"Apparently he won the scholarship competition of the Royal Family. Since the Princess was pleased with his performance, she gave him this token. This is the only reason someone like him can afford to stay in this place," the guard informed the General.
"Is that so? To win the favor of Mimi, who is most talented amongst the Royal Heirs... You must not be bad. How many booms did you cause?" Western General asked, amused.
"Two booms," Long Chen replied.
"Only two?" Western General exclaimed, smiling wryly. "Thatâs all? Thatâs your performance that stunned her?"
"She said it was because I was able to cause two booms despite coming from a poor background with no resources to cultivate," Long Chen explained.
"Ah, thatâs true. I forgot this test was for poor people of the Empire. So two booms arenât that bad," the Western General nodded as he returned the ring to Long Chen.
" Where are you actually from?" Western General asked.
"Iâm from Xie City," Long Chen said, giving the random city name.
" Xie City? Have you heard about Xie Lian? How is he doing?" Western General asked, amused.
â That trick wonât work on me, big guy,â Long Chen thought, smiling.
" Xie Lian? I havenât heard that name. Is he from the Great Xie Clan? I only heard the name of our City Leader, Xie Mantian. I donât know anyone else," Long Chen replied, realizing that this guy was testing if Long Chen was actually from the city of Xie.
"Thatâs true. You wouldnât know him. You can go back," the Western General nodded, telling Long Chen to go back.
Long Chen turned around and went back to his room.
"Did you find anything?" Capital Wang asked the Western General.
"I did. We have our thief in front of us," The Western General let out, smiling.
"What do you mean?" Captain Wang asked, confused.
"I think we both know what I mean. The last guy that just left. Heâs the thief," The Western General exclaimed.
"The one with the token from the Princess? Heâs the thief? How do you know it?" Captain Wang asked, surprised.
He couldnât find anything odd in their conversation that could prove that Long Chen was the thief. He wondered why this guy felt that way.
"This guy... He was present inside the Royal Treasury last night. Iâm sure of it," the Western General exclaimed.
"How do you know that?" Captain Wang asked.
Western General raised his hand as he said, "Do you see this Silver Ring?"
"Yeah? What about it?" Captain Wang inquired.
"Itâs not actually my ring. Itâs something that I borrowed from the Royal Treasury. This is a treasure which trapped the auras of the people that entered the treasury in the last twenty-four hours."
"Itâs specialty is that it shines a little when it comes in contact with that aura. I was checking the rings, but I was also making them touch the ring to see if any of the aura matched."
"It only lit up when it touched that guyâs ring. His ring contained his aura, so itâs simple to guess. He is a thief... Or there is a small chance that he isnât the thief, but he hugged the thief. Thatâs the only way he would have the thiefâs aura," the Western General commented.
"Why didnât you tell us to catch him? If you already know about him, why did you let him leave?" Captain Wang asked, stunned. They had the thief in front of them, and they let him leave?"
"Donât worry about it. He isnât running anywhere. How can I let him leave now that I found him," the Western General commented as he smiled.
"Now that I know who he is, Iâm also sure that heâs the one who caused the phenomenon. He is Glaze," He added. "All of you can go back. Iâll stay here for a little."
....
"I donât understand something. Why did that guy not ask for your ring?" Snake Monarch asked Long Chen, still stuck on what had happened outside.
"You still donât understand it? Itâs pretty simple. Itâs because he couldnât see the ring at all. The Ancient Ring is invisible for everyone except me," Long Chen replied.
"If itâs invisible for everyone except you, then how was I able to see it?" Snake Monarch asked.
"Since youâre my tamed beast and linked to me, you were always able to see it. Thatâs why you never knew that it was invisible," Long Chen let out, laughing.
"Ahh, so thatâs why!"
Knock! Knock!.
"Hmm? Who is it now?" Long Chen got off the bed and walked to the door.
Using his Divine Sense, he was already able to see who was outside. What actually stunned him was that Western General was there again. He wondered why this guy was here again.
He opened the door. "Yes?"
"I forgot to ask, what was your name?" The Western General asked Long Chen.
" People call me Chen," Long Chen replied.
"Well then, Chen. Since the Princess saw something in you, I believe you have potential as well. I want you to directly join our Royal Army Academy. Itâs one of the best Academies in the Western Empire. It doesnât fall behind even out top Sect."
"Iâve decided to give you a complete scholarship. Come with me. Iâll show you around. From now on, youâre an Inner disciple of Royal Army Academy, much better than being an Outer disciple in a sect," the Western General said, placing his hand on Long Chenâs shoulder.
His ring again started shining.
"Huh? Royal Academy?"
Long Chen was stunned. What the heck was happening. He didnât want to be a part of any academy.
"I apologize, but Iâll stick to becoming the Outer Disciple and climb my way. And I want to be a part of that exact sect since I won that opportunity with my hard work. I donât want to give it away," Long Chen said, giving an excuse.
"Donât worry; this is also the opportunity you won for yourself. You took part and showed your talent. That talent won you this opportunity. So itâs because of your hard work. You donât have to worry about anything," the Western General let out smiling.
As for what you were saying about climbing, thatâs also pretty simple.
"Iâll make you an Inner Disciple, and you can climb to become a Core Disciple. Come with me, letâs talk about it more on the way," he told Long Chen, smiling.
Long Chen took a deep breath as he nodded. "Find if you actually want to take me with you; I can only oblige."