If that really was the case, then Bernadette's decision to have Cattleya watch over Sharf was somewhat inappropriate…
Although Cattleya could request support from Mr. "Fool" at any time, and although nothing went wrong in the original work when she was the one guarding him, in the end, it was still an underestimation of the methods of an Old One.
Of course, Ebner also had no intention of personally capturing Sharf and imprisoning him… If he had wanted to, he wouldn't have allowed Bernadette to take him to the Future in the first place…
After all, he also very much wanted to figure out what kind of scheme the "Mother Goddess of Depravity" was plotting, and what kind of layout Lilith would make in response.
After thinking for a moment, Ebner decided to split off a "Eye of Wisdom" and send it to the "Star Pirates," attaching it to a certain crew member to observe Sharf and Frank at close range.
While thinking this through inwardly, Ebner outwardly organized his words and said to Bernadette,
"I do indeed know some things about 'Giuseppe Castiya'…
"But that isn't included in our previous transaction."
Bernadette's azure eyes swept over Ebner's face as she calmly asked, "What do you want?"
Ebner smiled and said, "I need you and the industries under 'Dawn of the Elements' to tilt comprehensively toward the territory of Beldan."
Bernadette was slightly taken aback. She hadn't expected him to raise such a "mundane" request. However, she didn't place much importance on money and wealth, so she nodded directly and said, "I'll have the person in charge in Backlund go negotiate with your company's manager."
"Then it's settled!" Ebner's lips curved slightly as he extended his palm and made a very gentlemanly "invitation to dance" gesture.
Seeing this, Bernadette roughly guessed what he wanted to do. After a brief hesitation, she placed her hand in his.
The next moment, their figures vanished from the "Alvin Palace" and appeared inside a cave in a secluded mountain valley on Blue Mountain Island.
—It was precisely the valley where Giuseppe and Lamia had once lived in seclusion, the same place where the team that Karen belonged to had once been trapped by Lamia's creations, only to be rescued by Ebner himself.
"My understanding of Giuseppe began with this cave…" As Ebner strolled through the cave—which had already been thoroughly cleaned by the "Earth Mother Church"—he introduced to Bernadette what he and Karen's trio had experienced when they explored this place back then.
However, Bernadette remained silent… She glanced a few times at the layout of the caves, her gaze flickering slightly, as if thinking about something.
...
Just as Ebner was leading Bernadette on a "tour" of Giuseppe and Lamia's former residence, an ordinary sailor aboard the Future suddenly woke up from his sleep.
This sailor was named Tom. He had dark skin and slightly curly hair, with the typical appearance of a mixed-blood native of the Rorsted Islands and Loen.
He didn't know who his father was, so he didn't have a surname. Even the name "Tom" had been given to him by the boatswain after he joined the "Star Pirates."
Having just woken up, he looked at the familiar cabin around him and couldn't help but sigh in disappointment.
After all, he had just had a beautiful dream, dreaming that he had "luckily" embarked on the Beyonder path, advanced all the way, eventually becoming a pirate general like the captain, then leading his men to occupy the Rorsted Islands, and finally marrying a noble young lady…
"What a pity, it was just a dream… But why couldn't I finish it? I was just about to carry that young lady to bed…"
Tom muttered a few resentful words, then got up, planning to go to the deck to feel the sea breeze and calm his restless mood.
But at that moment, a "screen" made of "light" actually appeared before his eyes, and on it was a line of words he didn't recognize…
—As an island native, Tom had naturally never gone to school and was a complete illiterate… And the "Star Admiral" wasn't like the "Iceberg Admiral," who would run "literacy classes" for the crew.
"What is this? A movie?" Tom warily looked around, but didn't find the "projector" he had once seen at the "Brain Cinema" in Bayam.
It was worth mentioning that among adventurers and pirates, their favorite movie was the one released a few months ago, The Sunken Laurel. Tom had watched it several times and dreamed that one day he could, like Ebner Brain, discover a treasure and live an enviable life.
Then, as his mind drifted slightly due to reminiscing, he was shocked to find that he actually recognized the words on the "light screen" and subconsciously read them out loud:
"Life Turnaround System…"
Tom froze for a while, then inexplicably felt that the button beneath that line of text looked full of "temptation," causing him to press it without even realizing it.
And the moment he pressed it, he regretted it a little.
Having worked as a sailor on the Future, Tom had some understanding of Beyonders and knew that things related to them were often extremely dangerous, and that a single misstep could lead to a miserable death.
"This… I wasn't just tempted by a 'devil,' was I?" Tom immediately wanted to report it to the captain, but deep down, he also felt unwilling, thinking that this might be something unique to himself, and that if he reported it, the captain would definitely take it away.
"And if it's really dangerous, the captain might just deal with me directly…" Thinking of this, Tom couldn't help but shiver, then comforted himself with a gambler's mindset, "Nothing's gone wrong so far. Maybe this 'Life Turnaround System' isn't actually something dangerous."
As soon as this thought formed in his mind, the "light screen" before him seemed to finally finish "loading" its information and began to "play" a segment of "imagery."
That "imagery" was divided into left and right sides. On the left was his difficult past, while on the right were those wonderful scenes he had just dreamed of.
With the two juxtaposed, Tom's emotions were naturally stirred, causing him to unconsciously immerse himself in those images, unable even to notice the "music" that gradually began to sound by his ears.
About half a minute later, when all the images returned to darkness, lines of text appeared before Tom's eyes:
"Weak you, do you want to possess powerful strength?
"Humble you, do you want to occupy an exalted position?
"Poor you, do you want to obtain endless wealth?
"You who have nothing, do you want to gain the favor of a noble young lady?
"Everything is within the 'Life Turnaround System'!
"May I ask, Mr. Tom.
"Do you wish to use this system…"
Looking at these lines of text, his emotions stirred, Tom panted heavily and almost without any hesitation tapped the "Yes" button.
Immediately after, those bewitching words vanished, replaced by the description of a task:
"Welcome to this system. The first step of your life turnaround is:
"Clean the floor of the lower deck of the Future. Reward: one fragment of a Sequence 9 potion formula.
"Failure will result in the random loss of a segment of memory."
(End of chapter)