[Alright, alright! I'll calculate right now! Right now!]
The System immediately began calculating at high speed.
Although covering the parasite egg also required a lot of national fate points, compared to saving the dying man, the cost was instantly cut in half.
It was even much less than the System had expected.
[Master! To completely conceal the parasite egg inside him so that no one but you will ever discover it, it only takes 1,500 points of national fate!]
The System's tone changed from earlier pain to uncontrollable joy.
The noise in the distance was getting closer and louder. Elara heard the System's words in her mind and said directly: [Deduct it!]
The next second, she heard the familiar mechanical voice in her head, indicating she had only 1,174 points left.
Elara hadn't expected to still have more than a thousand national fate points left after completing this sudden task. The corners of her lips finally lifted into a satisfied and relaxed smile.
The next moment, she clearly felt a connection with the man in her arms.
It was a kind of invisible restraint that no one else could ever discover and that would never disappear.
It was as if the man in her arms, who had just recently sat proudly at the top of the Rare Treasures Banquet, famous across the continent as the beautiful Head of the Artificer Pavilion, had suddenly had a collar placed around his neck, one that could control his entire body and even every word and action.
And the other end of that leash was now in Elara's hand.
As long as she wished, she could even make this renowned beauty of the Artificer Pavilion kneel and become her slave.
Before tonight, even Elara had never imagined that her method of establishing contact with the Artificer Pavilion would turn out to be so twisty yet so permanent, directly turning one of their Pavilion Heads into her puppet.
And now, no matter what, her goal of connecting with the Artificer Pavilion was completely accomplished, far beyond her expectations.
From this point on, the faction behind this man from the Artificer Pavilion could not only provide Elara and Plumera with any title or protection she desired, but even in the future, could offer many conveniences and shielding for Plumera's development.
Spending 4,500 points of national fate, yet gaining such immense returns.
Elara's mood finally improved.
At the same time, the rumbling sounds from afar grew louder again.
Thanks to her enhanced internal strength, her vision had improved enough that she could vaguely see the approaching group. Leading them on horseback was a man with a more mature aura, and he looked somewhat similar to the man in her arms.
Looking at the people from Tiangong Pavilion approaching in the distance.
Elara shifted the man in her arms, turning her back to those people. While he was still not fully conscious, she quickly took out another pill prepared by Oswyn and fed it into his mouth. Her tone became much gentler as she coaxed him to swallow it, and her movements were no longer as rough as before.
Lucian had already recovered a bit by now and could understand Elara's words. Knowing she was saving him, he did not resist. He opened his mouth and accepted the pill from her hand, then drank some water. Only then did he finally feel like he had come back to life.
Elara saw the gradually clearing look in his eyes and smiled slightly with genuine relief. She lowered her gaze and said to him,
"Feeling better? I thought you wouldn't make it. Do you remember what just happened?"
Lucian was still coughing a little, but compared to the near-death suffocation and confusion from before, his senses were slowly returning to normal. He also realized he was still being held by this young girl.
The awkward and uncomfortable feeling that had just been pushed down started to rise again in his heart.
In this world, men greatly outnumber women. Even in top powers like Tiangong Pavilion, women were incredibly precious.
He had been obsessed with mechanism arts since childhood. Although many women had proposed to him because of his looks and status, he had never been interested and refused them all. Since birth, apart from his mother, he had never touched another woman.
But today, he had not only been touched but was even being held and rescued from the brink of death.
Lucian coughed again. A trace of helplessness appeared on his perfect face that looked like it was crafted by AI, but he quickly forced himself to calm down.
He stood up from Elara's arms, his beautiful blue eyes looking at her. He slightly furrowed his brows and rubbed his throat with his slender, fair fingers.
"My memory was a bit jumbled when I was suffocating just now, but I remember the rest. You saved me... My name is Lucian."
Lucian's gaze toward Elara had changed from before.
This pure science-minded beauty and Pavilion Master of Tiangong Pavilion had been blunt and straight to the point from the moment she met Elara. Even when he was nearly assassinated, she hadn't even introduced herself.
Now, however, he was the one to initiate the introduction.
Elara looked at Lucian, who was standing in front of her with a slight frown. Then she glanced at the group from Tiangong Pavilion rapidly approaching in the distance. She decided to test the effect of the Gu egg before they arrived.
She gently activated the connection she had with Lucian.
Lucian's once alert eyes suddenly turned a little dazed.
"Lucian, do you remember how many pills I just gave you?"
Elara's voice echoed like an ancient call in Lucian's ears, and his thoughts immediately became foggy again. His mind held only one thought now, which was to answer her question completely and truthfully.
The dazed look in Lucian's eyes faded slightly as he carefully tried to recall what had happened while he was trapped and nearly dying, his thoughts in chaos.
But he couldn't remember anything. He only remembered being held in the arms of this girl, with his throat full of suffocating pain.
His beautiful blue eyes, still slightly empty, looked at Elara with a serious and focused expression.
"I... don't remember. I only remember you gave me one pill."
Elara's smile deepened slightly. While continuing to manipulate the Gu egg inside him, she repeated and reinforced his thoughts.
"Yes, I only gave you one pill. You nearly died from the poison used by those assassins. I gave you a pill from the Valley of Divine Medicine, and you came back to life."
Lucian's blank blue eyes slowly focused after hearing her words.
Then he began to softly repeat the sentence Elara had told him, as if trying to engrave it into his mind, to replace his muddled memory with it and make himself believe that this was all that had truly happened.
Elara stared closely at his face, not missing a single expression.
Only after confirming that the Gu egg inside Lucian had worked exactly as she expected, making him believe her words completely as the "true events," did she silently withdraw the effect of the Gu egg. She let him return to a normal, conscious state. Then she smiled at him again.
"Good. As long as you remember. Your older brother is almost here."
What she had given him just now was actually a special Gu egg that Oswyn had spent the past few months modifying.
These Gu eggs still had the ability to turn the dead into corpse puppets. However, if a living person consumed it, it wouldn't turn them into stiff, numb puppets.
The damage to living hosts had also been reduced to a minimum. Only when she needed to activate it would the living host become her puppet. Whatever she said, the other person would do.
After she gave her instructions and let the Gu egg return to its dormant state, the controlled person would wake up as usual, with no awareness of the previous abnormality. They would simply remember her commands as subconscious thoughts and carry them out with a clear mind, making it impossible for others to detect anything strange.
It was somewhat like a legendary form of advanced hypnosis. When Elara needed it, she could have complete control over the target. Once the hypnosis ended, the person would automatically rationalize all her commands and treat them as personal conviction or subconscious impulse, without realizing anything was wrong.
Oswyn had already tested this kind of Gu egg on death row prisoners several times after helping her with the modifications, but this was the first time Elara had tested it on a living person in real combat.
And the results were just as she had hoped.
It really was top-notch quality, just like anything made by Oswyn.
Elara looked at Lucian, the curve of her lips deepening.
Lucian's blue eyes returned to normal and clear, with no sign of anything odd just moments ago.
He pressed his thin lips together, listened to the approaching noise in the distance, and nodded slightly at Elara. Then, as if remembering something, he looked away, feeling a bit troubled and uncomfortable, and turned with her toward the direction the Tiangong Pavilion group was coming from.
Many people had come from Tiangong Pavilion. The man at the front bore a strong resemblance to Lucian. Behind him were several highly skilled attendants, along with a number of Tiangong Pavilion disciples carrying powerful and deadly mechanical weapons.
"Brother..."
Looking at the group who had quickly arrived in front of them, Lucian stepped forward and called out to the man dismounting from the horse.