System's POV
chapter-31

A few minutes after Hans left, Thirteen locked himself inside his room and meditated.

He accessed his Core and calculated which ingredients were most optimal for creating the antidote to cure the poison inside his Grandma's body.

The Poison was quite unique, with half of it being a very potent poison, and the other half being a very potent curse.

This combination not only prevented anyone from curing it completely, but it also deteriorated the rank of the victim, allowing the Poison to seep deeper into their bones and tissues, allowing it to become part of their body.

Simply put, removing the poison completely was tantamount to killing Lady Callista.

The poison and her were already inseparable, making any kind of cure counterproductive, hastening her death.

The only saving grace was that no one was able to find a cure, so they only tried to suppress it.

Since his brain was still not mature enough for high-level calculations, Thirteen paced himself and spent nearly two hours finalizing the list of ingredients that he needed.

He was certain that, with the help of the Leventis Family, looking for the rare ingredients wouldn't be that hard.

Since he didn't need to spend a single coin in this endeavor, Thirteen didn't hesitate to pick the most optimal ingredient, allowing Lady Callista to not only recover but to also make the poison that had caused her to suffer for several years transform into a deadly power that would be completely under her control.

'Once Grandma is cured, my family will have another backer in the Leventis Family,' Thirteen thought. 'After two years, Mikhail will have his First Wandering. I'll make sure to train him enough so that his first Quest will not be able to threaten his life.'

Truth be told, when Thirteen mentioned that it would take two years for Lady Callista to be cured, he meant that the potion would take two years to fully take effect.

During that period, she would also undergo therapy, but that was only another one of Thirteen's excuses.

The so-called therapy was just an excuse. In reality, he would use that time to impart to his Grandma a Divine Technique that would not only make her immune to all kinds of poison but also unleash the same kind of poison that she had suffered from onto her enemies.

The evil part of this ability was that the moment the poison fully spread inside her victims' bodies, they would fall under her control.

She would be like a Vampire Progenitor and be able to create her own Covenant, made up of people who were infected by the poison in her body.

Technically, Lady Callista was part of his family.

He had argued this clause with the Laplace Demon when they made the contract.

That detail, such as it was, was revised to make Gerald's father, mother, and biological sister a part of Thirteen's family, who could benefit from his abilities.

The same could be said for Alessia's mother, father, brothers, and sisters, who were biologically part of her family as well.

Although it took a while for the Laplace Demon to be convinced, it still reluctantly agreed in the end.

Thirteen's End Game was to make the Patriarch of the Leventis Family his pawn—errr backer, allowing him to monopolize the family's connections and resources to their fullest.

Of course, he had also made contingency plans in case this didn't work.

If he couldn't make the Leventis Family his treasure cove of resources, he would just focus on making money.

Lots of money!

Regardless of what people thought, money still made the world go round. It was an inescapable path of human evolution.

Those who controlled the flow of money controlled the world!

While he was looking for ways to break his restrictions, he would simply hire strong Wanderers and even Pathfinders to become his subordinates, allowing him to move unhindered despite only reaching the Rookie Rank.

'It's quite unfortunate that I can't mass produce Rune Equipment since it will break the current balance of the world,' Thirteen thought. 'But there are still other ways to earn money.'

The boy smirked because there was a loophole in the agreement. Although he couldn't sell Rune Equipment to the masses, he could still sell it directly to his Grandpa, Arthur!

Of course, he had to place certain restrictions on the items, which would allow only Arthur to wield them.

This way, not only would he be abiding by the agreement he had with Laplace Demon and The One, but he would also be able to earn millions of Gold Coins through his transactions with his Grandpa.

Simply put, Thirteen planned to make Arthur his ATM Machine that regularly dispensed money for his sake.

This was hitting two birds with one stone!

Of course, he also planned to give his Grandma some Top-Quality Artifacts, but he would give them to her for free.

'It's quite unfortunate that I can't arm Hans with Rune Equipment,' Thirteen sighed.

Since the Butler was his first ally, he wanted to strengthen him so that whenever he asked him to do something for him, Hans would be able to do it without fail.

Thirteen looked at the list of ingredients in his hand and smiled.

'Once Grandma is cured, I will refine some of her blood and make everyone in the family immune to poison,' Thirteen smirked. 'At least, we'll no longer have to be worried about being poisoned when we face poisonous creatures in Solterra. My Host also suffered a lot back then due to poison.'

The boy sighed after remembering his previous Host, who had died an unjust death at the hands of one of the Five Monarchs that ruled the world.

"Don't think about that scum for now," Thirteen muttered to himself. "He will get his just dessert once I unlock my restrictions. For now, I just need to focus on strengthening my family and allies."

He had already outlined the path that he would take in order to reach his goals as fast and securely as possible.

Of course, he still needed to know how much Solterra had changed since he was there. Also, there were other things that were on his mind, like the treasures that his previous Host had left behind for safekeeping.

His previous Host was a bit paranoid, so he didn't keep too many special items in his possession.

Thirteen knew exactly where these treasures were hidden, so he could unearth them the moment he became a rookie.

Of course, depending on how dangerous the location was, he would ask his family or Hans for help, allowing him to get some of the most powerful artifacts that used to belong to his Host.

His previous Host was a Throne Pathfinder before he was stabbed to death.

And all of the things he left behind were so precious that Thirteen could easily earn millions if he auctioned them off.

But Thirteen had no plans to do that. He would refine these artifacts and apply rune magic to them.

That way, they would become more powerful, allowing them to step into the Legendary Rank.