Armipotent

The starter city's barrier was supposed to vanish in a few hours after the four factions' meeting. Tang Shaoyang himself was waiting for the barrier to disappear as he wanted to find out what he could get from the eleventh floor. That was right; he was trying to explore the eleventh floor by himself.

After the meeting, the Tang Empire decided to send only the Intelligence Division only to explore the eleventh floor. They wanted to avoid a fight. Hence the Intelligence Division was the best division to send out to explore. With their stealth ability, it should not be hard to avoid the other faction's eyes.

Meanwhile, Zhang Mengyao tried to unite the other factions for the eleventh floor. After the meeting, the Tang Empire decided to work together with the other factions. That was the best option since a conflict against the Allurion Federation, the Divine Church, and the Giteron Dynasty was inevitable. If they fought for something, a fight to the death was the only way to solve the issue. So, having more people on their side would be the best.

The tricky one was to find how strong the three factions were. They had not thought of anything to measure the three faction's strength.

Tang Shaoyang leaned his back against the stone wall, closing his eyes while waiting for the barrier to disappear. There was a countdown on the gate, and it was four minutes and thirty-two seconds until the barrier disappeared. As long as there was a barrier there, no one could see anything outside the city. He chose the north gate since that was the closest to the Earth's territory in the city.

Of course, he was not the only one waiting at the gate. In fact, a big force of the Giteron Dynasty was also waiting for the gate to open. Hundreds of knights stood in line near the gate, but silence ensued as no one spoke.

"Look, who is this? Aren't you the scout from Earth?" The mocking voice broke the silence.

There was no need for Tang Shaoyang to open his eyes to find out who was speaking. He knew whose nasty voice belonged to Arnor Ollsen. Arnor should have known already that he was The Emperor of the Tang Empire, yet he still called Tang Shaoyang a scout. It was clearly a provocation.

"Tsk, how can the empire put a deaf as a scout?" The nasty voice rang right next to Tang Shaoyang's ear.

Tang Shaoyang opened his eyes and stared at the young man in front of him, who had a smug expression. Arnor seemed to be very happy, thinking he had managed to screw over the Tang Empire in the meeting. He thought it was his interference that caused the Tang Empire to be put in a tough spot, but Tang Shaoyang was well aware that the federation tried to take advantage of Earth for their benefit from the start.

"I thought nobles would have some noble etiquette, but some are no different than a beggar with no manner." He almost took out his battle-ax in annoyance, but he managed to hold back. It would be a disaster for him if the Tang Empire was kicked out of the Starter City. The three factions would hunt them to level up their Authority.

Arnor's lips twitched a little bit after being called a beggar. That was a direct insult to the descendant of the duke. However, he reminded himself that he could kill Tang Shaoyang outside once the barrier disappeared. He told himself to calm down, refraining from taking out his swords. Both were holding back, and it did not stop Arnor from annoying Tang Shaoyang.

"You surely have a big mouth for someone who is about to die?" Arnor grinned, but the grin froze when he saw Tang Shaoyang laughing at his provocation. "You can still laugh? I think I understand why a madman like you rejects the beneficial offer from the federation. There's something wrong with your head."

"Maybe you should go to a doctor to check if there's something wrong with your head instead. You are the madman to think the federation's offer is beneficial." Tang Shaoyang shook his head while giggling. "If there's nothing wrong with your head. I kinda pity Ollsen Family to have such a natural fool descendant."

"You…." Arnor just could not get used to such a direct insult.

"Will I die? Maybe I will die someday, but will I die in your hands? It will never happen, not even in your dream." Tang Shaoyang grinned at the young man, who was fuming.

The countdown was over, and the barrier slowly disappeared. The noise of the metal gate being opened made Tang Shaoyang turn his attention to the gate. As the barrier disappeared, he could now see outside the city. The gate was connected to the road, and the road led toward the forest.

'Hmmm. I should go to the administrative building first before going outside.' Tang Shaoyang just remembered about the quest. He hoped to clear some quests while exploring outside by himself. He wished to level up The Tang Empire's Authority to level 2, and he might get something useful from it. The Profession Building, for example. That was his aim, for now, to increase the empire's force as a whole.

'Having a Magic Tower is not bad. Maybe I can create a mage army from a single tower.'

Tang Shaoyang completely forgot about Arnor as he walked out of the gate. As soon as his feet stepped onto the dirt road, he sensed a danger from behind. He activated his movement skill and rushed forward, dodging whatever came at him. He turned around after avoiding the fatal hit on his back and discovered Arnor where he had just stood.

"Tch. I thought they would be hunting me discreetly." Tang Shaoyang clicked his tongue. He was not expecting the Giteron Dynasty would hunt him down openly like this.

"Not bad. You can dodge my sneak attack, but that's because I haven't used my skill yet." Arnor licked his lips as he retracted his sword, eyeing Tang Shaoyang like a predator looking at its prey.

Tang Shaoyang shrugged and activated the detection skill on Arnor. He wanted to know at least Arnor's rank before fighting the guy. Arnor was so confident by himself, and he was afraid that he was facing a Primordial Rank or even Legend Rank.

[Name: Arnor Ollsen; Rank: Epic]

First, Tang Shaoyang expected that Arnor might have some magic tool that would ward off the detection skill. Second, he was expecting Arnor Ollsen to be at least Myth Rank, one rank above him since the guy was from a Duke Family.

Tang Shaoyang thought this was his chance to get rid of the annoying Arnor for eternity. He noticed the knights remained inside the city instead of rushing toward him. He could use a surprise attack and kill Arnor.

'No. This is too easy.' There was something that just did not feel right. He trusted his guts and activated [Spirit Vision]. 'Tch. It seems like everyone is here. Do they want to see me fight against Arnor?'

Tang Shaoyang saw a few groups inside the city, watching him and Arnor. He even found Reinar Thamsen. Reinar did not try to stop Arnor, meaning it was their intention to test him out. Even the Saintess of the Divine Church was also watching him, and a few beastmen were also present.

'It should be fine for me to kill Arnor without using my Integration and Bloodline Transformation… No, I don't want them to know even the slightest of my ability in exchange for a fool's life. They need to pay a high price to find how strong I am.'

Tang Shaoyang smirked and turned around. He did not say anything to Arnor as he flew to the sky.

Arnor was caught off guard, not expecting the Emperor would run between his tail. He was stunned for a moment before starting to give orders to his people. "Shoot him! Don't let him escape!" However, it was too late because Tang Shaoyang had become a small dot in the sky.

*** ***

Reinar Thamsen watched the small dot in the sky with a frown. He also did not expect Tang Shaoyang would escape instead of fighting back. Even though Tang Shaoyang came from a weaker world, Reinar felt like he needed to investigate a little bit about Tang Shaoyang. Especially with how confident Tang Shaoyang decided to walk out during the meeting instead of negotiating the terms with the federation to be part of the alliance. That alarmed him a little bit; there must be something that made the Tang Empire confident to refuse to join the alliance.

"Did he notice?" Reinar muttered in a low voice.

"I don't think so, Young Master. I don't think a mere Ancient Rank will notice our watch, not especially when Young Master Arnor is actively provoking him." The person next to Reinar responded. "I think the Emperor is still hoping to have a good relationship with us even though the Tang Empire is not part of the alliance."

"I hope that is the case." Reinar nodded.

"Should we send a group to tail the Emperor, Young Master? We can afford to send a group of six Ancient Ranks to test him out." The person next to Reinar voiced an idea. "It's still too early for a conflict against the other worlds from the other cities. Since we are in Alliance, there's nothing to be worried about even if we send six Ancient Ranks."

Reinar contemplated for a moment as he glanced toward the direction of the Saintess. He was surprised to find a Saintess here, such a prominent figure from the church; trying to figure out Tang Shaoyang's strength made him curious. Then he recalled it was the Divine Church who suggested the idea of proposing unacceptable conditions for the Tang Empire to join the alliance. It seemed the Divine Church had something against the Tang Empire.

"No. We send three Ancient Ranks, but instead of tailing the Emperor. We should tail the Divine Church instead. It seems the Divine Church wants to kill the Emperor." He pointed toward the Saintess' direction. Ten of the Holy Knights were leaving the city stealthily, following Tang Shaoyang's trail. "We have someone to test out how strong the Emperor is. If the Divine Church can kill him easily, then there's no need to maintain our relation with the Earth's people. In fact, we can target the Earth for Dynasty's third world."