Once out of his bath, Adam returned to his room. There, he cultivated for most of the night using the new cultivation technique he created, which he had decided to call [Raging Fire Art]. He also took a short nap of 2 hours to rest his mind.
After cultivating for a single night, Adam could feel he had made some advancement. Of course it was nothing major, but he had grown stronger. It wouldn't take long for him to reach Intermediate Qi Gathering Realm.
While he cultivated, Adam had also wondered if there were equipments on Earth. He wasn't sure because he didn't think there were any metals good enough to make a good equipment. If that was the case, then Adam would be much stronger in the real world than in the game, or rather, he would be able to battle much higher leveled opponents.
In term of raw stats, Adam completely dominated the average Gold Rank, or even the Hero Rank. Only someone who opened the 3rd Gate could rival with him. But from what Adam knew, it was only the peak experts in the entire world who opened the 3rd Gate, and even fewer of them who opened the 4th one. Even for those who opened it, their mastery of it wouldn't even near Adam's mastery over it.
Moreover, there were only a few Legends. For a Legend who opened the 4th Gate but didn't master it, without any equipment Adam estimated that the moment he reached the Gold Rank, or Core Formation Realm, he would probably become the strongest person on Earth.
Although his attributes would be lower, to be promoted to Gold Rank he would need to open the 5th Gate. And from his experience, once he opened the 5th Gate, for someone who didn't open it they would need to be many times stronger than him to defeat him, and without equipments, not even a Legend would be able to match him.
Of course, in the game it would be different, but this was a matter for another time.
When Adam connected back in the game, he was relieved to see he was still fine. He couldn���t help but fear his avatar would get killed while he was disconnected, it would have been defenseless after all. Thankfully, no one knew he was here.
Looking at the time, there were only five minutes until his appointment with Thalia, but he didn't immediately get out of his room. First, he used his new cultivation technique, and gained a new skill.
Raging Fire Art (B): Absorb the energy of the world into your dantian. Capable of passively absorbing energy, but the speed is ten times slower than when used actively. Affinity to fire related skills upgraded by 200%.
Although the affinity was the same, Adam could feel the effects of the skill in the game were lesser than in the real world, so he kept the [Flowing Water Art] on. Only then did he leave his room.
However, he was surprised to see Thalia leaning against the wall opposite of his room, she looked like she was waiting for him.
As he opened the door he heard her say "You otherworlders really sleep a lot." Since days were twice as long, nights were the same. But humanoids in this world slept as much as people on Earth, so they would still be awake for more than half of the night. Thankfully people in this world were stronger and they were able to stay awake for more than 36 hours straight without a problem, or their sleeping pattern would be really weird.
Adam didn't say anything about her words, and instead said "Since you are already here, let's go there right now… Do you want to eat breakfast first?" Adam didn't really care, but he was being polite.
However Thalia shook her head and said "I already ate, we can go already." Adam nodded to her and led her outside, to Klint's Workshop.
This time, the shop was opened, and Adam could see Klint was in his wheelchair, in front of the shop, and Morbash was reading a book inside.
Adam approached Klint and said "You didn't die in your sleep yet?" Klint grunted "Have some respect for your elders punk!" Adam rolled his eyes and said "I got the hammer and the flame. Also, I brought this girl, she said she wanted to come."
Klint was shocked when he heard Adam, neither him nor Morbash thought Adam would be able to get the two before a few days at least. He then looked at the covered Thalia and said "Who am I speaking to then?"
Klint hadn't recognized the two at first, because of their Shadow Cloak, but only recognized Adam when he spoke. And when he did, he immediately wondered who this second person was.
Thalia said "I am Thalia, I heard of Morbash many times in the past, and when I heard Adam was coming here, I decided to tag along."
Klint nodded and said "Alright. Please remove your Shadow Cloaks before coming in, it's rude." Adam shrugged, now that he was here he didn't care about people knowing he was here, he would just put it back on when he moved out.
Adam took of the Shadow Cloak, revealing his true appearance. On the side, Thalia hesitated a little, and while she took her time, she saw Adam. She wasn't really surprised by his appearance, but when she saw his name and his Level, she couldn't help but open her mouth in shock.
Seeing Thalia frozen, Klint snickered "You didn't tell her who you were before?" Adam shrugged and said "I did, I told her my name."
Thalia pointed at his face and finally said "You… You're that guy! You're a Sovereign!" Adam nodded "I am. Now I wonder who YOU are."
Thalia took back her finger, and after a moment she took off her own Shadow Cloak.
As the shadows disappeared, her true appearance appeared. Aplenty of red hair were hiding one of the most beautiful faces Adam had ever seen… no, it was the most beautiful face he had ever seen. Three whiskers on each cheeks, a small mouth, big eyes…
The fox ears on top of her head twitched, stunning Adam, before eight tails appeared behind her, moving along with the small breeze.
At the same time, a fresh scent entered Adam's nostrils, Thalia was releasing an enticing odor, but it wasn't some kind of aphrodisiac, she seemed to be the embodiment of nature itself…
Thalia pushed the hair in front of her face with her hand, and said "Can you stop staring?" Adam was stunned before he looked away while blushing, his heart palpitating.
He couldn't understand what was happening to him, this was a first. He had always been able to keep his calm in the past, even the most beautiful women on Earth couldn't get much of a reaction from him. But Thalia had mesmerized him with no effort…
On the side, Klint said "So it is Her Imperial Princess, forgive this old man for being rude earlier." Adam looked at the old man stunned, was this really the Klint he knew, how could this old fossil be so polite.
But then his words registered in his mind, and Adam looked at her status.
[Thalia, Princess of Aldeneid] (Bronze, Level 50)
HP: 25000/25000
He now understood which clan she was running away from… Seriously, what kind of luck did he have to randomly bump into the princess of Aldeneid?
Moreover, she wasn't just a person with a lot of influence, a mere second generation, as he could feel she had opened the 3rd Gate. With her being a Level 50 Bronze Rank, this either meant she was a Sovereign waiting to open her 4th Gate to go through her Promotion Quest, or she was an SS Class and fled from Aldeneid to do her promotion class.
As if she could read his mind, Thalia said "I'm not a Sovereign, I'm only an SS Class." Adam nodded and turned to Klint "Can we go in now?"
Klint nodded and led the two inside. Morbash looked up from his book hearing the shop's door being opened, and was shocked seeing Adam, as well as Thalia.
Klint said "Adam came back with the Forger's Dream and the flame, and he is accompanied by Her Imperial Highness Thalia."
Morbash couldn't help but look at Adam like he was some kind of divine being.