44 Baron of Corruption

Following the man, Alexander found himself arriving at a church in the East Borough of Backlund.

The church was in neoclassical style, with 4 high columns at its entrance.

Unfortunately, the church had obviously been abandoned for quite some time, as the windows were broken and pieces of broken glass were scattered around the building.

Seeing the hooded man entering the church, Alexander hesitated for a split second, before finally deciding against following him inside.

From the twisted aura that emanated from the building, Alexander knew that only villains would use such a place to hold a gathering.

It's as if they were afraid that people wouldn't realize that they were evil.

Half an hour later, angry voices sounded from inside the church, before its door opened.

Three people exited the building, with all three of them wearing the same black hooded robe, hiding their features.

Just as he was getting ready to follow behind them, his intuition warned him of danger.

He didn't even bother to think for the reason, as he quickly started running, attempting to escape before they noticed him.

However, he wrote the address of the church down and decided to visit again and wash away the humiliation of today's events.

Half a second after Alexander had disappeared, one of the figures turned to look at his direction, before shaking its head.

"I must be seeing things.", the figure murmured.

The next afternoon, Alexander was sitting in his living room, calmly sipping his tea.

Although he appeared to be calm, inwardly, he was quite excited.

Just this noon, he had paid a visit to the Nemesis Order and managed to purchase the supplementary ingredients needed for the Baron of Corruption potion.

Some time later, having finished his tea and feeling that his state was suitable to attempt a promotion, he picked up the supplementary ingredients and walked towards the basement.

Putting the familiar metal bucket on the table, Alexander was ready to configure the Baron of Corruption potion, when he suddenly realized something.

'How am I supposed to configure the potion if the characteristic is literally in me?', he wondered.

When in doubt, it is best to consult your cheat, and that's exactly what Alexander did.

[Fate Simulator]

[Sequence: Briber(7) / Duke of Entropy(2){Sealed}]

[FatePoints/FP: 100]

[Cost: 200 FP/Month]

[Simulate]

Seeing that there had been no changes, Alexander checked the [Items] section.

[Unsealing of the Baron of Corruption characteristic: 0 FP]

[Past Self's Note: Directly consume the supplementary ingredients before unsealing the characteristic.]

Looking at the new option and the note, a huge question mark appeared on Alexander's face.

"How does this make any sense whatsover?", he couldn't help but question the Fate Simulator, but unfortunately, it didn't bother to answer his question.

Or it was not a living thing, but Alexander preferred the first option, as it would allow him to one day be able to beat it up.

Looking at the ingredients in his hands, Alexander couldn't help but breath a sigh of relief.

Thankfully, it wasn't anything weird like the dead skin of a mutant gorilla, but just liquor and some oils.

After checking multiple times to make sure that the note was not a prank, Alexander shoved the liquids down his throat, while at the same time choosing the unsealing option.

The moment he did so, he felt as if an item was being extracted out of his own soul, causing him to groan in pain.

Just as it seemed that the item had been completely extracted and he could relax, new pain assaulted Alexander once again, as he felt as if the item was pushed back into his soul.

Fortunately, this time the familiar black symbols and distorted sounds didn't appear, otherwise Alexander would have to wonder if he would be able to safely complete his promotion.

Maintaining his state and ignoring the pain, the seconds passed slowly, until the pain started to gradually feel less sharp.

Finally, after a minute or so, the pain completely disappeared and Alexander could relax at last.

Opening his eyes and checking on his state, Alexander wasn't surprised to find that he had successfully been promoted to a Baron of Corruption.

Despite that, he didn't immediately check his new abilities, but focused on the Fate Simulator.

The feeling of something coming in contact with his soul was very real, making Alexander believe that it had actually happened rather than being a side effect of taking the potion.

The only thing that Alexander could think of, were the 2 Sefirots that he possessed.

Opening the Fate Simulator, a window popped up.

[Fate Simulator]

[Sequence: Baron of Corruption(6) / Duke of Entropy(2){Sealed}]

[FatePoints/FP: 100]

[Simulation: Once per week]

[Simulate(0)]

The Fate Simulator directly sent information to his mind and he instantly understood its changes.

The [Items] section had remained the same, while the [Simulation] section had almost completely changed.

He no longer needed to consume FP to simulate, but he would get a free simulation chance once per week.

At the same time, he could choose to save up those chances and use them to simulate further in the future.

For example, if he had saved 3 simulation chances, he would be able to simulate the next 3 months.

Although Alexander was wondering if the simulator had been stealing his FP all along, his doubts were answered when he learnt that the free simulation would be given at afternoon every Monday.

Coincidentally, this was also the time that the Tarot Club was taking place.

Who would have thought?

If Alexander really believed that it was a coincidence, he would be stupid.

He didn't bother to think further about this matter though, as he knew that he could do nothing about it.

Having checked up the changes in the Fate Simulator, Alexander finally had some time to check the abilities he gained during his promotion.

First of all, all his previous abilities had been strengthened, as was the case with every promotion and pathway.

The main ability of a Baron of Corruption was named Distortion and it was exactly the ability he had been using through the Distortion token.

In reality, having this ability didn't change much for him, as he already had the token.

The other ability he gained was named Corrosion and it would cause the people around him to become greedy and corrupted, causing them to make irrational choices.

Its area of effect was about 10 meters, and it had an obvious synergy with Bribe-Arrogance, as their effects could stack.

It didn't take long for Alexander to realize that there hadn't been much of a change in respect to his combat power.

He had never met the problem of running out of spirituality and he already could use one of the two abilities of a Baron of Corruption.

Effectively, his promotion only strengthened the abilities he already had, while giving him a new auxiliary ability.

'At least my mastery of the two Sefirots has been improved.', Alexander could only comfort himself.