"So, can you tell me where you're taking me?" Standing outside the castle, in the middle of the night, Julia the Alchemy Goddess and Aditya, the Crimson Dragon was about to head out.
"Princess, we're going to Lifwood City." Aditya replied.
"Why are we going to a city that is out of this Kingdom and that is also in the middle of the night?"
"I thought I should take you on a date." The Crimson Dragon replied while giving a flirtatious wink to the Alchemy Goddess.
"Hmph! I don't believe you." Julia snorted and looked away. She tried her best to not show her happy side. This trip is almost like an adventure to her. Sneaking out in the middle of the night and going to a city that is located outside the Kingdom.
Seeing her acting like this, Aditya couldn't help but smile. He pulled her closer and then wrapped his arms around her waist. "Wha....What are you doing?" Julia asked as her face flushed red. Before today, she never had come this closer to any male in her life.
Looking at those purple pupils, Aditya smiled and replied in a carefree tone. "Princess, if we want to reach Lifwood city then we will have to use this 4th-star artifact to fly. Unless you want to walk for days." Feeling his hot breath as he whispered into her right ear, Julia at that moment experienced and felt something that she had never done before.
Aditya has to admit, that touching her waist feels really good. "Are you ready princess? Make sure you tightly hold on to my body. Otherwise, you will fall down." Julia didn't reply. She instead buried her head deep in his chest while wrapping her arms around his neck.
Swoosh!
Two invisible pairs of wings that were entirely made out of wind elements appeared on his back. Even though the wings were invisible and entirely made out of wind elements, he still could feel the length of his wings.
The night sky was clear without any clouds. The cold wind from the sea cooled down everything and gave a slightly chilly feeling. While flying, he made sure to tightly wrap his hands around her waist. He was taking advantage of the situation to feel more of her waist.
Duke Sarlus, Watson, and Aditya had a joint meeting where they discussed their future plans. During the daytime, Aditya had recharged the Bracelet of Wind Fairy. With [1000+] being stored and used to fly, Aditya estimated that they can fly for 31 seconds before all the mana battery dies down.
'Currently, we're flying at 100km per hour speed. Meaning that each second is consuming [30+].' Aditya knew that he also had a solution to his problem.
"Julia, can you please use your spell to reduce both of our weights. Also If you know any wind spells, try casting them to increase our speed."
"So this is the reason why you bought me along with you." Aditya's body shivered hearing the dark tone of the woman who was his wife in name.
Sigh!
Julia decided to pursue this matter later as time was running out. While Aditya is a body cultivator, Julia was a magical cultivator. Being a second-order, she had 750 total stats. Since her class was Alchemy Goddess, she had focused more on raising her Mana than any of her stats. Meaning her Mana was well over [300+].
Weight Reduction!
Purity of Holy Wind!
Divinity of Heavenly Wing!
Booom!
Just three spells were enough to increase their speed to 350 kilometers per hour. The first spell reduced both of their weights by half. The purity of the Holy wind gave added more wind elements which increased their speed by [100+]. Lastly the Divinity of Heavenly Wing, temporarily increased their speed by another [100+].
"Julia, are you alright?" Aditya asked in a concerned tone. Casting these spells must have taken a lot of mana from her.
"I am alright. But the effects of the spells will only last a minute. I have enough mana to cast these spells 2 more times."
'Given how fast we're currently moving. Each minute we are covering 5,833.2 meters which is nearly 6km. Not only that, because of Julia's supporting spells the [30+] mana that was being consumed also significantly decreased.'
The alchemy Goddess repeated the same three spells 2 more times, consuming nearly all of her mana. By that time, they had covered almost 18km. Seeing the mana that was stored in the bracelet that acts as a battery was about to run out, Aditya quickly made a safe landing in one of the mountain ranges.
"Are you alright?" The princess's face had turned pale from exhausting her mana. Her face lost its color and she was breathing heavily with an exhausted look.
"I should be alright if I take one of these pills."
Under Aditya's gaze, she took out a white glowing pill that seems to emit some kind of sweet mist. Like eating candy, she threw the pill in her mouth.
"This pill is the improved version of the Mana restoring pill. Although this pill is still a 1-star and can only restore the full mana capacity of a first-order cultivator, it does work on second-order cultivators as well. Unlike the previous one, this one doesn't come with any pain in the heart. By an hour or so, I should be able to recover my mana."
"Awesome. I have to say, being an alchemist really has some advantages." Aditya could only imagine the difficulty he and his troops would have to go through if Julia wasn't here to support them with pills.
"Alchemy was always awesome. It's just that 90% of the people don't even have the talent to learn Alchemy. Don't worry, give me a few more days, and I will make a 2-star mana restoration pill."
"Well, it is thanks to you we have managed to find another source of earning." The benefits that the Alchemy Goddess could bring to their Kingdom were too many to count.
"Okay, let's keep walking. We shouldn't be that far away from the borders."
After about 3 hours of walking, Aditya and Julia managed to reach Lifwood city. Crossing the borders was very hard, especially with the soldiers of Duke Sarlus guarding and patrolling the borders. It was due to Julia using a wild animal to distract the soldiers, that both of them were able to cross the borders.
Unlike the Istarin Kingdom, the Nepoca Kingdom didn't bother to place any guards on their borders. Maybe they were too confident in their strength. Knowing the military power of the Istarin Kingdom, they weren't worried about being attacked.
Near the Nepoca Kingdom borders, there was a city called Lifwood city. The city of Lifwood was built at the edge of a lush forest and is truly a historic marvel. Its appearance is matched by the backdrop of green, fertile fields which have helped shape the city into what it is today.
The materials these fields brought were of great importance, but they were also influential when it came to architectural designs as the vast majority of buildings are slim and tall, which mimics the grasses and openness of the fields around them. Wood was used to make the buildings and structures of the city.
It's this multicultural identity that has truly left its mark. Many kinds of restaurants, bistros, and coffeehouses offer a plethora of culinary choices.
"So this is Lifwood city." Just like any other city, Lifwood city was surrounded by high walls and was governed by a noble house. The city is said to never sleep at night times. The crime rates in the city were very low. There were more than a hundred casinos and prostitute centers. The city was way ahead in terms of entertainment.
Even though it was past midnight, there were lots of people who were waiting in line to enter the city. Aditya and Julia also waited in line for 5 minutes.
"Halt! Name and reason for coming to this city. If you're a resident of this city, then me your residency badge. If you're not a residence, then it will cost 2 silver coins to enter the city." The soldier was writing the names of the people who came into this city. While another soldier was collecting the entry fee.
"My name is Isaac and this is my wife, Sasha. We're here to purchase some goods from a merchant." Aditya replied while giving them 4 silver coins.
"You two may pass." The gate was opened for Julia and Aditya.
After entering the city, for a moment both Aditya and Julia were stunned. The entire city was shining. There were multi-color lights almost everywhere. Aditya felt like he had traveled back to some ancient European cities.
"Wow. I guess this is one of those cities that mainly operated during night times." There were some cities in the continent that heavily relied on tourists. Those cities would build and invest a huge chunk of their earnings in the entertainment sector.
"Julia, do you want to buy anything?" Since Amos was a merchant, he would be found in the shopping district.
"If you don't mind, I want to buy some materials for my alchemy research." Both of them went to the shopping district.
.
"Excuse me, do you have royal Butterfly blood?" Julia asked one of the shopkeepers that sold Alchemy ingredients.
"Miss, we have everything in our shop. Please come in and took a look." The middle-aged shop owner politely welcomed both of them to his shop.
"Ma'am, you can tell me what ingredients you need?" Aditya lazily watched everything. To him, alchemy was a complicated subject that he will never understand.
"I need royal Butterfly blood, Phantom's Tooth, Crystalized Unicorn's blood, and Chimera Horn."
"Ma'am, you came to the right place. We have everything. I don't mean to be impolite or mean any disrespect but these items are a little costly."
"That's alright. Just give her whatever she needs." After that Julia ordered a few more items and then Aditya paid for everything.
"Here is your change sir."
"You can keep the change. But in exchange can you please tell me where I can find Big Brother Amos? I had an appointment with him. But I was a little late due to some incidents on my way. Now I can't find Big brother Amos." From the beginning, Aditya has been planning on asking this question to the shopkeeper.
Seeing how good Aditya was acting, for a moment Julia doubted if this was the same Aditya she knew from the past. "Tonight there is an auction being held at the northern part of the city. You can find brother Amos there." The shopkeeper replied without thinking too much. Amos was really popular in this city.
"Thank you bother." After exiting the ingredients shop, both of them headed toward the auction house.
"Why did you call Amos big brother?" Julia curiously asked.
"Amos is really popular. To normal people, he is known as a saint merchant. To get Amos's location, I figured asking a local would be the best choice."
"Ohhh!"
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"Brother Amos, are you also here for the Ancient book that was found beneath the sea?"
"Do you even have to ask? Other than the ancient book, nothing else here is worthy of brother Amos's attention."
"I heard that no one was able to open the ancient book. It is said that the book contains a secret method to increase one's cultivation."
"Those are just rumors. You shouldn't believe in the rumors." The man named Amos replied while keeping his eyes on the stage. The final moment was here. The book that he has been wanting to find for years now finally appeared.
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