How can you become stronger if you don't build up bonds?

"Sigh..." Lin Wei sighed as he held Luya's soft, fragrant body.

He rarely shows his emotions in front of anyone other than Luya these days.

Whenever Lin Wei showed obvious joy, those around him would subconsciously guess that something good had happened. The servants in the manor would quickly report to Madam Laura, and then Laura would organize a celebration banquet in the shortest possible time.

She didn't care what kind of happy occasion it was; she just wanted to get it over with first. Even if Lin Wei tried to stop her, she would just use the excuse of rewarding the servants to brush it off.

After all, Lin Wei has always been very concerned about treating his subordinates and servants well, and the Duke's mansion is not short of money at all.

In short, this is absolutely politically correct! It's also what she considers the most efficient way to curry favor with Lin Wei.

Lin Wei can only be described as invincible.

Conversely, whenever he displays obvious negative emotions, everyone in the Duke's mansion will lose their appetite and sleep, trying every possible way to relieve his worries.

Finally, if Lin Wei doesn't show any emotion for a long time, he will be praised by the whole mansion for his "deep and resolute ambition," and then his two unfortunate brothers will be ordered by Laila to come and learn from Lin Wei.

Yes, Lin Wei is practically being coaxed into submission by the Duke's mansion.

Luya, who was sitting obediently on Lin Wei's lap and letting him pet her as he pleased, keenly sensed Lin Wei's sigh through the touch of his back. She gently placed her small hand on the back of Lin Wei's hand and stroked it tenderly.

"Thank goodness I have Luya." Lin Wei pressed his cheek against Luya's snow-white, smooth back.

Objectively speaking, when it comes to the skill of currying favor with Lin Wei, the entire Duke's mansion combined cannot compare to the Duke himself.

Although this old man was usually a womanizer and dissolute scoundrel, Lin Wei truly remembered his kindness.

Luya was bought by him from a slave trader. He had a keen eye and immediately took a liking to this deaf-mute girl, certain that Lin Wei would like her.

Indeed, that was the case; Lin Wei fell in love with Luya at first sight.

At the same time, Eugene used his connections and power to thoroughly investigate Luya's origins and background.

Luya comes from a small kingdom in the south. Her whole family died in a plague, but she survived thanks to her extraordinary resistance to disease.

To pay for her family's funeral, she sold herself to a slave trader.

The slave traders discovered that she possessed magical talent and planned to sell her as a rare collectible to nobles who could afford a high price.

During this period, many nobles and wealthy merchants took a liking to Luya, but because the merchants offered too high a price, Luya was unable to make a move for a long time.

"Even if a deaf-mute girl has the highest magical aptitude, she could never learn magic. The price you're asking for could buy two normal female magician slaves!"

"I don't care, there will always be someone who knows its value. If you can't afford it, then get lost!"

Then he met Eugene Creddy.

"Your Excellency Duke Kredy, I swear on my life that this slave named Luya has never been insulted or violated. I have always cherished her as my most prized possession, and her cleaning has always been done by my maids! And most importantly, she is still a virgin!"

"Take the money, and the person is mine."

……

Luya has a high aptitude for magic, a fact acknowledged by Cardinal Grimm.

As a deaf-mute, no matter how intelligent she is, she will never be able to chant incantations or unleash even the slightest spell in her life.

But Lin Wei didn't care. After buying Luya, the first thing he did was to personally go to the Southern Territory, bring back the remains of her hastily buried family, and break with ancestral tradition to give them a proper burial in the Kreddy family cemetery.

After mourning and paying respects with Luya, Lin Wei won the heart of this deaf-mute girl.

Later, no one knows how the old man found out that Lin Wei had a habit of holding Luya in his arms while thinking, so he specially found the top fashion designer in Fengdu to design a maid outfit for Luya.

The requirement is to maintain a cute style while ensuring the back is wide open.

Then the maid outfit designed by this designer combined a sense of sensuality and cuteness, perfectly capturing Lin Wei's sensibilities.

It is worth mentioning that during the trip to the Southern Reach three years ago, Eugene accompanied and commanded the Royal Guard throughout.

Although he was a womanizer, he was also a top archer in the Kingdom of Wallis, having fought on the battlefield and hunted monsters.

"A man's job is to always be able to shoot accurately and powerfully!"

This is his signature quote.

The current chief bodyguard of the Duke's mansion, Aleix, was also a product of that trip to the Southern Territory.

Aray's hometown was destroyed by the lich, and only he and his sister Phoebe Chris escaped.

He was barely clinging to life when he encountered Lin Wei and his group.

If Lin Wei hadn't borrowed Archbishop Green's favorite pastor disciple, Zoreni, and packed up all kinds of high-grade potions in Fengdu before setting off, Aray would never have survived that night.

After successfully saving Aray's life, Duke Eugene used a little trickery to attribute the entire life-saving favor to Lin Wei.

Lin Wei thus unwittingly gained a loyal guard who would do anything for him.

In hindsight, Lin Wei was the luckier one.

Because Yare is unlike a human.

Despite never having undergone systematic training, he managed to escape from a fourth-tier lich and even protect his defenseless younger sister.

According to Eugene, if he encountered a fourth-tier lich alone in the wild, he would run as fast as he could.

If he were to take a solid hit from a corrosive bomb, he probably wouldn't be able to serve Lin Wei for the rest of his life.

Lin Wei's comment on this was—"Such a fast licking."

In short, Lin Wei approves of Eugene as his biological father and even quite likes his personality and style.

…………

"Luya, how much time has passed?"

"..."

Why aren't you replying to me?

Lin Wei wasn't senile; he hadn't forgotten that his little maid was hard of hearing.

He spoke in a way that Luya could hear, his lips pressed against her snow-white back, a simple bone conduction technique.

Luya remained motionless, but the unfortunate millet seeds appearing on her back had already betrayed her true condition.

"22 minutes have passed... there are 8 minutes left..."

Luya raised her hands above her shoulders and answered Lin Wei's question in sign language.

"Does Luya really have to pretend to be calm?"

"Because...it's embarrassing...during the day..."

"Then call my name and I'll stop."

"Owner..."

"wrong."

"Lin Wei...Your Highness..."

"It's still not right."

"Honey......"

"I understand now."

Lin Wei returned to normal sign language communication, but Luya's blush had already spread to the back of her neck.

Lin Wei and Luya have been playing this stress-relieving game for a whole year.

No one had ever used this method to let her "hear" voices before, so her body would become extremely sensitive every time Lin Wei spoke to her like this.

Lin Wei was probably captivated by Luya for this very reason: no matter how many times she was teased, she would remain as shy and innocent as when he first embraced her.

……

Lin Wei is under a lot of pressure.

Even though his life was glamorous day after day, and he could enjoy the admiration of thousands of people just by sitting in the duke's mansion.

But as long as the "nemesis" bond remains unactivated, he will never feel secure.

The aura of divine favor surrounding him is essentially a bubble effect.

It would be fine if it didn't explode, but once it did, Lin Wei couldn't imagine how terrible the consequences would be.

Faced with such an ultimate dilemma, going crazy and breaking down is completely useless. The only thing to do is keep thinking of ways to stabilize the bubble and then do everything possible to find a way out.

The lich is a new concept that Lin Wei has been researching for the past two years.

Lin Wei's nemesis is not necessarily limited to humans; any creature with a certain level of intelligence is acceptable.

As undead creatures, liches are born with an absolute hatred for living beings. Most importantly, their means of attack are magic, so most liches possess thought and intelligence, meeting the prerequisite for a nemesis.

In addition, the scourge of liches has ravaged the mainland for the past decade, with a large number of civilian villages being attacked by liches every day.

Wallis was in a better position. King Nado had long ago personally appointed ten demon-hunting teams to patrol the kingdom, and the Adventurers' Guild and the Holy Church had also contributed considerable demon-hunting capabilities.

However, in the past two years, if we were to discuss which organization in Wallis has exerted the greatest effort in exterminating liches, it would undoubtedly be the Righteous Guard under Lin Wei.

The Righteous Guard, whose core members mostly came from Lin Wei's original personal guard, launched a ruthless campaign to exterminate the liches within its territory under the leadership of its valiant commander, Aleix.

Aray Chris's hatred for the lich is beyond anyone's imagination. In every battle, he always takes the lead, absorbing the most damage for his teammates while dealing the highest output.

With such fearless generals and commanders, the morale and combat power of the Justice Guard far surpass that of any other demon-hunting group.

After defeating the lich in each area, Yare would immediately announce Lin Wei's name and tell the local people that they had been saved by Lin Wei.

Duke Eugene would also use Lin Wei's name to send supplies and reconstruction efforts to the affected areas after the war.

Soon, tales of Aray's heroic deeds and praises of his lord Linwei Creedy began to circulate throughout Wallis.

Liches that could be captured alive would be escorted to the monster prison as Lin Wei requested. Then, under the constant protection of Are, Lin Wei would go to the prison to test the liches' aggro level.

However, to outsiders, Lin Wei's move was interpreted as him devoting himself to researching the origins of the lich calamity of the past decade.

In the near future, the lich scourge of Wallis will surely end in the hands of the great Prince Linwei!

This statement greatly inspired and boosted the confidence of countless Wallis citizens.

Faced with the lich invasion, they were no longer panicked or afraid.

Remaining calm, taking orderly evacuation, and patiently waiting for rescue have become the consensus among the people of Wallis.

This correct consensus further reduced the casualty rate of the Lich Bane.

Yes, Lin Wei once again became a key driver of the positive cycle ecosystem without doing much.

……

After gently draping a plain robe over Luya to cover her snow-white skin, the time finally came.

On the way to the prison, Lin Wei casually asked:

"Yare, why do you refuse His Majesty's reward?"

Yare, who was half a step behind Lin Wei, bent down:

"Your Highness, Ale doesn't care about noble titles or honors. I have already sworn to the gods that I will follow you for life, and if I ever betray you, may all the gods punish me!"

That's a bit of an exaggeration, isn't it?

Lin Wei's expression remained calm: "The two are not contradictory. Sometimes we should also think about Phoebe."

Actually, Lin Wei had another concern that he didn't voice.

That is, if Aray refused to bestow a reward, it would make the king lose face.

So far, many of the things Lin Wei has "done" have been presumptuous. The fact that the people most often praise him, not the king, but the son of a duke, is already outrageous enough.

Although he had an untargetable super buff, his uncle seemed to be a very virtuous king.

But when it comes to the art of ruling, you could say he didn't play it much, but to say he didn't play it at all is just too far-fetched.

If possible, Lin Wei didn't want these negative emotions to accumulate; he wanted to minimize them in his daily life.

Thinking of his sister... Phoebe doesn't really care about these things, huh—!? Could it be that His Highness means...?

Alejandro's body suddenly shuddered violently.

He instinctively gripped the spear in his hand, swallowing hard.

"Your Highness... how does Your Highness view Phoebe... cough cough—"

What's wrong with him? He's coughing like that. Is he sick?

Lin Wei turned his head and glanced at Yare.

As for Phoebe Chris, I've heard she has a real talent for pharmacism and is currently working hard to improve her skills in that area.

Lin Wei had always remembered him for his short stature and cute face.

"Phoebe is cute, smart, and hardworking. I like her a lot. Let's come to the Duke's mansion together next holiday. I haven't seen her in a while."

"clang--"

The spear that had slain countless enemies suddenly fell to the ground from Ale's hand.

He trembled with extreme excitement and agitation.

As I suspected... Phoebe and I... both have a chance to become His Highness's family...

To become a nobleman... you need to achieve more military exploits...

And regarding etiquette... we also need to urge Phoebe to study harder...

We must ensure that Phoebe is worthy of being His Highness's concubine...

Lin Wei turned his head again.

No, you're really wrong. How can a weapon fall to the ground?

Lin Wei exchanged glances with Luya on the other side.

Luya shook her head slightly, indicating that Are's problem was probably not related to health.

When I looked at Aare again, he had already picked up the spear from the ground, and—

What's that guy suddenly burning?

His eyes seemed to be burning with flames, but they had nothing to do with anger; they were more like excitement and exhilaration.

But Lin Wei needed to maintain his public image and couldn't ask too many questions.

In short, Lin Wei arrived at the monster prison with a string of questions in his mind.

The scene inside the monster prison is not as dark, old, terrifying, and underground as stereotypes suggest. Most of the place is well-lit, and it is more like a farm or something similar.

Because this monster prison was newly built, funded by King Nado, it was essentially built specifically for Lin Wei's research.

Although Lin Wei's actions had absolutely nothing to do with research, he had no choice but to accept it out of consideration for his public image.

Previously, there were very few examples of capturing liches alive in the kingdom. After all, not everyone had the courage of Are, who dared to risk the lich's self-destruction to accurately nail the anti-magic item into the lich's body at close range.

Bathed in the undisguised admiring gazes of the prison guards, Lin Wei arrived at the cell specifically for imprisoning liches.

Looking around, the lich captured this time was emaciated, wearing tattered robes, with anti-magic cones nailed to its chest and forehead, its limbs firmly locked in anti-magic shackles, and its body sealed with countless layers of magic by priests.

In short, there is no possibility of any danger.

"Second tier, right?" Lin Wei said, stroking his chin.

"Judging from the spells it casts, it's a standard second-tier lich, but its physical condition is actually closer to third-tier," Are replied.

"What's the point of this one's mutation?"

"It doesn't seem to self-destruct, and its intelligence and aggressiveness are somewhat lower than other liches."

Upon hearing Yare's conclusion, Lin Wei's heart sank.

坏！

A mutated lich is an individual with distinct characteristics compared to a regular lich.

Normally, self-destruction is a trump card that every lich possesses; even if they are completely annihilated, they will take their enemies down with them.

For Lin Wei, whether the lich would self-destruct was not important; its intelligence level was somewhat of a reference, but not much; however, its low desire to attack was fatal.

Through his numerous tests, he found that the lich's hatred and desire to attack living beings are directly proportional.

Another wasted trip...

Lin Wei sighed inwardly.

Let's go up and take a look at its aggro value.

For the first time the "Nemesis" bond test detects aggro, you need to stay within 3 meters of the target.

"Open the door."

The guard standing at the prison gate took out a key and unlocked the door.

Lin Wei walked slowly into the cell, with Yare and Luya following closely behind.

Lin Wei precisely positioned himself at the edge of the 3-meter effective range, 5 meters and 3 meters away from the lich.

Current target aggro level: 0

ha--?

The moment Lin Wei saw this number, he lost all composure.

Is my luck really this incredible lately?

How could I possibly encounter a lich with zero hatred points, a bizarre creature that deserves to be kept in a museum?

People can actually laugh when they're speechless enough!

But before Lin Wei could even properly laugh, another line of text suddenly appeared on the hatred value display panel:

Current target aggro value: 520

! ? ?

Lin Wei froze on the spot for a moment, but the next instant—

"Your Highness, be careful—!!"

Are's furious cry was almost simultaneously captured by his senses along with the sudden appearance of the cold dagger before him.

"Enemy attack—!!!"