Ch. 1501..1505: The Secretly Rich Man Chapter 1501-1505

Chapter 1501

Gerald Crawford:The Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible or Poorest) Chapter 1501 Xylon—the middle-aged man standing upfront—instantly grew curious when he saw how young Gerald actually was.

After all, despite the fact that his son kept addressing him by ‘master’ this entire time, Xylon simply couldn’t imagine that young man as anything other than completely ordinary. Could his son have somehow been mistaken…?

While Xylon found himself thinking that, he still shook hands with Gerald rather friendlily in order to express his gratitude.

However, after having a few more exchanges with Gerald, Xylon—being an elder—couldn’t help but start feeling slightly contemptuous toward him.

Regardless, after inviting him in for a meal—and finishing it—Xylon brought Gerald and the others for a walk around the manor to show their new master around.

During the meal, Xylon had mentioned a large and strong stone called the Zekterite, and it was evident that he was keen on showing it off.

Upon arriving before the stone, Xylon chuckled before declaring, “This is the Zekterite I was talking about, Brother Gerald! As I’ve said, it’s the hardest stone between heaven and earth! With that in mind, I make sure to bring it along no matter where I move to!”

Hearing that, Yule—who had been standing beside them—grew increasingly anxious. After all, his father and even a few of the family elders were already starting to call him ‘brother’ instead of master, and Yule knew how greatly disrespectful they were being!

Though Yule continually gave his father non-verbal hints to treat Gerald with more respect, Xylon simply pretended not to see any of his son’s warnings.

Instead, he simply began elaborating on the stone’s history, even though Gerald hadn’t asked for it.

According to rumors, the large stone was first found lying at the very top of Tierson Mountain. By the time it was found, it appeared that the stone had undergone the essence of life for a very long time, though it still remains unknown whether it got to that point due to the special aura within it.

Regardless, the stone was well-known for attracting lightning bolts. Despite being a natural lightning rod, not a scratch ever appeared on the giant stone, regardless of how hard the lightning hit. Due to that, the stone was aptly named the Zekterite.

With his explanation now complete, Xylon smugly looked at Gerald before saying, “Well, what do you think, Brother Gerald? This giant stone of mine is truly invaluable, wouldn’t you say?”

Upon hearing that, the other old men who had followed exchanged smiles as well, thinking, ‘You’re just an immature and inexperienced young man… As if you’d know anything about this great treasure…’

Gerald himself simply returned a wry smile as he nodded before saying, “It does feel invaluable!”

“I knew you’d agree! Still, why do I have a feeling that you don’t actually believe that…? Either way, I remember my son stating that you had extremely remarkable abilities! Why don’t you show some to us to widen our horizons?” replied Xylon casually.

“Indeed, Brother Gerald! Why don’t you try splitting the legendary and unbreakable Zekterite for a start?” joked another old man with a sarcastic smile.

Naturally, Gerald easily saw through the sarcasm, though he couldn’t really blame them. After all, he had promised to take Yule and his family under his wing—after saving him and his younger sister—in exchange for his family revering him for the many generations to come. With that in mind, it wasn’t hard to imagine why Xylon and the rest of the family’s elders couldn’t reconcile with that fact.

In fact, Gerald was already aware of their displeasure from when they were eating dinner earlier. Though they exchanged simple topics of conversation, not one of them was about him taking them under his wing, and it was quite obvious that it was a deliberate decision.

Shaking the thought off, Gerald then casually replied, “…The Zekterite truly is one of the hardest things between heaven and earth… From what I can see, not only does lighting do nothing to it, but cannons wouldn’t be able to smash it either! After all, the stone’s been absorbing the essence of life for such a long time that it now possesses a holy spirit. With that said, the Zekterite is only this strong because it’s turned into a holy stone!”

Though Xylon had no idea what Gerald had just said, he simply chuckled before replying slightly sarcastically, “Then is anything that bears a holy spirit a holy item? If that’s the case, wouldn’t there be many other things that are equally as difficult to destroy?”

“You don’t seem to be getting my point. How do I put this…? See, while normal items may be difficult to destroy, you can still inflict damage on them with enough inner strength or with the power of ordinary metals. The same can’t be said for the stone since it’s a holy item that’s been imbued with a holy spirit between heaven and earth!” said Gerald.

“Oh? Is that so? Still, doesn’t that mean that you’re just ridiculing us old men for not being strong enough, Brother Gerald?” replied another old man with a bitter smile on his face.

As the same old man made fun of Gerald before the others, it was evident that they were giving Gerald a warning that went along the lines of, ‘You’d best choose your words carefully, young man! Stop being so impetuous!’

“Oh, that wasn’t what I was going for. You clearly misunderstood me!” said Gerald.

Hearing that, Xylon and the others’ expressions softened slightly.

Just as they were wondering how Gerald would complete his explanation, Gerald added, “What I meant to say was that you don’t even deserve to inflict damage upon the stone! Disregarding your strength, there are simply none of you here who are at the stage where you can even begin dealing damage to it!”

Chapter 1502

Gerald Crawford: The Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible or Poorest) Chapter 1502

Upon hearing Gerald's casual reply, all the eyes of the Quantocks present instantly widened in great wrath.

"You...!" growled Xylon whose expression had turned extremely ugly.

'... Since you've said that, does that mean you're able to split the stone, Brother Gerald? If you are, then please widen our horizons...!" added another old man as he and the others gritted their teeth. "Of course, I can. What's so strange about splitting it anyway?" asked Gerald as he looked at them before shaking his head with a bitter smile.

"Fun fact, the Zekterite is immune to lightning since it holds similar properties to it. For further clarification, there exist spiritual items that are produced naturally between heaven and earth. With that said, the item will gain immense resistance against the element it is attuned to. Even so, magic arts can be used to split the Zekterite since they're much more powerful than regular lightning!" explained Gerald.

"You ignorant youth! How dare you boast so shamelessly about nonsense like magic arts!" retorted one of the elders who simply couldn't take how arrogant Gerald was anymore.

Xylon himself didn't bother stopping the old man. After all, what the elder had just said was exactly what he wanted to express as well.

"Nonsense, you say? Well, allow me to demonstrate that 'nonsense!"" replied Gerald with a subtle smile as he pinched his fingers together as though he was holding a sword's blade... After murmuring a barely audible magic chant, light began glowing from where his fingers were pinched... before what seemed to be an electric orb formed between his fingers!

Staring wide-eyed at the cackling cerulean orb that seemed to be bursting with electrical energy, everyone found themselves taking a step back as Gerald flicked the orb of lightning upward!

The second he did that, wild winds and lighting suddenly appeared out of nowhere as thunderous roars echoed throughout the area as well! With how strong the blades of wind were, everyone there felt as though they were in danger of being sliced if they weren't careful.

"...W-what...?" stuttered those who could still speak in nervous voices as they continued staring at Gerald in utter terror and disbelief.

Before they could even recover from their shock, an explosive sound suddenly burst from the sky, causing everyone's hair to stand on end as a massive bolt of blue lightning struck the Zekterite! While the scene was nothing short of dazzling, it also embedded a massive fear among all who witnessed it.

Seconds after yet another explosive sound was heard, several jaws instantly dropped when the Quantocks realized that the stone had been smashed to pieces from that single strike!

As the debris settled and the wild winds died down, the nights soon returned to its initial peace and silence... It was almost as though nothing had ever happened...

Naturally, the biggest change was how dumbfounded all the Quantocks were. For what seemed to be an eternity, none of them dared to even speak or breathe... until finally, Xylon knelt before Gerald. His action prompted the rest of the Quantocks to do the same as Xylon cried out, "You... You truly are an incredibly powerful person, Master Crawford...!"

 

Gerald Crawford: The Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible or Poorest) Chapter 1503

While the Quantocks were kneeling before Gerald, a young man who was participating in the festival-could be seen standing before a middle-aged one within the Laidler manor's study. "So tell me, Stetson, how's your current relationship with the Waddys family's young lady?" asked the middle-aged man.

"Everything's under control, dad! With how infatuated Xyrielle is with me, I doubt there'll be any problems with me gaining her affection!" replied Stetson with a subtle smile.

"Hahaha! That's great to hear, Stetson! While the Waddys themselves don't own much strength, the force backing them up is nothing short of terrifying. Regardless, I believe that you'll be able to handle everything well. If all goes according to plan, we'll definitely be able to use your relationship with the Waddys to eventually allow the Leidlers to have their day! Also, you had best not slack on your training either. The underground festival will be held in two days, and our family has to be crowned the victor this year no matter what!" instructed Mr. Laidler.

Hearing that, Stetson instantly replied, "Loud and clear! Still..."

"...Hmm? What is it?" asked Mr. Leidler.

"The festival... It's held once every few years whenever a priceless treasure is located, right? I'm curious to know if they managed to find another one for this festival..." replied Stetson.

"Well, I've been investigating it myself, and I've found that the treasure is greatly important to exceptional people who are training to attain spiritual enlightenment. In relation to that, many such people have been drawn to this event, though they make sure not to reveal too much about themselves. With that said, it'd do you good to do the same!" advised Mr. Laidler in a concerned tone.

"Understood, though I'm sure many of them have already diverted their attention from me after witnessing my deliberate loss to Yagrorok back in Heartstone Manor!" replied Stetson as he shook his head with a wry smile on his face.

"That's good to hear. You can rest a bit easier while you make the following preparations then. If things go well, and we obtain the Waddys family's resources, we'll definitely be able to expand our own family!" declared Mr. Laidler with a loud laugh.

A short while later-after Stetson left-the corners of Mr. Laidler's eyes couldn't help but catch a glimpse of something in the corner of the study...

If one looked a bit closer, they would surely be able to see a humanoid figure flickering in and out of existence there...

Moving on to the brightly lit Waddy's mansion, Yaakov could be seen knocking on the door to his daughter's room while asking in a gentle tone, "Xyrielle...? Are you still awake...?"

After a short while, the door to the room opened and Xyrielle-who clearly looked like she had just finished washing her hair-replied, "Dad...? It's already so late! What can I do for you...?"

"Let's just say that there are some things I need to talk to you about..." said Yaakov as he rested his arms against his back before walking over to take a seat inside her room.

"What's this about...?" asked the curious Xyrielle in return.

"Well, it's regarding how strict I've been toward you over the years... Especially when it comes to love-related affairs... I've been prohibiting you from chasing after love all this time... Do you hate me for that?" asked Yaakov with a smile.

"Of course, I don't! After all, I know that you're only being this strict for my own good!" replied Xyrielle as she shook her head.

"I'm glad that you understand my motive... Regardless, I'm pleased that you've developed feelings for Stetson... After all, I think pretty highly of him as well. Since your relationship with him has been going quite smoothly, I wanted to ask if you'd like to take it a step further with him..." said Yaakov.

Instantly blushing, Xyrielle then replied, "I... I'm not too sure about that yet...!"

Seeing this, Yaakov could easily tell that his daughter was being troubled by something, and Mr. Babel had apparently noticed it as well.

Since Xyrielle was still having doubts about her feelings for Stetson, Yaakov couldn't find it in himself to further persuade her to be with him, at least for now...

Chapter 1504

Gerald Crawford:The Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible or Poorest) Chapter 1504 Whatever the case was, Yaakov believed in his daughter’s insight and perception. With that said, he was certain that she definitely wouldn’t end up falling for a man like Gerald.

“I see… Well, that’s fine for now. Regardless, while I promise to always be by your side no matter what, I hope that you understand that you’ll eventually end up getting married to Stetson… After all, his future looks extremely promising! With that said, I hope you mentally prepare yourself for that…” said Yaakov.

Since Xyrielle didn’t look like she was particularly against the idea, Yaakov left her room with ease in his heart.

As for Xyrielle, after watching her father leave, she felt her heart palpitate as she muttered, “… Gerald…”

So, her father had come over just to tell her all that… As a sense of loss filled her while muttering his name, she could almost see his figure in his mind…

Fast forward to two days later, the underground festival was launched as scheduled.

On the day itself, no shortage of prestigious and influential families from all over the place could be seen gathered at the venue. Of course, there were even more guests who were secretly attending after receiving special invitation cards.

They were all here since according to how the previous underground festivals had gone, the champion of the festival would gain a rank similar to the most powerful person in the world of martial arts. Aside from that, they would also obtain the right to distribute a few mysterious items…

Regardless, it was also noteworthy that many families who had participated in the underground festival found themselves rising up the ranks extremely quickly! In fact, it wasn’t a stretch to claim that many of

the world’s most powerful and major families today had relied on the underground festival to get to where they currently were! With that in mind, any families looking to improve themselves would surely value the festival.

Of course, there were also quite a number of families who were foolishly attracted by the secrets of the attending underground forces. Such families either ended up being cheated or forced to get money through thievery if they didn’t have enough on hand.

Either way, while most of the ordinary people only attended the festival to enjoy the hustle and bustle, the insiders all knew that the festival’s true purpose was to have deity-like people brawl against each other.

Despite how big the fights were, nobody ever dared to record a thing, which was why no relevant information had yet to be leaked. After all, should information accidentally leak out, the family who had taken the recording would most certainly be exterminated…

Moving on to the actual venue, while the festival was still being held within Heartstone Manor, it was now separated into two main areas, that being aboveground and underground.

Comparing the two, the area aboveground was similar to the size of a kindergarten when placed side by side with the university-sized underground area.

While the former was a place where regular bosses could entertain themselves, the latter was an area where people dueled against each other in authentic battles!

Regardless, Gerald himself had just arrived with the Quantock family’s executives, alongside Julian and a few other people from the Sherwin family.

Just as they were about to enter, however, a smiling woman—who had been chatting with her friends while walking toward the main door—suddenly froze before calling out, “…Gerald? What are you doing

here?”

Hearing that, Gerald turned around to see who the owner of the feminine voice was… and was instantly shocked when he realized who she was!

“Oh? Fancy meeting you here!” replied Gerald with a slightly helpless smile as he looked at the woman.

“Why wouldn’t I be here? Still, it hasn’t been that long since we’ve last met! Why are you treating me as though I’m a stranger? Regardless, weren’t you unable to obtain an admission ticket? How did you manage to enter this place then? Either way, now that we’ve bumped into each other, I’d like to ask you to do me a favor!” said the woman with a chuckle.

The woman in question was none other than Xaverie. As for the other girls in her group, they were naturally also friends of Xyrielle’s. Xyrielle herself wasn’t present, though it was completely understandable. After all, she was one of the function’s main characters, so there was no way she was going to be able to stay by her friends’ sides like how she usually did.

Whatever the case was, Xaverie couldn’t deny that she was curious about all the people accompanying Gerald here today… Still, she wasn’t too afraid since she ended up subconsciously thinking about Gerald’s true identity.

With that, she then grabbed onto his arm, making it extremely evident that she wanted to lead him someplace no matter what he said.

Seeing that, Yule looked like he wanted to say something before whispering, “Master…”

While the Quantocks no longer controlled or managed Jenny City, they were still a family that owned extraordinary strength. If someone was disrespecting their master, they’d surely have to teach that person a lesson!

Understanding what Yule was getting at, Gerald simply signaled for him and the rest to stand down for now. After all, while she was slightly capricious, she hadn’t really done anything wrong to him.

With that in mind, Gerald revealed a bitter smile of resignation as he said, “All of you head on in… I’ll see what she needs help with first before regrouping with you…”

Chapter 1505

Gerald Crawford:The Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible or Poorest) Chapter 1505 With that, Gerald then followed Xaverie as she led him someplace…

He found himself slightly surprised when he realized that she had simply wanted him to help her carry a parrot.

Though the parrot distinctly knew how to mimic human speech, it hadn’t said a word upon arriving there for some odd reason.

Recalling that Yagrorok was afraid of Gerald too back then, Xaverie deduced that the bird must have simply been too terrified to speak within Gerald’s presence! It was exactly because of that that she was asking his help to carry it.

Not wanting to be further pestered by Xaverie, Gerald simply shook his head at the comment before agreeing to help with a nod.

“Still, to think that you were actually able to get acquainted with the Quantocks! Regardless, you really have to thank me this time, Gerald! For context, carrying this parrot isn’t the only reason I called you over…” said Xaverie in a slow tone after both of them descended into the underground area.

“Oh? What do you mean by that?” asked Gerald with a curious smile.

“You may not be aware of this, but the Quantocks and the Waddys have held grudges against each other for quite a while now… What I’m trying to say is that the Waddys will definitely notice that you’re with the Quantocks… In other words, you’re pretty much sentencing yourself to death!” replied Xaverie in a slightly bitter tone.

“…Oh? So, this is what you wanted to tell me? Hahaha! I guess I really do owe you my thanks for warning me!” said Gerald with a smile.

“Why are you being so concerned for this loser, Xaverie? Could you have fallen for him?” teased one of her friends as the rest of the girls in the group snickered while covering their mouths.

“What utter nonsense! There’s no way in hell that I’d fall for him!” replied Xaverie in a defeated tone.

Though she said that, Xaverie honestly had a pretty good impression on Gerald. After all, he was a nice and extremely kind man.

Regardless, Xaverie and her group of friends were permitted entry into the entire Heartstone Manor since they benefited from being acquainted with the Waddys. With that said, once they were in the underground seating area, they quickly found the perfect place to take their seats. Even Gerald was able to sit relatively close to the main stage since he was now associated with Xaverie.

Quite frankly, he had initially planned to leave after helping her. However, after realizing that Xaverie had called him over for his own good, he had a change of heart.

In addition, he now had access to better seats, meaning that he was going to be able to get a closer look at the formal showdowns between exceptional people—who were training to attain spiritual enlightenment—for the first time!

Either way, now that he was seated, Gerald began looking around the gigantic annular venue.

Right in the middle, was a high platform where the battles would take place. From what he had been told, there were over thirty families participating in the battles, and they could all be seen sitting below the high platform now.

While the families appeared to treat the Waddys with utmost respect, undercurrents naturally existed among them. After all, all the present families definitely understood how important this festival was, which meant that they were all most probably secretly competing against each other.

Regardless, from what Gerald could observe, he deduced that the only families who held true strength among the others were the Waddys and the Laidlers.

As for the remaining families, he had a pretty good hunch that they were simply being controlled by those training to attain spiritual enlightenment. While that was the case, none of the puppet masters appeared to be anywhere as strong as Stetson, and Gerald’s assumption turned out to be correct.

One by one, they were mercilessly defeated by Stetson almost immediately upon entering the ring.

As the fights went on, Yaakov felt that something was off. He knew Stetson’s capabilities well, and by right, he was only a First-rank Master… Even so, wasn’t he defeating too many of the other similarly ranked masters a bit too easily? How had he managed to increase his strength so rapidly within that short amount of time?

Could he have managed to surpass that rank…?

Yaakov could only continue staring in astonishment as yet another old man fell off the high platform, swiftly defeated by Stetson.

The old man himself quickly got to his feet and bowed respectfully before Stetson while saying, “I’m now utterly convinced that you young people have surpassed our generation!”

Watching as the old man quickly left after saying that, Yaakov could hardly calm himself anymore. He was simply too strong!

“Was the power to rule finally going to the Laidlers this year…?”