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The hand-shaped silver candlesticks lit up the corridor in the dark and gloomy castle. The red candles flickered to provide a dim light, showing a sense of creepy beauty.

Wearing a black robe with a hood, Lucien stood outside of the basement quietly, studying the defensive magic circles placed by Count Vlad.

The gate of the castle usually opened for the slaves to go in and out, as well as for the transportation of ores and metals. The several detecting magic circles were not a big deal for Lucien. As a senior-rank mage, Lucien entered the castle rather easily.

Lucien could tell that these defense magic circles were rather powerful. As a vampire who had survived for a few thousand years, Vlad did collect some good magic circles. The twenty-seven dark magic circles had formed a strong protection reliable enough to resist a level eight divine spell. Fortunately, the castle did not have an alchemical life in it, or there was no chance that Lucien could sneak into this place.

On the corridor, the female blood servants walked past Lucien as if he did not exist. They were once human beings, elves, or dwarves, but now they had become the servants in the castle.

Lucien had not learned the sixth-circle spell, Suggestion (group), and thus it took him quite a long time to cast the suggestion spell on every single living thing in the castle one by one. Although he was already a senior-rank mage, his spirit had been drained up from doing so, and he waited for a long time to have it recovered.

Standing in front of the basement, Lucien rubbed his chin thoughtfully and did his analysis: It would take him at least two months to crack this defense system, and the biggest trouble was the fact that Count Vlad could notice it at any time. Once Vlad woke up, that would be the end for himself.

Although Vlad had been sleeping for a long time, his power and knowledge were pretty up-to-date, as he cast spells using his blood power, not his cognitive world.

Lucien had to find a way to get Vlad out.

Many thoughts flashed through his mind, such as to inform Vlad that there was an affair between Tess and Galata... However, neither of them worked.

Lucien decided to take another perspective.

After a while, he nodded thoughtfully and started to work on analyzing the structure of the magic circles and how the power in them flowed.

...

More than ten days later, the castle still operated normally as usual. The brides, butlers, blood servants, and slaves were all busy minding their own business.

Somehow they all turned a blind eye toward the strange young man wearing a black robe. He was busy too. He was busy with placing all the precious materials around following some kind of pattern.

Finally, the magic circle was done. Clapping his hands, Lucien stood up straight slowly.

When Lucien cast the spell, his spiritual power spread out and the magic circle in front of the basement was activated. The light streams lit up one by one and the power lines flowed in all the directions.

Except for inside the power room in the basement and the controlling core, different magic circles lit up in all the important sectors and parts in the castle, including the constraint rooms, summoning rooms, magic garden, power wells.

Soon, the magic circles joined together and the whole castle was covered in a dream-like shield made of dazzling starlight!

The magic dome suddenly shrank and attached tight against the walls of the basement. The light disappeared as if it had joined the dark magic circles.

Then, everything quieted down.

The vampires and dwarves were still doing their own work as if nothing had ever happened. In the basement, Count Vlad was still sleeping. He did not notice any difference.

That was because Lucien had never tried to crack the count’s dark magic circles.

The function of the powerful magic circle that Lucien just placed was very simple. Lucien added another layer of defense on top of what the count already had. Lucien wanted him to sleep more safe and sound.

Therefore, the defense was also not easy to be cracked, either from inside or outside. It would even take Lucien himself almost ten months to remove the protection. Also, the power from the magic wells and garden would constantly infuse into the magic circle. When the count woke up, part of the power from the power rooms would be constrained. Even with the help of the controlling core, Vlad would have to spend five to six years to get out, and before that he could not even send a message out.

Five or six years later, Lucien believed that he would not have to worry about the exposure of the space joint anymore.

That was what Lucien meant by taking another perspective. When the defense was powerful, instead of destroying it, Lucien would make it even more unbreakable.

There was a naughty smile on Lucien’s face. However, at the same time, constructing those magic circles also cost him a lot. Although most of the materials came from the count’s warehouse, Lucien also spent some of his own materials on it. Count Vlad’s most important treasury vault was in the basement, so Lucien did not get anything too valuable other than the lots of mythril and precious metals.

After checking the magic circle again, Lucien placed another secret magic circle beside the entry of the basement, in which Vlad’s voice was mimicked and saved.

If anyone tried to wake him up, the voice would refuse politely.

After all these things were done, Lucien walked out of the castle at a leisure pace. A few steps away from the gate, Lucien turned around with his right hand on his chest and bowed.

"Have a sweet dream, Count Vlad."

...

In the underground cave, the dwarves who had signed the compact had found the steam hammers, smelting pots, food, paper, and the other items following their "memory".

"We need to do three things," said the elder, Augustus, in high spirit, holding three books in his hands, Transforming Electromagnetic Waves and Basic Application, Religion Theory, and Protracted War. "First of all, we have to develop our doctrine as soon as possible to enroll more of our people; Second, we shall start farming by looking for the farmable soil on Night Highland to end famine; Third, we shall avoid the head-on confrontation with the vampires as much as possible until we grow much bigger and with better weapons."

The three books left gave Augustus a lot of encouragement.

"Yes, Your Honor! Steam Above!" The dwarves raised their arm and shouted. The knowledge from the books had shocked them, and now they longed for knowledge more than they had ever before.

They once thought that they had inherited part of the culture and wisdom of the Steam Civilization, but now they had realized that they were not even close to it, not to mention to the ultimate civilization like Atlantis!

The dwarves were full of hope and motivated. When they started working on their own staff, the elder kneeled down again in front of the altar. After praying, the elder took out the paper and quill and wrote:

"Machine Revelation: Zie has arrived to tell people that when there is gain, there is loss, and when there is the loss, there is gain. All the sufferings have meanings, and by going through the sufferings, one can obtain wisdom and a strong soul. There is an equal exchange. With this belief, one could stay away from falling into hell."

...

After watching these dwarves for a while, Lucien was relieved and started to head north.

In the north, there were a few very powerful vampire princes. It was said that one of them, the most powerful one, when sleeping, could turn his dream into reality on Night Highland.

However, at that moment it had nothing to do with Lucien. When arriving in the north, Lucien soon changed his direction and headed for a castle enveloped in darkness.

The outline of the castle looked rather vague as if it was just a projection of a great castle from the main material world. The castle was called the Observer’s Castle, and it belonged to Count Silver Eye, Rhine.

Rhine was as powerful as a vampire prince, and he was watching one of the space joints connecting to the Dark Mountain Range. Using the magic circle near the space joint, Lucien could directly arrive at the outside of the castle in the Dark Mountain Range.

In the fog, Lucien walked in this shadow castle and dispelled the magic traps one by one following the instructions left by Rhine.

Soon, Lucien saw a magic circle on the ground. Stepping on it, he cast a spell. The light devoured him, and he disappeared.

...

On Night Highland, in a luxurious castle of Syracuse style.

Holding a glass in his hand, a good-looking man said to his butler, who was standing beside him, "Rhine has been missing for a long time, and the old guy is ready to take some actions..."

His red eyes slightly squinted, and his attitude toward what he was talking about was rather ambiguous.