After filling their belly with food and wine, all of them slept on the wide and comfortable couch.
Aldred on the other hand sat cross legged and took out his Heavenly Jade Token that he received from the mysterious ethereal woman.
He let the token siphoned some part of his mana, and then that mana was refined into some sort of energy before it trickled into his palm, then spread throughout his body.
"Ughh…" Aldreds started to feel pain. It felt like his bone was being chewed, and his veins were about to snap.
He knew this pain was necessary to make his body stronger, so he clenched his fist and gritted through the pain for hours. The fight against Tarrar taught him that no enemies should be underestimated. Even though he had the Golden Battle Gear and World Refined Physique, he could still penetrate through his chest and take his heart out.
If that wasn't his clone… he would be dead by now. But Tarrar's ability was more of a cheat than his. The man could literally match the strength of a Platinum Rank, though it seemed he could only use it for a short amount of time.
Nevertheless, it was a powerful ability to have.
After a few hours of cultivating the World Refined Physique, he faced against a wall and his body spasmed as he experienced mind-numbing pain.
He stopped the mana transmission, and breathed haggardly.
[World Refined Physique Lv.1]
Upgrade points: 600/7550
"This will take a while to upgrade, and it'd better be worth it."
…
After Aldred left the Paphia-Yevileria war, the battle became even more chaotic as both sides started to hire golems to attack each other.
On the battlefield of the vast grassy plains, hundreds of fighter golems charged against each other and cut each other to pieces.
Gunner golems on both sides blasted one another with fire bullets, while artillery golems targeted the other's side artillery golems and sent out volley of golem shells.
All of this happened while the winged-men race, and the bugbear stayed at the back.
They were waiting for something to happen. Maybe one side would advance, and they could send their real army to attack.
But most of the time, they just bought more golems and put them into the battlefield. They were currently battling in numbers.
But even though the battlefield did not move an inch from its spot, the problem was resources.
Both nations needed to pay Aldred's Golem Factory money to hire these golems. The more they hire, the more money they needed to pay.
With the golems fearless and undying advantage, both nations could not afford to be losing out against the other side. And so they kept buying and buying more and more golems.
Tarrar was all smiling because of this. He purposely controlled how many both nations could buy at once. He would not allow one side to have a greater advantage over another.
Sometimes he would let one side buy more, before giving the other side even more golems.
This made them fight a back and forth battle while making almost no progress.
That was good for him, because the longer the war, the more money he could earn.
Of course both the winged-men and bugbear noticed this.
They were planning to kill Tarrar to end this money-sucking-back-and-forth-battle, but they knew that if he died, another one would replace him.
In fact, it was Aldred who they would like to hunt. And so, both nations put large bounties on his head.
If Aldred died, the golems would disappear.
Of course, the government did not admit putting a bounty on him, instead they told a private adventurer group to put money on his head.
This large scale bounty hunt made Aldred famous in both nations.
"Isn't that the Death Lord who helped us in war? Why does he have a bounty on his head?"
"I heard he's also helping the bugbear in the war."
"What? He's a double agent?"
"Most likely."
"Damn, the price for his head is huge too. If I didn't see his power personally, I would come after him."
"Going after him is a death wish. No Gold Rank in existence could match him. Even Bruce became his undead."
…
After cultivating the physique skill, Aldred relaxed as he watched the landscape move.
Suddenly, the carriage stopped.
"Eh. Why are we stopping?"
"Sir, Aldred. I think we're on the wrong side of the map. "We're not in the Ceraisian Empire, but we're in Torvenia," the coachman said.
"How do you know?"
"There's a mountainous region to our west. The Ceraisian Empire is on the other side of that region."
"I thought there's no mountainous region in the empire. Whatever. Should we go back?"
"It would be faster if we keep going forward. The mountainous region ends around 70 miles away from here."
"Alright. Do what you think is best."
Just as they were about to continue their journey, a carriage rushed towards them and a leonin coachman waved their hands, shouting for help.
Behind that carriage, was a group of lion-man, riding a muscled, horse-sized lion.
"Help!"
"Oh… this type of scene again." Aldred sighed.
Suddenly, the lion-cavalry sped up and pounced on the carriage's wheel. Ripping it off. The carriage lost control and it rolled on the ground a few times. The coachman was thrown several meters away.
"Shit!" Aldred jumped out of his carriage, and stopped the rolling carriage with his hand.
The lion-cavalry stopped nearby and the leader pointed at him. "Mind your own business, human."
"Right, I should mind my own business. But can I ask why you chase this carriage?"
"Cih! Kill this filthy human!"
Aldred sighed and shook his head. "All I did was ask a question."
The lion cavalry pounced at him. The rider on top thrust their spear while the lion opened their maw to bite him.
Majestic golden armor wrapped around his body, and it deflected all the weapons, teeth, and claws that came at him.
The lion-cavalry leader widened his eyes when he saw this.
