Chapter 108: The Bewitching Tea

Twilight City, evening.

In front of a small cottage.

"I'll stop here. Thank you for showing me around Twilight City today."

"Not at all. I should be the one thanking you, Lord Spark, for taking me to such a wonderful tavern to listen to music."

Anna gazed at the black-haired young man who had escorted her all the way home out of fear that she might encounter danger late at night, and a sudden flutter stirred in her heart.

She knew that this lord who lived in Red Fox Castle would likely never cross paths with her again in this lifetime.

After they parted, she would have to return to her dark house to continue her difficult life alone, struggling to sell flowers.

She had spent over a decade living such a lonely and dull life, and she had long since had enough of it.

If she could follow by this lord's side, even as just a maid, would her life be as brilliant as it was today?

Thinking of this, the flutter in Anna's heart grew more and more turbulent, eventually drowning her inner self like a tsunami.

The young girl stood on tiptoe, doing something she thought she would never do in her entire life.

"Lord Spark, would you like to come inside for a sit? I'm a little dizzy from drinking too much."

Anna leaned close to Xia Mingyu's ear, speaking in a tone tinged with a hint of seduction.

The hot breath exhaled by the young girl made half of Xia Mingyu's body go numb instantly.

Looking at her cute, flushed face so close at hand, Xia Mingyu slowly reached out his hand amidst Anna's expectant gaze.

*Tap! *

A flick.

"Ouch!"

The young girl clutched her forehead in pain, her pale green eyes instantly veiled by a thin layer of mist.

"That should sober you up," Xia Mingyu said, nodding with satisfaction.

"Hurry home. Life alone might indeed be difficult, but if you keep going, you will eventually encounter the dawn."

He pressed a silver Sol into the young girl's warm palm, then turned and left decisively.

Anna watched the figure gradually disappear into the dark night, feeling the cold silver coin in her hand, a trace of desolation appearing on her pretty face.

Why... why isn't my dawn you?

Red Fox Castle, bedroom.

Xia Mingyu stared blankly at the blue-purple crystal on the shelf. He reached out a finger to touch it, but was shocked by the electric arcs rapidly flowing across the crystal's surface, causing him to retract his hand instantly.

"What immense magic power. I'll eat you in a few days."

A flash of fervor crossed Xia Mingyu's eyes. In his view, this piece of Lei Mojing was flawless from every angle!

And he had a premonition that as long as he "ate" this Lei Mojing, his promotion would likely be a matter of course, and he would awaken his own unique core magic.

Just thinking about this made Xia Mingyu so excited that he paced around the bedroom in his slippers, occasionally doing push-ups to help vent his energy.

It wasn't until very late that he collapsed onto the bed and fell into a deep sleep.

Spark Hall.

*Clang, clang, clang! *

As soon as Xia Mingyu stepped in, he saw two streams of light, one green and one blue, intertwining at a terrifying speed just like yesterday, the entire hall filled with the metallic sounds of swords clashing.

"Why are they fighting again?"

Xia Mingyu couldn't help but ask Hagek Kesi, who was sitting at the long table to the side, buried in a book smaller than his palm.

"Your Highness, because injuries in your hall do not manifest on our physical bodies in reality, I asked Miss Dorovai to be my sparring partner."

Before Hagek Kesi could answer, Tamerlane's voice came from within the blue stream of light.

A moment later, the two streams of light separated, and the magic power gradually dissipated, revealing their true forms.

"You are too humble, Lord Tamerlane. It was clearly I who asked you to be my sparring partner."

The young girl with long ice-blue hair put away her longsword and smiled bitterly.

Before coming to this hall, she had thought her talent could be called heaven-sent.

But now, Tamerlane was only two years older than her and had already achieved the Crescent Moon Rank; both his strength and his knightly character far exceeded her own.

And that giant man named Hagek Kesi also gave her a feeling of extreme danger; she had no confidence in defeating him.

As for the Highness who possessed the 1.4 billion protection, he was in a league of his own; she couldn't even summon the courage to compare herself to him.

In other words, Dorovai sadly discovered that she seemed to be the person with the least talent in Spark Hall.

I must work harder!

The young girl secretly vowed in her heart.

Bronze long table.

"Dorovai, can you tell me about the current situation in the Northern Region?"

After everyone was seated, Xia Mingyu asked.

Because of the difficulty of transmitting news in this world and the fact that he had arrived only recently, he was almost completely ignorant of Sosia beyond the Southern Region.

"Your Highness, the Northern Region is already the place with the harshest natural environment in Sosia. Added to that is the food tax of the Gluttony King; almost everyone is starving, and people die of hunger every day. Calling it a living hell is no exaggeration."

When she said this, a trace of sorrow appeared on Dorovai's pretty face.

"As for the Lord of the Northern Region, Mo Wen Dean, that guy is a cold-blooded lunatic through and through. He believes that the North should be ruled by the law of the jungle, where the strong conquer everything and the weak deserve to die."

"Therefore, faced with the situation where countless people are about to starve to death, his approach is to sell them directly to the Slave City in the Eastern Region as slaves—a small sale every three days, a big sale every five days."

"The money earned is used for his own enjoyment and to win over the strong who have struggled out of the harsh environment of the North, thereby establishing the formidable Frost Tooth Knights, where every single Frost Tooth Knight possesses the strength to fight a hundred."

Dorovai gritted her teeth.

Having lived in a village in the Northern Region for ten years, she had seen the blood, tears, and suffering of the Northern people with her own eyes.

Either starve and freeze to death slowly like a frog in warm water, or be separated from loved ones and sold to the Slave City, losing all dignity as a human being.

All of this combined made her hate the Lord of the Northern Region so much that she had long wanted to kill him.

"Selling his own subjects as slaves?" Xia Mingyu was stunned.

This operation was too anthropomorphic; he even suspected if the other party was a Paradox Interactive player who had transmigrated.

"Your Highness, does your hall have the ability to teleport objects? If so, I hope to request some food from you to alleviate the famine of the people around me."

A glimmer of hope flashed in the eyes with which Dorovai looked at Xia Mingyu.

She remembered that this noble Highness could conjure countless delicacies with just a wave of his hand; if he could bring them back to the North, even a portion would save many lives.

"I'm sorry, Spark Hall currently does not have the ability to teleport physical objects. In the future, if it appears as my protection advances, I will help you immediately," Xia Mingyu sighed softly.

He also hoped to help those suffering people as soon as possible, but his current power was still too weak.

Even though he had focused all his efforts on improving his strength, he had only transmigrated for a few months; having his current strength could already be considered as having maxed out his talent and opportunities.

"Thank you for your generosity and kindness. If you have any needs in the future, I will do my best to help you with the Eastern Region knights left behind by my father."

Hearing this, although Dorovai was disappointed, she still promised solemnly.

Afterward, Dorovai and Tamerlane continued to fight, Xia Mingyu began to meditate, and Hagek Kesi also put down his book, asking His Highness to manifest a giant axe and joined the battle between the two.

Everyone was working hard to become stronger.

Meanwhile.

Sunset Street.

Ekes leaned on his cane, looking at the brightly lit, tall building in front of him and the sign on the door—Twilight Chamber of Commerce—and couldn't help but fall into ecstasy.

Every orthodox Kelai person had a dream of starting their own chamber of commerce.

And now, he had realized that dream.

"Hahahaha!" Ekes laughed loudly, his laughter carrying very far in the lonely street.

Fortunately, this was not a residential area, otherwise, there would surely be a chorus of curses.

"Calm down, the plan has just begun; it's too early to be happy now."

The joy on Ekes's face gradually disappeared, and he became expressionless again.

With a flash of white light, he took a potion bottle from the commodity warehouse.

What was contained in the bottle was not a potion, but deep red blood.

This blood seemed to have a life of its own, pulsing rhythmically in the bottle like a heart that had been imprisoned.

This was given to him personally by Lord Saimen before he set off for the Southern Region, telling him to drink it only when he encountered a desperate situation.

Ekes still remembered Saimen Kelai kindly patting him on the shoulder at the time, encouraging him to take this paradise of the Southern Region and become the next Kelai Bishop serving our God.

Ah, what an honor, what a happy thing this was!

All along, Lord Saimen had sacrificed too much for the revival of the Kelai people, and now, he finally had the opportunity to contribute his own strength.

As long as he could successfully bring pain to this only paradise in Sosia, turning the joy on the people's faces here into despair and grief, then he would surely be able to advance from a believer to a Bishop, and be granted by our God—the true gift of pain, just like Lord Saimen!

Thinking of this, Ekes's already calmed mood surged again.

He raised his hand, and a group of eerie black gas swirled in his palm. A moment later, the black gas dissipated, and a cluster of fresh tea leaves appeared in his palm—it was exactly the Twilight tea.

"It's a pity that the gift of the Bewitching Tea bestowed by our God can only be manufactured using the power of pain. If only it could be manufactured using magic power."

A trace of regret flashed across Ekes's face.

To ensure the smooth implementation of the plan, when he was in the Slave City, he had exhausted his life to extract the power of pain from those slaves.

Torture, labor, forced lust, separation of flesh and blood... all kinds of means were used, and only then did he finally save up enough power of pain to manufacture the Bewitching Tea needed to supply the entire city-state.

"It won't be long before the entire Twilight City—no, the entire Southern Region—will eventually become my own breeding ground, producing endless power of pain for me."

"It's really something to look forward to!"

Ekes muttered to himself, covering his face and laughing wildly without making a sound, which was hair-raising.

(End of chapter)