"How may I address you, my lord?" Duketace prostrated on the ground, asking with a respectful tone, one that bordered reverence.
After all, the casual act done by Compass Carburettor was deemed impossible for an Invoker. It was something surpassing the Stage.
It made Duketace understand that Compass Carburettor was probably an old monster, an Ascender that had shifted into the body of Pilkan to recultivate from scratch once his previous body turned old.
As part of the main family of the Lan Clan, one in charge of their treasury, he was aware of secrets regarding the Ascenders. He had heard it personally from his grandfather that the Clan Head, their sole Ascender, was more than two centuries old.
But, it wasn't his original body. He had already changed bodies thrice. And each time, he had to cultivate from scratch. And the body he obtained was that of his most talented descendant.
That was how the main family maintained its power, for the leading Clansman in every generation was actually the Clan head.
The Invoked Spirit of an Ascender was sentient. It was basically another body for the Ascender. And unlike an Invoker where their Nascent Soul was only formed from a portion of their soul, once an Invoker becomes an Ascender, their Nascent Soul would house their entire soul.
Thereby, their Invoked Spirit would actually become their body while their fleshly body was just a means of domicile. And when the fleshly body grows old, they would be able to send their Invoked Spirit into the Dreamland of someone else.
And immediately after, by devouring their Nascent Soul, they would take control of the respective flesh body. This was how Ascenders continued to live on for centuries.
Of course, there were plenty of restrictions to this method, something only an Ascender was aware of. Duketace didn't know of it.
That was why, the moment he saw Compass Carburettor's actions, he understood that an Ascender had taken over Pilkan's body. 'Maybe that's why he survived after falling into the Bottomless Mist Valley.'
"I'm Pilkan." Compass Carburettor said, "So, call me that, alright? You can revert to a formal addressal when in private."
"Yes, my lord." Duketace nodded in response. To avoid confusion, he would address Compass Carburettor as Pilkan in the presence of others and treat him as a regular youth. That way, none would be aware that an Ascender was operating using Pilkan's body.
'Good, he's now my subordinate. This is more beneficial to me.' Compass Carburettor thought, asking once he observed the other party, "Now, where do you suppose your family members are headed towards?"
"None would risk crossing over to the plateau, my lord." Duketace said, "There are too many powerful organisations established there. They would be robbed of everything the moment they try to set up a force of their own. So, I'm sure they would branch out in the plains here and possibly head towards the shores."
"With his character, Fenn would probably select a secluded village with bountiful resources to take over and set up a Clan. He would marry the pretty women there to set loose his bloodline and act like a King." Duketace said, "That's in his nature, which rounds off his possible location to a few places."
"We'll target him the last." Compass Carburettor said, "He doesn't have a Scroll, so he wouldn't be able to do anything much for the time being. It would take him ages to set up things."
"Continue."
"Yes," Nodding in response, Duketace thought for a moment before saying, "Kowla isn't talented in terms of management. So, she'll be travelling alone in search of information regarding eagles. Once every year, our eagles would fly towards an inhabited island far into the ocean. She'll make her way to that place to live in until she becomes an Ascender."
"Finally, it's tricky to predict my wife's movements. She has everything she needs, so she'll probably find a somewhat dry region to settle and start a Clan." He said, "There are plenty of such locations where she could potentially set up a Clan."
"So, who should we target first, my lord?" Duketace asked, happy to oblige.
'That Ascender Scroll seems useful for my purpose. It'll help speed things up for me. Besides, the other two would need time to develop.' Thinking as such, he smiled, "We'll seek your daughter first."
"But before that," Compass Carburettor stared at Duketace, motioning for him to summon his eagle, "I'll do some more improvements to your Invoked Spirit. With that, you'll be able to become a Superior Invoker in about a few months."
"Really? Is that possible?" Duketace was overjoyed, bowing in response, "Thank you, my lord!"
"Of course, if you grow stronger, I can travel farther distances easily." Compass Carburettor smiled at Duketace.
'So, I'm his personal wagon. That's why he's helping me.' Duketace thought, rather content at the fact, 'So what, I'm serving an Ascender personally. I can reach the peak of the Invoker Stage under him. That's many times better than what I would attain in the Lan Clan.'
He brought out his Invoked Spirit, pointing at it, "Please climb aboard, my lord."
"Let's head to the closest town first." Compass Carburettor said, "We'll rest up first and recover our Mental Strength. Catching up to your daughter would be easy after that."
He no longer planned to kill them but instead wished to make them all his subordinates. After all, they were all ambitious individuals, with the talent and means to achieve it.
This meant that if he played his cards right, Compass Carburettor would be able to gain a lot of benefits and chance upon discoveries that would prompt his advantage to balloon over Conjurer.
Three years; that was how long he could remain in this world. And before that time, Compass Carburettor planned to steal the powers of this world and weaken Conjurer significantly. After all, unlike Immortal, Magician and the others, there didn't seem to be too many worlds under Conjurer.
So, the loss of even a single world would impact him hard. Moreover, now that he interacted with this world a little, Compass Carburettor could determine that this world was still connected to the Fantasy World.
'I see, so he's still relying upon the Conjurer Profession itself to achieve his objective. There's too much advantage to be had over in that Fantasy World, so he doesn't have the heart to completely branch out from it.' Compass Carburettor thought, smiling as he uttered, "Naïve."
