Chapter 162 Back To The Imperial City

After thirty-three hours of nonstop traveling by the land, Mark finally returned to the store. It was already midnight by the time he arrived through Howitzer. So, except for patrolling guards, no one had discovered his return.

Moreover, he was traveling in a howitzer, which looks a lot like his previous battle tank. So, in just a glance, the passerby soldiers knew that it was him and didn't dare to stop his route.

The howitzer stopped at the entrance of the store.

Mark was in the midst of sleeping on the bunker bed in the rear chamber.

As Alina, a part of the system, she was able to open the locked rear chamber from outside.

She stepped inside and proceeded to wake up her master, "Big Brother, we are here."

As soon as Mark felt a touch, he immediately opened his eyes and saw Alina.

As he stepped down from the vehicle, he patted it twice with a smile on his face, "it's really a good thing that our vehicles can run on vegetable oils without facing any issues.

Or else, it would have become tough to sell these in the future. But, then again, the consumption is too high. So far, 5700 liters out of 6500 liters of oil were spent away. That means it cost me nearly 300 gold coins just to travel 500 odd kilometers.

I need to ask around to see if crude oil is available anywhere. But, before that, I need to buy a few barrels of vegetable oil for reserves…"

He dismissed the howitzer and went to the shutter.

At first, he want to knock but thinking that Allen might have been at the first floor's mansion, he sent an indirect message to Allen through the system.

Within just a few seconds, the shutter was opened.

Allen proceeded to greet with a smile on his face, "Vitej doma, Velky Bratre (Welcome home, Big brother)."

"What the…" Mark was taken aback by Allen's action for the latter never had greeted him like that. "Allen, why happened to your language? Why you are suddenly talking in Czech?"

Mark was born in Austria to a Czech mother and American father. From childhood, he could speak Czech, Austrian-German, and English very fluently.

But, here, in this world of magic, most of the people in the three major empires, save for a few independent kingdoms and no man's land, speak the language of Orlon and has a different writing system and alphabets.

Thankfully, due to absorbing Lu Zhen's memories and possessing his body, he could speak and write fluently.

Until now, he never had to use speak his past language because there's no use. And since the system gave him the Androids that can speak this world's language, he didn't care much about it.

However, all of a sudden, as the Android suddenly talked in his mother tongue, not only Mark was surprised but it also reminded him of his past life just for a moment.

When enquired with Allen, the latter said in Orlon with a trace of surprise on his face, "Sister Xue said that you might like to talk in native language more."

"Sister Xue?" Mark was once again surprised, widening his eyes, "you mean, Lin Xue?"

Allen nodded in response.

"Since when were the two of you are on such close terms?" He was bewildered by the fact that the lady of the Lin clan got closer to Allen despite he showed her Allen's loyalty towards him and even gave a warning to not cross the line between an employee and a client. "Just what in the hell happened during the time I was away?"

Allen answered with an innocent look, "I don't know. Sister Xue just asked me to address her that way, about three days ago."

Mark wanted to think that Lin Clan might have been trying to scheme something but when he realized that he only profited from them until now, he dismissed those thoughts away.

With Allen bound to his soul and will forever have 100% loyalty, he didn't care about it and just walked inside the store.

As soon as he returned to the mansion, the first thing he did is to run into the bathroom and have a nice long shower with hot water.

All the Spirit Warriors can just expel the filth from their bodies through ether energy. It was the same case for the mouth. But, maintaining cleanliness and having a shower are entirely two different things.

After making a long journey, a hot shower followed by a peaceful sleep on a comfy bed is considered bliss for Mark and he enjoyed it.

The next day morning, Mark woke up at 9. By the time, Allen had already left the store and he had a floating notification screen, stating about the daily purchases made by Lin Xue.

After a quick breakfast, he went downstairs and sat in his chair. He didn't open the store, yet, as he had something to take care of.

"Open, Familiars inventory"

About 14 images of the beasts were seen in the inventory. Ten of them are summoning beasts. The other four are tamed ones, which costs him to store in the inventory when they are perfectly healthy.

The system charges him 5 gold coins per day fierce beasts like gray wolf and the dark turtle; for the beast king Baltrow, he's paying 80 gold coins per day; and thankfully, Tishanan, the emperor grade cat is only rank-1. So, he was only being charged 100 gold coins per day.

Until now, he hid the two of them but now that he's back into the store, Mark no longer wanted to unnecessarily pay huge amounts of money to the system.

He first summoned the legendary realm beast king.

*Roar*

As soon as the manticore was summoned, it looked around curiously. As it was bound to Mark's soul, there was no suppression on it but it could still sense the power of the system.

"This power, it's as if I'm sensing the power of a true god, strange…" Baltrow let out a strange comment in a human speech before it paid attention to its owner who was staring at its details with excitement.

*******

Baltrow (Bound)

Grade: King

Title: Savage (deactivated)

Rank: 8 (advanced-stage)

Species: Hybrid

Type: Balanced

Attribute: Fire/Dark/Poison

Loyalty: 26%

Description: The manticore from the realm of undying lands. It has an IQ of over 120.

Title - Savage: When activated the title, Baltrow will act on its own and turn deaf to the host's orders. Except for the host and other soul-bound entities, the beast cannot judge who is ally or enemy.

SKILLS:

Active:

Concussive Blows: Baltrow attacks the enemy with its paws, giving five successive blows in just one second. Each blow contains 100% of its attack power. Cost: 20 million EP (ether points). CD: 15 minutes

Poison Breath: Baltrow can breathe out poisonous gas and slowly kills everyone who breathes in the gas, excluding host and soul-bound entities. Effect: Depends on the strength and resistance of the target. Range: 500 meters. Cost: 20 million EP. CD: 60 minutes.

Dragon Blaze: Baltrow breathes out an ocean of flames turning everyone into ash. Effect: 120% attack power. Range: 500 meters. Cost: 40 million EP. CD: 60 minutes.

Spiky throw: Baltrow shoot the spikes from its back and pierce the targets (min: 1, max: 24). Effect: each spike contains 80% of attack power. Range: 100 meters. Cost: 30 million EP. CD: 10 minutes/spike

Extreme Bite: Baltrow will bite the target with its fangs of a sabertooth while seeing poison into the enemy. Effect-1: 120% attack power. Effect-2: targets will be paralyzed by poison. This effect will be changed based on the target's resistance. Cost: 30 million EP. CD: 60 minutes.

Dark Flash: Baltrow unleashes a concentrated beam of dark energy through its mouth. Effect: 130% attack power. Cost: 40 million EP. CD: 90 minutes

Passive:

Savage Aura: When it is summoned, the host's vitality and agility increase by 30%, and during the 'Savage' state, attack power (int&str) is also increases by 12% as long as the host stays within 200 meters radius.

Merge: Baltrow can add the other attributes to increase the damage of its skill attack. The cost of the skills will also increase.

****

As Mark sighed inwardly upon seeing the high cost of activating the skills, the beast opened its mouth, "human, when you used the Spirit Beast Contract, you promised me that I will become free from that prison. But, I didn't expect you will just transfer me from one prison to another. You held me several days in that dark prison there and forced me to sleep but I will forget the matter because you healed my injuries too."

"Well, this one behaves more civilized." Mark couldn't help but remember the gray wolf that barked at him in hostility as soon as it was summoned.

He cleared his throat, "If that's what you wish, I will not hold you there and give you the freedom to walk around over here but in return, I need you to do one little thing."

"What is it?" Baltrow was excited a bit but controlled its expression to hear the condition, first.

But, in the next second, the legendary realm beast king took a step back when Mark took out a golden furred cat from the familiars' inventory and introduced it, "this is Tishanan, our youngest family member. I need you to look after him."

*Meow*

As Mark put down the tiny cat, the latter greeted the manticore with the size of an average adult male lion.

There was clear evidence of fear on the face of the manticore. It stuttered as it accused Mark, "you… you… abducted the… kitten… of the Golden Demon Cat. Aren't you afraid of the death?"

"Eh? What are you talking about?" Mark furrowed his brows.