Fredrinn Firecrown: The Weakest Villain

Roland smiled when he noticed the change in the city lord's expression.

"We were lucky enough to employ the services of a Master-rank Array Formation Maker. I asked him to install those defensive array formations to enhance our estate's security." He proudly explained.

"No wonder. The respected elder who made this must be nearing the realm of the Grandmaster-rank Array Formation Makers. The array formations installed here are no ordinary 5th-rank defensive array formations." Ludwig exclaimed in shock.

"That's right. Elder Xavier Coldstone just needs to advance to the Void Tempering realm to become a Grandmaster-rank Array Formation Maker. He just broke through to the 10th layer of the Nascent Soul realm recently so it might take him some time to reach that level." This information was supposed to be a secret that should be hidden from the public, but telling this to the city lord wasn't an issue.

"I've heard about Elder Xavier." Ludwig rubbed his chin with a serious look.

Soon, they finally arrived in front of the main mansion.

At this moment, Fredrinn stepped out of the carriage with his adopted daughter, Avariel, in his arms.

Walking by his side was Daphne.

Meanwhile, Lucas and Samantha were closely following behind them, observing the man-made lake behind the main mansion.

"I'd like to entertain you guys, but that would have to wait. I haven't seen my daughter for a few months so I want to spend some time with her. I hope you understand." Fredrinn apologetically smiled at the pair of siblings.

"Don't mind us, Fredrinn. We can take care of ourselves." Samantha smiled reassuringly.

"Fredrinn, can we take a look at the training of your soldiers? I can hear them shouting from here." Lucas eagerly said.

Fredrinn thought for a moment and nodded. "Sure, that wouldn't be a problem, but you must not disturb them."

"Of course!" Lucas patted his chest.

"You should be able to find the training ground if you follow this path. If you encounter any difficulties within the estate, just look for me or my father." Fredrinn lazily said before he waved his hand and left.

Samantha stared at the woman walking beside Fredrinn and muttered.

"That girl must be Daphne."

"I heard people say that her beauty could cause the downfall of nations."

"I thought it was just a joke. Who would have thought that it was actually true?"

There was a layer of envy in her voice.

Lucas raised an eyebrow as he looked at his sister. "You're not jealous of her, right?"

Samantha didn't say anything which made Lucas confirm his suspicions. "Don't tell me you've fall-"

"Shut your damn mouth!" Samantha stomped her foot and angrily walked away.

Looking at her sister's fuming figure, Lucas' eyes widened in disbelief. "No way!"

"Hey, Samantha! Wait for me!"

***

The next morning, Fredrinn snuck out of the mansion and headed to the man-made lake. He then took out an item from his storage space.

It was a red crystal in the shape of a heart. Strangely enough, one would hear a faint beating within the crystal, as if it had a life of its own.

Heart of Qi [Legendary]

- A naturally created mystical stone that can absorb the Qi from its surroundings. Through time, there is a chance that it will give birth to a Qi Spirit and develop the land it is planted in into a blessed Qi land.

This was the item he chose from the Legendary Item Selection Card.

"With this thing, the estate's land would soon become a blessed place for cultivation."

"I need to plant this somewhere hidden."

Fredrinn stared at the lake and made a prompt decision. With a leap, he dove into the lake and swam to the deepest part.

The temperature of the lake's water was a lot colder than he had expected. This was probably because the water from this man-made lake was nurtured by Daphne's power of nature which turned it into a magical lake. Discover hidden tales at empire

As he went deeper into the lake, Fredrinn discovered the presence of numerous aquatic magical beasts. Most of them were just normal animals with no Qi, but there were also plenty of magical beasts. Fredrinn even noticed a huge fish in the Core Formation realm!

[Core Formation 4th Layer]

'Daphne really worked hard in nurturing this lake. She probably did this to improve mom's health since mom always visits the lake.'

He thought to himself.

A moment later, he reached the bottom of the lake.

From his estimates, the lake was about five hundred meters deep and about three hundred kilometers long.

If it was in his home world, building such a massive lake would have taken years and thousands of workers, but the Firecrown Supreme Household managed to build it in just a few months and with only over a hundred martial practitioners proficient in wielding the water element.

Fredrinn removed his stray thoughts and planted the Heart of Qi underneath the lakebed.

As soon as he stabbed the red crystal into the lakebed, it took root and started absorbing the Qi within the surroundings. It was like a suction machine greedily absorbing Qi.

The aquatic animals and magical beasts became restless when they sensed the fluctuations of Qi.

Fredrinn calmly observed these changes. He already knew that this would happen so he wasn't surprised.

'Should I help you gather Qi?'

With this thought in his mind, Fredrinn reached out his hand and sent his Qi into the crystal.

He could feel the crystal absorbing the Qi he sent out.

An hour later, the crystal's color deepened like that of a ripe cherry.

Fredrinn also sensed that it had stopped absorbing Qi.

'It's refining the Qi it had absorbed and released a purer and more powerful type of energy. This energy is even denser than Qi! What is this?'

Fredrinn's eyebrows shot upwards in surprise. In his time as a player, he had never encountered something like this.

'If this thing continues to absorb more Qi, then this lake wouldn't be a magical lake anymore but a heavenly lake!'