Chapter 96 - Renamed
Meirin was very clear on the fact that drinking the Water of Nothingness would make your body weaker than the average person. If Zhao were to die, then they would lose the space that the Buda clan heavily relies on.
What was most important was the undead from the carrion swamp and Drunk and the black mages. If the space were to one day disappear, would those guys disappear as well? Even worse, what if those guys didn't disappear and their evil nature was restored? That would be trouble.
They had to pay attention to Zhao's safety, not only for the space, but also because he was the last child of the Buda clan. If he weren't the only one, and there were actually many heirs, then they wouldn't pay that much attention to Zhao.
It was tradition that only an heir could inherit the family name, and the nobles upheld tradition. As long as the family name could be passed along, and the clan remains a noble clan, then they could make a comeback one day.
Because of Zhao's words, the people in the room didn't know what to say.
Zhao looked at everyone and smiled a little. When he came to this world, he became Adam Buda, the sole heir to the clan. If the Buda clan wanted to develop, they had to rely on him and his future descendants. If he ever died, then they would need the support of his children, but Zhao didn't think that his children would inherit the space. If his children couldn't inherit the space, nor could they not learn magic and martial arts, then the Buda clan would just be bullied until they were no more.
Even if he had children, their young mentality might not be enough to figure out the problems of the Buda clan. In fact, Zhao's mental age was around thirty years old, from his time on Earth. He didn't think like a child. He often thought about falling in love. Zhao fancied himself that one day he would have a wife and kids, living in a house with a white picket fence.
But ever since he came to the Ark Continent, he had been too busy to think about those things. He was no longer Zhao from Earth, but Adam Buda, the sole heir to the Buda clan. Not only did he inherit Adam's body, but also his responsibilities.
It wasn't easy. There were enemies all around. They were surrounded by one of the Continent's five forbidden areas, and from time to time there would be outbreaks of spirit beasts. Even though he had the space, he had to be careful. One wrong step and it would be over.
As he looked at Meirin, he didn't have the heart to tell her that, so he said, "Solving the carrion swamp crisis is not impossible. The reason that no one has conquered the carrion swamp after so many years is because they didn't have the space. The spirit beasts from the swamp may be powerful, but as long as they are captured by the space, then they will become loyal to us. As for the swamp's poisonous atmosphere, we don't have to worry about that. We just need to gather its toxic plants and slowly accumulate them so the spatial water could strengthen its detoxification effects. With this, we do not need to worry about the carrion swamp."
It was like Meirin was going through mood swings. Initially, she wasn't worried because she knew that Zhao had been leveling up the space, making it more powerful. But then she suddenly realized how big of a threat the carrion swamp was if Zhao were to die and the space were to disappear. Then finally, from what Zhao just said, even if she hadn't fully settled down, she still felt relieved. "It seems like you've developed a good plan. When Drunk and the black mages catch the powerful undead spirit beats, the swamp's strength would gradually decline, while our strength will increase. In the future, maybe we can solve the problem of the carrion swamp."
"Yes, we can say that the Buda clan has been forced to the end of its tether. If we can not take root in the Black Waste, the Buda clan will likely disappear, so we have to do everything we can to survive," Zhao said, then he turned to Meirin. "Grandma Meirin, I thought it over, and starting today I will be renamed as Zhao Buda. The Adam name is dead, so now call me Zhao."
In his past life, he had been called Zhao for three decades, but after coming here, he was given the name Adam Buda, even though he didn't want to be called by that name. Do not forget, it was a name he brought from Earth. In addition to the space, it was the only thing that connected him to his past life.
Meirin didn't react to the fact that Zhao wanted to change his name. As long as his surname remained the same, then it was fine. Meirin had a lot of respect for Zhao, even more than Zhao's father. It was because of the space. She had never seen such a powerful ability before.
Even though the space had no attack capabilities, with the space, no one would be able to harm Zhao.
But there was something that Meirin didn't find out. The space's mind control program. If there were people that were dead set against Zhao, like Blockhead and Rockhead, who had originally only listened to Green, the space would then make them respect Zhao. After all, they had watched as Zhao grew up into a troublemaker, and they treated him as such, but after entering the space, the way they thought of him became completely different.
However, even if the space made them respect Zhao, it didn't take away their own independent thoughts. If they think that Zhao is doing something wrong, they will oppose him. They will not blindly respect him. It was precisely because of this that Zhao and everyone else hadn't discovered any abnormalities caused by the space.
Meirin nodded at the name change. "This is no big deal. Anyway, it's not like Master can walk around on the Continent with the name Adam, so calling you Zhao is a good idea."
Suddenly, something flashed on the screen, attracting Zhao's attention. Everyone looked at the screen, and they saw several of the assassins surrounding the canyon. It seems like the last of the enemy's army had finally arrived.
Zhao carefully observed the assassins' actions. Although the screen only had a range of five hundred meters, it still gave him a good look of the canyon. They looked like they were guarding the canyon from anyone who wanted to sneak past them.
Zhao couldn't help but nod his head, then he turned to Meirin. "This time we're dealing with people that are very careful. I better move Brick into the space, otherwise they might find him."
"Yes, ah, these people are well organized," Meirin said. "Master, call Drunk and other black mages here as well. Let them get a good look at the people camped in the canyon."
Zhao nodded, then he called forth all the eight black mages to him. They came to Zhao's side when they received his summons, then after saluting him, they stared at the screen like Zhao told them to.
The image on the screen changed. The assassins paused, then they scattered around a brigade of troops that have just entered the camp. This brigade was mostly made up of warriors that were walking. Aside from them were three mages and three warriors riding on horses.
One of the mages was dressed in a white robe. This robe was completely different from Zhao's black robe, it was gorgeous, had no hat, and it was silky smooth. Its white color shined with light under the afternoon sun. Along with the gorgeous robe, the light mage was holding a white staff that was studded with a huge transparent crystal that flashed the seven colors of the rainbow whenever the sun shined on it.
The light mage himself looked young, evidently only around thirty years old. He appeared to be kind with a gentle smile on his face, someone you could have a leisurely chat with.
But Zhao had a different opinion.
Translator Notes: I hate this chapter. Don't get me wrong, I love the novel, but this chapter illustrates the one thing I hate in this entire story: Mind Control. Come on, mind control? Even if it's just slight mental manipulation, it still sucks. I grew up with Power Rangers and Pokemon, so I know you should solve your problems with violence, and not mind control.
Translator Notes #2: This chapter was MTLed by Trung and edited by theno1fan. Please leave a comment if you've spotted anything that looks wrong.