Chapter 174 - THAT LONELY BACK I (1/2)
EARTH PRIME
EMPIRE OF JAPAN
KYOTO
Under a bamboo tree, there is an old beggar that is sitting on the hard ground; in front of the old beggar is a bowl.
In the bowl there are a few silvers and coppers. The Old Beggar did not ask nor did he beg. Yet, people still offers some silver and coppers.
People called him the Old Beggar of the Bamboo Grove. A few weeks ago a dungeon appeared here.
With Arrayist Master Lee Sangmin creating a Trapping Array on the area and seal the monsters, it has become a dungeon and countless low level users flocked here to strengthen themselves.
As the monster did not pose threats to Energy Disperse Stage user, the upper echelons of the Empire of Japan did not intend to monopolize it and all users can come and kills monsters.
As monsters are limited and do not regenerate easily the amount of monster in the area has decreased.
Even now they are still people researching where did this monster originate from and how do they regenerate.
Some researchers have concluded that low level monster seems to regenerate faster and that rate of regeneration also dependent on the geography of certain place.
But there are also some monsters that do not regenerate. This includes the monster from Legendary rank to Ultimate.
Such prime example is the White Dragon that used to be on top of the Peak of White Mountain in the false Earth.
Then there is also the Black Dragon on the Volcanic Mountain Range.
When they returned back to Earth Prime the World Government quickly found this titanic monster slumbering.
The Black Dragon is on top of Mt Vesuvius in Italy. The Mountain itself had changed when they returned.
Not only the mountain becomes taller, it is on par with Mount Everest. Experts says that if the Volcano erupted the entire Italy would be covered in ash, smoke and volcanic lava.
Other than that, monsters regenerate in many places helping humanity growth.
As the wars are being prohibited right now to fend off the coming invasion of Weronians, the world is relatively at peace with some exterminating monster guild formed all over the world.
Most of them will disband after finished fulfilling their objectives.
Most of them seem to hunt high level monster in a raid like system. Even though some monsters are way above their level, with numbers, they could even defeat a Legendary rank monster.
In this dungeon that Lee Sangmin created, there are two legendary monsters. A Tengu and a Wolf Demon.
Both of them are yokai.
Researchers attributed this kind of monster appearance to the geography.
It seems that the World Orb created monster based on the lore of tat specific culture.
In Europe there is a lot of monster usually found and depicted in fantasy stories like ogres, orcs, and beastly monster.
Many of the guilds that were formed after the Fall to reap the benefits after killing the monsters flocked here, wanting to kill the Tengu and Wolf Demon.
But what has this got to do with the Old Beggar?
When the Old Beggar first arrived, no one pays him any attention other than a few people that pity him.
Yet, he rejected food and accept only silver and copper. He would not accept gold. People remarked that the Old Beggar is eccentric.
But then when Major Arno and the White Witch Giselle came here to subdue the Tengu the Old Beggar stop them and whispers something to the White Witch.
Major Arno wanted to stop the Old Beggar and even created a Steel chain that exploded out from the Earth to bind the Old Beggar from moving yet the Old Beggar dodges the chain effortlessly.
With one slap of his hand, the chain turns to dark smokes like its element was transformed from solid to gaseous substance.
It drew the attention of the nearby onlooker as they were shocked to see that the Old Beggar could easily dodges Major Arno who was in Energy Disperse Stage Middle Realm and even neutralizes his attack with such a simple slap.
Arno was shocked and alarms rang inside his heart but he was unable to move when the Old Beggar wanted to whisper something to the White Witch.
It was like he was under a spell.
The onlooker all understands something. It seems they underestimated the Old Beggar. He is actually an expert.
The White Witch while she was shocked was jolted scared and terrified after listening to the whispers of the Old Beggar.
Nobody knows what the Old Beggar whisper to the White Witch but her face was pale and her hand was trembling furiously after she heard the Old Beggar words.
She then orders Major Arno to accompany her back to the World Council Headquarters on the new Island of Peace somewhere in the Mediterranean leaving the entrance of the Dungeon and did not return.
Since then, people have been giving the Old Beggar sitting under the bamboo a few cooper and silver.
Sometimes if there is some danger the Old Beggar would get up from his sitting spot and help the unlucky users using his staff.
Today, there were a few guilds that try to subdue the Tengu and the wolf Demon but all were inflicted terrible injuries.
But there were no casualties as the Old Beggar arrived and help the people from getting killed.
They all expressed gratitude and the status of the Old Beggar in front of the entrance of the Dungeon rose again.
Nowadays, all users that came here shows respect as they walk past the Old Beggar. Those who wanted to give alms can give those who don't want to don't have to.
But the people here also perplexed at the Old Beggar. The old Beggar could clearly kill those two legendary rank monsters yet he did not.
Instead of killing the monster he seems to be content sitting under the bamboo tree and begging.
Some people speculate that the Old Beggar might be a Seed Forming low realm expert or an Energy Disperse Stage High Realm expert thus he is not interested in fighting such low rank monster.
At least to those high level experts Legendary rank was not as beneficial for their leveling like the low level users.
They were also perplexed that such a powerful person is not famous.
After the Battle at the World Council Island, there were some people that shot to famous status.
This all started from the Battle of the Gods that started with the Prince fighting the Nightingale Sasha.
At the time Sasha was not the Nightingale but a Seed Forming Realm expert. Their battle crushed mountains and hills and created tremors all over the false Earth.
In that battle Sasha lost and ran to the Forest Region where the High Lord of the Forest Alliance Arrayist Lee Sangmin held off the Prince using the Formation he constructed.
In that battle The Prince establishes his status as the world number one expert and the world strongest man.
Then there is the battle of the Prince with the Seven Fairy.
Seven powerful Energy Disperse Stage expert could not even withstand the prince might in a few bouts thus showing to the world the gap between a Seed Forming expert with Energy Disperse Stage expert was like the difference between Heaven and Earth.
They were almost killed if not for the mercy of the prince who accepted them as his subordinate at least that is how the stories go among the people.
But the people in the know that the Prince was schemed against and nearly get duped and suffer a great loss.
The Sven Fairy wanted protection against the Beast Horde and the prince accepted.
By that time and after this repeated showing of might and invincibility the Prince faction were threats to all the organizations in the world.
The schemes that were laid for the Prince to fall into did not happen at least that is how it seems but it actually worked.
The League of Freedom while one of their objectives was foiled but they managed to wake the world and view the Prince faction with suspicious eyes.
And as long as they look towards the growth of the prince faction, the League of Freedom could bide their time as they grow silently.
That was the grand scheme. And the Prince knows but he can't do anything about it since he could not force or change what people think of him.
If the Seven Fairy as the Prince subordinates is not enough for the whole world to be wary of the Prince faction then there is also the White Tiger Wang Jian who Loki saves from demise in China.
He possesses artifacts from head to toe, the artifact of Sun Wukong. With it he reigns supreme in the battlefield, wining battle after battle.