Bells rang lodiously throughout the Royal City.
These were the large bells of churches in various places, rung to celebrate the opening of the Holy Fire.
At this mont, the ancient city of a thousand years finally showed its profound heritage.
In the lingering tolls, Rod landed at the entrance of Jinworth Academy.
The academy was packed with students cheering and sprinting everywhere as if they were part of a grand celebration.
The priest set down Rod and said, "The King has ordered, if you encounter so unsolvable problems, you can co to the Royal District to find us."
Excited, Rod said, "You will help ? Then lend ..."
Before he could finish, the two priests had already flown away.
Well, borrowing money is definitely not an option.
Rod touched his nose, realizing he had to figure out a way to make money on his own.
This trip to the Sword Pass had almost completely depleted his inventory, and the huge reward money he initially received was down to six thousand.
His salary and distributed supplies had all been banned; he needed to secure funds, otherwise his combat strength would be greatly reduced.
He also needed to buy twenty Red Jade stones quickly, to gain a thod of exchanging souls with Gregor, so he could dig more clues from him and clean up those human pests.
Beyond that, there were many, many more things to do, such as obtaining the "Flower of Humanity" to create the Resurrection Stone, mastering the correct way to use the Star, finding language experts to learn the Ancient Language, and hunting monster souls that satisfy the "Justice Execution" requirents, among others.
As Rod thought, he walked towards the academy’s main gate and suddenly saw a large group of familiar figures standing at the entrance.
Reslin, Karamon, Anna, and other heavyset people, all who had fought together with him at Sword Pass, were there.
They seed to have been waiting for a long ti, and when they saw Rod, they erupted into euphoric cheers and ran towards him.
"Rod, are you all right?"
"Did you really kill that big bastard?"
"How exactly did you do it? I want to hear it from you!"
"That guy clearly deserved to die, why were you still sentenced?"
Amidst their incessant questioning, Rod learned that since they heard he had killed Gregor during the trial, they had constantly been protesting outside the Judgent Court and had even clashed with the court’s defenders.
Fortunately, the news of his release on bail ca quickly, and they decided to co and et him.
The Sword Pass incident had caused trendous psychological trauma to everyone, countless brothers and comrades had died horribly, and the main culprit could potentially escape punishnt, making many unable to even eat.
When they heard that Rod had killed Gregor in court, almost no one could believe it.
It was incredible, how could soone kill in the Judgent Court hall?
Gregor was so strong, why was Rod able to kill him in one strike?
It was not until now, when they heard Rod himself recount the true situation, that they truly believed it had happened.
In that mont, there were those who wept loudly, those who laughed uproariously, and even more who did both, prompting the guards to co out and try to disperse the crowd blocking the main gate.
Nobody paid attention to them, everyone was venting their emotions; the shadow cast upon them by the Chief Judge Giant was too imposing, and no one could accept being attacked by a traitor after barely escaping a perilous situation, the scene of him slaughtering comrades was like a never-ending nightmare.
Only with the news of his death, did the nightmare begin to dissipate.
Yet at the sa ti as celebrating, Rod incredulously watched as text appeared in the depths of his eyes.
...
People’s joy 3292
Humanity 329
Flower of Humanity 2
...
Humanity had been elevated.
Divinity 1
——
Gold and red texts shone brilliantly, stimulating Rod’s eyes.
Just monts ago, he had been wondering how to obtain the core material for several crucial items, "Flower of Humanity," and unexpectedly, he had acquired it.
And not just one, but two!
What surprised Rod even more was the golden text below—
He had acquired Divinity.
The primary use of Divinity is to create "Soul Firewood", and it also protects him during invasion crises.
This was sothing he had thought impossible to achieve at this stage because the Book of Knowledge had told him that the way to obtain Divinity was by "enhancing the possibility of passing on the civilization’s Holy Fire, and supporting a civilization sliding towards the Dark Abyss."
Each of the requirents in the explanation had seed far from him, but now he had obtained it, albeit only one point, which indicated a possibility—that even a slight enhancent might lead to acquiring Divinity.
Rod’s heart was ablaze.
He hadn’t expected that killing Gregor would have such a benefit; indeed, this guy was a great scourge for humanity.
This choice was absolutely right.
Haha, a good kill!
I can kill even more!
——
During this brief reunion with his comrades, what Rod talked about the most was the mont he killed Gregor.
Whenever he ntioned how he severed Gregor’s soul thread, those Sword Pass warriors’ eyes would sparkle, as if they had witnessed it themselves.
And when he detailed the public execution of Gregor, the audience’s shocked expressions and incoherent words at the Judgent Court, uproarious laughter would erupt among the crowd.
At that mont, there was no sadness, only endless joy.
His humanity surged, nearly overwhelming Rod’s vision, and had not the people from Royal City co to stop them, Rod could have talked until nightfall, and they would have been willing to listen until then.
Such an exhilarating, gloom-dispelling tale could be heard a hundred, a thousand, even ten thousand tis without growing tireso.
However, Royal City temporarily did not plan to publicize Gregor’s affair; it was not allowed to be spread beyond a limited number of inford individuals, and thus, when it was discovered that Rod was almost giving a public lecture in the streets, a priest from the Royal District imdiately ca to stop him.
After being forced to write a pledge against sharing the information, the priest then returned to the Royal District, once again under Rod’s persistence in borrowing money.
anwhile, his comrades, filled with smiles and relief, each returned to their hos, having long holidays to recuperate within Royal City after experiencing such brutal warfare.
Although the speech was interrupted midway, Rod was certain that he wouldn’t lack humanity for a very long ti in the future—although he had never really been lacking, it reduced the unpleasant experience of being forced to farm humanity unnecessarily.
The students returned with him to Jinworth’s secret branch base.
Anna told them that the Sword Pass reinforcent mission had suffered heavy losses; three teachers and instructors had perished, and five students had died, though it was due to uncontrollable accidents. Still, the heads of the secret branch, Dean Vera and Calier in black robes, decided it was a lesson to be learned and quickly arranged intense special training for the students.
After saying these words, she left, taking everyone with her, leaving only Reslin and Egger, who were looking at him with gleaming eyes.
"Rod, do you rember the incident we reported about the Iron Mask Manolo Bana?"
Rod nodded.
"That guy has been placed under limited restriction orders, but recently, it seems like he might get acquitted."
Rod furrowed his brow, "What are you thinking of doing?"
Egger looked up at Rod’s chin, revealing a smile that was three parts cold, three parts indifferent, and four parts sinister:
"Using white smoke to spy, I discovered his connections with several chief judges, including Gregor. These guys must be in league together, Rod, shall we take them all down in one go?"
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