Imperial Crown.

Chapter 524 Leaving
That's right.

Orcs possess innately robust physiques and unparalleled strength! In comparison, humans are as frail as chickens. So what do orcs revere most? Strength, of course! But Raven has muscle memory and habitual thinking; don't orcs also have habitual dependencies? Their habitual dependencies are naturally subconscious physical combat.

So when Raven closed in, even though Silvermane sensed a trap, he instinctively chose to engage Raven in hand-to-hand combat, rather than creating distance and using his sixth-tier battle aura to entangle Raven from afar. This was neither in accordance with the habits of an orc nor with their dignity!
It's quite understandable that they ended up like this.

"cough"

Silver Mane spat out a mouthful of blood.

"Not dead yet?"

Raven was shocked. A sixth-tier warrior was indeed a sixth-tier warrior! Back then, his full-force punch couldn't even withstand the armored fifth-tier reincarnated angel, Aetheril, who died instantly. Yet Silvermane had withstood three of Raven's even more terrifying kicks with his bare body and was still alive! How could Raven not be astonished?

"Take a deep breath, dizziness is normal."

Raven clenched his fist, which was as big as a sandbag, ready to give Silvermane a quick death.

woohoo
The fist whistled through the air as it slammed down towards the silver-maned tiger's face!
However, with a loud bang, Silvermane actually stretched out his intact left hand and caught Raven's fist just an inch above the tiger's face!
Raven frowned, a sense of foreboding washing over him! He had been crouching very close to Silvermane, only slightly raising his fist to increase its power, creating a few seconds of opening! Yet, in those few seconds, Silvermane, eyes closed and blood gushing from his mouth and nose, had actually caught his fist! Caught it, so be it! After all, Silvermane was a sixth-tier expert! Raven could understand some illogical phenomena; it actually fit his understanding of sixth-tier experts! It would be impossible for Raven to kill a sixth-tier expert with just a few punches and kicks! But what happened next horrified Raven! His physical body had been enhanced to an abnormal level by the magic core; the terrifying power of his punch had been demonstrated by both fourth-tier Wanda and fifth-tier Aetheril, who paid the bloody price for it.

The heavily injured Silvermane not only caught his punch precisely, but also blocked it!
This is somewhat terrifying and eerie!
But the next moment, something even stranger happened!

Silvermane's eyes rolled back, revealing pupils that were a chilling white. His voice, cold and eerie like a deity's, resounded like a great bell, shaking the heavens and earth. "Raven!!!!" he roared, then suddenly flung Raven away with his left hand. He then soared into the sky, his leather and armor-clad garments shattering into dust. He stood suspended in mid-air, gazing indifferently at Raven's figure.

Puff puff

Raven was instantly thrown away, rolling around on the ground like a tumbleweed, even crashing into a small mound of earth, which shattered and sent dust billowing everywhere!

This shows just how powerful Silvermane's flick was!

Fortunately, Raven had devoured a seventh-tier magic core, and his physical strength definitely surpassed that of a fifth-tier magical beast. It's not an exaggeration to say that he might even rival a sixth-tier magical beast! Although this was a sorry sight, it was more of an insult to him than a serious injury!

However, this was enough to startle Raven, who hesitated and looked up at the sky.

Unexpectedly, the first thing he saw was something extremely offensive: two round objects, each the size of a fist, covered in short, coarse, fine hairs. It looked exactly like a cat stretching and arching its back, its rear end facing him—who could resist jumping?! But these things were at least dozens of times the size of a cat! Silver Mane stood there brazenly in the air, his eyes rolled back, flames erupting from his body—a sight only caused by the frenzied release of his battle aura! He stared at him like a blood-soaked phoenix.

"Resentment?!"

Raven belatedly realized that Silvermane wasn't actually dead; rather, his resentment was too great, causing this seemingly "last gasp" of mechanical behavior. In this world, the Hand of Death could even resurrect skeletons, so what couldn't Raven accept? Or perhaps some deity possessed him? After all, the "Raven" Silvermane had roared just now didn't sound like a normal voice Silvermane could produce.

"Raven! Take this palm strike, and our feud will be over!" Silvermane's battle aura surged wildly outwards, growing ever stronger. In a short moment, it looked like a terrifying sunset! A large area of ​​the sky was burned red by the flames formed by his battle aura! It resembled a rosy sunset or twilight.

Raven looked around, took a small step back, and began to consider which direction to run in.

Such a terrifying scene—only a fool would take a blow from him! Silver Mane's actions at this moment are somewhat similar to a dantian self-destruction in a fantasy novel?! In any case, the battle qi within a sixth-tier expert is truly terrifying—abundant and of high quality. If Silver Mane had fought Raven like this from the beginning, the outcome would have been uncertain. Even Raven suspected that Silver Mane wasn't just burning battle qi; he might have sacrificed his own blood, bones, and flesh as well!

"Desolate, Fallen, Imprisoned, Heavenly Palm!"

Silvermane would not give Raven another chance to escape. He quickly shouted, word by word. With his thunderous voice, the beast soul behind him suddenly appeared. A huge tiger paw descended from the sky, its five fingers emitting flames of different colors and making a creaking sound, rolling down towards Raven's head!

At this moment, Raven found himself completely unable to move, as if he had been turned into amber solidified by resin, utterly unable to budge! But what was even more terrifying was yet to come. The space beneath the giant hand seemed to have been separately partitioned off and placed inside an airtight container! As the giant hand rapidly descended, the air was continuously compressed to its limit, even displaying vibrant rainbow-colored spots! With each step the giant hand took, a tremendous explosion resounded through the air! Like a syringe with its vent blocked, and Raven like a mosquito trapped inside, his fate was sealed as the lever continued to advance—he would inevitably be crushed alive!

"You want to drag me down with you even if you die?!" Raven roared fiercely, his face contorted with rage.

Raven's battle qi surged wildly within him, his muscles bulging like towering mountain ranges. At this moment, he once again unleashed the power of the Blood Curse within him without any restraint! Although each use of it would have extremely dire consequences, Raven clearly couldn't care less at this moment!
"Crush it for me!"

The fist collided with the giant palm, yet not a single sound escaped! It truly reached the realm of "the greatest sound is silent"! But it still generated a violent shockwave that spread outwards at the speed of light!

A full minute later, the sound of the shockwaves crashing against the surrounding mounds echoed continuously. Within a two-mile radius, the earth shook violently as if struck by a meteorite, a scene resembling the end of the world!

"cough"

"Zhuo Geng! Save me!"

Raven was slammed into the ground by the giant hand, his whole body paralyzed, and his right arm completely numb! He could only shout loudly. However, as soon as he opened his mouth, countless clods of earth and debris flooded in, the earthy taste almost suffocating Raven.

Zhuo Geng used his dragon claws to dig Raven out. Raven limped toward Silvermane, needing to personally confirm whether Silvermane was truly dead this time! However, before he could reach Silvermane, the weather, which had finally cleared up, suddenly became overcast, followed by rumbling thunder, swirling silver snakes, and flashing purple lightning.

“A strange phenomenon in the heavens and earth?” Raven’s expression changed. “No, this is heaven and earth mourning. It seems that Silvermane is truly dead this time.”

Dragging his legs, which felt numb and tingling as if he'd spent too much time on the toilet in his past life, Raven endured the pain to reach Silvermane. He took the ring from Silvermane's left hand and then unleashed a magical fireball to incinerate Silvermane's corpse. Only after doing this did Raven let out a long sigh and collapse to the ground. He was not only weak and sore all over, but also in excruciating pain all over his body, as if his body had been divided into dozens of pieces, each with its own unique agony! Most terrifyingly, the blood curse that the Golden Tree Saliva had painstakingly dispelled was visibly thickening and growing larger again.

Fortunately, with the problem of Silvermane resolved, Raven was finally able to leave with a clear conscience.

After resting for a while and waiting for Silvermane's corpse to completely turn into black ash, Raven mounted Drogon and returned to Bloodstone Keep, his whole body soaked to the bone like a drowned rat.

After taking a hot shower, Raven went to his desk, took out parchment, and began to write furiously.

This is a letter he wrote to Lux.

To quickly alleviate the financial pressure, Raven decided to start with potato chips, for which he already had a mature manufacturing process. This was relatively simple; he just needed to expand the product line. For example, in addition to potato chips, he could add other products such as rice crackers, cat ear-shaped pastries, octopus-shaped pastries, and various other flavored crisps.

To ensure the aloof Lux took it seriously, Raven added a note: "If managed well, the profit margin on this product won't be much lower than that of Angel's Tears." He then sketched various approximate shapes. Although Raven, a former laborer, couldn't possibly know how to make it, and even if he did, he couldn't possibly remember all the details, it wasn't particularly difficult. There was an existing factory, and a general idea and direction; he could simply let Poirot and the others experiment a few more times.

The second thing is to develop a new product—chocolate. After all, the principle that food is the most important thing for people is timeless, no matter where you are. Things like wine and clothes are luxuries beyond basic needs, which limits their marketability. Raven gave a rough explanation of the chocolate-making process based on his memory. It might not be accurate, and he might not be able to make it. If it doesn't work, he'll have to wait until he gets back.

The third thing was the Angel Feathers. Raven gave a brief explanation of how to make pillows and bedding sets from wolf hair and eagle feathers. Like the chocolate, it was just a trial; if it didn't work, so be it, he'd deal with it when he got back. As for acquiring the wolf hair and eagle feathers, that was left to Hu Xia and Pan En; they would handle it properly.

The fourth thing is quite important: Raven plans to establish a bank! And it's a chain bank, with a name already decided—Dragon Gold Bank. It will have a standard white card, a VIP green card, a SVIP purple card, a ProMax black card, and an Ultra gold card! To quickly raise funds, Raven has written down the basics of a Ponzi scheme on a card, which he'll have Lux give to Denise. With his aunt's intelligence, she'll surely see through the underlying logic and essence at a glance.

However, the Ponzi scheme was merely a means to an end. After all, Raven was genuinely going to invest in building a factory, which was fundamentally different from a Ponzi scheme.

To be honest, without fighting, these mercenaries wouldn't stay here if Raven didn't pay them. Wouldn't they earn far more by becoming adventurers in the Bloodhowl province and smuggling orcs back to Cairns? Besides, mercenaries are free men; it wouldn't be right for Raven to restrict their freedom after they've fought so hard for him, would it? That would be inhuman, and Raven would never do such a thing.

This is reality!

The real world will never operate according to Raven's personal will.

Since he wanted the mercenaries to stay and also wanted to keep their money, Raven thought long and hard and came up with the idea of ​​setting up a bank. But setting up a bank required capital, so Raven asked Hu Xia to send someone back to his aunt to get 300 million gold coins.

After explaining everything, Raven felt a strange sadness. There were too many things to deal with, but Lux's poison couldn't be delayed any longer, so Raven had no choice but to act quickly! He finished the Angel's Tear beside him and started writing again.

Remember, remember, do not tell anyone about my departure, not even Eric or Denise. Have Link and the hyena take turns guarding outside the castle, using my illness as an excuse to refuse any visits. Raven carefully wrote these instructions on the parchment.

Lux is indeed beautiful and kind-hearted, but sometimes she is too naive, so Raven has to explain every single detail.

Pan En is a man who should be "used frequently," but not "relyed upon." He is extremely cunning and has grand ambitions. As long as I am present, he will not dare to overstep his bounds, but once he learns that I am not here, he will definitely cause trouble. After I leave, you can deliberately act as if you trust Pan En and entrust him with many matters, creating a crisis for Hu Xia and thus putting the two of them in a competitive position. Everything will be fine then.

Thor is impulsive, and Hoaz is sensitive; both are too young to be indulged. They need to be disciplined and restrained. The more polite you are to them, the more these spoiled brats will take advantage of you. Don't count on Eric; he can't educate Thor at all, and you'll have to put in a lot of effort.

Leave the potato chips and chocolate business to Poirot and Corrug; these two are reliable and dependable, so you don't need to worry about them much. Just keep an eye on the spending.

As for the matter of Angel's Feather and Dragon Gold Shop, you can leave it to your aunt Denise. She has been in charge of the guild's operations for many years and has an extremely keen talent for business and economics. She will handle it properly.

Never leave everything to your aunt Denise, or trouble will ensue! Even if Denise has no ill intentions, others will still cause various conflicts and disagreements because they dislike her.

Hand over military discipline to Eric; the standards can be relaxed somewhat for mercenaries. Too much turmoil will leave no fish; as long as no serious incidents occur, turn a blind eye. But if someone dies, they must be publicly beheaded as a warning to others!

You must control all the money, and everything can be done under the pretext of needing my approval. You can imitate my handwriting. Okay, although I hate to admit it, my handwriting is truly uniquely ugly, incredibly ugly, strikingly ugly. You absolutely dare not write your handwriting too beautifully.

Lux, whether you believe it or not, from beginning to end, you've always been the only one in my heart.

I feel only gratitude and indebtedness towards Nancy, and my relationship with my aunt was merely one of mutual exploitation. Only with you is it true love.

"No one is coming."

Many people call me crazy, call me lowly, and insult me ​​as despicable… I admit, I, Raven, am not a good person. But Lux, do you know? You grew up in a wealthy and privileged family, born into nobility. No matter what happened, you always had teachers and parents behind you. But in both my past and present lives, I deeply understand one thing—no one will come. Every bit of dignity, every sliver of happiness, every morsel of bread in my life… I have to fight for it myself, obtain it, calculate it, and gamble on it. Even if it's bitter and exhausting, I can only swallow my pride and bear it all! Because in my world, no one will shelter me from the wind and rain, no one is my lord of light.

Until you appeared, and then appeared again.

You are as precious to me as family, and also the savior who brought me light. This time with you has been the happiest and most fulfilling time of my life. Yet, it has also made me realize more clearly—

The moment happiness arrives, the countdown to sorrow has already begun.

……

(End of this chapter)