Chapter 55: Planning the Future, Strength and Influence

Of course, Luo Yan was not the only one who felt surprised by Ray Allen’s attitude; at least Simons himself felt a slight sense of bewilderment.

After all, Simons Pia was one of the influential figures among the younger generation in Lons Pompey City. It had been a long time since he had been completely ignored like this.

However, since Ray Allen had suddenly spoken this way, Simons Pia opened his mouth but did not know what to say. Luo Pei had just stated that while he accepted the apology, he was already prepared to do business with someone else. What else could he do? He could not possibly hold the man back and stop him from leaving. He could not demand that the man sell the items to him just to prove the apology was accepted; otherwise, that would be forced buying and selling.

As for Luo Yan, since his impression of Simons was decent, he gave up the idea of mocking him further. It was just a small argument, and there was no need to create more trouble. Having lived for over a hundred years, Luo Yan’s heart was not so petty as to seek revenge for every little thing… moreover, he had some other ideas regarding Simons.

Since his rebirth, Luo Yan had been thinking about how to avoid repeating the mistakes of his past life so that he could live a happy and free life. Although this wish was simple, it was very difficult. At least, wanting to live a “truly” free life was by no means a simple matter.

[That requires sufficient strength and… influence!]

Having power ful personal strength was absolutely the first essential factor in ensuring he could live freely. Without strong individual power, even with money and status, it would be difficult to guarantee one’s dignity and rights in this world where the strong were respected.

But powerful strength alone was still not enough. Before his rebirth, Luo Yan had seen too many powerful lone warriors who, because they offended a major power, were forced to flee everywhere like wild dogs with no security for their lives… Of course, one could say that this was ultimately because their strength was not powerful enough. If one truly possessed a power so great that it could ignore everything, would there be any need to worry about major powers?

But the problem was, was so-called “strength that ignores everything” really that easy to obtain? Looking back at tens of thousands of years of history, how many people could truly transcend everything through their own strength? That required opportunity, talent, and luck—none of which could be missing. Even a reborn person like Luo Yan had no confidence to guarantee that he “definitely” could reach that level!

Moreover, even if his strength reached the point of “ignoring everything,” what was the harm in having some influential forces that could help him? A super-tier powerhouse could use their strength to get anything they wanted, but a leader of a great power could achieve the same effect with a single order… Although the final result was the same, one process required doing everything personally, while the other only required giving a command. For someone who longed for the life of a “privileged son of an official,” it was obvious which choice was more tempting.

[Therefore, since his rebirth, Luo Yan had been considering the issues of strength and influence.]

The former went without saying; it required his absolute effort, and for this, Luo Yan naturally had sufficient determination and confidence. As for the latter… to be honest, for someone who clearly remembered over a hundred years of future history, establishing a satisfactory personal influence was not a very difficult task. It only required a plan and the right people to execute that plan.

So-called “influence” was nothing more than power, wealth, and manpower. Simply put, it meant having authority, money, and followers. Luo Yan was not worried about the “power” part; his teacher was the “Golden Yuan Caesar” who would later control the imperial government for over forty years. Regardless of whether he was eventually purged, he was the dominant figure for those forty years. By leaning on this powerful back and encouraging his father to be more ambitious, the dream of comfortably becoming a “privileged son” was not far off.

As for “manpower,” he was not referring to ordinary servants. As long as one had money and power, there were as many of those as one wanted. He was talking about “experts,” high-end combat power capable of deterring any ill-intentioned people… However, Luo Yan was not worried about this either. Had he not already gained a rare talent in Moonlight Battle Aura as his vassal? With Luo Yan’s memories, it would not be difficult to find a group of potential stars who had not yet emerged, or to recruit a few experts who had not fared well in the world before his rebirth. Luo Yan’s confidence in this was absolute.

However, regarding the “wealth” part, it seemed Luo Yan was currently in a bit of a pinch!

If his father became a high official, the son would naturally become a “privileged son.” But please note, although being a privileged son meant he basically would not lack money, Luo Yan wanted to be a “comfortable” privileged son… To be a “comfortable” privileged son required more than just not “lacking” money!

Becoming a high official naturally meant having no worries about food and clothing, but that was only the bare minimum. Being able to eat enough did not mean being able to eat well. For an official, in order to “eat well,” besides having family members working hard to make money, there were likely only two paths left: “corruption and bribery” and “collusion between officials and businessmen”… Luo Yan knew very well that these two paths were standard roads to ruin. It was fine if no one from above investigated, but once the superiors got serious, the offender could never escape unscathed.

Therefore, even without considering Luo Pei’s personality, Luo Yan would certainly not choose such a stupid method of handing a handle to others. Thus, the only option left was to find a way to build his own wealth!

Regarding “building wealth,” Luo Yan actually knew many ideas for making money, and he had many such plans of his own. But the problem was that these ideas and plans all required someone to spend time executing them. For Luo Yan, hard cultivation was the most important thing he needed to do right now, and he could not possibly split his energy among these matters.

Therefore, finding some trustworthy executors or allies was what Luo Yan needed to start worrying about now. After all, a trustworthy executor required a long time to observe—and this Simons Pia before him happened to be one of the people Luo Yan had listed for observation.

A talented youth, a rising star in business, highly capable, and not famous in later generations… Simons’ various conditions perfectly matched Luo Yan’s requirements!

If he spoke of the first choice in Luo Yan’s heart, it would naturally be those geniuses who had not yet risen but were renowned in later generations. But the problem was that recruiting such “100-internal-affairs” minions required the cooperation of timing, location, and people. At least before he gained sufficient freedom of movement, Luo Yan could only think about it.

Thus, as a second-best option, someone like Simons Pia was undoubtedly a good choice. The fact that he was not famous in later generations showed that he did not develop further—but his ability had already been proven in Lons Pompey City. Therefore, the reason he failed to develop was likely, as previously guessed, due to health issues, or perhaps he failed to seize opportunities during his growth, resulting in limited achievements… If it was the former, Luo Yan, as an Undead Alchemist, had plenty of ways to help. If it was the latter, Luo Yan could directly help guide him at critical moments.

Of course, after saying all this, the most important point was that Simons Pia gave off a feeling that suited Luo Yan’s taste. This was the most important reason why Luo Yan put him on the “observation list.” From this perspective, a certain future reserve privileged son was truly a guy who followed his whims.