should not be followed by the masses, so they rush in on a whim.

　However, with Dak standing there, the number of people who dared to cause trouble decreased by more than half.

　The mastermind behind the scenes also hurriedly contacted his master, not daring to act rashly.

　The connection between Lord Montilfari and the Duke of Dimon's mansion was no secret to the high-ranking nobles.

　But the Duke's mansion wouldn't make it public, so many people pretended not to know. Now that the young master of the mansion had suddenly appeared, the meaning was completely different. That group of people quietly left, leaving behind a group of ordinary people whose minds were clouded by emotions.

　Even if they try their best to rush forward, they won't make any waves.

　...

　The speech ended smoothly, and the atmosphere was fairly good. However, it was impossible to calculate exactly how many votes it would garner.

　However, public opinion has already taken hold, and when they walk on the street, they can clearly feel that the way people look at them has changed.

　But to be honest, neither Lord Montilfali nor the Free City personnel accompanying the group were comfortable with that kind of gaze.

　Although they have experienced much sorrow, they still have backbone and self-respect, and are not used to playing the victim.

　Even Lord Montilfali's speeches were mostly motivational, focusing on the friendliness of mixed-race people, future prospects, and what they could bring to the country.

　But how could those things possibly win over the votes of ordinary people? The Free City has garnered very few votes from the general public so far. However, as public opinion continues to ferment, the situation changes. People are often controlled by visible short-term interests, or by concentrated bursts of high emotions.

　As the mixed-race people's past experiences were reported in the newspapers and spread by word of mouth, Lord Montilfali's votes began to rise at a considerable speed.

　Upon returning to her residence, Lord Montilfali immediately began preparing for her final speech the following day.

　Dak sat in the mansion for a while, then quietly left. He would come again for tomorrow's speech.

　But I won't participate in the process.

　Back at the Duke's mansion, Dak continued to study the incantations recorded on the side of the altar.

　The effect of this spell is very similar to that of the murals in the Temple of the Moon Goddess, and it is simpler and easier to transform into magic runes than the murals.

　On the way back, he had actually done a lot of research and completed the initial magic rune transformation.

　All that's left to do is adjust, experiment, and adjust again. But it's clearly unrealistic to try and quickly forge "Greed V" based on this magic rune.

　The problems encountered in studying "Greed IV" and "Pride IV" are very similar: both involve insufficient "Great Sin" points to support repeated experiments.

　Without experiments, optimization is difficult, and research progress will be slow. However, the initial experiments mainly focused on "greedy l" and "greedy II l", proceeding step by step, so it is not impossible to continue.

　In the later stages, one can only rely on the experience gained from mastering "Paradise IV" and take a gamble after optimizing it to its limit.

　After drafting the plan, Dak quickly settled down to study it.

　That very night, he successfully used the magic rune to forge a "Greedy" card.