The power of gravity was focused on the wings, making the Emperor's body light. This allowed him to fly freely and move faster than normal.
As he continued to fly, he was able to vary the direction of gravity acting upon him, making sharp turns in the air, noticing that the power was more versatile than he had expected.
"Great ability!" he praised, landing on the ground before exhaling a little. "Am I consuming my stamina to use it?"
"Yes," Krune nodded as he replied. "I took inspiration from the Demon Arms and tweaked it a little to make it safer and long-lasting. Even though the exhibited power is weaker than if we used lifespan, stamina could be easily recovered."
"And, your Majesty," Krune continued. "I was hoping for you to designate a family for which I could bestow upon County Arms that would allow them to refine medicines better for our consumption. After all, there's an impending war in our future."
"What else have you planned other than the County Arms for pills?" the Emperor asked, curious about Krune's thought process.
"Four families with County Arms meant exclusively for transportation. One will transport messages through bird-like creatures, but faster and safer. The messages would only appear before the intended target, preventing any message leaks. Another one will transport people and goods underwater using our river channels. And another will transport people through land in massive chariots as a mobile stronghold. Lastly, another family that does the same thing, but in midair," Krune replied.
"However, that'll be hard unless they have enough stamina." The Emperor frowned. With his short experiment, he noticed the massive amount of stamina consumed by the County Arms. So, it couldn't be used for the means Krune specified.
"That's only in the case if they are used alone." Krune smiled in response, saying, "For the transports, I'll make the County Arms in such a way that a group of them could come together to combine them into a whole structure. This way, they could share the burden and make this a reality."
"Is that possible?" the Emperor asked.
"It should be," Krune replied, not implying it was certain. "There are still some issues that I haven't worked out for them yet. However, they are one of the main things that I wish to achieve."
"You have great insight," The Emperor nodded after that. "Any other ideas you might have?"
"County Arms for medical purposes," he replied. "It'll allow for treatment to be carried out faster, whether it's amputating infected limbs, cutting open and suturing wounds, and other medical procedures."
"Once you have completed their design and forged them, inform me. I'll look into the necessary families for that in the meantime." The Emperor gave his word and then walked towards the side, allowing the oldest prince to walk forward and receive his County Arms from Daxia Ting.
Soon, everyone received their County Arms, causing a wave of discussions to erupt as they felt the power brimming within them.
"Your majesty, is it alright for you to be here?" While everyone was busy discussing, Krune approached the Emperor, asking in worry. "Don't you have to be on guard against the Demon sealed within the capital?"
"I've checked the strength of the seals before making this trip," the Emperor smiled as he replied. "Besides, the two Demons in the wild won't be launching an attack right now. They haven't accumulated enough power yet. Then again, there are more than 50 Imperial Meisters within the capital. It's not something they could take down that easily."
"Of course, I've also been monitoring their positions all this time," Daxia Ting spoke. "So, the moment they make a move, we'll be alerted. Without the two Demons making a move, the rest are of no concern."
…
Tap! Tap! Tap!
A middle-aged man that was gradually getting older tapped the table before him, drinking tea constantly. He was a tavern owner, watching the customers constantly streaming about.
Some of the customers were calm, some were angry due to their hunger, some were paranoid about the state of things, and so on. It was somewhat chaotic.
"Did you hear? Old Feather and his family were killed by a Yin Beast while traveling to the nearby town," a lean man with toned arms spoke in worry.
"Damn, that's scary. What's the Empire doing these days? So many Yin Beasts and Nightmares are running rampant." The receiver, a lean man with sunken eyes, spoke, his eyes darting about in restlessness. "I feel like a Yin Beast would pop out from a random corner now."
"The Empire has its hands full dealing with all the chaos." The lean man with toned arms sighed, whispering, "It was still fine before. But recently, the massive influx of immigrants from the neighboring kingdoms has caused the situation to become troubling. Most of the immigrants have halted work in many places. Some have even taken up arms to become thugs."
"Crime rate has been increasing, and in fear of that, common folk like us are afraid of even exiting our homes. Recently, someone in the next street was stabbed to death for a couple of Copper Xiang."
"Brother, do you know what happened to the neighboring kingdoms? Why so many immigrants have been flowing in recently?" the lean man with sunken eyes asked.
"War. What else could it be?" Suddenly, a burly man with a bushy beard interjected, joining in their conversation. "Even though the Empire has warned them repeatedly, the kings of the neighboring kingdoms still waged war with each other. Unsurprisingly, the war turned nasty pretty quickly. To prevent the collapse of both kingdoms, the Empire sent some troops to cull the seeds of war. However, the situation is still pretty volatile."
"Such situations are the perfect birthplaces for Nightmares," he concluded.
As the conversations between the countless customers continued, the middle-aged man, the tavern owner, casually sipped his tea, controlling his urge to smile.
His gaze then landed on the lantern hanging at the center of the tavern, emitting a chilling purple flame. But for some reason, none of the customers seemed to have realized its existence, passing by as they continued on with their grievances.
As they continued to talk, their fears, grievances, and all other negative emotions slowly flowed into the lantern, causing the purple flame to turn a tad brighter.
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