Chapter 246: Invitation, the Golden Princess's Request

Under the influence of the charm, the hobgoblin walked sluggishly to the center of the magic ritual, where a large number of magic materials—none of which could be called precious—faintly flickered.

A faint ripple of magic power appeared within Tang Zheng's perception.

Swish!

Tang Zheng grabbed with his palm, took the corpse of a sturdy, three-meter-tall manticore from his item box, and threw it onto the ground: "According to the standard procedure, the monster's corpse must be placed into the magic array as well."

Squish!

With a flick of his wrist, his hand transformed into a blade.

He easily sliced open the manticore's chest, reached in, and pulled out a heart the size of half a basketball, dripping with blood, and tossed it toward the magic ritual.

The hobgoblin raised its thick, fur-covered arms to catch the heart, droplets of fresh blood dripping through its fingers.

"What happens if the corpse isn't put in?"

Tang Zheng was somewhat curious, so he only threw the critical heart to the hobgoblin.

The "Wild Transformation" ritual is a power ritual passed down by the forest gnome race; one must first consume the heart of a monster, then initiate the ritual together with the monster's corpse.

This grants the ability to transform into that monster, while simultaneously causing the "Wild Transformation" skill to permanently lose the ability to turn into other monsters, restricting future transformations to only this one type.

Under Tang Zheng's control, the hobgoblin quickly devoured the heart, its face and chest stained with a large amount of blood, looking somewhat ferocious.

"Initiate ritual."

Tang Zheng squatted down, placed his hand on the edge of the magic ritual, and injected magic power into it.

Thump.

A vibrating ripple of magic power formed from the ritual, creating an invisible force of attraction centered on the hobgoblin, as if trying to absorb something.

"Ah!!"

The hobgoblin suddenly let out a scream; its originally thin body visibly began to flatten, while its head expanded at an alarming speed, morphing toward the head of the manticore.

However.

By the time the entire head had finished transforming, the hobgoblin's body had already become bone-thin, as if it had been drained dry.

Bang!

The next moment, the hobgoblin's body exploded directly into a mist of blood, severed limbs flying everywhere, leaving only half a head to hit the ground and roll twice.

This scene.

Left Tang Zheng somewhat stunned; he had no idea what had happened—how did such a precious experimental subject die?

"Just a slight modification, and the impact is this huge." Tang Zheng's eye twitched.

Logically, the truly difficult part of this magic ritual lies in hunting powerful monsters, not the ritual itself.

If Duo Gan the Stone Lizard were still alive, he would probably be muttering to himself that this was a curse of their forest gnome race.

He didn't believe that for a second!

"Fifth Tier: Resurrection."

Tang Zheng looked at the other two hobgoblins huddled in a cage not far away, their faces filled with terror, and cast the resurrection magic with an expressionless face.

The corpse and limbs were all there—perhaps a bit scattered—but they could be revived through low-level resurrection magic.

These three hobgoblins were not high-level, only around level fourteen or fifteen, and each could be revived about three times.

That adds up to nine uses.

"I didn't react in time just now. If this happens again later, I must use healing magic and regeneration potions; that should be enough to keep them alive."

"That way, I can conduct more research." Tang Zheng nodded to himself, his voice falling into the ears of the other two hobgoblins, who began to tremble all over.

They looked at Tang Zheng as if he were a demon, letting out sharp, fearful shrieks.

Unfortunately.

Deep in the dense forest of the Great Wetland, there was clearly no one to save them.

In the following few days, aside from a trip back to the royal capital to specifically arrange for the Emerald Witch and Enri to continue selling regeneration potions and purchasing alchemy materials as usual.

Tang Zheng stayed in the Great Wetland to conduct his research.

As far as the current situation goes, the "Wild Transformation" magic ritual provided no increase in strength for Tang Zheng.

The reason he valued it so highly was that the ritual showed Tang Zheng the possibility of helping people from this other world break through their level limits.

Besides a simple increase in strength, would transforming into a more powerful monster also inherit the monster's level cap?

Especially that corpse of the ancient fire dragon.

Although dragons are not considered monsters and it likely wouldn't work, Tang Zheng still couldn't help but want to experiment.

Upper Water Month, January 5th.

Tang Zheng returned to the royal capital; the process and hidden limitations of the "Wild Transformation" magic ritual had been explored enough to bring it to a close.

Of the three hobgoblins, only one remained alive, and that one only had one resurrection chance left.

Returning to the royal capital suddenly.

It wasn't that he wanted to stop, but that he had to return to the capital to handle matters.

He had arrived at the royal capital on the 20th of the Lower Earth Month and had now stayed for half a month; in his previous travels, this was not considered a place where he had stayed for a long time.

Half of the previous time had actually been spent on the road, but now that he had mastered teleportation magic, his schedule was much more relaxed.

Many plans change with the times.

If not for teleportation magic, Tang Zheng would never have put himself in the public eye so quickly to carry out a plan of trading "fame" for "influence."

His current disguised identity was "Genius Alchemist" plus "Faith-based Magic Caster," an identity that would naturally need to be maintained for a long time.

It might even need to be used until after the Great Tomb descended, so naturally, the sooner it was established, the better.

At the inn.

The Emerald Witch and Enri stood at the door of Tang Zheng's room, waiting quietly.

Enri carefully observed the Emerald Witch, then quickly withdrew her gaze, pinching her pale fingers and remaining silent.

Enri didn't find it strange that my lord hadn't appeared much during this time; as an alchemist, my lord liked to research various potions.

During the time on the road to the royal capital, my lord had often stayed alone in the tent for long periods, and Enri was already used to it.

Knock! Knock!

The Emerald Witch suddenly raised her hand and knocked on the door a few times.

"Come in," a calm voice came from inside the room.

Only then did the Emerald Witch gently push the door open and enter; Enri widened her innocent eyes and hurriedly followed, her gaze flashing with wonder.

This scene had occurred several times.

Enri couldn't figure out at all how Miss Emerald determined when to knock and when to wait outside.

She had been observing carefully just now, but had discovered nothing.

"Is it the power of magic?" Enri could only think that.

The Emerald Witch, of course, knew that Tang Zheng's "truly powerful" strength was magic-based, so mastering the fifth-tier "Teleportation" was naturally no surprise.

This was also the second identity Tang Zheng intentionally hid; this power was naturally not illogical or untraceable, as 【Alchemist】 was inherently a magic-based profession.

It could also be considered one of the flaws Tang Zheng intentionally revealed. Of course, this power would likely not be used; "Angel Summoning" alone was enough to solve most troubles.

A bit quiet.

Enri suddenly snapped back to reality, only to find the Emerald Witch frowning at her.

Inside the room, my lord Tang Zheng was sitting casually by a round table, stroking the ghost hound while smiling at her.

"M-my lord, I was distracted just now." Enri's face turned red, and she spoke in a small, flustered, and awkward voice.

"Haha, it's fine."

"The way you were daydreaming just now was quite cute." Tang Zheng smiled lightly.

"The items." The Emerald Witch said coldly to Enri.

"Oh, yes, h-here."

Enri hurriedly took two high-quality parchment invitations from her bosom.

!

They were sealed with wax and featured special patterns similar to noble crests or motifs, looking quite formal; the only difference was the variation in the patterns.

"This was given to me by the person who fought with Miss Emerald last time." Enri handed over the two exquisite parchment invitations.

"Blue Rose?"

Tang Zheng was somewhat surprised and casually tore open the invitations to check the information inside; the two different styles of handwriting both exuded a touch of elegance.

It seemed both invitations were written by women; one of them even carried a faint, unique fragrance.

"Read Magic"!

A faint light of magic power flashed across Tang Zheng's eyes, and the information on the invitations immediately appeared.

This is... an invitation from the "Golden" Princess?

Tang Zheng narrowed his eyes; there wasn't much text on either invitation, but the content was roughly the same. One was from Lakyus, the captain of "Blue Rose," expressing apologies for what happened with Tina last time.

The other was an invitation from the "Golden" Princess; Lakyus had also mentioned this, and the invitation was not just for him, but for the entire "Free Will."

To be precise, it included Enri and the Emerald Witch.

"Sending the invitation through the hands of 'Blue Rose'—I thought they would have sent Renas."

"Was this a temporary arrangement made after learning about the battle they had with 'Blue Rose' a while ago, or is it an attempt to implicitly highlight their relationship with 'Blue Rose'?"

Tang Zheng pondered slightly, though it was hard to make a judgment immediately.

However, whether it was the currently most famous "Blue Rose," Lakyus who also held the status of a high noble, or the even more famous "Golden" Princess.

Such an invitation was indeed hard to refuse.

Originally, Tang Zheng thought the "Golden" Princess would send Leinas, planning to reject her directly when the time came, and incidentally use that as an opportunity to openly exchange information with Leinas.

At the very least, Tang Zheng did not intend to meet the "Golden" Princess so early, but if the "Blue Rose" were included, that would not be impossible.

He was just thinking about establishing some contact with the "Blue Rose" before leaving the royal capital, and was struggling to find an entry point, as the two sides had, after all, had conflicts a while ago.

Yet, here was an opportunity right before his eyes.

"Very well."

Tang Zheng's gaze flickered slightly.

"My lord, not long ago, a noble's carriage delivered several formal gowns." Enri spoke in a low voice, her eyes filled with curiosity.

"We are going to meet the Princess tomorrow; those gowns were prepared for that."

Tang Zheng withdrew his gaze from the invitation, looked at Enri and the Witch of the Miss Cuiye, who was equally curious but maintained a cold demeanor, and spoke softly.

"Meet, meet the Princess!?"

Enri could not help but let out an exclamation, as if she had heard something unbelievable.

Since arriving at the royal capital, she had naturally heard rumors about the "Golden" Princess; regarding such a prominent figure, Enri felt that the two of them could never have any intersection in this lifetime.

Never did she expect that, in the blink of an eye, they would actually be meeting the Princess!

Enri felt as if she were dreaming, or rather, ever since she began following my lord, all her experiences had felt like a dream.

"If you wish to wear those gowns tomorrow, try them on in advance," Tang Zheng reminded them.

Although he did not understand some of the noble formal wear, he knew that these gowns were always cumbersome to wear, and the first time coming into contact with them would inevitably require a process of sorting them out.

And Enri and the Witch of the Miss Cuiye could not have had access to such things before this.

Tang Zheng waved his arm, signaling that the two could leave.

The Witch of the Miss Cuiye bowed respectfully and turned to exit the room, while Enri stood where she was, looking somewhat conflicted.

"What is it? Is something the matter?" Tang Zheng asked.

"Um, my lord, there has been a young girl lingering outside the inn door, saying she wants to see you."

Enri clutched at her pink dress and gathered the courage to speak.

Long ago, Tang Zheng had already given instructions that the inn would not see any outside guests; except for when the Rock Team visited before the festival and were briefly received, he had not received anyone else.

After all, there were too many people wanting to see Tang Zheng every day.

The profits generated by the "Regeneration Potion" alone were enough to tempt most nobles, not to mention those numerous alchemy workshops and potion workshops.

Tang Zheng believed that his Regeneration Potion had been studied countless times by these workshops during this period.

Unfortunately.

His "Regeneration Potion" was created through the 10lv Alchemist class converted by 【Genius】 and the passive abilities of the 【Magic Swordsman】.

No matter how much these people studied it, they would not get any results.

"What, do you find her pitiful?"

Tang Zheng knew that Enri had always honestly carried out his instructions; the only thing that could make Enri speak up was if her compassion had been stirred.

Enri lowered her head.

Tang Zheng did not continue speaking, but stood up, walked to the window, and looked down at the inn entrance below.

The room he occupied was in the best position in the entire inn, allowing a clear view of the street and the direction of the entrance.

There was indeed a young girl crouching at the entrance.

Hmm?

A bit familiar.

Tang Zheng recalled for a brief moment and remembered who this girl was.

"This is the only time."

Tang Zheng turned around and said to Enri, then walked toward the door. It was not that he was cold, but that he did not want to waste time on such trivial matters.

"Thank you, my lord!" Enri clenched her small fist and waved it forcefully, her face full of a happy smile.

At the inn entrance.

A girl with brown hair and a few freckles on her face was crouching in the corner, pulling her clothes tightly around herself.

During this time, every time she finished her work at the Adventurer's Guild, she would immediately rush here, wanting to wait for that lord to appear, although she had not seen him until now.

"You are waiting for me, right?" A calm voice suddenly came, and a shadow enveloped the brown-haired girl.

(End of chapter)