Chapter 50: Bribery V

From there, he then decided to reserve one for Mr. Oscar, and the other two for certain higher-ups from the Unkindness and Treachery troops. As for the remaining one, Herbert did not have anyone else in particular in mind to bribe. However, he did have another idea as to how he should use this one.

Since he was grooming Clive and his son for his plan to make a fool out of the other nobles, he intends to make Clive a part of the awakened. Thus, he had somewhat placed the last Awakening Crystal for him to use. In the original story, Clive would have died, however, this time since he had recruited him earlier on, he was still alive and would possibly continue to live longer than the story intended.

Besides this, Herbert was also interested if Clive could awaken the same ability as his son. If so then it would bring his plans much closer to fruition.

When he left Mr. Oscar, Herbert spend the whole day bribing the other two who immediately accepted his offer. This time, he had gained a small foothold from where he could slowly snatch away his father's firm grip over the family. Although he only took small steps, it was still good progress in establishing his foundation over time.

Finishing his dinner, he then returned to his room where he suddenly remembered the other loot that he had recovered during his trip. It was the small totem of a snake-like monster that looked like an eastern dragon from Earth.

When he took it out, he once again felt uncomfortable and had the urge to destroy it. However, this time, instead of putting it away, he decided to fumble with it to see if there was anything that he could do with the figurine.

With how special this figurine is, there should be some hidden mechanism that was protecting it from the outside. It was because he was thinking so that he did not want to destroy it by activating the other power that he had gained when he had reached the Transcendent rank.

He then twirled it around and even tested its durability by slowly exerting force to chip off some of its parts, however, nothing seemed to work on it. In his knowledge, there didn't seem to be anything that he could do to make use of it, but with the knowledge of an entire otherworldly culture, he had a strange thought that might just work.

"Usually, don't they drop some of their blood on things like this?"

With caution, Herbert decided to first materialize his wings so that they could be ready to protect him at any moment.

He then cut open a small wound on his finger and let it bleed out one drop of blood. As he held his breath and watched the figurine, he began to feel that the excitement that he had was all put to waste. Nothing noteworthy happened so he decided to give it up. He would rather destroy whatever it was than try to seek help from others. This kind of treasure was better kept to himself especially since he didn't know if others can become stronger if they managed to figure out how or what this thing was supposed to be.

With his mind set on destroying the item, he then used one of his black feathered wings to form a dark sword which he used to cut at the item. However, this time, when its outer covering had started to decay and turn into dust, Herbert saw something shining from within it.

It appeared round and crystal-like. Its red color and tear-drop shape made him think that it was somehow a form of crystallized blood.

"Awakening Stone?"

Although he did not know if this was how it was supposed to look, Herbert could only think of one thing that would match its descriptions. The moment that he had set his eyes on it, he felt mesmerized. It suddenly emitted a sweet fragrance that made him just want to take a bite and swallow it down his throat. His instincts told him that if he swallows this thing then he would awaken an entirely new bloodline in his body.

However, instead of giving in to his urges, this uncontrollable feeling made him wearier of his surroundings. Since he had opened it in his room, there shouldn't be anybody who would dare to enter it except for those who are truly powerful. Since he had just reached the Transcendent realm, he was only at rank 0 of being a Transcendent. His father who was with him was already at rank 5 while Klaus who was far away was at rank 4. Aside from them, there was also another Transcendent who was living in the house. It was his mother who was a rank 1 Transcendent.

To prevent others from grabbing hold of his treasure, Herbert tried to hide it first with a wooden box, but the scent continued to be emitted from it so he decided to stuff some clothes on it but it didn't seem to do anything, the sound was still making him salivate. Soon, he heard a knocking sound on his door and he immediately panicked.

"Who's there?"

"Albert, it's me."

Hearing a feminine voice, Herbert immediately thought of the only woman that would dare to call him Albert out loud in his own home, and no, it wasn't Ingrid.

"Mother, what is it?"

"Can I come in?"

Although he tried to stall for more time, he eventually understood that he could no longer do so. As such, with one quick gulp, he swallowed the Awakening Stone and immediately felt heat coursing throughout his body.

He felt minute changes occurring every second. It was like countless ants decided to crawl all over his body and decided that they would each take a bite, but having experienced something worse, he found the pain to still be within tolerable levels.

And since it was still bearable, he gritted his teeth, stood up, straightened his shirt, and opened the door.

"Mother, what brings you here?"

In front of him was his mother that originated from the neighboring Ramhorn Kingdom. Her name was Brenda and she was also the daughter of a ducal household with the surname of Crowsky. Instead of the bright hair and blue eyes that most Ravenmoons have, she had dark straight hair and deep black eyes.

The middle-aged woman in front of Herbert looked graceful and dignified as she strode inside Herbert's room. With a sharp glance that seemed to see through anything, she quickly swept before returning her gaze to Herbert.

"I heard that you have reached the Transcendent rank?"

"Yes, mother."

At his reply, Herbert's mother sharpened her eyes as she pondered over something.

"You advanced through battle?"

"Yes."

"Was it your father who told you to do such a reckless thing?"

"No, mother. It was by my discretion."

With an eyebrow raised, she once again sized up Herbert. Her stare seemed to be judging him as her eyes darted from his head to toe.

"It seems that you have now grown big enough to disregard the opinions of your family. I wonder, was that also something that you have learned from your father?"

Her sharp remarks almost made Herbert frown. In the book, Herbert's parents did not get along well ever since he replaced the original Herbert. Although they still maintained their cohesiveness as a facade, there would still be the occasional tension that would suddenly appear whenever they would start a conversation.

But compared to Herman, the woman in front of Herbert was the better parent. In the end, she still loved her children, and this could be seen in her actions. That is because at the root of her displeasure was her dissatisfaction with how Herman had handled Herbert's case. In the end, their bad relationship also caused Albert to suffer as collateral.