《I am the Human Emperor》


 Chapter 1: Awakening

    In the profound darkness, Ron endeavored to open his eyes. "Who am I?" Memories of the mortal era streaked across his mind - the towering skyscrapers, the vibrant cyber world, and the dreary and oppressive reality. The cacophony of past recollections inundated him, and then Ron remembered... he was dead. "Where am I?" Air rushed into his lungs, oxygen molecules dissolved into the surrounding capillaries, hitching a ride on red blood cells and converging in the long-silent heart.


    Boom! A long, heavy heartbeat reverberated from his chest. Except for some gigantic shapeless insects, no intelligent beings could hear this sound, nor did anyone truly realize what had just occurred. "What will I..." Before his thoughts could progress further, a dull noise from reality interrupted them. It was a young female voice brimming with surprise and excitement: "Come and see! There''s a living person!"


    Ron felt two pairs of hands touching his body. The cold, rough palms pressed against his neck, attempting to check if he was alive or dead. He took the initiative to lift his eyelids. What greeted him was a gloomy sky, and then two strangers came into his view. They were both dressed in shabby cloth, like peasants from a medieval village.


    "Really alive." A beautiful girl of seventeen or eighteen was looking at him with astonishment on her face. Behind her, a middle-aged man was squatting slightly. The girl turned her head and shouted into the distance: "There''s a living person, Sir Knight! There''s a healthy living person here!"


    The middle-aged man held Ron''s shoulders and slowly pulled him up: "Young man, what''s your name?" He spoke in a calm tone, not like someone who had just discovered a survivor. Instinctively, Ron asked: "I..." The man said expressionlessly: "Don''t be nervous. You''re lucky to have met us. You''re safe for now. Sir Knight won''t allow you to encounter any danger. Now, tell me your name."


    Ron wasn''t nervous, but he didn''t refute the other party either: "I''m Ron." While speaking, Ron took the opportunity to observe his own situation and the surrounding environment. He was also dressed in shabby cloth similar to the two, but on his right wrist was a metal bracelet of an unknown material.


    In this strange world he was in, there were no familiar concrete and steel, no blue sky, and even the sun that shone on everything was nowhere to be seen. The gloomy black clouds blanketed the entire area within Ron''s sight. The desolate plain was littered with nothing but corpses and gray rocks, and there was no warm hue in the gloomy reality he could perceive.


    Click, click, click... The joints of the metal boots made an unpleasant noise as three knights walked. They were all wrapped in thick black robes, with sharp silver long swords hanging from their waists. Their exposed arms were sickly pale. As they advanced, Ron could also feel the air gradually cooling down.


    Hiss. Ron''s wrist felt a slight sting, and then a warm heat flowed into his chest, driving away the cold current that was trying to invade his body. Then, he suddenly realized that his heart had only beaten once before this moment. And now it was beating again. Boom, boom, boom, boom...


    Seeing the knights approaching, the girl quickly stood up and said: "My lords, I''ve checked. His body is still fresh, without disease or defects. Can I..." She said, her eyes full of apprehension and eagerness, but she didn''t dare to continue, for fear of arousing the impatience of these knights.


    The knight in the front took out a handful of bright plant clusters from the bag in his arms and threw them on the ground in front of the girl like feeding an animal. She knelt down gratefully and picked up the reward.


    The second knight casually drew his long sword and pointed it at Ron''s chin, shouting impatiently: "Look at me, human." Surprisingly, Ron didn''t have any emotional fluctuations. Judging from his memories of himself in the past, he should have felt both fear and dread at this time - like every normal person.


    He raised his head. Ron stared directly at the knight in front of him. Under the black hood, the blood-red pupils were engraved with deep contempt, and the face was lifeless. What surprised him the most was that the knight''s lower jawbone was slightly sunken inward, the upper jawbone protruded outward, and two sharp "canines" on the upper jaw hung outside the lips, making the face both hideous and ugly. These things were not his kind. Considering the knight''s address to him - "human", they probably didn''t regard him as a being of the same blood.


    The knight waved his silver long sword and pointed behind him, shouting like driving an unruly animal: "You stay with them."


    In the distance, there were three carriages, and behind the carriages stood more than thirty poorly dressed civilians. Their cheeks were slightly sunken, looking as if they were suffering from hunger, with no hope for the future in their eyes. The looks they gave here were also full of complex emotions. But their walking movements didn''t seem to be really restricted by hunger.


    Ron nodded slightly and walked towards the crowd. When the knight said this, he didn''t consider the possibility of Ron''s refusal or resistance. Either he was stupid enough to have no guard against strangers... or he thought humans couldn''t pose any threat.


    The knights also turned around and slowly walked back. The girl and the man quickly lowered their heads and followed closely behind them. Ron noticed that their faces were full of nervousness and timidity, as if they were facing an abyss and would fall if they took a wrong step.


    Ron watched helplessly as the girl and the man stumbled back to the team. After noticing that the knights had no objections to them, both of them showed a relieved expression at the same time.


    Then the knight walked towards the crowd. He expressionlessly pointed at two civilians standing in the crowd, and their faces immediately showed extreme horror and despair. Although they resisted the knight''s order emotionally, their bodies still rushed out of the team under the drive of fear, walking towards the front of the carriage, for fear of being too slow and being killed by the knights.


    The three knights then went to different carriages and quietly waited for the two pathfinders to complete their work. They didn''t even look at Ron again.


    Ron had already followed the returned girl and man into the crowd. These "medieval peasants" didn''t immediately look at him. Instead, they all stared at the strange vegetable in the girl''s hand with hungry eyes, exuding a strong desire and impulse. Ron could imagine that without any restraint, they would have already pounced on the girl and torn her apart alive.


    A relatively strong young man in the group stepped forward two steps and put his arm around the girl who was about ten years younger than him. Amid the greedy gazes of the others, he took the vegetable from her hand. He was Ralph, the most prestigious member of this group for the time being.


    The girl had sadness and dissatisfaction in her eyes, but fear kept her from saying a word. She knew that as long as she shouted, the knight would probably intervene and kill Ralph and take his blood for storage. But she herself would also meet the same fate.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    Ralph said: "As usual, I will be responsible for distributing the holy food bestowed by the knight. But you can first welcome our new, healthy and strong friend."


    Everyone looked at Ron at the same time, with a look of schadenfreude on their faces, extremely glad that he had fallen into the same situation as them. Some people also blatantly examined him, secretly hatching plans in their hearts.


    Ralph said: "You and I are both the property of the noble lord and have the honor of being able to meet the great noble prince. But on this journey, the knight lord will only ensure our survival. Therefore, we need to work together and help each other."


    Speaking of this, Ralph looked at the metal ring on Ron''s wrist: "After our discussion, I am fortunate to temporarily obtain the qualification to manage food and supplies. Since you have joined us, you must also abide by this rule. First, hand over the things on you to me for temporary custody. Hand them over."


    Although Ralph''s words were "polite", his tone was extremely tough. Moreover, he didn''t plan to obtain Ron''s consent at all, nor did he think that the other party would resist him.


    At this moment, a strong sense of resistance rose in Ron''s heart. The thing that Ralph demanded occupied an extremely important position in his subconscious. Somehow, he realized that the value of the bracelet far exceeded the lives of this group of humans and monsters in front of him.


    Ron slightly closed his eyes, and his heart also stopped beating for a few seconds under the intense emotional stimulation. Then, a weak stinging sensation came from his wrist.


    In the absolute silence, a cold voice without emotion or consciousness rang in Ron''s mind.


    "Congratulations on being selected as the heir of the empire. According to the order of His Majesty the Emperor, the merciful father and the legal ruler of all worlds, my creator, you will shoulder the responsibility of restoring the glory of the empire. The micro bionic community has been injected and the thinking binding is completed. Now, I will detect and list the known situations for you. Finally, I sincerely wish you... a smooth conquest."


    In the profound darkness, Ron endeavored to open his eyes. "Who am I?" Memories of the mortal era streaked across his mind - the towering skyscrapers, the vibrant cyber world, and the dreary and oppressive reality. The cacophony of past recollections inundated him, and then Ron remembered... he was dead. "Where am I?" Air rushed into his lungs, oxygen molecules dissolved into the surrounding capillaries, hitching a ride on red blood cells and converging in the long-silent heart.


    Boom! A long, heavy heartbeat reverberated from his chest. Except for some gigantic shapeless insects, no intelligent beings could hear this sound, nor did anyone truly realize what had just occurred. "What will I..." Before his thoughts could progress further, a dull noise from reality interrupted them. It was a young female voice brimming with surprise and excitement: "Come and see! There''s a living person!"


    Ron felt two pairs of hands touching his body. The cold, rough palms pressed against his neck, attempting to check if he was alive or dead. He took the initiative to lift his eyelids. What greeted him was a gloomy sky, and then two strangers came into his view. They were both dressed in shabby cloth, like peasants from a medieval village.


    "Really alive." A beautiful girl of seventeen or eighteen was looking at him with astonishment on her face. Behind her, a middle-aged man was squatting slightly. The girl turned her head and shouted into the distance: "There''s a living person, Sir Knight! There''s a healthy living person here!"


    The middle-aged man held Ron''s shoulders and slowly pulled him up: "Young man, what''s your name?" He spoke in a calm tone, not like someone who had just discovered a survivor. Instinctively, Ron asked: "I..." The man said expressionlessly: "Don''t be nervous. You''re lucky to have met us. You''re safe for now. Sir Knight won''t allow you to encounter any danger. Now, tell me your name."


    Ron wasn''t nervous, but he didn''t refute the other party either: "I''m Ron." While speaking, Ron took the opportunity to observe his own situation and the surrounding environment. He was also dressed in shabby cloth similar to the two, but on his right wrist was a metal bracelet of an unknown material.


    In this strange world he was in, there were no familiar concrete and steel, no blue sky, and even the sun that shone on everything was nowhere to be seen. The gloomy black clouds blanketed the entire area within Ron''s sight. The desolate plain was littered with nothing but corpses and gray rocks, and there was no warm hue in the gloomy reality he could perceive.


    Click, click, click... The joints of the metal boots made an unpleasant noise as three knights walked. They were all wrapped in thick black robes, with sharp silver long swords hanging from their waists. Their exposed arms were sickly pale. As they advanced, Ron could also feel the air gradually cooling down.


    Hiss. Ron''s wrist felt a slight sting, and then a warm heat flowed into his chest, driving away the cold current that was trying to invade his body. Then, he suddenly realized that his heart had only beaten once before this moment. And now it was beating again. Boom, boom, boom, boom...


    Seeing the knights approaching, the girl quickly stood up and said: "My lords, I''ve checked. His body is still fresh, without disease or defects. Can I..." She said, her eyes full of apprehension and eagerness, but she didn''t dare to continue, for fear of arousing the impatience of these knights.


    The knight in the front took out a handful of bright plant clusters from the bag in his arms and threw them on the ground in front of the girl like feeding an animal. She knelt down gratefully and picked up the reward.


    The second knight casually drew his long sword and pointed it at Ron''s chin, shouting impatiently: "Look at me, human." Surprisingly, Ron didn''t have any emotional fluctuations. Judging from his memories of himself in the past, he should have felt both fear and dread at this time - like every normal person.


    He raised his head. Ron stared directly at the knight in front of him. Under the black hood, the blood-red pupils were engraved with deep contempt, and the face was lifeless. What surprised him the most was that the knight''s lower jawbone was slightly sunken inward, the upper jawbone protruded outward, and two sharp "canines" on the upper jaw hung outside the lips, making the face both hideous and ugly. These things were not his kind. Considering the knight''s address to him - "human", they probably didn''t regard him as a being of the same blood.


    The knight waved his silver long sword and pointed behind him, shouting like driving an unruly animal: "You stay with them."


    In the distance, there were three carriages, and behind the carriages stood more than thirty poorly dressed civilians. Their cheeks were slightly sunken, looking as if they were suffering from hunger, with no hope for the future in their eyes. The looks they gave here were also full of complex emotions. But their walking movements didn''t seem to be really restricted by hunger.


    Ron nodded slightly and walked towards the crowd. When the knight said this, he didn''t consider the possibility of Ron''s refusal or resistance. Either he was stupid enough to have no guard against strangers... or he thought humans couldn''t pose any threat.


    The knights also turned around and slowly walked back. The girl and the man quickly lowered their heads and followed closely behind them. Ron noticed that their faces were full of nervousness and timidity, as if they were facing an abyss and would fall if they took a wrong step.


    Ron watched helplessly as the girl and the man stumbled back to the team. After noticing that the knights had no objections to them, both of them showed a relieved expression at the same time.


    Then the knight walked towards the crowd. He expressionlessly pointed at two civilians standing in the crowd, and their faces immediately showed extreme horror and despair. Although they resisted the knight''s order emotionally, their bodies still rushed out of the team under the drive of fear, walking towards the front of the carriage, for fear of being too slow and being killed by the knights.


    The three knights then went to different carriages and quietly waited for the two pathfinders to complete their work. They didn''t even look at Ron again.


    Ron had already followed the returned girl and man into the crowd. These "medieval peasants" didn''t immediately look at him. Instead, they all stared at the strange vegetable in the girl''s hand with hungry eyes, exuding a strong desire and impulse. Ron could imagine that without any restraint, they would have already pounced on the girl and torn her apart alive.


    A relatively strong young man in the group stepped forward two steps and put his arm around the girl who was about ten years younger than him. Amid the greedy gazes of the others, he took the vegetable from her hand. He was Ralph, the most prestigious member of this group for the time being.


    The girl had sadness and dissatisfaction in her eyes, but fear kept her from saying a word. She knew that as long as she shouted, the knight would probably intervene and kill Ralph and take his blood for storage. But she herself would also meet the same fate.


    Ralph said: "As usual, I will be responsible for distributing the holy food bestowed by the knight. But you can first welcome our new, healthy and strong friend."


    Everyone looked at Ron at the same time, with a look of schadenfreude on their faces, extremely glad that he had fallen into the same situation as them. Some people also blatantly examined him, secretly hatching plans in their hearts.


    Ralph said: "You and I are both the property of the noble lord and have the honor of being able to meet the great noble prince. But on this journey, the knight lord will only ensure our survival. Therefore, we need to work together and help each other."


    Speaking of this, Ralph looked at the metal ring on Ron''s wrist: "After our discussion, I am fortunate to temporarily obtain the qualification to manage food and supplies. Since you have joined us, you must also abide by this rule. First, hand over the things on you to me for temporary custody. Hand them over."


    Although Ralph''s words were "polite", his tone was extremely tough. Moreover, he didn''t plan to obtain Ron''s consent at all, nor did he think that the other party would resist him.


    At this moment, a strong sense of resistance rose in Ron''s heart. The thing that Ralph demanded occupied an extremely important position in his subconscious. Somehow, he realized that the value of the bracelet far exceeded the lives of this group of humans and monsters in front of him.


    Ron slightly closed his eyes, and his heart also stopped beating for a few seconds under the intense emotional stimulation. Then, a weak stinging sensation came from his wrist.


    In the absolute silence, a cold voice without emotion or consciousness rang in Ron''s mind.


    "Congratulations on being selected as the heir of the empire. According to the order of His Majesty the Emperor, the merciful father and the legal ruler of all worlds, my creator, you will shoulder the responsibility of restoring the glory of the empire. The micro bionic community has been injected and the thinking binding is completed. Now, I will detect and list the known situations for you. Finally, I sincerely wish you... a smooth conquest."

 Chapter 2: The Embers of the Empire

    Silence overwhelmed everything like a tidal wave.


    All the things in front of Ron ceased their physical movements the moment that voice rang out. The dust floating in the air, the black clouds solidified in the sky, the prisoners staring straight ahead, and the three knights sitting and resting in the distance all remained as motionless as statues, exactly as they had been just a moment before.


    "The Empire''s reconstruction plan is in operation. The bionic community has completed the detection and basic repair work. High-speed thinking is maintained. The basic information module is about to unfold."


    A blue-white screen emerged in front of him.


    [


    Detected that the biological energy level and psionic strength are too low. Three alien species with a biological energy level of ¢ñ have been detected in close proximity. The micro bionic community is in place, energy is abundant, and basic transformation has been automatically initiated.


    Basic Information


    Name: Ron


    Biological Energy Level: -/¢ñ-5


    Psionic Strength: -/¢ñ-5


    Psionic Storage: 10/10 (¢ñ)


    Emperor''s Heart: (Not activated)


    Abilities


    Emperor''s Body ¢ñ (Completed): The basic biological transformation technology of the Empire, which can enhance the biological energy level to approach the upper limit of mortals. You can crush rocks with your hands, jump seven or eight meters easily, possess a dynamic sense capable of adapting to battles of the same level, have a slight self-healing ability, basic weapon usage and combat experience, as well as a basic body capable of containing psionic energy.


    Psionic Pillar ¢ñ (Completed): The psionic endowment ritual that will grant you the standard psionic energy of the Empire and enable you to directly master the prepared special psionic techniques.


    ]


    Ron could clearly understand the meanings of these terms just by glancing at them. The former judged the strength of the body, while the latter represented a certain mental ability that could interfere with and distort the real world.


    The dash after the colon indicated that he did not formally qualify for the rating system in these two abilities before the transformation, and the ¢ñ after the slash was the strength after the transformation.


    The number 5 after the biological energy level represented the level within the same level.


    In the data of the Empire system, 1 represented being slightly weaker than the average level of the same level, 2 was the average value, 3 was stronger than the average, 4 was the top level, and 5 was the theoretical limit.


    And Ron had already reached the strongest level of the ¢ñ order just after waking up.


    Obviously, the system on his body was not a toy of an advanced civilization but the hope of survival of the fallen human Empire. Therefore, it did not stint on its energy. At the moment of operation, it had "generously" given Ron considerable power without requiring anything in return.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    This was both a good thing and a bad thing.


    If the system was so efficient in dealing with dangers, it only implied one possibility - its efficiency was forced by the objective situation. That is to say, the environment he was in now contained huge and frequent dangers.


    Or rather, for all mortals.


    [


    Empire Equipment


    Multifunctional Tactical Bracelet (Reconnaissance State): It has three basic forms: a reconnaissance bracelet, an Empire Special Type ¢ñ long sword, and a psionic focus glove. In the reconnaissance bracelet state, it can passively detect nearby threatening individuals with a theoretically undetectable technology.


    Psionic Techniques


    Mind Barrier: Consumes 1 unit or more of ¢ñ-order psionic energy per day. It can prevent other creatures from invading your brain.


    Mind Break: Consumes 2 units or more of ¢ñ-order psionic energy. It can relieve the problem of being mentally controlled by oneself or others (it will be automatically used when being controlled).


    Empire''s Left Hand: Consumes 1 unit or more of ¢ñ-order psionic energy. It can heal common wounds, but cannot treat diseases or reverse death.


    ]


    The Empire system was injected into his body through the bracelet. After completing this most important work, it also became a multifunctional tactical weapon. He could control and change its form through his system to adapt to various uses.


    Regarding Ralph''s demand for the prisoner, Ron''s original plan before getting the system was to refuse. After getting the system, if he could be sure that the bracelet had no other functions, he could temporarily hand it over.


    But now that he knew the bracelet was his weapon, he had to find a way to "refuse" Ralph. This was not difficult in itself, but the problem lay with the three "knights".


    Reconnaissance bracelet?


    As his attention shifted to the three knights in his peripheral vision, a three-dimensional image of them suddenly appeared on the screen, along with the specific information detected by the bracelet.


    [


    Blood Servant Individual 1 - Biological Energy Level ¢ñ-3


    Blood Servant Individual 2 - Biological Energy Level ¢ñ-2


    Blood Servant Individual 3 - Biological Energy Level ¢ñ-2


    Alien Species Information Analyzed


    Blood Servant:


    Former slaves of the Empire, low-level derivatives created by the blood race, low-level alien species, without psionic talent. The general biological energy level is between 1-2 and 1-5. They have a low-level self-healing ability. Sunlight can effectively weaken their strength and self-healing ability. Decapitating them and preventing them from reconnecting their heads in a short time or inflicting a fatal wound in sunlight can kill them.


    ]


    The data on the screen also gave him a temporary sense of reassurance. These so-called blood servants were at least not stronger than him on paper and did not possess an immortal body. If he was careful, he might not necessarily be unable to kill all three of them.


    Whether it was the attitude of the girl who found him, the strange situation of these people, Ralph''s claim that they were property, or the contempt and disdain in the knights'' eyes, Ron had already prepared for the worst.


    Ron also didn''t take it lightly. He knew well that he had not yet engaged in a formal battle and couldn''t accurately assess the comprehensive strength of both sides. There was a high probability that he would die here if he really fought.


    Apart from combat power, everything else was also a mystery.


    Where were these three knights taking them? What would be the fate of these prisoners? And why had he ended up in such a situation? All these were unsolved mysteries.


    If he really wanted to take action, he could try to sneak attack and kill the strongest knight first, who was also the leader of the blood servants. But before that, he''d better first figure out why these humans in front of him were here and collect as much information about the knights as possible.


    For example, what would be the consequences of killing them? What forces were behind them? Would they hunt him down? And where could he find food and a safe place to settle?


    Ron got ready and stared directly at the burly Ralph in front of him, silently turning off the floating screen.


    The roar of chaos arrived. The sand was flying in the air, the people were whispering closely to each other, the black clouds were churning and surging, and the knights were quietly enjoying their leisure.


    And Ralph''s hand was almost on the metal ring.


    With a cautious mind, Ron carefully turned his wrist and, at a speed that the other party couldn''t react to, grasped his arm in reverse. At the same time, he stared straight at him.


    "You say you have the right to distribute these things. Then I want to ask, where does your power come from?" Ron asked Ralph, who had frozen, with a gentle expression.

 Chapter 3: The Gift

    ''Violence.''


    Ron had already seen the reason why he would stand up and speak. Among these sallow and emaciated people, Ralph was the most robust one, and his behavior and demeanor were like a fierce bandit.


    Just as Ron had inferred, Ralph''s qualification to distribute food actually relied on his physique and the support of a few other strong men. No one had ever tried to resist them.


    Although he knew clearly that if a weak person was willing to fight against him at the cost of his life, the knight would surely chop off both of their heads. But as long as he precisely probed and controlled the bottom line of the other weak ones to ensure that they could still survive, no one would fight him desperately.


    Ralph knew that if he were the one being oppressed, he would also choose to be silent and endure.


    He had thought that Ron was one of them.


    Ron lowered his voice to ensure that only the two of them could hear: "You''re afraid."


    Ralph replied in the same volume: "It seems I''ve made a mistake."


    Ron gave an approving look: "You''re also a smart person."


    Ron could see that Ralph was afraid. Although what he feared was not himself but the three knights sitting in the distance, it made no difference to him.


    It didn''t matter whose hand the sword was in. The key was where the tip of the sword pointed.


    Ralph whispered: "If you throw me to the ground now, they will regard me as a liar and a loser and spit on me. Although you will get their support and worship briefly, it will be difficult to maintain your current position for a long time. Believe me, there were two previous losers before me, and they all died during the exploration. These bastards are like hungry hyenas and will eat anything. I admit defeat, but please don''t let them see that I''ve lost. I beg you. This is good for both of us. I can give you a reward."


    He looked at Ron with pleading eyes.


    Ron returned an approving look.


    He raised his voice and said firmly and forcefully: "If you want to take my bracelet, you have to step over my dead body first."


    Ralph also immediately got into the act and put on an arrogant look: "Don''t be nervous. I''m not a bad person without a bottom line. Since you said so, as long as you promise to listen to me on the way now, I can let you keep it. How about that?"The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    Ron also put on a reluctant expression of agreement: "All right."


    The hyenas all turned around disappointedly and withdrew their greedy eyes. The girl looked at Ralph with fear and admiration, while the middle-aged man just shook his head secretly.


    Ralph suppressed his nervousness and said: "Then welcome to join us."


    The crowd slowly dispersed, leaving only three people still on the spot: him, Ralph, and the girl who had just found him. Ron still remembered the girl''s eyes at that time. She was as excited as a hunting dog that had found a rabbit and then couldn''t wait to claim credit from her master.


    When Ron was observing her, the girl also noticed his eyes, but she immediately shifted her admiring eyes to Ralph.


    She was a little angry with Ron now. Looking at him would remind her of the lost plant.


    Ralph first signaled the girl to wait in place with his eyes, then turned to look at Ron: "What do you think of her?"


    Ron looked at him with a puzzled look.


    Ralph showed a grateful expression: "You just gave me a way out. I have to repay you somehow. Helen is the most beautiful girl in the nearby towns. But here, she also has to listen to my orders. With just one word, I can make her stay by your side willingly. You know, noble lords like beautiful girls. When we arrive at the territory, maybe she will become a maid. If you can make her have some feelings for you now, it may help you later."


    Speaking of this, Ralph looked Ron up and down and suddenly realized that his appearance under the dust was actually quite handsome. It was a pity that he was a man and had already passed his teenage years, otherwise he might really attract the attention of the nobles.


    Ron asked: "Since there are so many benefits, why don''t you keep her by your side?"


    He didn''t think Ralph was so kind to him. But actually, Ron didn''t plan to reject the other''s proposal because he needed to get information. And if he had two sources of information, it would be relatively easy to distinguish right from wrong.


    Ralph also knew that things might not be so easy. From the fact that Ron didn''t choose to fight him directly but listened to him finish speaking, it could be seen that the other was not a brainless person: "You''re right. But I already have power. If the most beautiful girl is still by my side, others will be jealous of me. Only by letting them see hope can we suppress the restless madness."


    Ron smiled and said: "So you want them to transfer their envy to me?"


    Ralph shrugged and said: "If you can win her favor, it will be beneficial to you. We are now on a dangerous journey. Beauty can''t be exchanged for food. Now is the time when her appearance has the lowest value. Even Helen feels inferior. This is also the easiest time to get her favor. Help in the trough will be appreciated. Feelings in distress are the most precious. Once we arrive at the castle... Every risk you take now will be repaid tenfold."


    Ron sensed a subtle problem.


    What Ralph said was all based on the fact that the girl could bring him huge returns. And he didn''t think he would question this. To him, it seemed like the most basic common sense in the world.


    In other words, appearance would affect the fate of civilians in the most extreme way here. And Ralph thought he knew this, while the other civilians were completely unaware of it.


    "I agree," Ron said.


    This was a test that both sides knew well. Ralph wanted to see if Ron had the confidence to deal with the possible small troubles that might come with it. Ron''s answer showed his strong confidence. Based on this confidence, Ralph would surely give him more respect and power.


    Ralph smiled and called to the girl: "Helen, come here."


    The girl timidly walked to the two of them.


    Ralph said in a commanding tone: "During this time, you accompany Mr. Ron and help him get familiar with our place. Remember, you must show respect to him. Otherwise..."


    Helen looked at Ralph with panic and reluctance, like a child being punished by her parents without knowing what she had done wrong. But finally, she lowered her head as if resigned and said: "Yes, sir."


    What Ralph didn''t say was that there was another reason why he didn''t really try to please Helen.


    Because he knew that even if he won her trust and dependence, once they arrived at the noble''s castle, he would be kicked away like a stone on the roadside.


    Ron, who was similar to him, must know what would happen to a beautiful young child when they arrived at the castle. But as an outsider, he didn''t know Helen''s true nature. And Ralph took advantage of his information superiority.


    At this moment, Ralph thought he was an excellent liar. He sold a stone with a golden shell to this outsider at a very high price.


    And he believed that Ron would have to pay the due price for the stone he got today sooner or later.

 Chapter 4: The Blood Tax

    Ron looked at Helen, and the girl''s face still retained a lingering confusion.


    He asked first:"Helen, I remember it was you who found me, right?""Ah, yes, Mr. Ron. I was chosen by the knight to explore the way," Helen said as she also looked at Ron and blinked innocently.


    She was taking the opportunity to observe the man in front of her, secretly measuring in her heart what attitude she should take.Equality, a little dependence, or apparent obedience?


    But Ron didn''t give her time to think and continued to ask:"Are we just going to wait here?"He was referring to the fact that the team had stopped.


    Helen replied looking a little flustered:"Yes, it''s break time."


    The two people who had just been called had left the team, and while Ron was talking to Helen, a knight in the distance also stood up.


    He whispered a few words to his two companions, carefully controlling the volume of his speech. Even with Ron''s enhanced senses, he couldn''t hear what was said.


    Just now Ralph had said that there had been cases of explorers losing their lives. The two selected civilians also looked terrified. So it seemed that exploring the way was a dangerous job, and Helen was doing this before she found him.


    "When you found me..." Ron asked.


    Helen obligingly replied:"Raymond and I had just started exploring the way, but we hadn''t gone far when we came across you. So we were able to return to the team. I''m sorry, but in that situation, we had no other choice."


    No matter how nice Ralph and the others said it, Helen''s words now revealed the harsh truth - being a member of this team was an unfortunate thing.


    The girl slightly lowered her head to avoid direct eye contact with Ron. She hadn''t fully reacted yet. Just now Ralph had reprimanded Ron a few times, but now he wanted her to accompany him.


    From the simplest logic, it might be that Ralph wanted to use the "ignorant" outsider Ron to achieve some purpose, but she couldn''t think of what Ralph could do under the knights'' supervision.


    And if this wasn''t Ralph''s conspiracy, it could be simply inferred that Ron was definitely not as simple as he seemed.


    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    When she was chosen to be the subject of the blood tax collection, she managed to inquire about a lot of information about the nobles, including the value implied by her appearance. And Helen believed that Ralph must know this value.


    If he hadn''t lost in the competition, Ralph would never have become the subject of the blood tax collection.


    So, maybe Ron also knew the value of this, but the question he just asked made Helen confused.


    If it were someone else in the team, they might not see any problem, but Helen instinctively sensed that Ron might be subtly fishing for information.


    Could he be from outside?


    Whatever the truth was, Helen planned to maintain her original image and try to make Ron have a certain degree of affection for her. In this way, no matter whether Ron was valuable or not, it wouldn''t do her any harm.


    At this time, the knight who had stood up in the distance finally moved. He set off firmly in the direction where the two explorers had left.


    Ron noticed that there was a time lag between the knight''s departure and that of the explorers, and he seemed confident that he could catch up with the two mortals.


    He turned back to look at Helen. Although Ron didn''t know what Helen had just been thinking, he also knew that Ralph and she must know many things that he didn''t understand.


    And as long as the other party was a little smarter, they would surely notice that he lacked a lot of information.


    So he didn''t plan to hide this:"Can you tell me about the blood tax?"Helen asked in surprise:"Don''t you know?"Ron said naturally:"I''ve heard rumors before, but I don''t know the details."


    Helen''s surprise gradually faded, and an understanding expression appeared on her face:"The blood tax is a tradition in our Blood Plain. The great noble lords bear the responsibility of protecting the civilians, and we also have to pay them blood to ensure that the noble lords can meet the needs of war."Generally speaking, the blood tax is collected from the villages and towns in the noble''s territory and escorted by knights to the noble''s residence. After arriving there..."Her voice became much lower, and her speaking speed also slowed down."... the noble lord will select the civilians worthy of living to serve as servants or other members in his mansion. But I heard that only a few are selected in many blood tax caravans."And the remaining civilians will live in the basement as blood donors and have their blood drawn once a month. There is also a saying that the selected civilians will have all their blood drained as soon as they arrive at the castle to supply the noble lords."And the most terrifying rumor comes from the wanderers. They say that the ultimate fate of the blood donors is to become those ugly corpse-eating monsters, degenerating to the point of crawling on the rotting corpse pile and gnawing at their former compatriots."But no one knows what is true."


    Ron slightly lowered his eyelids.According to Helen''s statement, for them, this was almost a journey with death as the end point, but everyone seemed to have accepted their tragic fate.Maybe it was because of the three blood servant knights, or maybe there were other reasons he didn''t know. In short, the civilians living in the territory of the blood nobles had no basic human rights and no idea of defending their lives.And now, he had also become one of them.


    "Mr. Ron, why did Mr. Ralph ask me..." Helen looked at him timidly, like a girl afraid of being scolded.


    Ron said gently to her:"Because he''s afraid of me."


    Helen showed an astonished expression.Others had heard his initial question, but they couldn''t understand what it meant. And due to the distance and vision problems, they couldn''t clearly see his speed.And except for Ralph, no one knew what the power he showed could determine.


    He continued to explain:"We had a conversation that others didn''t hear. Although I can''t compare with the knight, it''s not difficult to break his arm. After all, if I didn''t have a strong body, I wouldn''t have been able to wait for you to find me, right?"He smiled at Helen.


    Helen nodded as if she understood:"I see."Her expression had no flaws, and it was difficult for Ron to judge what she was thinking from it.But since becoming the blood tax was such a bad thing, Helen''s excited expression when she saw him was particularly conspicuous.Before telling him the truth about the blood tax, Helen could say that she didn''t know about it, but now, she had exposed her thoughts at that time. But actually, this was also normal.Because finding Ron meant that Helen could return to the safe team. And when facing life and death, it''s hard for anyone to control their emotions. She didn''t expect to be "assigned" to Ron by Ralph at that time.


    Ron whispered to Helen:"But you mustn''t tell anyone else about this, okay?"Helen immediately nodded repeatedly:"Of course, I definitely won''t say anything."They had vaguely reached a fragile tacit understanding.

 Chapter 5: The Blood God / Isolation Ritual

    Ron stood in the distance, watching the civilians in the team take out the tent structures that could withstand the wind and rain from the carriage and set up their temporary shelter for the night.


    Since he and Helen had reached an understanding, Ron didn''t hesitate to ask various questions about this world. Of course, he didn''t show that he knew nothing.


    Helen was also very sensible. Without waiting for Ron to ask, she took the initiative to tell all the information she could think of.


    The place where they were now was the Blood Plain. The ruling class here was the powerful Blood Nobles. These creatures were also called the Blood Clan. They could create blood servants and ghouls, and both of them were members of their armies when they fought each other.


    According to Helen, a vampire called Earl Charles ruled the land where they were now. All human civilians were legally the property of this vampire.


    These vampires mainly had two camps. Charles was in the camp that believed in the ancient ancestors of the Blood Clan, and the second camp believed in the recently emerging Blood God. Recently, the two sides often fought each other, and these nobles often led their knights to plunder and kill in each other''s territories.


    Due to the intensification of the war recently, the demand of the nobles for blood supply had also increased. Therefore, the collection of the blood tax had become more frequent, which also led to the fact that people from all levels of the civilians could hardly escape the fate of being taken to the castle.


    The civilians called this situation the Blood Disaster. The last Blood Disaster was more than ten years ago. But when everyone talked about it, they all regarded it as bad luck, rather than the nobles'' persecution of them.


    They already thought that the blood tax itself was a matter of course.


    These nobles did not station their own troops or knights in the town, nor did they try to control their thoughts or guide their culture.


    The Blood Clan simply regarded mortals as weeds, allowing these mortals to grow wildly on the land. They would harvest the civilians they had never taken care of when they wanted to, and the mortals didn''t even dare to have the idea of resistance.


    This showed that the Blood Nobles had an overwhelming power over mortals. Ron didn''t think that the mortals didn''t try to resist because of lack of courage.


    In his eyes, neither Ralph nor Helen was that kind of cowardly fool.


    Ron could imagine that these civilians probably had never seen any hope at all.


    Helen didn''t know the specific situation of the Blood Nobles, but when she talked about these contents, the information about these creatures appeared in front of Ron:


    [Vampire:Former low-level members (non-citizens) of the Empire, common alien species, immortal species with strong immortality. The general biological energy level is between ¢ò-1 and ¢ó-5. The prominent individuals'' biological energy level is between ¢ô-1 and ¢õ-5. Some are born with blood energy (a subspecies of psionic energy). They have both physical and psychological cravings for blood. Ordinary fatal wounds have no meaning to them. Sunlight can completely suppress their self-healing ability.]Stolen story; please report.


    For the people living on the Blood Plain, the existence of the sun itself was much more distant than the ancient gods in the rumors. Helen had never seen that huge, hot star with her own eyes in her life.


    Ron could also infer that the billowing black clouds in the sky should be a supernatural phenomenon created by the Blood Clan, and it was also the most important source of power for their rule of this land.


    How could he become stronger?


    When this question emerged in Ron''s mind, the kind of screen reappeared in front of him, but this time it didn''t speed up his thinking.[Promotion conditions for Emperor''s Body ¢ò: Biological energy level ¢ñ-5 (satisfied), Psionic strength ¢ñ-5 (satisfied), Isolation ritual (not completed), Emperor''s Heart transformation surgery (not completed)Promotion conditions for Psionic Pillar ¢ò: Psionic strength ¢ñ-5 (satisfied), Emperor''s Body ¢ò (not satisfied), Sealing ritual (not completed), Psionic connection ritual (not completed)]


    Before he could improve his psionic strength, he had to complete the promotion of Emperor''s Body ¢ò first, and he had to do two things.


    The isolation ritual could make his body reject external influences, and the sealing ritual could deal with those enemies who wanted to invade his mind.


    According to the system data, there were many dangerous gods in this world. It was easy to attract these things during the process of improving one''s biological energy level and psionic strength. Therefore, he had to be prepared to resist them first.


    The things needed for the Emperor''s Heart transformation surgery were all in the micro-community in his body. When he completed the transformation, the "Emperor''s Heart" on the panel would be officially activated, and this was also one of the ultimate weapons left by the Empire.


    In other words, if he could complete the isolation ritual, he could continue to become stronger. And this ritual required a total of: four liters of psionic liquid with characteristics 3-671 and 13-125, 10 points of ¢ñ-order Empire psionic energy input from the ritual arranger, and a safe environment for more than three days.


    Of course, these things were the least important for completing this ritual. What was really valuable was the ritual arrangement method created by the ancient Empire that existed in Ron''s mind.


    And now, even though Ron hadn''t tried his new body, both his intuition and confidence told him that common steel alloys could no longer play a defensive role in front of him. He could easily jump several meters on the spot, move at a speed that was difficult for mortal eyes to follow, and his five senses were also much sharper than before.


    There was also psionic energy. He could feel this energy flowing in his body. Ron felt that if he just stretched out his hand towards a stone in the distance, it would fly towards him.


    Of course, he didn''t try to use his psionic energy in such a crude way. The two knights were not ordinary medieval knights, but monsters with self-healing bodies.


    After listening to Helen''s narration, he had already planned to kill these three blood servants.


    And he also knew clearly that his biggest problem now was that he didn''t know his enemies.


    And unless he really fought, it was difficult for him to know the specific combat power of the other side. But it was unwise to fight against three blood servants at the same time.


    However, he already had an idea.


    Now there was a blood servant alone.


    The "lone knight" was driving two mortal baits to explore the way in the wasteland in the distance. And if he could also be selected to go out, he would have a chance to face a blood servant alone.


    The carriage in the distance.


    The two blood servant knights were just discussing Ron, who had just been found.


    The captain of the knights said: "You didn''t smell the smell of wild animals, did you?"The second knight replied: "No."The captain nodded slightly: "It seems that he is just an unlucky commoner. But I still think his appearance is a bit too coincidental. And his blood smell is so sweet. If we can take him back, we will surely get a rich reward."The other nodded: "I heard that Lord Charles is preparing a gift for Lady Elizabeth."But I think you are overthinking. What problems can a mere commoner have? Maybe he has a strange background among mortals. But for us, these commoners are just running dinners."The captain licked his lips: "But he may also be a werewolf or a spy planted by those crazy blood species. Maybe there is some secret art buried in his body by other blood clans, trying to use him to find the location of Lord Charles'' dungeon."So I plan to take him for a walk in front and test if there is any problem."The knight shrugged at his captain: "I don''t think it''s necessary. If he is bitten in half by a crazy wolf that suddenly rushes out, we will lose a lot. But if you insist on doing this, then I can''t say anything. After all, you are the captain."


    He actually knew that what the captain said was just an excuse.


    Although blood was not their main food and could not provide any enhancement, like their master, they had no resistance to sweet blood.


    He was just thirsty.

 Chapter 6: Persuasion

    Ralph hid behind the tent and called out to the middle-aged man with a weather-beaten face:"Raymond."The middle-aged man, who had found Ron, stopped in surprise. He was still holding the cloth to be used for shelter from the rain in his hands, and looked at Ralph with a puzzled expression.


    When Raymond''s family was selected as the object of the blood tax collection, he didn''t send out his daughter or son like others, and also refused his wife''s request. After ensuring that his family could survive, he stood up and took on this "responsibility" by himself.


    When Ralph, who hadn''t been reduced to paying the blood tax at that time, heard about this, he secretly laughed at this stupid guy in his heart. He clearly knew that he was the pillar of the family who could bear the most weight, but he still chose to believe that his sixteen-year-old son could support the lives of the other two and made this worst decision.


    But soon he himself became a member of this team and never thought about other people''s problems again.


    Raymond looked at him warily:"What''s the matter?"Ralph said with a smile:"I want to ask you for a favor."Raymond was the strongest man in the whole team and one of the few exceptions among such people who didn''t completely follow him. Therefore, Ralph had long wanted to get rid of him.


    And he did so.


    When the knights came to select the pathfinders, they didn''t care who they chose at all. So they usually chose the first two people standing in front.


    And as the leader of the team, he could control the specific position of the crowd in advance. Just as he said to Ron, there were two losers who died during the exploration before.


    But what Ralph didn''t say was that they both died on the way because they were "arranged" to explore the way when they were extremely hungry.


    And Raymond was also arranged by him to explore the way. Unfortunately, he actually came back alive.


    The middle-aged man said expressionlessly:"Sorry, I''m not interested."Ralph looked curious:"Really? Do you also want to be ostracized, watch others spit on your face and eat what we left, Raymond?"Raymond sneered:"You can''t do anything to me in the camp. And I have already explored the way. Unless you want to break your own rules and arouse their anger."Since you can''t kill me, what do I have to be afraid of?"Besides, since we are all doomed to die, it makes no difference to me whether I die earlier or later."Ralph suddenly smiled:"I really admire your courage. But before that, at least listen to what I want you to do?"Raymond looked at him calmly.Ralph continued:"The newcomer you brought back is a trouble to me, and I have to deal with him."Raymond shook his head with a smile:"You want me to help the tyrant. You still didn''t understand what I just said, right? To tell you the truth, if it''s a little farther away from the camp, I will stop Helen who is calling the knights."He originally had a chance to survive in the face of the unknown danger, but I pulled him onto the carriage destined for death. I still feel a little guilty about him."You want me to attack him. It''s a joke."Ralph showed a confident smile:"I really like your strength. Then let me tell you a secret, something I haven''t told anyone. Have you ever thought that I would choose to embark on this desperate road with you when there were other opportunities?"Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    He looked at Raymond with an amused expression.Raymond''s face gradually became ugly.Ralph said aggressively:"Let me tell you. Do you remember my grandfather? He is still alive and has now become a knight. When I arrive at the castle and get in touch with him, I may also become a blood servant."I know that this possibility is not high, but it''s still one in ten. And when I become a knight, the first thing I will do is to return to the town and kill my former opponents."And whether I will kill your children and wife in this process depends entirely on your decision today."Raymond looked at the other party with a pale face.He had heard the relevant rumors and thought it was a rumor spread by Ralph himself at that time. He was also surprised at his courage. But what if what he said was true?Ralph said word by word:"Are you a good father, Raymond?"


    ...


    In another part of the team.Ron and Helen were sitting in a small tent big enough for the two of them to rest separately.


    Ron was taking the opportunity to explore his system, trying to figure out the meaning of each word on his panel and the functions he hadn''t understood yet.


    Helen was secretly observing the handsome young man opposite her. After he simply tidied himself up, his outstanding appearance began to show.


    And more and more questions arose in her mind. How did this outsider from other regions appear in the unconscious place? And he seemed to have no understanding of the place where he was.


    And she had also vaguely guessed the reason why Ralph "planted" her beside Ron. Now she was faced with a serious problem.


    Which side should she stand on?


    Of course, Helen didn''t plan to take sides now. But when Ralph asked her to "accompany" Ron, her first reaction was that she was going to do undercover work.


    Although Ron''s performance hadn''t made her change sides yet, Helen had also given up the idea of firmly supporting Ralph. Of course, relatively speaking, she definitely trusted Ralph who had the support of most people more.


    "Miss Helen," Ron said in a low voice, looking at her, "now we can talk sincerely with each other."


    Helen''s cheeks flushed slightly:"What are you talking about, Mr. Ron?"Ron ignored her feigned shyness:"I want to ask you, based on your understanding of Ralph, will he cause me any more trouble?"Helen tilted her head and looked at Ron blankly:"Sir, what are you talking about? I don''t understand."She still thought that Ron couldn''t beat Ralph who had the support of others. And if he could really completely overthrow Ralph, he would have done it when he first arrived. Why hadn''t he made any move until now?


    And if we look at the situation of their first confrontation, Ron was the one at a disadvantage.


    He wanted her to take sides, but she wasn''t so naive as to show trust just because of his words.


    Pop!Ron suddenly snapped his fingers.


    Helen looked at Ron in horror and suddenly covered her mouth tightly with both hands.


    Ron looked at Helen, whose hands were controlled by his psionic energy, gently:"Now, are you willing to talk to me frankly?"Helen covered her mouth and nodded frantically, her eyes full of pleading and surprise. That expression was as if Ron was the long-awaited savior. And if she could speak, she might have expressed her worship and respect with the most "sincere" words.

 Chapter 7: Admirer

    Ron''s idea was simple.


    Helen had already shown the characteristics of her personality. For people like her, as long as sufficient strength and benefits were demonstrated, they could be made to firmly stand behind him.


    Moreover, he wasn''t worried that Helen would expose his secrets. After all, since they met, she hadn''t even told a few true words.


    "I didn''t expect that you were a wizard," Helen said with a beaming face. "Lord Ron, you can ask me any questions you have. I''ll surely tell you everything I know. I just have a small wish."


    She slightly tilted her head and looked at Ron with bright eyes:"Can you take me with you when you leave?"Ron flipped his palm calmly:"Of course, but if you leak my secrets, I''ll directly crush your heart with my mind."Helen''s face froze for a moment:"I''ll never do anything to betray you. If necessary, you can cast witchcraft on me at any time. As long as I can follow you and leave, I''m willing to do anything."


    Although Helen was still a little scared and hesitant, in the face of this life-saving straw, she still wanted to hold on tightly with all her strength. Compared with the fate of falling into the noble''s castle, being taken away by a wizard, who was rumored to be less cruel, was definitely a great thing.


    Ron said nonchalantly:"There''s no need for witchcraft. As long as you''re alive, I can crush your heart at will."A sincere look of submission appeared on her face. She slightly leaned forward, trying to get closer to Ron''s body, but immediately realized that Ron didn''t have the intention she had imagined. So she forced herself to maintain the forward-leaning posture and looked up at Ron with an awed expression.


    "Have you seen other wizards before?" Ron asked."No, but I''ve heard of one who broke into another noble''s territory. He killed several viscounts and then left the Blood Plain. But I haven''t seen any wizard with my own eyes. I''m just an ordinary mortal," Helen replied respectfully.


    Ron asked the question he had just asked:"What do you think of Ralph?"Helen didn''t hesitate at all:"Ralph is a scoundrel without any bottom line. If he can achieve his goal in the same way, he''ll definitely choose the option that''s most unfavorable to others."May I ask, how much does he know?"Ron said:"I showed my strong body. When you all gathered around, I had actually secretly controlled him and could easily knock him down."But he knows nothing about my identity."Helen frowned slightly:"I think he''ll definitely find it hard to swallow this. If he doesn''t realize the greatness of the wizard, he''ll surely use his control over others to arrange for you to explore the way."This is also his way of killing people. In the past, he would also use hunger and mental torture to break down his enemies and make them die helplessly on the way."You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    To be arranged to explore the way?Wasn''t that his current intention?


    The most difficult problem Ron was facing and couldn''t avoid was that he definitely had to kill these three knights before arriving at the castle, and this was on the premise that he didn''t know anything about these creatures.


    Ron asked calmly:"How can he make me explore the way?"Helen sank into a gloomy memory:"When the knights choose the pathfinders, they''ll directly call away the first two people standing in the front of the team. At that time, I was pushed forward two steps by someone, so I was also called up. And Raymond had already been arranged by Ralph to be at the front of the team."But fortunately, there''s an unspoken rule among us, that is, each person only needs to go once. This is also one of the reasons Ralph used to persuade those people to take the initiative to explore the way."Ron asked:"But the knights don''t know this rule at all?"Helen nodded slightly.He said:"Next time, you follow me to explore the way."Helen was first surprised, and then her body trembled slightly out of control, because she immediately understood the implication of Ron''s words.


    She was really going to be free!


    Helen could hardly restrain her excitement and joy, but she still managed to sit obediently in her original position and looked up at Ron with almost fanatical eyes."Wizard Lord..."


    Ron suddenly turned his head to look outside the tent.


    There was a medium-sized man walking towards the tent. His footsteps were not unfamiliar to Ron. They were one of the earliest sounds he heard when he woke up.


    "Raymond is coming," Helen said, slightly raising her eyebrows and looking at the tent door."He''s the person in the whole team who has the most conflicts with Ralph. If I''m not mistaken, he''s also a good man who has still been able to hold his bottom line until today."


    Click, click, click...


    The black shadow stopped at the tent door and swayed gently with the breeze.


    "Mr. Ron, may I come in?""Of course."The thick arm lifted the tent door, and the strong and steady man walked in. He looked down at Ron and Helen who were sitting with a calm expression.


    Raymond first nodded slightly to Helen, then looked at Ron and sat down directly opposite him:"Lord Ron, I''m here to warn you."


    Ralph had really thought of everything. He had arranged Helen beside Ron early on, making it impossible for him to go against his will. Otherwise, he might have taken the opportunity to be open and honest with Ron.


    What a pity...


    Ron was a little puzzled that he would come to him:"Warning?"Raymond said with a resolute face:"Ralph, although you''ve become his follower now, if you don''t have enough vigilance, you''ll soon be played around by him and eventually end up being fed to the wild wolves."I can say very little, but one thing is certain. He''ll try to force you to explore the way."Ron looked into his eyes and asked:"Why are you helping me?"Raymond smiled bitterly:"Maybe it''s because I''m a busybody. My advice is to be vigilant about what I''m going to say next. And when facing him, you should raise your vigilance to the highest level."I have a way."Ron asked curiously:"What do you want to do?"Raymond looked up and stared at him:"I''ve just finished exploring the way, so he has no way to deal with me. For me, as long as he can''t kill me, it doesn''t matter. And I also have a strong body, but I can''t deal with him."And if you can come back successfully, you''ll also become invincible to him. And I can go with you. If we can both come back safely..."Then we can compete with him."Actually, when I found you, I sensed an unusual aura on you. After all, you were the one who was unconscious in the wasteland but still alive."You can think about my proposal. You can also ask others about what I was like before. If you agree, we can deal with him together. If you refuse, that''s okay too. But I''ll still stand up and help you survive during the exploration."After saying that, he secretly exchanged a brief glance with Helen, and then got up to leave.


    Raymond knew that he had finished his job. Helen would try to persuade Ron, and if he still had questions and went out to ask others...


    He would learn that what he said was all true.


    This was Ralph''s cleverness.

 Chapter 8: Blood Food

    Helen stared in confusion in the direction where Raymond had left.


    What did Raymond''s look just now mean? Was it a warning for her not to mislead Ron? But his sudden visit still left Helen a bit puzzled about what was going on.


    Wasn''t he afraid that she would reveal this news to Ralph?


    Although she definitely wouldn''t do that, Raymond didn''t know that. Or did he not see through her disguise? But if that was the case, what did his final look mean?


    Helen hadn''t thought of the possibility that Raymond had already sided with Ralph. If she were asked who was the least likely to collude with Ralph, Raymond''s name would undoubtedly be the answer.


    However, Ron didn''t take Raymond''s words to heart.


    What he said might be meaningful, and there might be some secrets hidden in it, but it had nothing to do with him because he had already decided to go exploring the way when they took a break tomorrow.


    As for who would go with him, it would definitely be Helen, whom he had already controlled. Besides, he couldn''t feel at ease leaving her alone in the camp.


    The problems he faced didn''t decrease because of Helen''s answers. Instead, they increased a little.


    If this place was full of dangers, then why had this body he was in now been unconscious here? And how did he come to be in this body? Did this body have its own "past"?


    Also, why him?


    These were problems that couldn''t be solved for the time being, and there were several urgent matters that were bothering him.


    "Helen, is this what you eat on the road?" he asked.


    Helen was sitting cross-legged on the bedding, holding a lump of green plants in her hand. It was much smaller than when the girl had just got it from the knight, and it didn''t seem to be able to provide an ordinary person with the calories for a day.


    "This is the sacrament that only nobles have. Just one bite can keep you full for two or three days."


    Ron suddenly remembered that there was no sunlight in the place where they lived.


    [An unknown species has been detected and the analysis has been completed.Sacrament (temporarily named):A fungus-like organism that contains the main nutrients and energy needed by humans. It can survive in the digestive organs for a period of time, so it can maintain a long-term feeling of fullness. Slight pollution has been detected, but the holder can completely filter out its harm with a modified digestive system and can consume it at will.Long-term consumption by mortals will reduce their lifespan, and a large amount of consumption in a short time may lead to being "digested" by the "sacrament" instead.]The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    "Try to eat less of it," Ron kindly reminded her.


    This sentence scared Helen so much that she quickly stuffed the fungus lump back into the bag on her body and frantically wiped her hands with the tent cloth.


    Suddenly, there were bursts of noise coming from outside.


    Ron and Helen exchanged glances and then stood up one after another and walked out of the tent.


    As Ron lifted the curtain, the bustling refugees came into his view, and the three knights were still standing by the carriage in the distance.


    Three.


    The two pathfinders were nowhere to be seen, and no one had any doubts about their fate.


    Helen looked at the knights who had returned to the camp, fear and nervousness surging in her heart. But immediately, she controlled her emotions and stood behind Ron, so close that she was almost touching him.


    The knight with a biological energy level of ¢ñ-3 had already turned around and was walking towards them.


    As the monster advanced, all the refugees beside Ron and Helen were backing away, and they blocked the space for Ron and Helen to retreat, forcing them to stand at the front of the team.


    Raymond was also moving towards the position of Ron and Helen.


    Ralph looked at the backs of Ron and Helen standing together and slightly curled the corners of his mouth.


    It seemed that he had already controlled Helen. This was unexpected. Unfortunately, Helen had no practical value at all, and it was no pity for him to abandon this beautiful girl.


    Helen and Ron didn''t know a secret, that was, the number of people who could survive in the castle was limited. So if Helen could become a maid, it would mean that the chances of survival for others would be greatly reduced.


    According to Ralph''s original plan, she should die when they were about to reach their destination.


    And now was also the best time to kill Ron. The death of the pathfinders indicated that those who left this time were also in great danger. As long as Ron left the team, there was basically no possibility of him coming back alive.


    Just when Ron and Helen were about to move forward.


    A pair of thick palms pressed against their backs respectively.


    "I''m sorry. I have no choice," Raymond said apologetically. "But you can try to escape. The end of this road is certain death."Your chances of survival might be greater if you try to escape while exploring the way."


    After saying that, he pushed forward with both hands at the same time.


    But he couldn''t move Ron.


    Ron grabbed Helen, who was staggering forward, turned his head to meet Raymond''s eyes full of guilt and shock, and then looked expressionlessly ahead again.


    He took two steady steps forward with Helen.


    There were bursts of discussions behind them. All the refugees were looking at Ron and Helen, who had come forward to take risks for everyone, like they were fools and lunatics, their expressions full of mockery and ridicule.


    The knight walked up to Ron and Helen:"You two, follow me."


    Ron obediently walked forward, and Helen followed closely behind him.


    The knight stopped in front of the carriage, pointed in the direction where his companions had come back:"Go in this direction."


    After saying that, he didn''t look at the two mortals anymore and turned around to chat with his companions.


    "Did you encounter a pack of hyenas?"The blood servant who had just returned nodded:"I killed two to scare them. I guess they''ll disperse after eating those two commoners. Other beasts will take a detour when they see them. We can set off tomorrow morning."


    The third knight asked:"Are we not giving the new one to the count?"The captain of the knights licked his fangs:"I''ll bring you some when I come back."


    He was already unbearably thirsty.


    The two knights nodded slightly, showing understanding expressions. This was also the biggest benefit of their job. On the premise of ensuring the supply for the nobles, they could occasionally indulge themselves.


    At that time, they could just throw the corpses in the wild. No one would know how many commoners they had killed.


    This was also the real reason why they were so keen on letting mortals explore the way. Although the reason they gave was to try to minimize the knights'' losses, the real meaning was that they could drink blood secretly and there was no risk of exposure.


    The captain of the knights slightly twitched his nose to catch the smell of blood diffused in the air:"Besides, he looks like the kind of guy who thinks he''s clever. I really like watching the lowly commoners struggle to survive and finally kneel down and beg for mercy."


    He noticed that Ron had quickly gotten together with the most beautiful commoner in the team in a short time and had also talked to the leader among them.


    And he didn''t need two "shepherds".

 Chapter 9: Left Alone

    Ron walked into the desolate and vast plain. The gray clouds hung heavily above them. In the field of vision, there were nothing but rocks and sand, without any sign of life.


    They had been walking for more than thirty minutes. They hadn''t encountered any creatures or dangers on the way, and even the knight who had been following them hadn''t shown up again.


    Helen said that this land was occasionally haunted by hyenas and wild wolves, but Ron''s common sense told him that under such an environment without sunlight, ordinary beasts could hardly survive normally.


    Actually, Ron had always had a question in his mind, which he hadn''t asked when he was in the camp:"How do you think about these knights?"Helen was slightly startled:"How to think about..."Although I really don''t want to die, I can also understand the behavior of knights collecting the blood tax. After all, noble lords also need blood. Otherwise, who would defend our town from other lords?"I''ve also seen other civilians who escaped from the plundered villages. When they arrived, the crimes they committed were far more terrifying than the death of dozens of people."They would ignore the screams that meant nothing to them, tear our bodies into pieces, enjoy our blood wantonly, and impose those terrifying punishments on civilians."He asked:"Do all nobles plunder the towns in other territories?"Helen thought for a moment:"Mainly, it''s the believers of the Blood God and us who invade each other. But occasionally, nobles will also step into the neighboring territories of the same camp. Usually, it''s when they have something to celebrate."Ron asked in confusion:"Then besides other nobles and knights, have you encountered any disasters that you couldn''t resist?"Helen didn''t understand Ron''s meaning:"Occasionally, there will be wild beasts attacking the town, but we can deal with them by ourselves. I haven''t heard much about other things..."Ron understood.


    In the hearts of civilians, they were still grateful for the protection of knights and nobles. Meanwhile, they also feared and resisted the death brought by their own lords. These two feelings coexisted in them.


    They sincerely accepted the rule of the Blood Clan because nobles and knights "protected" them in front of even worse "demons", and the true face of these so-called "demons" was just other vampires.


    Helen''s lord might be no different from the "demons" who invaded them in the territories of other compatriots. He also plundered the towns under the rule of other vampires and rewarded his knights with the screams and wails of the pitiful mortals.


    They killed the mortals in the territories of their fellow clansmen, and yet all humans regarded their lords as heroes.


    Ron could understand why Helen and others thought like this, but he didn''t think he could view this matter in the same way as Helen.


    Judging from the words on the panel, the "Emperor''s Heart" was the most powerful weapon he could obtain now. And when looking through the conditions that needed to be met, he also figured out what the psionic liquid needed for the Isolation Ritual was.


    Those two numbers referred to different characteristics, and Ron found a name among the known materials that met the requirements: the blood of vampires with awakened blood energy.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    While Ron was thinking, the blood servant finally approached them from behind.


    It was far enough.


    He directly walked out from behind Ron and Helen. The crisp sound of footsteps immediately made the two mortals turn around. The blood servant in a black robe was staring at them with his blood-red and indifferent eyes.


    The knight''s right hand slid across the silver sword at his waist:"You can stop now."Ron looked at the alien species in front of him and suppressed the impulse to fight that came from his body''s instinct. Although he had no combat experience, with the body transformation, he had already mastered "simple" weapon usage skills.


    The blood servant looked at the appearance of Ron and Helen in front of him. The former was suppressing his fear, while the latter''s face was full of fear and nervousness, which made him feel a bit of pleasure.


    All this was thanks to his being chosen as a knight seventy years ago. At that time, he was also a pitiful and lowly human in the blood tax team. But Lord Charles had given him new life and honor, and he would use everything he had to guard it.


    "I''m hungry," the knight showed a bloodthirsty look. "One of you will be killed by me, but I''m going to give you a chance. You can try all the ways you can think of to please me."Here''s a little hint. I think humans shouldn''t hide their humble nature."Neither of them made any move.


    Helen naturally showed a look of horror on her face and looked at Ron nervously.


    Up to now, in fact, she still hadn''t fully believed that Ron could defeat the knight. She had heard the story of the wizard, but she didn''t tell Ron that when the wizard came, he also brought several apprentices, and they all died under the siege of nobles and knights.


    The knight thought they didn''t understand the situation in front of them:"You, commoner, I want to watch you tear off your companion''s clothes. Do it now."He was referring to Ron.


    Whoosh!Ron swung his arm, and the metal ring melted immediately. It intertwined and extended along his right hand, turning into a sharp silver-white long sword, which slowly cooled and took shape with his movement.


    He knew clearly that this would be an extremely important battle, and he could almost be sure that it would be a tough one. The opponent he faced was a monster experienced in killing, while he himself had never really used a sword before.


    A cold light flashed.


    The Empire Special Type ¢ñ long sword slashed across the right shoulder of the blood servant, tearing his robe and armor at the same time. The knight''s right hand had been successfully cut off by him.


    The surprise attack had achieved results, which was within his expectation, but Ron didn''t relax because of it. The opponent was a monster with a powerful self-healing ability. Such an injury could only temporarily suppress the enemy''s attack.


    Ron controlled the blade of his sword to draw an arc in front of him and slashed at the knight''s vital parts.


    The knight had already reached for his silver sword when Ron just moved. Fortunately, his hands were always kept at the position of his waist. This caution had saved his life many times.


    At this time, his anger was far greater than other emotions. The knight didn''t expect that Ron would dare to resist him, and he also planned to teach this mortal in front of him a lesson.


    The injury of losing an arm was nothing to him. He didn''t try to block Ron but directly stabbed his silver sword at the other''s chest.


    When the tip of Ron''s sword slashed across his own throat, his silver sword would simultaneously pierce through the other''s heart.


    The monster adopted his usual fighting method - exchanging injuries.


    Facing such a fighting idea, Ron''s rationality judged the situation. He needed to withdraw the blade and avoid the knight''s dangerous attack.


    But he didn''t.


    The two blades crossed each other.


    The blood servant''s head flew high backward, and at this time, Ron was steadily holding the knight''s silver sword. At this moment, Ron''s heart was full of confusion.


    Was it too slow?


    He walked towards the head that was still glaring at him on the ground, and the knight also angrily scolded him:"Put my head back quickly. Do you want to anger Lord Charles? You''re just a mere mortal..."Ron silently raised his long sword and looked calmly at the still-shouting head.


    The knight showed a look of disbelief and horror:"How dare you kill me? I''m a noble..."Whoosh.The long sword neatly pierced into the knight''s skull.


    Ron turned around in confusion and looked at Helen, who was already stunned:"What''s wrong with him? Is he sick?"Helen''s mouth was still open, and her face showed real fear:"Wizard Lord, what do you mean by this sentence?"Ron looked down at the headless body of the knight on the ground. It seemed that he had misjudged the gap between himself and his opponent, but in the face of this strange new world, it couldn''t be regarded as a mistake. It was just a lucky misunderstanding.


    The lone blood servant was dead. Now there were only two left.

 Chapter 10: Alpha

    All the doubts were dispelled by the facts.


    Now, in Helen''s heart, there was only worship and fear for Ron. This emotion was very similar to her past view of that distant lord, but it was countless times stronger.


    The long sword in Ron''s hand slowly returned to its ring shape:"The camp is just ahead."Helen asked excitedly:"Are you going to kill them?"


    Of course.


    Ron didn''t intend to let the two blood servants escape. If his existence was noticed by the Blood Nobles, it would surely lead to a lot of problems and troubles.


    "Besides your town, are there any other places to stay in this wilderness?" Ron asked.


    Helen showed a thoughtful look:"Our town can be inhabited because there is a mushroom field nearby. Other settlements also have similar food sources. If it''s just the two of us, hunting wild beasts should also enable us to survive."However, I just remembered a place. It''s said that in the territory of Countess Elizabeth, there is a place called ''Innocent Town''."The most special thing about ''Innocent Town'' is that they welcome the arrival of outsiders. Elizabeth has reached an agreement with other nobles. Any refugee who has the ability to cross the wilderness can live there and will be provided with warm shelters and fresh food. So it''s also the largest gathering place besides the territories of several great nobles."At the same time, although there are knights guarding the town and even nobles may appear occasionally, they all have to abide by Elizabeth''s rules and can''t lay hands on any civilians.""Precisely because of this, ''Innocent Town'' is much safer than other places, and it''s also quite chaotic. As long as we can enter smoothly, no one will notice you, Lord Wizard."Ron said:"If there''s a chance, maybe I''ll go there in the future."


    But he couldn''t take thirty civilians and run there. And after killing the two blood servants, he couldn''t just let them leave freely to spread the news about him.


    In that case, it would be better to directly turn these soon-to-die people into the power in his hands.


    The camp was already within reach.


    Ron took Helen to wander around nearby and found a highland that he had noticed when he left. He climbed up cautiously, preparing to first observe the situation of the blood servants from a distance by taking advantage of the terrain.


    If they already knew that their compatriot had been killed, then showing up directly would surely make them vigilant.


    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    Helen glanced at Ron, a bit puzzled as to why he was so cautious. He not only had amazing witchcraft but also easily killed a knight. She could imagine that when Ron fought with the remaining two blood servants, it would surely end quickly too.


    Finally, Ron reached the top of the highland. He crouched down and looked at the location of the camp from a distance.


    Helen also slowly wanted to walk up, but then she saw him directly raise his hand to signal her to stop.


    The simple tents were in a mess as if they had been through a storm. The bodies of the refugees were all lying on the ground. The dead had all been disemboweled.Seven or eight black beasts that looked not much different from wolves but were relatively stronger were walking among these corpses. These beasts with messy fur and bloodthirsty, crazy eyes would lower their heads from time to time and bury their heads in the abdomens of the bodies on the ground to feast.


    He saw Raymond and Ralph.


    Their situation was far more tragic than that of the other refugees. Their arms had been torn off, and their heads had been completely flattened. And they had almost fallen back to back.


    Yes.


    They had fought side by side until death came.


    And at the camp carriage, the two blood servant knights had also fallen to the ground.


    Beside their corpses were standing five monsters that had many similar characteristics to the black beasts in appearance. However, after careful observation by Ron, he could see that there were considerable differences in body shape and skeletal structure between them and those carnivorous beasts.


    These upright monsters had an appearance between humans and wolves, with strong limbs and black fur. There were some slight wounds on their trunks, but all of them were healing at a visible speed.


    The most appropriate word that Ron could think of was "werewolf".


    But besides the normal emotions, Ron also felt a bit strange, as if something very important had been overlooked by him, and it was a very important thing.


    He scanned the camp again with his eyes, carefully looking for the problem that he hadn''t noticed.


    No...


    The number was wrong.


    The number of bodies on the ground was a bit less than the total number of members in the team. If judged only by his intuition, he thought that at least seven or eight bodies were missing.


    And at this time, when he looked at those beasts again, he suddenly noticed that although these things looked very much like common gray wolves, besides being larger in size, their front limbs were much shorter than their rear limbs, and the shape of their frontal bones was more like that of some primates rather than that of canines.


    [An unknown race has been detected, and threat analysis has been completed.


    Werewolf (temporarily named) Individual 1 - Biological energy level ¢ò-2


    Werewolf (temporarily named) Individual 2 - Biological energy level ¢ñ-3


    Werewolf (temporarily named) Individual 3 - Biological energy level ¢ñ-2


    Werewolf (temporarily named) Individual 4 - Biological energy level ¢ñ-2


    Werewolf (temporarily named) Individual 5 - Biological energy level ¢ñ-2


    Biological object has been analyzed.Werewolf (temporarily named):Not included in the information database, alien species, first encountered and named by the holder on the Blood Plain. Specific information about habits, characteristics, and weaknesses has not been recorded and measured yet.It is recommended to retreat.]


    "Have you heard of werewolves?" Ron asked, looking at the camp.


    Helen was stunned for a moment:"Of course. When I was a child, my elders would tell me scary stories about werewolves. But those were just stories, weren''t they?"


    Even Helen, a local, didn''t know about the existence of werewolves...


    Suddenly, the air seemed to freeze.


    The strongest werewolf suddenly raised its head and looked at Ron who was overlooking it from the highland. Their two pairs of determined eyes stared at each other for several seconds.


    "Ow¡ª"The long howl carried the meaning of warning and probing, but also implied a bloodthirsty desire, as if it was saying to Ron: If you don''t leave, I''ll show you my teeth.


    Ron didn''t say a word and silently turned around.


    Helen, who was full of curiosity just now, suddenly met Ron''s deep eyes.


    In an instant, she felt as if she was about to be killed by the man in front of her. But before she could have any specific reaction, all the strangeness on Ron had completely disappeared.


    "The knights are dead. Let''s go," Ron said.Helen stared at him blankly:"Where to?"He replied:"Innocent Town."He was going to complete the promotion ritual.

 Chapter 11: "I Am the Sun"

    The territory of Countess Elizabeth was surrounded by several other countships. Innocent Town was the fifth-largest town in the Blood Wasteland, second only to the four cities under the rule of the three grand dukes.


    Although it was called a "town", in fact, it was just a legal term. In reality, Innocent Town was already equivalent to a city in the Blood Plain. The permanent population in the town was as high as 120,000, and all kinds of facilities in the town were very comprehensive.


    The reason why this place remained standing was none other than the owner of Innocent Town, Countess Elizabeth. She herself didn''t possess extremely powerful strength, but her father was a Blood Grand Duke, and most importantly, he doted on his daughter very much.


    When the city wall rose on the horizon and came into view, Ron was a bit surprised. The Blood Plain had always given him a feeling of desolation and barbarism, so the town in his mind was much more backward than the one in front of him.


    And Helen had never seen such a place either. The girl''s eyes were full of expectation and longing. She was already imagining the days after she lived in this town...


    The guard at the city gate was a slightly older man. He stopped Ron and Helen for a simple inspection but didn''t stop them from entering the city. He was already used to seeing such outsiders.


    "Praise Lady Elizabeth," the guard said when he let them in. "You''re new here. Go to the town center and find His Excellency the Town Mayor. Since you can come here, there will be a place for you."


    As soon as Ron and Helen walked into Innocent Town, they saw a huge statue in the center of the square at the end of the street. It was a noble and elegant lady, looking down at the ground with an air like a benevolent queen.


    "Wow~" Helen exclaimed.


    Ron glanced at both sides of the street and led Helen as they walked forward in the town. Taverns, restaurants, and other ordinary places in Ron''s perception appeared one after another along the road.


    But Helen looked at them with a puzzled expression:"What are these?"Ron asked:"Haven''t you seen a tavern before?"Helen asked stupidly:"What''s a tavern?"


    Just as they were walking towards the inside of the town, a customer holding a wine glass walked out of the tavern on the left front side of the street. There was still a slight drunkenness on his face, but his eyes were extremely sober.


    The problem was that he was a blood servant.


    Ron and Helen didn''t change their walking pace, but they both felt a sense of absurdity in their hearts. Helen had just told him that knights were powerful beings out of their reach.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    But now, in such a human settlement, he could actually see a blood servant walking on the street.


    Not long after that, another civilian walked out behind the blood servant. He didn''t deliberately keep a distance from the blood servant, nor did he salute as Helen remembered. Instead, they just walked their own ways, ignoring each other.


    Before Ron could digest this abnormal feeling, five guys dressed as guards suddenly walked out from the corner in front. And the leader was also a blood servant, while the four behind him were humans.


    "Captain, are you going to the tavern to sit for a while tonight?""No, the town mayor has something to do with us tonight. You guys go by yourselves. Tell the boss to put it on my tab."The blood servant was actually chatting vividly with humans.


    "How could this be..." Helen murmured in horror.


    Could it be that her perception of knights and nobles in the first half of her life was all wrong? How could such absurd things happen in reality?


    Ron narrowed his eyes slightly.


    If even Helen was so surprised, it meant that there were two possibilities. Either Elizabeth was a kind-hearted person who was full of sympathy for mortals and had really created a paradise where mortals could live in peace with monsters by relying on her own power.


    Or there was some huge and terrifying shadow hidden under this peaceful surface, which was lurking and staring at all the living beings in the town, ready to swallow them all at any time.


    Either way, it wasn''t a good thing for him.


    The latter needn''t be elaborated on, and the former was telling these civilians that there was a possibility for them to live a happy life under the rule of the Blood Clan, which actually had a positive effect on maintaining the rule of the Blood Clan.


    Looking at the scene of knights and humans getting along harmoniously on the street, Helen couldn''t help approaching Ron. She tentatively reached out and put her hand on his arm. Seeing that he didn''t refuse, she tightly grasped his arm and at the same time let out a long sigh of relief in her heart.


    "It''s so scary," Helen whispered.Ron nodded slightly:"Yeah."


    Before he came here, he had several ideas. The top priority was definitely to inquire whether there were vampires with blood energy. If there was a chance, he had to find a way to get their blood.


    The blood needed for the Isolation Ritual didn''t have requirements for the rank of the Blood Clan. As long as the vampire had blood energy, it would be okay. And this led to his second idea.


    He had to figure out what his combat strength level was at present. Or in other words, figure out how difficult his opponents were to deal with. When he saw those werewolves, he couldn''t judge whether he had a chance of winning.


    But if he could figure out how much stronger an opponent of the second order was than him and whether he could compete with them, then many things would become simpler.


    The third problem was that he had to find a way to deal with the Blood Clan. Actually, normally speaking, it wasn''t so difficult to kill such creatures. After all, the sun would always rise.


    But in the Blood Wasteland, he couldn''t expect the help of this great star. And vampires became even more dangerous after losing their only weakness.


    But this matter wasn''t without a solution. Besides the several psionic skills that were already engraved in his mind, there were actually a considerable number of psionic skills recorded in the system. But after a simple reading, he found that things were actually quite delicate.


    When he learned the skills, he could fully understand what was written on them and could judge that he only needed to spend time to learn these skills.


    But the problem was that the time required was too long.


    These skills were all extremely complicated. Maybe others would be directly blocked at the threshold of understanding. Although Ron could cross this line, he didn''t have the time to study them carefully. The simplest skill among them required more than ten days to learn, and the slightly more difficult ones might take months or even years of study.


    However, correspondingly, these skills seemed to be carefully selected by the Empire. They all had a high level. Although the skills he was browsing through were all first-order skills, their creators were very likely to be the greatest psionicists in the Empire.


    However, these recorded skills weren''t for him to learn. He could directly acquire the most powerful psionic skills recorded in the Empire through the Psionic Pillar Ritual.


    And there was an upgradable skill that caught Ron''s attention.


    Its name was "I Am the Sun".


    The original intention of creating this psionic skill was to deal with the situation where the sun disappeared or was destroyed, hoping to create an artificial sun that could supply energy to the whole world in such a scenario.

 Chapter 12: Blood Energy

    [Blood Servant Individual - Biological Energy Level ¢ñ-2]


    ¡°You''re looking for the town mayor? Just turn around there,¡± the blood servant said enthusiastically to the two mortals in front of him, with a curious look on his face. ¡°Are you new here?¡±Ron asked this blood servant with the intention of testing, and the result was within his expectation:"Yes."The blood servant didn''t hide his amazement:"I seldom see outsiders dare to ask me questions. I don''t know if you did it by accident or really saw something, but you did the right thing. In Innocent Town, you don''t have to be too in awe of us because I was one of you not long ago."Praise Lady Elizabeth."Ron also replied casually:"Praise Lady Elizabeth."He reached out and patted Ron on the shoulder:"Maybe one day I''ll see you in the knights'' team."The two sides passed by each other.


    Ron noticed that when they were talking, the knight didn''t look at Helen. He was only amazed by Ron''s "courage" and had no interest in his follower at all.


    "They were humans not long ago. Maybe that''s the reason why they are different from other knights," Helen said.


    Actually, she wasn''t sure if her idea was right either, but she didn''t want to miss the opportunity to show herself in front of Ron.


    Ron showed an approving look:"That''s one of the reasons."Helen showed a happy expression like a child praised by parents. She had long been used to showing an endearing look, but when facing Ron''s affirmation, she couldn''t help but show some genuine emotions.


    Actually, she had also noticed that Ron wasn''t really interested in her "performance". The reason she still did it wasn''t to arouse his emotions but just that she hadn''t changed her habit yet.


    This man must be thinking much more than what he said. He always seemed to have a destination he wanted to reach and showed no sign of stopping.


    He was still moving forward.


    Helen quickly followed him.


    The town mayor''s cottage wasn''t far away. Ron and Helen first walked across the square, passed by the statue of Elizabeth, and soon found the town mayor''s cottage that the guards and the blood servant had mentioned.


    Compared with other shops and mansions on both sides of the street, this building was much more conspicuous. It was built entirely of white bricks, and its decorative style was more exquisite than that in the Blood Plain. There were also three steps of white low stairs along the threshold on the street.


    Ron stepped on them.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    Behind the door was a spacious hall. Not far from the entrance, but in a position that couldn''t be seen from the outside, there was a desk. Behind the desk sat a young man. His irises were also bright red, but much milder than those of the blood servants. And his pale skin also set off his gentle and refined temperament.


    [Blood Clan Individual - Biological Energy Level ¢ò-2 / Psionic Energy Intensity ¢ñ-3]Ron thought that he had met an object that met the conditions so early.


    The man showed a gentle smile to Ron:"My name is Jonas. I''m the town mayor appointed by Lady Elizabeth herself. When you stepped through the town gate, it meant that you had already become residents of Innocent Town."As you can see, I''m a noble, but don''t be nervous. Here, we are all equal. Don''t salute me, or Lady Elizabeth will scold me when she sees it."Tell me your names."Helen looked at Jonas with a slightly pale face. Even Ron pretended to be a little nervous:"My name is Ron, and she''s Helen."Jonas enjoyed their expressions very much and said with a smile:"I said it''s okay. Well, you''ll understand after living here for a few days. Now let me introduce the rules of Innocent Town. Here, there is no crime, no evil deeds, and no injustice."And all new members will directly get jobs. Of course, you can refuse, but you can''t do anything without money here. Well..."I have several job options here. A waitress in the tavern, a farm worker in the mushroom field, and a graveyard keeper."The farm worker is the hardest job in the whole town with the lowest pay. The waitress in the tavern is only for women, and the job is to serve guests. The graveyard keeper is relatively more dangerous, but the salary is the highest, and it''s also the most likely to become a knight."When talking about the graveyard keeper, Jonas showed an amused smile.


    These jobs were all picked by him temporarily. There were actually more vacant positions than he mentioned. And he chose jobs purely according to his mood.


    His job was to put these humans in positions suitable for them.


    Ron noticed his hint:"Knight?"Jonas looked at him with interest:"The graveyard keeper has to guard the graves at night. Occasionally, some corpses will wake up at night. And if you can overcome the fear in your heart and deal with them, you''ll soon catch the eyes of the nobles."However, I have to remind you that several graveyard keepers have already been buried in the earth."Although Jonas didn''t show it, he was actually very surprised by Ron''s handsomeness and strength, so he wanted to see how he would behave when facing risks and opportunities.


    Especially when there was a beautiful woman beside him.


    Those resurrected ghouls were basically not fully transformed, and ordinary adult men could handle them. But the civilians who were forced by him to take the job of graveyard keeper couldn''t control their fear when facing them and died pitifully in a panic.


    However, for the sake of Ron''s appearance, Jonas still left him other options. After all, after he picked the jobs, he had to find an opportunity to report to Elizabeth.


    Ron lowered his head slightly and asked:"Can we both be graveyard keepers?"He cooperatively accepted the job hinted by Jonas.


    This was an opportunity to get in touch with monsters. Whether it was those "dead" or the Blood Clan, they would be closer to him. And it sounded like this occupation was less likely to attract others'' attention.


    He was thinking about how to get Jonas''s blood.


    Jonas took out a key, pointed to the map on the table and said:"Here is your residence, and here is your workplace. When the time comes, you can just go directly to the manager there to report. He''s my servant."


    Watching the two humans walk out of the door, Jonas took out letter paper and a goose feather pen from the desk.


    "Dear Lady Elizabeth."I''ve found two more qualified humans. The man named Ron wasn''t specially dressed up, but he was already very handsome, and his body was quite strong. He was also very calm when facing me. There was a girl beside him. Her name was Helen. She was quite good-looking, but she didn''t have any distinctive personality traits."They both accepted the job of graveyard keeper. The two of them seemed like a couple. The woman was especially dependent on the man. I strongly recommend including them in the plan."Your humble servant, Jonas."


    He slowly rolled up the letter paper and put it into the wooden cylinder on the table.


    He was really looking forward to it. He couldn''t wait to attend the next ball.


    When he saw Ron and Helen, the image of them kneeling at his feet, trembling and serving him, trying their best to please the one who trampled on them had already appeared in his mind.


    Jonas licked his lips, and his scarlet pupils flashed with the most savage desire.


    Praise Lady Elizabeth.

 Chapter 13: Intelligence and Psionic Energy

    Ron sat cross-legged on the wooden bed, while Helen sat at the table and chair opposite him. The mansion they were in was about fifty square meters, with one bed, one table, and two matching wooden chairs.


    He was only one Isolation Ritual away from advancing to the second level of the biological energy level.


    Before seeing the tragic deaths of Ralph and Raymond, he had thought about how to deal with them. If he were to lead these humans to survive in the wilderness, they might have become a hindrance to him.


    At that time, Ron had thought that he must kill Ralph, but he might let Raymond pronounce his crimes before his death, and maybe he wouldn''t even have to do it himself.


    However, when he climbed over the highland, all these thoughts dissipated with the cold wind.


    They were all dead.


    "How''s your inquiry going?" Ron asked Helen sitting opposite him.


    Although Helen was briefly amazed by the "prosperity" of this city when she first arrived, compared to other people who had just arrived in the town, she had been quite reserved in her behavior. Moreover, perhaps some of the emotions she showed were deliberately revealed.


    And sure enough, it didn''t take long for her to fully adapt to this place. Ron believed that even if Helen were taken to a modern city, she would be able to integrate into it in just a few days.


    Helen said:"I divided the town''s residents into two parts, those born in the town and those born outside the town."Almost all of the former have never left the town. They are so naive that it drives me a bit crazy. Although their parents are not simple characters, they still haven''t realized the cruelty of the world. This group of people accounts for about four-tenths of all the town''s residents."As for the latter, they usually have very strong and robust bodies. But I seldom see characters like Ralph. They are more like fierce robbers rather than those who truly hold power."


    Because guys like Ralph lived quite well in their hometowns and had no need to leave their native places at all.


    Those who would go to Innocent Town were usually those who encountered a survival crisis or had other problems that made it difficult for them to continue living in their original towns, but were physically strong enough to travel long distances across the wilderness.


    Helen continued:"I also inquired about Jonas. There''s no valuable information. They all say that this town mayor is very kind and full of sympathy and kindness towards civilians."He''s also a Blood Viscount. Also, Jonas is responsible for arranging jobs for every new member who comes to the town. According to him, every civilian can have a suitable position in Innocent Town, and what he does is to guide us to the places where we are meant to be."I''ve basically figured out the matter of the graveyard keeper. The graveyard administrator we''re going to meet is a knight. He will give us simple weapons to deal with possible dangers at that time."It''s said that occasionally the dead in the graves will wake up, but as long as you can keep calm, ordinary adult men can easily subdue those monsters."Ron nodded slightly:"During the next period of time, pay attention to the movements of other nobles, and also sort out the relationship between knights and civilians in this town. Can you do that?"Helen nodded without hesitation and replied:"Of course I can."Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    Undoubtedly, when dealing with the society in the Blood Plain, she had very rich experience and reliable abilities. Although Helen didn''t say it herself, it seemed that she might have encountered some accident that led her to end up in the blood tax collection team.


    Suddenly, he asked:"Do you want to learn witchcraft?"Helen''s eyes widened suddenly, doubting that she had misheard Ron''s words:"What did you say?"Ron said calmly:"Witchcraft."Helen asked in disbelief:"Teacher?"Ron raised his hand:"It''s not time yet. But if you have this idea, I can also teach you how to use witchcraft. After all, you''re with me now, and it''s always a good thing to know more things."


    Among the recorded psionic skills, one of them had the effect of inspiring the talent of mortal psionicists and could also search for those with such talent. And this was its most basic ability.


    The most important part of this skill was that it could consume special resources to enable mortals without talent to master psionic energy. However, compared to other skills, including "I Am the Sun", it was countless times more complicated.


    Although he didn''t mean to teach her immediately, Helen could hardly contain her excitement:"Of course, I''ll calm down and wait."Ron shook his head:"Don''t call me teacher. Now you go to sleep for a while. We still have to go to work in the graveyard at night."


    Watching Helen make a bed on the floor, Ron withdrew his gaze and focused on the floating panel in front of him, which was filled with dense and complicated runes and numbers.


    "I Am the Sun" was a psionic skill, and among the recorded skills, it was relatively easier for Ron to learn. This was because he had basically met some particularly difficult prerequisites.


    That was to understand the sun.


    First, it was to view it from an objective perspective.


    The information that the sun was a star and burned through nuclear fusion was used to build a basic knowledge framework for learners with terrifying amounts of data, and then it slowly explained the fact of "what exactly the sun was".


    But for Ron, these things were actually quite easy to understand.


    Although some of the content conflicted with his past common sense, there was still no threshold for understanding.


    Second, he had to understand what the sun represented in human subjective consciousness and what cultural significance it had.


    For example, because humans had very poor night vision, sunlight was the basis for long-distance vision, and this could enable them to avoid dangerous creatures.


    Therefore, the sun meant safety for humans.


    There were many similar contents and studies, and there were also a few places that contradicted his common sense from his previous life, but generally speaking, they couldn''t stump him.


    The problem was the third perspective.


    He also had to understand the meaning of the sun in the supernatural world. This part of the information contained a large number of rare words and a lot of knowledge that was completely different from his common sense.


    Some of the materials were arguing that it was a deity, some were trying to prove that it was a non-divine existence, and some materials had already concluded that it was definitely not a non-living thing, but it couldn''t be classified into any life form either. Some occult studies had reached the conclusion that it had no consciousness, and some scholars even thought that it was just a projection of consciousness in outer space.


    And these contradictory contents with a large number of proper nouns required Ron to spend his time to slowly understand them. Fortunately, he could see that it was just a matter of time for him.


    It might take him about three to eight days to generally understand these things.


    And after he sorted them all out, he could use these three dimensions of understanding of the sun to slowly use psionic energy to engrave runes, and finally build a stable triangle in his mind that was infinitely close to objective laws and subjective judgments. And finally...


    The sun would burn.

 Chapter 14: Knights Honor

    Night.


    Ron and Helen stood at the entrance of the cemetery.


    The dilapidated gravestones were scattered messily around, and the ground was covered with dark red mycelium. Under the flickering light of the lamps, the miserable white stone houses in the distance loomed indistinctly.


    The cemetery administrator was named Marcus, an elderly knight who had participated in the construction work of the town. Moreover, he was one of the outstanding knights among them - this piece of information was not known to everyone, but Helen could fully guarantee its accuracy.


    However, according to the other townspeople, Marcus was a withdrawn and strange person. He didn''t show any kindness to anyone who broke into the cemetery. Sometimes, he would even roughly drive away those who strayed in. And worst of all, his attitude towards the graveyard keepers wasn''t much better either.


    Helen glanced at Ron.


    But she thought it was hard to say who was in a worse situation.


    Ron stepped into the cemetery.


    The door of the pavilion slowly opened outward. As Ron entered, an old man with slow movements walked out from inside. He looked coldly at the two civilians who had walked into his territory.


    [Blood Servant Individual - Biological Energy Level 1-3]


    "Are you here to work?" the knight asked indifferently.


    Helen said from behind Ron:"Yes, Lord Knight. We''re the new graveyard keepers...""Hmph." Marcus sneered. "How interesting. You two even have to stay together for work. Maybe in a few days, you''ll die together too."


    Helen knew what he meant. In the past, there was always only one graveyard keeper in the town. And after they died unexpectedly, Marcus would temporarily take over this responsibility.


    But she was very puzzled. Since this job carried the risk of losing one''s life, why didn''t they recruit more graveyard keepers?


    Marcus turned around and walked towards the house:"Follow me."A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    The administrator''s words and deeds caught Ron''s attention. Marcus was not a newly turned blood servant from the town but an old knight from the castle. And although his bad attitude was abnormal in the town, in fact, Marcus''s behavior was the norm in the Blood Plain.


    Ron followed behind him:"Lord Marcus, you..."The administrator slowly turned his head, and his eyes looking at Ron were full of disgust:"Have you inquired about me?"Ron showed a puzzled expression:"Yes. What''s the matter?"Ron''s question directly interrupted what Marcus was going to say next, and even made the old knight wonder if there was something wrong with himself.


    The administrator deliberately lowered his voice:"You humans are always trying every means to take advantage of loopholes. If you could spend the energy you use on this on practicing swordsmanship and fighting, maybe you wouldn''t be scared to death by those incompletely transformed ghouls."I know that all young people are longing to become knights. Lady Elizabeth has also given you this opportunity. Everyone wants to show themselves here, but the only thing that can change your fate is hard work, not taking shortcuts."


    Ron raised his eyebrows.


    In his opinion, the fact that these Blood Clan members became the rulers of the Blood Plain obviously didn''t rely on so-called hard work. And these blood servants he had encountered before could only be superior to their former compatriots in status because of "good" luck.


    The administrator stepped over the threshold and continued to lecture them:"When I was chosen to become a knight, it was because I showed my swordsmanship in front of Lady Elizabeth. But before I met her, I had already been studying it for twenty-seven years."Since the establishment of Innocent Town, many civilians who only had opportunistic minds in their hearts have become knights, besmirched this honorable title. They also mix with you civilians all day long, not caring about the vows that knights need to abide by."


    His hostility towards Ron was not without reason.


    What Marcus didn''t tell them was that besides the few graveyard keepers who were killed at night in this town, many others had disappeared without a trace.


    And when he asked Lord Jonas, he also got the answer - these civilians without any sense of honor had all been sent to the castle and secretly conferred the title of knight.


    This was his shame.


    Marcus didn''t question the ideas of Lady Elizabeth or other nobles. He sincerely thanked the lady for her appreciation, and he could also understand that the noble lords must have their own reasons for doing such things.


    But emotionally, he couldn''t accept this kind of thing.


    And this Helen followed her companion to become a graveyard keeper. She must have also inquired about the information that this job might have benefits.


    "These two swords are your weapons for self-defense." Marcus stood at the door, drew out two iron swords, quickly turned around to face the two people standing outside the door, and casually threw the long swords to them.


    But the speed of the long swords was not slow at all.


    Ron and Helen both showed "flustered" expressions in the face of these sudden projectiles and clumsily caught the iron swords respectively.


    Among them, although Helen''s expression was deliberately made by herself, she really couldn''t catch this sharp weapon very well. And Ron''s performance was slightly better than hers, but he still looked rather embarrassed.


    In Ron''s judgment, unless one reached the level of ¢ñ-1, it was impossible to catch the long sword gracefully by instinct.


    Marcus stood in front of them and shook his head:"In the wilderness, you may be raided by enemies at any time. If you perform so poorly at that time, you would have died several times already."You now have three days. Learn how to use the sword by yourselves. Compared to your predecessors, you also have each other as sparring partners. If you can''t master the weapons in your hands immediately, just wait to be killed."


    Although Ron''s performance was passable, whether he could pass the test still depended on the result in a few days.


    As for Helen...


    Marcus didn''t have a good impression of this person who forced her way here. Jonas couldn''t have arranged this job for her. She must have come on her own initiative.


    In that case, Marcus didn''t show any mercy to her either.


    Since they inquired about his information but didn''t find out that those dead people actually had good fighting skills and couldn''t have been killed by the incompletely transformed ghouls at all.


    Except for one fool who was scared to death alive, the other graveyard keepers were all killed by Marcus himself.


    Since he couldn''t stop the nobles from selecting knights, at least he could ensure that the knights who left the cemetery deserved this honor.

 Chapter 15: Gathering

    Marcus didn''t reveal his murderous intent.


    He stepped aside to make way for the view inside the house:"From now on, you''ll have to stay here at night. There are only two chairs and one bed inside, but I don''t think that''ll be a problem for you."Besides the furniture, there are all the tools you''ll need in the house. Usually, you don''t have to leave the house when you have nothing to do. Just observe the situation outside from inside."


    There were windows in every direction of this house.


    The knight continued:"During the day, you can go back to your residence and leave briefly. In the past, they had to hurry back as soon as possible. But since there are two of you, then always leave one person here."And at night, neither of you is allowed to leave the cemetery, but you can patrol inside or get familiar with your work. Sometimes, some civilians will come here. If it''s at night, you have to stop them from entering."That''s basically what the job is about. Do you have any questions?"Helen replied with a look of respect all over her face:"No, Lord Knight."Marcus showed a look of contempt for her flattery:"I''m almost three hundred years old. Put away your tricks. If you want to win my approval, prove yourself. Any other flattery is meaningless."The old knight walked past them with a straight face.


    Whether these mortals were qualified to live or not would be clear in three days.


    He left the cemetery directly and didn''t think about how the new graveyard keepers were doing anymore. He turned around and walked towards the center of the town.


    There were a total of two hundred and thirty knights in the town. Among them, there were only more than twenty old knights like him. The others were all new knights who were conferred the title in Innocent Town.


    They hadn''t experienced the baptism of blood. He could easily deal with two or three of them by himself. Anyway, the number of these new knights was still too large, and they didn''t show any respect for their predecessors. So the old knights would contact each other to ensure their status in front of the newcomers.


    Marcus had the highest combat skills among the remaining knights. So even though he didn''t often attend the knights'' gatherings, no one had any objections to him. However, not showing up for too long wasn''t a good thing either.


    He walked around the town for a few times and came to a tavern. The owner of this tavern was his former colleague, so it was only open to these twenty or so real knights.


    Marcus pushed the door open and entered."Old fellow, you''re here. Long time no see," the tavern owner greeted him.Marcus slightly raised his hand as a greeting:"Two new graveyard keepers just came. Do you have any news?"The owner said:"Coincidentally, Maggie and Nathan are both here."Maggie used to be Lady Elizabeth''s maid, so she was also the highest in status among these blood servants. And Nathan was under Jonas. Since his master was the town mayor, his prestige among the new and old knights was second only to Maggie''s.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    However, when it came to combat strength, Nathan wasn''t much stronger than the other old knights, and Maggie might not even be able to defeat those new knights. Their statuses completely depended on their masters.


    None of them were his opponents.


    Marcus hid his contempt for these colleagues very well. No one had noticed his true feelings yet. Perhaps it was also because he usually appeared very "withdrawn".


    Maggie and Nathan had already sat down in the medium-sized compartment inside the tavern. There were also several other blood servants present, and they all had more or less some job positions in their hands.


    Marcus walked in and sat down at a position not too close or too far from Maggie and Nathan.


    The middle-aged knight Nathan said enthusiastically:"Marcus, you''re here. Then we can start."All the blood servants looked at Maggie.


    The former maid, who looked to be in her thirties, cleared her throat:"News has come from the castle. The ''Masquerade Ball'' is coming soon. The lady asked us to take care of the ''actors'' in our hands. I heard that a count and the children of a marquis will be coming this time. If anything goes wrong..."Nathan reminded:"Everyone should remember how Parker was executed, right?"The blood servants looked at each other for a few times and didn''t say anything.


    Maggie looked at Marcus:"The job of the graveyard keeper is rather dangerous. I''ll have to trouble you to keep an eye on it during this period."She looked at Marcus with an inquiring look in her eyes. So all the knights looked at him, waiting for the answer from this old knight."There will definitely be a living graveyard keeper present when the ball is held," he promised.


    Although he hated the ball itself, Marcus knew that his own thoughts didn''t matter in front of the nobles'' needs. And if the ball was really going to be held.


    He didn''t need to worry about Ron and Helen tarnishing the honor either, because they probably wouldn''t even survive until then.


    Seeing that he agreed, both Maggie and Nathan breathed a sigh of relief. Although Marcus didn''t have anyone backing him up, his excellent swordsmanship and past achievements still made them unable to ignore Marcus''s opinion.


    Nathan then said:"Have you heard?"All the blood servants looked at him.


    He lowered his voice and said:"Three knights in the territory of Count Charles next door were attacked by werewolves. And the one leading the team was the rising star Hylam. Even he fell victim to these beasts. It seems that there are werewolves comparable to viscounts that have sneaked into that place."Marcus slightly raised his head to look at Nathan, a little surprised by this news. He had heard of this recently rising knight. His fighting style was very sharp, and he defeated one of his old friends during training.


    Based on rumors and past experience, Marcus thought that he only had a seventy percent chance of winning against him. He thought this was already a high evaluation. Although his body was a bit tired as he got older, his skills had become even more superb and were much better than when he was young.


    And if werewolves could kill him, dealing with himself definitely wouldn''t be a problem either."They''re just beasts without honor. Count Charles will surely be able to handle them. There''s no need to worry," Marcus commented.Maggie also agreed:"Although these werewolves are annoying, Innocent Town is Lady Elizabeth''s territory. They don''t have the guts to sneak in. Since that''s the case, we don''t need to worry."Nathan reminded:"I heard that before transforming, these werewolves are no different from those commoners. They can''t be distinguished by blood. We still need to pay more attention."Maggie interrupted:"Alright. Besides, your master is here. What could go wrong? We should focus on arranging the ball. Otherwise, if those big shots are even slightly dissatisfied, it''ll be us servants who will die."Marcus sneered secretly in his heart, looking down on Nathan''s cowardice:"If they come, we''ll just pick up our weapons and fight them to the death."Nathan smiled a bit awkwardly:"What Marcus said is also reasonable. Then let''s deal with the matters of the ball first. Everyone, please remember that this is not a personal matter but a major event related to the lady''s face. Do you all understand?"He put away his smile and scanned each knight.

 Chapter 16: Death

    "Ron asked, "How are the things I asked you to do going?"


    Helen, who had just returned to the cemetery, casually sat down in front of him. She was clearly much more comfortable than before, and an important reason for this was precisely the tasks Ron had given her.


    The tasks Ron assigned to her were not simple and even posed some difficulties for her. However, she had completed them all, which made her feel needed.


    "Lord Ron, I''ve almost found out. The only noble known to the townspeople here is Viscount Jonas, and there are about two hundred knights in the town.


    "But I also discovered an interesting thing. A small number of knights are different from the others. They were knighted before the establishment of Innocent Town, and these knights hardly communicate with the others.


    "I heard that three of the knights are of relatively important status: old Marcus, Maggie, and Nathan.


    "Except that Nathan doesn''t hide himself and I can find out that he has a relationship with Viscount Jonas, I have no information about the backgrounds of the other two knights, and it may be difficult to figure them out without help."


    Helen paused and then said, "Besides, I seem to have caught some clues, but I haven''t figured them out yet. I''m sorry. I haven''t specialized in this kind of thing before. But if I stay a while longer, I''m sure I can summarize some important things."


    Ron said, "There''s no rush. There''s still plenty of time.


    "Have you found out anything about Elizabeth?"


    Helen shook her head slightly and replied, "There''s no valuable information. Although everyone in the town would say ''Praise the lady'', when it comes to her specific situation, no one can provide any information. I even heard less about her than in my previous town.


    "And I think we need to be cautious about this, my lord. What do you think?"


    She looked at Ron with an inquiring look.


    Ron said, "You decide."


    At that time, one of the relatively unimportant reasons why he decided to come to Innocent Town was that Helen needed a stable food supply. But now the facts have proved that it was the right choice.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    Helen was really useful.


    She was good at hiding her true emotions and collecting information. Most importantly, Helen was smart enough to clearly understand the interests around her, and she also had the courage to take risks.


    In short, she was an ambitious person.


    When he could really bring her enough benefits, she would definitely stand firmly behind him, and even be willing to risk death, because she was more eager for power than others.


    Helen knew very well how insignificant the commoners without status and power were in this dangerous world.


    "One last question. Have you found out?"


    Helen shook her head slightly and said, "No."


    Ron was asking about the weaknesses of the blood clan.


    Although the information database only said that sunlight could offset their self-healing ability, it didn''t mean that vampires couldn''t be killed or defeated. There must be a way to restrain them.


    Besides, he was also thinking about how to deal with these undead monsters.


    He could try to control these vampires, but he didn''t have the right means, and he didn''t know how strong the restraints the vampires could resist.


    Creak, creak...


    The sound of the iron gate being pushed came from outside the cemetery.


    Ron and Helen looked at each other and then got up and walked out of the house one after another.


    As soon as he went out, he saw a boy about ten years old carefully pushing the iron gate. When he saw Ron coming out of the cemetery keeper''s hut, he was obviously a little flustered, but then he seemed to confirm something and gradually calmed down.


    "Brother Ron!" The boy smiled at the woman behind Ron.


    Helen said in a low voice, "He is Jack, the tavern waiter. I often saw him when I was inquiring about information..."


    Helen hesitated for a moment and finally decided to say, "He has a kind heart, but he is a bit naive."


    The boy trotted up to Ron, looked at him curiously, and then asked Helen, "Sister, is this your lover?"


    Ron turned his head slightly and looked at Helen in surprise.


    She blinked innocently and said, "Except for this identity, it''s hard to convince others. And I can''t hide when inquiring about information. False information is actually better than saying nothing."


    Helen''s voice was so low that it almost escaped Ron''s enhanced hearing.


    She was right. In fact, what surprised him was that this statement sacrificed Helen''s own interests. After all, emphasizing her importance to him might lead the vampires to misjudge Helen''s importance to him.


    Ron looked down at the boy and said gently, "What''s the matter?"


    The boy''s remaining restraint completely disappeared. "Brother, can I go to pay my respects to my mother?"


    Ron stepped aside and said, "Of course."


    Jack showed a sincere smile at Ron, put his hand into his clothes, and said to them, "Thank you, brother and sister."


    Ron also smiled back, then took two steps back, not looking directly at the boy, but keeping his peripheral vision on him.


    The boy put his hand into his trouser belt, took out a brightly colored piece of paper, folded it a few times. It was a bit crooked, but generally it looked nice.


    He slowly walked to a tombstone, knelt down and buried his origami in the soil, saying something in a low voice. Ron restrained his hearing when he saw this.


    And it was at this time that he suddenly noticed that Helen was staring at him blankly.


    "What''s wrong?" Ron asked in confusion.


    Helen quickly shook her head. "Nothing. I''m sorry, Lord Ron. I just lost my concentration."


    Before today, she had never seen Ron really smile.


    Since she found Ron, he had always shown firmness, rationality, depth, and unquestionable strength. But at that moment, when she looked at Ron, she was fascinated.


    There was a strange charm when he smiled.


    Ron put away his smile. "You said he is a kind child."


    Helen also nodded normally. "Yes, but actually I don''t know about his mother''s situation. Jack is usually cheerful and seldom mentions his personal situation. This is also a good thing for him."


    The boy finally stood up, suppressed all the emotions he had just shown, and walked back to Ron and Helen with a firm look. "Thank you for taking care of my mother."


    Ron looked at him and said, "It''s okay."


    The boy smiled again. "If you come to the tavern, brother, I can pour you more wine."


    Then the boy waved to them and turned to leave.


    Helen looked at his leaving figure and sighed. "He is really lucky. I have never seen a child who can remain optimistic in such a situation outside Innocent Town. Most of them died early."


    Ron didn''t say anything.

 Chapter 17: The Test

    The sun is destruction, rebirth, life and death. In traditional semiotics, it can symbolize countless images. But my mentor once taught me that you can''t summarize its meaning in words. Instead, you have to feel it with your heart.


    Because what it truly encompasses has exceeded the scope of direct rational understanding. We scholars who haven''t transcended our mortal bodies can hardly fully understand it with our own abilities in our whole lives. Therefore, abstract feelings are especially important for it...


    Ron stared at the panel in front of him, reading the words from the past.


    Merely "accepting" this knowledge wasn''t difficult, but he felt that he had already encountered the first problem with this technique - he couldn''t see the sun in the Blood Plain.


    In this situation, the progress of the psychic technique would inevitably be slowed down.


    Before learning "I Am the Sun", Ron didn''t plan to take any action. After entering the town, he hadn''t shown himself much and had avoided communicating with others as much as possible to reduce his presence.


    Now, only that werewolf remembered his appearance, but Ron didn''t let down his guard.


    If he was going to be an enemy of the blood clan, it would definitely be a long and difficult war. The biological energy level described the strength of an individual, but in different environments, their real threats wouldn''t always remain at the same level.


    In the lightless Blood Plain, the danger level of vampires was definitely higher than the data on paper.


    Since there were conflicts among vampires, they themselves might very well possess the method to kill their own kind. And those werewolves that appeared in the wilderness might also know something about it.


    But under the current circumstances, it was definitely not an easy thing for him to learn this method.


    Although Ron had already lived in the town built by vampires and had seen this kind of creature in person, they were still quite strange to him - just like this world.


    He spread out his palm. With the convergence of psychic energy, a faint glow of heat lit up in his palm. But before it could really "burn", Ron flipped his hand and extinguished it.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    That''s not right.


    He raised his eyelids to look at the world around him and only then noticed that it was actually night. Helen had already fallen asleep peacefully on the floor mat. The townspeople outside the cemetery had also long gone to sleep. Except for him, the world was left with only silence.


    Boots stepped into the mud.


    The uninvited guest broke the rare tranquility.


    Ron casually picked up the iron sword in the corner, walked nimbly off the bed, stepped over the sleeping Helen and walked towards the door. During the process, he didn''t make any noise.


    He pushed open the door.


    At the entrance of the cemetery stood a man in a black robe. A knight''s standard long sword hung from his waist. His eyes were hidden under the hood, and his figure looked blurred in the moonlight.


    But Ron still easily recognized the other party''s identity. It was Marcus, the cemetery keeper who had reminded them to practice swordsmanship well.


    The knight''s tone was a bit surprised:


    I didn''t expect you to be so vigilant.


    Ron deliberately said in a tone of confusion:


    Sir Marcus?


    The knight said:


    Come out. Let''s talk.


    Ron casually closed the door behind him, walked down the steps with the long sword in his hand, and followed Marcus, who had turned sideways, into the depths of the cemetery. There was no light on the outside street, and the moonlight could hardly penetrate the clouds. Even if there were pedestrians passing by outside the cemetery at this time, it would be difficult to see them.


    Marcus slowly stopped, turned around and looked at Ron behind him:


    You weren''t scared. I have higher expectations of you.


    Ron held the sword and asked:


    Sir Marcus, what do you want?


    The knight said in a low voice:


    Do you know the secret of the cemetery keeper?


    Ron frowned slightly and said:


    What?


    It seemed that when Jonas arranged this job for them, it wasn''t as simple as it seemed on the surface. But anyway, this noble had obviously noticed him.


    It wasn''t all bad, because he was also keeping an eye on him.


    Marcus said in a suppressed tone:


    Two-thirds of the past cemetery keepers left the town and went to the large castle to be knighted. And the rest are all lying in the soil under your feet.


    I killed them.


    Ron slightly raised the tip of the sword in his hand and questioned:


    Why?


    Marcus said:


    Because they didn''t deserve the title of knight. Commoners without honor originally had no possibility of coveting our status. But you are lucky. Lady Elizabeth is kind and merciful.


    But even so, I have to ensure that those who go to the castle to meet her are barely worthy of the knight''s status. So I eliminated those who didn''t meet the standard. Take out your sword and let me see if you are worthy of leaving this town.


    The old knight also drew his sword and looked down at Ron.


    Ron replied, "We can stay in the town."


    The knight swung his sword upward, giving Ron enough time to react. Ron also held the long sword horizontally in front of his chest. The sword strikes collided hard, and he took a few steps back. Marcus immediately changed the direction of the sword blade with his strong strength and slashed at Ron''s waist quickly, accurately and ruthlessly.


    The sword blade cut through the clothes, and Ron fell to the ground in a sorry state.


    The knight looked at Ron lying on the ground and slowly put the sword back into his scabbard.


    "Very good," Marcus sincerely praised.


    Ron got up from the ground again: "So they all died at your hands?"


    Marcus nodded slightly: "Yes, but you passed the test. And you are the most outstanding cemetery keeper I have ever met. I think even if you are knighted, you can be worthy of it."


    Ron replied, "I don''t plan to become a knight."


    If Marcus had just shown his true strength, it might only take one sword for him to kill this knight.


    Marcus ignored his words and shouted at him: "Now get out of the way."


    Ron asked, "What do you mean?"


    The knight looked at the house behind him and said, "You passed the test, but there is still one person here."

 Chapter 18: After the Fervent Burning

    "Absolutely not," Ron refused resolutely.


    Marcus was taken aback for a moment and then sneered."Do you intend to stop me? What will you use to fight me? That dilapidated iron sword in your hand?"Or do you think the words I just said gave you the right to have an equal conversation with me?"


    Ron stood firm and said to him, "If you think we have desecrated the honor of the knights, then she and I can change our jobs."He also didn''t want to stay in this seemingly problematic position, and it was not a wise decision to have a conflict with the knights in the town.


    Marcus said coldly, "Your occupations were arranged by Viscount Jonas. No one can change the predetermined fate. Unless a noble personally changes your positions, what you said is a provocation to Viscount Jonas."Young man, you have survived. Don''t waste this good luck. If you really want to question me, wait until you become my knight colleague."


    Ron asked, "Haven''t you considered the possibility that I will take revenge on you after I become a knight?"Logically, he might be his future colleague, but in this situation, he was not even willing to adopt a flexible approach. In Ron''s view, he was really a bit too stubborn.


    The knight said calmly, "If you can really get the lady''s approval to return to the town and still maintain this idea at that time, then you can come directly to me and try. I have killed many knights. One or two more doesn''t matter."


    Ron lowered his eyelids. "She can''t withstand those two swords."Marcus said mercilessly, "Then she has to die."Really?There was no room for negotiation. Although the old knight was not particularly arrogant, he did not regard Ron or any of the townspeople as his equals.They did not have the right to have a conversation.


    Ron raised his long sword. "I have a proposal."I think in terms of swordsmanship alone, you are not my opponent."Marcus showed a surprised expression and did not react to Ron''s meaning.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    Ron looked at him and said, "If you maintain the same strength as me and abandon what the noble has given you, you can''t defeat me, Marcus. You said you practiced swordsmanship for twenty-seven years before meeting Lady Elizabeth."Do you have the courage to fight me with the same strength?"


    Marcus stared at Ron in astonishment and couldn''t say a word for a long time.Ron just looked at Marcus, waiting for his reaction.If he refused...He could only kill him.


    The old knight took his hand away from the hilt."You win," Marcus sighed slightly. "You have proved that you deserve the honor. Although I still want to kill her, as long as you can ensure that she won''t become a knight, I can let you go."There''s no need for a fight."


    He had lost.Ron''s behavior proved that he couldn''t surpass him in honor.Marcus actually wanted to fight Ron, but Ron was just a commoner.He didn''t understand what the knight''s power meant to him. He wrongly thought that he could withdraw his power and fight him, but Marcus had long been used to this body. How could he return to the state of an ordinary person?He had long forgotten what he used to be like.


    The old knight looked at the wooden house behind Ron. "She is really lucky to have your company."


    Ron didn''t explain. If anyone behind him today was an innocent human, he wouldn''t have given way. The worst result would be that he returned to the wilderness and waited for the opportunity slowly.He wasn''t a particularly just person who would go to great lengths to save the weak. He also knew that there might be atrocities from blood servants and vampires all the time in the Blood Plain.But he couldn''t just let the blood servants kill his innocent compatriots when he was fully capable of dealing with it.To be honest, it hardly cost him anything to stop this kind of thing from happening casually. Not to mention that Helen behind him was still very useful to him.


    "Sir Knight, can we live here safely?"Marcus said insincerely, "Yes."The knight looked at Ron calmly.He now felt a bit more regret in his heart.If it were normal, he would be very willing to have Ron as his colleague in the future. After all, he was more qualified to get this honor than most knights.But the masquerade was about to begin, and they were already standing in the center of the stage. There was no possibility of escaping from the hands of the nobles. Moreover, both of them were extremely good


    -looking. What''s more, with Ron''s character and will, he was highly likely to become the well-deserved "protagonist" in this grand drama. Marcus was certain of this.


    Ron was doomed to dance gracefully on the stage, blooming with unimaginable beauty like a rose, burning brightly like a raging fire, and turning into the most eye-catching meteor in the whole ball.


    After the participants of the ball left, they would still talk about this interesting character, comment on his actions, and perhaps some nobles would remember his name for a long time.


    However, he would wither, shrivel, turn into ashes, and ultimately fall completely.


    This was the fate of an actor.


    In the past three hundred years, he had witnessed countless similar things repeat. Ron and the others would leave nothing behind. The only thing that might remain was the memory of the blood nobles.


    And they still had to perform desperately for this.


    How pitiful it was!

 Chapter 19: Loyalty

    Marcus'' visit served as a reminder to Ron of his initial assessment.


    This town still teemed with danger. Despite the absence of overt crime or violence on the surface, and everyone abiding by Elizabeth''s rules, the knights and nobles were above these regulations.


    The outward tranquility was fragile. Innocent Town was no different from any other in the Blood Plain; they were all mere food repositories in the eyes of the vampires. And this place was likely even worse. Its peaceful facade surely concealed some larger - scale conspiracy.


    Realistically, there was a possibility that Elizabeth was genuinely kind - hearted, or perhaps the secret hidden here was harmless to the townspeople. However, the old knight''s final expression strengthened Ron''s conviction that some impending peril was drawing closer to the town.


    A faint rustle came from the ground before him.


    Helen opened her eyes, bleary - eyed, clutching the quilt as she looked at Ron sitting on the bed.


    "Ah!" She quickly forced herself up, shaking her head to shake off the drowsiness. "Mr. Ron, I''m sorry..."


    Ron asked, slightly puzzled, "Why are you apologizing?"


    Helen was taken aback by the question, realizing she couldn''t come up with a reason.


    "Maybe it''s just a habit," she said, a bit dazed. Then, her face resumed its usual somewhat ingratiating expression. "Mr. Ron, haven''t you slept yet?"


    He shook his head.


    "I''m thinking.


    This situation won''t do."


    If he intended to oppose the nobles, the most pressing task now was to amass his strength. Although he could find blood containing blood energy, even after obtaining it, he couldn''t directly confront the vampires. Moreover, killing Jonas or that vampire would likely attract the forces backing them.


    The most pressing issue was that as a "human," he couldn''t obtain valuable information through normal means in this world.


    Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    Securing blood was his top - priority objective. In the process, he didn''t necessarily have to kill Jonas. If he could find a way to make Jonas think that losing some blood was reasonable, he might avoid potential risks.


    You stay here these few days. No need to go out and gather information.


    He would handle it himself.


    The transformation surgery had imparted to him not only basic weapon - handling skills but also simple reconnaissance and counter - reconnaissance techniques. Tracking was a risky endeavor. Once exposed, it would bring him a great deal of trouble, which was why he had never considered trailing Jonas.


    However, Marcus had revealed some of his power in front of him, and Ron''s strength far surpassed that of this blood servant. According to the information Helen had gathered, currently, only Jonas was a vampire in the town, and this vampire usually stayed in the mayor''s cottage.


    These vampires were threats he could avoid. Considering the disparity between Marcus and himself, tracking the old knight seemed a natural choice.


    Helen was somewhat surprised.


    "Mr. Ron, are you planning to go out?"


    Ron nodded.


    "Do you have any experience with a sword?"


    Helen looked embarrassed.


    "I''ve never even held a sword before."


    Ron nodded slightly. He didn''t suggest she learn swordsmanship. Even disregarding talent, even if she could master the use of this weapon in a short time and become proficient... she would still pose no threat to a knight of Biological Energy Level ¢ñ.


    Ron spread his palm. The bright psychic energy, like liquid, flowed between his fingers. The clear, liquid - like energy emitted a dazzling glow.


    Helen stared blankly at the brilliant "magic" changing in Ron''s palm.


    Not quite right yet.


    But he was getting closer to mastering "I Am the Sun."


    Helen, you''ve probably guessed that I came to the Blood Plain with a purpose, he said to the girl bluntly.


    Helen immediately stood up straight, looking solemnly at the man in front of her.


    So, it''s finally here?


    She had been waiting for this day for a long time. Although she had been working for Ron, she had no clue about his true identity, the reason for his presence here, or what he intended to do.


    Ron said, "What I''m doing here is a significant matter that will impact the entire Blood Plain. Before you found me, I was in a rather tough situation. While I could protect myself, it was difficult to easily accomplish what I set out to do."


    He was lying, undoubtedly.


    Ron couldn''t tell Helen about the system in his body and that he needed Jonas'' blood to progress to the next stage. But what he said wasn''t baseless either; it was a story Helen could come to terms with in the future.


    He continued, "So, I need to build up my strength first and figure out what resources I can utilize in this environment. Here, I''m not an invincible powerhouse. Many vampires could kill me.


    And you, to me, aren''t a particularly invaluable mortal."


    Helen''s expression visibly fell.


    Yes, this was the expression she deliberately showed, the emotion she wanted Ron to perceive. But at this moment, she found it hard to tell if the look on her face was genuine or feigned.


    However, the situation has changed. I really need your help. In this plain, your best - case scenario is to become a blood servant of the nobles, a lowly creature they view as no more than an insect.


    What I can offer you is a long life, power even greater than that of the blood nobles, and the right to not bow and scrape to these monsters.


    Helen''s eyes gradually regained their light.


    Ron said, "In return, you must contribute your abilities, play a crucial role in what I''m about to do, and take on great risks. You might incur the hostility and wrath of some blood nobles, and death could come at any moment.


    If you refuse now, you can return to your old life and live in this seemingly peaceful town. With a bit of luck, you might live out the rest of your life safely..."


    He noticed.


    Helen''s expression grew more resolute with each word he spoke, and her eyes reflected a blazing fire, the fanatical ambition to seize control of her own destiny.


    She said, in the most sincere and formal tone, "Lord Ron, I''m not foolish. I know I''ll always be a humble commoner in the face of the blood nobles. From the moment I was born, this is a gap I can''t bridge.


    And I also desire the things you mentioned. I know that as a mortal, if I miss this opportunity, I''ll never escape my fate.


    Death is but a trifling price."


    Ron showed an understanding look.


    "Then..."


    Helen nimbly knelt down on one knee.


    I pledge my loyalty to you, unto death.

 Chapter 20: The Story

    Ron concealed himself in the darkness of the night. Marcus usually took a rest in the residence not far from the cemetery. From time to time, he would wander around the cemetery and sometimes went to a remote tavern alone at night. Ron discovered that what was most advantageous for his tracking was not the skills of hiding his figure and reducing his presence, but his transformed body and sharp five senses. The former allowed him to "move" in places that the tracked person couldn''t think of, while the latter enabled him to always stay outside the other''s alert distance. Sometimes, he could even lock onto Marcus'' position by hearing across the street.


    The old knight walked slowly through the town, skillfully avoiding the commoners and the patrol teams, and finally stopped at the back door of a tavern. But this was not the one he usually went to. There were already several of his colleagues sitting in the compartments of the tavern. And this time, it was not Maggie but Nathan, Jonas'' confidant, who sat in the middle. All the other knights had also arrived. He was the last one. Marcus sat down directly opposite Nathan, without touching the wine glass on the table. He looked at the other seriously as the matter they were going to discuss today was extremely important.


    Nathan nodded slightly at him and said, "Lord Jonas has finished telling me." All the knights looked at him. Nathan continued, "The ball has been determined. There are a total of thirteen participants. Except for Count Charles next door, the others are all noble descendants." Although these noble children also had titles, they often didn''t have their own territories and served as ministers to assist their lords. Each count usually could transform one or two direct descendants, a marquis could have three to four, and a duke could have seven to eight. But for this behavior of consuming their own efforts, these lords were often "stingy". After all, the energy used to transform direct descendants was limited, and these descendants would have a smooth promotion for a long time. At the same time, the transformer could influence their behavior with their own will. Therefore, all direct descendants were the most trusted and powerful assistants of the nobles, so they would always select these members extremely carefully.


    Nathan paused and then continued, "Except for Lord Charles, there are also the two marquis'' descendants I mentioned last time. Although these two young nobles are barons, one of them is a blood-energy user." There was silence. When nobles selected descendants, they would consider many factors: personality, appearance, luck, and many important aspects. But in the face of one thing, all these had no meaning. That was the talent of awakening blood-energy. These nobles with blood-energy were much stronger than other nobles of the same title. Elizabeth was also a blood-energy awakener, and she became the grand duke''s favorite daughter because of this. As far as Marcus knew, there were only two blood-energy users in their territory, namely Lady Elizabeth and her advisor. And the existence of these two blood-energy users made them superior to other nobles.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Count Charles next door had a child who was a blood-energy user, but the count himself didn''t have the talent. Although the noble lords were the best among their kind, the blood-energy users among them were less than one-tenth. And Charles'' child was also one of his most important weapons. Therefore, he had never let that blood-energy user appear in front of outsiders. That unnamed blood-energy user had assassinated several of the count''s enemies with his talent, and the count had thus obtained the title of "the Murderer".


    Nathan said, "The count said he wanted to relieve his recent depression and boredom. Jonas arranged a story of wolves and blood for him. He will enter Innocent Town in the way of ''wearing a mask''. And the marquis'' son said he wanted to stroll around the town by himself and experience the life of commoners. We just need to arrange him as an ordinary person entering the town." If it were in other places, he might not really be able to experience what he said, but in Innocent Town, he could, because no blood noble would break the rules of the ball. Lady Elizabeth would sign an agreement with all those entering the town. Unless they were playing special roles, they were not allowed to disrupt the peace of Innocent Town at will.


    In the past, there was a blood clan member who offended her. He was also a marquis'' son. And he had publicly killed several young and beautiful female commoners on the street and made them into bloody and terrifying specimens. The result was that Elizabeth appeared and killed that blood noble who provoked her. And his marquis father didn''t make any movement or response, as if she hadn''t killed his important descendant. This incident shocked all the blood nobles because the deceased also had considerable blood-energy. Since then, all the blood nobles had shown simple awe towards this lady who seldom showed up, and no one dared to make trouble in Innocent Town.


    Nathan continued, "Some other nobles also want to play roles. They are all old projects, and we have enough resources. However, the marquis'' daughter has an extraordinary request." Oh, does she want something more exciting? "She said she wants a romantic encounter." All the knights looked at each other in confusion, not knowing what to say. Maggie asked with a puzzled look, "What do you mean by an encounter?" Nathan replied, "It''s like the ones in some novels. Well, I mean the books from other places. Some of them describe some unrealistic things, and this romantic encounter is included. I have read several books. They are all given to me by Jonas. I will arrange it later. And Lord Jonas said that we happen to have a very suitable candidate." Nathan looked at Marcus. He answered, "Ron?" Nathan nodded slightly. "Yes, I remember he is a very handsome young man. What do you think of him? If not, we have two less handsome options." Marcus shook his head. "His appearance, personality, and all aspects are perfect. But he has a female companion he cares about very much - Helen, who is also a cemetery keeper. And she is also very beautiful." Nathan waved his hand. "That''s not a problem. Since you''ve said so, it''s Ron. Having a lover will make this story more interesting and sad. Imagine, when he is in the most painful and dark moment, a beautiful noble suddenly appears to comfort him. How surprised this young commoner will be. And even if he doesn''t ultimately accept the noble''s courtship, it doesn''t matter. Driven by gratitude, he can still defend this young lady with his life, and finally leave a poignant story. Do you have no other suggestions?" Marcus shrugged. "No." Although he had been looking forward to Ron becoming a knight and felt sorry that he still couldn''t protect Helen after all, so what?


    He was just a commoner.

 Chapter 21: Preparation for the Ball

    "We have to pretend to be a couple."


    Helen stared at Ron blankly, having no idea what he was talking about.


    Ron explained, "During this time, we must act as a couple, and you have to stay by my side all the time to avoid any accidents. Something is about to occur. And I can also take this chance to achieve my goal."


    The main reason Ron stayed in Innocent Town was for the "blood of the blood clan containing psychic energy". If he wanted to be promoted to the second level of the Emperor''s Body, he had to deal with these dangerous beings.


    Helen was surprised that the lie she casually made up was about to come true. "Is something going to happen?" she asked.


    Ron didn''t conceal the truth. "Some nobles will come to this town secretly. Has something similar happened before?"


    Helen shook her head. "No, according to the information I''ve inquired about, there isn''t such a thing."


    Ron nodded. "This isn''t their first visit. But when they come here, these nobles will hide their identities and might even change their appearances. For them, this is a game."


    Helen''s face immediately turned pale as she realized the truth behind Ron''s words. Since this was the nobles'' game, then Innocent Town was a carefully constructed place for their entertainment, like a hunting ground. And their entertainment item here... was the commoners.


    Helen opened her mouth and said with difficulty, "The reason why we have to pretend to be a couple is..."


    Ron replied, "The nobles and knights think we are a couple. They call this a masquerade ball, and we have become important characters on the dance floor. Before they notice the problem, we can''t let them become vigilant."


    If Helen''s mental strength was a bit weaker or her personality was worse, Ron wouldn''t tell her this. But he believed that knowing the truth would make Helen perform better.


    Helen''s expression was stiff. Although she had accepted Ron''s statement, there was still an inextinguishable sadness in her heart. Unlike Ron, during these days, she lived in the town and made many "friends". Although she wouldn''t be sad even if she heard the death of one of them. But when she knew that these humans who were no different from herself were toys in the eyes of the nobles, a chill rose from the bottom of her heart.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    Thinking carefully, in the past, she didn''t think there was a problem with such things. Before coming to Innocent Town, this was the world she was familiar with. But when she gradually got used to not having to worry about someone deliberately deceiving her, not having to fear that others would kill her because of an argument, and not having to be afraid of being raided by other lords... Was she numbed?


    Helen asked herself, but soon she gave a negative answer. No, she wasn''t numbed. She just had a longing. After seeing Innocent Town, she really hoped from the bottom of her heart that there was such a town. Therefore, after learning that this was just a more desperate and cruel lie, she had an "illusion" called sadness.


    Helen regained control of her emotions and said to Ron seriously as if nothing had happened, "What do I need to do?"


    Ron slowed down his speech slightly. "These nobles will come here. One of them will find me, and I will become an actor in her story, responsible for playing the role of a lover. But before that, you are already my lover in their eyes. For the story, you are undoubtedly an obstacle to the two true loves. So you have to gradually spread the rumor that we have had a disagreement and gradually make others believe that we have really separated. In this way, they may not do anything to you. But this is not safe enough, so you have to stay by my side during this period."


    Hearing Ron''s words, Helen became much calmer. He showed his concern for her, so she probably wouldn''t die in this town. She didn''t suspect that Ron would sacrifice her because she knew that a "good girl" like herself who was obedient, smart and could help was not easy to find, and Ron was like a miracle to her. And Ron must also know this idea of hers. This is also the reason why he would tell her so many secrets. Both she and he knew - she was trustworthy.


    Helen asked a bit nervously, "Can I ask, Mr. Ron, what do you want to achieve in this this game?"


    Ron answered her, "This is a masquerade ball of the nobles. One of the visitors has something I need in his body. I want to cut open the belly of this noble and take out his blood. That is to say... I want to find my prey and then kill him."


    Helen looked at Ron in surprise and joy. If Helen looked at Ron in surprise and joy. If lucky, the female noble would be a blood-energy user, but it didn''t matter if unlucky. He would find the other party in this town.


    And this was a dangerous hunt. Besides the two young nobles he could theoretically kill, there was also a blood count who might have reached the third level, and ten vampires of unknown strength wandering here.


    He needed to avoid these monsters, find his prey, take his blood and leave here to complete the promotion ceremony. If it went smoothly, he wouldn''t return here until he had a comprehensive improvement.


    Ron raised his left hand. Then the whole arm lit up with a white light, but it was immediately extinguished by himself.


    Helen had long been used to Ron''s actions and had no reaction.


    He had already woven the psychic threads in his body. What filled them was his understanding of the sun, but it was still a little short...


    His understanding of the sun largely came from the star in his previous life. But the one that could extinguish the vampire''s self-healing ability was the unknown celestial body on the black cloud.


    If he hadn''t seen another sun, he might have completed the learning of the psychic skill. But it was difficult for him to eliminate the influence of the second sun on himself.


    This might also cause his psychic skill to be unable to kill vampires.


    Before finding out the characteristics of the sun in this world against vampires, he still had to work hard to weave the psychic threads in his body. And if he couldn''t complete the training of "I Am the Sun" in a short time...


    He would also take the blood. Even if he couldn''t kill the vampire, it did not matter. Since the enemy was already in front of him, he couldn''t refuse to fight just because he lacked a weapon.


    The worst case was that he couldn''t kill the vampire, but he could make the other party completely lose the ability and will to resist. In this way, he could also smoothly take out the blood from the monster''s body.


    And killing vampires couldn''t only rely on the sun. Because these vampires were killing each other, they must have deadly weapons in their hands.


    And he just needed to find it.

 Chapter 22: Appetizer

    During the peaceful days, Ron, apart from studying psychic techniques, was training his use of the long sword and occasionally going to the town with Helen to familiarize themselves with the environment. But the peace didn''t last long.


    "AAAAAAAH!" A heart-rending scream pierced the long night of Innocent Town and also "awakened" Ron who was sensing psychic energy. He opened his eyes and looked around. Surprisingly, he found that a little moonlight had shone on the ground in the distance. But as the black clouds in the sky churned, before he even had the thought of going out to look at the moon, that ray of light disappeared without a trace.


    The scream in the distance was hard for ordinary people to hear clearly at this position, but many residents closer to the town center must have been awakened. Had it started? For the nobles entering the town, tonight''s tragedy was just an appetizer for embellishment and a small "surprise" given by Innocent Town to them. For Ron, this was a warning painted with blood. But for the commoners in the town, this was a terrifying nightmare seeping into reality. This definitely wouldn''t be the first commoner to die, and they hadn''t yet realized how long this horror drama would last in their lives.


    Fragmented sounds of boots came from the street in the distance. In the town, those who wore iron boots were basically members of the patrol team. The leaders of these teams were all knights. These knights were also commoners in the town in the past and were all assigned to the guards when they entered the town. Several of them stopped at the cemetery gate and were dealing with the iron gate.


    Ron glanced at the long sword by the wall and then sat on the bed, quietly waiting for the patrol team to arrive. [A blood servant individual of level I - 2 was detected.]


    Boom. The wooden door of the house was roughly pushed open, and three patrol team members walked in. The one in the lead was a knight, and the other two were humans. "Is it you?" the blood servant asked in surprise. This intruder was exactly the blood servant Ron had talked to a few words at the town gate and who had shown him the way. Although they recognized each other, the blood servant still looked vigilant. Coincidence? "Why aren''t you asleep?" he asked.


    Ron replied, "I''m the cemetery keeper. It''s my working time now." He looked down at Helen who was still sleeping. First, he was surprised by her sleeping appearance. Then he noticed that she was sleeping on the floor. Then he thought of the recent rumors. The blood servant had long heard of Helen, a beauty who had become a bit famous since she came to the town. Now it seemed that the rumor that she and her lover were about to separate was true. Many of his colleagues had been interested in her long ago, but they had stopped for a while after being politely refused a few times. He believed that if this wasn''t Innocent Town, those guys would have already made a move. But it was precisely because this was Innocent Town that they could become knights like himself. He recalled Ron''s state when they first met and finally decided to show kindness to him.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    "I''m Rich. There are some accidents in the town. We''re checking. I have some questions to ask you." Rich looked at the team members behind him. They hurriedly and nervously left the house and closed the door casually.


    Ron was a bit surprised. "What''s the matter?"


    Rich said, "People have died in the town. I heard there were three victims. Their deaths were extremely ugly. It is said that they seemed to have been toyed with by wild beasts for a long time before being killed. There are rumors among the guards that werewolves have sneaked into the town."


    Ron was puzzled. "Werewolves?"


    Rich nodded. "They usually look no different from ordinary humans, but they can transform into huge wolf-like monsters at any time. They have extremely powerful strength and have been the most troublesome problem that noble lords have hated for hundreds of years."


    Ron said, "But this is Lady Elizabeth''s territory..."


    Rich shook his head. "That''s why I''m especially worried. Everyone knows that making trouble here is a very dangerous thing. Therefore, they must have strong confidence. Otherwise, they couldn''t have made a move in the town. I even suspect that their purpose is to provoke the lady. So you''d better keep a low profile during this time. But that''s not what I want to talk about."


    Ron had already suspected that the other party might be part of the "ball". But according to the information he had collected so far, these blood servants transformed from townspeople didn''t know the truth of Innocent Town.


    Ron looked confused. "Then, Knight Sir..."


    Rich lowered his voice. "Based on the friendship of our conversation, answer me a question first. Do you have some conflicts with your partner?"


    Ron naturally showed a look of embarrassment. "Yes, we have a little..."


    Rich interrupted, "That''s okay. What I want to tell you is that a colleague of mine named Shane has taken a liking to Helen. And I heard that he plans to play some tricks on you two. That guy was a bastard before becoming a knight and killed many innocent weaklings. Although he doesn''t dare to break Lady''s rules now, he is very good at doing disgusting things. After all, he is a knight, and that in itself is the most useful thing. He has already abandoned seven or eight beautiful women, and Helen is his next target. If you still care about this girl, you can remind her."


    Rich''s reminder was aimed at Ron rather than Helen herself. That is to say, what he really cared about was not whether Helen was deceived. His target was Ron. He didn''t care much about whether Ron told Helen about this or what her outcome would be.


    Ron nodded slightly. "Thank you."


    This Shane might be part of the story or just a stupid fool. But in any case, those nobles behind the scenes would be very happy to see him "take away" Helen.


    But it''s not a good idea to let Helen stay in a place where he can''t take care of her for a long time. After all, he still hasn''t been able to give Helen power, and this is also a problem that must be solved. Otherwise, just relying on himself, he can''t change the current situation of the blood clan''s rule. Maybe he can kill all the vampires, but considering their numbers, as long as they crazily transform mortals, it''s very likely that when he kills the last blood clan member, there won''t be any intelligent creatures left on the Blood Plain.


    Rich finally said to him, "There may be several rounds of patrols later. If the murderer is caught, it may stop. Before that, you''d better not wander around. I also have to return to my post."


    Ron nodded at him. After seeing him lead two civilians who were obviously a little afraid of him out, he sat back on the bed and waited for the end of the patrol. But until dawn, he could still hear the guards busy on the street.

 Chapter 23: The Opening (Please Follow and Rating)

    Day broke. Everyone was gathering towards the square, and Ron was no exception. At this time, he was standing in front of a tavern in the town.


    The news spread like locusts everywhere. The news of the death of Lawrence and his family had spread throughout the town. The deaths of Lawrence and his wife were extremely terrifying. Even the first knight who entered was directly scared out. The most terrifying thing was that they found that the dagger in the hand of the couple''s son, a 14-year-old boy, was covered with the blood of his parents, and his head had been brutally smashed into a pulp.


    No one could imagine what had driven this usually enthusiastic and cheerful child crazy. What kind of monster did this innocent civilian face before his death?


    Until Jonas publicly announced that it was the evil werewolf lurking in the darkness that killed them. This kind of creature looked no different from ordinary people before transforming into a monster.


    The knights and nobles were all vigorously searching for it. During this period, no one was allowed to leave Innocent Town. However, due to the characteristics of werewolves, it would not be as simple as before. On the Blood Plain, werewolves had always been the biggest enemy of the nobles.


    Even hostile forces could unite in the face of werewolves.


    And Jonas also conveniently issued a notice. If any townspeople could provide valuable information, such as the whereabouts of the werewolf, they could receive an exciting reward - the position of a knight.


    And for the knights under his command, Jonas also promised that if they could catch the werewolf, they could be eligible to become the adopted son of a noble, also commonly known as a "semi-noble".


    According to Ron''s understanding, this was probably a group of semi-vampires. They were a transitional stage for mortals to become vampires, a special species between knights and real vampires.


    On the Blood Plain, about one-fifth of these semi-nobles would have the opportunity to become nobles.


    When many nobles selected their descendants, they would transform suitable candidates into such semi-vampires. Their strength was not much different from that of knights, but they had no appearance defects. At the same time, their self-healing ability was slightly stronger than that of knights, and their lifespan was as long as 800 years.


    The story of Helen and her lover''s separation also spread among a small number of people with the wind. However, in the face of this matter, her "single" status seemed less noticeable.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    Ron only hoped that the person who arranged for the noble lady to have an encounter with him would notice this matter and not try to get rid of Helen.


    Helen was spreading the news on several other streets at this time. When she was away from Ron, she had to ensure that she was in a public place. In this way, at least there would be no safety problems.


    Ron pushed open the tavern door. The noise and the smell of alcohol immediately engulfed him. Most of the tables in the room were already full. There were a dozen young men, eight middle-aged men, six young women, and two knights drinking in the corner of the tavern.


    And a familiar figure was nimbly shuttling through the gaps between the tables with a wine bottle in hand. At the moment of turning around and seeing Ron, he showed a surprised expression and then greeted ÈÈÇéµØ: "Brother Ron, you''re here?"


    He found a table far away from the knights and sat down. He said to Jack, "Get me a bottle of wine."


    After Jack completed his work methodically, he returned to behind the bar, took out two bottles of beer, and placed them in front of Ron''s table: "The boss told me that if I meet the right guests, I can give them an extra bottle of wine."


    The boy''s kindness to Ron was actually very simple. He was a cemetery keeper. If this could make Ron pay more attention when taking care of his mother, it would be good. Even if not, he should also show respect to him.


    Ron showed his gratitude and took the wine. According to the detection of the bracelet, the one in front of him was really beer. But there were no wheat fields on the Blood Plain. Where did it come from?


    "I heard that you and Sister Helen..." Jack asked while pouring the wine.


    Ron showed a regretful expression: "Yes, but there is no contradiction between us. This is a natural result. She and I were not meant to be together for a lifetime."


    Jack slightly raised his eyebrows and said tentatively: "I think Sister Helen may still like you."


    Ron looked curious: "Oh?"


    Jack slowly placed the wine glass in a position where he could easily reach it: "Because I heard about this. In my opinion, if she didn''t care, she would have kept silent. I think this may be the way she expresses her protest... and sadness."


    Ron pretended to be sad and raised his glass: "But many things can''t be changed by our own will. We have separated and there is no possibility of getting back together, but she will still be my friend. Thank you for your advice."


    [Vampire individual detected - biological level ¢ò-3]


    The tavern door opened inward. Ron didn''t shift his gaze and still kept his eyes on Jack, smiling and saying: "Then I''ll return the favor and buy you a drink too."


    The shoes stepped on the ground, the wooden boards creaked, the door frame was gently thrown behind, and the pace was slow and leisurely.


    The newcomer casually sat down at the bar counter. His arm landed heavily on the counter, and his voice was low and hoarse: "Get me a beer."


    The waiter behind the bar quickly poured him a glass of wine, and Ron also took this opportunity to look at him - like most people in the tavern.


    The vampire was wearing a hat and a black veil on his face, only revealing his blood-red pupils - and they were of the blood servant type.


    Ron noticed that Jack was surprised, but his expression didn''t seem to be surprised by the other''s attire, but rather puzzled about why he was here. Even the two knights in the corner of the tavern were whispering, and their eyes were constantly moving on him.


    Jack exclaimed in a low voice: "A wandering knight. I thought they were just legends."


    The vampire heard Jack''s voice. Although in his current guise, he shouldn''t have been able to hear it, but the vampire didn''t care about this.


    He stood up and looked at Jack: "You know about wandering knights?"


    With that, he walked towards Jack.


    The boy wasn''t too nervous, just a little curious. Obviously, he still thought that Elizabeth''s rules could protect him, but Ron was already fully alert.


    This was a level ¢ò vampire. If he wanted to, he could easily kill everyone in the tavern. Of course, he was still immersed in his role-playing now and wouldn''t do so.


    After all, in any place on the Blood Plain, he could kill half a street of people, but only in Innocent Town could he enjoy this kind of "equal" communication and coexistence with the common people.


    And now he was looking forward to a commoner coming out to oppose him and then being slowly tortured to death by himself, finally showing a look of fear and confusion.


    The vampire saw the handsome Ron.


    Would he be the villain he was looking forward to?

 Chapter 24: "Secret"

    "Sir, I''ve heard the tales of wandering knights," Jack replied respectfully. "It''s said that wandering knights are the most powerful of their kind, capable of surviving and fighting alone on the Blood Plain."


    The vampire nodded slightly.


    "Didn''t expect you to be quite informed. In that case, you shall answer my questions."


    With that, he seated himself opposite Ron. He casually grabbed an empty cup on the table and, with a glance, signaled Jack to pour him some wine. However, the wine bottle on the table was Ron''s.


    The boy looked at him, at a loss.


    Ron reached out directly, picked up the bottle, and poured a glass of wine for the vampire.


    "May I know your name, sir?"


    The vampire regarded Ron with keen interest.


    "Prince."


    The vampire''s reason for sitting down wasn''t Jack. Instead, it was Ron, whose appearance alone was already striking enough. But he hadn''t anticipated Ron taking the initiative to greet him.


    Prince didn''t respond to Ron further. Instead, he turned to Jack.


    "Seems there are some interesting happenings in your town."


    Jack felt a twinge of distaste for the word "interesting" but held his tongue.


    "A werewolf has infiltrated Innocent Town and brutally murdered the Lawrence..."


    Prince interrupted.


    "That''s not what I''m referring to. I''m talking about this business of becoming a semi - noble. Is it true?"


    His eyes bore intently into Jack.


    Jack answered, "Yes."


    Prince, of course, didn''t care about the semi - noble title. He was a genuine noble. Aside from the children of the two marquises and Count Charles, nearly all those who''d come here were direct descendants of other lords, and most were viscounts.


    In his territory, although there were still a few viscounts, their status and standing were nothing compared to his. This was why he''d been able to come here.


    Prince''s true target was another noble on this trip - Julia, the marquis''s daughter. One of her and her brother was a blood - energy user, and which one exactly had always remained a mystery.


    The story of Innocent Town was gradually unfolding. The most significant parts of this drama were the werewolf''s slayings and the pursuits by these "wandering knights".


    If he wanted to "coincidentally" meet Julia, he had to closely follow this lead.


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    But he suddenly realized that this feeling wasn''t half - bad. When Jack and Ron spoke to him, they both showed a hint of deference, which was quite different from how commoners had behaved towards him in the past. Those cowards had only fear and pleas for mercy in their eyes and couldn''t even utter a complete sentence.


    "Who are you?" Prince abruptly turned to Ron and asked.


    Ron replied, "I''m Ron, the cemetery keeper in this town, Sir Wandering Knight."


    The other''s question was rather brusque and sudden. But given his status, it was understandable. The vampire didn''t view Ron and Jack as sentient beings with emotions. Instead, they were merely things that could answer questions and required only minimal interaction.


    He was neither a count nor one of the two individuals who might possess blood - energy. So, he was likely one of the other ten vampires, and thus of no use to Ron.


    Prince pointed at him.


    "You''ll be my guide."


    As he spoke, he casually tossed down several glittering gold coins. Although Ron wasn''t sure about the prices elsewhere, this amount could cover his salary for several years.


    Ron declined.


    "Sorry, I''m new here and not very familiar with the town. I''m afraid I can''t take on this role."


    Jack''s eyes lit up as he stared at the gold coins on the table.


    However, Ron''s refusal piqued Prince''s curiosity.


    He couldn''t believe Ron had turned him down. Could this be one of the secrets Elizabeth claimed were hidden in Innocent Town?


    If he could uncover something substantial, perhaps he could use it as an excuse to strike up a conversation with Julia.


    Prince picked up a coin.


    "Do you think it''s too little?"


    Ron shook his head.


    "No..."


    Prince interrupted again.


    "Name your price. As long as I can afford it."


    Ron wore a puzzled expression as he sized up the "wandering knight" before him.


    Prince suddenly realized that his approach might be flawed. After all, if rewards could be obtained merely by spending money, what was the difference between here and anywhere else?


    "Fine, then I''ll find someone else." Prince nodded slightly to Ron and rose to leave.


    Of course, he had no intention of finding someone else. In his judgment, Ron was surely a key figure in this town, but this approach wasn''t yielding results.


    He planned to change his method of interacting with Ron, such as following him, eavesdropping, or if all else failed... interrogation.


    "You didn''t take your gold coins," Ron called out to his back.


    Prince didn''t turn around.


    "They''re yours."


    Jack blinked at the gold coins.


    The boy felt a pang of regret and disappointment, but mostly a sense of relief. If he''d offered to be the guide just now, would these gold coins have been his?


    Jack didn''t know the answer because he hadn''t asked.


    Ron didn''t feign modesty. Instead, in character, he pocketed the gold coins and gave Jack a sidelong glance.


    "You seem eager for money."


    The boy smiled awkwardly.


    "No, I''ve just never seen so much money before."


    With this money, he could renovate the tombstones, hire a trustworthy townsman to look after his mother, and then leave Innocent Town with ease to search for his father, whom he''d never met.


    It didn''t matter.


    He''d already saved quite a bit. In another two years, he''d have enough to renovate the cemetery.


    "You deserve a share," Ron quietly slipped a gold coin into the boy''s hand. "Shh, don''t let others see."


    He specifically warned Jack to keep quiet to prevent him from protesting. Ron wasn''t sure what the consequences of his actions would be, nor did he fully understand the boy''s circumstances.


    Ron had simply seen the glint in his eyes.


    Jack looked up at Ron in surprise. His first instinct was to decline, but he opened and closed his mouth several times, yet no sound emerged from his throat...


    Because he needed this money.


    The boy gritted his teeth, stuffed the gold coin into his pocket, and then looked at Ron.


    "If you need any help, whether it''s gathering information, delivering messages, or anything else, just let me know."


    If he could get Jack, a local, to assist Helen, the speed of gathering information would surely increase significantly. Plus, he didn''t seem like the type to betray easily.


    Ron lowered his head slightly, wearing a gentle expression.


    "If I need help, I''ll definitely come to you. Maybe in a few years, I might run into some trouble, but not at the moment."


    Jack lowered his head, saying with some difficulty, "Thank you..."


    Despite being born in Innocent Town, the boy, having experienced his mother''s early passing and his father''s disappearance, knew all too well that kindness was a rare commodity across the Blood Wasteland.


    He silently turned and walked towards the back of the bar, tucking this act of kindness away in his heart for now.


    Ron watched his retreating back.


    Was this how it was?


    He didn''t find this cause for celebration.


    A few gold coins casually tossed by a noble could reduce a commoner to choking back emotions and being unable to speak. And this was happening in Innocent Town, the place that appeared the most peaceful on the entire Blood Plain.


    In other places, no vampire would toss money to a commoner.


    Prince hadn''t actually gone far.


    His bracelet, which could transform into a sword, informed him of that.

 Chapter 25: "Encounter"

    This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    "Are you calling me?"


    "Yes, stop right there."


    "You and Helen have separated, right?"


    "You''re Fane?"


    "You know me?"


    "That''s even better. Since you know who I am, you''d better think carefully about whether you should stay away from Helen. Adjust your working hours so they don''t overlap... You should be able to imagine what it means to offend a knight, right?"


    "Do you think you have the guts to violate Lady Elizabeth''s rules?"


    "Don''t use the lady to pressure me, you lowly commoner. Put yourself in your place. I have countless ways to kill you. I''m a knight."


    "Even if you can do something to me, you can''t win Helen''s heart."


    "No, I don''t need to win anyone''s heart. I just want this beauty''s body. Before I became a knight, I killed even more lowly commoners. You just..."


    "Are you bullying a commoner?"


    "What the hell are you..."


    "Let''s have a go at each other. I''ve heard that the knights in your Innocent Town are all inexperienced novices. Let me verify the truth of this rumor."


    "Are you crazy? Lord Jonas will kill you."


    "I''ll kill you first."


    "Get lost. I don''t have time to deal with your madness."


    "If you don''t have the ability, don''t bark randomly."


    "I''m Julia, commoner. You should say something, right?"


    "Take me to your place."


    "What?"


    "I''m a wandering knight. I''m not used to staying in inns. If you want to repay me, then let me stay at your place for a while. Of course, if you mind, forget it."


    "No, of course not. You''ve helped me, Miss Knight."


    "Then let''s go."

 Chapter 26: Waiting

    Ron led Julia back to the house in the town.


    "Is there someone else living here?" The first thing Julia noticed when she entered was the traces of someone sleeping on the floor.


    "My former lover," Ron said naturally. "We''re both cemetery keepers. But usually, neither she nor I live here. You can sleep on the bed directly."


    Julia actually already knew about this. At that time, she was a bit puzzled as to why the manager of Innocent Town would arrange a guy who had had a partner for her. But when she saw Ron... Julia threw these questions to the back of her mind.


    He was around twenty years old, with a handsome appearance that surpassed most nobles. And this was without Ron being well - groomed, his hair was messy, and he also had a strong physique, which was not common among mortals.


    As for his character and moral character, these could be understood gradually. Even if they weren''t outstanding, it could be barely acceptable. If his soul was interesting enough, it would be perfect.


    As for his ex - lover... Julia had never worried about a commoner.


    "Do you know about wandering knights?" she asked casually as she sat on the edge of the bed.


    Ron sat in the position where Helen usually sat. "I''ve heard of them, but I don''t know much."


    Julia nodded with a calm expression on her face and shared the information she had gathered. "We are all knights who no longer swear allegiance to nobles. The reason I came to this town is simple - the semi - noble quota promised by your lord. I want to get it."


    Ron looked into her eyes. "You want me to help you?"


    She straightened her expression. "Yes. The werewolf who infiltrated your town this time is no ordinary character. Otherwise, Lady Elizabeth would have taken action long ago. And since he dared to show up here, it surely won''t be easy to catch him in a few days. During this time, quite a few commoners in Innocent Town will surely die. If you''re willing to help me, I can guarantee that you won''t be killed by him. And when I get the semi - noble quota, you can at least become a knight."


    Ron showed a worried look. "He will continue to kill?"This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    Julia shook her head with a light smile. "That''s a werewolf, the most cruel and terrifying monster on the Blood Plain. How could a few lives satisfy his desires? Before finding his true identity, you never know who is the servant of the Lord of Flesh and Blood."


    That was true. He had also witnessed the atrocities of werewolves. On the Blood Plain, perhaps only the vampires could rival their cruelty.


    "I agree," Ron replied. "And I owe you a favor anyway."


    Finally... Prince left.


    Since Ron met Julia, he had kept a slightly farther distance from Ron, but his tracking had become more intense. He almost didn''t fall behind by half a step on the whole way. When they entered the house, Prince stayed at a moderate distance, patiently waiting for the situation to develop.


    Until now.


    Hearing Ron''s answer, Julia smiled. "In that case, you can stay here with me. I''ll talk to the knights in your town. You don''t need to be a cemetery keeper anymore."


    Ron nodded. "Okay, then what should we do?"


    For now, Helen should be safe for the time being. She couldn''t cause any interference to Julia''s experience, so at least there was no need to worry about threats from this aspect.


    Moreover, his current identity actually had certain advantages. To Julia, he was very "grateful" to her and was a commoner, so he had no motive to lie to her. And she was likely to confide in him some things that she couldn''t discuss with other nobles.


    If he could gradually gain her trust, it would only be a matter of time before he found her blood - energy - possessing brother. But he didn''t think he was particularly good at pleasing others.


    Julia asked tentatively, "Do you have any ideas of your own?"


    Ron looked at her in confusion. "What ideas should I have?"


    Julia secretly sighed. Well, she couldn''t expect too much. Ron had already perfectly exceeded her standards in many aspects. It would be a bit too much to demand that he was also outstanding in character and ability. And being a bit naive was kind of cute too.


    But Ron suddenly turned serious. "Miss Julia, I''m a commoner. I don''t even have the right to take a look at Lawrence''s house. Among all the things I''ve encountered in my life, not even one is related to this murder case. So I can''t come up with ideas out of thin air. Could you tell me what kind of existence werewolves are, what their characteristics are, how to deal with them, and how we can identify them?"


    How to deal with werewolves. This was what he really wanted to ask.


    Julia didn''t expect Ron to show such an expression, and a look of interest flashed in her eyes. She had some more expectations of him. "Good question. Werewolves are dangerous creatures. They usually look no different from commoners, but they can actively transform into monsters with fangs and claws. When they haven''t transformed, ordinary weapons can kill them, but it''s hard for us to tell their true identities in this state. And when they transform, they become extremely powerful, with astonishing strength and speed, and it''s also very difficult to kill them with ordinary weapons."


    As she said this, she took out a dagger from her waist. The shiny silver blade immediately attracted Ron''s attention. "Only silver - made weapons can kill them. Wounds caused by normal blades have no harm to them. Without silverware, even blood nobles would find it difficult to deal with these monsters."


    Ron remembered that the knights who escorted him used silver swords. He asked casually, "Can they harm nobles?"


    Julia paused, then continued, "Yes, and that''s one of the reasons why they''re so dangerous."


    She didn''t explain in detail, but she wasn''t on guard or surprised by his question either. As a blood noble, Julia could never have imagined that Ron would be so bold as to want to kill a vampire.


    He nodded slightly. "Then we can go to Lawrence''s house to have a look. Maybe there will be some clues there."


    Julia rejected the idea. "No, I''ve already been there. We should first wait patiently for the werewolf to strike again. Those commoners didn''t leave any useful information, but he can''t hide his tracks forever."


    In fact, Julia knew that Lawrence''s death was just the beginning of the story. It was impossible for any important clues to appear so quickly. And she didn''t come to Innocent Town to catch the werewolf. The werewolf incident was just a minor distraction on this journey. What she wanted was to briefly forget her identity and the troubles of reality here, and sink into the carefully arranged dream.


    Ron paused for half a second. "Then let''s wait patiently."

 Chapter 27： Fanaticism and Conspiracy

    Count Charles took out a handkerchief and wiped the blood - stained dagger.


    Two corpses, one male and one female, were laid out in front of him, sitting back - to - back. Their abdomens had burst open from the inside, and the pattern formed by the blood and minced meat splattered on the ground might seem only bloody and chaotic to others.


    But in his eyes, they were two blooming roses.


    He had killed many prisoners and captives. He had heard of the town of Innocence before, but he had never imagined that it would be so wonderful.


    What Charles appreciated was not what other nobles enjoyed, but the residents here. The comfortable environment had made them quite different from the commoners outside.


    In short, there were a large number of ¡°special ingredients¡± here.


    Miserable wails and desperate cries could no longer stimulate his nerves. So, in recent decades, the count had been seeking to dig deeper pleasures.


    For example, he had just asked this so - called ¡°model couple¡± of young people to choose who should die. Without hesitation, they both chose the other.


    And when he said, ¡°Sorry, since you didn''t reach a consensus, I can only kill both of you,¡± the expressions of annoyance and pain on the faces of these two commoners had given him enjoyment for quite a while.


    Count Charles really wanted to include a visit to the town of Innocence in his plan. However, this expense was a bit expensive, and...


    He probably wouldn''t have the chance either.


    ¡°Have you had enough fun?¡± asked the man leaning against the wall.


    Charles let out a long breath, then said politely:


    ¡°Blood and flesh, I always can''t help but indulge in them. Sorry, Wald, I''ve wasted your time. But releasing my pent - up emotions in my free time is also beneficial to our next work.¡±


    Wald shook his head:


    ¡°It''s a pity. Your innate brutality, and your yearning for violence and flesh. If you were a werewolf, you would surely be much stronger than you are now.¡±


    The count smiled and denied it:Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    ¡°These are just some small hobbies. I''m a gentleman, and I think the identity of a vampire suits my behavior. You think you''re brutal, maybe it''s just because we''re better at disguising ourselves than you.¡±


    ¡°It''s time to talk about business, isn''t it?¡±


    The werewolf said:


    ¡°No, there''s something you might want to know.¡±


    Charles slowly straightened his collar:


    ¡°Oh, what is it?¡±


    Wald leaned sideways and said:


    ¡°When you gave us the gift, wasn''t there a knight killed by someone else? My brother saw him - the culprit.¡±


    Charles'' movement paused slightly:


    ¡°You saw him in the town?¡±


    Wald replied with a comfortable expression:


    ¡°Yes, and he''s neither a blood - clan member nor a werewolf. He looks like an outsider. What, do you want to kill him?¡±


    Charles asked briefly:


    ¡°Name?¡±


    Wald said:


    ¡°Ron. He''s a gravedigger now. When he entered the town, there was a woman with him. I don''t know if she''s your property. But now he''s with Julia.¡±


    When hearing the word ¡°property¡±, a flash of hostility appeared in Charles'' eyes, but he quickly restrained it:


    ¡°In that case, let''s not cause more trouble. The most important thing now is to finish the work at hand. If I have time, I''ll get my things back when I leave.


    ¡°By the way, give the little thief who stole things a lesson.¡±


    Wald could imagine how bloody the ¡°little lesson¡± in Charles'' mouth would be.


    He stood up straight:


    ¡°Our priest has figured out the structure here. Her power will grow continuously with your performance here. No wonder you want to kill her. She''s really his favorite daughter.


    ¡°If this goes on, there might be a fourth grand duke in the Blood Plains.¡±


    The count asked:


    ¡°This place was built by her over hundreds of years. Her blood power must be stronger than those of the same rank. So, tell me, how do we destroy this place?¡±


    Walton explained:


    ¡°Everything here is fake, or rather, it''s rooted in falsehood. Of course, this is what the priest said. And all the lies here will continuously strengthen this place, and the lies here will become more and more solid.¡±


    The town of Innocence itself was the biggest lie.


    Charles asked:


    ¡°So...¡±


    A deep ferocity appeared in the werewolf''s eyes:


    ¡°We have to expose this lie. But just stating the truth won''t have any effect at all. We must make all of them realize that this is a lie.


    ¡°The most important thing is to make those twelve nobles realize that they''re not in a play set up for them, but in a real nightmare. By the way, we also need to scare those stupid commoners and make them have some doubts about Elizabeth''s rules.


    ¡°Except for those two children who can''t be killed, about half of the blood - clan members will die at the hands of my fellow - beings. After all, you still have to escape to the Blood King''s territory. It''s good for you to offend fewer people.¡±


    The count nodded slightly:


    ¡°Can you escape?¡±


    Wald said with a firm expression:


    ¡°We will surely die, but this is a necessary sacrifice.


    ¡°Destroying Elizabeth''s efforts over hundreds of years can not only prevent her from growing into a grand duke in this millennium but also warn other blood - clan members. Her compatriots will surely be afraid of such a thing happening.


    ¡°The Blood Plains will eventually belong to our Lord.¡±


    So he said he wasn''t suitable to be a werewolf.


    Charles nodded slightly:


    ¡°Then let''s do it, before she returns to her territory.¡±


    Wald agreed:


    ¡°Count, then please trouble you to stop those subordinates of Elizabeth in the castle. You brought the one in the castle...¡±


    The count nodded imperceptibly:


    ¡°Brought.


    ¡°If you fail, I won''t come back, and no one can help you. She''s a dangerous opponent.¡±


    Wald smiled:


    ¡°Who would have thought that Count Charles, who is troubled by werewolves, actually has the same heart and beliefs as us?¡±


    The count gracefully raised the corners of his mouth slightly:


    ¡°Yes, no one can tell that I actually greatly appreciate the Blood King''s ideas and views. Every noble killed by ¡®the Murderer¡¯ Charles was carefully selected.


    ¡°Go, my brother.¡±


    Wald said with a fanatical expression:


    ¡°The Lord of Flesh and Blood is above.¡±


    Charles showed a half - genuine and half - fake piety:


    ¡°Praise the God of Blood.¡±


    The werewolf shook his head with a smile at his frivolous attitude, then turned and walked out of this commoner''s residence, leaving him a resolute and crazy back.


    Charles sighed slightly.


    What a pity.


    Such an interesting and wonderful place was about to turn into a sea of fire under the claws of these beasts.


    And he couldn''t stay here to appreciate it.

 Chapter 28: Confrontation

    Ron was sitting on the bed, eyes closed, in a state of meditation.


    At this time, Julia was wandering around the town, observing this miniature mortal world out of curiosity, and looking for clues about the "werewolf".


    Taking this opportunity, he met with Helen and instructed her to go around the town to inquire about the news of other "wandering knights".


    He had completed all the preparations for "I Am the Sun", even exceeding the standard level described in the materials. As long as he took a look at the sun in this world, he could release the light and heat that could suppress the self - healing ability of vampires.


    In addition to this technique, among the three psychic techniques he mastered, there was one that could be used in battle - the Imperial Left Hand, which could heal wounds. So, in a sense, he also had a self - healing ability.


    Obviously, he had already probed that Julia knew how to kill vampires. So, getting the answer shouldn''t be difficult. The softer way was to fish for information. If she was too cautious...


    He could also take direct action when there was no way out and interrogate her about the method of killing the blood clan. Moreover, Julia didn''t seem to be a warrior with a strong will, but rather a noble lady who had hardly experienced any hardships.


    However, compared with the second method, Ron preferred to obtain the information he needed without arousing suspicion. Also, Julia''s coming to Innocent Town to seek an "encounter" had made him think deeply.


    What kind of person was she beneath her pretended exterior?


    Although this was supposed to be an "encounter", in fact, Julia''s appearance wasn''t particularly sophisticated or romantic. She maintained a considerable distance during her contact with him, making it impossible for him to imagine that what Julia proposed was an "encounter".


    This feeling was as if she didn''t really understand such things, which was completely in line with her appearance. And if she was a young noble lady who was eager for love but knew nothing about it...


    She was exactly the kind of person who would come to Innocent Town to experience an "encounter story".


    Obviously, he hadn''t yet broken through the defenses in this young blood - clan member''s heart. Julia actually hadn''t let go of her reserve and still maintained a sense of distance from Ron and Innocent Town.


    Now, all he had to do was wait to break through her shell and figure out where her blood - energy - possessing brother was at the moment.


    Sometimes, Ron would think about whether he was being too cautious when facing these blood - clan members. If he had been more radical in his actions, he might have completed the isolation ceremony by now.


    Of course, he might also be dead.


    Since waking up, the environment he was in had been extremely hostile and dangerous to humans. If he were a vampire, he probably wouldn''t need to be so careful.


    It seemed that in his subconscious, he had already regarded these blood nobles as extremely dangerous enemies in his heart and assumed that they thought the same of him.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    Strange...


    Also, his calmness, caution, hostility towards vampires, and the anger he felt when he saw the werewolf massacring commoners all puzzled him.


    Although these were positive emotions, they were completely inconsistent with the ordinary Ron in his memory.


    Could it be that his mental abilities had been enhanced during the transformation process? After all, the body and consciousness were intricately linked.


    Or was there some reason he hadn''t realized?


    Dong, dong.


    Suddenly, someone knocked on his door.


    Ron quickly walked over and opened the door halfway.


    He slightly narrowed his eyes.


    Standing outside the door was a young man of similar height to him. He was wearing a long coat suitable for resisting sand and wind, and his eyes looking at Ron were full of anticipation.


    "Sorry to disturb you," the man said, showing a polite smile to Ron. "My name is Wald. Is Miss Julia inside?"


    Was this the story arranged for him by Innocent Town?


    Ron replied, "No, she''s not here right now. You can come back another time."


    Wald nodded slightly. "Thank you. May I come in and wait?"


    Ron slightly shook his head. "It''s quite narrow here."


    Wald showed a regretful expression. "What a pity."


    He didn''t see what he was looking for in Ron''s eyes.


    Calmness, lack of anger, like a pool of stagnant water, without any value for provocation. Such a guy, even if he became his comrade, would just be an ordinary person.


    It seemed that he couldn''t trust Ted''s words. Ted actually said that he saw extremely crazy tyranny hidden in Ron''s eyes.


    "This is a nice place, isn''t it?" Wald suddenly said, seemingly out of nowhere.


    Ron slightly lowered his head. "Maybe. I''ve never seen a place like Innocent Town. I have to say, Lady Elizabeth has created something unprecedented."


    Something was wrong.


    This Wald, who claimed to be here to visit Julia, showed no intention of leaving at all.


    Wald asked without any disguise, "You''re from out of town, aren''t you?"


    Ron nodded slightly. "Yes, I wasn''t born here."


    Wald grinned. "Julia''s identity is fake."


    Ron showed a surprised look. "What are you talking about?"


    The werewolf ignored his expression. "And her suitors have noticed you two. You''re from out of town, so you may not know that Miss Julia has a noble status. She has quite a few suitors.


    "One of them named Prince is also in the town. He doesn''t have a very broad mind. Presumably, you came here for your own reasons, but it''s not a good idea to offend him.


    "He''ll kill you."


    Wald was neither a blood - clan member nor a knight. The bracelet didn''t react to him at all. Either he was just an ordinary mortal, or the bracelet couldn''t detect his biological energy level passively.


    He wasn''t here to find Julia at all.


    Ron asked sincerely, "How can I kill them?"


    This was the opportunity he had been waiting for.


    Wald was a werewolf.


    Except for the werewolf he had made eye contact with, he hadn''t shown any flaws. And Wald had come to him, not Julia or other vampires.


    Combined with what the vampires said about werewolves being hard to detect, and Wald''s behavior of not hiding his identity,


    He wasn''t on the opposite side of Ron.


    Wald smiled.


    That''s more like it.


    He took out a wooden stake engraved with intricate patterns from his bosom and handed it to Ron. "After subduing the blood - clan member, drive this into their heart. The material of the wooden stake is quite ordinary, so don''t let them break it, especially not until the last moment."


    As Ron took the wooden stake, he realized that there was no material in the Blood Wasteland that could be used to make such a weapon - there were no plants here at all.


    Wald smiled at him. "Also, be careful not to kill the two little ones. As for the others, you can do whatever you want, as long as you can. I don''t know where you''re from or what abilities you have, and I don''t care.


    "Go and kill the vampire who''s about to attack you."


    The werewolf didn''t care what Ron would actually do, whether he killed Prince or spared him. As long as it deviated from Elizabeth''s script, it was beneficial to him.


    This drama was originally used by the vampires to smear them werewolves, trying to plant hatred for them in the hearts of commoners and knights. Then let them expose the ugly truth.


    In fact, he had originally wanted to kill Ron and scare Julia, but the werewolf''s instincts were resisting this idea.


    Ron exuded a faint threat. Although this feeling wasn''t as strong as that of the count, who could rival him,


    Only a few viscounts who mastered blood - energy could give him this feeling. Although he could easily kill them after turning into a werewolf, he was still in his mortal form, which feared death.


    Moreover, Ron was very cautious and didn''t have any intention of being alone with him in the house.


    If Ron had really let him in, he would have killed this outsider who could change the situation by now.


    But since the other party didn''t show any signs of relaxation, if he really wanted to kill Ron here, he would have to force his way into the house first and then transform into a werewolf.


    And then he would have to bear the risk of being killed in the meantime.


    Wald thought about it. If he were in the same situation, he could have killed the enemy several times.


    Judging from the psychological quality Ron had shown, the possibility that he could seize the opportunity to kill himself was almost certain. However, it seemed quite interesting...


    A truly dangerous creature had infiltrated among the blood nobles, and some of them even regarded it as their prey. Then what kind of ridiculous expressions would these nobles show?


    Wald knew that this definitely wasn''t the last time he and Ron would meet.

 Chapter 29: Answers

    "How could that be?" Helen shook her head in disbelief.


    The man sitting opposite her quickly said, "I''m telling the truth. They saw that wandering knight knock a commoner to the ground right on the street. He said his name was Gavin. If the training team hadn''t stopped him, he might have..."


    The man''s voice grew softer, and he subtly motioned to Helen with his eyes behind her.


    "Are you Helen?" A female voice came from behind her.


    Julia glanced at the commoner opposite Helen. The man quickly stood up, sensibly gave up his seat, and before leaving, he threw a helpless look at Helen.


    Helen watched as the female wandering knight sat down opposite her. "You are..."


    Julia looked Helen up and down with an examining gaze. "You''re quite good - looking, but a bit inferior to me."


    "Good - looking" couldn''t really describe her appearance. Helen was particularly confident about her looks. But just from the skin visible outside Julia''s mask, she could tell that Julia was a beauty.


    Helen asked, "Did you come to comment on my appearance?"


    Julia casually scattered a few gold coins on the table. "No, I''m here to ask questions. If you answer my questions sincerely, these are yours."


    Helen immediately put on an expression determined to get the gold coins. "Ask away."


    She nodded slightly. "How did you and Ron meet?"


    Helen had expected that the other party would come to ask about Ron, but she still didn''t quite understand what Julia''s purpose was in asking these questions.


    "The first time I saw him was in the wilderness. I was attacked by three ferocious hyenas, and then he just showed up. Now that I think about it... it seems like it happened yesterday."


    Julia watched the woman in front of her lost in memory. "But you two separated."


    Helen smiled faintly. "In fact, it was quite natural for us to be together. It helped us survive better in this dangerous world. In the Blood Plain, who has the time to think about their true feelings? If we hadn''t come to Innocent Town, it would have been extremely difficult for us to survive, and we wouldn''t have realized that we actually never loved each other. Fortunately, since there was no love between us, Ron and I are still friends. Miss Knight, you don''t mean to harm him, do you?"Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    Julia said casually, "I''m just curious."


    Originally, she had expected that after she "saved" Ron, he would immediately fall into adoration and love for her. But the development of the situation was beyond her expectations.


    Ron had behaved quite ordinarily. Now that she thought about it, this was actually the normal reaction of an ordinary commoner. The awe of knights made it impossible for him to have any intense emotions.


    And Julia''s expectation of a grand and romantic story in her heart had dissipated.


    After all, reality was not the same as the novels she had read. There was no possibility between commoners and nobles. Fear, like a high wall, had shut out all possibilities.


    Now, there was only a faint fondness for this handsome man left in her heart - mostly due to his appearance, a slight curiosity about the thoughts of ordinary people, and... deep disappointment.


    There was still nothing.


    "Helen, what kind of person do you think Ron is?" Julia asked gracefully, propping her cheek with her right hand.


    Helen counter - asked, "If you really want to know, why not spend some time with him, patiently feel Ron''s inner world? I believe you''re more likely to get the answer that way than by asking me. In my eyes, he has always been the man who came to my rescue. My impression of him has remained the same since then."


    Julia asked, a bit puzzled, "What do you mean by that?"


    Helen looked straight at her. "You suddenly appeared and barged into his life, like the protagonist in some story. But is it real? This is just my intuition, without any basis, but I think you don''t regard him as an equal to communicate with. Instead, you''re looking down on him with the eyes of a knight looking at a commoner. Before coming to Innocent Town, I often saw that kind of look. They looked at me as if I wasn''t a flesh - and - blood being, but something inferior to them. If you want to see clearly or experience something, at least temporarily forget your superior status, even if it''s a lie, it''s better than the truth. Otherwise, you won''t get anything because you haven''t given anything."


    Helen looked at Julia, who was slightly stunned.


    She was right.


    Julia knew this very well. After all, knowing that the entire Innocent Town was their stage, it was difficult for her to regard Ron as a real - life being.


    Moreover, outside of Innocent Town, she had never interacted with commoners like this.


    But Helen''s words that hit the mark in her heart instantly brought her in front of this girl, making her vaguely realize that in terms of mentality, the townspeople here were actually no different from herself.


    Helen was a living girl with her own thoughts, and she might even be smarter than her. If she were also a noble, she would probably be the most dazzling one in their social circle.


    What Innocent Town really offered them was not a simple and cliched script, nor a group of puppets that could be manipulated at will, but these flesh - and - blood commoners with their own thoughts, joys, and sorrows, who didn''t know the truth.


    This was a corner of the real world, and this was the beauty of this place.


    But when realizing the infinite possibilities contained here, Julia suddenly felt a strange emotion towards the woman in front of her and Ron, who was still unaware at the moment. She suddenly thought...


    They were pitiful.


    If she were like them, living in an illusory world built by lies, how terrifying and sad that would be.


    The only lucky thing for them might be that they didn''t know the truth.


    "You''re right," she agreed. "Thank you for driving away some unrealistic thoughts. I suddenly know what I should do."


    For nobles who had paid enough "superior blood" to come here, as long as they didn''t expose the truth on a large scale, they wouldn''t be punished for doing anything.


    At this moment, a crazy idea came to her mind.


    According to her previous thoughts, at most, she could experience a thrilling and touching romantic story here.


    But now...


    Julia stood up. "These coins are all yours."


    Helen casually put away the gold coins and looked up at her. "You''re welcome."


    This way, she could be considered to have completed her task excellently. She was supposed to encounter Julia in a more appropriate way at a more suitable time, but she didn''t expect Julia to come to her on her own initiative.


    But before she could get up and leave, there was a commotion on the street, even mixed with the voices of knights calming down the townspeople.


    Voices filled with fear

 Chapter 30: Revelation

    Bang.


    Julia pushed the door open forcefully. A bold idea had emerged in her mind when she finished talking with Helen, and she had been in a hurry all the way back.


    Ron looked up at her in surprise. There was a hint of unease and nervousness on Julia''s face that he had never seen before, as if she was about to do something.


    Could it be that Helen had gone to find her?


    "Ron," she said, standing still. "I want to tell you something, but before I officially start, you have to answer me a question. Live muddle - headedly for decades, or take a gamble in danger and opportunity?"


    Ron looked at her with calm eyes. "You want to hear the truth, right?"


    Julia stared back at him with bright eyes.


    He replied, "Opportunity."


    Julia pulled over a chair and sat down, looking at Ron at eye level. "What I''m going to say next will reveal a cruel truth. Knowing it may not be a happy thing. If you want me to stop, you can tell me at any time."


    Ron looked at her firmly.


    Things had changed.


    Julia was now considering his thoughts and feelings, instead of just talking to herself. This meant that she was really communicating with him.


    Julia nodded slightly, then raised her hand and pressed on her black mask. "First, I have to confess that I''m actually a noble."


    She pulled off the mask, revealing her pale face, blood - red lips, slightly extended long fangs, and the beautiful appearance that every noble had.


    An uncontrollable look of surprise flashed in Ron''s eyes, but he continued to wait silently for Julia to speak.


    The noble lady said with a melancholy look, "Among the nobles, the name of Innocent Town has been passed down for a long time. For us, it''s actually a magical entertainment place. As long as we pay enough blood to its owner, Lady Elizabeth, we can come here and enjoy playing the roles of commoners or knights."This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    Ron slightly lowered his head, dropping his eyelids to avoid eye contact with Julia.


    As she said this, she also became a bit nervous. "And we need to abide by several agreements of Lady Elizabeth here. We are not allowed to let the truth leak out, not allowed to kill openly at will, not allowed to attack the knights in charge of the town''s operation, and not allowed to kill fellow travelers. Besides that, we can do anything. Ron, there are no werewolves in Innocent Town. It''s Count Charles from the neighboring territory. And these killings are just entertainment for them. This is the truth."


    Ron raised his head and looked directly at Julia. But he shed his usual disguise. There was no expression on his face. In his lowered eyes, it was as if there were hot lava slowly flowing, or like gloomy and thick black thunderclouds, but there was no movement for a long time.


    There was only a deep sense of oppression.


    Julia suddenly felt that the person sitting in front of her was not a commoner at all, but a powerful noble who could decide her life.


    She also understood why a smart woman like Helen would fall for him. The managers of Innocent Town had indeed arranged the most "interesting" man here for her.


    Ron said in a low voice, "Why are you telling me this?"


    For some reason, her voice instinctively became much weaker, like when being scolded by her parents, not daring to show the slightest dissatisfaction. "I thought you might want to know."


    Ron closed his eyes.


    Suffocating.


    He opened his eyes again.


    All the oppression and timidity disappeared with his movement. The strange feeling just now was like a short - lived illusion. She couldn''t even recall whether it had really existed.


    Ron said as usual, "Thank you, Miss Julia."


    Julia took a deep breath, trying to return to her original state, instinctively resisting thinking deeply about what she had just seen.


    All of it...


    She then asked naturally, "What do you think now?"


    Ron first asked, "I don''t quite understand why you''re telling me this."


    Julia told the truth. "Since I can do anything here, I can hardly imagine anything more valuable than what I''m doing now. I''m doing this because I want to know what you''ll do."


    Ron leaned forward slightly, looking at Julia''s face. "Then will you help me?"


    Julia counter - asked, "It depends on what you want to do. If you want to go against my fellow nobles, then I definitely can''t help you. If you want to escape, I can give you a hand. But in the Blood Plain, where can you escape to?"


    Julia was waiting for Ron''s answer, expecting him to say something that would surprise her.


    But what Ron noticed was that she was already thinking from his perspective. Although Julia didn''t really empathize with him, this also proved that these nobles were not born inhumane monsters.


    They just stood too high and were used to ignoring the mortals at their feet.


    When vampires realized that the position they stood on was lower than others, they might scramble to learn how to respect humans.


    Provided that enough of them remained.


    Ron asked sincerely, "Miss Julia, why did you really want to come here?"


    She showed a hesitant look, unsure whether she should reveal her situation.


    "You want to know my thoughts, and I''ll tell you," Ron said calmly. "But I have to confirm something in my mind first."


    Julia made up her mind. "I actually came here with my brother. He said he wanted to meet Lady Elizabeth, and I followed. Then, recommended by the town''s managers... I met you."


    She still couldn''t bring herself to say the word "encounter".


    Ron asked "casually", "Is he in the town too?"


    Julia nodded. "Yes, but I don''t know where he is. When we came, he told me that he wanted to find Count Charles and gain Lady Elizabeth''s appreciation with outstanding performance. Why are you asking about him?"


    Ron asked sincerely, "I want to know what kind of person he is. Is that okay?"


    "Norman..." Julia showed a bit of resistance. "I can only tell you that if you had met Norman, he might have killed you by now."


    A hint of imperceptible fear flashed in the corner of her eyes as she spoke.


    Ron didn''t press further. "Well, then..."


    Suddenly, there was a commotion from the street outside. There were panicked whispers, the hasty footsteps of the patrol team, and the shouts of knights scolding the commoners. But anyone could tell that these blood - clan servants had no confidence in their words at all.


    "...... Joe... the mayor... impossible... dead..."