William nodded and chose not to upgrade Uri for now. His strength was already near the top of the Realm, but he didn't know whether the Cultivators were still pursuing him or if they had given up.
His long-distance teleport covered a lot of ground, but Cultivators in the Tribulation Transcendence Realm could cross the entire Continent in a matter of hours. This is why he moved to a different cave before dropping off Uri and Atticus.
William checked the time. It was ten in the morning.
He looked at his two Companion Beasts and gave an order, "Wait until six, then you can leave the cave."
Uri and Atticus nodded. They didn't have to ask why William had given the order. Uri breathed some fire on the ground to melt the stone beneath, then curled up in the hole he had made to take a short rest.
William made a bed for Atticus, then stepped out of the cave. He walked a few hundred meters away, then used the Space Element to teleport directly to the entrance of the tunnel, surprising the pair of guards wielding Array-powered crossbows standing in front.
The guards each nocked an arrow in their crossbows and pointed them at William. Their hands were shaky as they shouted in unison, "Stop right there!"
Seeing the crossbows gave William some trauma, but he didn't show it on his face. He looked calmly at the two guards, who emitted the Cultivation of Core Formation Realm Cultivators.
It was quite a surprise to see two mere guards at the Core Formation Realm, considering that was enough to become a guard Captain in Blue Moon City. William didn't plan to kill anyone this time, though.
"I'm not from around here, I'm sorry if I broke some sort of rule." William apologized in earnest. Being arrogant here would only draw attention to himself.
The guards kept the crossbows aimed at William, but their tone became less aggressive. "Step back please and let me see some identification."
William did as he was told, but he didn't have anything to show the guards. "I don't have anything like that, can you just let me pass?"
"You don't have any identification cards? How can you be here then?" one of the guards looked at the other.
William shouldn't have gotten this far without any identification cards, considering the series of checkpoints well before this point that would stop someone from getting even close to the Capital City.
William flashed back and forth with the Space Element, "I just am." Check latest chapters at novel{f}ire.net
The two guards instantly understood. "You will need to go back if you don't have any identification. Or we can arrest you right here, is that what you want?"
"Arrest me? Isn't that a bit absurd? I teleported too far on accident, and I need some supplies. Can't you help me out?" William asked.
One of the guards leaned toward the other and whispered something that William could barely hear with his Sound Affinity, "We can have him register with the Capital City, right?"
The other guard nodded, but he didn't trust William entirely.
William had already thought of an alias that suited him perfectly, "Yuming."
Somewhere far away in the Five Elements Sect, a certain Alchemist sneezed, causing his cauldron to become unstable. I'm a Core Formation Cultivator, how can I sneeze?
"Okay Yuming, remove your hood and come with us." he said before turning around and walking towards a large gate that barred the tunnel entrance.
He wasn't going to bother restraining William, since there were many more powerful Cultivators inside the City. A mere Golden Core couldn't cause any trouble in the Hillvire Capital.
William removed his hood and followed closely behind, the Arrays still preventing the guards from seeing his true appearance.
The second guard relayed some information on a communicator, then remained in position while William and the guard entered the tunnel.
A pair of guards passed by William and the guard, one of whom went to fill the now-empty post, while the other walked behind William with his crossbow at the ready. While an arrow was nocked, William didn't sense any killing intent, so he assumed it was just their procedure.
The security here is insane! What kind of City is this? William wondered. Even in his old World, he had rarely seen a city that could compare to the one he was entering now.
That was saying a lot, considering the technology of his old World was much more advanced than that of the Azures Continent.
While Magic and Cultivation didn't exist, the people of his World made up for their weaknesses by creating more powerful weapons, better methods of transport, and more efficient resource gathering.
I have the Carpentry Talent; I wonder if I can build my own City someday. Although I would probably need some sort of Architecture-related Talent as well...
The trip through the tunnel was longer than William expected. Even after an hour spent walking, William hadn't reached the end of the tunnel. He had already seen the other side, and the distance wasn't nearly as far as they had walked.
What's going on? William thought as he inspected the walls and floor. Just as he figured out the reason, the guard answered for him.
"It's the Arrays. They stretch the space so that anyone who gets past us has to travel much further to reach the Capital." he said.
William nodded, both impressed and concerned about the number of obstacles that separated him from entering the City. If he had to escape, wouldn't he be trapped?
While he could turn around and go the opposite direction, William felt he was stuck and didn't do so. He continued walking forward, but openly expressed his distaste for the situation, "Isn't there a faster way?"
The guard shook his head, "This is the only way. If there was a faster one, the Arrays would be pointless." he didn't mention the secret tunnel that could be used for emergencies, since that was meant to be a secret amongst the City Guards and the higher-ups.
Another half-hour later, William and the guard reached the end of the tunnel. There was a secondary gate that was protected by the same Arrays as the protective barrier above the City, and William had to wait a few minutes for another pair of guards to come out and unlock the gate.
"How do you get supplies in and out of the City with all this security? I don't even see anyone." William suddenly asked.
"This isn't the main entrance." the guard replied. "The Capital is mostly self-sufficient, so you won't see much transport anyways. We move items annually or sometimes semi-annually, in the form of a Space Ring caravan that carries all the necessary food and other materials.
If you're referring to our Auction, many of those items are carried individually. Those people pass through the necessary checkpoints the same way you are."
William understood, but he didn't expect the guard to say so much about their transport timelines. "Should you really be telling me all of that?"
The guard laughed, "It's common knowledge, and who would dare to mess with our supply runs? We have five Ancient Families here, not to mention the branch of the Yu Royal Family and many other powerful organizations.
Even the King and Queen of the Hillvire Empire live here. Although they aren't very powerful as Cultivators, their status is unmatched in the North. Anyone that dares to mess with our supplies is just asking for death."