Chapter 470: Chapter 472: Another Old Person ’This damn temple hater...’ Damon smirked. Lilith sometimes wished her hatred for the temple was born solely out of a desire for good and justice. Maybe then, she could pretend her dreams of destroying them were noble. That she wanted to make the world a better place. But no—that wasn’t it. Her hatred ran deeper. Stronger. Wilder. It was just vengeance. Even now, as she stood by the altar, she was plotting. Calculating. Always thinking of ways to undermine them. She just wasn’t strong enough yet. She glanced at the altar, voice low. "The Key of Lazarak is a great tool... we could move troops and logistics with ease using it..." Damon immediately understood what she was implying—but shook his head slightly. It wouldn’t work. The Key could create doorways to this hidden tomb from nearly anywhere in the world, even tear through space entirely—if you had the right affinity. What Lilith wanted was to use this place as a buffer zone—a gateway. Connect two distant places through the tomb and turn it into a bridge for logistics, movement, escape. But for that, they needed two keys. One to enter. One to exit. Without that, it would just be a one-way corridor. "Wouldn’t that be a dream..." Damon muttered, thinking about the possibilities. "We could ignore every danger of travel. We’d only need to make a trip once." All the danger zones. The travel time. The expenses. Gone. Lilith bit her lip, her face turned downward, frustration tightening her expression. "That is a shame... but... maybe we can recruit an alchemist and an artificer. Someone who can recreate the crucial enchantments. We can still do this." She looked up at him then—eyes slightly wide, a flicker of desperate hope behind them. "Look how far we’ve come... we can go even further... can’t we?" Damon stared at her. It was in these moments he remembered... Lilith Astranova wasn’t perfect. She wasn’t invincible. She was human. A young human, at that. Not even twenty. Powerful, yes. But still fragile. So Damon smiled. "Obviously," he said. "Like we could actually lose—with all the broken abilities we’ve got in our arsenal." He tapped his temple with a grin. "And let’s not forget—I’ve got most of Lysithara’s tech archives in my head." Well... technically, in his crown. But she got the point. He turned to scan the chamber, his gaze shifting toward the altar’s dial—where a few red dots still flickered. Roaming monsters. Stragglers within their new sphere of influence. "We just need to kill a few more of those, and this place’ll be fully secured." He pointed off to the corner of the room. "We can have banners there. A flag over there. There’s enough space for an organization—this is a fresh start." He turned back to her, smiling again. "We can do this." Lilith listened, her smile slowly forming. Her eyes gleamed with a quiet warmth as she touched the glowing map on the dial. "We can use this place as a meeting room." Damon chuckled. "We can build our whole operation right under their noses." He leaned slightly toward her, grin sharp. "As for our relationship with the temple... I’ve had an idea. I’ve been thinking about it for months." Lilith tilted her head curiously. Damon placed a hand on her shoulder. "Have you heard of a little something called... political lobbying?" Lilith blinked. "Erhm... yes?" Damon’s grin turned devious. "The temple’s an organization. Which means it’s run by people. And people? They want to climb the ladder." He turned, gesturing with his hand like a showman introducing a grand performance. "What we do is... fund a few of them. Kind, devoted contributors to the faith—help them rise. Pay their way to power." He flicked his hand, as if tossing gold into the wind. "And in exchange? They support us. Feed us info. Nudge policies in our favor. You know—the works." Lilith stared at him, stunned. It was... clever. Risky. But clever. Then she frowned. That would take an insane amount of money. Money they absolutely did not have. Damon raised his hand before she could speak. "I know what you’re going to say—we’re broke. So why not earn it?" He paused. "I can get billions... if I give up my dignity." Lilith blinked again. "Please don’t tell me, you’re planning to mess around with another old noble woman." She wasn’t sure what he meant by giving up his dignity, but it sounded dangerous. It had better not be. Damon smirked. "Better an old man." He wasn’t done. "We build a public organization," Damon continued. "A guild. Trades resources, does business. But still keeps a military function." "A front," she muttered, she didn’t even want to consider what he’d do for money. He nodded. "Exactly. That lets us build wealth, amass resources, weapons, people—all without making the state suspicious." He leaned closer. "Meanwhile, in the shadows... we build a real organization. Based here. Underground. Secret." He pointed downward. "This place feeds off the surface. Hidden, nameless. And that’s where we gather the strength to destroy the temple." Lilith stared at him. Silently. He really had thought this through. But even with a plan, it wouldn’t be easy. "There are already powerful people out there," she murmured. "They’ll try to crush us. We’ll suffer losses. We may go bankrupt just trying to get started." Her voice lowered. "And if we’re discovered... this secret organization will be branded heretical. Treasonous. Both religion and state will want our heads. It’s just the two of us right now. No members. No backers. How do we even begin?" Damon stepped closer. "For the public front, we start with Lysithara’s tech. We advance magic. Bring innovations no one’s seen in thousands of years." "We patent our products—medicine, transport, quality-of-life enchantments. We sell them." He took her hand in his. "We take the wealth, and we recruit." He looked her in the eyes. "The temple’s on top. You don’t get to the top without enemies. So we recruit them. And if that’s not enough..." His smile returned. "We work with demons." "We conquer this place. One step at a time. We build one step at a time." Lilith looked at him, her lips parting. "Together." He nodded. "Hmm. Together." She smiled. Squeezing his hand tightly. "So, shall we get started? We don’t even have a name for our organization yet... and we’re flat broke. We have zero influence. And a mountain of work ahead of us..." She turned, pulling him by the hand, a rare and gentle laugh rising from her throat. "Come on then... let’s not dawdle. We’ve got enemies to kill—" She glanced back, eyes alight. "—and allies to find and a temple to burn."