Chapter 415: Advertisements

"!!!" The two brothers were shocked. Even becoming Rank 5 was extremely hard for a unique-element user, let alone Rank 6. There was basically no record of it.

Yet she actually claimed she had a way to make him reach Rank 6?

"Girl, there is a limit to boasting." Ileff felt pretty annoyed.

Katarina chuckled. "If you don’t believe me, then I don’t mind taking my business elsewhere. In that case, thank you for hearing me out. I’ll take my leave."

When Katarina turned around, Kleff shouted, "Wait!"

Katarina halted her steps.

"Bro, you’re not seriously going to believe her, right?" Ileff was dumbfounded.

"I don’t have a choice." Kleff shook his head. "Sit down!"

"Thank you." Katarina calmly walked toward the couch as though she was expecting them to accept her.

"If you do have that method, I can always torture you for that information." Kleff narrowed his eyes.

"I’m not so foolish as to come here and give you any options. You can try harming even a single strand of my hair, but you will lose that chance forever. You might end up getting branded as the most foolish parent in the world." Katarina didn’t back down despite the threat.

Kleff was glaring at her, but Katarina remained calm as though she was ready for everything.

After thirty seconds, Kleff finally asked, "I know there is no such thing as a free lunch. What do you want?"

"Your cooperation. I want to be the head of my family, and you have the power to do that."

"So, you want to use us as your muscle to take care of the problems that will stop you from taking that seat?"

"Essentially, yes."

"What can you offer us?"

"The way to make your son reach Rank 6." Katarina took out her phone and typed the answer before placing her finger on her lips and gesturing for them to remain silent.

There was only one answer.

Unique-element evolution master.

"!!!" The Kleffin Brothers widened their eyes in shock. They had never heard of this so-called unique-element evolution master.

"That’s impossible."

"Not really." Katarina shook her head. "I am offering you a way to get your son into the program that helps the people with the same condition as your son. However, to reach Rank 6, your side still needs to put in the work."

"Do you mean slaving us away?"

"Of course not. All I want is your cooperation. That’s all. What I mean by work is simply providing the materials needed to fill up your son’s element."

They understood why Katarina told them about the unique-element evolution master. The evolution master was only involved in helping them rank up.

"I have a channel through which your son can join that group. However, that group has a very strict policy. First, don’t investigate the person responsible. Second, don’t talk about this program with anyone else. Third, do the rest of the work yourself.

"Telling you this is already risky for me. If you end up revealing it to someone else, that means your son will also lose his chance forever.

"So, that’s the chance I’m offering." Katarina smiled confidently. It was actually a very good way of telling them that if they stopped supporting her, she would do everything possible to kick Refftin out of that group.

It was a good method to ensure the long-term sustainability of this cooperation.

Kleff and Ileff looked at each other. Ileff said, "There’s no proof that such a thing exists. Surely, you don’t plan to make us believe in something nonexistent, right?"

"Oh, it does exist. There will be another recruitment round for the program happening in five days. I plan to get my family involved in six days. Aren’t I generous? I give you the chance to benefit from it first, but I’d like to warn you, gentlemen. If you choose to turn your back on me at that time..." Katarina smiled. There was no need for her to finish those words.

They already knew the consequences.

Katarina stood up. "I’ve given you my offer. I’ll give you three days to decide. It’s not easy to sneak someone into the recruitment process after all."

She walked away and passed Lila, who was bringing their drinks. "Oh, Ma’am."

"You’re going back already? How about staying for a drink at least?"

"Yes, I’m sorry, but I need to go back home right now."

Kleff and Ileff were staring at each other, contemplating whether to accept it or not. If this method was true, then that meant Refftin had a chance to surpass them.

The problem was that Ileff might have to pay the price for his son as well. If it were just his support, he could work for Katarina for the rest of his life, but Ileff also had a family of his own, so it wouldn’t be right to get him involved.

Kleff opened his mouth. "Ileff..."

"Okay, stop!" Ileff waved down. "No matter what you want to say, I’ll pretend I can’t hear it. Your son is my son. Your family is my family."

"..."

They had no choice but to contemplate the offer overnight.

Meanwhile, Katarina had begun her second task. The Kleffin Brothers were more than enough for her to secure control of her family.

That was why the second task came from Auric. It was about the advertisement for the Moon Store.

Once she had settled everything, she finally began investing money in the advertisements. It was an online store with a unique way of selling, so all the advertisements focused on internet ads.

There were two countries that Auric intended to target, but for the time being, Katarina focused only on one country to check its response.

It was none other than the UK.

While it was true that Lech-Aistia was also a prime candidate, Auric was closer to the UK than Lech-Aistia. In the worst-case scenario, Auric would simply convince Lady Merlin to help him.

However, Katarina had heard about Lady Merlin being wise, so she hoped that Lady Merlin would be convinced by the advertisements without realizing that Auric was behind this shop.

People who were browsing the internet couldn’t help but come across a few ridiculous ads.

[Fight against the Sun Store. Reign supreme with us at the Moon Store.]

[Do you feel that your affinity grade is too low? We have a method to increase it.]

[Want to be talented? We can make you more talented than you are right now.]

[There’s no need to fear the talent you were born with. We can make a difference.]

[Calling for all people with the S-grade affinity. We can make your affinity grade reach SS.]

There were a bunch of ads everywhere. Even a scam could attract a lot of traffic, so the ads soon became a trending topic on the internet.

It was such a bold claim that it also brought hope to the desperate students. Many students were having a hard time progressing because their affinity grade was low.

Having a lower-grade affinity meant they were less sensitive to the energy flow. Absorbing materials also yielded less energy for them than for more talented students.

That was why they were looking for a method to improve their affinity grades.

Obviously, the government didn’t like the idea.

"What is going on here? I had to wake up because the situation had become quite chaotic!" The prime minister asked, glaring at the others.

There were many ministers and some members of the Round Table.

"Do you want me to shut it down and capture whoever is trying to sell this scam?" a middle-aged man asked.

"Sir Gawain." The prime minister looked at him but couldn’t make a decision yet.

Lady Merlin looked at the website and fell silent. "I think we should wait."

"Why is that?" The prime minister asked.

"Because I’ve bought the book to find out what’s going on." Lady Merlin shrugged. "It’s expensive for most people, but not for me. It’s money I can spend just to check, so I have bought one for now."

"What’s your opinion about the technique?"

"I don’t know yet. It’s a bit confusing, but the set of instructions is quite clear. There is actually one thing that bothers me, though it’s not about the book."

"What is it?" The prime minister asked.

"It’s this small note on the bottom of their website. We have just left Dermania because we’ve confirmed that they’re not aligned with our goal of elevating the overall talent of the next generation."

"Dermania?"

"Yeah. There’s a chance that someone from Dermania bought this, or else they won’t even put it there. So, there might be some sort of grudge. There is also the matter of that angel appearing in Dermania not long ago."

"Do you mean it’s related to that?"

"I don’t know, but there are things happening in Dermania that we don’t know. This is probably one of them. Rather than closing it immediately, I think it’s worth testing the method first. Don’t we have a few people willing to take the risk?"

The prime minister looked down, contemplating.

"You’ve grown senile, Merlin." Sir Gawain shook his head. "If we let our citizens use this and it turns out to be a scam that harms them, it’ll be too late. We need to boycott it immediately and tell people not to practice it."

"I’m saying that if you do that and it ends up being true, you will be the one paying the price. This store has left Dermania once, so if what they’re offering is valid, what will you do if it decides to leave our country for the same reason?" Lady Merlin shrugged.

"The risk is simply too high! This is an unproven method."

"So is the Gathering Technique! This store is promoting its plan to challenge the Sun Store from Esfrata."

"Yeah, ads can lie. Surprising, isn’t it?"

Merlin simply shrugged. "I’ve given you my advice. If you decide to boycott that store, don’t come to me if you end up regretting your choice."

"You believe too much in a scam like this."

Lady Merlin just smiled, not caring about anything else. If this were true and people started seeing their affinity grades rise, she would be laughing because the Moon Store wouldn’t hesitate to leave the country. At that time, people would regret their decision and blame the government.

At the same time, if it turned out to be a fake and ruined a lot of lives, the people would also blame the government.

Either choice was bad, but one middle-aged man suddenly spoke up, "How about this? Since this store has left Dermania, there might be some traces of it. Assuming someone bought these books, those people must be regretting their purchases right now. So, why don’t we first investigate Dermania? Can you stall for one or two days for us, sir?"

"Sir Bedivere." The prime minister nodded. "I can do that, but we don’t have much time."

"I’m aware, sir. I’ll need a lot of resources."

"Well, since Lady Merlin here doesn’t care about spending money, why don’t you ask her to send you some resources? You believe this is true, so shouldn’t you be eager to prove it?" Sir Gawain snorted.

Lady Merlin’s eyebrows twitched. This time, she really wanted the Moon Store’s testament to be true. She really wanted to smack him in the face. "Sure, I don’t mind. If it ends up true, don’t forget that I and Sir Bedivere deserve the credit. I will definitely mention at every opportunity that Sir Gawain is the one opposing this."

"I’m certainly going to tell the world that you are actually supporting this scam. Maybe you have taken some money from this store."

The two suddenly stood up. Before they could release their energy, Sir Bedivere had already appeared between them. "All right. That’s enough of your bickering. Since we don’t have much time, why don’t we just cut this meeting short, Prime Minister?"

The prime minister looked at them before sighing. "Very well. We’ll end the meeting here. The rest will be handled in the usual way."

"Understood." Sir Bedivere looked at Merlin. "Lady Merlin? Do you mind?"

Lady Merlin snorted and walked out of the room.