Middle-Stage

Inside his apartment in Staten Island, David was sitting cross-legged on the bed, meditating. Currently, he was trying to break through the next minor stage in his rank.

Each rank had four minor stages: initial, middle, upper, and peak. Furthermore, during each of the stages, the energy core's barriers were made of different states of matter.

For Rank 1 initial stage, David's barrier was made of orange light. And now he was in the process of transforming the barrier into gas. The light barrier turning into gas would signify that he had advanced to the middle stage.

The way to change the property of the barrier was fairly simple; one only had to constantly nourish the barriers with the spiritual force inside their energy core. Consistent meditation and patience would eventually lead to advancement.

Inside David's energy core, spiritual force was churning like waves in a stormy sea. The waves rose up to great heights as they constantly struck against the barrier until, after a long period of time, there was finally a change.

The light barrier was slowly dissipating and turning into gas. David knew that he was very close, so he willed the spiritual force to rise up once again and nourish the barrier one more time.

His spiritual force splashed across the entire surface of the barrier, and when the waves receded, the barrier shone with resplendent light. Following that, the light retracted and the barrier had completely transformed into orange gas particles.

David had succeeded in his advancement!

He opened his eyes, which had gained a layer of depth and shone with brilliance. Exhaling a deep breath, he clenched his fists as he observed his new energy core barrier. Although his energy core was ethereal, he could somehow view and feel it. It was a magical feeling, to say the least.

The color of the energy cores for each rank was different. For rank 1, it was orange. That meant that in the initial stage, the barrier would be an orange light, in the middle stage the barrier would be made of orange gas, and so on.

Meanwhile, the color of the spiritual force depended on the wizard's affinity. David's spiritual force was black and had an illusory feeling to it—a reflection of his darkness and dream affinities.

Just as he was looking at his energy core's new barrier, Natasha's voice drifted into his ears, "Congratulations, Mr. Watson."

David raised his head and looked at the corner of his room, where Natasha seemed to have blended into the darkness. He faintly smiled. "It's all thanks to your guidance."

She didn't deny that; after all, it was indeed true. If it weren't for her pointers, he would have taken a lot longer to advance. She added, "When you go to the clan, you'll have many more resources and a better environment to practice mysticism."

David was slightly taken aback. "France has a better environment than America?" According to him, the USA was arguably one of, if not the greatest superpower in the world. Thus, he was quite surprised by Natasha's statement.

Hearing that, Natasha couldn't help but sneer, "In the supernatural world, this country is actually extremely backward compared to Europe. Well, the only respectable figures in this country are the ones you call 'Native Americans.'"

David was taken aback by the new information. He hadn't expected that the Native Americans would be held in such high regard in the supernatural world.

Natasha continued, "In the supernatural world, Europe is undoubtedly the center of the world."

David took a few moments to digest the information, then looked at Natasha and curiously asked, "Can you tell me more about the clan?"

Natasha slightly raised her chin and said with pride, "Clan des Dragons has been on earth for tens of thousands of years. And since its establishment, it's been one of the top influences in the supernatural world."

David had a hard time processing the thought of that much time. "Tens of thousands…."

"I know what you're thinking," Natasha added. "You're now a wizard, Mr. Watson. Don't confuse the history of man with the true history of this world."

Speechless, David could only stare at her in a daze and couldn't help but wonder, 'True history of the world….'

Natasha switched topics. "Anyway, you'll eventually learn the truth of this world. For now, all you need to know is that the clan we belong to is a true behemoth."

David involuntarily gulped and nodded. He believed that, as he continued growing stronger, he would be able to come across knowledge that he would have otherwise never known. He couldn't help but think, 'The higher you stand, the further you see….'

"That said, now that you've finally mastered your bloodline ability, I believe we can head to France very soon," Natasha solemnly said.

David was about to say something, but Natasha knowingly added, "I understand you still have to take care of the Rosetti Family, so we'll leave after you've taken care of business. Oh, and there's one more thing."

"What's that?" David asked.

Natasha's lips curled up into a faint smirk. "I think it's about time you officially join the Cosmopolitan."

'The Cosmopolitan!' David sucked in a sharp breath. The mysterious organization that seemed to be at the center of everything he was involved in was finally within his reach. He suddenly recalled how difficult it was for even Don Enzo to gain a membership there, so he couldn't help but ask. "Do you really think they'd give membership to an outsider like me?"

Natasha chuckled, "Did you forget what I told you about the Clan des Dragons? You're one of us now, so you don't need to worry about trivial things like that."

Hearing that, he couldn't help but faintly smile. He asked, "Then when are we going there?"

"Whenever you like."

David thought for a while, then finally answered, "Let's go the day after tomorrow. I have some work to finish."

Natasha nodded and tactfully didn't ask about his personal business.

Suddenly, David asked, "Oh, and what about the money? Have you invested all of it?"

After interrogating the Wall Street millionaire in his dream and finding out his trade secrets, David had immediately instructed Natasha to invest $2 million into WisdomAI and $8 million into Nevart.

Moreover, he had also performed divination through the coin and learned that that was the most lucrative decision. Thus, he was extremely confident in his investment paying off.

When Natasha heard his question, she couldn't help but slightly contort her face. After all, 10 million was a fairly big amount for her, and she would have preferred not to waste it if she could.

She had asked her contact on Wall Street about the investment and learned that it was a very risky venture with a high chance of failure. Regardless, she went through with David's decision; after all, she couldn't really say no to him.

"Yes, I've invested all the money as you instructed," Natasha replied with great difficulty, completely confident that she would never see the 10 million ever again.

David knew exactly what she was thinking and couldn't help but chuckle. "Don't worry. When I'm rich, I'll give you a nice chunk of the earnings as your share."

Natasha's eyebrows twitched. "S-Sure."

The two spoke for a few more minutes before she left. After confirming with the system that she had really gone, David willed the shop to appear in front of him.

Since he was going to join the Cosmopolitan, which was said to be the dwelling of assassins, he decided to buy something from the shop that he'd had his eyes on. He believed it might give him an edge.

After scrolling for a few moments, he finally found what he was looking for and his eyes shone with a hint of anticipation as he read the item description.

[Memory fragment of Zorath Raven, a renowned assassin from the House of Shadows]

[Cost: 1000 DP]

[Purchase?]