Starting as an Island Lord – Chapter 163

Chapter 163: Treasure Hidden in Radiance

Night.

Dawn Castle.

Rosen toyed with the Radiant artifact in his hand, looking at the furious Radiant Empire envoy before him.

“If Ms. Irene doesn’t agree, I naturally won’t force her.”

“Then please leave. But this artifact will stay with me as an apology for the offense.”

As soon as he said these words, he keenly noticed the other party’s expression freeze, as if she cared very much about the Radiant artifact. This extremely subtle action made Rosen’s heart stir slightly.

‘It seems that this artifact has already collected a lot of information about me, but with the other party’s ability, they may not be able to read it. They will most likely have to take this thing back to the Radiant Empire to decipher it.’

In that case, he had to figure out how this thing worked, otherwise he wouldn’t even know what information he had leaked.

The essence of this matter was a dispute between two countries.

Between countries, there were open conflicts, and even more so, secret struggles.

Secret struggles were often more cruel and pervasive.

If one was not always on guard, one might die a sudden and inexplicable death.

This was not unfounded worry. In history, countless ambitious kings had taken extreme measures to ensure their personal safety, but still died at the height of their power.

At this moment, the Radiant envoy’s voice came: “Is it here?”

Her voice was very soft, filled with unwillingness, as if she was helpless under the circumstances.

But at the same time, it also concealed a subtle taste that was hard to describe.

Ordinary people wouldn’t be able to sense this feeling, but Rosen vaguely felt something was wrong.

Another thought popped into his mind: ‘Could it be that this envoy herself is also a bait set for me by the Radiant Empress?’

This possibility certainly existed, and it was very high.

Although from surface observation, the Radiant envoy didn’t show any problems, considering that the Radiant Gods mastered types of power that Rosen didn’t understand, it was naturally possible for her to hide from his perception.

In fact, the other party didn’t need to make targeted arrangements.

They only needed to place traps in every direction that might work, and there would always be one that might take effect.

Currently, the information he had made public was that he was young, strong, ambitious, and fond of beautiful women.

Looking at the Empire envoy before him.

She was young and beautiful, with a full and graceful figure. She possessed both the arrogance of an envoy from a great nation and the reserved shyness of a dignified woman.

Ordinary men naturally wouldn’t dare to have any evil thoughts, but she was indeed very much to Rosen’s taste.

Even without this spying incident, he would definitely find a way to have a taste.

After understanding this, Rosen sighed inwardly.

‘As my status rises and my fame spreads, the methods used by my opponents have also greatly increased.’

He felt that the sensitivity brought by his tenth-circle peak mana cultivation was somewhat insufficient.

But the barrier of the tenth-circle was extremely strong. Even with Rosen’s cultivation speed, he still couldn’t see any hope of breaking through.

All these thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant, and he immediately chuckled.

“If the envoy doesn’t mind, of course.”

It was already late at night, and there was no one waiting outside. He could conquer her for as long as he wanted.

Moreover, this matter had to be done by his main body, because his clone didn’t have enough sensitivity to detect enough power information from the other party’s bloodline.

But if his main body took action personally, he might encounter unknown dangers.

After weighing the pros and cons, Rosen still chose the latter.

After all, one couldn’t obtain treasure without entering the dragon’s lair.

So he added: “But don’t rush, I’ve been sitting all day, I need to go to the washroom first.”

There was an escape tunnel behind the study, as well as a private bathroom for the Duke. This was perfectly normal.

His clone immediately got up and entered the tunnel, switching places with his main body.

The clone didn’t idle either. He immediately took the Radiant artifact and went to the Adrian Family Magic Laboratory in Dawn Castle.

The instruments and equipment in this laboratory were of extremely high quality, and all kinds of experimental consumables were readily available.

Although it lacked some specialized tools, it had some good things that were completely unavailable through ordinary channels, much better than Rosen’s Magic Center on White Sturgeon Island.

On the other side, Irene didn’t notice the difference at all.

She took a deep breath, as if preparing herself mentally: “I have a husband back home. We just got married not long ago, and we are very loving. I am very reluctant to let this happen.”

She really didn’t want to do this, because she had indeed just gotten married, and she was truly deeply in love with her husband. She had planned to resign from her envoy mission after returning home this time.

Rosen chuckled, the ‘lecherous’ look on his face becoming more intense: “Aha~ Your words have aroused my competitive spirit.”

Irene showed a clear disgust on her face: “Duke, you look like a nouveau riche from the streets right now!”

Rosen didn’t mind at all.

“I admit that I am a nouveau riche, but you can’t deny that although most nouveau riche get rich because of luck, there are also some who get rich because of their exceptional abilities.”

“I believe that I possess extraordinary abilities.”

“There is no rule in this world that says a person with great personal abilities must also have noble moral character.”

“On the contrary, the stronger the ability, the stronger the desire, which is in line with human nature, isn’t it?”

‘Phew~~’

Irene let out a long breath: “The Duke is right. Most people in high positions are actually villains.”

She took off her trench coat and placed it on the bench by the wall: “Where?”

Rosen leaned back: “Sit here.”

Irene walked forward, looked down, and was immediately startled. She hesitated, her face showing reluctance.

“I’m afraid I can’t sit on that.”

Rosen shrugged: “Hurry up, my patience is limited.”

Irene had no choice but to slowly sit down.

After settling down, she let out a long breath: “Duke, let’s make it clear, this is just this once.”

Rosen nodded: “Of course. But let me also be clear, it’s my ‘once,’ not your ‘once.'”

“Is there a difference?”

“There’s a huge difference.”

Soon, Irene knew the difference.

After lingering in the clouds for several times, a deep shock emerged in her heart: “This Duke’s ability is truly powerful.”

On the other side, Rosen wasn’t idle either.

He continuously transmitted the collected power information back to his clone.

The clone immediately began analyzing it in the magic laboratory.

To be honest, this wasn’t an easy task.

But Rosen’s main body possessed the super sensitivity of the tenth-circle, and the information he collected from Irene was extremely detailed.

With the human data from the Cliff Laboratory as a foundation, coupled with his own research practice and knowledge from Earth, he had a very deep understanding of bloodlines and otherworldly human bodies, and he also mastered a large number of secret techniques.

Finally, there was the assistance of Laifu’s super computing power.

When encountering some difficult magic locks, ordinary people might not be able to solve them even in ten lifetimes, but Laifu could directly crack them with brute force.

About an hour later.

While Irene was still lost in ecstasy, Rosen had roughly figured out the principle of Radiant Power and the operating mechanism of the Radiant artifact.

“Tsk tsk tsk~ Amazing~ Truly amazing~ This artifact is actually an otherworldly optical information storage chip!”

This storage method was very secretive and very stable.

Because there were countless backup information.

As long as the artifact maintained its overall structural integrity and wasn’t ground into powder, even if Rosen used his own power to infuse the artifact, he wouldn’t be able to completely destroy the stored information.

And it was not only on the artifact, but also on Irene.

The corresponding detection function had been developed into a highly precise ninth-circle Radiant spell.

This spell could be used not only on artifacts, but also on living beings.

But compared to Radiant Power itself, this artifact was just a small gadget.

Rosen discovered that Radiant Power was the power to manipulate light.

Or more accurately, it was the power to manipulate electromagnetic waves.

◈◈◈

Its main method of manipulation is to change the speed of light.

There are two ways to change it.

One is to change the speed of light within a medium, and the change in magnitude is enormous, ranging from 0.1% to 100% of the speed of light in a vacuum.

This is fine, because it can be done on Earth.

The second is to directly change the speed of light in a vacuum.

The magnitude is not large, about 98% to 102%, and every 0.1% change consumes a huge amount of mana.

At first glance, it seems useless.

It is probably useless for the current mages of the other world, because the mages of the other world have limited understanding of the basic laws of the world.

This is not Rosen’s wild imagination, but the result of careful analysis.

Because he has never heard of the Radiant Empire making any amazing things that transcend the times.

This kind of amazing thing can crush an entire era. Since she has it, the Empress will not hide it and not use it.

So if you don’t use it, you don’t have it.

But now, in Rosen’s hands, this ability is simply a trump card!

Because the speed of light in a vacuum is far more than just speed, it is a fundamental constant of the world.

As long as a little change is made, the chain reaction it produces will be extremely huge.

“The Radiant Power can freely control the speed of light in a medium, so it can develop various image magic, and it can also try to develop optical weapons.”

“I can infuse more power into various tempered materials by changing the speed of light in a vacuum, so that the performance of the materials will be greatly improved!”

“If we study it in depth, we can even greatly reduce the bottleneck of material fusion or fission, and create a brilliance like the sun.”

Of course, these are just application ideas.

How to achieve it is still unclear, and resources still need to be invested in research.

The important thing is at hand.

Now that he has figured out the principle of the magic spell, Rosen has naturally successfully read the information stored in the magic artifact.

“Well, it’s interesting, it actually directly detects my absolute mana strength.”

It doesn’t detect other powers, it only detects mana.

So, if it is used on puppets, it will not read anything, because puppets have no mana.

Such an anomaly will expose the existence of flesh and blood puppets, causing the early warning function of the puppets to fail.

Rosen thought for a while, and according to the detection principle of light magic, he disguised his mana strength and disguised it as the early stage of the eighth circle.

Then, he carefully wrote the disguised information into the Radiant Artifact and Irene’s body.

When everything was completed, Irene was almost in a coma.

She couldn’t help but sigh: “Duke Rosen, aren’t you tired?”

Rosen played carefully with the female intelligence officer who was called an envoy but was actually a spy, and felt very happy: “Not enough, far from enough, I really want to grow on Ms. Irene.”

Irene has been wandering on the top of the cloud for I don’t know how many times.

Putting aside her personal prejudices, she had to admit that the Duke was extremely strong, many times stronger than her husband in her own country.

After sitting for more than half an hour, Rosen finally agreed to let her stand up.

He also kept his promise, found an excuse to go to the washroom, and took back the Radiant Artifact intact.

“Ms. Irene, I am a man of my word, I will return this to you.”

Irene breathed a sigh of relief, she didn’t work in vain.

Immediately afterwards, Rosen began to write a letter quickly in front of Irene.

“I can vaguely feel that Your Majesty is a very powerful Radiant Mage, and your mana cultivation level should be far superior to mine.”

“I am both shocked and frustrated by this.”

Speaking of this, Rosen sighed deeply with a sad face.

“I have no intention of being an enemy of the Radiant Empire, because I know I am no match for Your Majesty.”

Irene was startled: “Why did the Duke suddenly lose his ambition?”

Rosen sighed softly, and the ‘frustration’ on his face became even stronger: “It’s not that I have no ambition, it’s because I’m rational enough.”

He is really not qualified to wrestle with the Radiant Empire, but the other party already attaches so much importance to him.

This is definitely not a good thing, so he is going to be humble and show weakness to the Empress.

“I can clearly feel that I have come to the end of the road of mana cultivation. No matter how hard I practice, it is difficult to make progress, and I can only barely maintain my progress.”

At the end, he couldn’t help but let out a soft sigh, and all his emotions about pursuing the eleventh circle but failing to do so were reflected on his face.

So it seems sincere.

Irene immediately believed it eighty to ninety percent.

Seeing that Rosen wrote the letter generously in front of her, she became curious: “Can I read it, Duke?”

Rosen nodded: “Why don’t you sit on my lap and read it?”

Irene hesitated for a moment, but did as she was told. As soon as she sat down, she exclaimed: “Duke, why are you doing this again?”

Rosen smiled ‘lewdly’, but his eyes were full of ‘sadness’.

“Ms. Irene, my life has just suffered a huge blow, and this is the only hobby I have left. Please fulfill my wish.”

Irene was helpless, she simply turned her head to look at the letter. As she read, she was slightly surprised: “So this is why the Blackstone warship’s power is so strong and smooth!”

Rosen nodded: “That’s right. I believe that with Ms. Irene’s vision, you should be able to see that what I wrote is true.”

“Of course, I won’t write many technical details. I believe that the great Empress can easily realize it and surpass my current achievements.”

He informed the basic principles of the warship to let the Empress believe his sincerity in not daring to confront her.

But no loss at all.

Because the treasure he got from the Radiant Power greatly made up for this small loss.

Irene nodded: “With the power of my Radiant Empire, as long as there is a successful starting point, it will soon reach the other shore of success.”

Rosen finished writing the letter, and carefully condensed a magic seal with the mana of the seventh-circle peak, then with a thought, he used Mage Hand to summon Irene’s clothes, and inserted the letter into the pocket of the clothes.

“Ms. Irene, when I think that such a noble and beautiful person will soon leave Virland, and we may never see each other again in this life, I am filled with reluctance.”

“Please be kind enough to let me conquer you again?”

Irene was very resistant at first, but since Rosen showed enough sincerity and gave her the real thing, she overfulfilled the task.

After biting her lip, her heart softened, and she nodded slightly: “Just once.”

It was a long night.

Early the next morning, Ms. Irene, the envoy of the Radiant Empire, left the study exhausted.

As for Rosen.

He was full of energy and continued to hold the Virland Citizens’ Assembly.

After the conference lasted for five days, most of the issues were clarified, but a very important and extremely difficult to resolve disagreement emerged.

That is, in the face of Virland’s citizen reform, the Count lords and nobles of the Northern Counties have suffered greatly, and even the foundation of their existence is not solid.

Many radical civilians even proposed to completely abolish the aristocracy.

The Northern nobles were very apprehensive about this.

This is also a very serious issue, directly related to the fate of Virland.

Because the Nature Alliance, and even the Radiant Empire, are still in the era of aristocratic politics, Virland suddenly took such a big step forward and became a heterogeneous.

Heterogeneous, especially those that are harmful to nobles, are likely to be isolated by other countries.

This is definitely not a good thing for Virland.

The disagreement at the conference became more and more intense, and the related turmoil even spread outside the conference.

The envoys of Aaron, Levend, and even Kao and other Nature Alliance, as well as the envoys of the Radiant Empire, have been paying attention to the results of the conference.

Leaving Levend and Kao aside, Aaron was very happy.

They even started to make small moves secretly, hoping that Virland would fall into chaos first.

After resting for a few days, Irene has fully recovered both physically and mentally. She looked at the report collected by her subordinates and smiled gloatingly in her heart.

“Rogue Duke, I’ll see how you deal with this thorny problem!”