"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. "That's all? That's 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, that's true. I forgot this test was for poor people of the Empire. So two booms aren't that bad," the Western General nodded as he returned the ring to Long Chen.
" Where are you actually from?" Western General asked.
"I'm 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.
' That trick won't work on me, big guy,' Long Chen thought, smiling.
" Xie Lian? I haven't heard that name. Is he from the Great Xie Clan? I only heard the name of our City Leader, Xie Mantian. I don't know anyone else," Long Chen replied, realizing that this guy was testing if Long Chen was actually from the city of Xie.
"That's true. You wouldn't 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. He's the thief," The Western General exclaimed.
"The one with the token from the Princess? He's the thief? How do you know it?" Captain Wang asked, surprised.
He couldn't 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. I'm 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.
"It's not actually my ring. It's 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."
"It's 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 guy's ring. His ring contained his aura, so it's simple to guess. He is a thief... Or there is a small chance that he isn't the thief, but he hugged the thief. That's the only way he would have the thief's aura," the Western General commented.
"Why didn't 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?"
"Don't worry about it. He isn't 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, I'm also sure that he's the one who caused the phenomenon. He is Glaze," He added. "All of you can go back. I'll stay here for a little."
....
"I don't 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 don't understand it? It's pretty simple. It's because he couldn't see the ring at all. The Ancient Ring is invisible for everyone except me," Long Chen replied.
"If it's invisible for everyone except you, then how was I able to see it?" Snake Monarch asked.
"Since you're my tamed beast and linked to me, you were always able to see it. That's why you never knew that it was invisible," Long Chen let out, laughing.
"Ahh, so that's 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. It's one of the best Academies in the Western Empire. It doesn't fall behind even out top Sect."
"I've decided to give you a complete scholarship. Come with me. I'll show you around. From now on, you're 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 Chen's shoulder.
His ring again started shining.
"Huh? Royal Academy?"
Long Chen was stunned. What the heck was happening. He didn't want to be a part of any academy.
"I apologize, but I'll 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 don't want to give it away," Long Chen said, giving an excuse.
"Don't worry; this is also the opportunity you won for yourself. You took part and showed your talent. That talent won you this opportunity. So it's because of your hard work. You don't have to worry about anything," the Western General let out smiling.
As for what you were saying about climbing, that's also pretty simple.
"I'll make you an Inner Disciple, and you can climb to become a Core Disciple. Come with me, let's 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."