Drip, drop...
Whoosh—
The carriage drove through the muddy, rainy road, splashing rainwater from small puddles and the muddy path. The rain had been falling for quite a while.
An ordinary carriage would have difficulty traveling in such heavy rain, but fortunately, the carriage was pulled by Evil Spirit Dogs, so this difficult road did not affect them.
"Lord, what are we doing in the Royal Capital?" Anri asked, looking nervously and curiously at the Royal Capital in the distance, getting closer and closer in the rain.
"Meeting some friends, and also dealing with the Alchemy Potions we made. Our destination isn't here, but further south."
Tang Zheng replied with a smile upon hearing her question.
Further south? "Oh." Anri nodded, seemingly understanding. For a girl who had never even left her village, her understanding of the country, or even the world, was limited.
Tang Zheng chuckled softly at this, looking out at the heavy rain through the vines, and sighed softly, "The temperature here is indeed warmer than the border."
It was still snowing from time to time at the border of the Royal Capital, but unexpectedly, it started raining heavily in the Royal Capital area. Perhaps it was because the border area was close to the Angelicia Mountain Range, so it was colder.
The Kingdom's terrain and environment were indeed much better than the Empire's, but despite having a similar history of over two hundred years, the Empire was much stronger.
The Kingdom had a strong tendency to decline.
Thinking of this.
Tang Zheng shook his head slightly. It was no wonder the Slane Theocracy was preparing to support the Empire's unification. At the beginning of the plot, they even sent the Sunlight Scripture unit to eliminate the most troublesome Warrior Captain Gazef.
"Speaking of which, I wonder which unit the Slane Theocracy sent to investigate the Lava Zone last time?"
Tang Zheng thought silently.
No matter which unit it was, unless the Darkness Scripture was dispatched, the other five-colored scriptures would suffer heavy losses.
The Angelicia Mountain Range was not a place where anyone could set foot casually.
Tang Zheng raised his eyes, looking at the approaching Royal Capital, and a thought flashed in his mind.
...
Skill: Unfalling Fortress (Martial Arts)
Consumption: None, no cooldown
Description: When an opponent launches an attack, activate the Martial Arts at the right moment to negate the opponent's attack, rendering it ineffective. There is a limit to the negation if the level difference is too large.
...
Skill: Ability Enhancement (Martial Arts)
Consumption: None, no cooldown
Description: Enhances physical abilities, increasing physical attack by 30 points, agility by 30 points...
Skill: Probability Perception (Martial Arts)
Consumption: None, no cooldown
Description: Enhances the sixth sense, making it easier to discover the opponent's flaws, increasing critical hit chance and Weakness Perception.
...
Skill: Magic Resistance Enhancement (Martial Arts)
Consumption: None, no cooldown
Description: Increases the ability to resist Magic, increasing magic defense by 30 points.
...
[Skill Point: 75→71]
...
These were the skills that Tang Zheng had chosen to master from the Martial Arts used by the Headhunting Rabbit. Apart from a defensive Martial Arts, the other three were all enhancement-type Martial Arts.
And all of them had stackable, higher-level enhancement Martial Arts: Ability Super-Enhancement, Possibility Super-Perception, and Magic Resistance Super-Enhancement.
Glug, glug—
The carriage's speed gradually slowed, and a city gate that wasn't particularly tall appeared ahead.
The Royal Capital of the Re-Estize Kingdom was vast, unlike the fortress city of E-Rantel, with a large residential area gathered on its outskirts.
Therefore, the city walls were not very tall, but the dense residential area exuded a sense of prosperity far exceeding that of a border city, along with a hint of oppression.
The towering figure of the Evil Spirit Dog pierced through the rain and fog, catching the eyes of the soldiers guarding the city gate. After a brief moment of astonishment, they immediately became alarmed and stood guard.
Due to the heavy rain, there wasn't much traffic at the city gate. The sudden appearance of a ferocious Demon Creature like the Evil Spirit Dog was indeed a disconcerting event for ordinary soldiers in the central region of the Kingdom who had never experienced such things.
Hiding under the spacious city gate to avoid the rain, the lazy soldiers fearfully picked up their weapons, but none of them stepped forward to resist the Demon Creature, instead retreating in unison.
"What's going on?"
"It's a Magical Beast!"
"This is the Royal Capital, how could a Magical Beast rush in here?"
"Look, there's a carriage behind it."
"..."
As the carriage approached, several soldiers finally saw clearly that the ferocious Magical Beast was actually just a Demon Creature pulling the carriage.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, but also felt curious, looking fearfully at the approaching carriage. Even some nobles couldn't manage to have a Magical Beast pull their carriage.
No matter how you looked at it, that Demon Creature, over two meters tall and with a ferocious appearance, didn't seem like the type to obediently pull a carriage.
Clack!
The Bone Chains tightened.
The carriage came to a complete stop. The Evil Spirit Dog shook the rain off its head, its pair of indifferent beast eyes sweeping over the trembling soldiers.
A green light flashed from the carriage, and the vines enveloping it slowly dissipated, revealing the three figures behind the carriage.
Anri carefully glanced at the soldiers guarding the city, instinctively reaching for the pouch on her waist, rummaging through it, with a sense of Fear towards these Kingdom soldiers.
"What are you doing?"
Tang Zheng looked at Anri, puzzled.
Anri obediently and blankly replied, "Pass... Pass Permit."
She had always remembered what Laqimeng Uncle had said: with a Pass Permit issued by the city lord and noble lords, the entrance fee could be reduced.
Although it couldn't be used in other places, the permit could prove their identity and avoid being harassed.
They had passed through some large cities before, and she had wanted to take it out, but the carriage had already entered before she could.
And this was, after all, the Royal Capital.
In Anri's view, the entrance fee and inspection should be more detailed and complicated, and she didn't want to cause trouble for the adults, so she wanted to take it out in advance.
"There's no need for that kind of thing at all."
Tang Zheng said helplessly, extending his palm and flipping it over, a Gold Coin already appearing in his hand. He flicked his finger.
Ding~ The Gold Coin drew a graceful arc in the air, landing in the hand of the soldier guarding the city at the front.
Tang Zheng didn't waste any more words, picking up his "Gold Rank" Adventurer's badge from his waist and waving it at the soldiers guarding the city.
No need to speak.
The soldiers guarding the city immediately cleared the road, the one holding the Gold Coin in his hand with a bright and humble smile, respectfully reminding in a low voice, "Esteemed Adventurer, please try not to bring your Demon Creature into the inner city."
"Thanks, everyone."
Tang Zheng didn't act superior upon hearing the reminder, nodding gently.
Clack! The Evil Spirit Dog pulled the carriage again, its pace slowing as it drove into the outskirts of the Royal Capital.
A flash of green light.
The Emerald Witch activated Magic again, and plant vines re-enveloped the carriage, blocking the rain pouring down after leaving the city gate.
Beyond the city gate was a straight and wide road paved with stone slabs, and the carriage wouldn't make too much noise driving on it.
This immediately caused Anri, who had been jostled all the way, to exclaim in surprise.
The "laying of stone-paved streets" was initiated under the proposal of that 'Golden' Princess, but currently, apart from the main streets of the Royal Capital and the territory of Raven Marquis, one of the six great nobles,
other nobles have expressed their opposition, citing the reason that paving streets would facilitate the Empire's invasion.
"How interesting."
Tang Zheng instructed the Evil Spirit Dog to turn into a main street ahead and head towards the inner side, then raised his hand and tapped his chin, suddenly letting out a soft laugh.
Back then, in order to find Renners, he had stayed in the Imperial Capital of the Empire for a while, and although he hadn't stayed long in the Royal Capital, he had visited it twice.
Tang Zheng suddenly realized that the purpose of the many proposals put forward by that 'Golden' Princess might not really be what he had initially thought.
Having witnessed the situations of the two Kingdoms and broadened his horizons, Tang Zheng vaguely sensed that the Golden Princess's unique level of thinking might be even higher than he had initially anticipated.
In simple terms.
The numerous bizarre reasons rejected by the Kingdom's nobles might not have hit the nail on the head.
As the carriage gradually left the main street.
Puddles of "lakes" began to gather on the ground. The road surface of the Royal Capital clearly did not take drainage into consideration, especially for the residential areas on both sides.
No wonder most of the surrounding buildings were two-story structures.
Water splashed under the wheels.
Soon, they stopped in front of an ordinary inn.
The Emerald Witch retracted the vines surrounding the carriage, took out an umbrella, opened it, and immediately covered Tang Zheng's head.
The innkeeper, upon seeing Tang Zheng and his party, suppressed his fear of the Evil Spirit Dog and immediately put on a smiling face, displaying the most extreme service attitude.
Tang Zheng, as usual, booked three rooms, even paying extra due to the Evil Spirit Dog.
A moment later.
With a "click."
The innkeeper, carrying food, carefully entered the room where Tang Zheng was, and immediately saw the lazy Evil Spirit Dog lying in the center of the room.
His neck stiffened, "Phew." The innkeeper took a deep breath, slowed down his pace again, and respectfully looked at Tang Zheng, who was sitting at the wooden table and looking at him, "Sir, your food."
"Thank you, just put it on the table." Tang Zheng nodded with a smile, indicating that the innkeeper could put it down.
The innkeeper placed the food he was carrying on the wooden table, then carefully and respectfully retreated, quickly leaving the room, as if afraid that the Evil Spirit Dog lying on the ground would attack him.
"Hmm, smells good, Xiao Hei, looks like the food is good." Tang Zheng looked at the food on the table, a satisfied smile on his face.
A freshly baked, soft white bread, still steaming, and two pieces of roasted red meat dripping with sauce and emitting heat.
And a clear soup made with corn and vegetables.
Tang Zheng used a fork to pick up a piece of roasted red meat and threw it towards the back.
"Woof." The Evil Spirit Dog immediately raised its head, a fierce look in its beastly eyes, and opened its mouth to bite the thrown roast meat, swallowing it in one gulp.
Tang Zheng, on the other hand, slowly cut the tasty roast meat and ate it with the soft white bread.
Time passed little by little.
Just as Tang Zheng was about to finish the last bite of roast meat.
Bang! Outside the half-open window in the room, a black arrow suddenly shot out from the rain, the arrowhead emitting a translucent luster.
It pierced through the layers of rain, unaffected, and shot straight at Tang Zheng.
"Roar!"
The Evil Spirit Dog immediately got up, a fierce look in its beastly eyes, and raised its paw to swat at the arrow.
However.
The situation where the arrow should have been swatted away by the Evil Spirit Dog did not occur. Instead, at the moment when the Evil Spirit Dog's paw was about to collide with the arrow.
The arrow that had been shooting straight over actually took a turn in mid-air, bypassing the Evil Spirit Dog and shooting towards Tang Zheng in the back.
A paw missed.
The Evil Spirit Dog wanted to turn around to block, but it was already too late. After all, the room wasn't large, and the distance between the Evil Spirit Dog and Tang Zheng was very close.
Tang Zheng calmly watched the arrow shooting towards him, picking up the fork with the grilled meat still on it.
Buzz—
Suddenly, the arrow vibrated again.
The already extremely close arrow flashed with a faint light, instantly transforming into two arrows, shooting over simultaneously.
Clang! A crisp metallic sound rang out in the room.
Tang Zheng calmly held the fork in his hand, blocking one of the arrows, while the other arrow passed through Tang Zheng's body and dissipated in mid-air.
This was clearly not a real arrow, but an illusion used to deceive people.
"Martial Arts techniques, combined with Magic Arrows, it seems your strength has improved quite a bit."
Tang Zheng slightly exerted force with the fingers holding the fork, knocking down the colliding arrow, before continuing to put the grilled meat on the fork into his mouth.
He raised his head and looked towards the window.
He saw that the half-open window had been completely opened, and a figure wrapped in a black raincoat robe was standing on the window.
The person was holding onto the window with one hand and holding a bow and arrow in the other. Even though they were wrapped in a black raincoat robe, one could still make out the person's slender figure.
"Roar!"
The Evil Spirit Dog bared its sharp teeth, fiercely looking at the figure. Just as it was about to launch an attack, its nose suddenly twitched.
It seemed to have smelled a familiar scent.
Then.
The Evil Spirit Dog curled its lip and wagged its tail, lying back down on the ground.
Snap! The black figure jumped in from the window, casually taking off the raincoat Black Robe wrapped around their body and throwing it aside. A familiar purple-haired figure came into view.
It was Imina.
"Tsk, you disappeared for so long, I thought you were dead,"
Imina raised her slender neck, her delicate face carrying a hint of dissatisfaction, and said with a bit of sarcasm, "This lady was even prepared to make a killing and run."
As she spoke.
Imina moved her long legs and sat down very naturally across from Tang Zheng's wooden table, picking up the remaining soft white bread and eating it.
Seeing Imina's expression was very cold and unhappy.
Tang Zheng let out a chuckle: "Make a killing in 'Eight Fingers', that's quite a bit of money."
"But it seems you don't want to leave so quickly, otherwise you wouldn't have bought this inn."
The inn he was currently staying in was the same inn where he had lured out the "Eight Fingers" member through Imina when he first came to the Royal Capital for the second time.
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