James unclenched his hands and let out a sigh before giving a toothy grin to Kingdom. "You know, I always thought love at first sight was the biggest pile of bullshit I ever heard, but… wow. When I saw her, it felt like I left my body," James explained with a lovesick expression."Get a hold of yourself. We have work to do," Kingdom said, slapping the back of his head again.James rubbed the sore spot. "What work do we have to do?""The zombies have me worried. We should check it out," Kingdom said, rubbing his jaw thoughtfully. He needed to understand the threat they were facing.James nodded in agreement. "That bothered me as well."Judging from the map in the system, their city was near the Canadian-US border. To the north lay the Canadian city of Winnipeg; to the south, the US city of Grand Forks. Cities were where zombies congregated, and where the greatest danger lurked for humans."In four days, we'll go on a scouting trip. Make your preparations. Go tell the other four I wish

"Nothing serious. They're waiting with their findings in your private study," James told him. "Okay, I'm up. Let's go." Kingdom then looked at James. "You know, you could make an excellent secretary. Ever think about changing jobs?" James looked at Kingdom with contempt before leaving the room. Kingdom laughed as he got dressed and followed him. Entering the study, Kingdom saw Shenelle and Lane sitting down. Shenelle's mage robe was torn in a few places with scorch marks. Lane's shiny heavy armor had scratches and burn marks. "What happened?" Kingdom asked solemnly. "Drake," Lane said simply. "A drake?" Kingdom repeated, surprised. "When we reached the end of the cave, a drake was there sleeping. Let's just say it wasn't happy being woken up," Shenelle huffed, looking at her damaged robe with annoyance. "Casualties?" Kingdom asked. "Four. From the initial attack. After that, we were able to defend ourselves and retreat," Lane said slowly. "It was… strong. Stronger than anythi

Kingdom returned to the city immediately and summoned Hal, chief of the Iron Mountain Clan. He told him the cave was clear and mining for the Blue Meteor Iron ore could begin. The chief could hardly contain his excitement and ran off quickly to gather his clan.Hal seemed eager to prove his clan's worth and wanted to do a good job. In no time, the dwarves were marching through the city, singing a cheerful song. The dwarves drew many stares and curious looks, but they seemed impervious to the attention and continued on their way.Kingdom asked Deke to keep a close watch on them for their safety. Though he had accepted them into the city, that didn't mean the general public would. Racism was deeply rooted in human nature, and accepting others had never been easy. This challenge was even greater when dwarves and humans were actually different races from different worlds.Though a few people grumbled in discontent, nothing major happened. The dwarves left the city for the mine. Kingdom se

Cloey's eyes narrowed as she saw Kingdom with a beautiful woman. She watched him trying on armor and connected the dots. What she didn't like was the way the woman stared at her man—lustful and greedy.A strange feeling rose from her gut, making her feel protective. Cloey gave a charming smile, walked over, and grabbed Kingdom's arm. She placed her head on his shoulder and asked Emma, "Hi, I'm Cloey. You are?""Emma. I own this store." Emma's eyes darted between Kingdom and Cloey, trying to discern their relationship.Kingdom smiled wryly. "Please send the remaining armor to the City Lord's mansion when it's ready." He took Cloey's hand and walked out of the shop."You know, I wanted to do some shopping in there," Cloey said with a smile.Kingdom scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "Sorry. I'll see you back at the mansion." He gave her a light kiss and left, heading toward the city's south gate.Kingdom noticed the number of guards had doubled, and their quality seemed im

James nodded and said, "Shenelle was the first, then me. The other two were basically at the same time. Why? Haven't you?"Kingdom shook his head with a frustrated expression. "I have two elements. Breaking into the core stage is a bit special for me. I need somewhere with plenty of dark and lightning energy." Where was he supposed to find a place like that?James nodded in understanding, but a troubling thought crossed his mind. He's already this strong without being in the core stage?Breaking into the core stage granted a massive increase in strength. You no longer borrowed power from your element—your body generated it, giving you complete control and manipulation.Kingdom and James continued through the town, encountering only normal zombies. They followed a highway north, passing abandoned cars. Some had broken windows and flat tires; others looked drivable.Kingdom was about to enter the next town when Ava contacted him. This town has two mutated zombies—Power and Speed, by the