Strongest Tree 44 Chapter 43
"Wait for me here" Kence said to King and the others. The four were confuse as it was visible on their facesThey can now see the outline of the city, just like the previous small city this big one was surrounded by wallsThis was to prevent fallens from messing with the people inside thus protecting the citizensThe surrounding of the city unlike other places were devoid of any fallens, any fallen that came close to the city was immediately slaughtered by those who have the abilityFor the weak fallens are their nightmares but for the strong fallens are something that will make them even more stronger or their currency!Paper or metal money are now worthless, the only valuable thing that you can use as currency are either Blood Beans, foods or weaponsHowever, among all of these things Blood Beans has the highest value. Even a Blood Bean from an early-stage Warrior fallen although has decreased value because of the Supernaturals becoming more powerful but it can still be use to by quite a bit of food"Why do you not want us to accompany you?" King asked, their goal in their journey was to reach one of the bigger cities to have access on resources or information that humans managed to get but now Kence doesn't want them to enter the city"A city this big was bound to have a complex hierarchy of power, a group of five Mystics although might not threaten them but they won't let other groups to have it"Hearing this except for Calter who although being the strongest aside from their leader but was still a child realized what Kence meantThem entering the city was bound to attract some unwanted attention, even on the previous city it was only hours that pa.s.sed when one of the Generals came to knock on their door"I'll investigate first the inner workings of this city, wait for me here" saying this Kence started preparing "My Lord, can I at least go with you? What if something happen to you in there?" King asked worriedly, Kence was their pillar they can't risk losing himKence chuckled "relax, I'm still a Mystic in their eyes. A valuable a.s.set right?""But-" King still wanted to protest but Kence waved his hand to stop him"You stay here and protect each other. Just think of what can happen if they encounter a powerful enemy while we are inside the city"King looked at his son, although Kence saved their lives but for him his own son was still the most important for him and he can't risk his son's life"The more people there is the harder it is to move and will most likely be detected. Who knows if there are some Mystic there with detection abilities right?" King sighed, he knows that Kence's decision is final but he still can't help but worry about him"Wish me luck!" Saying this Kence continued his way towards the cityWith his skills before the apocalypse he hid himself on the various obstacles around the city whether it he cars, trees or other things
He doesn't plan to enter the city directly, he wants to sneak in and the first thing he needed to do was to avoid being detected by the guards of the cityKence circled around the city walls to see if there was any opening that he can use to enter without being noticeAs the city was just too big, there are still some parts of the city where the construction of the walls were not finish yet. The guards are mostly concentrated on those areasKence noticed that the people can only enter through the gates of the city and some paid the guards a Blood Bean before the guards will give them a badgeAs the distance was too far, Kence cannot see the features of those badges. While the others entered the city by showing a badge and they don't pay a Blood BeanSeeing this, Kence came into conclusion that those badges are like some sort of identification badge that a citizen of this city haveWhile those who paid a Blood Bean has just arrived to the city, its like it was some sort of a pay to become the city's citizenKence look at the top of the walls, every few tens of meters a guard was standing there. They might be there to caught those who doesn't want to pay the 'tax'Kence started pondering, he can find a way to sneak on the city but he won't have one of those badges. What if inside the city those badges are something essential? He doesn't want to enter the city directly as people might think that he is a Mystic. Although unlike King and the others who have some tree bark on their body that he doesn't have but his unnatural green hair and eyes might make them think soAlthough he is not a Bloodline Holder as he is a Soul Tree but most people mistook him for a Mystic when he was with King and the others because it was obvious that he was their leaderA normal Supernatural being the leader of four Mystics? How is that possible! Although Mystics can respect a Supernatural because of the Supernatural's ability or mind but it was different than a person's att.i.tude to those who are strong!Thankfully, as his preparation Kence wore a black robe with a hoody, it can somehow hide his hair color and it was night now which made it harder to see Even if the guards saw his hair and eye color he can just say that he is a normal Supernatural and he just colored his hair with green. Although the guards will feel suspicious as the color of his hair doesn't look like it was just dyed as the color was too vibrant and full of vitality!But what can the guards do? And also will a normal Mystic lie about them being a Mystic? No! In fact they will proudly announce it to the world as a Mystic's status was higher than normal Supernaturals. Mystics always received a good treatmentThinking of this Kence walk towards one of the gates like normal but he still attracted some attention because he was covering his face with the hood which is suspiciousHe stand at the back of the line, one of the guards notice him. The guard walk towards him "hey you! Why are you covering your face?" The guard shouted at KenceKence acted and an expression of fear was visible on his face, even his whole body was trembling a bit. One look at him and people will think that he was some pushover who can easily be bulliedAs an ex-a.s.sa.s.sin he also know how to act, after all its not always sneaking on the house of the target. Sometimes he tried to get close to his target and when they least expected it his knife will strike them"I-I'Im s-sorry sir!" Kence's voice was trembling with fear, if he use his acting skills to an audition he will surely get the role that he wanted"Answer my d.a.m.n question!" The guard asked fiercely, a lot of normal people or weaker Supernaturals came to seek asylum on their city. Naturally, these people needed the guard's permission to enter and for that some will try to curry favor with the guardsThis made these guards very arrogant and was always looking down on the kind of people like Kence who was 'weak' and a 'wimp'"S-sorry! I-I just thought that t-this was cool" the guard look at Kence's face before laughing when he saw some tears on his eyes were on the verge of falling downWhen the other people heard what Kence said they too all started laughing a bit and thought that Kence was one of those people who try to look strong as if they are some main characters in a fantasy bookWhen the guard finished laughing and look at Kence with disdain"Get out of here, the Gu Serpent Empire doesn't need you!" The guars roaredGu Serpent Empire? Kence asked to himselfHmm, it seems like an ambitious person built their 'Empire' here to make their dream of being an Emperor a reality. Kence thought with ridiculeNonetheless, he still showed a devastating lookKence's trembling hands messily entered his pockets as if he was looking for something "s-sir d-dont be like that!"Kence's trembling hands took a small pouch from his pocket but because of his 'fear' the pouch fell down on the ground and he hurriedly took it back on his hands"S-sir this is all the B-Blood Beans I-I have please take it" the guard took the pouch in an aggressive mannerHe opened it and saw five small red beans. Judging from its aura these five Blood Beans all came from an early-stage Warrior Rank FallenSeeing this, the disdain that the guard has for Kence increased"Just five early-stage Warrior Rank Blood Beans are all you have just how weak are you?!""I-I'm sorry, let m-me enter the city p-please!" The guard snorted coldly and said "whatever, just don't cut in line!" Before walking awayThis scene didn't cause much of a commotion as it was just a normal occurrence of a guard bullying a weak personIf it was the previous era entering a city was as natural as breathing and no one will stop you without a valid reason, too bad it was now the apocalypseKence felt relieved when the guard left him alone, this scene will make people think that he was just some weak Supernatural and will never think of him as a MysticEven if his hair cause some suspicion just remembering the way he acted was enough to wipe away those suspicionAfter all, there are Bloodline Holders who doesn't have much of a change of their physical appearanceOn their journey, Kence even saw a Bloodline Holder bandit that caught them off-guardAt first they thought that the Bloodline Holder was just one of the normal Supernatural subordinate of the Mystics and it sneakily attack Kence Apparently, the Mystic has some sort of a Werewolf Bloodline. It only gained some werewolf characteristics when it launched an attack to himIf even he who doesn't have much contact to Mystics knew this, how can a city this big with lots of Mystics not know something like this right?If there is a werewolf there might also be a Vampire right? If a person has a Vampire Bloodline it might not change their characteristics aside from becoming pale and some fangs which at first glance was not different from normal peopleIn short, a Bloodline Holder does not necessarily have too much inhuman featuresWhen it was his turn to enter the city one of the other guards toss a badge to him. They all knew that he already gave all his Blood Beans 'saving' to the other guard and they won't gain another from him as they don't believe someone as cowardly and weak as him will have moreAside from throwing him disdainful looks they didn't do much and treated him as airWhen Kence entered the 'Gu Serpent Empire' he saw that it was not that much different from the previous small cityThe most outer area only has tents for people to live and even the sanitation was a problem as it smells too horribleThe smell of urine and even human feces intertwined and made an unbearable stenchThere are also a lot of flies flying everywhere while the people look starved and a lot of them was already too skinnyKence's expectation on this city shattered, with many powerful Supernaturals and Mystics here they can at least provide food for everyoneThe powerful will hunt while the poor will farm or do manual labor, a symbiotic relationshipIn the previous small city although there are starving people it was not as severe as hereKence look at these people with pity, being weak in this new era was really the gravest sin one will have