"Knock, knock, knock."
Cerydra, who was sitting on the bed reading a book, looked up slightly at the door upon hearing the knock.
'Damian? What does he want to do this time?'
After sensing the person outside the door, Cerydra frowned slightly, but soon recovered her expressionless look and said calmly, "Come in."
Soon, the door opened. This time, Damian wasn't wearing his magnificent Bishop's attire, but a set of ordinary casual clothes.
"What is the matter?" Cerydra asked him flatly, her eyes not leaving the pages of the book.
"It is like this, Lady Imperator." Damian lowered his head slightly, his tone respectful. "I returned to one of the AMA branch offices yesterday and obtained some intelligence files concerning the AMA's internal affairs. These files should be of use to you."
"Files that are of use to me?" Hearing this, Cerydra put down her book and looked up at Damian, a trace of interest in her eyes. "Speak."
"Because the AMA has been constantly suppressed by the corporations recently, the factions and allied forces they secretly cultivated have been discovered and eliminated by those corporations."
"And even though the AMA knows of this situation clearly, they haven't made any response, which has bitterly disappointed many factions that work for the AMA."
"Due to this behavior, many factions have started wanting to break away from the AMA, because they feel the AMA is currently unable to even protect itself, and won't come to deal with them."
"But what they don't know is that the AMA has already recorded these organizations in their files, planning to settle the score with them once they survive this incident."
"So," listening to Damian talk so much, Cerydra interrupted him, "Out of everything you just said, what exactly is 'of use to me'?"
"Strength!" Seeing this, Damian stopped keeping her in suspense and said quickly. "The fact that you easily killed that Water-type Ability User from Arasaka Heavy Industries, who could rival an S- rank on rainy days, has already spread throughout the entire Hive District. Upon learning that your name is Imperator, and that you are a majestic King, they all wanted to flock to your banner."
"Want to flock to my banner?" Cerydra sneered. "Although I am Imperator, I won't just accept anyone."
Then, she paused, her fingertips lightly tapping the Terminal in her hand.
"Moreover, I don't intend to conquer this place right now, so I won't go out of my way to create a faction."
"Lady Imperator, I understand." Encountering this situation, Damian didn't show the slightest bit of dejection on his face. Instead, he leaned forward slightly, lowered his voice, and continued, "But there is one thing that I'm sure you must be interested in."
"That is the AMA's headquarters, which hides the experimental research reports on the Spiritual Tide."
"Spiritual Tide?"
"Exactly!" Damian nodded, a look of certainty flashing in his eyes. "If my guess is correct, Lady Imperator, you shouldn't be a person of our world, right?"
Cerydra nodded. After all, this point had practically been made obvious since she first appeared here.
"The Spiritual Tide, you can think of this thing as a passage connecting two worlds."
"Although I currently haven't figured out the reason for the Spiritual Tide's appearance, its occurrence weakened the spatial barrier isolating our world from another world. Coupled with the fact that the people in that world mostly use magic, large-scale magic causes spatial fluctuations. That's why the people from that world, due to various accidents, pierce through the weakened spatial barrier and randomly appear in various corners of this world."
"Therefore, if you can lead other factions to conquer the AMA, then you can control the small-scale Spiritual Tide that the AMA was originally researching and hiding. Furthermore, you will also have the chance to use this Spiritual Tide to return to your original world!"
After saying all this, Damian closed his mouth and waited for Cerydra's reply.
Silence permeated the air. After some time passed, Cerydra's cold laugh broke the silence.
"Hehe." Her icy gaze tightly locked onto the tense man before her. "Bishop Damian, you've certainly calculated this quite well."
"Tempting me to make a move against the AMA using the intelligence on the Spiritual Tide, using this opportunity to completely break free from their control."
"After accomplishing this, if I can return through that so-called Spiritual Tide, you all will also be freed from my control. From then on, you won't be under the control of any powerhouse and can fly high and far away."
"And even if I fail to return through the Spiritual Tide, for you, it's nothing more than switching to a stronger master. This wouldn't exactly be a bad thing for you all either, right?"
Hearing Cerydra's words, Damian swallowed a mouthful of saliva, then silently lowered his head and said in a low voice:
"Yes..."
"At least you are being honest this time."
Having said that, Cerydra withdrew her gaze, picked up the e-book again, and started reading.
Time passed minute by minute, and the cold sweat on Damian's forehead grew more and more, but he didn't dare to wipe it off in the slightest.
Suddenly, the book was gently put down, and Cerydra's gaze fell upon him once more.
"I admit, your proposal is very tempting." Her tone was flat, yet it carried an unquestionable weight. "If you can prove that everything you've said is true, then I will agree to your proposal."
These words made Damian jerk his head up, his eyes filled with wild joy.
"Understood! Lady Imperator! Within an hour, the relevant evidence will definitely be presented!"
He bowed deeply, then turned and quickly walked away.
Before leaving, he also carefully closed the door.
Seeing this, Cerydra no longer maintained her calm countenance.
She muttered to herself with some curiosity:
"If it really is as that Damian says, then I could use this method to earn Stellar Jades while trying to go to another world through the Spiritual Tide to take a look."
The previous silence was actually Cerydra asking if, by taking in subordinates, the influence her subordinates had on other people would allow her to obtain Stellar Jades.
Then, the system's answer was:
[Yes, however, the influence caused by subordinates is considered indirectly caused. Therefore, the Stellar Jades obtained through this method are only one-fifth of the original Stellar Jades.]
Although it was only one-fifth, this could be considered opening up a new way for Cerydra to earn Stellar Jades. That was to create a faction, then let that faction cause trouble. In that case, even if she did nothing in her room, there would still be a steady stream of Stellar Jades coming in.
So, after thinking for a while, Cerydra also agreed to Damian's proposal.
After all, according to his proposal, even if the matter of destroying the AMA failed, there wouldn't be a worse outcome; at most, it would just be walking down the old path of being destroyed.
But once it succeeded, no matter what, he would make an absolute killing.
But what he didn't know was that she was not a person of that world either, and her goal was never to return to that world, but to find amusement and earn Stellar Jades.
Coupled with her current strength, she wasn't afraid of any so-called backstabbing either.
Therefore, to her, this matter, regardless of the outcome, was a guaranteed profitable deal.