My queen is rebelling!

On the way to "Potion City-State," Cohen and Mephis had an in-depth conversation about the Bureau of External Security.

Mephis expressed surprise that Cohen was able to win over Ryder Gallo, the former aide of the Blood Lord, the controller of Twilight Continent.

Cohen's request to Mephis was to collect all information about the five major oasis forces, as well as information on all reactionary elements inside and outside the city-state who conspired against the "Endless Blade" adventure group.

She was required to submit a daily report, a weekly summary, a monthly analysis and forecast, and a quarterly meeting for discussion and judgment.

Mephis really wanted to curse Cohen's arrangements.

What a black-hearted boss! I'm already giving you face by providing you with intelligence, and you're still setting so many restrictions. Do you really think I'm here to work for you like a horse!

However, when Cohen took the initiative to offer to concoct the "Command Ⅰ" potion for Mephis first, Mephis fiercely suppressed the resentment in her heart.

Working is working, who told him to give so much.

Having been stuck at the peak of the ninth rank for a long time, she was really eager for the feeling of breakthrough.

The materials needed to concoct "Command Ⅰ" were too precious, plus there were also the two godhood pathways potion formulas that she had promised the other party, which also needed to be concocted on the spot.

Therefore, Cohen went with Mephis to the "Potion City-State" located in the Chaotic Demon Continent.

As the city lord of an advanced Order City-State, the 【Maestro】's means of transportation are also very luxurious.

A floating airship in the shape of a musical note traveled lightly and steadily in the sky above the "Wasteland," like a nimble musical note dancing on a musical score.

As soon as he entered the cabin, Cohen heard music that could cleanse the soul coming from all directions.

The distance between the two city-states was not far to begin with. In less than half a day, the musical note airship approached "Potion City-State."

With a loud roar, the airship stopped above a magnificent building in the center of the city-state.

This was the residence of the city lord 【Maestro】, and also the core power institution of the entire city-state, named "Music God Castle."

Cohen looked at the unique building in front of him and couldn't help but be slightly shocked.

The main outline of the building was simple and full of strength, with smooth lines extending upwards, as if to break through the sky.

From a distance, it looked like a huge shell.

The rounded arc was elegant and charming, and the surface had delicate textures.

The outer wall was a combination of large areas of metal material and glass.

The metal part was light silver in color, exuding a cold luster, indestructible and full of texture.

The glass curtain wall surrounding the main body of the building was like a huge crystal, shining brightly in the sunlight, reflecting the surrounding city-state scenery, blue sky and white clouds.

Making the entire castle looming in the surrounding environment, full of dreamlike unique beauty, like flowing notes solidified in space.

In Cohen's view, this was not like an executive government, but more like a modern grand theater.

No wonder this woman chose the extremely niche and unpopular "Music God Sequence". Musical elements simply permeated every cell of her body.

This woman exuded elegance and artistry from her bones, truly a natural "Music God Sequence" transcendent.

Mephis stood in the cabin, waved her slender hand, and a very thin crack appeared above the magnificent building, like an opening shell.

As Mephis's magic output, the crack slowly expanded, like a slowly drawn curtain.

Following this crack, the luster inside spread around like ripples, and soon enveloped the entire airship.

Mephis controlled the airship and entered the interior of the castle along the light.

Before getting off the ship, several beautiful maids were already waiting respectfully at the airship hatch.

When they saw the city lord bringing a young, masked opposite sex appear outside the hatch, they all showed surprised expressions.

Mephis turned her head and said to Cohen:

"I have to deal with the government affairs of these few days first. You go to rest first, and I will go to find you at night."

These extremely ambiguous words made the maids' minds run wild, and their eyes couldn't help but drift towards Cohen.

They were all curious about what kind of man could capture the heart of the city lord!

Mephis realized the inappropriateness of her words after she finished speaking, but she didn't need to explain to her subordinates. She looked at the maids with a cold expression and ordered:

"Arrange a place for this gentleman to live in, and no one is allowed to disturb him. Whatever his needs are, try to satisfy them, understand?"

They all responded in unison.

Mephis left quickly, and the maids suddenly breathed a sigh of relief. The female official in the lead came to Cohen and said respectfully:

"Sir, please."

Cohen took a comfortable bath, lay on the recliner, called the maid outside, asked for some carving tools, and began to make something that was called "Chess" in his previous life.

The powerful 【Maestro】 is not only a ninth-rank peak transcendent, but also an experienced intelligence officer, and controls such a large advanced Order City-State.

The value she can bring is too important to Cohen.

Therefore, Cohen was determined to firmly grasp this woman in his hands.

If you want the other party to willingly become a formal member of the "Endless Blade" adventure group, Cohen needs to give her a little surprise and shock.

While Cohen was concentrating on making "Chess", a message from the communication stone alarmed Cohen.

Cohen took out the communication stone, which was a message from Prince Haug.

It said that the Queen had prepared a gift for the "Lord of Shadows" a few days ago, and wanted Cohen to take it to him as a meeting gift.

Prince Haug expressed his helplessness and asked Cohen how to deal with it.

Cohen asked Prince Haug what the Queen had prepared for his alias "Lord of Shadows", and the answer he got was a great surprise.

A set of detection arrays that can identify and monitor transcendents below the legendary rank!

The range of the array is enough to cover a city!

Cohen was really amazed by the Queen's talent for arrays.

No wonder Yadell was so confident that as long as Cohen took out this thing, the "Lord of Shadows" would definitely agree to form an alliance with Cohen.

This set of arrays is indeed a timely help for the "Lord of Shadows" who has just acquired an "Order City-State."

Even from the standpoint of the "Lord of Shadows" alone, this transaction is very cost-effective.

Thinking that the Queen had set up this array for his own safety, Cohen was moved for a while.

He couldn't wait to rush back and kiss Yadell fiercely a few times.

With this set of arrays, Cohen can completely monitor the number and identity of transcendents entering "Ploughman City-State."

Being able to detect malicious external forces in advance is definitely a huge help for Cohen, who has just taken control of the city-state and whose internal and external situation is still unstable.

Prince Haug then said that the Queen had also prepared a birthday gift for Cohen alone.

Cohen then realized that he was about to have his seventeenth birthday, and he was filled with mixed feelings for a while.

It was a pity that this birthday gift could not be delivered by the Queen herself.

When Cohen asked what birthday gift the Queen had prepared for him, Prince Haug said that the gift was locked in a magic box, and outsiders could not open it without Cohen's aura fluctuations.

This made Cohen even more curious and looking forward to what the birthday gift that the Queen had carefully prepared for him was.

Cohen quickly said to Prince Haug:

"Uncle, you don't need to enter the 'Lost Land'.

You are a legendary rank, and if you come here, you need to report to the five major forces of the 'Lost Land', which can easily attract the attention of interested people.

How about this, I will give you a person's contact information. After you reach the periphery of the 'Lost Land', contact this person, and he will help deliver the things to my hands."

The person Cohen gave was the manager of logistics and transportation of the "Unicorn Merchant", and with the credit guarantee of the "Unicorn Merchant", he was not worried about the safety of the goods.

After ending the communication with Prince Haug, Cohen began to concentrate on his handiwork again.

As night fell, Mephis slowly came to the door of Cohen's room, looked at the maids waiting aside, and asked:

"What has that gentleman been doing all day today?

Did he make any requests?"

The leading maid replied:

"The gentleman only asked for some carpenter and carving tools, and he has been knocking and tinkering inside all day.

There's nothing else."

Carpenter carving tools?

A look of confusion and suspicion appeared on Mephis's face.

After a while, she waved her hand and said:

"You all go down, no one is allowed to approach here without my permission."

The maids lowered their eyebrows and went down, their minds full of scenes that were not suitable for children.

In the middle of the night, everyone was dismissed, and the city lord and a member of the opposite sex were left alone in the room. Anyone with toes could guess what they were going to do.

Mephis knocked on the door, and Cohen quickly responded with an invitation to enter.

When Mephis entered the door, she found that Cohen was burying his head in front of a black and white wooden board, studying something.

There were also neatly arranged black and white ornaments of various strange shapes.

Some were riding horses, some were wearing crowns, and they looked lifelike.

Cohen heard the rhythmic footsteps, knew that the 【Maestro】 was here, and said without raising his head:

"There is a chess rule explanation on the table. After you understand it, let's play chess first."

Mephis frowned slightly, but didn't say much. She picked up the white paper on the table and began to read the rule explanation.

King, Queen, Rook, Bishop, Knight, Pawn.

Six kinds of chess pieces in black and white, each chess piece has a different way of moving.

The condition for victory is to trap the opponent's king to death.

As Mephis watched, she became fascinated by this interesting rule.

After a while, Mephis came back to her senses, sat opposite Cohen, arranged the chess pieces, and locked her eyes on the 64 squares on the chessboard.

She gently pushed the white "Pawn" and began to move forward.

This chess match ended quickly. Although Mavis understood the detailed rules of "chess," she was quickly checkmated by the experienced Cohen.

Mavis wasn't discouraged. Playing with the lifelike chess pieces, she asked:

"Did you come up with this little trinket yourself?"

Cohen put the chess pieces back in place one by one and shook his head:

"I saw it in an ancient book. What do you think?"

Mavis said:

"It's a little interesting. You haven't been researching this all day, have you?

What about the 'Leadership I' that you promised to concoct for me?"

Cohen didn't answer, but changed the subject and asked:

"City Lord, even if I give you 'Leadership I' now, what's your success rate of taking it?"

Mavis's expression faltered slightly. She pondered for a moment and slowly stated a number:

"50%, I guess."

Even Mavis, as proud as she was, didn't dare to be too confident about a completely new potion.

Cohen nodded seriously:

"Considering you're facing a completely unfamiliar potion, this success rate is already beyond my expectations.

But the success rate is still too low. I really can't bear to see such a beautiful and elegant lady perish because of a potion."

Mavis looked at Cohen, who had already started moving the chess pieces, and said calmly:

"If you managed to get all those women of yours with these sweet words, then I'm really disappointed."

Cohen slowly raised his head, his gaze fixed on Mavis's exquisite and charming face, a smile on the corner of his mouth:

"If I said I could help you increase the success rate of taking the potion to one hundred percent, would you be seduced by me too?"

Mavis's gaze instantly became sharp and cold, but after realizing the meaning of the first half of Cohen's words, the coldness quietly dissipated a lot.

She stopped her movements, her gaze fixed on Cohen, waiting for his explanation.

Cohen smiled and replied:

"Just kidding, don't be angry. I am indeed very interested in you, but only in your personal abilities.

Okay, let's continue playing chess. When you can win a game against me, I'll tell you for free how to turn the success rate of taking 'Leadership I' into one hundred percent!"

Mavis suppressed all emotions and continued playing chess with Cohen.

For five days in a row, Mavis went to Cohen's room every night to fight him.

From being checkmated after only a few moves at the beginning, to being able to go back and forth later, Mavis improved quickly.

Finally, late at night on the fifth day after Cohen arrived in "Potion City," after fighting for a full two hours, Mavis finally won a game against Cohen.

Looking at his king firmly checkmated by the opponent's queen, Cohen let out a satisfied sigh and said:

"Congratulations, City Lord. Next, we should go find the potion ingredients for 'Leadership I'!"

Mavis frowned slightly and asked:

"So, what about the method you mentioned to increase the success rate?"

Cohen smiled and replied:

"You can now take 'Leadership I'. I guarantee that your potion-taking process this time will be surprisingly smooth.

You won't even feel any pain, and you can easily break through to the semi-legendary realm."

Mavis frowned even deeper. Soon, her gaze fell on the ordinary-looking chessboard.

She asked:

"Is it related to this strange chess set?"

Cohen nodded slowly, his voice unhurried:

"The real purpose of the potion 'Leadership I' is to transform your body and spirit, giving you the extraordinary characteristic of 'commanding'.

But if you haven't been exposed to similar characteristics before, taking the potion will be greatly resisted by your body and spirit.

At this time, you can only rely on your physical body and spirit to endure. If you endure, you will succeed. If you can't endure, you will fail.

And this chessboard will greatly exercise your ability to think globally and command overall. In the process of playing against me, your spirit and body are actually undergoing a similar transformation and training to 'Leadership I' invisibly.

When you can beat me, it means that the transformation and training have been completed.

At this time, accepting the transformation of 'Leadership I' will be much more natural, and you won't even feel any pain.

I call this method 'adaptive training,' and the chessboard that plays a role I call a 'medium'.

Using this method can significantly increase the success rate of Sequence members taking potions."

Cohen's theory really shocked Mavis and completely subverted her views.

She quickly asked:

"Can Sequence members on other pathways to godhood also use similar methods?"

Cohen nodded and said:

"Of course, you can.

However, as for which 'adaptive training' is effective and which 'medium' is needed... that's another matter."

Mavis's expression changed, her body leaning forward involuntarily, her voice with a hint of urgency:

"You know, don't you?"

Cohen smiled and said slowly:

"Does the 'Conductor' remember our previous agreement?

My secrets can only be shared with the official members of our 'Endless Blade'.

I'm sorry, City Lord, you... are not currently in the team!"

Mavis's face froze, she clenched her fist, and an unnamed anger suddenly arose in her heart.

This bastard definitely knows how to increase the success rate of taking the potion.

Kindly helping her improve her chances of taking "Leadership I" is just bait to whet her appetite!

But she has no choice but to take the bait!

This man is too hateful. No wonder he can seduce so many beautiful girls. She's only been in contact with him for a few days. If her will wasn't a little stronger, she might have fallen into his clutches.

What a hateful man!

Mavis was engaged in a fierce struggle in her mind. She wanted to report to the Sequence Master Belmotti on how to deal with it, but she couldn't say it because of the existence of the soul contract.

Although Belmotti had said before that as long as it didn't involve the fundamental interests of the Strange Continent, she could make her own decisions.

But this matter was too important, and Mavis didn't want to make a decision easily.

Cohen looked at Mavis calmly, as if knowing her inner entanglement, and said gently:

"Okay, why does it seem like I'm forcing you to do something?

If this gets out, will I be able to walk out of Potion City alive?

Anyway, it's just what I'm saying now. As for how effective it is, you have to wait until I concoct the potion and you practice it yourself before making a decision."

Mavis breathed a sigh of relief, and then became a little resentful, feeling that the other party was playing some kind of push-and-pull trick.

But she had no other choice now and could only follow Cohen's arrangements.

Cohen spread out a piece of white paper, picked up a pen, and wrote some magic materials on it, saying to Mavis:

"Although these things are precious, they shouldn't be too difficult for you.

Gather them as soon as possible so I can concoct the potion for you and let you advance to the semi-legendary realm.

I'm in a hurry to go back. I have a lot of things to do at home."

Mavis picked up the list of materials and looked at it, the corner of her mouth twitching slightly. Although there weren't many things on it, some of them were indeed quite valuable. Even she felt a little heartache.

Cohen's gaze was extremely calm, making it impossible to guess what he was thinking.

Seeing that Mavis didn't say anything and put away the list, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Because he had mixed some personal goods into the list—secretly adding some of the repair materials needed for the "Book of Time and Space."

Fortunately, the 'Conductor' didn't see anything wrong.

Cohen continued to say calmly:

"In addition to the above, there is also a special thing that is crucial, and you may need to put in a lot of effort to obtain it."

Mavis frowned and asked:

"What is it?"

"The General's sword!"

… …

"Unicorn Merchant Guild's" efficiency is very fast, a few days have already sent the Queen sister's things.

Cohen checked the monitoring array and asked the Merchant Guild to continue to send the array to City Lord Asuna of "Cultivator City-State".

He left the birthday gift that Queen sister gave him in his hand.

Returning to the room, looking at the exquisite metal box in front of him, Cohen was slightly excited, wondering what surprise Adair had prepared for him.

He reached out and stroked the box, and the protective array on it sensed the aura of the seal and automatically opened.

Withdrawing the protection of the array, Cohen felt a violent magical fluctuation coming from inside the box.

Cohen slowly opened the box, and what came into view was a gorgeous and exquisite belt.

The surface of the belt shimmered with a strange luster, like stardust sprinkled on it, presenting a colorful halo as the angle of light changed.

The shape of the belt buckle was a mysterious ancient rune, and Cohen felt a faint aura of a magic array from it.

Needless to say, it must be a magic array personally engraved by Queen sister again.

Cohen sensed it and found that it was similar to the pendant array that Queen sister gave him at the beginning, but it was obviously more refined.

It seems that Queen sister's array research has taken a big step forward.

The belt was inlaid with various top-quality magic crystals of different elements, providing a constant stream of energy for the belt.

Cohen took the belt in his hand and stroked it carefully. Soon, he found many complex patterns embroidered on the close-fitting part of the belt.

He carefully examined these patterns and, after seeing them clearly, a huge wave of emotion and surprise rushed into Cohen's mind.

Those patterns were clearly the floral spellings of the names Cohen · Corleone and Adair · Angraine!

Each pattern condensed the caster's exquisite control of magic power.

These thousands of patterns must have taken the maker a huge amount of time and energy.

When he thought of the Queen, who was burdened with heavy government affairs all day long, actually taking the time to prepare such a loving gift, Cohen's heart couldn't help but soften.