Armipotent

Tang Shaoyang was surprised to hear that from Ivert. A polite invitation was the last thing he expected after his encounter with Arnor. He expected to be treated harshly; it was a surprise to receive the polite invitation from Allurion. From his understanding after a conversation with Reinar, Earth should not be grouped with the world that had experienced more than one dimensional towers, as Earth was clearly the weakest in terms of power and experience. Despite all of that, The Federation of Allurion sent an invitation to talk about the cooperation. They put the Earth on the same level as them; at least, that was how Tang Shaoyang perceived it.

"Thank you for the invitation," Tang Shaoyang nodded, "I will deliver the invitation to my leader as soon as I return to my world."

Ivert did not immediately leave, looking at Tang Shaoyang. He wanted to say something but hesitated, "I don't mean to be rude, but I heard you are a scout from Earth. Do you perhaps have enough coins to return? If you don't have enough, we can lend you one million coins."

"Thank you for your concern, but I have enough. My faction prepared enough for the worst situation," Tang Shaoyang smiled.

"Then we will take our leave for now. We will wait for your leader in the meeting," Ivert returned to his group and left after nodding in acknowledgment to the white robe group.

The Federation of Allurion's messengers left, leaving Tang Shaoyang and the unknown group. He had heard about Allurion but not the remaining one. Reinar told him nothing about the fourth world. He stayed for a while, thinking the white robe group was waiting for him. However, they did not call him out, so he thought they did not have any business with him. He decided to leave instead.

"Halt!" One of the white-armored knights called Tang Shaoyang, "Where are you going?"

Tang Shaoyang halted his steps and turned his head toward the voice. One of the white-armored knights approached him. A frown formed on his forehead, "It's…." He wanted to say, "It's none of your business where I am going." However, he knew it would just create more trouble, and he held back.

"You heard our conversation, so you know that I am going to return to Earth," he maintained his composure and replied. The frown disappeared, but he did not smile either.

"You…." The knight was angry for some reason, but the white-robed stopped the knight, "Stop it, Knight Ruben. We are here not to fight."

"This is an offense not to greet the Saintess of the Divine Church. If we let this slide, the others will start to look down at us too, Saintess. We need to make him an example to show the others, so there will be no one dares to disregard the Divine Church!" The knight did not back down so easily.

"Then what? Do you want to fight him and then get the Divine Church to be expelled from the Starter City? Then the Divine Church will become the laughing stock, and who's at fault if that happens? It's your fault because you fail to control yourself." The Saintess's voice was soothing yet flat with no emotion.

The knight fell silent for a moment before retreating next to the Saintess' side.

"I apologize on behalf of my knight," The Saintess bowed her head slightly toward Tang Shaoyang, "We intend to have a conversation, but it seems this is not the right occasion for a conversation. We will not delay your return, but I wish for you to inform our message to your leader."

Tang Shaoyang remained silent as he did not wish to have a further conversation with the fanatic believer of the Divine Church.

"It seems you are in a hurry, so I will be straight. We are the Divine Church from Egunov, and we wish to have a private meeting with your leader once your leader arrives in the Starter City. Thank you for your time. We will take our leave now."

The Saintess turned around, and the four knights followed her without waiting for Tang Shaoyang to respond. The walk to their region was quite some time, but once they returned to their region, the Saintess spoke, "It seems our suspicion is right, Captain Ruben. That man is not just a scout but a big figure from Earth. He has the pride not to bow his head to anyone, not pride that a mere scout has."

"I agree, Saintess. But do we really need to do this? I think if we offer some benefits, they will just agree since they are the first timer. We are obviously stronger than them," Captain Ruben replied. That was right; the provocation was staged by them to test out Tang Shaoyang.

"Your shallow thinking may lead to your doom, Captain Ruben," The hood shook, "Why do you think the System groups the worlds that have experienced more than one dimensional tower with the first timer? That means Earth might be a strong world, strong enough to rival ours and the others, even though this is their first time. Or that man may lie to us. This may not be Earth's first time. Who knows?"

Captain Ruben fell silent for a moment before voicing his mind once more, "But don't you have the ability to read people's emotions, Saintess? Can't you tell whether he's lying toward us based on his emotion?"

"The only thing I detect is that he was annoyed with us, nothing else," The Saintess shook her head.

"That's indeed weird if he did not feel intimidated by us after knowing this is not our first dimensional tower," Captain Ruben nodded, "But some people are ignorant, and he might be one of the ignorant people outside there."

"Maybe. There's no need to rush to make a decision. We will stay here for a long time, and we will find out sooner or later if he is one of the ignorants or if Earth has the power that makes them stand equal with us." The Saintess raised her right hand, "I will return and make my report to the Pope."