"Reacting so strongly, a bit stingy, aren't we."
Tang Zheng felt a bit of a headache, never expecting Go Gin's departure to cause such a big impact.
That the Bloody Emperor could guess Go Gin's sudden departure was related to him wasn't unexpected. Even the arrangement to have Go Gin wait until he had completely left the Empire before proposing to leave the Imperial Arena was meant to confuse matters.
But trying to remove him from this affair was impossible.
The Bloody Emperor was a clever man to begin with, so suspecting him was expected. Tang Zheng just hadn't anticipated the Bloody Emperor being so certain and issuing a warrant for his arrest directly.
"Looks like the Bloody Emperor is quite angry." Tang Zheng chuckled inwardly. It would be much more troublesome to visit the Empire with a normal identity in the future.
However.
With the Empire's warrant.
His reputation in the Kingdom was probably quite high now. After all, "the enemy's foe is my hero" applied just as well in another world.
From the excited expressions of the city guards before him, he could deduce quite a bit.
Tang Zheng's eyes flickered, and after thanking the city guards, he led the Emerald Witch and Anri through the city gates.
Inside E-Rantel.
Prosperity remained, and even in the cold of winter, there were still many pedestrians on the streets.
With the end of the war between the Empire and the Kingdom, E-Rantel, as a border city, had naturally returned to normal commercial activity.
Tang Zheng learned from the city guards that although the Kingdom still hadn't gained any advantages in this war, its losses were not as severe as in previous years.
This was closely related to the departure of the Empire's symbol, the Martial King Go Gin, and Renners, the Kingdom Rose.
That's right!
Renners's reputation in the Kingdom was now considerable, thanks in no small part to the efforts of the Kingdom's nobles. "Kingdom Rose" was now Renners's title.
On the wide road.
In the gaps of the gray paving stones, there were still thin, hard, grayish-black snowflakes. The pedestrians on the street looked at the Evil Spirit Dog, which was taller than a person and had a fierce appearance.
Each of them showed a fearful expression, and some children were even so frightened that they cried, their mouths quickly covered by their parents, afraid to look in Tang Zheng's direction.
A large Magical Beast like the Evil Spirit Dog, which appeared to be fully grown, was a rare sight even in E-Rantel, a border city close to the Tove Great Forest.
Tang Zheng walked in front, raising his hand to pat the Evil Spirit Dog's strong front leg: "Don't look around so much, you're scaring the children."
After speaking.
Tang Zheng showed an apologetic expression towards the children, immediately prompting their parents to bow quickly.
"Woof~"
The Evil Spirit Dog wagged its tail and withdrew its gaze.
Anri observed her surroundings with curiosity, her eyes occasionally falling on the back of Tang Zheng, who was wearing a priest's robe and looked very gentle, her brown eyes unable to help but take a few more glances.
Then she carefully glanced at the indifferent Emerald Witch and lowered her head.
The master was both gentle and powerful.
Miss Emerald Witch didn't like to talk, but she was also a very powerful person.
Only she… couldn't do anything.
Anri wrapped herself in thick, old clothes, shrinking her chin into her collar, her eyes somewhat lost.
She still didn't know what the "talent" that the master spoke of was.
"Anri." A gentle voice sounded.
"Yes!"
Anri quickly raised her head and spoke.
"Don't be so nervous, here." Tang Zheng chuckled, taking out a money bag from his pocket and tossing it over.
Anri raised her arms to catch it, feeling the round objects inside the money bag, and immediately realized that it contained coins.
Through the opening of the money bag in her hand, a gleam of gold flashed.
It's gold coins! Anri's heart jolted, and she tightened her grip on the money bag. She had only ever seen silver coins in the village and was seeing gold coins for the first time.
"Here are 20 gold coins. Take them to purchase supplies for our upcoming journey, and also get yourself a new set of clothes."
Tang Zheng said softly.
"Ah!"
Anri's rough hands gripped the money bag again, and she couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.
20 gold coins! She had never seen so much money. Their village only made about 3,000 copper coins from selling wheat and herbs each year.
Anri quickly calculated in her mind. That was less than 18 gold coins, and this small bag of coins in front of her was already equivalent to a year's income for their entire village.
"I don't need new clothes. What I'm wearing now is fine," Anri said, a little flustered.
She also wanted to say, could she really handle such a task as being entrusted with so much money and buying supplies?
This border city of E-Rantel was her first time visiting, and she wasn't familiar with it at all.
"You're too frail. We have a long journey ahead, and if you catch a cold, it will delay our progress."
"Compared to the money we'd spend if you got sick, I think buying a few clothes is cheaper." Tang Zheng said, then added, "Xiao Hei will pull the carriage and follow you to load the supplies, and Emerald Witch will also accompany you, but she doesn't know much about these things, so you'll need to take the lead."
Hearing these words, Anri felt less nervous and tense. Her cheeks tightened, and she nodded forcefully, "I'll do my best."
Her life in the village was as if time had stood still.
Every day, as soon as the sun rose, she had to start fetching water because that was the girls' job, then help with farm work, or collect firewood at the edge of the forest.
Repetitive and monotonous! Anri had long wondered when these unchanging days would end. As a young girl, she was always full of expectations and special fantasies about the future.
Now, Anri felt full of energy.
"Tell her what you need to buy, and have Anri help you purchase it," Tang Zheng said, turning to the Emerald Witch.
"Yes, Master."
The Emerald Witch glanced at Anri, who held no interest for her, and nodded respectfully.
She knew that her master had her accompany this weak human to protect her.
After Anri and the Evil Spirit Dog left, Tang Zheng entered a nearby inn and booked three rooms.
Click! The door closed.
Tang Zheng briefly surveyed the room in the inn. He wasn't short on money now, so he didn't look for a small inn to stay in as he usually did.
"The Empire's wanted notice was a bit unexpected. I need to change the plan slightly, but overall, it's a good thing."
Tang Zheng walked into the room, found a chair, and sat down, leaning back against the backrest with a thoughtful expression on his face.
His plan this time was to increase his fame, and now he had unintentionally completed half of it.
That's right!
Tang Zheng now intended to move himself to the forefront, of course, this "forefront" was a deliberately created identity.
Genius Alchemist + Faith-Based Magic Caster! He would use this identity to indirectly complete some layouts. "Fame" was sometimes more useful than brute force.
It was also easier to reveal some false information, so that the Great Tomb of Nazarick, which would descend in the future, would shift some of its attention away from him.
"Bloody Emperor has brought some small troubles. As expected, it's not suitable to associate with such smart people."
Tang Zheng chuckled, shook his head, and had a general idea of his next actions.
Although it might seem like a waste of time, for Tang Zheng, who had mastered Teleport Magic, it only seemed like a waste of time on the surface.
In secret, it was enough for him to accomplish many things.
"Heh, no rush. I need to think carefully about the 'class' aspect."
Tang Zheng's eyes became deep, and he snapped his fingers, chanting in a low voice: "*Greater Teleportation!*"
Whoosh! The space in the room twisted slightly.
Tang Zheng's figure had already disappeared. As the scenery changed, the scalding heat and orange-red light entered his eyes.
Central area of the Lava Zone.
The group of dwarven artisans placed on the periphery didn't need to be worried about for the time being. Under the leadership of the Gray Dwarf Forging Minister, a master Rune Artisan.
All the dwarven artisans had become his apprentices, wholeheartedly learning Rune Technology, coupled with the Lizardmen's treasure, the Great Wine Jug.
That group of dwarven artisans were already enjoying themselves so much they forgot about home.
Ignoring the terrifying temperature of the central area.
With a wave of his hand, Tang Zheng took out a rough rock from his Item Box, more than two people tall.
This was a rock with a groove in the center, filled with a large amount of fresh red blood.
Dragon Blood!
As soon as the scarlet and profound blood appeared in the air, a faint pressure was released. The ancient aura vibrated, drawing in the surrounding high-temperature air, forming a tornado that spiraled upwards around the Dragon Blood.
This pressure had no effect on Tang Zheng, but it could form a strong mental deterrent to ordinary creatures.
Tang Zheng looked at the gradually forming high-temperature tornado and slapped his arm expressionlessly.
Bang! The fierce force made a muffled explosion as it contacted the air, and the gradually forming high-temperature tornado was directly dispersed by this force.
Tang Zheng casually put away the clothes on his body and jumped into the Dragon Blood to soak. That night he stayed in Karn Village.
He didn't really stay in their village, but used Teleport Magic to return to the Lava Zone for a Dragon Blood soak.
In the past few days, he had experimented and had a basic understanding of the effects of Dragon Blood.
Drinking Dragon Blood would increase certain attributes.
Soaking in Dragon Blood would grant corresponding resistance increases.
For example, after soaking for the past two or three days: "Poison Resistance · Weak" had evolved to "Poison Resistance I".
...
Passive: Poison Resistance I Effect: Suitable for resisting low-level toxins (≈ less than 20Lv).
...
Tang Zheng closed his eyes slightly, immersing his entire body in the Dragon Blood, only exposing his head. The thick bloody smell assaulted his nostrils, causing him to frown slightly.
Compared to the increased "Poison Resistance" ability, the merely unpleasant smell was obviously tolerable.
Since Dragon Blood was not ordinary blood, even though the Ancient Fire Dragon, its master, had died, the blood still contained a unique power.
Ordinary objects could not bear this power at all.
Tang Zheng could only dig a large rock from the mountain walls around the Lava Zone and make it into a simple stone bucket to hold the blood.
Time passed little by little.
The Dragon Blood in the stone groove, which was originally somewhat thick and exuded a scarlet luster, obviously became lighter, and even the height dropped by about half a fist.
Soon.
Tang Zheng opened his eyes and jumped out of the groove with a light leap. His entire body's skin was extremely red, full of red marks.
To this.
Tang Zheng didn't care and waved his hand to put the stone into his Item Box, looking at the stats panel: "Poison Resistance" has not continued to increase."
"As expected, it has the same upper limit as drinking blood, but since there are still red marks on my body, there should still be some effect."
The effect of "Dragon Blood" was not only to increase "Poison Resistance", but also to increase "Fire Resistance".
It was just that Tang Zheng had already obtained "Fire Attribute Nullification", so the effect increased by Dragon Blood could not be shown.
"It's a pity that the blood of the Sun Angler cannot increase attributes." Tang Zheng recalled drinking the blood of the Sun Angler a few days ago, and the corners of his mouth twitched subconsciously.
"Dragon Blood" was already hard enough to drink, but the blood of the Sun Angler was even harder to drink, and even the unpleasantness exceeded "Dragon Blood" several times.
"Is it because Dragon Blood has already increased the base value, so the blood of the Sun Angler can no longer increase it?"
Tang Zheng also had this guess in his heart, but he couldn't be sure.
Based on the experiments with the Evil Spirit Dog, ordinary creatures cannot directly consume either 'Dragon Blood' or 'Sun Angler Blood'.
The 'Dragon Blood' contains a curse.
The 'Sun Angler Blood' contains a magma-like high temperature.
After waiting for a moment.
Tang Zheng observed the red marks on his body, and after they had all faded, the Mana within him surged.
"*Flight!*"
His figure soared into the air.
Tang Zheng quickly changed his clothes in mid-air and continued to probe the mountain walls around the Lava Zone.
He was looking for the Ancient Fire Dragon's cave. The dragon's lair must contain a large number of treasures, but obviously, a dragon's nest is not easy to find.
Tang Zheng could only adopt a clumsy method, searching bit by bit. This was unavoidable, as he had not yet mastered any useful exploration Magic.
Speaking of which.
Tang Zheng had always been very interested in the other Overlord, but during this period of searching, he had not found any trace of them.
After carefully examining this area and finding nothing, Tang Zheng took out his Pocket Watch to check the time: "It's time to go back."
"*Greater Teleportation.*"
Space twisted.
Tang Zheng instantly returned to his hotel room in E-Rantel.
At this moment, the two who had gone to purchase supplies had already returned.
In the empty corridor, the Emerald Witch stood quietly outside Tang Zheng's room, looking like a gatekeeper.
As a surge of Mana appeared in the room.
The Emerald Witch, carrying a package in her hand, walked to the door and gently knocked.
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