Surviving The Fourth Calamity

However, for such a person, their concept of love is bound to be predictably realistic.

Is the paintbrush not good enough?

For the Young Master who has survived in a world of intrigue since childhood, someone as devoted as the Paintbrush is truly quite good.

She is also considered pretty, with excellent abilities in various aspects.

After all, this person managed to become a high-level manager and effectively the head of the Black and White Path’s enormous family by her own strength.

The Ink Brush is courteous to her, not because she sincerely pursues him... Of course, part of it is due to her wholehearted devotion to him, earning her a bit of his trust, but he never intended to accept her pursuit, so naturally, he wouldn’t lower his demands of her.

At most, among Ability Users of equal standards, he only chooses Paintbrush because she is more genuine towards him.

And those female managers of the Proud Sky Alliance, such as the ’Old Age Striking King’ and ’Cunlü’, who are both proud and lofty, their attitude towards Paintbrush during that time also proved that her strength was enough to stand with them.

So, aside from her family background, Paintbrush is absolutely the best girl Ivan, the Young Master of Eden, could encounter... and rarely, she truly loves him.

However, for Ivan, without a family background, there is nothing.

A passionate and joyous love affair is possible, but walking into the marriage altar with Paintbrush?

Absolutely impossible.

It’s not like he lacks ambition, merely relying on a stipend to live.

Originally, if he could establish a foothold for Eden in this game... not to truly suppress the opposing country, but just to gain a decent survival space and turn Eden into a dominant force, then Ivan’s love game could continue.

But he lost the gamble.

And his means of continuing to create storms in the game... the money and the support of other ’friends’ turned to nothing.

Moreover, the situation was so big that even the media on their side had reported it... at least when he seemed to have the absolute upper hand in Aesces, the media on their side overwhelmingly praised his strength.

Although his failure wasn’t publicized, those who should know already knew.

It’s just that his loss wasn’t unexpected... the elders stronger than him also never won, so how could he be blamed?

At least he once held an advantage!

This even left an impression on many powerful individuals, recognizing him as someone capable and daring to act.

Since there are no more benefits to reap from the game, Ivan naturally seizes this opportunity to deepen the impression these powerful individuals have of him.

Then, using this opportunity, he steps onto the stage.

Although their family wouldn’t provide opportunities to the young so early, if he can grasp the advantage with his own skills, the family won’t hold him back; they will certainly provide the due treatment.

So, compared to those former ’companions’, Ivan isn’t losing too thoroughly... when they had to reach into their own pockets, it proved that Ivan was stronger than his peers.

And proving himself as a wolf and not a dog, before being accepted by the wolf pack, Ivan has a more important task:

Back then, to blend into the dog pack, he naturally chose the prettiest, most popular female dog as a partner.

But since he is returning to the wolf pack, that now mismatched female dog can naturally be kicked out.

Ivan, as a wolf, would only choose a she-wolf as a lifelong companion.

Even though this she-wolf, besides resembling a wolf, neither has a beautiful coat nor a lovely appearance, her temperament is far from gentle and obedient... most importantly, the reason for being with him isn’t because of his personality and ability, but simply because he is a wolf.

But a wolf is a wolf, and a dog is a dog.

And then, the Paintbrush, once shining for a moment, disappeared again... this time, she couldn’t have another chance.

Regarding the previous conflict with the Black and White Path, although she behaved quite excessively, Ink Brush still felt a bit guilty towards her, and the people of the Black and White Path thought her condition was understandable, so basically, no one in the Undead Tribe spoke badly of her.

The whispers, the mockery and banter were mostly borne by the Ink Brush.

Paintbrush herself didn’t suffer much harm... after all, Ink Brush never accepted her and always rejected her.

All her unbearable pain came from what she couldn’t attain on her own.

But this time, she bore absolute malice.

Just like those ’wolf and dog’ stories... this wasn’t Hill’s evaluation, but news that came after everything was settled, from the Undead Tribe in Aesces.

From the mouths of those Young Masters and Misses of Eden who transferred their anger onto Paintbrush because of Ivan’s deceit, but almost everyone in the Undead Tribe knew... this time, no one thought Paintbrush was pitiable, so their words had no reservation.

After all, everyone knew that Proud Sky Alliance was initially at a disadvantage in the world of Aesces, mainly because of her.

If Paintbrush hadn’t orchestrated such a scene... those former members who harbored resentment or were still bitter about the Black and White Path incident would eventually forget those things.

Even if they ultimately left Proud Sky Alliance, it wouldn’t be in such a resolute manner, which could even be said to be detested by most people.

Traitors, even if there’s reason to empathize with them, are not worthy of forgiveness.

Moreover, their betrayal wasn’t just an internal matter... which would still attract scorn, but that’s just verbal scorn.

Like that of ’Lu Huayu’ back in the day, as long as one was thick-skinned enough, they wouldn’t even need to delete their account.

The ones they allied with were foreigners... foreigners from an enemy state.

If Eden had established its footing in Aesces, they could’ve kept surviving by closing their eyes and ears, not exposing their identity in reality.

But not only did Eden fail, it failed so badly that it couldn’t even keep its base!

With the complete withdrawal of the Moon Clan, Triton also directly took the island opposite Basia City.

He even severed the continent where his descendant family was located... though this might have been assisted by Aesces... along with those miscellaneous islands, finally forming a small but sufficient land.

Thus, Basia City naturally returned to the hands of the Stelter Family.

Of course, this was in name only.

The current Count Stelter, Ditte, certainly didn’t have the ability to reclaim his territory from Eden.

But he did have a well-connected brother who had ways.

After probing Proud Sky Alliance’s intentions, Lind directly had Ditte invite Ambori... the Stelter Family would build a temple for Ambori and later establish branches to worship Goddess of the Sea Ambori for generations.

Of course, this branch, according to Ambori’s wishes, would be composed of female family members.

Initially, Ditte planned to create a separate family.

But after persuasion from Lind, he decided to let each generation’s female family members choose for themselves... if they lacked enough spell talents but had the qualification to glimpse magic, they could choose to become an Ocean Priestess.

Ditte was already the highest authority in the Stelter Family... the major wagers of the former Count and Countess essentially all lost, and other family members long gave up following them.

Instead, it was Ditte, with Lind’s full support... everyone knew that, apart from his own elder brother, Lind almost only sneered at other Stelter family members... still had a chance.

So, as soon as he issued the order, those branches of the Stelter Family almost without hesitation offered their daughters... if not for Ditte’s explicit prohibition against coercion and his statement that this was Ambori’s requirement, they might’ve shoved all their girls over.

Ambori actually felt that having as many priestesses as possible was good... but her good friend ’Lu Huayu’ said that it wouldn’t work, as it would affect her own divinity and consciousness, so she agreed.

In fact, for her, as long as she was strong and had many followers, whether crazy or foolish, it didn’t matter.

But ’Lu Huayu’ was right; if it wasn’t for her current rational self, how could she have become friends with Lu Huayu?

Sometimes, she didn’t quite understand Lu Huayu’s words, but she could see the results... she knew very well that if it were the former her, she definitely wouldn’t have received Lu Huayu’s sincere companionship.

For this, Ambori was willing to give up those readily available powers and benefits.

Although it’s painful... after the pain, it somehow felt less painful.

Moreover, she somewhat realized that, even though she couldn’t instantly boost her power like in the past when she had everything in her grasp, she still seemed to be gradually growing stronger.

Despite not understanding how, given the few followers and little wealth, her strength kept increasing, Ambori knew it was all due to Lu Huayu’s planning, so she obeyed even more.

Having friends and power... is there anything better than this in the world?

Then, with Ambori’s protection, the Stelter Family naturally had the qualification to hire the Undead Tribe to reclaim the territory that originally belonged to them.

Proud Sky Alliance withdrew from Basia City and handed over sovereignty of Aesces to Eden; were they truly willing to do so?

It was just that they had internal issues that required severance, which led to the decision to concede.

But without these problems, what would hatred amount to?

Who, standing at a height, isn’t hit by hidden arrows?

Even if they reassured themselves it was for the future, their hearts were still troubled.

So, even though Ditte’s offered remuneration was mediocre... a lot of it was what Lind earned from the Undead Tribe... they took on the task readily.

And losing their leader, without anyone to pay them, Eden’s performance was even worse than scattered sand.