The Next Morning,
Aditya and Laura slept in different rooms.
Aditya did not need that much rest. The Emperor felt lonely without his wives. He had gotten used to sleeping with his won and nowadays finds it hard to fall asleep without holding soone in his arms.
Also, he was on guard the entire night. Even though they had hidden themselves so well and barely interacted with anyone since entering the Tunnel World, Aditya still felt that he should remain cautious, especially since he had shown his Crimson Lightning and Crimson Fla. Who knows, soone from a distance must have seen this, and the words of the Dragon Monarch being in the tunnel world have spread.
The entire night passed really quickly. The next morning, Aditya wrote two letters.
Before Laura woke up, he went out and looked for a man who works for Alicia. He was a trusted man of the Goddess of Wealth.
He was one of those people who allowed Alicia to expand in the Tunnel World.
Doing business in the Tunnel World, especially for soone who lived in the Six Continent, was really difficult. This is why Alicia hasn't been able to spread her influence in the tunnel world like she was able to in the Six Continents.
Before coming to this world, Aditya and others had already discussed the route that he was going to take. Another reason that he sped up and decided to co to the city was so that he could find this person and send a letter back ho through this person.
• • •
Scene Change____
Laura woke up feeling refreshed and energetic.
When she opened her eyes, she saw that the window of her bedroom was already open and there was soone sitting next to the window, reading a book.
"Good Morning!"
"Morning!" She replied in a lazy tone. With him by her side, she didn't need to worry about a thing. She felt completely relaxed. A part of her even felt that this whole journey was like a vacation for her.
Sure, there were ups and downs in their journey, but this is what made this whole trip so morable.
Compared to Aditya, who was constantly on his guard, always planning ahead, Laura didn't need to do anything or worry about anything. He was very dependable and responsible.
"When did you wake up?" She asked while rubbing her left eye.
"I felt too lonely to sleep alone."
Hearing this, she smirked. "If you were feeling lonely, then you should have told earlier. We could have chosen a room with two beds."
Aditya closed the book and looked at her. "Sure! From now on, let's sleep together." There was no trace of sha or embarrassnt in his tone or on his face.
"What.....!" She was caught off guard by his straightforward words.
"That's not what I ant." But she wasn't entirely against the idea either. So when she replied, her tone was much weaker.
"Did you go sowhere?" Laura quickly changed the topic as she felt too embarrassed to continue the previous one.
"I t one of Alicia's n. I had to send two letters back ho."
"Two letters?" Aditya nodded and explained.
"First letter is for my family. And the Second letter is to Spencer."
"Since I revealed my powers yesterday, I have a strong feeling that soone has noticed this from a distance. Even though I did not sense anyone spying on us, there is a huge possibility that soone is far from our location, so the crimson fla or the crimson lightning. And words travel fast."
"I would not be surprised if by now the organisation knew that we had already co here. So I asked my pri minister to tighten the defence around the entire Empire."
By tightening the Empire's defences, Aditya had instructed Spencer to increase the number of troops stationed at all key cities, particularly near border regions and strategic points of entry. Patrol units were to operate in shifts around the clock, ensuring no gap in surveillance. He also ordered the deploynt of elite scouts and Assassin surveillance teams to monitor potential infiltration routes outside the capital.
In addition, he ordered a strict watch over the teleportation arrays across the Empire. Every individual attempting to use an array, especially those entering from outside the Empire, would now be subject to thorough identity checks and magical scans.
Spencer was told to enforce stricter regulations on foreign travellers, limit teleportation access to only verified individuals, and maintain a log of every transfer conducted. By doing so, Aditya aid not only to prevent enemies from slipping through unnoticed but also to control the flow of information and movent across his borders.
If soone did attack the Empire then Aditya won't be able to return quickly. Due to the laws of this tunnel world, he won't be able to teleport back to the Dragon Palace. So he had to take so precautions.
Hearing everything, Laura was amazed.
'One Key attribute of Aditya that I noticed everyone is ignoring is his ability to adapt to any situation. Even now, he isn't willing to give any hidden enemies any chance to harm his Empire while he is away.'
After washing up, they both sat on the couch to have breakfast.
"After finishing breakfast, I will buy so staff and a map highlighting all the thousands of scattered zones across the entire Sand Mirage desert."
"Scattered zones? What are those?" This was sothing that she hadn't read about.
"They are a pain that we have to avoid at any cost."
Aditya took a sip of water to clear his throat before continuing. "There are thousands of Zones scattered across the entire Desert, and whoever falls into one of these zones will have their Mana absorbed by half in an instant, and that Mana will be used to summon monsters to attack them."
"Before, I didn't know much about the Scattered Zones either. It was Alia who warned about these nasty traps spread across the entire Sand Mirage desert. But even Alia herself didn't know much about them as she never ca to the Sand Mirage desert."
"Fortunately, Alicia's subordinate, whom I t earlier, knew a lot about them and gave so useful information."
Each Zone is about 500 ters wide. Whoever falls into one of these zones will have their Mana absorbed by half in an instant. That absorbed Mana will be used to summon powerful undead monsters.
"In addition, once trapped in these zones, without killing every last of these monsters, it is impossible to get out. And no one from outside could offer any help, as no one from outside could enter the zone with another group already being trapped inside it."
"And no one can teleport in or out of the zone."
"Worse of all, each of these zones is invisible to the eye. Not even special artefacts could reveal their location."
At this point, Laura wanted to speak to Aditya and dissuade him from going to this desert place. However, knowing how determined he was, she couldn't muster the courage to say anything.
This place was clearly designed to kill everyone who entered it.
"Clearly, these zones aren't natural. I wonder which idiot made these traps."
"I heard that it was made by the Ancestor of the dwarves that live in Mount Soulripper."
"The Dwarven Ancestors knew that the rare minerals in Mount Soulripper would constantly keep attracting greedy people from the outside world. So to protect their children and the future generation, they turned the entire Desert into the most dangerous place in the entire tunnel world."
"But lucky for us, after countless sacrifices, the people of this world managed to create a map of all thousands of invisible scattered zones across the entire Saint Mirage desert. Before heading out, this is one of the things that we must buy."
Aditya had already asked Alicia's subordinate to get a map for them. It was impossible to get the map through normal ans. The market was filled with countless fakes. So, they could only obtain the correct map through the right channel.
• • •
Scene Change_____
The Stoneford City was a very busy and lively place. Every single day, hundreds, if not thousands, of people entered the Mana Mirage Desert, all carrying their own dreams and ambitions. Each one of them hoped to reach Mount Soulripper and clear the trial of the Steel Dwarf. Everyone ca chasing the chance of obtaining a powerful weapon, forged by the legendary Dwarves who were said to live there.
It is said that a weapon made by the Legendary Dwarves in that place could turn an ordinary cultivator into an extraordinary cultivator. The power that each weapon gave to the user was so tempting that, despite knowing that failure was death in this place, everyone took the risk to cross the Sand Mirage Desert.
Before the map of Zones was made, countless people died every single day. Even though the death rate has decreased by almost 80%, due to the large number of fake maps that the greedy rchants made to sell the maps at a cheaper price, many still died after being trapped in these zones.
An old man wearing a white cloak stood at the City Square. It was a common eting place. He wasn't the only one waiting here.
Soon, he spotted Aditya in disguise.
He waved at the Dragon Monarch.
"Hello, Sir!"
"Hello, William. I apologise for making you wait." Aditya said, noticing just how much he had sweated from waiting for them. Since this city was close to the desert, the temperature in this city was high.
"My wife couldn't resist the temptation of beauty products and dragged with her." Hearing this, Laura glared at him. As for whether this was a fake glare or not, William had no idea.
But Aditya's back felt cold. It was definitely real.
"It's alright, Sir Ivan. I don't mind." Even if he waited for the whole day, he wouldn't complain, as this was the Dragon Monarch.
"By the way, this is my wife, Jessica."
"By the way, do you have the thing I asked for?" Aditya asked while casually looking around.
"Yes! It was a bit tricky to get this item since not everyone is willing to sell it. And bargaining wasn't an option." If he tried to bargain, the shopkeeper would just send him away.
He took out a rectangular box.
"It's alright! I don't mind spending money."
Aditya took the box and then gave him a storage ring.
"You can keep the change."
After Aditya and Laura walked away, William hesitantly checked how many platinum coins were inside the storage. There were half a million Platinum coins inside the storage ring. Seeing this, he widened his eyes in shock.
In fact, he didn't want any money from the Dragon Monarch out of respect and admiration.
'The Dragon Monarch is really generous.' The extra money motivated William to quickly deliver the letter back to the Six Continents. He was planning to start his journey after finishing so work, but now he has decided to leave. His work could wait.
"So he was Alicia's man?" Laura asked once they were out of the city.
Before eting him, Aditya and Julia spent so ti buying so necessary things that they would need in the desert.
"Yes!"
"William was originally staying in Velmoor City. He was trying to establish a channel for Alicia to trade goods. So under Alicia's order, he quickly ca to Stoneford to et ." Aditya had to admit that his wife was really efficient.
Life had beco so much easier since she ca into his life.
The Sand Mirage was just 31 Km (19.2625 miles) away from Stoneford City. As they moved forward, they noticed a temperature change.
After travelling 21 Km (13.0488 miles), the scenery started to change. Before, they would see so trees or bushes growing here and there in the white sand. But now, everything around them was barren. There was no greenery in their sight.
Laura felt that the sun had beco intense. Being a rmaid, she was already feeling uncomfortable in this weather.
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