Chapter 196 - Taboo

'The nearest grade ten artifact is 500 miles away…'

'But that's too far. The Golden Swan Kingdom is one of our neighboring kingdoms…'

'So why can't I detect any grade ten items?'

Rex was confused for a brief moment. He then realized that it was him that concluded the usage of grade ten artifacts. No one told him that the so-called heavenly treasure would be his grade ten artifact.

'Does that mean the item that they used was of lower grade?'

He did realize that the things in the world were a little bit different from when he was playing the game. The skills that would be much stronger, had a lower impact – of course, he was referring to others and not himself.

When the previous and current world were to be compared, perhaps Rex's power would be termed as unlimited for the present, and maybe that's why his level is infinity!

'Hmm, I have to visit them to personally check what grade item they have used.'

'And if it really is one of my items, then probably I have to retrieve it.'

He wanted all his things to return. Just like he got a ton of his weapons, he wanted his original artifacts and items that he owned to be returned too, so that he could get better at controlling all the infinite mana in his body.

'But, should I visit that place right now?', he asked himself.

He wasn't even sure if the princess was in the kingdom.  Nevertheless, he thought about giving it a try and in a second, vanished from the palace.

He didn't want his mom, dad, Bandis, Zor, or anyone else to worry about him or know about his disappearance due to which, he left his dummy.

'Mana Clone.'

It was magic which he used for the first time after being reborn. Obviously, it was a skill in the game, otherwise, he wouldn't have known that.

Now, there were two Rexs in the room. Rex had neutralized all the aura that he had started to emit – though it was too little, to begin with.

He then almost immediately teleported from the place only to arrive near the Golden Swan Kingdom.

The Kingdom of Rhone was large. It had many villages and cities in it. The same was with many other kingdoms and that was true for the Golden Swan Kingdom as well. Of course, it was not as large as Rhone, but its financial worth couldn't be considered any less than that of Rhone.

After vanishing from his room, Rex suddenly appeared just outside the walls of the Swan Kingdom.

He then thought about entering the kingdom as a disguised person because that way, he could end up getting much more information.

He had to return quickly to his home, after all, he had too soon leave to attend the academy – not the same day, but he had to prepare mentally as well as physically since he had to give an exam as well.

Also, there were other things that he was thinking about such as Elina and Alex. He didn't want them to find out that Rex was missing.

He wasn't completely sure if the Clone could fool his parents. It might fool others, but not someone of their caliber.

Also, a mother could feel if something is wrong with her child so he was worried about the fact that Elina finds out about the clone and starts worrying again.

Whatever, the bottom line was, he had to finish all his business within an hour or so and return as soon as possible.

He then changed his appearance. His height increase and his skin became dark. Black colored beard appeared on his face out of nowhere and his clothes changed immediately.

He did get a little better at using his own powers which he was almost negligent to use all this time.

He then walked calmly towards the large entrance gate which was heavily guarded.

The guards were looking at the 'Passes'  that would allow one to enter a kingdom.

They had to register those specific passes in a scroll or a record since it would be strictly studied or referred to in case of some major issues.

The passes are usually given by major guilds or some well-known trading houses or noble families. So if something were to happen or if something were to be done by the person who held a certain households pass, then the household was to be blamed or given compensation or similar things.

Rex still had the Elven Scroll which acted as a pass. He flashed that, and after the guards registered it, Rex was allowed inside the kingdom.

The moment he set foot in the kingdom, he felt a weird resonance.

'This…'

'This feeling…'

'What is this familiar feeling?'

He asked himself continuously as he tried to recall the place where he had felt the same thing earlier.

'Ah, when I was close to my weapons, I felt the same chilly feeling…'

'It was as if the weapons were calling out to me.', he smirked as he thought that.

In the same way, when he related to the current situation, he concluded that one of his artifacts was calling out to him.

'This is a lower grade artifact…'

'Was this the artifact used to help the princess?'

After thinking about this while walking down the streets of the city, Rex came up with a plan to retrieve his artifact.

'As long as the princess is healed, they would no longer require the artifact.'

He thought about healing the princess completely and setting her free from her infinite poison stats. That way, he would surely get his artifact.

So he decided to directly visit the castle as a trader and proclaim that he knows of a method to cure the princess.

He did roam around the shops and the villages nearby and then got a horse carriage and went with the driver to the capital where the castle was present.

"Sir, you look to be of some wealthy family."

"May I know your name?", the driver asked.

Rex didn't pay much attention to that and just answered without realizing, "Rex."

The moment the driver heard this name, he pulled the strings of the horses that were driving the carriage only to give a jolt of shock.

The carriage stopped almost immediately as the horses made the noises, probably because of pain.

"Wha-"

"Why did you stop?", he asked with a surprised expression on his face.

The driver then looked at Rex and said, "Sir, I think you shouldn't say that name…"

"Huh?"

"No wonder, you really are a foreigner. I was just surprised because you said that name loudly."

Now, this confused Rex.

"What do you mean?", Rex asked.

"Um, actually, it is taboo to say that name.", he said in a low voice while approaching Rex.

The carriage was just like a wooden cart. Just a piece of white clothing separated the driver's seat from that of the passengers. He lifted that and explained the situation to Rex.

"Actually, this happened a few years ago…"

And the story about why the word 'Rex', became taboo in the kingdom of Golden Swan started.

It was around the time when Rex had run away from the castle. The knights and others chased down the various paths in order to find Rex.

They had no clue at all since they were unaware of the exact situation.

Some said that Alex exiled Rex and just wanted to put up a front by ordering the knights to search, while others said that Elina had killed Rex while trying to fabricate that he ran away because he was too weak.

And due to this very reason, the knights were not that passionate or energetic when it came to the topic of finding Rex's whereabouts.

That was true for most of the knights, however, there were some knights who had seen Rex's shining image on the day when they were going towards the Orchid Villa.

They were the only men that went to different places while searching for him without taking any breaks.

The search wasn't going that well, but none of them ever sat too quietly since they had to obey their King/Queen.

Alex and Elina were too emotional and could only think about Rex. Elina was slowly falling ill and all this pressure started piling up on Alex.

Julia was the only one who comforted him and thanks to that he was staying sane, but when she soon left for the academy, in a year or two, Alex was left alone!