"The metal cards and white robe would become my hidden identity. I can't let the evil organization discover who I truly am, but I want them to know that someone is coming after them. And I have a plan to accomplish that."
Dhairya was unsure how to respond to Alex's words, knowing that he was up to something. In the past, Alex, or Meru as he knew him, had never taken the initiative in anything. However, he seemed to be changing, for better or worse. If Dhairya had to choose, he preferred the current Meru.
"The metal cards are untraceable, so you can use them without worrying about being discovered," Dhairya explained.
"But is it really necessary? I've heard that the nine great tribes are already preparing to confront the evil organization. Maybe we can solve the problem without your involvement," Dhairya suggested.
"This is not the time to wait and be patient. The evil organization has already proven its ability to destroy one of the nine great tribes. If they launch a sudden attack, we won't stand a chance. That's why I need to act now. There's no one better suited for this job than me. Do you know anyone who can teleport 100 kilometres in just a few seconds? Besides that, there is that prophecy that's haunting us. It gave us only one year at most to survive. We are all in danger. Before it becomes a reality, I have to do my part and help the people that I can. That is my goal. " Alex said, leaving Dhairya at a loss.
The truth was that Alex's manoeuvrability surpassed anyone Dhairya knew. He wasn't even sure if anyone from the void fish tribe possessed teleportation abilities capable of covering such a distance. So, he was in no danger.
Dhairya interjected, "You could have at least informed Mupan about your plans."
"He already has enough to worry about. I can't burden him with this," Alex replied.
"You can burden me?"
"Ha ha…" Alex laughed in response. "You are my mentor after all. I am from the support group. Don't you remember that?"
Dhairya sighed, realizing that his words wouldn't change Alex's decision. However, he pleaded with a smile- "Please take care of yourself. Prioritize your safety above all else. We're all waiting for you back in the tribe—your family, friends, and even old folks like me and Mupan."
Dhairya's smile carried a hint of melancholy. Having witnessed many young people recklessly diving into danger, he couldn't help but feel a sense of trepidation, despite believing that Alex was different.
—---
After the conversation with Dhairya, Alex made his way to an inn in Blue Gem City, intending to stay there for a day. Once inside his room, he retrieved the metal cards that Dhairya had given him. They resembled the size of the playing cards he used in his previous life, but he was not surprised by that. After all, he was the one who commissioned them to be created in that dimensions.
There were a hundred cards in total, unmarked without any picture or engraving. They looked like ordinary metal sheets. Alex planned to personalize them by engraving his own custom runes onto each card. Once activated, it will release a magic spell outwards. The runes he was going to create were going to symbolise aspects of his identity and abilities. With great care, he began the task of imbuing each card with his unique symbol.
A mage can store his spells inside objects by engraving runes inside them. And Alex was going to try something similar.
Currently, he was using ordinary materials and metals to make the card. So, he couldn't store strong spells inside them. That was why Alex selected the Joker card as his first creation. And he was not just going to create a simple joker card, he was going to create a white-robed man as the joker. And the white-robed man would be stepping on a black-robed man. This will symbolise his identity. And the meaning was obvious.
No one in this world knows what a Joker was. So, there was no meaning to drawing a normal joker card. But a drawing of a white-robed stepping on a black-robed man was easy to understand for even a kid.
So, he carefully drew the Joker card with his mana. And it had only one purpose, to be shiny and conspicuous. Once the rune inside the card was activated, the runes would shine and glow. It would also project a joker symbol outwards like a hologram.
And why was he creating a useless card?
Obviously, just to mess with them. Joker was going to be his identity and he was ready to make the black-robed men a joke. Whenever they see the card, their blood should boil in anger. It has to make them spew blood and die.
In the future, Alex was going to create cards that could store spells of five elements. By using cards, Alex could decrease his mana requirement. They were going to become the ace up his sleeve. He plans to use spells in the cards in an emergency situation.
After happily making ten joker cards, Alex went to sleep.
—-----
The next morning, Alex departed from Blue Gem City, heading back to Thira once again. Thira served as the homeland of the Thousand-Headed Serpent Tribe, one of the nine great tribes and renowned as one of the strongest tribes on the continent. However, the unfortunate battle that took place within the city resulted in the loss of their Tier 5 warrior and numerous Tier 4 warriors, leaving them in a dire state.
As a consequence, the tribe had fallen into a state of weakness and poverty, causing their grip on Thira to loosen. Alex deduced that Thira would be a prime target for the evil organization to infiltrate, given its vulnerable condition. Recognizing this, envoys from the other eight great tribes had been dispatched to investigate Thira. Yet, despite their efforts, no traces of the evil organization could be found within the city. It appeared as though they had vanished entirely from Thira.
The nine great tribes rejoiced when they learned about this. But Alex felt something fishy about the situation. So, the first place he was going to investigate was the Thira.
Alex chose to teleport to Thira using his FP instead of flying this time. With the expenditure of 5000FP, he instantly arrived at the teleport point he had set near Thira. Given his current situation, 5000FP was a negligible amount for Alex. Presently, his primary use of FP was for purchasing seeds. Despite obtaining seeds from mature crops, the ones obtained from the farm boasted a higher survival rate. Therefore, he still occasionally spent FP to acquire seeds from the farm.
Fortunately, the interdimensional farm's golden mushrooms enabled Alex to generate a significant amount of FP, ensuring he could freely utilize them as needed.
However, the farm had reached its current limit in terms of land expansion. It appeared to be awaiting a specific trigger before allowing further land purchases. Alex desperately wished he had a clue on how to reactivate the land-buying function, as he would have done everything in his power to achieve that.
Unfortunately, the interdimensional farm remained silent on the matter, even with its notifications ceasing for the past few months.
—-
When Alex materialized inside his house near Thira, he immediately noticed it was empty. However, he could hear voices coming from outside. Curiosity piqued, he teleported out to investigate the situation.
"Hey, kid! Take a look at this document. This land belongs to us. The man who sold it to you was lying. See this marking here? From here to there, the land is ours," a burly man declared, pointing to a document.
Arav, who was standing before the man, remained steadfast, even though the document appeared legitimate. He had been entrusted with the task of overseeing Alex's property and couldn't give up so easily. After all, Alex was his benefactor.
"What about our document?" Arav retorted fiercely. His twin sisters flinched upon witnessing their older brother's confrontation. The children, only ten years old, were still reeling from the loss of their parents and sibling, making it difficult for them to witness the conflict.
Seeing this, Alex calmly walked towards the man who was waving the document around.
"What is the problem here?" He politely asked to understand the situation. Even though it looked like some thugs were there to evict him from his own house, he interacted with them cordially.
"Who are you?" Suddenly, the burly man turned towards Alex and asked. Alex was younger than Arav, and at a glance, he looked weak. He didn't seem like a powerful warrior at all. So, a tier 2 warrior, the burly man didn't put him in the eye.
However, Arav was elated to see Alex. The boss was here. He could rest now. He held the hand of his sisters and took a step back.
"He is the real owner of this land," Arav said calmly.
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