Enemies meet on a narrow road

After all, it was his own problem, and Mason felt a little guilty.

Bai stared at him, as if he would kill him if he didn't get an answer in the next second. His anger was frightening.

He assured again and again: "I will ask him to come back right away."

Bai pursed her lips tightly, and after a while she reluctantly believed him, and said stiffly, "Will he stay here in the future?"

Mason chose his words carefully: "He has other things to do and can't be here all the time."

Bai answered without hesitation: "Then I'll come too."

His purpose was very simple, just to stay with the profiteer. The territory was not short of this bit of food, so Mason naturally agreed. The young man's eyebrows relaxed a little after getting the promise, and just as he was about to turn around and leave, he suddenly stopped.

"I gathered some intelligence. The Garcia family team returned to Nail Town two days ahead of schedule, brought back a large amount of spoils, and formally formed an alliance with the Brainworm family."

He had collected the information in order to get the compliments from the profiteer, but now that the profiteer was leaving, these things were of no use to him. Bai left without any regrets, leaving Mason standing there with a slightly frown on his face.

Dan, who arrived later, confirmed his words. The two families' cleanup rankings jumped to first and second, leaving the others far behind. The number of crystals brought back by Mason and others was already astonishing, but when he saw the spoils of the Garcia family, he remained silent.

Thousands of emerald green crystals were piled together, reflecting bright halos in the sunlight. There was not a trace of pollution on these crystals, and they looked glittering and beautiful. Mason was astonished, and couldn't figure out where these people got so many polluted crystals.

You have to know that they went through untold hardships and wandered in the dark fog for four whole days, but only harvested more than a thousand, which was only enough for one-third of what we have in front of us.

Of course, Ai Bo was not kind enough to tell them this secret, and he was indifferent to everyone else. After seeing the red-haired young man, he took the initiative to walk up. His emerald green eyes looked at the other person without blinking, frankly and without any doubt.

"This is just the beginning. I am looking forward to competing with you."

Mason was stunned by his trust, wondering why the other party believed in him so much. He smiled in confusion and said, "You are amazing."

"It's just luck."

The two chatted casually until someone called Abbott's name. Mason looked in the direction of the voice and saw Sevitch standing not far away. The other party saw him and nodded slightly, and then his eyes fell on Abbott.

The young man smiled helplessly: "It's a pleasure talking to you. Looks like I have to leave first. Let's see you later."

After saying this, he turned and walked towards Sevitch. The two of them whispered to each other and were quickly passed on to the major families through those who came to inquire about the intelligence. The Garcia family and the Brainworm family formed an alliance so openly that they instantly became the most conspicuous target. At the same time, countless families targeted them, accelerated the frequency of cleanup, and learned to form an alliance.

For the families of the Twelve Round Tables, alliances need to be cautious. Every family has enemies, and once an alliance is announced, it will undoubtedly bear the enemy of the other party. As a leading and powerful family, the Luo family is highly sought after. Mason did not act rashly until the sentinel ran in and told him that the Owen family had sent someone.

The visitor turned out to be an acquaintance. She had short, fire-colored hair and was neat and tidy. She smiled at the two people who came to negotiate and said, "Long time no see."

Dan had a good impression of her and greeted her in a familiar manner: "Long time no see, why is the Owen family still using the injured as laborers?"

"I asked for it myself. It's not easy to seize this opportunity."

Ofili tucked her hair behind her ears. In order to catch up with this trial, she used her family's contaminants and endured great pain to recover in time. The current results are far from enough, and she has more ideas.

"You should have guessed the purpose of my coming. The Owen family wants to form an alliance with your family to win this trial together. We can pay a certain price, but we have only one request: let the Owen family become the first place this time."

The top three in the first competition was already a defeat for the Owen family, who had always been strong. They needed a more brilliant result. Mason thought for a moment and shook his head: "Sorry, we don't have this plan for the time being."

Ofili frowned slightly: "Although the second and fourth families have formed an alliance, the Owen family ranks first and the Luo family ranks third. We still have an advantage in cooperation. If we continue like this, we will really not be able to catch up."

She patiently persuaded him and presented the generous conditions promised by the family, which was indeed very moving. But the red-haired young man was very determined, and the Owen family's repeated persuasion was ineffective, so they could only sigh and leave.

After she left, Dan asked in confusion: "Why didn't you agree to her request? The Owen family is indeed a good ally."

"If we form an alliance with them, we will have to split half of the spoils. Although the bloodline of the Owen family is very powerful, the mutant plants this time are not very powerful and will not cause too much trouble."

"you mean?"

"We will seek alliances with nobles outside the Twelve Round Tables, especially those who are here to get by, and use benefits to win their manpower. We will form multiple teams led by the Dragonborn to wipe out the black fog."

This is indeed much faster, and there is no need to share the crystals with other people. Dan thought for a while: "These families are still very few. Most families will be attached to the name of a powerful bloodline family. For example, several small families under our family have been assisting us all the time, and most other families are the same."

The red-haired young man said calmly: "There will always be someone who will be moved."

The intelligence network that the profiteer had previously gathered came in handy again. These families not only bought intelligence, but also gathered intelligence on their enemies. Through this information, he identified a group of families that could be put to good use.

They were either small neutral families or those who wanted to go further but were short of resources. The Dragonborns flew in all directions, carrying the tokens of the Luo family, and would persuade these families to help them by hiring them.

While waiting, new news came that the Owen family finally formed an alliance with the fifth-ranked Hart family. Mason was not surprised to think of the young lady who dared to take the initiative to ask him to dance at the ball. Although the Hart family was neutral, it did not mean that they lacked ambition. And Shelia was obviously different from her father. Her eyes were full of ambition.

But this had nothing to do with the Luo family. After two days of waiting, the first dragon descendant brought news of success, and then one after another, a group of families became the first hired servants.

Mason generously poured in the vast amount of resources that the profiteers had previously obtained. When these families really benefited, other small families also began to become restless. They obeyed the orders of the families above them, but in reality, they did not gain much benefit, just to avoid being crushed by power and not being valued by the strong.

Now that the superiors are not here and the management is lax, they can squeeze out a few people to gain some benefits for the family if they grit their teeth. These families have a scale in their hearts. They don't care whether they can get benefits from the superiors, but at least they can become stronger.

Mason secretly sent people to promote this idea, and it really worked. As more and more families secretly joined in, the power of the Luo family rose like a balloon.

The big families who found something wrong quickly took measures and banned their subordinate families from using similar practices. Some clever families even took the initiative and hired servants from the small families. These families were the first to receive such attention, and the responsible persons were busy receiving important people. The situation in the major cities was in turmoil. At the critical moment, Mason asked all the dragon descendants to return and completely let go of the servants.

Dan was confused: "We finally caught up with the Garcia family. If we don't continue, won't we lose to them?"

The red-haired young man glanced at him with a complicated expression: "Luckily, you have your brother at home."

Dan was confused: "What does this have to do with my brother?"

The young man sighed: "Have you forgotten what the real goal of this trial is?"

"Protect the town and investigate the anomalies at the border..."

"Yeah, what does this have to do with collecting pollution crystals?"

Dan was stunned.

Yeah, what does this have to do with pollution crystals? Why are people collecting them like crazy?

"We just started to discover the contaminated crystals and collected them to investigate the anomaly. Now that we have collected so much, there is no point in continuing. Haven't you noticed that the collection amounts of the previous families have decreased recently?"

Dan thought about it carefully and found that it was indeed the case. The families that were the most active had become much quieter recently, while the remaining families had started a collection craze.

"So what do we do next?"

Mason said, "Look for places where the crystals are densest and monsters mutate the fastest."

The mutant plants would not disappear once they were cleaned up. Even after repeated sweeps, they would still appear from time to time. In the previous employment, he instructed the dragon descendants to actively collect information on these polluted crystals, master their distribution, and thus determine a regional map.

Some areas have the most plant mutations, rapid regeneration, and numerous crystals, and are the focus of attention of each major family.

Mason's focus was not here. He did the opposite and circled the area next to these areas. Dan was confused again: "What is this for?"

"The contaminated crystals need to be placed artificially, so there must be Black Mist followers active there. These areas are most likely to be the activity areas. Bloodlines of various families often come here to scout. As long as they have brains, Black Mist followers will definitely not choose to build a base here. It is inconvenient to be too far away, so this area is the most suitable."

The red-haired young man drew the last red circle: "Quiet, hidden, few people, and the mutant plants next to it are diverting the target."

The Dragonborn Guards came back early to rest for a few days. Mason took some time to use his profiteers to make some money. He bought some new supplies for the town and took Bai away.

Nidhogg was reluctant to leave his only playmate, but soon cheered up with Mason's assurance, and looked forward to his great figure entering the black fog again and dominating the evil.

The Dragonborn Guards restocked their ammunition and weapons and were ready to go. Mason left the rest of the work to Dan and Tom, and led the team into the black fog again.

This time, their target was clear, heading straight for a red circle area.

Everyone rode at full speed, relying on their strong physical fitness and strength, and reached their destination on the second day.

The red-haired young man jumped off the bone dragon and frowned as soon as he landed on the ground, seeing the traces of battle left on the ground.

He had a bad feeling in his heart. If he went any further, he would indeed meet his enemies on a narrow road.

The emerald-eyed nobleman who was talking to someone else stopped talking, turned around and smiled at him, saying gently: "Sorry, it seems that I am the first one this time."

Mason: “…”

It turned out that Garcia was not compatible with their family.